Tuesday in the 25th Week of Ordinary Time, September 20, 2022

Proverbs 21, 1-6; 10-13

Like a stream is the king’s heart in the hand of the Lord; wherever it pleases him, he directs it.

All the ways of a man may be right in his own eyes, but it is the Lord who proves hearts.

To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

Haughty eyes and a proud heart– the tillage of the wicked is sin.

The plans of the diligent are sure of profit, but all rash haste leads certainly to poverty.

Whoever makes a fortune by a lying tongue is chasing a bubble over deadly snares.

The soul of the wicked man desires evil; his neighbor finds no pity in his eyes.

When the arrogant man is punished, the simple are the wiser; when the wise man is instructed, he gains knowledge.

The just man appraises the house of the wicked: there is one who brings down the wicked to ruin.

He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor will himself also call and not be heard.

The great cultures of the ancient world have bestowed on their descendants a rich trove of wisdom, mostly composed in collections of proverbs.  The proverb belongs to a literary genre of its own kind, characterized by concision and deep perception of the world and its workings.  Often, everyday situations are presented with a statement that seems obvious on its face but which reveals a deeper meaning upon reflection.  The proverbs left us by peoples such as the Egyptians and Sumerians sometimes reference their gods, but on the whole they are not religious.  The proverbs of the Jews, such as those contained in the biblical Book of Proverbs, are related to living in such a way as to please God, derived from the principle that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9, 10).  The  Book of Proverbs personifies wisdom and identifies her as the daughter of the Most High, and the most ancient of his creations: “The mountains, with their huge bulk, had not as yet been established: before the hills, I was brought forth” (Proverbs 8, 25).  Wisdom was present at the creation of the universe: “I was with him forming all things: and was delighted every day, playing before him at all times” (Proverbs 8, 35).  And while Wisdom is associated with Almighty God, she herself says, “My delights are to be with the children of men” (Proverbs 8, 31).  We share in the life of God by applying his gift of wisdom to our lives.  

“Like a stream is the king’s heart in the hand of the Lord; wherever it pleases him, he directs it.”  Proverbs often used rulers as their subjects.  This may reflect the fact that many proverbs were written for the benefit of rulers.  In this proverb, the sage speaks of the ease with which the Lord directs the king’s heart, but anyone hearing this proverb knows that the hearts of rulers are often set against each other or their subjects.  But that person is king who makes himself the servant of the Lord, just as Jesus came not to be served but to serve, though he is the King of kings.  The true servant of the Lord gives his heart entirely to the Lord so that the Lord may direct without hindrance.

“All the ways of a man may be right in his own eyes, but it is the Lord who proves hearts.”  We justify all that we do even when we know it is wrong: I was forced to do it; I had no choice; it was the lesser of two evils; and so on.  But God “proves” hearts: he will reveal all things at the final judgment so that we and all other can recognize the evil we committed in the name of good.

“To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.”
This is paraphrased by a scribe who was adding on to the Lord’s answer to his question about the greatest commandment: “And to love one’s neighbour as one’s self is a greater thing than all holocausts and sacrifices” (Mark 12, 23).  The sacrifice in the proverb is that of the Temple.  For us who believe in the Lord Jesus, the true imitation of his life is itself a sacrifice of our own.

“Haughty eyes and a proud heart– the tillage of the wicked is sin.”  That is, the crops that arise from haughtiness and pride are sin and lead others into sin.

“The plans of the diligent are sure of profit, but all rash haste leads certainly to poverty.”  This proverb lays the foundation for the Lord’s saying about builders who construct towers without knowing whether they have enough money or kings who go to battle without enough troops.  In the spiritual life, we must be willing to give ourselves up entirely to God or we will never possess him.  If we expect to possess God without sacrifice, we will fail.  We must ask ourselves: Am I going to be a Christian or not?

“Whoever makes a fortune by a lying tongue is chasing a bubble over deadly snares.”  Our lies will always catch up with us, for once we begin to lie we cannot stop.  And we will always live in dread of being exposed. Meanwhile, the fortune we thought we had acquired for ourselves melts away.  The bubble pops on the snares we have unwittingly laid for ourselves.

“The soul of the wicked man desires evil; his neighbor finds no pity in his eyes.”  We must be prudent in this world and not expect everyone who appears to convert to do so in fact, or to expect that a wicked man will somehow act kindly in some instance or other.  The devil never takes pity and never lets up.  His promises always lead to disaster.  He at no time has our interests at heart.  All the same, people fall for him all the time.  We must beware of them.

“When the arrogant man is punished, the simple are the wiser; when the wise man is instructed, he gains knowledge.”  The “simple” are the uneducated and often lack much self-control.  The sight of an arrogant man being punished tells them that they must avoid arrogance, for anyone, even the simple, may become arrogant.  The wise man knows how little he truly knows and so avoids arrogance.  His careful study of wisdom and of the human race profits him with knowledge.  

“The just man appraises the house of the wicked: there is one who brings down the wicked to ruin.”  The last part of this proverb is more literally and clearly translated, “overthrowing the wicked to their ruin”.  The righteous man looks over the position of the wicked man and “overthrows” it by countering it with justice.  We can understand this as the Lord God who came down to “see” the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah and determine whether to destroy these cities, which he did.  We can also understand this as the Lord Jesus who came down to “appraise” the kingdom Satan had established on earth by enslaving human beings to sin, which he overthrew utterly by his Passion and Death.

“He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor will himself also call and not be heard.”  This brings to mind the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, and we recall the terrible but completely avoidable fate of the Rich Man.

A diligent perusal of the Book of Proverbs yields many delights and helps us to live every day the will of God.