Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 22:3
A prudent [man] foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.
3. foreseeth ] Rather, seeth.
are punished ] Rather, suffer for it., R.V. text. “Heb. are mulcted ” R.V. marg.; , LXX.; afflictus est damno, Vulg. The proverb occurs again Pro 27:12.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Pro 22:3
A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself.
Seen and unseen evils of life
The great mass of mankind live at hazard, so far as the final end of life is concerned. No certain destination is in their view, nor is their life guided by any central principle. There is a right object at which to aim, a high purpose that should be the centre of every human life, giving it unity and strength.
I. Consider the nature of providence in the conduct of life. Prudence and providence have a close kinship. The word providence expresses the special idea or particular act of providing, while prudence denotes the foresight which shows itself in habit, or the manner of providing.
1. Here is the lowest and basest kind of prudence that stands in opposition to a higher moral life. This is an evil prudence. Self is at the centre of it.
2. Then there is a prudence which might be called neutral, and which is not incompatible with spiritual growth.
3. There is a prudence that is subservient to the higher principle itself. True religion and genuine prudence are allied.
II. Observe the value of prudence in the affairs of life. The prudent man can look behind and before, can estimate probabilities, can consider cause and effect. He decries the future, and is warned. He needs his prudence in the secular affairs of the world. The moral fibre of a man has much more to do with his material surroundings and well-being than many persons seem to think. The prudent man avoids temptations that may be too much for his moral strength.
III. The doom of thoughtlessness. Recklessness brings on ruin. Punishment is not arbitrary, but necessary. (Daniel Jackson.)
Prudent and simple
I. The specification of the persons. Prudent and simple; that is, righteous and wicked. Godly men are in Scripture described as wise men, and wicked men are spoken of as fools. That godly men are truly wise appears in those qualities, and actions, and principles, and properties which belong to them.
1. A godly man hath the true principle of wisdom in him. Wisdom is not a fit but a habit, and implies a spring and principle for the nourishing of it. The right principle of wisdom is a gracious and savoury spirit, the work of regeneration, and the new creature in us.
2. What a man propounds to himself has its influence upon his wisdom. The godly mans aims are heavenly and spiritual.
3. Wisdom is seen in regard to the rule whereby he is led. It is the part of a wise man to have good rules. The Christians rule is the Word of God.
4. In regard to the object whereabout he is conversant, which is the gospel, the doctrine of wisdom.
II. The different account which is given to each.
1. The account of the prudent. He is discovered as to his spiritual judgment and apprehension, and spirit of discerning. He foreseeth the evil. This foresight he has by the dictates of the Word of God; by the concurrence of one thing with another; by the inward hints and suggestions of the Spirit of God. He is discovered in reference to activity and practice. And hides himself. This is done in the exercise of all such graces as are pertinent hereunto: such as meekness, humility, repentance, faith, charity. A godly man hides himself in the whole work of self-reformation and holiness of life.
2. The account of the foolish. Their carriage: They pass on. This is an expression of security, and of pertinancy or progress in sin. Sin blinds the judgment, carries away the heart, and fills men with vain hopes. The more deceitful and fraudulent sin is, the more watchful and vigilant should we be.
2. Their miscarriage, or ill-condition. They are punished. Sin and judgment are relatives, and infer one another. They pass on, and are punished. That is, they are punished because they pass on. Security is the great promoter of punishment, in the nature of things, and in the justice of God. (T. Horton, D.D.)
Hiding-places for the prudent
One main element of safety is a just apprehension of danger. There are encompassing dangers and safe hiding-places in the several regions of our secular business, our moral conduct, and our religious hopes.
1. In the ordinary business of life. For example, when speculation is rife.
2. In the region of practical morality. Frivolous and licentious companions, theatres, Sabbath amusements, and a multitude of cognate enticements.
3. The greatest evils lie in the world to come, and only the eye of faith can foresee them. (W. Arnot, D.D.)
Good and bad prudence
We are not called upon anywhere in the Bible to make little calculations, small and selfish arrangements, to build for ourselves little refuges that will hold nobody else: we are called to far-sightedness, a large conception of men and things and Divine purposes, and to such a calculation of the action of the forces of the universe as will save us from needless trouble and assure us of ultimate defence and protection. Foresight is everywhere taught in the Bible, but not a foresight that is of the nature of selfishness. (J. Parker, D.D.)
Contrast of prudence and folly
A celebrated commander had returned from a period of military service distinguished by the most important victories. After he had retired from a very gratifying reception at court, the sovereign was eloquent in his praise to the surrounding circle. It must be confessed, said one of the bystanders, that he is a lucky general. He has been too long a lucky general, to be only a lucky general, was the apt reply of the discriminating monarch. The same judgment is continually, though silently, made in the ordinary concerns of life. Do we see any one, possessed of the same external advantages and means of wealth with those around him, yet invariably involved in difficulty, poverty, and want? We usually consider him deficient in that prudent foresight which guards against loss, and in that steady industry which leads so commonly to success. The systematically unfortunate very commonly incur the blame of being systematically imprudent.
I. The character of a prudent man.
1. It is, then, one characteristic of the prudent man that he foreseeth the evil. The faculty of combining present situation with future prospect, and of weighing the good or evil of the one by its effect and bearing upon the other, is a gift by which man is broadly distinguished from the brute creation; and by which intellect and civilisation, among those of his own species, assert their superiority over the narrow views and unreflecting sensuality of savage life. The prudent man walks by faith, and not by sight. Eager to avoid the evil and choose the good; anticipating the punishment of obdurate sin or unreflecting indifference, he asks in the anxious solicitude of one who knows that life and death are on the issue, What must I do to be saved?
2. He foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself. The sense of danger leads him at once to the effectual remedy. Whither, then, does the wise man flee from impending danger? Even to the sure and certain hope of his Redeemers Cross.
II. The simple pass on, and are punished. Is this, it may be asked, that godly simplicity and sincerity which our Lord; and His apostles, and every part of the instruction of the Word of life continually recommend? No: it is the simplicity of folly, of carelessness, of prejudice, of wilfulness, of the love of sin, of unbelief, of ignorance, of hardness of heart, and of contempt of the Word of God. Promises animate not his obedience. Threatenings arouse him not from his lethargy. Warnings awake him not from his security. Expostulation fails to enkindle his shame, or to give life to his gratitude. The simple pass on. They are carried down the stream of time, silently and surely, toward death and judgment. (R. P. Buddicom, M.A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 3. A prudent man foreseeth the evil] God in mercy has denied man the knowledge of futurity; but in its place he has given him hope and prudence. By hope he is continually expecting and anticipating good; by prudence he derives and employs means to secure it. His experience shows him that there are many natural evils in a current state, the course of which he can neither stem nor divert: prudence shows him beforehand the means he may use to step out of their way, and hide himself. The simple-the inexperienced, headstrong, giddy, and foolish – rush on in the career of hope, without prudence to regulate, chastise, and guide it; thus they commit many faults, make many miscarriages, and suffer often in consequence; and the commission of crimes leads to punishment.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The evil; the calamity or judgment of God threatened and approaching.
Hideth himself; retireth to his strong tower, mentioned Pro 18:10; by prayer and repentance putteth himself under the protection of the Almighty. Compare Isa 26:20.
Pass on in their former road and course of sin, carelessly and securely, as travellers do in a road where they apprehend no danger.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. are punishedthat is, fortheir temerity; for the evil is not necessarily punitive, as theprudent might otherwise be its objects.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
A prudent [man] foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself,…. A wise man, whose eyes are in his head, who looks about him and before him, and is cautious and careful of his conduct and behaviour; he foresees the evil of sin he is liable to be drawn into by such and such company, snares, and temptations; and therefore he keeps from them, and abstains from all appearance of evil, or what would lead him to it; and he foresees the evil of punishment, or the judgments of God that are coming on for sin; and he betakes himself to the Lord, to those hiding places and chambers of retreat and protection he has provided for his people, till the indignation be overpast; see Isa 26:20;
but the simple pass on, and are punished: foolish persons, devoid of the grace of God and the fear of him, go on careless and unconcerned in their sinful course of life, transgressing the law of God; they proceed from evil to evil, from lesser to greater sins; they go on in the broad road to destruction, and are punished with temporal judgments here, and with everlasting destruction hereafter.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The group of proverbs beginning here terminates at Pro 22:7, where, like the preceding, it closes with a proverb of the rich and the poor.
3 The prudent seeth the evil, and hideth himself;
But the simple go forward, and suffer injury.
This proverb repeats itself with insignificant variations, Pro 27:12. The Ker makes it more conformable to the words there used. The Chethb is not to be read , for this Kal is inusit., but , or much rather , since it is intended to be said what immediate consequence on the part of a prudent man arises from his perceiving an evil standing before him; he sees, e.g., the approaching overthrow of a decaying house, or in a sudden storm the fearful flood, and betimes betakes himself to a place of safety; the simple, on the contrary, go blindly forward into the threatening danger, and must bear the punishment of their carelessness. The fut. consec. 3a denotes the hiding of oneself as that which immediately follows from the being observant; the two perf. 3b, on the other hand, with or without , denote the going forward and meeting with punishment as occurring contemporaneously (cf. Psa 48:6, and regarding these diverse forms of construction, at Hab 3:10). “The interchange of the sing. and plur. gives us to understand that several or many simple ones are found for one prudent man” (Hitzig). The Niph. of signifies properly to be punished by pecuniary fine (Exo 21:22) (cf. the post-bibl. , , to threaten punishment, which appears to have arisen from censere, to estimate, to lay on taxes); here it has the general meaning of being punished, viz., of the self-punishment of want of foresight.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
3 A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.
See here, 1. The benefit of wisdom and consideration: A prudent man, by the help of his prudence, will foresee an evil, before it comes, and hide himself; he will be aware when he is entering into a temptation and will put on his armour and stand on his guard. When the clouds are gathering for a storm he takes the warning, and flies to the name of the Lord as his strong tower. Noah foresaw the deluge, Joseph the years of famine, and provided accordingly. 2. The mischief of rashness and inconsideration. The simple, who believe every word that flatters them, will believe none that warns them, and so they pass on and are punished. They venture upon sin, though they are told what will be in the end thereof; they throw themselves into trouble, notwithstanding the fair warning given them, and they repent their presumption when it is too late. See an instance of both these, Exo 9:20; Exo 9:21. Nothing is so fatal to precious souls as this, they will not take warning.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
The Wise and Foolish
Verse 3 repeats the contrast of prudent and simple in Pro 14:15-16, with emphasis on the consequences. The prudent act wisely and attain security; the simple dally and are punished. (See comment on Pro 14:15-16).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Pro. 22:3. Are punished, rather must suffer injury.
Pro. 22:4. By humility, rather The end or reward of humility, etc. Delitzsch reads The reward of humility IS the fear of the Lord, etc.
Pro. 22:5. Shall be, etc., or Let him keep, etc.
Pro. 22:6. Train up a child, etc. Miller reads Hedge in a child upon the mouth of his way; Delitzsch, Give to a child instruction according to his way, i.e., conformably to the nature of youth.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro. 22:3-4
A HEDGED-UP WAY
I. God will hedge in the way of the froward man. As we have seen in considering former proverbs, men in a fallen condition have a tendency to break loose from restraintespecially from Divine restraintand to mark out a path for themselves of their own devising. (See on chap. Pro. 21:8). Every human creature shows more or less wilfulness in regard to their relations to God and His lawchoosing rather to fashion his life according to his own ideas than according to the Divine idea and desire concerning him. And this wilfulness, if unchecked, grows with a mans growth and strengthens with his years, until his frowardness becomes the distinctive feature of his life. But he will not have it all his own way. He will not find the crooked path which he has chosen altogether pleasant and safe. Thorns will prick his feet and pitfalls will endanger his life. He will find himself confronted and fenced-in by laws of retribution which God has set about him to admonish him to forsake his rebellious way. For all the pain of body or mind which men suffer, and all the obstacles they meet with in the way of frowardness are intended to keep them from a deeper pain and a heavier punishment. A thorn-hedge is set by the side of the highway to admonish the traveller to keep the path, and so avoid, it may be, the precipice or the bog on the other side. If he attempts to climb the hedge he will be wounded, and if he is a wise man the thorn-pricks will lead him to abandon his intention, and so to escape more serious harm. If the hedge does this it fulfils the end for which it was planted. So with the pains and penalties with which God hedges in the present way of the wicked manthey are intended to lead him into a better and safer way.
II. It is a parents duty to hedge in the way of his child. The father stands in the place of God to his young children in this respect, for his discipline in their early years is the best possible preparation for the discipline of God later on in life. Indeed the wiser the training of the earthly father the less are his children likely to need the corrective discipline of their heavenly parent. The child that is accustomed to bend its will to the will of a good father will not find it so hard to yield obedience to the will of God as he who has had no such training. He will grow up in the practice of sinking his will in that of a wiser will, and it will not be irksome for him so to do. Having found his fathers yoke an easy one, and having in the path of filial obedience tasted pleasures unknown to the rebellious child, he will the more readily accept the yoke of God, and find in His service perfect freedom. But this blessed result will not be attained without much anxious and sometimes painful effort on the part of the parent. For the natural waywardness of man in general manifests itself in very early life. A child would like to be trained in the way it would go, rather than in the way that it should go. But this would in effect be no training at all. For the training of anything implies a crossing of the natural tendencya repression in one direction, and an effort towards development in another. The training of the vine does not mean a letting it put forth its branches just where it wills or a twining of its tendrils around any object it choosesit implies a free use of the pruning-knife and of the vine-dressers other implements and methods of restraint and guidance. Every child, like every unwise man, would like to set up its own hedge, and put up its own fences, and prescribe the limits and bounds of its own conduct. But as we have already seen, God lets no man do this beyond certain limits, for He Himself sets thorns and snares in the way of the froward. It is, therefore, cruel neglect in a parent to allow a child to do it, for thus the tendency to go in the wrong way is strengthened by indulgence, and every year the path of obedience to God becomes more difficult, and looks less inviting. If the parent does not set a hedge about his sons path, he is only making it certain that he will encounter thorns and snares further on in life. As to the promise attached to the command in this proverb, it can hardly be said to be of universal application. Solomon himself seems to have been an exception to the rule. We have every reason to believe that his father, after his birth, would train his son most carefully and enforce his precepts by example. We must believe that Davids own bitter experience of the thorns and snares in the path of sin made him very anxious to preserve his son from wandering as he had done, and led him to train him most carefully. It is also said of the sons of a man whose life was outwardly stainlessof Samuelthat his sons walked not in his ways (1Sa. 8:3). Yet we cannot suppose that Samuel, who had seen in Elis family the miserable fruits of non-restraint, had neglected to train his sons. Yet the exceptions are doubtless very few in number compared with the rule,that a rightly-trained child does not depart from the right way in his riper years, though, in Bishop Halls words, God will let us find that grace is by gift, not by inheritance.
Lord, with what care hast Thou begirt us round!
Parents first season us: then schoolmasters
Deliver us to laws; they send us bound
To rules of reason, holy messengers.
Pulpits and Sundays, sorrow dogging sin,
Afflictions sorted, anguish of all sizes,
Fine nets and stratagems to catch us in,
Bibles laid open, millions of surprises.
Blessings beforehand, ties of gratefulness,
The sound of glory ringing in our ears;
Without our shame, within our consciences,
Angels and grace, eternal hopes and fears.
Yet all these fences and their whole array,
One cunning bosomsin blows quite away.Herbert.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro. 22:5. A forcible image to show that nothing stands so much in a mans way as the indulgence of his own unbridled will. The man who is most perversely bent on his purposes is most likely to be thwarted in them.Bridges.
The ungodly finds nothing in his path to hell but thorns and snares, and yet he presses on in it! A sign of the greatness and fearfulness of the ruin of mans sin.Lange.
Pro. 22:6. Three different meanings have been found of the interpretation, according to his way. (See Critical Notes.) It may be
1. His way in the sense of his own natural characteristics of style and manner,and then his training will have reference to that for which he is naturally fitted; or
2. The way of life which he is intended by parents or guardians to pursue; or,
3. The way in which he ought to go. The last is moral, and relates to the general Divine intention concerning mans earthly course; the second is human and economical; the first is individual, and to some extent even physical. Yet although the third presents the highest standard and has been generally adopted, it has the least support from the Hebrew idiom, Tr. of Langes Commentary.
He learneth best any way that knoweth no other, and he best keepeth any way that groweth in it. Two children that are bred and grow up together, are settled in affection the one to the other. Now, it can be but a childish goodness that is in a child; but if the childhood of goodness shall be bred and grow up with the child-hood of man, it will settle the stronger union between them. Aristotle saith, it is a matter of chiefest moment for a man to be accustomed this way or that.Jermin.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(3) A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself, as the Israelites hid themselves within their houses from the destroying angel, Noah within the Ark, the Christians before the fall of Jerusalem (Luk. 21:21) in Pella. (Comp. Isa. 26:20.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. Prudent Here meaning, a sagacious, or farseeing man.
Hideth himself Namely, from the coming evil; he timely provides against it.
The simple Those who do not properly read the signs of the times.
Pass on Rush on, or over, in their usual course, using no foresight to avoid the threatened calamity.
Are punished Suffer the natural consequences of their ignorance and lack of providence. Both members are expressed in the Hebrew in the past tense saw evil hid passed on were punished. Comp. Pro 27:12; Pro 15:15; Pro 15:18.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
v. 3. A prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished. By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life. Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward: he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them. Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender. He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity: and the rod of his anger shall fail. He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor.
To whom can this eye of bounty be applied in an equal degree, but to that of Jesus? He indeed is the heavenly Pelican that giveth of his body and blood to his young.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Pro 22:3 A prudent [man] foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.
Ver. 3. A prudent man foreseeth an evil, &c. ] Prevision is the best means of prevention. “A wise man’s eyes are in his head,” Ecc 2:14 “his heart is also at his right hand.” Ecc 10:2 The Chinese say of themselves that all other nations of the world see but with one eye, they only with two. The Italians give out that they only do sapere ante factum, look before they leap, forecast an evil before it befall them. But these are praises proper to them that have learned holy and heavenly wisdom, that by certain sights and signs discern a tempest in the clouds, and seek seasonable shelter under the hollow of God’s hand, “under the shadow of his wings.” Such prudent persons were Noah, Joseph, Jonadab, Josiah, the Christians at Pella, &c.
But the fool passeth on.
And is punished.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
evil = mischief. Hebrew. ra’a’. App-44.
simple. See note on Pro 1:4.
are punished = suffer for it, or pay the penalty.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Pro 22:3
Pro 22:3
“A prudent man seeth the evil, and hideth himself; But the simple pass on, and suffer for it.”
“The Bible gives blind optimism its right name. It is not faith but folly. This was mentioned in Pro 14:15-16, and will be repeated in even stronger language in Pro 27:12.
Pro 22:3. This very saying is repeated in Pro 27:12. An old saying: Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. A discerning person can often foresee danger ahead, and his wisdom causes him to avoid it; but the simple, undiscerning person comes along, never realizing what is just ahead, and suffers the consequences. In the original, prudent man is singular while the simple is plural. Hitzig observes as a result: Many simple ones are found for one prudent. And when something new (some fad) comes along that had dangerous involvements connected with it, many take up with it anyway, and you wonder if Hitzig isnt correct in his observation! A Cornish proverb: He who will not be ruled by the rudder must be ruled by the rock.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
prudent: Pro 14:16, Pro 27:12, Exo 9:20, Exo 9:21, Isa 26:20, Isa 26:21, Mat 24:15-18, 1Th 5:2-6, Heb 6:18, Heb 11:7
the simple: Pro 7:7, Pro 7:22, Pro 7:23, Pro 9:16-18, Pro 29:1
Reciprocal: Gen 7:7 – General Gen 41:34 – and take Exo 2:15 – fled Jdg 20:3 – the children of Benjamin 1Sa 20:5 – that I may 2Sa 15:11 – their simplicity 1Ch 5:22 – the war was of God Pro 14:15 – simple Hos 13:13 – an Mic 6:9 – and Mat 24:16 – General Mar 13:15 – General Luk 21:21 – flee Act 23:17 – one Rom 16:18 – the simple
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 22:3. A prudent man foreseeth the evil, &c. He whose long experience and observation of things hath made him cautious and circumspect, foresees a calamity before it come, and withdraws himself from the danger into a place of safety; but an incautious and credulous person never foresees any danger, but goes on securely in his accustomed track, till it overtake him. Thus Bishop Patrick. But in foreseeing temporal calamities, and discerning the methods by which we may escape them, as Mr. Scott justly observes, we can seldom proceed beyond probability, in either respect; but, in the concerns of the soul, faith foresees the evil coming upon sinners in the eternal state, and discerns Jesus Christ, as the refuge from this impending storm, and the penitent and believing soul flees to him, hides himself in him, and is safe, as Noah in the ark. But the careless and unbelieving go on, without concern, till they lift up their eyes in hell, being in torments.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
22:3 A prudent [man] {c} foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.
(c) That is, the punishment, which is prepared for the wicked and flees to God for help.