Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 1:32
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
32. turning away ] Lit. turning. The word, however, is commonly used of turning away from God and from good. So here: “I called you to turn to me ( Pro 1:23), and instead, you have turned from me.” Backsliding (R.V.), is less suitable, as denoting a turning away from a position already taken up, whereas “the simple” are regarded as on neutral ground, and not yet having turned in one direction or the other.
prosperity ] Rather, carelessness (R.V. marg.), the fruit of prosperity. securitas, Maurer. Comp. Eze 16:49, where the same word is rendered, prosperous ease, R.V.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Turning – Wisdom had called the simple to turn, and they had turned, but it was away from her. For prosperity read carelessness. Not outward prosperity, but the temper which it too often produces, the easy-going indifference to higher truths, is that which destroys.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Pro 1:32
The prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
Prosperity dangerous to virtue
By fools are here represented all wicked and vicious persons. The misery of such persons is, that when God gives them what they most love, they perish in the embraces of it. The reasons for this are three.
I. Because every foolish or vicious person is either ignorant or regardless of the proper ends and uses for which God designs the prosperity of those to whom He sends it. Which ends are–
1. To try and discover what is in a man.
2. To encourage men in a constant, humble expression of their gratitude to the bounty of their Maker, who deals forth such rich and plentiful provisions to His undeserving creatures.
3. To make them helpful in society. No man holds the abundance of wealth as a proprietor.
II. Because prosperity (as the nature of man now stands) has a peculiar force and fitness to abate mens virtues and to heighten their corruptions. For its abating their virtues. Virtue is such a plant as grows upon no ground save that which is tilled and cultivated with the severest labour. But what a stranger is toil and labour to a great fortune!
2. For heightening and inflaming mens corruptions. Nothing more effectually betrays the heart into a love of sin and a loathing of holiness than an ill-managed prosperity. The vices which particularly receive improvement by prosperity are–
1. Pride.
2. Luxury and uncleanness.
3. Profaneness and neglect of God in the duties of religion. Those who lie soft and warm in a rich estate seldom come to heat themselves at the altar.
III. Because prosperity directly indisposes men to the proper means of their amendment and recovery.
1. It renders them utterly averse to receiving counsel and admonition.
2. It unfits for the sharp trials of adversity which God uses to correct and reduce the soul.
(1) He either faints and desponds and parts with his hope together with his possessions, or
(2) he will murmur and blaspheme the God that afflicts him. The only way for a man not to find prosperity destructive is for him not to be a fool.
This he may avoid by a pious observance of these following rules:
1. Let him consider on what weak hinges his prosperity and felicity hang.
2. Let him consider how little he is bettered by prosperity as to those perfections which are chiefly valuable.
3. Let a man correct the gaieties and wanderings of his spirit by the severe duties of mortification. Since the fool in his best–that is, in his most prosperous condition–stands tottering upon the very brink of destruction, we should solicit God, not for temporal enjoyment, but for a heart that may fit us for it, if it be Gods will that prosperity be our lot. (R. South, D.D.)
The danger of prosperity
The title of fool is the usual character of the sinner in the language of Wisdom, in opposition to prudence. Prosperity comprehends all things desired by worldly men–riches, honours, pleasures, health, strength, peace, plenty, all that is grateful to the carnal mind and appetites. Prosperity abused is fatal and destructive to foolish sinners.
I. Prosperity is destructive to the wicked. There is no pestilence and contagion in the nature of things that are pleasing to our faculties. They are dangerous, not as made by God, but as managed by Satan. The primary design of God, in His most free and rich benefits, is to endear Himself to us and bind us to His service. When the wicked abuse Gods blessings, defeat His kindness, and frustrate the excellent ends of it, He most righteously and severely continues their prosperity, that foments their lusts and renders them more wilful and incorrigible and the more guilty of their own damnation. Prosperity is a fatal ambush for their surprisal and ruin. Prosperity abused is destructive to sinners, both meritoriously, as it induces a deadly guilt and makes them obnoxious to the revenging wrath of God, and effectively, as it is opposite to the felicity and perfection of man.
1. Prosperity is the continual incentive of the vicious affections.
2. Prosperity occasionally incenses an irascible appetite.
3. Prosperity inclines sinners to an impious neglect of God.
4. Prosperity exposes dangerously to the tempting power of Satan.
5. Prosperity is destructive to many, in that it affords them advantages to corrupt others, and reciprocally exposes them to be corrupted by others.
6. Prosperity usually renders the means of grace ineffectual.
7. Prosperity renders men averse to suffering for the sake of Christ.
8. Prosperity makes men careless of evils that might happen.
9. Prosperity is the great temptation to delay repentance until the sinners case is desperate.
II. The folly of prosperous sinners. Folly is the cause of their abusing prosperity and the effect of their prosperity abused.
1. The perfection of man consists in the excellences of his spiritual and immortal part.
2. All the prosperity in the world cannot bring true satisfaction to him that enjoys it, for it is disproportionate to the spiritual and immortal nature of the soul. The folly of the sinner is a voluntarily chosen folly, a culpable and guilty folly; the most ignominious folly, the most woful folly.
III. The justice, certainty, and heaviness of the judgment coming on sinners who abuse their prosperity. Justice, for their destruction is the fruit of their own choice. Certainty, for it is unchangeably established by the Divine ordination that the pleasures of sin shall end in the misery of obstinate sinners. The heaviness will be according to the aggravation of their sin. Temporal prosperity is, therefore, no special sign of Gods favour. (William Bates, D.D.)
The fools prosperity
I. These words describe the ungodly.
1. By their present way of sin.
2. By their future state of misery.
II. They describe the sin of the ungodly.
1. By the occasion.
2. By the act.
3. By the habit. Prosperity and ease is the occasion; turning away from God and rejecting His counsel is the act; and folly or simplicity is part of the habit.
III. They describe the Godly.
1. By their obedience. They hearken.
2. By their privilege or reward. They be quiet from fear of evil.
(1) It is so that the prosperity of fools destroyeth them.
(2) How folly and prosperity concur to their destruction. By the pleasing of their sensitive appetite and fancy, and so overcoming the power of reason. The more amiable the world appears, the more strongly it doth allure the soul to love it. Hereby it taketh the soul off from God. The very noise and bustle of earthly things divert their minds and hinder them from being serious. The sense of present ease and sweetness doth make them forget the change that is near. Pride lifts them up, so that God abhors them, and prosperity engages them in opposition to the word and ways and servants of the Lord.
(3) The uses to make of the text. Do not grudge at the prosperity of ungodly men. Do not desire riches or prosperity. Honour those that are great and godly, rich and religious. Let great men have a double interest in your prayers. (R. Baxter.)
Self-slayers
Suppose an iceberg possessed an intelligence and conscience; suppose it should say while dwelling in the polar region, It is because of the sun that I am an iceberg, what would you answer? You would say, It is not because of the sun, but because of your attitude towards the sun. Go down and place yourself beneath its melting rays, permit yourself to be enfolded in the arms of the Gulf Stream, and you will soon cease to be an iceberg, and become a part of the warm and gentle waters which enfold you. Or suppose we take this same truth in the realm of physical law. Many a Hindoo has stood for years with a napkin bound about his eyes that he might not see the sun, and when the cloth has been removed and he has sought to look upon that sun, he could not see. Behold, he had become blinded. Was it not he who had blinded himself? And yet, was it not also true that working through the natural law God had blinded him? There is a man sweeping toward Niagara, and I, standing on the shore, cry out, Pull for the shore; the rapids are just below you, and you will go over the falls; but he simply says to me, God is too good to permit me to go over the falls; and I cry again and he heeds not. But presently I see him grasp the oars. Alas, it is too late. Sweeping, whirling, plunging, his boat, like a cockle-shell, dashes over the cataract, and he is gone. Now we may say that the God who made water run down hill slew that man, but is the responsibility with Him? No. The man who knew that law and refused to recognise it slew himself. Well, men realise this in relation to their own physical organisation, because they realise that they have a physical constitution; but they do not realise that they have just as truly a moral constitution; that the laws of the one are as inevitable as the other; that in reference to the soul it is as true as of the body; the soul that sinneth against the law of its being shall die. (G. T. Dowling, D.D.)
Whoso hearkeneth unto Me shall dwell safely.
Quiet from the fear of evil
The secret of a quiet life has been the great quest of man. The Confucian, the Buddhist, the Pythagorean have busied themselves with it, as well as Solomon. It was the motive of the mightiest movement of mediaeval Christendom. Simeon on his pillar, Bernard in his cell, Francis in his rags, were all occupied with it; and in these restless, stormy, anxious times it is the question of questions still.
I. The fear of evil is the element of it with which man has most directly to do. Man is a being looking before and after. Apprehension and memory furnish together pretty well the whole of our bitter experience in life. The fear of evil is not an animal, it is strictly a human experience; part of the endowment of our race.
II. It is precisely this fear of evil which, by Gods help, we are to conquer; the evil itself is wholly beyond our power. Calamity haunts the evil air of an evil world, and man catches the infection. He lives fearfully, and faces death fearfully, till he has learnt the Divine secret.
III. How is the power to be won?
1. By realising how purely independent of things is mans peace and happiness.
2. By taking a true measure of the range of our being and its resources.
3. By perfect filial trust in God. We want a heart, an arm to rest on. The only perfect rest is in God. This sense of the Divine love, the clasp of the everlasting arms, is exquisite and blessed rest. (Baldwin Brown, B.A.)
The blessedness of hearkening to the voice of heavenly wisdom
To hearken means not only to hear, but to hear with attention, so as to follow the advice given (Jam 1:25); or, as the Saviour says (Joh 10:27). Such hear, not to forget, but to treasure up in their memories, that they may reduce to practice what they hear: such hear, not to cavil and find fault, but that they may profit by the instruction they receive. Now, this attention is assuredly the work of the Spirit on the heart, as we read of Lydia (Act 16:14). And hence it behoves all, when hearing Gods Word, to lift up their hearts to Him, that it may be with profit to their souls. And what are the promises made to such hearers? Safe dwelling and quietness from fear of evil. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, operating on the heart, brings solid and lasting peace. The first of these promises is beautifully illustrated by our blessed Lord Himself at the close of His sermon on the mount (Mat 7:24-27). The man who hears Christian instruction , and who satisfies himself with listening and approving, but goes no further, never casts away his sins, or really lays hold on Christ, may flatter himself that all is right with his soul, because he has feelings and convictions and desires of a spiritual nature; but such a mans religion will break down entirely under the first flood of tribulation, and fail him completely when his need is the sorest, whereas the man who hears Christian instruction, and practises what he hears, upon such a man the floods of sickness, sorrow, poverty, disappointments, bereavements may beat, but his soul is unmoved, his faith does not give way, his comforts do not forsake him. Not only, however, is safety promised to him who hearkeneth to the voice of heavenly wisdom, but such an assurance of it as shall remove every distressing fear. Not only quietness from evil, but from the fear of it. Men in general suffer much more from fear of evils which they expect may come upon them than from those which they actually have to undergo; but God keeps him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Him. A wicked man is terrified with imagined danger; a godly man is not afraid even when the danger is real; for the one has a witness for him in his own breast, whereas the other carries within a witness against himself; and this witness is a judge to condemn him, yea, an executioner to torment and vex him. To be freed from the fear of evil is, in truth, the perfection of a spiritual state; and a great part of the saints portion both on earth and in heaven lies in the deliverance and security from it. But it may be asked, To whom are these gracious promises made? They are made to all: high and low, rich and poor, old and young. The term used is as large as any can desire: Whoso hearkeneth. Let them only listen to Christs invitation in the gospel, and render obedience to His commands, and the promised blessings shall be vouchsafed to them. (T. Grantham.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 32. For the turning away of the simple] This difficult place seems to refer to such a case as we term turning king’s evidence; where an accomplice saves his own life by impeaching the rest of his gang. This is called his turning or repentance, meshubah; and he was the most likely to turn, because he was of the pethayim, seduced or deceived persons. And this evidence was given against them when they were in their prosperity, shalvah, their security, enjoying the fruits of their depredations; and being thus in a state of fancied security, they were the more easily taken and brought to justice.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Turning away, to wit, from God, and from his counsels and reproofs; so this is opposed to hearkening unto God, Pro 1:33. Or, as it is rendered in the margin, and by divers others, the ease or rest, the peace or tranquillity, as it seems to be explained in the next clause.
Shall destroy them; it commonly proves the occasion of their ruin, by making them presumptuous, and secure, and worldly, and proud, and forgetful of God and of their own eternal happiness, whereby they provoke Gods wrath, and bring upon themselves swift and certain destruction. Thus he meets with the common objection against the fear of God, taken from the present impunity and prosperity of ungodly men.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
32. turning awaythat is, fromthe call of Pr 1:23.
simpleas in Pr1:22.
prosperityquiet,implying indifference.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them,…. Or be the cause of their being slain; even their turning away from Christ, their aversion to him; their turning their backs on him, and a deaf ear to him; their turning away from his Gospel, and putting it from them, thereby judging themselves unworthy of everlasting life: in all which they showed themselves to be the “simple” and “foolish” persons they were; and for which wrath and ruin came upon them, and they were slain with the sword and famine, and by one another. Some render it, as Aben Ezra, “the rest” or “quietness of the simple” k, c. taking up their rest in themselves, and in their observance of ceremonies and traditions and crying Peace, peace, when sudden destruction was at hand: or a stubborn hardened rest in sin, a seared conscience; having no sense of guilt, nor fear of punishment; living in carnal security till death should seize upon them;
and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them; that is, the abuse of it; leading them to commit sins, which bring destruction upon them; or, seeing sinners live with impunity, and prosper in the world, take encouragement from thence to indulge themselves in sin, which is their ruin; or, being in prosperity, think it will always be well with them, and therefore put away the evil day far from them, which comes upon them at an unawares; which was the case of the Jews.
k “requies”, Vatablus, Baynus, Mercerus, Gejerus; “quies”, Junius Tremellius so some in Ben Melech.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The discourse is now summarily brought to a close:
32 For the perverseness of the simple slays them,
And the security of fools destroys them.
33 But whoever harkeneth to me dwells secure,
And is at rest from fear of evil.
Of the two interpretations of , a turning towards (with and the like, conversion) or a turning away (with or , desertion), in the latter (as in the post-Bib. , repentance, the former) is expressed; apostasy from wisdom and from God are conjoined. is here carnalis securitas ; but the word may also denote the external and the internal peace of the righteous, as , whence , Job 21:23, as a superlative is formed by the insertion of the of , is taken in bonam et malam partem . is, according to the Masora (also in Jer 30:10; Jer 46:27; Jer 48:11), 3rd perf. Pilel (Ewald, 120, a), from the unused , to be quiet: he has attained to full quietness, and enjoys such. The construction with follows the analogy of (to give rest from), (to rest from), and the like. The negative interpretation of , sine ullo pavore mali (Schultens, Ewald), is unnecessary; also Job 21:9 may be explained by “peace from terror,” especially since is derived from the root , extrahere . , “fear of evil,” one may perhaps distinguish from as the genitive of combination.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(32) The turning away of the simple . . .i.e., from God. (Comp. Jer. 2:19.)
Prosperity of foolsi.e., the security, apathy of dull, stupid people (kheslm), who cannot believe that God will fulfil His threatenings. (Comp. Psalms 73 throughout.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
32. For the turning away From wisdom; their departure from right and virtue, their defection, (cf. Pro 1:23,) shall be their ruin, and even their very prosperity or success. (“security, carelessness.” Speaker’s Com.,) shall work their destruction. The worst thing that can happen to a wicked man is to succeed in his devices. It is all in mercy when God early defeats him. It is probable that , ( shalvath,) rendered prosperity, means careless security. The word occurs, variously rendered, in Jer 22:21, (prosperity,) 2Ch 29:11, (negligent,) Ezekiel xxiii, 42, (being at ease.) The Geneva Bible renders: “For ease slayeth the foolish, and the prosperitie of fooles destroyeth them.” The Septuagint renders the thirty-second verse thus: “Because they wronged the simple, they shall be slain; and an inquisition shall ruin the ungodly.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Pro 1:32. For the turning away of the simple The simple, the unfeeling: The men who have neglected my instructions, and who have been so void of reason as to deliver themselves up to the example and the advice of the wicked, shall be brought to death by their own folly: their prosperity, their happiness, their favour, shall be fatal to them; they shall perish by the very thing which they have sought for with so much earnestness. The Hebrew is meshu-bath, the repose. “The peace or tranquillity of the simple, of those who have suffered themselves to be deluded by the subtle enchantments of the wicked, shall slay them; and the prosperity, the felicity, the abundance of the inconsiderate, shall destroy them.” The LXX give a very different sense, They shall be slain, because they have unjustly oppressed the innocent; and the wicked shall perish by a rigorous examination. See Calmet. Dr. Grey says, that the prosperity of fools should rather be rendered the security of fools; their tranquillity in a vicious course, which will nevertheless end in their destruction.
REFLECTIONS.As diligently as we are warned to fly the enticements of sinners, so earnestly are we admonished to attend the calls and warnings of God.
We have,
1. The voice of wisdom crying in the streets, in the places of greatest concourse, and in the gates, that all who will may hear the divine admonitions. This wisdom, or wisdoms in the original, may be interpreted of the divine revelation in general, or rather signifies Christ Jesus, who is the person here speaking in the words of his everlasting gospel; rebuking the wickedness of those to whom he preached, and foretelling their dreadful doom. And this voice is still heard in the public ministration of the word; and these warnings are to us still equally needful, and the danger of neglecting them equally fatal. Note; They that perish under a preached gospel, are left peculiarly without excuse.
2. The words which wisdom utters. [1.] He expostulates, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? indulge your vain notions, and sport in your own deceivings, in hopes of mercy, unsupported by God’s word, and in ways of folly which must end in misery: and scorners delight in scorning; scoffing at serious godliness, and counting it high humour and wit to turn things sacred into ridicule; contemning religion as a mean, low thing, as the Scribes and Pharisees did the great Author of it: and fools hate knowledge; averse to hear the gospel-word, and choosing darkness rather than light. With such God bears long. He delighteth not indeed in the death of a sinner, and therefore, [2.] He exhorts them earnestly not to weary out his patience, or provoke his wrath. Turn ye at my reproof; attend to the calls of my word: and most encouraging is the invitation. Behold, sinner, and wonder, after all thy provocations, at the grace revealed in Jesus Christ who hath gifts even for the rebellious; Behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you, or upon you; upon some at least, if others continued impenitent, and would not hear. I will make known my words unto you; in general to all in the preaching of the gospel, so as to leave them inexcusable who reject it. [3.] He upbraids them with their impenitence, and hardness of heart: I have called, and ye refused; as the Jews rejected his word, and sinners continue to do; either by withdrawing from the place of hearing, or by their inattention there, or by their obstinacy notwithstanding every warning, persisting in their sins. I have stretched out my arm, and no man regarded; as Jesus did in the temple, and as his zealous ministers do in their importunate discourses, but to many with small effect; they continue a disobedient and gainsaying people. Ye have set at nought all my counsel; the gospel of their salvation, which the Jews despised, and which the self-righteous and the careless sinner still reject: and would none of my reproof; would neither hear nor obey it; nay, they hated knowledge, Pro 1:29 and did not choose the fear of the Lord, but rather preferred the perverse ways of their own hearts. [4.] He, therefore, denounces their doom, which had a present fulfilment in the destruction of the Jewish people; and will most eminently be accomplished in the day of the final perdition of ungodly men. I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh: come it will; pain and sickness will seize on their bodies, and terrors on their guilty souls. When your fear cometh as desolation, overwhelming as a flood; and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, sudden and irresistible; when distress and anguish cometh upon you, as was terribly felt in the siege of Jerusalem, and in the day of wrath will more fearfully overtake the impenitent sinner. Too late then it will be to cry for mercy, when the door is shut. Now prayer can avail, and God will hear the cries of the miserable; but then, says he, shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; deaf to their cries, though it were but for a drop of water to cool their flaming tongue. They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me; all their importunity is vain; the sentence is gone forth, the decree irrevocable, their damnation eternal: And this according to the strictest justice: they chose their own delusions, and were impenetrably hardened, Pro 1:29-30. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way. Sin and suffering are inseparable: they who choose the one, must expect the other; and be filled with their own devices, in the ruin they have courted. Thus the Jews, who crucified Christ, were themselves miserably crucified, till trees were wanting to hang them on. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them: they who depart from Christ must perish; and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them, their possessions enabling them to give a loose to the gratifications of their appetites, and begetting that fatal security which is the prelude to ruin. Let sinners read these awful lines, and tremble. Reader, whosoever thou art, may they never be fulfilled in thee! [5.] He declares the blessedness of those who hear and obey the reproofs of God’s word. Whoso hearkeneth unto me, to Christ and his gospel, and yields up his heart to him, shall dwell safely: no enemy shall approach to hurt him, neither Satan, sin, nor death. Sprinkled with the blood of Christ, he shall enjoy constant peace on earth, and in heaven his abode shall be for ever: and shall be quiet from fear of evil; entered into that eternal rest, which nothing can disturb, and which remaineth sure to all the faithful people of God. Lord, may this be my lot and portion!
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Pro 1:32 For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
Ver. 32. For the turning away. ] Whereas it might be objected that meanwhile wicked men live at ease and prosper; it is granted, but withal asserted, that these fatted oxen are but fitted for the slaughter. The sunshine of prosperity ripens the sin of the wicked apace. Bernard calls it misericordiam omni indignatione crudeliorem, a mercy that he had no mind to. What good is there in having a fine suit with the plague in it? As soon may a man miscarry upon the soft sands as upon the hard rocks.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
shall slay them. Illustrations: Israel (Deu 32:15-25. Hos 13:6-8); Babylon (Isa 47:7-9); Moab (Jer 48:11-15); Sodom (Eze 16:49); Tyre (Eze 28:2, Eze 28:7).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the turning: Pro 8:36, Joh 3:36, Heb 10:38, Heb 10:39, Heb 12:25
and the: Deu 32:15-44, Psa 69:22, Psa 92:6, Psa 92:7, Luk 12:16-21, Luk 16:19-25, Heb 12:8, Jam 5:5
prosperity: or, ease, Jer 48:11, Jer 48:12
Reciprocal: Deu 8:11 – General Deu 28:17 – General Deu 30:17 – heart 2Ki 5:11 – went away Est 6:6 – To whom Psa 55:19 – no changes Psa 78:30 – But Psa 119:67 – Before Pro 7:7 – the simple Pro 11:5 – direct Pro 14:14 – backslider Ecc 5:13 – riches Ecc 8:12 – surely Isa 26:10 – favour Isa 66:4 – will choose Jer 12:1 – Wherefore doth Luk 6:24 – woe Rom 11:9 – their table 2Ti 4:4 – turn Heb 3:12 – in
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1:32 For {a} the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
(a) That is, the prosperity and sensuality in which they delight.