Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 2:12
To deliver thee from the way of the evil [man], from the man that speaketh froward things;
12. the evil man] Or, evil, R.V. text (marg. as A.V.); , LXX.; a via mala, Vulg.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The evil-doers here include not robbers and murderers only Pro 1:10-16, but all who leave the straight path and the open day for crooked ways, perverse counsels, deeds of darkness. To delight etc. Pro 2:14 is the lowest depth of all.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Pro 2:12
To deliver thee from the way of the evil man.
Wickedness and wisdom, the bane and the antidote
I. A terrible description of wicked persons.
1. Their character. Their speech is corrupt. Their habit is corrupt. Their heart is corrupt. Their influence is corrupt.
2. Their peril. The spell of lust palsies the grasp of her victims. Everything dies under the influence of wickedness–self- respect, spiritual sensibility, mental freedom, the freshness, the vigour, and the beauty of life.
3. Their doom. They are rooted out from the esteem of the good, from the sphere of improvement, from the realm of mercy, and from the domain of hope.
II. The antidote. Wickedness is terribly powerful, but wisdom is mightier. Its mightiness in man, however, depends upon its right reception.
1. Wisdom guards the innocent. The way to keep out evil is to fill the soul with goodness.
2. It delivers the fallen. Heavenly wisdom in the soul is the only soul-redemptive force.
3. It guides the redeemed. Like the star to the mariner, it this wisdom shine within us it will guide us safely over the voyage of life. (David Thomas, D.D.)
The influence of associates
The tree frog acquires the colour of whatever it adheres to for a short time. If it be found on the oak, it is a brown colour; on the sycamore or cedar, he is of a whitish brown colour; but when found on the growing corn, he is sure to be green. Just so it is with young men. Their companions tell us what their characters are; if they associate with the vulgar, the licentious, and the profane, then their hearts are already stained with their guilt and shame, and they will themselves become alike vicious. Our moral and physical laws show how important it is to have proper associations of every kind, especially in youth. How dangerous it is to gaze on a picture or scene that pollutes the imagination or blunts the moral perceptions, or has a tendency to deaden a sense of our duty to God and man! (Christian Treasury.)
From the man that speaketh froward things.—
Froward
This is a word which occurs more than once in these verses, and which occurs frequently throughout this book, and whereof I have not met with an exactly defined signification. Some understand by it peevishness or perverseness. Were I to consult its etymology I should rather conceive that it was fromward; and so, impetuous, headstrong, acting on the impulse of whatever feeling is uppermost in the mind, unrestrained by calculation or conscience, and the opposite, therefore, of discretion. In Pro 2:12 I should render the word by unfaithful; in Pro 2:14, by perverse; in Pro 3:32, by unlawful, or transgressor of the law. But it is not easy to gather the precise meaning of the word froward, as the original words for it are various. (T. Chalmers, D. D.)
Verses 13. To walk in the ways of darkness.—
Perils in the deep
Here an arm of the sea of life is spread out before us, and we are led to an eminence whence we may behold its raging. We must, one by one, go down into these great waters. We see many of our comrades sinking beneath the surge. It is good to count the number, and measure the height of these ranks of raging waves, that we may be induced to hold faster by the anchor of the soul, which is sure and steadfast. The dangers are delineated in exact order.
I. the way of evil. Whether they be persons or principles the word does not expressly say. The way of the evil is the way which Satan trod, and by which all his servants follow.
II. the man that speaketh froward things. He is one of the foremost dangers to young men. In a workshop, or warehouse, or circle of private friendship, one with a foul tongue is a serious mischief-maker. It may be that the froward things are swearings; or impurities, or infidel insinuations; or mere silliness that fills with vanity, and tends to weaken the moral fibre. Even when a person does not sympathise with the evil, and imitate it, his conscience gets a wound. It is not good for us, in an experimental way, thus to know evil.
III. Who leave the paths of righteousness. When the imagination is polluted, and the tongue let loose, the feet cannot keep on the path of righteousness. Thinking, and hearing, and speaking evil, will soon be followed by doing it. In all of us are the seeds of crime, and in many the seedlings are growing apace. He who would be kept from the path of the destroyer must crucify the flesh, with its affections and lusts. In the matter of watching for ones soul the true wisdom is to take care of the beginnings.
IV. to walk in the ways of darkness. The doing of evil produces darkness, and darkness produces the evil-doing. Indulged lusts put out the eyesight of the conscience; and under the darkened conscience the lusts revel unchecked.
V. Who rejoice to do evil. A more advanced step in guilt. At first the backslider is ashamed of his fall. He palliates, alleges the strength of the temptation, and promises amendment. As the hardening progress goes on, he begins to feel more easy, and comes to rejoice in evil.
VI. Who delight in the frowardness of the wicked. These are more abandoned than the wicked themselves. To take pleasure in sin is a characteristic of fallen humanity; to delight in seeing others sinning is altogether devilish. To complete the picture of the dangers to which the young are exposed, one other peril of the worlds deep is marked on the chart which is mercifully placed in the voyagers hands–it is the strange woman. The deceiver is so-called. Marriage is honourable in all. Unlawful relations of the sexes mean wild, selfish passions, which will surely be followed by visible marks of Gods vengeance. Gods anger will track lust through all its secret doublings. He makes sin generate its own punishment. And the woe of a hardened sensualist is a hell indeed. (W. Arnot, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 12. The man that speaketh froward things.] tahpuchoth, things of subversion; from taphach, to turn or change the course of a thing. Men who wish to subvert the state of things, whether civil or religious; who are seditious themselves, and wish to make others so. These speak much of liberty and oppression, deal greatly in broad assertions, and endeavour especially to corrupt the minds of youth.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
From the way of the evil man; from following his counsel or example, which others for want of wisdom commonly do.
That speaketh froward things; with design to corrupt thy mind, and entice thee to evil principles or practices.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12-15. To deliveras fromgreat danger (Pr 6:5).
way . . . man (Ps1:1).
froward thingsperversity(Pro 6:14; Pro 23:23),what is opposed to truth.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
To deliver thee from the way of the evil [man],…. Who is so by nature and practice, who is hardened in sin and abandoned to it, whose course of life is evil, and who endeavours to draw others into the same evil practices; now the Gospel, and a spiritual knowledge of it, are a means of preserving men from following the examples of such persons, and from walking with them in the ways of sin: or from “the evil way” t, from every evil way, from a vicious course of life; not from idolatry only, as some interpret it, though this may be included, and chiefly designed; but from all manner of sin, from everything that is contrary to the law of God and sound doctrine;
from the man that speaketh froward things; perverse things, things contrary to the light of nature, to divine revelation, to the word of God, both law and Gospel; if a single man is meant, he might be thought to be the man of sin, antichrist, who has a mouth speaking blasphemies against God, his name, his tabernacle, and them that dwell therein,
Re 13:5; and the Gospel delivers men from following him, and falling in with his perverse doctrines and practices; but the word seems to be a collective one, and to be understood of all wicked men, to whom the description agrees, as it is explained in the following verses in the plural number; who out of their evil hearts, and the abundance of wickedness there, speak evil things, tending to debauch the minds and manners of others; to be delivered from whom is a singular mercy. Jarchi restrains this to heretics, and such as caused Israel to apostatize to idolatry, and turned the law into evil. The Gospel is undoubtedly a means of preserving from error and heresy.
t “a via mala”, V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Mercerus, Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
As in Pro 2:10, Pro 2:11, the (“then shalt thou understand,” Pro 2:5) is expanded, so now the watching, preserving, is separately placed in view:
12 To deliver thee from an evil way,
From the man who speaks falsehood;
13 (From those) who forsake the ways of honesty
To walk in ways of darkness,
14 Who rejoice to accomplish evil,
Delight in malignant falsehood –
15 They are crooked in their paths,
And perverse in their ways.
That is not genitival, via mali , but adjectival, via mala , is evident from , Pro 16:29. From the evil way, i.e., conduct, stands opposed to the false words represented in the person of the deceiver; from both kinds of contagium wisdom delivers. (like the similarly formed , occurring only as plur.) means misrepresentations, viz., of the good and the true, and that for the purpose of deceiving (Pro 17:20), fallaciae , i.e., intrigues in conduct, and lies and deceit in words. Fl. compares Arab. ifk , a lie, and affak , a liar. has Munach, the constant servant of Dech, instead of Metheg, according to rule ( Accentssystem, vii. 2). (Pro 2:13) is connected with the collective (cf. Jdg 9:55); we have in the translation separated it into a relative clause with the abstract present. The vocalization of the article fluctuates, yet the expression , like Pro 2:17 , is the better established ( Michlol 53b); is one of the three words which retain their Metheg, and yet add to it a Munach in the tone-syllable ( vid., the two others, Job 22:4; Job 39:26). To the “ways of honesty” ( Geradheit ) (cf. the adj. expression, Jer 31:9), which does not shun to come to the light, stand opposed the “ways of darkness,” the , Rom 13:12, which designedly conceal themselves from God (Isa 29:15) and men (Job 24:15; Job 38:13, Job 38:15).
Pro 2:14 In this verse the regimen of the , 12b, is to be regarded as lost; the description now goes on independently. Whoever does not shrink back from evil, but gives himself up to deceit, who finally is at home in it as in his own proper life-element, and rejoices, yea, delights in that which he ought to shun as something destructive and to be rejected. The neut. is frequently an attributive genit., Pro 6:24; Pro 15:26; Pro 28:5; cf. , Pro 24:25, which here, since are those who in themselves are bad, does not separate, but heightens: perversitates non simplices aut vulgares, sed pessimae et ex omni parte vitiosae (J. H. Michaelis). With ( ), Pro 2:15, this part is brought to a conclusion. Fleischer, Bertheau, and others interpret , as the accus. of the nearer definition, as , ; but should it be an accus., then would we expect, in this position of the words, (Isa 59:8; Pro 10:8, cf. Pro 9:15). is the pred.; for , like , admits of both genders. carries in it its subject ; , like the Arab. l’d , l’dh , is a weaker form of , flectere, inclinare , intrans. recedere : they are turned aside, inclined out of the way to the right and left in their walk ( as Pro 17:20).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Deliverance From Evil Men
(Pro 2:12-15)
Vs. 12-15 describe some temptations of evil men from which wisdom delivers:
1) from the way or path of evil men who seek to pervert the truth of God, Vs. 12; Rom 1:25; Rom 1:28.
2) from the way of those who reject uprightness to walk in darkness, the darkness where the light of God is absent, Vs. 13; Psa 82:5; Ecc 2:13-14; Mat 6:23; Mat 8:12; Mat 22:13; Joh 3:18-19.
3) from the way of those who rejoice to do evil and delight in the perverseness of the wicked, Vs. 14; Pro 1:11; Pro 10:23; Rom 1:32.
4) from those whose ways are crooked and cause others to go astray, Vs. 5; Psa 125:5; Isa 59:8; Mat 18:6.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Pro. 2:12. Deliver, snatch, as a brand out of the fire. Evil man, rather an evil way.
Pro. 2:13. Level paths.
Pro. 2:16. Strange, unknown, wanton (see 1Ki. 11:1-8).
Pro. 2:17. Guide, or companion, confidant, her lawful husband.
Pro. 2:18. House, in the East means interests; a mans whole blended well-being (Exo. 1:21).Miller. (On Pro. 2:16-18 see Note at the beginning of Chap. 7)
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPHPro. 2:12-20
THE CHARACTER OF THOSE FROM WHOM WISDOM PRESERVES
I. The evil man.
1. His speech is corrupt, Pro. 2:12. The closed grave contains death and holds within it the seeds of pestilence, but while it remains unopened the corrupt influence remains enclosed in its narrow walls. But should it be opened, and its foulness allowed to fill the air, it begins to set in motion what will strike men down to its own level. The mouth of the wicked man while kept shut is a closed grave, his iniquity is shut up within himself, but when he speaks out the thoughts of his heart his mouth is as an open sepulchre, and he spreads around him moral disease and death.
2. He is a man of progressive iniquity. He walks in the ways of darkness. When a stone is set in motion, the momentum given to it, if no other law comes into operation to prevent it, will carry it to the lowest level in the direction in which it travels. The progress of wickedness is downhill, and walking in the ways of darkness implies a destination which in Scripture is called outer darkness.
3. He delights in his downward progress. Sorrow and joy are revealers of human hearts. The saint rejoices in whatsoever things are pure, lovely, and of good report, and in his increase of power to do the same. That which rejoices him reveals his heart. The sinner that rejoices to do evil and delights in the forwardness of the wicked, brings to light the hidden things of darkness that are within him.
II. The wicked woman.
1. She is, pre-eminently, a covenant-breaker. The ribs of a vessel hold and keep together the whole structure, and enable it to keep its cargo safe. If the ribs give way, all goes to pieces, and the precious things which have been stored up within the ship are lost in the ocean. Human society is belted togetherkept from going to piecesby covenants. They are the ribs which keep together the State. The marriage covenant holds the first place. The woman whose character is here depicted has broken the bonds of this most sacred covenantto which God was a witness (the covenant of an institution of His own ordination)and has taken to the strange way of the devil. Well may she be called a strange woman. That a woman should be guilty of such a crimeshould choose such a course of life, so opposed to all that is pure and womanlyis indeed a mystery.
2. She is a destroyer, not only of herself, but of others. When the river has broken through its proper boundaries there is a present and continual destruction, of which the bursting of its banks was only the beginning. This woman in the past broke the moral boundaries of her life, and is now not content to go to ruin herself, but tries to take others with her. To this end are her false and flattering words, of which we shall hear more in chapter Pro. 5:3. She carries her victims beyond hope of recovery. There are no rules without exceptions. We know that there are those who have for a time been under the influence of such characters, and have returned to the paths of virtue and honour. But these are rare exceptions. In the main, it is, alas! true that none that go unto her return again. A vessel founders at sea, and we say that the crew is lost, although one survivor may have been rescued. We speak of an army being destroyed if one escapes to tell the tale. Where one who has taken hold on her paths struggles back to life and purity, thousands go down with her to death, bodily, social, and spiritual.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro. 2:12. To snatch (see Critical Notes.) The way of evil. The terms begin gently. It is only the gentle aspects that are dangerous at first. These are so fascinating that it requires us to be snatched to keep us out of the ways of darkness.Miller.
Pro. 2:13. Among the pests of men, none are such virulent pests of everything that is good as those that once made a profession of religion, but have left the way of uprightness. The stings of conscience which such persons experience, instead of reclaiming them, tend only to irritate their spirits, and inflame them into fierce enmity against religion.Lawson.
Darkness, as thus set in contrast with uprightness, may be interpreted as descriptive both of the nature of the ways, and of their tendency and end. The man who walks in uprightness walks in light. His eye is single. There is none occasion of stumbling in him. He has but one principle; his eyes look right on, his eyelids look straight before him. He is not always looking this way and that, for devious paths that may suit a present purpose, but presses on ever in the same course; and thus all is light, all plain, all safe. The ways of darkness are the ways of concealment, evasion, cunning, tortuous policy and deceit. He who walks in them is ever groping; hiding himself among the subtleties of fleshly wisdom: and being ways of false principle and sin, they are ways of danger, and shame, and ruin.Wardlaw.
There is a strictly causal and reciprocal relation between unrighteous deeds and moral darkness. The doing of evil produces darkness, and darkness produces the evil doing. Indulged lusts put out the eye-sight of the conscience; and under the darkened conscience the lusts revel unchecked.Arnot.
The light stands in the way of their wicked ways as the angel did in Balaams way to his sin.Trapp.
Pro. 2:14. Though it be wormwood which they drink (Lam. 3:15), yet being drunk with it, they perceive not the bitterness thereof, but like drunken men rejoice in their shame and misery.Jermin.
Better is the sorrow of him that suffereth evil than the jollity of him that doeth evil, saith St. Augustine.Trapp.
Here is a note of trial to discern our spiritual estate. Wicked men rejoice in sin; good men sorrow more for sin than for troubles. Many triumph in their evil deeds because they have no good to boast of. And men are naturally proud and would boast of something.Francis Taylor.
Pro. 2:16. There is no viler object in nature than an adulteress. Though born and baptised in a Christian land, she is to be looked upon as a heathen woman and a stranger, and as self-made brutes are greater monsters than natural brute beasts, so baptised heathens are by far the worst of pagans.Lawson.
This strange woman is an emblem of impenitence. The passage 1619, means the seductiveness and yet the betraying wretchedness of impenitence. The woman who has left her husband has also left her God; and the nulla vestigia retrorsum witnessed in her dupes is the warning for the saint by which he keeps clear of her undoing. No man would err who would treat of adultery as having its lessons here. But no man would understand the passage who did not understand it further as a great picture of impenitence. The warnings are two:
(1) the un-stopping-short character of sin; she who wrongs her husband will be seen universally wronging God; and
(2) the unrecuperative history of the lost.Miller.
Twice Solomon uses a similar expression, the strange woman (even) the stranger, to impress more forcibly on the young man the fact that her person belongs to another. The literal and spiritual adulteress are both meant. The spiritual gives to the world her person and her heart, which belong by right to God. In this sense the foreign women who subsequently drew aside Solomon himself, were strange women, not so much in respect to their local distance from Israel, as in respect to their being utterly alien to the worship of God. Lust and idolatry were the spiritual adultery into which they entrapped the once wise king. How striking that he should utter beforehand a warning which he himself afterwards disregarded.Fausset.
We are not to forget that the accomplished seducer has herself perhaps been seduced. The fair and flattering words, the endless arts of allurement, are on both sides.Wardlaw.
One who is as it were, a stranger to her own house and husband by faithlessness (Hitzig), and hence a type of anything that is false and seductive in doctrine or practice. By Gods goodness Solomons words in this divinely inspired book were an antidote to the poison of his own vicious example.Wordsworth.
Pro. 2:17. False doctrine and false worship are in Scripture compared to harlotry and adultery. (Num. 14:33; Jdg. 2:17; Jdg. 8:33; Psa. 106:39; Rev. 17:1-2; Rev. 18:3.Wordsworth.
It is God that is the guide of her youth, whoever may be under Him; it is Gods covenant that is made, whosoever may be the contractor in it. It is God who is first forsaken, then forgotten; forsaken in the beginning of wickedness, forgotten in the hardened practice of it. God hath appointed guides for youthto stay the weakness of it, and to which, as unto God, youth ought to yield obedience. For elder years He hath appointed covenants as bonds and chains to hold them sure.Jermin.
There is no trusting them that will fail God and their near friends. If they fail God, they will fail men for their advantage. If they fail friendsmuch more strangers.Francis Taylor.
Pro. 2:18. When you get into the company of the licentious, you are among the dead. They move about like men in outward appearance, but the best attributes of humanity have disappearedthe best affections of nature have been drained away from their hearts.Arnot.
Her house is not a building reared up, but inclined and bowed down, and she who dwelleth in it will, by her life, bring thee to the dead. Death is here twice mentioned to show that it is a double death, a temporal death, and an eternal death, to which she bringeth men.Jermin.
Pro. 2:19. Who would cast himself into a deep pit in the hopes of coming out alive, when almost all that fell into it were dashed in pieces.Lawson.
It is as hard to restore a lustful person to chastity as it is to restore a dead person to life.Chrysostom.
A sin which, I am verily persuaded, if there be another that slays her thousands, may with truth be affirmed to slay its ten thousands.Wardlaw.
Pro. 2:20. Here follows the whole ground of the exhibition: That, for the very purpose that thou mayest walk in the way of good men. This is a grand, pregnant doctrine. This bad life was abandoned to its worst partly as a lesson.Miller.
It is not enough to shun the evil way, unless men walk in the good way.Muffet.
He that walks in the way of good men shall meet with good men, and that shall keep him from the company of evil men and women. The paths of the righteous are too narrow for such: he shall not be troubled with them.Jermin.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(12) Froward things.(Heb., tahpkhth), i.e., misrepresentations, distortions of the truth.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
12. They do this, to deliver thee (now their ward) from the way of the evil man, (especially) from the man that speaketh froward things , ( tahpukhoth,) another obscure word, found almost exclusively in this book. It is the opposite of m’sharim, (Pro 1:3,) equity, rectitude. It seems to be a comprehensive term, implying all manner of evil doing. Perhaps subversions or perversions comes as near the original as any English word; that is, the man uttering words calculated to subvert or pervert to turn the hearer from the right to the wrong, or to change the condition of things, whether in the Church or State, from good to evil. It applies to all reckless innovators and revolutionists, particularly to such as seek to overthrow a good government in order to put another in its place. This conception is somewhat supported by the preceding word, , ( ra’h,) evil, badness, worthlessness. The radical idea of this word is to break; and it denotes “the breaking of some established order of things, or some preconceived design, plan, or the like.” Gesenius says, “Intransitive to be evil, bad; from the idea of breaking, being broken, and so made worthless.” But may not the idea of moral badness also appropriately come from the active conception of breaking, destroying? It is certainly a very vivid and truthful conception of a bad man, that he is a breaker, a destroyer of things, like his father Abaddon, the destroyer. He breaks law and order, peace, quietness, and harmony. He destroys virtue, character, reputation, property, government in short, every thing he lays his hands on or influences; he destroys his associates, and, finally, himself.
The Septuagint adds to this verse the following, not found in the Hebrew: “He that stays himself upon falsehoods attempts to rule the winds, and the same will pursue birds in their flight: for he has forsaken the ways of his own vineyard, and he has caused the axles of his own husbandry to go astray; but he goes through a dry desert, and a land appointed to drought, and he gathers barrenness with his hands.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Deliverance From Sinful Men ( Pro 2:12-15 ).
The giving of wisdom, knowledge and understanding will deliver the young man from the way of evil. This is necessary for the second voice that speaks to the young man is that of ungodly men. In consequence the great need of the godly man is to be delivered from those who would lead him in wrong paths. This is important because the world is full of people who seek to lead astray those who are seeking to truly follow God. At first the descriptions might appear to be describing people who are obviously particularly evil, but that is to misinterpret them. The greatest danger comes from those who might outwardly appear to be respectable, but who nevertheless are pleased when they can corrupt a godly person. They can be very persuasive, and even appear good and rational, but their wisdom is not that of God but of the world. And the way of deliverance is to hold tightly to God’s revealed wisdom which will be a shield to his mind and heart, to know God, and to understand the fear of God. ‘How shall a young man make his way clean? By taking heed to it according to Your word’ (Psa 119:9).
Pro 2:12-15
‘To deliver you from the way of evil,
From the men who speak perverse things,
Who forsake the paths of uprightness,
To walk in the ways of darkness,
Who rejoice to do evil,
And delight in the perverseness of evil,
Who are crooked in their ways,
And wayward in their paths.’
Note the chiastic pattern of ideas:
‘To deliver you from the way of evil — who are crooked in their ways –paths’.
‘From men who speak perverse things — and delight in the perverseness of evil’.
‘Who forsake the paths of uprightness — who rejoice to do evil’.
And centrally they ‘walk in the ways of darkness’.
Here then it is made clear that the ways of sinfulness are the ways of darkness. Men who walk in sinfulness, walk in darkness and do not know the way in which they are going. They have left the straight path, and follow crooked ways. Thus the purpose of the wisdom that comes from God is to deliver men from coming short of goodness. It is to ‘deliver them from evil’ (Mat 6:13), to deliver them from darkness. Men and women are constantly prone to allow their standards to slip, or even to allow them to disappear altogether, and they are constantly hampered by men who ‘speak perverse things’, whether religious or secular. The New Testament is full of examples of this. But the point is that constant attention to God’s wisdom, as revealed in His words, will prevent this happening.
‘To deliver you from the way of evil.’ Evil is the opposite of good. It is that which is harmful rather than being helpful. In a sense it is the lack of good. Thus the evil man is not necessarily someone who seeks to cause great harm. He is rather someone who acts selfishly and thoughtlessly and without regard for good, and the good of others. And he seeks to justify himself in his own eyes by bringing others down with him. Thus he ‘hates’ the godly man and has no greater delight than to trip him up. He wants to make others as selfish as himself. By this means he comforts himself. And his way can seem very attractive. Note that the deliverance is from ‘the way of evil’. This fits in with the overall emphasis in the chapter on the two ways, the way of good and the way of evil.
‘From the men who speak perverse things.’ The young man is also to be delivered from the men who have chosen the way of evil. That is, in context, from those who speak contrary to God’s wisdom. They distort the truth and seek to make wrongdoing and selfishness palatable. They try to tone down God’s requirements. They misrepresent God’s ways. In many cases they even seek to cast doubt on God’s truth, sometimes subtly, sometimes more openly. They ‘delight in the perverseness of evil’. As James points out, ‘the tongue can no man tame, it is a restless evil full of deadly poison’ (Jas 3:8), and not more so than when what it says seems sweetly reasonable, but takes men and women away from God’s truth.
‘Who forsake the paths of uprightness.’ Often such men have once had high standards. But they have allowed those standards to slip. They have forsaken the paths of uprightness. They can now do what once they would never have thought of doing. They have forsaken the way of the wisdom of God, and replaced it with the wisdom of the world. Their consciences have become dulled, and by their lives they encourage others to do the same.
‘To walk in the ways of darkness.’ Such people walk in the ways of darkness. They have turned away from the light of God’s word (Psa 119:105). They stumble on trusting in worldly wisdom. They do not allow God to illuminate their darkness (2Sa 22:29). They ‘grope in the dark without light’ (Job 12:25). They have toned down God’s word, turning away from its light. They walk contrary to God’s wisdom. They reject the light. As Ecc 2:13-14 puts it, ‘Then I saw that wisdom excels folly, as far as light excels darkness. The wise man’s eyes are in his head, and the fool walks in darkness.’ It is those who walk in God’s wisdom who are truly wise and can therefore see. But those who turn their back on that wisdom walk in the ways of darkness. Their minds are full of the world’s wisdom which is not illuminated by God (compare 1 Corinthians 2:20-25). That is why, when Jesus came as the light of the world, He promised that those who followed Him would not walk in darkness. They would have the light of life (Joh 8:12).
‘Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the perverseness of evil.’ Such people delight in what they see as their own wisdom. They find it amusing, and rather daring, that they fall short of God’s requirements as revealed in His wisdom and His word. They consider His standards too high. And rather than being ashamed of their failure and weakness, they enjoy what they see as their freedom from God’s shackles. They delight in it. They laugh at what they see as allowable wrongdoing, dismissing it as rather amusing. They delight in the perverseness of evil.
‘Who are crooked in their ways, and wayward in their paths.’ Instead of keeping to the straight path of God’s wisdom, they walk a crooked way, which leads them into byways which come short of God’s requirements (compare Isa 59:8). They deviate from truth, both morally and intellectually. They water down God’s word, and deviate from its standards. They no longer listen to God when He says, ‘this is the way, walk in it’. They allow their consciences to become atrophied.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Pro 2:12. The man that speaketh froward things “With a design to corrupt your mind, and entice you to evil principles and practices:” A species of corruption of which young persons in particular should be extremely cautious.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Pro 2:12 To deliver thee from the way of the evil [man], from the man that speaketh froward things;
Ver. 12. That speaketh froward things. ] As if his mouth were distorted, or the upper lip stood where the nether should. See Act 20:30 . a
a .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
deliver = pluck, or rescue. evil = evil [man]. Hebrew. ra’a’.
froward = perverse. Hebrew occurs nine times in Proverbs (verses: Pro 2:12, Pro 2:14, Pro 2:14; Pro 8:13; Pro 10:31, Pro 10:32; Pro 16:28, Pro 16:30; Pro 21:8); elsewhere only in Deu 32:20.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Pro 2:12-15
Pro 2:12-15
GOD’S MAN IS DELIVERED FROM EVIL
“To deliver thee from the way of evil,
From the men who speak perverse things;
Who forsake the paths of righteousness,
To walk in the ways of darkness;
Who rejoice to do evil,
And delight in the perverseness of evil;
Who are crooked in their ways,
And wayward in their paths:”
This paragraph speaks of the seditious and subversive enemies that form the bottom layer of every society. “They wish to subvert the state of things, whether or religious; they are seditious themselves and wish to make others so; they speak much of liberty, oppression, injustice, etc., endeavoring especially to corrupt the youth. Such men are totally destructive, rebellious and critical; and they are bankrupt of any worthwhile purpose.
“To walk in the ways of darkness” (Pro 2:13). Christians are specifically warned against the ways of darkness. Much of the world’s evil is perpetrated in darkness, due to men’s instinctive desire to hide their evil deeds. “The word darkness carries with it two ideas (1) ignorance, and (2) error. To walk in darkness is therefore to reject the true light of wisdom and to practice iniquity. The apostle Paul has commanded us to, “Cast off the works of darkness” (Rom 13:12): and in the same breath he mentioned among those works such things as, “Reveling, drunkenness, debauchery, licentiousness, quarreling and jealousy” (Rom 13:13).
“Who rejoice to do evil” (Pro 2:14). This fingers an amazing trait of wicked men; they rejoice in evil! “A malignant joy lights up the countenance of any abandoned sinner at the very prospect of some wicked deed. This is Satanic wickedness; and such men may exclaim with Milton’s Satan, `Evil, be thou my good’!
Pro 2:12. Wisdom will keep one from taking up with evil men (this verse) and with evil women (Pro 2:16). The word deliver suggests that evil men are out to snare such young men into their plots and ways. The perverse speech of evil men is pointed out. There is a certain speech that goes with evil men-usually coarse words, vulgar words, irreverent words.
Pro 2:13. Some of those now evil were once on the right road, for they forsook the paths of uprightness. Probably as children they were taught the right way. Oh, how many drift from their childhood teachings into the ways of darkness (sin)! Those who walk in evil ways always try to get others to fall as they have, but how foolish to listen to them!
Pro 2:14. The wicked become perverted: instead of grieving over evil, they rejoice in doing it. It is as sport to a fool to do wickedness (Pro 10:23); When thou doest evil, then thou rejoicest (Jer 11:15); Who, knowing the ordinance of God, that they that practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also consent with them that practise them (Rom 1:32). We are forbidden to desire evil: Abhor that which is evil (Romans 12;&); Love not the world…the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the vain-glory of life (1Jn 2:15-16).
Pro 2:15. Instead of walking a straight and right course, they are further described as crooked, and instead of staying on the right way, they are said to be wayward in their paths. Psa 125:5 speaks of those who turn aside unto their crooked ways. It is from this crookedness and waywardness that true wisdom will deliver a young man.
STUDY QUESTIONS – Pro 2:12-15
1.Does true knowledge trust all persons indiscriminately (Pro 2:12)?
2. What double sin were they guilty of (Pro 2:13)?
3. What about their rejoicing (Pro 2:14)?
4. Why do we speak of dishonest people as crooked (Pro 2:15)?
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
deliver: Pro 1:10-19, Pro 4:14-17, Pro 9:6, Pro 13:20, Psa 17:4, Psa 17:5, Psa 26:4, Psa 26:5, Psa 141:4, 2Co 6:17
from the man: Pro 3:32, Pro 8:13, Pro 16:28-30, Psa 101:4, Isa 59:3-5, Act 20:30, 1Co 15:33
Reciprocal: Job 34:8 – General Psa 1:1 – way Pro 3:31 – choose Pro 6:12 – walketh Pro 16:29 – General