Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 21:27
The sacrifice of the wicked [is] abomination: how much more, [when] he bringeth it with a wicked mind?
27. with a wicked mind ] In any case the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination, even when he brings it in a mere formal spirit, because of the moral character of the offerer (Pro 15:8; Isa 1:13-15). But when he bringeth it with a wicked mind, or intent, to purchase immunity by it from the punishment of sin ( to atone for wickedness, R.V. marg.) it is much more so. The sacrifice of Cain was an abomination, because he was wicked (Gen 4:5; 1Jn 3:12). How much more hateful would it have been, if he had brought it with the wicked intention of atoning by it for the murder of his brother? Comp. Sir 34:18-20 .
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
A lower depth even than Pro 15:8. The wicked man may connect his devotion with his guilt, offer his sacrifice and vow his vow (as men have done under paganism or corrupted Christianity) for success in the perpetration of a crime.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 27. When he bringeth it with a wicked mind?] If such a person even bring the sacrifices and offerings which God requires, they are an abomination to him, because the man is wicked; and if such offerings be imperfect in themselves, or of goods ill-gotten, or offered by constraint of custom, &c., they are doubly abominable.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The sacrifice; all the most glorious and costly services which they offer to God.
Is abomination; God rejects and abhors them, because they are offered by such men and in such manner as God justly abhors.
When; or, because, as all the ancient translators render it, the Hebrew particle aph being expletive; or, even because; so the following clause gives the reason of the former proposition.
With a wicked mind; with a hypocritical and impenitent heart, or with a bad design, not in obedience to Gods command, and with respect to his honour and service; but either to cover, or countenance, or promote some wicked intention or course, which notwithstanding all his professions of religion he is resolved to prosecute.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
27. God regards the heart, andhypocrisy is more odious than open inconsistency.
wicked mindor,”design” (Pr 1:4).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The sacrifice of the wicked [is] abomination,…. That is, to the Lord, as in Pr 15:8; and as it is here added in the Septuagint and Arabic versions;
how much more, [when] he bringeth it with a wicked mind? the Arabic version is, “with a mind alien from the law”; or when it is not brought according to law; when it is a corrupt thing, that which is torn, lame, or sick, or robbery for burnt sacrifice; when it is done with an evil intention, to cover sin, to atone for without repenting of it or forsaking it; that they may go on in sin with impunity, and be allowed to commit it; for which cause Balak and Balsam offered sacrifices, which is the instance Jarchi produces; and indeed every religious action not done in faith, and love, and sincerity, and with a view to the glory of God, but in hypocrisy and with selfish views, in order to procure acceptance with God and justification in his sight; setting aside the righteousness, sacrifice, and satisfaction of the son of God, is done with a wicked mind, and is an abomination to the Lord. Some render it, “even though he brings it diligently”, or “with great art and skill” i; is constant at his devotion, and carries it so artfully, and with such a show of religion, as to deceive men, yet he cannot deceive the Lord.
i “solerter”, De Dieu.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
27 The sacrifice of the godless is an abomination;
How much more if it is brought for evil!
Line first = Pro 15:8. Regarding the syllogistic , vid., 12:31; Pro 15:11; regarding , crime, particularly the sin of lewdness (from , to press together, to collect the thoughts upon something, to contrive, cf. raffinement de la volupt ), at Pro 10:23. is too vaguely rendered in the lxx by , falsely by Jerome, ex scelere (cf. , Sir. 31:18, with Mal 1:13). The is not meant, as at Eze 22:11, of the way and manner; for that the condition of life of the is not a pure one, is not to be supposed. It is as Hitzig, rightly, that of price: for a transgression, i.e., to atone for it; one is hereby reminded, that he who had intercourse with a betrothed bondmaid had to present an ascham [trespass-offering], Lev 19:20-22. But frequently enough would it occur that rich sensualists brought trespass-offerings, and other offerings, in order thereby to recompense for their transgressions, and to purchase for themselves the connivance of God for their dissolute life. Such offerings of the godless, the proverb means, are to God a twofold and a threefold abomination; for in this case not only does the godless fail in respect of repentance and a desire after salvation, which are the conditions of all sacrifices acceptable to God, but he makes God directly a minister of sin.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
27 The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination: how much more, when he bringeth it with a wicked mind?
Sacrifices were of divine institution; and when they were offered in faith, and with repentance and reformation, God was greatly honoured by them and well-pleased in them. But they were often not only unacceptable, but an abomination, to God, and he declared so, which was an indication both that they were not required for their own sakes and that there were better things, and for effectual, in reserve, when sacrifice and offering should be done away. They were an abomination, 1. When they were brought by wicked men, who did not, according to the true intent and meaning of sacrificing, repent of their sins, mortify their lusts, and amend their lives. Cain brought his offering. Even wicked men may be found in the external performances of religious worship. Many can freely give God their beasts, their lips, their knees, who would not give him their hearts; the Pharisees gave alms. But when the person is an abomination, as every wicked man is to God, the performance cannot but be so; even when he brings it diligently; so some read the latter part of the verse. Though their offerings are continually before God (Ps. l. 8), yet they are an abomination to him. 2. Much more when they were brought with wicked minds, when their sacrifices were made, not only consistent with, but serviceable to, their wickedness, as Absalom’s vow, Jezebel’s fast, and the Pharisees’ long prayers. When men make a show of devotion, that they may the more easily and effectually compass some covetous or malicious design, when holiness is pretended, but some wickedness intended, then especially the performance is an abomination, Isa. lxvi. 5.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Detestable Sacrifices
Verse 27 repeats the previous declaration (Pro 15:8 a) that the sacrifice of the wicked is abomination; and adds that it is even more offensive to the LORD when it is done with intent to aid an evil purpose, see comment and references under Pro 15:8 a.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Pro. 21:27. With a wicked mind, literally for iniquity, and may refer to a desire to cloak a sinful purpose by an outward show of piety, or an attempt to expiate a sinful act by an outward atonement. Miller reads for how much more because also.
Pro. 21:28. Constantly, rather for ever. Stuart understands the verse to mean that the sincere listener to the Divine commands will ever be at liberty to speak, and find confidence put in what he says.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro. 21:27
THE SACRIFICE OF THE WICKED
I. A Divine institution may become an abomination to the Divine Being. The right use of the gifts of God makes them blessings to men, but the abuse of them turns them into curses. So with the ordinances of worship, both under the Old Testament dispensation and in the Newthat which is designed to bless men may by misuse add to their guilt before God, and that which, done in a right spirit, is most acceptable to Him, will, when joined to a sinful motive, be most abhorrent to His holy nature. The sacrifice of the Levitical dispensation was an ordinance of Divine appointment, but even those who lived before the days of the prophets were not left to suppose that the merely ceremonial act was of any value in the sight of God if a correspondent state of heart was wanting. The offering of Cain was unacceptable, because he lacked the faith of his brother Abel. (Heb. 11:4). Samuel taught the truth that to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams (1Sa. 15:22), and the father of our preacher was deeply conscious that sacrifice and burnt offering would not be acceptable to God unless they were the outcome of a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart (Psa. 51:16-17). The doctrine that God is a spirit, and they who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (Joh. 4:24), is taught in the Old Testament as well as in the New. It is the teaching of this proverb.
II. A Divine institution may be used by men to cloak their iniquity. The absence of right motive is enough to turn the sacrifice into an abomination, as we have seen (see also on chapter Pro. 15:9, page 408), but this comparatively negative wrong seems to lose some of its guilt beside the actual crime of the second clause of the verse, when men actually put on an outward semblance of religion, not from inadequate ideas of the requirements of Gods law, or from the force of habit, or in a thoughtless spirit, but with the deliberate intention of deceiving their fellow-creatures. For it is inconceivable that any reasonable being can for a moment suppose that he can blind Him before whom all things must be naked and opened (Heb. 4:13). If he believes in a God he cannot think that He is a Being who can be imposed upon by such a miserable deception, and, this being granted, it is most astonishing that any creature can presume to offer so great an insult to his Creator. And yet we know sacrifices have been and are even now being offered to God for no other purpose than to cloak sin.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
This is a New Testament idea:Ye ask and receive not, saith the Apostle James, because ye ask amiss. How? Why, precisely in the way that the proverb points out, because ye do it for an interested purpose; as the Apostle expresses it, that ye may consume it upon your desires. The wicked man asks for heaven that he may consume it in keeping comfortable through a long eternity. The proverb in Pro. 21:17 postulates the opposite, In merely loving happiness a man cannot create wealth. The mass of hypocrites, therefore, are these eternal-happiness hypocrites. There may be other reasons, but that additional and fundamental among them all is this deepest one, that religious acts cannot be accepted if they are built upon nothing tenderer than a calculated purpose. (So Miller translates the last two words. See also Critical Notes.) Ye seek Me, says our blessed Redeemer, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled (Joh. 6:26).Miller.
For Homiletics of Pro. 21:28, see on chap. Pro. 12:19, page 275. The man that heareth is evidently the man who is teachable and open to conviction, and therefore qualified to bear witness of the truth.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
The last clause of the proverb seems to fix and restrict the first. A false witness often becomes so by the culpable habit of thoughtlessly repeating, without examination or certain knowledge. A man may thus do very serious injury to his neighbours character or property. It proves a very loose conscience, and an utter want of that charity which covers instead of exposing faults. It is rejoicing in iniquity rather than rejoicing in truth. This false witness will certainly be punished by God; and even by man he will be confounded and silenced. No one for the future will regard or receive his testimony. But the man that heareththe true witness who speaketh only what he heareth, and is fully acquainted withhe speaketh constantlyto conviction. He holds to his testimony and never contradicts himself. He speaks the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. His word, even if it had been slighted at first, gains more and more credit and authority when the false witness shall have perished (chap. Pro. 12:19).Bridges.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(27) How much more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind?Plotting at the same time future wickedness, or thinking to make God, by the sacrifice, overlook his sin, and so become, as it were, his confederate.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
27. The sacrifice of the wicked The ceremonial worship in general, (compare Pro 15:8,) which is performed without any purpose to amend their lives.
With a wicked mind When he has some evil design in the very act itself. Men sometimes join in worship to better their worldly fortunes, to secure trade or office, or for other selfish and even dishonest purposes. It is all “abomination.” Comp Pro 15:8; Psa 50:9; Isa 66:3; Jer 6:20; Amo 5:22. The latter clause would probably express the idea better thus: “Because he brings it with an evil purpose; a calculated purpose.” Miller.
v. 27. The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination, Pro 21:27 The sacrifice of the wicked [is] abomination: how much more, [when] he bringeth it with a wicked mind?
Ver. 27. The sacrifice of the wicked, &c. ] See Trapp on “ Pro 15:8 “
How much more when he bringeth it, &c. a Mr Shepherd’s Sincere Convert, p. 232.
b Breerwood, Enquire.
c Sandys’s Relat. of West. Religion.
mind = purpose.
Pro 21:27
Pro 21:27
“The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination; How much more, when he bringeth it with a wicked mind.”
The thought here is very similar to that of Pro 21:3. See the comment there. The Anchor Bible has it this way: “A sacrifice offered by wicked men is an abomination, all the more so if one bring it with a shameful purpose. Some of the shameful purposes that may prompt the wicked to offer a sacrifice are: (1) to receive approval and praise of men, (2) to deceive others with his hypocrisy, or (3) in the vain delusion that he can “buy God off.”
Pro 21:27. The first statement is also found in Pro 15:8. God does not want people to substitute religious rites for actual righteousness: To obey is better than sacrifice (1Sa 15:22). Thus, God deplores the sacrifice of people who are not trying to live right (Jer 6:20; Amo 5:22; Isa 1:11-15). To bring a sacrifice with a wicked mind must be to bring it with some motive to deceive God or to buy God off because of some sin being persisted in or because of some illegitimate gain from which he is bringing the sacrifice.
sacrifice: Pro 15:8, Pro 28:9, 1Sa 13:12, 1Sa 13:13, 1Sa 15:21-23, Psa 50:8-13, Isa 1:11-16, Isa 66:3, Jer 6:20, Jer 7:11, Jer 7:12, Amo 5:21, Amo 5:22
with a wicked mind: Heb. in wickedness, Mat 23:14
Reciprocal: Gen 4:7 – be accepted Lev 11:34 – General 1Sa 13:9 – he offered 1Sa 20:24 – the king 2Sa 15:7 – pay 2Sa 15:12 – while he offered Psa 51:16 – delightest Psa 109:7 – and let Pro 7:14 – I have peace offerings with me Pro 21:4 – and the Ecc 5:1 – give Isa 1:13 – incense Isa 43:23 – honoured Isa 58:4 – ye fast Jer 11:15 – to do Jer 14:12 – and when Eze 14:3 – should Eze 20:3 – As I Eze 20:39 – but Hos 5:6 – go Hos 8:13 – but Hag 2:14 – So is this people Mal 2:13 – insomuch 1Ti 2:8 – lifting Heb 11:4 – a more Jam 1:7 – General Jam 4:3 – and
Pro 21:27. The sacrifice of the wicked All the most glorious and costly services which they offer to God; is abomination God rejects and abhors them, because they are offered by such men, and in such a manner, as God justly abhors; how much more when Hebrew, , because, or, even because, as all the ancient translators render it; he bringeth it with a wicked mind With a hypocritical and impenitent heart, or from a bad motive; not in obedience to Gods command, and with a desire and intention to glorify him; but either to cover, or countenance, or promote some wicked design or practice, which, notwithstanding all his professions of religion, he is not determined to relinquish.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments