Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 21:10
The soul of the wicked desireth evil: his neighbor findeth no favor in his eyes.
The soul of the wicked desireth evil; his heart is fully and earnestly set in him, as it is expressed, Ecc 8:11, to do evil, to work wickedness, to do mischief to others, to satisfy his own lusts, though it be with injury of others.
His neighbour findeth no favour in his eyes, if he either dissuade him from his wickedness, or stand in the way of his lusts. He spares neither friend nor foe.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10. So strongly does he desireto do evil (Psa 10:3; Ecc 8:11),that he will not even spare his friend if in his way.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The soul of the wicked desireth evil,…. The evil of sin, it being natural to him; he chooses it, delights in it, craves after it, under a notion of pleasure or profit: or the evil of mischief; it is a sport and pastime to him to do injury to others; see Pr 10:23; he desires both the one and the other with all his soul; his heart is in it, he is set upon it, which shows him to be a wicked man;
his neighbour findeth no favour in his eyes; not only he delights to do mischief to an enemy or a stranger, but even to a neighbour and friend; he will do him no kindness, though he asks it of him; he will show him no mercy, though an object of it; he will spare him not, but do him an injury, if he attempts to hinder or dissuade him from doing mischief, or reproves him for it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
10 The soul of the godless hath its desire after evil;
His neighbour findeth no mercy in his eyes.
The interchange of perf. and fut. cannot be without intention. Lwenstein renders the former as perf. hypotheticum: if the soul of the wicked desires anything evil…; but the wishes evil not merely now and then, but that is in general his nature and tendency. The perf. expresses that which is actually the case: the soul of the wicked has its desire directed (write with Munach, after Codd. and old Ed., not with Makkeph) toward evil, and the fut. expresses that which proceeds from this: he who stands near him is not spared. is, as at Isa 26:10, Hoph. of , to incline, viz., oneself, compassionately toward any one, or to bend to him. But in what sense is added? It does not mean, as frequently, e.g., Pro 21:2, according to his judgment, nor, as at Pro 20:8; Pro 6:13: with his eyes, but is to be understood after the phrase : his neighbour finds no mercy in his eyes, so that in these words the sympathy ruling within him expresses itself: “his eyes will not spare his friends,” vid., Isa 13:18.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
10 The soul of the wicked desireth evil: his neighbour findeth no favour in his eyes.
See here the character of a very wicked man. 1. The strong inclination he has to do mischief. His very soul desires evil, desires that evil may be done and that he may have the pleasure, not only of seeing it, but of having a hand in it. The root of wickedness lies in the soul; the desire that men have to do evil, that is the lust which conceives and brings forth sin. 2. The strong aversion he has to do good: His neighbour, his friend, his nearest relation, finds no favour in his eyes, cannot gain from him the least kindness, though he be in the greatest need of it. And, when he is in the pursuit of the evil his heart is so much upon, he will spare no man that stands in his way; his next neighbour shall be used no better than a stranger, than an enemy.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Dominated By Evil
Verse 10 emphasizes the depravity of the wicked man. There is within him a dominant desire for evil; his neighbor’s need receives no sympathy from him, Pro 6:16; Pro 6:18; Pro 2:12-14; Pro 14:21; Jer 17:9; Ecc 9:3.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro. 21:10
THE DESIRE OF THE WICKED
On the desire of the wicked see on chap. Pro. 11:5-6, page 199. Concerning that desire it is here affirmed
That it overmasters and destroys all natural feelings of compassion. The Bible teaches us that in the estimation of God he is our neighbour who, as one of the same great human family, stands upon the same level with us,the child of the same God and heir to the same inheritance of sorrow and death. As such he has a claim upon our consideration and goodwill at all times, and sometimes he stands in need of our sympathy and help. Now there are spiritual desires and inclinations to which we are bound to subordinate some claims of human kinship. The relation of a disciple of Christ to his Master is so far above all human ties that they sink into apparent insignificance beside it, but this relationship has not the effect of lessening mans concern for the welfare of his brother, but of increasing it tenfold. But here is subjection to a principle as much below nature as the other is above itevil instead of good is the aim of the life, and in proportion as it rules and reigns it drags a man below the level of even ordinary human nature and leads him to so earnest a pursuit of his own wicked devices that he has no time to pause to consider the claims of others.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Evil. All kinds of it. He rejoices in iniquity (1Co. 13:6); he rejoices in calamity (chap. Pro. 17:5); he desires nothing but evil (chap. Pro. 17:11). Blessed be God, if a soul desires anything but evil, i.e., desires it truly (see Jas. 4:2), that soul is saved. As to the second clause, there may be a bending over earthly distress, but real favour to his neighbour the lost man never shows. The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel (chap. Pro. 12:10).Miller.
And here lies the difference between the godly and the wicked; not that the one is pure from evil, and the other commits it, but that the one does it from constraint, the other from delight. The one testifiesWhat I hatethe otherWhat my soul desireththat do I. As the fruit of this native cherished principle, self to the wicked is both his god and his object.Bridges.
He views his neighbour in no other light than as, on the one hand, the means of thwarting, or, on the other, the instrument of promoting his own ends. Can he gain anything by him? he will flatter and cajole him, and do everything to win his favour, and secure his services. Does his neighbours interest, reputation, personal and family comforts, connections, or even life itself, stand in the way of the attainment of his wishes?he is ready to sacrifice all to his idol.Wardlaw.
It is the common maxim of the schools, that, seeing the nature of the good is the nature of that which is desirable, it is impossible that evil, as it is so, should be desired. But then the schools do add also, that the will may desire anything, it is not required that it be good in the truth of the thing, but that it be apprehended as if it were good. And thus it is that the soul of the wicked desireth evil, because that he apprehendeth the good, either of some pleasure of profit, or some contentment in it.Jermin.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(10) His neighbour findeth no favour in his eyes.The wicked must have whatever he has set his heart upon, however much trouble and sorrow he may cause to his neighbour thereby.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
10. Wicked desireth Or wishes, evil to others.
Neighbour Or friend. Some render: “He will even wrong his friend.” Comp. Pro 17:5-11. Findeth no favour Or compassion. It will be impossible to please or satisfy such a man.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
v. 10. The soul of the wicked desireth evil,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Nature and Practice
Pro 21:10
Here are men working according to their nature. That is a universal necessity. Here are men who are not only doing evil but desiring to do it; not doing evil in one passionate and hurried act, but doing it constantly; liking to do it, doing it in anticipation, planning it; making all things concur and focus upon it; making evil part of a plot, a plot conceived and wrought out in the burning, vehement heart The mere doing of the evil itself is momentary, and is not worth doing. The devil will not give us time enough when he has brought us to the point of absolute transaction; it is one mouthful of the interdicted fruit, and then sudden hell. Where the enemy gives time is in anticipation, fore-arranging; as who should say, How shall this be done? and when? under what circumstances? What condiment can we add to this to make it titillate the palate? what contributory circumstances can we arrange so as to make the feast long? The devil gives no long feasts. He gives long notice, long preparation; he causes the soul to delight in the outlook upon the positive occasion that is coming; but when it comes it is a sudden opening and a sudden shutting, a baleful light, an everlasting darkness.
“The soul of the wicked desireth evil,” likes it, longs for it, delights in it. That was not Paul’s particular state of mind as described in the seventh chapter of his Epistle to the Romans. He did evil, and did not want to do it; he put forth his hands to actions which he hated. There is all the difference in the world between desiring to do evil and simply doing it Many a man does the evil who does not desire to do that which is wrong. I have not hesitated to teach that many a man who drinks deeply is no drunkard. His body is drunk, but his soul is sober. Herein is a great mystery the eternal conflict between passion and reason, body and soul, the dust we carry and the deity that burns within us. Paul set forth the experience of such conflict in vivid and graphic terms. He would not do the evil, and then he did it; he would do the good, and then he found himself unable to accomplish his own purpose; he hated the evil and then went out and did it; he longed to serve the good, and when he went out to do it he forgot his road and was brought home a blind man. Do not confuse this state of heart and soul with the disposition that wallows in evil. Many a man is drunk who is a total abstainer. That is the converse truth. We are what we want to be. Out of the heart proceed murders, thefts, adulteries, blasphemies. O thou well-dressed and heavily protected hypocrite! Thou art now caught in a shower of darts; it is no rain that beats upon thee, or thou mightest keep it off, but sharp steel sent down from God’s heaven, and thou hast no protection against that assault. What is the state of your heart? Do you wear the saint, and keep the blackguard well concealed? Do you say your prayers, and live your desires? Let every man search himself, whether he preach the judgment, or only hear its proclamation.
So subtle are the operations of the heart, so incalculable are the temptations of the enemy, that even here we have to be very particular lest we take comfort to which we have no right. We must not deceive ourselves; we must not suppose that we are those who would not do evil and yet do it, if in our hearts there is a testimony against us, urgent, not to be kept down, resurgent, that comes up through all temptations and all illusions, and asserts itself as the leading and dominant fact in our spiritual consciousness. Besides, the doing, even the reluctant doing, may excite the desire to do with a will. If we go very frequently back and back to our bad habits they may become easy to us; we shall not always remain in the state of doing the evil which we do not want to do. Presently we may want to do it, we may desire to do it. Observe how wondrously that word “convenient” is used in the New Testament. It is used in connection either with excuses or with debaucheries. “When a convenient day was come.” Herod can make his own conveniences. He had arranged that he should be called at this hour and that his interview with unpleasant interlocutors should be interrupted five minutes later, and that his door should be thundered at by an importunate fist, and that he should have wine ready when the simulated spasm tears his breast; and he can arrange that by accident the tempter come upon the scene: whereas the tempter’s name was written upon the programme a week ago. “A convenient day” a coming-together day, when lines and threads, and arrangements and appointments, can be made to con, to get together, to form a so-called necessity.
The way of evil is not always agreeable at first. Evil brings its own immediate penalties. It is so with uncleanly practices, with undesirable habits that may afterwards grow into luxuries. Many a young man has had to fight his way into slavery. When he first tasted the thing, it was deadly; he said he revolted from it. The enemy said, Try it again. He tried it again; it was little better. A third time, and it was not so unmanageable; a fourth time, a twelfth time, and then he desired it. Think of a free young soul fighting its way determinedly into bondage! This is possible. Oh, mysterious human nature! “how abject, how august!” When does a man lose his soul? We speak of the loss of the soul sometimes as if it were a momentary and complete act. There is a sense in which the loss of the soul is both momentary and complete. There is a sense in which death may be sudden, though it has been looked for for years. Is not death always sudden? Can any man wholly prepare himself for that grim guest? When he takes his seat does he not take it suddenly, and blight the little festival by his presence? There is another sense in which a man loses his soul little by little. That is the loss to fear. The soul goes down in volume, the soul loses its fine bloom wrought by the summer of God: the will is more reluctant in good directions; the heart has lost its eagerness to pray. The church is not now the sweet necessity of the week; the soul no longer says, When will the Sabbath dawn? when will the golden gates be thrown back that I may enter into fellowship with the saints and into the common prayer and worship addressed to Almighty God the Father? Religious enthusiasm has cooled; we can not adopt an excuse and magnify it into a reason when it is on the side of delay or inactivity. We now look at the barometer, and can be easily persuaded that we are not well enough to go to the sanctuary! Ah, we are losing our souls, we are going down to hell a step at a time. Didst thou think, poor fool, that men went into perdition by one sudden leap? To some men, to go to hell is only the next thing, the next natural thing, the next easy thing; it is not a mile, it is but a span. How solemn is life! The man looks as he has looked for many a day, and yet if you could see him interiorly he is wasted. By what disease? Consumption. Consumption of what? Of the soul; the enemy has nearly eaten it all up. There are those who do not want our preachers to speak of perdition. What is their reason? Hath not the devil some trick of this kind which he plays with a master’s hand? Think!
Blessed be God, the rule operates also on the other side: “It is a joy to the just to do judgment.” He not only does judgment or justice, but he joys in doing it. He is delighted with the opportunity of doing it; he longs to make men glad, to set the oppressed free, to open the prison door to them that are bound unjustly. When he has to make reparation to any man on his own account he does it magnanimously; he says to the wronged man, I thank God for this opportunity of telling you what injustice I have inflicted upon you; I did not understand you, in the sight and fear of God I must own I did not want to understand you; I closed my eyes and then struck in the direction where I thought a blow would tell upon you: I was wrong: God has now given me the spirit of righteousness and integrity and justice, and I will lie down at your feet and say, Have mercy upon me! I have done wickedly. When Christian men learn to do this they will know what the Cross means. We are not to do our duty merely, barely, grudgingly, with critical nicety; we are to carry up duty to the point of generosity and over-soul and overflowingness of all good feeling; we are to do it again, and again, and again, with the abundance, the wave-chasing-wave fulness of the sea. We never can apologise for doing wrong. We must repeat the apology, and study the eloquence of penitence; where we have done wrong it may take the rest of our lifetime to make reparation, and then we shall need all the help of God to heal the heart or the life we have wronged. Sometimes, however, we can only begin at the point of duty. We must begin good-doing where we can. All men have not the same largeness and richness of nature. There are those who tell us that all men are equal simply because they do not know what they are talking about. No two men are equal. Some men never get beyond the point of servitude a day’s wages for a day’s work. They can only do what they call their duty, and any man who sets himself simply to do his duty never does it. Duty can only be done from above; we cannot carry up our actions to the point of duty, we must rise above them, and with Heaven’s help work according to Heaven’s gravitation, and thus do our duty with a masterly hand, as with an eager and grateful heart.
Some men cannot be other than little. They cannot help it; if they are only little in judgment they must be taken for what they are worth, but if their littleness of judgment interferes with their moral integrity then we must watch and rebuke and restrain them. It is impossible for some men to be good. Down to the very last it is impossible for some men to pray to pray in that way that is almost praise, to utter a prayer that has a hymn in the heart of it, to commune with God in some heaven-dissolving way that tears aside all veils and screens, and that sees the Father through the Son, and delights in the ineffable presence. Still we must pray where we can. Sometimes the prayer may be hard and may therefore be costly in the sight of God that is, of great price in the estimation of him who knows through what difficulties we have come to the altar. On the other hand, it is comparatively easy for some men to pray. Let them take care lest they are offering prayers that are not steeped in blood, prayers that are not sacrificial, bleeding at every syllable, prayers that are merely eloquent breath. Each man must examine himself and come to his own conclusion, accepting help from pulpit or press or friend as it may be offered to him. To the last it is hard for some men to give. They cannot part with money. They could part with any amount of good advice in fact, they make themselves the servants of the church in this matter: but in their soul their what? let courtesy prevail over judgment in their soul they are avaricious. Did you ever see Avarice? It is a thing mainly of hands hooked, crooked, grasping hands. Avarice never had a good dinner; even when it dined at others’ expense the food went for nothing, because Avarice was thinking what it would do to-morrow. There is avarice in the church, a bargaining spirit in the sanctuary; a spirit that would settle once for all with God in order to get it over: whereas God will not have it so; he would not have it so in Judaism, he must have the sacrifice every morning, every evening, no intermission. He will have the giving to-day and to-morrow and every day, regularly as he gives the sunshine. By such detail and discipline, by such sharpness of exaction and criticism, he brings us to the last refinement of consent and joy.
Blessed be God, the law is equal. As the law operates in one direction, so it operates in the other: as we lose our souls little by little, we may gain them little by little. You may be more a man to-day than you were seven years ago. You delight more in the law of God, in the expectation of the kingdom; you have begun to say, After all there is something in this religious mystery that is necessary to the completeness of human nature, and to the fulfilment of human hope and human destiny. Be glad of that admission. That is a point to begin at. You say that though you cannot make out the mysteries, here and there you come upon a clear point of reason in your studies of these great religious appeals. Now you are beginning to live. Once you could not sing in the sanctuary, but lately you have joined the hymn in a note or two, blessed be God! We shall have you yet; the Lord will hold you as his willing captive. Once you could not speak to others about spiritual affairs, and latterly you have begun almost to design an attack upon some friend in whose spiritual interests you are deeply concerned, and it may be ere the week is out you will venture the first word. God grant it may be so! Then your friend will tell you he has been waiting for, and expecting this; or if he cannot speak to you in words he will send to your heart the thrill of a masonic grip that says, God be thanked for this touch of human sympathy!
Seeing that the whole matter is so intensely spiritual, that it penetrates to the heart and core and essence of things, what can we do with mere theories, inventions, reforms, propositions, and the like? If we are so spiritually constituted we must be spoken to spiritually. If the beginning, continuance, and end of all this mystery of growth is so intensely spiritual, we must be brought into contact with God the Holy Ghost. It is his work; he must take the things of Christ and show them unto us; he must interpret the Cross in all the meaning of its blood to the aching, wondering, despairing heart. You cannot be brought into divinest relations by merely intellectual argument. “If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” Let your prayer be for the gift of the Holy Ghost. He only can throw back all the hindrances that keep him from the heart; he alone can find his way into the recesses of the soul, the innermost chambers of our mysterious life. Pray for the Holy Ghost. Say, Take not thy Holy Spirit from me! Say, “Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove, with all thy quickening powers.” Wait upon God for this. Say to him plainly, Father, this is not a human matter, this is not to be done by human thought and human scheme; this mystery lies between thyself and myself oh, help me! Dost thou believe? saith the voice from above. Let your answer be, “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Pro 21:10 The soul of the wicked desireth evil: his neighbour findeth no favour in his eyes.
Ver. 10. The soul of the wicked desireth evil. ] Sinful self-love, the chokeweed of all true love, prompteth the wicked man to envy the good, and wish the evil of all but himself. Hard hearted he is and inhuman, unless it be in a qualm of kindness (as Saul to David, the Egyptians to the Israelites), or merely in dissimulation, as John O’Neale, father to the Earl of Tyrone, that rebel (1598), inscribed himself in all places: I am great John O’Neale, friend to the Queen of England, and foe to all the world. a E , said one wicked emperor; E , said another, striving to outvie him: When I die, let the world be confounded. Nay, while I live let it be so, said the other monster. b
His neighbour finds no favour in his eyes.
a Camden’s Elizab.
b Dio.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the wicked = a lawless one.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Pro 21:10
Pro 21:10
“The soul of the wicked desireth evil; His neighbor findeth no favor in his eyes.”
“This states an important truth about depravity, namely, that men sin not merely from weakness, but eagerly and ruthlessly. Their desire is to commit wickedness.
Pro 21:10. The wicked man does not respect Gods law, for he desireth evil instead of good, nor does he respect his fellow-man, for his neighbor findeth no favor in his eyes. The wicked man is not prompted by a reverence for God, by a respect for Gods law, by holy aspirations. He has his desire set upon evil. They that are after the flesh mind the things of the flesh (Rom 8:5); The mind of the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God (Rom 8:7). The wicked…sleep not, except they do evil; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall (Pro 4:14-16). The person who has no good word for anyone is not honorable himself; this is why his neighbor findeth no favor in his eyes.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
soul: Pro 3:29, Pro 12:12, Psa 36:4, Psa 52:2, Psa 52:3, Mar 7:21, Mar 7:22, 1Co 10:6, Jam 4:1-5, 1Jo 2:16
findeth no favour: Heb. is not favoured, Pro 21:13, 1Sa 25:8-11, Psa 112:5, Psa 112:9, Isa 32:6-8, Mic 3:2, Mic 3:3, Jam 2:13, Jam 5:4-6
Reciprocal: Jam 4:5 – The spirit
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 21:10. The soul of the wicked desireth evil His heart is earnestly and fully set in him, as it is expressed Ecc 8:11, to do evil, to work wickedness, to do mischief to others, or to satisfy his own lusts, though it be with injury of others. His neighbour findeth no favour, &c. If he either endeavour to dissuade him from his wickedness, or stand in the way of his gratifying his lusts. He spares neither friend nor foe.