Anybody hankering after life, prosperity and honour?

Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor. (Proverbs 21:21, NIV)

The collection of aphorisms (sayings) that make up the Old Testament book of Proverbs are seldom used as bases for sermons. Perhaps it’s because the conventions of these aphorisms—how they were used to teach and learn—are not as authoritative in our eyes as are direct admonitions, like Micah 6:8, “…and what does the LORD require of you? To act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

Righteousness and love are the prerequisites for life, prosperity and honour in Proverbs 21:21. It’s more than an admonition here; it’s phrased as a promise … but life has told us that nothing is that certain in reality. Our world has a tendency to distribute prosperity and honour to even the unrighteous and the misanthrope. In fact, in our time the proverb might well read, “Deceitfulness and insensitivity toward others are necessary if you’re to achieve prosperity and respect.”

“Whoever loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and olive oil will never be rich (Proverbs 21:17, NIV)” Here’s another promise, this one clarifying why I am not now and never will be rich; I love both wine and olive oil, you see. And what’s not to love about pleasure, I ask you.

We sometimes make the mistake of distinguishing falsely between literal reading and a more nuanced variety. Proverbs can be a lesson for us, particularly in that we mis-define literal. Literal really means to take the writer or speaker as the writer or speaker intended to be understood. A literal reading of “My neighbour is a pig” is to understand that the neighbour is sloppy and careless, not that he lives in a pigsty, goes “oink” and eats slop. The problem with what we often call literal reading of the Bible is the propensity to apply our meaning to a passage without wrestling with what the writer intended. Reading as if it was written to us in our culture and in our language conventions. It wasn’t.

The Proverbs were not written to be taken as literal promises; the collection poses in often graphic but simple terms the connections between righteous living (justly, lovingly, humbly) and the creature-desires of the human heart (life, prosperity, honour). I sometimes think of Proverbs as a parent making causes and consequences clear to a child. “If you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” Or even those with a promise: “Whenever you lie, your nose will grow a bit longer.” Like Proverbs, these are pointers in the direction of righteousness (justice, love, humility). They need to be understood as intended.

As Christians, we often urge one another to read scripture. I question the value of reading it “cover to cover” in one year, for instance. To browse through a chapter verse by verse, mouthing each word internally, is not the level of reading that great literature deserves, the Bible not excluded. 

I have read the entire play, Julius Caesar in one sitting. I have also spent half a semester teaching it. To place playwright and play each in their context, to learn what’s meant by the idioms and figures of speech no longer in common use, to coordinate the play and the playwright with the political and religious conditions of their times can set the table for making Julius Caesar an educational, developmental, exciting, satisfying experience. The potential for shining a light on the lives of students today is immense. Poorly presented, it’s a recipe for boredom and resentment.

The same is true of Exodus, or John, or Acts of the Apostles.

“So we should be finished with the beginning lessons about Christ. We should not have to keep going back to where we started. We began our new life by turning away from the evil we did in the past and by believing in God. That’s when we were taught about baptisms, laying hands on people, the resurrection of those who have died, and the final judgment. Now we need to go forward to more mature teaching. And that’s what we will do if God allows (Hebrews 6:1-4, ETR).”