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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 5:21

Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 5:21

For the ways of man [are] before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.

21. For; as an additional reason for avoiding sin.

pondereth ] The primary sense of the Heb. word, which is the same as in Pro 5:6 of this chapter, is adhered to in R.V. text: he maketh level, i.e. however intricate and tortuous man makes them, before God’s all-seeing eye they lie spread out like a map (Heb 4:13). , LXX. It may mean, however, that God makes man’s ways level, in the sense of making them lead swiftly and surely to their appointed end ( Pro 5:22-23). Others take it in contrast with the next verse: God makes a man’s ways level (right), but sin involves him in difficulties from which he cannot extricate himself. The derived sense pondereth (or, weigheth carefully, R.V. marg.) comes from holding the balances in weighing till the two scales are even, and so making level. Comp. Job 31:4.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

One more warning. The sin is not against man, nor dependent on mans detection only. The secret sin is open before the eyes of Yahweh. In the balance of His righteous judgment are weighed all human acts.

Pondereth – Note the recurrence of the word used of the harlot herself (see Pro 1:6 note): she ponders not, God does.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Pro 5:21

For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord.

The method of Providence for restraining evil

God announces Himself the witness and judge of man. The evil-doer can neither elude the all-seeing eye, nor escape from the almighty hand. Secrecy is the study and the hope of the wicked. A sinners chief labour is to hide his sin, and his labour is all lost. Darkness hideth not from God. He who knows evil in its secret source is able to limit the range of its operation. There is a special method by which this is done. It is a principle of the Divine government that sin becomes the instrument for punishing sinners. His own sin is the snare that takes the transgressor, and the scourge that lashes him. The Maker and Ruler of all things has set in the system of the universe a self-acting apparatus, which is constantly going for the encouragement of good and the repression of evil The providential laws are directed against the current of mans sinful propensities, and tell in force thereon. They do not, however, overcome and neutralise, and reverse those propensities. Retribution in the system of nature, set in motion by the act of sin, is like the Virgins kiss in the Roman Inquisition. The step of him who goes forward to kiss the image touches a secret spring, and the statues marble arms enclose him in a deadly embrace, piercing his body through with a hundred knives. Verily a man under law to God needs to ponder his feet. (W. Arnot, D. D.)

Mans ways before God

Everybody can see the cedar of Lebanon, the pine of the forest, or the hedge with its convolvulus and wild rose. They can even see the daisy, the flower in the grass. But who sees the grass? He who made the grass to grow upon the mountain, He knows every blade of it, and for every blade has recognition, sunshine, and dew. So is it with the lowliest and humblest man in this world to-day. Gods eye loves goodness; He delights in it; and there is no goodness which He fails to recognise and bless. (W. L. Watkinson.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 21. For the ways of a man] Whether they are public or private, God sees all the steps thou takest in life.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Before the eyes of the Lord; God sees all thy filthy actions, though done with all possible cunning and secrecy. He taketh an exact account of all their doings, that he may recompense them according to the kinds, degrees, numbers, and aggravations of all their unchaste actions.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

21. The reason, God’s eye is onyou,

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

For the ways of a man [are] before the eyes of the Lord,…. Both good and bad; the ways of a chaste and virtuous man, who cleaves to his own wife and shuns the harlot, which are approved of by the Lord; and the ways of a lewd man, all the impure thoughts, desires, and contrivances of his mind, and all the steps he takes to commit lewdness, and all the filthy actions he is guilty of, these are all open and naked to the omniscient God: the adulterer seeks the twilight, and flatters himself with secrecy, not considering that the eye of God is upon him; there are many, that, were their filthy actions known to men, they would be ashamed of them; and this consideration greatly deters from them, and puts them upon secret ways of committing them; much more should the consideration of the divine omniscience weigh with them to avoid them; which is the argument here made use of;

and he pondereth all his goings; he not only sees them, but takes notice of them, and observes them, and ponders them in his mind, and lays them up there, in order to bring to an account for them hereafter; yea, he weighs them in the balance of justice, and will proportion the punishment unto them, according to the rules of it; when it must go ill with those that follow such lewd practices, Heb 13:4.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

That the intercourse of the sexes out of the married relationship is the commencement of the ruin of a fool is now proved.

21 For the ways of every one are before the eyes of Jahve,

And all his paths He marketh out.

22 His own sins lay hold of him, the evil-doer,

And in the bands of his sins is he held fast.

23 He dies for the want of correction,

And in the fulness of his folly he staggers to ruin.

It is unnecessary to interpret as an adverbial accusative: straight before Jahve’s eyes; it may be the nominative of the predicate; the ways of man (for is here an individual, whether man or woman) are an object (properly, fixing) of the eyes of Jahve. With this the thought would suitably connect itself: et onmes orbitas ejus ad amussim examinat ; but , as the denom. of , Psa 58:3, is not connected with all the places where the verb is united with the obj. of the way, and Psa 78:50 shows that it has there the meaning to break though, to open a way (from , to split, cf. Talmudic , opened, accessible, from , Syriac pelaa , perfodere, fodiendo viam, aditum sibi aperire ). The opening of the way is here not, as at Isa 26:7, conceived of as the setting aside of the hindrances in the way of him who walks, but generally as making walking in the way possible: man can take no step in any direction without God; and that not only does not exempt him from moral responsibility, but the consciousness of this is rather for the first time rightly quickened by the consciousness of being encompassed on every side by the knowledge and the power of God. The dissuasion of Pro 5:20 is thus in Pro 5:21 grounded in the fact, that man at every stage and step of his journey is observed and encompassed by God: it is impossible for him to escape from the knowledge of God or from dependence on Him. Thus opening all the paths of man, He has also appointed to the way of sin the punishment with which it corrects itself: “his sins lay hold of him, the evil-doer.” The suffix does not refer to of Pro 5:21, where every one without exception and without distinction is meant, but it relates to the obj. following, the evil-doer, namely, as the explanatory permutative annexed to the “him” according to the scheme, Exo 2:6; the permutative is distinguished from the apposition by this, that the latter is a forethought explanation which heightens the understanding of the subject, while the former is an explanation afterwards brought in which guards against a misunderstanding. The same construction, Pro 14:13, belonging to the syntaxis ornata in the old Hebrew, has become common in the Aramaic and in the modern Hebrew. Instead of (Pro 5:22), the poet uses poetically ; the interposed may belong to the emphatic ground-form , but is epenthetic if one compares forms such as (R. ), Num 23:13 (cf. p. 73). The governed by , laquei ( , tormina ), is either gen. exeg.: bands which consist in his sin, or gen. subj.: bands which his sin unites, or better, gen. possess.: bands which his sin brings with it. By these bands he will be held fast, and so will die: he ( referring to the person described) will die in insubordination (Symm. ), or better, since and are placed in contrast: in want of correction. With the (Pro 5:23), repeated purposely from Pro 5:20, there is connected the idea of the overthrow which is certain to overtake the infatuated man. In Pro 5:20 the sense of moral error began already to connect itself with this verb. is the right name of unrestrained lust of the flesh. is connected with , the belly; , Arab. al , to draw together, to condense, to thicken ( Isaiah, p. 424). Dummheit (stupidity) and the Old-Norse dumba, darkness, are in their roots related to each other. Also in the Semitic the words for blackness and darkness are derived from roots meaning condensation. is the mind made thick, darkened, and become like crude matter.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

CRITICAL NOTES.

Pro. 5:21. Pondereth, or marketh out.

Pro. 5:22. Shall be holden, rather is holden.

Pro. 5:23. Without, for lack of.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Pro. 5:21-23

These verses contain three reasons why the way of sin should be avoided, and the way which God has appointed should be followed.

I. Because there is no place secret enough to commit sin. The sinner often comforts himself with the thought that what he has done, or is in the habit of doing, is not knownthat the actors of the deed were the only persons privy to it. The text declares that there is no such thing as a secret place, because there is no place where the eyes of the Eternal do not penetrate. God is a witness of every crime committed in secret. He is not only a witness after the deed, but of the deed. Therefore there is no place secret enough to be a place of sin. The thought of the ever-present God should deter the sinnner.

1. Because the Divine presence is a pure presence. People who are in the habit of committing the sin against which the whole of this chapter is directed, would possibly shrink from being guilty of it in the presence of a pure man or woman. How much more should they be deterred by the fact that the eye of the pure and holy God is upon them.

2. Because the presence of God is the presence of One who has authority to punish. The presence of the chief magistrate of a nation would be sufficient to prevent the most hardened criminal from committing crime. A thief would not steal before the face of the man whom he knew could punish him. The presence of God is the presence of the highest authority in the universe, of One who is irresponsible to any other for His acts (Job. 9:12), of One who hast power most terrible, of One who has always visited this sin with penalty. The presence of such an Authority ought surely to make the adulterer quake at the very thought of his sin.

II. Because, though the sinner may not be apprehended by human law, he shall be laid hold of and bound by his own deeds (Pro. 5:22). Many sinners of this kind go at large in the world, and are never reached by human law. No officer of justice will ever lay his hand upon them, and no material chains will ever bind them. But they are already taken and imprisoned by their own evil habits, which have bound them in chains of increasing thickness as the acts of sin have been repeated. This is a thraldom from which escape can come in only two ways. A man must either cease to be, or he must repent, before he can be free. Annihilation would set him free, because in ceasing to be he would cease to sin. But the repentance demanded by God is the only thing which will break his chains and permit him to retain his existence. We have no proof that there will ever be any way of escape by the first means, but we have abundant proof that the second is open to all men on this side of death.

III. Because the unrepentant adulterer will die as he has liveda fool (Pro. 5:23). A fool is a man without knowledge, one who acts from impulse rather than from reason. The sinner here pourtrayed is not a fool because he has not had instruction, but because he has not heeded it. Nature, History, Revelation and Conscience were his instructors, but he has disregarded them all. If he had listened to them he would have gained an experimental knowledge of the blessedness of godliness and purity, of which he must now go out of the world as ignorant as he entered it.

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS

Pro. 5:21. Practical atheism is the root of human depravity. The eye, even of a child, is a check upon a man, but the thought of an all-seeing God inspires no alarm.Bridges.

The sin is not against man, nor dependent on mans detection only. The secret sin is open before the eyes of Jehovah. In the balance of His righteous judgment are weighed all human acts, this not excepted. There is a significant emphasis in the recurrence of the word used of the harlot herself in Pro. 5:6 : She ponders not, but God does.Plumptre.

Because the ways of a sinful man are not before his own eyes, therefore are they before the eyes of God; because sinful man doth not ponder his goings, therefore the Lord pondereth them; because man doth not look on his ways with the eye of care, therefore the Lord looketh on them with the eye of wrath; because man doth not weigh his goings in the balance of due consideration, therefore God doth weigh them in the balance of severe justice. The opening of our eyes over our sins is the shutting of Gods eye towards them; the shutting of our eyes upon them is the opening of Gods eyes against them. For though we hide our ways from ourselves, we cannot hide them from God. We hide Him from ourselves; we do not hide ourselves from Him.Jermin.

The meaning is, that directly in Gods eyes are the ways of every man, as though there were no other creature in the universe; as though the wise man were saying, Why, because the way seems smooth, and you seem helped in your folly, do you go on in your impenitency, and embrace the bosom of this wanton? For the way of every man is directly in the sight of God. He takes the most emphatic interest in our schemes, whether we are doing well or ill. He helps us either in sinning or doing right, for He levels all (ones) paths (see Critical Notes). Not that we are to involve Him in the folly of any sin, but if a man desires to drink, He levels the way for Him. If he wishes liquor, He gives it; if he desires to steal, He gives the eye and the nerve. The Divinity seems to help the struggling, whether saint or sinner, but the impenitent must not therefore imagine that it is righteous to go on.Miller.

Pro. 5:22. The licentious flatter themselves that in old age, when the passions are less fiery, they will easily extricate themselves from the dominion of their lusts, and repent and seek salvation. But Job. 20:11 declares that the old sinners bones are full of the sins of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust. Augustine, after experience, says: While lust is being served the habit is formed, and whilst the habit is not being resisted necessity is formed.Fausset.

Pro. 5:23. Surely it is most just that he who lived without following instruction should die without having instruction; he that in his life would not do as he was instructed, deserveth that at death he should not be instructed what to do.Jermin.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

(21) For the ways of man . . .Another reason for avoiding sin is the certainty of detection by the Judge, whose eyes run to and fro through the whole earth (2Ch. 16:9), comp. Psa. 11:4.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

21. The ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord Who marks all his movements; and he who has ordained marriage for the comfort and benefit of mankind and the preservation of society will not let the abuse of it go unpunished. This verse gives the strongest reason for the remonstrance of the preceding.

He pondereth Though the harlot and her paramour do not. See Pro 5:6; Pro 5:22. Clarke’s note is unsurpassed: “Most people who follow unlawful pleasures think they can give them up whenever they please; but sin, repeated, becomes customary; custom soon engenders habit; and habit, in the end, assumes the form of necessity. The man becomes bound with his own cords, and so is led captive by the devil at his will.” Comp. Pro 1:31-32; Pro 11:5; Pro 18:7; Pro 29:6; Psa 7:15; Psa 40:12; Joh 8:34 ; 2Pe 2:19.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Epilogue. He Must Recognise That A Man’s Ways Are Open To YHWH’s Eyes, And Must Not Forfeit The Level Paths Through Folly ( Pro 5:21-23 ).

The passage, like all previous passages, ends with an epilogue in which a contrast is made between the righteous and the wicked, although in this case the contrast is not so stark. The point is that YHWH watches over men’s ways and makes them level, but the wicked man is bound by his sins, refuses instruction, and through his own folly goes astray. There is an important lesson in this. YHWH works positively on behalf of all. It is the wicked who, by their own sins, forfeit His goodness. Once again it is in the form of a chiasmus:

A For the ways of man are before the eyes of YHWH, and he makes level all his paths (Pro 5:21).

B His own iniquities will take the wicked (Pro 5:22 a),

B And he will be held with the cords of his sin (Pro 5:22 b).

A He will die for lack of disciplinary instruction, and in the greatness of his folly he will go astray (Pro 5:23).

In A man in general walks in the eyes of YHWH and He makes level paths for him, but in the parallel the wicked, lacking instruction and foolish, goes astray. And this is because centrally in B he is ‘taken’ and tied up by his own sins.

Pro 5:21

For the ways of man are before the eyes of YHWH,

And he makes level all his paths.’

Man in general walks ‘before the eyes of YHWH’. In other words YHWH sees him and all that he does. And this is true for all. Furthermore He makes level all his paths. He smoothes the way for him, and removes stumblingblocks from before him. As Jesus reminded us, He makes the sun to shine, and pours out His rain, on both the righteous and the unrighteous (Mat 5:45). He has made full provision for him. All are provided for and the pathway would be smooth were it not for sin., for God is generally beneficent.

Pro 5:22-23

‘His own iniquities will take the wicked,

And he shall be held with the cords of his sin,

He will die for lack of instruction,

And in the greatness of his folly he will go astray.’

But from the cradle sin rears its ugly head (Psa 58:3). And as a consequence man turns from His level paths, and trapped by sin, rejects instruction and goes astray. It is his own iniquities which ‘take’ the unrighteous, leading him astray. He is held by the cords of sin which prevent him taking the right way. The idea behind the cords is probably that of the animal ensnared by the hunter, although it could indicate a man taken captive and bound. Thus sin is seen as having entrapped the wicked man. Furthermore he dies for lack of disciplinary instruction, not because he has not received it, but because he has rejected it (Pro 5:12-13). He fell into the trap because he had ignored God’s instruction through His servants. And thus in his folly he goes astray. He is no longer walking happily along the level paths.

In terms of this passage those who walk in the smooth way are those who follow wisdom and cling to their true wives, finding their satisfaction in them, whilst those who lack instruction go after prostitutes and the pleasures of sin. But here the principle is generalised and applied to all sin. It is not just immorality which traps men, it is all sin.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Pro 5:21. For the ways of a man are before the Lord See Psalms 139. Instead of pondereth, in the next clause, we may read measureth.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Pro 5:21 For the ways of man [are] before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.

Ver. 21. For the ways of man, &c. ] Turpe quid acturus te sine teste time. a A man that is about any evil should stand in awe of himself; how much more of God, since he is , all eye, and beholdeth the most secret of thine actions. The proverb is, Si non caste, saltem caute, Carry the matter, if not honestly, yet so closely and cleanly that the world may be never the wiser. How cunningly did David art it to hide his sip! But it would not be. “There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed.” Luk 12:2 “If I make my bed in hell,” said he, Psa 139:8 – as indeed the places where fornicators use to lodge are little better, – “behold thou art there.” This God allegeth as a forcible reason against this sin. “I have seeu the lewdness of thy whoredoms”; Jer 13:27 and, “Even I know, and am a witness, saith the Lord.” Jer 29:23

a Auson

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

man = a man. Hebrew. ‘ish. App-14. Illustrations: Cain (Gen 4:5, Gen 4:6); Babel’s builders (Gen 11:4-7); Sodom (Gen 18:21, &c.); Uzzah (2Sa 6:6, 2Sa 6:7; 1Ch 15:13. Num 4:15); David (2Sa 12:9); Baasha (1Ki 15:29. Compare Pro 16:7); Ahab(1Ki 21:19); Belshazzar (Dan 5:22-28); Nathanael (Joh 1:48); The Seven Assemblies (Rev 2:2, Rev 2:9, Rev 2:13, Rev 2:19; Rev 3:1, Rev 3:8, Rev 3:15). Compare 1Sa 16:7.

the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Pro 15:3, 2Ch 16:9, Job 31:4, Job 34:21, Psa 11:4, Psa 17:3, Psa 139:1-12, Jer 16:17, Jer 17:10, Jer 23:24, Jer 32:19, Hos 7:2, Heb 4:13, Rev 2:18, Rev 2:23

Reciprocal: Gen 16:13 – Thou 2Sa 22:25 – in his eye sight Job 14:16 – thou numberest Job 24:23 – yet his eyes Job 33:27 – I have sinned Psa 90:8 – our Psa 119:168 – for all my Psa 139:3 – and art acquainted Pro 16:2 – but Pro 24:12 – doth not he that Isa 37:28 – I know Jer 29:23 – even I Amo 9:8 – the eyes

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

LIFES LEVEL PATH

The level path of life He maketh level all his paths.

Pro 5:6; Pro 5:21 (R.V.).

I. It is a remarkable expressionthe level path of life; and there is great comfort in knowing that God is ever before us, levelling our pathway, taking insurmountable obstacles out of the way, so that our feet do not stumble.

II. It may be that you are facing a great mountain range of difficulty.Before you obstacles, apparently insuperable, rear themselves like a giant wall to heaven. When you cross the Jordan there is also a Jericho, which appears to bar all further advance, and your heart fails. But you are bidden to believe that there is a level path right through those mighty barriers; a pass, as it is called. The walking there is easy and pleasant if only you will let yourself be led to it. God has made it, but you must find it. How we dread the thought of those steep cliffs! It seems as though we could never climb them; but if we would only look at the Lord instead of at the hills, if we would look above the hills to Jehovah, we should be able to rest in sure faith that He would show us the level path of life.

III. Your path is not level, but full of boulders, which have rolled down upon and choked it.But may this not be partly due to your mistakes or sins, to your wilfulness and self-dependence? There are sorrows and trials in all lives, but these need not obstruct our progress. The text surely refers to those difficulties which threaten us with their arrest, putting barriers in our way. These would be levelled if we gave the direction of our lives more absolutely into Gods hands. When Peter reached the iron gate he found it open; when the women reached the sepulchre door they found the stone gone.

Illustration

The stability of a country depends wholly upon its home-life. So long as the homes are pure and God-fearing, it is impossible that its freedom or influence should be permanently obscured. Our strength is not in our arms, or ships, but in the purity of our manners, the elevation of the domestic ideal. Hence this book, which is the vade-mecum of a strong, sweet life, is so emphatic in denouncing impurity. Oh, that young men would lay this chapter to heart!

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

5:21 For the ways of man [are] before the {m} eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.

(m) He declares that unless a man joins to his wife both in heart and in outward conversation, he will not escape the judgments of God.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes