Grace & Peace: Proverbs 28:23

At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

“Scornful men bring a city into a snare: But wise men turn away wrath.”

Proverbs 29:8

This proverb provides us with a good example of how parallelism can really flesh out the meaning of a proverb. In this one, the two halves of the proverb contrast with each other, and each side sheds light on its opposing half.

Scornful men bring a city into a snare, on the one hand, and on the other wise men turn away wrath. This is a contrast, and so we are learning that wise men are not scorners, and that scorners are not wise men. That is the first thing. The second is that when a city is ensnared, that is described as wrath, and the turning away of wrath is the city avoiding a snare. 

Scripture takes a dim view of what it calls mockers, or scoffers, or scorners. This does not mean that the wise man never mocks anything, because it is necessary to mock folly and every form of spiritual stupidity. We see multiple examples of this in Scripture, but one should suffice. The Lord Jesus goes on an epic takedown of pharisaical hypocrisy through the entire 23rd chapter of Matthew, and He doesn’t really stint. 

Those who do not like this kind of insightful analysis will frequently tell the godly to lay off, because nobody should ever, ever “sit in the seat of the scornful” (Ps. 1:1). But here is the thing. If we refuse to mock folly, we are not stepping into a world where there isn’t any mockery. What we are actually doing is stepping into a world where absolutely anything can be mocked and scorned—except for the sin that is currently in the ascendancy.

The city fills up with cynics and late night comedians, where everyone knows the price of everything and the value of nothing, and the city falls into a snare. And when the city falls into this sort of a snare, they are headed for the wrath of God. God may try to spare them, sending them wise men, but they are all told to shush.   

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At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

“He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him.”

Proverbs 28:22

There is a snare in wanting to get rich quickly. Wanting to accumulate wealth over the course of forty or fifty years is a normal, healthy, and well-adjusted desire. The person in that position is wanting to do things God’s way, and is cultivating the virtue of patience. Someone who is a short term thinker is someone who is trying to make it all happen now. 

The proverb here says that the person who is hasty about getting rich has “an evil eye.” This is a Hebrew idiom for a covetous, envious, or greedy person. It is an eye that is always glancing sideways at what the other fellow has. 

Because he is so busy looking at what others have, and which he wants to acquire quickly, he does not look ahead. Because he does not look ahead, he does not see what is coming for him. Poverty is coming for him. 

The haste creates more opportunities for mistakes. The haste creates an incentive for the person to cut corners, which in turn causes his partners in business to back away, or to avoid him entirely. In short, the short term gain comes with a long term loss. Penny wise, pound foolish. 

The thing he is so hasty to get away from is the very thing that he is causing to hasten toward him. He is hasty to get out of poverty, and is hastening the time when poverty will land on him. To refer to another proverb, that poverty will come on him like an armed thug. Not what he wanted, but when people tried to tell him, tried to warn him, he was too hasty to listen. 

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At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

“A poor man that oppresseth the poor is like a sweeping rain which leaveth no food.”

Proverbs 28:3

Oppressing the poor is always wrong, always sinful, but there are certain occasions when it is also suicidal. When a rich man takes advantage of the poor, he is seeking to make God his enemy, as the Word declares in many places. James gives us just one example: “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you . . . Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter” (James 5:1, 4–5).

But rich people are not the only sinners in the world. When poor people oppress poor people, this proverb say, it is simply desolation. And desolation is desolation for everybody. 

This sin is sinful, certainly, but there is no real logic to it. It is sinful, and it is also lunacy. Say that a police officer shoots a black man in the inner city, and the subsequent riots burn out any number of black-owned businesses. This is simply rage, and the rage of man never did anything sensible or worthwhile. The neighborhood where all the police officers live carries on peacefully. 

Another example is when poor people police their own, not allowing anyone to be seen as getting ahead. Like crabs in a bucket, if one starts to make an escape, the others pull him back. This happens because one of the chains that keeps many poor people poor is the the chain of envy. If someone starts to make it, they have to hide the fact that they are making it—or they have to disappear quickly. 

In many poor regions of the world, there is plenty of wealth above ground, but it cannot afford to be seen in public. But if it can’t be seen in public, then it cannot be put to use in the task of blessing everyone. 

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At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

“When righteous men do rejoice, there is great glory: But when the wicked rise, a man is hidden.”

Proverbs 28:12

In the life of nations, we frequently see oscillations between the times when the righteous are in control, and the times when the wicked hold the reins. Now of course, because this is a fallen world, we never see righteous rule that is absolute. Neither do we see times of absolute depravity. 

Nevertheless, there is a marked distinction between the righteous and the wicked, and the people can tell the difference—despite the propaganda. 

This proverb tells us that righteous men can see and identify when the rule is good. When they see that the trajectory of a particular policy is going to be very good, they rejoice over the fact. And when they rejoice, that generation enjoys great glory. Righteousness in the rule of a nation has ramifications. In a moment, we will compare it to the ramifications of the other kind of rule.

When the wicked are in the ascendancy, men go into hiding. Not only do they go into hiding, so does their wealth, their livelihood. When the Midianites were in charge, that was the time when Gideon thought it wise to thresh his crop in the wine vat. He was doing that to keep his sustenance from a predatory government. When the wicked rule, the innocent hide. 

So why is there great glory when the righteous rule? The answer is that people come out of hiding. When they come out of hiding, they can work productively, in the broad light of day, and not worry about the fruit of their labors being seized. 

This means that there is a difference between riches that have been seized and wealth that has been produced. In his wonderful book The Mystery of Capital, Hernando de Soto showed how many impoverished countries are in that condition because of how their envy-driven policies prevent all the wealth that is above ground from going to work on behalf of the people. But those who possess that kind of wealth are not going to invest it when the wicked have risen. And so everyone suffers. 

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