March 18 ▪ Day 77

Scripture Readings

Proverbs 13:15
Exodus 23–24
Luke 6
Psalms 77

Verse Focus (Proverbs 13:15)

Good judgment wins favor,
     but the way of the unfaithful leads to their destruction.

Meditation

Our verse focus today, Proverbs 13:15, says in the NRSV, “Good sense wins favor, but the way of the faithless is their ruin.” This isn’t a proverb that I’ve spent much time thinking about previously, so I took a look at some of the other translations to see if I could gain insight that way. Good judgment, good sense, good understanding — the translations are all fairly similar. One translation says, “keen insight” and another says “intelligence,” but most say “good judgment.” This sound judgment wins “favor” (by far the frontrunner), although a few translations say “grace” and a couple say “respect.”

“Unfaithful” — again, this is what most translations say. But there’s also “treacherous,” “transgressors,” “liars,” and “untrustworthy.” Finally, the way of the faithless leads to “destruction,” “ruin,” or “disaster,” or their way is “hard,” “harsh,” “rough,” or “coarse.” One translation and its related version — outliers — both say, the way of the treacherous “never changes.” So there’s a little more variation with the second half of the proverb, although the difference in translation regarding the path of the unfaithful appears to be more a matter of degree than anything else.

So what does it mean to win favor? This verse reminds me of how Luke described Jesus’ growing-up years: “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man (Luke 2:52).” That’s what I think this favor is, too — favor with God, and favor with humans. Are we talking about blessing? What some might call good fortune, or lucky? To favor someone means to approve of them, or to support them, or to show them a kindness. To me, the idea of favor is a little nebulous. It’s harder for me to grasp what it means, practically. Perhaps because it’s expressed in a myriad of different ways, and favor for one person will look different than favor expressed to a different person. And I suppose, even if I don’t fully understand what it will look like, I know enough: it’s good, and something I’d like to receive.

On the other hand, that the untrustworthy are on a path that leads to ruin seems almost self-evident to me. They create their own disaster by their very faithlessness. Perhaps because they start being betrayed by those with whom they have broken faith. Perhaps through a lack of divine intervention — lack of favor. The road becomes much more tangled and filled with complications.

Father God, we want to be people who are sensible: people with good judgment, people who win favor in your sight and in the sight of others. We don’t want to be faithless people. We don’t want to cause our own ruin through our character defects. However, our sin often makes it so that we are unfaithful and on the wrong path. Please help us to repent, to confess these sins and be cleansed of them. Help us back onto the right path, through the grace of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Exodus 23 continues articulating some of the laws for Hebrew society. Oddly, some laws are repeated. As with anything doubled or repeated, we should pay special attention to these laws. It may indicate that these are laws more apt to be broken, or simply that these laws have deeper meaning.

In verse 9, we have a repeat of the law about not oppressing resident aliens. There is also a repeat regarding the Sabbath: “Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest,” verse 12 begins. It is interesting to note that this particular version of the law does not mention the Sabbath by name, but only cites the pattern of six days to work and one day to rest. The reason given is also different than the reason given in the Ten Commandments. The reason is “so that your ox and your donkey may have relief, and your homeborn slave and the resident alien may be refreshed.”

Some of the laws concern justice. Verse 3 makes a special point to tell us that we should not be partial to the poor in a lawsuit. This comes after a law about not perverting justice by siding with the majority.

Some laws don’t make sense to modern readers. Why do they need to avoid leavened bread when offering the blood of a sacrifice (v. 18)? Is this to reinforce the connection between Passover and the blood that redeems the people? And why the prohibition against boiling a kid in its mother’s milk (v. 19)? I was once told that this law was simply to make the Israelites distinct from the religious practices of other nations, but I wonder if it’s more about the perversity of taking advantage of the familial connection between mother and child when using one of them for food — as if you’re making the mother participate in the child’s sacrifice.

We get laws about what will happen when the Israelites get to Canaan. God tells them that He will help them drive out the people, but that He will do it little by little so that the land does not become overrun by wild animals. He warns the Hebrews against associating with the other nations “for if you worship their gods, it will surely be a snare to you (v. 33).”

There is one law in amongst this group that God spoke to me about a couple of years ago. It is from verse 15: “No one shall appear before me empty-handed.” When I was reading this chapter, the Holy Spirit made clear to me that I must always contribute to the plate offerings in church. It didn’t matter that I sent in my tithe through an electronic payment on the Internet; it was important to give something each Sunday, as well. I think part of the reason why God told me to do this is because — as a society — we tend not to give when the plates are passed around any more. I remember when this was the predominant way that churches would receive funds from its members. But electronic banking has changed that so that very few actually contribute during the service. I felt like God wanted me to give this way as a testimony, to remind myself and others of the importance of giving to the church. No one shall appear before me empty-handed.

In Exodus 24, we have the ratification of the covenant between God and the Israelite people. Moses reads the covenant to all the people; they agree to do these things and to be obedient. They make burnt offerings as well as sacrifices. Moses pours blood on the altar as well as sprinkles blood on the people. Personally, I find the idea of being sprinkled with blood a bit repulsive, but the blood is what authorized the covenant.

Moses, Aaron, and the 70 elders go up the mountain and they see God. They eat and drink — further ratification of the covenant. But then the LORD asks Moses to go up higher on the mountain to receive the stone tablets of the law. Verses 16 to 18 tell us that the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai, looking like a devouring fire. A cloud covered the mountain for six days, and on the seventh day, the LORD calls again to Moses. So then Moses enters the cloud, and he is on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.

I think it’s pretty interesting that God called Moses to go up — and so he does — but then, after He calls him, God makes Moses wait for six days before He calls him again. Is this meant to be symbolic of the creation of the world? God is now re-creating the world by making this covenant? It strikes me how confusing it might have been. To be told to do something, but then to have to wait. Were the six days for Moses to prepare himself?

Luke chapter 6 continues to cover familiar territory with a few differences. Jesus talks about being lord of the Sabbath, and heals a man with a withered hand. He spends all night praying before choosing 12 of his disciples to be designated as apostles. And he preaches and teaches the people.

The content of Jesus’ teaching is very similar to Matthew’s account of the Sermon on the Mount. However, this particular sermon is being given from “a level place (v. 17).” What I thought was most striking is how the beatitudes in this sermon are followed by four woes:

²⁴But woe to you who are rich,
     for you have received your consolation.
²⁵Woe to you who are full now,
     for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who are laughing now,
     for you will mourn and weep.
²⁶Woe to you when all speak well of you,
     for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.

I am particularly haunted by the comment that “you have received your consolation.” I don’t know yet why this verse troubles my spirit; I will have to meditate on it further.

As always, verse 38 is a gem — and one that encourages me towards generosity.

Psalm 77 is an interesting psalm. Asaph writes that his “soul refuses to be comforted (v. 2).” He calls out to God in his distress, but worries that God may not answer him. God is angry with Israel. “Has God forgotten to be gracious?” he asks in verse 9.

In verse 11, the psalmist resolves to remember God’s faithfulness to Israel. “I will call to mind the deeds of the LORD; I will remember your wonders of old.” And this is what he does for the remainder of the psalm. Unlike David’s psalms, there are no confident assertions of God’s redeeming grace: there is only this reminder of how He has acted in the past. As the psalm ends, the psalmist has not yet received an answer from the LORD, but Asaph continues enumerating God’s blessings.

I think this psalm is particularly instructive for us. We don’t always have the confidence of David. Sometimes God is silent or seems to be silent. We don’t see Him at work in our nation or in our circumstances. But when we are troubled in this way, we should remember all the times that God has been gracious to us. And as we recall the how the LORD has been faithful throughout history, that will carry us through.

Father God, thank you for this psalm that helps us know how to pray when we don’t perceive you at work around us. I know that you are always working for the good of those that love you, but your ways can be mysterious to us. Help us to remember and to recount all the blessings you have given us. Thank you for giving your law to the Israelites to teach us right from wrong, and to help us to live in harmony.

Thank you, too, that in Christ Jesus we are not burdened by these laws in the same way that the Hebrews were. Sometimes you ask us to still obey some of these laws, but there is always grace when we fail. Help us to continue to walk and live by your Holy Spirit. We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.