Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 4:19
The way of the wicked [is] as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.
19. as darkness ] Comp., for the contrast with the preceding verse, Pro 13:9.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Pro 4:19
The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.
The blindness of sinners their destruction
All men are either saints or sinners; and they are all walking in paths as different as the characters they sustain. The text indicates that sinners are in such darkness that they are insensible of the objects which are leading them to ruin.
I. The darkness which sinners are involved. It cannot be owing to any deficiency in their natural powers, nor to any want of intellectual information. The darkness is moral darkness; it lies not in their understandings, but in their hearts. Moral depravity always produces moral blindness. While sinners remain under the entire dominion of a wicked heart, they are altogether blind to the moral beauty of the character, of the works, of the providence of God.
II. Sinners abe insensible of the objects over which they are stumbling and falling. Spiritual blindness is the same in all sinners, at all times; and has the same dangerous and destructive tendency.
1. They are insensible that they stumble at the great deceiver.
2. They are not sensible that they are stumbling at one another.
3. That they stumble at Divine providence.
4. That their common employments are dangerous objects, over which they are stumbling and falling.
5. They are no less blind to the nature and tendency of their religious performances.
6. The moral blindness of sinners insensibly leads them to stumble at the preaching they hear.
7. They are blind to the blindness of their own hearts, which are insensibly leading them to blackness and darkness for ever.
Improvement–
1. If sinners are so blind and insensible to the dangerous objects with which they are surrounded, and over which they are stumbling, it is not strange, that they generally live so securely and joyfully.
2. If all sinners are involved in such moral darkness as makes them insensible of their dangerous and perishing condition, then it is not strange that they are so displeased at having their danger clearly pointed out.
3. If sinners are blind to the objects which are insensibly leading them to destruction, then they are in extreme danger of being finally lost. All things conspire to destroy them, because they abuse all things with which they are connected and concerned.
4. If sinners are constantly growing blinder and blinder, and more insensible of the things which are leading them to ruin, then they are entirely in the sovereign hand of God, who may save or destroy them, according to His holy and righteous pleasure.
5. It is owing to the distinguishing and astonishing grace of God that any are saved.
6. Inquire whether sinners have ever been made the subjects of Gods special grace. (N. Emmons, D.D.)
The obscurity and uncertainty of the way of the wicked
1. We will consider the man who admits the principles of religion in speculation, but contradicts them in practice. His way is darkness. Light, indeed, has come to him; but he loves darkness rather than light. He is not guided by the dictates of reason, or the precepts of revelation; but pursues a course in direct opposition to both. He never knows what course he shall next pursue; for he cannot tell what the next impulse will be–what gust of passion will take him, or what wind of temptation will drive him away.
2. Let us consider the hypocrite, who, without integrity of heart, assumes the external form of religion His way is dark and slippery. He believes that there is such a thing as religion, and that it is a matter in which he is really concerned. He views a future state as certain, and preparation for it as immediately important. His heart is, indeed, full of love to this world; but, since he must leave it, he wishes to have a good hope in the view of another. He is sure he should enjoy himself and his earthly treasures much better if he could only free his mind from this painful bondage to the fear of death–this troublesome apprehension of the wrath to come. He applies himself to obtain that tranquil state which seems so desirable. He has no more love to religion than he used to have. Terror only has awakened him from his guilty slumbers. It is not the temper of godliness, it is only the pleasure of a good hope, which is the immediate object of his desire. He gains his hope by self-deception, and maintains it by self-flattery.
3. To consider the wicked man in another point of view; as believing the great truths of natural religion, but discarding revelation. His way is covered with darkness. He has no light to direct his eye or guide his steps. With respect to the nature, condition, and means of future happiness, an awful uncertainty attends him. There is no ground on which his faith can stand; no support on which his hope can lean.
4. There is another view which we are to take of the wicked. We will consider them as renouncing the great principles of natural religion, the existence and government of God, moral obligation, and a future retribution. There are some such infidels as these; but their way is covered with darkness, more gloomy and dismal than that which involves the path of other transgressors. What peace and satisfaction can a mortal feel without a persuasion that there is a wise, just, and good Being, who made and governs the world, and that this Being is his friend? With this persuasion he may possess a cheerful serenity amidst all the vicissitudes of life; for to the virtuous God is a present help in trouble, and all things will He turn to their advantage. (J. Lathrop, D.D.)
The way of the wicked
There is a castle on the Lake of Geneva which stands upon a rock, and the lake is underneath. In the old, cruel days great atrocities were perpetrated there, and one was this: There is a shaft from that prison to the lake. Looking down it, you see the water glittering far away below. In those days they used to plant in that shaft spikes or sharp knives. Then they came in the darkness, and, opening the door, whispered to the prisoners, Three steps and liberty. And the poor prisoner took his leap in the dark–as he thought, to liberty; but he fell amongst these knives, and in a few moments dropped, a bleeding corpse, into the lake below. Yes; three steps and liberty–to be cut up, and drop, a mangled body, into the abyss. I tell you that is like the liberty of sin. A man who fancies he is going to live after his passions takes a leap in the dark, and, pierced through with many sorrows, drops into the gulf of darkness. (W. L. Watkinson.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
As darkness; full of gross ignorance and error, of uncertainty and confusion, of wickedness, of danger and misery; all which come under the name of darkness in Scripture use, and suit well with the context.
Stumble, Heb. shall stumble. Though they are always in danger, yet they are always secure, and do not discern their danger, nor the cause, or manner, or time of their ruin, till they be surprised with it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
The way of the wicked [is] as darkness,…. They are in the darkness of sin, ignorance, error, and unbelief; their works are works of darkness; the way in which they are leads to eternal darkness, ruin, and misery, and so must be most uncomfortable and dangerous;
they know not at what they stumble; they stumble at the word, which they are ignorant of, and at Christ, whom they have no knowledge of; and through the temptations of Satan and snares of the world, which they are not aware of, nor upon their guard against.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Verse 19 declares that the path of the wicked is also a way of spiritual darkness and destruction, Job 18:5-6; Job 21:30; Jer 23:10-12; Mat 8:12.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(19) The way of the wicked is as darkness.By refusing to walk in the light of Gods Word, and conscience (1Jn. 1:7), the light that was in them has become darkness (Mat. 6:23); they know not whither they are going (Joh. 12:35), and stumble (Pro. 11:10) over difficulties which in the light they might have avoided.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
19. As darkness Thick or dense darkness, the opposite of the shining of the righteous. See Pro 4:18; also Joh 11:9-10; Joh 12:35.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Pro 4:19 The way of the wicked [is] as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.
Ver. 19. Is as darkness. ] That little light they had by nature they imprison, , Rom 1:18 and are justly deprived of. And as for those sparkles of the light of joy and comfort that hypocrites have, it is but as a flash of lightning which is followed with a thunder clap, or like the light smitten out of the flint; (1.) they cannot warm themselves by it, nor see to direct their ways; (2.) it will quickly go out; (3.) and after that they must “lie down in sorrow.” Isa 50:11
They know not at what they stumble.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Proverbs
THE TWO PATHS
Pro 4:10 – Pro 4:19
This passage includes much more than temperance or any other single virtue. It is a perfectly general exhortation to that practical wisdom which walks in the path of righteousness. The principles laid down here are true in regard to drunkenness and abstinence, but they are intended to receive a wider application, and to that wider application we must first look. The theme is the old, familiar one of the two paths, and the aim is to recommend the better way by setting forth the contrasted effects of walking in it and in the other.
The general call to listen in Pro 4:10 is characteristically enforced by the Old Testament assurance that obedience prolongs life. That is a New Testament truth as well; for there is nothing more certain than that a life in conformity with God’s will, which is the same thing as a life in conformity with physical laws, tends to longevity. The experience of any doctor will show that. Here in England we have statistics which prove that total abstainers are a long-lived people, and some insurance offices construct their tables accordingly.
After that general call to listen comes, in Pro 4:11 , the description of the path in which long life is to be found. It is ‘the way of Wisdom’-that is, that which Wisdom prescribes, and in which therefore it is wise to walk. It is always foolish to do wrong. The rough title of an old play is The Devil is an Ass , and if that is not true about him, it is absolutely true about those who listen to his lies. Sin is the stupidest thing in the universe, for it ignores the plainest facts, and never gets what it flings away so much to secure.
Another aspect of the path is presented in the designation ‘paths of uprightness,’ which seems to be equivalent to those which belong to, or perhaps which consist of, uprightness. The idea of straightness or evenness is the primary meaning of the word, and is, of course, appropriate to the image of a path. In the moral view, it suggests how much more simple and easy a course of rectitude is than one of sin. The one goes straight and unswerving to its end; the other is crooked, devious, intricate, and wanders from the true goal. A crooked road is a long road, and an up-and-down road is a tiring road. Wisdom’s way is straight, level, and steadily approaches its aim.
In Pro 4:13 the image of the path is dropped for the moment, and the picture of the way of uprightness and its travellers is translated into the plain exhortation to keep fast hold of ‘instruction,’ which is substantially equivalent to the queenly Wisdom of these early chapters of Proverbs. The earnestness of the repeated exhortations implies the strength of the forces that tend to sweep us, especially those of us who are young, from our grasp of that Wisdom. Hands become slack, and many a good gift drops from nerveless fingers; thieves abound who will filch away ‘instruction,’ if we do not resolutely hold tight by it. Who would walk through the slums of a city holding jewels with a careless grasp, and never looking at them? How many would he have left if he did? We do not need to do anything to lose instruction. If we will only do nothing to keep it, the world and our own hearts will make sure that we lose it. And if we lose it, we lose ourselves; for ‘she is thy life,’ and the mere bodily life, that is lived without her, is not worth calling the life of a man.
Pro 4:14 – Pro 4:17 give the picture of the other path, in terrible contrast with the preceding. It is noteworthy that, while in the former the designation was the ‘path of uprightness’ or of ‘wisdom,’ and the description therefore was mainly of the characteristics of the path, here the designation is ‘the path of the wicked ,’ and the description is mainly of the travellers on it. Righteousness was dealt with, as it were, in the abstract; but wickedness is too awful and dark to be painted thus, and is only set forth in the concrete, as seen in its doers. Now, it is significant that the first exhortation here is of a negative character. In contrast with the reiterated exhortations to keep wisdom, here are reiterated counsels to steer clear of evil. It is all about us, and we have to make a strong effort to keep it at arm’s-length. ‘Whom resist’ is imperative. True, negative virtue is incomplete, but there will be no positive virtue without it. We must be accustomed to say ‘No,’ or we shall come to little good. An outer belt of firs is sometimes planted round a centre of more tender and valuable wood to shelter the young trees; so we have to make a fence of abstinences round our plantation of positive virtues. The decalogue is mostly prohibitions. ‘So did not I, because of the fear of God’ must be our motto. In this light, entire abstinence from intoxicants is seen to be part of the ‘way of Wisdom.’ It is one, and, in the present state of England and America, perhaps the most important, of the ways by which we can ‘turn from’ the path of the wicked and ‘pass on.’
The picture of the wicked in Pro 4:16 – Pro 4:17 is that of very grossly criminal sinners. They are only content when they have done harm, and delight in making others as bad as themselves. But, diabolical as such a disposition is, one sees it only too often in full operation. How many a drunkard or impure man finds a fiendish pleasure in getting hold of some innocent lad, and ‘putting him up to a thing or two,’ which means teaching him the vices from which the teacher has ceased to get much pleasure, and which he has to spice with the condiment of seeing an unaccustomed sinner’s eagerness! Such people infest our streets, and there is only one way for a young man to be safe from them,-’avoid, pass not by, turn from, and pass on.’ The reference to ‘bread’ and ‘wine’ in Pro 4:17 seems simply to mean that the wicked men’s living is won by their ‘wickedness,’ which procures bread, and by their ‘violence,’ which brings them wine. It is the way by which these are obtained that is culpable. We may contrast this foul source of a degraded living with Pro 4:13 , where ‘instruction’ is set forth as ‘the life’ of the upright.
Pro 4:18 – Pro 4:19 bring more closely together the two paths, and set them in final, forcible contrast. The phrase ‘the perfect day’ might be rendered, vividly though clumsily, ‘the steady of the day’-that is, noon, when the sun seems to stand still in the meridian. So the image compares the path of the just to the growing brightness of morning dawn, becoming more and more fervid and lustrous, till the climax of an Eastern midday. No more sublime figure of the continuous progress in goodness, brightness, and joy, which is the best reward of walking in the paths of uprightness, can be imagined; and it is as true as it is sublime. Blessed they who in the morning of their days begin to walk in the way of wisdom; for, in most cases, years will strengthen their uprightness, and to that progress there will be no termination, nor will the midday sun have to decline westward to diminishing splendour or dismal setting, but that noontide glory will be enhanced, and made eternal in a new heaven. The brighter the light, the darker the shadow. That blaze of growing glory, possible for us all, makes the tragic gloom to which evil men condemn themselves the thicker and more doleful, as some dungeon in an Eastern prison seems pitch dark to one coming in from the blaze outside. ‘How great is that darkness!’ It is the darkness of sin, of ignorance, of sorrow, and what adds deeper gloom to it is that every soul that sits in that shadow of death might have been shining, a sun, in the spacious heaven of God’s love.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
way of the wicked. Illustrations: Korah (Num 16:16-19); Ahab (1Ki 16:31); Babylon (Isa 47:11); Jews (Jer 5:19, Jer 5:25; Jer 44:15-23. Eze 18:29. Act 28:25, Act 28:26).
as. Some codices, with one early printed edition, read “in”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
1Sa 2:9, Job 5:14, Job 12:25, Job 18:5, Job 18:6, Job 18:18, Isa 59:9, Isa 59:10, Jer 13:16, Jer 23:12, Mat 7:23, Mat 15:14, Joh 12:35, 1Jo 2:11
Reciprocal: Exo 10:21 – darkness Exo 14:20 – General Deu 32:35 – their foot Jdg 20:34 – knew not 2Sa 3:1 – David waxed Est 8:16 – had light Job 19:8 – set Job 22:11 – darkness Job 24:13 – they know Job 38:15 – from Psa 1:1 – way Psa 35:6 – their Psa 82:5 – walk Psa 88:6 – darkness Psa 146:9 – the way Pro 2:13 – walk Pro 4:12 – thou shalt Pro 13:15 – but Pro 15:9 – The way Ecc 2:13 – light Nah 1:8 – darkness Zec 14:6 – not Mat 25:8 – for Luk 11:36 – the whole Joh 11:10 – General 1Jo 1:6 – walk Rev 18:23 – the light Rev 22:5 – no night