Please puzzle this perplexing passage of Proverbs: 

The leech has two daughters—Give and Give! There are three things that are never satisfied, four never say, “Enough!”: The grave, The barren womb, The earth that is not satisfied with water— And the fire never says “Enough!”  (Proverbs 30:15-16).

God personally inspired the writers of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes (mostly King Solomon himself) to produce a collection of boiled-down-to-the-essence, powerful, pronouncements of divine wisdom.

The Proverbs weren’t just sage observations of itinerant wise men! They were God’s own inspired, authoritative statements of His divine wisdom making clear the wise and true action in any situation. What an incredible example of spiritual and physical success—if only Israel had correctly acted on God’s Word!

Don’t let yourself make their mistakes!

Wisdom was meant to spread

In the process of Jesus’ first coming He gave His life as a sacrifice for the sins of all persons, peoples and nations.  

With His resurrection by God the Father, Jesus Christ launched the true biblical and historical Church God. He had prepared it’s launch during His ministry by calling and training the 12 Apostles as His true Church’s initial human leadership.

The true, divine wisdom of God’s spiritual calling and understanding His way of life was and continues to be spread in anticipation of His second coming. The great challenge has always been getting the truth past the lies and false religions, paganism and false Christianity included, that permeate the world.

Back to the beginning

The third chapter of Genesis demonstrates that from the get-go in the Garden of Eden mankind has teetered on the verge of self-imposed disaster! We find there the lying serpent—none other than Satan the Devil manifesting himself as a snake, but who had originally been a holy angel until his rebellion. The devil tempted the original couple to eat of the forbidden (by God) tree and Adam and Eve succumbed to Satan’s lies, which set in motion active evil thinking in the culture of humanity.

Through them the Devil cleverly lied to all their descendants (including us today) as well as however many people are still to come before Christ returns.

Sin was not the invention of Eve or Adam. God’s plan required that each of the His created spirit being helpers [angels] must also personally choose the way of good and reject the way of evil. That test of truth has taken place and fully one third of the angels, let by Satan, rejected honest good and deliberately chose deceptive evil.

Ultimately, every human must also choose good and reject evil. But before the final form of that test can be taken by mankind each must have his or her mind opened by God to know specifically what good is and what evil is. God Himself defines both.

The Devil’s nasty work in our age

Satan deserves the lion’s share of guilt for introducing a culture of lies and deception. After beguiling and convincing first Eve and then Adam to reject God’s command, and then to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (see Genesis 3). No doubt he convinced them that the fruit of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil would open their minds to even greater wonders! The “wonders” of depravity and destruction.

Sadly, that immoral sales pitch still works! In its twisted way modern man still symbolically consumes the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Continuing to feed the fires of sin, evil, and violence that resulted in almost continuous warfare for nearly 6,000 years of human history.  

What God’s faithful should do today?

Stand your guard. Listen and beware of the spouting of evil – the false values of life that drive society today.

Read and study God’s Word. Highlight the foundational truths that undergird godly wisdom: God’s law, His plan of salvation pictured through the annual holydays, the value God put on human life when Jesus Christ gave His life to pay for the sins of humankind.

Actively seek the true values (God’s true ways of living). Ask God to open your mind and sharpen your awareness of and moral resistance to the evil ways and false reasoning driving today’s world.

– Commentary by Randy Stiver

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