Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 12:28
In the way of righteousness [is] life; and [in] the pathway [thereof there is] no death.
28. no death ] The rendering to death, i.e. the pathway (sc. common and well-trodden, or, of evil men) leadeth to death, is supported by LXX. , and Vulg. ducit ad mortem.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Pro 12:28
In the way of righteousness is life.
Life in the way of righteousness
There are many ways which men are found to pursue in order to the attainment of happiness. One pursues the way of worldly pleasure; another is fascinated by the splendour and magnificence and show of the world; another seeks happiness in the business of life. These ways are false ways and disappointing ways. There is a way which is neither delusive nor disappointing. It is the way of holiness, the way of conformity to Gods mind and will. The righteous walk in this way. But who are the righteous? They who are interested by faith in the Redeemers righteousness for justification and acceptance before God. They are distinguished by the integrity of their principles and a conscientious endeavour to discharge every duty they owe their fellow-men. They are careful to avoid all known sin, and desire to live in the practice of all known duty. They are not satisfied with present attainments in religin, but seek to grow in grace as well as knowledge. They are animated by the constraining love of Jesus. They live in the exercise of communion with God in prayer and praise. And the text declares that those who walk in holy obedience to the revealed will of God, and are filled with the fruits of righteousness, have received a new nature, and are animated by a new life. The existence of the life of grace in the soul will be manifested by its corresponding effects in the walk and conversation. In the way of righteousness is the life of consolation and joy. Gods smile is on the righteous in all their goings. Great are the privileges of the righteous, which must be felt, but cannot be adequately described. The new life, kindled by the Spirit of God, shall never be extinguished. It shall survive every shock of opposition and trial, and shall triumph over the combined rage of earth and hell. In the pathway thereof there is no death. The righteous must die, as well as the unrighteous; there is no peculiarity of exemption in their case from the stroke of the last enemy. But to the believer in Jesus death is unspeakable gain. Then are we in the number of the righteous? (C. Rawlings, B.A.)
The way of religion recommended as
I. A straight, plain, easy way. Gods commands (the rule we are to walk by) are all holy, just, and good. Religion has right, reason, and equity on its side.
II. As a safe, pleasant comfortable way.
1. There is not only life at the end, but there is life in the way; all true comfort and satisfaction. The favour of God, which is better than life; the Spirit, who is life.
2. There is not only life in it, but so as that in it there is no death, none of that sorrow of the world which works death, and is an allay to our present joy and life. There is no end to that life that is in the way of righteousness. Here there is life, but there is death too. In the way of righteousness there is life and no death–life and immortality. (Matthew Henry.)
.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 28. In the way of righteousness is life] chaiyim, lives; life temporal, and life eternal.
And in the pathway thereof there is no death.] Not only do the general precepts and promises of God lead to life eternal, and promote life temporal; but every duty, every act of faith, patience of hope, and labour of love, though requiring much self-abasement, self-denial, and often an extension of corporal strength, all lead to life. For in every case, in every particular, “the path of duty is the way of safety.” The latter clause is only a repetition of the sense of the former.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The practice of justice and godliness, though it expose a man to some dangers and inconveniences in the world, yet it will certainly lead him to life and happiness, whereas the end of all wicked courses is death and destruction.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
28. (Compare Pro 8:8;Pro 8:20, c.). A sentiment oftenstated here first affirmatively, then negatively.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
In the way of righteousness [is] life,…. The life of the soul, or spiritual life, as Aben Ezra; and eternal life, as Gersom. One that is in the true way of righteousness is one that is instilled by the righteousness of Christ, which justification is the justification of life: such an one is made alive, and reckons himself alive in a law sense; and enjoys true spiritual peace and comfort, arising from the love and favour of God, and acceptance with him, in which he sees his interest, and in which is life; and this righteousness, by which he is justified before God, entitles him to eternal life; to which the path of holiness, he is directed and enabled to walk in, leads; though it is a narrow way, and a strait gate, Mt 7:14. Christ, and righteousness and holiness in and by him, are the way, the truth, and the life, or the true way to eternal life; and all in this way now live spiritually, and shall live eternally, Joh 14:6;
and [in] the pathway [thereof there is] no death; no condemnation to them that are in Christ, the way, and are justified by his righteousness; the law’s sentence of death shall not be executed on them, though it passed upon them in Adam; spiritual death shall not again prevail over those who are passed from death to life; nor shall they be hurt at the second death; they shall never die that death, it shall have no power over them; life and immortality are the sure effects of being in the way of righteousness. The Targum renders it, “the way of the perverse”: and the Septuagint version, “of those that remember evil”: and the Syriac and Arabic versions, “the way of angry men is unto death”: and so the Vulgate Latin version,
“the out of the way path leads to death:”
and so some Hebrew copies read, instead of “no death, unto death”; but the most read as we do, and which the Jewish commentators follow.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
28 In the path of righteousness is life,
And the way of its path is immortality.
All the old versions to the Venet. give instead of , and are therefore under the necessity of extracting from a meaning corresponding to this, , in which they are followed by Hitzig: “a devious way leadeth to death.” But ( ) signifies step, and generally way and street ( vid., at Pro 1:15), not “devious way,” which is expressed, Jdg 5:6, by . And that is anywhere punctuated thus in the sense of is previously improbable, because the Babylonian system of punctuation distinguishes the negative with a short Pathach, and the prepositional (Arab. ila ) with a short Chirek, from each other ( vid., Pinsker, Einl. p. xxii.f.); the punctuation 2Sa 18:16; Jer 51:3, gives no support to the opinion that here is vocalized thus in the sense of , and it is not to be thus corrected. Nothing is more natural than that the Chokma in its constant contrast between life and death makes a beginning of expressing the idea of the , which Aquila erroneously read from the , Ps. 48:15. It has been objected that for the formation of such negative substantives and noun-adjectives ( e.g., , ) and not is used; but that also may be in close connection with a noun, 2Sa 1:13 shows. There is equivalent to , according to which it may also be explained in the passage before us, with Luther and all the older interpreters, who accepted in its negative signification: and on (the governing) the way … is no death. The negative frequently stands as an intensifying of the objective ; but why should the Chokma, which has already shown itself bold in the coining of new words, not apply itself to the formation of the idea of immortality?: the idol name is the result of a much greater linguistic boldness. It is certain that is here not equivalent to ; the Masora is therefore right in affirming that is written with He raphatum pro mappicato ( vid., Kimchi, Michlol 31a, and in the Lex.), cf. 1Sa 20:20, vid., Bttcher, 418. Thus: the way of their step is immortality, or much rather, since is not a fixed idea, but also denotes the going to a distance ( i.e., the journey), the behaviour, the proceeding, the walk, etc.: the walking (the stepping over and passing through) of their way is immortality. Rich in synonyms of the way, the Hebrew style delights in connecting them with picturesque expressions; but always means the way in general, which divides into or (Job 6:18; Jer 18:5), and consists of such (Isa 3:16). The distich is synonymous: on the path of righteousness (accentuate ) is life meeting him who walks in it, and giving itself to him as a possession, and the walking in its path is immortality (cf. Pro 3:17; Pro 10:28); so that to go in it and to be immortal, i.e., to be delivered from death, to be exalted above it, is one and the same thing. If we compare with this, 1Sa 14:32, it is obvious that the Chokma begins ( vid., Psychol. p. 410) to break through the limits of this present life, and to announce a life beyond the reach of death.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
28 In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death.
The way of religion is here recommended to us, 1. As a straight, plain, easy way; it is the way of righteousness. God’s commands (the rule we are to walk by) are all holy, just, and good. Religion has right reason and equity on its side; it is a path-way, a way which God has cast up for us (Isa. xxxv. 8); it is a highway, the king’s highway, the King of kings’ highway, a way which is tracked before us by all the saints, the good old way, full of the footsteps of the flock. 2. As a safe, pleasant, comfortable way. (1.) There is not only life at the end, but there is life in the way; all true comfort and satisfaction. The favour of God, which is better than life; the Spirit, who is life. (2.) There is not only life in it, but so as that in it there is no death, none of that sorrow of the world which works death and is an allay to our present joy and life. There is no end of that life that is in the way of righteousness. Here there is life, but there is death too. In the way of righteousness there is life, and no death, life and immortality.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Life Without Death
Verse 28 affirms that in the way of righteousness is life, and in that pathway is no hopeless death such as awaits the wicked. Compare Pro 4:18; Pro 8:35; Psa 23:4 with Pro 11:7; Pro 14:32; Luk 16:19-26.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Pro. 12:28. No death, literally no-death, i.e., immortality.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro. 12:28
I. There is a way of righteousness in the world.
1. This fact is universally recognised. Men regard each other as moral and responsible beings. The doctrine of necessity will not do for every-day life. In all positions and conditions, man is met with the assumption that there is a way of righteousness, and his fellow-men deal with him accordingly. Man could not be held accountable for his actions if a right way of life did not exist, in which it was possible for him to walk.
2. This fact is confirmed by conscience. Bad actions are followed by remorse, and good deeds bring gladness to the soul. If there were no way of righteousness, how could this be the case?
3. It is revealed to us by God. The Bible sets forth two paths, in one of which man must walk, it foretells a day in which God will judge men, and will hold them guilty who have refused to walk in the way of righteousness after it has been made known to them. Where there is no way of righteousness there can be no transgression, and, consequently, no penalty.
II. The way of life implies
1. A beginning. All ways or paths have a starting-point, all methods or plans of life date from some point of time.
2. An object in view. If men walk in a certain road it is presumed that they have some purpose in view.
3. An end or goal. So the way of righteousness. Its beginning is repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ; the object at which it aims by patient continuance in well-doing is glory, and honour, and immortality; its end is eternal life (Act. 20:21; Rom. 2:7), for in the pathway thereof is no death, or immortality (On this subject see also homiletics on chap. Pro. 4:18).
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
From life being said to be in the way of righteousness, I should urge the lesson that the deeds of the hand have a reflex influence upon the state of the heart. There is life in spiritual-mindedness, and it serves to aliment this life to walk in the way of obedience.Chalmers.
And life, in any sense, is a sweet mercy, a precious indulgence. Life natural is but a little spot of time between the two eternities, before and after, but it is of great consequence, and given us for this purpose, that glory may be begun in grace, and we have a further and further entrance into the kingdom of heaven here, as Peter saith (2Pe. 1:2). Christ hath unstinged the first death, and made of a postern to let out eternal life, a street-door to let in eternal life. Surely the bitterness of this death is past to the righteous; there is no gall in it; nay, there is honey in it, as once there was in the corpse of Samsons dead lion. And for the second death there is no danger, for they shall pass from the jaws of death to the joys of heaven. Yea, though hell had closed her mouth upon a child of God, it would as little hold him as the whale could Jonah; it must, perforce, regurgitate such a morsel.Trapp.
Righteousness which is the very path of the righteous man, is itself eternal life. All men have a way, and this implies that all men have an end. The Psalmist had before announced (Psa. 1:6) that the way of the ungodly shall perish; that is, not only shall they not reach their end, but their very way shall die down and perish. They shall cease to take an interest in it. But this passage goes deeper. It says the path of righteousness is life itself, and then, contrasting them with the wicked, it says, their way is a path, i.e., it leads somewhere; and then implies that all other ways are a death! These are striking truths. Immortality is a path. It travels the ages. It begins among believers. It is itself its destiny. Impenitence is a death. It travels nowhere. The very mind of the impenitent can announce no terminus for his way-worn tread.Miller.
NOTE.It will be seen from the foregoing remarks that Miller translates the latter clause of this verse, The way is a path, not a death.
HOMILY ON THE ENTIRE CHAPTER
On the true wisdom of the children of God as it ought to appear
(1) In the home, under the forms of good discipline, diligence, and contentment;
(2) In the State, or in the intercourse of citizens, under the forms of truthfulness, justice, and unfeigned benevolence (Pro. 12:12-22); in the Church, or in the religious life, as a progressive knowledge of God, a diligent devotion to prayer, and striving after eternal life (Pro. 12:23-28).Langes Commentary.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(28) In the way of righteousness is life.Comp. above on Pro. 10:2, Righteousness delivereth from death.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
28. Way of righteousness is life Plural, lives; life temporal and life eternal.
Pathway thereof is no death Better. A devious way leadeth to death. The original denotes a crooked, winding path, of uncertain, if not of positively evil, termination. The later critics think our Authorized Version has mistaken the sense.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
v. 28. In the way of righteousness is life,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Pro 12:28. In the path-way thereof there is no death Or, There is immortality. The LXX read the clause, But the way of the revengeful is to death: and Houbigant, after the Vulgate, But a devious way leadeth to death.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
REFLECTIONS
How blessed is every portion of the divine word, when read with an eye to Christ. Wherever Christ is seen, and known, and enjoyed; there the word becomes life and spirit to the heart. I found thy words and did eat them, (saith one of the prophets) and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart. And what rendered God’s word so sweet was, that Christ filled every part of it. These were the green pastures in which God caused his servant to lie down, when he fed him beside the still waters. When Christ is seen in them, and the Holy Ghost gives the soul to taste Christ in them; then as the church said, so all the people find; it is blessed to sit down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit is sweet to the taste. Reader! do you find it to be so? Have you found Christ in this chapter? Depend upon it, the grace of God, and the word of God, which bringeth salvation, brings it from this source: and it then flows in upon the soul, in rich, full, free, and blessed streams of Christ as the salvation of God for poor sinners. Oh! for grace so to find, so to enjoy, so to relish, and so to live upon Jehovah’s precious gift to men. In this way of Jesus and his righteousness is life, and in the very path-way thereof, the private, as well as the public ordinances of grace, there is no death.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Pro 12:28 In the way of righteousness [is] life; and [in] the pathway [thereof there is] no death.
Ver. 28. In the way of righteousness is life. ] And life, in any sense, is a sweet mercy, a precious indulgence. Life natural is but a little spot of time between two eternities, before and after, but it is of great consequence (for ex hoc momento pendet aeternitas ), and given us for this purpose, that glory may be begun in grace, and we have a further and further entrance into the kingdom of heaven here, as Peter saith, 2Pe 1:11 .
And in the path thereof there is no death.
a Mors ianua vitae, porta coeli. – Bern.
life: i.e. life eternal. See note on Lev 18:5.
no death = immortality. Or take nethebah (as in Jdg 5:6. Isa 59:8) as denoting, with derek, no devious winding by-path. In this case we must read ‘el, “to”, instead of ‘al, “no”. This avoids the necessity of the italics.
Pro 12:28
Pro 12:28
“In the way of righteousness is life; And in the pathway thereof, there is no death.”
How could a proverb like this need any comment or explanation whatever?
Pro 12:28. Often the Hebrew poets restated the same thought in different words, such as here. This form emphasizes the fact that righteousness leads to life, not to death-a fact often taught in the Bible (Psa 37:9; Psa 37:11; Psa 37:18; Psa 37:29).
Proverbs of Solomon – Pro 12:1-28
Open It
1. Why do people gamble and play the lottery?
2. In what way is prudence encouraged or discouraged in our society?
3. What do you think of people who work hard?
Explore It
4. What does the person who loves discipline also love? (Pro 12:1)
5. How would you summarize the proverbs in this chapter? (Pro 12:1-28)
6. What is a firm foundation for life? a shaky foundation? (Pro 12:3)
7. How did Solomon distinguish a wife of noble character from a disgraceful one? (Pro 12:4)
8. Whats the difference between the words of the righteous and the words of the wicked? (Pro 12:5-6)
9. For what is a person praised? (Pro 12:8)
10. What did Solomon say about the person who chases fantasies? (Pro 12:11)
11. What is the result of sinful talk? (Pro 12:13)
12. To what does a wise man listen? (Pro 12:15)
13. What did Solomon say about reckless words and the tongue of the wise? (Pro 12:18)
14. In what sort of person does the Lord delight? (Pro 12:22)
15. What did Solomon say the prudent man did with his knowledge in contrast to what the fool does with his folly? (Pro 12:23)
16. How do the diligent and the lazy person differ? (Pro 12:24; Pro 12:27)
17. What kind of worker is a righteous person? (Pro 12:27)
18. What is one significant reward of being righteous? (Pro 12:28)
Get It
19. How can a person find life?
20. How do the things with which you are rewarded in life reflect the kind of person you are?
21. What does it mean to love discipline?
22. How is it that words can have power to harm people?
23. How can we use words to help people?
24. When have you praised someone according to his or her wisdom?
25. What sort of fantasies do people chase?
26. How does sinful talk trap a person?
27. Why does God delight in people who are truthful?
28. In what way is it prudent to keep your knowledge to yourself?
29. How is your life characterized by diligence or laziness?
30. In what areas do you need to work harder or more diligently?
Apply It
31. What foolish fantasy that you waste time pursuing will you stop chasing this week?
32. What is one step you will take to use words to heal and encourage others today?
33. What work will you do this week that you have been putting off?
Pro 8:35, Pro 9:11, Pro 10:16, Pro 11:19, Eze 18:9, Eze 18:20-24, Rom 5:21, Rom 6:22, Rom 6:23, Tit 2:11, Tit 2:12, 1Jo 2:29, 1Jo 3:7, 3Jo 1:11
Reciprocal: Deu 6:25 – General Psa 16:11 – path Pro 10:2 – but Pro 11:4 – but 2Pe 2:21 – the way
Pro 12:28. In the way of righteousness is life, &c. The practice of righteousness, though it expose a man to some dangers and inconveniences in the world, through the corruption of mankind, and the malice of the devil, yet it will certainly lead a man to life and happiness; whereas the end of all the wicked is death and destruction.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments