Proverbs 22:24 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Proverbs 22:24

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The Hebrew for ‘furious’ is ‘seething’ – do not go with such a man. Well sometimes you have to, of course. It is part of your job to work with such a man. Often circumstances force you to be with such people, and you have to be salt and light to all sorts of people. But you must not choose to befriend and deal on the same terms with somebody who is an angry, furious person. It is a proud thing; he cannot control his temper in any way. This is the surface meaning of the proverb, and it is fairly obvious.Why not? Because anger is infectious: ‘Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.’ If you get angry yourself perpetually so that you cannot control your temper – and it can happen so quickly and foolish in this way – well, it is a snare. You are in a trap. You cannot easily wriggle free from it and you are much cast upon the Lord to get out of it, like a lot of sin. But anger is infectious and of course if you befriend people who are angry, it means you agree with them, and you return the same kind of comments, and you begin to think the same way. ‘Make no friendship with an angry man.’

Application

But there are other things too beside anger. May I suggest that the same point applies to people who are gossips? Oh you like that person quite a lot, and there are a lot of valuable things in that person, but they are very, very critical. Every time he or she opens their mouth, whatever the subject is, they know best, critical, criticising. Do not spend too much time with such a person or you will get the same problem. You will be the same way. You are endorsing it, you are learning it.

Somebody who is a boastful person. It is the same, very catchy and proud. Someone is dishonest, perpetually lying, exaggerating. Somebody who is very ostentatious. The same, you can learn that, and it traps you. Someone who is unclean of course.

So it is not just about anger, although that is all that is stated here. ‘Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go.’ But there are other habits and passions which are also infectious, and be careful that you do not relate to people from whom you will catch this. ‘Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.’

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Proverbs 22:24 Commentary and Bible Study