The mouth (with its components, the lips and the tongue) is the most important organ in the book of Proverbs. In the New King James Version of the book, the word mouth is used 50 times,lips occurs 41 times, and tongue 19. The use of this organ in speech is a particularly important theme in Proverbs 10–29.
Image © Krieg Barrie from GoodSalt.com
The basic premise is crucial: our words are very powerful, either for good or for evil. The tongue […]
Read Proverbs 10:1–7. What various principles about life and faith are revealed here?
Image © Standard Publishing from GoodSalt.com
There is a story about a man in a boat who began to drill a hole under his feet where he sat. When people in the boat demanded that he stop, he responded: This is none of your business. This is my place! This absurd response is often the excuse used by the sinner to justify his or her behavior. […]
Read for This Week’s Study: Proverbs 10:1–14, Matt. 19:19, Proverbs 11:1-12:28, John 3:16, Proverbs 13:1-35.
Memory Text: Blessings are on the head of the righteous, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked (Proverbs 10:6, NKJV).
As the title suggests, this lesson looks at the blessings of the righteous. The Hebrew wordzaddiq, for righteous, is the key word in our texts. Zedeq (also translated justice), from which it is derived, appears in the introduction of the whole book: The […]
Travis didn’t know what to do with his camper. At age 12, Logan* was the toughest kid in the cabin and wanted to be in charge of everyone and everything. One night, Logan decided he wasn’t going to bed, so Travis and his co-counselor came up with a plan.
OK, they told the obstinate camper, you can stay up–as long as you read the Bible. Logan agreed, except he didn’t have a Bible; in fact, he had never read one. So […]
Further Study: The Sovereign of the universe was not alone in His work of beneficence. He had an associate — a co-worker who could appreciate His purposes, and could share His joy in giving happiness to created beings. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. John 1:1-2. Christ, the Word, the only begotten of God, was one with the eternal Father […]
In Proverbs 8:12, Wisdom personified informs us that she is the key to finding knowledge. Unfortunately, her counterpart, Folly, has the upper hand when it comes to getting attention (Prov 9:15).
If you haven’t already, watch this video: “MONSTER Energy drinks are the work of SATAN!!!” It’s received over eight-million views on YouTube alone, a substantial amount of attention.
Now, ask yourself whether you think it might be possible that, aside from any health effects, you’re putting yourself under the power of […]
Following wisdom’s appeal, the inspired author of Proverbs 9 urges his audience to make a choice now between two lifestyles: wisdom or folly. The first and last six verses (Prov. 9:1–6, Prov. 9:13–18) are symmetrical and bring out the contrast between the opposite camps.
Image © Kevin Carden from GoodSalt.com
Compare Proverbs 9:1–6 and Proverbs 9:13–18. What is the difference between wisdom and folly?
1. Wisdom is efficient and is involved in Creation: seven verbs are used to describe her actions […]
The last few verses of this proverb return to the personal — to the practical application of what it means to have wisdom. By contrast, the intellectual knowledge about wisdom’s preexistence, about wisdom’s presence at Creation, is certainly deep. But in the Bible, truth must always at some point come down to the human level and how we respond to what we have been given in Jesus.
Image © Lars Justinen from GoodSalt.com
Read Proverbs 8:32-36. What life-and-death message […]
You can view a discussion of the current lesson in the Hope Sabbath School class led by Pastor Derek Morris. (Adobe Flash Player version.) A Youtube version of this week’s lesson at Hope Sabbath School is below. You can download the video, the MP3 audio, and the lesson outline from the HopeTV Sabbath School Site. You might also want to bookmark the HopeSS Youtube
In Genesis 1 we see that each step of the Creation concludes with the same refrain: God saw that it was good (see Gen. 1:4, Gen. 1:10, Gen. 1:12, Gen. 1:18, Gen. 1:21, Gen. 1:25, Gen. 1:31). The last step (Genesis 1:31) goes even further: It was very good. The Hebrew word for good contains the idea of enjoyment, and it also implies relationship. At the end of the whole Creation week God pauses to fully enjoy His creation (Gen. […]
