Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 25:19

Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble [is like] a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint.

Stress is to be laid on the uselessness of the broken tooth and the foot out of joint, or tottering, rather than on the pain connected with them. The King James Version loses the emphasis and point of the Hebrew by inverting the original order, which is a broken … joint is confidence etc.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Pro 25:19

Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint.

Man trusting in man

This is sometimes a great evil. To trust in man and disregard God, or to repose in man the confidence that rightly belongs to God alone, is sinful and ruinous. But in some respects it is natural and right to trust our fellow-men. We are social beings. There can be no friendship without trust. It is right to trust our friends–

1. For sympathy in joy or sorrow.

2. For help in time of need.

3. For honourable fidelity in all confidences.

I. The test of man as an object of trust. The time of trouble tests the faithfulness of those in whom we confide. Prosperity brings friends; adversity tests them. Three kinds of trouble test man as an object of trust–

1. Trouble in our circumstances, or loss and poverty.

2. Trouble in our reputation, or misrepresentation and slander.

3. Trouble in our character, or sin. For a truly Christian man may fall into grievous sin.

II. The failure of man as an object of trust.

1. The unfaithful man in time of trial fails those who trust him.

2. The failure of the unfaithful man in time of trial is painful to those who trust him. The attempt to use the broken tooth or dislocated joint causes suffering. Some of the keenest anguish of human souls is caused by the failure of those in whom they trusted.

Learn–

(1) To be faithful to every trust reposed in us.

(2) To be careful in whom we repose confidence.

(3) To prize those whose trustworthiness we have proved.

(4) To place our supreme trust in God. (William Jones.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

It is not only deceitful, but hurtful, as a broken tooth though it make show of helping, yet is not only unhelpful to a man for chewing his meat, but also troublesome and painful; and as a foot out of joint doth not help, but hinder and pain, him that attempts to walk upon it.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

19. Treachery annoys aswell as deceives.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble,…. It is not good to put confidence in any man, not in princes, nor in the best of men; much less in an unfaithful, prevaricating, and treacherous man; and especially in a time of distress and trouble, depending on his help and assistance, which is leaning on a broken reed, and trusting to a broken staff. Or, “the confidence of an unfaithful man in time of trouble” o; that which he puts confidence in; who trusts in his riches, or in his righteousness, or in his own heart, all which are vain and deceitful:

[is like] a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint; which are so far from being of any use, the one in eating food, and the other in walking, that they are both an hindrance to those actions, and cause pain and uneasiness: or, “a bad tooth”, so the Targum and Syriac version; a rotten one.

o “fiducia praevaricatoris”, Pagninus, Montanus, Mercerus, Gejerus; “fiducia perfidi”, Cocceius, Michaelis.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

      19 Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint.

      1. The confidence of an unfaithful man (so some read it) will be like a broken tooth; his policy, his power, his interest, all that which he trusted in to support him in his wickedness, will fail him in time of trouble, Ps. lii. 7. 2. Confidence in an unfaithful man (so we read it), in a man whom we thought trusty and therefore depended on, but who proves otherwise; it proves not only unserviceable, but painful and vexatious, like a broken tooth, or a foot out of joint, which, when we put any stress upon it, not only fails us, but makes us feel from it, especially in time of trouble, when we most expect help from it; it is like a broken reed, Isa. xxxvi. 6. Confidence in a faithful God, in time of trouble, will not prove thus; on him we may rest and in him dwell at ease.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

Misplaced Confidence

Verse 19 affirms-that confidence in an unfaithful man in time of need or trouble is as useless as a broken tooth when one needs to chew, or a foot out of joint when one needs to walk or run. Failure of the unfaithful is also painful to those who trust him, Psa 55:12-14. Accounts of faithful men and women are recorded in Scripture; Gen 39:6; 2Ki 12:15; 2Ch 34:11-12; Dan 6:4; Rom 16:1-4, but no man should be trusted in preference to the LORD, Psa 146:3; Isa 31:1; Jer 17:5.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

CRITICAL NOTES.

Pro. 25:19. Foot out of joint. Rather An unsteady foot.

Pro. 25:20. Nitre. Not the substance we now understand by nitrei.e., nitrate of potassa (saltpetre), but the natron or native carbonate of soda of modern chemistry. (Smiths Dictionary.) The combination of the acid and alkali would, of course, produce effervescence.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro. 25:19-20

MISPLACED CONFIDENCE AND UNSEASONABLE SONGS

The day of adversity is, as we saw on chap. Pro. 24:10, a testing time for the man who is the subject of the calamity, and it is also a season in which he tests the worth of those who have called themselves his friends in the time of his prosperity. These verses deal with two varieties among many who intensify his affliction and deepen his grief, instead of bringing him help and comfort. There is

I. The faithless friend. This phrase is a contradictory one, but it is used for want of a better. The word friend, in its highest and best sense, denotes one who is worthy of trust and who never fails in the hour of trial. But there are many who assume the name who are unworthy of it, and whose failure when they are most needed is one of the most bitter drops in the cup of calamity. If the cable breaks in a calm sea the vessel and the crew may escape serious injury; but if it gives way amid storm and tempest, the consequences are most disastrous. It is hard to find a professed friend failing us when we are sailing in calm waters, but it may then be borne without entirely crushing the spirit. But when such a discovery is first made in the day of trouble, it is enough to break the stoutest heart.

II. The undiscerning friend. There are many real friends who lack the ability to discern how best to help the sorrowful and heavy hearted. They sing a song with the intention of giving cheer when tears, or at least silence, would be far more acceptable to the wounded spirit. Songs of gladness, such as are doubtless here intended, fit the spirit when it is walking in the sunlight, but they aggravate the suffering of those who are in darkness of soul. He who aspires to the name of friend must learn to rejoice with those who rejoice and to weep with those that weep.

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS

Pro. 25:19. The greatest disaster, in proportion to the number of men engaged, that befel our arms in the Eastern insurrection, was the direct result of confidence in an unfaithful man. At Arrah-on-the-Ganges three or four hundred soldiers were sent to attack a body of the rebels, and relieve some British residents who were in danger there. A native was employed to ascertain the position of the enemy. In consequence of his report, the men left the river and made a night march into the interior. The messenger was false. The little army fell into an ambush prepared for them in the jungle. Two-thirds of their number were shot down in the dark by unseen foes. The remnant escaped to their ship when the day dawned. As they lay in that fatal valley getting their wounds in the dark, and helplessly wishing for the day, how exquisitely bitter must have been the reflection that a too ready trust in a faithless man had wrought them all this woe.Arnot.

The God of nature hath placed the teeth in two jaws, that the one may be helpful to the other; and he hath supported man with two feet, that the one may be a succour to the other. From hence, to teach us the help and support which one man ought to yield to another. It is by means of this mutual support in the feet that we pass over the blocks that lie in our way; for while the one foot is lifted up to step over them, the other bears up the body. It is the mutual help of the jaws, and by their meeting together, that we break hard things and make them fit nourishment for us. In like manner, therefore, when a block lies in the way of anyone, another should be ready to support him until he get over it. When a hard distress lieth upon anyone, another should be ready to help him for the better breaking through it. But in this point too many are like a broken tooth, and he that looketh to meet with them for help in his distress, findeth them not to answer his expectation and too many are like a foot out of joint, and he that thinketh to rest upon them in time of need, is sure to fall by them.Jermin.

Pro. 25:20. He that taketh away a garment from another may think to ease his burden, but it being done in cold weather, it addeth to his coldness; he that putteth vinegar upon nitre may think only to break the hardness of it, but he dissolveth it. In like manner he that singeth songs to a heavy heart may think to ease the burden of sorrow, may think to break the hardness of grief, but such is the force of the sad contraposition, such is the power of the contrariety between singing and sorrow of heart, that the ease of ones heart being able to sing, increaseth the weight of the others trouble that he cannot do so.Jermin.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

19. An unfaithful man A treacherous one. “A treacherous man will not only fail you in distress, but will annoy you like a broken tooth or a sprained foot.” Stuart. “An unsteady foot.” Conant. “Sliding fote,” (foot.) Geneva Bible.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments