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“The king by judgment establisheth the land”

(Pro 29:1-9)

[Study Aired May 14, 2026]

Pro 29:1  He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.
Pro 29:2  When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.
Pro 29:3  Whoso loveth wisdom rejoiceth his father: but he that keepeth company with harlots spendeth his substance.
Pro 29:4  The king by judgment establisheth the land: but he that receiveth gifts overthroweth it.
Pro 29:5  A man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet.
Pro 29:6  In the transgression of an evil man there is a snare: but the righteous doth sing and rejoice.
Pro 29:7  The righteous considereth the cause of the poor: but the wicked regardeth not to know it.
Pro 29:8  Scornful men bring a city into a snare: but wise men turn away wrath.
Pro 29:9  If a wise man contendeth with a foolish man, whether he rage or laugh, there is no rest.

The true pattern of a Christian life that God’s elect are called to recognize is one of judgement that is upon the household of God (1Pe 4:17). The first thing we learn of in the churches of this world that we are first drawn into, to then come out of, is that we need only confess our sins one time and voila, you are a shoe-in for the first resurrection, giving license to a potential lifetime of licentious behaviour because Christ did everything on the cross for us (1Co 2:2, 1Co 3:1), leaving us nothing to fill up of what is behind of His afflictions (Col 1:24).

The truth is that the elect are represented by the few (Mat 22:14) typified by the scapegoat that must go through a wilderness experience at the hand of Christ the fit man, or author and finisher of our faith who will make us ready to be saviours that come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau with Christ (Oba 1:21, Lev 16:10)

Lev 16:10  But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.

Apprehension of this blessed gift of being in the first resurrection is on our fleshly terms at first, and denies the need for a lifelong process of overcoming, and dying daily, and enduring to the end (1Co 15:31, Mat 24:13).

These opening proverbs of chapter 29 struck me as being very clear on the point that only Christ can establish our kingship and potential future rulership under Him (Rev 5:10).

Rev 5:10  And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

In order for that to happen we must be convinced that we are of the generation who have no confidence in the flesh and then we can be found with His righteousness within us if God permit (Php 3:3, Php 3:9) having been apprehended by Christ to that end (Php 3:11-14), which is just another way of saying that we have been sealed by the holy spirit of God and no one can take us out of our Father’s hands (Eph 1:13).

Php 3:11  If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
Php 3:12  Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. (Christ is the means to the end, He is the one who apprehends us as the author and finisher of our faith Php 2:12-13)
Php 3:13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

There will come a time as it did in Paul’s life and all those who the Lord is working with, where our confidence in what God can do in us will cause us to abound with the faith that Christ prayed for the elect to have (Rev 22:11, 1Ti 1:15-16, Luk 17:10, Php 2:12-13, Luk 22:32). There is an outward and inward application that speaks to the points in these verses (Rev 22:11, and 1Ti 1:15-16) and as we mature in Christ we will see more clearly how we have nothing to offer to God and that trials and judgement will be upon us until our last breath as it was upon Christ’s flesh (1Jn 4:17). This realization should be a great encouragement for us, knowing that He who has begun this work in us will finish it through Christ (Rom 5:10).

Rev 22:11  He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

1Ti 1:15  This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
1Ti 1:16  Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy (Rom 11:30-32), that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.

Rom 5:10  For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

When we clearly see that we bring nothing to the altar, we are acknowledging by those convictions that my unjust flesh is going to remain unjust still and filthy to my last breath, but God’s elect will also be blessed to acknowledge and recognize that His righteousness within us has remained still, and His holiness has remained still, in us to our last breath (Rev 22:11). That conviction is what grows in our lives despite our shortcomings, that only need to be confessed and they will be forgiven (1Jn 2:1-2).

It is because of the judgement, the fiery trials of our life (1Pe 4:12-13), that we cease from sinning (1Pe 4:1-2, Tit 2:12-13) and continue on fulfilling the will of God, and all of that is only possible because of our hope of glory within, Jesus Christ (our hope by which we are saved is tied into the tokens of our afflictions, our filling up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ Col 1:24, Col 1:27).

Paul came to a point where he was persuaded that nothing could separate him from the love of God and because of a lifetime of suffering, and not otherwise, his confidence soared regarding the faith of Christ within him that convicted him that he could be more that a conqueror through Him (2Ti 4:7, Col 1:24, Mat 16:2-3).

2Ti 4:7  I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
2Ti 4:8  Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

In the early stages of our walk we experience ‘red skies in the morning’ and are told to ‘take warning’, this taking warning means, arm yourself with the mind of Christ (1Pe 4:1, Mat 24:6) because we are in a spiritual battle that is going to require fiery trials (1Pe 4:12), and Psalm 107 storms that will bring us to our wits’ end, but God will be faithful to bring us to our safe haven Jesus Christ every time (Joh 6:44).

1Pe 4:1  Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;

Mat 24:6  And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

The latter part of our life is the second part of that proverb or parable found in (Mat 16:2-3) that we’re discussing, where Christ says ‘red sky at night is a sailor’s delight’. Yes we delight ourselves in the Lord (Php 4:4) because we know that although we are promised red skies at night, meaning wars in our heavens, and rumours thereof (Mat 24:6), we have at this point matured enough to realize and rejoice in the faithful Creator in whose life we have committed our souls, regardless of the trials and thorns in our flesh which we now know are needful and necessary to grow and go unto maturity in this life. They are a token for us of His working in our lives (1Pe 4:18-19, 2Th 1:5).

Php 4:4  Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
1Pe 4:19  Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

2Th 1:5  Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:

Let’s look at these proverbs with the thought that we are more than conquerors through Christ (Rom 8:37) who is in charge of the whole process of our salvation, and is giving us the power to be set free from sin (Joh 8:36), as we lose whatever fleshly attributes that have to be put off (Mat 18:9) in order to gain this great prize of being in that blessed and holy first resurrection (Rev 20:6).

Pro 29:1  He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.

We all are like hardened criminals at first, whose repentance is insincere because we still haven’t been set free from the sin in question (Joh 8:36), and that being proved or made evident by the ongoing need to be reproved for any particular giant in our land that continues to keep showing up.

The hope of our calling is in Christ, who at the appointed time, will bring sudden destruction upon the man of perdition within our members (2Th 2:3-8), truly setting us free from the sin, so that there is remedy, healing, which is the means by which this sin will not come back to dominate our lives as it did for an appointed time (Gen 6:3-4). That’s the true gospel that is hidden from the world, and is the deepest lesson that God is going to teach all of humanity starting with His children first typified by Joseph (Gen 45:5).

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

Gen 6:3  And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
Gen 6:4  There were giants in the earth in those days;(1Co 10:13) and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

Gen 45:5  Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.

Pro 29:2  When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.

Inwardly we mourn, we sigh and cry because of wickedness that bears rule for a season in our heavens, and God causes those conditions for His people today so that we have contrast drawn in our hearts to compare against the fruit of the spirit that gives us victory over those unprofitable works of darkness that must be exposed by the brightness of Christ’s coming into our lives (Eph 5:11-12, Rom 6:21).

Eph 5:11  And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
Eph 5:12  For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.

Rom 6:21  What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.

Pro 29:3  Whoso loveth wisdom rejoiceth his father: but he that keepeth company with harlots spendeth his substance.

Again we need to think of the fruit of our lives in times past, our former conversation to understand how we kept company with harlots, meaning the churches of Babylon who rejected the wisdom of Christ. Our Father was not rejoicing in our Babylonian captivity but knew it was necessary to draw the needed contrast between that time in our lives when we spent all our inheritance from our Father upon the harlot systems of this church world (Luk 15:13). It takes a miracle to come out of her my people and then to begin to rejoiceth our Father with the acceptance that we now have with Christ within us and His wisdom that He gives us so that we can give back to Him that which was his all along (1Ch 29:14).

Luk 15:13  And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

1Ch 29:14  But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.

Pro 29:4  The king by judgment establisheth the land: but he that receiveth gifts overthroweth it.

Christ is our king and he will establish our land which is our bodies in the “acceptable year of the Lord” (Luk 4:18-19). ‘Receiving gifts’ in this proverb is what overthrows the faith of some, and those gifts come in the form of the vain babblings of Babylon that promise liberty when there is none to be had (2Ti 2:16-19, 2Pe 2:18-19, Luk 4:18).

Luk 4:18  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Luk 4:19  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

2Ti 2:16  But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
2Ti 2:17  And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;
2Ti 2:18  Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.
2Ti 2:19  Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.(2Th 2:7, Eze 33:13)

2Pe 2:18  For when they speak great swelling words of vanity [self righteous iniquity 2Th 2:7, Eze 33:13], they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.
2Pe 2:19  While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.

Pro 29:5  A man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet.

We can connect the word flattery, “flattereth”, with these two verses (Pro 6:24, Job 17:5), to give us a greater sense of what is being discussed. It’s the flattery of a “strange woman”, the churches of this world that preach smooth things that seduces the flesh into believing another Jesus, and another gospel. The “the eyes of his children shall fail” of the one who speaks flattery to friends, is a reminder that our doctrines, which are likened unto children, are going to fail us and cause spiritual blindness to only deepen in Babylon (Mat 6:23, Mat 23:15).

Pro 6:24  To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.

Job 17:5  He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.

Mat 6:23  But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

Pro 29:6  In the transgression of an evil man there is a snare: but the righteous doth sing and rejoice.

A sinful life brings with it a spirit that ensnares the one who is a slave to sin (Joh 8:34-36), and a snare to the one who is not discerning of the other life that is in bondage (Jud 1:23-25).

Jud 1:23  And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
Jud 1:24  Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
Jud 1:25  To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (2Co 3:17), as long as we don’t use that liberty as an occasion to sin (Gal 5:13), and so we must be ever vigilant in examining ourselves whether we are in the faith or not (2Co 13:5). This daily examination is being accomplished by our hope of glory within (Php 2:12-13, Col 1:27), which is what will bring us to “sing and rejoice”(Php 4:4)

2Co 3:17  Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

Gal 5:13  For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

Php 4:4  Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

Pro 29:7  The righteous considereth the cause of the poor: but the wicked regardeth not to know it.

Christ in us brings us to be genuinely concerned for one another as a joint that supplies in love (Rom 5:5-6, Eph 4:16).

We can still be looking only to our own needs and not that of others, “the wicked regardeth not to know”, and when we do that, we are robbing ourselves of tithes and offerings, meaning we are robbing ourselves of the opportunity to do good unto all men and especially unto the household of faith who we must be provoking unto love and good works (Heb 10:24-25).

Heb 10:24  And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
Heb 10:25  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

God’s compassion working within us motivates us and gives us the desire to do what is right and to overcome what is wrong, “The righteous considereth the cause of the poor”. Without his spirit shed abroad in our hearts (Rom 5:5-6), our lives remain very spiritually unfulfilled because they are focused on self and not laying down our life for one another as Christ our example did (Act 20:35).

Rom 5:5  And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
Rom 5:6  For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

Heb 10:24  And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
Heb 10:25  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

Act 20:35  I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Pro 29:8  Scornful men bring a city into a snare: but wise men turn away wrath.

The ‘city brought into a snare’ represents the church, and these verses that use that word “scornful” establish this point, (Isa 28:14, Pro 1:22). Wise men turn away wrath that comes from a scornful person by disassociating ourselves with them (Psa 1:1).

Isa 28:14  Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.

Pro 1:22  How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?

Psa 1:1  Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

Pro 29:9  If a wise man contendeth with a foolish man, whether he rage or laugh, there is no rest.

If you find yourself in this situation it is somewhat of a diverse temptation that God has given you to exercise patience (Jas 1:2-3). With God’s help, with the holy spirit leading, us we can be ready to give an answer in these situations or not give an answer (Pro 26:4-5, Pro 26:11-12), which is in itself an answer to a foolish man, and “whether he rage or laugh, there is no rest”. So don’t expect to change that person, but rather let God do the dragging and converting after you have sown the mandatory two witnesses to that person (Tit 3:10).

Jas 1:2  My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
Jas 1:3  Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

Pro 26:4  Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.
Pro 26:5  Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.

Pro 26:11  As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.
Pro 26:12  Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.

Tit 3:10  A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;

The inward application of this verse applies to the way that we can overcome the powers and principalities that we war against in our heavens and that Christ is far higher than. The solution against the fiery darts of Satan is to quench them with the faith of Christ (Eph 6:16), and when we do this God will give us the power to follow these commands that we take into battle every day (Mat 5:25).

Eph 6:16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

Mat 5:25  Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.