![]() “ Plowing…should almost certainly be lamp.” Proverbs 21:5 Derek Kidner agreed with some other translations that have lamp here instead of plowing. “This figure indicates that the product of the wicked is sin.” (Ross) They are full of sin themselves, and what they do is sinful.” (Clarke) Plowing: “The prosperity and posterity of the wicked is sin-it is evil in the seed, and evil in the root, evil in the branch, and evil in the fruit. Even the hard work ( plowing) of the wicked can be regarded as sin before God because they often use the benefit of their hard work for an evil purpose. And the plowing of the wicked are sin: These three things – the look, the heart, and the plowing of the wicked are each called sin. Indeed, he manages to be proud of his pride!” (Bridges)ī. “This sin assumes so many different forms that until God’s Spirit reveals a man to himself, he does not think it applies to him. There is no shortage of either among humanity. A haughty look, a proud heart: Often a proud heart is displayed through a haughty look. This was the truth missed by the priest and the Levite in Jesus’s story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-36). God here says that how we treat others is more important than how we perform religious ceremonies such as sacrifice. Is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice: Animal sacrifice was a way to walk in right relationship with God – what might be called our vertical relationship. He wants us to do righteousness and justice in this world.ī. To do righteousness and justice: The way we treat people – what might be called our horizontal relationship – is important to God. Is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.Ī. “Yahweh’s power of discernment goes beyond unmasking those who fool others he even finds out those who have fooled themselves.” (Garrett) Proverbs 21:3 We justify things according to our hearts – “It was in my heart” or “I must follow my heart” or “In my heart, I know” – but God weighs the hearts of men and women, knowing that the heart itself doesn’t justify anything. But the LORD weighs the hearts: Men and women are confident in their own way, but God knows. Sometimes we do this in sincerity, sometimes with deception, but stubborn pride makes us generally think every way of a man is right in his own eyes.ī. Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: By nature, we justify ourselves. No human ruler, then, is supreme or, to put it another way, the Lord is truly the King of kings.” (Ross) Proverbs 21:2Įvery way of a man is right in his own eyes,Ī. “As a farmer channels the water where he wants and regulates its flow, so does the Lord with the king. ![]() The principle is still in force.” (Kidner) “Tiglath-pileser (Isaiah 10:6, 7), Cyrus (Isaiah 41:2-4) and Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:21) are all examples of autocrats who, in pursuing their chosen courses, flooded or fertilized God’s field as he chose. So, God does not need to do violence to the human heart to guide it He may do it simply through arranging other circumstances like banks of a river to guide the flow where He wants it. In moving a river, one does not need to carry each drop of water to a place where it is desired if one can shape the banks and guide the direction of the river, the water will go where desired. Like the rivers of water He turns it wherever He wishes: This analogy illustrates how God may guide the heart of man. “He names kings not to exclude other men, but because they are more arbitrary and uncontrollable than other men.” (Poole)ī. Sometimes we despair when we see the stubbornness and hardness of man’s heart against God and His will, but the king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD and He can guide it wherever He wishes. This should build our faith that God can guide and change hearts. ![]() ![]() The Lord rules even the most free and powerful of all human beings.” (Waltke) “God’s inscrutable mastery extends to the king, the most powerful of human beings, and to the heart, their most free member. “Thus he turned the heart of Pharaoh to Joseph of Saul to David of Nebuchadnezzar to Jeremiah of Darius to Daniel of Cyrus, and afterwards of Alexander the Great, to the Jews of some of the Roman persecutors to the primitive Christians.” (Trapp) ![]() If God can do this with someone as powerful and noble as a king, He can do this with any man or woman He chooses. The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD: God holds and can guide the human heart. The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD,Ī. Proverbs 21 – Peace in the Home, Prosperity in Life, Preparation for Battle Proverbs 21:1 ![]()
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