Proverbs in the New Testament, Again

Proverbs 24-25

            I mentioned about a week ago how I was seeing connections between Proverbs and the New Testament. There are two more of them in Proverbs 25.

            First, St. Paul directly quotes Proverbs 25:21-22 in Romans 12:20. This seems to be the original observation of “killing them with kindness.” On the surface, it seems a little strange, that the motivation for being kind to an enemy is their discomfort. On reflection, I’m not sure that’s quite where the proverb is headed, though. I think instead the heaping of coal’s refers to the enemy’s own sense of shame at realizing the other is not his enemy at all.

            The whole notion of enemies is troubling to me. In Romans 5, Paul states that Christ died for us while we were still enemies of God. If God so loved His enemies, how can we, His holy people, look at someone and name them an enemy? Unfortunately, when people hurt us, disappoint us, betray us, it’s very easy to name them enemies. How blessed it would be if we could see them as objects of the same mercy that we have received from God.

 

            The second example of a New Testament reference to Proverbs is 25:6-7 which rings of Jesus’ saying in Luke 14:7-11:

When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

The temptation is always to exalt ourselves, to speak of what we deserve, to seek our own honor. But the way of the kingdom, the way of wisdom, is to act humbly. The Lord will exalt in His due time. On this Jesus is completely in line with many proverbs.