Day 23 (Wednesday): Proverbs 11:8-11, 14:34
Today’s Passage
Read the passage – Proverbs 11:8-11, 14:34
The book of Proverbs often speaks of righteousness. When people do what is right it builds up society, but sin is shameful. Doing what is right keeps a person out of trouble but evil brings trouble. Evil can involve destructive speech, bullying and gossip.
Questions to Consider
- How do the way that individuals live affect the broader society?
Prayer
- Holy Spirit, work powerfully to bring transformation in lives.
- Pray for righteousness in our city. Ask that churches would be living out of who we are in Christ and bringing his values into his community. Two issues mentioned in Proverbs are gossiping and bullying. Ask God to reduce these in our community and our church.
Go Deeper
Milton P. Horne, Proverbs–Ecclesiastes, Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary (Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys Publishing, Incorporated, 2003), 155–156.
Verse 9 transitions into a string of sayings that reflect upon the wider implications of righteousness and wickedness for the community. Both 9 and 12 share reflections on the implications for the community of foolish speech: “the mouths of the godless” in v. 9a opposes “the man of understanding who remains silent” in 12b. Both verses consider the destruction that comes to one’s neighbor, rēʿēhû. These verses surround vv. 10 and 11, both of which depict the city that prospers because of the good that comes to the righteous and the misfortune that comes to the wicked. The framing verses, vv. 9–12, joined with the two inner verses, vv. 10–11, leave the impression that it is ultimately the propriety of speech that is of such benefit to the community at large.
The development of Western Culture is characterized by a growing emphasis upon the individual over the claims of the community. What a contrast this creates with antiquity where, generally speaking, the community was more important than the individual. Aristotle argued that there could be no human life apart from the polis (the community); that is, one could not be fully human without living in community.
To a great extent, this perspective is shared by the ancient Hebrew and expressed in these sayings. Many of the sayings in Proverbs argue for what one might call moral individualism. That is, individuals have their own moral consciences and are singularly responsible for moral choices they make. Nevertheless, individuals are more or less absorbed politically, socially, and legally by the group of which they are a part. The implications are that the ultimate good is that which accrues to the community, not to the individual.
