Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 12:12
The wicked desireth the net of evil [men]: but the root of the righteous yieldeth [fruit].
12. net ] This rendering, which is retained in R.V. text, and on which the rendering prey, R.V. marg., is only a gloss (prey=net, for what it catches), gives a good and forcible antithesis to the proverb. There is perhaps an intended contrast between the restless and often fruitless activity of the hunter with his net, and the calm, stedfast fruit-bearing, as by a natural process, of the firmly-rooted tree. So St Paul contrasts the “works” of the flesh with the “fruit” of the spirit, and “the unfruitful works of darkness” with “the fruit of the light” (Gal 5:19; Gal 5:22; Eph 5:9-10, R.V.).
The abrupt change of figure from the “net” to the tree is quite in accordance with Hebrew modes of thought. In like manner in Psalms 1 the righteous is the flourishing and fruitful tree, and the wicked, not as we might have expected the barren and withered tree, but the chaff scattered by the wind as it sweeps across the bare hill-top of the summer threshing-floor.
The rendering fortress (A.V. marg., the munimentum of the Vulgate) is explained to mean, that the protection which a wicked man seeks by associating with men like himself, and so finding security in numbers, the righteous has in his own innate stability. But this is far-fetched, and the rendering disappears altogether in R.V.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The meaning seems to be: The net of evil men (compare Pro 1:17) is that in which they are taken, the judgment of God in which they are ensnared. This they run into with such a blind infatuation, that it seems as if they were in love with their own destruction. The marginal rendering gives the thought that the wicked seek the protection of others like themselves, but seek in vain; the root of the just (i. e., that in them which is fixed and stable) alone yields that protection.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Pro 12:12
The wicked desireth the net of evil men: but the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit.
The crafty and the honest
I. Craftiness.
1. Craft is an instinct of wickedness: No true Christian is a hypocrite. The better a man is, the less temptation he has to disguise himself. A wicked man must be hypocritical in proportion to his wickedness. Sin is ever cunning; wisdom alone is free.
2. Craftiness is no security against ruin. Lies are the language of craftiness. One lie leads on to another, until the man is involved in contradictions, and falls and founders.
II. Honesty.
1. Honesty is strong in its own strength. It has a root. It lives by its own natural force and growth.
2. Honesty will extricate from difficulties. The just man may get into trouble, but by his upright principles, under God, he shall come out of them. Honesty is the best policy. (D. Thomas, D.D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 12. The wicked desireth the net of evil men] They applaud their ways, and are careful to imitate them in their wiles.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The wicked desireth the net of evil men; he approveth and useth those cunning and deceitful arts, which wicked men use like nets to insnare other men, and to take their goods to themselves. Or, he desireth the fortress of wicked men, or of wickedness, i.e. he seeks to fortify and stablish himself by wicked practices.
The root of the righteous yieldeth fruit; that justice and piety in which he is rooted, and which is the root of his actions, doth of itself, without the aid of any indirect and sinful courses, yield him sufficient fruit, both for his own need, and to do good to others. But because the word fruit is not in the Hebrew, and may seem to be too great a supplement, it is and may be rendered thus, the root of the righteous giveth it, to wit, that fortress or security which others seek in wickedness.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. the wicked . . . evilTheylove the crafty arts of deception.
the root . . . fruittheirown resources supply them; or, it may be rendered: “He (God)giveth, or, sets (Eze 17:22)the root of the righteous,” and hence it is firm: or, the verbis impersonal; “As to the root . . . it is firm” (Pr17:19).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The wicked desireth the net of evil [men],…. To be master of all the wicked arts and methods evil men use to ensnare and oppress others; to get them and their substance into their hands; or “desireth the evil net”, as the Targum; the evil net of antichrist, which he lays for the poor, whom he draws into it and catches them; see Ps 10:9. Jarchi understands it of “hunting” t and of wicked men desiring to be fed and nourished with what evil men get by hunting; compare with this
Eze 13:18. Some render it the “fortress” or “strong hold” u of evil men, in which they fortify and secure themselves to do mischief to others, and to prevent any besieging them, so Gersom; and this is what all wicked men are desirous of;
but the root of the righteous yieldeth [fruit]; or “shall give” w that; that security and protection from real evil and mischief which the wicked cannot obtain; or he, that is, God, “shall give the righteous root” x, firmly fix them that they shall not be moved; or as we supply it, and so Aben Ezra, “yieldeth fruit”, much more desirable than the net of evil men the wicked covet: righteous men are compared to trees, they are called “trees of righteousness”, Isa 61:3; these have a root in the love of God, in the person of Christ, and in the grace of the Spirit, and this root yieldeth fruit; the love of God is the root and source of all good things, of all the blessings of grace, of the fruit of grace, faith, hope, and love, and of evangelical obedience; the person of Christ is the source of all spiritual blessings, of salvation and eternal life; the righteous have their being in him as a root; they are bore by him, have all their life, grace, holiness, fruitfulness, and perseverance therein, from him; and the grace of the Spirit in the heart, which is the root of the matter, the hidden man of the heart, from hence are fruits meet for faith and repentance, and good works, which are both pleasant and profitable. The Targum is,
“the root of the righteous shall remain, or be established;”
see Pr 12:3.
t “venationem”, Munster, Schultens; “venatum”, Tigurine version. u “Praesidium”, Mercerus, Junius & Tremelllus, Piscator. w “dabit”, Pagninus, Montanus, Baynus, Mercerus. x “Radicem justorum dabit Deus”, Gejerus, Michaelis.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
12 The godless lusteth after the spoil of evil-doers;
But the root of the righteous shoots forth.
This translation is at the same time an explanation, and agrees with Fleischer’s “the godless strives by unrighteous gain like the wicked (Pro 4:14) to enrich himself, namely, as must be understood from the antithetic members of the parallelism, in vain, without thereby making progress and gaining anything certain. The preterite, as Pro 11:2, Pro 11:8, etc., places the general true proposition as a separate historic principle derived from experience. In 12b stands elliptically or pregnantly: edet , scil. quod radix edere solet, sobolem stirpis, ramorum , etc., as in the Arab. natan and anatan are specially used without an obj. of the spontaneousness of an odour.” (from , to spy, to hunt) is elsewhere the instrument of the hunt (a net), here the object and end of it. If the words had been , then we would explain after , Psa 78:49 ( vid., comm. on), and , Pro 6:24; but in the difference of number, will not be the qualitative but the subjective personal genitive: capturam qualem mali captant . Ewald, who understands , 11b, of good-for-nothing-fellows, interprets here, on the contrary, as neuter (172b): the desire of the wicked is an evil net, i.e., wherein he catches all manner of evil for himself. The lxx has here two proverbs, in which occurs in the plur. and in the sense of ; 12b of the Hebr. text is rendered: , which Schleusner explains immotae erunt . The Hebr. text can gain nothing from this variation. That the lxx read is not probable, since they nowhere thus translate . But Reiske and Ziegler have, like Ewald and Hitzig, combined of this proverb with from (Arab. watin ), firmum, perennem esse . Hitzig translates the distich, after emending the text of 12a by the help of the lxx and the Arab.: the refuge of the wicked is crumbling clay, but the root of the righteous endures ( from ). Bttcher also reads instead of , and translates ( vid., p. 192, l. 11): the refuge of the wicked is miry clay, but the root of the righteous holdeth fast ( = Arab. watin ). But this derivation of a verb is not necessary. The Graec. Venet. rightly, . The obj. is self-evident. Rashi reads . So also Schultens. The root giveth, is equivalent to, it is productive in bringing forth that which lies in its nature. That the root of the righteous endures (Targ. ) is otherwise expressed, Pro 12:3.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
12 The wicked desireth the net of evil men: but the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit.
See here, 1. What is the care and aim of a wicked man; he would do mischief: He desires the net of evil men. “Oh that I were but as cunning as such a man, to make a hand of those I deal with, that I had but his art of over-reaching, that I could but take my revenge on one I have spite to as effectually as he can!” He desires the strong-hold, or fortress, of evil men (so some read it), to act securely in doing mischief, that it may not turn upon him. 2. What is the care and aim of a good man: His root yields fruit, and is his strength and stability, and that is it that he desires, to do good and to be fixed and confirmed in doing good. The wicked desires only a net wherewith to fish for himself; the righteous desires to yield fruit for the benefit of others and God’s glory, Rom. xiv. 6.
| Truth and Falsehood. | |
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Pro. 12:12. Net. Delitzsch, Zockler, and Miller translate this word spoil or prey. The Hebrew word means also a fortress. Maurer, therefore, translates it defence, and understands it to mean that the evil combine for mutual protection. This agrees with Zocklers rendering of the second clause, the root of the righteous is made sure.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Pro. 12:12-14
I. Concerning wicked men we have
1. A blessed instance of their inability to do all they desire. Pro. 12:12 speaks of their desiring the net of evil menof their reaching out after larger opportunities of ensnaring their fellow-creatures than they have at their command at present. The desires and abilities of good men are not always equally balanced. They have more desire to be good and to do good than they have ability to be or to do. The first teachers of Christianity desired a net that should enclose all to whom they preached the gospel, and this has been the desire of godly men ever since. They desire a net in which to catch their fellow-creatures for their good, but their ability always comes short of their desires. This is a saddening truth, but there is no denying the fact. But the net of evil men desired by the wicked is one in which to entrap men to their hurt. In this case it is a matter of rejoicing that their desires and their ability are not balanced. If ungodly men had their desires fulfilled they would soon transform the world into a mirror in which they would see them reflected in every human creature. We ought ever to give thanks to God that wicked men lack power to do all they desire to do to good men, and that they cannot even go to the length of their aspirations even with other ungodly men. They hate each other often with deep hatred, and human and Divine law alone prevents the world from being turned into a hell by the fulfilment of their desires against each other. There are outstanding debts always waiting to be settled whenever a net can be found large enough to entrap the victim, but Gods providence is a larger net, and so arranges the events of human life that wicked men are often prevented from committing greater crimes than they do against each other.
2. Retribution falling upon them. A net is laid, and prey is ensnared, but it is he who desired to entrap his brother who is snared by the transgression of his own lips (Pro. 12:13). It is as certain as that water will find its level that men who lay traps for others will be entrapped themselves (see chap. Pro. 11:8). And this will come about not by another mans laying a net for them but by their own plans being turned against them. Thus Haman made a snare for his own feet by the transgression of his own lips when he sought to persuade Ahasuerus that it was not for his profit to suffer the Jews (Est. 3:8). He thought this net would enclose Mordecai, but it enwrapped himself in its meshes. So when Daniels enemies laid their plans against him. Many a time has a godly man had occasion to sing Davids song, The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made; in the net which they hid is their own foot taken (Psa. 9:15). It is a law of Gods government. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity (Rev. 13:10). This is the recompense which shall be rendered unto the man who lays plans to injure others (Pro. 12:14).
II. Concerning righteous men we have
1. A godly character springing from a root of piety. The principal thing to be aimed at in building a house is to get a good foundation; if the foundation be insecure, the house will be worthless. That which makes a healthy fruit-bearing tree is a healthy, strong root; however fair the branches may at present look, they will soon betray any disease at the seat of its life. The root of a mans character is his desire; if the desire is righteous, he is a righteousthough not a perfectman. As the wicked man was made by his evil desire, so the good man is made by his desires after that which is true and benevolent.
2. That which is yielded by such a root.
1. Deliverance. He is delivered from the net laid for him by the evil counsels of the wicked. His character is often the means of bringing him into trouble, but the same character is a guarantee that he shall come out of it. The time of trouble is by permission or by appointment of God, and it is only for a limited time. Job and Joseph were both brought into trouble because their characters awakened the envythe one of angelic, the other of human sinners; but their histories are left on record to show to all just men, who find themselves in similar circumstances from the same cause, what the end of the Lord is, and will be to them (Jas. 5:2). There must come a final and blessed deliverance from all trouble for those who yield the fruit of a holy life from the root of a holy character (Rev. 21:4).
2. Satisfaction (Pro. 12:14). One of the fruits of a righteous man will be his holy and wise speechspeech which blesses men in opposition to that transgression of the lips which is meant to injure them (Pro. 12:13). From this fruit of the mouth he shall be satisfied with goodhe will have the reward of knowing that his words bless others, and this will be to him a source of satisfaction. Or his wise speech may be the means of bringing him material good and temporal honour.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro. 12:12. Man is always restless to press onwards to something not yet enjoyed. The wicked emulate each other in wickedness, and if they see evil men more successful than themselves, desire their net (Psa. 10:8-10; Jer. 5:26-28).Bridges.
The words are somewhat obscure, both in the original and in the translation. The meaning, however, seems as follows: The net of evil men, as in chap. Pro. 1:17, is that in which they are takenthe judgment of God in which they are ensnared. This they run into with such a blind infatuation that it seems as if they were in love with their own destruction. The marginal fortress (a meaning given to the feminine form in Isa. 29:7; Eze. 19:9) gives the thought that the wicked seek the protection of others like themselves, but seek in vain the root of the just (i.e., that in them which is fixed and stable), alone yields that protection. The latter rendering is, on the whole, preferable.Plumptre.
Some render the latter clause, He (i.e., the Lord) will give a root of the righteous; that is, will enable them to stand firm.Wordsworth.
The impenitent does not prefer to work the soil of his soul, as in the last verse, but is in hopes to gain by something easier; he likes to seize as in the chase, or as robbers do. He likes to seize without having produced or earned. But the righteous not only goes through solid processes of piety, but (another intensive clause, chap. Pro. 11:14) earns for others, as well as for himself. While impenitence would take heaven as in a net, religion works for it, and, in so doing, gives or yields.Miller.
The word net may be understood of any means by which the wealth and honours of the world may be acquired. Thus it is used in Hab. 1:13-17. The net described here is that of the oppressor, who regards his fellow-men as of any value only as he can render them conducive to his own benefit and aggrandisement, and who uses them accordingly, and when his oppressive powers prove successful vaunts himself in the power and the skill by which the means has been secured. There seems to be a special reference, in the verse before us, to illegitimate or fraudulent means. When the wicked see the devices of evil men succeed, they desire to try the same arts. If, in any case, conscience should remonstrate and restrain, and will not allow them to go quite so far, they yet envy, and regret their restraints. They still desire the net, even when they cant bring themselves to use it. They wish they could get over their scruples, and, in this state of mind, the probability is that by and by they will. The root of the righteous might be understood as meaning the fixed, settled, stable principle of the righteous, and the sentiment may be, and it is an important one, that, acting on rooted principle, the righteous may and will ultimately prosper. I incline, however, to think that as the net signifies the varied artifice, cunning, and fraud employed to gain riches quickly, the root of the righteous may rather represent the source of his revenue or income; and, in opposition to the art of making rich quickly, to excite the surprise and the envy of others, a steady, firmlyestablished, regularly; and prudently and justly-conducted business, bringing in its profits fairly and moderately, as a tree, deeply-rooted in the soil, draws thence its natural nourishment, and, receiving blessing from God, brings forth its fruit in due season. The two views are closely, if not inseparably, connected.Wardlaw.
The wicked seek their good from without; the righteous have it within, their own root, deep and firmly sunk, supplying it.Fausset.
He so furiously pursueth his lusts, as if he desired destruction; as if he would outdare God Himself; as if the guerdon of his gracelessness would not come time enough, but he must needs run to meet it. Thus thrasonical Lamech (Gen. 4:23) thinks to have the odds of God seventy to seven. Thus the princes of the Philistines, whilst plagued, came up to Mizpeh against Israel, as it were, to fetch their bane (1 Samuel 7).Trapp.
Pro. 12:13. The words saphah (lip) and lashon (tongue) occur, the first in Pro. 12:13; Pro. 12:19; Pro. 12:22, the second in Pro. 12:18-19 in this chapter. The former occurs about forty-five times in this book; and the words connected with them, such as strife, wrath, slander, scorn, and their contraries, love, peace, truth, etc., are very frequent, showing the importance to be attached to the right government of the tongue.Wordsworth.
Matters are so arranged, in the constitution of the world, that the straight course of truth is safe and easy; the crooked path of falsehood difficult and tormenting. Here is perennial evidence that the God of providence is wise and true. By making lies a snare to catch liars in, the Author of being proclaims, even in the voices of nature, that He requireth truth in the inward parts. The just shall come out of trouble; that is the word; it is not said he shall never fall into it. The inventory which Jesus gives of what His disciples shall have now in this time, although it contains many things that nature loves, closes with the article persecutions (Mar. 10:30). Those who wave their palms of victory and sing their jubilant hymns of praise, were all in the horrible pit once.Arnot.
All human conduct is represented by the lips (Pro. 12:6 and chap Pro. 14:3). The tongue is aforemost business agent. The impenitent, though he may stand out very clear, and see no tokens of a net, yet, as his life is false his not seeing the snare shows only how the more insidiously he may be entangled in. While the righteous, though he may be born to the snare; originally condemned; and though he may be caught in the toils of great worldly evil, yea, of sin itself; yet out of the very jaw of the trap where he may have foolishly entered, he will in the end be helped to get out.Miller.
They (the just) suffer sometimes for their bold and free invectives against the evils of the times, but they shall surely be delivered. John Baptist, indeed, was, without any law, right, and reason, beheaded in prison as though God had known nothing at all of him, said George Marsh, the martyr. And the same may be said of sundry other witnesses to the truth, but then by death they entered into life eternal. Besides that heaven upon earth they had during their troubles. The best comforts are usually reserved for the worst times.Trapp.
Pro. 12:14. Albeit the opening of the mouth is a small matter; yet, when it is done in wisdom, it shall be recompensed by the Lord with great blessing. For such as use their tongues to Gods glory, and the edification of their brethren, instructing them and exhorting them from day to day, shall be loved by God and man, and taste many good things. Now, as good words, so good works shall be rewarded. For the recompense of a mans hands shall reward him; not only shall the wicked be plagued for their evil doing, but the godly shall be blessed for their well-doing.Muffet.
This is the whole question of capital and labour put in a nutshell. All is not to be claimed by the hands, for there is the mouth that directs and orders. As much is not to be claimed by the hands, for the Bible is a good, truthful book, and it claims for the mind more than for the muscle. (See this distinction in Ecc. 10:10.) A man of the better sort, with his education, and expensive capital, earns more, according to the inspired Solomon, than the labouring man. What he demands of the Christian gentleman is, that he shall make an estimate of all this, and, while he keeps himself the earnings of the mouth, he render carefully to the labourer the wages of his hands. We have no authority for this interpretation. We present it as unquestionably just. The translation it would be hard to give literally. But the words are about thus: From the fruit of the mouth of a man of the better class, a good man will be satisfied; and the wage (lit. the work) of the hands of a common man he will render to him. This fair, calculating spirit, in all questions between man and man, not tending to communism on the one hand and not yielding to tyranny on the other, is the true spirit of the inspired Gospel.Miller.
There are empty vines that bear fruit unto themselves (Hos. 10:1). And as empty casks sound loudest, and base metal rings shrillest, so many empty tattlers are full of discourse. Much fruit will redound by holy speeches to ourselvesmuch to others. Paul showeth that the very report of his bonds did a great deal of good in Csars house (Php. 1:14). One seasonable truth, falling upon a prepared heart, hath oft a strong and sweet influence. Sometimes, also, although we know that which we ask of others as well as they do, yet good speeches will draw us to know it better by giving occasion to speak more of it, wherewith the Spirit works most effectually, and imprints it deeper, so that it shall be a more rooted knowledge than before.Trapp.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(12) The wicked desireth the net of evil meni.e., to enrich himself by prey as they do; but the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit, by their own exertion they gain all they require without injuring others.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
12. Desireth the net Spoil or prey, the product of the “net.”
Of evil men Or, of the evil. He is fond of the wiles and arts which are characteristic of the bad man; he resorts to trickery and deception to make himself secure and firm.
But the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit The righteous only shall be prosperous and successful. So the clause is generally understood. But the “net” or snare of the evil may mean, as in Pro 1:17, the snare in which they are taken and destroyed. The wicked are allured to this snare as an animal is allured by its appetite to the net in which it is taken. Compare Pro 8:36; Pro 11:27. Yieldeth, , ( yitten,) commonly supposed to be from , ( nathan,) to give, yield, etc.; but others suggest, what is probable, that it comes from , ( yathan,) to be strong, firm; and hence render the last clause, the root of the righteous shall be firm. For illustration of “net of evil men,” compare Psa 10:8-10. Conant’s interpretation gives a good sense: “In striking contrast with the chance gains of the wicked is here shown the sure and natural increase of the righteous. The former is likened to a net stealthily spread for the prey, that may take little or much, or, perchance, nothing. The latter is the natural and certain growth from the root, planted in the earth, that will not fail to bear fruit.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
v. 12. The wicked desireth the net of evil men,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Pro 12:12. The wicked desireth, &c. The wicked earnestly desireth the hunting of evil. Schultens. Houbigant reads it very differently, A tempest shall shake the device of the wicked: the root of the just shall be firm.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
The Root of the Righteous, Etc.
Pro 12:12-24
The wicked man would prosper according to the law of evil. He would take evil men in his net, and make a profit of them if he could; or he would borrow the net of an evil man with which to ensnare the good: he lives by what he calls his wits; being devoid of morality he is exempt from discipline, and so he lives the wild, loose life that is uncontrolled and all but irresponsible. The root of the righteous yieldeth fruit: the fruit is in the man himself; the stem may be feeble, the branches may be exposed to rough and cruel weather, but in the root there are juices that must by-and-by reveal themselves in abundant fruitfulness. The wicked man’s possessions are all external; they can be held in the hand; they can be carried to the marketplace and disposed of for an equivalent in gold and silver: the treasures of the righteous are in the root; they are hidden, deeply down, where they drink the juices of the earth, and receive the light of the sun, that by the chemistry of nature they may express themselves in due time in leaf and blossom, in bud and flower and fruit. It is fruit which is yielded by the root of the righteous; though the word fruit is in italics in this text, yet it would seem to be the right word, and the only right word. Where only leaves were yielded Jesus Christ pronounced his condemnation; Jesus Christ continually said that his Father was glorified by the bringing forth of much fruit by the branches that were in the vine; he taught that the purpose of pruning was to multiply the fruit: there can be, therefore, no difficulty in adopting the word “fruit” in this instance as the right word. We are not to bring forth leaves only, or blossoms only, nor are we to afford opportunity for birds to build their nests only; all these things may be included, but the supreme object is the bearing of fruit which the husbandman can approve, and which can be turned to high utility by the hungering world.
“There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health” ( Pro 12:18 ).
Some men pride themselves on the pungency of their speech. They delight in sharp answers, keen retorts, quick repartees, and boast themselves when they cut their opponents in two. There are others who are gifted in the expression of complaint, reproach, and criticism against the whole providence of life. They can say sharp and bitter things about God and man, and they can be satisfied because of the edge of their own epigram, no matter against whom or against what that edge is directed. The tongue of the wise man is slower, but healthier; the wise man weighs his words; he is anxious to be associated only with judgments which can be confirmed by experience and illustrated by wisdom. The wise man speaks healthily that is to say, he speaks out of the abundance of his own health, and he speaks in a way that will double and strengthen the health of others. To come near him is to ascend a mountain and breathe the freshest air of heaven, or to go down by the sea-shore and receive messages across the great deeps, full of vigour, and truth, and strengthening influence. Wise men keep society healthy. But for their presence it would stagnate, and go from one degree of corruption to another until it became wholly pestilential. There are two speakers in the text, and to the end of time there will probably be two speakers in the world the critical speaker and the judicial speaker; the man all sharpness and the man all thankfulness. The business of Christian discipline is to tame the tongue, to chasten it, to teach it the speech of wisdom, and to instruct it as to the right time of utterance and the right time of silence.
“The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment” ( Pro 12:19 ),
Here, as usual, we have the two sides truth and falsehood. We know as a matter of fact that truth will be established for ever: it may not be established at first; cruel cross-examination may put it to many shifts, because of a deceitful memory; such an examination may even develop apparent inconsistencies, showing the man of ten years ago with the man of to-day, and triumphing in the discrepancy shown by the contrast. All this is possible, yet “truth will stand when all things fail.” Events will occur, it may be long years after, to bring forth the judgment of the righteous as noonday, and to glorify the truth-speaker with the crown which belongs to verity and uprightness. The lying tongue succeeds indeed, but its success is momentary; it flashes and expires; it has a clear, straightforward story to tell, but events come and cross-examine that story, and set it in proper distance and perspective; alliances to which the story owed its consistency are broken up, and evil men begin to divulge secrets regarding one another; piece by piece the story falls asunder, and at the end it is found that it was the fabrication of a malignant genius. Be sure you are true yourselves and have a true purpose in view, and all discrepancies, inconsistencies, and difficulties will ultimately be smoothed down, and men will be brought to acknowledge the integrity of your heart. Be as skilful as you please in the way of telling lies, arrange everything with consummate cunning, hire all your allies, bribe your spies, and make your way clear by abundance of gold, and yet in the long run your very confederates will turn against you, and they to whom you have given most money will be glad to expose your cupidity and falsehood.
“There shall no evil happen to the just: but the wicked shall be filled with mischief” ( Pro 12:21 ).
The next verse may be taken in connection with this namely, “Lying lips are abomination to the Lord; but they that deal truly are his delight.” All history pledges its own spirit in favour of the just and the true and the good. Evil may happen to the just, but the evil shall be but for a moment; it shall be an evil touching circumstances but not realities; affecting the atmosphere, but having no effect on the rock upon which the life is established. When evil does happen to the just it shall be turned to his advantage, sooner or later; if he has been wounded in the fray, it is that he needs rest and will be the stronger for withdrawment from the throng and conflict of life; if he suffer loss of property, it is that he may learn the value of things, and deport himself as a wise and thrifty householder, gathering only such things as are of permanent value, and sitting loosely in reference to everything that is of temporary advantage. The wicked shall have satisfaction, but it shall be mischief; he shall have mischief upon mischief, until he himself groans because of his very success in evil-doing. He will turn the day into night because of evil works, and the night into day, because he will repeat himself in his dreams, and the shadow of the evil one shall overpower him, darkening the very noontide, and the voice of evil spirits shall haunt his ear, and trouble him with whispering and suggestion full of the deepest malignity. There are evil spirits in the very pillow on which the wicked man rests his head. When he extinguishes light that he may encourage sleep, the darkness is but the cover of numberless wicked ones come to torment the bad man in his repose, and to turn his solitude into a companionship full of sorrow.
“The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute” ( Pro 12:24 ).
The whole world says on hearing this law, Truly this is right and good. It is right that a diligent man should be at the top of society, because where there is true industry there are always innumerable other virtues in association with it; there is forethought, there is punctuality, there is a due regard to others, there is an acceptance of the law of cause and effect, there is vigilance in relation to times, seasons, and opportunities, and there is a desire to give an equivalent for all the advantages that are enjoyed. The slothful man shall always be the servant of the diligent man, he shall be under tribute; he will have to pay for his indolence; he seems to be pursuing an easy course, but the ease is in seeming only, and not in reality. The slothful man will be looked down upon, trifled with, mocked, put to confusion, and when he knocks at the doors of others he will be told that he should have knocked at the door of providence, and not at the door of charity. This rule respecting slothfulness applies to indolence in all directions; to the boy at school, to the mother in the household, to the father in the marketplace, to the student in the college, to the agriculturist in the field. “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings.” We are urged by the Apostle Paul to be diligent in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. The diligence that is religious is elevated, unselfish, beneficent; it is not gathering for itself alone, but gathering that it may scatter, so that those who are unable to toil for themselves may be the children of legitimate charity and bounty. By the “slothful” we are not to understand the unhealthy, those upon whom a burden of infirmity has been laid, and who are simply unable, because of physical disability, to perform the duties of life; another law should operate in regard to such the law of Christian sympathy, charity, and holiest love. The slothful in this text are criminals men who yield to self-indulgence; men who allow the morning to come and grow into noonday and fall into night without bestirring themselves in any wise and profitable activity. All society says it is right that such should be laid under tribute, and should be made to feel the irksomeness and unprofitableness of neglect and unlawful sleep.
The chapter proceeds in the same tone to the end, indicating on the part of the writer the keenest observation of human nature, and the truest appreciation of human wants. How true it is that “heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop;” burdens it like a weight that cannot be borne; takes out of it all energy and lithesomeness and hope, all spring and fire, and depresses it to the earth with cruelty of weight. How true it is that “A good word maketh the heart glad;” the speaker is looked upon as an apostle from heaven; he is hailed as a friend who is able to drive away the lowering clouds, and turn the desert into a garden: a place for the good word must always be found in life; even the gladdest souls have times of depression; and those who lead the world sometimes fall into the rear, and the song dies upon their lips. The church should be the place where the good word is always spoken, a word that cheers men, enlivens, elevates, inspires, and ennobles them; the great broad word that comes down from heaven, rich with everything that the human soul can need in all the moments which make a mystery of its existence. How true it also is that “The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour;” has about him a peculiarity of quality; he is not only equal to his neighbour, as wise and generous and genial and kind, but there is a point at which he rises above his merely worldly neighbour; he can go further into the darkness of human life, speak more tenderly to its sorrow, and kindle the light of hope where other men flee away because of a darkness that may be felt. How true it is that “The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting;” as he desired some one else to hunt it for him, so he will permit anybody to roast it for him: all he wants is to enjoy the result; and yet he is deprived of the enjoyment because he took no part in the process. To work for one’s food is to enjoy it when the work is not burdensome; in the very act of going into the field we create an appetite for the enjoyment of what is found there; in this wonderful way has God linked together all the events and sequences of life. How grand is the final word of the chapter, “In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death.” Verily, this is the gospel before the time; there is no higher truth of a practical kind in Christianity itself than this. The righteous shall go away into life eternal. To the good man death is abolished. It is never goodness that dies, but always disobedience. Obedience brings life with it growing life, growing health, growing joy. Happily, all these maxims can be put to the test; they are not mere intellectual ventures, audacious guesses, or wild propositions; they sum up in themselves the experience of the most comprehensive and varied life: they are not anonymous publications, left to be contradicted by any one who may care to call them lies; they have been proved, tested, verified, in innumerable and indisputable instances, by the writers. If any man would show that there is death in the way of righteousness, let him prove it by being righteous himself; then he will show that in the very act of endeavouring to disprove the proverb he magnifies and illuminates its holy truth.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Pro 12:12 The wicked desireth the net of evil [men]: but the root of the righteous yieldeth [fruit].
Ver. 12. The wicked desireth the net of evil men, ] i.e., He so furiously pursueth his lusts, as if he desired destruction; as if he would outdare God himself; as if the guerdon of his gracelessness would not come time enough, but he must needs run to meet it. Thus thrasonical Lamech Gen 4:23 thinks to have the odds of God, seventy to seven. a Thus the princes of the Philistines, while plagued, came up to Mizpeh against Israel 1Sa 7:10-11 – who were there drawing water, i.e., weeping abundantly before the Lord – as it were to fetch their bane. Thus Pope Julius III will have his pork flesh, al despito de Dio; and Doctor Story b will curse Queen Elizabeth in his daily grace before eating, and yet say in open parliament that he saw nothing to be ashamed of, much less to be sorry for, but that he had done no more against the heretics, yea, against the queen herself in the days of her sister Mary. This Story, escaping out of prison, got to Antwerp, and there received commission under Duke d’Alva to search all ships coming thither for English books. But one Parker, an English merchant, trading to Antwerp, laid his fair net to catch this foul bird, causing secret notice to be given to Story, that in his ship were store of heretical books, with other intelligences that might stand him in stead. The canonist, conceiving that all was cock sure, hasted to the ship, where, with looks very big upon the poor mariners, each cabin, chest, and corner above board, were searched, and some things found to draw him further on; so that the hatches must be opened, which seemed to be unwillingly done, and great signs of fear were revealed by their faces. This drew on the doctor to descend into the hold; where now in the trap the mouse might well gnaw, but could not get out; for the hatches went down, and the sails hoisted up, which, with a merry gale, were blown into England, where ere long he was arraigned and condemned of high treason, and accordingly executed at Tyburn, as he had well deserved. c
a Jun. in loc.
b Acts and Mon., 1925.
c Speed’s Hist. of Great Britain, fol. 1174.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The wicked = a lawless one.
the net. Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Cause), App-6, for what is caught in it.
of evil men: i.e. which evil men use.
evil. Hebrew. ra’a. App-44: not the same word as in verses: Pro 12:13, Pro 12:21.
yieldeth = giveth [to others]: i.e. instead of taking them as prey.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Pro 12:12
Pro 12:12
“The wicked desireth the net of evil men; But the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit.”
“The Hebrew here is obscure and meaningless in context; and the renditions are diverse. The KJV adds `fruit’ (retained in the ASV), the RSV follows the LXX, the Douay Version of the Bible (New York: Catholic Book Publishing Company, 1948), adds the word `fortification.'”
Pro 12:12. The wicked (thieves, embezzlers, kidnappers, cheaters, etc.) desire and try to obtain by evil ways, but they are usually caught and end up with nothing while the righteous (who honestly work for what they have) are fruitful in their honest labors (Psa 1:3-4).
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
desireth: Pro 1:17-19, Pro 29:5, Pro 29:6, Psa 9:15, Psa 10:9, Jer 5:26-28, Mic 7:2, Hab 1:15-17
net: or, fortress, Pro 10:15
the root: Psa 1:3, Isa 27:6, Isa 37:31, Jer 17:7, Jer 17:8, Luk 8:13-15, Joh 15:5, Joh 15:16, Rom 6:22
Reciprocal: Pro 3:31 – choose Pro 12:3 – the root Pro 12:20 – Deceit Pro 21:10 – soul Mal 3:15 – yea Mat 13:21 – root
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 12:12. The wicked desireth the net of evil men He approves and uses those cunning and deceitful arts which evil men employ, like nets, to insnare others, and to take their goods to themselves. The word , however, here rendered net, may be translated fortress, as it is in the margin, and then the clause will be, he desires the fortress of wicked men, or of wickedness, that is, he seeks to fortify and establish himself by wicked practices. But the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit That justice and piety in which he is rooted, and which is the root of his actions, doth of itself, without the aid of any indirect and sinful courses, yield him sufficient fruit, both for his own need, and for doing good to others.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
12:12 The wicked desireth the {e} net of evil [men]: but the {f} root of the righteous yieldeth [fruit].
(e) Continually imagines ways to harm others.
(f) Meaning, their heart within, which is upright, and does good to all.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The contrast appears to be between two kinds of people. The wicked want to gain from the work of other evil people (e.g., skimming money off the top of a gambling operation). On the other hand, the righteous are content to earn wages from their own honest toil. [Note: Cf. Toy, pp. 249-50; and Ross, p. 970.]