Lessons from Proverbs
To be perfectly honest Proverbs is one of my least favorite books of the Bible. I know it’s full of wisdom, pithy sayings, and an enormous amount of topics, consequently, that’s why it’s hard to read. Now, the first nine chapters are easy and I can sink my teeth into them, however, the rest of the book seems to bounce around like Mexican jumping beans!
First of all, it’s not God’s fault: it’s mine. I haven’t understood King Solomon’s writing styles enough to recognize and appreciate them. Literary techniques, like poetry, are used to keep the reader’s attention and intensify their writings, therefore, Proverbs uses many of them to help us understand the deeper meaning.
Lessons from Proverbs will cover techniques like comparing and contrasting, parallelism, word-plays, discourse, parables, and personification because the Hebrew word for proverb includes all of those techniques. So, let’s dive into the Hebrew word we translate proverb: mashal
Mashal has a wide sweep of meaning that includes using words that represent or are like other words. For example, “What’s motorcycle riding like?” It’s like power at your fingertips, it’s like traveling as fast as the wind, get the picture? These metaphors use comparing and contrasting to convey meaning: what something is like. Mashal can also be a parable; Jesus loved telling lower stories in order to convey an upper story.
Then Jesus said, “What is the Kingdom of God like? How can I illustrate it? It is like a tiny mustard seed that a man planted in a garden; it grows and becomes a tree, and the birds make nests in its branches.” Luke 13:18-19 NLT
Mashal can also use parallelism, a fancy word for lines of similar ideas that help you understand and get the picture quicker and easier.
The way of the godly leads to life; that path does not lead to death. Proverbs 12:28 NLT
The second meaning for this word-play on mashal is the idea of ruling and reigning. The Hebrew language loves double meanings and this one wins the prize for me. We find this word in Gen. 1:16-18 when God created two great lights: the greater light to rule the day and the lesser to rule the night. The concept of having dominion, mastering, or having ruling power is within this word. Again, in Gen. 4:7b God spoke to Cain, “… sin is crouching at the door. It’s desire is for you but you must rule over it.”
Lessons from Proverbs and especially Jesus’ parables both teach us how to live a victorious life in God’s upper story: His Kingdom now. They teach us, using a variety of methods, to stay interested and challenged but also how to rule in life, master it’s temptations, and take charge in the power of the Holy Spirit. God’s plan from the beginning, to make mankind in His own image, was for dominion or mashal over Satan and He uses proverbs to help us win the battles.
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