Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 27:4
Wrath [is] cruel, and anger [is] outrageous; but who [is] able to stand before envy?
4. envy ] Rather, jealousy. Comp. Pro 6:34.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Envy – Better, as in the margin, the violence of passion in the husband who thinks himself wronged (compare Pro 6:34).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Pro 27:4
Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?
Anger and envy
I. The evil principles indicated in the text are extensively and dangerously prevalent. To be irritated and out of temper is one of the common tendencies of our nature, manifested even in childhood. The root is wrath, anger. This pernicious root grows differently in different natures, and with more or less vigour. This vicious principle is generally regarded too complacently, as though it were a necessary part of our nature. Wrath is dangerous. Its tendency is to increase. The spark will rise into a flame. The intensity of anger depends upon external circumstances, and also upon the condition of our health. The external exciting causes are continually changing. The foolish vice of irritating the temper of others is too common. Some like to torment the susceptible. Others are perpetually fault-finding and sneering. Envy is the condition of one who looks upon the happiness of another and longs to possess it. Envy generally seeks to conceal itself, and to work in secret and in darkness. Passion would strike down its victim in the public market-place, whilst envy would carefully weigh out and mix the poison for its victim to consume unconsciously in his food. This dangerous and deadly principle has extensive existence. Envy is the development of germs which are universally diffused. Then search into the very depths of your nature after the most minute germs of this evil.
II. Wherein Lies our safety against the growth and development of these principles? There may be lurking in our nature forces which need to be held in check by a stronger power than mere intellectual culture. Our higher civilisation too often only gilds crime, and throws its mantle over it. A formal profession of religion may cover the vilest lusts of humanity. There is a higher power. Christianity offers a Divine power by which the evil nature may be purified and every evil passion brought into subjection. Our safety, our only safety, lies in the renewal and sanctification of our nature by the Holy Ghost. Separated from the conscious presence of Christ, and destitute of His renewing grace and protecting providence, who can tell into what mischief we may fall! (Robert Ann.)
The sin of envy
The envious man is far blacker than the passionate man; for the outrageous behaviour of an angry person sounds an alarm to his neighbour to be on his guard, but the envious man conceals his malignity till he has a fit opportunity to strike a mortal blow without danger of missing his aim. The one is a dog, that barks before he bites, the other is an adder in the grass, that stings the traveller when he is dreading no hurt; for the malice of the envious man is generally unsuspected, because no occasion was given for it. It is the good and happiness of the envied object that excited his malignity, and he does not so much as pretend that he has received any provocation. (George Lawson, D.D.)
The nature and mischief of envy
The wise man compares envy with two very exorbitant commotions of mans mind, wrath and anger. Worse than these, more unkind and uncharitable, more unjust, violent and mischievous, is envy. There is neither any goodness, nor yet any strength, that is a sufficient guard against it.
1. There is no mans innocency, no mans virtue, that can secure him from the direful strokes of envy. Sometimes a mans goodness actually inflames the hearts of the envious. See case of Cain and Abel; of Esau; of the brethren of Joseph; of Saul, etc. The greatest instance of all is the envy of Scribes and Pharisees against our Saviour.
2. There is no man so great and powerful, or of so secure an estate or fortune, but the violence of envy hath been capable of overthrowing him. Illustrate case of Abner.
I. A just description of envy. It is a displeasure or trouble arising in a mans mind from the sight or knowledge of another mans prosperity, and causing a man to hate such person, and try to ruin him. It commonly arises on the sight of the prosperity of inferiors or equals. Men envy that to others which they think themselves as well or better to deserve. They seldom envy things or persons that are much above them. Distinguish envy from emulation. Illustrate by these two qualities in Saul and Jonathan, on the occasion of Davids killing Goliath. Emulation is a great and noble virtue, envy a poor and sneaking vice. It is always hiding itself. No man will own himself to be envious. He disguises it under a mighty pretended zeal for the truth; or a great love for the public welfare; or a charitable concern for the credit of his neighbour. How few men are wholly free from this vice.
II. The mischievous effects produced by envy. See these, that we may be more set against it; that we may avoid it ourselves; that we may beware of it in others; that we may use our utmost endeavours to quench this flame. Disturbances in the state, schism in the Church, and trouble in a neighbourhood, or in a private family, are generally traceable to envy. To what end is all this evil done by envious men? What do they get by it? Envy is its own punishment. No man can find a greater torment for an envious man than he inflicts upon himself. Even if it succeeds in pulling down a man, it very rarely gets into his place. How is it that God endures, and seems to leave alone, these mischief-making, envious men? They are agents in doing His disciplinary work in His people. It makes men self-watchful. The envious quickly light upon and show up faults that we might have passed over. The envious calumniate failings, not virtues. Remedies are–
1. A right apprehension of the things of this world.
2. A due submission to the will of God.
3. A true humility.
4. A Christian charity.
This last plucks it up by the very roots; and plants in our hearts what is most contrary thereto. (Jonathan Blagrave, D.D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. Who is able to stand before envy?] The rabbins have a curious story on this subject, and it has been formed by the moderns into a fable. There were two persons, one covetous and the other envious, to whom a certain person promised to grant whatever they should ask; but double to him who should ask last. The covetous man would not ask first, because he wished to get the double portion, and the envious man would not make the first request because he could not bear the thoughts of thus benefiting his neighbour. However, at last he requested that one of his eyes should be taken out, in order that his neighbour might lose both.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Envy is worse than both of them, partly, because it is more unjust and unreasonable, as not caused by any provocation, as wrath and anger are, but only proceeding from a malignity of mind, whereby a man is grieved for another mans happiness, in which he should rejoice; partly, because it is more deeply rooted and implacable, whereas the other passions are commonly allayed; and partly, because it is more secret and undiscernible, and therefore the mischievous effects of it are hardly avoidable; whereas wrath and anger discover themselves, and so forewarn and forearm a man against the danger.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. envyor, “jealousy”(compare Margin; Pr 6:34),is more unappeasable than the simpler bad passions.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Wrath [is] cruel, and anger [is] outrageous,…. Or “an inundation” x; it is like the breaking in of the sea, or a flood of mighty waters, which know no bounds, and there is no stopping them: so cruel and outrageous were the wrath and anger of Simeon and Levi, in destroying the Shechemites; of Pharaoh, in making the Israelites to serve with hard bondage, and ordering their male children to be killed and drowned; and of Herod, in murdering the infants in and about Bethlehem;
but who [is] able to stand before envy? which is secret in a man’s heart, and privately contrives and works the ruin of another, and against which there no guarding. All mankind in Adam fell before the envy of Satan; for it was through the envy of the devil that sin and death came into the world, in the Apocrypha:
“Nevertheless through envy of the devil came death into the world: and they that do hold of his side do find it.” (Wisdom 2:24)
Abel could not stand before the envy of Cain; nor Joseph before the envy of his brethren; nor Christ before the envy of the Jews, his bitter enemies; and, where it is, there is confusion and every evil work, Jas 3:14. An envious man is worse than an angry and wrathful man; his wrath and anger may be soon over, or there may be ways and means of appeasing him; but envy continues and abides, and works insensibly.
x “inundatio”, Michaelis, so Montanus, Vatablus, Tigurine version, “exundatio”, Junius Tremellius, Piscator “inundatio salcans”, Schultens.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
4 The madness of anger, and the overflowing of wrath –
And before jealousy who keeps his place!
Here also the two pairs of words 4a stand in connection; (for which the Cod. Jaman has incorrectly ) is the connecting form; vid., regarding , Pro 5:9. Let one imagine the blind, relentless rage of extreme excitement and irritation, a boiling over of anger like a water-flood, which bears everything down along with it – these paroxysms of wrath do not usually continue long, and it is possible to appease them; but jealousy is a passion that not only rages, but reckons calmly; it incessantly ferments through the mind, and when it breaks forth, he perishes irretrievably who is its object. Fleischer generalizes this idea: “enmity proceeding from hatred, envy, or jealousy, it is difficult or altogether impossible to withstand, since it puts into operation all means, both secretly and openly, to injure the enemy.” But after Pro 6:34., cf. Son 8:8, there is particularly meant the passion of scorned, mortified, deceived love, viz., in the relation of husband and wife.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Proper Jealousy
Verse 4 recognizes that wrath and anger are responsible for cruel and outrageous acts; but declares that envy (which here means jealousy “for,” not of) results from acts far more intolerable. The offended husband, Pro 6:32-35, expresses. this form of jealousy. See also 1Ki 19:10; Zec 8:2.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(4) But who is able to stand before envy?Rather, jealousy. (Comp. Pro. 6:34.) Wrath and anger rage for awhile like a storm, and then subside; but jealousy can never be completely set at rest.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. Anger is outrageous Impetuous; an outpouring like a rushing torrent.
Envy , ( kinah,) mostly rendered jealousy in our Version, but sometimes “envy.” The critics generally give the preference to jealousy here. By some, envy and jealousy are considered the same passion with different objects. Compare Pro 6:34-35.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
DISCOURSE: 812
ENVY
Pro 27:4. Who is able to stand before envy?
MAN is an enemy to his fellow man: nor is there any one who does not on some occasion experience reason for this complaint. But, if some find means of aggression, others obtain means of defence; some in their own powers; others in the assistance of friends; others in the arm of the law: others, where all these powers fail them, derive a measure of consolation from submission or flight. The most cruel wrath, and most outrageous anger, may, by one or other of these means, be withstood, or tolerated, or escaped. But there is one weapon from which there is no flight, and against which there is no protection; and that is, envy: Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who can stand before envy?
In order to bring the subject of envy fully before you, I will shew,
I.
What an odious principle it is
1.
Consider what envy is
[Envy, as existing in the soul, is a sense of pain arising from the real or supposed excellence of another, accompanied with a desire to deprive him of it, and to possess it ourselves. The excellence may be either natural or acquired. Any faculty of body or mind which renders a man estimable in the world is a proper object for envy to fix upon, and against which to direct its shafts. So, in like manner, any attainment of wealth or honour will call forth its malignant efforts against the person in whom such a distinction has been found, especially if the distinction so obtained has been an object of desire to the person beholding it, and apparently within his reach: for envy finds scope for operation only between persons amongst whom some kind of rivalry exists. A peasant does not envy either a king or a philosopher; because the dignity of the one, and the wisdom of the other, are altogether beyond a hope, I had almost said a possibility, of his attainment. Envy includes in it a desire of the distinction that calls it forth, and a pain of seeing it possessed by another, when by possibility it might have been possessed by ones-self.]
2.
Next mark its odiousness
[Nothing excites it but what is either really, or in the persons estimation, good; nor does it ever exert itself, but for the destruction of the happiness of him in whom that good is found. It is the happiness of another that gives pain to the envious man; and the destruction of that happiness is the great object that would afford him pleasure. Its actings, indeed, are not open, like those of wrath and anger: on the contrary, they are as secret as possible; and they put on, as far as possible, a specious garb, a garb of candour and of equity. But its inseparable attendants are of the same odious character with itself: namely, debates, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults [Note: 2Co 12:20.]. Indeed, it is very nearly allied to murder: for, as it is invariably connected with, anger, it is murder in embryo [Note: 1Jn 3:15.]: and hence in the Scriptures it is generally associated with murder: The works of the flesh, says the Apostle, are hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders [Note: Gal 5:20-21.]: and in another place he says of unconverted men, that they are full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, backbiters, and so on [Note: Rom 1:29-30.]. It indeed may appear harsh to load this principle with such horrid accusations; but they are true, and all verified by experience. Wherefore did Cain slay his brother? it was because he saw his brother receiving from God tokens of approbation which were denied to him [Note: Gal 4:5; Gal 4:8.]. And whence was it that Josephs brethren took counsel to slay him? it was on account of his enjoying higher favour with his father than they, and his receiving more remarkable communications from God [Note: Gen 37:11; Gen 37:18-20.]. But, in truth, we do not view this principle aright, unless we see in it the very image of the devil himself. No other principle in the heart of man bears so strong a resemblance of the devil as this. See our first parents in Paradise, as happy as it was possible for creatures in a state of probation to be. The devil saw and envied them their bliss, and never rested till he had robbed them of it [Note: 2Co 11:3.]. Nor does he behold one of their descendants turning to the Lord, without using every effort in his power to divert them from their purpose, and to destroy their souls [Note: 1Pe 5:8.]. And what does he gain by this? Is he himself rendered happier by depriving others of their bliss? No: he only augments his own guilt and misery!; and yet such is the malignity of his disposition, that he can find no employment to his mind but this: and, so far as he is capable of a momentary mitigation of his pains, he finds it only in robbing man of his happiness, and God of his glory. This is the very character of the envious man, whose wisdom, as St. James says, is not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish [Note: Jam 3:14-16.].
The fact is, that so odious is this principle in the estimation of the whole world, that there is not to be found on earth a person who will acknowledge himself to be actuated by it: though the real truth is, that there is not an unconverted man in the whole universe who is not, as I shall have presently to shew, under its baneful influence. But the very circumstance of all persons disavowing it, whilst they will readily acknowledge that they are led captive by pride, or anger, or impurity, is sufficient to shew how odious it is in itself, and how despicable in the eyes of every living man.]
The evil of envy will yet more strongly appear, whilst I shew,
II.
What a destructive principle it is
There is not a person in the universe able to stand before it. Its workings are inconceivably subtle
[Persons are not always aware what principle it is which stirs within them, when they are under its influence. Joshua conceived that he was only shewing a commendable regard for the honour of Moses, when he desired that Eldad and Medad, who were prophesying in the camp, should be silenced. But Moses reproved him, saying. Enviest thou for my sake? Would to God that all the Lords people were prophets [Note: Num 11:29.]! And doubtless those who, in order to grieve the Apostle Paul, preached Christ of envy and strife [Note: Php 1:15.], gave themselves credit for a purer motive in their performance of that duty. There are a variety of ways by which men contrive to hide it from themselves. They see some evil in the conduct which they blame: or, if it was not evil in itself, it was faulty in the time, or manner, or measure, in which it was done: or, if no fault attach to it in any of those respects, it was from an improper motive. In short, something shall be found in every thing that a person does, either to make it appear blame-worthy, or, at all events, to abate its excellence: and the person judging of these things will not openly condemn them, but only utter praise in a fainter tone, and in more qualified terms, that so the measure of praise accorded to the agent may be diminished, and his merits be comparatively obscured. This, to the person forming the judgment, shall appear only strict justice: but God, who sees the heart, will designate it envy.]
It finds an advocate in every bosom
[There is in all a wish to be exalted among their equals: and it there be any who have raised themselves by their own merits above the common standard, every mind will be gratified with hearing of something which shall divest them of their imputed excellence, and reduce them to their former level. Hence the envious man finds an ally in every bosom, and a readiness in all around him to listen to any representation that is of an unfavourable nature; because every one seems to himself elevated in proportion as others are depressed. The means of misrepresentation are infinite in number: and if every statement were carefully investigated before it was received, a man of wisdom and discretion might defy them all: but when every misrepresentation that envy can suggest is listened to with pleasure, and received without inquiry, who must not fall before it?]
The more excellent any conduct is, the more obnoxious it is to its assaults
[Even piety itself is not beyond its reach: for Solomon speaks of it as a peculiar vanity and source of vexation, that for every right work a man is envied of his neighbour [Note: Ecc 4:4.]. To say the truth, piety is more the object of envy than any thing else; not because others affect it for themselves, but because, in the common sentiments of mankind, it gives to its possessor a transcendent excellence, and raises him almost into a higher order of beings. This was a peculiar source of Cains resentment against his brother Abel [Note: 1Jn 3:12.]; as it was of Sauls against David [Note: Psa 38:20.]; and of the Jews against Christ himself [Note: Joh 8:45-48.]. Take an act of Christs, the restoring of Lazarus from the grave; a more benevolent act could not be conceived, nor one which more strongly carried its evidence of a divine mission along with it. Was it possible for envy or enmity to be provoked by that? Yes: the very act instantly produced a conspiracy against the life of Jesus;against the life, too, of the man who had been raised by him [Note: Joh 8:45-48; Joh 8:53; Joh 12:10-11.]. Was it so, then, that all the wisdom, or piety, or benevolence of our blessed Saviour himself could not elude this detestable enemy of God and man? No: not even he could stand before it; but, as the Evangelist informs us, he fell a prey to its insatiate rage [Note: Mat 27:18; Mat 27:20.]. Against all his disciples, too, it raged in like manner [Note: Act 13:44-45; Act 17:4-5; Act 17:10-14.]: and it is in vain for any one, who will serve God with fidelity, to hope for an escape from its virulent assaults [Note: 2Ti 3:12.].]
Methinks you are now prepared to hear,
III.
What a damning principle it is
God has marked his indignation against it even here
[Greatly does this principle embitter the life of him in whom it dwells. Its operation is not momentary, like that of anger: it lurks in the bosom; it corrodes the mind; it makes a man completely miserable. We may see its operation in Saul. Saul heard the women, out of all the cities of Israel, celebrating the praises of himself and of David; saying, Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands. And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more, but the kingdom? And Saul eyed David from that day and forward. And on the very next day did Saul cast his javelin at David twice, in order to kill him: and throughout all the remainder of his life used every possible effort to destroy him [Note: 1Sa 18:7-12.]. This may enable us to understand what Solomon meant, when he called envy, the rottenness of the bones [Note: Pro 14:30.]. For as the corporeal system must be altogether enfeebled and destroyed when the bones are rotten; so the moral constitution of the soul is rendered one entire mass of corruption, when a man lies under the dominion of this hateful principle. He is, in fact, as near to the consummation of his misery in hell as the other is to the termination of his life on earth.]
But who can tell with what judgments it shall be visited in the eternal world?
[It is not possible that a person under the dominion of it should ever behold the face of God in peace. God is love: love is his very nature and essence: but envy is hatred in its most hateful form, as terminating upon an object, not for any evil that is in him, but for the good which he manifests, and for the success he meets with in the exercise of what is good. How can two such opposites meet together? As well might light and darkness coalesce, as God and an envious man delight in each other in heaven. It is said in Gods blessed word, that without charity, whatever we possess, or do, or suffer for God, we are only as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal [Note: 1Co 13:1-3.]. But in that very place we are told, that charity envieth not [Note: 1Co 13:4.]. What, then, are we to infer from this, but that, as envy proves an entire want of charity, so it proves, equally and unquestionably, a state of mind that is wholly incompatible with the favour of God and the felicity of heaven. But, that we may be assured of Gods indignation against it, let us see what God said to Edom by the Prophet Ezekiel: As I live, saith the Lord God, I will even do according to thine anger, and according to thine envy which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them: I will make myself known amongst them, when I have judged thee [Note: Eze 35:11.]. True indeed it is, that in this passage God is only denouncing temporal judgments: but it amply shews what are his sentiments respecting the principle which we are speaking of, and what will be his judgment upon it in the day that he shall judge the world.]
Having thus exposed, in some measure, the true character of envy, I beg leave to suggest to you some cautions in relation to it. Be careful,
1.
Not needlessly to excite it
[Knowing, as you do, how common an evil it is, and how deeply rooted in the heart of man, you should guard against every thins which may call it into action. Whatever you possess, either of natural or acquired excellence, make not an ostentatious display of it; but rather put a veil over it, as it were, that its radiance may not offend the eyes of those who behold you. The less value you appear to put upon your attainments, and the less you arrogate to yourselves on account of them, the less will others be disposed to grudge you the enjoyment of them, and to despoil you of the honour due to them. It was unwise in Jacob to mark his partiality towards his son Joseph, by a coat of many colours; and he paid dearly for it by this sufferings it entailed. For your own sakes therefore, as well as for the sake of others, it will be wise in you to bear your honours meekly, and to shew that you are little in your own eyes.]
2.
Not wickedly to indulge it
[Envy is a principle in our fallen nature far more powerful than men in general are apt to imagine. Do you think that the Scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy [Note: Jam 4:5. See also Tit 3:3.]? If you will watch the motions of your own hearts, you will find a sad propensity to it, whenever a powerful occasion arises to call it forth. Suppose a person, whom you have regarded as inferior to yourself in industry and talent, has got before you, and attained a higher eminence than you in your own peculiar line; are you not ready to ascribe his success to chance, or to the partiality of friends, rather than to his own intrinsic merit? and would it not be gratifying to you to hear a similar judgment passed on him by others? Suppose he were by any means to fall from his eminence; would not his degradation give you pleasure? If you praise him, is it with the same decisive tone as you would have wished for, if the praise had been conferred on you? It is when your own honour or interest comes in competition with that of another, that envy betrays its power over you: and if you have been observant of the workings of your own mind, you will be no strangers to the operation of this principle within you. But remember what has been said of its odiousness and enormity; and cry mightily to God to deliver you from its baneful influence. Remember how transitory is all distinction here; and content yourselves with the honour which cometh from God, and will endure for ever.]
3.
Not basely to fear it
[Though you are not to make an ostentatious display of any excellence you may possess, and especially of piety, you are not to put your light under a bushel, through the fear of any hostility which a discovery of it may provoke. Whatsoever your duty is, whether to God or man, that you are to do; and to leave all consequences to the disposal of an all-wise Providence. It should be in your mind a very small matter to be judged of mans judgment [Note: 1Co 4:3.]. If you have the testimony of your own conscience that you are serving God in simplicity and godly sincerity, that should bear you up against all the obloquy that the envy or malignity of others can heap upon you. You must expect that they who render evil for good will be against you, if you follow the thing that is good: and you must commit yourself to Him who judgeth right, and who will, in due season, both vindicate your character, and make your righteousness to shine forth as the noon-day.]
4.
Not angrily to resent it
[Supposing you to be traduced and injured in a variety of ways; what temptation has befallen you but that which is common to men? Instead of grieving that you are persecuted for righteousness sake, you should rather regard the hatred of men as a homage paid to your virtue; and should rejoice that you are counted worthy to suffer shame for Christs sake. You will remember the prayer of our blessed Lord for his murderers: Father, forgive them: for they know not what they do. This is the pattern which it becomes you to follow. Your envious neighbours really do not know what they do: they are not aware by what spirit they are actuated, or what evil they commit. Instead, therefore, of being angry with them for the evil they do you, you should rather pity them for the evil they do to themselves. This was the way in which David requited Saul, sparing him when he had him in his power, and mourning for him when he was removed to another world [Note: 1Sa 24:9-11; 1Sa 24:16-18 and 2Sa 1:17; 2Sa 1:24-27.]. Your rule, under all circumstances, must be this: Not to be overcome of evil, but to overcome evil with good.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Pro 27:4 Wrath [is] cruel, and anger [is] outrageous; but who [is] able to stand before envy?
Ver. 4. Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous. ] Or, Overflowing all the banks, or carrying all before it as an impetuous land flood, and therefore most intolerable, as Pro 27:3 ; but behold a worse matter: Envy is an evil that none can stand before for it knows neither end nor measure, as appears in the devil and his patriarch Cain; in Saul, the Pharisees, those spiteful Jews, Act 13:45 . And to this day they do antiquum obtinere, bear the old grudge to us Christians, cursing us in their daily prayers, calling us bastard Gentiles, professing that if their Messiah were come, rather than we should have any part in him, or benefit by him, they would crucify him a hundred times over. They have a saying among them, Optimus qui inter gentes est dignus cui caput conteratur tanquam serpenti; The best of us Gentiles is worthy of the serpent’s punishment, viz., to have his head bruised, &c., so great is their envy still against Christians, who pity them and pray for them; and truly it is no more than need, since by the question here propounded we may easily guess how potent this quick sighted and sharp fanged malignity, envy, is; indeed the venom of all vices is found in it; neither will it be drawn to embrace that good which it envies to another, as too good for him. Act 13:44-45
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
envy = jealousy.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Pro 27:4
Pro 27:4
“Wrath is cruel, and anger is overwhelming; But who is able to stand before jealousy?”
The thought here is that, of all hostility, jealousy is the worst. Pro 6:34 emphasizes the same truth. See our comment there.
Pro 27:4. Wrath and anger may arise and subside, but not so with jealousy. Pulpit Commentary: These may be violent for a time, yet they will subside when they have spent themselves. It was such non-dying jealousy that caused Josephs brothers to sell him: The patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Joseph, sold him into Egypt (Act 7:9). One who commits adultery with another mans wife will probably encounter the never-dying jealousy of her husband mentioned in Pro 6:35; Pro 6:35 : Jealousy is the rage of man; And he will not spare…He will not regard any ransom; Neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
cruel, and anger is outrageous: Heb. cruelty, and anger an overflowing, Jam 1:19-21
but: Pro 14:30, Gen 26:14, Gen 37:11, Job 5:2, Mat 27:18, Act 5:17, *marg. Act 7:9, Act 17:5, Rom 1:29, Jam 3:14-16, Jam 4:5, Jam 4:6, 1Jo 3:12
envy: or, jealousy, Pro 6:34, Son 8:6
Reciprocal: Gen 31:1 – Jacob Gen 37:20 – and let Gen 38:9 – lest that Gen 40:2 – wroth Exo 1:9 – the people Exo 1:11 – Raamses Exo 1:12 – grieved Exo 1:22 – Every son Num 22:27 – and Balaam’s anger Jdg 12:1 – we will burn 1Sa 17:28 – Eliab’s anger 1Sa 18:8 – the saying 1Sa 18:11 – cast the javelin 1Sa 19:1 – And Saul 1Sa 19:15 – Bring him 2Sa 3:26 – he sent 2Sa 13:22 – hated Neh 2:10 – it grieved Est 3:5 – full of wrath Ecc 4:4 – every Jer 41:1 – of the Eze 31:9 – envied Dan 2:12 – General Dan 3:12 – certain Dan 3:19 – he spake Mat 2:16 – was exceeding Mat 14:11 – and given Mar 6:24 – The head Mar 15:10 – for envy
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 27:4. Wrath is cruel And doth many barbarous things; and anger is outrageous Often depriving a man of the proper use of his reason, and hurrying him into many mischiefs and miseries; but who is able to stand before envy? Envy is worse than both of them, 1st, Because it is more unjust and unreasonable, as not being caused by any provocation, as wrath and anger are; but proceeding from mere malignity of mind, whereby a man is grieved for another mans happiness, in which he ought to rejoice; 2d, Because it is more deeply rooted and implacable, whereas the other passions are commonly allayed; and, 3d, Because it is more secret and undiscernible, and therefore the mischievous effects of it are hardly avoidable, whereas wrath and anger discover themselves, and so forewarn and forearm a man against danger.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
27:4 Wrath [is] cruel, and anger [is] outrageous; but who [is] able to stand before {b} envy?
(b) For the envious are obstinate, and cannot be reconciled.