Proverbs 17

Proverbs 17:1

17:1 A piece of zwieback or dry toast eaten in a relaxed setting is better than a sumptuous meal in an elegant house full of feasting where there is bickering and unhappiness. 17:2 A capable servant often rises higher than a son who causes shame. Thus Solomon’s servant, Jeroboam, gained control over ten of the tribes of Israel, leaving Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, with only two. The servant often shares the inheritance with the sons on an equal basis. In Abram’s case it looked for a while as if his servant would be his only heir (Gen_15:2-3). 17:3 God can do what no crucible or furnace can do. They can test silver and gold but the LORD can test the human heart. In the process of testing, He removes the dross and purifies the life until He sees His own image reflected. When thro’ fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply; The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine. George Keith17:4 An evildoer . . . gives heed to people with false lips. They welcome lies, unfounded rumors, false accusations. Liars, in turn, like to listen to scandal, slander, and a spiteful tongue. In that sense, the kind of talk a man feeds on is a barometer of what he is at heart. 17:5 We have already seen in Pro_14:31 that whoever mocks the poor insults his Maker (see Jam_5:1-4). Whoever takes a heartless satisfaction in calamity (which almost invariably makes people poor) will not go unpunished by the Lord. The book of Obadiah pronounces doom on Edom for rejoicing when Jerusalem fell. 17:6 A numerous and godly posterity brings honor to old men (see Psa_127:3-5; Psa_128:3). Children likewise can be grateful for their father. There is no reason for a generation gap here. 17:7 Noble and excellent speech seems out of place in the mouth of a boorish fool. Even more unsuitable are lying lips to a prince. You expect more from a prince. The world expects more from those of us who are children of God. They have higher standards for us than they do for themselves. 17:8 A bribe serves like a good luck charm, or so its owner thinks. Wherever he uses it, it performs wonders for him, opening doors, obtaining favors and privileges, or getting him out of trouble. 17:9 The man who refuses to remember an offense against him seeks love and friendship. The one who insists on digging up past grievances only succeeds in alienating friends. “When we learn to love,” Adams writes, “we also learn to cover, to forget, and to overlook many faults in others.” One woman to another: “Don’t you remember the mean thing she said about you?” The other woman: “I not only don’t remember; I distinctly remember forgetting!” George Washington Carver was refused admission to a college because he was black. Years later, when someone asked him for the name of the college, he answered, “It doesn’t matter!” Love had conquered. 17:10 A simple rebuke makes a deeper impression on a wise man than a severe beating on a fool. Usually people who are sensitive do not need harsh forms of discipline. But those who are unfeeling and indifferent require the sledgehammer treatment. It is hard for them to think that they are ever wrong. 17:11 An evil man seeks only rebellion. He is unwilling to submit to lawful authority. He is determined to have his own way. The cruel messenger who will be sent against the rebel may be the arresting officer sent by the king, or it may be the messenger of death sent by God. 17:12 A bear robbed of her cubs is fierce and unmanageable. But she is not nearly as dangerous as a fool in a fit of temper. Once he gets some crazy idea into his head, nothing will stop him. 17:13 A curse rests upon the house of any man who repays a kindness with an injury. David repaid his loyal general, Uriah, with treachery, and, as a result, brought misery upon his house (2Sa_12:9-10). 17:14 When a hole develops in a dike, the water rushing through it enlarges the hole rapidly. It is the same with quarrels. Minor disputes have a way of growing to major proportions. So it is better to stop while a dispute is still insignificant. Otherwise you may be plunged into a great war soon. 17:15 God hates miscarriages of justice. To acquit the guilty or to condemn the innocent is equally abhorrent to Him. Our law courts are filled with this today, but men will give an account for it all when they stand before God. The dictum “Justice, justice you shall follow” echoes down through the corridors of history. 17:16 A person is a fool to go to great expense to get an education if he doesn’t really mean business. To be a good learner, one must be highly motivated. He must have “a mind to learn” (Moffatt). A second and more probable meaning of the proverb is this: a fool should not spend money for wisdom when he doesn’t have the ability to grasp things in the first place. “Why is thisa price in the hand of a fool to buy wisdom, when he has no capacity?” (Berkeley). He thinks he can buy wisdom as if it were a loaf of bread. He doesn’t realize that he must have an understanding heart. 17:17 A true friend loves in adversity as well as in prosperity. Often it takes hard times to show which friends are genuinely loyal. A quaint note from D. L. Moody’s Bible says, “A true friend is like ivythe greater the ruin, the closer he clings.A brother is born for adversity, that is, one of the great privileges of brotherhood is to be at your side when you need him most. It is not hard to find the Lord Jesus in this verse. There’s not an hour that He is not near us, No, not one! No, not one! No night so dark but His love can cheer us, No, not one! No, not one! Johnson Oatman17:18 This verse modifies the previous one by showing that love should not be without discernment. It would be a case of bad judgment to agree to guarantee a friend’s debts in the event that he should default. Any man who needs a surety is a bad credit risk. Why be surety for a bad credit risk? 17:19 The man who loves transgression loves strife, and vice versa. The man who exalts his gate is one who (1) talks arrogantly (Moffatt); (2) loudly proclaims his wealth; or (3) lives luxuriously and perhaps beyond his means. This man courts destruction. 17:20 A deceitful heart never wins, and a perverse tongue never prospers. They invite mischief and prevent happiness. 17:21 The parent of a senseless dolt (scoffer) lives with sorrow. There is no joy in being the father of a “dull thud.” 17:22 Here again we learn that a person’s mental outlook has a lot to do with recovery from sickness or accident. A cheerful disposition is a powerful aid to healing. A broken, disconsolate spirit saps a person’s vitality. In a footnote on this verse, the Berkeley Version comments: “Up-to-date therapy, unsurpassed.” Today’s doctors tell us that a hearty laugh is great exercise. When you emit an explosive guffaw, they say, your diaphragm descends deep into your body and your lungs expand, greatly increasing the amount of oxygen being taken into them. At the same time, as it expands sideways, the diaphragm gives your heart a gentle, rhythmic massage. That noble organ responds by beating faster and harder. Circulation speeds up. Liver, stomach, pancreas, spleen, and gall bladder are all stimulatedyour entire system gets an invigorating lift. All of which confirms what that sage old Greek, Aristotle, said about laughter more than 2000 years ago: “It is a bodily exercise precious to health.” But not all laughter is healthful. Howard Pollis, a psychology professor at the University of Tennessee, reports that when laughter and smiling are used in an aggressive wayto sneer at, to ridicule, to embarrassthey are “nonhealthy” and can really do more harm to the laugher than the one who is laughed at. A broken spirit dries the bones. Blake Clark agrees: Emotions can make you ill. They can make hair fall out by the handful, bring on splitting headaches, clog nasal passages, make eyes and nose water with asthma and allergies, tighten the throat with laryngitis, make skin break out in a rash, even cause teeth to drop out. Emotions can plague one’s insides with ulcers and itises, give wives miscarriages, make husbands impotentand much more. Emotions can kill. 17:23 A wicked man accepts a bribe behind the back to influence the decision of the judge in his favor. 17:24 A man of understanding sets wisdom as the goal before his eyes and goes right toward it. A fool has no definite ambition. Rather than search for wisdom, which requires discipline, his eyes wander in fantasy all over the world. 17:25 One of the great sorrows of parenthood is to have a child who causes nothing but grief . . . and bitterness. 17:26 Also, to punish the righteous is not good, nor to strike princes for their uprightness. Yet this perversion of justice takes place every day. 17:27 He who has knowledge spares his words, and a man of understanding is of a calm spirit. Rash speech and quick temper betray a shallow character. 17:28 You can’t tell a fool by his facial appearance; he might look ever so wise. “With closed lips he may be counted sensible” (Moffatt). “At times,” writes James G. Sinclair, “it is better to keep your mouth shut and let people wonder if you’re a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”