Another thing to consider is that in scripture, the power of the sword, that is the power to make war is granted to the civil government, not to individuals, not to churches, not to families, but to the state so duly constituted. The power of the sword, we often think of as punishing criminals, internal enemies of the peace and security of the people. But the power of the sword also includes war, where the civil ruler protects his people against external enemies, external criminals who would invade the land and destroy life and limb and property. On the basis of this, and on one other consideration, the context of Proverbs 20, which I pointed out already, addresses kings multiple times, such as in verse 2, 8, 26, and 28. I believe that this proverb, all of it, is spoken directly to civil rulers and their military commanders. Of course, there's an application we can draw from that but it's speaking in its context specifically of the need for good counsel in civil government in general, the first line, and in the prosecution of war in the second line, as something that is particularly important. Cohen seems to agree. He says from the phrase, carry on war, it would appear that the verse is addressed to a king or governor. Well, let's look at it now, understanding that this is talking to kings, civil rulers, civil magistrate, presidents, prime ministers, whatever the title is, to speak of the chief magistrate or magistrates who are given the sword and the responsibility to protect their people. In the realm of civil government, every purpose is established by council. Every purpose. Or we could translate it this way. plans by council are established. That is plans that are drawn up in the context of wise council will bring about the establishment of the purpose that those plans were meant to address. Cohen suggests here that the purpose means the plan of a military campaign. which if this is synonymous parallelism and the conduct of war in the second line is synonymous with the purpose of the first, then that makes an entirely good sense. The other view we could see is just the general need for good counsel in the halls of civil government. And then the specific application is if we need it just in general sense in our government, how much more we need it at a time of war. The verb established here comes from a root that meant to stand upright. In other words, it will stand. The purpose will stand or it will be fulfilled if good counsel is given in the drawing up of the plan and the establishment of the purpose of the plan. Counsel is absolutely essential. The king is not to act on his own wisdom. but rather he is to draw into his circle men of wisdom and righteousness who can give him the necessary counsel in the context or in the face of war, in the potential of war, in the conduct of war. And so this proverb is teaching civil magistrates on the need to have wise and prudent counselors and ministers. They need to be able to draw on such men. The work of civil government is great. It affects lives in so many ways. It is not something to be carried out in the vacuum of a king or his few close associates, but rather in good and full counsel. Proverbs 12.15. These are general statements on counsel. They apply to all of us, but they inform this proverb as well. The way of a fool is right in his own eyes. The way of a foolish king in his prosecution of war, it's right in his own eyes, would be the application. But the second part of Proverbs 12, 15 says, but he that hearkens unto counsel is wise. And it's always understood here, righteous and godly counsel is in view. The king needs righteous counselors. Like it says in Proverbs 25, five, take away the wicked from before the king and his throne shall be established in righteousness. And the wicked there are his ministers, are his counselors. Get them out of there. What we need are good and godly and righteous and wise counselors around the king. You can pretty much tell what direction as we apply it today, any administration or regime in the United States of America today is going to go by looking at the cabinet that is chosen and the counselors that are brought in around our president, which direction it will go. It won't be established in righteousness if we have unrighteous counselors. So in other words, these positions, these so-called cabinet positions are not just secondary concerns, they're extremely important. And we had a little insight into our great dilemma and our problems today in our prayer time when our brother referred to two of the counselors of the president, wicked men. They're the ones that are setting policy. One other one in Proverbs 15.22, without counsel, purposes are disappointed. We're talking about purposes here, aren't we? Every purpose is established by counsel. Saying the same thing, without counsel, purposes are disappointed. They won't stand, they won't be established. But in the multitude of counselors, they are established. So this is the context. The king needs advice. He needs counsel in all the affairs of state, but particularly this proverb is focusing on the activity of war, which is something that is a part of the civil ruler's responsibility. It says, and with good advice make war. With good advice make war. Advice comes, it's a synonym of counsel. It's interesting, this particular Hebrew word comes from a root related to the steering or the directing of a ship. We talk at times of the ship of state. It's only with good steering will the ship of state go directly, will be guided in its proper course to its proper harbor. Therefore, good advice refers to the wise counsel that gives direction to the king. And it is only in that context with good advice should war be made, carried out. Waged, so to make war means to wage war, fight battles. It indicates the use of armed force by one nation or people against another nation or people. Webster states in his 1828, as war is the contest of nations and state, it always implies that such contest is authorized by the monarch or the sovereign power of the nation, end quote. As war is a grave and deadly undertaking, which leads inevitably to suffering, destruction, death, and grief, often on a large scale, it is one of the most eventful acts that men can engage in. It changes the course of nations and of countless lives and of history itself. That's why when you study history, half the time you're studying the wars. of history because of the great impact that they make. Lives are snuffed out. Fortunes ruined. Countless atrocities. It's a very grave and serious thing. Therefore, a king, to make war for foolish, selfish, inadequate reasons is a grave mistake and it's a disaster for the people he leads. To have a king, to have a president, to have a prime minister who goes to war without godly advice that he takes is a disaster, a catastrophe for a nation. This is why only the wisest counsel, the soundest advice, the most righteous purpose should ever or should be the basis of any decisions concerning war. So this proverb is pretty important. Wars all around us, our country is enmeshed in wars. The world is wracked by wars. We speak of it in the horrors that we're seeing and praying about these things each week and our country is right in the middle of it all. Now, the question is, are war-making, for example, in Ukraine and in the Middle East, is it being waged with good advice, godly advice, righteous wisdom? What is the purpose of it all? Is it a purpose? Why are we engaged in these? Why are we using our proxies to fight these wars? Is our purpose godly? Is our purpose good? We as citizens must pay close attention to this. This is not something that is, oh, well, he's talking about waging war doesn't affect me. Yes, it does. Your tax dollars, for example, are funding it, and we are being bankrupt as a nation because of it. War does not, when they talk about we need a war, we need to stimulate the economy. That is only a temporary fix. It's the sweet bread that will bring gravel in the future. You cannot engage in warfare, killing, death, and destruction, and your country grow and be strong. You will bankrupt it. So this is a very important passage. In fact, this proverb is so important, it's repeated in chapter 24, verse six. For by wise counsel thou shalt make war. It's an imperative, a moral imperative. Only on the basis of wise counsel should you engage in war. And then it says this in that proverb, and in the multitude of counselors there is safety. The multitude of wise counselors who can hammer this out, can look at all the angles. People who are experts in this area, in this area, people who know history, people who know politics, people who understand philosophy, people who understand the scriptures, they all come together and they come with a counsel concerning the war. Now not only do we need counselors who are before the king in the present. We need to bring in the council, not only of those who are present, hopefully they're speaking on this basis, let me explain, but the council of the scriptures and the council of the church. in regard to war. The counsel of the scriptures and the church in regard to war, the collective wisdom of the church in this area of warfare is found in the Christian doctrine of just war. And so the purpose must be just war, never unjust war. And the just war purpose will only be established by listening to the wise counsel of the collective wisdom of the church as it meditates upon the scriptures and seeks to apply them in this area, sadly, that dominates life, war. And so every civil ruler, every civil government, every citizen must be guided by the principles of just war in deciding whether they will go to war and how the war ought to be conducted. And for the citizen, whether they will engage themselves in the war. If the principles of just war, the purpose, the practice, the carrying out of the war are not according to these principles, then the citizen is not only justified but required to conscientiously object and take whatever the penalty is. Because to involve yourself in an unjust war is to involve yourself in the context and sphere of murder. Just because the government puts a gun in your hand does not mean you now have the right to unjustly take the life of another soldier in another country. War is a difficult thing, it's complex. There's so much that needs to go into it in understanding and answering these questions of whether we should go to war, how should we conduct the war, and as the individual citizen, should I support this war and should I, if called, fight in it? Well, let me give you these principles of just war and summarize these very briefly. There's actually seven, maybe some would say six, others eight and the like, but I'm gonna summarize them under seven principles of just war. In other words, this is the council that must guide our government, our civil government, our president, our Congress in the conduct of war. And the first one is this, the war is conducted by a legitimate and duly constituted civil authority. This is based on what I've already explained. War is the exercise of the power of the sword, and it is only in the hand of the civil ruler. And therefore, war, to be conducted in a just sense, is done so by a duly constituted civil authority. Which, in our context, by the way, Our wise founders said war is not to be conducted except by a formal declaration of Congress. The president does not have the authority to send our troops and our weapons and our country into wars on his own authority. So anything that's entered into in our country by our presidents, which have now pretty much, they just are involved in warfare all over the world without any declaration, it's unjust. The idea too of a declaration of war was understood in the just war tradition as being the notice that is put forward to the other side that we're going to war with you with the hope that they would relent. It would cause them to stop their aggression and to come to terms with us. So the declaration of war is part of avoiding war. Because when you declare war, you're giving notice that this is what you're going to do. Your declaration of war is not sending a shock and awe attack by your bombers or missiles and wipe them out and say, oh, by the way, we now declare war on you. Number two, the war is based on a just cause. And to quickly get to the point and summarize, there is really only one just cause, defense. of a people and their property and the borders of your nation. There is no other just cause. Wars of aggression are evil. One of the things that drives me to distraction is the statement that the reason we're going to war is to protect our interests. God forbid. The only interest in war is the defense of the homeland. Now, I won't get into this, but there is the possibility of an alliance with a close neighbor where you go to their... defense and help them against an aggressor and they to yours. That's another question that has its own angles and difficulties. But one thing is very clear in the Christian just war tradition, the only just cause is defense, not aggression, not the gaining of new territory, not expanding your power in your empire, but defense. Thirdly, the war is waged with right intention. Here we got a little bit closer on and define what is not a just cause. The intention is not for national honor or as already mentioned for national interests. A war must be for defense and in pursuit of justice. The intention of the war then is justice. Number four, the war is undertaken as only a last resort. All nonviolent means should be pursued first. Offers of peace based on a just resolution of the problem ought to be tried before war is declared. It's the absolute last resort, not the first. Historically, it's been the first resort of foolish, proud, arrogant kings and nations. Number five, the war is fought on the basis of a reasonable chance of success. This principle backs up the former by reminding civil rulers of the folly of plunging into war, even if provoked. How much better it is to patiently pursue a peaceful settlement when the prospect of winning a war with another nation is slim. That was the teaching of our reading in Luke. The king is to take counsel and before he would ever commit himself to war, he should see whether or not he has the resources his country does to win. Because often kings go to war just because their honor has been offended. But it's absolutely foolish to go to war to defend your honor when all it's going to do is bring greater destruction and dishonor. So the war is fought on the basis of a reasonable chance of success. Number six, the war has the establishment of a superior peace as its goal. The goal of fighting a war is to establish a just and lasting peace. That is the goal, not new territory, not new power, not new empire, but a just and lasting peace. This is one of the problems that is condemned, and this is a powerful illustration, the Middle East to its unending cycles of war between Israel and the Arab neighbors. Israel has gone to war, and I'm sure the Arabs in their own place and time have failed in this as well. The goal is never adjust in lasting peace. That's why it will never end. By the way, World War I. which is a whole nother topic of the whole question of just wars. But one of the things that was so horrendous about that was the settlement of the Treaty of Versailles that was concluded at the end with Germany. The purpose of that treaty was vengeance and the punishment of the German people, and it guaranteed World War II. Historians look back now and say that World War II was only an extension of World War I, because World War I was concluded not with a just and lasting peace and view, but punishment, vengeance, and hatred. And so World War II came. Number seven. Let me see, okay, number seven, the war is waged with proper discrimination between combatants and non-combatants. War as a function of the state is between the armies of each state, the soldiers, support soldiers, the frontline soldiers, support soldiers, the whole support mechanism. That's what the war is between. And so in the just war tradition, care must be taken to minimize hopefully avoid, but war's messy, to minimize civilian casualties, to avoid as much as possible the destruction of civilian property and of the civilians' basic life-supporting industries. You don't bomb their hospitals. You don't bomb their mills that make flour. You don't ruin their fields and sow them with salt. The biblical law is you don't cut down the fruit trees of your enemy when you lay siege to their city. Because the purpose of war is not the destruction of the civilian infrastructure, the murder of the people, but the defeat of the other army so that a just and lasting peace can now be established. Again, just apply that one to what we're seeing in Gaza. And these principles, these seven principles must be applied in every specific historical circumstance, and that's not always easy to do. This is why wise men are needed, men who understand the times, men who are able to apply these principles and guide the civil rulers who are responsible for the national defense and fulfillment of their duty, and only foolish rulers reject wise counsel. Let me just give a little bit of an application on the basis of these principles. I judge, and my judgment is limited just because of my own limited knowledge, but I judge there has only been perhaps one just war in all of American history. One. Which war was that? The war for independence. I study this and look, none of these fit perfectly. But the war was conducted by a legitimate and duly constituted authority, the Continental Congress. It just wasn't a mob reaction. There was a just cause in terms of the justice and the liberty that was being trampled by the mother country. They were treating the people of this country as servants, taking away their English rights that were guaranteed to them in the Magna Carta. The war was raged with right intention. There was no intention for national honor, national interest, or expansion of territory. It was a war of self-defense in pursuit of justice. It was a war that was undertaken as a last resort. Do you know four, five, six years of intensive attempts by the colonies to resolve their problems? I just read a biography of Benjamin Franklin, he was stationed in London, in England, working tirelessly to help the English to understand the colonists' perspective and to bring peace. And there was many a petition sent to the king and to the parliament to try to resolve this without warfare, but it was always treated with contempt. There was a basis for a reasonable chance of success. Yes, they were a great empire, but there was a mighty ocean between them. They would not have committed themselves to war unless they believed that we could succeed in it. It wasn't easy, but that was proven true. And the goal was to establish a superior peace at the end. And the war was raged with proper discrimination between combatants and non-combatants. Now, there were atrocities committed by both sides against civilians, but that was not the goal of Washington, George Washington and the Continental Congress. There were just evil people who did that. It was a just war. And far as I know, that's the only one we've ever had. But again, my views are limited, my historical understanding is certainly not infallible. Now in the American Civil War, so-called Civil War, or the war between the states, we have a unique context, very unique, where a constitutionally formed country with individual states goes to war against each other. I would say this, if either side has a claim to a just war in that one, it's not the North, but the South that can make that claim. So you take these principles and you apply them. None of our other wars were wars that were even remotely related or fulfilled in these principles. World War I was not a war of defense. It was a war to make the world safe for democracy. And what it actually did was destroy the peoples and the liberties and the constitutions of the nations. World War II? Mm-mm. One of the arguments is that Hitler wanted to invade the continental United States. This is the most bizarre lie that you can imagine. He had no designs on our country. He wanted peace with America as he did with England. World War II was not a just war. Vietnam? Afghanistan, Iraq, they don't fit these principles. And our current involvement in Ukraine and the Middle East in the support of these brutal wars, I believe that support is utterly condemned by these just war principles for our government. We have no civil government that with good advice is making war and it's gonna lead to the destruction. of so much good, maybe even of the union of the country itself. So the point of the proverb here is that no civil ruler should ever lead his people into war. without seeking wise and knowledgeable counselors who can direct him in understanding the times and applying the principles of just war to the current situation. Sadly, we are so far from that circumstance, I don't know that we can survive. But this is what the proverb is teaching. This is what God's word teaches as wisdom. As the parallel proverb states, by wise counsel you'll make war, and in the multitude of counselors, There is safety. Adam Clarke says this on this proverb, the phrase, with good advice make war. He says, listen, I thought this was significant. He said, perhaps there is not a precept in this whole book so little regarded as this. I thought on that for quite a while. Wow, what a statement. The entire book of Proverbs. There's not a precept, he says, perhaps, that is so little regarded as this. He knows his history in wars and the reasons for going to war, pride, ambition, caprice, gain of territory, on and on. He goes this way. Most of the wars that are undertaken are wars of injustice, ambition, aggrandizement, and caprice. which can have no previous good counsel. a minister, there's a civil minister, who is perhaps neither a good nor a great man, counsels his king to make war. The cabinet must be brought into it and a sufficient number of the states of the kingdom gained over to support it. By and by, what has begun through caprice must be maintained through necessity. Places or positions must be created. Offices must be filled with needy dependents whose interest it may be to protract the war till they get enough to pay their debts and secure independence for life. And for these most important ends, the blood of the country is spilled and the treasures of the people exhausted." End quote. Noah Webster says this in his 1828 dictionary entry on the war. He says, as wars the conquest of nations or states, it always implies that such conquest is authorized by the monarch or the sovereign power of the nation. When war is commenced by attacking a nation in peace, it is called an offensive war and such attack is aggressive. When the war is undertaking to repel invasion or the attacks of an enemy, it is called defensive and a defensive war is considered as justifiable. Very few of the wars that have desolated nations and deluged the earth with blood have been justifiable. Happy would it be for mankind if the prevalence of Christian principles might ultimately extinguish the spirit of war, and if the ambition to be great might yield to the ambition of being good." End quote. 1828, the wisdom of the author of the first American dictionary of the English language, a Christian dictionary. If even just our president will look at this definition and be counseled by Webster, how much better we would be. I've said a lot on this proverb because of the gravity of the time in which we live, and to show you the Bible speaks precisely and definitively to the great things that confront us as a country. Sadly, we are a warmongering nation. It never was intended to be that. Christian principles that established this nation was not about empire. It was not about expansion into the world, controlling other nations. And as Washington made very clear in his farewell address, it was not to become involved in the wars and conflicts of Europe and other countries. We must remain neutral. Seek to be the friends of all if we can, but we should not ever entangle ourselves in these wars and in alliances that force us to go to war, because if we're in alliance with a country that goes to war unjustly, are we forced to go to war with them? Yeah, according to alliances, usually that's the case. All right, let me, just a few more here. Thoughts on Proverbs 20, verse 19. This is pretty self-evident, just a few comments here. He that goeth about as a tale-bearer revealeth secrets. Therefore meddle not with him that flatters with the lips. So let's make a jump now, this is the challenge of Proverbs, even when you just read them yourself, you gotta go from one great subject, one heavy proverb, now you gotta switch gears and go to another one. Either goes about as a tailbearer reveals secrets, therefore meddle not with him, flattereth with his lips. I think this is synthetic, where the second line is drawing a conclusion from the doctrine of the first line. The first line defines a tailbearer. This is what a tailbearer does, they reveal secrets. And when we're able to identify a tailbearer, here's how we should, Here's the consequence of that identification in terms of what we should do. Don't meddle with it. What do you mean do with them? Stay clear of the tailbearer. So this is what a tailbearer does. He reveals secrets. Secrets about people's lives. The secrets may be true, but they're private, they're personal. And the sad thing about a talebearer is he knows how to get secrets out of people. He's very good at that. He's got his eyes open all the time. And some have suggested the flattery of the second line, which I think is too specific of a translation, but it's definitely involved in it. They flatter you so that you begin to trust them, and then they extract secrets from your life, and then they go tell somebody else. This is what a tailbearer does, they reveal secrets. Interestingly, the word tailbearer itself comes from a root that meant to peddle merchandise. Traveling salesman. That's the original basic meaning, but then it was applied beyond that of peddling merchandise to peddling stories about other people. And so they're like a merchant. They're looking for consumers. That's what a salesman wants, somebody who will consume their goods. The tailbearer's always looking for somebody who will consume their stories. And they start to talk and you go, yeah, what'd they do? What'd you say? And they, I've got a consumer. This is their love, this is their joy, and they tell the secret to that person. They're selling and peddling gossip. secrets of other people's lives, looking for willing consumers of that kind of merchandise. Tailbearing is exposed as treachery in Proverbs 11, 13. A tailbearer is also a very treacherous person. It says a tailbearer reveals secrets, but he that is of a faithful spirit conceals a matter. So the faithful spirit, this faithful friend, who has a faithfulness as part of his character, he finds out something about you. In his faithfulness to your friendship, in his faithfulness to your confidence, he will not tell it. But the tailbearer is treacherous. He will take something said in confidence and he'll spread it abroad because of his own delight in doing so and bringing other people down and stirring up scandal. And so a tailbearer is a treacherous person because a tailbearer receives secrets, but he that is of a faithful spirit conceals matters like that. They don't tell secrets. Don't be a tailbearer. If you come into a secret of someone else's life, don't you pass it on. If someone confides to you something, we must be of a fateful spirit and conceal the matter and not tell others. Therefore meddle not with him that flatters with a lip. Now here's the counsel of wisdom to us. Since this is the nature of a tale bearer, don't meddle with them. The word meddle has the idea of associating with them. listening to their tales. And the phrase, one that flatters with a lip, here's where I said I think flatters a little bit too specific of a translation. I think it includes that kind of talk. But really, the Hebrew word meant to open or to loose, set loose. To open, here it would be the lips, and to let the lips loose. Ever hear the phrase loose lips? I remember the thing, I don't know from where I read it, but I've read it a number of times. There was a saying during World War II, loose lips sink ships. Anybody remember hearing that? And what does that mean? It means unguarded talk. Loose lips don't know how to guard secrets. And so during the war, there were certain military things that should be kept secret, because if you speak unguardedly, then the enemy might hear it. Whether that was true or not, I don't know. But that was the slogan. Loose lips sink ships. We might say this, loose lips sinks lives, in this context, the tail bearing. can ruin relationships and ruin people's reputation. So loose lips sink ships. This is someone with loose lips. They don't know how to control their lips. They don't have discretion. They don't have a faithful spirit that's gonna say, no, do not speak lips. Their lips are just always going on, always speaking. Don't mix yourself up with someone like this. The word metal, interestingly, comes from the same root that we have seen in Proverbs of becoming surety for somebody. Don't become surety. We studied that in this chapter. What is surety? It's mixing yourself up in the financial affairs of someone else, okay? You're mixing yourself up, you're meddling, mixing yourself up with their life in a very dangerous way by being surety for their debts. Here it's looked at in the sense of mixing yourself up with somebody else's bad character and their terrible habit of tailbearing. You're becoming mixed up in them. And just like if you become mixed up in the debt question, it can be your undoing, so becoming mixed up with a tailbearer can be your undoing. Stay away from them. And so the point of the proverb is to warn us against mixing with or mingling with people who are tailbearers. Don't listen to their loose lips is the first thing it's telling us. Someone comes to you with a tail, A secret, now sometimes it's hard to, sometimes they're almost in it before we understand what's going on. You know what I'm talking about. And so sometimes we do hear part of it, but as soon as we discern this is a secret, this is a tail bearing person, this is a tail bearing situation, Break it off. No, I don't want to hear more about that. I'm not interested in that. It's not my affair. It's not my place to know those type of things. But here the proverb is even going beyond breaking off someone who tells you a tale. When you begin to see and identify a person as a tale bearer, stay clear of them. That's what it's saying. Don't mingle with them. Don't associate with them. Delage says concerning this, back to my point of the proverb. Point of the proverb is to warn us against mixing with or mingling with people who are tail bearers. Don't listen to their loose lips and the tales they tell. But furthermore, the point of the proverb is to warn us, if you mingle with such people, be sure that they're gathering tales about you and they're gonna tell. So it's not just listening, the warning is not just listening to Tailbearer, but associating with that means they are seeking to get your secrets so they can tell other people about them. You want to be with that? Here's what Delage says, this Tailbearer of the unrestrained lips, he says, Thus one is called who does not close his mouth, who cannot hold his mouth, and is always idly babbling. And therefore, because he can keep nothing to himself, he is a dangerous companion. That's the phrase I really wanted to focus in there. Delitzsch says, this tailbearer is a dangerous companion. Stay away from him. John Gill says, he that reveals secrets goes about as a tale bearer. That is a man that has really got the secrets of others out of them, respecting themselves and their families and their affairs. He goes about telling his tales from house to house to the great prejudice of those whose secrets he is entrusted with or pretends to be entrusted with. and to the great prejudice of those to whom he tells them, as well as his own. This is contrary to the law of Moses and the rules of Christianity, as Leviticus 19.16 says. Therefore meddle not with him that flatters with the lip. Do not mingle with him. Do not associate with him. Do not keep company with, have nothing to say to him or do with him. For when he flatters you and highly praises and extols you, he has a design upon you to get what he can out of you in order to expose you elsewhere. Therefore, suspect him and be upon your guard. Shun him and avoid him." John Gill. There's a wise counselor. He referred to Leviticus 19.16. Said it was against the law of God and the rules of Christianity. Here's what it says in Leviticus. Thou shalt not go up and down as a tailbearer among thy people. There's the command. It's part of the law of God. Now, in the New Testament, in the catalog of evildoers that Paul speaks of in Romans 1, of men and women giving themselves over to unrighteousness, he speaks of the tailbearer, but the word of the New Testament is not tailbearer, but a whisperer. Talebearers usually whisper their stories. Hey, you know, do you hear about this? You know what somebody's doing? You know, they're really problems in their marriage. This is what I heard. You know, that kind of whispering. Romans 1 29, speaking of the corrupt Gentiles and Jews being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity. Whisperers. See what company that is kept in? Malicious people, envious people, deceitful, wicked, unrighteousness. That's what goes along with being a whisperer. So don't be a whisperer. And then finally, Proverbs 20, 20. For a fourth proverb of the day, who so curses his father or mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness. Here we have a proverb that deals with a theme that we see in other proverbs, and that is the proper respect and treatment of our parents. Proverbs 19.26, that he that wastes his father and chases away his mother is a son that causes shame and bringeth reproach. Now we have this one in verse 20, and then chapter 23, verse 20. 23, 20. I got the wrong reference. Maybe it's 20. I'll have to skip that one. Chapter 28, verse 24. Whoso robs his father or mother and says it's no transgression, the same as a companion of a destroyer. Chapter 30 and verse 11. There's a generation that curseth their father and does not bless their mother. And verse 17, the eye that mocketh at his father and despises to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out and the young eagles shall eat it. So this is dealing with the proper respect and treatment of parents, which is commanded in the fourth commandment to honor our parents. I think we have synthetic parallelism here. The second line, giving a consequence that comes about from the actions of the first line. So if you curse your father and mother or the person who curses their father and mother, here's the consequence to them. Their lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness. The verb curse here means to belittle someone or speak contemptuously of them. Belittle them and speak contemptuously of them. It's also used in the Old Testament in the intensive sense of verbal expression of a wish that the object of your contempt will suffer some kind of evil, some kind of calamity, some kind of misfortune or disaster. And so you hold them in contempt and your contempt is of the level where you wish terrible things would happen to them. That's the idea of a curse. It's related to our word execrate, which means, according to Webster, to curse, to denounce evil against, to imprecate evil on, and it's connected with that of utter detest, abhorring, and abomination. And so to curse one's father or mother is to verbally express contempt, disdain, or scorn to them or about them. You might not say it to their face, but you say it to someone else. It's the verbalization of a heart that's filled with contempt. Peter Muffet said, that child is said to curse his father or mother who wishes some evil unto them, or revileth them. So he sees it as wishing evil or just plain out reviling them in the speech. And John Gill, who I just quoted, I quote him quite a bit, his Proverbs commentary is wonderful. On the first line, I was just taken by his sense of indignant response to someone cursing their father and mother. Here he says this, this is dreadful indeed, exclamation point. A person must be got to a great pitch of wickedness to do this, to curse his parents, one or the other of them, that have been instruments of his being and to whom he has been brought up and put into the world. To slight them, despise them, and mock at them is highly base and criminal, but to curse them is shocking, exclamation point. which can such expect but the curse of God upon them, Gil. He says it's dreadful, it's shocking. That a young person or a child would do such a thing. What's the consequence of that terrible action? Their lamp, we put out in obscure darkness. Now the word lamp here, comes from a root that means to give light and therefore it was applied to lamps or candles that had the wicks and would burn up the oil and they would give light. And so the light in their life is the idea, will be put out. Gesinius in his dictionary on the Hebrew says that this word lamp refers metaphorically to happiness, or to honor. Therefore, what he's saying is his happiness will be extinguished. He will bring a curse upon himself. His life will be ruined by such activity. And instead of getting honor to himself as he tears down his parents, he will get shame and disgrace. And so his lamp, meaning his happiness and his honor will be lost. and they will be extinguished, put out in obscure darkness, or literally in the Hebrew, in the darkness of darkness, utter darkness. The second word in that phrase, darkness of darkness in the original, is where we get our idea of obscure darkness. And this word darkness was used metaphorically of misery, adversity, and even death itself. And so their lamp, their happiness will be put out. And they will go into misery, adversity, and even death. Proverbs 13, nine uses this concept of judgment when it says, the light of the righteous rejoices. Their happiness, their honor is intact, but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out. their happiness, their honor will be extinguished. Proverbs 24, 20, for there shall be no reward to the evil man, the candle of the wicked or the lamp of the wicked shall be put out. Now in the Old Testament, the death penalty was established for cursing and striking parents. Exodus 21, 15, and he that smiteth his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. And he that curses his father or mother shall surely be put to death. And that is repeated then in Leviticus 29, everyone that curses his father or his mother shall be surely put to death. He hath cursed his father or his mother, his blood shall be upon him. Now in the light of these laws, many believe that the second line of the proverb is referring to the death penalty of these laws. But I'm not so sure if I agree with that in our context here. I think Delitzsch is correct when he says this. The divine law, Exodus 21, 17, and Leviticus 20, verse 9, condemns such a one to death. But the proverb does not mean this sentence against the criminal, which may only seldom have been carried out into execution, but the fearful end, which because of the righteousness of God ruling in history, terminates the life of such an unnatural son. Of the godless, it has already been said that their light is extinguished. Proverbs 13, nine, there is suddenly an end to all that brightened or made happy and embellished their life. But he who acts wickedly, even to the cursing of his father and mother, will see himself surrounded by midnight darkness. And one of the reasons why I'm tending to that in this book of wisdom, it's not talking to the civil magistrate what they are to do, but it's warning the one who does this. And in Deuteronomy 27, there's a list of blessings and cursings. And in chapter 27, the people were to repeat a number of curses. And all of these crimes that they're to declare a curse upon were ones that most often took place in secret and nobody knew about them. The point being, Even though our civil rulers, our justice cannot find these, you can, God, and therefore bring your curse upon such people. And here's what it says in Deuteronomy 27, 16. Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or mother, that is, belittles them, that scorns them. Cursed be he that sets light by his father and mother, and the people shall say amen. In other words, God is putting on notice here what he will do. You curse your father and mother. I will see to it that your lamp is extinguished in deep darkness. This is God's warning to us. There are those laws from the Old Testament. There is that situation. We're not denying that at all. We're saying, I think in the proverb here, it's the warning of what God is going to do. He will extinguish the light of those who do such. And so this is the point of the proverb, to state the terrible consequences of divine action, justice, on a son or daughter who would be so base and so wicked as to speak with contempt and disdain of their mother and father, adding sin to sin by uttering a curse on them, either one or the both. And so the consequences stated here so that in this very strongly worded proverb that none of us will ever go down that path of reprobation. We will learn the counsel of wisdom and the law of God and we will speak respectfully of our parents because to speak in a contemptuous way as we're taught here is the height of folly. So the proverb is upholding the righteousness of the fourth commandment. Honor thy father and thy mother as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee, that thy days may be prolonged and it may go well with thee. You see the light beam put out mean the exact opposite. It will not go well with you. Your happiness and honor will be gone. But what if a person has a father and mother who was wicked and treated them very badly, abused them, showed contempt to them, and even violence to them. What about that situation? Because many children have had evil parents, sadly. Well, first of all, that is a terrible sin on the part of any parent, and the purpose of this proverb is not in any way to diminish that fact. But you know what? We don't right the wrong by cursing them. Nothing is gained. We corrupt ourselves even by that. We corrupt our spirit. We're consumed by bitterness, anger, and hate. So there's nothing that's gained by cursing parents, even if they were terrible parents. If we cannot speak respectfully of them, At the very least, we should not say anything at all, but pour our complaint out to God, express our heart. He knows, He knows what we've been through, He understands. And we should ask Him to help us deal with this abuse or the shame that we've suffered. And we ask Him to give us the power to forgive, that we might be set free from it. Cursing them will not make us better. but will bring about us, on us, its own curse. In a sense, to curse one's parents is to curse oneself. It doesn't matter what your parents were like. Furthermore, what about the fact if you have cursed your parents in the past? No hope? No. The interesting thing about this the tense of the verb that you use here of cursing, it shows an ongoing activity. In other words, there's a possibility of breaking it off. Being instructed by wisdom, brought to repentance, confessing your sin of doing that, of belittling your parents, your father or mother, and be free of it. So you can have it forgiven, but you can't continue it. God is merciful. He will forgive. And I conclude with this comment by Henry, Matthew Henry. Here is one an undutiful child become very wicked by degrees. He begins with despising his father and mother, slighting their instructions, disobeying their commands and raging at their rebukes. But at length he arrives at such a pitch of impudence and impiety as to curse them. To give them scurrilous and oprious language and to wish mischief to those that were the instruments of his being and have taken so much care and pains about him. And this in defiance of God and His law, which made this a capital crime. Exodus 21, 17 in Matthew 15, 4. And in violation of all the bonds of duty, natural affection, and gratitude. An undutiful child becomes very miserable at last. Becomes very miserable at last. His lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness. All his honor shall be laid in the dust. He shall forever lose his reputation. Let him never expect any peace or comfort in his own mind, no, nor to prosper in this world. His days shall be shortened and the lamp of his life extinguished according to the reverse of the promise of the fifth commandment. I said fourth commandment earlier, excuse me. It's the fifth commandment. His family shall be cut off and his posterity be a curse to him. and it will be his eternal ruin. The lamp of his happiness shall be put out in the blackness of darkness, even that which is forever. Jude 1.13 and Matthew 22 and verse 13. Matthew Henry is envisioning at least decent parents, maybe they weren't great. And I have already spoke to those of those instances where we do have evil parents. But the principle still applies. and let us hear the wisdom, stay far away from this. Instead of cursing our father and mother, let us bless them, speak well of them as we are able. Even the worst people have a few good points about them. Focus on that, speak good of them if you can, and refrain from belittling them or cursing them, and ask God to put you in your heart that ability and desire to honor father and mother. and you will be blessed. It will go well with you. Amen. Lord, thank you for the continued studies in Proverbs and what we've looked at today, where we've seen that the bread of deceit is sweet to a man, but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel. We looked at a proverb on this immensely important subject, particularly in our day, but also throughout history, of war. Every purpose is established by counsel, and with good advice make war. We saw that he that goes about as a tailbearer reveals secret, therefore meddle not with him that flatters with the lips. Then finally, who so curses his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness. Teach us this wisdom, Lord Jesus, we pray.