American Standard Version Proverbs 15

Proverbs 15:1-33
EXPOSITION
Pro_15:1
A soft answer turneth away wrath. Two things are here to be observed: an answer should be given—the injured person should not wrap himself in sullen silence; and that answer should be gentle and conciliatory. This is tersely put in a mediaeval rhyme—
“Frangitur ira gravis
Quando est respensio suavis.”
“Anger, however great,
Is checked by answer sweet.”
Septuagint, “A submissive (ὑποπίπτουσα) answer averteth wrath.” Thus Abigail quelled the excessive anger of David by her judicious submission (1Sa_25:24, etc.). But grievous words stir up anger. A word that causes vexation makes anger rise the higher.
Ὁργῆς ματαίας εἰσὶν αἰτιοι λόγοι.
“Of empty anger words are oft the cause.”
Pro_15:2
The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright. This means either, brings it forth opportunely, it the right time and place, or illustrates it, makes it beautiful and pleasant, as Pro_15:13. The wise man not only has knowledge, but can give it appropriate expression (comp. Pro_16:23). Vulgate, “The tongue of the wise adorneth wisdom.” The wise man, by producing his sentiments and opinions in appropriate language and on proper occasions, commends wisdom, and renders it acceptable to his hearers. Septuagint, “The tongue of the wise knoweth what is fair (καλά).” But the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness (Pro_15:28). A fool cannot open his mouth without exposing his folly; he speaks without due consideration or discretion; as the Vulgate terms it, ebullit, “he bubbles over,” like a boiling pot, which emits its contents inopportunely and uselessly. Septuagint, “The mouth of fools proclaimeth evil.”
Pro_15:3
The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding—keeping watch on—the evil and the good. The omnipresence and omniscience of Jehovah, the covenant God, is strongly insisted upon, and the sacred name recurs continually in this and the next chapter, and indeed throughout this Book of the Proverbs (see Wordsworth, in loc.). The LXX. renders the verb σκοπεύοιυσι “are watching,” as from a tower or high place. To the usual references we may add Ec Pro_15:18, Pro_15:19; Pro_23:19, Pro_23:20. Corn. a Lapide quotes Prudentius’s hymn, used in the Latin Church at Thursday Lauds—
“Speculator adstat desuper,
Qui nos diebus omnibus
Actusque nostros prospicit
A luce prima in vesperum.”
“For God our Maker, ever nigh,
Surveys us with a watchful eye;
Our every thought and act he knows,
From early dawn to daylight’s close.”
Pro_15:4
A wholesome tongue is a tree of life; a tongue that brings healing, that soothes by its words. Septuagint, “the healing of the tongue.” But the Vulgate rendering is better, lingua placabilis, “the gentle, mild tongue” (see on Pro_14:30). Speech from such a source refreshes and vivifies all who come under its influence, like the wholesome fruit of a prolific tree (comp. Pro_3:18; Pro_11:30).
Ψυχῆς νοσούσης ἐστὶ φάρμακον λόγος
“The sick soul by a healing word is cured.”
But perverseness therein—in the tongue—is a breach in the spirit. The perverseness intended must be falsehood, perversion of the truth. This is ruin and vexation (Isa_65:14, where the same word is used) in the spirit, both in the liar himself, whose higher nature is thus terribly marred and spoiled, and in the case of his neighbour, who is injured by his slander and falsehood to the, very core. The LXX; with a different reading, translates, “But he who keepeth it [the tongue] shall be filled with the spirit.”
Pro_15:5
A fool despiseth his father’s instruction (Pro_10:1): but he that regardeth reproof is prudent (Pro_19:25). The son who attends to his father’s reproof dealeth prudently, or becomes wiser. Astutior fiet, Vulgate; πανουργότερος, Septuagint. The Vulgate has here a distich which is not in the Hebrew, but a similar paragraph is found in the Septuagint. Thus Vulgate, “In the abundance of righteousness virtue is greatest; but the imaginations of the wicked shall be rooted up;” Septuagint, “In the abundance of righteousness is much strength; but the impious shall be destroyed from the very root.” The addition seems to have been an explanation of the following verse, which has been foisted into the text here.
Pro_15:6
In the house of the righteous is much treasure (chosen; see on Pro_27:24). The good man’s store is not wasted or wrongly used, and is blest by God: and therefore, whether absolutely much or little, it is safe, and it is sufficient. In a spiritual sense, the soul of the righteous is filled with graces and adorned with good works. Septuagint, “In the houses of the righteous is much strength;” plurima fortitudo, Vulgate. But in the revenues of the wicked is trouble. Great revenues acquired by wrong or expended badly bring only trouble, vexation, and ruin upon a man and his family. Septuagint, “The fruits of the wicked shall perish.” Spiritually, the works of the wicked cause misery to themselves and others.
Pro_15:7
The lips of the wise disperse knowledge (Pro_15:2; Pro_10:31). The LXX. takes the verb יִרָוּ in its other signification of “binding” or “embracing,” and translates, “The lips of the wise are bound (δέδεται) with knowledge;” i.e. knowledge is always on them and controls their movements. The wise know when to speak, when to be silent, and what to say. But the heart of the foolish doeth not so; i.e. doth not disperse knowledge. Vulgate, cor stultorum dissimile erit, “will be unlike,” which probably means the same as the Authorized Version. (Compare a similar use of the words lo-ken in Gen_48:18; Exo_10:11.) But the contrast is stated rather weakly by this rendering, lips and heart having the same office to perform; hence it is better, with Delitzsch, Ewald, and others, to take כֵן (ken) as an adjective in the sense of “right” or “trustworthy,” and either to supply the former verb, “disperseth that which is not right,” or to render, “The heart of the foot is not directed right;” the fool goes astray, and leads himself and others into error. Septuagint, “The hearts of fools are not safe (ἀσφαλεῖς).”
Pro_15:8
The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord. The costly sacrifice of the wicked is contrasted with the prayer, unaccompanied with sacrifice, of the upright. The first clause occurs again in Pro_21:27, and virtually in Pro_28:9. But in the latter passage the prayer of the wicked is denounced as abomination. Sacrifice, as legal and ceremonial, would be more naturally open to the charge of deadness and unreality; while prayer, as spontaneous and not legally enjoined, might be deemed less liable to for realism; all the more hateful, therefore, it is if not offered from the heart. The worthlessness of external worship without obedience and devotion of the heart is often urged by the prophets (see 1Sa_15:22; Isa_1:11, etc.; Jer_6:20; Hos_5:6; Amo_5:22; see also Ec 31:18, etc.). The lesson was needed that the value of sacrifice depended upon the mind and disposition of the offerer, the tendency being to rest in the opus operatum, as if the external action was all that was necessary to make the worshipper accepted. This text was wrested by the Donatists to support their notion of the inefficacy of heretical baptism. St. Augustine replied that the validity of the sacrament depended not on the spiritual condition of the minister, but on the appointment of Christ. The text has also been applied to confirm the opinion that all the acts of unjustified man are sin. The truer view is that God’s grace does act beyond the limits of his visible Church, and that the inspiration of the Holy Spirit concurs with the free will of man before he is formally justified. The second clause recurs virtually in verse 29.
Pro_15:9
This verse gives the reason for the treatment specified in the preceding verse (comp. Pro_11:20; Pro_12:22). Followeth after; chaseth, implying effort and perseverance, as in the pursuit of game (Pro_11:19; Pro_21:21).
Pro_15:10
Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way. The verse is climacteric, and the first clause is better translated, There is a grievous correction for him that forsaketh the way; then the second clause denotes what that correction is: he that hateth reproof—i.e. he that forsaketh the way—shall die. “The way” is the path of goodness and righteousness (Pro_2:13). “The way of life.” the Vulgate calls it; so Pro_10:17. Ec Pro_21:6, “He that hateth reproof is in the way of sinners.” The Authorized Version is quite allowable, and is supported in some degree by the Vulgate, Doctrina mala deserenti viam vitae. The sinner is annoyed by discipline, correction, or true teaching, because they curb the indulgence of his passions, make him uneasy in conscience, and force him to look to future issues. Septuagint, “The instruction of the guileless (ἀκάκου) is known by passers-by; but they who hate reproofs die shamefully.” The Syriac adopts the same rendering; but it is a question whether the word ought not to be κακοῦ. Menander says—
Ὁ μὴ δαρεὶς ἄνθρωπος οὐ παιδεύεται.
“Man unchastised learns naught.”
Pro_15:11
Hell and destruction are before the Lord. The two words rendered “hell” and “destruction” are respectively Sheol and Abaddon, Infernus and Perditio, Ἅιδης and ἀπώλεια (comp. Pro_27:20). The former is used generally as the place to which the souls of the dead are consigned—the receptacle of all departed spirits, whether good or bad. Abaddon is the lowest depth of hell, the “abyss” of Luk_8:31; Rev_9:2, etc.; 20:l, etc. The clause means that God’s eye penetrates even the most secret corners of the unseen world. As Job (Job_26:6) says, “Sheol is naked before him, and Abaddon hath no covering” (comp. Psa_139:7, etc.). How much more then the hearts of the children of men? (For the form of the expression, comp. Pro_11:31 and Pro_19:7; and for the import, Pro_16:2; Pro_21:2; Jer_17:10.) If God knows the secrets of the world beyond the grave, much more does he know the secret thoughts of men on earth. The heart is the source of action (see
Mat_15:19, etc.).
Pro_15:12
A scorner loveth not one that reproveth him (Pro_9:8; Amo_5:10). For “scorner” the Vulgate has pestilens, and the Septuagint ἀπαίδευτος, “undisciplined.” “Scorners” are spoken of elsewhere, as Pro_1:22 (where see note); they are conceited, arrogant persons, free-thinkers, indifferent to or sceptical of religion, and too self-opinionated to be open to advice or reproof. Neither will he go unto the wise, who would correct and teach him (Pro_13:20). Septuagint, “He will not converse (ὁμιλήσει) with the wise.” He does not believe the maxim—
Σοφοῦ παρ ἀνδρὸς χρὴ σοφόν τι μανθάνειν.
“From a wise man you must some wisdom learn.”
A Latin adage runs—
“Argue consultum, te diliget: argue stultum
Avertet vultum, nec te dimittet iuultum.”
Pro_15:13
A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance. The face is the index of the condition of the mind.
“In the forehead and the eye
The lecture of the mind doth lie.”
And, again, “A blithe heart makes a blooming visage” (comp. Ecclesiasticus 13:25, etc.). Septuagint, “When the heart is glad, the face bloometh (θάλλει).” But by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken (Pro_12:25). Happiness is shown in the outward look, but sorrow has a deeper and more abiding influence; it touches the inner life, destroys the natural elasticity, creates despondency and despair (comp. Pro_16:24; Pro_17:22). Corn. a Lapide quotes St. Gregory Nazianzen’s definition—
“Laetitia quidnam? Mentis est diffusio.
Tristitia? Cordis morsus et turbatio.”
Hitzig and others translate the second clause, “But in sorrow of heart is the breath oppressed.” It is doubtful if the words can be so rendered, and certainly the parallelism is not improved thereby.
Pro_15:14
The heart of him that hath understanding seeketh knowledge (Pro_18:15). The wise man knows that he knows nothing, and is always seeking to learn more.
Σοφία γάρ ἐστι καὶ μαθεῖν ὂ μὴ νοεῖς
“To learn what thou hast never thought is wisdom.”
The mouth of fools. Another reading, is “the face of fools;” but the former is more suitable to what follows. Feedeth on foolishness. So the Vulgate and Septuagint, “The mouth of the undisciplined knoweth evil.” The fool is always gaping and devouring every silly, or slanderous, or wicked word that comes in his way, and in his turn utters and disseminates it.
Pro_15:15
All the days of the afflicted are evil. “The days of the poor are evil,” says the Talmud (’Dukes,’ 73); but in our verse the contrasted clause restricts the sense of “the afflicted” to mental, not material, evil. The Vulgate pauperis gives a wrong impression. The persons intended are such as take a gloomy view of things, who are always in low spirits, and cannot rise superior to present circumstances. These never have a happy moment; they are always taking anxious thought (Mat_6:25), and forecasting evil. The LXX; reading עיני for עני, translates, “At all times the eyes of the evil expect evil.” But he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast. The cheerful man’s condition is a banquet unceasingly, a fixed state of joy and contentment. Septuagint, “But the righteous are at peace always;” Vulgate, “A secure mind is like a perpetual feast.” “For,” says St. Gregory (’Moral,’ 12.44), “the mere repose of security is like the continuance of refreshment. Whereas, on the other hand, the evil mind is always set in pains and labours, since it is either contriving mischiefs that it may bring down, or fearing lest these be brought down upon it by others.” Our own proverb says, “A contented mind is a continual feast.”
Pro_15:16
Better is little with the fear of the Lord. The good man’s little store, which bears upon it the blessing of the Lord, is better than great treasure and trouble therewith, i.e. with the treasure (Pro_16:8; Psa_37:16). The trouble intended is the care and labour and anxiety attending the pursuit and preservation of wealth. “Much coin, much care” (comp. Ecc_6:4). It was good advice of the old moralist, “Sis pauper honeste potius quam dives male; Namque hoc fert crimen, illud misericordiam.” Vulgate, thesauri magni et insatiabiles, “treasures which satisfy not;” Septuagint, “Great treasures without fear (of the Lord).” Christ’s maxim is, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Mat_6:33).
Pro_15:17
Better is a dinner (portion) of herbs where love is. A dish of vegetables would be the common meal, whereas flesh would be reserved for festive occasions. Where love presides, the simplest food is cheerfully received, and contentment and happiness abound (Pro_17:1). Lesetre quotes Horace’s invitation to his friend Torquatus (’Epist.,’ 1.5. 1)—
“Si potes Archiacis conviva recumbere lectis,
Nec modica cenare times olus omne patella,
Supreme te sole domi, Torquate, manebo.”
“If, dear Torquatus, you can rest your head
On couches such as homely Archias made,
Nor on a dish of simple pot herbs frown,
I shall expect you as the sun goes down.”
(Howes.)
So the old jingle—
“Cum dat oluscula menes minuscula pace quieta,
Ne pete grandia lautaque prandia lite repleta.”
A stalled ox is one taken up out of the pasture and fatted for the table. Thus we read (1Ki_4:23) that part of Solomon’s provision for one day was ten fat oxen and twenty oxen out of the pastures; and the prophets speak of “calves of the stall” (Amo_6:4; Mal_4:2; comp. Luk_15:23). The fat beef implies a sumptuous and magnificent entertainment; but such a feast is little worth if accompanied with feelings of hatred, jealousy, and ill will. This and the preceding verse emphasize and explain Pro_15:15.
Pro_15:18
A wrathful man stirreth up strife (contention). This clause recurs almost identically in Pro_29:22 (comp. also Pro_26:21 and Pro_28:25). He that is slow to anger appeaseth strife (Pro_14:29). In the former clause the word for “contention” is madon, in the latter “strife” is rib, which often means “law dispute.” It requires two to make a quarrel, and where one keeps his temper and will not be provoked, anger must subside. Vulgate, “He who is patient soothes aroused quarrels (suscitatas).” Septuagint, “A long suffering man appeases even a coming battle.”
“Regina rerum omnium patientia.”
The LXX. here introduces a second rendering of the verse: “A long suffering man will quench suits; but the impious rather awaketh them.”
Pro_15:19
The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns. The indolent sluggard is always finding or imagining difficulties and hindrances in his path, which serve as excuses for his laziness. The word for “thorn” here is chedek. It occurs elsewhere only in Mic_7:4, where the Authorized Version has “briar;” but the particular plant intended is not ascertained. Most writers consider it to be some spinous specimen of the solanum. The word refers, it is thought, to a class of plants the name of one of which, at least, the miscalled “apple of Sodom,” is well known in poetry, and is a proverbial expression for anything which promises fair but utterly disappoints on trial. “This plant, which is really a kind of potato, grows everywhere in the warmer parts of Palestine, rising to a widely branching shrub from three to five feet high; the wood thickly set with spines; the flower like that of the potato, and the fruit, which is larger than the potato apple, perfectly round, and changing from yellow to bright red as it ripens …. The osher of the Arab is the true apple of Sodom. A very tropical-looking plant, its fruit is like a large smooth apple or orange, and hangs in clusters of three or four together. When ripe, it is yellow, and looks fair and attractive, and is soft to the touch, but if pressed, it bursts with a crack, and only the broken shell and a raw of small seeds in a half-open pod, with a few dry filaments, remain in the hand”. Cato, ’Dist.,’ 54.3, 5—
“Segnitiem fugito, quae vitae ignavia fertur;
Nam quum animus languet, consumit inertia corpus.”
To the sluggard is opposed the righteous in the second member, because indolence is a grievous sin, and the greatest contrast to the active industry of the man who fears God and does his duty. The way of the righteous is made plain; “is a raised causeway;” selulah, as Pro_16:17 : Isa_40:3; Isa_49:11. The upright man, who treads the path appointed for him resolutely and trustfully, finds all difficulties vanish; before him the thorns yield a passage; and that which the sluggard regarded as dangerous and impassable becomes to him as the king’s highway. Vulgate, “The path of the just is without impediment;” Septuagint, “The roads of the manly (ἀνδρείων) are well beaten.” St. Gregory (’Moral.,’ 30.51), “Whatever adversity may have fallen in their way of life, the righteous stumble not against it. Because with the bound of eternal hope, and of eternal contemplation, they leap over the obstacles of temporal adversity” (comp. Psa_18:29).
Verse 15:20-19:25
Third section of this collection.
Pro_15:20
(For this verse, see Pro_10:1.) A foolish man despiseth his mother, and therefore is “heaviness” to her. Or the verb may mean “shameth.” “A foolish man” is literally “a fool of a man.”
Pro_15:21
Folly is joy to him that is destitute of wisdom; literally, void of heart; i.e. of understanding (Pro_10:23). The perverse, self-willed fool finds pleasure in going on his evil way, and exposing the fatuity which he takes for wisdom. Septuagint, “The ways of the senseless are wanting in intelligence.” A man of understanding walketh uprightly; goes the right way. It is implied that the fool goes the wrong way.
Pro_15:22
Without counsel—where no counsel is—purposes are disappointed (Pro_11:14); there can be no concerted action, or the means used are not the best that could be devised. Hesiod, Εργ; 293—
Ἐσθλὸς δ αὖ κἀκεῖνος ὃς εὖ εἰπόντι πίθηται
Ὃς δὲ κε μήτ αὐτὸς νοέῃ μήτ ἄλλου ἀκούων
Ἐν θυμῷ βάλληται ὁ δ αὖτ ἀχρήιος ἀνήρ
(Comp. Pro_20:18.) In the multitude of counsellors they are established (Pro_24:6). We read of “counsellors” as almost regular officials in the Hebrew court, as in modern kingdoms (see
1Ch_27:32; Isa_1:26; Mic_4:9; comp. Ezr_7:28). There is, of course, the danger of secrets being divulged where counsellors are many; and there is Terence’s maxim to fear, “Quot heroines, tot sententiae;” but, properly guarded and discreetly used, good counsel is above all price. Septuagint, “They who honour not councils (συνέδρια) lay aside (ὑπερτίθενται) conclusions; but in the hearts of those who consult counsel abideth” (compare the parallel clause, Pro_19:21).
Pro_15:23
A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth. The idea of the preceding verse concerning counsel is maintained. A counsellor gives wise and skilful advice, or makes a timely speech; and, knowing how much harm is done by rash or evil words, he naturally rejoices that he has been able to be useful, and has avoided the errors which the tongue is liable to incur. A word spoken in due season, sermo opportunus, is advice given at the right moment and in the most suitable manner, when the occasion and the interests at stake demand it (comp. Pro_25:11). The LXX. connects this verse with the preceding, and renders, “The evil man will not hearken to it (counsel), nor will he say aught in season or for the public good.”
Pro_15:24
The way of life is above to the wise; Revised Version, to the wise the way of life goeth upward. The writer means primarily that the wise and good lead such a life as to preserve them from death (Pro_14:32). The path may be steep and painful, but at any rate it has this compensation—it leads away from destruction. It is obvious to read into the passage higher teaching. The good man’s path leads heavenward, to a high life here, to happiness hereafter; his conversation is in heaven (Php_3:20), his affections are set on things above (Col_3:2). Such an upward life tends to material and spiritual health, as it is added, that he may depart from hell (SheoI) beneath. Primarily, a long and happy life is promised to the man who fears the Lord, as in Pro_3:16; secondarily, such a one avoids that downward course which ends in the darkness of hell. Vulgate, “The path of life is above the instructed man, to make him avoid the nethermost (novissimo) hell;” Septuagint, “The thoughts of the prudent man are the ways of life, that turning from Hades he may be safe.”
Pro_15:25
The Lord will destroy the house of the proud (Pro_12:7; Pro_14:11; Pro_16:18). The proud, self-confident man, with his family and household and wealth, shall be rooted up. The heathen saw how retribution overtook the arrogant. Thus Euripides says—
Τῶν φρονημάτων
Ὁ Ζεὺς κολαστὴς τῶν ἄγαν ὑπερφρόνων
“Zeus, the chastiser of too haughty thoughts.”
But he will establish the border of the widow. He will take the widow under his protection, and see that her landmark is not removed, and that her little portion is secured to her. The widow is taken as the type of weakness and desolation, as often in Scripture (comp. Deu_10:18; Psa_146:9). In a country where property was defined by landmarks—stones or some such objects—nothing was easier than to remove these altogether, or to alter their position. That this was a common form of fraud and oppression we gather from the stringency of the enactments against the offence (see Deu_19:14; Deu_27:17; and comp. Job_24:2; Pro_22:28). In the Babylonian and Assyrian inscriptions which have been preserved, there are many invoking curses, curious and multifarious, against the disturbers of boundaries. Such marks were considered sacred and inviolable by the Greeks and Romans.
Pro_15:26
The thoughts of the wicked (or, evil devices) are an abomination to the Lord. Although the Decalogue, by forbidding coveting, showed that God’s Law touched the thought of the heart as well as the outward action, the idea here refers to wicked plans or designs, rather than emphatically to the secret movements of the mind. These have been noticed in Pro_15:11. But the words of the pure are pleasant words; literally, pure are words of pleasantness; i.e. words of soothing, comforting tone are, not an abomination to the Lord, as are the devices of the wicked, but they are pure in a ceremonial sense, as it were, a pure and acceptable offering. Revised Version, pleasant words are pure. Vulgate, “Speech pure and pleasant is approved by him”—which is a pharaphrase of the clause. Septuagint, “The words of the pure are honoured (σεμναί).”
Pro_15:27
He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house (Pro_11:29). The special reference is doubtless to venal judges, who wrested judgment for lucre. Such malefactors were often reproved by the prophets (see Isa_1:23; Isa_10:1, etc.; Mic_3:11; Mic_7:3). But all ill-gotten gain brings sure retribution. The Greeks have many maxims to this effect. Thus—
Κέρδη πομηρὰ ζημίαν ἀεὶ φέρει
And again—
Τὰ δ αἰσχρὰ κέρδη συμφορὰς ἐργάζεται
“Riches ill won bring ruin in their train.”
An avaricious man troubles his house in another sense. He harasses his family by niggardly economies and his domestics by overwork and underfeeding, deprives his household of all comfort, and loses the blessing of God upon a righteous use of earthly wealth. The word “troubleth” (akar, “to trouble”) reminds one of the story of Achan, who, in his greed, appropriated some of the spoil of the banned city Jericho, and brought destruction upon himself and his family, when, in punishment of the crime, he and all his were stoned in the Valley of Achor (Jos_7:25). So the covetousness of Gehazi caused the infliction of the penalty of leprosy upon himself and his children (2Ki_5:27). Professor Plumptre (’Speaker’s Commentary,’ in loc.) notes that the Chaldee Targum paraphrases this clause, referring especially to lucre gained by unrighteous judgments, thus: “He who gathers the mammon of unrighteousness destroys his house;” and he suggests that Christ’s use of that phrase (Luk_16:9) may have had some connection with this proverb through the version then popularly used in the Palestinian synagogues. He that hateth gifts shall live (comp. Ecc_7:7). Primarily this refers to the judge or magistrate who is incorruptible, and gives just judgment, and dispenses his patronage without fear or favour; he shall “prolong his days” (Pro_28:16), And in all cases a man free from covetousness, who takes no bribes to blind his eyes withal, who makes no unjust gains, shall pass a long and happy life undisturbed by care. We see here a hope of immortality, to which integrity leads. The LXX; with the view of making the two clauses more marked in antithesis, restricts the application thus: “The receiver of gifts destroyeth himself; but he who hateth the receiving of gifts liveth.” The Vulgate and Septuagint, after this verse, introduce a distich which recurs in Pro_16:6. The Septuagint transposes many of the verses at the end of this chapter and the beginning of the next.
Pro_15:28
The heart of the righteous studieth to answer. The good man deliberates before he speaks, takes time to consider his answer, lest he should say anything false, or inexpedient, or injurious to his neighbour. A Latin adage runs—
“Qui bene vult fari debet bene praemeditari.”
Says Theognis—
Βουλεύου δὶς καὶ τρίς ὅτοί κ ἐπὶ τὸν νόον
Ἀτηρὸς γὰρ ἀεὶ λάβρος ἀνὴρ τελέθει
“Whate’er comes in your mind, deliberate;
A hasty man but rushes on his fate.”
Septuagint, “The heart of the prudent will meditate πίστεις,” which may mean “truth,” “fidelity,” or “proofs.” The Vulgate has “obedience,” implying attention to the inward warnings of conscience and grace, before the mouth speaks. Poureth out (Pro_15:2). The wicked man never considers; evil is always on his lips and running over from his mouth. Septuagint, “The mouth of the ungodly answereth evil things.” The LXX. here inserts Pro_16:7.
Pro_15:29
The Lord is far from the wicked. The maxim is similar to that in Pro_15:8 and Joh_9:31, “We know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and do his will, him he heareth.” God is said to be “far” in the sense of not listening, not regarding with favour (comp. Psa_10:1). His attention to the righteous is seen in Psa_145:18, Psa_145:19. The LXX. introduces here Pro_16:8, Pro_16:9.
Pro_15:30
The light of the eyes rejoiceth the heart (Pro_16:15). The beaming glance that shows a pure, happy mind and a friendly disposition, rejoices the heart of him on whom it is turned. There is something infectious in the guileless, joyful look of a happy man or child, which has a cheering effect upon those who observe it. The LXX. makes the sentiment altogether personal: “The eye that seeth what is good rejoiceth the heart.” A good report (good tidings) maketh the bones fat; strengthens them and gives them health (comp. Pro_3:8; Pro_16:24). Sight and hearing are compared in the two clauses, “bones” in the latter taking the place of “heart” in the former. The happy look and good news alike cause joy of heart.
Pro_15:31
The ear that heareth (hearkeneth to) the reproof of life abideth among the wise (Pro_6:23). The reproof, or instruction, of life is that which teaches the true way of pleasing God, which is indeed the only life worth living. The ear, by synecdoche, is put for the person. One who attends to and profits by such admonition may be reckoned among the wise, and rejoices to be conversant with them. Wordsworth finds a more recondite sense here: the ear of the wise dwells, lodges, passes the night (Pro_19:23) in their heart, whereas the heart of fools is in their mouth (Pro_14:33). This verse is omitted in the Septuagint, though it is found in the other Greek versions and the Latin Vulgate.
Pro_15:32
This verse carries on and puts the climax to the lesson of the preceding. He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul; “hateth himself,” Septuagint; commits moral suicide, because he does not follow the path of life. He is like a sick man who thrusts away the wholesome medicine which is his only hope of cure. He that heareth (listeneth to) reproof getteth understanding; literally, possesseth a heart, and therefore does not despise his soul, but “loves it” (
Pro_19:8), as the LXX. renders.
Pro_15:33
The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom; that which leads to and gives wisdom (see Pro_1:3, Pro_1:7, etc.; Pro_9:10). ’Pirke Aboth,’ 3.26, “No wisdom, no fear of God; no fear of God, no wisdom. No knowledge, no discernment; no discernment, no knowledge.” Before honour is humility (Pro_18:12). A man who fears God must be humble, and as the fear of God leads to wisdom, it may be said that humility leads to the honour and glory of being wise and reckoned among the wise (Pro_15:31). A man with a lowly opinion of himself will hearken to the teaching of the wise, and scrupulously obey the Law of God, and will be blessed in his ways. For “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble” (Jas_4:6; comp. Luk_1:52). The maxim in the second clause has a general application. “He that shall humble himself shall be exalted” (Mat_23:12; comp. Luk_14:11; Jas_4:6). It is sanctioned by the example of Christ himself, the Spirit itself testifying beforehand his sufferings that were to precede his glory (1Pe_1:11; see also Php_2:5, etc.). Septuagint, “The fear of the Lord is discipline and wisdom, and the beginning of glory shall answer to it.” Another reading adds, “Glory goeth before the humble,” which is explained to mean that the humble set before their eyes the reward that awaits their humility, and patiently endure, like Christ, “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb_12:2).
HOMILETICS
Pro_15:1
A soft answer and a bitter word
Both of these are regarded as replies to angry words. They represent the wise and the foolish ways of treating such words. They give us a bright and a dark picture. Let us look at each.
I. THE BRIGHT PICTURE.

1. The answer. A soft answer need not be a weak one, nor should it imply any compromise of truth, nor any yielding of righteousness. It may be firm in substance, though soft in language and spirit. Very often the most effective reply is given in the mildest tone. It is impossible to resent it, yet it is equally impossible to answer it. But often we may go further. When no vital interest of truth or righteousness is at stake, it may be well to yield a point of our own will and pleasure in order to secure peace.
2. Its inspiration. Such an answer might well be prompted by wisdom, for it is suggested on the ground of prudence in “Proverbs.” Yet there is a higher motive for softness in reply to wrath. Christian love will inspire the kinder method, for love is more desirous of peace and good feeling than of securing all that might be justly demanded. To stand on one’s rights and resent the slightest intrusion upon them is to act from self-interest, or at best from a sense of self regarding duty. A higher feeling enters and a larger view follows when we are considering our brother’s feelings, the sorrow of a quarrel and the blessedness of peace.
3. Its results. It is successful—not, perhaps, in gaining one’s own way, but in allaying wrath. It turns away wrath. The angry opponent is silenced. For very shame he can say no more; or his wrath dies out for want of fuel; or he is won to a better feeling by the generous treatment. At the worst he can find little pleasure in fighting an unarmed and unresisting opponent.
   II. THE DARK PICTURE. The ugly contrast of this second picture is necessary in order to emphasize the beauty of the former one. But however interesting they may be in art, Rembrandtesque effects are terrible in real life; for here they represent agonies and tragedies—hatred, cruelty, and misery. Yet they need to be considered if only that they may be abolished.
4. The bitter answer. This is more than an angry retort. Bitterness is more pungent than wrath. While rage thunders, bitterness stabs. It contains a poisonous element of malice, and it means more ill will than the hot but perhaps hasty words that provoke it.
5. The root of its bitterness. No doubt this springs from a feeling of injury. The angry man has wronged his companion, or, at least, wounded him, and the retort is provoked by pain. But pain alone would not engender bitterness. A new element, a virus of ill will, is stirred when the bitter word is flung back, and it is the outflow of this ill will that gives bitterness to the answer.
6. The anger that it rouses. This new anger is worse than that which commenced the quarrel. Each reply is more hot, more furious, more cruel. Thus a great wrath is roused and a great fire kindled by a very little spark that has been fanned into a flame when it should have been quenched at the outset.
   There is no question as to which of these two pictures best accords with Christian principle. The gospel of Christ is God’s soft answer to man’s rebellious wrath.
   Pro_15:3
   The eyes of the Lord.
   I. GOD HAS EYES. We must always describe the Infinite and Invisible One in figurative language. But just as we speak of the arms and hands of God when thinking of his power and activity, so we cannot better conceive of his wonderful observing faculty than by saying that he has eyes. God can see; he can watch his creatures. It would be an awful thing if the universe were governed by a blind power. Yet that is the condition imagined by those who regard force, unconscious energy, as the highest existence in the universe and the cause of all things. We could but tremble before a blind god. What awful confusion, what terrible disasters, would result from the almighty energy of such a being crashing through all the complicated and delicate machinery of the world’s life!
   II. GOD USES HIS EYES. He is not a sleeping deity. He never slumbers, never closes his eyes. Day and night are alike to him. There is never a moment when he ceases to observe the world and all that is in it. There are men of whom we can say, “Eyes have they, but they see not;” unobservant people, who pass by the most obvious facts without noticing them; dreamers, who live in a world of their own fancies, and fail to see the things that are really happening about them. God is not thus self-contained. He has an outer life in the universe, and he neither scorns nor fails to observe all that is happening. We have to do with an ever-watchful, keenly observant God.
   III. GOD’S EYES ARE EVERYWHERE. We can only see clearly what is near to us. All but the largest objects are lost in distance, and the horizon melts into obscurity. Not so with God.
7. He sees the distant. Indeed, nothing is distant from him. He is everywhere, so that what we should regard as the most remote objects are under his close ken. No Siberian solitude, no far-off deserted planet, no star lost to the rest of the universe and rushing off into the awful waste of space, can be far from God’s presence and observation.
8. He sees the obscure. No fog dims his vision; no night blots out the objects he is ever gazing upon; no hiding in secret chambers, deep cellars, black mines of the earth, can remove anything from God’s sight.
9. He sees the unattractive. Our vision is selective. Many objects pass close before our eyes, yet we never see them, because we are not interested in them. God is interested in all things. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without his notice.
   IV. GOD’S EYES SEE THE EVIL. Though he is merciful, he is too true to refuse to see the sin of his children.
10. The sinner cannot escape by secrecy. If God does not strike at once, this is not because he does not know. Meanwhile the deluded sinner is but “treasuring up wrath.”
11. God is long suffering. If he forbears to strike at once and yet knows all, it must be that he waits to give us an opportunity to repent. His gospel is offered in full view of our sin. There is nothing to be discovered later on that may turn God’s mercy from us. He knows the worst when he offers grace.
    V. GOD’S EYES SEE THE GOOD.
12. He observes his children’s secret devotion. Unnoticed by men, they are not unheeded by God. Misunderstood and misjudged on earth, they are quite understood by him. Should it not be enough to know that God knows all, and will recognize faithful service?
13. He observes his children’s need. Prayer is necessary to express our faith, etc; but not to give information to God. He knows our condition better than we do. Therefore, though he seems to neglect us, it cannot be so really. No mother ever watched over her sick infant as God watches over his poor children.
    Pro_15:13
    A joyous heart or a broken spirit
    These are the two extremes. The less we have of the one the more we tend towards the other. The first is encouraged that it may save us from the disasters of the second condition.
    I. THE CONDITION OF THE HEART IS OF VITAL IMPORTANCE. “Out of it are the issues of life” (Pro_4:23). The first essential for one whose life has been wrong is the creation of “a clean heart” (Psa_51:10). According as we think and feel in our hearts, so do we truly live. Now, it is the merit of Christianity that it works directly on the heart, and only touches the outer life through this primary inward operation. We must set little store on the external signs of prosperity if the heart is wrong. When that is right the rest is likely to follow satisfactorily.
    II. THE JOY OR SORROW OF THE HEART ARE NOT MATTERS OF INDIFFERENCE. The religion of the Bible is not Stoicism. It is nowhere represented to us in this book that it matters not whether men grieve or are joyous. On the contrary, the Bible contains valuable recipes against heart pangs. God’s pity for his children would lead to his concerning himself with such matters. Christ’s human sympathy, which led to his being frequently “moved with compassion,” made him alleviate suffering and seek to give his joy to his disciples. The special mission of sorrow and the large healing and strengthening influence of the highest kind of joy make these experiences to be of real interest to the spiritual life.
    III. THE OUTER LIFE IS BRIGHTENED BY JOY OF HEART. It is possible for the actor to assume a smiling countenance when his heart is bursting with agony, but that is just because he is an actor. It is not intended by Providence that the face should be a mask to bide the soul. In the long run the set expression of the countenance must correspond to the prevalent condition of the spirit within. The sad heart will be revealed by a clouded countenance, the heart of care by the fretted lines of a worn lace, the peaceful heart by a serene expression, and the glad heart by unconscious smiles. Thus we shed gloom or sunshine by our very presence. “The joy of the Lord is your strength” (
    Neh_8:10). With the brightened countenance there comes revived energy. Moreover, the cheerful expression of a Christian is a winning invitation to others. It makes the gospel attractive.
    IV. THE SPIRIT IS BROKEN BY SORROW OF HEART. It must be confessed that we have here only a partial view of sorrow. The richer revelation which the New Testament makes of the Divine gospel of sorrow gives it a new meaning and a higher blessedness. Since Christ suffered, suffering has been sanctified, and the Via Dolorosa has become the road to victory. Nevertheless, mere sorrow is still trying, wearing, grinding to the soul. To bear the cross for Christ’s sake is to render noble service, but simply to groan under the load of pain is not to be inspired with strength. Jesus was not only “a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;” he could speak of his joy just before feeling his deepest agony. A life of utter sorrow must be one of utter weariness.
14. Therefore we should seek the grace of Christ to conquer sorrow in our own hearts. There is no virtue in yielding to it with self-made martyrdom.
15. It is a good work to lessen the world’s sorrow.
    Pro_15:16, Pro_15:17
    The better things
    Earthly good is comparative. Many things regarded by themselves appear to be eminently attractive; but if they exclude more desirable things they must be rejected. We need not make the worst of this world in order to make the best of the higher world. Taking earth at its brightest, it is still outshone by the glories of heaven. But earth is not always at its brightest; and we must make our comparison with the actual facts of life, not with ideal possibilities.
    I. GODLY POVERTY IS BETTER THAN TROUBLED WEALTH.
16. Wealth is dissappointing. It might be shown that wealth at its best cannot satisfy the soul; for
    (1) it is only external, and
    (2) it is but a means of obtaining other ends.
    But plain experience shows that the advantages of wealth are very commonly neutralized by trouble.
    (1) For wealth will not prevent trouble. Rich men suffer from disease, disappointment, discontent, the unkindness of friends, etc. The child of affluence may die.
    (2) Wealth may bring trouble. It has its own anxieties. Antonio, who has ships at sea, is distressed at the storms that do not trouble the poor man. Many interests lead to conflicting claims, and the cares of riches are often as great as those of poverty.
    (3) Wealth cannot compensate for trouble. The small vexations of life may be smoothed away by money, and of course certain specific troubles—such as hunger, cold, nakedness—may be quite prevented. But the greater troubles remain. Gold will not heal a broken heart.
17. Godliness is satisfying. It may be found with wealth. Then it will correct the evils and supply the detects. But it may be seen with poverty, and in this case it will prove itself the true riches which will give what money can never supply. Indeed, in presence of this real good the question as to whether even great earthly treasure is to be added need not be raised. It is lost in the infinitely greater possession. The ocean will not be concerned to know whether the trickling sreamlet that flows into its abundant waters be full or failing. Further, it is to be noted that God satisfies the soul directly, while at best riches can only pretend to do so indirectly. Riches seek to buy happiness. Inward religion directly confers blessedness. To have God is to be at rest.
    II. LOVE WITH PRIVATIONS IS BETTER THAN HATRED WITH SUPERFLUITY.
18. Hatred neutralizes superfluity. What is the use of the ox in the stall if hatred makes a hell of the home? How often is it seen that the comforts of affluence only mock the wretchedness of their master, because the more essential joys of affection have been shattered! A household of discord must be one of misery. Family feuds cannot but bring unhappiness to all concerned in them. Hatred in the house leads to wretchedness in proportion to the blessedness that love would have conferred. We are more touched by our relations with persons than by our relations with things. Therefore, if those closer relations are marred, no prosperity of external affairs can bring peace.
19. Love can neutralize privations. The dinner of herbs may not be hurtful in itself. Daniel and his companions throve on it (Dan_1:15). If it is not attractive and appetizing, other considerations may withdraw our attention from it and fill the heart with joy. Love is more than meat. Nay, even bitter herbs may be not unpalatable when seasoned with affection, while an alderman’s feast will be insipid to a guest who is preoccupied with vexatious thoughts.
    Pro_15:23
    The word in season
    I. WHAT IT IS. The word in season is the right word spoken at the right time. It may not be the word that is sought and asked for. It may even be an unwelcome word, a startling word, a word of rebuke. What can be more seasonable than to cry, “Halt!” to one who is nearing the precipice in the dark? Yet he neither expects the word, nor for the moment accepts it with favour. The great requisite is that the word should be suitable for the occasion. This has a special bearing on the word of highest wisdom, the gospel of Jesus Christ. We should be on the look out for suitable moments—e.g. in sorrow, when the heart is softened; in leisure hours, when the mind is open; at new departures, when special guidance is needed; after mistakes have been made, to correct and save; when doubts have been expressed, to remove their paralyzing influence; when Christ has been dishonoured, to vindicate his holy Name. These are all times for speech, but not for uttering the same words. The occasion must determine the character of the word.
    II. WHY IT IS GOOD.
20. The soil must be in a right condition, or the seed that is flung upon it will be wasted. It is useless to cast bushels of the best wheat by the wayside, and foolish to cast pearls before swine. Men do not sow seed in the heat of August nor during a January frost. Our business is to sow beside all waters, and yet to watch for the rising of the waters and make a right use of the seasons. There is a time to speak and a time to keep silence, not because these epochs are fixed by some Divine almanack of destiny, but just because silence is golden when mind and heart need rest and privacy, and speech is precious when sympathy is craved, or when wise words can be received with thoughtful attention. There are “words that help and heal.”
21. The special condition of the hearer determines what he will best receive. We should not preach consolation to a merry child, nor talk of the difficulties of religion before a person who has never been troubled with them. On the other hand, it is useless simply to exhort the soul perplexed with diverse thoughts to “believe and be saved.” Indeed, in private conversation the peculiar characteristics of each individual will require a different mode of approach. We cannot discuss theology with an uneducated man as we may have to discuss it with a young graduate.
    III. HOW IT MAY BE SPOKEN. It is not easy to find the word in season, and certain conditions are absolutely essential to the production of it.
22. Sympathy. This is the primary condition. It may be almost affirmed that where this is strong the rest will follow. We cannot speak wisely to a fellow man until we have learnt to put ourselves in his place.
23. Thought. Great considerateness is necessary that we choose the right word, and then speak it just at the right moment. If a man blurts out the first thought that comes into his mind, he may do infinite harm, though he be acting with the best intention.
24. Courage. Those who are most fitted by sympathy and thoughtfulness are often most backward to utter the word in season. To such it seems easier to preach to a thousand hewers than to talk directly with one soul. Yet personal conversation is most fruitful. It was Christ’s method, e.g. with Nicodemus, the woman at the well, etc. This duty is sadly neglected from lack of moral courage.
    Pro_15:29
    Character and prayer
    The character of a man has much to do with the efficacy of his prayer. The prayers of different men are not of equal value. One man’s most urgent petition is but wasted breath, while the slightest sigh of another is heard in heaven, and answered with showers of blessing. Let us consider how these great diversities come to be.
    I. A MAN’S NEARNESS TO GOD IS TO BE MEASURED BY HIS CHARACTER. Some men appear to have what is called a gift of prayer, but in reality they are only cursed with a fatal fluency in phrases. By long habit they have acquired a facility of pouring forth voluminous sentences with a certain unctuousness that persuades inconsiderate hearers into the notion that they are “mighty in prayer.” Yet, in truth, this facility is of no account whatever with God, who does not hear our “much speaking.” On the other hand, if a man’s heart is wrong with God, he is cut off from access to heaven. Such a man cannot truly pray, though he may “say his prayers.” It may be said that even the worst sinner can pray for pardon, and of course this is a great and glorious truth. But he can only do so effectually when he is penitent. The man whose heart and life turn towards goodness is brought into sympathy with God, so that he is spiritually near to God, and his prayers find ready access to heaven.
    II. THE CHARACTER OF THE MAN WILL DETERMINE THE CHARACTER OF HIS PRAYERS. He may be known by his prayers, if only we can tall what those prayers really are. His true heartfelt desires, not his due and decorous devotions, are the best expression of his real self. Now, a bad man will desire bad things, and a good man good things. It would be most unfitting in God, indeed positively wrong, to give the bad man the desires of his heart. But he who prays in the name of Christ, i.e. with his authority, can only pray for the things of which Christ approves, and he will only do this when he has the spirit of Christ, and is in harmony with the mind and will of his Lord. The holy man will only pray—consciously, at least—for things that agree with holiness. It is reasonable to suppose that his prayers will be heard when the fit petitions of the bad man are rejected.
    III. THE CHARACTER OF A MAN AFFECTS HIS FITNESS TO RECEIVE DIVINE ANSWERS TO HIS PRAYERS. Two men may ask for precisely similar things in the way of external blessings. Yet one is selfish, sinful, rebellious, and ungrateful. To give to this man what he asks will be hurtful to him, injurious to others, dishonouring to God. But a good man will know how to receive blessings from God with gratitude, and how to use them for the glory of his Master and the good of his brethren. Further, in regard to internal blessings, what would be good for the man whose heart and life are in the right, would be hurtful to the trope,trent. Saint and sinner both pray for peace. To the saint this is a wholesome solace; to the sinner it would be a dangerous narcotic. Therefore God responds to the prayer of the one, and rejects the petition of the other.
    HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON
    Pro_15:1, Pro_15:2, Pro_15:4, Pro_15:7
    Virtues and vices of the tongue
    I. MILDNESS AND VIOLENCE. (Pro_15:1.) The soft answer is like the water which quenches, and the bitter retort, the “grievous words,” like the oil which increases the conflagration of wrath. As scriptural examples of the former, may be mentioned Jacob with Esau (Gen_32:1-32, Gen_33:1-20), Aaron with Moses (Le Pro_10:16-20), the Reubenites with their brethren (Jos_22:15-34), Gideon with the men of Ephraim (Jdg_8:1-3), David with Saul (1Sa_24:9-21), Abigail with David (1Sa_25:23-32). And of the latter, Jephthah (Jdg_12:1-6), Saul (1Sa_20:30-31), Nabal (1Sa_25:10-13), Rehoboam (1Ki_12:12-15), Paul and Barnabas (Act_15:39).
    II. THE ATTRACTIVENESS OF WISE SPEECH AND THE REPULSIVENESS OF FOOLISH TALK. (Pro_15:2.) If this verse be more correctly rendered, it means that the tongue of the wise makes knowledge lovely, while the mouth of the fool foams with folly. The speech of the former is apt to time and place—coherent—and wins upon the listener. The latter is unseasonable, confused, nonsensical, repellent. Notice the tact of St. Paul’s addresses (Act_17:22, Act_17:23; Act_26:27-29), and what he says about foolish babbling in 2Ti_2:16-18; Tit_1:10.
    III. MODERATION AND EXTRAVAGANCE. (Tit_1:4.) A calm and measured tone should be cultivated, as well as a pure and peaceful heart; these mutually react upon one another. The extravagant, immoderate, licentious tongue is “like a blustering wind among the boughs of the trees, rushing and tearing the life and spirit of a man’s self and others” (Bishop Hail). Beware of exaggeration.
    IV. SPEECH A DIFFUSIVE INFLUENCE. (Tit_1:7.) The lips of the wise scatter seeds of good around them; not so with the heart and lips of the fool. “They trade only with the trash of the world, not with the commerce of substantial knowledge.” The preaching of the gospel is compared to the scattering of good seed, and evil activity is the sowing of tares in the world field (Mat_13:24, etc.).—J.
    Pro_15:3
    The omnipresence of God
    I. GOD IS A SPIRIT. We cannot exhaust the sublimity, the awfulness, the comfort, the meaning, in this thought.
    II. GOD SEES ALL AND KNOWS ALL. Both the good and the evil. In looking upon evil deeds which pass unchastised in appearance, we are ready to exclaim, “And yet God has never spoken a word!” But God has seen, and will requite.
    III. HENCE LET US POSSESS OUR SOULS IN PATIENCE. Commit them unto him in well doing, and wait for the “end of the Lord.” He knows, among other things, the need of his children, and bethinks him of helping and delivering them.—J.
    Pro_15:5
    Contempt and respect for instruction
    The fool is as a “wild ass’s colt” (Job_11:12), recalcitrant, stubborn; while he who early shows a willingness to listen to good advice has the germ of prudence, the prophecy of a safe career.
    I. A MURMURING TEMPER, A RELUCTANCE TO SUBMIT TO NECESSITY AND THE COURSE OF LIFE, IS IN REALITY A CONTEMPT OF GOD.
    II. SUBMISSION TO THE INEVITABLE, COMPLIANCE TO THE LAWS OF LIVING, IS DOCILITY TO GOD.—J.
    Pro_15:6
    True and false gains
    I. A MAN MAY RE POOR, YET POSSESS ALL THINGS. (2Co_6:10.) Deus meus, et omnia!
    II. A MAN MAY BE RICH, YET DESTITUTE, POOR, BLIND, AND MISERABLE. If we are not satisfied, we are not rich. If we are content, we are never poor.
    III. GOD IS THE TRUE AND ONLY GAIN OF THE SOUL. We have a nature which will be satisfied with nothing short of the Infinite. To attempt to feed it with anything less is found to be a cheat and a self-delusion.—J.
    Pro_15:8, Pro_15:9
    God’s hatreds and God’s delights
    We all have our aversions, natural antipathies, acquired hatreds. A noted author not long ago published a book called ’Mes Haines.’ What are the hatreds of him who is Love? They should be our aversions.
    I. THE SACRIFICE OF THE WICKED. (Pro_15:8.) It is not the man’s works which make him good, but the justified man—the man made right with God—produces good works, and these, though imperfect, are well pleasing to God. The lack of heart sincerity must stamp every sacrifice, as that of Cain, as an abomination.
    II. THE PRAYER OF THE GOOD MAN. Symbolized by fragrant incense, sweet to him are pious thoughts, wishes for the best, charitable aspirations, all that in the finite heart aims at the Infinite.
    III. THE WAY OF THE WICKED. A prayerless life is a godless, and hence a corrupt life. It is a meaningless life, and God will not tolerate what is insignificant in his vast significant world.
    IV. THE PURSUIT OF GOOD. He who hunts after righteousness, literally, is loved of God. We learn the necessity of patience, constancy, diligence in well doing. In no other way can genuineness and thoroughness be shown.—J.
    Pro_15:10
    The principle of judgment
    I. IT IS NEVER CAUSELESS.
    II. THE CONNECTION OF CAUSE AND EFFECT IS OFTEN MYSTERIOUS. Hence we should be slow to trace the judgment of God upon sinners.
    III. SOME SINS THAT FORETELL JUDGMENT.
25. Desertion of duty; forsaking of God’s ways; travelling in paths we know to be crooked or unclean.
26. Indifference to rebuke. For even in error, if we will heed the timely warning and correct the discovered fault, judgment may be averted. If not, there is no way of avoiding the law of doom. The soul that sinneth shall and “must die.”—J.
    Pro_15:11
    The heart open to God
    I. THE HEART A PROFOUND MYSTERY. We speculate about the mysteries of the world without us, as if these were the great secrets, forgetful what an abyss of wonder is within.
    II. THIS MYSTERY MAY BE COMPARED TO THAT OF HADES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE DEVIL.
27. It is equally profound.
28. It is equally fascinating.
29. It is equally hidden from our knowledge.
    Peruse our greatest masters of the human heart—a Shakespeare, Bacon, Montaigne—we have still not touched the bottom.
    III. THE MYSTERY OF ALL WORLDS IS KNOWN TO GOD, THE INTERNAL NO LESS THAN THE EXTERNAL.
30. This is a thought of awe.
31. Still more it should be of comfort.
    My God, thou knowest all, all that fain would hide itself from others, even from myself—and yet “hast stooped to ask of me the love of this poor heart”!—J.
    Pro_15:12-15
    Sullen folly and cheerful wisdom
    I. DISLIKE OF CRITICISM. (Pro_15:12.) Often seen in those who are most critical themselves. The jiber is easily galled by a telling retort. The satirical man least loves satire upon himself. But one of the lessons we learn from truly great minds is that of willingness to turn a jest against one’s self, and to find positive pleasure in a criticism of one’s own character that hits the mark, provided it be good natured. But with ill nature no one can be pleased. Most necessary it is for the health of the soul to be often with those who know more than we do.
    II. THE APPEARANCE THE MIRROR OF THE MAN. The placid, serene, smiling, winning visage reflects the soul; and so with the downcast brow and dejected mien. It may surprise us that so commonplace an observation should be thought worth recording; but there was a time when such flashed upon man as a new discovery. Perhaps it may be a discovery to many that they may do much by assuming a cheerful manner to regulate and calm the heart.
    III. BUT APPEARANCES ARE NOTHING WITHOUT REALITY. (Pro_15:14.) To be truly wise is not to know a great deal, but to be always on the track and pursuit of knowledge; and to be utterly foolish it is only necessary to give the reins to vanity, to yield to idleness, to follow every passing pleasure. The countenance of the fool is expressive of what? Of the want of impressions, of vacancy and vanity.
    IV. THE FOLLY OF GLOOM AND THE WISDOM OF CHEERFULNESS. (Pro_15:15.) In what sense can we ever say that our days are evil, except that we have made them so? And how more readily can we make them so than by yielding to the dark and gloomy mood, and ever looking on the dark side of things? The side of things on which we see the reflection of our narrow selves is ever dark; that on which we see God’s attributes mirrored—the beauty of his nature, the wisdom of his providence—is bright and inspiring. It is, indeed, a feast to the soul to have found God; for thought, for feeling, forevery practical need, he is present, he alone “shall supply all our need.” Our Lord thus speaks of his body and his blood, of which to eat is life.—J.
    Pro_15:16, Pro_15:17
    Alternatives
    I. POVERTY WITH PIETY, OR RICHES WITH DISCONTENT. Which shall we choose? Naturally all, or nearly all, will prefer to take riches with its risks rather than poverty with its certain privations. Our Bible is precious because it reminds us that there is another side in this matter. Riches are too dearly gained at the expense of peace of conscience; poverty is blessed if it brings us nearer to God.
    II. SCANTY FARE WITH RICH SPIRITUAL SEASONING, OR RICH FARE WITH A POOR HEART. Which? For ourselves and our personal comfort? For others and the hospitality we should like to dispense to them? For ourselves, high thinking with tow living; for others, slight fare with large welcome will make a true feast.—J.
    Pro_15:18-23
    Facets of moral truth
    Again flashing upon us, mostly in the light of contrast. As, indeed, from precious stones and false paste, up to the highest truths of the spirit, we can know nothing truly except by the comparison of its opposite.
    I. HASTE OF TEMPER AND LONG SUFFERING. (Pro_15:18.) Quarrelsomeness, irritable words (would that we could recall them!), a thousand stabs and wounds to the heart of our friend and to our own, the result of the former. For the latter, read the exquisite descriptions of the New Testament wherever the word “long suffering” occurs, and see the matchless beauty, and learn to covet the possession of that character—the impress of God in human nature—and those best gifts which belong to “the more excellent way.”
    II. IDLENESS AND HONESTY. (Pro_15:19.) The way of the former beset with difficulty. Lazy people take the most trouble, in the affairs of the soul as in everything. The honest path is the only easy path in the long run. We must remember that it is a long run we have to pass over, and must make our choice accordingly. Life is no mere picnic or excursion. For amusement of the leisure hour we may strike into a by-path, but never lose sight of the high road of faith.
    III. PARENTAL JOY AND SORROW. (Pro_15:20.) On the whole, these are one of the best indices of a man’s character. A truly good parent may not understand his child, as Mary misunderstood Jesus; but at the bottom of the heart, when there is filial goodness there is parental sympathy and approval.
    IV. SPURIOUS JOY AND QUIET PERSISTENCE IN RIGHT. (Pro_15:21.) This is a good contrast. The fool is not content with saying or doing the foolish thing; he must needs chuckle over it and make a boast of it, often gaining applause for his mere audacity. But the man of true sense is content to forego the momentary triumph, and goes on his way. Ever to forsake the way we know to be right, even in momentary hilarity, brings its after sting.
    V. FAILURE AND SUCCESS IN COUNSELS. (Pro_15:22.) Wild tumultuous passion causes the former; and calm deliberation, the comparison and collision of many minds, brings about sound and stable policy. To lean upon one’s own weak will, to act in haste or under impulse, how seldom can a prosperous issue come of this! See how individuals rush into lawsuits, nations into war, speculators into bankruptcy,—all for want of consultation and good advice. We need the impetus of enthusiasm, not less the direction of cool prudence; if one or the other factor be omitted, disaster must ensue.
    VI. SEASONABLE WORDS. (Pro_15:23.) We must consider not only the matter, but the manner, of our utterances. This requires “a mind at leisure from itself” to seize the happy opportunity, to refrain from introducing the jarring note, to turn the conversation when it threatens to strike on breakers. Oh, happy art! admirable and enviable in those that possess it, but cultivable by all who have the gentle heart. We cannot conceive that the conversations of Christ were ever other than thus seasonable.—J.
    Pro_15:24-33
    Religion and common sense
    What is religion without common sense? Fanaticism, extravagance, and folly. What is common sense without religion? Dry, bald, uninspired and uninspiring worldliness. What are they united? The wisdom of both worlds, the wisdom of time and of eternity. Let. us look at some of their combined teachings.
    I. TEACHINGS OF COMMON SENSE.
32. To avoid danger and death. (Pro_15:24.) This is obvious enough, but, unguided by religion, prudence may easily make mistakes.
33. To avoid unjust gains. (Pro_15:27.) Every advantage must be paid for, in some coin or other. Then, “is the game worth the candle?” Will a dishonest speculation, looked at on mere commercial principles, pay?
34. To be cautious in speech. (Pro_15:28.) Speech is the one thing that many think they have a right to squander. There is no more common profligacy than that of the tongue. Yet, is there anything of which experience teaches us to be more economical than the expense of the tongue?
35. To be generous of kind looks and words. (Pro_15:30.) What can cost less, or be worth, in many cases, more? “Good words,” says George Herbert, “are worth much, and cost little.”
36. To be a good listener. (Pro_15:31.) And this implies willingness to receive rebuke. All superior conversation in some way or other brings to light our ignorance and checks our narrowness. And just as he is not fit to govern who has not learned to serve, so only he who has long sat at the feet of the wise will be entitled himself to take his place among the wise. One of Socrates’ disciples exclaimed that life indeed was to be found in listening to discourses like his. May we all feel the like in sitting at the feet of our Master, who commends those who have thus chosen the good part which shall never be taken away from them!
37. To avoid conceit and cultivate humility. (Pro_15:32.) It is the overestimate of self which makes us contemptuous in any sense towards others. But to look down as from a superior height on others is the most mischievous hindrance to progress in sense and knowledge. A mastermind of our times says that he hates to be praised in the newspapers, and begins to have some hope for himself when people find fault with him.
38. To found humility upon religion. (Pro_15:33.) Its only genuine and deep foundation. What are we in relation to the God whose perfection is revealed to us in nature, in the ideals of the soul, in the fulfilment of the living Person of Christ? From this depth only can we rise; for honour springs from a lowly root; and he that exalteth himself shall be abased.
    II. TEACHINGS OF RELIGION. We have already seen how they blend with those of common sense. But let us bring them into their proper distinctiveness and force.
39. To choose the upward path and shun the downward. (Pro_15:24.) To cleave to God; to love him with mind, and heart, and soul, and strength; to be ever seeking the Divine meaning in the earthly objects, the Divine goal through the course of common events, the true, the beautiful, and the good, in their ineffable blending and unity in God;—this is the upward way. To be striving after emancipation from self, in all the coarser and grosser, in all the more refined and subtle forms of lust and greed,—this is the avoidance of hell and of the downward way. “Seeking those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God,” implies and demands “the mortification of the members which are upon the earth.”
40. To consider the judgments of God. (Pro_15:25, Pro_15:27.) There was a period in the ancient world when men thought of Divine power as blind caprice, fortune, fate, destiny, setting down and raising up whomsoever it would by no fixed moral law. It was a great revelation and a magnificent discovery when men saw that there was a law in the events of life, and this law none other than the holy will of Jehovah. One of the principles of his judgment is here set forth. Godless pride is obnoxious to his disapproval, and incurs extinction at his hands. But he is Compassion, and the poor and friendless, especially the widow, are certain of his protection. It is as if a charmed circle were drawn around her humble dwelling, and a Divine hand kept the fire glowing on her hearth.
41. To consider the religious aspect of thoughts and words. (Pro_15:26.) Words and thoughts are one, as the body and the soul. A great thinker, indeed, defined thought as talking to one’s self—as all our words to others should, indeed, be as thought overheard. Thus we are thrown back on the heart, and the elementary maxims for its guidance in purity. Keep it with all diligence! But perhaps not less important is the reflex influence; for if bad words be scrupulously kept from the tongue, evil images will less readily arise in the heart.
42. To consider the conditions of access to God. (Pro_15:29.) He is a moral Being, and must be approached in a moral character and a moral mood. To suppose that he can be flattered with empty compliments or gifts, as if he were a barbarous Monarch and not a just God, is essentially superstitious. He is the Hearer of prayer, but only of the just man’s prayer. To the aspiration of the pious soul never fails the inspiration of the holy God. But of the bad heart it must ever be true, “The words fly up, the thoughts remain below.” Thus to view all life’s relations in God is both “the beginning of wisdom” and “the conclusion of the whole matter.”—J.
    HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
    Pro_15:1
    The soft answer
    This text has been on the lips of many thousands of people since it was first penned, and has probably helped many thousands of hearts to win an honourable and acceptable victory.
    I. THE FACT WHICH CONFRONTS US; viz. that in this life which we are living we must expect a large measure of misunderstanding. “It is impossible but that offences will come.” With all our various and complex relationships; with all that we are expecting and requiring of one another in thought, word, and deed; with the limitations to which we are subject both in mind and in spirit;—how could it be otherwise? A certain considerable measure of mistake, and of consequent vexation, and of consequent anger, will arise, as we play our part in this world. Occasions will arise when our neighbours, when our friends, when our near relatives, will speak to us with displeasure in their hearts, and with annoyance, if not anger, in their tone. This we must lay our account with.
    II. THE TEMPTATION WHICH ASSAILS US. This is to a resentment which utters itself in “grievous words.” Anger provokes anger and makes it angrier still; vexation grows rote positive bitterness, and bitterness ends in miserable strife. Thus the “little fire” will “kindle a great matter;” thus a spark becomes a flame, and sometimes a flame becomes a fire and even a conflagration, Many a feud may be traced back to the utterance of a few hasty words, which might have been met and quieted by a pacific answer, if they had fallen on patient and wise ears.
    III. THE BEARING WHICH BECOMES US. To return “the soft answer.” It does become us, because:
43. This is the true victory over our own spirit (see homily on Pro_16:32).
44. It is also the worthiest victory over the man who provokes us. We “turn away wrath;” and how much nobler a thing it is to win by kindness than to crush by severity!
45. It is to render an essential service to many beside the actual spokesman. When one man starts a quarrel, a great many suffer on both sides. And when one man quenches a quarrel, he saves many from misery (and perhaps from sin) into which they would otherwise fall (see Jdg_8:1-3).
46. It is to act in accordance with the will and the example of our Lord.—C.
    Pro_15:3
    God’s searching glance
    The text, with others treating of the same subject, assures us, concerning the Divine notice of us, that—
    I. IT IS ABSOLUTELY UNIVERSAL. The eyes of the Lord are “in every place.” There is no secret place, however screened from the sight of man, which is not “naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (see Psa_139:1-24; Jer_23:24; Heb_4:13).
    II. IT IS CONSTANT. Absolutely unintermitted, day and night; through youth and age; in prosperity end in adversity; under all imaginable conditions.
    III. IT IS THOROUGH. Penetrating to the innermost sanctuary of the soul, searching its most secret places, “discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart;” discovering
    (1) beneath the fair exterior that which is foul within;
    (2) beneath the rugged surface the inward beauty which is breaking forth.
    IV. IT IS TO BE FEARED BY THE REBELLIOUS AND THE DISOBEDIENT.
47. Those who are living and are purposing to live in the commission of some flagrant sin.
48. Those who are deliberately rejecting the authority and disregarding the merciful overtures of God in Jesus Christ.
49. And also those who are continually postponing the hour of decision and of return to their allegiance. These souls may fear to think that the eye of the Holy One is continually upon them; or they may be ashamed as they think that the eye of the appealing and disappointed Saviour is regarding them.
    V. IT IS TO BE COURTED BY THE TRUE AND FAITHFUL.
50. The hearts that are turning toward a Divine Redeemer may be encouraged to believe that his glance of kind encouragement is upon them.
51. The hearts that are surrendering themselves to Christ in faith and love may fill with peace and rest as they are assured of his acceptance (Mat_11:28-30; Joh_5:24; Joh_6:46, Joh_6:47).
52. The hearts that, in his holy service, are honestly and earnestly striving to follow and to honour him and to do his work may be glad with a pure, well founded joy as they count on his precious regard, his loving approval. To these it will be a perpetual delight that the “eyes of the Lord are in every place,” beholding every human heart and. every human life.—C.
    Pro_15:8, Pro_15:9
    With whom God is pleased
    With whom is God well pleased? A great question, that has had many answers. The statement of the text gives us—
    I. GOD’S ATTITUDE TOWARD THE WICKED.
53. Their whole life is grievous to him. “The way of the wicked is an abomination,” etc. And this, not because they hold some erroneous opinions, nor because they make many serious mistakes, nor because they are betrayed into occasional transgressions; but because they determinately withhold themselves from his service; because they claim and exercise the right to dispose of their own life according to their own will; because they deliberately disregard the will of God. They are thus in a state of fixed rebellion against his rule, of settled disavowal of his claims upon them, of consequent neglect of his holy Law. Therefore their entire course or “way” is one of disobedience and disloyalty; it must be painful, grievous, even “abominable” in the sight of the Holy One.
54. Their worship is wholly unacceptable to him. If we “regard iniquity is our heart, the Lord will not hear us” (Psa_50:16-22; Psa_66:18; Isa_1:15). God “desireth truth in the inward parts;” he cannot and will not accept as of any value whatever the offering that comes from a heart in a state of determined disloyalty to himself and hatred of his law.
55. Their worship is positively offensive. It is “an abomination” unto him. And it is so, because:
    (1) It is an act of conscious rejection of his claim; the worshipper is taking his Name and his Law upon his lips, and at the very time he is consciously keeping back from God what he knows is his due.
    (2) It is an act of positive insult, inasmuch as it supposes that God will be indifferent to the wrong things the worshipper is doing, that he will take a few words or offerings instead of purity, truthfulness, integrity, submission.
    II. GOD’S PLEASURE WITH THE RIGHTEOUS.
56. Who they are.
    (1) They are not the absolutely perfect in creed or conduct; for these are not to be discovered.
    (2) They are those who recognize in God the One whose they are and to whom they desire and intend to surrender their hearts and lives. It may be, it must be, an imperfect sacrifice; but it will be a genuine and therefore an acceptable one.
57. With what, in them, God is well pleased.
    (1) With the whole spirit and aim of their life. “They follow after righteousness;” they have set their heart on being just,—to God their Creator; to their neighbours, and especially those closely related to them; to themselves. And their daily and hourly life will be an honest and devout endeavour to realize their aim (see Php_1:20; Php_3:12-15). It is they who truly desire and steadfastly endeavour, against whatever obstacles and with whatever stumblings and haltings, to be right and to do right, with whom God is pleased.
    (2) With their devotion. The prayer of these “upright” souls is God’s “delight.” He is pleased when they reverently approach him, when they humbly confess their failures, when they gratefully bless him for his patience, when they earnestly ask him for strength and grace for coming duties and. struggles.—C.
    Pro_15:11
    The certainty of God’s notice
    First we have—
    I. THE DIFFICULTY SUGGESTED. It is not unnatural to ask—Does God in very deed take notice of such beings as we are? does he condescend to watch the workings of our mind? are the flitting thoughts that cross our brain, the fugitive feelings that pass through our weak human hearts, within the range of his observation? Is that worth his while? Are they not beyond the pale of his Divine regard?
    II. THE ARGUMENT FROM SECRECY. If “Sheol” is before the Lord, if that region of darkness were “the light (itself) is as darkness,” if the place of mystery and shadow is within his Divine regard, how much more are those who are living in the light of day, on whom the sunshine falls, who live their life openly beneath the heavens! The writer evidently felt that there was nothing so particularly hidden or secret about the mind of man. And we may well argue that there is nothing inscrutably hidden within our hearts; for do we not read, continually and correctly, the minds of our children? We know what they think and feel. And if their minds are open to us, how much more must our minds—the minds of the children of men—be “naked and open” to our heavenly Father! If our superior intelligence supplies us with the key to their secrets, what does not Omniscience know of us, even of those thoughts and motives we are most anxious to conceal?
    III. THE ARGUMENT FROM UNATTRACTIVENESS. “Abaddon [destruction] is before the Lord.” That which has no manner of interest in itself, that from which Benevolence would willingly turn its eyes, that which is repelling to the sight of love and life,—that even is before God; he never ceases to regard a scene so utterly uninviting. How much more, then, will he regard the hearts of his own offspring! There is nothing beneath the skies so interesting to him. What has the most charm to us in our home? Surely not any furniture or any treasures, however rare, or costly, or beautiful these may be. It is our children; it is their hearts of love for which we care. It is to them that we come home in joyful expectation. It is on them our eye rests with benignity and delight. So with our Divine Father. He does look on all the furniture of this wonderful home in which we dwell (Psa_104:31); he ever has before him the sphere and scene of destruction; but that which draws his eye of tender interest and kindly pity and holy love is the heart of his sons and daughters. We are poor and needy, but we are all his offspring, and “the Lord thinketh upon us.”
58. With what parental grief does he look upon
    (1) our separation from himself in sympathy;
    (2) our unlikeness to himself in spirit and in character;
    (3) our disobedience to his will!
59. With what parental satisfaction does he view
    (1) our return to his side and his service;
    (2) our increasing likeness to our Leader and Exemplar;
    (3) our filial obedience and submission to his will!—C.
    Pro_15:13, Pro_15:15-17
    The source of satisfaction
    We learn—
    I. THAT THERE SOMETIMES RESTS A LONG AND DEEP SHADOW ON THE PATH OF HUMAN LIFE.
60. Sometimes a long one. “All the days of the afflicted are evil.” They are not a few who have to make up their minds for many months or years of separation or pain, or even for a lifelong trouble. They know that they will carry their burden to the grave.
61. Sometimes a deep one. “By sorrow of heart the spirit is broken.” The burden is greater than the spirit can bear, it breaks beneath it; the heart is simply overwhelmed; all hope has died out, all gladness is gone from the life, all light from the countenance, all elasticity from the step; the hear; is fairly broken.
    II. THAT FAVOURABLE CIRCUMSTANCES CANNOT COMMAND SATISFACTION TO THE SPIRIT.
62. Wealth will not do it. Great treasure often means great trouble (Pro_15:16); shares and stocks often bring as much burden as blessing with them; he who piles gold on his counter may be heaping anxiety upon his heart.
63. Sumptuous fare will fail (Pro_15:17). All the delicacies that can be spread upon the fable will not give enjoyment to him that has a restless spirit, or a secret that he knows he cannot hide, or a debt he knows he cannot meet, or a bounden duty he knows he has neglected.
    III. THAT HAPPINESS MUST BE HEART DEEP, OR IT IS NOTHING. (Pro_15:13.) If it is not the merry heart that produces the cheerful countenance, the smile can very well be spared, both by him who smiles and by those who are in his presence. Few things are sadder to hear then hollow laughter, or to see than a forced and weary smile.
    IV. THAT A CHEERFUL SPIRIT IS A VALUABLE BESTOWMENT. (Pro_15:15.) Better than the large estate or the high position, or the influential circle, is the buoyant spirit which
    “Ever with a frolic welcome lakes
    The thunder and the sunshine.”
    V. THAT A LOVING SPIRIT IS A STILL GREATER GIFT OF GOD. “Where love is,” there is peace and there is joy, however mean the home or slight the fare. He who carries with him to every table and every hearth a loving spirit is a friend of God’s own sending; he is “the welcome guest;” he has a treasure in his breast which no coffers will supply.
    VI. THAT PIETY IS THE ALL-COMPENSATING GOOD.
64. It makes the poor man rich—”rich in faith,” “rich toward God,” rich with a wealth which “no thief can steal.”
65. It brings comfort to the sorrowful, and introduces that Divine Physician who can bind up the broken heart, and heal its wounds.
66. It speaks of a heavenly portion to those who have no hope of deliverance here; there may be “affliction all the days” of life (Pro_15:15), but “the righteous hath hope in his death” (Pro_14:32). Blessed, then, is he in whose heart is “the fear of the Lord.”—C.
    Pro_15:29
    God’s distance from us and nearness to us
    “The Lord is far from the wicked;” and yet how near to us! “He is not far from any one of us;” “He compasses us behind and before, and layeth his hand upon us.” We may, indeed, insist upon—
    I. GOD’S LOCAL AND EFFECTIVE NEARNESS TO THE WICKED AN AGGRAVATION OF THEIR GUILT. The fact that “in him they do live, and move, and have their being,” that by his operative presence they are momently sustained in being, that by the working of his hand around and upon them they are supplied with all their comfort, and filled with all their joys,—this great fact makes more heinous the guilt of forgetfulness of God, of indifference to his will, of rebellion against his rule. But the truth of the text is—
    II. GOD’S DISTANCE IN SYMPATHY AND IN SPIRIT FROM THE WICKED. God is far from the wicked in that:
67. He is utterly out of sympathy with them in all their thought and feeling, in their tastes and inclinations, in their likings and dislikings. tie hates what they love; he is infinitely repelled from that which they are drawn to.
68. He regards them with a serious Divine displeasure. He is “angry with the wicked every day.” His “soul finds no pleasure in them.” He is grieved with them; in his holy add loving heart there is the pain of strong parental disapproval.
69. He is practically inaccessible to them. It is only he “that has clean hands and a pure heart” who is free to draw nigh unto God. “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination” unto him (see homily on Pro_15:8). God cannot hear us if we “regard iniquity in our hearts;” we virtually withdraw ourselves from him, we place a terrible spiritual distance between our Creator and ourselves, when we take up an attitude of disloyalty toward him, or when we abandon ourselves to any evil course. Yet let it be always kept in mind, that:
70. To the penitent and believing he is always near; in whatever far country the wayward son is living, he may address himself immediately to his heavenly Father.
    III. GOD’S SYMPATHETIC NEARNESS TO HIS CHILDREN. “He heareth the prayer of the righteous.” Those who are earnestly desirous of serving God, of following Jesus Christ, may be assured:
71. Of his actual and observant nearness to them when they approach him in prayer.
72. Of his tender and loving interest in them (Mar_10:21).
73. Of his acceptance of themselves when they offer their hearts and lives to him and his service.
74. Of his purpose to answer their various requests in such ways and times as he knows to be best for them.—C.

Proverbs 15:1
I. It is a very hard thing to live through a month without being unkind or angry. Calm and sweet tempers are rare; and perhaps we may say, without disparaging their value or their beauty, that it is not to these to which we naturally look for the most conspicuous services in the cause of God. Their province is to heal, to calm, to sweeten life; but perhaps it is from more fiery—yes, and more turbulent natures, that we must expect the initiative in works of good.
II. “A soft answer turneth away wrath.” Some provocation is presupposed; some one has, or fancies he has, a grievance. Such grievances must arise in our common life. In this sense, “it must be that offences come.” What an opening there is here for our putting in practice Solomon’s wise and truly Christian proverb: “A soft answer turneth away wrath”!
III. If there be such happiness in a soft answer, how is it that it is so hard to give it? There is one great obstacle to which all others may be reduced—the obstacle of pride. When harsh words are addressed to us which we feel to be unmerited, we cannot bring ourselves to forego the delight of a successful retort, still less can we bear to admit that any part of the wrong is of our doing. Pride disguises itself very cunningly, so that even a high-minded Christian is misled by its craft.
IV. Remember the blessing pronounced on the peacemakers. No man ever repented the endeavour to rekindle “quietness, peace, and love” among friends who ought never to have been parted.
H. M. Butler, Harrow Sermons, 2nd series, p. 163.
References: Pro_15:1.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 424. Pro_15:1-6.—R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. ii., p. 20. Pr 15:3. 11.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 2nd series, p. 9. Pro_15:4.—W. Gladden, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvii., p. 132. Pro_15:6.—T. Wallace, Ibid., vol. xi., p. 174; H. J. Wilmot Buxton, Literary Churchman Sermons, p. 153. Pro_15:7-12.—R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. ii., p. 29. Pro_15:11.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iv., No. 177. Pro_15:13.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 2nd series, p. 30. Pro_15:13-20.—R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. ii., p. 40. Pro_15:14, Pro_15:31.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 2nd series, p. 37. Pro_15:16, Pro_15:17.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xi., p. 152. Pro_15:19.—Spurgeon, My Sermon Note19 Genesis to Proverbs, p. 172.

Proverbs 15:20
I. Consider in what this wisdom consists. Wisdom in the Proverbs does not mean simply intellectual greatness, or intellectual acquirements; a man may be very learned and clever, yet be quite destitute of that excellent wisdom of which Solomon speaks. Wisdom means goodness; it means striving to discover what is God’s will as regards the conduct of our lives, and acting upon it when discovered. It means keeping God’s commandments and loving and fearing Him, and doing unto all men as we would they should do unto us.
II. Consider how a wise son will treat his parents. (1) A wise son honours and respects his parents no less in their absence than in their presence. For him their wish is law, whether they know at the time, whether they will ever know, that he is fulfilling it or not. (2) The honour and respect which we owe our parents will be shown, not only in our acts, but in our words, when we speak or write to them, and our very looks when we are with them. He that refuses a proper reverence to age, though he may fancy he is asserting his superiority, is only proving in reality his own littleness. (3) A wise son is not content with honouring his parents, he also loves them very dearly, and does his best in absence to keep up that warmth of affection which was realised when he was with them.
III. These things are an allegory. Our earthly relations are but a figure of our heavenly relations. The tenderness, the loving care, the joyful self-sacrifice of our earthly parents, are meant to assure us of, and to aid us in believing in, the exceeding great love of our heavenly Father towards us.
E. H. Bradby, Sermons at Haileybury, p. 265.

Proverbs 15:23
I. It is of importance to take notice of that habit which is opposed to the duty for which the text contends; I mean the habit of reserve. It would be a grievous mistake to suppose that this habit is wholly a bad one. But the important point to notice is, that the reaction against the counterfeit of devotion is likely to rob us of what was intended by God to be a true aid to devotion. How often have we seen persons of the greatest ability, and the purest hearts, who yet dared not produce what was in them, because they saw other persons to be insincerely and offensively doing the same. This reserve is incomparably superior to a frivolous superficial interchange of religious experiences; but it is far inferior to Christian simplicity. It does not represent the spirit of Paul or John, or of great reformers, or of the most heroic characters. It certainly does not represent the mind of Christ.
II. “A word spoken in due season, how good is it!” (1) There is the word of warning; (2) the word of encouragement; (3) the word of sympathy; (4) the word of congratulation; (5) the word of explanation and apology. To be in any sense “a son of consolation,” to be able to make life a little sweeter for others, good a little easier, evil a little more hated and despised, this would be a high privilege for the oldest as well as the youngest among us. Words can do much in this Christian work. Think of the blessing involved in these words of Isaiah, “The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary.” If God has not given to each of us the tongue of the learned, He has given to each, if we will but use it, the tongue of truth, of kindness, of purity, of sympathy. There are many, who are “weary” of other sounds, who would gladly listen to sounds like these.
H. M. Butler, Harrow Sermons, p. 217.
References: Pro_15:23.—H. J. Wilmot Buxton, The Children’s Bread, pp. 49, 56. Pro_15:33.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. ii., p. 10; W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 2nd series, p. 45; Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 96. Pro_16:1-3.—R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. ii., p. 65.

Proverbs 15:1
Fury. This was seen in Nabal and Roboam, while Gideon and Abigail shewed the good effects of a mild answer, Jdg_8:1, and 1Ki_10:25; 1Ki_10:3 Kings 12:11

Proverbs 15:2
Knowledge. It requires to be proposed in a proper manner.

Proverbs 15:4
Life. This comparison was become proverbial for something very excellent. Immoderate. Hebrew, “perverse.” (Calmet) — Evil discourse kills the souls both of those who speak, and of those who pay attention to it. (Haydock)

Proverbs 15:5
In abundant, &c. Is omitted in Hebrew, Chaldean, and many Greek and Latin copies. The same idea is expressed in the following verse.

Proverbs 15:7
Unlike. The wise, or themselves. Hebrew and Septuagint, “inconstant.”

Proverbs 15:8
Wicked. Still unconverted, Sir_34:23 When they repent, and offer sacrifice with sincerity, they will obtain mercy. The Donatists abused this text, to prove that baptism conferred by wicked ministers was unavailing. But St. Augustine shewed them, that Christ was the principal agent, and conferred grace, even though the minister might draw down judgments on his own head. (Con. Parm. 2:6) — Even pagans confessed, that sacrifices, without virtue, could afford no benefit. “God was more pleased with the prayers of the Lacedemonians, than with all the sacrifices of the Greeks,” say the idolatrous priests in Plato, Alcib. ii. (Seneca de Ben. 1:5)

Proverbs 15:10
Instruction. Hebrew, “a heavy punishment.” (Haydock) — The mind which gives way to vice, must have embraced some false doctrine.

Proverbs 15:11
Before. Naked. The state of the damned is known to God, chap. 9:18 (Calmet)

Proverbs 15:13
Down. Compunction is salutary, but worldly grief blameable, chap. 25:20, and 2Co_7:10 (St. Gregory, past. 2:10)

Proverbs 15:15
Feast. Those who repine at their condition are miserable; while the poor may be delivered from many cares. (Calmet) —         —–O vitæ tuta facultas
        Pauperis angustique laris. (Luc. Phar. v.)
— Under affliction every thing displeases; but all delights the cheerful temper.

Proverbs 15:16
Content. Septuagint, “fear.” Hebrew, “with trouble,” which is preferable, 1Ti_6:6

Proverbs 15:17
Calf. Or feast after sacrifice, 1Ki_17:19, and Luk_15:23

Proverbs 15:19
Thorns. All seems to them impossible. (Calmet) — In agriculture, however, (Haydock) “in domestic affairs, negligence is attended with more labour than diligence.” (Colum. 12:2)

Proverbs 15:21
Fool. He thinks himself the most happy of mortals. (Calmet) — Septuagint, “the ways of the fools are senseless.” (Haydock)

Proverbs 15:22
Counsel. Hebrew, “secrecy.” — Established. We put in execution without fear, what has been resolved maturely. (Calmet)

Proverbs 15:24
Above. Literally, “upon the learned.” (Haydock) — One path leads to the realms above. (Calmet) — The wise must be intent on God. (Menochius)

Proverbs 15:26
Shall by, &c., is not added in Hebrew, &c., nor in several Latin manuscripts.

Proverbs 15:27
Troubleth. With all sorts of temporal misfortunes. A judge who receives bribes, is accursed, Exo_23:8 — By, &c., is not here in Hebrew, but [in] chap. 16:6 St. Cyprian (3 Test.) found it in his copy. — Faith, or fidelity and truth, as it is elsewhere expressed, chap. 3:3 These virtues move God to pardon.

Proverbs 15:28
Studieth. And speaks deliberately. Roman Septuagint is more embarrassed in the rest of this, and the nine first verses of the following chapter, than the Complutensian edition.

Proverbs 15:30
Fat. And contributes to health. By less noble motives, the mind is gradually raised to the more excellent.

Proverbs 15:33
Lesson. Or “what teacheth.” Humility, or docility, as those who acknowledge no master will never be wise, Mat_23:12 (Calmet)

Proverbs 15:1
(1776) A spirit led individual will ponder his words and season them with salt before answering even in dire conditions. However, rash harsh words will only cause more contention, Pro_15:28.

Proverbs 15:4
Pro_10:11, Pro_18:21

Proverbs 15:5
Pro_10:17, Pro_12:1, Pro_13:1

Proverbs 15:8
Psa_51:17, Pro_21:27; Pro_21:29, Job_35:12-13

Proverbs 15:10
Pro_1:30-32; Pro_10:17; Pro_13:1; Pro_15:5

Proverbs 15:12
Amo_5:10, Pro_9:8

Proverbs 15:16
Pro_16:8, Psa_37:16

Proverbs 15:17
Pro_17:1

Proverbs 15:18
Pro_14:17; Pro_16:28; Pro_26:21; Pro_29:22

Proverbs 15:19
Pro_20:4; Pro_22:5

Proverbs 15:20
Pro_10:1, Proverbs 29; Proverbs 3, Pro_30:17

Proverbs 15:22
(1777) By getting a multitude of options for a problem will give a multitude of decisions and be able to render wisdom in rendering judgment. Pro_12:15, Pro_20:18, 1Ki_1:11-12

Proverbs 15:25
Pro_14:11, Psa_68:5

Proverbs 15:27
Pro_1:19

Proverbs 15:29
Pro_28:9, Psa_145:18-19

Proverbs 15:32
Pro_10:1; Pro_12:1; Pro_13:1; Pro_15:5; Pro_15:20

Proverbs 15:33
Pro_1:7, Pro_9:10

Proverbs 15:1-2

A Gentle Answer and the Tongue of the Wise

Solomon, the king of peace, tells in Pro_15:1 how to calm down someone who is inflamed in anger. This applies to all situations in which a person is furious because of a (supposed) injustice done to him. It can happen in a family, in a friendship relationship, in the living and working environment and in the church. How important it is then to respond to the outburst of anger with “a gentle answer”. Someone who is agitated in his temper can be calmed down with a gentle or thoughtfully spoken answer, which removes the tension and restores calm.

Opposed to a gentle answer is “a harsh word”. This does not calm things down, but rather stirs up anger. A harsh word is not only a hurtful word, but also a sharp word that causes pain or grief. Such a word causes a fierce, angry reaction. When a carnal expression is met with a carnal expression, it is war.

We have a clear example of both ways of answering in Scripture. Gideon’s way of addressing the displeased Ephraimites is an example of a soft response (Ri 8:1-3). By what he says, the worst is over. The harshness with which Jephthah speaks to these same again displeased Ephraimites causes a civil war with many casualties (Jdg12:1-6; 1Kg_12:13-16 ).

How wise people are can often be determined by what they say (Pro_15:2 ). The wise know when, where and how to speak. The good use that wise people make of knowledge with their tongues gives knowledge a good name, makes knowledge acceptable and attractive to others and worth pursuing. Then knowledge is not theory but practice, and knowledge means blessing to those who listen to it.

Knowledge comes from the wise and folly from the fools. The so-called knowledge of fools is folly. What comes out of the mouth of fools is nothing but folly. Their mouth spouts with it. The many words that bubble up from their mouth like water from a spring show how foolish of heart they are.

Proverbs 15:3

The LORD Sees Everything and Everybody

God knows and sees through everyone completely. He is omniscient and omnipresent and possesses a complete knowledge of His entire creation, of people and of things. Nothing is hidden from Him. He watches everything and everyone, as a watchman does guarding a city. Nothing and no one eludes Him (Jer_23:24 ; Psa_11:4 Psa_33:13-14 ; Heb_4:13 ). This is necessary if He is to be the Judge of every man (cf. Jer_32:19 ).

The thought continues in the second line of verse. The knowledge that God sees everything is a warning to “the evil” people and a comfort to “the good” people. The bad people are both the great sinners and the neat people who live neatly, but neither allow God into their lives. They are both those who sin openly and those who sin in secret. God wants them to become aware that He sees them so that they will repent.

The good people are also sinners in themselves, but they do good because they have acknowledged that they are sinners. They live out of a good relationship with God. That relationship has become good because of their confession of sins and their faith in God’s forgiveness of these sins. God can give that forgiveness on the basis of Christ’s work on the cross that He accomplished for every penitent sinner. Knowing that God is watching them is an encouragement to live life to His glory (2Ch_16:9 ).

Proverbs 15:4

The Soothing Tongue

That the tongue, that is, the words spoken with the tongue, is presented as “soothing”, literally “healing”, presupposes that the hearer is dejected. Soothing words are as a medicine, they are gentle, soothing, beneficent words. This fits well with the picture of “a tree of life” signifying a source of vitality for others. The tree of life is mentioned here for the fourth time in Proverbs (Pro_3:18 Pro_11:30 Pro_13:12 Pro_15:4 ).

Whoever manages to cheer up someone who is in misery with his good and comforting words, thereby restores his connection to the tree of life, as it were. Life then regains luster and meaning, it regains something of the splendor of paradise. The words spoken are words from and about the Lord Jesus and refer to Him. He is the Tree of Life.

Words with “perversion” in them have the opposite effect. They are deceptive words that crush the spirit. Perversion in words inwardly affects the person addressed, breaking him down and causing him to languish (Isa_65:14 ). What Job’s friends said was not medicine of the tongue for Job. There was perversion in what they said, with the result that the breach in Job’s mind about the suffering that befell him remained.

Proverbs 15:5

Rejecting or Regarding Discipline

Only “a fool rejects his father’s discipline”. No one but a father can discipline a child in the most penetrating and yet appropriate way. He knows his child and knows what he needs. He also knows life and knows where the dangers lurk. The child who takes no notice of a loving discipline from his father and even rejects it contemptuously is a fool.

In contrast, a son testifies that he is “sensible” when he “regards reproof”. By doing so, he shows that he realizes that he still has much to learn and needs correction. He shows common sense

After accepting the fear of the LORD, accepting discipline from the parents is of the highest value. The authority of the father and parents is the authority of God. Discipline must begin at home and is the responsibility of the father or the parents. That is where our life begins. Because we are prone to do the wrong thing, we need correction. David was a sensible one. He considered it a favor when he was reproved (Psa_141:5 ).

Proverbs 15:6

Great Wealth or Trouble

“The house of the righteous” is characterized by “great wealth”. By wealth is not necessarily meant money and goods. Above all, it can also mean spiritual wealth. If love, joy and peace, the fruit of the Spirit (Gal_5:22 ), characterize the house of the righteous, it is great wealth (Pro_15:16 ). If the inhabitants of the house treat each other with respect for each person’s abilities and qualities, that is also great wealth.

Of such great wealth the wicked knows nothing. He may have a great income, but in that income is the seed of trouble and misery. There is a curse on it, for he thinks only of himself. Pride and covetousness prevent him from enjoying it with satisfaction. He is led by envy of others who have just a little more. There is also fear that it will be taken away from him. All these factors are in his income and rob him of its joy. Along with his income, confusion, restlessness and sleeplessness enter his house.

Proverbs 15:7

The Lips of the Wise and the Hearts of Fools

Wise people spread knowledge when they speak. Their words are useful and profitable to the listeners. In the same way, so too is knowledge used appropriately. Knowledge is not meant to be kept to oneself, or shared only with a select few. “The lips of wise men” will let all hear the knowledge of God and His will that is in their heart. They do so not to show off their knowledge, but to benefit others. The knowledge they have, they have received to share.

That knowledge is “spread” includes the thought of multiplication. Seed that is spread develops into a great harvest. Whatever knowledge is spread by the lips of the wise comes into the heart of many who, in turn, also spread the received knowledge.

The lips of the Lord Jesus have spread knowledge so that His hearers might know God and His assessment of them. It is important that we pass on to others what we have learned from God’s Word about God and Christ as well as about ourselves. Then we show that we have “lips of the wise”.

There is no knowledge in “the hearts of fools”. Fools keep their hearts closed to knowledge. As a result, there is nothing in the hearts of fools that could be useful to others. Fools have no understanding of knowledge. Nor do they want it; they do not open themselves to it. As a result, they are unable to spread it out.

Proverbs 15:8-10

What Is an Abomination to the LORD

Here, as everywhere else in the Bible, “the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD” (Pro_15:8 ) because the heart of those who bring it is insincere (1Sa_15:22 ; Isa_1:10-17 ; Jer_6:20 ). Not only is it unacceptable to God, but He abhors it. Cain was such a wicked who came with a sacrifice that was rejected by God with disgust (Gen_4:5 ). Cain brought a self-willed sacrifice and God should be satisfied with that. Thus, so-called Christians come to God with all kinds of sacrifices. These are the sacrifices of their good works, but God rejects them. We find these abundantly in roman-catholicism.

What He accepts is “the prayer of the upright”. Prayer is called a “sacrifice” (Psa_141:2 ). When it is offered to Him by the upright, it is “His delight”. The upright take their true place before God. In their heart, they stand right before God. They realize that they can approach Him only on the basis of Christ’s sacrifice and not on the basis of anything of themselves. Their prayer is the prayer of faith. They pray knowing that they are a sinner by nature. Prayer is contrasted with the haughty sacrifice of self-satisfied people who tell God how well they do serve Him (Luk_18:10-14 ).

Not only is the sacrifice of the wicked, or the mere fulfillment of religious obligations, an abomination to God, but so is “the way of the wicked”, i.e. his whole life (Pro_15:9 ). Similarly, not only is the prayer of the upright His delight, but the whole life of “one who pursues righteousness” is. Whoever does so “He loves”. To pursue righteousness is to give to others what is rightfully his, and above all to God what is rightfully His. It is an active, persistent, and even dangerous search for righteousness (1Ti_6:11 ). A person can do this only if he has new life.

Pro_15:10 connects with Pro_15:9 , the way of the wicked, for the wicked is one who “forsakes the way” that God wants man to go. The way here is the way of righteousness, as emphasized throughout the book. The one who forsakes that way must be grievously punished. This is not pleasant, but it is necessary. Whoever does not listen to punishment from his parents or anyone else, shows thereby that he hates punishment. That will result in death (cf.
2Ch_25:16 ; 2Pe_2:15 2Pe_2:21 ; Rom_8:13 ).

Proverbs 15:11

Everything Lies Open Before the LORD

The development of thought in these two lines of verse is an argument from the lesser to the greater (“how much more”). “tomb” (Sheol) and “decay” (Abaddon) represent the remote underworld and all the powerful forces that reside there but are powerless there (Job_26:6 ; Psa_139:8 ; Amo_9:2 ; Rev_9:11 ). This area is completely beyond the perception of humans, but has no secret to God. That this remote region with its inhabitants lies open to Him means that He is omniscient. This also means that He certainly also knows “the hearts of men”.

The word “hearts” means the motives and thoughts (Psa_44:21 ). The eyes of the LORD not only see all men and their deeds (Pro_15:3 ), but He also sees their hearts and all that is in them. No man knows his own heart, let alone another’s, but God knows every heart (Jer_17:10 ; Joh_2:25 ; Heb_4:12-13 ). He knows every intention of every individual.

Proverbs 15:12

A Scoffer Does Not Go to the Wise

A scoffer resists all attempts to reform him. He does not like reproof or rebuke and therefore he “does not love one who reproves him”. He rigidly clings to his own nonsensical opinions which he spreads around him with great pleasure. His goal is to scoff at others and especially God and His service. That is what his life consists of. He loves the fun and mockery far too much to abandon them.

He will not go to the wise to become wise, which proves that a scoffer is a fool. He does not even want to be in the company of the wise. Imagine if he were to take anything from their wisdom. He cannot imagine life without mockery. Scoffers are people who do not want to come to the light because they do not want to be revealed (Joh_3:19-20 ). Their own self is their god and goal, and scoffing is their life, causing them to contemptuously reject all wisdom from above.

Proverbs 15:13-15

A Joyful, Intelligent and Cheerful Heart

The emotional condition of a person, what he experiences in his soul, has a definite effect on his mind. If a person has “a joyful heart”, it can be seen on his face (Pro_15:13 ). One who is on his way to meet his beloved will have a joyful heart. The joy of that encounter will radiate from his face. So it is with a heart that is filled with the Lord Jesus and lives with Him. There is joy over the redemption of sins and the judgment thereof and over the coming encounter with Him.

When a heart is sad, when it is filled with worry, “the spirit is broken”. The words used here emphasize pain and depression with a thought of despair. A broken spirit gives a sad facial expression. Nehemiah was experiencing “sadness of heart”, which could be read on his face (Neh_2:2 ; cf. Gen_40:6-7 ). With Hannah, her face changed from dejected to happy after she received the assurance that her prayer for a son would be answered: “So the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad” (1Sa_1:18 ). Thus, we too can bring our worries, which make us broken of spirit, to the Lord in prayer. This produces a change for the better in our mood.

Here again, this is stated generally, with no guarantee that this always and immediately happens. There may be situations where a person is depressed and remains depressed (for a long time) even though he brings everything to the Lord. This can have all kinds of causes, which we do not always understand. It is so when it happens to ourselves and certainly when it happens to others. For a long time Job did not have a cheerful heart and did not walk around with a happy face. Only when God had come to His purpose with him did this change completely (Job_42:6-17 ).

Opposite “the mind of the intelligent” is “the mouth of fools”, opposite “seeks” is “feeds” and opposite “knowledge” is “folly” (Pro_15:14 ). Both the intelligent and the fool are bent on filling his mind with something. He who is intelligent in mind seeks knowledge. He who has knowledge longs for more knowledge. It is knowledge about how life should be lived according to the thoughts of God. When a mind seeks that, it demonstrates wisdom.

In the heart of fools, the desire for that knowledge is not present. He does seek something “to eat”. Hence reference is made to “the mouth of fools” and to feeding. To “feed” is to graze as cattle do and points to the fool being satisfied with fodder of the brand of “folly” (cf. Isa_44:20 ).

What a person seeks is evidenced among other things by what he reads and what he looks at. An intelligent mind has “tasted the kindness of the Lord” (1Pe_2:3 ) and therefore longs for “the pure milk” of the Word of God (1Pe_2:2 ). Fools feed their minds on depraved reading and they watch bad movies. They graze like the obtuse cattle in defiled pastures and gobble up the folly of these pastures without any filtering.

Life can be miserable or pleasant, depending on one’s circumstances and nature (Pro_15:15 ). “The afflicted” is one who feels inwardly miserable all the days. All those days “are bad”. He cannot find any joy in anything, because inside he feels afflicted. No matter what is tried to cheer him up, affliction so dominates that he sees only affliction. Everything is bad. Nothing tastes, nothing makes him happy. He is constantly afflicted.

There is affliction when we fail to find our help in God. Jacob said to Pharaoh: “Few and unpleasant have been the years of my life” (Gen_47:9 ). That is because his life was full of going his own way without asking God to help him. Naomi, with her husband Elimelech, also went her own way. She testifies that she has experienced “great bitterness” in that way (Rut_1:20-21 ).

Those who have “a cheerful heart” see and live life in the light of the sun, that is, in the light of the Lord Jesus, Who is called “the sun of righteousness” (Mal_4:2 ). For a cheerful heart, life is “a continual feast”. We have a cheerful heart when we are rejoicing in the Lord and living in fellowship with Him. Even bad days will not be able to affect the cheerful state of mind. If there is joy within, outward circumstances cannot take away that joy.

The prophet Habakkuk testifies to this. Though he sees around him desolate barrenness and emptiness, he testifies and says: “Yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation” (Hab_3:18 ). We are offered a continual meal by the Lord Jesus in Himself (Joh_6:35 ). He wants to dine with us and we may dine with Him if we open our heart to Him (Rev_3:20 ).

Proverbs 15:16-17

Better … Than …

These two verses clearly belong together. They say that spiritual things are better than material things or material wealth (cf. Psa_37:16 ). Pro_15:16 is about money and the fear of the LORD; Pro_15:17 is about food and love.

Pro_15:16 says that fear or reverence of God brings more satisfaction than “great treasure and turmoil with it”. Turmoil expresses itself in confusion, panic, tumult. Turmoil is fear. There is a saying that goes: The more possessions, the more fear. The reverence of God knows no such fear, for through it comes contentment and peace, the opposite of turmoil.

Solomon makes it clear that the righteous will not let wealth dominate them. So you can have a lot of money, the most expensive car, the fastest computer, the largest television with the sharpest screen, a house equipped with everything and still not have peace (cf. Ecc_4:6 Ecc_5:12 ). That peace is found only in walking reverently with God.

Pro_15:17 says that a happy, loving relationship is better than a delicious meal where the hearts of those who partake of the meal are filled with hatred toward one another. This is the situation in a family where wealth replaces love. Certainly, there can also be a rich meal with love, but here we are talking about a situation where a choice must be made between a luxurious meal and hate on the one hand and a poor meal and love on the other.

Many people recognize that a house with cheap furniture in which people love each other is preferable to a luxuriously furnished house in which people hate each other. Love makes difficult circumstances bearable, while hate destroys all the joy that a good meal is meant to bring about. You can have food of the very best quality in abundance on the table and still not have that “continual meal” of Pro_15:15 . Instead, you feel miserable every day and are consumed in your heart by fear, turmoil, hatred and bitterness. The leaven of hatred prevents one from truly enjoying the meal.

Even though someone is not listed as rich and has to make do with very modest meals, he can still be in a constant feasting mood. That is so, if he knows, appreciates and enjoys his spiritual riches. That makes the heart truly and constantly happy. There is peace and contentment, the opposite of turmoil and restlessness.

We can also apply these verses to a local church. If in a church there is a “great treasure” of knowledge, the possibility of turmoil is also great if people start boasting about it. Such was the case in Corinth, where the believers were rich in Christ (1Co_1:4-7 ). However, this did not make them humble and thankful, but puffed up, while love was lacking (1Co_8:1 ).

Because the Corinthians boasted of their knowledge, there was discord and confusion and all kinds of abuses (1Co_1:10-12 1Co_14:33 1Co_11:17-22 ). In contrast, what the Lord Jesus says of the church in Philadelphia ( which means “brotherly love”) is that they have only “little power”. He praises and encourages them (Rev_3:7-13 ).

Proverbs 15:18

Hot-Tempered or Slow to Anger

The contrast is between “a hot-tempered man”, literally “a man of anger”, one who is quick-tempered, and one who is “slow to anger” (cf. Jas_1:19 ). Hot-temperance is expressed by certain circumstances. Someone who is hot-tempered is proud by nature, otherwise he would not be so quick to get excited about something that affects him. Because of hot-temperance, arguments arise. A hot-tempered man must and will demand his right, even if it is in court.

He who is slow to anger does not stand his ground and knows how to calm the excitement by not reacting excitedly. By his calm response, he stills the “dispute” that has arisen. It takes a lot of patience and calm to maintain or restore peaceful relationships. It takes two people to argue. If one is slow to anger, the dispute will be quieted. The patient is a peacemaker. Peacemaking begins in the heart that bows before God in Christ. This will characterize the spirit and the walk. Abram showed this spirit when there was dispute between the shepherds of his cattle and the shepherds of Lot’s cattle (Gen_13:7-9 ).

Proverbs 15:19

The Way of the Lazy and the Path of the Upright

The lazy man sees his “way”, that is, his life, “as a hedge of thorns”, through which he feels hindered from getting to work. His life, he believes, is littered with difficulties, dangers and painful experiences. He looks for and finds excuses in everything that happens to him in life to avoid working. The hedge of thorns he sees is blocking him, so he believes himself and wants to make others believe. Because the lazy person is contrasted with the upright and not the diligent in the second line of verse, laziness appears to be evidence of insincerity.

Upright people are not bothered by a hedge of thorns. Their “path… is a highway”. It is a well paved path, a path that looks good. They walk on “a highway …, a roadway, and it will be called the Highway of Holiness” (Isa_35:8 ). They have no reason to take a detour or take evasive action. This does not at all mean that the path of the upright is smooth and that they have an easy life.

Both the lazy and the upright walk a path on which they encounter setbacks and difficulties. The difference is the way they deal with setbacks and difficulties. The lazy sees in the difficulties lions and bears, a hedge of thorns, on his way; the upright also see their difficulties, but see God above them and go their path in trust in Him, because they know that He has put them on that path. They count on His grace.

Proverbs 15:20-21

The Influence of Wisdom and Folly

If a son (or daughter) behaves wisely in response to the father’s strongly protective love and the mother’s warm affection, he (or she) will cause them joy (Pro_15:20 ). However, if a son (or daughter) behaves foolishly, it represents a contempt for the parental investment of care. It is a declaration to the mother that she was wrong to have brought him (or her) into the world.

Wise children give parents reason to rejoice over them. Foolish children show contempt for their mother. They show an unnatural harshness that causes great suffering to their mother. The greatest joy and the bitterest sadness in this world of tears are found in the hearts of parents. There is no greater joy than to see children walk in the truth (3Jn_1:4 ). There is no greater sorrow than to see a child reject the truth and live and die in unbelief (2Sa_18:33 ).

The fool not only lives without God in his sins, but he finds his joy in foolishness (Pro_15:21 ). This marks him as a man “who lacks sense”. Any man who delights in expressing or seeing foolishness has no sense. He goes a foolish way that ends in eternal death. He who does have sense or “understanding walks straight”, which is the path of life that ends in eternal life.

The fool follows every fad and lives by the whim of the day. That life is a pleasure for him, because he has no understanding of God’s will, nor does he want to. Someone with understanding does know what God’s will is for him and therefore walks straight, he walks the way God has laid out for him. He knows “that a man’s way is not in himself, nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps” (Jer_10:23 ).

Proverbs 15:22

Many Counselors Make a Plan Succeed

It is not God’s purpose for us to do everything alone. He created man as a social being who needs others to function well. Even in the church, He has made members interdependent on one another (1Co_12:14-31 ). Self-will always turns out badly. Often nothing comes of the plans of someone who works alone, without consulting others. The success of plans requires seeking and accepting good advice.

Wanting to implement a plan without consultation also shows haste. Time is needed to consult. Consultation may be seen as wasted time, but it is not. After all, two see more than one. It is good to see one’s own limitations, no matter how gifted one is. Consultation with reliable and competent people is decisive for a good result, for the realization of the plan.

This is a general observation of value in society both on a personal and national level. It means that we need others. The same is true of matters in the church. In the consultation over whether or not the Gentiles should keep the law in Acts 15, we have a good example of consultation leading to the necessary outcome (Act_15:5-31 ). The outcome is good because Scripture and the Holy Spirit are listened to (Psa_119:24 ). In all consultation, it is most important above all to look to Him Who is “Counselor” (Isa_9:5 ).

Proverbs 15:23

How Delightful Is a Timely Word

There is an answer here without reading about a question. The question at issue here and to which the answer comes could be about anything. It can be a verbal question, the request for an opinion, but also a situation with which someone is embarrassed. The second line of verse makes it clear that it is not about a direct and formally correct answer. It is about an answer that does address the content of the question, but that is also given timely, at the right time, not sooner and not later.

Therefore, the joy such an answer brings is not so much the result of its correctness, but of its right timing. We speak wise when we speak at the right time, when there is a need for what we say at that time. “For a wise heart knows the proper time and procedure” (Ecc_8:5 ). Saying the right things at the right time gives deep satisfaction; it requires knowledge and wisdom and self-denial. Saying the right thing, but at the wrong time, is counterproductive, that is, it leads to the opposite of what is sought.

If Paul had told the jailer to believe in the Lord Jesus before throwing him in jail, Paul would have been right, but would have had no result. It was not the time for the right word then. That time came when the jailer was about to kill himself (Act_16:27-32 ). We can learn this way of speaking only from the Lord Jesus (Isa_50:4 ).

Proverbs 15:24

The Path of Life Leads Upward

“The wise” sees life in its proper perspective. He knows that he is on the path of life and that this path also leads to life. It is a path “upward”, it leads to eternal life, to heaven, where eternal life is enjoyed in its fullness. The Christian who is wise will seek the things that are above, that are upward, for there is Christ, his life (Col_3:1-2 ). He fixes his eyes on “Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith” (Heb_12:2 ).

The wise walks that path because he wants to keep as far away from “Sheol below” as possible. It is not about the fact that there would still be a chance that he would end up in Sheol, i.e. hell. Through the blood of Christ, he knows that he has escaped the judgment of hell and will not end up there. The point is about the fact that he is now walking the path to life and therefore in the practice of his life he is also distancing himself from things that belong to “Sheol below”. He is born from above and goes the path upward. He belongs to heaven and not to hell. This is evident in the orientation of his life.

Proverbs 15:25

The LORD Protects the Widow

The LORD will tear down the “proud” and their entire house, but He protects the vulnerable “widow”. The contrast is between the proud and the widow, between those who rely entirely on themselves and one who is powerless, who has no one but God (Psa_68:5 ). Scripture amply affirms that God defends the cause of the widow, the orphan, the poor and the needy.

The antithesis assumes that the widow is the prey of the proud, who want to take her land and home (Isa_5:8-10 ). God has established the boundaries of His people in the land and will maintain them (Deu_19:14 ). Those who do not take that into account, the proud, He tears down and also their entire “empire” on which they rely and which they believe is fixed forever. Only what has been fixed by God, like the widow’s boundary stone, is immovably established.

Proverbs 15:26

Evil Plans or Pleasant Words

God hates not only the sacrifice and way of the wicked (Pro_15:8-9 ), but also their “plans” and thoughts. A wicked person is a deviser of “evil plans”. The plans he makes are aimed at harming others, disadvantaging and damaging them. There is no thought of God with him at all. Everything revolves around himself. The LORD knows his heart. What he plots in it is “an abomination” to Him.

The contrast in the second line of verse is that between hidden plans or thoughts and “lovely words”. Lovely words need not be hidden, but can be spoken. They cannot but come from a heart that is pure because it is focused on God. Those words do not reflect evil thoughts; they are not unclean, but pure words.

David is the “sweet psalmist of Israel” (2Sa_23:1 ). The words he spoke are pure words because they were spoken by the Spirit of God in him (2Sa_23:2 ). When we speak by the Spirit of God, our words are sweet and pure.

Proverbs 15:27

Warning Against Illicit Profit

“Illicit profits” are got by dishonest practices, such as the use of “bribes”, which distort justice (Exo_23:8 ; Deu_16:19 ; Job_8:3 ; Mat_28:11-15 ; Exo_18:21 ; 1Sa_8:3 ; Isa_33:15 ; 1Pe_5:2 ). The greedy man is the one who rushes to get rich and does not care how that happens. He not only brings misfortune upon himself, but he drags others down with him. He plunges his entire home, wife and children, into trouble.

The verse is a warning against accepting bribes. Gifts can be harmless, but they can also change one’s standards and values, that is, lower them. Those who hate gifts meant as bribes “will live” and keep troubles away from their families. Illicit profit is slavery. He who hates Illicit profit will live the true life now and will soon do so in full. It is living in the freedom of the Spirit.

Proverbs 15:28

Think First, Then Answer

“The righteous” is not a blabbermouth. He “ponders” in his heart what he will answer when he is asked something or when something happens to him from God (Hab_2:1 ). To ponder is to weigh or study. He who is wise is careful with his words. For a good answer, we need Godly wisdom because we are surrounded by an evil world. Therefore, we must carefully consider what and how to answer.

The wicked are not guided by the fear of God. Therefore, out of their mouths comes a stream of evil things. They cause evil with what comes out of their mouth. Their mouth overflows with it. Their mouth is an unstoppable source of pain to others. They bring evil things out of the evil treasure of their heart (Mat_12:34-35 ).

Proverbs 15:29

The LORD Answers the Prayer of the Righteous

The wicked keep the LORD at a distance. As a result, He is far from them. When they need Him because they believe He can be of service to them, He proves to be inaccessible to them and deaf to their cries to Him. His grace, love and help are not available to them because they refuse to break with their sins. Of course, a prayer of repentance from the wicked is the exception, for thereby they become righteous. When they pray as righteous, He answers (Jas_5:16-18 ; Psa_34:16 Psa_34:18 ; 1Pe_3:12 ).

Proverbs 15:30

What Gladdens the Heart and Puts Fat on the Bones

“Bright eyes gladden” is literally “the light of the eyes gladdens”. It is about the light from heaven, from God. When that light comes into the eyes, when the eyes are bright, the heart is gladdened by it (cf. Ecc_11:7 ). Because of the light of God in our eyes, we can see all that God has done and praise Him for it. This applies to both the old creation and the new creation, to both the material world and the spiritual world. If “the eyes of our hearts are enlightened” (Eph_1:15 ), this means that we are able to know all the spiritual blessings we have received from God.

“Good news” refers to something good that our ears hear. That has a refreshing effect on our bones. We see this with Jacob when he hears that Joseph is still alive. His spirit revives and he goes to him (Gen_45:27-28 ). We gain strength for our walk when we hear about the good that God purposes for us by His discipline (Heb_12:11-13 ). Ten of the twelve spies spread bad news about the promised land and thus paralyzed the people, causing them to refuse to move on.

Proverbs 15:31-33

To Listen and to Fear Is Life, Wisdom and Honor

“Reproof” can be painful, but “he whose ear listens” to it will consequently live, according to the wisdom of God. A teachable person belongs among the wise, for he who “listens to the life-giving reproof” shows that he is wise. The wise person wants to live to the glory of God. Reproof serves to remove from life that which prevents it. He who has an open ear for that, “will dwell among the wise” that is, he finds rest in the midst of the wise. He is one of them.

“He who neglects discipline”, which goes beyond refusing to listen to reproof, “despises himself” (Pro_15:32 ). He thinks no one should interfere with his life. He wants to live as he thinks best for himself. It escapes him that by such an attitude he despises his life. The discipline is meant to make him live the true life, that is, as God has meant it to be lived. That gives full satisfaction to life.

He who “listen to reproof acquires understanding”; he acquires understanding of himself and of life. Then one can grow spiritually, intellectually and emotionally. He will know how to live to God’s glory. For his neighbor, he will seek not evil, but good and know what God requires of him.

He who is guided in his life by “the fear of the LORD” is constantly instructed, in the sense of being taught, to walk wisely through life (Pro_15:33 ), for “the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the LORD” (Pro_9:10 ). He knows how to make the right choice when there is a need to choose and so also to avoid evil. His life is attuned to doing the will of God.

The first effect of wisdom is that it produces “humility” in the righteous. The fear of God is accompanied by humility. Where there is the one, there is also the other. The one is the way to wisdom; the other is the way to honor. Humility is a mind of heart that we must learn. We can learn humility from Him Who is Wisdom. He said: “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Mat_11:29 ).

Humble submission in trust in the Lord brings “wisdom” and “honor”. The Lord Jesus humbled Himself and was exalted by God. He is the example of what He says to us: “He who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luk_14:11 ). Our exaltation, the honor we will receive, depends on our humiliation. If we humble ourselves “under the mighty hand of God”, He will exalt us “at the proper time” (1Pe_5:6 ).

Proverbs 15:1-2
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_15:1. Grievous, “bitter,” “trying,” stir up; lit., “make to ascend,” like a flame fanned by bellows (Fausset).
Pro_15:2. Useth knowledge aright, rather “makes knowledge attractive,” i.e., speaks so as to win the attention of the listeners; poureth out, or “bubbleth up.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_15:1-2
THE USE OF KNOWLEDGE
I. Knowledge is for use. The various gifts and acquirements of men in every grade of social life, of whatever kind they are, are intended by God to be used for the benefit of all. One man has what another lacks, that he may use what he possesses for their mutual good. Those who have wealth are bound to use it—they are not expected to keep it locked up in their coffers, but to lay it out for their own and their poorer neighbours’ good. So with knowledge. He who has a knowledge which can profit the body, the mind, or the heart of another sins if he holds it back. He will find that such a possession unused will be a witness against him in the day of reckoning. He will be accused of wasting his Master’s goods by not using them (Mat_25:27).
II. Wisdom is needed to put knowledge to a right use. There are many people who know a great deal, but they do not know how to use it, either for themselves or others. They cannot make it of any practical use—they cannot enlighten and help others with it. Or they may put it to a wrong use. This is often the case with those who possess intellectual knowledge, but who lack moral wisdom. They put a good thing to a bad use.
III. One mark of knowledge combined with wisdom, is the right use of the tongue in the presence of anger.—A “soft answer” in the presence of anger indicates a knowledge of human nature, and also wisdom and self-possession to apply the knowledge. A man who can hold the helm of the vessel in the presence of a storm, and keep her well in hand, shows that he not only possesses knowledge but wisdom, and he to a great extent disarms the fury of the tempest by his calm discretion.
IV. A soft answer may turn away merited wrath. There are occasions when the most holy beings—the Most Holy One Himself—display a wrath which is only a proof of their perfect holiness. The “soft answer,” the pleading words of an intercessor, may turn a way this wrath. The wrath of Jehovah was often kindled against Israel during their wilderness journey, but the “answer” of Moses “turned it away.” (See Exo_32:11-14; Num_14:11-20, etc.)
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_15:1—Calmness is great advantage: he that lets
Another chafe may warm him at his fire,
Mark all his wanderings and enjoy his frets,
As cunning fencers suffer heat to tire.—
Herbert.
“A trying word;” literally a word of labour or pain. In dealing with sinners we ought to make the Gospel plain at first and not start unnecessary difficulties. Paul did this (1Co_3:2). Words that are not wrathful are often “trying,” as presenting to an angry inferior our reply in an easily misunderstood shape. We are to feed men with milk, and not with strong meat, all the more for being in a condition of fault.—Miller.
Look at the effect of the quiet and dignified reply of Gideon to the exasperated men of Ephraim, and at the case of Abigail and David. And as an exemplification of the opposite style of answer, you may be reminded of the contention between the men of Israel and Judah at the time of David’s restoration after the death of Absalom, when the fierce words of the latter drove off the former under the rebellious standard of Shebna, and of the case of Rehoboam, who by refusing to give “a soft answer” to the people deprived the house of David of the subjection of the ten tribes.—Wardlaw.
Nothing doth better stop the fury of a bullet than a mud wall: nothing doth sooner turn away the fury of wrath than a soft answer. But where the pot is boiling, grievous words make it to boil over. Wherefore Chrysostom tells thee that thine enemy reconciled is more in thine own power than in his.—Jermin.
If gentle words prevail so mightily with most men to appease their anger, of what force shall the submissive supplications of penitent persons be with the Lord?—Dod.
We greatly need an instrument capable of turning away wrath, for there is much wrath in the world to turn away.… That patent shield is a soft answer. Christianity makes it of the solid metal, and education supplies at a cheaper rate a plated article, useful as long as it lasts, and as far as it goes.… The Roman battering-ram, when it had nearly effected a breach in walls of solid stone, was often baffled by bags of chaff and beds of down skilfully spread out to receive its stubborn blow. By that stratagem the besieged obtained a double benefit, and the besiegers suffered a double disappointment. The strokes that were given proved harmless, and the engine was soon withdrawn. In our department a similar law exists, and a similar experience will come out of it.… After praying to “Our Father” for your offending brother and yourself, you may speak to him with safety.… Pass your resentment through a period of communion with Him who bought you with His blood, and it will come out like Christ’s, a simple grief for a brother’s sin, and a holy jealousy for truth.—Arnot.
Pro_15:2. Eloquence, widely ordered, is very commendable, and availeth much. “The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright”—deals kindly with her, offers her no abuse by venting her unseasonably, and making her over cheap and little set by. But eloquence abused may well be termed the attorney general, that makes a good cause seem bad, and a bad far better than in truth it is.—Spencer’s “Things New and Old.”
Paul, instead of exasperating his heathen congregation by an open protest, supplied their acknowledged defect, by bringing before them the true God “whom they were ignorantly worshipping” (Act_17:23). He pointed an arrow to Agrippa’s conscience, by the kindly admission of his candour and intelligence (Act_26:27; Act_26:29). This right use of knowledge distinguishes “the workman approved of God, and that needeth not to be ashamed” (2Ti_2:15).—Bridges.

Proverbs 15:3-5
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_15:3. Beholding, rather “watching,” “observing” (so Stuart, Miller, and Delitzsch).
Pro_15:4. Whole-some, “gentle,” “soft,” perverseness or “transgression,” a breach, “a crushing,” “a wounding.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_15:3
DIVINE INTELLIGENCE
I. The Eternal has a perfect knowledge of all places. The sun, in its meridian height, can only penetrate half the globe at the same time, and even then there are deep valleys and caves of the earth, and ocean beds where its rays never come; but God’s eye rests at once not only on all places of His dominion in this planet, which is but as a grain of sand amongst the worlds, but upon every spot in His boundless universe.
II. He has a perfect knowledge of the spirits of His creatures. The human soul has power to hide its secrets from the gaze of every fellow creature. “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of a man which is in him?” (1Co_2:11). But God’s omniscient eye pierces into the hidden mazes of the soul and reads the silent thoughts and intents of the heart. In this most secret region He walks at large. “O Lord, Thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, Thou understandest my thought afar off” (Psa_139:1-2). God is the one potentate and judge who can claim a perfect knowledge of all His subjects from personal acquaintance with each individual. Not one is lost in the crowd; each one stands before Him as distinctly as if He were the only creature in the universe.
III. God’s perfect knowledge of His creatures leads Him to contemplate both what is congenial and what is repugnant. He “beholds the evil and the good.” Men, when by Divine grace they become partakers of the Divine Nature, are much moved to gladness by the sight of that which is morally good, and turn with loathing from the evil which they must also contemplate. Yet their happiness springs from that which is within them and not from that which is around, or the preponderance of evil would make life unbearable. So the everblessed God, conscious of His perfect rectitude, has within Him a source of eternal satisfaction notwithstanding the “evil” that He beholds with Divine indignation and sorrow.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
He mentions the “evil” first because they avowedly, or else practically, deny God’s providence (Jer_16:17).—Fausset.
When we perceive that a vast number of objects enter in at our eye by a very small passage, and yet are so little jumbled in the crowd that they open themselves regularly, though there is no great space for that either, and that they give us a distinct apprehension of many objects that lie before us, both of their nature, colour, and size, and by a secret geometry, from the angles that they make in our eye, we judge of the distance of all objects, both from us and from one another—if to this we add the vast number of figures that we receive and retain long, and with great order, in our brains, which we easily fetch up either in our thoughts or in our discourse, we shall find it less difficult to apprehend how an Infinite Mind should have the universal view of all things ever present before it.—Burnet.
The darkness of the air may hide thee from men, and the darkness of thine understanding may hide thee from thyself, but there is no darkness can hide from God.… It was a pretty fancy of one that would have his chamber painted full of eyes, that which way soever he looked he might still have some eye upon him. And it was a wise answer of Livius Drusus, when an artist offered so to contrive his house that he might do what he would and none should see him. “No,” saith Drusus, “contrive it so, rather, that all may see me, for I am not ashamed to be seen.” If the eyes of men make even the vilest forbear their beloved lusts for awhile, and they that are drunk are drunken in the night, how powerful will the eye and presence of God be with those that fear His anger and know the sweetness of His favour. The thoughts of this omnipresence of God will quicken thee to holiness. The soldiers of Israel and Judah were prodigal of their blood in the presence of their two generals (
2Sa_2:14). Servants will generally work hard while their master looks on. The eye of God, as of the sun, will call the Christian to his work. Those countries that are governed by viceroys seldom flourish or thrive so well as those kingdoms where the prince is present in person. Conscience, God’s viceroy, may much quicken a Christian to holiness, but God, the Prince, much more. “I have kept Thy precepts,” saith David, “for all my ways are before Thee.”—Swinnock.
He is all-eye, and His providence like a well-drawn picture, that vieweth all that come into the room. I know Thy works and Thy labour (Revelation 2); not Thy works only, but Thy labour in doing them. And as for the offender, though he think to hide himself from God by hiding God from himself, yet God is nearer to him than the bark is to the tree, “for in Him all things subsist” (Col_1:17) and move (Act_17:28); understand it of the mind’s motions also. And this the very heathen saw by nature’s rush candle. For Thales Milesius being asked whether the gods know not when a man doth aught amiss, “Yea,” saith he, “if he do but think amiss.” “God is nearer to us than we are to ourselves,” saith another. Repletively He is everywhere, though inclusively nowhere. As for the world, it is to Him as “a sea of glass,” a clear, transparent body; He sees through it. No man needs a window in his breast (as the heathen Monus wished) for God to look in at: every man before God is all window (Job_34:22).—Trapp.
Such is the extent of wickedness that in every place He beholdeth the evil and the good. Yea, if there be but one in a place, that one is both evil and good, and God beholdeth both his evil and his good. The evil God beholdeth first, but they are the good on whom He resteth, as approving of them, and as delighting in them. For their eyes are upon God in every place, as God’s eyes are upon them. The other looketh not after God, and so God looketh after them, as that He looketh from them in auger at their wickedness. He contemplates and considers, which is more than simply to behold, for contemplation addeth to a simple apprehension a deeper degree of knowledge.—Jermin.
The doctrine of Divine omniscience, although owned and argued for by men’s lips, is neglected or resisted in their lives. The unholy do not like to have a holy eye ever open upon them, whatever their profession may be. If fallen man, apart from the one Mediator, say or think that the presence of God is pleasant to them, it is because they have radically mistaken either their own character or His. They have either falsely lifted up their own attainments or falsely dragged down the character of the judge.… In every place our hearts and lives are open in the sight of Him with whom we have to do. The proposition is absolutely universal. We must beware, however, lest that feature of the word which should make it powerful only renders it indefinite and meaningless. Man’s fickle mind treats universal truths that come from heaven as the eye treats the visible heaven itself. At a distance from the observer all around the blue canopy seems to descend and lean upon the earth, but where he stands it is far above, out of his sight. It touches not him at all; and when he goes forward to the line where now it seems to touch other men, he finds it still far above, and the point which applies to this lower world is distant as ever. Heavenly truth, like heaven, seems to touch all the world around, but not his own immediate sphere, or himself its centre. The grandest truths are practically lost in this way when they are left whole. We must rightly divide the word, and let the bits come into every crook of our own character. Besides the assent to general truth, there must be specific personal application. A man may own omniscience and yet live without God in the world.—Arnot.
The subjects of Pro_15:4-5 have been considered before. (See Homiletics on chap. Pro_12:17-18, page 274, and on chap. Pro_13:1, page 293.)
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_15:4. Rueetschi carries the idea of gentleness (see CRITICAL NOTES) through the two clauses as the central idea: “It is precisely with this gentle speech, which otherwise does so much good, that the wicked is wont to deceive, and then one is by this more sorely and deeply stricken and distressed than before.”—Lange’s Commentary.
That tongue which is “a witness of truth,” and therefore “saves souls” (chap. Pro_14:25), “is a tree of life.” Go into any garden of the lost, and where no such tree is, all are pagans. One sees, therefore, how the figure is kept up. If I am born into a land where there are gospel tongues; that is, if, when I grow up, I am not in China, and not in India, but in a Christian village, where people have and spread the gospel, that “tongue, as a healing thing, is (my) tree of life.” Where I get “life” is from its branches.—Miller.
This verse may be compared with the second. The tongue which “useth knowledge aright” has a morally and spiritually healing influence. It imparts instruction to the ignorant. It speaks peace to the troubled conscience. It soothes the anguish of the afflicted. It subdues the swelling of passion. It allays the self-inflicted tortures of envy. It heals divisions and animosities. These and other blessed fruits entitle it to the designation, “a tree of life;” productive, as it is, of genuine, varied, and valuable joys to all within the reach of its influence. And when the tongue makes known God’s saving health,”—the salvation revealed by Him in the gospel,—it then gives life in the highest and most important sense.—Wardlaw.
A high image of what the tongue ought to be; not negative, not harmless, but wholesome, or healing, as the salt cast into the spring cleansed the bitter waters (2Ki_2:21).… But the meekest of men felt perverseness a breach in the spirit (Num_16:8-15). The tongue of Job’s friends broke “the bruised reed” (Job_13:1-5). Even our beloved Lord, who never shrunk from external evil, keenly felt the piercing edge of this sword (Psa_69:19-20).—Bridges.
One stripe of the tongue woundeth three—the backbiter, him that giveth ear to the backbiting, and the backbitten.—Cawdray.
Saith the old philosopher, “Than a good tongue there is nothing better, than an evil nothing worse. It hath no mean; it is either exceedingly good or excessively evil. It knows nothing but extremes, and is either best of all, or worst of all (Jas_3:8). The tongue is every man’s best or worst moveable.… A good tongue is the best part of a man, and most worthy of the honour of sacrifice. This only when it is well seasoned. Seasoned, I say, with salt, as the apostle admonisheth; not with fire” (Col_4:6).—T. Adams.
Everlasting benediction be upon that tongue, which spake, as no other ever did, or could speak, pardon, peace, and comfort to lost mankind. This was the tree of life, whose leaves were for the healing of the nations.—Bishop Horne.
The root of this tree goeth down to the heart, whence it sucketh the juice of wisdom; its body lieth in the head, where things are ruminated and concocted by it; the branches of it are the several speeches of the mouth; the fruit of it is spread abroad as wide as good occasion is offered.—Jermin.
Not a silent tongue; mere abstinence from evil is not good.… Idleness is evil under the administration of God.… Not a smooth tongue: it may be soft on the surface, while the poison of asps lies cherished underneath. The serpent licks his victim all over before he swallows it. Smoothness is not an equivalent for truth.… Not a voluble tongue; that active member may labour much to little purpose.… Not a sharp tongue: some instruments are made keen-edged for the purpose of wounding.… Not even a true tongue. Truth is necessary, but it is not enough. The true tongue must also be wholesome. Before anything can be wholesome in its effects on others it must be whole in itself.… “Winged words” have fluttered about in poetry and prose through all the languages of the civilised world from old Homer’s day till now. The permanence and prevalency of the expression proves that it embodies a recognised truth. Words have wings indeed, but they are the wings of seeds rather than of birds or butterflies. We are all accustomed in autumn to observe multitudes of diminitive seeds, each balanced on its own tiny wing, floating past on the breeze.… Words are like these seeds, in their winged character, their measureless multitude, and their winged speed. They drop off in inconceivable numbers: they fly far: they are widely spread. It is of deep importance that they should be for good, and not for evil. The tongue is a prolific tree, it concerns the whole community that it should be a tree of life, and not of death.—Arnot.
Pro_15:5. He that regardeth reproof is prudent. Wise he is, and wiser he will be. This made David prize and pray for a reprover (Psa_141:5).—Trapp.

Proverbs 15:6-7
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_15:6. Miller translates the first clause, “The house of the righteous is great treasure” (see his Comment); revenue, rather “gain.”
Pro_15:7. Disperse; some translators read “winnow,” or “sift.” Stuart translates the last clause of this verse “The heart of the fool is not stable;” Delitzsch reads, “Direction is wanting to the heart of fools,” i.e., it has not the right direction.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_15:6
LIKE IN CIRCUMSTANCES, BUT UNLIKE IN CHARACTER
I. The wicked and the righteous are often on a level as regards material wealth. One may have “much treasure” and the other great “revenues,” or gain. The laws of nature have no respect to character. God makes His sun to “shine upon the evil and the good, and sendeth rain upon the just and upon the unjust” (Mat_5:45), so that the wicked man reaps a harvest as abundant as that of the righteous man. And all the laws of Providence move with the same even step, certainly showing no favour to the good man over the bad.
II. But though their possessions may be equal, there is a great inequality in the enjoyment of them. Character makes all the difference here. Even “a little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked” (
Psa_37:16). The wicked man is troubled by a sense of being out of harmony with all that is holy, and just, and true in the universe of God, and with a foreboding of future retribution. The wealth of the spirit is so much more than material wealth as the spirit is so much more than the body. It is wealth to have “a conscience purged from, dead works to serve the living God” (Heb_9:14), and to “lay up treasure” without being thus “rich toward God” (Luk_12:21) is only to “spend money for that which is not bread, and labour for that which satisfieth not.” (See on chap. Pro_3:14-15; Pro_8:11-19, etc.)
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
“The treasure in the house of the righteous” may be understood not of mere wealth, but of whatever is possessed with contentment and cheerfulness, with gratitude to God, with an assurance of His fatherly regard, with the peace that passeth all understanding, with resignation of spirit to the Divine will, with the present enjoyment of spiritual blessing, and the well-founded “hope of glory, honour, and immortality.” … We may suppose the revenues of the wicked to be acquired and enjoyed wickedly. But if not—yet if possessed and expended without the fear of God, and if the means themselves of banishing that fear, and preventing the choice of a better portion,—it may truly be affirmed that in them there is “trouble.”—Wardlaw.
“The house,” as we have repeatedly seen (see on chap. Pro_9:1, Pro_14:1), means a man’s whole interest. The mere interest of the “righteous,” whether it seem high or low; his lot, whether it be on high or on a dunghill; his hap, just as it is, whether it be easy or under pain, is, under the covenant of the Almighty, an enormous riches; while not “the house of the wicked” (for the wise man intends another of his climaxes); but stating his condition in the most favourable way, “the revenue of the wicked,” imagining that to be of the most favourable kind; and not “the revenue of the wicked,” but in the revenue, as though the trouble were in the revenue itself, is, literally, the being troubled (Niphal). The splendours of the lost will involve but trouble in the whole eternity.—Miller.
The treasures of the wicked are too much for their good and too little for their lusts.… But is it not the crown of the Christian’s crown, and the glory of his glory that he cannot desire more?—Bridges.
The riches of the wicked, in which they pride themselves, often consist of paper, and if bonds and charters make a man rich, the righteous cannot be poor, when they have bonds upon God Himself for everything they need, and the charter which shows their sure title to an everlasting inheritance. The devil robbed Job, but he could not make him poor, for his chief treasure lay quite out of reach of the enemy.—Lawson.
Every righteous man is a rich man, whether he hath more or less of the things of this life. For, first, he hath plenty of that which is precious. Secondly, Propriety; what he hath is his own; he holds all in capite-tenure in Christ; he shall not be called to account as a usurper. “All is yours” (1Co_3:22), “because you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” And although he hath little, many times, in present possession, he is rich in reversion.—Trapp.
His house is God’s treasury, himself is God’s treasure; wherefore God watcheth over his house to defend and preserve it; and himself God keepeth, as the apple of His eye.—Jermin.
Even the trifling sum which the righteous keeps in his house is a great treasure, because it has God’s blessing; but all the revenues, the large annual rents of the wicked from all his vast estate, are mere troubles.—Burgon.
The thought of Pro_15:7 has been treated before. (See Pro_15:2, etc.)
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Utterance is a gift, and dumb Christians are blameworthy as well as dumb ministers. “Speak, that I may see thee,” said Socrates. When the heart is full, it overfloweth in speech. We know metals by their tinkling, and men by their talking.—Brooks.
In their houses, they catechise their children; in the company of their neighbours, they entreat of God’s word and works; in the church, if they be teachers, they publish wholesome doctrine.—Muffet.
Most commentators say scatter or disperse. “Winnow,” which has usage (Rth_3:2), bears better upon the second clause. (See renderings in CRITICAL NOTES.) Winnowing knowledge, i.e., letting the lips, under the guidance of wisdom, be an instrument for holding folly back and giving utterance to knowledge, must be the finest practice for giving strength to piety; while the second clause shows the incompetence of folly to “winnow” anything, by saying that “the heart of the foolish is not fixed” (and therefore lacks the first principles of choice, in separating one thing from the other).—Miller.
The foolish sow cockle as fast as wiser men do corn, and are as busy in digging descents to hell as others are in building staircases for heaven.—Trapp.

Proverbs 15:8-9
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_15:8-9
PRAYING AND LIVING
I. God loves righteous men with a special love. God has a love for all His human creatures—a love which springs out of His relationship to them as their Creator. He loves the “world” (Joh_3:16), but this love cannot be said to spring from likeness of character between Him and the objects of His love. There is a spontaneous love welling up in the mother’s heart towards her child long before that child has developed any qualities to win love. The love springs from the relationship that exists between the child and its parent, and it exists before there has been time and opportunity to develop a loveable character. And there is still love in the mother’s heart from the relationship, if, after there has been time to form a loveable character, no such character is manifested—if there is no response to the parent’s love. There is this spontaneous love in God for all His human children—a love that, even when it meets with no response, does not cease to pity those who reject it. “God commended His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (Rom_5:8). “But, after the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us” (Tit_3:4-5). But the special love which God has to righteous men—to men of integrity—to men who are sincere in their love of righteousness, and who make conformity to it the end and aim of their life (see on chap. Pro_11:3, page 196), is a love which springs from likeness of character. It is the personal love of a perfectly Righteous Being for persons whose characters, in some degree, resemble His own. The good human father loves to see his own character in miniature in that of his child. He delights to see his son “following after” him in his holy habits and feelings—he loves him with a deeper and more joyful love as he sees in him the germs of holy desires and aims which he knows will be more fully developed as he grows into manhood. And so the “Heavenly Father” loves with the love of delight (chap. Pro_12:22) those of His human sons and daughters who have begun to reflect His image in their hearts and lives, and waits with patience until the blade changes to the ear, and the ear into the full corn—until they are not only just men, but “just men made perfect” (Heb_12:23).
II. One act of a righteous man which God regards with special pleasure. “The prayer of the upright.” 1. Because it is an expression of conscious need. A sense of spiritual need and weakness is indispensable, even to the continuance of a righteous character, much more to its growth. While a man feels his need, he will not only keep what he already has, but will be in the way of getting more. While he feels that he has not “already attained” neither is “already perfect” he will “follow after” perfection, he will “reach forth unto those things which are before, and press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God”—(Php_3:12-14), even to entire and absolute holiness of character. When he prays, he expresses his sense of need, and thus gives proof of that lowliness and contrition of heart without which no man can receive supplies of Divine grace. Therefore God delights in his prayer. 2. It is an expression of filial confidence. He not only knows what he wants, but he knows who is able and willing to supply his need. Prayer is in itself an act of faith—it is an expression of belief that “God is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. (Heb_11:6.) A human benefactor, especially a human parent, feels that application to him for help is a tribute to his goodness and to his power—it is a manifestation that those who seek his aid are assured of his willingness and ability to meet their need. So with the Divine Friend and Father. He loves to have His compassion and His power confided in by His creatures. 3. It is an act of obedience. God has commanded “men always to pray.” (Luk_18:1.) It was a condition to be observed under the Old Testament dispensation, as well as under that of the new. “Thus saith the Lord, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them.” (Eze_36:37). “Ask and it shall be given you” (Luk_11:9). The conditions are easy, but they are indispensable. No wise parent gives his children what they desire, except certain conditions are fulfilled. They may be very easy, but in no well-governed family are they dispensed with. So in God’s family. True he knows what his children need before they ask Him, even better than the wisest and most tender human parent, but the command is absolute, the condition without exception. Prayer is therefore acceptable to Him because it is an act of obedience to His command.
III. God abhors the way of the wicked. 1. Because they are at war with their better nature. There are instincts in every mail which are opposed to wrong-doing. There is a light which lightens every man that cometh into the world. When men sin they war against their own better nature. Cain possessed instincts which he must have stifled and trampled down before he could shed his brother’s blood, and so it is with every son of Adam. God must hate that which debases the creature whom He created in His own image. 2.
Because their ways are at war with His purpose to bless them. A wise statesman may conceive a plan which he sees by his superior intelligence is calculated to bring great blessings to his nation. He labours to make the nation see it also—he uses all his reasoning power and all the force of his eloquence to bring it into operation, to make it the law of the land. But the very people whom it is intended to benefit may, from ignorance and prejudice, oppose his wise and beneficent efforts. He looks upon their opposition with the deepest displeasure, because it is opposed to their own welfare. If a son rebel against the plans which a wise and good father has formed for his benefit, the father must be deeply displeased at the obstinacy which thus frustrates his purpose of love and wisdom. God’s complaint against Israel was, “I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me” (Isa_1:2)—rebelled against all His gracious plans and purposes concerning them, and that is His quarrel with the ways of wicked men in general that crosses all His purposes of mercy towards them.
IV. Their acts of worship are especially displeasing to Him. They are offered with no sense of spiritual need—with no desire to forsake sin. When such men engage in outward acts of worship it is as if a thief were to offer to his judge some of his unlawful gain as a bribe to be allowed to go free of punishment. God so regarded the sacrifices of Israel when they came into His courts with “hands full of blood.” “Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hateth” (Isa_1:14-15). They were an abomination to Jehovah because the hearts of the men who offered them were in love with sin and desired only, if possible, to escape the penalty due to it. Men in all ages would have been well pleased to “be pardoned and to retain the offence,” but the very suggestion of such a thing is a gross insult to the righteousness of God, and as this is the only construction that can be put upon a drawing near to Him in outward service while the heart is far from Him (Isa_29:13), the sacrifice of the wicked must be the act most abhorrent to God of a way which is altogether an “abomination unto Him.”
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_15:8. When an ungodly man prays, it is not the act of prayer that constitutes the sin, it is the want of a praying heart. The sin is in him, not in his prayer.—Wardlaw.
The formal devotion of a faithless man is not worth the crust of bread which he asks.—T. Adams.
Man judges by acts, God by principles. The sacrifice of the wicked, though it be part of God’s own service, yet “will be found in His register in the catalogue of sins to be accounted for” (Bp. Hopkins). Is he then finally rejected? Far from it. His desire to seek the Lord would be the beginning of the prayer that ensures acceptance. That which brings acceptance is—not the perfection, but the simplicity of uprightness.—Bridges.
“Sacrifice and prayer” are not here contrasted as the higher and the lower, but “sacrifice” is a gift to God, “prayer” is desiring from Him (Comp. Isa_1:11; Isa_1:15, etc.) Yet this is by no means an essential difference; for both sacrifice and prayer, which indeed fall likewise under the category of offering in the broadest sense (Psa_119:108; Heb_13:15) come under consideration here only as general tokens of reverence for God; and the value of both is clearly defined by this test, whether the state of heart is or is not well pleasing to God.—Lange’s Commentary.
It is not works that make the man good, but when a man is justified his works are also good. God in His grace makes well pleasing to Himself the works that come of faith, even though great imperfections still mingle with them.—Starke.
“The sacrifice of the wicked,” though it may be very costly—the column of Stylites, the hook-swinging of the east, the millions of anxious charity—without grace must be purely sin. “The prayer of the upright,” though it asks instead of gives, yet is a delight, where the other is an abomination. A man may serve God out of sheer selfish wickedness. Moreover, all are abominable. There is no just man upon earth. But the righteous has the righteousness of Christ; while these others are left, without a cover, to their own abominable guiltiness.—Miller.
Works materially good may never prove so formally and eventually, viz: (1) When they proceed not from a right principle; (2) When they tend not to a right end. The glory of God must consume all other ends, as the sun puts out the light of the fire. But the prayer that proceeds from an upright heart, though but faint and feeble, doth come before God, even “into His ears” (Psa_18:6), and so strangely charms Him (Isa_26:16) that He breaks forth into these words: “Ask me of things concerning my sons, and concerning the works of my hands command ye me” (Isa_45:11). Oh that we understood the latitude of this royal charter!—Trapp.
Pro_15:9. “The way of the wicked is abomination.” Not his sacrifices only, but his civilities: all his actions—natural, moral, recreative, religious—are offensive to God. The very “ploughing of the wicked is sin” (Pro_21:4).… “But He loveth him that followeth after righteousness, although he fulfil not all righteousness, yet if he make after it with might and main, if he pursue it and have it in chase, “if by any means he may attain to the resurrection of the dead” Php_3:11); that is, the height of holiness that accompanies the resurrection: this is the man whom God loves. Now God’s love is not an empty love; it is not like the winter sun, that casteth a goodly countenance when it shines, but gives little warmth and comfort. “Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness; those that remember Thee in Thy ways” (Isa_64:5), “that think upon Thy commandments to do them” (Psa_103:20), that are weak but willing (Heb_13:8), that are lifting at the latch, though they cannot do up the door: “Surely, shall every such one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength” (Isa_45:24). “Righteousness,” that is, mercy to those that come over to Him, and “strength” to enable them to come, as the sea sends out waters to fetch us to it.—Trapp.
The way of the wicked and the abomination of the Lord go on with equal paces. It is his way, because he leadeth himself in it, refusing to follow the guide of instruction: and God’s way it is, wherein His abomination pursueth after him.… St. Bernard saith, “God loveth, neither doth this arise from anything in others, but Himself it is from whence He loveth; and therefore the more vehemently, because He doth not so much love, as rather Himself is love.”—Jermin.

Proverbs 15:10
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_15:10. Correction is grievous, or, “there is grievous correction.” Miller reads, “Discipline is an evil to him.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_15:10
OUT OF THE WAY
I. There is a pre-ordained way for man to walk in. 1. Nature suggests this. Everything there speaks of law and order. 2. Conscience suggests it. 3. Revelation declares it. (On this subject see Homiletics on chap. Pro_12:28; Pro_13:13-14; pages 291 and 313.)
II. A man may break loose from this God-ordained path. That he can do this is his glory; that he does do it is his shame. A convict is compelled to keep to a certain path, he is obliged to conform to a routine laid down for him by another. His outward life is governed by no will of his own, all his acts are prescribed by an authority which he cannot resist. But God will not keep men in the way in which He desires them to walk by such means. He did not so fence about the angels in heaven. They were “free to fall,” and so are we. God treats His creatures as free men, not as prisoners. They have power to choose whom they will serve; they are free to choose the way in which they will walk. All the force that is exerted over them is the force of moral suasion.
III. The correction that follows this forsaking of the way is intended to punish and to reclaim. In all well-ordered human governments, and in all well-governed families, the main intention of punishment (except in the case of capital punishment) is improvement of character. This ought to be the chief aim of all human correction. It is the main intention in all the chastisements of God in this world. There is no retribution which comes to man in this world which will not, if accepted in a right spirit, become a means of restoring him to the forsaken path; therefore
IV. To hate reproof is to shut out all possibility of moral restoration. A man who will not be reproved denies the imperfection of his nature. Every imperfect being must need correction, and for man to rebel against the chastisement of God is to pass sentence of death upon himself. (On this subject see Homiletics on chapters Pro_3:11-12; Pro_12:1; Pro_13:18; pages 247, 323, etc.)
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
We would always look hopefully at a sinner under correction. For, surely, so long as the physician administers the medicine, there is no ground for despondency.… This costly teaching brings us on wonderfully. Lord! let me know the smart of Thy rod rather than the eclipse of Thy love.—Bridges.
There are three sorts of passengers that go out of the way. He that mistaketh the way, he that forsaketh his way, and he that loveth to be out of the way. Many miss the way who never were in it, or, being in the way, were missed from it, and these, oftentimes, are glad to be corrected and brought into the way. He forsaketh the way who at first is set in it, and seeing how to go on aright, yet willingly departeth from it: to such an one correction is grievous, and he suffereth it with trouble, but yet many times he is reduced by it. He loveth to be out of the way who hateth reproof, and of his amendment there is little hope.… The force of the verse is, that the suffering of correction is grievous, but that the hating of reproof is most pernicious.—Jermin.
Of all sinners, reproofs are worse resented by apostates.—Henry.
“Discipline is an evil to him who forsakes the path.” (See rendering in CRITICAL NOTES.) In our common version this idea is not brought out. It is a very grave one. Men not converted, but steadily “
forsaking the path of holiness,” are injured by “discipline.” In “hating reproof” they go through the very soul-action which we mean when we say, “they die.” Each “hating” emotion kills them. And this is the very philosophy of the letter-killing (2Co_3:6); not that it is poison in itself, but that the gospel awakens opposition, which, on its part, corrupts the mind.—Miller.

Proverbs 15:11
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_15:11. Hell and destruction, “Sheôl,” and “Abaddôn,” two different names for the world of the departed. “Sheôl” is the unseen world in general, “Abaddôn” the place of destruction, i.e., the place where their bodies are destroyed (so Stuart, Zöckler, etc.). How much more. Miller translates these particles by “because also” (see his Comment).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_15:11
TWO WORLDS
I. Two worlds out of the reach of the human senses—the world of departed men and the human soul. Both these mysterious worlds are shut out or shut in from the eye of man by the bolts and bars of his bodily senses. How exceedingly small a portion of the vast universe of God is revealed to the eye of sense! The small globe upon which man finds himself is nearly all that he can possibly know with his bodily vision. Reason may tell him that there is much more, faith may afford him clearer evidence of things not seen (Heb_11:1), but over all there is a veil drawn. The vast world, where dwells the great majority of the human race—that unseen home, peopled with the spirits of just men made perfect, and the dwelling-place of the spirits of the unjust—are regions entirely beyond the reach of human sight. And there is another world equally out of the reach of his vision. He has never seen the soul of any one of the thousands of his fellow-men with whom he has come in contact. He has never read the heart of his most intimate friend. His own “living soul,” even that which is himself, has never been apprehended by his bodily senses. He has never touched or looked upon that.
II. But both these invisible worlds are entirely open to the eye of God. The world of spirits and the individual soul of each man are seen by Him as plainly as we see the material world around us, or as we see the bodies of our fellow-creatures. And they are far more fully comprehended by Him than the visible things upon which our eyes rest every day are comprehended by us. For what do we really know of the essential properties of that by which we are surrounded? Is not our very bodily organism a mystery to us? But each soul of each individual man in the body, and each “unclothed” (2Co_5:4) spirit in the worlds of the departed is “naked and open” in the eyes of Him with whom each one “has to do” (Heb_4:13) as really and as intimately as if in all the universe there was only one creature of whom the omniscient Creator had to take cognizance.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
It is the gross persuasion of some, as if hell and destruction were only things that God did set before us, and that they were not before Him; as if they were things wherewith God did only terrify us, and which should never be. But the wise man telleth us, that they are before the Lord, and that though we know not where hell is and what is done there, yet it is before God’s eyes. And, therefore, though the heart of the children of men be made as deep as hell by hellish devices, yet much more is that manifest to God. The heart of man is more manifest to Him than it is to himself. Wherefore St. Augustine, speaking unto God, saith, “Thou wert within, and I was without.” For, indeed, God is often within and knoweth what our hearts are, when we ourselves are without and do not know them.—Jermin.
This terrible truth these hearts secretly know, and their desperate writhings to shake it off show how much they dislike it. The Romish confessional is one of the most pregnant facts in the history of man. It is a monument and measure of the guilty creature’s enmity against God.… We have wondered at the blindness and stupidity of our common nature in permitting a man, not more holy than his neighbours, to stand in the place of God to a brother’s soul. There is cause for grief, but not ground for surprise. The phenomenon proceeds in the way of natural law. It is the common, well understood process of compounding for the security of the whole, by the voluntary surrender of a part. The confessional is a kind of insurance office where periodical exposure of the heart to a man is the premium paid for fancied impunity in hiding that heart altogether from the deeper scrutiny of the all-seeing God.… It is God’s love from the face of Jesus Christ shining into my dark heart that makes my heart open and delight to be His dwelling-place. The eye of the just Avenger I cannot endure to be in this place of sin; but the eye of the compassionate Physician I shall gladly admit into this place of disease.—Arnot.
“Because also the hearts of the children of men.” (See Miller’s rendering in CRITICAL NOTES.) The intimation is God knows hell because He knows men. He knows that “hating reproof,” we die (Pro_15:10), and just how fast we die or sink by each act of hating. In other words, he knows how fast sin grows under an administration of justice; and, therefore, how far a given sinner will have gone down, at any date, through his eternal age.—Miller.
The verse may denote that the deepest machinations of the prince of hell, and of all his legions of fallen angels, are open to the Lord’s inspection, and must end in their disappointment and deeper torment; how, then, can man, who is so inferior in sagacity and subtilty, expect to hide his counsels from God, or to prosper in rebellion against Him?” There is nothing so deep or secret that can be hid from the eyes of God, much less man’s thoughts.”—Scott.

Proverbs 15:12
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_15:12
SELF-DESTROYED
I. That a scorner is in hopeless ignorance. “Neither will he go unto the wise.” If a thirsty man will not go to the river to which he has free and easy access, there is no hope of his thirst being quenched. If he will not apply to the only source whence his need can be supplied, he must remain in his needy condition. If a man who is sick will not apply to him who is able to cure his malady, the probability is that he will remain under the influence of disease, and die of his malady. If a man who is ignorant of the revelation of God, and of the healing power of Divine truth, refuses to go where wisdom is to be found—viz., among those who have been enlightened by Divine wisdom, there is no hope of his ever emerging from his state of ignorance. God uses one divinely enlightened man to turn another from darkness to light. This is the method of His procedure in His kingdom, and if the scorner rejects this means, he must remain in darkness. He may “go unto the wise” by listening to the voice of the living man, by observing the life of the morally wise, or by reading their thoughts, especially those of the divinely-inspired writers of the Scriptures. Men have begun to learn wisdom by each one of these methods; generally there is the combined influence of the three.
II. The true source of the scorner’s dislike to the company of the wise. He “hates reproof.” As reproof is knowledge (see page 323) so an increase of knowledge, if it is not used, is reproof. The words of the wise and the lives of the wise reprove the scorner by increasing his light, and thus adding to his guilt. He therefore “cometh not to the light lest his deeds should be reproved” (Joh_3:20). He is like a man who is conscious that he is suffering from a dangerous disease, but who will not submit to the examination of the physician because he knows he would prescribe treatment which, though it would cure, would be painful. No men love reproof any more than they love the surgeon’s knife; but wise men submit to the one and the other for the sake of the health to soul and to body which will follow. But the scorner hates the keen-edged weapon of reproof because he does not value the good that would result from patiently bearing the incision.
III. Every scorner, therefore, is a self-destroyer. A man commits suicide if, when he is sick, he refuses to use the means by which he might be healed. If he die, he takes away his life as truly as if he thrust a sword through his body. He is not accountable for his disease, but he is responsible and blameworthy for neglecting means of cure within his reach. So with men in relation to spiritual knowledge. Ignorance is a crime only when the means of enlightenment are within reach. He who scorns to avail himself of those means, he who will not submit to reproof, he who rejects the invitation and despises the threatenings of Divine Wisdom (see chap. Pro_1:22-32) is a moral suicide. (See also on chap. Pro_14:6, page 346.)
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Men should “run to and fro to increase knowledge” (Dan_12:4). The Shunamite rode ordinarily to the prophet on the Sabbaths and other holy days (2Ki_4:23). Those good souls in Psa_84:7 passed on “from strength to strength,” setting the best foot forwards for like purpose; yea, those that were weak and unfit for travel would be brought to the ordinances upon “horses, in chariots, and in litters” (Isa_66:20). But now the scorner holds it not worth while to put himself to this pains, and is ready to say with Jeroboam, “It is too much for men to go up to Jerusalem,” to go up “to the mountain of the Lord, to learn His ways” (Isa_2:3). Yea, he set watches to observe who would go from him to Judah to worship, that he might shame them at least, if not slay them (Hos_5:1). He would never have gone to the prophet to be reproved, and when the prophet came to him, he stretched out his hand to apprehend him. So Herod had a desire to see Christ, but could never find a heart to go to hear him; and yet our Saviour looked that men should have come as far to Him as the Queen of Sheba came to Solomon.—Trapp.
Here is instruction for all men, to observe the state of their own souls, and the better, when occasion is offered, to inform themselves of others by the company which they most delight to frequent. He that delighteth to associate himself with good men, is never to be deemed a friend to evil ways, and he that embraceth the fellowship of sinful persons, must needs be judged an enemy to godly behaviour. When David would clear himself to be none of the wicked, he made it fully manifest by this, that
he went not with vain persons, neither kept company with dissemblers: that he hated the assembly of the evil, and companioned not with the wicked. When he would prove himself to be one of the righteous, he evidently confirmed it by this, that he was a companion of all them that feared the Lord and kept His precepts.—Dod.
There is none that loveth more truly, that loveth more profitably, than he that lovingly reproveth what he seeth amiss. And yet there is none that a scorner loveth less. But what marvel if he loveth not another, that loveth not himself! Where scorning is, there can be no love, that was never love’s disposition. Let no one that reproveth a scorner look for love from him.… But let the wise reprove him notwithstanding, and as St. Cyprian speaketh, if they cannot persuade him, to make him to please Christ, let themselves perform to Christ that which is their part, and let them please Christ by keeping his commandments.—Jermin.

Proverbs 15:13-14
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_15:14. Mouth, or “the countenance.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_15:13
A CHEERFUL FACE AND A BROKEN SPIRIT
I. The outer man is to a large extent an index of the inner life. The joy of the heart is made visible upon the countenance. This is one of the infinitely kind and wise arrangements of God which minister so much to human happiness. We have but to consider the influence of a cheerful face to know how great a blessing it is that a merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance. “How blank would be the aspect of the world,” says Dr. Arnot, “if no image of a man’s thought could ever be seen glancing through his countenance! Our walk through life would be like a solitary walk through a gallery of statues—as cold as marble, and not nearly so beautiful.
II. The effect of sorrow upon the human spirit. It “breaks” it. When a vessel’s timbers are shivered by the fury of the storm she may not go to pieces altogether. But she is no longer able to hold her own against the elements, which she could once use as forces to convey her from land to land. If she were now to put to sea, instead of riding over the waves and making them her servants, she would be a passive thing in their hands, a mere helpless bundle of timbers to be tossed whithersoever they pleased, instead of “walking the waters like a thing of life.” So it is with the human spirit when the cross seas and angry winds of adverse circumstances have quenched the hope and paralysed the energy that once governed and inspired the man. He is no longer able to face the storms of life, and outride them, or even make them advance his interests. He is passive amid the changes and chances of mortal life, and they drift him on wheresoever they will. But this can never be the case unless a man has lost faith in the character of God and his own high and immortal destiny. Then, indeed, the elements which he was built to rule will rule him, and he will fail to fulfil the end for which God launched him on the sea of life.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
I have always preferred cheerfulness to mirth. The latter I consider as an act, the former as a habit, of the mind.—Addison.
The “sorrow of heart” here spoken of, we may consider as that which arises from an evil conscience, from envy, discontent, and other similar sources.—Wardlaw.
A “merry” or “glad” heart is one of the attributes of piety. It (literally) “does good to the countenance,” improves it, as we say in our idiom, “Come with us, and we will do thee good” (Num_10:29).—Miller.
This word merriment is of frequent use among our old writers. It is Foxe’s favourite description of the holy joy of the martyrs.—Bridges.
It sits smiling in the face, and looks merrily out of the windows of the eyes. But this is not till faith has healed the conscience, and till grace has hushed the affections, and composed all within. Stephen looked like an angel when he stood before the council (Act_6:15); and the apostles went away rejoicing (Act_5:41). There are that rejoice in the face only, and not in the heart (2Co_5:12); this is but the hypocrisy of mirth, and we may be sure that many a man’s heart bleeds within him when his face counterfeits a smile. It is for an Abraham only to laugh for joy of the promise, and for a David to “rejoice at the word as one that findeth great spoil” (Psa_119:162), wherein the pleasure is usually as much as the profit. Christ’s chariot, wherein he carries people up and down in the world, and brings them at length to Himself, is “paved with love” (Son_3:9-10); He brings them also into His wine cellar (Son_2:4), where He cheers up their hearts, and clears up their countenances, and this is Heaven beforehand. These are some few clusters of the grapes of the celestial Canaan. But as the looks are marred, so the spirits are dulled and disabled by sorrow, as a limb out of joint can do nothing without deformity or pain. Dejection takes off the wheels of the soul, hinders comfortable intercourse with God, and that habitual cheerfulness, that Sabbath of the spirit, that every man should strive to enjoy. Afflictions, saith one, are the wind of the soul, passions the storm. The soul is well carried when neither so becalmed that it moves not when it should, nor yet tossed with tempests of wrath, grief, fear, etc., to move disorderly. Of these we must be careful to crush the very first insurrections; storms rise out of little gusts, but the top of those mountains above the middle region are so quiet that ashes, lightest things, are not moved out of place.—Trapp.
Mirth and cheerfulness make a man not only fitter for the occasions of this world, but even for spiritual affairs also. Wherefore Elisha calleth for a minstrel that, being angry with the king of Israel, by the melody of the music a more soft and sweet disposition might possess him.… “Joy,” saith Aquinas, “is, as it were, a juice spreading itself over the whole man, dispersing the comfort of itself to all the faculties of the soul, and all parts of the body. But, now, what is it that maketh a merry heart? Surely not the things of this world. They only do besot the heart with a dream of mirth, they do only make the heart drunken with some flushings of joy. A merry heart indeed is that which the assurance of God’s favour rejoiceth, and that will make the countenance cheerful in any trouble, even in death itself. It is true also that by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken, the heart and the spirit being but one string of life. But what is it by which the heart should be made sorrowful? Surely not the things of this life, seeing the life of the heart is so far above them. For it is a shameful folly to hurt a better thing for that which is farworse. No; nothing should make the heart sorrowful but repentance for sin, and as that casteth down the spirit, so will it raise it up again. Wherefore Augustine saith, “Let the penitent always be grieved, and let him rejoice for his grief.” Nothing should make the heart sad but the fear of God’s displeasure, and if that break the spirit, it will heal it again with endless consolation.—Jermin.
The principal thought of Pro_15:14 is a repetition in a slightly varied form of a truth that has been considered before. (See on chap. Pro_12:1, Pro_13:18, etc.)
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
They are the wisest men that are most sensible of the imperfection of their wisdom.—Lawson.
“The mouth of fools feed,” etc., literally, pastures, like a brute. A thing fed takes the texture of its nourishment. The “mouth” or “face” (see CRITICAL NOTES) of the fool grows more and more inane and brutal.—Miller.
As a hungry man seeks meat, or a covetous man gold, the more he hath the more he desires. Moses was no sooner off the mount where he had seen God face to face, but he cries, “Lord, show me Thy glory!” David, that knew more than his teachers, cries ever and anon, “Teach me Thy statutes.” Job prefers knowledge before his necessary food (chap. Pro_23:12). The wise man finds no such sweetness in the most delicate and dainty dishes, as in the search after Divine knowledge (Psa_119:103). Even Aristotle saith that a little knowledge, though conjectural, about heavenly things is to be preferred above knowledge, though certain, about earthly things. And Agur saith it is to ascend into heaven (Pro_30:4).—Trapp.
First, because the one sort is after the spirit, and therefore they favour the things of the spirit; and the other sort is after the flesh, and therefore they favour the things of the flesh. Secondly, because the one sort is guided by judgment, and choose that which will comfort their consciences; and the other is altogether led by lust, and seek only that which will satisfy their senses. Thirdly, faith makes the one sort to cast an eye to that which will follow hereafter; and sensuality causeth the other (like brute beasts, made to be destroyed) only to look to that which is present.—Dod.
Knowledge is necessary for us, not only to manage the affairs of this life, but also to perform the service of our Maker. Conscience may dictate to us that things are right or wrong, but conscience may be mistaken in her decisions, unless she call in reason to her assistance, for a clear knowledge of the revealed will of God cannot be understood without application of mind.… The desire of knowledge is in some sense natural to us all and is manifested very soon. We see how early curiosity exerts itself in lively children. But this natural desire may be misused. 1. It may be too little. Some persons do not desire knowledge so much as they ought, especially they are negligent in acquiring religious knowledge. This negligence may proceed from too warm a pursuit of other things. But what will this world avail us, if we are excluded from an inheritance in the next? It may proceed from mere sloth. But the unprofitable servant, who suffers his talents to lie useless, is to be cast into outer darkness. 2. It may be too much. Some things there are which we ought not to know, and a vain curiosity after them is an abuse of our natural desire of knowledge. This curiosity brought on the fall of our first parents, and still reigns among their posterity. Sin should only be known, as the rocks at sea, that they may be avoided. It becomes us also to be contented with such a knowledge of the Divine nature, and the Divine administration, as we are capable of acquiring, and of future events so far as God hath seen fit to reveal them.—
Jortin.
The mouth of fools—the mouth of their souls and understandings—feedeth upon anything; even foolishness itself is good food unto them. Their distempered palate judgeth not the worth of things. They have a mouth to receive knowledge, but they have not a heart to consider and discern what they do receive. None is so ill a feeder as fools. Such fools are they in the prophet Isaiah who say, “Prophecy not unto us, right things speak unto us,” as the original word is, bland things, pleasing things; but the word signifieth in the first place scattered things, such as coming from a shattered brain have no order and aim at no material point. Or else scattered things which may strike at none, which may hurt none, do no good to any. And, indeed, too many such there are. The world is full of speakers and talkers, that speak things they know not, and teach things they have not learned.—Jermin.
The Queen of Sheba, “coming from the utmost parts of the earth;” Nicodemus and Mary “sitting at the feet of Jesus;” the Eunuch, journeying to Jerusalem; Cornelius and his company drinking in the precious message of salvation; the Bereans, carefully “searching the Scriptures,” all these show “the understanding heart seeking a larger interest in the blessing.”—Bridges.
That in “seeking knowledge” the idea of feasting on it is included, is evident from the terms of the antithesis. It is a feast of “knowledge” above all, of divine knowledge. He who has “understanding,”—who is enlightened of God, and discerns the excellency and glory of divine truth—“seeketh” such knowledge. From experience of the joy already imparted by it, he seeks more and still more—the appetite growing by gratification, delighted with every new discovery, yet never tiring of the old (1Pe_2:1-3). “But the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness.” That is what they like; that is therefore what they seek, and from which they have their own poor and pitiful enjoyment. In regard to religion itself they are taken with, everthing that serves the present purpose of keeping all quiet within; that lets conscience alone; that dispenses with serious thought, and, preventing inward disturbance, allows them to go on easily and comfortably. They have a relish for all doctrines of this unannoying description—that “prick not their hearts; that embitter not present sweets by any forebodings of the future; that “prophecy smooth things, and cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before them”—the scarer of their thoughtless mirth and sinful gratification. They have an appetite for every thing of that kind.—Wardlaw.

Proverbs 15:15
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_15:15. Afflicted, or “toiling.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_15:15
THE CONTINUAL FEAST
I. All men have days of affliction. They may be traced to one of four sources—1. Men are afflicted by reason of their relation to the first head of the human race. Every man inherits bodily weaknesses of some kind—is, in apostolic phrase, made subject to vanity (Rom_8:20) of some kind or another for which he is not personally responsible—which is not the fruit of his own character or conduct, nor of that of his immediate ancestors. Mental sorrows are also born of this remote relationship. The human mind is not now what it was when it came first from the hand of its Creator. God at the beginning made man perfect—his spirit was a reflection of the perfect law of God, and all within was consequently harmony and peace. But it is not so now, even with the best of the human race. There has been a subjection to vanity through sin, and this is the fruitful source of much mental pain and sorrow to all men, although they are often unconscious of the origin of the darkness that envelopes their spirit. 2. Men are afflicted by reason of their immediate relationships. A child who has a bad father suffers much and grievously, the father who owns a wicked child often has many days of deep affliction. A nation may be deeply afflicted by reason of the viciousness or unwisdom of its rulers. Many and various are the afflictions which come to men through those to whom they are related, whether by family or national ties. 3. Afflictions arise from personal transgression of God’s laws. These transgressions may be either of a negative or positive character—they may consist in doing what we ought not to do, or in leaving undone that which it is our duty to do. Much affliction comes to men because they have neglected to do for mind, body, or estate that which they are commanded by God to do. Men who neglect to work, or who neglect to conform to the laws by which their mind or their body is governed, must pay the penalty, and often suffer much affliction from the mere neglect of duty. And much more will those know days of affliction who are positive transgressors of any Divine law, whether physical or moral. 4. Affliction comes to men sometimes by Divine permission, either to chasten men for sin or to increase the goodness of their characters. Affliction came to Job, and he had many evil days, not because he was a sinner, but because he was a saint. Good man as he was, he had many days of affliction—days which were to him very evil—but they arose neither from his remote or immediate relationships, nor from personal or relative transgression, but were the outcome of Satanic agency, acting by Divine permission.
II. Days of affliction are evil days. While the patient is under the knife of the surgeon he is undergoing an experience which is in itself an evil, which is an experience to be dreaded and avoided if possible, however good may be the days of health which are the result of it. No one can feel that affliction in itself is anything but an evil—much good may come out of it, but that does not make the actual suffering of body or mind good in itself. If the sufferings of the present life were unconnected with the blessings which will spring out of them, if they were not regarded in the light of Divine revelation they would be unmitigated evils.
III. Evil days work good to him who can rise above them. If a seaman can be cheerful and hopeful in the midst of a storm, he is all the better for having passed through it. His courage is strengthened and his experience is enlarged, he is more of a man than before he entered into conflict with the winds and waves. While others have been overwhelmed with terror, he has been full of a calm self-possession, and that which has shown how weak many men are, has shown how strong he is. But in order thus to rise above outward circumstances, there must be internal resources. Only those can came through the storms of life the stronger and the better for having passed through them who have an unfailing well of hope and comfort within. The martyrs of old revealed that they had a continual feast within, although they had many days of affliction without. Their “merry hearts,” filled with true and unfailing gladness, lifted them above the bitterness and evil of their circumstances. Thus to glory in tribulation is to take “meat out of the eater and sweetness out of the strong.” But only those can practise this art who, like their Master, “have meat to eat” of which men in general “know not of.” (Joh_4:32.)
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
The feast of him who is of “a merry heart,” who has within himself the sources of true joy, is not terminated—is not even suspended—in the season of affliction. His feast is independent of changing condition. He often relishes it most when other sweets are embittered. Often is his inward spiritual festivity the richest, when the supply of his outward and earthly comforts is scantiest.—Wardlaw.
Affliction, as the fruit and chastening of sin, is an evil.… Though the abounding consolation of Christian affliction does not blot out its penal character, yet the child of God is not so miserable as he seems to be (2Co_6:10). The darkest of these evil days can never make the consolations of God small with him (Job_15:11). He can sing in the prison (Act_16:25), can “take joyfully the spoiling of his goods” (Heb_10:34), can praise his God when He has stripped him naked (Job_1:21). What real evil then can affliction bring? Or rather what does it bring but many feast days? A few days’ feasting would soon weary the epicure. But here the merry heart hath a continual feast.—Bridges.
“All the days of the toiling are evil, but a good heart is a continual feast.” A glorious comparison! A sour heart is fed by a hard life; and yet, though the hard life is common to all, a brightened spirit masters it, and not only masters it but sweetens it. Toiling. The word is very peculiar. “Afflicted” our version has it. “Humble” is the translation in many cases. Toiling strikes us best, (1) because such is the root—the verb, first of all, means to toil—and (2) because such is the sense; the toiling character of life makes all groan together. We are not paid. Such is the toil of our spirits that life is a battle. As a worldly maxim, “a good heart” carries the day; but, as an adopted text, the wise saw strengthens itself. Under the toils of life, “a good heart,” regenerate by grace, greets the same toil the lost man does, and finds the “heart” itself “a continual feast.”—Miller.
This is diligently to be observed, that none can have a cheerful mind indeed but only such as, through faith in Christ having peace with God, pollute not their consciences with detestable iniquities. For indeed evils enter into such to trouble their minds, to profane their joys, and to pull them from the continual feast of security here spoken of, who either walk in the committing of gross offences, or are close hypocrites and dissemblers.—Muffet.
He that hath a heart merry in a good contentment can always invite himself to a full feast. When he hath not wherewith to feast others—yea, even when he wanteth perhaps what to eat, he wanteth not wherewith to feast himself. It is not a feast that must have time to provide it, and to make it ready, and which, being ready, is soon passed over; but it is a continual feast, ever ready, and never ended.—
Jermin.
The sincere heart, the quiet conscience, will not only stand under greatest pressure, as did St. Paul (2Co_1:9-12), but goes as merrily to die in a good cause as ever he did to dine, as did divers martyrs. Be the air clear or cloudy, he enjoys a continual serenity, and sits continually at that blessed feast, whereat the blessed angels are cooks and butlers, as Luther hath it, and the three Persons in the Trinity gladsome guests. Mr. Latimer saith the assurance of heaven is the sweetmeats of this feast. There are other dainty dishes, but this is the banquet. Saith St. Bernard, “Wilt thou, O man, never be sad? wilt thou turn thy whole life into a merry festival? get and keep a good conscience.” A good man keeps holiday all the year about.—Trapp.
So far as we would live a comfortable life, we should seek to build up our inward man more than our outward estates; that our hearts be better furnished than our houses, and our consciences than our coffers, that our stock of faith and everlasting goodness may exceed our store of coin and temporal goods: and so shall we be fenced against all perils, and provided for against all wants, and secured against all accidents whatsoever.—Dod.

Proverbs 15:16
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_15:16
A TREASURE WITHOUT TROUBLE
The fear of the Lord is better than worldly treasure—I. Because the fear of the Lord tends to peace of mind. In any piece of complicated machinery the condition of the internal works is a much more important matter than the ornamenting of the exterior. It is of much more consequence that all within a timepiece should move in harmony than that it should have a golden face or be set with jewels. It is of more importance to a man that all his internal bodily organs should be in perfect health than that he should be possessed of much external beauty. A strong frame, and pure blood, and health of body will minister much more effectually to his comfort than the most comely countenance. And the state of a man’s inner life has infinitely more to do with his real happiness than his external circumstances. He who has the fear of the Lord has the foundation-stone of peace within, and he who has that does not need an abundance of that which can only minister to the outer man. A little material wealth will content him who has the rich inheritance of a peaceful and contented spirit. Peace with God and love to man are included in the fear of the Lord, and neither the one nor the other of these good and perfect gifts can be bought with the treasure of this world. The first is the very salt of life without which all else is insipid and insufficient to satisfy the cravings of the human soul, and where the first is there will the second, which is also a great sweetener of poverty—(see Pro_15:17), be found also. II. Because of the trouble that is inseparable from worldly wealth. The treasure of this world has a certain value—it can do much for a man, both intellectually and materially. It can be so used by him as to bring blessings upon himself and others; but it is never unaccompanied by drawbacks. 1. There is trouble in getting it. The bare sufficiency to sustain life may be got without much strain or anxiety; but if a man sets out to make a fortune, he must be content to have many cares and anxieties—many weary days and sleepless nights—before he obtains his object. Those that will be rich cannot avoid much real trouble in carrying out their determination. 2. There is trouble after it is gotten. When men have accumulated great treasure they are not freed from trouble in connection with it. There is the care of retaining it, the desire, and almost the necessity, of increasing it. The more a man has the more he generally desires, and the more he seems to need. New demands are the outcome of a new position, and he who has amassed great treasure rarely contents himself with what he has, but strains every nerve to make the much, more. 3. There is great trouble attendant on its loss. Even if a rich man possesses the higher wealth—the fear of the Lord—he is more to be pitied if he loses his worldly wealth than a poor man is. The fall is so much greater, as the height from which he has fallen so far exceeds that from which a poor man can fall the hope of climbing it again is so much fainter, and he is in a more helpless and hopeless condition than his brother, who had but little to lose. But if he is destitute of the real treasure of human existence, then he has trouble without any compensation. He may say with Micah, “Ye have taken away my gods and what have I left?”
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
The preposition gives choice of meanings. It may be, by “the fear of Jehovah,” in which case it would mean the “little” earned by piety: or it may be “in the fear of Jehovah;” in which case it would mean the little held and got possession of in a devout state; or it may be “along with,” as the word often means. All the ideas are correct. We choose as our English version, and, of course, for both parts of the sentence; for the expression “therewith,” has the same familiar preposition, and the same chance of either of the alternative meanings. “Better” is a Christian’s shieling, than an impenitent man’s palace (chap. Pro_14:11). And that, not on account of heaven alone, but for the intrinsic joys of piety (see next verse).—Miller.
Judas is bursar, and he shuts himself into his pouch; the more he hath, the more he covets. The apostles, that wanted money, are not so having: Judas hath the bag, and yet he must have more, or he will filch it. So impossible is it that these outward things should satisfy the heart of man. Soli habent omnia qui habent habentem omnia—They alone possess all things that possess the possessor of all things. The nature of true content is to fill all the chinks of our desires, as the wax doth the seal. None can do this but God, for (as it is well observed) the world is round, man’s heart three cornered: a globe can never fill a triangle, but one part will still be empty; only the blessed Trinity can fill these three corners of a man’s heart.… The bag never comes alone, but brings with it cares, saith Christ (Mat_13:22); snares, saith Paul (1Ti_6:9) … It is none of God’s least favours, that wealth comes not trolling in upon us; for many of us, if our estate were better to the world, would be worse to God. The poor labourer hath not time to luxuriate: he trusts to God to bless his endeavours, and so rests content; but the bag commonly makes a man a prodigal man, or a prodigious man; for a covetous man is a monster.… It is no argument of God’s favour to be His purse-bearer; no more than it was a sign that Christ loved Judas above the other apostles because he made him His steward: He gave the rest grace, and him the bag; which sped best? The outward things are the scatterings of His mercies, like the gleaning after the vintage: the full crop goes to His children.—T. Adams.
Here also we trace the harmony of wisdom, i.e., of the Divine Word, speaking through many different channels, and in different tones. The proverb has its completion in the teaching which bids us “seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Mat_6:33), and finds echoes in the maxims of the wise among other nations who have uttered like thoughts.—Plumptre.
It is not the great cage that makes the bird sing. It is not the great estate that brings always the inward joy—the cordial contentment. The little lark with a wing sees farther than the ox with a bigger eye, but without a wing. Birds use not to sing when they are on the ground, but when got into the air, or on tops of trees. If saints be sad, it is because they are too busy here below.… If the bramble bear rule, fire will arise out of it that will consume the cedars; the lean kine will soon eat up the fat, and it shall not be seen by them. It is hard to handle these thorns hard and not to prick one’s fingers. Riches, though well got, are but as manna; those that gathered less had no want, and those that gathered more, it was but a trouble and annoyance to them.—Trapp.

Proverbs 15:17-18
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_15:17. Dinner of herbs, literally “a traveller’s meal.”
Pro_15:18. Stirreth up, lit. “mixes,” implying the reciprocal idea of giving and taking offence (Fausset).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_15:17
TWO FEASTS
I. The equality here existing between the poor man and the rich man—they both have a dinner. This is as it ought to be. God gave the earth to the children of men, and when He enriched them with this large donation He intended that every living creature upon the earth should have enough to eat every day. When men lack sufficient food it is not because there is any lack in God’s gifts, either of herbs or oxen. When both the rich man and the poor man are fed out of the abundance of God’s gifts His Divine purpose in giving them is accomplished.
II. The inequality between the dinner of the poor man and that of the rich. The poor man is sustained upon the same kind of food as the rich man’s ox is fattened upon. In common with the beast he lives upon the produce of the earth. The rich man eats the ox which has been fed upon that which is the only food of the poor man. This is not as it should be. God never intended that one part of His human family should enjoy a monopoly of any of the food which He has provided. When He gave the earth into the hands of the first man He intended that all His children should be partakers of all the kinds of food which the earth afforded, and which were suited to the part of the world in which they lived. When it is otherwise it arises from sin, either personal or relative. Poverty does not always spring from indolence, or from inability to subdue the earth, and to obtain from it a full share of all that it affords, and when it does not, the man who is compelled to eat a dish of herbs while his neighbour feasts from the stalled ox, is either sinned against in the present, or has been sinned against in the past.
III. Opposite states of mind which more than compensate the poor man for his humbler meal. Hatred takes away all enjoyment from any of God’s gifts. If a rich man bears malice against the guest whom he is entertaining at his table—if while he feeds him upon the best, he desires for him the worst—he knows nothing of the pleasures of hospitality. Hatred is murder in the germ, and he who harbours such a devil within his breast cannot possess that peace of soul without which the choicest viands cannot be enjoyed. But
love is a large compensation for a dinner of herbs. Love to husband or wife, to parent or to child, makes sweet every family meal, however homely the fare—that charity which “seeketh not her own, thinketh no evil, beareth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things,” is a sauce to the humblest dish which one man can set before another, and more than lifts it above the rich man’s feast given for the sake of custom or expediency to guests to whom he has not a particle of goodwill.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
A feast of salads, or Daniel’s pulse, is more cherishing with mercy, than Belshazzar’s banquet without it.—T. Adams.
Ruth and Naomi were happy when they lived on the gleanings of the field of Boaz, and in the fulness of their satisfaction poured their blessings on the head of him that allowed them the scanty pittance.… The conversation of friends is far pleasanter than any dish at the table. Where hatred is, there is silence or sullenness, or at least hollow mirth and tasteless ceremony; but where love and the fear of God are, the table conversation is delightful and useful. We find even a heathen poet reflecting on the pleasures of such an entertainment. (O noctes cœnœque deûm!—Hor). How blessed were the disciples of our Lord, when they sat at meat with Him! Barley loaves and fishes were probably ordinary fare with them, but they were entertained with Divine discourse. Such pleasure as they enjoyed we cannot now expect; but His religion is admirably fitted to promote our present happiness, for love is His great commandment.—Lawson.
The sentiment is applicable, with a special force of emphasis, to domestic life. In proportion to the delightful sweetness of the concord in which the fond affections of nature and grace bind the members of a family in one happy social circle—all being of one heart and of one soul—dividing the cares and more than doubling the enjoyments of life by mutual participation and sympathy, all bosoms throbbing with a common pulsation, all lips wearing a common smile, and all eyes filled from a common fountain of tears, in proportion to the delightful sweetness of such a scene is the wretchedness of its reverse; and there is no one who has experienced either the sweetness or the wretchedness—especially the former—that will not subscribe to the sentiment so simply yet so strongly expressed.—Wardlaw.
“An allowance of vegetables.” Not only “vegetables,” but the lighter sorts of them; more nearly “herbs;” not only light fare, like that, but a limited amount; not only flesh on the other scale, but “stalled” beef; not only “stalled” beef, but no limit; “a stalled ox.” Not only might this well be a worldly proverb to represent the married state, and all the arena of human affection, but signal, when brought into religion. “A dinner of herbs,” with the blessed “love” of the Redeemer, is better than a pampered feast and the gloom of the impenitent.—Miller.
If love be the entertainer, it matters not much what the provision be: if true friendship be set upon the table of his heart that inviteth thee, let that make thee to esteem well of whatsoever is set on the table before thee. Thou comest with a gluttonous appetite—not the affection of a friend—if thy cheer be that which thou lookest after. Wherefore, then, though it be a dinner of herbs, yet if they come from love’s garden it is worthy of thine acceptance: thou mayest be sure that no serpent lies hid in those herbs. If it be but so small a dinner as a traveller taketh with him (see CRITICAL NOTES), yet if it bring affection with it, thou mayest be sure that no hurt is coming to thee. But if thy dinner be a fatted ox, and hatred be the hand that carveth it unto thee, perhaps it is but to fat thee for the like slaughter.—Jermin.
Mark well, it is neither said in the Bible, nor found in experience, that they are all happy families who dine on herbs, and all unhappy who can afford to feast on a stalled ox. Some rich families live in love, and doubly enjoy their abundance; some poor families quarrel over their herbs. Riches cannot secure happiness, and poverty cannot destroy it. But such is the power of love, that with it you will be happy in the meanest estate; without it, miserable in the highest. Would you know the beginning, and the middle, and the end of this matter, the spring on high, the stream flowing through the channel of the covenant, and the fruitful outspread in a disciple’s life below—they are all here, and all one—Charity:—“God is Love,” “Love is of God,” “Walk in love.”—Arnot.
There were many great feasts in the times of the apostles, and yet none of them are so much commended in the Scriptures as the meetings of believers, who did eat together with gladness and singleness of heart, notwithstanding they had neither so much meat, nor so costly dishes, as divers others had. It is noted of Abraham that he entertained God and His angels to dinner. The Lord Himself would be his guest, since he would be so good a housekeeper; and yet the victuals which are mentioned are only butter and milk, and veal that had not time to cool between the killing and dressing; notwithstanding his hospitality is preferred before the Persian king’s royal banquet, for the one purposed to show his greatness in pomp, and the other his goodness in love. The one dealt exceeding unkindly with his own wife and the other very courteously with them that seemed to him to be mere strangers. They that dress most meat are not always the kindest men, for our Saviour was full of liberality when He gave but barley-bread and fish to His disciples, and Nabal was but a churl, though he killed both sheep and oxen for his sheep-shearers.—Dod.
The subject of Pro_15:18 has been treated in Pro_15:1. (See Homiletics on page 400, also on chap. Pro_14:29, page 386.)
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
In the pit, the blasphemy will rise and swell, as it is stirred up one man by his neighbour. Upbraidings (Pro_15:13) are contagious, even in this world. Ordinary quarrels are wonderfully quieted, if a man waits. But Divine quarrels, if we stay to look at God, and observe His reasonings, are wonderfully held back, and by His grace signally prevented.—Miller.
Observe the principles of hatred and love, contrasted in active exercise. Some persons make it their occupation to sit by the fire, to feed and fan the flame, lest it be extinguished. A useful and friendly employment, were it a fire to warm. But when it is an injurious, consuming, and destructive element, it would seem difficult to discover the motive of these incendiaries, did we not read, that “out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, wickedness, an evil eye, pride, foolishness” (Mar_7:21-22).—Bridges.
Surely it is a wrathful man that is the lawyer’s best client. He is altogether for scire faciam, I will make thee to know what thou hast done, what thou has said; which the lawyer does but turn into a scire facias, although at last himself pay dearest for the knowledge which is gotten. But he that is slow to anger, hath a Quietus est for any suit before it is begun. His care is rather to buy his peace with loss, than to sell his rest for gain. He considereth it to be true which St. Ambrose teacheth him, that to be freed from the loss of strife is not a little gain.—Jermin.

Proverbs 15:19-20
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_15:19. Made plain, “is paved,” or “is a highway.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_15:19
THE WAY OF THE SLOTHFUL AND THE RIGHTEOUS
I. The one thing common to these opposite characters—a “way.” The eagle and the snail have both a way of motion, although the one swiftly cleaves the air, and the other drags itself slowly along the ground. Unlike as they are in form and in habit, they are both impelled to some kind of motion. So with the sluggard and the man who complies willingly with God’s ordinance of labour—they are both compelled to some exercise of their bodily and mental organs, but there is as great a contrast in the way in which they exercise them as there is between the way of the snail and the eagle.
II. The contrast between the ways of these opposite characters. 1. That of the sluggard is a way of self-prevention. He lessens his power by neglecting to use it. The man who has power to pull against a rapid at a certain point of the stream and will not use it, but allows his boat to drift on until he comes into a current against which he can make no headway, has thrown away his power, and is his own destroyer. The effort which he neglected to put forth at a time when it would have been effectual, is of no avail now that the time has passed. Every man in health of body and mind has physical, and mental, and moral powers which at a certain period in his life are equal to the overcoming of all ordinary obstacles to his moral and physical well-being. But if he neglects to use them the tide against him will grow stronger, because his power will decrease, and his neglect and inertness, whether in material or in spiritual things, will raise around him a hedge of thorns, which will require much extraordinary and painful effort to break through. A thorn-hedge in its beginnings may be easily stepped over, or it may be almost as easily uprooted; but if it is allowed to grow and strengthen itself for several years it makes an almost impassable barrier—at least, a barrier which cannot be overcome without a great and painful effort. So with the sluggard, temptations to indolence—to neglect of powers which God has given him to be used—might once have been easily overcome, and have been so completely conquered as to cease to be temptations. But yielded to until they have become habits, they form around him as impassable a barrier, or one which can be broken through only by as great and as painful exertion as a hedge of thorns. Often we hear him complaining of the difficulties in the way, and truly they are there, but they are mainly of his own creation, the hedge is about him, but it is of his own planting—the lion is there (chap. Pro_26:13), but the lion was placed there by the man who is afraid to face him. 2.
The way of the righteous—of him who is willing to strive after his moral and physical well-being—is a way in which it is easier to walk the longer it is pursued. It is “made plain,” or it is a “paved way.” (a) God helps to smooth his way, because it is a Divinely ordained way. He who rules the world has ordained that many material gifts and all the most [precious mental and moral gifts shall be the reward of those only who earnestly strive after them. The way of diligent continuance in well-doing is as old as God Himself, and it is the way in which He requires His creatures to walk. This being so, those who tread it may rely upon His help to exalt the valleys, to level the mountains, and to make the rough places plain which lie in their road, (b) The way is made plain by the man himself. The continued repetition of acts makes habit, and he who pushes boldly and fearlessly forward in the way of righteous exertion finds the hard become easier and the stony places smoother by the very constitution of his nature. He makes his way plain by his resolution to walk in it, he leaps the hedge while his slothful neighbour is counting the number of feet it is from the ground. It is well to look before we leap, but some look so long that they never take the leap, and the slothful man looks so long at the difficulties in his way that he never finds courage enough to grapple with them. But the very resolve to try brings strength for action, and the power grows by use until what is a hedge of thorns to an indolent man is a level road to his righteous neighbour. The word righteous being here placed in antithesis to slothful shows how great a sin it is to neglect to use the opportunities which God has given to men to ensure their real and highest interests. (See also on chap. Pro_13:4, page 296.)
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
God’s Word recognises the universal law of work. By frequent precept and cheering promises, it consecrates our daily labour. Mindful of the old Latin maxim, “Laborare est orare,” “toil is prayer,” the Christian learns from the record of God’s will that honest, faithful, diligent, God-fearing, and God-honouring work is itself a worship acceptable to the great All-worker. Toil, hard toil, is duty. Even the heathen world confessed that the gods gave nothing to men without it had been earned by severe exertion … God enjoins diligence upon us by precept and by example. About us, all things perform their allotment of work, and of it promptly and without a thought of delay. The winds sweep over the face of the earth, attent alone on the fulfilment of their appointed mission. Here they come on silent pinions, to bear away the rising exhalation of death from the lowlands or the pest-house; there they carpet the earth with the sere and yellow leaves of autumn, covering the earth with russet and gold. Now their task is the flushing of some sick one’s pale cheek, as they rustle through the spring blossoms, laden with sweet health. There they hinder and destroy the else invincible Armada, creeping forth on its purpose of spreading far and wide destruction and death. Thus, too, the never-resting sea. Lashing its worn and rugged shore, the incoming tides bear on their bosom the wealth of trade; or else, lifting its waves in its fury, it engulfs those who go down into the sea to do business in the deep waters. Thus, too, the hidden fires of earth, ever smouldering within, ever restless in their workings—now tossing the foam and spray of the geysers in their play, or now opening in wide fissures of molten death, to scorch the surface of the earth with the poisonous sulphur smoke, or bury for centuries in dust and ashes, and under the lava tide, the homes and haunts of the men of the past. Thus God teaches men by His own ceaseless workings through ten thousand ever busy forces. And revelation utters the same bidding to unremitting toil.… Diligent hands are speedily rendered expert. Long use gives practice and perfection, until that which was at first the toilsome labour of hours becomes the easily attained result of a few moments’ application. And the diligent hand teaches and trains the wary and observant eye.—Life Lessons from the Book of Proverbs, by Dr. Perry, Bishop of Iowa.
The wise man mentions righteousness in this place rather than diligence, because the latter is included in the former, and is not sufficient without it to make a man’s way plain.—Lawson.
Observe God’s estimate of the slothful man. He contrasts with him not the diligent, but the righteous, marking him as a “wicked, because a slothful, servant” (Mat_25:26). The difficulties are far more in the mind than in the path. For while the slothful man sits down by his hedge-side in despair, the way of the righteous (in itself not more easy) is made plain. He does not expect God to work for him in an indolent habit. But he finds that God helps those that help themselves.… Following His commands, feeding upon His promises, continuing in prayer, in waiting and watching for an answer to prayer, his way is raised up before him. He believes what is written, and acts upon it without delay. As soon as ever the light comes into his mind, at the very first dawn, this determines the direction of his steps, and the order of his proceedings. Thus his stumbling-blocks are removed (Num_13:30; Num_14:6-9; Isa_57:14).—Bridges.
Grace has not only a brighter (Pro_15:15) but an easier time. We see the like in worldly matters. Nothing is more striking than the ease with which a prompt man works. His tackle is all right, so is his ground, it has been made smooth by his last year’s toil. His hands are not blistered. His lazy neighbour admires, and longs after his chance. Laziness begets labour. In the round year, the sluggard fevers himself more than the diligent; while, in the spiritual world, the proverb is more signal still. Just where the upright stands there is a smooth path—and let it be observed the upright means the smooth, the level. Just where the sinner stands is a thorn hedge. He cannot enter into life; so he imagines. And yet he is a sluggard, for he will not do the plainest duties. The proverb is right, therefore, that it is the principle of sluggardism to create “a hedge of thorns;” and that it is far smoother to take hold of the faith by the right handle, and at once, than to be eternally kicking against the pricks of the Gospel.—Miller.
Because the latter part of the verse speaketh of the righteous, we may by the slothful understand the wicked; for it is slothfulness in not using the graces of God offered that maketh to be wicked.… God giveth the righteous pleasure, even in the troubles of serving Him.… In their conversation, by the lightsomeness and leap, as it were, of eternal hope and internal contemplation, they do pass over the impediments of temporal adversity.—Jermin.
The way of a slothful man is perplexed and letsome, so that he gets no ground, makes no riddance; he goes as if he were shackled when he is to go upon any good course, so many perils he casts and so many excuses he makes—this he wants, and that he wants, when in truth it is a heart only that he wants, being wofully hampered and enthralled in the invisible chains of the kingdom of darkness, and driven about by the devil at his pleasure.… Never any came to hell, saith one, but had some pretence for their coming hither.—Trapp.
Every good service is hard or easy, according as men’s wills are inclined unto it. He that hath his mind pressed and ready to the practice of any duty, either of piety, justice, or mercy, will observe all the inducements that may lead him to the same: and he that is averse and backward, will look to all the impediments that may discourage him from it. That Israel should root out the Canaanites, the unfaithful spies thought it no less impossible, than for grasshoppers to overcome giants; but Caleb and Joshua knew it to be no more unlikely than for armed soldiers to vanquish naked people, or for hungry persons to eat up meat. First, the one is fortified by the force of love, which is unresistable and strong as death, that nothing can withstand it: and the other being destitute of all love to any goodness, is likewise void of all power to proceed in, and go through with any work that is good. Secondly, faith showeth to the one what help God will minister, and what reward He will render to all them that apply themselves to His service. And infidelity persuadeth the other that well-doing is needless and fruitless, or chargeable and troublesome.—Dod.
For Homiletics on Pro_15:20, see on Chapter Pro_10:1, page 136.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
One particular in which children show themselves wise or else foolish and so can gladden or else sadden their parents is by giving or withholding due honour. “A foolish man.” No age or state exempts children from honouring their parents. Grown young men are sometimes apt to look with some contempt on their mothers, because of the weakness of the feminine mind.—Fausset.
As for him that despiseth his mother—and who doth not so that despiseth her careful admonition?—he is not a son, the spirit of God doth not here style him to be so: he is a foolish man. For how can he be otherwise, who knoweth his own mother so little as that he doth despise her?—Jermin.

Proverbs 15:21-22
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_15:21. Walketh uprightly, rather “goes straightforward.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_15:21
OPPOSITE TASTES
I. Joy is a revealer of human character. A stone cast into a lake will reveal the nature of its bed. If there is mud at the bottom this simple test will reveal its existence by bringing it to the surface. So objects presented to the mind show what is hidden in the heart. The emotions produced by certain scenes or events are tests of character. What a man rejoices in reveals what he is. Some objects brought before the human mind excite the most opposite feelings in different men. That which gives pleasure to the one gives pain to the other, and when a man rejoices in that which is the outcome of human depravity it is a certain sign that he is himself deeply depraved. Like the stone cast into the water, it brings the hidden mud to the surface. The same evil thought lodged in the minds of two men, one of whom is a moral fool, and the other a “man of understanding,” will bring joy to the countenance of the first, and indignation to that of the latter, and thus it becomes a revealer of the state of each man’s heart, and he to whom “folly is joy” is thus declared to be “destitute of wisdom” in the real and highest signification of the word.
II. The joy of the moral fool turns him out of the way, and keeps him out of the way. This is implied in the antithesis, which should be “a man of understanding goes straight forward.” He has found a source of joy in “whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report” (Php_4:8), and this joy holds him in the path which leads to them. We are largely governed by that which holds our affections, and love to that which is morally right, draws us into the path of righteousness—leads us to pursue a steady and undeviating line of conduct in obedience to the law of holiness, as revealed by God. But the joy which the ungodly man feels in sinful pursuits and habits draws him out of this good and true way, and allures him into a path where he meets with objects that call forth this unholy pleasure. Being governed by passion instead of by principle, his walk in life is unsteady and uncertain—destitute of fixed purpose. (On this subject see Homiletics on chap. Pro_13:14, page 313.) A vessel is held on her course by reason at the wheel, and wind in the sails. The wind impels her to go forward, but if the understanding at the compass did not hold the wind in subjection, there would be no safety for the vessel; nobody could say where she might be carried. Yet without the wind she could not be carried forward at all—the compass and the helm would be useless. So, although the “man of understanding” is a man of emotion—a man whose life is under the influence of that which gives him joy, he brings his emotions into subjection to the dictates of moral wisdom, and before he follows their leadings he makes sure that they are in harmony with that which is pure and holy. Then he may safely yield himself to their guidance, and be sure that they will impel him straightforward. Such a man is constrained by the delights which godliness yields to him to press on to higher attainments (2Co_5:14; Php_3:12-13), while the man to whom “folly is joy” allows the pleasures of the world and the flesh to hold him from the right path, even against his conscience and his better judgment. Such a man can give no more convincing proof that he is destitute of wisdom.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
This book of instruction proves our profession. What think we of folly? Not only does the ungodly practise it, but it is joy to him.… That which has turned this fair world into a sepulchre; nay, that which hath kindled “everlasting burnings,” is his joy.—Bridges.
Tastes differ widely, and so, therefore, do enjoyments. Water is the element of one creature, and air the element of another. The same material is to this poison and to that food. Each species differs in nature from all others, and nature will have her own way. Among men, viewed in their spiritual relations, there is a similar variety of tastes and pleasures. There is first the grand generic difference between the old man and the new.… Besides the first and chief distinction between the dead and the living, many subordinate varieties appear, shading imperceptibly away into each other, according as good or evil preponderates in the character. Two persons of opposite spiritual tastes may be detected for once in the same act of evil; but they do not walk abreast in the same life-course.… Two young men, of nearly equal age, and both the sons of God-fearing parents, were seen to enter a theatre at a late hour in a large city. They sat together, and looked and listened with equal attention. The one was enjoying the spectacle and the mirth; the other was silently enduring an unspeakable wretchedness. The name of God and the hopes of the godly were employed there to season the otherwise vapid mirth of the hollow-hearted crowd. One youth, through the Saviour’s sovereign grace, had, in a distant solitude, acquired other tastes. The profanity of the play rasped rudely against them. He felt as if the words of the actor and the answering laugh of the spectators were tearing his flesh. He breathed freely when, with the retiring crowd, he reached the street again. It was his first experience of a theatre, and his last. It is a precious thing to get from the Lord, as Paul got, a new relish and a new estimate of things. This appetite for other joy, if exercised and kept keen, goes far to save you from defilement, even when suddenly and occasionally brought into contact with evil; as certain kinds of leaves refuse to be wet, and though plunged into water come out of it dry.—Arnot.
A man of understanding walketh uprightly, and he doth it with delight, as the opposition implies. Christ’s “burden” is no more “grievous” to him than the wing is to the bird. His sincerity supplies him with serenity; the joy of the Lord, as an oil of gladness, makes him lithe and nimble in ways of holiness.—Trapp.
The folly here meant is the folly of wickedness, and he that joys in that, may well be proclaimed a notorious fool. St. Ambrose saith, all vile dispositions are delighted with the follies of others: but how vile, then, is his disposition who is delighted with his own folly. And yet, now many are there so drunken with this folly that they reel and stagger, and hardly go a right step in all their lives. Now, what is this joy, but a sign of the habit of wickedness generated within them? But a man of understanding considereth his joy, and what it is that causeth it: in joying he considereth, what it is he doth, and how far he goeth, that so he may both walk uprightly to joy, and walk uprightly in joy. This being his chiefest joy to walk uprightly in all his ways.—Jermin.
Not so much, “folly is joyful;” for that is only partially the case. We have already seen (Pro_15:13) how sin crimps the countenance. But “folly is joy;” that is, the life of a sinner is like a grazed ox, who strikes for the sweetest pasture. The text marks a vital difference:—“A man of discernment, or understanding, makes a direct track.” That is, as a thrifty housekeeper tumbles up her rooms, and makes things right, whether it be pleasant or not, so the Christian, for love of the Almighty, makes things straight, whether a joy or not. Note, then, the vital difference. Folly is joy. It does not arrive at it; but its quintessence is, that it thought it would. While the good, not stupidly either, but as “a man of discernment,” puts duty first, and takes joy as it comes; so answering the words of Christ:—“For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life, for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it” (Mar_8:35).—Miller.
FOR HOMILETICS ON Pro_15:22, SEE ON CHAP. Pro_11:14 AND CHAP. Pro_20:18
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
It is a note of Beda: There are three which in the law are read to be unhappy. He that knoweth and doth not teach, he that teacheth and doth not live accordingly, he that is ignorant and doth not ask counsel. Wherefore in matters of moment it is good not to purpose without counsel: for a purpose ill-settled is never likely to take good effect, and if counsel direct the purpose itself, it will much the better be able to accomplish it. For purposes without counsel are like an earthen vessel broken in the hands of the potter. Turned they are about with the wheel of imagination, but quickly broken in the hand of execution. Be not therefore without counsel, that thou go not without thy purpose; and if thou canst, get many counsellors, whereby thou art likely the sooner to get thine end. For many counsellors are like many hands joined together, and can reach far in attaining thy desire.—Jermin.
I. No mortal man can attain unto such depth of judgment and understanding, to be able sufficiently, of his own knowledge, to manage all his affairs: God will have every man stand in need of his brother’s direction: that is revealed to some which is hid from others; and many eyes may clearly apprehend that which no one could possibly have pierced into. II. Every man by nature is somewhat partial to his affection, and may easily be induced to add weight by colour of reason, to that end of the scale whereunto his desire more inclineth; whereas he that leaneth on neither side, may discern the stronger motives to be on the other side.—Dod.
Many eyes see more than one, and many souls think more than one: therefore never esteem thyself so wise that thou shouldest not seek others’ counsel.—Hasius.

Proverbs 15:23
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_15:23
JOY FROM A SEASONABLE WORD
I. A good word yields the speaker a present joy. There is a present reaction of joy following every right deed which is its present and immediate reward. If a man gives his money to a right object from the highest motive he is silently repaid, even while he is in the act of giving, by the joy which he feels. So the man who having neither silver or gold gives help by words of advice or sympathy. Good words are sometimes more precious than gold to the sinning or the suffering, and for such gifts there is the reward which follows every effort to help and bless others. How much of the joy of Christ’s life on earth must have arisen from the enlightening and life-giving answers of His mouth, to those who sought to learn of Him.
II. It yields the speaker joy on reflection. There is nothing equal to the joy of performing a good deed, except the joy of reflecting upon it. This is a more lasting joy, and can be repeated again and again. Happy is he who, in looking back upon the “answers of his mouth,” can derive joy from the consciousness that he spoke the right word at the right time.
III. Such a word is an unending source of joy, because it is an unending influence for good. None can tell “how good it is”—none can say that its influence will ever cease. A stone thrown into the ocean is but the act of a moment; but wise men tell us that the influence of that act is felt long after the stone has found the bed of the ocean. The word spoken by the Highest Wisdom to Saul on his way to Damascus, how good was it for the man to whom it was addressed, and how good it has been, and will be for millions throughout the ages of eternity. None but God can estimate the power of the evil that was then averted from the Church of God, the depth of personal guilt from which the man addressed was delivered, or the amount of blessed influence that was then set in motion. And many a word of the disciple has been good in the same manner, although not in the same degree, as that word of the Master.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
It must be a word spoken in season (chap. Pro_25:11), though it be from feeble lips. For though “there are some happy seasons, when the most rugged natures are accessible” (Bishop Hopkins), yet many a good word is lost by being spoken out of season. Obviously a moment of irritation is out of season. We must wait for the return of calmness and reason. Sometimes, indeed, the matter forces itself out after lengthened and apparently ineffectual waiting. It has been long brooded over within and must have its vent. But this explosion sweeps away every prospect of good, and leaves a revolting impression. Instead of a fertilising shower, it has gathered into a violent and destructive tempest. It is most important, that our whole deportment should bring conviction, that we yearn over the souls of those whom we are constrained to reprove.… Never commence with an attack; which, as an enemy’s position, naturally provokes resistance. Study a pointed application. A word spoken for every one, like a coat made for everyone, has no individual fitness.—Bridges.
The verb usually translated to “answer” means primarily to sing, or rather, to break out with the voice; rather, “to speak after a silence;” which, of course, would usually be in making “answer.” Hence the idiom, “answered and said,” literally, broke silence, and said. Such an utterance would become very oracular in the more solemn decisions of life. A “decree” as we have translated it, is a noun out of the above described verb. It means an uttered decision; such as an answer may be to a business speech; such as is alluded to on God’s part (chap. Pro_16:4); and such as may be over-masteringly momentous in the business and results of life. Solomon sees in it a rare truth in respect to decisions for immortality. “A word!” Why, it may win eternity! An offer presses! A word refuses! A word snatches possession for ever! Lo! the amazing difference! Body and soul hang upon “a word.” “Great counsel” (Pro_15:22) indeed, that is, that prompts a man to say, Yes! and “a word (spoken) in season” truly! if it be a confession of Christ! and if it take the offer of an eternal blessedness! Because there is no drawing back after that beginning (Pro_15:24).—Miller.
The words have probably a special reference to the debates in council implied in Pro_15:22. True as they are at all times, they also bring before us the special characteristic of the East, the delight in ready, improvised answers, solving difficulties, turning aside anger. Such an answer, to a people imaginative rather than logical, has much more weight than any elaborate argument. Compare the effect produced on the mind of the scribe who heard our Lord’s dispute with the Sadducees, when he saw that He had “answered well” (Mar_12:28).—Plumptre.

Proverbs 15:24
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_15:24. The way of life is above, etc., rather “An upward path of life,” etc. Hell, Sheôl, as in Pro_15:11.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_15:24
THE UPWARD AND THE DOWNWARD PATH
I. The existence of a place of retribution stated as a fact. The word Sheol, here and elsewhere translated hell, signifies first the place of all departed spirits, whether they be saints or sinners. Those who dwell in Sheol are those who have quitted the relations and conditions of time and sense, and who dwell in a world invisible to human eye. But the connection of the word here makes it necessary to understand it as having reference to a place of retribution. That there is such a place beyond death is suggested by analogy, and affirmed by the Word of God. In every city and centre of human life we find a place of retribution inhabited by those whose characters are supposed to merit such a dwelling. All nations upon the earth find it necessary to have their prisons—to have places in which to confine those whose crimes call for their separation from their more virtuous fellow-creatures. The existence of such places is as much a fact as the existence of men upon the earth. Hence we might have inferred that there was such a place for like characters in the world which is beyond our vision, but which men, both good and bad, are continually quitting this world to inhabit. The existence of such an abode seems to be imperatively demanded, when we consider that some of the worst of the human race never find their way to a prison in this world, and it seems a merciful proceeding towards the offenders themselves that their course should be arrested in another life. The Book of God tells us that there is such a place—that the dwelling of the “devil and his angels” is the destination of those who quit this world in a state of unforsaken and unforgiven sin (Mat_25:41).
II. There is a hell of character as well as a hell of place. That which renders a serpent an object of abhorrence is the poison in its sting. That which makes hell, either in devils or men, is enmity against God. This is the fuel that feeds the undying flame that cannot be quenched—this it is that constitutes the misery of the place of retribution. This mental hell has an existence in time as well as beyond it. Christ taught us that He considered such a disposition a mental Gehenna when He said, “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation (condemnation) of hell?” (Mat_23:33).
III. There is the hell of confederation against God and goodness which is made up of individuals belonging both to the visible and the invisible worlds. Every kingdom has its place of central government, but its dominion may extend over many countries. The divisions made by mountains and seas do not make it any the less one kingdom. The centre of the kingdom which exists in the universe in opposition to the kingdom of God, has its seat of government in the unseen world, but it numbers among its subjects all who are at enmity with God and His children, whether in time or beyond it. Although the place of central government, “the gates of hell” (Mat_16:18) is in Sheol, its influence is mighty upon the earth.
IV. That to escape from all these is the aim of the truly wise man. He desires to escape from retribution hereafter, and to be freed from the misery of being in opposition to God in the present life. He does this by obtaining a right relation to God and to His law. Our physical relationships have much to do with our physical well-being—to be in relation to those who are vicious or diseased is to be in a wrong relation so far as bodily health is concerned. Our social and political relations are most important to our comfort and well-being, and are more subject to our own will than are our physical relationships. We may be unwillingly related to an evil social or national law, but we may also stand in an antagonistic relation to a good law, and then the change of relationship is in our own hands. Every sinful man stands in a wrong relation to God’s holy and good law, and the aim of the wise man is to fall in with the conditions offered to him, by which he may come into right relationship to this law. These conditions are revealed to him in the Divine revelation—by accepting the atonement of Christ, he is delivered from the guilt of his transgressions and so escapes the hell of retribution; by the same act, followed by a life of communion with the ascended Saviour, he is freed from all that makes hell within him, and escapes all the snares laid by the tempter for his spiritual ruin. This relationship with Him, who is the fountain of all moral and material life, places him in a new position in the universe—lifts him from the dominion of sin, which is death, into the kingdom of holiness, which is a way of life, because it leads to and prepares for a state beyond death, which is everlasting life of body, soul, and spirit.
V. Such a change of relationship is the beginning of moral climbing. “The way of life is above,” rather, “leads upward.” The change of relationship is but the first step in a new life. The place of halting to-day becomes the place of departure on the morrow, and each day’s journey places him upon a higher level and in a purer atmosphere. The wise man’s first step is to depart from hell beneath, but his mere escape from retribution is not the whole of his aim—he is always in quest of an increase of love and joy and peace, of a deepening of all holy emotions and a strengthening of all holy habits. He “goes from strength to strength” (Psa_84:7); his watchword is “not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect” (Php_3:7).
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
All men are travellers, either to heaven above, or hell beneath. The writers of Scripture know nothing of a middle place.… Our everlasting abode must be either in heaven or hell. Salvation from hell is the half of heaven. The threatenings of hell are a fence about the way to heaven, and whilst we are travelling in it they are of great use to make us serious and earnest in pursuing our course; for how is it possible that we can flee with too much speed from everlasting burnings, when our flight is directed, not like that of the manslayer, to a place of banishment, but to a world of happiness.—Lawson.
The way of life is above—of heavenly origin—the fruit of the eternal counsels—the display of the manifold wisdom of God. Fools rise not high enough to discern it, much less to devise and walk in it. Their highest elevation is grovelling. God does not allow them even the name of life (1Ti_5:6). Cleaving to the dust of earth they sink into the hell beneath. But the wise are born from above; taught from above; therefore walking above, while they are living upon earth. A soaring life indeed! The soul mounts up, looks aloft, enters into the holiest, rises above herself, and finds her resting-place in the bosom of her God. A most transcendant life! to be partaker of the Divine nature!” (2Pe_1:4). The life of God Himself (Eph_4:18) in humble sublimity, ascending above things under the sun, above the sun himself.—Bridges.
Let “the words spoken in season” (see comments on
Pro_15:23) be “Lord, I believe, help Thou mine unbelief;” and let the word be genuine, i.e., a turning from Sheol (the figure of the pit—Psa_9:17), and the man’s joy is won. His path after that shall be upward perpetually.—Miller.
A reference to heaven as the final limit of this upward movement of the life of the righteous is so far indirectly included as the antithesis to the “upward,” the “hell beneath” (hell downwards, hell to which one tends downward), suggests a hopeless abode in the dark kingdom of the dead as the final destination of the sinner’s course of life. Therefore, we have here again the idea of future existence and retribution (comp. Pro_11:7; Pro_14:32).—Lange’s Commentary.
On the summit of one of those distant mountains—upon whose snowy tops, as they throw back the sunlight, we can look from our Eastern coast—there trickles forth a silvery spring. Near the source there is a slight obstruction in the way of the flow of the streamlet, and the waters are divided right and left. Part trickles down the mountain side towards a river, and thence are borne on to the limitless sea. Part goes the other side, and is lost, ere long, midst the thirsty sands, that are never satiated. Thus divergent are man’s two paths—the shining and the dark one; thus dissimilar their course in life—their close at death. And these two paths are the only ones leading out into eternity.… And when we seek in spiritual union and communion with our Maker the noblest exercise of the soul’s faculties and powers, and there comes to the heart peace, sure and certain, because depending upon the inviolable Word of God, and love springing from the outwellings of the Divine love, and hope reaching into the eternal world, and grasping there at blissful immortality and joy ineffable, and prepared of God—oh! then even the foregleamings of these things, reserved for us, or else already the heritage of the soul—light up a path so shining that earth’s glare and glitter fade, in comparison, wholly out of sight. For into eternity itself do these divergent paths lead. The soul, in choosing the one or the other here, is choosing for the life to come, as well as for the life that now is.—Bishop Perry.
The wise man goes a higher way than his neighbour, even in his common businesses, because they are done in faith and obedience. He hath his feet where other men’s heads are; and, like a heavenly eagle, delights himself in high-flying. Busied he may be in mean, low things, but not satisfied in them as adequate objects. A wise man may sport with children, but that is not his business. Wretched worldlings make it their work to gather wealth, as children do to tumble a snow-ball; they are scattered abroad throughout all the land—as those poor Israelites were (Exo_5:12)—to gather stubble, not without an utter neglect of their poor souls. But what, I wonder, will these men do when death shall come with a writ of habeas corpus, and the devil with a writ of habeas animam?.… Oh, that they that have their hands elbow-deep in the earth, that are rooting and digging in it, as if they would that way dig themselves a new and nearer way to hell!—oh, that these greedy moles would be warned to flee from the wrath to come, to take heed of hell beneath, and not sell their souls to the devil for a little pelf.—Trapp.
The difference between an earthly man and a heavenly man is this—that the way of an earthly man is under his feet, and the way of a heavenly man is over his head. A fool doth not conceive what this upper way can be, but to the wise man it is the plain way of life. He knoweth that it is by the fall of man that he walketh so low, and he considereth that unless he change his way, and, though against his nature, do make his way above, by having his conversation in heaven, even while his habitation is on the earth, his sin will be sure to thrust him lower still even to the pit of death. Take heed, therefore, of the ways of the earth, they are the way to hell. From whence to keep thee, be sure to keep aloft by fixing thine heart on Christ, who is the way of life, and now is set down in the highest places.—Jermin.

Proverbs 15:25
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_15:25. Establish the border, or “Keep fixed the landmark.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_15:25
DESTRUCTION AND ESTABLISHMENT
I. The character of those doomed to destruction. In looking at the trees of a vast forest, the eye of the beholder is drawn to some which, towering far above their fellows, form the most prominent features in the landscape. Yet these trees, although they look as if they would stand for ages, may be doomed to a much shorter standing than others which look more frail and are less attractive to the eye. The tree which is admired so much for its girth and breadth of foliage may contain within itself elements of destruction, and it may only need to be left to itself for a little while to come to the ground by its own weight. Every increase in its spreading foliage only renders its overthrow more certain, because the rottenness of the trunk is less able to bear the mass of branch and leaf. Or the woodman may not wait for the inevitable result—he may deem it necessary for the health of the surrounding trees that the axe should interpose and so prevent the fall. He may see that such a tree is absorbing nourishment to minister to its own decay, that trees around would utilise to sustain their healthy life. And so to prevent the soil from being impoverished by a mere cumberer of the ground, the sound of the axe and the crash of falling timber may resound through the forest. Such a tree is an emblem of the man described in our text. To him may be addressed the words spoken to the proud King of Babylon: “The tree that thou sawest, which grew and was strong, whose height reached unto the heaven, and the sight thereof to all the earth, whose leaves were fair and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all, under which the beasts of the field dwelt and the fowls of the heaven had their habitation: it is thou that art grown and become strong, for thy greatness is grown and become strong, and reacheth unto heaven,” etc. (Dan_4:20-22). He has attained to a position of power and influence in the world, but, like Nebuchadnezzar, his greatness has only revealed a radical moral defect in his character. Like him he refuses to acknowledge that “the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men,” and that it is by His favour alone that he has attained to such a height of prosperity. He holds within him the elements of his own destruction, and time will bring about his fall without any special interposition of the Divine hand. Pride grows upon what it feeds, and such a man will presume more and more upon his fancied security, until he falls by the working out of the ordinary laws which govern the moral universe. But God does not always wait for this issue. To prevent his continuing to rob humanity of their rights, the Almighty Governor of men may anticipate the natural result by applying the axe of a special judgment, and a “watcher and a holy one” from heaven may be heard saying, “Hew the tree down and destroy it” (Dan_4:23), “Cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground?” (Luk_13:7.) All despots and tyrants must sooner or later succumb to the operation of natural social law; those whom they have wronged, goaded to desperation by their injustice, will rise up against them and overturn them. The King of all the earth often takes the work into His own hands, as he did in the case of Nebuchadnezzar.
II. Those who are special objects of the Divine care. “He will establish the border (or landmark) of the widow.” The widow is a type of all the needy and the sorrowful of the human race. Deprived of her natural provider and protector, and her dearest earthly relative, she, more than any other, is at the mercy of the proud and selfish, and stands in need of a helper and consoler. God by the very goodness of His nature is drawn to take sides with such a one. He makes Himself known, again and again, as the judge of widows” (Psa_68:5). The Bible contains many laws for their protection and reproaches against those who wrong them (Deu_24:17; Deu_24:19-21; Isa_1:23; Mat_23:14). One of the main features of moral beauty in the Divine character is that He “delivereth the needy when he crieth,” the poor also, and him that hath no helper (Psa_72:12), and the widow is here a type of all such. The sorrow of her who is “a widow indeed” is very deep and overwhelming, and sorrow takes away physical and mental strength. The strong and mighty God charges Himself with the care of all such spirits weakened by sorrow, and warns all the world who would take advantage of their weakness that in so doing they enter the lists against Him.
III. Because of such dealing God’s kingdom will increase and strengthen. The champions of the weak, and the opposers of the tyrants, always gain the most influence in the end. Love is the strongest influence in the world, and those who can gain men’s hearts are the real and mighty kings. While they live they wield a mighty power, and their influence is felt sometimes even more powerfully after they have left the world. Those who never saw them in the flesh, but who are enjoying the liberties which they gained for them, yield them a silent homage. And in the song which foretells the universal dominion of the All-Righteous King this is given as a reason why His kingdom shall grow and be established. “He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the rivers unto the ends of the earth. The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents; the kings of Seba and Sheba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before Him; all nations shall serve Him. FOR He shall deliver the needy when He crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper. He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their souls from deceit and violence, and precious shall their blood be in His sight” (Psa_72:8-14).
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
From the style of the antithesis we are naturally led to conceive a special allusion to the haughty oppressor of the desolate and unprotected—to the overbearing worldling, who insolently abuses his power in lording it over his poor dependents.… We may well tremble to think of promoting our own advantage in any way, or in any degree, at the expense of the widow or the fatherless. Woe to the man who does so! God will see to it. What is so acquired cannot be enjoyed with either a quiet conscience or the smile of heaven. It is an accursed thing. It is the wedge of gold and the Babylonish garment, by which the blessing of righteousness and mercy is turned away.—Wardlaw.
“The house” i.e., every interest (chap. Pro_14:1). “Destroy,” or pull down; because even worldly men have noticed the precariousness of pride. “The widow:” even worldly eyes have noticed that these are wards of the Almighty. But Solomon adopts each proverb spiritually. “The proud” is the man too well satisfied in his own mind (chap. Pro_21:24) to utter the good word, and have joy (Pro_15:23); and the “widow” is the poor in heart, who is ready with the availing answer, “Lord, I believe.”—Miller.
God abhors pride even in them whom He dearly loves, and shows His resentment of it by humbling providences, that remove man from his purpose, and hide pride from man. David was proud of the vast numbers of his subjects, but God soon showed him that great hosts save not a king, and that three days may greatly lessen the numbers of a people. Hezekiah’s heart was lifted up, but he was soon obliged to humble himself, being assured that the treasures which he had so ostentatiously showed to the Babylonish ambassadors should be carried with his posterity to their own land.—Lawson.
Did He not provide for sorrowing Naomi a staff in her faithful daughter, and ultimately establish her borders in Israel? Did He not supply the pressing need of the minister’s widow (2Ki_4:1-7), and take up the Shunamite’s oppression, and again establish her border? (2Ki_8:1-6). And shall we forget how He teaches the returning penitent to plead the gracious manifestation, “In Thee the fatherless findest mercy?” (Psa_14:2-3).—Bridges.
The Lord will destroy the house of the proud. He will surely unroost him, unnest him, yea, though he hath set his nest among the stars, as he did proud Lucifer, who “kept not his first estate but left his habitation” (Jud_1:6), which, indeed, he could hold no longer.… But He will establish the border of the widow. Not the rest of her goods only, but the very utmost border of her small possession. She hath commonly no great matters to be proud of, nor any patrons to stick to her. She hath her name in Hebrew of dumbness, because either she cannot speak for herself, or, if she do speak, her tale cannot be heard (Luk_18:4).—Trapp.
A young body is too often the house of the proud, where strength being the pillars of it, beauty the trimming, vanity the roof, fond conceit imagineth itself to be married to a long life, never minding the mud walls whereof it consisteth. But God, who was the builder of it, seeing so ill an inmate as pride received into it, pulleth down His own work to destroy the devil’s work, and cutting the thread of life dissolveth the marriage knot, when expectation thought it to be strongest tied. On the other hand, where affliction hath humbled the heart of the widow, and may seem to have brought her to the border of her days, then doth God establish length of days, lifting up the light of His countenance upon her when lowliness of spirit hath virtuously cast her down.—Jermin.

Proverbs 15:26
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_15:26. The words of the pure are pleasant, or “pure in His sight are pleasant words.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_15:26
WICKED THOUGHTS AND HOLY WORDS
I. A present power of the wicked man—he thinks. The ideas and purposes which fill his mind concerning himself, his fellow-men, and God, are the result of a mental process just as the potter’s vessel is the result of a certain manipulating process. His thoughts are the result of the exercise of a God-given power, just as the potter’s vessel is the result of a power which has been given to him by God. From the same source comes the power to think and the power to turn the wheel. But although the power to think comes from God, it rests with man as to what kind of thoughts shall be the outcome of that power. God holds him responsible for the use which he makes of the power given him. It would be useless for the potter to say that the vessel which leaves his hand took its form by chance—we hold him responsible for the shape which the clay assumes under his hands. And it is equally vain for a man to say that he has no power over his thoughts. God holds him guilty if he thinks thoughts of sin.
II. The thoughts of the wicked are abhorred by God. 1. Because of the harm they do to his own soul. If the body is held bound under the sway of a deadly malady it becomes weak and unable to fulfil the end of its creation, and if it continues long under its influence it dies. So soul-disease and moral death are the result of the rule of evil thoughts to the man who thinks them. He becomes incapable of fulfilling the high spiritual destiny for which God called him into being. 2. Because of the misery they inflict upon others. All the evil words and deeds that have ever been done in the world were once thoughts. While they were only thoughts the harm they inflicted was confined to the thinker of them, but as soon as they became words or deeds the moral poison spread, and others became sufferers from them. God hates whatever will increase the misery of his creatures, and therefore the thoughts of the wicked—those fruitful germs of sin and suffering—must be an abomination to Him. 3. Because they are utterly at variance with God’s thoughts and purposes. The thoughts of God towards the wicked themselves are opposed to the thoughts and purposes which they have concerning themselves. God’s thoughts towards them are “thoughts of peace and not of evil” (Jer_29:11). He desires that “the wicked forsake his way” and “return unto Him.” He declares that His thoughts even concerning sinners are as much higher than their thoughts concerning themselves as “the heavens are higher than the earth” (Isa_55:7-8). This is one ground of God’s quarrel with the thoughts of the wicked, that they cross His gracious plans for redeeming them. But—
III. The words of the pure are pleasing to God. Likeness of character draws men together—the pure delight in those who are pure, and the words of a pure man are pleasant to the ear of another man of purity. Pure men are like God in character, and He must find pleasure in those who reflect His own image, and who are one with Him in sympathy. Delighting in them, their words are pleasant unto Him. He delights in them when they take the form of prayer (See Homiletics on Pro_15:8, page 407). The “prayers of saints” are as sweet incense to Him (Rev_5:8; Rev_8:3). They are well-pleasing when they take the form of praise. He has commanded men to render honour where honour is due (Rom_13:7), and when it is rendered to Himself the most worthy to “receive honour and glory and blessing,” it is a most acceptable sacrifice (Lev_7:12; Heb_13:15). The words of the pure are pleasant to God when they are spoken to console and bless their fellow-creatures. (On this subject see Homiletics on chap. Pro_12:18, page 275.)
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pleasant words are pure. (See CRITICAL NOTES.) This is the Scripture ethics. If we desire to know whether “words are pure” (and, words here, for Eastern reasons, mean actions as well as words; nay, really mean the whole round of conduct; see Job_20:12; Isa_10:7), if we wish to know whether a man’s whole life is pure, all we have to ask is—Is it kind? It is the plans of mischief that are the abomination of Jehovah.—Miller.
How lightly do most men think of the responsibility of their thoughts! as if they were their own, and they might indulge them without restraint or evil. One substantial sin appals men, who quietly sleep under the mighty mass of thinking without God for months and years, without any apprehension of guilt. But thoughts are the seminal principles of sin.—Bridges.
“Words of pleasantness are pure”—the gracious words that seek to please, not wound, are to Him as a pure acceptable offering, the similitude being taken from the Jewish ritual, and the word “pure” used in a half ceremonial sense, as in Mal_1:11.—Plumptre.
The words of the pure are pleasant words. Such as God books up, and makes hard shift to hear, as I may so say; for He “hearkens and hears” (Mal_3:16).—Trapp.
God seeth that Himself is not in all the thoughts of the wicked, and what can it be but abomination to God where God is not? It is God in all things that is pleasing to Himself, and it is the absence of God in anything that makes it to be abominable. But as for the thoughts of the pure, they are words of pleasantness, wherein they sing and make melody in their hearts to the Lord. In them they sweetly converse to themselves, by them they heavenly converse with God. Pleasant they are to themselves by the joy they have in them, pleasant they are to God by the delight He taketh in them. The wicked, though alone, and though doing nothing, yet are doing wickedly; for even then their thoughts are working, and working so naughtily as to be an abomination to the Lord. There is no need of company to draw them into villany, they have always a rout of mischievous thoughts on hand to give them entertainment. And as great is the pleasure which themselves take in them, so great is the abomination which God hath of them.—Jermin.

Proverbs 15:27
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_15:27. Gifts, i.e., “bribes.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_15:27
THE CURSE OF COVETOUSNESS
I. A definition of a covetous man. “He that is greedy of gain.” He desires more than enough, and he desires it to the exclusion of the rights of others. It is lawful and right to desire to possess some amount of substance in the world; he who was without such a desire would be hardly a man. It is good to ask for neither poverty nor riches, but for such an amount of the world’s wealth as will prevent us from being harassed with care, and at the same time keep us free from the temptations and anxieties which accompany great riches. But when a man is consumed with a desire for more than sufficient for his necessities, he is “greedy of gain,” and is in moral danger. If a vessel finds enough water in the river to carry her on her voyage, all bids fair to be safe and prosperous; but if the water is so high that it pours over her deck and gets into the hold, she is in great danger of sinking. So a moderate desire after worldly gain is an impetus to a man’s activity, and is a blessing both to himself and to the community; but an inordinate desire after riches is a dead weight upon his spiritual progress, and is often the cause of his going down in the moral scale. Desiring more than enough often leads to using unlawful means of satisfying the desire. The second clause of the verse seems to refer to the temptation of a judge to accept bribes. Men holding such an office, and possessed by this greed of gain, have been known, under its influence, to commit the enormous crime of knowingly acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent; and in all positions and stations of life the sin of covetousness is a fruitful source of other crimes. “
But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil” (1Ti_6:9-10).
II. The evil effect of covetousness is not confined to the covetous man himself. “He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house.” Many men try to excuse their covetousness by the plea that they only desire to make ample provision for their family, but it is upon the family that the curse of greediness falls most heavily. If the head is diseased the members must suffer. A covetous man is a selfish man, and those who are most nearly related to a man who is eaten up with a desire to grow rich feel most keenly the blighting influence of the passion upon all the joys of family life. And a man who is thus greedy of gain brings trouble upon his house by involving them in the curse of his sin. Those whom he has wronged by his injustice hate his children for the father’s sin, and as we have before seen—“the wealth of the sinner”—of him who has grown rich by unfair dealing—is “laid up for the just” and his own children inherit only the misery of having had such a father. (See Homiletics on chap. Pro_13:11-22, pages 307–332.)
III. The man of opposite character, “the hater of gifts,” shall live. 1. He does live now. Life and death are in a man’s character. A leaf that has lost all its beauty and greenness is dead although it still exists. The leaf is there—the shape and outline exist—but all that made it lovely is gone, because all vitality is gone. A flower may still have all its petals upon the stalk, but if all fragrance and colour are gone we know that life is gone. The life or the death of the leaf or flower are states or conditions of its existence, and not the simple adherence or separation of its particles. So is it with a man. His life or his death is not existence or non-existence, but the condition of his spiritual nature. If he is destitute of righteousness he is dead—if he is a man of true integrity—such a man as is described in chap. Pro_11:3 (see on that verse) he is alive. God is the “living God” not simply because He has an eternal existence, but because He possesses moral life—in other words, because He is perfectly holy, just, and true. Now the man who “hates gifts”—who abhors every kind of unfair dealing—gives proof by his hatred that he is morally alive. 2. He shall live in the esteem of posterity. Nothing lasts like a good character. The memory of the just man is embalmed in the hearts of men long after his body is gone to dust. (See chap. Pro_10:7.) 3. He shall live in the esteem of God. We are naturally disposed to regard with favour those who show us honour and endeavour to further our purposes and desires. The “just God” is a lover of those who strive to “do justly, to love mercy and walk humbly with him” (Mic_6:8.), and such men shall live in the sunshine of His eternal favour. (Psa_30:5.)
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
A man may be said to be covetous when he takes more pains for the getting of earth than for the getting of heaven. He will turn every stone, break his sleep, take many a weary step for the world; but will take no pains for Christ or heaven. The Gauls, after they had tasted the sweet wine of the Italian grape, inquired after the country, and never rested till they had arrived at it; so a covetous man, having had a relish of the world, pursues after it, and never leaves it till he hath got it; but he neglects the things of eternity. He could be content if salvation would drop into his mouth, as a ripe fig drops into the mouth of the eater (Nah_3:12). But he is loth to put himself to too much sweat or trouble to obtain Christ or salvation. He hunts for the world, he wisheth only for heaven.… Covetousness is (1) a subtle sin, a sin that men do not so well discern in themselves. This sin can dress itself in the attire of virtue. It is called the “cloke of covetousness” (1Th_2:5). It is a sin that wears a cloke; it clokes itself under the name of frugality and good husbandry. It hath more pleas and excuses for itself than any other sin. (2) It is a dangerous sin. It damps good affections, as the earth puts out the fire. The hedgehog in the fable came to the coney-burrows in stormy weather, and desired harbour, but when once he had gotten entertainment he set up his prickles, and did never cease till he had thrust the poor coneys out of their burrows; so covetousnes, by fair pretences, wins itself into the heart; but as soon as you have let it in it will never leave till it hath thrust all religion out of your hearts.… Covetousness chains men to the earth, and makes them like the woman which Satan had bound together that she could not lift up herself (Luk_13:11). You may as well bid an elephant fly in the air as a covetous man live by faith. We preach to men to give freely to Christ’s poor; but covetousness makes them to be like him in the Gospel who had a withered hand (Mar_3:1).… Covetousness shuts men out of heaven (Eph_5:5). What should a covetousness man do in heaven?.… Like a bee that gets into a barrel of honey, and there drowns himself, like a ferryman that takes in so many passengers to increase his fare that he sinks his boat, so a covetous man takes in more gold to the increasing of his estate that he damns himself in perdition.—Watson.
It is not enough to abstain from evil, we must also hate it.—Fausset.
Who is ignorant of the woeful success which Achan found in coveting unlawfully the gold and silver in Jericho? He hoped to get more there than any man in Israel; but no man in Israel lost so much as he.—Dod.
He that maketh gain to be the gain that he looketh for in all things, he may hope to fill his house with wealth, but he shall be sure to fill it with trouble. He that is given to gain, and hath made himself the prey as it were and gain of gain, he may have his hand open to take gifts, but with the same hand taketh in disquietness into his heart.… Now, because such are often crying—How shall I live? therefore the wise man telleth them he that hateth such things shall live.—Jermin.

Proverbs 15:28
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_15:28. Studieth, i.e., “considers.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_15:28
STUDYING TO ANSWER
I. Every righteous man is a student. The aim of study in any department of knowledge is, first to gain possession of certain facts, and then to make the knowledge of practical service in life. If a man intends to be a builder he must first be a student. He must first gain certain theoretical knowledge, and then make use of it. And so with every profession or calling—each requires thought before any work is entered upon. Every righteous man is a man with a profession—he is a professor of righteousness—he gains a knowledge of righteous precepts with the view of reducing them to righteous practice. A knowledge of what is right and true in the abstract will be of little use to himself or to any other man unless the knowledge influences his words and deeds. The proverb before us sets forth the righteous man as a student of his speech. His aim is to speak the “word in due season,” spoken of in Pro_15:23, and to do this he must be a student of the human heart—1. He must study the workings of his own heart. This is a study peculiar to the righteous man. Many men study themselves and others as frameworks of bone and muscle, who never bestow a thought upon the soul, of which the body is but the raiment. Other men watch the operations of the mental powers and tabulate all the movements of the mind as they are brought to light by internal consciousness. But the godly man goes deeper. He ponders his thoughts and feelings in the light of moral truth and righteousness—he weighs his words in the balance in which he knows that God will weigh them. 2. He must study other men’s hearts. He desires that his words should not only be harmless but beneficial to others; he desires to answer wisely questions relating to God, and man, and immortality; he sets his speech in order before he opens his mouth upon any of these weighty matters, and he considers the circumstances and dispositions of those to whom he speaks that like one of old, his “doctrine may drop as the rain, his speech distil as the dew,” when he “publishes the name of the Lord” (Deu_32:2-3). Before his thoughts become words he submits them to the revision of his conscience and his judgment, and asks himself if they are such as he can hope God will bless to the edification of others.
II. All men who do not thus study their thoughts and words are the authors of much mischief. They are those who have never made what they think a matter of conscience, and consequently their words are the outcome of an unsanctified heart. As is the fountain, so must be the stream. For the words of such a man to be other than evil is an impossibility. “How can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man, out of the good treasure of the heart, bringeth forth good things; and an evil man, out of the evil treasure, bringeth forth evil things (Mat_12:34-35).
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
The tongue is the heart’s messenger. So often as it speaks before the heart dictates, the messenger runs without his errand. He that will not speak idly, must think what he speaks; he that will not speak falsely, must speak what he thinks.—Adams.
What is before said (Pro_15:2, and chap. Pro_12:23) of the wise and the foolish, is said here of the righteous and the wicked: and what is before said of the utterance of wisdom and folly, is here said of the utterance of good and evil. We have repeatedly seen how Solomon identifies these in his statements. Wickedness is folly; goodness is wisdom.—Wardlaw.
“Mouth,” all agency. Religion is so much like politeness, that a polite man “winnows” (Pro_15:7) his acts till they look sometimes like religion; but watch men where the guise of kindness fails them, viz., their aim to be polite, and their “
mouth pours out evils.” There is a recklessness of act that only a religious purity can essentially restrain.—Miller.
The wicked, speaking so much, cannot but speak “evil things” (chap. Pro_10:19. Not his heart, as in the case of the righteous, but his mouth takes the lead.—Fausset.
I. It is not easy at the first to apprehend the right, because error at the first ken standeth usually in men’s light, and hindereth them from seeing the truth, whereof they may better inform themselves by serious deliberation. II. When the mind hath time and liberty to ponder upon, and will to weigh the point to be spoken unto, it findeth out good arguments for good causes, and digesteth the same in so apt a manner as may best persuade the hearts of the hearers. III. A meditating heart affecteth itself for that which it provideth for others to hear, and such men speak not only truly and pertinently, but faithfully also, and conscionably: their souls having first feeling of that within, which after their mouths are to deliver out.—Dod.
The answer, which I conceive the heart of the righteous to study, is the answer of obedience unto God’s commandments—the answer of thankfulness for His favours and mercies received. For, as St. Gregory speaketh, to answer to God is to render to His precedent gifts the duties of our service. Now, this study is the study of the whole life of a righteous man. Whatsoever he goes about, he knows that he must answer to God for it, and therefore he considereth before he doth it, that it be answerable unto God’s law.—Jermin.

Proverbs 15:29
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_15:29
GOD NEAR AND FAR OFF
I. God is not far from the wicked in a local sense. The most wicked man upon the face of the earth lives and moves and has his being by reason of his relation to that God whom he practically ignores. The power of life that he possesses is not self-originated, and although we do not know exactly how he lives in God, we know that in this sense he is near to Him, for “He is not far from everyone of us” (Act_17:27). But—
II. God is far from the wicked in a moral sense. There is often a wide moral distance between those who are locally near each other. The father who lives and toils for his children, and eats with them at the same table may be as far from them morally as he is near to them locally. Judas lived for three years with the Son of God—often shared the same hospitality and partook of the same meal. There was a local nearness to Christ but a wide moral gulf between the Master and the professed disciple. This moral distance between God and the wicked is the subject of the first clause of this verse. Notice—1. The cause of this distance. The ungodly man cherishes purposes and desires which are directly opposed to the will and purpose of God. God has one view of life and the ungodly man has another. That which God esteems of the highest moment is lightly esteemed by a wicked man. This being so, there can be no sympathy between the creature and his Creator—a great gulf is fixed between them. 2. The wicked man is to blame for remaining at this distance from God. God invites him to bridge the chasm. “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him: and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (Isa_55:7). He rolls upon him the responsibility of the separation. “Say unto them, As I live,” saith the Lord God, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way, and live” (Eze_33:11). 3. This distance, if not annihilated, will increase with time and continue through eternity. Sinful habits and desires, if yielded to, grow harder to overcome—a man never stands still in the way of transgression. And no local change from one world to another can have any effect upon the moral distance. It is not to be bridged by change of place but by change of character. Either the man must turn to God or be ever getting farther from Him. But—
III. There is a sympathy between God and the righteous man which keeps the Divine ear open to his prayer. As we have before noticed, the foundation of sympathy is likeness of character, and those who have sympathy with each other have open ears for the reception of each other’s thoughts and desires. The godly man has an open ear for the commands and promises of his God, and God, in return, “heareth the prayer of the righteous.” There is a like-mindedness between the righteous God and a righteous man—a oneness of desire and purpose—that makes the words of each acceptable to the other. 1. God’s ear is the first that is open to the prayer of the righteous. The sentinel watching on the height for the first streaks of dawning day has a view of the objects around him before those in the valley are able to perceive them. They are unable to see what he sees, because they are still shut in by the darkness. But if this sentinel had power to pierce the darkness of night, he would not even have to wait for day in order to discern all that lies around him. God is such a sentinel over the children of men. Others are dependent upon the light that comes from words before they discern the desires of others, but God can see into the darkest corner of the human soul—can discern the unuttered desire of the heart long before it shapes itself into words. God’s ear is open to hear before the man’s mouth is open to pray. He “understandeth his thought afar off,” knows it before it has even shaped itself into a petition, or even into a desire in the man’s own heart, and consequently long before it is known to any other creature. 2. No power outside the righteous man can come between his prayer and God’s ear. When we present a prayer or express a desire to any human benefactor, it is possible that some opposing influence may prevent our suit from being favourably received. A third person may come between, and by misrepresentation or by other means, may hinder our request from receiving impartial consideration. But God’s first-hand knowledge of all His children makes it a blessed certainty that all their requests will enter His ear and receive impartial treatment at His hands. (For other thoughts on this subject see Homiletics on Pro_15:8, page 407).
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
We may perhaps trace a reference to this maxim, a proof how deeply it had taken root in men’s heart’s, in the reasoning of the blind man in Joh_9:31.—Plumptre.
The Lord is far from the wicked. He was so from the proud Pharisee who yet got as near God as he could, pressing up to the highest part of the temple. The poor publican, not daring to do so, stood aloof, yet was God far from the Pharisee, near to the Publican. “Behold a great miracle,” saith Augustine, “God is on high, thou liftest up thyself and He flies from thee; thou bowest thyself downward and he descends to thee. Low things He respects, that He may raise them; proud things He knoweth afar off, that He may depress them.” But He heareth the prayer of the righteous. Yea, He can feel breath when no voice can be heard for faintness (Lam_3:56). When the flesh makes such a din that it is hard to hear the Spirit’s sighs, He knows the meaning of the Spirit (Rom_8:26-27), and can pick English out of our broken requests; yea, He hears our “afflictions” (Gen_16:11), our “tears” (Psa_39:12), our “chatterings” (Isa_38:14), though we cry to Him by implication only, as “the young ravens” do (Psa_147:9).—Trapp.
The second clause of this verse becomes exegetical of the first. God is not far from anybody (Psa_139:8). But He is far from many people’s “prayer.”—Miller.
Faith is the soul, and repentance is the life of prayer; and a prayer without them hath neither life nor soul. If we believe not, we are yet in our sins; if we repent not, our sins are yet in us … But first “will I wash my hands in innocency, and then will I compass thine altar” (Psa_26:6). “Then shall my prayer be set before thee as incense, and the lifting up of my hands like the evening sacrifice” (Psa_141:2). When, with the sword of severe and impartial repentance, we have cut the throat of our sins and done execution upon our lusts, then let us solicit heaven with our prayers; then pray, and speed; then come, and welcome. Then the courtiers about the King in heaven shall make room for prayers. Then the Prince Himself shall take our prayer into His own hand, and with a gracious mediation present it to the Father. Then is that court of audience ready to receive our ambassadors, which be our prayers and our tears. Then St. John sees twelve gates in heaven, all open, and all day open, to entertain such suitors.—Adams.
Learn to distinguish betwixt God’s hearing and His answering the saint’s prayer. Every faithful prayer is heard and makes an acceptable report in God’s ear as soon as it is shot; but God doth not always thus speedily answer it. The father, at the reading of his son’s letter (which comes haply upon some begging errand) likes the motion, his heart closes with it, and a grant is there passed; but he takes his own time to send his dispatch and let his son know this. Princes have their books of remembrance, wherein they write the names of their favourites whom they intend to prefer, haply some years before their gracious purpose opens itself to them. Mordecai’s name stood some while in Ahasuerus’ book before his honour was conferred. Thus God records the name of His saints and their prayers. “The Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him, of them that feared the Lord and thought upon His name.” But they hear not of God in His providential answer, haply a long time after.… There comes oft a long and sharp winter between the sowing time of prayer, and the reaping. He hears us indeed as soon as we pray, but we oft do not hear of Him so soon. Prayers are not long on their journey to heaven, but long a-coming thence in a full answer. Christ hath not at this day a full answer to some of the prayers He put up on earth; therefore He is said to expect till His enemies be made His footstool.—
Gurnall.
When the season has been cold and backward, when rains fell and prices rose, and farmers desponded and the poor despaired, I have heard old people, whose hopes, resting upon God’s promise, did not rise and fall with the barometer, nor shifting winds, say, We shall have harvest after all; and this you may safely say of the labours and fruits of prayer. The answer may be long in coming—years may elapse before the bread we have cast upon the waters comes back; but if the vision tarry, wait for it! Why not? We know that some seeds spring as soon almost as they are committed to the ground; but others lie buried for months, nor, in some cases, is it till years elapse that they germinate and rise, to teach us that what is dormant is not dead. Such it may be with our prayers. Ere that immortal seed has sprung the hand that planted it may be mouldering in the dust—the seal of death on the lips that prayed. But though you are not spared to reap the harvest, our prayers are not lost. They bide their time, God’s “set time.” For in one form or another, in this world or in the next, who sows in tears shall reap in joy. The God who puts his people’s tears into His bottle will certainly never forget their prayers.—Guthrie.

Proverbs 15:30
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_15:30
CHEERFULNESS AND GOOD TIDINGS
Two views are taken of the meaning of the first clause of this verse. Some understand it to mean that the objective light that plays upon the eyes of the body rejoices the heart of the man who is under its influence; and others understand by “the light of the eyes” that “cheerfulness of countenance” spoken of in Pro_15:13, which has such an inspiriting effect upon those who behold it. We suggest a line of thought upon both views.
The light of the material sun rejoices the heart. 1. Because of its healthful influence upon the bodily frame. It is well known that sunlight is favourable to bodily health—that a dwelling into which it does not freely enter has a most depressing influence upon its inhabitants, because it deprives them of natural bodily health and vigour. Other things being equal, health of body adds much to cheerfulness of spirit, to gladness of heart. Everyone can testify from personal experience how a low state of bodily health depresses the spirit, and how returning health after sickness revives and gladdens it. Therefore, in this sense the “light of the eyes rejoices the heart.” 2. Because of its beautifying influence upon all that the eyes behold. If we go from the light and brightness of noonday into a dark cave or dungeon where the sun’s rays never penetrate, we find none of that beauty of colour or contrasts of light and shade, which afford us such exquisite enjoyment in the landscape outside. When we come again into the light of day we realise that “light is sweet, and that it is a pleasant thing to behold the sun” (Ecc_11:7), for to its blessed influence we owe all the joy that fills our hearts when we look abroad upon the beauties of the natural world. 3. It ought to rejoice the heart of man on account of its symbolic suggestions. God intends the light of nature to be a symbol to the children of men of blessed realities which can be appreciated only by the eye of the soul. Light is symbolic of the glory of the Divine nature (1Ti_6:16), and of the perfect purity of the Divine character (1Jn_1:5). The beneficent influence of sunlight is a symbol of the soul-warming and soul-gladdening influence of the Divine presence (Psa_84:11). And as the light of the sun rejoices the heart of the beholder, so does light and cheerfulness upon one man’s face gladden the heart of him who looks upon it. Cheerfulness upon one man’s countenance brings cheer to the heart of those with whom he comes in contact. Upon this subject we remark—1. That there is a great difference between levity and cheerfulness. Two men may be swimming in a river, and one may keep himself afloat by artificial appliances, and the other by his natural strength skilfully used. The beholders may not for a time observe any difference in the two; but should the first man, by any mishap, lose his floats, then the difference will be at once manifest. He will be in danger of going to the bottom while his companion will keep steadily on his way. The natural strength and long practice of the latter has made it second nature to keep on the surface of the water. There is just such a difference between gaiety which depends for its continuance upon good fortune and external excitement, and the cheerfulness that springs from a never-failing and internal source. In the first case, if the floating-tackle is cut away the poor man sinks into despondency and gloom, but in the second there is a buoyancy of heart which, if overwhelmed for a moment by some sudden wave of adversity, brings him again to the surface and re-awakens hope within him. The first is of earth, but, although natural temperament may do much towards the second, real and heartfelt cheerfulness can only be born of a consciousness of reconciliation with God and goodwill to men. It is not, however, a universal characteristic of good men and women. But—2. It is a man’s duty to cultivate this cheerfulness of heart. It is good for the man himself. If sunlight gives strength to the body this sunlight of the soul is strengthening to the whole man. Cheerfulness gives courage to face the difficulties of life—that gladness of heart which springs from “doing justly, loving mercy, and walking with God” is a power which no man for his own sake can afford to throw away. But it is also a duty which we owe to others: In this sense “the light of the eyes rejoices the heart,” the incoming of a cheerful man into a house where the inhabitants are depressed and sad is like the entrance of sunlight into a darkened room—it changes the entire aspect of things. The influence of such a man is like a shower upon the parched earth—everything seems to spring into new life after it. If it has so reviving and cheering an effect in a world where there is so much to sadden and to weaken men’s energies, every man is bound to cultivate a habit of cheerfulness as a matter of duty. It is part of the duty which men owe to God. It is a manifestation of confidence in His righteous character and merciful purposes towards His creatures. It reveals contentment with the lot in life which He has assigned to us—a spirit of submission to His will. Therefore it is an apostolic command, “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, rejoice” (Php_4:4). The second clause of the verse relates to another very fruitful source of gladness, viz., the reception of a “good report,” or good news. 1. A good report gives joy, or “maketh the bones fat” in proportion as such news was desired. If the sick man, who has been awaiting the verdict of the physician, receives from him the assurance that he will recover his health, his heart is filled with joy at the tidings. He can testify that his “bones waxed old” while he was filled with fear and doubt as to his case, but the “good report” makes him renew his youth, and is the first step to renewal of health. The good news that the guilt of the soul can be removed fills the soul with joy in proportion as the misery of unforgiven sin has weighed upon the spirit. This was David’s experience: “When I kept silence” (while my sin was unconfessed) “my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.” … “I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.” And the consciousness of forgiveness enabled him then to sing of the blessedness of him “whose transgression is forgiven and whose sin is covered” (Psa_32:1-5). 2. The joy imparted by a “good report” of this nature is shadowed forth by the gladness which is imparted to men who have long sat in darkness, when they greet again the light of day. What must be the joy of an arctic traveller, when, after months of night, he sees the first streak of returning sunlight? Who can describe the feelings of a prisoner who has been for years immured in a gloomy dungeon, when he again finds himself in the sunshine? Or who but those who have passed through the experience can conceive what the blind man feels who has never seen the light of day, when first his eyes are opened? So none but he who has been in darkness of soul on account of unpardoned sin, and has felt the joy of a sense of reconciliation with his God, can know how the “good report” that “Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners” “maketh the bones fat,” in other words, gives him a sense of new life.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
We may conceive this verse to show the comfort of life as it cometh from God, and from man. From God in the light of the eyes, and in seeing those good things which He bestowed upon us. From man in hearing the good report and testimony which he giveth of us. Or else we may take the first part of the verse more literally, to speak only of the joy of the heart, which by the light of the eye from the pleasant objects thereof, is conveyed to it, and so the good contentment of a man from a good report to be compared to it. Now well may these be compared together, for report is the eye whereby the world judgeth of a man, and it is also a useful eye whereby a man judgeth of himself.… Certainly it must be the care of the godly, not only to keep a good conscience, but to have a good report.—Jermin.
It is riches enough to be well reputed and well spoken of. It pleased David well that “whatsoever he did pleased the people.” It pleased John well that his friend “Demetrius had a good report of the truth” (3Jn_1:12), and he “had no greater joy than to hear that his children walked in the truth.”—Trapp.
The bones may be called the foundation of the corporeal structure, on which its strength and stability depend. The cavities and cellular parts of the bones are filled with the marrow, of which the fine oil, by one of the beautiful processes of the animal physiology, pervades their substance, and, incorporating with the earthy and silicious material, gives them their cohesive tenacity, a provision without which they would be brittle and easily fractured. “Making the bones fat,” means supplying them with plenty of marrow, and thus strengthening the entire system. Hence “marrow to the bones” is a Bible figure for anything eminently gratifying and beneficial. The import, then, of the expression of the text is, that a good reputation contributes eminently to enjoyment, to comfort, health, active vigour, spirit, life, and happiness. By some, however, “
a good report” is understood of good tidings, and they conceive “the light of the eyes” to refer to the happy glancing looks of the messenger of such good tidings.—Wardlaw.
“The light of the eyes” means the look of a pleased friend. When He is the Almighty, how it “rejoices the heart.” And when the rapture of another sense is secured by “a good report” (a good hearing, as it is in the original), the good news being also from on high, it reaches the very penetration of our comfort.—Miller.

Proverbs 15:31-33
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_15:33. Instruction of wisdom, rather a discipline of wisdom,” or “a training to wisdom.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Pro_15:31-33
HOW TO GIVE AND TAKE REPROOF
I. Reproof is good when it is given with a good intention and when it is given wisely. Those who undertake to handle the amputating knife should be men who are intent upon the healing of the patient, and must also know where to cut and how much to cut, otherwise the operation may tend to death rather than to life. The reprover, if he would administer a “reproof of life,” must be wise and kind. He must desire to do good to the man whom he reproves, he must know how to administer the reproof, and must leave off reproving as soon as the necessary wound has been inflicted; if he does not, he may injure the soul instead of destroying the sin.
II. He who takes such reproof displays the highest wisdom and the truest humility. We admire the fortitude of a man who will bear without a murmur a painful operation for the sake of the good that will come to him afterwards. We praise him for the pluck and courage which he shows in enduring bravely, that which we know gives him intense pain of body. And we ought to give as much praise to him who will submit to reproof in a spirit of humility, for there is nothing which is more unpalatable or painful to a man’s spirit. Nothing is a surer sign of true wisdom than such submission.
III. He who will not submit to such reproof can never attain to true honour. There can be no honour where there is ignorance, and there can be no knowledge where there is an unwillingness to receive reproof. The greatest kings and statesmen, who are now enthroned by the honour and submission of millions of their fellow-creatures, had once to submit to the instruction of their nurses and tutors. There is no honour in holding a high position unless he who holds it knows how to fill it worthily; and such knowledge can only be acquired by stooping not only to instruction but to reproof, which is always a necessary element of instruction. (For fuller treatment of the subject of these verses, see Homiletics on chapters Pro_3:11-12; Pro_12:1; Pro_13:18; Pro_15:10. Pages 247, 323, 410, etc.).
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_15:31. There is a reproof not of life, but of death, when hatred seeketh disgrace or ruin by it, and when it is used, as St. Bernard speaketh, not to instruction in the spirit of meekness, but to destruction in the spirit of fury. When it is reproach, and not reproof, it amendeth not, but hardeneth the offender in his wickedness. But with the wise there is the reproof, not of death, but of life; that is, direction unto a virtuous life, and teaching true wisdom, which is the life of the soul. The words of the wise, saith the Preacher, are as nails fastened: for as nails are driven in, but it is not so much to make a hole as to fasten and strengthen; so the words of the wise in reproof do pierce, but it is not so much to wound, as to fasten their reproof, and to give strength unto it.—Jermin.
Oh, it is a blessed thing to have others tell us of our faults, and as it were to pull us out of the fire with violence, as Jude speaks; rather to pull us out with violence, with sharp rebukes, than we should perish in our sins. If a man be to weed his ground, he sees need of the benefit of others; if a man be to demolish his house, he will be thankful to others for their help; so he that is to pull down his corruption, that old house, he should be thankful to others that will tell him, “This is rotten, and this is to blame;” who, if he be not thankful for seasonable reproof, he knows not what self-judging means. If any man be so uncivil when a man shows him a spot on his garment to grow choleric, will we not judge him to be an unreasonable man? And so when a man shall be told, “This will hinder your comfort another day;” if men were not spiritually besotted, would they swell and be angry against such a man?—Sibbes.
Pro_15:32. Wilt thou destroy that for which Christ died? (1Co_8:11). What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? There is no great matter in the earth but man; nothing great in man but his soul, saith Faverinus. “Whose image and superscription is it” but God’s? “Give,” therefore, “to God the things that are God’s,” by delivering it up to discipline.… “Suffer,” saith the great apostle, “the word of exhortation;” suffer them in God’s name, sharp though they be, and set on with some more than ordinary earnestness. Better it is that the vine should bleed, than die. Certes, “When the Lord shall have done to you all the good that He hath spoken concerning you, and hath brought you to His kingdom, this shall be no grief unto you, nor offence of heart,” as He said in a like case (1Sa_25:30-31), that you have hearkened to instruction, and been bettered by reproof.—Trapp.
There are two things that cause men to rage against reproof. 1. Guilt of the sin objected. Guilt makes men angry when they are searched, and, like horses that are galled, to kick if they be but touched. The mildest waters are troublesome to sore eyes. There is scarce a more probable sign that the crime objected is true than wrath and bitterness against the person that charges, us with it. 2. Love to sin makes men impatient under reproof. When a person’s sin is to him as “the apple of his eye,” no wonder that he be offended at any that touch it.—Swinnock.
Pro_15:33. Abigail was not made David’s wife till she thought it honour enough to wash the feet of the meanest of David’s servants (1Sa_25:40). Moses must be forty years a stranger in Midian before he become king in Jeshurun.… Luther observed that ever, for most part, before God set him upon any special service for the good of the Church he had some sore fit of sickness. Surely as the lower the ebb the higher the tide; so the lower any descend in humiliation the higher they shall ascend in exaltation; the lower this foundation of humility is laid the higher shall the roof of honour be overlaid.—Trapp.
Not only doth humility go before honour in the course of things, but is also before honour in the dignity and excellency of it. So that when humility hath brought a man to honour even then his greatest honour is humility.—Jermin.
“Reproof,” which has been twice used, and “instruction,” or rather discipline, which is now made to balance it in these last important texts, have a respect of painfulness: and Solomon, in this verse, tempers that pain, by showing what discipline really is:—“The fear of Jehovah.” “Fear hath torment,” says the apostle John (1Jn_4:18). That fear is not altogether the fear of our text, but is a part of it. I do not remember the fear of the Almighty as a title applied in heaven. “The fear of Jehovah” has some particle of painfulness; and that painfulness makes it of the nature of “discipline.” The best discipline of the saints is the abiding fear of the Almighty. The proverb seems to imply that it will not last always; that it is painful; and that we shall not continue pained; that it is necessary for us to be under just that gentle sort of discipline that fear can give while we are in this world. And that necessity he states, in that “before glory is affliction.” Not honour (as in the English version), so much as weight, or “glory.” Not humility, but primarily, toil; ergo, more generally, “affliction.” “We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God” (Act_14:22).—Miller.
“I am not worthy,” is the voice of the saints. They know God, and God knows them. Moses was the meekest man upon earth, and therefore God is said to know him by name (Exo_33:17). “I am less than the least of all thy mercies,” saith Jacob (Gen_32:10). Lo, he was honoured to be father of the twelve tribes, and heir of the blessing. “Who am I, O Lord?” says David. He was advanced from that lowly conceit to be king of Israel. “I am not worthy to loose the latchet of Christ’s shoe,” saith John Baptist (Mat_3:11). Lo, he was esteemed worthy to lay his hand on Christ’s head. “I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof,” says the centurion, therefore Christ commended him. “I have not found so great faith; no, not in Israel (Mat_8:8). “I am the least of the apostles,” saith Paul; “not worthy to be called an apostle” (1Co_15:9). Therefore he is honoured with the title of the apostle. “Behold the handmaid of the Lord,” saith the holy virgin; therefore she was honoured to be the mother of the Lord, and to have all generations call her blessed. This non sum dignus, the humble annihilation of themselves, hath gotten them the honour of saints. In spiritual graces let us study to be great, and not to know it, as the fixed stars are everyone bigger than the earth, yet appear to us less than torches. Not to be high-minded in high deserts is the way to blessed preferment. Humility is not only a virtue itself, but a vessel to contain other virtues; like embers, which keep the fire alive that is hidden under it. It emptieth itself by a modest estimation of its own worth, that Christ may fill it. It wrestleth with God, like Jacob, and wins by yielding; the lower it stoops to the ground the more advantage it gets to obtain the blessing. All our pride, O Lord, is from the want of knowing Thee. The leper casts himself down, and Christ bids him arise. Humility is the gentleman-usher to glory. God that sends away the rich empty from His gates loves to “fill the hungry with good things” (Luk_1:53). The air passeth by the full vessel, and only filleth that is empty. This is the difference between the proud and beggars; both agree in not having, differ in craving. The proud are
pauperes spiritus, the humble are pauperes spiritu. “Blessed are,” not the poor spirits, but “the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” (Mat_5:3). Such as felt their wants sought and besought God for supply. “Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain be brought low” (Luk_3:5). The lowly mind shall be exalted, the high-towering ambitious shall be thrown down. How should God say to the merchant that glories in his wealth, to the usurer that admireth his moneys, to the gallant that wonders that his good clothes do not prefer him, “Arise!” Alas! they are up already; they were never down. A dwarf in a great throng, seeming low on his knees, was bidden by the prince to stand up; alas! he was before at his highest. God cannot be so mistaken as to encourage their standing up who never yet had the manners to cast themselves down. Says Augustine, “Descend, that ye may rise up to God; for you have fallen by rising up against God.” He that is a mountebank must level himself even with the ground; if humbleness hath once thrown him down and brought him to his knees, he shall hear the patron and pattern of humbleness comforting him with a surge—“Arise.…” The guest that sets himself down at the lower end of the table shall hear the feast-maker kindly remove him, “Friend, sit up higher” (Luk_14:10). If Esther fall at Ahasuerus’ feet, he will take her by the hand, and bid her arise. When Peter fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me; I am a sinful man, O, Lord” (Luk_5:8-10), he presently was raised up with, “Fear not, thou shalt catch men.”.… Who is heard to say with Paul, “I am the chief of sinners?” (1Ti_1:15) such a humble confession scarce heard of. But Christ had given him a surge on his former humbling: “Arise and bear My name before Gentiles and kings,” etc. Let us all thus cast ourselves down in humility, that the Lord may say to us in mercy, “Arise.”—Adams.
The more humble, the fitter to come to God, and He the more willing to come unto the soul and dwell in it. The highest heavens are the habitation of God s glory; and the humble heart hath the next honour, to be the habitation of His grace.—Leighton.
The truly humble spirit is, in society, to the proud and haughty, what the valley is to the mountain: if less observed, more sheltered and more blessed, valleys see the stars more brightly than the mountains that often veil their proud heads with clouds. The mountains filter the waters upon which the valleys live, and send down in soft music to their ears the stormy thunders that beat with violence on their lofty brow. The great sun stoops to the valleys and touches them with a warmth which it denies to the high hills; and kind nature, which leaves the towering heights amidst the cold desolations of death, endows the humble vales with richest life, and robes them in the enchanting costume of sweetest flowers.—Dr. David Thomas.
You must go to honour before humility. This is the law—the law of God. It cannot be changed. It has its analogies in the material creation. Every height has its corresponding depth. As far as the Andes pierce into the sky, so far do the valleys of the Pacific, at their base, go down into the heart of the earth. If the branches of a tree rise high in the air, its roots must penetrate to a corresponding depth in the ground; and the necessity is reciprocal. The higher the branches are, the deeper go the roots; and the deeper the roots are, the higher go the branches. This law pervades the moral administration as well as the higher works of God. The child Jesus is set for the fall and the rising again of many in Israel; but it is first the fall and then the rising; for “before honour is humility.” Fall they must at the feet of the Crucified before they can rise and reign as the children of the Great King.… There are two mountains in the land of Israel, equal in height, and standing near each other, with a deep, narrow valley between. At an interesting point in the people’s history, one of these mountains bore the curse, and the other received the blessing (Deu_11:26-29). If you had stood then on Ebal, where the curse was lying, you could not have escaped to Gerizim to enjoy the blessing without going down to the bottom of the intervening gorge. There was a way for the pilgrim from the curse to the blessing, if he were willing to pass through the valley of humiliation; but there was no flight through the air, so as to escape the going down. These things are an allegory. All men are at first in their own judgments on a lofty place, but the curse hangs over the mountains of their pride.… All the saved are also on a lofty height, but God dwells among them, and great is the peace of His children. All who have reached this mountain have been in the deep. They sowed in tears before they went forth rejoicing to bear home the sheaves.—Arnot.

Proverbs 15:1
grievous words] More exactly, a grievous word, R.V.

Proverbs 15:2
useth knowledge aright] Or, uttereth, &c. R.V. Lit. maketh good knowledge, i.e. turns it to good account, makes the best of it. Comp. “they make goodly (lit. as here, make good) images or pillars,” Hos_10:1.
The contrast is between the good use of knowledge which adds to its usefulness, and the reckless pouring forth of folly which increases its hurtfulness; between the pure stream flowing in useful channels, and the pestilential flood bursting forth unrestrained. Comp. Pro_13:16, and Pro_15:28 below.

Proverbs 15:3
beholding] Rather, keeping watch upon, R.V. σκοπεύουσι, LXX. The word is commonly used of a watchman (1Sa_14:16; 2Sa_13:34; 2Sa_18:24), and calls up the figure of the Almighty observing, as it were, from His lofty watch-tower in heaven all the doings of the dwellers upon earth. The same word is rendered, looketh well to, Pro_31:27.

Proverbs 15:4
wholesome] See Pro_14:30, where the same Heb. word is rendered sound, and note there, and comp. ὑγιαίνοντες λόγοι, 1Ti_6:3; 2Ti_1:13, and λόγος ὑγιής, Tit_2:8. R.V. marg. gives, the healing of (caused by) the tongue. So ἴασις γλώσσης, LXX.; lingua placabilis, Vulg.
a breach in] Better, a breaking of, R.V.

Proverbs 15:5
is prudent] Rather, becometh prudent, by “regarding reproof.”

Proverbs 15:7
doeth not so] So R.V. text, with the alternative in the marg. is not stedfast, or right. Maurer, however, renders (repeating disperse from the first clause) that which is not right; and compares the use of the same Heb. word, in the phrases, “thou hast well spoken,” “speak right,” “speak well:” Exo_10:29; Num_27:7; Num_36:5.

Proverbs 15:8
See Gen_4:3-5; Heb_11:4; Heb_11:6.

Proverbs 15:10
Correction is grievous unto] Rather, There is grievous correction for, as R.V.

Proverbs 15:11
Hell and destruction] Sheol and Abaddon with “The grave,” and “Destruction” in the marg. R.V. In their preface the Revisers explain that “with a view to obviate inevitable misunderstanding,” they “have left in the historical narratives the rendering (of A.V.) ‘the grave,’ or ‘the pit,’ with a marginal note, ‘Heb. Sheol,’ to indicate that it does not signify the place of burial; while in the poetical writings they have put most commonly ‘Sheol’ in the text, and ‘the grave’ in the margin.”
In like manner, “Abaddon, which has hitherto been known to the English reader of the Bible only from the New Testament (Rev_9:11), has been introduced in three passages (Job_26:6; Pro_15:11; Pro_27:20), where a proper name appeared to be required for giving vividness and point.” Comp. for the thought, Job_26:6; Psa_139:1-16.

Proverbs 15:12
one that reproveth him] Rather, to be reproved, R.V.

Proverbs 15:14
seeketh … feedeth on] The one delights in the active pursuit of knowledge, which ever creates in those who find it a craving for more; the other lies down like a satiated animal, and feeds and ruminates on the folly, which quenches all high desire.

Proverbs 15:18
strife … strife] Contention … strife, R.V., to indicate that the Heb. words are different.

Proverbs 15:19
a hedge of thorns] which may be either of his own making (Pro_24:30-31), or of his own imagining (Pro_22:13).
made plain] “Heb. raised up as a causey” (archaic form of causeway), A.V. marg.; made a high way, R.V. Comp. Isa_57:14; Isa_62:10, where the same Heb. word occurs.

Proverbs 15:20
despiseth] and so maketh her sad, in latent contrast with the first clause of the verse.

Proverbs 15:21
wisdom] Lit. heart, as in Pro_11:12.
walketh uprightly] Lit. maketh straight his going. The parallelism consists in the contrast between the reckless “joy” with which the heartless fool revels in his “folly,” and the care and caution with which a man of understanding makes straight his way. Comp. βλέπετε ἀκριβως πῶς περιπατεῖτε, μὴ ὡς ἄσοφοι, ἀλλʼ ὡς σοφοί, Eph_5:15.

Proverbs 15:23
by] Rather, in. The reference is rather to the satisfaction found in the ready answer itself, the “word in due season,” as he utters it, than to any fruit which comes to him “by” it.

Proverbs 15:24
above] Rather, upward. Upward or downward the path of man must tend.

Proverbs 15:25
destroy] Rather, root up, R.V., in contrast with establish in the next clause.
widow] As typical of the humble and poor. Comp. Psa_68:5, and for the sentiment 1Pe_5:5.

Proverbs 15:26
thoughts of the wicked … pleasant words] Lit. devices of evil … words of pleasantness. The contrast is between these, and then further between the former, as “abomination to Jehovah,” and the latter as “pure,” and therefore acceptable to Him. There is possibly, as Maurer suggests, a sacrificial reference (“sensu Levitico”); comp. Pro_15:8 above and “a pure offering,” Mal_1:11.

Proverbs 15:27
gifts] The proverb, though universal in its moral, is Oriental in its form. Gifts “play a very important part in the social life of the East” (see Smith’s Dict. of Bible, Gift). Hence they form at once the bait by which “he that is greedy of gain” is lured, as Gehazi was, to the “troubling of his own house,” and the test, in the lofty disregard of them, of incorruptible honour and integrity.

Proverbs 15:29
Comp. Joh_9:31.

Proverbs 15:30
The light of the eyes] This is sometimes understood to mean the beaming eyes of kindly regard with which others look upon us (comp. the phrase “the light of the countenance,” Psa_4:6 [Hebrews 7]; Pro_16:15). “We all want to see that light in the eyes of our friends, which rejoices the heart,” Horton. Occurring, however, in a proverb, the phrase may well have a wider meaning: whatever gives light acts as a luminary (the Heb. word is rather light-bearer, φωστήρ, comp. Gen_1:14-16, than light, φῶς) to the eyes, casting light and brightness upon them, extends through them its influence to the heart; just as, in the following clause, whatever charms the ear (lit. good hearing), be it “good tidings,” R.V., or the pleasant voice of a friend, or the tender accents of affection, or the sweet strains of music, refreshes and invigorates the whole bodily frame. By the gateway of the eye and of the ear alike the citadel of the heart may be reached for good.

Proverbs 15:31
of life] i.e. which tends to life. So, the instruction of wisdom=the instruction which leads to, or bestows wisdom, Pro_15:33 below.

Proverbs 15:32
understanding] Lit. heart. Comp. void of wisdom (Lit. heart), Pro_15:21, above, and Pro_2:2, note.

Proverbs 15:33
of wisdom] See Pro_15:31, note.
before honour &c.] Comp. Mat_23:12; Luk_14:11; Luk_18:14.

Proverbs 15:1-33
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 15:1-33
Proverbs 15 – The Words of the Wise
Pro_15:1
A soft answer turns away wrath,
But a harsh word stirs up anger.
a. A soft answer turns away wrath: When people come to us in wrath, we are often tempted to be harsh in response. Wisdom shows us the value of a soft answer, one without sharp edges or points. That kind of answer can actually turn away wrath.
i. “Soft speech is like oil on bruised skin to soften and heal it (cf. Jdg_8:1-3); painful speech has the effect of oil poured on fire (cf. 1Ki_12:1-16).” (Waltke)
ii. “Pride and passion on both sides strike together like two flints. We indulge in sarcasm as if we would rather lose a friend than miss scoring a point in the argument. All this the world excuses. But the Gospel sets before us our Savior’s example and imbues us with his spirit; so we should be careful not to provoke a chafed or wounded spirit.” (Bridges)
b. A harsh word stirs up anger: A harsh response to wrath often only stirs up more anger. It may feel good at the moment but ends up making the situation worse, not better.
i. “Many conflicts arise not because the issues separating the parties are so great but because of the temperaments people bring to a confrontation.” (Garrett)
ii. “How was Saul enkindled by Doeg, and David by Nabal’s currishness! Rehoboam, with one churlish breath, lost ten tribes.” (Trapp)
iii. “Gideon in Jdg_8:1-3 is a classic example of the soft answer that brings peace, whereas Jephthah illustrates the harsh answer that leads to war (Jdg_12:1-6).” (Ross)
Pro_15:2
The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly,
But the mouth of fools pours forth foolishness.
a. The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly: The wise man or woman will show their right use of knowledge by the words they say. The words of their tongue demonstrate their wisdom.
i. Uses knowledge rightly: “Expressing what he knows prudently and gracefully; taking due care both what, and when, and to whom, and in what manner he speaks.” (Poole)
ii. “This is very difficult to know: – when to speak, and when to be silent; what to speak, and what to leave unspoken; the manner that is best and most suitable to the occasion, the subject, the circumstances, and the persons…. Even wise counsel may be foolishly given.” (Clarke)
b. The mouth of fools pours forth foolishness: A fool will be revealed by their words. It isn’t enough for a man or woman to claim they have wisdom in their heart or mind; what they say proves either their wisdom or folly.
i. Pours forth: “Hebrew, Bubbleth it out; blurteth it out, as a fountain casteth out its waters, with a great force and swiftness.” (Trapp)
Pro_15:3
The eyes of the Lord are in every place,
Keeping watch on the evil and the good.
a. The eyes of the Lord are in every place: Wisdom understands that we are always under the eye of God. He sees us in every place, even when we are hidden to human eyes.
i. The eyes of the Lord: “The eyes of Christ are ‘as a flaming fire.’ [Rev_1:14] And the school of nature teacheth that the fiery eye needs no outward light, that sees extra mittendo, by sending out a ray.” (Trapp)
ii. “So how will I meet these eyes? Will I meet them as a rebel or as a child?” (Bridges)
b. Keeping watch on the evil and the good: God takes note of boththe evil and the good. He will deal with the evil according to His righteous judgment, and He will bless and reward the good. Among men, evil is often unpunished and good is often unrewarded – but God sees and notes all.
i. We might say that God has night vision and sees all that happens under the cover of darkness.
ii. Keeping watch: “The word employed describes a very active and purposeful seeing. The statement is far more than that God sees; it is that He is investigating, observing…. He is keeping watch upon the evil. It is never out of His sight. It loves the darkness rather than the light, but He sees as well in the darkness as in the light.” (Morgan)
iii. And the good: “The Lord’s eyes also see the good. He sees them in outward destitution, in secret retirement, in deep affliction. He pierces the prison walls. He is with them in the furnace and in the storm.” (Bridges)
Pro_15:4
A wholesome tongue is a tree of life,
But perverseness in it breaks the spirit.
a. A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: Good words are like a tree that continually brings life from its shade and fruit. Our words have the power to do far more good than we often think.
b. Perverseness in it breaks the spirit: If someone’s tongue is perverse (twisted, crooked, corrupt) instead of wholesome, their words will break the spirit of others. Our words have the power to do far more harm than we often think.
Pro_15:5
A fool despises his father’s instruction,
But he who receives correction is prudent.
a. A fool despises his father’s instruction: Proverbs is written as advice from a father to his children. A fool would despise the wisdom that comes from a godly parent and God’s word.
i. “One’s attitude toward parental teaching will determine one’s lifelong attitude toward authority and instruction.” (Garrett)
b. He who receives correction is prudent: Learning wisdom is more than learning facts; it is to receive correction. If what we learn only confirms what we already know, it probably isn’t wisdom we are learning.
Pro_15:6
In the house of the righteous there is much treasure,
But in the revenue of the wicked is trouble.
a. In the house of the righteous there is much treasure: Because wisdom and godliness tend to bring prosperity, this is generally true of material treasure. Thankfully, the treasure in the house of the righteous isn’t only material; the greater treasure is spiritual.
i. “Every righteous man is a rich man, whether he hath more or less of the things of this life.” (Trapp)
b. In the revenue of the wicked is trouble: Even what the wicked man or woman earns (the revenue) can be a problem. Instead of treasure, they have trouble.
i. Revenue of the wicked: “Though he may obtain great revenues, yet they are attended with much trouble and vexation; either because they are strangely blasted and taken from them, or because they are imbittered to them by their own insatiable desires, or tormenting cares and fears, or the horrors of their guilty consciences, or by divers other ways.” (Poole)
Pro_15:7
The lips of the wise disperse knowledge,
But the heart of the fool does not do so.
a. The lips of the wise disperse knowledge: The wise man or woman will spread (disperse) knowledge and wisdom. It is within them and will be given to others by the words they say.
b. The heart of the fool does not do so: Since wisdom isn’t in the heart of the fool, it won’t be on their lips either. They are unable to spread the blessing of wisdom to others through their words.
Pro_15:8
The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord,
But the prayer of the upright is His delight.
a. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: Without godliness, religious ritual, such as sacrifice, can be an abomination to God. As Samuel said to Saul, Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice (1Sa_15:22).
b. The prayer of the upright is His delight: The godly man or woman delights God with their prayer. The wicked one goes to the trouble and expense of offering a sacrifice, but it does not delight God in the way the prayer of the upright does.
Pro_15:9
The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord,
But He loves him who follows righteousness.
a. The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: God rejects the religious ceremonies of the wicked (Pro_15:8); therefore, much more does God consider the sinful life of the wicked as an abomination.
b. He loves him who follows righteousness: The one who lives and follows righteousness does so in surrender and love to God, and they do what Jude advised; they keep themselves in the love of God (Jud_1:21).
Pro_15:10
Harsh discipline is for him who forsakes the way,
And he who hates correction will die.
a. Harsh discipline is for him who forsakes the way: When a man or woman departs from God’s path (the way), in mercy God will send them harsh discipline. This discipline is a warning and opportunity to change one’s ways.
b. He who hates correction will die: The one who rejects God’s loving and merciful correction seals his own fate and sets his own course. They are on the way of death and will remain there.
i. “He that is embittered by rebukes, and not bettered by chastisements, shall die…they that will not obey that sweet command, ‘Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden,’ shall one day have no other voice to obey but that terrible [word],‘Go ye cursed into everlasting flames.’” (Trapp)
ii. “The one who hates correction will die (see Pro_5:23; Pro_10:21) an eternal death without God, the tragic and inevitable end of apostates who have become hardened against truth.” (Waltke)
Pro_15:11
Hell and Destruction are before the Lord;
So how much more the hearts of the sons of men.
a. Hell and Destruction are before the Lord: These two destinies are symbolically pictured as persons who are before the Lord to serve His purpose. The sobering truth is that God has a plan and a purpose for both Hell and Destruction.
i. “Sheol and Abaddon represent the remote underworld and all the mighty powers that reside there (see Pro_27:20; Job_26:6; Psa_139:8; Amo_9:2; Rev_9:11).” (Ross)
ii. God can see what we cannot. Hell and Destruction are presently invisible to us, but they are before the Lord. If we could see Hell and Destruction, we would think and live much differently. “We, silly fishes, see one another jerked out of the pond of life by the hand of death; but we see not the frying pan and the fire that they are cast into, that ‘die in their sins,’ and refuse to be reformed.” (Trapp)
iii. “God’s surveillance extends to the realm of the dead in the depths of the earth, as remote from heaven as possible, and he will be met in every corner of this pitch-black place shrouded in mystery and secrecy and of no apparent value to humanity or God.” (Waltke)
b. How much more the hearts of the sons of men: If God has a plan and a purpose for those two destinies, it is much more true that He has a plan and purpose for humanity (the sons of men).
i. “This is a simple method of drawing attention to God”s perfect knowledge of all the deepest and hidden things. If that which is most full of mystery to us is perfectly known to Him, how well He must know our hearts.” (Morgan)
ii. “And not only so, but we have known cases in which the thoughts of men have been revealed from the pulpit. I have sometimes seen persons nudge with their elbow, because they have got a smart hit, and I have heard them say, when they went out, ‘That is just what I said to you when I went in at the door.’ ‘Ah!’ says the other, ‘I was thinking of the very thing he said, and he told me of it.’ Now, if God thus proves his own Omniscience by helping his poor, ignorant servant, to state the very thing, thought and done, when he did not know it, then it must remain decisively proved that God does know everything that is secret, because we see he tells it to men, and enables them to tell it to others.” (Spurgeon)
Pro_15:12
A scoffer does not love one who corrects him,
Nor will he go to the wise.
a. A scoffer does not love one who corrects him: Because the fool and the scoffer hate correction, they will hate (not love) the one who brings it.
i. Does not love one who corrects him: “As Ahab did Micaiah; Herodias, John Baptist; the Pharisees, our Saviour.” (Trapp)
b. Nor will he go to the wise: In rejecting correction, the scoffer rejects wisdom and will remain trapped in his folly.
Pro_15:13
A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance,
But by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
a. A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance: If someone has happiness and joy, it should be seen on their face. They should have a cheerful countenance.
i. “This cheerfulness, however, is very different from the noisy mirth of the ungodly. The word cheerful was often used by the old writers. It was Foxe’s favorite description of the holy joy of the martyrs.” (Bridges)
b. By sorrow of heart the spirit is broken: Those who have deep sorrow of heart will display their broken spirit. We can observe both the happy and the sad with understanding and sympathy for both the merry heart and those with sorrow of heart.
i. “The words used here stress the pain and the depression with a note of despair.” (Ross)
Pro_15:14
The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge,
But the mouth of fools feeds on foolishness.
a. The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge: The scoffer avoids wisdom’s correction (Pro_15:12), but the one with understanding and wisdom in his or her heart will seek after more wisdom.
i. Seeks knowledge: “As a hungry man seeks meat, or a covetous man gold, the more he hath, the more he desires.” (Trapp)
b. The mouth of fools feeds on foolishness: In this sense, the normal course of humanity is that the wise become wiser and that fools feed on more foolishness.
i. “Let fools feed on foolishness, as swine do on swill, as flies do on blotches, as carrion kites do on stinking carcasses.” (Trapp)
Pro_15:15
All the days of the afflicted are evil,
But he who is of a merry heart has a continual feast.
a. All the days of the afflicted are evil: To live in days of affliction is to know the trouble and evil of life and this fallen world.
b. He who is of a merry heart has a continual feast: When a merry heart instead of an afflicted heart marks our attitude towards life, there is a sense of continual bounty and enjoyment.
i. A continual feast: “Hath constant satisfaction and delight in all conditions, yea, even in affliction.” (Poole)
ii. “It is a full feast, a lasting feast; not for a day, as that of Nabal, not for seven days, as that of Samson, no, nor of hundred and eighty days, as that of Ahasuerus, but a durable continual feast, without intermission of solace, or interruption of society.” (Trapp)
Pro_15:16
Better is a little with the fear of the Lord,
Than great treasure with trouble.
a. Better is a little with the fear of the Lord: Especially in our materialistic and consumer age, we constantly want more, and we fear living with little. Yet life is better with little if lived with reverence and honor to God (the fear of the Lord).
i. “If saints be sad, it is because they are too busy here below, and, Martha-like, troubled about many things, with neglect of that one thing necessary.” (Trapp)
b. Than great treasure with trouble: To have great treasure and great trouble is not a good life. Because the fear of the Lord spares us from much trouble, it is better to have that than great treasure.
i. “Riches, though well got, are but as manna, those that gathered less had no want, and those that gathered more, it was but a trouble and annoyance to them.” (Trapp)
Pro_15:17
Better is a dinner of herbs where love is,
Than a fatted calf with hatred.
a. Better is a dinner of herbs where love is: The presence of love makes up for a lot. We can live on a humble diet but can never flourish without love.
i. “Riches and poverty are more in the heart than in the hand. He is wealthy who is contented. He is poor who wants more.” (Bishop Hall, cited in Bridges)
b. Than a fatted calf with hatred: One may enjoy the extravagant abundance of a fatted calf, but hatred will spoil it all. Nothing really makes up for a lack of love.
i. “A fattened ox (see Pro_7:22; Pro_14:4) represents the king of domesticated animals at its very best and functions as a synecdoche for the finest foods (cf. Luk_15:23).” (Waltke)
Pro_15:18
A wrathful man stirs up strife,
But he who is slow to anger allays contention.
a. A wrathful man stirs up strife: When strife is stirred up, it doesn’t happen by accident. Usually, the cause is a wrathful man or woman who stirs up strife.
b. He who is slow to anger allays contention: The wise man or woman is slow to anger, and they have a way of bringing peace and smoothing over contention instead of stirring up strife.
Pro_15:19
The way of the lazy man is like a hedge of thorns,
But the way of the upright is a highway.
a. The way of the lazy man is like a hedge of thorns: Those who are lazy may not see it in themselves. Often, they may more easily see the result of their laziness, which is a life filled with constant trouble and irritations (like a hedge of thorns).
i. “Because he is slothful, he imagines ten thousand difficulties in the way which cannot be surmounted; but they are all the creatures of his own imagination, and that imagination is formed by his sloth.” (Clarke)
ii. Many times, Proverbs reminds us of what serious sin laziness is.

• Laziness is theft – you live off the work of others.
• Laziness is selfishness – you live for yourself and comfort.
• Laziness is neglect of duty – you don’t do what you should.
  iii. In his sermon titled The Hedge of Thorns and the Plain Way, Charles Spurgeon used Pro_15:19 in a spiritual sense, speaking to those who are spiritually lazy: “The spiritual sluggard does not believe after that practical fashion. He says, ‘It is true;’ but he acts as if it were false. He is too much a sluggard to become an infidel; he is too lethargic to argue against the truth which condemns him; he nods assent, it is the nod of sleep.” Spurgeon went on to describe the life of the spiritually lazy man:
• His spiritual life is lived as if he were asleep.
• He once gave an effort to forsake sin but did not follow through.
• His spiritual life is a hard way, full of thorns.
• Spiritual things seem long and dreary.
• The Christian life is full of thorny perplexities, problems, and misery.
• He may find that his way to heaven is blocked.
  b. The way of the upright is a highway: The wise man or woman – upright and hardworking before the Lord – does not know the same constant troubles and irritations of life that the lazy man must endure. Life for the upright is much smoother and more efficient in its progress.
  i. “Unthinking persons suppose that the sluggard lives a happy life, and travels an easy road. It is not so…. Labour of a holy sort has ten thousand times more joy in it than purposeless leisure.” (Spurgeon)
  Pro_15:20
  A wise son makes a father glad,
  But a foolish man despises his mother.
  a. A wise son makes a father glad: A father is made glad by a wise son, both for the blessing of knowing there is good for the son, and because it vindicates the father’s trust in God and training of the son in wisdom.
  b. A foolish man despises his mother: The foolish man or woman brings disgrace to his parents, and their rejection of the parents’ wisdom shows they despise their mother and father.
  i. “Tragically the person who needs their instruction, out of his exaggerated opinion of his self-importance, feels that he is better than his godly parents and so is intractable and incorrigible.” (Waltke)
  Pro_15:21
  Folly is joy to him who is destitute of discernment,
  But a man of understanding walks uprightly.
  a. Folly is joy to him who is destitute of discernment: For the fool, his foolishness (folly) is something to take pleasure in. He only hates his folly when they have to pay the bitter consequences of it. Otherwise, it is joy to him.
  b. A man of understanding walks uprightly: With wisdom, our life is ordered and upright. The wise man or woman finds joy in what is good and upright.
  i. “His sincerity supplies him with serenity; the joy of the Lord, as an oil of gladness, makes him lithe and nimble in ways of holiness.” (Trapp)
  Pro_15:22
  Without counsel, plans go awry,
  But in the multitude of counselors they are established.
  a. Without counsel, plans go awry: The difference between success and failure can often be found in those who plan with or without counsel. Wisdom understands that other people also have wisdom.
  i. “Our wisdom lies in self-distrust, or at least allowing for the possibility that we may often be wrong! So it is most expedient, especially in important matters, to seek experienced counsel.” (Bridges)
  b. In the multitude of counselors they are established: Normally there is more insight from many people than from one. Getting many eyes to see and many minds to think about
  plans can often see those plans established and successful.
  Pro_15:23
  A man has joy by the answer of his mouth,
  And a word spoken in due season, how good it is!
  a. A man has joy by the answer of his mouth: Right and wise words have the potential and power to bring great joy to one’s self and to others.
  b. A word spoken in due season, how good it is: The value in a good word is often not only found in its content but also in its timing. The right word at the right time (in due season) is a powerful force for good.
  i. “This proverb sets forth the satisfaction of being able to say the right thing at the right moment.” (Morgan)
  Pro_15:24
  The way of life winds upward for the wise,
  That he may turn away from hell below.
  a. The way of life winds upward for the wise: One of the great benefits of a life of wisdom is that, generally, life gets better as the years go on. The progress of their life winds upward and not down; they move from glory to glory (2Co_3:18).
  b. That he may turn away from hell below: The progress of a wise life isn’t just in what it heads toward (upward), but also in what it moves away from. Heaven becomes closer and hell becomes further distant behind.
  i. Upward…below: “A recognition of the two forces of which man is ever conscious the upward pull and the downward pull with a declaration that wisdom consists in answering the upward.” (Morgan)
  ii. From hell below: “Or, from the lowermost hell; not from the grave, as this word is elsewhere used, for no wisdom can prevent that; but from hell properly so called, as this word is elsewhere used, as hath been formerly observed.” (Poole)
  Pro_15:25
  The Lord will destroy the house of the proud,
  But He will establish the boundary of the widow.
  a. The Lord will destroy the house of the proud: Those who choose pride set themselves against God (Jas_4:6 and 1Pe_5:5), and God will set Himself against them. They and their house will be targets of God’s destruction.
  b. He will establish the boundary of the widow: The widow is the picture and representative of a humble, needy person who looks to and depends on God. She represents the opposite of the proud, and God takes special care of those who humbly depend on Him.
  i. “When they were too weak to have a voice, God spoke for the poor and needy through Moses (cf. Deu_19:14; Deu_27:17), the prophets (Hos_5:10), and the sages (Job_24:2; Pro_15:25; Pro_22:28).” (Waltke)
  ii. “The story of Naboth (1 Kings 21) illuminates the saying; but it is relevant to all kinds of exploitation.” (Kidner)
  Pro_15:26
  The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord,
  But the words of the pure are pleasant.
  a. The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord: Wickedness doesn’t begin with actions; it begins in the heart and thoughts. There is certainly a sense in which our actions are more important than our thoughts, but our actions begin in our thoughts, so what we think is also important to God.
  i. “How little most people think they are responsible for their thoughts. They live as if they were on their own and so can indulge themselves without any restraints.” (Bridges)
  ii. “Thoughts…in the first line, mean ‘plans’, and the contrasted language of the second line emphasizes the fact that such plans are hateful to God even before they issue in words or deeds.” (Kidner)
  b. The words of the pure are pleasant: Solomon knew that a person’s thoughts would be ultimately revealed by their words. God hears the words of the pure and is pleased, contrasting with the thoughts of the wicked.
  Pro_15:27
  He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house,
  But he who hates bribes will live.
  a. He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house: Many of those who are greedy for gain justify it with the excuse that they do it for their family. This is not wise, because being greedy for gain will ultimately bring trouble to one’s house.
  i. “The ‘greedy man’ is the one who wants a big cut, who is in a hurry to get rich, and who is not particular how it happens.” (Ross)
  ii. “The Papists propose rewards to such as shall relinquish the Protestant religion and turn to them…. Thus they tempted Luther, but he would not be hired to go to hell; and thus they tempted that noble Marquis of Vicum, nephew to Pope Paul V, who left all for Christ and fled to Geneva, but he cried out, Let their money perish with them that prefer all the world’s wealth before one day’s communion with Jesus Christ and his despised people.” (Trapp)
  b. He who hates bribes will live: The one who hates bribes is set as a contrast to the one who is greedy for gain. The greedy man or woman will do anything for more money and loves bribes if they can bring more money. God’s blessing is on men and women of integrity who hate bribes and other dishonest ways of doing business.
  Pro_15:28
  The heart of the righteous studies how to answer,
  But the mouth of the wicked pours forth evil.
  a. The heart of the righteous studies how to answer: The idea behind the phrase “how to answer” is simply what one says in response. God’s righteous ones – men and women of wisdom – think beforehand what they should and will say. Their words are not based only on impulse and reaction.
  b. The mouth of the wicked pours forth evil: There is little self-control when it comes to the mouth of the wicked. Evil words and ideas simply pour out of their mouth, with no wise thought beforehand.
  i. “The advice is to say less but better things.” (Ross)
  Pro_15:29
  The Lord is far from the wicked,
  But He hears the prayer of the righteous.
  a. The Lord is far from the wicked: Men and women who are wicked do their best to separate themselves from God, and in this sense, God is far from them. There is another sense, especially in light of the work of Jesus, in which God draws near to the wicked to offer redemption and wisdom (Rom_5:8).
  i. “But this farness or nearness respects not God’s essence, which is every where, but his gracious and helpful presence.” (Poole)
  ii. “Proverbs does not envision the wicked as repenting; if they did, they would be righteous.” (Waltke)
  b. He hears the prayer of the righteous: God draws near to those who draw near to Him (Jas_4:8). The prayer of the righteous man or woman is effective before God (Jas_5:16).
  Pro_15:30
  The light of the eyes rejoices the heart,
  And a good report makes the bones healthy.
  a. The light of the eyes rejoices the heart: The eyes are something like a lamp to the whole body (Mat_6:22-23). When the eyes are full of light it brings happiness and contentment to the heart and the whole body.
  i. “The light of the eyes may perhaps refer to the radiant face of a friend (cf. Pro_16:15); if so, the two lines of the proverb will be speaking of the heartwarming effect that persons and facts, respectively, can bring.” (Kidner)
  b. A good report makes the bones healthy: Good news cheers the spirit and brings health to the body. The ultimate fulfillment of this is the gospel – the good news, the good report of what God did in Jesus Christ to demonstrate His love for us and to rescue us (1Co_15:1-8).
  Pro_15:31
  The ear that hears the rebukes of life
  Will abide among the wise.
  a. The ear that hears the rebukes of life: Not every ear will listen to correction, but there is a blessing to those that do. Also, life has its own rebukes for those who have the ear to hear. In general, life rewards wisdom and rebukes folly.
  i. Hears the rebukes of life: “That receives it gratefully and obeys it. ‘Advice is for them that will take it,’ so says one of our own old proverbs; and the meaning here is nearly the same.” (Clarke)
  ii. “The way we receive a rebuke tests our character. It reveals if we possess the graces of humility, sincerity, and self-knowledge.” (Bridges)
  b. Will abide among the wise: One of the more important aspects of wisdom is the simple ability to hear and learn. If we can’t learn, we can never abide among the wise.
  Pro_15:32
  He who disdains instruction despises his own soul,
  But he who heeds rebuke gets understanding.
  a. He who disdains instruction despises his own soul: To refuse wisdom and the instruction that comes from wisdom is to hate one’s own soul. Those who reject wisdom hurt many people, but most of all themselves.
  b. He who heeds rebuke gets understanding. To hear and heed rebuke is to get and grow in wisdom (understanding). Receiving rebuke is rarely pleasant, but it is worth it for the wisdom it brings.
  i. Heeds rebuke: “Correction is infinitely preferable to the poison of sweet flattery.” (Bridges)
  ii. Gets understanding: “Hebrew, possesseth an heart, which the Hebrews make the seat of wisdom.” (Poole)
  Pro_15:33
  The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom,
  And before honor is humility.
  a. The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom: A common and foundational theme in Proverbs is repeated here. Wisdom begins in the fear of the Lord, and true wisdom flows from it.
  b. And before honor is humility: An essential aspect of the fear of the Lord is humility. To properly fear God is to see and recognize Him as He really is. When we see and recognize who we really are, humility comes.
  i. Before honor is humility: “Luther observed that ever, for most part, before God set him upon any special service for the good of the church, he had some sore fit of sickness. Surely, as the lower the ebb, the higher the tide; so the lower any descend in humiliation, the higher they shall ascend in exaltation; the lower this foundation of humility is laid, the higher shall the roof of honour be overlaid.” (Trapp)
  ii. “Humility; whereby men submit to God, and yield to men, which gains them love and respect; whereas pride procures them hatred and contempt from God and men.” (Poole)
  iii. “Paradoxically, the one who grants himself no glory before the glorious God in the end is crowned with the glory and wealth that give him social esteem.” (Waltke)

Proverbs 15:1-6
A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger. The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright: but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness. The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit. A fool despiseth his father’s instruction: but he that regardeth reproof is prudent. In the house of the righteous is much treasure: but in the revenues of the wicked is trouble.
I should not think it necessary to make any break in the reading of those proverbs, were it not that the Reader thereby may be prompted to make a pause here and there, to ponder over the golden words, and to gather from these precious sentences, both the spiritual and moral improvements from them, as he passeth on. And, the Reader will find, if he maketh a pause after every verse, more or less, that there is scarce one, but what, without violence to the expressions, carries with it a sweet gospel signification. And, surely it is both gracious and blessed, when we can thus bring with us the New Testament into the Old. Thus for example, if we read the several verses we have gone through in this chapter, what can induce a soft answer to turn away wrath, until that our poor nature is regenerated and we have the Spirit of Christ. It is by the Spirit only, we are told, that we can mortify the deeds of the body; and by his influences that we put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of our mouth. Rom_8:9-13; Col_3:8 So again, the proverb saith, that the tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright. Yes! when the Lord hath done by the sinner as by the prophet, laid the live coal taken from the Holy Altar upon his mouth, and touched the lips, his iniquity is taken away and his sin purged. Isa_6:7. But without this, who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one. Job_14:4. Reader! if through a gospel medium we thus read the Proverbs, we shall find them words fitly spoken, like apples of gold in pictures of silver. Pro_25:11.

Proverbs 15:7-13
The lips of the wise disperse knowledge: but the heart of the foolish doeth not so. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight. The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the LORD: but he loveth him that followeth after righteousness. Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way: and he that hateth reproof shall die. Hell and destruction are before the LORD: how much more then the hearts of the children of men? A scorner loveth not one that reproveth him: neither will he go unto the wise. A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
I should apprehend that the mirth here spoken of, means the true joy of the soul, arising from the consciousness of being at peace with God. There can be no mirth, no real comfort while the soul is at enmity with God by wicked works. Solomon hath expressed his sense of this passage, I apprehend, in another, where he saith, Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart, for God now accepteth thy works. Yes! a soul accepted in Jesus, may indeed both eat and drink the common bread and water, for the body’s sustenance, with joy, and the sacred bread and wine, in token of communion with Jesus, for the soul’s health, with delight, when brought nigh by the blood of the cross! Here is a solid foundation for the most heart-felt joy, and for making the countenance always cheerful. Ecc_9:7.

Proverbs 15:14-17
The heart of him that hath understanding seeketh knowledge: but the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness. All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast. Better is little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble therewith. Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.
Better is it to sit down to the poorest table where Jesus is, and his love manifested in blessing the scanty fare, than all the luxuries of unsanctified fulness. Reader! if we eye Christ in everything, then shall we truly enjoy Christ in everything.

Proverbs 15:18-33
A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife. The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns: but the way of the righteous is made plain. A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish man despiseth his mother. Folly is joy to him that is destitute of wisdom: but a man of understanding walketh uprightly. Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established. A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it! The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath. The LORD will destroy the house of the proud: but he will establish the border of the widow. The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the LORD: but the words of the pure are pleasant words. He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house; but he that hateth gifts shall live. The heart of the righteous studieth to answer: but the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things. The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous. The light of the eyes rejoiceth the heart: and a good report maketh the bones fat. The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise. He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding. The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.
Every word, more or less, in these verses is precious, and as I before remarked, if read with reference to the gospel, cannot fail of leading the soul to Jesus. I hope the Reader will not have neglected this all the way as we have come along through these proverbs. He will have found, I am persuaded, if so, upon many occasions, the truth of what we have just read in this chapter, a word spoken in due season, how good is it.

Proverbs 15:33
REFLECTIONS
READER! pause with me over the review of this chapter, and let us mark together the improvements which an heart, taught by grace, can readily make out of it. To an enlightened eye, which discerns Christ in the whole field of scripture, there is not a flower in it but will yield both beauty and sweetness to our taste. And, like the bee, we shall gather by faith food from all. But, if the eye be not enlightened to see him, many a lovely step, which would lead to the Plant of renown, we shall never take; but like the wild beast of the wood, tread the whole under our feet. Oh! for grace, so to read the scriptures, as to discover in them the mysteries of the kingdom. All, in every part, treat of Jesus in his Person, offices, relations, characters, ordinances, communion. Let us, my brother, continually pray for this grace, to lead us, and to guide us, that we may walk in the Spirit, and be taught by the Spirit. For, if the Holy Ghost bring us thoroughly to be acquainted with our Lord, no part of the divine word will suffer us, at any time to turn from it, until that we have discovered Jesus in it. And, when, in going over the field of the scriptures, like the merchant-man, Jesus himself speaks of seeking goodly pearls, we have found Him the one of great price, of whom Moses and the Prophets did write; such a Pearl, indeed, in whom all grace, glory, yea, God himself, in all his fulness dwells, being once found; oh! how gladly shall we go and sell all that we have, and part with all that before we valued the possession of, to obtain him, and to acquire every day an increasing knowledge of him, and communion with him, whom truly to know, and as truly to enjoy, is life eternal.