Proverbs 28:12

When righteous [men] do rejoice, [there is] great glory,.... When it is well with them; when they are in prosperous circumstances; when they are countenanced and encouraged by the government under

When righteous men do rejoice, there is great glory: but when the wicked rise, a man is hidden. When righteous men do rejoice (prosper), there is great glory.

When righteous men do rejoice, are encouraged and promoted to places of trust and power, there is great glory in that commonwealth. The state of that kingdom is honourable, and comfortable, and safe, so as good men can show their faces with courage and confidence. When the wicked rise, are advanced to honour and authority, a man is hidden; the state of that nation is so shameful and dangerous, that wise and good men, who only are worthy of the name of men, withdraw themselves, or run into corners and obscure places; partly out of grief and shame to behold the wickedness which is publicly and impudently committed; and partly to avoid the rage and injuries of wicked oppressors, and the judgments of God, which commonly follow such persons and their confederates in sin. Or, as others, both ancient and later interpreters, render it, a man is sought out. Sober and good men, who had retired themselves, are searched for, and brought forth like sheep to the slaughter, as being most suspected, and hated, and feared by bloody tyrants.

Proverbs 28:12 When righteous [men] do rejoice, [there is] great glory: but when the wicked rise, a man is hidden.Ver. 12. When righteous men do rejoice, there is great glory.] That is, There is cause of common joy to all; for they have public spirits, and rectified judgments, neither can they be merry at heart when it goes ill with the Church. All comforts are but Ichabods to them, if the ark be taken; all places but Hadadrimmons, if the Church be in heaviness. Terentius, under Valens, the Arian emperor, asked nothing but that the Church might be freed from Arians, and when the emperor tore his petition, he said that he would never ask anything for himself if he might not prevail for the Church, for that his happiness was laid up in hers. But when the wicked rise, a man is hidden.] That is, When tyrants are set up, "a man," that is, a good man - for God reckons of men by their righteousness - "is hidden," lies close, and hath no heart to show himself, lest he should suffer either in his own person or in his possession. Thus the man Moses fled and hid himself from Pharaoh, David from Saul, Eliah from Ahab, Obadiah’ s clients from Jezebel, Jeremiah from Jehoiakim, Joseph and the child Jesus from Herod; those worthies, of whom the world was not worthy, from Antiochus, that little Antichrist, and other persecutors, and the Christian Church from the greater Antichrist, so that she was not to be sought in tectis et exteriori pampa, sed potius in carceribus et speluncis, in palaces of worldly pomp, but in dens and dungeons, as Hilary hath it: "She fled into the wilderness, into her place, from the face of the serpent."

(12) When righteous men do rejoice—i.e., prosper, or triumph. There is great glory.—Men rejoice, and array themselves in their gayest attire. A man is hidden.—Literally, is sought for. They hide themselves for fear (comp. Proverbs 28:28), and must be sought for, in order to be found.

Verse 12. When righteous men do rejoice] When true religion is no longer persecuted, and the word of God duly esteemed, there is great glory; for the word of the Lord has then free course, runs, and is glorified: but when the wicked rise-when they are elevated to places of trust, and put at the head of civil affairs, then the righteous man is obliged to hide himself; the word of the Lord becomes scarce, and there is no open vision. The first vas the case in this country, in the days of Edward VI.; the second in the days of his successor, MARY I. Popery, cruelty, and knavery, under her, nearly destroyed the Church and the State in these islands.

12. a man is hidden] Rather, men hide themselves, R.V. “Heb. must be searched for,” marg. Comp. Proverbs 28:28.

There is great glory - Men array themselves in festive apparel, and show their joy conspicuously. A man is hidden - Better, men hide themselves, they shrink and cower for fear, and yet are hunted out.

12. Great glory — úôàøú, (tiphareth,) ornament, beauty. In the exulting of the righteous there is great beauty.