CRITICAL NOTES.--+1. Keep.+ This word, says Miller primarily means to
look _hard at_, and generally to _keep watch over_, as over a
vineyard. +2. Length of days,+ properly "extension of days."
+4. Good understanding,+ or "good success," "good reputation." Some
read "good _intelligence_," _i.e._, thou shalt be esteemed before God
and man as one of good understanding. +6. Acknowledge,+ "take notice
of," "recognise" Him. +Direct,+ "make level" or "smooth."
+8. Navel,+ "body" or "muscles." +Marrow,+ literally "refreshing,"
"moistening," in contrast to the condition described in Psa.
xxxii. 3, 4. +11. Despise not,+ or "loathe not," "shrink not." The
word, according to Miller, means "to melt." +Chastening,+
"discipline," "correction." +12.+ The latter clause of this verse
should be read, "and holds him dear, or does him a favour, as a
father does his son." +13. Gets,+ "draws out." +18. Lay hold,+
"grasp," from a Hebrew root _strong_. +Retaineth,+ "holds her fast."
+20. Depths,+ &c., "were the floods divided" into rivers and streams
for the blessing of man. +Dew,+ or "gentle rain," or else the clouds
signify the lower regions of the atmosphere where the dew is formed.
+21. Them,+ _i.e._ "sound wisdom and discretion;" +Sound wisdom,+ the
same word as in chap ii. 7 (see notes there). Miller translates here
as there, "_something stable_." +25. Desolation of the wicked.+ This
is interpreted in two ways. 1. The desolation in which the wicked
strive to overwhelm the good; or, 2. The destruction which will sweep
away the wicked, leaving the godly unharmed. "A positive decision is
probably not possible" (Lange's Commentary). Stuart, and most modern
commentators, adopt the latter view. +26. Confidence.+ "Jehovah shall
be as loins to thee" (Miller). +27. Withhold not, &c.,+ literally
"hold not good back from its master," _i.e._, from him to whom it
belongs. +31. Envy thou not, &c.,+ or "emulate not" (Vulg.) "_Do_ not
anxiously covet" (Stuart). +32. Secret.+ His "secret compact,"
"familiar intimacy." +34.+ "If," or "Seeing that He scorneth the
scorners," &c. +35. The promotion,+ &c., literally "shame lifts up,"
_i.e._, in order to sweep away and destroy them; so Lange translates.
Miller reads, "fools are each piling shame." Stuart says on this
verse, "Glory means here honour or an exalted station. Ziegler and
Ewald render the next clause, 'Shame shall elevate fools,' spoken
sarcastically. I prefer the meaning sanctioned by Ezek. xxi. 23; Is.
lvii. 14, viz., to take off, to sweep away, as the dust which is
elevated by the wind and is swept off, as may be seen in Isa.
xvii. 13. Compare Isa. xxix. 5; Psa. xxxv. 5. At least, the image
understood in this way is very vivid. It stands thus: 'Fools are
elevated like the light dust, and then are _swept away_ in the same
manner.'"
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 1-4.
BLESSINGS FROM THE REMEMBRANCE OF GOD'S COMMANDMENTS.
+I. The natural desire of a moral instructor.+ Every teacher desires
that his pupil should remember his instructions, and unless that
which has been given is remembered it is useless to carry him further
on. Memory holds a very important place in the formation of moral
character. "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the Gospel which I
preached unto you; . . . by which also ye are saved, if ye _keep in
memory_ what I preached unto you" (1 Cor. xv. 1 and 2). Paul likewise
exhorts his son Timothy by means of his memory (2 Tim i. 6). See also
Hebrews x. 32; 2 Pet. i. 15, iii. 1, etc. Solomon knew that his son
could only profit by his counsel so long as he remembered it.
+II. When the memory does not retain moral teaching, it is a moral
rather than an intellectual fault.+ "Let thine _heart_ keep my
commandments." We find it difficult to forget where we love. If a
child loves his father, he is not likely to forget his words. Christ
reminded his disciples that they did not "remember" because their
_hearts_ were hardened (Mark viii. 17, 18).
+III. When the heart keeps the Divine Word, mercy and truth will not
forsake the character.+ Where God's precepts find a place of abode,
there will likewise be found a merciful disposition towards men, and
a truthful and sincere piety before God. If a tree has its roots in
the waters, we know that its greenness will not fail: "its leaf shall
not wither." The freshness and beauty of the foliage is the necessary
outcome of its roots dwelling in the stream. The mercifulness and the
truthfulness of a man's character will be in proportion to his
affection for, and consequent retention of, the words of God.
+IV. The blessings which will accompany a remembrance of the Divine
teaching.+ 1. _Length of days._ We may infer from this that, as a
rule, long life is to be desired. The longer distance a pure river
runs through a country, the greater the amount of blessing which it
diffuses on its way to the ocean. The longer a man of "mercy and
truth" lives, the more he is enabled to bless his fellow-creatures. A
long life gives a man time to attain great knowledge of God, and thus
enables him to glorify Him upon the earth. A long life is also to be
desired because the peculiar experience of earth belongs to the
present life only. When that is ended we have reason to believe that
we shall enter upon an entirely new experience; that which belonged
to earth will have passed away with our earthly life. It has often
been remarked that a godly manner of life is favourable to "length of
days." Sin and anxious care tend to bring men to an early grave,
while purity, and trust in a living and loving Father are promoters
of bodily health. 2. _Divine and human favour._ The human ruler is
favourable to those who make it their business to obey his commands.
A wise and good father makes a difference in his treatment of those
children who seek to please him and those who defy his authority. God
is the Father, and consequently the rightful Ruler of men, and having
made laws for the guidance of His children, it follows of necessity
that those who seek to obey those laws must find favour with Him. He
is in this sense a respecter of persons. He has respect to those who
"have respect unto his commandments" (Psa. cxix. 6). Favour in the
sight of man is also promised. The value of a man's favour depends
upon a man's character. To find favour with some men would be to be
known as an enemy of God (James iv. 4). It is written that Jesus
increased "in favour with God and man" (Luke ii. 52). But we know
that He found little favour with the rulers of the Jews. Therefore,
these words must be taken to refer to the favour of those whose
favour is worth having. 3. _Peace_ (Verse 2). Where the conscience
and passions are at war there can be nothing but unrest, but when the
conscience is reinforced by the Divine precepts, she rules, and the
soul, as a consequence, enjoys peace. Peace must flow from the
possession of Divine favour, and also from the consciousness of the
good-will of good men.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verse 1. Here we advance another step. Not only is it necessary to
renounce and shun evil (i. 10) and to listen to the voice of Wisdom
and go in quest of her (i. 20; ii. 1-4), but it is also requisite to
hold her fast under trial and tribulation (ver. 11), and to practise
her rules by love to God and man (verses 9, 27, 30).--_Wordsworth._
"My law." He who made us knows what is good for us. Submission to His
will is the best condition for humanity. Our own will leads to sin
and misery. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the
soul. . . . Silently to forget God's law is a much more common thing
amongst us than blasphemously to reject it.--_Arnot._
Where love makes the impression, care locks it up. . . . Philo saith,
"Thou forgettest God's law, because thou forgettest thyself." For
didst thou remember thine own condition, how very nothing thou art,
thou couldst not forget His law whose excellency exceedeth all
things; and therefore to fasten His law in our hearts, God saith no
more than that it is _my law_, as if the strength of that reason were
sufficient to strike them into us not to be forgotten.--_Jermin._
We should be able to say to Wisdom as Cœnis did to her lady Antonia,
"You need not, madame, bid me do your business, for I so remember
your commands, as I need never be reminded of them."--_Trapp._
The mental faculties have a close relation and a mutual dependence
upon each other. There are, without doubt, original diversities in
the power of memory. But memory depends greatly on _attention_, and
attention depends not less upon the interest which the mind feels on
the subject. He who feels no interest will not attend, and he who
does not attend will not remember.--_Wardlaw._
Verse 2. _Length of days_ is the promise to the righteous--whether
for earth or for heaven as their Father deems fittest for them. In
itself, the promise, as regards this life, has no charm. . . . But
_peace added_ forms the sunshine of the toilsome way.--_Bridges._
The original is "length of days and years of lives." They are lives
which religion promiseth, one on earth, another in heaven: here such
a long life as short days can make up, but there days shall be years:
there shall be but one day, lengthened into eternity.--_Jermin._
Where is the consistency of promising long life to wisdom? Where is
the truth of such an assurance? But certain grammatical endings give
us immediate signs of another interpretation. The verb "add" is
masculine; the words "law" and "commandments" are feminine. On the
contrary, all are masculines among the nouns of the next clause.
Unless there should be reason to do violence by an ungrammatical
exception, the nouns should be the subjects rather than the objects
of the verb. We translate therefore, "For length of days, and years
of life, and prosperity, shall make thee greater."--_Miller._
Such declarations are certainly not to be interpreted as a promise of
long life in this world in every instance, as the result of obedience
to God's commands. There are promises to Israel of their days being
prolonged in the land which are greatly mistaken when interpreted of
the life of individuals; and as pledging in every case its
prolongation to all the good. Such passages relate to the continued
possession of the land of promise by the people, if they, in their
successive generations, continued to serve God.--_Wardlaw._
Simple duration of life in itself to Jewish mind, a great gift of
God. "Years of _life_," _i.e._, of a life truly such, a life worth
living, not the lingering struggle with pain and sickness (compare
the use of "life" in Psalm xxx. 5, xliii. 8).--_Plumptre._
Verse 3. There was such a similitude of nature between the twins of
love that at once they wept, and at once they smiled; they fell sick
together, and they recovered jointly. Such are these twins of grace.
In policy, mercy without truth is a sweet shower dropping upon barren
sands, quite spilt, and no blessing following it; truth without mercy
is extreme right and extreme injury. Consider them toward God and
heaven. A faith of mere protestation without good works, such as
truth without mercy, and all the integrity of the heathen, all the
goodness that Socrates could teach, such is mercy without
truth.--_Bishop Hacket._
The _neck_ is, in Solomon's writings, the organ and symbol of
_obedience_. To bind God's law about the neck is not only to _do_ it,
but to _rejoice_ in doing it; to put it on and exult in it as the
fairest ornament.--_Wordsworth._
+I. The matter to be recorded+--mercy and truth. These two, meeting and kissing
in the Mediator, constitute the revealed character of God Himself; and He
desires to see, as it were, a miniature of His own likeness impressed upon His
children. +II. The tablet for receiving it+--the human heart. The reference is
obviously to the tables of stone. The tables were intended to be not a book
only, but a type. An impress should be taken on our own hearts, that we may
always have the will of God hidden within us.--_Arnot._
Let these graces be, as with God, in combination. The want of one
buries the commendation of the other. "Such a one is merciful to the
poor, but there is no truth in him." "Such a one is very just in his
dealings, but he is as hard as a flint." Nor must these virtues be in
occasional and temporary exercise. "Let them not _forsake_
thee."--_Bridges._
Intimating--I. Their forsaking us is more than our forsaking them.
Our forsaking them may come of our weakness, but their forsaking us
comes of our wilfulness and hardness of heart in not entertaining
them. II. It sets out the easiness of the loss of them through our
corruption. III. It sets forth our great need of them. IV. It
intimates our great care and pains needful for the retaining of them.
They are easily lost, but hardly kept. A hawk must be well tamed
before he is let fly, else he will return no more. These graces must
be as carefully kept as providently gotten, like riches. And they
must both be kept together, else mercy may lie to do good, and truth
may reveal without cause what may do hurt. Therefore join both as God
does (Ps. lxxxv. 10).--_Francis Taylor._
Mercy and truth are dear sisters, blessed companions in God, sweet
companions in man. Mercy loveth truth, truth loveth mercy, God loveth
both; and if man love himself, he will do so likewise.--_Jermin._
These words correspond to the two tables of the law. Benevolence is
at the bottom of the command, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour," and
what is right is that great glory which we are to love in
God.--_Miller._
Verse 4. In other words, "Thou shalt be favoured and truly prospered,
God and man both bearing witness to thy well-directed
efforts."--_Stuart._
He that shows mercy to men shall find mercy with God . . . and men
love to be dealt truly and mercifully with themselves, even though
they deal not so with others; especially they that get good by our
merciful and just dealing will favour us.--_Francis Taylor._
This favour of God and man, _i.e._, not of all indiscriminately, but
first and pre-eminently of the wise and devout, such as agree with
God's judgment, is evidently in the view of the poet the highest and
most precious of the multiform blessings of wisdom which he
enumerates. What, however, is this favour of God and man but the
being a true child of God, the belonging to the fellowship of God and
His people, the co-citizenship in the kingdom of truth and
blessedness? We stand here manifestly at the point at which the Old
Testament doctrine of retributions predominantly earthly begin to be
transformed into the supersensual or spiritual realistic doctrine of
the New Testament (Matt. v. 10-12; xix. 28-30).--_Lange's Commentary._
The promise is all one with that of the Apostle Paul, when, speaking
of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, he saith, "that
he which in these things serveth Christ, pleaseth God and is
acceptable to men" (Rom. xiv. 18).
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 5 _and_ 6.
EXHORTATION TO CONFIDENCE IN GOD.
Man is so constituted that, in some respects, he must have objects
outside of himself to lean upon. As a child, he leans upon a wisdom
and strength which is superior to his own, and few men are so
self-sufficient as entirely to lay aside this habit in after life. In
many things we must, whether we will or not, depend upon the guidance
and help of others. Every man, in common with the lower creatures,
must of necessity lean upon a power greater than his own. "The eyes
of all wait upon Thee" (Psa. cxlv. 15). But this is a leaning which
needs no exhortation: it springs from necessity. The exhortation of
the text implies that in some things men have to choose whether they
will lean upon God or not.
+I. What is necessary in order to comply with the exhortation.+ 1. _A
knowledge of God._ We cannot place entire trust in any person of
whose character we have no knowledge; or, if we do so, we show our
want of discretion. If a traveller across Central Africa were to give
himself up to the guidance of the first native whom he met, he would
probably find that his confidence had been misplaced. The youth who
trusts in the first companion who offers his friendship is like a
blind man placing his hand in that of any stranger who may offer him
guidance. All lasting trust is based upon knowledge. "They that
_know_ Thy name will put their trust in Thee" (Psa. ix. 10). The
confidence of a wise man is born of knowledge of character. God can
be known. His only-begotten Son hath declared Him (Luke x. 22; John
i. 18, xvii. 3). 2. _Love to God._ The character must be known, and,
being known, must be loved, if there is to be a lasting confidence.
We shall not lean with much weight where we do not love. The trust of
a Christian will be in proportion to his love to his Lord. The more
intimate the knowledge, the deeper will be the love; the deeper the
love, the more entire the trust. Our Lord Jesus Christ knew His
Father (John xvii. 25) as no creature could know Him, and His love
being based upon this profound knowledge, His trust was entire and
His obedience perfect, even in His darkest hours. "But that the world
may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me
commandment, even so I do." "_Arise let us go hence_" (John xiv. 31).
We cannot do better than write after this copy.
+II. The necessary effect of such a confidence.+ We shall acknowledge
God in all our ways. This must mean--1. _A practical recognition of
His presence._ We may be in the presence of a superior, and know that
we are in his presence, without acknowledging it by showing him the
respect that is due to him. If this is the case, we virtually ignore
his existence. A child whose behaviour is not deferential to his
parent practically ignores him. Acknowledging God in all our ways
implies a reverent attitude of soul towards Him. 2. _A belief in
God's care for the individual life._ God makes himself known as the
God of the individual man. The care of the individual is his
self-imposed task. "I am the Lord God of _Abraham_, thy father, and
the God of _Isaac_, . . . and behold I am with _thee_, and will keep
_thee_ in all places whither thou goest" (Gen. xxviii. 13, 15).
3. _The reference of all our affairs to His guidance, and a
submission of our will to His._ This will be easy and natural in
proportion to our knowledge, and love, and conviction that God will
not think any of our concerns beneath His notice. Our submission will
be in the ratio of our confidence--our confidence in the ratio of our
knowledge.
+III. The promise of direction guaranteed to compliance with the
exhortation.+ 1. _Men have many ways in life._ Man's many ways spring
from his many needs. He has a living to earn in the world. His hunger
must be satisfied--his body must be clothed and fed. His social wants
must be met--he must have companions, form relationships. His mind
must have food as well as his body. The aspirations of his spirit
form another way, and demand direction and enlightenment. But one
way--the way of acknowledging God--is needful to make any and all the
other ways profitable and pleasant. 2. _The certainty of right
guidance from the foreknowledge and power of the guide._ An Alpine
guide, who has traversed a road many times, knows from memory what is
at the end of the journey. He sees the end while he is on the way.
God's foreknowledge answers to our memory. He sees the end to which
He is bringing us while we are on the way. And His power makes the
accomplishment of His plans certain. He can speak of them as finished
before the means are set in motion to bring them to pass. He said to
Joshua: "Behold, I have given into thine hand Jericho" (Josh. vi. 2),
before any steps had been taken to overthrow it. His guidance makes
it certain that His designs will be accomplished, whatever becomes of
our plans.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verses 5 and 6. The heart, the seat of the affections, and also, in
Hebrew psychology, the conscience, which is not a sure guide unless
it is regulated by the Lord's will and Word.--_Wordsworth._
Once, indeed, man's understanding gave clear, unclouded light, as
man's high prerogative--created in the image of God. But
now--degraded by the fall, and darkened by the corruption of the
heart--it must prove a false guide. Even in a renewed man--a prophet
of God--it proved a mistaken counsellor (2 Sam. vii. 2, 5). Yet throw
it not away; cultivate it; use it actively; but _lean_ not to
it.--_Bridges._
"He shall Himself," _i.e._, by His own Spirit. There is an emphatic
pronoun. When we walk, it is not we that walk, but God.--_Miller._
"Leaning to our own understanding" is, as far as it prevails, a kind
of practical atheism. To form and prosecute our plans in this spirit
of self-confidence, is to act as if there were _no_ God--as if the
fool's _thought_, or the fool's _wish_, were true.--_Wardlaw._
+I. The duty enjoined.+ 1. _Entire._ 2. _Exclusive._ 3. _Uniform._
+II. The blessing promised--Direction.+ _Necessary_ on account
of--1. Our fallibility. 2. The hazards of the way. 3. False guides.
_Promised._ 1. By the pointings of Providence. 2. By the lessons of
the Bible. 3. By the influences of the Holy Spirit.--_Outlines by
Rev. G. Brooks._
The fundamental principle of all religion, consisting in an entire
self-commitment to the grace and truth of God, with the abandonment
of every attempt to attain blessedness by one's own strength or
wisdom.--_Lange's Commentary._
The distant and unconfiding will come on occasion of State
formalities to the sovereign; but the dear child will leap forward
with everything. The Queen of England is the mother of a family. At
one time her ministers of State came gravely into her presence to
converse on the policy of nations; at another, her infant runs to her
arms for protection, frightened at the buzzing of a fly. Will she
love this last appeal because it is a little thing? We have had
fathers of our flesh who delighted when we came to them with our
minutest ailments. How much more should we bring all our ways to the
Father of our spirits, and live by simple faith on Him.--_Arnot._
We may be led for the exercise of our faith into a way of
disappointment, or even of _mistake_. But no step well prayed over
will ever bring ultimate regret.--_Bridges._
Every enlightened believer trusts in a Divine power enlightening the
understanding; he therefore follows the dictates of the understanding
more religiously than any other man.--_M. Cheyne._
The moralist, in preaching this trust in God, anticipates the
teaching that man is justified by faith.--_Plumptre._
See your confidence be not divided, part on God and part on man. Such
a confidence may keep you from the lions (2 Kings xvii. 25) but it
cannot keep you out of hell. A house built partly on firm ground,
partly on sand, will fall. To trust in God is so to lean upon Him
that if He fail thee thou sinkest.--_Francis Taylor._
He shall direct, as He carefully chose out the Israelites' way in the
wilderness; not the shortest, but the safest way.--_Trapp._
1. That our reliance may be rational we should know what it is that
God has promised, and what we may expect from Him; else we may be
disappointed in all our hopes. 2. Reliance must be accompanied with
obedience, with a purpose, and endeavour to do the things that are
pleasing to God. 3. Reliance must also be connected with particular
supplications to Him to bless us. 4. It must be accompanied with
diligence and prudence in our worldly affairs. 5. It excludes
immoderate cares, vain desires, fretful discontent. 6. Although
reliance be so advantageous to us, even for the present, that it
ought to be considered rather as a privilege than a duty, yet it is a
noble virtue and a disposition of mind most agreeable to God. It is
the greatest honour we can pay to Him. By it we show our belief in
His wisdom, power, equity, and goodness.--_Jortin._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 7-12.
THE WAY (1) TO HEALTH, (2) TO WEALTH, (3) TO ENDURANCE.
Three exhortations are here given, to each of which is attached a
promise on reason to induce the young man to obey. +I. An exhortation
to humility.+ (Verses 7 and 8.) Its peculiar appropriateness and
importance will be seen if we consider--1. _The person to whom the
exhortation is addressed._ "My son" (ver. 1). Lack of experience has
a great tendency to breed self-conceit. As a rule, those who have
lived the longest and have most acquaintance with men and things are
the least disposed to be "wise in their own eyes." Ignorance is the
mother of self-conceit. These words are addressed to a young man,
because his youth would render him very liable to this fault.
2. _That self-conceit does not end with oneself but is dangerous to
others._ The man who insists upon the correctness of his knowledge of
a dangerous way, and will not listen to the experience of those who
are better acquainted with it, is sure to find some who believe in
him and follow his guidance. Thus he may not only lose his own life,
but be the murderer of others. 3. _It shuts a man up to his
ignorance._ The only way to become wise is to feel we are ignorant.
As a lunatic must be shut up with others in a like condition while
his madness is upon him, so a self-conceited man must be imprisoned
with the fools of the universe while he remains in that condition.
4. _The Divine woes which are levelled against such an one._ All the
woes pronounced by our Lord against the Scribes and Pharisees were
against sins born of this sin. The charge against them was that they
were wise in their own eyes. "For judgment am I come into this world,
that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be
made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him said, Are
we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have
no sin: but now ye say, _We see;_ therefore your sin remaineth" (John
ix. 39-41). "Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and
prudent in their own sight" (Isa. v. 21). +II. The remedy against
self-conceit.+ "Fear _the Lord,_" etc. When those who are wise in
their own eyes begin to reverence those who are much wiser than they
are, they will begin to depart from this evil which is the root of
many evils. Esteem for those who deserve esteem will lessen their
esteem for themselves. A knowledge of the character and wisdom of God
will produce reverence. When a man renders to God the reverence which
is due unto Him, and which is born of a right appreciation of what
God is, the scales of self-conceit will fall from his own eyes. As
the sun melts the hoar-frost from the windows and leaves a clear
medium for the rays of the sun to enter the chamber, so the contact
of God with the human soul will melt away the self-esteem which shut
Him out. How entrenched was Saul of Tarsus in his own opinions before
he met the Lord on the road to Damascus. How high an estimate he had
of himself, but how great was the change which acquaintance with
Christ wrought. When Job got an insight into God's greatness, he
said, "I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes" (Job xlii. 6).
Self-conceit cannot live where there are right views of God.
+III. The promise here given to those who walk reverently before
God.+ Certain it is that such a mode of life leads to bodily health.
Those who walk in the fear of the Lord live lives of purity, of
temperance, of freedom from the consuming passions and corroding
cares of the ungodly. Other things being equal, or anything like
equal, godliness has the promise of the life that now is in this
respect as in others. But if we understand the words in this narrow
sense only, they seem to express only a small part, and the inferior
part, of the blessing that comes to a man from the "fear of the
Lord." The bones here, as in Psalm xxxii. 3, xxxv. 10, are put for
the whole man. And as the Psalmist, in the first-mentioned psalm,
expresses his sad condition of soul as well as body when he says, "My
moisture is turned to the drought of summer," so the "marrow," or
"moisture," of the bones here expresses a vigour of the entire man.
Sin breaks the bones of a man's spirit; the consciousness of the
Divine favour which will flow from a reverential walk with God makes
them "to rejoice" (Ps. li. 8).
Verses 9 and 10 contain--+I. An exhortation to a right use of
temporal riches.+ 1. _Those who honour God with their gifts honour
Him who has first honoured them with their stewardship._ The man who
is entrusted with the property of others, has an honour put upon him
by the trust. Potiphar put a great honour upon Joseph when he
committed all that he had into his hand, and Joseph felt that it was
so. This of itself should be a motive to a strict integrity and to
devotion to the interests of One who has thus honoured us with
confidence. All temporal, material blessings are given to men as
stewards of God's property (Luke xvi. 1-12), and in this light they
ought to regard themselves. 2. _If men honour God with their
substance, they turn what would otherwise be a snare into a
blessing._ The tendency of wealth is doubtless to make men
god-forgetting, self-confident, selfish (Mark x. 23; Luke xii. 16;
Jas. v. 1). But those who use it for the advancement of God's
kingdom--for the alleviation of human suffering--make a _friend_ of
this "mammon of unrighteousness" (Luke xvi. 9). 3. _God cannot be
honoured with our substance unless we first give ourselves to Him._
The great desire of a true father in relation to his children is to
secure their love. Having that, everything else that is theirs will
be his. Without that, no offering, no service, can be acceptable. God
must have the man before He will accept his wealth.
+II. The promise annexed to this exhortation.+ This cannot be the
_motive_, but it is the _consequence_. Any man who gave his wealth
because he believed it was a good investment in this sense, would not
be honouring God with it. We must _give_, as we are commanded to
_lend_, hoping for nothing again (Luke vi. 35). And, although the
material rewards which are appended to a certain line of conduct
under the old dispensation do not invariably follow it in the new and
more spiritual one, there is probably no Old Testament promise of
earthly reward which is, and ever has been, fulfilled with so few
exceptions.
Verses 11 and 12. +I. An exhortation to patient endurance of
affliction.+ 1. _From the constitution of our nature we can but
dislike or loathe_ (_despise_, see "Critical Notes") _affliction
itself._ There has never been one of the human kind who has welcomed
affliction for its own sake; nay, more, there has never been one who
has not shrunk from it, considered by itself. No man can do other
than grieve for the death of his friend when he considers his own
loss merely. No child of God can love pain or loss. The man who is
under the knife of the surgeon must groan in the unnatural condition
in which he is placed. Even Christ Himself, though He delighted to do
the will of His Father (Psa. xl. 8), shrank from the bitter cup of
suffering. If, then, pain--probably mental pain--was felt to be
bitter by the Sinless Man, how much more will a sinful man find it
hard to bear. 2. _The pain itself is that which renders us unable to
see the connection between it and the benefit it is to work out._
While a man is suffering pain of body or mind, his feelings, more or
less, overpower his reason. Although we know that it is to work good
in the future, we fail often to realise the fact--feeling holds us
down to the present.
+II. Four considerations to help us in times of affliction.+ 1. _Its
individuality._ "_My_ son, despise not _thou_," which implies that
God chastises men as individuals--that he distinguishes between them.
There may be many sons and daughters in a human home; no two are
exactly alike, therefore a wise discrimination must be exercised with
regard to the chastisement or the discipline administered. So God
discerns the needs of His children. No son or daughter need think
that another cross would suit them better; they may be assured that
the one they bear is the one that has been especially prepared for
them and is therefore peculiarly adapted for them. 2. _Its end._ It
is educational. It is correction, not destruction. Even if it is
rebuke, or punishment for a particular sin, it is designed to
eradicate that sin, and thus add to the character; and we are
assured, on the highest authority, that tribulation worketh patience,
experience, and hope--all of which graces go to form a higher type of
man (Rom. v. 2, 3). 3. _Its signification._ It means son-ship,
adoption. It means that God has taken us in hand; that He is Himself
presiding over our education; that He loves us and desires our
spiritual growth. 4. _Its Author._ "The Lord." We accept that from
one who we know, which we would not from a stranger. If we can be
sure that a man's motives are pure, we judge of his conduct
accordingly. The consideration that affliction comes from the
"righteous Father," the King who cannot wrong any of His subjects,
ought to help us to take the rebuke with meekness,--to bear the pain,
although we cannot now see the profit.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verse 7. This warning against self-confidence is closely connected
with the preceding verse. _The wise in his own eyes_ is he that
_leans to his own understanding_. How striking is this connection
between the fear of the Lord and the fear of sin (ch. xiv. 27;
xvi. 6. Gen. xxxix. 9-10; Neh. v. 15).--_Bridges._
Get all the wisdom thou canst. That is the very burden of these
Proverbs. But as thou gettest it if thou seemest wise, be sure that
thou art weighed down with folly. Gabriel, who has never sinned, is
foolish because he knows not the end from the beginning, and we are
foolish from a further cause, that our wisdom has remains with it
that are corrupt.--_Miller._
The greatest hindrance to all true wisdom is the thought that we have
already attained it.--_Plumptre._
Fear God, and fear evil; fear God to go to Him, fear evil to depart
from it. The wings of fear to carry thee to God are love and care,
the wings of fear to carry thee from evil are shame and
sorrow.--_Jermin._
Verse 8. The constant, steadfast, self-diffident operation of the
religious principle is beneficial alike to _body_ and _soul_. It
preserves the mind in tranquility and peace (Isa. xxvi. 3), and this
is in a high degree conducive to the health and vigour of the bodily
frame.--_Wardlaw._
Two sadnesses flow from not fearing Jehovah--worn muscles and dried
bones (see "Critical Notes"). The two are perfectly distinct. One
means "aching labour," the other, "horrible despondency." The fear of
God delivers from both.--_Miller._
All God's laws come from one source and conspire for one end. They
favour righteousness and frown on sin. The law set in nature runs
parallel as far is it goes to the law written in the Word. Vice saps
the health both of body and mind.--_Arnot._
Verse 9. Works of piety and charity are evidently
included.--_Wardlaw._
Who art thou, that thou shouldest be able to honour Him, who is
Himself of infinite honour? Who would not in this respect employ his
substance in God's fear, seeing thereby thou dost honour Him, whom to
serve is a high honour to the highest angels.--_Jermin._
To devote a portion of our substance directly to the worship of God,
and the good of men, is a duty plainly enjoined in the Scriptures. It
is not a thing that a man may do, or may not do, as he pleases. There
is this difference, however, between it and the common relative
duties of life. For the neglect of it no infliction comes from a
human hand. God will not have the dregs that are squeezed out by
pressure poured into His treasury. He loveth a cheerful giver. He can
work without our wealth, but He does not work without our willing
service.--_Arnot._
Verse 10. At first sight the motive may be regarded as a selfish one.
But second thoughts give another view. _It is a trial of faith._ And
it is a trial than which few are found more difficult. It is hard to
persuade a man that giving away will make him rich. We look with new
confidence to bank interest, or the still better interest of a vested
loan, than to a return of profit from what is wholly given
away.--_Wardlaw._
Men take care how to use their money to the best advantage by sea, by
buying land or cattle, or by usury, an easy trade; thy best trade
will be to maintain God's worship.--_Jermin._
The consecration of substance, as the seed-corn for the harvest, is
as strange to the world as would be the casting of the seed in the
earth to an untutored savage. Yet is the result secure in both cases:
only with the difference, the temper of the earthly sower has no
influence on the harvest; whereas the fruitfulness of the spiritual
harvest mainly depends on the principles of the work. Most important
is that we _honour the Lord_--not ourselves.--_Bridges._
Verse 11. Two things are forbidden here. 1. Do not make light of
(despise) the Lord's chastening, as if thou couldst easily cast it
off--in insensibility to it, not recognising the Lord's hand in it,
and not humbling thyself under it. 2. Do not, on the contrary through
pusillanimity, be weary, and impatient, and despondent under the
burden.--_Cartwright._
Not to feel thy evils would be inhuman; not to bear them,
unmanly.--_Seneca_
Fainting and wearying may take place in two ways. The heart may be
overwhelmed by sudden trials, giving an effect so stunning and
overpowering that the spirit sinks into a temporary stupefaction,
and, as the Apostle has it, "we faint." Or it may become wearied out
and exhausted by the long continuance of the same trial, or by a
rapid succession of different strokes of the rod.--_Wardlaw._
Having stated the blessings of wisdom, it is logical to consider the
apparent exceptions.--_Miller._
For if God did despise thee, He would not chasten thee, if He was
weary of thee, He would not correct thee.--_Jermin._
Some think it a goodly thing to bear out a cross by head and
shoulders, and wear it out as they may, never improving it. As a man
that, coming out of a shower of rain, dries again, and all is as
before.--_Trapp._
Prosperity and adversity, in their wise mixture and proportion, for
our present condition. Each is equally fruitful and honouring the
Lord; in prosperity, by a wise consecration of our substance; in
adversity, by a humble and cheerful submission. . . . It is
correction, this is for your humbling; it is only correction, this is
your consolation. It is the declared test of our legitimacy (Heb.
xii. 7, 8). His discipline is that of the family, not of the school,
much less of the prison.--_Bridges._
Solomon here anticipates a covert objection, if all the favour in the
sight of God and man, and the health which have been attributed to
the fearers of the Lord (ver. 1-10) really be theirs, how is it that
we see them so often sorely afflicted? The reason is, the Lord sends
these afflictions, not for evil, but for good to His
people.--_Fausset._
Consider the afflictions we meet with in the character which the text
assigns to them, viz., as _corrections_. What reasons have we for
viewing them in this light? 1. They are _of God_, and God takes no
pleasure in the misery of His creatures. By some other demonstrations
than the dark demonstrations of sorrow, we know the benevolence of
God; and as afflictions are from Him, we have reason to deem them a
part of the discipline of His love. 2. The rule or order of human
afflictions indicates their corrective intent. All do not come under
this principle, but many do. It is manifest that many miseries of
life are the results of sin, and if we could see further, it is
extremely probable that we should attribute many human miseries to
human sin which we now attribute to the naked sovereignty of God.
3. There is every reason to believe that a state of innocence would
have kept the world from all suffering. Evils that extend so far, or
are of such a nature that our reformation could not shun them, are
instructive monitors that sin strikes deep, and requires for its cure
the hand that rules the world. 4. Our afflictions have many
alleviations. If they were intended as mere punishments they would
have been made more destructive.--_Dr. Spencer._
The first distinct utterance of a truth which has been so full of
comfort to many thousands, the summing up of all controversies, like
those of Job's friends (Job v. 17) or our Lord's disciples (John
ix. 2) as to the mystery of suffering. It was the lesson which the
book of Job had proclaimed as the issue of so many perplexities. Here
it enters into the education of every Jewish child taught to
acknowledge a Father in heaven chastening him even as he had been
chastened by an earthly father. The Apostle writing to the Hebrews
can find no stronger comfort.--_Plumptre._
Especially the well-beloved Son, who (ver. 12) was made "perfect
through sufferings."--_Wordsworth._
God's strokes are better than Satan's kiss and love; God smites for
life, Satan caresses for death.--_Egard._
The kingdom of God in this world is a kingdom of the cross; but all
suffering tends evermore to the testing and confirmation of faith
(1 Pet. i. 6-7).--_Lange._
God's chastenings and corrections are no signs of anger, but of love;
they are the pains which our healing and cure demand. Those who lie
under the cross are often more acceptable to God than those who taste
and experience His dainties. He finds pleasure in our crosses and
sufferings for this reason, because these are His remembrance and
renewal of the sufferings of His Son. His honour is also involved in
such a perpetuation of the cross in His members (Eph. iii. 13; Col.
i. 24, etc.), and it is this that causes Him this peculiar
joy.--_Berleburg Bible._
God loveth not thy correction, but thee He loveth.--_Jermin._
He that escapes affliction may well suspect his adoption.--_Trapp._
The same stroke may fall on two men, and be in the one case judgment,
in the other love. "In vain have I smitten your children, they
received no correction" (Jer. ii. 30). All were "smitten," but they
only obtained paternal correction who, in the spirit of adoption,
"received" it as such. You may prune branches lying withered on the
ground, and also branches living in the vine. In the two cases, the
operation and the instrument are precisely alike; but the operation
on this branch has no result, and the operation on that branch
produces fruitfulness, because of a difference in the place and
condition of the branches operated upon.--_Arnot._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 13-18.
WISDOM AND HER GIFTS.
+I. Wisdom is to be found.+ She does exist. Precious metals and
choice stones are to be found. They have an existence, and they exist
in regions which may be reached by the exercise of man's intelligence
and labour. Those who find them have to dig for them, to seek for
them, to give time, and strength, and wealth to the search. So
Wisdom, although she is within reach of man must be diligently sought
after, must be _drawn out_ (see "Critical Notes") by painstaking
diligence. 1. Wisdom is to be found in, and drawn out from
_affliction_. The bee is said to suck honey from bitter herbs as well
as from sweet flowers. The context to these words is closely
connected with them, and declare him to be truly blessed who becomes
by affliction a wiser and a better man. It is within the reach of
intelligent faith in God thus to extract the honey of wisdom from the
sorrow which to "the world worketh death" (2 Cor. vii. 10). 2. Wisdom
is to be found by _study of the Divine Word_. All Scripture is given
by inspiration of God--they are able to make thee wise unto salvation
through faith which is in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. iii. 15-16). The
record which God has given of His Son is a revelation of His highest
wisdom. A crucified Christ is a manifestation of the wisdom of God,
and by the study of Him as revealed in Holy Scripture, we may "draw
out understanding" of how a man may be "just with God" (Job ix. 2),
and how a justified man may become a perfect man. 3. Wisdom is to be
found in the _practice of Divine precepts_. "If any man will _do_ His
will, he shall know of the doctrine" (John vii. 17). He shall know
the reality, the power, of the wisdom which cometh down from above by
personal and blessed experience. Understanding in these matters is
"drawn out" by doing. 4. Wisdom is found by _communion with God_.
Those who talk much with men who are their superiors in goodness and
intelligence, and live on friendly terms with them, must become wiser
and better through the intercourse. The stronger soul will mould the
weaker. The man who holds converse with the highest and best
Intelligence, with the Fountain of Wisdom, must draw understanding
out of this Living Spring. 5. Wisdom for special needs, the
understanding how to act in emergencies, is drawn out from God by the
_confession of our ignorance and the pleading of God's promises_.
Solomon was himself an example of this. By special prayer, by obeying
his own precept (verses 5-6), he obtained the gift of an
understanding heart to judge the people (1 Kings iii. 5-12).
+II. Wisdom is beyond comparison with anything outside herself.+ She
is better than wealth because she gives blessings which wealth cannot
buy. 1. She gives real _heart-satisfaction_. Money will bring much
ease and luxury to the bodily life, but mere material comfort cannot
gladden the inner man or keep away old age and sickness. But Wisdom
gives a joy which has its home in the heart, and which increases with
the increase of years. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, because
they are ways of holiness. Love, and joy, and peace, and all the
graces which are the fruit of the Spirit of God are the very elements
which in perfection constitute the blessedness of God Himself. They
are the fruits which His servants pluck from the tree of life, which
is in the midst of the paradise of God (Rev. ii. 7). To be holy is to
be happy in the true, deep sense of the word. 2. She introduces to
_better society_. Wealth will do much in this way. Gold is a passport
to honour in the world generally, often to the Church in the world.
But the holy character which is born of heavenly wisdom is the only
possession which will open the doors of the "Church of the
firstborn," which will admit to the society of God, His angels, and
His redeemed ones. This is the true honour. 3. Her gifts are _for
eternity_. No matter how precious or how great the joy, the honour of
earth passeth away (1 Cor. vii. 31). The gifts of Wisdom are for
ever. The length of an eternity of days is in her hand.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verse 13. Never will this solid happiness be known without singleness
of judgment and purpose. The inestimable blessing must have the
throne. The waverer and half-seeker fall short. Determined
perseverance wins the prize (Phil. iii. 12-14).--_Bridges._
If God loves a son, He corrects him; and then, "O the blessedness of
the man!" It actually makes us wise. Let us not forget the doctrine
that affliction--as, indeed, everything--always benefits the
Christian.--_Miller._
The coherence between this verse and the one preceding it is not to
be neglected. To persuade the more to patience under God's afflicting
hand, he tells us, it is one way to get wisdom and happiness. What
though thou suffer chastisement, and that be bitter to thee! if thou
get wisdom by it, thou art happy.--_Francis Taylor._
Saving wisdom is to be "found" and "gotten." It is not required that
we create it. We could not plan, we could not execute, a way of
righteous redemption for sinners. . . . This is God's doing, and it
is all done. All things are now ready. . . . But we are required to
seek the salvation which has been provided and brought near. . . .
Understanding is a thing to be gotten. It comes not in sparks from
our own intellect in collision with other human minds. It is a light
from heaven. Religion is not all and only an anxious, fearful
seeking: it is a getting too, and a glad enjoying.--_Arnot._
It was man who, by losing wisdom, became unhappy; and it is man who,
by finding wisdom, or rather being found by the wisdom of God, is
made happy again. It was man whose understanding was deceived by the
subtle serpent: and it is man who, by getting understanding,
deceiveth the serpent of his prey.--_Jermin._
Verse 14. Here as in ii. 4, we have traces of the new commerce, the
ships going to Ophir for gold, the sight of the bright treasures
stimulating men's minds to a new eagerness.--_Plumptre._
Wisdom brings more profit than any worldly riches, because it brings
better things than riches can. 1. It can quiet a man's mind, which no
wealth can do. Rich men have many cares--many griefs; crowns are
crowns of thorns: nothing but wisdom can poise the soul in all
tempests. 2. It affords a ladder to climb to eternal things, like
Jacob's ladder, that did reach from Bethel on earth, to Bethel (God's
house) in Heaven.--_Francis Taylor._
One grain of grace is far beyond all the gold of Ophir, and one
hour's enjoyment of God to be much preferred before all the King of
Spain's annual entradas. "Let me be put to any pain, any loss, so I
get my Jesus," said Ignatius. What is all the pomp and glory of the
world but dung? (Phil. iii. 7, 8). "I esteem them no better" (surely)
"that I may win Christ," said Paul, that great trader by land and
sea. This gold we cannot buy too dear, whatever we pay for it. The
wise merchant sells all to purchase it (Matt. xiii. 44, 46).--_Trapp._
The gain of fine gold weigheth very heavy in man's account; but the
gain of fine wisdom is better, for that weigheth heavy in the balance
of God's esteem. Tertullian, comforting the Christian martyrs,
writes: "If you have lost some joys of this life, it is but a
merchandise--to lose something to gain greater."--_Jermin._
Verse 16. As in the vision of Solomon at Gibeon, so here; Wisdom
being chosen does not come alone, but brings with her the gifts which
others who do not choose her choose in vain. The words are almost the
echo of those in 1 Kings iii. 11-13.--_Plumptre._
It is certainly not a uniform experience that a man lives long in
proportion as he lives well. Such a rule would obviously not be
suitable to the present dispensation. It is true that all wickedness
acts as a shortener of life, and all goodness as its lengthener; but
other elements enter, and complicate the result, and slightly veil
the interior law. If the law were according to a simple calculation
in arithmetic, "the holiest liver, the longest liver," and
conversely, the moral government of God would be greatly impeded, if
not altogether subverted. He will have men to choose goodness for His
sake and its own, therefore a slight veil is cast over its present
profitableness. Some power is allowed to the devil, to try them that
are upon the earth.--_Arnot._
If God give his people a crown, he will not deny them a crust. If
they have the good things of a throne, they shall be sure of the good
things of the footstool.--_Trapp._
St. Augustine telleth us that length of days is eternity, for
whatsoever hath an end is short: but riches and honour, which by men
are esteemed good things, they are in the left hand. It is not
forbidden thee to enjoy the good things of this life, but do not put
that in the right hand which should be in the left; do not prefer
temporal things before eternal. Let us use the left hand for a time,
but desire the right hand for eternity.--_Jermin._
The right hand in the Bible everywhere means one's highest
instrumentality or agency (Rev. ii. 1). We understand the text to
mean, therefore, that wisdom is able to use long life as a splendid
agency.--_Miller._
It is eternity that filleth the right hand of Wisdom. _Days_ for the
clarity, _length_ for the eternity. As the glory is clear for the
countenance, so is it long for the continuance. The gift of the left
hand is short and temporal. +I. Riches and honour are God's gifts,
therefore, in themselves, not evil.+ Saint Augustine: "That they may
not be thought evil, they are given to good men; that they may not be
thought the best good, they are given to evil men." Chrysostom
remarks that Christ doth not say: "Ye cannot _have_ God and mammon,"
but, "Ye cannot _serve_ God and mammon." +II. All are not so, but
some; and therefore it is necessary for us to learn whether God gave
us the riches and honour which we have.+ They came from God if
(1) _they are honestly gotten_, (2) _justly disposed_, (3) _patiently
lost_. +III. Wealth and worship are, for the most part, companions;
for both those gifts lie in one and the same hand.+ Riches are the
stairs whereby men climb up into the height of dignity, the
fortification that defends it, the food it lives upon, the oil that
keeps the lamp of honour from going out. +IV. Though riches and
honour are God's gifts, yet they are but the gifts of His left hand.+
Therefore it follows that every wise man will seek the blessings of
the right. Let us strive for the latter without condition; for the
other, if they fall in our way, let us stoop to take them
up.--_Thomas Adams._
Verse 17. +I. The ways of religion are ways of pleasantness.+
1. There is a pleasure in the duties relating immediately to God--in
_love, faith, reliance, hope, prayer,_ and _thanksgiving_. 2. There
is a pleasure in those occupations in which a religious man will be
frequently employed--_in studying the works of God and the Holy
Scriptures: in meditating on the perfections of the Almighty, etc._
3. There is a pleasure in that behaviour towards others, and that
manner of prosecuting our worldly affairs, which ever accompany a
religious disposition--in _calm integrity, honest industry_, and
_acts of beneficence_. 4. There is a pleasure in performing our duty
to ourselves--in _temperance_ and _control of the passions_. +II. The
ways of sin are not ways of pleasantness.+ 1. No man can be happy who
acts against his conscience. 2. If men persuade themselves that there
is no future life, the expectation of perishing utterly presents no
agreeable prospect to the soul, which has a natural desire of
immortality. 3. Every act contrary to reason and religion is, if not
always, for the most part, hurtful, even in this life.--_Jortin._
The excellency of the pleasure found in Wisdom's ways appears--+I. In
that it is the pleasure of the mind. II. That it never satiates nor
wearies. III. That it is in nobody's power, but only in his that has
it.+--_South._
I am confident that the true Christian hath more true pleasure in
suffering for Christ, or in one act of mortification, or victory over
one lust, than the highest earthly potentate hath in all the honour
that is done him, or good things enjoyed by him all his
days.--_Swinnock._
+I. Wisdom of itself is satisfactory, as it implies a revelation of
truth, and a detection of error to us.+ We are all naturally endowed
with a strong appetite to know, to see, to pursue truth; and with an
abhorrency of being deceived and entangled in mistake. +II. In its
consequences it is pleasant and peaceable.+ 1. It assures us we take
the best course and proceed as we ought. He that knows his way and is
satisfied it is the true one, goes on merrily and carelessly, not
doubting he shall in good time arrive at his destined journey's end.
Wisdom therefore frees us from the company of anxious doubt in our
actions, and the consequence of bitter repentance; for no man can
doubt of what he is sure, nor repent of what he knows good. 2. It
begets in us a hope of success in our actions, and is usually
attended therewith. What is more delicious than hope? What more
satisfactory than success? And well-grounded hope confirms resolution
and quickens activity, which mainly conduce to the prosperous issue
of designs. 3. Wisdom prevents discouragement from the possibility of
ill success, yea, and makes disappointment itself tolerable. For we
have reason to hope that the All-wise Goodness reserves a better
reward for us, and will some time recompense us, not only the good
purposes we unhappily pursued, but also the unexpected disappointment
we patiently endured. 4. Wisdom makes all the troubles of life easy
and supportable, by rightly valuing the importance and moderating the
influence of them. . . . If sin vex and discompose us, yet this
trouble Wisdom, by representing the Divine Goodness and His tender
mercies in our ever-blessed Redeemer, doth presently allay. And for
all other adversities it abates their noxious power by showing us
they are either merely imaginary or very short and temporary: that
they admit of remedy, or at most do not exclude comfort. 5. Wisdom
hath always a good conscience attending it, that purest delight and
richest cordial of the soul; that brazen wall and impregnable
fortress against both external assaults and internal
commotions.--_Barrow._
Some degree of comfort follows every good action, as heat accompanies
fire, as beams and influences issue from the sun. Thus, saith one, is
a fore-reward of well-doing. "_In_ doing thereof (not only _for_
doing) there is great reward" (Psa. xix. 11).--_Trapp._
The paths of wisdom bring us to the peace of reconciliation with God;
to the peace of society and friendship with the angels of God: to the
peace of comfort and quietness in our own hearts.--_Jermin._
They must be "ways of pleasantness" because "Thus saith the Lord."
And if we feel them not to be so, we know them not.--_Bridges._
Her ways are sometimes on hot coals and to burning stakes. If there
is anything unpleasant in her way, it is to promote wisdom and so to
promote more "pleasantness" another time. _All_ her paths peace, or
"prosperity." More thoroughly "all" of them than in the case of
pleasantness. While the happiness of a Christian may flag in this
world, his "prosperity" never stops a moment. His "way" is
prosperous, _i.e._, he gains by every inch.--_Miller._
Both the way and the end to which the way leads is peace. There are
many ways in the world pleasant but not safe; others safe but not
pleasant.--_Fausset._
Verse 18. Like that planted in Paradise and promised by Christ to all
that overcome.--_Wordsworth._
It is remarkable that this and other references in Proverbs xi. 30,
xiii. 12, xv. 4, are the only allusions in any book of the Old
Testament, after Genesis, to the "tree" itself, or to its spiritual
significance. . . . The tree of life which Adam was not to taste lies
open to his children. No cherubim with flaming swords bar the
approach. Wisdom is the tree of life giving true
immortality.--_Plumptre._
Wisdom beareth not her fruit for everyone. She is a tree of life to
them that _lay hold_ of her, not to them that touch her with a light
hand, that seek after her in a perfunctory manner, that think a
little wisdom, a little godliness, to be sufficient for
them.--_Jermin._
The tree of life was the means ordained of God for the preservation
of lasting life, and continual vigour and health, before man sinned.
So true wisdom maintains man in the spiritual life of God's grace,
and the communion of His Spirit.--_Diodati._
One view of man's true dignity arises from the amount of his
susceptibilities of enjoyment on the one hand, of suffering on the
other. Think of what man was, of what he is, of what he is capable of
becoming. His capabilities are such that nothing beneath God Himself
can satisfy them. His soul can be filled from no created fountain.
Wisdom provides for him a portion adequate to his most unbounded
desires, to his most expanded capabilities.--_Wardlaw._
As the tree of life in Paradise, which was a sign of God's favour, or
the tree which sweetened the waters of Marah, or the tree seen in the
Revelation, or any living or good tree which bringeth forth fruit
whereby men live.--_Muffet._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 19, 20.
ONE OF THE PROOFS OF GOD'S WISDOM.
+I. God had a personal existence before the world.+ If we say that a
man founded an institution--built a house--we imply that he existed
before the institution or the house, and that he exists as a separate
entity from that which he has built or founded.
+II. The world did not come by chance+--it is not an orphan; it had a
Creator, a Father. The world is not eternal. The Lord founded it. He
"laid the foundations of the earth" (Job xxxviii. 4).
+III. That the world which God has made bears the impress of Infinite
Wisdom.+ Scientific investigation and discovery bear out the
assertion of Solomon, that the Lord "by wisdom founded the earth."
The discoveries of astronomers reveal to us more and more the
"understanding" which "established the heavens." Solomon here selects
one example of the wisdom of God, as displayed in relation to the
earth, viz., the process by which it is watered--by which God "maketh
it soft with showers, and thus blesseth the springing thereof" (Psa.
lxv. 10), and so gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater. This
"philosophy of rain," as it has been called, is one which illustrates
creative wisdom in a remarkable manner. Dr. Ure says, "To understand
the philosophy of the beautiful and often sublime phenomenon, so
often witnessed since the creation of the world, and essential to the
very existence of plants and animals, a few facts derived from
observation and a long train of experiments must be remembered.
(1) Were the atmosphere everywhere at all times of a uniform
temperature we should never have rain, or hail, or snow; the water
absorbed by it in evaporation from the sea and the earth's surface
would descend in an imperceptible vapour, or cease to be absorbed by
the air when it was once fully saturated. (2) The absorbing power of
the atmosphere, and consequently its capability to retain humidity,
is proportionately greater in warmer than in cold air. (3) The air
near the surface of the earth is warmer than it is in the region of
the clouds. The higher we ascend from the earth, the colder do we
find the atmosphere. Hence the perpetual snow on very high mountains
in the hottest climate. Now, when from continued evaporation the air
is highly saturated with vapour, though it be invisible and the sky
cloudless,--if its temperature be suddenly reduced by cold currents
descending from above, or rushing from a higher to a lower latitude,
its capacity to retain moisture is diminished, clouds are formed, and
the result is rain. Air condenses as it cools, and, like a sponge
filled with water and compressed, pours out the water which it cannot
hold. How singular, yet how simple, the philosophy of rain. Who but
Omniscience could have devised such an admirable arrangement for
watering the earth?" Solomon could not have known _how_ the earth was
watered, but he knew enough to awaken his admiration of Providential
love and skill.
+IV. The exhibition of God's wisdom in creation is intended to lead
men to listen to his Word of Revelation.+ To this end the subject is
introduced here by the preacher. When such a Being speaks, it must be
worth men's while to listen and obey. The heavens and earth have a
speech or language (Psa. xix. 1, 2). They counsel us to seek Him "who
hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and meted out
heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a
measure,"--Him "whose word shall stand for ever" (Isa. xl.).
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verse 19. Hitherto Wisdom has been thought of in relation to men. Now
the question comes: What is she in relation to God? and the answer
is: That the creative act implies a Divine wisdom, through which the
Divine will acts. We have, as it were, the first link of the chain
which connects this wisdom with the Divine Word, the Logos of St.
John's Gospel (John i. 3).--_Plumptre._
The wisdom, so spiritual as to belong only to the pious, nevertheless
has its reachings into all wisdom, as we saw in chap. i. 20, where it
is called "wisdoms," as embracing all forms of it. Creative wisdom,
therefore, is part of the broad array. But now, as a more important
teaching, creative wisdom must include the spiritual. God could not
found the heavens without that holy character that makes the system
possible. Its enormous intricacies could not be kept up without the
harmonising influences of holiness. Government, of course, is built
upon it; justice, of course, is part of it; and the whole world would
be an unmeaning mass unless Jehovah, by wisdom, shaped it, viz., in
those Diviner forms in which He is the governor as well as the
builder and original schemer of the universe. God _would_ not have
built the world without holiness, and therefore, in the very
strictest sense, "by wisdom He founded" the heavens, because only
that holy light, which is the light of love, could be the inspiring
motive for building the habitations of His creatures. We are to
understand this verse as meaning, therefore, first, that creative
light merges into all light, as one grand omniscience; but, second,
that creative light would be nothing without spiritual light; that
God's love and justice were the very spring and harmonious law
whereon all are builded.--_Miller._
The spirit of the recommendation seems to be that, as it is "the Lord
which giveth wisdom," that which comes from such a source must be
worthy the desire and the solicitation. Think of what Wisdom, as it
exists in Deity, has done!--the wonders it hath wrought! This will
recommend God's lessons.--_Wardlaw._
The river and the fountain are both of one nature, and when pure
water hath been looked on in the stream, it is a pleasant thing to
behold it in the conduit head.--_Muffet._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 21-26.
GOD'S KEEPING, THE REWARD OF MAN'S KEEPING.
Here as we have the _keeping_ of the Divine commands resulting in a
_being kept_ by Divine power and love.
+I. There is a possibility of losing what has been attained.+ The
injunction here given is not, as in chap. ii. 10, to seek wisdom, but
as in verse 18 of this chapter, to keep a hold upon what has been
already gotten. The Scriptures abound in such exhortations. Barnabas
exhorted the Church at Antioch to "cleave unto the Lord," and he and
Paul, when in Pisidian Antioch, persuaded the disciples "to
_continue_ in the grace of God" (Acts xi. 23; xiii. 43). The word of
Our Lord to the Church at Thyatira was "That which ye have hold fast
till I come" (Rev. ii. 25). There is no safety but in continual
watchfulness and in constant study of Divine precepts. "My son, let
them not depart from thine eyes." A mariner may set out on his voyage
with his vessel's head pointing in the right direction, but if he
does not hourly keep consulting the compass, it will not avail him
much that he started right. The Apostle speaks of men having "made
shipwreck of faith and a good conscience" (1 Tim. i. 19). The world,
the flesh, and the devil are cross currents and contrary winds which
can only be met and overcome by constant, watchful reference to chart
and compass.
+II. The blessing which will result from "keeping wisdom," viz.,
Soul-life.+ As food and an observance of physical laws are the means
by which the body is enabled to perform the functions which are
natural to it, so a constant receiving of God's thoughts and an
observance of God's laws will enable the soul--the spiritual man--to
fulfil the end for which it was created--to glorify and enjoy God.
Such a man has the assurance that he is under the special
guardianship of God. All the subjects of this realm are under the
protection of the monarch, but she has a special and personal care
for her own children. So God is the "Saviour of all men, specially of
those that believe" (1 Timothy iv. 10). This particular regard of God
for those who have become His children, by falling in with His method
of making the right with themselves and with Him, is
guaranteed.--1. _In the ordinary events of life._ As the heirs of the
monarch are always accompanied by those who count it an honour to
serve them and, if needful, to protect them, so the heirs of
salvation are ever attended by their body-guard, the angels who are
"ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation" (Heb. i. 14). In the
night not only do they encamp round about them that fear God (Psa.
xxxiv. 7), but the Lord Himself is said to be their keeper (Psa.
cxxi. 5). His peace "keeps (lit. _garrisons_) the heart" (Phil.
iv. 7) and gives the sweet sleep promised in verse 24, even although
outward circumstances may be apparently adverse (_see illustration_).
This was the experience of David in the night of his adversity, even
although he had brought it upon himself (Psa. iii. and iv). And the
certain guidance which is promised in verse 6 insures an avoidance of
all real danger (ver. 23). 2. _In times of special visitation_ (ver.
25). There was a "desolation of the wicked" in the days of Noah, but
he and his house were "shut in" the ark by God Himself (Gen.
vii. 16). In the day when the Lord "rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah He
delivered just Lot" (2 Pet. ii. 6). When the "abomination of
desolation stood in the holy place" at Jerusalem as foretold by our
Lord (Matt. xxiv. 15), those who obeyed His command and fled to the
mountains escaped the terrible fate of those who remained in the
city. (This is recorded by Eusebius). This assurance of constant
guardianship and guidance is "life" to the soul (Psa. xxx. 5). Fear
of the future paralyses a man's energies, but confidence in an
over-ruling personal God gives him strength for action.
_ILLUSTRATION OF VERSE_ 24.
THE LAST HOURS OF THE NINTH EARL OF ARGYLE, EXECUTED BY JAMES II.
So effectually had religious faith and hope, co-operating with
natural courage and equanimity, composed his spirits that, on the
very day on which he was to die, he dined with appetite, conversed
with gaiety at table, and, after his last meal, lay down, as he was
wont, to take a short slumber, in order that his body and mind might
be in full vigour when he should mount the scaffold. At this time one
of the Lords of the Council, who had probably been bred a
Presbyterian, and had been seduced by interest to join in oppressing
the Church of which he had once been a member, came to the castle
with a message from his brethren, and demanded admittance to the
Earl. It was answered that the Earl was asleep. The Privy Councillor
thought that this was a subterfuge, and insisted on entering. The
door of the cell was softly opened, and there lay Argyle on the bed,
sleeping, in his irons, the placid sleep of infancy. The conscience
of the renegade smote him. He turned away, sick at heart, ran out of
the castle, and took refuge in the dwelling of a lady of his family,
who lived hard by. There he flung himself upon a couch, and gave
himself up to an agony of remorse and shame. His kinswoman, alarmed
by his looks and groans, thought that he had been taken with sudden
illness, and begged him to drink a cup of sack. "No, no," he said,
"that will do me no good." She prayed him to tell her what had
disturbed him. "I have been," he said, "to Argyle's prison. I have
seen him within an hour of eternity sleeping as sweetly as ever man
did. But as for me----."--_Macaulay._
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verse 21. Simply attend to them. "Watch" like a sentinel, intently
eyeing. Solomon enjoins the voluntary, and promises the involuntary.
The voluntary we can do, save only for that grand helplessness, an
aversion of the will itself. The involuntary we cannot do, save only
mediately through obedient acts. Attention is within our power if God
gives grace to the will. This is the drift of the promise: You do
your part and God will do His.--_Miller._
Eye these things as the steersman doth the load-star, as the archer
doth the mark he shoots at, or as the passenger doth mark his way,
which he finds hard to hit and dangerous to miss.--_Trapp._
Verse 22. Wisdom reveals the righteousness of God, whereby a believer
lives before God. Without this the man is dead in sins (Heb. ii. 4,
Eph. ii. 1).--_Fausset._
There is no life in the soul till knowledge come into it. There was
no living creature in the world till light was made. God clears the
understanding before He rectifies the will and affections; He keeps
the same method in the little world that He did in the great
world.--_Francis Taylor._
Verse 23. This promise has a direction embodied with it, "Thou shalt
walk in thy way." We are required to keep the way of the Lord, and in
the affairs of life to attend to our own concerns, shunning the
character of busybodies by not meddling in the affairs of
others.--_Lawson._
Good success in the way may be crossed again; what is crowned with
good success in the end can never by crossed.--_Francis Taylor._
There shall be no cause to make thee stumble. For he that is blind or
weak may stumble, though he be never so careful; and he may stumble
that is careless, though he be never so well able to walk safely. But
wisdom shall take away thy blindness, thy weakness, thy
carelessness.--_Jermin._
Thou shalt ever go under a double guard, the peace of God within thee
and the power of God about thee.--_Trapp._
Verse 24. Peter in prison, in chains, between two soldiers, on the
eve of his probable execution, when there seemed but a "step between
him and death." Yet in such a place, in such company, at such a
moment, did he lie down so fearlessly and sleep so sweetly, that even
the shining light failed to disturb him, and an angel's stroke was
needed to awaken him.--_Bridges._
Surely the way to sleep quietly in this world is to be asleep to the
world; his sleep is sweetest, when he is asleep, who, when he is
awake, doth sweetly sleep in a neglect of worldly crosses or
contentments.--_Jermin._
Verse 25. So safe will all thy ways be that to fear will be a
sin.--_Plumptre._
From the terms before used, respecting the final destruction of the
wicked, it is most likely that to it the reference is in this
verse.--_Wardlaw._
"Be not afraid" is at once a precept and a promise to the godly. They
shall have no cause to fear evil tidings, therefore it is their
privilege that they are not to fear them (Psa. cxii. 7;
xci. 5).--_Fausset._
The Christian is threatened by the sinners in all their ills, whether
for them or by them. Sin breeds the whole of them; and the wise man
would magnify the grace by saying that they are all equally
indifferent. "Let cares, like a wild deluge come."--_Miller._
Let a David "walk through the vale of the shadow of death" he will
not fear, no, though he should go back the same way; "for Thou art
with me," saith he. He had God by the hand, and so long he feared no
colours.--_Trapp._
Verse 26. Beware of mistakes here. Do not say God is your confidence,
if He be only your dread. An appalling amount of hypocrisy exists in
Christendom, and passes current for devotion. He who is himself most
worthy is often more disliked than any other being, and, as if this
ingratitude were not enough, men double the sin by professing that
they have confidence in Him. I have observed that sea-going ships do
not trust to themselves in the windings of a river. Where they are
hemmed in between rock and quicksand, grazing now on the one and now
the other, they take care to have a steam-tug, both to bear them
forward and to guide them aright. They hang implicitly upon its
power. They make no attempt at independent action. But as soon as
they get clear of the narrows--as soon as they have attained a good
offing and an open sea--they heave off and hoist their own sails.
They never want a steamer till they come into narrow waters again.
Such is the trust in God which the unreconciled experience. In
distress they are fain to lean upon the Almighty. While they are in
the narrows they would hang on the help of a Deliverer. . . . The
line of their dependence seems ever tight by their constant leaning.
But when they begin to creep out of these shoals of life they heave
off and throw themselves upon their own resources. . . . This is not
to have confidence in God.--_Arnot._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 27-29.
DOING JUSTICE AND LOVING MERCY.
True wisdom in the heart will show itself in right dealing between
man and man. He who holds back any good thing by which it is in his
power to bless another man is a thief. The withholding is a crime for
which God will visit. This is true in relation not only to debts of
justice (Jas. v. 4) but to so-called debts of mercy. When the Son of
Man shall come in His glory, there will be some against whom He will
bring the charge--"I was an hungered, and ye gave Me no meat; I was
thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink; I was a stranger, and ye took Me
not in; naked, and ye clothed Me not; sick and in prison, and ye
visited Me not" (Matt. xxv. 42, 43). There are _five_ reasons against
the postponement of any act of justice or mercy until the morrow.
1. The person who is in need to-day may be beyond your reach
to-morrow. Death may remove him from your reach, and he may go into
eternity your creditor. Men and women have been saved from taking a
step which would have been their ruin, by a kindly word or act which
would have come too late on the morrow. 2. If your needy friend does
live to be helped on the morrow, you may not live to give him help,
and you will then enter the presence of God a debtor to your brother.
To-morrow is God's property, to-day is man's. 3. If your brother is
not beyond your reach to-morrow, his need has been increased by the
delay. If a man's condition calls for medical aid to-day, and it is
withholden, the disease will have a firmer hold to-morrow and will be
harder to cure. What physician would say to a sick man in such a
case, "Go, and come again?" Human need is a disease that is increased
by delay in dealing with it. It is a weed that grows apace. What is
only a seed to-day will be a sapling soon. If you delay the moral and
intellectual training of the ignorant, the chains that bind them will
be harder to break to-morrow than they are to-day. So that delay
makes the demand greater, and the debt which might have been easily
paid when it was due becomes hard to meet by withholding. 4. To do
the good to-morrow which might be done to-day is not to be an
imitator of God. The Divine Father makes His sun to shine to-day upon
the evil and the good. He does not say, "To-morrow I will give thee,"
but, "now is the accepted time." 5. The postponement of that which is
due is "a devising of evil in the heart against thy neighbour" (ver.
29). Our Lord, in his parable of the good Samaritan, has answered for
us the question, Who is my neighbour? (Luke x.). It is the man who is
in need, and whose need we can relieve. It is not merely a negative,
but a positive sin to withhold help to such a one--it is a violation
of that rule of life which Christ Himself declares "is the law and
the prophets" (Matt. vii. 12).
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verse 27. The borrower is then to repay his debt to the lender; the
finder to restore that which he hath taken up to the loser; he which
hath received anything into his custody, is to bring it forth to him
who reposed trust in him; the master is to pay the servant his wages.
Finally, everyone is to practise that precept of the Apostle (Rom.
xiii. 8).--_Muffet._
This practical injunction may be applied: 1. To all lawful debts, for
articles purchased or work performed. 2. To government taxes, which
ought to be regarded as debts due to the community. 3. To debts of
charity and benevolence. For such debts there are. They cannot indeed
be claimed; they cannot be made good in law. But they are _due_--due
on the principle of the "royal law" (Matt. vii. 12).--_Wardlaw._
Here Solomon passes from general recommendations of wisdom to
particular precepts of it. He reverts to instances of "mercy and
truth" (ver. 3). He who is in need has a claim of ownership upon our
property by the law of love, which is the law of God. Need makes the
poor the owner, and God makes thee the dispenser of the goods which
thou hast and which he needs: so such benefits are called
"righteousness," _i.e.,_ a righteous debt or obligation (2 Cor.
ix. 9; Matt. vi. 1, "alms;" Greek, "righteousness"). The same
principle applies in the case of spiritual knowledge which thou hast
and thy neighbour has not.--_Fausset._
With the luxuries of grace, the wise man mixes in its conditions.
They are rugged like those of the Apostle (1 Cor. xiii). If we enjoy
the good of the Gospel, we are to render again according to the
benefits shown us.--_Miller._
It is the hungry man's bread which we hoard up in our own barns. It
is his meat on which we glut, and his drink which we guzzle: it is
the naked man's apparel which we shut up in our presses, or which we
exorbitantly ruffle and flaunt in: it is the needy person's gold and
silver which we closely hide in our chests, or spend idly, or put out
to useless use. We are, in thus holding, or thus spending, not only
covetous, but wrongful, or havers of more than our own, against the
will of the rightful owners.--_Barrow._
1. They who have had much experience in the world may be of infinite
use by giving _salutary advice._ 2. If we are afraid of being thought
meddling, we can benefit others by a _good example._ 3. By
_vindicating the characters_ of those who have been unjustly defamed.
4. By not only giving alms, but _attention, care,_ and _friendship_
to the needy. 5. _By recommending_ our brethren to God in
_prayer_.--_Bishop Porteous._
Verse 28. This conduct is too common. It may arise--1. From an
avaricious reluctance to part with the money. The avaricious man is
so loath to part with the object of his idolatry that even a day's
delay pleases him. 2. From indolent listlessness. The man is not in a
mood to be troubled. He is occupied about something else, or he is
not disposed to be occupied at all. 3. From insolent
superciliousness. This is often discovered towards inferiors, or
towards persons against whom there exists a grudge. It is the vice of
little minds--ungenerous, unjust, unmanly.--_Wardlaw._
He gives twice to one in need who gives at once.--_Publius Syrus._
Keep as few good intentions hovering about as possible. They are like
ghosts haunting a dwelling. The way to lay them is to find bodies for
them.--_Arnot._
Verse 29. This evil may be practised in a great variety of ways. As,
for instance--A man in business does what he can to obtain another's
confidence; or, whether he acts from this view or not, he knows that
he has that confidence, and he takes advantage of it to obtain large
quantities of goods from him, when aware that his own affairs are
precarious and his credit sinking. There are not wanting cases in
which the most nefarious crimes have been perpetrated through the
medium of unsuspecting confidence. The wife of a man's bosom, or the
child of his paternal love, has been seduced by the unwitting
confidence he has reposed in a seeming friend. It is the very sin by
which "the devil beguiled Eve through his subtilty.". . . All
therefore who act such a part are of "their father the
devil."--_Wardlaw._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 30.
UNLAWFUL STRIFE FORBIDDEN.
+I. Strife is unlawful when no good can come from striving.+ The
purpose or end of the strife must be the test as to whether it is
right or wrong. Mere assertion of our rights or material gain is not
the highest good. If Abraham had pushed the quarrel between his
herdsmen and those of Lot there can be no doubt that Abraham could
have established a lawful claim to a choice of the land. But the good
to be gained by striving was not worthy to be compared with the harm
that would have been done, and therefore Abraham nobly forbore to
insist on his rights.
+II. Causeless strife is a self-infliction.+ A man can hardly be
involved in lawful strife without mental agitation, how much more
when he strives without cause. When the four winds of heaven seem to
meet upon the sea, the waters foam and toss in ceaseless agitation.
The winds must cease to strive before the calm can come. A man
involved in an unlawful quarrel is like such a troubled sea. Reason
and passion, heaven and hell, contend within him for the mastery, and
while the battle lasts he must be miserable.
+III. Strife rarely ends with those who begin it.+ Man's relationship
to his fellow renders it impossible for the results of his good or
evil deeds to remain with himself alone. If the head of a family
enters into a quarrel, the children will probably imbibe the spirit
and suffer from the consequences. If kings and rulers involve a
nation in unnecessary war, they bring needless suffering upon
thousands of innocent people. This consideration alone ought to make
men beware of entering into a quarrel.
+IV. Causeless strife in the children of God gives a false
representation of their Father's character.+ They are God's
representatives upon earth, they are expected to fashion their lives
upon the Divine model (Matt. v. 48). God is a God of peace (1 Thess.
v. 23). His contention is only with sin, and its end is the
establishment of peace upon earth by righteousness.
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 31-35.
THE OPPRESSOR NOT TO BE ENVIED.
The children of Wisdom are strongly tempted sometimes to do this.
Like Asaph (Psalm lxxiii.), they see the prosperity of the wicked
encompassed with pride, and clothed, as it were, with violence (verse
6), and they are tempted to say: "Verily I have cleansed my heart in
vain, and washed my hands in innocency."
Such a state of mind is--+I. Dangerous.+ It is the first step to
becoming like him. Envy of the oppressor may result in "choosing his
ways." A conviction that there is anything belonging to the oppressor
that can be envied may lead to becoming oppressors ourselves.
+II. Unwise.+ 1. _Because the oppressor is held in universal
abhorrence by men._ True it is that he possesses power, or he could
not oppress, but sooner or later the power will be transferred to the
hands of those whose rights he has trampled on, and the outburst of
rejoicing at his overthrow is the revelation of the hidden hatred of
which he has all along been the subject. 2. _Because he is an
abomination to the Most High_ (verse 32). As there is in the noblest
of human kind an intense loathing of those who use their power to the
injury of others, so this feeling exists more strongly in the mind of
God in proportion as his goodness and benevolence exceeds that of the
most perfect man. This is not only declared in revelation, but is
manifested in the retributions of Providence. Since Pharaoh and his
hosts were overthrown in the Red Sea, God has been slaying "mighty
kings" who have followed in Pharaoh's footsteps, because "He is good,
and His mercy endureth for ever" (Psa. cxxxvi). 3. _Because of the
contrast in the character, and in the present and future reward of
the oppressor and the child of Wisdom._ The oppressor is "froward."
He will not submit to the voice of instruction or correction, but
will be his own absolute lord and master. His actions, if not his
words, say: "Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice?" The
righteous are submissive to the Divine will--they are the "lowly,"
who are willing to learn of Him who was meek and lowly in heart
(Matt. xi. 29). Such opposite characters must necessarily meet with
opposite dealing from a righteous Ruler. It is a righteous law that
"Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Gal. vi. 7). With
the froward Thou wilt show Thyself froward--with the merciful Thou
wilt show Thyself merciful--are the curse and the blessing which rest
respectively upon, not only the froward and lowly man, but upon those
to whom they belong--their _house_--those who are bound to them in
family relation. The scorn of the froward man reaps a harvest of
scorn, but "grace" is the reward of lowliness and humility (verse
34). The contrast in the future inheritance is still greater. The
present curse and blessing may not be always evident to onlookers,
but the future glory and shame will be manifest to the universe
(Matt. xxv. 31-36).
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verse 32. The Lord will freely reveal to the righteous what He keeps
from others--the truths and promises, the blessings and joys of His
covenant of peace, secret to the soul that possesses them,
intransferable, "passing all understanding," "unspeakable and full of
glory."--_Wardlaw._
There is no less a secret of godliness than there is of any other
trade or profession. Many profess an art or a trade, but thrive not
by it because they possess not the secret or mystery of it, and many
profess godliness but are little the better for it, because they have
not the true secret of it. He hath that with whom God is in secret in
his heart, and he that is righteous in secret where no man sees him,
he is the righteous man with whom the secret of the Lord
is.--_Jernim._
They shall be of His cabinet council who choose rather to lie in the
dust than to rise by evil arts, by wicked principles.--_Trapp._
Verse 33. Whatever cost be there, there can be no true cheer, for
God's curse mars all; this will either rot the timber, and pull it
down, or undermine the foundation, and blow it up. Possibly there may
be in thy house a loving wife, loving children, many servants,
stately rooms, costly furniture, dainty fare, great earthly delights;
but, man, the curse of God is there. A spoonful of this, like
copperas, will turn all thy wine into ink; thy sea of honey into gall
and wormwood. How can thy sweetest dish be savoury, when the curse of
God is thy sauce: Or thy finest raiment delight thee when in every
suit there is the curse of God like a plague-sore? or how can thy
most beautiful building content thee, when this curse of God on thee
for thy wickedness turns it into a prison to keep thee, who art in
the bond of iniquity, till the hour of death, the time of thine
execution?--_Swinnock._
The houses of the wicked are of two kinds, some dwell in their
merits, others in their vices. The Pharisees of the world dwell in
the lofty houses of their own meritorious holiness. But as St.
Bernard saith, What more foolish than to dwell in a house yet hardly
begun? The debauched people of the world dwell in the dirty houses of
their wicked lives, and cannot be gotten out of them. But the curse
of God is upon both. The righteous dwell in God's mercy which
covereth them from the anger of His justice. . . . The rich glutton
may keep out Lazarus, but he keeps in God's curse.--_Jermin._
Here are the gods--could the philosopher say of his poor habitation,
meaning his heathenish household gods--whatever else is wanting to
me. How much more may the saint say so of his God.--_Trapp._
Verse 35. They shall be promoted, indeed, but their exaltation shall
be like that of Haman, who was exalted when he was hung upon a
gallows fifty cubits high.--_Lawson._
This last contrast carries us forward to the coming day when all
shall "discern" in the full delight of eternity (Mal. iii. 18). The
wise--the heirs of glory--are identified with the lowly (verse
34)--the heirs of grace. Self-knowledge--the principle of
lowliness--is the very substance of wisdom. Their inheritance also is
one--grace and glory (Psa. lxxxiv. 11). For what higher _glory_ can
there be than the _grace_ which hath redeemed a worm of the earth and
made him a king and priest unto God?--_Bridges._
Humility is both a grace and a vessel to receive grace.--_Trapp._
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