Bible's ancient wisdom in the book of Proverbs...

The book of Proverbs contains much timeless wisdom that still applies today. Of course, like any book, it was written in a specific culture, and that means there will be parts that don't make sense within our postmodern Western culture. However, the principles in the book are timeless and still apply today.

Chapters 1-4, for instance, give an exhortation to embrace wisdom. This is a cross-cultural, universal message to all people.

There are many timeless individual proverbs that clearly still apply today:

12:10, "A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel."

19:20, "Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise."

20:3, "It is to a man's honor to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel."

There are also some parts of Proverbs that were clearly written with the Hebrew culture in mind, and as such, the passage does not make sense in a modern context, but the principle is still there:

For instance 26:8, "Like tying a stone in a sling is the giving of honor to a fool."

No one uses stones or slings anymore. But the principle is still there. If you tie a stone into a sling, it can't fly out of the sling and is useless as a weapon. Giving honor to a fool is similar because he holds on to the honor you give him and does nothing with it.


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forbidden knowledge|ancient wisdom