From the Pen of Paul. . .

Gleanings from Proverbs (3)

Another important theme in the book of Proverbs is the family. In our physical world, we see that fads and fashions change often; however, the basic structure that goes into making up our lives as families, stays constant; thus, still today as families we face times of joy as well as times of sorrow. There are still unfaithful husbands and wives that constantly nag their husbands. We still have children from good homes who go astray, and children from a bad rearing that turn out well. The advice that we read in this book about the things that it takes to make a home happy and stable are still as sound today as when they were first penned, and the advice against those things which undermine the home is also still sound advice and warning. Consider a few examples.

First, examples to parents and children:

Proverbs 10:1—"A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness (grief) of his mother."

Proverbs 13:1, 24—"A wise son heareth his father's instruction: but a scorner heareth not rebuke."; "He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes (early)."

Note: All the world is paying the price today because of the disregard of Solomon's instruction in these verses.

Proverbs 17:21, 25—"He that begetteth a fool doeth it to his sorrow: and the father of a fool hath no joy."; "A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bare him."

Proverbs 19:13, 18—A foolish son is the calamity of his father"; "Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying."

Proverbs 22:6, 15—"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."; "Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him."

Proverbs 23:24—"The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him." Ponder also these sayings to wives:

Proverbs 12:4—"A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones."

Proverbs 18:22—"Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Lord."

Proverbs 19:14—"...and a prudent wife is from the Lord."

Proverbs 21:9—"It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house."

Note: For advice to husbands study carefully the entire 5th chapter of the Book.

Second, the theme of laziness and hard work:

The book contains several sketches of the lazy man, too idle and lazy to begin a task and too slack to see any task completed; he is pictured instead as one who goes lackadaisically through life until it is too late, and hunger and poverty are his lot. The book, (nor the Bible anywhere else), condemns slackness or laziness, but there is great profit in work. Here are some samples:

Proverbs 10:4-5—"He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich. He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame."

Proverbs 12:11, 24, 27—"He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding."; "The land of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute."; "The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting: but the substance of a diligent man is precious."

Proverbs 13:4—"The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat."

Proverbs 20:4—"The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing."

Proverbs 21:25—"The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labor."

Proverbs 28:19—"He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough."
—Paul M. Wilmoth

From the Preacher's Viewpoint. . .

How Old is the Earth?

"How old is the earth and where did the dinosaurs go? Did they ever exist?"

To state with exactness how old the earth is would be impossible. If we use the genealogies in the Bible and the age of those in those genealogies, the earth is about 6,000 years old. Even using the genealogies of the Bible we cannot say with exactness how old the earth is. Sometimes the genealogies only account for the leading persons in a family. In other words it might be the case that several people were not mentioned because they were not very important and did not do anything noteworthy. It can be stated for sure that the earth is not billions and billions of years old.

Some unlearned folks are quick to say, "But they have ways of dating the earth and the things therein with exactness." This is false. There is no dating process that can without mistake go back very far in the history of the existence of things. There are those who say that it takes so many billion years for a rock or some other object to arrive to its present condition. Under normal circumstances this may be the case. But if God created (and He did) all things, then what would normally take a billion years to come about would have taken place in a split second. God made man full grown. He made the trees, birds, animals, the sun, moon, and stars. They did not arrive at where they are; they were created that way. Which came first—the chicken or the egg? Well, of course the chicken did and she was created full grown. She laid the eggs and then hatched them. From the created things came those things like them. Everything was to bring forth of its kind (Gen. 1:24-25). God fully established all things at the beginning so far as the creation is concerned. There is not a single scientific fact that would contradict the earth being a little over six thousand years or near six thousand years old. It might be some older than this but not much.

Did dinosaurs really exist? Some are quick to say that they did not. But it is hard for me to accept this because there are fossils of them today. To say that they existed 70 million years ago is without any kind of solid evidence. It is only a guess and a wild one at that!

What happened to the dinosaurs? Disease or disaster could have taken them away for the greater part. Or the most likely thing that happened is that after the flood the elements changed and this made it impossible for them to exist. After the global flood of Noah's day, the climate was not conducive to dinosaur life. Thus, they died out like other animals have done. I do not know exactly what happened to them but I do believe that many of them did once exist upon the earth.
—Malcolm L. Hill