Those Practical Proverbs
A Pastoral Exposition of the Book of Proverbs Volume 1
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Proverbs 1:7 assures the reader of the book of Proverbs that "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction."
Because all truth is GOD'S truth, it can best be discovered by people who are prepared to acknowledge the place of the Lord in the big picture of their lives. To leave Him out of the picture is to build the structure of knowledge and understanding and wisdom without the proper foundation!
For example, it is one thing to study our universe, and all of its life forms - as if they came into existence on their own; but the well-established "law of cause and effect" assures us that they couldn't have come into existence on their own! The amazing "effect" of the world, with all of its contents, and of the vast universe around us requires an amazing "cause" - and there is no cause adequate to account for such an effect apart from the Lord God! So we can never understand why things exist or when they came into existence or how they came about until we have factored the Lord into the big picture. And no one has really factored the Lord into the big picture until he has acknowledged that he is personally going to answer to the Lord on a coming day of judgment.
The Lord is to be "feared" because He is going to judge all men (as we are assured in Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 and I Peter 1:17). This means that all men are accountable to Him, and that many will be sent away from Him forever because they have failed to give Him the recognition He is due in their lives (as Jesus made clear in His Olivet Discourse in Matthew 25:41-46).
These people the Bible calls "fools," and Solomon informs us that they "despise wisdom and instruction." Because they refuse to fear the Lord, they have no foundation on which to build their knowledge and understanding. So, though they may profess to love wisdom and instruction, the practical reality is that they despise wisdom and instruction; and they will certainly not fully understand the message of the book of Proverbs! The wealth of wisdom which is found in the Proverbs belongs to those who fear the Lord.
We will never fully understand the book of Proverbs unless we have come to terms with the importance of the Lord in our lives. And we will never really understand life itself until we have come to terms with the importance of the Lord in our lives. A correct understanding of the issues of life begins with the fear of the Lord. So here is a very important question for our consideration as we think about the message of the book of Proverbs: Do we fear the Lord - in the sense that we recognize our ultimate accountability to Him in every thought, word and deed - enabling us to trust Him for salvation, and to greatly increase our ability to understand and apply the wisdom which is contained in the book of Proverbs?
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About the Book
Those Practical Proverbs is a verse-by-verse commentary on the book of Proverbs from a pastor’s perspective. It begins with an exploration of the authorship of Proverbs—most of which was written by King Solomon, with brief sections by Agur, the son of Jakeh, and the words of King Lemuel (from an oracle which his mother taught him). It proceeds to an explanation of the structure of Hebrew poetry, a list of some of the topics addressed in the book, and an outline of the book. The opening chapters of Proverbs (1–9) consist of longer “wisdom poems” on a variety of significant subjects. Most of the chapters of Proverbs consist of single-verse observations concerning many of life’s practical concerns (with occasional multiverse entries). The book concludes with the entries of Agur and King Lemuel and, finally, the classic alphabetic acrostic poem regarding the excellent wife. Because the book focuses largely on the wisdom and understanding, which find their origin in the fear of the Lord, it is among the most life-enriching books ever written. It is extremely important for anyone who longs for practical guidance in the many issues of life.
About the Author
David Balsley followed his studies at Biola University and Western Conservative Baptist Seminary with more than forty years of pastoral ministry in Oregon, New Mexico, Arizona and California. He was already fascinated with the writings of Solomon as a college student, and he has spent years sharing his studies of the writings of Solomon in Bible studies and pulpit ministry, as well as the publication of The Puzzled Preacher - A Pastoral Exposition of Ecclesiastes and The Passionate Prince - A Pastoral Exposition of the Song of Solomon. He and his wife, Janice, live in Brea, California. They are active members of Green Hills Baptist Church (The Church at Green Hills) in La Habra, California.