Proverbs 14:12

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man,.... As the way of sin and wickedness does, it promising much carnal pleasure and mirth; there is a great deal of company in it, it is a broad road, and

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. There is a way which seemeth right unto a man; but the end thereof (are) the ways of death.

There are some evil actions or courses which men may think to be lawful and good, either through gross and affected ignorance, or through partiality or self-flattery, or through want of necessary diligence in examining them by the rule of God’ s will or word; all which are culpable causes of the mistake, and therefore do not excuse the error: but the event showeth that they were sinful and destructive.

Proverbs 14:12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof [are] the ways of death.Ver. 12. There is a way that seemeth right unto a man.] Sin comes clothed with a show of reason; and lust will so blear the understanding, that he shall think that there is great sense in sinning. "Adam was not deceived"; that is, he was not so much deceived by his judgment - though also by that too - as by his affection to his wife, which at length blinded his judgment. The heart first deceives us with colours; and when we are once a-doting after sin, then we join and deceive our hearts, using fallacious and specious sophism, to make ourselves think that lawful today which we ourselves held unlawful yesterday, and that we are possessed of those graces whereto we are perfect strangers. But the end thereof are the ways of death.] Via multiplex ad mortem. The very first step in this evil way was a step to hell; but the journey’ s end, if men stop not, or step not back in time, is undoubted destruction. Some flatter themselves, as Micah. They flee to "the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord": and think to take sanctuary and save themselves there from all danger, as the Jews fable that Og, king of Bashan, escaped in the flood by riding astride upon the ark without; wherein it falls out oft, as it did with the riflers of Semiramis’ s tomb, who, where they expected to find the richest treasure, met with a deadly poison; or as it doth with him that, lying asleep upon a steep rock, and dreaming of great matters befallen him, starts suddenly for joy, and so breaks his neck at the bottom. As he that makes a bridge of his own shadow cannot but fall into the water, so neither can he escape the pit of hell who lays his own presumption in place of God’ s promise, who casts himself upon the unknown mercies of God, &c.

(12) There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, and yet he will be punished if he follows it, for his perverted conscience may arise from his desertion of God, and his refusal of the light He offered. (Comp. Romans 1:28, sqq.)

Verse 12. There is a way which seemeth right unto a man] This may be his easily besetting sin, the sin of his constitution, the sin of his trade. Or it may be his own false views of religion: he may have an imperfect repentance, a false faith, a very false creed; and he may persuade himself that he is in the direct way to heaven. Many of the papists, when they were burning the saints of God in the flames at Smithfield, thought they were doing God service! And in the late Irish massacre, the more of the Protestants they piked to death, shot, or burnt, the more they believed they deserved of God's favour and their Church's gratitude. But cruelty and murder are the short road, the near way, to eternal perdition.

A way ... - The way of the fool, the way of self-indulgence and self-will.

12. This proverb partly repeats that of Pro 12:15, and is partly repeated in the proverb recorded Proverbs 16:25. Seemeth right unto a man — Pleases him, accords with his taste or judgment.