A tale of two meaningss

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

A TALE OF TWO MEANINGS

Prov 18:1

An unfriendly man pursues selfish ends; he defies all sound judgment.

NIV

Having done many of these Proverbs already at some time ago we should remind ourselves once again that Solomon was considered and still supposed the wisest man who ever lived. We would think some men today would argue that fact and think themselves far wiser then this old biblical character. But the fact remains the scriptures testify of his wisdom.

1 Kings 4:29-34

29 God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. 30 Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the men of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 He was wiser than any other man, including Ethan the Ezrahite — wiser than Heman, Calcol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame spread to all the surrounding nations. 32 He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. 33 He described plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also taught about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. 34 Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon's wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.

NIV

So then it would behoove us to try to gain some understanding from the words of the Lord that came to Solomon. When we look at the original or interlinear text it is unclear the translators have done this saying justice. It could be seen in two different lights. The first as it is translated. This is to say if we isolate ourselves from the knowledge and consul of others it is due to our wanting nothing but our own selfish ways. This would imply we do not want to ask advice from another regarding any decision we are faced with. This might also imply we do not even want the consul of God, but just want to do it our way, when we want to do it. This would imply then a person who is unfriendly and not wanting to seek as much wisdom as possible in order to make a sound judgment regarding the course of their life is a fool. However there is another way to understand this saying from looking at the original way of the word order. It could mean that a person who does not mingle with the unwise, the foolish ways of human understanding, but isolates himself from them, seeks the wisdom that comes from God. This should be the desire of our hearts, whether he is selfish is slightly up for interpretation. The original word implies a longing. If we long for God and his wisdom rather than for man and his wisdom we might well be unconsidered unfriendly. Although we make some arguments about the King James version and its old style of language, it does make this second concept plausible.

Prov 18:1

1 Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom.

KJV

Because we separate ourselves from others, from the world, we then seek and intermeddleth with all wisdom. There is some discussion in our mind as to what this interemeddleth means. One concordance sees it as obstinate, which would then make the first idea correct. The other Greek lexicon sees this word as to disclose or lay bare. This would imply that as we separate ourselves from the world and seek God, we lay bare all wisdom, we are exposed to the wisdom of God. Certainly from our studies in the New Testament we know we should not be unequally yoke. That is we should not partnership with unbelievers. This certainly would imply in the material sense, as being in business partnership with them or in the sense of spiritual or intimate conduct such as marriage or behaviors of a physical nature. But it would also indicate that we should not partnership or be unequally yoke with their wisdom. The first Psalm makes that clear.

Ps 1:1

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners

NIV

So then should we not be friendly with the world so that we can focus on God? Of course we are to be friendly with them in order to share the gospel with them. But the idea here is about what kind of wisdom we want. The idea this translation conveys is that by being isolated we defy sound judgment. But then sound judgment might also mean that judgement the world considers sound. Either way we know without a doubt that we should not reflect the world, but rather we should reflect God. If that means we are unfriendly with the world in order to seek our selfish ambition to know God, then let us defy that sound judgment of humanity.