8 A bribe is seen as a charm by the one who gives it; they think success will come at every turn. 9 Whoever would foster love covers over an offense, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends. 10 A rebuke impresses a discerning person more than a hundred lashes a fool. 11 Evildoers foster rebellion against God; the messenger of death will be sent against them. 12 Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool bent on folly. 13 Evil will never leave the house of one who pays back evil for good. 14 Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out. (Prov. 17:8-14 NIV)
8 A bribe is seen as a charm by the one who gives it;
they think success will come at every turn.
Bribes often work, but they are always wrong. However, because they often work, they are in much popular use. A bribe is a gift that is given that expects a return favour. That favour could be a contract, it could be agreeing to turn a blind eye to an injustice or promotion of some kind for the one who offers the bribe. Bribes have been used so effectively that the person who uses them becomes convinced that they will always succeed because they can buy their way.
9 Whoever would foster love covers over an offense,
but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.
When we have been wronged it is best to try and resolve the matter as quietly as possible and to involve as few people as possible. The wider a matter is escalated the harder it becomes to solve. We should try and absorb the offence and out of love keep the matter covered over. Some people when they are confronting an issue like to have an audience, but this is not the wise or loving way to deal with matters. Repeating the matter over and over to others causes tension. People repeat things because they like people to side with them.
10 A rebuke impresses a discerning person
more than a hundred lashes a fool.
No one likes a rebuke. When a trusted friend rebukes you then if you are a discerning person, you will listen and pay heed to what is being said. The rebuke penetrates deeply into the discerning heart, far deeper than a hundred lashes would penetrate the back of a fool. When corporal punishment was more in vogue you would often hear a person speak about ‘beating sense into someone’. Not even with a hundred lashes could you beat sense into a fool.
11 Evildoers foster rebellion against God;
the messenger of death will be sent against them.
When you think of the concept of rebelling against God is seems the height of folly. How could one possibly take God on and win? Yet evildoers foster that idea. They may even boast about the idea of rebelling against God but they cannot win and they will be punished because God will send the messenger of death against them.
12 Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs
than a fool bent on folly.
This is a very vivid picture. A mother bear bereft of her cubs is an angry and ferocious animal. The Teacher is saying that you would be better meeting up with this kind of raging bear than meeting up with a fool who is bent on folly. The fool’s folly is the outward expression of the state of his heart. The fool is unpredictable. It is unknown what he might do and to what extent he might do it.
13 Evil will never leave the house of one who pays back evil for good.
Calamity never leaves the home and family of those intentionally give out evil for good. The consequences of our sin are usually not just borne by ourselves, but the consequences extend to others around us. To return evil for good is such a despicable thing to do.
14 Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam;
so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out.
Most issues do not actually need to be dealt with, it is just that our pride will not allow us to let it go. We want to have the final say, we want the other person to know how we feel about things. Starting a quarrel is like making a small hole in a dam and eventually the waters flood out. Bickering and quarrelling never ends well. The Teacher commands us to drop the matter before a dispute breaks out. One of the most intense disputes in the Bible is between Job and his friends. At the end of the book, God appears. God makes no mention of the dispute, takes no sides. We can invest so much thinking time over a dispute. It would have been better not to have started it in the first place.
Prayer
Lord when Your word rebukes us, help us to take that into our hearts and change our thoughts and our ways, because we ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.