Reading: Proverbs 13-15, Psalm 2

One of the more challenging things about reading Proverbs as a whole book rather than a series of sayings is that it gets incredibly dense. We are in the middle of the “sayings of Solomon,” a long series of couplets, some of which connect to one another, but many of which stand on their own, and each of which could be the subject of a whole conversation. Instead of spending the next several years hacking my way through each and every one, I’m going to have to pick high points and talk about those for the next several days. If I don’t mention your favorite, or most annoying, proverb, I invite you to look into it and write on it yourself.

Whoever despises the word brings destruction on himself, but he who reveres the commandment will be rewarded. Solomon repeats this in various ways throughout the book, and it ties back to the promises and curses proclaimed by the people of Israel on themselves before entering the promised land in the book of Deuteronomy. Because it is in the nature of proverbial statements to be applicable beyond their original context, I’m going to take the opportunity to do so today. If I offend anyone, I’m probably doing something right.

In the story we have been reading, one of the preeminent themes is the instruction in the books of Moses for the people to teach these laws to your children and to your children’s children. God gives the people of Israel a way to live, a way to worship, and a way to witness. As we read the descriptions of the tabernacle and the sacrificial worship, we saw that God was showcasing a way into a restored creation- a new Eden, where God was present with humanity. This was supposed to be passed down from one generation to the next; both the practices and the reason for them. The rest of the story we have been reading has been a failure of Israel to do this. Not a total failure, as the practices remained at least partially intact, but it sure seems the reason got lost along the way. God eventually turns against the emptiness of the practices because the reason for them is not in the hearts of his people. They were doing the things, but ignored the reason for them, and it brought destruction on them. He who despises the word brings destruction on himself….

Catholic writer G.K. Chesterton was an ardent defender of tradition over against the modernist impulse to despise the past. In one of his typically insightful attacks on those who would vote tradition away in favor of human equality, he says this:

Tradition means giving a vote to most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. All democrats object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth; tradition objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death. Democracy tells us not to neglect a good man’s opinion, even if he is our groom; tradition asks us not to neglect a good man’s opinion, even if he is our father. (Orthodoxy, Chapter 4, The Ethics of Elfland)

What Chesterton saw happening in society in the early years of the 20th century is what the proverbs of Solomon warn us against. Solomon tells his son not to despise the word, but to revere the commandment. In this case, the commandment is the books of Moses. He already spent nine chapters pointing back to the laws of God and the fear of the God of Israel as the source of all true wisdom. Note the important word “back.” Solomon had no use for innovation in ways of living that ignore the past. He was the wisest of all men, and he revered tradition. Almost three thousand years later, Chesterton made the same argument. Today, I want to make it again, but I’ll settle for pointing back to Solomon and Chesterton, since they said it better than I can.

I think we live in the most anti-tradition era of human history. Or at least a very much anti-tradition era. It is not all a bad thing. There are some practices and values of the past that should be cast away, but I think we are in danger of completely severing our dependence on the commandment that comes from the past, and so bringing destruction on ourselves. That the past commandments in this case are purported to come from the mouth of our creator just lends more weight to the danger. It is not that there is no such thing as progress, but correct progress builds upon the past. It builds and creates, rather than tear down and destroy. I fear there is far more of the latter at work today. It is some comfort that these warning exist in the story of Scripture from thousands of years ago. Though the people who despise the word bring destruction on themselves, the story doesn’t end there. But I would rather be one who reveres the commandment.