Proverbs 25:12
Like an earring of gold or an ornament of fine gold is a wise man's rebuke to a listening ear.
Like an earring of gold
The imagery of an "earring of gold" evokes a sense of beauty, value, and adornment. In ancient cultures, gold was a symbol of wealth and status, often used in jewelry to signify importance and honor. The Hebrew word for "earring" (נֶזֶם, nezem) can also refer to a nose ring, indicating a piece of jewelry that enhances one's appearance. This comparison suggests that a wise rebuke, when given and received properly, is as precious and enhancing to the soul as gold is to the body. It implies that correction, when delivered with wisdom, is not only valuable but also beautifies the character of the one who receives it.

or an ornament of fine gold
The phrase "an ornament of fine gold" further emphasizes the preciousness and desirability of wise counsel. The Hebrew word for "ornament" (חֲלִי, chali) refers to a decorative piece, often used to signify splendor and elegance. "Fine gold" (כֶּתֶם, kethem) denotes pure, refined gold, highlighting the purity and excellence of the rebuke. In a historical context, such ornaments were not only decorative but also signified the wearer's dignity and refinement. This comparison underscores the idea that a wise rebuke is not only valuable but also refines and dignifies the recipient, enhancing their moral and spiritual stature.

is a wise rebuke
The term "wise rebuke" (תּוֹכַחַת חָכָם, tokhahat chacham) combines the concept of correction with wisdom. A "rebuke" is a form of correction or reprimand, intended to guide someone back to the right path. The wisdom (חָכָם, chacham) associated with it implies that the correction is not harsh or punitive but is delivered with understanding, insight, and love. In the biblical context, wisdom is often associated with the fear of the Lord and the application of divine principles to life. Thus, a wise rebuke is one that aligns with God's truth and is aimed at the spiritual growth and betterment of the individual.

to a listening ear
The phrase "a listening ear" (אֹזֶן שֹׁמַעַת, ozen shomat) highlights the importance of receptivity and humility in receiving correction. The "ear" symbolizes the faculty of hearing, but in a deeper sense, it represents an openness to receive instruction and guidance. The Hebrew word for "listening" (שֹׁמַעַת, shomat) implies not just hearing but actively paying attention and being willing to learn. In the scriptural context, a listening ear is a mark of wisdom and humility, as it shows a readiness to accept correction and grow from it. This phrase underscores the reciprocal nature of wise rebuke: it is only as effective as the willingness of the recipient to hear and heed it.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Solomon
Traditionally attributed as the author of Proverbs, Solomon was the son of King David and known for his wisdom.

2. Israel
The nation to whom the Proverbs were originally given, serving as a guide for living a life pleasing to God.

3. The Wise Rebuker
Represents those who offer correction with wisdom and discernment.

4. The Listening Ear
Symbolizes the person who is open and receptive to correction and guidance.

5. Gold Jewelry
Used as a metaphor for something valuable and beautiful, illustrating the worth of wise counsel.
Teaching Points
The Value of Correction
Just as gold is precious, so is the wisdom that comes from a well-timed and well-delivered rebuke. We should seek and cherish wise counsel.

The Art of Listening
A listening ear is crucial for growth. Being open to correction is a sign of maturity and humility.

The Role of the Wise Rebuker
Those who offer correction should do so with love, wisdom, and discernment, aiming to build up rather than tear down.

The Beauty of Humility
Humility allows us to accept correction gracefully, leading to personal and spiritual growth.

The Impact of Godly Relationships
Surrounding ourselves with wise and godly individuals can lead to valuable insights and guidance, much like the adornment of fine gold.
Bible Study Questions
1. How can we cultivate a "listening ear" in our daily lives to be more receptive to wise counsel?

2. In what ways can we ensure that our rebukes to others are delivered with wisdom and love?

3. Reflect on a time when you received a wise rebuke. How did it impact your life, and what did you learn from it?

4. How does the metaphor of gold jewelry enhance our understanding of the value of wise correction?

5. How can we apply the principles of Proverbs 25:12 in our relationships within the church community?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Proverbs 9:8-9
This passage highlights the difference between a wise person who appreciates correction and a mocker who rejects it.

James 1:19
Encourages believers to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, emphasizing the importance of a receptive attitude.

Hebrews 12:11
Discusses the value of discipline and correction, which, though painful at the time, yields a harvest of righteousness.

Psalm 141:5
Describes a righteous rebuke as a kindness, reinforcing the idea that correction is beneficial.

Matthew 18:15
Jesus teaches about the process of offering correction to a fellow believer, underscoring the importance of addressing issues with love and wisdom.
Similitudes of Moral Beauty and GoodnessE. Johnson Proverbs 25:11-15
People
Hezekiah, Solomon
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Attention, Attentive, Best, Ear, Earring, Ear-ring, Fine, Gold, Listening, Man's, Nose-ring, Obedient, Ornament, Pure, Ready, Rebuke, Reprover, Ring, Says, Sharp, Wise
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Proverbs 25:12

     5777   admonition
     5915   ornaments
     8351   teachableness

Proverbs 25:11-12

     5547   speech, power of

Library
An Unwalled City
'He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.'--PROVERBS xxv. 28. The text gives us a picture of a state of society when an unwalled city is no place for men to dwell in. In the Europe of today there are still fortified places, but for the most part, battlements are turned into promenades; the gateways are gateless; the sweet flowers blooming where armed feet used to tread; and men live securely without bolts and bars. But their spirits cannot yet
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

God's Glory in Hiding Sin
A sermon (No. 2838) intended for reading on Lord's Day, July 5th 1903, delivered by C. H. Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, on Lord's Day evening, July 15th, 1877. "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter."--Proverbs 25:2. The translation of our text, if it had been more literal, would have run thus, "It is the glory of God to cover a matter, but the honor of kings is to search out a matter." For the sake of variety in language
C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on Proverbs

Good News
A sermon (No. 2866) delivered on Thursday Evening, January 6th, 1876, by C.H. Spurgeon at The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. "As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country."--Proverbs 25:25. This is a text for summertime rather than for a winter's evening. It is only on one of our hottest summer days that we could fully appreciate the illustration here employed; we need to be parched with thirst to be able to feel the value of cold waters to quench our thirst. At the same
C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on Proverbs

That a Man Should not be a Curious Searcher of the Sacrament, but a Humble Imitator of Christ, Submitting his Sense to Holy Faith
The Voice of the Beloved Thou must take heed of curious and useless searching into this most profound Sacrament, if thou wilt not be plunged into the abyss of doubt. He that is a searcher of Majesty shall be oppressed by the glory thereof.(1) God is able to do more than man can understand. A pious and humble search after truth is to be allowed, when it is always ready to be taught, and striving to walk after the wholesome opinions of the fathers. 2. Blessed is the simplicity which leaveth alone
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

Epistle xxxix. To Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria.
To Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria. Gregory to Eulogius, &c. As cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country (Prov. xxv. 25). But what can be good news to me, so far as concerns the behoof of holy Church, but to hear of the health and safety of your to me most sweet Holiness, who, from your perception of the light of truth, both illuminate the same Church with the word of preaching, and mould it to a better way by the example of your manners? As often, too, as I recall in
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

Epistle Xlii. To Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria.
To Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria. Gregory to Eulogius, &c. We return great thanks to Almighty God, that in the mouth of the heart a sweet savour of charity is experienced, when that which is written is fulfilled, As cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country (Prov. xxv. 25). For I had previously been greatly disturbed by a letter from Boniface the Chartularius, my responsalis, who dwells in the royal city, saying that your to me most sweet and pleasant Holiness had suffered
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

Wherefore Christ Undertook a Method of Setting us Free So Painful and Laborious, when a Word from Him, or an Act of his Will, Would Alone
Wherefore Christ undertook a method of setting us free so painful and laborious, when a word from Him, or an act of His will, would alone have sufficed. 19. Then he labours to teach and persuade us that the devil could not and ought not to have claimed for himself any right over man, except by the permission of God, and that, without doing any injustice to the devil, God could have called back His deserter, if He wished to show him mercy, and have rescued him by a word only, as though any one denies
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

"Boast not Thyself of To-Morrow, for Thou Knowest not what a Day May Bring Forth. "
Prov. xxvii. 1.--"Boast not thyself of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth." There are some peculiar gifts that God hath given to man in his first creation, and endued his nature with, beyond other living creatures, which being rightly ordered and improved towards the right objects, do advance the soul of man to a wonderful height of happiness, that no other sublunary creature is capable of. But by reason of man's fall into sin, these are quite disordered and turned out of
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Love in the Old Covenant.
"A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another."-- John xiii. 34. In connection with the Holy Spirit's work of shedding abroad the love of God in our hearts, the question arises: What is the meaning of Christ's word, "A new commandment I give unto you"? How can He designate this natural injunction, "To love one another," a new commandment? This offers no difficulty to those who entertain the erroneous view that during His ministry on earth Christ established a new and higher religion,
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

The Old Testament Canon from Its Beginning to Its Close.
The first important part of the Old Testament put together as a whole was the Pentateuch, or rather, the five books of Moses and Joshua. This was preceded by smaller documents, which one or more redactors embodied in it. The earliest things committed to writing were probably the ten words proceeding from Moses himself, afterwards enlarged into the ten commandments which exist at present in two recensions (Exod. xx., Deut. v.) It is true that we have the oldest form of the decalogue from the Jehovist
Samuel Davidson—The Canon of the Bible

How the Silent and the Talkative are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 15.) Differently to be admonished are the over-silent, and those who spend time in much speaking. For it ought to be insinuated to the over-silent that while they shun some vices unadvisedly, they are, without its being perceived, implicated in worse. For often from bridling the tongue overmuch they suffer from more grievous loquacity in the heart; so that thoughts seethe the more in the mind from being straitened by the violent guard of indiscreet silence. And for the most part they
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

God's Glory the Chief End of Man's Being
Rom. xi. 36.--"Of him and through him, and to him, are all things, to whom be glory for ever." And 1 Cor. x. 31--"Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." All that men have to know, may be comprised under these two heads,--What their end is, and What is the right way to attain to that end? And all that we have to do, is by any means to seek to compass that end. These are the two cardinal points of a man's knowledge and exercise. Quo et qua eundum est,--Whither to go, and what way to go.
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Christian Behavior
Being the fruits of true Christianity: Teaching husbands, wives, parents, children, masters, servants, etc., how to walk so as to please God. With a word of direction to all backsliders. Advertisement by the Editor This valuable practical treatise, was first published as a pocket volume about the year 1674, soon after the author's final release from his long and dangerous imprisonment. It is evident from the concluding paragraph that he considered his liberty and even his life to be still in a very
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Appendix v. Rabbinic Theology and Literature
1. The Traditional Law. - The brief account given in vol. i. p. 100, of the character and authority claimed for the traditional law may here be supplemented by a chronological arrangement of the Halakhoth in the order of their supposed introduction or promulgation. In the first class, or Halakhoth of Moses from Sinai,' tradition enumerates fifty-five, [6370] which may be thus designated: religio-agrarian, four; [6371] ritual, including questions about clean and unclean,' twenty-three; [6372] concerning
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The History Books
[Illustration: (drop cap T) Assyrian idol-god] Thus little by little the Book of God grew, and the people He had chosen to be its guardians took their place among the nations. A small place it was from one point of view! A narrow strip of land, but unique in its position as one of the highways of the world, on which a few tribes were banded together. All around great empires watched them with eager eyes; the powerful kings of Assyria, Egypt, and Babylonia, the learned Greeks, and, in later times,
Mildred Duff—The Bible in its Making

The Ninth Commandment
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.' Exod 20: 16. THE tongue which at first was made to be an organ of God's praise, is now become an instrument of unrighteousness. This commandment binds the tongue to its good behaviour. God has set two natural fences to keep in the tongue, the teeth and lips; and this commandment is a third fence set about it, that it should not break forth into evil. It has a prohibitory and a mandatory part: the first is set down in plain words, the other
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

Proverbs
Many specimens of the so-called Wisdom Literature are preserved for us in the book of Proverbs, for its contents are by no means confined to what we call proverbs. The first nine chapters constitute a continuous discourse, almost in the manner of a sermon; and of the last two chapters, ch. xxx. is largely made up of enigmas, and xxxi. is in part a description of the good housewife. All, however, are rightly subsumed under the idea of wisdom, which to the Hebrew had always moral relations. The Hebrew
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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