Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 28:12

When righteous [men] do rejoice, [there is] great glory: but when the wicked rise, a man is hidden.

12. a man is hidden ] Rather, men hide themselves, R.V. “Heb. must be searched for,” marg. Comp. Pro 28:28.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

There is great glory – Men array themselves in festive apparel, and show their joy conspicuously.

A man is hidden – Better, men hide themselves, they shrink and cower for fear, and yet are hunted out.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 12. When righteous men do rejoice] When true religion is no longer persecuted, and the word of God duly esteemed, there is great glory; for the word of the Lord has then free course, runs, and is glorified: but when the wicked rise-when they are elevated to places of trust, and put at the head of civil affairs, then the righteous man is obliged to hide himself; the word of the Lord becomes scarce, and there is no open vision. The first vas the case in this country, in the days of Edward VI.; the second in the days of his successor, MARY I. Popery, cruelty, and knavery, under her, nearly destroyed the Church and the State in these islands.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

When righteous men do rejoice, are encouraged and promoted to places of trust and power, there is great glory in that commonwealth. The state of that kingdom is honourable, and comfortable, and safe, so as good men can show their faces with courage and confidence.

When the wicked rise, are advanced to honour and authority,

a man is hidden; the state of that nation is so shameful and dangerous, that wise and good men, who only are worthy of the name of men, withdraw themselves, or run into corners and obscure places; partly out of grief and shame to behold the wickedness which is publicly and impudently committed; and partly to avoid the rage and injuries of wicked oppressors, and the judgments of God, which commonly follow such persons and their confederates in sin. Or, as others, both ancient and later interpreters, render it, a man is sought out. Sober and good men, who had retired themselves, are searched for, and brought forth like sheep to the slaughter, as being most suspected, and hated, and feared by bloody tyrants.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

12. great gloryor, cause forit to a people, for the righteous rejoice in good, and righteousnessexalts a nation (Pr 14:34).

a man . . . hiddenthatis, the good retire, or all kinds try to escape a wicked rule.

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

When righteous [men] do rejoice, [there is] great glory,…. When it is well with them; when they are in prosperous circumstances; when they are countenanced and encouraged by the government under which they are; when they have the free exercise of their religion; and especially when they are advanced to places of profit, honour, and trust, which must make them cheerful and joyful; it is a glory to a land, it adds greatly to the glory of it, and a fine prospect there is of the increase and continuance of it;

but when the wicked rise: to honour and dignity, and are set in high places, and are in great power and authority, which they exercise to the distress of the righteous and all good men:

a man is hidden: a good man; he hides himself, as in Pr 28:28; he withdraws himself from court, from city, from company, from commerce, and business, because of the tyranny and persecution of wicked men; and flees to distant places, and wanders in deserts and mountains, in caves and dens of the earth; as some saints, under the Old Testament, did, and as the Church, in Gospel times, fled from the tyranny of antichrist into the wilderness, to hide herself: or, “a man is” or “shall be sought for” i, and searched out; as wicked persecutors are very diligent to search for and find out such persons that hide themselves, and fetch them out of their hiding places, and cruelly use them.

i “investigabitur”, Pagninus, Montanus; “exploratur”, Tigurine version; “explorabitur”, Baynus; “pervestigatur”, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Michaelis.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

We take Pro 28:12-20 together. A proverb regarding riches closes this group, as also the foregoing is closed, and its commencement is related in form and in its contents to Pro 28:2:

12 When righteous men triumph, the glory is great;

And when the godless rise, the people are searched for.

The first line of this distich is parallel with Pro 29:2; cf. Pro 11:10, Pro 11:11: when the righteous rejoice, viz., as conquerors (cf. e.g., Psa 60:8), who have the upper hand, then , bright prosperity, is increased; or as Fleischer, by comparison of the Arab. yawm alazynt (day of ornament = festival day), explains: so is there much festival adornment, i.e., one puts on festival clothes, signum pro re signata : thus all appears festal and joyous, for prosperity and happiness then show themselves forth. is adj. and pred. of the substantival clause; Hitzig regards it as the attribute: “then is there great glory;” this supposition is possible ( vid., Pro 7:26, and under Psa 89:51), but here it is purely arbitrary. 28a is parallel with 12b: “if the godless arise, attain to power and prominence, these men are spied out, i.e., as we say, after Zep 1:12, they are searched for as with lamps. is to be understood after Obadiah, Oba 1:6, cf. Pro 2:4: men are searched out, i.e., are plundered (in which sense Heidenheim regards as here a transposition from ), or, with reference to the secret police of despotism: they are subjected to espionage. But a better gloss is 28a: the people let themselves be sought for, they keep themselves concealed in the inside of their houses, they venture not out into the streets and public places (Fleischer), for mistrust and suspicion oppress them all; one regards his person and property nowhere safer than within the four walls of his house; the lively, noisy, variegated life which elsewhere rules without, is as if it were dead.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

      12 When righteous men do rejoice, there is great glory: but when the wicked rise, a man is hidden.

      Note, 1. The comfort of the people of God is the honour of the nation in which they live. There is a great glory dwelling in the land when the righteous do rejoice, when they have their liberty, the free exercise of their religion, and are not persecuted, when the government countenances them and speaks comfortably to them, when they prosper and grow rich, and, much more, when they are preferred and employed and have power put into their hands. 2. The advancement of the wicked is the eclipsing of the beauty of a nation: When the wicked rise and get head they make head against all that is sacred, and then a man is hidden, a good man is thrust into obscurity, is necessitated to abscond for his own safety; corruptions prevail so generally that, as in Elijah’s time, there seem to be no good men left, the wicked walk so thickly on every side.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary