Verses 1-29
CHAPTER 22 Instructions Continued
Better than great riches, better than silver and gold is a name and loving favor. If a person has riches and a bad name and is not well thought of, he is less honorable than the poor man who has a name and good reputation. In Ecclesiastes, Solomon says: “A good name is better than precious ointment” Ecclesiastes 7:11). The third verse has a wise message: “The prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself, but the simple pass on, and suffer for it.” The Lord has revealed in His Word the evil which is in store for the sinner and the impenitent. He also has prepared a hiding place, an ark of safety, in His Son, our Lord. The prudent believeth the Word and flees to the refuge; the simple, the unbelieving, pass on and suffer for it when the evil comes. Humility and the fear of the Lord has a reward, while thorns and snares are in the way of the froward. sowing and reaping is found in Proverbs 22:8 and Proverbs 22:9. He that soweth iniquity reaps vanity, or calamity; he that has a bountiful eye, who looks upon the poor and needy with kindness and supplies their wants reaps blessing. In Proverbs 22:11 we read, “He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be hisfriend.” In such, whose hearts are pure and whose words are gracious, the Lord, the King, delights.
Beginning with Proverbs 22:18 we find another call to hear, and to apply the heart to His knowledge: “For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee, they shall withal be fitted in thy lips. That thy trust may be in the LORD, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee.” This is the personal message to Solomon by the Lord, heeded by him for many years and finally disobeyed.
The proverb of Proverbs 22:28 : “Remove not the ancient landmarks, which thy father has set,” is a restatement of Deuteronomy 19:14. It is repeated in Proverbs 23:10. In Job 24:2 we read “Some remove the landmarks.” These landmarks were for Israel sacred things, for their possessions were staked off according to the Lord’s will; to meddle with them was a transgression. While Israel, God’s earthly people had landmarks, God’s heavenly people also has landmarks of the heavenly realm, the blessed doctrines of the Word of God, which constitute the faith once and for all delivered unto the saints. And how man removes these landmarks in our day! How true it is, “Some remove the landmarks,” that which our fathers cherished, believed and trusted in. The rationalist, the ritualist and the delusionist do it constantly and thus destroy the foundation upon which everything rests.