Rude Awakenings - Part 2
A sated man loathes honey, but to a famished man any bitter thing is sweet [Proverbs 27:7].
He who blesses his friend with a loud voice early in the morning, it will be reckoned a curse to him [Proverbs 27:14].
Yesterday we descanted on Proverbs 27:7 and arrived at a good many conclusions. The analysis which preceded applies equally to verse 14 of Proverbs 27. Imagine being in a sound sleep, dreaming about the greatest time of your life and living it all over again. Add to this the typical embellishments contained in sweet dreams, and you find yourself in third heaven!
Suddenly the time of your life comes to an end, as you hear someone’s voice blurting out like clanging cymbals and blaring trumpets. You jump to attention, none too happy for the rude awakening. You come to an abrupt realization, “Well I’ll be… It’s Damsel Daisy, my best girl! But what is she doing on my front porch at 4:30 AM, strumming her guitar and singing me love songs?”
So you ask her as much, but in a not so kind voice. Her response, “Oh, honey, I just finished writing this song for you, and I couldn’t wait for you to hear it. Do you like it?”
What do you think your retort would be? Could you honestly give it a rave review? Methinks not! You’d bellow, “It sucks, girl! Get back home with yourself and leave me be! If you want my opinion about a song ever again, make an appointment first!” And then you’d slam the door and return to bed, yearning for a repeat of your fantastic dream.
You see, even when your most favorite person comes to your home, even when your sweetie comes to sing your praises, it’s not automatically a good thing. It depends on the context. Every situation—and every book and every Bible verse—occurs within a context, not in a vacuum. Should we leave out the context, we might arrive at the wrong destination. We may very well draw the wrong conclusion.
Such is the message of Proverbs 27:14. Let’s diagram it.
A. a person who blesses
B. a loud voice early in the morning
A. a friend who is blessed
B. a curse to him it is reckoned
The parallel ideas are “A” with “A” and “B” with “B”. There is a person who blesses and his friend whom he is blessing. The two occur parallel to each other. Even though a blessing is pronounced, the twofold context makes the blessing not so much a blessing.
1. a loud voice
2. early in the morning
Hence the blessing so-called was instead “reckoned a curse”. The style is antonymous parallelism. Without a context, all actions and words are incapable of being understood aright. Apart from their context we can only offer guesses in our interpretation of them.
Let’s learn the lesson from verses 7 and 14 of Proverbs 27. Let’s not accept Bible teaching which leaves out the context. Otherwise we are swallowing man’s guesses hook, line, and sinker. And that just will not do, will it?
To further research this issue, I direct you to my books in the Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes Bible study series. To purchase my books please click on the "Shop" tab at the top of this page, where you will find a complete list of my books. Each book is available in both paperback (Createspace) and eBook (Kindle).
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