Metaphysical Bible Interpretation of Proverbs Chapter 16
Metaphysically Interpreting Proverbs 16:1-33
16:1The plans of the heart belong to man;
But the answer of the tongue is from Jehovah.16:2All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes;
But Jehovah weigheth the spirits.16:3Commit thy works unto Jehovah,
And thy purposes shall be established.16:4Jehovah hath made everything for its own end;
Yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.16:5Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to Jehovah:
Though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.16:6By mercy and truth iniquity is atoned for;
And by the fear of Jehovah men depart from evil.16:7When a man's ways please Jehovah,
He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.16:8Better is a little, with righteousness,
Than great revenues with injustice.16:9A man's heart deviseth his way;
But Jehovah directeth his steps.16:10A divine sentence is in the lips of the king;
His mouth shall not transgress in judgment.16:11A just balance and scales are Jehovah's;
All the weights of the bag are his work.16:12It is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness;
For the throne is established by righteousness.16:13Righteous lips are the delight of kings;
And they love him that speaketh right.16:14The wrath of a king is as messengers of death;
But a wise man will pacify it.16:15In the light of the king's countenance is life;
And his favor is as a cloud of the latter rain.16:16How much better is it to get wisdom than gold!
Yea, to get understanding is rather to be chosen than silver.16:17The highway of the upright is to depart from evil:
He that keepeth his way preserveth his soul.16:18Pride goeth before destruction,
And a haughty spirit before a fall.16:19Better it is to be of a lowly spirit with the poor,
Than to divide the spoil with the proud.16:20He that giveth heed unto the word shall find good;
And whoso trusteth in Jehovah, happy is he.16:21The wise in heart shall be called prudent;
And the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning.16:22Understanding is a well-spring of life unto him that hath it;
But the correction of fools is their folly.16:23The heart of the wise instructeth his mouth,
And addeth learning to his lips.16:24Pleasant words are as a honeycomb,
Sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.16:25There is a way which seemeth right unto a man,
But the end thereof are the ways of death.16:26The appetite of the laboring man laboreth for him;
For his mouth urgeth him thereto.16:27A worthless man deviseth mischief;
And in his lips there is as a scorching fire.16:28A perverse man scattereth abroad strife;
And a whisperer separateth chief friends.16:29A man of violence enticeth his neighbor,
And leadeth him in a way that is not good.16:30He that shutteth his eyes, it is to devise perverse things:
He that compresseth his lips bringeth evil to pass.16:31The hoary head is a crown of glory;
It shall be found in the way of righteousness.16:32He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty;
And he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city.16:33The lot is cast into the lap;
But the whole disposing thereof is of Jehovah.
September 7, 1947: Prov. 16:8
What wealth is indispensable for us as spiritual beings? Regard for divine law and a mind to keep it. “Better is a little, with righteousness, Thar great revenues with injustice.”
What forms of wealth may we possess? Material and immaterial. The former includes houses, goods, lands, stocks, bonds, and all other so-called evidences of wealth. Immaterial wealth includes all ideas, faculties of mind, and qualities of heart and soul, that are real, if imponderable.
September 21, 1947: Prov. 16:18
Are humility and meekness safe attitudes of mind and spirit to cultivate? Yes, because they discount personality and favor the development of spiritual strength of character.
September 20, 1896: Prov. 16:22-33
22. There is a wisdom which unregenerate man never can know, because it is of a higher plane of consciousness, a higher realm - the Spiritual. It is “understanding.” This higher understanding is a well-spring of Life, an unfailing fountain of Life. “That is that living water of which, if a man drink, he shall never thirst.”— John 4:14. “To him that hath it, it shall be in him a well of water (well-spring) springing up into everlasting life.” Thus Divine Wisdom or “understanding” is a perpetually flowing fountain of life. But, “the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God.” The unregenerate man's wisdom is the very opposite of true wisdom.-—”The wisdom of fools is folly.”
23. Divine Wisdom springs up (wellspring) in the inmost center of one's being (heart); it is the Divine Voice of the “I Am,” or true self. “To him that hath” this “understanding, it teacheth his mouth and addeth learning (wisdom) to his lips” so that “he speaks as the oracles of God.” — I Pet. 4:11.
24. When the intellect and lips are thus instructed by the Inner Voice of Spirit, we shall utter “pleasant words” of wisdom, which shall be “sweet to the soul”, conscious mind, and shall bring the manifestation of “health” to concrete thought, unconscious mind or body.
25. The “way” that ultimates in “death” is mortal mind's “way.” It “seemeth right” to unregenerate man, because he is living in the consciousness of sin and death, He cannot know “the way of righteousness, in the pathway whereof there is no death” (Prov. 12:38), until he becomes regenerate or rises out of his false consciousness into the higher consciousness of Life and understanding.
26. All the labor of unregenerate man is for self and to satisfy the demands and cravings of the flesh; because the Inner Voice he has never heeded, the only satisfaction he knows is sense gratification.
27. “Every imagination of his heart is evil continually” (Gen. 6:5). While “understanding addeth learning to the lips” of regenerate man, in unregenerate man's “lips there is a burning fire”; “the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity, [] it is set on fire of hell” (Jas. 3:4).
28. The unregenerate man is “ungodly,” “frow ward” and “violent”; he “soweth strife,” “alienateth friends,” “enticeth his neighbor” into another way, beside the good; and, whether walking or sleeping, whether speaking or silent, he “deviseth and bringeth to pass evil.” In his false consciousness he believes in another power, beside the Good; he is in the consciousness of “good and evil.”
31. A decrepit and diseased old man is pitiable, because these infirmities are the telltale “earmarks” of a carnal unregenerate consciousness; there is no “glory” to such a manifestation of error and sin. But “the hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness”; that is, if one has lived in the “understanding” of the Truth of Being, old age finds him “bringing forth the fruits of righteousness,” in a healthy body and a joyful spirit. Though old in years, yet ever young, because he has demonstrated that “understanding is a well-spring of life”; and in Life is no decrepitude or old age.
32. To be “slow to anger” and to “rule one's spirit” is to be mightier than the mighty of the mortal consciousness, because he has full dominion in his kingdom; he governs both body and environment; he is king.
33. In all your plans and labors, consider yourself a co-worker with God. Recognize only one Will, and be in harmony with it, “for it is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do, of his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13).
– UNITY magazine
Transcribed by Lloyd Kinder on 10-28-2013
