Proverbs 12
WARDProverbs 12:1-19
LECTURE XXVII.
“Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge: but he that hateth reproof is brutish. A good man obtaineth favour of the Lord; but a man of wicked devices will he condemn. A man shall not be established by wickedness: but the root of the righteous shall not be moved. A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones. The thoughts of the righteous are right: but the counsels of the wicked are deceit. The words of the wicked are to lie in wait for blood: but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them. The wicked are overthrown, and are not: but the house of the righteous shall stand. A man shall be commended according to his wisdom: but he that is of a perverse heart shall be despised. He that is despised, and hath a servant, is better than he that honoureth himself, and lacketh bread. A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding. The wicked desireth the net of evil men: but the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit. The wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips: but the just shall come out of trouble. A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth: and the recommence of a man’s hands shall be rendered unto him. The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise. A fool’s wrath is presently known: but a prudent man covereth shame. He that speaketh truth sheweth forth righteousness: but a false witness deceit. There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health. The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment.”
It is by “instruction” that “knowledge” comes. He who fancies he has all in himself will never learn. He who fancies he has already got from others all he can get, will cease to learn.-Again, in proportion to the love of instruction will be the acquisition of knowledge. Thus must it be in every department: thus it is in regard to the knowledge of divine things-the truth and will of God.*-Further, the love of instruction implies humility. It argues a sense of ignorance and need of information. It is a common thing for men to allow pride to cheat them of much valuable knowledge. They like not to be thought ignorant; unless it be in regard to the knowledge of divine truth. Some absolutely plume themselves upon their ignorance on suck subjects. They would be ashamed were they supposed acquainted with the Bible, and will at times put questions for the very purpose of showing how ignorant they are of its contents! Surely a more melancholy or affecting view of the perverseness of our fallen nature there cannot be, than appears in the fact, that the highest, the greatest, the best of all the possible subjects of thought or investigation, God Himself, is that which last and least engages human attention and interest! Were man what he ought to be, this of all subjects would be the one on which he would most “love instruction,” and delight to find “knowledge.”
- Comp. Proverbs 2:1-6 .
That the knowledge of duty as well as of truth is here to be included, may be inferred from the latter part of the verse-“but he that refuseth reproof is brutish.” Such conduct is “brutish,” as irrational, senseless, unworthy of a creature endowed with intellect; distinguished by reason from the beasts of the field, and distinguished from them too by his immortality. It was when Asaph recovered from that strange temptation, under the power of which he seemed to forget the eternity of man’s being, and to confine his estimate to the present life, that he exclaimed, “So foolish was I and ignorant; I was as a beast before thee!” Psalms 73:22 . And the same comparison is repeatedly used respecting the ungodly. They sink themselves even below the level of the brutes. I say even below, for the brutes fulfil the ends of their being, under the impulse of their respective instincts and appetites; but the man who forgets his immortality and forgets his God, does not fulfil the end of his. He acts a part infinitely beneath it, and is emphatically “brutish.”*
*Comp. Psalms 49:10-12 ; Psalms 92:5-6 .
There may also be comprehended in the expression, the absence of what every rational creature ought to have-spiritual discernment and taste; the destitution of all right sentiment and feeling in reference to God and divine things. This is the character of him whom Paul denominates “the natural” or animal “man,” who “receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him.”
Verse Proverbs 12:2 . “A good man obtaineth favour of the Lord: but a man of wicked devices will he condemn.”
God must delight in goodness. Goodness is His own nature. He cannot but take pleasure in resemblance to Himself. On “the good man” His blessing descends,-on his person, on his labours, on his substance, on his family, on his temporal enjoyments, and on his temporal trials and corrections.
The character with which “the good man” stands here contrasted seems to show that good has at least a special, if not exclusive reference to benevolence; “But the man of wicked devices will he condemn.” Such a man was Judas, to whom, knowing the treachery of his heart, Jesus so early said, “Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?” The false-hearted attended Jesus to the last, and then, with the kiss of false friendship, having first sold, betrayed him. They too were “men of wicked devices” who “consulted how they might take Jesus by subtlety and kill him”-kill the very pattern of all goodness! God “condemned” him who betrayed, and them who paid the bribe. Both became the victims of righteous vengeance.
The principle of the next verse is the same-“A man shall not be established by wickedness: but the root of the righteous shall not be moved.”
The prosperity that is obtained by wickedness shall not be permanent. There is rottenness in the “root” of it. The hidden curse of God is in it: and that curse has in it a secret power of blight and wasting, which no wit of man can anticipate, and no power contravene. Where that curse is nothing goes well: everything fails; and no one can divine the cause. The very means devised for safety turn out means of insecurity and loss. A kind of fatality appears to wait upon every step of the man’s course. A fire, blown he knows not how, consumes his substance. His ‘wicked devices" for his own aggrandizement turn out like plans contrived for his own destruction.-The words indeed may have a different meaning. “Established” may have reference not to the stability of his fortunes, but to that of his mind-to tranquil self-possession and firmness. The steadfastness of the righteous, in this view, is finely expressed in the latter clause of the verse-" But the root of the righteous shall not be moved." Even if, in the providence of God, his substance should fail, he himself remains unshaken and entire, in all his best blessings and in all his hopes. He loses nothing. He gains. “What injures him in one way, benefits him in another and a better. And his spirit remains unbroken; his confidence loses not its hold. He resembles the mighty oak of the forest, that has stricken its roots wide and deep into the soil: the raving tempest may assail it, may shed its leaves, may snap a few twigs and slender branches; but it stands itself firm in all its unblemished majesty.*
- Comp. Jeremiah 17:5-8 .
Verse Proverbs 12:4 . “A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones.”
“A woman of virtue.” The word is to be understood as including, along with strict conjugal fidelity in affection and conduct, good principles in general, in their practical operation;-piety and consistency; industry, economy, prudence, and good management; steadiness, propriety, and becoming dignity; all the affections, all the duties, and all the delicate seemliness, belonging to her station, as a wife, as a mother, and as a mistress.
Such a woman is “a crown to her husband."-There is supposed by some to be an allusion in the expression to the practice of crowning bridegrooms on the occasion of their nuptials, as an emblem of the new authority and honour with which they were conceived to be invested. Be this as it may, the meaning is plain. A crown is a mark of dignity: and a “virtuous woman” being “a crown to her husband,” represents the respectability, credit, reputation, which accrue to a man from such a connexion;-not only from his having made so suitable a choice, but from the inevitable association of the one with the other, and from the discreet and generous conduct of the wife, in at once hiding her husband’s failings, and in giving prominence to his excellencies and virtues. In this respect wives have much in their power, in either maintaining or letting down the respectability and honour of their husbands. It is a miserable case, when there is contested superiority between man and wife. The woman that does contest it can never answer to the description here of a “crown to her husband.” No woman can that aims at assuming the crown to herself; and especially when, instead of keeping her usurpation a secret, she evidently aims at letting everybody know of her success. Such a woman does what she can to stamp her husband with degradation and littleness. Husband and wife are one; and they are so associated in the minds of others as to be, in a certain measure, identified; the respect, or the disrespect, felt for the one, almost unavoidably and insensibly, extending itself to the other. It is the duty of the husband to “give honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel;” and the husband who is not sensitively jealous of all that touches the respect due to his wife, and is not solicitous to make the best of her character in the eyes of others-indignantly protecting her from every act or word or look or insult, signally fails in a most essential element of conjugal love and duty. But it is best when husband and wife so feel themselves one,-their interests, their honour, their happiness one,-that superiority and inferiority are words unknown in their conjugal vocabulary; when authority never needs to be asserted, and subjection is never felt, the one being exercised, the other rendered in love; and when husband and wife are thus reciprocally “a crown” to each other, each adding to the other’s reputation and honour.
But there may be more in the “crown” than the idea of honour. Garlands were also worn on occasions of festivity and joy; and on this very account they graced the nuptial ceremony, which, in all ages, has been one of gladness and social mirth. In the metaphor, therefore, joy and honour may be considered as combined;-the former as well as the latter arising to a husband from the character of the wife of his bosom, the joint head of his family, the worthy partner of his earthly lot. He feels and values the honour; and the joy is one of the richest sweeteners of his earthly pilgrimage.
The contrary part of the alternative is expressed in strong, yet not too strong, terms:-“But she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones.” The first thing that here presents itself to the mind is unfaithfulness to the marriage vow. And, assuredly, to the man who truly loves his wife, this must be one of the most agonizing wounds it is within the range of possibility to inflict upon him. And I would have husbands to remember-for there is at times to be found abundant sensitiveness on the one side, when there is comparatively little, if any at all, on the other,-that the obligation to fidelity is the same on both parties; and that the contrary is “rottenness” in a wife’s bones, as well as in a husband’s. I enter into no questions of comparison and casuistry, but affirm the general law, and assert the equal deference due to feeling on the part of both.
But there are other ways in which a wife may “make ashamed,” and, although not to the same degree, may be “rottenness in the bones.” She may be otherwise depraved and unprincipled. She may be a slattern; she may be a drinker; she may be a waster; she may be improvident; she may be vain, and light, and frivolous; she may be contentious, imperious, peevish, passionate; she may be a gossip and a scandal-monger. Her husband sees this, and sees the effects of it on the minds of others: and the sight brings vexation and anguish of heart; especially when he connects the character with the education of a rising family, on the members of which the example of a mother exerts so early and so powerful an influence. “It is rottenness in his bones.”
The figure is strong. We may consider it as conveying two ideas: 1. The “bones” are the strength of the frame. Upon them the whole is built. There is, therefore, in the idea of caries, or rottenness in them, that of the wasting of the vigour of body and mind, and tho bringing of the man prematurely to his grave; and that too by means which cost him, ere this result is effected, exquisite suffering. Then-
- “The bones” are unseen. The poor man is pierced with inward and secret agony, which he cannot disclose; pines in unseen distress,-distress, of which the cause is hidden, while the effects are sadly and rapidly visible. Too often has it happened, that wives, who by their conduct have deprived home of its attractions, and made it the scene of annoyance and wretchedness, rather than of comfort, peace, and social joy,-have been the temptations of their husbands; have driven them to the ale-house and the evening club, to bad company and excess, to the ruin of business, of family, of character, of health, of life. Ye wives, beware: ye have much in your power. Let the beautiful description of conjugal duty, and consequent conjugal union and happiness, drawn by the pen of the inspired Apostle, in writing to the Ephesian church, be realized under the domestic roof of all husbands and wives calling themselves Christians.
Verse Proverbs 12:5 . “The thoughts of the righteous are right: but the counsels of the wicked are deceit.”
The verse has been rendered-” The policy of the just is honesty; the wisdom of the wicked is cunning.” And this rendering marks more strikingly the intended distinction. The “righteous man,” in all his “thoughts,” keeps by what is “right.” He deals in rectitude, as opposed to “deceit;” and from his actions you may know his thoughts. It is not so with “the wicked.” He thinks one way and acts another. His words and deeds are not the fair index of his thoughts.
In the next verse, the same evil is depicted, only rising a step higher,-I should say, perhaps, sinking a step lower-in turpitude-" The words of the wicked are to lie in wait for blood: but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them."
The principles of murder are in the heart of the wicked man, and the words of murder are in his lips. The idea in the latter part of the preceding verse is evidently retained here. In the words that suggest and advise “laying wait for blood,” there is “deceit;” and deceit for the most atrocious of all ends, the death of the hated object. Before the purposes of a wicked selfishness even life will not be permitted to stand.* “But the mouth of the upright shall deliver them.” It is clear that “the mouth of the upright” implies the simplicity and commanding power of truth. It is not entreaty by which he is supposed to prevail, but the pleadings of truth. In such pleadings there is a power that is ever fitted to produce the effect; especially in cases where the death of the good man is sought under the forms of law; when they plead their own cause, with wisdom, with the internal evidence of simple truth, and with the mien and the majesty of real and conscious innocence. Even in such cases, however, it is far from having always been so. From the first martyr to the Christian faith, onward through the entire history of persecution, numberless instances of the contrary present themselves: but there are not a few also of the overawing and disarming power of the “mouth of the upright.” When Jesus fulfilled his promise-" I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist," there was a power which, though it might not convert opponents, or even conciliate such favour as should ensure protection for the future, yet laid a restraint upon the indulgence of vindictive fury:-and many a time truth has silenced, when it has not saved; has promoted the cause even when it has not preserved its present advocate.
- See Proverbs 1:10-19 .
At all events, the words suggest the idea that “the mouth of the upright” is the only weapon the upright is warranted to employ. It is his to plead, and to plead in simplicity and sincerity, leaving his cause thus pleaded, with God.
Verse Proverbs 12:7 . “The wicked are overthrown and are not: but the house of the righteous shall stand.”
Solomon had a signal exemplification of this in the case of Saul, and his father David. Possibly this instance might be in his eye at the time. Saul seemed to have the mastery; and David to be forsaken, and in constant and imminent peril. Yet the house of Saul was overthrown so as not to be; while David and his house were established; established in the divine favour and in the promised throne of Israel. Thus has it often been.
Verse Proverbs 12:8 . “A man shall be commended according to his wisdom: but he that is of a perverse heart shall be despised.”
This is capable of two interpretations. It may refer to commendation by men, or to commendation by God. When understood in the one or in the other, wisdom requires to be somewhat differently interpreted. If a man possesses a sound judgment and proves a prudent, discriminating, faithful, and salutary adviser, in times of difficulty, perplexity, and trial,-that man will be “commended according to his wisdom” by his fellowmen. But if commendation from God be intended, wisdom must be taken in its higher sense,-as signifying not mere secular discretion, but religious principle; according to the invariable testimony, not of Solomon only but of all the inspired penmen, that “the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom.” This is not the wisdom that secures the eulogy of men; but it will ever secure the commendation of God-the Infinitely Wise, the Infinitely Good.
And indeed, the two things may be united. A man who has “the fear of God before his eyes” will always be a faithful counsellor; and if, at the same time, he have sound wisdom and discretion in regard to the affairs of life, fitting him for counsel and arbitration-this will form the perfection of character. There will be commendation both from men and from God. Forget not the counterpart of this statement, “But he that is of a perverse heart shall be despised.”
In the pride of your hearts, you may affect to hold very cheap the contempt of men; though even that is often more pretension than reality-disappointment rankling at the heart, while scorn is curling the lip. But what must it be to be “lightly esteemed” at last-to be “despised” by that God who has in His hands the destinies of the universe.
There are expressions that have got into currency as the words of Scripture, that are not to be found in Scripture. Of this we have an instance in the way in which the former part of the tenth verse is usually quoted,-“The merciful man is merciful to his beast.” No such words exist in the Bible. The nearest to them are the words which occur here. You will say, it is but a difference of words; and I am ready to admit that the sentiment as it has obtained currency, is in the fullest harmony with Bible principles. But there is more in the sentence as it stands in the Bible than in its ordinary form. That a merciful man is “merciful to his beast” expresses no more than that a kind and benevolent disposition will extend its exercise to the inferior creation as well as to fellow-men. Now, this is almost a truism. We may occasionally, in consequence of certain perverse habits of thought and feeling, acquired by incidental circumstances, or by injudicious training, or unfortunate example in early life, find the anomaly of a person kind to men and harsh to brutes. But it is an anomaly; and, as an anomaly, a comparative rarity. The man who really deserves the character of a merciful man, we expect to derive the very character from his kindness to the inferior tribes of creation as well as to men,-to the whole range, as far as within his influence, of sensitive existence. But the maxim contained in the words “A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast” is, that practical kindness, extending to the brute creation, is an essential part of the character of a scripturally good man.-He deserves not the designation of a “righteous man” who is destitute of mercy. He is without one of the most important features of resemblance to God. When the Scriptures describe His character, He appears before us as extending a benevolent care over all creatures. His word is full of this. Read the 104th Psalm. You will find throughout a beautiful and sublime illustration of the general sentiment, “The Lord is good to all; his tender mercies are over all his works.” And the lips into which grace was poured, have said in terms of lovely simplicity, and pregnant with meaning, “Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings? and not one of them is forgotten before God “-” one of them shall not fall to the ground without your heavenly Father.” Each one of His children should delight to witness the joys of all creation, and strive by every means to promote them. The poet deprecates the friendship of the man “who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.”
There are few things more shocking than the wanton barbarity practised upon animals that are employed in the service of man. How useful!-how ill treated! There are two systems of treatment pursued, both of which, after all, are but different descriptions of mere self-interest. There is the system that works them hard and gets most labour out of them in the shorter time they last:-and the other is the system that by working them less severely, exacting from them a smaller average of toil, makes them last the longer time. But with “the righteous” there ever will be, more than a mere calculation of self-interest. It will not be merely “the life of his beast,” because it is his, and because he considers gentle treatment as the most economical, that “the righteous man will regard.” That would not be mercy, but mere prudential management for his own advantage. Higher motives will influence him. It will not even be mere sensibility. It will be sensibility associated with principle, and a regard to the authority and the example of God.
The latter part of the verse is a singularly strong expression for hard-heartedness-“The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.” Mercy, if ever exercised at all, is exercised with a surly and grudging reluctance; and the extent of its doings and its gifts is so restricted and parsimonious, that they will appear to the man of generous spirit, who “delights in mercy,” no better than “cruelty.”
The expression may perhaps also mean, that of wicked men even the kindness is frequently injurious. As they have no thought beyond the body, the world, and time, they often express their kindness in a way that may prove prejudicial in the extreme to those who are disposed to accept of it. As it is said that “he that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet;” so may it be said of the kindness of the ungodly. It makes no account of the highest of all interests; and will propose and urge plans of worldly benefit fitted to ensnare, and damage, and finally ruin the soul. Of such kindness let all beware. It is “cruelty” in disguise.
The former, however, is probably the true meaning; and the language has special reference to the treatment of inferiors, and of dependent brute creatures. “What affecting exemplifications might be found for illustration in the treatment of slaves. How often have the very descriptions of kind treatment-treatment on which the owner highly plumed himself, been such as only to fill with indignation and shame the bosoms of all possessing a truly compassionate and generous spirit! And how often has the iron-hearted tyrant vaunted of his “mercy” in the course pursued towards his captive victims, or those who have offended him; “when he was only presenting a practical commentary on the words, “The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel."-And have you never met with a monster in human form, who, when reproved for merciless severity to his “beast,” has laughed at you, and told you, with manifest self-complacency, how much harder he could make his blows if he chose; as if he had whereof to glory in the mere fact of his not putting to his entire strength in venting his passion, or enforcing his merciless determination with the still worse coolness of a fiend?
Verse Proverbs 12:11 . “He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding.” Industry again!-A general principle is illustrated by a particular case. The principle is, Nothing Without Labour-a principle applicable alike to business, knowledge, and religion. Bread-corn will not spring up, ripen, and yield its produce spontaneously. There must be ploughing, sowing, harrowing, cleaning, reaping, thrashing, grinding, before a morsel of bread is obtained. And so business will not prosper, knowledge will not increase, religion will not thrive, but by the sedulous, persevering use of all instituted means.
The antithesis between the two parts of the verse is plain, “But he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding.” By “vain persons” we understand idle, dissipated, frivolous, time-killing persons. I warn young men especially to beware of such. They may present themselves under different aspects:-as low profligates; as aspiring, would-be, gentlemen; as men of station who can afford to be idle, who glory in it, and who flatter others by assuming them as their associates, and so giving them a distinction of which they are in danger of being vain.-Take care. “He that followeth them is void of understanding.” He acts in opposition to all the plainest dictates of prudence and common sense, which testify the evil tendency of idleness, both as to present comfort, as to future success in life, as to true respectability, and as to moral and spiritual character. He flies in the face of all the lessons of experience; lessons the most striking and multiplied; lessons written many times in bitter tears, and not seldom even in blood.
The next verse naturally enough connects with this:-“The wicked desireth the net of evil men: but the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit.”
The word “net” may be understood of any means by which the wealth and honours of the world may be acquired. Thus it is used in Habakkuk 1:13-17 . The net described in this passage is emphatically “the net of evil men.” It is that of the oppressor, who regards his fellow-men as of any value, only as he can render them conducive to his own benefit and aggrandizement, and who uses them accordingly; and, when his oppressive measures prove successful, vaunts himself in the power and the skill by which the success has been secured, taking the entire credit, unenviable as it is, to himself.-There seems to be a special reference, in the verse before us, to illegitimate or fraudulent means. In “the net of evil men,” this is evidently implied. When “the wicked” see the devices of “evil men” succeed, they desire to try the same arts. Instead of any moral detestation of the means, they look only at the end. They see that attained. They are envious. They are tempted to imitate; and, there being little or no principle to offer resistance, the desire is at once put into practice. The violation of right sits but lightly on their consciences. The barrier of what men call duty and conscience, is easily thrown down. The sole question is, whether the plan be feasible,-whether it holds out a fair prospect of success. If objections are urged on the score of principle, they give a careless shrug and say, “Leave that to me; you have no business with my conscience; my question is-Will it answer?” If, in any case, conscience should remonstrate and restrain, and will not allow them to go quite so far, they yet envy, and regret their restraints. They still “desire the net” even when they can’t bring themselves to use it. They wish they could get over their scruples, and, in this state of mind, the probability is that by and by they will.
“But the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit."-The “root of the righteous” might be understood as meaning the fixed, settled, stable principle of the righteous; and the sentiment may be, and it is an important one, and in harmony with much to the same purpose in this book-that acting on rooted principle, the righteous man will ultimately prosper; or, even if, in regard to this world, he should fail of success, his principle will yield the fruit of true happiness to him in the blessing of the Lord and the “peace which passeth all understanding.” I incline, however, to think, that, as “the net” signifies the varied artifice, cunning, and fraud employed to gain riches quickly and easily-“the root of the righteous,” as contrasted with the “net of evil men,” may represent rather the source of his revenue or income: and-in opposition to the art of making rich quickly, to excite the surprise and the envy of others-a steady, firmly established, regularly and prudently and justly conducted business, bringing in its profits fairly and moderately; as a tree deeply rooted in the soil, draws thence its natural nourishment, and “receiving blessing from God,” brings forth its fruit in due season. The two views are closely, if not inseparably, connected.
Verse Proverbs 12:13 . “The wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips: but the just shall come out of trouble.” There may possibly, in these words, be an allusion to “the net of evil men” in the verse preceding. One of the means used by such men in attaining their ends-one of the meshes of the net which they weave for the purpose-is equivocation, falsehood, sometimes even perjury; and the defamation of persons; and the cheapening and abusing of goods; with a variety of other modes of untruth and dishonest chicanery. But often such men outwit themselves. They are “snared by the transgression of their lips.” Their own words take them in. They are detected; and by detection their ends are frustrated, and reversed.
“But the just shall come out of trouble.” The contrast is striking. “The just” is the man of principle. How often has the man of known integrity been released on the credit of his own word in times of suspicion and “trouble,” when the man of known duplicity and deceit has been committed and retained; and, even when innocent, has got off with difficulty and is followed by doubt!
The following verse presents another advantage of right words-the words of " the just.” Their salutary counsel; their wholesome advice; their expressions of encouragement, consolation, and kindness, bring a rich reward into their own bosoms. They enjoy the satisfaction of seeing the happy effects of their words-a sweet gratification to a benevolent spirit!-and reap a precious return of esteem and affection, of gratitude and cheerful benefaction-for “a man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth.” And what is true of words is true of deeds; what is true of the tongue is true of the hands-” The recompense of a man’s hands shall be given unto him”-a principle equally applicable to the wicked, who shall have both of man and God “according to their doings.”
In the next verse we have brought before us afresh one of the distinguishing characteristics of folly, on the one hand, and wisdom on the other. That of the former is a proud, high-minded self-sufficiency, which disdains all admonition, deems its own ways and plans ever and certainly the best, and can brook no control. That of the latter is the self-diffident humility that seeks guidance, courts instruction, and is ready to yield to good counsel at the hand of man, and renders entire and implicit submission to the mind and will of God-without which there is nothing that deserves the name of wisdom-“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes; but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.*
- See on Proverbs 3:7 .
Another mark of folly is brought before us in the 16th verse ( Proverbs 3:12 ):-“A fool’s wrath is presently known: but a prudent man covereth shame.” The fool has no proper command of his passions. His self-sufficiency renders him impatient of contradiction-irascible, and headstrong; and he is incapable, from want of the vigour of self-control, of suppressing his anger. He allows it to burst forth in whatever place, time, or circumstances; and no matter in whose presence.-In contradistinction from the touchy and overbearing fool is “the prudent man who covereth shame."-Shame here means any affront. He does not, by his quick and blustering resentment, make it immediately known to all the world that he has been insulted, and that he has felt it. He stifles his passion; restrains the bursting out of wrath; lest he should utter hastily what may put him more to shame than any word or deed of insult from another ever could.-The virtue here commanded is that of self-command.
The following verse-“He that speaketh truth showeth forth righteousness: but a false witness deceit,” needs little comment, as we have had the same subject already under consideration.* We are reminded of the special necessity of truth in witness-bearing in order to the right decision of any cause. Hes who “tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,” subserves the interests of equity; “shows forth righteousness”-contributing as far as lies in him to a just result: while a “false witness” misleads and deceives-drawing judge, and jury, and audience into a wrong train, and producing a false and unrighteous verdict, which acquits the guilty or condemns the innocent.
- See on Proverbs 6:16-19 .
The two following verses are closely connected with the preceding, and with each other:-“There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health. The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment.”
The language of keen irritation, reproach, invective, and scorn, often inflicts wounds on the heart that are deep and hard of cure-wounds “like the piercings of a sword.” This is especially the case, when the words are from the lips of a friend, or of one we love, when heated by sudden passion. The utterance of a moment may embitter the future of a life-time-the remembrance “piercing” the heart of him whose lips the words have escaped, even more severely than that of the object of them.
Wit, too, when not chastened and controlled by an amiable disposition, often wounds deeply, and is as “the piercings of a sword.” Jibes, jests, irony, raillery, and sarcasm, fly about. No matter what the wounds, or where they be inflicted, if the wit be but shown. A happy hit, a clever, biting repartee, will not be suppressed for the sake of the feelings, or even the character of a neighbour, or, as it may happen, a friend. The man of wit must have his joke, cost what it may. The point may be piercing in the extreme; but if it glitters, it is enough; to the heart it will go.-The man of such a character, whose wit is for self-display, to the sacrifice of every feeling but his own, never can be loved. He is feared, hated, avoided. “But the tongue of the wise is health.” It has no keen “piercings.” It composes differences, allays resentments, vindicates character, soothes the sorrowful, comforts the afflicted, cheers the drooping and desponding spirit, promotes peace and concord, justice and piety, personal and social happiness.
In the last verse the value of truth is re-asserted. They whose lips are “the lips of truth” hold a position of preeminent security and peace. With those of a “lying tongue” it is all the reverse-momentary success-final ruin! The verse has been differently rendered:-” The tongue of truth is ever steady: but the tongue of falsehood is so but for a moment,” (Hodgson). There is unvarying consistency in the one case; for truth is always in harmony with itself; while there is shifting evasion, vacillation, self-contradiction, in the other. Truth is ever at once the easiest course and the safest. Cleave then to TRUTH.
Proverbs 12:20-28
LECTURE XXVIII.
“Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil: but to the counsellors of peace is joy. There shall no evil happen to the just: but the wicked shall be tilted with mischief. Lying lips are abomination to the Lord: but they that deal truly are his delight. A prudent man concealeth knowledge: but the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness. The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute. Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad. The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour: but the way of the wicked seduceth them. The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting: but the substance of a diligent man is precious. In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death.”
What is the precise point of the designed antithesis in the first of these verses? I am disposed to think, that the word rendered “deceit,” may be understood as including deceit practised on a man’s self as well as on others; and that here it may have the sense of self-deceit. Eminent translators, accordingly, in exact conformity with this idea, have rendered the word, in its present connexion, disappointment; frustrated hope. Should this rendering be questioned,-the word being generally used for fraud, or mischievous dissimulation and double dealing,-the principle of interpretation is still sufficiently obvious. Those who “imagine evil” dare not avow their designs. Dissimulation and craft are productive of incessant apprehension and anxiety. They necessarily engender self-dissatisfaction and tremor; and that from the very dread of detection, frustration, and consequent evil to themselves, instead of to those against whom they were plotting.-While such is the unhappy condition of the man who “imagines”-that is, who devises evil; who seeks to foment discord; to sow the seeds of dissension, and to encourage their germination and growth till they bear all their bitter fruits-on the other hand, “To the counsellors of peace is joy.”
God is “the God of peace.” Christ is “the prince of peace.” “The fruit of the Spirit is peace.” In harmony with His own character and with the character and ends of the dispensation He was introducing, Jesus pronounces a blessing upon the “maker of peace.”* When the angelic host ushered the new-born Saviour into the world, they proclaimed “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace!” All the exhortations of the divine word accord with this. Peace is the spirit of the Bible. Peace is the very element of the gospel. Peace is the bliss of heaven-” They shall enter into peace." The joy which the “counsellor of peace” possesses, springs from the inward satisfaction of having felt and acted in harmony with the will and the word of God, and with the best interests of men; and from complacency in the blessed results of his counsel and mediation. What a spirit that must be that has pleasure in the opposite! The very pleasure is misery. The very sweet is gall and wormwood.
Verse Proverbs 12:21 . “There shall no evil happen to the just: but the wicked shall be filled with mischief.”
This verse has been variously rendered. The rendering of the English version seems to have as fair a title to preference as any. The difference arises from the word for evil,-like that word itself-signifying either evil done, or evil suffered. Our translators have understood it in the latter sense; and we keep by it.
It will be evident that, in this understanding of the word, the sentiment in the first clause of the verse must be taken, like others, in a general sense. It is a fact in providence that many distresses come upon the righteous, and that, in the ordinary acceptation of terms, and according to the ordinary feelings of mankind, these are evils. They are, in themselves, “not joyous, but grievous.” But viewed in their bearing on the higher department of human interests, the declaration may be considered as of exceptionless universality: the import being, in the terms of Matthew Henry-" The worst troubles shall be overruled for their good." In this sense it can be truly said of “the just”-“All things are theirs.” “The world” is theirs. “Life and death” are theirs. “Things present and things to come,” whether in themselves good or evil, are theirs, for “all things work together for their good.”
On the contrary-" The wicked shall be filled with mischief"-mischief to himself. The expression is strong. But when considered as inclusive not merely of present evils but of final results, what expression can be too strong? What expression can go at all beyond the truth; nay, can ever reach it?*
- Comp. Proverbs 1:31 .
Mark still again, in the next verse, the vileness of falsehood, the excellence of truth; and truth in act as well as in word. The two parts of the verse taken together suggest the remark:-“Lying lips are abomination to the Lord: but they that deal truly are his delight.” Honesty is just truth in conduct; and truth is honesty in words.
Verse Proverbs 12:23 . “A prudent man concealeth knowledge: but the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness.”
“The prudent man,” the man of modest and diffident discretion-“concealeth knowledge.” He is not forward and ostentatious in the display of it. When he does bring it to view, it is on suitable occasions, when it is really required; and in a suitable manner,-not with vain-glorious parade, but with blended self distrust, and a measure of confidence proportioned to the amount of certainty.
There are persons with whom the growth of knowledge is only the increase of food for vanity. Every new acquisition pampers their self-conceit; and, indeed, is sought after, in a great degree, with that view-to gratify self-esteem, and to fit for display. True are the words of Paul, “Knowledge puffeth up:” and the augmentation of it may only puff up the more. This produces a very anomalous and incongruous combination-a mind filled with solid information, and a heart distended with the emptiness of vanity. And this generates the pedant,-one of the most contemptible and disgusting of all characters-the man who is ever showing off; ever aiming at effect; ever speaking as nobody else would speak; ever dwelling on his own themes in his own terms; and in every word, and look, and movement, courting notice to self, as the only object of his own admiration, or worthy of the admiration of others. What a fool even the man of “knowledge” does at times make of himself!-exemplifying the truth of the old quaint adage, “An ounce of mother-wit is worth a pound of clergy.”
Still it is true, that the more extensive the knowledge which a man acquires, he is, generally speaking, the more conscious of remaining ignorance, and consequently the less vain; that it is in the early stages of acquirement that selfsufficiency and conceit are most apparent. It is the empty that are usually the most prone to vain-glory: “The heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness.” The heart desires and dictates the proclamation. The heart is the fountain from which the shallow, noisy, babbling stream of folly is ever welling out. It is the ready indulgence of the heart’s intense propensity to talk that betrays the folly. The fool becomes thus the herald of his own emptiness. “Even a fool, if he hold his peace,” Solomon says elsewhere, “may be counted wise.” But then, alas! to hold his peace is just the difficulty! He will speak; and he cannot speak without making his folly apparent. What is in will be out; and what is in is foolishness. “A fool’s voice is known by the multitude of words”-the words being out of all proportion to the sense. “Yea also, when he who is a fool walketh by the way, his wisdom faileth him, and he saith to every one that he is a fool.”
There is a connexion, brethren, in which the former part of the verse ought to be very cautiously interpreted. I mean, in its relation to divine knowledge-or rather the knowledge of divine truth. Even in regard to the use of that knowledge, there is such a thing as “prudence.” There is such a thing as introducing religion inappropriately, in places and at seasons, when its introduction is likely to do harm rather than good-such a thing as “casting our pearls before swine.” And in many instances has the want of discretion,-the want of a due discrimination of the “time to keep silence” and “the time to speak,"-only produced derision on the part of the enemies of religion, and the blush of shame on the cheek of its friends. And yet the ill-timed mistake of the well-meaning but weak and indiscreet, ought not to be used as a cover and apology, as we fear it too frequently is, for “concealing knowledge”-for refraining from speaking, and for keeping our mind to ourselves, when a legitimate “prudence” does not at all impose silence; and when the real cause of the reserve, although it shelters itself under the protection of such texts as this, is no other than shame-a dastardly shame. O let us beware of this extreme. “A word spoken in season, how good is it!” Forget not that our Master has said-” Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of the Father, with the holy angels," Mark 8:38 .
In the following verse we have, in a fresh form, an oftrepeated maxim-" The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute."
Industry is the way to preferment; sloth to degradation. Sloth makes a man the subject, not the ruler; the tail, not the head; the vassal, not the master; the subjugated, not the conqueror; the bearer of the yoke, not the bearer of the sceptre. Would you rise?-be diligent; would you sink?-be idle. The maxim holds alike in the church and in the world.
Verse Proverbs 12:25 . “Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad.”
The figure here is a natural one, and is common in all languages. The “heaviness” may arise from different causes; from the pressure of severe afflictions, whether personal or relative; from apprehensive fears of threatening calamities; or from distress of conscience under the conviction of sin. Such causes “make the heart stoop.” They weigh it to the dust. On the contrary, in these circumstances,-“a good word maketh it glad.” A “good word” is a word of sympathy and kindness, of encouragement and consolation, spoken in the ear, in the spirit of friendship. Above all, “a good word” is a word from God. O! there is no word so good, so pregnant with consolation and strength, and peace and joy, as “the word that cometh forth from the Lord.” Have not you felt this, my fellow-Christians? When the heaviness of sorrow has been weighing your spirits down, and you have been ready to sink into despondency, if a friend has whispered into your ear one of the sweet and faithful promises of your covenant God, has it not lightened the burden? Has it not lifted the crushing weight from your heavy-laden heart?-brought the smile of peace over your countenance, and the tear of joy to your eye?-What an important and interesting duty then does it become, to impart such “good words and comfortable words” to the downcast and heavy-hearted! It is a delightful designation of our God-" God who comforteth them that are cast down!" And this is one of the characters in which we should seek to resemble Him;-to “visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction;” and “to comfort them who are in any trouble with the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.”
For sinners convinced of sin, and oppressed with conscious guilt and fear-O how good the word of the truth of the gospel! It is the only word that can relieve and lighten it. Many an oppressed and agitated spirit has it set at rest. There are in this book of God, indeed, words that may well make the hearts of sinners “heavy”-words of solemn import-of fearful denunciation. O that we but saw them “stooping” under this “heaviness;” sensible of sin, feeling the hand of a righteous and holy God upon them; conscious of the justice of his condemning sentence and trembling in the apprehension of its execution! Then should we be sure of a ready entrance to the “good word” that tells of mercy for the chief of sinners through a divine Saviour;-the word that stilled the trembling spirits of the convicted murderers of “the Prince of life;” that sent the eunuch of Ethiopia on his way rejoicing; that filled with gladness the alarmed jailer at Philippi-giving a satisfactory answer to his question of agitation and dread-“What must I do to be saved?”-“the word of reconciliation “-” the faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” O listen, listen to the “good word” that came from the lips of Him who spake as never man spake-" Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."* Surely, when he uttered these words, the prediction of the prophet was fulfilled, in which Messiah is introduced as saying-" The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary!" Isaiah 50:4 .
Verse Proverbs 12:26 . “The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour: but the way of the wicked seduceth them.”
The word rendered “excellent” is on the margin translated “abundant.” And although it is a truth that in regard to character, in all its principles and their practical results, “the righteous is more excellent than his neighbour;” yet such a statement is almost a truism. Taking the word as referring to possessions and prospects, as meaning that the righteous excels his neighbour, or men in general around him, in his lot as to happiness and hope-blessings in enjoyment and blessings in anticipation-it then becomes a statement of very great importance. It presents an inducement to the godly to “hold fast their profession,” and an inducement to others to join their society, and cast in their lot with them. “The righteous” may belong to the lowest grade in the community of this world; for “to the poor the gospel is preached.” But even the poorest of the people of God has a lot that may well be envied by the wealthiest and the noblest of the sons of earth. When we view them as the possessors, in the promises of God, and in the experience of their own hearts, of “all spiritual blessings,"-rich in faith and rich by faith, and the heirs of an everlasting and celestial inheritance, of a crown and a kingdom above,-we feel the truth of the position.
The wicked themselves are convinced of it. But, as Solomon here adds-” the way of the wicked seduceth them." Their way is the way of sin-" the course of this world." By this their way they are beguiled. There is something tempting in it always before them, by which they are lured forward. The pleasures of sin-the fascinations of the world-its riches, its honours, its company, its amusements, its present gratifications, its promises for to-morrow-all work upon, and “seduce” them.*
- Comp. Proverbs 1:31-32 .
Another graphic description follows of the effects of sloth:-verse Proverbs 12:27 . “The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting: but the substance of a diligent man is precious.”
Even the sluggard, roused by particular circumstances, will at times make an effort; but having made it, he relapses into his habit of indolence, and the effort is rendered nugatory. He goes out a hunting; he catches prey; he brings it home. But he lets it lie, from sheer laziness, till it becomes useless. His labour is lost. “But the substance of a diligent man is precious.” He turns his “substance” to good account. “What he gains becomes, in his hands, by the use he makes of it, “precious,” as the means of further increase. And his substance becomes “precious” to others as well as to himself. It is industriously, profitably, benevolently used. In this lies the true value, the real “preciousness,” of a man’s substance;-not in the acquisition, but in the use.
“We have had the sentiment of the 28th verse ( Proverbs 12:28 ) repeatedly before us:-” In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death."-The words have no meaning, unless they be understood as implying, and having reference to, a future state. In one sense, you are all aware, there is death to the righteous as well as to the wicked. “Wise men die” as well as “the fool and the brutish person.” But “the righteous” are in possession of spiritual life-a life which never dies-a life which the death that dissolves for a time the union of soul and body cannot injure, but only advances to perfection, setting the living and happy spirit at liberty in “the beauty of holiness,” and meetness for the life of heaven.
And thus, in regard to them, even now all that is tormenting in the fear of death-of the first or of the second death-the second imparting its terrors to the first,-is taken away; so that “in the pathway of righteousness there is no death.”
That “pathway,” remember, begins at CALVARY; and your entrance on it must begin with faith in HIM who died there. You must start in it from the Cross. THERE ARE A THOUSAND PATHS TO HELL; ONE ONLY TO HEAVEN. “Enter ye in at the strait gate-strait is the gate and narrow the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”
In giving you such counsel we are, in the highest sense, “counsellors of peace.” We are seeking your peace, present and future-your peace for time, and your peace for eternity; your peace with God, your peace with yourselves; peace of conscience, peace of heart, peace on earth, and peace in heaven! Let us have joy of you in the Lord! If any poor wanderer shall be prevailed upon by what has been said to flee from the paths of sin and ungodliness and the world, and to choose henceforth “the way of life”-“my heart shall rejoice, even mine.” That joy shall be shared by all who have experienced the happiness and the hope of true religion,-and by the spirits of the just and the angels of light above:-for “there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth.”