Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 14:1
Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.
1. Every wise woman ] Some texts read the wisdoms (plur. of excellence, as in Pro 9:1) of women. And so in next clause, the folly (of women). A slightly different reading is followed by A.V. and R.V., the wise ones of (among) women, buildeth every one her house; , LXX.; sapiens mulier, Vulg. Comp. Her wise princesses, lit. the wise (ones) of her princesses, Jdg 5:29.
her hands ] her own hands, R.V., as indicated by the order of the words in the Heb.: “with her hands plucketh it down.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Every wise woman – literally, Wise women. The fullest recognition that has as yet met us of the importance of woman, for good or evil, in all human society.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Pro 14:1
Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.
The wise builder
The Scriptures have adapted their instructions to every character and condition in human life.
I. Describe the wise woman.
1. She must know how to manage with prudence and care the concerns of a family. It is womans work to guide the house. How many, on marrying, find they need to learn the first principles of domestic economy. If a man can be more happy in any other house than his own, he is a lost man.
2. A wise woman will improve her taste and her manners. This in no way involves her becoming proud.
3. A wise woman will aim to improve her mind. The mind is enlarged by receiving ideas, and by using them as materials of thought and reasoning.
4. A wise woman will endeavour to enlighten and improve her conscience. This is the faculty of the soul by which we weigh the morality of an action. To improve the conscience we must give it light, and let it guide us. Well enlightened, it guides to happiness and heaven.
5. A wise woman will be particularly careful to cultivate the heart. The instinctive affections are capable of improvement by other means than grace. But the female character is essentially defective in the absence of piety. Religion has a peculiar sweetness when it mingles with the modest softness of the female character. By reason of their peculiar trials, females need the comforts, hopes, and prospects of religion more, if possible, than the other sex.
II. A wise woman buildeth her house. To build her house is to promote the best good of her husband and her offspring.
1. How will such a woman affect their estate? Her wisdom will save more than her hands could earn.
2. She will render her family respectable.
3. She will render her family happy. She will so manage as not to irritate their passions. Her example will breathe through the house a mild and soft atmosphere. There is no resisting the combined influence of so many virtues. What she cannot do by her precepts and examples, she effects by her prayers. Her influence surely extends beyond her own family.
Reflections:
1. Females see how they are to rise in the scale of being.
2. See the importance of supporting good schools.
3. See the importance of the gospel.
4. Females should make the Scriptures their daily study.
From the mother, rather than the father, the members of the family will take their character. (D. C. Clark.)
Wise and foolish wives
The foolish woman does not know that she is plucking down her house; she thinks she is building it up. By unwise energy, by self-assertion, by thoughtless speeches, by words flung like firebrands, she is doing unutterable mischief, not only to herself, but to her husband and family. There are, on the other hand, wise women who are quietly and solidly building the house night and day: they make no demonstration; the last characteristic that could be supposed to attach to them would be that of ostentation; they measure the whole day, they number its hours, they apportion its worth; every effort they make is an effort which has been reasoned out before it was begun; every word is looked at before it is uttered; every company is estimated before it is entrusted with confidence. In this way the wise woman consolidates her house. (J. Parker, D.D.)
House wifery
I. Its great power.
1. It can build up. Every wise woman buildeth her house.
(1) Materially. By her economy, industry, and wise management she increases its material resources. A good wife builds up her house–
(2) Spiritually. A good wife by her example, her spirit, her admonitions, her reproofs, her prayers, rears in her house a very temple of industry, intelligence, and worship.
2. It can pull down. The foolish plucketh it down with her hands. There are women who by their miserable tempers and degrading habits ruin their husbands and children.
II. Its necessary qualification. What is the necessary qualification for a good housewife? Wisdom. (Homilist.)
Home made happy by a good wife
A plain marble stone, in a churchyard, bears this brief inscription: She always made home happy. This epitaph was penned by a bereaved husband, after sixty years of wedded life. He might have said of his departed wife, she was beautiful, and accomplished, and an ornament to society, and yet not have said she made home happy. Alas, he might have added, she was a Christian, and not have been able to say, She always made home happy. What a rare combination of virtues and graces this wife and mother must have possessed! How wisely she must have ordered her house! In what patience she must have possessed her soul! How self-denying she must have been! How tender and loving! How thoughtful for the comfort of all about her! (Christian Treasury.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XIV
Various moral sentiments. The antithesis between wisdom and
folly, and the different effects of each.
NOTES ON CHAP. XIV
Verse 1. Every wise woman buildeth her house] By her prudent and industrious management she increases property in the family, furniture in the house, and food and raiment for her household. This is the true building of a house. The thriftless wife acts differently, and the opposite is the result. Household furniture, far from being increased, is dilapidated; and her household are ill-fed, ill-clothed, and worse educated.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Buildeth her house; maintaineth and improveth her family and estate, as this phrase is used, Exo 1:21; 2Sa 7:11; Psa 127:1.
Plucketh it down with her hands; either by her idleness and not using her hands, or by her foolish and sinful courses.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. Every wise, &c.literally,”The wisdoms” (compare Pr9:1) “of women,” plural, a distributive form of speech.
buildeth . . .houseincreases wealth, which the foolish, by mismanagement,lessen.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Every wise woman buildeth her house,…. Not only by her fruitfulness, as Leah and Rachel built up the house of Israel; but by her good housewifery, prudent economy; looking well to the ways of her household; guiding the affairs of her house with discretion; keeping all things in a good decorum; and bringing up her children in virtue, and in the fear and admonition of the Lord. So Christ, who in this book goes by the name of “Wisdom”, or the wise woman, builds his house upon himself, the Rock; and all his people on their most holy faith, by means of the ministry of the word, and administration of ordinances: he guides and governs his house, where he is, as a Son in it and over it; and of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, taken care of, and wisely and plentifully provided for: and so Gospel ministers, who are wise to win souls, being well instructed in the kingdom of God; these “wise women” y, so it is in the original text, or wise virgins; these wise master builders lay the foundation Christ ministerially, and build souls on it; and speak things to the edification of the church and people of God, and the building of them up in faith and holiness;
but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands; the Vulgate Latin version adds, “being built”; this she does by her idleness and laziness; by her lavish and profuse way of living; by her negligence and want of economy; by her frequenting playhouses, and attention to other diversions; and so her family and the affairs of it go to wreck and ruin. Thus the apostate church of Rome, who is called a “woman”, and may be said to be a “foolish” one, being a wicked one and a harlot; see Re 17:2; pulls down the true church and house of God with both hands, as much as in her lies, by her false doctrines, and superstitious worship and idolatry; and by her murders and massacres of the saints, with the blood of whom she is said to be drunk; nay, not only pulls it down with her hands, but treads upon it with her feet,
Re 11:2. So likewise all false teachers do as this foolish woman does, by their impure lives and impious doctrines, defile the temple of God, subvert the faith of many; by means of whom the tabernacle of David, or house of God, is fallen down; the ruins and breaches of which Christ will repair in the latter day.
y “sapientes mulieres”, Munster, Baynus; so the Septuagint and Arabic versions.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
1 The wisdom of the woman buildeth her house,
And folly teareth it down with its own hands.
Were it , after Jdg 5:29, cf. Isa 19:11, then the meaning would be: the wise among women, each of them buildeth her house. But why then not just , as 2Sa 14:2, cf. Exo 35:25? The Syr., Targum, and Jerome write sapiens mulier . And if the whole class must be spoken of, why again immediately the individualizing in ? The lxx obliterates that by its . And does not [folly] in the contrasted proverb (1b) lead us to conclude on a similar abstract in 1a? The translators conceal this, for they translate personally. Thus also the Venet. and Luther; is, says Kimchi, an adj. like , caeca . But the linguistic usage does not point with to any . It is true that a fem. of does not occur; there is, however, also no place in which may certainly present itself as such. Thus also must be an abstr.; we have shown at Pro 1:20 how , as neut. plur., might have an abstr. meaning. But since it is not to be perceived why the poet should express himself so singularly, the punctuation is to be understood as proceeding from a false supposition, and is to be read , as at Pro 9:1 (especially since this passage rests on the one before us). Fleischer says: “to build the house is figuratively equivalent to, to regulate well the affairs of a house, and to keep them in a good condition; the contrary, to tear down the house, is the same contrast as the Arab. ‘amarat albyt and kharab albyt . Thus e.g., in Burckhardt’s Sprchw. 217, harrt sabrt bytha ‘amarat , a good woman ( ein braves Weib ) has patience (with her husband), and thereby she builds up her house (at the same time an example of the use of the preterite in like general sentences for individualizing); also No. 430 of the same work: ‘amarat albyt wla kharabt , it is becoming to build the house, not to destroy it; cf. in the Thousand and One Nights, where a woman who had compelled her husband to separate from her says: ana alty ‘amalt hadha barwhy wakhrnt byty bnfsy . Burckhardt there makes the remark: ‘amarat albyt denotes the family placed in good circumstances – father, mother, and children all living together happily and peacefully.” This conditional relation of the wife to the house expresses itself in her being named as house-wife (cf. Hausehre [= honour of a house] used by Luther, Psa 68:13), to which the Talmudic (= uxor mea ) answers; the wife is noted for this, and hence is called , the root and foundation of the house; vid., Buxtorf’s Lex. col. 301. In truth, the oneness of the house is more dependent on the mother than on the father. A wise mother can, if her husband be dead or neglectful of his duty, always keep the house together; but if the house-wife has neither understanding nor good-will for her calling, then the best will of the house-father cannot hinder the dissolution of the house, prudence and patience only conceal and mitigate the process of dissolution – folly, viz., of the house-wife, always becomes more and more, according to the degree in which this is a caricature of her calling, the ruin of the house.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
1 Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.
Note, 1. A good wife is a great blessing to a family. By a fruitful wife a family is multiplied and replenished with children, and so built up. But by a prudent wife, one that is pious, industrious, and considerate, the affairs of the family are made to prosper, debts are paid, portions raised, provision made, the children well educated and maintained, and the family has comfort within doors and credit without; thus is the house built. She looks upon it as her own to take care of, though she knows it is her husband’s to bear rule in, Esth. i. 22. 2. Many a family is brought to ruin by ill housewifery, as well as by ill husbandry. A foolish woman, that has no fear of God nor regard to her business, that is wilful, and wasteful, and humoursome, that indulges her ease and appetite, and is all for jaunting and feasting, cards and the play-house, though she come to a plentiful estate, and to a family beforehand, she will impoverish and waste it, and will as certainly be the ruin of her house as if she plucked it down with her hands; and the husband himself, with all his care, can scarcely prevent it.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
WISE AND FOOLISH
(Proverbs 14)
Women Wise and Foolish
Verse 1 acknowledges the importance of the wise woman in establishing the right kind of home. In contrast is the destructive influence of the foolish woman, Vs 1; Pro 12:4; Pro 31:10-31.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Pro. 14:1. Wise woman, or womans wisdom.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro. 14:1
THE HOUSE BUILDER AND THE HOUSE DESTROYER
I. A womans special sphere of workher house. In this word is included all that in any way relates to the home life. Womans relation to it is threefold.
1. The houseproperly so-calledthe interior of the building, is under her especial care. It is her temple of service, she is its priestess. As the female priestess in the Roman temple and the Hebrew priest in the temple of God were responsible for the internal order of their temples, so is every woman responsible for the order, the cleanliness, and comfort of the house of which she is the social priestess. It is her house, and in it she is expected to perform duties to which she is not called in any other house. Her oversight and presence, if not her actual labour, are indispensable to the proper arrangement of everything in it.
2. The affairs or business of the house is her special care. It is for her to preside over the domestic economy of the houseover that which we call housekeeping. All transactions of this nature seem naturally to fall within her jurisdiction, and it looks odd and out of place to see them in other hands.
3. She is specially related to the life of the house. If she is a mother, she, above all others, has the charge of the children, her opportunities for influencing them are greater than those possessed by the father. Her life is always before them. Her words are treasured up and repeated by them. If she is a mistress, the servants are under her special jurisdiction and guidance.
II. The wise woman is a social architect. She builds her house.
1. Building implies a plan. No man sets about building a house without first having a plan, which is well considered in proportion to the wisdom of the builder. No argument-builder, with any wisdom, enters into an argument without first considering what he is going to do, and how he is going to do it, in order, if possible, to arrive at an unanswerable conclusion. So, to build a house in the sense of the text, there must be a plan of action. Every wise woman has an end in view in the government of her household. She has plans in relation to each department. She knows what she purposes to do before she begins to do anything.
2. Building implies personal exertion on the part of the architect. All his work is not done when he has drawn the plan and issued his orders. He must see that they are executed. He must, if needful, show how they are to be carried out. In times of emergency the general of an army mustlike Napoleon at the Bridge of Lodiengage himself in a hand-to-hand fight with the enemy. So will a wise woman. She does not always say, Go, but sometimes Come. She does not say, That is the way, when This is the way is necessary. She never contents herself with saying, Do this, without assuring herself that it is done.
3. Building implies a union of diverse materials to form a complete whole. Many and diverse materials are brought together to build a house. It would be impossible to erect a building of usefulness and beauty of one material alone. So a wise woman brings together many different elements, and blends them in due proportion, in order to make the home-life true, and beautiful, and good. Her wisdom is shown in developing the abilities and capacities of each member of the household, so that each may contribute to the strength and comfort of the whole. Upon the female head of the house, more than upon anyone else, depends the unity, peace, and concord of this temple of living stones.
III. An unwise woman, who is at the head of a house, caricatures her position by her conduct. Her position implies that she is a builder-up. Her conduct has the effect of pulling down. A clown upon a kingly throne is not more out of place than a foolish woman who bears the name of mistress, wife, and mother. The reins are in her hands, but she does not know how to guide the chariot; the materials are in her possession but she has no skill to use them. She is not only no centre of unity, she is a source of discord; she not only cannot build the house herself but she makes it impossible for anybody else to do anything towards it. She is not only no crown to her husband, but she is rottenness to his bones (chap. Pro. 12:4).
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
A good wife is heavens last best gift to a man; his angel of mercy; minister of graces innumerable; his gem of many virtues; his casket of jewels; her voice, his sweetest music; her smiles, his brightest day; her kiss, the guardian of his innocence; her arms, the pale of his safety; the balm of his health, the balsam of his life; her industry, his surest wealth; her economy, his safest steward; her lips, his faithful counsellors; her bosom, the softest pillow of his cares; and her prayers, the ablest advocates of heavens blessings on his head.Jeremy Taylor.
The following is a translation of a Welsh Triad:A good wife is modest, void of deceit, and obedient; pure of conscience, gracious of tongue, and true to her husband; her heart not proud, her manners affable, and her bosom full of compassion for the poor, labouring to be tidy, skilful of hand, and fond of praying to God; her conversation amiable, her dress decent, and her house orderly; quick of hand, quick of eye, and quick of understanding; her face benignant, her head intelligent, and provident, neighbourly, gentle, and of a liberal way of thinking; able in directing, providing what is wanting, and a good mother to her children; loving her husband, loving peace, and God.New Handbook of Illustration.
House means all interests. Has built is preterite. If all interests are prosperous at present, it has been the work of the past. The second clause wisely returns to the future, which we commonly translate as the present, because the act is steadily running on, and includes both the present and the future. Wisdom in woman has built her house, beginning a long time ago; but folly in women is an affair of the present. If it had been at work long, it would have had no house to pull down. As entering upon the work of the wise, ungodly mothers tear down the house which generations of the righteous have been slowly building. The grand comment, however, is that this womanly wisdom or wise woman, like the woman of grace (chap. Pro. 9:16), or woman of folly (chap. Pro. 9:13) has an allegoric meaning. Women do much toward building up. But the text means more, that wisdom, as personified, is the only builder of a house, and folly, as impenitence, all that can pull it down.Miller.
Only the characteristic wisdom of woman (not that of the man) is able to build itself a house, i.e., to make possible a household in the true sense of the word; for the woman alone has the capacity circumspectly to look through the multitude of individual household wants, and carefully to satisfy them; and also because the various activities of the members of a family can be combined in a harmonious unity only by the influence, partly regulative, and partly fostering, of a feminine character, gently but steadily efficient. But where there is wanting to the mistress of a house this wisdom attainable only by her, and appropriate only to her, then that is irrecoverably lost which first binds in a moral fellowship those connected by relationship of bloodthat which makes the house, from a mere place of abode, to be the spiritual nursery of individuals organically associated.Elster.
The fullest recognition that has as yet met us of the importance of woman, for good or evil, in all human society. Plumptre.
With calm, clear eyes, deep insight, ready sympathy; active, without bustle; alert, without over-anxious vigilance; ignorant perchance of sthetic rules, yet with subtle touches transforming into a fine picture the home-spun canvas, and with a soft fairy music blending into harmony the noises of the day; apathetic about stocks and shares, and far-off millions; but with a keen appreciation of new sovereigns and no disdain for sixpences; a mere formalist, if professing interest in city improvements and parochial reforms, but as touching torn curtains and threadbare carpets much exercised in spirit; sure that the commotions of Europe will all come right, but shedding bitter tears at any outburst of juvenile waywardness, and praying earnestly, Oh, that Ishmael may live before thee! with small belief in the transcendental philosophy, and allowing that much may be said on both sides, but in the interpretation of the Ten Commandments positive, unreasoning, absolute; in theology hopelessly confounding the theology of the schools, and in an innocent way adopting half the heresies, but drinking direct from the fountain that living water which others prefer, chalybeate, through the iron pipe, or rated from the filtering pond, and in a style which Calvin or Grotius might equally envy teaching the little ones the love of the Saviour; the angel of the house moulds a family for heaven, and by dint of holy example, and gentle control, her early and most efficacious ministry goes farther than any other to lay the foundations of future excellence, and train up sons and daughters for the Lord Almighty.Dr. Jas. Hamilton.
St. Ambrose noteth that when God asked Abraham, Where is thy wife, Sarah?He was not ignorant where Sarah was; but that He asked the question that by Abrahams answer, Behold, in the tent, He might teach women where they ought to benamely, in the house, and not so much in the house as in the affairs of the house, making ready provision to entertain God as Sarah was.Jermin.
The modest virgin, the prudent wife, or the careful matron, are much more serviceable in life than petticoated philosophers, blustering heroines, or virago queens. She who makes her husband and her children happy, who reclaims the one from vice and trains the other to virtue, is a much greater character than ladies described in romance, whose whole occupation is to murder mankind with shafts from their quiver or their eyes.Goldsmith.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER 14
TEXT Pro. 14:1-12
1.
Every wise woman buildeth her house;
But the foolish plucketh it down with her own hands.
2.
He that walketh in his uprightness feareth Jehovah;
But he that is perverse in his ways despiseth him.
3.
In the mouth of the foolish is a rod for his pride;
But the lips of the wise shall preserve them.
4.
Where no oxen are, the crib is clean;
But much increase is by the strength of the ox.
5.
A faithful witness will not lie;
But a false witness uttereth lies.
6.
A scoffer seeketh wisdom, and findeth it not;
But knowledge is easy unto him that hath understanding.
7.
Go into the presence of a foolish man,
And thou shalt not perceive in him the lips of knowledge.
8.
The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way;
But the folly of fools is deceit.
9.
A trespass-offering mocketh fools;
But among the upright there is good will.
10.
The heart knoweth its own bitterness;
And a stranger doth not intermeddle with its joy.
11.
The house of the wicked shall be overthrown;
But the tent of the upright shall flourish.
12.
There is a way which seemeth right unto a man;
But the end thereof are the ways of death.
STUDY QUESTIONS OVER 14:1-12
1.
Find the two contrasts in Pro. 14:1.
2.
Name some blessings of walking uprightly (Pro. 14:2).
3.
Name some blessings of being perverse (Pro. 14:2).
4.
Reword the first statement in Pro. 14:3 so as to bring out its meaning.
5.
What is the meaning of clean in Pro. 14:4?
6.
We talk about, As strong as an ………….. (Pro. 14:4).
7.
What are some of the reasons why some people bear false witness (Pro. 14:5)?
8.
Why does a scoffer have trouble learning (Pro. 14:6)?
9.
Are there people who you judge to be wiser than they prove to be (Pro. 14:7)?
10.
What does prudent mean in Pro. 14:8?
11.
How could a trespass-offering mock fools (Pro. 14:9)?
12.
What is good will (Pro. 14:9)?
13.
Write an elaboration on Pro. 14:10.
14.
Find the triple contrast in Pro. 14:11.
15.
What other verse in Proverbs restates Pro. 14:12?
16.
Cite an incident in the Bible, in history, or in your own personal knowledge illustrating Pro. 14:12.
PARAPHRASE OF 14:1-12
1.
A wise woman builds her house, while a foolish woman tears hers down by her own efforts.
2.
To do right honors God; to sin is to despise Him
3.
A rebels foolish talk should prick his own pride! But the wise mans speech is respected.
4.
An empty stable stays clean-but there is no income from an empty stable.
5.
A truthful witness never lies; a false witness always lies.
6.
A mocker never finds the wisdom he claims he is looking for, yet it comes easily to the man with common sense.
7.
If you are looking for advice, stay away from fools.
8.
The wise man looks ahead. The fool attempts to fool himself and wont face facts.
9.
The common bond of rebels is their guilt. The common bond of godly people is good will.
10.
Only the person involved can know his own bitterness or joyno one else can really share it.
11.
The work of the wicked will perish; the work of the godly will flourish.
12.
Before every man there lies a wide and pleasant road that seems right but ends in death.
COMMENT ON 14:1-12
Pro. 14:1. People can either build or pluck down. The wise build (Pro. 24:3-5); the foolish destroy. Owners usually build and take care of things; renters often let everything run down. Rachel and Leah are said to have built the house of Israel (Rth. 4:11). Contrast the virtuous woman of Proverbs 31 with the adulterous woman often pictured in the first part of Proverbs with reference to building and destroying.
Pro. 14:2. This verse deals with two classes of men just as Pro. 14:1 did with two classes of women. What a wonderful life results for both and for their offspring when he that walketh in his uprightness (this verse) marries the wise woman (Pro. 14:1)! When people properly fear God, they keep his commandments (Ecc. 12:13); when people dont fear God, evil results (Rom. 3:15-18; Gen. 20:11). Jehovah is the antecedent of him in the second statement. Those who are perverse in their ways pay no attention to God, and the world is full of them.
Pro. 14:3. American Bible Union version and Youngs Literal give, A rod of pride. Septuagint: From the mouth of fools cometh a staff of insolence. The foolish can have a cruel tongue (rod). Other passages compare the wicked tongue to a cutting sword (Psa. 57:4; Psa. 64:3).
Pro. 14:4. The ox was used for agricultural purposes then (1Ki. 19:19; Deu. 25:4). A clean crib meant an empty crib. We, too, talk of the strength of an ox in our saying: As strong as an ox. Through the wise use of animal power (and now much more of mechanical power), man has been able to increase his agricultural (and other) output. Man shows that he is of a higher sphere than the animal world, for he constantly utilizes the strengths and abilities of lower forms of life to serve him.
Pro. 14:5. The one difference between a faithful and a false witness: one will lie; the other one wont. Some are false because it is not always easy to tell the full truth. Others are false on purpose (for material gain, to ruin others, etc.). The soldiers who guarded Jesus tomb lied and were paid for it (Mat. 28:11-14). Men told lies in Jesus trial to bring about His condemnation (Mar. 14:57-58). Other passages against bearing false witness: Exo. 20:16; Exo. 23:1; Pro. 6:19; Pro. 12:17; Pro. 14:25. The apostles would neither lie nor suppress the truth about Jesus (Act. 4:18-20). Such conscientious souls are needed in every age.
Pro. 14:6. A scoffer is strong on his own ideas and reluctant to take the word of others. Learning is not gullible, but there is still a strong element of trust involved in learning, which the scoffer does not have. Therefore, he cuts himself off from some wisdom that he could have if he were otherwise in attitude. But it is much easier for an humble man of understanding to increase his knowledge, for he has no barrier of pride. One who has understanding easily picks up additional knowledge from what he reads, hears, studies, and is instructed in, for he can understand and comprehend what he comes in contact with. See Pro. 9:9; Pro. 17:24.
Pro. 14:7. There is some doubt as to which rendering is correct. The King James has: Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge. The American Standard gives a truism (the foolish man has nothing to give you by his presence), but the King James tells you what to do about it (depart from his unprofitable presence). Enroll under teachers who know what they are talking about; doctor with those who know what they are doing; listen to religious teachers who accurately know the Bible. People would save themselves much disillusionment if they would regard this instruction.
Pro. 14:8. The prudent wisely watch every aspect of their lives (Pro. 14:15). They do not jump and then look for a place to land. They do not shoot and then investigate whether it was a deer or a man. They do not sign the contract and then study to see what they signed. And spiritually they are just as careful (Eph. 5:15). The foolish foolishly suppose they can deceive others, but seldom are they successful in their attempt.
Pro. 14:9. A trespass-offering was ordained of God if properly offered (Lev. 6:1-7), but if one thought he would pull the wool over Gods eyes by such an offering when he intended to keep on in the trespass, he was mockednot God (Gal. 6:7). For this reason God did not accept the acts of worship mentioned in Isa. 1:11-17. The upright gain the good will and favor of God by their honest dealings with themselves before Him.
Pro. 14:10. There is a portion of each persons inner-self that no one else can fully enter into. After others have sought to assuage our grief with their words lovingly administered, there is still a portion that they have not touched not known. On the other hand after we have sought to share our joys with others, we have probably enlisted their polite ears more than we have their hearts feelings. We cannot fully communicate our joys, nor can they fully enter into our joys.
Pro. 14:11. A triple contrast: house vs. tent; wicked vs. upright; and shall be overthrown us. shall flourish. This verse blends the material found is Pro. 14:1-2; study it until you can see this fact.
Pro. 14:12. Pro. 16:25 gives the identical statement. The importance of the truth may account for its double appearance in the book. Men are often talked into things that do not end as they expected. Sometimes people do the wrong thing when they think they are doing the wise and desirable thinglike mice eating bait on a trap or fish eating bait on a hook. This is even true religiously (Joh. 16:2; Act. 26:9; Rom. 10:1-3). False teachers may look like sheep even though they are ravening, devouring wolves (Mat. 7:15). Counterfeits are made to resemble the genuine. So the devil pawns off denominations started by men for the church started by Christ.
TEST QUESTIONS OVER 14:1-12
1.
The wise woman who builds her house and the foolish woman who tears hers down are likened to what two women in the earlier and the latter chapters of Prov.?
2.
Pro. 14:2 shows what to be a motivation for uprightness?
3.
What is the perverse persons attitude toward God or the idea of God (Pro. 14:2)?
4.
Some passages liken a wicked tongue to a sword; what does Pro. 14:3 liken it to?
5.
How was the ox used in Bible days (Pro. 14:4)?
6.
What saying do we have involving the ox (Pro. 14:4)?
7.
What was the case where there were no oxen (Pro. 14:4)?
8.
How has man used his head for greater productive output (Pro. 14:4)?
9.
How does this fact distinguish him from the animal world (Pro. 14:4)?
10.
What two kinds of witnesses are there (Pro. 14:5)?
11.
Why will people bear false witness (Pro. 14:5)?
12.
Who said, We cannot but speak the things which we saw and heard (Pro. 14:5)?
13.
Why does a scoffer sometimes cut himself off from the opportunity of learning (Pro. 14:6)?
14.
Why is acquiring knowledge easy for the person who has understanding (Pro. 14:6)?
15.
How does the King James and American Standard differ on Pro. 14:7?
16.
How do people bring disillusionment upon themselves by not regarding Pro. 14:7?
17.
What are the prudent very careful about (Pro. 14:8)?
18.
Comment upon the folly of fools in deceit (Pro. 14:8).
19.
How does a trespass-offering mock fools (Pro. 14:9)?
20.
How do the upright acquire Gods good will (Pro. 14:9)?
21.
Comment upon Pro. 14:1.
22.
What triple contrast is found in Pro. 14:11?
23.
Show that Pro. 14:11 blends the material found in Pro. 14:1-2.
24.
What explanation was suggested for Pro. 14:12 and Pro. 16:25 being in the book of Proverbs since they are identical statements?
25.
Illustrate the truth of Pro. 14:12.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
XIV
(1) Every wise woman buildeth her house.This should be rendered, The wisdom (literally, wisdoms; see above on Pro. 1:20; chokhmth should probably be read here, as there, not chokhmth) of women buildeth (for each) her house, but (their) folly plucketh it down, &c.
Buildeth her house.Each person and each good work throughout the household grows, as it were, under her fostering hand. (Comp. Eph. 2:21.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1. Every wise woman Literally, as to form, the wisdoms of women; both plural, but with the verb in the singular, showing that the subject is to be taken as singular. Some render, woman’s wisdom buildeth. But the sense is well enough given in our common version.
The foolish Literally, folly, but feminine in form; feminine folly plucketh. The sentiment is, that in building up a family, the woman, the wife and mother, has possibly more to do than the man. Great men have generally been more indebted to their mothers than to their fathers; and the greatness of certain families is traced chiefly to maternal wisdom and virtues. But of the foolish woman just the reverse may be said. She needs no help to pull down her house; her negligence, ill-management, extravagance, lack of capacity for family government, or other failings or vices, do the deed. She destroys her own family. For an example of the wise woman, see Pro 31:10, seq.; comp. also Pro 24:3-4, and Rth 4:11, seq. “A fortune in a wife is better than a fortune with a wife.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Proverbs Of Solomon ( Pro 10:1 to Pro 22:16 ).
The proverbs in this section are now introduced by the brief subheading ‘The Proverbs Of Solomon’. Contrast ‘The sayings of Solomon, the Son of David, the King of Israel’ in Pro 1:1. The details given there do not need to be repeated because this is a subheadng, not a main heading. This is in line with comparable wisdom literature going back far beyond the time of Solomon
What follows in Pro 10:1 onwards is somewhat deceptive. Without careful study it can appear to contain simply a string of proverbs with no direct connection to each other. But closer examination soon reveals otherwise. Solomon has rather taken his vast knowledge of wisdom literature, and put together a series of sayings which gel together and give consecutive teaching.
Various attempts have been made to divide up this material, but none of them have been fully successful as the basis of construction and the dividing lines are not always clear. They tend to be somewhat subjective. But that some thought has gone into the presentation of the material is apparent by the way in which topics and ideas are grouped together. Consider for example Pro 10:2-5 which are based on the idea of riches and men’s cravings, whilst Pro 10:18-21 are all based on the lips or the tongue. On the whole, however, the basis of the presentation overall is tentative, for up until Pro 22:17 we do not have any clear introductory words which can help us to divide the text up.
What is certain is that we are not simply to see this as just a number of proverbs jumbled together with no connection whatsoever. And in our view Solomon made this clear by using the well known method (previously used by Moses in Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) of dividing up the text by means of chiasms as we have illustrated. Ancient Hebrew was written in one continuing steam of letters with no gaps to distinguish words, and no punctuation. This was not quite as confusing as it sounds for words and word endings followed definite patterns which were mainly distinguishable. But the only way of dividing it up into paragraphs was either by the way of material content, or by the use of chiasms (presenting the material in an A B C D D C B A pattern). In our view this latter method was used by Solomon in this section as we hope we have demonstrated..
The proverbs which follow are designed to give a wide coverage of wisdom and instruction, and as we study them we will receive guidance in different spheres. For this is the wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and instruction that Solomon has been speaking of in the Prologue. It is a revelation of ‘the fear of YHWH and the knowledge of God’ (Pro 2:5).
It will be noted at once that Solomon immediately expects us to be able to differentiate ‘the righteous’ from the ‘unrighteous’ (or ‘wicked’), and the wise from the ‘foolish’. This confirms that the righteous and the wise are in his eyes identifiable, and in Israel that would be because they walked in accordance with the covenant, the ‘Law of Moses’, as well as in the ways of wisdom. Thus wisdom does not exclude the Law, nor does it supersede it. It embraces it, although mainly from a non-ritualistic standpoint (consider, however, Pro 3:9-10; Pro 7:14; Pro 15:8; Pro 17:1; Pro 21:3; Pro 21:27). For it sees it from a less legalistic attitude, and encourages a broad view of life.
We must, however, recognise that ‘wicked’ does not mean ‘totally evil’ and that ‘foolish’ does not mean ‘stupid’. The wicked are those who come short of righteousness (the term regularly contrasts with the righteous). Basically they live disregarding God’s requirements in some aspect of their lives. They may appear solid citizens, but in parts of their lives they pay no heed to God. This might come out in false business practises, or in deceit, or in lack of love for others, or in selfishness, as being part of their way of life. That is why we often speak of ‘the unrighteous’ rather than of ‘the wicked’.
In the same way the ‘foolish’ are called foolish because they set aside God’s ways in the way in which they live their lives. They may be astute, clever and full of common sense, but they are ‘foolish’ because they disregard YHWH. (‘The fool has said in his heart, “there is no God” (Psa 14:1) even though he might give an outward impression of being religious).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
A Collection Of Solomon’s Proverbs ( Pro 10:1 to Pro 29:27 ).
Solomon’s presentation of The Book of Proverbs has followed the pattern of much Wisdom literature. This commenced with the initial heading detailing the details of the author and his purpose in writing (Pro 1:1-7), continued with a Prologue which laid the foundation for what was to follow (Pro 1:8 to Pro 9:18), and was then followed by the body of the work introduced by one or more subheadings. In Solomon’s case this main body comprises Pro 10:1 to Pro 29:27. It is usually divided up into four parts:
1) Proverbs of Solomon (Pro 10:1 to Pro 22:16), introduced by a subheading ‘The Proverbs Of Solomon’. This may possibly be divided into two sections, Pro 10:1 to Pro 15:21, and Pro 15:22 to Pro 22:16.
2) Words of the Wise (Pro 22:17 to Pro 24:22), introduced by an exhortation to hear the words of the wise. This is in a form comparable with exhortations in the Prologue, but there is no subheading in the text as we have it. It may rather therefore be seen as a third section of The Proverbs of Solomon, but with unusual characteristics.
3) Further Sayings of the Wise (Pro 24:23-34), introduced by the subheading, ‘these also are of the wise’.
4) Proverbs of Solomon copied out by the ‘Men of Hezekiah, King of Judah’ (Pro 25:1 to Pro 29:27), introduced by a specific heading.
The inclusion of the words of the wise within two sets of proverbs of Solomon, the first time without a subheading, suggests that we are to see the words of the wise and the sayings of the wise as also from Solomon, but based in each case more specifically on collections of Wisdom sayings known to him, which he himself, or his Scribes, had taken and altered up in order to conform them to his requirements thus making them finally his work. That does not necessarily mean that his proverbs in section 1 (Pro 10:1 to Pro 22:16) were not based on other material. He would have obtained his material from many sources. But once again we are to see them as presented after alteration by his hand.
We should note, for example, the continual references to YHWH that occur throughout the text. Whatever material Solomon may have appropriated, he refashioned it in order to make it the wisdom of the God of Israel, of YHWH their covenant God. This approach of taking what was written by others and refashioning it, while at the same time introducing further ideas of his own, may be seen as following the pattern of modern scholars, each of whom takes the works of others, and then reinterprets them in his own words, whilst adding to them on the basis of his own thinking. The final product is then seen as their own thinking, aided by others. The only difference is that Solomon would have been far more willing to copy down word for word what others had said and written without giving acknowledgement.
Having said that we must not assume that Solomon simply copied them down unthinkingly. As the Prologue has made clear, he did not see himself as presenting some general form of Wisdom teaching. He saw what he wrote down as given by YHWH, and as being in the words of YHWH (Pro 2:6). And he saw it as based on YHWH’s eternal wisdom, His wisdom which had also been involved in the creation of heaven and earth (Pro 3:19-20; Pro 8:22-31). Thus he wants us to recognise that what now follows is not a series of general wisdom statements, but is a miscellany revealing the wisdom of YHWH, the wisdom that leads men into the paths of life.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Walking With The Wise Will Result In Prosperity And A Well-knit And Integrated Family, Whilst Being A Fool Is A Prelude To Disaster ( Pro 13:20 to Pro 14:1 ).
We have in this subsection a call to follow wisdom and be wise (Pro 13:20), righteous Pro 13:21; Pro 13:25) and good (Pro 13:22). He who does so will be recompensed with good (Pro 13:21); will find himself in a position to leave his descendants an inheritance (Pro 13:22); will properly discipline his son (Pro 13:24); will not go hungry (Pro 13:25); and will have a wise wife who will build up his household (Pro 14:1). In contrast are the fools (Pro 13:20); sinners (Pro 13:21-22); the poor (Pro 13:23); and the unrighteous (Pro 13:25). They will make those who trust them ‘smart’ (Pro 13:20); will be pursued by evil (Pro 13:21); will eventually lose their inheritance ( Pro 13:22); will eventually suffer hunger (Pro 13:23; Pro 13:25); and may have a wife who allows the household to collapse (Pro 14:1).
We should note the emphasis on the family. A good man ensures that his children and grandchildren are provided for (Pro 13:22). A loving father disciplines his son (Pro 13:24). A wise woman by her wisdom builds up her house (her family) (Pro 14:1).
The subsection can be presented chiastically:
A Walk with WISE men, and you will be wise, but the companion of FOOLS will smart for it (Pro 13:20).
B Evil pursues sinners, but the RIGHTEOUS will be recompensed with good (Pro 13:21).
C A good man leaves an inheritance to his CHILDREN’S CHILDREN, and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the righteous (Pro 13:22).
D Much food is in the tillage of the poor (Pro 13:23 a).
D But there is that is destroyed by reason of injustice (Pro 13:23 b).
C He who spares his rod hates his SON, but he who loves him is intent on disciplining him (Pro 13:24).
B The RIGHTEOUS eats to the satisfying of his inner man (nephesh), but the stomach of the wicked will want (Pro 13:25).
A Every WISE woman builds her house, but the FOOLISH plucks it down with her own hands (Pro 14:1).
Note that in A we have the accomplishment of the wise man, and in the parallel the accomplishment of the wise woman, whilst ‘fools’ parallels ‘foolish’. In B the righteous will be recompensed with good, and in the parallel the righteous eats to the satisfying of his inner man. In C the good man provides for his children materially, and in the parallel the one who loves his son ‘provides for’ his son by chastening him. Centrally in D, whilst there is much food in the tillage of the poor, in the contrasting parallel some of it is destroyed by injustice.
Pro 13:20
‘Walk with wise men, and you will be wise,
But the companion of fools will smart for it.’
Note the inclusio of wise men here and the wise woman in Pro 14:1. Walking with the wise makes a man wise, he marries a wise woman, and thus produces a wise family. Both the wise husband and the wise wife are needed to produce a well rounded individual. Compare the constant pairing with regard to wisdom teaching of the father and the mother (Pro 1:8; Pro 4:3; Pro 10:1). And note that Solomon is presented as a father figure (he refers to ‘my son’) and wisdom is presented as a mother figure (wisdom is always feminine). So while a wise father is seen as vital for a family, a wise mother is also seen as essential.
The consequence of becoming wise will be that he will be recompensed with good (Pro 13:21), he will be in a position to leave wealth to his children’s children (Pro 13:22), he will eat well both physically and spiritually, and his family will be made strong (Pro 14:1).
The lesson of the individual proverb is important. It is a reminder that we become like the company that we keep. Solomon exhorts ‘his son’ (those whom he addresses for whom there is yet hope) to walk with wise men. He is to keep company with them, listen to them, and respond to what they say. Then he himself will become wise in God’s wisdom. In the parallel by living with a wise woman, he (and the whole family) will be established in the right way (Pro 14:1).
In contrast those who walk with fools (those who do not respond to God’s wisdom), and have fools as their companions, will suffer the consequences. They will ‘smart for it’, they will ‘suffer harm’ (like the one who is surety for a stranger (Pro 11:15)). They walk with fools (Pro 2:12-15), pay heed to what they say (Pro 1:11 ff) and become fools themselves. How much better had they been made to smart by their father’s discipline (Pro 13:24). And the same will be true of those who have a ‘foolish’ mother. They will live in an unhappy and disintegrated household (verse Pro 14:1).
We could take ro‘eh as a qal participle and translate as ‘the one who keeps companionship with’ but the meaning is the same. Note that the r‘h (companion) yrw‘ (suffers harm), whilst in the next verse r‘h (evil) pursues sinners, connecting the two verses.
Pro 13:21
‘Evil pursues sinners,
But the righteous will be recompensed with good.’
The importance of walking with the wise (Pro 13:20) comes out in that ‘evil pursues sinners’. In view of the parallel clause ‘evil’ includes all the unpleasant things that can face man (compare Pro 3:29), such as hunger, fierce storms, calamity and death (Pro 1:25-27; Pro 1:32; Pro 2:22; Pro 3:25; Pro 5:9-10; Pro 6:11; Pro 6:15; Pro 6:33; Pro 7:27). But it is probably also intended to include moral evil. A sinner attracts evil (what is not good) and it pursues him. Evil is here personified and seen as a remorseless enemy which hunts down its victims (see Pro 1:10-19; Pro 2:12-19; Pro 6:24; Pro 7:10-21). But it cannot touch those who walk with the wise. The righteous, instead of being pursued with the world’s evils, will be recompensed with good (Pro 3:16-18) because by responding to Gods’ wisdom they have become ‘good’, (have had their mind set on following God’s wisdom), and are thus becoming more and more good. Compare Mat 6:33, ‘seek first the kingly rule of God and His righteousness, and all these things (food and clothing) will be added to you’.
In the parallel verse (Pro 13:25), ‘the righteous eats to the satisfying of his inner man (nephesh)’, whilst the stomach of the non-righteous will be empty. Here is one of the ‘good’ things which the righteous will enjoy. Note the parallel reference in Pro 13:25 to ‘the righteous’. Other good things described are that he becomes wealthy enough to leave an inheritance to his descendants (Pro 13:22), and that he weds a wife who will be a blessing to his future family (Pro 14:1).
Note also how the mention of ‘sinners’ connects up with the verse which follows this (Pro 13:22). These connecting links demonstrate that Solomon wants us to connect the proverbs together. Sinners are those who fall short of ‘goodness’ (Pro 13:22).
Pro 13:22
‘A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children,
And the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the righteous.’
The good man, the righteous man, the one who walks with the wise (Pro 13:20), is here contrasted with ‘the sinner’, the one who falls short of goodness, the one who is unrighteous. Here we learn that the good man retains his wealth so that he is able to pass it on to his descendants, whilst the sinner fails to do so. The sinner loses it. Either he or his children, who will tend to grow up like him, will squander it, or he will lose it through some disaster. And in the end it will benefit the righteous. (The righteous will benefit in the end, the sinner will lose all).
The fact that the good man leaves his inheritance to his children’s children also suggests that his own children will be ‘good men’ so that they too prosper, for it is they who will ensure that the succession continues. And the reasons why they become good men is that they are properly disciplined (Pro 13:24) and have a good and wise mother (Pro 14:1). Thus by walking with the wise a good man benefits not only himself, but his children. They too become wise.
For an illustration of the clause ‘the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the righteous’ compare Gen 31:9; Gen 31:16; Exo 12:36; Deu 2:26-35; Deu 3:1-2; Est 8:1; Psa 105:44.
Pro 13:23
‘Much food is in the fallow (unploughed) ground of the poor,
But there is that is destroyed by reason of injustice (judgment).’
Standing by itself this could be saying that even if the poor did not work hard and plough their ground (fallow ground is untilled ground, ground which has not been broken up – see Hos 10:12; Jer 4:3), they would still be able to provide enough food for their families, were it not for the fact that their situation could be affected by injustice. But the idea is more likely that much food is there assuming that the poor would work hard and plough the ground. Then they would discover that it would produce much food. The injustice may have in mind that they could find themselves over-taxed, or having what they produced taken from them by invaders (compare Jdg 6:3-4) or by a rich person using his influence on the courts, or by storms and unseasonal rain. The fact that they can produce ‘much food’ is evidence that ‘the poor’ are not to be seen as the destitute (they have land), and indicates that all could have been satisfactorily fed were it not for man’s greed.
But in context the verse has a further significance. It is illustrating the fact that ‘evil pursues sinners’ (Pro 13:21). For up to this point Solomon’s clear teaching has been that the poor are poor because they are slothful (Pro 6:9-11; Pro 10:4-5). They have not followed the way of wisdom. And that is confirmed here by the reference to ‘fallow (untilled) ground’. They have not broken up their ground. And yet even so that ground could produce sufficient food were it not for the fact that ‘evil pursued them’, that what they produce is subject to misfortune. It must be remembered that such injustices were regularly seen as due to the hand of YHWH punishing His people for their ill-doing (Jdg 6:1-4).
An alternative is to paraphrase as, ‘much food could be in the fallow ground of the poor, were it not that it is swept away by poor judgment.’ In other words the ground fails to produce what it could because the poor exercise poor judgment and do not break up the ground. They fail to produce because of their own slothfulness.
Either way this is central in the chiasmus because, coming in between the inclusio which refers to walking with the wise (Pro 13:20), and being brought up by the wise (Pro 14:1), Solomon wants to emphasise that sinners bring their misfortune on themselves in spite of God having initially shown His goodness towards them.
Brief Note On The Poor.
We may feel that Solomon is a little unfair to the poor when he suggests that they are always responsible for their own poverty. But we must remember that he saw the Israelite society in which he lived, and over whom he reigned, as composed of families each of which had its own portion of land handed down from their ancestors. Thus he considered that, on the whole, where this was so, they had the means by which they could feed themselves if they put in enough effort. Given this scenario we can see why he spoke as he did.
End of note.
Pro 13:24
‘He who spares his rod hates his son,
But he who loves him is intent on disciplining him.’
In Pro 13:22 the good man leaves an inheritance to his descendants, here he gives his son a different kind of inheritance by disciplining him in love so that he will learn wisdom. To ‘spare the rod’ is to not use it. He fails to use it because he is not bothered about the way in which his son walks. In contrast the one who loves his son will discipline him when necessary. He is ‘intent on’ disciplining him because he loves him and wants him to learn the way of wisdom. The fact that it would be done in love (‘he who loves him’) would prevent it from being excessive.
This is not an admonition to beat one’s children. It is an admonition to discipline them properly. The rod was the method of discipline in those days. Life was hard and time precious, and children rarely had privileges that could be withheld. The rod was a quick method of discipline, and psychological methods were unknown. Today we may use other methods of discipline. We live in an affluent age and children can always be punished by withholding privileges or, with young children, using ‘the naughty seat’. This was not possible, or even thought of, in those days. But good parents are still ‘intent on’ sufficiently disciplining their children when necessary, so that they will learn what is good. And if this does finally require ‘the rod’ they will use it. A judicious smack given in love (not in despair or temper) may well save the child much trouble (in spite of modern prejudices).
Pro 13:25
‘The righteous eats to the satisfying of his inner man (nephesh),
But the stomach of the wicked will want.’
In Pro 13:22 we read, ‘Evil pursues sinners, but the righteous will be recompensed with good.’ This is illustrated here. It is because misfortune pursues sinners, that the stomach of the unrighteous will want (go hungry). In contrast the righteous will be recompensed with good, because the righteous will be satisfied, both physically by having sufficient food, and spiritually by feeding on wisdom. It is a reminder that the wise man chooses the way of righteousness, and discovers that in the end that is the way to wellbeing and life.
Pro 14:1
‘Every wise woman builds her house,
But the foolish plucks it down with her own hands.’
This is the second part of the inclusio, the first part being Pro 13:20. ‘Every wise woman’ is paralleled with ‘wise men.’ Like Ms Wisdom (Pro 9:1) this wise woman ‘builds her house’, although in her case it is not a literal building but the ‘building’ of the family. She spends her efforts on building up her family and making them wise. She instructs them in the Torah (Law of Moses) (Pro 1:8), and is deeply concerned if they go astray (Pro 10:1). Like woman wisdom she constantly exhorts them to walk in the right way, the way of the wise. Note that it is not said that she does it ‘with her own hands’. The idea is probably that she is assisted by YHWH. And as a consequence she is a ‘crown’ to her husband (Pro 12:4).
In contrast is the foolish woman who plucks down her house ‘with her own hands’. She must take total responsibility for what happens, when her children are badly behaved and disunited, and when her household collapses. She is as rottenness in her husband’s bones (Pro 12:4).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Pro 14:1-35 The Mind: Understanding Must Guide Our Decisions This section places emphasis upon the mind of man.
Pro 14:1 Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.
Pro 14:1
Pro 24:3-4, “Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established: And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.”
Pro 9:1, “Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars:”
Illustrations:
1. The virtuous wife (Pro 31:10-31):
Pro 14:11 – Her husband trusts her as a steward not to waste his hard-earned substances:
Pro 14:12 – She does not do evil towards him in anger but strives to please him.
Pro 14:13 – She works hard for the benefit of her household.
Pro 14:20 – She gives to the poor so God blesses the house.
Pro 14:26 – She speaks kindly and not with contentions.
2. The widow indeed (1Ti 5:10). She works hard to raise her children. She helps those in need.
1Ti 5:10, “Well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints’ feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work.”
3. Rachel and Leah:
Rth 4:11, “And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem:”
Pro 14:1 “but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands” – Comments – Characteristics of the foolish woman:
1. She is always talkative about worthless chatter.
Pro 9:13, “A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and knoweth nothing.”
2. Her mind is on men and the world, excitement, entertainment
Pro 9:14-15, “For she sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city, To call passengers who go right on their ways:”
3. She is full of contentions, arguing and fussing, and angry.
Pro 19:13, “A foolish son is the calamity of his father: and the contentions of a wife are a continual dropping.”
Pro 21:9, “It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.”
Pro 21:19, “It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman.”
Illustrations:
Jezebel: 1Ki 21:25, “But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.”
Athaliah: 2Ki 11:1, “And when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal.”
Because of her own actions, her home and family are destroyed, and not because of chance and ill fate, even though outsiders may be involved in the destruction.
Pro 14:2 He that walketh in his uprightness feareth the LORD: but he that is perverse in his ways despiseth him.
Pro 14:2
Comments – One who walks a straight path, doing that which is right.
Psa 25:8, “good and upright is the Lord.” We are to be like Him.
The upright:
Psa 7:10 God saves them
Psa 11:7 We can see God, have communication with Him
Psa 18:25 God rewards the upright in many ways according to their uprightness
Psa 32:11 – They can be glad in heart and rejoice
Psa 33:1 – Praise is comely for them
Psa 36:10 – God gives his loving kindness and righteousness to them
Psa 37:18 – God gives them an inheritance forever
Psa 37:37 -Their end is peace
Psa 49:14 – They have dominion over them in the morning
Psa 64:10 – They shall rejoice in the Lord
Psa 94:15 – They will follow God’s judgment
Psa 97:11 Gladness is theirs
Psa 112:2 – Their generation is blessed
Psa 112:4 – God gives them light in the darkness
Psa 125:4 – God does good to them
Psa 140:13 – They dwell in God’s presence
Pro 2:21 – They dwell and remain in the land
Pro 10:29 – God’s way is strength to them
Pro 11:3 – Their integrity guides them
Pro 11:6 – Their righteousness delivers them (also Pro 13:6)
Pro 11:11 – Their blessings exalt a city
Pro 11:20 – God delight in them
Pro 12:6 – Their mouth delivers them
Pro 14:11 -Their tabernacle flourishes
Pro 15:8 – Their prayer is God’s delight
Pro 16:17 – Their depart from evil
Pro 21:29 – He considers his ways
Pro 28:10 – They possess good things
Pro 29:27 – They are an abomination to the wicked
Pro 14:2 Word Study on “perverse” – Strong says the Hebrew word “perverse” ( ) (H3868) literally means,, “to turn aside.”
Comments This word means the opposite of “straight” or “upright.”
Pro 14:2 Comments – Pro 14:2 shows that a man’s lifestyle and conduct are a clear indication of how he regards God in his own heart.
Jas 2:18, “Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works .”
Pro 14:3 In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride: but the lips of the wise shall preserve them.
Pro 14:3
Comments – Foolish people speak arrogantly, even though it costs them dearly, but a wise person will guide and control his tongue so that it will carry him safely through the situation. Note:
Pro 18:6, “A fool’s lips enter into contention, and his mouth calleth for strokes.” His talk brings strife and comes to blows.
Pro 13:10, “ Only by pride cometh contention : but with the well advised is wisdom.”
Pro 21:24, “Proud and haughty scorner is his name, who dealeth in proud wrath.”
Pro 28:25, “He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife: but he that putteth his trust in the LORD shall be made fat.”
Pro 14:4 Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox.
Pro 14:4
Pro 14:5 A faithful witness will not lie: but a false witness will utter lies.
Pro 14:6 Pro 14:6
Pro 18:2, “A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself.”
HNV, “A fool has no delight in understanding, But only in broadcasting his own opinion.”
Pro 26:12, “Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.”
Isa 8:20, “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”
Pro 14:6 “but knowledge is easy unto him that understandeth” Comment – There are two kinds of people shown in Pro 14:6:
A. The scorner can be a sinner looking for happiness and peace and wisdom and never truly finding it. But the child of God has much understanding which God gives him.
B. The Christian who scorns the Pentecostal message while seeking his walk and ministry with the Lord verses a Pentecostal man who had received the anointing and much revelation into spiritual things. For some scorners who have categorized and classified and labeled their theology, many verses in the Bible are difficult to be interpreted, but to him whose heart and mind is open to his heavenly Father, who does not fit into man’s mindset, this man receives the Scriptures as they are written and Gods word is simple to understand.
Scripture References – Note similar verses:
Psa 119:99-100, “I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.”
Pro 8:9, “They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge.”
Pro 17:24, “Wisdom is before him that hath understanding; but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth.”
Pro 14:6 Comment – It is easy to get the right interpretation and understanding of the Scriptures when a man is in tune with God through the Holy Spirit, but to those Pharisee-type church people and sinners, it is difficult to understand God’s word.
Those who scoff the full Gospel message of divine healing and miracles have difficulty with many passages in the Holy Bible, but for those who humble themselves to God’s Word, understanding is easy (Jas 1:21).
Jas 1:21, “Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.”
Pro 14:7 Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge.
Pro 14:8 Pro 14:8
Pro 14:12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
Pro 14:12
[102] Kenneth Copeland, Believer’s Voice of Victory (Kenneth Copeland Ministries, Fort Worth, Texas), on Trinity Broadcasting Network (Santa Ana, California), television program.
This same verse is repeated in Pro 16:25, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”
Pro 14:13 Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness.
Pro 14:13
Pro 14:14 The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a good man shall be satisfied from himself.
Pro 14:14
Pro 1:31, “Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.”
Pro 11:6, “The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them: but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness.”
Pro 14:15 The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going.
Pro 14:15
1Sa 27:12, “And Achish believed David, saying, He hath made his people Israel utterly to abhor him; therefore he shall be my servant for ever.”
Pro 14:20-21 Comments – Everyone sees himself in need and in poverty when compared to a person of more wealth. The tendency is for a person to set his eyes on the wealth of the rich man, but a wise person casts his eyes in the other direction, upon the poor. Thus, the wise man realizes his wealth and is moved in his heart to give to the poor.
Pro 14:21 “He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth” – Comments – Our neighbour is any one in need. Note the story of the Good Samaritan in Luk 10:25-37.
Pro 14:21 “but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he” – Comments – What a joy it gives a man when he helps the poor. There comes a joy of knowing you are in God’s will.
Pro 14:23 In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.
Pro 14:23
2Th 3:12, “Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work , and eat their own bread.”
Illustration – As a young child, my brothers and I spent a lot of time helping in the garden. As teenagers, we spent years helping our father build a house and work at a sawmill in the back yard. On one Labour Day weekend, our father had us digging a drainage ditch in order to drain water off of our wetland. In the heat of this day’s labour, while all of our schoolmates were enjoying a holiday to rest, we asked our father why we had to work. Without slowing his work pace, he simply said, “Because it’s Labour Day”. He meant jokingly that Labour Day was meant to be a day of work, instead of a holiday to take a rest.
Despite our complaints growing up and having to work around the home, my brothers and I developed good work habits. These habits have given us the ability to do well in the workplace, around many lazy people who never had good work ethics instilled in them as young people.
I am no longer hoeing in a garden nor building a house. But, I am still using the work ethics that I learned as a child.
Pro 14:27 The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.
Pro 14:27
[103] David Atkinson, The Message of Proverbs, in The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1996), 102.
Pro 14:29 He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly.
Pro 14:29 Pro 14:17
Pro 14:30 A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones.
Pro 14:30
ASV, “A tranquil heart is the life of the flesh; But envy is the rottenness of the bones.”
Pro 14:31 He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoureth him hath mercy on the poor.
Pro 14:31
Pro 14:32 The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hope in his death.
Pro 14:32
Pro 14:33 Wisdom resteth in the heart of him that hath understanding: but that which is in the midst of fools is made known.
Pro 14:34 Pro 14:34
Pro 11:11, “By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted: but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.”
Pro 14:35 The king’s favour is toward a wise servant: but his wrath is against him that causeth shame.
Pro 14:35
Joseph: Gen 39:2-5, “And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. And his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand. And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him: and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand. And it came to pass from the time that he had made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the LORD was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field.”
Daniel: Dan 1:17, “As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Justification: Solomon’s First Collection of Proverbs (Antithetic Proverbs Wisdom verses Foolishness) – The proverbs contained in chapters 10 through 15 are located within Solomon’s First Collection of Proverbs. Almost all of these proverbs are similar in that they contrast the wise man with the fool, or good versus evil. [77] This means that in every decision we make in life, we either make a wise decision or a foolish one, a good one or a bad one. It will either bring us into a position of right standing with God, or separate us from God. There is no way to straddle the fence in making decisions. Thus, the primary theme of this passage in Pro 10:1 to Pro 15:33 is our justification before God. On our spiritual journey in life, we can most closely compare it to our justification through Jesus Christ our Lord. In other words, this group of proverbs provides a definition of true righteousness before God in the same way that the Sermon on the Mount expounds upon righteousness before God.
[77] Graeme Goldsworthy also suggests that the contrast of righteousness with wickedness is being emphasized in this section when he says, “ Proverbs 10 is a collection of sayings that mainly contrast wise and foolish behavior or, alternatively, righteous and wicked behavior. It would appear that these two pairs of opposites are synonymous. There is a cumulative effect to this chapter that works on the assumption of the character of God as the basis of assessing what is wise and righteous.” See Graeme Goldsworthy, Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture (Michigan: Eerdmans, 2000), 189.
Also woven within Pro 10:1 through Pro 15:33 we can see smaller groups of proverbs that have been collected together with similar themes. It is important to note that not all of the proverbs within a collection listed above are about the same theme. This is because each day that the Lord guides us, he gives us a variety of wisdom on our place. We do not receive a one-course meal, although we are going through a season of learning a lesson on a particular subject.
Within this passage we see four major topics, which are long life (Pro 10:27), riches (Pro 13:13), abundant life (Pro 14:26-27) and honor (Pro 15:33). Thus, we see a reference to the heart, soul, body and finances of man. These topics will later be summarized in Pro 22:4, as this learning phase of the journey comes to an end. Thus, the secondary theme of this passage of Pro 10:1 to Pro 15:33 is how wisdom and foolishness is reflected in the four-fold aspect of a man’s life.
Pro 22:4, “By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life.”
Also woven within Pro 10:2 through Pro 15:33 we can see smaller groups of proverbs that have been collected together with similar themes. These proverbs are groups by the same four-fold themes running throughout the book of Proverbs, which are the themes of the heart, of the tongue, of the labour of the body and of wealth. For example,
Pro 10:1-9 Let your heart guide you
Pro 10:10-32 The Tongue
Pro 10:27 to Pro 11:22 Long life
Pro 11:24-31 Wealth gained by sowing and reaping
Pro 12:1-12 The Righteous heart
Pro 12:13 to Pro 13:5 The Righteous tongue
Pro 12:24 to Pro 13:4 – Diligence
Pro 13:1-25 Wealth gained by a righteous heart, guarding the tongue and diligence in work
Pro 14:1-35 – The Mind – Understanding must guide our decisions
Pro 15:1-33 A Merry Heart
It is important to note that not all of the proverbs within a collection are about the same theme. For example, we will find a proverb about our mental, physical or financial wellbeing mingled within a group of verses that deals with our spiritual wellbeing. This is because each day that the Lord guides us, he gives us a variety of wisdom on our place. We do not receive a one-course meal, although we are going through a season of learning a lesson on a particular subject. Thus, wisdom offers us wine that is “mingled” as described in Pro 9:2.
Notes that these sections breaks are not distinct in that they overlap one another. This overlap represents the aspect of man’s spiritual journey in which God takes man through phases of learning that overlap.
Outline Here is a proposed outline:
1. Let your heart guide you Pro 10:1-9
2. The Tongue Pro 10:10-32
3. Long life Pro 10:27 to Pro 11:22
4. Wealth gained by sowing and reaping Pro 11:24-31
5. The Righteous heart Pro 12:1-12
6. The Righteous tongue Pro 12:13 to Pro 13:5
7. Diligence Pro 12:24 to Pro 13:4
8. Wealth by a right heart, guarded the tongue, & diligent work Pro 13:1-25
9. The Mind – Understanding must guide our decisions Pro 14:1-35
10. A Merry Heart Pro 15:1-33
Signposts – Woven within the themes of this passage are signposts that help us to identify these themes. On this part of the journey, we find four main signposts:
Pro 10:27, “ The fear of the LORD prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.”
Pro 13:13, “Whoso despiseth the word shall be destroyed: but he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded.”
Pro 14:27, “ The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.”
Pro 15:33, “ The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.”
These four signposts tell us that the fear of the Lord will give to us. Perhaps they refer to the four aspects of our wellbeing.
1. A long life (Pro 10:27) Our physical wellbeing
2. A reward (Pro 13:13) Our financial wellbeing
3. A fountain of life (Pro 14:27) Our spiritual wellbeing
4. Instruction and Honour (Pro 15:33) Our mental wellbeing
We know that we will receive these blessings if we follow the path of wisdom (see Pro 3:2).
Pro 3:2, “For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.”
We can see that a long life refers to the body, a reward refers to prosperity, a fountain of life refers to abundant life in our hearts, and instruction and honour reflects the character of a man, which is revealed in his mind, will and emotions. Thus, this passage of Scripture deals again with the spirit, soul, body and finances in our lives.
Pro 10:10-21 deals primarily with the tongue. Of the 12 verses in this passage, 8 deal directly with the words of our mouth. This is because our words set in motion the course of our lives.
First Signpost – Pro 10:24 to Pro 11:22 deals primarily with the theme of living a long life. Of these 33 verses, 18 of them deal directly with the issue of living a long life, or being cut off (see Pro 10:25; Pro 10:27-30; Pro 11:3-9; Pro 11:11; Pro 11:14-15; Pro 11:17; Pro 11:19; Pro 11:21). Thus, the signpost that summarizes the theme of this passage is found in Pro 10:27, which theme is to follow the path of wisdom, and we will live a long life on this earth. Note:
Pro 10:27, “The fear of the LORD prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.”
This signpost is planted within a passage of Scriptures that deals with the longevity of the righteous verses the brevity of the wicked (Pro 10:24 thru Pro 11:22). Thus, this verse promises long life to those who fear the Lord.
Pro 11:23-31 deals entirely with the issue of sowing and reaping. All nine verses clearly address this subject.
Second Signpost – A second signpost within this passage is found in Pro 13:13.
Pro 13:13, “Whoso despiseth the word shall be destroyed: but he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded.”
This signpost is placed within a group of verses (Pro 13:1-25) that deal largely with the issue of prosperity and financial blessings from the Lord. Thus, the signpost that summarizes the theme of this passage is found in Pro 13:13, which theme is to follow the path of wisdom, and we will be rewarded with prosperity from the Lord.
Third Signpost – In Pro 14:26-27, we see a signpost that refers to an abundant life. These two verses are placed within a group of proverbs that deal with the heart of a man.
Fourth Signpost – We see another signpost in Pro 15:33.
Pro 15:33, “ The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.”
Instruction and honor emphasize the mind of a man. This verse is found within a group of verses that place emphasis upon man’s mind. However, this closing verse also identifies the underlying theme of Pro 10:1 to Pro 15:33. Pro 15:33 says that the fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom. In Pro 1:7; Pro 9:10, we were told that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. This is because the first nine chapters are a preparation, or beginning, of the journey. But here in Pro 15:33, we are in a phase of the journey called “the instruction of wisdom”. We have been learning to identify the wise man and the fool under the instruction of these one-verse contrasts between these two people. Let me give a clear illustration. When my oldest daughter would sit on my lap, we would sometimes to Bible studies together. At the age of four, she began to ask me simple questions. “Daddy, is this person bad or good?” I would reply, “David was good, and Goliath was bad; the prophet Samuel was good, but King Saul was bad.” I would then explain, “Samuel was good because he obeyed God; Saul was bad because he tried to kill David.” This became my child’s first lesson about the wise man verses the fool. It is in this same pattern that God first teaches us how to identify the wise man and the fool as we journey through Pro 10:1 to Pro 15:33.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Justification: Solomon’s First Collection (375 Sayings) [75] – The first nine chapters of the book of Proverbs serve as an introductory call from wisdom. In this introduction, we are exhorted to hear wisdom’s cry (chapter 1), and we are told how to find wisdom by putting it first in our lives (chapter 2). We are told of the blessings of finding wisdom (chapter 3) in contrast to the dangers of hearkening unto the call of the wicked and the harlot. We are shown how wisdom transforms our lives by learning the three paths of wisdom for the heart, mind and body of man (chapter 4). This is contrasted with three paths of destruction (chapters 5-6). We are shown the characteristics of the wicked man and the adulterous woman (chapters 6-7). Then, we are shown the excellence of wisdom and its characteristics (chapter 8). In conclusion, we have an invitation from wisdom to take food for the journey, with a choice to eat the stolen bread of the adulteress (chapter 9). The better we are able to understand the introduction of Proverbs, the better we will be able to understand its teachings in the rest of the book.
[75] Sailhamer says that there are 375 proverbs in Solomon’s First Collection (10:1 to 22:16), which equals the numerical value of Solomon’s Hebrew name. In addition, he says there are 611 laws listed in the Pentateuch, which equals the numerical value of the Hebrew word “Torah” ( ). He adds that the laws listed in the “Covenant Codes” (Exodus 21:1-23:12) are 42 (7 x 6), which was in intentional multiple of seven. His point is that such numerical coincidences reflect deliberate composition by the ancient Jewish scribes, and concludes that the laws, as well as the statutes, were not intended to be exhaustive. See John H. Sailhamer, Introduction to Old Testament Theology (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, c1995), 257.
Once we have chosen the path of wisdom, we are ready to continue on in the book of Proverbs. The next section of this book Isa 10:1 thru Pro 22:16. This is referred to as Solomon’s First Collection. This section is characterized by the fact that each verse contains individual truths that stand alone. They are practical truths that form a couplet. In chapter 10, we are given the choice to answer wisdom’s call to follow her by either obeying her words, or by disobeying her words and becoming the fool.
We now leave our preparation, which is compared to leaving our home and our parents. We now take a path on the journey of life. However, a quick observation of the following chapters shows us a list of randomly collected proverbs, which have no apparent relationship to one another, unlike the first nine chapters. However, if we look carefully, we will see signposts along this path of life. The introduction of chapters 1-9 began and ended with signposts. These signposts are found in Pro 1:7; Pro 9:10.
Pro 1:7, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
Pro 9:10, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.”
The fear of the Lord will be our signpost throughout the book of Proverbs. The first nine chapters are an introduction, or beginning, to this path of life. This is why these first two signposts use the phrase, “beginning of knowledge and wisdom.”
If there is a beginning, then there is a journey; and if a journey, then a destination. These signposts will take us to our destination, which is to become like our Lord and Saviour, Christ Jesus, or we could say to walk in the fullness of Christ. We will liken this journey to John Bunyan’s book Pilgrim’s Progress, where the character named Christian made his way to the Eternal City. [76] Just as Pilgrim’s Progress is an allegorical story of a person’s journey to Heaven, so is the book of Proverbs a proverbial journey to Heaven.
[76] George Offor, ed., The Works of John Bunyan, 3 vols. (Edinburgh: Blackie and Son, 1855).
Now, let us look for other signposts as we launch out on this journey in life. Note that the phrase “the fear of the Lord” is used throughout the book of Proverbs:
Pro 10:27, “ The fear of the LORD prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.”
Pro 13:13, “Whoso despiseth the word shall be destroyed: but he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded.”
Pro 14:2, “He that walketh in his uprightness feareth the LORD : but he that is perverse in his ways despiseth him.”
Pro 14:16, “ A wise man feareth , and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident.”
Pro 14:26, “In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.”
Pro 14:27, “ The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.”
Pro 15:16, “Better is little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble therewith.”
Pro 15:33, “ The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.”
Pro 16:6, “By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.”
Pro 19:23, “ The fear of the LORD tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil.”
Pro 22:4, “By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life.”
Pro 23:17, “Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long.”
Pro 24:21, “My son, fear thou the LORD and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change:”
Pro 28:14, “Happy is the man that feareth alway : but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.”
Pro 31:30, “Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD , she shall be praised.”
Each of these signposts has been planted within a group of proverbs that emphasizes the subject related to that particular signpost. For example, Pro 10:27 tells us that the fear of the Lord gives us a long life. This proverb has been placed within a group of verses that largely deal with a long life (Pro 10:24 to Pro 11:22). Thus, we can ask ourselves if we are walking in these blessings of long life, or in a life of problems. If our life is blessed in this way, we are on the journey. However, if we find problems in our life that are not in God’s plan for us, then we have strayed off the path.
Pro 13:13 tells us of the rewards of fearing the Lord. This proverb is placed within a group of verses that refer to prosperity. Thus, we must check our life to see if the blessing of prosperity is operating in our life.
Pro 22:4 reminds us of the many blessings of wisdom, which are given in chapter 3. Thus, we can know while we are on the journey if we are still on the path of wisdom. We know this because the blessings of wisdom will be seen in our lives. If we find the curses in our lives, then we know that we have erred from the path of wisdom. This is how these signposts keep us on the right path.
These signposts symbolize the way in which the Lord guides our lives; for it is by the fear of the Lord that we make the decision to follow the path of wisdom. Without this fear, we may know the right decision, but as Solomon, we would err from the journey by failing to adhere to wisdom.
On a daily basis God will give us enough light for our daily needs. This can be called our “daily bread” (Mat 6:11).
Mat 6:11, “Give us this day our daily bread.”
This daily bread gives us enough light to guide our short steps. But there are certain times when the Lord will intervene in our life and show us enough light to see farther down the path. When we face major decisions or changes in our life, God will often speak to us or reveal Himself to us in a supernatural way and show us the right path. During these times, we are able to look back and look ahead and see a bigger picture of God’s plan for our lives. This is the way that God guided Jacob on special occasions, and this is the way that I have experienced the Lord’s guidance during major changes in my life. We can see this two-fold method of guidance in Psa 119:105, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” The book of Proverbs symbolizes these occasions by planting signposts along the journey.
There are also warning signs along this journey. These warning signs symbolize those times when God gives us correction and discipline in order to keep us from straying from the path of life. As on a public highway, we must learn to heed the warning signs that tell us of dangers ahead, as well as the information signs that tell us where we are located. These signposts are warnings that tell us not to seek the richest, not to pursue the honor, or to pamper the flesh. Instead, we are to pursue the virtues, and not the blessings that come from these virtues. Some examples of these warnings are:
Pro 11:28, “He that trusteth in his riches shall fall: but the righteous shall flourish as a branch.”
Pro 13:11, “Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase.”
Pro 18:12, “Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility.”
Pro 23:5, “Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.”
Pro 29:23, “A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.”
Wisdom cries out in the busiest places in society. She cries out in the crowded streets. She lifts up her voice in the major places where people meet and in the gates of the city. This is because wisdom speaks through other people. It speaks through situations around you. Life itself becomes a classroom, and wisdom in the teacher. Thus, in the book of Proverbs, we are shown different types of people in order to learn divine wisdom. Listen, and you will hear.
Regarding the hundreds of individual proverbs that we encounter on this path, there appears to be no organized manner in which they are presented us. This is because in the journey of life, our encounters with the wise man and the fool appear to come in the same random order.
When we look at Pro 10:1 thru Pro 15:33, we see a similarity in all of these proverbs. They all give us a one-verse contrast between the wise man and the fool. This means that in every decision we make in life, we either make a wise decision, or a foolish one. There is no way to straddle the fence in making decisions. Then we see a signpost in Pro 15:33.
Pro 15:33, “ The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.”
This verse says that the fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom. In Pro 1:7; Pro 9:10, we are told that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. This is because the first nine chapters are a preparation, or beginning, of the journey. But here in Pro 15:33, we are in a phase of the journey called “the instruction of wisdom”. We have been learning to identify the wise man and the fool under the instruction of these one-verse contrasts between these two people. Let me give a clear illustration. When my oldest daughter would sit on my lap, we would sometimes to Bible studies together. At the age of four, she began to ask me simple questions. “Daddy, is this person bad or good.” I would reply, “David was good, and Goliath was bad. The prophet Samuel was good, but King Saul was bad.” I would then explain, “Samuel was good because he obeyed God. Saul was bad because he tried to kill David.” This became my child’s first lesson about the wise man verses the fool. It is in this same pattern that God first teaches us how to identify the wise man and the fool as we journey through Pro 10:1 to Pro 15:33.
There are other signposts within this lengthy passage of Pro 10:1 thru Pro 15:33. One signpost is found in Pro 10:27.
Pro 10:27, “The fear of the LORD prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.”
This signpost is planted within a passage of Scriptures that deals with the longevity of the righteous verses the brevity of the wicked (Pro 10:24 thru Pro 11:22). Thus, this verse promises long life to those who fear the Lord.
A second signpost within Pro 10:1 thru Pro 15:33 is found in Pro 13:13.
Pro 13:13, “Whoso despiseth the word shall be destroyed: but he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded.”
This signpost is placed within a group of verses (Pro 13:1-25) that deal largely with the issue of financial blessings from the Lord. Thus, it promises a reward to those who fear the Lord.
In Pro 14:26-27, we see a signpost that refers to an abundant life. These two verses are placed within a group of proverbs that deal with one’s understanding of circumstances around him.
JFB notes that the parallelisms of Pro 10:1 to Pro 15:33 are mostly antithetic, that is, sayings that contrast values in life. They contrast the wise man to the fool. However, the couplets in Pro 16:1 to Pro 22:16 are synthetic. That is, these synthetic sayings in Pro 16:1 to Pro 22:16 are different in that they are one-verse proverbs that explain one another. The second part of the couplet further explains and builds its thoughts upon the first part of the couplet.
Outline Here is a proposed outline:
1. Justification: Antithetic Proverbs Pro 10:1 to Pro 15:33
2. Indoctrination: Synthetic Proverbs Pro 16:1 to Pro 22:16
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Justification: The Journey to a Place of Rest ( Pro 10:1 to Pro 29:27 ) In Proverbs 10-29 we find a new emphasis regarding our spiritual journey in life. We have heard the call of wisdom in the first nine chapters. Now we have to make the choice to follow the path of wisdom, or the path of the fool. It is our decision to pursue wisdom that will justify us before God. Thus, the underlying theme of Proverbs 10-29 is our justification before God the Father, while the final chapter brings us to a place of rest, which is the destination for man’s spiritual journey in life.
Throughout Proverbs 10-29 we encounter hundreds of individual proverbs that appear to have no organized arrangement in which they are presented us. This is because in the journey of life, our encounters with the wise man and the fool appear to come in the same random order. However, God has placed all things in His divine order. When we read individual proverbs, they appear to be randomly assembled, but if we will step back and look at them as a whole or in groups, we can see an order. These proverbs are clearly grouped together by themes, such as a pure heart, the tongue, a long life, and wealth. In the same way, the circumstances that we face in our daily lives appear to have no particular order. We see very little of God’s hand in our lives in a single day, but when we step back and look as our lives over the months or years, we very clearly see God’s sovereign hand at working in our lives. We recognize that He is divinely orchestrating His purpose and plan for our lives. This is the way that the verses in the book of Proverbs are arranged.
We have seen that Proverbs 1-9, about one third of the book, is man’s call to follow the path of wisdom. Thus, about one third of the book of Proverbs is an introduction, or a preparation, for the rest of this book. Why is that so? We know that Solomon was chosen to be the successor to the throne at his birth. Therefore, he received many years of training under King David for this great task. Even today, we spent the first twenty years of our lives going to school and training for a profession, which is about one third of our lives. We spend the next two thirds of our lives building upon these twenty years of preparation. In our lives, we spend the first twenty years in preparation, the next twenty years sowing, and the last twenty years reaping what we have sown. This is why these years seem to be turning points in many people’s lives. This was the pattern in King Solomon’s life of preparation and growing in wisdom, and this is the pattern found in the book of Proverbs. It is important to note that a season of preparation is something that God has designed and instituted in the human life. He created every human being with the capacity to be shaped and molded through a training process. We often use the term “brainwashing” in a negative sense to refer to a person who has been programmed to think in a negative way; but proper training also reprograms the mind and prepares an individual for the tasks of life. Our human make-up of the spirit, soul, and body were designed to receive training before practical application and abundant living can be achieved.
Although we will study these proverbs, we will find ourselves falling short of fulfilling them in our everyday lives. None of us has walked flawlessly in obedience to any single proverb. Therefore, each individual proverb reveals God’s standard of righteousness, pointing us to Jesus, who alone fulfilled this divine standard in our behalf. In this sense, this collection of proverbs is a collection of redemptive proverbs, revealing our need for a Redeemer, who alone fulfilled every proverb.
Outline Here is a proposed outline:
1. Justification: Solomon’s First Collection Pro 10:1 to Pro 22:16
2. Divine Service: Sayings of the Wise Pro 22:17 to Pro 24:34
3. Perseverance: Solomon’s Second Collection by Hezekiah Pro 25:1 to Pro 29:27
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
v. 1. Every wise woman buildeth her house,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Pro 14:1
Every wise woman buildeth her house. Wise women order well their household matters and their families; they have an important influence, and exercise it beneficially.
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“A good wife is the saving of a house.”
The versions render as above. A different pointing of the word translated “wise” (chakhmoth) will give “wisdom” (chokhmoth), which it seems best to read here, as the parallel to the abstract term “folly” in the second member. So we have, “Wisdom hath builded her house” (Pro 9:1; comp. Pro 1:20). Thus: “The wisdom of women buildeth their house” (Pro 12:4; Pro 24:3). But the foolish plucketh it down with her hands; “but Folly plucketh it down with her own hands;” of course, the folly of women is intended.
“Bane or salvation to a house is woman.”
Foolish, unprincipled women, by their bad management or their evil doings, ruin their families materially and morally. “The husband should labour,” says a Servian proverb; “the wife should save.”
Pro 14:2
He that walketh in his uprightness feareth the Lord. So the Septuagint. He who lives an upright life does so because he fears the Lord; and his holy conversation is an evidence that he is influenced by religious motives. The outward conduct shows the inward feeling. So he that is perverse in his ways despiseth himthe Lord. A man is evil in his actions because he has cast off the fear of God; and such wickedness is a proof that he has lost all reverence for God and care to please him. Delitzsch renders, “He walketh in his uprightness who feareth Jahve, and perverse in his ways is he that despiseth him;” i.e. the conduct of the two shows the way in which they severally regard God and religion, the former acting conscientiously and uprightly, the latter following his own lusts, which lead him astray. Either interpretation is admissible. Septuagint, “He that walketh in crooked ways ( ) shall he dishonoured.” The Vulgate gives quite a different turn to the sentence, “He who walketh in the right way and feareth the Lord is despised by him who pursueth the path of shame.” This intimates the hatred which sinners feel for the godly (comp. Job 12:4; and especially Wis. 2:10-20; and our Lord’s warning, Joh 15:18-21).
Pro 14:3
In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride. (choter), “rod,” or “shoot,” is found also in Isa 11:1. From the mouth of the arrogant fool proceeds a growth of vaunting and conceit, accompanied with insolence towards others, for which he is often chastised. So the tongue is compared to a sword (e.g. Psa 57:4; Psa 64:3; Jer 18:18; Rev 1:16. St. Gregory (‘Mor. in Job.,’ 24) applies this sentence to haughty preachers, who are anxious to appear superior to other people, and study more to chide and reprove than to encourage; “they know how to smite sharply, but not to sympathize with humility.” Septuagint, “From the mouth of fools cometh a staff of insolence.” The lips of the wise shall preserve themthe wise (Pro 13:3). These do not abuse speech to insult and injure others; and their words tend to conciliate others, and promote peace and good will (comp. Pro 12:6, Pro 12:18).
Pro 14:4
Where no oxen (cattle) are, the crib is clean. This does not mean, as some take it, that labour has its rough, disagreeable side, yet in the end brings profit; but rather that without bullocks to labour in the fields, or cows to supply milkthat is, without toil and industry, and necessary instrumentsthe crib is empty, there is nothing to put in the granary, there are no beasts to fatten. The means must be adapted to the end. Much increase is by the strength of the ox. This, again, is not an exhortation to kindness towards animals, which makes no antithesis to the first clause; but it is parallel with Pro 12:11, and means that where agricultural works are diligently carried on (the “ploughing ox” being taken as the type of industry), large returns are secured. Septuagint, “Where fruits are plentiful the strength of the ox is manifest.”
Pro 14:5
A repetition of Pro 12:17 (see also Pro 6:19). A faithful witness cannot be induced to swerve from the truth by threat or bribe. Will utter; Hebrew, breatheth forth. A false witness with no compulsion, as it were naturally, puts forth lies (comp. Pro 12:25; Pro 19:5). Septuagint, ” An unrighteous witness kindleth () falsehood.”
Pro 14:6
A scorner seeketh wisdom, and findeth it not; literally, it is notthere is none (Pro 13:7). A scorner may affect to be seeking wisdom, but he can never attain to it, because it is given only to him who is meek and fears the Lord (Psa 25:9). Wis. 1:4, “Into a malicious soul wisdom shall not enter; nor dwell in the body that is pledged to sin” (comp. Psa 111:10). True wisdom is not to be won by those who are too conceited to receive instruction, and presume to depend upon their own judgment, and to weigh everything by their own standard. This is especially true of the knowledge of Divine things, which “scorners” never really acquire. Septuagint, “Thou shalt seek wisdom among the wicked, but thou shalt find it not.” Knowledge is easy unto him that understandeth; “that hath understanding,” i.e. to the man who realizes that the fear of God is a necessary condition to the acquiring of wisdom, and who seeks it as a boon at his hands. This acquisition, as it is difficult, nay, impossible for the scorner, is comparatively easy for the humble believer who seeks it with the right temper and in the right way. “Mysteries are revealed unto the meek” (Ecc 3:19, in some manuscripts).
Pro 14:7
Go from the presence of a foolish man. There is some doubt about the rendering of this passage. The Vulgate gives, vade contra stultum, which is probably to be taken in the sense of the Authorized Version. The Revised Version has, “Go into the presence of a foolish man.” The Hebrew (minneged) may mean “from before,” “over against,” “in the presence of.” Hence arises an ambiguity. The Authorized Version considers the sentence to be an injunction to turn away from a stupid man when you perceive that you can do him no good. The Revised Version is equivalent to “if you go into the presence,” etc. When thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge; Revised Version, and thou shalt not perceive in him, etc; which embodies a truism with no special point. The whole sentence is better translated, Go forth from the presence of a foolish man, and thou hast not known the lips of knowledge; i.e; as Nowack explains, “Leave the presence of a fool, and you carry nothing away with you; after all your intercourse with him, you quit his presence without having gained any advance in true knowledge” (see on Pro 20:15). The LXX. presents a very different version: “All things are adverse to a foolish man; but wise lips are the arms of knowledge ().” A foolish man, by his inconsiderate, slanderous, or bitter words, makes every one his enemy; a wise man uses his knowledge to good purposes; his words are the instruments by which he shows what he is.
Pro 14:8
The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way. The wisdom of the prudent is shown by his considering whither his actions lead, the motives from which they spring, the results that attend them. As the apostle enjoins (Eph 5:15), “See that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise.” Or the clause may be taken as enjoining a wise choice in life, a selection of such a calling or occupation as best suits one’s capabilities, station, and opportunities. The folly of fools is deceit. This is not self-deceit, which the word does not denote, but deceit of others. Stupid persons show their folly in trying to cheat others, though they are sure to be detected, and their fraud recoils on themselves. In the ease of fools, what they would call wisdom is folly; hence the wording of the sentence.
Pro 14:9
Fools make a mock at sin. So the Vulgate (comp. Pro 10:23). Fools, wicked men, commit sin lightly and cheerfully, give specious names to grievous transgressions, pass over rebuke with a joke, encourage others in crime by their easy way of viewing it. But in the original the verb is in the singular number, while the noun is plural, and the clause could be translated as in the Authorized Version only with the notion that the number of the verb is altered in order to individualize the application of the maxim (‘Speaker’s Commentary’). But there is no necessity for such a violent anomaly. The subject is doubtless the word rendered “sin” (asham) which means both “sin” and “sin offering.” So we may render, “Sin mocks fools,” i.e. deceives and disappoints them of the enjoyment which they expected. Or better, as most in harmony with the following member, “The sin offering of fools mocks them” (Pro 15:8). Thus Aquila and Theodotion, , where may signify “sin offering” (Ecc 7:1-29 :31). It is vain for such to seek to win God’s favour by ceremonial observances; offerings from them are useless expenditure of cost and trouble (Pro 21:27). The Son of Sirach has well expressed this truth: “He that sacrificeth of a thing unlawfully gotten, his offering is mockery (), and the mockeries of unjust men are not well pleasing. The Most High is not pleased with the offerings of the godless, neither is he propitiated for sin by the multitude of sacrifices” (Ec 31:18, 19). It is always the disposition of the heart that conditions the acceptableness of worship. Among the righteous there is favourthe favour and good will of God, which are bestowed upon them because their heart is right. The word ratson might equally refer to the good will of man, which the righteous gain by their kindness to sinners and ready sympathy; but in that case the antithesis would be less marked. Septuagint, “The houses of transgressors owe purification ( ); but the houses of the just are aceeptable.” This is explained to signify that sinners refuse to offer the sacrifice which they need for their legal purification; but the righteous, while they have no necessity for a sin offering, are acceptable when they present their free will vows and thanksgivings.
Pro 14:10
The heart knoweth its own bitterness; literally, the heart (leb) knoweth the bitterness of his soul (nephesh). Neither our joys nor our sorrows can be wholly shared with another; no person stands in such intimate relation to us, or can put himself so entirely in our place, as to feel that which we feel. There is many a dark spot, many a grief, of which our best friend knows nothing; the skeleton is locked in the cupboard, and no one has the key but ourselves. But we can turn with confidence to the God-Man, Jesus, who knows our frame, who wept human tears, and bore our sorrows, and was in all points tempted like as we are, and who has taken his human experience with him into heaven. A stranger doth not intermeddle with its joy. The contrast is between the heart’s sorrow and its joy; both alike in their entirety are beyond the ken of strangers. St. Gregory remarks on this passage (‘Moral.,’ 6.23), “The human mind ‘knoweth its own soul’s bitterness’ when, inflamed with aspirations after the eternal land, it learns by weeping the sorrowfulness of its pilgrimage. But ‘the stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy,’ in that he, that is now a stranger to the grief of compunction, is not then a partaker in the joy of consolation.” A homely proverb says, “No one knows where the shoe pinches so well as he that wears it;” and an Italian maxim runs, “Ad ognuno par piu grave la croce sua“”To every one his own cross seems heaviest.” Septuagint, “The heart of man is sensitive (), his soul is sorrowful; but when it rejoices, it has no intermingling of insolence;” i.e. when a man’s mind is sensitive it is easily depressed by grief; but when it is elated by joy, it should receive its pleasure and relief without arrogance and ribaldry.
Pro 14:11
The house the tabernacle. The house of the wicked, which they build and beautify and love, and which they look upon as a lasting home, shall perish; the hope which they founded upon it shall come to a speedy end (Pro 12:7); but the righteous rear only a tent on earth, as becomes those who are strangers and pilgrims; and yet this abode is more secure, the hopes founded upon it are more lasting, for it continues unto everlasting life. The text in its first sense probably means that sinners take great pains to increase their material prosperity, and to leave heirs to carry on their name and family, but Providence defeats their efforts: good men do their duty in their state of life, try to please God and benefit their neighbour, leaving anxious care for the future, and God prospers them beyond all that they thought or wished (comp. Pro 3:33). Shall flourish. The word applies metaphorically to the growth, vigour, and increase of a family under the blessing of God. Septuagint, “The tents of the upright shall stand.” There is a cognate proverb at Pro 12:7.
Pro 14:12
This verse occurs again in Pro 16:25. There is a way which seemeth right unto a man. This may refer to the blinding effects of passion and self-will; for these make a man think his own way best and most desirable. But it seems better to take it as a warning against following a perverted or uninstructed conscience. Conscience needs to be informed by God’s Word and ruled by God’s will to make it a safe guide. When properly regulated, it is able to pronounce a verdict upon contemplated action, and its verdict must always he obeyed. But warped by prejudice, weakened by disuse and disobedience, judicially blinded in punishment and in consequence of sin, it loses all power of moral judgment, and becomes inoperative of good; and then, as to the way that seemed at the moment right, the end thereof are the ways of death (Pro 5:5). The man is following a false light, and is led astray, and goes headlong to destruction (comp. Rom 1:28; 1Ti 4:2; see on 1Ti 4:13). St. Gregory (‘Moral.,’ 5.12) has some words on this subject: “There are times when we are ignorant whether the very things which we believe we do aright, are rightly done in the strict Judge’s eye. For it often happens that an action of ours, which is cause for our condemnation, passes with us for the aggrandizement of virtue. Often by the same act whereby we think to appease the Judge, he is urged to anger when favourable Hence, while holy men are getting the mastery over their evil habits, their very good practices even become an object of dread to them, lest, when they desire to do a good action, they be decoyed by a semblance of the thing, lest the baleful canker of corruption lurk under the fair appearance of a goodly colour. For they know that they are still charged with the burden of corruption, and cannot exactly discern the things that be good” (Oxford transl.).
Pro 14:13
Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful (comp. Pro 14:10). This recalls Lucretius’s lines
“Medio de fonte leporum
Surgit amari aliquid, quod in ipsis fioribus angat.
The text is scarcely to be taken as universally true, but either as specially applicable to those mentioned in the preceding verse, or as teaching that the outward mirth often cloaks hidden sorrow (comp. Virgil, ‘AEneid,’ 1.208, etc.). And the end of that joy is bitterness; it has in it no element of endurance, and when it is past, the real grief that it masked comes into prominence. In this mortal life also joy and sorrow are strangely intermingled; sorrow fellows closely on the steps of joy; as some one somewhere says, “The sweetest waters at length find their way to the sea, and are embittered there.” Lesetre refers to Pascal, ‘Pensees,’ 2.1: “Tous se plaignent de tout pays, de tout temps, de tous ages, et de toutes conditions. Une preuve si longue, si continuelle et si uniforme, devrait bien nous convaincre de l’impuissance ou nous sommes d’arriver au bien par nos efforts: mais l’exemple ne nous intruit point Le present ne nous satisfaisant jamais, l’esperance nous pipe, et, de malheur en malheur, nous meue jusqu’a la mort, qui en est le comble eternel. C’est une chose etrange, qu’il n’y a rien dans la nature qui n’ait ete capable de tenir la place de la fin et du bonheur de l’homme . L’homme etant dechu de son etat naturel, il n’y arien a quoi il n’ait ete capable de so porter. Depuis qu’il a perdu le vrai bien, tout egalement peut lui paraitre tel, jusqu’a ea destruction propre, toute contraire qu’elle est a la raison et a la nature tout ensemble.” This illustrates also Pro 14:12. Proverbs like “There is no rose without a thorn” are common enough in all languages. The Latins said, “Ubi uber, ibi tuber;” and “Ubi mel, ibi fel.”
Greek experience produced the gnome
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“Sorrow and life are very near of kin.”
Who Christian learns another lesson, “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted” (Mat 5:4). The LXX. has introduced a negative, which gives a sense exactly contrary to the Hebrew and to all the other versions: “In joys there is no admixture of sorrow, but the final joy cometh unto grief.” The negative has doubtless crept inadvertently into the text; if it were genuine, the sentence might be explained of the sinner’s joy, which he finds for a time and exults in, but which does not last, and is felt to be a delusion as life closes.
Pro 14:14
The backslider in hearthe who turns away from God (Psa 44:18)shall be filled with his own ways, shall reap the fruits of his evil doings (Pro 1:31; Pro 12:14). Mat 6:2, “Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.” And a good man shall be satisfied from himself. There is no verb expressed in this clause, “shall be satisfied” being supplied by our translators. Delitzsch and others read, “and a good man from his own deeds.” It is simpler to repeat the verb from the former clause: “A good man shall be filled with that which belongs to him;” i.e. the holy thoughts and righteous actions in which he delights. Isa 3:10, “Say ye of the righteous that it shall be well with him; for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.” The Vulgate, neglecting the prefix, translates, “And over him shall be the good man;” Septuagint, “And a good man from his thoughts,” the produce of his heart and mind.
Pro 14:15
The simple believeth every word. “Simple” (pethi), the credulous person, open to all influences (Pro 1:22). The Vulgate has innocens, and the Septuagint ; but the word is best taken in an unfavourable sense. The credulous fool believes all that he hears without proof or examination; having no fixed principles of his own, he is at the mercy of any adviser, and is easily led astray. Ec Pro 19:4, “He that is hasty to give credit is light minded, and he that sinneth (thus) shall offend against his own soul.” It is often remarked how credulous are unbelievers in supernaturalism. They who refuse to credit the most assured facts of Christ’s history will pin their faith on some philosophical theory or insufficiently supported opinion, and will bluster and contend in maintenance of a notion today which tomorrow will prove untenable and absurd. Many who despise the miraculous teaching of the Bible accept the follies and frauds of spiritualism (comp. Joh 5:43). Hesiod, , 372
“Belief and unbelief alike are fatal.”
Cato, ‘Dist.,’ 2.20
“Noli tu quaedam referenti credere semper;
Exigua his tribuenda fides qui multa loquuntur.’
The prudent man looketh well to his going (Pro 19:8); Vulgate, Astutus considerat gressus suos. The prudent man considers whither the advice given will lead him, always acts with deliberation. This maxim is attributed to Pythagoras
“Let none persuade thee by his word or deed
To say or do what is not really good;
And before action well deliberate,
Lest thou do foolishly.”
(. , 25, sqq.)
Septuagint, “The clever man () cometh unto repentance [or, ‘afterthought’] ();” i.e. if he, like the simpleton, is too credulous, he will smart for it. , so common in the New Testament, is not found elsewhere in the Greek Version of the canonical Scriptures, though it occurs in Ec 44:16; Wis. 11:23, etc. The Vulgate here introduces the Septuagint addition in Pro 13:13.
Pro 14:16
A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil (Pro 22:3). In Pro 3:7 we had, “Fear the Lord, and depart from evil;” but here the idea is different. A wise man fears the evil that lurks in everything, and examines and ponders actions by the standard of religion, and is thus saved from many evils which arise from hastiness and inadvertence. The fool rageth, and is confident (Pro 21:24; Pro 28:26). The fool easily falls into a rage, and has no control over himself, and is confident in his own wisdom, in contrast to the wise man, who has trust in God, and is calm and thoughtful (Isa 30:15). Revised Version, “beareth himself insolently, and is confident;” but, as Nowack remarks, the word (mithabber), where it occurs elsewhere, means, “to be excited,” “to be in a passion” (comp. Pro 21:24; Pro 26:17; Psa 78:21, Psa 78:59, Psa 78:62), and this usual signification gives a good meaning here. Vulgate, transilit, “he overleaps” all laws and restrictions. The LXX; by transposition of the letters, reads mithareh, and translates ,“ The fool trusting to himself mixes himself up with sinners.”
Pro 14:17
He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly. The contrast to the irascible, passionate man is seen in the man slow to anger (Pro 14:29; Pro 15:18). Such a one, in his haste and passion, does things which in calmer moments he must see are foolish and ridiculous. Says Euripides (‘Hyp.,’ Fragm.)
“Wiser is every man from passion freed.”
“Be not angry,” says the Talmud, “and you will not sin.” Cato, ‘Dist.,’ 1:37
“Ipse tibi moderare tuis ut parcere possis.”
And a man of wicked devices is hated. The contrast is not between the different ways in which the two characters are regarded, as that one is despised and ridiculed, and the other hated; but two kinds of evil are set forth in contradistinction, viz. hasty anger and deliberate plotting against others. Septuagint, “The irascible man () acts without deliberation. but the prudent man endureth much.” The Hebrew term, “man of devices,” being ambiguous, the LXX. takes it in a favourable sense, ; and they have a different reading of the verb.
Pro 14:18
The simple inherit folly. The credulous simpleton naturally falls into possession of folly, feeds upon it, and enjoys it. The LXX. regards the simple as communicating their folly to others, and translates, “Fools will divide malice.” But the prudent are crowned with knowledge; put on knowledge as a crown of glory, in accordance with the Stoic saying, quoted in the ‘Speaker’s Commentary,’ “The wise is the only king.” Nowack thinks the above translation and the idea alike belong to later times, and prefers to render, “The prudent embrace knowledge,” which is parallel to the sentiment of Pro 14:6. The word is found only in Psalm 142:8, where it is translated either “shall compass me about” or “crown themselves through me.” The Vulgate has expectabunt, i.e. “wait for it patiently,” as the fruit of labour and perseverance. Septuagint, “The wise shall get possession of () knowledge.”
Pro 14:19
The evil bow before the good; and the wicked stand at the gates of the righteous (Pro 8:34). The final victory of good over evil is here set forth. However triumphant for a time and apparently prosperous the wicked may be, their success is not lasting; they shall in the end succumb to the righteous, even as the Canaanite kings crouched before Joshua’s captains (Jos 10:24), and, hurled from their high estate, they shall stand humbly at the good man’s door, begging for bread to support their life (1Sa 2:36). The contrast here indicated is seen in our Lord’s parable of Dives and Lazarus, when the beggar is comforted and the rich man is tormented, and when the latter urgently sues for the help of the once despised outcast to mitigate the agony which he is suffering (comp. Wis. 5).
Pro 14:20
The poor is hated even of his own neighbour (Pro 19:4, Pro 19:7). This sad experience of selfishness (comp. Ecc 6:8, etc.; Ecc 12:8) is corrected by the following verse, which must be taken in connection with this; at the same time, it is a truth which has been expressed in various ways by many moralists and satirists. Says the Greek Theognis
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“The rich all honour, but the poor man slight.”
Says Ovid, ‘Trist.,’ 1.9. 6
“Donec eris felix, multos numerabis amicos;
Tempora si fuerint nubila, solus eris.”
“Prosperous, you many friends will own;
In cloudy days you stand alone.”
In the Talmud we find (Dukes, ‘Rabb. Blum.’), “At the door of the tavern there are many brethren and friends, at the poor man’s gate not one.” The rich hath many friends. Says Theognis again
And again, a distich which might have been written today
.
“One only virtue you must needs possess
(As say the most of men), and that is wealth;
All others are of small account.”
Pro 14:21
He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth. Taken in connection with the preceding verse, this teaches that it is a sin to despise and shun a man because he is poor or of low estate; such a one has a claim for love and pity, and it is a crime to withhold them from him for selfish considerations. The Christian view is taught by the parable of the good Samaritan. But he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he; hail to him! (Pro 16:20). Contempt is contrasted with mercy, sin with blessing. “Blessed are the merciful,” said Christ (Mat 5:7): “for they shall obtain mercy;” and St. Paul preserves another precious word, “It is mere blessed to give than to receive” (Act 20:35). The merciful disposition, which shows itself in works of mercy, is a proof that the soul is in union with God, whose mercy is over all his works, whose mercy endureth forever, and therefore such a soul is blessed. “The poor,” wrote James Howell, “are God’s receivers, and the angels are his auditors” (‘Five Hundred New Sayings’). The Vulgate here appends a line absent from the Hebrew and the ether versions, “He who believeth in the Lord loveth mercy.” The true believer is charitable and bountiful, knowing that he will not hereby impoverish himself, but lay up a rich store of blessing; he acts thus not from mere philanthropy, but from higher motives: he has the grace of charity which springs from and rests upon his faith in God.
Pro 14:22
Do they not err that devise evil? or, Will they not go astray? The question is an emphatic mode of asserting the truth. They who meditate and practise evil (Pro 3:29; Pro 6:14) go astray from the right waythe way of life; their views are distorted, and they no longer see their proper course. Thus the remorseful voluptuary bemoans himself, “We have erred from the way of truth, and the light of righteousness hath not shined unto us We wearied ourselves in the way of wickedness and destruction; yea, we have gone through deserts, where there lay no way; but as for the way of the Lord, we have not known it” (Wis. 5:6, etc.), Mercy and truth shall be to them that devise good. God’s blessing will rest upon them. The combination of “mercy and truth” is found in Psa 61:7; in Wis. 3:9 and 4:15, and in 1Ti 1:2 we have “grace and mercy” (see note on Pro 3:3, where the two words occur in connection; and comp. Pro 16:6; Pro 20:28). The two graces in the text signify the love and mercy which God bestows on the righteous, and the truth and fidelity with which he keeps the promises which he has made. The Vulgate makes the two graces human, not Divine: “Mercy and truth procure blessings.” The Septuagint renders, “The good devise mercy and truth.” It adds a paraphrase not found in the Hebrew, “The devisers of evil know not mercy and faith; but alms and faith are with the devisers of good.”
Pro 14:23
In all labour there is profit. All honest industry has a reward, and all care and pain borne for a good object bring comfort and content (comp. Pro 10:22). So the Greek distich says
“To him who labours all fair things belong.”
In contrast to the diligent are those who talk much and do nothing. But the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury (Pro 21:5). Those who work much get profit; those who talk much and do little come to want. So in spiritual matters Christ teaches that they who think that prayer is heard for much speaking are mistaken; and he adds, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Mat 6:7; Mat 7:21). Septuagint, “In every one who taketh thought () there is abundance; he who liveth pleasantly and without pain shall be in want.” Cato, ‘Dist.,’ 1.10
“Contra verbosos noli contendere verbis:
Sermo datus cunctis, animi sapientia paucis.”
“Against the wordy strive not thou in words;
Converse with all, but to the favoured few
Impart thy heart’s deep wisdom.”
Oriental proverbs: “Sweet words, empty bands;” “To speak of honey will not make the mouth sweet;” “We do not cook rice by babbling” (Lane). Turkish, “The language of actions is more eloquent than the language of words.”
Pro 14:24
The crown of the wise is their riches. This is taken by some (‘Speaker’s Commentary’) to mean the glory of the wise man, the fame and splendour which surround him, constitute his wealth; but it is better to interpret it thus: Riches are an ornament to a wise man; they enhance and set off his wisdom in the eyes of others, enable him to use it to advantage, and are not the snare which they might be because they are employed religiously and profitably for the good of others. Ecc 7:11, “Wisdom is good together with an inheritance, and profitable to them that see the sun.” The Septuagint has, “The crown of the wise is the clever man (),” for which has been substituted by some editors, in agreement with the present Hebrew text, , ” their wealth.” The Greek translators, according to their reading, denote that one eminently clever man is a glory to the whole body of wise men. But the folly of fools is only folly; that is, even though it were accompanied with riches. Decorate folly as you may, trick it out in gaud and ornament, it is still nothing but folly, and is discerned as such, and that all the more for being made conspicuous. Schultens, followed by Wordsworth, finds a play of words here. The words rendered “fool” and “folly” imply “fatness,” like the Greek and the Latin crassus, which have also this double meaning. So the sentence reads, “Riches are a crown to the wise; but the abundant fatness of fools is only fatness.” The last clause is translated by the LXX; “But the fools’ way of life () is evil.” St. Gregory (‘Moral.,’ 22:8) comments on this verse thus: “It was these riches of wisdom that Solomon having before his eyes, saith, ‘The crown of the wise is their riches.’ Which same person, because it is not metals of earth, but understanding, that he calls by the name of riches, thereupon adds by way of a contrary, ‘But the foolishness of fools is imprudence.’ For if he called earthly riches the crown of the wise. surely he would own the senselessness of fools to be poverty rather than imprudence. But whereas he added, ‘the foolishness of fools is imprudence,’ he made it plain that he called prudence ‘the riches of the wise'” (Oxford tran cf.).
Pro 14:25
A true witness delivereth souls (Pro 14:5; Pro 12:17). A true witness saves persons who are in danger owing to false accusation or calumny; saves lives; “saves from evils,” says the Septuagint. But a deceitful witness speaketh lies, and therewith endangers lives. Literally, He who breatheth out lies is deceit; he is a personification of fraud, dominated and informed by it; it has become his very nature. “Falsehood is the devil’s daughter, and speaks her father’s tongue.” Septuagint, “But a deceitful witness kindles () lies.”
Pro 14:26
In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence. The fear of God casts out all fear of man, all despairing anticipations of possible evil, and makes the believer confident and bold. St. Gregory (‘Moral.,’ 5:33), “As in the way of the world fear gives rise to weakness, so in the way of God fear produces strength. In truth, our mind so much the more valorously sets at naught all the terrors of temporal vicissitudes, the more thoroughly that it submits itself in fear to the Author of those same temporal things. And being stablished in the fear of the Lord, it encounters nothing without it to fill it with alarm, in that whereas it is united to the Creator of all things by a righteous fear, it is by a certain powerful influence raised high above them all.” Comp. Psa 27:1 and St. Paul’s words, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31). Septuagint, “In the fear of the Lord is hope of strength.” And his children shall have a place of refuge (Psa 46:1). There is an ambiguity as to whose children are meant. The LXX. renders, “And to his children he will leave a support.” Thus many refer the pronoun to the Lord named in the first clauseGod’s children, those who love and trust him, and look up to him as a Father, an expression used more specially in the New Testament than in the Old. But see Psa 73:15, and passages (e.g. Hos 11:1) where God calls Israel his son, a type of all who are brought unto him by adoption and grace. Others, again, refer the pronoun to “the fear of the Lord,” “its children,” which would be quite in conformity with Hebrew idiom; as we have “sons of wisdom,” “children of obedience,” equivalent to “wise,” “obedient,” etc. But most modern commentators explain it of the children of the God-fearing man, comparing Exo 20:6 and Psa 103:17. Such a one shall confer lasting benefits upon his posterity (Psa 13:1-6 :22; Psa 20:7). So God blessed the descendants of Abraham and David; so he shows mercy unto thousands i.e. the thousandth generation of them that love him and keep his commandments (see Gen 17:7, etc.; Exo 34:7; 1Ki 11:12, etc.; Jer 33:20, etc.).
Pro 14:27
A repetition of Pro 13:14, substituting the fear of the Lord for “the law of the wise.” The fear of the Lord can he called a fountain of life, because, showing itself in obedience, it nourishes the flowers and fruits of faith, produces graces and virtues, and prepares the soul for immortality. Septuagint, “The commandment of the Lord is a fountain of life, and makes one decline from the snare of death.”
Pro 14:28
In the multitude of people is the king’s honour (glory); but in the want of people is the destruction of the prince; or, of the principality. This maxim is not in accordance with the views of Oriental conquerors and despots, who in their selfish lust of aggrandizement cared not what suffering they inflicted or what blood they shed; who made a wilderness and called it peace. The reign of Solomon, the peaceful, gave an intimation that war and conquest were not a monarch’s highest glory: that a happy and numerous people, dwelling securely and increasing in numbers, was a better honour for a king and more to be desired (1Ki 4:20). Increase of population is not, as some political economists would teach, in itself an evil; it is rather a sign of prosperity, and is in agreement with the primeval blessing, “Increase and multiply;” and though it may be hard to maintain the exact equilibrium between production and consumers, yet wise legislation can foresee and remedy the difficulty, the abundance in one part can supply the scarcity in another, the providence of God watching over all.
Pro 14:29
He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding. The Hebrew expression for what the Septuagint calls , “long suffering,” and the Vulgate, patiens, is “long in nostrils” (Pro 15:18), as the contrary temper, which we had in Pro 14:17, is “short in nostrils.” That organ, into which was breathed the breath of life (Gen 2:7), is taken as the seat of the inward spirit, and as showing by exterior signs the dominant feeling. The original is very terse, “long in nostrils, great in understanding.” A man’s prudence and wisdom are displayed by his being slow to take offence and being patient under injury. He that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly; i.e. flaunts it in the eyes of all men, makes plain exposure of it. Septuagint, “He who is short in temper is a mighty fool.” “Passion,” says an old saw, “makes fools of the wise. and shows the folly of the foolish” (comp. Pro 12:23; Pro 13:16). The word rendered “exalteth,” (marim), occurs in Pro 3:35, and is taken by Delitzsch and Nowack in the sense of “carries away” as the assured result. “By anger,” says St. Gregory (‘Moral.,’ 5.78), “wisdom is parted with, so that we are left wholly in ignorance what to do, and in what order to do it . Anger withdraws the light of understanding, while by agitating it troubles the mind.”
Pro 14:30
A sound heart is the life of the flesh. The heart that is healthy, morally and physically, spreads its beneficent influence over the whole body in all its functions and relations; this is expressed by the word for “flesh” (besarim), being in the plural number, as the Vulgate renders, vita carnium, but the contrast is better developed by taking in its other signification of “calm,” “gentle,” “meek,” as Ecc 10:4. Thus the Septuagint, “The man of gentle mind () is the physician of the heart.” The tranquil, well controlled heart gives health and vigor to the whole frame (see on Pro 15:4). But envy is the rottenness of the bones (Pro 12:4). Envy, like a canker, eats away a man’s life and strength; it tells on his physical as well as his moral condition. We hays parallel expressions in classical authors. Thus Horace, ‘Epist.,’ 1.257
“Invidus alterius macrescit rebus opimis.”
Martial, ‘Epigr.,’ 5.28
“Rubiginosis cuncta dentibus rodit;
Hominem malignum forsan esse tu credas,
Ego esse miserum credo, cui placet nemo.”
Bengal proverb, “In seeing another’s wealth it is not good to have the eyes smart.” Arabic. “Envy is a raging fever, and has no rest” (Lane). “O invidia,” cries St. Jerome (‘Epist.,’ 45), “primum mordax tui.” “When the foul sore of envy corrupts the vanquished heart,” says St. Gregory (‘Moral.,’ 5.85). “the very exterior itself shows how forcibly the mind is urged by madness. For paleness seizes the complexion, the eyes are weighed down, the spirit is inflamed, while the limbs are chilled, there is frenzy in the heart, there is gnashing with the teeth, and while the growing bate is buried in the depths of the heart, the pent wound works into the conscience with a blind grief” Septuagint, “A sensitive heart ( ) is a worm () in the bones.” A heart that feels too acutely and is easily affected by external circumstances, prepares for itself constant vexation and grief.
Pro 14:31
He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker, even God. who hath placed men in their several conditions (Pro 17:5; Pro 22:2). “The poor shall never cease out of the land” (Deu 15:11); “The poor ye have always with you,” said Christ (Mat 26:11); therefore to harass and oppress the poor because he is in this lowly condition, is virtually to arraign the providence of God, who is the Father of all, and has made all men brothers, however differing in worldly position. Christ puts the duty of aiding the poor on the high ground of his solidarity with his people (Mat 25:40, Mat 25:45), how that in ministering unto the least of these his brethren men are ministering unto him. “Prosperity and adversity, life and death, poverty and riches, come of the Lord” (Ecc 11:1-10 :14). Even the heathen could say
.
Deem ever that the poor are God’s own gift.”
Septuagint, “He that calumniates (; calumniatur, Vulgate) the poor angers him who made him.” This version refers to oppression of the poor by means of calumny or false and frivolous accusation. But he that honoureth himthe Lordhath mercy on the poor; or, better, he that hath mercy upon the poor honoureth him; for he shows that he has proper regard to God’s ordinance, acts on high motives, and is not led astray by worldly considerations. Christ himself has consecrated poverty by coming in low estate (2Co 8:9), and they who love and honour him are glad to minister to his brethren in their poverty and distress (comp. Jas 1:27).
Pro 14:32
The wicked is driven away in his wickedness. So the Greek and Latin Versions. In his very act of sin, flagrante delicto, the wicked is defeated, driven from hope and life; as the Revised Version renders, “The wicked is thrust down in his evil doing;” i.e. there is some element of weakness in an evil deed which occasions its discovery and punishment, sooner or later. Thus “murder will out,” we say. But the contrast is better emphasized by taking ra in its other sense of “calamity,” “misfortune,” thus: “In his calamity the wicked is cast down” (Pro 24:16). When misfortune comes upon him, he has no defence, no hope; he collapses utterly; all his friends forsake him; there is none to comfort or uphold him (comp. Mat 7:26, Mat 7:27). But the righteous hath hope in his death (comp. Ecc 1:13). Primarily, the clause means that even in the greatest danger the good man loses not his trust in God. It is like Job’s word (if our reading is correct, Job 13:15), “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him;” and the psalmist, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me” (Psa 23:4). Thus the Christian martyrs went joyfully to the stake, and gentle women and little children smiled on the sword which sent them home. It is natural to see in this clause a belief in a future life, and a state of rewards and punishments; and some commentators, holding that this doctrine was net known in pre-exilian days, have taken occasion from its plain enunciation in this paragraph to affix a very late date to our book. There are two answers to be made to this assertion. First, it is capable of proof that the belief in the immortality of the soul, with its consequences in another state, was held, however vaguely, by the Jews long before Solomon’s time (see note, Pro 12:28); secondly, the present passage is by some read differently, whence is obtained another rendering, which removes from it all trace of the doctrine in question. Thus Ewald and others would read the clause in this way: “The righteous hath hope, or taketh refuge, from his own deeds.” There can be no reasonable doubt that the usual reading and translation are correct; but the above considerations show that no argument as to the date of the Proverbs cart be safely founded on this verse. The LXX. has a different reading for , “in his death,” and translates, “But he who trusteth in his own holiness is just”which looks like a travesty of Scripture, but probably refers to the consciousness of having a heart right with God and obedient to the requirements of the Divine Law.
Pro 14:33
Wisdom resteth in the heart of him that hath understanding. The wise man is not always blurting out and making a display of his wisdom; he lets it lie still and hidden till there is occasion to use it with effect (Pro 10:14; Pro 12:23). But that which is in the midst of fools is made known; literally and better, but in the midst of fools it, wisdom, maketh itself known. That is, in contrast to the folly of fools, wisdom is seen to great advantage; or, it may be, the conceited display of the fool’s so called wisdom is contrasted with the modesty and reticence of the really intelligent man. “A fool’s heart is ever dancing on his lips,” says a proverb. So Ec Pro 21:26, “The heart of fools is in their mouth; but the mouth of the wise is in their heart.” Theognia, 1163
.
“The eyes, and tongue, and ears, and mind alike
Are centred in the bosom of the wise.”
Vulgate, “In the heart of the prudent resteth wisdom, and it will teach all the unlearned.” Wisdom sits enshrined in the intelligent man’s mind, and thence disseminates instruction and light around to all who need it. The Septuagint, with which agree the Syriac, Aquila, and Theodotion, inserts a negative in the second clause, thus: “In the good heart of a man shall rest wisdom, but in the heart of fools it is not discerned” (Wis. 1:4).
Pro 14:34
Righteousness exalteth a nation. “Righteousness” (Pro 10:2) is the rendering to all their due, whether to God or man. We are taught the salutary lesson that a nation’s real greatness consists not in its conquests, magnificence, military or artistic skill, but in its observance of the requirements of justice and religion. Hesiod, . 223
But sin is a reproach to any people; to peoples. The words for “nation” (goi) and “peoples” (leummim) are usually applied to foreign nations rather than to the Hebrews; and Wordsworth sees here a statement a fortiori: if righteousness exalts and sin degrades heathen nations, how much more must this be the case with God’s own people, who have clearer revelations and heavier responsibilities! (chesed) occurs in the sense of “reproach,” in Le Pro 20:17, and with a different punctuation in Pro 25:10 of this book. Its more usual meaning is “mercy” or “piety;” hence some have explained the clause: “The piety of the peoples, i.e. the worship of the heathen, is sin; and others, taking “sin” as put metonymically for “sin offering,” render: “Piety is an atonement for the peoples.” But there is no doubt that the Authorized Version is correct (comp. Pro 11:11). Thus Symmachus renders it by , “shame;” and in the same sense the Chaldee Paraphrase. The Vulgate and Septuagint, owing to the common confusion of the letters daleth and resh, have read cheser instead of chesed, and render thus: Vulgate, “Sin makes peoples miserable;” Septuagint, “Sins diminish tribes.” The sin of nations contrasted with the righteousness in the first clause must be injustice, impiety, and violence. See a grand passage in the fifth book of St. Augustine’s ‘De Civitate Dei,’ ch. 12.
Pro 14:35
The king’s favour is toward a wise servant; servant that dealeth wisely (Revised Version). Thus Joseph was advanced to the highest post in Egypt, owing to the wisdom which he displayed; so, too, in the case of Daniel (comp. Mat 24:45, Mat 24:47). But his wrath is against him that causeth shame; literally, he that doeth shamefully shall be (the object of) his wrath. The Vulgate translates, Iracundiam ejus inutilis sustinebit; the Septuagint makes the second clause parallel to the first, “An intelligent servant is acceptable to the king, and by his expertness () he removeth disgrace.” Then is added, before the first verse of the next chapter, a paragraph which looks like an explanation of the present clause, or an introduction to verse 1 of ch. 15.: “Anger destroyeth even the prudent.”
HOMILETICS
Pro 14:10
Incommunicable experience
I. THE DEEPEST EXPERIENCE IS SOLITARY. This applies both to sorrows and to joys. There are profound sorrows which must lie buried in the hearts of the sufferers, and lofty joys which cannot be breathed to another soul. Sorrow has her shrine, which no intruder can enter without desecrating it; and joy her sweet silence, to break which is to shatter the delight.
1. Each soul lives a separate, life. We are like planets, moving in our own spheres. Though we mingle in social intercourse, we do not touch in our most vital being. The “abysmal depths of personality” are utterly solitary.
2. No two natures are just alike. In common we share many pleasures and pains. But when we come to what is most characteristic, we reach a line of demarcation which the most sympathetic can never cross. We cannot enter into experiences quite unlike our own. We have not the key to unlock the mystery of a lonely sorrow or a rare joy.
3. The deepest experience is shy and reserved. Those who feel most do not cry out the loudest. It is the silent grief that eats out a man’s heart. Though yearning for sympathy, he feels that he cannot breathe a word of his awful trouble. On the other hand, there are pure and lofty joys of soul that would be sullied with a breath.
II. FORCED SYMPATHY IS HURTFUL. We ought to be able to “rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep” (Rom 12:15). When sympathy can be real, it may be most helpful. But there is no opposition between this thought and that of our text. For just as real sympathy helps, unreal sympathy hurts. Now, sympathy may be unreal without being hypocritical, and even when it is well meant and heartfelt; if we do not understand a person’s feelings, we cannot sympathize with him. We may feel kindly towards him, and may desire to show compassion. But it will be all in vain, we shall not touch the fringe of the trouble, or, if we do penetrate further, we shall jar and wound the sensitive soul by blundering incompetence. It will be like a surgeon trying to dress a wound in the dark. Thus Macduff, when robbed of all his children at one cruel stroke is only vexed by the kindly but impotent condolence of Malcom, and cries, “He has no children.”
III. GOD‘S SYMPATHY PENETRATES TO THE DEEPEST EXPERIENCE.
1. He knows all. We have not to explain our case to him, and then be misunderstood and misjudged after all, as often happens in the attempt to open out the heart to a fellow man. For God reads our most secret thoughts, and the feelings that we will not even confess to ourselves are perfectly known to him.
2. He feels with his children. He is not like the scientific vivisectionist, who handles quivering nerves without a spark of compunction. God tenderly pities his children in their sorrows, and graciously smiles on their innocent joys.
3. He can touch us with sympathy. This sympathy of God is not a distant heavenly experience hidden in the bosom of God. It is shed abroad over his children fur their consolation in sorrow and their blessedness in joy.
4. We should confide in the sympathy of God. It is not wholesome for the soul to be buried in the seclusion of its own feelings. There is healing in the sympathizing touch of God and a consecrating benediction in his smile. Christ is the incarnation of God’s human sympathy, and Christ’s sympathy can reach and save and bless us all.
Pro 14:12
The way that seemeth right
I. ITS ATTRACTIVE APPEARANCE. This way does not only seem pleasant; it seems to be right. This is a course of life which a man is tempted to follow because it flatters him with fair promises.
1. It promises good. We are greatly tempted to judge of the means by the end, and, if we think that the thing to be attained is good, to condone the questionable conduct that secures it. Thus men have justified
(1) war,
(2) persecution,
(3) the deceit of “pious fraud,”
(4) business irregularities.
2. It flatters self-will. Men believe in their own way, just because it is the way they have chosen. The statesman makes the best of the politics of his party. In private life what accords with our desire is warped into the semblance of right.
3. It is followed by others. Fashion condones folly. The conduct of the multitude creates a social conscience. Men measure by the standard of the average rather than by the gauge of absolute rectitude.
4. No evil is apparent. At present the path is easy, pleasant, flowery, and to all appearances quite safe. Shortsighted men judge of it by so much as is in view, as though the end of a road could be known by the character of its beginning.
II. ITS DELUSIVE CHARACTER.
1. It is only right in appearance. It “seemeth right.” But “things are not what they seem.” A flame seems good to a moth; thin ice, safe to a heedless child; the undermined road, sound to the hoodwinked general; the sparkling water, refreshing to one who knows not that the well from which it is drawn has been poisoned. The bad social custom appears to be innocent to the slave of fashion. The way of sin “seemeth right” to the blunt conscience.
2. It is only right in the eye of man. It is “to man” that this doubtful way “seemeth right.” But man is not the highest surveyor of life, and the map that he draws is not the supreme authority. Man is prejudiced, confused, ignorant, self-deceiving. There is a higher Judge than man, and. it may be that the way which “seemeth right to man” is seen to be wrong by God.
III. ITS FATAL END. This pleasant, inviting path is a tributary to a high road. Innocent as it looks in itself, it leads into other ways, and those the ways of death. It is like a winding lane between green hedgerows and flower-strewn banks, that brings the traveller out at length into a very different road from that he supposed he was nearing. There are questionable courses that do not seem to be evil in themselves, but, they lead to evil. There are amusements that seem to be innocent enough, yet they are paths towards more dangerous things, and in the end they bring the unwary to the very gates of hell. Now, the chief question to ask about any road isWhither does it lead? If it will bring us to a treacherous bog, a homeless waste, a dark and dangerous forest, or a perilous precipice, it matters little that its early course is harmless. Whither does the way tend? If it is the path of sin, it must lead to death (Rom 6:23).
IV. THE NEED OF WARNING.
1. The preacher must warn the heedless. There is danger of self-deception, and the end may be ruin. Then men should not be indignant if they are invited to examine their ways.
2. Each man should consider his own ways. We live too much by appearances. But “life is real.” Let us turn from the picture that “seemeth” to the fact that is.
3. We need Divine guidance. He who knows all ways, and can see the end from the beginning, is the only safe Guide into the way of life.
Pro 14:13
The sadness that lies behind laughter. This verse reads like one of the melancholy reflections of the pessimist preacher in Ecclesiastes. Yet there is a profound truth in it, as all thoughtful minds must recognize. Physically, intense laughter produces acute pangs. Laughter “holds his sides” with pain. Shelley sang truly
“Our sincerest laughter
With some pain is fraught.”
A long laugh naturally fills the eyes with tears and dies away in a sigh of weariness. Further, a season of undue elation is usually followed by one of depression. The mind rebounds from glee to gloom by natural reaction. But there is a deeper experience than all this. Without taking a dark view of life, we must acknowledge the existence of a very common background of sorrow behind many of the sunniest scenes of life. We may trance the causes of this experience both to the facts and nature of sorrow, and to the quality and limitation of laughter.
I. THE FACTS AND NATURE OF SORROW.
1. Sorrow is common. Man is born to trouble. There may not be a skeleton in the cupboard of every house, but there are few homes in which there is no chamber of sad memories. We mistake the common nature of mankind if we suppose that the merry soul has not its griefs. The roaring clown may be acting with a broken heart. Wit that spreads a ripple of laughter in all directions may even be inspired by a very bitterness of soul.
2. Sorrow is enduring. We cannot divide our lives mechanically into days of pain and days of pleasure. The great sorrow that once visits us never utterly forsakes us. It makes a home in the soul. It may be toned and softened by time, and driven from the front windows to dark back chambers. Still, there it lurks, and sometimes it makes its presence sorely felt even when we would fain forget it. The very contrast of present delight may rouse its restless pains. Even when it is not thought of it lingers as a sad undertone in our songs of gladness.
II. THE QUALITY AND LIMITATIONS OF LAUGHTER.
1. Laughter is superficial. Even while it is rippling over the surface of life, grief may lie beneath in sullen darkness, unmoved by the feeble gaiety. This does not condemn laughter as an evil thing, for while “the laughter of fools” is contemptible, and that of scorners sinful, the mirth of the innocent is harmless and even healthful. Caesar rightly suspected the sour visage of Cinna. The monkish notion that Christ never laughed finds no countenance in the Bible. But while sinless laughter is good and wholesome, it is never able to reach the deepest troubles. Some foolish fears and fancies may best be laughed away, but not the great soul agonies.
2. Laughter is temporary. Inordinate laughter is not good; too much laughter is a sign of frivolity; and no man can laugh eternally. If a man drown care in laughter, this can be but for a season, and afterwards the dreary trouble will rise again in pitiless persistence.
The remedy for trouble must be found in the peace of God. When that is in the soul, a man is happier than if he were only hiding an unhealed sore behind the hollow mask of laughter. When Christ has cured the soul’s greatest trouble, there is a possibility of the laughter of a new joy, with no tears to follow.
Pro 14:15
Credulity
It is the constant habit of religious teachers to encourage faith, and to regard scepticism and unbelief as evil things. Are we, then, to suppose that credulity is meritorious, and that all doubt, inquiry, suspense of mind, and rejection of bold assertions are bad? According to this view, truth would be of no importance. It would be as well to believe error as truth, and to swallow superstition wholesale would be a mark of superior piety. There are not wanting critics who scornfully ascribe habits of this character to Christiansidentifying faith with credulity, and charging the believer with folly. No doubt the extravagant utterances of some Christian people have given much excuse for this libel; e.g. the assertion of Anselm, “Credo quia non intelligo.” But such utterances are not justified by Scripture or Christian wisdom.
I. OBSERVE THE NATURE OF CREDULITY. When a person is too hasty in believing without sufficient reason, and especially when he accepts statements on slight authority in opposition to a rational view, we call him credulous. Credulity is just a disposition to believe without sufficient ground.
1. It springs from mental weakness. It is a mark of childishness, while faith is a sign of childlikeness. The feeble mind is credulous. Faith is virile, credulity anile.
2. It is favoured by prejudice. The credulous person is unduly ready to believe according to his desires. So men say, “The wish is father to the thought.”
3. It is increased by fear, which paralyzes the reasoning faculties and inclines people to believe in the most absurd impossibility. The terrors of superstition ensnare the credulous.
II. CONSIDER THE EVIL OF CREDULITY.
1. It dishonours truth. When a person shows indifference to the vital question as to whether what he believes is true or false, he displays a fatal disloyalty to truth. For truth will not endure an admixture of falsehoods. Therefore those very people who vainly imagine themselves to be the loyal and humble servants of the whole round of truths are the very persons who undermine the sanctity of truth itself.
2. It tempts to fatal acts. Men act according to their beliefs. If they believe lies, they will have the practical side of their lives flung into confusion. Truth is a beacon light; error sheds a false glare, like that of a wrecker’s lamp on a rock-bound coast. It is dangerous to accept delusions of superstition with fatuous credulity. Life is real and earnest, and men need true lights to guide them safely.
III. NOTE THE REMEDY OF CREDULITY.
1. This is not to be found in unlimited scepticism. The sceptic is often the slave of foolish fancies. Escaping from Christian faith, perhaps he fails into spiritualism or some other equally wild delusion.
2. Unbelief is not the remedy; for unbelief is but the reverse of faith. Indeed, it is negative faith. It is believing the negative of those propositions concerning which faith believes the affirmative.
3. Agnosticism is not the remedy; for agnosticism is more than a confession of ignorance; it is an assertion that knowledge in certain regions is unattainable. Thus it is dogmatic and possibly credulous.
4. The remedy lies in well grounded faith. We must learn lessons of patience, and be willing at first to creep along step by step. We need not wait to say, with Abelard, “Credo quia intelligo,” for we may accept mysteries which we cannot explain. But we need to be satisfied that we have good ground for doing so. Fundamentally, a wise Christian faith is trust in Christ, resting on an intelligent ground of assurancethat he is trustworthy.
Pro 14:30
A quiet spirit
Translate the first clause of the verse thus: “The life of the body is a quiet spirit.”
I. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A QUIET SPIRIT. The habit and disposition of quietness need not be accompanied by torpor. There is, indeed, a quietness of sleep, as there is also a silence of the grave. But in the passage before us the quiet spirit is directly connected with life. The body may be busy while the spirit is quiet; nay, the mind may be nimble and alert, even full of activity, while yet the spirit is at rest. Observe, then, the marks of a quiet spirit.
1. Peace. There is peace within the soul, and therefore quiet. The turbulent spirit is like a mutinous crew that may make tumult on board the ship while the sea is as still as glass, and the peaceful spirit is like a well conducted crew that works in quiet while the sea is torn with tempest.
2. Patience. The quiet spirit does not complain under chastisement, nor does it angrily resent unkindness. The psalmist was “dumb” under calamity. Christ was led as a lamb to the slaughter (Isa 53:7).
3. Unostentatiousness. Some give more show than service, and make more noise than profit. Eager to attract attention, they “sound a trumpet before them” (Mat 6:2). Not so the quiet in spirit, who labour in silence, content to be obscure so long as they know they are not living in vain.
II. THE BLESSEDNESS OF A QUIET SPIRIT. It is here set forth as a source of life. No doubt fretful restlessness wears out the life of the bad. Placidity makes for health. Moreover, the life that is dissipated in noise produces no good, and therefore does not collect the means of its own support. The quiet in spirit best make a livelihood. Further, certain special advantages of this quietness may be noted.
1. Depth. “Still waters run deep.” We can look far into the quiet lake, while only the surface waves of one that is fretted with cross winds can be seen. The calm, brooding soul knows depths of thought and secret experience that are unfathomable to the foolish, restless, noisy soul.
2. Strength. The silent forest grows strong. The mind is made vigorous by patient endurance. One who is calm is master of the situation, while another who is fretted and flurried feels lost and helpless.
3. Fruitfulness. The calm, strong, silent soul, vigorous and yet unostentatious, ripens best the fruits of experience. Such a one does most real work.
4. Beneficence. Noise vexes the world, and a restless, complaining spirit is a weariness to men. The quiet spirit breathes a perpetual benediction. Its very presence is soothing and healing.
III. THE ATTAINMENT OF A QUIET SPIRIT. No doubt there are great constitutional differences in this respect, and while some are naturally or by ill health restless, irritable, demonstrative, others are naturally quiet, self-possessed, even reserved. Due allowance must be made for these differences before we attempt to judge our brethren. Still, there is a measure of quietness attainable by the use of the right means, viz.:
1. Self-mastery. When a man has conquered himself, the tumult of civil war in his breast ceases.
2. Faith. To trust God, to know that he is doing all well, to seek and obtain the help of his Holy Spirit, are to find the secret of peace and quietness of soul.
3. Love. Selfishness makes us restless. “A heart at leisure from itself” can learn to be patient and calm.
Pro 14:34
National righteousness
I. RIGHTEOUSNESS IS REQUIRED IN A NATION. Morality has not yet been sufficiently applied to politics. It is forgotten that the ten commandments relate to communities as well as to individuals, because they are based on the eternal and all-embracing principles of righteousness. Men have yet to learn that that which is wrong in the individual is wrong in the society. Nations make war on one another for reasons which would never justify individual men in fighting a duel. Yet if it is wrong for a man to steal a field, it must be wrong for a nation to steal a province; and if an individual man may not cut his neighbour’s throat out of revenge without being punished as a criminal, there is nothing to justify a whole community in shooting down thousands of people for no better motive. If selfishness even is sinful in one man, selfishness cannot be virtuous in thirty millions of people. The reign of righteousness must govern public and national movements if the will of God is to be respected.
II. RIGHTEOUSNESS IS A BLESSING TO A NATION. To the cynical politician such “counsels of perfection” as command conscience in government, and especially in international action, appear to be simply quixotic. He holds the application of it to be wholly impracticable; he imagines that it must involve nothing but national ruin. Hence, it is maintained, there is no right but might, because there is no international tribunal and no general authority over the nations. The two points must be kept distinctthe internal life of the nation and its foreign policy.
1. Internal life. There are national sins in the sense of sins committed by a great part of a nationsins that shamefully characterize it. Thus drunkenness is to a large extent an English national sin. The oppression of one class by another, a general prevalence of business dishonesty, a frivolous pleasure-seeking fashion, all affect the nation’s life when they are largely extended among any people. These things eat out the very heart of a nation. For a nation’s sin the punishment is on earth, because the nation goes on while individuals die, and so there is time for the deadly fruit of sin to ripen. So was it with Israel, Babylon, Rome, etc.
2. Foreign policy. Wars of aggression may aggrandize the victorious people for a time. But they rouse the hatred of their victims. A high-handed. policy thus multiplies a nation’s enemies. It is dangerous to be an outlaw among the nations. Above all, there is a just Ruler, who will put down the tyrant and punish the guilty nation.
III. RIGHTEOUSNESS MAY BE OBTAINED IN A NATION BY FOLLOWING THE RULE OF CHRIST. It is difficult to make an unchristian nation behave in a Christian manner. The sermon on the mount was addressed to disciples of Christ (Mat 5:1). National righteousness will follow national submission to the will of Christ. The reason why the nations snarl at one another like wild beasts is just that the inhabitants of the nations do not yet follow Christ. He came to set up the kingdom of heaven on earth, and when this kingdom is established in the hearts of the citizens, the nations, which are but the aggregates of citizens, will learn to follow righteousness.
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON
Pro 14:1-7
Traits of wisdom and folly
I. FEMININE WISDOM. (Pro 14:1.)
1. Its peculiar scope is the home. Women are physically and morally constructed with a view to the stationary life and settled pursuits of home. Its comfort, the strength of the race, the well being of society, are rooted, more than in any other human means, in the character, the principle, the love and truth of the wife and mother.
2. The absence of it is one of the commonest causes of domestic misery. The fact is but too well known to all who are acquainted with the homes of the poor, and indeed of all classes. The cause is not far to seek. The word “home” has hardly a meaning without the presence of a virtuous woman; and a home has seldom been wrecked while a virtuous woman remained in it.
II. THE STRICT CONNECTION OF RELIGION AND MORALITY. (Pro 14:2.)
1. Fear of Jehovah includes reverence for what is eternal, faith in what is constant, obedience to what is unchanging law.
2. Contempt for Jehovah means the neglect of all this; and the preference of passion to principle, immediate interest to abiding good; what is selfish and corruptible to what is pure and durable and Divine.
III. SPEECH A SCOURGE OR A SHIELD. (Pro 14:3.) The word of haste, which is at the same time the word of passion and of inconsiderateness, recoils upon the speaker. As an old proverb says, “Curses come home to roost.” And what can put a stronger armour about a man, or cover him more securely as a shield, than the good words he has thrown forth, or in general the expression of his spirit in all that is wise and loving? The successive accretions of substance from year to year in the trunk of the oak tree may typify the strength coincident with growth in the good man’s life.
IV. THE CONNECTION OF MENAS AND ENDS. (Pro 14:4.) Such seems to be the point of the saying. “Nothing costs nothing.” If you keep no oxen, you have no manger to supply. But at the same time, nothing brings nothing in. The larger income is secured by the keeping of oxen. This is, in fact. the sense of the old saw, “Penny wise and pound foolish.” In short, it is part of the science of life to know the limits of thrift and of expense. “A man often pays dear for a small frugality.” “Cheapest,” says the prudent, “is the dearest labour.” In the more immediate interests of the soul, how true is it that only first expense of thought, time, love, upon others is the truest condition of our own blessedness!
V. TRUTH AND LIES. (Pro 14:5.) Again and again we strike upon this primary stratum of character. We cannot define the truthful or untruthful man. We can feel them. The reason is as “simple as gravity. Truth is the summit of being; justice is the application of it to affairs. The natural force is no more to be withstood than any other force. We can drive a stone upwards for a moment into the air, but it is yet true that all stones will fall; and whatever instances may be quoted of unpunished theft, or of a lie which somebody credited, justice must prevail, and it is the privilege of truth to make itself believed.”
VI. THE UNWISDOM OF THE SCOFFER. (Pro 14:6.) He places himself in a false relation to truth; would measure it by his small mind, and weigh it in his imperfect scales. He has one principle only to apply to everything, and that the limited perception of his faculty or the narrow light of his experience. The description well applies to the free thinkers, the illuminati so called of the last century in England, France, and Germany, and their successors in the present day. There is the air of superior intelligence and zeal for truth, frequently concealing some passion of a very different; order. Or, again, there is the shallow assumption that absolute truth is to be found by the human intellect, which has led philosophers two many aberrations. The end is some fallacy and glaring self-contradiction. How different the spirit of him whom the teacher describes as “intelligent‘ in this place! It is “easy” for him to be wise. It is like opening his lungs to the bountiful and all-embracing air, or expatiating on the boundless shore, like great Newton. Wisdom springs from the sense that truth in its infinity is ever beyond us. But the reference here is more to practical wisdom, the science of living from day to day. And good sense is the main requisite for its acquirement, the very opposite of which is the supercilious temper which disdains to learn from any and all.
VII. THE EVIL OF FOOLISH COMPANY. (Pro 14:7.) And of all its conversation, its atmosphere, its temper. “Cast not pearls before swine.” “Avoid the mixture of an irreverent commonness of speaking of holy things indifferently in all companies” (Leighton). “Do not overrate your strength, nor be blind to the personal risks that may be incurred in imprudent efforts to do good” (Bridges). “Better retreat from cavillers” (ibid.).J.
Pro 14:8-19
The understanding of one’s way
I. THE GENERAL PRINCIPLE. (Pro 14:8.) To note, to observe, to take heed to one’s way, is the characteristic of the man who is prudent for time and wise for eternity. And, on the contrary, the very principle of folly is self-deceptionto be followed in turn by a terrible awakening to sobriety and recognition of the truth (comp. Psa 7:15; Job 4:8). The right way is illustrated both positively and negatively.
II. SOME PARTICULAR ILLUSTRATIONS. (Pro 14:9, sqq.)
1. The vanity of mere ritualism. (Pro 14:9.) According to the probably correct translation, “the guilt offering scorns the fools;” in other words, his worship is useless, missing its aim, failing of God’s favour, while the righteous who has washed and made himself clean, and put away iniquity (see Isa 1:1-31), comes with acceptance before Jehovah.
2. Respect for others‘ sorrows. (Pro 14:10.) Acute distress isolates a man; he cannot communicate what he feels. And it is an unkind thing to force counsel on others at a time when they know they cannot be understood, when the sympathy of silence is best. To sit by our friend, to clasp his hand with loving pressure, to mingle our tears with his, will be far more delicate and soothing than to attempt to “charm ache with airs, and agony with words.”
3. Consideration of the end. (Pro 14:11-13.) The old reminder recurs, Respice finem. Perhaps a contrast is intended between the “house of the wicked” as seeming firmer, nevertheless doomed to overthrow, and the “tent of the righteous,” seeming more frail, yet destined to “sprout,” to flourish, and extend. Again, resuming the image of the way, the seeming right way is not ever the right nor the safe way. It may be broad at first and well travelled, but may narrow by and by, and end in the pathless forest, or the desert waste, or the fatal precipice, To be safe we must still consider the end; and the beginning, which predicts and virtually contains the end. Various are the illusions to which we are subject. One example of this is that the smiling face may hide the aching heart, and the opposite (Ecc 7:4) may also obtain. Boisterous and immoderate mirth is no good symptom; it foretells a sad reaction, or conceals a deep-seated gloom. Human faces and appearances are masks, which hide the real countenance of things from us.
4. Consideration of the sources of enjoyment. (Pro 14:14.) First the vicious source. The man who has fallen away from God seeks satisfaction out of God, in something practically atheistic, in the fruit of godless, sinful deeds (Pro 12:14; Pro 13:2; Pro 28:19). But in the matters of the spirit that which is out of God is nothing, emptiness and vanity. He is feasting upon wind. The genuine source of enjoyment is in the spirit itself, in the consciousness, where God is known and realized and loved; in the sense of union and reconciliation of thought and affection with the Divine Object thought of and believed. The kingdom of God is within us, and is “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”
5. Credulity and caution. (Pro 14:15.) Credulity is a weakness, and certainly, like every weakness, may become a sin. It is the opposite of genuine faith: it is confidence placed where we have no right to place it. God, who has set up and kindled a light in each breast, requires us to use it, each for himself. To forsake it for any other is a desertion of our trust. Would that we might ever take heed to the light that is within us, and so steer our way! There is no true faith possible which does not begin with this. Again (Pro 14:16), wisdom is seen in a certain self-distrust in presence of evil. To use an expressive phrase, we should know when to “fight shy” of certain persons or associations, So powerful a passion as fear was not given us for nothing, nor should we be ashamed of a timidity which leads us to give a wide berth to danger, to keep out of the lion’s path. Over-confidence springs from the want of a true estimate of our proper strength and weakness, and the security it begets is false.
6. Passionateness and trickiness. (Pro 14:17.) The former precipitates men into all follies. Seneca saith well that “anger is like rain, which breaks itself upon that whereon it falls.” Anger is certainly a kind of baseness; as it appears well in the weakness of those subjects in whom it reignschildren, women, old folks, sick folks. Bitter, unforgivable words, the revelation of secrets, the breaking off of business,such are among the follies which anger constantly perpetrates. But the tricky intriguing man is both foolish and odious. Listen to one of the greatest of Englishmen, when he bears testimony that “the ablest men that ever were born all had an openness and frankness of dealing, and a name of certainty and veracity.” There is a fine line between the wisdom of reserve and the vicious cunning of concealment; nothing but the loving and true purpose of the heart can redeem any habit of secrecy from odium.
7. Life a progress in folly or wisdom. (Pro 14:18.) We are ever gaining, according to the image of the text. The mind has its accretions like those of the tree, A man becomes a greater fool the older he grows, or becomes of deeper sagacity, richer and wider views. All depends on how we start. Admit an error into thought, keep it there after it is proved an error, close the mind in any quarter to the light and keep it closed, and ensure a bigoted and foolish age. Let God into the mind from the first, open daily every window of the soul to the light, and grow old “learning something fresh every day.”
8. The ascendancy of goodness. (Pro 14:19.) The picture is presented of the envoy of a conquered people who kneels at the palace gate of the conqueror and waits on his commands (compare on the thought, Pro 13:9, Pro 13:22; Psa 37:25). There is a might in goodness; may we not say the only true might is that of goodness, for it has omnipotence at its back? It is victorious, irresistible, in the end. It is content to be acknowledged in the end by all, the evil as well as the good. Hypocrisy is the homage paid by vice to goodness.J.
Pro 14:20-27
Causes and effects
To grasp this principlethere is nothing causeless and unaccountable in lifeand to apply it is one of the main principles of wisdom. Let us note some of its applications
I. TO SOCIAL RELATIONS.
1. Poverty an object of dislike, and riches magnetic of good will. (Pro 14:20.) Widespread parallels may be found in ancient literature to this saying. Its truth is equally obvious today. It is a truth of human nature, and has its bad and its good side. We are apt to be impatient of those who are always needing help, and are disposed to serve those who need nothing. It is a lower illustration of the law that “to him that hath it shall be given.” Independence of any kind which implies power and self-help is attractive to all; and we should seek it by all legitimate means. If a man is shunned by others, it may be because they instinctively feel there is nothing but dejection to be found in his company, while they need cheerful confidence and helpfulness. The good man should strive after competence that he may secure good will, and have free scope for the cultivation of virtue and the exercise of his powers. Another indirect lesson is that friendship thrives best in equal conditions of life.
2. The sources of contempt and of compassion. (Pro 14:21.) This seems to correct what might appear harsh in the former saying. Contempt for anything but what is evil in life, or petty and trivial in thought and sentiment, springs from a bad state of the heart. There are things we ought all to despisei.e. look down uponbut certainly the mere poverty of our neighbour or friend is not one of them. Compassion upon those who are in trouble is, on the other hand, a feeling truly Divine. It extorts the blessing of men; it receives the approval of God, the All-compassionate One.
3. The sources of social security. (Pro 14:25.) “Souls are saved,” human life is preserved, the bonds of intercourse are held together, by the truthful man. Hearts are betrayed, covenants are broken, the integrity of life is shattered, by the deceiver, the hypocrite, and the slanderer.
II. TO PERSONAL BLESSINGS AND THE REVERSE.
1. The sources of perplexity or of peace are in the man‘s own mind. (Pro 14:22.) His errors come from the falsity and malice of his own counsels, as the effect from the cause. And equally the blessed sense of the Divine presence and the Divine favour is conditioned by the seeking of it in the mind, the heart, the life. To imagine that we can enjoy good without being good is a sort of superstition.
2. Causes of gain and want. (Pro 14:23.) One of the most valuable of Carlyle’s teachings was to this effectthe reward that we all receive and of which we are perfectly certain, if we have deserved it, consists in having done our work, or at least having taken pains to do our work, for that is of itself a great blessing, and one is inclined to say that, properly speaking, there is no other reward in this world. And men bring themselves to want by neglecting their proper work, by idle talk, and waste of time and daylight. “Work while it is called today.”
3. Hence, well gotten wealth is a testimonial to the earner of it. (Pro 14:24.) It is an ornament, a decoration in which he may feel a juster pride than in stars, or garters, or patents of nobility, which carry no such significance. On the other hand, the folly of the fool is and remains folly, however he may plume himself, however by means of wealth or factitious advantages he may seek to pass for somebody before the world.
4. But deeper than these are the specifically religious blessings. (Pro 14:26.) Security springs from religion; and religion is the constant habit of regard for God, his will in loving obedience, his favour as the most precious possession. God himself is a Refuge to his children, and they will not fear. The very source of life itself is religion, and nothing but the fear of God in the heart can preserve from the deathful snares which attend our way.J.
Pro 14:28-35
Life contrasts
I. IN PUBLIC LIFE.
1. Fulness and scantiness of population. (Pro 14:28.) The Hebrew had a deep sense of the value of fruitfulness in the wedded life, and of increase in the nation. The majesty of the monarch is the reflection of the greatness of his people, and the decay must represent itself in his feebleness for action. It is our duty as Christian men to study with intelligence political questions, and to support all measures which tend to freedom of commerce and abundance of food.
2. National exaltation and shame. (Pro 14:34.) The common ideas of national glory and shame are false. There is no glory in victory over feeble foes, no shame in seeking peace in the interests of humanity. Too often these popular ideas of glory represent the bully and the coward in the nation, rather than its wisdom and honour. There is no other real secret of a nation’s exaltation than, in the widest sense, its right dealing, and no other shame for a nation than its vicessuch as drunkenness, selfishness, lust for territory. Could Englishmen see the national character in the light in which it often appears to foreigners, it would be a humbling view.
3. Royal ,favour or disfavour is an index of worth. (Pro 14:35.) Not, of course, the only or the truest index; and yet how seldom it happens that a man rises to high position in the service of his sovereign and country without eminent worth of some description or other! Here, again, moral law is exemplified. There is nothing accidental. If it be mere prudence which gains promotion, still prudence is of immense value to the state, and moral law is confirmed by its advancement.
II. IN PRIVATE LIFE.
1. Patience and haste of temper. (Pro 14:29.) They are branded respectively with the mark of sense and of folly. “The Scripture exhorteth us to possess our souls in patience; whosoever is out of patience is out of possession of his soul.”
2. The calm and the seething heart. (Pro 14:30.) The first member seems more correctly rendered, “life of the body is a gentle or tranquil mind.” Zeal, on the other hand, or envy, is a constant ferment within the soul. Men’s minds must either feed upon their own good or others’ evil. Inquisitive people are commonly envious; it is a “gadding passion,” and an old proverb says that “Envy keeps no holidays.” Lord Bacon says it is the vilest passion and the most depraved. Christian humility and love can only sweeten the heart, and dilute or wash away its natural bitterness
3. The violent death and the peaceful end. (Pro 14:32.) A sudden death was viewed as a visitation from God (Ps 36:13; Psa 62:4). It was thought that the wicked could hardly come to any other end. But the righteous has confidence in his death. Considering the great silence of the Old Testament on the future life, it can hardly be honest exegesis to force the meaning of hope of a future life into this passage. Nor is it necessary. It is the consciousness that all is well, the soul being in God’s hands, that the future may be left with him who has revealed himself in the past, which sheds peace into the dying soul.
4. Silent wisdom and noisy pretence. (Pro 14:33.) The still and quiet wisdom of the sensible man (Pro 10:14; Pro 12:16, Pro 12:23) is contrasted with the eager and noisy utterances of what the fool supposes to be wisdom, but in reality is the exposure of his folly. “There is no decaying merchant or inward beggar hath so many tricks to uphold the credit of their wealth as those empty persons have to maintain the credit of their sufficiency.” Wisdom and piety are felt and fragrant, like the violet in the hedge, from humble places and silent lives, Let us aim to be, not to seem.J.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
Pro 14:1
Woman as a builder
Where the light of revelation has shone, woman has had a position and a power, an honor and a happiness, such as she has not enjoyed elsewhere. Under the teaching of Christian truth she has been, or is being, rapidly raised to her rightful place, and is becoming all that the Creator intended her to be. We cannot forecast the future, but we may predict that her own especial province, the sphere where she will always shine, will be, as it is now, the home. It is “her house” that she will either build up or pluck down “with her own hands.” Whether she will do the one or the other depends on the question whether she shows
I. GOODNESS (moral worth) or GUILT.
II. IMPARTIALITY or an unwise and unrighteous preference of one child to another.
III. DILIGENCE in the discharge of her household duties, or NEGLIGENCE.
IV. KINDNESS OR ASPERITY in her bearing toward all the members of the home.
V. PATIENCE OR IMPATIENCE in the government of her family and her servants. And since the upbuilding or the down plucking of “the house,” the promotion or the ruin of domestic harmony and happiness, depends in so large a degree on the wisdom or the folly of the woman who is the wife and the mother, therefore:
1. Let every wise man think many times before he makes his choice.
2. Let every woman who is entering on this estate go forth to occupy it in
(1) humility,
(2) prayerfulness,
(3) wise and holy resolution.C.
Pro 14:4
Daintiness and usefulness
It is a very great thing to prefer the greater to the smaller, the more serious to the less serious, in the regulation of our life. It makes all the difference between success and failure, between wisdom and folly.
I. A SERIOUS MISTAKE, to prefer nicety or daintiness to fruitfulness or usefulness. This grave mistake is made by the farmer who would rather have a clean crib than a quantity of valuable manure; by the housewife who cares more for the elegance of the furniture than the comfort of the family; by the minister who spends more strength on the wording than on the doctrine of his discourse; by the teacher who lays more stress on the composition of classical verses than on the history of his country or than on the strengthening of the mind; by the poet who takes infinite pains with his rhymes and gives little thought to his subject or his imagery; by the statesman who is particular about the draughting of his bills, and has no objection to introduce retrograde and dishonouring measures; by the doctor who insists much on his medicine, and lets his patient go on neglecting all the laws of hygiene; etc.
II. THE WISDOM OF THE WISE. This is found in subordinating the trivial to the important; in being willing to submit to the temporarily disagreeable if we can attain to the permanently good; in being content to endure the sight and the smell of the unclean crib if there is a prospect of a fruitful field. The great thing is increase, fruitfulness, the reward of honest toil and patient waiting and believing prayer. This increase is to be sought and found in five fields in particular.
1. Bodily health and strength.
2. Knowledge, in all its various directions.
3. Material wealth, that ministers to the comfort and thus to the well being of the families of man.
4. Wisdom; that noble quality of the soul which distinguishes between the true and the false, the pure and the impure, the imperishable and the ephemeral, the estimable and the unworthy, and which not only distinguishes but determinately chooses the former and rejects the latter.
5. Spiritual fruitfulness; the increase of our own piety and virtue, and also the growth of the kingdom of our Lord.C.
Pro 14:8
Understanding our way
A man may be “prudent,” he may be clever, learned, astute; yet he may miss his way, he may lose his life, he may prove to be a failure. The wisdom of the prudent, that which makes prudence or ability really valuable, that which constitutes its virtue, is the practical understanding of life, the knowledge which enables a man to take the right path and keep it, the discretion which chooses the line of a true success and maintains it to the end. It is to perceive and to pursue the way that is
I. FINANCIALLY SOUND; avoiding that which leads to embarrassment and ruin; shunning those which conduct either to a sordid parsimony in one direction or to a wasteful extravagance on the other hand; choosing that which leads to competence and generosity.
II. EDUCATIONALLY WINE; forming the habits which strengthen and develop the faculties of the mind, instead of those which dwarf, or narrow, or demoratize them.
III. SOCIALLY SATISFACTORY; not going the way of an unwise and unsatisfactory ambition which ends in disappointment and chagrin; seeking the society which is suitable, elevating, honourable.
IV. IN ACCORDANCE WITH INDIVIDUAL ENDOWMENT; So that we do not expend all our time and all our powers in a way which cuts against all our individual inclinations, but in one which gives room for our particular aptitudes, and develops the special faculty with which our Creator has endowed our spirit.
V. MORALLY SAFE. It is a very great part of “the wisdom of the prudent” for a man to know what he may allow himself to do and where to go; what, on the other hand, he must not permit, and whither he must not wend his way. The path of safety to one man is the road to ruin with another. “Happy is he who condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth” (Rom 14:22). Wise is it in those, and well is it for them, who have discerned and who have decided upon those habits of life which are establishing in their hearts all Christian virtues and making to shine in their lives all Christian graces.
VI. THE WAY OF HOLY SERVICE. The way of sacred service is so essentially the way of wisdom, that any “prudence” or cleverness that misses it makes the supreme mistake. On the other hand, the wisdom that leads to it and that preserves the soul in it is the wisdom to attain unto. This way, which is the end of our being and the crown of our life, includes
(1) the service of Christ, and
(2) the service of man.C.
Pro 14:9
The sadness of sin
It is foolish enough to use the words “sin” and “sinner” in the light and flippant way in which they are frequently employed. But to “make a mock at sin” itself, to treat otherwise than seriously the fact and forces of sin, is folly indeed. For sin is
I. THE SADDEST AND STERNEST FACT IN ALL THE UNIVERSE OF GOD. It is the ultimate cause of all the disorder, misery, ruin, and death that are to be found beneath any sky. There is no curse or calamity that has befallen our race that is not due to its disastrous power.
II. THE DARKEST EXPERIENCE WE HAVE IN REVIEW. We may look back on many dark passages in our life history, but none can be so black as the experiences for which we have to reproach ourselves, as those wherein we broke some plain precept of God or left undischarged some weighty obligation.
III. A POWERFUL, HOSTILE FORCE STILL CONFRONTING US. Sin “easily besets us.”
1. It is exceedingly deceptive, alluring, undermining, betraying.
2. It is a very present enemy, near at hand when least suspected, entering into all the scenes and spheres of life.
3. It strikes deep, going down into the innermost places of the soul.
4. It is very extensive in its range, covering all the particulars of life.
5. It stretches far into the future, crossing even the dividing line of death, and reaching into eternity.
6. It is fatal in its results, leading the soul down into the dark shadows of spiritual death.
The only wise course we can take in view of such a force as this is
(1) to realize its heinousness;
(2) to confess its guiltiness;
(3) to strive with patient strenuousness against its power;
(4) to seek the aid of the Holy and Mighty Spirit that it may be uprooted from the heart and life.C.
Pro 14:10-13
Loneliness and laughter
The tenth verse suggests to us the serious and solemnizing fact of
I. THE ELEMENT OF LONELINESS IN HUMAN LIFE. “The heart knoweth its own bitterness,” etc. In one aspect our life path is thronged. It is becoming more and more difficult to be alone. Hours that were once sacred to solitude are now invaded by society. And yet it remains true that “in the central depths of our nature we are alone.” There is a point at which, as he goes inward, our nearest neighbour, our most intimate friend, must stop; there is a sanctuary of the soul into which no foot intrudes. It is there where we make our ultimate decision for good or evil; it is there where we experience our truest joys and our profoundest griefs; it is there where we live our truest life. We may so crowd our life with duties and with pleasures that we may reduce to its smallest radius this innermost circle; but some time must we spend there, and the great decisive experiences must we there go through. There we taste our very sweetest satisfactions, and there we bear our very heaviest burdens. And no one but the Father of spirits can enter into that secret place of the soul. So true is it that
“Not e’en the dearest heart, and nearest to our own,
Knows half the reasons why we smile or sigh.”
It is well for us to remember that there is more, both of happiness and of sorrow, than we can see; well, that we may not be overburdened with the weight of the manifold and multiplied evils we are facing; well, that we may realize how strong is the reason that, when our cup of prosperity is full, we may have “the heart at leisure from itself, to soothe and sympathize” with those who, beneath a smiling countenance, may carry a very heavy heart. For we have to consider
II. THE SUPERFICIAL ELEMENT IN MUCH HUMAN GLADNESS. “Even in laughter,” etc. A man may smile and smile, and be most melancholy. To wear a smile upon our countenance, or to conclude our sentences with laughter, is often only a mere trick of style, a mere habit of life, cultivated with little difficulty. A true smile, an honest, laugh, that comes not from the lips or from the lungs, but from the heart, is a very acceptable and a very admirable thing. But a false smile and a forced laugh bespeak a double-minded soul and a doubtful character. Surely the angels of God weep almost, as much over the laughter as over the tears of mankind. For beneath its sound they may hear all too much that is hollow and unreal, and not a little that is vain and guilty. But, on the other hand, to smile with the glad and to laugh with the merry is a sympathetic grace not to be despised (Rom 12:15, first clause).
III. THE ISSUE OF FALSE SATISFACTIONS. “The end of that mirth is heaviness.” How often is heaviness the end of mirth! All enjoyment that does not carry with it the approval of the conscience, all that is disregardful of the Divine Law, all that is a violation of the laws of our physical or our spiritual nature, must end and does end, sooner or later, in heavinessin depression of spirit, in decline of power. It is a sorry thing for a man to accustom himself to momentary mirth, to present pleasure at the expense of future joy, of well being in later years.
LESSONS.
1. Let the necessary solitariness of life lead us to choose the very best friendships we can form; that we may have those who can go far and often with us into the recesses of our spirit, and accompany us, as far as man can, in the larger and deeper experiences of our life.
2. Let the superficiality of much happiness lead us to inquire of ourselves whether we have planted in our soul the deeper roots of joy; those which will survive every test and trial of life, and which will be in us when we have left time and sense altogether behind us.
3. Let the perilous nature of some gratifications impose on us the duty of a wise watchfulness; that we may banish forever from heart and life all injurious delights which “war against the soul,” and rob us of our true heritage here and in the heavenly country.C.
Pro 14:13
(See homily on Pro 16:25.)C.
Pro 14:17, Pro 14:29
(See homily on Pro 16:32.)C.
Pro 14:21
The sin of contempt
We are in danger of despising our neighbours. The rich despise the poor, the learned despise the ignorant, the strong and healthy despise the weak and ailing, the devout despise the irreverent. But we are wrong in doing this. There is, indeed, one thing which may draw down a strong and even intense reprobationmoral baseness, meanness, a cruel and heartless selfishness, or a slavish abandonment to vice. But even there we may not wholly despise our neighbour; unmitigated contempt is always wrong, always a mistake. For
I. WE ARE ALL THE CHILDREN OF GOD. Are we not all his offspring, the creatures of one Creator, the children of one Father? Does it become us to despise our own brethren, our own sisters? Inasmuch as we are “members one of another,” of one family, we are bound to let another feeling than that of contempt take the deepest place in our heart when we think of men and women, whoever they may be, whatever they may have been.
II. SELF–GLORIFICATION IS EXCLUDED. What makes us to differ from others? Whence came our superiority in wealth, in knowledge, in strength, in virtue? Did it not come, ultimately, from God? Trace things to their source, and we find that all “boasting is excluded.” It is by the favour and the grace of God that we are who and what we are. Not a haughty contemptuousness, but a humble thankfulness, becomes us, if we stand higher than our neighbour.
III. NO MAN IS WHOLLY DESPICABLE. He may have some things about his character which we deplore and which we condemn, on account of which we do well to remonstrate with him and to make him feel that we have withdrawn our regard and confidence. But no man is wholly to be despised.
1. Much of what is bad or sad about him may be the consequence of misfortune. What did he inherit? Who were his earliest counsellors? What were his adverse influences? Against what hurtful and damaging forces has he had to contend? How few and how weak have been his privileges? how many his privations?
2. There is the germ of goodness in him. There is no man, even among the most depraved, who has not in him that on which wisdom and love may lay their merciful hold, and by which the man himself may be redeemed. Many marvellous and most cheering facts prove that the worst among the bad may be recoveredthe most profane, besotted, impure, dishonest. The Christian thought and faith is that all men are within the reach both of the mercy and the redeeming love of God. Let Divine truth be spoken to them as it may be spoken; let Divine and human love embrace them and lay its fatherly or brotherly hand upon them; let the Divine Spirit breathe upon them, and from the lowest depths of guilt and shame they may rise to noble heights of purity and honour.C.
Pro 14:23
Talking and toiling
These words contain solid and valuable truth; that truth does not, however, exclude the facts
I. THAT MUCH LABOUR IS WORSE THEN USELESS. All that which is conceived and carried out for the purpose of destruction, or of fraud, or of vice, or of impiety. Only too often men give themselves infinite trouble which is worse than thrown away, the putting forth of which is sin, the end of which is evilmisery or even ruin and death.
II. THAT MUCH SPEAKING TENDS TO ENRICHMENT. There is a “talk of the lips” which is worthy of taking rank with the most profitable toil.
1. It may cost the speaker much care and effort and expenditure of vital force.
2. It may be a great power for good in the minds of men and even in the histories of peoples
“Like Luther’s in the days of old,
Half-battles for the free.”
3. It may bring light to the darkened mind, comfort to the wounded heart, rest to the weary soul, strength and inspiration to the spirit that needs revival. But, on the other hand, the truth which the proverb is intended to impress upon us is this
III. THAT MUCH VERBIAGE IS VERY PROFITLESS AND VAIN. There is a “talk of the lips” that does indeed tend to poverty.
1. That which does nothing more than consume time. This is pure waste; and in
“An age (like this) when every hour
Must sweat her sixty minutes to the death,”
this can by no means be afforded.
2. That which gives false ideas of life; which encourages men to trust to chance, or to despise honest toil, or to hope for the success which is the fruit of chicanery and dishonesty, or to find a heritage, not in the consciousness of duty and of the favour of God, but in superficial and short-lived delights.
IV. THAT CONSCIENTIOUS LABOUR IS THE ONE FRUITFUL THING. “In all labour there is profit.”
1. Physical labour not only cultivates the field and builds the house and clothes the naked, but it gives strength to the muscles and health to the whole body.
2. Mental labour not only designs the painting, or the sculpture, or the oratorio, and writes the poem or the history, but it invigorates the mind and braces all the mental faculties.
3. Moral struggle not only saves from vice and crime, but makes the soul strong for noble and honourable achievement.
4. Spiritual endeavour not only refines the highest faculties of our nature, prepares us for the companionship of the holiest, and accomplishes the highest purposes of the Redeemer, but brings us into the favour and leads us into the likeness of God himself.C.
Pro 14:33
(See homily on Pro 29:11.)43.
Pro 14:34
The strength and the reproach of nations
I. SIN THE NATION‘S SHAME.
1. A sinful nation in the sight of God. This is a nation of which the people have gone astray from him; do not approach him in worship; do not consult his will as revealed in his Word; have no ear to lend to those that speak in his Name; lose all sense of sacred duty in the pursuit of gain and pleasure.
2. The flagrant guilt to which such godlessness leads down.
(1) It is probable, in a high degree, that impiety will lead to iniquity, that the absence of all religious restraint will end in abandonment to evil in all its forms.
(2) History assures us that it does so. The denial, or the defiance, or the entire disregard of God and of his will, conducts to and ends in vice, in crime, in violence, in despotism, in the dissolution of old and honourable bonds, in the prevalence of despair and suicide, in utter demoralization.
3. This is the reproach to a people. A country may lose its population, or its wealth, or its pre-eminent influence, without being the object of reproach; but to fall into general impiety, and to live in the practice of wrong doing,this is a disgrace; it brings a nation down in the estimate of all the wise; its name is clothed with shame; its fame has become infamy.
II. RIGHTEOUSNESS A NATION‘S STRENGTH. National righteousness does not consist in any public professions of piety, nor in the existence of great religious organizations, nor in the presence of a multitude of ecclesiastical edifices and officers; nations have had all these before now, and they have been destitute of real righteousness. That consists in the possession of a reverent spirit and an estimable character, and the practice of purity, justice, and kindness on the part of the people themselves (see Isa 58:1-14.; Mic 6:6-8). In this is a nation’s strength and exaltation, for it will surely issue in:
1. Physical well being. Virtue is the secret of health and strength, of the multiplication and continuance of life and power.
2. Material prosperity; for righteousness is the foundation of educated intelligence, of intellectual energy and vigour, of commercial and agricultural enterprise, of maritime intrepidity and success.
3. Moral and spiritual advancement.
4. Estimation and influence among surrounding nations.
5. The abiding favour of God (Psa 81:13-16). We may learn from the text
(1) that no measure of brilliancy in statesmanship will compensate for debauching the minds of the people, for introducing ideas or sanctioning habits which are morally unsound and corrupting;
(2) that the humblest citizen whose life tends to establish righteousness amongst his neighbours is a true patriot, however narrow his sphere may be.C.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Pro 14:1. Every wise woman See chap. Pro 12:4 and Exo 1:21. Though to build the house is frequently used for increasing posterity, it seems in this place principally to refer to that oeconomy and good management by which a wise woman advantages her family. See Tit 2:5.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
() With reference to the relation between the wise and the foolish, the rich and the poor, masters and servants
Chap. 14
1Womans wisdom buildeth her house,
but folly teareth it down with its own hands.
2He that walketh uprightly feareth Jehovah,
but he that is perverse in his ways despiseth him.
3In the mouth of the foolish is a rod for his pride,
but the lips of the wise preserve them.
4Where there are no oxen the crib is clean,
but much increase is by the strength of the ox.
5A faithful witness cannot lie,
but a false witness uttereth lies.
6The scorner hath sought wisdom, and findeth it not,
but to the man of understanding is knowledge easy.
7Go from the presence of the foolish man;
thou hast not found (with him) lips of knowledge.
8The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way,
the folly of fools is a deception.
9The sacrifice maketh sport of fools,
but to the righteous there is favor.
10The heart knoweth its own bitterness,
and let no stranger intermeddle with its joy.
11The house of the wicked is overthrown,
but the tent of the upright shall flourish.
12There is a way that seemeth right to man,
but the end thereof is the ways of death.
13Even in laughter the heart will be (perchance) sad,
and the end of joy is sorrow.
14He that is of a perverse heart shall be satisfied with his own ways,
but a good man (shall be satisfied) from him (E. V. from himself).
15The simple believeth every word,
the wise giveth heed to his way.
16The wise feareth and departeth from evil,
but the fool is presuming and confident.
17He that is quick to anger worketh folly,
and the man of wicked devices is hated.
18The simple have secured folly,
but the wise shall embrace knowledge.
19The wicked bow before the good,
and sinners at the doors of the righteous.
20The poor is hated even by his neighbor,
but they that love the rich are many.
21Whosoever despiseth his friend is a sinner,
but he that hath mercy on the poorblessings on him!
22Do not they go astray that devise evil?
and are not mercy and faithfulness with them that devise good?
23In all labor there is profit,
but mere talk (leadeth) only to want.
24The crown of the wise is their riches,
the folly of fools (is evermore) folly.
25A true witness delivereth souls,
but he that uttereth lies is a cheat.
26In the fear of Jehovah is strong security,
and to His children He will be a refuge.
27The fear of Jehovah is a fountain of life,
to escape the snares of death.
28In the multitude of the people is the kings honor,
but from want of people (cometh) the downfall of the prince.
29He that is slow to wrath is great in understanding,
but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly.
30The life of the body is a quiet spirit,
but passion the rottenness of the bones.
31He that oppresseth the poor hath reproached his Maker,
whosoever honoreth him hath had mercy on the poor.
32By his wickedness is the wicked driven forth,
but the righteous hath hope (even) in his death.
33In the heart of a man of understanding doth wisdom rest,
but in the midst of fools it maketh itself known.
34Righteousness exalteth a nation,
but sin is a reproach to any people.
35The kings favor is towards a wise servant,
but his wrath against him that is base.
GRAMMATICAL AND CRITICAL
Pro 14:1.Read , as in Pro 1:20; Pro 9:1, and not (fem. plur. constr.), as though the wise ones among women (comp. Jdg 5:29) were to be here designated (so the LXX, Vulg., Luther). [So substantially the E. V., Noyes, etc., distributing the plural on account of the singular of the verb. Fuerst regards as merely another form of the abstract noun. Btt. does not admit the possibility of this, but explains the form in the text as an indef. or distributive plural, holding, nevertheless, that the antithesis with requires here the usual abstract. 700, c and n. 4, and 702, c, .A.]
Pro 14:2.The in is one of the few examples in the early Hebrew of the Hholem plen. in emphatic verbal forms beginning or ending a clause. See Btt., 167.A.]
Pro 14:3.The form should probably be changed to , since the assumption of the lengthening of the vowel (vocal Sheva) in the syllable preceding (he accent seems hardly justified by analogies like Exo 18:26; Rth 2:8. Comp. Hitzig on this passage. [Btt. defends the form doubtfully, and regards it as probably an illustration of the speech of the Common people. The fem. form of the verb is indicated only by the prefix, and not by its ordinary termination. See 367, b, 1043, 4 and n. 3, and 1047, e. See Green, 105, d.A.]
Pro 14:5.[, one of Bttchers examples of the Fiens licitum, what may or can bo; 950, c, ; will not=can not.A.]
Pro 14:6.[ a relative perfect, like and in Pro 14:31; hath been seeking and it is not, hath already virtually reproached his Maker, hath already shown mercy.Btt., 950, 1.A.]
is undoubtedly a neuter participle, = , a trifle, a small, easy matter.
Pro 14:7.[Three points come under consideration: 1) the meaning of 2) the force of the perfect tense , and 3) the meaning of the connective .On the first, in addition to the arguments of Z. in the exegetical notes, Rueetschi urges (as before cited, p. 140) that with verbs of motion the only natural rendering is from before, the being justified by Deu 28:66 as well as the passage in Judges In regard to the second the simple perfect is easier than a predictive perfect; thou hast not=thou surely wilt not. Z. omits. the connective in his version; and might be equivalent to in case, or where thou hast not, etc. Rueetschi somewhat more unnaturally renders otherwise; he obtains the very forcible meaning otherwise thou hast not known lips of knowledgehast not learned their nature, and art now making this evident. De Wette agrees with Rosenmueller in rendering clause b as a relative clauseand from him in whom thou hast not, etc.A.]
Pro 14:10.[ – for – in final syllable under the influence of the guttural, Green, 119, 1; Btt., 378, 1, 1055. In , derived from , we have one of the few instances of a doubled . See Green, 60, 4, a, Bttcher, 392, 2, c.A.]
Pro 14:12. is used in the first clause as masc., in the second as fem. In the historical books, Jerem. and Proyerbs, this confusion is common. see Btt., 657, 2; 877, i.e.A.]
Pro 14:13.The suffix in refers to the following , as in the passages cited above in connection with Pro 13:4, To divide (J.D Michaelis, Hitzig) is an alteration altogether unnecessary in the case before us, where the expression joy in clause b is nothing but a repetition of that of laughter in clause a.
Pro 14:14.To change to (L. Capellus, Jaeger, etc.), or to (Elster, comp. Ewald) is plainly needless in view of the simple and obvious interpretation of given in the notes.
[Btt. proposes with great confidence to amend clause b by substituting for the verb ; 460, 2, a, and. 1143, 6; good will depart from him.A.]
Pro 14:15.[Observe the emphatic change of accent and vocalization in .]
Pro 14:17.In view of the explanation which may be given of the text, attempted emendations appear needless and inappropriate, such, e.g; as Ewalds, who proposes instead of to read (he quiets his anger, keeps his equanimity); or that of Hitzig, who to secure the same meaning reads etc. [Rueetschi emphatically defends the received text.]
Pro 14:18.[Observe the change of tense; ) Perfectum repentinum used of that which is easily and quickly done; Fiens licitum, are disposed or inclined to wait, etc. Btt., 950, B; 940, 2; 943, c, a.A.]
Pro 14:25.[ as in Pro 6:19; Pro 12:17; Pro 19:5; Pro 19:9, an irregular participial form.]
Pro 14:28. is a collateral form of as of . The expression hero stands as a parallel to , as the plural often stands side by side with .
Pro 14:30.[, plural, probably, on account of the following . Btt. however ( 695, 5) explains it as an example of the pluralis extensivus used also of the entire, the complete, the large,the life of the whole body.A.]
EXEGETICAL
1. Pro 14:1-7. On wisdom and folly in general.Womans wisdom buildeth her house. [See critical notes]. It is plain that in contrast with this wisdom of the godly we are to understand by folly in clause b especially womans folly.With Pro 14:2, a, compare Pro 10:9; with b, Pro 2:15; Pro 3:32.
Pro 14:3. In the fools mouth is a rod for his pride,lit., a rod of pride. [Is this genitive subjective or objective? a rod which his pride uses, for himself, or others, or both, as it has been variously understood,or a rod by which his pride is itself chastised ? The antithesis commends the latter, which is the view of Bertheau, Kamph., etc., as well as Z. According to S., pride is the subject and not, a limiting genitiveA.] Hitzig unnecessarily proposes to understand in the sense of back, a meaning which even in Job 41:7 hardly belongs to the word [although given by Aquila, Jerome, etc.] (Comp. Delitzsch on the passage.)But the lips of the wise preserve them.For the construction comp. Pro 11:6; Pro 12:6, etc.; for the meaning, Pro 10:13-14.
Pro 14:4. Where there are no oxen the crib remaineth empty., crib, not stall (Umbreit); , in itself meaning pure, clean, is here empty; so sometimes . The drift of the proverb is not quite the same as in Pro 10:15; Pro 13:8 (a commendation of moderate wealth as a means of doing good and as a preservative from spiritual want). Rather is this the probable meaning: He who will develop his wealth to a gratifying abundance must employ the appropriate means; for nothing costs nothing, but brings nothing in (Elster, Hitzig).With Pro 14:5 comp. Pro 12:17; with b in particular Pro 6:19.
Pro 14:6. The scorner hath sought wisdom, and findeth it not,lit., and it is not, comp. Pro 13:7. The bearing of this proverb is plainly directed against that superficial, trivial, seeming culture of the scoffers at religion, (who, in the perverted sense of the word, are the enlightened), which lacks all genuine earnestness, and for that very reason all really deep knowledge and discernment.But to the man of understanding is knowledge given.See critical notes.
Pro 14:7. Go from the presence of the foolish man.So Luther had already correctly rendered; also De Wette, Bertheau, Elster; for [from the front, from before] does not describe motion directly toward or at one (Ewald, comp. Umbreit), but remoteness from him, as Isa 1:16; Amo 9:3; and for the connection with which, it is true, is unusual, comp. Jdg 20:34. [See critical notes].Hitzig, following the LXX and Syr. vers., writes the first word of the verse instead of , and in clause b reads instead of , from which the meaning is obtained The foolish man hath every thing before him, but lips of knowledge are a receptacle of Understanding (LXX: ). But the idea of the second clause experiences in this way no possible improvement, but only an injury (observe the tautological character of the expressions lips of knowledge and receptacle or vessel of knowledge), and for this reason we should retain the meaning given above for the first clause also.In clause b the verb is a proper perfect, thou hast not known or recognized lips of knowledge, this is, if thou soughtest any such thing in him. [W. is wrong in rendering over against, and wilt not know.A.]
2. Pro 14:8-19. Further delineation of the wise and the foolish, especially with reference to their contrasted lot in life.The wisdom of the wise is to understand his way,lit., observe his way. For this use of the verb with the accusative, in the sense of to observe or consider something, comp. Pro 7:7; Psa 5:2. For the sentiment of the verse comp. Pro 13:16, and Pro 14:15 below.The folly of fools is deception.Deceit here in the sense of self-deception, imposition on self, blindness, which is at last followed by a fearful self-sobering, a coming to a consciousness of the real state of the case (comp. Psa 7:15; Job 15:35).
Pro 14:9. The sacrifice maketh sport of fools,i.e., the expiatory sacrifice which ungodly fools offer to God is utterly useless, fails of its object, inasmuch as it does not gain the favor of God, which is, on the contrary, to be found only among the upright (lit., between upright men, i.e., in the fellowship of the upright or honorable, comp. Luk 2:14). Thus Bertheau, Ewald, Elster [Stuart and Wordsworth], etc., while the majority, disregarding the singular member in the verb, translate Fools make a mock at sin [E. V., M., N., H.] (make sport with sin, Umbreit, comp. Luther). [Hodgson, rightly conceiving the grammatical relation, but making both subject and object concrete, renders sinners mock at fools]. Hitzig here again proposes violent emendations, and obtains the meaning The tents (?) of the foolish are overthrown (??) in punishment; the house (?) of the upright is well pleasing.
Pro 14:10. The heart knoweth its own bitterness,lit., a heart knoweth the trouble of its soul, i.e., what one lacks one always knows best ones self; therefore the interference of strangers will always be somewhat disturbing. If this be so, then it follows that it is also not advisable to meddle with ones joy, and this is the point that is urged in clause b. A precept applicable unconditionally to all cases is of course not designed here. The author of our proverbs will hardly be put in antagonism to what the Apostle enjoins in Rom 12:15. It is rather a hard and intrusive manifestation of sympathy in the joy and sorrow of ones neighbor, that is to be forbidden.With 11, a, comp. Pro 12:7; Job 18:15; with b, Isa 27:6.With Pro 14:12, a, comp. Pro 12:15; Pro 16:2.But the end thereof are ways of death,i.e., the way of vice, which at the beginning appears straight (the way is not directly described as the way of vice, yet is plainly enough indicated as such), at length merges itself wholly in paths that lead down to mortal ruin; comp. Pro 14:4; Pro 7:27.The same verse appears again below in Pro 16:25. Pro 14:13. Even in laughter the heart will be (perchance) sad.The Imperf. of the verb here expresses a possible case, something that may easily and often occur. The contrasted condition is suggested by Ecc 7:4 : Though the face be sad, the heart may yet be glad. [Notwithstanding Holdens observation, that though sorrow may be occasioned by laughter, it does not exist in it, it is a deeper truth, that in circumstances producing a superficial joyousness, there is often an underlying, profounder sorrow.A.]And the end of joy is sorrow [not by a mere emotional reaction, but] in such a case as this; the heart, which under all apparent laughter is still sad, feels and already anticipates the evil that will soon have wholly transformed the gladness into grief.
Pro 14:14. He that is of a perverse heart shall be satisfied with his own ways, i.e., he who has departed from God (lit., he that is turned aside in heart, comp. Psa 44:19) is surfeited with his own ways, partakes of the ruinous results of his sinful action; comp. Pro 12:14; Pro 13:2; Pro 28:19.But a good man (shall be satisfied) from him, i.e., the good man solaces himself in the contemplation of the wicked and his fate (Pro 29:16; Job 22:19; Psa 37:34; Psa 58:11); or, it may be, the upright man enters into the possession of the good which the other loses (comp. Pro 11:8; Pro 11:29; Pro 13:22). , strictly from with him, expresses here this idea,from that which belongs to him as its foundation (Hitzig), and therefore from his experience, from the sorrowful occurrences of life in which he is deservedly involved. [E. V., H., N., M. render reflexively from himself, and make the experiences parallel; each shall be satisfied with his own ways, or from himself. The third pers. suffix has this reflexive meaning after distinctly in 1Sa 17:22; 1Sa 17:39; Jon 3:6. The suffix in clause a is reflexive, his own ways, and we must regard the same construction as the simplest and most natural in bA.]
Pro 14:15. The simple believeth every word,Elster: every thing. But as objects of belief, it is, in the first instance and most directly, words alone that come under consideration, and reference is made here precisely to the unreliableness of words as used by men, as in Pro 6:1 sq.; Pro 10:19; Ecc 5:1 sq.; Psa 116:11, etc.With clause b compare above Pro 14:8 a.
Pro 14:16. With clause a compare Pro 16:6; Pro 16:17.The fool is presuming and confident.Comp. Pro 21:24; Pro 28:16. The latter of these descriptive terms unquestionably describes a false security, and carnal arrogance, which is the opposite of the fear of God. The former epithet means self-exalting, bearing ones self insolently, or it may be (like the Kal conj. of the same verb in Pro 22:3) boldly rushing on, overriding (Hitzig, comp. Luther, rushes wildly through).
Pro 14:17. He that is quick to anger worketh folly.Strictly, he who foams up quickly, who flies into a passion, contrasted with the man who is slow to anger, Pro 14:29. [, the nostrils, then the breathing, which by its quietness or its excitement, marks the state of the temper].And the man of wicked devices is hated.Literally, the man of shrewd reflections, well contrived counsels (comp. remarks on Pro 1:4, and also Pro 12:2; Pro 24:8; Psa 37:7), who is not here set as a contrast, but as a counterpart to the passionate man; the crafty and subtle man, who, in spite of all his show of mildness, is still as thoroughly hated as the irascible and passionate man. The relation of the two clauses is accordingly not antithetic, but that of a logical parallel. With one manifestation of an evil disposition another is immediately associated, with a suggestion of the results which are in accordance with it; comp. Pro 10:10; Pro 10:18.
Pro 14:18. But the wise shall embrace knowledge. (comp. Ps. 142:8), literally, surround, enclose, cannot here mean they crown themselves, or are crowned [the verb is not reflexive] (Umbreit, comp. Luther [De W., E. V., H., N., S., M., W.]), but, as the parallel verb in clause a indicates, must convey simply the meaning of laying hold upon, i.e., gathering, accumulating [so Fuerst, Bertheau, Kamph., etc.].
Pro 14:19. And the wicked at the doors of the righteous,i.e., they bow there (the verb is to be repeated from the first clause). The figure lying at the basis of this representation is that of the ambassadors of a conquered people, who, kneeling at the doors of their conquerors palace, await his command. For the general sentiment comp. Pro 13:9; Pro 13:22; also Psa 37:25, etc.
3. Pro 14:20-27. On riches and poverty in their causal connection with wisdom and folly.The poor is hated even by his neighbor.Comp. Pro 19:4; Sir 6:7 sq.; Pro 12:8 sq. Numerous parallels from classic authors (e.g., Theognis, V. 621, 697; Ovid, Trist., I., 9, 5, 6), and also from Rabbinical and Arabic authors, may be found in Umbreits Commentary in loco. Is hated, i.e., is repelled as disagreeable, is obnoxious (comp. Deu 20:15; Mal 1:3). How this may come to pass, how former friendship between two persons may be transformed into its opposite on account of the impoverishment of one of them, is impressively illustrated by our Lords parable of the neighbor whom a friend asks for three loaves (comp. Luk 11:6-8.)
Pro 14:21. Whosoever despiseth his friend is a sinner, i.e., he who neglects a friend that has fallen into destitution (comp. Pro 14:20 a), who does not render him assistance, sins just as surely as his act is praiseworthy who is compassionate to the poor or wretched (read with the Kthibh). With the benediction in clause b compare Pro 17:20.
Pro 14:22. Do they not err that devise evil?The figurative expression carve evil (comp. Pro 3:29; Pro 6:14) has as its counterpart in the second clause the kindred figure carve out good, i.e., contrive or devise good (bona machinari). Instead of they err, or go astray (comp. Job 15:31) Hitzig reads (from ): Ought it not to go ill with them that devise evil? But the language of the text characterizes with sufficient strength and clearness the unsettled and disastrous condition of those who have departed from Gods ways.And are not mercy and truth with those that devise good?The interrogative particle affects the second clause as well as the first (so Umbreit, and doubtless correctly, in opposition to most modern interpreters [e.g., E. V., De W., Bertheau, H., M., S., K, while Noyes agrees with our author]). The construction is like that in Pro 13:18.Mercy and truth are probably Gods manifestations of Himself toward them, as in Gen 32:11; Psa 61:7, and not human attributes, as above in Pro 3:3 (see note in loco), or as in Pro 16:6; Pro 20:28. [So Trapp and others, while M. and S. make them human,M. making these the experience, and S. the action of those who devise good.A.]
Pro 14:23. In all labor there is profit, but idle talk (leadeth) only to want.(Comp. Pro 11:24; Pro 21:5); in the latter passage profit and want are contrasted precisely as here.Idle talk; in the Hebrew literally, word of the lips; comp. Isa 36:5; Job 11:2; Job 15:3. The sentiment of the entire verse is moreover plain: One should beware of idle talk more than of the hardest toil (Bertheau). Comp. Mat 12:36.
Pro 14:24. The crown of the wise is their riches, i.e. the well-earned possessions of the wise become his honor, are a real adornment to him, for which he is with good reason praised. The folly of fools, on the other hand, is and continues folly, though ho may ever so much parade and swell with it, though he may in particular studiously employ any riches he may chance to possess in splendidly decorating himself, and giving himself a magnificent appearance by all manner of outward trifles and finery (comp. Bertheau, Umbreit, Elster on this passage). [Trapp: Why, was it not foolishness before they were rich? Yes, but now it is become egregious foolishness].Hitzig has here again needlessly felt constrained to amend. He reads in clause a their prudence, , and in clause b, as the subject, ostentation, instead of ; so he obtains the meaning, The crown of the wise is their prudence (?); the pomp of fools isdrunken (??).
Pro 14:25. A true witness delivereth souls, i.e. from the death involved in some false charge brought against them before the court, and which therefore threatens them in case a truthful witness does not clear them and bring their innocence to light.But he that uttereth lies (comp. Pro 14:5; Pro 6:19) is a cheat.Compare Pro 12:17, where, however, deceit is object of the preceding verb showeth forth, and not predicate. Here the abstract deception stands emphatically for the concrete, a deceitful man, one without substance or reliableness; comp. above Pro 14:8, b. [Rueetschi (as above, p. 142) would simplify the construction by retaining as the common predicate of both clauses, and would give to the second object the meaning wrongful or unrighteous possession, citing as a parallel Jer 5:27. We cannot commend the suggestion.A.] Hitzig instead of deceit () reads he destroyeth (i.e. souls), in order to obtain as exact an antithesis as possible to the delivereth in the first clause.
Pro 14:26. In the fear of Jehovah is strong security, or, the fear of Jehovah is strong security, is a sure reliance; for the preposition may properly stand before the subject as the essenti, as in Isa 26:4; Isa 57:6 (so Hitzig).And to His children He will be a refuge.To His children, i.e. doubtless to His worshippers, those faithful to Him, who for that very reason are His favorites and objects of His care (comp. Deu 14:1). This reference of the suffix to Jehovah Himself is unquestionably more natural than to refer it to the pious, an idea which must first be very artificially extracted from the fear of Jehovah (contrary to the view of Umbreit, Ewald, Bebtheau, Eister, [H., N., M., S]). Hitzig reads to its builders, i.e., to them who seek to build up that strong fortress, that security of the fear of Jehovah (?). With Pro 14:27 comp. Pro 13:14. [Rueetschi (as above, p. 142) supports the idea rejected by Zckler, that the divine protection extends to the children and the childrens children of such as honor God. Although not without grammatical warrant for the construction, and conveying beautifully a precious scriptural truth, we must regard the rendering as here somewhat forced.A.]
4. Pro 14:28-35. Continued parallels between the wise and the foolish, the rich and the poorwith the addition of the closely related comparison of masters and servants.From want of people (cometh) the downfall of the prince. People () as in Pro 11:26. Whether in the choice of the word rendered prince there is a hidden allusion to the ordinary meaning, consumption (Hitzig, comp. Umbreit). must remain in doubt. For this use of , downfall, ruin, comp. Pro 10:14; Pro 13:3.
Pro 14:29. He that is slow to anger is great in understanding.Literally, he that is long or slow in anger, , Jam 1:19; therefore, the forbearing, the patient. Great, i.e. rich in understanding (comp. great in acts, 2Sa 23:20); comp. the Latin multus prudentia.But he that is hasty in spirit (quick-tempered) oxalteth folly, i.e. makes much of it, carries it to excess. Thus Hitzig, and doubtless correctly, while the majority take the verb in the sense of to exalt before the view of men, manifestare, declarare, for which idea however the parallel passages Pro 12:23; Pro 13:16 are by no means conclusive [H., S., M., W. all take this view].
Pro 14:30. The life of the body is a quiet spirit.Lit., life of the members (see Critical Notes) is a heart of quietness ( not meaning here health, but composuic, a tranquil condition, as in Pro 15:4; Ecc 10:4).But passion the rottenness of the bones.Comp. Pro 12:4, and for this use of , passionate zeal, violent excitement in general (not specifically envy or jealousy) Job 5:2.
Pro 14:31. With clause a compare Pro 17:5, with b, Pro 19:17 a, and above Pro 14:21.
Pro 14:32. By his wickedness is the wicked driven forth, driven forth, i.e.,. from life; he is by a violent death swept away from this earthly life (comp. Psa 36:12; Psa 62:3),But the righteous hath hope (even) in his death. Ho is confident, viz. in Jehovah; comp. Psa 17:7, where the same absolute use of the participle trusting occurs (the trustful in general, believers). As in Pro 11:7, and if possible even more distinctly than in that passage, we have expressed hero a hope in the continuance of the individual life after death, and a just retribution in the future world. Hitzig, to avoid this admission, reads in accordance with the LXX ( ) , in his uprightness, but in his innocence doth the righteous trust. But may not this divergent reading of the LXX owe its origin to the endeavor to gain an antithesis as exact as possible to the in his wickedness of the first clause? [Rueetschi (as last cited) preserves the recognition of a hope of immortality and also the poetical parallelism, by giving to the word evil, , a physical rather than an ethical meaning: in his misfortune (or adversity) the wicked is overthrown, but the righteous has confidence even in his death. For the wicked all hope is gone. This seems to us a happy reconciliation of the grammatical and spiritual demands of the two parts of the verse.A.]
Pro 14:33. In the heart of a man of understanding doth wisdom rest, i.e. quietly, silently; comp. Pro 10:14; Pro 12:16; Pro 12:23, and for this use of the verb 1Sa 25:9.But in the midst of fools it maketh itself known, i.e.,. not fools draw out the wisdom of the wise, which is naturally quiet, in opposition to them and their folly (Hitzig), but, fools carry their wisdom, which is, however, in fact, only folly, always upon their tongues, and seek most assiduously to make it known (comp. Pro 12:23; Pro 13:16; Pro 15:2). The expression is pointed and ironical, and yet not for that reason unintelligible, especially after expressions like those in Pro 14:8; Pro 14:16; Pro 14:24, etc. It is therefore unnecessary with the Chaldee version to supply the noun folly again with the verb.
Pro 14:34. Righteousness exalteth a nation. Righteousness, , is here used with a very comprehensive import, of religious and moral rectitude in every relation and direction, and is therefore not to be restricted, as it is by many recent commentators (Umbreit, Hitzig, etc.), to the idea of virtue. Just as little is the idea of exalting to be identified with the idea of honoring (as Elster, Hitzig, etc., would have it); it is rather a general elevation and advancement of the condition of the people that is to be indicated by the term; comp. above, Pro 14:29.But Bin is a reproach to the people.For the Aramaic term , shame, comp. Pro 28:22 (also Pro 25:10), and Job 6:14. And yet in this national reproach and disgrace there is to be included the corresponding injury and misery of other kinds, so that in this view there is a certain justification for the Vulgates rendering, miseros facit (which however rests upon the different reading ; comp. the LXX and the Syr. vers.), and for Luthers Verderderben, destruction.
Pro 14:35. With clause a comp. Pro 16:12.But his wrath will find out the base,lit., his wrath will the base be; comp., e.g., Pro 11:1, where his abomination means the object of his abhorrence. To supply the preposition to, , from clause a, is therefore needless (in opposition to the view of Umbreit, Bertheau).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
The representation of the entire chapter is plainly shaped by the contrast between the wise and the foolish, and it is only toward the end (Pro 14:20 sq.) that the kindred contrast between the rich and the poor, and at the very last (Pro 14:27 sq.) that between rulers and servants, is added.Ethical truths to which a significant prominence is given, are contained especially in the following proverbs:
Pro 14:1. The building of the house by the wisdom of woman. Only the characteristic wisdom of woman (not that of the man) is able to build itself a house, i.e., to make possible a household in the true sense of the word; for the woman alone has the capacity circumspectly to look through the multitude of individual household wants, and carefully to satisfy them; and also because the various activities of the members of the family can be combined in a harmonious unity only by the influence, partly regulative and partly fostering, of a feminine character, gently but steadily efficient. But where there is wanting to the mistress of the house this wisdom attainable only by her and appropriate to her, then that is irrecoverably lost which first binds in a moral fellowship those connected by relationship of bloodthat which makes the house from a mere place of abode to become the spiritual nursery of individuals organically associated. (Elster).
Pro 14:6. The impossibility of uniting a frivolous disposition and jests at religion with true wisdom and understanding. It is not by a one-sided action of the thinking power, but only by undivided consecration of the whole nature to God, which therefore involves above all other things a right relation of the spiritual nature to Him, that true knowledge in Divine things can be attained. The wise man, however, who has found the true beginning of wisdom, in bowing his inmost will before the Divine, not as something to be mastered by the understanding, but as something to be simply sought as a grace by the renunciation of the very self,he can easily on this ground which Gods own power makes productive, attain a rich development of the understanding. (Elster.)
Pro 14:10. The disturbing influence of an uninvited interference in the sorrow and the joy of ones neighbor. Every one has his own circle of sorrows and joys, which his neighbor must leave to him as a quiet sanctuary for himself. For in the liveliest sympathy of which one may ever be conscious, it will still often be altogether impossible to enter into the peculiarity of others sensibility with such a participation as is really beneficent. Therefore a Turkish proverb (in Von Hammer, Morgenl. Kleebl., p. 68) also says Eat thine own grief and trouble not thyself for anothers (Umbreit).Comp. above, our exegetical notes on this passage.
Pro 14:12. The self-deception of many men in regard to their courses, imagined to be healthful, but in reality leading to eternal ruin. Comp. Melanchthon: The admonition relates to the mistiness and weakness of mans judgment, and his many and great errors in counsel, for it is manifest that men often err in judging and in their deliberations. Now they are deceived either by their own imaginations, or by the example of others, or by habit, etc., and being deceived, they rush on all the more fascinated by the devil, as is written of Judas in Joh 13:27.
Pro 14:14. The fool ever accumulating nothing but folly, and the wise man gaining in knowledge. Like Pro 14:24 this proverb is especially instructive with respect to the deep inner connection that exists on the one hand between foolish notions, and a poor, unattractive, powerless earthly position, destitute of all influence,and on the other hand between true wisdom and large ability in the department both of the material and the spiritual. Von Gerlach pointedly says, There is a certain power of attraction, according as a man is wise or foolish; the possessions also which the one or the other attains, are in accordance with his disposition.
Pro 14:28. A sentiment directed against feeble princes who nevertheless array themselves with disproportionate splendor; and this, as also Pro 14:34, is designed to call attention to the principle, that it is not external and seeming advantages, but simply and solely the inward competence and moral excellence, whether of the head or of the members of a commonwealth, that are the conditions of its temporal welfare.
Pro 14:31. Compassion to the poor is true service of God; comp. Jam 1:27. Since God has created both rich and poor (1Sa 2:7), since He designs that they shall exist side by side and intermixed (Pro 22:2), since the poor and lowly man is in like manner a being created in His image (Jam 3:9), therefore he who deals heartlessly and violently with the poor insults that Being Himself who is the Maker and Ruler of all. The compassionate, on the contrary, discerns and honors His disposition toward His creatures, and the love which he manifests toward them, even the humblest and most unworthy, is in fact manifested toward God Himself; comp. Mat 25:40.
Pro 14:32. The confidence which the righteous man possesses even in his death. Compare the exegetical explanation of the passage.
HOMILETIC AND PRACTICAL
Homily on the entire chapter: The wisdom and folly of men considered in their respective foundations, natures and results; and 1) within the sphere of domestic life (Pro 14:1-7); 2) within that of civil life (Pro 14:8-25); 3) within that of political or national life (Pro 14:26-35).Stcker: Of human wisdom as the fruit of a right culture,and 1) of the wisdom of domestic life (prudentia conomica, Pro 14:1-25); 2) of the wisdom of public life (prudentia politica, Pro 14:26-35). Starke: The results of piety and ungodliness 1) in the household, and in social life generally (125); 2) in the relations of rulers in particular (2635).
Pro 14:1-7. Berleburg Bible:That wise women build their house, is to be understood not so much of the edifice consisting of wood, stone, plaster, as rather of the family and the household economy, which a wise woman always strives to keep in good condition and to improve. Psa 127:1.Tbingen Bible (on Pro 14:3): He who is wise keepeth his mouth and still more his heart, that he may not in connection with outward consideration and high dignities fall into pride.(On Pro 14:4): He that doth not work also shall not eat; the poverty of many springs from this, that they lack industry and diligence.Starke (on Pro 14:6): He who in seeking wisdom has for his end pride and ambition, will never attain true wisdom, unless he changes his views.(On Pro 14:7): Evil one always learns more quickly and easily than good; therefore avoid evil company.[A. Fuller (on Pro 14:6): If our inquiries be influenced by a spirit of pride and self-sufficiency, we shall stumble at every thing we meet with; but he who knows his own weakness and conducts his inquiries with humility, shall find knowledge easy of attainment.Arnot: Those who reject the Bible want the first qualification of a philosopher, a humble and teachable spirit. The problem for man is not to reject all masters, but to accept the rightful One. Submission absolute to the living God, as revealed in the Mediator, is at once the best liberty that could be, and the only liberty that is.Trapp (on Pro 14:6): He that would have heavenly knowledge must first quit his heart of corrupt affections and high conceits.]
Pro 14:8-17. Tbingen Bible (on Pro 14:8):Steady watchfulness and attention to ones self is a great wisdom.(On Pro 14:9): To make sport of sin is the height of wickedness.Starke (on Pro 14:10): He who knoweth the heart alone knoweth the needs of thy heart, which no other besides doth know. He can likewise give thee joy where no other can create it for thee.(On Pro 14:16): Reverence and love to God must be with us the strongest motive to avoid sin.(On Pro 14:17): Between the hasty trespasses of passionate natures, and the deliberate wickedness of malicious man, there is always a great distinction to be madeVon Gerlach (on Pro 14:10): How hard it is to console and soothe others, Jobs answers to the discourses of his friends are a signal illustration.-(On Pro 14:12): In connection with the deceptive, seductive show made by impiety, it is important to give more careful heed to ones way in life.(On Pro 14:17): A man who quickly falls into a passion does indeed commit a folly, but yet is far preferable to the coldly and selfishly calculating villain. One may well be indignant at the firstthe last makes himself odious.[Lord Bacon (Advancement of Learning, Book VIII.), on Pro 14:8; Pro 14:15 : He who applies himself to the true wisdom takes heed of his own ways, foreseeing dangers, preparing remedies, employing the assistance of the good, guarding himself against the wicked, cautious in entering upon a work, not unprepared for a retreat, watchful to seize opportunities, strenuous to remove impediments, and attending to many other things which concern the government of his own actions and proceedings. But the other kind of wisdom is entirely made up of deceits and cunning tricks, laying all its hope in the circumventing of others, and moulding them to its pleasure; which kind the proverb denounces as being not only dishonest, but also foolish, etc.T. Adams (on Pro 14:9): Mocking is the medium or connection that brings together the fool and sin; thus he makes himself merry; they meet in mockery. Through many degrees men climb to that height of impiety. This is an extreme progress, and almost the journeys end of wickedness.Arnot (on Pro 14:10): The solitude of a human being in either extremity of the experiences of the human heart is sublime and solemnizing. Whether you are glad or grieved, you must be alone.(On Pro 14:12): The result accords not with the false opinion, but with the absolute truth of the case. There is a way which is right, whatever it may seem to the world, and the end thereof is life. Gods way of coming to us in mercy is also our way of coming to Him in peace.(On Pro 14:15): Trust is a lovely thing; but it cannot stand unless it get truth to lean upon.John Howe, (on Pro 14:14): The good man is not the first fountain of happiness to himself, but a subordinate one a good man is, and so is satisfied from himselfa fountain fed from a higher fountainby derivation from Him who is all in all, and more intimate to us than we ourselves. But the wicked man is the prime and first fountain of all misery to himself.Flavel: The upright is satisfied from himself, that is, from his own conscience, which, though it be not the original spring, yet is the conduit at which he drinks peace, joy and encouragement.R. South (on Pro 14:18): 30th of Posthumous Sermons].
Pro 14:18-25. Zeltner (on Pro 14:19): Bear patiently the pride of the ungodly; it lasts not long.Starke (on Pro 14:20-21): The many promises that God will graciously reward kindness to the poor must make the Christian joyous and willing in labors of love.(On Pro 14:22): Virtue and piety reward those who cherish them, but vices and sins cause nothing but pain and trouble.Geier (on Pro 14:23): Prating and boastful men are like an empty vessel; if one strike it, it does indeed give forth a sound, but for all that nothing goes in.(On Pro 14:25): Be intent upon truth in thy words, gestures, acts, and in thy whole walk.
Pro 14:26-35. Starke (on Pro 14:28): It is the duty of the lords of the land to see to it that their land be well cultivated, and in particular that mercy and truth dwell in the land, righteousness and peace kiss each other (Psa 85:11).(On Pro 14:29): Impatience opposes the will of God, and is therefore the greatest folly.(On Pro 14:30): Passion and wrath shorten the life, and care makes old before ones time.(On Pro 14:31): Despise no man, be he ever so humble, for thou knowest not but in that act thou art despising a true child of God.(On Pro 14:32): There is surely a future life to be hoped for after death; otherwise how could the righteous be so comforted in their death?(On Pro 14:34): Sin is the cause of all misery under the sun.(On Pro 14:35): If the fidelity of his subjects is pleasing to a king, how much more will God take pleasure if one serves Him faithfully and with the whole heart, through the strength of Jesus Christ![Arnot (on Pro 14:25): The safety provided for Gods children is confidence in Himself, the strong tower into which the righteous run.(On Pro 14:31): The necessary dependence of human duty upon Divine faith.S. Davies (on Pro 14:32): 1) Every righteous man has a substantial reason to hope, whether he clearly see it or not; 2) Good men in common do in fact enjoy a comfortable hope; 3) The hope which the righteous hath shall be accomplished.Saurin (on Pro 14:34): As there is nothing in religion to counteract the design of a wise system of civil polity, so there is nothing in a wise system of civil government to counteract the design of the Christian religion. The exaltation of the nation is the end of civil polity. Righteousness is the end of religion, or rather is religion itself.Emmons (on Pro 14:34): It is the nature of sin 1) to lessen and diminish a people; 2) to sink and depress the spirit of a people; 3) to destroy the wealth of a people; 4) to deprive them of the blessings of freedom; 5) to provoke the displeasure of God and draw down His judgments.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands. He that walketh in his uprightness feareth the LORD: but he that is perverse in his ways despiseth him. In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride: but the lips of the wise shall preserve them. Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox. A faithful witness will not lie: but a false witness will utter lies.
I pass over these several verses, plain and instructive as they all are, to dwell on the sweet feature of Christ, as the faithful and true witness. Rev 1:5 . And, I hope that I need not remind the reader, that it is one of the gracious assurances given to us of our covenant God, that he is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man, that he should repent. Num 23:19 . And the apostle makes this a most blessed argument of comfort, in the contemplation of the word and oath of Jehovah, that God willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath; that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge, to lay hold upon the hope set before us. Heb 6:17-18 . Is it not precious, Reader, to consider how sure the divine promises are, founded in the merits of Christ’s blood and righteousness, and the covenant engagements of Jehovah? This is what Paul calls grace reigning through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom 5:21 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Sin and Its Mockers
Pro 14:9
It is one thing to mock in such a fashion as that the sinning person shall say, ‘This thing which the mirror holds up to me is base, contemptible, unprofitable, and I will henceforth abjure it’; and another thing to laugh in such a fashion as to make him imagine ‘This thing is trivial, it is of no serious import whatsoever, and I will therefore conduct myself as I like. The first kind of mockery is the austere, if somewhat cynical, expression of moral indignation; the second is the light, flippant sneer of moral indifference.
I. And this scoffing indifference, this tendency to levity in men’s views and speeches and whole mental attitude to sin, when and how is it manifested?
1. It is manifested in those who make a mock at the facts and realities of sin. This is the most obvious and direct shape which the temptation assumes, and it exhibits itself in various directions. Take, for instance, literature. Take conversation.
2. It is possible to manifest the same tendency by making a mock at the reprovers of sin.
3. Take another phase of the self-same tendency. It appears, does it not, in the case of those who mock at the fear of sin?
4. The kind of mocking that associates itself with the thought of the powers and the agencies of sin.
II. Note certain obvious reasons why those who mock at it are fools:
1. They are fools because blind to their own real interests. Safety is at stake. Self-preservation is at stake. Those who mock at sin are most apt to become the prey of sin.
2. Because blind to the teaching of all observation and experience. Consider what sin has wrought, consider what sin is working still; and apart from the tremendous revelations of Scripture, you may see enough round about to make you tremble, rather than scoff.
3. The man who mocks at sin is infatuated not only because blind to the interests of self and blind to the teachings of experience, but because blind to the lessons of the Cross of Christ.
W. A. Gray, British Weekly Pulpit, vol. II. p. 573.
Making Light of Sin
Pro 14:9
When we think of all the unhappiness sin causes, and of all the misery of which it is the parent, we might deem it to be a thing incredible that any person should make light of sin. Sin is the great power that makes for loneliness, as it is the power everywhere that makes for wreckage; and in the light of that knowledge, which is common property, to make a mock at sin might seem impossible. Still more might it seem to be impossible when we recall the teaching of our faith. If Christ has shown us what God thinks of goodness, He has also shown us what God thinks of sin. And the one fact that the Father gave the Son that He might die for sinners on the cross, might be thought to make such mockery incredible. Yet the fact remains that men do mock at sin. They treat it lightly and make a jest of it. They do not view it with that holy anger which is the constant attitude of God. Alive in a measure, as they all must be, to the handiwork of sin in human life, they are not moved by it as God is moved, nor stirred by it profoundly as was Jesus.
We see that, for instance, in the matter of confession, in the confession of our sins in prayer. No part of prayer is less real to most men than the part which voices the confession of sin.
Again we gather this prevailing lightness from the kind of way in which men talk of sin. They speak of it with a smile or with a jest, and cover it up under some pleasant name. When a man is dead in earnest in a matter you can generally infer it from his speech. When a man is dead in earnest in a matter it is then he begins to call a spade a spade. And the very fact that in men’s common speech sin is not spoken of with such directness, is a straw that shows us how the wind is blowing.
Again we may gather how lightly men think of sin from the different standards by which they judge it. Sin is a very different thing in us, from what it is in the lives of other people.
Well, then, if that be the fact, can we discover the causes of that fact? There are some reasons which suggest themselves at once, and I shall mention one or two of them.
I. In the first place, men treat sin lightly just because they are so accustomed to it. It is so common that their hearts are hardened; so universal that they are never startled.
II. Again we are tempted to make light of sin because of its intertwining with the good. In deeper senses than the Psalmist thought of, we are fearfully and wonderfully made. If all that was bad in individual character stood by itself in visible isolation, then as we looked at a man and praised the good in him, we might feel the loathsomeness of what was bad. But human character is not constructed so, with separate stations for its good and evil: it is an intricate and inextricable tangle of what is brightest with what is very dark. Then I beheld, says Bunyan in his dream, and there was a way to hell from nigh the gate of heaven. I think that that is so with every man: his heaven and hell are never far apart.
III. Once more men are tempted to make light of sin because it veils its consequences with such consummate skill. Sin is the jauntiest of all adventurers, and sets its best foot forward gallantly. The certainty of sin is always this, that its tomorrow is a little worse. And so with consummate skill it hides tomorrow, and says in the very words of Christ today, and today is so exquisitely sweet and passionate that certainties of judgment are forgotten.
IV. Again, many make light of sin because no one knows sin’s power till he resists it. It is a natural law in the spiritual world that power can be measured by resistance. Only when the life of grace begins, and a man awakes to all that life may be, does he learn the powerful swirl of that black river that flows in the dark places of his heart.
G. H. Morrison, The Return of the Angels, p. 214.
References. XIV. 9. C. Wordsworth, Outlines of Sermons on the Old Testament, p. 157. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Esther, Job, Proverbs, etc., p. 181. XIV. 10. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxv. No. 2079. W. G. Rutherford, The Key of Knowledge, p. 15. W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth, p. 266. XIV. 12. Ibid. p. 268. Henry Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons, vol. vii. p. 50.
Laughter and Sorrow
Pro 14:13
I. The difference between outward and inward life.
Even in laughter, says Solomon, the heart is sorrowful. He is thinking of the duality of life.
You will not grasp the influence of Jesus, in all its wonderful impact on mankind, unless you bear in mind this strange duality. Under all outward seeming our Lord discerned the struggle of the heart; He was never misled by laughter or by speech; He never ignored all that we cannot utter.
II. Sorrow and joy are strangely knit together. Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful. There is a mystical union between our smiles and tears.
We see this in the lives of our greatest men, for instance. It is one of the lessons we learn from great biographies. The greatest are very seldom solemn, and certainly they are almost never joyless. True joy is not the mere escape from sorrow. It may be that the capacity for gladness is but the other side of the capacity for pain.
We find this also in our own greatest moments, when the fire of life flashes up in some fierce intensity. When the heart throbs, and feeling is enkindled, and every nerve is quivering with emotion, we scarcely know if we are sorry or glad. It is a master-touch of our master dramatist that in the very heart of his tragedies you will have some fool or jester. It means far more than a mere relief from the agony; it means that the light and the shadow are akin. There have come moments to every one of us, when sorrow and joy were strangely knit together.
And do you not think that is true of Jesus Christ? It is one of the mysteries of that perfect life. He was a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; His soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Yet through it all, and in the midst of it, our adorable Lord is talking of His joy.
III. Sorrow lies nearer to the heart of life than joy. Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful: at the back of all there is the heart’s unrest.
I think that even language bears this out; and language becomes very illuminative when we study it. We never talk about a heavy joy: we only talk about a heavy grief. Happiness bubbles up or ripples over; there is some suggestion of the surface in it. But sorrow is heavy, and what that implies is this, that when God casts it into the sea of life it sinks by its own weight into the deeps.
Unless this proverb of Solomon prove itself true, the cross is not life’s true interpretation. In the centre of history stands the cross of Calvary, and the cross is the epitome of woe. And if life’s deepest secret be gladness and not sorrow, if laughter runs deeper into the heart than tears, then the cross, that professes to touch the deepest depths, can be nothing but a tragical mistake. I do not think that we have found it so. I do not think that the cross has ever failed us. The deepest music that our heart ever uttered has blended and chimed with the sad strain of Calvary.
G. H. Morrison, Sun-Rise, p. 43.
References. XIV. 13. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Esther, Job, Proverbs, etc., p. 187.
Self-containedness
Pro 14:14
‘A good man shall be satisfied from himself.’ Then there can be a noble kind of self-satisfaction. There is a self-satisfaction which is repellent, an offensive form of conceit. This species of self-satisfaction must be altogether removed from our minds when we seek the interpretation of our text.
I. It is a very natural expectation that kindness should meet with the return of gratitude. We say there is some satisfaction in doing kindnesses if they are received by grateful hearts. But oftentimes the gratitude is withheld, and we are profoundly dissatisfied. Let us take the counsel of the text, and when gratitude is lacking, let us retire into our own hearts, and find satisfaction in the kindness itself. An act is more and finer than its consequences. God ‘is kind to the unthankful’.
II. It seems to be a most fitting thing that duty should culminate in comfort. But we are confronted with the fact that comfort is not always the crown of duty. There are many people who are scrupulous and conscientious, but their sky is overcast. Their way abounds in thorns. What is the meaning of it all? Is it not intended to throw us back upon the true wealth, to urge us to seek our satisfaction not in the comfort that duty may bring, but in the duty itself? That is a very elevated word of the Psalmist ‘I delight to do Thy will’.
III. The great principle has other applications. Let this one suffice. If there be any who are workers for the Lord, and who are cast down and disquieted because of apparently fruitless toil, get back into the consciousness of honest work honestly done, and you shall find the brightness there. ‘Light is sown for the righteous.’ ‘A good man shall be satisfied from himself.’
J. H. Jowett, Meditations for Quiet Moments, p. 26.
References. XIV. 14. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Esther, Job, Proverbs, etc., p. 191. W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth, p. 272. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxi. No. 1235. XIV. 15. W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth, p. 275. XIV. 21. A. Rowland, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxvii. 1890, p. 300. XIV. 25. W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth, p. 278. XIV. 26. Ibid. p. 282. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxii. No. 1290. XIV. 30. A. W. Hutton, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxxiv. 1908, p. 348. W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth, p. 286. XIV. 31. Ibid. p. 289. XIV. 32. Ibid. p. 294. XIV. 34. J. Ossian Davies, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xliv. 1893, p. 280. J. G. Greenhough, ibid. vol. lxiv. 1894, 314. J. Milne, ibid. vol. lxvi. 1904, p. 135. XV. 1. H. Montagu Butler, Harrow School Sermons (2nd Series), p. 163. W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth, p. 299. XV. 3, 11. Ibid. p. 304. XV. 4. Ibid. p. 313. XV. 11. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iv. No. 177. XV. 13. W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth, p. 318. XV. 14, 21. Ibid. p. 323. XV. 16, 17, 27. Ibid. p. 332. XV. 17. B. D. Johns, Pulpit Notes, p. 123. XV. 19. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxiii. No. 1948. XV. 23. H. Montagu Butler, Harrow School Sermons, p. 217. XV. 31. Hugh Black, University Sermons, p. 199. XV. 33. W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth, p. 328. XVI. 2. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xv. No. 849. W. C. Magee, Sermons at St. Saviour’s, Bath, p. 184. A. W. Potts, School Sermons, p. 109. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Esther, Job, Proverbs, etc., p. 195. XVI. 2, 3. W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth, p. 338. XVI. 6. Ibid. p. 344. F. D. Maurice, Lincoln’s Inn Sermons, p. 185. XVI. 7. R. F. Horton, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xl. 1891, p. 1423. XVI. 9. W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth, p. 348. XVI. 16. Ibid. p. 357. XVI. 17. Ibid. p. 360. J. Fraser, Parochial and Other Sermons, p. 208. XVI. 20. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vii. No. 392. XVI. 22. W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth, p. 364. XVI. 22, 33. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Esther, Job, Proverbs, etc., p. 204. XVI. 32. E. W. Attwood, Sermons for Clergy and Laity, p. 456. J. S. Swan, Short Sermons, p. 61. C. Silvester Home, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlv. 1894, p. 36; see also ibid. vol. lxx. 1906, p. 25. XVI. 33. T. Templeton, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxiv. 1903, p. 138. Ambrose Shepherd, ibid. vol. lxix. 1906, p. 249. XVII. 12. W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth, p. 368. XVII. 15. Henry Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons, vol. vii. p. 67. XVII. 17. W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth, p. 376. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xv. No. 899. H. H. Snell, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxvii. 1890, p. 344. J. M. Neale, Sermons Preached in Sackville College Chapel, vol. iv. p. 179. A. E. Hutchinson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. liii. 1898, p. 358. R. Winterbotham, Sermons Preached in Holy Trinity Chapel, Edinburgh, p. 25. XVII. 20. A. Jessopp, Norwich School Sermons, p. 210.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
Women: Wise and Foolish, Etc.
Pro 14:1-12
It would appear, then, that there are foolish women. The Bible pays no attention to mere civility or courtesy; it stands upon truth, and speaks with frankness and even bluntness concerning evil persons, whether men or women, whether kings or subjects. The Book of Proverbs does not spare the king, though supposed to have been written largely by a royal writer. This is a characteristic of the Bible which begets confidence in its integrity and in the pureness of its purpose. The foolish woman does not know that she is plucking down her house; she thinks, on the contrary, she is building it up; by unwise energy, by self-assertion, by thoughtless speeches, by words flung like firebrands, she is doing unutterable mischief, not only to herself, but to her husband and her family. There are, on the other hand, wise women who are quietly and solidly building the house night and day: they make no demonstration; the last characteristic that could be supposed to attach to them would be that of ostentation; they measure the whole day, they number its hours, they apportion its work; every effort they make is an effort which has been reasoned out before it was begun; every word is looked at before it is uttered, every company is estimated before it is entrusted with confidence; in this way the wise woman consolidates her house. How many ministers have been ruined by foolish wives who have not known how to speak to the people of the congregation; wives who have been foolishly haughty, foolishly reserved, or foolishly talkative; women who have retired when they ought to have gone forward, and gone forward when they should have retired; women utterly without sense. On the other hand, how many ministers have been made by their wives; wives who knew how to speak the healing word, how to apply kind words to every necessity that has arisen in church life; women who have kept their houses well, and have looked well to the ways of their children, and who without ever being eloquent have never ceased to be persuasive. Whether any foolish woman can ever be made wise is a question to which it would be rash to return a reply. The thing that is lacking cannot be numbered. The only thing that appears to be immediately possible is for the foolish woman to be taught to hold her tongue: even if she could do that, she might be supposed to be a considerable distance on the way to wisdom. But who can stop the loose mouth? who can tell the clamorous heart to be still when its very heaven is in foaming speech, in gossip, in the exchange of opinions, and in the multiplication of criticism? It would seem as if it lay with man himself to determine whether the house should be built or thrown down. Yet such is only an appearance, it is not the deepest reality of the case: “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it,” for the walls are thrown down in the nighttime, and the roof is carried away by the wind. Whilst, however, we acknowledge this to be the fundamental and the ultimate truth, there is a great middle space within which human energy is called upon to work and human patience to endure. If a man has become unhappily attached to a foolish woman, he should remember how much of the responsibility is with himself. In proportion as his wife is foolish, he ought to redouble his own wisdom. If any man has been guided by the living God to the election of a wise partner in life, let him remember that a good wife is from the Lord, and let him not throw upon the woman a burden greater than she can bear; she is wise, true, prudent, full of the spirit of economy, a very genius of understanding; but for that very reason she ought to be spared from undue pressure as to engagements and duties and responsibilities. The husband should be the head of the wife in the sense of sustaining the load of life, and giving her what he can of ease, joy, and peace.
“A scorner seeketh wisdom, and findeth it not: but knowledge is easy unto him that understandeth. Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge” ( Pro 14:6-7 ).
Everything depends upon the spirit with which we work. This is true in intellectual toil, and it is true in religious pursuits. “Ask, and it shall be given you,” means that the asking should be executed in the right spirit and with the right intent; it must not be a mere use of words, an eloquence of empty wind, but the expression of a deep and earnest desire. “A scorner seeketh wisdom” that is to say, he seeks it vainly, that he may acquire a name in society, that he may seem to be wise upon formal occasions, that he may not be looked down upon by those who are his superiors in understanding and acquisition; but in so far as he is animated by the wrong spirit all his seeking ends in emptiness; he comes back from the harvest-field without a single sheaf. Wisdom will not speak to the scornful spirit; wisdom is solemn, just, divine; wisdom cometh down from above, and hath about her all the air and light and blessedness of heaven; to the scorner, the contemptuous man, the frivolous person, the sneerer who turns all life into bitterness, she has no communication to make; on the other hand, how easy is knowledge to him that understandeth! he seems to have the right of entry into the sanctuary of understanding; he is known there, he is welcomed there, he brings with him the spirit of reverence and of hopefulness; he comes as a worshipper rather than as a man who is in quest of merely selfish enjoyment. The foolish man is to be left to himself; if we tarry in his presence we confer a false reputation upon him, for men seeing us in his society may suppose that he is a wise man, and therefore to be honoured. Find a man who is talking frivolity, who is misunderstanding the universe of which he is a citizen, who ignores all that is solemn and profound in life, then let that man be taught by the dreariness and coldness of solitude that he has offended the spirit of society. In such a way only can the foolish man be brought to consideration; so long as he is the centre of a circle, or in the companionship of another man, he loses himself in a kind of dissipation; but when every man avoids him because of his folly, he may begin to ask why it is that he is thus left alone.
“Fools make a mock at sin” ( Pro 14:9 ).
They do not understand it; they regard it as a mere accident, as a root of pleasure, as a blossom that comes and goes within one sunny day; they do not estimate the awfulness of sin aright, as an offence against God, against the universe, against all things holy, pure, and beautiful. Sin is not a merely metaphysical action, something that occurs far back in the mind, and that relates to something inexpressibly high; sin is concrete: sin is visible in its results; sin brings with it darkness, shame, fear; sin sunders man from man by making every man suspect his neighbour; sin is not a cloud in the heavens only, it is a great shadow which rests upon the whole earth. Find a man who mocks sin, and you find a fool. How easy it is to mock the intoxicated man! how easy to turn to frivolous uses the adventures of the gambler and the schemer! how easy to laugh at that which has a humorous aspect, although its root be one of blackness and horrible shame! We are called upon not to look at the mere accidents of the sin, but at the sin itself. Notice that in this text we are not looking at particular sins, as lying, drunkenness, dishonesty, and the like, but we are looking at a generic term “sin.” We are not to suppose that one sin is greater than another, that one commandment is greater than another; we are to feel that every sin is an abomination to God, and every commandment is golden in the estimation of the Spirit of the sanctuary. There are no little sins; there are no little virtues; there are no minor pieties: the character of the universe is one; it is equally holy at every point; he who breaks one law injures the whole circle of duty, and proves himself to be capable of breaking out of that circle at any point that may suit him at the moment. Sins are not to be estimated by number, as if we should say one sin amounts to little, and two sins are hardly to be accounted of; we are to look at each sin as involving all other sin, as carrying with it the whole burden and frown of God’s judgment and anger. This may appear to be exaggerating some sins, and so it may be so far as they are accidentally concerned, but there can be no accidental relations of sin towards the living God, all relations are vital and abiding.
“The heart knoweth his own bitterness; and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy” ( Pro 14:10 ).
Man can shield himself from the closest scrutiny of the most friendly or the most hostile eyes. The heart can conduct all its wondrous ministry of life, and thought, and purpose, without any one ever dreaming of all the tragedy that is exciting and exhausting its solitudes. Sometimes a smile is made to cover the bitterest distress. Observers can see the smile only, and judging by that they conclude that the heart is in a state of contentment, whereas at the very moment it is undergoing the very agony of perdition. What is true of distress is true also of joy. It is not always convenient to reveal the joy that is in the heart, because it may be misunderstood, or attempts may be made to pervert it, or to make it the medium of communications of a destructive or injurious nature: it is desirable, therefore, that the heart should eat many a feast in secret, and delight itself without being overlooked by strangers and foes, and sometimes even by friends. A most noticeable thing is this, that life has its quiet sanctuaries, its innermost recesses, where no human eye can penetrate, and where it can be really its very self, without danger of misconstruction by ill-informed or malignant criticism. It is in secret that we eat the sweetest bread: it is within the sanctuary of our uninvaded imagination that we create new heavens and a new earth, and project ourselves into the sunny future, on which there rests no burden, no cloud, no shadow of fear. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” We are not to conceive that the exclusion of human criticism means also the exclusion of divine judgment. “All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” We must remember that it is he, even the living One, who has enabled us to enjoy all the delights of shelter and security from intrusive observation. He has made us, and not we ourselves, and in his wondrous creation of our system he has made provision for solitude, even in the midst of a crowd, and for concealment even from the eyes that look upon us with the most loving anxiety. All this should be regarded as fraught with moral significance. Life is more than the word that is upon the lip. Worship is more than the language in which it seeks to express itself. Music has always something more to say than can be uttered through the few notes that are at its disposal. Man looketh on the outward appearance, continually comes to false and rash conclusions regarding his brother man; but because the Lord looketh on the heart, and knows the innermost thought of every soul, we may rejoice in the assurance that his judgment will be complete and gracious. With the heart’s riches no man may intermeddle. From the treasure-house of that heart no thief can steal. Let us be rich, therefore, in heart-wealth, laying up within us all the wisdom of God that is accessible to us through the medium of his revelation, and feeding ourselves with the bread of life; then, though heart and flesh do fail in a physical sense, and all outward things be marked by traces of sorrow, there shall be in our deepest being a peace like the calm of God, a hope brighter than the sun at noonday. Bitterness and joy seem to be the two words which sum up human experience. Every heart has its moments of bitterness; even youth has its hot tears, its stings, its disappointments, its failures in all manner of hopeful attempt: manhood has its fuller sorrow, its deeper melancholy, its sadder depression, because the life sees more, and is capable of bearing more than in days of infancy and in youth: it would seem as if old age alone could lay claim to the realest and ripest joy; there is so much behind it, and there is yet so much in front of it, that it can strike an average, and form a true valuation of life, and look forward with buoyant expectancy to the revelation of mornings and summers, undreamt-of even by the imagination of poetry.
“The house of the wicked shall be overthrown: but the tabernacle of the upright shall flourish” ( Pro 14:11 ).
Here, again, the reason alike of overthrow and of prosperity is profoundly moral. We are not to fix attention upon the word “house” or the word “tabernacle,” but upon the word “wicked and the word “upright,” for in these moral terms the whole meaning of the passage is conveyed. The wicked man builds his house out of plumb, or he builds it upon the sands, or he erects it in utter ignorance of the laws of nature, and the consequence is overthrow beyond the hope of reconstruction. The tabernacle of the upright would seem by its very name to be a sacred place, for “tabernacle” is associated with the presence of God, is sanctified by the ark of the covenant, and is looked upon with favour from above. Wherever the upright man dwells he creates a tabernacle. No matter how poor the roof which covers his head, there is an inner roof, rich with stars, surcharged with the very benediction of God’s own heart and love. What is our dwelling-place? Is it a commodious house built by the hand only? or is it a tabernacle created according to a divine specification? Every man builds his own house, and the wind and rain and flood will test every man’s building, whether it is founded upon the sand or upon the immovable rock: “I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.” “The ungodly are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.” Where the house has been built for God, God himself never forsakes it. He breaks the bread of poverty, and turns it into a feast; he transmutes the tears of sorrow into jewels of joy; by day he is an all-illuminating light, and by night he is a fire alike of defence and of comfort. The happiest place on all the earth should be the good man’s house, for it is sanctified with prayer, it is resonant with praise, it stands on the very highway which leads to eternal blessedness: it is a halting-place on the road to heaven, and the angels come out to meet us upon it, and conduct us day by day, and mile by mile, to the city of light, the temple of peace.
“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” ( Pro 14:12 ).
Beware, then, not to look exclusively at appearances, at beginnings, or at attempts. In order to form a correct judgment we ought to have the complete case before us. If the road be fifty miles long, it may be apparently right for forty-nine of them, and because it is right for so large a proportion of the distance, we may hastily conclude it must be right even to the very end. Against this delusion we are cautioned in the text. It is the last mile that dips down into bottomless abysses. It is when we think we are just at home that we begin to fall away into darkness, uncertainty, and despair. Ships have been lost within sight of land. Men have fallen back in their old age, the very time when they seemed to be ripening for heaven, and have lost all the accumulation of virtue and honour stored up through a long lifetime. We have to deal continually with deceptive appearances: the summer morning would seem to end in winter night: the first draught which we are tempted to take means exhilaration, the next means excitement, the next means violence, and the last means extermination. It is never to be supposed that because the first draught is harmless, therefore the last will be harmless too. The harm is in the very draught itself, how pleasant soever it may be to the palate at the time of drinking. The text holds good in commerce, in theological thought, in moral conduct, in social relationships; indeed, it holds good along the whole circle of human relation and experience. What is the lesson which such a state of affairs conveys to the wise and understanding heart? It is that life should be spent in a temper of caution; when we seem most secure we may be most exposed to danger; not only is our enemy a roaring lion, whose voice can be heard from afar, he is also a cunning and silent serpent, drawing himself towards us without making any demonstration, and not revealing himself until he is within striking distance. How awful is the expression “the ways of death”! No man returns from those ways to tell how crooked they are, how full of all manner of horror and distress, and how swiftly they dip into pits that are bottomless, abysses that are without measure, darkness that is uttermost and appalling. We begin to die when we begin to do wrong. Awful is the thought that it may be impossible to return along the way which we have trodden so mirthfully: we suppose that we can at any moment retrace our steps, and find our way back into an earlier experience, when we knew naught of the bitterness of sin and the sting of divine judgment. Every step we take in a wrong direction disqualifies us from advancing in an upward movement. We lose strength in this downward travel. Even when we would return we cannot recollect the prayers with which we once communed with heaven; we cannot speak the language of the upper world; we are afraid indeed to look upward lest some avenging angel should strike our vision with darts of fire.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
XXII
MISCELLANEOUS PROVERBS
Pro 10:1-22:16
Solomon is the author of Pro 10:1-22:16 , and the character of this section is noticeable in the change from the direct and continuous appeal of the opening chapters of the book to the short and, for the most part, disconnected maxims, each of them contained, as a rule, in a couplet, or district, formed strictly on the model of Hebrew parallelism.
The one exception to the rule of the couplet is found in Pro 19:7 were there is a tristich, or stanza of three lines) which is explained by assuming that the last clause of this verse properly belongs to another proverb, of which one member has fallen out of our present text. This conclusion is in some measure confirmed by the appearance in the Septuagint of two complete distichs, though it does not help toward the restoration of the original Hebrew text.
Maurer calls this section, “Golden saying not unworthy of Solomon, fitted to form and fashion the whole life.” There are 376 proverbs in this collection and the parallelism is generally antithetic. A profitable study it would be to take this great section and classify each proverb in it as to the Hebrew parallelism found in it, and then paraphrase it so as to show its application to modern life, but such a plan would require more space than can be given to this discussion. An example of such paraphrase is found in W. J. Bryan’s paraphrase of Pro 22:3 , thus: A wise man sees the danger and gets out of the way, But the fool rushes on and gets it in the neck.
I give here several proverbs selected from those made by members of the author’s class in the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, as illustrations of the various kinds of parallelism found in the book of proverbs. Many of them are antithetic, like most of the proverbs found in the great section discussed so briefly in this chapter. The kind of parallelism found in each proverb is indicated by the word following it.
A wise man is as springtime to his neighbor, But the foolish are as the death of winter. Antithetic
A son that honors his father shall be honored in old age, But he that dishonors his parents shall suffer at the last. Antithetic
A wise man chooses his path, But they who Jack wisdom stumble on through life. Antithetic
In the house of the wicked strife prevails, But in the chambers of the righteous peace dwells. Antithetic
Christ is the foundation of religion, And religion is the foundation of the world. Synthetic
Heaven is a place of happiness But hell is a place of torment. Antithetic
What you were will not avail, It’s what you are that counts. Synthetic
Every proverb has encased a jewel, And wisdom is the key to unlock it. Climactic
Teachers impart knowledge, But pupils straightway forget it. Antithetic
Any fool can find fault, But the wise in heart will bridle the tongue. Antithetic
If people would be loved, They must first love others. Progressive
Love getteth to itself friends; While hatred maketh enemies. Antithetic
Duty calls ever and anon, Happy the man who heeds her call. Climactic
If you pay as you go, Your going will be good. Progressive
The bold eat the sweet morsel of victory, But the fearful are put to shame. Antithetic
The rebuke of a friend Is better than the compliment of an enemy. Progressive
As the rudder is to the ship, So is character to the life. Parabolic
A little schooling is a fooling with the looks, But true learning is a discerning of the books. Antithetic
The wicked rejoiceth in health, But calleth on the Lord in distress. Antithetic
The man who has an axe to grind Meets you with a smiling face. Progressive
Tis only noble thoughts Can make a noble man. Progressive
The wheels of time move slowly But they move surely. Climactic
The wicked purpose evil and are brought low, But the righteous purpose good and are exalted. Antithetic
The man who seeks to know the right shall find light. But he who seeks the lusts of the flesh shall find darkness. Antithetic
The going of the wicked is exceedingly crooked, But the path of the righteous is in the straight and narrow way. Antithetic
As a roaring lion in chains by the way, So is the adversary to the heavenly pilgrim. Parabolic
They who take part in others’ troubles Are apt to get into trouble, too. Progressive
QUESTIONS
1. Who is the author of Pro 10:1-22:16 and what is the character of this section?
2. What is exception to the rule that these Proverbs are expressed in couplets and how may this exception be explained?
3. What says Maurer of this section?
4. How many proverbs are in this section and what kind of parallelism is most common?
5. What is the suggestion by the author for a profitable study of this section?
6. Select ten of the most striking proverbs in this section and paraphrase them so as to show the application of them.
7. Now try your hand at making proverbs of every kind of Hebrew parallelism and indicate the kind of parallelism in each.
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Pro 14:1 Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.
Ver. 1. Every wise woman buildeth her own house. ] Quaevis pia perita. Every holy and handy woman buildeth her house; not only by bearing and breeding up children, as Rachel and Leah builded the house of Israel, Rth 4:11 but by a prudent and provident preventing of losses and dangers, as Abigail; as also by a careful planning, and putting everything to the best: like as a carpenter that is to build a house, lays the plan and platform of it first in his brain, forecasts in his mind how everything shall be, and then so orders his stuff, that nothing be cut to waste. Lo, such is the guise of the good housewife. As the husband is as the head from whom all the sinews do flow, so she is as the hands into which they flow, and enable them to do their office.
But the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.
a Sicut ut ligno vermis, ita perdit virum suum mulier malefica. – Hier.
b Young’s Benefit of Affliction.
c Andreas Tiraquellius.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Proverbs Chapter 14
Here it is mainly a contrast between wisdom and folly in varied points of view, with no little instruction for such as fear the Lord and desire abiding fruit.
“The wisdom of woman buildeth the house; but folly plucketh it down with her hands.
“He that walketh in his uprightness feareth Jehovah; but the perverted in his ways despiseth him.
“In the fool’s mouth [is] a rod of pride; but the lips of the wise shall preserve them.
“Where no oxen [are], the crib [is] clean; but much increase [is] by the strength of the ox.
“A faithful witness will not lie; but a false witness breatheth out lies.
“A scorner seeketh wisdom; and [there is] none for him; but knowledge [is] easy to the intelligent.
“Go away from a foolish man, in whom thou perceivest not the lips of knowledge.
“The wisdom of the prudent [is] to understand his way; but the folly of fools [is] deceit.
“Fools make a mock at trespass; but among the upright [is] favour.” Chap. 14: 1-9.
If man has his place in authority and external activity, not less real is that of the woman, and especially in the “home” of which she is the chief bond. Yet there is even there the need of a better foundation than man can lay, else it will surely fail, and it cannot be the house that the wisdom of woman builds. Keeping at home is good; working at home, as in the critical reading of Tit 2:5 , is still better. And how true that folly plucks down the house with her hands!
Though wisdom be not expressly named in verse 2, yet does it underlie all walking in uprightness. As the fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge, so he that walks in his uprightness, which is its fruit, does fear Him, out of whose mouth is knowledge and understanding, as He lays up sound wisdom for the upright. On the other hand, where there is perversity in ways, will be found despising of Him. To lean to our own intelligence is the very reverse of knowing Him in all our ways, who alone can and will make our paths plain.
Then we have to remember how large a part the mouth has in the display of folly as well as of wisdom. “In the fool’s mouth is a rod of pride.” Haughty as it may be in its self-indulgence, what retribution for the fool’s back! The lips of the wise, as they help others, shall preserve themselves from strife, dangers, and difficulties.
No credit is due to the cleanness which attends idleness and shirking labour. “Where no oxen are the crib is clean”; but what of that? It is mercy, as well as a judgment, that a man is to eat bread in the sweat of his face. Not only is labour, but sorrow, and suffering, better than sin. Pride, fullness of bread, and careless ease lead to ruin and judgment, as industry, using means, such as the strength of the ox, brings in much increase; so God ordains for man that wisely hears and obeys.
Next, how often a person seeks to be thought wise by his independent spirit and detraction, which constantly expose himself to exaggeration and falsehood! It is folly and mischief all the while. Our own business is to do God’s will; and “a faithful witness will not lie” to exalt self or to disparage others. But a false one breathes out lies – a remarkable and frequent phrase in Scripture. To breathe out lies is more effective and ensnaring than vehement denunciation, which would arrest attention and insure speedy refutation. But breathing them out spreads the malice effectively and widely too, through imposed-on confidants, while the maligned are kept ignorant of the mischief. It is a picture of utter corruption.
A scorner is more boldly evil and presumptuous; he “seeketh wisdom,” but in his own way (which is as far as possible from the Lord), and hence, as is here said, there is none for him. “For Jehovah giveth wisdom” (Pro 2:6 ); and blessed is he that finds it (Pro 3:13 ). Even God Himself is no exception. “Jehovah by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding He established the heavens. By his knowledge the deeps were broken up, and the skies drop down the dew.” He indeed scorns the scorners and gives grace to the lowly; the wise shall inherit glory, but shame shall be the promotion of fools. Had not Verulam this sounding to his heart, when he wrote, “He that comes to seek after knowledge, with a mind to scorn and censure, shall be sure to find matter enough for his humour, but none for his instruction.” How true on the other hand, “that knowledge is easy to the intelligent”!
What is one to do when in presence of a foolish man “in whom thou perceivest not the lips of knowledge”? Get away. He can do you no good and may do you no little harm. He will receive no reproof, and you risk provocation and loss of temper.
“The wisdom of the prudent” is not in lofty claims or unproved theories, but “to discern his way”; the pretended wisdom but real “folly of fools is deceit.” For as there is no power, it lies in ever changing devices and tricks to evade.
The end, if not beginning, of such a path is that “fools make a mock of trespass,” the road to destruction; whereas “among the upright is favour.” It is the upright only who have true pity as well as horror of transgression. Grace alone made them upright, after being far from God; and they turn to Him, not only for the favour they need and have found, but to seek it for others too insensible to judge themselves.
At verse 10 we begin with moral truth as to the heart, and thence come to manifested words and ways.
“The heart knoweth its own bitterness, and a stranger intermeddleth not with its joy.
“The house of the wicked shall be overthrown, but the tent of the upright shall flourish.
“There is a way that seemeth right to a man, but the end thereof [is] the ways of death.” vv. 10-12.
It is an evil age, the world far from God and knowing Him not; and man, its chief, chief in guilt and pride, yet liable to wrongs and vexations without end. How exposed then is the heart, whatever the position, to bitterness, unknown to others! So too it refuses a share in its joys to a stranger. Yet if grief before God isolates to God, “every family apart and the wives apart,” joy overflows willingly to congenial souls, as the man and the woman in the parables of Luk 15 call friends and neighbours to rejoice on regaining what was lost.
In verse 11 it is not “the heart” but “the house” which may rise aloft from deep foundations. But the wicked dwell there, and no security can be for them or theirs in the moral government of God. It shall be overthrown, though the fear of God would not hasten the moment. On the other hand, how exposed to wind and rain is “the tent of the upright”! Yet the unseen hand protects, and it shall flourish.
Next we come to man’s “ways,” and the danger of trusting his own estimate of it. If it seems right to him, men say, Why blame him? He is sincere; and none is entitled to judge him wrong. Is there then no divine standard by which we may try our thoughts, no means of forming a sound and sure judgment? Why did God then reveal His Word, and early enough in an experimental shape? And why did His Son as man tabernacle long enough among men to reveal his nature and relationship in living perfection to such as have eyes to see and ears to hear? No; man is accountable for his thoughts and his feelings no less than his words and his ways; “and the end thereof is the ways of death.” Man departed far from God and disliked Him, as Christ fully proved. Though He never was far from each one of us, God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, for which the world gave Christ the cross. Man is accountable, whatever he thinks.
It is truly a dreary world of grief, where man seeks pleasure and mirth in lieu of a happiness which cannot be where the conscience is not purged after a divine sort, and the heart has not Christ before it – God’s object, as ours too.
“Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of mirth [is] sadness.
“The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways, and the good man from himself.
“The simple believeth every word, but the prudent heedeth his going.
“The wise one feareth and departeth from evil; but the foolish is overbearing and confident.
“One soon angry dealeth foolishly, and a man of mischievous devices is hated.
“The simple inherit folly; but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.
“The evil bow before the good, and the wicked at the gates of the righteous.
“The poor is hated even of his own neighbour; but the rich have many lovers.
“He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth; but he that is gracious to the afflicted [or, meek] happy [is] he.
“Do they not err that devise evil? But mercy and truth [are] for those that devise good.
“In all labour there is profit; but the talk of the lips [is] only to want.
“The crown of the wise [is] their riches; the folly of the fools [is] folly.
“A true witness delivereth souls; but deceit uttereth lies.
“In the fear of Jehovah [is] strong confidence; and his children shall have a place of refuge.
“The fear of Jehovah [is] a fountain of life, to turn away from the snares of death.” vv. 13-27.
“Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of mirth [is] sadness.” So it is till man receives Christ. All otherwise is hollow, and the passing levity leaves its sting. “Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart and in the sight of thine eyes, but know thou that for all these God will bring thee into judgment.”
Still darker is “the backslider in heart.” Terrible is the promise to him: he “shall be filled with his own ways”; and all the more terrible because he had outwardly known the lines in pleasant places, and the way of peace. On the other hand, “the good man” by grace shall have his boast in what belongs to himself alone, and not what belongs to another. He shall be filled from himself. God has freely given him all he values most the unseen and eternal in the promised One.
In such a world as this, few greater follies can be than credulity. Believing God is the effectual safeguard. “The simple believeth every word; but the prudent heedeth his going.” We are exhorted to “prove all things,” but to hold fast the good (the comely).
Next, it is for us to use “fear and depart from evil,” as a wise man does; to be “overbearing and confident” is arrant folly. “honour all,” says not the least of the apostles; as a greater still loved to style himself, and in truth was, “a ‘bondman’ of Jesus Christ.”
And what folly to be soon angry? Even a wise man “deals foolishly” who is easily provoked; but “a man of mischievous devices” makes himself odious when found out as he is.
“The simple” again “inherit folly.” This is what descends to man naturally. “The prudent” are lowly enough to receive and learn from the Highest; and theirs it is to be “crowned with knowledge.” “He giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to those that know understanding.”
Here we have not the simple or the foolish, but the evil and the wicked (v. 19); and their failure even before a King shall reign in righteousness, and princes rule in judgment. God is never without a testimony in the evil day, if it be only here and there, now and then. Yet things are as yet far from what they ought, and are, to be.
What men sow they reap, and soon sometimes. Nor are the evil without conscience, so that they bow to the good, as the wicked court the favour and the help of a righteous man.
Poverty is dreaded more than sin; and hence the poor is hated even by his own neighbour, while the rich man has many who make up to him. Such is the covetousness of the heart, and the hollowness of the world.
To despise one’s neighbour, what a sin in His sight who despises not any? Let us lay to heart what Christ was to needy men, women, and children. What an example to us! Who ever showed such kindness to the afflicted? May we have the happiness found in grace like His!
Yet proud heartlessness may go to greater evil in despising evil, but not escape His eyes who sees cunning mischief and every secret of the heart. How profound and fatal the error! For judgment slumbers not, any more than His mercy and truth fail for those that devise good unobtrusively.
For man as he is, labour is as useful as idleness is worthless. Hence we are told here that in all labour is profit, while the talk of the lips tends to want.
The crown, not of the foolish, but of the wise, is their riches, for these turn their wealth to the account of unselfish goodness and the relief of human misery, and the furtherance of God’s will and glory. They would be rich toward God. The folly of fools on the contrary is folly. God is in none of their thoughts, and all they express or do is folly all the more seen, if they have riches to attract a crowd of witnesses.
We pass through a world of evil and error. Hence the value of a true witness in delivering souls open otherwise to be mistaken and misrepresented by the false. But not many are willing to speak out at all cost. One there was who never failed, the Faithful and True Witness, and He the great Deliverer of souls. May we cleave to Him, and represent Him in this! But deceit, what can it utter but lies? It were sad to think that there could be no repentance for a deceiver; but it must be hard for a deceiver to gain credit for his self-judgment. Nevertheless, if real, God would not fail to vindicate what His grace effects.
So we read next, that in the fear of Jehovah is strong confidence. For this fear takes away all other fear, and becomes a tower of strength; and it avails for others who tremble at His word, especially His children. What place of refuge so sure and near?
But the fear of Jehovah is much more than a protection from enemies. It is a fountain of life – not a well that may fail when most needed, but a perennial spring of enjoyment to strengthen the heart, ever so timid and dejected without it, to turn away from the snares of death with which Satan overspreads the world, and which are dangerously nigh to every heart of man.
Next follow maxims, public and private, of great weight (vv. 28- 35).
“In the multitude of people [is] the King’s glory; but in the lack of people [is] the ruler’s downfall.
“One slow to anger [is] of great understanding; but the hasty of spirit holdeth up folly.
“A sound (or, tranquil) heart [is] the life of the flesh, but envy the rottenness of the bones.
“He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker; but he that honoureth him is merciful to the needy.
“The wicked is thrust down by his evil doings; but in his death the righteous trusteth.
“Wisdom resteth in the heart of the intelligent; but [what is] in the inwards of foals is made known.
“Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin [is] a reproach to peoples.
“The King’s favour [is] toward a wise servant, but his wrath to him that causeth shame.”
To have a numerous population is the king’s glory; but David made it his pride, and persisted in a tainted public measure, notwithstanding the earnest protest of his chief servant, a mere worldling, to his own sin, shame, and chastening in the very point of his glorying. Yes, David who owed everything to God’s favour, not to an arm of flesh! But a dwindling people prepares for a ruler’s destruction.
Again, it is a sure sign of a great understanding morally to cultivate slowness of anger, though never to be angry before the Lord evinces total want of right feeling in the presence of evil. How slow was He Himself, yet could and did He kindle to God’s glory. The hasty of spirit only exposes his own folly.
Then again, a sound or placid heart is a general healing power, just as envy rots even the bones – a corroding evil, without doubt.
And what is it to oppress the poor, but to reproach Him that made him and his lot? Whereas he honours the faithful Creator, that shows compassion to the needy.
It is his own evil that expels or thrusts down the wicked, while even in his death the righteous retains his confidence. Even if a feeble believer be before us, there is no moment in his life so happy as his departure to be with Christ. Gloom, on the other hand, is unbelief.
The intelligence here commended began with the fear of Jehovah, and grew by hearing and gaining wise counsels which fools despise. Wisdom accordingly rests not on the tongue merely, but in the heart which prizes it.
In the foolish, even when deeply wounded, is nothing to make known but lack of sense. Jehovah, God, is nowhere within such a spirit.
On the other hand, it is not only a man but a nation which righteousness exalts; and righteousness is a just sense of relationship to God and man, the very reverse of absorption in our own interest which ere long ruins those blindly devoted to it. Sin is a real reproach to peoples as well as to men.
It is also no small contribution to national well-being that the king should not forget, but heed and honour, a wise servant, no less than frown on him that causes shame.
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
wise. Hebrew. chokmoth (see note on Pro 1:2), wisdoms, plural (with verb in singular) for emphasis. Figure of speech Hypallage (App-6) = the true wisdom of women, which is put for the wise woman. The word is pointed as an Adjective by mistake. See notes on Pro 1:20; Pro 9:1; Pro 14:1.
buildeth = has built. Preterite tense, implying the outcome of past wisdom.
the foolish = a foolish woman. Hebrew. ‘evil. Same word as in verses: Pro 14:3, Pro 14:8, Pro 14:9, Pro 3:17, Pro 3:18, Pro 3:24, Pro 3:29. Not the same word as in verses: Pro 14:7, Pro 14:8, Pro 14:16, Pro 7:24.
plucketh it down = will tear it down: future, because folly’s present course is continuous to the end.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 14
Continuation of the contrasting of goodness and evil.
Every wise woman ( Pro 14:1 )
And wise and foolish contrasted always, too.
Every wise woman builds her house ( Pro 14:1 ):
She takes care. She takes pain. She takes effort to really build her house. A wise woman. It, to me, is a very tragic thing that today there is so much pressure upon women to be something other than good wives and keepers of the home. It’s almost made a downer to a woman if she’s just a good mother and housekeeper. “Oh, you’re just a housekeeper? Oh, you know. You don’t have a career? Oh, you know.”
The other day my wife and daughter signed up for exercise class at the Y.M.C.A. And the woman just kept talking to my daughter and almost ignoring my wife, just, you know, and was just so interested in my daughter. And my wife got upset, she said. She later on said to my daughter, “You know, that woman was extremely rude to me. She was just spending so much time with you, it’s just because you’re young and I’m old. And I don’t appreciate the fact that people just ignore a person when they get older and all and giving you so much time.” And Jan sort of said, “Well, Mom, you know,” and trying to pass it off. And finally Jan says, “Well, Mom, if you want to know the truth,” she said, “On the application where it says occupation I put down writer, you put down housewife. That’s why she was paying so much attention, because, you know, career.” And the world you know, “Oh, you’re a writer. Oh my! You know, blah, blah, blah. Oh, you’re a housewife?”
“But a wise woman builds her house.” I’ll tell you, there’s no greater reward in all the world than to see the fruit of a wise woman who has built a house in which there is love and security for the children, who can grow up in that kind of an environment and blossom forward into manhood and womanhood. What a reward and what a blessing! “The wise woman builds her house.”
but the foolish plucks it down with her hands. He that walks in his uprightness fears the LORD: but he that is perverse in his ways despises him. In the mouth of the foolish is the rod of pride: but the lips of the wise will preserve them. Where you have no ox, the corn crib is clean: but with much increase is by the strength of the ox ( Pro 14:1-4 ).
You know, don’t brag because your corn crib is so clean. It could be that you have no oxen.
A faithful witness will not lie: but a false witness will utter lies. A scorner seeks wisdom, and cannot find it: but knowledge is easy to him that understandeth ( Pro 14:5-6 ).
It used to be always after the test in school someone would say, “Well, was it a hard test?” And I’d always respond, “Not if you know the answers.” Only hard when you don’t know the answers, you know. Then it’s tough, because, man, you got to think of something and make up something. That makes a hard test. But if you know the answers, the test isn’t hard at all. So, “The knowledge is easy unto him who understands.” No problem if you understand it.
Go from the presence of a foolish man, when you perceive that there is no knowledge in his lips ( Pro 14:7 ).
Some guy just spouting off, and you perceive the guy’s a nut; just walk away. Don’t subject yourself to him.
The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way: but the folly of fools is deceit. Fools mock at sin: but among the righteous there is favor ( Pro 14:8-9 ).
Oh, how fools love to mock at sin. How much we see today the mocking of sin. “Oh, I suppose I’m a sinner,” you know, and people mock at it.
The heart knoweth his own bitterness; and a stranger does not intermeddle with his joy. The house of the wicked shall be overthrown: but the tent of the upright shall flourish. There is a way which seems right unto man, but the end thereof are the ways of death ( Pro 14:10-12 ).
So what is the way that seems right to man but ends in death? Is it narrow and is it straight? Or is it broad? Jesus said, “Strive to enter in at the straight gate. Straight is the gate, and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it. But broad is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, many there are that go in thereat” ( Mat 7:13-14 ).
“There is a way that seems right unto man.” You hear people today say, “Well, all roads lead to God.” Not according to Jesus Christ. He said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, and no man comes to the Father but by Me” ( Joh 14:6 ). All roads may lead to God, but which god? You see, there’s only one path that leads to the Father. There’s only one way to the Father–that’s through Jesus Christ. So, “There is way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof is the way of death.”
If you are walking in any other way other than Jesus Christ, you’re walking in a path that’s going to ultimate in death. Separation from God. There’s only one way, Jesus Christ.
Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness ( Pro 14:13 ).
That is, for the man who is walking in the path of death.
The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a good man shall be satisfied from himself. The simple believes every word: but the prudent man looks well to his going. A wise man fears, and departs from evil: but the fool rages, and is confident. He that is soon angry deals foolishly ( Pro 14:14-17 ):
How many times we have made foolish mistakes in a fit of anger. We’ve responded, we’ve reacted in anger. And we’ve done foolishly. He that is soon angry, quick-tempered, will deal foolishly. You do foolish things with that quick temper.
and a man of wicked devices is hated. The simple inherit folly: but the prudent are crowned with knowledge. The evil bow before the good; and the wicked at the gates of the righteous. The poor is hated even of his own neighbor: but the rich hath many friends. He that despises his neighbor sins: but he that has mercy on the poor, happy is he. Do they not err that devise evil? but mercy and truth shall be to them that devise good. In all labor there is profit: but the talk of the lips tends only towards penury. The crown of the wise is their riches: but the foolishness of fools is folly. A true witness delivers souls: but a deceitful witness speaks lies. In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge. The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death. In the multitude of people is the king’s honor: but in want of people is the destruction of the prince. He that is slow to wrath is of good understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalts folly. A sound heart is the life of the flesh ( Pro 14:17-30 ):
This is an interesting thing. How did Solomon know that?
but envy is the rottenness of the bones ( Pro 14:30 ).
Envy can destroy. Sound heart, it’s just life to your flesh.
He that oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker: but he who honors him has mercy on the poor ( Pro 14:31 ).
If you really honor God, you’ll have mercy on the poor. Now, there is much the Bible says in Proverbs concerning the poor and the attitude that we should have towards the poor. And God’s attitude towards the poor. Again, you might look that up through your concordance.
The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hope even in his death ( Pro 14:32 ).
You bet I do. A living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Wisdom rests in the heart of him that has understanding: but that which is in the midst of fools is made known. Righteousness exalts a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people ( Pro 14:33-34 ).
If I had anything to do about that kind of thing, I would have this over the Capitol, over the Supreme Court, over the White House. I would have this all through Washington, D.C., and in every state capital. This motto, “Righteousness exalts a nation: sin is a reproach to any people.” The history of the nation of Israel, oh that we could read it and study it and benefit by it, because it was all written for our examples. God put the whole thing there as an example to us that we might learn. And what is the lesson to be learned from the history of the nation of Israel? Whenever they honor the Lord and sought the Lord, God blessed them and prospered them and they were strong and they subdued their enemies and they lived in happiness and prosperity and peace. Whenever they turned from the Lord and turned to the flesh and lived after the flesh, then they were subjugated by their enemies. They came into bondage and they were destroyed. Oh, how important that a nation be established in righteousness. “Righteousness exalts a nation.”
The king’s favor is toward a wise servant: but his wrath is against him those that cause shame ( Pro 14:35 ). “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Pro 14:1
Pro 14:1
“Every wise woman buildeth her house; But the foolish plucketh it down with her own hands.”
The hands as used here is a synecdoche for the woman’s total behavior. This writer remembers a young banker, many years ago, whose wife, in public gatherings, such as receptions, habitually made derogatory remarks about her husband, apparently unaware that she was wrecking his career and her own as well. She was an excellent illustration of the second clause here. “If Laban and Potiphar were blessed because of helpful and godly servants, how much more must Providence favor the house that has a wise and faithful wife”?
Pro 14:1. People can either build or pluck down. The wise build (Pro 24:3-5); the foolish destroy. Owners usually build and take care of things; renters often let everything run down. Rachel and Leah are said to have built the house of Israel (Rth 4:11). Contrast the virtuous woman of Proverbs 31 with the adulterous woman often pictured in the first part of Proverbs with reference to building and destroying.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Verse Pro 14:7. The sense of this proverb is entirely altered in the Revision. The Authorized reading would make it mean that if a man is perceived to be devoid of knowledge he should be abandoned. The Revised urges attention to the foolish man in order that it may be known that he lacks knowledge.
Verse Pro 14:9. This proverb is decidedly ambiguous. It may mean that foolish men despise g d t in the sense of holding in contempt the guilty, whereas upright men have grace or favor or good will in their heart, that is, even to such as fail. Instead of “sin,” the American Standard Revision, renders “trespass offering,” and so makes it mean that a religious rite by fools is of no value.
Verse Pro 14:17. The contrast here is between hastiness of temper and maliciousness. The former leads to acts of folly. The other makes the man guilty of it hated by others.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Proverbs 14
The wise woman and the foolish woman are brought before us in vivid contrast in the opening verse of this chapter.
14:1
The wise woman will lead her household in the right way by counsel and example. She directs their steps in accordance with the Word of the Lord. Consequently her house is established on an immovable foundation of righteousness. The foolish woman through her evil behavior and unworthy instruction, lays up sorrow for herself and grief for her children. Contrast the mothers of Moses and of Ahaziah (Exodus 2; 2Ch 22:2-3).
14:2
The manner of life proves whether one is really walking with God or not. The testimony of the lips is worthless if contradicted by the behavior. The one who fears the Lord will be characterized by godliness and faithfulness. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked (1Jn 2:6).
Perverse ways opposed to His revealed will prove that God is really despised and not feared; He wants reality. To talk of reverence while obeying the dictates of a selfish, carnal nature is hypocrisy. This was Sauls snare. Samuel summarized the issue of obedience when he said, Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams (1Sa 15:22). The testimony of the people themselves proved that the prophet Samuel had walked before them in the fear of God (1 Samuel 12).
14:3
The fool condemns himself with his own mouth by his vain boasting. The words of the wise declare the state of their hearts. They are able to give the soft answer that turns away wrath and are slow to speak and swift to hear. Their conversation reveals the wisdom that is in them. See Goliath and David (1Sa 17:41-49).
14:4
It certainly would be a drastic measure to kill the oxen in order to have a clean stable. The purpose would surely be attained, but at what a cost!
The strength of the ox adds to the wealth of the farm. It is therefore well worth the time to regularly clean the stall. Doth God take care for oxen? Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written (1Co 9:9-10). It is sad how quickly assemblies sometimes resort to getting rid of troublesome saints. This cuts off much increase and blessing that might have ensued had patience and grace been exercised. Too often it is taken for granted that the great object of discipline in the house of God is to get rid of the offender; whereas the truth is just the opposite. Our first priority should be to earnestly endeavor to recover the erring one. If our attitude is right before God we will cry to God and identify ourselves with the sinner. Finally, if all is in vain, and the evildoer persists in his sin, refusing to repent, excommunication is the last sad acknowledgment that the case must be left in the hands of God.
To bring the matter before the saints and take quick action, before every effort has been made to heal the offender may indeed cleanse the assembly; but it will be to the loss of all. We need one another. Blessing and increase of the body results when there is an effectual working of every part. How much better is it to cleanse by leading an erring brother to repentance, thus covering his sin, than by excommunicating him before all possible means have been exhausted in seeking his restoration to God! (See Jdg 20:35-48; 21:1-3.)
14:5
The words of the one who bears a faithful testimony are truthful and controlled. A false witness cannot be depended on, for he has committed himself to speak lies. The Christian is called to be a follower of Him who is preeminently the faithful and true witness. Refusing to handle the word of God deceitfully, he is to speak what he knows on the authority of divine revelation. To boastfully speak of the idle speculations of the human mind will be to utter lies instead of truth. See Paul before Festus and Agrippa (Act 26:25); and note the sad contrast in the case of Peter in the corridor of the council-room (Luk 22:55-62).
14:6
The scorner may inquire after the truth, but he does not set his heart on the answer. Therefore he fails to find wisdom. The discerning are motivated by a sincere desire to know the truth, even if they must judge themselves and their ways by it. To them, knowledge comes easily.
This principle of the importance of sincere desire is preeminently true regarding the understanding of the Scriptures. The mocker is continually finding cause for objections and foolish quibbles in the Word of God. The devout and upright soul sees only light where the other sees darkness. If a man has difficulty in accepting the truth of the Bible, almost invariably it is because he is clinging to some sin that the Word condemns. When that sin is judged and iniquity repented of, all becomes clear. Pilate once asked, What is truth? (Joh 18:38) But he was not concerned enough to wait for a reply, though Truth incarnate stood before him. Daniel had proven long before that all is plain to the spiritually discerning person.
14:7-9
When it becomes evident that a man is bent on folly with no concern about righteousness, it is best to leave him to himself. To argue or reason with such a one is useless. It is defiling to the wise and only gratifying to the pride of the fool. From such turn away (2Ti 3:5).
The prudent is given wisdom to guide him well. The fool has no desire for this wisdom. His heart is false and his lips are deceitful. He mocks sin and does not realize its heinousness. He has never realized the need for repentance. Consequently it is useless to try to turn him from his disobedient course. The righteous find acceptance because they have judged themselves and bowed to Gods just and holy sentence. Acknowledging their true estate, they find a better one. Walking in obedience to God, they are acceptable to Him.
This does not imply that Scripture teaches that acceptance by God resulting in salvation is on the ground of legal works. Far from it. As Abrahams example showed, not until a man is justified by faith are his works declared righteous. Good deeds are not the procuring cause of justification and new birth, but the result of these great and important blessings.
For an example of the fools who make a mock at sin and refuse instruction, see Jer 44:15-19. There we read of the remnant in Egypt who defied the word of the Lord spoken through His prophet.
14:10
Every heart has its secret joy or sorrow that no other ever shares. Griefs or joys too great for words are often hidden deep down from the sight of others. How truly was this the case with our blessed Lord Himself! Who ever measured the depths of the anguish of His soul, or who can rightly estimate His joys?
To such a High Priest we can go with our own heaviest sorrows; with Him we can share our inmost thoughts of exultation and delight.
14:11-13
If the young man who reads the wisdom of Solomon still misses the path of life and finally perishes, it will not be for lack of warning or insufficient instruction. Clearly and unmistakably, the wicked and the righteous are often contrasted.
In these verses we read first of the house of the lawless and the tent of the righteous. The house might seem by far the more stable, but it will be overthrown; its foundations will be destroyed because they are built on sinking sand. The upright pilgrim lives in his tent as he journeys through this world that is foreign to his new nature. This tent will abide and flourish until tenting days are over.
Man naturally chooses his own way-a way that seems right to himself. But it ends in death, for it is opposed to the truth of God. The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go to the city (Ecc 10:15).
There is a city that even the most sinful and vile must long to enter if they believe in a future life at all. That city was anticipated even by Abraham (Heb 11:10). It was described by John as the new and holy Jerusalem, where the Lamb who died is the center and lamp from whom shines all the glory of God. He Himself said, while on earth, I am the way (Joh 14:6). His name alone is salvation proclaimed to lost and guilty sinners. There is no other name and no other way that will lead to the city of light.
There is a way-yes, many ways; but none can rightly be designated the way except Jesus. The end of a way that seems right is death-moral, spiritual, eternal death, yet conscious forever!
Those who refuse the Way, to tread a way of their own choosing, find no true joy or confidence. They being ignorant of Gods righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God (Rom 10:3). Therefore their way is one of doubt and uncertainty. Though they laugh, the heart is not at rest, and their mirth is destined to end in madness. See Micah in Judges 17 and 18:14-26.
Happy are those who refuse mans devices and turn to Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life!
14:14
This is the only verse in which the word backslider occurs in the Bible (kjv). The few times that the word backsliding is found in our English version, occur only in the books of Jeremiah and Hosea. It is used generally as an adjective, though also as a participle and several times as a noun. It should be noticed that neither form of the word occurs in the New Testament.
A backslider is one who has given up ground once taken for God. Many a soul gives up in heart long before it is seen in their life. The conscience becomes defiled and if self-judgment does not follow, the truth begins to lose its power over the heart. The sad result of a broken-down testimony soon follows until the backslider is living for himself. It is important, however, to distinguish carefully between backsliding and apostasy. The backslider is one who fails to carry out the truth of his profession into his life. The apostate, on the other hand, gives up the truth entirely, even denying the Lord; this proves his falseness, whatever his previous profession may have been. John refers to apostates (1Jn 2:19), as does Paul in Hebrews 6 and 10. Needless to say, no true believer ever becomes an apostate.
The good man is controlled by a sincere testimony and his life is in harmony with his testimony. He truly lives for God and this brings satisfaction to him.
Peter was a backslider in heart long before he fell; so, we may rest assured, was David. In the faithful stand of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we see men whose hearts were committed to divine principles when in seclusion. Therefore they overcame in public (Daniel 3).
14:15-19
Wise and simple are relative terms. They refer not so much to mental condition as to the fear of the Lord on the one hand and indifferent self-sufficiency on the other.
The simple are ready to believe anything said by men as foolish as themselves. Yet they stumble over the clearest truths of Gods revelation. The same man who quibbles over the truth of God has strong faith in the greatest absurdities. The unbeliever can believe unhesitatingly that he is the descendant of a long line of lower animals ranging all the way from protoplasm to ape. Yet he sneers at the Christian who receives by faith the divine record that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions (Ecc 7:29). The prudent man mistrusts himself and trusts the Word of the living God. Ordering his steps in the Word, he looks well to his paths.
Fearing the Lord, the wise man departs from evil. The fool heeds no one and is led by his lustful desires. He rushes on in conceited self-confidence to his own destruction. If opposed in his foolishness, he rages in anger. But he finds himself the object of others hatred, because of his wicked devices. In searching for wicked pleasures he will inherit folly. When his wild race is run and his years of recklessness are past, in his feebleness and poverty he will bow to the wisdom of the righteous. He will be forced at last to acknowledge that they had chosen the better part. The good devote themselves to the acquisition of wisdom. They are crowned with knowledge and honored, when the simple are despised. Contrast Saul and David.
14:20-22
In this world, where covetousness rules, the rich will always have many to laud and admire them; while the poor will be despised and oppressed. It is wrong to act this way; for God often chooses the poor of earth to be rich in faith (Jam 2:5). God sees all, and He will reward those who are gracious and kindly in their dealing with the lowly. He will see that lovingkindness and truth are given to the merciful in return. Contrast the princes of Judah with Ebed-melech (Jer 38:1-13; 39:15-18).
14:23
Labor is profitable because of what is produced and because it fills the hands and occupies the mind. This greatly lessens the danger of giving way to a corrupt nature. But mere talk and empty boasting of oneself result in material and spiritual poverty. How suited the prayer for fallen creatures, Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips (Psa 141:3)! See the parable of the two sons. One labored in the vinyard and profited; the other said he would work, but did not: it was the talk of the lips alone (Mat 21:28-31).
14:24
Whether poor or wealthy in this worlds goods, the wise are always rich because they possess treasure that can never fade away. The fool, whatever his possessions, is only filled with folly, and nothing will profit him in the end. Of Nabal, Abigail had to say, Nabal [a fool] is his name, and folly is with him (1Sa 25:25). And these words are true of all that are like him. Amnon is a fit illustration of this unhappy company (2Sa 13:13). For the lasting reward of the wise, see Dan 12:3.
14:25
In Pro 14:5 we had a faithful witness (kjv); here we have a true witness. Such a one will deliver souls. Our Lord presents Himself in the double character of the faithful and true witness to Laodicea (Rev 3:14). In a day of lukewarmness and laxity, He remains both the faithful testimony-bearer, maintaining the truth, and the true witness, delivering all who bow in repentance. A deceitful witness is in every way the opposite of this. He plays fast and loose with the teaching of the Scriptures, to the eternal loss of those who believe his unholy speculations. If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch (Mat 15:14). Contrast Moses with Jannes and Jambres (2Ti 3:8).
14:26-27
The object of the Holy Spirit in inspiring Solomon to pen the Proverbs was to teach the fear of Jehovah. He who has learned this lesson finds strong confidence and a place of refuge. It is not the slavish fear of an abject bondsman, but that filial reverence of loving children. Such rejoice to have found a fountain of life and instruction for their earthly path, so that they may avoid the snares of death. Children is used in verse 26 in a moral sense. Relationship to God, as we now know it, was not revealed before the Son of God came into the world to make known the Father. But those who truly feared the Lord were seen as His children though they had not received the Spirit of adoption, enabling them to cry, Abba, Father. See Cornelius (Acts 10).
14:28
The rank and title of a monarch mean nothing if there is no one to acknowledge his authority. When the Lord Jesus in his times shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords (1Ti 6:15), all redeemed creation will bow before Him. David and Ish-bosheth illustrate the verse (2 Samuel 3-4).
14:29
The man of God will have the ability to rule his spirit. By controlling himself, he demonstrates great understanding; he who lacks self-control is not able to profit others. A hasty spirit just exalts folly and hinders the understanding of true wisdom. Bad temper is always a sign of weakness. The man who knows he has the mind of God can afford to wait quietly on Him. See Micaiah and Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah (1Ki 22:24-25).
14:30
A sound heart is the heart of one who is broken before the Lord and has learned not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think. Envy reveals a lack of self-judgment. In a Christian, it indicates an impending breakdown of his discipleship if he fails to humble himself in secret. This was the hidden cause of Asaphs unhappi-ness until he went into the sanctuary of the Lord (Psalm 73).
14:31
To deal harshly with those in poverty is to reproach God who made both rich and poor. His inscrutable wisdom permits some to be in affliction, while others have more than heart can wish. He who honors God will view the needy as left to test the hearts of those in more comfortable circumstances. Also he will value the privilege of ministering to them as he is able, thus showing them the kindness of God. See the case of Mephibosheth (2 Samuel 9).
14:32
The deaths of the wicked and the righteous stand out in vivid contrast like their lives. The wicked is taken away in and by his iniquities. He goes out into a hopeless eternity to face his guilty record at the bar of omnipotent justice. The upright in heart has faced his sins during life in the presence of the Holy One. He dreads no judgment after death, so he leaves this world with trustful hope of coming joy and bliss. Balaam wished for such a death but found the opposite (Num 23:10; 31:8). Stephen knew of this confidence. He could kneel down and die with a prayer for the forgiveness of his murderers on his lips (Act 7:59-60).
14:33
The intelligence and insight of the man of understanding reveal the wisdom that is in his heart; while the senseless behavior of fools tells all too plainly what is within their hearts. See note on verse 24.
14:34
History is the perpetual illustration of what is declared in this proverb. Nations, like individuals, are judged according to their ways. No country that forsook the path of national righteousness has prospered long. When pride and vanity, coupled with greed and cruelty, have been in control, the hour of humbling was not far away. Israel will ever be the great object-lesson for all people. When the Word of God was esteemed and His will honored, they prospered. When sin and neglect of God triumphed, they became a reproach. He was right who said, Israel is the pillar of salt to the nations, crying to all people, Remember!
14:35
When an ambassador displays wisdom and discretion the king values his services. But let his advice prove disastrous and the kings indignation will know no bounds. May those who seek to serve a greater King be characterized by the wisdom that will make them of real value in the work He has committed to them. See Darius and Daniel, in contrast with Ahasuerus and Haman (Dan 6:3; Est 7:7-9).
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Pro 14:1
If you ask what God and the word of God mean by wisdom and folly, the answer will embrace three particulars: on the side of wisdom, these-forethought, earnestness, perseverance; on the side of folly, in like manner, these-improvidence, irresolution, unsteadiness. Corresponding to these three qualities of the builder are the three conditions of building: (1) To build you must have a plan; (2) building requires toil; (3) The proof of the building is growth. What now, is the house?
I. There is the house of the mind. It is the bounden duty of each one to build on some plan, and to begin early. If a plan is the first condition of building, toil, honest toil, is the second; and perseverance, brave and steadfast, is the third, and the most decisive.
II. The house of the life. Every one of us has a life-the most weighty word, the most mysterious possession, the most responsible charge. It is a matter almost of life and death to make choice, amongst many possibilities, of the work which is to fill our lifetime. Wisdom will forecast, even in these things, the plan of her future.
III. We should have missed the very point of the text if we did not see, in the house spoken of, the house of the everlasting hope. Have you so much as settled the plan of this house of the, hope? What is your idea of the thing to be built? Let us not trifle with the house of the great hope. Let us lay deep the foundation, than which no man can really lay any other. Let us seize earnestly, let us hold tenaciously, any fragment of Divine truth which conscience attests and the soul can echo; let us piece each to each, with a new realisation until the whole stands out at last in its breadth and in its satisfaction; at the end of all, God Himself shall consciously enter, and fill the house of our soul’s hope with the glorious illumination of His presence.
C. J. Vaughan, Counsels to Young Students, p. 31.
References: Pro 14:1-6.-R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. i., p. 368. Pro 14:6.–W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 367. Pro 14:7.-Ibid., p. 373. Pro 14:7-12.-R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. i., p. 378.
Pro 14:9
I. The various ways in which men make a mock at sin may be summed up under two heads: by their words, and by their actions. We show our scorn and contempt of a thing in our words, when we speak carelessly of it, or laugh at it, or turn it into ridicule. We show it in our actions, when we live in such a manner as proves that we have no value or regard for it. Even of the first kind of mockery, the mockery of words, few are wholly innocent; of the last kind of mockery, the mockery of deeds, all have been more or less guilty.
II. The guilt of such mockery is too plain; the folly is the folly of playing with death. It is the folly of provoking God to cut us off in the midst of our calculating wickedness. Above all is such conduct folly, because we are disabling our hearts and souls more and more for the work of repentance, without which we know and believe we can have no part in the promises of the Gospel. For nothing is more certain than that the longer a man persists in sin the harder it is to leave it off. His heart is deadened; his conscience is blunted; his soul closes itself by little and little against the impulses of the Holy Spirit.
III. If the end of the foolish mockers is so certain and terrible, let us seek wisdom,-that true wisdom which cometh from above, and which is first pure, then peaceable, full of mercy and gentleness, and of all good works. All who lack wisdom must ask it of God; no one had ever enough of it; no one has enough of it to learn its value without wishing for more.
A. W. Hare, The Alton Sermons, p. 215.
I. It is requisite that we learn of God what is the evil of sin- making His testimony in this, as in all other matters, the subject of faith. (1) The circumstance of our being an interested party incapacitates us for forming a correct judgment of the evil. (2) We are incapacitated for giving judgment in consequence of our moral sense being blunted by the continual presentation of sin before our eyes, in the conduct of others. (3) We are incompetent to form a sufficient judgment on the evil of sin, in consequence of our inability to see all its mischievous effects.
II. Consider the judgment of God on sin. (1) In His word He expresses moral disapprobation of it. (2) He threatens to avenge sin with death, spiritual and eternal. (3) He has avenged, and continues to avenge, the transgression of His law, as an earnest of His executing to the full its penalty in the world to come. (4) The death of Christ was necessary for the pardon of sin. (5) He visits with afflictions the sins even of those who have been judicially reconciled to His government and adopted into His family, through the mediation of His Son.
III. The magnitude of sin may be argued from a consideration of the dignity of Him against whom it is committed. Sin offers insult and injury to all the attributes and perfections of the Deity. (1) It denies and violates the rights of His sovereignty as the Creator. (2) It insults His goodness. (3) It insults His power. (4) It insults His wisdom, His truth, and His holiness.
W. Anderson, Discourses, p. 223.
There are different ways in which men make a mock at sin. They may mock at sin in others, or they may mock at sin in themselves.
I. A man sees another doing what he knows to be wrong, and he makes a jest of it. He is finding amusement in that which might make angels weep, and which cost the Son of God His life. No one can thus make a mock at sin without thinking very lightly of the evil of sin. The heart grows hard and callous. And the next thing is to commit the sin which we have laughed at in others.
II. Another way of “mocking at sin” consists in making light of it in ourselves. It is very fearful to think how soon we come to this pass, notwithstanding all our better purposes, and all warnings to the contrary. How many men can look back upon a time when sins that they have since committed greedily seemed almost impossible to them. They forgot the guide of their youth, they kept not the covenant of their God. They shut their ears to God’s word, and their eyes to His judgments; they walked greedily in the way of ungodliness, they were “fools who made a mock at sin.”
III. Observe what a verdict Solomon pronounces on persons who make a mock at sin; he calls them “fools.” None but fools could be guilty of such amazing stupidity. Consider: (1) what sin is in its nature. It is the will of the creature set against the will of the Creator. (2) Consider the consequences of sin. See what an abomination sin is in God’s sight by the visible punishment which He has attached to it. (3) Look at the eternal consequences of sin. Shall we make a mock at that against which the wrath of Almighty God is so fearfully declared? (4) If we would truly see what sin is, we must see it in the light of redemption. Who can measure the guilt and the power of that sin from which we could only be redeemed by the sacrifice of the Son of God? See your folly in the light of your Redeemer’s tears, your Redeemer’s anguish, your Redeemer’s Cross; and confess as you look on His marvellous sacrifice that “fools” only can “make a mock at sin.”
J. J. S. Perowne, Sermons, p. 31.
References: Pro 14:9.-C. Wordsworth, Old Testament Outlines, p. 157. Pro 14:10.-W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 375.
Pro 14:12
I. There are ways that lead to death. Each of us has come into contact with beings whom excesses have led to a premature end; others still occupy a place in the world, but their ruined health, their weakened faculties, show that, to use the words of St. Paul, “they are dead while living.” The death in question here is the state of a soul condemned by Him who sees the most hidden recesses of our being, and whose judgment none can alter; it is the condition of a creature who has willingly separated itself from God.
II. Many a way that leads to perdition may seem to us to be right. Nothing is better calculated to disturb the superficial optimism in which so many of our fellow-men find a delusive security than the firm conviction of this fact. In their opinion, that a man may be saved, he must be sincere; in other words, the way he follows must seem to him to be right. (1) In the order of things temporal it is evident that sincerity in ignorance or error has never saved anyone from the often terrible consequences which such ignorance or error may entail. Societies are based upon this maxim: “No one is supposed to be ignorant of the law.” Moreover, this axiom is graven in nature itself. Nature strikes those who violate its laws, and never takes into consideration their state of ignorance or good faith. (2) God is not an inexorable fatum. God takes into account the inward condition of each being, his ignorance, his involuntary errors. Therefore, if any should ask whether a man who is mistaken shall be saved or not if he is absolutely sincere, we shall answer that we are inclined to believe it; and that a way cannot lead to eternal death the man who has entered upon it believing it to be right and true. But this conclusion should reassure no one, for the point in question is precisely to discover if we are indeed absolutely sincere in the choice we make; now, the more I study men, the more I study myself, the more clearly do I perceive that nothing is more uncommon than this sincerity of which we speak so much, and of which so many people make a merit. None are entitled to say, “This way seems right to me, therefore I can enter upon it without fear.” We must first of all examine whether we do not call right that which is simply pleasing to us, that which attracts us and flatters our secret instincts.
III. In every human life there are solemn hours when divergent paths open before us. On the choice we then make depends our entire future. When we find ourselves before an opening path, we must stop, measure it at a glance, and never enter it unless we may do so with the peace of a conscience that feels it is accomplishing the will of God.
E. Bersier, Sermons, 2nd series, p. 399.
Among the indications that we are not what we once were, there is, perhaps, none more decisive in its testimony than the depravation of the natural conscience. It is in consequence of this paralysis of the conscience that such an assertion as that in the text points to a phenomenon of constant occurrence among men.
I. The text does not say these apparently right ways are themselves the ways of death, but that they end in the ways of death.
II. The “ways” are mainly of two kinds-errors in practice and errors in doctrine; the former by far the most abundant, but the latter by no means so rare as to bear passing over in considering the subject. (1) The first practical error is that of a life not led under the direct influence of religion. I speak of the man who, however many virtues he may possess, however upright he may be in the duties of life, however carefully he may attend to the outward duties of religion, does not receive it into his heart nor act on its considerations as a motive. This is a way of life which usually seems right unto a man. He wins esteem from without, and has no accusing conscience within. But he is not a religious man. He has not the fear of God before his eyes. This approved way must end in the way of death. Improbable as it may seem that the correct liver, the blameless and upright man, should perish at last, it is but a necessary consequence from his having put by and rejected the only remedy which God has provided for the universal taint of our nature, by which taint, if not purged out, he must, as well as the rest of the unrenewed and ungodly, be ruined in the end. (2) Take the case of those who, believing from the heart and living in the main as in God’s sight, are yet notoriously and confessedly wanting in some important requisite of the Gospel. These ways seem right unto those who are following them. (3) Errors of doctrine. There is nothing in life for which we are so deeply and solemnly accountable, as the formation of our belief. It is the compass which guides our way, which if it vary ever so little from truth, is sure to cause a fatal divergence in the end. Whether we consider practice or belief, each man’s deeming is not each man’s law; every man’s deeming may be wrong, and we can only find that which is right by each one of us believing and serving God, as He has revealed Himself to us in Christ.
H. Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons, vol. vii., p. 50.
I. There is a theory very much in fashion, that if a man acts according to his convictions, he cannot be brought into condemnation. The principle here involved is simply this, that a man’s own ideas are his own standard, that he is a law unto himself, that if he does violence to his own views of truth and error, good and evil, he is reprehensible, but that if he be fully convinced in his own mind that is at once a bar to his condemnation. The text offers a strong protest against this theory, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man;” but, notwithstanding his sincerity, notwithstanding his convictions, the end thereof are the ways of death.
II. If we shall be judged not only as to whether we have acted by the guidance of conscience, but also whether our conscience was a right conscience; there flows from this the doctrine that conscience itself is a thing we are bound to train, and cherish, and educate, in order that it may never mislead us; a man is, in short, responsible for his conscience. It is a mysterious law of our spiritual nature that we have to mould and train our own proper guide. God has given conscience for our direction, but it remains with ourselves to secure that we be directed by it aright.
Bishop Woodford, Sermons in Various Churches, p. 83.
References: Pro 14:12.-W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 378; J. Thain Davidson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. iii., p. 369. Pro 14:13-24.-R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. i., p. 387.
Pro 14:14
I. The good man’s satisfaction arises from the circumstance that he is regulated in his character and conduct by a fixed and stable thing, by principle. In contemplating anything to be done, in all his movements, in all moral questions, his object is to do what is right. In the midst of his activity, his satisfaction arises from himself, from the consciousness that he acts upon principle and in the sight of God; and therefore, if he should fail, looking back upon his failure, reflecting upon his error, he has still a satisfaction which the world can neither confer nor destroy.
II. The sentiment may be illustrated by the contrast which is often exhibited between the good man and the wicked, when the latter is called upon to eat the fruit of his own ways. The good man is not only preserved from pain and wretchedness, but is placed in such circumstances, the result of a wise and holy course of conduct, as to be able to help others; and thus he enjoys the highest satisfaction, not of being delivered, but of being a deliverer; enjoys something of the satisfaction of God Himself, who giveth to all and receiveth from none.
III. The satisfaction of the good man arises from his being preserved from the sting and reproach of an evil conscience. He has nothing that he ardently wishes to forget, or nothing that he dare not remember, because he believes that God has forgotten and blotted it out. The darkness and the light are both alike to him. “The good man is satisfied from himself.”
IV. The last idea connected with this subject is that of the positive and increasing pleasure, the growing delight of the good man’s soul. I refer to that joyous healthiness of soul which arises from a life of purity, devotion, and goodness; that calm yet irrepressible feeling of delight, which daily and hourly, continually and always, fills the heart. It is not positive reflection upon doing, it is not thinking about character or actions, but the perpetual rising up in the soul of an inexpressible satisfaction. This is the way in which a good man is “satisfied from himself.”
T. Binney, Penny Pulpit, No. 1389.
Here, in a short text, are three paradoxes.
I. A good man. As the royal are related to royalty, and the noble to nobility, so are the good to the godly, and they are related to God. Goodness is, therefore, an internal quality; thus the good man is whole within, sound within; you may know a good man by several marks, but they all throw you back on the internalism of his character. Hence his satisfaction; all health is within.
II. Here is a man satisfied. Contentment is the science of thankfulness. It is Christ’s fulness that gives the crown of contentment.
III. The source of the satisfaction-from himself. (1) He is satisfied with the object and foundation of his faith. (2) In the evidences of his religion, a good man shall be satisfied from himself. (3) In the ordinances of the sanctuary a good man shall be satisfied from himself. (4) In the law of life a good man is satisfied from himself. (5) In the apportionment and destiny of the world a good man is satisfied from himself.
E. Paxton Hood, Sermons, p. 400.
References: Pro 14:14.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxi., No. 1235; W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st scries, p. 384; W. G. Horder, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvi., p. 100. Pro 14:15.-W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 388. Pro 14:16.-Ibid., p. 392.
Pro 14:23
I. In the text Solomon gives us a lesson which holds good through all matters of life. That it is a short-sighted mistake to avoid taking trouble; for God has so ordered the world that industry will always repay itself. God has set thee thy work, then fulfil it. Fill it full. Throw thy whole heart and soul into it. Do it carefully, accurately, completely. It will be better for thee and for thy children after thee. All neglect, carelessness, slurring over work, is a sin-a sin against God, who has called us to our work; a sin against our country and our neighbours, who ought to profit by our work; and a sin against ourselves also, for we ought to be made wiser and better men by our work.
II. Work, hard work, is a blessing to the soul and character of the man who works. Being forced to work and forced to do your best will breed in you temperance and self-control, diligence and strength of will, cheerfulness and content, and a hundred virtues which the idle man will never know. If you wish to see how noble a calling work is, consider God Himself, who although He is perfect does not need, as we do, the training which comes by work, yet works for ever with and through His Son, Jesus Christ, who said, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” God. works, because, though He needs nothing, all things need Him. You are called to copy God, each in his station, and to be fellow-workers with God for the good of each other and yourselves; called to work because you are made in God’s image, and redeemed to be the children of God.
C. Kingsley, Town and Country Sermons, p. 269.
References: Pro 14:24.-Homiletic Magazine, vol. viii., p. 252. Pro 14:25.-W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 396. Pro 14:25-31.-R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. ii., p. 1.
Pro 14:26
I. Real godliness involves confidence towards God. The reason is that reconciliation with God is complete. In the case of those who really fear the Lord there springs up between them and God a filial friendship.
II. Real godliness produces confidence towards men.
III. The confidence which real godliness awakens is adapted to all circumstances. In danger it becomes boldness; in duty and work it is conscious power.
IV. It is a confidence which abides to the end.
S. Martin, Westminster Chapel Pulpit, 2nd series, No. 11.
References: Pro 14:26.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxii., No. 1290; J. Vaughan, Children’s Sermons, 1875, p. 44; W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 401. Pro 14:30.-Ibid., p. 406.
Pro 14:31
I. Notice some suggestions as to the practice of mercy to the poor. We must not confine our aim either to the sins of the soul on the one hand, or to the sufferings of the body on the other.
II. Every one must do his part in the great work of helping those who cannot help themselves.
III. Mercy to the poor must be a law operating from within, and not a system adopted from without.
IV. There must be regulating wisdom as well as motive power.
V. Whatever share you may be able to take in the wholesale benevolence of organised societies, you should also carry on a retail business by personal contact with the sufferers.
W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 410.
References: Pro 14:32.-J. Owen, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. vii., p. 49; W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 417; Homiletic Magazine, vol. viii., p. 198; G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 179. Pro 14:32-35.-R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. ii., p. 11. Pro 14:34.-J. Budgen, Parochial Sermons, vol. ii., p. 262; Bishop Temple, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvi., p. 49.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
CHAPTER 14 The Wise and The Foolish: The Rich and The Poor
The contrast now concerns the wise and the foolish, the rich and the poor. Let us see some of these contrasts. In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride, but the lips of the wise shall preserve them Pro 14:3. The foolish shoots forth his foolishness like a branch. Separation from the foolish man is commanded in the seventh verse. The wise cannot have fellowship with the foolish, as the believer is not to be yoked to the unbeliever. Fools make a mock at sin Pro 14:9). The word sin in the original means trespass offering. That is exactly what the foolish man does, including the religious fool; he denies both sin and the blessed provision God has made to deliver from the guilt and power of sin. But among the righteous, says the next line, there is favor (acceptance). Because the righteous owns himself a sinner, judgeth himself and accepts Gods redemption through the one sacrifice.
How true it is the heart knoweth his own bitterness, and a stranger does not intermeddle with its joy Pro 14:10. We can tell our troubles and sorrows to others, but the bitterness of the heart cannot be revealed, but it is known to One who is touched with our sorrows and the bitterness of life through which we pass, for He Himself passed through it also.
Here is another deep saying, which shows that behind this wisdom uttered by the wise king, there is another who knows all what is going on in human life and in the heart. Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of that mirth is heaviness Pro 10:13. How often the sorrowful, the downcast covers all with forced laughter and no one suspects that underneath the mirth there is heaviness. This is true of children of the world, the foolish who reject true wisdom and know not the Lord Jesus Christ.
Of the poor and the rich we read that the poor is hated; the rich has many friends Pro 14:20). He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoreth Him hath mercy on the poor Pro 14:31). To deal kindly with the poor and the lowly is God-like. The righteous will manifest his righteousness in a practical way by considering the poor.
Precious are two other proverbs in this chapter.
In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence;
And His children shall have a place of refuge.
The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life,
To depart from the snares of death. Pro 14:26-35)
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
wise: Pro 24:3, Pro 24:4, Pro 31:10-31, Rth 4:11
the foolish: Pro 9:13-15, Pro 19:13, Pro 21:9, Pro 21:19, 1Ki 16:31, 1Ki 21:24, 1Ki 21:25, 2Ki 11:1
Reciprocal: Exo 35:25 – General 1Sa 25:3 – good 2Sa 7:11 – he will make Pro 12:4 – virtuous Pro 12:7 – the house Pro 31:27 – General Ecc 10:18 – General Mat 7:26 – doeth 1Ti 5:14 – guide
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 14:1. Every wise woman buildeth her house By her care, industry: diligence, and prudent management, she improves, and raises her family and estate. So the phrase is used Exo 1:21; 2Sa 7:11; Psa 127:1. He speaks of the woman, not exclusively of the man, of whom this is no less true, but because the women, especially in those times, were very industrious in managing their husbands estates. But the foolish plucketh it down with her hands By her negligence, idleness, ill management, or want of economy, she lays it low, and wastes all that had been gotten by the care of others.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Pro 14:1. Every wise woman buildeth her house, as Pro 9:1, by training up her children to industry, piety and virtue. She is their first governess, and daily instils the elements of knowledge by maternal sweetness. She improves her means, whether of agriculture or trade, so that her house abounds with affluence, as stated in chap. 31. Whereas the foolish woman pulls it down by idleness, pride and dissipation.
Pro 14:2. He that walketh in his uprightness feareth the Lord. He loves the Lord, and delights greatly in his commandments. His religion is perfumed with all the excellence of piety, while the perverse sets up his own will above wisdom. In this contrast we see grace as grace, and sin as sin.
Pro 14:5. A faithful witness will not lie. Judges and jurors come into court with clean hands. They are unbiassed by public reports, they judge according to the evidence before them: and what can the false swearer gain? Some favour of the plaintiff, or the defendant, a small pittance of money. And what does he lose? The favour of all good men, the peace of his own conscience, followed by the unslumbering vengeance of God. And what if he should die, with the lie in his mouth? See Act 5:1-10.
Pro 14:6. A scorner seeketh wisdom, and findeth it not. Being a scorner, he seeks it with an unhumbled heart. His theories are superficial, his terms are captious. True wisdom disdains to disclose her beauties to him; she allows him not to taste of her feast, nor to lodge in her palace. But to the meek she will teach her way, and guide them in the paths of life.
Pro 14:9. Fools make a mock at sin. Drunkenness, riot and blasphemy, whoredom and the ruin of innocence, are with brutish and profane men subjects of universal laughter and applause. Yea, religion itself, the only hope of man, is ridiculed as fanaticism, and visionary. And were the evil confined to untutored youth, human pity would apologize for the error; but theatres are erected to canonize the crime, the brightest talents of genius and literature are employed to give it effect, the wisest and most venerable characters in our country are seen among the crowd, joining in warm applaudits. So they proceed till the adage of their own poet is accomplished. Death will make cowards of us all. Then mocking at sin will be no more.
Pro 14:10. The heart knoweth his own bitterness. Grieving for grief, or weeping for sin; but when the heart has uttered its anguish, when the storm has subsided, a stranger is not partaker of the joys of remission. The sun shines brighter after the storm.
Pro 14:12. There is a way which seemeth right unto a man. The Jews verily thought they did God service when they persecuted the church. Joh 16:2. False opinions and principles, held in wilful ignorance, fortified by prejudice and bigotry, and often carried out in persecutions and bloodshed, lead the soul in the ways of death. They who thus choose their own way have sorrow in their laughter, and heaviness in the midst of their mirth: Pro 14:13. See on Pro 16:25.
Pro 14:14. The backslider in heart, from the precepts of wisdom, shall be filled with his own ways. He who dallies with lascivious propensities, with the pride of life, with a covetous temper, or with secret intemperance, God will so withdraw his grace as to suffer him to fall under the power of his sin; he will give him flesh in anger, and glut his soul with all the meanness and consequences of his guilt.
Pro 14:17. He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly. Ira est furor, anger is madness.
Pro 14:20. The poor is hated even of his own neighbour. He is shunned and despised, because he is always in want. It were desirable, however, that the poor should have adequate rewards for labour, that he might abstain from debts, and schemes, and tricks, which occasion contempt. It is far better to wear a mended coat, than fine clothes which are not his own. The best wisdom of a poor man is to seek the true wisdom, then neither Christ nor the saints will despise him.
Pro 14:24. The foolishness of fools [works] folly. All their labours, conceived in foolishness, end in vanity.
Pro 14:26. In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence. True religion is the only remedy for the wickedness of the human heart. It supersedes vice, eradicates evils, and opens the fountain of life in the breast.
Pro 14:28. In the multitude of people is the kings honour. In their thick or strong concord. Whereas weak states are stripped of their provinces and colonies by their more powerful neighbours. So is man, so is the world, so are the nations!
Pro 14:32. The wicked is driven away in his wickedness. As the ancient tribes wandering in tents from camp to camp, were often driven away by more powerful neighbours, who had better claims to the soil, so God sends death with terrific aspects of disease and war to drive away the sinner from his mansion, his lands and honours, and to hurl on his head the full tale of vengeance for his sins. But this stern minister, turning to the good man in his last moments, greets him with a heavenly mien, and opens the gates of paradise, that his soul may escape away from a body verging on corruption.
Pro 14:34. Righteousness exalteth a nation. When a nation is loyal to its sovereign, obedient to the laws, impartial in the administration of justice, lenient to the poor, and reverent to God, it clothes itself with a conscious glory, and ensures the blessing of providence. And when it is contented with its own dominions, observant of public faith with neighbouring nations, and hospitable to strangers, then it endears itself as a sister among the nations; and this esteem and reverence is often a better protection than fleets and armies. But a nation which sanctions crimes, and a city which patronizes vice may flourish for its day; but it shall fall under the visitation of God, and perhaps rise no more to its former splendour.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Proverbs 14. In this, as in each of the preceding chapters in this section, aphorisms on the moral government of the world come first in number. There are rather more in this chapter of a political and social character, while a group that might be called psychological appears for the first time (e.g. Pro 14:10; Pro 14:13, and in part Pro 14:30). The contrast between wisdom and folly, simplicity and prudence, also yields a fairly numerous group.
Pro 14:1. MT cannot be translated. Pro 14:1 a is probably the quotation of Pro 9:1 a, and Pro 14:1 b is added as an aphoristic and antithetic comment. Read Wisdom hath builded her house, but folly tears it down with her hands.
Pro 14:3. rod: lit. shoot (mg.) or twig, as in Isa 11:1, the only other place where the word occurs. Hence, if the text is sound, the fools mouth is represented as sending forth a branch of folly. But this leaves the antithesis without point. We expect some word conveying the harmfulness of the fools speech to himself.
Pro 14:4 a yields no intelligible contrast; a slight emendation, where there are no oxen there is no corn, gives it.
Pro 14:7. The straightforward rendering of the Heb. is, If thou go from the presence of a fool thou hast not known lips of knowledgei.e. time spent in a fools company is time wasted. But the text is very uncertain. LXX may preserve the original, All things are contrary to a fool, but wise lips are instruments of perfection, evidently following Pro 20:15 for Pro 14:7 b.
Pro 14:9. Another very difficult verse. The lit. translation, as far as one can be given, is Guilt (or a guilt offering) mocks fools, but among (lit. between) the upright there is good pleasure. It is hard to extract any sense from this. LXX, evidently with a widely different text in Pro 14:9 a, has the houses of transgressors need purification, but the houses of the righteous are acceptable (i.e. to God). The word mocks is the trouble. A slight emendation would give fools go astray by guilt, which yields a possible sense.
Pro 14:13. Cf.
Our sincerest laughter with some pain is fraught,
Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thoughts.
Pro 14:14. Instead of the difficult from himself, read the necessary from his deeds, the same verb being supplied as in Pro 14:14 a.
Pro 14:17 b. Omit, with LXX, one Heb. letter, and read, to the improvement of sense and antithesis, but a man of thought endures. The Heb. for a quick-tempered man is lit. one who is short of nostrils; a patient man is long of nostrilsi.e. his anger does not soon become apparent, by a snort!
Pro 14:18. are covered: the verb (Job 36:2) is Aram. Render the prudent wait for knowledge.
Pro 14:21. is happy: rather is blessed by God, as in Psa 1:1, blessed is the man.
Pro 14:24 b is tautologous and yields no antithesis. Read The crown of the wise is their wisdom, the chaplet of fools is their folly (LXX).
Pro 14:32. in his death: read, transposing two letters, in his integrity (so LXX).
Pro 14:35. causeth shame: properly disappointsi.e. in a political sense, one who is a political or diplomatic failure.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
14:1 Every wise woman {a} buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.
(a) That is, takes pains to profit her family, and to do that which concerns her duty in her house.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
8. Further advice for wise living chs. 14-15
These proverbs are more difficult to group together under a general heading because there are fewer common ideas that tie them together.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
This verse makes better sense if for "house" we read "household." Either translation is legitimate.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
CHAPTER 15
THE INWARD UNAPPROACHABLE LIFE
“The heart knoweth its own bitterness and a stranger doth not intermeddle with its joy.”- Pro 14:10
“Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of mirth is heaviness.”- Pro 14:13
“Yes! in the sea of life enisled,
With echoing straits between us thrown,
Dotting the shoreless watery wild,
We mortal millions live alone.
The islands feel the enclasping flow,
And then their endless bounds they know.”
-Matthew Arnold
WE know each others appearance, it is true, but there, for the most part, our mutual knowledge ceases. Some of us unveil nothing of ourselves to anyone; some of us unveil a little to all; some a good deal to a few; but none of us can unveil all even to the most intimate friend. It is possible to live on terms of complete confidence and even close intimacy with a person for many years, to become thoroughly acquainted with his habits, his turns of expression, his modes of thought, to be able to say with a certain infallibility what course he will take in such and such circumstances-and yet to find by some chance uplifting of a curtain in his life that he cherished feelings which you never even suspected, suffered pains of which you had seen no trace, and enjoyed pleasures which never came to any outward expression.
How true this is we realize at once if we turn inwards and review all the thoughts which chase each other through our brain, and all the emotions which throb in our heart for a single day, and then deduct those which are known to any human being, known or even suspected; the sum total we find is hardly affected at all. We are quite startled to discover how absolutely alone we live, how impossible it is for a stranger, or even for an intimate friend, to meddle with more than a fragment of our inner life. This is not because we have any wish to conceal, but rather because we are not able to reveal, our silent unseen selves: it is not because others would not like to know, but because they have not the instruments to investigate, that within us which we on our part arc quite helpless to express.
“For instance, the desire accomplished is sweet to the soul,” {Pro 13:19} yet no one can know how sweet but he who cherished the desire. When a man has labored for many years to secure an adequate maintenance for his family, and at length finds himself in easy circumstances, with his children growing up around him well and happy, no one besides himself can in the least gauge the sense of satisfaction, contentment, and gratitude which animates his heart, because no one can realize without actual experience the long and anxious days, the sickening fears, the blighted hopes, the rigorous sacrifices, through which he passed to attain his end. Or, when an artist has been toiling for many years to realize upon canvas a vision of beauty which floats before the inward eye, and at last succeeds, by some happy Combination of colors, or by some dexterous sweep of the brush, or by some half-inspired harmony of form and composition, in actually bodying forth to the senses that which has haunted his imagination, it is hopeless for anyone else to understand the thrilling joy, the lighthearted ecstasy, which are hidden rather than expressed by the quiet flush on the cheek and the sparkling glance of the eye.
The mystical joy of a love which has just won an answering love; the deep-toned joy of the mother in the dawning life of her child; the joy of the poet who feels all the beauty of the earth and the sky pulsing through his nerves and raising his heart to quick intuitions and melodious numbers; the joy of the student, when the luminous outlines of truth begin to shape themselves before his mind in connected form and startling beauty; the joy of one who has toiled for the restoration of lost souls, and sees the fallen and degraded awaking to a new life, cleansed, radiant, and strong; the joy of the martyr of humanity, whose dying moments are lit with visions, and who hears through the mysterious silences of death the voices of those who will one day call him blessed, -joys like these may be described in words, but they who experience them know that the words are, relatively speaking, meaningless, and they who do not experience them can form no conception of them. “When the desire cometh it is a tree of life,” {Pro 13:14} which suddenly springs up in the garden of the heart, puts forth its jubilant leaves of healing, flashes with white wings of scented blossom, and droops with its full offering of golden fruit, as if by magic, and we are surprised ourselves that those around us do not see the wonder, do not smell the perfume, do not taste the fruit: we alone can sit under its branches, we alone can catch the murmur of the wind, the music of achievement, in its leaves.
But this thought becomes very pathetic when we think of the hearts bitterness, which the heart alone can know, -the hope deferred which makes it sick, {Pro 13:12} the broken spirit which dries up the Pro 17:22, the spirit which for so long bore a mans infirmity, and then at last broke because it could bear no more, and became itself intolerable. {Pro 18:14} The circumstances of a mans life do not give us any clue to his sorrows; the rich have troubles which to the poor would seem incredible, and the poor have troubles which their poverty does not explain. There are little constitutional ailments, defects in the blood, slight deformities, unobserved disabilities, which fill the heart with a bitterness untold and unimaginable. There are crosses of the affections, disappointments of the ambitions; there are frets of the family, worries of business; there are the haunting Furies of past indiscretions, the pitiless reminders of half-forgotten pledges. There are weary doubts and misgivings, suspicions and fears, which poison all inward peace, and take light out of the eye and elasticity out of the step. These things the heart knows, but no one else knows.
What adds to the pathos is that these sorrows are often covered with laughter as with a veil, and no one suspects that the end of all this apparently spontaneous mirth is to be heaviness. {Pro 14:13} The bright talker, the merry jester, the singer of the gay song, goes home when the party separates, and on his threshold he meets the veiled sorrow of his life, and plunges into the chilly shadow in which his days are spent.
The bitterness which surges in our brothers heart would probably be unintelligible to us if he revealed it; but he will not reveal it, he cannot. He will tell us some of his troubles, many of them, but the bitterness he must keep to himself.
How strange it seems! Here are men and women around us who are unfathomable; the heart is a kind of infinite; we skim the surface, we cannot sound the depths. Here is a merry heart which makes a cheerful countenance, but here is a countenance unclouded and smiling which covers a spirit quite broken. {Pro 15:13} Here is a cheerful heart which enjoys a continual feast, {Pro 15:15} and finds in its own merriment a medicine for its troubles; {Pro 17:22} but we cannot find the secret of the cheerfulness, or catch the tone of the merriment, any more than we can comprehend what it is which is making all the days of the afflicted evil. {Pro 15:15}
We are confined as it were to the superficial effects, the lights and shadows which cross the face, and the feelings which express themselves in the tones of the voice. We can guess a little of what lies underneath, but our guesses are as often wrong as right. The index is disconnected, perhaps purposely, from the reality. Sometimes we know that a heart is bitter, but do not even surmise the cause; more often it is bitter and we do not know it. We are veiled to one another; we know our own troubles, we feel our own joys, that is all we can say.
And yet the strangest thing of all is that we hunger for sympathy: we all want to see that light in the eyes of our friends which rejoices the heart, and to hear those good things which make the bones fat. {Pro 15:30} Our joy is eager to disclose itself, and often shrinks back appalled to find that our companions did not understand it, but mistook it for an affectation or an illusion. Our sorrow yearns for comprehension, and is constantly doubled in quantity and intensity by finding that it cannot explain itself or become intelligible to others. This rigid and necessary isolation of the human heart, along with such a deep-rooted desire for sympathy, is one of the most perplexing paradoxes of our nature; and though we know well that it is a fact, we are constantly rediscovering it with a fresh surprise. Forgetting it, we assume that everyone will know how we need sympathy, though we have never hung out the signals of distress, and have even presented a most repellent front to all advances; forgetting it, we give expression to our joy, singing songs to heavy hearts, and- disturbing others by unseasonable mirth, as if no icy channels separated us from our neighbors hearts, making our gladness seem frigid and our merriment discordant before it reaches their ears. Yet the paradox forces itself on our attention again; human hearts are isolated, alone, without adequate communication, and essentially uncommunicative, yet all of them eagerly desiring to be understood, to be searched, to be fused. Is it a paradox which admits of any explanation? Let us see.
It has been very truly said, “Man is only partially understood, or pitied, or loved by man; but for the fullness of these things he must go to some far-off country.” In proportion as we are conscious of being misunderstood, and of being quite unable to satisfy our longing for sympathy and comprehension at human fountains, we are impelled by a spiritual instinct to ask for God; the thought arises in us that He, though He be very far off, must, as our Creator, understand us; and as this thought takes possession of the heart a tremulous hope awakes that perhaps He is not very far off. There lie before us now some beautiful sayings which are partly the expression of this human conviction, and seem partly to be inspired by the Divine response to it. “If thou sayest, Behold, we knew not this man; doth not He that weigheth the heart consider, and he that keepeth the soul, doth not He know?” {Pro 24:12, marginal reading} “The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them.” {Pro 20:12} How obvious is the inference that the Maker of the ear and the eye hears those silent things which escape the ear itself, and sees those recesses of the human heart which the human eye is never able to search! “The eyes of the: Lord are in every place, keeping watch upon the evil and the good.” {Pro 15:3} Sheol and Abaddon are before the Lord: how much more then the hearts of the children of men. {Pro 15:11} He sees in the heart what the heart itself does not see. “All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes, but the Lord weigheth the spirits.” (Pro 16:2, rep. Pro 21:2) In fact, the spirit of man itself, the consciousness which clears into self-consciousness, and becomes in moral matters conscience, this “spirit, is the lamp of the Lord, searching all the innermost parts of the belly,” {Pro 20:27} so that a “mans goings are of the Lord”; and he is often moved by this indwelling spirit and guided by this mysterious lamp in a way which “he can hardly understand.” {Pro 20:24}
This intimacy of knowledge is not without its most solemn, and even terrible, side. It means of course that the Lord knows “the thoughts of the righteous which are just, and the counsels of the wicked which are deceit.” {Pro 12:5} It means that out of His minute and infallible knowledge He will render to every man according to his works, judging with faultless accuracy according to that “desire of a man which is the measure of his kindness,” recognizing the “wish of the poor man,” which, though he has not power to perform it, is more valuable than the boasted performances of those who never act up to their power of service. {Pro 19:22} It means that “the Lord trieth the hearts just as the tiffing pot tries the silver, and the furnace the gold.” {Pro 17:3} It means that in thought of such a searching eye, such a comprehensive understanding on the part of the Holy One, none of us can ever say, “I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin.” {Pro 20:9}
All this it means, and there must be some terror in the thought; but the terror, as we begin to understand, becomes our greatest comfort; for He who thus understands us is the Holy One. Terrible would it be to be searched and known in this minute way by one who was not holy, by one who was morally indifferent, by one who took a curious interest in studying the pathology of the conscience, or by one who had a malignant delight in cherishing vices and rewarding evil thoughts. Though we sometimes desire human sympathy in our corrupt passions and unhallowed desires, and are eager for our confederates in sin to understand our pleasures and our pains, -and out of this desire, it may be observed, comes much of our base literature, and all of our joining with a company to do evil, -yet after all we only desire this confederacy on the understanding that we can reveal as little, and conceal as much, as we like; We should no longer be eager to share our feelings if we understood that in the first contact our whole heart would be laid bare, and all the intricacies of our mind would be explored. We must desire that He who is to search us through and through should be holy, and even though He be strict to mark iniquity, should be one who tries the heart in order to purify it. And when we are awakened and understand, we learn to rejoice exceedingly that He who comes with His lamp to search the inmost recesses of our nature is He who can by no means tolerate iniquity, or pass over transgression, but must burn as a mighty fire wherever He finds the fuel of sin to burn.
Have we not found a solution of the paradox? The human heart is isolated; it longs for sympathy, but cannot obtain it; it seems to depend for its happiness on being comprehended, but no fellow-creature can comprehend it; it knows its own bitterness, which no one else can know; it broods over its own joys, but no one can share them. Then it makes discovery of the truth that God can give it what it requires, that He fully understands, that He can enter into all these silent thoughts and unobserved emotions, that He can offer an unfailing sympathy and a faultless comprehension. In its need the lonely heart takes refuge in Him, and makes no murmur that His coming requires the searching, the chastisement, and the purging of sin.
No human being needs to be misunderstood or to suffer under the sense of misunderstanding. Let him turn at once to God. It is childish to murmur against our fellows, who only treat us as we treat them; they do not comprehend us, neither do we comprehend them; they do not give us, as we think, our due, neither do we give them theirs; but God comprehends both them and us, and He gives to them and to us accurately what is due.
No human being is compelled to bear his bitterness alone, for though he cannot tell it or explain to his fellows, he can tell it, and he need not explain it, to God. Is the bitterness an outcome of sin, as most of our bitterness is? Is it the bitterness of a wounded egotism, or of a remorseful conscience, or of spiritual despondency? Or is it the bitterness which springs from the cravings of an unsatisfied heart, the thirst for self-completeness, the longing for a perfect love? In either case God is perfectly able and willing to meet the need. He delights to turn His knowledge of our nature to the purpose of cleansing and transforming the sinful heart: “By His knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many,” He says. He is ready, too, to shed abroad His own rich love in our hearts, leaving no room for the hankering desire, and creating the peace of a complete fulfillment.
No human being need imagine that he is unappreciated; his fellow-men may not want him, but God does. “The Lord hath made everything for His own purpose, yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.” He apprehends all that is good in your heart, and will not suffer a grain of pure gold to be lost; while He sees too every particle of evil, and will not suffer it to continue. He knows where the will is set upon righteousness, where the desire is turned towards Him, and will delicately encourage the will, and bountifully satisfy the desire. He sees, too, when the will is hardened against Him, and the desire is set upon iniquity, and He is mercifully resolved to visit the corrupt will and the evil desire with “eternal destruction from the face of the Lord, and from the glory of His might,”-mercifully, I say, for no torture could be more terrible and hopeless than for the evil man to live eternally in the presence of God.
Finally, no human being need be without a sharer of his joy: and that is a great consideration, for joy unshared quickly dies, and is from the beginning haunted by a vague sense of shadow that is falling upon it. In the heart of the Eternal dwells eternal joy. All loveliness, all sweetness, all goodness, all truth, are the objects of His happy contemplation; therefore every really joyful heart has an immediate sympathizer in God; and prayer is quite as much the means by which we share our gladness as the vehicle by which we convey our sorrows to the Divine heart. Is it not beautiful to think of all those timid and retiring human spirits, who cherish sweet ecstasies, and feel glowing exultations, and are frequently caught up in heavenly raptures, which the shy countenance and stammering tongue never could record? They feel their hearts melt with joy in the prospect of broad skies and sunlit fields, in the sound of morning birds and rushing streams; they hear great choirs of happy spirits chanting perpetually in heaven and in earth, and on every side of their obscure way open vistas of inspired vision. No stranger meddles with their joy, or even knows of it.
God is not a stranger; to Him they tell it all, with Him they share it, and their joy is part of the joy of the Eternal.