Prophecy?
After some reading, I decided to read all of Proverbs 18 straight through. Talk about God grabbing your heart and saying: "Yes, you did this, both the good in here and the bad." Although they seem at first to be separate proverbs - they flow very much like my recent history. "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you."
It's interesting how much fun reading this can really be! I've never felt so alive, connected and convicted (well - I probably have, but not recently). Sweetness. Searching 18:24 is quite interesting - it can be translated sooo many ways. The above NIV has: "A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother."
Verses 22-24 seem so Jesus and culturally sensitive. Back then, when your wife was not your equal - was that near to the friendship you can have now? So many people liken the friend closer than a brother as Jesus (although that would have made no sense to the Jewish readers of the text). The Kingdom of God is frequently likened to being closer than a brotherhood. What does that mean for verse 24? For me?
To find a wife that helps me to become all the things previously mentioned is what is Good. I want to seek the righteousness, not the wife for what the wife symbolizes. A good wife would not have been given to a man who was not those things back then - just because I can 'win one over' in today's culture means nothing. In fact, I want to find someone who thinks similarly. Seek Good. Let the rest find me. Faith, right?
The King James version of this last verse reads: "A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." So if you have a lot of friends, then you are required to be friendly all the time (which can mean spreading yourself thin if you're not in a community). But both agree that there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Not sure where I'm going with it... but it is a point to ponder: PTP (as a friend of mine would say!). To me, it is Jesus. But it has another meaning that seems just out my grasp. If the first half is taken to be a good thing (you must be friendly) then perhaps having one that stays closer than a brother can be considered bothersome - a weight of sorts. Something you end up feeling is leeching from you. But if the first part is taken to be negative (disaster comes from spreading yourself thin) - then that would imply that each of us has a real human friend who is very very close and he/she is just waiting to be discovered.
Like with so much of the Living Word - there is truth in both sides, I think. And yet - there are translations out there that use the word: AND....
It's interesting how much fun reading this can really be! I've never felt so alive, connected and convicted (well - I probably have, but not recently). Sweetness. Searching 18:24 is quite interesting - it can be translated sooo many ways. The above NIV has: "A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother."
Verses 22-24 seem so Jesus and culturally sensitive. Back then, when your wife was not your equal - was that near to the friendship you can have now? So many people liken the friend closer than a brother as Jesus (although that would have made no sense to the Jewish readers of the text). The Kingdom of God is frequently likened to being closer than a brotherhood. What does that mean for verse 24? For me?
To find a wife that helps me to become all the things previously mentioned is what is Good. I want to seek the righteousness, not the wife for what the wife symbolizes. A good wife would not have been given to a man who was not those things back then - just because I can 'win one over' in today's culture means nothing. In fact, I want to find someone who thinks similarly. Seek Good. Let the rest find me. Faith, right?
The King James version of this last verse reads: "A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." So if you have a lot of friends, then you are required to be friendly all the time (which can mean spreading yourself thin if you're not in a community). But both agree that there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Not sure where I'm going with it... but it is a point to ponder: PTP (as a friend of mine would say!). To me, it is Jesus. But it has another meaning that seems just out my grasp. If the first half is taken to be a good thing (you must be friendly) then perhaps having one that stays closer than a brother can be considered bothersome - a weight of sorts. Something you end up feeling is leeching from you. But if the first part is taken to be negative (disaster comes from spreading yourself thin) - then that would imply that each of us has a real human friend who is very very close and he/she is just waiting to be discovered.
Like with so much of the Living Word - there is truth in both sides, I think. And yet - there are translations out there that use the word: AND....