Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 16:7
When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.
Goodness has power to charm and win even enemies to itself.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Pro 16:7
When a mans ways please the Lord, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.
Our ways
These words contain two blessed fruits of a gracious conversation. The one more immediate and direct, acceptance with God; the other more remote, and by consequence from the former, peace with men.
I. The subject. A mans ways. His whole carriage in the course of his life, with all his thoughts, speeches, and actions, good or bad. When a man walketh in the beaten track of the world, without ever turning his feet unto Gods testimonies, neither that man nor his ways can please the Lord. When a man walketh conscionably and constantly in the good ways of God both the man and his ways are well pleasing unto God. When a man in the more constant course of his life walketh uprightly, and in a right way, but yet in a few particulars treadeth awry, the man may be accepted, though his ways are not altogether pleasing.
II. The act. Pleasing. This hath reference to acceptation: wherein the endeavour is one thing, and the event another. A man may have a full intention, and make due endeavour, and yet fail of his end. This is apparent when we have to deal with men. To please signifieth rather the event in finding acceptance than the endeavour in seeking it. In a moral sense, however, not so much the event as the endeavour and intention. But there may be a good assurance of the event where the desire of pleasing is unfeigned and the endeavour faithful.
III. The object. All men strive to please; but some to please themselves; some to please other men; and some to please the Lord. We should endeavour so to walk as to please God. For He is our Master, Captain, Father, and King. There is one great benefit attached to pleasing the Lord in the text,–He will make our enemies to be at peace with us. We may add, He will preserve us from sinful temptations. He will answer our prayers. He will translate us into His heavenly kingdom. The wicked man, who displeases God, strengthens the hands of his enemies; exposes himself as a prey to temptations; blocks up the passage against his own prayer; debars himself from entering the kingdom. How can pleasing the Lord be done? By likeness and obedience. The godly love what God loveth. They desire and endeavour to be holy as He is holy; perfect as He is perfect, merciful as the heavenly Father is merciful. Obedience is the proof of our willing and cheerful subjection to His most righteous commands. It is vain to think of pleasing God by the mere outward performances of fasting, prayer, almsdeeds, hearing Gods Word, or receiving the Sacrament. How comes it about that such poor things as our best endeavours are should please God? Our good works are pleasing to God upon two grounds.
1. Because He worketh them in us; and–
2. Because He looketh upon us and them in Christ. In the consequent of pleasing God there are three things observable. The persons–a mans enemies. The effect–peace. The author–the Lord. The scope of the whole words is to instruct us that the fairest and likeliest way for us to procure peace with man is to order our ways so as to please the Lord. The favour of God and the favour of men is joined together in Holy Scripture, as if the one were a consequent of the other. (Bp. Sanderson.)
The true way of pleasing God and being at peace with
men:–
I. The substance. When a mans ways please the Lord. All the Lords ways are concentred ways, and they concentre in Christ Jesus. Then, in order to please the Lord, we must be found in these ways, and as those ways are in Christ, we must also be in union with Christ.
1. In what way has the Lord fixed the love of His heart upon man?
2. The Lord brings His people to desire eternal life in the same way that He has designed it.
3. In what way has the Lord made us holy?
4. In what way does the Lord regenerate His people?
II. The negative; or what the text does not mean. The latter part of the text appears to be negatived by the conduct of the enemies of the Lords people in all ages.
III. The positive; or what the text does mean. Refer to a Scripture passage, The wrath of man shall praise Thee; the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain. Illustrate by circumstances in the stories of Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, David, Nehemiah, Jews when building the second temple.
IV. The implication.
1. That the Lord has some specific purpose and end in view.
2. That He is sure to accomplish that purpose. (James Wells.)
The charm of goodness
Not that the enemies are simply kept quiet through their knowledge that the good man is under Gods protection, but that goodness has power to charm and win them to itself. (Dean Plumptre.)
Gods control over His peoples enemies
I must see that my ways please the Lord. Even then I shall have enemies; and, perhaps, all the more certainly because I endeavour to do that which is right, But what a promise this is! The Lord will abate the wrath of man to praise Him, and abate it so that it shall not distress me. He can constrain an enemy to desist from harming me, even though he has a mind to do so. This He did with Laban, who pursued Jacob, but did not dare to touch him. Or He can subdue the wrath of Esau, who met Jacob in a brotherly manner, though Jacob had dreaded that he would smite him and his family with the sword. The Lord can also convert a furious adversary into a brother in Christ, and a fellow-worker, as He did with Saul of Tarsus. Oh, that He would do this in every case where a persecuting spirit appears! Happy is the man whose enemies are made to be to him what the lions were to Daniel in the den–quiet and companionable! When I meet death, who is called the last enemy, I pray that I may be at peace. Only let my great care be to please the Lord in all things. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 7. When a man’s ways please the Lord] God is the guardian and defence of all that fear and love him; and it is truly astonishing to see how wondrously God works in their behalf, raising them up friends, and turning their enemies into friends.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
By disposing their hearts to kindness towards him.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. Persecutions, of course,excepted.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
When a man’s ways please the Lord,…. As they do when a man walks according to the rule of his word; when he walks as he has Christ for an example; when he walks after the Spirit, and not after the flesh; when he walks by faith, and does all he does in faith; without which it is impossible to please God, Heb 11:6; and when all his ways and actions are directed to the glory of God;
he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him; as Abimelech with Isaac, Esau with Jacob; and the enemies of the church and people of God with then, in the latter day, Re 3:9.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
7 If Jahve has pleasure in the ways of a man,
He reconciles even his enemies to him –
properly (for is here the causative of the transitive, Jos 10:1): He brings it about that they conclude peace with him. If God has pleasure in the ways of a man, i.e., in the designs which he prosecutes, and in the means which he employs, he shows, by the great consequences which flow from his endeavours, that, even as his enemies also acknowledge, God is with him ( e.g., Gen 26:27.), so that they, vanquished in heart ( e.g., 2Sa 19:9.), abandon their hostile position, and become his friends. For if it is manifest that God makes Himself known, bestowing blessings on a man, there lies in this a power of conviction which disarms his most bitter opponents, excepting only those who have in selfishness hardened themselves.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
7 When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.
Note, 1. God can turn foes into friends when he pleases. He that has all hearts in his hand has access to men’s spirits and power over them, working insensibly, but irresistibly upon them, can make a man’s enemies to be at peace with him, can change their minds, or force them into a feigned submission. He can slay all enemies, and bring those together that were at the greatest distance from each other. 2. He will do it for us when we please him. If we make it our care to be reconciled to God, and to keep ourselves in his love, he will incline those that have been envious towards us, and vexatious to us, to entertain a good opinion of us and to become our friends. God made Esau to be at peace with Jacob, Abimelech with Isaac, and David’s enemies to court his favour and desire a league with Israel. The image of God appearing upon the righteous, and his particular lovingkindness to them, are enough to recommend them to the respect of all, even of those that have been most prejudiced against them.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Pleasing the Lord
Verse 7 declares that the first consideration in dealing with men should be to please God first, then deal with men in accord with His standards and rest on His promise to provide security, Vs 7; Pro 29:25; Pro 11:1; Lev 19:32-36; Rom 12:17-18; Gen 33:4; 2Ch 17:10; Dan 6:4.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro. 16:7
PLEASING GOD
I. There are times when mens ways do not please the Lord. The ways of the ungodly do not at any time please the Lord. Because they have no sympathy with His laws, and are at variance with His character. God is not in all their thoughts (Psa. 10:4), and it is impossible for God to be pleased with the ways of them who do not think Him worth thinking about. A man must forsake his own ways and come into Gods ways before his ways can please the Lord. The ways of good men do not at all times please the Lord. They sometimes stray from the royal roadthe highway of righteousnessand get into bye-paths, and thus bring down upon themselves the displeasure of their God. David, though in the main a man after Gods own heart, more than once walked in paths that were displeasing to the Lord, and several incidents in his life teach us plainly that some ways of a godly man may be very contrary to the Divine mind.
II. But God can be pleased by a mans ways. Those who strive to conform to our desireswho are in sympathy with our mindsnaturally yield us pleasure. And a good mans main desire is to conform his ways to the will of Godhe is in sympathy with the mind of God, and his life is the outcome of that sympathy. Therefore he can yield pleasure to the Eternal. If the Creator, in looking upon the inanimate works of His hands, pronounces them good (Gen. 1:31) when He sees them fulfilling the design of their creation, how much more good in His sight is it when a moral and responsible creature who has power to turn out of the path ordained for him seeks patiently to continue in well-doing notwithstanding all the temptations he has to encounter.
III. The consequence upon mens minds of thus giving pleasure to the Divine mind. The way of pleasing the Lord promotes favour and a good understanding in the sight of God and man (chap. Pro. 3:4). He whose aim is to please God will desire and strive to live at peace with men. And in cases where his godliness provokes the enmity of the ungodly, God, by His overruling Providence, often directly interferes on his behalf. He did so in the case of Jacob and Laban, in that of Joseph and his brethren, etc.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
The doctrine of this verse stands in apparent contradiction to 2Ti. 3:12. The truth seems to be that neither of the passages is to be taken universally. The peace possessed by those who please God does not extend so far as to exempt them from having enemies, and though all godly men must be persecuted, yet none are persecuted at all times. The passage from Timothy may, therefore, refer to the native enmity which true godliness is certain to excite, and the proverb to the Divine control over it.A. Fuller.
There would be more sunlight in the believers life if he could leave the dull negative fear of judgment far behind as a motive of action, and bound forward into the glad positive, a hopeful effort to please God. This is one of two principles that stand together in the word, and act together in the Divine administration. Its counterpart and complement is, If any man would live godly in Christ Jesus, he must suffer persecution. Both are best; neither could be wanted. If the principle that goodness exposes to persecution prevailed everywhere and always, the spirit would fail before Him and the souls that He has made. Again, if the principle that goodness conciliates the favour of the world prevailed everywhere and always, no discipline would be done, and the service of God would degenerate into mercenary self-interest. A beautiful balance of opposites is employed to produce one grand result. A Christian in the world is like a human body in the seathere is a tendency to sink and a tendency to swim. A very small force in either direction will turn the scale. Our Father in heaven holds the elements of nature and the passions of men at His own disposal. His children need not fear, for He keeps the balance in His own hands.Arnot.
If it is manifest that God makes Himself known, bestowing blessings on a man, there lies in this a power of conviction which disarms his most bitter opponents, excepting only those who have in selfishness hardened themselves.Delitzsch.
Whatsoever a mans ways are, it is part of every mans intention to please howsoever; it is the object that maketh the difference. All men strive to please, but some to please themselves, some to please other men, and some few to please the Lord. The last is
1. A duty whereunto we stand bound by many obligations. He is our Master, our Captain, our Father, our King. He is no honest servant that will not strive to please his master. And he is no generous soldier who will not strive to please his general. And that son hath neither grace nor good nature in him that will not strive to please his father, and he is no loyal subject that will not strive to please his lawful sovereign. And yet there may be a time when all those obligations may cease, for if it be their pleasure that we should do something that lawfully we may not, we must disobey, though we displease. But we can have no colour of plea for refusing to do the pleasure of our heavenly Lord and Master, in anything whatsoever; inasmuch as we are sure nothing will please Him but what is just and right. With what a forehead, then, can any of us challenge from Him either wages as servants, or stipends as soldiers, or provision as sons, or protection as subjects, if we be not careful in every respect to frame ourselves so as to please Him?
2. It is our wisdom, too: in respect of the great benefits we shall reap thereby. There is one great benefit expressed in the text, and the scope of those words is to instruct us, that the fairest and likeliest way to procure peace with men is to order our ways so as to please the Lord. The favour of God and the favour of men are often joined together in the Scriptures as if the one were consequent of the other. See Luk. 2:52; Pro. 3:3-4; Rom. 14:18, etc. But it may be objected that sundry times when a mans ways are right, and therefore pleasing to God, his enemies are nothing less, if not perhaps much more, enraged against him than formerly. Sundry considerations may be of use to us in the difficulty, as, first, if God have not yet made our enemies to be at peace with us, yet it may be He will do it hereafter. Neither is it unlikely that we do not walk with an even foot, and by a straight line, but tread awry in something or other which displeaseth God, and for which He suffereth their enmity to continue. Or if He do not presently make our enemies to be at peace with us, yet if He teach us to profit by their enmity, in exercising our faith and patience, in quickening us unto prayer, etc., is it not in every way, and incomparably better? Will any wise man tax Him with a breach of promise, who, having promised a pound of silver, giveth a talent of gold? Or who can truly say that that man is not as good as his word who is apparently much better than his word?Bp. Sanderson.
It is our peace with God that maketh Him to make our enemies to be at peace with us, and it is our enmity against Gods enemies that maketh God to be at peace with us. Now, the enemies of God are the sins of men, and if we be in a continual war with those, then do our ways please God. Then it is that He is ready to please us, when our ways please Him. Neither is He hard to pleasea willingness, a desire to please, is accepted by Him. He looks notHe requireth notthat we should do exactly all that is contained in His commandments, but if we go about to please Himif we put ourselves carefully in the waythen do our ways please Him. And then will He give us that glorious victory over our enemies which is above all others. For to subdue our enemies is but to make ourselves happy in their misery; but to make our enemies at peace with us is a victory for Gods hand, and giveth man a double triumph, as well over the hatred as the power of our enemies.Jermin.
The subject of Pro. 16:8 is substantially the same as that of chap Pro. 15:6; Pro. 15:17. See Homiletics on page 405, etc.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Better, for the tranquillity of conscience, for the present enjoyment of this life, and for the life to come. In chap. Pro. 15:16, we are warned against gain without religion, in chap. Pro. 15:17, against gain without love to our neighbour: here, against gain without right.Fausset.
Abraham would not take to himself of the spoils of Sodom so much as the value of a shoe-latchet, that it might never be said in after times that the king of Sodom had made Abraham rich; so neither will any godly man that hath learned the art of contentation, suffer a penny of the gain of ungodliness to mingle with the rest of his estate, that the devil may not be able to upbraid him with it afterwards to his shame, as if he had contributed something towards the increasing thereof.Bishop Sanderson.
A little that is a mans own is better than a great deal that is another bodys. Now that which a man hath with righteousness is his own, for there can be no better title than that which righteousness maketh. But that which thou hast without right cannot be thine, howsoever thou mayest account it, or others may call it. Possession may be a great point in human laws, but it is nothing in Gods law: the want of right overthroweth whatsoever else may be said. Tis true, thou mayest have quiet possession on earth, but there be adversaries that do implead the unrighteous at Gods judgment bar, where they are sure last to be cast, and where themselves will give the verdict which the wise man here doth.Jermin.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(7) When a mans ways please the Lord . . .Comp. Gen. 26:28; 2Ch. 17:10-11.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. A man’s ways, etc. A general truth, not to be rigidly interpreted. Good men are sometimes persecuted, and otherwise suffer; but even this shall work for their good, according to the promise contained in Rom 8:28.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
v. 7. When a man’s ways please the Lord,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Pro 16:7 When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.
Ver. 7. When a man’s ways please the Lord.] Sin is the only make-bait that sets God and man at difference. Now, when God is displeased, all his creatures are up in arms to fetch in his rebels, and to do execution. “Who then would set the briars and thorns against him in battle? Would he not go through them? Would he not burn them together? Let him then take hold of my strength, saith God, that he may make peace with me, and he shall make peace with me.” Isa 27:4-5 And not with God only, but with the creature too, that gladly takes his part, and is at his beck and check. Laban followed Jacob with one troop, Esau met him with another, both with hostile intentions. But God so wrought for Jacob, whom he had chosen, that Laban leaves him with a kiss, Esau meets him with a kiss. Of the one he hath an oath, tears of the other – peace with both. Who shall need to fear men that is in league with God?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Pro 16:7
Pro 16:7
“When a man’s ways please Jehovah, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.”
“When you please the Lord, you can make your enemies into friends. “When a man’s ways please the Eternal, he makes even his foes friends with him. A genuine Christian is the most lovable personality in human life.
Pro 16:7. It is not normal for enemies to be at peace with those whom they hate. There have been instances where God has so blessed individuals that his enemies so respected him or so feared him that they caused him no trouble. Such was true of Israel in Solomons days (1Ki 4:20-21; 1Ki 4:24-25). Such caused the Gibeonites to seek peace with Joshua and Israel (Jos 9:9-11). Such caused Abimilech and the men of Gerar to seek Isaacs peace (Gen 26:26-29).
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
please: Psa 69:31, Rom 8:31, Phi 4:18, Col 1:10, Col 3:20, Heb 13:21, 1Jo 3:22
he: Gen 27:41, Gen 32:6, Gen 32:7, Gen 32:28, Gen 33:4, Jer 15:11, Act 9:1, Act 9:2, Act 9:19, Act 9:20
Reciprocal: Gen 31:55 – blessed Gen 33:9 – my brother Gen 39:4 – Joseph Gen 39:21 – gave him Gen 43:14 – And God Exo 3:21 – General Exo 12:36 – the Lord Exo 34:24 – desire 2Sa 7:1 – the Lord 1Ki 8:50 – and give them 2Ki 8:6 – Restore all 2Ch 17:10 – so that 2Ch 18:31 – God moved them 2Ch 20:30 – his God 2Ch 33:13 – brought him Ezr 6:22 – turned Est 2:9 – she obtained Job 42:11 – all his brethren Pro 29:26 – ruler’s favour Jer 26:16 – General Jer 37:21 – and that Jer 39:12 – do him Jer 40:5 – or go Jer 42:12 – General Dan 1:9 – General Act 7:10 – gave Act 9:31 – the churches Act 16:33 – washed Act 19:31 – the chief Act 23:9 – We Act 24:23 – and to Act 27:43 – willing Heb 12:14 – Follow 1Pe 3:13 – who
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 16:7. When a mans ways please the Lord The best way to have our enemies reconciled unto us, is for us first to be reconciled unto God; for such is the love which the Lord hath to pious and virtuous persons, that when all their designs and actions are such as he approves, he often inclines even those that were their foes to become their friends, disposing their hearts to kindness toward them.