Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 17:22
A merry heart doeth good [like] a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
22. doeth good like a medicine ] Rather, is a good medicine, R.V. “Heb. causeth good healing,” R.V. marg.; giveth a happy healing, Gesen.; , LXX.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Doeth good like a medicine – Better, worketh a good healing. Omit like.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Pro 17:22
A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
Mental and bodily influence
The connection between the mind and the body, though not to be explained, is so striking as to force itself upon the notice of the least observant. There is such a sympathy between the two that the one cannot suffer and the other be unaffected. But the mind will often claim such independence of the body as the body can never assert over the mind. When the torture is of the mind alone, there will be comparatively little bodily capacity to bear up under the pressure. Solomon says here that a merry heart, a cheerful mind, a spirit contented and well at ease, will administer support and strength for endurance. But Solomon treats also the case of a mind assailed and out of joint, and says that, in this case, the body as well as the mind will be utterly prostrated.
I. The power which the mind can exert in support of the body so long as itself is in good condition. Where there is no aid drawn from the resources of religion, there may be firmness the most unflinching in the endurance of pain. The records of savage life prove the existence of a sustaining principle in man. There is a power in mans spirit to sustain his infirmity. The truth that men have no power of renewing their nature must not be interpreted as implying that men have no power of reforming their lives. The doctrine of human degeneracy, preached in an unguarded and overwrought strain, makes men imagine that they can do nothing unless they feel themselves acted on by a supernatural machinery, and that, until they have experienced inward revelation, it is idle to set about outward reformation. We would always hold that a great deal lies in the unconverted mans power. We can never believe, whilst there is the spectacle on earth of mind wielding a thorough sovereignty over matter, a sovereignty so perfect that the body is set before us as literally the vassal of the spirit, we at all exaggerate his abilities when we urge him, as a candidate for the prizes of eternity, to improve the life, and break away from habits and associations of unrighteousness.
II. A mans total incapacity to bear a wounded spirit. We are not accustomed to admit up to the full a matter of fact–the physical destructiveness, so to speak, of an overwrought mind. The greatest wear and tear is from mental labour. Mental disquietude tells on the health with corroding and devastating power. It is the gracious appointment of God that a wound in the spirit begins to close so soon as made; so that where there is the wish there is not the power of keeping it long open. If it be true that the endurance of grief cannot be referred to indwelling energy, but rather to that soothing action of time which comes into play on the first moment of affliction, then there is no witness from the experience of mankind against the truth of the text. It cannot be assumed that a spirit is broken until stricken by that Word of God which is quick and powerful. Conviction of sin is the unbearable thing, and an awakened conscience an irresistible tormentor. A truly broken spirit is that which is bruised by a sense of sin. It is impossible that man should long sustain the anguish of conviction of sin. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
A cheerful spirit
I. The value of a cheerful spirit.
1. It helps bodily health.
2. It is a clarifier and invigorator of the mind.
3. It lubricates the wearing machinery of business and daily care.
II. How attain this spirit?
1. Look at your mercies with both eyes; your troubles with only one eye.
2. Learn Pauls secret: In whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
3. Be useful. Light somebodys torch, and your own will burn brighter.
4. Make God your trustee. Believe in His care of your welfare. (Homiletic Review.)
Bodily health depending on mental moods
So closely connected is the soul with the body, that physical health is ever, to a great extent, dependent on mental states. A dark thought has power to work disease and death into the corporeal frame. This is a fact–
1. Recognised by medical science. A wise physician avails himself of this fact, and is ever anxious not only to dispel all sad thought from the mind of the patient, but to awaken the most pleasurable thoughts and emotions. It is a fact–
2. Attested by general experience.
I. The responsibility of man for his physical health. Man is responsible for his mental disposition, whether cheerful or gloomy, and his disposition greatly determines his health.
II. The duty of the guardians of childhood and youth.
III. The sanitary influence of Christianity. The design of Christianity is to fill the human heart with joy. These things have I spoken unto you that your joy may be full. Christianity is the best physician to the body. He who promotes Christinity is the wise philanthropist. Some people are always trying to keep the body well, and neglect entirely the condition of the soul. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The effects of cheerfulness and of despondency
I. The meaning of the verbs.
1. By a merry heart is meant a heart which has been taught by the Spirit of God to seek its happiness in Divine and heavenly objects, which is disposed to look at the bright side of things under the influence of contentment and hope. Such a heart has the best reason for cheerfulness. Faith keeps it from suspicion and distrust, hope from despair, and charity from that envy which is a rottenness of the bones. The love of God shed abroad in the heart makes it form the most favourable idea of every dispensation, and Christ dwelling there brightens all around by His presence.
2. By the broken spirit is meant a heart crushed by affliction, and which refuses to be comforted. Such is his spirit who, seeing his affairs ruined by his own folly, or the knavery of others, or by misfortunes which he could neither foresee nor prevent, sinks into utter despondence, and becomes incapable of the least effort to better his circumstances. Such is his spirit who, seeing the desire of his eyes taken away with a stroke, imagines he has nought now to live for. Such also is the spirit of the man wounded by remorse, or shattered by the influence of indulged melancholy, jealousies, suspicions, and fears.
II. Illustrate this view here given of the result of cheerfulness and depression.
1. Let us consider their influence on the body. The influence of a suitable medicine on the body is wonderful. Disease is checked or alleviated by it when first received; the continued use of it removes it entirely, and strengthens the constitution to resist its further attacks. Such is the power of holy joy over the health. On the other hand a broken spirit dries up the bones, and the finest constitution sinks under its influence.
2. Consider their influence on prosperity and adversity. All the comforts of prosperity are heightened by a cheerful spirit. So amiable does prosperity appear when thus enjoyed, that every heart wishes its continuance; but the broken spirit is a stranger to all the satisfactions as well as the homage of gratitude. On such a heart all its delights are lavished in vain. The cheerful heart can triumph in adversity. But how different is the case with the broken spirit! Every temporal disaster is the supposed prelude to their ruin, etc.
3. Consider the influence of cheerfulness and of depression on the soul. Cheerfulness quickens all the powers of the soul in their exercise; the imagination forms the most pleasing ideas of scenes and objects; memory calls up the most joyous recollections; hope paints the future blissful as the present; and the understanding, rejoicing in the truth, pursues its inquiries with unwearied ardour. On the other hand, when the spirit is broken, the imagination calls up only scenes of woe; memory brings nought to remembrance but what tends to disquiet and torment us; despair clothes the heavens with blackness; and the understanding doth nought but write bitter things, and form the most dreadful conclusions against itself.
4. Consider the influence of cheerfulness and depression on the duties and the pursuits of life. When the heart is cheerful the duties of a mans calling are a pleasure to him. How ingenious is the cheerful heart in finding the means of enjoyment and in extending these! On the other hand, when the spirit is broken the duties of a mans profession are a burden him.
5. Consider their influence on the connections of life. The man of a merry heart is the happiness of his family and friends. How different is the case with the broken spirit! The indications of joy in his presence such a man is apt to regard as an insult to his wretchedness.
Conclusion:
1. How strongly does the broken spirit claim our pity and our prayers! It is impossible to conceive on this side the grave a condition more dreary.
2. Let us carefully guard against the first symptoms of despondence in ourselves and in others. Let us seek out those remedies which the gospel contains for raising the bowed down.
3. Let me address those who are blessing themselves in a false mirth. I know not whether the despairing mourner or the jovial sinner is the greatest object of pity. The jovial sinners mirth is like the laughter of the maniac, or like the singing of a patient whose brain a fever hath disordered. The broken spirit may lead to that godly sorrow which worketh repentance to salvation, but the audacious mirth of the sinner is most likely to end in weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth. (H. Belfrage, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 22. A merry heart doeth good like a medicine] Instead of gehah, a medicine, it appears that the Chaldee and Syriac had read in their copies gevah, the body, as they translate in this way. This makes the apposition here more complete: “A merry heart doeth good to the body; but a broken spirit drieth the bones.” Nothing has such a direct tendency to ruin health and waste out life as grief, anxiety, fretfulness, bad tempers, &c. All these work death.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
A merry heart; cheerfulness of soul, especially that which is solid, and ariseth from the witness of a good conscience.
Doeth good, even to the body; it contributes very much to the restoration or preservation of bodily health and rigour, as physicians observe, and experience showeth.
Broken; sad and dejected.
Drieth the bones; wasteth the marrow of the bones, and the moisture and strength of the body.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
22. (Compare Pro 14:30;Pro 15:13). The effect of themind on the body is well known.
medicineor, “body,”which better corresponds with “bone.”
driethas if the marrowwere exhausted.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
A merry heart doth good [like] a medicine,…. Does the body good, makes it healthful and vigorous. Cheerfulness of spirit has a great influence upon the body, and much contributes to the health and welfare of it; see Ec 9:7; and especially a heart full of spiritual joy, peace of conscience, flowing from the blood of Christ, joy in the Holy Ghost, a rejoicing in Christ Jesus and his righteousness, and in hope of the glory of God, much affect even the outward man. Or, “a merry heart makes a good medicine” x; it is a good medicine of itself; raises the spirits, invigorates the body, and fits it for service and business: or, “does a medicine good” y; makes that operate kindly, and to a good purpose: or, as Jarchi, makes the countenance shine well, makes a serene countenance; which Schultens approves, and, from the use of the word in the Arabic language, confirms;
but a broken spirit drieth the bones; a spirit broken with sorrow, whether on spiritual or temporal accounts; as it weakens the nerves, it dries up the marrow in the bones, and emaciates the body, and reduces it to a skeleton: the joy or grief of the mind, those passions of the soul, have a very great influence upon the body, either for its good or hurt.
x “cor hilare bonam facit sanationem”, Michaelis. y So R. Joseph Kimchi; “bonificat sive meliorem reddit medicinam”, some in Valablus; “bene medicinam facit”, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
22 A joyful heart bringeth good recovery;
And a broken spirit drieth the bones.
The heart is the centre of the individual life, and the condition and the tone of the heart communicates itself to this life, even to its outermost circumference; the spirit is the power of self-consciousness which, according as it is lifted up or broken, also lifts up or breaks down the condition of the body ( Psychol. p. 199), vid., the similar contrasted phrases and , Pro 15:13. The . . (here and there in Codd. incorrectly written ) has nothing to do with the Arab. jihat , which does not mean sight, but direction, and is formed from wjah (whence wajah , sight), like , congregation, from ( ). The Syr., Targ. (perhaps also Symmachus: ; Jerome: aetatem floridam facit ; Luther: makes the life lstig [cheerful]) translate it by body; but for this ( ) is used, and that is a word of an entirely different root from . To what verb this refers is shown by Hos 5:13: , and healed not for you her ulcerous wound. is the compress, i.e., the bandage closing up the ulcer, then also the ulcer-wound itself; and is the contrary of , e.g., Jer 8:22; it means the removing of the bandage and the healing of the wound. This is confirmed by the Syr. gho , which in like manner is construed with min , and means to be delivered from something ( vid., Bernstein’s Lex. Syr. to Kirsch’s Chrestomathie). The Aethiop. quadriliteral gahgeh , to hinder, to cause to cease, corresponds to the causative Syr. agahish . Accordingly means to be in the condition of abatement, mitigation, healing; and (as synonym of , Neh 3:19, with which Parchon combines it), levamen, levatio , in the sense of bodily healing (lxx ; Venet., after Kimchi, ); and (cf. Pro 15:2) denotes, to bring good improvement, to advance powerfully the recovery. Schultens compares the Arab. jahy , nitescere, disserenari , as Menahem has done , but this word is one of the few words which are explained exclusively from the Syriac (and Aethiop.). (here and at Pro 25:15) is the word interchanging with , Pro 15:30; Pro 16:24.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
22 A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
Note, 1. It is healthful to be cheerful. The Lord is for the body, and has provided for it, not only meat, but medicine, and has here told us that the best medicine is a merry heart, not a heart addicted to vain, carnal, sensual mirth; Solomon himself said of that mirth, It is not medicine, but madness; it is not food, but poison; what doth it? But he means a heart rejoicing in God, and serving him with gladness, and then taking the comfort of outward enjoyments and particularly that of pleasant conversation. It is a great mercy that God gives us leave to be cheerful and cause to be cheerful, especially if by his grace he gives us hearts to be cheerful. This does good to a medicine (so some read it); it will make physic more efficient. Or it does good as a medicine to the body, making it easy and fit for business. But, if mirth be a medicine (understand it of diversion and recreation), it must be used sparingly, only when there is occasion, not turned into food, and it must be used medicinally, sub regimine–as a prescribed regimen, and by rule. 2. The sorrows of the mind often contribute very much to the sickliness of the body: A broken spirit, sunk by the burden of afflictions, and especially a conscience wounded with the sense of guilt and fear of wrath, dries the bones, wastes the radical moisture, exhausts the very marrow, and makes the body a mere skeleton. We should therefore watch and pray against all melancholy dispositions, for they lead us into trouble as well as into temptation.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Thoughts Lift Or Depress
Verse 22- See comment on 15:13.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Pro. 17:22. A broken spirit. Miller renders an upraiding spirit, i.e., spirit which cavils at Gods providential dealings.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro. 17:22
THE MERRY HEART
I. The mind acts upon the body. It is a fact which no observant man would deny, that there is an intimate connection between sorrow of soul and sickness of body, and that cheerfulness of spirit tends to physical health. A physician always tries to keep his patient in good spirits, and when he discerns that he is weighed down by some mental burden, he wisely seeks to lighten that as well as to administer remedies to the body. And when a man is in health cheerfulness of disposition tends to keep him so; while a depressed condition of mind makes him a more easy prey to disease. That a merry heart doeth good like a medicine, but a broken spirit drieth the bones, is a convincing proof of the mysterious sympathy that exists between the man and his earthly dwelling-place.
II. What will conduce to cheerfulness of spiritto what Solomon here calls a merry heart?
1. A heart at peace with God. Some poisons taken into the system produce for a time a calming and quieting influence upon the body, but it is a quiet and a calm which comes from deadening the capabilities of feeling. Opium may send a man to sleep, but it is a sleep which gives neither refreshment nor strength. A quiet conscience is the first and indispensable element of heart-cheerfulness, and there are other methods of getting free for a time from pain of conscience beside that peace with God which comes from being justified by faith (Rom. 5:1). But all other quiet of soul comes from opiates whose power is but for a time, while this peace comes from the consciousness of reconciliation with Godfrom a sense of standing in a right relation to all that is right and true in the universe.
2. A vivid realization of unseen realities. Though a state of reconciliation with God will give freedom from the sense of guilt, it does not always give that active state of cheerfulness which can be called a merry heart. A river sometimes glides along between its banks in a state of undisturbed calmness; but there are times when the volume of water is so great that it overflows its channels. Peace is like a calm river, but joy is like one whose waters cannot contain themselves within its boundaries, but must pour forth on the right hand and on the left. Peace has been defined as love resting, and joy as love exulting. The one is a passive state of mind, while the other is active. But it is the latter, rather than the former, which makes that cheerful spirit which doeth good like a medicine, and it is the fruit only of a vivid sense of things not seen (Heb. 11:1). Those who live on high lands and breathe the pure mountain air, are conscious of an exuberance of animal life, of which even perfectly healthy people who live in the valleys know nothing. So, men who live in the higher regions of spiritual life know a joy in Godare sensible of an uplifting of spiritto which ordinary and every-day Christians are strangers. They are not only believers, but they are filled with all joy and peace in believing; they not only have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, but they rejoice in hope of the glory of God (Rom. 5:1-2).
3. A life of active love. A selfish man can never be a cheerful manhe who lives for himself alone can never know the healing power of a merry heart. There can be no abiding cheerfulness of heart without joy in God, and there can be no abiding joy in God without love to man. There is nothing, says Dr. Maclaren, more evanescent in its nature than the emotion of religious joy, faith, or the like, unless it be turned into a spring of action for God. Such emotions, like photographs, vanish from the heart unless they be fixed. Work for God is the way to fix them. Joy in God is the strength of work for God, but work for God is the perpetuation of joy in God.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Mirth is short and transient, cheerfulness fixed and permanent. Those are often raised into the greatest transports of mirth who are subject to the greatest depressions of melancholy. On the contrary, cheerfulness, though it does not give the mind such an exquisite gladness, prevents us from falling into any depths of sorrow. Mirth is like a flash of lightning, that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment; cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind. Cheerfulness is the best promoter of health. Repinings and secret murmurs of heart give imperceptible strokes to those delicate fibres of which the vital parts are composed, and wear out the machine insensibly; not to mention those violent ferments which they stir up in the blood, and those irregular disturbed motions which they raise in the animal spirits. I scarce remember, in my own observation, to have met with many old men, or with such who (to use our English phrase) wear well, that had not at least a certain indolence in their humour, if not a more than ordinary gaiety and cheerfulness of heart. The truth is, health and cheerfulness mutually beget each other.Addison.
The verb means, to cure, and, as far as we can fix it, the noun means, not a medicine, but a final cure. In the world at large cheerfulness is an immense gift; but in religion the wise man wishes to say that hopefulness is strength (Neh. 8:10); that it is better to look cheerfully upon God, than with complaints; that if we are to be cured at all, a glad heart will help it.Miller.
All true mirth is from rectitude of the mind, from a right frame of soul. When faith hath once healed the conscience, and grace hath hushed the affections, and composed all within, so that there is a sabbath of the spirit, and a blessed tranquillity 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. They that in the use of lawful means wait on the Lord, shall renew their strength (Isa. 40:31).Trapp.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(22) A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.Or rather, Makes good a recovery., (For the duty of religious gladness, in gratitude for the love of God towards us, comp. Php. 3:1; Php. 4:4.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
22. A merry heart doeth good medicine Makes a good medicine “a happy cure.” Gesenius.
Broken spirit A heart so smitten as to be devoid of gladness drieth the bones. The proverb recognises the well-known fact in psychology, that a happy frame of mind and a joyous temperament contribute greatly to health of body, and that nothing has a more powerful tendency to injure it than grief, anxiety, fretfulness, and bad temper. Compare Pro 15:25; Pro 15:13; Pro 3:8; Hos 5:13.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
v. 22. A merry heart doeth good like a medicine,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Pro 17:22. A merry heart doeth good like a medicine Dr. Grey renders this verse thus, A merry heart doeth good to the body, or flesh; but a broken spirit drieth the bones. We often meet with this opposition, and the sense perhaps is more complete, especially if we leave out the word like, which is not in the Hebrew. Houbigant translates it nearly in the same manner.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Pro 17:22 A merry heart doeth good [like] a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
Ver. 22. A merry heart doeth good, like a medicine. ] E : so the Septuagint renders it. And, indeed, it is ~ that makes . All true mirth is from rectitude of the mind, from a right frame of soul. When faith hath once healed the conscience, and grace hath hushed the affections, and composed all within, so that there is a Sabbath of spirit, and a blessed tranquillity lodged in the soul; then the body also is vigorous and vigetous, for the most part in very good plight and healthful constitution, which makes man’s life very comfortable. For, si vales, bene est. If you are well it is good. And . “Go thy ways,” saith Solomon to him that hath a good conscience, “eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart, since God accepteth thy works. Let thy garments be always white, and let thy head lack no ointment. Live joyfully with the wife of thy youth,” Ecc 9:7-9 &c., be lightsome in thy clothes, merry at thy meats, painful in thy calling, &c., these do notably conduce to and help on health. They that in the use of lawful means “wait upon the Lord, shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” Isa 40:31
But a broken spirit drieth the bones.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
spirit. Hebrew. ruach. App-9.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Pro 17:22
Pro 17:22
“A cheerful heart is a good medicine; But a broken spirit drieth up the bones.”
This says that a sunny, cheerful disposition is good for one’s health; and there are convincing examples of this truth all around us.
Pro 17:22. Those who have cheerful hearts and bright outlooks upon life have a physical blessing of health that others do not know. On the other hand nothing has such a direct tendency to ruin health and waste out life as grief, anxiety, fretfulness, bad tempers, etc. All these work death (Clarke). Other passages: Pro 12:25; Pro 15:13; Pro 15:15.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
merry: Pro 12:25, Pro 15:13, Pro 18:14, Ecc 9:7-9, Rom 5:2-5
like a medicine: Heb. to a medicine
a broken: Psa 22:15, Psa 32:3, Psa 32:4, Psa 102:3-5, 2Co 2:7, 2Co 7:10
Reciprocal: Neh 8:10 – the joy Psa 102:5 – the voice Pro 14:30 – rottenness Pro 15:15 – but Pro 15:30 – a good Isa 66:14 – your bones
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 17:22. A merry heart Cheerfullness of mind, especially that which is solid, and ariseth from the testimony of a good conscience; doeth good like a medicine Even to the body; it contributes very much to the restoration or preservation of bodily health and vigour, as physicians observe and experience shows; but a broken spirit A spirit sad and dejected; drieth the bones Wasteth the marrow of the bones, and the moisture and strength of the body.