Blog - Proverbs 1:19

If you like this blog, then you will like Get Wisdom, Get Understanding which is Pastor Wagner's commentary on Proverbs chapter 1 which is available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle. Find out more here. For all the blogs in this series, click here: Proverbs Commentary. Proverbs 1:19 "So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof." (Pro 1:19)

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Solomon here sums up his exhortation to his son to not be enticed by sinners (v.10), who in order to fill their houses with precious substance (v.13) would murder the owners thereof (vv.11-12), by reiterating that their end will be the destruction they thought to inflict on their victims (v.18). This is the lot of everyone which would commit such a heinous crime. There are no exceptions to this rule. There is no getting away with such a wicked act when the LORD, the judge of all the earth, sees all and warns His people to "be sure your sin will find you out" (Num 32:23). The recompense may not come immediately, but it will come eventually to everyone who commits such egregious sins; as it is written, "some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after" (1Ti 5:24). With promises such as these from Almighty God, a young man would be wise to "consent thou not" and "walk not thou in the way with them" (Pro 1:10,15) lest he surely come into condemnation. If ever enticed by sinners to murder the innocent in order to reap their spoil, every child of God should remember Solomon's warning and consider the account of the murder of Naboth the Jezreelite who fell prey to conspirators of the same ilk as these reprobates in Proverbs 1. Naboth had a vineyard that bordered king Ahab's palace which Ahab wanted for himself to plant a garden in (1Ki 21:1-2). Being a righteous man and not willing to give up his God-given inheritance, Naboth declined the king's offer of a better vineyard which caused Ahab to sulk (1Ki 21:3-4). Ahab's wicked wife Jezebel, being far more innovative and aggressive than her husband, devised a plan in which Naboth would be set on high among the people, only to have two children of Belial bear false witness against him saying that he blasphemed God and the king, which they did before executing him by stoning (1Ki 21:5-14). Having taken away the life of the owner thereof, Ahab took possession of the vineyard (1Ki 21:15-16). It seemed for the time that Ahab and Jezebel had literally gotten away with murder, but they failed to realize that there is a God in heaven pleading the cause of the oppressed. The LORD sent the prophet Elijah to give Ahab a sobering message to let him know that he and his wicked wife had laid wait and lurked privily for their own lives.

1Ki 21:19 - And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. 1Ki 21:23 - And of Jezebel also spake the LORD, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. 1Ki 21:24 - Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat.

Ahab and Jezebel met their fate just as the LORD had promised (1Ki 22:37-38; 2Ki 9:30-37), confirming Solomon's warning: "So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof" (Pro 1:19).

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