The Berean Pursuit
My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor,
if you have struck hands in pledge with a stranger,
if you have been trapped by the words of your lips,
ensnared by the words of your mouth,
then do this, my son, to free yourself,
for you have fallen into your neighbor's hands:
Go, humble yourself,
and press your plea with your neighbor.
Allow no sleep to your eyes
or slumber to your eyelids.
Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
like a bird from the snare of the fowler.
Walk in the manner of the ant, O slacker;
observe its ways and become wise.
Without a commander,
without an overseer or ruler,
it prepares its provisions in summer;
it gathers its food at harvest.
How long will you lie there, O slacker?
When will you get up from your sleep?
A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest,
and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and need like a bandit.
A worthless person, a wicked man,
walks with a perverse mouth,
winking his eyes, speaking with his feet,
and pointing with his fingers.
With deceit in his heart he devises evil;
he continually sows discord.
Therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;
in an instant he will be shattered beyond recovery.
There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to Him:
haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that run swiftly to evil,
a false witness who gives false testimony,
and one who stirs up discord among brothers.
My son, keep your father's commandment,
and do not forsake your mother's teaching.
Bind them always upon your heart;
tie them around your neck.
When you walk, they will guide you;
when you lie down, they will watch over you;
when you awake, they will speak to you.
For this commandment is a lamp, this teaching is a light,
and the reproofs of discipline are the way to life,
to keep you from the evil woman,
from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.
Do not lust in your heart for her beauty
or let her captivate you with her eyes.
For the levy of the prostitute is poverty,
and the adulteress preys upon your very life.
Can a man embrace fire
and his clothes not be burned?
Can a man walk on hot coals
without scorching his feet?
So is he who sleeps with another man's wife;
no one who touches her will go unpunished.
Men do not despise the thief
if he steals to satisfy his hunger.
Yet if caught, he must pay sevenfold;
he must give up all the wealth of his house.
He who commits adultery lacks judgment;
whoever does so destroys himself.
Wounds and dishonor will befall him,
and his reproach will never be wiped away.
For jealousy enrages a husband,
and he will show no mercy in the day of vengeance.
He will not be appeased by any ransom,
or persuaded by lavish gifts.
My son, keep my words
and treasure my commandments within you.
Keep my commandments and live;
guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.
Tie them to your fingers;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
Say to wisdom, "You are my sister,"
and call understanding your kinsman,
that they may keep you from the adulteress,
from the stranger with seductive words.
For at the window of my house
I looked through the lattice.
I saw among the simple,
I noticed among the youths,
a young man lacking judgment,
crossing the street near her corner,
strolling down the road to her house,
at twilight, as the day was fading
into the dark of the night.
Then a woman came out to meet him,
with the attire of a harlot and cunning of heart.
She is loud and defiant;
her feet do not remain at home.
Now in the street, now in the squares,
she lurks at every corner.
She seizes him and kisses him;
she brazenly says to him:
"I have made my peace offerings;
today I have paid my vows.
So I came out to meet you;
I sought you, and I have found you.
I have decked my bed with coverings,
with colored linen from Egypt.
I have perfumed my bed with myrrh,
with aloes, and with cinnamon.
Come, let us take our fill of love till morning.
Let us delight in loving caresses!
For my husband is not at home;
he has gone on a long journey.
He took with him a bag of money
and will not return till the moon is full."
With her great persuasion she entices him;
with her flattering lips she lures him.
He follows her on impulse,
like an ox going to the slaughter,
like a deer bounding into a trap,
until an arrow pierces his liver,
like a bird darting into a snare-
not knowing it will cost him his life.
Now, my sons, listen to me,
and attend to the words of my mouth.
Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways;
do not stray into her paths.
For she has brought many down to death;
her slain are many in number.
Her house is the road to Sheol,
descending to the chambers of death.
A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the LORD concerning the words of Cush, a Benjamite.
O LORD my God, I take refuge in You;
save me and deliver me from all my pursuers,
or they will shred my soul like a lion
and tear me to pieces with no one to rescue me.
O LORD my God, if I have done this,
if injustice is on my hands,
if I have rewarded my ally with evil,
if I have plundered my foe without cause,
then may my enemy pursue me and overtake me;
may he trample me to the ground
and leave my honor in the dust.
Selah
Arise, O LORD, in Your anger;
rise up against the fury of my enemies.
Awake, my God, and ordain judgment.
Let the assembled peoples gather around You;
take Your seat over them on high.
The LORD judges the peoples;
vindicate me, O LORD,
according to my righteousness and integrity.
Put an end to the evil of the wicked,
but establish the righteous,
O righteous God who searches hearts and minds.
My shield is with God,
who saves the upright in heart.
God is a righteous judge
and a God who feels indignation each day.
If one does not repent,
God will sharpen His sword;
He has bent and strung His bow.
He has prepared His deadly weapons;
He ordains His arrows with fire.
Behold, the wicked man travails with evil;
he conceives trouble and births falsehood.
He has dug a hole and hollowed it out;
he has fallen into a pit of his own making.
His trouble recoils on himself,
and his violence falls on his own head.
I will thank the LORD for His righteousness
and sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.
I ask then, did God reject His people? Certainly not! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject His people, whom He foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says about Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel: "Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well"?
And what was the divine reply to him? "I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal."
In the same way, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if it is by grace, then it is no longer by works. Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.
What then? What Israel was seeking, it failed to obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened, as it is written:
"God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that could not see,
and ears that could not hear,
to this very day."
And David says:
"May their table become a snare and a trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution to them.
May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,
and their backs be bent forever."
I ask then, did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Certainly not! However, because of their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel jealous. But if their trespass means riches for the world, and their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!
I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in the hope that I may provoke my own people to jealousy and save some of them. For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? If the first part of the dough is holy, so is the whole batch; if the root is holy, so are the branches.
Now if some branches have been broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others to share in the nourishment of the olive root, do not boast over those branches. If you do, remember this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.
You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in." That is correct: They were broken off because of unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He will certainly not spare you either.
Take notice, therefore, of the kindness and severity of God: severity to those who fell, but kindness to you, if you continue in His kindness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut from a wild olive tree, and contrary to nature were grafted into one that is cultivated, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!
I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you will not be conceited: A hardening in part has come to Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:
"The Deliverer will come from Zion;
He will remove godlessness from Jacob.
And this is My covenant with them
when I take away their sins."
Regarding the gospel, they are enemies on your account; but regarding election, they are loved on account of the patriarchs. For God's gifts and His call are irrevocable.
Just as you who formerly disobeyed God have now received mercy through their disobedience, so they too have now disobeyed, in order that they too may now receive mercy through the mercy shown to you. For God has consigned everyone to disobedience so that He may have mercy on everyone.
O, the depth of the riches
of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are His judgments,
and untraceable His ways!
"Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been His counselor?"
"Who has first given to God,
that God should repay him?"
For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.
To Him be the glory forever! Amen.