Pride cometh before the fight

I have never served in the military. But of the people I know who have served our great nation, I hear the word honor quite a bit when they engage in conversations with other current or former military. When they speak of honor, you can see how important this concept is to them. If you look closely enough, you will often see their eyes welling up as they speak.
Honor is a great word. The Oxford dictionary primarily defines it as “high respect; glory; adherence to what is right or to a conventional standard of conduct; nobleness of mind.” The Hebrew word translated as “honor” in the Proverb that Solomon wrote is most often translated as “glory” or “glorious.” It literally means “to be heavy” or “to be honored.” To be “heavy” in ancient times referred to the weightiness of a person’s reputation and of one’s very person. It is also commonly used for the idea of “respect” and “renown.”
You don’t have to be in the military to have or understand honor, but I think those who have been in one branch or another of our armed forces have a much deeper and fuller understanding of the word. They have most likely “lived” it more than most.
Solomon speaks about gaining honor in a particular area of our behavior: “Avoiding a fight is a mark of honor; only fools insist on quarreling.”
Fighting, whether verbally, physically or in any other form, is generally not wise. There are obviously times when it is not only wise to fight, but it is imperative to do so. But in the context of Solomon’s words, we are speaking to the times when whether to fight or not is an option.
In these times, Solomon tells us avoiding the fight is the most honorable thing to do. And in the context of the meaning of the word, you will be more respected, your reputation will be impacted in a more positive way and you will be viewed in high esteem. Or you can engage in the fight or argument, and be labeled as a fool in Solomon’s terminology.

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