Posted on 01/16/2022 9:58:59 PM PST by Pilgrim's Progress
“Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices with strife” (Proverbs 17:1 KJV).
The “fool” is mentioned nine times in this chapter, more than in any other place. Verse one is another one of those axioms of life (12:4, 14:1, 15:17, 21:9, 19). Now there is a life of peace for you! It is better to have nothing, or little of nothing, and yet have peace than a life of strife—fighting, fussing, and feuding—that’s the way some folks homes are. “It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house” (Proverbs 21:9 KJV). You’re better off to have a good marriage and have nothing, then to have one of these big houses with all the big payments, and all the big trouble over finances, and all the trouble they get into to have all that mess.
“Better is a dry morsel,” now you know what that is? That’s a hunk of hard bread with no bread and nothing to drink. But that is better than a “house full of sacrifices.” Now, a Jew wanted a house full of sacrifices. That’s all the animals he ever needed. I don’t know if you want to raise cattle or not, Abraham did, Lot had them. Imagine having all the meat you could ever want, all the choicest meats, with plenty to sacrifice and plenty to eat. But what good is all that junk if you can’t enjoy life?
That’s all Solomon is saying. What good is all that stuff if you don’t really enjoy it. Obviously, this is talking about a rich Jewish home with animals and meal. Not only talking about sacrifices, in the sense of animals, but there were sacrifices like the meal offering where they offer all sorts of grains. It’s more than having animals, it’s having more than you could want and more. The Pharisees had all that stuff and when they cast in their offerings, they gave from their abundance. But they didn’t have quietness therewith.
The Christian home can have peace and maybe prosperity if God is obeyed. There is only one way to have peace in the home. You have to steadfastly go by God’s principles in the home.
“Submit yourselves one to another in the fear of the Lord” (Ep 5:21). It is not just the woman being a slave. The father is to submit himself to the children in the sense of “time,” in the sense of a parent’s “love,” and in the sense of what they “need.” The husband ought to submit to his wife, “dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife” (I Pe 3:7). Some men don’t know the first thing about a woman and they could care less, and when they get home, she is his wife—and she is supposed to do the cleaning and the cooking, and that’s it. There’s more to it than that, man! A wife is a human being, they have feelings, they have emotions, they have desires, they have needs, they have potential, and they have limits! And most husbands are very good at finding them, to their own hurt.
Now, when it comes to the direction of the home and the final authority, the man is the head of the home and the wife needs to be in subjection—and the children need to be in obedience to the man and the wife. And that is the principle for peace. But if there is a 50/50 marriage (not a 100/100) there will be no peace, and all kinds of trouble.
If anyone would like to be added to the ping list, please let me know either by post or by p.m.
For more books on all topics of the Bible, visit my web site at:
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.