Proverbs 11:16-23 Take A Stand
In this section of parables we see the difference taking a stand for righteousness brings. Trusting in the Lord has eternal rewards. Evil WILL be punished.
I chose to group these verses together because they all deal with a person separately who lives a life of righteousness and those who live an evil life. This is a personal effect on them and not the community at large. They are seen by the community but their reward is personal.
Did you notice that the FIRST person mentioned in this list is a woman? Not just any woman, but a gracious woman. This woman will certainly meet the requirements in the next chapter, but we will wait until then to delve into her. For today, I just think it is wonderful that she stands out enough for Solomon and God to point her out.
A woman actually ends our section too. This one is NOT mentioned for her good character. She is mentioned as the exact opposite of the first woman. This woman has no “discretion”. Discretion is defined as “the quality of behaving or speaking in such a way as to avoid causing offense or revealing private information.” This is only one definition of discretion but it aptly fits here. Solomon is saying that, no matter her beauty, this woman is someone every Israelite man should run away from. She is unclean and rejected by God. She is probably the gossip Solomon warned about.
In between these two women are several men held up for our inspection. Right after the gracious woman we see a violent man getting rich. “That’s not fair!”, we cry. It’s supposed to be the righteous who get all the good things. But then we see how the evil man gets his fortunes. “The wicked earn deceptive wages” (verse 18a). But that deception works two ways. First it is the evil man making schemes to profit on the backs of others through deceit. Standard stuff in this world. The second way is where it bites him back. The wicked man is putting his trust in these ill-gotten gains to protect him and give him a good life. When the final tally comes though, he will see that his riches didn’t profit him one bit. He will pay in eternity for how he received his fortune. There is NOT security in riches. We will get to touch on that again in the next section of this chapter.
The righteous man is credited with several “rewards” for his stand. He “will live” (verse 19a), and his offspring “will be delivered” (verse 21b). This tells us that he will have eternal life instead of never ending death after this life is done. He will also have a heritage. His children will know the Lord and they will pass that relationship onto their children. They don’t always turn out exactly as we wish they would but they KNOW the Lord in some degree when they have seen a real relationship with Him lived out in front of them.
Make no mistake, evil will NOT go unpunished. And righteousness will NOT go unrewarded. God sees our hearts. He also offers us forgiveness when we ‘step away’ from our stand for a moment. We can’t live away from His righteousness and expect Him to bless us but when we fall He is there to pick us up. There is a big difference between ‘falling and getting dirty’ and ‘laying on the ground playing in the mud’. God can clean you up from either position but the first one is a LOT easier on you.
Father God, I want to be that gracious woman. One whose conduct doesn’t offer offense or disclose secrets. I want to stand for You in every area of my life. I pray I modeled enough of our relationship that my children won’t EVER forget it and will someday come and stand before You in their own RIGHT relationship. I know we will ALL stand before You some day, I just want them to be standing on Your side and not on the wrong side at judgment time.
