Bathsheba Solomon Proverbs 31

A Mother’s counsel to a Prince… marry well!

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This is the final chapter of the book of Proverbs as well as its fourth and final division.

Chapter 31 was written by King Lemuel which most likely was a lovingly familial name for Solomon, perhaps given by Bathsheba his mother.

This chapter is divided into two parts with greater emphasis given to the most important topic:

• Advice for kings and rulers to follow
• A description of a godly, virtuous woman who fears God and honors her husband.

These, too, seem to speak to Solomon’s authorship since he was a king who received godly advice regarding ruling. Additionally, he unwisely allowed his heart to be carried off by pagan women and so he knew something about the value and need of a godly wife.

The importance of a God fearing wife who possesses godly character cannot be overstated for ANY man, but all the more for a King!

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God Creation Hope

Hope in God through what He’s made

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Regardless of how God first caught our attention, be it:
• The splendor of the Creation itself
• A word from one of God’s children
• a passage from the Bible
• the inner awareness we are all born with that there is more going on behind the scene of life than we can figure out with our minds
• by a direct inward work of the Holy Spirit
…whatever we saw, bid us to come, and come we did!

Over the course of the last two weeks, we’ve discovered that there are 3 basic sources of Hope in relation to God.

God’s inspired, written word
The inward witness, leading, counsel and teaching of the Holy Spirit
What we have come to experience of God ourselves

But the most powerful of all is our experience and discovering God in what He has made, in the most ordinary of life experiences recorded in scripture and in the person, ministry and human interactions of Jesus – God incarnate is where you will be encouraged to turn to develop your Hope in God which your faith can support!

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Proverbs 30 Agur Paul job

Where Agur’s wisdom, Job’s correction & Paul’s letter to Rome intersect

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This chapter is itself the 3rd major division within the greater book of Proverbs. It is written by Agur, a man unknown in scripture who like Balaam of Beor may very well have been a non-Israelite prophet of God.

Agur begins by a self-effacing statement regarding his own wisdom apart from God.

He then offers a list of five statements which are presented in a way which brings God’s correction and confrontation with Job irresistibly to mind.

This list includes the most clear and pointed reference to the incarnate Messiah in the entire book of Proverbs, calling Him the Holy One, speaking of Him as the son of God and asking who would ascend to bring Him down, or descent to bring Him back up. These words are also quoted by Paul in Romans 10 and his reference material may have been both Agur’s proverb and Moses’ statement in Deuteronomy 30:12–14.

The rest of this proverb uses God’s wisdom and ways seen in His creation to highlight things which are insatiable, mysterious, possess social order, wisdom and majesty.

All of this too is very similar to the confrontation of God with Job in Job 38-41.

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Hope Lord Always Before

Hope: Setting the Lord ALWAYS before you

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The only Biblical purpose for faith is to serve as a firm foundation for what we can rightly expect of God. So faith is the foundation of the House of Hope.

Because our hope MUST be founded upon Who God really is – His character, nature and intentions for us as those who bear His image – coming to know the Lord by way of experience is an indispensable necessity.

As such, the words of David ring true from Psalm 16:8 which say, “I have set the Lord continually before me; because He is at my right hand I will not be shaken.”

We used this as our text of focus this morning and considered its application to our growing understanding of Faith and Hope.

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