Audio Download

“A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches” Part 3

 “So make us know how to assign our days, That we may come to a heart of wisdom.”

(Pro 22:17-29)

[Study Aired December 18, 2025]

Pro 22:17  Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge.
Pro 22:18  For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips.
Pro 22:19  That thy trust may be in the LORD, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee.
Pro 22:20  Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge,
Pro 22:21  That I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth; that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee?
Pro 22:22  Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate:
Pro 22:23  For the LORD will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.
Pro 22:24  Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go:
Pro 22:25  Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.
Pro 22:26  Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts.
Pro 22:27  If thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee?
Pro 22:28  Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.
Pro 22:29  Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.

If we’re not humbled in this age, we will not “bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise”. However if God is working with us He will “make us know how to assign our days, That we may come to a heart of wisdom” (Psa 90:12 CLV). The symbolism of ‘bowing down our ears’ reminds us that it is through the church, or ‘the earth’ that we will hear the manifest knowledge of God, “the words of the wise” that are heard when we are granted to be humbled under His mighty hand (Jer 22:29, Eph 3:10, 1Co 1:30-31, 1Pe 5:6).

1Pe 5:6  Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

In this last section of Proverbs chapter 22, we will look at how the Lord is humbling His people so that we learn to listen carefully (Rev 1:3, Rev 22:19) to the wisdom that comes from the power of God and not by man’s wisdom (1Co 2:3-12).

1Co 2:3 And I came to be with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling,
1Co 2:4 and my word and my heralding were not with the persuasive words of human wisdom, but with demonstration of spirit and of power,
1Co 2:5 that your faith may not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

Rev 22:19  And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

Notice how Paul came to the Corinthians, “in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling”. Those conditions are what God is working in the lives of His people through the much tribulation of this life (Act 14:22) that makes it possible for us to inherit the Kingdom of God day by day within us (Luk 17:21), as we die daily and see His strength being perfected in that weakness (2Co 12:9).

Luk 17:21  Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

2Co 12:9  And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

God’s wisdom is given to His people, “graciously given to us by God”, that we may know what is right as we speak the truth with confidence (Act 4:31-32) and live justly in  our relationships with all men, following peace and holiness with all men “without which no man shall see the Lord” (Heb 12:13-14).

Heb 12:14  Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
Heb 12:15  Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

With the mind of Christ we are able to see how His word is written for us in this age, and discern the spiritual lessons that apply to the body of Christ as opposed to just seeing the practical knowledge at hand that has benefited many, including the unconverted who can be blessed by the natural lessons of God’s word, which precede the always-hidden and deeper spiritual meaning that has been given to those few who have eyes that see and ears that hear the truth, by God’s grace (Mat 13:11-13).

Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

Pro 22:17  Bow down^H5186 thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge.

The word “bow down”^H5186 is the same as the word “incline”^H5186 found in (Pro 2:1-5), revealing that there is an active ongoing hunger and thirst that God gives to those who are called to “hear the words of the wise”, and then once we hear those words we are to keep them or “apply thine heart unto my knowledge” (Rev 1:3).

Pro 2:1  My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;
Pro 2:2  So that thou incline^H5186 thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;
Pro 2:3  Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;
Pro 2:4  If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;
Pro 2:5  Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.

H5186 nâṭâh naw-taw’
A primitive root; to stretch or spread out; by implication to bend away (including moral deflection); used in a great variety of applications: –    + afternoon, apply, bow (down, -ing), carry aside, decline, deliver, extend, go down, be gone, incline, intend, lay, let down, offer, outstretched, overthrown, pervert, pitch, prolong, put away, shew, spread (out), stretch (forth, out), take (aside), turn (aside, away), wrest, cause to yield.
Total KJV occurrences: 214

Pro 22:18  For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips.
Pro 22:19  That thy trust may be in the LORD, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee.

Pro 22:18 For it will be pleasant when you keep them in your inner being, When they are established together on your lips.”
Pro 22:19 That your trust may come to be in Yahweh, I make them known to you today, indeed you.”[CLV]

God’s words need to be established on our lips, and this can only happen by continuing in the truth (Joh 8:32-36). If we are blessed to keep the words of God within us in this age, it will result in a very “pleasant” experience of knowing God and His Son Jesus Christ, whom God has sent, which is the definition of eternal life (Joh 17:3).

Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Joh 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Those words of God become “fitted in thy lips” or “established together on your lips” via the fiery trials that purify His words in our heavens (Isa 6:7). It takes not just knowing the word, or believing in God and Christ, but also experiencing the fiery trials of this life via God’s judgements upon our Adamic nature so that (Php 1:29, 1Pe 4:12, 1Pe 4:17) “thy trust may be in the LORD”. That is the miracle of the elect’s calling in this age and it is all made possible by the grace of God and the faith of Christ by which He has “made known to thee this day, even to thee”(Eph 2:8-10).

Php 1:29  For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Pro 22:20  Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge,
Pro 22:21  That I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth; that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee?

God has written excellent things in counsels and knowledge that we may become persuaded of the certainty of the words of truth (Rom 8:37-39).

Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (1Co 3:21-22)

Once we are persuaded of what God is doing in our lives, He sends us as He did Christ (Joh 20:21, Joh 3:17), to be the light of this world, to be saviours unto our God, and to bring salvation unto those that He sends to us (1Ti 4:16).

Joh 20:21  Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

1Ti 4:16  Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

In this age it will be very few who are chosen and remain faithful to the end (Mat 22:14), and yet we are instructed to pray for labourers and be hopeful in this day of small beginnings (Mat 9:37-38, Zec 4:10) that God has ordained so that in time all the world will be saved when saviours come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau (Oba 1:21).

Mat 22:14  For many are called, but few are chosen.

Mat 9:37  Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;
Mat 9:38  Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.(Joh 20:21, Joh 3:17)

Zec 4:10  For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.

Oba 1:21  And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.

Pro 22:22  Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate:
Pro 22:23  For the LORD will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.

Pro 22:22  Do not take away the property of the poor man because he is poor, or be cruel to the crushed ones when they come before the judge:
Pro 22:23 For the Lord will give support to their cause, and take the life of those who take their goods. [BBE]

Spiritually, we rob the poor when we try to take away what they think they have, spiritually, in this age, “Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate”. This proverb is a physical representation of that unlawful judgement of the oppressed at the gate which is where judgement was conducted in ancient times.

There will be a time when that will happen (Mat 13:11-12), and God’s mercy will be extended to the world through that judgement in the lake of fire (Rom 11:30-32).

Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
Mat 13:12  For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.

The same point is being made regarding oppressing the “afflicted in the gate”. All of this is to remind us that Christ has another fold that He takes care of (Joh 10:16), so we must walk very circumspectly in this evil world, and be wise as serpents and gentle as doves, being mindful of the spirit realm we are up against (Mat 10:16), and trusting that “the LORD will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them”.

Mat 10:16  Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. (Joh 20:21, Joh 3:17)

Pro 22:24  Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go:
Pro 22:25  Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.

These two verses are a continuation of thought from the previous verses, telling us that friendship with this world (Jas 4:4,  Mar 7:6-8), the church world of Babylon that we are called out of, is something we are to avoid, “Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul” (Jer 10:2-4, Gal 4:8-11).

Jas 4:4  Ye adulterers and adulteresses [spiritual adultery], know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

Mar 7:6  He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
Mar 7:7  Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Mar 7:8  For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.

Jer 10:2  Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
Jer 10:3  For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
Jer 10:4  They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.

Gal 4:8  Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
Gal 4:9  But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
Gal 4:10  Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
Gal 4:11  I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

Pro 22:26  Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts.
Pro 22:27  If thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee?

If we start with the physical explanation, the natural, we can then more easily see what the spiritual lesson is for God’s elect. Physically, these proverbs are talking about financial responsibility and risk. “Striking hands”  refers to the ancient practice of clasping hands to seal an agreement, much like the signing of a contract today.

“Sureties for debts” means guaranteeing or co-signing someone else’s loan  promising to pay if they cannot. The point being we should not carelessly put ourselves on the hook for someone else’s debt, and avoid financial commitments that depend on another person’s ability or willingness to repay. Verse 27 highlights the severity of putting yourself in a situation like this where the creditors can come and take away your physical possessions as a result of your forfeiting on the signed agreement to pay.

This proverb is not saying that we don’t bear each other’s burdens, but rather that everyman must bear his own burden, and we need to be circumspect in knowing how and when we do use the resources that God has given us, seeing they all belong to Him and he has called us to be good stewards of those resources (Gal 6:2,  Gal 6:5).

Gal 6:2  Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

Gal 6:5  For every man shall bear his own burden.

Another example of this point is how we can’t spiritually give our oil away to another, meaning we can’t give faith to another person. We preach the word in season and out, and we can ask the Lord to inspire us, but ultimately He is the one who gives the increase (1Co 3:6-7 ), so those words that we speak take effect in the lives of those who are indebted to God because of sin (1Pe 5:7-9). Only Christ can set us free from sin, and God’s word will not return void, so the labour and preaching is not in vain (Isa 55:11).

Isa 55:11  So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

With that in mind, we know that increase comes through fiery trials and so we read this sound advice that is continually needed for the body of Christ (1Co 3:6-7, Rev 3:18-19).

1Co 3:6  I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
1Co 3:7  So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Rev 3:19  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

This proverb is just another way of telling our brothers and sisters in Christ to pick up their own bed and work out their own salvation with fear and trembling, knowing it is Christ in us who is doing that work (Joh 5:8-9, Php 2:12-13).

Joh 5:8  Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.
Joh 5:9  And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.

Php 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.[“Rise, take up thy bed, and walk”]
Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Taking on the physical debt of another is synonymous with our taking away their cross and burden, negatively. Conversely there is a right way and time to bear the cross of another, even at great sacrifice and in doing so fulfilling the law of Christ, as we fill up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ for His body’s sake, the church (Jas 1:27, Joh 15:13, Col 1:24).

Jas 1:27  Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Joh 15:13  Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

Pro 22:28  Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.
Pro 22:29  Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.

The physical point in this proverb is that we are not to tamper with established boundaries handed down from previous generations. In ancient Israel, landmarks were physical boundary stones that marked family property. Moving them was a form of theft and injustice.

The spiritual boundaries of God’s work have been handed down from the prophets and the apostles, Christ being the chief corner stone (1Pe 2:4-8, Eph 2:20-22), who marks the landmarks in our hearts and minds. The land is our bodies in spiritual terms, and to change the position of God’s word, thinking above what is written (1Co 4:6), adding or taking away from God’s work is what “removing the ancient landmark” is symbolic of.(Rev 22:19)

1Pe 2:4  To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,
1Pe 2:5  Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
1Pe 2:6  Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
1Pe 2:7  Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,
1Pe 2:8  And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.

Eph 2:20  And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
Eph 2:21  In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
Eph 2:22  In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

Rev 22:19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city , and from the things which are written in this book

In order to preserve God’s word we must be “diligent in his business” (Joh 4:32), and then we will stand before kings, meaning we will stand before Christ in each other as stones of the field, and “the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee” and “he shall not stand before mean^{H2823 = obscure, insignificant, low} men”(Job 5:23). By God’s grace we have come to learn that “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold”. We are not worthy of ourselves to stand in the company of the King, but Christ in us is, God willing.

Joh 4:32  But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.

Job 5:23  For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.

Pro 22:29  Show me someone who does a good job, and I will show you someone who is better than most and worthy of the company of kings. (GNB)

Mat 10:38  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

Rev 3:4  Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.