Laying In Wait!
Dear Lord, I pray for your wisdom as I embark on a journey though the Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel. In Jesus’s name, amen.
In a modern courtroom, a person’s intent is taken into consideration in murder cases. Proverbs describes people who have the intent to kill by laying in wait.
Solomon’s appeal in Proverbs 1:8-19 (ESV) is to warn readers not to follow the schemes of evildoers.
“Hear, my son, your father’s instruction,
and forsake not your mother’s teaching,
for they are a graceful garland for your head
and pendants for your neck.
My son, if sinners entice you,
do not consent.
If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood;
let us ambush the innocent without reason;
like Sheol let us swallow them alive,
and whole, like those who go down to the pit;
we shall find all precious goods,
we shall fill our houses with plunder;
throw in your lot among us;
we will all have one purse”—
my son, do not walk in the way with them;
hold back your foot from their paths,
for their feet run to evil,
and they make haste to shed blood.
For in vain is a net spread
in the sight of any bird,
but these men lie in wait for their own blood;
they set an ambush for their own lives.
Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain;
it takes away the life of its possessors.”
Have sinners tried to entice you? Have you been tempted to join them? Beware! Pray. Turn from evil, and ask the Lord for guidance.
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