'Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived
thereby is not wise. 2. The fear of a king is as the roaring of a
lion: whoso provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul. 3. It
is an honour for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be
meddling. 4. The sluggard will not plough by reason of the cold;
therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing. 5. Counsel in the
heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw
it out. 6. Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a
faithful man who can find? 7. The just man walketh in his integrity:
his children are blessed after him.'--PROVERBS xx. 1-7.
The connection between the verses of this passage is only in their
common purpose to set forth some details of a righteous life, and to
brand the opposite vices. A slight affinity may be doubtfully traced
in one or two adjacent proverbs, but that is all.
First comes temperance, enforced by the picture of a drunkard. Wine
and strong drink are, as it were, personified, and their effects on
men are painted as their own characters. And an ugly picture it is,
which should hang in the gallery of every young man and woman. 'Wine
is a mocker.' Intemperance delights in scoffing at all pure, lofty,
sacred things. It is the ally of wild profanity, which sends up its
tipsy and clumsy ridicule against Heaven itself. If a man wants to
lose his sense of reverence, his susceptibility for what is noble, let
him take to drink, and the thing is done. If he would fain keep these
fresh and quick, let him eschew what is sure to deaden them. Of course
there are other roads to the same end, but there is no other end to
this road. Nobody ever knew a drunkard who did not scoff at things
that should be reverenced, and that because he knew that he was acting
in defiance of them.
'A brawler,' or, as Delitzsch renders it, 'boisterous'--look into a
liquor-store if you want to verify that, or listen to a drunken party
coming back from an excursion and making night hideous with their
bellowings, or go to any police court on a Monday morning. We in
England are familiar with the combination on police charge-sheets,
'drunk and disorderly.' So does the old proverb-maker seem to have
been. Drink takes off the brake, and every impulse has its own way,
and makes as much noise as it can.
The word rendered in Authorised Version 'is deceived,' and in Revised
Version 'erreth,' is literally 'staggers' or 'reels,' and it is more
graphic to keep that meaning. There is a world of quiet irony in the
unexpectedly gentle close of the sentence, 'is not wise.' How much
stronger the assertion might have been! Look at the drunkard as he
staggers along, scoffing at everything purer and higher than himself,
and ready to fight with his own shadow, and incapable of self-control.
He has made himself the ugly spectacle you see. Will anybody call
_him_ wise?
The next proverb applies directly to a state of things which most
nations have outgrown. Kings who can give full scope to their anger,
and who inspire mainly terror, are anomalies in civilised countries
now. The proverb warns that it is no trifle to rouse the lion from his
lair, and that when he begins to growl there is danger. The man who
stirs him 'forfeits his own life,' or, at all events, imperils it.
The word rendered 'sins' has for its original meaning 'misses,' and
seems to be so used here, as also in Proverbs viii. 36. 'Against' is a
supplement. The maxim inculcates the wisdom of avoiding conduct which
might rouse an anger so sure to destroy its object. And that is a good
maxim for ordinary times in all lands, monarchies or republics. For
there is in constitutional kingdoms and in republics an uncrowned
monarch, to the full as irresponsible, as easily provoked, and as
relentless in hunting its opponents to destruction, as any old-world
tyrant. Its name is Public Opinion. It is not well to provoke it. If a
man does, let him well understand that he takes his life, or what is
sometimes dearer than life, in his hand. Not only self-preservation,
which the proverb and Scripture recognise as a legitimate motive, but
higher considerations, dictate compliance with the ruling forces of
our times, as far as may be. Conscience only has the right to limit
this precept, and to say, 'Let the brute roar, and never mind if you
_do_ forfeit your life. It is your duty to say "No," though all
the world should be saying "Yes."'
A slight thread of connection may be established between the second
and third proverbs. The latter, like the former, commends peacefulness
and condemns pugnacity. Men talk of 'glory' as the warrior's meed, and
the so-called Christian world has not got beyond the semi-barbarous
stage which regards 'honour' as mainly secured by fighting. But this
ancient proverb-maker had learned a better conception of what 'honour'
or 'glory' was, and where it grew.
'Peace hath her victories
No less renowned than war,'
said Milton. But our proverb goes farther than 'no less,' and gives
_greater_ glory to the man who never takes up arms, or who lays
them down. The saying is true, not only about warfare, but in all
regions of life. Fighting is generally wasted time. Controversialists
of all sorts, porcupine-like people, who go through the world all
sharp quills sticking out to pierce, are less to be admired than
peace-loving souls. Any fool can 'show his teeth,' as the word for
'quarrelling' means. But it takes a wise man, and a man whose spirit
has been made meek by dwelling near God in Christ, to withhold the
angry word, the quick retort. It is generally best to let the glove
flung down lie where it is. There are better things to do than to
squabble.
Verse 4 is a parable as well as a proverb. If a man sits by the
fireside because the north wind is blowing, when he ought to be out in
the field holding the plough with frost-nipped fingers, he will beg
(or, perhaps, _seek for a crop_) in harvest, and will find
nothing, when others are rejoicing in the slow result of winter
showers and of their toilsome hours. So, in all life, if the fitting
moments for preparation are neglected, late repentance avails nothing.
The student who dawdles when he should be working, will be sure to
fail when the examination comes on. It is useless to begin ploughing
when your neighbours are driving their reaping machines into the
fields. 'There is a time to sow, and a time to reap.' The law is
inexorable for this life, and not less certainly so for the life to
come. The virgins who cried in vain, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!' and
were answered, 'Too late, too late, ye cannot enter now!' are sisters
of the man who was hindered from ploughing because it was cold, and
asked in vain for bread when harvest time had come. 'To-day, if ye
will to hear His voice, harden not your hearts.'
The next proverb is a piece of shrewd common sense. It sets before us
two men, one reticent, and the other skilful in worming out designs
which he wishes to penetrate. The former is like a deep draw-well; the
latter is like a man who lets down a bucket into it, and winds it up
full. 'Still waters are deep.' The faculty of reading men may be
abused to bad ends, but is worth cultivating, and may be allied to
high aims, and serve to help in accomplishing these. It may aid good
men in detecting evil, in knowing how to present God's truth to hearts
that need it, in pouring comfort into closely shut spirits. Not only
astute business men or politicians need it, but all who would help
their fellows to love God and serve Him--preachers, teachers, and the
like. And there would be more happy homes if parents and children
tried to understand one another. We seldom dislike a man when we come
to know him thoroughly. We cannot help him till we do.
The proverb in verse 6 is susceptible of different renderings in the
first clause. Delitzsch and others would translate, 'Almost every man
meets a man who is gracious to him.' The contrast will then be between
partial 'grace' or kindness, and thoroughgoing reliableness or
trustworthiness. The rendering of the Authorised and Revised Versions,
on the other hand, makes the contrast between talk and reality,
professions of goodwill and acts which come up to these. In either
case, the saying is the bitter fruit of experience. Even charity,
which 'believeth all things,' cannot but admit that soft words are
more abundant than deeds which verify them. It is no breach of the law
of love to open one's eyes to facts, and so to save oneself from
taking paper money for gold, except at a heavy discount. Perhaps the
reticence, noted in the previous proverb, led to the thought of a
loose-tongued profession of kindliness as a contrast. Neither the one
nor the other is admirable. The practical conclusion from the facts in
this proverb is double--do not take much heed of men's eulogiums on
their own benevolence; do not trumpet your own praises. Caution and
modesty are parts of Christian perfection.
The last saying points to the hereditary goodness which sometimes, for
our comfort, we do see, as well as to the halo from a saintly parent
which often surrounds his children. Note that there may be more than
mere succession in time conveyed by the expression 'after him.' It may
mean following in his footsteps. Such children are blessed, both in
men's benedictions and in their own peaceful hearts. Weighty
responsibilities lie upon the children of parents who have transmitted
to them a revered name. A Christian's children are doubly bound to
continue the parental tradition, and are doubly criminal if they
depart from it. There is no sadder sight than that of a godly father
wailing over an ungodly son, unless it be that of the ungodly son who
makes him wail. Absalom hanging by his curls in the oak-tree, and
David groaning, 'My son, my son!' touch all hearts. Alas that the
tragedy should be so often repeated in our homes to-day!