In today’s world, we are offered a lot of options. If we don’t have cash to purchase something, we can put it on a credit card; we just have to come up with the money later to pay for it with interest.
Solomon began this chapter with such choices. “A dry crust eaten in peace is better than steak every day along with argument and strife.” (Verse 1). “Love forgets mistakes; nagging about them parts the best of friends. A rebuke to a man of common sense is more effective than a hundred lashes on the back of a rebel.” (Verse 9-10). “It is safer to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool caught in his folly.” (Verse 12). “It is hard to stop a quarrel once it is started, so don’t let it begin.” (Verse 14).
Solomon in verse 15 gives us an illustration of life and politics today. “The Lord despises those who say that bad is good and good is bad.” Some people even redefine words or events so as to make something wrong as right and vice-versa. For example: (1) “An abortion is a private decision between a woman and her doctor; it isn’t taking a human life.” (2) “It’s okay to steal as long as it is under a certain value.” (3) “It’s alright to lie as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone.” (4) He even goes expressly to politics in verse 26. “How short sighted to fine the godly for being good! And to punish nobles for being honest.”
But Solomon doesn’t just deal with the negative. In verse 6, he wrote, “An old man’s grandchildren are his crowning glory. A child’s glory is his father.” He went on to say in the final verse, “A man of few words and settled mind is wise. . .”