We are shown four things in scripture that God considers to be incredibly important at any point in time. The four characteristics in Proverbs 30 are referenced by the phrase “there is a generation”. The Hebrew does not identify a particular generation. This generation can exist at any point in time as can the characteristics that are listed. We will see that each one provokes separation from God, as Satan works his work to separate man from God.
The first point: “There is a generation that curses its father, and does not bless its mother” (Proverbs 30:11). It is interesting that the very first one mentioned here involves family. All of them involve an impediment to a relationship with God, but the family comes up first. Honor and respect for parents is connected to honor and respect to the Father and to the Son.
“And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy (We are to be holy because we represent Him). Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and keep My Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God’” (Leviticus 19:1-3).
The respect and reverence for parents is built into the family God created with Adam and Eve. He created the family and the structure within the family. The Sabbath also brings us into a structured relationship with the Father:
“Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you” (Exodus 31:13). In keeping the Sabbath, one of the benefits is the identification with the Father, that we have a Father. We are in a family relationship. We are reminded of that as we come together as a collective family in a congregation on the Sabbath. Especially important to God.
And we know from Ephesians 5:20-33, that we have the Father and the Son, we have the husband, the wife, and children in that family structure, bringing a relationship to God. It is not about a man having control over a woman. It’s not about the abuse that takes place with someone taking a position or role to themselves. It’s about love, it’s about concern, it’s about helping the whole family come into a relationship with God the Father.
The family-style of governance is from God and it’s critical. It’s an attitude that must be expressed. The attitude that exists out in the world today is to disrespect and dishonor parents. We all understand that there are parents that do not conduct themselves in a way that’s inducive to respect. But the point is what God created and the way it is supposed to work. It does not say honor and respect your parents only if they deserve it or only if we think they deserve it. It’s a structure that God puts in place. It is something we learn about God as we put in place this love, honor and respect that we are to have toward our parents.
The destruction of the family is being accelerated by its rejection of God and families are continuing to disintegrate. There are consequences when one treats parents contemptuously (Deuteronomy 27:16; Proverbs 20:20). We are to honor the family structure and to do our level best to honor and respect our parents.
“Look, the princes of Israel: each one has used his power to shed blood in you. In you they have made light of father and mother; in your midst they have oppressed the stranger; . . .” (Ezekiel 22: 6-7). This is the darkness in which we live where families are disintegrating, where there’s abuse within families. Parents abusing their position as parents, children abusing their parents as they get older and drink in more of the world’s attitude around them.
Ephesians 6:1-4 is expressed directly to the Church: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother,’ which is the first commandment with promise: ‘that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.’ And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.” God’s intention is for humanity to build cohesive happy family units with each family member practicing and reflecting God’s attitude and nature toward each other. Loving authority and respectful mutual submission to one another within the structure God provides is the key to successful families.
The second point: “There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, yet is not washed from its filthiness (Proverbs 30:12). A generation that will not honor and obey parents is probably going to develop a generation that is pure in their own eyes, people that are right in their own eyes: “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the hearts” (Proverbs 21:2). It’s a statement of fact regarding human nature. If God is rejected or forgotten the space is filled with human nature. Being self-centered is where we are today.
In Leviticus 26:11, God is talking about Himself and His own position relative to His people: “I will set My tabernacle among you, and My soul shall not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves; I have broken the bands of your yoke and made you walk upright.” The emphasis is on God. We are to walk upright with God as He walks with us, and He is with us day in and day out.
Paul says to followers of Christ “do not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14). That is the best response to situations of everyone being right in their own eyes. Asking God to show us what is right in His eyes keeps us on the path to Life and disconnects us from our “own rightness”.
The third point: “There is a generation — oh, how lofty are their eyes! And their eyelids are lifted up” (Proverbs 30.13). This is an attitude of arrogance, the arrogance of the proud. “A haughty look, a proud heart, . . . are sin” (Proverbs 21:4).
The antidote is in Matthew 5:43-48. Christ says: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
If we are arrogant, we are going to find it difficult to honor these verses. Arrogance does not connect to the kind of an attitude Christ says we are to demonstrate. However, God does expect us to represent Him, to reflect His nature. If we are truly humble, then we will have compassion and concern for the people who are walking in “darkness”. Without compromising with right and wrong, God wants His people to show kindness and compassion toward all mankind. He cares for all and is not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9).
The last point: “There is a generation whose teeth are like swords, and whose fangs are like knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men” (Proverbs 30:14).
In one word, this is talking about violence, being violent in the way they treat other people. Their self-serving nature culminates in violence toward others. “The sensitive and very refined man among you will be hostile toward his brother, toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the rest of his children whom he leaves behind, . . .” (Deuteronomy 28:54). We see this within families today. Every man for himself. Society is cursed with such attitudes and resulting behaviors of violence. Love and concern for other people is dwindling; this is the direction that the society around us is going today. The book of Amos contains a warning to those who are violent toward their neighbors:
“Therefore, because you tread down the poor and take grain taxes from him, though you have built houses of hewn stone, yet you shall not dwell in them; You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink wine from them. For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: Afflicting the just and taking bribes; Diverting the poor from justice at the gate. Therefore the prudent keep silent at that time, For it is an evil time” (Amos 5:11-13).
There is a generation that curses its father, and does not bless its mother, one which is pure in its own eyes, yet is not washed from its filthiness; a generation with lofty eyes whose eyelids are lifted up, whose teeth are like swords, and whose fangs are like knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men. There is currently a generation here now with all four of these characteristics.
However, we all have a choice. No one has to be a part of that generation. We can choose to be living representations of Christ’s gospel. Not just mouthing it and acting in a different way. Being it. Living it. Using God’s Spirit. We can choose Life.
Brian Orchard