25.199 | THE EVIL OF FLATTERY | Prov 29:6 | God’s Word for Today with Pastor Nazario Sinon
Description
Text: Proverbs 29:6 (ESV)
6 A man who flatters his neighbor
spreads a net for his feet.
THE EVIL OF FLATTERY
Undue compliments or excessive praises toward a person are expressions of flatteries. Being flattered is temptation, is it not?. A flatterer is dishonest. He is manipulative by lying (Prov 6:24 ; 26:28 ; 6:16 –19). Smooth words set a trap for the person believing a flattery. An example of this is the sly, left-handed Ehud, who greeted the King of Moab with favorable words, then gruesomely assassinated the unsuspecting king (Judges 3:15 –23).
Most interpreters read this as a warning that the one who flatters sets a trap for himself. He set a net for himself, which speaks of being tangled in one's own sins. (Prov 29:6b) Sir Walter Scott, was right to say, "Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive." Here, the flatterer is spreading out a net that will eventually cause him to trip. Since flattery is lying, the flatterer risks being caught in his dishonesty by others. Liars are inconsistent. They are telling different things to different people, that would trap them someday. Or they may be forced to admit their praise was deceptive. Lies contradict truth, and they eventually contradict each other.
What does this mean to us today? We as believers are summoned to recognize that lying is a work of the flesh that contradicts a life led by the Spirit (Gal 5:16 ). Paul commands the Colossians, "Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices" (Col 3:9).
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