"The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge, but He overthrows the words of the treacherous man"
Solomon shares the wonder of the center of the will of God and what puts one in it. He states that God is interested in knowledge and those that have it get protected and those that don't, won't.
It is the knowledge that God is protecting and as soon as a person who had knowledge moves away from it, this person will be outside the protection. If a person is knowingly spreading false information or deceitful information, they will be the special target of God's attention to thwart.
preserve
This is the Hebrew word nasar which means to watch, guard, keep, protect. The idea is one of protection.
Solomon is making a fascinating observation that God is in the business of noticing knowledge wherever it is and protecting it. He pulls knowledge out of the person that it is in and says that God is protecting it. The implication is that if you are filled with it, you will be protected. It is a very interesting way to talk about being in God's will. It is the idea that knowledge is in the center of God's will. If you are where knowledge is, then you will be safe.
If on the other hand you – being a believer in God – act without knowledge, you will move away from God's protection.
knowledge
This is the Hebrew word daat which is the standard word for knowledge. It means true information and skill. Clearly the emphasis here is upon true information. God notices where the true information is and moves to protect these.
Clearly this is meant as a contrast with the next phrase in the proverb: overthrowing the words of the treacherous. Notice that God moves to overthrow the words of the person who is giving false information. Solomon has seen – and God confirms – that it is true by allowing it to be put into the Bible that the Almighty protects those who give out true information.
treacherous
This is the Hebrew word bagad which means treacherous, unfaithful, deceitful, offensive. The idea here is that God works against those who throw out information that is clearly false so that they can gain some advantage from it.
overthrow
This is the Hebrew word salap which means to twist, overturn, pervert, ruin. The idea is that God knows what you were planning with your deceit, and He will twist the outcome so that you do not gain what you sought to accomplish with your lies and deceit.
Some questions that come from this proverb:
Are you involved in a plan or scheme that involves deceiving others in any way to gain something for yourselves?
Are you filling your mind and soul with true information?
Because that is where the protection of God is. It is too easy in our day to fill our minds with that which is false. We have music, TV, movies, magazines all making it seem as though the false is real and lasting. God will preserve what is true and lasting and not the fad of the month or the treacherous or deceptive.
Until tomorrow,
Gil Stieglitz