Proverbs 15:24-25
‘The way of life, is above — to the wise! So that he may depart from the grave beneath! The Lord will destroy the house of the proud. But He will establish…the widow!’ Proverbs 15:24-25.
‘The way of life, is above — to the wise!’ Or: ‘To the wise, the way of life goes upward!’ If one has savingly encountered God’s Wisdom the Lord Jesus Christ, one has become wise. Then, one’s way of life is above, toward the Lord — and one’s way of life goes upward, toward Heaven!
In that way, the wise man is able to ‘depart from the grave beneath!’ It is true that when he dies, the wise man too goes to the grave or she‘ool. But the wise man not only avoids a precipitate journey thereto. Indeed, as soon as he arrives there at death — his soul right then goes straight to a glorious immortality; upward, and to be with the Lord!
‘The grave’ is here the world of spirits, after death — the land of dismal darkness on the other side of life. Whereas a long life was a blessing promised to the believer — so too was being early cut off from the land of the living, a calamity to be feared.
Thus the way of life points away from the grave beneath. Those who walk that way, have until they attain a great age — a place in the land that the Lord God gives to His earthly people.
On the other hand, the Lord will destroy or root up the house of the proud. He often does this, even in this present life. And He certainly does so at the moment of death, as soon as the proud die.
However, ‘though the Lord be high — yet He has respect to the lowly. But the proud, He knows from afar!’ (Psalm 138:6).
God’s face is always turned against those who proudly elevate themselves. Yet from of old, He was and still is the support of orphans and widows who trust in His love and care. Consider all the help He gave to the widow of Zarephath (First Kings 17:9-16)!
What about widows, all too often left alone with hardly a mite when their husbands die? Even if the husband had owned but one square inch of land — after his death, the Lord Himself will establish and protect its borders for his widow!
For ‘you shall not remove your neighbour’s landmark which those from old time have set in inheritance! You shall inherit in the land that the Lord your God gives you to possess it!’ (Deuteronomy 19:14).
As Proverbs itself later insists: ‘Don’t remove the ancient landmark, which your fathers have set!’ Proverbs 22:28.
The way of life is above to the wise — and it strengthens widows! Is that your way?
