CRITICAL NOTES.--+1.+ Delitzsch translates the last clause, _"Than
one with perverse lips, and so a fool."_ +2. Sinneth,+ literally
"goeth astray." Delitzsch reads the last clause, _"He who hasteneth
with the legs after it goeth astray."_ +3. Perverteth,+ rather
"overtures," "ruins." +5. Speaketh lies,+ rather _"whose breath is
lies."_ +6. The prince,+ rather "the noble or generous man." It seems
to refer to one of rank, who is also of a benevolent disposition.
_"Entreat the favour,"_ literally _"stroke the face."_ +7. He
pursueth them,+ &c. This clause is variously rendered. Zöckler reads,
_"He seeketh words_ (of friendship), _and there are none;"_
Delitzsch, _"Seeking after words which are vain;"_ Miller, _"As one
snatching at words, they come to stand towards him;"_ Maurer and
others, _"He pursueth after_ (the fulfilment of the) _words_ (of
their past promises to him), _and these_ (promises) _are not_ (made
good)." +8. Wisdom.+ Literally _heart._ +9. Speaketh lies,+ _"whose
breath is lies."_ +10. Delight.+ Most commentators translate this
word _"luxury."_ Miller, however, as will be seen from his comment,
retains the reading of the English version. +11. Discretion,+ or
_"intelligence."_ +13. Calamity.+ The word so translated is in the
plural form, so as to express the continuance of the trouble.
+16.+ Miller reads the verse _"He that guards the commandment guards
himself; in scattering his ways he dies."_ (See his comment.)
Hitzig's rendering of the last clause agrees with Miller's. +18. Let
not thy soul spare for his crying.+ The translations of most
expositors here differ widely from the Authorised Version. Gortius,
Maurer, Delitzsch, Zöckler, etc., read, _"Let not thy soul rise to
kill him," "Go not too far to kill him,"_ etc., all understanding the
precept to be directed against excessive severity. Cartwright renders
it "Let not thy soul spare him, _to his destruction._" +20. Latter
end,+ rather _afterwards._ +22. The desire of a man,+ &c. Rather _"A
man's delight_ (or glory) _is his beneficence,"_ or _A man's kindness
is what makes him desirable_ or, _is a desirable adornment._ +24. In
his bosom,+ rather, _in the dish._ This is of course a hyperbolic
expression to set forth the inactivity of the slothful man.
"Athenæus," says Fausset, "describes (ch. xii. 27) the slothful man
as waiting until the roasted and seasoned thrushes fly into his mouth
begging to be devoured." +27. Cease my son,+ &c. "That causeth" are
not in the original and the instruction spoken of may therefore be
evil or good. "Two conceptions are possible: 1. The instruction is
that of wisdom itself, and therefore a good wholesome discipline that
leads to life; then the words can be only ironical, presenting under
the appearance of a discussion from discipline in wisdom a very
urgent counsel to hear and receive it (so Ewald, Bertheau, Elster).
2. The instruction is evil and perverted, described in clause 2 as
one that causes departure from the words of wisdom. Then the
admonition is seriously intended" (Zöckler, in Lange's Commentary).
On Zöckler's first interpretation Dr. Aiken remarks, "To call this
'irony' seems to us a misnomer. Cease to hear instruction only to
despise it. What can be more direct or literally pertinent?"
Delitzsch says, "The proverb is a dissuasive from hypocrisy, a
warning against the self-deception of which Jas. i. 22-24 speaks,
against heightening one's own condemnation, which is the case of that
servant who knows his lord's will and does it not (Luke xii. 47)."
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 1.
THE BETTER PART.
+I. A reference to an unexplained mystery of human life.+ It is here
implied, though it is not directly expressed, that the fool who is
perverse in his lips--who sets himself in speech and action against
the moral law of the universe--is not so poor a man as he who walks
in integrity. (We have before had this latter character before us.
See Homiletics on chap. xi. 3, page 196.) It seems as strange that
power and influence should be so often given to those who know least
how to put them to a good use, as it would be to see a parent put a
knife into the hand of a child who is incapable of using it, yet it
is a sight which meets us on every hand, and a mystery which has
presented itself to the minds of thinking men in all ages. Solomon
had met with such instances in his day--he had seen the godly and
upright walking in the shade and treading the bye-paths of life,
while the perverse and foolish man was basking in the sunlight of
worldly prosperity in the highways of society.
+II. An assertion, that, notwithstanding contrary appearances, the
better portion is with the better man.+ It is not, after all, what a
man's portion is, but how he uses it, that makes his life a blessing
or a curse. A man who walks in integrity makes the righteous law of
his God the rule of his life, and this keeping of the Divine
commandments brings with it a reward (Psa. xix. 11) of which the
rebellious fool knows nothing. He knows how to use his more limited
opportunities and influence to the best advantage--how to put out his
small capital so as to obtain the best interest upon it--how to trade
with his five talents so as to make them other five, and so he is
daily laying up a treasure which is better than all the fame and
wealth that belongs to this world, for it is the riches of a
righteous character by which he is raised himself to a higher
spiritual level, and by which he is able to make the world better
than he found it.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Integrity is itself a life, and a whole enjoyment, and better,
therefore, than worldly interests which are nothing of the kind.
Walking is an eastern figure, and we have failed to substitute it by
a western one. A _way_ in the East means a man's total course.
_Walking,_ therefore, means his total life or being. _Better is a
poor man, etc.,_ refers, therefore, to a man not living in his money,
nor indeed, in his horses or in his hounds, not _living in_ his
integrity, but _walking_ in it, _i.e.,_ spending his whole time in
it, staying in that way; of course, taking his pleasure in it (see
verse 22). We have before seen that _speech_ means _whole conduct._
The mouth, in those days, was the great implement of action. It is so
still. The commonest labourer bargains out and orders out half his
living by his mouth. "Perverse" or "crooked" in speech means speaking
(_i.e._ acting) athwart of what we ourselves know in many
particulars; first, athwart all moral truth; second, athwart deep
personal conviction; third, athwart all personal interest (as our
text implies). A Christian talks straight, because he speaks (acts)
coincidentally with all of these. A sinner is crooked of lip, because
he says what he does not think, and traverses for his lusts all the
best principles of his moral nature.--_Miller._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSES_ 2 _and_ 3.
IGNORANCE LEADING TO SIN.
+I. The soul of man cannot be absolutely without knowledge.+ There is
some knowledge which comes to the soul without any effort on the part
of the man, which he has but to live to acquire, just as he has but
to open his eyes to see. He is conscious of his own existence--of his
personal identity as apart from all the beings and things by which he
is surrounded, and of his capability of suffering and enjoyment, of
hope and despair. And because of the light within him he cannot be
altogether ignorant of the difference between right and wrong,
between truth and falsehood. But his necessary knowledge extends to
beings and things outside of himself. He knows without any effort
much about the men and things which surround him, and the visible
things of creation make it impossible that he should be altogether
ignorant of the existence of the invisible God and Creator. So the
apostle argues in Rom. i. 20.
+II. There is a knowledge which it is good to be without.+ There is a
knowledge which human nature in its original dignity and sinlessness
did not possess, the absence of this experimental knowledge was an
essential element of its blessedness. The ignorance of evil was a
blessed ignorance in which man's Creator would have kept him but for
his own wilfulness, and the knowledge of which brought him misery. It
is the blessedness of the unfallen spirits who have kept their first
estate, that although they are conscious of the existence of evil in
the universe, they have no experimental knowledge of it, and this
ignorance constitutes the blessedness of the ever-blessed God
Himself. Those sons of men who, because they are, and ever have been,
in perfect health, know nothing experimentally of bodily pain or
weakness, find it very good to be without this knowledge, and how
much more good it is to be without a knowledge of soul disease and
spiritual suffering.
+III. But there is an acquired knowledge which is indispensable to a
man's well-being.+ Intellectual knowledge of some kind is necessary
to prevent a man from being a shame to himself and a cumberer of the
land. The well-being of the community depends upon one man's knowing
some one thing that another man does not know; no man can know all
things or even many things; no man, however great his knowledge, has
enough of it to make him independent of the knowledge of others, but
every man ought to have such a thorough knowledge of some facts and
truths as to enable him to minister first to some of his own daily
needs and to contribute something to the well-being of his fellow
creatures. Some men must have theoretical knowledge, and others must
know how to reduce theories to practice--the knowledge of the one is
useless without the knowledge of the other. It behoves some men to
investigate the history of the past, and to use this knowledge they
so acquire for the good of the present generation, but while they are
doing this it is indispensable that others should acquire a knowledge
of things as they are at present, and should utilise their knowledge
for the attainment of other ends which are quite as good. But
intellectual knowledge of some kind is also necessary for the
well-being of the mind itself. Man's mind can no more feed upon
itself and be healthy than his body can feed upon itself and live. As
the body needs to receive matter into itself to nourish and sustain
it, so the mind needs to receive ideas upon which to feed and by
which to grow. Without such a reception the intellectual part of a
man remains undeveloped, and he is very far from the creature,
intellectually considered, that God intended him to be. But there is
a kind of knowledge even more needful for man to possess than that
which will merely enlarge his mind or promote his temporal
well-being. If his existence is to be really blest he must know
things which relate to his spiritual well-being--he must be
acquainted with the will of God concerning him, both in relation to
the life that now is and to that which is to come. It is a calamity
to be ignorant of things which fit a man to make the best of the
present life, but it is a far greater calamity to be without that
knowledge which fits a man for a blessed life beyond death. No man
who possesses the revealed Word of God in the Scriptures need be
without this most blessed and indispensable knowledge--everyone who
thirsts for it may drink of this living water, and every hungry soul
may eat of this bread and learn what are the thoughts of God
concerning him, and what are the Divine purposes concerning his
present and his future (Isa. lv. 1-7). And to be without this
knowledge is indeed "not good," for it prevents the soul from
recovering its lost and original dignity. A knowledge of the glorious
God in the face of Jesus Christ is the means by which we are
delivered from the penalty and power of sin, and more than recover
the position lost by man's fall. Ignorance here is indeed a fatal
ignorance in those who have the knowledge within their reach; it is
not good for any human soul to be without this knowledge, and it is
most soul-destroying to those who have only to seek it in order to
find it.
+IV. Some of the evil consequences which flow from ignorance in
general and from ignorance of God in particular.+ 1. _Ignorance leads
to hasty action, and consequently often to wrong action._ For, "he
that hasteth with his feet sinneth," and "the foolishness of man
perverteth his way." In common and every-day life we find that the
most ignorant people are the least cautious, and act with the least
reflection. Knowledge teaches men to think before they act, for it
makes men more alive to the importance of their actions. A child will
play with gunpowder with as little hesitation as he would with common
dust, but a man would not do so, because he knows what would be the
consequences if it ignited. A man who has never been in a coalmine,
and who was ignorant of the dangers of fire-damp, would be very
likely to descend the shaft and enter hastily into the gloomy
passages without first testing the state of the air, but a miner
would not do so, because he knows more about the matter. He would
advance cautiously, and ascertain what was before him before he
ventured far. So people who are ignorant of the mind and will of God
as revealed in His Word act without much thought as to the
consequences of their actions--they enter upon a road at the impulse
of a passing fancy, without asking themselves whither it leads--they
decide upon a certain course of action without thought of the
consequence. And such a hasting with the feet is always a perversion
of a man's way, a wandering from the right path, for a fallen man
does not forsake the evil and choose the good by instinct but by
effort founded upon reflection. 2. _Spiritual ignorance leads to
rebellion against God._ It is only a man who does not know God, who
"frets against the Lord." A child because he is ignorant of his
father's motives will fret against the wise and kind restrictions
which the father places around him. So men wilfully ignorant that
whenever God says "Thou shalt not" He is only saying "Do thyself no
harm," chafe and fret against His moral laws. They will not set
themselves to obtain that knowledge of God which the Gospel reveals
and consequently they look at all His commands through a cloud of
ignorance which makes them grievous and heavy instead of easy and
light. And there are many mysteries connected with God's government
that will tend to make men's hearts fretful and discontented if they
remain in ignorance of His character. There are many problems in
connection with man's present life which he cannot solve--many
apparent contradictions, and much which looks like injustice on the
part of Him who rules the world, and every soul who does not know God
as He is revealed in His Son will, when he thinks on these things, is
likely to be led to harbour rebellious thoughts against Him. When we
consider the evil which flows from ignorance of God we can better
understand how it is that "the knowledge of the Lord" is so often
used in Scripture as synonymous with all that can bless and elevate
mankind (see Isa. xi. 9, etc.).
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
We should desire first the enlightening of the eyes and then the
strengthening of the feet. Hence "Make me to understand the way of
Thy precepts," and then, "I will run the way of Thy commandments"
(Psa. cxix. 27, 32). He that would sail safely must get a good pilot
before good rowers. Swift horses, without a skilful waggoner,
endangers more. He that labours for feet before he has eyes, takes a
preposterous course; for, of the two the lame is more likely to come
to his journey's end than the blind. . . . Hence we see that there is
more hope of a vicious person that hath a good understanding, than of
an utterly dark and blind soul, though he walks upon zealous
feet. . . . _Learn to know God._ "How shall we believe on Him we have
not known?" (Rom. x. 14). Knowledge is not so much slighted here, as
it will be wished hereafter. The rich man in hell desires to have his
brethren taught (Luke xvi. 28). Sure if he were alive again, he would
hire them a preacher. "The people are destroyed for lack of
knowledge" (Hosea iv. 6). If we see a proper man cast away at the
sessions for a _non legit,_ with pity we conclude he might have been
saved, if he could have read. At that general and last assizes, when
Christ shall "come in flaming fire," woe be to them that "know not
God" (2 Thess. i. 8). For "He will pour out His fury upon the
heathen, that know Him not, and upon the families that call not on
His name" (Jer. x. 25). . . . In Prov. ix. 18, the new guest at the
fatal banquet is described by his ignorance. "He knoweth not" what
company is in the house, "that the dead are there." It is the devil's
policy, when he would rob and ransack the house of our conscience,
like a thief to put out the candle of our knowledge; that we might
neither discern his purposes, nor decline his mischiefs. . . . Indeed
ignorance may make a sin a less sin, but not no sin. "I obtained
mercy, because I did it ignorantly, in unbelief," says the apostle
(1 Tim. i. 13). The sins of them that know are more heinous than the
sins of them that know not. But if thou hadst no other sin, thy
ignorance is enough to condemn thee, for thou art bound to know. They
that will not know the Lord, the Lord will not know them.--_T. Adams._
The most innocent of all faults might seem ignorance. The only sin
(when philosophically stated) is ignorance. The "chains" that confine
the lost (2 Pet. ii. 4) are "darkness." The charge that overtakes the
saved is light (2 Cor. iv. 6). The graces that adorn the Christian
all flow from a new intelligence. Our text is literally exact. If the
man "has no knowledge," and that of a deep spiritual sort, his "life
is no good;" that is, it possesses none, and is itself a horrid evil.
And yet the concluding clause largely relieves the difficulty. The
man, knowing there was something wrong, ought to pause, and grope
about for the light, just as all would in a dark cavern. Instead of
that he rushes darkly on. Here, the inspired finger is put upon the
precise mistake. We are warned that we are in blindness. Why not
hesitate, then, and cast about us? We push on, knowing we are in the
dark. This is the photograph of the impenitent. . . . And yet, the
wise man says, he ignores this point of wilfulness, and in his heart
is angry with the Almighty. He "perverteth," or _subverteth_ "his
way," that is, totally _upsets_ and ruins, so that it is no way at
all. Nothing could describe more truly the sinner's path, because it
does not reach even the ends that he himself relied on. Death
arrives, too, to wreck it totally. And though he has resisted the
most winning arts to draw him unto Christ, yet, at each sad defeat,
"his heart is angry against Jehovah."--_Miller._
Verse 2. Haste, as opposed to sloth, is the energy of Divine grace
(Psa. cxix. 60; Luke xix. 6). Here, as opposed to consideration,
_acting hastily_ is sin. This impatience is the genuine exercise of
self-will, not taking time to inquire; not "waiting for the counsel
of the Lord." Godly Joshua offended here (Josh. ix. 14, 15). Saul's
impatience cost him his kingdom (1 Sam. xiii. 12). David's _haste_
was the occasion of gross injustice (2 Sam. xvi. 3, 4).--_Bridges._
_Religion a sentiment and a science._ I know of no attack on
Christianity more artfully made than that which is attempted when a
distinction is attempted to be drawn between religion and
theology. . . . Let us see what the value of religion is, when it is
separated from theology. We are told that religion is a sentiment, a
temper, a state of mind. Theology is a science, a pursuit, a
study . . . and it is asserted and insinuated that it may be well
with the soul, although it be destitute of spiritual knowledge. . . .
But we, who are called Christians, by the very name we bear, imply
that more than devotional sentiment is necessary to make a religious
man. . . . You must accept Jesus as the only Saviour if you would
escape perdition, and how can you accept Him unless you know Him?
Nay, further, how can you accept Him unless you know yourself? . . .
There are many other things which we ought to know and believe, to
our soul's health and comfort; but . . . the soul that is without
knowledge of this, the great Christian scheme, the Divine plan of
salvation, is only nominally and by courtesy a Christian soul. . . .
Except as hearing upon these truths, the religious sentiment is a
luxury and nothing more. . . . It is not the theoretical
_distinction_ between the sentiment and the science that we censure,
but their separation and divorce.--_Dean Hook._
Verse 3. Such was _the foolishness_ of Adam! First he _perverted his
way;_ then he charged upon God its bitter fruit. "God, making him
upright," made him happy. Had he been ruled by his will, he would
have continued so. But, "seeking out his own inventions" (Eccles.
vii. 29), he made himself miserable. As the author of his own misery,
it was reasonable that he should fret against himself, but such was
his pride and baseness, that _his heart fretted against the Lord,_ as
if He, and not himself, was responsible (Gen. iii. 6-12). This his
first-born, when his own sin had brought "punishment" on him,
_fretted,_ as if "it were greater than he could bear" (Ib. iv. 8-13).
This has been _the foolishness_ of Adam's children ever since God has
linked together moral and penal evil, sin and sorrow. The fool rushes
into the sin and most unreasonably _frets_ for the sorrow; as if he
could "gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles" (Matt.
vii. 16). He charges his crosses, not on his own perverseness, but on
the injustice of God (Ezek. xviii. 25). But God is clear from all the
blame (James i. 13, 14): He had shown the better; man chooses the
worse. He had warned by His Word and by conscience. Man, deaf to the
warning, plunges into the misery; and, while "eating the fruit of his
own ways," _his heart frets against the Lord._ "It is hard to have
passions, and to be punished for indulging them. I could not help it.
Why did He not give me grace to avoid it?" (See Jer. vii. 10). Such
is the pride and blasphemy of an unhumbled spirit. The malefactor
blames the judge for his righteous sentence (Isa. viii. 21, 22; Rev.
xvi. 9-11, 21).--_Bridges._
This was the case in Greece as well as in Judea; for Homer observed
that "men lay those evils upon the gods, which they have incurred
through their own folly and perverseness.". . . This is often the
case with regard--1. _To men's health._ By intemperance . . .
indolence . . . or too close application to business . . . or unruly
passions, they injure their frame . . . and then censure the
providence of God. 2. _To their circumstances in life._ . . . Men
complain that providence frowns on them . . . when they have chosen a
wrong profession, despising the advice of others . . . or when they
have brought themselves into straits by their own negligence. 3. _To
their relations in life._ They complain of being unequally
yoked . . . when they chose by the sight of the eye, or the vanity
and lusts of the heart. . . . They complain that their children are
undutiful . . . when they have neglected their government. 4. _To
their religious concerns._ They complain that they want inward peace
when . . . they neglect the appointed means of grace . . . and that
God giveth Satan power over them when by neglect they tempt the
tempter.--_Job Orton._
For Homiletics on the main thought of verse 4 see on chapter xiv. 20,
page 370.
_SUGGESTIVE COMMENT._
They are friends to the wealth, not the wealthy. They regard not
_qualis sis,_ but _quantus_--not how thou art, but how great. . . .
These flatter a rich man, as we feed beasts, till he be fat, and then
fall on him. . . . These friends love not thy soul's good, but thy
body's goods.--_T. Adams._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSES_ 5 _and_ 9.
THE END OF A FALSE TONGUE.
We have before had proverbs dealing with the evil of lying (see
Homiletics on chap. xii. 17-19, xiv. 25, pages 274 and 379), and the
constant recurrence of the subject, together with the repetition of
the verses here, shows us the vast importance which the inspired
writer attached to truth, and the many and great evils which flow
from a disregard of it. Again and again he holds up the liar to view
as a monster of iniquity, and seeks, both by the threatening of the
retribution which awaits it and by the misery which it causes to
others, to deter men from yielding to this sin. If we consider what
mischief a false man can do, we shall not be surprised at the
prominence which the wise man gives to this subject (see ch.
xii. 17-19, 22, page 274). But the most dangerous element of the
lying tongue is the fact that in nine cases out of ten no human
tribunal can bring to justice, and perhaps few human tribunals would
care to do so. "The world," says Dr. David Thomas ("Practical
Philosopher," page 414) "abounds in falsehood. Lies swarm in every
department of life. They are in the market, on the hustings, in
courts of justice, in the senate house, in the sanctuaries of
religion; and they crowd the very pages of modern literature. They
infest the social atmosphere. Men on all hands live in fiction and by
fiction." If we allow that this picture is a true one, and alas! we
cannot deny that it is, we can see that the evil is one with which no
human hand can deal. A tiger may come down from a neighbouring forest
and enter the city, and spread terror and dismay all round, and even
kill a dozen of its inhabitants. But he is a tangible creature, he
can be faced and attacked with weapons which can pierce his skin and
make him powerless to do any further mischief. But into the same city
may enter upon the summer wind impalpable particles of matter charged
with a poison which may slay not ten men but ten thousand, and no
weapon that has ever been forged by human hand can slay these
destroyers. The plague will keep numbering its victims until the
poison has spent itself or until a pure and healthful breeze scatters
the deadly atmosphere. So with lying in comparison with more palpable
and gross crimes. The thief can be caught and imprisoned, the
murderer is generally traced and hanged; but the sin of lying so
permeates the whole social atmosphere that nothing but the diffusion
of heavenly truth can rid the world of the poison. But the liar,
however he escapes some forms of retribution, "shall not go
unpunished." 1. _He shall be self-punished._ His own conscience will
be his judge and executioner in one. The fear of discovery here will
generally haunt him as a shadow does the substance, but if this ghost
is laid there will be times, however hardened he may be, when that
witness for truth that is within him will scourge him in the present
and fill him with forebodings concerning the future. 2. _Men will
punish him by not believing him when he speaks the truth._ In
proportion as a man's veracity is doubted will be the suspicion with
which his word is received. He may tell the truth on two occasions
out of three, but if his falsehood on the third is found out, his
truth-telling on the first and second will not avail him much. It is
a terrible thing to live always in an atmosphere of distrust, but it
is one of the punishments of a liar. 3. _God will punish him after he
leaves this world._ Concerning him and some other great transgressors
it is written that--_"they shall have their part in the lake which
burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death"_ (Rev.
xxi. 8). Whatever may be the precise meaning of these terrible words,
we know that they were spoken by one whose every word was _"true and
faithful"_ (see verse 5 of the same chapter), and they are but an
intensified form of the last clause of our texts--"He that speaketh
lies shall perish."
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Falsehood is like fire in stubble. It likewise turns all around it
into its own substance for a moment--one crackling, blazing moment,
and then dies. And all its contents are scattered in the wind without
place or evidence of their existence, as viewless as the wind which
scatters them.--_Coleridge._
"He whose breath is lies shall be lost." _Breath_ means the inborn
and natural impulse. The root of the verb translated _"shall perish,"
means to lose oneself by wandering about._ The cognate Arabic means
to _flee away wild in the desert._ The spirit, therefore, that
habitually breathes out falsities, and so acts constitutionally
athwart of what is true, is best described by keeping to the
original; that is, instead of perishing in the broader and vaguer
way, he _wanders off and is lost_ in the wilderness of his own
deceptions.--_Miller._
The thief doth only send one to the devil; the adulterer, two; the
slanderer hurteth three--himself, the person of whom, the person to
whom he tells the lie.--_T. Adams._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSES_ 6 _and_ 7.
THE PROOFS OF HUMAN SELFISHNESS.
+I. The servile regard which men pay to rank and wealth.+ A prince is
a man in whose hand there is power to advance the material interests
of other men, and this makes him a loadstone to the godless man
whatever his character may be. As the magnet will attract all the
steel dust within its reach, so the prince is a magnet which attracts
all the self-seeking and the worldly who can by any possibility
obtain any favour from him. To gain that favour they will fawn upon
him and flatter him, and will stoop even to become supplicants at his
feet. Let him be one of the most contemptible of human creatures,
there will not be wanting those who may be in many respects his
superiors who will serve him from hope of advancing their own
interests. We know that this is not universally the case--that there
have been noble men in all ages who would scorn to entreat the favour
of any man, simply because he was a man of power; but Solomon here
speaks of the rule and not of the exception, and the fact that it is
so testifies to the self-seeking which is the characteristic of men
in general.
+II. The treatment which the poor man often receives from his more
wealthy kinsfolk.+ The proverb implies that those who hate him and
pass him by with disdain are richer than himself, and therefore not
only bound to pity his poverty but able to lighten his burden. But
the same selfishness which draws men to the rich causes them to shun
the poor in general, and especially their poor relations, for they
feel conscious that these latter have a stronger claim upon them than
those who are not so related. And even if the poor man does not need
the help of his richer brethren he will often find himself
unrecognised by them, simply because he occupies a lower social
station. He has nothing to give them in the way of material good--his
favour is worth nothing in the way of promoting their worldly
interests--the very fact that he is poor and yet is more or less
nearly connected by family ties is supposed to dim the lustre of
their greatness, and they therefore cherish towards him a positive
dislike which they manifest by avoiding his society as much as
possible, and by receiving all his advances towards friendship with
coolness and disdain. If we had no other proof of the depth to which
man has fallen since God created him in His own image, the regard
which men pay, not to what a man _is,_ but to what he _has,_ would be
one sad enough. (See also Homiletics on chap. xiv. 20, page 370.)
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Princes need not pride themselves in the homage that is paid to them,
for their favour is sought by men, not so much out of regard to their
persons, as from a regard to their power. Kindness and liberality
have a greater influence for gaining the hearts of men, than dignity
of station. There are many that seek the ruler's favour, but every
man loves him that is generous. When power and generosity meet in the
same person, he becomes an object of universal esteem, like Marcus
Antoninus, who was lamented by every man when he was dead, as if the
glory of the Roman empire had died with him.
How inexcusable are we, if we do not love God with all our hearts.
His gifts to us are past number, and all the gifts of men to us are
the fruits of His bounty, conveyed by the ministry of those whose
hearts are disposed by His providence to kindness. "I have seen thy
face," said Jacob to Esau, "as the face of God." His brother's favour
he knew to be a fruit of the mercy of Him with whom he spake and
prevailed at Bethel.--_Lawson._
For Homiletics on verses 8 and 9 see verses 2 and 5 of this chapter,
also on chapters viii. 36 and ix. 12, pages 121 and 124.
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 10.
INCONGRUITIES.
+I. Where there is wealth or exalted station their ought to be
correspondent qualifications.+ (For the real signification of the
word translated "delight" see Critical Notes.) If a man is rich he
ought to be wise, and if he is powerful he ought to have been
instructed how to use his power well. A fool is useless in any
condition of life, but a fool who is the possessor of a fortune is a
power for evil. We must understand the word "servant" here to mean an
ignorant and incapable man--one who, though able to serve, has no
ability to rule. A man may be very well fitted to perform the duties
of a common seaman, but if he is ignorant of the laws of navigation
it would be a great misfortune for both himself and the rest of the
crew if he were to be appointed to the captain's post. If he had
remained before the mast he might have done good service, but when he
is promoted to a higher rank he is only an instrument of mischief. Of
the two incongruities dealt with in the proverb this last is the most
fruitful of evil. It is a lamentable thing when great riches come
into the possession of a fool who does not know how to use his wealth
either for his own or his neighbour's good, and it may be productive
of positive harm both to himself and others. Instances are not at all
uncommon, and most men have met with them, in which a man in a very
humble station, and destitute of true and spiritual wisdom, inherits
suddenly a large fortune. In the majority of such cases the
inheritance is a curse rather than a blessing, for the inheritor has
no idea how to use it so as to promote his own real welfare. His
higher nature has never been developed, consequently he has no
spiritual or intellectual desires to gratify, and all he can do with
his wealth is to minister to his appetites and gratify his passions,
which he often does in a most unseemly way, and to an extent which
makes him a worse man when he is rich than he was when he was poor.
But this misuse of wealth is not so great a misfortune as the misuse
of power. The evil effects of the first will be confined within
comparatively narrow limits, but those of the latter are widespread.
When a man is neither a prince by birth or by nature, and yet is in a
position which gives him power over men who are either or both, there
is a great disproportion in the moral fitness of things which
generally brings much social and national trouble. For if a man's
only title to rule is that of birth, it is better for those whom he
rules than if he had none at all. If he is an incapable man himself
he may be the descendant of greater men, although they cannot
reverence him for what he is. But when he has not even this small
claim on their obedience, the unseemliness is so great that national
anarchy, and consequently much individual suffering, is the almost
certain result.
+II. Either of these incongruities present a deep mystery in the
Divine government.+ When we consider what a great power for good as
well as for evil is wrapped up in wealth, the providence appears to
us dark which often gives it to the moral fool and leaves the wise
man destitute. But when we find a weak man apparently holding in his
hands the destinies of many stronger and nobler men--a "servant"
ruling over "princes"--the providence seems darker still. But there
are two sources whence we can draw comfort. We can look forward to
that "time of restitution of all things" (Acts iii. 21) when all
these manifest inconsistencies shall be done away with, and we can
assure ourselves that "things are not what they seem"--that the
wisdom of the wise man is a greater power for good than the wealth of
the rich, and that, after all, the choice of the ruler is in the hand
of those whom he rules, and that if the latter are "princes" they
will not long suffer themselves to be ruled by one who is "a servant."
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
1. In its secular form this truth is obvious. 2. In its higher but
intermediate form, it means that an ungodly sinner, here called _"a
stupid man,"_ on his way to death and judgment, is so shockingly off
in all interests of his being, that _"delight"_ is a mockery; it is
anything but suited to his state. And to have him stand, as he often
does, superior to Christians, overawing Christian life, and
repressing Christian eminence of character, is indeed a _servant
ruling a prince;_ and it is as good an instance as could be met, of
something that does not _suit,_ or as the original has it, does not
_sit well._ 3. But Solomon would carry it a story higher. He means to
continue his pursuit of the _impenitent._ He means to tell them that
their _delight,_ in itself considered, would not _sit well;_ that to
reward a fool would bring dishonour upon government; and to release
the outlaw from his bonds would really be to elect the slave to a
post higher than the _"princes."--Miller._
With all the preference here expressed for virtuous poverty, the
seemliness of rank, and the violence done by the upstart rule of the
lower over the higher, are not overlooked.--_Chalmers._
Abundance of wealth, dainty fare, and pastime or recreation, is not
meet for a vain and wicked person. For, first of all, he rather
deserveth correction than recreation; secondly, he abuseth all his
delights and possessions to his own hurt, being drunken with his
vanities; last of all, he is so puffed upon and corrupted by
prosperity, that he oppresseth his neighbours. . . . But if a light
vanity beseem not a vain person, then authority, which carrieth with
it a weight of glory, less beseemeth a vile person, who is of a
servile disposition and condition, especially that rule which is
exercised over noble personages.--_Muffet._
Judge, then, how horrible it is that men should set the devil or his
two angels, the world and the flesh, on the throne, while they place
God on the footstool; or that in this commonwealth of man, reason,
which is the queen or princess over the better powers and graces of
the soul, should stoop to so base a slave as sensual lust.--_T.
Adams._
The reason is, because a wise man is master of his delight, a fool is
servant unto it. And delight never doth well but where it is
commanded, never doth so ill as where it is commander. . . . The
command of delight is like the ruling of a servant over princes; and
as he is foolish in ruling, so it is the quality of a fool to give
the ruling of his heart unto delight.--_Jermin._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSES_ 11 _and_ 12.
TWO KINGS.
+I. The man who exercises despotic power over the destinies of his
fellow creatures.+ The similitudes by which Solomon describes the
power that is sometimes lodged in a kingly hand are very strong, and
were more true in his day than they are in ours. The wrath of a
despot is like the roaring of a lion because it is an indication of
the destructive power that lies behind it. That roar is not an empty
sound, for everyone who hears it knows that the savage beast can do
more than roar--that he can tear in pieces the unfortunate victim of
his wrath. If he could only roar men would listen unmoved, but they
tremble because they know that his anger can find an outlet in a more
terrible manner. There are men whose wrath, although it is fierce,
does not fill its objects with any alarm--they know that the man's
anger can only find an outlet in words and that he is impotent to do
them harm. But there are those whose anger can work terrible evil to
its victims, and who have such forces at their command that a man may
well fear to incur their wrath. There have been despots in the world
to incur whose displeasure was like awaking the fury of a wild beast,
and whose manner of repaying those who had offended them was more
brutal than human. But men in such a position have as much power to
bless as to curse. If they choose to exercise their prerogative in a
kindly manner they can exercise an influence as reviving and as
cheering as that of "the dew upon the grass." Such an one can elevate
his subjects both socially and morally by the enactment of wise laws,
and in this sense can make a wilderness rejoice and blossom as the
rose. Perhaps, however, the proverb more directly refers to the power
of the king to exalt and promote his favourites--those who either by
chance or by devotion to his interests become objects of his especial
regard. If such men are poor the king's favour can effect as great a
transformation in their circumstances as the dew will upon a field
scorched by the sun, and so long as that favour continues they are as
continually and as liberally nourished as the grass is watered by the
daily dew.
+II. The man who can curb his anger and pardon an offence.+ Solomon
was a king whose power was not inaptly described by the twelfth
verse, but he had too much spiritual enlightenment to conceive that
there was any true glory in it alone. He gives the palm to the man
who can "rule his spirit," and who can "pass over a transgression,"
especially if that man has great power in his hand to visit the
offender with punishment. If it is the glory of a man with limited
influence to pardon an offender, it is much more glorious for a king
to do so, because his wrath is able to exercise itself without being
called to an account. This thought may be applied to the King of
kings, to the Omnipotent Ruler of the universe. When Moses besought
Him to show him His glory, _"He said, I will make all my goodness
pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before
thee,"_ and that name was, _"The Lord, the Lord God merciful and
gracious, long suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping
mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,"_
(Exod. xxxiii. 19, xxxiv. 6). For Homiletics on the same subject see
on chap. xiv. 29, page 386, and on chap. xvi. 32, page 497.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
If men, as they grow more sensible, forgive easier, and it is their
_honour_ or _glory_ to "pass over an offence," the implication is
that thus it must be with the All-Wise. Complaint is foolish, for
eternity will reveal that the Almighty took no pleasure in punishing
us. _"The commonest man,"_ literally "a man," but _a man_ under the
title which, all through this book, as in Isaiah ii. 9, distinguishes
itself from another title, which means _a man of the better sort._
This gives two points of heightened emphasis:--First, even the
commonest man thinks it well to forgive. How much more the Almighty!
And, second, even the commonest man, when _intelligent,_ forgives the
easier: how much more the _Great Intelligence?_ He who best
understands His honour would not be likely to inflict punishment,
unless where it was impossible that there should be a final escape
(ver. 5).--_Miller._
The monarch of the forest is a just comparison to the monarch of the
land. "The lion hath roared; who will not fear?" The rocks and hills
echo the terrific cry. The whole race of the animals of the forest
are driven to flight, or petrified to the spot. Such is _the king's
wrath_ in a land of despotism; reigning without law, above law, his
will his only law; an awful picture of cruelty, tyranny, and caprice!
Unlimited power is too much for proud human nature to bear, except
with special grace from above.--_Bridges._
Discretion is a buckler made of a cold, hard, smooth metal, and that
which giveth the true temper to the metal is _delay._ For in all the
ways of discretion delay holdeth it by the hand, it judgeth not
without delay, it worketh not without delay, it is not angry without
delay. The fiery darts that are thrown against it kindle not this
metal hastily, the strokes of wrong and injury bruise not this metal
easily; the apprehensions of a moved spirit fasten not easily upon
it, the fury that assaulteth it slips off by a mild smoothness from
it.--_Jermin._
The only legitimate anger is a holy emotion directed against an
unholy thing. Sin, and not our neighbour, must be its object. Zeal
for righteousness, and not our own pride, must be its distinguishing
character. The exercise of anger, although not necessarily sinful, is
exceedingly difficult and dangerous. . . . Thus it comes about, that
although anger be not in its own nature and in all cases sinful, the
best practical rule of life is to repress it, as if it were. The Holy
might use it against sin in the world, if the Holy were here, but it
seems too sharp a weapon for our handling. . . . The best practical
rule for the treatment of anger against persons is to defer it. Its
nature presses for instant vengeance, and the appetite should be
starved. A wise man may indeed experience the heat, but he will do
nothing till he cools again. When your clothes outside are on fire
you wrap yourself in a blanket, if you can, and so smother the flame;
in like manner, when your heart within has caught the fire of anger,
your first business is to get the flame extinguished. . . . To pass
over a transgression is a man's "glory." . . . This is a note in
unison with the Sermon on the Mount, and therefore at variance with
most of our modern codes of honour. It has often been remarked that
the Bible proves itself Divine by the knowledge of man which it
displays; but perhaps its opposition to the main currents of a human
heart are as clear a mark of its heavenly origin as its discovery of
what these currents are.--_Arnot._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSES_ 13, 14 _and_ 18.
DOMESTIC SORROW AND HOW TO AVOID IT.
+I. Two fruitful sources of sorrow.+ There are many fountains whence
flow waters which sadly embitter the lives of men, but there is none
outside of personal character which can more entirely darken their
days than either of those mentioned in the thirteenth verse. To be
either the father of a foolish son or the husband of a contentious
wife is sorrow indeed. The first clause of this proverb is nearly the
same as that in chap. x. 1, for Homiletics on which see page 137. The
contentious wife is here compared to a _"continual dropping,"_
because although the discomfort would not be great if it were only
occasional, its perpetual existence makes life wretched. A drop of
water falling upon a man's head is a very trifling matter, but one of
the most dreaded tortures of the Spanish inquisition was that in
which a man was placed in such a position that a single drop was
constantly descending upon his head. Hour after hour, day after day,
and night after night, the drops followed one another in regular and
unbroken succession until the poor wretch first lost reason and then
life. It is much harder to bear a burden which is never lifted from
the shoulders than to carry one which is much heavier for a short
time and for a very limited distance. So it is easier for a man to
rise above trials which, although they may be almost overwhelming for
a time, last but through a comparatively very short portion of his
life. But the trial of a contentious wife is unceasing so long as the
marriage bond continues, and it is this that makes it so greatly to
be dreaded.
+II. Means suggested whereby these sources of sorrow may be avoided.+
If so much depends upon our family relationships--if the character of
the wife and child have so much to do with our weal and woe--it
becomes a most momentous question how to act so as to secure a
prudent wife in the first place, and then to avoid the calamity of a
foolish son. It must be remembered that the first is purely a matter
of _choice._ A man's "house and riches" may be "the inheritance of
fathers," his social position may depend upon his parents, but his
wife depends upon his own choice, and as "a prudent wife is from the
Lord," if he seeks the guidance of Him who is alone the infallible
reader of character, instead of following the leading of his fancy or
consulting his worldly interests, he may with confidence expect to
avoid the curse and secure the blessing. The other relationship is
not one of choice. Our children are sent to us by the hand of God,
and we have no more voice in determining their dispositions and
mental constitutions than we have the colour of their hair, or any
other bodily characteristic. But of two things we are certain.
1. _That they will need a training which will not always be pleasant
to them._ Where there is disease in the body a cure cannot often be
effected without a resort to unpleasant--often to painful--measures.
It is not pleasant to a surgeon to use the knife, but it is often
indispensable to his patient's recovery to health. And both
experience and revelation testify to the fact that our children come
into the world with a moral taint upon them--that they have a
tendency to go the wrong way--that, in the words of the Psalmist (Ps.
li. 5) they are "shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin." If a
parent desires to avoid the calamity of a foolish son he must early
recognise the truth that his child will not become morally wise
unless he _"chasten"_ him, unless he subject him to a system of moral
training, unless he make him feel that punishment must follow sin.
This will be as painful sometimes to the parent as to the child; the
crying of the son will hurt the father more than the rod will hurt
the child, but the end to be attained by present suffering must be
borne in mind, and must nerve the heart and head of him whose duty it
is to administer chastisement. (On this subject see also Homiletics
on chap. xii. 24, page 334.) 2. _That there is reason to hope that
children, if rightly trained, will be a joy and not a sorrow. There
is hope._ When a river has but just left its source among the hills,
and the current is feeble, its progress can be stopped with ease; but
when it has flowed on for a few miles and there is depth of water
enough to float a fleet, it is almost impossible to stop its onward
course. So, when the power of evil in the human soul is in its
infancy, it is a much more easy task to restrain it than when it has
acquired strength by years of uncontrolled dominion. When the young
oak is but a few inches above the ground, the hand of the woodman can
bend the slender stem as he pleases; but when it has grown for half a
century he is powerless to turn it from the direction which it has
taken. So a child's will is pliable to the wise training of the
parent, and if the education of the moral nature be begun early,
there is every reason to hope that it will acquire strength to
overcome both sin within and without, and that a righteous manhood
will in the future more than repay both him whose duty it is to
chasten, and him upon whom the chastisement must fall.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verses 13, 14. "A prudent wife" is not to be got by an _im_prudent
mode of choice. The gift must be sought "from the Lord." But this
does not mean that the Lord is supernaturally to point out the
individual. Our own discretion must be put in exercise, along with
prayer for the Divine superintendence and direction, so as to bring
about a happy result. And then the precious gift should be owned, and
the all-bountiful Giver praised for his goodness in bestowing
it.--_Wardlaw._
"Every good gift is from the Lord" (James i. 17) only, some in the
ordinary course, others more directly from Him. Houses and riches,
through His gifts, come by descent. They are the inheritance of
fathers. The heir is known, and in the course of events he takes
possession of his estate. But the prudent wife is wholly unconnected
with the man. There has been no previous bond of relation. She is
often brought from a distance. "The Lord brought her to the man" by
His special Providence, and therefore as His special gift.--_Bridges._
Verse 18. The great force of the rule is its timely
application--_while there is hope._ For hopeless the case may be, if
the remedy be delayed. The cure of the evil must be commenced in
infancy. Not a moment is to be lost. "Betimes" (chap. xiii. 24;
xxii. 15)--is the season when the good can be effected with the most
ease, and the fewest strokes. The lesson of obedience should be
learnt at the first dawn. One decided struggle and victory _in very
early life,_ may, under God, do much towards settling the point at
once and to the end. On the other hand, _sharp chastening_ may fail
later to accomplish, what a slight rebuke in the early course might
have wrought.--_Bridges._
You are here taught further, that _firmness_ must be in union with
affection in applying the rod. The words seem to express a harsh, yet
it is an important and most salutary lesson:--_"let not thy soul
spare for his crying."_ The words to not mean, that you should not
feel, very far from that. It was the knowledge that feeling was
unavoidable, and that the strength and tenderness of it was ever apt
to tempt parents to relent and desist, and leave their end
unaccomplished,--that made it necessary to warn against too ready a
yielding to this natural inclination. The child may cry, and cry
bitterly, previously to the correction; but, when you have reason to
think the crying is for the rod rather than for the fault, and that,
but for the threatened chastisement, the heart would probably have
been unmoved, and the eyes dry;--then you must not allow yourselves
to be so unmanned by his tears, as to suspend your purpose, and
decline its infliction. If a child perceives this (and soon are
children sharp enough to find it out) he has discovered the way to
move you next time; and will have recourse to it
accordingly.--_Wardlaw._
On the subject of verse 15 see Homiletics on chap. vi. 9, 10, page 79.
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 16.
A DOUBLE KEEPING.
+I. A keeping of the Divine commandments.+ What is it to "keep the
commandments?" Dr. Miller translates this verb to _guard_ or _watch._
Taken in this sense therefore the proverb implies that there is
need--1. _To lay up God's law in our hearts._ It is to be our
constant aim to _know_ the will of God--the words which He has
spoken, the commands which He has given, are to be constantly kept in
remembrance and made the principal subject of our thoughts. We are to
tread in the footsteps of the man described in the first Psalm, whose
_"delight is in the law of the Lord"_ and who _"meditates"_ upon it
_"day and night."_ But the word as it is commonly understood
implies--2. _To translate God's law into life._ It is one thing to
_know_ the will of God, it is another thing to _do_ it. Knowledge
must come before obedience, but knowledge alone will not save the
soul from death.
+II. A keeping of the human soul.+ There is but one way to guard the
human soul from the dangers to which it is exposed, and that is by
complying with the demands of the God who can alone give spiritual
life. He commands us to yield ourselves unreservedly to His guidance,
to accept His method of being made right in relation to His law, to
fight against the evil tendencies of our fallen nature, and to seek
His help to overcome them. In doing this He has promised that we
shall find that emancipation from the bondage of sin, that awakening
of spiritual faculties, and that sense of His favour which alone is
the life of the soul. We have before dwelt upon proverbs which embody
truths similar to those contained in this verse. (See on chap. xi. 3,
page 195; chap. x. 8, page 151; chap. xiii. 6, 13, 14, pages 299,
312, 313; chap. xvi. 17, page 479.)
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
_Keep_ means to retain. _Guard_ means to watch. The root of the
present word means _to bristle,_ then to _watch close,_ either from
the _bristling_ of spears, or from a _sharp stave._ There is a
philosophy in these words, . . . viz., that conscience is vagrant. We
have to watch. Like the mind itself, it is hard to hold it to the
point. _Attention_ is our whole voluntary work. And, to a most
amazing degree, the Scriptures are framed upon this idea. We are to
_remember now our Creator_ (Eccles. xii. 1). We are to _remember the
Sabbath day_ (Exod. xx. 8). We are to _"observe to do,"_ etc. (this
very word _guard._) See Deut. v. 1, 32, _et passim. "Wherewithal_
shall a young man cleanse his way? By _taking heed_ (this same word
_guarding_) thereto according to Thy Word" (Psa. cxix. 9). _"Guards
himself"_ (the same word). (See Critical Notes.) This is an iron link
of sequence which no Anti-Calvinistic thought can shake. He who
stands sentry over the "commandment" stands sentry over _himself;_
literally _"his soul."_ There is no helplessness in man other than
that _tardema,_ or _deep sleep_ (ver. 15) which _"sloth"_ wilfully
casts him into, and which a voluntary slothfulness perpetually
increases and maintains. "The fault is not in our stars, but in
ourselves, that we are aliens." The proverb advances upon this in the
second clause. What more voluntary than a man's _"way?"_ It has a
voluntary goal, it has a daily journeying, and it includes all that
_is_ voluntary. Seize a man at any moment. All that he is upon is
part of his life's travel. Now, a Christian has but one _way._ So far
forth as he is a Christian, he has but one end, and one path for
reaching it. There is a beautiful unitariness in his journeying. It
is a habit of Scripture to turn attention to the _scattered_ life of
the lost. They have no one end. "If thine eye be single, thy whole
body shall be full of light," says the Saviour (Matt. vi. 23). Thou
"hast scattered thy ways to the strangers," says Jeremiah (iii. 13);
this same expression. "Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy
way" (Jer. ii. 36). _Despiseth_ (English version) suits the lexicon
and suits the sense, for certainly the lost man has less respect for
his way and life than the pardoned believer; but "scattering" is
equally legitimate and common; more strengthened by analogy, and more
in keeping with the first clause, where the verb _to guard_ stands
more opposed to vagrant and distraught ideas. _"Dies;"_ see Job v. 2.
Corruption is seated in the soul, but not out of reach by any means.
A man can increase it. What we do outside kills inwardly. A man's
counting-house might seem to have little to do with the state of _his
soul,_ but it is shaping it all the time. If he _scatters_ his ways
he is killing his soul, and what we are to remark is, that there is
an _ipso actu_ condition of the effect (as in chap. xi. 19) which is
expressed in the Hebrew. The vagrancy of a morning's worldliness is
that much more death, as punctually administered as any of the
chemistries of nature. The form is participial. It is "_in_
scattering," or "_as_ scattering," his ways that _"he dies."--Miller._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 17.
THE BEST INVESTMENT.
+I. A God-like disposition.+ To "pity the poor" and to show that we
do so by ministering to their necessities (for this is implied in the
proverb) is to be like God. We have before seen how He identifies
Himself with them, and how severe is the condemnation which He passes
upon those who wrong them. (See Homiletics and Comments upon chap.
xiv. 31, page 390, and upon chap. xvii. 5, page 504.) God is a Being
of compassion--the Gospel of salvation is a testimony to the
pitifulness of His nature. He has remembered man in his low estate
and in his condition of spiritual poverty, and out of the "riches of
His grace" (Ephes. i. 7) He has supplied his need. But he has not
only an eye for the spiritual necessities of His creatures, but for
those also which belong exclusively to their bodily nature. God
manifest in flesh had compassion upon the multitude because "they had
nothing to eat" (Matt. xv. 32), and the same pitiful heart is still
moved with a like emotion when He looks into the haunts of poverty
and sees men and women and little children without the necessaries of
life, or toiling hard and long for a pittance that is only just
enough to keep them from starvation. The man therefore who "has pity
on the poor" manifests a disposition akin to that of his Father in
heaven.
+II. A most reliable debtor.+ God incarnate fed the hungry by
miracle, but now that He has left the earth for a season He entrusts
the duty to human hands. He does not now rain down bread from heaven
to feed even his spiritual Israel, but He expects those of His
children to whom He has given more than enough of this world's good
things to do it for Him, and looks upon the act as a loan to Himself.
1. _That the investment will be a profitable one is certain, from the
character of God._ When men entrust others with their money, they
have especial regard to the character of those whom they make their
debtor. This forms the chief and most reliable security that a man
can have that he will receive it again. God's character is
pre-eminently good--so good that His Word is more than the bond of
the most trustworthy human creature, and none in heaven or earth or
hell will ever be able to say that He has not paid them what was
their due. 2. _The wealth of God is a guarantee that He will repay
with interest._ A man who is generous by nature, and possessed of
abundant means, will not only faithfully repay a loan but, if his
debtor is a needy man, will feel a pleasure in adding to it a large
interest, or will press him to accept some extra token of his esteem.
God is a great and bountiful proprietor of all the resources of the
universe, whether spiritual or material, and He loves to give
abundantly. He has been always giving out of His fulness since there
has been a creature upon whom to lavish His gifts, and He delights to
see His children give, like Himself, generously and ungrudgingly.
And, seeing he takes upon Himself to repay what is given to the poor,
His generosity and His wealth are sureties that the interest for the
loan will be very ample. His children may have to wait long for it,
but the longer they wait the greater the accumulation of interest.
They may receive a partial repayment in material good, but the great
recompense will be at the _"resurrection of the just"_ (Luke xiv. 14)
on that day when the King shall say unto them, _"Come, ye blessed of
my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world; for I was an hungered and ye gave me meat; I was
thirsty and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger and ye took me in;
naked and ye clothed me"_ (Matt. xxv. 34, 36).
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
When Alexander set forward upon his great exploits before he went
from Macedonia, he divided among his captains and friends all that he
had; for which, when one of his friends reproved him, saying that he
was prodigal, for that he had reserved nothing for himself, the
answer which Alexander gave was this: that he had reserved much unto
himself, namely, hope of the monarchy of the world, which by the
valour and help of those his captains and nobles he hoped to obtain.
And thus, surely, he that giveth to the poor may seem to be prodigal,
yet, in respect of the hope that he hath of profit, he is
frugal-wise; neither is his hope such as Alexander's was, which
depended on the uncertainty of war, but such as is grounded upon the
certainty of God's Word.--_Spencer._
The Lord will not only pay for the poor man, but requite him that
gave alms, with usury, returning great gifts for small. Give, then,
thine house, and receive heaven; give transitory goods, and receive a
durable substance; give a cup of cold water and receive God's
kingdom. . . . If our rich friend should say unto us, lay out so much
money for me, I will repay it, we would willingly and readily do it.
Seeing, then, our best friend, yea, our king, the King of kings,
biddeth us to give to the poor, promising that He will see us
answered for that we give, shall we not bestow alms at His motion and
for His sake?--_Muffet._
The off-hand sense is no doubt correct, and, as a worldly maxim,
_often_ the munificent are rewarded in this world. . . . But we are
not to suppose the generous to suffer, and the saint might lose by
being paid in money. The saint might need the chastisement of
pecuniary distress. We are not to suppose, therefore, this sense to
be the grand one. But the meaning is that obedience, if it be
spiritual, is a positive thing; that it involves large and generous
sacrifices; that it is to "visit the fatherless" (Jas. i. 27); and to
feed the hungry (Matt. xxv. 35); and that, in the grandest sense, he
that does these things _"makes a borrower of Jehovah;"_ and that the
transaction, under the grand head of guarding his own soul (ver. 16),
will pay him better than any less positive and more mystic species of
obedience. . . . It may be fancy, but _causing to borrow_ seems to
be more expressive than (as an equivalent) to _lend_ (E.V.). We _can
make_ God borrow of us at any time among the widows and the orphans
(Matt. xxv. 40; Jer. xlix. 11).--_Miller._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 18-20.
RELATIVE DUTIES.
We have before considered verse 18 in connection with verses 13 and
14. A reference to the Critical Notes will, however, show that there
is an interpretation of the last clause which was not treated there.
Verses 19 and 20, regarded separately, embody thoughts and precepts
which we have had before. (See Homiletics on chap. xiv. 17, 29, pages
363, 386, and on chap. xii. 15, page 271.) But these verses, taken in
conjunction with the other interpretation of the last clause of verse
18, may be regarded as giving valuable advice both to those who have
to enforce discipline and administer chastisement, and to those who
have to endure them.
+I. Counsel for parents.+ The reasonableness and necessity of
chastisement has been considered before, but the additional thought
which the other rendering of verse 18 makes prominent is, _that it
must be administered from a sense of duty, and dictated by love._
Parents are far too apt to punish their children, not because they
have sinned against _God,_ but because they have offended
_them,_--and when this is the case, the anger manifested deprives the
correction of its salutary effect. "When the rod is used," says
Wardlaw,--and the words may be applied to any form of parental
chastisement,--"the end in view should be, purely and exclusively,
the _benefit of the child;_ not the gratification of any resentful
passion on the part of the parent. Should the latter be apparent to
the child, the effect is lost, and worse than lost; for, instead of
the sentiment of grief and melting tenderness, there will be
engendered a feeling of sullen hostility, . . . if not, even, of
angry scorn, towards him who has manifested selfish passion rather
than parental love." The parent must regard himself as God's
representative, and must act, not as for himself, but for the Divine
Master and Father of both parent and child. If this is done, there
will be none of that "provocation to wrath" or "discouragement"
against which Paul puts Christians on their guard (Col. iii. 21;
Ephes. vi. 4), and there will be good ground to hope that the
chastisement will bring profit.
+II. Counsel to children.+ The reasoning here is akin to that used by
the Apostle in the twelfth of Hebrews. It is admitted by him (verses
11, 12), that "no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous,
but grievous;" nevertheless, those who have to endure it are exhorted
to accept it with submission because of the precious
_after-yield_--they are counselled to give themselves up to the
Divine pruner and suffer Him to work His will upon them now, in
consideration of the _"peaceable fruits of righteousness"_ which will
be the result in the days of harvest. So Solomon argues here. He does
not deny that "counsel" and "instruction," or rather _discipline,_
may often be unpalatable and irksome, but he holds up the wisdom that
may be gained by them as an incentive to induce the young to "hear"
and to "receive" them--he "reaches a hand through time," and "fetches
the far-off interest" of what at present seems grievous in order to
give effect to his exhortations. The actions of men in the present
are mainly determined by the amount of consideration they give to the
future. There are men who live wholly in the present hour--who
gratify the fancy or follow the passion of to-day without giving a
thought of the needs of to-morrow, or the penalty that they may then
have to pay for their folly. Others look ahead a little farther--they
fashion the actions of to-day with a due regard to the interests of
their whole future _earthly_ life, but they bestow no thought upon
the infinite _"afterward"_ that is to succeed it. The proverb
counsels both the young and the old to bring this long to-morrow into
the plans of to-day, and to let the remembrance of it open the ear to
the words of Divine wisdom by whomsoever they are spoken, and bend
the will to receive the "chastening of the Lord," whether it come in
the form of parental discipline or in a sterner garb.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verses 18, 19. _"Being in great wrath, remit the punishment; but if
thou let him escape, yet apply_ (or add) _chastisement again."_ (So
Muffet renders verse 19.) When thou are in thy mood, or burnest with
fiery anger and displeasure, let pass for that time the correcting of
thy child, lest thou passest measure therein, or mayest chance to
give him some deadly blow. Nevertheless, if for that time or for that
fault thou let him go free, yet let him not always go uncorrected;
but when thou art more calm, according as he offereth occasion,
correct him again.--_Muffet._
Do not venom discipline by naked animosity. This is the human aspect.
But now for the fine model of Jehovah. "He does not afflict
willingly" (Lam. iii. 33). He follows this maxim: "Discipline thy
son, because there is now hope." But Solomon wishes plainly to
declare that _to kill him He does not lift up His soul._ "He taketh
no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, but that all should turn
and live" (Ezek. xxxiii. 11). It is evidently these great timbers of
thought that Solomon is eyeing at the bottom of his structure. He is
settling them along in place. Secularly, they may have but little
connection; spiritually, they are all morticed close.--_Miller._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 21.
MANY PLANS WORKING TO ONE END.
This proverb suggests--
+I. The ignorance and sinfulness of man, the infinite knowledge and
goodness of God.+ Man is a creature of many devices; he is changeable
in his purpose and plans because he is so ignorant concerning their
issue. He cannot foretel with any certainty whether the event will be
according to his desire, or, if it should be so, whether it will
bring him satisfaction. Hence the purpose of to-day is not the
purpose of next year--the plans of his youth are different from those
of his riper years. But God is the same in His purposes yesterday,
to-day, and for ever, because He can _"declare the end from the
beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done"_
(Isa. xlvi. 10). A man's devices change in proportion as his feelings
and desires vary; and these are changeable in proportion as he lacks
perfection in his moral nature. But a Being of infinite goodness is
not subject to these changing moods and desires: and His plans are
like His character, always the same.
+II. The attitude which men ought to take in relation to this truth.+
It is obvious that the counsel of God must stand, and that it
deserves to stand before all the devices of men. If, therefore, men
would have their devices stand they must learn to square them by the
counsel of God. A child will have its own way when it has learned to
conform its will to the will of its parent. And if a man would have
his _"heart's desire,"_ he must so _"delight in God"_ (Psa.
xxxvii. 4) that what pleases God pleases him also. For other
Homiletics on this subject see on chap. xvi. 1 and 9, pp. 451, 468.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
The great collective whole of the "devices" of all hearts constitutes
the grand complex scheme of the human race for their happiness.
Respecting the object of every device, God has His design. There is
in the world a want of coalescence between the designs of man and
God--an estranged spirit of design on the part of man. God's design
is fixed and paramount.--_J. Foster._
_A man of the better sort._ This is simply one of the names for man.
We do not always translate it _one of the better sort._ But it is
rarely chosen listlessly. Here it creates an emphasis. The most
imposing _"schemes"_ belong to the intelligent and great. The world
is full of them. How foolish to build them up! Jehovah advises a
whole new behaviour for His creatures. How mad to scheme away from
it.--_Miller._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 22.
POVERTY OF HEART AND POVERTY OF CIRCUMSTANCES.
If we read the first clause of this proverb as it stands in our
translation it sets forth--
+I. The true measure of a man's benevolence.+ It is not to be
measured by the amount of money that he expends upon his
fellow-creatures, but upon his desire to benefit them. His desire to
help them may be very strong, and yet his circumstances may be such
that he has little more than sympathy to give. "The heart may be
full," says Wardlaw, "when the hand is empty." And many deeds of
charity that earn for men the title of benevolent are not really
performed for motives of goodwill to others but from selfish and
vainglorious ends. If we take the reading given in the Critical Notes
it teaches rather the truth--
+II. That small deeds of kindness are far preferable to large
professions of it.+ The _liar_ of the second clause is evidently one
who has it in his power largely to help others, and whose promises
are in proportion to his power. But they are promises only. He does
not hesitate by false words to raise hopes which he never intends to
fulfil, and thus becomes like the deceitful mirage of the desert,
which, after cheating the traveller with delusive hopes of water,
disappears, and leaves him more despairing than before. On the other
hand, the poor man is evidently one whose words never go beyond his
deeds, and whose deeds, if not great, are up to his ability, and are
so constantly performed and so evidently the outcome of real sympathy
that they are like the little rill which follows the wayfarer all
through his journey, and, which, although it can give but a little
water at a time, is always at hand with that little.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
But let it be observed and remembered--"the desires of a man are not
his kindness," when he has the ability to be practically kind, and
confines himself to desires. No. In that case, there is the clearest
of all evidence that the desire is not sincere; mere profession,
without reality--"love in word"--which is only another phrase for no
love at all. While, therefore, there are cases in which we
cheerfully, according to a common phrase, "take the will for the
deed," knowing that there is a want of ability to do what the heart
wishes; there are other cases in which we demand the deed as the only
proof of the will--the gift as the only evidence of the
charity.--_Wardlaw._
The imperial standard of weights and measures has been sent by the
King into the market place of human life, where men are busy cheating
themselves and each other. Many of these merchantmen, guided by a
false standard, have been all their days accustomed to call evil good
and good evil. When the balance is set up by royal authority, and the
proclamation issued that all transactions must be tested thereby,
swindlers are dismayed, and honest man are glad. Such is the word of
truth when it touches the transactions of men. . . . There is a most
refreshing simplicity in the language of Scripture upon these points.
This word speaks with authority. It is not tainted with the usual
adulation of riches. A dishonest man is called a liar, however high
his position may be in the city. And the honest poor gets his patent
of nobility from the Sovereign's hand. The honest rich are fully as
much interested in reform in this matter as the honest poor. Make
this short proverb the keynote of our commercial system, and epidemic
panics will disappear. . . . After each catastrophe people go about
shaking their heads and wringing their hands, asking, What will
become of us? What shall we do? We venture to propose an answer to
the inquiry. From the Bible first engrave on your hearts, then
translate in your lives, and last emblazon aloft on the pediment of
your trade temple this short and simple legend: _"A poor man is
better than a liar."_
For Homiletics on the subject of verse 23 see on chapter x. 24,
xiv. 26, and xviii. 10, pages 179 and 542. Verse 24 will be treated
in chap. xxvi. 12-16. For the subject of verses 25 and 29 see chap.
xvii. 10, page 509.
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSES_ 26-29.
POSSIBILITIES OF HUMAN DEPRAVITY.
+I. The tenderest admonitions and the most solemn warnings sometimes
fail to influence for good.+ Sometimes the most loving parental care
seems utterly wasted upon an ungrateful child, and the more constant
and tender the words of admonition the farther does he depart from
the way in which he ought to go. There is many a man so in love with
sin that he may be said to "devour iniquity" (verse 28); and when
this fatal appetite has taken possession of the soul all appeals to
his better nature, and even to his own self-love, are vain.
+II. When men are so hardened there is no depth of iniquity to which
they may not sink.+ He who scoffs at all threats of retribution, both
in this life and in that which is to come, has broken through all
barriers of restraint, and will be capable of outraging all the
tender ties of human relationship, even to the extent of bringing his
parents to disgrace and shame. The most hardened sinners in the
universe of God are not found in heathen lands, or among the ignorant
at home, but they are those who, having heard instruction, have
"erred from the words of knowledge." Each day that they resist the
good influence brought to bear upon them they increase their moral
insensibility, and their final condemnation (verse 29). Hence the
admonition of verse 27. (See Critical Notes.)
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verse 26. This were an admirable text for young men entering upon
life and still at the expense of their parents. It is a great
enormity either to waste the property of their father while he is
alive, or after they have succeeded to expel the widowed mother from
the premises.--_Chalmers._
Verse 27. It is so proper and natural for a son to hear instruction,
that the hearing instruction maketh to be a son. . . . But if thou
hear instruction, hear it not--not to be the better for it.
Instruction speaketh to keep thee _from erring:_ do not thou _hear it
to err:_ instruction putteth into thee the words of knowledge; do not
thou put them out by erring from them, by not following them. . . .
Cease thus to hear, but hear still. For by hearing at length thine
error may be corrected; whereas, if thou hear not, thou dost not only
err, but deprivest thyself of the means that reduce thee from
erring.--_Jermin._
* * * * * *