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Mock and Quarrel

10 

Throw out the mocker, and fighting goes, too.
     Quarrels and insults will disappear.

11 

Whoever loves a pure heart and gracious speech
     will have the king as a friend.

12 

The Lord preserves those with knowledge,
     but he ruins the plans of the treacherous.

Verse 10

People who cause trouble by their evil words do not deserve a welcome. Such people may lie or gossip. Or they may insult other people. We should send away these evil people (Matthew 18:17). The troubles will end when they leave. And perhaps our actions will warn them that their behavior was evil (1 Timothy 1:20).

Verse 11

Because Solomon was a king, his decisions affected many people. His friends needed to advise him and to inform him. He needed to choose the right friends.

Solomon needed honest friends who would speak the truth. He needed friends who spoke kind words. He did not want angry friends or dangerous friends. He did not want friends who told lies. It did not matter whether his friends were rich or poor. He needed wise friends.

Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, had the wrong friends. They were rich, and they loved luxuries. They were not kind. They were cruel. They gave bad advice. Because of their bad advice, there was a revolution. Rehoboam lost most of his country (1 Kings 12:10-16).

Everybody needs good friends. We need friends to encourage and to advise us. We want friends who will pray for us. We need to meet with other Christians. We should go to a church that believes the Bible. See Hebrews 10:25.

Verse 12

People may fail, but God’s word will never fail. God preserves his truth. Nobody can successfully oppose God. God will not allow anyone to destroy the truth.

‘Knowledge’ here means knowledge about God, and about what he requires.

In Jeremiah 36:27-28, an evil king tried to destroy the words that God gave to the prophet (holy man) Jeremiah. The king threw Jeremiah’s book into the fire. The book burned, but God protected the knowledge about his truth. After the book burned, God told Jeremiah to write the book again. So the king’s plan to destroy the prophet’s words failed.

Let me ask you: The first proverb can be challenging. It says to drive a mocker away, but what if the mocker works with you? In that case, after each negative or quarrelsome comment, you could respond with something like, "Let’s focus on the positive," "No need to stir up trouble," or "It’s not as bad as it seems."

Struggle to Standing. Available on Amazon.  https://a.co/d/ev3YUqw

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