Proverbs 11

1. A FALSE balance is an abomination to the LORD :

But a just weight is his delight.

2. When pride cometh, then cometh shame: But with the lowly is wisdom.

3. The integrity of the upright shall guide them:

But the perverseness of the treacherous shall destroy them.

4. Riches profit not in the day of wrath :

But righteousness delivereth from death.

5. The righteousness of the perfect shall direct [or, make plain] his way:

But the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.

6. The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them:

But they that deal treacherously shall be taken in their own mischief.

7. When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish:

And the hope of iniquity perisheth.

8. The righteous is delivered out of trouble, And the wicked cometh in his stead.

9. With his mouth the godless man destroyeth his neighbour:

But through knowledge shall the righteous be delivered.

10. When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth :

And when the wicked perish, there is shouting.

11. By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted:

But it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.

12. He that despiseth his neighbour is void of wisdom:

But a man of understanding holdeth his peace.

13. He that goeth about as a talebearer reveal-eth secrets:

But he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter.

14. Where no wise guidance is, the people fall-eth:

But in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.

15. He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it:

But he that hateth suretiship is sure.

16. A gracious woman obtaineth honour:

And violent men obtain riches

17. The merciful man doeth good to his own soul:

But he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh.

18. The wicked earneth deceitful wages:

But he that soweth righteousness hath a sure reward.

19. He that is stedfast in righteousness shall attain unto life:

And he that pursueth evil doeth it to his own death.

20. They that are perverse in heart are an abomination to the LORD:

But such as are perfect in their way are his delight.

21. Though hand join in hand, the evil man shall not be unpunished:

But the seed of the righteous shall be delivered.

I. SCALES and small stones for weights were used to determine the exact quantity of various articles bought and sold in trade. This proverb teaches not only that the eye of God is upon all such transactions, but that His heart is in them as well, and especially that He disapproves and even abhors fraud in trade; while His sympathies are with the injured party. He feels as those men do who are cheated and wronged by fraud. He loves the honest dealer. The principle applies to fraud in quality as well as to fraud in quantity. H. C.—A false balance is here put for all manner of unjust and fraudulent practices in dealing with any person, which are all an abomination to the Lord, and render those abominable to Him that allow themselves in the use of such cursed arts of thriving. It is an affront to justice which God is the patron of, as well as a wrong to our neighbor whom God is the protector of. Men make light of such frauds and think there is no sin in that which there is money to be got by, and while it passes undiscovered they cannot

22. As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout,

So is a fair woman which is without discretion.

23. The desire of the righteous is only good:

But the expectation of the wicked is wrath.

24. There is that scattereth, and increaseth yet more;

And there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth only to want.

25. The liberal soul shall be made fat:

And he that watereth shall be watered also himself.

26. He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him:

But blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it.

27. He that diligently seeketh good seeketh favour:

But he that searcheth after mischief, it shall come unto him.

28. He that trusteth in his riches shall fall:

But the righteous shall flourish as the green leaf.

29. He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind:

And the foolish shall be servant to the wise of heart.

30. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life;

And he that is wise winneth souls.

31. Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth:

How much more the wicked and the sinner?

blame themselves for it; a blot is no blot till it is hit (Hos. 12: 7, 8). But they are not the less an abomination to God, who will be the avenger of those that defraud their brethren. Nothing is more pleasing to God than fair and honest dealing, nor more necessary to make us and our devotions acceptable to Him. A just weight is His delight. He Himself holds the scale of judgment with an even hand, and therefore is pleased with those that are herein followers of Him. H.

Our God is emphatically a God of justice. Wherever there is deceit in the world, wherever injury, wherever oppression, there is God’s anger and loathing accompanying it. The false balance, which is an abomination to the Lord, where do we not see it around us? Of every rank and class some, and far too many, are and are allowed to be and are tolerated as men of fraud, men of mere shine—workers and upholders of deceit. The secret of all wrong is the false balance within the heart; the real cheating begins there. An unfair dealer has defrauded himself before ever he defrauded another. And this is a most important consideration for all of us. Have we the balance right within? Alford.

I hardly know anything more strange than that you recognize honesty in play, and you do not in work. Your English watchword is “fair play,” your English hatred, foul play. Did it ever strike you that you wanted another watchword also, “fair work;” and another hatred also, foul work? You drive a gambler out of the gambling-room who loads dice, but you leave a tradesman in flourishing business who loads scales! For, observe, all dishonest dealing is loading scales. Ruskin. — The worst sin is not some outburst of gross transgression, forming an exception to the ordinary tenor of a life, bad and dismal as such a sin is; but the worst and most fatal are the small continuous vices which root underground and honeycomb the soul. Many a man who thinks himself a Christian is in most danger from the daily commission of small pieces of sharp practice in his business. White ants pick a carcass clean sooner than a lion will. A. M.

Honesty is the best policy for personal peace and for Divine blessing. Honesty is to be pursued for its own sake, as the only condition of personal peace. Were there no Divine blessing in question at all, conscientious men would be as honest as they are now. At the same time, it makes the honesty all the happier that it lies in the sunshine of the Infinite Presence, and that His radiant smile is on it. There is no danger of a mercenary spirit entering into such a relation with God. Edgar.

2. Literally and forcibly the Hebrew reads, Pride comes, and then comes disgrace; but with the modest and lowly (as opposed to the proud) is wisdom. There is no wisdom in pride. It never gains the ends of honor which men seek to gain by it. H. C.—Pride is a sin which men have reason to be themselves ashamed of; it is a shame to a man who springs out of the earth, who lives upon alms, depends upon God, and has forfeited all he has to be proud. It is a sin for which God often brings men down, for God resists the proud, contradicts them, and counterworks them in the thing they are proud of (Isa. 2: 11); and as with the proud there is folly and will be shame, so with the lowly there is wisdom and will be honor, for a man’s wisdom gains him respect. Considering how safe and quiet and easy they are that are of an humble spirit, what communion they have with God and comfort in themselves; we will say, With the lowly is wisdom. H.

Pride? What is the man proud of? Money? It will not procure for him one night’s sleep. It will not buy back a lost friend. It will not bribe off approaching death. Land? A very little bit of it will serve him soon. Birth? What has he inherited but sin and corruption? Learning? If he is equal to Newton he has gathered one little pebble on the ocean’s shore, and even that one he must soon lay down again. With the lowly is wisdom—the wisdom from above. The lowest parts of the land are warm and fertile; the lofty mountains are cold and barren. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Arnot.

3. The integrity of an honest man will itself be his guide in the way of duty and the way of safety. His principles are fixed, his rule is certain, and therefore his way is plain; his sincerity keeps him steady, and he needs not tack about every time the wind turns, having no other end to drive at than to keep a good conscience. Integrity and uprightness will preserve men (Psalm 25: 21).

4. The day of death will be a day of wrath; it is a messenger of God’s wrath; therefore when Moses had meditated on man’s mortality, he takes occasion thence to admire the power of God’s anger (Psalm 90: 11). It is a debt owing not to nature, but to God’s justice. After death the judgment, and that is a day of wrath. Riches will stand men in no stead in that day; they will neither put by the stroke nor ease the pain, much less take out the sting; what profit will this world’s birthrights be of then? H.

7. It is not in man to limit his expectations and hopes by the bounding line of death. He must and will expect to live on beyond that line and will hope for good there; but the wicked man’s hope as to that future life will perish! H. C.—Of all places the earth is the least proper to be made the scene of deceptions. In the world of despair—if delusion were possible—it would mitigate pain, and would endanger nothing. Nothing there can be worse, even in imagination, than the reality. But here everything is at stake. We play and sport on the verge of a precipice. Death is real; and the grave is real; and hell is real; and the judgment is real. Not one of them is the work of fancy; not one can be changed by the imagination. It will be no fiction when we come to die; it will be no delusive pageant when we stand at the judgment-seat. A. B.

9. The nature of man is to adore God and to love what is godlike in man. The office of the tongue is to bless. Slander is guilty because it contradicts your nature; to speak ill of others makes you a monster in God’s world; get the habit of slander, and then there is not a stream which bubbles fresh from the heart of nature, there is not a tree that silently brings forth its genial fruit in its appointed season, which does not rebuke and proclaim you to be a monstrous anomaly in God’s world. F. W. R.—The spirit of detraction in this day has wide scope. Literature and politics, as well as social life with its rivalries, are infested by it, and it finds its way into the Church and threatens us all. The race of fault-finders we have always with us, blind as moles to beauties and goodness, but lynx-eyed for failings, and finding meat and drink in proclaiming them in tones of affected sorrow. This spirit is always accompanied by ignorance of one’s own faults, which makes the man indulging it ludicrous. So our Lord would seem to intend by the figure of the mote and the beam. It takes a great deal of close peering to see a mote; but the censorious man sees only the mote, and sees it out of scale. The mote magnified, and nothing but the mote, is his object; and he calls this one-sided exaggeration “criticism,” and prides himself on the accuracy of his judgment. He makes just the opposite mistake in his estimate of his own faults, if he sees them at all. We look at our neighbor’s errors with a microscope, and at our own through the wrong end of a telescope, and see neither in their real magnitude. A. M.

10. Here are two rejoicings. The first is the joy which men feel when the righteous are prospered; the second is the shout of exultation when base transgressors fall. M. S.

13. Whoever goes about tattling, from an excessive love of talk, with more or less propensity to slander, will inevitably reveal secrets. Putting him here over against the man of faithful spirit, Solomon implies that this talebearer has no faithfulness of spirit, but is altogether unreliable. H. C.—If we could part forever with the disposition of the talebearer, we should have parted with that which, more than anything else, confuses and perplexes and embitters human life. C. J. V.—It is most certain that ill tongues would be silent if ill ears were not open, and hence it was an apposite saying of the ancients that the teller and hearer of slander should both be hanged—the one by the tongue, and the other by the ears. South.

17. “The man who is merciful in character and to others will be practically so to himself;” the sentiment being that whoever blesses others, being merciful in spirit and character, will be sure to get a rich reward to himself.

The very reaction upon himself is blessed; the showing of mercy to others is a rich mercy to himself. And vice versa, whoever is cruel to others and savage in temper will torture his own flesh. The inevitable laws of our being compel this result. H. C.—A cruel, froward, ill-natured man troubles his own flesh, and so his sin becomes his punishment; he starves for want of what he has because he has not a heart to use it, either for the good of others or for his own. He is vexatious to his nearest relations, that are and should be to him as his own flesh. Envy and malice and greediness of the world are the rottenness of the bones and the consumption of the flesh. H.

Surely the recipients of mercy should be ministers of mercy; and the mercy which follows them in Divine bestowment should be the mercy they follow in human imitation. When He forgives, it is with no reservation. It is not a qualified thing, carrying with it some terrible adjunct which cuts off from the value of the gift, dimming its lustre and embittering its sweetness; but it is clear and pure and rich, and comes streaming down from the heaven of heavens—a flood of light. “I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” And thus human mercy is to show itself without that cruel abatement—“I can forgive, but not forget.” Frank, cordial, hearty, should be every pardon of another’s offence; thus carrying the stamp of heaven’s mint upon it, and having in it a ring of love, as the coin of God. Stoughton.

18. “Deceitful wages” is here contrasted with “a sure reward.” The wicked will fail of the reward they work for; it will prove delusive. But the man who sows righteousness will reap accordingly a sure reward. These results follow from the laws of society; and they are sure in the end, because God reigns to bless the righteous, to curse the wicked. H. C.—19. Life is here affirmed to be the “reward” of one “that is stedfast in (sowing) righteousness,” and death the “wages” earned by “the wicked” “that pursueth evil.” B.—Sowing righteousness is never and nowhere lost labor. Every act done by God’s grace and at His bidding is living and fruitful. It may appear to go out of sight, like seed beneath the furrow; but it will rise again. Sow on, Christians! Sight will not follow the seed far; but when sight fails sow in faith, and you will reap in joy soon. Arnot.

Unspeakably intimate is the connection between this life and the life to come. Every act that we perform, every word that we utter; nay, every thought that we harbor, is doing its part to give shape and coloring to our eternal destiny. If we turn away from our Father in heaven, and choose for our gods sensual or intellectual pleasure, social position, wealth, power, or the applause of men, then there is nothing to prevent us. God respects the free agency with which He created us. But let us remember we must abide by our choice forever. As a man soweth so shall he also reap. We shall find in another world that we have moulded our destiny with our own hands. Wayland.

God unerringly distributes responsibility and judgment. The beginnings of habit in the character are subtle and insidious. They may come from ten thousand sources, they may come from one. God knows how to appropriate to each author his share in the composition. Take an immoral person, and go back from manhood to infancy, unfolding the layers of his character as you go, and there is a distinct responsibility for each step of growth, and God traces it. That habit of swearing, lying, drinking, that involves or marks the child or man, had its definite source and steps of increase, the responsibility of which God appropriates, first to the teacher of the habit, second to the receiver and cherisher; first to the person setting the example or alluring to the practice of evil, and second to the person following the example and practising the evil. And for each God will hold a reckoning, to each person God will distribute the harvest; to the sower and the receiver; to the sower in others’ natures and the receiver into his own. And thus, as it is said of the good seed, that those who sow and those who reap shall rejoice together, so of the evil seed, those who sow and those who reap shall lament together; for all are sowers and all are reapers, and we are solemnly warned not to be partakers of other men’s sins. G. B. C.

The perfect fitting and finishing of the machinery of Providence to individual interests must be premised; yet it is not less true that in almost every event of life the remote consequences vastly outweigh the proximate in actual amount of importance. Every man prospers, or is overthrown; lives, or dies; not for himself, but that he may sustain those around him; or that he may give them place, and who shall attempt to measure the circle within which are comprised these extensive dependencies? On principles even of mathematical calculation each individual of the human family may be demonstrated to hold in his hand the centre lines of an interminable web-work, on which are sustained the fortunes of multitudes of his successors. These implicated consequences, if summed together, make up therefore a weight of human weal or woe that is reflected back with an incalculable momentum upon the iot of each. Every one is then bound to remember that the personal sufferings or peculiar vicissitudes or toils through which he is called to pass are to be estimated and explained only in an immeasurably small proportion if his single welfare is regarded, while their full price and value are not to be computed unless the drops of the morning dew could be numbered. I. T.

The moral influence of a holy life cannot be lost. Like the seed which the wind wafts into hidden glades and forest depths, where no sower’s hand could reach to scatter it, the subtle germ of Christ’s truth will be borne on the secret atmosphere of a holy life, into hearts which no preacher’s voice could penetrate. When the tongue of men and angels would fail, there is an eloquence in living goodness which will often prove persuasive. For it is an inoffensive, unpretending, unobtrusive eloquence; it is the eloquence of the soft sunshine when it expands the close-shut leaves and blossoms—a rude hand would but tear and crush them; it is the eloquence of the summer heat when it basks upon the thick-ribbed ice—blows would but break it; but beneath that softest, gentlest, yet most potent influence the hard impenetrable masses melt away. Caird.

We do not realize the importance of this unconscious part of our life ministry. It goes on continually. In every greeting we give to another on the street, in every moment’s conversation, in every letter we write, in every contact with other lives, there is a subtle influence that goes from us that often reaches farther, and leaves a deeper impression than the things themselves that we are doing at the time. After all, it is life itself, sanctified life, that is God’s holiest and most effective ministry in this world—pure, sweet, patient, earnest, unselfish, loving life. It is not so much what we do in this world as what we are, that tells in spiritual results and impressions. A good life is like a flower, which though it neither toil nor spin, yet ever pours out a rich perfume, and thus performs a holy ministry. J. R. M.

21. Though hand join in hand. There is a strange and subtle fascination about numbers which tends to blind the mind to the sense of sin and danger. How much more natural and agreeable it seems to go in the way the multitude are going. How much more confidence one has in his own position when he sees that he is one of a great company. Tell him he is on the wrong road, and his heart, if not his head, will reply: “It cannot be; I am not alone. Here are the rich and the poor, the learned and the ignorant. Here is much of the best culture and learning of the ages. Here, too, are the young, the fair, the jubilant—all with me. It cannot be that this great, busy, joyous company is going to the bad.” Sin loses its ugly look when committed by a majority. Individual responsibility becomes lost in the sense of the crowd. Nevertheless we read that, ’though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished." James Brand.

22. Beauty without the good sense which insures propriety of deportment finds here a homely but a most truthful and telling illustration! The Oriental fashion of wearing jewels, pendent from the nose as well as from the ears, made this proverb the more caustic. H. C. —Personal beauty is not a thing to be despised. It is a work of God, and none of His works are done in vain. It is obvious that human kind are the chief of God’s works on earth, and that in the human form is displayed the highest beauty of creation. Beauty is a talent, and has a power. If the heart be holy and the aim true, personal beauty will enlarge the sphere and double the resources of beneficence. For discipline to human souls in time, deformity is given to one and beauty to another. The chief consideration for each is how she may best bear the trial, so as to get it enlisted among the workers for good and instruments of saving. If it were our part to judge, most of us would think it probable that beauty is the greater trial, and that under it a greater proportion stumble and fall. Arnot.

23. The desire of the righteous will end in good or blessing; for God blesses the obedient. The wicked, too, have desire or expectations; but they will end in bringing upon them the wrath of God or punishment. M. S.

24. “Scattering” abroad (in benevolence, for the good of others) does not impoverish. Men may give liberally, and through God’s blessing upon them their wealth may increase. So on the other hand, one withholds more than is just and right, but only to his greater poverty. It cannot be wise to ignore the providence of God. And His will is to honor those who honor Him, and to put His mark of disapproval on those by whom He is lightly esteemed. H. C.

To distribute portions of our wealth in schemes and acts of wise philanthropy, is like casting into the ground as seed a proportion of the last year’s harvest. It goes out of your sight for the moment, but it will spring in secret and come back to your own bosom like manna from heaven. Arnot.

That scattereth yet increaseth. The law of sowing and reaping is alike in every field. Gain is by scattering rather than by hoarding. He who lives for self will in the end have only self to live for; while he who lives for others will sooner or later have others living for him. Love begets love. He who uses his money has more money—more of the best results of money and more of its true enjoyment—than he who holds his money. It is not what we have, but what we do with that which we have, that is the real measure of our wealth—of our material wealth; of our mental wealth; of our heart wealth. The poorest possible investment of any talent whatsoever is hiding it in a safe place. Sowing it in a field is better than sewing it in a napkin. H. C. T.—Spiritual gifts are given for trading with. In other words, they are not so much blessings to the possessor as his stock-in-trade, which he can employ for the Master’s enrichment. We are all tempted to think of them mostly as given us for our own blessing and joy; and the reminder is never unseasonable that a Christian receives nothing for himself alone. God hath shined into our hearts, that we may give to others the light of the knowledge which has flashed glad day into our darkness. The right use of His gifts increases them in our hands. The five talents grow to ten, the two to four. The surest way to increase our possession of Christ’s grace is to try to impart it. There is no better way of strengthening our own faith than to seek to make others share in it. Christian convictions, spoken, are confirmed, but muffled in silence are weakened. “There is that scattereth and yet increaseth.” A. M.

The very act of scattering breaks up the mastery of selfishness, enlarges the circle of kindly interests, shows that there is something in the world beyond our own personal concerns. It were better therefore for man, better as a discipline, better for his heart, better for every quality that is worth having, that a man should throw some of his money into the river than that he should never give anything away. Even if a man should get nothing back he always increases in heart volume, in joy, in love, in peace; his cup of comfort is sweetened, he walks on a greener earth, and looks up to God through a bluer sky. Beneficence is its own compensation. Charity empties the heart of one gift that it may make room for a larger. J. P.—The more intelligence we scatter, the more we have ourselves; the more grace we impart, the more grace remains; the more prayers we offer, the more our disposition and ability to pray, and the richer the return into our bosoms. Scatter your prayers, your labors, your money, your soul and body, throw them forth, hand them round at the command of the Lord, among the great congregation for which He came, and toiled and died, and when He sits on the throne of His glory, to receive to Himself those who have borne and had patience, and for His name’s sake have labored and not fainted, but scattered their every trust for the life of the dying, then will He receive you, with that benediction which He pours on those who visited Him in prison and in sickness, who appeased His hunger and quenched His thirst, and clothed His nakedness, and took Him in when a stranger—“Come ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from before the foundation of the world.” R. T.

Withholding tends to poverty. A man may grow poor by meanly sparing what he has, withholding more than is meet, not paying just debts, not relieving the poor, not providing what is convenient for the family, not allowing necessary expenses for the preservation of the goods; this tends to poverty; it cramps men’s industry, weakens their interest, destroys their credit, and forfeits the blessing of God; and let men be ever so saving of what they have, if God blast it and blow upon it, it comes to nothing. H.

Charity begins at home is one of the sayings with which selfishness tries to mask its own deformity. The name of charity is in such repute, that to be without it is to be ill-spoken of. What, then, can the self-ridden do except pervert the name, so that selfishness may seem to be a branch of it? The charity which begins at home is pretty sure to end there. It has such ample work within doors, it flags and grows faint the moment it gets out of them. J. C. Hare.—The most pitiable thing we run upon in the midst of this age of wealth is parsimony. It is difficult to understand the state of mind of a man or woman who, with abundant means far beyond personal or family necessity, practises a stinting economy of which even the generous poor would be ashamed. There is no meaner vice than miserliness. It is the most degraded type of fetishism. It kills out all capacity for higher and purer enjoyment. Where it is applied to any kind of business which depends upon public good-will, it is ruinous. The men who found great business houses are careful and economical, but they are generous, liberal. There is that withholdeth and it tendeth to poverty. Interior.

God loveth a cheerful giver. And man loveth a cheerful giver, too. There is a great deal in the way we give, whether it be money, or sympathy, or kindly words, or loving looks, or enforced refusals. It is pleasanter to have a rebuke or a denial from some persons than to receive a compliment or a favor from another. Cheerfulness is out of the heart. Heartiness in word or in look is always cheering and inspiring. Nothing that is given grudgingly is pleasing to God or man. H. C. T.—If thou givest to receive the like, it is exchange; if to receive more, it is covetousness; if to receive thanks, it is vanity; if to be seen, it is vainglory; if to corrupt, it is bribery; if for example, it is formality; if for compassion, it is charity; if because thou art commanded, it is obedience. The affection in doing the work gives a name to the work done. Quarles.

25. The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.** The soul of blessing (Hebrew), i.e., the soul that blesses others shall be enriched thereby—a proverb which follows in thought the first clause of the verse preceding. It is not only more blessed to give than to withhold; it is even more blessed to give than to receive. H. C.—There is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving. And half the world is on the wrong scent in the pursuit of happiness. They think it consists in having and getting, and in being served by others. It consists in giving and in serving others. He that would be great among you, said Christ, let him serve. He that would be happy, let him remember that there is but one way—it is more blessed, it is more happy, to give than to receive. H. Drummond.

He who gives is improving his own character; and for this reason “it is more blessed to give than to receive.” The man who gives is advancing in excellence and moral virtue. While he is doing good to others, he is doing greater good to himself. He is rising higher and higher above the disease and contagion which is spreading around in those who regard not the glory of God. He rises above what is mean and sordid, and mingles with the most pure and holy part of the creation of God. The most benevolent are the most likely to make swift advances in that holiness which is the preparation for heaven. He who is laboring, from a proper motive, to benefit those around him, who is sacrificing his time and talents to increase the welfare of his fellow-men, is approaching more rapidly to perfection than any other. R. Hall. —In defiance of all the torture and malice and might of the world, the liberal man will ever be rich, for God’s providence is his estate, God’s wisdom and power his defence, God’s love and favor his reward, and God’s Word his security. Barrow.

We shall do much when we love much, and we shall love much only when we see much of Christ—much of His heart and His work. The appeal throughout the Bible is Christ’s love, Christ’s doings, Christ’s sufferings; when these come home to us as revealed in the past, when the unfoldings of the future open to us what Christ will do for us, then we have a solid basis on which we shall stand, and abounding impulses to abounding works. We must love much to do much. J. Drummond.

26. “That withholdeth” (i.e., from the hungry who need bread), hoarding and holding for the sake of a higher price, taking advantage of the necessities of the breadless. Those breadless mouths will curse him, nor they alone, for they are of God’s family, and His curse too must fall on them. On the other hand, the blessings of the poor (and of their Great Father no less) will come on the head of him that selleth it promptly in time of need, at fair and not at famine prices. Oh, might these words of God be emblazoned on every storehouse in all the land! Alas, that dealers in “corn” (all breadstuffs—indeed, all food) should so strangely ignore God’s words, and so recklessly trample His promises and His threatenings beneath their feet! No wonder that financial reverses should come crashing down upon the speculator’s ill-gotten gains! It is one of God’s ways of fierce and terrible rebuke. The same principle applies to fuel, and to whatever else is a necessity to the subsistence or the comfort of the masses.

30. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, because it is a blessed moral influence toward the winning of souls from sin and ruin. The results of such labor are indeed a tree of life, a permanent source of blessing. H. C. —The righteous are as trees of life; the fruits of their piety and charity, their instructions, reproofs, examples, and prayers, their interest in heaven, and their influence upon earth, are like the fruits of that tree, precious and useful, contributing to the support and nourishment of the spiritual life in many; they are the ornaments of paradise, God’s Church on earth, for whose sake it stands. H.—Amid all the conflict of life, the righteous is approaching the purity of paradise, albeit with slow and often tottering steps; in principle, the power of sin is broken within him; and day by day he is renewed in the image of God through communion with Christ. Nay, amid all the instability of life, the fixedness of this paradise is already his in essence. He not merely expects it beyond the grave, but has it in principle already here. He thus actually possesses that which in the tree of life was only emblematically shadowed forth. Van O.

He that is wise winneth souls. He that is wise, by communicating his wisdom wins souls; wins upon them to bring them in love with God and holiness, and so wins them over into the interests of God’s kingdom among men. The wise are said to turn many to righteousness, and that is the same with winning souls here (Dan. 12:3). They that would win souls have need of wisdom to know how to deal with them; and they that do win souls show that they are wise. H.—To win an immortal from sin and wrath to hope and holiness—this is honorable work and difficult. It is work for wise men, and we lack wisdom. On this point there is a special promise from God. Those who need wisdom and desire to use it in this work will get it for the asking. Arnot.

The personal soul is the one thing which continuously and immortally lives; which outlasts the body; which lives when the stately house has fallen, and the splendid fortune has been scattered; which lives when the theory that once was accepted has been surpassed and forgotten, and the policy of the statesman has passed from men’s sight; which outlasts even the world itself, and the stars in heaven, on which the earth is poised and hangs; which lives while God Himself continues, and while His government continues to be exercised over intelligent moral beings. And he who devotes himself to accomplishing a work upon this personal human soul—that shall be for its essential welfare—undertakes a work that must be enduring and not brief; a work that must abide in its fruits when all the precarious enterprises of man, whereby he is surrounded, shall have come to their gradual or sudden termination. R. S. Storrs.—If we work upon marble, it will perish. If we work upon brass, time will efface. If we rear temples, they will crumble into dust. But if we work upon immortal minds—if we imbue them with right principles—with the just fear of God and their fellow-men, we engrave upon those tablets something which no time can efface, but which will brighten to all eternity. In this way we may all be artists, and even the most ordinary and unlearned, if he has but a loving heart, may produce a masterpiece. Daniel Webster.

The highest and the lowest blessings for life, both of heart and mind—blessedness and love, and wisdom and goodness—are ministered to men through men, and to live without dependence on human help and guidance is to be either a savage or an angel. God’s guidance does not make man’s needless, for a very large part of God’s guidance is ministered to us through men. And wherever a man’s thoughts and words teach us to understand God’s thoughts and words more clearly, to love them more earnestly, or to obey them more gladly, there human guidance is discharging its noblest function. A. M.—So far as we know, no lost sinner is brought to repentance and faith save through one who already believes. It is the Holy Spirit who draws souls to Christ, yet the Spirit works through believers on unbelievers. We see thus a hint of our responsibility for the saving of the lost souls that our soul touches. There are those who will never be saved unless we do our part to save them. Our responsibility is commensurate with our opportunity. J. R. M.

31. The word rendered “recompense” applies to both good deeds and bad. The proverb calls attention to the fact that the righteous experience a measure of recompense (retribution) in this world, and infers that the wicked must, with more certainty or more palpably, receive a measure of theirs. The writer does not necessarily imply that the recompense of either class is to be finished, made perfect, in this world, and by no means denies that a part, even the greater part, holds over to the future world. H. C.—There are some recompenses in the earth, in this world, and in the things of this world, which prove that verily there is a God that judges in the earth (Psalm 58:11), but they are not universal; many sins go unpunished in the earth and services unrewarded, which indicates that there is a judgment to come, and that there will be more exact and full retributions in the future state. Many times the righteous are recompensed for their righteousness here in the earth, though that is not the principal much less the only reward either intended for them or intended by them; but whatever the Word of God has promised them or the wisdom of God sees good for them, they shall have in the earth. The wicked also, and the sinner, are sometimes remarkably punished in this life; nations, families, particular persons. And if the righteous, who do not deserve the least reward, yet have part of their recompense here on earth, much more shall the wicked, who deserve the greatest punishment, have part of their punishment on earth as an earnest of worse to come. Therefore stand in awe, and sin not. If those have two heavens that merit none, much more shall they have two hells that merit both. H.