American Standard Version Proverbs 10

Proverbs 10:1-32
EXPOSITION
Verse 1-22:16
Part III. FIRST GREAT COLLECTION (375) OF SOLOMONIC PROVERBS.
Verse 1-12:28
First section. The sections are noted by their commencing usually with the words, “a wise son.”
Pro_10:1
The proverbs of Solomon. This is the title of the new part of the book; it is omitted in the Septuagint. There is some kind of loose connection in the grouping of these proverbs, but it is difficult to follow. “Ordo frustra quaeritur ubi nullus fuit observatus,” says Mart. Geier. Wordsworth considers the present chapter to contain exemplifications of the principles and results of the two ways of life displayed in the preceding nine chapters. The antithetical character of the sentences is most marked and well sustained. As the book is specially designed for the edification of youth, it begins with an appropriate saying. A wise son maketh a glad father. As wisdom comprises all moral excellence, and folly is vice and perversity, the opposite characters attributed to the son are obvious. The mother is introduced for the sake of parallelism; though some commentators suggest that as the father would be naturally elated by his son’s virtues, which would conduce to honour and high estate, so the mother would be grieved at vices which her training had not subdued, and her indulgence had fostered. If this seems somewhat far-fetched, we may consider that the father in the maxim includes the mother, and the mother the father, the two being separated for the purpose of contrast (see on Pro_26:3). The word for heaviness occurs in Pro_14:13 and Pro_17:21.
Pro_10:2
Treasures of wickedness; treasures acquired by wrong doing (Mic_6:10). Profit nothing “in the day of calamity” (Ecc_5:8; comp. Pro_11:4). The LXX. renders, “Treasures will not profit the wicked;” so Aquila. “For what shall a man be profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?” (Mat_16:26). Righteousness (Pro_14:34); not simply justice and moral goodness, but more especially liberality, benevolence. So in Mat_6:1 the Revised Version (in accordance with the best manuscripts) reads, “Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men, to be seen of them,” Christ proceeding to specify three outward acts as coming under this term, viz. almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. In some analogous passages the LXX. renders the word by ἐλεημοσύντ, e.g. Psa_111:9; Dan_4:27; Tobit 12:9. Delivereth from death, shows that a man’s heart is right towards God. and calls down special grace. Such a man lays up in store for himself a good foundation, that he may attain eternal life (1Ti_6:19; see on Pro_16:6).
Pro_10:3
The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish (comp. Pro_19:23). The soul is the life (comp. Pro_13:25). So the psalmist says (Psa_37:25), “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging their bread.” Christ speaks of the providence that watches over the lower creatures, and draws thence a lesson of trust in his care of man. concluding, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you” (Mat_6:26, Mat_6:33). But he casteth away the substance of the wicked; Septuagint, “He will overthrew the life of the wicked;” Vulgate, “He overturns the plots of sinners.” The word rendered “substance” (havvah) is better understood as “desire.” God frustrates the eager longing (for food or other good things) of the wicked; they are never satisfied, and get no real enjoyment out of what they crave (comp. Pro_13:25).
Pro_10:4
That dealeth with a stack hand; that is lazy and indolent (comp. Pro_6:10, Pro_6:11; see on Pro_19:15). The Septuagint, with a different pointing, reads, “Poverty humbleth a man.” The hand of the diligent (Pro_12:24) maketh rich. The words for “hand” are different in the two clauses as Wordsworth remarks. The first word is caph, the open, ineffective, hand or palm; the second term is yad, the hand tense and braced for vigorous work. The LXX. introduces a clause here which seems to interfere with the connection: Υίος πεπαιοευμένος σοφὸς ἔσται τῷ δὲ ἄφρονι διακόνῳ, χρήσεται, “A well instructed son will be wise. and he will use a fool as his minister;” i.e. he is aide to make even the foolish subserve his ends. The sentence is quoted by St. Augustine, ’De Civil Dei,’ Pro_16:2. The Vulgate inserts another paragraph, which is also found in some manuscripts of the Septuagint at Pro_9:12 : Qui nititur mendaciis, hic pascit ventos; idem autem ipse sequitur aves volantes, “He who relieth on lies feedeth on the winds, and pursueth flying birds.”
Pro_10:5
He that gathereth the harvest into the barn at the right season. The idea of husbandry is continued from the preceding verse. Son is here equivalent to “man,” the maxim being addressed to the young. That sleepeth; literally, that snoreth; Vulgate, qui stertit (Jdg_4:21). A son that causeth shame. The phrase is found in Pro_17:2; Pro_19:26; Pro_29:15. The Septuagint has, “The son of understanding is saved from the heat; but the sinful son is blasted by the wind in harvest.”
Pro_10:6
Violence covereth the mouth of the wicked. So Pro_10:11. This is usually explained to mean either that the consciousness of his own iniquity silences the sinner when he would speak against the righteous, or his violence and injustice, returning on his own head, are like a bandage over his mouth (Le 13:45; Mic_3:7), reducing him to shame and silence. Others, again, consider the signification to be—in default of the good, honest words which should proceed from a man’s mouth, the sinner pours forth injustice and wickedness. But it is best (as in Pro_10:14) to take “mouth” as the subject: “The mouth of the wicked concealeth violence,” that he may wait for the opportunity of practising it. The contrast is between the manifest blessedness of the righteous and the secret sinister proceedings of the evil. The Vulgate and Septuagint give, “the blessing of the Lord.” For “violence” the Septuagint has πένθος ἄωρον, “untimely grief;” the Hebrew word chamas bearing also the sense of “misery.”
Pro_10:7
The memory. The lasting, fragrant perfume of a holy life is contrasted with the noisomeness and quick decay of an evil name (comp. Psa_72:17). As a commentator asks, “Who ever thinks of calling a child Judas or Nero?”
Pro_10:8
Will receive commandments. The wise in heart is not proud or conceited: he accepts the Divine Law with all its directions (observe the plural “commandments”), and is not above learning from others; at the same time, he makes no display of his wisdom. The fool of lips (Pro_10:10); one who is always exposing his folly. The literal antithesis is better shown by rendering “the solid in heart,” and “the loose in lips.” So Wordsworth. The Vulgate translates, “The fool is chastised by his lips;” i.e. the folly which he has uttered falls back upon him, and causes him to suffer punishment. The LXX. renders the last clause, “He who is given to prating (ἄστεγος χείλεσι), walking tortuously, shall be tripped up.”
Pro_10:9
He that walketh uprightly (Pro_2:7); Vulgate and Septuagint, “in simplicity,” having nothing to conceal or to fear. So Christ enjoins his followers to be guileless as children, and harmless as doves. Surely; equivalent to “securely;” ἀμερίμνως, Aquila, having no fear of inopportune exposure, because he has no secret sin. He that perverteth his ways; deals in crooked practices. Shall be known (Pro_12:16). He shall be exposed and punished, and put to open shame. Having this apprehension always present, he cannot walk with confidence as the innocent does. Hence the antithesis in the text.
Pro_10:10
He that winketh with the eye (Pro_6:13). This is a sign of craft, malice, and complicity with other wicked comrades. Ec Pro_27:22, “He that winketh with the eyes worketh evil.” Causeth sorrow (Pro_15:13). He causes trouble and vexation by his cunning and secrecy. A prating fool (as Pro_27:8). The two clauses are intended to teach that the garrulous fool is even more certain to bring ruin on himself and others than the crafty plotter. The Septuagint and Syriac have changed the latter clause into a sentence supposed to be more forcibly antithetical, “He who reproveth with boldness maketh peace.” But there are sentences not strictly antithetical in this chapter, e.g. Pro_27:18, Pro_27:22 (comp. Pro_11:10).
Pro_10:11
A well of life (Pro_13:14 : Pro_18:4). The good man utters words of wisdom, comfort, and edification. God himself is said to have “the well of life” (Psa_36:9), and to be “the Fountain of living waters” (Jer_2:13): and the holy man, drawing from this supply, sheds life and health around. The second clause should be takes as in Pro_10:6, but the mouth of the wicked concealeth violence, the contrast being between the open usefulness of the good man’s words and the harmful reticence of the malicious sinner. The Septuagint has, “A fountain of life is in the hand of the righteous; but destruction shall cover the mouth of the wicked.” This is explained to mean that a good man’s words and actions tend to spiritual health; a bad man’s words bring down sorrow and punishment.
Pro_10:12
Hatred stirreth up strife (Pro_6:14). Love covereth all sins (Pro_17:9). The reference is primarily to the blood feud, the existence of which led to the establishment of the cities of refuge. Hatred keeps alive the old feeling of revenge, and seeks opportunities of satisfying it; but love puts aside, forgets and forgives all offences against itself. This sentiment comes very near the great Christian principle, “Love covereth a multitude of sins”. The Talmud pronounces, “To love a thing makes the eye blind, the ear deaf;” and the Arab says, “Love is the companion of blindness.” Septuagint, “Love (φιλία) covereth all those who love not strife.”
Pro_10:13
Wisdom is found (comp. Psa_37:30). The man of understanding is discreet in speech, and does not cause trouble by rash or foolish words. A rod (
Pro_19:29; Pro_26:3). A fool brings upon himself punishment by his insensate talk. Void of understanding; Hebrew, “wanting in heart;” Vulgate, qui indiget corde. The LXX. combines the two members into one proposition, “He who putteth forth wisdom with his lips is a rod to chastise the man without heart.” In the Hebrew conception the “heart” is the seat, not only of the passions and affections, but also of the intellectual faculties.
Pro_10:14
Lay up knowledge; like a treasure, for use on proper occasions (Pro_12:23; Pro_14:33; comp. Mat_7:6; Mat_13:52). Is near destruction. “Near” may be an adjective, equivalent to “imminent,” “ever-threatening.” The versions are proximum est and ἐγγίζει. The foolish are always uttering carelessly what may bring trouble on themselves and others.
Pro_10:15
His strong city (Pro_18:11). Wealth is a help in many ways, securing from dangers, giving time and opportunity for acquiring wisdom, making one independent and free in action (Ecc_7:12; Ec 40:25, etc.). The destruction of the poor is their poverty. The poor are crushed, exposed to all kinds of evil, moral and material, by their want of means. The word for poor is here dal, which implies weakness and inability to help one’s self; the other word commonly used for “poor” is rash, which signifies rather “impecuniosity,” opposed to “wealthy.” So in the present passage the LXX. renders ἀσθενῶν, “the feeble.” The poor were but lightly regarded till Christ pronounced the benediction, “Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God” (Luk_6:20). The view of Theoguis will speak the experience of many—
Καὶ γὰρ ἀνὴρ πενίῃ δεδμημένος οὔτέ τι εἰπεῖν
Οὔθ ἕρξαι δύναται γλῶσσα δὲ οἱ δέδεται
“A man, by crushing poverty subdued,
Can freely nothing either say or do—
His very tongue is tied.”
Pro_10:16
Tendeth to life (Pro_11:19). Honest labour brings its own reward in the blessing of God and a long and peaceful life. The fruit of the wicked. All the profit that the wicked make they use in the service of sin, which tends only to death (Rom_6:21). The due reward of honourable industry is contrasted with the gains obtained by any means, discreditable or not.
Pro_10:17
He is in the way of life (Pro_5:6). It is a way of life when a man keepeth instruction, taketh to heart what is taught by daily providences and the wisdom of experience. Such teachableness leads to happiness here and hereafter. Erreth (Jer_42:20); not “causeth to err,” as in the margin, which weakens the antithesis. Septuagint, “Instruction (παιδεία) guardeth the ways of life, but he who is unaffected by instruction goeth astray” (comp. Heb_12:7, etc.).
Pro_10:18
This verse ought to be translated, He that hideth hatred is [a man] of lying lips, and he that uttereth slander is a fool. He who cherishes hatred in the heart must be a liar and a hypocrite, speaking and acting in a way contrary to his real sentiments; if he divulges his slander, he is a stupid fool, injuring his neighbour, and procuring ill will for himself. The LXX. reads, “Just (δίκαια) lips conceal hatred;” but probably δίκαια is an error for ἄδικα or δόλια, though Ewald defends it, and would alter the Hebrew to suit it.
Pro_10:19
There wanteth not sin; LXX; “Thou wilt not avoid sin.” Loquacity leads to exaggeration and untruthfulness, slander and uncharitableness (comp. Ecc_5:1-3; and Christ’s and James’s solemn warnings, Mat_12:36; Jas_1:26; Jas_3:2, etc.). “Speak little,” says Pinart (’Meditations,’ ch. 6.), “because for one sin which we may commit by keeping silence where it would be well to speak, we commit.a hundred by speaking upon all occasions” (see on Pro_17:27), Another rendering of the passage gives “By multitude of words sin does not vanish away;” i.e. you cannot mend a fault by much talking. But this weakens the contrast, and the Authorized Version is correct. Is wise. St. James calls the reticent “a perfect man” (comp. Pro_13:3). “This sentence of Scripture,” says St. Augustine, in his ’Retractations,’ “I greatly fear, because my numerous treatises, I know well, contain many things, if not false, at any rate idle and unnecessary.”
Pro_10:20
Choice (Pro_8:10, Pro_8:19); tested, purified by fire; πεπυρωμένος, Septuagint. Is little worth; mere dross, in contradistinction to choice silver. So the tongue is contrasted with the heart, out of whose abundance it speaketh (Ec Pro_21:26, “The heart of fools is in their mouth; but the mouth of the wise is in their heart”). Septuagint, “The heart of the godless shall fail (ἐκλείψει).”
Pro_10:21
Feed many. The righteous by wise counsel teach, support, and guide others (Ecc_12:11; Jer_3:15). So the clergy are the shepherds of their flocks (Joh_21:15; Act_20:28; 1Pe_5:2). The LXX. has a different reading, “know high things.” Fools die for want of wisdom. Far from “feeding” others, they bring ruin on themselves (Pro_5:23). Others translate, “die through one who wanteth understanding;” but if the Hebrew will bear this rendering, it is obvious that fools need no guide to their fall; their fate is a natural result. In this case the meaning must be that the foolish man involves others in destruction. But it is best to translate as the Authorized Version.
Pro_10:22
The blessing of the Lord. The Septuagint adds, “upon the head of the righteous,” as in Pro_10:6. Not chance and luck, not even industry and labour, but God giveth the increase (Ecc_5:18, Ecc_5:19). He addeth no sorrow with it; i.e. with the Blessing. In acquiring and in using wealth thus blessed, the good man is contented and happy, while unsanctified fiches bring only trouble and vexation. But this seems rather feeble, and it is better to render, “And a man’s own labor addeth nothing thereto.” A man’s own work must not be regarded as an equal cause of prosperity with the favour of God. This sentiment is in accordance with Psa_127:1, Psa_127:2, “Except the Lord build the house, their labour is but lost that build it so he giveth unto his beloved in sleep”—what others vainly labour for God giveth to the righteous without toil. The rendering of the clause, “Trouble is of no avail without it,” is scarcely warranted by the wording of the text.
Pro_10:23
As sport. The wicked make their pastime and amusement in doing evil. A man of understanding hath wisdom. As thus put, the sentence is jejune. The Revised Version expresses the meaning better: “And so is wisdom to a man of understanding;” i.e. the wise man finds his refreshment in living a wise and prudent life, which is as easy and as pleasant to him as mischief is to the vicious. The wisdom intended is practical religion, the fear of God directing and showing itself in daily action. Septuagint, “A fool doeth mischief in sport (ἐν γέλωτι), but wisdom produceth prudence for a man.”
Pro_10:24
This verse is connected in thought with the preceding. The wicked, though he lightly carries on his evil practices, is troubled with the thought of the retribution which awaits him, and that which he fears shall come upon him (Pro_1:26; Job_3:25; Isa_66:4); Septuagint, “The wicked is involved in destruction.” The desire of the righteous. The righteous will desire only that which is in agreement with God’s will, and this God grants, if not in this world, certainly in the life to come. The LXX. has, “The desire of the just is acceptable.”
Pro_10:25
As the whirlwind passeth. According to this rendering (which has the support of the Vulgate) the idea is the speed with which, under God’s vengeance, the sinner is consumed, as Isa_17:13; Job_21:18. But it is better to translate, as the LXX; “when the whirlwind is passing,” i.e. when the storm of judgment falls, as Christ represents the tempest beating on the ill-founded house and destroying it, while that which was built on the rock remains uninjured (comp. Pro_12:3; Mat_7:25, etc.; comp. Wis. 5:14, etc). Everlasting foundation (Job_21:30; Psa_91:1-16; Psa_125:1); like the Cyclopean stones on which Solomon’s temple was built. It is natural to see here an adumbration of that Just One, the Messiah, the chief Cornerstone. The LXX. gives, “But the righteous turning aside is saved forever.”
Pro_10:26
Vinegar (Rth_2:14; Psa_69:21). As sour wine sets the teeth on edge. Septuagint, “as the unripe grape is harmful to the teeth” (Eze_18:2). Smoke. In a country where chimneys were unknown, and the fuel was wood or some substance more unsavoury, the eyes must have often been painfully affected by the household fire. Thus lacrimosus, “tear-producing,” is a classical epithet of smoke (see Ovid, ’Metam.,’ 10.6; Her; ’Sat.,’ 1.5, 80). To these two annoyances is compared the messenger who loiters on his errand. The last clause is rendered by the LXX; “So is iniquity to those who practise it”—it brings only pain and vexation.
Pro_10:27
The fear of the Lord prolongeth days. The premise of long life as the reward of a religious conversation is often found in our book, where temporal retribution is set forth (see Pro_3:2; Pro_9:11; Pro_14:27). Shall be shortened, as Psa_55:23; Ecc_7:17.
Pro_10:28
The hope of the righteous shall be gladness. The patient expectation of the righteous is joyful, because it has good hope of being, and is, fulfilled. So the apostle (Rom_12:12) speaks, “Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation.” Septuagint, “Gladness delayeth for the just.” The expectation of the wicked; that which the wicked eagerly hope for shall come to naught (Pro_11:7; Job_8:13; Psa_112:10).
Pro_10:29
The way of the Lord; i.e. the way in which he has commanded, men to walk—the way of his commandments (Psa_25:12; Psa_119:27), that which the Pharisees confessed that Christ taught (Mat_22:16). The Septuagint renders, “the fear of the Lord,” which practically gives the meaning. Or “the Lord’s way” may be his moral government of the world. Strength; better a fortress (Pro_10:15). Doing his simple duty, a good man is safe; for, as St. Peter says, “Who is he that will harm you, if ye be zealous of that which is good?” (1Pe_3:13).
But destruction shall be; better, but it (the way of Jehovah) is destruction. The two effects of the Law of God are contrasted, according as it is obeyed or neglected. While it is protection to the righteous, it is condemnation and ruin to sinners (see on Pro_21:15) So Christ at one time calls himself “the Way” (Joh_14:6); at another says, “For judgment I am come into this world” (Joh_9:39); and Simeon declares of him (Luk_2:34), “This Child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel”.
Pro_10:30
The righteous shall never be removed (Pro_2:21; Pro_12:3, Pro_12:21; Psa_10:6; Psa_37:29). This is in agreement with the temporal promise made to the patriarchs and often renewed, as in the fifth commandment. St. Paul says (1Ti_4:8), “Godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life which now is, and of that which is to come.” The wicked shall not inhabit (or, abide not in) the land. The punishment of exile was threatened upon the Jews for their disobedience, and they are still suffering this retribution (Le 26:33; Deu_4:27; Isa_22:17). Christ gives the other aspect of God’s moral government when he says (Mat_5:5), “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.”
Pro_10:31
Bringeth forth; as a tree produces fruit, and the fields yield their increase. The metaphor is common. Thus Isaiah (Isa_57:19) speaks of “the fruit of the lips” (comp. Heb_13:15 and Psa_37:30, which latter passage occurs in the same connection as the present). The Septuagint renders, “distilleth wisdom.” So So Isa_5:13, “His lips are like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh.” The froward tongue (Pro_2:12, Pro_2:14 : Pro_8:13, which speaks only what is perverse and evil). Shall be cut out; like a corrupt tree that cumbers the ground (Mat_3:10; Luk_13:7). The abuse of God’s great gift of speech shall be severely punished. “For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned” (Mat_12:36, Mat_12:37).
Pro_10:32
Know. A good man’s lips are conversant with what is acceptable to God and man. Such a person considers what will please God and edify his neighbour, and speaks in conformity therewith. The LXX. has,” The lips of the righteous distil graces;” ἀποστάζει χάριτας, but probably the right verb is ἐπίσταται, which is found in some manuscripts. Speaketh frowardnsss; rather, knoweth, or is perverseness (comp. Eph_4:29); Septuagint, ἀποστρέφεται, or, according to the Sinaitic correcter and some other scribes, καταστρέφεται, “is turned aside,” or “is overthrown.” Delitszch translates, “is mere falsehood.”
HOMILETICS
Pro_10:1
The influence of a son over his parents’ happiness
It is impossible to estimate the tremendous influence which children have on the happiness of their parents. The unfortunate thing about it is that the children are the last to realize it. It may be that a misplaced modesty inclines them to imagine that their course in life cannot be of much consequence to any one. In many cases, unhappily, gross selfishness engenders sheer indifference to the feelings of those who have most claim upon them, so that they never give a thought to the pain they are inflicting. But behind these special points there is the universal fact that no one can understand the depth and overpowering intensity of a parent’s love until he becomes a parent himself. Then, in the yearning anxiety he experiences for his own children, a man may have a revelation of the love which he had received all the days of his life without ever dreaming of its wonderful power. But surely, up to their capacity for understanding it, children should realize the great trust that is given to them. They are entrusted with the happiness of their parents. After receiving from them life, food, shelter, innumerable good things and a watchful, tender love throughout, they have it in their power to make bright the evening of their father’s and mother’s life, or to cloud it with a deep, dark gloom of hopeless misery.
I. THE SECRET OF THIS INFLUENCE IS IN THE MORTAL CONDUCT OF THE SON OR DAUGHTER. “The wise son” – “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;” “the foolish son”—the fool in the Bible is more morally than intellectually defective. In the infancy of their children fond parents often dream of the earthly prosperity they would wish for them—a brilliant career, success in business, wealth, renown, happiness. But as life opens out more fully they come to see that these are of secondary importance. The mother whose brooding fancy prophesied a young Milton in her wonderful boy is perhaps just a little disappointed as by slow degrees she undergoes disillusion, and sees him develop into an ordinary city clerk; but she will not confess her disappointment to herself, and it is soon swallowed up in just pride and delight if he is upright and kind and good. But if she is not mistaken about the genius of her child, but only under an error as to the moral direction that genius will take; if her Milton becomes a Byron, then, though the world rings with his lame, she—supposing her to be a true, wise mother—will be broken-hearted with grief. It is not the dulness, nor the failures, nor the troubles, nor the early death of children that bring a father’s “grey hairs with sorrow to the grave.” It is their sins. If these sins show direct unkindness, the grief reaches its saddest height. Then the father may well say, with poor Lear—
“How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is
To have a thankless child!”
It is heart rending for the mother to part with her infant if he dies an early death. But the grief she feels when she looks at the little grave, and thinks of her child quietly sleeping, safe with the God who called the children to himself—this grief is calm and endurable compared with the awful, crushing agony she would have experienced if the child had lived and had fallen into sin and brought shame upon his head. Parents are foolish as well as unsubmissive when they pray too positively for their children’s lives. Our one great Father knows what is best. Perhaps it is safest for all that the child should be taken from the evil to come. But, of course, if he can be spared to live a life of usefulness and honour, this is most to be desired, and the parents’ prayers should chiefly go out for the safe preservation of their children’s better life.
II. THE POSSESSION OF THIS INFLUENCE SHOULD BE A STRONG INDUCEMENT TO WORTHY LIVING. It furnishes a new element in the obligations of right. The son has it in his power to make his parents happy or miserable. So great a trust involves a serious responsibility. “No man liveth unto himself.” Besides his higher obligations, the son has a life in regard to his father and mother. He is not at liberty to run riot as he chooses, because he thinks his own future only is at stake. By all the terrible pain he inflicts, by the deep gladness he might have conferred, the guilt of his sin is aggravated. Should not such considerations urge strongly against yielding to temptation? If the mad young man cares little for abstract righteousness, if he has lost the fear of God, still is it nothing that every new folly is a stab in the heart of those who have done most for him and who would even now give their hoes to save him? It is not unmanly to say to one’s self, “For my mother’s sake I will not do this vile thing.” It is devilish not to be capable of such a thought. Similar considerations may help us in our highest relations. God is our Father. We may “grieve” his Spirit by sin. When the prodigal returns God rejoices in the presence of his angels. Shall we not hate the sins that made Christ mourn, and seek to do better for the sake of the love of God?
Pro_10:4
Diligence
Of late it has become fashionable to claim a cheap reputation for loftiness of moral aims by sneering at what are called the “smug virtues.” There is a great deal about these despised virtues in the Book of Proverbs, and consequently a very low estimate is formed of that portion of Scripture. But is there not something hollow about this assumption of ethical elevation? It cannot be denied that the “smug virtues” have a real obligation. No one would venture to say that they can be dispensed with. They are simply of a comparatively inferior value. But till they are complied with it is often difficult to rise to more ethereal heights of goodness. Meanwhile that man is little short of a hypocrite who neglects the plain duties that lie at his door for the pursuit of some other more recondite graces. Diligence is one of the first of these duties, and it is requisite for various reasons. Note some of them.
I. WEALTH DEPENDS ON WORK. This is a primary law of providence. God might have fed us as he fed the ravens. But instead of putting food ready for our mouths, he gives us hands with which to work for it. Social arrangements only disguise this law. The son inherits the fruits of his father’s industry. The idle man sucks the honey of other men’s toil. But it remains truth that work makes wealth. Every man’s wealth depends largely on the work of some one—his own or somebody else’s. It is the duty of everybody to see that he is not dependent upon other people’s labours if he can help himself. The man who squanders his money in prosperous times, and throws himself on public charity directly he is ill or out of work, is guilty of gross selfishness amounting to dishonesty. It is plainly every man’s duty not only to keep himself and his family, but, where it is possible, to make fit provision for the future, or he will be robbing others of their maintenance. Hence one obligation to be industrious and thrifty.
II. WORK IS FOR OUR OWN GOOD. People talk of the curse of toil, little knowing that it is one of the greatest blessings we have. Better talk of the curse of idleness. It is a happy thing that man has to earn his bread with the sweat of his brow. Work develops strength—strength of mind as well as strength of limb. The self-made man is not invariably a model of grace; but he is usually a specimen of sturdy vigor of character, as different from the limp conventionality of indolence as granite rock from drifting seaweed.
III. WE ARE ALL STEWARDS. The servant is required to be industrious for his master’s sake. His time is not his own. He is not at liberty, therefore, to lounge about in dreamy idleness. We are stewards of the things lent us by God. He has sent us to work in his vineyard. In duo time he will call us to account. “To be blameless as a steward of God” a man must be faithful, honest, industrious.
IV. CHRISTIANITY INCULCATES DILIGENCE. No greater mistake can be made than to suppose that the New Testament favours indolence. The ideal of Oriental monasticism is derived from other sources. Even the remake in the West knew better. In its palmy days European monasticism was the centre of honest toil. The monks cleared forests, reclaimed bogs, built cathedrals, cultivated farms, studied, laboriously copied and preserved for us the invaluable treasures of the literature of antiquity. Amongst other fruits of grace in the Christian’s heart will be increased diligence in business. Christian principle, however, is necessary to consecrate industry. Without it wealth. will be a god, business an absorbing worldly influence, and success a source of low selfish pleasure. But he who is diligent on Christian principle will make his business holy by working in it as the servant of Christ, and his wealth holy by dedicating it to the use of God.
Pro_10:5
Sleep in harvest
I. SLEEP IN HARVEST IS FOOLISH, BECAUSE THIS IS THE TIME FOR THE HARVEST WORK. We may afford to be slack in the winter. Through the long frosts when the ground is like iron, during heavy rains when to poach on the fields is only injurious to the crops, much work is necessarily suspended. But harvest claims all time and all energy. Every man must be at work, fresh hands taken on, and longer hours spent in the field. How preposterous to be sleeping then! There are harvest times in life—times when we are called to awake to more than ordinary energy. Youth, though in many respects a seed time, also has some of the characteristics of harvest. It is the summer time when work is pleasant, and when there is little to hinder it. If a man will not work in these bright days, how can he expect to be able to labour when the cramps and agnes of wintry old age seize upon him? It is also the time of a great ingathering, when knowledge must be accumulated for future use. If this harvest season is passed in idleness, it will be impossible to fill the granary of the mind with stores of knowledge in after years. But there are other special opportunities for work. We seem to have come upon the great season of the world’s harvest. “The fields are now white.” India is open, China and Africa are opening up; and the call is loud for labourers to go forth and gather the precious sheaves into the garner of the Lord. If there may have been some excuse for indolence in the dark ages of tyranny and ignorance, there is none now, when communication is made easy and vast opportunities for service are afforded us,
II. SLEEP IN HARVEST IS FOOLISH, BECAUSE IT WILL RESULT IN THE LOSS OF ALL PREVIOUS LABOUR. The monotonous toil of the ploughman, the careful work of the sower, the tiresome weeding, all the labour of spring and summer, will be wasted if the harvest is to be left to rot in the fields. All this was only intended to prepare the way for the harvest. So there are times when we are called to make use of the long preparatory labours of after years. The barrister begins to plead, the surgeon to practise, the minister to preach. If they are remiss now, their university honours will add to the discredit of failure in real life. The training is all wasted if we neglect to put it to its final use. So the Christian labourer, the missionary, the preacher, the Sunday school teacher, should feel that all their work is to tend to the gathering in of souls for Christ. If they miss that result, the rest is of little good. Care, diligence, prayer, are most called for that the previous labour may not be “in vain in the Lord,” Hence the responsibility of the teachers of elder scholars in a Sunday school. The harvest time of the school work falls upon them. If they are unfaithful, all the previous toil of preparing the soil in the infant school and sowing the seed in the lower classes may be thrown away.
III. SLEEP IN HARVEST IS FOOLISH, BECAUSE IT WILL BEING FAMINE IN THE WINTER. The harvest is a brief, swift period. It is soon to give place to the chill autumn, and that to the dreary winter. If the fruit is not gathered then it can never be gathered in later days. Yet it will be sadly wanted. The old year’s corn will run out, and a great cry for bread will go up from a famished people. Then the folly of ultimate indolence will be felt in slow agony and death. We need all to remember that there is a winter coming. Let the strong man labour in harvest for the winter of growing infirmities in old age; let the prosperous labour in seasons of plenty, that they may have by them fat kine to be devoured in years of scarcity; let the happy make use of their opportunities, that they may be ready for the sorrows of the future. Apply the lesson to national affairs. In times of peace and plenty see that debts are paid off, grievances reformed, and all things made right anti strong in preparation for possible national calamities. Apply it to commercial affairs, so that times of good trade may not lead to extravagance and luxury, but to more thrift. Apply it to spiritual things—to the church generally, that in peace and liberty sound principles may be instilled and strong Christian characters built up fit to stand the shock of persecution; to the individual, and see that we gather the bread of life now which shall make us able to withstand the barrenness of the winter of death. If we sleep in this our harvest time, what dread awaking must we look forward to?
Pro_10:7
The memory of the just.
I. THE WORLD CONCERNS ITSELF WITH THE REPUTATION OF THE DEAD. The words of our text describe a fact to which all history bears witness. No study is more absorbing than history—including biography; and the most interesting part of history is that which deals with individuals and discusses character. In spite of the protests of the philosophers, we are all more attracted by Shakespeare and Scott than by Hallam and Buckle. Statistics, generalizations, great laws and principles of national growth, all have their claims on our attention; but the characters of individual men appeal to us with a quite different human interest. Even the most commonplace gossip of the streetcorner has some justification in the element of sympathy with things human that it presupposes.
II. THE MOST IMPORTANT ELEMENT IN POSTHUMOUS REPUTATION IS CHARACTER. Who cares for Croesus? But the slave Epictetus takes a high place in the world’s thoughts. The reputation for wealth that brings fawning flatterers in a man’s lifetime is the first to fade after death. So is that of empty titles. The present duke—say the seventh—is treated with the deference considered due to rank, but no one cares to ask in what the third duke differed from the fourth duke. Even the dazzling conqueror’s renown soon tarnishes if it is not preserved by higher qualities. Few men now envy the reputation of Napoleon. Genius, perhaps, carries off amongst men the palm of fame; the first place, which is due to character, is reserved for the next world. Still, moral character counts for more in common human reputation than the cynical are ready to admit. At all events, in that inner circle where a man would most care for his reputation this takes its right place. If it is better to be loved at home than to be admired abroad, it is better to leave a fragrant memory for goodness in one’s own circle than to leave sorrow in the home and to reap grand funeral honours in the outside world. It is remarkable to observe how fair is the verdict of history. A hypocrite may deceive his contemporaries. He can rarely deceive future generations.
III. IT IS OUR DUTY TO CHERISH THE MEMORY OF THE JUST. This is a duty we owe to them, to righteousness, and to succeeding ages. The honest canonization that comes from no papal authority, but from the honest conviction of admiring multitudes, is worthy tribute to goodness. Still, let us beware of the mockery of substituting this for our duty to the living—building splendid tombs to the prophets whom we have slain. How often have great men been slighted, misunderstood, cruelly wronged, during their lifetime; and then honoured by a chorus of repentant praise as soon as death has taken them beyond the reach of it! On the other hand, beware of indiscriminate adulation of the dead. There is wholesome truth in the words, “The name of the wicked shall rot.” Nothing is more false than the common style of epitaphs. A visit to a graveyard would suggest that the world was a paradise of immaculate saints. Where you cannot justly praise, at least be decently silent. Left to itself, the name of the wicked will melt away and vanish—as all rotten things do.
IV. IT IS PROFITABLE TO CONSIDER THE LESSONS LEFT BY THE LIVES OF THE DEPARTED. We need not go the length of the early Christians, who, beginning by meeting in the catacombs where the martyrs were buried, soon came to worship the martyrs as demi-gods. But we may gain great good by contemplating the beauty of good lives. If we cherish the memory of those who have gone “to join the choir invisible,” we may be helped to emulate their noble qualities.
Pro_10:12
The cloak of charity
One of the devices of the parallelism or rhythm of ideas, which is the general characteristic of Hebrew poetry, is the alternative treatment of the same thought from two opposite points of view—from positive and negative poles. The value of some good thing is emphasized by contrasting it with the repulsive nature of its contrary, as Venetian ladies tried to appear the more fair by having negro pages to attend them. Thus the beautiful work of love, in covering of sins, is here made most attractive by being brought out on the dark background of the ugly doings of hatred. It may be profitable, therefore, for us to glance at the more painful subject first.
I. THE DARK BACKGROUND. “Hatred stirreth up strifes.”

1. Where there is hatred strifes will be stirred up. This hideous passion is active, powerful, and contagious. It is not content to consume itself in hidden fires; it will blaze out and spread its mischief abroad.
   (1) “Hatred stirreth up strifes” because it starts new quarrels; it is irritating, provoking. An incendiary will always find plenty of fuel. When the spark is struck the tinder is ready to receive it. It is not in human nature to submit tamely to insult. Though it takes two to make a quarrel, when one man shows himself offensively quarrelsome he will not be long in finding an antagonist.
   (2) Then “hatred stirreth up strifes” because it aggravates old quarrels. It pokes the fire. It freshens the smouldering embers and shakes them up so that they break out into a blaze again. It is the great mischief maker, and where it finds a little rift it sets diligently to work to widen this into a great chasm.
2. Where strifes are stirred up hatred is behind them. The strifes are a sign of the presence of hatred. True, a benevolent man may be dragged into a quarrel; but he will not provoke it himself, and he will not maintain it a moment longer than righteousness requires. A quarrelsome disposition is at bottom grounded on hatred. For if we loved one another, how could we desire to be at variance? Tale bearing, reporting words that one knows will only rouse ill feeling between two people, presenting things in their worst light so as to suggest offensive thoughts, exaggerating the unkindness of a person by imputing bad motives,—all such conduct is inconsistent with Christian charity; it is just the behaviour of the old serpent, who brought discord into Eden, and was “a murderer from the beginning.”
   II. THE BRIGHT PICTURE. “But love covereth all sins.” This does not refer to one’s own sins—to the fact that one who levee much is forgiven much (Luk_7:47). It is the sins of others that love covers.
3. Love covereth all sins against one’s self. “Love suffereth long, and is kind” (1Co_13:4). The Christian must; forgive his enemies because he is taught to love them. All forgiveness springs from love. God pardons us for nothing that we do, but for the sake of his love in Jesus Christ. But our Lord has told us plainly that unless we forgive men their trespasses against us neither will our heavenly Father forgive us our trespasses. This is therefore no question of counsels of, perfection, but one of the first elements of the Christian life, if we cherish a vindictive spirit against anyone, we are ourselves still unforgiven by God, still dead in trespasses and sins. If we do not prove one love by forgiving, men, we do not possess it, and without love to our brethren we can have no love to God. Therefore so long as we obstinately refuse forgiveness to any one who has wronged us, our Christianity is nothing but hypocrisy; it is a lie.
4. Love covereth all sins in others generally, i.e. it leads us not to note them. not to report them, not to aggravate the guilt of them, not to make mischief by tale bearing. Further, it is not content to be negatively oblivious of sin. It must be active in throwing the cloak of charity upon it. Of course we must be just and truthful. But these obligations leave us free in most cases to labour to prevent mischief by a charitable behaviour in our social influence. The Christian is not called to be an informer. At least Christian love will make a man a peacemaker. If he cannot hide the sin without unfaithfulness to some trust, he can endeavour to prevent the rising of evil passions. This is the grand Christian method of conquering wickedness. The law chastises by punishment; the gospel reforms by forgiveness. So Christ, the incarnation of God’s love, covers all our sins, and renews our hearts through the grace of forgiveness.
   Pro_10:19
   Golden silence
   I. THE SINFUL CHARACTER OF MUCH ORDINARY CONVERSATION SHOULD INDUCE GREAT CAUTION IN SPEECH. It is a grave charge to bring against the tone of general society to say that “in the multitude of words there wanteth not sin.” But is it not as true now as it was in the days of Solomon? “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh;” but “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked,” and therefore, so long as human nature is corrupt, conversation will be corrupt also. If the well is poisoned, the less water we draw from it the better. In particular two or three bad features of common conversation may be observed, viz.:
5. Untruthfulness. There is probably a little more conscious lying even in society that professes to follow the code of honour than its members would care to admit. But untruthfulness may appear in a more disguised form. There is the equivocation that some people practise so skilfully—blinding their own conscience while throwing dust into the eyes of other people. The tendency to exaggeration for the sake of dramatic effect is very common. The falsification by means of caricature, which is dishonest because it is not confessedly caricature, is another source of deceit. But hasty speech may fall into unconscious errors; and then, though the sin of lying is not committed, harm is done by the spread of reports that are not true.
6. Unkindness. How much of the gossip of the parlour is made up of the criticism of one’s neighbours—at least in some circles of society! No ill feeling may be felt, but cruel injustice is done when a man’s actions are discussed and his motives dissected on very insufficient evidence, in the absence of the accused, by a small coterie of persons whom he trusts as friends. But if “love covereth all sins,” it is uncharitable to make even the proved offences of our neighbours the topic of idle conversation.
7. Unholiness. When no impure words are spoken, conversation may be more dangerously defiled by innuendo. The obscene word is disgusting in its coarseness, but the skilful equivoque, supposed to be more fit for ears polite, carries its poison to an unsuspecting imagination. When nothing directly immoral is suggested, how much conversation would come under the category of what our Lord calls “idle words”? Such words are very different from genuine criticisms, or even from light banter, which may not be idle, but useful as mental refreshment.
   II. THE DANGEROUS INFLUENCE OF SPEECH CONFIRMS THE WISDOM OF SILENCE.
8. Speech is remembered. The word once out cannot be recalled. It remains to rankle in the wounded breast or to stain permanently the imagination of the hearer. What is said in the heat of passion will be remembered against us in the coolness of vindictive spite. The unseemly joke of a frivolous moment may perpetually haunt the sacred subject it tampers with.
9. Speech is suggestive. The utterance may be little in itself, but it starts a long train of associations. One unkindly word will suggest a whole realm of ungenerous thoughts. A single unholy phrase may bring to view a whole theatre of unclean images. The word is but a spark; yet it may kindle a great fire (Jas_3:5). The most hasty speech may cut deepest, like the swiftest sword thrust.
   III. IN MANY SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES SILENCE IS PECULIARLY DESIRABLE.
10. In quarrelsome society. When we know that our words will only fall like firebrands iu a powder magazine, the less said the better. If we cannot persuade a person to maintain friendly intercourse with us, we had better have no intercourse with him.
11. In unsympathetic society. It is foolish to cast pearls before swine. We must beware of the pharisaical use that pride will make of this maxim, leading us to preserve a silence of contempt. But in all humility and charity we may refrain from speaking where we shall only be misunderstood. If our hearer cannot receive the ideas of our speech, we only waste time in giving him the words—probably we do worse, and lead him into delusions through the wrong construction that he will put on our language.
12. In degraded society. When to enter into conversation will only stir up the mud that lies at the bottom of the now stagnant pool, we had better be quiet. In general a few well weighed words have more force than many hasty, thoughtless utterances. We do not all possess the gift of laconic terseness. But we can at least set a guard on our speech, and when called to speak seek Divine grace that oar words may be “seasoned with salt.”
    Pro_10:28
    The hope of the righteous
    I. WE ALL LIVE BY HOPE. The righteous has his “hope,” the wicked his “expectation;” both live in the future. The present takes its colours chiefly from our anticipations of the future. It is dark or bright according as shadows or light fall on it from that visionary world. The man who has no hope here or hereafter is practically dead. Despair is suicide. Hence the importance of seeing to our hopes. If they are ill-grounded, all life is a mistake.
    II. THE LOTS OF THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED DIFFER LESS IN THEIR PRESENT CONDITION THAN IN THE FUTURE OF THEIR HOPES. Old Testament saints were often distressed at the sufferings of the good and, the prosperity of the bad. It is when we see “their end” that we discover the just allotment. The house on the sand stands as fairly as the house on the rock—till the storm comes. “When the whirlwind passeth, the wicked is no more; but the righteous is an everlasting portion” (Pro_10:25). Men of very different deserts may have equally bright hopes; for hope is not founded on the verdict of justice, but on a man’s own ideas, or even his idle fancies. The vigour of the hope is no guarantee of the certainty of its fulfilment.
    III. THE PROVIDENTIAL JUSTICE OF GOD WILL OVERRULE THE ISSUE OF ALL HOPES. Our views of the future can only be safely depended on when they are determined by what we know of God. The future is in his hands. So, of course, is the present. But it is only in the course of a long time that the modifying influence of temporary accidents is removed and great general laws exert their full force. What will then happen we cannot tell by only investigating present phenomena, because of the confusion of transient influences. We must study the character of God. Then we shall be constrained to exclaim, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” Because God is just, justice must be the ultimate outcome of all things. Through all time God is surely working on to this end. We are deceived by the tardiness of the process, yet this very tardiness is effecting the more complete final result.
    “The mills of God grind slowly,
    But they grind exceeding small.”
    IV. THE DIFFERENT NATURE OF THE HOPES OF MEN OF DIFFERENT CHARACTER LARGELY DETERMINES THE QUESTION OF THEIR FUTURE FULFILMENT. God works through means and laws. Some hopes are naturally doomed to failure, others contain seeds of immortal fruition. Now, the nature of our hopes is dependent on our character. Better than professions, words, or even deeds, as a test of character, are a man’s hopes. Tell us what he hopes, and we can say what he is. The hope is an emanation of the very essence of the soul. Therefore bad men have bad hopes, and good men good hopes. If both seem to hope for the same thing, the hopes are still wide apart as the poles; for the same thing objectively is quite different to us according to the thoughts with which we view it. The heaven for which a wicked man hopes is very unlike the Christian’s heaven. Good men hope for what is good; i.e. for what agrees with God’s will. Thus their hope will not be disappointed. Christians have faith in “Christ in us the Hope of glory.” Such an expectation presages its own satisfaction.
    Pro_10:31
    Righteousness and wisdom
    These two attributes appear to belong to different spheres—the one to the moral and the other to the intellectual. Yet they are here associated as parent and child, and righteousness is seen to sprout into wisdom. Righteous men are represented as speaking wisely. Now, we know that good people have not a monopoly of intellect. Aristides the virtuous was not as clever as Themistocles. There are small-minded saints, and there are sinners of giant intellect. Where, then, is the connection between righteousness and wisdom?
    I. RIGHTEOUSNESS STRENGTHENS THE WHOLE SOUL. It will not convert a peasant into a philosopher, but it will brighten the faculties of the peasant. While sin deadens the soul, dissipates its faculties, and lowers its powers, the calm and temperate life of a good man helps him to attain to such vigour of thought as is within the reach of his powers.
    III. RIGHTEOUSNESS REMOVES THE HINDRANCE OF PREJUDICE. No doubt many good people have their prejudices. But that is in spite of their goodness, and the goodness is an antidote of more or less efficacy. The root of prejudice is self-will, and this is also the root of sin. Just in proportion as we learn the self-distrust of humility we shall be freed from the blindness of prejudice.
    III. RIGHTEOUSNESS INSTILS THE LOVE OF TRUTH. The good man wishes to know truth; he acknowledges the duty of seeking light; he will not let indolence keep him in ignorance. Now, an earnest pursuit of truth is not likely to be rewarded with failure. They who seek Wisdom earnestly will find her (Pro_8:17). Thus the rousing of a motive to strive after wisdom helps us to reach it, and this is the fruit of righteousness.
    IV. RIGHTEOUSNESS OPENS THE EYES OF THE SOUL. It has a direct influence in purging the inward vision. There are truths which can only be revealed through channels of sympathy. The way of holiness lies hidden from the gaze of the corrupt. To be good is to see the best truth.
    V. RIGHTEOUSNESS LEADS TO THE PRACTICAL USE OF TRUTH. Wisdom is not a merely intellectual attainment. While intimately connected with the thoughts of the mind, it also has vital relations with the resolves of the will. The wise man is not only one who knows the right way; he practises his knowledge by walking therein.
    VI. RIGHTEOUSNESS IS TRUTHFUL. When a good man speaks he will not knowingly deceive. His earnest desire will be to utter just what he believes to be true. But such a desire will help him to put forth words of wisdom.
    A practical result of this association of wisdom with righteousness is that we should look well to the character of our teachers. The merely popular preacher, or the merely clever thinker, will not be so useful a guide in the higher reaches of the spiritual life as the good man of less brilliant natural gifts and intellectual attainments. Thus true wisdom may be discovered where the world only expects foolishness (1Co_1:20, 1Co_1:21).
    HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON
    Pro_10:1
    We enter upon a mosaic-work of proverbs, which perhaps hardly admit of any one principle of arrangement except that of moral comparison and contrast. This governs the whole. Life is viewed as containing endless oppositions, to which light and darkness correspond in the world of sensuous perception.
    Early appearance of moral contrast
    I. THE FAMILY LIFE ELICITS CHARACTER. It is a little world, and from the first provides a sphere of probation and of judgment which is the miniature of the great world.
    II. THE TRAINING OF THE PARENTS IS REFLECTED IN THE CHILDREN’S CONDUCT. And the conduct of the children is reflected in the parents’ joy or grief. Hence the duty of wise training on the one side, loving obedience on the other; that the happy effects may be secured, the unhappy averted, in each case.
    III. TO LIVE TO MAKE ONE’S PARENTS (AND OTHERS) HAPPY IS ONE OF THE BEST OF MOTIVES. To see our actions mirrored in their mirth and others’ joy, what pleasure can be purer, what ambition nobler?—J.
    Pro_10:2-7
    Moral contrast in earthly lot and destiny
    I. ILL-GOTTEN WEALTH AND RECTITUDE. (Pro_10:2.) The former cannot avert sudden death or shame (Pro_10:25, Pro_10:27); the latter is vital, and stands the man in good stead in every hour of human trial, and of Divine judgment.
    II. HONEST POVERTY AND PROFLIGATE GREED. (Pro_10:3.) The former does not hunger, is contented with little, has true satisfaction. The latter is never satisfied, expands with every indulgence, is like the “dire dropsy.” It is an unappeasable thirst. God repudiates it by fixing it in perpetual impotency, while the temperate and chastened doilies are rewarded by fulfilment.
    III. THE LAX AND THE INDUSTRIOUS HAND. (Pro_10:4; comp. Pro_12:24.) The one leading to poverty, the other to fiches. Languor and energy have their physical conditions; but how much lies in the will? We live in a day when it is the fashion to talk of “determinism,” and to extend the doctrine of “causes over which we have no control” beyond all reasonable limits. We need to fall back on the healthy common sense of mankind, and on the doctrine of these proverbs. There is a moral question involved. Laziness is immoral, and receives the condemnation of immorality; industry is a virtue, and brings its own reward in every sphere. The opposition is amplified in Pro_10:5; active forethought being contrasted with supine indifference. The hard field labour referred to belongs particularly to young men; and to young men idleness is peculiarly corrupting.
    IV. ASSOCIATIONS OF BLESSING AND THOSE OF VIOLENCE. (Pro_10:6.) However the verse may be rendered and interpreted, this is the opposition. Blessing leads the mind through such a series of associated ideas as peace, tranquillity, order, security; violence through a contrasted series—trouble, disquiet, disorder, and all that implies a curse.
    V. BRIGHT AND DARK RECOLLECTIONS. (Pro_10:7.) The good man lives in thankful memories; the bad man’s name is like an ill odour, according to the literal meaning of the Hebrew word. When the saying is quoted, The ill men do lives after them, the good is oft interred with their bones,” we should recall by whom this was said, or feigned to be said, and for what purpose. In the memory of Caesar’s ambition Antony is afraid the Romans will forget his services. Momentarily good may be forgotten, but ultlmately must come to recognition and honour. The course of time illustrates the worth of the good, and enhances the odium of evil memories.—J.
    Pro_10:8-10
    Folly and wisdom in manifold contrast
    I. THE WISE MAN IS MORE READY TO RECEIVE THAN TO GIVE COUNSEL; THE FOOL, THE OPPOSITE.
    II. THE WISE MAN KNOWS THE VALUE OF RESERVE; THE FOOL WILL “STILL BE TALKING.”
    III. THE WISE MAN IS THRIFTY, ECONOMICAL OF WORDS, A CAPITALIST OF THOUGHT; THE FOOL, A SPENDTHRIFT OF WORDS, A BANKRUPT OF THOUGHT.
    IV. THE WISE MAN RISES IN REPUTATION, IN POSITION; THE FOOL COMES SOONER OR LATER TO A “FALL.”
    V. GUILELESSNESS IS SAFE, WHILE CRAFT AND CROOKED POLICY ARE CERTAIN, SOONER OR LATER, OF EXPOSURE. (Pro_10:9.) In that widest sense in which alone the saying is noble and true, “Honesty is the best policy.” Cunning overreaches itself and gets into trouble; and the mere talker never ends well. Speech should only be prophetic of deed; otherwise, Many will say to me in that day, etc.—J.
    Pro_10:11-14
    A fourfold opposition
    I. SPEECH THAT QUICKENS AND SPEECH THAT KILLS. (Pro_10:11.)
13. The speech of the wise and good is sound, “seasoned with salt;” that of the wicked is hollow or else poisonous.
14. The former edifies, builds up and strengthens the good principle in the minds of those who convene with him; the bluer destroys the good, and sows evil in its stead.
    II. QUARRELSOMENESS AND AMIABILITY. (Pro_10:12; see on Pro_6:14.) The former begets evil, increases that already existing, inflames wounds lets nothing pass that may serve as fuel to its fire. The latter puts an end to much evil, prevents the rise of more, soothes every wound, and mitigates every mischief. The former is ever dividing, the latter reconciling. They undo one another’s work; but love in the end prevails (Pro_17:9; 1Co_13:4; Jas_5:20; 1Pe_4:8).
    III. THE GRACE OF WISDOM AND THE DISGRACE OF FOLLY. (Pro_10:13.) The pure eloquence of the good man attracts admiration and wins confidence; while the fallacies of the pretender, the spurious rhetoric of the insincere certain to be exposed and castigated. The life of the, House of Commons, or of any great assembly, furnishes constant illustrations.
    IV. PRUDENT RESERVE AND PERNICIOUS LOQUACITY. (Pro_10:14.) There is a time end place for silence, the wise man knows—both for the recovery of his own thoughts, and for the opportunity of watching others. By a bold figure of speech, it may often be that silence is the greatest eloquence. In many instances we think we have produced no effect, have not committed ourselves to the expression of opinion; on the contrary, our reserve has spoken. In all this lies a science and art of living. The fool does not see this; he is too self-absorbed to see anything that passes in others’ minds, or too unsympathetic to feel; and hence blurts out things that had better have been left unsaid, hurts sensibilities, blackens reputations, causes false positions for himself and others.
15. The heart must be watched. There is no other source of pleasing, gentle manners, nor of sound behaviour in society. Reserve and unreserve of the right kind are simply the government of the tongue by charity.
16. The tongue must be watched. And regulated by good models of Conversation. Never must it be forgotten how much we learn by imitation.—J.
    Pro_10:15-21
    A sevenfold strain of experience
    For the most part these sayings relate to earthly goods—their value, and the means for their acquisition. Godliness has the promise of both lives. Equally incredible would a religion which ignored the future be with one which ignored the present. Equally one-sided is the expectation only of earthly good from wisdom, and the expectation only of heavenly good. We must beware of a false materializing and of a false spiritualizing of religion.
    I. THE POWER OF WEALTH AND THE WEAKNESS OF POVERTY. The former like a strong city or fortress; the latter like a ruinous dwelling, which threatens at any moment to tumble about the dweller’s head. The teacher is thinking, as the following verse shows, on the one hand, of wealth wisely and honourably won, which becomes a means to other wise ends; on the other hand, of blameworthy poverty, which leads in time to further vice and misery. To desire competent means for the sake of worthy objects, and to fear poverty because of its temptations, is a right and true attitude of mind.
    II. THE TENDENCY OF WEALTH DEPENDS ON THE MIND OF THE POSSESSOR. (Pro_10:16.) The “tendency of riches” is in itself an incomplete thought. Silver and gold have no tendency, except by a figure of speech. In the heart of man the directing force is found. Used justly, riches are a good; they are simply, like bodily strength, knowledge, skill, a mass of available means. Used wickedly, so that they simply feed our senses and our pride, or become corrupters of others’ integrity, they simply increase the possessor’s power and range of mischief. When we poetically speak of accursed gold, or base dross, we should be aware that these are figures, and that the curse can never rest on anything in God’s creation except the will which perverts what is a means to good into a means to evil.
    III. THE CAUSES OF DIRECTION ADD MISDIRECTION IN LIFE. (Pro_10:17.) Why do some men succeed, and others fail, in perpetual blundering and error? The particular cases may be complex; but as to the general rule there can be no question. In the one case there is admission of faults and attention to the correction of them. In the other, blindness to faults, inattention to warnings, obstinate persistence in error. Be not above taking a hint, especially from a foe. “Temper” is the bane of many. Any opportunity is sacrificed rather than the whim, the humour which seems to the man so thoroughly a part of himself that he cannot give it up. The habit of calm revision of one’s progress and failures in the hour of prayer seems needful both to preserve from over self-confidence and from over-reliance on the advice of others.
    IV. CONCEALED HATRED AND OPEN MALICE EQUALLY ODIOUS. (Pro_10:18.) Resentment that one dares not, or thinks it polite not to, express makes the lips turn traitor; and the victim is both “contemned and flattered.” God has placed a natural hatred of duplicity in our hearts. It was levelled as a reproach against Euripides that he had put into the mouth of one of his characters the sentiment, “My tongue did swear, my heart remain’d unsworn.” Not so dangerous in many cases, but morally worse, is the deliberate slanderer, who goes about to despoil his neighbours of that which leaves them much poorer, makes him none the richer. He is a fool, because his arts recoil upon himself.
    V. THE PERIL OF THE BABBLING TONGUE; THE PRUDENCE OF RESERVE. (Pro_10:19.) The man may be confronted with his words. The “written letter remains,” and “many witnesses” may serve equally well to convict of the authorship of a malicious speech. It is far more easy for men to forgive abusive things said to their faces than things reported to have been said behind their backs. And even injurious acts can be got over more readily than stinging words of sarcasm. Words have a more definite shape in thought than deeds; they reveal a certain view of you which has some truth in it. You cannot forget it, which means with most you cannot forgive it. A clean-cut sarcasm, a slander which has just that vraisemblance about it which gives currency to gossip, stamps a certain image of the victim in the public mind. The gentler motive to prudence is the hurt we may do others; the motive consistently here is the treatment we may experience ourselves. If a person, on grounds like these, were to take a pledge of total abstinence from “personal talk” of the critical kind, his prudence must be respected. An approach to this is found in well bred society. And how lamentable the condition of some so called religious circles, when there is so little culture that conversation gravitates as if by necessity to the discussion of the character and doings of popular preachers, etc.!
    VI. THE TONGUE AND THE HEART ARE IN IMMEDIATE CONNECTION. (Pro_10:20.) Just as Napoleon said his brain and hand were in immediate connection. The analogy will serve. The “silver tongue” (no accents are silvery but those of truth) bespeaks the fine disposition, the noble heart. And what can the produce of the “worthless” heart be but “rot” upon the tongue?
    VII. GOOD BREEDS GOOD, WHILE EVIL CANNOT KEEP ITSELF ALIVE. (Pro_10:21.) The lips of the just pasture many. Good words, good preachers, good books,—these are the food of the world, and there cannot be an oversupply. Bad books and teachers may be let alone. As Dr. Johnson said of a poem, it had not enough life in it to keep it sweet (or, “not enough vitality to preserve it from corruption”).—J.
    Pro_10:22-25
    Life seekers
    Leasing says of the Old Testament, as an elementary book of childlike wisdom, that “its style is now plain and simple, now poetic, full of tautologies, but such as exercise the penetration of the mind, while they seem now to say something fresh, yet say the same; now seem to say the same, and at bottom signify, or may signify, something different.” The Proverbs are the constant illustration of the Law.
    I. THE BLESSING OF JEHOVAH INDISPENSABLE; ALL TROUBLE VAIN WITHOUT IT. (Verse 22.) We adopt the rendering, “Trouble is of no avail without it.” His blessing is all in all. The thought thus yielded is a beautiful one, identical with that in Psa_127:1-5. Jehovah gives bread to his beloved while they sleep and take no “anxious thought” about it. The thought was familiar to the ancient mind, and has been wrought up in parable and fable. The counterpart is that the blessing of God is not given to the idle; that “God loves to be helped;” that “Heaven helps those who help themselves.” The opposite faults are indolence and over-anxiety.
    II. THE TRUTH AND THE FALSE SOURCE OF CHEERFULNESS. (Verse 23.) The fool makes mirth out of mischief. He takes delight in seeing the image of his restless and mischievous activity everywhere. The man of principle, on the contrary, draws his serene cheerfulness from faith in the Divine law of things—the sense that he is reconciled to it, and that good must ever flow from it.
    III. THE FEARFUL AND THE HOPEFUL TEMPERS TRACED TO THEIR SIGNIFICANCE. (Verse 24.) There is a timidity bred of an evil conscience—a buoyant expectation of the future bred of a good conscience. Both are creative in their effect on the imagination, and thus men dwell with shapes of gloom or radiant forms of fancy. Both are prophetic, and tend to realize themselves. This is a profound truth. For imagination in turn influences the will, and we reap the guilty fears or the pure hopes our habits Bowed.
    IV. THE RESULTS OF TRIAL AND TROUBLE. (Verse 25.) The storm sweeps by and overturns the hollow and untrue; while they who are based on the righteousness of God remain unmoved (comp. Mat_7:24, seqq.). We do not know a man’s principles nor whether he has any, until the time of suffering. Theory is one thing, fact another; it is not the statement of the engineer, but the trial of winter’s floods that must prove the soundness of the bridge. We have to learn the truth of life in theory first; but we do not make it our own until it is put to the test of experience. Experience throws us back upon the truth of the theory, enriches our conception of it, and should enable us to teach it with the greater confidence to others.—J.
    Pro_10:26
    The lazy man a nuisance
    I. HE IRRITATES HIS EMPLOYERS. The images of the teeth set on edge, the blinded, smarting eyes, give the thought with great force and great naivete.
    II. HE IS WORSE THAN USELESS. The Bible shows a great aversion from idleness, sluggishness (Pro_6:6, seqq.; Pro_12:27; Pro_19:24; Pro_22:13).
17. Laziness is a vice and the parent of worse.
18. The swift discharge of duty is acceptable to God and man.—J.
    Pro_10:27-32
    Impression by tautology
    These verses contain mostly iterations of maxims already delivered (on Pro_10:27, see on Pro_3:2; Pro_9:11; on verse 28, see on verse 24; Pro_11:7). That religion is a protector to the man of good conscience, while overthrow awaits the ungodly, again brings out an often expressed thought with emphasis (Pro_10:30; see on Pro_10:25; Pro_3:21). Pro_10:31, Pro_10:32 again contrast the speech of the good and the wicked; the former like a sappy and fruitful tree, the latter destined to oblivion; the former appealing to the sense of beauty and grace, the latter shocking by its deformity.
    I. THERE IS A SAMENESS IN GOD. He does not and cannot change. He is invariable substance, unalterable will and law.
    II. THERE IS A SAMENESS IN NATURE. The heavens above us, with all their worlds, the great mountains and features of the landscape, the daily sights of sunrise and evening, form and colour. Abraham and Solomon looked upon essentially the same world with ourselves.
    III. THERE IS A SAMENESS IN HUMAN NATURE—its passions, strength, and weakness. The same types of character appear and reappear in every age in
    relatively new forms. And it is proverbial that history repeats itself.
    IV. THE ESSENTIAL RELATIONS OF MAN TO GOD MUST BE THE SAME IN EVERY AGE. Hence the teacher’s deliverances must constantly recur to the same great points.
    V. THAT WHICH VARIES IS THE TRIVIAL OR TRANSIENT ELEMENT; THAT WHICH DOES NOT VARY IS THE SUBLIME AND THE ETERNAL.
    VI. EVERY TRUE TEACHER MAY THUS VARY THE FORM OF HIS INSTRUCTION AS MUCH AS HE WILL. Let him see to it that he works in unison with God and nature, experience, the conscience, and leaves a few great impressions firmly fixed in the mind. “Line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little.”—J.
    HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
    Pro_10:1
    Our joy in our children: a sermon to parents
    We may take it for granted, as commonly understood—
    I. THAT THE FOUNDATION DUTY AND INTEREST, with us all, is to be in a right relation, personally, with God. Until we are right with God we must be wrong altogether. Then we must contend—
    II. THAT THE QUESTION OF NEXT VITAL CONSIDERATION is the character of our children, it is conceivable that God might have placed the human world on an entirely different basis than that of the family. But he has rested it on the human home. This is that decision of our Creater which makes the greatest difference to us and to our life. How much it is to those who are parents that they are such! How would their life have been another and a smaller thing without that pure and sacred bond! What deep chasms of experience has it opened! what fountains of feeling has it unsealed! what secrets of life has it unlocked! What heights of joy, what depths of sorrow, has it made possible to the heart!
    III. THAT THERE IS A SONSHIP WHICH GLADDENS, as there is one that grieves, the parental heart. Who is the wise son (of the text)? Not necessarily the learned, or the clever, or the prosperous son. A child may be any or all of these, and yet may be a grief and not a joy, a shame and not an honour, to his parents. It is he who has learnt wisdom of God, who has sat diligently and effectually at the feet of that great Teacher who came to be the Wisdom of God. It is he
    (1) who has found his home and his heritage in a Divine Father;
    (2) Who has secured an unfailing Friend in a Divine Redeemer;
    (3) who has stored his mind with eternal truth and filled his soul with everlasting principles;
    (4) who is building up his Character by the teaching, and regulating his life by the will, of Jesus Christ, This is the son of whom the father will never be ashamed, who will not use the language which it would pain him to hear, nor choose the friends he would be unwilling to acknowledge, nor be guilty of the conduct it would wound him to witness. This is the son on whose character and on whose life, in all its phases and developments, he looks with profoundest gratitude and unspeakable delight.
    IV. THAT THE CHARACTER OF OUR CHILDREN depends mainly on ourselves. They will:
19. Believe what we teach them.
20. Follow the example we set them.
21. Catch the spirit we manifest in their presence.—C.
    Pro_10:2-6
    Four conditions of well being
    That we may enjoy a prosperity which is truly human, we must do well and be well in three directions—in our circumstances, in our mind (our intellectual powers), and in our character. And that which tends to build up on the one hand, or to destroy on the other hand, will be found to affect us in these three spheres. The conditions of well being as suggested by the passage are—
    I. RECTITUDE. (Pro_10:2, Pro_10:3.) Righteousness before God is essential to all prosperity:
22. Because, if we deliberately choose the path of iniquity, we shall have to work against the arm of Omnipotence. “He casteth away the substance of the wicked” (Pro_10:3).
23. Because, on the contrary, if we walk in moral and spiritual integrity, we may count on the direction and even the interposition of the Divine hand. “The Lord will not suffer,” etc. (Pro_10:3).
24. Because righteousness means virtue and prudence; it means those qualities which work for health and for security, which “relieve from death” (Pro_10:2).
25. Because the gains of ungodliness are never satisfactory; “they profit nothing.”
    (1) They are unattended by the joy of gratitude, and they are (often) accompanied by the miseries of self-reproach;
    (2) they are spoilt by the condemnation of the good and the holy;
    (3) they are apt to be dispersed far more freely than they are acquired;
    (4) they cannot and they do not satisfy the soul, though they may continue to fill the treasury,—they leave the heart empty, aching and hungering for a good which is beyond, for a blessing which is from above.
    II. DILIGENCE. (Pro_10:4.)
26. The inattentive and sluggish worker is constantly descending; he is on an incline, and is going downwards. All things connected with his vocation, or with his own mind, or with his moral and spiritual condition, are gradually but seriously suffering; decline, decay, disease, have set in and will spread from day to day, from year to year.
27. The earnest and energetic worker is continually ascending; he is moving upwards; his hand is “making rich”—it may be in material wealth, or (what is better) in useful and elevating knowledge, or (what is best) in the acquisitions of spiritual culture, in the virtues and graces of Christian character.
    III. WAKEFULNESS. (Pro_10:5.) This is a very important qualification; we must be ready to avail ourselves of the hour of opportunity. To gather when the corn is ripe is necessary if the toil of the husbandman is to bear its fruit; to let the crop alone when it is ready for the sickle is to waste the labour of many weeks. Readiness to reap is of as much consequence as willingness to work. The wakeful eye must be on every field of human activity, or energy and patience will be thrown away. We must covet and must cultivate mental alertness, spiritual promptitude, readiness to strike when the hour has come, or we shall miss much of “the fruit of our labour.” It is the general who knows when to give the word to “charge” that wins the battle.
    IV. PEACEABLENESS. (Pro_10:6.) The consequences of violence shut the mouth of the wicked. He that “seeks peace and ensues it will see good days (1Pe_3:10, 1Pe_3:11).—C.
    Pro_10:7
    The memory of the just.
    It is a fact that the name of the good man is fragrant, and that long after his departure there lingers in the memories and hearts of men a sense of loss, a feeling
    “Which is but akin to pain
    And resembles sorrow only
    As the mist resembles the rain;”
    a feeling of tender regret not unmingled with sacred joy and reverent gratitude, This fact is—
    I. A STRENGTH TO THE JUST MAN WHILE HE LIVES. “What has posterity done for us?” asks the cynic. “The idea of posterity has done great things for us,” replies the moralist. That idea and the hope to which it gives birth have done much to fortify virtue, to establish character, to enlarge and ennoble the good man’s life. That thought has been fruitful of earnest work, and has helped men to gird themselves for heroic suffering. Good men have been better, noble lives have been nobler, because we care to be tenderly remembered and kindly spoken of when we are no longer among the living.
    II. A COMFORT TO THOSE WHO MOURN HIM.
28. It is true that the more admirable and loving a man is, the greater is our loss when he is taken from us.
29. But it is also true that they are blessed who lose the worthiest and the best.
30. For the sorrow we feel at such loss is a very sacred thing; it comes from God himself; it can be borne with simple and pure resignation; it is unembittered with the most painful regrets; it works for the renewal and purification of our spirit and character.
31. And it is attended with a very precious mitigation; we have a pure and holy joy in the recollection of what the departed one was, what he did, how he laboured and triumphed, how many hearts he comforted, how many lives he brightened, what he was to ourselves. And these remembrances bring sunshine over the shadowed fields; they sweeten the bitter cup; they give “the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.”
    III. AN INSPIRATION TO ALL WHO KNEW HIM. For the completion of a true and godly life is an inspiration.
32. It is another proof that goodness can triumph over every obstacle and persevere to the end.
33. It is an unspoken, but not inaudible summons, saying, “Follow me.”
34. It is a thing of beauty as well as worth; and it attracts all who have an eye to see as well as a heart to feel.
    (1) Resolve that, whatever else you leave (or fail to leave) behind, you will bequeath the memory of a just man; that is the best legacy to leave.
    (2) Be drawn, as by a Powerful fascination, toward the character and the destiny of the good and wise who have gone before you.—C.
    Pro_10:8, Pro_10:10, Pro_10:11, Pro_10:14, Pro_10:18-21, Pro_10:31, Pro_10:32
    The service of speech, etc
    “Man is a talking animal,” we say. But if we are distinguished from the brute creation by the mere fact of speech, how truly are we divided from one another by the use we make of that human faculty! To what height of worthiness one man may rise, and what inestimable service he may render, but to what depth of wrong another man may fall, and what mischief he may work, by the use of his tongue!
    I. THE SERVICE OF SPEECH. “By our words” we may do great things, as our Master has told us, and as his apostle reminds us (see Mat_12:37; Jas_3:9).
35. We may give deep and pure gratification (Pro_10:32; and see Ecc_12:10). We may speak (or read) words which shall be
    (1) charming, soothing, comforting, encouraging, even inspiring, in the ear of man; and also
    (2) pleasing and satisfying to our Divine Master.
36. We may follow in the footsteps of the Divine. For “the mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom” (Pro_10:31). We may utter in the ears, and may thus convey to the minds and hearts of men, the truths which are nothing less than the wisdom of God. Thus we may be speaking to others the very thoughts and making known the will of God. We ourselves may be, on our scale and in our sphere, like the Lord whom we serve and follow, “the Wisdom of God” (
    1Co_1:24, 80).
37. We may enrich the life of our fellow men. “The tongue of the just is as choice silver” (Pro_10:20). And surely fine thoughts, brilliant images, sound principles, sustaining truths, elevating conceptions of God, charitable ideas of men,—these are more enlarging and enriching than many pounds of silver or many piles of gold.
38. We may nourish the soul. “The lips of the righteous feed many” (Pro_10:21). Their words are spiritual bread which “strengtheneth man’s heart,” and makes him able to watch, to work, to battle, to endure. They are the wine which gives new life when he is ready to perish (Pro_31:6), which restores him in the languor of doubt and difficulty, and fills his soul with hopefulness and energy.
39. We may thus contribute to the true and real life of men. Our mouth will be “a fountain of life” (Pro_10:11, Revised Version). Whithersoever the river of Divine wisdom, of Christian truth, runneth, there will be that spiritual upspringing which is the true life of man.
    II. THE MISCHIEF OF ITS ABUSE. The abuse of the power of speech, the talking which is idle and vain, is a great and sore evil.
40. It brings the speaker into contempt; he is thought and spoken of as “a prating fool” (Pro_10:8, Pro_10:10), and he comes under the contempt of the wise.
41. It involves men in sin. “In the multitude of words,” etc. (Pro_10:19). The man that is ever speaking with little forethought is sure to violate truth and righteousness before many hours have passed.
42. It works mischief of many kinds (Pro_10:14 and Pro_10:18). It is sure to end in slander, in the robbery of reputation. The mouth of the foolish is “a present destruction” (Revised Version). The habit of bad speech, especially if it be that of falsehood, or lewdness, or profanity, is a “present destruction,”
    (1) in that it constitutes a real calamity; for in the sight of God there can be few things worse than such a pitiful abuse of the powers he has entrusted to us. It is also a “present destruction,”
    (2) in that it leads with a fatal swiftness to the deterioration and corruption of those in whose hearing it is uttered.—C.
    Pro_10:9
    (See homily on Pro_11:3.)—C.
    Pro_10:12
    The conquest of love
    “Love covereth all sins.” It does this in that—
    I. IT CARRIES THE WEIGHT OF MANY SHORTCOMINGS.
43. On the one band, many proprieties will not atone for the absence of love. We are wholly unsatisfied if one who sustains to us a very near relationship (husband, wife, son, daughter, etc.) is scrupulously correct in behaviour if love be wanting from the heart. Nothing can compensate for that. The kindness that is not prompted by affection is of a very poor order, and it does not satisfy the soul.
44. On the other hand, the presence of pure and strong affection makes many things tolerable which in themselves are hard to bear. Not that any one has a right to excuse himself for transgressions of law, of whatever kind they may be, on the ground of his tenderness of heart. It is a complete and dangerous misreading of our Lord’s word (Luk_7:47) to suppose that he meant that sins are forgiven because of the presence of much love; it is the presence of much love that is the proof, not the ground, of forgiveness (see homily in loc.). But it is a patent and common fact of human life that we can not only bear with one another, but can love and honour one another when love dwells in the heart and shines in the countenance and breathes and burns in the words and actions, even though there may be much faultiness and many infirmities that have to be forgiven.
    II. IT IS PREPARED WITH GENEROUS INTERPRETATIONS of much misbehaviour. Where a hard, cast-iron severity sees nothing but transgression, love sees much extenuation or even complete excuse; or it goes beyond that, and sees, or believes that it sees, a worthy and not an unworthy motive. It magnifies or invents a reason which puts conduct in another light, and makes it appear pardonable, if not creditable. It has quite a different account to give of the transaction; it is that which only generous love could see and could supply.
    III. IT HAS A LARGE FORGIVENESS FOR EVEN GREAT OFFENCES. The Divine love “abundantly pardons.” It blots out the worst misdeeds and pardons the negligence and impiety of whole periods of a sinful life. The human love that is likest to the Divine can overlook very dark misdoings, and take back to its embrace those who have gone away and astray into a very “far country” of sin.
    IV. IT REDEEMS AND RESTORES. When law does not avail, love will succeed in winning the erring to wiser and better ways. It can lay its hand upon the sinner with a touch that will tell and will triumph. It has a power to break the obduracy of guilt for which violence is utterly inadequate. It alone can lead the rebellious spirit into the gate of penitence and faith, and make its future life a life of obedience and wisdom. Thus in the best way, winning the noblest of all victories, it “covers sin” by conquering it, by leading the heart to the love of righteousness and the practice of purity. Where the rough winds of penalty will fail, the soft, sweet sunshine of love will succeed most excellently.—C.
    Pro_10:19
    (See homily on Pro_29:11.)—C.
    Pro_10:22
    Divine enrichment
    There is no inconsistency in the teaching of the text with that of Pro_10:4. For God blesses us by means of our own efforts and energy; indeed, we are more truly and fully enriched of God when his blessing comes to us as the consequence of our faith and labour.
    I. THE OBJECTS AT WHICH WE AIM. Those without which we are apt to consider ourselves poor. They are these:
45. Material substance, or (as we commonly put it to ourselves) money.
46. Honour. A good measure of regard, duly and clearly paid by our fellows.
47. Power. The holding of a position in which we are able to decide and to direct.
48. Learning, or unusual sagacity; that intellectual superiority which enables us to lead or to command.
    II. THE CONDITION UNDER WHICH THESE MAY BE REGARDED AS THE BLESSING OF GOD. This is when we can truly say that there is “no sorrow,” i.e. no real cause for regret that we have come to possess and to enjoy them. But when is this?
49. When they have been acquired without any mason for self-reproach—justly, purely, honourably.
50. When we have not lost as much as we have gained by their acquisition. We may lose so much in time, or in health and energy, or in wise and elevating friendship, or in the opportunity for worship and service, that the balance in the sight of heavenly wisdom may be against us.
51. When they do not become a heavy burden which we can ill bear. This they often do become. Frequently wealth becomes more of a burden than a blessing to its possessor. He would be a much lighter-hearted and less care-encumbered man if he had not so much substance to dispose of and to preserve. And so of power and influence.
52. When they do not become a snare to us, leading us into pride, or into a selfish separateness and unneighbourliness, or into a guilty self-indulgence, or into “an unenlightened and unchristian disdain of the common people,” or into an overweening and fatal miscalculation of our own power and importance, or into a deadening and suicidal worldliness. These great evils may not mean present “sorrow,’ as we ordinarily understand that term. But they are such evils as our Divine Father sees with Divine regret; they are such as our heavenly Friend would fain deliver us from; and when riches of any kind end in them, they cannot be said to be the result of his blessing. Moreover, they all lead on and down, sooner or later, to grievous ends,; those who yield to them are on their way to “pierce themselves through with many sorrows” (1Ti_6:10). Hence—
    III. THE PROFOUND WISDOM OF MODERATION in all human and earthly ambitions. Who shall say how much of riches he can stand? Who can tell where that point is to be found, on the other side of which is spiritual peril and ultimate “sorrow” of the worst kind? “Give me neither poverty nor riches” is the wish and the prayer of the wise and reverent.—C.

Proverbs 10:5
Summer is the right season for gathering in the harvest. To say, then, that it is wise to gather in summer is only saying, in other words, that a wise man will make the most of his opportunities, and will gather whatever he has to gather at the best and fittest season.
I. Is not this a practical lesson for children, as soon as they begin to learn? Their summer is the time they spend at school. That time is just as much the season for them to learn in, as the month of August is the season for their fathers to reap in.
II. Is not this a practical lesson for those who are in the prime and strength of life? These are in the summer of their days, so far as practice is concerned. The seeds of the good principles which were sown in them during their childhood should now be springing up in them, and ripening and bearing fruit. Do not sleep in this your spiritual harvest of duty to God and man. If you are far gone in manhood, and have slept hitherto, call to mind St. Paul’s words, that now it is high time for you to awake out of that sleep. If you are just entering into manhood, beware of falling asleep. If it would be madness to put off the harvest of the bread that perishes, how much worse than madness must it he to put off the harvest of holiness and obedience!
A. W. Hare, The Alton Sermons, p. 269.
Reference: Pro_10:6-12.—R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. i., p. 230.

Proverbs 10:7
I. Who are meant by the “just” to whom blessedness is here attributed? By the just alluded to here are meant those who, having felt the power of God in that call which God makes to men to be His servants, have obeyed that call, and have given themselves to the service of the Most High. God calls everyone to do some work for Him, and He expects everyone to do that work “justly.” (1) The justice of the just will consist, first, of that which lies at the very basis of all true religion, namely, prayer. It is utterly impossible for the inner life of the true Christian to be supported without prayer. You do not expect a man to battle against a mighty current without stretching forth his hands to swim; even so, a man cannot live in the tossing sea of doubt and difficulty without stretching forth his hands, in the spirit of grace and of supplication, to implore assistance through the name and on account of the merits of Jesus Christ alone. (2) Again, the justice of the just consists in a constant endeavour to cultivate such a spirit of faith as shall promote an abiding sense of God’s presence and of Christ’s love. There can be no godliness where God is not in all the thoughts. There can be no true Christianity save where the heart is so dependent upon Christ that all hope is based on His Atonement, all joy looked for through His Cross. (3) Again, the justice alluded to in the text may be said to imply a constant endeavour to further the true interests of the Church of God. Everyone who has become a member of Christ’s body must take heed to, and respect, that body of which he is a member.
II. What does the text say of the just man? It says that his memory is blessed. His memory is sweet and precious. His name is ever spoken of with honour and commendation. “Men to whom he has been useful, either in things spiritual or in things temporal, bless him whilst he is alive, and after death they pronounce him to be blessed.” “The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance.”
E. Cheese, Oxford and Cambridge Undergraduates’ Journal, May 12th, 1881

I. “The memory of the just is blessed”—self-evidently so, for the mind blesses it, reverts to it with complacency, mingled with solemnity, returns to it with delight from the sight of the living evil in the world, sometimes even prefers this silent society to the living good.
II. Their memory is blessed when we consider them as practical illustrations, verifying examples of the excellence of genuine religion, and that it is a noble thing in human nature, and makes, and alone makes, that nature noble.
III. Their memory is blessed while we regard them as diminishing to our view the repulsiveness and horror of death. Our Lord’s dying was the fact that threw out the mightiest agency to this effect. But, in their measure, His faithful disciples have done the same.
IV. Their memory is blessed as combined with the whole progress of the cause of God on earth, with its living agency through every stage. Think what they have been employed and empowered to do in the propagation of truth, in the incessant warfare against all manner of evil, in the exemplification of all the virtues by which he could be honoured.
V. Is it not a reasonable object of Christian desire to leave a memory that shall be “blessed”? Not a passion for vainglory, not that so-extolled aspiring to endless fame. But a desire that the remembrance which will remain in the minds of those who are to survive or follow should not be one causing pain, disappointment, or shame. A wish to be, in remembrance, numbered with the faithful and zealous servants of God and Christ.
J. Foster, Lectures, 2nd series, p. 220.
References: Pro_10:7.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 236; D. Burns, Christian World Pulpit, vol. vi., p. 328. Pro_10:8.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 238. Pro_10:9.—Ibid., p. 240; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. v., p. 16. Pro_10:11.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 242. Pro_10:12.—W. R. Nicoll, Calls to Christ, p. 41. Pro_10:13-18.—R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. i., p. 241. Pro_10:14.—Ibid., p. 245. Pro_10:15.—Ibid., p. 247. Pro_10:18-21.—Ibid., p. 255. Pro_10:19-32.—Ibid., p. 254.

Proverbs 10:22
Look at two facts in connection with the Divine blessing exhibited here:—
I. It enriches. (1) Sometimes the blessing of the Lord is material and temporal wealth, as in the case of Abram. (2) More frequently it is not wealth, but food convenient for us.
(3) Godly contentment in poverty is another form of the blessing of the Lord. (4) This blessing turns every possession into wealth. (5) There are some things wrapped up in the blessing of the Lord which are of priceless value. He who has the blessing of salvation is rich indeed.
II. It has no drawbacks. (1) There is no remorse as to the means of acquisition, when the good things you possess you have received as a blessing from the Lord. (2) To acquire good things is to prevent all misgiving as to the right of possession. (3) In this state there is no misgiving as to the power of keeping what we have; and further, there is no alloy in the use of enjoyment.
S. Martin, Westminster Chapel Pulpit, 2nd series, No. 1

The truth here is twofold. It means that God’s blessing gives material wealth; and also, that they are rich who have that blessing, although they get nothing more.
I. The silver and the gold are His, and He gives them to whomsoever He will. He who rules in the highest, reaches down to the minutest concerns of this world, and controls them all.
II. His blessing makes rich. “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” Here is a mixture prescribed by the All-wise, for satisfying a soul, and attaining success in life. “He addeth no sorrow with it.” The word seems to imply that there are two ways of acquiring wealth. Some people grow rich without God’s blessing, and some people grow rich by it. It would appear that the god of the world gives riches to his subjects sometimes, when neither giver nor getter owns the supremacy of the Almighty, and that God Himself gives riches to some who are His children. Wherein lies the difference, since both the godless and the godly have gotten wealth? It lies here: He addeth no sorrow with it, but that other lord does.
W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 259.
References: Pro_10:22.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. i., p. 62. Pro_10:23 (with Pro_14:9).—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 264. Pro_10:24.—Ibid., p. 268. Pro_10:25.—Ibid., p. 273. Pro_10:26.—Ibid., p. 274.

Proverbs 10:29
The words “shall be” in the last clause are a supplement. They are quite unnecessary, and in fact they rather hinder the sense. They destroy the completeness of the antithesis between the two halves of the verse. If you leave them out, and suppose that the “way of the Lord” is what is spoken of in both clauses, you get a far deeper and fuller meaning. It is the same way which is strength to one man and ruin to another, and the moral nature of the man determines which it shall be to him.
I. The “way of the Lord” means here, not the road in which God prescribes that we should walk, but the road in which He Himself walks; or in other words, the sum of the Divine action, the solemn footsteps of God through creation, providence, and history. The same way, the same set of facts, the same continuous stream of tendency, which is all with and for every form of good, is all against every form of evil. God’s way has a bright side and a dark. You may take which you like. The way of the Lord must touch your way. You cannot alter that necessity. Your path must either run parallel in the same direction with His, and then all His power will be an impulse to bear you onward; or it must run in the opposite direction, and then all His power will be for your ruin, and the collision with it will crush you as a ship is crushed like an eggshell when it strikes an iceberg. You can choose which of these shall befall you.
II. Look at the application or illustration of the principles that are here. (1) The order of the universe, is such that righteousness is life and sin is death. (2) In our physical life, as a rule, virtue makes strength, sin brings punishment. (3) In higher regions, on the whole, goodness makes blessedness, and evil brings ruin. All the powers of God’s universe and all the tenderness of God’s heart, are on the side of the man that does right. (4) This same fact of the twofold aspect and operation of the one way of the Lord will be made yet more evident in the future. I can conceive it possible that the one manifestation of God in a future life may be in substance the same, and yet that it may produce opposite effects upon oppositely disposed souls. (5) The self-revelation of God has this double aspect: every truth concerning Him may be either a joy or a terror to men. As the very crown of the ways of God, the work of Christ and the record of it in the Gospel have most eminently this double aspect. That which is meant to be the savour of life unto life must either be that or the savour of death unto death.
A. Maclaren, A Year’s Ministry, 2nd series, p. 279.

Proverbs 10:1
Mother. A virtuous child cannot be indifferent to the joy of his parents.

Proverbs 10:2
Wickedness. Riches ill acquired, or tending to corrupt the heart, Luk_16:9

Proverbs 10:3
Famine. Psalm 36:25 The prophets and Lazarus rejoice in suffering. [Luk_16:20]

Proverbs 10:4
Poverty. Even of those who had plenty. This is true in a spiritual sense likewise. (Calmet) — The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence. (Haydock) — Otiositas mater nugarum, noverca virtutum. (St. Bernard, consid. ii.) — He, &c. This is not in Hebrew, Greek, St. Jerome, or in several Latin copies. (Calmet) — We find it in the Septuagint, chap. 9:13 — Away. He derives no benefits from lies. (Menochius)

Proverbs 10:5
He. Septuagint, “a son well educated shall be wise, and shall have the unwise for his servant. An intelligent son has been saved from the heat. But the wicked son is destroyed by the wind in time of harvest.” (Haydock) — A good part of this is not in the original; yet it is received by the Greeks.

Proverbs 10:6
Wicked. Or, as the Hebrew seems to indicate, “the wicked covereth iniquity, by an hypocritical exterior,” (Calmet) or, “the injury” (Mont.[Montanus?]) done to another, (chamas.; Haydock) “unseasonable, or infinite mourning,” Greek: penthos auron. (Septuagint)

Proverbs 10:7
Rot. Hebrew, “stink.” His reputation shall be lost, Gen_34:20 (Calmet)

Proverbs 10:8
Lips. He will not bear correction. (Menochius) — But suffers the punishment of his own unguarded speeches; or rather the man who hath foolish lips, shall be beaten, ver. 13. (Calmet)

Proverbs 10:9
Sincerely. Or Simply, Hebrew, “in uprightness,” (Haydock) or innocence. (Menochius) — Manifest. The hypocrite shall be at last detected.

Proverbs 10:10
Sorrow. Septuagint add, “to men as well as to himself.” (Calmet) — “But he who chides boldly shall make peace,” (Haydock) or “work safety,” as the Syriac and Arabic also read, instead of Hebrew, “a prating fool shall fall.” “When a man connives at his friend’s failings,…the offender is encouraged to sin on, and to heap up matter for very sorrowful reflections; but the man, who with an honest freedom, prudently reproves him, most effectually contrives his honour and safety.” The consequences of a virtuous and a vicious friendship, seem to be also expressed in the next verse. Thus the latter hemistic generally illustrates the first. But here, part of ver. 8. may be improperly inserted. The two parts of the verses in Proverbs, &c., being arranged in distinct columns, has occasioned sometimes a part, and sometimes a whole verse, to be omitted, as the transcriber might mistake the line. (Kennicott)

Proverbs 10:11
Life. Or a never-failing spring, fons perennis, as we should speak in Latin, chap. 13:14, and Rev_7:17

Proverbs 10:12
Sins. Septuagint, “all who contend.” Charity pardons all, 1Pe_4:8

Proverbs 10:13
Sense. Literally, “a heart.” But the Hebrews use this expression in a different sense from what we do, and thus designate a fool, Hos_7:11

Proverbs 10:14
Confusion. He speaks inconsiderately, and involves himself in continual dangers, while the wise are cautious in their speech.

Proverbs 10:15
Poverty. Diffidence hinders the advancement of the poor, as presumption is too common among the rich. A happy mediocrity is best, ver. 16.

Proverbs 10:16
Life. In abundance he is not puffed up; but the wicked make use of their fruit or revenue to do evil. Their works are bad, unless they turn to God by at least an initial love of justice.

Proverbs 10:18
Title. Solomon. This title is not found in Sixtus V or Septuagint. Hitherto the preface extends, shewing the advantages of wisdom. (Calmet) — The subsequent chapters more properly contain the parables, and are written with great elegance, so as to oppose vice to virtue. See Bain.; St. Jerome, &c. (Worthington)
Foolish. We must neither dissemble our resentment, through hypocrisy, nor manifest it without reason. (Calmet)

Proverbs 10:19
Sin. A prolix discourse on subjects of importance is not reprehended. (St. Augustine, Retrac. 1.) — But it is very difficult to speak much, without going against some virtue. (Calmet)

Proverbs 10:21
Understanding. Literally, “hear.” (Haydock) (Ver. 13.)

Proverbs 10:23
Man. He is enabled to see the evil of sin, and to avoid it, Job_15:16

Proverbs 10:26
Him. He spoils all their projects, (Calmet) and becomes a nuisance.

Proverbs 10:29
Evil. conscience upbraids them, and punishment is before their eyes. (Haydock) Magna vis est conscientiæ. (Cicero, pro Mil.)

Proverbs 10:30
Earth. This the Jews frequently experienced. The more enlightened understood, that such promises regarded also eternity. (Calmet)

Proverbs 10:1
(1762) This is referencing YHWH’s judicial order, for a son who respects his father will listen to his mother while the father is away working on a daily basis. However, the son who has no respect for his father will have less respect for his mother while the father is away and will be most uncorrectable and impossible for a mother to handle.

Proverbs 10:3
(1763) Pro_13:25, Pro_28:25

Proverbs 10:4
Pro_6:6-8

Proverbs 10:5
Pro_24:30-34

Proverbs 10:12
Pro_17:9, 1Co_13:4-7, 1Pe_4:8

Proverbs 10:13
Pro_26:3; Pro_19:29; Pro_10:31

Proverbs 10:15
Pro_18:11, Pro_19:7

Proverbs 10:17
Pro_6:23; Pro_15:5; Pro_5:12

Proverbs 10:18
Psa_31:18, Pro_26:24

Proverbs 10:19
(1764) The wise are commanded to be quick to hear and slow to speak (Jas_1:19). Due to the evil nature of man, those who continually are talkers, usually will be saying negative things and gossiping, Mat_12:33-37, Ecc_5:2, Pro_18:21

Proverbs 10:26
(1765) As bitterness and pain is from vinegar and smoke so is the result of a lazy man that is sent with no good results.

Proverbs 10:27
Pro_3:2; Pro_9:11, Deu_11:9

Proverbs 10:30
Psa_37:9; Psa_37:28, Pro_2:21-22

Proverbs 10:1

Introduction

From Proverbs 10:1 there is a striking change in the form in which Solomon passes on his proverbs. This changed form continues until Proverbs 22:16. In it we do not find the powerful instructions to seek wisdom and no long speeches with clear situations and persons or personifications. Instead, we find, corresponding to the name of the book, Proverbs, a collection of short, concise proverbs or sayings. There are about three hundred and seventy-five of them.

The first part of the book, Proverbs 1-9, deals with two persons: woman Wisdom and woman Folly. In this second section, Proverbs 10:1-22:16, it deals with two kinds of persons, each kind of whom follows one of the women mentioned. One kind is wise, righteous, good, etcetera; the other kind is foolish, wicked, evil, etcetera.

The form of the proverbs in this second volume, with a few exceptions, consists of two lines of verse, with the second line elaborating the thought of the first line. This mode of writing is called “parallelism. The lines run parallel.

We will encounter three main types of parallelism. It is worth paying attention to them:

1. There are parallels that correspond to each other, also called synonymous parallelism. In this case, the second line of verse repeats in different words a similar thought as in the first line of verse. They are two parts that reflect one thought. An example is:
   Pride [goes] before destruction,
   And a haughty spirit before stumbling (Pro_16:18 ).
2. There are also parallels that are opposite, forming a contrast, also called antithetical parallelism. In this case, the second line of verse says the opposite of what the first line of verse says. This is often expressed by the word “but” at the beginning of the second line of verse. An example is:
   A wise son makes a father glad,
   But a foolish son is a grief to his mother (Pro_10:1 ).
3. Another form of parallelism is the complementary form, also called synthetic parallelism. In this, the second line of verse complements the first. The thought of the first line of verse is developed further in the second line of verse. This is often expressed by the word “and” at the beginning of the second line of verse. An example is:
   In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence,
   And his children will have refuge (Pro_14:26 ).

The use of these different kinds of ‘parallelism’ will make us feel the power of the individual proverbs all the more. Incidentally, we also find this use of parallelism in Psalms and in Ecclesiastes.

The proverbs in this second section are mostly about the consequences of right or wrong actions. In the letter to the Galatians, Paul puts it this way: “For whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption; but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life” (Gal_6:7-8 ). The proverbs that follow now assist and encourage in making the right choice, or in other words, the sowing to the Spirit.

There is no such thing as a predestination to make a choice, as if it were inevitable to make that choice. That would exclude personal responsibility. This book makes it clear that each one is responsible for the choice he makes and therefore for the consequences of that choice. That is what makes this book so important.

There is no clear order to be noted in this section of the book, although there are instances when two or more consecutive proverbs are connected. In that case, this is evidenced by a theme or word mentioned in the successive verses. That in most cases there is no connection between verses forces the reader to engage deeply with the meaning of one particular verse, that is, one particular saying, before moving on to the next.

That the context is lacking, at least to our eye, is also consistent with the course of daily life, in which not everything always follows a certain pattern, a fixed order, either. Although we have a certain pattern of expectations based on experience, life is still also full of surprises. When we are with the Lord, it may turn out that all sorts of events between which we see no connection have nevertheless been connected, but this has eluded us.

Precisely because of its apparent incoherence, this book invites us to read it daily. The purpose is not so much to read a chapter every day. This is certainly not wrong, for by doing so we become increasingly familiar with the content in a general sense. What it is about is that we read a verse or a few verses and reflect on them. Who knows, we may encounter a situation to which what we have read and pondered applies.

Thus, the proverbs in this section of the book constantly reinvigorate us by each time presenting us with a different truth or the same truth from a different perspective. God’s Spirit has given Solomon these ‘single’ proverbs, in which at first glance no particular order can be detected, to us for a purpose. He knows what we need on a particular day or in a particular situation. He can remind us of a particular proverb for that purpose or have us read it at that moment.

A Wise Son and a Foolish Son

This second part of Proverbs (Proverbs 10:1-22:16) has the same heading as the first part, “the Proverbs of Solomon” (Pro_10:1 ; cf. Pro_1:1 ). It confirms that the book continues here, although the form is different from the first part. The second line of Pro_10:1 , containing the first proverb, underscores that. The first proverb is about a son in his relationship with his father and mother. This indicates that, as in the first part, the atmosphere in which the teaching is given is that of the family (Pro_1:8 ). It emphasizes the importance of an upbringing in the fear of God.

All subsequent proverbs are for the purpose of helping the son act like a wise son and keeping him from acting as a foolish son. He who acts as a wise son shows himself to be a son of wisdom. The result is joy with his father, who has raised him in wisdom, as the previous chapters have shown. This includes the warning not to behave as a foolish son, which leads to grief for his mother. Esau is a foolish son. He has caused his parents grief by his marriage to Hittite women (Gen_26:34-35 Gen_27:46 ).

Father and mother both have their own indispensable role in parenting. The father, through his powerful love, provides safety and security. The mother, through her warm, sensitive love, makes the child feel wanted and accepted.

The child can be a son or a daughter. That a “son” is always mentioned is because it is about the ‘masculine’ aspect of life as a believer, that is, the practice of a relationship. The ‘feminine’ aspect of the believer represents more the relationship itself, the relationship in which the believer is placed.

A wise son is not wise simply because he has a lot of knowledge and has also gained the necessary experience. Wisdom is not “knowledge plus experience”, but knowledge of Christ as the wisdom of God. The beginning of wisdom is fearing the Lord. It is impossible to become wise if He is not the center of our heart and life. Wisdom is “Christ-centered”.

We see in the first proverb what the consequence is if the teaching of and about wisdom is listened to and what the consequence is if it is not listened to. He who listens to it is “a wise son”. He is a constant source of joy for his father. He who does not listen to it is “a foolish son”. He is a constant cause of intense grief for his mother. It will be clear that the mother is constantly rejoicing with the father over a wise son and the father is constantly grieving with the mother over a foolish son.

We see that the effects of wisdom or foolishness in the son affect others. These are first and foremost both the parents who have shown him wisdom and folly (cf. Pro_17:21 Pro_17:25 Pro_23:24-25 ). But others who live with God will also be glad or grieved when they look at young people and perceive wisdom or folly (cf. 2Jn_1:4 ).

Proverbs 10:2-3

Righteousness Is Life

The next saying is about life and death (Pro_10:2 ). The wicked one lives for the here and now and tries to get as many treasures as possible in this life. He does so in his own wicked way. All those treasures are “ill-gotten gains”, literally “treasures of wickedness”, treasures characterized by wickedness. This may be because of the wicked way they were obtained or because of the way they are dealt with. With these treasures marked by wickedness, he thinks he can live a pleasant life.

But these treasures do not benefit him when he dies. In the words of a well-known proverb: Ill-gotten gains never benefit anyone. What benefit did Ahab derive from appropriating the vineyard of Naboth (1Kg_21:4-24 1Kg_22:39 )? What benefit did the thirty pieces of silver give Judas for surrendering the Lord Jesus (Mat_27:5 )? Both perished in their sins.

Only “righteousness delivers from death”. In the government of God, doing righteousness will not bring us into death, but will preserve us from it. We do righteousness if we give each one what he is entitled to, both God and a human being. This can only be fulfilled by one who possesses the righteousness of God in Christ. Such a person possesses a treasure of inestimable value. That treasure is separate from all earthly treasures. One who possesses that treasure can face death without fear, for death has been robbed of its terror for him. Christ has conquered death.

Righteousness is of far greater value than earthly prosperity especially if it has also been obtained dishonestly. Thereby prosperity can only be enjoyed for a limited time, at its longest during the short stay on earth, while righteousness passes through death to be enjoyed even afterward.

The LORD sees to it that a righteous person lacks nothing (Pro_10:3 ). The Lord Jesus points His disciples to the birds of heaven for which He cares. Then He says that His own are far beyond those birds (Mat_6:25-26 ). Those who live in fellowship with Him receive from Him what they need. Even if he has want, yet his soul will not hunger, because in his soul he has fellowship with God. Habakkuk can therefore sing even though he has lack of everything (
Hab_3:17-19 ).

Wicked people get nothing from God. Nor have they ever asked anything of Him, but steal their possessions from others and above all from God. Their craving He rejects. A wicked person is never satisfied; he never says he has enough, but always wants more. His cravings are also evil cravings, cravings that he wants to satisfy at the expense of others. Sometimes he succeeds, but God will take it all away from him. He will have to live forever with unfulfilled cravings. It is one of the torments of hell that the wicked will never get what they desire because they never desired God when He offered them Christ.

Proverbs 10:4-5

To Work Diligently in Summer

These verses connect to the previous verse. That God provides (Pro_10:3 ) does not mean that man should not work to earn his bread (Pro_10:4 ). Here laziness and poverty are linked on the one hand, and diligence and wealth on the other. Laziness causes poverty, and diligence results in wealth. A “negligent hand” is a slack, lazy hand, a hand that seems to perform something, but in reality does nothing. It is a hand that deceives, that disappoints, because nothing is done with it. He who is lazy will become poor. Diligence, or zeal, is a condition for becoming rich. Paul warns against laziness (2Th_3:7-12 ). Ruth is an example of one who is diligent (Rut_2:2 Rut_2:19 ).

Diligence includes seeing and making use of the time to work. It is not to work only when we are in the mood for it. Work should be done when the opportunity is there, or, as the Lord Jesus says of Himself, that He works “as long as it is day” (Joh_9:4 ). A son of wisdom will gather “in summer” (Pro_10:5 ; Pro_6:6-8 Pro_30:25 ). By this he proves that he is “a son who acts wisely”. Harvest is the right time to do the right thing. Joseph acted as a wise son by gathering that abundance in a time of plenty and saving it for the ‘meager’ years (Gen_41:46-56 ).

When we take full advantage of the suitable occasion, making the most of our time (Eph_5:15-16 ), we are as “a son who acts wisely”. This has everything to do with learning the will of God, which He makes known to those who want to be obedient. Young people show that they are sons who act wisely when they are diligent in studying the Word of God. They then heed the exhortation given by Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes: “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come” (Ecc_12:1 ).

Opposed to a wise son is the son who “sleeps in harvest”. While everyone is hard at work bringing in the harvest, this son lies in bed fast asleep. Thus he lets the time of gathering pass and will have nothing when he wakes up. The Lord Jesus says: “The fields are white for harvest” (Joh_4:35 ). But He unfortunately also has to say: “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few” (Mat_9:37 ; Luk_10:2 ). Many Christians have fallen into a deep spiritual sleep. They are busy doing many things for themselves and not working for the Lord.

A son who sleeps at harvest time is not only shortchanging himself. He “is a son who acts shamefully”, that is, he also shames and shortchanges his father who taught him wisdom. He behaves shamefully by neglecting his duty out of laziness, although he knows it. Demas is an example of one who shames others. Paul must say with sadness to Timothy that Demas had “loved the present age” (2Ti_4:10 ). Unfaithful believers shame believers who have prayed and struggled for their spiritual welfare (cf. 1Jn_2:28 ).

Christians who do not respond to the calling with which God has called them put God the Father to shame. God is ashamed of them. The people of God who had returned from Babylon to Judah and Jerusalem shamed God by saying that it was not the right time for the building of the house of God (Hag_1:2-3 ). They ran hard for their own houses, while any effort for the house of God was too much for them.

Proverbs 10:6-7

Blessing or Rotting Away

“The righteous” and “blessings” belong together (Pro_10:6 ). On the head of the righteous are blessings from God (cf. Gen_49:26 ; Deu_33:16 ), no matter what people may do to him or say about him. God speaks His blessing over the righteous and blesses him with temporal and spiritual blessings. Here again we may think first and foremost of the Lord Jesus Who is the Blessed One.

Opposite the head of the righteous is “the mouth of the wicked”. His mouth conceals “violence”. That can mean that his mouth is forcibly gagged. For him there is no blessing, but he is harshly silenced (cf. Psa_107:42 ). It can also mean that violence lies like a covering over his mouth, that out of his mouth only violence comes. Every word of blessing for another is foreign to him.

What has characterized the life of the righteous and the wicked is continued after death (Pro_10:7 ). How blessed is the memory of the Righteous One par excellence, Christ Jesus (Psa_112:6 ), and how terrifying is the name of Judas. Reflecting on righteous people who have lived before us is an activity from which blessing flows for us (Heb_11:1-40 ). We experience this when we read biographies of committed believers. Such believers we hold in grateful memory.

“The name of wicked” works the opposite. Thinking about it or mentioning it evokes disgust. We will not give our children the name of a wicked person. No blessing emanates from such a name, but that name “will rot”, indicating a rotting process. The name of King Jeroboam is such a name. He is referred to after his death as the king “who made Israel sin” (1Kg_14:16 1Kg_15:30 1Kg_22:53 ; 2Kg_3:3 2Kg_10:29 2Kg_10:31 2Kg_13:2 2Kg_13:6 2Kg_13:11 2Kg_14:24 2Kg_15:18 2Kg_15:24 2Kg_15:28 2Kg_23:15 ).

The question before us is how we want to be remembered. At funerals, often only the good things are mentioned, when sometimes the person was known to be quite different. But the aroma of the life someone lived remains after death, no matter what words may have been spoken at the funeral. Will we leave behind a pleasant aroma or stench? Will our name be mentioned with gratitude or with disgust?

Proverbs 10:8-10

Be Ruined or Walking Securely

“The wise of heart will receive commands” that his father or anyone above him holds out to him (Pro_10:8 ). He does so because he is aware of his need for them and their value. In himself, he has no strength to say ‘no’ to sin within himself and to the temptations of the world around him. Therefore, the wise of heart longs for commands that he can keep in his heart to be guided by them in his life (Pro_4:23 ). He wants to be taught to become even wiser.

The fool is constantly babbling himself with babble that makes no sense. As a result, he is unable to listen to the commands presented to him that are for life. You can try to point out to him that he needs wisdom, but he talks right over it with verbose nonsense. Thus he evades confrontation with his real need, for he does not want to see it.

A person “walks in integrity” when he walks with God and not before the eyes of men (Pro_10:9 ; Gen_17:1 ). Then he “walks securely”. Security goes hand in hand with integrity. Joseph went his way in integrity and thereupon enjoyed the protection of God. “But he who perverts his ways”, that is, sinful ways, does not go unnoticed. God sees all his ways and will confront him with them. That discovery, that being “found out” brings punishment (Psa_125:5 ).

Peter went a perverted way when he denied his Christian position for fear of the Jews. He did not walk straightforward about the truth of the gospel. Paul noticed this and admonished him sternly about it (Gal_2:11-14 ).

There are those who cause suffering to others by secret communications (Pro_10:10 ; cf. Pro_6:12-14 ; Psa_35:19 ). Saying something with a wink of the eye has the meaning that what is said is not true. A “babbling fool” will be ruined. Here the second line of verse is not a comparison with the first line of verse, nor is it a contradiction, but an addition to it, which is represented by the word “and” at the beginning of the second line of verse.

Proverbs 10:11-14

The Mouth of the Righteous and of the Wicked

“The mouth of the righteous”, that is, what the righteous says, “is a fountain of life” for those who listen to him (Pro_10:11 ). His words are beneficial and give life force. A fountain gives fresh water every time. This is perfectly true of the mouth of the Lord Jesus. Out of His mouth come words of grace (Luk_4:22 ). His words “are spirit and are life” (Joh_6:63 ).

We also find it in all the prophets who spoke the Word of God. All their words of instruction that they spoke on behalf of God were for the purpose of making the people of God live the true life. The same is true of the mouth of the New Testament believer. It is a source of life if he is guided by the Holy Spirit in his words. Then out of his inner being come “rivers of living water” for others (Joh_7:38-39 ).

What the wicked one says has a totally different content. He spreads violence. What he says only causes harm to others (Pro_10:6 ). The quality of life is destroyed by him. Wherever he is and opens his mouth, the atmosphere is poisoned. Instead of refreshment and life, he sows death and destruction with his babbling.

The wicked are driven by “hatred”, but the righteous by “love” (Pro_10:12 ). Out of hatred spring strife and quarrels. The words of the wicked conceal violence, but the love of the righteous covers sins by forgiving them. Love brings peace through forgiveness, through the covering of “all transgressions”.

There is an essential difference between the concealing or covering of Pro_10:11 and the covering of Pro_10:12 . In Pro_10:11 it is about the covering itself. Nothing is covered, but visible and violent. In Pro_10:12 , through the covering something is hidden and taken away and that is all transgression.

The Lord Jesus, in His love, has covered all the transgressions of those who believe in Him with His blood and thereby forgiven them. Love “does not take into account a wrong [suffered]” (
1Co_13:5 ). Peter powerfully applies this word to our dealings with one another as believers living in the end times (1Pe_4:7-8 ). Covering transgressions or sins is also what we do when we bring back a sinner from his erring ways (Jas_5:19-20 ).

Those who seek “wisdom” find it “on the lips of the discerning” (Pro_10:13 ). That is where wisdom is found. Just as wisdom and lips of the discerning belong together, so do “the rod” and “the back of him who lacks understanding” belong together. The only language that people without understanding understand is the language of the stick striking their backs as a punishment. They have hurt others with their talk and are given pain as punishment.

Rehoboam, the foolish son of Solomon, is one who acted as a man without understanding when the people asked for relief from their burdens. He did not listen to wise counsel, but followed foolish advice. Therefore, he was struck with the rod, that is, the discipline of God (1Kg_12:1-24 ).

“Wise men” are a storehouse of “knowledge” (Pro_10:14 ). They can bring out the right thing at the right time on the right occasion (Mat_12:35 Mat_13:52 ). Wise men know the value of silence. Knowledge is a precious treasure, not to be shown lightly. They do not loosely and inappropriately throw around words of wisdom. The fool makes himself heard at the most inopportune times and in the most inappropriate situations. From what he says, he is leading himself to ruin.

Proverbs 10:15-17

Security and Life or Ruin

He who is rich feels himself thereby as secure as one who is in a fortress (Pro_10:15 ). He can equip himself with all kinds of means to protect himself from evil. The poor do not have that and easily fall prey to evil-doers. This is what the wise perceive in the world. A person can be rich or poor, which gives a person a certain invulnerability or vulnerability.

Spiritually, we can apply this to being rich or poor in faith. The one who realizes how rich he is in Christ knows himself to be in a fortress. But the believer who has no awareness of this has a poor and vulnerable life of faith. The rich believer is safe from error; he will not let his wealth be taken from him. The poor one is prey to “every wind of doctrine” (Eph_4:14 ).

A person’s reward depends on his moral character, that is, whether he is a righteous or a wicked one (Pro_10:16 ). What a righteous does promotes life; what a wicked acquires, his income, leads to sin and death. Put in New Testament language: “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace” (Rom_8:6 ). Above all, “the wages of the righteous”, Christ, is a work that gives “life”. His work has the effect that “whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (Joh_3:16 ).

If someone “heeds instruction”, listens to and accepts instruction, he will find himself on “the path to life” (Pro_10:17 ). He will also hold fast to it and thereby remain on the path of life. Thus he is an inviting example for others to also listen to instruction. Those who do not have an ear for instruction, who ignores reproof, goes astray. He also makes others go astray. How we are does not only affect ourselves. We thereby set an example that leads others to act a certain way. Good example does follow well, bad example does follow badly.

Proverbs 10:18-21

The Use of the Lips

“Conceal” or cover up “hatred”, hiding the wrong, is hypocritical and bears witness to “lying lips” (Pro_10:18 ). He who covers up hatred is a liar, for he hides his true intentions. He acts sweetly, but in his heart hatred burns. Such a person was Absalom in his approach to Amnon (2Sa_13:22-29 ). The second line of verse speaks of a possibly even greater evil. That concerns spreading “slander”. Whoever does that breaks someone down among all to whom he tells slander. Whoever does that is a fool. In the first line of verse, something is concealed or covered up or hidden; in the second, something is spread or made public.

Someone who talks a lot cannot possibly be one hundred percent truthful in everything he says (Pro_10:19 ). Especially true for him is what James says of the words a man speaks: “For we all stumble in many ways” (Jas_3:2 ). A fool uses many words (Ecc_5:2 ). “Transgression” means to cross a line, to trespass. It shows intelligence when we hold back our lips. It is wise not always and certainly not immediately to say everything we think. Every person must be “quick to hear, slow to speak” (Jas_1:19 ).

“The tongue of the righteous”, meaning what the righteous says, is worth much more than “the heart of the wicked”, meaning his best intentions (Pro_10:20 ). The contrast between the two expressions is that between the outward and the inward. The outward is the tongue, or what is said. The inward is the mind of the heart, or what one plans. There should be a healthy balance between these.

What the righteous says has the value of “choice silver”, while what the wicked intends has no value at all. The Lord Jesus had a tongue of “choice silver”, for He used His tongue after He had received teaching. As a result, He “how to sustain the weary one with a word” (Isa_50:4 ). Silver is a picture of the price to be paid for salvation (Exo_30:11-16 ). The words of the Lord Jesus were for the purpose of redeeming people.

The value of the righteous one’s words is that many are fed (spiritually) by them and kept alive by them (Pro_10:21 ). To feed means to pasture, as a shepherd does. It is not just about food; it is about caring for the right food. The words are passed on with care. This is especially true of the words of the Lord Jesus. He is the Bread of life. Also the prophets who spoke in His Name fed the people with their words, they gave the good spiritual food (Jer_3:15 ). Those words build up. The task of the shepherd and teacher in the church is also to build up the church.

The fools lack understanding. They do not want to be fed by the lips of the Righteous One; they despise His words. Thus they reject life and die. Those who reject Him and do not accept His words will be judged by the word He has spoken (Joh_12:48 ).

Proverbs 10:22-26

The Blessing of the LORD

All the wealth we have is given to us by God (Pro_10:22 ). It is His blessing, without adding “sorrow” or “toil”, i.e. without any performance from our side (cf. Psa_127:1 ). The word “that” puts full emphasis on “the blessing of the LORD”. Only that blessing makes one rich. This verse is a warning against complacency, against thinking that we owe our wealth to ourselves.

There is no contradiction with Pro_10:4 , which says that the hand of the industrious makes rich. Both one and the other are true. We must work, but also realize that the Lord must give us the strength for it and also the blessing on it. Then we realize that everything comes from Him and we will give Him the glory for it.

A person’s character is revealed by the things in which he finds pleasure (Pro_10:23 ). To a fool, behaving disgracefully is like sport and play. It goes off him as easily as playing goes off a child. He finds the greatest pleasure in speaking scandalously, as evidenced by the obscene expressions he uses. “Doing wickedness” is indicative of very sinful behavior. The fool considers even the worst in terms of sin as entertainment, as a joke. He laughs at it and because of it.

This is contrasted with the wisdom that gives someone of understanding full joy as if it were a pleasant game. It is not about what a person does, but the attitude a person has in doing what he does. Wisdom gives delight to one who has understanding. That delight is found in God’s Word (Psa_119:117 ).

The wicked may take pleasure in his shameful behavior, but at the same time he is inwardly very afraid of what is to come. Indeed, what he fears also comes upon him (Pro_10:24 ). He lives without God and therefore without any security and therefore always in fear. The righteous on the other hand gets what he longs for, for he lives with God and expects everything from Him. A huge contrast is painted here.

He who has no foundation in his life, that is, who has no biblical principles, resembles a whirlwind that is passing by (Pro_10:25 ). A whirlwind rages for a moment and then disappears again, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. Such is the wicked. This connects with the previous verse, which says that upon the wicked comes what he fears. He can enjoy in his life everything he desires, such as wealth, prestige, family, while living in fear that it will all one day fall away from him. Indeed, it will also be taken away from him as if by a raging storm. Possibly already in this life, but certainly at his (possibly sudden) death.

The righteous one is the opposite. The same things can happen to him as to the wicked. His wealth, prestige, family and health may also be taken from him (Job_1:1-22 Job_2:1-10 ). But when disasters come into his life, he proves to have “an eternal foundation” (cf. Mat_7:24-27 ). It shows the immutability of the position of the righteous man that he has because his life is built on Christ the Rock. As a result, his house of life remains standing firm no matter how much the whirlwind pounds against it.

Vinegar, which is sour, feels very nasty to the teeth when you drink it (Pro_10:26 ). Smoke to the eyes is also very irritating, because your eyes begin to water, you can no longer see anything and cannot move a step. With these unpleasant experiences, the lazy one is compared who is sent out with a certain assignment. He does not carry out that assignment, or too late, or inaccurately and incompletely. A lazy person only causes irritation when you expect something from him. Slowness in the work of the Lord is also a bad and irritating thing. Those who are slow in it even bring a curse upon themselves as a result (Jer_48:10 ).

Proverbs 10:27-28

Hope and Expectation

The normal expectation for one who fears the LORD is that he will live long, while the years of the wicked “will be shortened” (
Pro_10:27 ). That a God-fearing person sometimes dies young and a wicked one lives long may cause doubt about this verse (Psa_73:1-22 ). That doubt disappears when we remember that the meaning extends beyond death.

The expectation that the righteous has gives him joy now and not only later, at the fulfillment of that expectation (Pro_10:28 ). This is because his expectation is connected to the faithful God and His Christ. That God is with him even now. In Him his heart trusts. The eye of the righteous person is not primarily focused on what he expects, life forever, but on Him Who will not shame his expectation.

Someone has said that it is not about a long life, but a full life. A full life is a life filled with the will of God and is therefore a long life, because “the one who does the will of God, will live forever” (1Jn_2:17 ). The Lord Jesus spoke of life in abundance (Joh_10:10 ). That life never comes to an end and is also life enjoyed in its fullness. It is not only about duration, but also about content. The short stay on earth is followed by a life forever with the Lord Jesus in the Father’s house.

The wicked also have their expectations. They consider themselves well off if they are prosperous and healthy by living as if this will remain so indefinitely. In their dream house they imagine themselves in heaven even now, but they will wake up in hell. They have no ground for their expectation that their prosperity will last forever because they do not count with God. Therefore, their expectation will also perish. King Zedekiah is a clear example of this (Jer_39:1-8 ).

Proverbs 10:29-30

The Way of the LORD

“The way of the LORD”, that is, the way He goes and the actions He performs, the work He does, “is a stronghold to the upright” (Pro_10:29 ). The upright person feels perfectly safe in the way of God, under His guidance, protected from all kinds of dangers. He confidently surrenders everything to God, because he knows that He acts justly. That is what the Lord Jesus did (1Pe_2:23 ). The same action of God that is a stronghold for the upright means “ruin” for those who work iniquity. God uses His power against them. He is just in His dealings both with the righteous and the ungodly.

“The righteous” will with certainty “never be shaken” (Pro_10:30 ). He will stand unwavering, continuously and receive all the promises promised to him by God. He will dwell in the land forever (Lev_20:22 ). But the wicked will get nothing of the future blessing God will give to His people on earth (Deu_4:25-27 ). They will be exterminated from the earth and will therefore “not dwell in the land”.

Proverbs 10:31-32

The Mouth and the Lips of the Righteous

“The mouth of the righteous” not only speaks wisdom, but “overflows” with it (Pro_10:31 ). As always, when we think of “the righteous”, we think first and foremost of the Lord Jesus. He constantly and abundantly speaks wisdom. From that, others can refresh themselves. He is the Source from Whom wisdom flows ceaselessly.

Very different is the case with “the perverted tongue”. This tongue “will be cut out” like a “tree that does not bear good fruits will be cut down and thrown into the fire” (Mat_3:10 ). The man of sin, the antichrist, is the prototype of this. It also applies to all false prophets and false teachers. When the tongue is cut out, it is impossible to say one more word. As a result, he can no longer corrupt anyone with his shameful talk.

“The lips of the righteous” speak pleasant things that do good to a man (Pro_10:32 ). The righteous one knows “what is acceptable” for others to listen to; he knows how to choose his words well. The Lord Jesus has spoken what is acceptable. He spoke words of grace that people wondered at (Luk_4:22 ). We are told to speak “such [a word] as is good for edification according to the need [of the moment], so that it will give grace to those who hear” (Eph_4:29 ). These are acceptable words.

In contrast, the wicked one lets out only perverted things. He speaks without thinking about it. What he says will bring ruin to himself and others.

Proverbs 10:1
We here enter upon the second main division of the Book of Proverbs, which is composed of a number of distinct propositions or maxims, having but little connection with each other and answering to the modern signification of the word proverb. Wordsworth here remarks that “the Proverbs of the present chapter are exemplifications in detail of the principles, practices, and results of the two ways of life displayed in the foregoing chapters which constitute the prologue.”
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_10:1. Heaviness, “grief.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_10:1
PARENTAL GRIEF AND GLADNESS
The generalisation of the first nine chapters here descends into particular applications. The chemist dilates upon the power and excellence of certain elements, and then illustrates what he has affirmed by showing their action in particular cases. Solomon has dwelt long upon the general blessings which will flow from listening to the counsels of Divine Wisdom, and he now shows some particular instances of it. He begins with its effect in the family. Consider—
I. How the author here speaks from personal experience. 1. In his relation to his father. Men in positions of far less importance than that which David held are solicitous that their sons should possess such a character and such mental qualifications as will enable them to fulfil the duties which they will bequeath to them at their own departure from the world. The owner of a large estate, if he has a right sense of his own responsibilities, desires that his heir should be one who will exercise his stewardship wisely and generously. The head of a mercantile firm hopes that the son who is to succeed to his position will be prudent and far-seeing, and possess an aptitude for business. If a monarch is what he ought to be, and feels how very great is his power for good or evil, it will be a matter of the deepest anxiety to him that the son who is one day to sit upon the throne should be one who will discharge his weighty duties wisely and well. David was such a monarch, and we can well imagine how great was his solicitude that his well-beloved son Solomon should possess such gifts and graces as would enable him worthily to fulfil the high position he would one day be called to occupy. And, from what we know of Solomon’s youth and early manhood, we have every reason to believe that he was such a son as gladdened his father’s heart. In the wonderful seventy-second Psalm—which, although it has its entire fulfilment only in the “greater than Solomon,” refers, doubtless, in the first instance, to the great king—we have a glimpse of David’s desires and hopes concerning him. He begins with a prayer for him: “Give the king Thy judgments, O God, and Thy righteousness unto the king’s son” (Pro_10:1). And then he gives utterance to the hopes which he cherished concerning his prosperous and beneficent reign—hopes which, alas! would have been sadly dimmed could he have foreseen the cloud that overshadowed Solomon’s later days, but which were founded in the evidences which he gave of youthful piety and devotion. Solomon knew that he had been the gladness of his father’s heart, because he had been a “wise son,” and therefore he spoke from experience when he uttered the first clause of this proverb. But he spoke no less from experience when he gave utterance to the opposite truth. Solomon was a father as well as a son, and he speaks (2) in his relation to his son. Rehoboam’s youth and manhood—for he was a man long before his father’s death—were not, we may fairly conclude, of such a character as to give his father much joy, but was such as to awaken the gravest fears concerning his conduct when he should become absolute master of the kingdom. We well know how these fears were justified by his conduct on his accession to the throne. The great crime of David’s life had been committed before Solomon’s birth, and had, therefore, had no bad influence upon him, but the sins of his own old age were a sad example to set before his son, and could not have been without their evil influence. From what we read of Rehoboam, we can but conclude that he had been a “foolish” son, and that Solomon’s heart was heavy with sadness concerning him when he penned these words. These thoughts suggest a lesson which parents should deeply ponder, viz., that whether parents shall have gladness or grief in their children depends not so much upon the execellence of their words as upon the godliness of their lives. Solomon uttered thousands of moral precepts, but had he uttered as many more, they would not have had much effect upon Rehoboam. What his son needed more than wise sayings was the power of a godly life. This must ever accompany moral teaching: nay, it must go before it, for a child can receive impressions from a holy example before it is old enough to appreciate abstract teaching. A parent’s wise sayings will never do a child any good unless there are correspondent doings. A good example is the best education. Consider—
II. How very much our joy and sorrow in this world depend upon our relationships. In proportion as the wise are related to the foolish or to the wise, will be their grief or their gladness. Distant relationships are not very effective in this way, but near relationships are powerful in proportion to their nearness. And the relation of parent to child is in some respects nearer than any other—nearer, perhaps, even than that of husband and wife. Our children are a part of ourselves, and what they are makes or mars our lives. How much does that little pronoun “my” carry with it! To hear that any young man has disgraced his manhood and thrown away his opportunities is an occasion of sadness to us. This is increased if he is the son of anyone we have known and loved. But if good parents have to reflect that “my” son has become a reprobate, how bitter is their sorrow. But when the folly is not so great as this there may still be much “heaviness” in a parent’s heart. “Wise” and “foolish” are relative terms. A good father’s joy is proportionate to his son’s goodness, for we understand wisdom and folly here to stand for the wisdom of godliness and the folly of sin, and a very little amount of wickedness will make a good mother’s heart heavy. Let children then learn from this text to reflect how much power to give joy or sorrow rests with them, and to act accordingly; and let parents, considering how entirely their future happiness or misery will depend upon the character of their children, begin to train them, both by example and precept, from their tenderest years. (On this subject see also Homiletics on chap. Pro_4:1-4.)
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
The future may be imperative. We prefer this view. “Let a wise son make a glad father.” If a man has a good son, let it be his one all-sufficient gratification.… Men toil for their children, and give themselves pain in their behalf to an extent absolutely heroic, considering how they abnegate self, but to an extent altogether disproportioned, as between their temporal and eternal warfare. This is one way we destroy our children. If their temporal inheritance is threatened, we are all on thorns; but if they are doing well or ill in piety, we give it but little notice. The verb, therefore, as an imperative, means most. “Let a foolish son be the grief of his mother,” that is, an unconverted son. He may be all smiles and amiableness, and the father’s business may be doing well, but if he is a fool, spiritually, it should be his mother’s grief. And then follow the reasons—(For) “treasures of wickedness profit nothing,” etc.—Miller.
Perhaps this first sentence may have been placed in the front to point to the value of a godly education in its personal, social, national influence, connected both with time and eternity.—Bridges.
The father is specially said to be gladdened by a wise son as he is of a more severe nature, and not so likely to form a partial estimate, and therefore not so easily gladdened as the mother; so that it is the stronger praise of the wise son to say that not only the mother, but also the father, is gladdened by him. On the other hand, the mother is apt, through fondness, to ignore the errors of her son, and even to encourage them by indulgent connivance. The wise man admonishes her that she is laying up “heaviness” in store for herself.—Fausset.
After the previous general description of Wisdom, Solomon begins with what is uppermost in his own mind, What would be the character of his successor? What would become of his throne, his wealth, his people, after himself? See his melancholy forebodings in Pro_17:2-21; Pro_17:25; Pro_19:13; Ecc_2:18, etc. Solomon has one son, and he is Rehoboam. This thought lies underneath many of the sayings in the Proverbs.—Wordsworth.
Every son should be an Abner, that is, his father’s light, and every daughter an Abigail, her father’s joy. Eve promised herself much in her Cain, and David did the like in his Absalom. But they were both deceived. Samuel succeeds Eli in his cross, though not in his sin. Virtue is not, as lands, inheritable. Let parents labour to mend by education what they have marred by propagation.—Trapp.
Do you hear this, young man? It is in your power to make your father glad, and God expects you to do it. Here is an object for your ambition, here is an investment that will ensure an immediate return. Come now, make your choice. Whether you will try to please these fools who banter you here, or to gladden your father’s heart that is yearning for you there?… These companions that come between you and him—what have they done for you, and what would they do for you to-morrow, if you were in distress? They have never lost a night’s rest by watching at your sick bed, and never will. But your father what has he done, and yet will do? The command of God is that you gladden your father and not grieve him. Your conscience countersigns that command now. Obey.—Arnot.

Proverbs 10:2
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_10:2
THE COMPARATIVE VALUE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS AND RICHES
I. Wealth when lawfully gotten is profitless for many very important things. Death is mentioned in the text, it has no power over that in any form. 1. Wealth will not deliver from the daily dying, which is the lot of all men. It has been said that as soon as we are born we begin to die, and we know that it is certain that as soon as men have attained their prime, their outward man perisheth day by day (2Co_4:16). The richest man cannot purchase exemption from this law with all his wealth. 2. Neither can wealth prevent the death which we call premature. Men of vast fortunes are often brought down to an early grave; the seeds of disease within them hasten the operation of the law of death which has passed upon the whole human race. A galloping consumption cannot be held in check even with golden reins. 3. Treasures of wealth will not insure a man against sudden death. The morning finds the rich man looking over his vast acres, or counting up his dividends, and saying, “I have much good laid up for many years;” and before the sun sets another has entered into possession of all his riches. 4. Lawfully-gotten wealth will not only not deliver from premature death, but may sometimes bring it on. Wealth is very apt to produce very mistaken views in a man’s mind. When he has amassed a large portion of this world’s goods, and is in a condition of moral bankruptcy, he is very prone to imagine that he is secure in the enjoyment of all that he has acquired, and that nothing can come between his riches and himself. Then God may read him a lesson by saying. “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee” (Luk_12:20). Had the man in the parable been a poor man he would not have died so soon; his wealth not only could not deliver him from death, but it hastened his end. And many men walking in his footsteps have been brought to their graves in a similar manner and for a similar reason even when the wealth has been honestly gained. We have no reason to think that the rich fool amassed his riches dishonestly; his sin consisted, not in his having riches, but in his trusting in them.
II. If treasure gotten by honest toil is profitless to deliver from death and other evils, how much less will the “treasures of wickedness,” i.e., ill-gotten wealth, be profitable to work such a deliverance. The means used to obtain it were opposed to the law of righteousness, which does rule in the universe notwithstanding all the apparent exceptions, and it is as foolish for a man to expect to derive real profit from it as it would be for a man to expect to construct a pyramid which would stand upon its apex. The latter would not be more contrary to natural law than the former is to spiritual law. And treasures of wickedness are not simply profitless, they bring the man who has them under the curse of the Righteous Ruler of the world. They not only bring no profit but they bring great loss. No man can make an unlawful bargain or commit any other dishonest act to gain money without bringing a blight upon his spiritual nature, without entailing upon himself moral death. And if the acquirement of “the treasures of wickedness” must subject a man to this greatest calamity, how impossible it is that they can be profitable to deliver from any lesser evil.
III. Righteousness, on the other hand—1. Has often delivered from bodily death. All the extraordinary deliverances from death recorded in the Bible took place in connection with righteousness, thereby showing us that righteousness is stronger than death. Enoch did not see death because he was a righteous man. Noah and his family were exempted from the premature death which overtook the rest of the world for the same reason. All the resurrections from the dead were wrought either through the instrumentality of righteous men or by the immediate action of the righteous Son of God. 2. Does deliver always from the curse of bodily death. Death is the penalty of sin; it is therefore a curse. We read that “The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law” (1Co_15:56). But “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us” (Gal_3:13). We are justified by His righteousness if we appropriate it by faith (Rom_3:21-26), and thus obtain the “victory” over death “through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1Co_15:57). Here a relative righteousness delivers from the condemnation of death. But this is the foundation of a personal and actual righteousness of character which delivers from spiritual death now, and will one day deliver the body from the grave. “If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the spirit of Him that raised up Christ from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His spirit that dwelleth in you” (Rom_8:10-11). Here Paul argues from the greater spiritual deliverance to the lesser bodily one, and shows how, in all senses, “righteousness delivers from death.”
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
The proverb means the treasures of an unsaved man.… The highest opulence of the dead sinner is of no possible profit: but the righteousness of the saved sinner, even without any opulence at all, is a fortune; for, like the “charm of the lamp,” it makes for him everlasting blessedness.—Miller.
A man may seem to profit by them, and to come up wonderfully for a time. But what was the profit of Naboth’s vineyard to Ahab, when in his ivory palace he was withering under the curse of God? (1Ki_21:4-24 with 1Ki_22:39). What was the profit of the thirty pieces of silver to Judas? Instead of delivering from death, their intolerable sting plunged him into death eternal (Mat_27:5).—Bridges.
Righteousness delivereth from death, to wit, in the time of vengeance; for uprightness is that mark of election and life which the Lord, spying in any when He plagueth the wicked for their transgressions, spareth them, and preserveth them from destruction. Thus, although the righteousness of the just person deserveth nothing at God’s hands, neither is any cause of man’s preservation or salvation, yet it serveth as a sovereign treacle to preserve the evil-doer from that deadly plague, which is sent from the Lord to destroy the disobedient, and as a letter of passport to safe-conduct the faithful person in perilous times, and to protect him from all dangers.—Muffet.
Observe—
I. The excellency of these comforts in themselves. They are treasures—that is, heaps of outward good things. The word includeth a multitude, for one or two will not make a treasure; and a multitude of precious things, for a heap of sand, or coals, or dust, is not a treasure: but of silver or gold, or some excellent earthly things. It is here in the plural, treasures, noting the greatest confluence of worldly comforts.
II. The impiety of the owners. They are treasures of wickedness. The purchaser got them by sinful practices. They were brought into his house slily at some back door. He was both the receiver and the thief. Treasures of wickedness, because gotten by wicked ways, and employed to wicked ends. There is an English proverb which too many Englishmen have made good, “That which is got over the devil’s back is usually spent under the devil’s belly. When sin is the parent that begets riches it many times hath this recompense, that they are wholly at its service and command.
III. The vanity of those treasures: they profit nothing. They are unable to cheer the mind, to cure the diseases of the body, much less to heal the wounds of the soul, or to bribe the flames of hell. Alas! they are so far from profiting, that they are infinitely prejudicial. Such powder-masters are blown up with their own ware. These loads sink the bearer into the unquenchable lake. Aristotle tells us of the sea-mew, or sea-eagle, that she will often seize on her prey, though it be more than she can bear, and falleth down headlong with it into the deep, and so perisheth. This fowl is a fit emblem of the unrighteous person, for he graspeth those heavy possessions which press him down into the pit of perdition. “They that will be rich (that resolve on it, whether God will or no, and by any means, whether right or wrong), fall into temptations, and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition” (1Ti_6:9). Men that scrape an estate together unjustly are frequently said in the Word of God to get it in haste, because such will not stay God’s time, nor wait in His way till He send them wealth, but must have it presently, and care not though it be unrighteously. Fair and softly goes far. None thrive so well as those that stay God’s leisure, and expect wealth in His way.… 1. Be righteous in thy works or actions. Deal with men as one that in all hath to do with God. If thou art a Christian, thou art a law to thyself; thou hast not only a law without thee (the Word of God), but a law within thee, and so darest not transgress. Thy double hedge may well prevent thy wandering.… Be righteous in buying.… Take heed lest thou layest out thy money to purchase endless misery. Some have bought places to bury their bodies in, but more have bought those commodities which have swallowed up their souls. Injustice in buying is a canker which will eat up and waste the most durable wares. In buying, do not work either upon the ignorance or the poverty of the seller. Be righteous in selling. Be careful, while thou sellest thy wares to men, that thou dost not sell thy soul to Satan. Be righteous in the substance of what thou sellest, and that in regard of its quality and quantity. God can see the rottenness of thy stuffs, and heart too, under thy false glosses, and for all thy false lights. Be righteous in regard to the quantity. They wrong themselves most who wrong others of their right. The jealous God is very punctual in this particular (Lev_19:35-36). 2. Be righteous in thy words and expressions, as well as in thy works. The Christian’s tongue should be his heart’s interpreter, and reveal its mind and meaning; and the Christian’s hand should justify his tongue, by turning his words into deeds. The burgess of the new Jerusalem is known by this livery: “He walketh uprightly, worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart; he sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not” (
Psa_15:2; Psa_15:4). His speech is the natural and genuine offspring of his heart; there is a great resemblance between the child and the parent. There is a symmetry between his hand and his tongue; he is slow to promise, not hasty to enter into bonds, but being once engaged, he will be sure to perform.—Swinnock.
Wickedness is in itself a treasure laid up against the day of wrath; and as that profiteth nothing, so neither do the treasures of wickedness. For as he that setteth himself to any employment, perhaps may lose one way and get another, but if, in the general upshot and confusion, he finds his estate to be bettered, then is his employment said to be profitable; so in the treasures of wickedness, there may be gain of wealth, honour, pleasure, and loss of credit, quiet, comfort, but in the conclusion the loss will be most grievous, and therefore profitable they cannot be.—Jermin.

Proverbs 10:3-4
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_10:3. The soul of the righteous, literally, “the spirit of the righteous.” But He casteth away, etc. Zöckler and Delitzsch here read, “but the craving of the wicked He disappointeth.” Miller thus translates the whole verse: “Jehovah will not starve the righteous appetite, but the craving of the wicked He will thrust away.”
Pro_10:4. Dealeth, rather, “worketh.
Pro_10:6. Zöckler and most commentators translate the second clause of this verse, “the mouth of the wicked hideth or covereth violence or iniquity.” Stuart reads, “the mouth of the wicked concealeth injury.” Miller adheres nearly to the authorised version, and understands it to mean that “wrong shuts up all chance of feast and comfort.” It will be observed, that this latter reading renders the clause antithetical to the former part of the verse, which is not the case with the other renderings.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH—Pro_10:3-4
DIVINE AND HUMAN PROVIDENCE
I. A general rule. God supplies all the needs of His children (Pro_10:3). We take the word soul here to mean what it often does in the Old Testament, viz., the bodily life, and, therefore, understand the promise to be similar to that in Psa_33:19, etc. God’s special providential care is over the righteous. This we should have expected if this and like promises did not exist. The animal creation, as a rule, care and provide for their own offspring. There are men and women who have fallen so low as not to care for the well-being of those dependent on them, but wherever there is any virtue left in human beings it will certainly manifest itself in making some efforts to secure from want those who are nearly related to them and dependent upon them. God has laid it as a charge upon His creatures to care for the bodily wants of their children, and He has implanted within men and women an instinct which is generally strong enough to lead them to do it. It is an apostolic sentence—“If any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel” (1Ti_5:8). God has taught us that the righteous are bound to Him by a closer tie than we are bound to each other by flesh and blood relationships. “For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven,” said Christ, “the same is my brother, and sister, and mother” (Mat_12:50). He was more nearly related to His disciples than to those of His brethren who did not believe on Him. They were Christ’s “own” (Joh_13:1) in a sense in which other men were not, and He provided for their necessities because they held this special relation to Him. God has a general care for all that He has made. He cares for the life of the tiniest wild flower, and feeds it with light and moisture according to its need. “He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry” (Psa_147:9). He maketh His sun to shine and His rain to fall upon the fields of the unjust, and is kind to the unthankful and the evil (Luk_6:35). Then it follows from necessity that He, the Righteous Father, will not suffer the souls of the “righteous” to famish. When ordinary means will not meet their need, He will employ special means to do so. There are many instances upon record in the history of God’s Church in which, the supply not being obtainable within the ordinary working of His providence, He has gone into the region of the supernatural for sustenance for His children.
II. Special exceptions to this rule If we understand these words as referring to the bodily life, we must admit that there have been exceptions to it. Some of God’s children have suffered from want, some have starved to death in dungeons because they have been righteous. But these special exceptions have been for special ends. Solomon’s father, when he was hunted by Saul, was doubtless often in want of food, but this severe discipline fitted him for the position he was afterwards to occupy as the King of Israel. Paul tells us that he was often “in hunger and thirst, in fastings, in cold and nakedness” (2Co_11:27), but he likewise tells us that he “gloried in tribulation,” because it “worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope,” etc. (Rom_5:3-4). Whenever there are partial or entire exceptions to this rule, we may rest assured that those who are the subjects of the exceptions have their material loss more than made up to them.
III. Special relationship to God will not secure exemption from want unless the necessary conditions are fulfilled. “He,” whether saint or sinner, “becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand” (Pro_10:4). If a godly man is not diligent in business, he will come to want as certainly as an ungodly one. God’s children are not exempt from the working of the natural and providential laws of the world in which they live. If they transgress any physical law, they must pay the penalty. The disregard of any such law is a “tempting of the Lord their God” (Mat_4:5-7). And what is true of physical laws is true of providential laws. If a husbandman is ever so prayerful and trustful, he will not have a crop in harvest unless he works hard in the days of ploughing and sowing. And the most spiritually-minded tradesman will not earn a living unless he gives due attention to his business. “God’s promises were never made to ferry our laziness” (Beecher). It is sheer presumption to expect God to give us our daily bread if we neglect to do all within our power to earn it. Even in Paradise nature would not yield her treasure without diligence on the part of man. Adam was to “till the ground,” to “dress and keep” the Garden of Eden (Gen_2:5-15). And this dependence of success upon diligence is—1. Good for the man himself. He has bodily and mental powers which cannot be developed without constant exercise. 2. Good for others. A man who does not bring all his powers into play defrauds society of the benefit it might receive from his latent abilities.
IV. When the conditions of growing rich are fulfilled by unrighteous men, the wealth attained by diligence shall be taken away by justice. Riches and poverty are comparative terms; it is certainly not true that every diligent man makes a fortune; probably Solomon means no more than that diligence always brings some amount of reward. However that may be, we must put the declaration “The hand of the diligent maketh rich” side by side with that in the preceding verse, “He casteth away the substance of the wicked.” The professional thief exercises a diligence which is not surpassed by many honest men, if by any. He deals with no slack hand, and he generally succeeds in getting rich for a time. But if he is diligent, the detective officer is vigilant, and the substance he has gathered will one day be scattered by the hand of justice. And there are many unprofessional thieves in the world who gain their riches by means quite as unlawful as their professional brethren, although they sail under other colours. Substance thus obtained is as surely marked by God for scattering as that of the housebreaker or highwayman, although He sometimes delays long the apprehension of the culprit. Against all such the sentence has gone forth, “Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown; yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and He shall also blow upon them and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble” (Isa_40:24). There are three reasons why wealth, which has been gathered by unrighteous diligence, should be scattered. 1. Such unrighteous dealing is a sin against God. It is a defiance of the eighth and tenth commandments, for all men who get rich unlawfully must both covet and steal. When God’s “thou shalt not” is thus disregarded, we may be certain that He will vindicate His right to give laws to His creatures. 2. It is a sin against man. Such a man’s diligence must have caused much misery to many of his fellow-creatures. Men cannot satisfy lawless desires without bringing unhappiness on others. 3. Wealth unlawfully gained is sure to be made an instrument of oppression. Wealth always gives some amount of power, and he who has trampled on the rights of others to get riches will be sure to use them for their oppression when he has obtained them. Pro_10:4 may be applied spiritually. If material good cannot be obtained without diligence, most assuredly spiritual blessings cannot (2Pe_1:5; 2Pe_1:10, etc.). It is as necessary for the spiritual powers to be kept in constant exercise, if they are to be healthy and strong, as it is for the body or the mind. The needs of others as well as our own demand diligence in spiritual things. And whatever exceptions there may be in the rule in relation to material good, this higher wealth will always be in proportion to the diligent use of means.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_10:3. Should the wicked be permitted to hold their substance all their days, Death, that terrible messenger, shall at last drag them from it; nor shall their glory descend after them to the grave, but that wickedness by which they acquired it shall lie down with them in the dust and torture their souls in hell.—
Lawson.
The substance of the wicked is “of the earth, earthy.” It pertains not to the soul, and partakes not of its imperishable vitality. O the miserable but sadly common mistake of the rich man in the parable, when he addressed his soul in terms of congratulation, as if, in the abundance of worldly good, it had got what would give it real and permanent satisfaction (Luk_12:16-21). “Casting it away” is an act indicative of regarding it as worthless. The substance of this world is that on which the hearts of the sons of men are set. But “God will cast it away.” He will not only bereave them of it—and that, it may be, suddenly—but what is there in all this substance that can avail as purchase money for the soul and for heaven? Had a man “the world” to offer, God would “cast it away.” He would say, “Thy money perish with thee!” “Riches profit not in the day of wrath.” The famished soul must then die, and die for ever.—Wardlaw.
As the end of the former verse must chiefly be understood of spiritual death, because temporarily the righteous die as well as the wicked, so, with St. Jerome, I understand this of a spiritual famine. Now, as the course that is needful to preserve the body is so to nourish it that it may neither be glutted with fulness nor pined with emptiness, but in such sort to feed it that it may still have appetite for food, the same is the care which Almighty God taketh of the soul’s health; for He so feedeth the righteous that He will not suffer them to famish, and yet He doth not so fill them as that they do not hunger and thirst after righteousness. The time of fulness is heaven, where, as there will be no danger of sickness to the soul, so no lack of plenty.—Jermin.
It might be objected, If I strain not my conscience I may starve for it. Fear not that, saith the wise man. Faith fears not famine. Necessaries thou shalt be sure of (Psa_37:25-26; Psa_34:15); superfluities thou art not to stand upon (1Ti_6:8).—Trapp.
Pro_10:4. “The diligent” (Hebrew, charutzim, from charatz, to cut short, or settle); those who are decisive in all things, who economise their time and means—prompt in movement.—Fausset.
Riches were first bestowed upon the world as they are still continued in it, by the blessing of God upon the industry of men, in the use of their understanding and strength.—Bishop Butler.
The Lord’s visits of favour were never given to loiterers. Moses and the shepherds of Bethlehem were keeping their flocks (Exo_3:1-2; Luk_2:8-9). Gideon was at the threshing-floor (Jdg_6:11). “Our idle days,” as Bishop Hall observes, “are Satan’s busy days.” Active employment gives us a ready answer to his present temptation. “I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down” (Neh_6:3).—Bridges.
Not only will God provide for the wise, but wisdom itself is a provision. “The hand of the diligent makes riches,” even if it earn little; the meaning being that active work is itself a treasure; or, passing into the realm of piety, which is the one intended, he is a poor man who is a sluggard in his soul’s work, and a rich man who is awake and active. Our treasure is within. “My meat is,” said our Great Exemplar, “to do the will of Him that sent me.” And on our dying bed our money will be of small account, but our work will be the splendid fortune that will follow the believer (Rev_14:13).—Miller.
The advantages of virtuous industry. 1. The industrous man performs and accomplishes many things which are profitable to himself and others in numberless respects. Let his station be never so humble, yet that which he does in it has influence more or less upon all other stations. If he completely fulfil his duty, every other can more completely fulfil his. Let the faculties, the endowments of a man be never so confined, yet by continued uninterrupted application he can perform much, often far more than he who with eminent powers of intellect is slothful or indolent. 2. He executes them with far more ease and dexterity than if he were not industrious. He has no need of any long previous contest with himself, of long previous consideration how he shall begin the work, or whether he shall begin it at all. But he attacks the business with alacrity and spirit and pursues it with good-will. 3. He unfolds, exercises, perfects his mental powers. And this he does alike in every vocation; because it is not of so much consequence to what we apply our intellectual faculties, as how we employ them. Whether we apply them to the government of a nation or to the learning and exercise of some useful trade makes no material difference. But to learn to think methodically and justly, to act as rational beings, with consideration and fixed principles, to do what we have to do deliberately, carefully, punctiliously, conscientiously, that is the main concern. Virtuous diligence is a continual exercise of the understanding, of reason, of reflection, of self-command. 4. The industrious man lives in the entire true intimate consciousness of himself. He rejoices in his life, his faculties, his endowments, his time. He can give an account of the use and application of them and can therefore look back upon the past with satisfaction and into the future without disquietude. 5. He experiences neither languor nor irksomeness. He who really loves work can never be wanting in means and opportunities for it. To him every occupation is agreeable, even though it procure him no visible profit. 6. He alone knows the pleasures of rest for he alone really wants it, he alone has deserved it, he alone can enjoy it without reproach. 7. The industrious man alone fulfils the design for which he is placed on earth, and can boldly give an account to God, to his fellow-creatures, and to himself how he has spent his life.—Zollikofer.
This rule applies alike to the business of life and the concerns of the soul. Diligence is necessary to the laying-up of treasures, either within or beyond the reach of rust.… A world bringing forth fruit spontaneously might have suited a sinless race, but it would be unsuitable for mankind as they now are. If all men had plenty without labour, the world would not be fit for living in. In every country and under every kind of government, the unemployed are the most dangerous classes. Thus the necessity of labour has become a blessing to man.… It would be a libel upon the Divine economy to imagine that the tender plant of grace would thrive in a sluggard’s garden. The work is difficult. The times are bad. He who would gain in godliness must put his soul into the business. But he who puts his soul into the business will grow rich. Labour laid out here is not lost. Those who strive lawfully will win a kingdom. When all counts are closed, he who is rich in faith is the richest man.—Arnot.

Proverbs 10:5
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_10:5
THE USE AND THE NEGLECT OF OPPORTUNITIES
I. Man has opportunities given to him which it is a mark of wisdom to embrace. 1. He has the literal and temporal summer. When the harvest is ripe the reaper must take down his sickle and toil at the ingathering of the grain if he would have bread to eat in the days of winter. The fisherman must spread his net in the season when the fish are abundant and watch his opportunity to catch the passing shoal. The merchant must take advantage of the flood-tide of commercial prosperity to make money so that he may not be brought to bankruptcy in times of depression. These things cannot be done at any time, but the opportune time must be laid hold of and improved. 2. He has a mental summer. Youth is the season usually given to man to develop his mental faculties and lay up stores of knowledge for use in after life. Those who embrace this season and industriously improve it, that “gather” in this “summer,” are “wise sons,” and reap an abundant reward in the time of manhood and old age. 3. He has an opportunity given to lay the foundation of a godly character. The season of youth is most favourable for this work. The youthful mind is more susceptible of moral impressions than those of a man who has grown to manhood without yielding to their influence. The young tree can be easily trained to grow in the desired direction, but it is impossible to bend the trunk when it has acquired any degree of strength. So it is comparatively easy to form habits of godly thought and action when we are young, although by the power of God’s grace it is not impossible at any time. He who subjects his will to the Great Teacher in his early days will enjoy an abundant blessing in old age from this “gathering in summer.”
II. He who neglects thus to improve his opportunities is—1. Likened to a man who sleeps through the season of harvest. He sets one blessing of God in opposition to the other. Toil and rest are both Divine ordinances, and both are good and blessed in their season. Sleep is felt to be an incalculable boon at the end of each day of toil. The rest of the Sabbath is a priceless gift of God, and is needed to renew both body and mind after the six days’ labour. Longer seasons of rest are good and needful at certain periods of life, and it is a sin against God not to use the ordinary opportunities of rest which are given to all, or ought to be, or to refuse to make use of extraordinary opportunities when they are given to us by the providence of God. But this is quite a different thing from making life a time of indolence—from neglecting to do work either belonging to the body, mind, or spirit; which, if done at all, can only be done in the given opportunity, or cannot be done so well at any other time. 2. Such a sleeping in harvest brings shame—(1) To the man himself. He is accused by his own conscience. Conscience will recognise the authority of God’s institutions, and the lazy man will be brought to feel that he is out of harmony with the Divine ordinations which govern the world. A time will come in his experience when he will feel the want of the material good, or of the knowledge, or of the favour of God, which he would have possessed if he had used his opportunities, and his poverty in one or all of these respects will make him ashamed when he compares himself with those who “gathered in summer.” (2)
It brings shame upon others. No man can suffer alone for his own sin. Those related to him suffer also in proportion to the nearness of their relationship and to the affection which they bear to him. The son who fritters away the season of youthful opportunity disgraces his parents. By-and-by he becomes a father, and his children partake of his shame. The whole subject reminds us that bare admission into the Divine family is not the end, but the beginning of a Divine life. There must be a “gathering” ever going on. “And beside this” (see Pro_10:1-4), “giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity” (2Pe_1:5-7).
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Look at the large harvest of opportunity in labouring for God. The great and diversified machinery of religious societies, needing direction and energy; the mass of fellow sinners around us, claiming our sympathy and helpfulness. “While we have time, let us do good” (Gal_6:10). How high is the privilege of gathering with Christ in such a harvest! (Mat_12:30). How great the shame of doing nothing, where there is so much to be done! What a harvest also is the present “accepted time” (2Co_6:2). Mark the abundance of the means of grace, the living verdure of the gospel. Can I bear the thought of that desponding cry of eternal remorse—“The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and I am not saved?” (Jer_8:20).—Bridges.
The opportunity is in all matters carefully to be observed. He gathereth in summer who, redeeming the time, maketh his best advantage of the season; for the summer is that fit season wherein the fruits are got into the barn for the whole year following. He that thus in due season provideth for his body or soul, is worthily called a son of understanding, or a wise man; for he hath not only prudently foreseen what is best to be done, but wisely took the occasioned offered unto his best advantage. On the contrary side, he sleepeth in harvest who fondly letteth slip the most convenient means or opportunity of doing or receiving good. Such a one is a son of confusion, that is to say, one that shall be ashamed or confounded, by reason of the want or misery whereunto he shall fall through his own folly.—Muffett.
The use of the word “son” in both clauses implies that the work of the vine-dresser and the plough had been done by the father. All that the son is called to do is to enter into the labours of others, and reap where they have sown.—Plumptre.
As the former verse commendeth labour and pains and therein diligence, so this commendeth the diligence of watchfulness, in taking opportunity and not omitting it. For there may be much labouring, but there will be little benefit, unless there be a gathering in summer. The taking of pains may show a mind to gather, but the unseasonableness of the pains will not show the wisdom of the mind.—Jermin.
I. God affords opportunities for good. In this view we may regard the whole period of life. 1. You are blessed with a season of gospel grace while many are sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death, upon you hath the light shined. 2. You have a season of civil and religious liberty. What advantage do we possess above many of our ancestors who suffered for conscience sake! They laboured, and we have entered into their labours. 3. Who has not experienced a day of trouble? 4. Where is the person who does not know what we mean by a season of conviction?
II. I would enforce upon you the necessity of diligence to improve your reaping season. 1. Consider how much you have to accomplish. The salvation of the soul is a great—an arduous concern. Religion is a race, and you must run; it is a warfare, and you must fight. The blessings of the gospel are free, but they are to be sought, and gained. 2. Consider the worth of the blessings which demand your attention.… Is it not desirable to be redeemed from the curse of the law; to be justified freely from every charge brought against us at the bar of God; to be delivered from the tyranny and rage of vicious appetites and passions? Great is the happiness of the good here; but who can describe the exalted glory and joy that await them hereafter? 3. Remember that your labour will not be in vain in the Lord. The husbandman has many uncertainties to contend with, but probability stimulates him; how much more should actual certainty encourage you. 4. Remember that your season for action is limited and short. Harvest does not last long. Your time is uncertain as well as short. 5. Reflect upon the consequences of negligence. Is a man blamed for sleeping in harvest? Does every one reproach him as a fool? You act a part more absurd and fatal, who neglect this great salvation. Having made no provision for eternity, your ruin is unavoidable. It will also be insupportable.—Jay.

Proverbs 10:6-7
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Pro_10:6-7; Pro_10:11
THE WAY TO PRESENT BLESSEDNESS AND FUTURE FAME
We connect the first and last of these verses, because the latter clause in both is the same.
I. Opposite characters revealed by a great contrast in speech (Pro_10:11). When a righteous man opens his mouth, it is as if the cover was removed from a pure, clear well of water. He has no evil intentions to conceal: his words are an index to his heart. By them men may read his thoughts with the same ease as they can see what is at the bottom of a clear spring of water. There is medicinal virtue in them—they heal as well as refresh the spirits of men. What a well of life have the words of Christ been for centuries to millions of the human race. But a wicked man cannot let all the thoughts of his heart be laid open to the light of day. His “mouth conceals injury” (see CRITICAL NOTES). He has plans which are not devised for the good of his fellow-creatures, and he must use his words not to reveal, but to hide what is in his mind. And if he lets his tongue loose, and permits his thoughts to flow out into words, they do not bless his hearers, but are like a poisonous stream, carrying moral death wherever they flow.
II. Character yields a present blessing or a present curse. “Blessings are upon the head of the righteous,” etc. A man’s present comfort within himself, and the inheritance of good-will he now receives from his fellow-men, as well as the favour of God, are all dependent upon what he is in his character. The kingdom of heaven is now inherited by him. All the beatitudes uttered by our Lord speak of a present blessedness. “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” etc. The opposite truth is not expressed, but it is implied. Curses, not blessings, are the present inheritance of the man whose “mouth is covered by violence.”
III. Character determines the nature of our future fame (Pro_10:7). 1. The memory of the righteous is blessed, because what they did upon the earth is the means of bringing blessings upon others after they are gone. Many a son has received kindness for the sake of the righteousness of his father. God blesses the children for the father’s sake. “I will make him prince all the days of his life for David my servant’s sake, whom I chose, because he kept my commandments and my statutes” (1Ki_11:34). “Fear not,” said God to Isaac, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake (Gen_26:24). Cyrus was raised up to deliver Israel for Jacob’s sake (Isa_45:4). Men can but bless the memory of those whose past godliness is the means of bringing blessings upon them in the present. 2. The just man’s memory is blessed because he leaves behind him reproductions of his own character. All life will reproduce itself. After a tree has decayed and gone to dust, others will be in full life and vigour that were seedlings of the old tree. Intellectual life is reproductive. The man of mighty genius leaves disciples to carry out his ideas after he is gone. Good men are the parents of good children, or make other men good by their words and lives. “They that dwell under his shadow shall return,” and “they shall grow as the vine” (Hos_14:7). The good must be held in blessed remembrance so long as there are those upon earth who are the reproductions of their character. 3. The memory of some is blessed because they did deeds which never can be reproduced by others—which have left a fragrance behind them which can never be repeated. The one act of Abraham, when he prepared to offer up Isaac at God’s command, can never be repeated; but is the one which, above all his other acts of faith, causes him to be held in everlasting remembrance. And so it has been with many of the leaders of the Church in all ages. They have performed acts of godly heroism which we cannot imitate, but of which we reap the reward, and for which we bless their memory. Especially is this true of Him who is pre-eminently the Holy One and the Just, whose glorious “name is blessed for ever” (Psa_72:19), because “He endured the cross and despised the shame.” But the converse of all this is the lot of the wicked. We can but remember them when we are brought face to face with the evil they have left behind them; but we turn from the remembrance as we turn from some offensive putrid object, while the memory of the just is as a sweet savour. Contrast the feelings with which Christendom now regards the emperors of Rome and the fishermen of Galilee.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_10:6. Not one, but many blessings are on the head of the righteous: the blessing of peace, the blessing of plenty, the blessing of health, and the blessing of grace, shall be upon them. The precious ointment of the Lord’s favour or blessing shall so be poured upon their heads as that it shall not here stay, but run down to the rest of the members of their bodies, and enter into their very hearts.—Muffet.
“Blessings:” not simply good things, but good things bestowed by another; not simply good things bestowed by another, but divinely bestowed as sacred
benedictions. “Blessings” are for the righteous exclusively; that is, for no one else. “For the head;” not the mouth, not the hand; because often without either’s agency. “On his head;” because unconsciously, and sometimes even when asleep.—Miller.
Pro_10:7. The memory of the just is blessed (1) because of his winning friendship; (2) because of his unfeigned piety; (3) because of his steadfast patience; (4) because of his noble, public-spirited activity.—Ziegler, from Lange’s Commentary.
And what signifies an empty name? It brings honour to God, and prolongs the influence of his good example who has left it. His good works not only follow him, but live behind him. As Jeroboam made Israel to sin after he was dead, so the good man helps to make others holy whilst he is lying in the grave. Should it so happen that his character is mistaken in the world, or should his name die out among men, it shall yet be had in everlasting remembrance before God; for never shall those names be erased from the Lamb’s book of life, which were written in it from the foundation of the world.—Lawson.
Not what he remembers, but what is remembered of him. He blesses after he is dead. So does the wicked, but, like most other growths in nature, by his decay. “Name;” that which is known of a man. The “name of God” is that which may be known of God. “The memory of the righteous,” viz., of the Church of God, is that which propagates her, and causes her to hand down her strength. Our walk about Zion, our telling her towers, our marking her bulwarks, is for this grand aim, among the rest, that we may tell to the generation following (Psa_48:12-13).—Miller.
I. The memory of the just is blessed, self-evidently so, for the mind blesses it and reverts to it with complacency, mingled with solemnity,—returns to it with delight from the sight of the living evil in the world, sometimes even prefers this silent society to the living good. They show in a most evident and pleasing manner the gracious connection which God has constantly maintained with a sinful world. His uninterrupted connection with it by justice and sovereign power has been manifest in mighty evidence: but His saints have been the peculiar illustration of His grace, His mercy, acting on this world. II. It is so, when we consider them as practical illustrations, verifying examples of the exellence of genuine religion; that it is a noble thing in human nature, and makes, and alone makes, that nature noble;—that, whatever scoffers may say, or the vain world pretend to disbelieve, here is what has made such men as nothing else, under heaven, could or can. III. Their memory is blessed while we regard them as diminishing to our view the repulsiveness and horror of death. Our Lord’s dying was the fact that threw out the mightiest agency to this effect. But, in their measure, His faithful disciples have done the same. When we contemplate them as having prepared for it with a calm resolution—as having approached it—multitudes with a calm resignation and fortitude, and very many with an animated exultation;—as having passed it, and emerged in brightness beyond its gloom—they seem to shine back through the gloom, and make the shade less thick. IV. It is blessed, also, as combined with the whole progress of God upon the earth,—with its living agency throughout every stage. He has never, and nowhere, had a visible cause in the world, without putting men in trust with it.… Think of what men have been employed and empowered to do in the propagation of truth, in the incessant warfare against evil, in the exemplification of all the virtues by which he could be honoured.—John Foster.
Pro_10:11. A Church is but a body of righteous men. What would the world do without the Church? The influences of a Church, and that a land is ruined without a Church, and that one generation hands on the worship of God to another, all are illustrations on a grand scale of how the mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life. A good man will constantly be doing good to others. But “wrong covers the mouth of the wicked,” so that he can give no blessing; so keeps him from any possible usefulness, that he cannot utter good, or make his mouth, as the righteous can, “a fountain of life” to all about him.—Miller.
In a hot summer’s day I was sailing with a friend in a tiny boat on a miniature lake, enclosed like a cup within a circle of steep, bare Scottish hills. On the shoulders of the brown, sun-burnt mountain, and full in sight, was a well, with a crystal stream trickling over its lip, and making its way down towards the lake. Around the well’s mouth, and along the course of the rivulet, a belt of green stood out in strong contrast with the iron surface of the rock all around. “What do you make of that?” said my friend, who had both an open eye to read the book of Nature and a heart all aglow with its lessons of love. We soon agreed as to what should be made of it. It did not need us to make it into anything. There it was, a legend clearly printed by the finger of God on the side of these silent hills, teaching the passer-by how needful a good man is, and how useful he may be in a desert world.… The Lord looks down, and men look up, expecting to see a fringe of living green around the lip of a Christian’s life-course.—Arnot.

Proverbs 10:8
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_10:8
THE DOER AND THE TALKER
I. A definition of a wise man. He is one that “will receive commandments.” The reception of commandments implies a commander, and a willingness to obey his laws. The wise man is willing to obey good laws even at the expense of some self-sacrifice, because he has a strong conviction of the benefits that will arise from submission. The laws which govern a well-ordered State will not be irksome to a right-minded citizen. He feels that submission to them will bring only comfort to him. The yoke will bring ease, and he proves that he is a wise man by accepting it. The commandments here are the commandments of Jehovah. He only is a truly wise man who is willing to submit his will to the Divine will, to take upon himself the yoke of Him whose “yoke is easy” (Mat_11:30), who is the Lawgiver who “makes free indeed” (Joh_8:36). He obeys His commandments from the full conviction of the benefits and blessings which flow from keeping them. He knows that the obedience must come before the comfort, that Incarnate Wisdom has placed the commandment first, and then the reward “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you” (Joh_15:14). He can say, from past experience concerning the Divine commands, “In keeping of them there is great reward” (Psa_19:11), and the blessedness that he has tasted he knows to be but the earnest of what is to be in the future, and therefore he is willing to sacrifice present advantage and worldly ease to obedience to them. He is like the trader who has received a sample of a rich cargo from a distant land, and who is so convinced of the value of the whole from that which has come to hand, that he is willing to undergo any present privation in order to become its possessor. The Son of God likened such an one to “a wise man, which built his house upon a rock,” for it is evident that to “receive” commandments is here equivalent to “doing” them (Mat_7:24).
II. A distinguishing mark of a fool. He is a prater. He is one who is willing to talk, but not to act; willing to give out words, but not to receive instruction; and therefore he is one who can give out nothing by speech that is worth giving. Unless the earth receives good seed into its bosom, it cannot give out “seed to the sower and bread to the eater. Unless a man receives into his heart the good seed of the kingdom, he can never bring forth moral fruit” (Mat_13:23), and he can never do more than prate about spiritual truths. There are many words but no meat. There is only one Being in the universe who can be a giver without first being a receiver, and that is God. Outside of Him, all must receive of His fulness if they would be anything more than mere talkers on eternal realities. All such men are fools. “Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?” (1Co_1:20.)
III. The end of such a mere talker. He shall fall. 1. In the estimation of those whom he pretends to instruct. No men are so prone to assume the office of instructors as men who are ignorant, but such men cannot long hold a place in the estimation of others. 2. He shall fall into deeper folly. Those who refuse to receive that Divine commandment which will make them truly wise, must sink lower and lower in sinful folly. The longer he refuses the offered wisdom, and refuses to put his neck under the yoke of God’s commandments, the heavier will grow the chains of sinful habit, and the more firmly will they be riveted. 3. He shall fall into righteous retribution. This will be proportionate to the opportunities he has had of receiving wisdom. “And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell” (Mat_11:23).
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
A fool is in nothing sooner and better recognised than in his conversation.—Geier.
It is striking how often Solomon dwells upon sins of the tongue; no member is so hard to control; none more surely indicates the man.—Fausset.
The heart is the seat of true wisdom, and a teachable spirit is the best proof of its influence. For who that knows himself would not be thankful for further light. No sooner, therefore, do the commandments come down from heaven, than the well-instructed Christian receives them, like his father Abraham (Heb_11:8, Gen_22:1-3), with undisputing simplicity; welcomes the voice of his heavenly teacher (1Sa_3:10, Act_10:33, Psa_27:8; Psa_143:10), and when he knows that “it is the Lord, girds himself” with all the ardour of the disciple to be found at his feet (Joh_21:2-7). But look at the professor of religion destitute of this heart-seated wisdom. We find him a man of creeds and doctrines, not of prayer; asking curious questions rather than listening to plain truths; wanting to know events rather than duties; occupied with other men’s business to the neglect of his own (
Luk_13:23-24; 1Ti_5:13).—Bridges.
It is one of the marks of true wisdom, and none of the least, that it is not self-sufficient and self-willed. This is the evident import of the former part of this verse. We might consider the disposition in reference both to God and to men—to the Supreme Ruler and Lord of the conscience,—and to existing human authorities. The “wise in heart will receive” God’s “commandments.” This, true wisdom will do implicitly. It will never presume on dictating to God, or on altering and amending His prescriptions; but, proceeding on the self-evident principle that the dictates of Divine Wisdom must in all cases be perfect, will bow in instant acquiescence. With regard also to earthly superiors, a humble submission to legitimate authority, both in the family and in the State, is the province of wisdom. There is a self-conceit that spurns at all such authority. It talks as if it would legislate for all nations. It would give commandments rather than receive them. It likes not being dictated to. It plumes itself on its skill in finding fault. There is no rule prescribed at which it does not carp, no proposal in which it does not see something not to its mind, no order in which it does not find something to which it cannot submit. This is folly, for, were this temper of mind prevalent, there would be an end to all subordination and control. The prating fool, or the fool of lips, may be understood in two ways. First, the self-conceited are generally superficial. There is much talk and little substance: words without sense: plenty of tongue, but a lack of wit. Light matter floats on the surface, and appears to all; what is solid and precious lies at the bottom. The foam is on the face of the waters; the pearl is below. Or, secondly, the reference may be to the bluster of insubordination; the loud protestations and boasting of his independence on the part of a man who resists authority, and determines to be “a law to himself.”—Wardlaw.
The word “commandments” (E. V.), might often be translated “laws.” One set of passages would just change words with another. The word translated “commandments” means primarily “something fixed.” It answers to the New Testament “law” (Rom_8:3), and is adapted to the reasonings of the apostles. “He of the wise heart” means the truly wise. He of the fool heart might seem good for the rest of the sentence. But a deep philosophy reminds the inspired man that men are not such fools as to believe in sin, as the pardoned Christian does in holiness. They know a great deal more than they either act or utter. A vast deal of the worldliness of men is a mere lip service, like that to the Almighty. And, knowing that the lost man is aware of his perdition, and has been told his folly, the proverb does not account him a fool in his deep sense, so much as superficially, and in the mad actings of his folly. In his heart he knows he is deceived. In his lips he is constantly deceiving himself. In his acts he keeps up a fictitious life.—Miller.

Proverbs 10:9-10
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_10:9. Be known, i.e., “be made known,” or, discovered.
Pro_10:11. For second clause, see on Pro_10:6.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH—Pro_10:9-10
OPPOSITE CHARACTERS
I. He who walketh uprightly. 1. Is a restorer of an ancient path. The way of uprightness is much older than the human race, and was originally the only way Known in the universe to intelligent and moral creatures. Uprightness is as old as God. Crooked walking is of the creature and but of yesterday compared with uprightness. He who walks uprightly is a restorer of the breach made in heaven, and re-establishes the old paths (Jer_6:16) of righteousness upon earth. The way of uprightness was the way in which man walked in Eden. In Eden also man lost this way by entering the by-path of transgression and thus ceased to walk with God. The man that walks uprightly is a restorer of man’s ancient dignity as a walker with God. He shall “be called a repairer of the breach, a restorer of paths to dwell in” (Isa_58:12). A man who reopened up some ancient and important highway to a great city would be regarded by the citizens as a benefactor; how much more ought he to be held in esteem whose life reveals this ancient highway of holiness, who by his uprightness becomes himself a way to others. 2. He obeys an ancient command. “When Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me and be thou perfect”—upright (Gen_17:1). Often the great want of a partially-civilised country is a straight and level road, by which commerce can easily find its way to the central city, and a royal edict is sometimes issued that such a road should be made. The great want of the world in the day when this command was given to Abram was an example of uprightness in a human life. The need of the world in this direction is still great, and the ancient command given to the patriarch is still in force. 3. His walking is not limited to the present life. He walks in the same way after death as before it. “He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness” (Isa_57:2). Heaven has no better way of walking than the way of uprightness, and death will not make any change in the moral characteristics of the godly man, except to intensify and strengthen them. The death of the seed-corn will not be the means of giving birth to a different kind of seed, but only of making an increase of the same kind. Death is needful, not to change one thing for another, but to make much out of little. Death will bring heaven to the godly and upright, but it can give nothing to an upright man better than his uprightness, but this it can do, it can render him more entirely and completely upright. Hence the path of the upright is a path which death cannot end—a path which, begun to be trodden in time, will be continued in throughout eternity. The happiness of the human creatures who make up a family, or a larger community, will depend very much upon the uprightness of each member. Heaven’s blessedness springs from the perfectly upright character of each citizen of that perfect city. 4. His upright walk is sure, or safe, because it is preservative of character. Uprightness is to character what salt is to food. He who walks uprightly can never become less godly and righteous, but must of necessity become more and more so; hence the Psalmist’s prayer, “Let integrity and uprightness preserve me” (Psa_25:21).
II. Two phases of character are placed in contrast to that of the upright man. 1. That of the man whose evil nature does not lie entirely upon the surface. “He that perverteth his ways” and yet endeavours to cloak his perversion, to hide his wrong-doing. The “winking of the eye” mentioned in Pro_10:10 indicates an effort after concealment. Those who “pervert” their ways pervert nature in order to attain their ends. The eye is intended by God to be a revelation of the soul, and where integrity and sincerity dwells, it is so. But he who walks crookedly or perversely makes an unnatural use of his eye, and by means of it endeavours to work ill to his neighbour. But all his efforts at concealment will at some time or other be ineffectual; the very means he uses to conceal his evil plans may be the means of awakening suspicion. And if he succeeds in blinding the eyes of his fellow men, “the Lord will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts” (1Co_4:5). The day of judgment will reveal the guilty secrets of many who have never yet—nor ever will be until that day—fully “known.” 2. That of him whose perversity is manifest to all. The “prating fool” cannot conceal what he is. Upon him and upon his destiny, see Homiletics and Suggestive Comments on Pro_10:8.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_10:9. An upright walk is Christian, not sinless, perfection (Job_1:8); “walking before God,” not before men (Gen_17:1). Impurity, indeed, defiles the holiest exercise. But if the will be rightly bent, the integrity will be maintained. “Show me an easier path,” is Nature’s cry. “Show me,” cries the child of God, “a sure path.”—Bridges.
To walk uprightly, or to walk in integrity, means to act according to one complete scheme: not as the fool does (Pro_10:8), behaving one way and believing another. It means to aim for “something stable” (chap. Pro_2:7); and hence, of course, not to lay our plans so that we ourselves know they must ultimately fail. He walks surely or securely, i.e., must certainly succeed.—Miller.
The dissembler walks in crooked paths. Like Judas, who put on a cloak of charity to hide his covetousness (Joh_12:6), he conceals the selfish principles which regulate his behaviour under the appearances of piety, prudence, and other good qualities. But he cannot hold the mantle so tight about him as to conceal from the wise observer his inward baseness. It will occasionally be shuffled aside, it will at length drop off, and he shall be known for what he is, abhorred by all men, and punished with other hypocrites.—Lawson.
Walking uprightly stands opposed to all duplicity, all tortuous policy, all the crooked arts of manœuvering, for the purpose of promoting reputation, interest, comfort, or any other end whatsoever. He who walketh thus, walketh surely. He walks with a comfortable feeling of security, a calm, unagitated serenity of mind. This springs from confidence in that God whose will he makes his only rule. In the path of implicit obedience he feels that he can trust. And further, the way in which he walks is the surest for the attainment of his ends. Proverbs are generally founded in observation and experience, and express their ascertained results. Hence, even though not inspired, they have generally truth in them. It has become proverbial that “honesty is the best policy.” The meaning is, that acts of deceit very frequently frustrate the object of him by whom they are employed, and land him in evils greater than the one he meant, by the use of them, to shun.—
Wardlaw.
First—the heart of the upright man hath God’s own eye to behold it, and His Spirit to testify the faithfulness of it, and so receiveth comfort from Him, as Job did, when in the confidence of his cause and conscience he saith, “O that some would hear me, behold my desire is that the Almighty would answer me” (Job_31:35). Secondly, the course of their actions is such as will endure light, and the more they are examined the better they will prove, and therefore they need not fear any might or malice, or cunning adversaries that shall seek their disgrace. And upon the assurance of this the prophet professeth his undaunted courage and magnanimity, with challenge also to his calumniant enemy, whosoever he were, “I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. He is near that justifieth me,” etc. (Isa_50:7-8.) Thirdly, their bodies and state are in God’s custody, and He hath undertaken the defence and preservation of them, whereas the wicked are out of God’s protection and perpetually go into peril. Fourthly, their souls are prepared for death and for judgment, and therefore more desire to be dissolved than are afraid to hear of the nearness of their dissolution.—Dod.
I. An upright walker is sure of easily finding his way: it requires no laborious dealing to find out what is just. II. He treads upon firm ground; upon solid, safe, and well-tried principles.… The practice built on such foundations must be very secure. III. He walks steadily. A good conscience steers by fixed stars, and aims at fixed marks. An upright man is always the same man, and goes the same way; the external state of things does not alter the moral reason of things with him, or change the law of God.—Sydney Smith.
I. The way of uprightness is the surest for despatch, and the shortest cut towards the execution or attainment of any good purpose, securing a man from irksome expectations and tedious delays. II. It is fair and pleasant. He that walketh in it hath good weather and a clear sky about him; a hopeful confidence and a cheerful satisfaction do ever wait upon him. Being conscious to himself of an honest meaning, and a due course in prosecuting it, he feeleth no check or struggling of mind: no regret or sting of heart. III. He is secure of his honour and credit. He hath no fear of being detected, or care to smother his intents. IV. He hath perfect security as to the final result of his affairs, that he shall not be quite baffled in his expectations and desires. He shall prosper in the true notion of prosperity, explained by that Divine saying, “Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace.”—Barrow.
Pro_10:10. The connection of the clauses is—to speak feignedly and to speak rashly are both alike dangerous: to do the former hurts others, to do the latter hurts oneself. When we avoid cunning and feigned speaking, we are not to run into the opposite extremes of prating folly.—Fausset.
The one shuts his eye to conceal his subtlety, the other opens his mouth to declare his folly. The one winketh, but sayeth nothing; the other says too much, but thinketh not what he says. The one giveth sorrow to the deceived in his malicious bounty; the other taketh a fall from the superfluous bounty of his own words.—Jermin.

Proverbs 10:11
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Pro_10:6-7; Pro_10:11
THE WAY TO PRESENT BLESSEDNESS AND FUTURE FAME
We connect the first and last of these verses, because the latter clause in both is the same.
I. Opposite characters revealed by a great contrast in speech (Pro_10:11). When a righteous man opens his mouth, it is as if the cover was removed from a pure, clear well of water. He has no evil intentions to conceal: his words are an index to his heart. By them men may read his thoughts with the same ease as they can see what is at the bottom of a clear spring of water. There is medicinal virtue in them—they heal as well as refresh the spirits of men. What a well of life have the words of Christ been for centuries to millions of the human race. But a wicked man cannot let all the thoughts of his heart be laid open to the light of day. His “mouth conceals injury” (see CRITICAL NOTES). He has plans which are not devised for the good of his fellow-creatures, and he must use his words not to reveal, but to hide what is in his mind. And if he lets his tongue loose, and permits his thoughts to flow out into words, they do not bless his hearers, but are like a poisonous stream, carrying moral death wherever they flow.
II. Character yields a present blessing or a present curse. “Blessings are upon the head of the righteous,” etc. A man’s present comfort within himself, and the inheritance of good-will he now receives from his fellow-men, as well as the favour of God, are all dependent upon what he is in his character. The kingdom of heaven is now inherited by him. All the beatitudes uttered by our Lord speak of a present blessedness. “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” etc. The opposite truth is not expressed, but it is implied. Curses, not blessings, are the present inheritance of the man whose “mouth is covered by violence.”
III. Character determines the nature of our future fame (Pro_10:7). 1. The memory of the righteous is blessed, because what they did upon the earth is the means of bringing blessings upon others after they are gone. Many a son has received kindness for the sake of the righteousness of his father. God blesses the children for the father’s sake. “I will make him prince all the days of his life for David my servant’s sake, whom I chose, because he kept my commandments and my statutes” (1Ki_11:34). “Fear not,” said God to Isaac, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake (Gen_26:24). Cyrus was raised up to deliver Israel for Jacob’s sake (Isa_45:4). Men can but bless the memory of those whose past godliness is the means of bringing blessings upon them in the present. 2. The just man’s memory is blessed because he leaves behind him reproductions of his own character. All life will reproduce itself. After a tree has decayed and gone to dust, others will be in full life and vigour that were seedlings of the old tree. Intellectual life is reproductive. The man of mighty genius leaves disciples to carry out his ideas after he is gone. Good men are the parents of good children, or make other men good by their words and lives. “They that dwell under his shadow shall return,” and “they shall grow as the vine” (Hos_14:7). The good must be held in blessed remembrance so long as there are those upon earth who are the reproductions of their character. 3. The memory of some is blessed because they did deeds which never can be reproduced by others—which have left a fragrance behind them which can never be repeated. The one act of Abraham, when he prepared to offer up Isaac at God’s command, can never be repeated; but is the one which, above all his other acts of faith, causes him to be held in everlasting remembrance. And so it has been with many of the leaders of the Church in all ages. They have performed acts of godly heroism which we cannot imitate, but of which we reap the reward, and for which we bless their memory. Especially is this true of Him who is pre-eminently the Holy One and the Just, whose glorious “name is blessed for ever” (Psa_72:19), because “He endured the cross and despised the shame.” But the converse of all this is the lot of the wicked. We can but remember them when we are brought face to face with the evil they have left behind them; but we turn from the remembrance as we turn from some offensive putrid object, while the memory of the just is as a sweet savour. Contrast the feelings with which Christendom now regards the emperors of Rome and the fishermen of Galilee.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_10:6. Not one, but many blessings are on the head of the righteous: the blessing of peace, the blessing of plenty, the blessing of health, and the blessing of grace, shall be upon them. The precious ointment of the Lord’s favour or blessing shall so be poured upon their heads as that it shall not here stay, but run down to the rest of the members of their bodies, and enter into their very hearts.—Muffet.
“Blessings:” not simply good things, but good things bestowed by another; not simply good things bestowed by another, but divinely bestowed as sacred benedictions. “Blessings” are for the righteous exclusively; that is, for no one else. “For the head;” not the mouth, not the hand; because often without either’s agency. “On his head;” because unconsciously, and sometimes even when asleep.—Miller.
Pro_10:7. The memory of the just is blessed (1) because of his winning friendship; (2) because of his unfeigned piety; (3) because of his steadfast patience; (4) because of his noble, public-spirited activity.—Ziegler, from Lange’s Commentary.
And what signifies an empty name? It brings honour to God, and prolongs the influence of his good example who has left it. His good works not only follow him, but live behind him. As Jeroboam made Israel to sin after he was dead, so the good man helps to make others holy whilst he is lying in the grave. Should it so happen that his character is mistaken in the world, or should his name die out among men, it shall yet be had in everlasting remembrance before God; for never shall those names be erased from the Lamb’s book of life, which were written in it from the foundation of the world.—Lawson.
Not what he remembers, but what is remembered of him. He blesses after he is dead. So does the wicked, but, like most other growths in nature, by his decay. “Name;” that which is known of a man. The “name of God” is that which may be known of God. “The memory of the righteous,” viz., of the Church of God, is that which propagates her, and causes her to hand down her strength. Our walk about Zion, our telling her towers, our marking her bulwarks, is for this grand aim, among the rest, that we may tell to the generation following (
Psa_48:12-13).—Miller.
I. The memory of the just is blessed, self-evidently so, for the mind blesses it and reverts to it with complacency, mingled with solemnity,—returns to it with delight from the sight of the living evil in the world, sometimes even prefers this silent society to the living good. They show in a most evident and pleasing manner the gracious connection which God has constantly maintained with a sinful world. His uninterrupted connection with it by justice and sovereign power has been manifest in mighty evidence: but His saints have been the peculiar illustration of His grace, His mercy, acting on this world. II. It is so, when we consider them as practical illustrations, verifying examples of the exellence of genuine religion; that it is a noble thing in human nature, and makes, and alone makes, that nature noble;—that, whatever scoffers may say, or the vain world pretend to disbelieve, here is what has made such men as nothing else, under heaven, could or can. III. Their memory is blessed while we regard them as diminishing to our view the repulsiveness and horror of death. Our Lord’s dying was the fact that threw out the mightiest agency to this effect. But, in their measure, His faithful disciples have done the same. When we contemplate them as having prepared for it with a calm resolution—as having approached it—multitudes with a calm resignation and fortitude, and very many with an animated exultation;—as having passed it, and emerged in brightness beyond its gloom—they seem to shine back through the gloom, and make the shade less thick. IV. It is blessed, also, as combined with the whole progress of God upon the earth,—with its living agency throughout every stage. He has never, and nowhere, had a visible cause in the world, without putting men in trust with it.… Think of what men have been employed and empowered to do in the propagation of truth, in the incessant warfare against evil, in the exemplification of all the virtues by which he could be honoured.—John Foster.
Pro_10:11. A Church is but a body of righteous men. What would the world do without the Church? The influences of a Church, and that a land is ruined without a Church, and that one generation hands on the worship of God to another, all are illustrations on a grand scale of how the mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life. A good man will constantly be doing good to others. But “wrong covers the mouth of the wicked,” so that he can give no blessing; so keeps him from any possible usefulness, that he cannot utter good, or make his mouth, as the righteous can, “a fountain of life” to all about him.—Miller.
In a hot summer’s day I was sailing with a friend in a tiny boat on a miniature lake, enclosed like a cup within a circle of steep, bare Scottish hills. On the shoulders of the brown, sun-burnt mountain, and full in sight, was a well, with a crystal stream trickling over its lip, and making its way down towards the lake. Around the well’s mouth, and along the course of the rivulet, a belt of green stood out in strong contrast with the iron surface of the rock all around. “What do you make of that?” said my friend, who had both an open eye to read the book of Nature and a heart all aglow with its lessons of love. We soon agreed as to what should be made of it. It did not need us to make it into anything. There it was, a legend clearly printed by the finger of God on the side of these silent hills, teaching the passer-by how needful a good man is, and how useful he may be in a desert world.… The Lord looks down, and men look up, expecting to see a fringe of living green around the lip of a Christian’s life-course.—Arnot.

Proverbs 10:12
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_10:12
LOVE AND HATRED
The lawfulness or unlawfulness of hatred and strife depends upon the subject or occasion of such feeling. God hates sin, and we know that this hatred is the fruit of one of His highest attributes. The divine and Incarnate Son of God foretold that He had not “come to send peace on earth, but a sword” (Mat_10:34), and therefore even He was an occasion of strife because He was a hater of sin. There is then a holy as well as a wicked hatred, a lawful as well as an unlawful strife. But the hatred of the text being placed in contrast with love is evidently the malicious hatred of a wicked man.
I. The hatred of the wicked is— 1. Insatiable. It has been said that those who hate have first injured. This is doubtless true, but there must have been some amount of hatred to prompt the injury. But after the injury has been inflicted, the hatred is not diminished, but is generally increased. Herodias prevailed upon Herod to put John the Baptist into prison, but this did not lessen her malice. It was such a devouring flame as could be quenched by nothing but his blood. The pain which conscience inflicts upon him who has injured another is put to the account of the injured person, and goes to increase the bitterness of the anger against him. 2. It is generally impartial. Wicked men generally begin by hating good men, but they come in time to a habit of hating bad men too. The blind man will be as likely to strike his friend as his foe. Hatred is blind, and those who begin by hating those whom they consider their enemies, generally end by hating their so-called friends.
II. The effect of hatred. It stirs up strife. This implies that the materials for strife are already in existence. There are no signs of mud upon the surface of a peaceful lake, but it only requires some disturbing element to be thrown in to show that it is lying at the bottom. The spirit of the most sanctified man has some evil tendencies within it, which may be stirred up by undeserved hatred. Only One who ever wore our human nature had within Him no germ of strife which might be stirred up by hatred. Only One could say that temptation found “nothing” in Him (Joh_14:13). The elements which may be stirred up to strife have a lodging place in the most sanctified human spirit, and when strife is thus stirred up by hatred the whole soul or the whole society is influenced for evil. When the lake is stirred up from the bottom all the waters are more or less troubled, and when the elements of contention are at work even in a good man or in a Christian community the whole man or the entire community is ruffled and disturbed. In contrast with this hatred, which is not only sin in itself but, by stirring up strife, is the occasion of sin in others, is placed the love which “covereth” or does away with sin.
I. Love covers sin by forgiving it. Malicious hatred, even when it is directed against sin, will but incite to more sin. But forgiveness of the sin may lead to its being forsaken, and the mere fact of being forgiven may give the sinner an impulse after a better life in the future, and thus enable him to efface the remembrance of the past. If a man is deeply in debt to another, and that other gives him a discharge of his debt, the very fact of his being legally free may give him such new energy to work as may enable him to pay that which he owed. And a sense of being forgiven a moral debt will sometimes have this effect upon the soul. God’s covering up of sin by forgiveness is the beginning of a new life to those who are willing to accept His pardon (Psa_32:1; 1Jn_1:7).
II. Love covers sin by forgetting it. It is in the nature of love not only to forgive an injury, but to forget that the injury has ever been done. And a consciousness that our sin is covered by being forgotten is very healing to the spirit. For a soul that has lived a sinful life is like a man that has passed through a campaign and received many wounds. He requires skilful treatment and gentle nursing; and when the wounds have been bound up, and have, perhaps, begun to heal, care must be taken that no rough hand re-opens them, and causes them to bleed afresh. A word spoken which shows that the sinful past is still remembered by those who have professed to forgive, may re-open old wounds with a fatal effect. Love covers sin as God declares that He covers it. His promise is not only “I will forgive their iniquity,” but, “I will remember their sin no more” (Jer_31:34).
III. Love covers sin by making active efforts to recover the sinner. Love will not be content with forgiving when forgiveness is sought, but it will go out of its way to recover the erring. The godly man will walk in the foot-steps of Him who came to seek that which was lost. God did not wait until man returned to Him before He held out hope of forgiveness. As soon as Satan’s hatred had led man into sin, He held out hope of return to holiness by the promise of Him who “Should bruise the serpent’s head” (Gen_3:15). And in the fulness of time, by the gift of His Son, He showed the depth of His love and His desire to cover the “sin of the world.” And as in many human homes there are those who owe their present moral standing, the recovery of all that makes existence worth having, to the love that followed and sought them when they were outcasts, so those who people the heavenly home—that multitude which God alone can number—are the fruit of that Divine love which not only covered a multitude of sins by forgiving and forgetting the sin, but sought out the sinner in order to forgive him.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
“Love covereth all sins,” saith Solomon, covers them partly from the eyes of God, in praying for the offenders; partly from the eyes of the world, in throwing a cloak over our brother’s nakedness; especially from its own eyes, by winking at many wrongs offered it.—T. Adams.
Hatred disturbs the existing quiet by railings; stirs up dormant quarrels on mere suspicions and trifles, and by unfavourable constructions put upon everything, even upon acts of kindness. As hatred by quarrels exposes the faults of others, so “love covers” them, except in so far as brotherly correction requires their exposure. Love condones, yea, takes no notice of a friend’s errors. The disagreements which hatred stirs up, love allays; and the offences which are usually the causes of quarrel, it sees as though it saw them not, and excuses them (
1Co_13:4-7). It gives to men the forgiveness which it daily craves from God.—Fausset.
To abuse the precept in 1Pe_4:8 (where this text is quoted) into a warrant for silencing all faithful reproofs of sin in others, would be to ascribe to charity the office of a procuress.—Cartwright.
First, it makes us to cover and pardon the wrongs that others do us. Secondly, a loving carriage maketh others pardon the wrongs that we do them. Thirdly, it maketh God to pardon the offences which we commit against Him.—Jermin.

Proverbs 10:13-14
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_10:14. Lay up, literally, “conceal,” i.e., “husband the knowledge and understanding which they possess for the right time and place, do not squander it in unreasonable talk or babbling” (Zöckler). Near destruction, rather, is a near destruction, i.e., “is a quickly destroying agency” (Lange’s Commentary).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Pro_10:13-14
LAYING UP TO GIVE OUT
I. The practice of the morally wise man. He “lays up knowledge” (Pro_10:14). The present position of a man in social life is often the result of a “laying up” in the past. The man who has made it the business of his past life to lay up money is now a rich man. His present wealth arises from his past storing. An artificer or professional man who laid up knowledge in his youthful days is able to command a good position in his mature life. But there are differences between those who lay up riches, or mere intellectual wisdom, and him who stores moral wisdom—the only real and lasting wealth. 1. The man spoken of in the text lays up that which is truly his own now, and will be throughout eternity. The riches of godly wisdom are not transferable either before or at the time of death. Material wealth may go at any time in our life, and must be left behind when we leave the world. And while we call it ours it is but lent us by God. He takes a wider range, and lays up for a life beyond time, and what he lays up now will make him what he will be in the ages beyond death. He is determined to be crowned rich towards God in the day when he shall be summoned to appear and give an account of his stewardship. Most men are layers up of riches and knowledge in a greater or less degree. The truly wise man banks for moral character, and intends to be considered rich in the city of God.
II. It is because spiritual knowledge is laid up that “wisdom is found in the lips” (Pro_10:13). The possession of wealth or of intellectual knowledge is no guarantee that wisdom will be found with it. A rich man may not know how to use his riches to the best advantage. He might know how to gather it, but may not know how to spend it for his own good. A man may gather much intellectual knowledge without being able to make it profitable, or a source of enjoyment either to himself or others. A man may be able to gather timber and stones together and yet not know how to build a house out of them after he has gathered them. A housewife may collect a store of wool and stuffs, but not be skilful enough to fashion the materials into garments for herself and her household. So knowledge, in its general sense, is not necessarily accompanied by wisdom; but spiritual knowledge and spiritual wisdom are never separated. The one is always joined to the other. Where there is a laying up of the knowledge of God, there wisdom will be found. No man can truly know God and not have wisdom enough to reduce his knowledge to practice in the building up of a godly character. Where knowledge is in the heart there will be wisdom in the lips and life.
III. This knowledge and wisdom will be used for the benefit of others. It will be found in the lips. The man who is “instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old” (Mat_13:52). He has a store, from which he draws according to the need of those whom his words can benefit. His instructions are like the viands of the thrifty housewife, stored up in abundance against the time of need, and suited, both as to quantity and quality, to the wants of the needy soul (Pro_10:21).
IV. The influence and the fate of him who refuses to lay up knowledge. His mouth is a near destruction (see rendering in CRITICAL NOTES). The man who refuses to lay up the knowledge of some calling or profession is both a fool and a knave, because by such neglect he makes himself dependent when he might be independent, and because he eats the bread earned by industrious men. How much more foolish is he who will not lay up that by which he may acquire a character which would make him an equal with the angels of God. But his neglect injures others beside himself. He wrongs his fellow-men by withholding his influence from the side of that which is righteous, and consequently defrauds the world of that which it is the duty of every man to give it. But he does not stop here. (1) He adds the positive evil influence of sinful words. The Bible speaks often of the evil influence of sinful speech. It likens it to the poison of venomous reptiles (see Psa_58:4; Psa_140:3; Jas_3:8). But these creatures can only destroy the body, whereas the fool’s mouth is often a destruction to both body and soul. (On this subject see homiletical remarks on chapter Pro_1:12). (2) But he is a curse to his own existence as well as to that of others. That which is a destruction to them makes a rod for his own back (Pro_10:13). Such a man’s mouth utters falsehood and slander by which he creates enemies without. That which he speaks brings guilt upon his conscience, which becomes an instrument of chastisement within. And a guilty conscience creates imaginary enemies as well as keeps us in remembrance of real ones. An old writer says, “The guilty conscience conceives every thistle to be a tree, every tree a man, every man a devil,—afraid of every man that it sees, nay, many times of those that it sees not. Not much unlike to one that was very deep in debt and had many creditors, who, as he walked London streets in the evening, a tenter-hook caught his cloak. ‘At whose suit?’ said he, conceiving some sergeant had arrested him. Thus the ill-conscienced man counts every creature he meets with a bailiff sent from God to punish him.” Such a conscience is indeed a “rod for the fool’s back” (chap. Pro_26:3).
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_10:13. Through the lips of the Christian other men get wisdom. If we will think of it, men get it in no other way. “Faith cometh by hearing” (Rom_10:17). The Church hands itself down, by the blessing of heaven, from lip to lip. But then from the same lips comes a rod. The good man, not listened to, becomes a scourge. Christ Himself becomes an instrument of death.—Miller.
Solomon and his son admirably illustrate this contrast. Such wisdom was found in his lips, the fruit of an understanding heart, that “all the world came to hear of it” (1Ki_4:31). Rehoboam was as void, as his father was full, of understanding. His folly prepared a rod for his back (1Ki_12:13-24). Learn then to seek for wisdom at the lips of the wise. The want of this wisdom, or rather the want of a heart to seek it, will surely bring us under the rod. In many a chastisement we shall feel its smart; for the loose education of our children (chap. Pro_29:15); for carnal indulgence (2Sa_12:9-11). And how different is this rod from our Father’s loving chastisement. That, the seal of our adoption (chap. Pro_3:11-12); this, the mark of disgrace. Will not the children of God cry, “Turn away the reproach that I fear, for Thy judgments are good” (Psa_119:39).—Bridges.
The wise man carries the ornament of his wisdom in his lips; the fool shall bear the disgrace of his folly on his back.—Fausset.
He who trembleth not in hearing shall be broken to pieces in feeling.—Bradford.
The dwelling of wisdom is in the heart, but there it is hid; in the lips it is found. There it sitteth, like an ancient Israelite, at the gates of the city, marking what goes out, and weighs it before it passeth, that nothing issue forth which may disparage the honour or wrong the estate of the city. There shall folly find it, as smart and heavy in the reproof of it as a rod is to the back, and which is fit for him whose tongue is void of understanding. For it is reason that his back should bear, whose tongue will not forbear.—Jermin.
Pro_10:14. To “lay up” knowledge very obviously implies that value is set upon it. Men never think of seeking and accumulating what they regard as worthless; and in proportion as an object is prized will be the degree of eagerness with which it is pursued, and of jealous vigilance, with which it is “laid up” and guarded. Thus the miser. With what an eye of restlessness and eager covetousness does he look after the acquisition of his heart’s desires! with what delight does he hug himself upon his success!—with what avidity does he add the increase to his treasures, carefully secreting them from all access but his own! With a care incomparably more dignified and useful how does the man of science mark and record every fact and observation, whether of his own discovery and suggestion or of those of others! How he exults in every new acquisition to his stores! He lays all up in his mind, or, fearful of a treacherous memory, in surer modes of record and preservation. Hints that lead to nothing at the time may lead to much afterwards. Some one in another generation may carry out into practical application, or into the formation of valuable theories, the facts and conjectures that are now, in apparent isolation, “laid up” for such possible future use. The true philosopher, to use a colloquial phrase, “has all his eyes about him.” He allows nothing to escape notice, and nothing, if he can help it, to pass into oblivion. But, alas! in this respect, as in others, “the children of this world are, in their generation, wiser than the children of light.”—Wardlaw.
Who would not heedfully foresee where his arrow shall hit, before he shoots it out of his bow; lest it should destroy any person or other creature through negligence? Who would not be very circumspect and wary in discharging a piece, lest he should do mischief by it? And yet, by these, a man may affright, and not hurt; and hurt, and not kill; and kill, and not die himself; but what arrow, what shot, what artillery, what murdering piece is to be compared to the mouth of a man that is not guided by a wise and watchful forethought? Great woe it worketh unto other men, but it surely bringeth death unto himself; every word that breaketh another man’s skin doth certainly break the caul of his own heart; and he that doth aim at another to give him a wound, cannot miss himself to violate his own life.—
Dod.
The part of wisdom is to treasure up experience, and hold it ready for use in the time and the place of need. Everything may be turned to account. In the process of accumulating this species of wealth, the wonders of the philosopher’s stone may be more than realised. Even losses can be converted into gains. Every mistake or disappointment is a new lesson. Every fault you commit, and every glow of shame which suffuses your face because of it, may be changed into a most valuable piece of wisdom. Let nothing trickle out, and flow away useless. After one has bought wit at a heavy price, it is a double misfortune to throw it away. As a general rule, the dearer it is the more useful it will be.—Arnot.

Proverbs 10:15-16
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_10:16. Labour, i.e., “the gain,” “the reward of labour.” Fruit, “gain,” antithetical to the subject of the first clause.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH—Pro_10:15-16
A FALSE AND A TRUE ESTIMATE OF LIFE
I. A false estimate of life in its relation to riches. It is a mistake to look on wealth as a “strong city” in which we can be secure from the evils of life. A commander, who knows that there is behind him a fortress into which he can retire in case of need, may be brought to ruin by forming an over-estimate of its security. He may underrate the ability of the enemy to follow him thither. Strongholds have been undermined, and those who had trusted in their strength have been destroyed by that very confidence; or pestilence has broken out on account of the number who have taken refuge in the fortress, and so that which they deemed their strength has been their weakness. These events have proved that the estimate taken of their safety was a wrong one—that even the refuge itself might be a cause of destruction. So with a “rich man’s wealth.” If he looks upon it as a resource under all emergencies—if he thinks it can purchase him immunity from all ills—he is a terrible self-deceiver. Wealth cannot drive back disease; nothing can keep death from storming his stronghold; and sometimes a single day brings together such an army of adverse circumstances that the strong city goes down before it, and is never rebuilt, or the very refuge itself is the cause of moral ruin. Therefore “Let not the rich man glory in his riches” (Jer_9:23).
II. A false estimate of life in relation to poverty. It is a mistake also to look on poverty as a “destruction.” If the rich man errs on the side of excessive confidence, the poor man errs on that of fearfulness. He should remember—1. That the blessedness of life here does not consist in what a man has, but in what he is. Wealth may be a curse to existence, and so may poverty, but a good conscience, a godly character, is a continual feast. And it is quite as easy, perhaps more so, to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God in poverty as in wealth. “A man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth” (Luk_12:15). This is the declaration of Him who created man, and who, therefore, knows his needs. The poor are the objects of His special regard. “Hath not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them that love Him? (Jas_2:5). 2. He should keep in mind the day of levelling and compensation. “Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things, but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented” (Luk_16:25).
III. A right estimate of that which constitutes life, viz., righteous labour. (Pro_10:16.) The first clause of this verse suggests (1) that there can be no true life without righteousness; (2) that righteousness must show that it exists by honest labour; (3) that the honest labour of a righteous man, whether of hand or brain, shall bless his existence. From the second clause we learn (1) that godless men likewise labour for a harvest. There are as hard workers among the godless as among the good. They toil for earthly gain all the more earnestly because they have no other to possess: that which belongs to the present life is their all. (2.) That there is no blessing in the gain of the ungodly. The gain of a sinner only tends to confirm him in his ungodliness—it “tendeth to sin.” If a tree is bad at the root the larger it grows the more bad fruit it will bear. The richer a bad man grows the worse he becomes, the greater are his facilities for sinning himself, and the more evil is his influence upon others. Sin being at the root of his actions, sin will be in the fruit. The whole subject teaches us not to make poverty and riches the standard by which to measure a man’s blessedness or misfortune. Beecher says, “We say a man is ‘made.’ ” What do we mean? That he has got the control of his lower instincts, so that they are only fuel to his higher feelings, giving force to his nature? That his affections are like vines, sending out on all sides blossoms and clustering fruits? That his tastes are so cultivated that all beautiful things speak to him, and bring him their delights? That his understanding is opened, so that he walks through every hall of knowledge and gathers its treasures? That his moral feelings are so developed and quickened that he holds sweet communion with Heaven? O, no, none of these things. He is cold and dead in heart, and mind, and soul. Only his passions are alive; but—he is worth five hundred thousand dollars!… And we say a man is “ruined.” Are his wife and children dead? O, no. Has he lost his reputation through crime? No. Is his reason gone? O, no; it is as sound as ever. Is he struck through with disease? No. He has lost his property, and he is ruined. The man ruined! When shall we learn that “a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth?”
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_10:15. It is not a strong city, but his strong city. You see how justly the worldling is called an idolater, for he makes not God his confidence, but trusts to a thing of nought; for his riches, if they are a city, are not a strong city, but a city broken down, and without walls. How hard is it for rich men to obtain an entrance into that city that hath foundations, when it is a miracle for a man that hath riches not to trust in them.—Muffet.
The rich man stands independent, changes and adversities cannot so easily overthrow him; he is also raised above many hazards and temptations: on the contrary, the poor man is overthrown by little misfortunes, and his despairing endeavours to save himself, when they fail, ruin him completely, and perhaps make him at the same time a moral outlaw. It is quite an experienced fact which this proverb expresses, but one from which the double doctrine is easily derived: (1) That it is not only advised, but commanded, that man make the firm establishing of his external life-position the aim of his endeavour. (2) That one ought to treat with forbearance the humble man; and if he always sinks deeper and deeper, one ought not to judge him with unmerciful harshness, and in proud self-exaltation.—Delitzsch.
As soldiers look upon a strong city as a good place which they may retire to for safety in times of flight, so worldly men, in their distress and danger, esteem their wealth the only means of relief and succour: or, as a marching army expects supply, if need be, from a well-manned and well-victualled city, so men in their fainting fits, and under dreadful crosses, expect to be revived by their earthly cordials.—Swinnock.
The word destruction is capable of two meanings. First, there are temptations peculiar to poverty as well as to riches. Agur was aware of these when he prayed, “Give me not poverty, lest I steal and take the name of my God in vain” (chap. Pro_30:7-9). He who gives way to such influences of poverty ensures “destruction” as much as he who is “full and denies God, and says, Who is the Lord?” Secondly, as we found the preceding clause to refer to the state of mind—the confidence of safety inspired by his wealth in the bosom of the rich, it seems fair and natural to understand the latter clause on a similar principle. “The destruction of the poor” will then mean, that which, in their own eyes, is their destruction; that which engenders their fears and apprehensions—their constant dread of destruction. They are ever apt to contrast their circumstances with those of their wealthy neighbours, and to deplore their poverty, and fret at it as that which keeps them down, depriving them of all good, and exposing them to all evil. And, without doubt, it is the source of many and heavy sufferings, both in the way of privation and endurance. But the poor may indulge their fears, and make themselves unhappy without cause. Their forebodings may be more than groundless. If by their poverty they are exposed to some evils, they are exempted by it from others … Let the poor seek the peace, and comfort, and safety which are imparted by the Gospel; and thus, possessing the “true riches,” they will not need to “fear what man can do unto them.” The worst of all destructions will be far from them.—Wardlaw.
The “wealth of the rich,” even in this world, is their great capital. The “destruction of the poor” is the helplessness, and friendlessness, and creditlessness, and lack of instruments incident to “poverty.” In the spiritual world the distinction is entire. The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer, and both by inviolable laws. All works for good for one, and all for evil for the other. The last Proverb explained it. Wisdom, by its very nature, grows, and so does folly. All other interests vibrate: sometimes worse, and sometimes better. But Wisdom, like the God that chose it has no “shadow of turning.” If it begins in the soul it grows for ever. If it does not begin it grows more distant. There is never rest. Wealth in the spiritual world, by the very covenant, must continually heap up; and poverty, by the very necessities of justice, must increase its helplessness.—
Miller.
Naturally the author is here thinking of wealth well earned by practical wisdom, and this is at the same time a means in the further effort of Wisdom; and, again, of a deserved poverty, which, while the consequence of foolish conduct, always causes one to sink deeper in folly and moral need. Compare the verse following.—Lange’s Commentary.
Surely this should humble us, that riches,—that should be our rises to raise us up to God, or glasses to see the love of God in—our corrupt nature useth them as clouds, as clogs, etc., yea, sets them up in God’s place, and saith to the fine gold, “Thou art my confidence” (Job_31:24). The destruction of the poor is their poverty. They are devoured by the richer cannibals (Psa_14:4), as the lesser fish are by the greater. Men go over the hedge where it is lowest. “Poor” and “afflicted” are joined together (Zep_3:12). So are “to want” and “to be abased” (Php_4:12).—Trapp.
Here he is describing what is, rather than prescribing what ought to be. The verse acknowledges and proclaims a prominent feature in the condition of the world. It is not a command from the law of God, but a fact from the history of men. In all ages and in all lands money has been a mighty power, and its relative importance increases with the advance of civilisation. Money is one of the principal instruments by which the affairs of the world are turned, and the man who holds that instrument in his grasp can make himself felt in his age and neighbourhood. It does not reach the Divine purpose, but it controls human action. It is constrained to become God’s servant, but it makes itself the master of man.—Arnot.
The rich man often goes about his Sion, or rather his Jericho, and views the walls thereof; he marketh the bulwarks, and telleth the towers of it. He looks upon his wealth, he marks his bags, he tells his moneys, and therein is his confidence; thereby he thinketh to outstand any siege or assault, and, placing his security on it, dareth to oppose his strength to any right or reason; whereas God with a blast of ram’s horns is quickly able to throw down all his might and his greatness.—Jermin.
Pro_10:16. The labour of the righteous tendeth to life or “serves as life.” 1. Because it is a good thing in itself. 2. Because it procures good, each stroke earning its pay. 3. Because it increases, and that on for ever, making us holier and happier, and making others holier and happier through the endless ages. It “serves” pre-eminently “as life,” therefore, literally, “is for life.” But the fruit, or “gains of the wicked” (and we must not fail to note the crescendo in the second clause, “The labour of a righteous man”—“the gains of a wicked man”; the righteous still toiling, the wicked having made his harvest,) serve to sin or “as a sinoffering.” That is, they are all demanded by justice, and are all consumed for the expiation of his sins. Pious acts are a life. Wicked gains go to swell what our great creditor seizes.—Miller.
Labour, not idleness, is the stamp of a servant of God; thus cheered by the glowing confidence, that it tendeth to life (Joh_6:27). “Occupy till I come”—“Do all to the glory of God” (Luk_19:13; 1Co_10:31)—this is the standard. Thus the duties even of our daily calling tend to life. God works in us, by us, with us, through us. We work in and through Him. Our labour, therefore, is His work—wrought in dependence on Him; not for life, but to life (Rom_8:13; 1Co_15:10; Php_2:12-13)—Bridges.
The words are fitly chosen: “labour” in honest industry is the righteous man’s ordinary way of living. “Revenue” (fruit) not gained by honest labour is frequently the wicked man’s livelihood.—Fausset.
It is not directly said, as the previous clause might lead us to expect, that the “fruit” of the wicked tendeth to “death,” but to “sin.” This, by the wise man, is considered as the same thing. It “tendeth to sin,” and consequently, to death. Thus it is said, “When lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” (Jas_1:15). Between the two there is an intimate and inseparable connection.—Wardlaw.
The righteous are laborious, as knowing that to be the end of their life. For themselves they labour, to lead their lives with comfort here, to get the life of glory hereafter. For others they labour, to supply the wants of their disconsolate life on earth, and to help them forward to the blessed life of heaven. Wherefore St. Bernard saith well, “When we read that Adam in the beginning was set in a place of pleasure to work in it, what man of sound understanding can think that his children should be set in a place of afflction for to play in it.”—Jermin.

Proverbs 10:17
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_10:17. Not, He is in the way, but “He is the way.” Erreth, causeth others to err.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_10:17
THE INFLUENCE OF EXAMPLE
We take here the rendering of all recent commentators as given in the CRITICAL NOTES, and understand the verse to set forth the truth that “no man liveth to himself.” His character is reproduced in others.
I. A good man is a way, because he is the means to an end. The way to the city is the road by which we reach it. The life of a holy man is a way to spiritual and eternal life, because it is the means by which men come home to God. If there were no good men in the world, there would be no means by which sinners could be brought from death unto life. Christ is pre-eminently “the way,” because His life is the great means by which men learn to know and to return to God. “No man cometh unto the Father but by Me” (Joh_14:6). The longer a path is trodden the more distinctly it proclaims itself as a way. So a good man becomes a more evident way the longer he lives. A good life is so distinct in its teachings that both sage and savage are compelled to admit its influence, and the longer it exerts its power for good the more pronounced it becomes. The Son of God has for ages been the way to life, and the longer He continues to be so the more distinctly is He seen to be the means to this end.
II. The conditions to be fulfilled in order to become a way of life. 1. The man must keep instruction. It is not enough to receive it. The Word of God must not only be heard, but must be remembered. The commandments of God must not only be received, but must be kept. “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them” (Joh_13:17). 2. He must submit to discipline even when it takes the form of reproof. This is implied in the last clause of the verse, “He that refuseth reproof causeth to err.” The man who has attained a position in any profession, and has thereby become qualified to lead others, has done so because he has submitted to discipline even when it has been in the unpalatable form of reproof. Such a man can well exhort others to submit to that by which he has become fit to be their guide. Even the Son of God “learned obedience by the things which He suffered” (Heb_5:8).
III. An ungodly man injures others as well as himself. He not only wanders from the path himself, but he “causeth (others) to err.” We often hear it said of a godless man—of one “who refuseth reproof”—that “he is nobody’s enemy but his own.” This cannot be. It has been truly said that “nothing leaves us wholly as it found us. Every man we meet, every book we read, every picture or landscape we see, every word or tone we hear, mingles with our being and modifies it.” This being so, every man makes every man with whom he comes in contact better or worse, and as every good man draws others into the path of life, so every man who refuses to submit to Divine discipline drags others with him in the broad road that leads to destruction.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
St. Basil, answering the question, “With what mind anyone ought to receive the instructions of reproof administered unto him,” giveth this answer, “With the same mind that befitteth him who, being sick of some disease and troubled for the preserving of life, receiveth a medicine, namely, with the greatest desire of recovering his health.” For there is a way of life though a man be not sick but dead unto sin. And the hand that putteth into this way is instruction, and that which must keep us in the way is the keeping of instruction: for he that refuseth reproof erreth, erreth in refusing, erreth more by refusing.—Jermin.
This is the idea of other verses (11–13): that a man going to heaven blazes a path for others. He is a way. Others travel upon him in his prayers and in his example.—Miller.

Proverbs 10:18
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_10:18. Not with lying lips, but “is of lying lips.” “The meaning of this second clause does not stand in the relation of an antithesis to the preceding, but in that of a climax, adding a worse case to one not so bad. If one conceals his hatred within himself, he becomes a malignant flatterer; but if he gives expression to it in slander, abuse, and base detraction, then, as a genuine fool, he brings upon himself the greatest injury” (Zöckler).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_10:18
THREE DEGREES OF MORAL FOOLISHNESS
I. A liar. 1. A liar is a fool because he fights for a weak cause. When a case can only be made out by lying it is manifestly a bad one. A man who will strive to uphold such a cause reveals his folly. 2. Because he makes use of a weak weapon. Among tribes ignorant of the methods of civilised warfare we find weapons which are little better than slim rods, and, although their points are sharp and poisoned, yet they proclaim their weakness when they come into collision with an experienced swordsman. Lying is such a weapon, and its use reveals the utter folly of him who wields it. It can no more stand against truth than the wooden spear of a savage can turn aside the thrust of a Damascus blade. 3. Because by lying he degrades his moral character. The serpent lost his upright position by being linked with lying, instead of going erect, God passed upon him the sentence—“Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life” (
Gen_3:14). The liar finds that this is his doom. He can no longer hold up his head like an honest man among his fellow-men, he must henceforth crawl and wind his way through the world, and eat the dust of ignominy and scorn. Men turn from a liar as they do from a serpent. It is assuredly the height of folly for a man thus to throw away that which alone makes him worthy to be called a man.
II. A liar who conceals hatred by lying. This man displays a higher degree of iniquity and folly. There are those who lie simply to serve their own purposes and have no dislike to the person whom they deceive. There is often much lying where there is no special malice. But when lying is used to conceal hatred—which is murder (1. Joh_3:15)—there is a double folly because there is a double sin. The lying of the “father of lies” is simply a blind to conceal his intense hatred of the human race, and this makes him the greater sinner.
III. A liar who utters slander. When malice finds vent in lying slander we have an exhibition of greater iniquity and therefore of greater folly. It is bad to be a liar, it is worse to conceal hatred by lying, but it is worse to let the hatred of the heart break forth into false accusations of the innocent. The tree that is most richly laden with the ripest fruit is the one upon which the birds will congregate. We never find them passing by such booty to peck at green fruit. The pirates lay in wait for vessels with a rich cargo, empty vessels pass by unmolested and secure from attack. So it is always the best men who attract slanderers, men of little or no moral worth are not considered foemen worthy of their steel. God declared Job to be the best man in all the earth, “perfect and upright, one who feared Him, and eschewed evil” (Job_1:8). And it was because he stood thus pre-eminent that the tongue of the great slanderer was used against him; being from the begining a liar and a murderer of character he gave one of the most complete exhibitions of his real nature when he pointed his lying hatred agains the best man of his day. The Holy One of God did not escape the tongue of the slanderer. He was a “man gluttonous, and a wine-bibber” (Mat_11:19), “one that perverteth the people” (Luk_23:14). When “He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows” He was esteemed “smitten of God and afflicted” (Isa_53:4). All lying and malice, whether concealed or manifested, becomes the most palpable folly when looked at in the light of the “coming of the Lord, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of the hearts” (1Co_4:5).
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
If we desire the credit of wisdom let us use better means to obtain it than artificial disgracings of our brethren, for that cometh not from above; it is no gift of God; it is sensual, carnal, and devilish. Do not hearken to the reports of such wicked persons as seek to defame others and detract from their good name; they are but foolish and base pedlars that utter such infectious wares, and therefore they cannot be wise chapmen that traffic with them and receive them at their hands. Here is consolation for them that are molested and vexed unjustly for the Gospel’s sake by clamourous and false accusers; let them consider what account God maketh of their malicious adversaries; He calls them fools and derideth their practices, and, therefore, in the end it shall be seen that when they have spat all their venom they have but shot a fool’s bolt and procured shame and sorrow to themselves.—Dod.
The folly of slander. 1. If this practice be proved extremly sinful it will thence be demonstrated no less foolish. And it is indeed plainly the blackest and most hellish sin that can be; that which giveth the grand fiend his name, and most expresseth his nature. He is the slanderer, Satan, the spiteful adversary, the old serpent or dragon spitting forth the venom of calumnious accusation, the accuser of the brethren, the father of lies, the grand defamer of God to man, of man to God, of one man to another. And highly wicked that practice must be whereby we grow namesakes to him. 2. The slanderer is plainly a fool because he makes wrong judgments and valuations of things, and accordingly driveth on silly bargains for himself, in result whereof he proveth a great loser. He means by his calumnious stories either to vent some passion boiling within him, or to compass some design which he affecteth, or to please some humour that he is possessed with; but is any of these things worth purchasing at so dear a rate? Can there be any valuable exchange for our honesty? Can anything in the world be so considerable that for its sake we should defile our souls? 3. Because he uses improper means and preposterous methods of effecting his purposes. As there is no design worth the carrying on by ways of falsehood and iniquity, so there is scarce any (no good and lawful one at least) which may not more surely, more safely, more cleverly be achieved by means of truth and justice … He that is observed to practise falsehood will be declined by some, opposed by others, disliked by all. 4. The slanderer is a fool, as bringing many great inconveniences and troubles upon himself. (1.) By no means can a man inflame so fierce anger, impress so stiff hatred, raise so deadly enmity against himself, and consequently so endanger his safety, ease, and welfare as by this practice. Men will rather pardon a robber of their goods than of their good name. (2.) And he is not only odious to the person immediately concerned, but generally to all men who observe his practice; every man presently will be sensible how easily it may be his own case to be thus abused. (3.) He also derogateth wholly from his own credit, for he that dareth thus to injure his neighbour, who can trust him in anything that he speaks? (4.) This practice is perpetually haunted with most troublesome companions, inward regret, and self-condemnation. (5.) The consequence of this practice is commonly shameful disgrace, with an obligation to retract and to render satisfaction; for seldom doth calumny pass long without being detected and confuted. (6.) The slanderer doth banish himself from heaven and happiness. For, if none that “maketh a lie” (Rev_22:15) shall enter the heavenly city, assuredly the capital liar, the slanderer, shall be far excluded from felicity. All these things being considered, we may, I think, reasonably conclude it most evidently true that “he who uttereth slander is a fool.”—Barrow.
Better. He who hideth hatred is of lying lips. The alternative is offered with a delicate touch of irony. He who cherishes hatred must choose between being a knave or a fool—a knave if he hides, a fool if he utters it.—Plumptre.

Proverbs 10:19-21
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Pro_10:19-21
SPEECH AND SILENCE
I. The wisdom of not always using the tongue when we might. “He that refraineth his lips is wise.” The reputation of a good man may be much injured by even speaking the truth at certain times and to certain persons. The silence of a man who can speak wisely and eloquently is a revelation of self-control, and often adds more to the dignity of his character than words can. The Son of God “opened not His mouth” before His false accusers, and thus revealed His power of self-control—His moral majesty. That He could be silent in such circumstances is a manifestation of the deep ocean of conscious innocence within Him, and is an unparalleled exposition of His own precept, “In patience possess ye your souls.” 1. Silence is wisdom when we feel that speech would be useless to convince.—when we feel that a foregone conclusion has been arrived at which no argument or appeal could shake. This has been the case in the history of the confessors and martyrs of the Church in all ages, and was pre-eminently so when the Lord Jesus Christ stood to be tried before men who had determined to murder Him. 2. Silence is sometimes more convincing than speech. Men are often more impressed by acts than by words, by a spirit of forbearance than by a passionate vindication of our rights. 3. Silence does not necessarily imply acquiescence. The Eternal Himself is sometimes silent from displeasure. “These things hast thou done and I kept silence” (Psa_55:21).
II. The blessing of using the tongue when we ought. “The tongue of the just is as choice silver.” The lips of the righteous feed many because they supply a need. Man needs a medium by which to express the value of his labour or his merchandise, and silver supplies this want. And he likewise needs a medium by which to express his thoughts, and speech is this medium. But unless it is the speech of a just man it will be a curse and not a blessing. It must convey good thinking if it is to be as choice silver to a needy man. The prisoner who stands at the bar charged with a crime of which he is innocent feels that the tongue of the man who pleads his cause is more precious to him than much silver. To the man who is seeking after God, the tongue of one who can tell him “words whereby he shall be saved” is as choice silver (Act_11:14). The words of Peter were so esteemed by Cornelius. The heart of the Ethiopian eunuch was more rejoiced by the preaching of Philip the Evangelist than it would have been by the possession of all the treasure of his mistress (Act_8:26-39). The words of Him who was “the Just One” (Act_3:14) are and ever will be “a strength to the needy in his distress” (Isa_25:4); more precious to those who are conscious of their soul-poverty “than thousands of gold and silver” (Psa_119:72); and it is in proportion as men are like Him in character and disposition that their speech will bless the world.
III. The sin of using the tongue too much. The shell and the kernel of the fruit were intended by God to grow together; the latter cannot grow to perfection without the former, yet the shell only exists for the kernel. The soul and body are ordained to grow together; the body only exists for the soul, yet the soul can only manifest itself through the medium of the body. But the body without the soul is worthless. Man’s thought and word were intended by God to act together; thoughts are useless without speech in which to clothe them; words without thoughts have no reason for existence, they are shells without kernels, bodies without souls, and their use is a sin against God’s ordained method. Where there is a “multitude of words” there is not much thought, and therefore there is sin.—1.
Against a man’s self, because “every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment (Mat_12:36). 2. Against society, because the man utters sounds which contain nothing to benefit. God has ordained thought to feed the soul as He has ordained bread to feed the body. Where there are words men have a right to expect thoughts upon which to feed, as they have a right to look for the kernel within the shell. When they get the first without the last they are robbed of what is their due.
IV. The origin of idle and worthless talking. “The heart of the wicked is little worth.” “Fools die for want of wisdom.” Where there is no moral wisdom there can be no real worth; no thoughts can be generated in the heart that is not under the influence of Divine teaching that will supply the needs of needy men. As is the fountain so must be the stream. “The tree is known by its fruit. O, generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Mat_12:33-34).
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_10:19. A man of inordinate talk runs inordinate risk. He must be a God that can talk all the time and never trespass. And, therefore, as blunders “come home to roost,” he is a prosperous man who reduces the volume of his speech.—Miller.
The fool talks for ever upon nothing, not because he is full, but because he is empty; not for instruction, but for the pure love of talking.… The sphere of social intercourse that stimulates the conversational powers at the same time teaches the wholesome discipline of the tongue—that beautiful accomplishment of silence which, however, alike with its opposite grace, derives its chief loveliness as the fruit of christian humility and kindness. The wisdom is especially valuable under provocation (1Sa_10:27; 2Ki_18:36). And even in the unbending of innocent recreation the discipline of godly sobriety is of great moment. The sins of this “little member” are not trifles.—Bridges.
“Refraineth” as with a bridle, for we must by force bridle our tongue as an untameable member (Jas_3:2-8). Xenocrates, in “Valerius Maximus,” says, “I have been sometimes sorry that I spoke; I never have been sorry that I was silent.—Fausset.
If thou be master-gunner spend not all
That thou canst speak at once, but husband it,
And give men turns of speech; do not forestall
By lavishness thine one and others’ wit,
As if thou mad’st thy will. A civil guest
Will no more talk all than eat all the feast.
George Herbert.
I. The general vice here referred to is not evil speaking from malice, nor lying or bearing false witness from indirect selfish designs, but it is talkativeness: a disposition to be talking, abstracted from the consideration of what is to be said, with very little or no regard to, or thought of doing, either good or harm.… Those who are addicted to this folly cannot confine themselves to trifles and indifferent subjects: they cannot go on for ever talking of nothing, and, as common matters will not afford a sufficient fund for perpetual continued discourse, when subjects of this kind are exhausted, they will go on to scandal, divulging of secrets, or they will invent something to engage attention: not that they have any concern about being believed otherwise than a means of being heard.… The tongue used in such a licentious manner is like a sword in the hand of a madman: it is employed at random, it can scarce possibly do any good, and, for the most part, does a world of mischief.
II. The due government of the tongue. The due and proper use of any natural faculty or power is to be judged of by the end and design for which it was given us. The chief purpose for which the faculty of speech was given to man is plainly that we might communicate our thoughts to each other in order to carry on the affairs of the world; for business, and for our improvement in knowledge and learning. But the good Author of our nature designed us not only necessaries, but likewise enjoyment and satisfaction. There are secondary uses of our faculties: they administer to delight as well as to necessity, and the secondary use of speech is to please and be entertaining to each other in conversation. This is in every respect allowable and right: it unites men closer in alliance and friendship, and is in several respects serviceable to virtue. Such conversation, though it has no particular good tendency, yet hath a general good one; it is social and friendly, and tends to promote humanity, good nature, and civility.… The government of the tongue, considered as a subject of itself, relates chiefly to conversation, and the danger is, lest persons entertain themselves or others at the expense of their wisdom or their virtue. The cautions for avoiding these dangers fall under the following particulars: 1. Silence. The wise man observes that “there is a time to speak, and a time to keep silence.” One meets with people in the world who seem never to have made the last of these observations. But the occasions of silence are obvious, namely, when a man has nothing to say, or nothing but what is better unsaid: better either in regard to particular persons he is present with, or from its being an interruption to conversation itself or to conversation of a more agreeable kind, or better, lastly, with regard to himself. 2. Talking upon indifferent subjects. Be sure that the subject is indifferent, that it be in no way offensive to virtue, religion, or good manners; that it be in no way vexatious to others, and that too much time be not spent in this way. 3. In discourse upon the affairs and characters of others. Consider, first, that though it is equally of bad consequence to society that men should have either good or ill characters which they do not deserve, yet when you say some good of a man which he does not deserve, there is no wrong done him in particular; whereas, when you say evil of a man which he does not deserve, here is a direct formal injury done to him. Secondly, a good man will, upon every occasion, and often without any, say all the good he can of everybody, but, so far as he is a good man, will never be disposed to speak evil of any, unless there be some other reason for it besides barely that it is the truth.—Bishop Butler.
Pro_10:20. If, as regards this world’s wealth, the Lord’s poor must say, “Silver and gold have I none,” at least they may scatter choice silver with a widely extended blessing. “As poor, yet making many rich” (Act_3:6; 2Co_6:10).—Bridges.
A wicked man hath his worst side inward. Though sinful persons make never so great a show on the outside, yet there is nothing within them worth anything. To that purpose tend the words of the Apostle collected out of the Psalms: “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise to be but vain.” If the point had stood upon man’s opinion there might easily have been an error in it; but he bringeth the testimony of God, upon sure and infallible knowledge, to confirm it.… Therefore, do not too much magnify and admire them, nor too far depend on them. For better things are not certainly to be expected from them than are in them.—Dod.
The antithesis runs through every word of both clauses. The tongue, the instrument of the mind, is contrasted with the mind itself; the just with the wicked; the choice silver with the worthless “little.” In each case there is implied an a fortiori argument. If the tongue is precious, how much more the mind! If the heart is worthless, how much more the speech!—Plumptre.
As pure and choice silver giveth a clear and sweet sound, so the tongue of the wise soundeth sweetly and pleasantly in the ears of men. It is also as choice silver, because therewith he is ready to buy the hearts of men to virtue and goodness. But the heart of a fool being of little worth, hence it is that he buys it not.… Now if the tongue of the just be as choice silver, his heart must needs be of fine gold. And if the heart of the wicked be little worth, his tongue must needs be worth nothing at all. Well therefore it were, if that the wicked would get the just man’s tongue to be his heart; or else get the tongue of the just to infuse some of his metal into his heart; for that is able to put worth into it, and from thence to derive worth into his tongue also. The proverbial sense is, that the excellent words of wisdom work not upon a foolish heart, that having not worth to value the worth of it.—Jermin.
I. By a just man is meant— 1. A renewed man, for naturally our lips are polluted. “I am a man of unclean lips,” etc. (Isa_6:5). Sin of the tongue is most frequent, and that not without difficulty avoided. The corruption of men by nature is described (Rom_3:13). This is man’s true character, as he is in his natural estate. The pure lip is the fruit of God’s converting grace (Zep_3:9). 2. A man furnished with knowledge of the things which concern his duty; for every renewed man is an enlightened man (Pro_15:2). Unless a man understand his duty, how shall he speak of it? 3. This renewed man is a mortified man; for otherwise he will only stickle for opinions, and be one of the disputers of this world, but will not warm men’s hearts and excite them to practise. That must be first upon the heart which will afterwards be upon the tongue; and unless the heart be cleansed the tongue will not be cleansed. If the heart be upon the world, the tongue will be upon the world (1Jn_4:5). 4. This renewed man must be biassed with a love of God and Christ and heaven before he can edify others. To restrain the tongue from evil is not enough, we must do good. To heart-warning discourse, faith is necessary.
II. His discourse is as choice silver. 1. For purity. Choice silver is that which is refined from all dross, and there is much evil bewrayed by the tongue, such as lying, railing, ribaldry (Eph_4:29), cursing, idle discourse, etc. 2. For external profit. Money is very profitable for worldly uses, the discourse of a good man is very profitable to others.
III. By a wicked man is meant one that is not regenerate or renewed by the Holy Spirit. They are of several sorts. 1. Some have great natural abilities, as Ahithophel (2Sa_16:23), yet his heart was nothing worth. 2. Some have plausible shows of piety, but that will not help the matter (Mat_23:27-28). 3. Partial obedience availeth not (2Ch_25:2). Amaziah was right in the matter, and he did many things right, but his heart was nothing worth. 1. What is in the heart of such a man? See Gen_6:5. This is the mint that is always at work; sin worketh in the heart all day, and playeth in the fancy all night; there is no truce in this warfare. 2. What cometh out of such a heart? See Mar_7:21-22. 3. In what sense is it little worth? (1.) As to acceptation with God. (2.) As to the benefit and profiting of others. Observe—1. That the heart of the wicked is spoken of in the softest terms. Elsewhere it is said to be deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jer_17:9). And this teaches us that it is not enough to do harm by our speech, but it must benefit others. 2. Till we make conscience of our thoughts, we cannot well order our words. 3. Familiar converse with those whose hearts are nothing worth, will tend to our hurt. 4. Be sure that you get another heart. For though it be not in our power to make ourselves a new heart, it is our duty to get it.—Manton.
Pro_10:21. A great housekeeper he is, hath his doors ever open, and, though himself be poor, yet he “maketh many rich” (2Co_6:10). He well knows that to this end God put “honey and milk under his tongue” (Son_3:2), that he might look to this spiritual lip-feeding. To this end hath he communicated to him those “rivers of water” (Joh_7:38) that they may flow from him to quench that world of wickedness, that, being set on fire of hell would set on fire the whole course of nature (Jas_3:6). They are “empty vines that bear fruit to themselves” (Hos_10:1).—Trapp.
This bread of life which the disciples distribute is not like common bread. The more you give of it to the needy, the more remains for your own use. It is the bread which Jesus blesses in the wilderness—the bread from heaven, which Jesus is; and when from His hand, and at His bidding, you have fed three thousand on five loaves, you will have more bread remaining in your baskets than the stock you began with.… Fools, so far from being helpful to other, have nothing for themselves. They have taken no oil in their vessels, and the flame of their lamp dies out.—Arnot.

Proverbs 10:22
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_10:22. Delitzsch and Zöckler read the second clause, “and labour addeth nothing thereto,” i.e., “God’s blessing is in itself all in all, and makes rich without any effort.” Stuart and Miller translate as the authorised version, and the former understands it to signify that “sorrow shall not necessarily increase by riches when it is Jehovah Himself who bestows them.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_10:22
THE SOURCE OF TRUE RICHES
This proverb cannot be understood to assert that a man needs nothing but God’s blessing to make him a wealthy man in the ordinary sense of the word, because we know there are many cases in which men would never have been rich if they had not toiled hard to obtain riches. Industry has been joined to the blessing of the Lord, and so they have become rich. God’s favour does not generally make a man rich except he works; it is presumptuous sin to expect God to make us rich without honest toil. But the lesson to be learnt is evidently this—that diligence cannot command riches, that God must be taken into account in all our efforts to make money, that the “race is not” always “to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding” (Ecc_9:11), even when the runners and the warriors are men after God’s own heart. Placing the words beside our experience, we learn—
I. That when a good man gains riches through hard toil, it is by reason of the Divine blessing on his labour. There are among us many possessors of vast wealth who have risen early and sat up late, and eaten the bread of carefulness, but have acknowledged that, after all, it was the blessing of the Lord that had made them rich. They can point to others equally diligent, and, in some respects, superior to themselves, who have fallen in the race and have died comparatively poor. Such examples are admonitions not to trust to one’s own wisdom or effort to the exclusion of the will of God. Jacob worked hard for his riches for twenty years; “in the day the drought consumed him, and the frost by night—and the sleep departed from his eyes.” But he declares that his wealth was a gift from the God of his fathers—“I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth which thou hast showed unto thy servant, for with my staff I have passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands (Gen_31:40; Gen_32:10). A good man cannot use unlawful means of getting rich, therefore he may enjoy the amount of success which follows his efforts as a token of Divine favour.
II. That when men inherit, or become possessed of wealth for which they have not laboured, it is by the blessing of the Lord. The riches of Solomon were bestowed upon him without so much as the expression of a desire on his part, and were a token of the Divine approval. “Because.… thou hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment.… I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches and honour” (1Ki_3:11-13). Looked upon as God’s gift, wealth will be rightly used, and will be the blessing that it was intended to be.
III. That there is a moral truth contained here which has nothing to do with material riches or poverty. Solomon has, over and over again, directed his hearers to riches which are far more precious than silver or gold (see chap. Pro_3:14-15; Pro_8:11-19; also Homiletics and Comments of those verses). The blessing of the Lord is itself wealth. 1. Because it enriches us with Divine knowledge (1Co_1:5). Solomon’s knowledge was a higher kind of wealth than all his gold and precious stones, how much more a knowledge of Him whom to know is “life eternal” (Joh_17:3). 2. Because by means of it men obtain a Divine character (2Pe_1:2-4). This wealth men can claim as theirs in other worlds beside the one upon which they now live; this is their perpetual untransferable property.
IV. That when sorrow comes to men who have been enriched by God, it springs from some other source than the riches. The text does not apply in any sense to ill-gotten gain; that is dealt with elsewhere (chap. Pro_1:19; Pro_15:27). It refers only to that which a man may lawfully call his own. 1. But this may be the occasion of sorrow. Solomon’s great wealth was the occasion of sorrow, insomuch as he used it for sinful purposes, but this sorrow was added by himself and not by God. The misuse of riches, or of any other gift of God, will be followed by a penalty which will bring sorrow; but this is man’s work, and not God’s. 2. Or sorrow may spring from another, and an independent source. Sorrow in one form or another is the lot of fallen man. The incarnate Son of God was a “Man of sorrows.” God-given and sanctified sorrow is often a token of greater Divine favour than temporal prosperity (chap. Pro_3:12). But there is no necessary connection between wealth and sorrow.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_10:22. The sluggard looks for prosperity without diligence; the practical atheist from diligence alone; the sound-hearted Christian from the blessing of God in the exercise of diligence. This wise combination keeps him in an active habit; humble, and dependent upon God (Joh_6:27). For, “except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it” (Psa_127:1).… He addeth at least no sorrow but what turns to a blessing. Accumulation of riches may be the accumulation of sorrows. Lot’s covetous choice was fraught with bitterness.… Gehazi was laden with his bags, but the plague of leprosy was upon him.—Bridges.
There is no sorrow added to them which is not a blessing, and, being a blessing, it cannot well be said to be sorrow. Now thus the verse may be understood as well of temporal as of spiritual riches; for it is the blessing of God, with which sorrow cannot stand.… It is God’s blessing alone which, being true riches, doth truly make rich. Other things esteemed in the world may be added together in great heaps of plenty; but, having sorrow added with them, they cannot be that weal of man which truly makes wealth. It is the blessing of God which, taking away sorrow, giveth true riches unto man. And, therefore, when Job wisheth “that he were as in the mouths past”—the months of his plenty and prosperity—it is with this addition, “as in the days when God preserved me.” He desireth God’s blessing with the things of this world, or else he careth not for them. For that it is, as St. Gregory speaketh, which so bestoweth the help of earthly glory, as that thereby it exalteth much more in heavenly happiness.—Jermin.
Those three vultures shall be driven away that constantly feed on the wealthy worldling’s heart—care in getting, fear in keeping, grief in losing the things of this life. God giveth to His, wealth without woe, store without sore, gold without guilt, one little drop whereof troubleth the whole sea of outward comforts.—Trapp.
The truth here is twofold. The cord, as it lies, seems single, but when you begin to handle it, you find it divides easily into two. It means that God’s blessing gives material wealth, and also that they are rich who have that blessing, although they get nothing more.… It is a common practice to constitute firms for trade, and exhibit their titles to the public with a single name “and company.” … Reverently take the All-seeing into your commercial company and counsels. If you cast Him out, there is no saying, there is no imagining, whom you may take in.… One peculiar excellence of the riches made in a company from whose councils God is not excluded, is, that the wealth will not hurt its possessors, whether it abide with them or fly away. A human soul is so made that it cannot safely have riches next it. If they come into direct contact with it, they will clasp it too closely; if they remain, they wither the soul’s life away; if they are violently wrenched off, they tear the soul’s life asunder. Whether, therefore, you keep or lose them, if you clasp them to your soul with nothing spiritual between, they will become its destroyer.—
Arnot.

Proverbs 10:23
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_10:23. Second clause, “to a man of understanding wisdom is an enjoyment” (Zöckler).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_10:23
A TOUCHSTONE OF CHARACTER
The painter uses the dark background of his picture to set off the bright foreground. Sunlight never looks so beautiful as when seen shining upon a black thunder-cloud; it is the power of contrast. Solomon in his character-painting is constantly making use of this power. He is ever setting the dark and the light side by side—making the foolish or wicked man a dark background upon which to portray the moral features of the truly wise. The fool looks more foolish, and the good man more wise, by the contrast.
I. That which is an object of mirth is a touchstone of character. The fool makes sport out of mischief, out of that which does harm to his fellow-creatures, and consequently involves them in misery. If we saw a man making merriment over the burning of his neighbour’s house, we should conclude that he was either a maniac or utterly without a heart. A man who realised the meaning of such a calamity, and had any sympathy within him, could but be grieved at the sight. But men find occasions of mirth in matters that are of far more serious moment. The wise man tell us in chap. Pro_14:9, that “fools make a mock at sin”—that great “mischief of the universe.” The saint is made sad by that in which the sinner finds an occasion of mirth. “Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people” (Jer_9:1). “Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament; but the world shall rejoice” (Joh_16:20). But the fool not only makes sport at mischief, it is his sport to do mischief; the one leads to the other. The fool who thinks sin is a laughing matter will not hesitate to commit sin himself, or to do his brother the irreparable mischief of leading him in the path of sin and death.
II. Men cease to make light of sin in proportion as they hare “understanding.” The text implies that a man who has any right comprehension of the end of life, the value of the soul, the reality of Divine and eternal things, will not, cannot, make a sport of mischief in any shape or degree, especially of the mischief of moral wrong. A baby might laugh at a blazing house, although its own mother might be enwrapped in the flames, but this would only be an evidence of his want of understanding. Nothing proclaims a man to be a fool so plainly as his mockery of sin. A man of wisdom has too just a sense of its terrible and ruinous consequence to feel anything but sad when he thinks of it. He knows what mischief it has worked, and is working in the universe, and his understanding of these things makes that which is the sport of the fool the subject of his most solemn thought.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
The difference between the lost and the saved is, that to one it is but trifling to live; to the other it is the gravest “wisdom.”—Miller.
That man has arrived at an advanced stage of folly who takes as much pleasure in it as if it were an agreeable amusement. This, however, is to be expected in its natural course. Sinners at first feel much uneasiness from the operation of fear and shame, but they are hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, till at length they not only cast off all restraints, but become impudent in sin, and think it a manly action to cast away the cords of God, and to pour insult and abuse on their fellow-men. But it were safer far to sport with fire than with sin, which kindles a fire that will burn to the lowest hell. It may now be a sport to do mischief, but in the lake of fire and brimstone it will be no sport to have done it.—Lawson.
When a man diveth under water he feeleth no weight of the water, though there be many tons of it over his head; whereas half a tubful of the same water, taken out of the river and set upon the same man’s head, would be very burdensome unto him, and make him soon grow weary of it. In like manner, so long as a man is over head and ears in sin, he is not sensible of the weight of sin: it is not troublesome unto him; but when he beginneth once to come out of that state of sin wherein he lay and lived before, then beginneth sin to hang heavy upon him, and he to feel the heavy weight of it. So, so long as sin is in the will, the proper seat of sin, a man feeleth no weight of it, but, like a fool, it is a sport and pastime unto him to do evil. And it is therefore a good sign that sin is removed out of his seat—out of his chair of state—when it becomes ponderous and burdensome to us, as the elements do when they are out of their natural place.—Spencer’s Things New and Old.
The fool is then merriest when he hath the devil for his playfellow. He danceth well in his bolts, and is passing well afraid for his woful bondage.—Trapp.

Proverbs 10:24
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_10:24
THE INHERITANCE OF FEAR AND DESIRE
These words treat of things desired and of things not desired coming to be possessed.
I. Ungodly men have fears concerning the future. These fears proceed from a consciousness of past sin and present guilt, and prove the existence within man of a moral standard of action. In the natural world, we know that certain effects invariably follow certain causes. Sunlight and genial rain produce fertility and beauty, the hurricane and the flood leave behind them desolation. There are certain particles whose action, if diffused abroad in the air, breed disease and death; there are others whose effects are most refreshing and healthful to the bodily frame. Coming into the region of human action and moral responsibility, there are certain actions of men which clothe the spirit with gladness, making the soul as a field which the Lord God hath blest, and there are acts which leave behind them a sting which brings utter desolation. There are deeds done by moral agents which are followed by the disapprobation of conscience in proportion as conscience is educated by moral light, and there are those which are well-springs of joy in the human heart. It is to conscience that we must refer the fears of the wicked in relation to the future.
II. The certainty that the fears of the wicked will be realised. 1. From the inequality of rewards and punishments in the present. There are men whose characters seem to be almost perfect who have not the reward at present which their integrity and uprightness deserve. There are many men who sit, as it were, like Lazarus, at a rich man’s gate in poverty, who are much better men than the rich man himself. The difference in the character of the man who passed the sentence of death upon Paul, and Paul himself calls for a more manifest impartiality on the part of the Divine Ruler in the eternity to come. We feel certain that elsewhere a just sentence has been passed upon Paul and Nero. The inequality in the present dealings of God with the righteous and the wicked demands that in the future the “fear of the wicked shall come upon him.” 2. From the admonition of conscience. Although the mariner’s compass is sometimes unsteady, its direction is always towards the north. And the human conscience, however it may occasionally waver, points to a future judgment. It is not an occasional occurrence but so universal as to be a prophecy of a fact. 3. From the necessity that God should fulfil His own appointment. Revelation declares that, “He hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained” (Act_17:31). The Righteous Judge of all the earth must keep His own appointment, therefore every wicked man must have what he does not desire, viz., a fair and impartial trial.
III. Good men have had desires which have not been granted. The gratification of such desires would have been an injury to themselves and others. Moses desired to see God in the sense in which the Incarnate Son tells us He had seen Him. But if this desire had been granted Moses must have died, the Hebrew nation would have lost the only man who could lead them, and he would have missed the completion of the glory of his life (Exo_33:20). Peter desired that His Master should not suffer at the hands of the chief priests and scribes (Mat_16:21). But what a calamity this would have been for Peter himself and the human race.
IV. But that which a righteous man desires above all other things shall be granted. 1. For himself in the present life, he desires a holy character. This he regards as the “one thing needful” above all other personal possessions. And God desires this for him, therefore this desire shall be granted on the fulfilment of the pre-ordained conditions (1Th_4:3). 2. For the world he desires that God’s kingdom may “come” that right may in the end triumph over wrong. Now this desire also must be granted, because Christ has taught His disciples to pray for its accomplishment, and because He Himself at the right hand of God is “henceforth expecting, till His enemies be made His footstool” (Heb_10:13). 3. He desires for himself in the future a complete redemption of both soul and body from the curse of sin (2Co_5:1-4). But this desire is implanted within him by that God who can fulfil his desire, and who has already given an earnest of its fulfilment. This alone is a guarantee that it shall be granted. “Now He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the spirit” (2Co_5:5). He has also the direct promise of Him who is “the Resurrection and the Life,” the assurance of His inspired apostle that this desire of the righteous shall be granted (Joh_5:28-29; 1Co_15:49-54).
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
But if our desires be granted, and even exceeded (Gen_48:2; 1Ki_3:13; Eph_3:20), faith and patience will be tried in the very grant. Growth in grace is given by deep and humbling views of our corruption. Longings for holiness are fulfilled by painful affliction; prayers are answered by crosses. Our Father’s dispensations are not what they seem to be, but what He is pleased to make them.—
Bridges.
The best way to have our wills satisfied is to be godly. For to such there is a promise made. Wherein yet these rules are to be observed: First, that our will be agreeable to God’s will, the desire must be holy, and seasoned with the Spirit; and not carnal and corrupted by the flesh. Secondly, that sometimes lawful desires are not performed in the same kind, but exchanged for better, and that which doth more good is bestowed instead of them. Moses desired to enter into the land of Canaan; he was denied that, but he entered sooner into the heavenly and blessed rest of everlasting life. Thirdly, that we tarry the Lord’s leisure, and depend on His hand, to minister, in fittest time, all those good things which our souls desire, and so we shall not fail to receive them when He seeth that they will be most expedient for us.—Dod.

Proverbs 10:25
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_10:25. “When the whirlwind passeth, the wicked is no more.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_10:25
THE WHIRLWIND AND THE SURE FOUNDATION
I. The resemblance of a wicked man to a whirlwind. 1. They are both destructive forces. A whirlwind passes over a district and everything that resists its advance is either overthrown, broken, or made to bend to its fury. Every wicked man in his sphere is a destroyer of human happiness and of moral life, but the image is especially applicable to tyrants who have been destroyers of the lives of thousands of their fellow-creatures, and have ruined the happiness of thousands more in their unscrupulous onward march to the attainment of their own selfish ends. Isaiah describes such a one when he says, “Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; that made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof?” (chap. Pro_14:16-17.) 2. They often burst forth with sudden fury, and seem beyond the control of ordinary laws and methods of operation. A whirlwind often descends upon a peaceful valley without any warning, and its fury is the more terrible by reason of its suddenness, and because of the impossibility of foretelling its course and where it will fall in its most destructive power. So a wicked man is a lawless man, he is not guided by principle but by passion and impulse, none of his fellow-creatures can foretell what will be his next act of violence, or who will be the next victims of his selfish ambition. It is this lawless, uncontrollable destructiveness which makes both the moral and the physical whirlwind the terror of the human race, and leads men instinctively to avoid them if possible. 3. The triumph of both is short. How soon nature rights herself after the passage of a whirlwind. She covers the broken rocks with verdure, the trees put forth fresh branches clothed with fresh leaves, others grow up in the places of those which were uprooted, grass and corn spring again, and all looks lovely as before the visitation. The whirlwind “passeth,” and so does the wicked man. It is soon written of him that he is “no more,” and men who have trembled at his name take heart, and nations and peoples whom he seemed to have annihilated spring into existence again, and the world rights itself. How many such instances stand recorded in history from the days of Nebuchadnezzar to those of Napoleon. How many times has the experience of the Psalmist been repeated: “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). How often has the world had occasion to repeat the song, “How hath the oppressor ceased!… The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers. He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth. The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing. Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us” (Isa_14:4-8).
II. In what respects a righteous man is “an everlasting foundation.” 1. His character is something to build upon. Nothing can be built upon a whirlwind, but a substantial structure can be raised upon a good foundation. Men may build hope upon the word and character of a righteous man. A promise given by him is a solid ground of confidence upon which the heart of his brother-man may rest securely. Thus righteousness is a constructive force in the world—a foundation without which society cannot exist. Especially is this true of the ideal man, Christ Jesus. Because He is the Righteous One (Isa_11:4) His promises are as anchors of the soul to the children of men. In resting upon His word His disciples build upon a “sure foundation” (1Co_3:11). Upon His character rests all their hopes for their own blessedness in the future, and for the restoration of a fallen world. Every man is a foundation if “righteousness” is the chief element of his character. 2. Because for his sake the world stands. The owner of a house may let it stand if there is a good foundation of solid rock, although the superstructure may be comparatively worthless. Our Lord tells us concerning the tribulations which he foretold, that “except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (Mat_24:22). This teaches us that the righteousness of the godly is the power which averts the destruction of the wicked, and keeps the world in existence. In this sense, therefore, the righteous are a foundation. 3. The righteous are an “everlasting” foundation, because righteousness is the basis of confidence in eternity as it is in time. The blessedness of the life to come is founded upon righteousness. The Kingdom of God in both worlds is “established in righteousness” (Isa_54:14). The immutable character of the heavenly world is founded upon the righteousness first of its righteous King, and then upon that of His righteous servants.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
The righteous may be poor, and, in his sinful state, anything but a stately building to the Lord, but in his meanest infancy he is a “foundation.” Very little appears above the surface. But he is a basis of all that is to be built, and that basis is to be “eternal.”—Miller.
The proverb reminds us of the close of the Sermon on the Mount, and finds the final confirmation of its truth in this, that the death of the godless is a penal thrusting of them away, but the death of the righteous a lifting them up to their home. The righteous also often enough perish in times of war and of pestilence; but the proverb, as it is interpreted, verifies itself, even although not so as the poet, viewing it from his narrow Old Testament standpoint, understood it; for the righteous, let him die when and how he may, is preserved, while the godless perishes.—Delitzsch.
The continuance of the wicked is but while they dig the pit of their own destruction.—Jermin.
The Lord will lay “a sure foundation,” and “he that believeth shall not make haste” (Isa_28:16). These two promises lie together in the Scripture. When your heart’s hope is fixed on that precious corner-stone, you need not be thrown into a flutter by the fiercest onset of the world and its god.—Arnot.

Proverbs 10:26
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_10:26
THE VEXATIOUSNESS OF A SLUGGISH SERVANT
I. He is as smoke to the eyes. Smoke in the eyes prevents the accomplishment of a man’s purposes, or at least it hinders and annoys him in their execution. The eye is the light of the body; if vision is in any way obstructed or impaired, delay and vexation must ensue. So the employer of a sluggish servant must be the victim of perplexity and annoyance. He sends him on an errand, or entrusts him with a work which it is important should be done within a certain time. But he lingers over it until the time is long past, and perhaps an opportunity is lost which can never be recalled. Much often depends upon the performance of duties up to time. The want of punctuality sometimes is as disastrous as not doing the thing at all. How many plans have been frustrated, how many sufferings have in various ways been entailed upon men, by delay in the performance of duty. A master who has to depend upon a sluggard is like a man in the midst of the smoke of a burning house; he is uncertain as to his present whereabouts, and ignorant of what mishap may befal him next.
II. He is as vinegar to the teeth. He is most irritating to the temper. As vinegar sours everything with which it comes in contact, so a sluggard sours the temper of those with whom he has to do, and makes them sometimes not only irritable with him who is the offender, but with the innocent also.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Does, then, the sluggard disappoint and provoke his earthly master? See that we be not such sluggards to our Heavenly Master. Laodicean professors are especially hateful in his sight (Rev_3:16). The slothful minister carries in a tremendous account to Him that sent him. No more pitiable object is found than the man who has time to spare, who has no object of commanding interest, and is going on to the end as if he had spent his whole life in children’s play, and had lived to no useful purpose.… Why “standeth he idle in the market-place?” It cannot be—“No man hath hired him.” His master’s call sounds in his ears—“Go ye into the vineyard.” And at his peril he disobeys it (Mat_20:7-30).—Bridges.
Sluggishness is a cutting, vexing thing. If we are Christ’s, we should crucify this self-pleasing affection of the flesh.… It is a sin to waste another man’s time, as much as to waste his property. “Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” No doubt it is the natural disposition of some people to be slovenly and unexact. But what is your religion worth if it do not correct such a propensity?… If any man be in Christ he is a new creature. If the new life is strong in the heart, it will send its warm pulses down to the extremest member.… He who is a Christian in little things is not a little Christian; he is the greatest Christian, and the most useful. The baptism of these little outlying things shows that he is full of grace, for these are grace’s overflowings; and they are ever the overflowings of the full well that refresh the desert. The great centre must be fully occupied before the stream can reach that outer edge.—
Arnot.

Proverbs 10:27
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_10:27
LONG LIFE
This verse must be looked at—
I. Generally. The fear of the Lord prolongs life because, other things being equal, godliness tends to bodily health. A good man governs his life by some kind of law, his passions and inclinations do not play the lord over his conscience and will. This has a beneficial influence upon his bodily health. He has contentment with his present lot, trust in his God amid all the anxieties of life, and hope for the future. Such a state of mind tends to soundness of bodily health, whereas the manner of life of a godless man is opposed to health and consequently to long life. If a complicated machine is permitted to work with some of its parts improperly adjusted and fretting against each other at every turn of the wheel, the friction will soon wear away the parts, and ere long they will cease to act. A soul without godliness is a complicated mechanism which has never been rightly adjusted. There is no ruling principle, no guiding hand, one passion wars against another, the man bears the burden of life alone, he is at times a prey to the fears spoken of in Pro_10:24, and the rule of all these devils in the soul has a tendency to wear out the body before its time. This is a truth universally admitted. But the words must also be regarded—
II. Relatively. That is, with a due regard to other circumstances. The length of a good man’s life does not always depend upon himself, but upon the age in which he lives—upon the people by whom he is surrounded. The godliness of Abel shortened his life very materially. If his works had not been righteous, his brother would not have murdered him. The first Christian martyr met with an early and a violent death because he was a “man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost” (Act_6:5); and the fear of the Lord has shortened the days of millions since then. The ranks of the “noble army of martyrs” have been filled up by volunteers of every age and many nations since Stephen fell asleep, testifying to the fact that, so far as life in this world is concerned, other things must be taken into consideration.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
There is no such wholesome air—there is no such kindly physic—there is no such sovereign cordial—as the fear of the Lord. That makes the days of the godly as long as the years of the wicked.—Jermin.
The righteous’ days are great and noble, and the wicked’s days are mean and small. And this is the meaning of the Proverb, “Made little,” literally, “shortened” (E.V.). We thought at first that this was decisive against our sense, and against our rendering of all the verses expounded in chap. 3. (Pro_10:2-16). Our thought of this was increased by Job_14:1, and by all the expositions. But when we turned to Psa_102:23, our own sense was wonderfully confirmed. That verse reads, “He weakened my strength in the way; He shortened my days:” where “shortened” must have a sense coincident with continued living. And what that sense is, such passages as these: “Is my hand shortened?” (Isa_50:2), “The soul of the people was (lit.) shortened,” “The days of his youth hast Thou shortened” (Num_21:4; Psa_89:45), and nearly all the other instances strikingly confirm. The meaning is, Wisdom makes our days grander and grander, and Impenitence makes them weaker, and always of less account.—Miller.

Proverbs 10:28
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_10:28
HOPES REALISED AND DISAPPOINTED
I. The righteous man’s present possession—“Hope.” We saw in treating Pro_10:24 that the righteous man possesses God-begotten desires, and that he has good ground for believing that these desires will be granted, therefore he expects their fulfilment, and desire and expectation constitute his hope. Hope is a fortune in itself. It gives a present gladness, and therefore a present power. It is in itself a tower of strength. Nothing upholds us so surely in present difficulties as the hope of a brighter future. If in the hour of darkness a man can say to his soul, “Why art thou cast down, and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God” (Psa_42:5), he holds in possession a sheet-anchor which will prevent him from making shipwreck upon the rocks of despair and infidelity. The hope of the righteous is a present salvation. “We are saved by hope” (Rom_8:24). It is “an anchor of the soul” (Heb_6:19).
II. The righteous man’s future inheritance—gladness. If the hope of an expected good gives gladness, how much more its realisation! A man is glad when the title deeds of an estate are handed over to him even if he cannot at once enter upon its possession, how much more glad is he when he enters into the full enjoyment of his inheritance. The righteous man’s hope is a more certain guarantee of his future inheritance of gladness than the most indisputable deed ever written upon parchment. It is as we saw before (see on Pro_10:24) an earnest of its own fulfilment. The hope begotten in the heart of a child, by the inspiration of his father’s character and genius, that he may one day be like his parent, is a hope that the father himself will not disappoint. Love for his child and a regard for his own honour will impel him to do all that lies within his reach to satisfy the desire—to fulfil the expectation—of his child. If, in addition, he was able to promise the child that his hope should be realised, nothing could acquit him of his obligation to perform his promise except inability. The Eternal Father has by His spirit and by His promise begotten such a hope within His children and “begotten them” unto the hope (1Pe_1:3). This is “the hope” of the righteous, and the character and the omnipotence of Him who gave it birth is a sure pledge that it shall be “gladness.” Closely connected with it are the hopes of the coming of God’s kingdom, and of the “adoption of the body” (Rom_8:23), noticed in considering “the desire of the righteous.”
III. The doom of the expectation of the ungodly man. If the wicked man has fears concerning the future (see on Pro_10:24), he has also vague hopes concerning it, although his desires and expectations are chiefly in relation to the present world. As to his desires of a state of happiness after death, they are not strong enough to lead him to comply with the conditions of entering upon it. Any expectation of this nature can be based upon nothing outside himself, and it must therefore perish. His expectation of the results of his own earthborn and devilish schemes will also perish. He may apparently bring them to a successful issue, but the end will show that it is not so. If he succeeds in gaining wealth or power, he will not get what he expected out of them. Any expectation which he forms as to the overthrow of the good will meet with the same doom. Pharaoh expected to be able to retain the Hebrews in bondage, but his expectation was broken to shivers upon the shield of Eternal Omnipotence. The chief priests and scribes expected to stamp out the name and the influence of the Nazarene by crucifying Him, but the result contradicted their expectations. In these instances may be seen a reflection of the doom of every expectation which is out of harmony with righteousness.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Christian! make sure the ground of your hope (2Pe_1:10). Then set out its gladness as becomes an heir of glory. Let not a drooping spirit tell the world the scantiness of your hope. But show that you can live upon its gladness until you enter into its perfect and everlasting fruition. Doubtfulness leaves believers and infidels nearly upon the same level.—Bridges.
The proverb means literally—“The hope of the righteous (itself) turns to joy.” Faith is the begining of felicity.… The expectation or “assurance” of the impenitent man, even if he finds it well placed, “perishes” as of its very nature. “The world passes away and the desire thereof.” The lost may have had all he wished, but his very wishes perish at the last day (1Jn_2:17).—Miller.
All the hopes of the wicked shall not bring him to heaven; all the fears of the righteous shall not bring him to hell.—Bunyan.
It would be better for “hope” and “expectation” to change places. Even the expectant waiting of the righteous is joyful at the time, and ends in joy; the eager hope of the wicked comes to nought (comp. Job_8:13).—Plumptre.
The wicked cannot choose but fear, and, therefore, Eliphaz says of a wicked man, the sound of fear is in his ears (Job_15:21). And in Isaiah (Pro_20:17) they are compared to the troubled sea, which cannot rest. And because where fear is, it is some ease to think, if not to hope, that the evil feared may not fall upon them; this ease is taken away, for the fear shall come. Come it shall, as it were of itself without sending for, because it is most due unto them. An instance of this is given in those who lived at the time of the building of the Tower of Babel, and who saying “Let us build it lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth,” it followeth soon after, “and the Lord scattered them upon the face of all the earth.” On the other side, the righteous having tasted of goodness cannot choose but desire it; and because where desire is, it is some trouble to think, if not to doubt, that the good desired may not be accomplished, this trouble is taken away, for He shall give who can give whatsoever Himself will, whatsoever they can desire.—Jermin.
Attachment to futurity has a remarkable influence on the operation of the human mind. The present, whatever it be, seldom engages our attention so much as what is to come. The present is apt to be considered an evanescent scene, just about to pass away; and in the midst of wishes and desires, of hopes and fears, which all respect futurity, we may be said to dwell. As on these the life of man is so much suspended, it becomes a material part of wisdom and duty to attend to any regulations by which they may be properly conducted. The anticipations of the righteous, conducted by prudence, and regulated by piety, mislead him not from his duty, and afford him satisfaction in the end. While the expectation of the
wicked, arising from fantastic imaginary prospects, delude him for a while and terminate in misery. Let us consider, what we may, and what we may not, reasonably expect from the world.
I. We must not expect the uninterrupted continuance of any measure of health, prosperity, or comfort, which we now enjoy.
II. We are not to expect, from our intercourse with others, all that satisfaction which we fondly wish.… Such is the power which the sophistry of self-love exercises over us, that almost everyone may be assured that he measures himself by a deceitful scale; that he places the point of his own merit at a higher degree than others will admit that it reaches.… Were expectations more moderate, they would be more favourably received. If you look for a friend in whose temper there is not to be found the least inequality, who upon no occasion is to be hurt or offended by any frailties you discover, whose feelings are to harmonise in every trifle with yours, whose countenance is always to reflect the image of your own, you look for a pleasing phantom, which is never, or at most, very rarely, to be found; and if disappointment sour your mind, you have your own folly to blame. You ought to have considered that you live in a region of human infirmity, where everyone has imperfections and failings.
III. We are not to expect constant gratitude from those whom we have obliged and served. I am far from saying that gratitude is a rare virtue, but our expectations of proper returns must be kept within moderate bounds. We must not imagine that gratitude is to produce unlimited compliance with every desire we indulge, or that those whom we have obliged will altogether desert their own interest for the sake of their benefactors. I shall next show what a good man may reasonably expect from human life. I. Whatever course the affairs of the world may take, he may justly hope to enjoy peace of mind. This to the sceptic and the profligate will be held as a very inconsiderable object of hope. But, assuredly, the peace of an approving conscience is one of the chief ingredients of human happiness; provided always that this self-approbation be tempered with due humility and regulated by Christian faith. II. He has ground to expect that any external condition into which he may pass shall, by means of virtue and wisdom, be rendered if not perfectly agreeable, yet tolerably easy to him. The inequality of real happiness is not to be measured by the inequality of outward estate. A wise and good man is never left without resources by which to make his state tolerable. Seldom or never do all good things forsake a man at once. What is very severe of any kind, seldom lasts long. Time and continuance reconcile us to many things that were at first insuportable. III. We have ground to expect that, if we persevere in studying to do our duty towards God and man, we shall meet with the esteem and love of those around us. The world, as I have before observed, is seldom disposed to give a favourable reception to claims based on superior talents and merits. But, with respect to moral qualifications, the world is more ready to do justice to character. Unaffected piety commands respect. Candour never fails to attract esteem and trust. Kindness conciliates love and creates warm friendships. I have considered only what the righteous man has to hope for in the ordinary course of the world. But—IV. He has before him a much higher object of hope, even the hope which is laid up for him in heaven; the assured expectation of a better life in a higher and better world Put the case of a servant of God being overwhelmed with all the disappointments which the world can bring upon him, here is an expectation which will always be gladness.—Blair.

Proverbs 10:29
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_10:29. “Jehovah’s way is a fortress to the upright, but it is destruction to the workers of iniquity.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_10:29
GOD’S WAY DESTRUCTION AND SALVATION
I. In common with all His intellectual and moral creatures, God has a way, or plan of action. A skilful artificer has a way by which he brings forth a certain result in a work of skill. His way is the out-come of his previous thought and purpose; he does not go about his work in uncertainty as to what he is going to do, or how he is going to do it. The architect proceeds to erect his building in accordance with a certain plan, in a certain way before determined on. The public instructor has ways of teaching which are the out-come of previous thought; he would otherwise work at random. Those who are leaders of others must think and teach within the limits of certain rules, in pursuance of some definite end, otherwise there could be no result from their teaching. God, the skilful Artificer and wise Architect of the material universe, the Great Instructor of men, is no exception to this rule. 1. He works in nature according to a definite and pre-ordained rule or law. All that we see around us reveals Divine forethought and intention, proclaims that the Creator works for a definite end, that He walks in a pre-arranged way. He has a way, or method, of producing day and night, summer and winter, of developing the seed-corn into the full ear, of watering the earth by clouds, and so fitting it for the habitation of man. 2. He has a way in Providence, and though here it is far more difficult than even in nature to trace His working or unravel His purposes, we know that He works in accordance with a definite plan for the accomplishment of a certain purpose, and that there is nothing of chance in the mysteries of life. A child may look on while his father is putting together the works of a watch, he cannot judge of the adaptation of certain processes and actions, but he knows that his father has made many watches before, and he judges from what has been, of what is, and what shall be. And so with God’s way of providence, we cannot trace the why of His operations, we cannot see the issue of His actions while He is at work. The workings are too complicated for us to trace the adaptation of the means to the end. But from past results we conclude what will be the issue of His present dealings, from what has been we know what shall be, viz., that all will be seen to be part of a great plan or way of action, and that the verdict of the universe at last will be, “just and true are Thy ways, Thou king of saints” (Rev_15:3). Clouds and darkness have been around God’s working in the past, but righteousness and justice have come out of the darkness, and so we know it ever shall be. 3. God has a way of grace. Here His way is a way of forgiveness through a Divine Atoner, and of sanctification through a Divine Spirit, meeting human need if that human need is felt and confessed. The need of a man who has broken God’s law must be felt and acknowledged before the way of forgiveness and restoration is brought into operation. This is the law by which men are loosed from the bonds of sin, “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them” (2Co_5:19). This is Jehovah’s “way of salvation.”
II. The opposite effects of the Divine way upon opposite characters. “The way of the Lord is strength to the upright, but destruction to the workers of iniquity” (see CRITICAL NOTES). All men who are not numbered with the “upright,” whose moral nature has not been lifted up by contact with the Divine, are “workers of iniquity.” Dr. David Thomas says of iniquity, “The word is negative—the want of equity. Men will be damned not merely for doing wrong, but for not doing the right” (see “The Practical Philosopher,” p. 132). We take the words therefore to signify the two great classes into which Christ divides the world, “He that believeth and he that believeth not” (Joh_3:18), and consider the different effect upon these two opposite characters of—1. Jehovah’s way of nature. To the upright there comes strength from the contemplation of God as revealed in His material works. He feels that God is a necessity to account for what he sees around him. All created things speak to him of the wisdom, the power, and the goodness of their Maker and Up-holder, and his faith is strengthened by this manifestation of “the way of the Lord.” He obeys the injunction of the prophet, “Lift up your eyes on high and behold, who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number; He calleth them all by names, by the greatness of His might, for that He is strong in power, not one faileth.” And thence he draws the prophet’s argument, “That the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary” that “He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength,” and in thus “waiting upon the Lord” he “renews his strength,” he “runs and is not weary, he walks and does not faint” (Isa_40:26-31). But how different is the effect of the works of nature, when the God of nature is not acknowledged. They harden men in materialism, God’s own laws are used to bow Him out of His own universe, and their working becomes so many forces of destruction because they drive men further from their only hope and help. As Paul tells us, such men “hold (back) the truth in (or, by) unrighteousness, because that which may be known of God is manifest in (or to) them; for God hath showed it to them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His Eternal Power and Godhead. But, “professing themselves wise, they became fools, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator” (see Rom_1:18-32). This is destruction to any man. 2. Of Jehovah’s way of providence. Faith in a personal God, in a Divine Saviour, makes this “way” also “strength to the upright.” If a seaman has faith in his captain, this gives him strength for his duty even in the roughest weather. He feels that he is not altogether left to the mercy of the blind elements, but that there is a strong and wise will guiding the ship. So confidence in an All-wise Father, in a King who “can do no wrong,” is the stronghold of the upright amidst all the apparent contradictions and mysteries of life. He knows who is at the wheel of all human affairs, that
“When He folds the cloud about Him,
Firm within it stands His throne;”
and the knowledge that “God is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all,” makes what would otherwise overwhelm him in doubt, and consequently in weakness, a source of strength, a power of life. But where God is not known, this confidence is absent, and nothing but chance, or an arbitrary Judge, sits upon the throne of the Universe. The terrible perplexities of life are like the rings of the wheels in Ezekiel’s vision, “so high that they are dreadful,” and, as such a man does not discern above them the “man upon the throne” (Eze_1:18-20), they are to him only mighty and resistless engines of destruction. 3. Of Jehovah’s way of grace. The upright man has gained his strength to be upright from the way of Divine forgiveness. Even a child feels stronger when assured of his father’s restored favour, and the forgiveness of God sets a man upon his feet and gives him that “joy of the Lord” which is “strength” (Neh_8:10). Unforgiven sin breaks the bones of the soul. “When I kept silence, my bones waxed old,” but “I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.” “Make me to hear joy and gladness: that the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide Thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities” (Psa_32:3-5; Psa_51:8-9). And he gains strength to continue in the way of uprightness by communion with an unseen Saviour, by the indwelling power of the Holy Ghost. Christ is “the power of an endless life” to all who believe in Him (Heb_7:16). This is the “way” or law of the kingdom of grace. “To as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name” (Joh_1:12). But to those who reject this way of grace, this “righteousness of God” (Rom_3:22), this “way of salvation,” becomes a power of destruction; that which was ordained to be a “savour of life” becomes a “savour of death.” Christ crucified is a stumbling-block and foolishness to such (1Co_1:23). “Whosoever shall fall upon this stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder” (Mat_21:44). The way of Jehovah is in no instance the cause of the destruction of the wicked but it must be the occasion. The words and works of Christ were the occasion but not the cause of the great national sin of the Jewish nation. “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father” (Joh_15:22-24). The knife in the hand of the surgeon is an instrument to save life, but the patient may use it to kill himself if he be so minded. A candle may be used to give light and comfort to all in the house—this is its use with regard to honest men—but the same light may be the means of the discovery and punishment of a thief. The light and heat of the sun, falling upon a bed of flowers fills the air with fragrance and the spirit of man with delight, but if it fall upon a noisome stagnant pool, or a dead body, it will hasten decomposition and spread the seeds of disease and death. It is not the nature of sunlight to destroy, but the objects upon which it falls turns the blessing into a curse. So with “the grace of God which bringeth salvation” (Tit_2:11). “Is it not true,” says Maclaren, “that every man that rejects Christ does in verity reject Him, and not merely neglect Him; that there is always an effort, that there is a struggle, feeble, perhaps, but real, which ends in the turning away? It is not that you stand there, and simply let him go past. That were bad enough; but it is more than that. It is that you turn your back npon Him! It is not that His hand is laid on yours, and yours remains dead and cold, and does not open to clasp it; but it is that His hand being laid on yours, you, clench yours the tighter, and will not have it. And so every man (I believe) that ever rejects Christ does these things thereby—wounds his own conscience, hardens his own heart, makes himself a worse man, just because he has had a glimpse, and has willingly, almost consciously, “loved darkness rather than light.” The message of love can never come into a human soul, and pass away from it unreceived, without leaving that spirit worse, with all its lowest characteristics strengthened, and all its best ones depressed, by the fact of rejection.… If there were no judgment at all, the natural result of the simple rejection of the Gospel is that, bit by bit, all the lingering remains of nobleness that hover about the man, like scent about a broken vase, shall pass away; and that, step by step, through the simple process of saying, “I will not have Christ to rule over me,” the whole being shall degenerate, until manhood becomes devilhood, and the soul is lost by its own want of faith” (See Sermons, Vol. I. p. 7). And so it is all with man, and in no degree with God, that “His way,” which He intends to be the fortress, the strength of every human soul, becomes a destruction to “the workers of iniquity.”
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
This promise implies help for our work, and not rest from our labour. We shall have strength for the conflict. But “there is no discharge from the war.” There is supply for real, not for imaginary, wants; for present, not for future, need. The healthful energy of the man of God is also supposed. He is alive in the way; his heart is set in it. This makes it practicable. What before was drudgery is now meat and drink. Indeed, the more godly we are, the more godly we shall be. The habit of grace increases by exercise. One step helps on the next. Thus was the way of the Lord strength to the upright Nicodemus. His first step was feebleness and fear. Walking onwards, he waxed stronger; standing up in the ungodly council, and ultimately the bold confessor of his Saviour when his self-confident disciples slunk back (Joh_3:2; Joh_7:50; Joh_19:39).… Thus “the righteous shall hold on their way, going from strength to strength,” strengthened in the Lord, and walking up and down in His name (Job_17:9; Psa_84:5-7; Zec_10:12).… No such resources support the workers of iniquity. Captives instead of soldiers, they know no conflicts; they realise no need of strength.—Bridges.
The way of the earth doth weary them that walk in it, and doth take away their strength: but the way of the Lord is strength to the upright, so that the more they go in it, the more able are they to go on in it. Or else because he that walketh uprightly walketh in the ways of God’s most gracious providence over him, and that must needs be a strength unto him. A strong staff, that is, to support him, a strong bulwark to defend him, a strong arm to fight for him. The angel, therefore, might well say to Gideon, “Thou mighty man of valour” when he had first said, “The Lord is with thee.” But as the way of the Lord is to the upright the way of His gracious providence over them, so He hath another way for the workers of iniquity, and that is the way of judgment.—Jermin.
Sin is man’s destruction. 1. Sin brings many evils upon man, from which, if he were virtuous, he would be totally free, such as a decayed body, a wounded conscience, a discontented heart, vexation in the present, fear for the future. 2. Sin puts man out of condition to render tolerable those evils which he cannot avoid. He feels the burden of them in all their pressure because he is destitute of the supports of reliance and hope. He cannot perceive in his afflictions the hand of a father, but is forced to confess them the punishment of an offended sovereign. 3. Sin prevents man from the full enjoyment of the good which outweighs the evil in the world. The Christian finds pleasure in the works of creation, the methods of providence, in beneficence, in friendship, in domestic happiness. Sin deprives us of a taste for these pleasures by enervating the mind, by selfishness, by pride. 4. Sin incapacitates us for the state of pure and perfect happiness in the world to come.—Zollikofer.
Sometimes, by the way of the Lord, the observing of God’s law, sometimes the course of God’s providence is meant in Scripture, as here in this place. It is said to strengthen the upright, not only for that it fortifieth their hearts, but because it preserveth them by sundry means from destruction. The manner of the Lord’s dealing with the wicked is quite contrary; for the Lord plagueth them and crosseth them for their iniquities, and in their evil doing, even throughout the whole course of their life, which is unfortunate and full of many miseries.—Muffet.
The “way” Jehovah personally walks in (as, for example, His way of justice) “is a fortress.” To Gabriel, for instance, it is the arch that shelters him for ever; to the poor saint it is a sworn certainty of defence; but to the wicked it is an eternal vengeance. The way of mercy—that is, in the cross of Christ—is life unto life to the saint, and death unto death to the rebellious sinner. Elihu pictures this in the outward creation (Job_36:31): “For by them” (that is, by the same elements of Nature) “judgeth He the people; He giveth meat in abundance.” The same showers fertilise the earth, or tear to pieces with a deluge.—Miller.

Proverbs 10:30-31
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_10:31. Cut out, “rooted out.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_10:30
THE EARTH THE POSSESSION OF THE RIGHTEOUS
I. From their relation to God it is theirs now. The estate of an English nobleman is the portion of all his family to a certain extent. They all live upon it, and partake of its productions. But the eldest son has a special inheritance in it—it is the perpetual possession of the heir of the house, and it is therefore his in a sense in which it is not the property of his brothers and sisters. “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof” (Psa_24:1), and it is therefore the property of His children—of those who are His sons and heirs (
Rom_8:17). All men enjoy to some extent the blessings of the earth, but it belongs only to them whom Paul addresses when he says, “All things are yours, whether.… the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come” (1Co_3:21-22).
II. From their relation to God it shall be theirs in the future. The regenerated earth is to be the eternal abode of the righteous. The glorified body of the redeemed man will have enough of his present body to enable us to identify each other. Although we have not now the “body that shall be” (1Co_15:37), there will be such a relationship between the present and the future as shall make them the same individual man. So, although the earth is to be “a new earth” (2Pe_3:13), there will be that about it which will enable the regenerated man to recognise his old home. And if in the new earth there is to dwell “righteousness,” it is because it is to be the abode of righteous beings. On this subject see also Homiletics on Chap. Pro_2:21-22.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_10:30. Love of home is an impulse and emotion natural to, man; but to no people was fatherland so greatly delighted in, to none was exile and banishment from fatherland so dreadful a thought, as it was to the people of Israel. Expatriation is the worst of all evils with which the prophets threatened individuals and the people; and the history of Israel in their exile, which was a punishment of their national apostasy, confirms this proverb, and explains its form.… In general, the proverb means that the righteous fearlessly maintains the position he takes; while, on the contrary, all they who have no hold on God lose also their outward position. But often enough this saying is fulfilled in this, that they, in order that they may escape disgrace, become wanderers and fugitives, and are compelled to conceal themselves among strangers.—Delitzsch.
The desire of the righteous is not to stay upon earth, neither is that the reward which God hath appointed for them. They know a better place to go unto, and where better things than the earth can afford are provided for them. Hugo de Sancto Victore saith, therefore, making three sorts of men, “He is very delicate whose own country is delicious unto him; he is valiant to whom every country is his own; he is perfect to whom the world is a banishment. The first hath fastened his love upon the world, the second hath scattered his love in the world, the last hath extinguished his love from the world.” And this is the righteous man of whom it is here said that he shall never be removed, because he shall never be taken hence with an unwilling and reluctant mind. He having never set his affection upon the world, can never be removed from it. When he goeth hence, he goeth cheerfully and gladly; it is not a remove of him, but a pleasant passage to him.—Jermin.
Moved, not removed, but shaken: shall not be seriously disturbed.—Miller.
See also comments on chap. Pro_2:21-22.
(For Homiletics on Pro_10:31, see on Pro_10:13-14; Pro_10:20-21.)
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
The figure here is of a sprout or seedling which has the capacity to grow for ever. “Wisdom” is such a tree. It grows from the mouth of the good man, and will grow for ever; that is, the good man will incessantly spread abroad wisdom. God, who is invisible, spreads abroad wisdom only through the creature. But the ungodly tongue, literally “the tongue of upturnings,” overturning everything, and being in this world the great instrument for leading others astray, will be put in a condition to be foiled of such an influence: as the inspired sentence expresses it, will be “cut out.”—Miller.
As a tree full of life and sap brings forth its fruit, so in Isa_57:19, the cognate word is translated “the fruit of the lips.” The froward tongue is like a tree that brings forth evil and not good fruit. It “shall be cut down.” What is meant is, that the abuse of God’s gift of speech will lead ultimately to its forfeiture. There shall, at last, be the silence of shame and confusion.—Plumptre.

Proverbs 10:32
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_10:32
ACCEPTABLE WORDS
I. The righteous man knows what words are acceptable to God from a study of Divine laws. The courtier knows how to approach his king—in what words to address him—because he has made himself acquainted with the laws of the court. The righteous man is well acquainted with the laws of the kingdom of God, and, being so, he knows how to draw near to the Divine King—he sets his words in order before Him as the wood is laid in order upon the altar for the sacrifice. God has not left man in ignorance of what kind of words are acceptable to Him (Hos_14:2; Mal_3:16; Mat_6:9; Eph_5:19-20, etc).
II. He knows what words are acceptable to men from a study of their character. Man’s character is a prophecy of the kind of words that will be acceptable. The righteous man makes it his business, and regards it as his duty to frame his speech—so far as is consistent with righteousness—in such a manner that those to whom he speaks will be won to listen to his words.
III. He speaks what are acceptable words from the habit of his heart. It is natural for a good tree to bear good fruit, and it is the nature of a righteous man to speak words of humility and faith to his God and of kindness to his fellow-men. As the tree is, so is the fruit. As the man’s heart is, so, with rare exceptions, are his words. (See on Pro_10:20).
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_10:32. The plain sense is, that the righteous speak those things whereby they have the favour both of God and man, and whereby they are in friendship and peace both with heaven and earth. But the mouth of the wicked careth not to offend either God or man, and seeketh not for love anywhere, being wholly pleased in perverseness. But many know what is acceptable to God and man, but their lips do not know it. So the liar knoweth truth to be acceptable to God and man, but their lips do not know it: the profane person knoweth prayer to be acceptable, but his lips do not know it: the ill governor knoweth the reproof of vice to be acceptable, but his lips do not know it: the brawler knoweth mildness of speech to be acceptable, but his lips do not know it. Yea, the lips also of many speak that which is acceptable, but their lips do not know it; their speaking of it being in such a manner as maketh that which is acceptable not to be acceptable. But the righteous man speaketh that which pleaseth God and pleaseth man, and he speaks it in a pleasing manner. Or else as Clemens Alexandrinus readeth, the lips of the righteous know high things in speaking the high praises of the highest God, and in opening the truth of high things unto men.—Jermin.
How, what, when, to whom to speak, is a matter of great wisdom. Yet this consideration of acceptableness must involve no sacrifice of principle. Let it be a considerate accommodation of mode to the diversities of tastes; a forbearance with lesser prejudices and constitutional infirmities; avoiding not all offences (which faithfulness to our Divine Master forbids), but all needless offences, all uncalled-for occasions of design and irritation. “The meekness of wisdom” should be clearly manifested in Christian faithfulness (Jas_3:13.) Thus Gideon melted the frowardness of the men of Ephraim (Jdg_8:2-3). Abigail restrained David’s hands from blood (1Sa_25:23; 1Sa_25:33). Daniel stood fearless before the mighty monarch of Babylon (Dan_4:27). Their lips knew what was acceptable, and their God honoured them.—Bridges.
HOMILY ON THE ENTIRE CHAPTER. The pious and ungodly compared in respect—1. To their earthly good; 2 To their worth in the eyes of men; 3. To their outward demeanour in intercourse with others; 4. To their disposition of heart as this appears in their mien, their words, their Acts 5. To their diverse fruits, that which they produce in their moral influence upon others; 6. To their different fates as awarded to them at last in the retribution of eternity.—Lange’s Commentary.

Proverbs 10:1
A wise son maketh a glad father.
A son’s wisdom a father’s joy
The first proverb is a characteristic specimen of its kind. It is in your power to make your father glad, and God expects you to do it. Here is one of the sweetest fruits of wisdom—a son’s wisdom is his father’s joy. A son who breaks his mother’s heart—can this earth have any more irksome load to bear? Foolish son! it is not your mother only with whom you have to deal. God put it into her heart to love you, to watch over you night and day, to bear with all your waywardness, to labour for you to the wasting of her own life. All this is God’s law in her being. Her Maker and yours knew that by putting these instincts into her nature for your good He was laying on her a heavy burden. But He is just. He intended that she should be repaid. His system provides compensation for outlay. There are two frailties—a frailty of infancy and a frailty of age. God has undertaken, in the constitution of His creatures, to provide for both. Where are His laws of compensation written? One on the fleshy table of the heart, the other on the table of the ten commandments. He who knows what is in man would not confide to instinct the care of an aged parent. For that He gave distinct command. There is the mother’s title to her turn of cherishing. You dare not dispute her right, and you cannot withstand her Avenger. (W. Arnot, D.D.)

Parental solicitude
This arises—
I. From the imperfection of parents on their own parts. We all want our children to avoid our faults. Children are very apt to be echoes of the parental life.
II. From our conscious inefficiency and unwisdom of discipline. Out of twenty parents there may be one who understands how thoroughly and skilfully to discipline. We, nearly all of us, are on one side or on the other. The discipline is an entire failure in many houses because the father pulls one way and the mother pulls the other way. To strike the medium between severity and too great leniency is the anxiety of every intelligent parent.
III. From the early development of childish sinfulness.
IV. Because our young people are surrounded by so many temptations. (T. De Witt Talmage.)

The influence of the child’s character upon the parent’s heart
I. The holy character of a child gladdens the heart of a parent.

1. He sees in it the best results of his training.
2. The best guarantee for his son’s happiness.
   II. The unholy character of a child saddens the heart of a parent. Especially a mother. All her toils, anxieties, have been fruitless. A heavy cloud lies on her soul. (Homilist.)

A foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.
The mother’s sorrow
The word “heaviness” means, in this connection, sadness, sorrow, dejection of mind, a wounded spirit, a broken heart. “Foolishness” denotes, not merely an intellectual weakness, nor merely a religious want, but in general, any grand moral deficiency in the whole complex economy of character.
I. The young man neglectful of his intellectual culture. In all the infinite range of being, after you leave the irrational, until you reach the Divine, there is none whose “education is finished.” Every young man ought to be giving diligent heed to his intellectual development and discipline. The word “foolishness” here is the antithesis, not of “learning,” but of “wisdom”—two very different things. Learning, in its profoundness, is not possible to all young men. Education, i.e., eduction—a drawing forth, a development. Not a mind infused with erudition, but a mind led forth to think. As thinking is hard work, and most men are lazy, few willingly think. They prefer to buy thought. A true mother’s first thought is her child’s education. This, however, often errs sadly, in undue forcing, or in undue attention to merely light literature.
II. The indolent young man.

1. The man who has no regular business. The young man of inherited wealth, or the poor young man who has neither energy nor ambition to rise.
2. The man who, having a business, does not attend to it.
   (1) In some cases this results from sheer indolence. The man has no bone or sinew in him, no instinct of effort, no adaptation for work. Among men of strong hands he is simply a mistake.
   (2) In other cases this results from a wrong choice of business. The man got into a sphere for which he had no adaptation either mental or physical. Men are everywhere out of place, maladjusted, and so they fail. And by this first failure some men are hopelessly discouraged.
   (3) In other cases this results from false theories of success. The man is a believer in good luck and grand chances. He trusts to fortune and waits for opportunity.
   (4) In other cases the failure results from divided application and energy. The man attempts too much. Ignoring the principle of a division of labour as the grand law of civilisation, he affects the practical barbarism of attempting to do everything. Every efficient thing God ever made does its own work always, and its own work only. Life is too short for the accomplishment of great tasks with divided energies. Be the reason of the failure what it may, the world is full of men who, with a business to do, never succeed in it. Life swarms with indolent and inefficient men. And all such sons are a heaviness to their mother. Mothers want their sons to be something and to do something.
   III. The young man who selects a wrong business or pursues it with a wrong spirit. The grand aim to-day is to get rich speedily. The practical theory is that all business is honourable in proportion to its revenues; but never was a theory more false. All honest business is equally honourable. The young man should engage in no work requiring the slightest violation of dictate of conscience. Evil work may have large revenues, but such success is simply infamous. The man who wins it thus is a disgrace to his generation. Woman’s nature is alive with lofty and chivalrous sentiments. A son’s spotless honour is his mother’s glory.
   IV. The young man who makes choice of unprincipled, immoral, irreligious companions. Choose your companions as you would if they were to go in daily to your mother’s fireside. Beware of the young man of fashion. Beware of the sceptical young man. There are those who think freely and speak freely of human nature and of religion—Freethinkers. Beware of the young man of practical immorality. He is a sharper in business, untruthful, a Sabbath-breaker, a profane swearer, a quarreller; his associations are with fast men; he has no reputation for purity.
   V. The young man who has become evil himself. It seems impossible that, coming from a happy Christian home, any young man should ever go so widely astray. But alas! the strange thing happens. We see it every day. What a fearful “heaviness” this brings to a mother’s heart. Parental love becomes agony when a child turns to evil courses. To save you from this dire moral pestilence a parent would gladly lay down life.
   VI. The young man who lives in neglect of personal religion. To Solomon “wisdom” in its last analysis is personal piety, and “foolishness “ is practical irreligion. You may sneer at religion and think it noble and wise to call yourself infidel. Your mother does not. To her religion is a life and power. Surely an impenitent son is a “heaviness” to his mother. (C. Wadsworth.)

The young man’s
progress:—In these verses you may make out a sort of successive parallel history of two human beings from the cradle to the grave.
I. These two young men at home. Children at home. Character begins to be developed very soon. Very little boys may sometimes indicate those tempers and dispositions which, upon the one side shall make the father’s heart “glad,” or on the other, fill the mother with “heaviness.”
II. These two young men going out (Pro_10:5). The great lesson from this verse is, the importance of taking time by the forelock, using advantages when we have them. It does not do to neglect advantages; seize upon them, use them, do everything in its season. Two things young men should not do: they should neither anticipate nor procrastinate.
III. These two young men getting on. They are now men in business for themselves, having their own responsibilities. Here is an infallible rule: “He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand; but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.” Two kinds of slackness of hand: he may do the thing half-asleep, carelessly; he may not keep tight hold on the profits. The man who works with vigour and with thought, whose whole soul and mind and heart work, as well as his hand—he understands the price at which his profits are obtained.
IV. These two young men in relation to success. “Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivereth from death.” Two men may get rich—the one by wickedness, trickery, wrong; the other by industry, probity, diligence. “Righteousness” here probably signifies “benevolence,” “beneficence.” The property of the man who is selfish and covetous will do him no good. Riches may be the means of grace as well as anything else. The beneficent man looks at his wealth as a thing which is to be used for God.
V. These two young men in relation to change. In the alteration of circumstance, in misfortune, what a difference there is between the fall of a man who has a thorough character and that of a man who has not.
VI. These two young men in relation to the end. “Blessings are upon the head of the just, but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.” The wicked here means the flagrantly wicked. When the just man grows old he is crowned with respect and love; but the wicked old man receives “violence.” The same people, exasperated, unable to bear him any longer, “cover his mouth” and put him out of the way. There is no spectacle on earth so painful as that of a wicked old man.
VII. Now for the epitaph. “The memory of the just is blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot.” The memory of just parents is better than a fortune to the children. The very name of the wicked shall become putrid and offensive. The two great principles which rightly tone the fortunes of the young man are, willingness to learn and uprightness of walking. Everything must be done “uprightly.” (
T. Binney.)

Foolish sons
I never can forget my interview with a widowed mother who sent for me to counsel with her over her only son, who for the first time had been brought home by a policeman and laid helpless in the hall. It was the adder’s first sting in a mother’s heart. I said, “This is the turning-point of your boy’s life: harshness now will ruin him; love him now more than ever.” Said she, “He is penitent this morning, and says it shall be the last time.” It was not. Such first times are seldom last times. The burden grew heavier, till at last the mother’s prayer moved the Hand to move the heart, and he was plucked as a brand from the burning and brought into the fold of Christ. And it is not only the drunken or debauched son that lies heavy on the mother’s heart. Sin leads to other follies and breeds other griefs. When I see a young man who has superior advantages for culture wandering into low companionship, pitching his household tent over against Sodom, I say, “There is a foolish son who will be the heaviness of his mother.” When I see beardless self-conceit talking about the scientific scepticism of the day, and pretending to Rationalism and doubts about God’s Book and the Cross of Christ, and scoffing at what the Isaac Newtons and the Luthers and Wesleys and Chalmers bowed down before with overawed spirit—sneering at the faith once delivered to the saints—I predict a career that will be a heaviness to the mother. (T. L. Cuyler, D.D.)

Proverbs 10:2
Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivereth from death
The profits of wickedness and of righteousness
In nothing is our common proneness to self-deception more conspicuously manifested than in the erroneous estimate which we form respecting this world and the next.
Of the one we think as though it could never have an end; of the other as though it could never have a beginning.
I. The treasures of wickedness profit nothing. “Treasures of wickedness” should mean wealth which has been acquired by dubious or unjustifiable methods, or which is applied to unhallowed or forbidden purposes. But it may be used to signify all wealth bearing no relation to the command and will of the Almighty; all wealth in the acquisition and expenditure of which religion has no influence. But take the present life only, and appearances are against the statement of this text. What will not riches do and obtain for men! Some things they will not. They cannot give health to the languid, ease to the tormented, nor life to the dead. Therefore, with all their fair appearances, they profit nothing. They bring with them no solid, substantial happiness; no joy upon which the soul can confidently repose itself; no strength to endure trials in adversity. If they could, we have still to keep in mind that man is destined for an eternal existence, and for him the hour is coming in which all must confess that riches are useless—nothing in the sight of immortal man, much less in the sight of an eternal God.
II. What is meant by righteousness, and in what sense it delivereth from death. The righteousness which delivereth from death is not our own righteousness properly so-called, but the righteousness of Christ. This righteousness, however, involves a righteousness of our own, which is, in its nature, a necessary fruit, and without which it cannot really exist. The righteousness adverted to by Solomon, in the case of the Jews, was first a ceremonial and then a meritorious righteousness. For us there is first an imputation of the perfect righteousness of Christ, and secondly, an actual righteousness of our own; the first being the cause of our justification, and the second its natural and necessary consequence. The righteous man is he who has accepted the salvation of Christ, is in the leading of the Holy Spirit, and has the testimony of his conscience that, in simplicity and godly sincerity, he daily labours to combine a holy life with a humble and contrite heart. Such a righteousness delivers, not from bodily death, but from all those evils that are represented by, and consummated in, death. To disappointment religion opposes hope; to suffering, patience; to the loss of earthly friends, the friendship of One who “sticketh closer than a brother.” In the hour of calamity, disease, and death itself, righteousness is proved to be the only lasting, sustaining remedy. (Thomas Dale, M.A.)

Treasures of wickedness
may mean either treasures wickedly got or treasures wickedly spent, or both. Such treasures profit nothing unto the bestowment of true happiness. (R. Wardlaw.)

Wealth
No moral system is complete which does not treat with clearness and force the subject of wealth. The material possessions of an individual or of a nation are, in a certain sense, the prerequisites of all moral life. The production of wealth, it not, strictly speaking, a moral question itself, presses closely upon all other moral questions. Wisdom will be called upon to direct the energies which produce wealth, and to determine the feelings with which we are to regard the wealth which is produced. Moral problems mightier still begin to emerge when the question of distribution presents itself. If production is in a sense the presupposition of all moral and spiritual life, no less certainly correct moral conceptions—may we not even say, true spiritual conditions?—are the indispensable means of determining distribution. In our own day this question of the distribution of wealth stands in the front rank of practical questions. Religious teachers must face it. Socialists are grappling with this question not altogether in a religious spirit. But all socialism is not revolutionary. In the teaching of the Book of Proverbs on this subject note—
I. Its frank and full recognition that wealth has its advantages and poverty its disadvantages. There is no Quixotic attempt to overlook, as many moral and spiritual systems do, the perfectly obvious facts of life. The extravagance and exaggeration which led St. Francis to choose poverty as his bride find no more sanction in this ancient wisdom than in the sound teaching of our Lord and His apostles. As poverty is a legitimate subject of dread, there are urgent exhortations to diligence and thrift, quite in accordance with the excellent apostolic maxim, that if a man will not work he shall not eat; while there are forcible statements of the things which tend to poverty and of the courses which result in comfort and wealth.
II. But, making all allowance for the advantages of wealth, we have to notice some of its serious drawbacks. To begin with, it is always insecure. If wealth has been obtained in any other way than by honest labour it is useless, at any rate for the owner, and indeed worse than useless for him. There is wealth of another kind, wealth consisting in moral and spiritual qualities, compared with which wealth, as it is usually understood, is quite paltry and unsatisfying. A little wisdom, a little sound understanding, or a little wholesome knowledge, is more precious than wealth.
III. Positive counsels about money and its acquisition. We are cautioned against the fever of money-getting; we are counselled to exercise a generous liberality in the disposal of such things as are ours. Happy would that society be in which all men were aiming, not at riches, but merely at a modest competency, dreading the one extreme as much as the other. (R. F. Horton, D.D.)

The worthlessness of a wicked man’s wealth, the value of a righteous man’s character
I. The worthlessness of a wicked man’s wealth. It will “profit nothing.” The wicked man gets treasures here, and often, indeed, the more wicked a man is the more he succeeds. The fool of the gospel became rich. But of what real profit is wealth to the wicked? It feeds and clothes him well as an animal. It may give him gorgeous surroundings.

1. It “profits him” nothing in the way of making him truly happy. It cannot harmonise those elements of his nature which sin has brought into conflict; it cannot remove the sense of fault from his conscience; it cannot fill him with a bright hope for the future.
2. It “profits him” nothing in the way of obtaining the true love of his fellow-men. Men take off their hats to the wealthy, but there is no genuine reverence and love where there is not the recognition of goodness.
3. It “profits him” nothing in the dying hour or in the future world. He leaves it all behind. Money was the curse of Judas.
   II. The value of a righteous man’s character. The righteous shall be delivered from death, from that which is the very essence in the evil of physical death—the sting of sin; and entirely from spiritual death. The soul of the righteous shall never famish. On the contrary, it shall increase in vigour for ever. There is no want to them that fear Him. (Homilist.)

What money cannot do
A millionaire who had been born a poor boy, and whose money had become his idol, was showing his house and grounds to a Quaker. The genial Friend praised them and said it was all wonderfully beautiful. “The almighty dollar has done it all,” said the millionaire. “What cannot money do?” The Quaker looked sadly at him. He said, “Thy question reminds me of the people in the desert. They bowed clown to the golden calf and said it was that which brought them out of Egypt. As it turned out it hindered them and kept them out of the promised land. It would be an awful thing if thy gold kept thee out of heaven. You say, ‘What cannot money do?’ It cannot deliver thy soul.”

Proverbs 10:3
The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish.
The Lord and the righteous
I. God has bountifully provided even for the ungodly. Has He shown such concern for the wicked as to provide for them in the gospel “a feast of fat things full of marrow,” and will He disregard the righteous?
II. God is peculiarly interested in the welfare of the righteous. The righteous are God’s “peculiar treasure above all people.”
III. God has pledged His word that they shall never want anything that is good. Exceeding numerous, great and precious are the promises which God has given to His people. He may seem to leave His people in straits, but it shall be only for the more signal manifestation of His love and mercy towards them.

1. A word of reproof. Many do not make their profiting to appear as they ought.
2. A word of consolation. Some may put away from them this promise under the idea that they are not of the character to whom it belongs. (Skeletons of Sermons.)

The famishing of the soul
It is of temporal supplies the wise man is here speaking. The “famishing of the soul” might be understood, with great truth, of the proper and peculiar life of the soul. But the connection demands a different interpretation. Soul is often used to signify the “person” and the “animal life.” It may have reference to that weakness and fainting of spirit which is the result of the corporeal exhaustion produced by the extremity of want. (R. Wardlaw.)

Proverbs 10:4
The hand of the diligent maketh rich.
Diligent
Our life is dependent on our industry. It is good for man that he should have to labour. Were God to do all, We should truly leave Him to do it, not caring to co-operate with the Divine Husbandman in the culture of the field of life. By the “diligent” we are to understand the nimble-handed—those who are active and agile, who will lose nothing for want of rising early and peering about in the darkness if they may but catch a glimpse even of an outline of things. The persons referred to in the text are those who take account of microscopic matters—they are particular about the smallest coins, about moments and minutes, about so-called secondary engagements and plans. The true business man lives in the midst of his business. We are not far from the sanctuary of God when we are listening to such proverbs as these. (J. Parker, D.D.)

Idleness and industry
I. The hand of the one is “diligent,” the other is “slack.”
II. The soul of the one seizes opportunities, the other neglects them. The industrious man makes opportunities. He does the work of the season. The other lets opportunities pass. He “sleepeth in harvest.”
III. The destiny of the one is prosperity, that of the other ruin. The man in the gospel who employed his talents got the “Well done!” of his Master and the ruler-ship over many things. Laziness everywhere brings ruin. “Drowsiness clothes man in rags.” (D. Thomas, D.D.)

Diligent in business
This rule applies alike to the business of life and the concerns of the soul. The law holds good in common things. The earth brings forth thorns instead of grapes unless it be cultivated by the labour of man. A world bringing forth food spontaneously might have suited a sinless race, but it would be unsuitable for mankind as they now are. The fallen cannot be left idle with safety to themselves. The necessity of labour has become a blessing to man. The maxim has passed into a proverb, “If you do not wait on your business, your business will not wait on you.” That diligence in necessary to progress in holiness is witnessed by all the Word of God and all the experience of His people. It would be a libel on the Divine economy to imagine that the tender plant of grace would thrive in a sluggard’s garden. The work is difficult, the times are bad. He who would gain in godliness must put his soul into the business. But he who puts his soul into the business will grow rich. When all counts are closed he who is rich in faith is the richest man. (W. Arnot, D. D.)

Slack hand
Lazy hand. Sloth is the mother of poverty. Or the words may be rendered the hand of deceit. Without diligence honesty can scarcely be expected. Next unto virtue let children be trained up to industry, for both poverty and fraud are commonly the effect of sloth. (B. E. Nicholls, M.A.)

Diligence and prosperity
A connection exists between the bounty of God and the duty of man. All things are of God, and our dependence upon Him is absolute and imperative. There is a perfect accordance between the established law of nature and the law of grace. The former of these combines a dependence upon God for daily subsistence with the necessity of effort to procure it. The latter tells us, and insists upon it, that while by grace we are saved through faith which is the gift of God, we are nevertheless to “work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.”
I. Apply sentiment of text to the ordinary affairs of life. With respect to temporal blessings. The purposes of God are never carried into effect without the use of those means by which they are intended to be accomplished. The application of these means is indispensable to the attainment of the end. If we neglect these, it will be worse than folly to hope for any blessing. What are the appointed means by which a beneficent providence supplies the temporal wants of man?

1. Diligence or industry. An unoccupied and idle man countervails all the laws both of his animal and intellectual frame and wages war upon every organ of his material structure. The law of industry is a benevolent law. If you would make a man miserable, let him have nothing to do. Idleness is the nursery of crime.
2. Economy. He who wastes what providence gives him may not complain of it being with-held or withdrawn. Nature and observation are constantly reading us this lesson. In all that God does there is nothing lost, nothing thrown away, nothing but what is designed for some useful purpose. Every natural substance that does not retain its original form passes into some other that is equally important in its way. There is no example of the entire destruction of anything in the universe. The Lord Jesus did not deem it mean to be frugal. Meanness is more justly chargeable to waste and prodigality. He that is regardless of little things will be very apt to be careless of those that are greater.
3. A sacred regard to the Lord’s day. If a man would make the most of human life, to say nothing of the life to come, he must be a conscientious observer of this consecrated day. Other collateral means are, a sacred regard to truth, honesty in every transaction, rectitude and integrity of character.
   II. Apply sentiment of the text to the interests of the soul. Many events may transpire which will frustrate the most diligent in their enterprise. Sickness, infirmity, calamity, treachery. But it is never so in the case of the soul. There is an opulence in the Divine benignity which satisfies the desire of every praying spirit. Note there is a certainty in the promise. Labour for the meat which endureth unto everlasting life shall be rewarded in the issue to the extent of our largest expectations. And at the last his joy will be full. He has gained the true riches and is rich indeed. (J. Everitt.)

Advantages of virtuous industry
I. The industrious man accomplishes very many things which are profitable to himself and others in numberless respects. How many of his own wants and those of others does he not thus relieve! How many sources of welfare does he not open to himself and others!
II. If the industrious man executes many useful matters, he executes them with far more ease and dexterity than if he were not industrious. He has no need of any long previous contest with himself. He understands, he loves the work; has a certain confidence in himself, and is more or less sure of success.
III. The industrious man unfolds, exercises, perfects his powers; not only his mechanical, but also his nobler, his mental powers.
IV. The industrious man lives in the true, intimate, entire consciousness of himself, and of that which he is and does. He actually rejoices in his life, his faculties, his endowments, his time.
V. The industrious man, who is so from principle and inclination, experiences neither languor nor irksomeness. Never are his faculties, never is his time, a burden to him.
VI. The industrious man has a far greater relish for every innocent pleasure, for every relaxation, that he enjoys. He alone properly knows the pleasure of rest.
VII. The industrious man alone fulfils the design for which he is placed on earth, and may say so to himself, and may in the consciousness of it be contented and cheerful. (G. J. Zollikofer.)

Proverbs 10:5
He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame.
Summer and harvest
I. God affords you opportunities for good. He favours you with seasons which may be considered as your harvest.

1. You are blessed with a season of gospel grace.
2. You have a season of civil and religious liberty.
3. Some are living in a religious family, where they have the benefit of instruction, prayer, and example.
4. Some have seasons of disciplinary trouble.
5. Some have seasons of conviction.
6. All have the susceptible time of youth.
   II. The necessity of diligence to improve your reaping season.
7. Consider how much you have to accomplish.
8. Consider the worth of the blessings that demand your attention.
9. Remember that your labour will not be in vain in the Lord.
10. Your season for action is limited and short.
11. Reflect upon the consequences of negligence.
    Having made no provision for futurity—for eternity—your ruin is unavoidable. A strict account will be required of all your talents and opportunities. (William Jay.)

Using our opportunities
Our efforts in life must be seasonable. There is a religious forethought. He who neglects to gather in summer neglects the bounties of the Lord as well as neglects his own future necessities. The man who sleeps in harvest is pronounced a fool, because he lets his opportunity slip. The historian writes concerning Hannibal that when he could have taken Rome he would not, and when he would he could not. We are to be men of opportunity—that is to say, we are to buy up the opportunity, to redeem the time. When God opens a gate He means that we should go through it, and pass into all the inheritance beyond. There was a king of Sicily who was called “The Lingerer,” not because he stayed till opportunity came, but because he stayed till opportunity was lost. There is a time to wait and a time to act. Overlong waiting means loss of chance, for the king has passed by, and the gates are closed; but to wait patiently until everything is ripe for action is the very last expression of Christian culture. (
J. Parker, D.D.)

Summer, the Christian’s gathering-time
I. The person spoken of. “A wise son.”
II. The season in which the wise son exerts himself. “In summer.” And why is the gospel dispensation represented by summer?

1. Winter is over and gone. His reign was tyrannical and cold. But now summer returns. So the gospel dispensation reveals to us the bright extended beams of the Sun of Righteousness.
2. In winter the face of nature is squalid and deformed. But summer comes; and, by a touch surpassing magic, beauties on beauties start into view. So the gospel dispensation mollifies the hard heart, removes the deformity of sin from the soul, adorns the temper and the conversation with all the beauties of holiness.
3. In winter the heavens distil no kindly influence; all is adverse to vegetation. But when summer returns the air breathes balm, the clouds drop fatness, and the earth is fertilised. So the gospel brings along with it refreshing clouds of spiritual influences.
4. In winter no flowers adorn the earth; their beautiful tints, their savoury smell and delicate forms sleep in the earth; but in summer these appear in rich profusion and of variegated colours. In like manner the gospel dispensation is attended with a rich profusion of gracious young converts, whose souls are endowed with knowledge, faith, and affection, and breathe forth a precious perfume, as the Holy Spirit breathes on them.
5. In winter we search the orchard and garden in vain for fruit. But when summer returns we mark with grateful pleasure the pleasant contrast, and gather the mellow fruits of various hues and flavours. In like manner the gospel dispensation is attended with a variety of fruits to the praise of God the Father.
   III. I would now direct your attention to the exercise in which the wise son is engaged. “He gathereth in summer,” or during the gospel dispensation.
6. He gathereth a knowledge of God and of his duty to Him, as these are revealed in God’s Word and the dispensations of His grace.
7. He gathereth holy tempers, which cause him to resemble his heavenly Father in watchfulness, patience, meekness, and forbearance.
8. He gathereth an experimental knowledge of God’s providence. These are heavenly fruits; they will not corrupt, nor can they be pilfered; they will last for ever, and the happy soul will relish them through the endless ages of eternity.
   In conclusion, see from this subject—
9. The character of one who believes and practises the true religion: he is a “wise son.”
10. The excellency of the gospel dispensation. It is a season which affords every means and opportunity to promote the peace and comfort of the soul.
11. The duty and responsibility of the young. (James Logan, M.A.)

Youthful neglect
Walter Scott, in a narrative of his personal history, gives the following caution to youth: “If it should ever fall to the lot of youth to peruse these pages, let such readers remember that it is with the deepest regret that I recollect, in my manhood, the opportunities of learning which I neglected in my youth; and through every part of my literary career I have felt pinched and hampered by my own ignorance, and I would this moment give half the reputation I have had the good fortune to acquire if by so doing I could rest the remaining part upon a sound foundation of learning and science.”
Thrift of time
Every moment lost in youth is so much character and advantage lost; as, on the other hand, every moment employed usefully is so much time wisely laid out at prodigious interest. It was to the young Mr. Gladstone was speaking when he said, “Thrift of time will repay you in after-life with a usury of profit beyond your most sanguine dreams.”
Opportunity to be used
In our present career a man has but one chance. Time does not fly in a circle, but forth, and right on. The wandering, squandering, desiccated moral leper is gifted with no second set of early years. There is no fountain in Florida that gives perpetual youth; and the universe might be searched probably in vain for such a spring. Waste your youth; in it you shall have but one chance. Waste your middle life; in it you shall have but one chance. Waste your old age; in it you shall have but one chance. It is an irreversible natural law that character attains final permanence, and in the nature of things final permanence can come but once. This world is fearfully and wonderfully made, and so are we, and we shall escape neither ourselves nor these stupendous laws. It is not a pleasant thing to exhibit these truths from the side of terror; but, on the other side, these are truths of bliss, for, by this very law, through which all character tends to become unchanging, a soul that attains a final permanence of good character runs but one risk, and is delivered once for all from its torture and unrest. It has passed the bourne from behind which no man is caught out of the fold. (Christian Age.)

Proverbs 10:7
The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot.
The remembrance of good and forgetting of bad men
I. How great a concern men naturally have to leave an honourable memory behind them. This idea is implied in the text, not expressed. All men in all ages have desired and endeavoured that others should entertain a good opinion of them, and if possible a great one. To this pursuit, multitudes have sacrificed their ease, their interest, the dearest of their other passions, and their lives themselves. They who know they have forfeited their title to a good character labour hard, by concealing and palliating matters, to retain as much as they can of it. A truly good person will always, in the first place, “seek the honour which cometh from God only.” But still, desire of being esteemed by our fellow-creatures is a natural, and therefore an innocent passion, prompts us to what is right, and supports us in it. And we have also earnest desire of being remembered, as much to our advantage as possible, after we are gone. Though we shall not be within reach of hearing what is said of us, nor shall we be benefited by praise or hurt by reproach. Therefore some treat all concern far posthumous praise and fame as a mere absurdity. But as virtuous and beneficent actions are by far the most certain way of procuring any durable esteem from mankind, so planting in us a desire of such esteem as may endure when we are gone is providing no small security for our good behaviour here. And so this desire becomes an important blessing to us. “A good life hath but a few days; but a good name endureth for ever” (Son of Sirach).
All this must be cautiously understood of such reputation only as is truly good; sought from proper motives, and pursued by proper means. If people affect to be admired for excellences, which they have not, their attempt at cheating mankind will probably be as vain as it is certainly unjust. Scripture not only stigmatises those “whose glory is in their shame,” but warns against so excessive an admiration, even of things in themselves valuable, as interferes with the superior regard we owe to real piety and virtue.
II. What care the goodness and justice of God have taken that by worthy conduct we shall obtain our desire and by a criminal one fail of it entirely. There is a particular providence causing the memory of the just and good to flourish out of their ashes, and blasting that of the wicked. Worthy men would be pleased to have present respect paid to their characters, as well as future to their memories. And it is paid in good measure, though the deficiencies in this respect are great: due often to imperfections or eccentricities in the goodness, often to party zeal and to envy. It would probably not be to the advantage of good persons, but far from it, to have all the debt which mankind owes them paid immediately. It might endanger their humility, lead them to an uncharitable contempt of others, and a hazardous confidence in themselves. When once good men are removed to another state, all the reasons which made it unsafe for them to receive praise in this are over; and most of the reasons that made others unwilling to bestow it are over too. Generally speaking, they who deserve well have at length due acknowledgments paid to their memory. The undeserved regard of the ungodly in this life seldom outlasts them any considerable time; the name of the wicked soon rots.
III. In what manner may we best contribute to the due payment of those very different regards which belong to the memory of the bad and the good. Vehemence and bitterness in speaking of those whom we dislike, either when they are living or when dead, is opposed to the spirit of our religion. Yet we are not prevented from forming and expressing just judgments at suitable times. For the most part the name of the wicked, if let alone, will rot of itself; and all that we shall need to do is, not to undertake the nauseous and fruitless office of embalming it. The regards due to the just are briefly these: that we believe them, on good evidence, to be the good persons they were in reality; that we consider their virtues with due esteem, and their imperfections with due candour; that we vindicate their names from unjust imputations, and make honourable mention of them whenever a fit opportunity offers; that we warn and arm ourselves against the temptations, both of prosperity and adversity, by observing how they have gone through each; that we incite ourselves to aim at more perfection in all Christian graces, by seeing in them what heights of piety and goodness are attainable; that we learn watchfulness from their falls; and that we thank God, in our retirements, for the instructions which His providence hath vouchsafed to us in their good lives. (T. Seeker.)

The memory of the just
So far as this world is concerned, every one of us will soon cease to be a man, and be no more than a memory. Every man leaves behind him some kind of a memory; and it depends entirely on what the man has been as to what the memory shall be. There are memories that do rot; those that dwell on them, and take a delight in them, are poisoned by the contact, and all whose feelings are healthy and pure keep at a distance, and feel as if in the presence of something that was corrupt and evil. But however short life may be, it is long enough for a man to do something that will leave a memory in the world which, when he is gone, shall be a blessing to other men.
I. The memory of the just is blessed as an example of holy living. We never can see the force of precept fully if we never see precept embodied in action. You can never give a man a clear notion of what the image of God is unless you give him an opportunity of watching for years the life of a man who has walked with God. The memory of such s man acts as a restraint, both upon the unconverted and upon the child of God, when he is pressed by temptation. The memory of such a man acts as an encouragement. We are apt to think that the law of God is too high for us, that we cannot expect to be thoroughly consistent Christians. And yet, why not? We think those men that we see so good must be different in nature from us. But the grace that made them so holy is as free for us as it was for them. The memory is not only an encouragement, it is also a stimulus. When we hear what the good have done we feel a reproach that we have not done more. That memory is blessed which comes acting upon the spirits of men after a man is gone, and impelling them to follow him in the ways of usefulness and goodness. Such a memory is a stimulus to early consecration to God; to full and laborious consecration to God.
II. The memory of the just is blessed as an example of holy dying. Even those who do not care about living well would like to die well. Others look upon a happy death only in the light of s suitable close of a good life. There is something blessed in seeing the last days of good men.
III. The memory of the just is blessed as a tie to another world. Are there not many of us to whom God has given ties of this kind to that better lend? The blessing in this way counteracts the curse; the curse strikes right and left with the stroke of death, and we see our dearest objects falling before our eyes. But then the blessing comes; they are redeemed; their spirits are in heaven; and our affections turn to the same objects as before. But now those affections, instead of being a tie to earth, are a tie to heaven, where those we love have gone. (William Arthur, M.A.)

The remembrance of a noble name
Who would not preserve a noble name? The recollection of such a name is a continual inspiration. From that recollection many things may be shed that are mere matters of detail, but the substance and the honour, the real quality and worth, abide with us evermore. Who need be ashamed to own that he had a just father and a virtuous mother? No man blushes when he cites the name of a conqueror who worked heroically and succeeded perfectly in the great warfare of life. Just memories are flowers we cannot allow to fade; we water them with our tears; by them we enrich and ennoble our prayers, and by them we animate ourselves as by a sacred stimulus. Blessed are they who have a noble past, a yesterday crowded with memories of things beautiful end lovable; they can never be lonely, they can never be sad; they walk in the company of the just and true, and the silence of the communion does not diminish its music. Here is a fame which is possible to every man. It is not possible for us all to win renown in fields of battle, in walks of literature, in lives of adventure, or in regions of discovery and enterprise—that kind of renown must be left to the few, the elect who are created to lead the world’s civilisation; but the renown of goodness, the fame of purity, the reputation of excellence—these lie within the power of the poorest man that lives. (J. Parker, D.D.)

The memory of the just
The mind often goes back in review of the past human world. On this great field there are presented all the grand varieties of character. They come to view in great divisions and assemblages—in mass, as it were—bearing the broad distinctions of their respective ages, nations, and religions. Here and there individuals stand up conspicuously to view—of extraordinary and pre-eminent character and action. What an odious and horrid character rests upon some. They seem to bear eternal curses on their heads. And these have gone in that same character, unaltered, into another world, and that a state of retribution. But there has been “a multitude that no man can number,” bearing on earth and bearing away from it the true image of their Father in heaven. The saints of God in the past time are presented as a general comprehensive object to our memory. And we have many of “the just” retained in memory as individuals. They abide in memory, and ever will, kept alive, as it were, the images, the examples, the personifications of what we approve, admire, and feel that we ought to love and to be. Now, their memory “is blessed,” self-evidently so, for the mind blesses it, reverts to it with complacency mingled with solemnity. It is blessed when we consider them as practical illustrations, verifying examples of the excellence of genuine religion. Their memory is blessed while we regard them as diminishing to our view the repulsiveness and horror of death, and as associated with the most blessed things through all time. (J. Foster.)

The two memories
It is a trite saying that the present is the only period of time we can call our own; but it is a saying not less true than trite. Now is the moment of action. By our acts in this living present we shall become a power as a memory. In our footsteps our successors will trace our characters as the geologist traces those of the beasts end birds of antediluvian fame.
I. What does the text assert of the name and memory of the wicked?

1. A wicked man’s memory lives in his children. Sometimes as a beacon to warn of danger.
2. In their sins the wicked perpetuate their memory. Those who are not content to be in the road to hell themselves, but must inveigle others into the same accursed paths, surely fasten their memories on the souls of their victims. What putrid animal matter is to our physical senses the memory of the wicked shall be to our moral sensibilities when they are gone.
   II. The memory of the righteous is blessed. True, as a rule, in the case of the children of the good men. Exceptions prove the rule. Let our children find us faithful to our principles, to our professions, to our Saviour, and when we are gone our memory “shall be blessed.” The memory of the just shall be blessed in their actions—their acts live long after they are gone, in their effects. Illustrate by the memories of the martyrs end reformers. And there are martyrs in humble life. We have, then, a work to do, that our memories may be a blessing and not a curse, that we may leave footprints behind for others to walk in. (W. Morris.)

Blessed memories
I. The memory of the just is blessed in their inherent worth. Contrast Abraham, Moses, Daniel, Paul, Luther, etc., with Pharaoh, Voltaire, Paine, etc. Of the former, the mention of their names is as ointment poured forth, beautiful, fragrant, and costly; while the latter are only regarded with pity and regretted as a waste.
II. The memory of the just is blessed in their influential words. Their words are blessed—

1. In Christian conversation.
2. In the public mention of them.
3. In quiet meditation.
   And they are influential, as is evident—
   (1) In the history of the Christian Church.
   (2) In the annals of profane history.
   (3) In the efforts of human progress.
   III. The memory of the just is blessed in their important works.
4. In the books they have written.
5. In the inspiration they have given.
6. In the effects they have produced.
   Application: What sort of memory are we weaving for ourselves? One to be blessed, and that will remain unforgotten in the world? or one that will decay, “rot,” and around which there will cling no loving and permanent memories of Divine or human blessedness? (T. Colclough.)

Proverbs 10:8
The wise in heart will receive commandments: but a prating fool shall fall.
The wise take advice, fools only give it
Here is one of the most valuable results of wisdom. It is not what it gives, but what it receives. It receives commandments. This receptiveness is a prime characteristic of the new heart. As the thirsty ground drinks in the rain, so the wise in heart long for, and live upon, God’s Word. This receptiveness is a most precious feature of character. Blessed are they that hunger, for they shall be filled. “A prating fool shall fall.” All his folly comes out. The fool, being empty, busies himself giving out instead of taking in, and he becomes still more empty. From him that hath not shall be taken. He is known, by the noise he makes, to be a tinkling cymbal. People would not have known that his head was so hollow if he had not been constantly ringing on it. To receive a lesson and put it in practice implies a measure of humility; whereas to lay down the law to others is grateful incense to a man’s pride and self-importance. The Lord Himself pointed to the unsuspecting receptiveness of a little child, and said that this is the way to enter the kingdom. (W. Arnot, D D.)

A prating fool
A fool of lips; a lip-fool.

1. The self-conceited are generally superficial. There is much talk and little substance; words without sense; plenty of tongue, but a lack of wit. Light matter floats on the surface, and appears to all; what is solid and precious lies at the bottom. The foam is on the face of the waters; the pearl is below.
2. The reference may be to the bluster of insubordination; the loud protestations and boastings of his independence on the part of the man who resists authority and determines to be “a law unto himself.” (R. Wardlaw.)

Proverbs 10:9
He that walketh uprightly walketh surely.
Upright walking sure walking
I. Describe the practice itself. To walk doth signify our usual course of dealing, or the constant tenor of our practice. Uprightly means “in perfection,” or “with integrity”; it denotes sincerity and purity of intention. “He that walketh uprightly” imports one who is constantly disposed in his designs and dealings to bear a principal regard to the rules of his duty and the dictates of his conscience.
II. Proof of the security.

1. An upright walker is secure of easily finding his way. If we will but open our eyes, the plain, straight, obvious road, the way of the just, is right in view before us. The ways of iniquity and vanity, ill designs and bad means of executing designs, are very unintelligible, very obscure, abstruse, and intricate. The ways of truth are graven in very legible characters by the finger of God upon our hearts and consciences. An upright man doth hardly need any conduct beside his own honesty. If ever such a man is at a loss as to his course, he hath always at hand a most sure guide to conduct or direct him.
2. The upright walker doth tread upon firm ground. He builds upon solid, safe, approved and well-tried principles.
3. The upright person doth walk steadily. His integrity is an excellent ballast, holding him tight and well poised in his deportment.
4. The way of uprightness is the surest for dispatch, and the shortest cut toward the execution or attainment of any good purpose.
5. The way of uprightness is in itself very safe, free of danger, tending to no mischief.
6. The way of uprightness is fair and pleasant.
7. He that walketh uprightly is secure as to his honour and credit. By pure integrity, a man first maintaineth a due respect and esteem unto himself, then preserveth an entire reputation with others.
8. The particular methods of acting which uprightness disposeth to observe do yield great security from troubles and crosses in their transactions.
9. An upright waller hath perfect security as to the final result of affairs, that he shall not be quite baffled in his expectations and desires.
10. It is an infinite advantage of upright dealing that at the last issue, when all things shall be most accurately tried and impartially decided, a man is assured to be fully justified in it, and plentifully rewarded for it. Upright simplicity is the deepest wisdom, and perverse craft the merest shallowness. He who is true and just to others is most faithful and friendly to himself, whoever doth abuse his neighbour is his own greatest foe. (I. Barrow, D.D.)

The path of duty the path of safety
I. It is so because omnipotence guards the traveller (Psa_34:14).
II. It is so, however perilous it may sometimes appear. Moses, at the Red Sea, felt it perilous, but onwards he went, and was safe. Joshua, at the Jordan, felt it perilous. He proceeded, and was safe. David confronting Goliath; Daniel, in the lion’s den, kept on and were safe (see Isa_33:15). (Homilist.)

Of the security of a virtuos course
An important maxim: in the practice of virtue there is safety. Much higher praise than this may be bestowed upon it. Let the evidence for immorality be reckoned uncertain, still it remains the truth, that, for this life, a virtuous course is the safest and the wisest. Uprightness is the same as integrity or sincerity. It implies a freedom from guile and the faithful discharge of every known duty. An upright man allows himself in nothing that is inconsistent with truth and right. He hates alike all sin, and practises every part of virtue, from an unfeigned attachment to it established in his soul. This is what is most essential is the character of an upright man. He is governed by no sinister ends or indirect views in the discharge of his duties.

1. Uprightness of character comprehends in it right conduct with respect to God. Such a man, in his religion, is that which he appears to be to his fellow-creatures. His religious acts are emanations from a heart full of piety.
2. Implies faithfulness in all our transactions with ourselves. The upright man endeavours to be faithful to himself in all that he thinks and does, and to divest his mind of all unreasonable biases. He wishes to know nothing but what is true, and to practise nothing but what is right.
3. Includes candour, fairness, and honesty in all our transactions with our fellow-creatures. An upright man may be depended on in all his professions and engagement. All his gains are gains of virtuous industry. He maintains a strict regard to veracity in his words, and to honour in his dealings.
   Such a man walks “surely.”
4. Consider the safety which such a person enjoys with respect to the happiness of the present life. Think of the troubles that men bring on themselves by deviating from integrity. The path of uprightness is straight and broad. He that walks in it walks in the light, and may go on with resolution and confidence, inviting rather than avoiding the inspection of his fellow-creatures.
5. Upright conduct is commonly the most sure way to obtain success in our worldly concerns. The most sure way, but not always the shortest. Universal experience has proved that “honesty is the best policy.” An upright man must commend himself by degrees to all that know him. He has always the greatest credit, and the most unembarrassed affairs. The disadvantages under which he labours are counterbalanced by many great advantages. Though his gains may be small, they are always sweet. He has with him an easy conscience, the blessing of God, and security against numberless grievous evils.
6. Consider the security which an upright conduct gives with respect to another world. It must be possible that there should be a future state. We may well secure the best condition and greatest safety in it. And the practice of religious goodness is the proper means to be used for this purpose. The happiness of every successive period of our human life is made to depend, in great measure, on our conduct in the preceding periods. All we observe of the government of the Deity leads us to believe that He must approve righteousness and hate wickedness. To act righteously is to act like God. And there are many reasons which prove that the neglect of virtue may be followed by a dreadful punishment hereafter—e.g., the presages of conscience. These reasons the Christian religion confirms. And should all that reason and Christianity teach us on this point prove a delusion, still a good man will lose nothing, and a bad man will get nothing. Inferences:
   (1) How much we are bound in prudence to walk uprightly! Even if we regard only our present interest.
   (2) In view of another state of existence the prudence of a virtuous course is greater than can be expressed.
   (3) All that has been said is true, though there should be the greatest uncertainty with respect to the principles of religion.
   (4) With what serenity of mind a good man may proceed through life. Whatever is true or fame, he has the consciousness of being on the safe side, and there is, in all cues, a particular satisfaction attending such a consciousness. (R. Price, D. D.)

Uprightness a man’s greatest security
The supreme aim of men is to secure that which they esteem their chief interest, and to pursue it upon the surest grounds. Man’s ultimate end is happiness.
I. Explain the words of the text. Walking signifies the course of our lives. Walking honestly or deceitfully, walking in light, in darkness, anal the like, is nothing else but living righteously or wickedly, behaving a man’s self honestly or deceitfully in the world. Uprightly signifies in perfection, or with integrity; it denotes honesty and sincerity of intention. Ha who lives uprightly is he who in the general course of his life beam a constant regard to God and His commandments. To walk surely is to be in a safe condition; to be out of danger of falling into any extreme calamity. The sum of the wise man’s assertion is this: He that in the whole course of his life acts sincerely and justly, with a continual respect to the reason of things, and to the law of God; that carries on all his undertakings by fair and equitable means, avoiding all frauds and deceits, all base and unworthy practices—this man takes the wisest and surest course to succeed in all his designs, respecting either his present or his future happiness.
II. Prove the truth of the assertion.

1. The upright man begins to act, or sets out, upon the best and surest grounds. To the undertaking and prosecuting any design upon good grounds, it is requisite—
   (1) That the reasons upon which a man undertakes it, be firm and stable, and such as will not change.
   (2) That he be well assured that the way he intends to go will lead him right to the end.
   (3) That he be sure not to mistake the way.
2. In the continuance and whole course of his affairs he has the greatest probability not to fall into any considerable disappointment or calamity. And this for two reasons.
   (1) Because the way of uprightness is in itself freest from danger, and according to the natural constitution of things, least liable to misfortunes and disappointments.
   (2) Because it is guarded and protected by she peculiar favour and providence of God.
3. In the end and last issue of things the upright man has the utmost security, whatever disappointments he may before meet withal, that his designs shall then be crowned with the most perfect success. It is the event and final issue of things that determines the wisdom or folly of any action. The upright man will at the end appear to have chosen the wiser course—
   (1) Upon account of that peace of conscience which will attend him at the hour of death;
   (2) of the happiness which will attend him after death—a state of joy unspeakable and full of glory. What the upright man has done shall then be vindicated and approved, and what he has suffered shall be abundantly made good. (S. Clarke, D.D.)

The centre of gravity
The term “upright,” as applied to character, seems eminently direct and simple; yet in its origin it is as thoroughly figurative a word as any can be. It is a physical law declared applicable to a moral subject. When a man’s position is physically upright, he can stand easily or bear much. He is not soon wearied; he is not easily broken down. But if his limbs are uneven, or his posture bent, he is readily crushed by the weight of another; he is soon exhausted even by his own. There is a similar law in the moral department. There is an attitude of soul which corresponds to the erect position of the body, and is called uprightness. The least deviation from the line of righteousness will take your strength away, and leave you at the mercy of the meanest foe. There is evidence enough around us that righteousness presides over the government of the world. Although men are not righteous, yet righteousness is in the long run the sweetest way to success even among men. As an upright pillar can bear a greater weight than a leaning one, so moral rectitude is strong and obliquity weak. A true witness will bear an amount of cross-questioning which is sufficient to weigh twenty false witnesses down. Truth stands longer and bears more among men than falsehood. This law, operating in the world, is a glory to God in the highest. It visibly identifies the moral Governor of mankind with the Maker of the world. (
W. Arnot, D.D.)

The safety of religion
The term “walk” signifies a course of conduct. To walk uprightly is to pursue a course of uprightness, or integrity. He who pursues such a course walks safely. God is righteous. Being such, He must regard the righteous with approbation and complacency.
I. What sentiments are safe, or what may we safely believe?

1. It is safe to believe the Scriptures are a revelation from God.
2. To believe in the immortality of the soul and in a future state of retribution.
3. To believe that men are naturally destitute of holiness, or in other words, wholly sinful.
4. That a moral renovation or change of heart is necessary to salvation.
5. In the proper Divinity of Jesus Christ.
6. That Christ has made an atonement for sin, and that we must be justified by faith in Him, and not by our own works.
7. That all men will not be saved.
   II. What practice is safe? All who are called Christians may be divided into two classes. One is distinguished by a strict, the other by a lax interpretation of the Divine precepts. Which of these two classes pursues the safe course? Which is most dangerous—to have too little religion or too much? Surely he only who walks strictly walks safely. (E. Payson, D.D.)

The upright walker
The man who walks uprightly is relieved from all fear, and is inspired by the very spirit of courage. He knows that he means to be right, to do right, and therefore he can challenge the world to find fault with him. He glories in an honest purpose. The man who goes through life by crooked paths, sinuously endeavouring to avoid royal thoroughfares, will be discovered, and because he has a consciousness of this ultimate detection he lives a life of perpetual unrest. The man who perverts his ways shall be instructed by misfortune. He would not listen to more genial teachers, he put away from him the spirit of counsel and understanding, so the grim monitor known by the name of Misfortune, comes and conducts his schooling, compelling him to read hard words, and to undergo severe discipline. Honesty is a child of the daylight, and true honour works for no advantage, but submits itself to the most searching analysis and criticism. “The righteous are bold as a lion.” (J. Parker, D.D.)

How to be strong, safe, happy, and eternally progressive
This is a practical maxim which, if generally adopted and carried out in action, would change the whole aspect and condition of the world, producing order, peace, and happiness where now reign only disorder, misery, and crime. What is it to be right? It is to have our feeling, sentiments, and conduct conformed to the will of God, the eternal rule of right; or it is to think, feel, and act in accordance with the immutable standard of truth and right revealed in the Word of God. How extensive a thing right is! It takes in both the inner and outer man; both the duties which we owe to ourselves, and those which we owe to our fellow-men and to God.
I. To be right is to be strong. All the various faculties God has given us attain their most perfect development, activity, and strength only when they are nurtured and trained, and are exercised in accordance with the laws of right. This is true of body, mind, and heart. This is supported by Bible examples. This is a source of strength which can be found nowhere else. It brings the whole man into harmony with himself, reason, conscience, will—and all these into harmony with God and the great forces of His moral government and providence. Strength in being right is real strength.
II. To re bight is to be safe. This must be true, since God and His government are on the side of right, and all His perfections are pledged for the safety and ultimate well-being of them that obey His laws. He walks in the light who is right. It is true, even in regard to our temporal interests, that to be right is to be safe. We sometimes see a man apparently prosperous and happy in a course of wrong-doing. But he is all the while in danger. The path of rightness may not always be the shortest way to temporal prosperity, it is always, in the long run, the surest. Much more, to be right is to be safe in regard to our spiritual and eternal interests.
III. To be right is to be happy. This might be inferred with entire certainty from the design of the Creator in making us free moral agents; from the faculties He has given us, and the laws He has impressed on our being and ordained for our obedience; and also from the various provisions of His providence and grace, as well as from the abundant teachings and promises of His Word. The happiness of God consists in His being right. He is infinitely happy because He is infinitely righteous, true, just, and good.
IV. To be right is to be in a position of eternal progress in all that adds dignity and blessedness to an immortal nature. What have we to do, in this state of probation, to secure the highest good of our souls? how rise to the highest dignity and happiness which our immortal natures are made capable of attaining? Only one answer can be given. It is by being right: right with God, right with our own moral and immortal nature, and right with the principles of that eternal government which the Creator has ordained, and under which we are to live for ever and ever. The man who is right has God on his side, and the laws of the universe on his side, and all good beings on his side; and into whatever part of the universe he may remove, God is there, surrounding him with His everlasting favour, and he cannot be otherwise than safe and happy. Practical lessons:

1. God exercises a moral government over this world. He has made us free moral agents. He has placed us under wise and benevolent laws, sanctioned by rewards and punishments, which are sure to follow, in the line of right or wrong-doing. Results are not complete in this life. Things are nosy in progress; the full consequences of human conduct lie in the future. But what we see here is sufficient to convince us that God reigns over this world as a righteous moral Governor.
2. We may learn what is true policy. It is always and in all circumstances to do what is right. Cunning, compromise, artifice, expediency, and fraud may seem to work well for a time, but mischief and evil are sure to come in the issue. The effect always is to corrupt moral principle, to weaken conscience, to darken the mind, and to arm providence, and the course of nature, and the Word of God against those who thus sacrifice right for expediency, and principle for policy.
3. No change in a man’s life is so great as when he is truly converted from sin to holiness, and comes under the law of right as his ruling principle of action. It changes his whole state and prospects for eternity.
4. How urgent, then, are the reasons for seeking to be right above all things else—right with ourselves, right with our fellow-men, right with God and the eternal laws and principles of His government. (J. Hawes, D.D.)

The practice of religion enforced by reason
Walking represents an active principle in an active posture. As the nature of man carries him out to action, the same nature renders him solicitous about the issue and event of his actions. A man must take care not to be deceived in the rule which he proposes for the measure of his actions. This he may be—

1. By laying false and deceitful principles.
2. In case he lays right principles, yet by mistaking in the consequences which he draws from them. He who guides his actions by the rules of piety and religion lays these two principles as the great ground of all that he does.
   (1) That there is an infinite, eternal, all-wise mind governing the affairs of the world, and taking such an account of the actions of men as, according to the quality of them, to punish or reward them.
   (2) That there is an estate of happiness or misery after this life, allotted to every man, according to the quality of his actions here. Consider these principles under a threefold supposition.
   I. As certainly true. It is necessary that there should be some first mover; and if so, a first being; and the first being must infer an infinite, unlimited perfection in the said being. All other perfection must be derived from it, and so we infer the creation of the world. If God created the world, He must govern it, and this by means suitable to the natures of the things He governs, and to the attainment of the proper ends of government. As man is a moral agent, he must be governed by laws, and these sustained by sanctions. While a man steers his course by these principles he acts prudentially and safely. The presuming sinner can have only two excuses.
3. That God is merciful, and will not be so severe as His word.
4. That a future repentance is possible. But, upon supposition of the certain truth of the principles of religion, he who walks not uprightly has neither from the presumption of God’s mercy reversing the decree of His justice, nor from his own purposes of a future repentance, any sure ground to set his foot upon, but in this whole course acts as directly in contradiction of nature, as he does in defiance of grace.
   II. As probable. Probability does not properly make any alteration, either in the truth or falsity of things; but only imports a different degree of their clearness or appearance to the understanding. The first rudiments and general notions of religion, natural religion, are universal. These consist in the acknowledgment of a Deity, and of the common principles of morality, and a future estate of souls after death. But if there were really no such things, how could this persuasion come to be universal? Can we conceive that the whole world has been brought to conspire in the belief of a lie? It is sufficient to render unbelief inexcusable, even upon the account of bare reason, if so be the truth of religion carry in it a much greater probability than any of those ratiocinations that pretend the contrary. Proved by two considerations.
5. That no man, in matters of this life, requires an assurance either of the good he designs or of the evil which he avoids from arguments demonstratively certain, but judges himself to have sufficient ground to act upon, from a probable persuasion of the event of things.
6. Bare reason will oblige a man voluntarily and by choice to undergo any less evil, to secure himself from the probability of an evil incomparably greater. Since probability, in the nature of it, supposes that a thing may or may not be so, for anything that yet appears, or is certainly determined on either side, we will here consider both sides of this probability.
   (1) It is one way possible, that there be no such thing as a future state of happiness or misery for those who have lived well or ill here. Then he who, upon the strength of a contrary belief, abridged, himself in the gratification of his appetites, sustains only this evil—if it be evil—that he did not please his senses as he might have done.
   (2) But, on the other side, it is probable that there will be such a future estate, and then how miserably is the voluptuous, sensual unbeliever left in the lurch!
   III. As false. Even on this account he who walks uprightly walks more surely than the wicked and profane liver.
7. In reputation or credit.
8. In respect of the case, peace, and quietness which he enjoys in this world.
9. In the health of his body. Virtue is a friend and help to nature. It may be said that many sinners escape the calamities of life. But this may be due to their luck, or benign chance. Many more sinners are plunged into calamities by their sins than escape them. And sin has in itself a natural tendency to bring men under all evils, and if persisted in, will infallibly end in them. (R. South.)

Walking uprightly
Happiness is the favourite wish and the alluring object which every living creature pursues. In pursuing the end all are agreed, but in the ways of securing the end they differ widely. The choice of these means shows a man to be wise or foolish, religious or wicked. Man, besides his innate appetite for happiness, has a superior principle in him, which is reason; and reason will inform him that happiness, all joy and no sorrow, is unattainable and impossible under present conditions. The only way to obtain true happiness is to walk uprightly. It may, however, be said, that although the position in the text should be allowed to be true, yet it contains a truth of very little use or comfort to us, and a promise which none of us can apply to his own person; seeing that we are all sinners in various degrees. Two observations take off the force of this objection.

1. Though uprightness means goodness, and an upright man is a perfect and righteous man, this is not the character here represented. Here uprightness is a social virtue, producing a good conduct towards others. He who in all his dealings is honest, sincere, charitable, candid, and friendly, will in return receive good-usage and escape ill-usage. The promised reward of safety is also of the social kind, namely, security and peace, honour and reputation, esteem and favour, encouragement and assistance, rather than the future rewards of righteousness. Any person, therefore, may apply this encouragement to well-doing to himself.
2. Though we should suppose the uprightness mentioned in the text to mean goodness in general, and a goodness to which we cannot pretend, yet we may hope to make some advances towards it, and consequently may hope to come in for some share of the reward. If he who walketh uprightly in all respects, walketh surely in all respects, he who endeavours to do so, and on several occasions does walk uprightly, will obtain some degree of safety and security, proportionably to his moral improvements.
   I. The ways of the righteous are plain, direct, even ways. Nothing is less difficult than to know our duty, and our interests also, if there be a sincerity of intention, and an integrity of heart. Christian faith and Christian practice are plain and perspicuous so far as they are of universal importance and of absolute necessity. The ways of the unrighteous are dark, crooked, rough, and slippery ways. What is to be said beforehand for the obtaining of criminal pleasures? And how much is to be given up? What are the consequences of such proceedings? and what the vain hopes on which such a person relies?
   II. He who walks uprightly acts upon good moral principles, which will stand the test of the strictest scrutiny. The belief of these principles is absolutely necessary even for upholding civil government and preserving human society. All other springs and motives of action, besides reason and religion, are fickle and various. An upright person in all cases and conditions is the same person and goes the same way. By this he is secured from diffidence and self-distrust and distraction of mind.
   III. He that walketh uprightly has taken the proper way to attain all that a man can reasonably hope and desire in this world. This proper way Scripture calls the straight and the plain way, viz., the way of diligence and benevolence, of honour, honesty, and integrity, which may seem to be slow, but is both sure and speedy also.
   IV. He who designs only what is just and reasonable can run no great hazard. He is not likely to receive any great injury from intriguing men, or trouble from the vain and busy world. Nor is he likely to raise up adversaries. Serenity, satisfaction, and a just confidence always attend upon him. Good dispositions of the heart, like great abilities of the mind, are open, free, unsuspicious, courageous, and liberal. The upright person is constant and consistent with himself; his heart and his face, his mind and his speech, his professions and his deeds agree together. So men place confidence in him. He is secure as to the final result of affairs, the main end, and the considerable purposes of human life. If prosperity consists in a satisfaction of mind upon the whole, he cannot fail of being prosperous.
   V. Either there is a future state or there is not. In either case the upright man is safe. He alone can make the best of both worlds. Do not, then, be weak enough to grieve or repine at the seeming prosperity of the wicked sons of fortune, who obtain a greater influence of worldly favours than many persons far better than themselves. (J. Jortin, D.D.)

The upright walker
His walk may be slow, but it is sure. He that hasteth to be rich shall not be innocent nor sure; but steady perseverance in integrity, if it do not bring riches, will certainly bring peace. In doing that which is just and right we are like one walking upon a rock, for we have confidence that every step we take is upon solid and safe ground. On the other hand, the utmost success through questionable transactions must always be hollow and treacherous, and the man who has gained it must always be afraid that a day of reckoning will come, and then his gains will condemn him. Let us stick to truth and righteousness. By God’s grace let us imitate our Lord and Master, in whose mouth no deceit was ever found. Let us not be afraid of being poor, nor of being treated with contempt. Never, on any account whatever, let us do that which our conscience cannot justify. If we lose inward peace, we lose more than a fortune can buy. If we keep in the Lord’s own way, and never sin against our conscience, our way is sure against all comers. Who is he that can harm us if we be followers of that which is good? We may be thought fools by fools if we are firm in our integrity; but in the place where judgment is infallible we shall be approved. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Integrity most successful
A straight line is the shortest in morals as well as in geometry. (Isaac Barrow.)

An upright posture
An upright posture is easier than a stooping one, because it is more natural, and one part is better supported by another; so it is easier to be an honest man than a knave. (T. Skelton.)

Proverbs 10:11
The mouth of the righteous is a well of life.
Streams in the desert
A man who receives, professes, and obeys the truth, is like a well of water; while a man who retains the form of religion, but denies its power, is like a waterless well.
I. The true believer is like a well. The likeness between the natural and the spiritual may be thus traced.

1. In the manner of its flow. It is an overflow. When the well flows for the benefit of others, itself is full. Itself is satisfied, and out of its abundance it flows over to satisfy the wants of others. When a Christian has not much for himself, he has nothing for his neighbours. As the full well must run over, so the satisfied soul must make known in some form the Saviour’s love.
2. In the effects of its overflow. It refreshes and fertilises the surrounding barrenness. Travellers always take special notice of the effects produced by springs on certain spots in the desert. They make oases. So the neighbourhood feels the effect of the presence of Christians. There cannot be a lively Christian in a godless family, or a lively Church in a godless neighbourhood, without some spiritual commotion among those who are near.
3. As to source whence the well gets its supply. Though the water springs up from beneath, the supply has come down from above. So the Christian says, “All my springs are in Thee.” The facts in nature are well known. For Christians, all depends on the supply they get from a covenant God. The Spirit poured out reaches by hidden paths the veins of the heart, and fills it—then it can overflow in blessing. This truth is taught as a doctrine (Joh_7:37-39), and manifested in the experience of the disciples (Luk_9:54).
   II. A hypocrite is like a well without water. He who has neither the profession nor the power, is not a well at all. He who has the profession but not the power is a well, but there is no water in it. Counterfeit Christians are not simply useless, they are destroyers (compare Jud_1:12 : “Clouds without water”). Christian professors need to see well to it that they are not deceiving and destroying their neighbours. Their profession constitutes them wells, but what if they are wells without water? When God finds us dry, we have cause to fear lest He visit us in judgment, and cut off from us our own supply. Practical lessons:
4. Some wells are not empty, and yet are as useless as if they were. They are filled with bitter water. Some professing Christians with knowledge and correct principles, nevertheless are of an angry, biting, censorious, malicious, proud, selfish spirit. Let Christians imitate the gentleness as well as the faithfulness of Christ.
5. Some wells are not empty, and yet are as useless as if they were. They are filled, or nearly filled, with stagnant water. The water is stagnant, for none has found its way in for a long time from the secret channels, and none has run out over the brim. Secret, earnest, constant getting of the fulness that is hid in Christ is the only sure way of being blessed yourself and becoming s blessing to others. (Christian Treasury.)

Proverbs 10:12
Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.
The hiding work of love
Love is not a New Testament virtue or grace, nor is it left for the New Testament to praise it in high strains of music. From the beginning love has been an angel in the world, gladdening men by its brightness, soothing men by its persuasiveness, and luring souls with infinite gentleness towards all that is true and beautiful. Love takes the largest view of life—it does not vex itself with temporary details, with transient aberrations; it looks down into the very core and substance of the soul, and, knowing that the heart is true in its supreme desires, it covers many flaws and specks, yea, even faults and sins, in the hope that concealment may destroy their influence and their very existence. There is a covering up which is a vain concealment, a merely deceitful trick; no such covering up is meant here: this is rather the covering up with which God covers the iniquities of the pardoned man, the sins of him who has confessed all his guilt, and desired an exercise of the Divine mercy. Love is not mere sentiment, an easy-going action of the mind, too self-complacent and self-indulgent to enter with energy into any moral inquiry. The love which is commended in Scripture is an ardent love, keen, critical, sagacious, far-sighted, not imagining that things are destroyed because they are concealed; it is the love of God which at all costs must expel sin from the universe, and set up the kingdom of God among men. (J. Parker, D.D.)

Charity like the orchid
In tropical forests the orchids thrust out long floating roots into mid-air, from the impure vapours of which they draw their nourishment. They live on trunks of huge decaying trees, which, as decomposition proceeds very rapidly, would, if left alone, fill the air with poisonous gases. But the orchid swings in rich festoons over the rotting boughs: covers the deformity with its own loveliness, absorbs all foul exhalations and turns them into the perfume of its own sweet flowers. Charity is this beautiful orchid, covering human frailty, clearing away harsh, suspicious, and cruel slanders; breathing forth merciful judgments, com- passionate sympathy. (James Neil, M.A.)

Proverbs 10:13
In the lips of him that hath understanding wisdom is found.
Contrasts
I. An intellectual contrast.
The difference existing between men in relation to the amount of knowledge is of vast variety. The disparity arises from a difference in mental constitution, and in educational opportunities. The intelligent man—

1. Communicates wisdom. When he speaks men are enlightened, their minds are set to think, and their spirits are refreshed.
2. Accumulates wisdom. It is a characteristic of knowledge in the mind that with its increase there is an increase both in the mind’s desire for larger intelligence, and in its capacity for it. Of the man void of understanding Solomon says two things. There is a “rod for his back,” and “his mouth is near destruction.” He is the subject of coercion; he has not intelligence enough to be swayed by argument. Hence his language is so mischievous, he babbles and blabs so recklessly, meddling, perhaps, with other men’s concerns, that he brings ruin on himself, his mouth is always near destruction.
   II. A social contrast. Social differences among men are as great as the mental. The rich man’s confidence is in his “strong city.” But he cannot shut out disease, bereavement, death, or care. The tendency of wealth is to dispose its possessors to trust to safety where no safety is.
   III. A moral contrast. According to the constitution of things righteous labour tends to life, bodily, mental, and spiritual. Sin is here put in contrast with life, and it is the true antithesis. Sin is death, the death of the true, the divine, and the happy. (Homilist.)

Proverbs 10:14
Wise men lay up knowledge.
Experience kept for use
Another brief definition of wisdom. Many get knowledge, and let it go as fast as they get it. They put their winnings into a bag with holes. The part of wisdom is to treasure up experience, and hold it ready for use in the time and place of need. Everything may be turned to account. Even losses may be converted into gains. Let nothing trickle out and flow away useless. None of the wisdom comes for nothing, either to old or young. Our Father in heaven gives us the best kind; and the best kind is that which is bought. The saddest thing is when people are always paying, and never possessing. The cleverest people are in many cases the least successful. A man of moderate gifts, but steadfast acquisitiveness, lays up more than a man of the brightest genius, whether the treasure sought be earthly substance or heavenly wisdom. Men, looking on the outward appearance, make great mistakes in judging of men. Those who give out little noise may have laid up much wisdom. (W. Arnot, D. D.)

Wise men lay up knowledge
In Eastern countries men lay up garments, and pride themselves in the number of their suits of apparel. In our land men lay up money. But this is not “wisdom.” In Egypt Joseph laid up corn for the day of famine; and in Syria men lay up water for the summer in cisterns under their houses. This is wisdom; but still it is not the wisdom of which Solomon speaks. The astronomer lays up the knowledge of the stars; and the botanist lays up the knowledge of plants and flowers. This is wisdom, but it is not that of which the text speaks. The knowledge that is best for us is the knowledge of God Himself; and though the knowledge of His works is good, the knowledge of Himself is far better. It is only this knowledge that can make you happy, or bring blessing to your soul. A poor woman, that could not read a word, once said to me, “You see I’m no scholar; but I’m Christ’s scholar, and that will do.” Yes, it was enough; for it made her “wise unto salvation.” She was one of the wise women that “lay up knowledge.” This is the knowledge which you must have; you will find it in the Bible; and the Holy Spirit is most willing to become your teacher. (Christian Treasury.)

Proverbs 10:15
The rich man’s wealth is his strong city.
The money power
Here he is describing what is, rather than prescribing what ought to be. In all ages and in all lands money has been a mighty power, and its relative importance increases with the advance of civilisation. It does not reach the Divine purpose; but it controls human action. The Jews wield this money power in a greater degree than any other people. Over against this formidable power stands the counterpart weakness—“the destruction of the poor is their poverty.” This feebleness of the body politic is as difficult to deal with as its active diseases. If pauperism be not so acute an affection as crime it is more widely spread, and requires as much of the doctor’s care. Besides being an ailment itself, it is a predisposition to other and more dangerous evils. We are under law to God. The wheels of His providence are high and dreadful. If we presumptuously or ignorantly stand in their way, they will crush us by their mighty movements. We must set ourselves, by social arrangements, to diminish temptations, and by moral appliances to reclaim the vicious, if we expect to thrive or even to exist as a community. Money answereth all things in its own legitimate province of material supply, but when beyond its province you ask it to stop the gaps which vice is making, it is a dumb idol—it has no answer to give at all. A large proportion of the penniless are in a greater or less degree reckless. Partly their recklessness has made them poor, and partly their poverty has made them reckless. When a multitude who are all poor combine for united action, rash and regardless spirits gain influence and direct their course. Money, though a bad master, is a good servant. Money to the working man would answer all the ends which a strike contemplates, if each, by patient industry and temperance, would save a portion for himself. The whole community of rich and poor, linked together in their various relations, may be likened to a living body. The promiscuous mass of human beings that are welded together by their necessities and interests in this island is like a strong swimmer in the sea, and alas! it is too often like “a strong swimmer in his agony.” Two truths stand out conspicuously from all the confusion. The world has a righteous Ruler, and the Ruler has a dislocated world to deal with. (W. Arnot, D.D.)

The destruction of the poor is their poverty.—
The destruction of the poor

1. Poor people mostly remain poor, for want of the means of rising.
2. The poor are sometimes despised and downtrodden by the proud.
3. They are often reckless, spending their little foolishly. But for this numbers would be richer.
4. They are especially tempted to dishonesty. (Wesleyan S. S. Magazine.)

Proverbs 10:18
He that uttereth a slander is a fool.
The folly of slander
I. Slandering is foolish, as sinful and wicked. All sin is foolish upon many accounts. To lie simply is a great fault, being a deviation from that good rule which prescribeth truth in all our words. Of all lies those certainly are the worst which proceed from malice, or from vanity, or from both, and which work mischief; such slanders are. To bear any hatred or ill-will towards any man is a heinous fault. Of this the slanderer is most guilty in the highest degree. Incurable are the wounds which the slanderer inflicteth, irreparable the damages which he causeth, indelible the marks which he leaveth. All injustice is abominable; and of this the slanderer is most deeply guilty. The slanderer may indeed conceive it no great matter that he committeth; because he doth not act in a boisterous and bloody way, but only by words, which are subtle, slim, and transient things. Tis only an imaginary stain that he daubeth his neighbour with; therefore he supposeth no great wrong done. But these conceits arise from great inconsiderateness or mistake.
II. The slanderer is a fool, because he maketh wrong judgments and valuations of things. And accordingly driveth on silly bargains for himself, in result whereof he proveth a great loser. The slanderer may pretend that what he does is for the sake of orthodox doctrines, or for advantage of the true Church. This indeed is the covert of innumerable slanders; zeal for some opinion, or some party, beareth out men of sectarian and factious spirits in such practices; they may do, they may say, anything for those fine ends. This plea will in no wise justify such practices. Truth does not need, and it loathes and scorns the patronage and the succour of lies. To prostitute the conscience, or sacrifice our honesty, for any cause, in any interest whatever, can never be warrantable or wise.
III. The slanderer is a fool, because he useth improper means and preposterous methods of effecting his purposes. The straight way is always shorter than the oblique and crooked. The plain way is easier than the rough and cragged. Using strict veracity and integrity, candour and equity, is the best method of accomplishing good designs.
IV. The slanderer is a very fool, as bringing many great inconveniences, troubles, and mischiefs on himself.

1. A fool’s mouth is his destruction. If any kind of speech is destructive and dangerous, then is this slander kind most dangerous of all. Men will rather pardon a robber of their goods, than a defamer of their good Dame.
2. The slanderer is apprehended as a common enemy; all men are rendered averse from him, and ready to cross him.
3. All ingenious and honest persons have an aversion from the practice of the slanderer, and cannot entertain it with any acceptance or complacence. It is only ill-natured and ill-nurtured, unworthy and naughty people, that are willing auditors or encouragers thereof.
4. The slanderer doth banish himself from all conversation and company.
5. He derogateth wholly from his own credit in all matters of discourse.
6. This practice is perpetually haunted with most troublesome companions, inward regret, self-condemnation, fear and disquiet.
7. The consequence of this practice is commonly shameful disgrace, with an obligation to retract, and render satisfaction; for seldom doth calumny pass long without being detected and confuted.
8. He can never have sound quiet in his mind, he can never expect pardon from heaven, without acknowledging his fault, repairing the wrong he hath done, restoring that good name of which he dispossessed his neighbour.
9. This practice doth also certainly revenge itself, imposing on its actor a perfect retaliation, an irrecoverable infamy to himself, for the infamy he caused to others.
10. The slanderer doth banish himself from heaven and happiness, doth expose himself to endless miseries and sorrows. Is not he, then, who, out of malignity or vanity, to serve any design, or soothe any humour in himself or others, involves himself in all these great evils, a most desperate and deplorable fool? Persons of a generous and honest mind cannot but scorn to debase and defile themselves by so mean and vile a practice; and so do those who seriously profess Christianity; that is, the religion which peculiarly above all others prescribeth the constant truth, strictest justice, and highest charity. (I. Barrow, D.D.)

The tongue
Sent by his master to purchase the best dish the market could supply, AEsop provided only tongues, which were served up with different sauces for every course; ordered afterwards to provide the worst things he could find, he again appeared with a supply of tongues. The moral is obvious.
I. The language of deceit (Pro_10:18). Lying is a sin committed by—

1. The false witness (Pro_14:5).
2. The dishonest tradesman (Pro_20:14).
   II. The language of slander (Pro_10:18). “The safe rule as to the government of the tongue in society,” says Dean Goulburn, “is to stand at a very respectful distance from all such topics as our neighbour’s conduct and character.”
   III. The language of profusion (verse 19). It is better to say nothing than that what we say should be nothing to the purpose. Profuse talkers often transgress the law of—
3. Reverence (Ecc_5:2).
4. Courtesy. Conversation is not merely talking to people, but talking with people (Rom_15:2).
5. Integrity. When speech runs in advance of thought, it is apt to run in advance of truth (Col_4:6; Tit_2:8).
6. Prudence (Joh_16:12). The restraint of the tongue is a Christian duty (Mat_27:14; Jas_1:26).
   IV. The language of instruction (Pro_10:20-21). Two figures are used. “Choice silver” represents worth, Good words are a choice heritage. They are valuable because they create good thoughts and often lead to good acts (Psa_34:11). The 21st verse gives us the thought of food (“feed many”). The words of the true man of God are food for the soul. The lips of the righteous utter the words of wisdom (Pro_10:30), for there is a vital connection between what a man is and what he says and does (Act_4:20; Corinthians 4:13). (H. Thorne.)

Proverbs 10:19
In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin
The sin of gab
Carlyle says, “There is a great necessity indeed of getting a little more silent than we are.
It seems to me that the finest nations in the world—England and America—are going away into wind and tongue; but it will appear sufficiently tragical by and by, long after I am away out of it (the world). Silence is the eternal duty of a man. ‘Watch the tongue ‘ is a very old precept, and a most true one.” The most thinking men of all ages have felt a similar conviction of the enormous evil of garrulousness.
I. It is a sin against the speaker himself. A man whose tongue is always wagging, is doing a serious injury to his own intellectual and spiritual nature.

1. Great volubility is a substitute for thought. The man mistakes words for thoughts. Plato says, “As empty vessels make the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest babblers.”
2. Great volubility is a quietus to thought. The man who has the power of talking without thinking will soon cease to think; his mental faculties fall into disuse under the constant pressure of verbositors.
   II. It is a sin against the hearer. Such men—
3. Waste the precious time of the hearer.
4. They foster self-deception. The most ignorant as well as the largest congregations attend the ministry of the garrulous preacher.
5. They propagate crude opinions instead of divine principles. “We have two ears and but one tongue, that we may hear much and talk little.” (D. Thomas, D.D.)

Proverbs 10:20
The heart of the wicked is little worth.
The heart not good where the practice is evil
It is a dangerous opinion that however a man may deviate in his general practice from the habits of morality and religion, yet still he may be possessed of a good heart at bottom. If we trace the rise and progress of this baneful opinion, we shall find its origin in the confusion of ideas prevalent relative to the determination of what is to be called good, and what evil. This has given rise to so untoward and irreligious s separation of the heart of a man from his outward actions, as to decide that the former may continue to be good, while the latter are continually evil. This notion is supported by much irreligious literature. There are writers who affect to measure the worth of every action by the standard of sensibility—an ambiguous word, that is made to overleap every fence of judgment, to throw down every bulwark of rational conviction, and to exalt itself above everything that is serious, solid and virtuous. The heart of such an one as pursues wicked courses, notwithstanding all the insinuations, assertions, and misrepresentations of most dangerous and deceitful writers of every kind, “is of little worth,” and yet it is a false and sinful principle to maintain the contrary. If such a heart can be called good, then must virtue and vice have changed their names and qualities; then must religion consist in a total disregard for all serious impression and an absolute forgetfulness of Almighty God; then did our blessed Saviour deliver the admirable precepts of Christianity, to be corrected, revised, altered, and overturned by the maxims of worldly honour. As youthful folly is but too generally the foundation of sin, so is infidelity but too often its superstructure or final result; and the heart is undoubtedly the seat or fruitful parent of both. The heart, in a natural sense, is the seat of life and action. The heart signifies, in a moral sense, the vital principle of all good and evil, of all that purifies or defiles a man, of all that procures him blame or praise, and that renders him justly liable to reward or punishment, either in this life or another. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he,” so are his actions. Is, then, every one who doeth any evil corrupt at heart? No; every one doth evil at times. But it any one should think he might do much evil without corrupting his heart, he is grievously mistaken, and will soon find himself so. May not a man’s actions be so poised between good and evil, that it is hard to determine which preponderates? There is a mixture of good and evil in every character, but this is seldom in such equal proportions as makes it difficult to ascertain whether the good or evil preponderates. It is hardly possible for any length of time to keep the balance even betwixt the good and the evil. Either good habits will ere long gain the ascendancy in the heart, or evil ones. Another objection is—Do we not say there are no hopes of reclaiming such an one, he is bad at heart; and does not this seem to imply that a man may have committed a great deal of evil before he can be said to be bad at heart? While the heart is balancing between good and evil, we may not call it bad; when it bends down and keeps down on the evil side, it is bad, and most difficult to be reclaimed by any human means. Yet we may not say that any heart becomes so bad as to be beyond all convicting and converting influences. But it may be said—Is there not a degree of evil actions where the heart is manifestly good? The persons hinted at in this objection are those who have the best intentions in the world, the best dispositions, but whose understandings and judgments do not keep pace with the excess of their goodness. Such persons do not always plan with discretion, or execute with prudence. And they are often the dupes of crafty and designing persons. A good heart is liable to error. Since, then, there is no foundation for that pernicious opinion that a man’s heart may be good whilst the general tenor of his actions is immoral and evil, let us earnestly avoid being misled by such idle sophistry, such false reasoning. Let us not listen to the specious allurements of refined sentiment, or to the subtleties of vain philosophy. Let us not set up the imaginations of man above the plain doctrines and precepts of God. (
C. Moore, M.A.)

Proverbs 10:22
The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and He addeth no sorrow with it.
Riches in God’s blessing
I. God’s blessing gives material wealth. The silver and the gold are His, and He gives them to whomsoever He will. He who rules in the highest, reaches down to the minutest concerns of this world, and controls them all.
II. God’s blessing makes rich His blessing is riches, although the wealth of the world should all flee away. There are two ways of acquiring wealth. Some people grow rich without God’s blessing, and some grow rich by it. The god of this world gives riches to his subjects sometimes, when neither giver nor getter own the supremacy of the Almighty; and God Himself gives riches to some who are His children. Wherein lies the difference, since both the godly and the godless have gotten wealth? It lies here: God addeth no sorrow with it, but that other lord does. Sorrow is sure to come with ill-gotten wealth. It lies like a burning spark on the conscience, which will not out all the rich man’s days. Sometimes the wealth is scattered by public judgments. Sometimes it becomes the source of family strife. There are many arrows of judgment in the Almighty’s quiver. If you take God into your counsels, and so grow rich, there will be no bitterness infused into your gains. A human soul is so made that it cannot safely have riches next it. If they come into direct contact, they will clasp it too closely; if they remain, they wither the soul’s life away; and if they are violently wrenched off, they tear the soul’s life asunder. Whether, therefore, you keep them or lose them, if you clasp them to your soul with nothing more spiritual between, they will become its destroyer. Certain tortures that savages have invented and applied to the human bodies bear an analogy to the process by which his money makes the miser miserable, alike when it abides with him and when it departs. They wrap the body of the living victim all round in a thick impermeable plaster, and then set him free. If the covering remains all the pores of the body are clogged, the processes of nature are impeded, and the life pines away; if it is torn off, it tears the skin with it,—the pain is sooner over, but it is more severe. Thus the soul of a thorough worldling is either choked by wealth possessed, or torn by wealth taken away. Out of that dread dilemma he cannot wriggle. The laws of God have shut him in. The Maker of the soul is its portion. He made it for Himself. When riches are clasped closest to the heart, He is slighted and dishonoured. If you be Christians, if you have put on Christ, great riches may come and go; you will not be clogged while you have them; you will not be naked when they leave. But if the wealth be the first and inner wrapping of the soul, how shall that soul ever get into contact with the Saviour, that life from its fountain may flow into the dead? It is easy for a Christian to be rich, but hard for a rich man to become a Christian. (W. Arnot, D.D.)

New hopes for a new year
Whatever may be your ideas of your own powers and resources—whatever may be the confidence that you put in man, or the trust that you repose in princes—you may be quite sure of this, that it is only the blessing of the Lord that maketh rich, and that addeth no sorrow. The blessings of God are not marred or mixed with evil. Paraphrase the text thus—“All that God gives to do us good really secures our good without any admixture of evil.” Two facts in connection with the Divine blessing.
I. It enriches. Some Divine gifts are granted in displeasure. It is possible to connect sorrow with that which God intends ultimately to prove a blessing. Sometimes the blessing of the Lord is material and temporal wealth, as in the case of Abraham and of Job. Much wealth is, alas! gotten by vanity and dishonesty—by treachery and falsehood and over-reaching, and by that indefinable sin, but that exceedingly common sin, covetousness. Sorrow was added in the case of Lot’s wealth; but then Lot added the sorrow. There was no sorrow with the portion of Abraham. More frequently the blessing is not wealth, but food convenient for us. I know the great number of the poor, but there is a far greater number of persons not poor. Our attention is often directed to the poverty which exists, but I think we do not sufficiently look at the competency which exists. Where poverty is permitted, how often do you see godliness with contentment. You cannot always say of riches, “Godliness with riches is great gain.” The blessing of the Lord turns every possession into wealth. Children, when blessed by God, are a heritage from the Lord. Friends, when blessed by God, are as so many ministers and servants and priests of God to us. Money, when blessed by God, instead of being the root of all evil, is the source and means of much good. Honour and reputation, when blessed by God, instead of being traps and snares and stumbling blocks, are an exalted position upon which light may shine for the good of others, and the glory of our Father in heaven. Some things wrapped up in the blessing of the Lord are of priceless value. He who has the blessing of salvation is rich indeed. To acquire good things is to prevent all misgiving as to the right of possession. Temporal prosperity, if chosen for you by your Father in heaven, is not only a condition in which you may lawfully be found, but one in which you may feel secure and safe. In this state there is no suspicion as to the power of keeping what we have, and there is no alloy in the use or enjoyment. Providence over both material and spiritual things is fully co-operative with a man whose position is created by the blessing of the Lord. He can look his fellow-men in the face concerning his prosperity—even his temporal prosperity—and can speak of all he has without bringing a blush upon his cheek. Then try to get God’s blessing upon everything—body, soul, and spirit; upon the husband, upon the wife, and upon the children, upon your means of livelihood, upon your property, upon your friendships and connections, and upon all your pursuits. (Samuel Martin.)

Proverbs 10:23
It is as sport to a fool to do mischief.
Moral phases of life
Human life has its spiritual and moral as well as its material and intellectual side. Five things in these verses of great moral significance.
I. Wealth making happy. Great temporal possessions are often the occasion of mental suffering. They awaken in the mind harassing cares, painful anxieties, and distressing suspicions. Wealth reached in harmony with the will of God, and employed in the service of benevolence and truth, has no sorrow, but tends to happiness in many ways.
II. Mischief done in sport. There is an innocent sport. The sport meant here is that which does injury to the reputation, the property, the peace, the comforts of others. Sport that turns the serious into ridicule, that makes merry in deeds of nefarious wickedness. It is the fool that makes a mock at sin; to the wise man sin is too grave a matter to laugh at.
III. Justice done to all. The anticipation of the righteous, and the forebodings of the wicked, shall both one day be realised. There is at times in every guilty conscience a fearful looking for of judgment. There is, on the other hand, in every godly soul a desire for a higher spiritual good.
IV. Indolence causing vexation. Vinegar sets the teeth on edge, and smoke gives pain to the eyes. Both irritate and annoy, so an indolent messenger provokes his master. Laziness is vexatious.
V. Character revealed in its issues. Good character prolongs life, and yields joy. The character of the wicked abbreviates life, and ends in ruin. How full is the Bible of human life! God has filled it with humanity in order that it might interest men, and improve them. (Homilist.)

Proverbs 10:24
The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him; but the desire of the righteous shall be granted.
A contrast
Scripture is a book full of the strongest contrasts. As in the work of an eminent painter, it contains light and shade.
I. Who are the wicked? We must not confine our ideas to the notoriously profligate. As long as a man is uncalled of God, and unregenerate, he is a stranger to all that is truly spiritual, and knows not the true nature of sin. Malachi describes the righteous thus, “He serveth God.” He describes the wicked thus, “He serveth Him not.” The wicked servant “hid his Lord’s talent in the earth.” In the description of the sheep and goats, there is no mark of profligacy fixed on the goats. The great besetting sin of the unregenerate man is pride. Neglect of Christ, contempt of Christ, impenitence, carnality, and worldliness, God declares to be the great condemning sin of the world. Whoever and whatever the wicked may be, they must have their fear.
II. The righteous and their desire. Who are the righteous?? They are the justified. They are the sanctified. A man trusting to his own righteousness cannot be a holy man. The very first elements of holiness are wanting in him—humiliation before God, real acquaintance with God, real desire after God. It is a great delusion to imagine that a justified soul is not also sanctified. The activity of spiritual life shows itself in spiritual desire. It wants pardon, peace, righteousness, happiness. What encouragement does the text give to these desires? There is no limit, no exception, no peradventure. “It shall be granted.” (J. Harrington Evans, M.A.)

The desire of the righteous granted
I. Who is the righteous man?

1. He whom God counts so.
2. He whom God makes so, by possessing him with a principle of righteousness.
3. He who is practically righteous.
   II. What are the desires of the righteous man?
4. Communion with God.
5. Enjoyment of holy ordinances.
6. The personal presence of the Lord (Php_1:23).
   III. What is meant by granting these desires? (Psa_145:19; Psa_37:4; Psa_21:2.) The desires of God and the righteous agree together. They are the life of all their prayers, and God delights in these. (
   John Bunyan.)

The desire of the righteous
Because it is a righteous desire it is safe for God to grant it. It would be neither good for the man himself, nor for society at large, that such a promise should be made to the unrighteous. Let us keep the Lord’s commands, and He will rightfully have respect to our desires. When righteous men are left to desire unrighteous desires, they will not be granted to them. But then these are not their real desires; they are their wanderings or blunders; and it is well that they should be refused. Their gracious desires shall come before the Lord, and He will not say them nay. Does the Lord deny us our requests for a time? Let the promise for to-day encourage us to ask again. Has He denied us altogether? We will thank Him still, for it always was our desire that He should deny us if He judged a denial to be best. As to some things, we ask very boldly. Our chief desires are for holiness, usefulness, likeness to Christ, preparedness for heaven. These are the desires of grace rather than of nature—the desires of the righteous man rather than of the mere man. God will not stint us in these things, but will do for us exceeding abundantly. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Fears realised and hopes fulfilled
The difference between the righteous and the wicked lies not in the existence of these emotions of fear and hope now, but in their issue at last. In each character there are the same two emotions now; in each, at the final reckoning, one of these emotions will be realised and the other disappointed. It is not difficult to ascertain what are the chief fears and desires of a wicked man. Cleaving to his sins, he is in enmity against God. The terrors of the Lord glance from time to time like lightning in his conscience. He fears the wrath of God, and the punishment of sin. What does he desire or hope? His desire for time is the indulgence of his appetites; his desire for eternity is that there should be no God, or at least, that He should not be just to mark iniquity. What becomes of the fears of the righteous? What becomes of the darkness when the daylight shines? When Christ comes, His coming shall be morning. The saints are subject to fears. The promise to believers is not that they shall never fear; it is that the thing feared will never come upon them. Their desire is that they may be pardoned through the blood of Christ, and renewed after His image. When these are the desires of our souls, how safe we are! (W. Arnot, D. D. )

Look to the end a contrast
The wisest saying of a certain heathen philosopher was, “Look to the end.” God asks, “What will ye do in the end?” We say, “All is well that ends well,” which is true if it ends everlasting well. The text points to the issue, the upshot, the end, of two different classes of men—the wicked and the righteous; it indicates as well as expresses the “end of the wicked”—his hopes perish, his fears come upon him; the “end of the righteous”—his fears are dispelled, his hopes are consummated and realised. What a contrast! If the man hoped for nothing beyond success, prosperity, long life, fortune, fame, distinction, position, rank, renown, pleasure; when he has got them he hath his reward, what he sought, and what he desired. And now what has he left? “Vanity of vanities,” if all ends here. Often such a man’s hope comes to an end with reference to this world only. They try to make hope for themselves; but self-made hopes are but vain hopes. And such a man’s fears are realised and accomplished. The boldest, most hardened, most sensual men, have their fears. What is a man’s fear, when at last it comes upon a man? And there is the contrast in both these respects. The fears of the righteous shall all vanish. Righteous men cannot but have fears, and they are full of fears. The reward of his fears is, that they shall not come upon him. The desires of the righteous shall be granted. They may be, because they are kept in harmony with God’s will, and the righteous stand in God’s favour. (H. Stowell, M.A.)

Proverbs 10:27
The fear of the Lord prolongeth days.
Long life a promised blessing
We may wish for one another long life. Every one wishes it for himself. It is a mistake to regard this wish as an infirmity. Strong love of life is not necessarily sinful.

1. Long life is distinctly promised in Scripture as a blessing to God’s people, both in the Old and New Testaments.
2. See why long life is a blessing. Because God rewards the good works of His people. He enables them to do good works, and rewards their work. The reward is not “salvation” but “glory.” Life, like health, intellect, influence, is a talent, lent to us for our Master’s service and our own profit; the greater the loan the larger the profit; the longer it is in trust, the fuller the results. There are difficulties in the way of accepting this truth. One is the seemingly contradictory language of Scripture on the subject. Some passages speak of early departure as a blessing. This is true only in special cases. And we must distinguish between things good and desirable in themselves, and things which become so by God’s appointment. Another objection is this—Admitting that long life is a blessing, and a promised blessing, still we do not see the fulfilment of the promise. We see young saints departing, and old sinners remaining. In reply it may be urged that, if we could take the average of life, we should find it to be in favour of godly men. And the exceptions to the rule are more apparent than real. In many cases we see only the pious death, we are not acquainted with the whole previous life. It may be that the good man, whose early death so distresses and perplexes us, has, in early life, deserved that his days should have been thus shortened. And the cases of early death are simply exceptions to a generally working law.
3. What practical bearing shall this truth have upon our lives? We have rescued this text from the strained interpretation of those who do not look on long life as in itself a blessing. We have learned the true meaning and use of this longing after life which all men feel. It is no small gain to our peace of mind, when we can see that this love of life is not always an infirmity or a sin, but that the Christian may lawfully desire long life, as a longer time of working and suffering for Christ. And such a lawful desire for long life gives the strongest motive for rightly using life as it passes.
4. The tendency of vice is to shorten men’s days. The text implies that, as life is a talent given to be rightly used, so, if abused, it is taken away from the possessor. We desire a longer life for the ungodly and careless, because we know that life is an opportunity for salvation; we would give the wicked further chance of repentance. (Abp. W. C. Magee.)

The fear of the Lord prolongeth days
There is no doubt about it. The fear of the Lord leads to virtuous habits, and these prevent that waste of life which comes of sin and vice. The holy rest which springs out of faith in the Lord Jesus also greatly helps a man when he is ill. Every physician rejoices to have a patient whose mind is fully at ease. Worry kills, but confidence in God is like healing medicine. We have therefore all the arrangements for long life, and if it be really for our good, we shall see a good old age, and come to our graves as shocks of corn in their season. Let us not be overcome with sudden expectation of death the moment we have a finger-ache, but let us rather expect that we may have to work on through a considerable length of days. And what if we should soon be called to the higher sphere? Certainly there would be nothing to deplore in such a summons, but everything to rejoice in. Living or dying we are the Lord’s. If we live, Jesus will be with us; if we die, we shall be with Jesus. The truest lengthening of life is to live while we live, wasting no time, but using every hour for the highest ends. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Proverbs 10:28
The hope of the righteous shall be gladness.
On hopes and disappointments
I. We are not to expect permanence in our acquisitions. On the lot of some men Providence is pleased to bestow a longer continuance of prosperity than on that of others. But as the term of that continuance is hidden from us, all flattering and confident expectations are without foundation. Human life never stands still for any long time. It is by no means a fixed and steady object, like a mountain or rock. Nor is it a still, smooth stream with the same constant tenor. Amid such vicissitudes of time and life, who has any title to reckon upon the future? To faults all are subject, to troubles all are exposed. To look for entire exemption from faults or troubles is to court disappointment. We must not, however, sadden the present hour by dwelling on the thoughts of future disappointment. What is given us, let us cheerfully enjoy, and render thanks to Him who bestows it. Virtue, conjoined with prudence, may reasonably afford the prospect of good days to come.
II. We are not to expect, from our intercourse with others, all that satisfaction which we fondly wish. What the individual either enjoys or suffers by himself, exhibits only an imperfect view of his condition. In the present state of human affairs we are closely interwoven with one another. These associations open a field within which our wishes and expectations find an ample range. Among persons of all characters and descriptions many an expectation must perish, and many a disappointment be endured. All are jealous of the high pretensions of others. Hence the endless mortifications which the vain and self-conceited suffer. Hence the spleen and resentment which is so often breaking forth, disturbing the peace of society and involving it in crimes and miseries. Were expectations more moderate they would be more favourably received. Did we more rarely attempt to push ourselves into notice the world would more readily allow us, nay, sometimes assist us to come forward, in the closer connections which men form of intimate friendship and domestic life there is still more reason for due moderation in our expectations and hopes. For the nearer that men approach to each other, the more numerous the points of contact are in which they touch, the greater indeed will be the pleasure of perfect symphony and agreements of feelings; but, at the same time, if any harsh and repulsive sensations take place, the more grating and pungent will be the pain. From trifling misunderstandings, arising from the most frivolous causes, spring much of the misery of social and domestic life.
III. We are not to expect constant gratitude from those whom we have most obliged and served. Grateful sensations for favours received are very generally felt. When no strong passions counteract these sensations, grateful returns are generally intended, and often are actually made. But then our expectations of proper returns must be kept within moderate bounds. Many circumstances, it is to be remembered, tend to cool the grateful emotion. Time always deadens the memory of benefits. As benefits conferred are sometimes underrated by those who receive them, they are sometimes overvalued by those who confer them. On persons of light and careless minds no moral sentiment makes any deep impression. With the proud spirit, which claims everything as its due, gratitude is in a great measure incompatible. On the other hand—
IV. Whatever course the affairs of the world take, the good man may justly hope to enjoy peace of mind. To the sceptic and the profligate this will be held as a very inconsiderable object of expectation and hope. But surely the peace of an approving conscience is one of the chief ingredients of human happiness, if it be tempered with true humility, and regulated by Christian faith! He, whose study it is to preserve a conscience void of offence towards God and man, will have, in every state of fortune, a ground of hope which may justly be denominated gladness. He has always somewhat to rest upon for comfort.
V. A good man has ground to expect that any external condition into which, in the course of human affairs, he may pass, shall, by means of virtue and wisdom, be rendered, if not perfectly agreeable, yet tolerably easy to him. The inequality of real happiness is not to be measured by the inequality of outward estate. The wise and good man hopes to find, or make, his state tolerable to himself. In some corner of our lot there are always comforts that may be found. And the spirit of man will long sustain his infirmities.
VI. we have ground to expect, from the ordinary course of human affairs, that if we persevere in studying to do our duty towards God and man, we shall meet with the esteem, the love, and confidence of those who are around us. In regard to moral qualifications the world is ready to do justice to character. No man is hurt by hearing his neighbour esteemed a worthy and honourable man. The basis of all lasting reputation is laid in moral worth. Great parts and endowments may sparkle for a while in the public eye. Candour and fairness never fail to attract esteem and trust. The world commonly judges soundly in the end. The good man is likely to possess many friends and well-wishers, and to have few enemies. This subject, in its treatment, has been limited to what the righteous man has to hope for in the ordinary course of the world. But it has to be added that there is a hope laid up for him in heaven. He knows that “in due season he shall reap if he faint not.” For here, or yonder, his hope is perpetual gladness. (Hugh Blair,D.D.)

The hope of the righteous
The righteous here meant are those right with God.
I. Its foundation is good: “The righteous is an everlasting foundation” (Pro_10:25), therefore not swept away, as too often the hopes of the wicked.
II. “the righteous shall never be moved” (Pro_10:30). Confidence in this brings gladness to the Christian’s heart.
III. No removal by death from God. The character they bear is a security against death. “Righteousness delivereth from death” (Pro_10:2).
IV. The fact that the righteous have an almighty keeper and provider makes their hope one of gladness.”The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish” (Pro_10:3).
V. Thus we see “the labour of the righteous tendeth to life” (Pro_10:16). Careful, thoughtful, systematic in whatever employment he chooses, he so works that the labour itself promotes life.
VI. Thus another reason why the hope of the righteous is gladness is the assurance: “the desire of the righteous shall be granted.”
VII. Thus another reason for his gladness: “the lips of the righteous feed many” (Pro_10:21). The righteous man, being a student of the Word of God, and treasuring His precepts in the heart, is able to employ his lips in feeding many.
VIII. In the use of his lips to bless others another reason is found for his gladness: “The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable” (Pro_10:32) The right words are spoken to the helpfulness of others and to the glory of God.
IX. A final reason for the hope of the righteous bringing gladness is found in that his resources are unfailing: “The mouth of the righteous man is a well of life” (Pro_10:11). He has in himself a living well, and a well as drawn from is life-giving. Such is the assurance of the Master: “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (Joh_6:63). (G. H. Morss.)

The hope of the righteous best
The expectation of the man who has his portion in this life is continually deteriorating; for every hour brings him nearer to the loss of all his treasures. But “the good hope through grace” is always approaching its realities, and therefore grows with the lapse of time more valuable and more lively. As it is spiritual in its quality, and heavenly in its object, it does not depend on outward things, and is not affected with the decays of nature. Like the Glastonbury thorn, it blossoms in the depth of winter. The hope of the one is a treasure out at interest which is continually augmenting; that of the other resembles stock, the capital of which has been continually invaded, until the last pound is ready to be consumed. (H. G. Salter.)

The hopes of the righteous, and of the wicked
No subject is of so much importance to man as religion. On no subject is it so desirable that right views should be possessed. Yet in religion to what extremes of formalism and folly, absurdity and asceticism, men proceed. Multitudes identify religion with a tiresome routine of forms and ceremonies. And many build their hopes of heaven on the groundwork of austerities. In one direction we see men placing religion in little more than a name, regardless of all the duties and dispositions and devotions of which it consists. In another direction our attention is arrested by people who are so ascetic as to think it sinful to smile. The text contains a powerful corrective of all those false impressions of religion which moody and soured examples of it may have produced.
I. The character depicted. The righteous. Not one who fulfils every requirement of God’s law; nor one strictly honest in dealing with his fellow-men. If sinful man is to be righteous before his Maker, he must be so—

1. By Divine imputation.
2. By spiritual renovation.
3. By habitual practice. We demand a lustrous manifestation of probity as well as piety. Good works are as essential to salvation as a sound creed and a changed heart.
   II. The Divine possession of this character. We are justified in describing this hope as Divine, because—
4. It has a Divine Author.
5. A Divine foundation.
6. A Divine tendency.
   III. The blessed fruit of this Divine possession. Gladness.
   IV. The awful contrast which the text presents. A contrast in character, and in destiny. (E. Dewhirst.)

Proverbs 10:29
The way of the Lord is strength to the upright.
The two-fold aspect of the Divine working
The words “shall be” in the second clause are supplementary and unnecessary. They destroy the completeness of the antithesis between the two halves of the verse. It is the same way which is strength to one man and ruin to another, and the moral nature of the man determines which it shall be to him.
I. Put clearly the meaning and bearing of these words. “The way of the Lord” means religion, considered as the way in which God desires a man to walk. But here it means the road in which God walks Himself, the solemn footsteps of God through creation, providence and history. To many modem thinkers the whole drift and tendency of human affairs affords no sign of a person directing these. This ancient teacher had keener ears. But not only does the expression point to the operation of a personal Divine will in human affairs, but it conceives of that operation as one, a uniform and consistent whole. It is “the way.” It is a grand unity. A man can know about this way, though it may be hard to understand. It is all on the side of the good; it is all against every form of evil. God’s actions do not change, but a man’s character determines which aspect of them he sees, and has to experience. The word “strength” is used in a somewhat archaic signification, that of a “stronghold.” Hebrew is “fortress.” This “way of the Lord” is like a castle for the shelter of the shelterless good man; but a castle is a frowning menace to besiegers or enemies.
II. Illustrate and apply the principles taught here.

1. The order of the universe is such that righteousness is life, and sin is death. On the whole, things do work so that goodness is blessedness, and badness is ruin. What modem phraseology calls “laws of nature,” the Bible calls “the way of the Lord,” and the manner in which these help a man who conforms to them, and hurt or kill him if he does not, is an illustration on a lower level of the principle of our text.
2. In our physical life, as a rule, virtue makes strength, sin brings punishment.
3. In higher regions, on the whole, goodness makes blessedness, and evil brings ruin. All the power of God’s universe, and all the tenderness of God’s heart, are on the side of the man who does right. All things serve the soul that serves God, and all war against him who wars against his Maker.
4. This will be made more evident in the future. It is possible that the one manifestation of God in a future life may be in substance the same, and yet that it may produce opposite effects upon oppositely disposed souls. People speak of rewards and punishments as if they were given and inflicted by simple Divine volition, and did not stand in any necessary connection with holiness on the one hand, or with sin on the other.
5. The very crown of the ways of God, the work of Christ, and the record of it in the gospel, have most eminently this double aspect. God meant nothing but salvation for the whole world when He sent us this gospel. We may make of that gospel a “stone of stumbling and a rock of offence.” (A. Maclaren, D.D.)

Proverbs 10:31
The mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom.
Piety a peculiar ornament to the aged
I. Who may properly be called old people? Old and young are relative terms, and admit of different significations. Children always think their parents are old. They are old who have grey hairs here and there upon them. The distinction in ages has always been considered as an important distinction by all mankind, who have marked it by some peculiar symptoms or visible effects which the different periods of life produce on the body or on the mind. God leaves it to every individual to judge for himself when the precepts to the young bind him, and when the precepts to the old bind him. Every one should judge justly.
II. What is to be understood by the piety of old people? It is called their righteousness. Righteousness is often used in Scripture to denote holiness in heart and life. Righteousness is true holiness, which is the moral excellence of all moral beings, and the essence of all vital piety in mankind. The piety of old people implies two things.

1. Their cordial belief in the great truths of the gospel. All true piety is founded on the knowledge, the belief, and the love of the great and peculiar truths of the gospel.
2. The practice of the duties, as well as the belief of the doctrines, of the gospel. It is generally true that aged Christians have lived a long time in the way of holiness and obedience to the Divine commands. The promises of the gospel are expressly made to those who overcome, to those who continue in well-doing, and to those who endure unto the end. Internal piety always produces external obedience to the precepts of the gospel. Though the oldest Christians never arrive at sinless perfection in this life, yet they generally grow in grace as they grow in years. Though the piety of the young and that of the old are essentially alike, yet the piety of the aged has a specific and superior excellence.
   III. In what respects is the piety of the aged their peculiar ornament? Piety adorns the hoary head, and spreads a peculiar beauty over the aged.
3. Their piety appears with peculiar purity. Through the sanctified discipline of a life-experience. Aged piety is tried, purified, refined piety.
4. Their piety hides the infirmities and imperfections which are peculiar to their age. They often become more amiable in their age than they were in their full vigour and activity.
5. Their piety renders them useful, when they would otherwise be useless and burdensome to the world. They are still capable of serving God and their generation, by their examples, their instructions, their admonitions, and their prayers. The pious examples and instructions of aged parents are often tenfold more valuable to their families than all the wealth and respectability they can bestow upon them.
6. Their piety makes them happy in themselves and pleasant to others.
   Improvement.
7. There are many more old people than are usually reckoned such.
8. They ought always to be treated with respect.
9. The want of piety is a peculiar blemish in the character of the aged.
10. Aged saints have great reason to be thankful for what God has done for them. (N. Emmons, D..D.)

The speech of the righteous and the wicked compared
Solomon attaches great importance to the power of the tongue to work good or ill.
I. The speech of the good man is valuable, that of the other is worthless. Solomon brings the heart and the tongue into comparison, rather than the tongue of each, to express the idea that speech is always the outcome and exponent of the heart.
II. The speech of the good man is nourishing, that of the other is killing. How one soul can nourish and invigorate another by the language of truth and love. The spiritual destroyer of humanity makes corrupt words his wings to bear him through the world.
III. The speech of the good man is wise, that of the other is foolish. The words of him whose intellect is under the teachings of God, and whose heart is in vital sympathy with Him, are wise words. The policies propounded by the wicked may seem wise at first, but time always exposes their folly, and brings its disciples to confusion and shame.
IV. The speech of the good man is acceptable, that of the other is perverse. The words of truth are always acceptable to God, as they are also to all thoughtful and candid men. There is a “frowardness” in the utterances of the wicked that is distasteful to all consciences, and repugnant to the heart of God and the good. What are the elements of good moral speech? Sincerity and purity. By sincerity is meant the strict correspondence of the language with the sentiments of the heart. By purity is meant the strict correspondence of those sentiments with the principles of everlasting right. (Homilist.).

Proverbs 10
II. First Collection of Pro_10:1 to Pro_22:16
Ch. 10. Title. The Proverbs of Solomon
At this point we pass from the direct and continuous appeal of the opening chapters of the Book to the first and by far the largest Collection of proverbs proper, that is to say of short and for the most part disconnected maxims, each of them contained as a rule in a couplet or distich formed strictly on the model of Hebrew parallelism. “Golden sayings,” Maurer calls them, “not unworthy of Solomon, and fitted to form and fashion the whole life.” It is only however as regards the mould in which it is cast, not in its tone or principles, that the teaching of the Book takes here a new departure.
In this first Collection each verse contains a proverb, generally antithetic, and consists of two members only. On the apparent exception, Pro_19:7, see note there.

Proverbs 10:1-32
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 10:1-32
Proverbs 10 – Contrasting Lives, Contrasting Destinies
Pro_10:1
The proverbs of Solomon:
A wise son makes a glad father,
But a foolish son is the grief of his mother.
a. The proverbs of Solomon: Proverbs 10 begins a new section of the book. In some sense, the first nine chapters have been an introduction. It can be said that the collection of Solomon’s proverbs begins here as a series of two-phrase, single verse, wisdom sayings. This arrangement continues through Pro_22:16. From the start of Pro_10:1 through at least Pro_22:16, this commentary will treat each proverb individually.
i. We sense some kind of arrangement in these proverbs; they may be sometimes grouped in sets of two, three, or four proverbs linked by a theme. For example, Pro_10:4-5 may have been arranged next to each other because both deal with the theme of hard work.
ii. Yet understanding the manner and nature of the arrangement is difficult if not impossible, and different commentators often see different arrangements. In this look at Proverbs, any such connections between individual proverbs are left to the reader to make, and each verse will be treated as its own proverb.
iii. “No exposition is possible save to take each proverb and consider it in its separate value. In the majority of instances this is unnecessary, because they are self-evident expositions of one abiding truth.” (Morgan)
b. A wise son: Solomon himself was the ultimate wise son, receiving and valuing wisdom above all other things (1 Kings 3). When King David saw this heart in his son, it no doubt made him a glad father.
c. A foolish son: Many of the proverbs work on the principle of contrast. This proverb contrasts the foolish son with the wise son. Ironically, we could say that Solomon ultimately turned out to be a foolish son (1 Kings 11), though it was long after the death of his mother.
d. Is the grief of his mother: Our wisdom or folly affects more than ourselves. Wisdom benefits more than the individual, and folly grieves more than the individual.
i. The grief of his mother: “The occasion of her great sorrow, which is decently ascribed to the mothers rather than to the fathers, because their passions are most vehement, and make deepest impression in them.” (Poole)
Pro_10:2
Treasures of wickedness profit nothing,
But righteousness delivers from death.
a. Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: We are reminded of the parable Jesus told of the rich fool (Luk_12:16-21). That rich fool gathered great wealth but was not rich toward God (Luk_16:21).
b. Righteousness delivers from death: Being right with God brings a benefit that money can’t buy.
Pro_10:3
The Lord will not allow the righteous soul to famish,
But He casts away the desire of the wicked.
a. Will not allow the righteous soul to famish: This is one of the blessings that money can’t buy that we might think of from the previous verse. Significantly, the principle is directed to the soul. The soul can flourish even when the body is afflicted.
b. He casts away the desire of the wicked: Ultimately, to be wicked and in opposition to God is to have desire frustrated. To be righteous and to inherit eternal life is to have desire fulfilled.
Pro_10:4
He who has a slack hand becomes poor,
But the hand of the diligent makes rich.
a. A slack hand: This describes the lazy man or woman, who does not put forth their hand energetically to do their work. We should do all that we can heartily, as unto the Lord (Col_3:23).
b. The hand of the diligent makes rich: Hard work is normally rewarded, and prosperity often comes to those who work for it.
i. “Industry was the law of paradise (Gen_2:15), and although it now bears the stamp of the Fall (Gen_3:19), it is still a blessing and under God’s providence brings wealth.” (Bridges)
Pro_10:5
He who gathers in summer is a wise son;
He who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shame.
a. He who gathers in summer: The ant was previously presented as an example of hard work in the summer (Pro_6:6-8). The idea here is of a wise son who shows his wisdom by working hard.
i. Gathers in summer: “A well chosen season is the greatest advantage of any action, which, as it is seldom found in haste, so it is too often lost in delay. The men of Issachar were in great account with David, because ‘they had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do,’ and when to do it; [1Ch_12:32].” (Trapp)
ii. “Joseph seized his opportunity to prepare and preserve his life for an otherwise barren future (Gen_41:46-57; cf. Joh_9:4).” (Waltke)
b. He who sleeps in harvest: To sleep when there is work to be done is laziness and folly, and causes shame to self and to others.
i. “All the work of the field should be done in the season suitable to it. If summer and harvest be neglected, in vain does a man expect the fruits of autumn.” (Clarke)
ii. “It is as much the will of God that the young should gather knowledge as that the farmer should gather his harvest.” (Bridges)
Pro_10:6
Blessings are on the head of the righteous,
But violence covers the mouth of the wicked.
a. Blessings are on the head of the righteous: This was especially true in the context of the old or Mosaic covenant, where God promised to bless obedience and curse disobedience (Deuteronomy 27-28).
b. Violence covers the mouth of the wicked: Instead of blessing, violence will come to the wicked.
i. “But it is simpler to take it as the man’s evil, written, as we say, all over his face.” (Kidner)
Pro_10:7
The memory of the righteous is blessed,
But the name of the wicked will rot.
a. The memory of the righteous is blessed: The heroes of faith in Hebrews 11 are good examples of righteous men and women whose memory is blessed.
b. The name of the wicked will rot: If the wicked are remembered at all, it will be as a stinking, rotten thing. Our present path in a righteous direction or in a wicked direction will end either in blessedness or rottenness, each answering to the path. Every man and woman can choose if they will be remembered to praise or remembered to shame.
i. “The very name of the wicked is as offensive as putrid carrion.” (Clarke)
Pro_10:8
The wise in heart will receive commands,
But a prating fool will fall.
a. The wise in heart will receive commands: Wisdom gives the humility to be instructed and to receive commands from God and those in rightful authority.
i. Will receive commands: “i.e., Submit to God’s holy word without replies and cavils. This is check to the brave gallants of our age, which exercise their ripe heads and fresh wits in wrestling with the truth of God, and take it for a glory to give it a foil.” (Trapp)
b. A prating fool will fall: Here, the fool is the opposite of the wise in heart. In their disobedience they will fall.
i. A prating fool: “In the Hebrew he is called a fool of lips, either because he discovers the folly of his heart by his lips, and thereby exposeth himself to the mischief here following; or because he is without heart, as is said of Ephraim, Hos_7:11, or his heart is little worth, as is said here, Pro_10:20; or because he speaks rashly, without any consideration.” (Poole)
Pro_10:9
He who walks with integrity walks securely,
But he who perverts his ways will become known.
a. He who walks with integrity walks securely: The man or woman who lives with nothing to hide, with no double life, can walk with integrity. There is no anxiety from the fear of having sin and compromise discovered.
i. There is a story – sometimes attributed to the British author Conan Doyle – about a man who sent a letter to others with only these words: All is discovered; flee at once. He said a businessman who received the letter fled at once and was never seen again. He who walks with integrity lives free from the fear of such discovery.
b. He who perverts his ways will become known: The man or woman who walks a crooked life will have it revealed. Jesus said, there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known (Mat_10:26).
Pro_10:10
He who winks with the eye causes trouble,
But a prating fool will fall.
a. He who winks with the eye causes trouble: The idea of winks here is of one who does not take wickedness and folly seriously.
i. Winks with the eye: “That secretly and cunningly designs mischiefs against others, as this phrase is used, Psa_35:19 Pro_6:13.” (Poole)
b. The prating fool will fall: The fool will continue along their path until they fall.
Pro_10:11
The mouth of the righteous is a well of life,
But violence covers the mouth of the wicked.
a. The mouth of the righteous is a well of life: A righteous man speaks life-giving words, most often to others and sometimes to himself.
i. “The dependence of life on water is experienced existentially all over the earth, especially in the ancient Near East, where it is in short supply. Flowing well water is particularly precious (cf. Jer_2:13), and people gather around it. The open, benevolent speech of the righteous is just as necessary for a community, offering everyone abundant life—temporal, intellectual, moral, and spiritual.” (Waltke)
b. Violence covers the mouth of the wicked: The wicked man or woman brings harm and hurt with their words. They take away life.
Pro_10:12
Hatred stirs up strife,
But love covers all sins.
a. Hatred stirs up strife: The constant stirring up of strife and controversy is evidence of hatred.
i. Stirs up strife: “Upon every slight occasion, by filling men with suspicions and surmises, whereby they imagine faults where there are none, and aggravate every small offence.” (Poole)
b. Love covers all sins: Peter quoted this in 1Pe_4:8. We could say this is true in two senses, in that love covers the sins of others, and that love covers the sins of the one who loves. Hatred brings trouble, but love brings healing.
i. There certainly is a place for the confrontation and exposure of sin. “This stress on reconciliation is balanced by other passages warning us against hushing up our own sins (Pro_28:13) or shirking the giving of a rebuke (e.g.
Pro_27:5-6).” (Kidner)
ii. “In this collection ‘conceal’ is not used in the bad sense of maliciously hiding something (unlike Pro_10:6; Pro_10:11) but in a good sense of forgiving or not finding fault (Pro_11:13; Pro_12:16; Pro_12:23; Pro_17:9; Pro_28:13; note especially Pro_10:12).” (Garrett)
iii. Covers all sins: “On the contrary, love conciliates; removes aggravations; puts the best construction on every thing; and pours water, not oil, upon the flame.” (Clarke)
iv. “Love covers, overlooks, speedily forgives, and forgets. Full of candor and inventiveness, it puts the best construction on doubtful matters and does not expose the faults of a brother. Oh, let us put on the Lord Jesus in his spirit of forbearing, sacrificial love, and let us forgive as we have been forgiven by Christ.” (Bridges)
Pro_10:13
Wisdom is found on the lips of him who has understanding,
But a rod is for the back of him who is devoid of understanding.
a. Wisdom is found: When a person has wisdom, it will be found on their lips. The words they speak reveal the wisdom they possess, as Jesus said: Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Mat_12:34).
b. A rod is for the back: The ones who lack wisdom must be corrected by pain, represented by a rod used to strike those who misbehave.
i. “A rod (sebet) denotes a part of a tree from which a staff or weapon could be made.” (Waltke)
ii. “He that can learn, and will not learn, should be made to learn. The rod is a most powerful instrument of knowledge. Judiciously applied, there is a lesson of profound wisdom in every twig.” (Clarke)
Pro_10:14
Wise people store up knowledge,
But the mouth of the foolish is near destruction.
a. Wise people store up knowledge: Wisdom takes knowledge and makes it accessible for the future. This can be done in many ways – memorization, note taking, and the use of modern digital technology.
b. The mouth of the foolish is near destruction: The foolish man is a contrast to the wise man, and his rejection of knowledge puts him near destruction.
Pro_10:15
The rich man’s wealth is his strong city;
The destruction of the poor is their poverty.
a. The rich man’s wealth is his strong city: This principle observes that wealth gives a measure of protection and provision in this world to the rich man.
i. “Half of the ten occurrences of wealth (hon; see Pro_3:9) in Solomon’s proverb instruct the youth to prize it (Pro_12:27; Pro_13:7; Pro_19:14; Pro_29:3; cf. Pro_19:4), and the other half not to trust it.” (Waltke)
b. The destruction of the poor: In this world, poverty puts the poor man at a great disadvantage, sometimes leading to their destruction.
i. “This is a plain recognition of the power of wealth, and the paralysis of poverty. It is a wholesome corrective to much nonsense talked today about the blessings of poverty. Wealth may become a curse, but poverty is inherently a destruction.” (Morgan)
ii. “You may be called to forgo wealth; you must certainly rate it below honesty. But don’t affect to despise it; don’t embrace poverty out of laziness or romanticism.” (Kidner)
Pro_10:16
The labor of the righteous leads to life,
The wages of the wicked to sin.
a. The labor of the righteous leads to life: For the righteous man or woman, labor is life-giving and leads to life. They understand that our calling to co-labor with God (1Co_3:9) is a life-giving gift.
b. The wages of the wicked to sin: Wickedness has a “reward,” and it is sin and the judgment due to it (Rom_6:23 – the wages of sin is death).
Pro_10:17
He who keeps instruction is in the way of life,
But he who refuses correction goes astray.
a. He who keeps instruction: Wisdom and instruction must not only be gained but also kept. That keeping will bring one in the way of life.
b. He who refuses correction: To refuse correction is the opposite of keeping instruction. It is to reject instruction and will lead to going astray.
Pro_10:18
Whoever hides hatred has lying lips,
And whoever spreads slander is a fool.
a. Whoever hides hatred: It’s common for those who are motivated by hatred to hide their motivation and therefore lie. In our modern day, very few people will ever admit to the sin of hatred.
i. Whoever hides hatred: “This is a common case. How many, when full of resentment, and deadly hatred, meditating revenge and cruelty, and sometimes even murder, have pretended that they thought nothing of the injury they had sustained; had passed by the insult, etc.! Thus lying lips covered the malevolence of a wicked heart.” (Clarke)
b. Whoever spreads slander is a fool: This explains one way that someone filled with hatred lies. They do it by spreading slander: false and unsupported accusations against others. That person is a fool because God knows all and will judge righteously.
Pro_10:19
In the multitude of words sin is not lacking,
But he who restrains his lips is wise.
a. In the multitude of words sin is not lacking: For many people, the more they talk the more they will sin. There is much more potential sin in talking than in listening.
b. He who restrains his lips is wise: Many of us could bless others, and keep ourselves from sin, simply by speaking less and restraining our lips.
Pro_10:20
The tongue of the righteous is choice silver;
The heart of the wicked is worth little.
a. The tongue of the righteous is choice silver: The words that the righteous one speaks are full of goodness and benefit, like choice silver. For many people, the greatest riches they treasure in their hearts are the kind and encouraging things others have said to them.
b. The heart of the wicked is worth little: There are great hearts and small hearts, and a wicked heart is certainly small. Thankfully, God still loves the heart of the wicked and wants to transform that heart into something greater.
Pro_10:21
The lips of the righteous feed many,
But fools die for lack of wisdom.
a. The lips of the righteous feed many: Solomon likely meant this in a symbolic sense, the idea being that they are “fed” by the good and beneficial words spoken by the righteous man or woman.
b. Fools die for lack of wisdom: The fool’s rejection of wisdom will not go unpunished, and ultimately leads to death.
Pro_10:22
The blessing of the Lord makes one rich,
And He adds no sorrow with it.
a. The blessing of the Lord makes one rich: There are many who have been blessed with riches and are wise enough to receive those riches as God’s blessing. They understand that every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights (Jas_1:17).
i. Bridges compared this principle with that of Pro_10:4 : “The one notes the primary source of wealth; the other points to the instrumental source of wealth. Neither can be effective without the other. The sluggard looks for prosperity without diligence; the atheist looks for prosperity only from being diligent.”
b. He adds no sorrow with it: This is a greater blessing upon a smaller blessing. To receive riches from God is to be blessed; to have riches without the sorrow that often come with them is an even greater blessing. There are many rich people who are miserable and have great sorrow along with their riches.
i. Adds no sorrow with it: “Those three vultures shall be driven away that constantly feed on the wealthy worldling’s heart – care in getting, fear in keeping, grief in losing the things of this life. God giveth to his, wealth without woe, store without sore, gold without guilt.” (Trapp)
ii. “Lot’s covetous choice was fraught with bitterness (Gen_13:10-11; Gen_14:12; Gen_19:15; 2Pe_2:8). Ahab wore a crown but lay on his sickbed discontent (1Ki_21:4). The rich man’s rejection of Christ was the source of present and everlasting sorrow (Luk_18:23-25).” (Bridges)
Pro_10:23
To do evil is like sport to a fool,
But a man of understanding has wisdom.
a. To do evil is like sport: The fool regards evil as entertainment, as sport. Not only is it meant for enjoyment, but there is also a competitive aspect to evil among fools, with each trying to outdo the other.
i. “Evil conduct to the fool is ‘like sport’ (kishoq; New International Version, ‘pleasure’), literally, like a laugh; like child’s play, it is so easy.” (Ross)
b. A man of understanding has wisdom: The man or woman of wisdom sees evil for what it is and avoids it.
i. “A man of understanding finds sport in wisdom. That is, he gets out of wisdom the same satisfaction that a fool gets out of wickedness.” (Morgan)
ii. “As strong people delight in performing feats of strength and musicians find joy in their virtuosity, the competent person finds delight in constructive work.” (Waltke)
Pro_10:24
The fear of the wicked will come upon him,
And the desire of the righteous will be granted.
a. The fear of the wicked will come upon him: The wicked man or woman knows that all is not right and that their day of accountability will come. They therefore live in fear and these fears will one day come upon them.
b. The desire of the righteous will be granted: The righteous man or woman also has a sense of what is to come, but it is rightly filled with optimism and hope. Their godly desire will be granted (Psa_37:4).
Pro_10:25
When the whirlwind passes by, the wicked is no more,
But the righteous has an everlasting foundation.
a. When the whirlwind passes by, the wicked is no more: As with the previous proverb, this phrase emphasizes the unstable and dangerous place the wicked stand in. Trouble (the whirlwind) comes to all people, but the wicked have no foundation to stand on when it comes.
i. “As tornadoes that sweep every thing away before them; so shall the wrath of God sweep away the wicked; it shall leave him neither branch nor root.” (Clarke)
b. The righteous has an everlasting foundation: Like the illustration used of the wise man who built upon the rock (Mat_7:24-27), the righteous man has a firm, everlasting foundation and can withstand the whirlwind.
Pro_10:26
As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes,
So is the lazy man to those who send him.
a.
As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes: The idea is of constant and extreme irritation, and of disappointed expectation.
i. “The drinker expected sweet wine but instead received sour vinegar. As smoke to the eyes infers the same points of comparison. A person preparing food expected a constructive fire to prepare the meal but received smoke and tears instead.” (Waltke)
b. So is the lazy man to those who send him: The one who sends a lazy man to do the work will be irritated by their laziness and lack of concern for hard work. The sense is that the lazy man irritates his managers more than himself.
i. “This little proverb portrays the aggravation in sending a lazy servant on a mission—it could be a confusing, unpleasant ordeal.” (Ross)
ii. “The sluggard can disappoint and provoke his earthly master. So we must ensure that we are not sluggards to our heavenly Master…. The slothful minister is accountable to the one who sends him. When he hears the Master’s call to go into his vineyard, he disobeys at his peril (Mat_20:7; Mat_25:30).” (Bridges)
Pro_10:27
The fear of the Lord prolongs days,
But the years of the wicked will be shortened.
a. The fear of the Lord prolongs days: The one who fears and honors God will enjoy the blessing of a longer life. Sinful habits, guilt, and ungodly anxiety all take years from one’s life.
b. The years of the wicked will be shortened: This is one of the many prices that the wicked man or woman must pay.
Pro_10:28
The hope of the righteous will be gladness,
But the expectation of the wicked will perish.
a. The hope of the righteous will be gladness: God has a glorious future hope for His righteous. They have gladness in their destiny, if not now then in eternity.
b. The expectation of the wicked will perish: The wicked man or woman faces a future where all desires and expectations for good will be disappointed.
i. The expectation of the wicked: “A wicked man is always imposing on himself by the hope of God”s mercy and final happiness; and he continues hoping, till he dies without receiving that mercy which alone would entitle him to that glory.” (Clarke)
ii. “As Esau came from hunting, with his head full of hopes, but went away with his heart full of blanks, and his face full of blushing.” (Trapp)
Pro_10:29
The way of the Lord is strength for the upright,
But destruction will come to the workers of iniquity.
a. The way of the Lord is strength: God’s path is blessed and good for those who are set upon it. When we are weak, we can ask God for His strength (Isa_40:31) as we walk on the way of the Lord.
b. Destruction will come: Those who work iniquity will find they have built nothing. Only destruction will come from all their effort.
Pro_10:30
The righteous will never be removed,
But the wicked will not inhabit the earth.
a. The righteous will never be removed: God’s righteous men and women have a wonderful future to look forward to, secure and immoveable.
b. The wicked will not inhabit the earth: Jesus promised that the meek would inherit the earth (Mat_5:5), but certainly not the wicked.
Pro_10:31
The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom,
But the perverse tongue will be cut out.
a. The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom: God’s righteous men and women are known for the wisdom they speak. A person’s heart is often revealed by their words.
b. The perverse tongue will be cut out: Those who speak in a crooked or twisted way can only expect to be left without a word. They misused their ability to speak; God will make sure they are no longer able to use it.
i. “This probably alludes to the punishment of cutting out the tongue for blasphemy, treasonable speeches, profane swearing, or such like…. Were the tongue of every shrew or scold to be extracted, we should soon have much less noise in the world.” (Clarke)
Pro_10:32
The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable,
But the mouth of the wicked what is perverse.
a. The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable: God’s righteous men and women have a sense of discernment in what they say.
b. The mouth of the wicked what is perverse: As righteous men and women are skilled in saying what is acceptable, so the wicked have a talent to speak what is crooked or perverse.
i. “The wicked man knows as well what is perverse, and that he speaketh forth. As the love of God is not in his heart, so the law of kindness is not on his lips.” (Clarke)

Proverbs 10:1
CONTENTS
We are now in this Chapter, entering upon the Proverbs. From this Chapter to the twenty-fifth, we meet with a great abundance of those divine sayings. The one part is descriptive of the blessed effects of following wisdom’s ways; and the other of the contrary consequences.
Pro_10:1 The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.
If the Reader, while going over the whole body of Proverbs, will pray the Holy Ghost, that he may be always on the lookout for his divine teaching, I think very frequently he will discover in these Proverbs, that a greater than Solomon is here. I am very free to confess and believe, that many of the maxims here found, are maxims of morality and sound policy. But while I say this, I must be allowed to believe also, that very many sweet spiritual instructions are veiled under them. And I would beg the Reader to recollect what was said in the very first opening of the book of Proverbs, that the design for which they are given to us among the books of God, and as a part of the Bible was, that we might understand a Proverb, and the interpretation thereof; the Words of the wise, and their dark sayings. Pro_1:6. If a mere code of moral sayings was all that was intended, what dark sayings are there in the very plain truths, which for the most part those chapters from the 10th to the 25th contain? I cannot therefore refrain from desiring the Reader to be as attentive as possible at every verse, more or less, as he passeth through to the enquiry; what further than the first and most obvious sense, the passage may, without violence be supposed to imply. And while I beg his close attention towards a discovery, that may be for his own profit; I yet more earnestly desire that his eyes and his heart may be directed to Him, from whom cometh every good, and every perfect gift: with whom is the residue of the Spirit; and in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And once for all, now at the commencement of the Proverbs, I would desire to impress these views of them upon his mind, and in this manner recommend. the perusal of them to his heart. And having said this much, which if diligently followed by the Reader, will tend to his improvement in the knowledge of this blessed book of God, better than by anything that I can propose for his help in the perusal, I beg to observe that I shall make but short comments here and there, as a passage may strike me, in order to avoid swelling this Commentary unnecessarily, and which hath indeed already extended very much beyond what was originally intended.

Proverbs 10:2
Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivereth from death.
There is a righteousness indeed, which delivereth from death, even the righteousness of Jesus, and which God hath set forth for this purpose. Rom_3:21-22.

Proverbs 10:3
The LORD will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish: but he casteth away the substance of the wicked.
See this blessing insured, as it concerns the Lord’s people. Psa_33:18-19.

Proverbs 10:4-15
He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich. He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame. Blessings are upon the head of the just: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked. The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot. The wise in heart will receive commandments: but a prating fool shall fall. He that walketh uprightly walketh surely: but he that perverteth his ways shall be known. He that winketh with the eye causeth sorrow: but a prating fool shall fall. The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked. Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins. In the lips of him that hath understanding wisdom is found: but a rod is for the back of him that is void of understanding. Wise men lay up knowledge: but the mouth of the foolish is near destruction. The rich man’s wealth is his strong city: the destruction of the poor is their poverty.
The Reader will find here somewhat either by direct allusion, or by indirect inference, that will lead the heart to Jesus, if the Holy Ghost be the Commentator; as for example in this last verse of the passage, The rich man here spoken of, may be considered as the rich in faith, of whom James speaks, Jas_2:5. And this wealth of faith, being all founded in Christ; he gives them to inherit substance; and is their refuge into which they run and are safe. Pro_18:10.

Proverbs 10:16-32
The labour of the righteous tendeth to life: the fruit of the wicked to sin. He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction: but he that refuseth reproof erreth. He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool. In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise. The tongue of the just is as choice silver: the heart of the wicked is little worth. The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom. The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it. It is as sport to a fool to do mischief: but a man of understanding hath wisdom. The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him: but the desire of the righteous shall be granted. As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more: but the righteous is an everlasting foundation. As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him. The fear of the LORD prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened. The hope of the righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish. The way of the LORD is strength to the upright: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity. The righteous shall never be removed: but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth. The mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom: but the froward tongue shall be cut out. The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable: but the mouth of the wicked speaketh frowardness.
I detain not the Reader through these verses. They are all very plain to the understanding of one taught of God. The way of life is Jesus, for he saith himself that he is the way, and the truth, and the life. Joh_14:6; and he that is in this way, is in Jesus. And Jesus points out an infallible method by which all such are known. He keepeth instruction, Solomon saith. And Jesus saith if a man love me, , he will keep my words. And the greatest of all blessings is annexed to this. Pray, Reader, turn to that sweet scripture, and read it, until that the very life of the passage is engraven upon your heart, Joh_14:23 and you will find, by comparing scripture with scripture, similar illustrations; and of consequence, how the Proverbs of Solomon are to be read and explained.

Proverbs 10:32
REFLECTIONS
READER! let us both look to Him that gave to Solomon wisdom. that while some will run through these Proverbs as men may pass over a field where treasure is hidden, and are unconscious what is under them; you and I may see and know the things which are freely given to us of God. The parables of Jesus were still parables to the unenlightened multitude. But to his disciples it was given to know the mysteries of the kingdom.
In these dark sayings, here are many blessed and bright things. But like the Lord’s hidden ones, as they are unknown to the world, so is the bread of life which is handed to them in secret. And Reader! let you and I, as we go over those several passages bring them all to Jesus, He will expound them to us in order, as he did to his disciples, when we are alone. Are not we ourselves, if Christ’s followers, men wondered at? Is not our spiritual life a mystery; our new birth, our effectual calling, pardon, justification, adoption, sanctification, with all the blessings, supports, recoveries, helps, refreshments, in short, all the ways of grace here, and the promise of life in Jesus hereafter; is not the whole a mystery, and are we not frequently prompted to cry out as we go along our pilgrimage, and especially when at any time Jesus himself comes to us in a sweet visit of love, Lord! how is it that thou dost manifest thyself to us, and not unto the world? And shall it be more a subject of wonder, that the word of his grace is to be read with other eyes, and explained with other tongues than men of the world are acquainted with? Precious Jesus! be thou our Instructor, for thou art a matchless Guide! Lead us into all truth: and if led by thee, we are made to discover thy Person, or thy work, thy grace, or thy favour, sweetly veiled under those parables: surely, Lord, we shall feel, as those disciples felt, Our hearts burn within us, while thou talkest to us by the way, and while thou expoundest to us, in these scriptures, the things concerning thyself.