Proverbs 30:6

Add thou not unto his words,.... To the words of God; as the Jews did, by joining their oral law, or the traditions of the elders, to the written word, and preferring them before it; and as the

Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.

And as the word of God is pure, do not thou corrupt or abuse it, by adding to it thine own or other men’ s inventions and opinions, and delivering or receiving of them in the name and as the words of God. He here forbids only adding to it, not diminishing from it, which yet is equally forbidden, 12:32, because the Israelites then and always were, and others are, more prone to add than to diminish, because it is more easy to add under colour of interpreting, and because it is more agreeable to the humour of mankind, which is much delighted with its own inventions, as the experience of all ages showeth. Lest he reprove thee by words or deeds; by discovering thy folly, and bringing thee to deserved shame and punishment.

Proverbs 30:6 Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.Ver. 6. Add thou not unto his words.] As the Jews at this day do by their traditions, which they arrogantly call mashlamnutha, completio, perfectio, because they think that thereby the law is completed and perfected, as the Artemonites, and after them the schoolmen, corrupted the Scripture out of Aristotle and Theophrastus, turning all into questions and quillets. As Mahomet joined his Alfurta, his service book, a horrible heap of all blasphemies, to the three parts of holy Scripture, as he divides them, the law, psalms, and gospel. As the Papists add their human inventions and unwritten verities, which they equalise unto, if not prefer before, the book of God, as appears by that heathenish decree of the Council of Trent. And when at the Council of Basil the Hussites denied to receive any doctrine that could not be proven by Scripture, Cardinal Cusan answered that Scriptures were not of the being of the Church, but of the well being, and that they were to be expounded according to the current rite of the Church, which, if it change its mind, the judgment of God is also changed. Lastly, Such add to God’ s word as wrest it and rack it; making it speak that which it never thought; causing it to go two miles where it would go but one; gnawing and tawing it to their own purposes, as the shoemaker taws upper leather with his teeth. Tertullian calls Marcion the heretic, Mus Ponticus, of [from] his arroding and gnawing the Scripture, to make it serviceable to his errors. Lest he reprove thee.] Both verbally and penally - both with words and blows. Lest he severely punish thee, as one that adds to his will, or imbaseth his coin. And thou be found a liar.] As all Popish forgers and roisters at this day are found to be. God hath ever raised up such as have detected their impostures, and vindicated the purity and perfection of the sacred Scriptures. Buxtorf., Tiberius. Brightm. upon Rev., p. 292. Jacob Revius, Hist. Pontiff, p. 235. To make (skins) into leather by steeping them, after suitable preparation, in a solution of alum and salt; the product is white and pliant, and is known as alum, white, or Hungarian leather.

(6) Lest he reprove thee.—Or, convict thee of thy falsehood.

Verse 6. Add not thou unto his words] You can no more increase their value by any addition, than you can that of gold by adding any other metal to it. Take care that you do not any thing that this word forbids, nor leave undone any thing that it commands: for this is adding and diminishing in Scripture phrase. Lest he reprove thee] Lest he try thy word by fire, as his has been tried; and it appear that, far from abiding the test, the fire shows thine to be reprobate silver; and so thou be found a falsifier of God's word, and a liar. How amply has this been fulfilled in the case of the Romish Church! It has added all the gross stuff in the Apocrypha, besides innumerable legends and traditions, to the word of God! They have been tried by the refiner's fire. And this Church has been reproved, and found to be a liar, in attempting to filiate on the most holy God spurious writings discreditable to his nature.

6. Add thou not] Do not mix with the pure silver of His words the dross of human speculations. “Noli investigare res quæ mentem humanam transcendunt (Proverbs 30:4), ut doctrinam divinitus patefactam inde compleas.” Maurer. Proverbs 30:7-9. To the profitable reception of this word of God two things are necessary: first there must be “an honest and good heart,” and next there must be a lot removed from the dangerous extremes of wealth and poverty. For these two things therefore he prays earnestly.

Men are not to mingle revealed truth with their own imaginations and traditions. In speculating on the unseen, the risk of error is indefinitely great, and that error God reproves by manifesting its falsehoods.

6. Add thou not unto his words — Similar warnings are found elsewhere. Comp. Deuteronomy 4:2; Deuteronomy 12:32. The writer seems familiar with the older Scriptures. Compare also Revelation 22:18-19.