Proverbs 25
Verses 25:4 – 5 started off with a quick search to ensure I understood the meaning of “dross”:
4 Take away the dross from the silver,
and the smith has material for a vessel;
5 take away the wicked from the presence of the king,
and his throne will be established in righteousness.
Dross is impurities in a metal that is removed in the refining process.When you create metal projects with impurities, often you get a weaker metal that can fail. If you take the wicked away from a king, he will not have that influence on his throne. Now this analogy can be applied to our lives as well, since often times we surround ourselves with “the wicked” or at least the “party animals” to try to save them. What most often happens is we drift into their lifestyle and not the other way around.
If we surround ourselves with righteousness and keep a core “pure” group, like David’s mighty men, we can enter into “dens of evil” as examples and not get easily sucked into the life. We have to be able to show reason why we have a better life, so purity is a must. Often times we need to ensure that we don’t get sucked into the life we are trying to save. People always point to how Jesus hung out with sinners and “wicked” yet it did not affect him. Also not He is God and cannot be influenced in by evil. Also, He had the twelve disciples as support.
Verses 25: 21 – 22 are commonly used as examples of kindness in the New Testament:
21 If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat,
and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink,
22 for you will heap burning coals on his head,
and the LORD will reward you.
Paul specifically quotes this Proverb in Romans 12 when he is expanding on Jesus’ teachings in Matthew 5. Often times we do this with a revengeful spirit, more thinking of how our kindness is driving them mad and less on the act. Although they may have “coals heaped on their head” your focus should not be giving them misery but showing true love. I honestly think verse 22 should be ignored for two reasons. First who cares what torment these people may be going through, your goal is not to torment them but to show kindness. Second, don’t focus on rewards from God since once you start doing that you question why each good “deed” is not rewarded with a lottery win.
No we need to focus on verse 21 and change our hearts so we are truly showing our enemies love and not just doing kind acts to get them mad. We need to dive into our heart and motivation while letting God deal with theirs. If the Lord rewards us here on earth or with treasures in heaven, which is a bonus and should never be expected. I take this aspect more like a “grunt” in the Marines, when God says “jump”, I jump without expectations of reward.
Verse 25:26 ties into verses 25:4 – 5 in letting evil into one’s life:
Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain
is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.
Solomon has seen this in his father, when he moved away from his “mighty men”. We need to make sure we don’t let the wicked creep into our lives. I have seen this many times where people we be trying to save others without support from friends and get sucked up in the lifestyle they are trying to “save.” I did this in college were I had no Christian friends and decided I could win over others by doing what they did. Instead I drank a bunch in college and saved no one.
The only thing I was able to do in college was to turn away the “born again” group since I knew the right answers, although never practiced them. I became a muddy spring and a polluted fountain, which has become purer but is still dealing with the “skeletons” from allowing evil in. Fortunately the “skeletons” are more just a battle in my mind, but where my outward appearance may be “Godly” my mind needs to be hammered into submission more often than I care to admit.