'Understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that hath it: but the
instruction of fools is folly. 23. The heart of the wise teacheth his
mouth, and addeth learning to his lips. 24. Pleasant words are as an
honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. 25. There is a
way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of
death. 26. He that laboureth laboureth for himself; for his mouth
craveth it of him. 27. An ungodly man diggeth up evil: and in his lips
there is as a burning fire. 28. A froward man soweth strife: and a
whisperer separateth chief friends. 29. A violent man enticeth his
neighbour, and leadeth him into the way that is not good. 30. He
shutteth his eyes to devise froward things: moving his lips he
bringeth evil to pass. 31. The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it
be found in the way of righteousness. 32. He that is slow to anger is
better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that
taketh a city. 33. The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole
disposing thereof is of the Lord.'--PROVERBS xvi. 22-33.
A slight thread of connection may be traced in some of the proverbs in
this passage. Verse 22, with its praise of 'Wisdom,' introduces one
instance of Wisdom's excellence in verse 23, and that again, with its
reference to speech, leads on to verse 24 and its commendation of
'pleasant words.' Similarly, verses 27-30 give four pictures of vice,
three of them beginning with 'a man.' We may note, too, that, starting
with verse 26, every verse till verse 30 refers to some work of 'the
mouth' or 'lips.'
The passage begins with one phase of the contrast between Wisdom and
Folly, which this book is never weary of emphasising and underscoring.
We shall miss the force of its most characteristic teaching unless we
keep well in mind that the two opposites of Wisdom and Folly do not
refer only or chiefly to intellectual distinctions. The very basis of
'Wisdom,' as this book conceives it, is the 'fear of the Lord,'
without which the man of biggest, clearest brain, and most richly
stored mind, is, in its judgment, 'a fool.' Such 'understanding,'
which apprehends and rightly deals with the deepest fact of life, our
relation to God and to His law, is a 'well-spring of life.' The figure
speaks still more eloquently to Easterns than to us. In those hot
lands the cool spring, bursting through the baked rocks or burning
sand, makes the difference between barrenness and fertility, the death
of all green things and life. So where true Wisdom is deep in a heart,
it will come flashing up into sunshine, and will quicken the seeds of
all good as it flows through the deeds. 'Everything liveth
whithersoever the river cometh.' Productiveness, refreshment, the
beauty of the sparkling wavelets, the music of their ripples against
the stones, and all the other blessings and delights of a perpetual
fountain, have better things corresponding to them in the life of the
man who is wise with the true Wisdom which begins with the fear of
God. Just as _it_ is active in the life, so is Folly. But its
activity is not blessing and gladdening, but punitive. For all sin
automatically works its own chastisement, and the curse of Folly is
that, while it corrects, it prevents the 'fool' from profiting by the
correction. Since it punishes itself, one might expect that it would
cure itself, but experience shows that, while it wields a rod, its
subjects 'receive no correction.' That insensibility is the paradox
and the Nemesis of 'Folly.'
The Old Testament ethics are remarkable for their solemn sense of the
importance of words, and Proverbs shares in that sense to the full. In
some aspects, speech is a more perfect self-revelation than act. So
the outflow of the fountain in words comes next. Wise heart makes wise
speech. That may be looked at in two ways. It may point to the
utterance by word as the most precious, and incumbent on its
possessor, of all the ways of manifesting Wisdom; or it may point to
the only source of real 'learning,'--namely, a wise heart. In the
former view, it teaches us our solemn obligation not to hide our light
under a bushel, but to speak boldly and lovingly all the truth which
God has taught us. A dumb Christian is a monstrosity. We are bound to
give voice to our 'Wisdom.' In the other aspect, it reminds us that
there is a better way of getting Wisdom than by many books,--namely,
by filling our hearts, through communion with God, with His own will.
Then, whether we have worldly 'learning' or no, we shall be able to
instruct many, and lead them to the light which has shone on us.
There are many kinds of pleasant words, some of which are not like
'honey,' but like poison hid in jam. Insincere compliments, flatteries
when rebukes would be fitting, and all the brood of civil
conventionalities, are not the words meant here. Truly pleasant ones
are those which come from true Wisdom, and may often have a surface of
bitterness like the prophet's roll, but have a core of sweetness. It
is a great thing to be able to speak necessary and unwelcome truths
with lips into which grace is poured. A spoonful of honey catches more
flies than a hogshead of vinegar.
Verse 25 has no connection with its context. It teaches two solemn
truths, according to the possible double meaning of 'right.' If that
word means ethically right, then the saying sets forth the terrible
possibility of conscience being wrongly instructed, and sanctioning
gross sin. If it means only _straight_, or level--that is,
successful and easy--the saying enforces the not less solemn truth
that sin deceives as to its results, and that the path of wrong-doing,
which is flowery and smooth at first, grows rapidly thorny, and goes
fast downhill, and ends at last in a _cul-de-sac,_ of which death
is the only outlet. We are not to trust our own consciences, except as
enlightened by God's Word. We are not to listen to sin's lies, but to
fix it well in our minds that there is only one way which leads to
life and peace, the narrow way of faith and obedience.
The Revised Version's rendering of verse 26 gives the right idea. 'The
appetite,' or hunger, 'of the labourer labours for him' (that is, the
need of food is the mainspring of work), and it lightens the work to
which it impels. So hunger is a blessing. That is true in regard to
the body. The manifold material industries of men are, at bottom,
prompted by the need to earn something to eat. The craving which
drives to such results is a thing to be thankful for. It is better to
live where toil is needful to sustain life than in lazy lands where an
hour's work will provide food for a week. But the saying reaches to
spiritual desires, and anticipates the beatitude on those who 'hunger
and thirst after righteousness.' Happy they who feel that craving, and
are driven by it to the labour for the bread which comes down from
heaven! 'This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath
sent.'
The next three proverbs (vs. 27-29) give three pictures of different
types of bad men. First, we have 'the worthless man' (Rev. Ver.),
literally 'a man of Belial,' which last word probably means
worthlessness. His work is 'digging evil'; his words are like
scorching fire. To dig evil seems to have a wider sense than has
digging a pit for others (Ps. vii. 15), which is usually taken as a
parallel. The man is not merely malicious toward others, but his whole
activity goes to further evil. It is the material in which he delights
to work. What mistaken spade husbandry it is to spend labour on such a
soil! What can it grow but thistles and poisonous plants? His words
are as bad as his deeds. No honey drops from _his_ lips, but
scorching fire, which burns up not only reputations but tries to
consume all that is good. As James says, such a tongue is 'set on fire
of hell.' The picture is that of a man bad through and through. But
there may be indefinitely close approximations to it, and no man can
say, 'Thus far will I go in evil ways, and no further.'
The second picture is of a more specific kind. The 'froward man' here
seems to be the same as the slanderer in the next clause. He utters
perverse things, and so soweth strife and parts friends. There are
people whose mouths are as full of malicious whispers as a sower's
basket is of seed, and who have a base delight in flinging them
broadcast. Sometimes they do not think of what the harvest will be,
but often they chuckle to see it springing in the mistrust and
alienation of former friends. A loose tongue often does as much harm
as a bitter one, and delight in dwelling on people's faults is not
innocent because the tattler did not think of the mischief he was
setting agoing.
In verse 29 another type of evil-doer is outlined--the opposite, in
some respects, of the preceding. The slanderer works secretly; this
mischief-maker goes the plain way to work. He uses physical force or
'violence.' But how does that fit in with 'enticeth'? It may be that
the enticement of his victim into a place suitable for robbing or
murder is meant, but more probably there is here the same combination
of force and craft as in chapter i. 10-14. Criminals have a wicked
delight in tempting innocent people to join their gangs. A lawless
desperado is a hotbed of infection.
Verse 30 draws a portrait of a bad man. It is a bit of homely
physiognomical observation. A man with a trick of closing his eyes has
something working in his head; and, if he is one of these types of
men, one may be sure that he is brewing mischief. Compressed lips mean
concentrated effort, or fixed resolve, or suppressed feeling, and in
any of these cases are as a danger signal, warning that the man is at
work on some evil deed.
Two sayings follow, which contrast goodness with the evils just
described. The 'if' in verse 31 weakens the strong assertion of the
proverb. 'The hoary head is a crown of glory; it is found in the way
of righteousness.' That is but putting into picturesque form the Old
Testament promise of long life to the righteous--a promise which is
not repeated in the new dispensation, but which is still often
realised. 'Whom the gods love, die young,' is a heathen proverb; but
there is a natural tendency in the manner of life which Christianity
produces to prolong a man's days. A heart at peace, because stayed on
God, passions held well in hand, an avoidance of excesses which eat
away strength, do tend to length of life, and the opposites of these
do tend to shorten it. How many young men go home from our great
cities every year, with their 'bones full of the iniquities of their
youth,' to die!
If we are to tread the way of righteousness, and so come to 'reverence
and the silver hair,' we must govern ourselves. So the next proverb
extols the ruler of his own spirit as 'more than conquerors,' whose
triumphs are won in such vulgar fields as battles and sieges, Our
sorest fights and our noblest victories are within.
'Unless above himself he can
Erect himself, how poor a thing is man!'
Verse 31 takes the casting of the lot as one instance of the
limitation of all human effort, in all which we can but use the
appropriate means, while the whole issue must be left in God's hands.
The Jewish law did not enjoin the lot, but its use seems to have been
frequent. The proverb presents in the sharpest relief a principle
which is true of all our activity. The old proverb-maker knew nothing
of chance. To him there were but two real moving forces in the
world--man and God. To the one belonged sowing the seed, doing his
part, whether casting the lot or toiling at his task. His force was
real, but derived and limited. Efforts and attempts are ours; results
are God's. We sow; He 'gives it a body as it pleases Him.' Nothing
happens by accident. Man's little province is bounded on all sides by
God's, and the two touch. There is no neutral territory between, where
godless chance rules.