Proverbs 13

Proverbs 13:1-3:
A wise son heeds his father’s instruction, But a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.
2 A man shall eat well by the fruit of his mouth, But the soul of the unfaithful feeds on violence.
3 He who guards his mouth preserves his life. But he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction.

Proverbs 13:4:
The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the soul of the diligent is made fat.

Here is, 1. The misery and shame of the slothful. See how foolish and absurd they are; they desire the gains which the diligent get, but they hate the pains which the diligent take; they covet every thing that is to be coveted, but will do nothing that is to be done; and therefore it follows, They have nothing; for he that will not labour let him hunger, and let him not eat, 2 Thess. 3:10. The desire of the slothful, which should be his excitement, is his torment, which should make him busy, makes him always uneasy, and is really a greater toil to him than labour would be. 2. The happiness and honour of the diligent: Their soul shall be made fat; they shall have abundance, and shall have the comfortable enjoyment of it, and the more for its being the fruit of their diligence. This is especially true in spiritual affairs. Those that rest in idle wishes know not what the advantages of religion are; whereas those that take pains in the service of God find both the pleasure and profit of it. ---Mathew Henry

He desires knowledge, but does not care to be at any pains to get it, and so has it not; he desires riches, but chooses not to make use of the means, to be diligent and industrious, and so he is without them; he desires to wear good clothes and rich raiment, but is unwilling to labour for them, and therefore is clothed with rags; he desires food, and plenty of it, but refuses to work for it; and he that will not work should not eat, and therefore he has it not, but starves and famishes: and, in spiritual things, the sluggard desires heaven and happiness, but does not care to do the duties of religion; he would die the death of the righteous, but is unwilling to live his life; to abstain from sin, and live soberly and righteously, is too hard service for him; he does not choose to do or suffer anything for the cause of Christ and true religion. Jarchi’s note is, that
“in the future state he shall see the glory of the wise man, and desire it; but shall not attain to it;”
but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat; become rich; increase in temporal things, and have great plenty and prosperity; and so, in spiritual matters, such who are diligent in the use of means, constantly attend on the word and ordinances, and labour for the meat which endures to everlasting life; such are filled and satisfied, as with marrow and fatness; and become fat and flourishing, and fruitful in every good word and work; and shall at last arrive to that state where there will be no more hunger and thirst.” -John Gill

The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing; literally, and nothing is there—he gains nothing (Pro. 14:6; Pro. 20:4). He has the wish, but not the will, and the empty wish without corresponding exertion is useless (Pro. 21:25, etc.). Vulgate, “The indolent wishers, and wishes not;” he wishes for something, but he wishes not for the labour of getting it; he would like the result, but he hates the process by which the result is to be obtained. Septuagint, “In desires every idle man is occupied;” his mind is fixed wholly on aimless wishes, not on action. Shall be made fat (Pro. 11:25); Septuagint, “The hands of the valiant are fully occupied (ἐν ἐπιμελείᾳ).” -Pulpit Commentary

Proverbs 13:5-11:
A righteous man hates lying, But a wicked man is loathsome and comes to shame.
6 Righteousness guards him whose way is blameless, But wickedness overthrows the sinner.
7 There is one who makes himself rich, yet has nothing; And one who makes himself poor, yet has great riches.
8 The ransom of a man’s life is his riches, But the poor does not hear rebuke.
9 The light of the righteous rejoices, But the lamp of the wicked will be put out.
10 By pride comes nothing but strife, But with the well-advised is wisdom.
11 Wealth gained by dishonesty will be diminished, But he who gathers by labor will increase.

Proverbs 13:12:
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick.” When your dreams do not come true, it is easy to become depressed. But notice, the hope is not necessarily failed. It is only deferred. The Hebrew word in this place means “to drag.”

There’s a simple contrast at work. The fulfilled desire is very good, whereas the deferred hope was sad. I think there’s something else going on, though, and I think the Eden imagery is an important clue. You see, Adam and Eve’s sin was a sin of false hope. Instead of trusting in God’s timing and being patient and content with His plan, they decided to take the object of their desire, the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Genesis 3:6 says that this fruit was “desirable,” and so we can see that the original sin was a false desire fulfilled. --Wedgewords

There are moments when we have hoped for something for so long that we begin to doubt whether it will ever come to pass. Among the characters in the story of Jesus’ birth, we know one figure had actually lost hope. As Zechariah and his wife had grown old but without children, Zechariah had come to believe parenthood was an impossibility for them. So profound was his loss of hope on this point that he even doubted the words of the angelic messenger who informed him directly that Elizabeth would soon conceive (Luke 1:18). -Jeffery M Leonard

According to Strong’s Bible Dictionary, deferred means to “delay” or “draw out”. That implies that the thing hoped for is probable and will eventually come to pass. God’s promises are true, but His timetable is rarely ours. Hebrews 11:1 reads, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” We can be sure of what we hope for even when it remains unseen if God, Himself, promises it to us. Hope is displaced when we assume that God will do something for us merely because He has done it for others. We can be full of hope and excitement one minute when it looks like our desires will be fulfilled, and emotionally dashed on the rocks the next as we realize that little is changed or that the situation has gotten worse.

A.)  Hope

1.)  Defined: always translated “hope”… from a word that means “to wait for; hope for; expectation of a positive future prospect”
a.)  The term is generic enough to include ALL the hopes and dreams and wishes that enter our hearts.
b.)  It speaks of all the inner longing and hungering of our soul for something better… an expectation of good for the future...

2.)  Hope is a wonderful thing…
a.)  Hope is encouraging… uplifting…
b.)  It is GOOD to have a “bright hope for tomorrow”
c.)  In fact, spiritually, we have a BLESSED hope – the coming of Christ!
d.)  When focused on a good hope for tomorrow, we are encouraged and motivated to endure through today’s trials. Hope springs eternal! Life is good!
e.)  When we give up on hope… we sink into discouragement… and all is dark and dreary… life is miserable.

3.)  We all have hopes… hopes that keep us going… hopes of a better tomorrow…
a.)  hopes for our kids… to have wisdom; to walk with the Lord; to make sensible decisions; to turn out right; to find a godly spouse; to do well in their careers…
b.)  hopes for this assembly… for unity; growth; spiritual strength;
c.)  hopes for the salvation of souls… friends; family; neighbors; spouse; co workers;
d.)  hopes for doing well at school…
e.)  for promotion at work…
f.)   hopes of finding a mate…
g.)  for others, their hope is having a baby…
h.) for buying a house… to fix up a house; to pay off a house…
i.)   for losing weight…for getting physically fit… for a disease to remain in remission…
j.)   for finishing college… for landing a good job
k.)  for restoring a broken relationship…
l.)   Hope for a backslidden believer to return to the Lord…
m.)                hopes for getting victory over a besetting sin…
n.) Hopes for getting out of debt…

4.)  The proverb is not speaking about any one particular KIND of hope… but rather is general enough to include ALL kinds of hopes that reside in the human breast… hopes that are common to man.
5.)  Heb. 6:18-20 - in the spiritual realm, CHRIST is our hope…
a.)  He is the hope of glory…
b.)  As our hope He is the anchor of our soul… which gives stability in the rough seas of earthly life… until we reach our eternal home in glory.
c.)  He is our BLESSED hope… a truly bright hope for tomorrow.
d.)  It is HE who keeps us going today… otherwise, we might grow weary and quit!
e.)  We all NEED hope… an expectation of good to come… light at the end of the tunnel…

B.)  Hope Deferred

1.)  Deferred: the basic meaning relates to linear motion… something being dragged along… born along…
a.)  It is translated in many different ways in the OT… according to the context.
b.)  Here it speaks of that which has been drawn out, dragged out; goes on an on… to be postponed, be deferred; put off…

2.)  Hope deferred…
a.)  Bright hope for tomorrow is a wonderful thing… but when tomorrow comes… and the next day, and the next day – and our hopes never seem any closer to fruition… there comes a point when we no longer HAVE good expectations for tomorrow…
b.)  We have all been there – we have our heart set on something… that looks like it might come to pass… but it doesn’t… time goes on and opportunity is lost…
c.)  Our hopes are dashed…
d.)  There sometimes comes a point where we stop hoping… when it seems fruitless… pointless to continue to hope for that which seems to elude us…

3.)  Examples of hope deferred…
a.)  We had our heart set on getting that big promotion at work… and Fred got the job instead of you…
b.)  We had hoped and dreamed that this certain relationship would develop into marriage… and our hopes are dashed… she goes off with someone else…
c.)  We had hoped for our son to do well at college, and after his first year he quits…
d.)  We had hoped that this new medication would put our disease into remission – only to discover that it didn’t work and the disease has returned…
e.)  We had hoped that our wayward son would return to the Lord, but instead he moves in with his girlfriend and becomes a Unitarian…
f.)   Perhaps a woman had longed to have a child and is told that she will not be able to…
g.)  We had hoped to pay off our loans and get out of debt, but another huge, unexpected expense comes along…
h.) All too often in life we discover that the things we had such bright and vibrant hope for… after time, seem so elusive.

C.)  Maketh the Heart Sick

1.)  Sick:
2.)  When the heart becomes “sick” in this sense, it means that the man becomes discouraged… disappointed… despairing that his hopes may NEVER be realized.
3.)  That bright, encouraging, uplifting hope can soon turn to bitterness… the bubble of anticipation is popped… our hopes dashed… our hearts become “sick.”
4.)  We all know that feeling… all too well. Heart sick…
5.)  And to compound it – we have prayed and prayed for our hope to be realized… but nothing happens… the heart becomes sick over it.

But when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life. (SOURCE: Salem Bible)

Proverbs 13:13-17:
13 He who despises the word will be destroyed,
But he who fears the commandment will be rewarded.
14 The law of the wise is a fountain of life,
To turn one away from the snares of death.
15 Good understanding gains favor,
But the way of the unfaithful is hard.
16 Every prudent man acts with knowledge,
But a fool lays open his folly.
17 A wicked messenger falls into trouble,
But a faithful ambassador brings health.

“They who are not induced to believe and live as they ought by those discoveries which God hath made in Scriptures would stand out against any evidence whatever, even that of a messenger sent express from the other world.”
Francis Atterbury (1663-1732)

Proverbs 13:18-22:
Poverty and shame will come to him who disdains correction,
But he who regards a rebuke will be honored.
19 A desire accomplished is sweet to the soul,
But it is an abomination to fools to depart from evil.
20 He who walks with wise men will be wise,
But the companion of fools will be destroyed.
21 Evil pursues sinners,
But to the righteous, good shall be repaid.
22 A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children,
But the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.

Proverbs 13:23:
23 Much food is in the fallow ground of the poor,
And for lack of justice there is waste

Since Solomon was a king, and had considerable power while he reigned, one would expect Proverbs to be filled with advice on how kings can make life easier for the poor. There are some hints that a king could help the poor simply by enforcing justice. Thus: “The fallow ground of the poor would yield much food, but it is swept away through injustice” (Proverbs 13:23 ESV). And there are a few statements that talk about a ruler’s responsibilities: “A righteous man knows the rights of the poor; a wicked man does not understand such knowledge” (29:7). Or: “If a king faithfully judges the poor, his throne will be established forever” (29:14). -Mark Horne

‘Lord God, the fields of this fair earth and of our fair land are your fields. Even when the weather is clement and favourable and abundant fruits of the land ripen, injustice sweeps them away, and families both at home and abroad suffer inequality and injustice. Some even hunger. As stewards of your creation, help us to share the fruits of your bounty, so that all your family may benefit from your gracious gifts. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen’. - Lester D Scott

"Much food is in the tillage of the poor." Here we have the case of a man naturally poor described; his cultivation of the soil as to his main object and purpose. It is as though it ran thus: Here is a poor man, with a patch of ground allotted to him. What is his object in tilling that ground? It is that he may procure food. The rich man has his parks and pleasure-grounds; he may ornament his beds and borders with shrubs and flowers; food is not his object; he can purchase that in the market. But the poor labourer must till his patch of ground: for out of that patch food is to come for his wife and family. He cannot afford any place for flowers and ornamental shrubs; he must devote every inch of his ground to one sole purpose, that of food; and he must employ all his care and industry to obtain out of it as much food as he possibly can.
And yet with all his industry, all his care, and all his attention, "there is that which is destroyed for want of judgment." He may not possess agricultural skill; he may overcrop his ground; he may not use sufficient or proper manure; or "from want of judgment," his wife or family may waste the food which the ground produces. For "want of judgment," therefore in the cultivator, or in the cultivator s family, "there is that is destroyed;" and thus, with all the labour and industry expended on this patch of ground, the result is not what might have been expected from one who has food for his object; "there is that is destroyed for the want of judgment." This seems to me to be the literal meaning of the passage; and this is the ground-work upon which I shall build, as the Lord may enable me, a spiritual and experimental interpretation.
-Preached at Trinity Chapel, Trinity Street, Southwark, on Thursday Evening, July 26, 1849.

Proverbs 13:24:
24 He who spares his rod hates his son,
But he who loves him disciplines him promptly.

This is not a purely Old Testament attitude: it is expounded more fully in Hebrews 12:5-11. The latter passage draws more attention to the imperfect motives of human fathers, and Ephesians 6:4 warns against undue severity; but the obligation remains.

Proverbs 13:25:
25 The righteous eats to the satisfying of his soul,
But the stomach of the wicked shall be in want