Proverbs (Part 155) - Pro 11:19-20

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19. Pro 11:19 – "As righteousness tendeth to life: so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death." A. As righteousness tendeth to life: i. Definitions a. Righteousness n. – 1. Justice, uprightness, rectitude; conformity of life to the requirements of the divine or moral law; virtue, integrity. b. Tend v. – 1. intr. To direct one's course, make one's way, move or proceed towards something. 3. a. intr. To have a specified result, if allowed to act; to lead or conduce to some state or condition. 1560 Bible (Genev.) Prov. x. 16 The labour of the righteous tendeth to life. c. Life n. – I. The condition or attribute of living or being alive; animate existence. Opposed to death. 1. a. Primarily, the condition, quality, or fact of being a living person or animal. d. Animate existence viewed as dependent on sustenance or favourable physical conditions. (For necessary of life, staff of life, see those words.) Hence, that which is necessary to sustain life; a livelihood, one's living. 5. a. The cause or source of living; the vivifying or animating principle; he who or that which makes or keeps a thing alive (in various senses); ‘soul’; ‘essence’. Hence (poet. nonce-use) = ‘life-blood’. d. In other words, possessing uprightness, virtue, and integrity, and conforming one's life to the requirements of God's law directs one's course toward a blessed and thriving existence. ii. Righteousness tends (leads or directs) to life (Pro 11:19). a. The fear of the LORD tends to life (Pro 19:23). b. The labor of the righteous tends to life (Pro 10:16). c. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life (Pro 11:30). iii. Righteousness is keeping God's commandments (Luk 1:6). a. Keeping God's commandments directs men toward an abundant life. b. Consider how keeping God's commandments in the following areas tends to life. (i) Waiting to have sex until marriage, getting married, staying married, having children, and training them in the way they should go tends to an abundant life of better health, happiness, and fulfillment. (ii) Being moderate in the consumption of food and drink tends to better health which tends to life. (iii) Staying out of debt leads to a comfortable life, less stress, and less anxiety which tends to life. (iv) Controlling one's temper leads to better relationships and opens up opportunities, both of which tend to life. (v) Resisting sinful temptations affords inner peace and reduces self-condemnation which tends to a blessed life. B. so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death. i. Definitions a. Pursue v. – 1. To follow with hostility or enmity; to seek to injure (a person); to persecute; to harass, worry torment. Now rare or Obs. 5. To sue for, to seek after; to try to obtain or accomplish, to aim at. 1611 Bible Ps. Xxxiv. 14 Seeke peace and peruse it. b. To make it one's aim or endeavour, to try (to do something). b. Evil n. – 1. a. In the widest sense: That which is the reverse of good; whatever is censurable, mischievous, or undesirable. Also with adj.: moral, physical evil. b. What is morally evil; sin, wickedness. c. What is mischievous, painful, or disastrous. c. Death n. – 1. The act or fact of dying; the end of life; the final cessation of the vital functions of an animal or plant. d. In other words, when a man makes it his aim to seek after sin and wickedness in his life, his sin will lead him to death. ii. The wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23). iii. Those who are overmuch wicked will die before their time (Ecc 7:17). iv. Those who pursue evil will be pursued and overtaken by it (Deut 28:15, 45; Pro 13:21; Psa 140:11). v. Those who live contrary to God's commandments and therefore pursue evil will do so to their own deaths. a. Pursuing a sinful lifestyle of fornication, adultery, or sodomy leads to death by disease, depression, and the judgment of God. b. Pursuing intoxication through drug use or overuse of alcohol leads to death. c. Pursuing violence or strife and contention with neighbors or police officers leads to death. d. Overindulging in food leads to death through obesity, diabetes, and other health problems. e. Pursuing idolatry and false religion leads to death via the judgment of God. 20. Pro 11:20 – "They that are of a froward heart are abomination to the LORD: but such as are upright in their way are his delight." A. They that are of a froward heart are abomination to the LORD: i. Definitions a. Froward adj. – 1. Disposed to go counter to what is demanded or what is reasonable; perverse, difficult to deal with, hard to please; refractory, ungovernable; also, in a wider sense, bad, evilly-disposed, ‘naughty’. (The opposite of toward.) b. Heart n. – ** As the seat of feeling, understanding, and thought. 5. a. = mind, in the widest sense, including the functions of feeling, volition, and intellect. 6. a. The seat of one's inmost thoughts and secret feelings; one's inmost being; the depths of the soul; the soul, the spirit. 9. a. The seat of the emotions generally; the emotional nature, as distinguished from the intellectual nature placed in the head. c. Abomination n. - 1. The feeling or state of mind of combined disgust and hatred; abhorrence, detestation, loathing. d. In other words, God hates, abhors, detests, loathes, and is disgusted with those who have ideas, thoughts, feelings, and emotions that are ungovernable, difficult to deal with, and are disposed to go counter to what is demanded and reasonable. ii. God hates froward people (Pro 3:32). iii. People with a froward heart devise mischief continually (Pro 6:14). a. God hates a heart that devises wicked imaginations (Pro 6:16, 18). b. The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the LORD (Pro 15:26). c. God not only hates froward hearts, but He hates those who have them (Pro 11:20). iv. The following behavior is indicative of a froward heart that is disposed to go counter to what God commands in His word, and the person who does these things is therefore hated by God. a. Practicing idolatry, divination, witchcraft, Satanism, occultism, etc. (Deut 18:10-12 c/w Gal 5:20). b. Cross-dressing, transgenderism, etc. (Deut 22:5 c/w 1Co 6:9). c. Dishonesty or fraud in business (Deut 25:13-16; Pro 11:1). d. Defending the wicked and condemning the just (Pro 17:15). v. God hates a froward mouth which speaks what comes out of a froward heart (Pro 8:13; Mat 12:34). vi. God will show Himself froward with the froward (Psa 18:26). vii. The froward man has a life of difficulty ahead of him (Pro 22:5). B. but such as are upright in their way are his delight. i. Definitions a. Upright adj. – III. fig. 8. a. Of persons: Adhering to or following correct moral principles; of unbending integrity or rectitude; morally just, honest, or honourable. b. Way n. – III. Course of life or action, means, manner. 11. a. A path or course of life; the activities and fortunes of a person. b. pl. Habits of life, esp. with regard to moral conduct. c. Delight n. – 1. a. The fact or condition of being delighted; pleasure, joy, or gratification felt in a high degree. 2. Anything in which one takes delight, or which affords delight; an object of delight; a source of great pleasure or joy. d. In other words, those who adhere to and follow correct moral principles and are morally just and honest with unbending integrity in their course of life, actions, and activities bring God a high degree of pleasure, joy, and gratification. ii. Whereas God hates those who have froward hearts, He loves those who act uprightly. a. God loves righteousness (Psa 11:7; Heb 1:9). b. God loves the righteous (Psa 146:8). iii. Those who are upright keep themselves from sin (2Sa 22:24; Psa 19:13). a. Righteousness keeps the upright in the way (Pro 13:6). b. The way of the upright is to depart from evil (Pro 16:17; Pro 21:29). iv. God delights in the upright who live by His word. a. God delights in those who understand and know Him, and in the exercising of lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth (Jer 9:24). b. God delights in those who deal truly and honestly (Pro 12:22). c. God delights in the prayers of His upright children (Pro 15:8). v. If you want to make God happy, it is by ordering your life according to the Holy Scriptures.