Whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit,
and he who guards his master will be honoured.
As in water face reflects face,
so the heart of man reflects the man.
Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied,
and never satisfied are the eyes of man.
The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold,
and a man is tested by his praise.
Crush a fool in a mortar with a pestle
along with crushed grain,
yet his folly will not depart from him.Proverbs 27:18-22
Fidelity, says 18, assures its own reward in due course, even if it be not honour as the world counts honour. This is true on both the human and divine levels. Jesus said, 'Your Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward you openly' (Matthew 6:4). 19 is a curious verse. The metaphor in the first part of the verse is not in doubt: clear water is perhaps the most primitive of all mirrors. The second part however, can be taken in more than one way, as a comparison of the AV and the RSV indicates. The latter takes it to mean a man need only look within to see himself, while the former takes it to mean that one man's heart answers to another. As Kidner puts it, 'your fellow man confronts you with the shape in which thoughts and habits like your own have grouped themselves into a character.' Either way, a telling challenge is presented that we do well to heed. One of the things 20 can mean is that there is such a thing as wrong desire, and it is the essence of a wrong desire that it can never be satisfied. The whole universe could be poured into the throat of that desire, and it will crave for still more. It is, in the truest sense of the term, a bottomless pit. It is one thing to yearn for friendship, or sympathy this is part of our human nature; but the desire can become cankered and diseased so extensively that we can come to this position. When we do there is only one answer: not control, but crucifixion, is needed, 21 and 22 describe different kinds of testing. In 21, we are told that praise may prove to be a fiery crucible for a man to pass through, and not all can stand it. Many who have prospered in adversity have failed grievously in prosperity (cf 1 Samuel 18:7 for two different reactions in this crucible). On the other hand, in 22, the fool can go through the severest of tests without being purified or having the chaff sifted from his life, if his folly has become part of him. If this word underlines for us that whatever becomes part of us (whether folly or wisdom) through long association with it, will remain inalienably ours, it will have taught us a solemn and fundamental lesson about life. The choice is ours.