The eyes of the Lord keep watch over knowledge,
but he overthrows the words of the traitor.
The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside!
I shall be killed in the streets!”
The mouth of forbidden[c] women is a deep pit;
he with whom the Lord is angry will fall into it.
Folly is bound up in the heart of a child,
but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.
Whoever oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth,
or gives to the rich, will only come to poverty.Proverbs 22:12-16
Once again, in 12 we have the emphasis on the moral order in the universe. God is watching how things are going, and will always, ultimately, vindicate His truth and overthrow the words of the faithless (RSV) - faithless in the moral, social and spiritual senses. The sluggard makes his appearance once again, in 13. The message here is that the man who is always raising objections and difficulties when action is proposed may well ask himself whether his basic problem is plain laziness. He should remember the line of the hymn which says, 'If hopes are dupes, fears may be liars'. Fears in fact are often liars, and it is not only the sluggard that is paralysed by them. Timid timorous spirits need a word like this: it encourages them to be bold, brave and daring. It is sometimes possible to be so frightened of going against God's will that one just does not do anything. This approach is essentially negative and self-defeating. We are to dare things for God. After all, it is just possible that the lion outside could be chained. The subject in 14 has been dealt with at length in 2:16-22, 5:3ff, and 7:5ff. The RSV rendering of 14b is graphic: 'he with whom the Lord is angry will fall into it'. This brings to mind Paul's solemn teaching in Romans 1:24, 26, 28. The restraints of common grace are withdrawn from those who deliberately withdraw themselves from God, and when this happens, there is no knowing how low they will sink. The theme in 15 reverts to that in 6: discipline is necessary for a child, to correct the inevitable bias towards evil. 'Rod' is not necessarily physical chastisement although this is certainly not excluded: it is the symbol of authority and power. The issue is: Who is going to rule this life, - self, or a lawfully constituted authority (in the person of father and mother)? If this flies in the face of modern psychological theory, the question is whether we follow the teaching of psychology or the teaching of the Scriptures; Well? In 16, the one course is as foolish as the other: both are precursors of want instead of solid increase (cf James 5:1ff).