Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 28:26
He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.
The contrast between the wisdom of him who trusts in the Lord, and the folly of self-trust.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Pro 28:26
He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool.
The folly of trusting in our own hearts
I. What is meant by a man trusting his heart. It is–
1. To commit and resign up the entire conduct of his life and actions to the directions of it, as of a guide. A guide should be able to lead and direct him; and a guide should faithfully give the best directions.
II. Wherein the foolishness of it consists. Two things render a trust foolish.
1. The thing which we commit to a trust. We commit three things to the mercy of this trust–the honour of God; our own felicity here; the eternal concernments of our soul hereafter. The honour of God as Creator, Governor, Saviour, and gracious Father; our happiness in this world, both temporal and spiritual. Is the heart worthy of such trust? Nay, it is weak, and so cannot make good a trust. In point of apprehension, it cannot perceive and understand certainly what is good. In point of election, it cannot choose and embrace it. Moreover, it is deceitful, and so will not make good a trust. The delusions of the heart relate to the commission of sin; the performance of duty; a mans conversion or change of his spiritual estate. The heart of man will draw him on to sin by persuading him he can keep it in bounds; by leading him into occasions of sin; by lessening and extenuating it in his esteem. A mans heart will persuade him that a cessation from sin is a plenary conquest and mortification of sin. (R. South.)
Strange self-deception
By what sophistry, what perversity of the understanding, what negligence it is, that the tremendous prospect of eternity and judgment has really so little to do with the formation of our opinions, and the regulation of our conduct. Two propositions may be established by this inquiry.
1. From the deficient practice of those calling themselves Christians, we are by no means justified in the inference that their judgments are not therefore convinced of the truth of the doctrines they profess to believe.
2. If, in defiance of incalculable hopes and terrors of another world, man is still unable to keep that guard over the inclinations of his heart which may secure his innocence, the entire removal of so potent a check could surely have no other tendency than to complete the degradation of his nature, and to dislocate the whole fabric of society.
With regard to the question before us–
1. Although the highest achievement of a course of moral and religious discipline be, to subject our every thought and action to the control of conscience and religion only, yet in every stage short of this highest exaltation of character it is to far inferior impulses that even our most plausible actions owe their birth. In his natural state passion, not principle, forms the mainspring of action. As moral education advances, impulses ripen into knowledge. Where he once only felt, he now reasons. But it will be long ere his original constitution will change its bias. In this intermediate state of moral improvement our conviction may indeed be sincere, but our conduct will still be defective. With the greater part of mankind action almost invariably outruns reflection. If the want of union between reason and appetite be the first source of sin, our amendment must depend upon establishing their connection. One cause of that strange indifference on the subject of religion manifested by many may be traced to that callousness of mind, that apathy arising from satiety, which all of us have felt when our minds for a long period together have been occupied with one predominant idea, however originally interesting. The only remedy we can apply is still the same calculating and systematic counteraction produced by habitual meditation and discipline which we have already recommended. A last inducement to sin is that natural tendency of our constitution, whether intellectual or physical, to adapt itself to the medium in which it is placed, and to vary its own habits and propensities and feelings according to the accidental association of external circumstances. (P. N. Shuttleworth, D.D.)
The height of folly
Let me ask you to look at the closing clause of the previous verse, for it appears to me to have a very immediate relation to our text. He that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be made fat. He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool. On the one hand is Jehovah, all strong, all wise; and on the other ones evilly disposed, vacillating heart. In whom dost thou trust? Those who trust Jehovah become fat and flourishing; He honours their faith, He prospers the work of their hands; but leanness of soul and lack of real blessing must be the result of trusting to ones inner consciousness, or past experience, or anything of self.
I. He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool, because of the divine verdict on the human heart. It is not as though we were left to our own estimate of the natural heart. If we were, since it is natural to us to think well of ourselves, we could hardly be called fools for trusting in these hearts of ours. We have a higher verdict; One who knows, far better than we can, has published the innate character of the human heart. We need not be in ignorance as to what God thinks of us. He is the authority on this matter. He made the heart. True, He did not make it sinful or foolish; He made it pure and holy, prepared for every good word and work. But, knowing as He does how beautiful it was at the outset, He can best judge of the marring of it. He knows, too, that the more beautiful and glorious it was at first, the greater is its wreck and ruin. We are aware of the fact that those things which are most finely constructed, when they do suffer damage suffer very materially. The wreck is all the greater, and repair is more difficult because of the delicacy of construction. Well, God knew how pure the human heart was made, what capabilities it possessed, what possibilities lay latent there. He knows, too, the damage sin has done. God does not look upon the fall as a slight accident which could be easily remedied. What does He say of the human heart as it is, by reason of its sin? He says, Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Moreover, God in another place has plainly written, The heart of men is fully set in them to do evil. Have you forgotten that striking word from Jeremiah, The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked? Well may we say, with the writer of this proverb, He theft trusteth in his own heart is a fool, for he is trusting a deceiver; nay, he is trusting the arch-deceiver, the very chief among the deceivers. Are you going to trust in this heart of yours? Your feelings, your capabilities, your faculties–everything that you like to include in this comprehensive word, are all affected, more or less, by the fall, and yet you are prepared to trust in this rotten reed, this broken staff. When I hear some excuse themselves or their fellows by saying, Oh, well you know, but they are good at heart, I feel like saying, Wherever else they are good, they are not good there, for God Himself declares, There is none righteous, no, not one. So, then, we have got Gods verdict concerning the human heart, and it is so emphatic, and so unflattering, that we say with the author of the proverb, He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool.
II. Secondly, experience warns us in the same direction. We can see for ourselves, if we open our eyes, that those who trust their own hearts are fools. Should we not learn lessons from the falls and follies of others? Let me ask you who have been vigilant, Have you noticed the result of self-confidence in others? Whether it be in business matters, or social affairs, or political questions, or spiritual concerns, to what has unbounded self-confidence led men? They may have run well for awhile. It proved to be only a nine-days wonder. It was as the crackling of thorns under a pot: there was great flare and flame, but it ended in smoke and ashes. I have met with instances, not a few, in which men have thus overrun themselves, and become filled with their own ways. It seems to me as if a Nemesis followed them. God virtually says to them, Well, you believe in yourself; I will leave you to yourself; you trust your own heart, you can do without Me; you ask for independence–you shall have it. These men have not succeeded–they have come to grief; their supposed righteousness and self-merit did not provide them with shelter in the day of storm; it was a refuge of lies. Are you going to follow their example? Are you likely to succeed where they have failed? Such matters are influenced by certain inexorable laws. A Nemesis pursues those who proudly trust their native strength. Besides, you have had some experience of your own, have you not? Is there anybody here who has not had a try at trusting his own heart?
III. I must point out to you that self-trust is quite unnecessary. I can conceive that, if we were shut up to trusting our own hearts, we might be excused for doing it. God knows we must trust somebody or something! Is there not in us all the clinging tendency, a desire to get hold of somebody or something, a craving for sympathy? If there were no outside helper, stronger than ourselves, what else could we rely on but our experiences and our feelings? But there is something else infinitely better to trust to. We have no excuse for such folly as this; we are not shut up to self-confidence; there is an alternative. If I saw one on the shore launching a leaky boat upon a troubled sea, I should say to him, Fool that thou art, to go to sea in such a sieve as that! Well, but, says he, I must go to sea, necessity is laid upon me–and there is no boat but this. In that case I could only pity him: if he must embark, what can the poor fellow do but take his chance in the leaky cockleshell? Ah, but this is not our case at all. You must go to sea, and it is stormy, too, but you need not embark in this leaky craft of your own heart. Gods own lifeboat stands alongside you; nay, it is already launched. You have but to leap into it; it will outride the roughest sea, and weather every storm. I do not know how it is that some people will not trust God till they are obliged to. You who have not yet got rid of sin and of its condemnation, why not trust Jehovah? Why not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and be saved? I know you are trusting to your own heart. You say to yourself, I do not think it is so bad after all. Sometimes it is really first-rate. Another says, Well, my heart is not up to the mark, I know, but it is better than it was! Well, really, friend, I am glad to hear that; but when it is at its best it is, by no means, reliable. I pray you do not say, I think it will come all right at last. It is folly thus to talk. Look away to Jesus; trust not your own heart, but in the living God. And you, who have been brought out of darkness into His marvellous light, surely you are not going to play the fool by trusting your own heart. You, you of all men, ought to know better. You are going back to where you were at first, to self-righteousness, and self-trust! Well, I leave this question with you; are you able, despite all the experience you have had, to steer your craft across lifes trackless sea, and how can you hope to outride the breakers of judgment that break upon the further shore? (Thomas Spurgeon.)
Folly of self-confidence
I. The evil the text refers to. The heart here signifies the whole soul. Trusting in it means to rest on its sufficiency; to depend upon it in the various circumstances in which we may be placed. It includes–
1. A reliance upon our own wisdom in the concerns of life.
2. To adopt our own schemes of religion. By affirming the sufficiency of nature and reason. By admitting into his creed nothing but what his imperfect mind can understand. By placing all his hopes on excited feelings and warm emotions. By adding to, or diminishing from, Christs holy doctrines, ordinances, or commands.
3. To confide in the moral goodness of our own hearts. The Christian also trusts in his own heart when–
4. He relies upon his own skill or power in temptation and trouble.
II. The declaration made concerning this evil. Is a fool. This is obvious–
1. If we appeal to reason.
2. To the heart itself.
3. To examples.
4. To our own experience. (J. Burns, D.D.)
Self-sufficiency and godly confidence
I. Self-sufficiency. Seen as pride, and as self-trust. Two things indicated. It is mischievous. It is foolish.
II. Godly confidence. Trust in God implies a knowledge of Him, an appreciation of His transcendent excellences, and a consciousness of His willingness and ability to sustain us. This trust leads to prosperity. (Homilist.)
The folly of self-trust
1. This maxim is justified by the description which Jeremiah gives: The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it? For if it be indeed such as it is there represented, assuredly the heart cannot be trustworthy. And that the prophets description is but too correct must appear abundantly evident to all who have ever sincerely and seriously engaged in the difficult task of self-examination. The very difficulty of the task proves how full the heart which is the subject of it must be of treachery and of secret vice.
2. This maxim is also abundantly justified and confirmed by universal experience, and may be illustrated experimentally.
I. One striking proof we have in our proneness to relapse into sins of which we fancied, perhaps, that we had long ago fairly repented. He makes at once his prompt yet firm choice between God and the world. But soon his evil heart of unbelief tempts him again to depart from the living God.
II. Another practical and experimental proof of the wise mans assertion we have in the various turns of the believers struggle with indwelling sin.
III. We pass from the Christians continual struggle with the sin that dwelleth in him to the resolute stand which he is called upon to make against the evil that is in the world. Confessing that our corrupt inclinations still long for certain forbidden indulgences, we yet heedlessly loiter still within sight and within reach of the glittering prize, though we feel our longing becoming daily more intense, and our power to resist it daily giving way.
IV. One other instance of this folly we may mention: our proneness to rely on the amount of our attainments, the sufficiency and the stability of our own conscious and confirmed integrity. We easily forget the imperfection which adheres to our best services and our best qualities, and please ourselves with the idea that some one favourite Christian virtue, at least, is now strong enough for any emergency. And from the very instant in which such an idea begins to prevail between us, that particular virtue may be pronounced the feeblest and most precarious of all that we have. A slight change of circumstances–some very trifling accident, unforeseen and unexpected–a new temptation suddenly assailing us–may lay the proud structure in the dust, and teach us how vain it is to trust in any degree of excellence, in any height of Christian perfection. (R. S. Candlish, D.D.)
Self-deceit
Whosoever trusts his own heart as his light, adviser, and guide, in the complex ways and actings of life, is a fool. Half the wisdom of the wise is in the choice of their advisers. Wise men discern wisdom in others, and call them to council; the wisest man is he who least trusts himself alone. He knows the difficulties of life and its intricacies, and gathers all the lights he can and casts them upon his own case. He must in the end act on his own responsibility; but he seeks all counsellors, the experienced and impartial, sometimes the opposed and unfriendly, that he may be aware on all sides; for in the multitude of counsellors is safety. But it may be asked, Is not the heart Gods creation and Gods gift? Did He not plant eyes in it, and give to it light and discernment to guide our ways? Is it not our truest personal guide, given to each one of us by God Himself? Why must a man who trusts his own heart be a fool?
1. Because our hearts–that is, we ourselves–are ignorant of ourselves. If we knew ourselves, we should not trust ourselves; we do so because we do not know what we are. We are by nature, and still more by personal act, sinners. And sin blinds the heart: so that the more sinful the less it knows its sinfulness; for like death, which is most evidently perceived by the living, not at all by the dead, and by the dying only in the measure in which their living consciousness is still retained, so it is with sin dwelling in us. Where is the worldly man who in matters of honour and dishonour, right and wrong, sin and duty, wisdom and folly, religion and faith, death and judgment, heaven and hell, does not with confident assurance trust his own heart? But in the sight of God such a man is a fool.
2. Not only is the heart ignorant of itself, but it deceives itself. Of course these cannot be altogether separated. Every one who is ignorant is, in one sense, a self-deceiver; and yet it may not be with any laboured illusion. Ignorance is absence of light; self-deceivers have light, and visions in that light; but those visions are illusions. Ignorance is the danger of unawakened minds; self-deceit of the awakened.
(1) What is more common than to see men characteristically marked by one sin which they pointedly censure in others, and from which they believe themselves to be absolutely free? These unsuspected sins are almost universally the faults of childhood and early youth, which have become habitual and unconscious; for instance, personal vanity, selfishness, a difficult and disputatious temper, impatience, resentment, unreality, or the like. And they who have these faults in them by long habit generally excuse themselves by ascribing the same to others on whom they have inflicted them; as if the wind should chide the roughness of the sea for disturbing its repose, all the while believing itself to be at rest.
(2) The same effect which appears in casual temptations is more dangerously produced in deliberate motives and lines of conduct. An early habit of personal vanity, or desire of wealth, sometimes unconsciously governs a persons whole life. The same is true of worse passions, such as jealousy, envy, resentment, etc.
(3) The gravest part still remains; I mean the deceit we practise upon ourselves as to our state before God. The same unconsciousness which conceals from us our habitual sins, such as anger or envy, conceals also the impatience and stiffness of our will towards God, and our want of gratitude and love, our undevotion and sluggishness in the spiritual life. All these, having been upon us from our earliest memory, have become our natural, our normal state. Such a heart becomes, at last swathed in its own self-trust; and we watch it as we do the rash motions of a man who walks blindfold, reeling in the midst of dangers, which might sometimes for a moment provoke our mirth, if it did not always excite alarm.
2. Another reason why to trust our own hearts is a note of folly is because they flatter us. How long have we gone on persuading ourselves that we are meek, poor in spirit, makers of peace, merciful, patient, and the like, because we assent in desire and will to the Beatitudes, and would fain share in their benedictions! How long have we persuaded ourselves that we pray both often and enough, earnestly, and with devotion; that we love God above all, and above all desire so to love Him; that our life is, on the whole, not unlike the great Example of humility; and that we know our own hearts better than any one can tell us! And yet what does this last persuasion show? Why are we so sensitive under a reproof? Why do we accuse ourselves freely of all faults but the one imputed? Why are we never guilty in the point suspected? Why do we wholly guide ourselves, and feel so great security in our own direction? but because we trust our own hearts. Out of this proceeds our visions of devotion, our imaginations of sanctity. It is a forge never cold, always at work, forming and fashioning devices which please us by their fair and shapely forms, and flatter us because they are a homage to ourselves.
Lessons:
1. The greatest security against deceiving ourselves by trusting our own hearts is a careful information of conscience. But this plainly runs beyond the period of our responsibility into the account of those to whom our childhood was subject. Our chief difficulty is in the attempt to analyse the confused and hardened mass of self, neglected for twenty, thirty, half a hundred years; to unravel a world of knots and entanglements; to find the beginning of the clue. Self-examination begun late in life must remand the chief part of its discoveries to the day of judgment.
2. The other security is the only one which remains to those who have never enjoyed the first; and that is to take the judgment of some other persons instead of trusting in themselves. It will be, no doubt, painful and distressing; it will bring shame and burning of face. But is not the stake worth the cost? (Archdeacon Manning.)
.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 26. He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool] For his heart, which is deceitful and desperately wicked, will infallibly deceive him.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He that trusteth in his own heart; who trusts to his own wit, neglecting or slighting the advice of others, and the counsel of God himself.
Is a fool; and shall receive the fruit of his folly, to wit, destruction.
Whoso walketh wisely, distrusting his own judgment, and seeking the advice of others, and especially of God, as all truly wise men do, he shall be delivered from those dangers and mischiefs which fools bring upon themselves; whereby he showeth himself to be a wise man.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
26. (Compare Pr3:6-8).
walketh wiselythat is,trusting in God (Pr22:17-19).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool,…. Since the thoughts and imaginations of the thoughts of the heart are only evil, and that continually; they are vain and vague, sinful and corrupt; the affections are inordinate, the conscience defiled, the understanding darkened, and the will perverse; there is no good thing in it, nor any that comes out of it, but all the reverse; it is deceitful and desperately wicked: he must be a fool, and not know the plague of his heart, that trusts in it; and even for a good man to be self-confident, and trust to the sincerity of his heart, as Peter did, or to the good frame of the heart, as many do, is acting a foolish part; and especially such are fools as the Scribes and Pharisees, who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others, when a man’s best righteousness is impure and imperfect, and cannot justify him in the sight of God; it is moreover a weak and foolish part in men to trust to the wisdom and counsel of their heart, to lean to their own understanding, even it, things natural and civil, and not to ask wisdom of God, or take the advice of men, and especially it, things religious and sacred; see Pr 3:5;
but whoso walketh wisely; as he does who walks according to the rule of the divine word; who makes the testimonies of the Lord his counsellors; who consults with his sacred writings, and follows the directions of them; who walks as he has Christ for his pattern and example, and makes the Spirit of God his guide, and walks after him, and not after the flesh; who walks with wise men, and takes their advice in all matters of moment, not trusting to his own wisdom and knowledge; who walks as becomes the Gospel of Christ, and in all the ordinances of it; who walks inoffensively to all men, and so in wisdom towards them that are without, and in love to them who are within; who walks circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time;
he shall be delivered; he shall be delivered from the snares of his own deceitful heart, which he will not trust; and from the temptations of Satan; and from all afflictions and troubles he meets with in the way; and from a final and total falling away; and from eternal death and destruction: “he shall be saved”, as some versions render it, even with an everlasting salvation. The Targum is,
“he shall be protected from evil.”
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The following proverb assumes the of the foregoing:
(Note: We take the opportunity of remarking that the tendency to form together certain proverbs after one catchword is found also in German books of proverbs; vid., Paul, Ueber die urspr. Anord. von Friedanks Bescheidenheit (1870), p. 12.)
26 He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool;
But he that walketh in wisdom shall escape.
From the promise in the second line, Hitzig concludes that a courageous heart is meant, but when by itself never bears this meaning. He who trusteth in his own heart is not merely one who is guided solely “by his own inconsiderate, defiant impulse to act” (Zckler). The proverb is directed against a false subjectivity. The heart is that fabricator of thoughts, of which, as of man by nature, nothing good can be said, Gen 6:5; Gen 8:21. But wisdom is a gift from above, and consists in the knowledge of that which is objectively true, that which is normatively godlike. is he who so walks that he has in wisdom a secure authority, and has not then for the first time, when he requires to walk, need to consider, to reckon, to experiment. Thus walking in the way of wisdom, he escapes dangers to which one is exposed who walks in foolish confidence in his own heart and its changeful feelings, thoughts, imaginations, delusions. One who thoughtlessly boasts, who vainly dreams of victory before the time, is such a person; but confidence in one’s own heart takes also a hundred other forms. Essentially similar to this proverb are the words of Jer 9:22., for the wisdom meant in 26b is there defined at Jer 9:23.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
26 He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.
Here is, 1. The character of a fool: He trusts to his own heart, to his own wisdom and counsels, his own strength and sufficiency, his own merit and righteousness, and the good opinion he has of himself; he that does so is a fool, for he trusts to that, not only which is deceitful above all things (Jer. xvii. 9), but which has often deceived him. This implies that it is the character of a wise man (as before, v. 25) to put his trust in the Lord, and in his power and promise, and to follow his guidance, Pro 3:5; Pro 3:6. 2. The comfort of a wise man: He that walks wisely, that trusts not to his own heart, but is humble and self-diffident, and goes on in the strength of the Lord God, he shall be delivered; when the fool, that trusts in his own heart, shall be destroyed.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Trust In Self Vs Trust In Lord
Verse 26 affirms that man is a fool for trusting his own heart. Other Scripture confirms that if he trusts his riches he will fall (Pro 11:28); if he trusts in man or horses or mischief, woes and a curse will afflict him (Proverbs Isa 31:1; Isa 31:3; Jer 17:5) and God will destroy him (Psa 52:1-7). In contrast, verse 26 declares that he who walks wisely, trusting the LORD, shall be delivered from the evils that destroy the fool. He is assured of divine direction (Pro 3:5-6), that mercy surrounds him (Psa 32:10), and that he shall never be desolate (Psa 34:22).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(26) He that trusteth in his own heart, is confident in his own wisdom (comp. 1Co. 3:18, sqq.); he will perish in his folly.
But whoso walketh wisely.Literally, in wisdom, which begins with the fear of the Lord (Pro. 9:10), shall be delivered from the trouble into which the fool is brought by his self-confidence.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
26. He that trusteth From the apparent lack of antithesis in these two proverbs (25 and 26) one might conjecture that they constituted a quatrain, with the alternate or inverted parallelisms; the continuous sense to be found by reading thus:
He that is of a haughty spirit, stirreth up contention,
But he that walketh wisely shall escape.
He that trusteth in himself is a fool,
But he that trusteth in Jehovah shall be prosperous.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Pro 28:26. He that trusteth in his own heart He who dependeth upon himself shall fall; but he who walketh warily shall be safe. Houbigant.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 819
SELF-CONFIDENCE REPROVED
Pro 28:26. He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool.
THE Holy Scriptures speak plainly, and without reserve: they know nothing of that squeamish delicacy that keeps men from designating things by their appropriate names: they declare sin to be sin, and folly to be folly, without considering what the pride of man will say to the fidelity that is expressed. Now this gives an exceeding great advantage to ministers: for though it does not sanction rudeness, or indelicacy, or inattention to the feelings of mankind, it does authorize a great plainness of speech in all who deliver the messages of God to a sinful and self-deceiving world. Indeed, by universal consent, a greater freedom of speech is admitted, even by the most fastidious in our public addresses, than would be palatable in private converse: nor will any be offended with us, if we declare authoritatively, and without any palliating modifications, what God has said, and what we know to be true, and what therefore we must affirm, that he who trusteth in his own heart is a fool.
In confirmation of this plain and solemn truth, I will shew,
I.
What is the conduct here reprobated
Man, when he fell from God, renounced not only his allegiance to him as his Maker, but his affiance in him as his God. Since that time, man affects to be a god unto himself, and places his reliance rather on his own inherent powers than on the Majesty of heaven.
He relies on,
1.
His own wisdom and understanding
[This is true, especially in reference to all that concerns the soul. Every one conceives that he knows what religion is, and how he is to obtain favour at the hands of God. The most careless of men stand, in this respect, on a footing with the most thoughtful and sedate: every one is alike confident that his opinions are just; and he holds them last, with a degree of assurance which the most studious habits would scarcely warrant.
Some, however, will admit the Scriptures to be the only true standard of religious sentiment: but then they suppose themselves to be perfectly equal to the task of extracting from them the mind of God. They feel no need of divine teaching: they are unconscious of the blindness of their minds, and of the bias that is upon their hearts on the side of error. Hence they will take some few particular passages which favour the prejudices they have imbibed; and on them they will build, as securely as if it was impossible for them to err.]
2.
His own purposes and resolutions
[Every one has, at some time or other, thought with himself, that it was desirable for him to be prepared for death and judgment: and most persons have formed some faint purposes at least, if not a fixed resolution, that they will amend their lives, and prepare for their great account. In some imminent danger, or under some distressing occurrence, the purpose may have been formed with a view to a speedy change: but, in general, the convenient season is looked for at somewhat of a distant period. But the power to turn to God is doubted by none. The sufficiency of man to execute his own purposes and resolutions is never questioned. Every one supposes that he shall be able to effect whatever his judgment shall direct, and his necessities require. As for any need of divine assistance for these things, men have no idea of it. Their own strength is equal to the performance of all that they judge necessary for their salvation; and therefore they may safely defer the great work of their souls to any period which it may suit them to assign.]
That I may dissuade you from such vain confidence, I proceed to state,
II.
The folly of it
Even in relation to earthly things an overweening confidence in our own judgment and strength is a mark of folly: but in reference to the concerns of the soul it is folly in the extreme. For,
1.
It robs us of the benefit we might receive from trusting in God
[This is particularly intimated in the words immediately connected with my text: He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool; but whoso walketh wisely shall be delivered. Now here the walking wisely is put for trusting in God, rather than in ourselves: and the person who so conducts himself, shall be delivered from those evils into which the self-confident must fall. Indeed the very honour of God is concerned to leave us, that we may reap the bitter fruits of our own folly. If we succeeded in effecting our own deliverance, we should burn incense to our own net, and ascribe all the glory to ourselves. But God has warned us, that, if we provoke him thus to jealousy, we shall lose the benefits which, by trusting in him, we might have obtained; and bring on ourselves the very evils which, by trusting in him, we might have escaped:Thus saith the Lord: Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord: (where you will see, that to trust in ourselves is a departure of heart from God:) for he shall be like the heath in the desert; and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land, and not inhabited. But blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is: for he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river; and shall not see when heat cometh; but her leaf shall be green, and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit [Note: Jer 17:5-8.].]
2.
It ensures, beyond all doubt, our ultimate disappointment
[If ever any man was authorized to trust in himself, methinks Peter and the other Apostles were, in relation to their desertion of their Lord, in his lowest extremity. In the fulness of his own sufficiency, Peter said, Though I should die with thee, I will not deny thee. And so likewise said they all. Yet, behold, no sooner was their Master apprehended, than they all forsook him and fled. And Peter, the most sell-confident of them all, denied him with oaths and curses. And thus will it be with all of us: however firm our resolutions be, they will prove only as tow before the fire, if they be made in our own strength. We need, indeed, only look back and see what has become of the resolutions we have already made. We would turn from this or that sin: we would mortify this or that propensity: we would give up ourselves to God in newness of life. Alas! alas! how have these purposes vanished, as smoke before the whirlwind! And though we may think to profit by experience, and to become more steadfast in consequence of our former disappointments, we shall only live to prove with still greater evidence the folly of our own ways, and the truth of that inspired declaration, that the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?]
3.
It will keep us from discovering our error, till it is past a remedy
[Tell persons what God says of their ways, and they will not believe it. Every one thinks himself safe; and holds fast his persuasion, in spite of all the admonitions that can be given him. The Rich Man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day, would have deemed any one very uncharitable who should have warned him of his approaching end. He would have found an abundance to allege in his own defence; and would not have believed that so inoffensive a life as his could ever issue in such misery as was denounced against him. His five brethren, who succeeded to his wealth, and followed him in what they esteemed so becoming their situation in life, were equally secure in their own minds, and equally averse to think themselves obnoxious to Gods displeasure: nay, so averse were they to admit such an idea, that, if their deceased brothers wish had been granted, and one had been sent from the dead to warn them of their danger, they would not have believed his report. Hence, like him who had gone before them, they held fast their delusions, till, one after another, they all came into the same place of torment. Each, at the instant of his own departure, saw the danger of those who were left behind: for, as they would not believe Moses and the Prophets, their ruin was inevitable, and their misery sure. Precisely such is our state and conduct. We will trust in our own hearts, and deny the necessity for trusting only in the Lord; and the probability is, that we shall never be undeceived, till we come to experience what now we will not believe. And are not they who pursue such a course justly denominated fools? If a man would not be persuaded that the leaping down from a lofty precipice would hurt him, and should desperately put it to the trial, and break all his bones, would any one be at a loss to assign an appropriate name to him? Yet would he be wise, in comparison of one who, in defiance of all the warnings of Holy Writ, will trust in himself rather than in God.]
See, then, from hence,
1.
How desirable is self-knowledge
[Respecting gross offences, men cannot be ignorant of their condition before God: but respecting the state and habit of their minds, especially in relation to the object of their trust and confidence, they are almost as ignorant as new-born babes. People will not inquire; they will not examine; they will not even suspect that they may be wrong. In truth, they will not believe that their self-confidence is so criminal as the Scriptures represent it, or that any danger can await them on account of it. But, my dear Brethren, I beg you to remember, that the declaration in my text is the word of the living God, and shall surely be found true in the end. I charge you, therefore, to examine carefully into this matter. See whether you have just views of the deceitfulness of the heart. See whether you feel so fearful of its delusions, that you determine never to take its report of any thing without comparing it with the sacred records, and imploring direction from God that you may not err. And be assured, that, till you are brought to renounce all dependence on yourselves, and to depend only on the Lord, you are not, you cannot be, in a state of acceptance with God: for, if he pronounces you fools, he will surely deal with you according to your proper character.]
2.
How necessary is the knowledge of Christ
[Till we come to know what provision God has made for us in the Son of his love, we shall of necessity continue guilty of the folly which is here reprobated. But when once we are assured that there is another in whom we may trust, and who possesses in himself all the fulness of the Godhead, we are encouraged to look beyond ourselves, and to place our confidence in him. Now the Lord Jesus Christ is that person, who is sent of God for that very end, and is of God made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. Here, then, we have all that our necessities can require. By this, all temptation to creature-confidence is cut off: for who would lean upon a reed, that has Omnipotence for his support? or who would build upon the sand, that can have for his foundation the Rock of ages? Seek, then, I pray you, the knowledge of this Saviour; and beg of God to shew you what an inexhaustible fulness is treasured up for you in him; and how impossible it is that you should ever fail, if only you trust in him. Once begin in truth to live by faith in the Son of God, and you shall not be ashamed or confounded world without end.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Pro 28:26 He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.
Ver. 26. He that trusteth to his own heart is a fool. ] He that saith, Consilii satis est in me mihi: I am wise enough to order my own business, and need no advice of others, seek no success from above, – Ajax acknowledged no other God but his sword, Polyphemus but his belly, – this man is a fool, a proud fool, and he shall be sure to be hampered.
But whoso walketh wisely.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
his . . . heart, &c. Put by Figure of speech Synecdoche (of Part), App-6, for himself. Illustrations: Hazael (2Ki 8:13); . Johanan (Jer 42:7-22; Jer 43:1-7); Peter (Mat 26:33, Mat 26:74); David (2Sa 24:2, Compare Pro 28:10); Absalom (2Sa 15:4), Contrast Solomon (1Ki 3:7-9).
fool. Hebrew. kesil. See note on Pro 1:7. Compare Jer 17:9.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Pro 28:26
Pro 28:26
“He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool; But whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.”
He shall be delivered (2nd line). This means that, “He shall be saved. Therefore, walking wisely means following the sacred instructions in the Bible. For Christians, especially those in the New Testament.
Pro 28:26. This may or may not be connected with Pro 28:25. If it is, it talks of the greedy one trusting in his own schemes rather than in God, and the one who walks wisely is the one who trusts in God. Likely, though, it is not connected but is another saying all by itself. If so, what does it mean? Always should one trust God and what He says. When ones heart says to do something but God says not to, we should do what He says. This is walking wisely, and he will end up blessed (he shall be delivered). But oh, how many will go their way instead of Gods! That is why God said, My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways (Isa 55:8). He calls upon those thus living to forsake his way, and…his thoughts; and…return to Jehovah (Isa 55:7). Jeremiah knew the human heart when he said, O Jehovah, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps (Jer 10:23); and, The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it? (Jer 17:9).
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
that: Pro 3:5, 2Ki 8:13, Jer 17:9, Mar 7:21-23, Mar 14:27-31, Rom 8:7
but: Job 28:28, 2Ti 3:15, Jam 1:5, Jam 3:13-18
Reciprocal: Num 15:39 – ye seek not Job 9:21 – yet would Psa 139:24 – And see Pro 4:23 – Keep Mat 26:33 – yet Mat 26:70 – General Luk 22:33 – I am Joh 13:38 – Wilt Rom 11:20 – Be 2Co 1:9 – that Heb 3:13 – the deceitfulness
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 28:26. He that trusteth in his own heart In his own wisdom and counsels, his own strength and sufficiency, his own merit and righteousness, or the good opinion he hath of his own abilities, natural or acquired, neglecting or slighting the advice of others, or the counsel of God; is a fool And shall receive the reward of his folly, namely, destruction. But whose walketh wisely Distrusting his own judgment, and seeking the advice of others, and especially of God, as all truly wise men do; he shall be delivered From those dangers and mischiefs which fools bring upon themselves; whereby he shows himself to be a wise man.