Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 17:1
Better [is] a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than a house full of sacrifices [with] strife.
1. sacrifices with strife ] Lit. sacrifices of strife, but better rendered, good cheer with strife, A.V. marg.; or, feasting with strife, R.V. text. This rendering, however, may be arrived at in either of two ways, (1) We may suppose that the ordinance of feasting on part of a sacrifice Lev 7:16; Lev 19:6-8) appealed so to the popular mind, that the restriction to “the place which the Lord their God should choose” (Deu 12:4-14) came to be neglected, and as is too commonly the case, with Christmas, for example, in our own day, the word which should have denoted a religious act before God, sank down to mean a mere worldly feast at home. (2) But it may be doubted whether the Heb. for sacrifice is not used here in the sense of animals slain or killed for eating, as in Deu 12:15; 1Sa 28:24 ; 1Ki 19:21; and Eze 39:17, compared with Rev 19:17, where of the LXX. becomes . See also Mat 22:4.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Sacrifices – The feast accompanied the offerings Pro 7:14. Part of the victims were burned upon the altar, the rest was consumed by the worshipper and his friends. The house full of sacrifices was therefore one abounding in sumptuous feasts.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Pro 17:1
Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices with strife.
The maker and breaker of a familys peace
Truth sweetens the relations of life; falsehood eats like rust into their core. When they live in love, men meet each other softly and kindly, as the eyelids meet. Envy casts grains of sand between the two, and under each. Every movement then sends a shooting pain through all the body, and makes the salt tears flow. So good are peace and love for human kind, that with them a family will be happy, though they have nothing else in the world; and without them miserable, although they have the whole world at their command. A dinner of herbs and a stalled ox indicate the two extremes–humble poverty on the one side and pampered luxury on the other. When love leaves the family circle, it is no longer a piece of Gods own handiwork, and there is no security for safety in any of its motions. Love is the element in which all its relations are set, for softness and safety; and when it has evaporated, nothing remains but that each member of the house should be occupied in mounting a miserable guard over his own interests, and against the anticipated contact of the rest. In that dislocated house, each dreads all, and all dread each. Some rich families live in love, and doubly enjoy their abundance: some poor families quarrel over their herbs. Riches cannot secure happiness, and poverty cannot destroy it. Whether it be husband or wife, parent or child, master or servant, the disturber of a house must answer to its almighty Protector for abusing His gifts, and thwarting His gracious designs. (W. Arnot, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XVII
Contentment. The wise servant. The Lord tries the heart.
Children a crown to their parents. We should hide our
neighbour’s faults. The poor should not be despised.
Litigations and quarrels to be avoided. Wealth is useless to
a fool. The good friend. A fool may pass for a wise man when
he holds his peace.
NOTES ON CHAP. XVII
Verse 1. Better is a dry morsel] Peace and contentment, and especially domestic peace, are beyond all other blessings.
A house full of sacrifices] A Hindoo priest, who officiates at a festival, sometimes receives so many offerings that his house is filled with them, so that many of them are damaged before they can be used.-Ward.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Of sacrifices; of the remainders of sacrifices, of which they used to make feasts; of which See Poole “Pro 7:14“. Or, of slain beasts, as that word is used, Gen 31:54, and elsewhere.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. sacrificesor, “feasts”made with part of them (compare Pro 7:14;Lev 2:3; Lev 7:31).
withliterally, “of.”
strifeits product, orattendant.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Better [is] a dry morsel, and quietness therewith,…. A small quantity of bread; a broken piece of bread, as the word w signifies; which has been long broken off, and become “dry” x; a dry crust of bread; old bread, as the Arabic version; an old, mouldy, dry piece of bread: and the word used has the signification of destruction in it: bread that has lost its taste and virtue; or, however, a mere piece of bread is meant, without anything to eat with it, as Gersom, butter, cheese, or flesh: this, with quietness and peace among those that partake of it, peace in the family, in a man’s own mind, especially if he has the peace of God, which passeth all understanding; this is better
than a house full of sacrifices [with] strife; than a house ever so well furnished with good cheer, or a table ever so richly spread; or where there is plenty of slain beasts for food, or for sacrifice, which were usually the best, and part of which the people had to eat, and at which times feasts used to be made; but the meanest food, with tranquillity and contentment, is preferable to the richest entertainment where there is nothing but strife and contention among the guests; for, where that is, there is confusion and every evil work: peace and joy in the Holy Ghost are better than meats and drinks. Mr. Dod used to say,
“brown bread and the Gospel are good fare;”
see Pr 15:17.
w “frustrum”, a , “fregit”, Gejerus. x “siccum frustum panis”, Tigurine version; “cibi sicci” Junius Tremellius “brucella sicca”, V. L. Mercerus, Piscator; “buccea sicca”, Cocceuis; “frustum sicci, sc. cibi”, Michaelis, “frustum siccae buccellae, Schultens, so Ben Melech.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Pro 17:1 A comparative proverb with , pairing with Pro 16:32:
Better a dry piece of bread, and quietness therewith,
Than a house full of slain beasts with unquietness.
Similar to this in form and contents are Pro 15:16. and Pro 16:8. is a piece of bread ( , fem., as Pro 23:8) without savoury drink (Theodotion, , i.e., nothing with it), cf. Lev 7:10, a meat-offering without the pouring out of oil. are not sacrificial gifts (Hitzig), but, as always, slain animals, i.e., either offerings or banquets of slain beasts; it is the old name of the (cf. Exo 18:12; Exo 24:5; Pro 7:14), part of which only were offered on the altar, and part presented as a banquet; and (in contradist. to , Lev 9:2; 43:16) denotes generally any kind of consecrated festival in connection with the worship of God, 1Sa 20:29; cf. Gen 31:54. “Festivals of hatred” are festivals with hatred. is part. with object.-accus.; in general forms a constructive, occurs only once (Jer 6:11), and not at all. We have already, Pro 7:14, remarked on the degenerating of the shelamm feasts; from this proverb it is to be concluded that the merriment and the excitement bordering on intoxication (cf. with Hitzig, 1Sa 1:13 and 1Sa 1:3), such as frequently at the Kirmsen merry-makings, brought quarrels and strife, so that the poor who ate his dry bread in quiet peace could look on all this noise and tumult without envy.
Pro 17:2 2 A prudent servant shall rule over the degenerate son;
And he divides the inheritance among the brethren.
Regarding the contrasts of and , vid., at Pro 10:5; Pro 14:35. The printed editions present in genit. connection: a son of the scandalous class, which is admissible; but Cod. 1294 and Cod. Jaman,
(Note: The Cod. brought by Sapiir from Jemen, of which there is an account in the preface to the edition of Isaiah by Baer and me.)
Erf. No. 2, 3, write (with Tsere and Munach), and that is perhaps right, after Pro 10:5; Pro 17:25. The futures have here also a fut. signification: they say to what it will come. Grotius remarks, with reference to this: manumissus tutor filiis relinquetur ; tutorio officio . But if he is a conscientious, unselfish tutor, he will not enrich himself by property which belongs to another; and thus, though not without provision, he is yet without an inheritance. And yet the supplanting of the degenerate is brought about by this, that he loses his inheritance, and the intelligent servant steps into his place. Has one then to suppose that the master of the house makes his servant a co-heir with his own children, and at the same time names him as his executor? That were a bad anachronism. The idea of the was, at the time when this proverb was coined, one unknown – Israelitish iniquity knows only the intestate right of inheritance, regulated by lineal and gradual succession. Then, if one thinks of the degenerate son, that he is disowned by the father, but that the intelligent servant is not rewarded during the life of his master for his true services, and that, after the death of the master, to such a degree he possesses the esteem and confidence of the family, that he it is who divides the inheritance among the brethren, i.e., occupies the place amongst them of distributor of the inheritance, not: takes a portion of the inheritance, for has not the double meaning of the Lat. participare ; it means to divide, and may, with , mean “to give a part of anything” (Job 39:17); but, with the accus., nothing else than to distribute, e.g., Jos 18:2, where it is to be translated: “whose inheritance had not yet been distributed (not yet given to them).” Jerome, haereditatem dividet ; and thus all translators, from the lxx to Luther.
Pro 17:3 3 The fining-pot for silver, and the furnace for gold;
And a trier of hearts is Jahve.
An emblematical proverb, which means that Jahve is for the heart what the smelting-pot (from , to change, particularly to melt, to refine) is for silver, and what the smelting furnace ( , from , R. , to round, Exo 22:20) is for gold, that Jahve is for the heart, viz., a trier ( , to grind, to try by grinding, here as at Psa 7:10) of their nature and their contents, for which, of the proof of metals, is elsewhere (Pro 16:2; Pro 21:2; Pro 24:12) used the word (cf. , the essay-master, Jer 6:7) , weigher, or , searcher (1Ch 28:9). Wherever the subject spoken of is God, the searcher of hearts, the plur. , once ecno , , is used; the form occurs only in the status conjunctus with the suffix. In Pro 27:21 there follow the two figures, with which there is formed a priamel, as at Pro 26:3, another tertium comparationis.
Pro 17:4 4 A profligate person giveth heed to perverse lips;
Falsehood listeneth to a destructive tongue.
The meaning, at all events, is, that whoever gives ear with delight to words which are morally reprobate, and aimed at the destruction of neighbours, thereby characterizes himself as a profligate. Though is probably not pred. but subj., yet so that what follows does not describe the (the profligate hearkens…), but stamps him who does this as a (a profligate, or, as we say: only a profligate…). , for , is warranted by Isa 9:16, where (not ton , according to which the Venet. here translates ) is testified to not only by correct codd. and editions, but also by the Masora (cf. Michlol 116b). (from , R. , to stiffen, or, as we say, to prick, viz., the ear) is generally united with or , but, as here and at Pro 29:12; Jer 6:19, also with . , wickedness, is the absolute contrast of a pious and philanthropic mind; , from , not in the sense of eagerness, as Pro 10:3; Pro 11:6, but of yawning depth, abyss, catastrophe ( vid., at Psa 5:10), is equivalent to entire destruction – the two genitives denote the property of the lips and the tongue ( labium nequam, lingua perniciosa ), on the side of that which it instrumentally aims at (cf. Psa 36:4; Psa 52:4): practising mischief, destructive plans. beginning the second line is generally regarded as the subj. parallel with , as Luther, after Jerome, “A wicked man gives heed to wicked mouths, and a false man listens willingly to scandalous tongues.” It is possible that denotes incarnate falsehood, as , Pro 12:27, incarnate slothfulness, cf. , Pro 14:25, and perhaps also Pro 12:17; , Psa 58:2, , Mic 6:9; , Isa 26:13, etc., where, without supplying ( ), the property stands instead of the person possession that property. The clause, that falsehood listeneth to a deceitful tongue, means that he who listens to it characterizes himself thereby, according to the proverb, simile simili gaudet , as a liar. But only as a liar? The punctuation before us, which represents by Dechi as subj., or also pred., takes as obj. with as its governing word, and why should not that be the view intended? The representation of the obj. is an inversion less bold than Isa 22:2; Isa 8:22, and that here should not be so closely connected with the verb of hearing, as 4a lies near by this, that is elsewhere found, but not . Jewish interpreters, taking as obj., try some other meaning of than auscultans ; but neither , to approach, nor , to arm ( Venet. ), gives a meaning suitable to this place. is equivalent to . As , Job 32:11, is contracted into , so must , if the character of the part. shall be preserved, become , mediated by .
Pro 17:5 5 He that mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker;
He that rejoiceth over calamity remains not unpunished.
Line first is a variation of Pro 14:31. God is, according to Pro 22:2, the creator of the poor as well as of the rich. The poor, as a man, and as poor, is the work of God, the creator and governor of all things; thus, he who mocketh the poor, mocketh Him who called him into existence, and appointed him his lowly place. But in general, compassion and pity, and not joy ( , commonly with , of the person, e.g., Obad. Oba 1:12, the usual formula for ), is appropriate in the presence of misfortune ( , from , to be heavily burdened), for such joy, even if he on whom the misfortune fell were our enemy, is a peccatum mortale , Job 31:29. There is indeed a hallowed joy at the actual revelation in history of the divine righteousness; but this would not be a hallowed joy if it were not united with deep sorrow over those who, accessible to no warning, have despised grace, and, by adding sin to sin, have provoked God’s anger.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
1 Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices with strife.
These words recommend family-love and peace, as conducing very much to the comfort of human life. 1. Those that live in unity and quietness, not only free from jealousies and animosities, but vying in mutual endearments, and obliging to one another, live very comfortably, though they are low in the world, work hard and fare hard, though they have but each of them a morsel, and that a dry morsel. There may be peace and quietness where there are not three meals a day, provided there by a joint satisfaction in God’s providence and a mutual satisfaction in each other’s prudence. Holy love may be found in a cottage. 2. Those that live in contention, that are always jarring and brawling, and reflecting upon one another, though they have plenty of dainties, a house full of sacrifices, live uncomfortably; they cannot expect the blessing of God upon them and what they have, nor can they have any true relish of their enjoyments, much less any peace in their own consciences. Love will sweeten a dry morsel, but strife will sour and embitter a house full of sacrifices. A little of the leaven of malice will leaven all the enjoyments.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
POVERTY AND PEACE
(Proverbs 17)
Poverty and Peace Preferable
Verse 1 declares a common meal with peace is better than a sumptuous feast with strife, Pro 15:17.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Pro. 17:1. Sacrifices, literally killings, i.e., slain beasts, not necessarily animals killed for sacrifice.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER 17
TEXT Pro. 17:1-10
1.
Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith,
Than a house full of feasting with strife.
2.
A servant that dealeth wisely shall have rule over a son that causeth shame,
And shall have part in the inheritance among the brethren.
3.
The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold;
But Jehovah trieth the hearts.
4.
An evil-doer giveth heed to wicked lips;
And a liar giveth ear to a mischievous tongue.
5.
Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker;
And he that is glad at calamity shall not be unpunished.
6.
Childrens children are the crown of old men;
And the glory of children are their fathers.
7.
Excellent speech becometh not a fool;
Much less do lying lips a prince,
8.
A bribe is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that hath it;
Whithersoever it turneth, it prospereth.
9.
He that covereth a transgression seeketh love;
But he that harpeth on a matter separateth chief friends.
10.
A rebuke entereth deeper into one that hath understanding
Than a hundred stripes into a fool.
STUDY QUESTIONS OVER 17:1-10
1.
What does quietness stand for in Pro. 17:1?
2.
Cite the two contrasts in Pro. 17:2.
3.
What does Jehovah do when He trieth the hearts (Pro. 17:3)?
4.
Why will a liar give heed to a mischievous tongue (Pro. 17:4)?
5.
What are some common examples of laughing at calamity (Pro. 17:5)?
6.
Reproacheth whose Maker (Pro. 17:5)?
7.
What is meant in Pro. 17:6 by the glory of children are their fathers?
8.
What is excellent speech (Pro. 17:7)?
9.
What does becometh mean in Pro. 17:7?
10.
What is the meaning of a bribes being a precious stone to its possessor (Pro. 17:8)?
11.
What is the it in Pro. 17:8?
12.
Covers his or somebody elses transgression (Pro. 17:9)?
13.
What is harping on a matter (Pro. 17:9)?
14.
What will help a man if one hundred stripes wont (Pro. 17:10)?
PARAPHRASE OF 17:1-10
1.
A dry crust eaten in peace is better than steak every day along with argument and strife.
2.
A wise slave will rule his masters wicked sons and share their estate.
3.
Silver and gold are purified by fire, but God purifies hearts.
4.
The wicked enjoy fellowship with others who are wicked; liars enjoy liars.
5.
Mocking the poor is mocking the God who made them. He will punish those who rejoice at others misfortunes.
6.
An old mans grandchildren are his crowning glory. A childs glory is his father.
7.
Truth from a rebel or lies from a king are both unexpected.
8.
A bribe works like magic. Whoever uses it will prosper!
9.
Love forgets mistakes; nagging about them parts the best of friends.
10.
A rebuke to a man of common sense is more effective than a hundred lashes on the back of a rebel.
COMMENTS ON 17:1-10
Pro. 17:1. Because their bread was dry, they dipped it in water and other softening fluids (Rth. 2:14; Joh. 13:36). And having only a dry morsel to eat could be the sign of extreme poverty. So taken, the verse means that poverty and peace are to be preferred to prosperity and problems (such as strife). The rich have troubles and problems that the poor do not have. This statement should be a comfort to people who have only the barest of necessities. Pro. 15:17 is very similar.
Pro. 17:2. Pulpit Commentary: Here is intimated the supremacy of wisdom over folly and vise…Slaves were often raised to high honor and might inherit their masters possessions. Thus Abrahams servant…was at one time considered the patriarchs heir (Gen. 15:2-3); Ziba, Sauls servant, obtained the inheritance of his lord Mephibosheth (2Sa. 16:4); Joseph was advanced to the highest post in Egypt. In European history when the sons of Clovis, king of the Franks, did not really care to rule but merely to enjoy the pleasures of the palace, they had mayors of the palace who did the actual ruling, and in time the mayors became the heirs of the throne itself. (For further reading consult the Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties in church history books or encyclopedias.) For a son that causeth shame, see Pro. 10:5; Pro. 19:26.
Pro. 17:3. Just as men refine gold and silver (Pro. 27:21), so does God refine men. Through the Word (Joh. 15:3), but especially through chastening (Isa. 48:10; Heb. 12:11) and persecution (1Pe. 1:6-7; Jas. 1:2-3; and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (2Co. 3:18), does He refine us. Mal. 3:2-3 aptly predicted this refining in the Christian dispensation.
Pro. 17:4. It is common for perverse people to believe the wrong thing about others. They want to. They get enjoyment from it. They derive satisfaction in thinking the righteous are not really righteous. This verse is a case of Hebrew parallelism in which the second line restates the truth of the first statement. Thus the liar is the evil-doer, giveth ear is the same as giveth heed, and a mischievous tongue is the same as wicked lips The liar will have something more to lie about.
Pro. 17:5. Pro. 14:31 talked of oppressing the poor; this verse of mocking the poor. People mock the poor when they make fun of them, laugh at them, mimic them, and make life harder for them. God is the Maker of the poor as well as the rich (Pro. 22:2); when we mock them, we mock Him; when we give to them, we are making a loan to the Lord (Pro. 19:17). We should not be glad at any calamity, whether that calamity be poverty (as in this context) or any other. Job said he was free from this (Job. 31:29), but Edom wasnt (Oba. 1:12). God will punish us if we do (Pro. 24:17).
Pro. 17:6. When ones own health begins to fail, and it seems there is less and less purpose for ones earthly life, along come the births of grandchildren to inject a new dimension into ones living. They crown ones life near ones bowing-out years. The last statement shows that good children not only respect their parents but actually glory in them. How they will brag about them (sometimes even exaggerate concerning what he can do, what he knows, how much money he has, etc.).
For the blessing that children can be, see Psa. 127:3-5; Psa. 128:3.
Pro. 17:7. Excellent speech is speaking only the facts, speaking them at the right time, at the right place, to the right person, in the right spirit, and for the right purpose (to mention a few of its characteristics). As we dont expect good speech from a fool, neither should we expect bad speech from a ruler. It is a shame that so many of our present-day ruling-class, even though elected to their offices, are known for being politicians (policy-men) more than statesmen (doing what is right under all conditions).
Pro. 17:8. The various translations face the problem of whether it should be bribe, gift, or stone of grace, and whether the it after whithersoever should be it or he. Of all the translations the New World gives as understandable a message on this verse as any: The gift is a stone winning favor in the eyes of its grand owner. Everywhere that he turns he has success. If the foregoing is correct, both Pro. 18:16; Pro. 19:6 verify the truth of its statement. If bribe is correct, Living Bible has, A bribe works like magic. Whoever uses it will prosper and it adds this footnote: This is a fact, but the writer strictly forbids this perversion of justice. See Pro. 17:23
Pro. 17:9. Septuagint: He who concealeth injuries seeketh friendship. Ones sense of love will cause him not to repeat many things he has heard, even if true, if they are not in the best interests of the one involved (Pro. 10:12). Harping on a matter is just the opposite of concealing it, for it utilizes every opportunity to bring it up, to mention it, or to ramble on and on about it. This can be the end of friendship.
Pro. 17:10. The contrast here does not mean to elevate rebuke (words of correction) and eliminate stripes (Physical punishments). It merely shows that some words do a wise man more good than stripes do a fool. What a pity that there are some whom neither words nor stripes will help! Peter was a man who was helped by rebuke, by both Jesus and Paul (Mat. 16:23; Mat. 26:75; Gal. 2:11-15).
Pro. 17:11. An evil man is one who will not be guided and governed by that which is right. He is a law-breaker, both in heart and in act. He seeks only rebellion against properly constituted authority (parents, school, government, manners, etc.). He, thus, is a liability and not an asset. Because he will not obey, will not respect the rights and property of others, he is often confined in prison at a great outlay of citizens money. Better for society if he had never been born!
TEST QUESTIONS OVER 17:1-10
1.
In Pro. 17:1 a dry morsel stands in contrast with ……………… and quietness stands in contrast with ……………….
2.
Cite instances illustrating the truth of Pro. 17:2.
3.
Men work at refining gold and silver; God works at refining …………………… (Pro. 17:3).
4.
Why do evil people give heed to wicked lips (Pro. 17:3)?
5.
Cite the three parallels in Pro. 17:4.
6.
Why is mocking the poor tantamount to mocking God Pro. 17:5)?
7.
What about being glad at others calamities (Pro. 17:5)?
8.
What is a great blessing of old age (Pro. 17:6)?
9.
Comment on the fathers being the glory of children (Pro. 17:6)?
10.
What is the double contrast in Pro. 17:7?
11.
What is the problem of understanding Pro. 17:8?
12.
What will love cause one to do concerning the faults of others (Pro. 17:9)?
13.
Is Pro. 17:10 a contrast between rebuking and whipping or what?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
XVII.
(1) A house full of sacrifices.Possibly the same as the peace offerings of Pro. 7:14 (where see note). The consumption of these may have at times degenerated into licence (comp. 1Sa. 1:13), and quarrelling have ensued.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1. A dry morsel As we say, a dry crust; that is, without any of the usual accompaniments of butter, drink, or anything to moisten or flavour it.
A house full of sacrifices Or, slaughterings; slaughtered beasts.
With strife Or, of strife. The expression may mean such slaughtered beasts as were obtained by strife, or were eaten with strife. Probably the latter is here intended. It is possible for both to be combined in the same feast. The allusion, probably, is to a feast upon the sacrifices, part being consumed on the altar, the remainder by the worshipper, his friends, and the priest. On first clause, compare Rth 2:14; on second clause, Gen 43:16; Pro 7:14; Pro 9:2; Isa 34:6. For general meaning, see Pro 15:16-17; Pro 16:18.
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
Proverbs Of Solomon Part 2 ( Pro 15:22 to Pro 22:16 ).
At this point there is a sudden switch from proverbs which contrast one thing with another, which have been predominant since Pro 10:1, to proverbs where the second clause adds something to the first. Whilst we still find some contrasting proverbs, especially at the beginning, they are not so common. This may suggest a deliberate intention by Solomon to separate his proverbs into two parts.
Furthermore such a change at this point would also be in line with seeing verse Pro 10:1 and Pro 15:20 as some kind of inclusio. The first opened the collection with ‘a wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a grief to his mother’ (Pro 10:1), whilst Pro 15:20 may be seen as closing it with the very similar ‘a wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish man despises his mother’. Pro 15:21 may then be seen as conjoined with Pro 15:20 and as a kind of postscript summing up the fool and the wise who have been in mind throughout the proverbs up to this point.
Pro 15:22, in fact, provides a particularly suitable introduction to a new section with its emphasis on the need for a ‘multitude of counsellors’, who can partly be found in the authors of the proverbs which follow (Solomon and the wise men).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Solomon Contrasts The Behaviour Of The Perverse And Worthless Man With The Life and Attitudes Of The Man Grown Old In Righteousness, Who Is An Exemplar Of All The Righteous ( Pro 16:30 to Pro 17:7 ).
The subsection begins with a contrast between the perverse and worthless man who closes his eyes and purses his lips (compare Pro 6:12-13 a) in preparation for planning perverse things and bringing about evil (Pro 16:30), and the one whose hoary head is a crown of glory, as he walks in the way of righteousness (Pro 16:31). Perhaps included in this is the thought that as men grow older they grow wiser, but the main aim is to contrast folly with righteousness and wisdom. The old man personifies the wise. He is crowned with glory (compare Pro 4:9; Pro 1:9). It may also be an underlining of the fact that it is to the wise that long life is promised (Pro 3:2; Pro 3:16; Pro 4:10; Pro 9:11; Pro 10:27).
In the same way, it is the old, rather than hot-headed young men, who tend to be slow to anger and learn to rule their spirits, a task more difficult than conquering a city (Pro 16:32). Such men have learned that all is in YHWH’s hand and that they can safely leave it with Him (Pro 16:33). They pay less heed to lies and gossip (Pro 17:4), and live to see their grandchildren who glory in them (Pro 17:6). But again they are examples to all the righteous.
In contrast are the unrighteous. They devise perverse things, and bring evil (mischief) about (compare Pro 16:27). They may be strong and take cities, but they cannot rule themselves (Pro 16:32). They bring shame on sacrifices, quarrelling over them (Pro 17:1). They listen to rumours and lies (Pro 17:4). They mock the poor and celebrate the coming of calamity on others (Pro 17:5). Their talk is low level and they have lying lips (Pro 17:7). YHWH tries their hearts and they will not go unpunished (Pro 17:3; Pro 17:5).
The subsection is presented chiastically:
A He who shuts his eyes, it is to devise perverse things, he who compresses his lips brings evil about (Pro 16:30).
B The hoary head is a crown of glory, it will be found in the way of righteousness (Pro 16:31).
C He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit, than he who takes a city (Pro 16:32).
D The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing of it is of YHWH (Pro 16:32).
E Better is a dry bit of food, and quietness with it, than a house full of quarrelsome sacrifices (Pro 17:1).
E A servant who deals wisely will have rule over a son who causes shame, and will have part in the inheritance among the brothers (Pro 17:2).
D The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, but YHWH tries the hearts (Pro 17:3).
C An evildoer pays heed to wicked lips, and a liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue. Whoever mocks the poor reproaches his Maker, and he who is glad at calamity will not be unpunished (Pro 17:4-5).
B Children’s children are the crown of old men, and the glory of children are their fathers (Pro 17:6).
A Excellent speech is not suitable for a fool, much less are lying lips to a prince (Pro 17:7).
Note that in A the one who compresses his lips bring evil about, whilst in the parallel lying lips are not suitable for a prince. In B the hoary head is a crown of glory, and in the parallel a man’s grandchildren are his crown, while he is a glory to them. In C the one who is slow to anger and rules his spirit (conquers himself) is better than the conqueror of a city, whilst in the parallel in contrast the evildoer and liar allow themselves to be aroused, and they mock the poor, and are glad at calamity (at cities being conquered). In D YHWH decides the disposing of the lot, thus deciding the future for men, and in the parallel He tests out their hearts, also determining their futures. Centrally in E a dry bit of food with quietness is better than shameful quarrelling over sacrificial food, whilst in the parallel being a servant is better than being a shameful son.
Pro 16:30
‘He who closes (‘atsah) his eyes, it is to devise perverse things,
He who compresses his lips brings evil about.’
The verb ‘atsah is found only here but in Arabic means ‘to close’. Thus the idea may be of closing the eyes as an indication that he will not listen to advice, and then the pursing of the lips might indicate an unwillingness to say anything because he knows it would be unwelcome. (Compare Pro 17:7, ‘excellent words are not suitable for a fool’). In other words he is obstinate in evil. He ignores what others have to say. Or it may refer to winking the eye as in Pro 6:13 indicating that he is not to be trusted (but in that case why not use the same verb?), and in that case the pursing of the lips may have in mind the ‘perverse mouth’ of Pro 6:12. So either he is obstinate, or he is deceitful and perverse.
And the reason that he is so is because he is scheming to do perverse things, and is intending to bring ‘evil’ about. ‘Evil’ may indicate calamities (such as conquering a city (Pro 16:32), or may simply signify morally evil things. He is so worthless and foolish that he closes himself off by unspoken signs from considering the concerns of people.
Pro 16:31
‘The hoary head is a crown of glory,
It will be found in the way of righteousness.’
In contras to this obstinate and perverse man is the old, grey-haired, righteous man. His hair is to him like a crown of glory, the crown given by wisdom to those who heed her (compare Pro 4:9; Pro 1:9). For such a man is found in the way of righteousness. Not for him the closing of the eyes and the pursing of the lips. He is open and honest with all. He plans what is good, he does not devise what is perverse. He does not bring evil about. Rather his children are a credit to him, and they glory in him (Pro 17:6).
Pro 16:32
‘Better is he who is slow to anger than the mighty,
And he who rules his spirit, than he who takes a city.’
This may simply be saying that the one who is slow to anger and who is able to rule his spirit, in other words who conquers his emotions, shows such strength that he is more to be admired than a mighty warrior, or the conqueror of a city. He is able to be patient in the face of all that may come at him. He never acts in anger. Or it may be saying that he is morally superior. He has taken the better road. Indeed Solomon may in recent memory have been faced with just such a dilemma. Either way the sacking of the city may possibly be seen as one of the evils in the mind of the one who purses his lips (Pro 16:30). The grey-haired man of wisdom is seen to be a peacemaker who makes wise decisions, whilst the perverse man is seen to be a war-monger who is simply after spoil.
Pro 16:33
‘The lot is cast into the lap,
But the whole disposing of it is of YHWH.’
Both men in Pro 16:32 could have been seen as ‘tempting fate’, unsure of what the outcome would be. But the writer assures us that it was not so for it is YHWH Who determines all things. (Shall evil be in a city and YHWH has not done it?’ – Amo 3:6). The implication may be that the grey-haired man was aware of this, which explains why he was so wise. He was prepared to leave things in the hands of YHWH ‘who tries the hearts’ (Pro 17:3). Note the parallel. YHWH disposes of the lot as He wills, YHWH tries the hearts. All is in His hands.
In general the proverb is an indication that nothing happens by chance. Even when a lot is cast, what it reveals is determined by YHWH. For YHWH is in control of all things. He determines how the lot falls. He determines our destinies. (But it does not guarantee that God will reveal His will in this way. This is not an indication that this is a useful way of discovering God’s will. It is rather seen in Pro 18:18 as a way of settling a dispute where there is little to choose between options or where all have to be agreed about a decision. While being used by the Apostles before the coming of the Holy Spirit (Act 1:24-26) and only then after they had come down to a final choice between two, it was never so used afterwards).
The ‘lot’ would probably be a small stone, or a piece of wood, or a number of them, tossed into the lap in order to ‘determine YHWH’s will’. They may have had markings on them to assist the decision. For example Urim and Thummim in the High Priest’s breastpouch may have been ‘lots’. But they were only used on solemn occasions. Examples of their use may b given in Jos 7:16-19; 1Sa 14:41-42 ; 1Sa 23:9-13; 2Sa 2:1. But we have no details of how they were used.
Pro 17:1
‘Better is a dry bit of bread, and quietness with it,
Than a house full of quarrelsome sacrifices.’
For this proverb we can compare Pro 15:17, ‘better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a sacrificed ox and hatred with it’. But here there is a closer connection between the quarrelsomeness and the sacrifice. To partake of peace offerings, which would be slain at the Temple with their meat then being brought home for a sacrificial meal, and to do it while engaging in a family quarrel, was a contradiction in terms. It demonstrated a total disregard for YHWH. Far better then to have a bit of bread which had not been dipped in any kind of sauce (and was therefore dry), and be at peace, which would be more likely what was eaten by the servants. To them sauce would have been a luxury.
Note the deliberate contrast between the dry bit of bread, and a houseful of sacrificial meat. But in a quarrelsome household someone would be better off eating among the servants than shaming their family by quarrelling while partaking of a peace offering. The comparison of peace with strife connects this proverb to Pro 16:32 where the one who rules his spirit (and is thus at peace) is contrasted with one who takes a city (and is thus engaging in a quarrel).
Pro 17:2
‘A servant who deals wisely will have rule over a son who causes shame,
And will have part in the inheritance among the brothers.’
The quarrelsome sacrifices of the previous proverb explain the ‘son who causes shame’. Indeed, all who had participated in the sacrifices in a quarrelsome mood had brought shame on the family, while it may well have been the servants who had to be satisfied with undipped bread. And yet such a servant would have been better off religiously because he did so at peace.
This then leads on to the idea that the servant, who is clearly of the wise for ‘he deals wisely’, will have rule over the one who causes shame, either by his irreligious and foolish behaviour, or by any other means. The wise will triumph over the fool. And what is more, he may well so prosper that he will be adopted by the father of the family and have his part in the family inheritance along with the brothers. Solomon may well have had some example in mind. He would certainly know of cases where a wise, and therefore beloved servant, had been adopted as a son as a consequence of his ‘wise dealing’ (compareGen 15:2-4).
Pro 17:3
‘The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold,
But YHWH tries the hearts.
The testing, and if necessary, refining, of silver and gold was carried out in special smelting pots or ovens, heated by furnaces. The pots or ovens would be heated up, with bellows often being used to intensify the heat. Smaller ones would be made of clay. A smelting oven would have one or more openings through which to use the bellows to fan the flames and another opening or openings through which the impurities could be siphoned off. In exceptional cases such furnaces could be large enough to hold three men (Dan 4:19-25). The metals would be heated up and melted, releasing their impurities which would be siphoned off leaving the purified silver or gold.
The idea is used metaphorically for God’s activities in testing and trying men and women through circumstances (see Psa 66:10; Isa 1:25; Isa 48:10; Jer 6:29; Jer 9:7; Zec 13:9; 1Co 3:13). It is through such chastening that men learn wisdom (Pro 3:11-12). Here YHWH is figuratively depicted as so testing the hearts of men. ‘Nor is there any creature which is not manifest in His sight, but all things are naked and opened to the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do’ (Heb 4:13). It is a reminder that God constantly tests the hearts of men, including our own.
The testing of the silver and gold parallels the ‘testing’ of the servant of the previous proverb who had proved himself worthy to be a son (the verdict from the testing was that he ‘dealt wisely’). But in this case the testing is of all men, and YHWH is the tester. This parallels the casting of the lot which tested options, and came out as YHWH determined.
Pro 17:4-5
‘An evildoer pays heed to wicked lips,
And a liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue.’
‘Whoever mocks the poor reproaches his Maker,
And he who is glad at calamity will not be unpunished.’
In Pro 16:32 we learned of the one who was slow to anger and who ruled his spirit, controlled and thoughtful in all that he did. Now we have described those who reveal the opposite traits. They do not control themselves. They hear and react unwisely. They listen to unrighteous lips and do evil, because they are evildoers. (The righteous man would not have done it). They listen to mischievous gossip and slander, and, with some relish, pass on the lies, thereby revealing themselves as themselves liars. They see a man’s poverty and deride him, not realising that thereby they are reproaching the One Who made him. They see calamity coming on men and are even glad at it, revealing themselves as callous and uncaring. But none of them will be unpunished, for in each case what they are doing is reproaching the One Who made their victims, and the One Who tries the hearts (Pro 17:3) will see and will repay.
And this is especially so in the case of their derision of the poor. YHWH made all men, both rich and poor (Pro 22:2). They were made in His image. And so to deride the poor is to deride YHWH. It may be that their poverty is due to their own slothfulness and refusal to listen to advice (Pro 6:11; Pro 10:4), for it is in parallel with calamity, which comes on those who refuse to hear wisdom (Pro 1:26-27; Pro 6:15). Thus both may be getting their deserts. But that is no reason why others deride them for it or be glad at what comes on them. For YHWH is the Maker of all men, and especially of the poor, and we should weep with those who weep (Rom 12:15).
Pro 17:6
‘Children’s children are the crown of old men,
And the glory of children are their fathers.’
In stark contrast with the evildoers and liars are the children of the righteous. Just as the grey head was a crown of splendour, found in the way of righteousness, so will his children’s children be righteous, for they too will be a crown to him. They too will be found in the way of righteousness. They too will be slow to anger and rule their spirits (Pro 16:32). They too will rely wholly on YHWH and His sovereignty (Pro 16:33). They too will love quietness and peace (Pro 17:1). They too will deal wisely (Pro 17:2). When their hearts are tested they will come out as pure gold (Pro 17:3). They will not pay heed to unrighteous lips, or mischievous tongues (Pro 17:4), nor will they mock the poor or be glad at the sufferings of others (Pro 17:5).
And in turn their splendour lies in their fathers. It is to their fathers that they owe the upbringing and disciplinary instruction that has made them what they are (Pro 1:8; Pro 4:1-9). And any credit that they have is due to him. The whole family reveal their splendour, and the splendour of each generation. And all stems from the righteous grandfather.
Pro 17:7
‘Excellent speech is not suitable for a fool,
Much less are lying lips to a ruler.’
The subsection commenced with ‘he who purses his lips brings evil about’ (Pro 16:30), and it now closes with two clauses referring to the speech of fools and rulers (nobles, those in authority). ‘Excellent speech’ probably refers to wise and sensible words. The idea is that fools, and wise and sensible words, do not go together. Nor do lying words and a prince (someone in authority). Indeed, the opposite should be the case. We would expect wise and sensible words from one in authority, and lying lips from a fool.
This word for ‘fool’ (nabal occurs only here and in Pro 16:21 in the Solomon section, but also occurs in the words of Agur in Pro 30:22, where the verbal form is also found (Pro 30:32). It is the word used in Psa 14:1. Here the nabal lacks wise and sensible speech, in Pro 16:21 his father has no joy in him, and there the nabal is the equivalent of the kesil (the normal word for ‘fool’ in Proverbs). But we can gather its emphasis from elsewhere.
We should expect nothing agreeable from a fool (nabal). He says in his heart that there is no God (Psa 14:1), and he behaves in that way. He disapproves of God all day long (Psa 74:22); he deals corruptly with God and is not one of His children (Deu 32:6); he obtains wealth dishonestly (Jer 17:11); and if a woman she is sexually immoral (2Sa 13:13). Because he is bullheaded he behaves foolishly and with ingratitude (1Sa 25:25). These are the things that we expect of a nabal. But of someone in authority we expect much better. For they judge others, and should therefore live as those who will be judged (Mat 7:2). And this is especially so with regard to truth and honesty. An untruthful man does not make a good ruler.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Pro 17:1 Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices with strife.
Pro 17:2 Pro 17:2
Scripture References – Note: Pro 14:35, “ The king’s favour is toward a wise servant : but his wrath is against him that causeth shame.”
Pro 17:10 A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool.
Pro 17:10
Gal 2:11, “But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.”
Pro 17:10 Comments – Pro 17:10 is telling us that there are different ways to correct the wise and the foolish. A parent quickly learns to use different means of discipline on their children. A person who manages employees learns that each person responds differently to instruction and to correction. Therefore, it takes much wisdom to manage a large group of people effectively.
Pro 17:13 Whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.
Pro 17:13
1. David showed evil to Uriah’s house by taking his wife, Bathsheba, while Uriah had shown good to the David as a faithful soldier in his army. Therefore God pronounced evil into David’s house forever:
2Sa 12:10-11, “Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house ; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun.”
2. Saul rewarded David with evil, when David had only done good for Saul:
1Sa 24:17, “And he said to David, Thou art more righteous than I: for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil.”
3. Nabal rewarded David with evil for his good deed of protecting his herdsmen.
1Sa 25:21 Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him: and he hath requited me evil for good.
Pro 17:17 A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
Pro 17:17
Pro 18:24, “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother .”
Pro 17:22 A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
Pro 17:22
Pro 17:23 A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment.
Pro 17:24 Pro 17:24
A man of understanding has a humble heart that is always ready to receive God’s Word. He does not resist the commandments of God, but rather, receives the implanted Word in meekness. Thus, for him, wisdom comes easily (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.”
Illustration – There was a testimony on a Christian program where a young man left the United States and visited India in search of Eastern religions. After year of searching these religions, he saw their foolishness and became a Christian.
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
Indoctrination: Solomon’s First Collection of Proverbs (Synthetic) – On our journey in chapters 10-15, we have learned to make wise choices and to avoid foolish decisions. In chapter 16, we begin to see that God’s purpose and plan in our lives is bigger than just daily decision-making. This section of Proverbs (Pro 16:1 to Pro 22:16) reveals the divine intervention of God on this journey in life. We must now learn that God has an all-inclusive divine plan for all of his creation, for all of mankind, and a plan for you and me in particular. We must learn not only to make a wise decision, but we must evaluate this decision in light of God’s divine plan for our lives. It is only by God’s divine intervention in our daily lives that we will be able to stay on the path that leads to eternal rest. God will intervene in order to keep our life balanced so that we will not stray in any one direction to far. Therefore, the journey becomes narrower and choices must be made more carefully.
Proverbs 10-15 have given us one-verse sayings that are clearly antithetical. That is, the first part of the verse contrasts with the second part. However, beginning in Pro 16:1 to Pro 22:16, we see a different type of proverb. In this next section of the book of Proverbs the one-verse says have two parts that complement one another. That is, the second phrase amplifies, or further explains, the first phrase, rather than contrast its counterpart. This means that the training is getting a little more intensive. This new section requires more contemplation that the previous section. Rather than contrasting the difference between the wise man and the fool, we begin to learn the consequences of our decisions, whether wise or foolish. We now move from identifying the wise and the fool (Pro 10:1 thru Pro 15:33) into learning the lasting effects that wisdom and foolishness have in our lives (Pro 16:1 thru Pro 22:16). We must learn that we will always reap the consequences of our behavior. This is the process of indoctrination that is a vital part of our spiritual journey.
As we look for signposts within this passage that confirm this theme, we find them in Pro 16:6 and Pro 19:23, which tell us that the fear of the Lord brings forgiveness of our sins and it delivers us from the visitation of evil that judges the wicked.
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.”
It is interesting to note that the opening chapter of this lengthy passage begins with the theme of the sovereignty of God. This passage is place at this place on our journey in order that we might learn that God’s ways always prevail over man’s ways and that we must always reap what we sow.
Therefore, the truths in Pro 16:1 to Pro 22:16 are a little deeper in meaning that the previous section of Pro 10:1 to Pro 15:33. On our journey in Proverbs 10-15, we have seen how a man can make choices that will identify his character. Now, beginning in chapter 16, we take a deeper lesson in life in order to see a bigger picture. Although the outcome in life rests upon our daily choices, we must learn that God intervenes in our lives in order to include us into His divine plan for all of His creation, and for all of mankind. This means that God has a plan for you and me in particular.
Then, we see a signpost at Pro 22:4 as an indication that this phase of learning is ending. Note:
Pro 22:4, “By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life.”
Therefore, Pro 22:4 does not describe the beginning of wisdom (Pro 1:1 thru Pro 9:18), nor the instruction of wisdom (Pro 10:1 thru Pro 15:33), but rather the effects of applying wisdom to our lives. That is, wisdom brings to us the full rewards of riches, honour and life.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
v. 1. Better is a dry morsel,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Pro 17:1
(Comp, Pro 15:16, Pro 15:17; Pro 16:8.) Better (sweeter) is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith. Dry bread was soaked in wine or water before it was eaten. Thus Boaz bid Ruth “dip her morsel in the vinegar” (Rth 2:14); thus Jesus gave the sop to Judas when he had dipped it (Joh 13:26). The Septuagint is pleonastic, “Better is a morsel with joy in peace.” Aben Ezra connects this verse with the last two of ch. 16, confining the application to the patient man; but the sentence seems rather to be independent and general. Than an house full of sacrifices with strife. Of the thank or peace offerings part only was burnt upon the altar, the rest was eaten by the offerer and his family; and as the victims were always the choicest animals, “a house full of sacrifices” would contain the materials for sumptuous feasting (see on Pro 7:4). The joyous family festival often degenerated into excess, which naturally led to quarrels and strife (see 1Sa 1:5, 1Sa 1:6, 1Sa 1:13; 1Sa 2:13, etc.). So the agapae of the early Church were desecrated by licence and selfishness (1Co 11:20, etc.). Septuagint, “than a house full of many good things and unrighteous victims with contention.” With this verse compare the Spanish proverb, “Mas vale un pedazo de pan con amor, que gallinas con dolor.”
Pro 17:2
A wise servant shall have rule over a son that causeth shame. Here is intimated the supremacy of wisdom over folly and vice. The contrast is better emphasized by translating, A servant that dealeth wisely shall have rule over a son that doeth shamefully; i.e. a son of his master. (For similar contrast between “wise” and “shameful,” comp. Pro 10:5; Pro 14:35.) Slaves were often raised to high honour, and might inherit their master’s possessions. Thus Abraham’s servant, Eliezer of Damascus, was at one time considered the patriarch’s heir (Gen 15:2, Gen 15:3); Ziba, Saul’s servant, obtained the inheritance of his lord Mephibosheth (“the Shameful,” 2Sa 16:4); Joseph was advanced to the highest post in Egypt. Ecc 10:1-20 :25, “Unto the servant that is wise shall they that are free do service; and he that is wise will not grudge when he is reformed.” Septuagint, “A wise household servant shall rule over foolish masters.” “I have seen,” says Ecclesiastes (Ecc 10:7), “servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth.” Shall have part of the inheritance among the brethren; shall share on equal terms with the sons of the house. This innovation on the usual disposition of property could happen only in the case of an abnormally intelligent and trusted slave. In 1Ch 2:34, etc; mention is made of a case where a master, having no son, gave his daughter in marriage to a slave, and adopted him into the family. Delitzsch understands the clause to mean that the slave shall have the office of dividing his master’s inheritance among the heirs, shall be the executor of his deceased master’s will; but this explanation hardly seems to do justice to the merits of the “wise servant,” and takes no account of the idea involved in “shameful son.” But the Septuagint appears to countenance this view, rendering, “and among the brethren he shall divide the portions.”
Pro 17:3
The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold. The word matsreph, “fining pot,” occurs also in Pro 27:21. It is not certain what is meant by it. There is no evidence that the Israelites were acquainted with the use of acids in the manipulation of impure or mixed metals; otherwise the “pot” and the “furnace” would represent the two usual modes of reduction; but it is most probable that both allude to the same method of smelting the ore in crucibles, for the purpose of separating the pure metal from the dross. That silver and gold were plentiful in Solomon’s time is abundantly evident; indeed, the amount of the precious metals collected by David and his son is almost incredible (see 1Ch 22:14; 1Ch 29:2, etc; from which and similar passages it is inferred that the sums enumerated equalled more than nine hundred millions of pounds sterling). But the Lord trieth the hearts (Pro 15:11; Pro 24:12). That which fire does for the metals, the Lord does for men’s hearts; he purifies them from dross, brings forth the good that is in them, purged from earthly infirmities. God’s process is the application of sorrow, sickness, temptation, that, duly meeting these, the soul may emerge from the trial as pure gold, fit for the Master’s use (comp. Jer 12:3; Mal 3:2; 1Pe 1:7; Rev 3:18).
Pro 17:4
A wicked doer giveth heed to false (evil) lips. A bad man delights in and hearkens to evil words; he takes pleasure in those who counsel wickedness, because they are after his own heart. Like mates with like. And a liar giveth ear to a naughty (mischievous) tongue. One who is himself mendacious listens with avidity to any tale that may injure a neighbour. however monstrous and improbable it may be. Septuagint, “A wicked man listens to the tongue of transgressors; but a just man heedeth not false lips.” The Greek adds here, or in some manuscripts, after Pro 17:6, a paragraph which is not found in the Hebrew, Syriac, or Latin: “To him who is faithful the whole world wealth belongs; but the unfaithful is not worth an obole.” On this the Fathers have frequently commented (see Corn. a Lapide, in loc.).
Pro 17:5
Whoso mocketh the poor (see Pro 14:31, which is nearly identical). He that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished (Pro 11:21; Pro 24:17, Pro 24:18). The particular calamity primarily intended seems to be that which reduces a person to poverty. Delight in others’ misfortunes, even those of enemies, is a most detestable form of selfishness and malice. Job, testifying to his own integrity, was thankful to think that he was free from this vice (Job 31:29). The Greeks had a name for it, and called it , which is used by Aristotle (‘Eth. Nic.,’ 2.6. 18). The pious author looks for retributive punishment on such spitefulness. The LXX. tries to improve the contrast by resorting a gloss, “He who rejoices at one who perishes shall not go unpunished; but he who hath compassion shall obtain mercy,” which is remarkably like Christ’s sentence, “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.”
Pro 17:6
Children’s children are the crown of old men (comp. Psa 127:1-5; Psa 128:1-6). (For the term “crown,” comp. Pro 16:18.) Thus St. Paul calls his converts his “joy and crown” (Php 4:1; 1Th 2:19) In the East a large number of children is considered a great blessing, being a guarantee of the stability of the family. Thus writes Euripides (‘Iph. Taur.,’ 57)
“Male children are the pillars of the house.”
The glory of children are their fathers. A long line of good or celebrated ancestors is the glory of their descendants, and brings a blessing on them (see 1Ki 11:13; 1Ki 15:4). Hereditary nobility, based on descent from some eminent progenitor, may be a source of not unseemly pride, and a spur to a life worthy of such excellent ancestry.
Pro 17:7
Excellent speech becometh not a fool. ; verba composita, Vulgate, i.e. studied, complicated, expressions; , “faithful lips,” Septuagint. Others translate, “arrogant,” “pretentious.” It is literally, a lip of excess or superabundance, and is best taken in the above sense, as arrogant or assuming. A nabal, a “vicious fool,” ought not to flaunt his unwisdom and his iniquities before the eyes of men, but to keep them hidden as much as possible. As such presumptuous behaviour is incongruous in the case of a fool, much less do lying lips [become] a prince; a noble person, such a one as is called in Isaiah (Isa 32:8) “liberal,” where the same word, nadib, is used. This is an illustration of the saying, “Noblesse oblige.” Thus the Greek gnome
“A free man’s part it is the truth to speak.”
To John the Good, King of France, is attributed the noble maxim which well became his chivalrous character, “Si la bonne foi etait bannie du reste du monde, il faudrait qu’on la retrouvat dans le coeur des rois” (Bonnechose, ‘Hist. de France,’ 1.310). “My son,” says the rabbi in the Talmud, “avoid lying first of all; for a lie will tarnish the brightness of thy honour.” For “prince,” the Septuagint has, “a just man,” which makes the maxim a mere truism.
Pro 17:8
There is a breath of satire in this verse. A gift is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that hath it. “A precious stone” is literally “a stone of grace” (Pro 1:9). The gnome expresses the idea that a bribe is like a bright jewel that dazzles the sight and affects the mind of him who receives it (see on Pro 15:27; comp. Deu 16:19; 1Sa 12:3). Ovid, ‘Art. Amat.,’ 3.653
“Munera, crede mihi, capiunt hominesque deosque;
Placatur donis Jupiter ipse datis.”
It is possible that the gnome may have a more general application, and apply to gifts given to appease anger or to prove friendship (Pro 19:6; Pro 21:14). Septuagint, “A reward of graces is discipline to those who use it;” i.e. moral discipline brings an ample reward of graces to those who practise it. Whithersoever it turneth, it prospereth. The Authorized Version refers these words to the gift. Delitzsch points out that the words are more properly taken of the person who receives the gift, so that they should be rendered, “Wheresoever he turneth himself he dealeth wisely.” Inflamed by sordid hopes and the love of gain, he acts with all possible skill and prudence in order to work out his wages and show that he was rightly selected to receive the present. The verse merely states a common trait among unscrupulous men, and pronounces no judgment upon it.
Pro 17:9
He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; i.e. strives to exercise, put in practice, love (comp. Zep 2:8; 1Co 14:4). Thus Nowack. One who bears patiently and silently, extenuates and conceals, something done or said against him, that man follows after charity, obeys the great law of love (comp. Pro 10:12). Some explain the clause to mean, “procures love for himself;” but the second member certainly is not personal, therefore it is more natural to take the first in a general sense. He that repeateth (harpeth on) a matter separateth very friends (Pro 16:28). He who is always dwelling on a grievance, returning to it and bringing it forward on every occasion, alienates the greatest friends, only embitters the injury and makes it chronic. Ecclesiasticus 19:7, etc; “Rehearse not unto another that which is told unto thee, and thou shalt fare never the worse. Whether it be to friend or foe, talk not of other men’s lives; and if thou canst without offence, reveal them not. For he heard and observed thee, and when time cometh he will hate thee. If thou hast heard a word, let it die with thee; and be bold, it will not burst thee.” So the rabbis said: “Abstain from quarrels with thy neighbour; and if thou hast seen something bad of thy friend, let it not pass thy tongue as a slander” (Dukes, 61). The Mosaic Law had led the way to this duty of forbearance: “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Le 19:18). Septuagint, “He who concealeth injuries seeketh friendship; but he who hateth to conceal them separateth friends and households.”
Pro 17:10
A reproof entereth more (deeper) into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool. A deserved rebuke makes a deeper impression upon a man of understanding than the severest chastisement upon a fool. Hitzig quotes Sallust, ‘Jug.,’ 11, “Verbum in pectus Jugurthae altius, quam quisquam ratus est, descendit.” Quint. Curt; 54.7, “Nobilis equus umbra quoque virgae regitur, ignavus ne calcari quidem concitari potest.” The antithesis is put more forcibly in the Septuagint, “A threat breaks the heart of a prudent man; a fool even scourged feels it not.”
Pro 17:11
An evil man seeketh only rebellion. So the Greek and Latin Versions; but, as Nowack intimates, a bad man seeks many other things which do not come directly in the category of rebellion; and it is better to take meri, “rebellion,” as the subject, regarding it as put for the concrete, thus: “A rebellious man striveth only for what is evil.” From the point of view of an Eastern potentate, this is true enough. Absolute government looks upon any rising against constituted authority, any movement in the masses, as necessarily evil, and to be repressed with a high hand. Hence the succeeding clause. Therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him. The “cruel messenger” (Pro 16:14) is the executioner of the king’s wrath. He is called “cruel” because his errand is deadly, and he is pitiless in its performance. This seems to be the sense intended. The LXX. gives a different notion, derived from the ambiguous term malak, like the Greek : “The Lord will send forth a pitiless angel against him.” The verse then becomes a statement concerning the retribution inflicted by God on obstinate sinners, such as Pharaoh and the Egyptians. These are delivered over to “the tormentors” (Mat 18:34), the angels that execute the wrath of God, as in Psa 78:49 and Rev 8:6, etc. As all sin is rebellion against God, it is natural to read into the passage a religious meaning, and for homiletical purposes it is legitimate to do so. But the writer’s intention is doubtless as explained above, though his language may be divinely directed to afford a further application.
Pro 17:12
Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man. The Syrian bear was once common throughout Palestine; it is now found in but few localities, such as the hills of Hermon and Lebanon, and in the hills east of the Jordan, the destruction of wood and forest having deprived these animals of the shelter necessary to their existence. The ferocity of the bear when deprived of its young had become proverbial (see 2Sa 17:8; Hos 13:8; Hart, ‘Animals of the Bible,’ 28, etc.). Rather than a fool in his folly; i.e. in the paroxysm of his passion. Compare Saul’s ungoverned language to Jonathan (1Sa 20:30), and Herod’s murder of the children (Mat 2:16). So we read of the people being filled with against Jesus (Luk 6:11). Oort supposes that this proverb arose from the riddle, “What is worse to meet than a bear?” Septuagint, “Care will fall upon a man of understanding; but fools imagine evils.” The Greek translators take “bear” as us d metaphorically for terror and anxiety, but go far astray from the Hebrew text.
Pro 17:13
Whoso rewardeth evil for good. This was David’s complaint of the churlish Nabal (1Sa 25:21). Ingratitude shall surely he punished. Evil shall not depart from his house. Terribly has the ingratitude of the Jews been visited. They cried in their madness, “His blood be on us and on our children!” and their punishment is still going on. Injunctions on this subject are frequent in the New Testament (see Mat 5:39; Rom 12:17; 1Th 5:15; 1Pe 3:9). The Talmud says, “Do not throw a stone into the well whose waters you have drunk.” The Greeks felt the sting of ingratitude. Thus Leiodes complains to Ulysses (‘Od.,’ 22.319)
Two sayings of Publius Syrus are quoted: “Ingratus unus omnibus miseris nocet;” “Malignos fieri maxime ingrati docent.”
Pro 17:14
The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water. The small rift in the bank of a reservoir of water, if not immediately secured, is soon enlarged and gets beyond control, occasioning widespread ruin and destruction; so from small and insignificant causes, which might at first have been easily checked, arise feuds and quarrels which extend in a wide circle, and cannot be appeased. Palestine was largely dependent upon its reservoirs for the storage of water, perennial springs being of rare occurrence. The three pools of Solomon in the neighbourhood of Bethlehem, which were connected by channels with Jerusalem, are still to be seen in all their massive grandeur; and, indeed, every town had its reservoir, or tank, as we find in India at the present time. These receptacles had to be kept in good repair, or disastrous consequences might ensue. On the tendency of a quarrel to grow to a dangerous extent, a Bengal proverb speaks of “going in a needle and coming out a ploughshare.” Vulgate, Qui dimittit aquam, caput est jurgiorum, which seems to mean that the man who needlessly lets the water of a cistern run to waste gives occasion to quarrels. But St. Gregory (‘Moral.,’ 5.13), commenting on the passage, interprets differently: “It is well said by Solomon, ‘He that letteth out water is a head of strife.’ For the water is let out when the flowing of the tongue is let loose. And he that letteth out water is made the beginning of strife, in that, by the incontinency of the lips, the commencement of discord is afforded” (Oxford transl.). Probably, however, in the Latin, as in the Hebrew, the particle of comparison is suppressed, so that the clause means, “As he who lets out water, so is he who gives occasion to strife.” Therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with. The last word is of doubtful interpretation. It occurs in Pro 18:1 and Pro 20:3, and is variously translated, “before it rushes forward,” “before it grows warm,” “before a man becomes wrathful.” But Hitzig, Nowaek, and others take it to signify, “before men show their teeth,” like angry dogs snarling at one another. The moralist advises men to subdue angry passions at once before they become exacerbated. The Vulgate seems to have quite mistaken the clause, translating, Antequam patiatur contumeliam, judicium deserit, which seems to mean that a patient, peace-loving man (in contrast with the irascible) avoids lawsuits before he is involved in a lasting quarrel. Septuagint, “The beginning () of justice gives power to words; but discord and contention lead the way to want.” The Greek commentators see here an allusion to the clepsydra, the water clock which regulated the length of the speeches in a court of law; but the reference is by no means clear.
Pro 17:15
He that justifiethin a forensic sense, declares righteous, acquitsthe wicked, etc. Two forms of the perversion of justice are censured, viz. the acquittal of a guilty person and the condemnation of an innocent one (comp. Pro 24:24; Isa 5:23).
Pro 17:16
Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom? A fool thinks that there is a royal road to wisdom, and that it, like other things, is to be purchased with reentry. Vulgate, Quid prodest stulto habere divitias, cum sapientiam emere non possit? The rabbis in later time were not allowed to take fees for teaching; but it was customary to make offerings to seers and wise men, when their services were engaged or their advice was asked (see the case of Saul and Samuel, 1Sa 9:7, 1Sa 9:8). The last clause gives the reason why it is useless for a fool to try to learn wisdom even at a large expenditure on teachers. Seeing he hath no heart to it; i.e. no capability for receiving it; his mental digestion cannot assimilate it. The heart, as we have already noticed, is regarded as the seat of the understanding. Thus the LXX; “Why doth a fool have wealth? for a man without heart cannot acquire wisdom.” In the Gospel Christ calls his disciples “fools and slow of heart to believe what the prophets had written, and himself opened their mind ( ), that they might understand the Scriptures” (Luk 24:25, Luk 24:45). The Septuagint and Vulgate here introduce a distich derived from portions of Pro 17:19, Pro 17:20, “He who raises his house high seeketh destruction; and he who perversely declineth from learning ( ) shall fall into evils.”
Pro 17:17
A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. Some find a climax in the two clauses, and translate the last as Revised Version margin, “And is born as a brother for adversity,” the same person being meant in both members of the sentence. A real friend loves his friend in prosperity and adversity; yea, he is more than a friend in time of needhe is a brother, as affectionate and as trusty as one connected by the closest ties of relationship (comp. Pro 18:24). Siracides gives a very cruel version of this proverb, “A friend cannot be known in prosperity; and an enemy cannot be hidden in adversity. In the prosperity of a man enemies will be grieved; but in his adversity even a friend will depart” (Ecc 12:8, etc.). Cicero had a truer notion of the stability of friendship when he quoted Ennius’s dictum, “Amicus certus in re incerta cernitur” (‘De Amicit.,’ 17.). Misfortune, says our maxim, is the touchstone of friendship; and one Greek gnome enjoins
“Thy friend’s misfortunes deem to be thine own;”
while another runs
.
“The crisis tests a friend, as fire the gold.”
Septuagint, “Have thou a friend forevery crisis, and let brethren be useful in adversities; for for this they are made.” Commenting on the expression, “is born,” Wordsworth fancifully remarks, “Adversity brings him forth. He comes, as it were, out of the womb of calamity, and seems to be born for it.”
Pro 17:18
A man void of understanding (Hebrew, heart) striketh hands; clinches the bargain which makes him responsible (see on suretyship, Pro 6:1, etc.; and note, Pro 20:16). Becometh surety in the presence of his friend; to his friend for some third party. What is here censured is the weakness which, for the sake of perhaps worthless companions, lets itself be hampered and endangered by others’ obligations. For, as our adage runs, he that is surety for another is never sure himself. The Septuagint takes the “striking of hands” to be a sign of joy (Vulgate, plaudet manibus), “The foolish man claps () and rejoices in himself, so also he who pledges himself for his friend.”
Pro 17:19
He loveth transgression that loveth strife, because strife leads to many breaches of the commandments (comp. Pro 29:22; Jas 1:20). Septuagint, “He who loveth sin rejoices in battles.” And he that exalteth his gate seeketh destruction. He who builds a sumptuous house and lives in the way that his magnificent surroundings demand draws ruin on himself, either because he affects a state which he is unable to support, or acts so as to provoke reprisals and injurious consequences. The entrance to a Palestinian house would usually be of humble dimensions and sparse ornamentation; any doorway of great architectural pretensions would be uncommon, and would be regarded as a token of extraordinary wealth or reprehensible pride. Aben Ezra, taking “gate” as a metaphor for “mouth,” explains the hemistich of the danger of random or excessive speech. This makes a good parallel with the first clause; but it is doubtful whether the words will bear this interpretation (see Hitzig); and the two clauses may present two forms of selfishness, captiousness and ostentation, both of which lead to quarrels and ruin (comp. Pro 16:18).
Pro 17:20
He that hath a froward heart findeth no good. (For “froward,” see on Pro 11:20; for “find good,” on Pro 16:20.) The perverse, wilful man shall not prosper, shall win no blessing in his worldly matters, much less in spiritual things. Septuagint, “He who is hard of heart meeteth not with good things.” He that hath a perverse tongue falleth into mischief; literally, he who turns himself about with his tongue, saying one thing at one time and something quite contrary at another. Vulgate, qui vertit linguam; Septuagint, , “easily changed in tongue” (comp. Pro 8:13; Pro 10:31, where the word is different). “Mischief” (ra) “is trouble,” “calamity,” as in Pro 13:17. Speaking of the various aspects which words may assume, Cato (‘Dist.,’ 4.20) says
“Sermo hominum mores et celat et indicat idem.”
“Man’s words his character reveal,
But often they his mind conceal?
Pro 17:21
He that begetteth a fool doeth it to his sorrow (comp. Pro 17:25). The words for “fool” in the two clauses are different. Here it is kesil, which implies bold, self-confident folly, the worst form of the vies; in the second hemistich it is nabal, which rather denotes dulness and stupidity, a want of mental power. A conceited, offensive fool causes infinite trouble to his father, both from his need of constant correction, and the watchfulness required to repair the consequences of his foolish actions. There is also the grief at seeing instruction and warning thrown away on a worthless object. Septuagint, “The heart of a fool is a pain to him who possesseth it.” The father of a fool hath no joy. The contrast in the ease of a good son is seen in Pro 15:20 and Pro 23:24. The LXX. adds a clause from Pro 10:1, with the view of improving the parallelism, “But a prudent son rejoiceth his mother.”
Pro 17:22
A merry heart doeth good like a medicine. So Aben Ezra, understanding the particle of comparison, which is not in the Hebrew. The ward translated “medicine” (gehah) occurs nowhere else, and probably means “healing” “relief.” The clause is better rendered, a cheerful heart maketh a good healing (comp. Pro 15:13; Pro 16:25). Vulgate, aetatem floridam facit; Septuagint, , “makes one to be in good case.” A cheerful, contented disposition enables a men to resist the attacks of disease, the mind, ms every one knows, having most powerful influence over the body. Ec 30:22, “The gladness of the heart is the life of man, and the joyfulness of a man prolongeth his days.” A broken spirit drieth the bones; destroys all life and vigour (comp. Pro 3:8; Psa 22:15; Psa 32:4). We all remember the distich
“A merry heart goes all the day,
Your sad tires in a mile-a.”
So the rabbis enjoin, “Give ears no room in thine heart, for care hath killed many”. Religious gladness is a positive duty, and “low spirits,” as Isaac Williams says, “are a sin.” Asks the Greek moralist
And Lucretius (3.473) affirms
“Nam dolor ac morbus leti fabricator uterque est.”
“Workers of death are sorrow and disease.”
Pro 17:23
A gift out of the bosom; i.e. secretly from the fold of the garment, and not from the purse or bag wherein money was ostensibly carried. A corrupt judge “taketh,” i.e. receives a bribe conveyed to him secretly (Pro 21:14). To pervert the ways of judgment. The judges had no appointed salaries; hence the unprincipled among them were open to bribery. The strict injunctions of the Law, and the stern denunciations of the prophets, were alike ineffectual in checking corruption (see Exo 23:8; Deu 16:19; Isa 1:23; Jer 22:17; Eze 13:19; Hos 4:18, etc.). Septuagint, “The man that receiveth gifts in his bosom unjustly, his ways shall not prosper.” For, as Job avows (Job 15:34), “Fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.” The LXX. adds, “The impious turns aside from the ways of righteousness.”
Pro 17:24
Wisdom is before [the face of] him that hath understanding. The idea is that the intelligent man directs his look towards Wisdom, and therefore she beams upon him with all her light; as the Vulgate puts it, “In the face of the prudent wisdom shines.” He has one object to which he directs all his attention (Pro 15:14). The Septuagint rendering is not so satisfactory: “The countenance of a prudent man is wise;” he shows in his look and bearing the wisdom that guides him. Thus Ecc 8:1, “A man’s wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.” The eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth. A fool has no one definite object in view; he pursues a hundred different things, as they happen to come in his way, but misses the most important quest of all and fritters away the powers which might have aided him to obtain wisdom.
Pro 17:25
This verse is more or less a repetition of Pro 17:21; Pro 10:1; Pro 15:20; and comp. Pro 19:13. A grief (kaas). The Vulgate and Septuagint translate, “anger.” A foolish son provokes the wrath of his father, and is bitterness to her that bare him, “Bitterness” (memer) oesurs nowhere else; mar and marar are common enough.
Pro 17:26
Also (gam). This may be intended to connect this verso with what was said above (Pro 17:23) about the perversion of justice; or, as is more probable, it is used to emphasize what is coming, To punish the just is not good. Damnum inferre justo, Vulgate; , Septuagint; and the word has a special reference to punishment by fire. Nor to strike princes for equity; the expression, “is not good,” being understood from the former clause. “Princes” are the noble in character rather than in position only. Two forms of evil are named, viz. to punish the innocent, and to visit with contumely and injury the man of high character who cannot be induced to pervert justice. Revised Version, nor to smite the noble for their uprightness. So virtually the Vulgate, Septuagint, and Syriac. Another rendering is, “to strike the noble is against right,” which seems feeble and less suitable to the parallelism.
Pro 17:27
He that hath knowledge spareth his words; Revised Version, he that spareth his words hath knowledge; he shows his common sense, not by rash talk or saying all he knows, but by restraining his tongue (comp. Pro 10:19; Jas 1:19). ‘Pirke Aboth’ (Pro 1:18), “All my days I have grown up amongst the wise, and have not found aught good for a man but silence; not learning but doing is the groundwork, and whoso multiplies words occasions sin” Say the Greek gnomes
And Theognis (5.815) writes
“Speech for a shekel, silence for two; it is like a precious stone” (‘Qoheleth Rabbah,’ 5.5). Septuagint, “He who spareth to utter a harsh speech is prudent” (). A man of understanding is of an excellent spirit; Revised Version, he that is of a coot spirit is a man of understanding; i.e. he who considers before he speaks, and never answers in hot haste, proves that he is wise and intelligent. Septuagint, “The long suffering man is prudent.” The above is the reading of the Khetib, followed by most interpreters. The Keri gives, “of a precious spirit” (pretiosi spiritus, Vulgate), that is, one whose words are weighty and valuable, not lavishly thrown about, but reserved as costly jewels.
Pro 17:28
Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise. Not betraying his ignorance and incapacity by words, a foolish man is credited with possessing sense (comp. Job 13:5). Proverbs to this effect are found in all languages. Thus the Greek
.
Cato, ‘Dist.,’ 1.3
“Virtutem primam esse puta compescere linguam;
Proximus ille Deo qui scit ratione tacere.”
Talmud, “Silence becomes the wise, much more feels.” The Dutch have appropriated this maxim, “Zweigen de dwazen zij waren wijs, . Were fools silent, they would pass for wise.” “Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses.” “Silence,” says the Sanskrit gnome, “is the ornament of the ignorant.” “Talking comes by nature,” say the Germans, “silence of understanding.” The LXX. gives a different turn to the first clause: “A foolish man inquiring of wisdom will have wisdom imputed to him;” the expressed desire of knowledge will be taken as a proof of intelligence. The second clause is coordinate with the former. He that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding; Revised Version, when he shutteth his lips, he is esteemed as prudent; Septuagint, “A man making himself dumb will seem to be prudent.” Theophrastus is said to have thus addressed a guest who was very silent at table: “If you are a fool, you act wisely; if you are wise, you act foolishly.” “Let every man,” says St. James (Jas 1:19), “be swift to hear, slow to speak.”
HOMILETICS
Pro 17:5
Mocking the poor
The terrible inequality of human lots was never more apparent than it is in the present day. England is renowned for her wealth; yet England is a haunt of hungry misery. It is nothing but selfish hypocrisy to justify this condition of affairs by quoting the words of our Lord, “The poor always ye have with you” (Joh 12:8). If they are always with us in abject need and distress, so much the worse for the condition of society. The statement of a distressing fact is no justification for it. Meanwhile, if the huge evil of pauperism cannot be abolished at once, it is our duty to lessen, not to aggravate it.
I. CONSIDER IN WHAT WAYS THE POOR ARE MOCKED.
1. When their condition is disregarded. There are thousands of people living in affluence who simply ignore the fact that they have needy brethren. Dives at his feast does not give a thought to Lazarus pining at his gate. Surely it is a mockery to the awful misery of the East End that the West End feasts and fetes itself with undisturbed complacency.
2. When their rights are neglected. This happens in many ways, even in an age and a country that boasts of its administration of justice.
(1) The so called “sweating system” is nothing better than robbery, by means of which the strong take advantage of the necessities of the weak.
(2) It is hard for poor people to avail themselves of the law courts; so that the cry is raised that “there is one law for the rich and another for the poor.”
(3) Poor men have the natural rights of their manhood treated with contempt. The courtesy which is offered to the well to do is denied to them. Rough treatment is meted out to them. Common politeness is refused to a man with a threadbare coat.
3. When their deficiencies are ridiculed. The poor man is generally illiterate, his “speech bewrayeth him.” He has never learnt the manners of good society. So the classes above him put up their eyeglasses to inspect him, as though he were some strange, repulsive animal.
4. When their merits are ignored. There is honest, poverty. There are brave men fighting against adverse circumstances with the courage of heroes. Are these people to be mucked at simply because they cannot put money in their purses? The kindness of the poor to the poor is a rebuke to the cynicism of the rich. Yet how difficult it is for poor men to be duly recognized! Dr. Johnson spoke from experience when he said
“This mournful truth is everywhere confess’d
Slow rises worth by poverty depressed.”
The world mocks the poor when it judges people by the fashion of their clothes and the size of their houses, instead of looking to their character and lives.
II. CONSIDER THE GREAT SIN OF MOCKING THE POOR. He who does this “reproacheth his Maker.” For the God who made the rich man also made the poor man. The reproach of the child is a reproach of his Father. We do more than wrong our brethren when we treat the unfortunate with contempt; we insult our God. He is the God of the poor, and he takes their wrongs as injuries to himself. This is no slight, shadowy offence. It is an awful sin in the sight of Heaven. The only reason that is suggested why Dives should be writhing in torments of fire is that he was a rich man who gave no heed to the misery of his neighbour. Here is an awful prospect for the careless comfortable classes of England! The evil is aggravated with us, because we profess that religion which preaches a gospel to the poor. In the Church of Christ rich and poor meet together. For the rich man to despise his fellow Christian, then, is for him to deny his Master, “who had not where to lay his head.” Let it be remembered that Christ, who was rich, “for our sakes became poor.” He is the Friend and Brother of the poor.
Pro 17:10
The wisdom of accepting a reproof
I. IT IS DIFFICULT TO ACCEPT A REPROOF. Only the wise man will take it. Many difficulties stand in the way.
1. It is hard to believe that the reproving counsellor is a true friend. He appears to be censorious. We think he takes a pleasure in finding fault with us. We accuse him of a Pharisaic self-satisfaction in comparing his own virtue with our fault.
2. It is difficult to admit the application of the accusation to ourselves. David is indignant at Nathan’s recital of the parable of the ewe lamb. Yet he fails to see that the moral of it comes home to himself till the prophet exclaims,” Thou art the man!”
3. It is not easy to confess our own humiliation. When we see that we are accused, pride rises up to defend us. It is possible for a large amount of pride to lodge with a great quantity of folly. Indeed, the more a person is emptied of real worth the more room is there in him for self-inflation.
4. It is troublesome to yield to a reproof. To do so we must not merely admit our fault, but consent to mend our ways. We must allow the reproof to work actively in us if it is to be of any use. The drunkard is often ready to confess his sin, but he is not so eager to renounce the cause of it.
5. It is distressing to bear the reproof of God. In reading the Bible people are tempted to appropriate the promises to themselves and to leave the threatenings for their brethren. It needs a divinely inspired wisdom to help us to profit by the warnings of Scripture.
II. IT IS WISE TO ACCEPT A REPROOF. Many as are the obstructions that stand in the way of our receiving and acting upon it, we should do well to conquer them. He is but a foolish person who despises correction. The wise man may shrink from it, but he will not reject it.
1. A true reproof is justly due. We have earned it by our own fault. It is foolish to kick against the consequences of our own conduct.
2. A reproof is a wholesome corrective. It is not a judge’s sentence, but a friend’s counsel, Its object is not condemnation, but salvation.
3. A reproof is a mild substitute for harder treatment. While we foolishly rail at its harshness, we should be thankful for the lenity of the most stern well deserved reproof. It might have been dispensed with, and we might have received condign punishment. The reproof is not so hard to bear as the “hundred stripes” that may follow if it is disregarded. It is wise to close with the earlier counsel.
4. A reproof is an element of Divine grace. Christ sends the Comforter to convict the world of sin as well as of righteousness and judgment (Joh 16:8). It is to our own cost that we receive this gracious Guest with resentful discourtesy. But, on the other hand, we plainly need Divine grace to accept a reproof in a meek and humble spirit. The wisdom to receive a reproof well is so difficult to attain that we need to seek it as an inspiration from God.
Pro 17:14
The beginning of strife.
I. STRIFE MAY HAVE A SMALL BEGINNING. It is not necessary to intend great mischief if a quarrel is to be started. One word of an unfriendly character may be enough to mar the peace of brethren. A single act of unkindness may be the beginning of discord, provoking retaliation, and so originating a long continued state of war. A quarrel may arise among very insignificant persons. It may be concerned with very unimportant questions. It may appear as a very slight affair”a tempest in a teacup.”
II. STRIFE CROWS WINES. The small hole in the dyke through which a little water oozes is worn by the escaping stream so that it becomes larger, and the larger it is the more water pours through it; and this, in turn, will tear still greater pieces from the banks. A little rift within the lute is the commencement of the mischief that will silence all the music. A dispute between two frontier officers may lead to a war between two nations. Thus the strife between a few grows into a quarrel between many persons.
III. STRIFE GROWS MORE INTENSE. It not only involves more persons; it also becomes aggravated in its violence. Increasing in volume, it also grows in vehemence. The flood rushes with alarming velocity. The misunderstanding becomes a war. The coldness between friends turns into the bitterness of enmity. Anger degenerates into hatred.
IV. STRIFE BECOMES UNCONTROLLABLE. It might be arrested in its early stage. A boy pressing his knee against the small hole in the dyke could hold back the trickling stream. But if the mischief is not checked in an early stage, “all the king’s horses” cannot arrest the mad career of the escaping river. An insignificant person may start a quarrel, which many wise and strong men will fail to allay. It is easier to be a war maker than a peace maker. Events grow too strong for the moat powerful energies of man.
V. STRIFE ISSUES IN INCALCULABLE RESULTS. The flood pours down through the valley and over the plain, uprooting trees, devastating fields, deluging homesteads, drowning men and cattle. The mischief is enormous, and the course and extent of it cannot be measured beforehand. No one can tell what harm may grow out of his meddlesome mischief making. A foolish person may mean to do no real harm, only to show a little passing spite. But he has let out the waters; the flood gates are open; the huge army of destruction is scouring the country. Amazed and aghast at the unexpected consequences of his folly, he would fain undo the reckless deed or stay its fatal consequences. But it is too late. Those consequences have passed beyond his reach. He can never tell how far the evil effects of what he has done may extend.
VI. STRIFE SHOULD BE CHECKED IN ITS EARLIEST STAGE. It is best to avoid the very beginning of it. But if, unhappily, it has been started, it should be stayed at once. To nurse a quarrel is worse than to cherish a viper in one’s bosom. Fling it away and crush it, before it spawns a deadly brood of evil. The great human quarrel with heaven, begun in Eden, was like the letting out of waters. So is the soul’s quarrel with God. It is best to make peace at once, through repentance and contrition.
Pro 17:17
The true friend
I. THE PORTRAIT OF THE TRUE FRIEND. We must study its lineaments that we may know the original. The word “friend” is used so loosely, often as a term of mere politeness, that some such inquiry is necessary if we would disentangle it from frivolous associations and affix it to its worthy object.
1. The essential note of true friendship is invariability of affection. The friend “loveth at all times.” This does not mean that he is always displaying his affection. Effusiveness is no proof of sincerity. “Still waters run deep.” Neither are we to suppose that the affection must be always shown in the same way. The manifestation of it must vary according to the moods and feelings of the friend, and also according to the circumstances and behaviour of the object of affection. There are times when friendship must be angry, when love must frown. Still the love must remain.
(1) True friendship is independent of time. It does not wear out with years. The true friend of youth is the friend of manhood.
(2) It is independent of circumstances. It survives the loss of social delights. It holds on through poverty
(3) It is not shaken by slander.
(4) It even outlives unworthy treatment.
2. The great test of true friendship is adversity.
(1) Then the friendship is most valuable. If it will not serve then it is of little use. We want friends to whom we can go in the hour of need.
(2) Then its quality is proved. The shallow, selfish man cuts his acquaintances in their trouble. Poverty severs the cords of pretended friendship. But real friendship is proved and comes out at its best under adverse circumstances. Then its brotherly character is revealed. The friend of prosperous days becomes the brother in days of trouble.
3. The secret of true friendship is love. Love is stronger than death, and love can survive the loss of all things. It endures through time and change, and in spite of violent strains upon its strength.
II. THE DISCOVERY OF THE TRUE FRIEND. The portrait is ideal. Do we ever see the ideal realized? In a measure, yes, and that repeatedly. The cynical pessimism that disbelieves in any generous, unselfish friendship is false to the nature of man, and false to the noble tale of good lives. Generosity is not dead. Friendship is possible. But every human friend is imperfect. Surely the portrait of the true friend must suggest to us One who alone perfectly answers to its noble features. We discover the true Friend in Christ.
1. He gives us the note of true friendship in invariability of affection. His love to the race endures through the ages. His love to each individual of his people is ever-abiding and constant. It outlasts many provocations, frequent unfaithfulness, great unworthiness on their part. Christ did not cease to love St. Peter when the apostle denied his Master.
2. He is a Brother in affliction. The Companion of our joys, he is especially our Helper in trouble; he came expressly to save from the terrible evil of sin. He is the sympathizing Friend for all sorrow.
3. The secret of his friendship is love. It is not our claim or attractiveness, but the love of Christ, that makes him our abiding, faithful Friend. If we would measure the durability of his friendship, we must gauge the greatness of his undying love,
Pro 17:22
The healing effects of cheerfulness
I. CHEERFULNESS IS COMMENDED IN SCRIPTURE. The Bible does not put a premium on sombreness. It never suggests that there is a merit in gloom. It urges the need of repentance, calls upon men to grieve for their sins, threatens the wrath of God against impenitence, and so brings up occasions for distress of soul; it also rebukes “the laughter of fools,” the empty merriment of frivolity and the riot and revelry of dissipation (Ecc 7:6). But it does not commend sorrow on its own account. On the contrary, it brings joy and encourages gladness. Christ gave his joy to his people (Joh 15:11). St. Paul emphatically reiterated his advice to his readers to rejoice (Php 4:4). God loves his children and delights in their happiness. God is blessed, therefore happy; and he desires for his children a share in his blessedness, which must involve a participation in his gladness.
II. CHEERFULNESS EXERTS A HEALING INFLUENCE OVER THE INDIVIDUAL SOUL. Too much indulgence in sorrow induces a morbid condition. It is not healthy in itself, for man is not meant to be a perpetual incarnation of pain. The natural merriment of children is not only innocent; it is positively helpful to the sane growth of their minds. Cheerful Christians are strong Christians; for “the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Neh 8:10). It is easier to bear disappointment when the spirit is free and buoyant. Temptation is less powerful against a contented soul than against one that is enfeebled by fretful dissatisfaction. We can do our work best when we do it gladly. In a cheerful mood we take the widest, wisest, healthiest views of truth. Sour feelings lead to false estimates of the world. Even after sin and repentance, when the sinner is pardoned, a sober, humble cheerfulness is healthier than perpetual lamentation. Therefore the fatted calf is killed, etc.
III. CHEERFULNESS IS A SOURCE OF HEALTHY INFLUENCE FOR OTHERS. The gloomy saint cultivates his own sombre sanctity at the expense of his neighbours. He should be helping them and attracting them into the way of life. But he is repelling and hindering them. Children are best won by a cheerful presentation of religion. The indifferent are made to see that the cross of Christ does not mean perpetual distress and trouble to the Christian. The lost and fallen have hopes inspired within them when they are approached with hopes of better things. The gospel is goodness; it should be preached with a cheerful spirit; its “glad tidings of great joy” speak healing to the nations.
IV. CHEERFULNESS IS TO BE BEST ATTAINED IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. The merry soul may be only superficially glad, or even sinfully delighted, when it should be humbled in repentance. But after repentance and pardon God gives his own deep, sure joy. This joy rests on the love of God and fellowship with him. It is confirmed by service. When one can say, “I delight to do thy will, O my God” (Psa 40:8), he has reached the true fountain of a cheerful spirit. Such a joy can master adversity and rejoice in tribulation (2Co 6:10). It was when engaged in an apostolic mission that Paul and Silas were able to sing in prison (Act 16:25).
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON
Pro 17:1-9
Traits of outward dad inward happiness. Happiness depends more on the inward state than on the outward condition
Hence
I. CONTENTMENT AS AN ELEMENT OF HAPPINESS. (Pro 17:1.) The dry morsel, with rest and quiet in the spirit, is better, says the preacher, than the most luxurious meal; the allusion being to slaughtered sacrificial animals as the chief constituents of a rich repast (Pro 9:2; Gen 43:16). It suggests the picture of “holy love, found in a cottage” (Matthew Henry). The secret of happiness lies rather in limiting our desires than in increasing our substance.
II. PRUDENCE AND THRIFT. (Pro 17:2.) The prudent servant may rise, and probably not seldom did rise in ancient times, to superiority over the idle and dissipated son of the house. In this light Abraham looked upon Eliezerthat he might probably step into the place of a son in his house. How much more depends, in reference to power and influence in this world, upon sense and prudence than upon birth and every external advantage!
III. THE TRUE HEART. (Pro 17:3.) The heart which has been tried in the scales of Jehovah, assayed by the tests of an infallible truth. We need to remind ourselves how little we know of the depths of human character. Our inquiries and our teachings are inadequate and deceptive. The search of the human heart is a royal privilege of God. Without the true, the divinely approved heart, there is no real root of good or bliss.
IV. A SINCERE TEMPER. (Pro 17:4.) This is suggested, as often, by the hideous contrast of the wicked, inwardly corrupt heart, which willingly takes note of and inclines to lying words, to the tempter and his wishes. It takes pleasure in the “naughty words” it dares not, perhaps, utter itself; is glad to borrow words from another to fit its own evil thoughts. In contrast to this, the spirit of the candid and sincerely good man is that expressed by Bishop Hall, “If I cannot stop other men’s mouths from speaking ill, I will either open my mouth to reprove it, or else I will stop my ears from hearing it, and let him see in my face that he hath no room in my heart.”
V. COMPASSION, PITY, AND SYMPATHY. (Pro 17:5.) Contempt of the poor is contempt of the majesty of God. The greater part of poverty is not wilful; it is in the course of the providence of God. “To pour contempt on the current coin with the king’s image on it is treason against the sovereign.” There is something worse than even this, viz. to rejoice in the calamities of others. It is a peculiarly inhuman view, and is certain to be punished in the remorse of the conscience, in the closing up of the way to God’s heart in the time of one’s own need.
VI. FAMILY JOYS. (Pro 17:6.) To leave out these would be to leave out that which gives to life its chief fragrance and charm. As children are the pride and ornament of the parents, so the sons, on the other hand, so long as they themselves are not fathers, can only fall back upon the father. The family tree, the higher it rises and the more widely it extends, increases the honour of the race.
VII. NOBLENESS Of SPEECH. (Pro 17:7.) The first element of this is, as so often insisted upon, truthfulness in the inward parts. The second is appropriateness, regard to what is becoming. Thus a high assuming tone ill befits the fool; much less falsity, affectation, hypocrisy, a noble mind. To recollect what is becoming in us is a great safeguard to morality and guide to conduct. In the common affairs of life we should not seek to rise above our station, nor should we fall below it. In religion there is also a just meanthe recollection of what it is to be a Christian; and the effort not to rise above the humility of that position, as not to fall below its grandeur and nobility. “If truth be banished from all the rest of the world,” said Louis IX. of France, “it ought to be found in the breast of princes.” Let us substitute the word “Christians.”
VIII. THE VALUE OF GIFTS. (Pro 17:8.) There seems to be no reason for taking this only in the bad sense with reference to bribery. Lawful gifts and presents have their charm as well as unlawful. The power of gold to corrupt; the saying of Philip of Macedon, that there was no fortress so strong but that it might be stormed if an ass laden with gold were driven to the gate;all this is well known. But equally true is it that honest gifts of kindness, having no impure purpose in view, are like jewels. They sparkle with the lustre of human love when turned in any light, and win friends and good will for the giver wherever he goes. It is the generous freedom to give, not necessarily of silver and gold, but of “such things as we have,” which is here commended and noted as one of the secrets of happiness. The deepest joy is, in all true gifts, to be expressing the one great gift of the heart to God.
IX. CONCEALING AND FORGIVING LOVE. (Pro 17:9.) Let us remind ourselves that in the Law the word for forgiving or atoning is “cover.” And frequently we read of God covering the sins of the penitent. This relation is for the imitation of Christians, “followers of God as dear children.” “Love covers a multitude of sins.” Like the healing hand of Nature, which we see everywhere busy concealing unsightliness, veiling the old ruin with the beautiful ivy and other creeping plants. On the contrary, the talebearer has an eye forevery crack and seam in the structure of society; tears open and causes to bleed the wounds that might have been healed. Be true, be gentle, be generous, be God-like and Christ-like,such are the main lessons of this section.J.
Pro 17:10-15
Dark phases of human character
We may take Pro 17:10 as an introduction to what follows. Exhortations are to be given, and the preacher would prepare us to receive them. On the sensitive mind the censure of the good makes a deeper impression than a hundred blows on the back of the fool. Sincerity, love of truth and tender sympathy, become the exhorter, and humble docility the object of his warnings or rebukes. “Let the righteous smite me, and it shall be a kindness” (Psa 141:5).
I. THE CONTENTIOUS SPIRIT. (Pro 17:11.)
1. His temper. He seeks rebellion. In private life he may be the man who revolts from the established usages of society, delights in singularity for its own sake, in defying opinion, showing disrespect to names of authority. In public life he may become the heartless demagogue and pest of the commonwealth.
2. His doom. A cruel angel shall be sent against him by God; that is, generally, his offence will be visited upon him severely. The curse upon the contentious spirit is the counterpart of the great evangelical blessing on the peacemakers, who shall be called “the children of God.”
3. His dangerous qualities. (Pro 17:12.) Rage is the principle of his action, the motive of his life. To irritate him, to thwart him, is like bringing on one’s self the fierce attack of the bear robbed of her whelps. Rage united with intelligence is the most fearful combination of deadly force known in the world. From so dread a picture we turn with the prayer, “From hatred and malice, good Lord, deliver us!” “Oh, may we live the peaceful life!”
II. THE UNGRATEFUL MAN. (Pro 17:13.)
1. His conduct. He requites good with evil. As there is no virtue so natural, so spontaneous, so pleasurable, as gratitude, so there is no mere negative vice so odious as ingratitude. But the positive reversal of gratitude in returning evil for goodfor this there is no one word in our (nor probably in any) language. It is a wickedness indeed unutterable.
2. His doom is punishment from God. And the severity of the punishment teaches by contrast how dear is gratitude to God. As evil shall ever haunt the house of the dark rebel against light and love, so shall joy and peace attend the steps of the peaceful child of God.
III. THE CONSEQUENCES OF MISCHIEF INCALCULABLE. (Pro 17:14.) A homely figure impresses the truth in a way not to be forgotten. Similarly, James compares the progress of mischief to the sparks which may be easily fanned into a great conflagration (Jas 3:5). How great the service that may be rendered by those who, in the interests of peace, at once trample out the sparks or seal up the avenues of the flood. These rules are good for the avoidance of strife. Consider:
1. Whether the dispute is not about. words rather than things.
2. Whether we really understand, the subject.
3. Whether it is worth disputing about.
IV. MORAL INDIFFERENCE. (Verse 15.) To speak the bad man fair, to justify or excuse his evil, and to censure or criticize or condemn the good, from prudence or other motive,this shows a blindness to moral distinctions, a wilful insensibility which is incompatible with religion, and incurs the deep disapproval and judgment of Jehovah. We have examples in Ezr 4:1-16; Act 24:1-9. Religion teaches us to distinguish between things that differ; if we have not learnt that lesson, we have learned nothing. If, having learned it, we disregard it, our profession of religion becomes converted into an hypocrisy and an abomination.J.
Pro 17:16-20
Light in the head, love in the heart
I. MONEY USELESS WITHOUT SENSE. (Pro 17:16.) The true view of money is that of means to ends. But if the ends are not seen, or, being seen, are not earnestly desired, of what avail the means? If our heart be set upon the right objects of life, opportunities will always present themselves. If blind to life’s meaning, no advantages wilt seem to be advantages.
II. THE BEAUTY OF FRIENDSHIP. (Pro 17:17.)
1. In general. It is constant; it is unvarying; it is adapted to all the various states and vicissitudes of life.
2. In particular. It takes new life out of sorrow. In distress, the friend is developed into the “brother,” and is taken close to the heart. True friendship gladdens at the opportunity of self-devotion for the beloved one’s good. It is the distress of our sin which makes us acquainted with him “that sticketh closer than a brother.” But thank God for all those who are newborn to us in the freshly revealed grace and goodness of their hearts amidst the scenes of suffering.
III. THE STRICT DUTY OF CAUTION IN REFERENCE TO RESPONSIBILITY. (Pro 17:18.) The consequences of becoming bail for a defaulter were in ancient life very terrible. Nowadays there are prudent men who will never set their hand to an acceptance. Although all moral duties are not equally amiable in their aspect, it must be remembered that the ability to do good to others rests upon strict prudence with reference to one s self. We may be maimed or destroyed by imprudence.
IV. RESISTANCE TO THE BEGINNINGS OF EVIL. (Pro 17:19.) Contention or tempers and passion in general leads on to graver sin. Open the way to one sin, and others will immediately troop forward in its rear. Again, contentiousness and pride are in close connection; the latter is generally the spring of the former. And both are ruinous in their tendency. High towers invite the lightning; but he that does not soar too loftily will suffer the less by a fall. A modest way of life, within our means, is the only truly Christian life.
V. THE TRUE HEART AND THE GUILELESS TONGUE. (Pro 17:20.) There is no health, no salvation for self or others, in the false heart and the tongue that flickers and wavers between opposing impulses. Old Homer has the sentiment that he who speaks one thing and thinks another in his heart is hateful as the gates of hell.
1. There is no true light in the head without love in the heart.
2. There is no dualism in our moral character.
3. There is a correspondence between our outward lot and our inward choice.J.
Pro 17:21-28
Varied experiences of good and evil in life
We may divide them into the sorrowful, the joyous, and the mixed experiences.
I. SAD EXPERIENCES. The sorrow of thankless children. (Pro 17:21, Pro 17:25.) To name it is enough for thereto who have known it. It has its analogue in Divine places. How pathetically does the Bible speak of the grief of God over the rebellious children he has nourished and brought up! and of Christ’s lamentation as of a mother over Jerusalem! Let us remember that our innocent earthly sorrows are reflected in the bosom of our God.
II. JOYOUS EXPERIENCES. (Pro 17:22.) The blessing of a cheerful heart, who can overprize it in relation to personal health, to social charm and helpfulness? Contrasted with the troubled spirit, like a parching fever in the bones, it is the perpetual sap of life and source of all its greenness and its fruit. A simple faith is the best known source of cheerfulness. It was a fine remark of a good friend of Dr. Johnson’s, that “he had tried to be a philosopher, but somehow always found cheerfulness creeping in.”
III. MIXED EXPERIENCES OF HUMAN CHARACTER.
1. The briber. (Pro 17:23.) How strongly marked is this sin in the denunciations of the Bible! and yet how little the practice seems affected in a land which boasts above others of its love for the Bible! The stealth and so the shame, the evil motive, the perverse result, all are branded here. “He that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, he shall dwell on high” (Isa 33:15).
2. The quick perception of wisdom and the warning glance of folly. The one sees before him what is to be known or done at once; the other is lost in cloudy musings. The more a man gapes after vanity, the more foolish the heart becomes. In religion we see this temper in the restless roving to and fro, the constant query, “Who will show us any good?” “He is full of business at church; a stranger at home; a sceptic abroad; an observer in the street; everywhere a fool.“
3. Harshness in judges. (Pro 17:26.) Fining and flogging are mentioned. The writer had observed some such scene with the horror of a just man. Inequity or inhumanity in the judge seems an insult against the eternal throne of Jehovah.
4. The wisdom of a calm temper and economy of words. (Pro 17:27, Pro 17:28.) An anxiety to talk is the mark of a shallow mind. The knowledge of the season of silence and reserve may be compared to the wisdom of the general who knows when to keep his forces back and when to launch them at the foe. The composed spirit comes from the knowledge that truth will prevail in one way or another, and the time for our utterance will arrive. Lastly, the wisdom of silence, so often preached by great men. Even the fool may gain some credit for wisdom which he does not possess by holding his tongue; and this is an index of the reality. Our great example here is the silence of Jesus, continued for thirty years; out of that silence a voice at length proceeded that will ever vibrate through the world.J.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
Pro 17:3
Divine proving and purifying
Heat, like water, is a very bad master but a very excellent servant. It proves whether our acquisition has or has not any value, whether it should be carefully preserved or be “trodden underfoot;” and it refines that which has any worth at all, separating the dross and securing for us the pure metal which we want for use or ornament. What we do with our materials God does with ourselves; but the fires through which he sends us are of a very different kind from those we kindle.
I. THE FIRES THROUGH WHICH GOD PASSES US. These are the disciplinary experiences through which, in his holy providence and in his fatherly love, he causes us to pass. And of them we may say that their name is legion, for “they are many.” They vary as do the histories of human life. It may be
(1) a change for the worse, sudden or gradual, permanent or transient, in our temporal conditions, affluence sinking into competence, or competence into pecuniary embarrassment, or into hard toil and scant enjoyment; or
(2) bereavement and consequent loneliness of spirit, the loss of some near companion whose fellowship was sweet beyond expression, or whose guidance was incalculably helpful; or
(3) disappointment, the going out of some bright hope in the light of which our path had been trodden and the extinction of which throws the future into thick darkness; or
(4) the loss of health and strength, when we are taken away from activities which were congenial or apparently necessary to us, and are shut in to an enforced idleness, from which we long to be delivered; or
(5) the endurance of pain; or
(6) our failure to accomplish some good work on which we had set our heart and put our hand.
II. HIS TRIAL OF OUR SPIRIT. God thus proves us. Theme troubles are trials; they show to our Creator and to ourselves what manner of men we are, what is “the spirit we are of.” They prove to him and to us whether we care more about our circumstances than we do about ourselves and our character; they prove whether we have a deep spirit of submission and of trustfulness, or whether our subjection to the will of God is very shallow and departs as soon as it is tested; they prove whether in the hour of need we look above us for strength and succour, or whether we have recourse only to those persons and things which are around us, or whether we descend to props and stays that are positively beneath us. They prove the quality of our Christian character; they sometimes demonstrate its actual unreality.
III. GOD‘S REFINING GOODNESS AND WISDOM. God tries our hearts, not merely that he or we may see what is in them, but that they may be purified (see Isa 48:10). Many purifying, practical lessons we learn in affliction which we are very slow to receive, and which, but for its discipline, we might never gain at all. They are these, among others.
1. The unsatisfying character of all that is earthly and human.
2. The transitoriness of the present, and the wisdom of laying up treasures in heaven.
3. The secondariness of all claims to those that are Divine, and our consequent obligation to give the first place to the will and the cause of our Redeemer.
4. Our deep need of Christ as the Lord whom we are to be faithfully serving and the Friend in whose fellowship we are to spend our days. With these great spiritual truths burnt into our souls by the refining fires, we shall have our worldliness and our selfishness expelled, and be vessels of pure gold, meet for the Master’s use.C.
Pro 17:6, Pro 17:21, Pro 17:25
Fatherhood and sonship
Certainly, some of our very greatest mercies are those that come to us in our domestic relationships.
I. THE JOY AND CROWN OF FATHERHOOD AND OF GRANDFATHERHOOD. Our Lord speaks of the mother forgetting her anguish “for joy that a man is born into the world” (Joh 16:21). The joy of parentage is keen, and it is common; it may, indeed, be said to be universal. And it is pure and good; it elevates and enlarges the soul, taking thought and care away from self to another, and by so doing it distinctly benefits and blesses the nature. And, like all pure joys, it is lasting; it does not evaporate with time; on the other hand, it grows and deepens as the child of its affection develops and matures. Moreover, in the kind providence of God, it is renewable in another generation; for the grandfather has almost as much delight in his grandson as the father in his child (text; Gen 50:23; Psa 128:6). Fatherhood (motherhood) is:
1. A natural desire of the human heart.
2. Often the reward which God gives to patient industry and virtue in earlier days; for the setting up of a home is, in many if not in most cases, the attainment of a hope for which the young have striven and waited.
3. Sometimes a source of grievous disappointment and saddest sorrow (Pro 17:21, Pro 17:25). There is no one in the world who can pierce our souls with such bitter anguish as can our own child when he or she goes astray from wisdom and righteousness.
4. Always an entail of the most serious responsibility; for what we are in spirit and in character it is most likely that our children will become.
5. Therefore a noble opportunity; for it is in our power, by wisdom and virtue, by kindness and piety, to lead our sons into the gates of privilege and up to the gates of the kingdom of Christ.
6. And therefore usually a source of profoundest gratitude and gladness, and the means by which we can hand down our principles and our influence, through our own direct endeavours, to the second and the third generation.
II. THE GLORY OF CHILDHOOD. “The glory of children are their fathers.”
1. It is the greatest of all earthly heritages to have parents that can be esteemed and loved. Happy is the son who, as his judgment matures, can honour his father with an undiminishing or even a growing regard and deepening joy.
2. It is a very real delight to be able to look back, through all the later years of life, and recall the memories of the beloved and revered parents who have “passed into the skies”
3. It is the duty of childhood to make the very best response it can make for the love, care, pains, patience, prayerful solicitude, its parents have expended upon it.
4. It will remain a lasting, source of thankfulness and joy that every possible filial attention was paid that could be paid; lighting and smoothing the path of the parents to the very door of heaven.C.
Pro 17:9
(with Pro 16:28)
Friendship; the silence that saves and the speech that separates it
We may learn
I. THE GOODLINESS OF FRIENDSHIP. “Very friends,” or “chief friends,” points to intimate friendship. This is one of the very fairest and worthiest things under the sun. The man to whom God gives a lifelong faithful friendship is rich in a treasure which wealth cannot buy and the excellency of which it does not equal. It should be:
1. Founded on common attachment to the same great principles, and on mutual esteem.
2. Independent of the changes that occur in circumstances and conditions.
3. Strengthened by adversity.
4. Elevated by piety.
5. Lasting as life. Then it is something which, for intrinsic beauty and substantial worth, cannot be surpassed.
II. THE SILENCE THAT MAY SAVE IT. There is a speech that saves it. Often the interposition of a few words of explanation, removing an offence which would have grown into seriousness, will save a rupture. Sometimes a kindly word of counsel or remonstrance to the imprudent or to the mistaken may have the same happy effect. But, at other times, silence will save it. We are often tempted, even strongly tempted, to say that which would come between two human hearts. To say what we know would only be to speak the truth; it would gratify the curiosity of those present; it would be a pleasant exercise of power or the use of an advantage we happen to possess. The words rise to our very lips. But no; it is not always our duty to say all that we know; it is often our duty to be silent. There are times when to “cover transgression” is an act of wisdom, of kindness, of generosity, of Christ-likeness (see Joh 8:1-11). Let the fact remain untold; let the hearts that have been united remain bound together; seek and secure the permanence of “love.”
III. THE SPEECH THAT WILL SEPARATE IT. A whisperer, one that repeats a matter, does separate friends.
1. There is always some occasion for silence in every man’s life. No man is so correct in thought and speech that he could afford to have every utterance repeated to any one and every one. We all want the kindly curtain of silence to be drawn over some sentences that pass our lips.
2. There are always some thoughtless speakersmen and women who will carry injurious reports from house to house, from heart to heart; there are some who are cruelly careless what things they promulgate; there are some who consciously and guiltily enlarge and misrepresent, who form the dangerous and deadly habit of exaggeration, of false colouring, and who end in systematic falsehood. Those who idly and foolishly report what is true are, indeed, less guilty than they who enlarge and pervert. But they are far from guiltless. We are bound to speak with sufficient caution to save ourselves from the charge of circulating evil and spreading sorrow. We are responsible to God not only for the carefully prepared speech, but also for the casual interjection; that is the meaning of our Lord in his familiar words (Mat 12:36). It behoves us to remember that our brother’s reputation, usefulness, happiness, is in our charge, and one slight whisper may destroy it all. One breath of unkindness may start a long train of sad consequences which we have no power at all to stop. A very few unconsidered and unhappily uttered words may sever hearts that have been beating long in loving unison, may disunite lives that have been linked long in the bonds of happy love.C.
Pro 17:14
The growth of strife
Experience shows us that
I. STRIFE IS A GROWTH. It is as when one letteth out water; first it is the trickling of a few drops, then a tiny rill, then a stream, etc. So with strife; first it is a disturbing thought; then it becomes a warm or a hot feeling; then it utters itself in a strong, provoking word which leads to an energetic resentment and response; then it swells into a decided, antagonistic action; then it grows into a course of opposition, and becomes a feud, a contention, a war.
II. THE GROWTH OF STRIFE IS A CALAMITY.
1. It is the source of untold and incalculable misery to many hearts.
2. It betrays several souls into feelings and into actions which are distinctly wrong and sinful.
3. It presents a moral spectacle which is grievous in the sight of Christ, the Lord of love.
4. It rends in twain that which should be united in one strong and happy circlethe home, the family connection, the Church, the society, the nation.
5. It arrests the progress which would otherwise be made in wisdom and in worth; for it causes numbers of men to expend on bitter controversy and contention the energy and ingenuity they would otherwise expend on rendering service and doing good.
III. OUR DUTY, OUR WISDOM, IS TO ARREST IT AT ITS BEGINNING. You cannot extinguish the conflagration, but you can stamp out the spark; you cannot stop the flow of the river, but you can dam the rill with the palm of your hand. You cannot heal a great schism, but you can appease a personal dispute; or, what is better, you can recall the offensive word you have yourself spoken; or, what is better still, you can repress the rising thought, you can call in to your aid other thoughts which calm and soothe the soul; you can remember him who “bore such contradiction of sinners against himself,” who “as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth,” and you can maintain a magnanimous silence. When this is no longer possible, because the first inciting word has been uttered and resented, then let there be an earnest and determined effort to quell all heat in your own heart, and to pacify the one whose anger has been aroused. “Blessed are the peacemakers,” etc. (see also Mat 5:25; Rom 12:18).C.
Pro 17:16, Pro 17:24
Use and neglect
“There is everything in use,” we say. And certainly a man’s position at any time depends far less upon his bestowments and advantages than upon the use he has made of them. The wise man, in these verses, laments the fact that the price of wisdom should so often be in the hand of a man who fails to turn it to account (Pro 17:16), and that the foolish man wastes his capacities by directing them to things at a distance instead of giving his attention to that which is within his reach. The facts of human life abundantly justify the lament.
I. THE PRESENCE OF OPPORTUNITY. The price of wisdom, and also of worth and of usefulness, is “in our hand.” It is not afar off, that we should askWho will ascend to the height or travel across the sea to find and fetch it? Opportunity is amongst and even “within us.” We find it in:
1. Our natural capacities; here represented by the eyes of a man (Pro 17:24). We have the power of vision, not only bodily, but mental and spiritual. God has given us the faculty of perception, of observation, of intuition; we can see what is before usour interest, our duty, our possibilities.
2. Our various advantages; the education we receive, the friends and kindred who surround us, the literature which is at our command, the resources we inherit, the openings and facilities that are offered us as we move on into life. These are “the price” wherewith we may “buy wisdom” and happiness, usefulness and power. “The gift of God” is a valuable opportunity (see Joh 4:10).
II. OUR FOOLISH AND GUILTY NEGLECT OF IT. Those who have the very fairest chance of attaining to wisdom and usefulness sometimes wantonly throw it away. The foolish boy, at the best school in the land, will refuse to learn, and comes out a dunce. The foolish apprentice, with the best sources of technical or professional knowledge at his command, wastes his hours in frivolity, and when his time is up is utterly unfit for the occupation of his life. Information of what is happening all over the world may now be had for a penny a day, and, what is far more precious, the knowledge of the will of God as revealed in the life and by the lips of Jesus Christ may be had for twopence; but, with “the price of wisdom” at these figures, there are those who know nothing of the hopes or struggles of mankind, and nothing of the way to eternal life. Duty, secular and sacred, is immediately before the eyes of the foolish, but their gaze is fixed upon anything and everything else; they are dreaming, by day and by night, of impossible or of hopelessly improbable fortune, and while they might be patiently and successfully building up a good estate, the chances of life are slipping through their hands. Such neglect of God-given opportunity is:
1. A most serious sin. It is the act of hiding our talent in the earth which calls forth the strong condemnation, “Thou wicked and slothful servant” (Mat 25:24-26).
2. The greatest possible folly. It is a practical renunciation of the fair heritage of life which our heavenly Father offers us; it is the act of flinging the price of wisdom “into the waste.”
III. OUR WISE USE OF IT. The wise man is he who makes the most and the best he can make of that which is within his reach, that which is “before his face.” He does not spend time in looking and longing for that which is “at the ends of the earth;” he sets himself to cultivate the patch of ground, however small and poor, that is just outside his door. He puts out his talents, however mean they may be. He works his capital, however small it may be. He reads well his books, however limited his library may be. He tries to serve others, however narrow his sphere may be. So doing, he is in the way of constant growth and of a large reward (Mat 25:20-24).C.
Pro 17:17
The friend in need
However we read this passage (see Exposition), we have before us the subject of true and lasting friendship. As is stated in a previous homily (see on Pro 17:9), this is founded on a common attachment to the same great principles, moral and religious; and also on a mutual esteem, each heart holding the other in a real regard. When such intelligent esteem ripens into strong affection, we have a result that deserves to bear the beautiful and honourable name of friendship. The true friend is one that “loves at all times,” and he is a “brother born for adversity.” A false or a weak friendship will not bear the strain which the changeful and hard experiences of life will put upon it; it will break and perish. But a true friendship, well founded and well nourished upon Christian truth, will bear all strains, even those of
I. DISTANCE.
II. CHANGE OF VIEW AND OF OCCUPATION. Friendship usually beans in youth or in the earlier years of manhood; then will come, with maturity of mind and enlargement of knowledge and change of occupation, difference of view on things personal, political, literary, social. But true friendship will endure that strain.
III. REDUCTION. The loss of health; of property or income, and the consequent reduction in style and in resources; mental vigour with the lapse of time or from the burden of oppressive care and overwork. But faithfulness will triumph over this.
IV. PROSPERITY. One may ascend in circumstances, in social position; may be attended and even courted by the wealthy and the powerful; may have his time much occupied by pressing duties; and the friendship begun years ago, in a much lower position, may be threatened; but it should not be sacrificed.
V. DISHONOUR. It does occasionally happen to men that they fall into undeserved reproach. They are misunderstood or they are falsely accused; and the good name is tainted with some serious charge. Neighbours, casual acquaintances, those associated by the slighter social bonds, fall away; they “pass by on the other side.” Then is the time tot the true friend to make his faithfulness felt; then he is to show himself the man who “loves at all times,” the “brother born for adversity.” Then he will not only remember where his friend is living, but he will identify himself with him in every open way, will stand by him and walk with him, and honour him, not reluctantly and feebly, but eagerly and energetically.
VI. DECLENSION. It may happen that one to whom we have given our heart in tender and loyal affection, between whom and ourselves there has existed a long and intimate friendship, will yield to temptation in one or other of its seductive and powerful forms. It may be that he will gradually decline; it may be that he will fall with some sad suddenness into serious wrong doing. Then will come to him compunction, humiliation, desertion, loneliness. All his ordinary companions will fall from him. It will be the extreme of adversity, the lowest deep of misery. Then let true friendship show its hand, offer its strong arm, open its door of refuge and of hope; then let the friend prove himself a “brother born for adversity.”
1. Be worthy to love the best, that you may form a true friendship.
2. Ennoble your life and yourself by unwavering fidelity in the testing hour, when your friend is most in need of your loyalty.
3. Secure the abiding love of that Friend who is “the same yesterday, and today, and forever.”C.
Pro 17:21, Pro 17:25
(See homily on Pro 10:1.)C.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Pro 17:1. A dry morsel Bread with pulse, or husks. Bochart and Houbigant. This was the food of meaner persons; whence Horace says, Epist. 1: lib. 2: line 123.
Vivit siliquis et pane secundo:
Lives on coarse bread and vegetable fare.
DUNCOMBE.
This verse is plainly similar to the 16th and 17th of chap. 15:
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
) Admonition to contentment and a peaceable disposition
Chap. 17
1Better a dry morsel and quietness therewith
than a house full of slain beasts with strife.
2A wise servant shall have rule over a degenerate son,
and shall have part of the inheritance among the brethren.
3The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold,
but he that trieth hearts is Jehovah.
4Wickedness giveth heed to lying lips,
deceit giveth ear to a vile tongue.
5He that mocketh the poor hath reproached his Maker,
he that rejoiceth over a calamity shall not be unpunished.
6The crown of the old is childrens children,
the glory of children is their parents.
7High speech doth not become the fool,
how much less do lying lips the noble!
8As a precious stone is a gift in the eyes of him that receiveth it,
whithersoever it turneth it maketh prosperous.
9He that covereth trangression seeketh after love;
but he that repeateth a matter estrangeth friends.
10A reproof sinketh deeper into a wise man
than to chastise a fool an hundred times.
11The rebellious seeketh only evil,
and a cruel messenger shall be sent after him.
12Meet a bear robbed of her whelps,
and not a fool in his folly.
13He that returneth evil for good,
from his house evil shall not depart.
14As a breaking forth of waters is the beginning of strife;
before the strife poureth forth, cease!
15He that acquitteth the wicked and he that condemneth the just,
an abomination to Jehovah are they both.
16Why this price in the hand of a fool?
(It is) to get wisdom, and he hath no heart to it.
17At all times the friend loveth,
but the brother is born of adversity.
18A man void of understanding is he who striketh hands,
who becometh surety in the presence of his friend.
19He loveth sin that loveth strife,
and he that buildeth high his doors seeketh destruction.
20He that is of a false heart findeth no good,
he that goeth astray with his tongue falleth into evil.
21He that begetteth a fool doeth it to his sorrow,
and the father of a fool hath no joy.
22A joyous heart promoteth health,
but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
23A gift from the bosom a wicked man will receive
to pervert the ways of justice.
24Before the face of the wise is wisdom,
but the fools eyes are in the ends of the earth.
25A grief to his father is a foolish son,
and a trouble to her that bare him.
26Also to punish the righteous is not good,
to smite the noble contrary to right.
27He that spareth his words hath knowledge,
and he that is quiet in temper is a man of understanding.
28Even a fool who keepeth silence will be counted wise,
and he that shutteth his lips is wise.
GRAMMATICAL AND CRITICAL
Pro 17:4. is probably not a Hiph. part.: a wicked man, but an abstract substantive, as the parallel term ; indicates (Ewald, Hitzig); and stands, according to the parallel for . [Btt. insists upon regarding the form as a Hiph. part. masc., distinguished by the vocalization from friend (see 1124, A; 764, c); Fuerst gives to the full form , which never occurs, but is assumed as the singular of , the active signification maleficus, evil doer, but maintains that , which occurs only here except with a pausal modification, has naturally the neuter abstract meaning. See also Green, 140, 5.A.]
Pro 17:10.From the infin. there is easily supplied as an object is the Imperf. of the verb , descend, to penetrate (comp. Isa 30:30): the form without abbreviation would, according to Psa 38:3, have been . [So Btt. who also defends the position of the accent on the ground of emphasis ( 497, 3), and criticizes, both on the ground of specific form and general construction, Fuersts assigning it as an apoc. Imperf. to .A.]
Pro 17:11.That is the subject of the clause, and not possibly , as the Syr., Chald., Umbreit, Ewald, etc., maintain, appears from the position of before the latter word, and also from the unquestionable reference of the in the 2d clause to as a masculine substantive. [Rueetschi (as above, p. 146) replies that may as well throw its emphasis on an entire proposition as on a single word (see Nordheimer, 1072, 4) and that refers to the subject of the proposition, which is an abstract in the sense of a concrete. Versions and interpreters are very equally divided; with our author emphasizing as object, only rebellion, nothing but rebellion, are the E. V., V. Ess, Bertheau, K., S.; with Rueetschi are De W., M., N. and substantially II. and W. We render with the latter in opposition to Zcklers view.A.].
Pro 17:13. The Kthibh is to be retained, since the Hiphil has in Psa 55:12 also the intransitive meaning depart.
Pro 17:19. Aben ezra, Geier., Schultens, etc., take the expression to make high the door, or gate, as meaning to open wide the mouth, to utter a vehement outcry ( being taken as equivalent to , as ostium is to os; comp. Psa 141:3; Ecc 12:4). But the idea would then be very obscurely expressed, and instead of we should expect .
Pro 17:22. is not equivalent to or , body, (Chald., Syr., Bertheau, etc.) but is to be derived from the radical , Hos 5:13,and therefore means healing, recovery (Hitzig, the closing up of a wound?) [Fuerst prefers the rendering of the Targ., Syr., etc.; Gesen. that adopted by the author.A.].
Pro 17:27. The rendering which we give conforms to the Kthibh, , to substitute for which with the Kri (which is followed by the Vulg., Luther, etc.) , of a noble spirit, seems here less appropriate. [The LXX follow the Kthibh].
EXEGETICAL
1. Pro 17:1-9. Admonitions to contentment and a wise moderation in earthly possessions, and in the use of the tongue.Better a dry morsel and quietness therewith. A dry piece of bread, without wine, without even vinegar (Rth 2:14) or water with it (1Sa 25:11). The thing contrasted with it is , not sacrificial banquets (Umbreit, Elster, [Fuerst]), but animals slaughtered for sacrifice, as constituting the chief element in a rich, sumptuous meal; comp. Pro 9:2; Gen 43:16. For the general meaning compare Pro 15:16-17; Pro 16:8.
Pro 17:2. A wise servant (comp. Pro 14:35) shall have rule over a degenerate son, lit., a bad, unprofitable son, who becomes impoverished and even a slave, because he has squandered his means, etc.Among the brethren shall he divide the inheritance, i.e. among brethren who are sons of the testator, while he himself who inherits with them, is not a son but only a servant. Comp. Abrahams apprehension in regard to his servant Eliezer, Gen 15:3 sq. With this expression in the midst of the brethren compare a similar one in Hos 13:15.
Pro 17:3. With clause a compare Pro 27:21 a (which is literally identical): with b compare Pro 15:11; Pro 16:2; Pro 21:2; Pro 24:12.
Pro 17:4. Wickedness giveth heed to lying lips. See critical notes. The meaning is plainly this: A wicked heart, inwardly corrupt, gladly attends to lying talk; and deceitso clause b asserts in additioni.e. a heart full of inward insincerity and hypocrisy, a hypocritical man given to lying (abstract for concrete), hearkens to a perverse tongue, i.e. finds pleasure in wicked discourse, which supplies words to its own base thoughts, and develops them into definite evil propositions and designs.
Pro 17:5. With a compare Pro 14:31.He that rejoiceth over a calamity shall not be unpunished (comp. Pro 11:21; Pro 16:5). Sudden misfortune, according to clause a probably sudden poverty. Comp. Job 31:29, a similar utterance regarding the penal desert of an uncharitable delight in calamity.
Pro 17:6. With clause a comp. Psa 127:5.The glory of children is their fathers. As the pride and honor of the gray-headed is the family circle that surrounds them, or the advancing series of their children, grandchildren, etc., so on their part children, so long as they are not also parents, can only reach backward; and with the genealogy, the farther back it reaches, the honor of the family increases (Hitzig).
Pro 17:7. High speech doth not become the fool. A lip of excess, of prominence plainly denotes an assuming, imperious style of speech,not the elevated, or soaring, as Ewald, Elster, Umbreit claim; for the parallel lip of deceit in clause b indicates its sinful character.How much less do lying lips the noble? The noble, the spirit of lofty dispositions (comp. Pro 17:26),to whom deceitfulness, and crafty, sly artifices of speech are less becoming than to any other man,stands contrasted with the fool just as in Isa 32:5 sq.
Pro 17:8. As a precious stone is a gift in the eyes of him that receiveth it. Lit, a stone of. loveliness, a costly stone, gemma gratissima (Vulg.); comp. Pro 1:9.The master of the gift is here evidently not its giver (Elster, comp. Luther, and many of the older expositors), but he that receives it, he who is won by it; and the gift is here to be taken not in the bad sense, of bribery (as below in Pro 17:23), but rather of lawful presents; comp. Pro 18:16.Whithersoever it turneth it maketh prosperous; i.e. to whomsoever it may come it will have a good result and secure for its giver supporters and friends. The expression conforms to the idea of the precious stone in clause a (although it is not the jewel, but the gift that is subject of the verb turneth). For a really beautiful and well-cut stone sparkles, whichever way one may turn it, and from whichever side one may view it; just so is it with the good result of a well-directed generosity, by which the hearts of all are necessarily won. A truth which naturally is to be taken quite in a relative and conditional sense.
Pro 17:9. He that covereth transgression seeketh after love, i.e. not seeks to gain the love of others but seeks to exercise love, a truly charitable spirit (so Hitzig with undoubted correctness, in opposition to Bertheau). [Bridges and M. also take this view, which commends itself both as the deepest and the most disinterested representation.A.]. For the covering transgression comp. Pro 10:12, and the remarks on the passage.But he that repeateth a matter separateth friends (see Pro 16:28). Repeateth a matter ( ) is not to return with remarks or with a word [i.e. to repeat] (Ewald, Bertheau, Elster, Fuerst, etc.), but to come back with a matter, [Gesen.] i.e. to be continually reverting to something, repeatedly to bring it up and show it forth, instead of letting it alone and covering it with the mantle of charity. This expression is different both from the Latin, ad alios deferre, denuntiare (Winer) and also from the Greek . Comp. furthermore Sir 19:6-10.
2. Pro 17:10-20. Admonitions to a peaceable spirit; warnings against a contentious and uncharitable disposition.A reproof sinketh deeper into a wise man than a hundred stripes into a fool, (comp. Deu 25:3); lit., than to smite the fool with a hundred. With the meaning of the verse compare Sallusts Jugurtha, c. Proverbs 11 : altius in pectus descendit, and the common phrase to make a deeper impression.
Pro 17:11. Clause a, see critical notes for the reasons for our departure from Zcklers rendering.And a cruel messenger shall be sent after him, i.e. by God, against whom we are to regard the rebellion mentioned in clause a as directed. So the LXX and Vulg. rendered in their day, and among recent interpreters Bertheau, e.g.; for to think of a mere human messenger, as in Pro 16:14, is forbidden by the analogy of passages like Psa 35:5-6; Psa 78:49; Hitzigs rendering, however, and a cruel angel (a wild demon of passion, as it were), is let loose within him, is altogether artificial, and rests upon modern conceptions that are quite foreign to the Old Testament; besides we ought probably to have found in the midst of him, instead of .
Pro 17:12. Meet a bear robbed of her Whelps. The Infin. abs. here stands for the Imper. or Jussive; comp. Gen 17:10; Deu 1:16; Jer 2:2, etc. For the use of the epicene for the she-bear comp. Hos 13:8; 2Sa 17:8.The fool in his folly is naturally a fool who is peculiarly malignant, one who is in a very paroxysm of folly, and whose raving is more dangerous than the madness of a wild beast. Comp. Schiller: Gefhrlich ists den Leu zu wecken, etc. [Tis perilous to wake the lion].
Pro 17:13. With clause a compare 1Sa 25:21; with b, 2Sa 3:29.Evil here in the sense of misfortune, the penalty for acts of injustice done the good.
Pro 17:14. As a breaking forth of waters is the beginning of strife [Zckler: he letteth forth waters, etc. Z. also conceives of the latter part of the clause as meaning literally who (lets loose) the beginning of strife; in his view the participle is to be repeated before the word beginning. The use of the verb in the sense of send forth, bring out is confirmed by the Targum on Exo 21:26. The participle cannot, however, in Z.s view, be taken here in a neuter sense, as Ewald maintains (so Umbreit). Fuerst maintains the view of E. and U. and cites analogous forms of verbal nouns. We adopt it as justified by verbal analogies and simplifying the construction.A.] Luther expresses the substantial idea thus: He who begins strife is like him that tears away the dam from the waters.Before the strife poureth forth, cease! The meaning of the verb which is best attested is here, as in Pro 18:1; Pro 20:3, to roll forth. Here, as in verse 8, the figurative conception employed in clause a influences the selection of the verb in b. The strife is conceived of as a flood which after its release rolls on irresistibly. Umbreit, Elster, etc., following the Chald. and Arabic, explain before the strife becomes warm; Hitzig (and Ewald also) before the strife shows its teeth. As though an altogether new figure could be so suddenly introduced here, whether it be that of a fire blazing up, or that of a lion showing his teeth! [As the word occurs but three times, and the cognate roots in the Hebrew and its sister languages are not decisive, the moral argument may well turn the scale; and this certainly favors the view in which Z. has the concurrence of Fuerst, Bertheau, Stuart, etc.A.]
Pro 17:15. Comp.Pro 24:24; Isa 5:23.An abomination to Jehovah are they both; lit., an abhorrence of Jehovah are also they two; comp. 2Sa 19:31, where , also, expresses as it does here the associating of a second with the one.
Pro 17:16. Why this price in the hand of a fool, etc. [While there is no essential disagreement among expositors in regard to the general meaning of the verse, they are divided as to the punctuation and the mutual relation of the clauses: The Hebrew points are not decisive. Z. agrees with the Vulg., E. V., H., S., etc. in making the sentence one complex interrogative sentence. De Dieu, Schultens, Van Ess, De Wette, Noyes, etc., make two interrogative clauses, followed by one affirmation. We have chosen the more equal division of the LXX.A.] The getting or buying of wisdom is by no means a thing absolutely impossible, as appears from Pro 4:5, where express admonition is given to do this. But for earthly gold, for a price, it is not for sale, and especially not for the fool, who has no understanding. For the last clause, and heart, understanding, is not, does not exist, compare the substantially equivalent expression in Psa 32:9; also Jer 5:21, etc.
Pro 17:17. Compare Pro 18:24; also Sir 12:7.But the brother is born of adversity. The ideas friend and brother are related the one as the climax of the other. The friend, the companion with whom one preserves a friendly intercourse cherishes a constant good-will toward his comrade; but it is only necessity that develops him further into a brother, as it gives the opportunity to attest his loving disposition by offerings of love, such as in truth only one brother makes for another. Comp. Ennius, in Cic. Ll. c. Proverbs 17 : Amicus certus in re incerta cernitur; and also the Arabic proverb (Sent. 53 in Erpenius Gramm.): The friend one finds out not till one needs him. he is born, as a new being, into the new conditions of the actual, brotherly relation. must here mean of adversity (Hitzig, K.), not in adversity (Umbreit, N.), or for adversity (Ewald, Bertheau, Elster, De W., S., M., etc.). [The grammatical justification of Z.s view is found mainly in the fact that is ordinarily used when in a passive construction the efficient cause is to be expressed: see Gesen. Lehrgeb. 221, Rod. Gesen. Heb. Gram. 140. 2. Of course it may also denote the final cause.A.]For Pro 17:18 compare Pro 6:1-5; Pro 6:5.
Pro 17:19. With clause a compare Jam 1:20; with b, Pro 16:18.Who buildeth high his doors; i.e. seeks to transform his simple residence into a proud and splendid edifice, but by that very process only hastens its destruction (lit., shattering, downfall, comp. the similar term in Pro 10:14, etc.). [Sharpes Texts of Bible explained, etc.: Private houses were sometimes built ostentatiously with a lofty gateway which would naturally breed jealousy in the neighbors, and invite the visits of the tax-gatherer; and in a time when law was weak and property very unsafe, might easily lead to the ruin of its owner.A.] The sentiment is therefore directed against pride as the chief source of a quarrelsome spirit, and the most common cause of ruinous contention.
Pro 17:20. With clause a compare Pro 11:20; Pro 16:20.He that wandereth with his tongue, i.e. speaks now this way, now that; therefore has a deceitful tongue, a wayward tongue, Pro 10:31 (comp. Pro 8:13).Falleth into evil; see Pro 13:17. Observe the climax existing in the negative expression no good in a, and this evil.
3. Pro 17:21-28. Proverbs of various content, directed especially against want of sense, and loquacity.He that begetteth a fool doeth it to his own sorrow. Comp. Pro 10:1; Pro 18:13; and the converse of the thought here presented, Pro 23:24; also Pro 15:20.
Pro 17:22. A joyous heart promoteth health. See critical note. For the sentiment comp. Pro 15:13; with clause b in particular, Pro 3:8.
Pro 17:23. A gift from the bosom a wicked man will receive. From the bosom, i.e. secretly and stealthily; comp. Pro 21:14. The term gift is here used naturally of unlawful bribery.With clause b compare Pro 18:5; Amo 2:7.
Pro 17:24. Before the face of the wise is wisdom. Before the face, here it would seem very near and therefore close before the face (Bertheau, Elster, etc.): or again with Ziegler, Hitzig, etc., the explanation may be in accordance with Deu 16:16, Wisdom floats before the man of understanding, he has it in his eye (comp. Pro 15:14).But the eyes of the fool (range) to the end of the earth, i.e. his mind is not on the subject, but roams in undefined, shadowy distance (Hitzig); he thinks of many and various things, on every possible thing,only not of the very thing that is needful and important; comp. Pro 4:25.
Pro 17:25. Comp. Pro 17:21; Pro 10:1.
Pro 17:26. Also to punish the righteous is not good, to smite the noble contrary to right. The also () plainly gives prominence to the verb that immediately follows, and this verb should be allowed to retain its ordinary signification, to punish with a fine, to impose a pecuniary fine (comp. Pro 22:3). The fine as a comparatively light penalty, which may easily at one time or another fall with a certain justice even on a just man (e.g. when he from inadvertence has in some way injured the property of another), stands contrasted with the much severer punishment with stripes; and as these two verbal ideas are related, so are also the predicates not good (comp. Pro 17:20), and contrary to right (above desert, beyond all proportion to the just and reasonable), in the relation of a climax. On the other hand the righteous and the noble (as in Pro 17:7) are essentially persons of the same class. The proverb, which evidently contains an admonition to mild and reasonable treatment of upright men, or a warning against the inhuman enforcement of penal laws upon active and meritorious citizens, has been in many ways misunderstood and falsely applied; and this is true of most of the recent expositors with the exception of Umbreit, who alone interprets with entire correctness. (Bertheau and Elster are also essentially right, except that they do not take the contrary to right as the predicate, but are disposed to connect it by way of more exact definition with the phrase to smite the noble). [The LXX, Vulg., followed by the E.V., W., M., H., N., render for their equity. S. and K. agree with Z., both in the meaning and the predicative construction.A.]
Pro 17:27. With a comp. Pro 10:19.And he that is of a quiet temper. Comp. the opposite of the coolness of spirit here intended (i.e. cautious, moderate, quietly considerate deportment); Psa 39:3 (4).
Pro 17:28. Comp. Job 13:5; Pro 10:19, etc.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
The introductory verse with its commendation of contentment and a peaceable spirit at the same time, or of contentment as the source and basis of a peaceable disposition and conduct, may be regarded as a prefatory announcement of the main subject of the chapter. Contentment in furthermore commended (at least indirectly) in Pro 17:2; Pro 17:5; Pro 17:8; Pro 17:16; Pro 17:19; Pro 17:22-24; a peaceable and forbearing disposition in Pro 17:4; Pro 17:9-15; Pro 17:17; Pro 17:19-20; Pro 17:26.The summons which comes out in the opening verses, 19, to combine with contentment the appropriate restraint and regulation of the tongue,or to be abstemious not merely with the mouth but with the tongue (by truthfulness and gentleness in speech, and by a taciturn disposition, Pro 17:28),recurs again in the last two verses. It may therefore to a certain extent be regarded as in general the fundamental idea of the entire section. In the asceticism of the early Church and of the monasticism of the middle ages, this idea that there must be an inward organic coexistence of bodily and spiritual fasting, or that one should bring the tongue under a serious and strict discipline, as the organ not merely of taste, but also of speech, found as is well known only too prolific practical appreciation. For, appealing to the supposed model of Christs forty days of fasting in the wilderness, men added to the injunctions of fasting unnaturally strict prescriptions of silence in many forms (see my Critical History of Asceticism, pp. 297 sq.). Apart from these extravagances and exaggerations, the organic connection, and living reciprocity of influence between the activity of the tongue as an organ of taste and an organ of speech, such as exists in every man, is a matter deserving distinct recognition; and sins of the tongue in both directions must be with all earnestness shunned, and together subdued and destroyed (comp. James 3:22).
Other ethical sentiments of special value and compass are found in ver Proverbs 4 : the heavy guilt not only of the tempter, but also of the tempted, who, on account of his inward corruption and vileness, gives a ready hearing to the evil solicitations of the former; comp. Jam 1:14 sq.
Pro 17:6. The blessing of a consecrated domestic life, as it shows itself in both the parents and their posterity, in their mutual relations and demeanor. The opposite of this appears in Pro 17:21; Pro 17:25.
Pro 17:16. The pricelessness of true wisdom, and the worthlessness of earthly possessions and treasures in the hand of a fool.
Pro 17:17. The great worth of a true friend in time of need.
Pro 17:26. The necessity of a mild, considerate bearing on the part of persons in judicial and magisterial station, toward deserving citizens of the state, in cases where they have perchance gone astray or come short of duty. Comp. the exegetical remarks on this passage.
[Lawson, Pro 17:4 : Wicked men have a great treasure of evil in their hearts, and yet have not enough to satisfy their own corrupt dispositions.
Pro 17:15. Justifying the wicked has an appearance of mercy in it, but there is cruelty to millions in unreasonable acts of mercy to individuals.Ministers are guilty of the sin of condemning the righteous when they preach doctrines uuscripturally rigid, making those things to be sinful which are not condemned in the word of God, or carrying the marks necessary to discover grace to a pitch too high to suit the generality of true Christians, or applying to particular persons those terrors that do not justly belong to them. Such was the fault of Jobs friends.]
HOMILETIC AND PRACTICAL
Homily on the entire chapter: A peaceable spirit and contentment as the sum of all wisdom; its opposite (contentiousness and foolish aspiring after things that are high, see especially Pro 17:19) as the source of all failure in things temporal as well as spiritual.Stcker: Of true temperance in controlling all unseasonable debate and strife; 1) the causes of these last (Pro 17:4-13); 2) the most important means of averting them (Pro 17:14-19); 3) the serious injuries and disadvantages which grow out of them (Pro 17:20-28).
Pro 17:1-8. Hasius (on Pro 17:2): To attain to power and influence in this world more depends on understanding and prudence than on birth and outward advantages.Lange (on Pro 17:3): All human investigations and theories concerning the interior world of thought in man are inconclusive and deceptive. The searching of the heart of man is one of the kingly prerogatives of God.[Trapp (on Pro 17:3): God tries us that He may make us know what is in us, what dross, what pure metal; and all may see that we are such as, for a need, can glorify Him in the very fires (Isa 24:15).Bridges (on Pro 17:4): The listening ears share the responsibility of the naughty tongue.]Zeltner (on Pro 17:4): According as the heart and disposition of a man are moulded, he delights either in good or in evil discourse.Wohlfarth (on Pro 17:7): Force not thyself above, degrade not thyself below thy condition.Von Gerlach (on Pro 17:7): The outward and the inward must always be in harmony, else a distorted and repulsive display results. As the fool cannot fitly speak of high things, so senseless must a falsehood appear to the noble.Lange (on Pro 17:8): Though one may effect much with an unjust judge by presents, how much better will it be if thou bringest thine heart to the Lord thy God as a gift and offering!
Pro 17:9-15. [Lord Bacon (on Pro 17:9): There are two ways of making peace and reconciling differences; the one begins with amnesty, the other with a recital of injuries, combined with apologies and excuses. Now I remember that it was the opinion of a very wise man and a great politician, that he who negotiates a peace, without recapitulating the grounds of difference, rather deludes the minds of the parties by representing the sweetness of concord, than reconciles them by equitable adjustment. But Solomon, a wiser man than he, is of a contrary opinion, approving of amnesty and forbidding recapitulation of the past. For in it are these disadvantages; it is as the chafing of a sore; it creates the risk of a new quarrel (for the parties will never agree as to the proportions of injuries on either side); and, lastly, it brings it to a matter of apologies; whereas either party would rather be thought to have forgiven an injury than to have accepted an excuse.]Melanchthon (on Pro 17:9-12): As the monitor must show sincerity and love of truth, and guard against a slanderous love of censure, so in him who is admonished, there is becoming a readiness to be instructed, and both must keep themselves free from , from an ambitious quarrelsomeness.Cramer (on Pro 17:10): To him who is of a noble sort words of rebuke are more grievous than blows, and he yields to the discipline of mere words.Starke (on Pro 17:13): If God sharply punishes ingratitude, from this it is also evident how dear to Him, on the other hand, thankfulness must be.(On Pro 17:14): From a little spark a great fire may arise (Jam 3:5); but he who buries in the ashes the kindling contention may thereby avert a great disaster.[Trapp (on Pro 17:10): The fool is beaten, but not bent to goodness; amerced but not amended.(On Pro 17:13): To render good for evil is Divine, good for good is human, evil for evil is brutish, evil for good is devilish.Bridges (on Pro 17:15): If God justifies the wicked, it is on account of righteousness. If he condemn the just, it is on the imputation of unrighteousness. Nowhere throughout the universe do the moral perfections of the Governor of the world shine so gloriously as at the Cross of Calvary.]
Pro 17:16-22. Zeltner (on Pro 17:17): The most reliable and faithful friend, on whom one may depend most confidently in the very time of need, is the Lord Jesus. Strive for His friendship above all things, and thou hast treasure enough![Arnot (on Pro 17:17): In the Scriptures we learn where the fountain of true friendship lies, what is its nature, why its flow is impeded now, and when it shall be all over like the waves of the sea. Our best friendship is due to our best friend. He deserves it and desires it. The heart of the man Christ Jesus yearns for the reciprocated love of saved men, and grieves when it is not given.].Starke (on Pro 17:19): He who first leaves room for one sin falls afterward into many others.Contention and pride are almost always sisters, and of a most destructive sort.Von Gerlach (on Pro 17:22): The heart, the fountain of life, works to bless the whole of mans condition when it is really sound, i.e., when the grace of Jesus Christ has healed and renewed it.[Trapp (on Pro 17:22): When faith hath once healed the conscience, and grace hath hushed the affection, and composed all within, so that there is a Sabbath of spirit, and a blessed tranquility lodged in the soul; then the body also is vigorous and vigetous, for most part in very good plight, and healthful constitution, which makes mans life very comfortable.Bridges (on Pro 17:22): Liveliness needs a guard lest it should degenerate into levity; a grave temperament lest it should sink into morbid depression. Christian principle on both sides is the principle of enlarged happiness and steady consistency.]
Pro 17:23-28. Starke (on Pro 17:24): The more one gapes after vanity, the more foolish does the heart become.(On Pro 17:25): A wise father has indeed now and then a foolish son; if he has not himself perchance deserved this, by neglect in education, let him bear his cross with patience.(On Pro 17:26): He sins doubly who declares evil good, and besides visits the goodness of a righteous man with penalties.Berleburg Bible (on Pro 17:27-28): It is better to say nothing than foolish things.Von Gerlach (on Pro 17:28): By silence a fool abates something of his senselessness, and since he gets the opportunity to collect himself and to reflect, a beginning of wisdom is developed in him.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices with strife. A wise servant shall have rule over a son that causeth shame, and shall have part of the inheritance among the brethren.
Whether it was the intention of God the Holy Ghost in this account of a wise servant to lead to Jesus, I must not presume to determine; but when I call to mind that God the Father hath put Jesus at the head of all offices, and characters, that in all things he might have the preeminence; I confess that in reading the account here given, I find my heart instinctively as it were prompted to contemplate under this character the ever-blessed Jesus. Col 1:18 , For was not Christ Jehovah’s servant? Nay, did not the gracious Lord himself stoop to become the servant of all, and take upon him the form of a servant? I am among you (said Christ) as him that serveth. Luk 22:27 . And who so wise as Jesus? Who so zealous in his Father’s service? Who so diligent in the accomplishment of our salvation, and in doing the work which his Father gave him to do? and hath he not rule over every son, every adopted son whose rebellion and departures from God our Father hath caused shame? Reader! hath not your unworthiness and mine caused shame? And is it not your glory now, that Jehovah’s wise servant hath rule over you? Do you not delight to bow the knee to Jesus, and to confess that he is Lord, to the glory of God the Father? And hath not Jesus part in the inheritance which he himself hath purchased and recovered among the brethren? Oh! the blessedness of the thought, he is not ashamed to call them brethren: and in all that concerns them he takes part. Precious Jesus! may I delight to contemplate thee under this as well as every other tender office and character, into which thou hast condescended to put thyself. And I will say of thee as the church said, Oh! that thou wert as my brother that sucked the breasts of my mother, when I should find thee without I would kiss thee; yea, I should not be despised. I would lead thee and bring thee into my mother’s house, who would instruct me. I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate. Son 8:1-2 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The Nearness of the Essential in Life’s Discipline
Pro 17:24
The fool is he who despises the actual and possible, and longs for what is not; he is never where his eyes are. The text is, then, a warning against vain conceits and regrets, against frittering away life sighing for impossible conditions, whilst missing the glory before our eyes, the treasures at our feet, the prizes within our grasp.
I. Do not despise the familiar. The elements of happiness, sources of improvement, and opportunities for service and sacrifice are never far to seek. Really no folly is more egregious than that of looking high and wide for the essential gifts and blessings as though God had forgotten or denied them. Our star is in our brain, not in the sky; our ship of gold is at the quay awaiting its discharge, and not upon the high seas; our fortune is at our feet, not at the foot of the rainbow. Let us lay it to heart, there is nothing better for us in the wide universe than the set of circumstances which constitute the framework of our contemporaneous life.
II. Do not despise the mean . ‘Wisdom is before the face of him that hath understanding.’ The wise see great significance and taste rich satisfactions in what appears to the carnal eye poor and base, the bread-and-butter life is lighted up by the beatific vision; on the other hand, the fool hates the drudgery of duty, the weariness of work, the monotonousness of mere faithfulness, and takes refuge in day-dreams and fiction generally. Let us beware of scorning the grey, coarse, beaten pathway; for it is a section of the King’s highway, despite its dreariness. Do not despise common positions; they require splendid souls to fill them: do not despise common tasks; it requires rare souls to accomplish them. Only God’s jewels can worthily work out His great purpose in humble places and things; and in thus working out His purpose they are proved and polished against the great day of coronation. Do not weaken the soul with vain longings and idealizations. There is no victory like that of the commonplace life bravely lived.
III. Do not despise the small. ‘The eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth seeking great things,’ whilst in the apparently insignificant close at hand reside most momentous possibilities. The wise accept thankfully the small sphere, the one talent, the few things. In the most restricted sphere every noble quality of human nature may be illustrated, every grand work wrought.
W. L. Watkinson, Themes for Hours of Meditation, p. 86.
Pro 17:24
A distinguished naturalist declares that the best bird-nester is the village simpleton. He starts on his quest without crediting the birds with any extraordinary subtlety, and at once lights upon their retreat; whilst other seekers, assuming an acuteness in the birds which they do not possess, waste the time in exploring hidden places, overlooking the nest right before their eyes. This is a parable of human life. Things of the greatest moment are being constantly overlooked because of the mistaken notion that whatever is of the first consequence is uncommon, hidden, and remote.
W. L. Watkinson, Themes for Hours of Meditation, p. 86.
References. XVII. 24. J. Stalker, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlii. 1892, p. 195; see also vol. lxiv. 1803, p. 72. XVIII. 10. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. ix. No. 491. R. Winterbotham, Sermons Preached in Holy Trinity Church Edinburgh, p. 40. XVIII. 10, 11. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Esther, Job, Proverbs, etc., p. 210. XVIII. 12. Spurgeon, Sermons , vol. ii. No. 97.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
“Excellent Speech,” Etc.
Pro 17:7
By “excellent speech” we are to understand superfluous or pretentious words; and by “a fool” we are to understand a vile person. Discrepancy between words and character should always be pointed out as a most vicious fault. The words and the character should be equal to one another; so should the sermon and the preacher, that is to say, the sermon should not be read, or delivered as if it did not belong to the preacher, but should be spoken as part and parcel of the man himself, expressing his character, his spiritual quality, and his supreme purpose. Vile persons have found it to their advantage to imitate the speech of the excellent; they have spoken beautiful words without beautiful meanings, and they have been content to poetise rather than to realise, to treat life in its merely sentimental aspects, or in its speculative views; or to treat it as an investment for social favour: they have never been solid, real, and true. Judge not by the speech alone, for therein we may be often deceived by skilful speakers, who have quite a critical choice of words and a dainty way of producing them, and yet they themselves dwell apart from their speech, and are living a totally different life. Vile persons should speak vilely; pure persons should speak purely. The character should be the origin of eloquence. But all this is mere maxim which a rhetorician might teach, and which a moralist might confirm: the great point is that man cannot speak well with his tongue until a great regenerative work has been done in his heart Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh; as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. These are sentiments with which our Biblical studies have made us familiar, but their familiarity must not destroy the reality of their reason and the wisdom of their conception. A man is not to be put right externally, but internally: out of the heart proceed lies, adulteries, murders, and every form of wickedness. “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”
“He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends” ( Pro 17:9 ).
In the New Testament we read that charity covers a multitude of sins, and this verse ought to read, He follows after charity who covers a transgression. The truth is thus doubly presented, and yet it is unchanged in its central quantity and purpose: the Old Testament and the New Testament concur in representing charity as delighting in the covering of transgression. We are not to understand by covering a transgression merely concealing it, cherishing its spirit, and intending to repeat its purpose, but secreting it from public observation; we are rather to understand that love delights in making the least possible of any transgression that may have been committed; it does not aggravate matters by dwelling upon them, it does not employ fancy to colour them; it rather seeks to show that the transgression was not meant as it has generally been understood, and that really the transgressor sinned rather out of ignorance than out of intention. The latter part of the text should be read, He that always returns to old grievances separateth very friends; that is to say, he cannot let a matter rest; he must go again and again to it; even when it is apparently buried, he must exhume it, and dwell upon its enormity, and show how impossible it is to overlook a transgression so great. The two speakers are therefore put in opposition, the one being inspired by a spirit of charity, and the other being animated by a spirit of exasperation and malice, always recurring to events that ought to be forgotten, and always giving new life to memories which have been buried beyond resurrection. Here again we come to fountain and origin, and must take away our attention from detail and accident; only he who is filled with the love of God can work these miracles of charity; only he who buries sin as God himself buries it can cease to repeat matters which ought to be forgotten by the recollection of love, by the memory of pardon. Sometimes men forgive sins or errors on the part of others, but their friends insist upon keeping up the old feud, saying that whatever the original sufferer may have pardoned or overlooked his friends must insist upon inflicting penalty upon the offender. There would be more forgiveness in the world were controversies confined to the two parties immediately interested in them; but friends or outsiders or critics will make note of the matter, and irritate and exaggerate and do all in their power to make every sore a continually open wound. The one cure for this is baptism into the Spirit of Christ, a full and glowing realisation of the presence of Christ in all the thought and intention of life. Here again we may quote the words of the Blessed One “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”
“A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity” ( Pro 17:17 ).
A different and correcter rendering would give the verse thus: The true friend loveth at all times, and loveth like a brother born for adversity. We are to be on our guard against merely whimsical friendship, a friendship that is governed by moods and atmospheres, and incidental and ever-changing circumstances; our friendship is to be without changeableness or shadow of turning, a really rooted attachment to persons or to doctrines, and not subject to climatic influences, and not exposed to those variations which render it quite uncertain in what mood we may meet our friend when we next see him. This is what we mean by whimsical friendship, we do not know whether we shall encounter a smile or a frown, whether it would please our friend to be jovial or ungenial, whether he may be in a mood to help us or to hinder us: that is not friendship; certainly it is not the friendship that is represented in this text. The text rather teaches us that we are to know our friends when we are in adversity; the friend then becomes a brother, because adversity develops him, tests his quality, elicits his resources, awakens the whole circle of his sympathy, and turns his sentiment into reality and action. We do not know who our friends are until we have been in trouble. The cloudy day dissolves the crowd that delights in sunshine. When we have need of our friends we shall know how many friends we have. The men who call upon us in the day of trouble are the men who are born for adversity, and who are representing the genius of true friendship. Here we are brought to the Friend of sinners; nothing can change him, if we be faithful and constant in our love towards him. He does not found his actions towards us upon the reports of others. He reads our heart for himself, comprehends the motive, in its beginning, and in its development, and in its consummation, and when all others forsake us he is nearer than ever to our soul. In six troubles he hath been with us, and in seven he will not forsake us, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Jesus never turns away from those whom he loves; he has given them into the Father’s hand, out of which no man can pluck them. “The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his.” Of what avail is it that we have innumerable friends when we can entertain them, when we can give more than we receive, when we are sources of inspiration or blessing or satisfaction to them? Under such circumstances we cannot test their character: it is when we are misrepresented, misunderstood, falsely accused, that we shall know how many stand by us; the men who go with us into Gethsemane are the men who are our truest friends.
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 17:1 Better [is] a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices [with] strife.
Ver. 1. Better is a dry morsel and quietness therewith. ] Though there be not so much as a little vinegar to dip in. Pro 14:17 See Trapp on “ Pro 14:17 “ The Hebrew word properly signifies a morsel of bread, as Rabbi Elias tells us. So, then, better is a crust of coarse bread without any other dainties or dishes – never so little, with love and peace – than a houseful of sacrifices; that is, of good cheer, usual at offering up of sacrifices. Pro 7:14 And hereunto Saint James seems to allude in Pro 5:5 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Proverbs Chapter 17
The blessing of quietness at home, the value of wisdom there and elsewhere, the hearts tried by Jehovah, the evildoer’s heeding wicked lips, and falsehood listening to mischief, the reproach done to the Maker by mocking the poor, the mutual honour of parents and children in their due place, and the congruity of speech with those who speak, are here (Pro 17:1-7 ) severally dealt with.
“Better [is] a piece of dry bread and quietness therewith than a house full of the sacrifices of strife.
“A servant that dealeth wisely shall have rule over a son that causeth shame, and shall have part in the inheritance among the brethren.
“The crucible [is] for silver and the furnace for gold; but Jehovah trieth the hearts.
“An evil-doer heedeth iniquitous lips; falsehood listeneth to a mischievous tongue.
“Whoso mocketh a poor [man] reproacheth his Maker; he that is glad at calamity shall not be held innocent.
“Children’s children [are] the crown of old men; and the glory of children [are] their fathers.
“Excellent speech becometh not a fool: much less do lying lips a prince!” vv. 1-7.
The opening word contrasts the immense superiority of a peaceful household with hard fare, over one where plenty is found, embittered by contention, or, as is here energetically said, “full of the sacrifices of strife.” Love and peace may abound through Christ where is little else; only unhappiness abides where He is unknown, were all there that wealth can supply.
Then again, who has not known one from the lowliest place promoted for his wisdom over a son that bringeth shame, and even to share the inheritance of the family? A son crushes the family with his disgrace; a wise servant, especially in such circumstances, acquires love, respect, and honour with his full share.
But there is a moral government ever carried on by Him who is alone capable of trying the hearts, with a goodness and wisdom and patience not wanted for refining silver and gold, which man can do. For the Christian it is as Father; for the Jew it was and will be Jehovah, the one true God.
There is also no small trial from those who wish and do evil; and we are here shown how close is the connection between malice and falsehood. If an evildoer heeds false and unjust lips, falsehood listens to a mischievous tongue. Such is mankind without God, each in his own way, but all astray and malicious.
Nor is Jehovah indifferent to the pride that mocks the poor out of an overweening value for the passing advantages of this life. It is to reproach, if not to blaspheme, his Maker. There is another ill feeling hateful to God – gladness at calamities not our own. He that indulges in such heartlessness shall not remain unpunished.
Quite different from these is what follows, where family relations are maintained as Jehovah intended. “Children’s children are the crown of old men, and the glory of children are their fathers.” How blessed when the aged feel their descendants an honour, and they no less delight in their parents!
The last of these verses glances at a twofold moral incongruity: when a fool (in the serious light of that word according to Scripture) utters “excellent speech” out of all harmony with his character and life; and when a prince or noble, instead of being a pattern of probity in his exalted position, gives himself up to shameless deception. Yet such stumbling blocks occur in this evil day. What a contrast with Christ who is the truth, and came to do the will of God!
But it is not a question of speech only, excellent or deceptive. Acts are still more serious and influential; and to this we are now led on.
“A gift [is] a precious stone in the eyes of the possessor; whithersoever it turneth, it prospereth.
“He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that bringeth a matter up again separateth chief friends.
“A reproof entereth more deeply into him that hath understanding than a hundred stripes into a fool.
“The evil seeketh only rebellion; but a cruel messenger shall be sent against him.
“Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man rather than a fool in his folly.
“Whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.
“The beginning of contention is [as] when one letteth out water; therefore leave off strife before it become vehement.” vv. 8-14.
The law and the later Old Testament writings, the gospels and the epistles, bear ample witness to God’s love of liberal and cheerful giving. But there may be a gift when it becomes a bribe, and even the law loudly warns in this case. Accordingly here its influence is asserted to be as a precious stone in the eyes of him that obtains it, as the giver too knows its power, where Jehovah was not before the soul.
But in a world of contrariety and evil, there is a mightier power and of a higher source. “He that covereth transgression seeketh” not a bribe, but “love”; as on the other hand, “He that bringeth up a matter again,” without any motive higher than idle talk, with no positive aim of edification, “separateth chief friends.” Love is not at work.
There might be error or evil, and this continued. In such a case to be indifferent for the sake of peace is a sin; and reproof is called for, especially where a man of sense was concerned. For a reproof penetrates such a one more than a hundred stripes would a fool. How timid even Christians are in this office of love, even when a worldly mind does not make them unfeeling!
It is an evil man that indulges a spirit of revolt; for rebellion is hateful to God, and His Word gives it no quarter. Circumstances on earth yield constant opportunity, and hence such a one “seeketh only rebellion.” It gives an unhappy self-importance, which to vanity is irresistible. But God is not mocked, though it be the acceptable year, and not yet the day of His vengeance; and a “cruel messenger” will not fail to be “sent against him.” Even now is there moral government.
But a fool in his folly goes a great deal farther and bursts through all bounds. To be met by a she-bear robbed of her cubs is a dangerous thing for any man; but a fool in his folly is worse still, as not the wise alone know to their cost. It is difficult also for the considerate to conceive what a fool may dare in his folly.
Ingratitude too is an evil of no small magnitude, and the face of God is set against such sheer baseness as rewarding evil for good. If one be thus guilty, evil shall not depart from his house. Even if it were but the snare of Satan for the highest in the land, himself most generous habitually, Jehovah did and could not overlook it; the sword departed not from his house, who gratified his passion at the cost too of a faithful servant’s blood to hide his own sin. How Solomon must have felt as he remembered this!
And who has not seen to what a blaze a little spark may come, if godliness and grace do not role? It is as the letting out of water when one begins contention; mere drops trickling at first till the opening enlarges for a flow that sweeps all before it. “Therefore leave off strife before it become vehement.”
There is an evil still worse than the selfish love of contradiction or contest, bad as this is in itself and its consequences. Unrighteousness is ungodly.
“He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the righteous, even they both are abomination to Jehovah.
“Wherefore [is there] a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing [he is] void of sense (or, hath no heart)?
“The friend loveth at all times and is a brother born for adversity.
“A man void of sense striketh hands, becoming surety for his friend.
“He loveth transgression that loveth a quarrel: he that raiseth high his gate seeketh destruction.
“He that hath a perverse heart findeth no good; and he that shifteth about with his tongue falleth into evil.
“He that begetteth a fool [doeth it] to his sorrow; and the father of a vile [man] hath no joy.” vv. 15-21.
On either side the guilt described in verse 15 is grievous in Jehovah’s eyes. Not only is it sympathy with evil men and heartlessness as to the righteous, but direct antagonism to every principle of divine government. For men are put to the test in this life by the concrete facts of the wicked man here and the righteous there. To judge only in the abstract is to deceive oneself, injure others, and be an abomination to Jehovah on both sides.
Jehovah is a God full of compassion and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy, even when man is under law. Thus He does not fail to put purchase money in a fool’s hand. How kind to the unthankful and the indifferent, the infatuated and evil! To what purpose is it but that such may acquire wisdom? Seeing he is devoid of sense draws out his pity. What folly to frustrate all goodness by slighting Him who alone is good, and trusting the old serpent, the evil one!
Fine is the description of the friend and precious just as far as it is realized. He loves at all times; sad the blank of not having one uncapricious and constant, whatever the changes of this passing scene, nearer still of a brother born for adversity, where the strain is greatest! None fills up the sketch to perfection but our Lord Jesus, who indeed in His infiniteness went beyond what lips can utter or heart conceive.
Man’s capacity and resources are so limited, and the changes of human life so frequent and fast, that it would be hard to name a more dangerous error than a rash pledge or suretyship. Grace no doubt is free to lose indefinitely for another, but not thereby to dishonour the Lord by one’s own debt, or to injure others, whether one’s family or strangers. This were indeed to play the part of a senseless man, not of a brother born for adversity.
How blind men are to their own spirit that love a quarrel under the plea of faithfulness to truth, right, or custom! He loves transgression that loves a quarrel, says the Word. It betrays itself in little and outward things, and stops not of ending in the ditch. Near akin to it is the aspiring spirit which seeks self-exaltation, or, as is here the figure, raiseth high his gate. In God’s sight it is to seek destruction. So was the angel that, inflated with pride, fell, and became the devil.
Again, it is the just lot of him who has a perverse heart, so that, as he looks for evil, he finds no good; and he whose tongue shifts about in like perversity is doomed to fall into real evil. God is not mocked by bad thoughts or words, and he that indulges in either will surely have to eat the bitter fruit of his own ways.
Solomon had not to look beyond his father’s house or his own in order to prove the truth of verse 21. Jehovah took pleasure in the families of His people. So we read in a well-known Song of degrees, “Lo, children are an heritage from Jehovah, the fruit of the womb a reward. As arrows in a mighty man’s hand, so are the children of youth. Happy the man that hath his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, when they speak with their enemies in the gate.” Yet did David taste of bitter sorrow when he set his heart overmuch on them. What irony in the issue of him whom he called “Father of peace,” who rose up as a vain and unscrupulous pretender against himself and to his own destruction? Nor was he by any means the only one that yielded a crop of sin and shame and blood. Yes, “he that begetteth a fool doeth it to his sorrow: and the father of a vile man hath no joy.” Whether the father of such a one be prince or pauper makes little difference, save that the eminence of degree makes the grief more conspicuous and perhaps more poignant. Only he who is begotten of God has life everlasting.
In verses 21-28, folly, wisdom, and righteousness are compared in their effects on the heart and life of man.
“He that begetteth a fool [doeth it] to his sorrow; and the father of a fool hath no joy.
“A joyful heart causeth good healing; but a broken spirit drieth up the bones.
“A wicked [person] taketh a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment.
“Wisdom [is] before the face of him that hath understanding; but the eyes of a fool [are] in the ends of the earth.
“A foolish son [is] a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bore him.
“Also to punish the righteous [is] not good; [nor] to strike nobles for uprightness.
“He that hath knowledge spareth his words; a man of understanding [is] of a cool spirit.
“Even a fool when he holdeth his peace is reckoned wise, he that shutteth his lips is prudent.”
The inspired writer has seen, without looking far afield or minutely, the humbling truth of which verse 21 reminds us. It received a manifest verification among his own brethren, especially those two who wrought sin and folly in Israel, and came to an end no less violent than disgraceful to themselves, and full of anguish to his father and theirs. He was spared the witness of its repetition in his own son and successor, whose folly rent the kingdom, never to be reunited till He comes to reign, who is the repairer of breaches, the bearer of sins upon the tree, whose name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Father of eternity, Prince of peace. For increase of the government and peace shall be no end, upon the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and uphold it with judgment and with righteousness henceforth and forever. The zeal of Jehovah will perform this.
It is His purpose to glorify the Christ who at all cost glorified Him to His own shame and suffering, but moral glory, and this on earth, and especially the land where He was put to the death of the cross. It was God’s wisdom in Christ, the blessed contrast of sin-stricken man, even in the highest place, who has so often to endure the pain of a fool begotten to his sorrow. But if here the responsibility is traced, and the father knew the reverse of the joy that a man was born into the world, because of his foolish son, the rejected Christ to his faith turns the temporary sorrow into a joy that never ends, though this was not the place or season to speak of it.
On the other hand, a joyful (not a vain or thoughtless) heart is an excellent medicine in this world of aches and bruises; as surely as a spirit shattered by affliction and charged with grief and fear dries up the bones, making one a skeleton rather than a human being (v. 22). Man lives not by bread alone, still less bitter herbs, but by God’s Word that reveals His grace in Christ.
A gift to pervert the ways of judgment blinds the eyes, and betrays as a wicked man him who takes it, no less than him that gives it (v. 23). To take it “out of the bosom” ought to be a signal of danger. No other eye of man sees, but God who abhors the wrong is not mocked.
The wisdom here spoken of (v. 24) is that of a single eye, and is before the face of him that has understanding; for he has God in his thoughts, not persons or things to govern him, but all subjected to divine light. On the contrary, the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth and liable to fluctuation under every breeze of influence. How blessed those to whom Christ is made to us wisdom from God, not the least of Christian privileges for present need, saving, and joy.
Again, in verse 25, is “a foolish son” brought before us; but here it is not only a grief to the father, but a bitterness to her who bore him; the father’s authority thwarted and despised, the mother’s affection tried and abused. How little such a son feels their anguish!
The next maxim bears on more public matters, and supposes a totally different fault, to which “also” appears to be the link of transition. Those who bear the character of just men must incur obloquy, and should be esteemed. To punish such in any respect is not good; to smite the noble for uprightness exhibits an unworthy spirit; it is a man forsaking his own mercy, and base enough to lower what is above himself. Men, not some only but as a class, are senseless, as we read in 1Pe 2:15 . Sin breeds independence, which chafes and blames, rails and rebels, against excellence and authority, formal or moral.
The chapter closes with two verses which show the value of that silence which is said to be golden, and even of that which is but leaden, not positive but merely negative or seeming. He that has knowledge spares his words, aware of what is far better; the man of understanding is of a cool spirit, knowing the mischief of inconsiderateness and impetuosity. And this is so true, that even a fool, when by his experience of many a buffet profits to hold his tongue, gains credit for wisdom he does not deserve; as he that shuts his lips habitually is counted prudent. The day is not yet come for the earth when a king, the King, shall reign in righteousness, and princes rule in judgment. Then a man, for indeed there is but One on whose shoulder the weight of such government rests, shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. Then the fool shall no more be called noble, nor the crafty said to be bountiful. But the day is at hand, dark as its dawn must be and terrible for the ungodly, Jews, Gentiles, and above all those that now name the Lord’s name in vain.
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
Better. See note on Pro 8:11.
sacrifices = slain beasts. Hebrew. zebach. App-43.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 17
Better is a dry morsel, with quietness, than a house full of sacrifices with strife ( Pro 17:1 ).
Now the house full of sacrifices refer to the sacrifices. It’s, if in that economy the of the Judaism, if you decided that tonight you wanted to have roast leg of lamb, to butcher your lamb you’d take it down to the temple and you bring it to the priest. And you’d say, “I want to offer this as a peace offering unto God, a sacrifice.” So you’d butcher the lamb and the priest would take the fat and put it on the fire and burn it and the smoke and all, of course, smells real good and that’s your portion, God, you know. And I take and the priest gets his portion out, puts his hook in, gets his portion, but then the rest of it I roast tonight, and I gather together my family and friends, we have a big barbecue. So the house full of sacrifices actually refers to a house full of meat, which in those days, and is becoming more so now, a real delicacy. “But a dry morsel in quietness, in peace, is better than a whole house full of sacrifices with strife.”
A wise servant shall have rule over a son that causeth shame, and shall have a part of the inheritance among the brethren. The fining pot is for silver, the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts ( Pro 17:2-3 ).
Now the Bible speaks about God testing our works by fire. God trying our hearts. The testing of our works, really, when it comes down to it, is not so much what we have done, but the motive that was behind what was done. Bible says that all of our works are to be tested to see what sort they are. Tested by fire. And those works that can remain after the testing of fire, you’ll be rewarded for. But many of the works that we do are as wood, hay and stubble. They’re going to go up in the flame. I really didn’t do them with a pure motive. Though the work may be a very commendable thing, “Oh, look what he did!” You know. And a very commendable thing, yet it was done with the motive of bringing glory or honor to myself. I was doing it to be a big show. I was doing it so people would know what a great, neat guy I am, you know. And to bring attention or honor to myself. Well, those kind of works are going to be tried by God, for God tries the hearts and He knows what is in my heart when I am doing something. All of our works tested by fire.
Jesus said, “Take heed to yourself that you do not your righteousness before men to be seen of men.” Don’t let that be the motive. The approval, the praise, the recognition of man. “For,” He said, “I say unto you, you have your reward” ( Mat 6:1-2 ). So even as the fining pot is for silver and the furnace is to burn out the dross in the gold, so it is the Lord who through the fire will try our hearts, our works, the manner or sort they are.
A wicked doer gives heed to false lips; and a liar giveth ear to the naughty tongue. Whoso mocketh the poor reproaches his Maker ( Pro 17:4-5 ):
Now God takes up the cause for the poor. So if you’re poor, take heart. God takes up your cause. And anyone who mocks the poor is reproaching his Maker. “Has not God chosen the poor of this earth yet rich in faith?” ( Jas 2:5 )
he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished ( Pro 17:5 ).
One of the characteristics of this agape love in 1Co 13:1-13 is that it rejoices not in iniquity. It rejoices not in the calamity. You know, there are some people we just hope something bad happens to them. They deserve it. And when it happens, you say, “All right, I knew it, you know. They had it coming and all.” And yet, “He that is glad at calamities shall not go unpunished.” So be careful of that. It’s the wrong attitude.
Children’s children [or your grandchildren] are the crown of old men ( Pro 17:6 );
Amen. They are glory.
and the glory of children, their fathers. Excellent speech becomes not a fool: much less lying lips a prince ( Pro 17:6-7 ).
Quite a contrast.
A gift is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that has it: wherever he turns it, he prospers ( Pro 17:8 ).
In other words, it’s just a precious stone wherever you turn it you see the different colors and facets. So is a gift like a precious stone to the man who receives it.
He that covers a transgression seeks love ( Pro 17:9 );
Now the Bible says, “Love covers a multitude of sins” ( 1Pe 4:8 ). If you cover it, you’re seeking love.
but he that repeats a matter can separate friends. A reproof enters more into a wise man than a hundred stripes into a fool ( Pro 17:9-10 ).
It’s interesting how that in raising children you find the diversities of personalities even of your own children. And you learn that there are some kinds of punishment that work for one child but don’t work for another. With some, just a word of reproof and they’re devastated. Others you can wail on them and it doesn’t touch them.
My little grandson Bradley, we were down in Phoenix and we were having Thanksgiving dinner with the family there. And I think it was during prayer that he had been naughty or… so I said, “Bradley, Grandpa is ashamed of you.” Well, the kid, he was like I had beaten him. He wailed and cried. He was… broke tears. Grandpa had never said anything before to him of a cross or angry nature and it just devastated the poor little guy to have grandpa disappointed about him. It just almost destroyed him. “Reproof enters more into a wise man’s heart and all than a hundred stripes enters into a fool.”
An evil man seeks only rebellion: therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him. Let a bear robbed of her cubs meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly ( Pro 17:11-12 ).
That one I thought was quite interesting. I wouldn’t want to meet a bear robbed of her cubs. But I wouldn’t want to meet a fool in his folly, either.
Whoso rewards evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house ( Pro 17:13 ).
That’s quite a proverb and it’s quite a warning. “Whoso rewards evil for good, evil will never depart from his house.”
The beginning of strife is as when one lets out water: therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with ( Pro 17:14 ).
Once you start letting the water out, it’s awfully hard to stop. Therefore, stay away from contention, the beginning of strife.
He that justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, even they both are an abomination unto God ( Pro 17:15 ).
“Woe unto them who say who call evil good, and good evil” ( Isa 5:20 ). Why? Because it’s an abomination to the Lord.
Wherefore is there a price in the hand of the fool to get wisdom, seeing he hath no heart to it? ( Pro 17:16 )
I love this one.
A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity ( Pro 17:17 ).
A friend, they love at all times. Brother, he has been born for this time of adversity.
A man who is void of understanding strikes hands, and becomes a surety in the presence of his friends ( Pro 17:18 ).
Now he really warns about this business of striking hands and being a surety for someone else. Evidently, he got burned many times on this.
He that loves transgression that loves strife: and he that exalts his gate seek destruction. He that hath a perverse heart finds no good: and he that has a perverse tongue falls into mischief. He that begets a fool doeth it to his sorrow: and the father of a fool has no joy ( Pro 17:19-21 ).
Wouldn’t it be tragic to have a child that’s a fool? He who begets a fool does it to his own sorrow; the father of a fool has no joy.
A merry heart does good like a medicine ( Pro 17:22 ):
You know, more and more they are learning what a healthy thing it is to be happy. The merry heart. When you eat laughter, just gets the right juices going that really help you to digest your food well. A merry heart is just as good for you as medicine. The relationship between our attitudes and our physical well-being, how that these glands that are excreting the various chemicals into our systems, the good chemicals that come in joy and in happiness. And the other chemicals that are produced in fear or in anger and bitterness or whatever, those chemicals which destroy you. So without knowing all of the capacities and work of the pituitary and hypothalamus and everything else, Solomon just made an observation that a merry heart is good like a medicine.
but a broken spirit can dry up the bones. A wicked man takes a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment. Wisdom is before him that has understanding; but the eyes of the fool roam to the ends of the eaRuth ( Pro 17:22-24 ).
The one is before you; the other is always looking out to the ends of the earth.
A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bare him. Also to punish the just is not good, nor to strike princes for equity. He that hath knowledge spareth his words: and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit ( Pro 17:25-27 ).
“He that hath knowledge spareth his words.” How does it go? “There was an old owl who lived in the oak. The more he saw, the less he spoke. The less he spoke, the more he heard. Why can’t you be like that old bird?” And of course, in the same line is the proverb there in verse Pro 17:28 .
Even a fool, when he holds his tongue, is counted wise: and he that keeps his lips shut is esteemed a man of understanding ( Pro 17:28 ).
You know, just sit back and say, “Hmm. Well, uh-hmm, you know.” Feeling, “Man, he’s smart.” “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Pro 17:1
Pro 17:1
“Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, Than a house full of feasting with strife.”
“Better a dry crust and concord with it than a house full of feasting and strife. “Better a morsel of dry bread, and peace with it, than a house full of feasting, with strife.
Pro 17:1. Because their bread was dry, they dipped it in water and other softening fluids (Rth 2:14; Joh 13:36). And having only a dry morsel to eat could be the sign of extreme poverty. So taken, the verse means that poverty and peace are to be preferred to prosperity and problems (such as strife). The rich have troubles and problems that the poor do not have. This statement should be a comfort to people who have only the barest of necessities. Pro 15:17 is very similar.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Verse Pro 17:3. Two important thoughts are suggested by this proverb. First, that the heart will yield to no force other than that of God. Dross in metal may be discovered and expurged by fire, but evil in the heart can be discovered and dealt with only by God. Second, Jehovah does try the heart.
Verse Pro 17:5. The first part of this proverb does not teach, as is so often stated, that poverty is from God. Rather, it recognizes the inherent rights of every man in God, notwithstanding his poverty.
Verse Pro 17:10. The finer the disposition, the less is needed to correct it.
Verse Pro 17:15. A self-evident statement, and yet one that needs to be made, for in every age there have been those who fall into both forms of wrong.
Verse Pro 17:24. The contrast here is between “before the face of him” and “the ends of the earth.” While it is a sure sign of weakness to see only the things that are near, it is a yet surer sign of folly to be forever looking at far-off things, to the neglect of those close at hand.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Proverbs 17
We are carried back to Pro 15:16-17 as we take up the first verse of the wise sayings of this chapter.
17:1
The word sacrifice (kjv) refers to the peace offerings, portions of which were eaten by the offerer and his friends. Such a feast was supposed to indicate great piety on the part of the host and his intimate associates; but if marred by discord and contention, it lost all its precious character. A dry morsel with peace and quietness was much to be preferred to a celebration with controversy.
Similarly the Corinthians had misused the Lords supper, making it an occasion for a common feast, where strife and party spirit raged. The apostle, rebuking them, admonished them to eat their own meals in quietness at home and not come together to condemnation (1Co 11:17-34).
17:2
A dependable servant is better than a misbehaving son. The latter can blame only himself if his wronged father gives him an insignificant allowance or cuts him off altogether. But the servant who has been faithful in the performance of his duties is remembered as one of the household. Yet no hired servant can give the joy to the heart of a father that is afforded by an obedient son. See Eliezer (Gen 15:2-3).
17:3
Trials and afflictions for the saints of God are what the fining pot and furnace are in the purifying of precious metals.
Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ (1Pe 1:6-7).
The refiner of silver and the purifier of gold know just what heat is necessary to purge away all dross. They will take care that just the right amount is permitted. So it is with our God and Father. He desires to free us from the base things of earth, and He allows us to pass through the fires of affliction for that end. But it is precious indeed to know that He sits by the fining pot, waiting until His own image is reflected in the soul; and He walks in the furnace with His persecuted children. See the sons of Levi and the three Hebrew children (Mal 3:3; Dan 3:19-27).
17:4
When the heart cherishes iniquity, the ear easily listens to lying lips and a malicious tongue. The upright in heart learn to know the voice of the deceiver and to refuse his words; but the unjust and false soul readily falls in with those who are like himself. See the people of Judah and the lying priests and prophets (Jer 5:30-31).
17:5
Compare with Pro 14:21. The Lord has left the poor always with us that we might be stirred to kindness and consideration for those in less agreeable circumstances than our own. To mock and disregard the poor because of their poverty is to reproach Him who has permitted our circumstances to be so diverse.
When calamity comes on another, we should respond with loving sympathy. If instead we cherish gladness in our hearts because of their griefs, an impartial Judge is looking on who will be avenged in time. God judged Edom for rejoicing over Israels punishment. As a result, Edom too was punished. See Oba 1:12-16.
17:6
God sets the individual in families. The aged find their youth renewed in their childrens children; while the young respect their fathers and honor them by obedience to their instructions. This is the ideal household, where order is administered according to Gods standards and love rules all hearts. Happy the home where the divine pattern is exemplified. See Jacob and the sons of Joseph (Gen 48:8-22).
17:7
Good words from the mouth of an evil man are distasteful and out of place, for the life fails to back them up. There is a lack of sincerity about them that is very repugnant to an upright soul. On the other hand, noblesse oblige (rank imposes obligation). Falsehood coming from one who is respected as a leader of the people is even more to be denounced. Men feel instinctively that he who leads others should be real himself. They will overlook lack of ability and an absence of brilliancy or of natural or acquired talent; but deceitfulness will never be forgiven. It was this sense of the responsibility of those in position that made men ask in derision, Is Saul also among the prophets? when his lips uttered excellent speech (1Sa 10:10-12). The same feeling has caused the unconverted to remember with scorn Abrahams denial of his wife. The very fact of his exalted position made his sin more noticeable (Gen 20:1-13).
17:8
A gift presented as a token of pure affection and respect will be highly valued by its possessor. It will pave the way for a deeper relationship. He who would find love should be a giver not just a receiver. Jonathans gifts to David cemented their friendship by expressing the love that was in his heart (1Sa 18:3-4).
Spiritually, we are reminded that Christ has ascended on high and given gifts to men (Eph 4:8)-not to be used for self-aggrandizement, but for service to the church. Rightly employed, the gift truly will be a store of grace, giving its possessor acceptance among those who value spiritual gifts. But beware of the danger expressed in Pro 17:23.
17:9
See remarks on 10:12; 11:13; and 25:23. He who forgives and forgets the sins of another is an imitator of God and will be loved by all. He who repeats a matter to the detriment of another is following the example of that evil spirit who is called the accuser of our brethren.
To cover a transgression, however, does not mean to make light of sin and allow iniquity to go unrebuked in another. On the contrary, it is to go to the erring one personally in tenderness and brotherly kindness; this is done to activate his conscience concerning that which is bringing dishonor to his Lord. If such a mission is successful, the sin should never again be mentioned. It is covered and none other need know of it.
Unfortunately this is seldom carried out among us! Evil is spread abroad; backbiting goes on in secret; and thus many are defiled, love wanes, and fellowship is destroyed. The one who goes about repeating things unnecessarily is in a wretched business indeed. He separates true friends by his detestable practices and casts reproach on the name of the Lord. It is a pity the people of God are not more awake to the evil character of the gossiper. He should be shunned as a polluted leper who will defile all who listen to him.
God alone can safely hear the sad story of a brothers shame. Into His ear it can all be poured, coupled with earnest prayer for the restoration of the one who has gone astray. To persist in repeating accounts of evil-doing to fellow saints only distresses and injures those who are persuaded to listen. Few indeed are the men who will take a brothers wrongdoing to heart and make it an occasion for self-judgment and confession of their own sin to the Lord.
Someone has said that when tempted to relate unsavory things of an absent person three questions should be asked: Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary? To these a fourth might well be added: Have I told him about it personally? Asking these questions of ourselves would stop an immense amount of sinful gossiping.
Nathan did not spread the sin of David abroad but reproved him in the fear of God (2 Samuel 12). In Sanballat we see the typical whisperer endeavoring to separate Nehemiah and his brethren by shaking their confidence in his integrity (Nehemiah 6).
17:10
Chastise the fool severely and he still maintains his self-complacency; but gently reprove a wise man and he will take it to heart. The fool is so thoroughly enamored of his own poor judgment that he can conceive of none more capable than himself. The other realizes his own limitations and is thankful for advice and correction. Contrast Abimelech and Herod (Gen 21:25-26; Luk 3:19).
17:11-13
Nothing irritates a proud, insubordinate man more than to be held in restraint by lawful authority. He breathes the air of treason and rebellion; therefore he must be dealt with in severity. To contend with him is like battling with an enraged beast that has been robbed of its offspring. He will repay good with evil; therefore evil will not depart from his house. He that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons (Col 3:25). Note the ways and doom of Joab when he became exalted in his own eyes (1Ki 2:28-34).
17:14
A leak in a dike could be stopped with a pebble if noticed at the beginning. But if neglected, it will grow greater and greater until, at last, the inrushing waters will carry away everything in front of them. So it is with strife. How many a lifelong contention has begun with a few hasty words. If repented of and apologized for at once, the quarrels would have ceased immediately and years of sorrow averted. The Spirit of God has said, Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath (Eph 4:26). If this simple rule were literally obeyed, untold heartaches would be avoided! Happy the man who lays his head on his pillow nightly with the knowledge that he has no unrepented, hasty actions or angry words to his account. When days and weeks of charges and counter-charges are succeeded by months of crimination and recrimination, reconciliation is hard and difficult. It is far better to humble oneself and admit the wrong at the beginning. The alternative is to grieve the Holy Spirit of God and lacerate the hearts of beloved saints by a long period of un-Christlike wrangling. This disputing will leave wounds that never can be healed or scars that never can be erased. See Paul and Barnabas (Act 15:35-40).
17:15
To justify the wicked and to condemn the righteous is to call evil good and good evil (Isa 5:20). Jehovah would have truthful judgment. What is opposed to justice is an abomination. Observe that to justify necessarily means to declare righteous, not, as some theologians would have it, to make righteous. God justifies the ungodly on the basis of Christs finished work-that is, He clears guilty sinners of every charge when they trust His Son, turning to Him in repentance. This is very different from making sinners to be practically upright in their living. Their upright behavior is a result of justification, but it is not justification in itself. This is an important distinction if we would understand correctly the Christian doctrine of grace as set forth in the letters to the Romans and the Galatians.
In this verse, to justify the wicked is to wink at their sin and to pass by iniquity without a suitable atonement; while to condemn the just is to charge them with evil unfairly. To do so is intolerable in the sight of Him who is the righteous Judge. This was Pilates dreadful sin when, in order to please the people, he released Barabbas and condemned Jesus, even though he had declared him innocent a few moments before (Mat 27:24-26).
17:16
It is useless for one who has not set his heart on the acquisition of wisdom to endeavor to learn it by rote. No price can purchase wisdom if the senses are not exercised to discern between good and evil. A fool may grasp certain forms of knowledge through study and intellectual application; but this is very different than having the innermost being controlled by understanding. We only know truth as we walk in it. See Simon Magus (Act 8:18-22).
17:17
In reading this verse the Christians heart involuntarily turns to the one Friend whose love the many waters of judgment could not quench, neither could the floods of wrath drown it. Our Lord Jesus Christ is that Friend. His love does not change, and He is preeminently a Brother born for adversity. No human example, however true and devoted can fulfill this verse.
Nevertheless, this thought does not support the sickening sentimentality that forgets His divinity and calls Him our Elder Brother or other similar unscriptural titles. But as a devoted brother can be depended on in the day of adversity, so He can be counted on in the hour of need and trial. Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end (Joh 13:1).
His is an unchanging love,
Higher than the heights above;
Deeper than the depths beneath,
True and faithful, strong as death.
It is unspeakably precious for the soul to abide in His love. If one doubt obscures the full splendor of His undying affection, joy and peace will give place to gloom and foreboding. But when nothing is permitted to hinder the enjoyment of that perfect love that casts out fear, life is sweet indeed. Communion with Him is dearer far than any human friendship can afford.
Many saints have trusted Christ as their Savior who do not really know Him as a living, loving friend-One who enters into all their griefs and would share all their joys. When He is known this way, the difficulties of life can be faced with calmness, and the heart can confide in Him in every hour of trial. See Pro 18:24.
17:18
See notes on 6:1-5; 11:15. Lack of sound judgment leads one to accept liability for another in light of the repeated warnings of the Word of God. It is not wise to pledge security for another unless one is quite prepared to lose and can well afford it. Paul pledged the security for Onesimus, as Judah did for Benjamin; but each had counted the cost and was ready to pay to the last penny (Phm 1:18-19; Gen 42:37; 44:32).
17:19-20
There are those who delight in contention and are impatient of restraint, demonstrating their love for their own ways. In their haughtiness, they build up their gates, thus inviting destruction; for by exalting themselves, they are near to a fall. Having a wicked heart, they find only evil. Their perverse tongues continually stir up mischief. Hanun, proud and defiant, proved this fully, as narrated in 2 Samuel 10.
17:21
Such a verse requires no comment. It is an unhappy fact that is very evident to all. Davids grief over Absalom is proof of the truth of this proverb (2Sa 18:33). See also Pro 17:25.
17:22
See 15:13,15. Nothing breaks the bodys systems like gloom and melancholy. When the heart is filled with joy, it refreshes the whole being. The merriment of the Christian is far more real than the mere frivolity of the unsaved. The Christian is able in all circumstances to rejoice in the Lord and be lifted above circumstances that would depress and weigh down the soul. Then, in place of showing his happiness in the empty ways of the world, he can sing and make melody in his heart to the source and object of his gladness. Is any merry? let him sing psalms (Jam 5:13). The man of the world has to resort to various devices to relieve his uneasiness and rouse his spirits. He eagerly participates in all kinds of diversions in order to forget his sorrow. On the contrary, it is when the child of God remembers his place and portion in Christ that his joy overflows. Contrast the different attitudes of the unknown writer of Psalm 116, first when occupied with himself and then when his faith soared up to God.
17:23
The lawbreaker, conscious of his evildoing, secretly endeavors to bribe with a gift those who are called to sit in judgment on his crimes. Such a course is a tacit acknowledgment of guilt. It is hard indeed to deal fairly with a man to whom one is indebted for a favor. Therefore it is necessary to sternly refuse anything from those who are bent on a sinful course. It was when the king of Babylon sent letters and a present to godly king Hezekiah that he was taken off his guard. He acted without seeking counsel of Jehovah, as he had so readily done when it was a letter of blasphemy he had received (contrast Isa 39:1 with 37:14).
17:24
The wise man concentrates on gaining the knowledge of the Lord and walking with Him. The fool wanders aimlessly here and there with no settled purpose. He tastes various theories, getting a smattering of everything, but all to no purpose. Paul warned Timothy against such men who heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears (2Ti 4:3). But they have no desire for the truth of God which alone is wisdom. Instead they follow fables, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth (2Ti 3:7). The very opposite attitude characterized the great apostle himself, who could say, One thing I do! (Php 3:13.)
17:25
See Pro 10:1, and 17:21. The young man is not the only, nor by any means the greatest, sufferer when he throws discretion to the winds and plunges into foolishness and vice. The poignant grief of his fathers heart and the bitter disappointment of his mother are sorrows too deep for words to express. To have brought into the world one who despises their love and disobeys all their authority is terrible indeed. Sadly it little affects the haughty, stubborn heart of the wayward youth who plunges recklessly on, adding grief to grief and heartache to heartache! See the stubborn and rebellious son of Deu 21:18-20.
17:26
The ruler who punishes the good man and the subject who strikes the upright ruler display the same perversion of justice. Neither is rare in this world. It is not unusual to take vengeance on innocent men in order to shield guilty ones and to revolt against God-fearing rulers because their peaceable ways were opposed to the lawless, restless spirit of the age. See the account of Ishmaels assassination of the upright prince, Gedaliah. Then read how he massacred the fourscore men from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria, lest they reveal his crime (Jer 41:1-7).
17:27-28
See notes on Pro 12:23 and 15:2. The simpleton is always babbling. The man who has knowledge will not be continually airing what he knows. He is of a quiet spirit and can bide his time. A man who must always be talking is usually one whose grasp of things in general is very slight. Among Christians, an ever-running tongue is certainly no evidence of a discerning person. He whose knowledge is limited is esteemed wise when his words are few. One who lives in the fear of God sets a value on words that the careless soul cannot understand; for he remembers that for every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment (Mat 12:36). Even his experiences of Gods love and favor are not always to be told lightly to others. Paul seems to have kept the secret of his having been caught up to the third heaven for fourteen years until the right time came to relate it (2Co 12:1-7). Note the self-control of Elisha in this respect when going out after Elijah (2Ki 2:3).
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Pro 17:15
These words may serve to show us that our estimate of other men is a matter of very solemn responsibility in God’s sight.
I. I will first insist on the general duty of conscientiousness in forming all our estimates of other men. We Christians are not driving on with the world, trampling down or lifting up other men as suits our purpose. We have a higher, a nobler work to do by others, even to uplift that standard of right and wrong of praise and blame, which reflects the purity and holiness of Him whom we serve. It should be our aim not to follow public opinion in such estimates, but to act for ourselves and for God.
II. “He that justifieth the wicked is an abomination to the Lord.” Unholy and unprincipled life, wherever found, ought to be protested against by the servants of God. Here is their line of demarcation, and surely it is plain enough. Yet do we not constantly see it overstepped? Is it not constantly found that men, who would make a brother an offender for a word, whatever might be his usefulness and high Christian example, will at the same time condone the grossest moral faults, and even make idols of men who are the avowed enemies of Him whom they serve?
III. “He that condemneth the just.” Here undoubtedly our fault is much more common, much more recklessly committed. We are always more prone to condemn than to justify. It is an abuse of our instinct of self-preservation to be ever ready with our hostility to other men. Notice a few ways in which we may, with God’s help, guard against this prevailing tendency of our day. (1) Look ever at the life, which is palpable, rather than at the motive of the creed, which is usually mere matter of surmise. (2) Avoid, and refuse to use, and protest against the use of, all party names. (3) Form your opinions of others, not at the prompting of the world, but as under the eye of God.
H. Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons, vol. vii., p. 67.
References: Pro 17:16-20.- R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. ii., p. 147. Pro 17:17.- Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xv., No. 899; W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 2nd series, p. 116; New Manual of Sunday School Addresses, p. 240. Pro 17:21-28.- R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. ii., p. 158.
Pro 17:20
Two bad things are reproved in these words: the first is a bad spirit, and the second is a bad habit; the first is the sullen, snarling spirit of discontent, which kills all hearty, genial gaiety; the second is the vicious habit of unbridled flippant talk, which goes far to destroy all cheerful, loving fellowship.
I. Of all the faults of our time, none is more glaring than this frowardness of heart which Solomon denounces in our text. We are all critics, and all fancy we have a right to have an opinion on all things. The vice of the age is a spirit of detraction. Such a spirit, says Solomon, findeth no good.
II. The captious man is never the loving one, and the unloving man can never be like Christ. He came among us not to excite us to a restless watching for evil, but to remind us that there was redemption promised from the evil, and to work out that redemption for us.
III. Remember that, the more stupid and dull we are, the more difficulties do we find; and the more we depart from virtue, the keener is our scent for vice. The man that is always looking out for what is wrong will gradually lose his interest in that which is perfect, till all that is simply pure and gentle and true and lovely will appear to him tame and insipid. The froward heart, which is always on the watch for faults and failure, goes on to require these things as its very daily food, and at last waxes frantic when there is no fault to find.
A. Jessopp, Norwich School Sermons, p. 210.
Pro 17:22
I. Consider the power which the mind can exert in support of the body, so long as itself is in good case. If it be true that the spirit of man has a medicinal power, that there is a strength in his nature which endows him with such control over the body that he can give it up to the worst tortures, and yet betray no fear, then it must be quite idle to argue that he possesses no power by which to keep passions in check, and to make a bold stand against the cravings of unrighteousness. We want no better argument by which to prove to man that there is a strength in his nature for offering resistance to evil, a strength for which he shall give account at the judgment, than that which we fetch from the fact that there is a strength for sustaining infirmity.
II. Consider how, if the mind itself be disordered, it will break down the body-“A broken spirit drieth the bones.” We take the statement of Solomon to be that, though there is a strength in man through which he can bear up against physical pressure, there is comparatively none for the sustaining of mental. We will admit that under certain limitations men may endure mental pain as well as bodily. It is a fine argument for the immortality of the soul, for the certainty of her soaring above the wreck of matter, that, however she be assailed by pain, so long as the pain is unconnected with her everlasting destinies, she never fails, so to speak, as to pass beyond the hope of recovery. We believe that a truly broken spirit is that which is bruised with a sense of sin, and if this be a broken spirit, how true that “a broken spirit drieth the bones.” Yet though a man may have been forced to say with Job, “The arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit; the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me,” he will have passed speedily on to the beholding Jesus dying, “the just for the unjust,” to the viewing in Him the propitiation for sin, and the “Advocate with the Father.”
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 1896.
References: Pro 17:22.-S. Cox, An Expositor’s Notebook, p. 161; H. Melvill, Voices of the Year, vol. ii., p. 321. Pro 17:26.-J. H. Hitchens, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xx., p. 219. Pro 18:1-8.-R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. ii., p. 169. Pro 18:9-14.-Ibid., p. 180.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
CHAPTER 17 Diverse Proverbs
Of the twenty-eight proverbs found in this chapter we point out but a few. The fining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold; but the LORD trieth the hearts (Pro 17:3). Man may try silver and gold, but God only the hearts. And He tries the hearts by the refining process, trials and afflictions, the process which rests in His own hands. (See Psa 66:10-12; Mal 3:3-18; 1Pe 1:7.)
He that covereth a transgression seeketh love, but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends (Pro 17:9). To cover a transgression does not mean to ignore sin. How he who has sinned and is in transgression is to be dealt with is given to us in Gal 6:1-5. To act in the spirit of love towards one who has sinned is Christ-like. To repeat the matter, gossip about it, harp on the shortcomings and failure, is Satan-like, for he is the accuser of the brethren.
A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity Pro 17:17). This is beautifully illustrated in the case of David and Jonathan 1Sa 18:1-30; 1Sa 19:1-24; 1Sa 20:1-42). And the great Friend, the brother born for adversity, is the Lord Jesus Christ. He loveth at all times; His love is limitless and timeless. It is the love which passeth knowledge.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
a dry: Pro 15:17, Psa 37:16
an house: Pro 7:14
sacrifices: or, good cheer
with: Pro 21:9, Pro 21:19
Reciprocal: 1Sa 20:24 – the king Ecc 4:6 – General 1Th 4:11 – that 2Th 3:12 – that with Jam 5:5 – as in
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 17:1. Better is a dry morsel Bread with pulse, or husks, as Bochart and Houbigant interpret it; which was the food of meaner persons; and quietness therewith Peace, love, and concord among the members of a family; than a house full of sacrifices Of the remainder of sacrifices, of which they used to make feasts; concerning which see on Pro 7:14 : or, of slain beasts, as the same word, , is used Gen 31:54, and elsewhere.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Pro 17:1. Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith. See Pro 15:17.
Pro 17:3. The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace (or crucible) for gold. Silver ores in Mexico are worked as ores of tin in Cornwall. Lead and iron, though without apparent affinity, occur in the same masses in our limestone ranges. Lead in a state of fusion, has the lighter silver floating on the top. Cobalt and the greenish nickel are difficult to separate. The alloys of gold are found floated by the fluxes in the glassy substance, when the crucible is cold. But, if the fusion and the refining of metals require so much care and skill, none but a God can refine the heart from the ramifications and adherence of sin. See Job 23:10.
Pro 17:9. He that covereth a transgression seeketh love. We must be careful never to cover a mans sin so as to be partakers of it. But if we have seen a fault, or heard a slander, and properly reproved it, we have delivered our own soul. Our repeating it through the circle of our friends, or exposing it to the public, will, after private reproof, only do the offender harm instead of good. It will kindle resentment in his soul, separate him from the esteem of his friends, and we shall discover the weakness and vanity of our own hearts. Who after that would like to trust us with a secret.
Pro 17:10. A reproof entereth more into a wise man than a hundred stripes on the back of a fool. Terrence has a laconic remark, which applies here. The young man blushedall was gained.
Pro 17:12. Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly. The brutal passions of an infuriated man, the horrors of his language, the blows he inflicts, are worse than the fury of beasts: the beasts turn their fury against their foes, but this man rarely spares his friends.
Pro 17:13. Whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house. It is a fault doubly vile, which man cannot forget, and which heaven itself will surely requite. 2Sa 12:1-12.
Pro 17:14. The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water. Some mens hearts are so proud and naughty that they have never done with a matter, till they have wearied everybody with the exaggeration of their complaints. It would be well if they could see the extreme wickedness of their heart, when so small a wrong can stir up so much evil. Had the same thing happened to a good man, after explanation, he would scorn to name it again. Hence the implacable, who delight in envy and strife, shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Pro 17:20. He that hath a froward heart findeth no good. What can a man gain by a peevish, stormy, ungovernable temper? There are proper times to speak with decision. As the reins command the horse, and as the helm turns the ship, so the passions should be under the controul of judgment.
Pro 17:28. Even a fool when he holdeth his peace is counted wise. In conversation it is more polite to receive, than to give the subject. In the high game of argument we speak in reply, we illustrate the point, we enforce our own opinions, or enquire in order to elicit information. If we fail in these points, we discover ignorance or imbecility, and lose the confidence of the company; while he who is silent retains his honour.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Proverbs 17. Fresh points are the rise of the able and clever slave to a place in the family (Pro 17:2), the practice of bribes (Pro 17:8; Pro 17:23), the value of adversity as a test of friendship (Pro 17:17): also the subject of suretyship, dealt with in Pro 6:1-5, is resumed (Pro 17:18).
Pro 17:1. For the connexion between sacrifices (mg.) and feasting cf. Pro 6:14. For sacrifice used to denote private slaying cf. Deu 12:15, Isa 34:6.
Pro 17:7. Excellent: the usual meaning is abundance, and possibly the sense is that copious speech only betrays a fool. A slight change gives upright, with a somewhat better antithesis.prince: cf. Pro 17:26 and Isa 32:5 for the sense of moral nobility, which better suits this passage, and render the noble, or as Toy, the man of rectitude.
Pro 17:8. The most intelligible rendering is a bribe is counted a means of procuring favour (lit. a stone of favour) by its owner (i.e. the briber) in all that he undertakes he succeeds. The expression stone of favour is without parallel in Heb. Frankenberg suggests that it may mean a lucky stonei.e. a magic stone or amulet.
Pro 17:9 b. Pro 16:28*.
Pro 17:11 a. The lit. rendering is probably surely rebellion seeketh evil (cf. mg.). The abstract for the concrete is not supported by Heb. usage, and a slight change gives a rebellious man. The reference is probably not religious but political, but cf. Psa 78:49.
Pro 17:12 a. cf. 2Sa 17:8, Hos 13:8.
Pro 17:16. There may be a reference to the Gr. custom of paying fees to sophists and philosophers, since it does not appear that the Jewish Rabbis took payment for their instruction.
Pro 17:17. RVm is more exact than RV. The sense remains on the whole the same, although it no longer implies a higher degree of affection in the brother.
Pro 17:18. cf. Pro 6:1-5* see also Pro 11:15, Pro 20:16, Pro 22:26, Pro 27:13.
Pro 17:19. transgression may have the social sense that it has in Exo 22:9, trespass against a neighbours property, in which case the unusual phrase raiseth high his gate may refer to encroachments upon a neighbours property.
Pro 17:21. The word for fool in Pro 17:21 b occurs besides only in Pr. in Pro 17:7, Pro 30:22. It always connotes moral insensibility in the OT (cf. Psa 14:1).
Pro 17:22. medicine: the word occurs only here and is thus translated by inference from Hos 5:13. Read, with a slight change, body. The sense is the same.bones is another synonym for body. Render A weary heart makes a sound body, but a crushed spirit withers the body.
Pro 17:23. out of the bosom: lit. out of the lapi.e. out of the fold in the outer garment which serves the Oriental as a pocket (cf. Pro 16:33, Isa 40:11).
Pro 17:26. punish: properly fine (mg.), cf. Amo 2:8. But in Pr. the word seems to have the wider meaning punish. The old technical sense has been lost.for their uprightness is an impossible rendering. Either render to smite the noble is against justice, or read much less to smite the noble.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
17:1 Better [is] a dry morsel, and quietness with it, than an house full of {a} sacrifices [with] strife.
(a) For where there were many sacrifices, there were many portions given to the people, with which they feasted.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
2. Peacemakers and troublemakers ch. 17
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
CHAPTER 18
FRIENDSHIP
“A friend loveth at all times, and as a brother is born for adversity.”- Pro 17:17 {This rendering, based upon the margin of the R.V, yields a much better sense than the loosely connected, “And a brother is born for adversity.”}
ONE of the most striking contrasts between the ancient and the modern world is in the place which is given to friendship by moralists and religious teachers. In Aristotles famous treatise on ethics two books out of nine are devoted to the moral bearings of friendship, and these books form the climax of the work, and are the natural transition to the work on politics, or the science of the state. This central position given to the subject by the greatest and most systematic teacher of antiquity, compared with the very subordinate part which friendship plays in Christian ethics, is calculated to make us reflect and enquire. Is not the explanation probably this? Our Lord gave a great new commandment to His disciples, that they should love one another; and though Christian men have as yet but imperfectly understood what He meant, or carried out what they have understood, an ideal was created which far transcended that lower relationship of antiquity. Greek friendship was to be merged in Christian love. The meaning of such a change will appear if we remember two characteristics of mere friendship, on which Aristotle dwells. One is that it is necessarily based upon selfishness; springing from a wish to realize oneself in the life of another, fed by the benefit or pleasure derived from the mutual intercourse, it lies under the necessary limitation that we shall not wish for our friend a good which would remove him from us, or an improvement which would raise him too far above us. For the second point is that friendship can only exist between equals, and the best friendship is that between good men who stand upon the same level of virtue, Christian love, on the other hand, springs from a complete abnegation of self. It seeks nothing: it gives all. So far from laying stress upon the equality of conditions, it is never better pleased than when it can raise another to a position of excellence far surpassing its own, and instead of seeking its highest satisfaction in intercourse with its spiritual peers, -the good, the great, the saintly, -it attains its apotheosis when it is lowed to embrace the weak, the sinful, the fallen, and to lavish all its Divine resources upon those who may never be able to repay it even with gratitude.
It is obvious, then, that friendship is on a lower plane than Christian love, and it marks a great advance in ideal ethics when the lesser star pales in presence of the greater; but it may be urged with truth that friendship still has its place in life, and deserves a more careful attention than it receives. In the individual, as in the race, friendship may be a prelude and a practice of the nobler and wider relation. And there is this further reason for trying to understand the nature of friendship, that it is more than once in the Bible used as a type and a figure of the relationship which may exist between the soul and its God.
We will proceed then to examine some of the characteristics of friendship referred to in the book of Proverbs.
Friends, according to the original sense of the Hebrew word, are those who delight in one anothers companionship; either they are useful to one another because each possesses gifts which the other has not, or they are agreeable to one another because they have certain tastes in common. Thus there may of course be a friendship in evil, in vice, in destructive practices; thieves may enter into a league to carry out their antisocial designs, and may be very true to one another; vicious men may find a bond of friendship in the common indulgence of their vices; and in this way friendship, so called, may be a means of ruining the friends. “There are friends for mutual shattering,” just as “there is a lover that cleaves more than a brother.” There may also be an interested comradeship which is entirely hypocritical; such a friendship is usually marked by a loud and ostentatious demonstration. “He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse for him.” {Pro 27:14} But, in the main, friendship implies a certain amount of goodness; for it is in itself a virtue. The suspicious, malignant nature of evil men speedily snaps the ties which bind them together for a time; and where honor exists among thieves it affords a strong presumption that the thieves are the product of a wrong social state, rather than of a naturally evil disposition.
We may then practically, in thinking of friendship, confine our attention to that which exists between well-meaning people, and tends on the whole to bless, to strengthen, and to improve them. We may come to look at some of the uses and the delights of friendship. “As in water face answers to face, so in the heart man answers to man.” {Pro 27:19} In the heart of our friend we see our own character reflected just as gazing into a still pool we see the reflection of our own face. It is in the frank and sympathetic intercourse of friendship that we really get to know ourselves, and to realize what is in us. We unfold to one another, we discover our similarities and mark our differences. Points which remained unobserved in our own hearts are immediately detected and understood when we see them also in our friends; faculties which remained unused are brought into play to supplement the discovered defects in our friends nature. We hardly guess what a fund of happy humor is in us until we are encouraged to display it by observing how its flashes light up the face we love. Our capacities of sympathy and tenderness remain undeveloped until we wish eagerly to comfort our friend in a sudden sorrow. In a true friendship we find that we are living a life which is doubled in all its faculties of enjoyment and of service; we quite shudder to think what cold, apathetic, undeveloped creatures we should have been but for that genial touch which unfolded us, and warmed our hearts into genuine feeling while it brought our minds into active play. This intellectual value of friendship is brought out in the happy saying: “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.” {Pro 27:17} A friendless person has a lack-luster face; his talk has a dull edge; his emotions a poor and feeble flow. That delightful readiness of thought and expression which makes all the charm of social intercourse, the easy tact which rubs off the angles and smoothes all the relations of life the bright coruscations which seem like sunlight playing over summer seas, are usually the result of close and intimate communion with congenial friends. Reading may make a learned man, and without hard study few people can accomplish much permanent good in the world, but reading does not necessarily make a really social man, one who brings his fellow-creatures together in happy and helpful relationships; that beautiful faculty is only acquired by the fostering and stimulating influences of heart companionships. When we have real friends, though they be only a few, we diffuse a friendly feeling amongst others, wherever we go. Possibly also in the simile of the iron lies a reminder of the discipline which friendship gives to character, a discipline which is not always unaccompanied by pain. Friends “rub each others angles down,” and sometimes the friction is a little distressing to both sides. The blades are sharpened, by a few imperceptible filings being ground off each of their edges. The use of friendship depends very largely on its frankness, just as its sweetness depends upon mutual consideration. When the frankness hurts we have to remind ourselves of the wholesome truth that the soft speaking is not always a token of love, and the hard sayings of our friend may be uttered at a great personal cost, for our good rather than his.
“Faithful are the wounds of a friend: but the kisses of an enemy are profuse.” {Pro 27:6}
If, however, friendship ripens through many years of kindly growth, or if a swift elective affinity forestalls at once the fruit of years, all the pain of mutual counsel and correction disappears, and may be changed, into a joy very sweet to the soul. “Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a mans friend that cometh of soul counsel.” {Pro 27:9} It is a very beautiful condition of things which is referred to in this proverb. Two people have one another, learnt thoroughly to understand and have become in a certain sense one. Each recognizes the service that the other renders, and welcomes the advice or even the rebuke which is made possible by their relationship. The interchange of affection is naturally sweet, but as Sweet, or even sometimes sweeter, is the delicate aroma which arises when one sees a fault in the other, and with a tenderness begotten of affection, and a humility which trembles to presume, speaks gently but frankly to his friend. Never do the eyes more eagerly respond to one another, never is the hand-clasp so firm and hearty, as after such a passage between true friends.
But the decisive test and the most beautiful proof of real friendship will be found in the day of adversity. A friend is never known till needed. When calamity falls upon us, false friends make excuses and go; lip-friends relapse into silence; but we begin then for the first time to find out who is a friend indeed. Then it appears that the true friend is entirely unchanged by the changed aspect of affairs; it seems as if he had been born into a brotherhood with us for this express occasion. There is no wish to cry off; he seems even to press the brotherly tie in a way which we should not have presumed to expect, and thus he contrives to lighten the oppressive burden of obligation for the favor that he confers on us, by making it appear that he was bound to act as he does by a necessity of kinship. This seems to be the meaning of our text. Such a friend, if he be near at hand and in constant contact with us, is of more service than our own brother; {Pro 27:10} and when through his timely aid or effectual comfort we have come out of the furnace, and our tears are dried, we say constantly to ourselves that we doubt whether our own brother would have clung to us so faithfully, would have borne with our querulous murmurs so patiently, or relieved our necessities so delicately and so liberally. {Pro 18:24}
If you have such a friend as this, your own or your fathers, take care to retain him; do not alienate him by negligence or a deficient consideration.
Put yourself out of the way to show that you appreciate and value him; do not allow a false reserve or a foolish shyness to check your expression of gratitude. A friendship is a delicate growth; and even when it has become robust, it can easily be blighted. The results of years may be lost in a few days. And if a root of bitterness springs up, if a division occurs, it may be quite impossible by every effort in your power to heal the breach or to pluck up that obstinate root. “A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and such contentions are like the bars of a castle.” {Pro 18:19} The closer the intimacy had been, the tenderer the friendship, so much the sterner will be these bars, so much more inexpugnable the castle. For it will be felt, if such protestations, such interchange of affection, such mutual delights, could have been deceptive, mere hypocrisies or delusions, what hope can there be that the same things broken and patched up again can be of any worth? A difference with a chance acquaintance is easily removed; further knowledge may improve our opinion of one another, and even if we separate we have no deep resentment. But a difference between true friends may quickly become irreparable. They feel that there is no more to know; they have seen the best and that has proved disappointing. The resentment springs from a sense of abused confidence and injured love.
If you have real friends then, take pains to keep them. Watch carefully for the small beginnings of a rupture and hasten to heal it. Think no effort is wasted, and no apology or explanation is too humiliating, which may avert that great calamity, -the loss of a true soul-comrade; one whom you have learnt to honor with the name and dignity of friend.
“The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,” says our wise poet, “Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel.”
Such a friendship as we have been considering, rare and beautiful as it is, forms a noble stepping-stone to the loftier relationship of Christian love. In tone and quality it is almost the same; it differs only in its range and in its motive. What one man feels to another in an ideal friendship, the Christian is called upon, according to his capacity and opportunity, to feel to man as man, to all his fellow-creatures. We cannot of course fulfill all the offices of friendship to everyone, and we are not as Christians required to abate one jot of our love to those who are our friends by affinity and by choice. But where the heart is truly Christian it will become more expansive, and it will be conscious of the powerful claims which weakness, misery, solitude, or even moral failings, make upon its friendship; it will shrink from the selfishness inherent in all affections which are merely selective and exclusive; it will earnestly desire to feel an affection which is inclusive and quite unselfish. Where is to be found the motive for such an enlarged spirit of friendship? Whence is to come the impulse to such a self-surrender?
Surely such a motive and such an impulse are to be discovered only in that relation of friendship which God Himself deigns to sustain towards the human soul. Jehoshaphat in his prayer appeals to God on the ground that He had given the land to “Abraham His friend forever.” {2Ch 20:7} And we read of Moses that “the Lord spake unto him face to face. as a man speaketh unto his friend.” {Exo 33:11} But in this position of one who is called the father of the faithful, and of one who was the leader of his people, we cannot but recognize a promise and a foreshadowing of a relation with God which was meant to become more general. The whole tendency of the Gospel is to put every believer in our Lord Jesus Christ on a spiritual level with the most favored and richly endowed of a former dispensation. And since the Incarnate Son lived on earth, and called the simple peasants of Galilee to be, not His servants, but His friends, if they did whatsoever He commanded them, {Joh 15:14} we may without presumption-nay, we must if we would not grieve Him by unbelief-accept the mysteriously dignified position of Gods friends. The feeblest and the poorest, as well as the strongest and most gifted, believing in Jesus Christ, in proportion as he heartily accepts the authority and obeys the commandment of his Lord, is a friend of God. It is a very unequal friendship, as we must all feel. He has all the strength, all the wisdom, all the goodness, all the gifts; but the sense of inequality is removed, by His own gracious friendliness: He attaches such importance to a heartfelt love that He is willing to accept that as the fair equivalent of all that He does and gives to us; and He remedies the terrible inferiority of His friends by realizing His own life in them and merging their imperfection in His perfectness, their limitations in His infinity.
Now, shall we venture to assume that you and God are friends; that the beautiful relation which we have examined, the delight in mutual companionship, the interchange of thought and feeling, the quick and quickening response of love and comprehension, exist between you and Him? Come and read some of these sayings again and apply them to Him. You may gaze into the heart of God, and as face answers to face in a quiet pool, you may find yourself in Him, -a larger self, a truer self, a holier self, than you could ever find in any human fellowship, or than you had ever dared to imagine. This familiar intercourse with God, which has its roots in a profound reverence and its fruits in an unutterable joy, is the new creation of a human soul. A man will be known by his friends, and most assuredly he will be known, if his Friend and most constant Companion is God. He will regard that status as his highest title and distinction, just as Lord Brooks was so proud of knowing Sir Philip Sidney, that he wished his epitaph to be “Here lies Sir Philip Sidneys friend.”
Again, in this close fellowship with God, in His warnings and encouragements and chastisements, even in the “faithful wounds” that He inflicts, does not the heart perceive His sweetness as an ointment and perfume? Does not the quiet place where these passages of tender friendship between your soul and God occur become redolent with a precious fragrance, as of incense or of fresh flowers?
And then the deep meaning which the friendship of God brings into our text, “A friend loveth at all times, and as a brother”-yes, our Divine Brother, the Lord Jesus Christ-“is born for adversity”; or into that other saying, “There is a lover that cleaves more than a brother”! Let us have no loud pharisaical ways in blessing our Friend {Pro 27:14} but let no effort seem too exacting to retain unbroken this priceless blessing of the Divine Communion!
Now, where the soul counts God its nearest and dearest Friend, -the Friend of whom nothing in life or death can rob it, -this effect follows by a beautiful necessity: the chief and all-inclusive friendship being secured, we are at leisure from ourselves to soothe and sympathize, we are able to extend our thoughts and our ministries of love to all around us, and to reflect in our relations with men that exquisite relation which God has deigned to establish with us. Our own private friendships then produce no exclusiveness, but rather they become the types of our feelings to others, and the ever-springing fountainhead of friendly thoughts and courteous deeds; while these private friendships and our wider relations alike are all brought up into the lofty and purifying friendship which we hold with our God and He with us.