Proverbs 17:1-28
Evil Ways and Good Ways
1 Better a dry crust with peace and quiet
than a house full of feasting, with strife.
2 A wise servant will rule over a disgraceful son,
and will share the inheritance as one of the brothers.
3 The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold,
but the LORD tests the heart.
4 A wicked man listens to evil lips;
a liar pays attention to a malicious tongue.
5 He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker;
whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished.
6 Children’s children are a crown to the aged,
and parents are the pride of their children.
7 Arrogant lips are unsuited to a fool—
how much worse lying lips to a ruler!
8 A bribe is a charm to the one who gives it;
wherever he turns, he succeeds.
9 He who covers over an offense promotes love,
but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.
10 A rebuke impresses a man of discernment
more than a hundred lashes a fool.
11 An evil man is bent only on rebellion;
a merciless official will be sent against him.
12 Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs
than a fool in his folly.
13 If a man pays back evil for good,
evil will never leave his house.
14 Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam;
so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out.
15 Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent—
the LORD detests them both.
16 Of what use is money in the hand of a fool,
since he has no desire to get wisdom?
17 A friend loves at all times,
and a brother is born for adversity.
18 A man lacking in judgment strikes hands in pledge
and puts up security for his neighbor.
19 He who loves a quarrel loves sin;
he who builds a high gate invites destruction.
20 A man of perverse heart does not prosper;
he whose tongue is deceitful falls into trouble.
21 To have a fool for a son brings grief;
there is no joy for the father of a fool.
22 A cheerful heart is good medicine,
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
23 A wicked man accepts a bribe in secret
to pervert the course of justice.
24 A discerning man keeps wisdom in view,
but a fool’s eyes wander to the ends of the earth.
25 A foolish son brings grief to his father
and bitterness to the one who bore him.
26 It is not good to punish an innocent man,
or to flog officials for their integrity.
27 A man of knowledge uses words with restraint,
and a man of understanding is even-tempered.
28 Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent,
and discerning if he holds his tongue.
The author of Proverbs give us useful advice about evil...He says a wicked man listens to evil lips...An evil man is bent only on rebellion...If a man pays back good for evil, evil will never leave his house...A man with a perverse heart does not prosper...He who loves a quarrel loves sin...A wicked man accepts a bribe in secret...We can see from the author that evil men have little discipline, while a man of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding is even-tempered and has integrity...The good man looks out for the innocent and poor, while the evil man looks out for only himself...
These are some of the things we know about evil, and some things about goodness...It is interesting to me that many of the early gods, and later the Greek gods were powerful and could control some things, but our God, the God of Israel, is a moral God, who happens to control everything...Our LORD's first written documents to us were the Ten Commandments...All of the commandments are moral, and about being good...
I think, it is fair to ask the non-believer or the atheist, why not evil?...If I did not believe in God, why not be evil...Who is to stop me, if there is no judgement?...Why should I even believe in a good morality for me, my family, and the world?...Why not evil?...If I can gain success (if success is important to the immoral) by evil and have more money, more material things, and more wealth by being evil, why not just be evil?...Why help anyone?...If success and how we feel is only measured by my own personal beliefs and there is no God, and there is no hereafter, why not grab and get everything one can while we are here, because there is no tomorrow, there is no hereafter, there would be no heaven...
How can the atheist argue against these things, if he actually believes, there is no God?...If there is no God, who has put the thought in the minds of men, that we should be moral...Did morality just come out of the Big Bang and fall from the sky, when the universe began?...When does or did morality start and where did it come from?...How could morality evolve from randomness and grow?...One could argue, especially a good attorney, that good and evil are of equal importance, if there is no God...What, or better yet, who said that goodness is better than evil...Why would goodness be better without a God?...
Why is a loving man, a loving woman, hard work, fair play, loving your family good things -and considered good?...Who, when, where, and why are these labeled a good thing and goodness?...Why aren't adultery, working only when when wants to and feels like it, cheating to get ahead, being clever, when dealing with others, and not believing in family and family values bad things?...Why aren't they the norm and considered good, if power and wealth is everything?...Did man and man's own majesty several thousand years ago, say one of these are good, and ones in the other group are evil?...Where did evil and goodness come into man's thinking and why?...
If I truly do not believe in God, why do I hurt when my family hurts, or when a friend gets sick?...Why are we created to feel pain for others?...Why do we feel bad, and suffer, when we see children abused by evil and knowing adults?...
God has tried to teach us about morality in the Bible, as stated earlier, starting with the Ten Commandments...In Genesis, He talks about the importance of the family unit, and how important family and family lineage is by our Three Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob...And although the Patriarchs, at times, get tripped up by sin and the flesh, we see the importance of family and family life, and how God introduced hospitality to strangers, and into society early in the Bible...
After the Patriarchs, God sends Moses to help His people get out of Egypt, and show more of His plan...I think, and this is only this author's opinion, God had Moses write the Laws of Moses for moral teaching...These were the rules that the Hebrews would be ask to live by for their God...Man needs discipline, and discipline from God...The Law of Moses at the time provided structure and this discipline...The Law of Moses, gave the Jewish people a way to live, a way to follow God, a way to recognize good (a way to recognize evil), by following these rules...Learning discipline was a part of following these rules, as you grew from youth to adult...But God knew we would struggle with these Laws of Moses...Even when we were in the Garden and had paradise, we struggled with just the fewest of rules...Temptation is always out there, and seems an easy trap, when we are given such free will...
God is perfectly moral...The Law of Moses gave people a choice to follow His rules or not...He give us a choice to be disciplined or not disciplined...We can choose to follow our desires and our temptations or not to follow them...In God's free will we are given all kinds of choices...We can follow Him, or something, or even someone else...We can basically do what we want in this world, with our choices (that He has give us)...In Moses time the ones that could better follow His laws, were good, and the ones who would not follow them at all were evil...The more we follow good morality, the better we feel, and the better off we are...Goodness always overshadows evil, and God created that feeling in us...We feel good, when we do something good, and help someone, and we feel bad (it may take time or years before we feel bad, about our bad moral acts) when we act in evil...And it possible, some people get so caught up with the evil one, they have chosen evil and think evil is okay...But this type of thinking makes for a troubled world, and there are places in the world with troubles and this evil...But the large majority of people by far, want to follow Righteous and do good...This is because God has made us this way...We are created in His image (Genesis 1:27)...
Jesus transcended the Law of Moses and fulfilled them...The moral teachings of the Ten Commandments were furthered and put into more detail by Jesus in Matthew chapter five...We know we ought to good and should be better, at being good...We do try...C. S. Lewis said -we know we ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot quite get rid of that (feeling)...St. Paul writes about man and his struggles with sin in Romans seven...Free choices, desires, pleasures, and our temptations seem to make us targets for sinning...
This knowing, we should be better, and goodness is better than evil, for me, is evidence of God...I know I should be better, and should behave in a good way, as Lewis puts it...Then I know at times I am a wretched sinning man, as St. Paul puts it...Goodness and feeling good about helping someone did not just fall from the sky in the Big Bang, as some non-believers think...It is ingrained in us by our Creator...It is because we are made in His Image and have a Holy Spirit...And when we read something or see something that is really evil, we know it...And the world knows it...Where it came from actually, did fall from the sky...It came from heaven...This goodness in us, and our dislike of evil, all started and came, in the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1)...