Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 14:7
Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not [in him] the lips of knowledge.
7. Go from when thou perceivest not ] Rather, Go into and thou shalt not perceive, R.V. text. Take up your position, as it were, over against him, and contemplate him carefully, and weigh his words; and your first impression of him will be confirmed, “thou shalt not perceive” &c.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Pro 14:7
Go from the presence of a foolish man.
The society to be shunned
Man is a social being. The text holds up the society which we should avoid–the society of the foolish.
I. It is unprofitable. What you want in society is knowledge. True knowledge shall–
1. Rightly guide.
2. Truly comfort.
3. Religiously inspire the soul.
But such knowledge is not to be got from the foolish man. He has no power to help you, and therefore time spent in his society is waste.
II. It is misleading. The folly of fools is deceit.
1. They cheat themselves. They fancy they have the true ideas, and the true pleasures, but it is a miserable delusion.
2. They cheat others. They mislead by the falsehood of their speech and the craftiness of their policy.
3. It is wicked. They make a mock at sin. Go, then, from the presence of a foolish man. Seek the society of the wise. (D. Thomas, D.D.)
Safety in flight
It is the intention of their Maker that some creatures should seek safety, not in fighting, but in fleeing. In the moral conflict of human life it is of great importance to judge rightly when we should fight and when we should flee. The weak might escape if they knew their own weakness, and kept out of harms way. That courage is not a virtue which carries the feeble into the lions jaws. To go in among the foolish for the rescue of the sinking may be necessary, but it is dangerous work, and demands robust workmen. Your first duty is your own safety. But on some persons at some times there lies the obligation to encounter danger for the safety of a neighbour. (W. Arnot, D.D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 7. When thou perceivest not – the lips of knowledge.] Instead of daath, knowledge, several MSS. have sheker, a lie. How this reading came I cannot conjecture. The meaning of the adage is plain: Never associate with a vain, empty fellow, when thou perceivest he can neither convey nor receive instruction.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Avoid the company and conversation of ungodly men, when they break forth into foolish or wicked discourses, lest thou either be infected by them, or seem to approve of them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. Avoid the society of thosewho cannot teach you.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Go from the presence of a foolish man,…. A wicked one; avoid him, shun his company, depart from him, have no fellowship with him, it, being dangerous, infectious, and hurtful;
when thou perceivest not [in him] the lips of knowledge; when it is observed that his lips pour out foolishness, what is corrupt and unsavoury, unchaste and filthy; what does not minister grace to the hearers, nor is for the use of edifying, nor any ways improving in useful knowledge, but all the reverse: the Targum is,
“for there is no knowledge in his lips,”
in what is expressed by them; some understand this ironically, and render the words thus, “go right against a foolish man” f; join in company with him, “and thou shalt not know the lips of knowledge”, or learn anything by him; if you have a mind to be ignorant, keep company with a foolish man; so Jarchi and Gersom: or rather to this sense the words may be rendered, “go to a foolish man, seeing thou knowest not the lips of knowledge” g, since thou dost not approve of wise and knowing men, whose lips would teach knowledge; and despisest the Gospel, and Gospel ministers the pope of Rome, as Cocceius on the text serves, and hear him, what his holiness and infallibility says; or some other false teacher.
f “e regione viri stulti”, De Dieu; so Gussetius, p. 495. and Schultens g “Abi ut stes cora in viro stolido”, Cocceius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Three proverbs regarding fools:
7 Go from the presence of a foolish man,
And surely thou hast not known lips of knowledge;
i.e., surely hast not brought into experience that he possesses lips which express experimental knowledge, or: surely thou must confess on reflection that no prudent word has come forth from his mouth. If 7b were intended to assign a motive, then the expression would be or (Isa 44:9), according to which Aquila and Theodotion translate, . is the sphere of vision, and denotes either away from the sphere of vision, as e.g., Isa 1:16, or, inasmuch as is used as in , , and the like: at a certain distance from the sphere of vision, but so that one keeps the object in sight, Gen 21:16. denotes, as the inverted expression Deu 28:66 shows, over against any one, so that he has the object visibly before him, and , Jdg 20:34, from the neighbourhood of a place where one has it in view. So also here: go away from the vis–vis ( vis = visus ) of the foolish man, if thou hast to do with such an one; whence, 7b, follows what he who has gone away must on looking back say to himself. (with the pret. as e.g., Isa 33:23) expresses a negative with emphasis. Nolde and others, also Fleischer, interpret 7b relatively: et in quo non cognoveris labia scientiae . If were the expression used, then it would be explained after Pro 9:13, for the idea of the foolish man is extended: and of such an one as absolutely knows not how to speak anything prudent. But in the relative clause intended must be indicated by the added : and of such an one in whom… Besides, in this case ( vid., Psa 35:15) would have been nearer than . The lxx has modified this proverb, and yet has brought out nothing that is correct; not only the Syr., but also Hitzig follows it, when he translates, “The foolish man hath everything before him, but lips of knowledge are a receptacle of knowledge” ( ). It racks one’s brains to find out the meaning of the first part here, and, as Bttcher rightly says, who can be satisfied with the “lips of knowledge” as the “receptacle of knowledge”?
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
7 Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge.
See here, 1. How we may discern a fool and discover him, a wicked man, for he is a foolish man. If we perceive not in him the lips of knowledge, if we find there is no relish or savour of piety in his discourse, that his communication is all corrupt and corrupting, and nothing in it good and to the use of edifying, we may conclude the treasure is bad. 2. How we must decline such a one and depart from him: Go from his presence, for thou perceivest there is no good to be gotten by his company, but danger of getting hurt by it. Sometimes the only way we have of reproving wicked discourse and witnessing against it is by leaving the company and going out of the hearing of it.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Depart From Fools
Verse 7 is an admonition to not waste time with a foolish person when it is evident that his pronouncements are devoid of truth, Pro 9:7-8; Mat 7:6.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Pro. 14:8. Deceit, or deception.
Pro. 14:9. Many translators read this verse, The sacrifice, or the sin-offering, makes a sport of, or mocks fools. So Zckler, Elster, Ewald, Stuart, Wordsworth, etc. Miller translates, Sin makes a mock at fools. Among, or to.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF PARAGRAPH.Pro. 14:7-9
THE FOOL AND THE PRUDENT MAN
I. How to know a fool. The dead carcase that is above ground is its own evidence. No one needs to inquire what it is, or where it is. The pestilential atmosphere which surrounds it tells its own tale. So a fool is a self-evidencing person. His words proclaim his character. He says nothing that is worth saying. Nothing that can enlighten a mans mind or better his nature is to be found in his conversation. The lips of knowledge are not with him. But there is not simply the absence of wisdom. He is not a negative character. No mans soul can remain like an empty house; if wisdom is absent sin comes in and takes up its abode. The fool is also a knave. The folly of fools is deceit, and in this also he will sooner or later be his own evidence. Like particles of poisonous matter, his deceit, as well as his ignorance, will make its presence known. His words will sooner or later betray his untruthful character. He will also be known by his profanity. Fools make a mock at sin. The most perfect beings in Gods universe regard sin as a serious matter, knowing, as they do, the bitter fruits which spring from one sinful action. God Himself treats sin as a terrible and awful reality. Yet men are to be found who make light of it, and others so depraved as to laugh at that which God regards with abhorrence, and visits with retribution.
II. How to treat a fool. Go from the presence of a foolish man. There are three reasons why we go from the neighbourhood of a polluted and polluting carcase. First, its odour is offensive to us. Secondly, to linger near may generate disease in our bodies. Thirdly, being diseased ourselves, we may become an occasion of injury to others. So a man void of moral wisdom ought to be an offensive presence to every man. Our moral instincts ought to be strong enough without any outside voice to say, Go from him. The folly of a fool, being deceit, he is an incarnation of the devil; our own self-love should prompt us to quit his society. The man that mocks at sin is a generator of moral disease, we cannot be in his company without moral injury, and if we catch the pestilence ourselves we shall in turn infect others with the disease.
III. What constitutes a prudent or morally wise man. He understands his way. A fool cannot be said to have a way or method of life any more than the leaf which is driven before the wind, or the timber that is floating down the rapid. Like them, he is the victim of circumstances; he is driven hither and thither by the currents of inclination or passion. He has no way to understand. He is as a cloud driven before the hurricane. He floats like a rudderless vessel upon the sea of life. But a prudent man has a way, or method of life (see Homiletics on chap. Pro. 13:14), and the great business of his life is to understand itto find the best means of bringing his life into conformity with that rule of righteousness which is his standard of life; to gather from the voice of God in revelation, in conscience, and in Providence what course he is to pursue, what at all times is the right thing to do, and what is the right way of doing it. This is the life-study of the man who is morally prudent, and the highest aim that a man can propose to himself is to attain to a right understanding of his way. (On the latter clause of Pro. 14:9 see Homiletics on chap. Pro. 13:14).
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro. 14:7. The path of sin is much more easily avoided than relinquished. We can far more easily keep out of the course of the stream than stem the torrentBridges.
Thou mayest tarry with a foolish man while he holdeth his peace, and while he is willing and patient to hear thee. For he may get knowledge by hearing, and thou mayest have comfort by speaking. But it is time to be gone when by his lips thou perceivest knowledge to be gone from them.Jermin.
In nature, some creatures are strong and bold, having both instincts and intruments for combat: other creatures are feeble but fleet. It is the intention of their Maker that they should seek safety, not in fighting, but in fleeing. It would be a fatal mistake if the hare, in a fit of bravery, should turn and face her pursuers. In the moral conflict of human life it is of great importance to judge rightly when we should fight and when we should flee. The weak might escape if they knew their own weakness, and kept out of harms way. That courage is not a virtue which carries the feeble into the lions jaws. I have known of some who ventured too far with the benevolent purpose of bringing a victim out, and were themselves sucked in and swallowed up. To go in among the foolish for the rescue of the sinking may be necessary, but it is dangerous work, and demands robust workmen The specific instruction recorded in Scripture for such a case is, save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted with the flesh (Jud. 1:23). He who would volunteer for this work must fear lest the victim perish ere he get him dragged out, and fear lest himself be scorched by the flame.Arnot.
Pro. 14:8. We are not to infer, because wisdom eludes the scorner, that it is, therefore, something mystic. It fits earth so closely, that it actually carves our way. Nay, more closely still, it is actually path-finding itself. She takes a man from her very gate, and tells him all that he must do. She not only discerns paths, but that is all of her; she does nothing else. The wisdom of the subtle is the making discernible of his way, while, on the other hand, the folly of the stupid is (its own) delusion. All of us having a way, and all of us following it with the great energy of our lives, the excellency and knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it. Wisdom grasps its end; folly never. Wisdom is the great pathfinder; folly a delusion.Miller.
Every man has a final destination before him. The way of all is the way to the grave, and to eternity. But in that eternity are two widely different states. To the opposite states there are two waysthe narrow, and the broad. Oh the infinite value of true wisdom here,the wisdom that understands both ways, and rightly chooses between! The folly of fools is deceit may mean that the folly of fools proves to them deceit. Their confidence in it, and their expectations from it, are sheer delusion. Or the sense may be, deceit is the folly of fools. New stratagems, says Lord Bacon, must be devised, the old failing and growing useless; and as soon as ever a man hath got the name of a cunning crafty companion, he hath deprived himself utterly of the principal instrument for the management of his affairs,which is trust. Policy, therefore, on this as on other accounts, is the folly of fools.Wardlaw.
When men are acquainted with everything but what they ought to know, they are only notable fools. If we had hearts large as the sands upon the sea-shore, and filled with a world of things, whilst we remained ignorant of the way of attaining true happiness, we should resemble that philosopher who was busied gazing at the moon till he fell into the ditch. They are fools who know other peoples business better than their own. Some people, if you will take their own word for it, could reign better than the king and preach better than the minister. They know, in short, how to manage in every condition but their own.Lawson.
Religion is an orderly thing, as wise as it is warm. Whatever be the excitement of an irregular course, more good is done by steady consistency. To break the ranks in disorder, to be eager to understand our neighbours way (Joh. 21:21-22), obscures the light upon our own. The true wisdom is to understand what belongs to us personally and relatively (1Ki. 3:6-9; Ecc. 8:5). As God hath distributed to every man, so let him walk, and abide with God (1Co. 7:17). Let the eye do the work of the eye, and the hand of the hand. If Moses prayed in the mount, and Joshua fought in the valley (Exo. 17:10-11), it was not because one was deficient in courage, and the other in prayer; but because each had his appointed work, and understood his own way.Bridges.
Every one that goeth on in the right way doth not understand his way. Hence it is that many so often wander out of it, hence that so easily they are drawn from it. But he that is prudent looketh into his way, considereth the dangers of it, provideth himself against the enemies that he shall or may meet with, and being well assured of the righteousness of the way, he goeth on with confidence and safety. And this is the wisdom of the prudent, this proves him to be wise. Again, the folly of fools, though it be folly in themselves, it is deceit to the devil, who maketh them to think that to be the right way, wherein they are clean out of the way.Jermin.
Pro. 14:9. The word here used signifieth both the fault and the guilt of it, whereby the offender is liable unto wrath and punishment. For they being firmly joined together, the Hebrew joineth them in the same word. Notwithstanding fools not finding the scourge of sin tied immediately unto the act committed, as if they were mocked when they are told of punishment to come, they make a mock at it. The favour, therefore, which the righteous show them is quickly to make them feel the rod of justice. For while they punish the offence they show great love to the offender, not only in stopping the course of his sinning, which is the stopping the increase of his misery, but it may be also working his amendment, which is the salvation of his soul.Jermin.
The idea of sacrificial offering is that of expiation (see Critical Notes for the renderings of the word translated sin): it is a penitential work, it falls under the prevailing point of view of an ecclesiastical punishment, a satisfaction in a church-disciplinary sense. The forgiveness of sin is conditioned by this,
(1) that the sinner either abundantly makes good by restitution the injury inflicted on another, or in some other way bears temporal punishment for it, and
(2) that he willingly presents the sacrifice of rams or of sheep, the value of which the priest has to determine in its relation to the offence. Fools fall from one offence to another, which they have to atone for by the presentation of sacrificial offerings; the sacrificial offering mocketh them, for it equally derides them on account of the self-inflicted loss, and on account of the efforts with which they must make good the effects of their frivolity and madness; while on the contrary, among men of upright character, a relation of mutual favour prevails, which does not permit that the one give to the other an indemnity, and apply the trespass-offering. Delitzsch.
Sin makes a mock at fools; but between upright beings there is favour. Not makes sport, as a fool might, of engaging in his sins. A fool may make sport of sin, but hardly could be said to make a mock at it. Sin makes a mock at fools, but between upright beings, or among the righteous, we cannot conceive of any mockery. The upright God, and the upright saint; the upright saint and the upright Saviour; grace and judgment; faith, and the scenes of the last day; between these there must be goodwill, i.e., mutual delight and favour. So 1Jn. 4:17-18, Herein does the love gain its end between us (that is, between God and us; see Pro. 14:16), that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world, etc.Miller.
Among the righteous is favour; that is to say, the practice of virtue and uttering of gracious speeches, joined with such goodwill and sweet joy as that their, meeting is like the precious ointment that was poured on the head of Aaron.Muffet.
The conduct of the man who makes a mock at sin involves
1. Impiety. To mock at sin is to despise Gods holiness, set at nought Gods authority, to abuse Gods goodness, to disregard and slight Gods glory.
2. Cruelty. The scoffer may pretend to humanity, but there breathes not on earth a more iron-hearted monster. He may profess to feel for the miseries of mankind; for the ravages of disease and death over their bodies; of fire, and flood, and storm over their means of life and comfort; of melancholy, and idiotcy, and madness over their minds. But he makes a mock at the prolific cause of all. There is not an ill that man is called upon to suffer that does not owe its origin to sin. Like the star called wormwood in the Apocalyptic vision, it has fallen on every fountain and river of human joy, turning all their waters into bitterness. It is the sting of conscience. It is the venom and barb of the darts of the King of Terrors. It is the very life of the worm that dieth not. Oh! the miserably-mistaken flattery that can speak of the kind-heartedness of the man who laughs at that which is the embryo-germ of all the sufferings of time, and all the woes of eternity.
3. Infatuation. Sin is the evil that is ruining the sinner himselfthe disease that is preying upon his own vitalsthe secret consuming fire that is wasting his eternal all. Yet the deluded victim of its power makes a jest of it!Wardlaw.
Some men are so like their father, the devil, that they will tempt men to sin that they may laugh at them.Lawson.
To complete the antithesis, the sense must be supplied, fools make a mock at sin (and so incur the wrath of God); but (the righteous regard sin as a serious offence), and therefore among the righteous there is the favour of God.Fausset.
The fools sportsin.
1. Sin, which is so contrary to goodness that it is abhorred of those sparks and cinders which the rust of sin hath not quite eaten out of our nature as the creation left it.
2. Sin, which sensibly brings on present judgments, or if not, is the more fearful. The less it receives here, the more is behind.
3. Sin, that shall at last be laid heavy on the conscience: the lighter the burden was at first, it shall be at last the more ponderous. The wicked conscience may for awhile lie asleep, but this calm is the greatest storm.
4. Sin, which provokes God to anger.
5. Sin, which was punished even in heaven.
6. Sin, which God so loathed that he could not save men because of it, except by the death of His own Son. Oh, think if ever man felt sorrow like Him, or if He felt any sorrow except for sin. Did the pressure of it lie so heavy upon the Son of God, and doth a son of man make light of it? Thou mockest at thy oppressions, oaths, frauds; for these He groaned. Thou scornest His gospel preached; He wept for thy scorn. Thou knowest not, O fool, the price of sin; thou must do, if thy Saviour did not for thee. If He suffered not this for thee, thou must suffer it for thyself.T. Adams.
They dance with the devil all day, and yet think to sup with Christ. Their sweet meat must have sour sauce, but among the righteous, though they sin of infirmity, yet forasmuch as they are sensible of and sorrowful for their failings, and see them to confession, God will never see them to their confusion.Trapp.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(7) Go from the presence of a foolish man(khesl)i.e. a dull, stupid one, when the time comes that you see you can do him no good; for evil communications corrupt good manners. Thus Samuel came no more to see Saul, when he saw that remonstrances were unavailing with him, though he continued to mourn for him, remembering from what high estate he had fallen.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. Go from the presence The original of the proverb is obscure; but probably our version gives the sense.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
We Are To Follow The Ways Of The Wise And Shrewd, Not The Ways Of The Foolish ( Pro 14:7-16 ).
The whole emphasis of Proverbs is on following God’s wisdom. By doing so the shrewd man understands his way (Pro 14:8); he finds favour with God (Pro 14:9); he will flourish whatever his circumstances (Pro 14:11), he will avoid final death (Pro 14:12); he will be satisfied from what comes upon him (Pro 14:14); he looks well to his steps (Pro 14:15); and he fears YHWH and departs from evil (Pro 14:16).
In contrast is the worldly-wise fool. He does not speak or hear true knowledge (the knowledge of God) (Pro 14:7); he deceives and is deceived (Pro 14:8); he mocks at guilt (Pro 14:9); his emotions constantly vary (Pro 14:10); his house will be overthrown (Pro 14:11); he will end up in final death (Pro 14:12); he never knows full joy (Pro 14:13); he will receive the consequences of his own ways (Pro 14:14); he believes what the worldly-wise tell him ( Pro 14:15); he is angry with God and totally self confident.
The subsection is presented chiastically:
A Go from the presence of a FOOLISH man, for you will not know in him the lips of knowledge (Pro 14:7).
B The wisdom of the SHREWD is to understand his way, but the folly of fools is deceit (Pro 14:8)
C A guilt-offering mocks fools, (or ‘every fool mocks at guilt’), but among the upright there is favour (Pro 14:9).
D The heart knows its own bitterness, and a stranger does not intermeddle with its joy (Pro 14:10).
E The house of the wicked will be overthrown, but the tent of the UPRIGHT (yashar) will flourish (Pro 14:11).
E There is a way which seems RIGHT (yashar) to a man, but its end is the ways of death (Pro 14:12).
D Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of mirth is heaviness (Pro 14:13).
C The backslider in heart will be filled with his own ways, and a good man will be satisfied from (what comes) upon him (Pro 14:14).
B The naive man believes every word, but the SHREWD man looks well to his going (Pro 14:15).
A A wise man fears, and departs from evil, but the FOOL bears himself insolently, and is confident (Pro 14:16)
Note that in A you will not know in the foolish man the lips of knowledge, and in the parallel the fool bears himself insolently, and is confident. In B the shrewd man understands his way, and in the parallel the shrewd man looks well to his going. In C the fool mocks at guilt but among the upright there is favour, and in the parallel the backslider is filled with his own ways, and the good man is satisfied from what comes upon him. In D the heart knows its own bitterness, and in the parallel the heart is sorrowful and heavy. Centrally in E the house of the unrighteous will be overthrown, and in the parallel the end of the mistaken man is the ways of death.
Pro 14:7
‘Go (walk) from the presence of a foolish man,
For you will not perceive the lips of knowledge.’
Solomon now warns that when seeking knowledge (the knowledge of God), we are to avoid ‘fools’, those who ignore God’s wisdom, and we are to do it because they will not be reliable guides. We could paraphrase ‘you will not perceive the lips of knowledge’ as ‘you will not find true knowledge in his words’. And this is because, ‘the mouth of fools pours out folly’ (Pro 15:2). And they do so because they follow worldly wisdom rather than the wisdom that comes from God.
‘Walk from the presence of a foolish man’. Compare Pro 13:20 where Solomon’s instruction was rather to walk with wise men. He was to walk with the wise, and walk away from the foolish. Today we would say the same with regard to those who ignore the Scriptures. They are not reliable guides with regard to the things of God, however clever they might be. In regard to the things of God the wise of this world are fools. We should, therefore, rather look to those who are wise in the Scriptures. He is not saying that we should avoid any contact with such people completely, although we are certainly to avoid their ways (Pro 2:12-22), only that we should do so in regard to finding the knowledge of God
As the parallel verse in the chiasmus (Pro 14:16) makes clear, this is because the fool is over-confident, and insolent towards God. By his manner of life he ‘despises YHWH’ (Pro 14:2), and this is reflected in his thinking. He is thus not a good guide to a true knowledge of God. This proverb also connects back with Pro 14:6 where knowledge ‘is easy (and easy to be found) to him who has understanding’, an understanding given to him by God (Pro 2:6; Pro 2:9; compare Mat 11:25-27).
We may also see as included here a warning not to discuss difficult questions with the ‘foolish’ unless we are of sufficient calibre to do so. Inexperienced Christians may well find themselves distressed by the arguments of clever atheists. It is better if they give their testimony and then walk away from their presence as the proverb suggests.
Pro 14:8
‘The wisdom of the shrewd is to understand his way,
But the folly of fools is deceit.’
It is because the shrewd are wise that they will go from the presence of the foolish man. They understand what their way is to be, and thus do not get involved in the way of the fool. For the folly of the foolish man is found in his involvement with ‘deceit’. He is both deceived and a deceiver of others. ‘The god of this world has blinded the minds of those who believe not, that the light of the good news of the glory of Christ may not shine on them’ (2Co 4:4). Thus such men are deceived themselves and deceive others. But they do not deceive the shrewd because the shrewd man understands (from the wise and from God) what the way is in which he should go. And this is because he ‘looks well to his going’ (Pro 14:15). He ensures that it is in accordance with God’s wisdom as taught to him by the wise. He is not like the naive who believe everything they are told (Pro 14:15). He rather considers his way in the light of God’s wisdom.
Pro 14:9
‘A guilt-offering mocks fools, (or ‘every fool mocks at guilt’)
But among the upright there is favour.’
There is a translation problem here in that the word for ‘guilt’ also means ‘guilt-offering’. Thus we can translate as ‘a guilt-offering mocks fools’ or as ‘every fool mocks guilt’. In the first case the idea is that it is useless for a fool (a man who ignores God’s wisdom) to offer a guilt-offering, because it will be of no avail. The guilt-offering will just mock at him, because he is not bringing it with the right attitude of heart (compare Pro 15:8; Pro 21:27). In the second case the idea is that the fool mocks at guilt. He does not take it seriously. He is insolent and self-confident (Pro 14:16). He is filled with his own ways (Pro 14:14). In either case, he, as a consequence, does not find favour with God.
In contrast the upright do find the favour of both God and men. For them the guilt-offering is effective and makes them acceptable before God. For they treat their guilt seriously, and they come in repentance. In the same way today we must take our guilt seriously, knowing that we can then come into God’s favour through the guilt-offering of our Lord Jesus Christ Who bore our guilt on the cross (Isa 53:10: 1Pe 2:24; 1Pe 3:18).
Pro 14:10
‘The heart knows its own bitterness,
And an outsider does not intermeddle with its joy.’
In context the point here is that man left to himself is terribly alone. He alone knows the bitterness that is within him. He alone appreciates the joy that he experiences. It is only when he comes to God that he can find Someone who can share the bitterness of his soul, and can enter into his joys.
This proverb goes to the depths of our inner beings. It says that in the end we are only known to ourselves. Only we ourselves know the depths of our own bitterness, and the reasons for it, at times of heartache. Others may surmise, but they can only look at the outward appearance. God alone can look at the heart. Comparing with the previous verse this also includes our guilt. This is something of which only we are aware, and it can be bitter within us. But once we face up to it and come to God in God’s way we can come into God’s favour. And that is what matters. ‘Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer.’
And in the same way only we can plumb the true depths of our joy. Others may rejoice with us, but the ‘outsider’ cannot fully enter into our joy, nor can he in the end make any difference to it. Our joy is our own. The outsider cannot fully appreciate it or take it away from us. It can, however, be transient. It may soon once again be replaced by bitterness. But for the true believer there is joy that is permanent. Those who joy in God have something which the world cannot affect (Psa 16:11; Psa 30:5; Psa 32:11; Psa 35:9; etc.). In New Testament terms, when we experience ‘joy unspeakable and full of glory’ through knowing Christ, (1Pe 1:8) it is beyond the wit of man to affect it.
So both our sorrows and our joys find their solution in God. In the end there is only One Who is fully aware of what we suffer, and how fully we rejoice, and that is God. Indeed, as Pro 14:13 makes clear, often our emotions are in conflict. We can experience joy and sorrow at the same time. Even in laughter there may be causes of sorrow in our hearts that others know nothing of. And whatever rejoicing we may experience it is often followed by heaviness of spirit. This is why the shrewd man needs to understand his way (Pro 14:8), needs to gain true knowledge rather than false knowledge (Pro 14:7), and looks well to his going (Pro 14:15). For in the end his life is between him and God.
The ideas in the verse are preparing for Pro 14:11 where the house of the unrighteous is contrasted with the tent of the upright. It is not what we live in that is important, but what lives in us.
Pro 14:11
‘The house of the wicked will be overthrown,
But the tent of the upright will flourish (sprout).’
The unrighteous man may live in a splendid house, and live in it with great confidence, happy that his circumstances are now secure. He is confident that he has succeeded at last. He has nothing to fear. He is at last established. He can say to himself, ‘I have much goods laid up for many years, I can take my ease, and eat and drink and be merry’ (Luk 12:19). What he does not realise is that in the end his house will be overthrown, and indeed it might be that very night (Luk 12:20). His life is not secure at all. And the final overthrowing of it is certain.
In contrast is the upright. He is happy in whatever God has seen fit to give him. He is happy though he has but a tent. He does not pine for outward security. He rather looks for a city which has eternal foundations, whose builder and maker is God (Heb 11:10). And he has reason to be joyful, for his life and home will flourish and grow from its early beginnings, because he walks in God’s wisdom.
The idea behind the tent would be of a nomad’s tent, a kind of bell-tent round a central pole, made of goatskins held down by wooden pegs. It is a reminder that life is transient and that we should be living for things above.
Pro 4:12
‘There is a way which seems right to a man,
But its end is the ways of death.’
Unrighteous man thinks that he has life worked out. Whilst the upright man (yashar) in Pro 14:11 has chosen the straight path, this man thinks that he also has chosen a right and straight path (it seem yashar to him). He is confident that all will go well for him. He builds his house (Pro 14:11), establishes his business, and is sure that nothing can go wrong. He lives heedless of God’s wisdom. He is sure that he has chosen the right way. But because he is unrighteous he will discover that, just as the unrighteous man’s house will be overthrown (Pro 14:11), so the way that he has chosen, like the differing ways of other unrighteous people, is ‘the ways of death’. He has forgotten to consider his end (Psa 73:17). He has chosen the broad way to destruction (Mat 7:14). He is like the wealthy man in Jesus’ parable, self-contained and foolish (Luk 12:16-21). He thinks that he has got it right, but because he leaves God out of account he has not.
Pro 14:13
‘Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful,
And the end of mirth is heaviness.’
What the unrighteous man forgets is that life is not a smooth ride, except for the very fortunate. Even while people are laughing and enjoying themselves there is that which makes them sorrowful in their hearts, and even whilst they are living it up, black times lie on the horizon. For as Pro 14:10 brings out the heart experiences its own bitterness which none can know except itself. And even its joy is personal. And here we learn that it ends in tears. In this is summed up much of the message of Proverbs, that though for the unrighteous life may seem good for a time, it always catches up with them in the end. Without God life goes downward rather than upwards.
In Pro 4:12 the end of the man’s way was the ways of death. Here the end of mirth is heaviness. The two are related. In Pro 14:12 the man has gone on in his life satisfied with his choice, but ‘his end’ is no fun, it is the ways of death. Here the man lives for fun and mirth, but ‘its end’ is heaviness.
Pro 14:14
‘The backslider in heart will be filled with his own ways,
And a good man will be satisfied from (what comes) upon him.’
In Pro 14:9 the fool mocked at guilt, whilst among the upright there was favour and goodwill. Here that mocking at guilt results in him being filled with his own ways. It produces the ‘backslider in heart’, the one who backslides from God’s covenant, and receives the reward that is due to him for his behaviour and attitude. He is filled (repaid fully) with his own ways. There is a dual play on ‘filled’. His mind is filled with his own ways (he thinks only of himself), and as a consequence his own ways come back on him, bringing their own punishment (he is ‘filled’, fully repaid, for his own ways).
The backslider in heart is one who with his mind and will has turned his back on God. He may nominally believe in Him, and outwardly profess Him, such belief was after all part of the social structure, but at heart he ignores him. He is like the fool who says in his heart, ‘there is no God’ (Psa 14:1).
In contrast the ‘good man’ will be satisfied ‘from upon him’. He will be fully rewarded (and therefore satisfied) from what comes upon him (as a result of what comes upon him). He will not be filled with the consequences of his own ways, but will receive favour from God (Pro 14:9).
Pro 14:15
‘The naive believes every word,
But the shrewd man looks well to his going (steps).’
In Pro 14:9 the ‘folly of fools was deceit’ (deceiving and being deceived). Here we learn why some fools are deceived. It is because they ‘believe every word’ that they are told. They are gullible. They swallow the wisdom of the worldly wise who turn their thoughts away from God and His ways. After all it suits them to do so. In contrast the shrewd man ‘understands his way’ (Pro 14:9), he ‘looks well to his steps’, because he looks to God’s wisdom and walks in it step by step. He lives by His Word. He ‘walks step by step by the Spirit’ (Gal 5:25; Psa 51:10). He says, ‘your Spirit is good, lead me in the land of uprightness’ (Psa 143:10).
Pro 14:16
‘A wise man fears, and departs from evil,
But the fool bears himself insolently, and is confident.’
The subsection closes by again distinguishing the wise man from the fool. The wise man ‘fears’. He fears the consequences of evil, but most of all he reverently fears YHWH. Thus he ‘departs from evil’, from all that is ‘not good’. He seeks only what is good. Departing from evil is specifically said to be a consequence of fearing YHWH in Pro 3:7, where we read quite explicitly ‘fear YHWH and depart from evil’.
In contrast the fool has no fear of YHWH. He walks insolently, disregarding His word. He ‘shows himself angry’ towards YHWH. He does not like His restrictions. He is fully confident in himself. And this is because he does not have ‘the lips of knowledge (the knowledge of God)’ (Pro 14:7). He does not speak or hear what is wise and true, because of his supreme confidence in himself.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
v. 7. Go from the presence of a foolish man,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Pro 14:7. Go from the presence of a foolish man The LXX read, All things are contrary to a foolish man; but wise lips are the arms of understanding. We may, perhaps, read the passage thus: “Depart from the presence of a fool, and one who understands not, or regards not, the lips of knowledge.” See Grey.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Pro 14:7 Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not [in him] the lips of knowledge.
Ver. 7. Go from the presence of a foolish man. ] If he be a proud fool, as Pro 14:6 , a scorner and derider of good counsel, and one that knows not how to lisp out the least syllable of savoury language, break off society with such as soon as may be; for what good can be gotten by their company or conference? “Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?” They infect the very air they breathe upon, and are therefore called , pests, a according to the Septuagint, Psa 1:1 their tongues have the very plague in them; “their breath as fire shall devour you.” Isa 33:11 Non potest vir ille sine convitiis quenquam a quo dissentit vel in levissimis, nominare, saith Dr Rivet concerning Bishop Montague; that man hath not the power to forbear railing at any one that dissents from him, though in never so small a matter. Is there any good to be gotten by such? Do not “their words eat as a gangrene.” 2Ti 2:17
a Dabhar a word, Debher a pest.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
foolish. Hebrew. kesil. See note on Pro 1:7. Same word as in verses: Pro 14:16, Pro 14:33; not the same word as in verses: Pro 14:1, Pro 14:3, Pro 14:9, Pro 1:17, Pro 1:18, Pro 1:29.
man. Hebrew. ‘ish. App-14.
When thou perceivest not = “And acknowledge not”. Hebrew. yada to know, as in verses: Pro 14:10, Pro 14:33, &c.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Pro 14:7
Pro 14:7
“Go into the presence of a foolish man, And thou shalt not perceive in him the lips of knowledge.”
“Stay away from foolish people; they have nothing to teach you. “Stay away from a foolish man, for you will not find knowledge on his lips. “Leave the presence of a fool, for there you do not meet words of knowledge. The same thing may be said in many ways.
Pro 14:7. There is some doubt as to which rendering is correct. The King James has: Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge. The American Standard gives a truism (the foolish man has nothing to give you by his presence), but the King James tells you what to do about it (depart from his unprofitable presence). Enroll under teachers who know what they are talking about; doctor with those who know what they are doing; listen to religious teachers who accurately know the Bible. People would save themselves much disillusionment if they would regard this instruction.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Pro 9:6, Pro 13:20, Pro 19:27, 1Co 5:11, Eph 5:11
Reciprocal: Jer 28:11 – Thus