American Standard Version Proverbs 24

Proverbs 24:1-34
EXPOSITION
Pro_24:1
We return here to the more usual form, the tetrastich. Be not thou envious against evil men (see on Pro_23:17, where a similar warning is given, and comp. Pro_23:19 below). “Men of wickedness,” wholly given over to evil. Neither desire to be with them. Their company is pollution, and association with them makes you a partner in their sinful doings. The Septuagint prefaces the paragraph with the personal address, υἱέ “son.”
Pro_24:2
For their heart studieth destruction. The grounds of the warning arc here given, as in Pro_1:15. “Destruction” (shod); Vulgate, rapinas, “violence” of all kinds, e.g. robbery, murder. Their lips talk of mischief; utter lies and slanders which may injure other people or bring themselves profit. Admiration of such men and intercourse with them must be repugnant to every religious soul. The LXX. refers the verse to evil imaginations issuing in evil talk; “For their heart meditates falsehoods, and their lips speak mischiefs (πόνους).”
Pro_24:3, Pro_24:4
In contrast with the conversation of the evil, wisdom is commended.
Pro_24:3
Through wisdom is an house builded (see on Pro_14:1). By prudence, probity, and the fear of God a family is supported and blessed, maintained and prospered. Established (see on Pro_3:19); Septuagint, ἀνορθοῦται
Pro_24:4
(Comp. Pro_1:13 and note Pro_3:10.) With all precious and pleasant (Pro_22:18) riches. Material prosperity, copious store of necessaries, and wealth, follow on wisdom; how much more do spiritual blessings attend the fear of God!
Pro_24:5, Pro_24:6
Wisdom is beneficial in peace and war.
Pro_24:5
A wise man is strong. בעוז, “in strength,” full of strength, because, however feeble in body, he is wise in counsel, firm in purpose, brave in conduct, thoroughly to be depended upon, and supported by his perfect trust in God (comp. Pro_21:22). The Septuagint, with which agree the Syriac and Chaldee, reading differently, renders, “A wise man is better than a strong man”—a sentiment which Lesetre compares to Cicoro’s “cedant arma togae.” A man of knowledge increaseth strength; literally, strengtheneth power; shows greater, superior power, as Amo_2:14. The Septuagint, from some corruption of the text, renders, “And a man having prudence (is better) than a large estate (γεωργίου μεγάλου);” i.e. wisdom will bring a man more worldly advantages than the possession of extensive farms. The gnome is proved by what follows.
Pro_24:6
Thy war; war for thyself, for thy profit, equivalent to “successful war” (comp. Exo_14:14). The clause is an echo of Pro_20:18 (where see note). The last line is a repetition of Pro_11:14 (comp. also Pro_15:22). Septuagint, “War is made with generalship (κυβερνήσεως), and help with a heart that counsels.”
Pro_24:7-10
Some distichs now follow, concerned with wisdom and its opposite.
Pro_24:7
Wisdom is too high for a fool. It is beyond his reach, he cannot follow its lead, and has nothing to say when his counsel is asked, and no ability to judge of any question presented to him. “Wisdom” (chochmoth) is in the plural number, intimating the various attributes connoted by it, or the different aspects in which it may be regarded (see note on Pro_1:20). “Too high” (ראמוֹת, ramoth) is also plural; and Delitzsch and Nowack take it to mean, not so much “high things” as “precious things,” such as pearls or precious stones, in accordance with Job_28:18, “No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal; yea,. the price of wisdom is above rubies.” In this sense Delitzsch translates, “Wisdom seems to the fool to be an ornamental commodity,” a costly and unnecessary appendage, which is not worth the sacrifices entailed by its pursuit. Whichever way we take it, the point is the rarity and inaccessibility of wisdom, and the repugnance of fools to make any exertion in order to obtain it. St. Augustine thus sums up the steps by which wisdom is reached: fear of God, piety, knowledge, fortitude, mercifulness, sincerity (’De Doctr. Christ.,’ 2.7). He openeth not him month in the gate. When men gather in the usual place of assembly (Pro_8:3; Pro_22:2), to take counsel on public matters, he has nothing to say; he listens fatuously, and is silent. Septuagint, “Wisdom and good thought are in the gates of the wise; the wise turn not aside from the mouth of the Lord, but reason in assemblies.”
Pro_24:8
He that deviseth to do evil. He who shows a certain kind of misapplied cleverness (in contrast to the true wisdom) in planning and pursuing evil schemes. Shall be called. Defined and explained, as Pro_16:21 (comp. Pro_21:24). A mischievous person; literally, lord of mischief; i.e. owner, possessor of mischief. One must not be led by such a man’s apparent astuteness to attribute; to him wisdom; he is an impostor, a mere intriguer, who is sure to be exposed ere long. Septuagint, “Death befalls the undisciplined.”
Pro_24:9
The thought of foolishness is sin. “Sin” is the subject in this clause as “the scorner” is in the next; and what it says is that sin is the exeogitation, the contriving of folly. The stoner is the real fool, m that he does not pursue his proper end, prepares misery for himself, is blind to his best interests. The connection between sin and folly, as between wisdom and righteousness, is continually enforced throughout the book. The scorner is an abomination to men. The man who scoffs at religion and every high aim is an object of abomination to the pious, and is also a cause of evil to others, leading them to thoughts and acts which are hateful in the eyes of God. Septuagint, “The fool dieth in sins (Joh_8:24), and uncleanness belongeth to a pestilent man.” The text here followed, as in other passages of this chapter, is quite different from the received one.
Pro_24:10
If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small. The gnome seems to be unconnected with the preceding. There is a paronomasia between צָרָה (tsarah), “adversity,” and צַר (tsar), “small,” narrow, which is retained by Fleischer: “Si segnis fueris die angustiae, angustae sunt vires tuae.” So we may say in English, “If thou faint in time of straitness, straitened is thy strength.” If you fail, and succumb to anxiety or danger, instead of rising to meet the emergency, then you are but a weakling or a coward, and the strength which you seemed to possess and of which you boasted, perhaps, is nothing worth. Such a man hearkens not to the Sibyl’s counsel (Virgil, ’AEneid,’ 6.95) ―
“Tu ne cede malis, sed contra audentior ito,
Quam tua te fortuna sinet.”
The LXX. again varies from the received text, “He shall be polluted in an evil day, and in a day of affliction, until he fail,” or “die” (ἐκλίπῃ).
Pro_24:11, Pro_24:12
A hexastich, inculcating humanity on the ground of God’s omniscience.
Pro_24:11
If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death. The sentence is not conditional, אם in the second line being equivalent to לוּ, utinam, “oh that!” “would that!” So the first hemistich should be rendered, “Deliver them that are haled to death,” and the second, “And those that are tottering to slaughter, oh, hold them back!” The sentence is somewhat obscure, but Cheyne well explains it thus: “Some victims of a miscarriage of justice are about to be dragged away to execution, and the disciple of wisdom is exhorted to use his endeavours to deliver them” (’Job and Solomon’). In the case supposed a moral obligation lies on the pious and well-informed to save a human life unjustly imperilled. At the same time, there is nothing in the passage which absolutely, shows that the punishment of the guiltless is here deprecated; it looks rather as if Wisdom had no pleasure in the death of men, innocent or not, and that the victims of an extreme sentence claimed pity at her hands, whatever might be the circumstances of the verdict. Septuagint, “Deliver those that are being led away to death, and redeem (ἐκπρίου) those that are appointed to be slain; spare not (to help them)” (comp. Psa_82:3, Psa_82:4).
Pro_24:12
If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not. The disciple of Wisdom may excuse himself from making any effort for the prisoners’ release, by saying he had not heard of the case. St. Jerome makes the excuse to be inability, vires non suppetunt. The LXX. makes it a personal matter, ignoring the plural form of the previous paragraph. “I know him not, he is no friend of mine; why should I trouble myself about him?” Such a selfish person, like the priest and Levite in the parable, would “pass by on the other side.” Doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? God knows the truth—knows that the excuse is vain; for he is the Weigher and Searcher of hearts (Pro_16:2; Pro_21:2). Cain’s plea, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” is unavailable; the law of love is limited by no circumstances. He that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? The expression, “keeping the soul,” may be equivalent to “preserving the life;” but it more probably means watching, observing, the inmost secrets of the nature (Job_7:20). The verb used is נָצַר (natsar), which has both significations. The sense of “forming.” which some give it, seems not allowable. (For “heart” (leb) and “soul” (nephesh), see note on Pro_2:10.) Shall not he render to every man according to his works? Knowing the heart and the motive, God deals out retributive justice (Pro_12:14; Psa_62:12; Rom_2:6). Septuagint, “But if thou say, I know not this man, know that the Lord knoweth the hearts of air; and he who formed (πλάσας) breath for all, himself knoweth all things, who rendereth to every man according to his works.”
Pro_24:13, Pro_24:14
An exhortation to the study of wisdom, with an analogy.
Pro_24:13
Eat thou honey, because it is good. Honey entered largely into the diet of the Oriental, and was regarded not only as pleasant to the taste and nutritious, but also as possessed of healing powers. It was especially used for children’s food (Isa_7:15), and thus becomes an emblem of the purest wisdom. “I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey,” says the lover in So
Pro_5:1; and the psalmist says that the ordinances of the Lord are “sweeter than honey and the honeycomb” (Psa_19:10; see on Pro_25:16). Palestine was a land flowing with milk and honey (Exo_3:8); hence is derived the continual reference to this article of diet in the Bible.
Pro_24:14
So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul; better, know, apprehend wisdom to be such for thy soul—to be as pleasant and nourishing and profitable to thy soul, as honey is to thy taste and thy body. The moralist would have his disciple feel the same relish for wisdom that he has for sweet food, recognize it not simply as.useful, but as delightful and enjoyable. When thou hast found it. To find wisdom is to get possession of it and use it (comp. Pro_3:13, and note there). Then there shall be a reward. The apodosis begins here. We have had the same assurance in Pro_23:18 (where see note). The word is literally future. One who has obtained wisdom has a glorious hope before him; habebis in novissimis spem, Vulgate; but his hope is better than that—it goes with him, not in his last hour only, but all his life long. Septuagint, “Then shalt thou perceive wisdom in thy soul; for if thou find it, fair shall be thine end, and hope shall not fail thee.”
Pro_24:15, Pro_24:16
A warning against plotting for the ruin of a good man’s house, with a view doubtless of profiting by the disaster.
Pro_24:15
Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous. רָשָׁע (rasha) is vocative (comp. Eze_33:8); taken appositionally, as in Revised Version margin, “as a wicked man,” it is senseless; for how could he lay wait in any other character? Spoil not his resting-place. “Spoil,” as Pro_19:26 (where see note). Drive him not from his house by violence and chicanery. Vulgate, “Seek not impiety in the house of the righteous;” do not attempt to cloak your insidious designs by detecting some evil in the good man, and making yourself the instrument of retribution, as if you were doing God service in afflicting him (Joh_16:2). Septuagint, “Bring not an ungodly man into the pasture (νομῇ) of the righteous, neither be thou deceived by the feasting of the belly.”
Pro_24:16
A just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again. The fall may be taken of sin or of calamity. Preachers, ancient and modern, have made much use of this text in the first sense, expatiating how a good man may fall into venial or more serious sins, but he never loses his love of God, and rises from his fall by repentance on every occasion. We also often find the words in die, “a day,” added, which indeed occur in some manuscripts, but are not in the original. But the verb naphal seems not to be used in the sense of “falling” morally; and the meaning here is that the just man frequently falls into trouble,—he is not secure against worldly cares and losses, or the insidious attacks of the man mentioned in Pro_24:15; but he never loses his trust in God or offends by fretfulness and impatience, and always God’s providence watches over him and delivers him out of all his afflictions. “Seven times” means merely often, that number being used to express plurality or completeness (see on Pro_6:31; Pro_26:16; and comp. Gen_4:24; Job_5:19 (which is like our passage); and Mat_18:22). The expectation which the sinner conceived when he saw the good man distressed, that he might seize the opportunity and use it to his own benefit, is woefully disappointed. In contrast with the recovery and reestablishment of the righteous, when the wicked suffer calamity there is no recuperation for them. The wicked shall fall into mischief; Revised Version better, are overthrown by calamity (comp. Pro_14:32, and note there). Septuagint,” But the ungodly shall be weak in evils.”
Pro_24:17, Pro_24:18
A warning against vindictiveness, nearly approaching the great Christian maxim, “Love your enemies” (Mat_5:44).
Pro_24:17
Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth. “Thou shalt love thy neighbour” was a Mosaic precept (Le Pro_19:18); the addition, “and hate thine enemy,” was a Pharisaic gloss, arising from a misconception concerning the extermination of the Canaanites, which, indeed, had a special cause and purpose, and was not a precedent for the treatment of all aliens (see Pro_25:21, Pro_25:22). When he stumbleth; rather, when he is overthrown. The maxim refers to private enemies. The overthrow of public enemies was often celebrated with festal rejoicing. Thus we have the triumph of Moses at the defeat of the Amalekites, and over Pharaoh’s host at the Red Sea; of Deborah and Barak over Sisera (Exo_15:1-27; Exo_17:15; Jdg_5:1-31); and the psalmist, exulting over the destruction of his country’s foes, could say, “The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance; he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked” (Psa_58:10). But private revenge and vindictiveness are warmly censured and repudiated. So Cato, ’Distich.’ 4.46—
“Morte repentina noli gaudere malorum;
Felicesobeunt quorum sine crimine vita est.”
Of very different tone is the Italian proverb, “Revenge is a morsel for God;” and “Wait time and place to act thy revenge, for it is never well done in a hurry” (Trench).
Pro_24:18
Lest the Lord see it, and it displease him. This malignant pleasure at others’ misfortunes (which Aristotle, ’Eth. Nic.,’ 2.7. 15, calls ἐπιχαιρεκακία) is a sin in the eyes of God, and calls for punishment. And he turn away his wrath from him; and, as is implied, direct it upon thee. But it seems a mean motive to adduce, if the maxim is taken baldly to mean, “Do not rejoice at your enemy’s calamity, lest God relieve him from the evil:” for true charity would wish for such a result. Bode considers “his wrath” to be the enemy’s ill will against thee, which God by his grace changes to love, and thou art thus covered with confusion and shame for thy former vindictiveness. But the point is not so much the removal of God’s displeasure from the enemy as the punishment of tile malignant man, either mentally or materially. To a malignant mind no severer blow could be given than to see a foe recover God’s favor and rise from his fall. The moralist then warns the disciple against giving way to this ἐπιχαιρεκακία lest he prepare for himself bitter mortification by having to witness the restoration of the hated one, or by being himself made to suffer that evil which he had rejoiced to see his neighbour experience (comp. Pro_17:5, and note there).
Pro_24:19, Pro_24:20
A warning against envying the prosperity of the wicked.
Pro_24:19
Fret not thyself because of evil men (comp. Pro_24:1 and Psa_37:1). The verb (charah) means “to burn,” “to be angry;” so here we may render, “Be not enraged on account of evil doers.” The anger would arise on account of the apparent inequitable distribution of blessings. St. Jerome has, Ne contendas cum pessimis; Septuagint, “Rejoice not over (ἐπὶ) evildoers.” Neither be thou envious at the wicked; i.e. do not fancy that their prosperity is to be desired, nor be led to imitate their doings in order to secure like success. The new verse shows the solemn reason for this warning.
Pro_24:20
For there shall be no reward to the evil man. He has no happy “future” to expect, as Pro_24:14; Pro_22:18 (where see note). The candle, etc. (see Pro_13:9, where the clause appears). Septuagint, “For the evil man shall have no posterity, and the torch of the wicked shall be quenched.”
Pro_24:21, Pro_24:22
An injunction urging loyalty to God and the king.
Pro_24:21
Fear thou the Lord and the king. The king is God’s vicegerent and representative, and therefore to be honoured and obeyed (see Ecc_8:2; Ecc_10:20; 1Pe_2:17). Meddle not with them that are given to change. There is some doubt about the intepretation of the last word שׁוֹנִים (shonim), which may mean those who change, innovators (in which transitive sense the verb does not elsewhere occur), or those who think differently, dissidents, who respect neither God nor the king. The verb שָׁנָה signifies transitively “to repeat,” and intransitively “to be changed;” so it may be most accurately translated here, with Delitzsch, “those who are otherwise disposed,” who have not the proper sentiments of fear and honour for God and the king. St. Jerome has, Et cum detractoribus non commiscearis, by which word he probably means what we call revolutionists, persons who disparage and despise all authority. Septuagint, “Fear God and the king, and disobey neither of them.” The verse has been largely used as a text by preachers who desired to recommend loyalty and to censure disaffection and rebellion. It has been a favourite motto for discourses on the Gunpowder Treason and the execution of Charles I.
Pro_24:22
For their calamity shall rise suddenly. Though these dissidents seem to succeed for a time, yet retribution shall fall suddenly upon them. And who knoweth the ruin of them both? This seems to mean the two classes, those who dishonour God and those who dishonour the king; but no such distinction is made in the previous verse; the rebels are classed under one category. Wordsworth renders, “the stroke of vengeance from them both,” i.e. from God and the king. Otherwise, we must give another signification to שׁניהם, and, with the Syriac and many modern commentators, take it in the sense of “years,” which שְׁנֵיהֶם will bear, as Job_36:11, and translate, “The destruction [equivalent to ’end’] of their years, who knoweth?” No one can tell when the crisis of their fate shall come; but it will arrive some day, and then the time of their prosperity will be at an end. Septuagint, “For they (God and the king) will suddenly punish the ungodly; and who shall know the vengeance of both (τὰς τιμωρίας ἀμφοτέρων)?” After this the LXX. inserts three proverbs not found now in the Hebrew, which, however, Ewald considers to have been translated from a Hebrew original: “A son that keepeth the commandment shall be safe from destruction (Pro_29:27, Vulgate), and he hath fully received it (the word). Let no lie be spoken by the tongue of the king; and no he shall proceed from his tongue. The king’s tongue is a sword, and not of flesh; and whosoever shall be delivered unto it shall be destroyed; for if his anger be inflamed, he consumes men with their nerves, and devours men’s
bones, and burns them up as a flame, so that they are not food for the young eagles.” The allusion at the end is to animals killed by lightning. Here follows the series of proverbs (Pro_30:1-14) called in the Hebrew, “The words of Agur.” The second part of “the words of Agur,” and “the words of Lemuel” (Pr 30:15-31:9) follow in the Greek after Pro_24:34 of the Hebrew. Delitzsch explains the matter thus: In the copy from which the Alexandrines translated, the appendix (Pr 30-31:9) was divided into two parts, half of it standing after “the words of the wise” (Pr 22:17-24:22), and half after the supplement containing further sayings of wise men (Pro_24:23-34).
Pro_24:23-34
Part V. A SECOND COLLECTION, forming a second supplement to the first Solomonic book, and containing further “words of the wise.”
Pro_24:23-25
Partiality and impartiality a hexastich.
Pro_24:23
These things also belong to the wise; are the sayings of wise men. The following proverbs, as well as the preceding, are derived from wise men. Mistaking this superscription, the LXX. makes it a personal address: “This I say to you who are wise, so that ye may learn.” The first line is not a proverb, but the introduction to the ensuing collection. It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment (see Pro_18:5, and note there; and Pro_28:21, where the expression is the same as here). To regard one person before another is to be partial and unjust. To say this error is “not good” is a meiosis, the meaning being that it is very evil and sinful (comp. Pro_20:23). The statement is developed and confirmed in the next two verses, which show the results of partiality and its opposite.
Pro_24:24
He that saith unto the wicked, Thou art righteous. The judge is supposed to be acquitting a guilty person. Him shall the people curse. The Hebrew is “peoples,” as Septuagint and Vulgate, maledicient eis populi. Nations shall abhor him. Not individuals, nor families only, but the whole community, wherever such an iniquitous ruler is found, shall execrate and hate him. The voice of the people is universally against him; no one is so blind and degraded as openly to applaud his nets. The verb nakab, “to curse,” means primarily “to bore or pierce;” hence some have translated it here, “him shall the peoples stab.” But the word is used in the sense of distinguishing by a mark or brand, and thence passes into the sense of cursing, as at Pro_11:26; Le Pro_24:11; Job_3:8. In Pro_17:15 the unjust judge is called an abomination to the Lord. In this case the vox populi is vox Dei.
Pro_24:25
But to them that rebuke him shall be delight (see on Pro_2:10). They who punish the wicked, with them it is well; they are approved by God and applauded by the people. Vulgate, Qui aruunt cum laudabuntur, “They who convict him shall be praised.” And a good blessing shall come upon them; literally, a blessing of good—one that has in it all good things, the happy contrast to the curses which meet the unjust judge. Septuagint, “But they that convict them (the guilty) shall appear more excellent, and upon them shall come blessing.”
Pro_24:26
A distich connected with the subject of the preceding paragraph. Every man shall kiss his lips that giveth a right answer; or better, he kisseth the lips who giveth a right answer. An answer that is fair and suitable to the circumstances is as pleasant and assuring to the bearers as a kiss on the lips. Such a salutation would be a natural sign of sympathy and affection. Thus Absalom won the hearts of the people by kissing those who came to court with their suits (2Sa_15:5). In Gen_41:40, where the Authorized Version has, “According to thy word shall all my people be ruled,” the Hebrew runs, “Thy mouth shall all my people kiss,” i.e. they shall do homage to thee, which is another signification of this action. This, however, would not be suitable here, as the kiss is supposed to be given by the speaker, though the LXX. mistakenly translates, “But men will kiss lips that answer good words.”
Pro_24:27
Prepare thy work without. The proverb enjoins a man to look well to his resources before he undertakes to build a house or to establish a family. “Without” (chuts) (Pro_7:12; Pro_8:26); in the fields. Put in due order all immediate work in thy farm. And make it fit for thyself in the field; and get ready for what has to come next. That is, in short, steadily and with due foresight cultivate your land; provide abundant means of subsistence before you attempt to build up your house. A suitor had, as it were, to purchase his bride from her relations by making considerable presents; it was therefore necessary to provide a certain amount of wealth before contemplating matrimony. And afterwards build thy house. This is, indeed, the meaning of the passage; but the Hebrew makes a difficulty, as it is literally, “afterwards and thou shalt build.” Some have supposed that some words have dropped out of the text (Cheyne, ’Job and Solomon’). But vav in וּבָנִיתָ, coming after a date or notification of time, as here after אַהַר (comp. Gen_3:5), “has the future signification of a perfect consecutive” (Delitzsch), equivalent to “after that, then, thou mayest build.” Septuagint, “Prepare thy works for thy going forth (εἰς τη,ν ἔξοδον), and get ready for the field, and come after me, and thou shalt build up thine house.” In a spiritual sense, the heart must be first cleared of thorns, and opened to genial influences, before the man can build up the fabric of virtuous habits, and thus arrive at the virtuous character.
Pro_24:28
Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause (chinnam); gratuitously (Pro_3:30; Pro_23:29; Pro_26:2), when you are not obliged in the performance of a plain duty. Persons are not to put themselves forward to give testimony to a neighbour’s discredit, either officiously as busybodies, or maliciously as slanderers. The maxim is expressed in general terms and is not to be confined to one category, as the Syriac and Septuagint render, “Be not a false witness against thy fellow citizen.” And deceive not with thy lips. The Hebrew is really interrogative, “And wouldest thou deceive with thy lips?” (Psa_78:36). The deceit is not so much intentional falsehood as misrepresentation arising from haste and inconsiderateness consequent on this unnecessary eagerness to push forward testimony unsought. Septuagint, “Neither exaggerate (πλατύνου) with thy lips.”
Pro_24:29
The subject is still continued, as if the moralist would say, “Though a man has done you an injury by gratuitously testifying against you, do not you retaliate in the same way.” Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me (see Pro_20:22, and note there). The lex talionis should not be applied to private wrongs. The high morality of the Christian code is here anticipated, the Holy Spirit guiding both.
Pro_24:30-34
A mashal ode concerning the sluggard (for similar odes, comp. Pro_7:1-27 :41-23; Job_5:3-5; Psa_37:35, etc.; Isa_5:1-6).
Pro_24:30
The field … the vineyard; the two chief objects of the farmer’s care, which need constant labour if they are to prove productive. Moralizing on this passage, St. Gregory (’Moral.,’ 20.54) says, “To pass by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding, is to look into the life of any careless liver, and to take a view of his deeds.”
Pro_24:31
Thorns. Kimmashon is the word here used, but the plant has not been certainly identified (comp. Isa_34:13). Nettles (charul). The stinging nettle is quite common in Palestine, but the plant here meant is probably the prickly acanthus, which quickly covers any spot left uncultivated (Job_30:7). Revised Version margin suggests wild vetches. Ovid, ’Trist.,’ 5.12. 21—
“Adde, quod ingenium louga rubigine laesum
Torpet, et est multo, quam fuitante, minus.
Fertilis, assiduo si non renovetur aratro,
Nil, nisicum spinis gramen, habebit ager.”
So spiritual writers have used this apologue as teaching a lesson concerning the soul and the life of man, how that spiritual sloth allows the growth of evil habits, and the carelessness which maintains not the defence of law and prayer, but admits the enemy, and the result is the loss of the true riches and the perishing of the heavenly life. The two verses are thus rendered, or morally applied, in the Septuagint: “A foolish man is as a farm. and a man wanting in sense is as a vineyard; if you leave him, he will be barren, and will be altogether covered with weeds, and he will become deserted, and his fences of stone are broken down.”
Pro_24:32
Then I saw, and considered it well (Pro_22:17). I looked in this sight, and let it sink into my mind. I looked upon it, and received instruction (Pro_8:10). I learned a lesson from what I saw.
Pro_24:33, Pro_24:34
These verses are a repetition, with very slight variations, of Pro_6:10, Pro_6:11 (where see notes), and possibly have been introduced here by a later editor. Pro_6:33 seems to be the sluggard’s own words; Pro_6:34 shows the result of his sloth. There are numberless proverbs dedicated to this subject in all languages; e.g. “No sweat, no sweet;” “No pains, no gains; …. He that wad eat the kernel maun crack the nut;” “A punadas entran las buenas hadas,” “Good luck enters by dint of cuffs” (Spanish); “Nihil agendo male agere discimus; … . The dog in the kennel,” say the Chinese. “barks at his fleas; the dog that hunts does not feel them” (Kelly). “Sloth and much sleep,” say the Arabs, “remove from God and bring on poverty.” The LXX. is somewhat dramatic in its rendering: “Afterwards I repented (μετενόησα), I looked that I might receive instruction. ’I slumber a little, I sleep a little, for a little I clasp (ἐναγκαλίζομαι) my hands across my breast.’ But if thou do this, thy poverty will come advancing, and thy want like a good runner (ἀγαθὸς δρομεύς)” The word ἐναγκαλίζομαι occurs in Pro_6:10, but nowhere else in the Septuagint. It is used by St. Mark. It has been thought that the original mashal ended with Verse 32, the following passage being added by a scribe as illustrative in a marginal note, which afterwards crept into the text.
HOMILETICS
Pro_24:9
Sin and folly
However these words are read, they point to an association of sin and folly. This may be regarded from two points of view, according as we start with the thought of the sin or with that of the folly.
I. SIN IMPLIES FOLLY.

1. It chooses the worse of two courses. Thus it blunders into self-injury. Evil is not only culpable in the sight of God; it is hurtful to the evil doer. Its path is dark, degraded, disappointing. It is foolish to turn from the way of light and honour and satisfaction to such a course.
2. It is short-sighted. In choosing a way one should look to the end of it. It is madness for the belated traveller to turn aside to the grassy path when the rough, stony road would take him home, and he knows not whither the pleasanter way will lead him. “The wages of sin is death;” it is, then, nothing but folly to work for the master without considering his direful payment.
3. It perverts the thoughts. Sin involves folly, and it also leads to greater folly. Many sins directly poison and paralyze the intellectual faculties. All sins confuse the lines of right and truth. Thus the man who lives in sin is minding his eyes to the greatest facts. To know of the doctrine we must do the commandment (Joh_7:17). The wilful sinner obscures the doctrine by breaking the commandment.
   II. FOLLY ISSUES IN SIN. We now look at the conjunction from the opposite point of view. We start with the folly. This is to be regarded as a seed of sin. It is true that sin is primarily concerned with the moral nature. A man cannot really sin altogether in ignorance, because if he does not know that he is doing a wrong thing, to him the thing is not wrong. But, on the other hand, there is a culpable ignorance, arising from carelessness, disregard for truth, moral obliquity. Now, as sin is at the root of that ignorance, so the ignorance may, in such a case, serve as a link m the miserable chain of consequences that drags new sins into existence. These facts should lead us to certain practical conclusions.
4. It is our duty to seek the light that we may avoid sin. Truth is not merely given as a luxury, it is, first of an, a beacon light. It is to guide us over the wilderness in the right way.
5. The teaching of children is a moral and religious duty. The advantages of education are usually discussed from a utilitarian standpoint. But the chief advantage is that it should open the eyes of children to the wisdom of doing right and to the folly of wickedness. Many poor children grow up among scenes of vice and crime without having an opportunity of knowing of a better way. The Christian Church is called to be a light in the world, leading from sin, not forcibly, but by showing the clear wisdom of goodness, as well as its moral obligation.
   Pro_24:10
   Fainting in the day of adversity
   I. STRENGTH IS TESTED BY THE DAY OF ADVERSITY.
6. The day of adversity will come. All have not an equally painful lot. It is only the pessimist who refuses to admit that God sends a happy life to some; and if the lines have fallen in pleasant places, nothing but ingratitude or sentimentality will deny the fact. Nevertheless, the dark day of adversity will rise on every soul of man. It cannot be eluded, though in youth and health the spirit refuses to anticipate it. It is well to be prepared to meet it.
7. Strength is wanted for the day of adversity. This will be a time of assault, strain, pressure. The soul will then be besieged, buffeted, and in danger of being crushed. Therefore there is need of sufficient strength, not only for prosperous times, but for this harder occasion. The lighthouse must not only be strong enough to stand in calm weather; it should be able to resist the battering rams of the tempest. The ship must be built for the storm. The army that can look smart in a review is useless if it goes to pieces on the field of battle. The model navy is an extravagant ornament if it will not serve us in action. The lamp is useless if it goes out in the hour of darkness. Religion is for the time of trial and temptation. The spiritual life needs to be strong enough to hold on through terror, temptation, and trouble; or it is a delusion.
8. Faulty strength will fail in the day of adversity. Trouble is trial. The season of affliction will assuredly be severe enough to prove our strength. It is vain for any one to live on empty beasts and idle pretences. The hollowness of such folly will be exposed at the fatal moment. The soft-metal sword will certainly double up in the battle and bring disaster on its unhappy owner.
   II. FAITH AND COURAGE WILL GIVE STRENGTH IN THE DAY OF ADVERSITY.
9. To faint in the day of adversity is to make one’s strength small. Such a collapse will undermine one’s energy. The coward is always weak. To fear is to fail. But courage inspires strength, and he who is able to keep up a brave heart in the day of adversity is most likely to conquer. Few men have been called upon to endure such hardships and to face such perils as Livingstone, alone in the heart of Africa. Now, Livingstone was characterized by a wonderful buoyancy of temperament, by high spirits and unfailing cheerfulness. Nelson is said not to have known fear. Gordon was as ready to face death as to go to his daily duty. No doubt such heroic courage is largely due to the natural greatness of the men who possessed it But it is not independent of moral qualities. For:
10. The secret of the highest courage is faith. He who trusts God is armed with the might of God. This is higher than natural strength, because “even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isa_40:30, Isa_40:31). Thus there is a strength that is perfected in weakness (2Co_12:9).
11. Therefore we have no excuse to faint in the day of adversity. With such stores of strength for the weakest, failure is culpable, Note: We are not to blame for meeting with adversity—we cannot escape it; nor for suffering under it—this is natural; but only for fainting, i.e. for collapse and despair. Yet even this may not mean utter failure. We may still have some strength, though it be sickly and fast ebbing away. Like Gideon’s heroes, we may be “faint, yet pursuing” (Jdg_8:4).
    Pro_24:11, Pro_24:12
    Culpable negligence
    Following the Revised Version and the now generally accepted rendering of these verses, we will read the first as an exhortation to deliver men from death, and the second as a warning against neglecting this duty.
    I. THE EXHORTATION. “Deliver them that are carried away unto death, and those that are ready to be slain see that thou hold back.” Note first the grounds, and then the application, of this exhortation.
12. The grounds of it.
    (1) It springs from human need. Men are in danger in war, famine, poverty, disease, sin. The world cannot go on without mutual assistance. The selfish policy of sauve qui peut would be fatal to society.
    (2) It is based on human brotherhood. God has made all men of one blood (Act_17:26). Our fellow creatures of the animal world have claims upon us; for, like us, they are sensitive, and God made both us and them. Much more are our fellow men in our care.
    (3) It is urged by Divine commands. The Bible teaches duty to man as well as to God, on Divine authority. The mainly negative requirements of the ten commandments do not cover all our duty. We are called upon to love our neighbours as ourselves.
    (4) It is confirmed by the example of God. He has given us our lives, spared them when forfeited by sin, and saved them from many dangers. He has given his Son in death to save us from ruin. Such redeeming mercy makes churlish negligence on our part doubly culpable.
13. The application of it.
    (1) There should be mercy in war. It is heathenish to refuse quarter. The Christian soldier will dress the wounds of his enemy.
    (2) We should render assistance in cases of accident and danger. It is horrible to read in the newspapers of men who would watch a child drown because they were not officers of the Royal Humane Society, because it was not their business to save life, and even because they had good clothes which they did not wish to soil. Selfish people will see a man half murdered in a street quarrel without interfering.
    (3) We should help the poor. This applies to our own poor first, then to those of our neighbourhood, but the obligation extends as far as a China famine.
    (4) Hospitals deserve support, for ministrations to the sick directly tend to preserve life.
    (5) Social reforms demand Christian assistance.
    (6) It is our supreme duty to spread the gospel throughout the world. This is a “Word of life” (Php_2:16). To let men perish for lack of the bread of life is culpable negligence. The lepers of Samaria rebuke such conduct (2Ki_7:9).
    I. THE WARNING.
14. Ignorance is no excuse. “Behold, we knew it” (or “him”) “not.” Of course, this does not apply to unavoidable ignorance. But the rich should know the condition of the poor. It is the duty of the West End to investigate the condition of the East End. While this duty is neglected the comfortable complacency of ignorance is unpardonable. Further, if the attempted excuse be that the sufferer is personally unknown to us, this must not be admitted. He is still our brother. The parable of the good Samaritan shows that the perfect stranger has claims upon us.
15. God observes this negligence. He “pondereth the heart.” He reads our secret thoughts and weighs our motives. Thus he knows whether we are kept back by unavoidable ignorance or inability to help, or whether the negligence is wilful. With this awful fact before us, that there is One who “pondereth the heart,” all flimsy excuses must shrivel up and leave the negligence of the needy in its naked guilt.
16. God will treat us according to our treatment of our fellow men. “With what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again” (
    Mat_7:2). Moreover, in regard to the duty now before us, it is to be observed that God takes note of omissions as well as of transgressions. The “eternal fire” is not spoken of by our Lord for thieves, murderers, etc; but for those who failed to help the hungry, the thirsty, the needy (Mat_25:41-46).
    Pro_24:16
    The fall of a good man
    I. IT IS POSSIBLE FOR A GOOD MAN TO FALL.
17. Here is a warning against presumption. “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (lCo Pro_10:12). No one is so perfect as to be impeccable. Peter, who little expected it, failed in the moment of trial.
18. He is a warning against wrong judgments. If a good man stumbles it is commonly thought that he proves himself to have been a hypocrite from the first. No notion could be more unwarrantable. It is possible that the former life was honest and true and up to its pretension, but that a sudden change for the worse has occurred through yielding to overpowering temptation. The citadel was honestly guarded; but in an unwary moment, when the custodian was sleeping, or careless, or weak, it fell before the assaults of the everwatchful foe. This may even be. repeated many times. We can scarcely think of a really good man lapsing utterly from the right way as many as seven times and as often returning to it. But some measure of sin is committed many times. There is not a Christian who does not fall into numerous sins.
    II. IF A GOOD MAN FALLS HE IS LIKELY TO RISE UP AGAIN. We need not now discuss the thorny doctrine of “final perseverance.” Without retreating into the tangled thicket of a priori dogmatics, we may discover certain plain and practical. considerations which will encourage us to believe in the recovery of the lapsed.
19. The bent of a good man’s life is towards goodness. He is a just man. Righteousness is characteristic of him. It is his habit. His fall is an event, his righteousness is his life. He is not the less guilty in his sin. He cannot shake it off and disown it, fortifying himself against the charge of it under the guise of his habitual righteousness. A long career of goodness is no excuse for a single wrong deed. Nevertheless, beneath and behind the sin into which the man has been surprised are the general tone and temper of his life. This will make his fall an agony. One look from Christ, and the shamefaced disciple goes out to weep bitterly (Mat_26:75). The Christian who has been surprised in an hour of weakness will be in the greatest distress afterwards. He can have no rest till he is forgiven and restored. Hence there is a hope for him which we cannot cherish on behalf of the bad man who has had no experience of the better way and who has no inclination to follow it.
20. A good man may return. There is danger in despair. The miserable penitent fears that he may have committed the unpardonable sin, forgetting that his very grief is a proof that that dark eternity of guilt has not yet been reached. God is long-suffering and merciful. Seven times the poor man falls; seven times he is forgiven and restored by his compassionate Lord.
21. The grace of God assists recovery. Indeed, without this it were impossible. But with it who shall despair? On the other hand, alter a sicked man has indulged in sin he refuses to open his heart to Divine grace. “The one means by which he might climb up out of his deep ruin is rejected by him.
    In conclusion, we may gather from a consideration of this subject that the first essential is the character of a man’s life, rather than that of isolated and perhaps exceptional deeds. God notes every deed, and not one can go unavenged. But the fundamental question is—How does a man live in the main? is the set of his life towards goodness? does he habitually face the light or the darkness? Though with many stumbles and shameful bruises, is he, on the whole, going up, not down? If so, he is one of God’s sons.
    Pro_24:19
    A needless trouble
    I. THERE IS TEMPTATION TO BE DISTRESSED AT THE PROSPERITY OF BAD MEN.
22. It is unjust. This was an ancient source of perplexity and trouble of mind. While good men often suffer, bad men are often exceptionally free from the world’s ills. This pains us as a frightful discord in the psalm of life. It raises doubts as to the presence, or the power, or the justice of God. If the just Lord is in our midst and is almighty to rule, why does he permit such condition of society?
23. It is hurtful. Prosperity confers power. Thus great resources are at the disposal of bad men, who are able to expend them in extensive schemes of wickedness. A successful Napoleon can deluge a continent with blood, and bring misery into thousands of households. The triumph of bad men not only enables them to inflict suffering to a frightful extent; it gives them exceptional opportunities for spreading the infectious malaria of their sin. When a bad man prospers he contaminates his trade, lowers the character of business generally, and tempts his employes to do wrong on a scale that is proportionate to his enterprises.
24. It seems to be enviable. Sin looks like a short cut to success. It is hard for a good man who resists temptations to be rewarded with distresses which he would have escaped if he had yielded.
    II. IT IS FOOLISH TO BE DISTRESSED AT THE PROSPERITY OF BAD MEN.
25. Prosperity is infinitely inferior to character. The great question is not as to what a man has, but as to what he is. It is far more important to be upright and holy in life than to be rich, successful, and happy in one’s circumstances. Surely he who values true goodness will feel that it is a pearl of great price—the cost of which would not be compensated for by all the wealth of the Indies. Therefore to envy the prosperity of the wicked is to turn aside from the higher possession which may be enjoyed in poverty and adversity.
26. The prosperity of the wicked is delusive and unsatisfactory. It professes to give pleasure, but it cannot afford real happiness, for it has nothing in it to respond to the deeper cravings of the soul. He who feasts upon it is like a man who would fill himself with chaff and sawdust. In his very satiety he is miserably hungry. Full, he yet starves. Or worse, he is like one who drinks madly of salt water, and is plunged into an agony of thirst in consequence. If, as may happen, however, he feels a measure of satisfaction, this can only be by deadening his higher nature. Such a state is delusive and more terrible than open complaining.
27. This prosperity is short-lived. “The candle of the wicked shall be put out” (Pro_24:20). The psalmist who was alarmed at the prosperity of the wicked saw another picture when he came to consider their end. He who would share the purple and fine linen of Dives on earth must also share his bed of fire after death. It is only the short-sighted, earthly minded man who will much envy the prosperity of the wicked. A deeper thinking man will dread it, and be well satisfied if he has the true blessedness of life eternal.
    Pro_24:29
    Rendering evil for evil
    It is interesting to note that this conduct is not only rebuked by Jesus Christ, but also forbidden in the Old Testament, and even in the Book of Proverbs, which is thought to deal too much in temporal and self-regarding motives. So utterly is it foreign to right mindedness. Yet it is most common, and apparently most natural.
    I. LET US CONSIDER HOW IT SEEMS NATURAL TO RENDER EVIL FOR EVIL.
28. It appears to be just. There is a natural fitness m things, and this seems to be satisfied by the lex talionis, “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.”
29. It offers to check evil. It appears to be a natural form of punishment. Indeed, it was sanctioned in rough, primitive times, though subject to judicial inquiry (Exo_21:24).
30. It satisfies the craving for revenge. This is the reason which encourages it far more than considerations of abstract justice or anxiety about the public weal. “Revenge is sweet,” and to restrain the impulse to strike an offender in return for his blow is hard and painful.
31. It agrees with prevalent customs. It is “after the manner of man” to avenge a wrong, and apparently the habit springs from innate instincts. At all events, it works without reflection. Therefore it appears to be a part of the economy of nature. To refuse it is like denying a natural appetite.
    II. LET US LEARN WHY IT IS WRONG TO RENDER EVIL FOR EVIL.
32. The sense of revenge lies in our lower nature. It is shared by the brute creation, like hunger and. lust. But it is aggravated by the sin of hatred and by selfishness. There is nothing noble or elevating in it. On the contrary, it drags us down. Long-suffering braces the moral fibres of the soul; revenge relaxes them.
33. We are not called upon to execute sentence on our fellow men. If there is to be a requital, this must come from God, to whom belongs just vengeance (Rom_12:19). We are usurping the rights of God when we impatiently take it into our own hands. Moreover, we are the worst possible judges of our own rights. When deeply wounded, or irritated by insults, or blinded. by passion, we are not in a fit condition to exercise judicial functions. Yet it is just on such occasions that we are most tempted to wreak vengeance on the head of an offender.
34. It is our duty to forgive and save our fellow man. Even if punishment be due to him, vengeance from us is not owing. Our business is to seek to reclaim by “heaping coals of fire” on our wrong doer. Instead of doing to him as he has done to as, our Christian motto is to do to him as we would that he should do to us.
35. Revenge is un-Christlike. Christians are called to follow in the footsteps of the patient and brave Jesus, who was patient under provocation, even praying for his enemies.
36. Revenge is unseemly in those who need forgiveness. We are dependent on the mercy of God. He has not taken vengeance on us. But if we forgive not men their trespasses, neither will our heavenly Father forgive us our trespasses. Thus Portia rightly says to Shylock—
    “Consider this—
    That in the course of justice, none of us
    Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
    And that same prayer cloth teach us all to render
    The deeds of mercy.”
    Pro_24:30-34
    The field of the slothful
    Nothing is more characteristic of the Book of Proverbs than its scorn of slothfulness and its strenuous inculcation of industry. To doubt these subjects were especially important in view of the perennial indolence of Orientals. But slothfulness is not unknown in the West, and in the fierce competition of modern life a smaller indulgence in idleness will bring sure disasters. Men often blame their circumstances, the injustice of fate, etc; when they should accuse their own lack of energy. The difference between the successful and those who fail to attain anything in life is more often than not just that between hard work and self-indulgent, easy living. Moreover, many men who are diligent in business are most slothful in spiritual matters. Hence applications of the parable in the present day.
    I. THE STATE OF THE FIELD.
37. This is visible to the casual wayfarer. The writer simply “went by” it; yet he took in enough at a glance to understand its condition. A man’s character is impressed upon his work. A slovenly man will have a slovenly hand. The neglected field and the ill-kept vineyard reveal the idle and foolish nature of their owner.
38. The field is seen to be in a miserable condition.
    (1) It is overgrown with thorns and nettles. It is not left empty if it is untilled. Weeds grow on the neglected land. If we fail to do our duty, positive mischief will follow. If we neglect the field of the world, briars of ignorance, folly, and sin will spring up; if we fail to train the vineyard of our own family, nettles of evil will appear in the minds of our children, to sting us for our indolence. Thus was it with Eli, who failed to rebuke his sons. If we do not cultivate the gardens of our own souls, rank weeds of sin will certainly grow up there and bear their poisonous fruits.
    (2) Its defences are broken down. The indolent man lets his walls fall into dilapidation. Thus his property lies open to the robber and the destroyer. The wild boar from the wood will root up his vine. If we are not watchful and careful, evil will come in from without and spoil our work, our home, our souls. It needs care to guard against aggression.
    II. THE CONDUCT OF THE OWNER.
39. It is slothful.
    (1) His evil is negative. He commits no offence. Yet he is ruined. We may be undone by simple omission without any transgression.
    (2) His evil is in delaying to do his duty. He does not mean to forego it. He only postpones fulfilment. Yet he is ruined and disgraced. We owe duties to time. We do wrong by not accomplishing our work promptly, though we intend to accomplish it ultimately. We have not unlimited time before us. Today’s neglected task cannot be performed tomorrow without hindering tomorrow’s work. The foolish virgins failed by being too late.
40. It is self-indulgent. The sluggard enjoys his sleep. Selfishness is the root of idleness. But this, in turn, is stupefying. One does not note how the fresh morning glides away while he lies with his eyes closed in sinful sleep. So also the slumber of the soul that neglects the call to its highest duty is a selfish sleep.
41. It is foolish. The sleep is a poor compensation for poverty and shame.
    III. THE CERTAIN CONSEQUENCES.
42. Ruin follows. Poverty comes on the slothful man of business as a natural punishment. Poverty of soul, emptiness, fruitlessness, and finally death follow spiritual sloth.
43. This may be unsuspected. “Like a highwayman.”
44. It will be irresistible. The want will come “as an armed man.”
    CONCLUSION. Sloth is peculiarly liable to creep into one’s habits without being noticed, Therefore the need of Verse 32.
    HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON
    Pro_24:1, Pro_24:2
    Warning against evil company
    I. THE LOVE OF SOCIETY IS A NATURAL INSTINCT.
    II. EVIL COMPANY IS OFTEN MOST FASCINATING.
    III. THE ASSOCIATIONS THAT ARE FOUNDED UPON MERE FELLOWSHIP IN PLEASURE ABE SELDOM SATISFACTORY, OFTEN CORRUPTING.
    IV. THE BAD MAN’S COMPANY IS MORE TO BE SHUNNED THAN THAT OF ONE SUFFERING FROM A CONTAGIOUS DISEASE. “Wicked companions,” said a man of the world, the novelist Fielding, “invite us to hell.” “They are like to be short graces when the devil plays the host,” said another.—J.
    Pro_24:3-6
    Wisdom edifies and invigorates
    How fine a word is “edification,” building up, in its moral and Christian uses! Here the image of the house is directly introduced, and may be variously applied.
    I. WISDOM THE FOUNDATION OF DOMESTIC STABILITY AND HAPPINESS. (Pro_24:3, Pro_24:4.) The same great principles apply in the least as well as the most important things. Every day brings humble occasions for the practice of the grandest laws, no less in the house, the farm, or the shop, than in the council chamber or on the battle field. “Method is as efficient in the packing of firewood in a shed, or the harvesting of fruits in a cellar, as in Peninsular campaigns or the files of a department of state.” Let a man keep the Law, and his way will be strewn with satisfactions. There is more difference in the quality of our pleasures than in the amount. Comfort and abundance in the home are the certain signs of prudence and sense and action constantly applied.
    II. WISDOM THE SOURCE OF MANLY STRENGTH. (Pro_24:5, Pro_24:6.) It was a great man who said, “Knowledge is power.” It is not the force of brute strength, but that of spiritual energy, which in the long run rules the world. The illustration of the text is aptly selected from war, where, if anywhere, brute force might be supposed to prevail. Experience shows that it is not so. The complete failures of men like Hannibal and Napoleon show it in one way. Recent wars have illustrated the truth that it is the deliberate and matured designs of the strategist and far-seeing statesman which command success, rather than the “great battalions” on the side of which Providence was said to be. And in another application, sheer force of intellect is often surpassed and outdone by the steady and constant employment of humbler powers. Strength in any form without prudence is like a giant without eyes. Violence and craft may seem the readiest way to wealth; yet experience shows that prudence and piety lead most surely to desirable prosperity.—J.
    Pro_24:7-10
    Some traits of folly and sin
    I. THE GROVELLING MIND. (Pro_24:7.) Wisdom is too high for the indolent to climb to, for the sensual and earthly to admire and love. They are like Muck-rake, in Bunyan’s parable. From such no good counsel ever comes. They are dumb “in the gate,” on every important occasion, when help, light, sympathy, are needed. The base prudence which inspires many popular proverbs—the prudence “which adores the rule of three, which never subscribes, never gives, seldom lends, and asks but one question of any project, ’Will it bake bread?’”—is indeed folly. “Self’s the man,” says a Dutch proverb. But those who would gain all for self end by losing self and all.
    II. THE MALICIOUS TEMPER. (Pro_24:8.) There are degrees in vice as in virtue. It is a short step from grovelling egotism to active malice. Extract the root of self-seeking out of any dispute, private or public, in Church or state, and the other differences may soon be adjusted. To make mischief is a diabolic instinct, and it certainly springs up in the mind void of healthy occupation and of interest for the true, beautiful, and good; for the mind’s principle is motion, and it cannot cease to act.
    III. SIN IN THE THOUGHT AND THE MOOD. (Pro_24:9.) When busy invention and meditation are at work in the mind of the wicked and the fool, nothing good is produced. Still more is it the case with the scoffer. In him the ripened and practised powers of the mind are brought into alliance with evil desire. Such a habit of mind, once detected, excites the utmost odium and abhorrence. The man who can sneer at goodness, or hold what is by common consent good and beautiful in contempt, is already an outcast from his kind, and need not complain if he is treated as such.
    IV. COWARDLY FAINT HEARTEDNESS. (Pro_24:10.) The pressure of circumstances should rouse in us the God-given strength. The man who makes duty his polar star, and trusts in God, can actually do more when things seem to be against him than widen all is in his favour. Moral cowardice is closely connected with the root sin of unbelief. Indulgence in it impoverishes and weakens the soul, so that the man ends by being actually unable to do what once he only fancied himself unable to do. Here is an illustration of Christ’s saying, “To him that hath shall be given, and from him that hath not shall be taken that which he hath.”—J.
    Pro_24:11, Pro_24:12
    Compassion for the wronged
    I. THE HEART AND HAND SHOULD EVER BE READY AT THE CALL OF DISTRESS. (Pro_24:11.) The picture seems to be placed before us of one arriving at the place of judgment, seeing an innocent sufferer yet, like the priest and the Levite in the parable, passing by “on the other side.”
    “To see and sights moves more than hear them told;
    For then the eye interprets to the ear
    The heavy motion that it doth behold.”
    To respond to these mute appeals from any of God’s creatures is to obey a law immediately known within our breast; to resist them is to sin against him and against our own souls.
    II. NEGLECT OF DUTY CANNOT ESCAPE PUNISHMENT. (Pro_24:12.)
45. Human nature is fertile in excuses. For the burden of blame and of conscious guilt is the heaviest we can bear. But searching is the truth of the proverb, “Whoso excuses, accuses himself,” Ignorance of duty needs no excuses; but excuses for neglect can never be valid.
46. Excuses may avail with man, but not with God. With fallible men they may and often do pass for truth. At all events, they must often be accepted by those who need in turn to make them. But God knows the truth of every heart, and in every case; and to him excuses are either needless or worse.
47. Judgment will be executed in spite of our excuses. For God is the Vindicator of the wronged, and the Recompenser of all according to their deeds. Scripture is very impressive on the sin of neglect of kindly duties to others, in regard to which the conscience is so often dull (Luk_14:18, etc.). Men content themselves with the reflection that they have not done others positive harm—a negative position. But the other negative position, that we have not done the good we had a call to do, on this the teaching of Christ fixes a deeper guilt. Noble as it is to save a life from bodily death, still more glorious in its consequences is it to save a soul from death and hide a multitude of sins.—J.
    Pro_24:13, Pro_24:14
    Zeal in the pursuit of wisdom
    I. THE SWEETNESS OF WISDOM. (Pro_24:13.) Not without deep meaning is the sense of knowing the truth compared to the sensuous relish of the palate for sweet food. Here is, indeed, a
    “Perpetual feast of nectared sweets,
    Where no crude surfeit reigns.”
    (Cf. Psa_19:11.)
    II. ENCOURAGEMENT IN ITS PURSUIT. (Pro_24:14.) It brings a true satisfaction both during the pursuit and at its end, which can be said of few other objects of eager ambition in this world. The seeker for truth may be compared to the maiden of the parable, who timely fills her lamp with oil, and “hope that reaps not shame.” The pursuit of wisdom, or of truth as understood and taught in this book, is no chase of dreams or abstractions; it is the affair of all. Truth is all that touches and convinces man, whether as an individual, or as a member of society, or the citizen of a nation. It is that which tells him that he is not isolated in the midst of unknown beings; but that beyond his individual life he partakes in a life that is universal. All that in the past, whether facts, thoughts, or sentiments, are in question, that makes us contemporary with the facts, fellow heirs with humanity in great thoughts, sympathetic with great sentiments, is truth.—J.
    Pro_24:15-18
    Violence and shameful joy defeated
    I. THE ATTITUDE OF THE MAN OF FRAUD AND VIOLENCE DEPICTED. (Pro_24:15.) He is like the prowling wild beast, seeking whom he may devour. God the Creator has not armed us with tooth or tusk or other means of defence, like the wild beasts which are formed for making war on others. We are strongly furnished for defence, not for attack. Ferocity is distinctly an unnatural vice in us.
    II. HIS ACTIVITY IS DEVASTATING. Here, again, he resembles the wild beast in his blind fury, the boar that uproots and overturns in the cultivated garden.
    III. THE SELF-RECOVERY OF THE RIGHTEOUS. (Pro_24:16.) To fall into sin and to fall into trouble are two different things. Avoid the former, and God will not forsake thee in the latter. Seven falls stand for many—an indefinite number of falls. There is an elasticity in rectitude like that of the young sapling; bent to the earth, it rebounds with strong upspring. “It may calm the apprehension of calamity to see how quiet a bound nature has set to the utmost infliction of malice. We rapidly approach a brink over which no enemy can follow us.” But evil, being purely negative, a zero, the absence of internal power and virtue, has but an illusory existence, and quickly passes sway.
    IV. BASE JOY TURNED INTO SHAME. (Pro_24:17, Pro_24:19.) He who rejoices in the trouble of another, his own trouble stands behind the door. Why should he fear who takes his post with Omnipotence at his back?
    “Souls that of God’s own good life partake
    He loves as his own self: dear as his eye
    They are to him; he’ll never them forsake.
    When they shall die, then God himself shall die;
    They live—they live in blest eternity.”
    The tyrant and his victim are made to change sides. The “wrath” which seems expressed in the calamities of the latter is transformed into the revelation of an “everlasting kindness,” while terror strikes the heart of him who sought to infuse it into his foe (compare R. Browning’s striking poem, ’Instans Tyrannus’).—J.
    Pro_24:19-22
    Religion fortifies the heart against envy
    I. THE TEMPTATION TO ENVY THE PROSPERITY OF THE WICKED. It is very marked in the Old Testament. It is a common temptation. For we look at the outside of man’s condition, and are deceived by illusions. A pirate’s venal in the distance, a mansion built and inhabited by infamy, are beautiful objects of aesthetic contemplation. So it is that the show and bravery of success master our senses.
    II. THE ANTIDOTE TO THESE FEELINGS. (Pro_24:20.) “Consider the end”—darkness and the blackness of darkness. The wicked have no future. When this is once clearly seen, the charm on the surface fades away, and the edifice of proud but godless prosperity sinks almost into a smoking ruin.
    III. RELIGION AND MORALITY THE ONLY FOUNDATION OF SECURITY AND BLESSEDNESS. (Pro_24:21, Pro_24:22.) The one comprehensive word for religion is the “fear of Jehovah,” reverence for God, and for all that, being true, is of the very nature of God. And obedience to the king includes all those civil and social duties which we incur as members of an ordered commonwealth. Religion and loyalty go together; and the best way to make good subjects to the queen is to make men good servants of God. They will not make conscience of civil duties who make none of Divine.—J.
    Pro_24:23-25
    Partiality and equality in judgment
    I. RESPECT OF PERSONS. The literal translation is, “To distinguish persons in judgment is not good.” The judge should be impartial as the pair of scales, the emblem of his office, and blind to the persons who appear before him, that is, to their rank and position, as the symbolical figure of Justice is represented to be. “One foul sentence doth more hurt than many foul examples; these do but corrupt the stream, the other corrupteth the fountain.”
    II. THE WILFUL PERVERSION OF RIGHT. (Pro_24:24.) When the just man is suffered to fail in his cause before his adversary, the very nerve of public right is unstrung. It strikes a direct blow at the common weal, and hence brings down the curses of peoples and the enmity of states.
    III. EQUAL AND JUST JUDGMENT. (Pro_24:25.) “A judge ought to prepare his way to a just sentence, as God useth to prepare his way, by raising valleys and taking down hills; so when there appeareth on either side a high hand, violent persecution, cunning advantages taken, combination, power, great counsel, then is the virtue of a judge seen to make inequality equal; that he may plant his judgment as upon an even ground” (Bacon). In the present text the glance is towards a proper and due severity, which will not allow the wicked to escape. “Odium may equally be incurred by him who winks at crime and by him who has no regard to mercy. For in causes of life and death, judges ought, as far as the law permits, in justice to remember mercy, and to cast a severe eye upon the example, but a merciful eye upon the person” (Bacon). The purity of the judicial bench is one of the greatest of public blessings. Let us be thankful that we enjoy it in our country, and pray that it may ever continue.—J.
    Pro_24:26-29
    Just conduct to our neighbour
    I. TRUE WITNESS. (Pro_24:26.) He who gives true and faithful answers—especially in courts of justice—delights, even as the sweetest kiss upon the mouth delights. The poet alludes to the effect upon the ear. The understanding can no more be delighted with a lie than the will can choose an apparent evil. “Strange as it may seem,” says one playfully, “the human mind loses truth.” We may add, “when passion does not blind the intellect to its beauty.” In the court of justice, all but the guilty and those interested in his fate see the beauty of truth, and prize it above all things. Hence to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, is the solemn oath of witnesses.
    II. FALSE AND UNCALLED-FOR WITNESS. (Pro_24:28.) To bear false witness strikes at the very root of conscience and moral obligation. But criminal, though in a less degree, is the volunteering of evidence without cause against another; i.e. when no object but private hatred and revenge is to be served. Compare the case of Doeg (1Sa_22:9, 1Sa_22:10); the Pharisees with the wretched sinner in Joh_8:1-59; the words of the Lord in Joh_15:25. Speak evil of no man, not only that evil which is altogether false and groundless, but that which is true, when speaking of it will do more harm than good (Matthew Henry).
    III. DELIBERATE DECEPTION. About a court of justice, which represents truth, there gathers a dark shade of roguery and falsehood; “persons that are full of sinister tricks and shifts, whereby they pervert the plain and direct courses of courts, and bring justice into oblique lines and labyrinths.”
    IV. BLIND INDULGENCE OF VINDICTIVE TEMPER. (Verse 29; comp. Pro_20:22.) Nothing is more deeply impressed in the Bible than the truth of compensation or retribution. But men must not take the law into their own hands. “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith Jehovah.” “Revenge is a kind of wild justice, which the more man’s nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out. In taking revenge a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over he is superior. It is the glory of a man to pass by an offence. The man who studies revenge keeps his own wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well” (Bacon).—J.
    Pro_24:27
    The prudence and policy of industry
    I. ALL LABOUR IS ROOTED IN THE TILLAGE OF THE EARTH. ’Tis thus that bread was first wrung from her—by universal field labour. Our ancestors were all agricultural labourers. All other industry must be fruitless and stop without the action of this spring. It is therefore the part of all prudent and good men to encourage cultivation, to improve the condition of the labourer and the farmer. All honour to the great statesmen of our time who have wrought in this cause. It is edifying to recollect that God has made Mother Earth the eternal mediator and minister to us of material blessings which lie at the foundation of all our life.
    II. DOMESTIC COMFORT AND INDEPENDENCE REST UPON LABOUR. It is the “prudence of a higher strain” than that which begins and ends with mere sensual comfort that is taught in this book. It is attention to law, it is unbelief in luck, which constitutes its principle. Self-command, unslothful habits, constant exertion, put the bread a man eats at his own disposal, so that he stands not in bitter and False relations to other men.—J.
    Pro_24:30-34
    The sluggard’s vineyard: a parable of sloth
    I. A PICTURE OF INDOLENCE. (Pro_24:30, Pro_24:31.) The vineyard in the East corresponds to the garden, orchard, or small farm in the West. In the parable it is overgrown with nettles and thorns. The stone fence is crumbling for want of repair. We may contrast the picture in Isa_5:1, sqq; of what a vineyard ought to be. The way in which God tilled the chosen people is the way in which he would have each of us attend to the garden of the soul.
    II. THE SIGHT CARRIES A LESSON AND A WARNING. (Verses 32-34) Let us attend to the parables of Nature. The eye is the great critical organ, and we never want lessons if we use it. The lesson here is—the effect has a cause—the wildness of Nature betrays the sin of man. Neglect marks itself on her truthful face. The sluggard’s soul is revealed in her aspect not less than in the unkempt hair and squalid face of the human being. Here is the “vile sin of self-neglect,” which involves all other neglect, clearly mirrored. In such spectacles and in the gloomier ones of malarious swamps, once smiling fields, God writes his judgment on the broad earth’s face against the crime of sloth. The warning is against poverty and want, which stride on with noiseless footsteps, rushing in at last with sudden surprise upon dreaming self-indulgence, like an armed robber. Sudden seeming woes are long preparing, and no curse “causeless comes.”
    III. THE MORAL APPLICATION.
48. The analogy of Nature and the human spirit. Both are of God. Both contain principles of life, beauty, and use. Both need cultivation in order to their perfection. In both sloth and neglect are punished by loss and ruin.
49. The personal moral duty. To “awake from sleep,” to “stir up the gift within us,” to “work out our salvation,” to be good husbandmen, good and faithful servants in this garden of the Lord—the soul. If not faithful here, how can it be expected that we shall be faithful in spheres more remote?—J.
    HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
    Pro_24:1
    (See homily on Pro_23:17, Pro_23:18.)—C.
    Pro_24:3-6
    Building with wisdom
    God is the Divine Builder. “He that built all things is God” (Heb_3:4). Man, also, is a great builder. The whole scenery of the earth is not a little changed by the houses and temples, by the bridges and factories, by the manifold structures of every size and shape, that he has built. But these are not the most serious and important of his works. We look at—
    I. THE HOUSES WE ARE BUILDING. Of these, three are the most deserving of attention.
50. Our estate. The position and provision we secure for ourselves and our family; an honourable place we take among men, as neighbours and fellow citizens. Every man has to set this before him as a thing to be patiently pursued and ultimately attained. Some men think of little else or nothing else, therein making a fatal mistake; but it is the manifest duty as well as the clear interest of us all, to build up a house of this kind.
51. Our character. This is “a house” of the first importance. We are here for this express purpose—that we may be daily and hourly building up a noble and estimable character; such a character as God will himself approve; such as man will admire, and will do well to copy; such as will command the commendation of our own conscience; such as will stand firm and strong against all the perils by which it is beset; such as will contain many virtues and graces in its various “chambers” (Pro_24:4). “Precious and pleasant rubies,” indeed, are these.
52. Some cause of Christian usefulness. We should all be diligently occupied in raising or sustaining some “work” of holy usefulness, by which the seeds of truth may be scattered, hearts may be comforted, lives may be brightened, souls may be won to righteousness and wisdom, Christ may be honored, and his kingdom advanced.
    II. THE INDISPENSABLE MATERIALS. The wisdom which is from above. “Through wisdom is a house built, and by understanding it is established” (Pro_24:3). For wisdom includes or secures:
53. The fear and therefore the favor of God. (See Pro_1:7; Pro_9:10.)
    (1) To walk and to work in the fear of God is to do all things uprightly and honourably, truly and faithfully, heartily and thoroughly; and this is the way to build up any one of these three “houses.”
    (2) To enjoy the favour of God is to have behind us that energizing and sustaining power without which all labour is vain (Psa_127:1); it is to possess the protecting care which will shield us from the storms that might otherwise overthrow us (Psa_121:1-8.).
54. The various orders of strength which we need for good building (Pro_24:5).
    (1) It tends to physical health and strength.
    (2) It conduces to mental strength and the increase of knowledge; it supplies us with good judgment, with tact, with prudence, with patience, with the very implements of successful labour.
    (3) It ministers to moral and spiritual strength; for it brings us into communion with God and to the study of his Word.
55. The power of resistance and attack. By “wise counsel we make war” (Pro_24:6). It is a very great matter, in all spheres of activity, to know when to make peace and when to show a fearless front of opposition. And when the latter course has to be taken, there is much true wisdom needed in order that our house, our stronghold, may not be carried and dismantled. We need courage, decision, watchfulness, energy, self-command, readiness to make terms at the right moment. To attain to the wisdom which will thus build up our house, we need to
    (1) yield our hearts fully to the only wise God and Saviour;
    (2) open our minds daily to receive his heavenly wisdom;
    (3) ask of him who “giveth to all men liberally, upbraiding not.”—C.
    Pro_24:9
    The thought of foolishness.
    It will be well to be on our guard against a possible mistake here; for next in importance to our knowledge of what things are wrong and hurtful, is our freedom from imaginary fears and morbid anxieties respecting those things which are perfectly innocent and pure. We look, then, at—
    I. THOUGHTS WHICH MAY SEEM TO BE, BUT ARE NOT, CONDEMNED BY THESE WORDS.
56. The serious but not taken thoughts of childhood or of uneducated manhood. It is not every thought which cannot be characterized as wisdom that must be condemned as “foolishness.” The honest attempts of artless simplicity to solve problems or to execute commands may be honourable and even commendable failures; they are the conditions of growth.
57. The lighter thoughts of the cultured and mature, thoughts of merriment and frolicsomeness, moving to honest laughter, are far from being sinful. They are clearly in accordance with the will of the Divine Father of our spirits, who is the Author of our nature, with its faculties and tendencies; they are often found to be a necessary relief under the otherwise intolerable strain of oppressive care and burdensome toil. One of the most serious and one of the most kind-hearted and successful servants of our race (Abraham Lincoln) was only saved from complete mental derangement during the terrible time of the civil war by finding occasional refuge in humour. But what are—
    II. THE THOUGHTS WHICH ARE HERE CONDEMNED? The thoughts of foolishness.
58. Our responsibility for our thoughts. Impalpable and fugitive as they are, our thoughts are a very real part of ourselves, and they constitute a serious part of our responsibility to God. That they do so is clear; for:
    (1) On them everything in human life and action ultimately depends. Action depends on will, will on feeling, and feeling on thought. It is what we think and how we think that determines what we do and what we are. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Thought is the very foundation of character.
    (2) Thought is free. We may be compelled to speak or to act in certain prescribed ways; but we are masters of our own minds, and we can think as we like. How we think depends on our own volition.
    (3) We either choose deliberately the subject of our thoughts (by selecting our friends, our books and papers, our topics of conversation), or we are led to think as we do by the mental and moral character which we have been deliberate]y forming; we are responsible for the stream because we are responsible for the spring.
59. The sinful character of foolish thoughts. Foolish thoughts may be
    (1) irreverent, and all irreverence is sin; or they may be
    (2) selfish, and all selfishness is sin; or
    (3) impure, and all impurity is sin; or
    (4) unkind and inconsiderate, unloving or vindictive, and all unkindness is sin; or
    (5) short-sighted and worldly, and all worldliness is sin (1Jn_2:15-17). The conclusion of the whole matter is that if we would be right with God, “harmless and blameless,” we must be right in our “inward thought” (see Heb_4:12); and that if we would be right there, in those central depths or our nature, we must
    (a) place our whole nature under the direct rule of the Holy One himself;
    (b) seek daily fop the cleansing influences of his Holy Spirit, the continual renewal of our mind by his inspiration;
    (c) “keep our hearts beyond all keeping” (Pro_2:1-22 :23), especially by welcoming, with eagerness and delight, all the wisdom of God that we can gather from his Word.—C.
    Pro_24:10, Pro_24:15
    The test of adversity
    We have all of us to expect—
    I. THE TESTING TIME THAT COMES TO ALL MEN. It is true that prosperity has its own perils, and makes its own demands on the human spirit. But when the sky is clear above us, when loving friends stand round us with protecting care, when privileges abound on every side, it is comparatively easy to maintain an equable and obedient mind. We can all row with the stream and sail with the favouring wind. But the hour must come to us that comes to all in time, when we have to face difficulty, or to bear obloquy, or to sustain heavy loss, or to go on our way with a lonely heart, or to suffer some keen and all but crusading disappointment. When we are moved to say with Jacob, “All these things are against me;” with Elijah, “Lord, take away my life;” we faint and fall in the day of adversity.
    II. THE RESOURCES THAT SHOULD BE AT OUR COMMAND. When that hour comes to us, as it certainly will, we should be prepared to bear ourselves bravely and well; for there are many sources of strength with which we should be supplied. There is:
60. Ordinary human fortitude. Such manliness and strength of will as have enabled many thousands of souls—even without any aid from religion—to confront danger or death, or to show an undisturbed equanimity of mind. in the midst of severe sorrows. But beyond this there is for us:
61. Christian resignation. The willingness to leave the whole disposal of our lives to the wisdom and the love of God; readiness to endure the holy will of a Divine Father, of our best Friend.
62. Christian faith. The assurance that God is dealing with us in perfect wisdom and parental love at those times when we can least understand his way.
63. Christian hope. The confidence that “unto the upright there will arise light in the darkness;” that God will grant a happy issue out of all our afflictions; that though the just man fall seven times, he will rise again (see Pro_24:15); that though weeping may endure even for a long and stormy night, joy will come in the morning (Psa_30:5).
64. Communion with God. To the distressed human spirit there remains that most precious refuge, the leaning of the heart on God, the appeal of the soul to him in earnest, believing prayer.
    III. THE INFERENCE WE ARE OBLIGED TO DRAW. If, with all these resources at our command, we “faint;”
    (1) if we indulge a rebellious spirit, repining at our lot and thinking ourselves hardly used; or
    (2) if we yield ourselves to misery and melancholy, showing ourselves unequal to the duties that devolve upon us, resigning the useful activities in which we have been engaged;—then we must conclude that “our strength is small;” we have failed to enrich our souls with that spiritual power of which we might and should have become possessed. Bat that we may not have to deplore our weakness in the day of adversity, and that we may not give a sorry illustration of Christian life as it ought not to be seen, let us learn what is—
    IV. OUR WISDOM AT THE PRESENT TIME. And that is to be gaining strength, to be continually becoming “strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.” This is an imperative duty (Eph_6:10; 2Ti_2:1; 2Pe_3:18). And we are not without the necessary means. If, in the days of sunshine and prosperity, we are daily nourishing our faith, our love, our hope, our prayerfulness, by constant exercise in devotion and in sacred duty, by using the privileges so amply supplied to us, by cultivating and cherishing our onion with Jesus Christ our Lord, we shall be strong, and we shall not faint.—C.
    Pro_24:11, Pro_24:12
    Inexcusable indifference
    The principles contained in this passage are these—
    I. THAT ALL HUMAN NEED IS A CLAIM FOR HELP. God has so “fashioned our hearts alike,” and has so bound together our lives and our interests, that we are under serious obligation to one another. No man is at liberty to live an isolated life; he owes too much to those that have gone before him, and is too closely related to those who are around him, to allow of such a course. To wish it is unnatural, to attempt it is immoral “We are members one of another;” we are brethren and sisters one of another. And whenever any one about us—whoever or whatever he or she may be—is in any kind of difficulty or distress, is in need of sympathy and succour, there is an imperative demand, as clear as if it came from an angel’s trumpet or straight out of the heavens above us, that we should stop, should inquire, should help as best we can (see 1Jn_3:17, 1Jn_3:18).
    II. THAT THE EXTREMITY OF HUMAN NEED IS A MOST POWERFUL PLEA. If any sufferer on life’s highway is a man to be pitied and relieved, how much more are they who are “drawn unto death,” who are “ready to be slain”! To see our brother or our sister—made like ourselves, and capable as we are of intense suffering, holding life as precious as we ourselves regard it—in circumstances of keen distress or of utmost danger, and to withhold our pity and our aid,—this is condemned of God. Whether we “pass by on the other side” (Luk_10:31), so as to hide our cruel indifference as well as we can from our own sight; or whether we pass close by, clearly recognizing our duty, but cynically and heartlessly declining to do it; or whether we stand awhile and pity, but conclude that help will be too costly, and so pass on without helping;—we are guilty, we are unbrotherly, inhuman, altogether unlike our Lord.
    III. THAT EXCUSES WILL NOT AVAIL US. If we want to escape from our plain duty we seldom refuse it point blank. We do not say to our Lord or to ourselves, “We will not;” we say, “We would if—,” or “We will when—.” When our brother is in difficulty or in sorrow, and urgently needs the extricating hand, the sympathizing word, we may plead, to ourselves or to our neighbours, our ignorance of the sufferer, our imperfect acquaintance with the circumstances, our want of time, our incapacity for assisting in that kind of trouble, our multitudinous and pressing duties and claims, etc. These may succeed with men, but they will not avail with God. God knows the hollowness of these poor pleas; to his eye they are only thin veils that do not hide our cruel selfishness; he judges that nothing justifies us in abandoning the perishing to their fate, and he condemns us.
    IV. THAT GOD IS GRIEVED WITH US FOR OUR OWN SAKE. He “that keepeth our soul” knows it. And because God does “keep our soul,” he is grieved to see us take up an attitude towards our brother which
    (1) proves us to be unbrotherly, and
    (2) helps to fix us in our cold-heartedness. For every act and instance of selfishness hardens our heart and makes it more capable of cruel indifference than before.
    V. THAT CRUELTY AND KINDNESS MOVE TO THEIR REWARD. “Shall he not render,” etc.? Cruelty and kindness must be cursed or blessed by the immediate effects they leave in the soul of the agent. But they also move toward a day of award, Then will a selfish indifference hear its strong, Divine condemnation (Mat_25:41-45) Then, also, will a generous kindness listen to its warm, Divine commendation (Mat_25:34-40).—C.
    Pro_24:17, Pro_24:18, Pro_24:29
    The ignobler and the nobler spirit
    (See homily on Pro_20:22.) There can be no question at all, for the testimony of human history is everywhere and at all times the same, as to—
    I. OUR DISPOSITION UNDER SIN, IN VIEW OF OUR ENEMIES. These two passages indicate it. It is both passive and active.
65. A disposition to rejoice at their discomfiture; to exult in the secret places of the soul when we hear of their failure, of their defeat, or even of their suffering.
66. A disposition to inflict some injury on them by our own effort. The impulse of the man who is struck is to strike again; that of the man who is cheated is to take the next opportunity of overreaching the treacherous neighbour; the prevalent feeling, under the long reign and malignant influence of sin, is to compass, in some way or other, the humiliation, or the loss, or the anger of the man who has injured us. We rejoice when our enemy falls; we do more and worse than that—we do our best, we use our ingenuity and put forth even our patient labour, to bring about his overthrow. So common, so universal, is this sentiment of revenge and retaliation, that no one is in a position so speak severely of his neighbour or to condemn him harshly. Yet we understand now—
    II. ITS UNWORTHINESS OF OUR NATURE. It was not to cherish such thoughts as these, nor was it to act in such a way as this, that our Divine Father called us into being, and gave to us our powers.
67. We were made to love and to pity; and for us to harbour in our souls a feeling of positive delight when we witness the misery or misfortune of a brother or a sister is really inhuman; it is a perversion, under the malign power of sin, of the end and purpose of our being.
68. We were made to help and bless; and for us to expend the powers with which we are endowed to injure, to inflict suffering and loss, to send as far as we can on the downward road a human heart or human life,—this is wholly unworthy of ourselves, it is a sad departure from the intention of our Creator. We see clearly—
    III. ITS OFFENSIVENESS TO GOD. “Lest the Lord see it, and it displease him.”
69. God has told us fully what is his mind respecting it (Mat_5:43-48; Rom_12:14, Rom_12:20).
70. It is altogether unlike his own action; for he is daily and momently blessing with life and health and innumerable bounties those who have forgotten or disregarded or even denied him.
71. There are two aspects in which it must be obnoxious to him.
    (1) He is the Father of our spirits, and how can he look with anything but sorrow on antagonism and hatred between his children?
    (2) He is the Holy and the Loving One, and how can he see with anything but displeasure the hearts of men filled with the feelings of malevolence, the hands of men occupied in dealing bitter blows against one another? What, however, is the way by which this deep-rooted disposition can be expelled, and another and nobler spirit be planted in our souls? What is the way to—
    IV. THE WORTHIER AND NOBLER SPIRIT. The one way to rise above vindictiveness and retaliation and to enter into the loftier and purer air of forgiveness and magnanimity is to connect ourselves most closely with our Lord Jesus Christ.
72. To surrender ourselves wholly to him, and thus to receive his Divine Spirit into our hearts (Joh_7:38, Joh_7:39; Joh_15:4; Joh_17:23).
73. To have our hearts filled with that transforming love to our Father and our Saviour which will make us to become, unconsciously and gradually, like him in spirit and behaviour.
74. To let our minds be filled with the knowledge of his will, by patient and prayerful study of his Word and of his life.—C.
    Pro_24:30-34
    The neglected garden
    The whole scene is before us. The sluggard is asleep while everything is going wrong; instead of the flower is the thorn; the ground is coloured with the green weeds; the wall is breaking down; where should be beauty is unsightliness; where should be fruitfulness is barrenness or wilderness; ruin is written, on everything, everywhere. So is it with the farmer, with the tradesman, with the merchant or manufacturer, of the sluggard order. Consider it well. Negligence, dilatoriness, half-heartedness, in any department means decay, breakdown, ruin.
    Poverty is on its way, and will certainly be knocking at the door; want will present itself with a force that cannot be resisted.
75. We have all of us a garden, an estate of our own, Which God has given us to cultivate—that which is of more value than many thousands of acres of fertile soil, that which no riches can buy—our own true self, our own human spirit. God has solemnly charged us to cultivate that, to weed it of error and prejudice, of folly and of passion; to plant truth there, his own living, abiding truth; to plant righteousness there, purity of heart, integrity of soul; to plant love there, such as fills his own gracious Spirit; to build there walls of wise, strong, protecting habits, which will fence and guard the soul from intruding enemies.
76. There are all too many who treat this garden, this estate, with careless negligence; they throw their energy and force into everything else—business, love, politics, art, pleasure, society; but themselves, their own spirit, their own character, they leave to fare as best it may without care and without culture.
77. Very sad indeed are the results of this foolish and guilty negligence. This picture of the sluggard’s garden will tell us what they are.
    I. UNSIGHTLINESS. What a dreary picture—weeds, thistles, thorns, a broken wall! The eye turns from it with repugnance. And the neglected garden of the soul? Instead of the beautiful flowers of Christian reverence and love, and the lair fruits of holiness and zeal, and the strong walls of a noble character, there are seen by God and man the unsightly weeds of transgression, of selfishness, of untruthfulness—perhaps the thorns of intemperance and impurity and profanity.
    II. WASTE. African travellers tell us that passing over uncultivated regions they have to make their way through all kinds of rank growth, grass, or shrub which is high, strong, or thorny, covering many miles at a stretch. What waste is there! What corn, what fruit, would not that land produce? Alas! for the pitiful waste of an uncultured human soul! What beauties might not be seen there, what fruits might not be grown there, what graces and virtues might not be produced there, if only the truth of Christ were received into the mind and welcomed to the heart!
    III. MISCHIEF. These weeds will not be confined to the sluggard’s garden; their seeds will be carried by the winds into his neighbour’s, and do mischief enough them.
    A neglected soul is a mischief-working soul. It cannot confine its influence to itself or its own life. Those influences cross the wall and get into the neighbour’s ground. And the seeds of sin are hurtful, poisonous things, spreading error, falsehood, delusion, into the minds of men. If we are not blessing our neighbours by the lives we live, we are an injury and an evil to them.
    IV. RUIN. The man who neglects his estate is really, steadily, ruining himself. He may not see it until it is too late. Poverty has been travelling toward him, but only at the last bend of the road does it come in sight. Want suddenly appears “as an armed man,” strong, irresistible; there is no way of escape; bankruptcy is before him. The soul that is neglected is being ruined; day by day it is being enfeebled, enslaved, deteriorated; the good that was there is lessening and disappearing; the hard crust of selfishness and worldliness is thickening. The soul is being lost; it is perishing. “I considered it well”—”set my heart up in it” (marginal reading) This is, indeed, a thing to be well considered, to “set the heart upon,” for the issues of it are those of life or death. There is time to restore it; but a little more negligence, and the hour of “ruin” will have struck.—C.

Proverbs 24:10
I. The special object of all the training and discipline through which we pass in life is the increase of strength.
II. Every life has its day of adversity. It is in the day of adversity that a man’s character is tested. Adversity makes or mars a man. A man is either the better or the worse for the trial through which he has passed.
III. Think what it is to faint as a Christian. It is to distrust God. Let us glorify God in loss, in suffering, in waiting.
Parker, City Temple, vol. iii., p. 363.
Reference: Pro_24:11.—E. White, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxiv., p. 310.

Proverbs 24:11-12
I. Groundless excuses can be of no avail as made to God, because, in the first place, He is a Being who considers everything. If God considers, if He be a God who searcheth the spirits, a God by whom actions are weighed, then I instantly learn, if there be vanity in an excuse, it must be detected, and if there be falsehood, it must be exposed. There is an overwhelming weight of condemnation in the question, “Doth not He that pondereth the heart consider it?”
II. But Solomon is not content with pointing out to the self-apologist that God considers everything: he goes on to remind him that God knows everything. It is the necessary property of the Divine Being that He should be acquainted with whatsoever was, or is, or is to come, so that to suppose Him ignorant or forgetful of the minutest thing is to charge Him with imperfection; and this, in other words, is to deny the Divinity. Throughout the circuits of immensity there cannot be the motion of a will nor the throb of an affection which escapes God’s observation. His is that omniscience to which there has never been an addition, from which there has never been an abstraction; His is that prodigious mind to which prophecy is history, and to which history is observation, which embraces everything at once, so that it can be said to foreknow or to recollect only in accommodation to our limited faculties, foreknowledge having to do with our future, recollection with our past, but both equally with the interminable present of Him who can describe Himself as “I am that I am.” The question, “Doth not He that pondereth the heart consider it?” is followed with the yet more startling and the yet more overcoming one, “He that keepeth thy soul, doth not He know it?”
III. “Shall He not render to every man according to his works?” Man may be unmoved by our declaration of God as a God who considers and knows; but we have exhausted our resources and are forced to regard him as morally invulnerable if we find him unmoved by the startling interrogation, “and shall not He render to every man according to his works?”
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 2658.
References: Pro_24:11, Pro_24:12.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 2nd series, p. 273. Pro_24:13-22.—R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. iii., p. 115. Pro_24:16.—F. Tholuck, Hours of Devotion, p. 281. Pro_24:17.—J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 8th series, pp. 266, 272, 279, 286. Pro_24:21.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 2nd series, p. 282. Pro_24:23-34.—R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. iii., p. 129.

Proverbs 24:30-32
I. The scene shows that if we will not have flowers and fruits, we shall certainly have thorns and nettles.
II. The scene shows that the sluggard and the fool cannot hide the results of their neglect.
III. The scene shows how possible it is to be right in some particulars and to be grievously wrong in others. The legal right of the slothful man to the possession of the field might be undisputed. It is not enough to possess; we must increase.
IV. The scene shows that even the worst abuses may be turned to good account. Keep your eyes open, and you will read moral lessons everywhere. (1) You will see that the finest possessions may be wasted: property, talent, influence, opportunity. (2) You will see that wickedness always moves in the direction of destruction.
Parker, City Temple, vol. ii., p. 108 (see also Pulpit Notes, p. 48).
References: Pro_24:30-34.—S. Cox, Expositor, 2nd series, vol. vi., p. 401; W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 2nd series, p. 290.

Proverbs 24:32
I. When the learner in God’s school goes out to observe mankind, he will think of the manner, and cautions, and rules for turning what he sees to the most beneficial account and of the most instructive points to fix his attention upon. (1) Let not his observing be merely of the nature of speculation, not simply a seeing and judging what men are. (2) Another admonition is against prejudice and arrogance in observing and judging. (3) Another is against taking pleasure in perceiving and ascertaining what is wrong in man. (4) Another grand rule is that our observations on other men should not be directed or suffered to go to the effect of our being better pleased with ourselves, with this exception: that if Divine grace has really wrought a work in us, we may well be delighted with that as such.
II. To such general considerations there might be added a variety of more special observations. (1) Think of the probable difference between our judgments of the persons we look upon and their own judgments of themselves. (2) One of the most conspicuous things to be noticed in looking on mankind is how temptation operates and prevails. (3) A prominent and mournful thing to be seen in looking on mankind will be the great errors, the lapses, of good men. “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” (4) In looking on men, observe the effect of situation and circumstances. Look watchfully how men are affected, and who shall dare to say, “I have nothing to fear in a like situation”? (5) Happily there are worthier things here and there: exemplary virtues, graces, wisdom; and it is delightful to turn for instruction to these from the many things that instruct us as being evil. Let these better examples be observed, with attention to understand how they are formed and an earnest effort of imitation.
J. Foster, Lectures, 2nd series, p. 29.
References: Pro_24:33, Pro_24:34.—Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 331. Pro_25:1-5.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 2nd series, p. 296. Pro_25:1-7.—R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. iii., p. 143. Pro_25:2.—Spurgeon, My Sermon Notes: Genesis to Proverbs, p. 187. Pro_25:8-13.—R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. iii., p. 152. Pro_25:11.—S. Cox, Expositions, 4th series, p. 149. Pro_25:13, Pro_25:19.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 2nd series, p. 303. Pro_25:14-20.—R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. iii., p. 163. Pro_25:15.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. i., p. 224.

Proverbs 24:1
Like. Be not allured by their prosperity to imitate them, Psa_36:1

Proverbs 24:3
Wisdom and virtue, and not by injustice can the house be established.

Proverbs 24:5
Valiant, as well as a good economist, ver. 4. (Calmet)

Proverbs 24:6
Counsels. “Consult many what ought to be done, but only a few of the most faithful, or rather thyself alone, what thou art about to do.” (Veget. 3:9, and 27.)

Proverbs 24:7
High. Thus the fool excuses himself. But wisdom condescends to our weakness, if we be truly in earnest, Deu_32:12 Mouth. To defend himself, or to give advice. (Calmet)

Proverbs 24:9
Of a fool. In as much as he is wicked. Though he may have some pious thoughts, he attends not to them. (Haydock) — He thinks how he may commit evil, and renders himself hateful. (Calmet) — Hebrew, “a wicked thought is the sin of folly.” Septuagint, “the fool dieth in sins.” — Detractor. Hebrew, “scoffer.” (Haydock)

Proverbs 24:10
Diminished. This is the sad consequences of too much dejection, Eph_4:19 Despairing, they abandon themselves to impurities. (Haydock)

Proverbs 24:11
Deliver. The Jews often put people to death without any formal trial, pretending zeal, as they did St. Stephen, &c. Our Saviour rescued the adulteress from such a situation, as Daniel had done Susanna. Yet this text may regard poor debtors, Psa_71:4 (Calmet) — Christian bishops used all their influence to preserve the lives of those who did not deserve death. (St. Ambrose in Psalm cxviii. Ser. viii. Off. 1:36, and ep. xxv., and xxvi.)

Proverbs 24:12
I have. Hebrew, “behold, we know not this man.” (Pagnin) (Haydock) — He is a stranger. But all mankind are brethren, and have a charge to assist one another, even though they be enemies, Sir_17:12, and Exo_23:4 (Calmet) — Keeper. Hebrew notser, “preserver.” As thou hast received many good things from God, shew mercy to thy neighbour.

Proverbs 24:13
Honey. Of wisdom, which is most delicious. (Menochius)

Proverbs 24:14
Thou shalt. Hebrew, “yea, it is the last.” (Montanus) — “Then there shall be a reward.” (Protestants) — Thou shalt enjoy old age, or have posterity. (Calmet)

Proverbs 24:16
Fall into smaller sins, (St. Gregory vi. in 2 Reg. xv. &c.) or into disgrace, as yippol (Haydock) rather intimates. (Vatable) (St. Augustine, City of God 11:31) — Both significations agree with the context. See Job_5:27, and Mat_18:21 (Calmet) — He who is not subject to mortal sin, may still be exposed to many failings, and venial sins, which do not deprive him of the title of just; whereas the wicked consents to mortal sin, from which he riseth not so easily. Hence the wise man admonishes us not to lie in wait, or calumniously seek impiety in the house or soul of the just. (Worthington)

Proverbs 24:18
From. To punish thee. (Calmet) — Thus will thy thirst of vengeance be disappointed. (Haydock) — The Hebrews believed that there was no evil, which was not caused by sin; and this was true in some sense. But still God often afflicts his servants, (ver. 16,) as the whole book of Job tends to prove. (Calmet)

Proverbs 24:19
Contend. Or Hebrew, “associate.” — Like. Ver. 1., and Psa_36:1

Proverbs 24:20
Come. Protestants, “no reward,” (Haydock) prosperity, &c., as designated also by the lamp, ver. 14. (Calmet)

Proverbs 24:21
Detractors. Or those who speak ill of God or the king. (Calmet) — Protestants, “that are given to change,” (Haydock) and relapses.

Proverbs 24:23
These. Septuagint have an addition, and then our chap. xxx. to ver. 15., after which follows the remainder of this chap. and then the ten first verses of the 31st. (Haydock) — Solomon here resumes the sententious style, chap. 22:17 (Calmet)

Proverbs 24:26
Lips. And be deemed a friend. (Menochius)

Proverbs 24:27
House, and support thy family. Before building, great deliberation is requisite, Luk_14:28 Those who attempt to instruct others, must first set good example.

Proverbs 24:28
Cause, and necessity. Septuagint, “be not a false witness against thy fellow-citizen.”

Proverbs 24:29
Work. Revenge is often reprobated, though the law allowed of retaliation, which the more virtuous did not insist upon.

Proverbs 24:30
Man. Those who neglected their land were despised. (Calmet) — The ancient Romans esteemed agriculture as a most laudible and profitable employment. (Cato, Rust. i.; Cicero, Off. i.)

Proverbs 24:32
Which. Septuagint, “at last I repented: I looked forward to receive instruction.”

Proverbs 24:33
Said I, is not in Hebrew, chap. 6:10 (Calmet) — Septuagint, “I will slumber a while,” to rest. Septuagint, “I will enfold my breast in my hands a little.” (Haydock)

Proverbs 24:16
(1795) The true spirit led believer never quits, even if he falters, he will repent and move on, Mic_7:8.

Proverbs 24:17
Pro_17:5, Psa_35:15

Proverbs 24:21
Rom_13:1-2

Proverbs 24:28
Pro_25:18, Lev_6:2-5

Proverbs 24:29
Mat_5:39, Rev_20:12

Proverbs 24:34
Pro_10:4, Pro_6:9-11

Proverbs 24:1-2

Don’t Be Envious of Evil Men

The father warns his son not to be “envious of evil men” (Pro_24:1 ). He should not “desire to be with them”, for they are bad company (cf. Pro_1:10-19 Pro_3:31 Pro_23:17 ). The envy here goes beyond a mere feeling or expression. It involves a desire to be with evil men because of their apparent prosperity. That is not something the son should be envious of or would like to have. Envy is a hateful, resentful awareness of another’s prosperity.

Feeling or expressing bitterness or indignation over ( supposedly) unfair treatment may be the result of envy: why does he have that prosperity and I do not? In any case, it is dissatisfaction with one’s own circumstances, a dissatisfaction that results from comparing oneself to others while excluding or keeping God out of the circumstances. Envy is a characteristic of people who suffer from shortsightedness.

The word “for” with which Pro_24:2 begins indicates that now follows the reason for the warning of Pro_24:1 . Evil people are obsessed with violence. “Their minds” go out to “violence”, which is devised there. “Their lips” express what is in their mind, which is nothing but “trouble”. They speak words that wish someone only doom, misfortune. They owe their apparent prosperity to the violence they have devised in their minds and the words of doom they have spoken. When the son realizes this, surely he will not be so foolish to be with them.

Proverbs 24:3-4

Building a House and Filling the Rooms

These verses form a unity. They are about the building of a house, its foundation and what to fill its rooms with. To build a good house, to do so on the right foundation and to furnish it with taste requires successively “wisdom”, “ understanding” and “knowledge”. At the same time, the use of these words indicates that it is about more than building a stone house, with rooms that are furnished with furniture.

By “house”, then, we may think here primarily of a household living in that house. It takes “wisdom” to establish a family (Pro_24:3 ). The happiness of a family depends more on the relationships between them than on the bricks and mortar. Only through the wisdom of God can there be good relationships among family members. A house is then established that is well built.

“Understanding” is important for the foundation. This means that God’s Word is the foundation of the functioning of each family member. Understanding that each member of the family is different from every other member and what the differences consist of – such as gender, age, ability – allows each member to be himself or herself. There will be no need to pretend to be better or an exercise of compulsion to make someone do things our way. This also avoids tensions.

The “knowledge” that there is of the capacity each has received from God will encourage the use of those capacities (Pro_24:4 ). As a result, each can make his or her own valuable contribution and be encouraged in it. As a result, “the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches”. Precious and pleasant possessions include love and solidarity, safety and security, acceptance of who you are and being there for others. Children who grow up in an atmosphere of love and security grow up to be loving and peaceful individuals.

We can also apply this to the local church, which we can also see as a family. Wise believers with understanding and knowledge will make every effort to have each believer take the place in the church that the Holy Spirit has assigned to him or her (1Co_12:4 ).

Proverbs 24:5-6

Strength and Victory Through Wisdom

Building the family spoken of in Pro_24:3-4 requires the strength of wisdom (Pro_24:5 ; Ecc_7:19 Ecc_9:15-16 ). In the natural life, a wise man by certain means knows how to carry a load many times heavier than one man can carry. In the spiritual life it does not come down to bodily strength, but to the strength of wisdom. That strength is present in those who live with Christ, the Source of wisdom.

“A wise man” is also “a man of knowledge”. When it comes to the deployment of the power granted by wisdom, its use, knowledge of circumstances is necessary. “A man of knowledge” knows the will of God and wants to do it. He knows how to properly handle his powers and deploy them in the right place. Wisdom for making the right choice and knowledge of the will of God go hand in hand (Col_1:9-11 ).

The word “for” with which Pro_24:6 begins indicates the importance of the power of wisdom and knowledge. We must realize that we are living in spiritual war zone and are engaged in a spiritual battle. That battle rages especially for the families of believers. More than ever, wise counsel is needed for this spiritual war.

A wise man is not stubborn and does not figure out everything on his own. He knows the meaning and value of “wise guidance” from others, with an “abundance of counselors”. Misplaced self-confidence or reliance on his own resources or strength are not an issue with him. God has given us to one another as members of His people. We ask Him for counsel, and we also seek counsel from brothers and sisters who live with Him, which we see by their obedience to and knowledge of God’s Word.

After we have sought guidance, we must “wage war” for ourselves. In everyday life, we are surrounded not by our brothers and sisters, but by a God-hostile world. The world wants to take away from us everything we want to set apart for God, such as our family and possessions. All kinds of obstacles will be put in our way to break down our family, to seize our children. This can happen, for example, through lessons in school and/or decisions of politics that go against God’s Word. Impulsiveness, naivety and indecision lead to defeat. A victorious life results from profound consultation, good thinking and wise fighting.

Proverbs 24:7

Wisdom Is Too Exalted For a Fool

The haughty, hardened fool cannot obtain any wisdom. All wisdom, in any field, is unattainable for him. Wisdom is far beyond his ability. He will never be able to give any wise counsel, and we should therefore never consult him. Therefore, he should also never be given the opportunity to open his mouth in the gate. The gate is the place where city officials discuss problems and make decisions (Pro_31:23 ; Rut_4:1 ). There the fool must not be given the opportunity to let his folly be heard.

Proverbs 24:8-9

Planning to Do Evil and the Devising of Folly

“One who plans to do evil” (Pro_24:8 ) is doing the work of the devil, who cannot do anything but plan to do evil. The devil can rightly be called “a schemer”. He who is not a child of God is a child of the devil (1Jn_3:10 ). All children of the devil have his nature. He inspires them to plan to do evil; they are “inventors of evil” (Rom_1:30 ). Not everyone does this to the same degree, but the principle is in the thinking of all the children of the devil. In particular, this refers to the cold, calculating person who is active in planning to do evil.

Not only the committing of folly is sin, but even all “the devising of folly is sin” (Pro_24:9 ). The folly of a scoffer is indeed the height of folly. This type of person tramples on all morality. Even people who want nothing to do with God, but who still maintain a certain morality, get disgusted with him at some point. A scoffer is one who not only rejects what he should believe, but laughs at and ridicules and despises what he should believe. He does the same to those who believe.

Proverbs 24:10

Test of Distress

“The day of distress” is not a literal twenty-four-hour day, but any day or period of difficulty and trial that can make life distressing. Those who then become slack and discouraged and want to give up life with the Lord show little strength. There is no strength of spirit and the hands hang limp (cf. Heb_12:12-13 ). It is precisely in a day of distress that it becomes clear whether a person possesses the strength of wisdom (Pro_24:5 ), so that his eye remains focused on the Source of wisdom (Isa_40:31 ).

Solomon uses a play on words here to emphasize the connection between the two lines of verse. The Hebrew word for “distressed” is sarah and the word for “limited” (literally: narrow) is sar. It is good to strengthen ourselves in God in days of distress (1Sa_30:6 ; Psa_84:6 ). Then God’s strength will be perfected in our weakness (2Co_12:9 ).

Proverbs 24:11-12

Deliver Those Who Go to Slaughter

God gives His people the responsibility to deliver people who are in mortal danger (Pro_24:11 ). These are people who are “taken away” and face a certain death, without any possibility of delivering themselves from that situation. The words “death” and “slaughter” indicate the seriousness of the situation. These people are innocent victims of gangs of robbers or circumstances beyond their control. They are about to be killed, slaughtered. “Staggering”, exhausted, they are driven toward death. If deliverance does not dawn very soon from an unsuspected side, it is over with them.

The assignment is clear. We must do everything possible to deliver them from death. An impending “Oh” sounds if we stand aside, if we remain aloof and passive. The Hebrew midwives did not throw the baby boys into the Nile against Pharaoh’s command, but saved them (Exo_1:13-17 ). Esther risked her life to save her people who were doomed (Est_3:6-13 Est_4:13-16 Est_8:4-6 ). They saved and did not remain aloof. Even the prophet Obadiah who served in Ahab’s court saved prophets from death by hiding and providing food for them (1Kg_18:4 ).

The spiritual application for us is that we tell the people of the world that they “are being taken away to death”. Because of sin, they are handed over to death. Here there is no question of being innocent, but rather of lacking any ability to save themselves. Our responsibility is to tell the people of the world that they can escape the judgment of God by confessing their sins and believing in the Lord Jesus. If we fail to do so, an impending ‘woe’ sounds for us. Paul understood this and said: “For woe is me if I do not preach the gospel” (
1Co_9:16 ).

We will be held accountable for all those instances where we have known of eternal death to which people were headed and that we have not pointed out the possibility of escaping it (Eze_33:1-33 ). We cannot come up with “see, we did not know this” (Pro_24:12 ). Ignorance is not an excuse when we have deliberately closed our eyes to an evil. It sounds like the excuse Germans used after World War II regarding the Holocaust, which has become a winged word: ‘Wir haben es nicht gewusst’ (‘We did not know it’).

With the excuse of ignorance you can sometimes get away with people, but not with God. He constantly tests the hearts and notices without mistaking whether truth dwells in them. He watches the soul, sees how life is lived and what drives it. Heart and soul are under His constant supervision, and no motive escapes Him. He therefore knows perfectly whether the claim not to have known is true or whether it is a lie.

Based on His omniscience, He will “render to man according to his work” (Rev_22:12 ), whereby it is impossible for Him to err. Rendering to man according to his work means that man is measured by the measure by which he has measured. Those who have not shown mercy will not receive mercy. He who could have saved the lives of others and failed to do so will die.

Proverbs 24:13-14

Sweetness of Wisdom

The father exhorts his son to eat honey (Pro_24:13 ) because he wants to apply the eating of honey to the knowing of wisdom (Pro_24:14 ). What honey does to the body is similar for the soul to know wisdom.

The father urges his son to eat honey (Pro_24:13 ) because he wants to apply eating honey to knowing wisdom (Pro_24:14 ). What honey is to his body, is knowing wisdom to his soul.

Honey is good for it is healthy (Pro_24:13 ). Honey from the comb is the best of honey. It is the honey that separates from the honeycombs by itself, without pressing, without human action. It is the purest. It says several times of the land of Canaan that it is a land flowing with milk and honey. Honey is a special blessing from God for His earthly people.

To “know wisdom” (Pro_24:14 ) has the health and sweetness of honey. It has the added quality of a delight that lasts forever (cf. Psa_19:10 Psa_119:103 ; Eze_3:3 ). The father speaks of it to his son that he must seek it, for he must find it. He promises him that his efforts will be richly rewarded. He will enjoy the sweetness of it now, and for the “future” he will have “hope”. Attached to wisdom are future and hope. Wisdom gives a hope that is not cut off, a hope that does not shame.

Those who have tasted honey need no further proof that it is sweet. They will not be able to be convinced by any argument to the contrary, for after all, they have tasted it themselves. The same is true in spiritual application for those who have experienced the power of the wisdom of God in Christ. All the atheists in the world, with all their fallacies, cannot reason away that taste or take away its enjoyment.

Honey is the product of bees working diligently together and not of whoever collects the honey. There is a richness attached to knowing wisdom that is obtained by feeding on what others have already gathered. The honey from the comb we enjoy when we engage directly with the Source of wisdom, with Christ, by reading in God’s Word. The honey that we take to ourselves when we are with brothers and sisters and the honeycomb that we take to ourselves when we read God’s Word are enjoyed by us personally.

Proverbs 24:15-16

A Righteous Man Falls, but Rises Again

The wicked, possibly the wickedly behaving son, is commanded “not to lie in wait… against the dwelling of the righteous” (Pro_24:15 ). The purpose of lying in wait is to watch for an opportunity to break in and steal, for example, when the righteous leaves his dwelling. He may even want to cause so much mischief that he wants to destroy the “resting place” of the righteous. The word for “resting place” is also used for the stable of the sheep, where they go to lie down. It draws the righteous as a sheep that is defenseless and innocent. He who lies in wait against that resting place and sets out to break in and destroy the resting place is a wolf, a symbol of the devil.

It is senseless and also works its own destruction, to mistreat anyone of God’s people, for he always survives (Pro_24:16 ). The wicked, on the other hand, perish in the mischief they do. To attack a righteous person is to attack God, and it will always prove impossible to overcome Him (cf. Mat_16:18 ). A righteous man may fall a number of times, he will rise again (Psa_37:24 ; Mic_7:8 ; Job_5:19 ). Conversely, the wicked will not survive. Without God, they have no power to survive misfortune. In the end, the righteous will triumph and those against them will stumble in their calamity.

“Seven times” means a rounded number. God allows the righteous to experience as much discipline as He sees fit. Those disciplinary actions serve to his purification, not his ruin. The righteous overcomes even a severe fall, while the wicked merely stumble, after which it is over and done with them. Peter fell many times, but rose again and again. Judas stumbled in calamity and remained down.

Proverbs 24:17-18

No Malicious Pleasure

Solomon prohibits his son from gloating when his enemy falls (Pro_24:17 ). He must not even be glad in his heart, that is, have any inner satisfaction over it, if his enemy stumbles. These are personal enemies, people who make our life difficult. It is perhaps understandable to be thankful when something happens to our enemy because it frees us from a tormentor, but rejoicing over it is something else. Here it is about rejoicing over the fall of an enemy with the thought that he is getting his due. Gloating plays a role in this. Such rejoicing is forbidden.

David did not rejoice over the fall of Saul and also called for ensuring that others would not do so (2Sa_1:20 ). A former bodyguard of the cruel Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein who managed to escape from his grip and then came to know Christ said he did not rejoice over the dictator’s death. The thought of this cruel man being in the place of pain did not give him joy, but sorrow. The Lord Jesus says we should love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Mat_5:44 ).

In Pro_24:18 we are told why we are advised not to rejoice in a gloating way over the fall of our enemy. God allowed our enemy to harass us because He had a purpose in doing so. If He causes the enemy to be eliminated and we gloat over that, we are offending a creature of God. That is evil in the eyes of God. Then He can turn His wrath away from our enemy, causing him to act like our enemy again, perhaps in a different guise. We are then not rid of him.

Proverbs 24:19-20

The Evil Man Has No Future

Pro_24:19 looks like a quote Solomon copied from his father David, who said the same thing (Psa_37:1 ; Pro_23:17 Pro_24:1 ). It is foolish to “fret because of evildoers” and to be “envious of the wicked”. Pro_24:20 gives the reason for this, which can be seen by the word “for” with which the verse begins. The future fate of the wicked should keep the son from becoming envious of their present prosperity. Their prosperity has an expiration date. After that, it is finished. He must also realize that God in His providence still allows evil-doers and wicked people to have their way. They are under His control, even though it seems as if they can go about their business undisturbed.

What they do can make us angry in some cases and envious in others. It just depends on what they are doing and how we view or have to do with it. If we only look at them and their behavior, we get to such feelings. Then we show a very short-sighted view of them. We need to be aware that evil has no future, but will be judged and locked in hell for eternity, with no prospect of deliverance. The lamp of wicked people, that is, their light of life, will not shine forever. Their life will be extinguished, as happens with an oil lamp that is blown out. Nor will their lamp ever be lit again (Job_18:5-6 Job_21:17 ).

Proverbs 24:21-22

Fear the LORD and the King

Solomon addresses his son very directly (“my son”) to hold out to him that he must fear both God and the king (Pro_24:21 ). He tells him to have reverence for the highest authority in the universe, that of God, and the God-established authority on earth that represents Him, the king (1Pe_2:17 ; Rom_13:1-7 ). He can do this by submitting to it and obeying it.

Opposed to fearing God and the king is “being given to change”. By “change” is meant here the abandonment of God’s authority and that of His representative on earth. These are people who no longer want to be obedient to Him, who rebel against His authority. They want to overthrow His authority and that of the king. Such people want to make changes in the God-given authority structures and bend them to their own will.

These are people who bend God’s Word to their will and thereby cast it aside. Certain authority structures, such as that of husband and wife, are declared time-bound. What God’s Word says about them is declared obsolete and thus outlawed. We see this in politics, in society, in families and also in churches. Authority has become a ‘dirty’ word.

Pro_24:22 gives the reason for the previous verse’s warning. We see this in the word “for” with which the verse begins. If the son engages with these rebels against the authority of God and the king, the changemakers and innovators or new-lighters, he will share in the ruin that will suddenly loom before them. God and the King – by Him is ultimately meant the Lord Jesus – will “both” assert their authority. What that will bring about in terms of tribulation for the rebels remains a question for a while. That only makes the warning all the more threatening.

The reward for those who live in peace under the authority of God in the world is the escape from the calamities that will come upon the rebellious. Those who are under authority and respect it will not harm one another. They are kept from envying and even striking one another (cf. Mt. 24:48-49). A positive effect of recognition of authority is the presence of rest and peace.

Proverbs 24:23-26

No Partiality in Judgment

Here a new section begins, but clearly in close connection with the preceding one (Proverbs 22:17-24:22). This is evident from the words “these also are sayings” (Pro_24:23 ). The now following sayings or proverbs – in Pro_24:23-34 – are “of” or “for the wise”. They are meant for those who are already wise, but who want to become even wiser. Wisdom is demonstrated precisely by a person’s desire to grow in wisdom.

This section begins by condemning partiality in judgment (Pro_24:23 ). The point is that a judge must clearly distinguish between righteousness and evil (Pro_18:5 ; Lev_19:15 ; Deu_16:19 ). He must not confuse the two and apply them to the wrong person out of partiality.

For example, he must not say to a wicked person: “You are righteous” (Pro_24:24 ). If he does, not only will God judge him, but he will also bring upon himself the curse of the peoples and the abhorrence of the nations. This is not just any opinion, nor is it just anyone saying this. Here is someone speaking who speaks justice in public and does so in the Name of God. This is a gross violation of justice and also a great dishonor to the Judge of the whole earth. A judge who is so partial as to pronounce such a verdict is cursed and abhorred by everyone everywhere on earth.

When justice is done by condemning the wicked and acquitting the righteous, it is a delight to those “who rebuke” (Pro_24:25 ). Over judges who uphold justice and over those who rejoice in it will come a good blessing. God finds in them the characteristics of Himself. There is always blessing associated with doing and standing up for justice.

In order for justice to be upheld and for a judge to make the right judgment in a case, it is important for a witness to give “a right answer” (Pro_24:26 ). It may also be about the judge making a proper decision in a case. A right answer is a valuable contribution to peace and rest in the land, which we may apply to the local church. He who does this does not receive curses (Pro_24:24 ), but expressions of love.

Kissing the lips is a recognition of the value of the right answers given. Such words do not bring separation, but connect in love. A kiss is also a sign of reconciliation (Psa_2:12 ). One who gives a right answers works reconciliation.

Proverbs 24:27

Financial Independency

This verse is about setting the right priorities in life. It tells us to do the things that need to be done first. First one thing, “afterwards” the other. We must keep the right order in our pursuits. If we do not, our life becomes chaos and ends in failure.

The application can be made to forming a family. Before a person can begin that, he must be able to support his family. Therefore, he must first have an income. He can get that by working for it. From what he earns by working, he can start building his house, that is, forming a family and also maintaining it.

Proverbs 24:28-29

A False Witness and Revenge

Pro_24:28 is a warning not to be tempted to testify against a neighbor without a clear reason. We may find ourselves in circumstances where colleagues or people close to us ask our opinion about the behavior of someone with whom we work or who lives in our neighborhood, with the intention of denouncing such a person. If we personally have not had a particular experience with the person in question, we should not let ourselves be misled and not be a witness in that matter. The message is that there must be very solid reasons before anyone should ever go against a neighbor as a witness.

Nor should feelings of revenge play any role in a lawsuit (Pro_24:29 ). Still less should anyone take the law into his own hands. If someone has wronged us, we might use either option, but they are both wrong. We must not repay someone for the evil he has done to us. We may not even say it, out loud or in our hearts.

To have this mind requires that we trust God. It does not escape Him that evil has been done to us. Nor does our reaction to it escape Him. He knows how we may react. If we want to repay someone, we take the place of God as Judge (Rom_12:19 ). Injustice done to us, we may, as the Lord Jesus did, surrender “to Him who judges righteously” (1Pe_2:23 ). This was also the attitude David took toward Saul. He did not want to be his own judge, but surrendered Saul to God and waited to see what He would do with Saul. In doing so, he did not come out of that ashamed.

Proverbs 24:30-34

Lesson of the Sluggard

In these verses, the wise Solomon tells of a walk he took and what he noticed. To this he connects a lesson for himself and for his son. It happened that he “passed by the field of the sluggard” (Pro_24:30 ). He did not seek out that field, but simply passed by it. Yes, that field had been a vineyard, at least he got that impression, but there was nothing left of it.

That was because its management lay in the hands “of the man lacking sense”. Only such a man, without the slightest sense of responsibility, could let his vineyard run wild like this. This is not someone without a spine, but someone without a brain, without a mind, literally without a heart. He lacked not the strength, but the will.

“And behold” (Pro_24:31 ), as he walked by there, he observed some things. The wise man was not daydreaming or sleepwalking, but taking in the situation around him. In the field there were not just a few weeds here and there, no, “it was completely overgrown with thistles”. There was no longer a patch of soil to be seen, for “its surface was covered with nettles”. Where grapes should have grown, there was an abundance of thistles and nettles. These do not appear overnight. No work had been done here for a long time.

Thus a similar situation can arise in the life of a believer who is unfaithful to the Lord and forgets Him more and more. The good fruits of faith that gladden the heart (the vineyard speaks of joy) disappear and in their place come nettles and thistles that hurt and injure. The consequences of sin in creation have made their way into the believer’s sphere of life.

The wise man also saw that “his stone wall had broken down”. All protection was gone. The property could be entered by anyone. If the house of the sluggard were also located there, any burglar could reach it with the greatest ease.

We are talking about a field that was previously a vineyard. Israel is compared to a vineyard (Isa_5:1-7 ). The vineyard is to yield wine. Wine is a picture of joy (Jdg_9:13 ; Psa_104:15 ). God wanted to rejoice in His people, but His people did not bring Him that joy. The vineyard had become a field through laziness, on which the symbols of sin (Gen_3:18 ), the works of the flesh, were rampant.

We can make an application here. If we are spiritually lazy, “nettles” and “thistles”, that is, sinful things, will overgrow the vineyard of our life. God cannot then rejoice over our life, for nothing in it reminds Him of the life of the Lord Jesus. And if we allow the wall of separation from the world to crumble, the world and worldly thinking gain entrance into our lives and we will become victims of destruction.

After the observation in Pro_24:30-31 , the wise man draws a lesson for himself and shares it with us (Pro_24:32-34 ). What he saw, he reflected upon in his heart. It held an instruction, an instruction without words. One of the best learning methods is to behold something, that is, to look at something with intense attention, and take it to heart. Then we really learn from it. If we see the evil consequences of an act or attitude, it will warn us not to do such acts nor adopt such an attitude.

What Solomon saw, which was an instruction to him, will keep him from laziness. It starts with a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest. It is all just “a little”, but all those little bits are like the robber who also does not run fast, but steadily continues his way. And all those little bits together are like an armed man. All the bits sleeping and slumbering and lying with folded hands result in poverty and lack (Pro_6:10-11 ).

Proverbs 24:1-6
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_24:5. A man of knowledge, rather “a man of understanding,” increaseth strength, literally “maketh power strong.” Miller translates the entire verse thus:—“A strong man, if wise, is as a power indeed; and a man of knowledge makes strength really strong.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Pro_24:1-6
HOUSE BUILDING
I. An undertaking founded upon wickedness lacks the first element of stability. A house built upon a sandy foundation, we all know, does not possess the first requisite of safety. It is useless to erect any building for fine weather purposes only—if it is not able to stand a storm all the labour expended upon it is lost. Those places are very few where the tempest does not come sometimes, and even if we could find so favoured a spot, a sandy foundation would not be a permanent one. The ordinary play of the elements and the changes of the seasons would be ever at work upon the loose and shifting soil, and in time the house must fall. So it is with any work undertaken with an evil purpose or from wicked motives. There are laws at work in God’s universe which will forbid such a building to remain long in existence. It is very easy work to lay the stones in the sand—much more easy than to hew out a place for them in the solid rock—and the apparently rapid success of evil men and evil deeds tempts many an unwise builder to work after their method. But the experience of the Psalmist is repeated in every age and must be to the end of time: “I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not; yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.” (Psa_37:35-36.)
II. True wisdom consists in patient continuance in well-doing. In this passage, as throughout the entire Book of Proverbs, wisdom is set up as the rival of evil, and sin is accounted as the height of folly. The wise man accounts everything foolishness which is against the moral law of the universe, and the good man is in his estimation the only wise man. That this is a just and true estimate is apparent to all who look a little beneath the surface of things—to all who realise that it is one thing to seem and another thing to be. The mansion upon the sand-bank appears to be a more desirable dwelling place than the cottage upon the rock, but time will prove which is the safer of the two. But permanence or safety are not the only recommendations to the house of wisdom. There is a satisfaction and a positive joy to be found in doing the right to which the evil-doer is a stranger. To be on the side of the good is to be on the side of God and of conscience, to know from experience that all the moral powers of the soul grow stronger with use, and such experimental knowledge fills the chambers of the soul “with all precious and pleasant riches” (Pro_24:4). These considerations ought to make it easy to obey Solomon’s precept: “Be not envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them.” The mariner on even a stormy sea would not envy the dweller in the lighthouse if he knew that the waves were rapidly undermining its foundation and rendering its speedy fall certain, and to envy a man a short-lived prosperity which must have a sad end is as contrary to the dictates of reason and self-love. A consideration of their “end” (Psa_73:17) is a good preservative against such an envy, and has been tried by many men since the days of Asaph with the same success. But without bringing the future into the present, envy of the wicked may be effectually prevented if we can realise their present loss. The inhabitant of the dwelling filled with materials to satisfy his bodily and mental appetites and wants does not envy him whose house is destitute of such comforts. Yet that would be more reasonable than for him who has the opportunity of rearing for himself a well-furnished house of wisdom—of building a character which shall be in itself a source of satisfaction and joy to his better nature—to desire the empty and unsatisfying portion of evil doers.
For Homiletics on Pro_24:6 considered by itself see on chap. Pro_11:14, page 214, and on chap. Pro_20:18, page 590.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_24:1. Sin is like sound, and it finds the moral nature of fallen man, like the atmosphere, a good conducting medium. The word or deed of evil does not terminate where it is produced. It radiates all round; and beside the direct propagation from a centre by diverging lines, it further reduplicates itself by rebounding like an echo from every object upon which it falls. Human beings may well stand in awe when they consider the self-propagating power of sin, and the facilities which their own corruption affords it. Different persons are affected in different ways. One is shaken by the example of wickedness in its first out-go, another by its rebounding blow, One is carried away in the stream, another hurts himself by his violent efforts to resist it. Some imitate the sin. Others fret against the sinner, Both classes do evil and suffer injury, Whether you be impatiently “envious against evil men,” or weakly “desirous to be with them,” you have sustained damage by the contact.—Arnot.
To be envious against evil men is plainly to confess ourselves to be worse than they are. For, as St. Gregory speaketh, we cannot envy except it be those whom we think to be better than ourselves. Indeed, to envy against evil men is to make wickedness to be goodness, and to show no goodness to be in his heart that is so envious.… Whosoever thou be that envieth evil men, I cannot tell who should envy thee, except the devil, because thou strivest to be more wicked than he is. For they are only the godly that he is envious against.—Jermin.
Pro_24:4. The last virtue here spoken of is knowledge, whereby the inward rooms of the house are filled with all precious substance; unto the providing and treasuring up of food, of money, and all things necessary and comfortable, the knowledge of times, the prices of things, and of the means whereby commodities may be obtained, is requisite.… It is not to be marvelled at that many young married folk and householders in these days have nothing in their families but want of necessaries and bare walls, seeing they want both wisdom and understanding, and knowledge.—Muffett.
Riches imply (1) plenty of that which is precious and pleasant. (2) Propriety. They must be that which is their own; and hereunto economical prudence much conduceth. God bestoweth abundance on the wicked ex largitate, only out of a general providence; but upon his people that are good husbands ex promisso, by virtue of this and the like promises.—Trapp.
Pro_24:5. A strong man. (See Miller’s rendering in the CRITICAL NOTES.) A common man, a better sort of man, a strong man, a mortal or weak man, are the four words for man in the Bible. This is a strong man. It means strong in a worldly sense. That man, if wise, is as a power indeed.… The meaning is that a “strong” man, if not “wise,” is not “strong” at all; that piety is itself strength; that the stronger a man without it, the weaker he is; that a strong man who is pious, not only becomes strong in that, but strong really by his worldly strength; because piety gives realness to every gift.—Miller.
I. Intelligence apart from piety is power. A man who has great intelligence, and knows how to use it, possesses a power superior to any physical force.… II. Piety apart from intelligence is a higher kind of power. It is the patience of love, endurance, patience, compassion; it is a power which will touch men’s hearts, move the very arm of Omnipotence, “take hold upon the strength of God.” III. Piety associated with intelligence is the highest creature power. What power on earth is equal to that possessed by the man of vast intelligence and consecrated affections, the man of sunny intellect and Heaven-inspired sympathies and aims?—Dr. David Thomas.
A wise man is not only strong in having wisdom, but in getting strength also.… For by wisdom knowing well the want and need of strength, he is careful and diligent to procure it; whereas many times strength, being presumptuous upon its own might, seeks not for wisdom to support it, and falls for want of having it.—Jermin.

Proverbs 24:7-9
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_24:7. Wisdom is too high, etc. Delitzsch here reads, Wisdom seems to the fool to be an ornamental commodity, and thinks “the comparison lies in the rarity, costliness, and unattainableness of wisdom.” “The word,” says Miller, “occurs but three times in the Bible; once in Job_28:18, translated coral; once in Eze_27:16, translated coral and agate; and once in this passage, where it ought to be translated coral again.” Some, from this rendering, understand the verse to signify that the fool uses wisdom like a precious stone, only for ornament.
Pro_24:8. Mischievous person, literally a master or lord of mischief.
Pro_24:9. The thought, etc., rather, “the device or undertaking.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_24:7
A FALSE ESTIMATE AND A TRUE ONE
I. The fool’s estimate of wisdom. Solomon here gives the fool’s own reason for remaining in his folly, viz., that wisdom is difficult to acquire—that neither intellectual or spiritual knowledge can be gained without pains and self-denial. This is of course saying in effect that they are worthless, and this false estimate lies at the root of all ignorance, whether it be mental or moral. For if we can make a man feel that a thing is good and will bring him good, he will not be unwilling to seek to possess it, and his search and his pursuit will be diligent, and eager, and continuous, in proportion to the good which he believes the possession will bring to him. The idle schoolboy complains of the difficulty of his tasks, and of the severity of his teacher, because he does not rightly estimate the value of knowledge, and the moral fool finds fault with the methods of becoming spiritually wise, because he has no sense of the worth of such wisdom. But it must not be forgotten that the longer the fool makes the excuse of the text, the more true it becomes. The powers of the intellect, like those of the body, are less capable of use the longer they remain idle. If a healthy man is so indolent as to refuse to walk, his legs by long disuse may become unable to perform their office, and if the mental powers are left unexercised in youth, it is more difficult to use them to purpose in middle life. And it is so, too, with the spiritual perceptions and capabilities. Although it is never too late to acquire the highest wisdom, it certainly seems more out of the reach of the man who has neglected to seek it throughout a long life, than of him who gives to its pursuit the vigour and freshness of his youth.
II. The consequent estimate which wise men form of the fool. If men undervalue wisdom, they themselves are little valued, and their words and opinions have no weight with wise men. As it is a mark of folly generally to “open the mouth,” although nothing comes therefrom that is worth anything, the declaration that a fool “openeth not his mouth in the gate” must point, not to his own modesty or conscious inability to speak wisely, but to the estimation in which he is held by others.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
In bodily things, the more weighty they are, the lower they fall; the lighter they are, the higher they go. Contrariwise is it in the things of the soul, and the more weighty they are, the higher they are; the lighter they are, the lower they lie. It is therefore the lightness of a fool’s brain that makes wisdom too high for him: the giddiness of his head is not able to look up unto the height of it.… Therefore St. Gregory saith, If thou wilt find wisdom, tread upon the waves of this world, and walk upon the waters of this life, as St. Peter did, and she will reach forth her right hand to thee, as she did to Peter.—Jermin.
Pro_24:8-9 treat of subjects which have occurred more than once before. See on chap. Pro_6:12-19, page 81.

Proverbs 24:10
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_24:10. If thou faint, etc., rather “If thou hast been straitened in the day of straitness, strait is thy strength.” “The principle,” says Dr. Aitken, “is familiar enough, that courage and hopefulness is half a man’s strength.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_24:10
THE DAY OF ADVERSITY
I. The inevitable in human experience. The day of adversity is an ordination of God, as a necessary element in man’s moral training. The human rulers of a well-ordered State make certain provisions for the education of the young, and these provisions necessarily include many things that are distasteful, and even painful, to the pupils. But if they were left to map out their own course, and to arrange for themselves the plan of their education, we well know that the result in the end would be unsatisfactory to everybody, and most of all to themselves when they were old enough to judge. Even so is it with mankind and the Ruler of the world. God has purposed that men shall be subject to such a course of instruction and discipline as shall at least give them an opportunity of becoming wiser and better, and the day of adversity is an indispensable element in such a training. It therefore does not come to us by chance, nor is it always to be regarded in the light of a penalty for special sin, but is a token of Divine interest in our real welfare—an expression of Divine desire for our moral growth. It is wise, then, for all to recognise the fact that adversity in some form or other, at some period or other, is an inevitable event in their human life.
II. The test of human character. No man knows his moral strength until he comes face to face with trial. The chain that holds the vessel to the quay is only as strong as the weakest link, and if that one gives way the vessel is loosed from her moorings as surely as if every link was broken. So human character is only as strong as its weakest point, and if a severe strain is brought to bear upon a man, he will break down there. In the day of adversity every virtue and excellence that we possess will be subjected to a severe test, and if only one of them is found unequal to the trial, the whole character suffers, and we are in danger of losing our hold upon God, and so drifting from the right course. A man may have a high opinion of his own physical strength, and fancy that he is well able to grapple with any foe who might attack him. But it is not till he is in the grip of his antagonist that he knows how much or how little he is able to do and to bear. If he finds himself on the ground, stunned and bleeding, he rises from the struggle with a lower estimate of his own muscular strength than he had before. And so it is with the inner man when the day of adversity overtakes it—we think that our faith and moral courage are equal to any emergency, but we are sometimes stricken down to the dust and “faint” from the weight of a blow which we thought beforehand we could withstand, and for the rest of our lives have less confidence in our spiritual strength.
III. A strengthener of human character. Although men often “faint” in the day of adversity, or find their resources insufficient to meet their needs in the hour of trial, it is not necessarily the case, nor is it always so. Indeed, the intention of trial is not to take away our strength, but to increase it. If the day of adversity proves too much for our strength, the encounter may leave us morally weaker than we were before; but if we bear it courageously, and do not allow it to drive us to despair, or even to doubt, we come out of the ordeal stronger than when we entered into it. If a tree has too firm a hold upon the soil to be uprooted by the tempest, the shaking will but make it firmer still, and if our confidence and hope in God are not lessened by the blasts of adversity, they are rendered stronger and brighter, and more fitted to encounter the next storm. But fainting at the first blow of adversity leaves very little strength to meet the next trial, and this thought seems also to be in the proverb as it stands in the Hebrew.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
If you were to hear some men’s experience you would think they grew as the white pine grows, with straight grain and easily split, for I notice that all that grow easy split easy. But there are some that grow as the mahogany grows, with veneering knots, and all quirls and contortions of grain; that is the best timber of the forest which has most knots.… There are many who are content to grow straight, like weeds on a dunghill; but there are many others who want to be stalwart and strong like the monarchs of the forest, and yet when God sends the winds of adversity to sing a lullaby in their branches, they do not like to grow in that way. They dread the culture that is really giving toughness to their soul and strength to its fibre. Beecher.
The time of man’s distress, though it be a night of sorrow and trouble, which it bringeth to the soul, yet is it a day also, because it showeth truly to the soul what a man is.—Jermin.

Proverbs 24:11-12
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_24:11. Literally, “Deliver them who are dragged forth unto death, and them that totter to the slaughter, oh, rescue them.”
Pro_24:12. He that pondereth, literally, the Weigher of hearts. He that keepeth, rather “watcheth.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_24:11-12
POSITIVE PUNISHMENT FOR A NEGATIVE CRIME
I. The negative crime. The question “Am I my brother’s keeper?” is here answered with an emphatic affirmative, for whatever may be the special reference of the words it is plain that they condemn as criminal the non-interposition of the strong on behalf of the weak and distressed. This crime may be committed from various causes. Those who are guilty of it may be entirely indifferent to the sufferings of others. There are many men and women who, if they are at ease themselves, never concern themselves about the sufferings of others—it matters not to them who is hungry so as they are well fed, and what privations others may be enduring while their needs are supplied. But the crime is oftener chargeable to moral cowardice and unwillingness to practice self-denial. A man may be sufficiently concerned for the danger of a drowning brother to throw him a rope, but he may shrink from throwing himself into the water and risking a watery grave on his behalf. So he may pity the ignorant and the erring and feel sad when he thinks of their sorrows and their sins, and yet be unwilling to sacrifice his money or his leisure or his social position in endeavours to save them. But the proverb seems to deal especially with what seems at first sight to be a less blameworthy class of persons than either of these—with those who have never considered the claims which others have upon them—who are really ignorant how many hearts are breaking around them and how many are perishing for the want of a helping hand. But this ignorance is here regarded as criminal. “Evil is wrought for want of thought, as well as want of heart,” but it is as much evil in the one case as in the other, and the want of thought is a sin in itself. And so is the want of knowledge here. God will not admit the plea “I knew it not,” but holds him who utters it guilty for his ignorance as well as for his neglect.
II. The positive punishment. No truth is taught more plainly in the Bible, than that men will not escape retribution of some kind because they have simply abstained from doing ill. The possessor of the one talent did not put it to a bad use, or throw it away. He kept it carefully wrapped in a napkin. But the sentence passed upon him was not merely that he should be deprived of his privilege, or that reward should be withheld, but:—“Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness.” (Mat_25:30). “The tree that was only barren was burned,” says an old writer. The justice of this will be seen the more we consider how much actual wrong-doing on the part of some is chargeable to the not-doing of others. How much sin might be prevented if those who have it in their power sought to deliver others from bodily, or social, or moral death.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
“He that keepeth thy soul, doth not He know it.” This favour of God may be here mentioned partly as a strong obligation upon Him to preserve him who was made after God’s image, and whom God hath commanded him to love and preserve; partly to an encouragement to the performance of his duty herein from the consideration of God’s special care and watchfulness over those who do their duty; and partly to intimate to them the danger of neglect of this duty whereby they will forfeit God’s protection over themselves.—Poole.
The condition of sinners may be regarded as here very aptly set forth. They are “drawn unto death”—
seized, or apprehended for death, and “ready to be slain:”—and the death to which they are doomed,—O how unutterably fearful! But you may naturally meet me with an objection here. In their condition there is no injustice; no unrighteous and cruel oppression. The sentence of death under which they lie is a divine sentence—in perfect accordance with all the principles of equity:—the sword with which they are “ready to be slain” is the sword of divine justice itself. They deserve to die the death. To attempt to prevent it would be to arrest the hand of God. Ought not divine, and therefore unimpeachable, justice to have its course? The objection—otherwise irresistible—God has Himself removed. Justice, infinite justice, had all its claims acknowledged and fulfilled on Calvary. On the ground of the sacrifice there offered, the atonement there made, the God of justice and mercy has called on sinners to accept pardon, in the name and for the sake of His Son. His call comes with authority. It is a command. It is in virtue of the satisfaction of justice in the atonement of Christ, that we ourselves enjoy our own deliverance from the death and destruction to which, in common with all, we were devoted. And the very same authority that commanded us to believe and be saved, enjoins on us to be agents in attempting the rescue of others. O! what should we not be ready to do, to sacrifice, to suffer, for such an end!—to effect such a rescue!—Wardlaw.
When Samuel Romilly’s Bill to abolish the punishment of death for a theft amounting to the sum of five shillings passed the English House of Commons, it was thrown out by a majority in the House of Lords. Among those who voted against the Bill were one archbishop and five bishops. Our poet here in the Proverbs is of a different mind. Even the law of Sinai appoints the punishment of death only for man-stealing.… In expressions like the above a true Christian spirit rules the spirit which condemns all bloodthirstiness of justice, and calls forth to a crusade, not only against the inquisition, but against all unmerciful and cruel executions.—Delitzsch.
The Hebrew midwives, and Esther in after ages, thus delivered their own people drawn unto death. Reuben delivered Joseph from the pit. Job was the deliverer of the poor in the extremity. Jonathan saved his friend at imminent risk to himself. Obadiah hid the Lord’s prophets. Ahikam and Ebed-melech saved Jeremiah. Johanan attempted to deliver the unsuspecting Gedaliah. Daniel preserved the wise men of Babylon. The Samaritan rescued his neighbour from death. Paul’s nephew delivered the great Apostle by informing him of the murderous plot. The rule includes all oppression, which has more or less of the character of murder.—Bridges.
“Who is lord over us?” is the watchword of the life-long battle between an evil conscience and a righteous Judge. Here the commandment is exceeding broad. Like Divine omniscience, it compasses the transgressor before and behind. It checks his advance, and cuts off his retreat. Although a man should actually maintain in relation to every brother the neutrality he professes, it would avail him nothing.… What ails our brother, that he needs the compassion of a tender heart and the help of a strong hand? He is “drawn unto death,” and “ready to be slain.” This is the very crisis which at once needs help and admits it. If the danger were more distant, he might not be sensible of his need; if it were nearer, he might be beyond the hope of recovery. He is so low that help is necessary; yet not so low as would render help vain. He is “drawn unto death,” and therefore is an object of pity; but his life is yet in him, and therefore he is a subject of hope.—Arnot.

Proverbs 24:13-14
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_24:14. There shall be a reward, rather, “there is a future,” as in chap. Pro_23:18.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_24:13-14
HONEY AND WISDOM
I. An analogy. 1. Honey is found by man ready prepared for his use; no human skill is needed to make it fit for food—nothing that man can do can render it more palatable than it is as it flows from the comb. So the revealed wisdom of God as it is found in the Scriptures needs no intervention of man to make it suitable to human needs. 2. As honey is evidently designed by God to furnish a wholesome and pleasant food for the body, so has He designed that the revelation of His mind and will by His inspired messengers shall provide wholesome and congenial food for the soul of man. The great abundance of honey in Palestine led to its forming a more prominent part of daily food than in western countries, and its possessing these two qualities made it very fit for general and constant use, and was a perpetual testimony to the providence of God in relation to the needs and enjoyment of His creatures. So is the provision which God has made for the spiritual wants of the children of men. On this point we must take the testimony of those who have tested this soul-food. We should not ask a man whether honey was pleasant to the taste if he had never eaten it, and those are not qualified to bear witness concerning the spiritual enjoyment and benefit to be derived from the “wisdom of God” who have not tested it. All those who have done so, whatever their condition in life, in whatever age they have lived, or whatever part of the world they have called their home, have agreed with David’s testimony that it is “more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honey-comb” (Psa_19:10).
II. A contrast. 1. Honey may be eaten until it cloys the appetite and injures the eater, but not so with the word of God. Those who eat the most of this spiritual food are the most spiritually healthy, and have the keenest appetite for it. 2. Although this God-given bodily food may do much to nourish and sustain a healthy man, it cannot cure a diseased body, or prevent the inroads of sickness and decay. But there is a soul-transforming power in the spiritual food of which it is here an emblem. Those who eat of it are by it healed of spritual disease, and are continually and unceasingly growing in moral health and vigour. 3. The blessings flowing from eating the spiritual food are only fully realised in the life beyond the present. To this the wise man refers in the last clause. (For Homiletics on this thought, see on chaps. Pro_11:7; Pro_14:32, pages 201 and 391).
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_24:13. The wise man’s feast which he makes his son is but one dish. And what need of more when that is both good and pleasant? The glutton provideth many dishes, and costly to make them luscious, but they are not good, not good for the health of the body.… On the other side, the physician provideth divers meats, and they are good—good either for the preservation of health or for the recovery of it, but they are not pleasant and grateful to the palate. That is the best feeding when these are joined together.… Or else if they are not joined together, notice that the wise man putteth good in the first place; as teaching thee rather to take that which is good though not pleasant, than that which is pleasant but not good.—Jermin.
Pro_24:14. When thou hast found it. That is, when thou hast so found it that thou canst feed upon it and convert it into nourishment, then thy pains of seeking shall be rewarded. And though it be a late reward, for wisdom is not quickly found, yet there shall be a reward, and that so full, that in nothing thine expectation shall be cut off. For though hardly yet it is well-gotten; and with pleasure will sweeten the pains, with good will satisfy the tarrying and recompense the delay. The Chaldee rendereth the middle part of the verse, “If thou hast found, the last will come better than the first.” As if this were a mark whereby to know whether we have found wisdom or not, because then the further we go on the more sweetness we shall find.—Jermin.

Proverbs 24:15-16
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_24:16. The wicked shall fall. Delitzsch reads, “the wicked are overthrown when calamity falls on them, i.e., they do not rise again and again as the just man does.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_24:15-16
A SOCIAL AMBUSH
I. A common practice of the wicked man in relation to the good. When we think of an ambush of men lying in wait to spring upon their foes at a fitting opportunity, two hostile parties are at once brought before us, we feel that there must be deep enmity on one side at least, or men would not be at such pains to overthrow their fellow-men. And this is indeed the case in society as a whole. Men are divided into two great parties. On one side stand the lovers of righteousness, and on the other the lovers of sin; and the latter must ever be more or less actively opposed to the former. But their favourite and most common method of attack is that indicated in the text. Wrong-doers are naturally cowards, and in their endeavours to injure better men than themselves they shrink from open attack. They are fully conscious that they could not stand their ground in a fair fight in the open field, and so they try to fall upon their foe in a moment when he is off his guard and in a place where he least expects to meet them. In other words, evil men do not often openly assail either the character or the position of a good man, but by lying words spoken in his absence they try to blacken the first, and by secret schemes to overthrow the second.
II. An utterly useless attempt of the wicked man in relation to the good. It is useless to try to kill a tree by lopping off the branches. Such a process may for a time deprive it of its beauty and stop its growth, but while the root has its hold upon the soil and can draw nourishment to itself from unseen sources beneath the surface it will live, and as soon as the axe has ceased to strike it will begin again to clothe itself in greenness and beauty. So it is with a righteous man. His enemies may succeed in bringing about his temporary overthrow and in depriving his outward life of much comfort, but the springs of his existence are fed from an invisible and unfailing source, and his well-being is not dependent upon external circumstances. And so even if the malice of the wicked is permitted to strip him of some things which made his life more apparently prosperous and secure, there is an inner life which they cannot touch, and which enables him in due time to recover from the wounds which they inflict either upon his character or his circumstances. For “
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shall condemn.” (Isa_54:17.)
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_24:15. Because it spites the wicked, that the godly dwell in safety, therefore they lay wait against their dwelling, by affliction and miseries seeking to throw it down, and … because the virtues of the godly condemn the vices of the wicked, therefore they lay wait and search into their dwelling houses to espy out their faults, because the goodness of the righteous shameth the naughtiness of the wicked, therefore they seek to break in even into their bedchambers and places of rest, and there to discover their errors and infirmities. Solomon forbidding them to do it, showeth it to be their manner to do it.—Jermin.
Pro_24:16. Perhaps you will say, had I fallen only once, I would not be much afraid; but I have often fallen before the enemy, and one day I must perish. But hear what God says:—The righteous man falls not once or twice, but many times, and still he rises. Your experience of former deliverances should encourage your hopes of new deliverances, for the salvations of the Lord are never exhausted. In six troubles He will deliver, and in seven there shall no evil touch you.—Lawson.
God’s saints are bound to “rejoice when they fall into divers temptations.” What though they fall into them? not go in step by step, but be precipitated, plunged over head and ears. Say they fall not into one, but into many crosses—as they seldom come single—yet “be exceeding glad” says the apostle, as the merchant is to see his ships come laden in.—Trapp.

Proverbs 24:17-20
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_24:20. Reward. The same word used in Pro_24:14, and in chap. Pro_23:18. Its literal meaning is “a hereafter.” Zöckler translates it end in the first two instances, but in this case he reads future. Delitzsch and Miller render it hereafter or future in every verse.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_24:17-18
THE FALL OF AN ENEMY
Joy at the overthrow of an enemy is a feeling which is natural to an unspiritual man, but it is one which is here declared to be displeasing to God. Three reasons suggest themselves why this should be so.
I. Such an emotion is inconsistent with a man’s own well-being and happiness. The nature that can be indifferent to the calamities of another, even although that other has been an enemy in the past, is a nature destitute of all generosity and nobility. But the heart that can be glad at such an event is altogether possessed with the spirit of the devil—the flames of exultation that burn upon such an altar have been set on fire of hell. And as God loves the creature whom He at first created in His own image, it displeases Him to see him give place to a feeling so unworthy of his origin, and at the same time so productive of misery to himself. For the so-called joy that arises from such a cause is not only very short-lived, but is like a fire that blazes and burns brightly for a time, and then leaves nothing but a heap of ashes behind. The exultation over the fall of an enemy soon dies out, and leaves the heart scorched and dried by the heat of the unworthy passion.
II. It is inconsistent with the spirit of brotherhood that God desires to exist among men. If there has been a break in the harmony of a family, and one member has been at enmity with another, the oneness of the parentage ought to be sufficient to erase all memory of past wrongs when the offender is overtaken by misfortune. Such would be the case where there was any real family affection. God desires all His creatures to recognise a universal brotherhood in virtue of their relation to Him, their common Father. He desires men to be ever ready to seek occasions to draw together in unity, and to avoid all that deepens an opposite feeling. If a man retains his enmity against his offending brother when that brother by reason of misfortune might be reconciled to him, he ignores entirely the law of brotherly love which God desires to rule in His human family.
III. It is inconsistent with a right recognition of our need of Divine mercy. However much our offending brother may have wronged us, the amount of the debt of his trespass against us will bear no comparison to the amount of our indebtedness to God. In sinning against us he has but wronged an erring human creature like himself, and one who has very possibly failed in his duty towards him. But when we sin against God, we sin against One whose character is altogether fitted to win us to obedience, and whose every action in relation to us has been dictated by perfect love. It is only when we fail to recognise this truth that an unforgiving spirit can possess our hearts, and it is only when such a spirit has full sway that any man can exult in the downfall of his enemy.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
For prevention hereof think thus with thyself: Either I am like mine enemy, or else I am better or worse than he. If like him, why may I not look for the like misery? If better, who made me to differ? If worse, what reason have I to insult? (See Oba_1:12)—Trapp.
St. Gregory saith it is only the keeping of charity that doth prove us to be the disciples of God, and that we have charity is shewn in two ways, namely, if we love our friends in God, and if we love our enemies for God.… Because another is an enemy to thee, be not thou an enemy to goodness, an enemy to thyself, For he that rejoiceth when his enemy falleth, doth himself fall much worse, and hath more cause to be grieved for his own wretchedness; he that is glad in his heart when his enemy stumbleth, stumbleth more dangerously in his own heart.—Jermin.
For Homiletics on the subjects of Pro_24:19-20 see Pro_24:1 of this chapter, page 676, and chap. Pro_13:9, page 303.

Proverbs 24:21-22
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_24:21. Given to change, literally otherwise disposed, or, according to Miller, repeaters, turners back.
Pro_24:22. The ruin of them both, etc. This phrase is variously rendered, and different meanings are also attached to the same rendering. Delitzsch follows the Syriac version, and reads, “the end of their years, who knoweth it?” But Zöckler adopts the reading of the Authorised version, which is supported by the Vulgate, by Luther, Ewald, Elster, and others. Some understand the word both to refer to those who rebel against God, and those who rebel against the king (so Zöckler), while others apply it to God and the king, and the ruin foretold as that proceeding from them. Here begins a short appendix to the third main division of the book of Proverbs, the first clause of Pro_24:33 being its superscription, which is almost in the same words as that which introduces the division itself. (See chap. Pro_22:17.) It extends only to the end of the chapter, and consists of maxims which have no apparent connection with each other.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_24:21-22
RULE AND REVERENCE
I. The rule of some men and the subjection of others is a Divine ordination. God, by creating men with such different gifts and with powers of mind and body so unequal, evidently intends that society should not be on a dead level, but that in all communities there should be some recognised head. And the tendency of men in all ages to unite under some leader whom they deem worthy to be their head points to an instinct in human nature which we must refer to a Divine origin. The law of subjection and dominion has its place in the natural world. The entire solar system is held together by the subjection of the lesser bodies to one which is greater than all, and as the planets move in their orbits around the sun they seem like so many obedient subjects doing homage to their monarch, while their attendant satellites are in their turn subject to them. And the constant operation of this material law is productive of the most beneficial results. In like manner the observation of some such law among free and intelligent creatures is necessary to the order and consequent peace of society.
II. But the deference of the subject to his earthly ruler must be always subordinate to the will of the Divine ruler of both. There are cases in which to “fear the king,” in the sense of obeying him, would be to dishonour God, and times when he who demands obedience refuses to comply with the Divine demands upon himself. It is obvious therefore that the fear of the earthly king can only be carried so far as is consistent with loyal obedience to the “King of all the kings of the earth.” The first precept of the wise man in this verse admits of no limitation, but the second must be limited by the first. But those who have been the most faithful servants of God have ever been most ready to render “honour to whom honour is due” (Rom_13:7); and when duty has compelled them to disobey their commands they have done so with all due respect for their lawful authority. That fear of God which compels them to disobey unrighteous laws makes them obedient subjects to lawful rule, and constrains them, so far as is possible, to live as peaceable citizens.
III. Therefore the peace of a kingdom and the stability of a throne will be in proportion to the reverence of king and people for the Divine will. The fear of God is the great adjusting power in all relations of life. When it governs in the family the parents are loved and honoured by the children, and the children’s welfare is the constant care of the parents. It is this fear of God alone that can solve the vexed problem of the relations between masters and servants, between capital and labour, and between monarchs and people. Where it is wanting there will be a weak rule on the one hand, and a niggardly service and a halfhearted obedience on the other, and both are responsible for those outbursts of disorder which involve both in a common calamity.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
The connection of the two fears in the passage before us is evidently intended to impress the one by the other:—If you fear God, fear the king. God, whom you are bound supremely to fear, and whose fear should produce obedience to His will, has enjoined the fear of earthly rulers: so that a failure in the fear due to
them, becomes a violation of the fear due to Him.
I need hardly say, that by the king we are to understand the government of the country. It may be monarchical, or it may not. We are by no means to look upon such expressions as this, in Scripture, as attaching the authority of inspiration to one form of government more than to another. Respecting the comparative merits of different forms, the word of God should not be regarded as giving any decision, whether for the kingly, the aristocratical, the popular, or the mixed. The respect, or fear, is due to the legislative and executive powers, of whichsoever description these may be.—Wardlaw.
Submission of heart and life to the King Eternal overrides and controls, yet does not injure a citizen’s allegiance to an earthly ruler.… The fear of the Lord must go first, but the fear of the king may follow. The supreme does not crush, it protects the subordinate. Although the heart is full of piety, there is plenty of room for patriotism. Nay, more, patriotism nowhere gets full scope except in a heart that is already pervaded by piety. These elements are like the two chief constituent gases of the atmosphere. The space which envelopes the globe is full of one gas—it is also full of the other. To discharge the nitrogen would not make the space capable of containing more of the oxygen. The absence of the one constituent destroys the quality but does not enlarge the quantity of the other. Take away godliness, and your loyalty, without being increased in amount, is seriously deteriorated in kind. Take away loyalty, and you run great risk of spoiling the purity of the remanent godliness. God’s works are all good—His combinations are all beneficial. If we attempt to mend, we shall certainly mar them.… Go forward in your allegiance to “the powers that be,” not until you think you have gone far enough, but until you come upon the law of God, claiming the space in front for Himself, and absolutely forbidding your advance. Go forward with the fear of the king, unless and until the fear of the Lord cross your path like a wall.… No feasible rule can be laid down except what the Scriptures contain. Let any man try to write down a scale showing when and where private persons may lawfully resist public authority, and he will soon be convinced that the case is hopeless. Every attempt to define the liberty of rebellion will be found to open a door to anarchy. In point of fact, very little of the liberty that now exists in the world has been achieved by violent resistance to governments because of oppression in temporal things.—Arnot.

Proverbs 24:23-26
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_24:23. These things also belong to the wise. Rather “These (the proverbs which follow) are also from wise men” The word also connects this introduction with that in chap. Pro_22:17.
Pro_24:25. To them that rebuke, etc. The word him is not in the original, and spoils the sense. If this rendering of the verb is accepted, iniquity must be understood to be the subject of rebuke. Delitzsch however reads, “To them who rightly decide,” and Miller renders, “To them that set the thing right.”
Pro_24:26. A right answer, i.e., a faithful, straightforward answer. “The word comes,” says Miller, “from a verb meaning to be in front.” “The mention of the lips,” Zöckler remarks, “is to be explained simply by the remembrance of the question to which the upright and truthful answer corresponds.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Pro_24:23-26
IMPARTIALITY OF TRUTH
I. Two blessings to society. While there is nothing that more certainly undermines the moral tone of any community than that “respect of persons” which the Bible so emphatically and constantly condemns (Lev_19:15; Jas_2:1), there is no person who more contributes to the welfare of society, and contributes more to its well-being than the man who judges all men by the same standard, viz., their character. It is especially indispensable that those who are set apart to administer the laws of the land should be men above all suspicion of partiality. For, wherever there is a code of law, it is a testimony to that inborn sense of justice which is more or less active in every human being; and although it may sometimes be but an imperfect attempt to render to every man his right, if it is administered by men of integrity it is one of the greatest bulwarks of national prosperity and security. It may well be a matter of thankfulness to every Englishman that the judicial bench of this land occupies the high position that it does in this respect as in all others, and that the days when men thought it possible to use unlawful influence with an English judge have passed away. But to what do we owe this blessing, if not to the greater hold which the principles of the Bible has upon our national life? But Solomon brings before us another character which is as necessary to a nation’s moral health, which is, perhaps, rarer than the first, but which might and ought to belong to every man. Those who are called to sit in judgment are the few, but those who in various ways are called to bear witness concerning persons and things, are the many. And some who would deem it a crime to have respect of persons in judgment, do not realise how much the cause of truth and righteousness would be furthered if men, in their every-day intercourse, would give a “right or straightforward answer” (see rendering in CRITICAL NOTES) to the questions put to them. If it was the habit of merchants and statesmen, of masters and servants, in the market and in the social circle, to speak the “truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,” how much purer would be the moral atmosphere which we breathe, and how much more nearly would society on earth be like that of heaven.
II. The recognition which such characters receive from their fellow-men. In a world where the unrighteous far outnumber the righteous, and where most men are but half loyal to truth, it is remarkable that it should be so. But history in general and individual experience in particular bears witness that Solomon was right. Even unrighteous men cannot help admiring a just and truthful man, and their consciences and their experience combine to testify that they themselves have more to hope from those who are morally above them than from those who are on a level with themselves. It is probable that both moral sense and self-interest combine to bring people as a whole to bless him who rebukes the wicked and to “kiss his lips” who giveth a right answer.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_24:26. The meaning of that ceremony of kissing him that was anointed to be king, St. Gregory giveth to be this, that it was to teach him that was so kissed that God hath brought him to that dignity, to the end that he might make peace between God and his people that were under him, whereof a kiss is a sign and pledge. For by sinning we procure the enmity of God, when therefore a ruler is set up for the correction of sinners, thereby is taken away that which made us enemies to God. If, therefore, we read this verse as the English doth, we may understand it that everyone shall acknowledge him to be a peacemaker between God and them, who by right judgment punisheth the wicked.—Jermin.

Proverbs 24:27
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_24:27. House. This word may mean here as it does in Exo_1:21, Rth_4:11, 2Sa_7:27 etc., the family—the household interests.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_24:27
PLAN AND PATIENCE
I. Here is a lesson in working with method. In all undertakings it is necessary to consider what is the most important and indispensable element of success, and to make sure of that first. In the building of a house in the literal sense, the first thing to be done is to have a well-considered plan, and to gather and prepare suitable and sufficient materials. If, when the building is half finished, it is found that some great difficulty has been overlooked, or that the materials and the means to procure them are inadequate, failure and disgrace are the result, and all the time and money hitherto spent upon the work is thrown away. So in any other undertaking. If a man desires a certain position in life for which special qualifications are needed, he must first endeavour to know exactly what the requirements are, and then make sure that he is able to fulfil them. If he makes a start without well considering these things he may waste much precious time and energy, and ruin his prospects for life. The same principle may be applied to any philanthropic enterprise. These often fail, because they are entered upon without any just conception of the difficulties to be encountered, or of the resources which will be required to carry them on to a successful issue.
II. A lesson in working with patience. The proverb seems to warn men not to be in too great a hurry to realise the fulfilment of their desires; not to be impatient to reap the harvest before the crop has had time to ripen. Men are sometimes so eager to obtain a certain good which to them appears desirable that they make a desperate and reckless attempt to gain it by some other road than that of patient perseverance. A man makes up his mind that he must live in a certain style, and keep up a certain appearance before the world, and he sets out to build a stately mansion without waiting until he has acquired the means whereby he can do it honestly. Men often desire to be at the beginning of their career where they can only be after days and years of toil, and if they act under the inspiration of this spirit of impatience they often most effectually shut themselves out entirely from the realisation of their desires.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
This wisdom the very little bees do practise and show us, who first get honey and bring it into their hives, and afterwards make their seats and honeycombs. Against this rule here set down divers sorts of people offend, yea, all that take a preposterous course, whether in the matters of this life, or in those things that are spiritual. Some enter into the state of marriage before either they have wit, or have provided and gotten by their labour sufficient food or wealth to maintain them. Others lay out much on banquets, buildings, pastimes, or apparel, before they have a good stock or large comings in. Others meddle with hard points of controversy before they have learned the plain principles of religion. Others first and especially seek after the goods of this world, and, in the second place, at their leisure, and very slowly, they follow after the kingdom of God.—
Muffet.
Possibly a spiritual meaning here, as elsewhere, lies beneath the prudential maxim. The “field” may be the man’s outer common work, the “house” the dwelling-place of his higher life. He must do the former faithfully in order to attain the latter.—Plumptre.

Proverbs 24:28-29
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_24:28-29
AN UNCALLED-FOR TESTIMONY
I. There are times and circumstances in which it is our duty to witness against our neighbour. When the interests of right and truth are at stake, it is wrong for any man to be silent when by declaring what he knows, he could establish those interests, even although by so doing he brings punishment upon a fellow-man. It is often indispensable to the safety of innocent people that the wrong-doer should be exposed and brought to justice, and every man in such a case is not only blameless when he witnesses against such a “neighbour,” but blameworthy when he does not do so. This is not witnessing against him “without cause,” for there is a good and sufficient reason for the action.
II. Such witness-bearing is of quite a different character from that which springs from malice. There are men in society who seem to live like beasts of prey. As the lion or the tiger is ever watching his opportunity to spring upon some defenceless creature at an unguarded moment, so these men seem to make it their business to watch their fellow-creatures for opportunities to injure their reputation and mangle their character. And in a world of faulty human beings, it is not difficult for such men to find food for their malicious appetites, without transgressing the limits of truth. In most men there is enough imperfection, and in many of actual sin, to render it easy to make out a case against them. But if no actual good can come to anybody by exposing their failings, much harm will come to the man who thus bears witness against them without a cause. The evil tendencies of his own evil nature will be strengthened by the act, and he will be exposing himself to the danger of having a causeless testimony borne against himself in his turn.
III. There are circumstances in which there is a strong temptation to bear a causeless testimony. It is against this temptation that the proverb is especially directed. When a man has spoken evil of us without cause, when he has made public some hidden infirmity, or some secret fall, there is a great temptation to retaliate if opportunity offers—to tell what we know about him that will lower him in the estimation of his fellow-men. But this temptation must be resisted, both for our own sake and for his, and for this reason among others, that we are in the worst possible condition for bearing a truthful testimony. A man under the influence of intoxicating drink would be altogether unfit to bear witness for or against another. But the passion of revenge is as intoxicating to the human soul as the most potent liquor is to the human brain. It distorts the judgment, and dethrones the reason, and tramples under foot all the noblest emotions of our nature. A man under its sway would be very unlikely to be just to the object to whom he sought to return evil for evil; nay, he would be unable to confine himself within the limits of strict truth and pure justice. And, therefore, one who has wronged us is the man above all other men of whose faults we should never speak, unless there is an overwhelming moral necessity for it.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_24:28. “And mayhap, deceive with thy lips.” This is expressed by a little particle before the verb. It helps in the ancillary thought, that not only is speaking evil wicked if it can do no good, but also it may prove actually unjust. All statement has a hazard of mistake. If it can do some good, we may risk something so as to witness; but if there can be no good, we should risk nothing.—Miller.
Pro_24:29. It is a great wickedness, when God is made a pattern for wickedness; and it is a strong temptation to wickedness, when the example of the Lord seemeth to countenance that which is proposed to be done. It is therefore against this that the wise man adviseth in this verse. For though God say, I will render to everyone according to his works, thou mayest not say, I will render to the man according to his works. God speaketh as a Judge to whom it belongeth to consider the works of everyone, and accordingly to reward them; but no man may be a judge in his own cause, no particular man may do that for himself which a judge may do for him. Wherefore it is a bad imitation thus to imitate the Lord, for we are not to do all things that the Lord doth, but all things that the Lord commandeth us to do.—Jermin.

Proverbs 24:30-34
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Pro_24:30-34
THE SLUGGARD’S VINEYARD
I. We have here a precious possession in the hands of an unworthy proprietor. A vineyard is not a heritage of little or no value—if rightly cared for and cultivated it will yield to its owner the means of obtaining an honest living, and, it may be, put him in possession of wealth. Many a toiling, struggling man without an inch of ground on God’s earth to call his own would feel as if he had nothing left to desire if he had such a barrier between himself and poverty, and would joyfully toil from dawn to sunset to make the best of that which God’s providence had entrusted to him. But here is property which would be prized and cultivated by many in the hands of one who neglects and wastes it. The picture of our text is a parabolic representation of what is before our eyes every day. A vineyard of bodily strength is given to a man who by dissipation breaks down its wall and invites disease to enter. A vineyard of opportunities is inherited by a slothful youth who is too indolent and careless to improve them. The vineyard of a vast fortune or of a position of great influence is entrusted to one who is “void of understanding”—who does not realise his responsibility to God or to men.
II. We have man, by neglecting to use God’s gifts, limiting God’s power to bless him. It was God’s purpose that this vineyard should bring forth better things than thorns and nettles. He desired to see it covered with choice vines, whose branches should be loaded with clusters of refreshing fruit. But this could not be unless man would be a co-worker with Him. God did his part. The rain watered the soil, the sun shone upon it, but man refused to dig and plant, to weed and cultivate. And by withholding his power to labour he limited God’s power to bless. Men do the same in other fields of labour, and in connection with other opportunities of receiving the Divine blessing. Many good gifts come alike to the slothful and to the industrious man—to him who diligently “keeps” his vineyard and to him who neglects it. God makes His sun to shine, and sends His rain upon the fields of both. But in the one case sun and rain find a soil prepared to receive the full benefit of the blessings they can give, and in the other they can only strengthen the hold of the weeds upon the earth, and so increase the unfruitfulness of the vineyard. So men often limit God’s power to bless them by His providence. Opportunities are given to them of bringing great blessings upon themselves or upon others, but only on condition that they labour earnestly and diligently at some work which God gives them to do. They may be called only to the special cultivation of their own intellectual and spiritual powers, or they may also be in a position to transform others from weeds in the social and moral vineyard into plants of beauty and trees yielding fruit. But whether the field open to them is a wide one, or comparatively narrow, all God’s willingness to give the increase will be of no avail if they refuse to till the ground and sow the seed.
III. We have a swift and sure-footed avenger advancing to awaken the slothful sleeper. That slumber, though long and deep, will not go on for ever. It would indeed be unjust to the active and industrious man if the slothful never felt the consequences of his indolence. But this would be contrary to the laws by which God governs the world. One of these laws is, that bodily want, or intellectual or spiritual beggary, will in due time overtake him who neglects to exercise the faculties and capabilities which God has given him to enrich every part of his nature.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
This is a picture of sloth. At the same time it is a picture of sloth under attacks upon our faith. The world moves on, and, in our laziness, our garden gets all choked with new dogmas against the gospel. The writer has already said that we are not to yield to “them that are given to change” (Pro_24:21). He has also said that we are not to answer them with deceit (Pro_24:23): and, now, what remains? Why, that we baffle them, that we work as hard as they do. I know no proverb more useful for the men of our times. We lie upon our lees till we think philosophy a sort of wickedness; till we think quiet under its advances a sort of Christian faith. We let science work on, till, by sap and mine, it is near our citadel. Great bodies of learned work are built up while the Church sleeps. If she fights, it is with a sort of chicane, with the gongs and bright paper, like a Chinese troop; when duty plainly is, to work up abreast of science. If the Church has more light, she must expect more contest. If she has better arms, she must expect more battles; with more mind, of course more to oppose; otherwise she has less to do than less capable believers. The world’s science must be met by the Church’s science, and new, sturdy brambles in her prolific fields must be ploughed under by improved implements. Otherwise, old-time arguments, and a sort of a chicane of a retort; responses like those of women, rather intended to say No than to be an actual reply, become indicative of a sluggard-Church, and of a garden cumbered like that before us. Slothful, literally sluggard man. Man is here the better sort of man (see Miller’s comment of
Pro_24:5); in the last clause it is “a common man.” The first has a field, the other a vineyard. All classes of men are bound to read up and get rid of occasions for cavil.… “The wall;” necessary to keep a church at all. Let scientists trample in upon the vineyard with nothing but a few old clothes to scare them, and presently we will have no Church whatever. Not “stone wall” (E. V.), but “the wall, as to its stones,” “pulled down.” It will not slowly crumble, but interested parties will help it when it begins to totter. “I saw, or looked.” Seeing such things requires an effort. Not the slothful man’s business alone! but mine! I am sufficiently like him. A vineyard with brambles, like that of Geneva, or England, or that of the cis-Atlantic Socinian States, is a picture for all mankind.… “Come, etc.,” “sauntering along,” Hithpael of walk. “Armed man.” Both these descriptions mean (1) slowness, and (2) certainty; (1) unobserved ease of gait; but, (2) doomlike certainty in coming. A Church that enjoys her ease may super-eminently prosper. Her foe may be behind the hill, and her doom may be sauntering noiselessly up, but their coming is as certain as the dawn.… A “little sleep” more, and the thing has been actually achieved.—Miller.
Let us learn from the scene described: 1. How gradual may be the approaches of the evils of sloth, while, at the same time, they are irresistible in the end. This is the lesson of the thirty-fourth verse. The traveller approaches by degrees. When comparatively at a distance, he appears harmless; but, when he has advanced a certain length, he is discovered to be “an armed man,”—all resistance to whom is too late, and consequently vain. Famine, though gaunt, is irresistibly mighty. Who can stand before it? Not the man of habitual sloth. The very habit has the more thoroughly incapacitated him for plucking up any spirit to ward off the final ravages of the frightful enemy. He succumbs, sinks, and dies.—2. Our souls are committed by God to our own spiritual cultivation. This is no sinecure. They will not thrive themselves. If we would have them “as a watered garden, and as a field which the Lord hath blessed,” we must apply spiritual activity and labour, to stock them with the appropriate graces, affections, and virtues, and to promote the growth and productiveness of them all. We must sow the seed, and seek by prayer the showers of the Divine blessing—the promised influences of the Divine Spirit. We must watch over the germination, the springing, the growth, and the fructifying of the seed. Without this all will be stunted and sterile. The noxious and unsightly weeds of sin will spring and luxuriate, and overspread the soil; all growing that ought not to grow, and nothing growing that should. Let parents apply the principle to the spiritual instruction of their children. Your families are as vineyards committed to your care and culture. Imagine not that, when left to themselves, they will spontaneously yield good fruit. The experience of all generations reads you an opposite lesson. You must enclose; you must dig, and sow, and water, and watch, and protect the springing blade, till it comes to the ear, and the full corn in the ear. You must train from their earliest germs your tender plants, and guard, and support, and prune them, and clear and manure the soil around them. The incessant care of both parents must be bestowed upon this; and all little enough. They must look for the help and for the blessing of God. O see to it, that the verses before us be not a just description of any of your families—from your parental negligence, indifference, and sloth. Let every family be as a sacred enclosure for God; fenced in from the blasts and blights of the world, where the “plants of his right hand’s planting” are reared from the seed, for future productiveness.—Wardlaw.
Pro_24:32. The owner did nothing for the farm, and the farm did nothing for the owner. But even this neglected spot did something for the passing wayfarer, who had an observant eye and a thoughtful mind. Even the sluggard’s garden brought forth fruit, but not for the sluggard’s benefit. The diligent man reaped, and carried off the only harvest that it bore—a warning. The owner received nothing from it; and the onlooker “received instruction”.… People complain that they have few opportunities and means of instruction. Here is one school open to all. Here is a school-master who charges no fee. If we are ourselves diligent, we may gather riches even in a sluggard’s garden. He who knows how to turn the folly of his neighbours into wisdom for himself, cannot excuse defective attainments by alleging a scarcity of the raw material.—Arnot.

Proverbs 24:1
Be not thou envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them.
Evil men not to be envied
The first verse of this chapter is very naturally connected with the close of the chapter preceding. There is little room for “envy” of rich characters as the one there so graphically depicted, and of all men on earth they will be the last whose company will be “desired” by the wise and good. But the counsel before us may be taken more generally. Far be it that “evil men” of any stamp should be envied—either for their boasted freedom or their apparent prosperity. Their freedom is but the semblance of the blessing. It is the reality of bondage. They promise liberty, and are themselves the slaves of corruption. And their prosperity! Oh, deem it not a mark of God’s favour! It is all deceitful. It ends in ruin. “Desire not to be with them.” How oft-repeated is this counsel! How often is the warning enforced by similar reasons! “For their heart studieth destruction, and their lips talk of mischief.” Their designs of evil fully matured find utterance. They communicate their projects to others like-minded with themselves—projects of fraud, peculation, robbery; or if on such matters there be a sense of social honour, and an adherence to the conventional morality of the world, there may be projects of impurity—of lewdness and seduction, of drunken frolic and revel, of the snares of temptation for some simple but sober youth, whom it will be so excellent a joke to induce to join them in sin. All this, under what palliative epithets soever it may pass in the world, is “mischief” and “destruction.” (R. Wardlaw, D.D.)

Proverbs 24:3-4
Through wisdom is an house builded.
The spiritual edifice
The subject is wisdom, with its enlargements of understanding and knowledge—terms probably used to denote the expansions of the master principle, and the ramifications into which it extends, as it sways and develops the faculties of the mind. Distinguish between the “wisdom of this world” and the “wisdom of God.” They who embrace the wisdom of God beckon the other wisdom with it. They who embrace the latter usually repel the invitation, and continue their warfare in the pride and scorn of self-satisfied security, which ultimately terminates in their destruction.
I. Wisdom is the foundation on which a house must be built. It is the great principle on which all other principles must be founded. But what is this wisdom? Solomon says, “the fear of the Lord.” True religion. Consisting, not in a mere external or intellectual acknowledgment of an overruling Deity, much less in any amount of mere intellectual knowledge, but in an actual going to Wisdom as to a personage, not merely in possessing a certain quality or disposition of mind, but in really going to God by faith, and so accepting and following the terms of His covenant that the qualities and dispositions of mind, which manifest the being built on wisdom, spring from that source, coming down from God to man as the gifts of His grace, not going up from man towards God.
II. The strength, superstructure, and ornament of the spiritual edifice. The active duties of our profession are implied in carrying out the obligations and requirements of a true and heart-born faith. Store your minds with knowledge; only see that first of all you possess the knowledge of God in Christ Jesus. (R. H. Davies, B.A.)

The wise life-builder
Here evil is contrasted with wisdom: evil throws down, wisdom builds up; evil brings darkness, wisdom brings light. Wisdom is represented as a builder; one who builds with a plan, not merely putting stone upon stone for the sake of building a high tower without purpose or utility, but building a house, signifying arrangement, commodiousness, security, hospitality: a very home that should have in it the elements of a school, the beginning of a sanctuary, and a hint of heaven itself. True building is not to be hurried. Sometimes the builder rests from his labours, that he may give the wall time to settle, lest by overpowering the foundation he bring the work to destruction. True life-building means that plan and a specification has been provided, whereby the work as to its scope and purpose is clearly indicated, and the materials with which the work is to be executed are named one by one, as to their quality and their proportions. It is not to be supposed that men go forth into the open field and begin to build as on the spur of the moment. Every building will speak for itself. If the perpendicular has been broken, if the horizontal line is out of course, if doors and windows are out of proportion, even the fool can see how abortive has been the labours of the builder. Where everything expresses thoughtfulness, experience, and skill, the trained eye will approve the figure of the building, and all men will feel that no encroachment has been made upon the propriety of life. Every duly considered and well-built house comes into existence as if by right; it establishes its own claim to abide among the homes of men. So it is with a heart-house, a life-house, a house representing character and action and purpose; there is nothing violent about the building, and when it is set forth in all its proportions it needs no vindication, for its strength is a defence, and its beauty is an explanation. (J. Parker, D.D.)

Proverbs 24:5
A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength
Wisdom the strength of the mind
The changes of life often have unhappy effects on the temper of our minds.
A defence against these evils would be very desirable. Who would not possess a constant equanimity, an uniform peace and steady resolution of soul? Solomon says this is to be gained through wisdom, or religious virtue.
I. The diseased and feeble state of mind against which wisdom is the proper remedy. It seemeth to consist in an indisposition for the due exercise of its powers. The body is then distempered and weak, and so the mind is rendered incapable of the offices which become such a being. The weakness principally appeareth in the prevalence of passions which are excited by them, and are summed up in aversion; that is, in the prevalence of fear and sorrow and anger. Reason and moral conscience is the man; in its vigour and authority over the inferior springs of action our strength lieth.

1. Fear is an infirmity natural to man, which very often hath pernicious effects, and in itself, abstracting from its effects, is very uncomfortable. Every living creature, according to its measure of perfection, hath a self-enjoyment, and findeth ease and satisfaction in its sound and healthy state. But it was wisely provided that such of them as are liable to dangers and annoyances from abroad should have a painful apprehension of them, in order to their being put upon the speediest methods for avoiding them. This is the end of fear in their constitution. Man is made with a larger comprehension, and with the privilege of foresight, by which he discovereth a variety of dangers, and seeth them at a great distance; and this certainly was not originally intended to be his torment, but, if it be so in event, it must be by way of penal infliction for his faults, or a distemper of his mind against which there is a proper remedy provided.
2. Grief. This is not equal in all men. Some spirits can sustain their infirmity better than others. But all find it requires a force above that of mere unimproved and uncultivated nature to support it. It requireth religious wisdom.
3. Anger. Felt when the disagreeable event is considered an injury, and as befalling us by the injustice or ill-will of a voluntary agent. Now consider the symptoms of this natural weakness. During the prevalence of these passions the understanding is obscured; at least, we have not the due use of it. It seems to be the natural tendency of pain to arrest the thoughts. The counsels of the mind are at such times full of perplexity, which often produce irresolution, instability, and fatal precipitation.
   II. Wherein the strength of the wise man lieth. How wisdom, or religious virtue, is the cure of our weakness and its symptoms.
4. It is a defence against fear, because it represents uncomfortable events as too inconsiderable to affect our main interests. The good “man is satisfied from himself”; his integrity is his chief treasure. Virtue is a greater good than riches, worldly honours, and carnal pleasure.
5. The testimony of our conscience is an effectual preservative against immoderate dejecting fears, as it gives us confidence towards God and assurance of His favour.
6. The wise man is strong against fear, because his confidence is in the Divine all-sufficiency, love, and faithfulness. Chance and necessity, as the cause of events, are the refuge of ignorant minds. Faith controls the fears of a religious mind, for it represents an intelligent, powerful, and gracious Providence as superintending all affairs and directing all events irresistibly.
7. The wise man is strengthened by the Christian hope of immortality. The same principles and sentiments restrain immoderate anger. So religious wisdom delivers us from the symptoms of weakness arising from the passions; ignorance and confusion; the darkened understanding. True wisdom openeth the eyes. There is an admirable simplicity in religion. A man of knowledge increaseth strength against irresolution, unsteadiness, and precipitancy; his behaviour is consistent and uniform, because it is conducted by one invariable principle. The wise and virtuous perform their good works with vigour and alacrity. And this spiritual strength is ever increasing, and a constant source of pleasure to the man himself. Then let us examine ourselves, and try what equanimity we maintain in the changes of life. (J. Abernethy, M.A.)

Fixed religious principles
“A wise man is strong.” That is, a true man; one who fears God. We shall seek to show the infinite importance of fixed principles
I. In relation to the duties of life.
II. In regard to the relationships of life.
III. In relation to the trials of life.
IV. As a safeguard against the Temptations of life. (F. Wagstaff.)

Proverbs 24:9
The thought of foolishness is sin.
The nature of evil thoughts
I. What is meant by the “thought of foolishness”? Folly and sin signify the same thing in Scripture. We are not to understand thoughts of pure speculation as simple acts of the understanding; nor even a thought of sudden and transient inclination towards sin, which arises in our minds before we are aware and which we endeavour to stifle. Though such thoughts are sinful in their first rise and tendency, when the imagination has been long heated or their hearts corrupted by any criminal excess or disorder. We are to understand by a thought of foolishness one of complacency. Such a thought as the will not only consents to entertain, but which the mind delights to dwell and dilate itself upon. These evil thoughts proceed from some vicious reigning passion, or perhaps presumptuous sin. To give way to such vain and foolish thoughts is an argument of a mind very much turned and estranged from God. Such impure and loose thoughts are directly contrary to the fruits of the Spirit, and to those precepts of Holy Scripture which require us to be spiritually-minded. Many mistakenly think there is no sin in dwelling on evil thoughts, so long as they abstain from gross external acts of sin.
II. Rules and directions for the better regulation of our thoughts.

1. Take care to be always usefully or at least innocently employed.
2. Carefully examine what those things are which have been most apt to excite evil thoughts in us. And refrain from company, books, and circumstances which influence us for evil.
3. Evil thoughts frequently arise from prevailing natural temper.
4. Live under a constant sense of God’s presence and inspection over us.
5. All rules and directions will avail but little toward the better government of our thoughts without the illuminating and sanctifying graces of the Spirit of God. (R. Fiddes, D.D.)

And the scorner is an abomination to men.
The scorner
I. A description of the scorner.

1. He is one who runs counter to the general reason and maxims whereby the rest of mankind govern themselves. He places his greatest glory in those disorders which the rest of mankind are most ashamed of.
2. He is one who delights to walk in the way of sinners.
3. He would be thought of as believing that there is no God.
4. He delights in ridiculing those persons or things which have a more immediate relation to God.
5. The greatest effort of the scorner is against that order of men whose peculiar office it is to minister in things pertaining to God.
6. He makes it his business to confound the distinction of virtue and vice, to call evil good and good evil.
   II. His rendering himself an abomination to men. This he does by—
7. His common swearing.
8. His profaneness.
9. His confounding the distinction of virtue and vice.
   III. Useful improvements.
10. Men generally entertain a secret esteem and veneration for religion.
11. Take care to keep ourselves at as far a distance as possible from the profane temper of mind of the scorner. Never think of God, or speak of Him, save with reverence. Be careful not to obstruct the influence of religious considerations on our hearts. (R. Fiddes, D.D.)

Proverbs 24:10
If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small
The Christian failing in business
There are such failures.
Christianity does not secure its disciples against misfortune and calamity. It has need of trouble. While it could not help it always without a constant miracle, it does not always help it when it can. There is a tendency in religion to promote worldly prosperity. Most of the conditions of secular success are improved by the principles and habits of spirituality. It quickens the intellect, gives calmness and self-possession to the feelings, fosters industry and diligence, creates character and credit. Many a man may be found who has been made, in this sense, by godliness. Some Christians never get on. They try many schemes, with one sorrowful result.
I. Christianity should preserve from despondency in failure. There is a tendency in trouble to dispirit. It may be checked by the force of natural energy of heart. The greater number of men are apt to sink under disappointment. Many cannot row against the tide. The evil of this depression is great. In relation to the worldly business. The man is as one possessed with a spirit of defeat. There is no ingenuity to plan; no vigorous employment of offered opportunities. This despondency affects other things. Begun in business, it extends to all departments of feeling and activity. Christianity tends to check this, because it limits the sphere of failure. It also changes its character. It teaches us that if we fail it may be the means of our greater success. The prostration, the sorrow, the want, may be the discipline of life everlasting. Sometimes the failure may be traced to the Christian’s own fault. Then these considerations are inapplicable. But then the evil may be overruled for good.
II. Christianity should preserve from irritation in failure. If the timid are most in danger of despondency, the proud are most in danger of exasperation. And who is so free from pride as not to be in danger of this? Failure may easily excite the evil passions of the soul, sour the temper, and arouse to anger and to wrath. If a man were only irritated against himself, there might not be much amiss. But the danger is nearly all the other way. The failing man is often found cherishing a wrong temper towards his fellows. To check this evil Christianity begets humility, and produces a spirit of benevolence.
III. Christianity should preserve from dishonesty in failure. Want is a temptation to dishonesty. It is not an excuse for it. Many who never had a thought that was not honourable have fallen into sin when they fell into trouble. And even when the trouble has been much less than entire failure. There is temptation to do wrong in order to evade, or conceal, or repair misfortune. Making us to love truth and equity, Christianity connects our self-respect with these principles. And, as Christians, we should be supremely concerned for the moral honour of Christianity. (A. J. Morris.)

Small strength
I. The occasion referred to. “The day of adversity.”

1. Reverse of fortune—poverty and want.
2. Bereavement.
3. Sickness.
4. Persecution.
5. Temptation.
   II. The action reproved. “ If thou faint.” Not the suffering of pain or the feeling of sorrow, but the excess of an allowable feeling.
6. When we yield to impatience, entertain hard thoughts of God, and distrust His goodness.
7. When we are so absorbed by adversity as to forget past prosperity.
8. When we yield to sorrow so far as to preclude necessary exertion.
9. When it causes us to yield to unholy methods in order to extricate ourselves from the difficulty. The Jews appealed to Egypt.
   III. The fault explained. “Thy strength is small.”
10. Bodily.
11. Morally.
12. Spiritually.
    (1) Smallness of faith.
    (2) Weakness of hope.
    (3) Deficiency of love.
    (4) Lack of courage.
    (5) Want of humility.
    IV. The remedy.
13. Call into exercise the strength you have. “To him that hath,” etc.
14. Cherish higher thoughts of God.
15. Wait at the throne of grace. (J. Bunting.)

Susceptible character
The wych-elm manifests the approach of winter earlier than any other tree. It becomes ruined and denuded by a touch of the frosty air, and contributes no splendour, no beauty to our autumnal scenery, as its leaves curl up, become brown, and flutter from their sprays, as early, when growing in exposed situations, as the middle of September. This character of itself marks a difference from the common elm, which preserves its verdure, except from accidental causes, long after this period, and with a fine mellow yellow hue, contributing a full share with other trees to the character and splendour of autumn. The wych-elm is an emblem of the susceptible, tender human character. The soul of such a man is highly sensitive to all external impressions. The first frosty touch of a great sorrow shakes his life to its centre. Men of a more robust type are chastened by sad events; and, mellowed by chequered experiences, live on to the tranquil maturity of their existence. But he, unfortunately, cannot face the rough blasts of adversity, and perishes at once under their cruel, chilling influence. Even the cold breath of slander sometimes bears for him a sentence of death. (Scientific Illustrations.)

Flourishing upon the unpromising
Humming-birds, colibris, and their brothers of every hue, live with impunity in the fearful forests where tropical nature, under forms oftentimes of great beauty, wages her keenest strife in those gleaming solitudes where danger lurks on every side—among the most venomous insects, and upon those most mournful plants whose every shade kills. One of them (crested, green, and blue), in the Antilles, suspends his nest to the most terrible and fatal of trees, to the spectre whose fatal glance seems to freeze your blood for ever, to the deadly manchineal. It is this parroquet, which boldly crops the fruits of the fearful tree, feeds upon them, assumes their livery, and appears, from its sinister green, to draw the metallic lustre of its triumphant wings. Nature endows the birds, as she also endows men, with a marvellous capacity for accommodation to circumstances. Beautiful birds are not made out of what we should consider wholesome food, and beautiful characters are not made out of the choice events of history. Nature supplies us with an appropriative power whereby we transmute everything to the purposes which she intends to serve. We know to what splendid purposes genius has been able to turn poverty, jails, cruelty, persecution. Some of the finest characters in history have been formed by and flourished upon these unpromising elements. The bird does not take the poison and submit to death; it transmutes it into life and beauty. The hero does not let circumstances subdue him; he makes circumstances subserve the growth of his character. (
Scientific Illustrations.)

The culture that gives strength
If you were to hear some men’s experience, you would think that they grow as the white pine grows, with straight grain, and easily split; for I notice that all that grow easy, split easy. But there are some that grow as the mahogany grows, with veneering knots, and all quirls and contortions of grain. That is the best timber of the forest which has the most knots. Everybody seeks it, because, being hard to grow, it is hard to wear out. And when knots have been sawn and polished, how beautiful they are. There are many who are content to grow straight, like weeds on a dunghill; but there are many others who want to be stalwart and strong like the monarchs of the forest, and yet, when God sends winds of adversity to sing a lullaby in their branches, they do not like to grow in that way. They dread the culture that is really giving toughness to their soul and strength to its fibre. (H. W. Beecher.)

Proverbs 24:11-12
If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death.
The claim of our brother’s need

1. It is supposed that there is an allusion here to what is understood to have been a custom among the Jews. When a man was being led to execution a sort of crier or herald went with the procession, publicly proclaiming that if any man hath “anything to offer even yet to show the innocence of the accused, or any circumstances of extenuation to present, or testimony to give to his character, let him now declare it; the judges are sitting; the procession to the place of execution shall be arrested; anything new in the form of evidence or testimony shall be heard, and thus execution shall be stayed.” It is supposed here that a man is in danger of death. It is supposed that he is innocent. It is supposed that there is a man who can help him, even now, to prove his innocence. If that man withholds his testimony, he is guilty of murder, and comes into the judgment of God.
2. Illustrations of the principle embodied in the text. Individuals may be exposed to great suffering by no fault of their own. Many have to suffer in consequence of the operation of general laws over which they have no control. Where there is suffering, peril, or destitution on one side, there is somewhere on the other the power to help; somebody has the ability to interpose. Those that have the power may neglect it, and endeavour to find miserable apologies and excuses for their neglect. There may be perfectly honest and sufficient reasons in any case why an individual may not help or take part in affording relief, but in every case a man must be perfectly honest with himself, and not make his personal indulgence take shape as pecuniary inability to help others. (T. Binney.)

Help for the heathen world
As descriptive, the words of the text draw our attention to the heathen, and give us a very affecting representation of their state. As imperative, they turn our attention to ourselves, and point out the work which God has given us to do—to use every possible effort to rescue our perishing neighbours from the state of peril and danger in which they are placed.
I. The state of the heathen world. As described in the text, “drawn unto death,” and “ready to be slain.”

1. As respects this world. In Hindustan there are four modes whereby men and women are “drawn unto death”—women by being burnt alive on the funeral pile of their husbands, and by being buried alive in the same grave; men by being crushed beneath the wheels of the ponderous car of Juggernaut, and by being drowned in the river Ganges.
2. As respects the next world. Look at their never-dying souls; think of the everlasting importance of the world to come. They are drawn to the pains of eternal death by their numerous and enormous iniquities; by the god of this world; and by the almighty arm of a holy and righteous God.
   II. The imperative fixture of the text. We must look at ourselves.
3. Our duty is clearly pointed out. We are to preach the everlasting gospel. Who will go? To whom can we look with so much propriety as to those who are already ordained to preach the gospel? But some may plead, “I am already useful and acceptable at home”; or “If I go to preach abroad, I shall inflict an injury on my own country”; or “I am not competent; I do not possess the requisite qualifications: and if. I were to make the attempt I should fail”; or “We cannot see it to be our duty to embark in this work at once, and for life”; or “I am already comfortable at home, and I do not like to give up my delights.”
4. We are to present fervent supplication to the throne of grace. We must pray as well as preach.
5. Another means to be employed is, liberal contributions to defray the expenses of so great an undertaking. God will not hold him guiltless who neglects this duty. (Henry Townley.)

Drawn unto death, and ready to be slain
I. A statement of a certain condition. The natural world is in this state. It is so with reference to its original and to its actual guilt. A man, as a sin agent, is evermore superadding sin to sin.
II. The moral causes which contribute to it.

1. Education conducted on false estimates and erroneous principles.
2. Example. Actions affix a deeper stamp and stronger impressions than words.
3. Habit, which is said to be a second nature. It exercises a sort of moral omnipotency over us.
4. Self-complacency of a nominal religion.
5. Pride, when it makes a man virtually deny the value of a revelation by Christ.
6. Sloth which lulls a man into a pleasing dream, from which he would not be awakened.
7. The fear of the world, which has its branding-irons.
8. Love of sin. Its indulgence makes up the pleasure of their life.
   III. The solemn duty to be performed. The deliverance is not in the power of man. A sinner must see himself as he really is, in the blackness of his guilt before God. For this he must seek the animation of the Holy Spirit. He must repent; and by faith look up to the Lord Jesus. These things must be told men plainly, and pressed upon them earnestly. (T. J. Judkin, M.A.)

Vain excuses
It is the universal characteristic of fallen man that he endeavours to extenuate what may be wrong in his conduct, and invent excuses. Are the pleas by which you might think to justify yourselves in regard to your known duties such as would bear being submitted to God? Men will often admit an excuse without close examination; not so God. We may examine into an excuse, and nevertheless not detect its worthlessness; not so God. Men, even when satisfied that blame attaches to the individual who offers the excuse, are often forced to let him pass without punishment; not so God. Groundless excuses can be of no avail as made to God, because, in the first place, He is a being who considers everything. In the second place, He knows everything. And in the third, He rewards everything. (H. Melvill, D.D.)

To magistrates
This text impresses this upon us—it is the duty of every one of us to use our best strength to deliver the oppressed, but our sin is we faint and forbear to do so.

1. Reasons for this duty in respect of God. We have His command and His example.
2. In respect of ourselves. What power we have and what need we may have. Our natural powers and faculties all have their several uses and opportunities. We have power to relieve the necessities of the poor. The world is full of changes and chances, and those who now have power presently come to have need. The rule of equity is, “Do as thou wouldst be done to.”
3. Reasons on consideration of the poor and oppressed. Consider the greatness of their distress, the scarcity of their friends, and the righteousness of their cause. That which you are to do for the poor is this, seek first to be well assured that their cause is just. Then you must not forsake or despise him because he is poor.
4. Reasons from the effects of the duty itself. It will gain us honour and estimation, purchase for us the blessings of the poor, and bring down on us the blessings of God. We want charity, but abound with self-love. Our defect in that appeareth by our backwardness to perform our duties to our brethren; and our excess in this, by our readiness to frame excuses for ourselves. Consider these excuses, such as—
   (1) We never heard of their matters.
   (2) We had no clear evidence that their cause was right and good.
   (3) We did not see how we could relieve them. God’s response to such excuses is assured.
   Doth not He consider? Doth not He know? Will not He render? (Bp. Sanderson.)

Proverbs 24:13-14
So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul.
Spiritual knowledge
I. It is wholesome. “My son, eat thou honey, because it is good.” Honey was one of the choice productions of Canaan. It was used by its inhabitants as an article of diet; it was not only delicious to the palate, but strengthening to the frame. Divine knowledge is the aliment for man’s spiritual nature; without it there is no moral strength; our faculties require God Himself to feed upon. Without God it starves. He is the food of the intellect, the affections, the imagination, the conscience.
II. It is delectable. “And the honeycomb, which is sweet to the taste.” God’s goodness in nature appears in this as well as in all other things: that the provisions essential to man’s strength He has made palatable to the taste. Honey is not only strengthening, but “sweet.” The pleasures of spiritual knowledge are of the most exquisite kind.
III. It is satisfying. “When thou hast found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off.” There shall be a reward. Goodness is its own reward, and the reward is equal to the highest “expectation.” (D. Thomas, D.D.)

Proverbs 24:17-18
Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth.
Revenge
Johnson makes a distinction between vengeance and revenge. Injuries, he says, are revenged; crimes are avenged. The former is an act of passion, the latter of justice.
I. The object of revenge. “Thine enemy.” Men are enemies to men. Humanity is not as it came from the hand of the Great Father of mankind. Sin has made the brother a foe. If man had no enemy, he would have no revenge. In heaven no such passion burns.
II. The gratification of revenge. “Let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth.” The fall, the ruin of the enemy, is bliss to the revenging soul. But if unmanly, still more un-Christian. What said Christ? “If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink,” etc.
III. The avenger of revenge. “Lest the Lord see it, and it displeaseth Him, and he turn away His wrath from him.”

1. Man’s revenge is displeasing to God. It is opposed to the benevolence of His nature; it is contrary to the teachings of His Word.
2. Man’s revenge may cause God to interpose, and relieve its victim. “He turn away His wrath from him.” Coverdale renders the words thus, “Lest the Lord be angry, and turn His wrath from him to thee.” Thus it was with the enemies of Samson (Jdg_16:25-30). (Homilist.)

Proverbs 24:21
My son, fear thou the Lord and the king.
Duty to God and the king
I. A double duty laid down. Or rather, a single duty, one included and comprehended in the other. Fear here is a comprehensive notion to contain in it all those duties which we owe to God principally, and to the king subordinately.

1. To fear God is to have awful apprehensions of Him in our thoughts, and to walk carefully before Him in our actions. This fear is the bottom of all true spiritual wisdom; the security against all other fears; a preservative against all sin and wilful offence; and a good preparative for the peace and welfare of society, by restraining people’s minds within the due limits of their subjection, that we may lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty.
2. To fear the king we stand obliged both in conscience to God and out of interest to ourselves, seeing that he is the public guardian, upon whose well-doing the welfare of the whole community depends.
3. The sum of all religion is to be as pure in holiness, so peaceable in righteousness, when we order ourselves piously to God and obediently to the magistrate. The interests of religion and policy are so nearly twisted and woven together that they cannot be severed from one another without the utmost hazard to both. Rebellion and schism are wont to go hand in hand together.
   II. The caution.
4. As an expedient for the duty. The way to keep in the fear of God and the king is to forbear the company of these restless folk, to keep at a distance from them, and have nothing to do with them.
5. As a consequent of this duty. He that hath any fear of God and the king will keep himself within compass. A pious soul, a loyal heart, will admit of nothing that may shake or call in question its fidelity.
   As to these changers—
6. Inquire who they are. Iterantes, men who go over things again and never have done. Variantes, who vary their course through all points of the compass. Detractors, that speak evil of dignities, both temporal and spiritual. Declinantes, stragglers, who go out of God’s and the king’s highway.
7. What is it not to meddle with them? It is to mark these men, and observe the dangerous mixture of their fine parts and foul designs. Consider well the tendency and drift of such principles as theirs.
8. The reasons why such men are not to be meddled with. There is no knowing how far they may lead you. Though you may be innocent, you may get wrapped up in others’ guilt. If you escape now, you will suffer one day, in the peace of thy conscience. And thou dost endanger the eternal safety of thy soul. Since it is so, let us take heed to ourselves, and establish our spirits in the fear of the Lord and the king, and as we wish well to our own persons and to our posterity after us, let us have nothing to do with these changers. (Adam Littleton, D.D.)

Our duty to God and man
Civil government is the great comprehensive worldly blessing; for it is the foundation of peace and quiet, the spring and fountain of all those inestimable advantages which adorn and felicitate human societies.
I. The duties which we owe to God and the king. The fear of God is oftentimes put for the whole sum of religion. We are also to fear the king, and though there is not an equal reason, yet there is a sufficient one for this fear. The king is God’s vicegerent and representative. And there must be something to work upon men’s fears as well as to convince their understandings, before they will learn or practise the duty of subjection. Religion and loyalty have a close dependence on each other, and a strict connection with each other. No man can be truly religious who is not a good subject. No man can be steadily and immovably loyal who is not truly and sincerely religious.
II. A proper means prescribed for securing and preserving us in our duty. Beware of those who are given to changes, e.g., the atheist, the restless, the rebellious. (William Stainforth.)

Religion in national life
I. The perfections which render God the object of our fear.
II. The fear of God and the king is the best preservative against the disturbers of the peace and quiet of all government. It is the foundation of all those virtues from which the peace and happiness of governments must arise, and the most effectual restraint upon the vicious appetites and passions of men. Those in whom this principle rules cannot help looking upon others as the servants of one Sovereign Master, and this consideration must dispose them to have the tenderest regard for their welfare, and tie them together by the strictest bands of fraternal love and friendship. And this principle must naturally contribute to the regulating and composing those disorderly affections and passions which are the great enemies and disturbers of the peace of mankind. Religion fixes that levity and weakness of mind which is so natural to man; it unites his actions and resolutions to one great end, and makes them consistent and regular; and is the best cure of that restlessness of mind which closely adheres to our very natures, and renders us dissatisfied with what we are, or what we at present possess or enjoy; and too often disposes us wantonly to desire changes for the very sake of changing. (John Wilcox, D.D.)

Religious loyalty
The possession of power is one thing; guidance how to use it is another. The sacred writings contemplated your present as well as your future. The present, what is it but the future begun? The future, what is it but the present completed? He will most enjoy the glories of the future whose life of practical holiness best attests the work of grace within him now. The whole power of this verse consists in its unity. It is not, “My son, fear thou the Lord,” and then, “My son, fear thou the king”; but, “My son, fear thou the Lord and the king.”
I. The remarkable command. There is much force in that word, “fear thou.” Be unmoved by any motives, or influences, or examples, which may press you to do otherwise than thus. If all around you are wrong, “fear thou.” Multitudes do not prove a matter to be right. Act for yourself, and do not fear to stand alone. The command here is, fear both God and the king. You must do the latter if the former be regarded. The fear of God brings with it a principle of obedience, which will influence your conduct in all things. The two things are united morally, and so a true Christian must be a good subject.
II. The danger of forgetting this command. The antithesis is very striking. “Meddle not with them that are given to change.” But change must not be confused with progress and improvement. Change means things that imperil primary principles of righteousness.
III. The results of neglecting this command. “Their calamity shall come suddenly.” Apply—To serve your generation by the will of God is one of the duties and privileges of your present state. You will do it if you fear “both God and the king.” (George Venables.)

Advice and penalty
I. The advice. The commendation “My son” stands first. This is such a counsel as a father would give a son. And that it is no evil one we may be sure. There is in this counsel a single act—“fear”—and a double object—“God and the king.” The main drift of the advice is, a resentive against meddling with certain persons. It consists of two counter points. Do this and eschew that. Follow one, fly the other.
II. The penalty. It is punishment enough for a man not to follow good counsel when it is given him. Yet God hath so ordered, as there goeth ever some further evil with the contempt of good counsel. The penalty is no less than destruction and ruin; a sudden destruction, an unknown ruin. Solomon sits here as a counsellor and as a judge—a counsellor to advise, a judge to pronounce. Hear his counsel, then; if not, hear your sentence. Choose which verse you will be in. In one of them we must be. In the verse of counsel, “Fear God and the king,” or in the verse of penalty, “For their destruction,” etc. (Bp. Lancelot Andrewes.)

Fear God and king
The word “fear” expresses the general idea of reverence, or of holding in awe. God is to be feared according to the nature and authority of His government, kings according to the nature and authority of theirs; God supremely, kings subordinately; God as the source of all power, kings as holding theirs of God, and responsible to Him for the use they make of it. God for His character; kings simply as the representatives of power. God with a fear ever associated with the love of complacency; kings with as much love as their personal character admits of. (R. Wardlaw, D.D.)

Loyalty of the Christian spirit
Dr. Buchsel, speaking of the conventicles in Germany, early in the century, in which evangelical piety, which had no voice in the Churches, found refuge, says: “I noticed that all of this way of thinking, however much they suspected regularly ordained ministers and Church authorities, yet appeared to place heartfelt confidence in the king. They were universally persuaded that his majesty personally was well inclined towards them. The king was invariably prayed for with the utmost affection.” (J. F. B. Tinling, B.A.)

And meddle not with them that are given to change.
Given to change
Harmony and order preserve societies, when all men that are in a subordinate state do readily yield to him who is the supreme according to God’s law. Maximus Tyrius, the Platonist, speaks of three sorts of government—monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. One end of religion is to be serviceable even to the political and civil interests of mankind; and because there can be no temporal felicity without peace, nor peace without loyal and dutiful submission, the text calls on all such as would be truly happy to “fear God and the king.”
I. An affirmative command. That we express that humble and universal fear which is due to God’s majesty, and that becoming reverence which is due to the king’s majesty for God’s sake. (This subject not now treated fully.)
II. A negative precept. That we have nothing to do with those who, when things are well, under pretence of mending would fain mar all, and alter everything, whether it be religion, or laws, or government, that lieth in their way. Some render the verse thus, “Meddle not with them that act their iniquities over again; them that are disobedient and disloyal afresh; them that repeat their old sins against the king and his regalities; them that are for a change, but not of their own principles and courses.” Solomon’s own experience led him to warn his son against intractable and ungrateful men. Other expositors do not so restrain the sense of the text, but interpret it generally of all that are given to change, though some of them for a considerable time may have kept touch with the government: “Meddle not with them that change their good principles; with them that warp their obedience; with them that are unsteady and inconsistent with themselves, and observe the pulse of the times.” Men should be quiet and dutiful, and contented with their lot when things are well and in their right channel, and not abet the practices of those who cannot be at ease until the mire be stirred, and the wheel be turned upside down. Reasons for this advice of the text:

1. A retinue of the most mischievous concomitants and effects, as war, bloodshed, confusion, rapine, the subversion of laws, and ruin of families, follow upon these restless changes, these evils of innovation.
2. Change of government is rarely attempted but under some cleanly disguise and popular pretence. Popular states have been erected by the popular tricks of men.
   Recommend three practical things—
3. The fear of the Lord. No confidence can be placed but in men who act upon the right principles of religion and honesty.
4. The fear of the king is coercive of obedience.
5. Avoid the company of restless spirits; have no fellowship with them. (Edward Pelling.)

The fewer changes the better
Man’s power of adapting himself to new spheres and work is placed within such strict limitations, that the fewer changes he makes in life the better. There is a law of limitation for animals and men. And the facts respecting the limited range enjoyed by some animals are not more noteworthy than are those respecting the limited range of some men. There are some persons who do well enough in the dull dreary region of a cold official life, whose existence is unendurable in the midst of the associations of wit and romance. The red-tape species die if brought away from the frigid regions of officialism and formality; and there are many poor men who live honest, useful lives in the scenes of indigence who, when fortune unexpectedly transports them into the luxuriant scenes of opulence and gaiety, die from some one or other of the results of the change for which they were not constituted. Many attempts have been made to remove very good men from one position to another, and the result has been a termination of their usefulness, and often of their life. The notion that men can adapt themselves to anything is an error arising from want of observation. There is a sphere for every man; and, as a rule, the removal of him when he is fairly acclimatised either renders him useless altogether, or makes it necessary that he should be sustained by artificial inventions, and in that case he cannot lead that natural life which is necessary in the full development of his powers. It will also be found that these difficulties in adapting men to great changes of position increase with their age. (R. J. Graves, F.R.S.)

Improvement justifies change
To oppose all changes is to set up a plea of perfection. Every improvement (and where is there not need for improvement?) is a change. But public evils are not to be mended by railing. To be “given to change”; to alter for the sake of altering; to be weary of the old and captivated with the new, however untried; to make experiments upon modes of government, is a fearful hazard. It is losing the substance of real good in the dream of imaginary improvements; as if we must undo everything rather than be idle. (G. Bridges, M.A.)

Proverbs 24:23-26
These things also belong to the wise.
Social conduct
I. Here is partiality of judgment; that is bad. “It is no good to have respect of persons in judgment.” The principle of impartiality is enjoined both in the Old and the New Testament. In the Old, “Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment; thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty; but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.” In the New Testament we have these words, “My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons,” etc. (Jas_2:1-9).
II. Here is flattery of the wicked, which is execrable. “He that saith unto the wicked, Thou art righteous, him shall the people curse; nations shall abhor him.” If the wicked man be great in wealth, exalted in social influence and political power, there is a wondrous tendency in all the grades below to flatter him as a “righteous man.”
III. Here is reproving of the wrong, which is blessed. “But to them that rebuke him shall be delight,” etc.

1. There is a delight in such work. “To them that rebuke him shall be delight.” What is the delight? The delight of an approving conscience.
2. There is Divine favour in such work. “A good blessing shall come upon you.” God will express His favour to such a man in many ways.
3. There is social approbation in such work. “Every man shall kiss his lips that giveth the right answer.” (Homilist.)

Proverbs 24:25
To them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them.
The duty of rebuking the wicked
I. The duty and its obligation. By “rebuke” we may understand either that friendly office exercised by private persons towards their trespassing brethren, with a design and hope of reclaiming them from their evil ways, or else that severer method of proceeding by public censures and legal punishments, inflicted by persons in authority, with the same charitable end in view. Private Christians have a call and authority sufficient to admonish and reprove, where it can be done prudently and seasonably. We must not think ourselves at liberty to suffer sin and wickedness, committed in our sight and hearing, to pass without correction. The aid of the civil magistrate may be needed for those who will not be reformed and reclaimed from an evil course by arguments fetched from another world, but may be forced into better manners by temporal punishments. When these punishments have no fitness in them to make men better, they are of great use to prevent their growing worse and more hardened in their sins. The infliction of legal penalties is also necessary to prevent the contagion of bad example, that the venom spread no further, to taint the sound members, and corrupt those who are well disposed.
II. The motives which excite to the performance of this duty.

1. Delight, or an inward joy and satisfaction, flowing from the testimony of a good conscience, which is the most agreeable of all comforts. The thought of good done lies easy in men’s minds, and the reflection upon it doth ever after minister comfort and delight to them. The greatest good one man can possibly do another is to assist and further him in the way of salvation; to keep him within the lines of duty; and to reclaim him to a better course.
2. A good blessing. A just God will not let this labour of love pass without reward. He will consider it in proportion to the measure of good that is done by it, and the discouragements and difficulties with which it is usually attended. The good blessing includes the blessing of men. Every man who rebukes evil without fear or favour shall, for his integrity, wisdom, and courage, be had in universal esteem. A good magistrate is respected and honoured by those who have no great regard to religion, for reasons of state. How much more may such expect honour and veneration from those who are concerned for religion and the glory of God. (John Waugh, D.D.)

The delight of the rebuker of evil
Whence comes this delight?

1. From the consciousness of having done rightly.
2. From the possession of public approbation, affection, and confidence.
3. From a sense of Divine approbation.
4. From the affection and complacency of all good men, and the grateful acknowledgments of those whose causes have been carefully, disinterestedly, and righteously investigated and determined; even those who fail having, notwithstanding, a testimony in their consciences to the soundness of principle, and the sincerity of the desire to do right, with which all has been conducted. (R. Wardlaw, D.D.)

Proverbs 24:27
Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house.
Preparation; its nature, obligation, and blessings
God loves preparations. God gives little but to preparations. All His own great works He has done preparedly. Creation was not done without great forethought (Pro_8:27-31). And redemption was no sudden after-thought, for before the foundation of the earth was laid redemption was cast in the mind of God. And every event that happens to every man, it was planned ages before the man was born. And the children of Israel did not enter Canaan till they had gone through a preparatory discipline. Neither did prophets, nor apostles, nor Jesus Himself, begin work without an interval of solitude and discipline for perfect readiness. The preparation of Jesus was marvellous. Ten-elevenths of that life, of which every moment was gold—ten-elevenths given to preparation. Rightly viewed, everything this side heaven, and perhaps we need not draw the limit line even there—everything is preparation. Within the compass of this present world everything is placed in the state and order that it is, to fit us for another thing which is coming afterwards. Just as in a good education every rule leads up to a higher rule, and every new piece of knowledge is the basis of another piece, so that the mind is always being made ready for something beyond it, so it is in God’s dispensations. A joy may be a prelude to a sorrow, or a sorrow may be a prelude to a joy, or a joy to a higher joy, or a sorrow to a still deeper sorrow. Nothing is isolated. It is not isolated joy; it is not isolated sorrow. The great thing we have to do is to be careful that we treat everything as preparatively. We should always be asking, when joy and sorrow comes, “Of what is this the precursor? what is God going to do with me next?” You cannot always be doing duties, but you can always be preparing for them. And remember, preparations are the long things; works are the short things. Let the preparation suit what you are going to do—a general preparation for general duty—but a special preparation for things special. The materials you gather in the “field” must be suited to the particular “house” which you are going to “build.” Always make a stop upon the eve, and search into your own heart, and say, “Am I ready? has God given me a true preparation?” If not, as far as you can, stop a little longer before you take another step. Whatever else you do, secure preparation before you begin. There is a frame of mind which is a continual preparedness. It is the “Here I am!” of the patriarchs. It is a high, blessed state. (
J. Vaughan, M.A.)

Preparation for life’s duties, sorrows, and joys
I should place first among preparations—the Sunday. A Sunday will be a preparation, if you view it as preparatory. It does not much matter whether you look upon it as the day for laying in the mind’s food for the week, or as the day for raising the mind to its true tone and level for the week, or as the day to hallow anything to which you are looking, by bringing it out especially before God that day. It is a very good thing to use the Sunday for laying before God, and so solemnly consecrating, and obtaining strength and wisdom for, anything that you are planning or expecting in the course of the coming week. But if you will thus spend your Sunday as a ground, apart from the world, and in loftier ranges of thought, you are “preparing your work without, and making it fit for yourself in the field; and afterwards build thine house.” What is true of the Sunday is certainly true also of all private exercises of the soul; and most of all, our morning devotions. Our morning devotions should have a distinct, preparatory character. You will find it a good rule never to open your Bible without a little secret prayer. Certainly, whatever it is worth while for a Christian to do at all, it is worth while to do measuredly and deliberately. Better to do a few things so than multitudes lightly. And the God of order and of forethought will Himself bless what most honours Him, by holy premeditation and religious accuracy, in which He sees, therefore, the most of His own image. Map your day before you go out; plan carefully; lay all beginnings in God: “Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house.” But you say, “What is this preparation? I cannot so prepare.” Then what does that show, but that before the beginning there is another beginning, and that the preparation itself needs to be prepared? But if you ask, “What is the right preparation for sorrow?” I answer, first, not to anticipate sorrow, for that is not filial nor childlike, but to have it well laid in your mind that sorrow must come, and to know its nature, what it is. For the danger of sorrow is, lest it come upon us overwhelmingly, and paralyse our powers. Therefore, be in a state of mind which cannot be surprised—not ignorant of what sorrow is when it comes. Is not it a needful discipline? To prepare for joys the rule is opposite. The preparation there lies in the fact of the anticipation. You cannot expect too much. For one of the perils of a joy is its throwing the mind from its equilibrium by the rush of its novelty. But he who has dealt much with the great undertakings of God’s love and promise will scarcely be surprised at any happiness that ever comes. Is he not loved? So the joy will not come disturbingly to the mind. (J. Vaughan, M.A.)

Proverbs 24:28-29
Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause.
The nature and extent of false witness
There is nothing more dear and valuable to men than their reputation or good name. It is a mark of an abandoned spirit to have no regard to it. Men have always been very tender in preserving it in themselves, and they ought to make great conscience of taking it wrongfully from others. So much reputation is so much power, and according to men’s esteem and credit in the world, so much proportionably is their influence and the weight they have in it. For the same reasons that we are obliged not to injure our neighbour in his person or property, we ought to be very tender of his good name and reputation. Then always have a just regard to truth and charity, and the benefit and advantage of the public. Our neighbour is whomsoever it happens at any time to be in our power either to injure or do kindness to; whosoever can, in any respect, become the better or the worse, or receive any hurt or any benefit, by our behaviour towards them. The word which we render “deceive” signifies in the original, any damage or inconvenience brought upon a man in the way of slander, calumny, backbiting, or any other injurious manner of presenting him.
I. The nature and extent of the sin here forbidden. The highest form of the sin is deliberately giving false evidence in judicial matters. Another degree of the vice is when men bear false testimony against their brethren, after a secret manner, in private conversation. Whether revenge, or anything else, be the temptation to the practice, the nature of the sin itself is of the deepest dye. There are still lower degrees of the fault. The careless and rash custom of spreading censorious reports to the disadvantage of our neighbour, without caring to inquire into the truth of the accusation. Under this head come innumerable sorts of calumny, detraction, slander, evil-speaking, backbiting, tale-bearing, rash judgment, etc.. Men in such matters are often faulty through negligence and want of care and attention. That person is a very perfect man indeed who can be continually upon his guard against this error. The lowest degree of this fault is when men are censorious towards their brethren, spreading abroad things that are true needlessly, and contrary to the laws of charity. It is a breach of Christian charity to take delight in spreading even true reports needlessly, to the damage, or disadvantage, of our neighbour.
II. Reasons or motives which ought to influence our practice in this matter. From the nature and constitution of human society there arises a strong argument why men ought to govern their words as well as actions. By injurious speech, mutual trust and good-will are destroyed, on which depends the welfare and happiness of mankind. Mischief comes to the man himself. The natural punishment of a licentious and unbridled tongue is the inconveniences it is very apt to bring, in the course of things, upon the person himself. But worse is the secret damage done to others. Slander and uncharitable defamation is “a pestilence that walketh in darkness.” Another motive obliging men to restrain licentious speech is the consideration of the inconsistency of it with a due sense of religion. A principal part of pure religion is that men approve themselves by a good conversation, with meekness of wisdom. Another argument against calumny is the consideration that we are ourselves subject to error. He that is infallibly secured against all errors himself, let him be as censorious as he pleases upon the mistakes of others. Our Saviour forbids this censoriousness towards others, under the penalty of being more strictly judged ourselves. (S. Clarke, D.D.)

Wrong testimony against neighbours
The verses suggest three kinds of wrong testimony.
I. A causeless one. “Be not s witness against thy neighbour without cause.” There are those who are, for no service, either to themselves or to society, testifying of the defects and infirmities of their neighbours.
II. A false one. “And deceive not with thy lips.”
III. A revengeful one. “Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me: I will render to the man according to his work.” (Homilist.)

Revenging injuries
These words are a direct prohibition of revenging injuries and recompensing evil for evil, and give us a rule of duty in ease of wrong done to us.
I. Was revenge allowed to the jews? In Lev_19:18 it is said, “Thou shalt not avenge or bear any grudge against the children of thy people.” This has been taken to imply that a Jew might kill a stranger, and consequently take any inferior degree of revenge on him. But compare the injunctions respecting the treatment of the stranger in Exo_22:1-31; Exo_23:1-33; Lev_19:9-10; Deu_10:1-22, etc. As to the retaliation granted (Exo_21:24), this allowance was not made to the party injured, so that he might satisfy and distribute justice to himself; but to the judge, so that he might allot compensation for the wrong done.
II. Enforce the great duty of forgiveness.

1. From the reasonableness of this duty in itself. Reasonable men must allow its force and truth. By corrupt and undisciplined natures only is revenge counted as a mark of a noble and brave spirit. But it is a sign of superiority of mind to forgive the trespass. We ought to make our forgiveness as useful to the trespasser as possibly we can. Prudence should arrest the forwardness of charity in granting pardons.
2. The great weight our Saviour lays upon our forgiving others, in order to our title to our own forgiveness. There is no proportion in number betwixt our offences against God and those of the most offensive of our brethren against us.
3. We have great reason to forgive them, because of the good use and advantage we may make of our enemies. Charity is the greatest manager in the world.
   III. Mistakes which mislead men in their judgments concerning their own forgiveness.
4. The mistake of those who think they have paid a fair obedience to the law of charity, when they strike the offender only with the impartial hand of that of the law.
5. The mistake of those who think they may consign the trespasser to the judgment of God.
6. The mistake of judging the truth of our forgiveness on a principle of sloth. Some men are too ready to move themselves to resentment.
7. The mistake of thinking we have forgiven, when the fact is that the impressions have only worn off our minds. This is forgetting, not forgiving, since forgiveness is properly our own work, and not one of time. (George Wallis, D.D.)

Retaliation repudiated
An incident well worth relating is told of General Robert Lee, the Confederate officer during the American Civil War. Jefferson Davis once asked him what he thought of a certain officer in the army, as he had an important place he wanted filled by a trustworthy man. Lee gave the officer an excellent recommendation, and he was immediately promoted to the position. Some of Lee’s friends told him that the officer had said some very bitter things against him, and were surprised at the General’s recommendation. “I was not asked,” said Lee, “for the officer’s opinion of me, but my opinion of him.” Only a noble heart could prompt such action. In praying, we are told to love our enemies, but in our every-day life we too often love only those who love us.

Proverbs 24:30-34
I went by the field of the slothful.
The moral sluggard
Take these words as a pointed reproof of the negligent and immoral head of a family. The cause of prevailing irreligion is the deplorable negligence of masters and heads of families, in cultivating that field which is more immediately placed under their inspection and care.

1. The fatal consequences of irreligious sloth and negligence in those whom Providence hath raised up to be the heads of families. Families are the nurseries of the Church and state: it is from them that every department of life is filled up. Who is the slothful man? It is the moral sluggard whom the inspired writer has in view—the man who shows his children and servants, by all his pursuits, that this world is all for which they need to care. He neglects the important seasons and opportunities for moral culture. He does not teach them the duties which they owe to one another and to society. He may permit them to be instructed by others, but he does not support the instruction by his own influence and example. See the consequences of this negligence illustrated in the sluggard’s garden. Being destitute of rule, management, or control, his children absorb every wrong sentiment with their earliest sense, and are more and more corrupted with every breath they draw. There is no order, calmness, moderation, or self-command among the members of his family.
2. The futility of such apologies as are usually made for this negligence. They have not time; they have not capacity; or they do not feel under obligation in this direction. (James Somerville.)

The sluggard’s farm
On one occasion Solomon looked over the broken wall of a little estate which belonged to a farmer of his country. It consisted of a piece of ploughed land and a vineyard: One glance showed him that it was owned by a sluggard, who neglected it; for the weeds had grown right plentifully, and covered all the face of the ground. From this Solomon gathered instruction. Men generally learn wisdom if they have wisdom. Some look only at the surface, while others see not only the outside shell but the living kernel of truth which is hidden in all outward things. We may find instruction everywhere. We may gather rare lessons from things that we do not like.
I. The description of a slothful man. Solomon was right when he called him “a man void of understanding.” Not only does he not understand anything, but he has no understanding to understand with. He is empty-headed if he is a sluggard. As a rule we may measure a man’s understanding by his useful activities. Certain persons call themselves “cultured,” and yet they cultivate nothing. If knowledge, culture, education do not lead to practical service of God, we cannot have learned what Solomon calls wisdom. True wisdom is practical; boastful culture vapours and theorises. Wisdom ploughs its field, hoes its vineyard, looks to its crops, tries to make the best of everything; and he who does not do so, whatever may be his knowledge of this, of that, of the other, is “a man void of understanding.”

1. Because he has opportunities which he does not use.
2. Because being bound to the performance of certain duties he did not fulfil them.
3. Because he has capacities which he does not employ.
4. Because he trifles with matters which demand his most earnest heed. The Christian who is slothful in his Master’s service has no idea what he is losing.
   II. Look at the sluggard’s land.
5. Land will produce something; some kind of fruit, good or bad. If you are idle in God’s work you are active in the devil’s work.
6. If the soul be not farmed for God, it will yield its natural produce. What is the natural produce of land when left to itself?
7. If we are slothful, the natural produce of our heart and of our sphere will be most inconvenient and unpleasant to ourselves.
8. In many instances there will be a great deal of this evil produce.
   III. There must be some lesson in all this.
9. Unaided nature will always produce thorns and nettles, and nothing else.
10. See the little value of natural good intentions. This man, who left his field and his vineyard to be overgrown, always meant to work hard one of these fine days. Probably the worst people in the world are those who have the best intentions but never carry them out. Take heed of little delays and short puttings-off. You have wasted time enough already; come to the point at once before the clock strikes again. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The broken fence
The slothful man did no hurt to his fellow-men. He was not grossly vicious; he had not energy enough to care for that. He always let well alone, and for the matter of that, he let ill alone. Yet he always meant to be right.
I. Look at this broken fence. In the beginning it was a good fence, a stone wall. Mention some of the stone walls that men permit to be broken down when they backslide.

1. Sound principles instilled in youth.
2. Solid doctrines which have been learned.
3. Good habits once formed.
4. Week-night services are a stone wall.
5. So is Bible-reading.
6. So is a public profession of faith.
7. So is firmness of character.
   II. The consequences of a broken-down fence.
8. The boundary has gone. He does not know which is his Lord’s property, and which remains an open common.
9. The protection is gone. When a man’s heart has its wall broken all his thoughts will go astray, and wander upon the mountains of vanity. Nor is this all, for as good things go out, so bad things come in.
10. The land itself will go away. In many parts of Palestine the land is all ups and downs on the sides of the hills, and every bit of ground is terraced, and kept up by walls. When the walls fall the soil slips over terrace upon terrace, and the vines and trees go down with it; then the rain comes and washes the soil away, and nothing is left but barren crag which would starve a lark. Then I charge you, be sternly true to yourselves and God. Stand to your principles in this evil and wicked day. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The sluggard’s field
The royal philosopher has his attention drawn to a field and a vineyard in ruins.

1. Each man has a field and a vineyard entrusted to his care—the immortal soul.
2. He is provided with various implements of husbandry, with good seed, sure directions, and animating promises.
3. See the soul, the vineyard of such a labourer. The effects will generally be commensurate with the means used. As we sow we reap.
4. Observe the deplorable condition of the soul described in the text. Here is a desolate and neglected soul which once was cultivated—the backslider. Whence the cause of this sad change? What is the miserable end to be dreaded? (F. Close, M.A.)

The field of the sluggard
The passage is an exquisite picture. The moral of it might have been set boldly in unimaginative prose. Many persons have eyes to see things, but they do not think about what they see. If a really good man sets his heart within him to search through those things that his eyes show him, he is bound to see God. The man who saw this neglected vineyard with his inner eyes saw all that physical ruin and loss and mischief sprang from moral causes. Suffering in our physical and eternal life generally does spring from something wrong in our moral character. This vineyard had gone to ruin because its master was not man enough; he was a sluggard, an indolent fellow. It is a bad thing for a man to be too much his own master. That ruined vineyard had the roots of its ruin in that man’s character. He began to be too fond of ease, indulgence, and bodily comfort; he began to lose the pluck and spirit and enterprise that make a man take his pleasure out of his work. If you have not eyes to see what lies in your drudgery and toil, you will not come to much in this world. The progress of becoming a sluggard was a gradual one, and the progress of damage was slow but sure. The man might have taken warning, but there was a process of dilapidation going on in his character. That was the mischief. You cannot scamp your outside work without ruining your character. And it was little bit by little bit. Learn it is a very difficult thing rightly and wisely to see your neighbour’s faults; but it is a much more difficult thing, though a much more necessary thing, to see your own. (W. E. Elmslie, D.D.)

Character
These words illustrate that field which every man has to cultivate—the field of character. We do not start life with characters ready made. What we have at the outset are but germs and possibilities. Until we have developed these germs for ourselves, their full value is not obtained. God has given life, powers, opportunities; out of these character is formed. This is a man’s own property, whether it is good or bad. Character is the true gauge of a man’s worth. Character is the only property we can take with us when we leave this world. Some men’s fields” are partly neglected.

1. There is no fence.
2. There is no fruit.
   How comes this waste of precious ground? Traced to one source—self-indulgence. This reveals itself in various ways. In procrastination. In an easy assent to the popular misrepresentations of Christianity. In taking up doubts at second-hand, and parading them as though proof of their superior wisdom. But self-indulgence in every form will bring ruin. And the ruin of self-indulgence is fast approaching. “Thy poverty shall come as one that travelleth.” There may be seeming delay about its arrival; but there is also certainty. It is even now upon the road. (J. Jackson Goadby.)

The sluggard’s garden
The owner of this miserable garden was a sluggard. He would not work. So the deterioration went on unchecked, until what was once a beautiful, productive, cleanly-kept garden became a place of the rankest weeds. Here, in this text, is an important principle. People are always complaining that they possess few opportunities for their improvement. Wise men can go to school anywhere. We may learn by other men’s mistakes. There are many sluggards.

1. The home sluggard. Usually a woman. Neglected homes lie at the root of much of the misery, sin, and unhappiness of the world to-day.
2. The sluggard in the battle of life. A good-for-nothing—a waster of time, money, and precious opportunities. God has not given us life to idle away. Maybe that something of this sluggish disposition lies within us all, and must be continually struggled with. The men who have done most in life, achieved the greatest fame, and gained its best prizes, have all been steady workers, diligent plodders.
3. The sluggard in the field of conscience. Weeds always grow quickly, though imperceptibly. There is a law of degeneration. It may be stated in this way: “Let a thing alone, and it is certain to deteriorate.” It is thus in the realm of conscience. There is nothing more dangerous than procrastination in the affairs of the soul and conscience. Many a man is aware of evil habits, and intends to give them up by and by. They never are given up in that way. Let your life alone, and you will awaken some day in awful astonishment at the depths to which you have sunk. Give up indolence and procrastination, then. (Wm. Hay, B.D.)

Idleness
I. It is foolish. Solomon characterises this indolent man as one “void of understanding.” therein do you see this man’s folly? In the flagrant neglect of his own interests. You may cultivate your field by proxy, but you can only cultivate your soul yourself.
II. It is procrastinating.
III. It is ruinous.

1. Consider the wretched condition to which his estate was reduced. “Lo, it was all grown over with thorns,” etc. It might have waved in golden grain.
   Two things suggested by the words.
2. That the ruin is gradual in its approach. It does not burst on you at once, like a thunder-storm.
3. The ruin is terrible in its consummation. “As an armed man.” It will seize you as with the grasp of an indignant warrior. (D. Thomas, D.D.)

The sluggard’s vineyard
I. Survey this waste vineyard.

1. We can see nothing but weeds. The outgrowths of the depraved heart yield no real revenue to man. Covetousness, malice, vain thoughts, evil desires, unbelief.
2. How luxuriantly they grow! Our evil propensities must, if unchecked by grace, increase.
3. There are various kinds of growth. Thorns and nettles. There may be a man of one book, business, virtue—but not of one evil propensity.
4. They are all harmful. “Thorns” to lacerate; “nettles” to sting.
5. The wall is broken. Anybody might sow there, or water the unprofitable crop—except the good sower, and he must enter by the door. God saves us from our sluggishness, not in it.
   II. Why it remains in this deplorable condition. Ignorance that will not learn, and slothfulness that will not work.
   III. Expostulate with the sluggard.
6. The vineyard is not your own.
7. Think what this vineyard might produce. Grapes for the cup of the King—fruit for days of sickness—refreshment for old age.
8. In its present state it is harmful to your neighbours. The thistle-down will float far and wide.
   IV. In conclusion, some words of earnest counsel.
9. Come forth from your couch of indifference and resolutely inspect this desolate scene.
10. Do not seek to satisfy conscience by pulling a weed here and there. It must be thoroughly delved; ploughed up. “Ye must be born again.”
11. Do not be content with showing a few wild grapes. (R. A. Griffin.)

The vineyard of the sluggard
Some preachers teach morality without showing its vital connection with the gospel. Some fall into the opposite error, and fail to exhibit the ethical side of the gospel.
I. The field of the sluggard teaches that it is wrong to abuse what we regard as our own. The sluggard might contend that the garden was his own. The assumption is unfounded, and even blasphemous.

1. It is a sigh of gross disloyalty to God, who prefers an absolute claim to our life and service.
2. It involves a serious loss to our fellow-creatures, because the wind carries the seeds of our neglect into our neighbour’s garden. Apply to moral influence.
   II. The possession of advantages, so far from absolving us from the necessity of labour and self-culture, renders them more necessary. The area of our responsibility coincides with the area of our possessions.
3. The cultivation of the body is a sacred obligation.
4. The mind is a vineyard that ought to be cultivated.
5. There is, too, the vineyard of the heart.
   III. Neglect, as well as wilful wickedness, move in the direction of destruction. Observe that not only was the soil covered with noxious growths, but the means of protection were destroyed.
   IV. Good men will learn from the follies and miseries of wicked men. Such instruction is gathered by observation and reflection. The two principal methods of acquiring wisdom. Observation collects facts, reflection arranges and applies them, converting them into solid nutriment for mind and heart. (Preacher’s Magazine.)

The slothful pastor

1. To every minister of God there is entrusted a field and a vineyard.
2. God supplies his labourer with various implements of husbandry, with good seed and providential opportunities.
3. God makes special promises to every devoted husbandman.
4. What a blessed sight is the field and vineyard of such a labourer!
5. But consider the different picture drawn in the text. What is so affecting as the contemplation of a neglected parish? How is this to be accounted for? “This is the field of the slothful, and the vineyard of the man void of understanding.”
   What is the people’s duty, in the consideration of such a subject as this?
6. Let us all be anxious to avail ourselves of the religious privileges which we possess.
7. If it is our misfortune to have a slothful husbandman, let us not desert the Church, but unite in prayer for him and wait on God in meek submission to His will. (F. Close, M.A.)

The fool’s vineyard
In every age the sluggard and the fool have had their place, as well as the labourer and the wise man.
I. The scene shows us that if we will not have flowers and fruits we shall certainly have thorns and nettles. We cannot set aside the laws of nature. There is a law of growth in the very ground. It is the same with the character of man. We cannot simply do nothing. Life has its laws. We may pay them no heed, but they will assert themselves notwithstanding.

1. A man may resolve not to cultivate his mind. What then? The weeds of false notions, the thorns and nettles of prejudice, will prove his intellectual indolence.
2. A man may neglect to cultivate his moral nature. He will have nothing to do with religion. What then? Look at his false ideas, his superstition, his narrowness, his want of veneration, his superficial judgments, the weeds that have grown up.
   II. The sluggard and the fool cannot hide the results of their neglect.
3. We cannot confine the results of a wasted life within our own bounds.
4. This being the case, we have not a right to do with what we call our own as we please. There is nothing which we can strictly call our own. Society will not allow us to do what we please with our own.
   III. It is possible to be right in some particulars and to be grievously wrong in others. The legal right of the slothful man to the possession of the field might be undisputed. The vineyard might have fallen into the hands of the fool by strict lawful descent. So far so good. The case is on this side perfectly sound. Yet possession was not followed by cultivation. It is not enough to possess; we must increase. You ought not to allow even a house to fall into decay. There is no right of abuse. You have not a right to be dirty, to be ignorant, to be careless of life; on that line no rights have ever been established.
   IV. The scene shows that even the worst abuses may be turned to good account. The good man is an example; the bad man is a warning.
5. You will see that the finest possessions may be wasted; property, talent, influence, opportunity.
6. You will see that wickedness always moves in the direction of destruction. It must do so. All indolence must go down. All sin forces itself in the direction of perdition. How did the wise man know that the man was void of understanding? By the state of his vineyard. Know a man by his surroundings, know him by his habits; there is character in everything. (J. Parker, D.D.)

Mental cultivation essential to the soul’s salvation
The immortal soul, although one and indivisible as its Author, yet, like a large estate, is divided into various sections, as the understanding, the memory, and the affections.

1. The intellectual faculty is the understanding. If not cultivated, it will produce an attendant crop of evil thoughts and vain imaginations, which, like thorns and nettles, will injuriously affect the soul.
2. Another property of the soul to be cultivated is the memory, and unless that is attended to, all the other would be like casting seed by the wayside.
3. Another section of the soul is that of the affections which are ever disposed to run wild, and want continual pruning and training, to guide them in a right direction. The heart is liable to alight upon objects that may pierce it with many sorrows, to prevent which the most efficient remedy is to have the mind occupied as much as possible in contemplation of eternal blessings. If the mind were to dwell on the attributes of the Deity, especially as the God of love, it would expand with delight as the blossom to the sun. (William Neville, M.A.)

Practical views of human life
How much have we profited, in the character of servants of God, by what we have seen of men? How much more wise in the best sense, conscientious, apt, effectually warned? The world should be regarded as an extensive outer department of the great school of religion. The things which the servant of God is taught in the inner school he is to observe illustrated, exemplified, proved, and enforced in this wide, outer department. When the learner in God’s peculiar school goes out to observe mankind he will think of the manner and cautions and rules for turning what he sees to the most beneficial account, and the most instructive points to fix his attention upon. An obvious one is, let not his observing be merely of the nature of speculation, not simply a seeing and judging what men are. Our knowledge of men must be diligently applied to a salutary use, especially for ourselves. Another point of admonition is—against prejudice and arrogance in observing and judging. Men often have some prepossession, and everything is forced into conformity to that. Or they have a set of judgments, estimates, shaped ready in their minds, and upon the slightest circumstance they will instantly fix one of them on a fellow-mortal. Some men assume to have an infallible insight, and perfect comprehension on all occasions; and pronounce as if there could be no appeal. Another warning is, beware of taking pleasure in perceiving and ascertaining what is wrong in man. Another rule is, take care that observations on other men are not suffered to go to the effect of our being better pleased with ourselves. There is a strange tendency to a gratified pride in our own supposed virtues; and to a most indulgent judgment of the things which even the grossest self-love cannot wholly approve. Our whole system and practice in the observation of the world should be resolutely formed on this principle, that our own correction is the grand object to be faithfully and constantly kept in view. Some more special observations may be given. Think of the probable difference between our judgments of the persons we look upon and their own judgments of themselves. In observing mankind we perceive, to a great extent, a sad deficiency or depravation of conscience; what a trifle they can make of many most important discriminations between good and evil. From this sight should not a solemn admonition come to us? One of the most conspicuous things to be noticed in looking on mankind is—how temptation operates and prevails. From this there should be an instructed vigilance for ourselves and appropriate prayers. A mournful thing to notice will be the great errors, the lapses, of good men. Reflect how unsafe any man, every man, is, but as God preserves him. Observe, too, the effect of situation and circumstance. How much they form men’s notions, consciences, and habits as to good and evil. Observe errors of judgment—opinions; how they arise, become fixed, or are perverted. Take note of all worthier things, exemplary virtues, graces, wisdom. It is delightful to turn for instruction to these. (
John Foster.)

The sluggard’s garden
The scene is familiar in Syria, where the intense heat and frequent rains so stimulate all wild and natural growths that a few months of neglect suffice to convert even the most carefully tilled plot and the most carefully tended vineyard into a scene of desolation. Under the pressure of an Eastern climate noxious weeds and brambles suck the soil’s fertility from wholesome plants and flowers with an astonishing and alarming rapidity. Not that similar catastrophes are unknown even in England; but, with us, it takes longer to produce them. Most of us must have seen plots where once a fair garden grew, which, in the course of a few years’ neglect, were all overrun with coltsfoot, dock, nettles, groundsel, and other foul weeds. It is not simply, as a careful observer has pointed out, that land once under the plough or the spade loses, when it is left untended, the special and wholesome growth with which it has been planted. The deterioration goes farther than that. For “the flora which follows the plough,” or the spade, “is much more varied and delicate and beautiful” than that of the unbroken land. And when tilled land is suffered to fall back into the hands of Nature, all these more delicate and beautiful wild flowers are supplanted by gorse and bramble, nettle and dock, and, above all, by the close, wiry grass which usurps and covers so many of our commons. Even where the plants in a neglected garden are not altogether supplanted and dispossessed, an ominous process of degeneration sets in. The flowers, once tended with so much care and grown to such perfection, revert to an earlier and inferior type; they lose form, colour, perfume; the large “voluptuous garden roses,” with their infinite variety and infinite wealth of hue, sink back into the primitive dog-rose of our hedges, and the whole race of choice, cultivated geraniums into the cranesbill of the copse and the wayside. This, then, is the parable. Neglect a garden, and it soon loses all its value, all its distinction. It is either overrun with wilder and less worthy growths, or the plants which once either gave it beauty or ministered to the wants of man degenerate into a baser type, and no longer yield fruit that he cares to eat or flowers that he cares to pluck. And the moral is as simple and direct as it well can be (Pro_24:33-34). It is a warning to the man void of understanding and energy, that an utter destitution, a shameful misery, is the proper and inevitable result of his folly and sloth. We need not go far to find facts which prove the truth of this warning, and the need for it. If we go into the nearest workhouse ward, it is not too much to say that half the miserable paupers we meet there ought not to be there; they have sunk into pauperism not by sheer misfortune, not by the pressure of accidents they were unable to resist, but by a creeping indolence, by self-neglect, by vice, by the failure of speculations to which they were driven by their impatience of honest labour with its slow rewards, by a love of pleasure or self-indulgence which held them back from that whole-hearted industry and devotion to daily toil by which alone men can thrive. If we go to any dock or labour yard in which men earn a miserable pittance by unskilled and precarious labour, again we are well within the mark if we reckon that half the men we find there ought never to have been there, and would not have been there had they diligently availed themselves of the opportunities of the several positions from which they have fallen. If we go into any family, shall we not find in it a lad who has no decided leaning to any vocation, who “doesn’t much care what he does,” and who in his heart of hearts would rather do nothing at all, whether for himself or for the world, if only he could live by it? If we go into any school or college, shall we not be still more fortunate if, for one boy or man bent on study, bent on learning and acquiring as much as he may, and so cultivating all the good growths and habits of the soul, we find no more than one who is content to scramble through his work anyhow, who will not learn a jot more than he can help, who throws away opportunity after opportunity, and is throwing away, with his opportunities, his chances of service and distinction? No thoughtful observer of human life will for a moment admit that laziness is a defunct sin, or that the sluggard is rapidly becoming extinct. He is everywhere; and, wherever he is, the process of degeneration has set in and needs to be checked. And how shall it be checked, how shall the man “void of understanding” be recovered to a useful and diligent life, if not by the warning that, by the very course and constitution of his nature, indolence breeds its own punishment? The moral, then, is by no means tame or impertinent to the present conditions of men. But we need not confine ourselves to the Hebrew poet’s point of view. As we stand by his side, and look with him over the wall of the once fair garden, now all overgrown with nettles that sting and thorns that tear, we may raise the law of which he speaks to its highest plane, and view it in its more directly spiritual aspect. “Emphatic as is the direct teaching” of this proverb, says Dr. Plumptre, “it may be taken as a parable of something yet deeper. The field and the vineyard are more than the man’s earthly possessions. His neglect brings barrenness or desolation in the garden of the soul.” Nor is it in the least difficult to trace the working of this law in “the garden of the soul.” It is not enough that we once believed and obeyed. It is not enough that we once waged open war against evil, and ardently pursued that which is good. If we have settled down into a quiet and easy enjoyment of our very religion; if we are not watchful and diligent, “resolute and untiring”; if we cannot work in all weathers; if we shrink from every call to do something for God and man, or begin to calculate how little we can do, instead of how much; if we make no sacrifice for the sake of truth and righteousness, or mourn and complain over every sacrifice we are compelled to make; if we cease to strive vigorously, with clear and firm determination, against the evil forces and inclinations by which we are constantly beset; if we no longer care to learn any new truth that may break forth from God’s holy Word or from the patient researches of men; if, instead of recognising and rejoicing in any new aspect of duty, any new form of service, we are growing lax and indifferent even in the discharge of duties we once loved—sluggardliness is beginning to eat into our heart, our faith, our life; the good growths of the soul are beginning to deteriorate and decay, and its evil growths to wax bold and masterful. If nothing less will rouse and arrest us, let us remember that, by the very course and constitution of nature, by a law which admits of no exception, mere indolence, mere neglect, merely being quiet and at ease, mere failure to grow and make increase to ourselves in good thoughts, good feeling, good deeds, is to sink toward the evils we most dread, from which we have been redeemed, and which ought not therefore any longer to have power over us. It is to revert to our original and inferior type; and to revert to that will only too surely be the first step toward sinking to a type still lower and more hopeless. A little more sleep, a little more slumber, a little more folding of the hands to rest when they ought to be lifted up for the labour which is prayer, and our poverty may come on us apace, and our want—the lack and destitution natural and inevitable to our sinking and neglected condition—may spring upon us like an armed man. (S. Cox, D.D.).

Proverbs 24:1
Be not thou envious] Comp. Pro_23:17.

Proverbs 24:2
destruction] Better, violence, or, oppression. Comp. Pro_21:7, where the same Heb. word is rendered robbery, A.V., and violence, R.V.
These Pro_24:1-2, as compared with Pro_3:31-32, and Pro_23:17-18, are an example of the repetition in this Book of the same injunction, supported by a different reason.

Proverbs 24:3
a house] literal or metaphorical, comp. Pro_14:1.

Proverbs 24:4
shall … be] Rather, are.

Proverbs 24:5
strong] Lit. in strength, A.V. and R.V. marg. Comp.
The voice of Jehovah is in might;
The voice of Jehovah is in majesty. Psa_29:4.
“The expression is more forcible than if adjectives denoting these qualities (‘mighty,’ ‘majestic’) had been used. Comp. ἐν ἐξουσίᾳ, Luk_4:32; ἐν ἰσχύϊ (rec.), Rev_18:2.”—Bp Perowne.
increaseth strength] Lit., as in margin A.V. and R.V., strengtheneth might.

Proverbs 24:6
safety] or victory, as in 2Sa_19:2, and perhaps in 2Ki_5:1. The first half of this proverb occurs Pro_20:18, and the second Pro_11:14.

Proverbs 24:7
too high] Lit. (unattainable) heights. The same Heb. word is rendered coral, Job_28:18; Eze_27:16; so that we might render here an unattainable treasure, or a gem beyond his reach.
openeth not his mouth, &c.] Contrast Job_29:7-10; Job_29:21-25.

Proverbs 24:8
shall be called] Lit. they (men) shall call him. However secretly he works (comp. Psa_64:6 [Hebrews 7]), his true character shall be found out, and his reputation shall accord with it.

Proverbs 24:9
foolishness] i.e. fools: abstract for concrete.
and] “Or, but the scorner. Perhaps the meaning is that the very purpose of evil is sinful in the sight of God; but the bold and insolent transgressor is not only offensive to God but odious to men.” Rel. Tr. Soc. Commentary.

Proverbs 24:10
faint] Or, art slack. The Heb. word is the same as in Pro_18:9.
is small] as is proved to be the case by thy “fainting” under pressure. But the proverb may mean, because of thy fainting thy strength will be small; want of courage will cause want of strength to meet the emergency. So Vulg., imminuetur fortitudo tua; and Maurer, impar eris ferendis malis. Comp. “Let us not be weary (ἐγκακῶμεν, turn cowards, lose heart, Bp Lightfoot) in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not,” Gal_6:9; where see note in this Series.

Proverbs 24:11
drawn unto death … ready to be slain] whether by unjust judgement, or by violence. In the first case you may deliver a soul by giving true witness (Pro_14:25), in the second, by not passing by like the priest and the Levite on the other side, but by rendering help with the good Samaritan.
It is better to take this verse as complete in itself, with LXX. (ῥῦσαι ἀγομένους εἰς θάνατον, καὶ ἐκπρίου κτεινομένους, μὴ φείσῃ); Vulg., Erue eos qui ducuntur ad mortem; et qui trahuntur ad interitum liberare necesses; and with R.V.
Deliver them that are carried away unto death,
And those that are ready to be slain see that thou hold back.
ready to be slain] Lit. tottering to the slaughter.

Proverbs 24:12
knew it not] Lit. knew not this (thing, or man).

Proverbs 24:14
so shall the knowledge of wisdom be] Rather, so know wisdom to be. With like avidity as you eat honey (Pro_24:13), know, get to know, pursue the knowledge of, wisdom. Comp. Psa_19:10 (Hebrews 11).
reward] See Pro_23:18 note.

Proverbs 24:15
O wicked man], Or, as a wicked man.
dwelling … resting place] or pasture … fold (R.V. marg.); making the picture pastoral.

Proverbs 24:16
falleth] not into sin, for the Heb. word is never used of moral lapse, but into trouble or calamity. You will “lay wait against” him and “spoil” him (Pro_24:15) to no purpose. You may cause him many “falls” by your machinations, but he will rise superior to them all. “Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand” (Psa_37:24. Comp. Psa_34:19). Whereas “the wicked,” among whom thou art thus numbering thyself (Pro_24:15), shall fall into mischief; or rather, shall not merely fall to rise again, but are overthrown by calamity (R.V.). By a single calamity, it may be (in contrast to the sevenfold recovery of the righteous) they are utterly crushed.

Proverbs 24:18
from him] Some commentators would add, “upon thee”; “et irascatur contra te,” Münster. It is better to leave the proverb as it stands, and to supplement its teaching by such proverbs as Pro_24:29, Pro_25:21-22.

Proverbs 24:19
Comp. Psa_37:1; Psa_37:7.

Proverbs 24:20
reward] See Pro_24:14, and Pro_23:18, note.
candle] Rather, lamp, R.V. Comp. Pro_13:9, Pro_20:20. The lamp going out accords with the “no reward,” or “future” of the preceding clause.

Proverbs 24:21
given to change] i.e. are of a revolutionary and subversive spirit, whether in religion or in politics.

Proverbs 24:22
of them both] i.e. those who are given to change, whether against God or against the king (Pro_24:21); ruinam utriusque quis novit? Vulg. Others understand, the destruction inflicted by them both, sc. both God and the king. Comp. calamity from God, lit. the calamity of (inflicted by) God, Job_31:23. Another rendering, of their years, i.e. which shall bring to an end their life is noticed in R.V. margin.

Proverbs 24:23
IV. Third Collection of Proverbs. Chap. Pro_24:23-34
A short Collection resembling in character the Second Collection, to which it forms a kind of Appendix.

23. These things also belong to] Rather, These also are sayings of, R.V. Comp. Pro_22:17. The Heb. preposition is the same as indicates authorship in the Titles of many of the Psalms.

Proverbs 24:24
the people &c.] Rather, peoples shall curse him; nations shall abhor him, R.V. From this it appears that it is to rulers and judges that the proverb primarily, though not necessarily exclusively, applies. In Pro_17:15 the divine, as here the human, estimate of such conduct is affirmed.

Proverbs 24:25
rebuke] i.e. convict and punish. Comp. the use of the same Heb. word in Pro_3:12; Amo_5:10.

Proverbs 24:26
Every man shall kiss his lips] Rather, he kisseth the lips, or with the lips: i.e. a right answer is as grateful and conciliating as a friendly salutation.

Proverbs 24:27
thy work] viz. the work required for building thy house. Follow the course pursued in the erection of the Temple, 1Ki_6:7. Comp. 1Ch_28:2, I had made ready (the same Heb. word as is here rendered prepare) for the building.
Such preparing and making ready includes mental as well as material preparation, prudent “counting the cost,” as well as careful selection of materials. When this is understood, the proverb which has been obscured by supposing it to mean, “first till thy field and then build thy house,” or, “first make provision for a family and then found one,” is plain and forcible, and lends itself readily to moral and spiritual applications.

Proverbs 24:28
deceive not] Lit. and perhaps more forcibly, And wouldest thou deceive with thy lips?

Proverbs 24:29
See Pro_25:22 and note there.

Proverbs 24:30-34
The Sluggard’s Vineyard. Comp. Pro_6:6-11, and notes.

Proverbs 24:31
nettles] “Or, wild vetches,” R.V. marg. here and Job_30:7; Zep_2:9, where the same Heb. word occurs.

Proverbs 24:34
one that travelleth] Rather, a robber. See Pro_6:11, note.

Proverbs 24:1-34
The following commentary covers Chapters 10 through 31.
In chapter 10 begin the details which teach those who give ear how to avoid the snares into which the simple might fall, the path to be followed in many cases, and the consequences of men’s actions: in short, that which characterises wisdom in detail, what may be prudence for man, divine discretion for the children of God; and also, the result of God’s government, whatever appearances may be for awhile. It is well to observe, that there is no question of redemption or propitiation in this book; it proposes a walk according to the wisdom of God’s government.
In the final chapter we have the character of a king according to wisdom, and that of the woman in her own house-the king who does not allow himself that which, by darkening his moral discernment through the indulgence of his lusts, would make him unfit to govern. In the woman we see the persevering and devoted industry which fills the house with riches, brings honour to its inhabitants, and removes all the cares and anxieties produced by sloth. The typical application of these two specific characters is too evident to need explanation. The example of the woman is very useful, as to the spirit of the thing, to one who labours in the assembly.
Although in this book the wisdom produced by the fear of Jehovah is only applied to this world, it is on that very account of great use to the Christian, who, in view of his heavenly privileges, might, more or less, forget the continual government of God. It is very important for the Christian to remember the fear of the Lord, and the effect of God’s presence on the details of his conduct; and I repeat that which I said at the beginning, that it is great grace which deigns to apply divine wisdom to all the details of the life of man in the midst of the confusion brought in by sin. Occupied with heavenly things, the Christian is less in the way of discovering, by his own experience, the clue to the labyrinth of evil through which he is passing. God has considered this, and He has laid down this first principle, “wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.” Thus the Christian may be ignorant of evil (if a worldling were so, he would fall into it), and yet avoid it through his knowledge of good. The wisdom of God gives him the latter; the government of God provides for all the rest. Now, in the Proverbs, we have these things in principle and in detail. I have not dwelt on the figurative character of the forms of evil. They are rather principles than figures. But the violent man of the last days is continually found in the Psalms; and Babylon is the full accomplishment of the woman who takes the simple in her snares and leads them down to death; just as Christ is the perfect wisdom of God which leads to life. But these two things which manifest evil proceed from the heart of man at all times since the fall: only we have seen that there is an active development of the wiles of the evil woman, who has her own house and her own arrangements. It is not simply the principle of corruption, but an organised system, as is that of sovereign wisdom.

Proverbs 24:1-34
Proverbs 24 – Wisdom, Love, and Respect
A. The remaining of the 30 words of the wise.

1. (1-2) Don’t envy or associate with evil men.
   Do not be envious of evil men,
   Nor desire to be with them;
   For their heart devises violence,
   And their lips talk of troublemaking.
   a. Do not be envious of evil men: This is a common and sometimes difficult temptation for the righteous man or woman. There are times when evil men seem to prosper and we may become envious of them, and then desire to be with them.
   i. Bridges on those envious of evil men: “This evil spirit, if it does not bring the scandal of open sin, curses our blessings, withers our virtues, destroys our peace, clouds our confidence, and stains our Christian profession.”
   b. For their heart devises violence: The kind of evil this proverb has in mind is the kind associated with violence and troublemaking. The seemingly quick and easy money and status gained through violence and troublemaking is a temptation to be resisted.
   i. “The antidote to envy is the long view: the glory (Pro_23:18) or darkness (Pro_24:20) to come.” (Kidner)
2. (3-4) Wisdom for the home.
   Through wisdom a house is built,
   And by understanding it is established;
   By knowledge the rooms are filled
   With all precious and pleasant riches.
   a. Through wisdom a house is built: We think of the actual material building of a house, and how wisdom, proper engineering and construction are necessary. The same is true of the moral and spiritual values of a home. Those moral and spiritual values must be built through wisdom and established through understanding.
   i. The house of the wicked is not built on wisdom. “It is only the snow-palace built in the winter, and melting away under the power of the summer’s sun.” (Geier, cited in Bridges)
   b. By knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches: The blessing of building a home with God’s wisdom, God’s understanding, and God’s knowledge will bring precious and pleasant riches in the spiritual sense and often in the material sense. God’s blessing is on the home that seeks and honors His wisdom.
   i. “The precious jewels that fill the house are a harmonious, loving family and a sense of security and stability.” (Garrett)
3. (5-6) The strength of wisdom.
   A wise man is strong,
   Yes, a man of knowledge increases strength;
   For by wise counsel you will wage your own war,
   And in a multitude of counselors there is safety.
   a. A wise man is strong: Solomon understood the strength of wisdom, and how a man of knowledge increases strength. Folly makes a person weak and vulnerable.
   i. A wise man is strong: “Is courageous and resolute, and able by wisdom to do greater things than others can accomplish by their own strength.” (Poole)
   b. By wise counsel you will wage your own war: The strength of wisdom isn’t solitary; it understands and relies upon the wisdom of others. It knows how to use the wise counsel of others and the safety of a multitude of counselors.
4. (7-9) The sin of folly.
   Wisdom is too lofty for a fool;
   He does not open his mouth in the gate.
   He who plots to do evil
   Will be called a schemer.
   The devising of foolishness is sin,
   And the scoffer is an abomination to men.
   a. Wisdom is too lofty for a fool: The fool looks at wisdom and thinks it is above him or her in the sense of being too lofty. They think it is overly smart and superior and tend to glory in the lowness of their folly.
   i. Too lofty for a fool: “In his opinion; he judgeth it too hard for him, he despairs of attaining it, he pretends the impossibility of it, because he will not put himself to the charge or trouble of getting it.” (Poole)
   ii. “The simple and diligent prove that the treasure is not really out of reach; but it is too high for a fool. His groveling mind can never rise to so lofty a matter. He has no understanding of it, no heart to desire it, no energy to hold it.” (Bridges)
   b. He does not open his mouth in the gate: Often, the fool will be denied influence and a platform of leadership. At the place where the elders gather and decisions are made (the gate), the fool will not open his mouth.
   i. Does not open his mouth in the gate: “1. He can say nothing for himself when he is accused before the magistrate, for which he gives frequent occasion. Or, 2. He knows not how to speak acceptably and profitably in the public assembly among wise men.” (Poole)
   ii. “Noting the incompetence of fools to speak in the gate where public policy is formulated. This saying inferentially commends becoming competently wise by warning against being an incompetent fool.” (Waltke)
   c. He who plots to do evil will be called a schemer: The evil man who plots his evil will be recognized for the schemer he is – even though, the devising of foolishness is sin, and that evil person will be regarded as an abomination to men.
   i. Called a schemer: “Hebrew, a master of mischief. The sense is, Though he cover his wicked devices with fair pretences, and would be better esteemed, yet he shall be noted and branded with that infamy which is due to him.” (Poole)
   ii. “Here the description ‘schemer’ portrays him as a cold, calculating, active person: ‘the fool is capable of intense mental activity but it adds up to sin’…. This type of person flouts all morality, and sooner or later the public will have had enough of him.” (Ross)
   iii. The scoffer is an abomination: “The basest can mock, as the abjects did David, [Psa_35:15] and Tobiah the servant did Nehemiah. [Neh_2:19] Scorners are the most base spirits. The Septuagint call them pests, [Psa_1:1] incorrigible, [Pro_21:11] proud persons, [Pro_3:34] naught, [Pro_9:12].” (Trapp)
5. (10) The measure of strength.
   If you faint in the day of adversity,
   Your strength is small.
   a. If you faint in the day of adversity: The day of adversity comes to everyone. The godliest and the most evil will experience their own adversity, and that is a test to see whether or not they will faint.
   i. “In times of trial we should endeavour to be doubly courageous; when a man loses his courage, his strength avails him nothing.” (Clarke)
   b. Your strength is small: The day of adversity did not make your strength small; it revealed your strength to be small. There is a sense in which we should welcome the day of adversity as a revelation of our strength or weakness.
   i. Bridges had an encouraging word for the Christian who feels that their strength is small: “Commit yourself daily to him, for his supply of grace is sufficient for you. So go forward, weak and strong at the same time—weak in order to be strong, strong in your weakness.”
6. (11-12) Help those on their way to destruction.
   Deliver those who are drawn toward death,
   And hold back those stumbling to the slaughter.
   If you say, “Surely we did not know this,”
   Does not He who weighs the hearts consider it?
   He who keeps your soul, does He not know it?
   And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?
   a. Deliver those who are drawn toward death: The idea is of those who are on their way towards destruction, those stumbling to the slaughter. If we have the opportunity, we should deliver them, to hold back their progress to slaughter.
   i. Those who are drawn toward death: “These could be literal prisoners who have been (presumably wrongfully) condemned to die. The reader is to take extraordinary measures to secure their release (a dramatic modern example would be the extermination of the Jews in Europe during the Second World War). Alternatively, these are people stumbling toward death because of their moral and spiritual blindness.” (Garrett)
   ii. The story of Esther is one wonderful example of someone who did deliver those who are drawn towards death. Esther’s courage saved her people, even when it would have been easy for her to ignore her duty.
   b. Surely we did not know this: We shouldn’t be indifferent towards those headed toward death. Since they often reject God’s wisdom and are hostile, it is easy to give up on them or ignore them. Yet God, He who weighs the hearts, does know and consider this.
   i. “We cannot ignore the evil around us, and say we are not responsible for it. We cannot shut our eyes and avert our faces from wrongdoing, and tyranny, and oppression.” (Meyer)
   c. Will He not render to each man according to his deeds? God will make the fool to answer for his folly, but He will also cause the indifferent one to answer for their lack of care. God will render to each man according to his deeds.
   i. Render to each man according to his deeds: “God will certainly deal with thee as thou hast dealt with him, either rewarding thy performance of this duty, or punishing thy neglect of it.” (Poole)
   ii. “The omniscient and omnipotent Sovereign will act justly, unlike the passive coward. If the son turns a blind eye to helping victims and does nothing to help them, the Protector of Life will turn a blind eye to him in his crisis. Count on it!” (Waltke)
7. (13-14) The sweetness of wisdom.
   My son, eat honey because it is good,
   And the honeycomb which is sweet to your taste;
   So shall the knowledge of wisdom be to your soul;
   If you have found it, there is a prospect,
   And your hope will not be cut off.
   a. My son, eat honey because it is good: Eating honey is rewarded by the sweetness of the taste. It is easy to understand the reward of the honeycomb.
   i. “The proverb draws on the image of honey; its health-giving properties make a good analogy to wisdom.” (Ross)
   ii. “Right behavior is not recommended solely on the grounds of austere morality but also because it is the best route to sheer pleasure and the fulfillment of dreams.” (Garrett)
   b. So shall the knowledge of wisdom be to your soul: The gaining of wisdom rewards the life the way the sweetness of taste is the reward of honey. We should learn to discern and appreciate the sweetness of wisdom. Once we appreciate the reward of wisdom, our hope will not be cut off.
   i. If you have found it: “Whereby he implies that there is indeed some difficulty and trouble in the pursuit of wisdom, but that it is abundantly compensated with the sweetness and advantage of it when a man arrives at it.” (Poole)
8. (15-16) The resilience of the righteous.
   Do not lie in wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous;
   Do not plunder his resting place;
   For a righteous man may fall seven times
   And rise again,
   But the wicked shall fall by calamity.
   a. Do not plunder his resting place: This proverb presents its wisdom in the form of a command to the wicked man, telling him to not rob or plunder the home of the righteous man.
   b. For a righteous man may fall seven times, and rise again: The reason why the wicked man should not rob the righteous is that in the end, the righteous man will not be defeated. Even when he may fall – even seven times! – he shall rise again.
   i. Many commentators insist that the fall that a righteous man may experience here is trouble, not sin. There is no adequate reason why it cannot include both ideas.
   ii. “Though God permit the hand of violence sometimes to spoil his tent, temptations to assail his mind, and afflictions to press down his body, he constantly emerges; and every time he passes through the furnace, he comes out brighter and more refined.” (Clarke)
   c. And rise again: This should not only give warning to the wicked but also assurance to the righteous. The righteous can be confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ (Php_1:6). They can use that confidence to strengthen their resolve to never give up, even though they may fall seven times.
   i. “The real power to stand up against life, to profit by its buffetings, to make capital out of its disadvantages, to collect tribute from its tribulations, is that of the righteousness of conduct which results from walking in the ways of wisdom, by yielding to the inspiration and authority of the fear of Jehovah.” (Morgan)
   d. But the wicked shall fall by calamity: The wicked have a different destiny than the righteous. God will protect and preserve His righteous ones, but the wicked shall fall and stay fallen.
   i. “Conversely, the wicked will not survive—without God they have no power to rise from misfortune. The point then is that ultimately the righteous will triumph and those who oppose them will stumble over their evil.” (Ross)
9. (17-18) Don’t rejoice in the tragic destiny of the wicked.
   Do not rejoice when your enemy falls,
   And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles;
   Lest the Lord see it, and it displease Him,
   And He turn away His wrath from him.
   a. Do not rejoice when your enemy falls: Knowing this, we should not rejoice when one falls. It should not make our heart be glad. David did not rejoice when Saul died in battle (2Sa_1:11-12).
   i. “Caesar wept when Pompey’s head was presented to him, and said, Victoriam volui, non vindictam [something like, ‘I wanted victory, not revenge’].” (Trapp)
   b. Lest the Lord see it, and it displease Him: If God sees our rejoicing over the fall of the wicked, He may turn away His wrath from the wicked man just to rebuke our proud, unloving heart against the wicked man.
   i. “So if we want God to continue his anger on the wicked, we better not gloat.” (Ross)
10. (19-20) Don”t let the wicked make you worry.
    Do not fret because of evildoers,
    Nor be envious of the wicked;
    For there will be no prospect for the evil man;
    The lamp of the wicked will be put out.
    a. Do not fret because of evildoers: Pro_24:1 told us to not be envious of evil men; here we are told to also not worry (fret) because of them, as well as to not to be envious of the wicked.
    i. “The translation ‘Do not fret’ is too mild. ‘Do not get yourself infuriated over evildoers’ is more accurate. Those who love the truth are naturally enraged by the effrontery of those who promote or practice godless behavior.” (Garrett)
    b. The lamp of the wicked will be put out: This speaks of death waiting for the evil man both in this life and the next. Any good or pleasure they experience in this life is the best they will ever have or experience. The wicked man has no prospect for the future.
    i. The lamp of the wicked will be put out: “Keeping the extinction of their lamp in view will extinguish burning envy.” (Waltke)
    ii. “Sometimes people are bold enough to snuff out their own candle. ‘I give,’ said the godless Hobbes, ‘my body to the dust, and my soul to the Great Perhaps. I am going to take a leap in the dark.’ Alas, was it not a leap into darkness forever?” (Bridges)
    iii. “Some have thought that this text intimates the annihilation of sinners; but it refers not to being, but to the state or condition of that being. The wicked shall be; but they shall not be HAPPY.” (Clarke)
11. (21-22) Respect for God and king.
    My son, fear the Lord and the king;
    Do not associate with those given to change;
    For their calamity will rise suddenly,
    And who knows the ruin those two can bring?
    a. Fear the Lord and the king: Wisdom tells us to fear the Lord, but it is also wisdom to fear…the king. Earthly rulers deserve our respect and honor (Rom_13:1-7).
    i. “He puts God before the king, because God is to be served in the first place, and our obedience is to be giver, to kings only in subordination to God, and not in those things which are contrary to the will and command of God, as is manifest both from plain Scripture, as Act_5:29, and from the judgment and practice of wise and sober heathens.” (Poole)
    b. Do not associate with those given to change: Those who want to overthrow or change the present system must take great care. The revolutionary often finds that their calamity will rise suddenly, and they can bring great ruin in their revolution.
    i. “People should fear both God and the government, for both punish rebels.” (Ross)
    ii. Those given to change: “Such were Korah and his complices; Absalom; Sheba; the ten tribes that cried, Alleys iugum, Ease our yoke; and before them, those in Samuel’s time that cried, ‘Nay, but we will have a king.’” (Trapp)
    B. Further sayings of the wise.
12. (23-25) The importance of true justice.
    These things also belong to the wise:
    It is not good to show partiality in judgment.
    He who says to the wicked, “You are righteous,”
    Him the people will curse;
    Nations will abhor him.
    But those who rebuke the wicked will have delight,
    And a good blessing will come upon them.
    a. These things also belong to the wise: The series of 30 words of the wise ended at Pro_24:22. Here, until the end of Proverbs 24, is a set of additional sayings of the wise.
    b. It is not good to show partiality in judgment: Whether it is in the formal court of law or in daily interactions, we should never make judgment simply on the basis of partiality. Those like us can be wrong, and those different from us can be right.
    i. To show partiality in judgment: “Hebrew, To know faces; to regard not so much the matter as the man; to hear persons speak, and not causes; to judge not according to truth and equity, but according to opinion and appearance – to fear or favour.” (Trapp)
    c. You are righteous: This is what should not be said to the wicked. In a wise, moral society the people will curse someone with such confused moral judgment, and the nations will abhor him.
    i. It is a mark of the folly of our present age that many monstrous examples of evil or wickedness today are told, “You are righteous.” This proverb describes the working of a culture wiser than our present culture.
    d. Those who rebuke the wicked will have delight: Evil should be addressed and rebuked. We should not romanticize or excuse the wicked.
13. (26) The beauty of a right response.
    He who gives a right answer kisses the lips.
    a. He who gives a right answer: The proper response to a question or a difficult problem is always welcome to the wise. We think of the many occasions when Jesus Christ was presented with difficult questions yet always gave a right answer.
    i. “Note the paradox, that a proper forthrightness, costly though it may seem, wins gratitude, and has its special charm.” (Kidner)
    b. Kisses the lips: The right answer comes from the lips, just like a friendly and welcoming kiss.
    i. “Shall treat him with affection and respect.” (Clarke)
    ii. “The symbol of specifically kissing on the lips is mentioned only here in the Bible. Herodotus (History 1.134) shows that among the Persians this was a sign of true friendship. The metaphor signifies that friendship is characterized by truth.” (Ross)
14. (27) Order your work wisely.
    Prepare your outside work,
    Make it fit for yourself in the field;
    And afterward build your house.
    a. Prepare your outside work: The idea is that before a house is built, proper preparations must be made. The field and the ground must be readied. Wisdom tells us that work should be done with proper planning and in the proper order.
    i. Outside work: “This would include plowing the land, planting gardens and orchards, so that it produces its fruit.” (Waltke)
    ii. “Do nothing without a plan. In winter prepare seed, implements, tackle, gears, etc., for seed-time and harvest.” (Clarke)
    b. Afterward build your house: Some want to skip right away to the building without preparing the field. This foolishness will not be blessed. Do the preparation work first, and then afterward build your house.
    i. “It emphasizes the practical rule of producing before consuming, a rule the slothful do not accept.” (Garrett)
    ii. “Preparations for Solomon’s magnificent temple were made before his house was built. The spiritual house is similarly made of materials that have been prepared and fitted and so grow into a holy temple in the Lord (Eph_2:21-22).” (Bridges)
    iii. “As, in a rural economy, well-worked fields justify and nourish the farmhouse, so a well-ordered life (in things material and immaterial) should be established before marriage.” (Kidner)
15. (28-29) The importance of speaking the truth about others.
    Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause,
    For would you deceive with your lips?
    Do not say, “I will do to him just as he has done to me;
    I will render to the man according to his work.”
    a. Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause: We should only speak
    against someone if there is good and righteous cause to do so. We often speak ill of others to entertain others, and ourselves – this is sin.
    i. “Profit is the bait to the thief, lust to the adulterer, revenge to the murderer. But it is difficult to say what advantage the witness gains from testifying against his neighbor. The allurement of this sin is the same as Satan himself feels—that is, the love of sin for its own sake.” (Bridges)
    b. Would you deceive with your lips? When we speak against others without cause, we usually exaggerate or color the truth, making it a deception.
    c. I will do to him just as he has done to me: This is what wisdom and grace tell us not to say. We should not return evil for evil (1Th_5:15). Just because someone has spoken evil or lies against us does not mean that we should speak evil and lies against them.
    i. “According to the Bible, an injured party must love his neighbor (Lev_19:18) and commit the injustice to the sublime God and his elect magistrate to adjudicate.” (Waltke)
    ii. “Nothing is more natural than revenge of wrongs, and the world approves it as right temper, true touch, as to put up wrongs is held cowardice and unmanliness. But we have not so learned Christ.” (Trapp)
16. (30-34) The tragedy of the lazy man.
    I went by the field of the lazy man,
    And by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding;
    And there it was, all overgrown with thorns;
    Its surface was covered with nettles;
    Its stone wall was broken down.
    When I saw it, I considered it well;
    I looked on it and received instruction:
    A little sleep, a little slumber,
    A little folding of the hands to rest;
    So shall your poverty come like a prowler,
    And your need like an armed man.
    a. There it was, all overgrown with thorns: This is what the wise man saw when he looked at the field or the vineyard of the lazy man. The lazy man did not plant the thorns or nettles, and he did not deliberately break down the stone wall. Yet his laziness made these things happen just as much as if he had deliberately done them.
    i. “Isa_28:24-29 describes how careful, industrious field-work looks.” (Waltke)
    b. When I saw it, I considered it well: The wise man learned from the tragedy of the lazy man. He didn’t have to suffer the same things the lazy man did to learn the lesson. This is one of the marks of wisdom.
    i. “The anecdote invites the reader to recall similar observations of homes in disrepair and to draw the same conclusions even while participating in the poet’s disgust over the shameful condition of the lackadaisical man’s home.” (Garrett)
    c. A little sleep, a little slumber: This is how the lazy man rationalizes his neglect of duty. “A little sleep causes no harm; surely we all need a little slumber.” The problem isn’t the sleep of the lazy man; it is his neglect of duty.
    i. “Rest assured of that; the best will become the worse if we neglect it. Neglect is all that is needed to produce evil. If you want to know the way of salvation I must take some pains to tell you; but if you want to know the way to be lost, my reply is easy; for it is only a matter of negligence.” (Spurgeon)
    d. So shall your poverty come like a prowler: This is the destiny of the lazy man or woman. Because of their sinful neglect, poverty will come upon them as suddenly, as strongly, and as unwelcome as an armed man. In this case, the lazy man thinks himself innocent because he did not deliberately, actively sow the thorns or break the wall, but his neglect of duty did them – and he is without excuse.
    i. “But let us look at the spiritual sluggard. If a neglected field is a melancholy sight, what is a neglected soul! Such a soul, when it is left to its own barrenness, instead of being sown with the seeds of grace becomes overgrown with thorns and nettles.” (Bridges)

Proverbs 24:1-9
Be not thou envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them. For their heart studieth destruction, and their lips talk of mischief. Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established: And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches. A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength. For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counsellors there is safety. Wisdom is too high for a fool: he openeth not his mouth in the gate. He that deviseth to do evil shall be called a mischievous person. The thought of foolishness is sin: and the scorner is an abomination to men.
If we carry on as undoubtedly we ought, the same idea of wisdom through the whole book of the Proverbs as we began it with, and consider that Christ is the wisdom of God that is spoken of, We shall find some very sweet things concerning Jesus in these verses. It is indeed through Christ, and in Christ; and upon Christ, the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, is built. Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, and which God the Father himself laid in Zion. Isa_28:16; 1Co_3:11; 2Co_5:1. And as the foundation is Christ, so all the chambers of the covenant are his; and in them the believer finds retreat in times of danger, and everything of riches that is precious and pleasant. Isa_26:20. But as the Proverb here expresseth it, the knowledge and enjoyment of Christ is too high for a fool; the Lord hath not imparted to him this knowledge. Christ is and ever will be to all such while precious to his people, a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence. 1Pe_2:7-8. I detain the Reader in this place to make a short observation upon the scripture expression of a fool, concerning whom it is said that wisdom is too high for such an one; and I detain the Reader for this purpose, because it may serve not only for the present but for every other occasion, whensoever he meets with the term in God’s word. And the best, indeed the only infallible method of coming to the right knowledge of this, or any other scriptural expressions, is by comparing scripture with scripture. Now by a fool is meant, one that is ignorant of Christ. Hence therefore the wicked and unregenerate are stilled men void of understanding; they have eyes, and see not; ears, and hear not; and the like. So that when the prophet was commissioned to tell the church the final state of such characters, he expresseth himself in those striking words, for it is a people of no understanding, therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour. Isa_27:11. And that there might be no misapprehension upon a point of such infinite consequence, but that everyone might discover the cause of things; and that the folly here and elsewhere spoken of is, not the weakness of intellect, but the ignorance of Christ and the despising of Jesus, the Lord Jehovah’s one ordinance, and the only one for salvation; Job was commissioned no less to shew, in naming in what the contrary to this folly manifested itself. And unto man he said, behold the fear of the Lord that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding. Job_28:28. Hence therefore, the fools of scripture are the despisers of Christ, the wisdom of God. This is indeed the highest folly: and many, very many such fools it is to be feared, will be found at the last day, among that class of men who pride themselves on great wisdom. I refer the Reader for further light upon this interesting subject to the following scriptures: Rom_1:21, etc. 1Co_1:18-29.

Proverbs 24:10
If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.
If I pause over this single verse, it is but to desire the Reader to make the subject of it personal to himself, and to beg of him to enquire whether Christ be his strength; for this will explain to the full when it is we are weak without him; and why any believer faints in seasons of exercise. According to the strength imparted from Jesus in the actings of our faith upon him, such will be the exact proportion, either of increase or of decline. When we can say, the Lord is my strength and my song, and he is become my salvation; then we shall hear the Lord say, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. And then like Paul we shall gladly glory in our infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon us. Psa_118:14; 2Co_12:9-10.

Proverbs 24:11-14
If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works? My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste: So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul: when thou hast found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off.
I need not tell the Reader that the honey and the honey-comb of scripture, means somewhat infinitely higher than the mere food of the body. The land of Canaan, which was a type of the gospel church, was promised to flow with milk and honey: and hence the gospel call was to buy wine and milk without money and without price. Eze_20:6; Isa_55:1. Christ is himself the honey and the honey-comb, for his flesh is meat indeed, and his blood is drink indeed. His word is sweet unto my taste (said one of old) yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Psa_119:103, so that when Solomon recommends the honey and the honey-comb, the Holy Ghost shews from other scriptures this is meant concerning Christ and his salvation.

Proverbs 24:15-18
Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous; spoil not his resting place: For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief. Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth: Lest the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him.
We have a beautiful comment in the enlargement of part of these verses in the Prophet, Mic_7:5-10.

Proverbs 24:19-26
Fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious at the wicked; For there shall be no reward to the evil man; the candle of the wicked shall be put out. My son, fear thou the LORD and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change: For their calamity shall rise suddenly; and who knoweth the ruin of them both? These things also belong to the wise. It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment. He that saith unto the wicked, Thou art righteous; him shall the people curse, nations shall abhor him: But to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them. Every man shall kiss his lips that giveth a right answer.
I pause over this last verse to detain the Reader with a short observation concerning what is here said of the kissing of the lips, in giving a right answer. The church saith, that she will kiss Christ her brother, when she hath found him: which is a similar term to that of giving a right answer. Son_8:1. And the church is said to be kissed by Christ, when at any time he manifests his love to her in some renewed tokens of it, otherwise than he doeth to the world. So that every man shall kiss his lips, when finding Christ as the poor woman did Christ’s feet, because she loved much and had much forgiven. Luk_7:38. Reader! do not hastily pass away from this view of affection to the person of Jesus. It is blessed, when at any time a right answer is given to the prayer of faith and the enjoyment of Jesus, to have the soul going forth in desires after Christ; in hanging upon Christ, adhering to Christ, rejoicing in Christ, and having none in heaven or earth we desire in comparison of Christ!

Proverbs 24:27-34
Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house. Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause; and deceive not with thy lips. Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me: I will render to the man according to his work. I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man.
If we spiritualize what is here said of the diligence of the man that prepares his work, and then builds his house, and what is said of the negligence of the slothful; and if we make application of it to the heart, a very sweet subject will be found to arise out of the different views. Jesus passed by our whole nature, when in the ruined state of the vineyard here described. And lo! all was covered over with thorns and briars. Reader! what he wrought, and what he accomplished, I need not, I hope, tell you. He purchased our lost inheritance, with his blood. He then hedged it round, gathered out the stones of it, renewed the face of it; and by turning up the fallow ground of our hearts, prepared it for himself. And what is it now? Doth he not water it continually with his word and ordinances, the sweet influences of his grace and Holy Spirit? Doth he not watch over it for good with his whole heart and his whole soul? And doth he not come into it, to eat of his pleasant fruits, even the graces of his Spirit which he hath planted? Precious Jesus! may my soul consider it well, and receive instruction! May I look up to thee continually as the Proprietor of all! See to it, my soul, that thou art of the vineyard of the Lord of hosts, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant.
Isa_5:7.

Proverbs 24:34
REFLECTIONS
MY soul! while thou art pondering over the very many sweet and precious sayings in this chapter, hast thou not found thine heart warmed within thee, by Jesus speaking to thee by the way, and opening to thee the things here written concerning himself?
Surely Jesus is the Wisdom here spoken of, and he is, my soul, thy wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption! And while thou art seeking from him strength for the day of adversity, thou wilt not faint, as those must do, whose confidence is founded in the wisdom of this world. The rock of ages will be thy support, when those, who lean on the reeds of Egypt, must fail. Yes, my soul, if Jesus be the honey, and the honey-comb of all thy affections, and confidences, a n d delights; thou wilt find him sweet indeed to thy taste. And let others do what they may, or find delight from whence they can, thou wilt kiss Him, into whose lips is poured grace, because Jehovah hath blessed him forever. Jesus will be the right answer given to every case, every trial, every need. Be thou my Lord, and my portion, blessed Jesus, for all thy sayings are indeed right, and all thou hast said, my soul most cordially approveth. Then will my soul humbly kiss thy feet, and I will wash them with my tears, and wipe them in token of my sorrow for sin, like another Magdalene, with the hairs of my head. I will kiss them as a pledge of love, of duty, of obedience, of homage, of reverence; for I earnestly desire to give myself up to thee, and to be wholly for thee and not for another. And oh! thou condescending God and Saviour! do thou kiss me with the kisses of thy mouth, for thy love is better than wine!