Proverbs 21:8

The way of man [is] froward and strange,.... Not the way of any and every man; not the way of righteous and good men, of believers in Christ; who know him, the way, and walk in him and after him, and

The way of man is froward and strange: but as for the pure, his work is right.

The way of man; the course of his life. Of man; of every man; of man by nature and in his corrupt estate; of a wicked or impure man, to whom the pure is opposed in the next clause. Strange; estranged from God and from man’ s primitive integrity, and from the rule of his actions, reason and Scripture; in which respects wicked men are called strangers, , and elsewhere. But as for the pure, his work is right; but he whose heart is pure and upright, his conversation is agreeable to it.

Proverbs 21:8 The way of man [is] froward and strange: but [as for] the pure, his work [is] right.Ver. 8. The way of man is froward and strange.] And therefore strange, because froward, various, and voluble, so that you know not where to have him, be is so unconstant, nor what to make of him, he is so uncertain and unsettled; "double minded," double tongued; versutulus et versatilis - “ Qui tantum constans in levitate sua. ” Folieta Galeazo reports of Sforza, Duke of Milan, that he was a very monster, made up and compact of virtue and vice. Such of old were Alcibiades, and likewise Julian, the apostate, of whom Marcellinus saith, that by his vicious errors, obnubilabat gloriae multiplices cursus, he stained his many praiseworthy parts and practices. Galba, and our Richard III are said to have been bad men - good princes. And of King Henry VIII saith Mr Camden, Fuerunt quidem in eo rege magnae virtutes, nec minora vitia, confuso quodam temperamento mixtae - that is, there was a strange mixture of great virtues, and no less vices found in this king. But as for the pure, his work is right.] For what reason? He works by rule, and therefore all his actions are uniform. He is also one and the same in all estates of life; as gold is purged in the fire, shines in the water. "Did I use lightness?" saith St Paul, "or is there with me yea yea, and nay nay?" No; "But as God is true, so our word toward you was not yea and nay?" I did not say and unsay, do and undo, &c.

(8) The way of man is froward and strange.—The words may also mean “Tortuous is the way of a man who is laden with sin.” (Comp. Proverbs 2:15.)

8. The way of man is froward and strange] Rather, very crooked is the way of a man laden with guilt; as was the way of David when he was laden with the guilt of adultery, 2 Samuel 11. The annals of crime in every land and age illustrate the proverb.

Or, “Perverse is the way of a sin burdened man.”

8. Froward, etc. — Better, winding, crooked. Stuart says, guilty. Zockler renders: “Crooked is the way of the guilty,” etc.