Proverbs 11:9 An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour: but through knowledge shall the just be delivered.
10 When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth: and when the wicked perish, there is shouting.
11 By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted: but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.
12 He that is void of wisdom despiseth his neighbour: but a man of understanding holdeth his peace.
Hypocrisy is something Jesus had to deal with often. The Pharisees and their friends were hypocrites. They claimed to be close to God but they were far from Him. They claimed to be spiritual giants, but they were spiritually connected to Satan.
God warns us of the hypocrite here. The Hebrew word translated as “hypocrite” refers to an irreligious, godless person. A person like that will certainly use his tongue to try to ruin his neighbour. He does not speak truth and tries to tear down the neighbour to make himself look good.
Knowledge will deliver the just person. The just person is one who studies the Word of God and builds his life on truth. He is thus able to discern the hypocrite. Jesus could certainly do that. He knew all about the flattery of the Pharisees. He was never fooled by them.
In verse 11 we are reminded of the importance of righteousness. We know that the nation of Israel did well under the rule of king David and king Solomon. We know that Israel began to fall apart near the end of king Solomon’s reign. He turned from being righteous to being cruel. He lusted after many women and he allowed them to turn his heart away from God.
The people of Israel were quite happy during the reign of David and the early years of Solomon.
When a wicked ruler perishes there is a sigh of relief if in fact a good ruler takes his place. If the successor is equal to the last ruler or even worse, it does not help. That is why it is so important to seek to be a righteous person and to seek to have righteous leaders.
The standard philosophy of our country is to hold our noses and choose the person we think is the lesser of the evils. Or maybe people like evil rulers because they can get away with more evil. Canada certainly has evil rulers at all levels. We are going from bad to worse and there is no relief in sight on the physical level. That is why it is so important to know the Lord. The Lord is always righteous. He will always do what is right and He will always lead those who trust in Him in the right way. There is a day coming when the wicked will be judged and removed from the earth. Righteousness will rule. Today, righteousness can rule in your heart if you know the Lord.
In verse 11 we see further blessings of the upright. Godly leadership is always a blessing. Of course ungodly people do not like that. Godly leadership rewards truth, and punishes injustice and fraud. Again, Canada is run by wicked people. Our P.M. does not know how to tell the truth. He has a team around him who will promote him. He is trying to pass laws that make it a crime to tell the truth. He wants to be the one who will determine what truth is. We can be thankful that God is still in charge and our corrupt politicians are limited in what they can do.
We can see the deficits ballooning in Canada. That is the result of wicked rulers. They stand in front of the cameras and lie to us and gullible people accept their lies. Those who know the truth need to pray for the salvation of politicians and others in authority. We need to be careful that we walk in truth.
In verse 12 we see that the person that lacks wisdom will despise his neighbour. He will not appreciate having a good neighbour. A good neighbour is seen as a spoil sport to a man that is void of wisdom. The man void of wisdom likes to throw a wild party now and then. He likes cursing and other vices. He does not want to be told the truth.
Some years back we had some neighbours that were void of wisdom. One night they threw a wild party and it went into the early morning hours. We had to call the police because it was so noisy we could not sleep. The police came but they must have been friends of those neighbours and they tried to tell us there was nothing noisy going on next door. I insisted they deal with it and they did after that and things quieted down. It is not good when the police can be bought off by money.
A man of understanding holds his peace. This is not telling us we should tolerate rowdiness. It is telling us that the wise person does not slander his neighbour. He is not a talebearer. He is not going around trying to put down his neighbour. Speaking the truth is always important. In the illustration I used above, it would not have been helpful for me to go and talk to those involved in that rowdy party. I might have come home bruised up. The law should have taken care of it because that is their duty. God does not expect His children to have to put up with debauchery. There is a proper way of dealing with problems.
When the fear of the Lord is missing, all kinds of trouble will arise. Godless people do not know how to live respectfully. They are all about self. They think others should tolerate their wickedness. God tells us that we need to know how to help such people to see the importance of a better way of life. That way begins with knowing the true God and Saviour and serving Him faithfully.
Pastor Bartel