May 25 ▪ Day 145

Scripture Readings

Proverbs 18:7
Ezekiel 41–42
John 8
Psalms 145

Verse Focus (Proverbs 18:7)

The mouths of fools are their undoing,
     and their lips are a snare to their very lives.

Meditation

As we have studied proverbs through the year, we have seen the power of language, for good or evil. Today’s proverb is sobering as it tells us that fools destroy themselves through their speech. Proverbs 18:17 says, in the ESV, “A fool’s mouth is his ruin, and his lips are a snare to his soul.”

We’ve all experienced what happens when we say too much. We get into trouble. Perhaps we just dug a deeper hole for ourselves. Perhaps we spoke of something that should have been kept private. Perhaps we spoke in the heat of the moment.

My point is that we all know — to one degree or another — how we can bring trouble upon ourselves by what we say. Most of us at least try to control our tongues, and try to be careful about what we say. But now let’s think about the fool. There are a million ways that a fool’s mouth could bring about his undoing. Perhaps through boasting. Making promises that he is unable to keep. Perhaps through arrogance or contempt. Perhaps a web of lies and deceit comes crashing down. Perhaps the fool was indiscreet. Perhaps there was loss of employment because of rash words. Or maybe it was the loss of a relationship.

The sad thing is that fools do this to themselves. If they exercised more self-control over their speech, it might not be so ruinous for them.

Of course, there are other ways of looking at this proverb. The “mouth of fools” could be talking about gluttony. The lips that are a snare may be speaking of lust. But whether this is gluttony, lust, or uncontrolled speech, the Scripture warns of the self-destructive consequences for the fool.

Father God, protect us from being foolish. Help us to guard our tongues and control our speech. Please also keep us from sins of gluttony or lust. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Ezekiel 41 and 42 continue with the prophet’s vision of the restored temple. In chapter 41, he gets a tour of the inner temple. Although some of the dimensions in the outer court are different, the dimensions of the Most Holy Place have not changed — it is a perfect square, 20 cubits by 20 cubits. The walls of the temple are six cubits — or nine feet — thick. The inner court is paneled in wood, decorated with carved cherubim and palm trees. Each cherub has two faces, one like a human and one like a lion. The doors are also carved with similar designs.

In chapter 42 Ezekiel tours the temples’ chambers, and finishes it all off with a look at the grounds for the temple — again, a perfect square, 500 cubits (or 750 feet) long and wide. In fact, one of the things that distinguishes Ezekiel’s temple design from Solomon’s temple, or the one one the exiles rebuilt, is how perfectly symmetrical everything is. Dimensions are symmetrical, the doors and entrances are placed exactly in the center of a wall. Buildings are square, rooms are square and the steps up to a building exactly match on either side (clearly, there is no uneven ground).

The last verse of chapter 42 tells us that there is a wall all around the temple grounds “to make a separation between the holy and the common.” Theologically, one of the big differences between Christianity and Judaism is that when Christ died, the veil separating the Most Holy Place from the rest of the inner court was ripped in two. It symbolizes that we now have direct access to God, and to the Holy of Holies. But along with that direct access, we have forgotten that God’s holiness must still be revered. And while we try to invite God into every aspect of our lives, there are still huge portions of our lives that are not sanctified. We live with a mixture of holy and common. But I believe we need a greater understanding of the Old Testament drive to keep the holy and the common separate. We need a greater understanding of God’s holiness. Through that we will also have a greater appreciation of all that Christ has accomplished for us.

John chapter 8 has a number of significant features. It contains the second “I am” statement — “I am the light of the world (v. 12, also repeated in 9:5)” — as well as the somewhat subtle claim to deity in verse 58 when Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” There is the story of the woman caught in adultery, as well Jesus’ memorable promise in verses 31 and 32, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Jesus gives a veiled prediction of his death, comments on how we are enslaved by sin, and charges his opponents with being children of the devil.

The story of the adulterous woman that opens chapter 8 is one that does not appear in all manuscript versions of this gospel. Some of the earliest manuscripts do not include this passage at all; other manuscripts place it here, while some other manuscripts have this section appearing later in the chapter. Some manuscripts place this passage at the end of John’s gospel; there is even a manuscript that places the passage near the end of Luke’s gospel. The point of telling you about these manuscript variations is that modern literary criticism believes that if it didn’t exist in the earliest manuscripts, then clearly it is not authentic and thus does not belong in this gospel. I disagree with the assumptions inherent in that point of view. While I admit it’s possible that John did not write this particular passage, I believe that God worked through history and the process of canonization so that what ended up in the gospel of John is what He wanted here. However, I don’t expect everyone to believe the same way I do. If you believe that this particular story is not authentic and thus not as truthful as the rest of Scripture, that’s fine with me. That’s really between you and God. And whether or not you think this passage is divinely inspired, it still contains wisdom for us.

What I notice about this story is that it was another one of the tests that the Pharisees had devised. They were trying to trap Jesus and to find a reason they could accuse him, arrest him, and somehow permanently discredit him (v. 6). But just like the question about whether or not they should pay taxes to Caesar, Jesus avoided their trap. The Mosaic law did say that those caught in adultery should be put to death (Leviticus 20:10) — although to use stoning as the method of capital punishment in this case was a matter of tradition, rather than Scriptural mandate. Obviously, stoning was not something the Jews were allowed to just do under Roman law. The trap was designed to either have Jesus deny Biblical law or flout the civil law. He did neither, of course.

It’s also interesting that only the woman is brought before Jesus. If she were truly caught in the act of adultery, they would have had both the adulterer as well as the adulteress. So where is the man? Why isn’t he there to face charges? The fact that he isn’t there shows me just how rigged and how corrupt this little scenario is.

So Jesus writes on the ground with his finger. What do you suppose he was writing? The law that mandated death for adultery? Or perhaps his favorite quotation from Hosea (I desire mercy, not sacrifice)? When Jesus does speak, what he says convicts all of them. One by one they recognize their guilt, and leave.

Jesus speaks to the Jews on another occasion. He starts with this remarkable declaration in verse 12, “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.” It is a grandiose claim — the kind of claim that unbelievers stumble over. If Jesus was some kind of madman, then how was he able to heal so many people? How was he so clear-headed that he outwitted those who were setting traps for him? Why does he come across as intelligent, reasonable, and compassionate?

Oddly enough, Jesus’ opponents don’t try to dismiss him as a madman. Rather, they respond to him in verse 13, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” They use a legal argument about needing a minimum of two witnesses in a court of law in order for someone to be convicted of a crime to say that they don’t need to listen to what Jesus says (Numbers 35:30; Deuteronomy 19:15). By this argument, you could never believe anything any single individual said to you! But, even though the legal argument doesn’t really apply in this situation, God perfectly fulfills their need for two witnesses by having either Himself or the Holy Spirit be the second witness.

Again, the Jews would have tried to arrest Jesus for all this talk of his relationship with the Father, but “no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come (v. 20).”

A Christian pastor and teacher once pointed out that the last five psalms in the Bible (Psalms 146 to 150) are all psalms of praise. It was noted that this is by design. We should find meaning in the fact that the final five psalms are all psalms of praise. But Psalm 145 — the sixth to the last psalm — says in the inscription that it is “A Song of Praise. Of David.” So why isn’t Psalm 145 lumped in with the final five psalms? I think it’s because Psalm 145 also talks about the psalmist, the psalmist’s feelings, and what the psalmist resolves to do. The last five psalms really focus almost entirely on God; the psalmist is not a character in those psalms as he is in Psalm 145.

Not that David appears prominently in Psalm 145. It is by and large a song of praise, just as the inscription notes. (So if you want to think of the final six psalms as psalms of praise, that’s fine with me. 🙂 )

The psalm begins with David’s exalting the LORD, and his resolution to continue praising the LORD. Different things strike me as I read the psalm. Verse 5 speaks of meditating on God’s glorious splendor and His wondrous works. Even though God acts on behalf of His people, His “mercy is over all that he has made (v. 9).” As verse 16 says, “You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing.”

With all the blessing the LORD bestows, it is no wonder David closes the psalm with his resolve and his exhortation, “My mouth will declare the LORD’s praise; let every living thing bless his holy name forever and ever.”

Father God, may my mouth always praise your name. Thank you for providing for us. Thank you for satisfying us. Thank you for sending Jesus to be the light of the world. I’m grateful for the promise to know the truth if we abide in your word. Help us to do that by your grace and by the Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name, Amen.