Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 16:32
[He that is] slow to anger [is] better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.
32. Of the many parallels to the sentiment of this proverb that are to be found in classical literature, none is closer than the familiar saying of Ovid ( Epist. ex Pont. ii. 16:75):
“Fortior est qui se, quam qui fortissima vincit
Mnia; nec virtus altius ire potest.”
Lange and others quote Pirke Aboth, iv.2, where the question; Who is a hero?, is answered by reference to this verse.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Pro 16:32
He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.
Christian heroism
I. What is it to rule the spirit? Spirit is used sometimes for the thoughts of the mind, the passions of the heart, the emotions of sense, phantoms of imagination, and illusions of concupiscence. To rule the spirit is never to suffer ones self to be prejudiced by false ideas, always to see things in their true point of view, to regulate our hatred and our love, our desires and our inactivity, exactly according to the knowledge we have obtained after mature deliberation that objects are worthy of our esteem or deserve our aversion that they are worth obtaining or proper to be neglected. Consider man–
1. In regard to his natural dispositions. Man finds himself the slave of his heart, instead of being the master of it. He finds himself indisposed to truth and virtue, and conciliatory to vice and falsehood. Who does not feel in himself and observe in others a resistance to the practice of virtue? By virtue understand an universal disposition of an intelligent soul to devote itself to order, and to regulate its conduct as order requires. To avoid vice is to desist from everything contrary to order, from slander and anger, from indolence and voluptuousness, and so on. We bring into the world propensities hostile and fatal to such obligations. Some of these are in the body, and some are in the mind. As we feel in our constitution obstacles to virtue and propensities to vice, so we perceive also inclinations to error and obstacles to truth. Every vice, every irregular passion, includes this error, that a man who gratifies his passion is happier than he who restrains and moderates it. The disposition of mind indicated by the term ruling the spirit supposes labour, constraint, and exercise. A man who would rule his spirit must recreate himself.
2. In regard to surrounding objects. Society is composed of many enemies, who seem to be taking pains to increase those difficulties which our natural dispositions oppose against truth and virtue. Everywhere around us are false judgments, errors, mistakes, and preju-dices–prejudices of birth, education, country, religion, friendship, trade or profession, and of fortune. What efforts must a man make to hold his soul in perpetual equilibrium, to maintain himself against so many prejudices! As the men around us fascinate us by their errors, so they decoy us into vice by their example. To resist example we must incessantly oppose those natural inclinations which urge us to imitation. To resist example we must love virtue for virtues sake.
3. In regard to the habits which man has contracted. Most men have done more acts of vice than of virtue; consequently we contribute by our way of living to join to the depravity of nature that which comes from exercise and habit. What a task, when we endeavour to prevent the return of ideas which for many years our minds have revolved!
II. Prove the truth of the statement of the text. By one who takes a city Solomon means a man who lives upon victories and conquests–a hero in the worlds sense. He that ruleth his spirit discovers more fortitude, more magnanimity, and more courage. Compare the worldly with the Christian hero in four particulars.
1. The motives which animate them.
2. The exploits they perform.
3. The enemies they attack.
4. The rewards they obtain.
The enemy whom the Christian combats is his own heart; for he is required to turn his arms against himself. He must actually deny himself. Let us religiously abide by our principle. The duty of an intelligent soul is to adhere to truth, and to practise virtue. We are born with a disinclination to both. Let us not be dismayed with the greatness of the task of ruling our spirit. Greater is He that is in us, than he that is in the world. Grace comes to the aid of nature. Prayer gains strength by exercise. The passions, after having been tyrants, become slaves in their turn. The danger and pain of battle vanish when the eyes get sight of conquest. How inconceivably beautiful is victory then! (J. Saurin.)
Self-respect and self-control
Above all conquests of states and cities is the greater conquest of self. Greater is the man who conquers himself, who rules his own spirit, and brings his whole being under the supremacy of will, than he who takes a city–greater in his character, deeds, results. The outcome of a life depends on the answer to two questions–what a man thinks of himself; what he does with himself. The two closely-related and all essential conditions of genuine manhood are self-respect and self-control.
I. Self-respect involves a sense of the dignity which belongs to humanity: a sense of ones individuality, and the consequent maintenance of ones selfhood. Distinction, in such a world as this, is gained, not by following the multitude, but by standing aside in your own personality while the vulgar crowd sweep by. As a reason for conduct, They all do it is a cheap and silly excuse. There comes with a sense of dignity and individuality an insight into the significance of a mans life, and an overmastering thought of its measureless responsibilities, and a full impression of the sacredness of life. There is too much that is great and sacred in mans nature and destiny to permit him to misuse a life so richly endowed. Such self-respect is in no way self-conceit.
II. Self-control, or self-government. If such is our being, there must be some strong power to preside over it. I must be my own master, the self-respecting man says. Then he will want to know the scope of the government to be maintained. It must seek a mans own highest interests, the real interests of others, and the honour of God; and it must fulfil all obligations arising from this highest of relationships. This a first law: nothing deleterious to character–either of our own or that of another–shall ever be permitted. But true self-government does not stop with self-restraint. It demands the right exercise of every power to the fullest measure of ability. It involves the highest self-development, and the largest happiness to others.
III. The fruits of self-respect and self-government.
1. All the higher parts of a mans being are ennobled and given their rightful sway; all the lower are rightly held in subjection. The conscience becomes supreme. All the moral powers are in full development and play. The will is chief executive, and God is an active power, a real factor in practical life. The entire man is at his best.
2. Thus is realised the proper end of all true education.
3. This quality of self-control pre-eminently prepares us for great emergencies. Self-respect is the early form in which greatness appears; it is our practical perception of the Deity in man.
Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control,
These three alone, lead life to sovereign power.
(C. H. Payne, D.D., LL.D.)
On the government of the temper
Important is an early discipline of the passions, and a steady attention to the government of our conduct. Such are the frailties and imperfections of man, that even his virtues are often blended with corresponding vices, and are always united with errors congenial to them. Previous to the cultivation of good dispositions is the duty of guarding against evil ones. The evil now dealt with is what self-love would be content to call a foible, or a mere natural infirmity; but religion always associates it with folly and condemns it as sin. I mean a peevish temper and an irritable disposition. Consider this–
I. As the source of continual unhappiness to ourselves and others. The ills and vexations of life are of themselves sufficiently numerous, without cherishing such dispositions in our own bosoms as are calculated to give them additional violence. The best tempers will indeed sometimes be ruffled. And the good cannot always resist the encroachments of passion. But the passionate man magnifies every trifle that thwarts him into a real evil. But no one ever harboured in his bosom the gloomy passions of anger, hatred, and revenge, without feeling a pang that corroded his own heart, while he wished to disturb the peace of others. Repeated hours of vexation and sorrow, which sprang wholly from internal disorder or irritable passions, has led some, from mere self-love, to inure their minds to discipline at a more advanced season of life. Such are the effects of an irascible temper, that the dearest blessings and the most rational satisfactions which this life can afford are often lost by it. However careful we may be in disciplining our own minds, we cannot hope to live secure against the wild and unprovoked attacks of anger, or the hourly vexations of peevishness. And those who are contented to live under the loose dominion of the passions must be in constant fear of saying or doing something today which they may be truly ashamed of to-morrow. And the passionate man may justly apprehend dreadful consequences. He is in danger of every species of injustice and every degree of guilt. The temper to evil is cherished within his own breast.
II. The peevish temper is incompatible with that frame of mind which the gospel of Christ teaches and requires us to cultivate. Our Lord requires of His disciples a holy disposition, which may well be regarded as the good ground in which the seed of every virtue will grow up to perfection. And He requires of us also works of charity and neighbourly love, mutual forbearance, long-suffering, and steady perseverance in the course of every duty. The efficacy of piety and prayer will, in a great measure, be destroyed by an evil disposition. We must cultivate habits of religion as well as of virtue. (J. Hewlett, B.D.)
The government of our passions, especially anger
The text may be resolved into this proposition–that the private rule or government over our passions is far more honourable than any other rule or dominion whatever. The passion of anger is specially mentioned in the text. The excellency of dominion over this passion appears–
1. Because it carries us to a nearer resemblance of the Divine nature than any other power or authority. The great excellency of our natures, or our likeness and conformity to God, does not consist in any one single perfection, but requires a great variety to complete it. Those are the noblest perfections that most improve and better the temper of our minds. The right temper of our minds depends on the regularity of our passions. A just government over these is therefore a much greater perfection than might and power. The great glory of God Himself is that His eternal mind is always acted by eternal reason, without passion or resentment. He delights and glories in this, that He is slow to anger.
2. Because it gives us a reputation of greater wisdom and understanding. Solomon always links together a man of temper and a man of understanding. Take one branch of understanding, that which goes by the name of prudence and discretion. Prudence, as a moral virtue, is wholly employed about the private conduct and government of our own selves. To exercise rule over others is more of an art and policy than a moral virtue. There is nothing that deserves the name of prudence but what relates to a mans self, and the private economy within himself. A wise man is the greatest self-lover, in a true sense, and prudence as well as charity begins at home. No man can be fitted to command others that never made the experiment of governing himself. The art of quieting our spirits is the noblest piece of wisdom in relation to our own selves.
3. Because it bespeaks more true courage and bravery than any other conquest. It is the true fortitude and bravery of the mind to quell those passions that are enemies to our reason. A fierce, ungovernable temper only shows the greatness of a mans passion, not the greatness of his mind. The greatness of a mans mind as much consists in the command over its passions as that of a prince in the command over his subjects. So great is the bravery of conquering one single passion, it leaves always an honourable impression of a great mind.
4. Because it affords the truest freedom and liberty. If the right notion of human liberty were an entire exemption from the will of a Superior, the advantages of liberty would lie on the side of might and power. But this account of liberty is false. By liberty we mean that inward freedom and vigour of mind that consist in the absolute command over its own acts; in the free and undisturbed exercise of its powers. This implies the free exercise of our reason, the ruling of our spirits, and the subjection of our passions. Where there is the most perfect reason, there is the most perfect liberty. It is thought by some that those have the best pretensions to liberty that are left absolutely at large, and nowise confined to the commands of reason. But that is the idea of human passions, not of human reason. Where is there any such thing as human liberty without the observance of rules and laws?
5. Because it gives us more ease and quiet. Our passions naturally break our repose and quiet. There is some trouble and difficulty in conquering a passion, but there is infinitely greater in being a slave to it. Whether we are concerned in bearing the evils or enjoying the good things of this world, we find a mighty difference in point of ease and quiet betwixt the conduct of our reason and the misgovernment of our passions. The main spring of the passion of anger is an opinion of our being slighted and despised, or a fancy of some indignity that is offered to us. Now this fancy and opinion, just like jealousy, is always tormenting. Every imaginary slight, every groundless and trifling accident, will soon be made a fresh occasion of trouble and disquiet. How much it makes for the ease and quiet of our minds to keep them within the bounds of reason and discretion! In conclusion, enforce this advice, of being slow to anger, and of ruling our spirits. Nothing better recommends the Christian religion than this, that it is most fitted and accommodated for the sweetening mens tempers, and for taking off the edge and keenness of their spirits. It not only provides rules, but also sufficiency of grace for carrying them out. (George Rouse, D.D.)
The essentials of self-control
The records of the past are replete with the triumphs of human genius. In all lands monuments are the marks of greatness. To be recorded in history, to be eulogised in panegyric, is the dream of this worlds ambition. But what shall we say to him who has gained the mastery of himself? What Phidias shall rear for him the temple of his renown? Only God is the competent eulogist of such a man. Three things essential to self-mastery–self-knowledge, self-denial, and self-consecration. Self-control is not self-destruction. All the great appetites and passions of our natures were given for a beneficent purpose, and when gratified within the limitations of law, the gratification is as pure as a saints prayer or an angels song. There is no sin in temptation. The sin comes in yielding to temptation. Temptation is the evidence of virtue. Totally depraved spirits are never tempted. Self-mastery is the harmonious action of sensibilities, of all our mental appreciations, of all our physical functions, in harmony with the purpose for which they were created. There is an old saying in the Church that vice is the excess of virtue. That which is holy in itself becomes unholy by transcending the law of limitations.
1. Each one of us must sit in judgment upon his own temperament. How shall we gain the necessary self-knowledge? Science will throw light upon your path, but you may see yourself in this precious book photographed in pen-portraiture. The Divine illumination it gives will be more than a Mentor, it will be a Divine companion suggesting thoughts, awakening desires, creating motives, exalting purposes.
2. Indispensable to self-mastery is self-denial. This is of two kinds–the refusal to do those things which are prohibited in the Divine law; the magnanimity of self-abnegation for the sake of, and service of, others. This is the higher self-denial. A man should deny himself of what is lawful to him, that he may be a benefactor of mankind.
3. Most important of all is self-consecration. Conscious weakness is more often an element of real strength and victory than conscious power, for weakness may lean on the strength of God. You will never get this self-mastery otherwise than here in the reading of the Scripture. I reject everything except the Divine Saviour, who has power to invest me with power to master every passion and every appetite, and then to refine all my sensibilities, and give tone and character to my conversation, and spirit to all my life. (Bp. Newman, U.S.A.)
Christian moderation
Book of Proverbs is the best of all manuals for the formation of a well-balanced mind. We go to this book, not so much for full and definite statements of the distinguishing doctrines of revealed religion, as for those wise and prudential canons whereby we may reform extravagance, prune down luxuriance, and combine the whole variety of traits and qualities into a harmonious and beautiful unity. Here in this text is described and recommended a certain kind of temper which should be possessed and cherished by the people of God.
1. Describe this temper. It is Christian moderation. St. Paul writes, Let your moderation be known unto all men. He who ruleth his spirit is characterised by sobriety and equanimity. He is never driven to extremes in any direction. A well-poised and symmetrical character floated, as an unattainable ideal, before the minds of the better pagan philosophers. This is the famous temperance of Plato and Aristotle.
II. Some of the obstacles that oppose the formation of a Christian sobriety and moderation.
1. It is opposed to the appetites and passions of the body. It is one of the effects of the apostasy, that human nature is corrupted on the physical side of it, as well as upon the mental and moral sides. The bodily appetites are very different now from what they would have been had man remained in his original and holy condition.
2. Christian sobriety and moderation meets with an obstacle in mans disordered mental nature. How lawless and ungoverned is the human imagination! It is in some respects easier to control the physical appetites than to rule an inflamed and extravagant fancy. And a mans purely intellectual conclusions and convictions may be so one-sided and extreme as to spoil his temper. Fanaticism in every age furnishes examples of this.
III. The true source of Christian temperance and moderation. It must have its root in love. The secret of such an even temper is charity. No man can have this large-minded, comprehensive, and blessed equilibrium who does not love God supremely, and his neighbour as himself. Our subject, therefore, teaches the necessity of the new birth. There may be outward self-control without any inward self-improvement. Without a change of heart, there is nothing but the austere and ungenial attempt of a moralist to perform a repulsive task. Love–holy and heavenly charity–must be generated, and then under its spontaneous and happy impulse, it will be comparatively easy to rectify the remaining corruption, and repress the lingering excesses and extremes of appetite and passion. (G. T. Shedd, D.D.)
The greatness of self-rule
For myself I lay no claim to any exceptional fineness of nature. But I say that, beginning life as a rough, ill-educated, impatient man, I have found my schooling in these very African experiences I have learned by actual stress of imminent danger that self-control is more indispensable than gunpowder, and that persistent self-control is impossible without real, heartfelt sympathy. (H. M. Stanley.)
The ruling of the spirit
The things which cost a man the greatest effort and the hardest work may be done with no bodily exertion at all; as a man sits in his easy chair with his eyes shut. The hardest of all work is that which puts the soul upon the stretch; there is no wear like the wear of a heart and brain. The text points out to us a certain work, very difficult to do, very noble when done, which yet is done with so little outward appearance and physical effort that some might perhaps fancy that it is no work at all. Every one who has sought to believe in the Saviour, and to lead a Christian life, must have learned by experience how great a part of the work of an immortal being is mental work, is work that makes no bodily show. I am not thinking of merely intellectual effort; I am thinking of the exertion of the whole spiritual nature. Our entire spiritual life is, in one sense, a ruling of our spirit. The idea of unseen exertions, of spiritual strivings and efforts, is one with which all believers are perfectly familiar. To rule our spirit rightly is a difficult thing, and a thing from doing which great and valuable results are to follow. This implies that within the heart of man are many unruly tendencies. There is a great deal in every human soul that needs to be kept down. If mans spirit were always ready to do right, it would need no ruling, or the ruling would be a very easy thing. But as it is, it is very difficult. What are the things about our spiritual nature that stand especially in need of ruling? There are impulses to think and feel wrong, and impulses to do wrong. The first of these takes in little impulses, which to resist is no more than matter of worldly prudence, as well as grander temptations, to resist which is of the very essence of religion. It is a noble thing to hold the tendency of anger in check, whether it manifest itself in fretfulness, or in sullenness, or in violent outbursts of passion. To give way to little spurts of petulance, or fretfulness, or general ill-temper is a symptom that something is amiss in your Christian character. The sullen humours or peevish outbursts of a professing Christian are not small matters, if they go to fix in the mind of the young a disagreeable and painful idea of what Christianity and Christian people are. Little duties and little temptations make up, for most of us, the sum of human life. Consider the tendency, in most hearts, to discontent with the allotments of Gods providence; to envy and jealousy as regards those of our fellow-creatures who are more favoured and fortunate than we. We should rule our spirit so as to become reconciled to painful things, to acquiescence in mortification and disappointment when they come; and to feel rightly towards people to whom we are disposed to feel unkindly and bitterly. In all professions and occupations there is competition, and there will be temptation to envy, jealousy, and detraction, as regards a mans competitors. That ruling of thee spirit which is needful in Christianity to meet disappointment brings out the best and noblest qualities that can be found in man. Then there is the tendency to procrastination as to our spiritual interests. Many a soul has dated its ruin to yielding to an impulse that ought to have been resolutely put down, to postponing till to-morrow a work which should have been done to-day. (A. K. H. Boyd.)
Ruling the spirit the test of greatness
Ruling the spirit is better than outward conquest, because–
I. The spirit within a man is itself of more worth than any external conquests.
1. Its inherent excellence. Life in a single individual endowed with intellectuality, conscience and aesthetic feeling, hope, etc., is of more value than any number or extent of soulless possessions: a single spirit outweighs the material globe.
2. It is the object of Gods love. He is interested in things, but loves spirits.
3. It is immortal. Empires gone; cities desolate; all else but spirits passing away.
II. It reqiures more personal strength to rule ones own spirit than to make outward conquest. The outward conquest is through the machinery of circumstance; the inner by ones own resources.
III. Self-conquest is better than secular, because it is accomplished through a higher process of warfare, It drills not with arms, but with virtues. Its manual consists in whatsoever things are honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report. The fight itself pays independently of the promised results. What the control of ones spirit involves.
1. The independent ordering of ones own words and actions. Few are able to determine within themselves what shall be the outcome of their lives.
2. Back of this, self-control involves not only the ordering of ones own conduct, but also the deliberate moulding of ones desires and purposes in accordance with ones best judgment. Reason must check or encourage the feelings.
3. And back of this, self-control involves the deliberate determination of ones own judgment in the light of evidence.
It rigidly excludes prejudice. What helps have we for the control of our own spirits?
1. The Holy Spirit: an impartation of peace, purity, and a sound mind.
2. The sense of the presence of Christ: the influence of the knowledge that the greatest and holiest of beings is watching and encouraging us.
3. Engrossment with the great things of God: all life lifted above the plane of its own littleness; meditating the eternal, the spiritual, the mighty laws of the glorious kingdom; and thus unaffected by temporary influences, as the stars are unaffected by the winds.
4. Charity in the heart: a loving man unjostled by enmities, envies, the pinches of pride; an essential serenity. (Homiletic Review.)
Self-victory
Do not people often say to us, Conquer yourself ? Can anybody conquer himself? God can conquer him! Better. Why is a person who conquers himself better than a general who takes a city?
1. He is a greater hero; he does a more difficult thing–a nobler deed. Shall I tell you why it is so difficult? Because God meant it to be difficult. When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, they were friends with the devil. But God said, in great mercy, You shall not always be friends. I will put enmity between you. And when boys or girls begin to try to conquer themselves, they find the enmity: they find what a hard thing it is to fight against their sins.
2. And the reason why it is so difficult to conquer any bad habit is because there are all sorts of powers fighting with that fault against you.
3. It is not only a braver but a happier thing to conquer ones self than to take a city. There is happiness in ones conscience if one succeeds in conquering something that is naughty; and there is no happiness like it in the world. If you take cities it will not make you happy. When Alexander the Great took nearly all the cities in the world, he sat down crying, because he could not find more worlds to take. But if you try to do good, and gradually conquer your own besetting sin, you will feel within such a peace as no words can describe !
4. Now, there is another thing–it is not only braver and happier, but something better still–it pleases God. That must be best. Now, the reason why it pleases God so much for you to conquer your sins is because you will be growing like Jesus Christ. (J. Vaughan, M.A.)
The ruling of the spirit
You remember the story of Sindbad the Sailor: how the Old Man of the Sea, when he got Sindbad to lift him up in pity for his infirmities, sat astride upon his shoulders, clinging closely to the poor man wherever he went, compelling him to do whatever he wanted until his life became a burden to him. So the lower nature when it gets the better of the higher makes it its slave and compels it to do its bidding, until the degrading bondage becomes so irksome that one would give anything to throw it off. Now, you are all born with a sinful nature. You inherit a tendency to sin. God only can give you power to rule your spirit, and through your ruling spirit to rule your whole body and life. God only can crown the king in you again and make him master of all your unruly passions and rebellious desires. You can reign as kings over yourselves, only in subjection to Him. Now, it is to be feared that in every ones nature there is a devils corner; that while strict in some points you are apt to be lax in others, and to compound for sins that you love by condemning sins that you do not care for. You want to be considered good, while you sacrifice a part of your nature to evil. But this is a terrible delusion. If a corner of that kind is allowed to remain waste and uncared for in your hearts it will assuredly corrupt the whole of your nature.
1. The very first thing you have to do in ruling your own spirit is to commit your spirit to God. That is what David did; that is what Jesus did. You are apt to think that you commit your spirit to God only when you die and give up the breath of your body. But you can do that now in your youth, in your health and strength. You will have on your side the strength of Omnipotence. God will help you to subdue every rebellious attempt your spirit makes to escape from its blessed yoke. You can defy the devil in the name of the righteous Lord who claims you. I remember when sailing one day in a steamer, the captains son, a bright little fellow of five or six years of age, was on board and wanted to take the place of the man at the helm. The good-natured steersman, to humour him, put the spoke of the wheel into his little hand, which was hardly able to grasp it. But he was careful at the same time to put his own big hand on the childs tiny fingers, and took a firm hold and moved the wheel in the right direction. And the boy was in high glee, imagining that he himself was steering the huge steamer. Now, so God deals with you. He puts His almighty hand on your feeble hand when you are ruling your own spirit, and makes His strength perfect in your weakness.
2. Now, I want you to rule your spirit, not under the influence of fear, but under the influence of love. He who asks you to do this, who gives you strength to do it, rules you in love.
3. And is it not a happy thing to rule your own spirit under God? You have seen a piece of complicated machinery with all the cog-wheels fitting into each other, and all set going and controlled by one central force. How smoothly the machine worked toward the one good result! In a model city where every one obeyed the governor and did his own work, and the good of each was the good of all, how pleasant would life be! And so when the spirit in each one of you is ruled by the love of God, by the supreme desire to do His will, your condition is a truly happy one. You are so made that all your faculties and powers, when working in their just relations, make up the most complete unity in the universe, the image of the very unity of God. Better far is it to rule your spirit and produce this blessed unity than to conquer the grandest city in the world. The conqueror of a city overcomes it by force and rules it by fear. He enters it against the wish of its inhabitants, and there is disorder and bloodshed, fire and sword; and if he succeeds in producing order it is all on the surface–beneath, in the hearts of the people, there are hatred and the desire for revenge. But if you rule your own spirit, then all your powers fall into their right order, and all that is within you willingly obeys the control of the spirit. (H. Macmillan, D.D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 32. He that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city.] It is much easier to subdue an enemy without than one within. There have been many kings who had conquered nations, and yet were slaves to their own passions. Alexander, who conquered the world, was a slave to intemperate anger, and in a fit of it slew Clytus, the best and most intimate of all his friends, and one whom he loved beyond all others.
The spirit of this maxim is so self-evident, that most nations have formed similar proverbs. The classical reader will remember the following in HOR., Odar. lib. ii., Od. 2:-
Latius regnes, avidum domando
Spiritum, quam si Libyam remotis
Gadibus jungas, et uterque Poenus
Serviat uni.
“By virtue’s precepts to control
The furious passions of the soul,
Is over wider realms to reign,
Unenvied monarch, than if Spain
You could to distant Libya join,
And both the Carthages were thine.”
FRANCIS.
And the following from OVID is not less striking:
——–Fortior est qui se, quam qui fortissima vincit
Moenia, nec virtus altius ire potest.
“He is more of a hero who has conquered himself, than
he who has taken the best fortified city.”
Beyond this self-conquest the highest courage can not extend; nor did their philosophy teach any thing more sublime.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He that is slow to anger, not apt to revenge, but ready to forgive injuries,
is better than the mighty, because he is more like to God, more wise to foresee and to prevent mischief, both to himself and others, which oft cometh from rash anger, of a more gallant and generous spirit, and more valiant and victorious, as it follows. This is opposed to the perverse judgment of the world, who esteem such persons pusillanimous and cowardly.
That ruleth his spirit; that subdueth his passions; for his victory is the more glorious, because he fights with the stronger enemy; he conquers by his own, and not by other mens hands, and he gets a greater glory and advantage to himself, and that without the injury and ruin of others, wherewith the conquests of cities are commonly attended.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
32. (Compare Pr14:29).
taketh a citythat is,by fighting.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
[He that is] slow to anger is better than the mighty,…. Than a mighty warrior or conqueror; as Alexander who conquered his enemies, and even all the world, and yet in his wrath slew his best friends: a man that is slow to anger is esteemed by the Lord, respected by men, and is happy in himself; and is preferable to the strongest man that is not master of himself and of his passions;
and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city; one that has the command of his temper, that can govern himself, and not suffer his passions to exceed due bounds, is superior in strength to him that can storm a castle or take a fortified city; it is easier to do the one than the other; courage of mind joined with wisdom, and assisted by a proper number of persons, may do the one; but it requires the grace of God, and the assistance of his spirit, thoroughly to do the other. Cicero says t, in all ages
“fewer men are found who conquer their own lusts than that overcome the armies of enemies.”
t Epist. l. 5. Ep. 4.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
32 He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.
This recommends the grace of meekness to us, which will well become us all, particularly the hoary head, v. 31. Observe, 1. The nature of it. It is to be slow to anger, not easily put into a passion, nor apt to resent provocation, taking time to consider before we suffer our passion to break out, that it may not transgress due bounds, so slow in our motions towards anger that we may be quickly stopped and pacified. It is to have the rule of our own spirits, our appetites and affections, and all our inclinations, but particularly our passions, our anger, keeping that under direction and check, and the strict government of religion and right reason. We must be lords of our anger, as God is, Nah. i. 3. olus sis, affectuum tuorum–Rule your passions, as olus rules the winds. 2. The honour of it. He that gets and keeps the mastery of his passions is better than the mighty, better than he that by a long siege takes a city or by a long war subdues a country. Behold, a greater than Alexander or Csar is here. The conquest of ourselves, and our own unruly passions, requires more true wisdom, and a more steady, constant, and regular management, than the obtaining of a victory over the forces of an enemy. A rational conquest is more honourable to a rational creature than a brutal one. It is a victory that does nobody any harm; no lives or treasures are sacrificed to it, but only some base lusts. It is harder, and therefore more glorious, to quash an insurrection at home than to resist an invasion from a broad; nay, such are the gains of meekness that by it we are more than conquerors.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Self Control
Verse 32 emphasizes the great importance of self control and patience; more important than ruling a city, of greater stature than the mighty, Pro 14:17; Pro 14:29; Pro 25:28; Pro 29:11; Jas 1:19-20.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro. 16:32
TAKING A CITY AND RULING THE SPIRIT
I. A man who takes a city may do a good work. When Soloman says that the man who rules his spirit does a better work than he who takes a city, he by no means implies that the taking of a city is a wrong action. In the records of Gods dealings with the nations of old, we find that He sometimes laid it as a duty upon His chosen servants to take a city. The overthrow of a city is sometimes necessary for the preservation of the morality of the human race, and it is as indispensable for its well-being as the amputation of a diseased limb is for the health of the individual man. Large cities are favourable to the development and increase of crime, and sometimes become such moral pest-houses that God, out of regard for His human family, causes them to be wiped from off the earth, and sometimes uses His own servants to do the work. It was he who commanded Joshua to take the city of Jericho and the other cities of Canaan, and they were destroyed because of the sin of those who dwelt in them. Or the overthrow of a city may be the downfall of a tyrant, and the deliverance of the oppressed, and then also we know that it is well-pleasing to God. The Bible has in it many songs of praise to God for His overthrow of those who held their fellow-men in bondagesongs which were not only acceptable to Him, but which were the fruit of the inspiration of His Spirit, and therefore we know that the taking of a city which was followed by such a result might in itself be a righteous and praiseworthy act.
II. A man may do a good work in taking a city, and yet be under the dominion of sinful habits. Many a man has acquired vast power over others without ever learning how to master his own evil passionsmany a city has been taken by him, and good may have been the outcome of some of his conquests, and yet he has been ever an abject bondslave to his own evil impulses. Many a conqueror of cities has been himself brought more and more into captivity to the vices of the mind as his conquests advanced, and though God may have used him to further His wise and beneficent purposes to the race, he may, by his inability to rule himself, have lived and died a miserable victim of sinin greater bondage to himself than any of those whom he conquered could ever be to him.
III. Self-rule is nobler than the possession of rule over others.
1. This conquest is over spirit and the other may only be over flesh. We cannot rule the whole of our fellow-man by physical force; if circumstances make us masters over his body, there is a spiritual part of him which we cannot enslave without his consent. A city and a mans spirit belong to entirely different regions, and the latter cannot be ruled by the same weapons as the other. But spirit is far higher than matter, and when a man has learned to rule his own inner man he has made a conquest which is far more difficult, and therefore nobler, than he who takes a city. The man who can check a lawless thought or desire, must be as much greater than he who can only subdue mens bodies, as mind is greater than matter, and he must do a more glorious work because he lessens the power of sin in the universe. It may sometimes be a necessary and good thing to drive the sinner out of the world, but it is infinitely better to kill sin, and this is what he who rules himself is always doing.
2. It requires the exercise of greater skill and is a more complete victory. If there is a spiritual part of a man which cannot be subdued to our will without his consent, this consent can only be obtained by the exercise of weapons which require more skilful handling than the sword of steel. God never attempts to conquer the human spirit by physical force; He has created it to bow only to spiritual forces, and it is by these that He brings men into obedience to His will. A city may be surprised into submission, but dominion over the soul must be gained step by step. And the man who rules his own spirit uses these spiritual weapons, and achieves his conquest little by little. But if the weapons are more difficult to wield, and if the victory is more slowly won, the conquest is much more complete. For when the spirit is ruled the entire man is ruled.
3. The battle is fought and the victory won in silence and in secret. When men take a city they are conscious that the eyes of many are upon them, and that the news of their victory will be spread throughout half the world, and that thus they will acquire great renown among their fellow-creatures. And this nerves them to the conflict. But the man who fights upon the battle-ground of his own heart fights in secret, and his victories bring him none of that renown which falls to him who takes a city. No eye looks on but the omniscient eye of God, and although Divine approval is infinitely beyond the praise of a world of finite creatures, yet it has not always such a conscious influence as that of our fellow-men.
4. The conflict and victory works nothing but good. Even when the taking of a city ends in the good of the majority, there must be suffering for some who are innocent. But the bringing of the spirit under dominion to that which is good and true brings blessings on the man who wins the victory, and works no ill to anyone, but is a source of good to many.
5. The glory of self-rule will last much longer than the glory of any material conquest. Alexander of Macedon took many cities, but the glory that once shed a halo around his name has died away as the world has grown older. And even if the fame of an earthly warrior could last to the end of time, it would last no longer if it rested only on his military achievements. But the glory of self-rule is the glory of goodness which will never grow dim, but shine with increasing brightness as the ages roll.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Now the Lord has made so glorious a conquest over those proud enemies that rose up against you, I beseech you consider, of all conquests the conquest of enemies within is the most honourable and the most noble conquest; for in conquering those enemies that be within, you make a conquest over the devil and hell itself. The word that is rendered ruleth, signifies to conquer, to overcome. It is this conquest that lifts a man up above all other men in the world. And as this is the most noble conquest, so it is the most necessary conquest. You must be the death of your sins, or they will be the death of your souls. Sin is a viper that does always kill where it is not killed. There is nothing gained by making peace with sin but repentance here and hell hereafter. Every yielding to sin is a welcoming of Satan into our very bosoms. Valentine the emperor said upon his deathbed, that among all his victories, one only comforted him; and being asked what that was, he answered, I have overcome my worst enemy, mine own naughty heart. Ah, when you shall lie upon a dying bed, then no conquest will thoroughly comfort, but the conquest of your own sinful hearts. None were to triumph in Rome that had not got five victories; and he shall never triumph in heaven that subdueth not his five senses, saith Isidorus. Ah, souls! what mercy is it to be delivered from an enemy without, and to be eternally destroyed by an enemy within?Brooks.
To follow the bent and tendency of our nature requires no struggle, and being common to all, involves no distinction. But to keep the passions in checkto bridle and deny them; instead of letting loose our rage against an enemy, to subdue him by kindnessthis is one of the severest efforts of a virtuous or of a gracious principle. The most contemptible fool on earth may send a challenge, and draw a trigger, but not to be overcome of evil, but to overcome evil with good, demands a vigour of mind and decision of character, far more difficult of acquiring than the thoughtless courage that can stand the fire of an adversary.Wardlaw.
The taking of a city is only the battle of a day. The other is the weary, unceasing conflict of a life But the magnifying of the conflict exalts the glory of the triumph. Gideons rule over his spirit was better than his victory over the Midianites (Jdg. 8:1; Jdg. 8:3). Davids similar conquest was better than could have been the spoils of Nabals house. (1Sa. 25:33). Not less glorious was that decisive and conscious mastery over his spirit when he refused to drink the water of Bethlehem, obtained at the hazard of his bravest men; thus condemning the inordinate appetite that had desired the refreshment at so unreasonable a cost (2Sa. 23:17). To rule ones spirit is to subdue an enemy that has vanquished conquerors. Meanwhile victory is declared, before the conquest begins. Let every day then be a day of triumph. The promises are to present victory (Rev. 2:7, etc.). With such stirring, stimulating hopes, thou shall surely have rule if thou darest to have it.Bridges.
It may be harder to keep from toppling over a precipice, than to lift, by sheer strength, our body over a wall. The reason is obvious. A feather might keep our balance, so we could lean and be safe; but the difficulty is where to get it. We have strength enough if we only had wherewithal it could be applied. The difficulty of ruling our spirits is, that they are ourselves. The difficulty of an inebriate in resisting a desire, isthat it is his desire. What can he resist it with? It might be far slighter, and yet, if there be nothing to oppose, like the slight weight that topples one upon the Alps, it is as sure to ruin him as a thousand tons.Miller.
Such an one is more excellent than he that is strong of body; for he can bear reproaches, which are more intolerable burdens than any that are wont to be laid upon the backs of the strongest.Muffet.
Therein stands the office of a king,
His honour, virtue, merit, and chief praise,
That for the public all this weight he bears;
Yet he who reigns within himself, and rules
Passions, desires, and fears, is more a king;
Which every wise and virtuous man attain;
And who attains not, ill aspires to rule
Cities of men, or headstrong multitudes,
Subject himself to anarchy within,
Or lawless passions in him which he serves.
Milton.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(32) He that is slow to anger. . . .For victory over self is the hardest of all victories. (Comp. 1Co. 9:27.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
32. Slow to anger, etc. The high moral tone of this maxim has caused it to be much repeated in various languages. Its beauty and good sense are a sufficient comment. Compare Mat 5:5; Pro 15:1.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
v. 32. He that is slow to anger,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Pro 16:32. And he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city It is far beyond comparison easier to conquer enemies, to take citadels, to subject people, than to conquer passions, to moderate desires, to subdue evil habits, and repress the sallies of wrath and resentment. We read of but few celebrated conquerors who have not been subdued by some passion or other. Horace has finely expressed this sentiment, lib. 2: od. 2.
By virtue’s precepts to controul The thirsty cravings of the soul, Is over wider realms to reign Unenvy’d monarch, than if Spain Thou could’st to distant Lybia join, And both the Carthages were thine. FRANCIS.
And Ovid says,
Fortior est qui se, quam qui fortissima vincit Moenia, nec virtus altius ire potest.
One translation renders, the verse, Qui dominatur animo suo, expugnator est urbium; “He that can suppress his passions is even master of all cities; no strength can resist him.” So that if we intend nothing but our own ease and advantage, we have reason to apply ourselves to and study this temper; in which the precepts of the philosophers give us ample instructions, and the practices of mere heathen men have left us notable examples; but the obligations of Christianity carry us much farther; we must add to this temperance, patience, which is a Christian virtue of the highest qualification.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Pro 16:32
Ver. 32. He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty. ] Unruly passions are those Turks, saith one, that we must constantly make war with. Those Spaniards, with whom, as another saith, whoever made peace, gained nothing but repentance. Pax erit infida, pax incerta, as Livy a saith of that which the Romans made with the Samnites; a peace worse than war, as Augustine b saith of the peace brought in by Sulla. Men must be at deadly feud with those “lusts that war in their members,” Jam 4:1 “fighting against their souls.” 1Pe 2:11 These to conquer is the noblest and most signal victory, since in subduing these we overcome the devil, Eph 4:26 Jam 4:7 as in yielding to them, we “give place” to him, and entertain him into our very bosoms. Passionate persons, though they be not drunk, yet are not they their own men; but have so many lusts, so many lords, conquering countries, as Alexander, vanquished of vices; or as the Persian kings, who commanded the whole world, but were commanded by their concubines. How much better Valentinian the emperor, who said, upon his deathbed, that among all his victories one only comforted him; and being asked what that was, he answered, I have overcome my worst enemy, mine own naughty heart.
“ Latius regnes, avidum domando
Spiritum, quam si Lybiam remotis
Gadibus iungas, et uterque poenus
Serviat uni. ”
– Horat., Carm.,
I cannot better translate it than by Solomon’s next words,
He that ruleth his spirit, is better than he that taketh a city.
a Liv. Hist., lib. ix.
b De Civ. Dei., lib. iii. cap. 28.
c Isidor. Tranq.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the mighty = a mighty one.
than he that taketh a city. Illustration: Je-hoshaphat (1Ki 22:3, 1Ki 22:4. Even if the city had been taken, which it was not).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Pro 16:32
Pro 16:32
“He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty And he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city”
The teaching here is simply that a person who can take charge of his own conduct, discipline and command his own behavior, having complete control of his appetites and passions – that man is greater than any world conqueror or military hero.
Pro 16:32. A person who is slow to anger is a person of good judgment, one who exhausts his ability to overlook and explain the possible whys and wherefores of anothers displeasing action who finally faces the downright evil that the other person has done. This virtue is praised (Pro 19:11) and commanded (Jas 1:19), and one is disqualified from being an elder in the church without it (Tit 1:7). Such rules his own spirit; and some who can take cities (conquerors) and do all kinds of physical feats of power (like Samson) cannot rule themselves successfully. Clarke: It is much easier to subdue the enemy without than the one within…Alexander, who conquered the world, was a slave to intemperate anger, and in a fit of it slew Clytus, the best and most intimate of all his friends.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
that is: Pro 14:29, Pro 15:18, Pro 19:11, Psa 103:8, Eph 5:1, Jam 1:19
and he: Pro 16:19, Pro 25:28, Rom 12:21, Rev 3:21
Reciprocal: Jdg 8:3 – Then 1Sa 25:13 – Gird ye Psa 37:8 – Cease Pro 14:17 – that Pro 17:14 – leave Pro 17:27 – an excellent spirit Pro 18:19 – than Pro 20:3 – an Ecc 7:8 – the patient Ecc 7:9 – hasty Tit 1:7 – not soon
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 16:32. He that is slow to anger That can suppress its motions, and does not revenge, but shows himself ready to forgive injuries; is better than the mighty Because he is more like God, more wise to foresee, and to prevent mischief both to himself and others, which often arises from rash anger; of a more gallant and generous spirit, and more valiant and victorious. This is opposed to the perverse judgment of the world, who esteem such persons pusillanimous and cowardly; and he that ruleth his spirit That hath power to govern all his own inclinations, affections, and passions by reason; than he that taketh a city Hath a nobler empire than he that subdues cities and countries by force of arms. For the conquest of ourselves, and our own unruly passions, requires more true conduct, and a more steady, constant, and regular management, than the obtaining of a victory over the forces of an enemy. A rational conquest is more honourable to a rational creature, than a brutal one; it is a victory that doth nobody any harm; no lives or treasures are sacrificed to it, but only some base lusts. It is harder, and therefore more glorious, to quash an insurrection at home than to resist an invasion from abroad; nay, such are the gains of meekness, that by it we are more than conquerors.