CRITICAL NOTES.--+2.+ The first clause of this verse should be, +As
the sparrow flitting, as the swallow flying,+ etc. +Causeless,+
_i.e., "undeserved"--i.e.,_ Such a curse is but transient--it alights
for the moment, but, like a bird, does not stay long. Miller and
others, however, understand the comparison to carry an entirely
opposite meaning. (See Suggestive Comments on the verse.) +3.+ To our
English ideas, the whip and bridle are assigned respectively to the
wrong animals, but it must be remembered that the Eastern ass is
often quite as spirited an animal as the horse. +6. Drinketh damage,+
or _"injury."_ As in Job xxi. 20, the verb _"drinketh"_ seems to
express suffering in a large measure. +7. Are not equal.+ The Hebrew
word, so rendered, is a very obscure one, and is rendered by
Delitzsch, Gesenius, and others, _"hang down."_ Zöckler and Stuart
give the sentence the imperative form, and read, _"Take away the legs
from the lame, and the proverb in the fool's mouth."_ +Parable.+ This
is the common word for proverb--the word that gives the title to the
book. On its real meaning, see the Introduction. +8. Sling.+
Gesenius, Zöckler, and many other commentators, adopt the reading in
the margin of the English version, and translate this word, which is
very obscure, _"a heap of stones."_ Stuart, Ewald, Delitzsch, and
others, retain the word _"sling,"_ which is the reading of the
Septuagint. Stuart thus explains the verse, _"It would be absurd to_
+bind a stone in a sling,+ _and then expect it to do execution.
Equally so it is to_ +bestow honour on a fool,+ _and expect any good
consequences from it."_ If the first reading is adopted, the word
stone must be understood to refer to _a precious stone._ +9. A
thorn.+ This is generally understood to mean a thorny stick or staff,
which is a mischievous weapon in the hands of a drunkard. +10.+ This
verse is very difficult and obscure, and has many and entirely
different renderings. Luther, Elster, and others, translate the
subject of the first clause, _"A master, an able man, formeth all
aright,--or all himself."_ Delitzsch, Umbreit, and Hitzig, read,
_"Much produceth all."_ The French version is in substance the same
as our English marginal rendering. Perhaps the greater number of
Hebrew critics favour the rendering of Zöckler, Ewald, Stier, etc.,
who read, _"As an archer, who woundeth everything, so is he who
hireth fools and vagrants"_ (or wayfarers). Stuart and Miller
translate the first word, _"arrow,"_ and the former thus explains the
proverb, _"He who employs fools and vagrants to do his work, will
injure himself."_ +15. In his bosom.+ Rather, +In the dish,+ as in
chap. xix. 24. +17. Meddleth,+ rather, _"is excited."_ +21. Coals to
burning coals--+_i.e., "black coals to burning,"_ etc. +22.+ A
repetition of chap. xviii. 8. (See on that verse.) +23. Burning
lips+--_i.e.,_ "lips whence some ardent expressions of friendship."
+Silver dross.+ Impure silver not freed from the dross. +24. Layeth
up,+ rather, _"prepareth,"_ or _"mediateth."_
+26. Congregation+--_i.e., "before the people assembled for
judgment."_ (Zöckler.)
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 1.
A GIFT WRONGLY BESTOWED.
+I. To honour some men is both seemly and right.+ The snow and the
rain come from heaven by Divine command, and are indispensable to the
beauty and fruitfulness of the earth. So to accord honour where it is
due is a Divine command (Rom. xiii. 7), and is indispensable to our
social well-being.
+II. But honour accorded to a fool (_i.e.,_ a bad man) is incongruous
and hurtful.+ Snow in summer is an exception to the rules of nature.
It would indeed be a surprise to our reapers when they were about to
gather in the grain, to find the fields white with snow, and such an
event would be most mischievous in its effects. And in Oriental
countries rain in summer would be equally surprising, and probably as
hurtful, since the rain in those lands generally descends in torrents
and not in gentle showers as with us. So, although God has commanded
us to _"honour all men"_ (1 Peter ii. 17), the wicked man, by his
wickedness, puts himself outside this rule, and to place him in a
position of honour, or to give him reverence, is entirely out of
place, and an act which can only produce evil consequences. 1. _It
does harm to the man who gives it._ The heavy rain or snow falling
upon the ripened cornfield, takes away all its beauty and lessens its
worth--it may make it utterly valueless. And so it degrades a soul to
bow down where it ought to stand erect and firm, and a man who will
from cowardice or any other cause cringe before a moral fool is a man
who is of no use in the world from a moral point of view. (See on
this subject, on verse 26 of the preceding chapter, page 711.) 2. _It
injures the man who receives it._ It makes him feel as if there was
no difference between vice and virtue, when he finds himself
receiving that which ought to be given to a good man only, and so he
is confirmed in his wickedness. This will be the case especially if
the person who does him honour is a better man than himself, it is
such a case as is described in the verse referred to above. 3. _It
has a bad influence upon men around them._ It is an encouragement to
bad men to continue in their evil courses when they see wickedness
enthroned in high places, and worthless men receiving honour instead
of the scorn which they deserve. Such an elevation makes all bad men
more shameless and daring, and it also discourages and depresses
better men. Although the truly good man's actions spring from a
deeper source, and have their origin in a higher motive than the
praise or blame of their fellow-men, yet there are many who are not
firmly rooted in the practice of virtue, who are much influenced by
the moral atmosphere in which they live. If they see their fellow-men
doing as God does, and being a respecter of persons in regard to
_character,_ and to character _only,_ their better nature will be
strengthened, and their efforts to be upright and godly will be
encouraged, but if they see _"the wicked walk on every side,"_ and
_"the vilest men exalted"_ (Psalm xii. 8), they may give up the
struggle after a higher and better life in despair. And thus the
effect upon the moral tone of the community will be as blighting and
destructive as floods upon the growing corn, or as snow upon the
ripening fruits. It is, therefore, the solemn duty of every man in
this respect to _"discern between the righteous and the wicked,
between him that serveth God, and him that serveth Him not"_ (Mal.
iii. 18).
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Honour is unfit for a fool, in two respects especially; the one, for
that punishment is properly due unto him; the other, for that he
abuseth his authority, be it civil or ecclesiastical, unto the hurt
of those that are subject unto him.--_Muffett._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 2.
THE CAUSELESS CURSE.
A reference to the Critical Notes and the Suggestive Comments will
show that different meanings are attached to this proverb.
+I. Men often utter causeless curses.+ In whatever country of the
world we travel, and among whatever society, we are liable to hear
men pouring forth maledictions against their fellow-creatures. There
are places and circles where such imprecations are never uttered,
because a better spirit rules those who belong to them, but there
are, alas! exceptions to a rule. Curses without cause are uttered by
masters against servants, and by parents against children, and by men
in every condition and relation in life--curses prompted by passion
and falling from the lips of men who answer to the description of the
Psalmist--whose _"inward part is very wickedness,"_ and, as a
consequence, whose _"throat is an open sepulchre"_ spreading
unhealthy and loathsome influence around (Psa. v. 9).
+II. Such a curse is harmless to its victims.+ A curse which is
undeserved has no sting; it is as powerless to injure as the bird
that flits over the traveller's head and soon disappears. Even if the
creature attempted to harm the man it is too weak, but not weaker
than the _curse without cause._ It may cast a passing shadow in its
passage, but there is no substance in it--it consists of words
without weight, and wishes that have no power to fulfil themselves.
+III. But such a curse will fall upon him who uttered it.+ We know
that every bird who casts a shadow over our path will presently
settle down again--it will find its nest whence it started, and there
take up its abode. And so every curse uttered without a cause will
return upon the head of him who uttered it--upon him will come the
same, or worse, ills than those he has called down upon another.
"Cursing men," says Trapp, "are cursed men."
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
(This comment, it will be seen, rests on another interpretation of
the verse.) The type is graceful. The _"bird"_ is so little, and his
flight and roaming about so graceful, that we never think of him as
having an aim. And yet, the wildest sport upon the wing is
continually directed, and obeys the mind of the humblest voyager in
the heavens. _"Curses;"_ of all other things not aimless. "He doth
not afflict willingly" (Lam. iii. 33). And so whether large or
trivial; the one great curse, or its numerous army of descendants;
none are without a _purpose._ In each gentle pulse upon the wind the
twittering _"swallow"_ has no more clear a meaning than these flying
griefs, as they float fitfully toward them who are to bear them. This
Hebrew has two meanings. . . . We have selected _"to no purpose"_
here, because the preposition is ל and not בּ. Had we selected "for no
cause," there would have emerged a beautiful sense. The meaning then,
as birds do not make their appearance in the spring as apparitions,
starting up ghost-like in the fields as they seem to, but have come
long journeys, many of them in the night, and have reached us by
honest flying, so the curse _does not come_ without a _cause._ The
meanings, as will be seen, are very different. One is, that the curse
has a _cause_ on our part; the other, that it has a reason on the
part of our Creator. Now, both are true. Both are very expressive.
Both have a fitness in the passage. . . . _"To no purpose"_ yields
the wider truth, and, moreover, is the bolder mystery. The curse had
a subsistence earlier than we, and a _"cause"_ later than it had a
_reason._ It was pre-determined from the very beginning. And,
therefore, ours is the bolder grasping of the cavil, and replies to
the sinner more deeply.--_Miller._
Powerless was Moab's curse, though attempted to be strengthened with
the divination of the wicked prophet. Goliath's curse against David
was scattered to the winds. What was David the worse for Shimei's
curse; or Jeremiah for the curses of his persecutors? Under this
harmless shower of stones we turn from men to God, and are at peace.
"Let them curse; but bless thou; when they arise, let them be
ashamed; but let thy servant rejoice" (Ps. cix. 28).--_Bridges._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 3-11.
A LOW LEVEL.
+I. A moral fool puts himself on a level with the brute by turning a
deaf ear to the voices of reason and conscience.+ That which above
all other characteristics distinguishes man from the lower animals is
the possession of a moral sense and a reasoning faculty; these are
the great lights which God has given him for his guidance, by the use
of which he may ever be rising to a higher moral and intellectual
level. But the moral fool does not listen to them, and even after he
has tasted the bitterness of disregarding them, and even while he is
suffering from the evil effects of his folly, he gives evidence of
his moral stupidity by _returning to it_ (ver. 11). This is a plain
proof that he is _"as the horse or the mule, which have no
understanding"_ (Psa. xxxii. 9).
+II. Having chosen his position he must be treated accordingly.+ When
men act like men--when their conduct is such as befits responsible
and rational creatures--they are open to reason and persuasion, and
their fellow-men are bound to use such means in their intercourse
with them. They are bound to listen to what they have to say, and to
reply to their questions and consider their objections. But to do
this with such a person as is here called a _fool_ would be to
disobey our Saviour's injunction, and to _"cast our pearls before
swine."_ It would be letting ourselves down to his level and
encouraging him in his self-conceit. This, we think, is the meaning
of verse 4. But, on the other hand, we are not always to be silent
when the fool is talking. This also might lead him to think that his
foolish arguments were unanswerable--that we thought him as wise as
he thinks himself to be. He is to receive sometimes the stern rebuke
that his folly deserves; the manifestation of our displeasure is to
be in proportion to his manifestation of weakness and wickedness.
This will also be _"answering a fool according to his folly,"_ as in
verse 5. But a fool must be checked by means that will perhaps make
more impression upon him than mere words. The _rod_ must be
applied--coercion and punishment must come into use where reason and
moral persuasion are useless. Having placed himself on a level with
the brute, he must be ruled sometimes by brute force--by the whip of
compulsion, by the bridle of restraint. Men have the power of doing
this to a certain extent, and it is their duty to use it. But whether
they do or do not, God will certainly visit such an offender with the
rod of punishment. Whether this is the truth contained in verse 10 or
not, revelation and experience affirm it, and we have met with it
repeatedly in this book. It is a great offence against Him who called
us into being, and who desires His creatures to be worthy of their
Creator, when men thus in practice count themselves unworthy of their
destiny. The Hebrew nation, in the bygone ages, was called by God to
occupy a higher moral level than the surrounding nations, but by its
own stubbornness and self-conceit it made the purpose of God to none
effect, and was therefore necessarily made to feel the bitterness of
being treated like a wild and refractory animal (Jer. xxxi. 18). And
so it is with men in general. God would treat them as His sons, but
their moral foolishness compels Him to make them feel the whip, the
bridle, and the rod. One other thought is suggested in verses 7 and
8--
+III. That even the fool will sometimes adopt the speech of the
wise.+ A _parable,_ or a wise saying, will sometimes be found in his
lips, he will be sometimes heard to utter words of wisdom and give
good advice. But precept is of little avail if not backed by a good
example; the words and the deeds of such a man are as ill-matched as
those of a cripple who has one sound and useful limb, but whose other
is shrunken and useless. The gait of such a man is awkward and
uncertain, the malformed and the healthy limb do not well balance his
body. This is an apt illustration of the incongruity which often
exists between the words and actions of a moral fool.
(For Homiletics on verses 6 and 8 considered separately see on verse
1, page 714, and on chap. x. 26, page 179.)
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verse 3. The rod is needful for the fool's back. Are you the unhappy
fathers of foolish children? you must make use of the rod and reproof
to give them wisdom. Are you authorised to bear rule in the church?
the rod of church discipline must be applied to offenders, that they
may be reclaimed, and others warned. Are you magistrates; the rod
which God has put into your hands may be a means of preserving young
malefactors from the gibbet at a more advanced period of life. Are
you wise? beware of turning aside unto folly, that you may never need
the rod. Are you fools? learn wisdom, or do not blame those whom duty
and charity will oblige to use the rod for your correction.--_Lawson._
Verses 4 and 5. _Answer a fool,_ not with any dream that you
thoroughly answer him, _lest you be like him,_ and a fool yourself.
And yet, by all means _answer_ him. _Answer_ wherever you can, lest
he think you can't; exploding all baseless heresies and mistakes;
lest, hardening himself where he might be convinced, and defrauding
himself where there is everything to be said, he erect himself
against facts where he has not been taught, and _become wise in his
own eyes. . . . Answer not a fool,_ because much mystery does not
admit of answer, and you will be a fool yourself. But more. The
natural man does not discern the things of the Spirit of God. If you
answer a natural man with the idea that mere answers can turn him,
you must _"be like him,"_ as having no sense yourself of what is
purely spiritual. Notice here a grand rebuke of reason in all
attempts to convince the sinner. Nevertheless _answer a fool,_ and
bow to just as great a rebuke to reason. We use reason far too
gingerly. Reason is a Divine creation. It is an instrument. There is
a thought as though it were wicked to go too deep. On the contrary,
we are to out-think the fool. If we leave science to work her way,
she will grow _wise in her own conceit. Answer_ her. Rationalistic
infidelity is by no means an infidelity in reason. And the church
should make that to be seen. Scripture has been belied in the
direction of Paul to the Corinthians (1 Cor. ii). Nothing is more
irrational than rationalism. And one of the first _answers to the
fool_ which he shall receive in the judgment will be, that he had all
the _reason_ for believing Christ which he had for anything beside,
and a host of greater ones peculiar to the Gospel.--_Miller._
These two sentences may seem at the first blush to be contrary . . .
but this knot will be easily untied if it be observed that there are
two sorts of answers, the one in folly, the other unto folly. A fool
is not to be answered in his folly, or according unto his folly, that
is to say, in such vanity as he useth, or after such a raging manner
as he speaketh. . . . A fool is to be answered unto his folly; that
is, by reasons to be confuted, and by reproofs that are wise to be
bridled.--_Muffett._
Generally speaking, it would be better to follow Hezekiah's command
concerning Rabshakeh's blasphemy--_"Answer him not."_ Jeremiah thus
turned away in silence from the folly of the false prophets (Jer.
xxviii. 11). If however we are constrained to reply--_Answer him not
according to his folly;_ not in his own foolish manner; "not
rendering railing for railing" (1 Pet. iii. 9). Moses offended here.
He _answered_ the rebels _according to their folly_--passion for
passion, and thus _he became like unto them._ David's answer to Nabal
was in the same humiliating spirit. The _answerer_ in this case _is
like_ the fool. He appears at the time to be cast in the same
mould.--_Bridges._
Verse 7. Uniformity and ubiquity of obedience are sure signs of
sincerity; but as an unequal pulse argues a distempered body, so doth
uneven walking a diseased soul. A wise man's life is all of one
colour, like itself, and godliness runs through it, as the woof runs
through the warp. But if all the parts of the line of thy life be not
straight before God, it is a crooked life. If thy tongue speak by the
talent, but thine hands scarce work by the ounce, thou shalt pass for
a Pharisee (Matt. xxiii. 3). They spake like angels, lived like
devils; had heaven commonly at their tongue ends, but the earth
continually at their finger ends.--_Trapp._
Verse 9. When a drunkard carries and brandishes in his hand a sweet
briar, he scratches more with it than he allows the roses to be
smelled; so a fool with the Scriptures or a judicial maxim oft causes
more harm than profit.--_Luther._
Proverbs have sometimes been hurtful even in the mouths of wise men,
through the imperfection of their wisdom. Job's friends dealt much in
parables, which they had learned by tradition from their wise
ancestors, but they misapplied them in the case of Job; and although
they meant to plead the cause of God, yet they displeased Him so much
by their uncharitable speeches against Job, which they drew by unjust
inference from undoubted truths, that He told them they had not
spoken the thing that was right concerning Him as His servant Job had
done. If Job had not been a strong believer, their management of
truth must have sunk him into despondency.--_Lawson._
Verse 11. The emblem is a loathsome and sickening one. It is meant to
be so. It would not have been appropriate, had it been anything else.
There are _two_ ideas conveyed by the comparison. The _disposition_
or _tendency,_ on the part of the fool or vicious man, to return to
his folly; and the loathsomeness--the vileness--of the thing itself,
when it does take place. There are persons of great pretensions to
refinement, who affect great disgust at the comparison. They wonder
how anybody of ordinary delicacy can utter it. They would think their
lips polluted by the very words. It were well for such persons to
remember, that there is no comparison _so_ odious as the thing itself
which is represented by it. It were well if such persons would
transfer their disgust and loathing at the figure to that which the
figure represents:--if they would cherish a proper loathing of _sin._
That is what _God_ holds in abhorrence:--that is what should be
abhorred by _us._ Persons may affect to sicken at the comparison here
used, and yet be themselves exemplifying the very conduct it so aptly
represents. Folly and sin are incomparably more polluting and
debasing to the nature of man, than the vilest and most disgusting
practices in the inferior animals.--_Wardlaw._
And is this the picture of man--"made a little lower than the angels"
(Ps. viii. 5)--yea--"made in the likeness of God?" (Gen. i. 26). Who
that saw Adam in his universal dominion, sitting as the monarch of
creation; summoning all before him; giving to each his name, and
receiving in turn his homage (Ib. ii. 20)--who would have conceived
of his children sunk into such brutish degradation? The tempter's
promise was--"Ye shall be as gods" (Ib. iii. 5). The result of this
promise was--"Ye shall be as beasts." . . . Thus greedily did Pharaoh
_return_ from his momentary conviction; Ahab from his feigned
repentance; Herod from his partial amendment; the drunkard from his
brutish insensibility--all to take a more determinate course of sin;
to take their final plunge into ruin.--_Bridges._
According to the usual method of
the Scriptures, a known thing is here
employed to teach an unknown. The
taste which inheres in nature is used
as an instrument to implant the
corresponding spiritual sensibility.
The revulsion of the senses from a
loathsome object is used as a lever
power to press into the soul a dislike
of sin. . . . The lines are strongly
drawn, that the lesson may be clear
and cutting. There must be a rude
hearty blow, for there is a hard searing
to be penetrated. Those who go back
to suck at sins, which they once
repudiated, may see in this terse
proverb a picture of their pollution;
only the Omniscient perfectly knows
and loathes the vile original.--_Arnot._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 12-16.
SELF-CONCEIT AND INDOLENCE.
+I. The ruinous effects of self-satisfaction.+ In the preceding
verses Solomon has drawn a picture of the moral fool--of the man who
seems to have no moral sensibility, and who is a slave to evil habits
and degrading vices. At first sight it would seem that no one could
be in a more hopeless condition, but a little consideration will
convince us that the wise man is right when he declares that it is
easier to convince a fool of his folly, than a self-conceited man of
his ignorance and weakness. For there are many men who know that they
are not what they ought to be, although they have not the moral
courage to quit their sinful courses; and sometimes the very depth of
degradation in which such men find themselves, and the strong
contrast which exists in their outward life between themselves and
more respectable citizens, startle them into a vigorous and
successful effort to break their chains. But a man who is wise in his
own eyes is generally outwardly decorous in his behaviour--is what
has been called a _respectable sinner_--and it is this very outward
propriety which lulls his conscience to sleep. Like the Pharisee in
the temple, he thanks God that he is not as other men (Luke
xviii. 11) who are outwardly immoral, and forgets that if he is not
_sensual_ he may be _devilish_ (Jas. iii. 15), may be under the
dominion on the sin that made the first and greatest sinner in the
universe. It was men of this class, and not the openly profane and
sensual, whom Christ declared to be in danger of committing the _sin
which should not be forgiven_ (Matt. xii. 31), and on another
occasion he shows that their hopeless condition arose from the fact
that they did not realise that they were in any spiritual need. _"If
ye were blind we should have no sin, but now ye say, we see;
therefore your sin remaineth"_ (John ix. 41). This moral blindness is
so hopeless because it is self-originated and self-sustained--because
the subjects of it love darkness rather than light, and even call
their darkness _light,_ and their evil, _good._
+II. Self-conceit is both the child and the parent of indolence.+ If
a man feels certain that he is far in advance of his competitors for
any prize or position, his efforts to gain it will be very feeble and
intermittent. And on the other hand, if he is indolent he will be
content with very low intellectual and spiritual attainments, and
inclined to place a very high estimate upon the very little mental or
moral wealth that he possesses. Being unwilling to labour after more,
he makes the most of what he has, and so his sloth keeps him
ignorant, and his ignorance confirms him in his slothful habits.
+III. The indolent man has spasmodic and fruitless seasons of
activity.+ He turns upon his bed of sloth as though he were going to
rise, and he puts his hand in the dish (see Critical Notes) of human
enterprise and activity as though he intended to take a prize, and to
taste the sweets of honest and earnest toil. But his resolutions are
broken almost before they are formed, and his moral courage is not
strong enough to carry him through the first difficulty, or make him
willing to undergo the least self-denial. And so he ever remains a
stranger to the sweetness of repose honestly earned, and to the
relish of good things gained by industry and perseverance. On this
subject see also on chap. xii. 27, page 289, and on verse 13. (See
Homiletics on chap. xxii. 13, page 647.)
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verse 12. The publicans and sinners went faster to heaven than the
Pharisees; yea, there may be a greater nighness between the things
when there is a greater distance between the working of them and the
bringing them together. Thus, brother and sister are nigher in blood
yet farther off marrying each other than two strangers; and thus two
men upon the tops of two houses opposite to each other in one of your
narrow streets--they are nearer each other in distance than those
below are, yet in regard of coming each to other they may be said to
be farther off, for the one must come down and then climb up again.
Thus now a moral man, though he seems nearer to a state of grace, yet
is really farther off; for he must be convinced of his false
righteousness, and then climb up to the state of grace.--_Goodwin._
Verse 16. There is no refuting a man who says nothing. Nonsense is
unanswerable if there only be enough of it. Who would dispute against
a pair of bagpipes, or against a company of boys that hoot at him? If
you will make a match at barking or biting, a cur will be too hard
for you. And if you will contend with multitudes of words, or by rage
or confidence, a fool will be too hard for you.--_Baxter._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 17.
NEEDLESS INTERFERENCE.
The wise man may here be regarded as passing from one extreme of
character to the other--from the man who is too indolent to mind his
own affairs, to one whose activity is so great that it leads him to
unnecessary interference with his neighbour's business. Or he may
intend to suggest that indolence and meddling are very closely
allied--that he who is not usefully occupied in doing his own work
will be very apt to interfere impertinently with the concerns of
others.
+I. Such a meddler brings trouble upon himself.+ It is a dangerous
thing to take a strange dog by the ears, and he who does it will be
very likely to suffer for it in his own person, for the creature will
probably wound him. But he who meddles impertinently with those who
are at strife has to deal, not with _one_ angry _brute,_ but with
_two_ angry _men or women,_ and will very likely bring down the wrath
of both upon his own head. For it is to be noted that the strife with
which it is mischievous to intermeddle is that "which belongeth not
to" a man--a quarrel in which an outsider has no right to take a part.
+II. He may do harm to others.+ To take a dog by the ears is at least
a foolish and useless act, and will certainly not increase the
comfort or peace of anybody. But it may so enrage the beast as to
make him a general disturber of the public peace and safety. And the
same holds good in relation to meddlers; the mischief that they do
may extend far beyond themselves, and their action may form a centre
of a wide circle of mental disquietude and moral mischief.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
A wide difference is made between "suffering as a busy-body, and
suffering as a Christian." It is alarming to those who have no
adequate sense of the criminality to find the apostle classify the
one with "murderers, and thieves, and evil-doers."--_Bridges._
For Homiletics on verses 18-22, see on chap. xvii. 14, page 513, and
on chap. xviii. 6-8, page 539.
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 23-28.
COUNTERFEIT FRIENDSHIP.
+I. Because there are true friends in the world false men sometimes
put on the garb of friendship.+ Because there is an abundance of
genuine coin in the country men take the trouble to make counterfeit
imitations of it; the existence of the good money is the cause of the
existence of the bad, and the great preponderance of the good over
the bad is the reason why men sometimes get imposed upon and take the
bad for the good. So there is much real and true friendship in human
life, and there is therefore an opportunity given to wicked men to
imitate its outward expression--there are many "burning words"
uttered from the depths of a sincere heart, and therefore a wicked
man will sometimes utter such words for the purposes of deception.
The vessel of clay covered with silver may be taken for silver,
because its shape and external appearance are close imitation of the
genuine article, and the fair words of the false man may effectually
deceive the listener, but it is because some things _are what they
seem,_ that other things are made _to seem what they are not._
+II. The words of true friendship are used to reveal, and those of
the false friend are employed only for concealment.+ There were many
silver vessels in Solomon's palace, and their bright splendour was a
true revelation of their intrinsic worth and genuineness; the shining
surface reflecting the light was an indication of the preciousness of
the entire article. But when a clay vessel is covered with silver,
the external coating is used only to cover what is beneath, and
perhaps to deceive those who look on it. So when the friendship is
real the ardent expressions of affection which are uttered are only a
revelation of the emotions which are experienced, but when it is only
a counterfeit the words are like the silver which hides instead of
revealing what is beneath it. Solomon's father thus records his
experience of the language of a counterfeit friend: _"His words were
softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords"_ (Psalm lv. 21).
+III. Because counterfeit friendship is opposed to human happiness it
shall be publicly arrested and condemned.+ Every counterfeit has
arrayed against it the force of human interest. It is to the interest
of the general community that the forger should be brought to
justice, and that the coiner of bad money should be severely
punished. It is only by rigidly enforcing the law against such
criminals that they are kept in check, and the safety of the public
made tolerably secure. When such offenders are discovered their
wickedness is condemned by the united voice of the commercial world.
But the man who betrays another by false words is quite as great an
enemy to his brother man, and ought to be as severely dealt with and
as publicly and universally condemned. But it can hardly be affirmed
that such is the case. If every such betrayer were dealt with by
human laws we should need a large increase of judges and gaolers and
prison-cells, and should find within the walls of the latter many men
who are now living in mansions. And if it were only punished by being
shut out from the favourable notices of their fellow-men, many would
be missed from their present positions in commercial and fashionable
circles. Although they are shunned, and their wickedness is abhorred
by all lovers of truth and honesty, they are far from meeting at the
hands of man with the contempt and condemnation which they deserve.
But the forces arrayed against such men are nevertheless in
operation, and though they often work secretly and slowly they are
most certain to find their object and to make him conscious of their
existence. There are other agencies at work in the universe besides
human agencies, and a Divine lawgiver as well as human lawgivers. And
although the latter may fail to discover those who break their laws,
no offender against the law of God will be able to escape public
arrest and condemnation, if not before a human congregation, before a
higher and more august assembly.
+IV. A special form of punishment which will be the special portion
of such offenders.+ The great principle proclaimed by Christ, _"With
what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again"_ (Matt.
vii. 2), is here uttered by Solomon. Every deceiver will be deceived,
and one false man will become the prey of another false man. This is
a law which is always and now in operation, although the punishment
may not always be discernable to onlookers. But it is a work which
the Almighty Judge has taken into His own hands, and many a one who
is now suffering from a pitfall laid by another, knows very well in
his secret soul that he is only passing through the same experiences
which he once prepared for another--that if what he took for a silver
vessel is only clay, he has himself palmed off the counterfeit
article for a genuine one.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verse 28. It is not easy for us to forgive the injuries we receive;
but it is far more difficult to forgive the injuries we do.--_Lawson._
1. There is the inward self-reproach, arising from the workings of
conscience, from which arises a secret irritability and fretfulness
and unhappiness; and this produces dislike of the innocent occasion
of it, instead of terminating (as it always ought to do) on _self._
This of course is only _more injustice._ True; but it is in human
nature to hate with a bitter hatred the object of our own crime; as
if it were a fault in that object to exist, and so to be the object
on which our sin terminates. 2. The evil passions, like the good, are
strengthened and increased by their exercise. If the utterance of the
feelings of love serves further to inflame love, the utterance, in
like manner, of the feelings of hatred tend to inflame hatred. The
passion gives birth to the word and the action; and, reciprocally,
the word and the action strengthen the passion. 3. The fretful
uneasiness produced by the unceasing apprehension of detection and
exposure, already alluded to, and of the weight of _his_ vengeance
who is the object of the lying tongue's assaults, gives rise also to
the same feeling of rankling dislike to him who is the source of it.
Thus the slanderer, instead of feeling pity for the man who his
slander wounds, hates him still the more. This appears to have had a
very striking exemplification in the case of our blessed Lord and His
Jewish unbelieving adversaries. They "hated Him without a
cause."--_Wardlaw._
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