Could anyone explain the meaning behind this proverb ?
If anyone loudly blesses their neighbor early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse.
Obviously a blessing is usually speaking good about someone to bring them good and a curse is to speak evil about them to bring negative circumstances. Why is this inverted in this case ?
Blessings crown the head of the righteous (Proverbs 10:6) and are gifts from God. God blesses those who obey Him and curses those who disobey Him (Deuteronomy 11:27-28).
In the Bible there are many accounts of people being blessed, often from a father to a son, and done quietly with the laying of hands upon the recipient.
They are seldom shouted from the roof-tops because that would draw attention to the one giving the blessing, rather than to God from whom all blessing originate.
However, to loudly bless a neighbour, and early in the morning, suggests an ulterior motive - to draw attention to oneself.
If my next door neighbour yelled out "God bless you" as I stepped out into the street, I might be suspicious. Perhaps his "blessing" is designed to win my favour or approval, or to make out his own self-righteousness. Much better, by far, to look for the blessing that comes from above:
The LORD blesses his people with peace (Psalm 29:11).
Some Christian friends of mine had a house next door to some retired Christians. The retired Christians would go in their backgarden early every morning to loudly sing God's praises. This included Saturdays and Sundays when the others were trying to catch up on their sleep.
The retired Christians may have thought that they were blessing their neighbours. But were they being thoughtful of their neighbours who had tiring occupations?
In their words the retired couple honoured God, but not perhaps with their social awareness.
"Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar" (Sigmund Freud) while all the answers are biblically insightful, doing anything loudly in the morning is generally frowned upon. If I really needed to mow my lawn and was dreading doing it and at 5:30 on Saturday morning after a tough week at work I was woken by my neighbor on his riding mower doing my lawn I would not really appreciate it aside from being sleep deprived I would feel that I was being told how lazy I was in a backhanded way. So even a blessing in deeds done loudly in the morning is as bad as one simply in words.
If one doesn't shout, but speaks loudly is as comprehensive in the eyes of G'd, for is it that G'd can't validate something aloud, and the same way as those things spoken silently? Certainly He can hear both, as we can see in Hannah's prayers to have a son (1 Samuel 1:10-13), and she had, the great Israel's Judge Samuel. Indeed, we see:
10 In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. 11 And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.” 12 As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk
Even though her voice wasn't heard, her movements was characterized by Eli, as being drunk by such movements, then, applying to the same context, depending on the situation, it can be that a person still speaking aloud can be blessed or bless other ones.
Just as another example, I quote (1 Corinthians 14:16):
Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say “Amen” to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying? (ESV)
However one can't expose by falsehood as it says (Matthew 6:5):
“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. (ESV)
Also, it's pointed out in 1 Corinthians 14:14 that one can't stand in vain thoughts:
For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful. (ESV)
Another example is (Psalm 142:1):
A Maskil of David, when he was in the cave. A Prayer. With my voice I cry out to the Lord; with my voice I plead for mercy to the Lord. (ESV)
King David also points out again (Psalm 77:1):
To the choirmaster: according to Jeduthun. A Psalm of Asaph. I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and he will hear me. (ESV)
So, if the loud prayer is in peace (not with anger), then it doesn't matter, in my perception, if it's loud or silently, and observing that the mind in silence can have the worst thoughts.
