Proverbs 17:1-7

Proverbs 17:1-7 February 16, 2007

INTRODUCTION
The opening verses of Proverbs 17 continue a section begun in 16:31. 16:31 refers to the “crown of glory” of gray hair, and that matches the “crown of old men” and “glory” referred to in 17:6. These verses form a frame around the section and set up the themes of the section, which, like the Proverbs in general, are concerned with the wisdom and authority of those who have gained wisdom through experience, by walking in the way of righteousness. In an age when youth is celebrated and age often mocked, Solomon reminds us of the particular strength and power of the aged wise.


As Waltke points out, the following section (17:7-28) is concerned with warnings against folly. The word fool appears in verses 10, 12, 16, 21, 24, 25, and equivalent terms occur in other sayings in this section (17:7, 21, 28). A number of these verses also pose antitheses between the fool and wise man (vv, 8, 11-16, 19-21, 23, 25, 26).

We have looked at the first couple of verses of chapter 17 already, so we begin with 17:3.

PROVERBS 17:3
The key to this proverb comes in the second line, which tells us that Yahweh “tests hearts.” The term indicates that Yahweh is examining and exposing the contents or orientation of the heart. Testing can come in various ways. The Lord tested Israel’s hearts by feeding them manna in the wilderness, forcing Israel to depend solely on His provision. Yahweh tested Abraham by demanding that he sacrifice His son. In both cases, these are challenging commands or providences that reveal the condition of the heart. Abraham shows himself faithful by willingly taking his son to Moriah to sacrifice him, while Israel badly fails the test by complaining and grumbling and failing to trust the Lord. “Tests” can also mean temptation. Adam was tested in the garden, and this involved a temptation to sin. James says that God Himself doesn’t tempt us in the sense that He entices us with the intention of causing sin. He is wholly good. He sends temptations, however, as tests, which are intended to reveal the state of our hearts.

The intriguing thing about the comparison in this verse is that the refining of silver and furnace for gold not only test the quality of the metals but actually produce better-quality metals. Refining burns away the dross, and makes the metal more pure. The import seems to be that the Lord in testing hearts has the same intention. He sends temptations, difficult providences, hardships, attacks from enemies, slanders, loss in order to expose the condition of our heart, but also to make our hearts purer. He is the God who is a consuming fire, but He comes near to us to perfect us, so that we shine like precious stones in the temple of God.

The only other place in Proverbs where the image of the “refining pot” is used is 27:21, and this, significantly, tells us that a man is tested by the praise he receives. Praise and flattery reveal the heart, particularly exposing the pride of our hearts. But praise and flattery, rightly responded to, purify our hearts.

One implication of this is that we should rejoice and give thanks in the midst of trials and tests. No discipline is pleasant at the time, but painful, Hebrews 12 tells us, but it yields fruit. No smelting is pleasant but painful, but the result is a purified heart. Few things in life are more effective in sanctifying us as trials met with faith, hope, and love.

PROVERBS 17:4
Israel’s confession of faith centered on the command to “hear.” Listening is the proper attitude of the faithful. We open our ears to hear the command of our Master. But listening is the inevitable attitude of man. We always open our ears to someone or something, and the direction of our attention reveals who we are. Rosenstock-Huessy said, Tell me who you listen to, and I’ll tell you who you are. The true Israel opens its ears to the Lord who says “Shema, O Israel”; wicked men open their ears to the lips and tongue of the wicked.

This Proverb tells us that a wicked man is characterized by attentiveness to wicked lips, and a liar hears destructive tongue. James highlights the destructiveness of the tongue, the small member that can misdirect great vessels, the small spark that can ignite great fires. Instead of fleeing from the destruction cause by a wicked tongue, the liar gives attention to it. Falsehoods destroy the social order. Listening to the wrong word creates social and political chaos.

PROVERBS 17:5
Verse 5 also describes a sin of the tongue. In this case, the use of the tongue is not lying or destructive slander, but mockery, contempt, laughter at the poor. This is in keeping with the constant biblical teaching about our proper attitude and actions toward the poor. The law explicitly forbids laying out a stumbling block for a blind man, which generally prohibits taking advantage of another’s weakness for our own amusement. This emphasis continues to Matthew 25, which shows our entry into life or death as dependent upon our treatment of the “least of these my brothers.” God shows mercy and kindness to the lowly; he raises the lowly and poor. And we should have the same attitude toward those who are poor, whether they are poor financially, in terms of status, or in terms of popularity. This proverb indicates that the mockery of the poor is a direct assault on the God in whose image the poor man is made. How much of our humor is based on mockery of the poor? How much of comedy is based on mockery of the “uncool”?

The second line of this verse raises some difficulties. It is straightforward: God will punish those who take delight in the calamity of others. On the other hand, many passages of Scripture describe the righteous doing exactly that: Israel sings a song of triumph over the drowned corpses of Pharaoh’s armies; several Psalms speak of the joy of the righteous at the downfall of the wicked (eg, Psalm 58); and the saints in heaven rejoice at the fall of the harlot city Jerusalem in Revelation. Is such praise wicked? Is that what Proverbs has in mind? That’s not possible, since even the glorified saints in heaven rejoice over the fall of Babylon the Great City. Perhaps we are to see a distinction between rejoicing over the fall of Yahweh’s enemies and rejoicing over calamity to our own. Or, perhaps what Solomon has in mind is rejoicing over calamities suffered by people who are not enemies. We are often filled with envy even of those who are most friendly to us, and secretly rejoice when things go badly for them.

PROVERBS 17:6
This is the last verse in the section that began with 16:31, and it provides a beautiful complement to that verse. It reinforces the glory of age, but does it differently than the prior passage. Here, the generations are joined in mutual glory, and mutual honor. Old men are crowned by having grandchildren. Through grandchildren, old men can reach into a future they will never live to see, beyond even the future of their children. Through grandchildren a man’s name and legacy live on generations beyond his lifetime. He is a ruler to generations. On the other hand, sons find glory in their fathers. Sons receive the name and heritage of their fathers, and are able to build on their fathers’ achievements. If old men are crowned with grandchildren, sons receive a crown of glory from fathers.

Ultimately, there is a Trinitarian point here. The generations are to live together as the eternal Father and Son. The Father glorifies the Son, and so sons are to receive glory from their fathers. Yet the Son also lives to glorify His Father, and so sons, and grandsons, bestow glory on their fathers. In the Trinity, the “generation gap” of Father and Son is united by the Spirit, the shared glory of Father and Son, and the same

Spirit joins generation to generation. This is the great problem of history, the joining of generations to one another, and the Spirit is given to solve this problem.

PROVERBS 17:7
Solomon here begins a series of proverbs contrasting the life of the fool to the life of the wise man. Here, the fool is characterized by his speech, as he often is. Fools talk a lot, and they talk a lot of nonsense. Solomon’s specific point here is that there is a disjunction between the fool’s character and the speech he might try to use. “A lip of abundance” might refer to lots of speech, but in the context it makes more sense to interpret this phrase, as the NASB does, as “excellent speech.” Well-turned sentences and high rhetoric are “unfitting” to a fool. Fittingness is an aesthetic criterion; there is something ugly and repulsive about a fool who tries to disguise his folly behind excellent speech. One thinks of any number of contemporary novelists (Norman Mailer comes specifically to mind).

A prince’s speech should also be fitting to his station. There should be an aesthetic harmony between the prince’s place and his talk. Solomon says that princes specifically must speak the truth, and that lies are “unfitting” and displeasing, ugly.


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