Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 19:10
Delight is not seemly for a fool; much less for a servant to have rule over princes.
10. delight ] Rather, luxury, or delicate living, R.V. , LXX. Comp. , Luk 7:25; as “a servant” would be if he had “rule over princes.”
On this second clause Dean Plumptre ( Speaker’s Comm.) quotes Claudian in Eutrop. 1. 183:
“nec bellua tetrior ulla est,
Quam servi rabies in libera colla furentis.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Delight, high unrestrained enjoyment, is to the fool who lacks wisdom but a temptation and a snare. The second clause carries the thought on to what the despotism of Eastern monarchies often presented, the objectionable rule of some favored slave, it might be, of alien birth, over the princes and nobles of the land.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 10. Delight is not seemly for a fool] taanug, splendid or luxurious living, rank, equipage, c. These sit ill on a fool, though he be by birth a lord.
For a servant to have rule over princes.] I pity the king who delivers himself into the hands of his own ministers. Such a one loses his character, and cannot be respected by his subjects, or rather their subjects. But it is still worse when a person of mean extraction is raised to the throne, or to any place of power he is generally cruel and tyrannical.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Delight, to live in pleasure, and plenty, and outward glory,
is not seemly for a fool; it doth not become him, nor suit with him; partly because prosperity corrupts even wise men, and makes fools mad; and partly because it gives him more opportunity to discover his folly, and to do mischief both to himself and others. He implies that a rod or punishment is fitter for him than pleasure, as is noted, Pro 10:13; 26:3.
A servant; who is of a servile condition and disposition, not much differing from a fool; who is a servant to his lusts, and wholly unfit to rule other men.
Over princes, i.e. over men of better quality than himself; for servants are commonly ignorant, and when they are advanced, they grow insolent, and presumptuous, and intolerable.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10. (Compare Pr17:7). The fool is incapable of properly using pleasure asknowledge, yet for him to have it is less incongruous than the undueelevation of servants. Let each abide in his calling (1Co7:20).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Delight is not seemly for a fool,…. Such an one as Nabal, whose name and nature were alike; and whose prosperity ill became him, and the mirth and delight he had in it, 1Sa 25:25; for, as the wise man elsewhere says, “the prosperity of fools shall destroy them”, Pr 1:26; they do not know how to make a right use of their prosperity; nor to moderate their enjoyments, pleasures, and delights. Some understand this of spiritual delight in the Lord; in his ways and ordinances, which wicked men are strangers to: and a very uncomely thing it is for such persons to talk of spiritual joy and delight, and of their communion with God, when they live in sin;
much less for a servant to have rule over princes; this was a sight which Solomon had seen, but was very disagreeable to him; and was one of the four things the earth cannot bear; the insolence of a servant, when he becomes master over his superiors, is intolerable; see
Pr 30:22. It may be spiritually applied to such who are servants of sin; to whose sensual appetites and carnal affections the more noble and princely powers of the soul, the understanding and mind, become subject; which is very improper and unseemly.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
10 Luxury becometh not a fool;
How much less a servant to rule over princes.
Thus also with (3 p. Pil. non decet, cf. the adj. Pro 26:1) Pro 17:7 begins. rises here, as at Pro 19:7, a minori ad majus: how much more is it unbecoming = how much less is it seemly. The contrast in the last case is, however, more rugged, and the expression harsher. “A fool cannot bear luxury: he becomes by it yet more foolish; one who was previously a humble slave, but who has attained by good fortune a place of prominence and power, from being something good, becomes at once something bad: an insolent sceleratus ” (Fl.). Agur, xxx. 22f., describes such a homo novus as an unbearable calamity; and the author of the Book of Ecclesiastes, written in the time of the Persian domination, speaks, Ecc 10:7, of such. The lxx translates, , rendering the phrase by , but all other translators had before them.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
10 Delight is not seemly for a fool; much less for a servant to have rule over princes.
Note, 1. Pleasure and liberty ill become a fool: Delight is not seemly for such a one. A man that has not wisdom and grace has no right nor title to true joy, and therefore it is unseemly. It ill becomes those that do not delight in God to delight in any thing, nor how to manage themselves, and therefore they do but expose themselves. It becomes ungracious fools to be afflicted, and mourn, and weep, not to laugh and be merry; rebukes are more proper for them than delights. Delight is seemly for a man of business, to refresh him when he is fatigued, but not for a fool, that lives an idle life and abuses his recreations. The prosperity of fools discovers their folly and destroys them. 2. Power and honour ill become a man of a servile spirit. Nothing is more unseemly than for a servant to have rule over princes; it is absurd in itself, and very preposterous, for none are so insolent and intolerable as a beggar on horseback, a servant when he reigns, ch. xxx. 22. It is very unseemly for one that is a servant to sin and his lusts to rule over and oppress those that are God’s freemen and made kings and priests to him.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Things Unseemly
Verse 10 declares that delight, unrestrained luxury, is not appropriate for the fool who lacks wisdom; much less should a slave have the rule over princes, Pro 30:21-22; Pro 26:1; Ecc 10:5-7.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Pro. 19:10 Delight. Most commentators translate this word luxury. Miller, however, as will be seen from his comment, retains the reading of the English version.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro. 19:10
I. Where there is wealth or exalted station there ought to be correspondent qualifications. (For the real signification of the word translated delight see Critical Notes.) If a man is rich he ought to be wise, and if he is powerful he ought to have been instructed how to use his power well. A fool is useless in any condition of life, but a fool who is the possessor of a fortune is a power for evil. We must understand the word servant here to mean an ignorant and incapable manone who, though able to serve, has no ability to rule. A man may be very well fitted to perform the duties of a common seaman, but if he is ignorant of the laws of navigation it would be a great misfortune for both himself and the rest of the crew if he were to be appointed to the captains post. If he had remained before the mast he might have done good service, but when he is promoted to a higher rank he is only an instrument of mischief. Of the two incongruities dealt with in the proverb this last is the most fruitful of evil. It is a lamentable thing when great riches come into the possession of a fool who does not know how to use his wealth either for his own or his neighbours good, and it may be productive of positive harm both to himself and others. Instances are not at all uncommon, and most men have met with them, in which a man in a very humble station, and destitute of true and spiritual wisdom, inherits suddenly a large fortune. In the majority of such cases the inheritance is a curse rather than a blessing, for the inheritor has no idea how to use it so as to promote his own real welfare. His higher nature has never been developed, consequently he has no spiritual or intellectual desires to gratify, and all he can do with his wealth is to minister to his appetites and gratify his passions, which he often does in a most unseemly way, and to an extent which makes him a worse man when he is rich than he was when he was poor. But this misuse of wealth is not so great a misfortune as the misuse of power. The evil effects of the first will be confined within comparatively narrow limits, but those of the latter are widespread. When a man is neither a prince by birth or by nature, and yet is in a position which gives him power over men who are either or both, there is a great disproportion in the moral fitness of things which generally brings much social and national trouble. For if a mans only title to rule is that of birth, it is better for those whom he rules than if he had none at all. If he is an incapable man himself he may be the descendant of greater men, and those under him may be able to submit to him for what he represents, although they cannot reverence him for what he is. But when he has not even this small claim on their obedience, the unseemliness is so great that national anarchy, and consequently much individual suffering, is the almost certain result.
II. Either of these incongruities present a deep mystery in the Divine government. When we consider what a great power for good as well as for evil is wrapped up in wealth, the providence appears to us dark which often gives it to the moral fool and leaves the wise man destitute. But when we find a weak man apparently holding in his hands the destinies of many stronger and nobler mena servant ruling over princesthe providence seems darker still. But there are two sources whence we can draw comfort. We can look forward to that time of restitution of all things (Act. 3:21) when all these manifest inconsistencies shall be done away with, and we can assure ourselves that things are not what they seemthat the wisdom of the wise man is a greater power for good than the wealth of the rich, and that, after all, the choice of the ruler is in the hand of those whom he rules, and that if the latter are princes they will not long suffer themselves to be ruled by one who is a servant.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
1. In its secular form this truth is obvious.
2. In its higher but intermediate form, it means that an ungodly sinner, here called a stupid man, on his way to death and judgment, is so shockingly off in all interests of his being, that delight is a mockery; it is anything but suited to his state. And to have him stand, as he often does, superior to Christians, overawing Christian life, and repressing Christian eminence of character, is indeed a servant ruling a prince; and it is as good an instance as could be met, of something that does not suit, or as the original has it, does not sit well.
3. But Solomon would carry it a story higher. He means to continue his pursuit of the impenitent. He means to tell them that their delight, in itself considered, would not sit well; that to reward a fool would bring dishonour upon government; and to release the outlaw from his bonds would really be to elect the slave to a post higher than the princes.Miller.
With all the preference here expressed for virtuous poverty, the seemliness of rank, and the violence done by the upstart rule of the lower over the higher, are not overlooked.Chalmers.
Abundance of wealth, dainty fare, and pastime or recreation, is not meet for a vain and wicked person. For, first of all, He rather deserveth correction than recreation; secondly, He abuseth all his delights and possessions to his own hurt, being drunken with his vanities; last of all, He is so puffed up and corrupted by prosperity, that he oppresseth his neighbours. But if a light vanity beseem not a vain person, then authority, which carrieth with it a weight of glory, less beseemeth a vile person, who is of a servile disposition and condition, especially that rule which is exercised over noble personages.Muffet.
Judge, then, how horrible it is that men should set the devil or his two angels, the world and the flesh, on the throne, while they place God on the footstool; or that in this commonwealth of man, reason, which is the queen or princess over the better powers and graces of the soul, should stoop to so base a slave as sensual lust.T. Adams.
The reason is, because a wise man is master of his delight, a fool is servant unto it. And delight never doth well but where it is commanded, never doth so ill as where it is commander. The command of delight is like the ruling of a servant over princes; and as he is foolish in ruling, so it is the quality of a fool to give the ruling of his heart unto delight.Jermin.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(10) Delight is not seemly for a fool.He is ruined by prosperity and luxury: much more is a slave unfit to rule over princes. The writer has in his mind the case of an emancipated slave being raised to high place by court favour, and then insolently trampling on those who were once far above him. (Comp. Pro. 30:22; Ecc. 10:6-7.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
10. Delight That kind of enjoyment which proceeds from delicate or luxurious living.
Is not seemly Not suitable, does not sit well on a fool; a figure supposed to be taken from the fitting of a garment.
Much less Much more unsuitable is it for a servant to have rule over princes. It is an old observation, that servants, (slaves,) who are commonly ignorant, when advanced grow insolent, presumptuous, and intolerable. A person of mean extraction raised to power is frequently self-willed, cruel, and tyrannical. Among us such cases as here named are rare; but in the East it is no unusual thing for a despot to exalt a low favourite to high honour. Compare Pro 17:2; Pro 26:1; Pro 26:8; Pro 30:22; Ecc 10:7.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
v. 10. Delight is not seemly for a fool,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Delight is not seemly for a fool; much less for a servant to have rule over princes. The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression. The king’s wrath is as the roaring of a lion; but his favour is as dew upon the grass.
Of what king doth the scriptures here speak but of Jesus? Of his wrath we have a striking account, Psa 2:12 . And both the wrath of the Lamb, and the lion of the tribe of Judah, are characters under which Jesus is spoken of. Rev 5:5-6 See a most striking description. Rev 6:12-17 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Pro 19:10 Delight is not seemly for a fool; much less for a servant to have rule over princes.
Ver. 10. Delight is not seemly for a fool. ] Dignitas in indigno est ornamentum in luto, saith Salvian. Health, wealth, nobility, beauty, honour, and the like, are ill bestowed upon a wicked man, who will abuse them all to his own and other men’s undoing. The wisest have enough to do to manage these outward good things. What may we hen expect from fools? a See Trapp on “ Pro 14:24 “ If they make wise men fools, they will make fools mad men.
Much less for a servant to rule over princes.
‘ A .’
As Becket and Wolsey affected to do in their generations; and as the bridge maker of Rome, who styles himself servus servorum, a servant of servants, and yet acts as a dominus dominantium et rex regum, lord of lords, and king of kings. Round about the Pope’s coins are these words stamped, “That nation that will not serve thee shall be rooted out.” His janissaries, also, the Jesuits, are as a most agile sharp sword, whose blade is sheathed at pleasure in the bowels of every commonwealth, but the handle reacheth to Rome and Spain. This made that most valiant and puissant prince, Henry IV of France, when he was persuaded by one to banish the Jesuits, say, “Give me then security for my life.”
a Secundae res etiam sapientum animos fatigant; quanto magis insolescent stulti rerum successu prospero? – Salust.
Delight = Luxury.
Pro 19:10
Pro 19:10
“Delicate living is not seemly for a fool; Much less for a servant to have rule over princes.”
A remarkably effective illustration of what is taught here is that of Gideon’s son Abimelech by a concubine. Another Biblical example of the same thing is that of Felix (Act 23:27-33). “He exercised the authority of a prince, but he had the heart of a slave.”
Pro 19:10. Delicate living is luxurious living. Seemly means fitting for. Both statements of this verse show
somebody out of place: a fool living luxuriously and a servant ruling over princes. Neither one is in order. Appropriately does Pro 30:21-23 say, For three things the earth doth tremble, And for four, which it cannot bear: For a servant when he is king; And fool when he is filled with food… History tells us of a man who wanted to guard against falling into the very things of which this verse speaks. He was Agathocles, ruler of Syracuse. He rose from the lowly occupation of a potter and to remind himself of his lowly origin, he ate off cheap earthenware.
Delight: Pro 30:21, Pro 30:22, 1Sa 25:36, Est 3:15, Isa 5:11, Isa 5:12, Isa 22:12-14, Hos 7:3-5, Hos 9:1, Amo 6:3-6, Luk 16:19, Luk 16:23, Jam 4:9
much: 2Sa 3:24, 2Sa 3:25, 2Sa 3:39, Ecc 10:5-7, Isa 3:5
Reciprocal: 2Sa 19:6 – thou regardest Pro 26:8 – so Ecc 10:7 – General
Pro 19:10. Delight is not seemly for a fool To live in affluence, pleasure, and outward glory, doth not become him, nor suit with him; because prosperity corrupts even wise men, and makes fools mad; and because it gives him more opportunity to discover his folly, and to do mischief both to himself and others. He implies that a rod, or punishment, is fitter for him than pleasure; much less for a servant For one who has been a slave, or who is in a servile condition, and of a servile disposition, not much differing from a fool; or who is a servant to his lusts, and wholly unfit to rule other men; to have rule over princes Over men of better quality than himself: for servants are commonly ignorant; and when they are advanced, they grow insolent, presumptuous, and intolerable.
19:10 {c} Delight is not proper for a fool; much less for a servant to have rule over princes.
(c) The free use of things are not to be permitted to him who cannot use them correctly.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes