Proverbs 24: 15-16 Get up, 'fess up, and clean up!

¹⁵ Do not lurk like a thief near the house of the righteous,
    do not plunder their dwelling place;
¹⁶ for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again,
    but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes. 

How many times have we read Solomon's words, giving us warnings to stay away from the wicked? A bunch, right? This time Solomon seems to be warning the wicked to stay away from the righteous!

I think that Matthew Henry was correct in his assessment of these verses, though. He said that it is not necessarily counsel for the wicked (since we've studied verses that say the wicked won't listen to wise words) as much as it is said to them in defiance -- almost a challenge.  

Hey, you wicked! Stay away from the righteous folks' house. Don't lurk around their dwelling place. Don't think that you'll cause them to stumble and then they will stay down. Nope. They rise again.


This is a great picture of a devoted Christian: the truly just, or righteous, man or woman. Solomon is not talking about a temporary believer, or a "on the edges" disciple --- he's talking about someone who is convinced of his sin, and knows that Christ is the only way he can attain righteousness. 


These "falls" that Solomon mentions . . . they can be tribulation, or affliction, or even sin. Yes, even the righteous can fall into sin. Ecclesiastes 7:20 tells us that "there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not." Here is the important difference: the righteous will get back up --- no wallowing in sin for him. He'll get up, and then 'fess up, and then clean up!

"It is by the power of God, he shall and does rise again sooner or later; not by his own power and strength, but by the strength of the Lord; he rises by renewed repentance, and under the fresh discoveries of pardoning grace and mercy . . . "  (Gill's Exposition of the Bible)

Lord, show us when we sin, so we can ask for your forgiveness, and get up out of it!