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Proverbs 20 Bible study: The LORD's lamp
The chapter has two lamps: one "put out in blackness of darkness" (20:20), and "The spirit of man is the LORD’s lamp, searching all his innermost parts" (20:27). And the verb of "I will pay back evil" (20:22) is one Proverbs also uses of the LORD: "the LORD will reward you" (Proverbs 25:22).
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“The spirit of man is the LORD’s lamp, searching all his innermost parts.”
Try it · Did you catch it?
“Proverbs 20 speaks of a lamp that is put out and of a lamp that is the LORD's.”
Is that in Proverbs 20, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
Two lamps
The chapter has two lamps. The first goes out: "Whoever curses his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in blackness of darkness" (20:20) (tap lamp, blackness). The second belongs to the LORD: "The spirit of man is the LORD’s lamp, searching all his innermost parts" (20:27) (tap spirit, innermost parts). In Hebrew both are ner. Here is what almost everyone misses: this lamp is a person's own spirit. Proverbs 6 called the commandment a lamp: "For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light" (Proverbs 6:23). In 20:27 the lamp is the spirit of man itself, and what it searches is "all his innermost parts" (20:27). Spirit there is neshamah, the word of the breath the LORD God gave the first man: "and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life" (Genesis 2:7). And the words of 20:20's curses his father or his mother are, in Hebrew, the words of the law: "Anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death" (Exodus 21:17). The notes on Exodus 21 look at Jesus's words on that law (Matthew 15:4).
Where it leads to Jesus
Count the cost first
Proverbs 20:25leads toLuke 14:28-30
"It is a snare to a man to make a rash dedication, then later to consider his vows" (Proverbs 20:25): the snare is to weigh a dedication only after it is made. When "great multitudes were going with him" (Luke 14:25), Jesus told them what it takes to be his disciple: "Whoever doesn’t bear his own cross and come after me, can’t be my disciple" (Luke 14:27). Then he asked, "For which of you, desiring to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and count the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it?" (Luke 14:28), or else those who see it will say, "This man began to build and wasn’t able to finish" (Luke 14:30). He ended, "So therefore, whoever of you who doesn’t renounce all that he has, he can’t be my disciple" (Luke 14:33). Jesus doesn't cite Proverbs, so setting the two together is a reading. It rests on a shared subject, not on shared words: in Proverbs 20:25 the vows are considered "later", and in Luke 14:28 the builder sits down "first". The commitments are not the same: in Proverbs a dedication and vows, in Luke following Jesus. One reading hears in Jesus's words, said of following him, the order Proverbs 20:25 gives for vows: weigh it first. Another hears his point only in the cost itself, all that a disciple renounces (Luke 14:33), and sets no saying about vows beside it. These notes don't apply either saying to anyone's vows or promises today.
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Proverbs 20
- "A righteous man walks in integrity" (20:7), and then, "Who can say, “I have made my heart pure. I am clean and without sin”?" (20:9). Do these two sayings pull against each other?
- "Don’t say, “I will pay back evil.”" (20:22). Does that mean a wrong doesn't matter?
- "Wounding blows cleanse away evil" (20:30). What is this saying about?
That was a taste
The rest of Proverbs 20 is waiting in Favor
- The king who winnows
- What people say
- "Both of them"
- Said again elsewhere
- Lamps put out
- 13 questions as you read
- 12 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it
נֵרnersay NER
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "lamp". Strong's: "a lamp (i.e. the burner) or light (literally or figuratively)". The chapter has two. One goes out: "his lamp shall be put out in blackness of darkness" (20:20). The other is the LORD's: "The spirit of man is the LORD’s lamp, searching all his innermost parts" (20:27). Proverbs has the word six times in Hebrew (6:23, 13:9, 20:20, 20:27, 24:20, 31:18). The first is "For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light" (Proverbs 6:23).
For your group
Proverbs 20 Bible study questions
- 1"Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out" (20:5). Who has helped you put into words what was in your heart, and what did they do?
- 2"Don’t say, “I will pay back evil.” Wait for the LORD, and he will save you" (20:22). What makes waiting hard when you have been wronged, and what helps you wait?
- 3"It is a snare to a man to make a rash dedication, then later to consider his vows" (20:25). What helps you weigh a big yes before you say it?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Proverbs 20 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home