Context No. 2651 of 4322 · Proverbs

Proverbs 22:17-29: in context

17Turn your ear, and listen to the words of the wise. Apply your heart to my teaching. 18For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you, if all of them are ready on your lips. 19I teach you today, even you, so that your trust may be in the LORD. 20Haven’t I written to you thirty excellent things of counsel and knowledge, 21To teach you truth, reliable words, to give sound answers to the ones who sent you? 22Don’t exploit the poor because he is poor; and don’t crush the needy in court; 23for the LORD will plead their case, and plunder the life of those who plunder them. 24Don’t befriend a hot-tempered man. Don’t associate with one who harbors anger, 25lest you learn his ways and ensnare your soul. 26Don’t you be one of those who strike hands, of those who are collateral for debts. 27If you don’t have means to pay, why should he take away your bed from under you? 28Don’t move the ancient boundary stone which your fathers have set up. 29Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve kings. He won’t serve obscure men.

In this collection of the sayings of the wise comes a warning about the company we keep: do not make friends with a hot-tempered man, do not associate with one given to anger, lest you learn his ways and entangle your own soul. Nearby sit related counsels, not to exploit the poor, since God will plead their cause, and that a person skilled in their work will stand before kings.

The warning about the angry man rests on a quiet truth: we become like those we walk with. Spend enough time close to a person ruled by anger, and you will absorb his reflexes, his short fuse, his way of seeing slights everywhere, until his ways become yours and ensnare you. The company we keep shapes us, usually without our noticing, for good or for ill. This is not a call to avoid difficult people entirely, but a caution about chosen closeness, whose habits am I steeping in? Character is contagious. The friends I draw near are slowly teaching me how to be, and it is worth asking what lessons I am learning by proximity.

Whose habits am I absorbing by the company I keep close, and are they shaping me toward what is good, or entangling me in what is not?

Sources

Proverbs 22:24: Don't befriend a hot-tempered man. Don't associate with one who harbors anger.
Proverbs 22:25: lest you learn his ways and ensnare your soul.
1 Corinthians 15:33: Don't be deceived! Evil companionships corrupt good morals.