Proverbs 20:19

“Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread” (Proverbs 20:13). The verb for love, ʼâhab, is the ordinary word for affection, used of a person, an object or a practice. Here its object is sleep, shênâh, and the warning is against becoming fond of sleep as a way of life, so that it pushes out the work that has to be done. The opposite command, “open thine eyes”, is a plain way of saying wake up: be alert to the work in front of you and to what the day offers.

The two outcomes stand side by side. “Come to poverty” translates a form of yârash, a verb whose senses run from taking possession to dispossessing and impoverishing, and here it means to be dispossessed and made poor. The one who wakes will be “satisfied”, sâbaʻ, filled and content, with bread. The word for bread, lechem, means bread or food in general, and here it stands for all that a household lives on. Families in Israel lived by their fields, flocks and crafts, and a man who slept through the season for ploughing or harvest lost his crop and his animals, and hunger followed.

Proverbs returns to this picture often. The sluggard is sent to learn from the ant and warned that poverty will come on him like a traveller (Proverbs 6:6–11), and the field of the slothful man lies overgrown with its wall broken down (Proverbs 24:30–34). “He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich” (Proverbs 10:4). Paul gives the church the same rule: “if any would not work, neither should he eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10).

“It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer: but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth” (Proverbs 20:14). Everyone in an Israelite marketplace knew this scene. Bargaining was a normal part of trade, and here the buyer, from qânâh, to acquire or buy, runs down the goods in front of the seller. “Naught” is raʻ, the common word for bad or evil, here meaning bad or worthless, and he says it twice to sound convinced. Once the deal is done and he has walked off, he boasts. The verb, hâlal, is the word for praise, and in this form it means to praise oneself, to glory or brag. He praises the very thing he called worthless, and he praises his own cleverness in getting it cheap.

The proverb simply describes what happens, and the picture is enough to condemn him. His words to the seller and his real opinion of the goods were two different things, so his bargaining was a lie told for gain, and his bragging adds pride to the lie. Haggling was expected in Israel, and false representation was a breach of trust. The law demanded just weights and a just measure (Deuteronomy 25:13–16) and said, “Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another” (Leviticus 19:11). This same chapter calls divers weights and divers measures an abomination to the LORD (Proverbs 20:10) and says so again of a false balance (Proverbs 20:23). “A false balance is abomination to the LORD” (Proverbs 11:1), and “Lying lips are abomination to the LORD” (Proverbs 12:22).

God is true, and he calls his people to put away lying and speak truth each one with his neighbour (Ephesians 4:25). The buyer’s habit turns up far from the market: in a negotiation over pay, in a low review written to win a refund, or wherever someone runs down a thing or a person to gain an advantage and then enjoys the gain in private. Paul’s word reaches all of it, that each of us should look on the things of others as well as his own (Philippians 2:3–4).

“Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel” (Proverbs 20:17). The bread is lechem again, the food a man lives on, and this bread is gained by sheqer, falsehood or deception, a noun from the verb shâqar, to lie or deal falsely. The buyer of verse 14 is one way to come by such bread. False weights, fraud and every kind of sharp dealing are others, and the prophets condemned traders who cheated the poor with dishonest measures (Amos 8:5–6).

At first it tastes sweet, because gain that comes easily feels good. “But afterwards” the mouth is filled with châtsâts, gravel, grit that cuts. Anyone who has bitten on a stone in bread knows the feeling, and a mouth full of it can neither chew nor enjoy anything. The picture covers all that dishonest gain brings in the end: regret, shame, a lost reputation, ruin and the judgment of God. Job’s friend says the same of the wicked man, whose wickedness is sweet in his mouth and turns bitter within him (Job 20:12–14). Proverbs warns that greed for gain takes away the life of those who live by it (Proverbs 1:19), that wealth from dishonesty dwindles while what is gathered by labour grows (Proverbs 13:11), and that there is a way which seemeth right unto a man whose end is death (Proverbs 14:12). Paul asks what fruit sin ever bore, “for the end of those things is death” (Romans 6:21), and he states the rule outright: “whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7).

Food is a favourite picture in Proverbs. The dainties at a ruler’s table are “deceitful meat” (Proverbs 23:1–3), and Wisdom spreads her own table and invites the simple to come and eat her bread (Proverbs 9:5). Verses 13 and 17 belong together on this point. The sluggard ends up hungry and the cheat ends up with a mouth of gravel, while the one who opens his eyes and works honestly is satisfied with bread.

“Take his garment that is surety for a stranger: and take a pledge of him for a strange woman” (Proverbs 20:16). Loans in Israel rested on personal pledges and guarantees. A surety, from ʻârab, was a man who gave security for another’s debt and became answerable for it if the debtor failed. The root is connected with braiding or intermixing, and a surety’s affairs were knotted into the debtor’s. Proverbs warns against the practice again and again. The man who has struck hands for another is told to humble himself and get free as quickly as he can (Proverbs 6:1–5), and “He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it” (Proverbs 11:15).

This verse is advice to the one who lends to such a man. A surety for a stranger has vouched for someone unknown or unreliable, which shows poor judgment, and he is likely to lose everything when the stranger defaults. So whoever deals with him should take his garment as security while there is still something to take. To take a pledge, châbal, means to take something in pledge for a debt, and a garment was a common pledge, often the most valuable thing a poor man owned.

“There is gold, and a multitude of rubies: but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel” (Proverbs 20:15). Gold, zâhâb, a word Strong’s traces to a root meaning to shimmer, was the standard of wealth, and rubies (pânîyn, a word that may also mean pearls) crowned it. The verse grants that such treasure exists, even in abundance, and then names something rarer.

“Knowledge” is daʻath, from the verb yādaʻ, to know, and it covers knowledge together with skill and discernment. “Lips of knowledge” are the mouth through which such knowledge is spoken. They are “a precious jewel”, in Hebrew a kᵉlîy of yᵉqâr. Kᵉlîy, which comes from a root meaning to complete, is a broad word for anything made ready for use, a vessel, an implement or a weapon, and yᵉqâr means precious or costly. So wise speech is a costly article that is useful as well as beautiful.

The proverb fixes on the lips because knowledge does its good when it is spoken, in counsel, teaching and comfort. “A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!” (Proverbs 15:23). “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver” (Proverbs 25:11).

Proverbs says the same of wisdom itself. The man who finds wisdom is happy, for she is more precious than rubies (Proverbs 3:13–15), and her instruction is to be chosen over silver and choice gold (Proverbs 8:10–11). “How much better is it to get wisdom than gold!” (Proverbs 16:16). Job says that wisdom cannot be bought with gold or valued with precious stones (Job 28:15–19). Jesus tells us to lay up treasure in heaven, where moth and rust do not corrupt (Matthew 6:19–21), and to seek first the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33).

“Every purpose is established by counsel: and with good advice make war” (Proverbs 20:18). A purpose, machăshâbâh, is a plan, intention or contrivance, and the word can describe a good plan or a wicked plot. It is “established”, kûwn, set up and made firm, by counsel, ʻêtsâh, which means advice, a plan or prudence. A purpose held in one head is an idea. Once others have weighed it, tested it and helped to shape it, it stands.

The second line applies this to the highest stakes there are. War, milchâmâh, costs lives and resources, and a king who went into it rashly could lose everything. So it must be made “with good advice”, tachbulâh, a word for skilful guidance that is often compared to the steering of a ship. The phrase points to the quality of the advice as well as the act of asking. Proverbs repeats the point almost word for word: “For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counsellors there is safety” (Proverbs 24:6). “Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety” (Proverbs 11:14), and “Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established” (Proverbs 15:22).

Kings and commanders in Israel consulted elders, advisers and prophets before a campaign. David enquired of the LORD before he went against the Philistines (2 Samuel 5:23). Rehoboam forsook the counsel of the old men for the advice of the young men who had grown up with him, with disastrous results (1 Kings 12:8).

“He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth secrets: therefore meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips” (Proverbs 20:19). The talebearer, râkîyl, takes his name from a root connected with trading or going about, and the word describes a scandal-monger who moves from house to house carrying tales. What he carries is secrets. He “revealeth” them, gâlâh, a verb that means to uncover or lay bare, so that what was told in confidence is stripped of its covering and exposed. An earlier proverb opens with the same words, “A talebearer revealeth secrets” (Proverbs 11:13). In a society where news travelled by word of mouth, a betrayed confidence could ruin a person’s standing in the community.

The second line draws a conclusion with “therefore”. The flatterer is described with pâthâh, a verb meaning literally to open, and so to make simple, to entice, persuade or delude. His smooth words are bait, offered to gain an advantage. “Meddle not” means keep from mixing with him, taking him as a close companion or confiding in him. The talebearer’s sin is disclosure and the flatterer’s is manipulation, and the proverb joins them because both speak without truth, and the person quick to betray a confidence is often quick with insincere praise as well. Either one destroys trust.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21), and “a flattering mouth worketh ruin” (Proverbs 26:28). The man who may dwell in God’s holy hill is one who does not slander with his tongue (Psalm 15:3). Good company is the remedy, for “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise” (Proverbs 13:20), and Paul asks that only what builds up should come out of our mouths (Ephesians 4:29).

These verses belong to the proverbs of Solomon in Proverbs 10:1–22:16, short sayings that set the wise beside the foolish and show where each path leads. Chapter 20 ranges widely, from wine that is a mocker (Proverbs 20:1) and the search for a faithful man (20:6) to the righteous man whose children are blessed (20:7), the king who sits in judgment (20:8), the child known by his doings (20:11) and the LORD who made the hearing ear and the seeing eye (20:12). Honest dealing runs through the chapter like a thread, in the false weights of verses 10 and 23 and in the buyer, the cheat and the gossip of this passage.

Each of these sayings finds its fullness in Jesus. The man who opens his eyes is satisfied with bread, and Jesus opened his disciples’ understanding (Luke 24:45) and called himself the bread of life, so that whoever comes to him shall never hunger (John 6:35). He was diligent in his Father’s work: “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work” (John 4:34), and he was obedient unto death (Philippians 2:8). He tells his disciples to watch and be ready for his coming (Matthew 24:42). Over against the bread of deceit he gives redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins (Ephesians 1:7), everlasting life to all who believe (John 3:16), and life more abundantly (John 10:10).

The buyer cheapens what he wants so as to get it for less. Christ, who was of infinite worth, “made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:7), and he paid for his people with his own life, the greatest love there is (John 15:13). He is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6). His glory was in glorifying the Father and finishing the work he was given (John 17:4), and no guile was found in his mouth, which is the example he left us (1 Peter 2:21–22).

The lips of knowledge reach their height in him. He is “the power of God, and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24). Peter said to him, “thou hast the words of eternal life” (John 6:68), and those who heard him in Nazareth wondered at his gracious words (Luke 4:22). “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35). Paul counted everything loss for the excellency of knowing him (Philippians 3:7–8).

The surety of Proverbs is a man to be wary of. Jesus is “a surety of a better testament” (Hebrews 7:22), who stood good for a debt we could never pay, and God, having quickened us together with him, has forgiven us all trespasses (Colossians 2:13). He is made unto us wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:30).

Every purpose is established by counsel, and God’s purpose of salvation was established by his own. Christ was delivered up “by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23), who works all things after the counsel of his own will (Ephesians 1:11), and the Son did only what he saw the Father do (John 5:19). We receive his counsel as the word of Christ dwells in us richly (Colossians 3:16), as the Spirit of truth guides us into all truth (John 16:13), and as believers bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2).

The talebearer betrays and the flatterer deceives. The Word made flesh was “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14), and he spoke to the world the things he had heard of the Father (John 8:26).

These proverbs show us a God who cares about the bed, the market stall, the loan, the war council and the conversation at the door. He gives bread to the one who wakes and works. He sees the bargain after the buyer has walked away, and he knows how sweet bread turns to gravel. He values a mouth that speaks knowledge above a chest of gold, and he makes plans stand firm through counsel. Each warning here is a kindness, showing us ahead of time where a short cut leads. And the same God has given his Son, the bread that satisfies, the surety who paid our debt, and the wisdom whose words outlast heaven and earth. The promise of verse 13 holds for all who open their eyes to him: “thou shalt be satisfied with bread.”