Day 140: March 2, 2026 – Proverbs 17-19 and Psalms 40-41

Let’s consider who wrote Proverbs and who the Psalms. Solomon is attributed to writing Proverbs, which is a good thing because he was considered the wisest man who ever lived. God gave him a dose of wisdom because he asked for it, and so his sayings are true and worth considering. His sayings, as mentioned previously, contain the clear dualism between good and evil, correct action and false or harmful actions. It is important as we read Proverbs to recognize that there is nothing scandalous in these words, but there are truths that we often do not follow. This is especially true with wealth, which tends to be our, the Western world’s, golden calf. We worship wealth, we tend to pursue wealth at all costs.

The Psalms were written by the father of Solomon, so they would have been written before Proverbs, and this was King David. Now, many of them were written after he was anointed but before he entered into Jerusalem as the rightful king. Many were written while the king on the throne, Saul, was pursuing him, and God would deliver him time after time. But we see not just the poetry of the psalms, but also the stark honesty, and the bitter laments as David is known to be one who was a sinner, like the rest of us. Just that his sin becomes very public and has a deep impact upon his family and upon his future and the future of his family. We don’t see quite the same for Solomon, as it seems that he follows the Lord’s will without these times of sin that are so public and so egregious.