Proverbs 11:20-25 ESV “Those of crooked heart are an abomination to the Lord, but those of blameless ways are his delight. 21 Be assured, an evil person will not go unpunished, but the offspring of the righteous will be delivered. 22 Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman without discretion. 23 The desire of the righteous ends only in good, the expectation of the wicked in wrath. 24 One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want 25 Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.”
Yeshua said in Matthew 7:6, “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.”
The section of Proverbs we are looking at begins by contrasting the crooked heart and blameless ways. It goes on to say that the offspring of the righteous will be delivered. A significant part of the meaning of the Hebrew year we are now in, 5785, is deliverance. It is time for us to be delivered, but how do we receive deliverance? Through the Word of God.
This week’s Torah portion shows Rebecca being chosen for Isaac. There is an interesting note in the Kehot Chumash concerning the gold nose ring she was given,
“A gold nose-ring…alluding to the half-shekel…and two gold bracelets…alluding to the two tablets: Eliezer’s gifts to Rebecca, the bride in the first marriage explicitly mentioned in the Torah,119 allude to the two pillars upon which a Jewish home and marriage must be founded: fulfillment of the commandments and study of the Torah. The half-shekel donation was a form of charity, which is the quintessential commandment; the half-shekel nose-ring thus alludes to all the commandments. The two bracelets allude to the two tablets of the Ten Commandments, which are the foundation of the entire Torah.
The Ten Commandments that would be inscribed upon the tablets: The Ten Commandments is the only section of the Torah that was engraved upon a tablet; the rest of the Torah was written with ink on parchment. Letters written on parchment remain discrete from the parchment and can be scraped off or erased. But when they are engraved on a tablet, they become an integral part of the tablet and cannot be separated from it without destroying a portion of the tablet itself.
By giving a gift that alludes to the Ten Commandments, Eliezer was indicating that a Jewish home must be based on a commitment to the Torah as intrinsic as letters engraved in stone. A Jewish family must not merely comply with the Torah’s demands while remaining essentially disconnected from it. They must become one with it, its values and perspectives engraved in their very being.
Furthermore, the Jewish people accepted the Ten Commandments unconditionally, even before having heard them. Similarly, our commitment to the Torah should be unconditional, predicated on the approval of neither our mortal values nor our intellect.”
We don’t want to live life apart from the instruction of God; that is how we come into bondage.
Luke 11:24-26 ESV “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25 And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. 26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.”
It’s not enough to stop sinning; we must do the opposite of sin. It’s not enough to not speak negatively; we need to speak life. The enemy will always return to see if there has been change. We need to ask whether we are like a gold ring in a pig’s snout, or are we like Rebecca, one who takes the commandments and applies them to our lives righteously?
One of my favorite passages of Scripture is Proverbs 4:20-22 in the Amplified Classic Bible, “My son, attend to my words; consent and submit to my sayings. 21 Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart. 22 For they are life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh.”
Meditate on that passage this year, speak it out loud, grab hold of the Word concerning your situation, conform your life to it, and watch the blessing that results.
The Kehot Chumash, pgs. 140-142, Kehot Publication Society, 770 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11213, 2021/5781
Casey D. Bell 
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