Text -- Proverbs 19:16-29 (NET)

19:16 The one who obeys commandments guards his life; the one who despises his ways will die. 19:17 The one who is gracious to the poor lends to the Lord, and the Lord will repay him for his good deed. 19:18 Discipline your child, for there is hope, but do not set your heart on causing his death. 19:19 A person with great anger bears the penalty, but if you deliver him from it once, you will have to do it again. 19:20 Listen to advice and receive discipline, that you may become wise by the end of your life. 19:21 There are many plans in a person’s mind, but it is the counsel of the Lord which will stand. 19:22 What is desirable for a person is to show loyal love, and a poor person is better than a liar. 19:23 Fearing the Lord leads to life, and one who does so will live satisfied; he will not be afflicted by calamity. 19:24 The sluggard plunges his hand in the dish, and he will not even bring it back to his mouth! 19:25 Flog a scorner, and as a result the simpleton will learn prudence; correct a discerning person, and as a result he will understand knowledge. 19:26 The one who robs his father and chases away his mother is a son who brings shame and disgrace. 19:27 If you stop listening to instruction, my child, you will stray from the words of knowledge. 19:28 A crooked witness scorns justice, and the mouth of the wicked devours iniquity. 19:29 Judgments are prepared for scorners, and floggings for the backs of fools.

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Wesley: Pro 19:16

The commands of God.

Wesley: Pro 19:18

Before custom in sin, and thy indulgence have made him incorrigible.

Wesley: Pro 19:18

Forbear not to give him due and necessary correction.

Wesley: Pro 19:19

Of strong passions.

Wesley: Pro 19:19

If thou forbear to punish him.

Wesley: Pro 19:19

Thou must deliver him again and again.

Wesley: Pro 19:22

The hearty desire of being kind is accepted by God, and should be owned by men as a real kindness.

Wesley: Pro 19:22

Who is not able to give what he desires to do.

Wesley: Pro 19:22

Than a rich man who feeds the poor with fair promises, but doth not perform what he pretends.

Wesley: Pro 19:23

Shall be fully contented with God's favour and blessing.

Wesley: Pro 19:24

To feed himself; he expects that the meat should drop into his mouth.

Wesley: Pro 19:25

An obstinate and impudent transgressor.

Wesley: Pro 19:25

Who sin thro' ignorance, being possibly drawn to it by the scorner's evil counsel or example.

Wesley: Pro 19:25

A verbal reproof will be more effectual for his reformation, than the severest punishments will be to a scorner.

Wesley: Pro 19:26

His father's estate.

Wesley: Pro 19:26

Causes her to avoid his presence, and to go from the house where he is.

Wesley: Pro 19:28

Hath no reverence to the place of justice, nor to the presence of God there.

Wesley: Pro 19:28

Utters it with greediness and delight.

Wesley: Pro 19:29

Although they be deferred for a time, yet they are treasured up for them.

JFB: Pro 19:16

(Compare Pro 10:17; Pro 13:13).

JFB: Pro 19:16

Opposed to keeping or observing, neglects (Pro 16:17) (as unworthy of regard) his moral conduct.

JFB: Pro 19:17

(Compare Pro 14:21; Psa 37:26).

JFB: Pro 19:17

Shown by acts (compare Margin).

JFB: Pro 19:18

(Compare Pro 13:24; Pro 23:13).

JFB: Pro 19:18

Literally, "do not lift up thy soul" (Psa 24:4; Psa 25:1), that is, do not desire to his death; a caution to passionate parents against angry chastisement.

JFB: Pro 19:19

Repeated efforts of kindness are lost on ill-natured persons.

JFB: Pro 19:20

(Compare Pro 13:18-20).

JFB: Pro 19:20

(Pro 5:11). In youth prepare for age.

JFB: Pro 19:21

(Compare Pro 16:1, Pro 16:9; Psa 33:10-11). The failure of man's devices is implied.

JFB: Pro 19:22

That is, to do good, indicates a kind disposition (Pro 11:23); and the poor thus affected are better than liars, who say and do not.

JFB: Pro 19:23

(Compare Pro 3:2).

JFB: Pro 19:23

Or, "remain contented" (1Ti 4:8).

JFB: Pro 19:23

(Pro 10:3; Psa 37:25), as a judgment, in which sense visit is often used (Psa 89:32; Jer 6:15).

JFB: Pro 19:24

Literally, a wide dish in which the hand was plunged in eating (Mat 26:23). Compare Pro 26:15, the sentiment expressed with equal irony and less exaggeration.

JFB: Pro 19:25

Such is the benefit of reproof; even the simple profit, much more the wise.

JFB: Pro 19:26

Unfilial conduct often condemned (Pro 17:21-25; Pro 20:20; Deu 21:18, Deu 21:21).

JFB: Pro 19:27

Avoid whatever leads from truth.

JFB: Pro 19:28

(Compare Margin), one false by bad principles (compare Pro 6:12).

JFB: Pro 19:28

Sets at naught the dictates of justice.

JFB: Pro 19:28

Literally, "swalloweth," as something delightful.

JFB: Pro 19:29

Their punishment is sure, fixed, and ready (compare Pro 3:34; Pro 10:13).

Clarke: Pro 19:17

Lendeth unto the Lord - O what a word is this! God makes himself debtor for every thing that is given to the poor! Who would not advance much upon such credit? God will pay it again. And in no case has he ever forfeited his word.

Clarke: Pro 19:18

Let not thy soul spare for his crying - This is a hard precept for a parent. Nothing affects the heart of a parent so much as a child’ s cries and tears. But it is better that the child may be caused to cry, when the correction may be healthful to his soul, than that the parent should cry afterwards, when the child is grown to man’ s estate, and his evil habits are sealed for life.

Clarke: Pro 19:19

A man of great wrath - He who is of an irritable, fiery disposition, will necessarily get himself into many broils; and he that is surety for him once is likely to be called on again and again for the same friendly office.

Clarke: Pro 19:21

There are many devices, etc. - The same sentiment as in Pro 16:1 (note), where see the note.

Clarke: Pro 19:24

A slothful man hideth his hand in his bosom - Is too lazy to feed himself, If he dip his hand once in the dish, he is too lazy to put it in a second time. It is a strange case that a man, through his excessive slothfulness, would rather starve than put himself to the trouble to eat.

Clarke: Pro 19:26

He that wasteth his father - Destroys his substance by riotous or extravagant living, so as to embitter his latter end by poverty and affliction; and adds to this wickedness the expulsion of his aged widowed mother from the paternal house; is a son of shame - a most shameful man; and a son of reproach - one whose conduct cannot be sufficiently execrated. Who tormentith the fader, and fleeth the modir, schenful schal ben, and unblisful - Old MS. Bible. The common reading of the Vulgate is, et fugat matrem, and expels his mother; but the Old Bible was taken from a copy that had fugit matrem, shuns his mother, flees away from her, leaves her to affliction and penury. It is prostitution of the term to call such, man.

Clarke: Pro 19:27

Cease, my son - Hear nothing that would lead thee away from God and his truth.

Clarke: Pro 19:29

Stripes for the back of fools - Profane and wicked men expose themselves to the punishments denounced against such by just laws. Avoid, therefore, both their company and their end.

TSK: Pro 19:16

keepeth the : Pro 3:1, Pro 29:18; Psa 103:18; Ecc 8:5, Ecc 12:13; Jer 7:23; Luk 10:28, Luk 11:28; Joh 14:15, Joh 14:21-23, Joh 15:10-14; 1Co 7:19; 1Jo 2:3, 1Jo 2:4, 1Jo 3:22, 1Jo 5:3; Rev 22:14

keepeth his : Pro 16:17, Pro 21:23, Pro 22:5; Eze 33:5; Mat 16:26

he that despiseth : Pro 13:13, Pro 15:32

TSK: Pro 19:17

that hath : Pro 14:21, Pro 28:8, Pro 28:27; 2Sa 12:6; Ecc 11:1

lendeth : Pro 11:24, Pro 11:25, Pro 28:27; Deu 15:7-14; Isa 58:7-11; Mat 10:41, Mat 10:42, Mat 25:40; 2Co 9:6-8; Phi 4:17; Heb 6:10

that which he hath given : or, his deed

TSK: Pro 19:18

Chasten : Pro 13:24, Pro 22:15, Pro 23:13, Pro 23:14, Pro 29:15, Pro 29:17; Heb 12:7-10

for his crying : or, to his destruction, or, to cause him to die

TSK: Pro 19:19

man : Pro 22:24, Pro 22:25, Pro 25:28, Pro 29:22; 1Sa 20:30, 1Sa 20:31, 22:7-23, 1Sa 24:17-22, 1Sa 26:21-25; 2Sa 16:5, 2Sa 16:6

do it again : Heb. add

TSK: Pro 19:20

receive : Pro 1:8, Pro 2:1-9, Pro 8:34, Pro 8:35

be : Num 23:10; Deu 8:16, Deu 32:29; Psa 37:37, Psa 90:12, Psa 90:14; Luk 16:19-23

TSK: Pro 19:21

many : Pro 12:2; Gen 37:19, Gen 37:20; Est 9:25; Psa 21:11, Psa 33:10, Psa 33:11, Psa 83:4; Ecc 7:29; Isa 7:6, Isa 7:7; Dan 11:24, Dan 11:25; Mat 26:4, Mat 26:5, Mat 27:63, Mat 27:64

nevertheless : Pro 16:1, Pro 16:9, Pro 21:1, Pro 21:30; Gen 45:4-8, Gen 50:20; Job 23:13; Isa 14:24, Isa 14:26, Isa 14:27; Isa 46:10; Dan 4:35; Act 4:27, Act 4:28, Act 5:38, Act 5:39; Eph 1:11; Heb 6:17, Heb 6:18; 1Pe 2:8; Jud 1:4

TSK: Pro 19:22

desire : 1Ch 29:2, 1Ch 29:3, 1Ch 29:17; 2Ch 6:8; Mar 12:41-44, Mar 14:6-8; 2Co 8:2, 2Co 8:3, 2Co 8:12

and : Pro 19:1; Job 6:15, Job 17:5; Psa 62:9; Tit 1:2

TSK: Pro 19:23

fear : Pro 10:27, Pro 14:26, Pro 14:27; Psa 19:9, Psa 33:18, Psa 33:19, Psa 34:9-11, Psa 85:9, Psa 103:17, Psa 145:18-20; Mal 3:16, Mal 3:17, Mal 4:2; Act 9:31

shall abide : Psa 90:14, Psa 91:16; Isa 58:10, Isa 58:11; Mat 5:6; Phi 4:11, Phi 4:12; 1Ti 4:8, 1Ti 6:6-9; Heb 13:5, Heb 13:6

he shall : Pro 12:21; Rom 8:28; 2Ti 4:18

TSK: Pro 19:24

Pro 19:15, Pro 6:9, Pro 6:10, Pro 12:27, Pro 15:19, Pro 24:30-34, Pro 26:13-16; Psa 74:11

TSK: Pro 19:25

Smite : Pro 21:11; Deu 13:11, Deu 21:21

beware : Heb. be cunning

reprove : Pro 9:9, Pro 9:10, Pro 15:5, Pro 17:10; Rev 3:19

TSK: Pro 19:26

wasteth : Pro 10:1, Pro 17:25, Pro 23:22-25, Pro 28:14, Pro 30:11, Pro 30:17; Deu 21:18-21; Luk 15:12-16, Luk 15:30

a son : Pro 10:5, Pro 17:2, Pro 28:7

TSK: Pro 19:27

Pro 14:7; Deu 13:1-4; 1Ki 22:22-28; Mat 7:15, Mat 16:6, Mat 16:12; Mar 4:24, Mar 7:6-14; Joh 10:5; 2Co 11:13-15; Eph 4:14; 1Ti 4:7, 1Ti 6:3-5; 2Pe 2:1, 2Pe 2:2; 1Jo 4:1; 2Jo 1:10; Rev 2:2

TSK: Pro 19:28

An ungodly witness : Heb. a witness of Belial, 1Ki 21:10, 1Ki 21:13; Act 6:11-13

scorneth : Psa 10:5, Psa 10:11; Isa 28:14-18; Luk 18:2-4

the : Pro 15:14; Job 15:16, Job 20:12, Job 20:13, Job 34:7; Hos 4:8

TSK: Pro 19:29

Judgments : Pro 3:34, Pro 9:12; Isa 28:22, Isa 29:20; Act 13:40, Act 13:41; 2Pe 3:3-7

and : Pro 7:22, Pro 10:13, Pro 17:10, Pro 26:3; Heb 12:6

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: Pro 19:16

Keepeth his own soul - i. e., His life in the truest and highest sense.

Barnes: Pro 19:17

Note the original greatness of the thought. We give to the poor. Have we lost our gift? No, what we gave, we have lent to One who will repay with usury. Compare the yet nobler truth of our Lord’ s teaching Mat 25:40.

Barnes: Pro 19:18

While there is hope - While he is still young, and capable of being reformed.

Crying - Better, as in the margin, Do not set thy soul on his destruction; words which either counsel forbearance in the act of chastisement (compare Eph 6:4; Col 3:21); or urge that a false clemency is a real cruelty. The latter sense is preferable. The father is warned that to forbear from chastising is virtually to expose the son who needs it to a far worse penalty.

Barnes: Pro 19:19

The sense of the last words seems to be that the connection between wrath and punishment is so invariable, that all efforts to save the passionate man from the disastrous consequences which he brings on his own head are made in vain.

Barnes: Pro 19:21

Contrast the many purposes of man, shifting, changing, from good to better, from bad to worse, and the one unchanging righteous "counsel"of Yahweh.

Barnes: Pro 19:22

The "liar"is probably the man, who makes false excuses for not giving, and so is inferior to the poor man, whose "desire,"the wish to do good, is taken, in the absence of means to carry it into effect, for the act of kindness itself.

Barnes: Pro 19:23

Shall abide satisfied - Better, one that is satisfied hath a sure abiding-place. The word "abide"has, most probably, here as elsewhere, its original sense of "passing the night."Even in the hour of darkness he shall be free from fear.

Barnes: Pro 19:24

Hideth his hand in his bosom - Better, dippeth his hand in the dish (compare 2Ki 21:13). The scene brought before us is that of an Eastern feast. There are no knives, or forks, or spoons. Every guest has to help himself, or be helped by the host. Compare Joh 13:26.

Barnes: Pro 19:25

Words which embrace nearly the whole theory of punishment. If the man who offends is a "scorner,"hardened beyond all hope of reformation, then punish him by way of retribution and example, and let the penalty be sharp, that even the unwary and careless may beware. If the man be "understanding,"then let the punishment take the form of discipline. Admonish, reprove, educate.

Barnes: Pro 19:26

Or, A son that causeth shame, and bringeth reproach, is one that wasteth his father, and chaseth away his mother.

Barnes: Pro 19:27

literally, Cease, my son, to hear instruction, that thou mayest err from the words of knowledge; advice given ironically to do that to which his weakness leads him, with a clear knowledge of the evil to which he is drifting.

Barnes: Pro 19:28

Ungodly witness - literally, "Witness of Belial,""worthless,""untruthful."

Devoureth iniquity - Seizes on it eagerly, as a dainty, lives on it.

Poole: Pro 19:16

The commandment the commands of God, called by way of eminence the commandment, as the word is oft used emphatically for the word of God, as hath been noted before. fore. His ways; either,

1. His own ways, by not taking heed to his ways, so as to order his conversation aright. Or,

2. The ways of God, who is understood in the former clause.

Poole: Pro 19:17

Lendeth unto the Lord who takes what is done to them as done to himself, because it is done to them whom God, as to this particular, hath put in his own stead, to be his receivers, and whom God hath in a peculiar manner commended to the care and charity of all other men.

Poole: Pro 19:18

While there is hope before custom in sin, and thy indulgence, hath made him hard-hearted and incorrigible.

Let not thy soul spare forbear not to give him due and necessary correction,

for his crying which oft stirs up a foolish and pernicious pity in parents towards them. This word, with some small difference in the points, is used in this sense Isa 24:11 . Or, as it is in the margin, to his destruction , intimating that this is a cruel pity, and a likely way to expose him to that death threatened to stubborn sons, Deu 21:18,21 . But this clause is, and may be, rendered otherwise, yet or but do not lift up thy soul (which signifies a vehement desire, Deu 24:15 Psa 25:1 Jer 44:14 ; let not thy passion or eager desire of chastening him transport thee so far as) to cause him to die , i.e. use moderation in this work.

Poole: Pro 19:19

A man of great wrath or, he who is of great wrath , of strong passions; which may be understood either,

1. More particularly, of a son of such a temper, who is very impatient of correction, and breaks forth into violent passions upon that occasion; and then the following words contain the parent’ s duty, which is to take care to punish him, because if he spare him that thee for his passion, he must do so again and again, the same cause returning upon him, and so must wholly forbear to chasten him. Or,

2. More generally, of any man of a fierce and furious temper and carriage; and then the next words declare only the event, by his great and repeated provocations he will bring punishment upon himself, either from God or men.

If thou deliver him if either a parent, or another person provoked by him, forbear to punish him. He turneth his speech to the party, as is usual in Scripture and in other authors.

Thou must do it again Heb. thou must add , to wit, to deliver him again and again, as oft as he shall offend; or, thou wilt add or increase, to wit, his wrath, which thou shouldst subdue.

Poole: Pro 19:20

Before thy death come; which he adds not exclusively, as if he ought not to be wish before, but emphatically, to show that how foolishly soever he had spent his former and younger years, it highly concerned him to be wise before it was too late, or before death came.

Poole: Pro 19:21

There are many devices in a man’ s heart understand out of the opposite clause, which shall not stand, but be disappointed.

The counsel of the Lord his eternal, and unchangeable, and most wise decree, which ofttimes contradicts, and always overrules, the designs and purposes of men.

Shall stand i.e. be certainly fulfilled, as this phrase is used, Jer 44:28,29 , and elsewhere.

Poole: Pro 19:22

The desire of a man either,

1. Of any or every man. All men desire, and it is desirable, to be in a capacity of being kind and bountiful to others, whereby they gain love and honour, and many other great advantages. Or,

2. Of the poor man, expressed in the next clause. The hearty will or desire of being kind or liberal to others in necessity is all the kindness which a poor man can show, and is accepted by God, and should be owned by men as a real kindness. Compare 2Co 8:12 . Or,

3. Of the rich man, as may be gathered from the opposition of this man to the poor man in the following clause; such ellipses being very common in this book, as hath been noted again and again. So the sense may be this, There be a sort of rich men all whose kindness and charity consists in good desires and well wishes to persons in misery, saying to them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled, but not giving them those things which are needful, as it is expressed , Jas 2 ] 6. And this sense seems to agree very well with the following clause. But being singular in this exposition, I submit it to the judicious reader.

A poor man who is not able to give what he desires to do,

is better than a liar than a rich man, who feeds the poor with good words and fair promises, but doth not perform what he pretends and is able to do.

Poole: Pro 19:23

Shall abide satisfied shall want nothing, and shall be fully contented with God’ s favour and blessing.

With evil with any destructive affliction.

Poole: Pro 19:24

Hideth his hand in his bosom either to keep it warm in cold weather; or to give it rest, being loth to oppress it with the labour of any action. It is a sarcastical hyperbole.

Will not so much as bring it to his mouth again to wit, to feed himself; he expects that the meat should drop into his mouth.

Poole: Pro 19:25

Smite a scorner an obstinate and impudent transgressor, who rejects and scorns all admonitions, and therefore is to be taught with blows.

The simple who sin through ignorance, and imprudence, and infirmity, being possibly drawn to sin by the scorner’ s evil counsel or example.

He will understand knowledge a verbal reproof will be more effectual for his reformation than the severest punishments will be to a scorner.

Poole: Pro 19:26

Wasteth his father i.e. his father’ s estate, by unjust or riotous courses.

Chaseth away his mother causeth her to avoid and abhor his presence and society, and to go from the house where he is. Bringeth reproach ; both to himself, and to his parents and family. But this verse may very well be rendered otherwise, the last words being made the subjects of the proposition, as is usual in Scripture;

A son that causeth shame, and bringeth reproach ( upon himself and his friends by wicked ways,) wasteth his father’ s (estate, and health, and comfort) and chaseth or driveth away his mother . These are the effects of his wickedness.

Poole: Pro 19:27

If thou hast formerly, yet do not now any longer hearken to those false doctrines or evil counsels which tend to withdraw thee from the belief or practice of God’ s holy word.

Poole: Pro 19:28

Scorneth judgment hath no reverence to the place of justice, nor to the presence of God there, nor to that sacred and solemn work of executing judgment, but in spite of all gives in a false testimony.

Devoureth iniquity uttereth with as great greediness, and delight, and ease, as they swallow down delicious meats and drinks. Compare Job 15:16 .

Poole: Pro 19:29

Prepared either by men, or at least by God; although they: be deferred for a thee, yet they are treasured up for them, and shall infallibly be inflicted upon them.

PBC: Pro 19:21

See Philpot: MAN’S DEVICES AND THE LORD’S COUNSEL

Haydock: Pro 19:16

Neglecteth. Hebrew, "contemneth." In the law of Moses, many transgressions are punished with death, but here that of the soul is meant. (Calmet)

Haydock: Pro 19:17

Lendeth. To receive interest, fœneratur. (Haydock) ---

Such usury is lawful, and God will abundantly reward acts of mercy. (Calmet) ---

He engages his word for the poor. (St. Augustine in Psalm xxxvi.)

Haydock: Pro 19:18

Killing. Protestants, "crying;" or by his complaint be not deterred. (Haydock) ---

Chaldean agrees with us. The law permitted parents to sell their children, and to have them stoned to death, if they declared them disobedient, (Deuteronomy xxi. 18.; Calmet) and riotous, ver. 20. Timely chastisement may prevent such extremities. (Haydock) ---

St. Paul dissuades unnecessary severity, Colossians iii. 21.

Haydock: Pro 19:19

Thing. A child neglected will continue to steal, or to offend; (Calmet) while too much harshness will do no good, but tend to the damage of all parties. (Haydock) ---

Anger is productive of the worst effects.

Haydock: Pro 19:21

Firm. Ignorance and weakness cause men to change.

Haydock: Pro 19:22

Merciful. Hebrews ii. 17. Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco. (Virgil, Ζneid 4.) ---

Hebrew, "the desire of a man is his mercy," (Montanus; Haydock) or "shame," (R. Levi) as it leads to sin, Genesis vi. 5. All wish to be esteemed merciful. ---

Man of quality. Hebrew meish, "prœ viro." (Montanus) ---

"Rich man." (Septuagint) (Haydock)

Haydock: Pro 19:23

Life. Both temporal and eternal, chap. x. 27. (Calmet) ---

With evil. Literally, "the worst," pessima. (Haydock) ---

Sixtus V, "by the most wicked one." The devil shall have no power over him.

Haydock: Pro 19:25

Wicked. Hebrew, "scoffer." Chastisements have always some good effect either on the sufferer, or on the spectators, who will be cautioned not to imitate what is wrong.

Haydock: Pro 19:26

Infamous. Hebrew, "a son of confusion and reproach;" a spendthrift.

Haydock: Pro 19:27

Not. Hebrew seems to say the reverse. (Calmet) ---

But we may read it with an interrogation. "Wilt thou cease?" &c. Or the instruction here meant is of a dangerous nature. Protestants, " that causeth to err from the words of knowledge." Septuagint, "a son who neglects to keep the instruction of his father, shall muse on bad sayings." (Haydock)

Haydock: Pro 19:29

Hammers, (Symmachus) "punishments." (Septuagint) See Judges v. 25. (Calmet)

Gill: Pro 19:16

He that keepeth the commandment,.... Either of parents, as children ought to do; or of masters, as servants should; or of kings and princes, as is the duty of subjects in all things lawful: or rather of God; every command of his, whether of a moral or positive nature, which, though they cannot be perfectly kept, yet should as much as in man lies, in faith, from a principle of love, and to the glory of God: and such a man

keepeth his own soul, or "observes" ^s it; he shows that he has a concern for its welfare and peace; for though peace does not arise from keeping the commandments of God, yet such have great peace of soul who do love and keep the law of God; though there is no reward for, yet there is a reward in keeping the divine commands; though salvation is not hereby, yet blessed are they that do his commands; by which it appears they have a right to enter into the city, into eternal happiness, Psa 119:165;

but he that despiseth his ways: which are at and proper for him to walk in, as Aben Ezra observes; or who is negligent of his ways, does not care in what ways he walks, or what is the issue of them; he walks in the ways of his own heart, and in the sight of his eyes; has his conversation according to the course of this world; walks with a multitude, with a crowd, to do evil, in the broad road which leads to destruction, and yet is quite careless about it: or that despises the ways of the commandment or word of God, which that directs to; for that is a lamp and a light, which men would do well to take heed to, as it shows them the ways in which they should walk; but these they neglect and contemn: or he that despises the ways of God, the ways he himself takes in the salvation of men, all whose ways are mercy and truth; that despises the ways of peace, pardon, righteousness, and salvation by Jesus Christ: he

shall die; he is dead in sins already, and he shall die the second death, that neglects and despises so great salvation, and all the ways of the Lord, Heb 2:3. There is a "Keri", or marginal reading, which we follow; but the "Cetib", or written text, is, "he shall be killed", or put to death; and so the Syriac version; immediately, by the hand of heaven, by the Lord himself, before his time; or by the judges and civil magistrates; his sins being openly known, as Aben Ezra.

Gill: Pro 19:17

He that hath pity unto the poor lendeth unto the Lord,.... A man, whose heart is full of compassion to the poor, and whose hands distribute to their necessities, from a true principle of love and charity to men, and with a view to the glory of God, and not from any selfish principle and with a end; such a man's gift to the poor is a loan to the Lord; it is not cast away upon the creature, but is a "depositum" in the hands of God, and shall be returned with advantage;

and that which he hath given will, he pay him again; either in this life, in things temporal and spiritual, increasing his worldly substance, blessing his posterity, granting him larger measures of grace, indulging him with his gracious presence, and giving him peace of mind, which passeth all understanding; or in the world to come; not as a reward of debt, but of grace; see Ecc 11:1.

Gill: Pro 19:18

Chasten thy son while there is hope,.... Of guiding and keeping him in the right way, as long as corrections are or can be hoped to be of use; while in a state of infancy, childhood, and youth; while under parental government; and before habits in sin are grown strong, and the case become desperate, and he is hardened, and proof against all instruction and discipline;

and let not thy soul spare for his crying; the noise he makes, the tears he sheds, the entreaties he uses to keep off the rod; let not a foolish pity and tenderness prevail to lay it aside on that account the consequence of which may be bad to parent and child; see Pro 13:24. The Targum is,

"but unto his death do not lift up thy soul;''

or to the slaying of him ^t, as the Vulgate Latin version; and this sense Jarchi gives into: and then the meaning is, that though parents should be careful to give due correction to their children, so long as there is hope of doing them good, yet not in a brutal and barbarous manner, to the endangering of their lives: as some parents are too indolent, mild, and gentle, as Eli was; others are too wrathful and furious and use no moderation in their corrections, but unmercifully beat their children; such extremes ought to be avoided. Gersom interprets the word of crying, as we do.

Gill: Pro 19:19

A man of great wrath shall suffer punishment,.... Either a child that is of a wrathful disposition, and provokes his parent to wrath; or a parent that chastises his child in wrath; each shall suffer for it; or any man that gives way to wrath and anger and is continually quarrelling, he involves himself in trouble; and is punished, as his offence requires, according to law, either in his person or estate;

for if thou deliver him, yet thou must do it again; if he is got out of one broil, he will get into another quickly; if he clear of one lawsuit, another will be commenced against him in a short time; if he is discharged and freed from a penalty he is justly subject to, it must be done again and again; he will fall into the same evil, and there is no end of appearing, for him and serving him; a wrathful man brings himself into great trouble, as may be seen in Shimei, 2Sa 16:7, 1Ki 2:46.

Gill: Pro 19:20

Hear counsel, and receive instruction,.... Of parents, masters, and ministers; especially the counsel and instruction of Wisdom, of Jesus Christ, the Wisdom of God, the wonderful Counsellor; and of his Gospel and of the Scriptures, which are able to make a man wise unto salvation;

that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end; in the latter end of life, at death; that then it may appear a man has been so wise as to be concerned for a future state, for the good of his soul in another world; by listening to the counsel and instruction of Christ, in his word; by looking to him, and believing in him, for life and salvation; by leaning and living upon him; and committing the affairs of his soul, and the salvation of it, to him.

Gill: Pro 19:21

There are many devices in a man's heart,.... Some about civil things; to get wealth and riches: to obtain honour and glory among men; to attain to a long life, and to perpetuate their memories after death: some about sinful things; to gratify their carnal lusts and sensual appetites; and to do mischief to others, particularly the people of God, and the cause and interest of Christ: some about religious things; coming new doctrines, devising new ordinances and modes of worship; contriving other methods of salvation than by Christ; as by the light of nature; by the law of Moses; by mere morality, civility, and external justice between man and man; by keeping to the religion they were born and brought up in; and by a mere outward profession of religion, and submission to ordinances, and performance of duties, and a multitude more of the like kind;

nevertheless, the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand; and can never be frustrated by the devices of man's heart, though there are many, and that but one; see Psa 33:10. This may be applied to the Gospel, and the scheme of salvation in it, called the whole counsel of God, Act 20:27; it being the fruit of infinite wisdom, and the effect of a divine council between the eternal Three, and full of the best advice and instructions to the sons of men; and which has stood, and shall stand, notwithstanding the persecutions of wicked men, the craft of false teachers, and the ridicule of a profane world; it will continue till all the elect are gathered in, even, to the end of the world; and so will the ordinances of it, which are also called the counsel of God, Luk 7:30; and which will continue till the second coming of Christ. Moreover, the purposes of God, his counsels of old, or his eternal decrees, may be here meant; which are wisely formed in his own breast, and are not frustrable; and according to which counsel of his will all things are done in nature, providence, and grace; all things in this world are ordered as he pleases, and all things are done as he has ordered them; all his purposes are or will be fulfilled; his designs will be accomplished in the world and in his church, in spite of all the schemes, contrivances, and opposition of men and devils.

Gill: Pro 19:22

The desire of a man is his kindness,.... Either the grace and kindness of God, which is, desirable by every sensible man, as being most excellent, and better than life and anything in it; or it is his desire to show kindness. A good man is desirous of riches, that he might have it in the power of his hands to do good to others; and a beneficent man, who has it in his power, is desirous of an opportunity of showing kindness to his fellow creatures and friends; and such a disposition and conduct render a man very desirable and amiable; it is the beauty of a man, as Ben Melech; yea, a man that is not able to do a kindness to another, yet has a desire to do it, his good will is his kindness, and the will is taken for the deed. Gersom takes the word in the sense of "reproach", as it is sometimes used; and understands it of the sinful desires of the heart, the imaginations of the thoughts of the heart, which are evil continually, and so matter of reproach;

and a poor man is better than a liar; who is a rich man, as the Septuagint and Syriac versions add; who denies that he has ability to relieve the poor, when he has; or promises to do it, and does it not; such men of high degree are a lie indeed! and the poor man, whom he should relieve, is a better man than he; or that would relieve another, but it is not in his power to do it.

Gill: Pro 19:23

The fear of the Lord tendeth to life,.... "Godliness", of which the fear of the Lord is a principal part, has "the promise of this life and that to come", 1Ti 4:8, the fear of God is the beginning of a spiritual life; and it leads to eternal life, as Gersom observes, and is connected with it;

and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; with his lot and portion in this life; with the good things of it he has, being content therewith and "godliness with contentment is great gain", 1Ti 6:6, such a man has enough; he has all things in a spiritual sense; he is full of the blessings of goodness; he is blessed with all spiritual blessings; his mouth is satisfied, and his mind is filled with good things; and so he rests and abides night after night, and day after day;

he shall not be visited with evil; nothing shall hurt him; all his afflictions, his worst things, his evil ones: work together for his good; and they shall never separate from the love of God, nor anything that befalls him in this life, Rom 8:28; see Psa 91:10.

Gill: Pro 19:24

A slothful man hideth his hand in his bosom,.... In cold weather to keep it warm, and at other times, as unwilling to use it in labour; it is the proper posture and just attitude of a slothful man. The word for "bosom" is sometimes used for a "pot" or "platter" ^u; and then the sense is, that he puts his hands under a pot over a fire to warm them; or in one removed at some distance from the fire, as Jarchi; or rather it may signify his putting his hand into a plate of food, and yet so slothful, as it follows,

and will not so much as bring it to his mouth again; so sluggish, that he will rather starve than be at the pains to feed himself; he will not take his hand out of his bosom, to take food out of the dish to feed himself with; and even when his hand is in the dish, he will not take it from thence again, and lift it to his mouth; an hyperbolical expression. Gussetius ^w thinks, it may have respect to such slothful men, who are careless and negligent to their souls; who, though they have the holy Scriptures in their hands, like a vessel full of wholesome food for the soul, yet will not make use of the least mite out of them, that they may receive eternal life.

Gill: Pro 19:25

Smite a scorner, and the simple will beware,.... That is, give reproof to a man that scoffs at religion, and makes a jest of all that is good; for though it may be of no use to him who will despise it, yet it may be observed, and be useful to another that hears it; who, though void of understanding, yet not hardened in impiety as the other, but open to conviction, "will become cunning" ^x, as it may be rendered; or learns wisdom, and becomes hereby a knowing and understanding man; he hears another reproved, and fears, and becomes a wise man; so that though reproof may be lost on one, it succeeds in another, which is an encouragement to give it;

and reprove one that hath understanding, and he will understand knowledge; he will grow wiser and wiser; he will improve in the knowledge of things; see Pro 9:8.

Gill: Pro 19:26

He that wasteth his father,.... His father's substance, which he gave him first as his portion, and afterwards by paying his debts, and getting him out of prison and out of broils, and that wastes his spirits and his health, and brings his gray hairs with sorrow to the grave;

and chaseth away his mother: alienates her affections from him, who once had too great a fondness for him; causes her to quit her house, not being able to bear the sight of him and of his actions:

is a son that causeth shame, and bringeth reproach; causes shame to his parents, as well as to himself; and a reproach upon them, as well as on his own character. It may be read thus,

"a son that causeth shame, and bringeth reproach, wasteth his father, and chaseth away his mother ^y.''

Gill: Pro 19:27

Cease, my son, to hear the instruction,.... The counsel of bad men, or the doctrine of false teachers. The words are spoken either by Solomon to his son; or by Wisdom, that is, Christ, to everyone of his children, to beware of false prophets, and take heed what they hear; see Mat 7:15; such as the doctrines of the church of Rome; concerning the Scriptures, forbidding the people to read them; setting unwritten traditions upon a level with them, and making the pope an infallible interpreter of them; concerning merit, works of supererogation, indulgences, pardons, penance, purgatory, &c. such as the instruction of the Arians, Sabellians, Socinians, Pelagians, and Arminians, concerning the Trinity, the deity of Christ, his satisfaction, imputed righteousness, the power and purity of human nature, and man's free will;

that causeth to err from the words of knowledge; the words of the living God, the Scriptures of truth; which communicate knowledge, and are profitable for instruction in righteousness; are the means of the true knowledge of God; that there is one, and that he is possessed of all perfections: particularly that he is gracious and merciful, and pardons all manner of sin; that he is in Christ, the God of all grace; that he is the God and Father of Christ, and the covenant God and Father of all his people in him; they give knowledge of his mind and will concerning the salvation of men, and of his ways and worship. The wholesome words of our Lord Jesus, the salutary doctrines of the Gospel, may be here meant; those words of grace, wisdom, and knowledge, which come from him, and give knowledge of his person, offices, relations, incarnation, and blessings of grace by him; from whence they are called the word of peace and reconciliation, the word of righteousness, the word of life, and the word of salvation. Now these are all words of knowledge; and are the means of a spiritual, experimental, and fiducial knowledge of Christ, which is preferable to all other knowledge, and even to everything in the world; and therefore care should be taken, and everything avoided that tends to cause to err from these words and doctrines, which convey, promote, and improve this knowledge. Jarchi and Aben Ezra transpose the words, thus;

"cease, my son, to err from the words of knowledge, to or that thou mayest hear instruction and the latter makes mention of such an interpretation, cease, my son, from the words of knowledge, if thou wouldest hear instruction, and after that err:''

that is, better never hear and know at all, than to turn from those doctrines and instructions; see 2Pe 2:20.

Gill: Pro 19:28

An ungodly witness scorneth judgment,.... Or, "a witness of Belial" ^z. A false witness is not awed by the place of judgment where he is; nor by the judge before whom he is; nor by the law, the rule of judgment, nor by the punishment of perjury; he scorns all these, and scoffs at them, and proceeds in bearing a false testimony: or he covers that which is right and just, and eludes judgment by specious and sophistic arguments and pretences. Or this may be understood of a false teacher, that scorns the rule of judgment, or colours over things, to make them plausible, and seem to be agreeable to it;

and the mouth of the wicked devoureth iniquity; greedily, and with pleasure commits it; as a hungry man takes in his food; or a thirsty man drinks down water: and in like manner are false doctrines imbibed by men of perverse minds.

Gill: Pro 19:29

Judgments are prepared for scorners,.... Either by the civil magistrate, or by the Lord, and indeed by both; and if they miss the one, they will certainly meet the other; though they mock at present punishment and a future judgment, yet everlasting fire is prepared for them, Mat 25:41;

and stripes for the back of fools; as scorners are; which shall be inflicted on them sooner or later; if they are not stricken with the stripes of men, they shall endure the strokes of divine justice and vengeance hereafter.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Pro 19:16

¹ tn The verb שָׁמַר (shamar) is repeated twice in this line but with two different senses, creating a polysemantic wordplay: “he who obeys/keeps (ֹֹשׁמֵר, shomer) the commandment safeguards/keeps (שֹׁמֵר, shomer) his life.”

² sn The expression his ways could refer either (1) to the conduct of the individual himself, or (2) to the commandments as the Lord’s ways. If the latter is the case, then the punishment is more certain.

³ tc The Kethib is יָוְמֻת (yavmut), “will be put to death,” while the Qere reads יָמוּת (yamut, “will die”). The Qere is the preferred reading and is followed by most English versions.

NET Notes: Pro 19:17

¹ sn The participle חוֹנֵן (khonen, “shows favor to”) is related to the word for “grace.” The activity here is the kind favor shown poor people for no particular reason and with no hope of repayment. It is literally an act of grace.

² tn The form מַלְוֵה (malveh) is the Hiphil participle from לָוָה (lavah) in construct; it means “to cause to borrow; to lend.” The expression here is “lender of the Lord.” The person who helps the poor becomes the creditor of God.

³ tn Heb “he.” The referent of the 3rd person masculine singular pronoun is “the Lord” in the preceding line, which has been supplied here in the translation for clarity.

⁴ sn The promise of reward does not necessarily mean that the person who gives to the poor will get money back; the rewards in the book of Proverbs involve life and prosperity in general.

⁵ tn Heb “and his good deed will repay him.” The word גְּמֻלוֹ (gÿmulo) could be (1) the subject or (2) part of a double accusative of the verb. Understanding it as part of the double accusative makes better sense, for then the subject of the verb is God. How “his deed” could repay him is not immediately obvious.

NET Notes: Pro 19:18

¹ tn The translation understands כִּי (ki) as causal. Some prefer to take כִּי as temporal and translate, “while there is hope” (so KJV, NASB, NCV, NRSV, NLT), meaning that discipline should be administered when the child is young and easily guided. In the causal reading of כִּי, the idea seems to be that children should be disciplined because change is possible due to their youth and the fact that they are not set in their ways.

² tn The expression “do not lift up your soul/life” to his death may mean (1) “do not set your heart” on his death (cf. ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV), or it may mean (2) “do not be a willing partner” (cf. NIV). The parent is to discipline a child, but he is not to take it to the extreme and destroy or kill the child.

³ tn The Hiphil infinitive construct הֲמִיתוֹ (h^amito) means “taking it to heart” in this line. The traditional rendering was “and let not your soul spare for his crying.” This involved a different reading than “causing his death” (J. H. Greenstone, Proverbs, 206-7).

NET Notes: Pro 19:19

¹ sn The Hebrew word means “indemnity, fine”; this suggests that the trouble could be legal, and the angry person has to pay for it.

² tn The second colon of the verse is very difficult, and there have been many proposals as to its meaning: (1) “If you save [your enemy], you will add [good to yourself]”; (2) “If you save [your son by chastening], you may continue [chastisement and so educate him]”; (3) “If you deliver [him by paying the fine for him once], you will have to do it again”; (4) “If you save [him this time], you will have to increase [the punishment later on].” All interpretations have to supply a considerable amount of material (indicated by brackets). Many English versions are similar to (3).

NET Notes: Pro 19:20

¹ sn The advice refers in all probability to the teachings of the sages that will make one wise.

² tn The proverb is one continuous thought, but the second half of the verse provides the purpose for the imperatives of the first half.

³ tn The imperfect tense has the nuance of a final imperfect in a purpose clause, and so is translated “that you may become wise” (cf. NAB, NRSV).

⁴ tn Heb “become wise in your latter end” (cf. KJV, ASV) which could obviously be misunderstood.

NET Notes: Pro 19:21

¹ sn The plans (from the Hebrew verb חָשַׁב [khashav], “to think; to reckon; to devise”) in the human heart are many. But only those which God approves will succeed.

² tn Heb “in the heart of a man” (cf. NAB, NIV). Here “heart” is used for the seat of thoughts, plans, and reasoning, so the translation uses “mind.” In contemporary English “heart” is more often associated with the seat of emotion than with the seat of planning and reasoning.

³ tn Heb “but the counsel of the Lord, it will stand.” The construction draws attention to the “counsel of the Lord”; it is an independent nominative absolute, and the resumptive independent pronoun is the formal subject of the verb.

⁴ tn The antithetical parallelism pairs “counsel” with “plans.” “Counsel of the Lord” (עֲצַת יְהוָה, ’atsat yehvah) is literally “advice” or “counsel” with the connotation of “plan” in this context (cf. NIV, NRSV, NLT “purpose”; NCV “plan”; TEV “the Lord’s will”).

sn The point of the proverb is that the human being with many plans is uncertain, but the Lord with a sure plan gives correct counsel.

NET Notes: Pro 19:22

¹ tn Heb “the desire of a man” (so KJV). The noun in construct is תַּאֲוַת (ta’avat), “desire [of].” Here it refers to “the desire of a man [= person].” Two problems surface here, the connotation of the word and the kind of genitive. “Desire” can also be translated “lust,” and so J. H. Greenstone has “The lust of a man is his shame” (Proverbs, 208). But the sentence is more likely positive in view of the more common uses of the words. “Man” could be a genitive of possession or subjective genitive – the man desires loyal love. It could also be an objective genitive, meaning “what is desired for a man.” The first would be the more natural in the proverb, which is showing that loyal love is better than wealth.

² tn Heb “[is] his loyal love”; NIV “unfailing love”; NRSV “loyalty.”

³ sn The second half of the proverb presents the logical inference: The liar would be without “loyal love” entirely, and so poverty would be better than this. A poor person who wishes to do better is preferable to a person who makes promises and does not keep them.

NET Notes: Pro 19:23

¹ tn Heb “the fear of the Lord.” This expression features an objective genitive: “fearing the Lord.”

² tn The term “leads” does not appear in the Hebrew but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity and style.

³ tn Here “life” is probably a metonymy of subject for “blessings and prosperity in life.” The plural form often covers a person’s “lifetime.”

⁴ tn The subject of this verb is probably the one who fears the Lord and enjoys life. So the proverb uses synthetic parallelism; the second half tells what this life is like – it is an abiding contentment that is not threatened by calamity (cf. NCV “unbothered by trouble”).

⁵ tn Heb “he will not be visited” (so KJV, ASV). The verb פָּקַד (paqad) is often translated “visit.” It describes intervention that will change the destiny. If God “visits” it means he intervenes to bless or to curse. To be “visited by trouble” means that calamity will interfere with the course of life and change the direction or the destiny. Therefore this is not referring to a minor trouble that one might briefly experience. A life in the Lord cannot be disrupted by such major catastrophes that would alter one’s destiny.

NET Notes: Pro 19:24

¹ tn Heb “buries” (so many English versions); KJV “hideth”; NAB “loses.”

² sn This humorous portrayal is an exaggeration; but the point is that laziness can overcome hunger. It would have a wider application for anyone who would start a project and then lack the interest or energy to finish it (R. N. Whybray, Proverbs [CBC], 111). Ibn Ezra proposes that the dish was empty, because the sluggard was too lazy to provide for himself.

NET Notes: Pro 19:25

¹ tn The Hiphil imperfect תַּכֶּה (takeh) is followed by another imperfect. It could be rendered: “strike a scorner [imperfect of instruction] and a simpleton will become prudent.” But the first of the parallel verbs can also be subordinated to the second as a temporal or conditional clause. Some English versions translate “beat” (NAB “if you beat an arrogant man”), but this could be understood to refer to competition rather than physical punishment. Therefore “flog” has been used in the translation, since it is normally associated with punishment or discipline.

² sn Different people learn differently. There are three types of people in this proverb: the scorner with a closed mind, the simpleton with an empty mind, and the discerning person with an open mind (D. Kidner, Proverbs [TOTC], 135). The simpleton learns by observing a scoffer being punished, even though the punishment will have no effect on the scoffer.

³ sn The word is related to “shrewdness” (cf. 1:4). The simpleton will learn at least where the traps are and how to avoid them.

⁴ tn The second half begins with הוֹכִיחַ (hokhiakh), the Hiphil infinitive construct. This parallels the imperfect tense beginning the first half; it forms a temporal or conditional clause as well, so that the main verb is “he will understand.”

sn The discerning person will learn from verbal rebukes. The contrast is caught in a wordplay in the Midrash: “For the wise a hint [r’mizo], for the fool a fist [kurmezo]” (Mishle 22:6).

NET Notes: Pro 19:26

¹ tn The construction joins the Piel participle מְשַׁדֶּד (mÿshaded, “one who robs”) with the Hiphil imperfect יַבְרִיחַ (yavriakh, “causes to flee” = chases away). The imperfect given a progressive imperfect nuance matches the timeless description of the participle as a substantive.

² sn “Father” and “mother” here represent a stereotypical word pair in the book of Proverbs, rather than describing separate crimes against each individual parent. Both crimes are against both parents.

³ tn The more generic “child” does not fit the activities described in this verse and so “son” is retained in the translation. In the ancient world a “son” was more likely than a daughter to behave as stated. Such behavior may reflect the son wanting to take over his father’s lands prematurely.

NET Notes: Pro 19:27

¹ tn Heb “Stop listening…!” The infinitive construct לִשְׁמֹעַ (lishmoa’) functions as the direct object of the imperative: “stop heeding [or, listening to].” Of course in this proverb which shows the consequences of doing so, this is irony. The sage is instructing not to stop. The conditional protasis construction does not appear in the Hebrew but is supplied in the translation.

² tn The second line has an infinitive construct לִשְׁגוֹת (lishgot), meaning “to stray; to go astray; to err.” It indicates the result of the instruction – stop listening, and as a result you will go astray. The LXX took it differently: “A son who ceases to attend to discipline is likely to stray from words of knowledge.” RSV sees the final clause as the purpose of the instructions to be avoided: “do not listen to instructions to err.”

NET Notes: Pro 19:28

¹ tn Heb “a witness who is worthless and wicked” (עֵד בְּלִיַּעַל, ’ed beliyya’al). Cf. KJV “an ungodly witness”; NAB “an unprincipled witness”; NCV “an evil witness”; NASB “a rascally witness.”

sn These are crooked or corrupt witnesses who willfully distort the facts and make a mockery of the whole legal process.

² tn The parallel line says the mouth of the wicked “gulps down” or “swallows” (יְבַלַּע, yÿvala’) iniquity. The verb does not seem to fit the line (or the proverb) very well. Some have emended the text to יַבִּיעַ (yavia’, “gushes”) as in 15:28 (cf. NAB “pours out”). Driver followed an Arabic balaga to get “enunciates,” which works well with the idea of a false witness (W. McKane, Proverbs [OTL], 529). As it stands, however, the line indicates that in what he says the wicked person accepts evil – and that could describe a false witness.

NET Notes: Pro 19:29

¹ tc Some (cf. NAB) suggest emending the MT’s “judgments” (from שָׁפַט, shafat) to “rods” (from שָׁבַט, shavat); however, this is not necessary if the term in the MT is interpreted figuratively. The LXX “scourges” might reflect a different Vorlage, but it also could have been an interpretive translation from the same text. “Judgments” is a metonymy of cause and refers to the punishment that the scoffer is to receive.

Geneva Bible: Pro 19:19

A man of great wrath shall suffer punishment: for if thou ^{( f )} deliver [him], yet thou must do it again.

^{( f )} Though for a time he gives place to counsel, yet soon after will he give place to his raging affections.

Geneva Bible: Pro 19:21

[There are] many devices in a ^{( g )} man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand.

^{( g )} Man's device will not have success, unless God governs it, whose purpose is unchangeable.

Geneva Bible: Pro 19:22

The desire of a man [is] his ^{( h )} kindness: and a poor man [is] better than a liar.

^{( h )} That is, that he be honest: for the poor man who is honest is to be esteemed above the rich who is not virtuous.

Geneva Bible: Pro 19:25

Smite a scorner, and the ^{( i )} simple will beware: and reprove one that hath understanding, [and] he will understand knowledge.

^{( i )} That is, the simple and ignorant men learn when they see the wicked punished.

Geneva Bible: Pro 19:28

An ungodly witness scorneth judgment: and the mouth of the wicked ^{( k )} devoureth iniquity.

^{( k )} Takes a pleasure and delight in it, as gluttons and drunkards in delicate meats and drinks.

Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

MHCC: Pro 19:16

If we keep God's word, God's word will keep us from every thing really hurtful. We abuse the doctrine of free grace, if we think that it does away the necessity and advantage of obedience. Those that live at random must die. This truth is clearly taught in words enough to alarm the stoutest sinner.

MHCC: Pro 19:17

God has chosen the poor of this world, to be rich in faith, and heirs of his kingdom.

MHCC: Pro 19:18

When parents keep under foolish tenderness, they do their best to render children a comfort to them, and happy in themselves.

MHCC: Pro 19:19

The spared and spoiled child is likely to become a man of great wrath.

MHCC: Pro 19:20

Those that would be wise in their latter end, must be taught and ruled when young.

MHCC: Pro 19:21

What should we desire, but that all our purposes may agree with God's holy will?

MHCC: Pro 19:22

It is far better to have a heart to do good, and want ability for it, than to have ability for it, and want a heart to it.

MHCC: Pro 19:23

Those that live in the fear of God, shall get safety, satisfaction, and true and complete happiness.

MHCC: Pro 19:24

Indolence, when indulged, so grows upon people, that they have no heart to do the most needful things for themselves.

MHCC: Pro 19:25

A gentle rebuke goes farthest with a man of understanding.

MHCC: Pro 19:26

The young man who wastes his father's substance, or makes his aged mother destitute, is hateful, and will come to disgrace.

MHCC: Pro 19:27

It is the wisdom of young men to dread hearing such talk as puts loose and evil principles into the mind.

MHCC: Pro 19:28

Those are the worst of sinners, who are glad of an opportunity to sin.

MHCC: Pro 19:29

The unbelief of man shall not make God's threatenings of no effect. Christ himself, when bearing sins not his own, was not spared. Justice and judgment took hold of our blessed Surety; and will God spare obstinate sinners?

Matthew Henry: Pro 19:16

Here is, 1. The happiness of those that walk circumspectly. Those that make conscience of keeping the commandment in every thing, that live by rule, as becomes servants and patients, keep their own souls; they secure their present peace and future bliss, and provide every way well for themselves. If we keep God's word, God's word will keep us from every thing really hurtful. 2. The misery of those that live at large and never mind what they do: Those that despair their ways shall die, shall perish eternally; they are in the high road to ruin. With respect to those that are careless about the end of their ways, and never consider whither they are going, and about the rule of their ways, that will walk in the way of their hearts and after the course of the world (Ecc 11:9), that never consider what they have done nor what they are concerned to do, but walk at all adventures (Lev 26:21), right or wrong, it is all one to them - what can come of this but the greatest mischief?

Matthew Henry: Pro 19:17

Here is, I. The duty of charity described. It includes two things: - 1. Compassion, which is the inward principle of charity in the heart; it is to have pity on the poor. Those that have not a penny for the poor, yet may have pity for them, a charitable concern and sympathy; and, if a man give all his goods to feed the poor and have not this charity in his heart, it is nothing, 1Co 13:3. We must draw out our souls to the hungry, Isa 58:10. 2. Bounty and liberality. We must not only pity the poor, but give, according to their necessity and our ability, Jam 2:15, Jam 2:16. That which he has given. Margin, His deed. It is charity to do for the poor, as well as to give; and thus, if they have their limbs and senses, they may be charitable to one another.

II. The encouragement of charity. 1. A very kind construction shall be put upon it. What is given to the poor, or done for them, God will place it to account as lent to him, lent upon interest (so the word signifies); he takes it kindly, as if it were done to himself, and he would have us take the comfort of it and to be as well pleased as ever any usurer was when he had let out a sum of money into good hands. 2. A very rich recompence shall be made for it: He will pay him again, in temporal, spiritual, and eternal blessings. Almsgiving is the surest and safest way of thriving.

Matthew Henry: Pro 19:18

Parents are here cautioned against a foolish indulgence of their children that are untoward and viciously inclined, and that discover such an ill temper of mind as is not likely to be cured but by severity. 1. Do not say that it is all in good time to correct them; no, as soon as ever there appears a corrupt disposition in them check it immediately, before it gets head, and takes root, and is hardened into a habit: Chasten thy son while there is hope, for perhaps, if he be let alone awhile, he will be past hope, and a much greater chastening will not do that which now a less would effect. It is easiest plucking up weeds as soon as they spring up, and the bullock that is designed for the yoke should be betimes accustomed to it. 2. Do not say that it is a pity to correct them, and that, because they cry and beg to be forgiven, you cannot find in your heart to do it. If the point can be gained without correction, well and good; but if you find, as it often proves, that your forgiving them once, upon a dissembled repentance and promise of amendment, does but embolden them to offend again, especially if it be a thing that is in itself sinful (as lying, swearing, ribaldry, stealing, or the like), in such a case put on resolution, and let not thy soul spare for his crying. It is better that he should cry under thy rod than under the sword of the magistrate, or, which is more fearful, that of divine vengeance.

Matthew Henry: Pro 19:19

1. As we read this, it intimates, in short, that angry men never want woe. Those that are of strong, or rather headstrong, passions, commonly bring themselves and their families into trouble by vexatious suits and quarrels and the provocations they give; they are still smarting, in one instance or other, for their ungoverned heats; and, if their friends deliver them out of one trouble, they will quickly involve themselves in another, and they must do it again, all which troubles to themselves and others would be prevented if they would mortify their passions and get the rule of their own spirits. 2. It may as well be read, He that is of great wrath (meaning the child that is to be corrected and is impatient of rebuke, cries and makes a noise, even that wrath of his against the rod of correction) deserves to be punished; for, if thou deliver him for the sake of that, thou wilt be forced to punish him so much the more next time. A stomachful high-spirited child must be subdued betimes, or it will be the worse for it.

Matthew Henry: Pro 19:20

Note, 1. It is well with those that are wise in their latter end, wise for their latter end, for their future state, wise for another world, that are found wise when their latter end comes, wise virgins, wise builders, wise stewards, that are wise at length, and understand the things that belong to their peace, before they be hidden from their eyes. A carnal worldling at his end shall be a fool (Jer 17:11), but godliness will prove wisdom at last. 2. Those that would be wise in their latter end must hear counsel and receive instruction, in their beginnings must be willing to be taught and ruled, willing to be advised and reproved, when they are young. Those that would be stored in winter must gather in summer.

Matthew Henry: Pro 19:21

Here we have, 1. Men projecting. They keep their designs to themselves, but they cannot hide them from God; he knows the many devices that are in men's hearts, - devices against his counsels (as those, Psa 2:1-3; Mic 4:11), - devices without his counsel (no regard had to his providence, as those Jam 4:13, this and the other they will do, and not take God along with them), - devices unlike God's counsels; men are wavering in their devices, and often absurd and unjust, but God's counsels are wise and holy, steady and uniform. 2. God overruling. Various men have various designs, according as their inclination or interest leads them, but the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand, whatever becomes of the devices of men. His counsel often breaks men's measures and baffles their devices; but their devices cannot in the least alter his counsel, not disturb the proceedings of it, nor put him upon new counsels, Isa 14:24; Isa 46:11. What a check does this give to politic designing men, who think they can outwit all mankind, that there is a God in heaven that laughs at them! Psa 2:4. What comfort does this speak to all God's people, that all God's purposes, which we are sure are right and good, shall be accomplished in due time!

Matthew Henry: Pro 19:22

Note, 1. The honour of doing good is what we may laudably be ambitious of. It cannot but be the desire of man, if he have any spark of virtue in him, to be kind; one would not covet an estate for any thing so much as thereby to be put into a capacity of relieving the poor and obliging our friends. 2. It is far better to have a heart to do good and want ability for it than have ability for it and want a heart to it: The desire of a man to be kind, and charitable, and generous, is his kindness, and shall be so construed; both God and man will accept his good-will, according to what he has, and will not expect more. A poor man, who wishes you well, but can promise you nothing, because he has nothing to be kind with, is better than a liar, than a rich man who makes you believe he will do mighty things, but, when it comes to the setting to, will do nothing. the character of the men of low degree, that they are vanity, from whom nothing is expected, is better than that of men of high degree, that they are a lie, they deceive those whose expectations they raised.

Matthew Henry: Pro 19:23

See what those that get by it that live in the fear of God, and always make conscience of their duty to him. 1. Safety: They shall not be visited with evil; they may be visited with sickness or other afflictions, but there shall be no evil in them, nothing to hurt them, because nothing to separate them from the love of God, or hurt to the soul. 2. Satisfaction: They shall abide satisfied; they shall have those comforts which are satisfying, and shall have a constant contentment and complacency in them. It is a satisfaction which will abide, whereas all the satisfactions of sense are transient and soon gone. Satur pernoctabit, non cubabit incoenatus - He shall not go supperless to bed; he shall have that which will make him easy and be an entertainment to him in his silent and solitary hours, Psa 16:6, Psa 16:7. 3. True and complete happiness. Serious godliness has a direct tendency to life; to all good, to eternal life; it is the sure and ready way to it; there is something in the nature of it fitting men for heaven and so leading them to it.

Matthew Henry: Pro 19:24

A sluggard is here exposed as a fool, for, 1. All his care is to save himself from labour and cold. See his posture: He hides his hand in his bosom, pretends he is lame and cannot work; his hands are cold, and he must warm them in his bosom; and, when they are warm there, he must keep them so. He hugs himself in his own ease and is resolved against labour and hardship. Let those work that love it; for his part he thinks there is no such fine life as sitting still and doing nothing. 2. He will not be at the pains to feed himself, an elegant hyperbole; as we say, A man is so lazy that he would not shake fire off him, so here, He cannot find in his heart to take his hand out of his bosom, no, not to put meat into his own mouth. If the law be so that those that will not labour must not eat, he will rather starve than stir. Thus his sin is his punishment, and therefore is egregious folly.

Matthew Henry: Pro 19:25

Note, 1. The punishment of scorners will be a means of good to others. When men are so hardened in wickedness that they will not themselves be wrought upon by the severe methods that are used to reclaim and reform them, yet such methods must be used for the sake of others, that they may hear and fear, Deu 19:20. If the scorner will not be recovered from his sin, the disease being inveterate, yet the simple will beware of venturing upon the sin which exposes men thus. If it cure not the infected, it may prevent the spreading of the infection. 2. The reproof of wise men will be a means of good to themselves. They need not be smitten; a word to the wise is enough. Do but reprove one that has understanding and he will so far understand himself and his own interest that he will understand knowledge by it, and not miss it again through ignorance and inadvertency when once he has been told of it; so kindly does he take reproof and so wisely improve it.

Matthew Henry: Pro 19:26

Here is, 1. The sin of a prodigal son. Besides the wrong he does to himself, he is injurious to his good parents, and basely ungrateful to those that were instruments of his being and have taken so much care and pains about him, which is a great aggravation of his sin and renders it exceedingly sinful in the eyes of God and man: He wastes is father, wastes his estate which he should have to support him in his old age, wastes his spirits, and breaks his heart, and brings his gray head with sorrow to the grave. He chases away his mother, alienates her affections from him, which cannot be done without a great deal of regret and uneasiness to her; he makes her weary of the house, with his rudeness and insolence, and glad to retire for a little quietness; and, when he has spent all, he turns her out of doors. 2. The shame of a prodigal son. It is a shame to himself that he should be so brutish and unnatural. He makes himself odious to all mankind. It is a shame to his parents and family, who are reflected upon, though, perhaps, without just cause, for teaching him no better, or being in some way wanting to him.

Matthew Henry: Pro 19:27

This is a good caution to those that have had a good education to take heed of hearkening to those who, under pretence of instructing them, draw them off from those good principles under the influence of which they were trained up. Observe, 1. There is that which seems designed for instruction, but really tends to the destruction of young men. The factors for vice will undertake to teach them free thoughts and a fashionable conversation, how to palliate the sins they have a mind to and stop the mouth of their own consciences, how to get clear of the restraints of their education and to set up for wits and beaux. This is the instruction which causes to err from the forms of sound words, which should be held fast in faith and love. 2. It is the wisdom of young men to turn a deaf ear to such instructions, as the adder does to the charms that are designed to ensnare her. "Dread hearing such talk as tends top instil loose principles into the mind; and, if thou art linked in with such, break off from them; thou hast heard enough, or too much, and therefore hear no more of the evil communication which corrupts good manners."

Matthew Henry: Pro 19:28

Here is a description of the worst of sinners, whose hearts are fully set in them to do evil. 1. They set that at defiance which would deter and detain them from sin: An ungodly witness is one that bears false witness against his neighbour, and will forswear himself to do another a mischief, in which there is not only great injustice, but great impiety; this is one of the worst of men. Or an ungodly witness is one that profanely and atheistically witnesses against religion and godliness, whose instructions seduce from the words of knowledge (Pro 19:27); such a one scorns judgment, laughs at the terrors of the Lord, mocks at that fear, Job 15:26. Tell him of law and equity, that the scriptures and an oath are sacred things, and not to be jested with, that there will come a reckoning day; he laughs at it all, and scorns to heed it. 2. They are greedy, and glad of that which gives them an opportunity to sin: The mouth of the wicked eagerly devours iniquity, drinks it in like water, Job 15:16.

Matthew Henry: Pro 19:29

Note, 1. Scorners are fools. Those that ridicule things sacred and serious do but make themselves ridiculous. Their folly shall be manifest unto all men. 2. Those that scorn judgments cannot escape them, Pro 19:28. The unbelief of man shall not make God's threatenings of no effect; those that devour iniquity swallow the hook with the bait. The civil magistrate has judgments prepared for scorners, for otherwise he would bear the sword in vain; but if he be remiss, and connive at sin, yet God's judgments slumber not; they are prepared, Mat 25:41.

Keil-Delitzsch: Pro 19:16

16 He that keepeth the commandment keepeth his soul;

He that taketh no heed to his ways dies.

As at Pro 6:23, cf. Ecc 8:5, מצוה is here the commandment of God, and thus obligatory, which directs man in every case to do that which is right, and warns him against that which is wrong. And בּוזה דּרכיו (according to the Masora with Tsere , as in Codd. and old editions, not בוזה ) is the antithesis of נצר דּרכּו , Pro 16:17. To despise one's own way is equivalent to, to regard it as worth no consideration, as no question of conscience whether one should enter upon this way or that. Hitzig's reading, פּוזר , "he that scattereth his ways,"lets himself be drawn by the manifold objects of sensuality sometimes in one direction and sometimes in another, is supported by Jer 3:13, according to which it must be מפזּר ; the conj. is not in the style of the Book of Proverbs, and besides is superfluous. The lxx, which is fond of a quid pro quo - it makes, 13b, a courtesan offering a sacrifice she had vowed of the wages of sin of the quarrelsome woman - has here, as the Heb. text: ὁ καταφρονῶν τῶν ἑαυτοῦ ὁδῶν . Thus after the Kerı̂ ימת , as also the Targ., Syro-Hexap., and Luther; on the contrary, the Syr., Jerome, the Venet . adopt the Chethı̂b יוּמת : he will become dead, i.e. , dies no natural death. The Kerı̂ is more in the spirit and style of the Book of Proverbs (Pro 15:10; Pro 23:13; Pro 10:21).

Keil-Delitzsch: Pro 19:17-21

These verses we take together. But we have no other reason for making a pause at Pro 19:21, than that Pro 19:22 is analogous to Pro 19:17, and thus presents itself to us as an initial verse.

Pro 19:17

17 He lendeth to Jahve who is compassionate to the lowly,

And his bounty He requites to him.

As at Pro 14:31, חונן is part. Kal . The Masoretically exact form of the word is חונן (as ואוזל , Pro 20:14) with Mercha on the first syllable, on which the tone is thrown back, and the העמדה on the second. The Roman legal phrase, mutui datione contrahitur obligatio , serves to explain the fundamental conception of לוה , mutuo accipere , and הלוה , mutuum dare ( vid ., Pro 22:7). The construction, Exo 22:24, "to make any one bound as a debtor, obligare ,"lies at the foundation of the genitive connection ' מלוה ה (not מלוה ). With 17b cf. Pro 12:14, where the subject of ישׁיב (Kerı̂ ) remains in the background. גמלו (not גמלּו ) is here his work done in the sense of good exhibited. "Love,"Hedinger once said, "is an imperishable capital, which always bears interest."And the Archbishop Walther: nam Deo dat qui dat inopibus, ipse Deus est in pauperibus . Dr. Jonas, as Dächsel relates, once gave to a poor man, and said, "Who knows when God restores it!"There Luther interposed: "As if God had not long ago given it beforehand!"This answer of Luther meets the abuse of this beautiful proverb by the covetous.

Pro 19:18

This proverb brings to view once more the pedagogic character of this Older Book of Proverbs:

Correct thy son, for yet there is hope;

But go not too far to kill him.

That כּי tahT is meant relatively, as at Pro 11:15, is seen from Job 11:18; Job 14:7; Jer 31:16.; כּי־ישׁ תּקוה is the usual expression for etemin spes est . Though a son show obstinacy, and manifest a bad disposition, yet there is hope in the training of the youth of being able to break his self-will, and to wean him from his bad disposition; therefore his education should be carried forward with rigorous exactness, but in such a way that wisdom and love regulate the measure and limits of correction: ad eum interficiendum animam ne tollas ( animum ne inducas ). נפשׁך is not the subject, for in that case the word would have been תּשּׁאך (2Ki 14:10). It is the object: To raise the soul to something is equivalent to, to direct his desire to it, to take delight in it. The teacher should not seek correction as the object, but only as the means; he who has a desire after it, to put the child to death in the case of his guilt, changes correction into revenge, permits himself to be driven by passion from the proper end of correction, and to be pushed beyond its limits. The lxx translates freely εἰς δὲ ὕβρις , for ὕβρις is unrestrained abuse, מוסר אכזרי as Immanuel glosses. Besides, all the ancients and also the Venet . translate המיתו as the inf . of המית . But Oetinger (for he translates: lift not thy soul to his cry, for which Euchel: let not his complaining move thy compassion) follows the derivation from המה suggested by Kimchi, Meîri, and Immanuel, and preferred by Ralbag, so that המיתו after the from בּכית is equivalent to המיתו . But leaving out of view that המה means strepere , not lamentari , and that נשׂא נפשׁו means attention, not desire, Pro 23:13 points out to us a better interpretation.

Pro 19:19

Another proverb with נשׂא :

A man of excessive wrath must suffer punishment;

For if thou layest hold of it, hindering it, thou makest it only worse.

The lxx, Syr., and Targ. translate as if the words were גּבר חמה (as בּעל חמה , Pro 29:22). Theodotion, the Venet ., and Luther render the Kerı̂ גּדל־ ; Jerome's impatiens is colourless. The Chethı̂b גרל gives no appropriate meaning. The Arab. jaril means lapidosus (whence גּורל , cf. Aram. פּסּא = ψῆφος ), and Schultens translates accordingly aspere scruposus iracundiae , which is altogether after the manner of his own heavy style. Ewald translates גּרל as derived from the Arab jazyl , largus, grandis ; but the possibility of the passing over of ר into ז , as maintained by Ewald and also by Hitzig, or the reverse, is physiologically undemonstrable, and is confirmed by no example worthy of mention. Rather it may be possible that the Heb. had an adj. גּרל or גּרל in the sense of stony, gravel-like, hard as gravel, but tow rather than gravel would be appropriate to חמה . Hitzig corrects גּמל חמה , "who acts in anger;"but he says שׁלּם חמה , to recompense anger, Isa 59:18; גמל חמה is without support. This correction, however, is incomparably more feasible than Böttcher's, "moderate inheritance bears expiation;" חמה = חמאה must mean not only thick [curdled] milk, but also moderation, and Böttcher finds this "sound."From all these instances one sees that גרל is an error in transcription; the Kerı̂ גּדל־חמה rightly improves it, a man is thus designated whose peculiarity it is to fall into a high degree of passionate anger ( חמה גדולה , Dan 11:44): such an one has to bear ענשׁ , a fine, i.e. , to compensate, for he has to pay compensation or smart-money for the injury suffered, as e.g. , he who in strife with another pushes against a woman with child, so that injury befalls her, Exo 21:22. If we compare this passage with 2Sa 14:6, there appears for תּצּיל the meaning of taking away of the object (whether a person or a thing) against which the passionate hothead directs himself. Therewith the meaning of ועוד תּוסף accords. The meaning is not that, הצּיל , once is not enough, but much rather must be repeated, and yet is without effect; but that one only increases and heightens the חמה thereby. It is in vain to seek to spare such a violent person the punishment into which he obstinately runs; much more advisable is it to let him rage till he ceases; violent opposition only makes the evil the greater. With כּי אם , "steplang7 denn wenn "[for then], cf. Pro 2:3, "steplang7 ja wenn "[yea if], and with ועוד in the conclusion, Job 14:7 (a parallelism syntactically more appropriate than Psa 139:18).

Pro 19:20

20 Hearken to counsel, and receive instruction,

That thou mayest become wise afterwards.

The rule of morals, Pro 12:15, receives here the paraenetic tone which is the keynote of the introduction chap. 1-9. Löwenstein translates: that thou mayest finally become wise. But בּאחריתך corresponds rather to our "steplang7 hinfort "[ posthac ] than to "steplang7 endlich "[finally]. He to whom the warning is directed must break with the self-willed, undisciplined ראשׁית beginning of his life, and for the future ( τὸν ἐπίλοιπον ἐν σαρκὶ χρόνον , 1Pe 4:2) become wise. The relative contrast between the two periods of life is the same as at Job 8:7.

Pro 19:21

21 Many are the thoughts in a man's heart;

But Jahve's counsel, that stands.

In תּקוּם lies, as at Isa 40:8, both: that the counsel of God (His plan of the world and of salvation) is accomplished and comes into actual fact, and that it continues. This counsel is the true reality elevated above the checkered manifoldness of human purposes, aims, and subjectivities, which penetrates and works itself out in history. The thoughts of a man thus gain unity, substance, endurance, only in so far as he subjects himself to this counsel, and makes his thoughts and actions conformable and subordinate to this counsel.

Keil-Delitzsch: Pro 19:22

The series makes a new departure with a proverb regarding the poor (cf. Pro 19:17):

A man's delight is his beneficence;

And better is a poor man than a liar.

The right interpretation will be that which presses upon תּאות no strange meaning, and which places the two parts of the verse in an inner mutual relation ethically right. In any case it lies nearer to interpret תאות , in relation to man, actively than passively: that which makes man worthy of desire (Rashi), adorns and distinguishes him (Kimchi, Aben-Ezra); or, that which is desired by man, is above all things sought for (Luzzatto); and, in like manner, the Heb. meaning for חסדּו lies nearer than the Aram. ( vid ., Pro 14:34): the pleasure of a man is his disgrace (Ralbag). Thus Bertheau's translation: the desire of a man is his charitas , must mean: that which brings to a man true joy is to act amiably. But is that, thus generally expressed, true? And if this were the thought, how much more correctly and distinctly would it be expressed by שׂמחה לאדם עשׂות חסד (cf. Pro 21:15)! Hitzig so rightly reminded by חסדו of the Pharisee who thanks God that he is not as other men; the word ought to have been חסד to remove every trace of self-satisfaction. Hitzig therefore proposes from the lxx and the Vulgate the text-correction מתּבוּאת no , and translates, "from the revenue of a man is his kind gift;"and Ewald, who is satisfied with תּבוּאת , "the gain of a man is his pious love."The latter is more judicious: חסד (love) distributed is in reality gain (according to Pro 19:17); but 22b corresponds rather with the former: "better is he who from want does not give תבואה , than he who could give and says he has nothing."But was there then need for that καρπός of the lxx? If a poor man is better than a lord given to lying - for אישׁ with רשׁ is a man of means and position - i.e. , a poor man who would give willingly, but has nothing, than that man who will not give, and therefore lies, saying that he has nothing; then 22a means that the will of a man (cf. תאות , Pro 11:23) is his doing good ( vid ., regarding חסד , ad Pro 3:3), i.e. , is its soul and very essence. Euchel, who accordingly translates: the philanthropy of a man consists properly in his goodwill, rightly compares the Rabbinical proverb, אחד המרבה ואחד הממעיט ובלבד שׁיתבוון , i.e. , one may give more or less, it all depends on the intention, the disposition.

Keil-Delitzsch: Pro 19:23

23 The fear of Jahve tendeth to life;

Satisfied, one spendeth the night, not visited by evil.

The first line is a variation of Pro 14:27. How the fear of God thus reacheth to life, i.e. , helps to a life that is enduring, free from care and happy, 23b says: the promises are fulfilled to the God-fearing, Deu 11:15 and Lev 26:6; he does not go hungry to bed, and needs fear no awakening in terror out of his soft slumber (Pro 3:24). With ו explic ., 23a is explained. לין שׂבע means to spend the night (the long night) hungry. as לין ערוּם , Job 24:7, to pass the night in nakedness (cold). נפקד , of visitation of punishment, we read also at Isa 29:6, and instead of בּרע , as it might be according to this passage, we have here the accus. of the manner placing the meaning of the Niph . beyond a doubt (cf. Pro 11:15, רע , in an evil manner). All is in harmony with the matter, and is good Heb.; on the contrary, Hitzig's ingenuity introduces, instead of שׂבעו , an unheard of word, ושׂרע , "and he stretches himself."One of the Greeks excellently translates: καὶ ἐμπλησθεὶς αὐλισθήσεται ἄνευ ἐπισκοπῆς πονηρᾶς . The lxx, which instead of רע , γνῶσις , translates thus, דּע , discredits itself. The Midrash - Lagarde says of its translation - varies in colour like an opal. In other words, it handles the text like wax, and forms it according to its own taste, like the Midrash with its "read not so, but so."

Keil-Delitzsch: Pro 19:24

24 The slothful hath thrust his hand into the dish;

He bringeth it not again to his mouth.

This proverb is repeated in a different form, Pro 26:15. The figure appears, thus understood, an hyperbole, on which account the lxx understand by צלחת the bosom or lap, κόλπον ; Aquila and Symmachus understand by it the arm-pit, μασχάλην or μάλην ; and the Jewish interpreters gloss it by חיק (Kimchi) or קרע החלוק , the slit (Ita. fenditura ) of the shirt. But the domestic figure, 2Ki 21:13, places before us a dish which, when it is empty, is wiped and turned upside down;

(Note: While צפּחת , ṣaḥfat , in the sense of dish, is etymologically clear, for צלּחת , neither ṣalaḥ (to be good for), nor salakh (to be deaf, mangy), offers an appropriate verbal meaning. The Arab. zuluh (large dishes) stands under zalah (to taste, of the tasting of good), but is scarcely a derivative from it. Only צלח , which in the meaning of good for, proceeding from the idea of penetrating through, has retained the root-meaning of cleft, furnishes for צלּחת and צלוחית a root-word in some measure useful.)

and that the slothful when he eats appears too slothful to bring his hand, e.g. , with the rice or the piece of bread he has taken out of the dish, again to his mouth, is true to nature: we say of such a man that he almost sleeps when he eats. The fut. after the perf. here denotes that which is not done after the former thing, i.e. , that which is scarcely and only with difficulty done; לּו ... גּם may have the meaning of "yet not,"as at Psa 129:2; but the sense of "not once"= ne ... quidem , lies here nearer Deu 23:3.

Keil-Delitzsch: Pro 19:25

25 The scorner thou smitest, and the simple is prudent;

And if one reprove the man of understanding, he gaineth knowledge

Hitzig translates in a way that is syntactically inexact: smite the scorner, so the simple becomes prudent; that would have required at least the word ויערם : fut. and fut. connected by ו is one of many modes of expression for the simultaneous, discussed by me at Hab 3:10. The meaning of the proverb has a complete commentary at Pro 21:11, where its two parts are otherwise expressed with perfect identity of thought. In regard to the לץ , with whom denunciation and threatening bear no fruit (Pro 13:1; Pro 15:12), and perhaps even produce the contrary effect to that intended (Pro 9:7), there remains nothing else than to vindicate the injured truths by means of the private justice of corporal punishment. Such words, if spoken to the right man, in the right spirit, at the right time, may affect him with wholesome terrors; but even though he is not made better thereby, yet the simple, who listens to the mockeries of such not without injury, will thereby become prudent (gain הערים = ערמה , prudence, as at Pro 15:5), i.e. , either arrive at the knowledge that the mockery of religion is wicked, or guard himself against incurring the same repressive measures. In 25b והוכח is neither inf . (Umbreit), which after Pro 21:11 must be וּבהוכח , nor impr. (Targ., Ewald), which according to rule is הוכח , but the hypothetic perf. (Syr.) with the most general subject (Merc., Hitzig): if one impart instruction to the (dat. obj. as Pro 9:7; Pro 15:2) man of understanding ( vid ., Pro 16:21), then he acquires knowledge, i.e. , gains an insight into the nature and value of that which one wishes to bring him to the knowledge of ( הבין דּעת , as Pro 29:7; cf. Pro 8:5). That which the deterring lesson of exemplary punishment approximately effects with the wavering, is, in the case of the man of understanding, perfectly attained by an instructive word.

We have now reached the close of the third chief section of the older Book of Proverbs. All the three sections begin with בּן חכם , Pro 10:1; Pro 13:1; Pro 15:20. The Introduction, chap. 1-9, dedicates this collection of Solomonic proverbs to youth, and the three beginnings accordingly relate to the relative duties of a son to his father and mother. We are now no longer far from the end, for Pro 22:17 resumes the tone of the Introduction. The third principal part would be disproportionately large if it extended from Pro 15:1 to Pro 22:15. But there does not again occur a proverb beginning with the words "son of man."We can therefore scarcely go wrong if we take Pro 19:26 as the commencement of a fourth principal part. The Masora divides the whole Mishle into eight sedarim , which exhibit so little knowledge of the true division, that the parashas (sections) Pro 10:1; Pro 22:17 do not at all find their right place.

(Note: The 915 verses of the Mishle , according to the Masora, fall into eight sedarim , beginning as follows: Pro 1:1; Pro 5:18; Pro 9:12; Pro 14:4; Pro 18:10; Pro 22:22; Pro 25:13; Pro 28:16.)

The MSS, however, contain evidences that this Hagiograph was also anciently divided into parashas , which were designated partly by spaces between the lines ( sethumoth ) and partly by breaks in the lines ( phethucoth ). In Baer's Cod. Jamanensis ,

(Note: Vid ., the Prefatio to the Masoretico-Critical Edition of Isaiah by Baer and myself; Leipzig, 1872.)

after Pro 6:19, there is the letter פ written on the margin as the mark of such a break. With Pro 6:20 ( vid ., l.c.) there indeed commences a new part of the introductory Mashal discourses. But, besides, we only seldom meet with

(Note: There are spaces within the lines after Pro 1:7, Pro 1:9, Pro 1:33; Pro 2:22; Pro 3:18, Pro 3:35; Pro 5:17, Pro 5:23; Pro 6:4, Pro 6:11, Pro 6:15, Pro 6:19 (here a פ ), Pro 6:35, Pro 8:21, Pro 8:31, Pro 8:35; Pro 9:18; Pro 17:25; Pro 18:9; Pro 22:19, Pro 22:27; Pro 23:14; Pro 24:22, Pro 24:33; Pro 26:21; Pro 28:10, Pro 28:16; Pro 29:17, Pro 29:27; Pro 30:6, Pro 30:9, Pro 30:14, Pro 30:17, Pro 30:20, Pro 30:24, Pro 30:28, Pro 30:33; Pro 31:9.)

coincidences with the division and grouping which have commended themselves to us. In the MS of the Graecus Venetus , Pro 19:11, Pro 19:16, and Pro 19:19 have their initial letters coloured red; but why only these verses, is not manifest. A comparison of the series of proverbs distinguished by such initials with the Cod. Jaman . and Cod. II of the Leipzig City Library, makes it more than probable that it gives a traditional division of the Mishle , which may perhaps yet be discovered by a comparison of MSS.

(Note: Vid ., Gebhardt's Prolegomena to his new edition of the Versio Veneta .)

But this much is clear, that a historico-literary reconstruction of the Mishle , and of its several parts, can derive no help from this comparison.

Keil-Delitzsch: Pro 19:26

With Pro 19:26 there thus begins the fourth principal part of the Solomonic collection of proverbs introduced by chap. 1-9.

He that doeth violence to his father and chaseth his mother,

Is a son that bringeth shame and disgrace.

The right name is given in the second line to him who acts as is described in the first. שׁדּד means properly to barricade [ obstruere ], and then in general to do violence to, here: to ruin one both as to life and property. The part., which has the force of an attributive clause, is continued in the finite: qui matrem fugat ; this is the rule of the Heb. style, which is not filome'tochos, Gesen. §134, Anm . 2. Regarding מבישׁ , vid ., at Pro 10:5; regarding the placing together of הבישׁ והחפּיר , vid ., Pro 13:5, where for הבישׁ , to make shame, to be scandalous, the word הבאישׁ , which is radically different, meaning to bring into bad odour, is used. The putting to shame is in בּושׁ ni si (kindred with Arab. bâth ) thought of as disturbatio (cf. σύγχυσις ) (cf. at Ps. 6:11), in חפר (khfr ) as opertio (cf. Cicero's Cluent . 20: infamia et dedecore opertus ), not, as I formerly thought, with Fürst, as reddening, blushing ( vid ., Psa 34:6). Putting to shame would in this connection be too weak a meaning for מחפּיר . The paedagogic stamp which Pro 19:26 impresses on this fourth principal part is made yet further distinct in the verse that now follows.

Keil-Delitzsch: Pro 19:27

27 Cease, my son, to hear instruction,

To depart from the words of knowledge.

Oetinger correctly: cease from hearing instruction if thou wilt make no other use of it than to depart, etc., i.e. , cease to learn wisdom and afterwards to misuse it. The proverb is, as Ewald says, as "bloody irony;"but it is a dissuasive from hypocrisy, a warning against the self-deception of which Jam 1:22-24 speaks, against heightening one's own condemnation, which is the case of that servant who knows his lord's will and does it not, Luk 12:47. חדל , in the meaning to leave off doing something further, is more frequently construed with ל seq. infin . than with מן (cf. e.g. , Gen 11:8 with 1Ki 15:21); but if we mean the omission of a thing which has not yet been begun, then the construction is with ל , Num 9:13, Instead of לשׁגּות , there might have been also used מלּשׁגּות (omit rather ... than...), and למען שׁגות would be more distinct; but as the proverb is expressed, לשׁגות is not to be mistaken as the subord. infin. of purpose. The lxx, Syr., Targ., and Jerome do violence to the proverb. Luther, after the example of older interpreters: instruction, that which leads away from prudent learning; but musar always means either discipline weaning from evil, or education leading to good.

Keil-Delitzsch: Pro 19:28

28 A worthless witness scoffeth at right;

And the mouth of the godless swalloweth up mischief.

The Mosaic law does not know the oath of witnesses; but the adjuring of witnesses to speak the truth, Lev 4:1, places a false statement almost in the rank of perjury. The משׁפּט , which legally and morally binds witnesses, is just their duty to state the matter in accordance with truth, and without deceitful and malicious reservation; but a worthless witness ( vid ., regarding בּליּעל , Pro 6:12) despiseth what is right ( יליץ with accus.-obj. like Pro 14:9), i.e. , scornfully disregards this duty. Under 28b Hitzig remarks that בלע only in Kal means to devour, but in Piel , on the contrary, to absorb = annihilate; therefore he reads with the lxx and Syr. דּין justice instead of און mischief: the mouth of the wicked murders that which is right, properly, swallows down his feeling of right. But בּלּע interchanges with בּלע in the sense of swallowing only, without the connected idea of annihilation; cf. כּבלּע for the continuance [duration] of a gulp = for a moment, Num 4:20 with Job 7:29; and one can thus understand 28b without any alteration of the text after Job 15:16; cf. Pro 20:12-15, as well as with the text altered after Isa 3:12, by no means so that one makes און the subject: mischief swallows up, i.e. , destroys, the mouth of the wicked (Rashi); for when "mouth"and "to swallow"stand connected, the mouth is naturally that which swallows, not that which is swallowed (cf. Ecc 10:12 : the mouth of the fool swallows, i.e. , destroys, him). Thus 28b means that wickedness, i.e. , that which is morally perverse, is a delicious morsel for the mouth of the godless, which he eagerly devours; to practise evil is for him, as we say, "steplang7 ein wahrer Genuss "[a true enjoyment].

Keil-Delitzsch: Pro 19:29

29 Judgments are prepared for scorners,

And stripes for the backs of fools.

שׁפמים never means punishment which a court of justice inflicts, but is always used of the judgments of God, even although they are inflicted by human instrumentality ( vid ., 2Ch 24:24); the singular, which nowhere occurs, is the segolate n. act . שׁפט = שׁפוט , 2Ch 20:9, plur. שׁפוּטים . Hitzig's remark: "the judgment may, after Pro 19:25, consist in stripes,"is misleading; the stroke, הכּות , there is such as when, e.g. , a stroke on the ear is applied to one who despises that which is holy, which, under the circumstances, may be salutary; but it does not fall under the category of shephuthim , nor properly under that of מהלמות . The former are providential chastisements with which history itself, or God in history, visits the despiser of religion; the latter are strokes which are laid on the backs of fools by one who is instructing them, in order, if possible, to bring them to thought and understanding. נכון , here inflected as Niph ., is used, as Job 15:23, as meaning to be placed in readiness, and thus to be surely imminent. Regarding mahalǔmoth , vid ., at Pro 18:6.

Constable: Pro 10:1--22:17

II. COUPLETS EXPRESSING WISDOM 10:1--22:16

Chapters 1-9, as we have seen, contain discourses that Solomon evidently wrote urging his sons to choose the way of wisdom for their lives.⁹² At 10:1 we begin the part of the book that sets forth what the wise way is in a variety of life situations.

"Until now the book of Proverbs has been identifying the truly wise man. Form this point on, it will describe how such a man should conduct his life from day to day. This logical topical order appears in many New Testament epistles, where the saved person is first identified, and then the daily life he should live is described [e.g., Rom. 1-5 and 6-8; Eph. 1-3 and 4-6]."⁹³

There are 184 maxims in chapters 10-15 and 191 in chapters 16-22 for a total of 375.⁹⁴ This represents only a few of the 3,000 proverbs Solomon wrote (1 Kings 4:32). Most of the proverbs in this section are one verse long and contain two lines each; they are couplets. The second line contrasts, compares, or completes the idea expressed in the first line. In chapters 10-15 most couplets contain antithetic parallelism. The key word is "but." In chapters 16-22 there are more synonymous parallelisms marked by the conjunction "and." There are also continuous sentences in which the second line continues the thought of the first line (e.g., 14:26). Some couplets contain comparisons in which the relative value of two things is set forth (e.g., 11:31). Some contain a statement in the first line followed by an explanation in the second line (e.g., 20:2).⁹⁵

Is there any logic to the arrangement of these seemingly unrelated proverbs? In some places there is a general association of ideas, and in some places there is a recurring key word (e.g., "king" in 16:12-15, and "Yahweh" in 16:1-7). However many of these couplets have no logical connection with what immediately precedes or follows in the context. This anthology style is typical of other ancient Near Eastern wisdom literature.

"The absence of a systematic arrangement is due to the traditional character of the contents. There is no need of a closely knit argument; striking images, incisive wording are all that is required to give a fresh appeal to the truth of familiar viewpoints."⁹⁶

"It is also surprising to find lofty precepts mixed with more trivial' apothegms. Of course, this is a misconception based on the modern-day viewpoint of life. From the sages' perspective each proverb is an expression of wisdom,' which is . . . the fixed order of reality. Viewed from this perspective no sentence is trivial . . ."⁹⁷

Why did the Holy Spirit not arrange these proverbs topically so we could study all of them that deal with one subject together? Probably He did so because the method He chose is "a course of education in the life of wisdom."⁹⁸

"As we read Proverbs chapter by chapter, the Spirit of God has the freedom to teach us about many subjects, and we never know from day to day which topic we'll need the most. Just as the Bible itself isn't arranged like a systematic theology, neither is Proverbs. What Solomon wrote is more like a kaleidoscope than a stained-glass window: We never know what the next pattern will be."⁹⁹

In the notes that follow (on 10:1-22:16) I have commented only on those proverbs that appear to me to need clarification in the NASB.

Constable: Pro 19:1--22:17

4. Further advice for pleasing God 19:1-22:16

As was true in the chapter 10-15 section, this one (16:1-22:16) also becomes more difficult to outline as it ends because there are fewer groupings of proverbs.

19:7 The first part of this verse is hyperbole (overstatement to make a point). The point is that people avoid the poor--their relatives do, and even more, their friends do. Even their own overtures of friendship are ineffective (7c).

19:18 If a parent does not discipline his child while there is hope of correcting him, he is really, though perhaps not consciously, willing for him to die. The child's folly will lead to his death if his parents do not curb it with discipline.¹⁴¹ Some parents allow their children to go astray out of neglect. "Discipline" (Heb. yasser) includes chastisement as well as instruction.

"Better the child is corrected by a parent than by a law enforcement officer in a correctional institution."¹⁴²

19:19 An uncontrolled temper will repeatedly send its owner into fresh trouble. The implication is that it is an exercise in futility to bail such a person out of the trouble he gets himself into with his temper.

19:24 This humorous picture is of a person so lazy that he cannot even lift his food from his plate to his mouth (cf. 26:15). The point is that a lazy person will bear the consequences of his own laziness. This warning is applicable to those who are too lazy to finish the projects they begin.¹⁴³

20:16 Solomon advised that a person who takes on the obligations of another person who is a stranger or a foreigner to him is not very wise. Such a stranger is a bad risk. If you lend to him, make sure you have some collateral such as his garment or some other pledge so he will repay you. The proverb encourages us to hold people to their obligations. Much more than simply giving a pledge for a prostitute must be in view.¹⁴⁴

20:21 The inheritance in view evidently comes prematurely by request or by dishonesty (cf. 19:26; Luke 15:12). In either case the consequence is often lack of divine blessing.

"Such wealth may be squandered and often squelches initiative and work."¹⁴⁵

20:25 The situation in view here is that of a person who impulsively pledges something to God and then upon reconsidering wishes that he had not done so (cf. Eccles. 5:5; Mark 7:11). It is better to wait to make the pledge until we think through the implications of the decision carefully. In a larger application, we should aviod all unconsidered action.¹⁴⁶

"Too many people will make promises under the inspiration of the hour only later to realize that they have strapped themselves; they then try to go back on their word."¹⁴⁷

20:27 God searches out our innermost thoughts and feelings. Solomon compared our "spirit" (lit. "breath," Heb. nishmat, cf. Gen. 2:7) to a lamp God uses to investigate all the darkened crannies of our being in this very graphic proverb. Here the spirit is almost equivalent to the conscience.

21:4 The "lamp" of the wicked seems to be their life (cf. 13:9b) or, more particularly, their conscience (cf. 20:27). If this is so, the verse is saying that arrogance and pride are the sum and substance of the life of the wicked, and that is sin.

21:9 This proverb makes sense if we keep in mind that roofs in the ancient Near East were flat and people used them as patios. It is better to live alone outside, exposed to the elements, than in the sheltered, comfortable interior of one's house if one has to share the inside with a scolding woman. Spartan conditions with peace are better than physical comforts with strife.

21:18 A ransom is a payment given to free a person from some penalty he has incurred similar to posting bail to get out of jail. In this case it appears that God punishes the wicked and in doing so sets the righteous free. Such would be the case if the wicked were oppressing the righteous (cf. 11:8). God delivers the righteous by punishing the wicked who oppress them.

21:28 The contrast is between the person who listens to falsehood and repeats it, and the person who listens to the truth and repeats it. The first person has little concern for listening carefully, but the second person does. Heeding the truth makes all the difference.

"The key phrase is a man who hears: his first aim is to know and understand, not to grind some axe. . . . the man who listens (Is. 50:4) is the man worth listening to."¹⁴⁸

Ross believed that the verse teaches that "false witnesses will be discredited and destroyed."¹⁴⁹

21:29 A wicked man puts up a show of confidence, but it is a bluff. His bold face reflects a hard heart that holds the opinions and views of others in contempt.¹⁵⁰ The upright on the other hand does not need to pretend to be something he is not because he is walking on the right path.

22:6 "Train" (Heb. hanak) means to dedicate (cf. Deut. 20:5; 1 Kings 8:63; 2 Chron. 7:5; Dan. 3:2). It has the idea of narrowing and in this verse implies channeling the child's conduct into the way of wisdom. That guidance might include dedicating him or her to God and preparing the child for future responsibilities and adulthood.¹⁵¹

"In the way he should go" is literally "according to his way." It may mean according to his own personality, temperament, responses, or stage in life. On the other hand it could mean the way in which he ought to go. The Hebrew grammar permits either interpretation. However the context favors the latter view. "Way" in Proverbs usually means the path a person takes through life, not one's personality, disposition, or stage in life. Consequently the verse is saying the parent should train up a child in the way of wisdom to live in the fear of God.¹⁵²

The second part of this verse has challenged the faith of many a godly parent. Obviously many children who have received good training have repudiated the way of wisdom later in life. The explanation for this seemingly broken promise lies in a correct understanding of what a proverb is.

"A proverb is a literary device whereby a general truth is brought to bear on a specific situation. Many of the proverbs are not absolute guarantees for they express truths that are necessarily conditioned by prevailing circumstances. For example, verses 3-4, 9, 11, 16, 29 do not express promises that are always binding. Though the proverbs are generally and usually true, occasional exceptions may be noted. This may be because of the self-will or deliberate disobedience of an individual who chooses to go his own way--the way of folly instead of the way of wisdom . . . It is generally true, however, that most children who are brought up in Christian homes, under the influence of godly parents who teach and live God's standards (cf. Eph. 6:4), follow that training."¹⁵³

This proverb clearly does not state a Scriptural promise. Rather, the revelation of Scripture elsewhere is that God always allows people to make their own decisions. He does not force them to do what is right.

22:7 This verse does not forbid borrowing. In Israel the Jews borrowed from one another. The Mosaic Law permitted this but condemned charging other Jews interest (Exod. 22:25; Deut. 23:19), though the Israelites could charge foreigners interest (Deut. 23:20). The New Testament does not forbid borrowing. It forbids not paying debts (Rom. 13:6-8). It may be unwise to go into debt in some situations, but it is going too far to say that the Bible condemns going into debt.

"While a certain amount of honest debt is expected in today's world, and everybody wants to achieve a good credit rating, we must be careful not to mistake presumption for faith. As the familiar adage puts it, When your outgo exceeds your income, then your upkeep is your downfall.'"¹⁵⁴

This verse warns the borrower that he puts himself in a vulnerable position by borrowing. He becomes dependent on another or others by borrowing. An unscrupulous lender might take advantage of him. Most lenders will not take unfair advantage of someone who borrows from them, but the borrower should be aware of this possibility.

"The verse may be referring to the apparently common practice of Israelites selling themselves into slavery to pay off debts (see Exod 21:2-7). It is not appreciably different from the modern debtor who is working to pay off bills."¹⁵⁵

22:8 This verse provides encouragement for the oppressed. The last line assures the sufferer that God will eventually break the oppressing rod of the person who sows iniquity.

Commentary -- Other

Evidence: Pro 19:17

" We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." Winston Churchill

Introduction / Outline

JFB: Proverbs (Book Introduction)

THE NATURE AND USE OF PROVERBS.--A proverb is a pithy sentence, concisely expressing some well-established truth susceptible of various illustrations and applications. The word is of Latin derivation, literally meaning for a word, speech, or discourse; that is, one expression for many. The Hebrew word for "proverb" (mashal) means a "comparison." Many suppose it was used, because the form or matter of the proverb, or both, involved the idea of comparison. Most of the proverbs are in couplets or triplets, or some modifications of them, the members of which correspond in structure and length, as if arranged to be compared one with another. They illustrate the varieties of parallelism, a distinguishing feature of Hebrew poetry. Compare Introduction to Poetical Books. Many also clearly involve the idea of comparison in the sentiments expressed (compare Pro 12:1-10; Pro 25:10-15; Pro 26:1-9). Sometimes, however, the designed omission of one member of the comparison, exercising the reader's sagacity or study for its supply, presents the proverb as a "riddle" or "dark saying" (compare Pro. 30:15-33; Pro 1:6; Psa 49:4). The sententious form of expression, which thus became a marked feature of the proverbial style, was also adopted for continuous discourse, even when not always preserving traces of comparison, either in form or matter (compare Pro. 1:1-9:18). In Eze 17:1; Eze 24:3, we find the same word properly translated "parable," to designate an illustrative discourse. Then the Greek translators have used a word, parabola ("parable"), which the gospel writers (except John) employ for our Lord's discourses of the same character, and which also seems to involve the idea of comparison, though that may not be its primary meaning. It might seem, therefore, that the proverbial and parabolic styles of writing were originally and essentially the same. The proverb is a "concentrated parable, and the parable an extension of the proverb by a full illustration." The proverb is thus the moral or theme of a parable, which sometimes precedes it, as in Mat 19:30 (compare Pro 20:1); or succeeds it, as in Mat. 22:1-16; Luk 15:1-10. The style being poetical, and adapted to the expression of a high order of poetical sentiment, such as prophecy, we find the same term used to designate such compositions (compare Num 23:7; Mic 2:4; Hab 2:6).

Though the Hebrews used the same term for proverb and parable, the Greek employs two, though the sacred writers have not always appeared to recognize a distinction. The term for proverb is, paroimia, which the Greek translators employ for the title of this book, evidently with special reference to the later definition of a proverb, as a trite, sententious form of speech, which appears to be the best meaning of the term. John uses the same term to designate our Saviour's instructions, in view of their characteristic obscurity (compare Pro 16:25-29, Greek), and even for his illustrative discourses (Pro 10:6), whose sense was not at once obvious to all his hearers. This form of instruction was well adapted to aid the learner. The parallel structure of sentences, the repetition, contrast, or comparison of thought, were all calculated to facilitate the efforts of memory; and precepts of practical wisdom which, extended into logical discourses, might have failed to make abiding impressions by reason of their length or complicated character, were thus compressed into pithy, and, for the most part, very plain statements. Such a mode of instruction has distinguished the written or traditional literature of all nations, and was, and still is, peculiarly current in the East.

In this book, however, we are supplied with a proverbial wisdom commended by the seal of divine inspiration. God has condescended to become our teacher on the practical affairs belonging to all the relations of life. He has adapted His instruction to the plain and unlettered, and presented, in this striking and impressive method, the great principles of duty to Him and to our fellow men. To the prime motive of all right conduct, the fear of God, are added all lawful and subordinate incentives, such as honor, interest, love, fear, and natural affection. Besides the terror excited by an apprehension of God's justly provoked judgments, we are warned against evil-doing by the exhibition of the inevitable temporal results of impiety, injustice, profligacy, idleness, laziness, indolence, drunkenness, and debauchery. To the rewards of true piety which follow in eternity, are promised the peace, security, love, and approbation of the good, and the comforts of a clear conscience, which render this life truly happy.

INSPIRATION AND AUTHORSHIP.--With no important exception, Jewish and Christian writers have received this book as the inspired production of Solomon. It is the first book of the Bible prefaced by the name of the author. The New Testament abounds with citations from the Proverbs. Its intrinsic excellence commends it to us as the production of a higher authority than the apocryphal writings, such as Wisdom or Ecclesiasticus. Solomon lived five hundred years before the "seven wise men" of Greece, and seven hundred before the age of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. It is thus very evident, whatever theory of his sources of knowledge be adopted, that he did not draw upon any heathen repositories with which we are acquainted. It is far more probable, that by the various migrations, captivities, and dispersions of the Jews, heathen philosophers drew from this inspired fountain many of those streams which continue to refresh mankind amid the otherwise barren and parched deserts of profane literature.

As, however, the Psalms are ascribed to David, because he was the leading author, so the ascription of this book to Solomon is entirely consistent with the titles of the thirtieth and thirty-first chapters, which assign those chapters to Agur and Lemuel respectively. Of these persons we know nothing. This is not the place for discussing the various speculations respecting them. By a slight change of reading some propose to translate Pro 30:1 : "The words of Agur, the son of her who was obeyed Massa," that is, "the queen of Massa"; and Pro 31:1 : "The words of Lemuel, king of Massa"; but to this the earliest versions are contradictory, and nothing other than the strongest exegetical necessity ought to be allowed to justify a departure from a well-established reading and version when nothing useful to our knowledge is gained. It is better to confess ignorance than indulge in useless conjectures.

It is probable that out of the "three thousand proverbs" (1Ki 4:32) which Solomon spoke, he selected and edited Pro. 1:1-24:34 during his life. Pro. 25:1-29:27 were also of his production, and copied out in the days of Hezekiah, by his "men," perhaps the prophets Isaiah, Hosea, and Micah. Such a work was evidently in the spirit of this pious monarch, who set his heart so fully on a reformation of God's worship. Learned men have endeavored to establish the theory that Solomon himself was only a collector; or that the other parts of the book, as these chapters, were also selections by later hands; but the reasons adduced to maintain these views have never appeared so satisfactory as to change the usual opinions on the subject, which have the sanction of the most ancient and reliable authorities.

DIVISIONS OF THE BOOK.--Such a work is, of course, not susceptible of any logical analysis. There are, however, some well-defined marks of division, so that very generally the book is divided into five or six parts.

1. The first contains nine chapters, in which are discussed and enforced by illustration, admonition, and encouragement the principles and blessings of wisdom, and the pernicious schemes and practices of sinful persons. These chapters are introductory. With few specimens of the proper proverb, they are distinguished by its conciseness and terseness. The sentences follow very strictly the form of parallelism, and generally of the synonymous species, only forty of the synthetic and four (Pro 3:32-35) of the antithetic appearing. The style is ornate, the figures bolder and fuller, and the illustrations more striking and extended.

2. The antithetic and synthetic parallelism to the exclusion of the synonymous distinguish Pro. 10:1-22:16, and the verses are entirely unconnected, each containing a complete sense in itself.

3. Pro. 22:16-24:34 present a series of admonitions as if addressed to a pupil, and generally each topic occupies two or more verses.

4. Pro. 25:1-29:27 are entitled to be regarded as a distinct portion, for the reason given above as to its origin. The style is very much mixed; of the peculiarities, compare parts two and three.

5. Pro. 30:1-33 is peculiar not only for its authorship, but as a specimen of the kind of proverb which has been described as "dark sayings" or "riddles."

6. To a few pregnant but concise admonitions, suitable for a king, is added a most inimitable portraiture of female character. In both parts five and six the distinctive peculiarity of the original proverbial style gives place to the modifications already mentioned as marking a later composition, though both retain the concise and nervous method of stating truth, equally valuable for its deep impression and permanent retention by the memory.

TSK: Proverbs (Book Introduction)

The wisdom of all ages, from the highest antiquity, has chosen to compress and communicate its lessons in short, compendious sentences, and in poetic language, which were readily conceived and easily retained, and circulated in society as useful principles, to be unfolded as occasion required. Indeed, such short maxims, comprehending much instruction in a few words, and carrying their own evidence with them, are admirably adapted to direct the conduct, without overburdening the memory, or perplexing the mind with abstract reasonings; and hence there are, in all countries and in all languages, old proverbs, or common sayings, which have great authority and influence on the opinions and actions of mankind. Such maxims, however, want their proper basis, the sanction of a Divine Original; and being generally the mere result of worldly prudence, are often calculated to impose on the judgment, and to mislead those who are directed by them. But the proverbs in this book not only are far more ancient than any others extant in the world, and infinitely surpass all the ethical sayings of the ancient sages; but have also received a Divine imprimatur, and are infallible rules to direct our conduct in every circumstance of human life. They are so justly founded on the principles of human nature, and so adapted to the permanent interests of man, that they agree with the manners of every age; and are adapted to every period, condition, or rank in life, however varied in its complexion or diversified by circumstance. Kings and subjects, rich and poor, wise and foolish, old and young, fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, sons and daughters, masters and servants, may here learn their respective duties, and read lessons of instruction for the regulation of their conduct in their various circumstances; while the most powerful motives, derived from honour, interest, love, fear, natural affection, and piety, are exhibited to inspire an ardent love of wisdom and virtue, and the greatest detestation of ignorance and vice. These maxims are laid down so clearly, copiously, impressively, and in such variety, that every man who wishes to be instructed may take what he chooses, and, among multitudes, those which he likes best. " He is wise," say St. Basil, " not only who hath arrived at a complete habit of wisdom, but who hath made some progress towards it; nay, who doth as yet but love it, or desire it, and listen to it. Such as these, by reading this book, shall be made wiser; for they shall be instructed in much divine, and in no less human learning....It bridles the injurious tongue, corrects the wanton eye, and ties the unjust hand in chains. It persecutes sloth, chastises all absurd desires, teaches prudence, raises man’s courage, and represents temperance and chastity after such a fashion that one cannot but have them in veneration."

TSK: Proverbs 19 (Chapter Introduction)

Overview

Poole: Proverbs 19 (Chapter Introduction)

CHAPTER 19

MHCC: Proverbs (Book Introduction)

The subject of this book may be thus stated by an enlargement on the opening verses. 1. The Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel. 2. Which treat of the knowledge of wisdom, of piety towards God, of instruction and moral discipline, of the understanding wise and prudent counsels. 3. Which treat of the attainment of instruction in wisdom, which wisdom is to be shown in the conduct of life, and consists in righteousness with regard to our fellow-creatures. 4. Which treat of the giving to the simple sagacity to discover what is right, by supplying them with just principles, and correct views of virtue and vice; and to the young man knowledge, so that he need not err through ignorance; and discretion, so that by pondering well these precepts, he may not err through obstinacy. Take the proverbs of other nations, and we shall find great numbers founded upon selfishness, cunning, pride, injustice, national contempt, and animosities. The principles of the Proverbs of Solomon are piety, charity, justice, benevolence, and true prudence. Their universal purity proves that they are the word of God.

Matthew Henry: Proverbs (Book Introduction)

An Exposition, With Practical Observations, of The Proverbs

We have now before us, I. A new author, or penman rather, or pen (if you will) made use of by the Holy Ghost for making known the mind of God to us, writing as moved by the finger of God (so the Spirit of God is called), and that is Solomon; through his hand came this book of Scripture and the two that follow it, Ecclesiastes and Canticles, a sermon and a song. Some think he wrote Canticles when he was very young, Proverbs in the midst of his days, and Ecclesiastes when he was old. In the title of his song he only writes himself Solomon, perhaps because he wrote it before his accession to the throne, being filled with the Holy Ghost when he was young. In the title of his Proverbs he writes himself the son of David, king of Israel, for then he ruled over all Israel. In the title of his Ecclesiastes he writes himself the son of David, king of Jerusalem, because then perhaps his influence had grown less upon the distant tribes, and he confined himself very much in Jerusalem. Concerning this author we may observe, 1. That he was a king, and a king's son. The penmen of scripture, hitherto, were most of them men of the first rank in the world, as Moses and Joshua, Samuel and David, and now Solomon; but, after him, the inspired writers were generally poor prophets, men of no figure in the world, because that dispensation was approaching in the which God would choose the weak and foolish things of the world to confound the wise and mighty and the poor should be employed to evangelize. Solomon was a very rich king, and his dominions were very large, a king of the first magnitude, and yet he addicted himself to the study of divine things, and was a prophet and a prophet's son. It is no disparagement to the greatest princes and potentates in the world to instruct those about them in religion and the laws of it. 2. That he was one whom God endued with extraordinary measures of wisdom and knowledge, in answer to his prayers at his accession to the throne. His prayer was exemplary: Give me a wise and an understanding heart; the answer to it was encouraging: he had what he desired and all other things were added to him. Now here we find what good use he made of the wisdom God gave him; he not only governed himself and his kingdom with it, but he gave rules of wisdom to others also, and transmitted them to posterity. Thus must we trade with the talents with which we are entrusted, according as they are. 3. That he was one who had his faults, and in his latter end turned aside from those good ways of God which in this book he had directed others in. We have the story of it 1 Kings 11, and a sad story it is, that the penman of such a book as this should apostatize as he did. Tell it not in Gath. But let those who are most eminently useful take warning by this not to be proud or secure; and let us all learn not to think the worse of good instructions though we have them from those who do not themselves altogether live up to them.

II. A new way of writing, in which divine wisdom is taught us by Proverbs, or short sentences, which contain their whole design within themselves and are not connected with one another. We have had divine laws, histories, and songs, and how divine proverbs; such various methods has Infinite Wisdom used for our instruction, that, no stone being left unturned to do us good, we may be inexcusable if we perish in our folly. Teaching by proverbs was, 1. An ancient way of teaching. It was the most ancient way among the Greeks; each of the seven wise men of Greece had some one saying that he valued himself upon, and that made him famous. These sentences were inscribed on pillars, and had in great veneration as that which was said to come down from heaven. A coelo descendit, Gnōthi seauton - Know thyself is a precept which came down from heaven. 2. It was a plain and easy way of teaching, which cost neither the teachers nor the learners much pains, nor put their understandings nor their memories to the stretch. Long periods, and arguments far-fetched, must be laboured both by him that frames them and by him that would understand them, while a proverb, which carries both its sense and its evidence in a little compass, is quickly apprehended and subscribed to, and is easily retained. Both David's devotions and Solomon's instructions are sententious, which may recommend that way of expression to those who minister about holy things, both in praying and preaching. 3. It was a very profitable way of teaching, and served admirably well to answer the end. The word Mashal, here used for a proverb, comes from a word that signifies to rule or have dominion, because of the commanding power and influence which wise and weighty sayings have upon the children of men; he that teaches by them dominatur in concionibus - rules his auditory. It is easy to observe how the world is governed by proverbs. As saith the proverb of the ancients (1Sa 24:13), or (as we commonly express it) As the old saying is, goes very far with most men in forming their notions and fixing their resolves. Much of the wisdom of the ancients has been handed down to posterity by proverbs; and some think we may judge of the temper and character of a nation by the complexion of its vulgar proverbs. Proverbs in conversation are like axious in philosophy, maxims in law, and postulata in the mathematics, which nobody disputes, but every one endeavours to expound so as to have them on his side. Yet there are many corrupt proverbs, which tend to debauch men's minds and harden them in sin. The devil has his proverbs, and the world and the flesh have their proverbs, which reflect reproach on God and religion (as Eze 12:22; Eze 18:2), to guard us against the corrupt influences of which God has his proverbs, which are all wise and good, and tend to make us so. These proverbs of Solomon were not merely a collection of the wise sayings that had been formerly delivered, as some have imagined, but were the dictates of the Spirit of God in Solomon. The very first of them (Pro 1:7) agrees with what God said to man in the beginning (Job 28:28, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom ); so that though Solomon was great, and his name may serve as much as any man's to recommend his writings, yet, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. It is God, by Solomon, that here speaks to us: I say, to us; for these proverbs were written for our learning, and, when Solomon speaks to his son, the exhortation is said to speak to us as unto children, Heb 12:5. And, as we have no book so useful to us in our devotions as David's psalms, so have we none so serviceable to us, for the right ordering of our conversations, as Solomon's proverbs, which as David says of the commandments, are exceedingly broad, containing, in a little compass, a complete body of divine ethics, politics, and economics, exposing every vice, recommending every virtue, and suggesting rules for the government of ourselves in every relation and condition, and every turn of the conversation. The learned bishop Hall has drawn up a system of moral philosophy out of Solomon's Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. The first nine chapters of this book are reckoned as a preface, by way of exhortation to the study and practice of wisdom's rules, and caution against those things that would hinder therein. We have then the first volume of Solomon's proverbs (ch. 10-24); after that a second volume (ch. 25-29); and then Agur's prophecy (ch. 30), and Lemuel's (ch. 31). The scope of all is one and the same, to direct us so to order our conversation aright as that in the end we may see the salvation of the Lord. The best comment on these rules is to be ruled by them.

Topical Index of Proverbs

Twenty chapters of the book of Proverbs (beginning with ch. 10 and ending with ch. 29), consisting mostly of entire sentences in each verse, could not well be reduced to proper heads, and the contents of them gathered; I have therefore here put the contents of all these chapters together, which perhaps may be of some use to those who desire to see at once all that is said of any one head in these chapters. Some of the verses, perhaps, I have not put under the same heads that another would have put them under, but the most of them fall (I hope) naturally enough to the places I have assigned them.

1. Of the comfort, or grief, parents have in their children, according as they are wise or foolish, godly or ungodly, Pro 10:1; Pro 15:20; Pro 17:21, Pro 17:25; Pro 19:13, Pro 19:26; Pro 23:15, Pro 23:16, Pro 23:24, Pro 23:25; Pro 27:11; Pro 29:3

2. Of the world's insufficiency, and religion's sufficiency, to make us happy (Pro 10:2, Pro 10:3; Pro 11:4) and the preference to be therefore given to the gains of virtue above those of this world, Pro 15:16, Pro 15:17; Pro 16:8, Pro 16:16; Pro 17:1; Pro 19:1; Pro 28:6, Pro 28:11

3. Of slothfulness and diligence, Pro 10:4, Pro 10:26; Pro 12:11, Pro 12:24, Pro 12:27; Pro 13:4, Pro 13:23; Pro 15:19; Pro 16:26; Pro 18:9; Pro 19:15, Pro 19:24; Pro 20:4, Pro 20:13; Pro 21:5, Pro 21:25, Pro 21:26; Pro 22:13, Pro 22:29; Pro 24:30-34; Pro 26:13-16; Pro 27:18, Pro 27:23, Pro 27:27; Pro 28:19. Particularly the improving or neglecting opportunities, Pro 6:6; Pro 10:5

4. The happiness of the righteous, and the misery of the wicked, Pro 10:6, Pro 10:9, Pro 10:16, Pro 10:24, Pro 10:25, Pro 10:27-30; Pro 11:3, Pro 11:5-8, Pro 11:18-21, Pro 11:31; Pro 12:2, Pro 12:3, Pro 12:7, Pro 12:13, Pro 12:14, Pro 12:21, Pro 12:26, Pro 12:28; Pro 13:6, Pro 13:9, Pro 13:14 15, 21, 22, 25; Pro 14:11, Pro 14:14, Pro 14:19, Pro 14:32; Pro 15:6, Pro 15:8, Pro 15:9, Pro 15:24, Pro 15:26, Pro 15:29; Pro 20:7; Pro 21:12, Pro 21:15, Pro 21:16, Pro 21:18, Pro 21:21; Pro 22:12; Pro 28:10, Pro 28:18; Pro 29:6

5. Of honour and dishonour, Pro 10:7; Pro 12:8, Pro 12:9; Pro 18:3; Pro 26:1; Pro 27:21. And of vain-glory, Pro 25:14, Pro 25:27; Pro 27:2

6. The wisdom of obedience, and folly of disobedience, Pro 10:8, Pro 10:17; Pro 12:1, Pro 12:15; Pro 13:1, Pro 13:13, Pro 13:18; Pro 15:5, Pro 15:10, Pro 15:12, Pro 15:31, Pro 15:32; Pro 19:16; Pro 28:4, Pro 28:7, Pro 28:9

7. Of mischievousness and usefulness, Pro 10:10, Pro 10:23; Pro 11:9-11, Pro 11:23, Pro 11:27; Pro 12:5, Pro 12:6, Pro 12:12, Pro 12:18, Pro 12:20; Pro 13:2; Pro 14:22; Pro 16:29, Pro 16:30; Pro 17:11; Pro 21:10; Pro 24:8; Pro 26:23, Pro 26:27

8. The praise of wise and good discourse, and the hurt and shame of an ungoverned tongue, Pro 10:11, Pro 10:13, Pro 10:14, Pro 10:20, Pro 10:21, Pro 10:31, Pro 10:32; Pro 11:30; Pro 14:3; Pro 15:2, Pro 15:4, Pro 15:7, Pro 15:23, Pro 15:28; Pro 16:20, Pro 16:23, Pro 16:24; Pro 17:7; Pro 18:4, Pro 18:7, Pro 18:20, Pro 18:21; Pro 20:15; Pro 21:23; Pro 23:9; Pro 24:26; Pro 25:11

9. Of love and hatred, peaceableness and contention, Pro 10:12; Pro 15:17; Pro 17:1, Pro 17:9, Pro 17:14, Pro 17:19; Pro 18:6, Pro 18:17-19; Pro 20:3; Pro 25:8; Pro 26:17, Pro 26:21; Pro 29:9

10. Of the rich and poor, Pro 10:5, Pro 10:22; Pro 11:28; Pro 13:7, Pro 13:8; Pro 14:20, Pro 14:24; Pro 18:11, Pro 18:23; Pro 19:1, Pro 19:4, Pro 19:7, Pro 19:22; Pro 22:2, Pro 22:7; Pro 28:6, Pro 28:11; Pro 29:13

11. Of lying, fraud, and dissimulation, and of truth and sincerity, Pro 10:18; Pro 12:17, Pro 12:19, Pro 12:22; Pro 13:5; Pro 17:4; Pro 20:14, Pro 20:17; Pro 26:18, Pro 26:19, Pro 26:24-26, Pro 26:28

12. Of slandering, Pro 10:18; Pro 16:27; Pro 25:23

13. Of talkativeness and silence, Pro 10:19; Pro 11:12; Pro 12:23; Pro 13:3; Pro 17:27, Pro 17:28; Pro 29:11, Pro 29:20

14. Of justice and injustice, Pro 11:1; Pro 13:16; Pro 16:8, Pro 16:11; Pro 17:15, Pro 17:26; Pro 18:5; Pro 20:10, Pro 20:23; Pro 22:28; Pro 23:10, Pro 23:11; Pro 29:24

15. Of pride and humility, Pro 11:2; Pro 13:10; Pro 15:25, Pro 15:33; Pro 16:5, Pro 16:18, Pro 16:19; Pro 18:12; Pro 21:4; Pro 25:6, Pro 25:7; Pro 28:25; Pro 29:23

16. Of despising and respecting others, Pro 11:12; Pro 14:21

17. Of tale-bearing, Pro 11:13; Pro 16:28; Pro 18:8; Pro 20:19; Pro 26:20, Pro 26:22

18. Of rashness and deliberation, Pro 11:14; Pro 15:22; Pro 18:13; Pro 19:2; Pro 20:5, Pro 20:18; Pro 21:29; Pro 22:3; Pro 25:8-10

19. Of suretiship, Pro 11:15; Pro 17:18; Pro 20:16; Pro 22:26, Pro 22:27; Pro 27:13

20. Of good and bad women, or wives, Pro 11:16, Pro 11:22; Pro 12:4; Pro 14:1; Pro 18:22; Pro 19:13, Pro 19:14; Pro 21:9, Pro 21:19; Pro 25:24; Pro 27:15, Pro 27:16

21. Of mercifulness and unmercifulness, Pro 11:17; Pro 12:10; Pro 14:21; Pro 19:17; Pro 21:13

22. Of charity to the poor, and uncharitableness, Pro 11:24-26; Pro 14:31; Pro 17:5; Pro 22:9, Pro 22:16, Pro 22:22, Pro 22:23; Pro 28:27; Pro 29:7

23. Of covetousness and contentment, Pro 11:29; Pro 15:16, Pro 15:17, Pro 15:27; Pro 23:4, Pro 23:5

24. Of anger and meekness, Pro 12:16; Pro 14:17, Pro 14:29; Pro 15:1, Pro 15:18; Pro 16:32; Pro 17:12, Pro 17:26; Pro 19:11, Pro 19:19; Pro 22:24, Pro 22:25; Pro 25:15, Pro 25:28; Pro 26:21; Pro 29:22

25. Of melancholy and cheerfulness, Pro 12:25; Pro 14:10, Pro 14:13; Pro 15:13, Pro 15:15; Pro 17:22; Pro 18:14; Pro 25:20, Pro 25:25

26. Of hope and expectation, Pro 13:12, Pro 13:19

27. Of prudence and foolishness, Pro 13:16; Pro 14:8, Pro 14:18, Pro 14:33; Pro 15:14, Pro 15:21; Pro 16:21, Pro 16:22; Pro 17:24; Pro 18:2, Pro 18:15; Pro 24:3-7; Pro 7:27; Pro 26:6-11; Pro 28:5

28. Of treachery and fidelity, Pro 13:17; Pro 25:13, Pro 25:19

29. Of good and bad company, Pro 13:20; Pro 14:7; Pro 28:7; Pro 29:3

30. Of the education of children, Pro 13:24; Pro 19:18; Pro 20:11; Pro 22:6, Pro 22:15; Pro 23:12; Pro 14:14; Pro 29:15, Pro 29:17

31. Of the fear of the Lord, Pro 14:2, Pro 14:26, Pro 14:27; Pro 15:16, Pro 15:33; Pro 16:6; Pro 19:23; Pro 22:4; Pro 23:17, Pro 23:18

32. Of true and false witness-bearing, Pro 14:5, Pro 14:25; Pro 19:5, Pro 19:9, Pro 19:28; Pro 21:28; Pro 24:28; Pro 25:18

33. Of scorners, Pro 14:6, Pro 14:9; Pro 21:24; Pro 22:10; Pro 24:9; Pro 29:9

34. Of credulity and caution, Pro 14:15, Pro 14:16; Pro 27:12

35. Of kings and their subjects, Pro 14:28, Pro 14:34, Pro 14:35; Pro 16:10, Pro 16:12-15; Pro 19:6, Pro 19:12; Pro 20:2, Pro 20:8, Pro 20:26, Pro 20:28; Pro 22:11; Pro 24:23-25; Pro 30:2-5; Pro 28:2, Pro 28:3, Pro 28:15, Pro 28:16; Pro 29:5, Pro 29:12, Pro 29:14, Pro 29:26

36. Of envy, especially envying sinners, Pro 14:30; Pro 23:17, Pro 23:18; Pro 24:1, Pro 24:2, Pro 24:19, Pro 24:20; Pro 27:4

37. Of God's omniscience, and his universal providence, Pro 15:3, Pro 15:11; Pro 16:1, Pro 16:4, Pro 16:9, Pro 16:33; Pro 17:3; Pro 19:21; Pro 20:12, Pro 20:24; Pro 21:1, Pro 21:30, Pro 21:31; Pro 29:26

38. Of a good and ill name, Pro 15:30; Pro 22:1

39. Of men's good opinion of themselves, Pro 14:12; Pro 16:2, Pro 16:25; Pro 20:6; Pro 21:2; Pro 26:12; Pro 28:26

40. Of devotion towards God, and dependence on him, Pro 16:3; Pro 18:10; Pro 23:26; Pro 27:1; Pro 28:25; Pro 29:25

41. Of the happiness of God's favour, Pro 16:7; Pro 29:26

42. Excitements to get wisdom, Pro 16:16; Pro 18:1; Pro 19:8, Pro 19:20; Pro 22:17-21; Pro 23:15, Pro 23:16, Pro 23:22-25; Pro 24:13, Pro 24:14; Pro 27:11

43. Cautions against temptations, Pro 16:17; Pro 29:27

44. Of old age and youth, Pro 16:31; Pro 17:6; Pro 20:29

45. Of servants, Pro 17:2; Pro 19:10; Pro 29:19, Pro 29:21

46. Of bribery, Pro 17:8, Pro 17:23; Pro 18:16; Pro 21:14; Pro 28:21

47. Of reproof and correction, Pro 17:10; Pro 19:25, Pro 19:29; Pro 20:30; Pro 21:11; Pro 25:12; Pro 26:3; Pro 27:5, Pro 27:6, Pro 27:22; Pro 28:23; Pro 29:1

48. Of ingratitude, Pro 17:13

49. Of friendship, Pro 17:17; Pro 18:24; Pro 27:9, Pro 27:10, Pro 27:14, Pro 27:17

50. Of sensual pleasures, Pro 21:17; Pro 23:1-3, Pro 23:6-8, Pro 23:19-21; Pro 27:7

51. Of drunkenness, Pro 20:1; Pro 23:23, Pro 23:29-35

52. Of the universal corruption of nature, Pro 20:9

53. Of flattery, Pro 20:19; Pro 26:28; Pro 28:23; Pro 29:5

54. Of undutiful children, Pro 20:20; Pro 28:24

55. Of the short continuance of what is ill-gotten, Pro 20:21; Pro 21:6, Pro 21:7; Pro 22:8; Pro 28:8

56. Of revenge, Pro 20:22; Pro 24:17, Pro 24:18, Pro 24:29

57. Of sacrilege, Pro 20:25

58. Of conscience, Pro 20:27; Pro 27:19

59. Of the preference of moral duties before ceremonial, Pro 15:8; Pro 21:3, Pro 21:27

60. Of prodigality and wastefulness, Pro 21:20

61. The triumphs of wisdom and godliness, Pro 21:22; Pro 24:15, Pro 24:16

62. Of frowardness and tractableness, Pro 22:5

63. Of uncleanness, Pro 22:14; Pro 23:27, Pro 23:28

64. Of fainting in affliction, Pro 24:10

65. Of helping the distressed, Pro 14:11, Pro 14:12

66. Of loyalty to the government, Pro 24:21, Pro 24:22

67. Of forgiving enemies, Pro 25:21, Pro 25:22

68. Of causeless curse, Pro 26:2

69. Of answering fools, Pro 26:4, Pro 26:5

70. Of unsettledness and unsatisfiedness, Pro 27:8, Pro 27:20

71. Of cowardliness and courage, Pro 28:1

72. The people's interest in the character of their rulers, Pro 28:12, Pro 28:28; Pro 29:2, Pro 29:16; Pro 11:10, Pro 11:11

73. The benefit of repentance and holy fear, Pro 28:13, Pro 28:14

74. The punishment of murder, Pro 28:17

75. Of hastening to be rich, Pro 28:20, Pro 28:22

76. The enmity of the wicked against the godly, Pro 29:10, Pro 29:27

77. The necessity of the means of grace, Pro 29:18

Constable: Proverbs (Book Introduction)

Introduction

Title

The title of this book in the Hebrew Bible is "The Proverbs of Solomon, the Son of David, King in Israel" (cf. 1:1). The Greek Septuagint called this book "Proverbs of Solomon." The Latin Vulgate named it "The Book of Proverbs."

There is some debate about whether 1:1 is the title of the whole book or just the title of the first section (chs. 1-9). The first view has in its favor the fact that the Hebrew Bible took the verse as the title of the book. According to this view the references to Solomon in 1:1 are an indication that he was the primary author of the proverbs in the book.¹

The second view is that 1:1 simply introduces the first major section of the book. The support for this view is that some succeeding sections begin with a similar caption (cf. 10:1; 24:23; 25:1; 30:1; 31:1).²

In either case the book got its title from the proverbs it contains. The whole book is a book of proverbs so the title is appropriate.

"To read straight through a few chapters of Proverbs is like trying to have a conversation with someone who always replies with a one-liner."³

Writer

Proverbs claims to be a compendium of the wise sayings of several different individuals.⁴ Solomon originated some of them (10:1-22:16 and chs. 25-29 definitely, and probably chs. 1-9 as well).⁵ Unnamed wise men (sages) wrote other parts (22:17-24:34 definitely, and possibly chs. 1-9). Hezekiah's men copied some of Solomon's proverbs and added them to this collection (chs. 25-29). Agur and King Lemuel produced chapters 30 and 31 respectively.

We do not know who the sages were who wrote 22:17-24:34 nor do we know the names of the men whom King Hezekiah instructed to compile some of Solomon's sayings. Agur and Lemuel are unknown to us also, though Lemuel seems to have been a non-Israelite monarch.⁶

Some of the proverbs appear to have been copied from, or at least influenced by, earlier Mesopotamian and Egyptian books of wisdom.⁷

". . . whatever the Spirit of God inspired the ancient writers to include became a part of the Word of the Lord. Such inclusions then took on a new and greater meaning when they formed part of Scripture; in a word, they became authoritative and binding, part of the communication of the divine will."⁸

Date

Solomon reigned from 971 to 931 B.C. and Hezekiah from 715 to 686 B.C.⁹ We do not know when the sages, Agur, or Lemuel lived.

The earliest the Book of Proverbs could have been in its final form was in Hezekiah's day, but it may have reached this stage later than that. We have no way to tell.

The contents of the book could have been in existence in Solomon's lifetime though not assembled into the collection we know as the Book of Proverbs.

Message¹⁰

The Book of Proverbs contains no history. It is purely didactic. It is a book of explicit instruction. Like the other Old Testament wisdom books, Job and Ecclesiastes, it does not contain references to Israel's laws, rituals, sacrifices, or ceremonies. It deals with philosophy primarily. A philosopher is by definition a lover of wisdom. Proverbs is a book that focuses primarily on wisdom, as do Job and Ecclesiastes. In this sense these books are philosophical.

There is a fundamental difference between the philosophy we find in these books and all other philosophy. Other philosophies begin with a question. Hebrew philosophy begins with an affirmation. Its basic affirmation is that God exists. Therefore we can know ultimate truth only by divine revelation.

To many people the Book of Proverbs seems to be a grab bag of wise sayings that lacks any system or order. Nevertheless in a sense this is the most carefully organized of all the books of the Old Testament.

The first verse is its title page. Verses 2-7 are its preface that contains an explanation of the purpose of the book, the method of the Author, and the fundamental affirmation of the book (in v. 7). Then follow three parts of the body of the book. First, there are discourses in defense and application of the fundamental affirmation (1:8--ch. 9). Then we have proverbs Solomon collected and arranged to provide wisdom (chs. 10-24). Next there are additional wise words from Solomon that other people collected after Solomon died (chs. 25-29). An appendix that contains specific words of wisdom by two other sages, Agur and Lemuel, concludes the book (chs. 30-31).

Proverbs is one of the most timeless Old Testament books. The reader needs very little knowledge of ancient Hebrew life and culture to understand and appreciate it. We can understand the contents fairly easily and can apply them directly to modern life.

Let's look first at the fundamental affirmation and then observe how the application of that declaration unfolds in the chapters that follow.

The fundamental affirmation is the deepest insight in Hebrew philosophy (1:7).

There is a presupposition in this statement. It is that God is all wise. We can only find wisdom in God ultimately. This presupposition underlies all of what we read in Job and Ecclesiastes as well as in Proverbs. Furthermore the Hebrews assumed that God expressed His wisdom in all His works and in all His ways. They believed that all natural phenomena revealed God's wisdom. Wherever they looked, they saw God: on land, at sea, in the earth, or in the sky. We can see that viewpoint clearly in Genesis 1:1 (cf. John 14:6).

This fundamental affirmation also contains an inevitable deduction: if wisdom is perfect in God, then wisdom in man consists in the fear of God. A person is wise to the extent that he or she apprehends and fears God. The "fear" of God does not mean a dread that results in hiding from God. It is rather an emotional recognition of God. It is not fear that He may hurt me but fear that I may hurt Him. That is the kind of fear that produces holy character and righteous conduct. Intellectual apprehension of God precedes this emotional recognition, and volitional submission to God's will follows it. When a person comes to this emotional recognition of God he or she comes to the condition for being wise, not that in so doing he or she becomes wise (1:7). We can begin to be wise only when we come into proper relation to God as ultimate Wisdom.

Beginning with 1:8 and continuing to the end of the book, what we have is the application of that affirmation to the various situations and circumstances of life.

I would like to consider what God revealed here in the three spheres of life dealt with in the book: the home, friendship, and the world. In the home, the child must learn wisdom. In friendship, the youth must apply wisdom. In the world, the adult must demonstrate wisdom.

The first sphere is that of the home (1:8-9). God did not teach the responsibility of the father and mother here but took for granted that they would instruct their children. The child needs to hear parental instruction to live in the fear of the Lord. Young children cannot grasp abstract concepts. For them God is incarnate in father and mother. Fathers and mothers reflect the image of God to their children. Both parents are necessary to reveal God to the child fully. Children see some of God's character in the mother's attitudes and actions (cf. Matt. 23:37). They see other aspects of God's character in the father. You do not have to try to teach your young child systematic theology. Just live in the fear of God yourself, and your child will learn what he or she needs to learn about God, for that stage in life, just by observing you. I do not mean to exclude verbal instruction. My point is that young children learn wisdom by observing their parents as well as by listening to them.

The second sphere of life is friendship (1:10-19). The day must come when the child, in the natural process of development, moves out into a wider circle of experience.

Personally I believe the Bible presents two duties that children have to their parents.

When the child's sphere of life is his home, he is to obey his parents. However, that duty does not continue forever. When he moves into the larger sphere of life outside the home, his duty is to honor his parents. This duty does continue forever.

When a child enters this second sphere of life, guided at first by parental council but then finally on its own, wisdom gives important instruction (1:10). He should avoid certain friendships. He should beware of people who seek to make friends with him because they have selfish interests and unscrupulous methods. We have many warnings in Proverbs against people who are not true friends. There is no more important stage in a young person's development than when he or she begins to choose companions. Then, and from then on, he or she must follow the wisdom that comes from the fear of the Lord. The youth must submit to the Lord's wisdom, having learned that in the sphere of the home, to succeed in the larger arenas of life. The choice of a mate is one of these companion decisions.

The third sphere of life is the world, symbolized in Proverbs by the street, the gates, and the city (1:20-33; cf. chs. 2-9).

The first word of warning to the youth who leaves home to enter the world on his own is this. Beware of the evil way of those who do not fear the Lord (1:20-32). There is also a gracious promise (1:33). Wisdom does not say withdraw from the world. Wisdom says remember the fate of those who forget God. Wisdom promises that those who live in the fear of the Lord will be quiet and safe even in the turmoil of the world. Do you see how important preparation for living in this sphere of life is? Children must learn to take God into account in the home, and then in their friendships, before they launch out into the world. This instruction is what really prepares them for life.

The series of discourses beginning, "My son," represents the voice of home sounding in the youth's ears who has left home and is living in the world (chs. 2-7). The father tells his son how his father instructed him in wisdom and how this enabled him to live successfully in the world. Then specific warnings follow concerning impurity, laziness, bad companions, and adultery. As the young man climbs toward a higher position in life, wisdom comes to him again with instruction concerning how he can avoid the pitfalls of that stage of his life (ch. 8). The discourses close with a contrast in which Solomon personified wisdom and folly as two women (ch. 9). One is a woman of virtue and beauty, and the other is a woman of vice and ugliness. Solomon contrasted the value and victory of wisdom with the disaster and defeat of folly. He contrasted the wisdom of fearing God with the folly of forgetting God.

I would summarize the message of Proverbs this way. The person who learns the fear of God (an emotional recognition of God) in every sphere of life will be successful, but those who forget God will fail. By an emotional recognition of God I mean taking God into account, being aware of His reality and presence, making decisions in view of His existence and revelation. This is what fearing God means.

The precepts urging a life of wisdom center on 3:1-10. This passage concentrates on that subject. Proverbs 3:5-6 is some of the best advice anyone ever gave.

The practice of wisdom centers on 8:32-36.

The power for living a life of wisdom centers on 1:8 (cf. James 1:5; 3:37; Col. 2:3).

Constable: Proverbs (Outline)

Outline

I. Discourses on wisdom chs. 1-9

A. Introduction to the book 1:1-7

1. The title of the book 1:1

2. The purpose of the book 1:2-6

3. The thesis of the book 1:7

B. Instruction for young people 1:8-7:27

1. Warning against consorting with sinners 1:8-19

2. Wisdom's appeal 1:20-33

3. Wisdom as a treasure chs. 2-3

4. Encouragements to obey these instructions ch. 4

5. Warnings against unfaithfulness in marriage ch. 5

6. Other dangerous temptations 6:1-19

7. Further warnings against adultery 6:20-7:27

C. The value of wisdom and wise conduct chs. 8-9

1. The function of wisdom ch. 8

2. Wisdom and folly contrasted ch. 9

II. Couplets expressing wisdom 10:1-22:16

A. The marks of wise living chs. 10-15

1. Things that produce profit 10:1-14

2. Things of true value 10:15-32

3. Wise living in various contexts 11:1-15

4. Wise investments 11:16-31

5. The value of righteousness 12:1-12

6. Avoiding trouble 12:13-28

7. Fruits of wise living ch. 13

8. Further advice for wise living chs. 14-15

B. How to please God 16:1-22:16

1. Trusting God ch. 16

2. Peacemakers and troublemakers ch. 17

3. Friendship and folly ch. 18

4. Further advice for pleasing God 19:1-22:16

III. Wise sayings 22:17-24:34

A. Thirty sayings of the wise 22:17-24:22

1. The first group 22:17-23:11

2. The second group 23:12-24:22

B. Six more sayings of the wise 24:23-34

IV. Maxims expressing wisdom chs. 25-29

A. Instructive analogies 25:1-27:22

1. Wise and foolish conduct ch. 25

2. Fools and folly ch. 26

3. Virtues and vices 27:1-22

B. A discourse on prudence 27:23-27

C. Instructive contrasts chs. 28-29

V. Two discourses by other wise men chs. 30-31

A. The wisdom of Agur ch. 30

1. The introduction of Agur 30:1

2. Wisdom about God 30:2-9

3. Wisdom about life 30:10-33

B. The wisdom of Lemuel ch. 31

1. The introduction of Lemuel 31:1

2. The wise king 31:2-9

3. The wise woman 31:10-31

Constable: Proverbs

Proverbs

Bibliography

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Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

Haydock: Proverbs (Book Introduction)

THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

INTRODUCTION.

This book is so called, because it consists of wise and weighty sentences, regulating the morals of men; and directing them to wisdom and virtue. And these sentences are also called Parables, because great truths are often couched in them under certain figures and similitudes. (Challoner) --- Wisdom is introduced speaking in the nine first chapters. Then to chap. xxv. more particular precepts are given. (Worthington) --- Ezechias caused to be collected (Haydock) what comes in the five next chapters, and in the two last. Some other, or rather Solomon himself, under (Worthington) different titles, gives us Agur's and his mother's instructions, and his own commendations of a valiant woman, (Haydock) which is prophetical of the Catholic Church. He also wrote the two next works, besides many other things, which have been lost. This is the first of those five, which are called "sapiential," giving instructions how to direct our lives, by the dictates of sound reason. (Worthington) --- It is the most important of Solomon's works, though collected by different authors. (Calmet) --- T. Paine treats Solomon as a witty jester. But his jests are of a very serious nature, and no one had before heard of his wit. (Watson)

Gill: Proverbs (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO PROVERBS

This book is called, in some printed Hebrew copies, "Sepher Mishle", the Book of Proverbs; the title of it in the Vulgate Latin version is,

"the Book of Proverbs, which the Hebrews call "Misle":''

in the Septuagint version it has the name of the writer, the Proverbs of Solomon; and so in the Syriac version, with the addition of his titles,

"the son of David, king of Israel.''

This and Ecclesiastes are both of them by the Jews ^a called Books of Wisdom: and it is common with the ancient Christian writers ^b to call the book of Proverbs by the names of "Wisdom" and "Panaretos"; names they give also to the apocryphal books of Ecclesiasticus and the Wisdom of Solomon; and therefore this is to be carefully distinguished from them. The author of this book was King Solomon, as the "first" verse, which contains the inscription of it, shows; for he was not a collector of these proverbs, as Grotius is of opinion, but the author of them, at least of the far greater part; and not only the author, but the writer of them: the Jews ^c say that Hezekiah and this men wrote them; it is true indeed the men of Hezekiah copied some, Pro 25:1; but even those were written by Solomon. R. Gedaliah ^d would have it that Isaiah the prophet wrote this book; but without any foundation. At what time it was written is not certain; the Jewish writers generally say ^e it was written by Solomon, as were the books of Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs, in his old age, when near the time of his death; though some think it was written before his fall: and it may be it was not written all at once, but at certain times, when these proverbs occurred unto him and were spoken by him, and as occasion served: however, it is not to he doubted but that they were written under the inspiration of God. The Jews once thought to have made this book of Proverbs an apocryphal one, because of some seeming contradictions in it; but finding that these were capable of a reconciliation, changed their minds, as became them ^f. Among Christians, Theodore of Mopsuest, in the sixth century, denied the divine authority of this book, and attributed it merely to human wisdom; which opinion of his was condemned in the second council at Constantinople: and in later times it has been treated with contempt by the Socinians, and particularly by Father Simon and Le Clerc; but the authority of it is confirmed by the writers of the New Testament, who have cited passages out of it; see Rom 12:20 from Pro 25:21. The book consists of "five" parts; "first", a preface or introduction, which takes up the first "nine" chapters; the "second", the proverbs of Solomon, put together by himself, beginning at the tenth chapter to the twenty-fifth; the "third", the proverbs of Solomon, copied by the men of Hezekiah, beginning at the twenty-fifth chapter to the thirtieth; the "fourth", the words of Agur, the thirtieth chapter, the "fifth", the instruction of Solomon's mother, Bathsheba, the thirty-first chapter.