(Proverbs 20:20) Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness.
(Proverbs 20:27) The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.
This is one packed proverb. There’s thirty verses – a verse for every day of the month if you want to make this a study. I didn’t see a theme really running through this. So it’s important to quickly pick a verse or two to deal with and look into. I’d just be spinning my wheels if I didn’t. So that being said, considering that I’ve been looking recently at the candlestick of the tabernacle and the pure oil olive beaten, there’s two verses that stand out to me. And since we need 20/20 vision going into this New Year of 2020, it seems appropriate to choose that first verse.
Once again, I highly recommend reading Exodus 25:31 And thou shalt make a candlestick… from Tuesday Tabernacle studies. I’m going to assume that you read it and move unto these verses in Proverbs in that light.
Connecting the two verses
First of all, if the lamp in verse 20 is the candle in verse 27, then we see the dire consequences of cursing your mother and father. So putting them together would read as follows:
Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp, (which is the spirit of man and the candle of the LORD) shall be put out in obscure darkness, hindering the LORD’s efforts of searching all the inward parts of the belly.
It’s a serious thing to not honour your parents. That’s why it’s in the top ten! (Exodus 20:12) Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. If we view these verses together in this manner, we see better the consequences of getting out of God’s ordained order for the family. I look at these verses and wonder how someone can even get saved if their lamp is out. They can’t. That’s why there has got to be repentance. God is gonna have to turn on the lights. I suppose that is so with anyone. But still, for God to turn off the lights is a serious deal.
God ordained the family. It should never be taken lightly. We’re living in a day where a great portion of our children grow up without a mom, without a dad, two moms, two dads. Either grandma raises them or a day care. They spend in excess of 8 hours in the public school, come home and spend the rest of the day in front of television and social media. There’s little to no interaction with family, with mom and dad. Once they’re 18 they’re kicked out of the house. Where’s the family? You go to most places of worship nowadays and the first thing they do is split up the family. Kids go here. Teens go there. And parents over here. And God forbid you don’t drop your kid off in the nursery! I remember Lester Roloff said, “If you lose your family, you’ve lost everything.”
The bible says (Ephesians 6:1) Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. This verse implies that parents must command their children. They must provide order, and discipline, and give those children something to obey. I’m reminded of that dumb horse that we had, Spirit. She was a very gentle horse as long as you fed her, brushed her, pet her, and let her do what she wanted. But my goodness, the second we started expecting something out of her, she turned into a 1200 lb monster. I wanted to put her lamp out. It took time and learning on our part, but eventually we taught her how to obey commands.
Anyhow, I know this is scattered. This also reminds me of (Romans 8:16) The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: A while back it dawned on me that this verse speaks of the witness of our spirit as well as His Spirit. This verse declares that we are co-witnesses with the Spirit. We bear the same record. So in that respect, the lamp on the candlestick may typify our spirit while the oil typifies His Spirit, and together we bear the holy flame. I know some people might criticize what I’m saying. But the bible says very clearly (Proverbs 20:27) The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.
The bible does also say (1 Corinthians 6:20) Glorify God in your body, and in your spirit… So when we say (Psalm 139:23) Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts, God uses both His Spirit and our spirit to do the job. And when you curse your mother and your father, you bust up the lamp of God and there’s no where for him to put the oil. I mean that’s if you the follow the typology out to its common sense meaning. I don’t think I’ve ever heard preaching on these lines: the candle of the LORD being the spirit of man. Have you?