Posted on 09/21/2020 6:14:52 AM PDT by Pilgrim's Progress
“The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them; because they refuse to do judgment. The way of man is froward and strange: but as for the pure, his work is right. It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house” (Proverbs 21:7-9).
“The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them,” there is more than one way to rob somebody. You can stick a gun in their ribs and take all their money, which is one way to do it; or you can tell them that you have a product that they need and can’t do without and must have it. You can talk them into buying it even though you know it is nothing what you claim it to be. Of course, they don’t call that robbery; they call it advertising. Same end, just a different name. There is more than one way to rob someone.
Now, there are religious robbers out there. They tell people that they can heal them, or they tell them that they have special spiritual answers for them if they will just put so much money in the plate. You have palm readers, mostly down south. They have their shops set up in their homes. It’s funny how they prey on poor people, but they do. They well sell you some spiritual enlightenment for a sum of money. These are other forms of robbery.
People that generally want something the easy way, or something for nothing, are easy marks for conmen. A man cannot be conned if he isn’t looking for an easy buck.
“The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them [they reap what they sow]; because they refuse to do judgment.”
“The way of man is froward and strange: but as for the pure, his work is right.”
“The way of man is froward and strange,” it isn’t strange and perverse to man, for “all the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes” (Proverbs 16:2). It is strange in consideration of the way that God made man.
“. . . but as for the pure, his work is right,” it is not strange to God, for it is known to God. The “pure” in the Old Testament for those that kept the Law, performed the sacrifices, and did what God told them to do. The pure in the New Testament are a little bit different: “And put no difference between us [the Jews] and them [the Gentiles], purifying their hearts by faith” (Acts 15:9). This is a purification by faith. When a person believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, God purifies that heart. When a Christian’s heart gets all fouled up with sin, the “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:9).
First of all, purity comes from believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, and then secondly, purity is maintained by a regular confession of sins to God, pleasing the Blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse us. Notice the absence of any kind of mediator in this matter. We are privileged to go straight to the alter of grace without the intercession of a human priest of any sort.
“It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.”
Verse 9 and 19 have the same thought. Jewish homes were built with a patio-type arrangement on the top of their houses with a parapet surrounding them to prevent people from accidentally falling off the side. They were open to the elements, but Solomon says it is better to sit out in the storms and rain than inside the house with a brawling wife.
Most Americans have a broad dwelling and a brawling broad.
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There are THREE proverbs talking about living with a contentious woman. Hmm...
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