Proverbs 16:4

The Lord hath made all [things] for himself,.... This is true of the Lord with respect to the creation of all things by him.

The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. The Lord hath made all (things) for himself; yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Hath made; or, hath wrought or doth work; for the Hebrews express the present as well as the past thee by this tense: he ordereth or disposeth; for this may be understood either of the works of creation or of providence. All things, and especially all men, for himself; for his own service and glory; for the discovery and illustration of his own wisdom, power, goodness, truth, justice, and his other most glorious perfections. The wicked, wilful and impenitent sinners, for the day of evil; for the thee of punishment, as this phrase is used, , and elsewhere; of which the Scripture frequently speaks, both to warn sinners of their danger, and to satisfy the minds of them which are amazed and disquieted with the consideration of the present impunity and felicity of wicked men. Men make themselves wicked, and God therefore makes them miserable.

Proverbs 16:4 The LORD hath made all [things] for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.Ver. 4. The Lord hath made all things for himself.] That is, for his own glory, which he seeks in all his works. And well he may; for, first, He hath none higher than himself to whom to have respect; and, secondly, He is not in danger (as we should be in like case) of being puffed up or desirous of vain glory. Or thus, "He hath made all things for himself," that is, for the demonstration of his goodness, according to that of Augustine, Quia bonus est Deus sumus; et in quantum sumus, boni sumus. We owe both our being and wellbeing, and the glory of all to God alone. The wicked also for the day of evil,] i.e., Of. destruction. Hereof Dei voluntas est ratio rationam; nec tantum recta sed regula. Howbeit, whereas divines make two parts of the decree of reprobation - viz., preterition and predamnation - all agree for the latter, saith a learned interpreter, that God did never determine to damn any man for his own pleasure, but the cause of his perdition was his own sin. And there is a reason for it. For God may, to show his sovereignty, annihilate his creature; but to appoint a reasonable creature to an estate of endless pain, without respect of his desert, cannot agree to the unspotted justice of God. And for the other part, of passing over and forsaking a great part of men for the glory of his justice, the exactest divines do not attribute that to the mere will of God, but hold that God did first look upon those men as sinners, at least in the general corruption brought in by the fall; for all men have sinned by Adam, and are guilty of high treason against God. Plato finem huius mundi bonitatem Dei esse affirmavit. De Doctr. Christiana. Bernard.

(4) The Lord hath made all things for himself—i.e., to serve His own purposes, that His wisdom, goodness, &c, may be thereby revealed. Or the passage may be translated, “hath made all for its own end or purpose.” The assertion that “He has made the wicked for the day of evil,” does not mean that He created any one for punishment—i.e., predestined him for destruction. It only teaches that even the wicked are subservient to God’s eternal purposes; that Pharaoh, for instance, by his rebellion could not change God’s plans for the deliverance of His people, but only gave Him an occasion for showing forth His power, justice, goodness, and longsuffering. The “day of evil,” i.e., punishment, at last overtook Pharaoh in accordance with the law and purpose of God that the wicked, if unrepentant, shall be punished, and thereby serve as a warning to others; but God by his longsuffering shewed that He was “not willing” that he should “perish,” but rather that he “should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). This appears to be also the teaching of St. Paul in Romans 9:17, sqq.

Verse 4. The Lord hath made all things for himself] He has so framed and executed every part of his creation, that it manifests his wisdom, power, goodness, and truth. Even the wicked for the day of evil.] וגם רשע ליום רעה vegam rasha leyom raah. The whole verse is translated by the Chaldee thus: "All the works of the LORD are for those who obey him; and the wicked is reserved for the evil day." As רעה raah literally signifies to feed, it has been conjectured that the clause might be read, yea, even the wicked he feeds by the day, or daily. If we take the words as they stand in our present version, they mean no more than what is expressed by the Chaldee and Syriac: and as far as we can learn from their present confused state, by the Septuagint and Arabic, that "the wicked are reserved for the day of punishment." Coverdale has given, as he generally does, a good sense: "The Lorde doth all thinges for his owne sake; yea, and when he kepeth the ungodly for the daye of wrath." He does not make the wicked or ungodly man; but when man has made himself such, even then God bears with him. But if he repent not, when the measure of his iniquity is filled up, he shall fall under the wrath of God his Maker.

4. for himself] for his own purpose, R.V. marg.; or, for its own end, R.V. text. The two meanings really run into one another, for he who makes a thing to serve its own purpose makes it to serve his own purpose in so making it. The second clause of the verse extends the application of this truth from the physical to the moral sphere of action. But it creates no real difficulty. It is not said that God makes a man wicked, for He “made man upright” (Ecclesiastes 7:29. Comp. Genesis 1:26-27; Genesis 1:31), but that being wicked by his own choice he comes under the irrevocable law which dooms him to “the day of evil,” of calamity and punishment. By this, the Apostle teaches us, even in its final and most awful form, is revealed not the arbitrary predestination, but “the righteous judgement of God.” Romans 2:5-11.

For himself - Better, The Lord has done everything for its own end; and this includes the appointment of an “evil day” for “the wicked” who deserve it.

4. Hath made all things for himself — This text has been used in support of the Calvinistic theory of election and reprobation.