American Standard Version Proverbs 22

Proverbs 22:1-29
EXPOSITION
Pro_22:1
A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches. It will be observed that “good” in the Authorized Version is in italics, showing that the epithet is not expressed in the Hebrew, which is simply שֵׁם (shem), “name.” But this word carried with it the notion of good repute, as in Ecc_7:1; for being well known implied honour and reputation, while being nameless (Job_30:8) signified not only obscurity, but ignominy and discredit. Hence the versions have ὄνομα καλόν, nomen bonum, and Ecclesiasticus 41:12, “Have regard to thy name (περὶ ὀνόματος), for that shall continue with thee above a thousand great treasures of gold. A good life,” the moralist continues, “hath but few days; but a good name endureth forever” (contrast Pro_10:7). And loving favour rather than silver and gold; or, more accurately, and before gold and silver grace is good; i.e. grace is far better than gold. Grace (chen) is the manner and demeanour which win love, as well as the favour and affection gained thereby; taken as parallel to “name,” in the former hemistich, it means here “favour,” the regard conceived by others for a worthy object. Publ. Syr; “Bona opinio hominum tutier pecunia est.” The French have a proverb, “Bonne renommee vaut mieux que ceinture doree.” The latter hemistich gives the reason for the assertion in the former—a good name is so valuable because it wins affection and friendship, which are far preferable to material riches,
Pro_22:2
The rich and poor meet together (Pro_29:13): the Lord is the Maker of them all (Job_34:19). God has ordained that there shall be rich and poor in the world, and that they should meet in the intercourse of life. These social inequalities are ordered for wise purposes; the one helps the other. The labour of the poor makes the wealth of the rich; the wealth of the rich enables him to employ and aid the poor. Their common humanity, their fatherhood in God, should make them regard one another as brethren, without distinction of rank or position: the rich should not despise the poor (Pro_14:31; Pro_17:5; Job_31:15), the poor should not envy the rich (Pro_3:31), but all should live in love and harmony as one great family of God.
Pro_22:3
A prudent man foresesth the evil, and hideth himself. The whole verse is repeated in Pro_27:12. St. Jerome has callidus, and the LXX. has πανοῦργος, as the translation of עָרוּם (arum); but it must be taken in a good sense, as cautions, farseeing, prudent (see note on Pro_1:4) Such a man looks around, takes warning from little circumstances which might escape the observation of careless persons, and provides for his safety in good time. Thus the Christians at the siege of Jerusalem, believing Christ’s warnings, retired to Pella, and wine saved. A Spanish proverb runs, “That which the fool does in the end, the wise man does at the beginning.” The simple pass on, and are punished. The subject of the former hemistich is in the singular number, for a really prudent man is a comparatively rare bring; the second clause is plural, teaching us, as Hitzig observes, that many simple ones are found for one prudent. These silly persons, blundering blindly on their way, without circumspection or forethought, meet with immediate punishment, incur dangers, suffer less. A Cornish proverb runs, “He who will not be ruled by the rudder must be ruled by the rock.” Septuagint, “An intelligent man (πανοῦργος) seeing a wicked man punished is himself forcibly instructed; but fools pass by, and are punished” (comp. Pro_21:11).
Pro_22:4
By humility and the fear of the Lord, etc. This does not seem to be the best rendering of the original. The word rendered “by” (עֵקֶב ekeb), “in reward of,” is also taken as the subject of the sentence: “The reward of humility [’and,’ or, ’which is’] the fear of God, is riches,” etc. There is no copulative in the clause, and a similar asyndeton occurs in Pro_22:5; so there is no reason why we should not regard the clause in this way. Thus Revised Version, Nowack, and others. But Delitzsch makes the first hemistich a concluded sentence, which the second member carries on thus: “The reward of humility is the fear of the Lord; it [the reward of humility] is at the same time riches,” etc. Vulgate, Finis modestiae timor Domini, divitiae et gloria et vita; Septuagint, “The generation (γενεὰ) of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and wealth,” etc. It is preferable to translate as above, taking the two expressed virtues as appositional, thus: “The reward of humility, the fear of the Lord.” Humility brings with it true religion, which is expressed by “the fear of the Lord.” The feeling of dependence, the lowly opinion of self, the surrender of the will, the conviction of sin, all effects which are connected with humility, may well be represented by this term, “the fear of God,” which, in another aspect, is itself the source of every virtue and every blessing; it is riches, and honour, and life. These are God’s gifts, the guerdon of faithful service (see notes on Pro_3:16 and Pro_21:21; and comp. Pro_8:18). The Easterns have a pretty maxim, “The bending of the humble is the graceful droop of the branches laden with fruit.” And again, “Fruitful trees bend down; the wise stoop; a dry stick and a fool can be broken, not bent” (Lane).
Pro_22:5
Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward. The words are in the Hebrew without the conjunction (see note, Pro_22:4), though the versions generally add it. Thus the Septuagint, τρίβολοι καὶ παγίδες; Vulgate, arma et gladiii but the Venetian, ἄκανθαι παγίδες. It is a question whether the thorns are what the perverse prepare for others, or what they themselves suffer. In Pro_15:19 the hedge of thorns represented the difficulties in the sluggard’s path; but here, viewed in connection with the following hemistich, the thorns and snares refer to the hindrances proceeding from the froward, which injuriously affect others; “thorns” being a figure of the pains and troubles, “snares” of the unexpected dangers and impediments which evil men cause as they go on their crooked way. The word for “thorns” is צנִּים, which occurs in Job_5:5. The plant is supposed to be the Rhamnus paliurus, but it has not been accurately identified. He that doth keep his soul shall be far from them (comp. Pro_13:3; Pro_16:17). The man who has regard to his life and morals will go far, will keep wholly aloof, from those perils and traps into which the perverse try to entice them.
Pro_22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go. The verb translated “train” (chanak) means, first, “to put something into the mouth,” “to give to be tasted,” as nurses give to infants food which they have masticated in order to prepare it for their nurslings; thence it comes to signify “to give elementary instruction,” “to imbue,” “to train.” The Hebrew literally is, Initiate a child in accordance with his way. The Authorized Version, with which Ewald agrees, takes the maxim to mean that the child should be trained from the first in the right path—the path of obedience and religion. This is a very true and valuable rule, but it is not what the author intends. “His way” must mean one of two things—either his future calling and station, or his character and natural inclination and capacity. Delitzsch and Plumptre take the latter interpretation; Nowack and Bertheau the former, on the ground that derek is not used in the other sense suggested. But, as far as use is concerned, both explanations stand on much the same ground; and it seems more in conformity with the moralist’s age and nation to see in the maxim an injunction to consider the child’s nature, faculties, and temperament, in the education which is given to him. If, from his early years, a child is thus trained, when he is old, he will not depart from it. This way, this education in accordance with his idiosyncrasy, will bear fruit all his life long; it will become a second nature, and will never be obliterated. The Vulgate commences the verse with Proverbium est, taking the first word substantively, as if the author here cited a trite saying; but the rendering is a mistake. There are similar maxims, common at all times and in all countries. Virg; ’Georg.,’ 2.272—
“Adeo in teneris consuescere multum est.”
Horace, ’Epist.,’ 1.2, 67—
“Nunc adbibe puro
Pectore verba, puer.”
For, as he proceeds—
“Quo semel est imbuta recens, servabit odorem
Testa diu.”
Thus we have two mediaeval jingles—
“Cui puer assuescit, major dimittere nescit.”
“Quod nova testa capit, inveterata sapit.”
Then there is the German saw, “Jung gewohnt, alt gethan.” “What youth learns, age does not forget,” says the Danish proverb. In another and a sad sense the French exclaim, “St jeunesse savait! si vieillesse pouvait!” All the early manuscripts of the Septuagint omit this verse; m some of the later it has been supplied from Theodotion.
Pro_22:7
The rich ruleth over the poor. “The rich man (singular) will rule over the poor” (plural); for there are many poor for one rich (see on Pro_22:3). This is the way of the world (Pro_18:23). Aben Ezra explains the gnome as showing the advantage of wealth and the inconvenience of poverty; the former bringing power and pre-eminence, the latter trouble and servitude; and hence the moralist implies that every one should strive and labour to obtain a competency, and thus avoid the evils of impecuniosity. The borrower is servant to the lender. (For the relation between borrower and louder, or debtor and creditor, see on Pro_20:16; and comp. Mat_18:25, Mat_18:34.) Delitzsch cites the German saying, “Borghart (borrower) is Lehnhart’s (leader’s) servant.” We have the proverb, “He that goes a-borrowing goes a-sorrowing.” The Septuagint departs from the other versions and our Hebrew text, translating, “The rich will role over the poor, and household servants will lend to their own masters”—a reading on which some of the Fathers have commented.
Pro_22:8
He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity; shall gain nothing substantial, shall have nothing to show for his pains. But
aven also means “calamity,” “trouble,” as Pro_12:21; so the gnome expresses the truth that they who do evil shall meet with punishment in their very sins—the exact contrast to the promise to the righteous (Pro_11:18). “To him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward.” Thus we have in Job_4:8, “They that plough iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same;” and the apostle asserts (Gal_6:7, etc), “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” Eastern proverbs run, “As the sin, so the atonement:” “Those who sow thorns can only reap prickles” (comp. Pro_12:14). And the rod of his anger shall fail. The writer is thinking especially of cruelty and injustice practised on a neighbour, as Delitzsch has pointed out, and he means that the rod which he has raised, the violence intended against the innocent victim, shall vanish away or fall harmlessly. Ewald and others think that the rod is the Divine anger, and translate the verb (kalah) “is prepared,” a sense which here it will not well bear, though the LXX. has lent some countenance to it by rendering, “And shall fully accomplish the plague (πληγὴν,? ’punishment’) of his deeds.” The rendering, “shall fail.” “shall be consumed, or annihilated,” is confirmed by Gen_21:15; Isa_1:28; Isa_16:4, etc. The Septuagint adds a distich here, of which the first member is a variant of Isa_16:9. and the second another rendering of the latter hemistich of the present verse: “A cheerful man and a giver God blesseth (ἄνδρα ἱλαρὸν καὶ δότην εὐλογεῖ ὁ Θεός): but he shall bring to an end (συντελεσεῖ) the vanity of his works.” The first hemistich is remarkable for being quoted by St. Paul (2Co_9:7), with a slight variation, Ἱλαρὸν γὰρ δότην ἀγαπᾷ ὁ Θεός. So Ecclesiasticus 32:9 (35), “In all thy gifts show a cheerful countenance (ἱλάρωσον τὸ πρόσθπόν σου).”
Pro_22:9
He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed. The “good of eye” is the kindly looking, the benevolent man, in contrast to him of the evil eye, the envious, the unfriendly and niggardly man (Pro_23:6; Pro_28:22). St. Jerome renders, Qui pronus est ad misericordiam. Such a one is blessed by God in this world and the next, in time and in eternity, according to the sentiment of Pro_11:25. Thus in the temporal sense:23). “Him that is liberal in food lips shall bless, and the testimony of his liberality will be believed.” Septuagint, “He that hath pity upon the poor shall himself be continually sustained (διατραφήσεται).” The reason is added, For he giveth of his brans to the poor. The blessing is the consequence of his charity and liberality. 2Co_9:6, “He that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully (ἐπ αὐλογίαις).” The Vulgate and Septuagint add a distich not in the Hebrew, Victoriam et honorem acquiret qui dat munera; animam autem aufert accipientium; Νίκην καὶ τιμὴν περι ποιεῖται ὁ δῶρα δοὺς τὴν μέντοι ψυχὴν ἀφαι ρεῖται τῶν κεκτημένωνω, “Victory and honour he obtaineth who giveth gifts; but he takes away the life of the possessors.” The first hemistich appears to be a variant of Pro_19:6, the second to be derived from Pro_1:19. The second portion of the Latin addition may mean that the liberal man wins and carries away with him the souls of the recipients of his bounty. But this, though Ewald would fain have it so, cannot be the signification of the corresponding Greek, which seems to mean that the man who is so liberal in distributing gifts obtains the power to do so by oppressing and wronging others.
Pro_22:10
Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; Septuagint, ἔκβαλε ἐκ συνεδρίου λοιμόν, “Cast out of the company a pestilent fellow” Chase away the scorner (Pro_1:22), the man who has no respect for things human or Divine, and the disputes and ill feeling which he caused will be ended; for “where no wood is, the fire goeth out” (Pro_26:20). Yea, strife and reproach shall cease. The reproach and ignominy (קָלוֹן, kalon) are those which the presence and words of the scorner bring with them; to have such a one in the company is a disgrace to all good men. Thus Ishmael and his mother were driven from Abraham’s dwelling (Gen_21:9, etc.), and the apostle quotes (Gal_4:30), “Cast out (ἔκβαλε) the bondwoman and her son.” Septuagint, “For when he sits in the company he dishonours all.” The next verse gives a happy contrast.
Pro_22:11
He that loveth pureness of heart; he who strives to be pure m heart (Mat_5:8), free from guile, lust, cupidity, vice of every kind. The next clause carries on the description of the perfect character, and is best translated. And hath grace of lips, the king is his friend. He who is not only virtuous and upright, but has the gift of graciousness of speech, winning manner in conversation, such a man wilt attach the king to him by the closest bonds of friendship. We have had something very similar at Pro_16:13. Some of the versions consider that by the king God is meant. Thus the Septuagint, “The Lord loveth holy hearts, and all blameless persons are acceptable with him.” The rest of the clause is connected by the LXX. with the following verse, “A king guides his flock (ποιμαίνει) with his lips; but the eyes of the Lord,” etc.
Pro_22:12
The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge. The expression, “preserve knowledge,” is found at Pro_5:2 (where see note) in the sense of “keep,” “retain,” and, taken by itself, it might here signify that the Lord alone possesses knowledge, and alone imparts it to his servants (1Sa_2:3); but as in the following clause a person, the transgressor, is spoken of, it is natural to expect a similar expression in the former. The Revised Version is correct in rendering the abstract “knowledge” by the concrete “him that hath knowledge;” so that the clause says that God watches over and protects the man who knows him and walks in his ways, and uses his means and abilities for the good of others (see Pro_11:9). But he (the Lord) overthroweth the words of the transgressor. The transgressor here is the false, treacherous, perfidious man; and the gnome asserts that God frustrates by turning in another direction the outspoken intentions of this man, which he had planned against the righteous (comp. Pro_13:6; Pro_21:12). Septuagint, “But the eves of the Lord preserve knowledge, but the transgressor despiseth words,” i e. commands, or words of wisdom and warning.
Pro_22:13
The slothful man saith, There is a lion without (Pro_26:13). The absurd nature of the sluggard’s excuse is hardly understood by the casual reader. The supposed lion is without, in the open country, and yet he professes to be in danger in the midst of the town. I shall be slain in the streets. Others consider that the sluggard makes two excuses for his inactivity. If work calls him abroad, he may meet the lion which report says is prowling in the neighbourhood; if he has to go into the streets, he may be attacked and murdered by ruffians for motives of plunder or revenge. “Sluggards are prophets,” says the Hebrew proverb. Septuagint, “The sluggard maketh excuses, and saith, A lion is in the ways, there are murderers in the streets.” Lions, though now extinct in Palestine, seem to have lingered till the time of the Crusades, and such of them as became man eaters, the old or feeble, were a real danger in the vicinity of villages (comp. Jer_49:19; Jer_50:44).
Pro_22:14
The mouth of strange women is a deep pit. The hemistich reappears in a slightly altered form at Pro_23:27. (For “strange woman” as equivalent to “a harlot” or “adulteress,” see note on Pro_2:16.) By her “mouth” is meant her wanton, seductive words, which entice a man to destruction of body and soul. It may be that theology rather than morals is signified here—rather false doctrines than evil practice. In this ease the mention of the strange or foreign woman is very appropriate, seeing that perversions of belief and worship were always introduced into Israel from external sources. He that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein. He who has incurred the width of God by previous unfaithfulness and sin is left to himself to fall a prey to the allurements of the wicked woman (comp. Ecc_7:26). Septuagint, “The mouth of a transgressor (παρανόμου) is a deep ditch; and he that is hated of the Lord shall fall therein.” Then are added three lines not in the Hebrew, which, however, seem to be reminiscences of other passages: “There are evil ways before a man, and be loveth not to turn away from them; but it is needful to turn away item a perverse and evil way.”
Pro_22:15
Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child. Foolishness (ivveleth) here implies the love of mischief, the waywardness and self-will, belonging to children, bound up in their very nature. Septuagint, “Folly is attached (ἐξῆπται) to the heart of the young,” in which version Cornelius a Lapide sees an allusion to the ornament hung by fond parents round the neck of a child whom they were inclined to spoil rather than to train in self-denying ways. To such a child folly adheres as closely as the bulla with which he is decorated. But the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. Judicious education overcomes this natural tendency, by punishing it when exhibited, and imparting wisdom and piety (see on Pro_13:24 and Pro_19:18; and comp. Pro_23:13; Pro_29:15; Ecclesiasticus 30:1, etc). The LXX. pursue their notion of the the indulgent parents letting the child have his own way, for they render the last clause, “But the rod and discipline are far from him.”
Pro_22:16
He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches (so the Vulgate), and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want. There are various renderings and explanations of this verse. The Authorized Version says that he who oppresseth the poor to enrich himself, and he who wastes his means by giving to those who do not need it, will come to poverty. But the antithesis of this distich is thus lost. The Hebrew literally rendered brings out the contrast,
Whosoever oppresseth the poor, it is for his gain; whosoever giveth to the rich, it is for his loss. Delitzsch explains the sentence thus: “He who enriches himself by extortion from the poor, at any rate gains what he desires; but he who gives to the rich impoverishes himself in vain, has no thanks, reaps only disappointment.” One cannot but feel that the maxim thus interpreted is poor and unsatisfactory. The interpretation in the ’Speaker’s Commentary’ is more plausible: The oppressor of the poor will himself suffer in a similar mode, and will have to surrender his ill-gotten gains to some equally unscrupulous rich man. But the terse antithesis of the original is wholly obscured by this view of the distich. It is far better, with Hitzig, Ewald, and others, to take the gain in the first hemistich as that of the poor man, equivalent to “doth but bring him gain;” though the sentence is not necessarily to be explained as suggesting that the injustice which the poor man suffers at the hand of his wealthy neighbour is a stimulus to him to exert himself in order to better his position, and thus indirectly tends to his enrichment. The maxim is really conceived in the religious style of so many of these apparently worldly pronouncements, and states a truth in the moral government of God intimated elsewhere, e.g. Pro_13:22; Pro_28:8; and that truth is that the riches extorted from the poor man will in the end redound to his benefit, that by God’s providential control the oppression and injustice from which he has suffered shall work to his good. In the second hemistich the loss is that of the rich man. By adding to the wealth of the rich the donor increases his indolence, encourages his luxury, vice, and extravagance, and thus leads to his ruin—”bringeth only to want. Septuagint, “He that calumniates (συκοφαντῶν) the poor increaseth his own substance, but giveth to the rich at a loss (ἐπ ἐλάσσονι)” i.e. so as to lessen his substance.
Verse 17-24:22
Part IV. FIRST APPENDIX TO THE FIRST GREAT COLLECTION, containing “words of the wise.”
Pro_22:17-21
The introduction to this first appendix, containing an exhortation to attend to the words of the wise, an outline of the instruction herein imparted, with a reference to teaching already given.
Pro_22:17
Incline thine ear (comp. Pro_4:20; Pro_5:1). The words of the wise; verba sapientium, Vulgate. “Wise” is in the plural number, showing that this is not a portion of the collection called, ’The Proverbs of Solomon’ (Pro_10:1), but a distinct work. (For the term, see note on Pro_1:6.) My knowledge. The knowledge which I impart by bringing to notice these sayings of wise men. Septuagint, “Incline (παράβαλλε) thine ear to the words of wise men, and hear my word, and apply thine heart, that thou mayest know that they are good.”
Pro_22:18
This verse gives the reason for the previous exhortation. It is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; in thy mind and memory (comp. Pro_18:8; Pro_20:27). Thus Psa_147:1, “It is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant, and praise is comely.” They shall withal be fitted in thy lips. This rendering hardly suits the hortatory nature of the introduction. It is better to take the clause in the optative, as Delitzsch, Ewald, Nowack, and ethers: “Let them abide altogether upon thy lips;” i.e. be not ashamed to profess them openly, let them regulate thy words, teach thee wisdom and discretion. Septuagint, “And if thou admit them to thy heart, they shall likewise gladden thee on thy lips.”
Pro_22:19
That thy trust may be in the Lord. The Greek and Latin versions make this clause depend on the preceding verse. It is better to consider it as dependent on the second hemistich, the fact of instruction being placed after the statement of its object. All the instruction herein afforded is meant to teach that entire confidence in the Lord which, as soon as his will is known and understood, leads a man to do it at any cost or pains, leaving the result in God’s hands. I have made them known to thee this day, even to thee. The repetition of the personal pronoun brings home the teaching to the disciple, and shows that it is addressed, not merely to the mass of men, but to each individual among them, who thus becomes responsible for the use which he makes of it (comp. Pro_23:15). The expression, “this day,” further emphasizes the exhortation. The learner is not to remember vaguely that some time or other he received this instruction, but that on this particular day the warning was given. So in Heb_3:7, Heb_3:13 we read, “As the Holy Ghost saith, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts ….Exhort one another daily, so long as it is called Today, lest any of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” Septuagint, “That thy hope may be in the Lord, and he may make thy way known unto thee.” Cheyne (’Job and Solomon’) quotes Biekell’s correction of this verse, “That thy confidence may be in Jehovah, to make known unto thee thy ways;” but the alteration seems arbitrary and unnecessary.
Pro_22:20
Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge? There is a difficulty about the word tendered “excellent things.” The Khetib has שׁלשׁום, “the day before yesterday, formerly;” but the word occurs nowhere alone, and, as Nowack says, can hardly have been the original reading. However, Ewald, Bertheau, and others, adopting it, suppose that the author refers to some earlier work. Cheyne cites Bickell’s rendering, “Now, years before now, have I written unto thee long before with counsels and knowledge,” and considers the words to mean either that the compiler took a long time over his work, or that this was not the first occasion of his writing. One does not see why stress should be here laid on former instruction, unless, perhaps, as Plumptre suggests, in contrast to “this day” of the previous verse. The LXX. renders the word τρισσῶς thus, “And do thou record them for thyself triply for counsel and knowledge upon the table of thine heart.” St. Jerome has, Ecce descripsi eam tibi tripliciter, in cogitationibus et scientiis. Other versions have also given a numerical explanation to the term. In it is seen an allusion to the three supposed works of Solomon—Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Canticles—which is absurd; others refer it to the threefold division of the Testament—Law, Prophets, and Hagiographa; others, to three classes of youths for whom the admonitious were intended; others, again, think it equivalent to “oftentimes,” or “in many forms.” But the reading is as doubtful as the explanations of it are unsatisfactory. The genuine word is doubtless preserved in the Keri, which gives שָׁלִשִׁים (shalishim), properly a military term, applied to chariot fighters and men of rank in the army. The LXX. translates the word by τριστὰτης e.g. Exo_14:7; Exo_15:4), which is equivalent to “chieftain.” Hence the Hebrew term, understood in the neuter gender, is transferred to the chief among proverbs—”choice proverbs,” as Delitzsch calls them. The Venetian, by a happy turn, gives τρισμέγιστα. Thus we come back to the rendering of the Authorized Version as meet correct and intelligible.
Pro_22:21
That I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth. The object intended is to teach the disciple the fixed rule (firmitatem, Vulgate) by which truthful words are guided (see Luk_1:4). Septuagint, “I therefore teach thee a true word and knowledge good to learn.” That thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee. This implies that the pupil will be enabled to teach others who apply to him for instruction; “will be ready.” as St. Peter says, “always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you” (1Pe_3:15). But the last expression is better translated, “them that send thee;” illis qui miserunt te, Vulgate (see Pro_25:13); and we must conceive of these as being parents or tutors who send a youth to a school or wise man to be educated. The moralist expresses his desire that the disciple will carry home such wholesome, truthful doctrines as will prove that the pains expended upon him have not been useless. Septuagint, “That thou mayest answer words of truth to those who put questions to thee (τοῖς προβαλλομένοις σοι)” The Syriac adds, “That I may make known unto thee counsel and wisdom.” Bickell’s version (quoted by Cheyne) is, “That thou mayest know the rightness of these words, that thou mayest answer in true words to them that ask thee.”
Verse 22-24:22
Here commence the “words of the wise.”
Pro_22:22
This and the following verse form a terrastich, which connects itself in thought with Pro_22:16. Rob not the poor, because he is poor. The word for “poor” is here dal, which means “feeble,” “powerless” (see on Pro_19:4), and the writer enjoins the disciple not to be induced by his weakness to injure and despoil a poor man. Neither oppress the afflicted in the gate. The gate is the place of judgment, the court of justice (comp. Job_31:21). The warning points to the particular form of wrong inflicted on the lowly by unjust judges, who could give sentences from which, however iniquitous, there was practically no appeal.
Pro_22:23
For, though they are powerless to defend themselves, and have no earthly patrons, the Lord will plead their cause (Pro_23:11). Jehovah will be their Advocate and Protector. And spoil the soul of those that spoiled them; rather, despoil of life those that despoil them. So the Revised Version. God, exercising his moral government on human concerns, will bring ruin and death on the unjust judge or the rich oppressor of the poor. Jerome has, Configet eos qui confixerunt animam ejus. The verb used is קבע (kabah), which is found only here and Mal_3:8, where it means “to defraud” or “despoil.” In the Chaldee and Syriac it may signify “to fix,” “to pierce.” Septuagint, “The Lord will judge his cause, and thou shalt deliver thy soul unharmed (ἄσυλον):” i.e. if you refrain from injustice and oppression, you will be saved Item evil and dwell securely.
Pro_22:24, Pro_22:25
Another tetrastich. Make no friendship with an angry (irascible) man. Have no close intercourse with a man given to fits of passion. And with a furious man thou shalt not go. Avoid the society of such a one. The reason follows: Lest thou learn his ways; his manner of life and conduct. as Pro_1:15 (where see note). Anger breeds anger; impotence, impatience. St. Basil (’De Ira’), quoted by Corn. a Lapide, enjoins, “Take not your adversary as your teacher, and be not a mirror to reflect the angry man, showing his figure in thyself.” And get a snare to thy soul; bring destruction on thyself. Anger unsubdued not only mars the kindliness of social life, but leads to all sorts of dangerous complications which may bring ruin and death in their train (comp. Pro_15:18).
Pro_22:26, Pro_22:27
A warning against suretyship, often repeated. Be not thou one of them that strike hands; i.e. that become guarantees for others (see on Pro_17:18; Pro_20:16; and comp. Pro_6:1; Pro_11:15). Sureties for debts. The writer explains what kind of guarantee he means. Why should he (the creditor) take away thy bed from under thee? Why should you act so weakly as to give a creditor power to seize your very bed as a pledge? The Law endeavoured to mitigate this penalty (Exo_22:26, Exo_22:27; Deu_24:12, Deu_24:13). But doubtless its merciful provisions were evaded by the moneylenders (see Neh_5:11; Eze_18:12, “hath not restored the pledge”).
Pro_22:28
The first line is repeated at Pro_23:10. (On the sanctity of landmarks, see note on Pro_15:25.) Some of the stones, exhibiting a bilingual inscription, which marked the boundaries of the Levitical city of Gezer, were discovered by Gauneau in 1874. The Septuagint calls the landmarks ὅρια αἰώνια.
Pro_22:29
A tristich follows. Seest thou a man diligent in his business! Mere diligence would not commend a man to high notice unless accompanied by dexterity and skill; and though מָהִיר (mahir) means “quick,” it also has the notion of “skilful,” and is better here taken in that sense. He shall stand before kings. This phrase means to serve or minister to another (Gen_41:46; 1Sa_16:21, 1Sa_16:22; 1Ki_10:8; Job_1:6). A man thus export is fitted for any, even the highest situation, may well be employed in affairs of state, and enjoy the confidence of kings. He shall not stand before mean men. “Mean” (חְשֻׁכִּים) are the men of no importance, ignobiles, obscure. An intellectual, clever, adroit man would never he satisfied with serving such masters; his ambition is higher; he knows that he is capable of better things. Septuagint, “It must needs be that an observant (ὁρατικὸν) man, dud one who is keen in his business, should attend on kings, and not attend on slothful men.”
HOMILETICS
Pro_22:1
A good name and loving favour
Both of these blessings—which, indeed, are closely allied—are here preferred to great riches. It is better to be poor with either than rich with neither. Let us examine the excellence of each of them.
I. THE EXCELLENCE OF A GOOD NAME. Why is this rather to be chosen than riches?

1. Because it is a higher order of good. Wealth is a material thing. The best of it is empty and vain by the side of what is intellectual, moral, or spiritual. It is possible to have great riches and yet to be miserable and degraded, if the higher reaches of life are impoverished.
2. Because it is personal. A man’s good name is nearer to him than all his property. The most personal property is distant and alien compared with the name he carries; the reputation that attaches to him is his closest garment—it is wrapped round his very self. If a person wears sackcloth next his skin, he can have little comfort in being clothed outside this with purple and fine linen.
3. Because it is social. The good name is known among a man’s fellows. It is this that gives him his true status. Now, we cannot afford to neglect social considerations. It is a terrible thing to live under the stigma of the rebuke of mankind. He is either more or less than a man who can look with indifference on the good or the ill opinion of his brethren. Mere fame may be of little value. A good name is far more desirable than a great name. It is not necessary that people should have a high opinion of us. But it is important that our name should be free from disgrace, should be honoured for purity and integrity of character.
4. Because it is a sign of other excellences. It may be given by mistake to a worthless deceiver, or it may be withdrawn from a worthy person through some cruel misapprehension. We cannot always take a man’s reputation as a true measure of his character. But when it is justly earned, the good name is the sacrament of a good character, and therefore an outward and visible sign of what is most excellent, for it is better to be good than to own riches.
   II. THE EXCELLENCE OF LOVING FAVOUR. Why is this better than silver and gold?
5. Because it is human. Silver and gold are but dead metals. They may be bright, beautiful, and precious; but they can have no sympathy with their possessors. Riches are heartless things, that take themselves wings and fly away without a qualm of compunction. But human interests and affections touch our hearts and rouse our sympathies in return. It is better to be poor among friends than to be rich but loveless and friendless.
6. Because it brings direct blessings. Riches are at best indirect sources of good. But love is a good itself, and it breathes a benediction on all to whom it is extended. Reputation is good, but affection is better. The best love cannot be enjoyed if the good name has been lost by wrong doing. But there may be no fame, no great name in the world, and yet much love. It is better to be loved by one than admired by a thousand.
7. Because it is the type of higher blessings. The loving favour of man is an earthly emblem of the grace of God. This is better than silver and gold, first, as a human source of peace and power, and then as a promise of eternal life and wealth in the heavenly inheritance, after death has robbed a man of all his silver and gold.
   Pro_22:2
   Social distinctions
   I. THE SAD CONDITION OF SOCIAL DISTINCTIONS.
8. These distinctions are very marked. There is an enormous separation between the condition of the rich and that of the poor. The one class is overwhelmed with luxury, the other pinched with penury. There seems to be a tendency to an aggravation of this separation. As wealth grows, poverty does not perceptibly recede. Three millions are on the borders of starvation among the riches of England.
9. These distinctions are not determined by desert. No doubt honest industry tends to prosperity, while idleness and dissipation lead to poverty. But there are bad rich men and good poor men.
10. These distinctions are grossly unjust. It is impossible to maintain that there is equity in the present distribution of property throughout the community, though it may be urged that most attempts at remedying the injustice that have been proposed hitherto would be worse than the disease.
11. These distinctions generate greater evils. They destroy the sense of human brotherhood, fostering a spirit of pride on the part of the rich, and rousing passions of hatred among those who feel themselves to be robbed of their share of the world’s wealth. One man is not to be thought of as necessarily superior to his neighbour simply because he is in possession of more property; nor, on the other hand, should the owner of wealth be regarded as a wholesale brigand.
    II. THE MEANS OF RECONCILING SOCIAL DISTINCTIONS. “The rich and poor meet together.”
12. It is desirable that there should be more intercourse between the various classes of society. Very much of the antagonism of the classes arises from ignorance. The simple, honest, poor man, seeking his rights in the rough style natural to his circumstances, is regarded as a red-handed revolutionist by the fastidious upper-class person, who, in turn, is treated by his indigent neighbour as a monster of cruelty and selfishness, a very ogre. The first step towards a better understanding is more freedom of intercourse. It is the same with the quarrel between capital and labour. Mutual conferences might bring about a common understanding.
13. In the Church of God rich and poor meet on common ground. Here pride of class is utterly inexcusable. Happily, the old distinction between the curtained, carpeted, and cushioned squire’s pew, and the bare benches of the villagers, is being swept away. But the spirit that this distinction suggested is not so easily exorcised. Christian brotherhood should bring all together in a common family spirit. It was so in early ages, when the slave might be a privileged communicant, while the master was a humble catechumen on the threshold of the Church.
14. Death levels all class distinctions. Rich and poor meet together in the grave. After death new distinctions emerge. Dives cannot scorn Lazarus in Hades.
    III. THE MOTIVE FOR OVERCOMING SOCIAL DISTINCTIONS. This is to be discovered in a consideration of the common relation of men to their Maker. Nothing short of religion will heal the fearful wounds of society. Forcible methods will not succeed; e.g. in the French Revolution. A universal redistribution of property would soon be followed by the old distinctions. Socialism would destroy virtues of independence and energy. But faith in God will work inwardly towards a reconciliation.
15. All classes are equally low before God. The highest earthly mountains vanish in astronomy.
16. Our common relation to God is the ground of our mutual relations with one another. All men have one Father; therefore all men must be brethren. The recognition of the Fatherhood of God will lead to the admission of family duties and claims among men. Christ, who teaches the Fatherhood of God, inspires the “enthusiasm of humanity.”
    Pro_22:4
    Two graces, and their reward
    I. TWO GRACES.
17. The social grace. “Humility.” This is becoming in all men, but it is especially seemly where its attainment is most difficult;
    e.g. among the high in station, the wealthy, the famous, the gifted, the popular. It is as difficult for the demagogue to be humble as for the lord—perhaps more difficult, for the former is more conscious of his own powers, and more recently lifted above his fellows. Humility is difficult to acquire, because it is so essentially different from mere weakness and self-effacement. It is seen best in the strongest and most pronounced natures. There is no virtue in failing back from one’s highest aims in order to escape notice. The grace of humility is discovered in an earnest effort to press forward energetically, without a thought of self or a care for the admiration of the world.
18. The religious grace. “The fear of the Lord” Pride excludes true religion. In the childlike spirit of humble dependence we are open to the influence of Heaven. Thus the one grace is linked to the other, Now, the whole of the Old Testament conception of religion is summed up in “the fear of the Lord”—not because there was no room in it for any emotion but terror, but because the root of the ancient faith was reverence. This is the root of all religion. It maybe so richly mingled with love as we come to discern the Fatherhood of God, that its more dread features are utterly lost. Yet love without reverence would not be a religious emotion, or, at all events, not one suited for God as he is revealed to us in the Bible. The Greeks seemed to dispense with the fear of God in their light, gay religion; but they also dispensed with conscience. A feeling of sin and a perception of the holiness of God must lay a deep foundation of awe beneath the most happy and trustful religious experience.
    II. A THREEFOLD REWARD.
19. Riches. This is the lowest aspect of the reward. It is in the spirit of the Proverbs, which calls especial attention to the secular consequences of good and ill. We know that the humble and good are often poor and oppressed. But there is a tendency for quiet self-renunciation to be recognized and rewarded. The meek are to be blessed with the inheritance of the earth (Mat_5:5). When full justice is done, the best men will receive the best things in this world as well as the life of that to come. At present we wait for the accomplishment of this social rectification.
20. Honour. The humble who do not seek honour shall have it, while the proud are cast down in shame. The first shall be last, and the last shall be first. Men delight to honour self-forgetful merit. But the highest honour comes from God, who discerns the heart, puts down the proud, and exalts them of low degree.
21. Life. Whether this is given in the Hebrew manner—in old age or not, Christ has taught us to see his true eternal life as the greatest blessing for his people. The humility in which a man loses his life is the very means of finding the true life; the reverence of religion leads us from the shallow frivolity of earth to the deep life of God.
    Pro_22:6
    The training of a child
    I. THE NEED OF THE TRAINING. This arises from various causes.
22. An undeveloped condition. Each child begins a new life. If all that were desirable could be found wrapped up in his soul, this would need to be developed by education.
23. Ignorance. The child does not come into the world with a ready made stock of knowledge. He must learn truth and be made to see the right path, which is at first unknown to him.
24. Weakness. The child needs not only to be taught, but to be trained. He must be helped to do what is at first too much for his strength. His better nature must be drawn out, nourished, and confirmed.
25. Evil. A child’s mind is not a tabula rasa. We need not go back to Adam for evidences of hereditary evil. The child inherits the vices of his ancestors. Thus “foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child.” Before he is guilty of conscious sin the tendency to wickedness begins to work within him.
    II. THE AGE OF THE TRAINING. This is to be in childhood, for various reasons.
26. Its susceptibility.
    (1) Susceptibility to training. The young mind is plastic; habit is not yet confirmed. It is easier to form a character than to reform it.
    (2) Susceptibility to religion. “Of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Young children are peculiarly open to religious impressions.
    “Heaven lies about us in our infancy!
    Shades of the prison house begin to close
    Upon the growing boy.
    But he beholds the light, and whence it flows,
    He sets it in his joy.”
    (Wordsworth.)
    Faith is natural to children. They cannot become theologians, but they may be citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Thoughts of God and Christ, and the call to the better life, can be well received by them.
27. Its dangers. Children are open to temptation. If not trained in goodness, they will be trained in evil. Some have thought that children should not be biassed in their religious ideas, but left in freedom to choose for themselves. We do not do this in secular matters, trusting them to choose their own methods of spelling and to manufacture their own multiplication table. If we believe our religion to be true and good and profitable, it is only a cruel pedantry that will keep it from children for fear of prejudicing their minds.
28. Its duties. Early years should be given to Christ. He seeks the opening bud, not the withered leaf.
    III. THE LAW OF THE TRAINING.
29. In action. There is a practical end in education. We are not merely to teach doctrine, but chiefly to train conduct.
30. According to right. This is not a question of taste. There is a way in which a child ought to go. It is his duty to tread it, and ours to lead him in it.
31. According to future requirements. While the main principles of education must be the same for all children, the special application of them will vary in different cases. We have to apply them to the specific career expected for each child. The prince should be trained for the throne, the soldier for the field, etc.
32. According to personal qualities. Each child’s nature needs separate consideration and distinctive treatment. The training that would ruin one child might save another. We have not to drill all children into one uniform fashion of behaviour; we have rather to call out the individual gifts and capacities, and guard against the individual faults and weaknesses. Thus the training of a child will be the directing of his own specific nature.
    IV. THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE TRAINING. “When he is old, he will not depart from it.” Age stiffens. It is well that it should grow firm in the right. Here is the reward of teaching the young. The work is slow and discouraging, and at first we see few results; perhaps we imagine that all our efforts are wasted upon thoughtless minds. But if the work is hard to begin, there is this compensation in it—when it has fairly laid hold of a child, it is not likely to be ever effaced. The teachings of the Sunday school are remembered after many a long year.
    Pro_22:20, Pro_22:21
    Certainty
    I. THE TRUTH SEEKER DESIRES CERTAINTY. With him “the certainty of the words of truth” is the great object sought after.
33. Certainty must be distinguished from positiveness. Doubt is often violent in assertion, as though to silence the opposition that cannot be answered. We may be very positive without being at all certain.
34. Certainty must be distinguished from certitude. Certitude is the feeling of certainty. Now, we may feel no doubt on a subject, and yet we may be in error. Real certainty is a well grounded assurance.
35. Certainty is desired because truth is precious. If a person is indifferent to truth, he may be satisfied with doubt, or acquiescent in error. This is the contemptuous condition of the cheerful Sadducee. His scepticism is no pain to him, because he does not feel the loss of truth. Not valuing truth, it is a light matter to him that he misses it. Such a condition of mind is an insult to truth itself. A man who recognizes the royal glory of truth will be in the greatest distress if he thinks it has eluded his grasp. To him the feeling of doubt will be an agony.
36. Certainty is sought because it is not always present. It may be very difficult to find. We grope in ignorance, error, and confusion of mind. Then the great want is some solid assurance of truth. Without this the world is dark, our voyage may end in shipwreck, and we cannot know God, ourselves, or our destiny.
    II. THE TRUTH SEEKER MAY SECURE CERTAINTY. The Bible denies agnosticism. It offers revelation.
37. Truth is revealed. The written Word contains the record of revelation. God has spoken to us through his prophets, but chiefly in his Son (Heb_1:1, Heb_1:2). Everything that lifts the Bible above common books and impresses its message upon our hearts as from God, urges us to believe in the truth of what it teaches, for God is the Source of all truth. If the Bible does not teach truth, the Bible must be an earthly book, uninspired by God.
38. Truth must be practised and studied. “Excellent things in counsels and knowledge” are written in the Bible. but to find their truth we must do the commandment, follow the counsel, enter thoughtfully into the knowledge.
39. Truth should be taught. “That thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee.”
    (1) Inquirers need counsel and guidance.
    (2) Truth is no private possession, but a public trust.
    (3) They who teach others especially need to know the truth themselves.
    Pro_22:28
    Ancient landmarks
    I. ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PROPERTY. The stone that divided one man’s vineyard from his neighbour’s was regarded as a sacred thing, on no account to be touched. This arrangement helped to perpetuate family holdings. It prevented the accumulation of large estates by the wealthy, and the alienation of the land from the poor. It guarded the weak from the oppression of the strong. It was a protection against deceit, error, and confusion. Ahab transgressed the Law in seeking to acquire Naboth’s vineyard. It would be well if we could appreciate the spirit of the old Hebrew sanctity of the landmark. It would be well, too, if there were more people who had a personal interest in the soil of the country. The “sacred rights of property” cannot confer on the owner any power to oppress the tiller of the soil; but, on the other hand, they should protect the owner from the violence of social revolution.
    II. ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF HISTORY. The fieldstones of Palestine were historic. Their very presence served as a record of the lives and doings of a past ancestry. As such they gathered a certain sanctity of association. It is no small thing that we in England belong to a historic nation. The forward movement that is so characteristic of our day should not blind us to the lessons of the past. Noble lives and great events are landmarks on the vast field of history. They help us to map out the past, and they also assist us to gain wisdom for the present. We cannot dispense with the landmarks of Scripture history. Christianity, without the facts of the life of Christ, would be boneless and shapeless. It is strong as a historical religion. Directly it is treated merely as an idea, a sentiment, or a “spirit,” it will languish by the loss of the old landmarks of concrete facts in the Birch, Life, Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ.
    III. ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF DOCTRINE. We live in an age when many of these have been uprooted and flung on one side. No doubt some of them had been converted into obstructions standing up in the middle of the road of truth. We need to ascertain whether we are really dealing with the truly ancient landmarks, and are not deceived by fraudulent inventions of later ages. The primary landmarks of Christianity are in the teachings of Christ and his apostles. We may have to clear away a great deal of the rubbish of the ages in order to get back to these original truths of Christianity. It is not right to accuse those who are loyal to Christ with removing the ancient landmarks, when they are only taking away these later accretions. But we cannot dispense with the truly ancient landmarks. If we forsake the New Testament, we forsake Christianity.
    IV. ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF MORALS. Many practices of antiquity may be abandoned. Some may be superseded by better ways, others left behind as unsuited to the circumstances of the new times. But behind and beneath all these changing fashions there are the solid rocks of truth and righteousness. What, ever else may be shaken, we cannot afford to shift these landmarks. We may improve upon old customs; but we cannot cast away the ten commandments.
    HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON
    Pro_22:1-16
    The theme of the earlier part of the chapter may be said to be the good name: the blessings in the possession of it, and the conditions for the acquirement of it—partly negatively, partly positively, described.
    Pro_22:1-5
    The general conditions of a good name
    I. WHAT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE ITS FOUNDATION.
40. Riches. (Pro_22:1.) Riches have their worth; reputation has its worth; but the latter is of an order altogether different from the former. The former gives a physical, the latter a moral, power. It is right that we should have regard to the opinion of good men. “An evil name shall inherit disgrace and reproach,” says Sirach 6:1. And we have, as Christians, clearly to think of the effect a good or evil name must have upon “them that are without” (1Co_5:12; 1Co_10:31, sqq.; Php_4:8).
41. Again, poverty with a good name is infinitely preferable to riches associated with an evil character (verse 2). It is according to general laws of providence that one is rich, the other poor. The great point is to recognize that we cannot all possess the lower good, but that the higher good is offered to all, made the duty of all to seek. Let the poor man not exaggerate the worth of riches, nor murmur against God, but humble himself under his hand, and trust the promises of his Word (Mat_5:3). And let the rich man not put his confidence in riches (1Ti_6:17), but lay up an inward store against the time to come. It is religion alone which solves the contradiction between riches and poverty by reducing both under the true standard of value.
    II. THE POSITIVE CONDITIONS OF THE GOOD NAME.
42. Prudence. (Verse 3.) To foresee evil at a distance—to have a cultivated spiritual sense, analogous to the keen scent of the lower animals, that may enable us to detect the danger not apprehensible by the duller sense—is necessary to our safety. And what is necessary to safety is necessary ultimately with a view to the good name. To go too near the fire may lead to the scorching of the reputation, if not to the loss of the life. To conceal ourselves beneath the wings of the Almighty and to abide in communion with God (Psa_91:1) is the best refuge from all danger.
43. Humility. (Verse 4.) He that would attain to the glory must first “know how to be abased.” Clearly to recognize our position and part in life always implies humility. For it is always less and lower than that which imagination dreams. Another important lesson from this verse is that reputation and the good attached to it come through seeking something else and something better. To do our own work is really to do something that has never been attempted before. For each of us is an original, and success in that which is peculiar to us brings more honour than success in a matter of greater difficulty in which we are but imitators of others.
44. The fear of God. (Verse 4.) Religion gives reality to character. And reputation must at last rest on the presence of a reality; and those who have it not are perpetually being found out.
45. Rectitude of conduct. (Verse 5.) What pains, anxieties, what dangers, rebuffs, and disappointments, and what loss of all that makes life sweet and good, do not the dishonest in every degree incur! The path of rectitude and truth seems rugged, but roses spring up around it, so soon as we begin fairly to tread it; the way of the transgressors seems inviting, but is indeed “hard.”—J.
    Pro_22:6-12
    Means to the preservation of the good name
    I. EARLY TRAINING. (Pro_22:6.) The young twig must be early bent. Experience teaches us that nothing in the world is so mighty for good or evil as custom; and therefore, says Lord Bacon, “since custom is the principal magistrate of man’s life, let man by all means endeavour to obtain good customs. Custom is most perfect when it beginneth in young years; this we call education, which is in effect but an early custom. The tongue is more pliant to all expressions and sounds, the joints more supple to all feats of activity and motions, in youth than afterwards. Those minds are rare which do not show to their latest days the ply and impress they have received as children.”
    II. INDEPENDENCE. (Pro_22:7.) How strongly was the worth of this felt in those ancient times! Poverty and responsibility to others are to be avoided. Many are forced into distress of conscience and to the loss of a good name by being tempted, for the wake of the rich man’s gold or the great man’s smile, to vote contrary to their convictions. Others will sell their liberty to gratify their luxury. It is an honest ambition to enjoy a competence that shall enable one to afford to be honest, and have the luxury of the freest expression of opinion. Hence frugality becomes so clear a moral duty.
    III. INTEGRITY. (Pro_22:8.) Ill-gotten gains cannot prosper. “The evil which issues from thy mouth falls into thy bosom,” says the Spanish proverb. The rod wherewith the violent and unjust man struck others is broken to pieces.
    IV. NEIGHBOURLY LOVE (Pro_22:9.) “Charity gives itself rich, covetousness hoards itself poor,” says the German proverb. “Give alms, that thy children may not ask them,” says a Danish proverb. “Drawn wells are never dry.” So give today, that thou mayest have to give tomorrow; and to one, that thou mayest have to give to another. Let us remember, with the Italian proverb, that “our last robe is made without pockets.” Above all, if our case is that “silver and gold we have none, let us freely substitute the kindly looks and the healing words, which are worth much and cost little.”
    V. A PEACEFUL TEMPER. (Pro_22:10.) Let the scoffing, envious, contentious temper be cast out of our breast first. As for others, let us strike, if possible, at the cause and root of strife. Let there be solid argument for the doubter, and practical relief for actual grievances. Let us learn from the old fable, and follow the part of Epimetheus, who, when evils flew abroad from the box of Pandora, shut the lid and kept hope at the bottom of the vessel.
    VI. A FAITHFUL AND CONSTANT HEART. (Pro_22:11.) The greatest treasure to an earthly monarch, and dear above all to the King of kings. “He who serves God serves a good Master.” Grace and truth are upon the lips of God’s Anointed forevermore. And to clench these proverbs, let us recollect that nothing but truth in the inward parts can abide before the eye of Jehovah. “A lie has no legs.” It carries along with itself the germs of its own dissolution. It is sure to destroy itself at last. Its priests may prop it up, after it has once fallen in the presence of the truth; but it will fall again, like Dagon, more shamefully and irretrievably than before. Truth is the daughter of God (Trench).—J.
    Pro_22:13-16
    Hindrances to the attainment of a good name
    I. SLOTH. (Pro_22:13.) It is full of ridiculous excuses here satirized. While a noble energy refuses to own the word “impossible,” it is ever on the lips of the indolent. As in the Arabic fable of the ostrich, or “camel bird,” they said to it, “Carry!” It answered, “I cannot, for I am a bird.” They said, “Fly!” It answered, “I cannot, for I am a camel.” Always, “I cannot!” He who in false regard to his own soul refuses to go out into the world and do God’s work, will end by corrupting and losing his soul itself (Joh_12:25).
    II. PROFLIGACY. (Pro_22:14.) Lust digs its own grave. Health goes, reputation follows, and presently the life, self-consumed by the deadly fire, sinks into ruin and ashes. If men saw how plainly the curse of God is written on vice, it would surely become as odious to them as to him.
    III. UNGOVERNED FOLLY. (Pro_22:15.) Nothing mere pitiable than an old fool, whose folly seems to stand in clear relief against the background of years. Hence, again, the urgent need of firm discipline for the young. And what occasion for thankfulness to him who, in his wise chastisements, will not “let us alone,” but prunes and tills the soul by affliction, and plucks up our follies by the root!
    IV. OPPRESSIVENESS. (Pro_22:16.) To become rich at the expense of other’s loss is no real gain. The attempt cuts at the root of sound trade and true sociality. Hastily gotten will hardly be honestly gotten. The Spaniards say, “He who will be rich in a year, at the half-year they hang him.” Mammon, which more than anything else men are tempted to think God does not concern himself about, is given and taken away by him according to his righteousness—given sometimes to his enemies and for their greater punishment, that under its fatal influence they may grow worse and worse (Trench).—J.
    Pro_22:17-21
    The words of the wise to be taken to heart
    I. THEY YIELD DIVINE PLEASURE (Pro_22:18.) And all the pleasure of the world is not to be weighed against it. Let those who have “tasted of the good Word of God” bear their witness. The human soul is made for truth, and delights in it. There is pleasure in grasping a mathematical demonstration or a scientific law; and the successful inquirer may shout his “Eureka!” with joy over every fresh discovery. But above all, “how charming is Divine philosophy!”—that which traces the clear path of virtue, warns against vice, shows the eternal reward of the former and the doom of the latter, Received with the appetite of faith, Divine truth is food most sweet.
    II. THEY LEAD US ON TO CONFIDENCE IN GOD. (Pro_22:19.) And this is our true foundation. He is Jehovah, the Eternal One. He is the Constant One. His Name is the expression of mercy, of truth, and of justice. To love and to trust him is to be in living intercourse with all that is true and beautiful and good.
    III. THEY ARE RICH IN MANIFOLD INSTRUCTION. (Pro_22:20.) They are “princely words,” i.e. of the highest and noblest dignity. Prone to sink into the commonplace, the mean, the impure, they lift us to high views of our calling, our duty, and oar destiny.
    IV. THEY PRODUCE, JUSTICE OF THOUGHT AND SOUNDNESS OF SPEECH. (Pro_22:21.) Thought and speech together form the garment of the soul. It is only the living sap of God’s truth within us which can impart greenness and beauty, blossom and fruit, to the life. As water rises to the level from which it descended, so does all truth received into the soul go back in some form to the imparter, in thanks and in blessing.—J.
    Pro_22:22-29
    Right in social relations
    I. RELATIONS TO THE POOR. (Pro_22:22, Pro_22:23.)
46. Robbery and oppression are a breach of the positive external law (Exo_20:15), much more of the inward and eternal law written in the heart, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
47. The perversion of law and magisterial authority to this end is an aggravation of the offence. It makes the refuge of the poor the market for bribery.
48. Above all, such oppression shows contempt for the authority of God. Among his titles to the throne of the world are these—that he is Protector of the helpless, Father of the fatherless, Judge of widows. The judgment on Ahab and the Captivity in Babylon (1Ki_21:18-24; Isa_33:1) may be referred to as examples of retributive judgment on the spoilers of the poor.
    II. AGAINST ASSOCIATION WITH PASSIONATE AND PRECIPITATE MEN. (Pro_22:24, Pro_22:28.) It is a contagious temper. How soon is the habit of hot and violent language caught up from another! It is a dangerous temper. “Never anger made good guard for itself.” It becomes more hurtful than the injury which provoked it. It is often an affected temper, compounded of pride and folly, and an intention to do commonly more mischief than it can bring to pass.
    III. AGAINST THE RASH INCURRING OF LIABILITIES. (Pro_22:26, Pro_22:27; see on Pro_6:1-4; Pro_11:15; Pro_17:18; Pro_20:16.)
    IV. AGAINST THE REMOVAL OF THE OLD LANDMARKS. (Pro_22:28. See the express commands of the Law, Deu_19:14; Deu_27:17; Job_24:2; Hos_5:10.) A strict respect for the righits of others is the foundation of all social order. And connected with this is the duty of respect for the feelings for what is ancient and time honoured. There should be no violent change in old customs of life and thought. Necessity may compel them; caprice should never dictate them. A spirit ever restless and bent on innovation is a nuisance in society. The existence of a custom is a proof of its meaning and relative worth; until it is discerned that the significance is now a false one, it should not be swept away.
    V. ON THE PRINCIPLES OF SUCCESS. (Pro_22:29.)
49. A man must know his business in the world. This is determined partly by his talents, partly by providential circumstances. “Know thy work “is as important a precept as “Know thyself.”
50. He must be diligent in his business, doing “with his might” what his band finds to do, laboring “with both hands earnestly” in every good cause.
51. The result will be advancement and honour. We have shining examples in Joseph, Nehemiah, Daniel. Ability and capacity are no less acquired than natural; use alone fully brings to light the talent, and to it Providence opens the suitable sphere of activity. Men may seem to be failures in this world who are not really so. He alone can judge of the fidelity of the heart who is to utter at the end of the sentence, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” “Many that are first will be last, and the last first.”—J.
    HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
    Pro_22:1
    Riches or reputation
    Both of these things are good in their way and in their measure. They may be held together, for many wealthy men have enjoyed s good name and much “loving favour.” But it is not given to all men to command both of these. A large proportion of rich men have lost their reputation for equity’ and humanity by the way in which they have gained their wealth. And they must necessarily be many who are compelled to take and keep their place among the poor. But if only one of these two desirable things is open to us, we may be very well satisfied that this is not the wealth, hut the worthiness, not the full treasury, but the good name and the kind regard. For—
    I. WEALTH IS VERY LIMITED IN ITS CAPACITIES. It is true that it commands considerable material advantages, and that it puts it in the power of its possessor to enlarge his own mind, to extend his social circle, and to multiply his usefulness. This, however, it only does as an instrument. It does not ensure any of these things. Men may possess it, and they may, as very many of them do, altogether neglect to avail themselves of the opportunity. It does not even dispose men to do these wise things; it is as likely as not to allure them in other and even contrary directions. The power of mere wealth, apart from the character of its owner, is very much slighter than it seems. It only really secures bodily comforts and the means of advancement.
52. It does not center even happiness, for mere jollity or transient excitement is not happiness.
53. It does not supply knowledge, much less capacity, and still less wisdom.
54. It does not provide the friendship which is worthy of the name, for no man who respects himself will be the friend of the rich simply because he is rich. We do not love a man because he has a large account at his bank.
55. It does not include the possession of any estimable moral qualities, nor, therefore, the favour of God. moreover—
    II. WEALTH HAS ITS SERIOUS DRAWBACKS.
56. It involves heavy burdens, great anxieties lest it should be lost.
57. It entails the most serious responsibility, lest its misuse or its non use should bring down the weighty condemnation of God (Mat_25:26).
58. It tempts to a dishonourable and degrading self indulgence; also to a cynical and guilty contempt of the poor and lowly.
    III. A GOOD REPUTATION INCLUDES OR IMPLIES THE BEST THINGS. Of course, men may acquire a fair name and even loving favour by very superficial qualities; but if they do, it is usually but short-lived. It breaks down under the weight of hard fact and accumulated experience. The good name which Solomon is thinking or, and which is the only thing of the kind worth pursuing, is that which is built upon or which springs from a sound character. It therefore implies the possession of uprightness, of purity, of truthfulness, of kindness, of reverence; and it therefore implies the possession of piety and the favour of God.
    IV. A GOOD REPUTATION IS A SOURCE OF TRUE AND PURE SATISFACTION.
59. It satisfies our self-respect; for we tightly wish to enjoy the intelligent esteem of our neighbours. We are rightly troubled when we lose it; we are justified in our satisfaction that we possess it. It is a pure and lasting gratification.
60. It satisfies our affections. To have the “loving favour” of men is to have much true gladness of heart.
    V. A GOOD REPUTATION IS A SOURCE OF MUCH POWER. While the bad rich man is steadily declining in his command, his humbler neighbour, who is esteemed for his wisdom and his worth, is gaining an influence for good with every passing year.—C.
    Pro_22:2
    Rich and poor.
    The great problem of excessive wealth and pitiable poverty confronts us still, and seems likely to task our united wisdom for many years, if not for several generations. We may regard—
    I. THE BROAD AND NAKED FACT VISIBLE TO EVERY EYE. The fact that, while this world is stored with wealth beneath the ground, and is capable of bringing forth upon its surface ample supplies for all the need of the race, there is found amongst us vast mass of miserable indigence. Children are born into the world in homes where parents do not know how to feed and clothe them, where an early death would seem to be the happiest fate; and other children are born into and brought up in homes where parents have a great deal more than they need to provide for their necessities, and where life offers every opportunity for enjoyment with no necessity for labour.
    II. HOW FAR THIS DISTINCTION IS OF GOD.
61. Such deep and wide distinctions as now exist must be contrary to his purpose. We cannot possibly suppose that it is in accordance with his mind that thousands of his children should be starving, unclad or ill clad, homeless, exposed to the saddest sufferings and the darkest evils, while other thousands of his children have more than they need or know how to make good use of.
62. These distinctions are the ultimate result of the laws which he ordained. Poverty has its origin in sin; it is one of the penalties of wrong doing. All the evil we see and sigh over, of every kind, we must trace to sin and to the consequences which sin entails. It is a Divine law that sin and suffering go together.
63. Some inequalities amongst us are directly due to his Divine ordering. He creates us with very different faculties. Some are fitted and enabled to do great things, which raise them in position and in circumstance above their brethren; others are not thus qualified Much, though very far indeed from everything, depends upon our natural endowments.
    III. THE UNDESIRABLE SEPARATION WHICH EXISTS BETWEEN THE RICH AND THE POOR. We do not know our neighbours as we should. We pass one another with cold indifference. Too often men turn away from their inferiors (in circumstance) with a contemptuous disregard which signifies that the poor man is beneath their notice; too often men fail to appeal to their fellows because they think themselves unworthy to address them. Between man and man, between brother and brother, there is a gulf of isolation which must be painful and pitiful in the sight of the common Father, the Maker of them both.
    IV. THE OCCASIONS WHEN THEY MEET.
64. Those on which they must feel the distinction between them—in business and in society.
65. Those on which they should not do so—when they meet in public worship or for Christian work, then all differences of a material and social kind should be forgotten and ignored.
    (1) What are these in presence of that which separates both rich and poor from the Infinite and Almighty One?
    (2) What are these in comparison with the question of moral and spiritual Worth? In the sight of God, the poor but holy man is far more acceptable than the rich but unholy man. With him all questions of income or of title are utterly insignificant, positively invisible in presence of the questions of moral rectitude and spiritual worth.
66. One on which they will not do so (Rev_20:12).
67. Do your best to bridge the gulf, or, still better, to fill up the chasm which separates one class from another.
68. Take care to have that distinction which will survive the shocks of time and change.—C.
    Pro_22:3
    Thoughtfulness and thoughtlessness
    All men might be divided into the thoughtful and the thoughtless. They belong either to those who look before them and prepare for the struggle or the danger that is coming, and avoid it; or else to those who go blindly on and stumble over the first impediment in their way. The “prudent man” of the text is not only the cautious man; he is the man of sagacity and foresight, who takes large and extended views of things. There are many illustrations of the thought, of which we may select.
    I. THE EVIL OF PECUNIARY ENTANGLEMENT. The prudent man forbears to enter into that alliance, or into those relationships, or on to that course of action which will demand more resources than he can supply. But the simple “pass on”—become involved, and pay the penalty of prolonged anxiety, of great distraction, of painful humiliation, of grave dishonour, of financial ruin.
    II. THE STRAIN OF UNWISE COMPANIONSHIP. A prudent man will consider well what company he can wisely keep, whose society will be beneficial and whose injurious to him, whether or not he can bear the pressure that will be put upon him to indulge in this or that direction, and he will shun the social circle that would be perilous to his integrity. But the simple take no heed, accept the first invitation that comes to them, become associated with those whose influence is deteriorating, succumb to their solicitation, and pay the penalty of serious spiritual declension.
    III. THE FORCE OF SOME PARTICULAR TEMPTATION. The wise perceive the danger of the intoxicating cup, of the saloon, of the racecourse, of the gambling table, and they keep steadfastly away. The simple pass on—self-confident, presumptuous, doomed, and they are punished indeed.
    IV. THE PASSAGE OF YOUTH. The prudent recognize the fact that, unless youth yields its own particular fruit of knowledge, of acquisition, of capacity for work in one field or other, the prizes of life must be foregone; and, recognizing this, they do not waste the golden hours of study in idleness or dissipation. But the simple take no heed, trust to the chapter of accidents, wait upon fortune, fling away their precious chances, and are “punished” by having to take the lower path all the rest of their days.
    V. THE RISK OF LOSING HEALTH. The prudent man sees that, if he urges his powers beyond the mark which kind and wise nature draws for him, he will gain a present advantage at the cost of future good, and he holds himself in check. The simple pass on—overwork, overstudy, strain their faculties, and break down long before their time.
    VI. THE LOSS OF LIFE. The wise man will count on this; he will reckon that any day he may be called to pass from his business and his family and his pleasure to the great account and the long future; and he lives accordingly, ready for life or for death, prepared to encounter the hour when he will look his last on time and confront eternity. The simple leave this stern fact out of their account; they pass on their way without making preparation either for those whom they must leave behind or for themselves when they enter the world where material treasures are of no account whatever; they pass on, and they “are punished,” for they, too, reach the hour of departure, but they awake to the sad fact that that has been left undone for which a long life is not too long a preparation.—C.
    Pro_22:5
    The path of the perverse
    By “the froward” we understand the spiritually perverse—those that will go on their own way, deaf to the commandments and the entreaties of their heavenly Father.
    I. THE PATH OF THE PERVERSE, This is:
69. One of guilt. These froward souls who choose their own way, declining that to which God calls them, are most seriously guilty. Whether their disobedience be due to careless inattention or whether to deliberate recusancy, it is disloyal, ungrateful, presumptuous, offensive in a high degree. It is no wonder that it proves to be:
70. One of suffering. No wonder that “thorns” are in that way, thorns that pierce and pain—grievous troubles, poverty, sickness, loneliness, fear, remorse, forsakenness of God. Departure from God leads down to tangled places, causes men to be lost in thorny wildernesses where suffering abounds. It is also:
71. One of danger. It is a place of “snares.” Without the “lamp unto the feet and the light unto the path,” how should the traveller in “this dark world of sin” do otherwise than fall? Outside the service of Christ, and apart from his guidance, when the heart is uncontrolled from above, there is the greatest danger of the spirit giving way to one evil after another, of yielding to that multitude of strong temptations which attend the traveller’s steps.
    II. THE WAY OF THE WISE. There is no necessity for man finding the path of his life a path full of thorns and snares. It is true that no prudence or wisdom will prove an absolute guard therefrom; but if a man will “keep his soul” as he may keep it, he will be preserved in his integrity, he will even “be far” from the worst evils which overtake the froward and perverse. To “keep our soul” is to:
72. Understand its inestimable worth; to understand that it far transcends in value any property we may hold, or any position we may reach, or any prizes or pleasures we may snatch.
73. Realize that God claims it as his own; that to the Father of spirits, to the Saviour of souls, our hearts and lives belong; that to him they should he willingly and heartily surrendered, that they may be placed in his strong and holy keeping.
74. Guard it by the help of Divine wisdom; apply those precious truths which are in the pages of God’s Word to its necessity; study the life and form the friendship of that One who himself is the Wisdom of God, walking with whom along the path of life we shall be safe from the wiles of the wicked one.—C.
    Pro_22:6
    Parental training
    Very many parental hearts have leaned their weight of hope on these cheering words—many to be sustained and gladdened, some to be disappointed. We look at—
    I. THE BROAD SPHERE OF PARENTAL TRAINING. What is the way in which a child should be trained to go? It is one that comprehends much. It includes:
75. Manners. These are not of the first importance, but they have their value. And if politeness, demeanour, bearing, be not engraven in the young, it will not be perfectly attained afterwards.
76. Mind. The habit of observing, of thinking, of reasoning, of sound reading, of calm consideration and discussion.
77. Morals. The all-important habits of truthfulness, of temperance, of industry, of self-command, of courage, of pure and stainless honesty, of unselfish considerateness, of generous forgiveness.
78. Religion. The habit of reverence in the use of the Divine Name, of public worship, of private prayer, of readiness to learn all that in any way God is willing to teach us.
    II. THE STRENGTH OF THE PARENTAL HOPE. Let the child be trained in these right ways, “and when he is old,” etc.
79. The assurance of habit. When we have firmly planted a good habit in the mind and in the life, we have done a very great and a very good thing—we have gone far toward the goal we seek. For habit, early formed, is not easily broken. We sometimes allude to habit as if it were an enemy. But, in truth, it is our best friend. It is a gracious bond that binds us to wisdom and virtue. Without it we should have no security against temptation; with it we have every reason to hope that youth will pass into prime, and prime into old age, clothed with all the wisdom and adorned with all the grace that it received in its early years. What makes the assurance the more strong is that habit becomes more powerful with each effort and each action. Every day the good habits we have formed and are exercising become more deeply rooted in the soil of the soul.
80. The assurance of the common experience of mankind.
    III. THE NECESSARY LIMIT. Not the very best training of the very wisest parents in the world can positively secure goodness and wisdom in their children. For when they have done everything in their power, there must remain that element of individuality which will choose its own course and form its own character. Our children may choose to reject the truth we teach them, and to slight the example we set them, and to despise the counsel we give them. In the will of every child there is a power which cannot be forced, which can only be won. Therefore:
81. Let all parents seek, beside training their children in good habits, to win their hearts to that Divine Wisdom in whose friendship and service alone will they be safe. Where sagacity may fail, affection will triumph. Command and persuasion are the two weapons which parental wisdom will do its best to wield.
82. Let all children understand that for their character and their destiny they must themselves be responsible. All the very worthiest and wisest influences of home will lead to no good result it’ they oppose to them a rebellious spirit, if they do not receive them in the spirit of docility. There is but one gate of entrance into life, and that is the personal, individual acceptance of Jesus Christ as the Lord and Saviour of the spirit. The parent may lead his child up to it, but that child must pass through it of his own accord.—C.
    Pro_22:13
    Excuses
    Few things are oftener on human lips than excuses. Men are continually excusing themselves from doing what they know in their hearts they ought to do. There is no sphere from which they are excluded, and there is hardly any evil to which they do not lead.
    I. THE SPHERES IS WHICH THEY ARE FOUND. The child excuses himself from the obedience which he should be rendering to his parents; the scholar, from the application he should be giving to his studies; the apprentice, from the attention he should be devoting to his business; the agriculturist, from the labour he should be putting forth in the fields; the captain, from setting sail on the troubled waters; the unsuccessful tradesman or merchant, from investigating his books and seeing how he really stands; the failing manufacturer, from closing his mill; the statesman from bringing forward his perilous measure; the minister, from seeking his delicate and difficult interview; the soul not yet reconciled to God, from a searching inquiry into its own spiritual condition and present obligation.
    II. THEIR MORAL CHARACTER.
83. There is a decided ingredient of falsehood about them. Those who fashion them know in their hearts that there is something, if not much, that is imaginary about them. The lion is not without; the slothful man wilt not be slain in the streets. The evil which is anticipated in all cases of excuse is exaggerated, if it is not invented. We do not, at such times, tell ourselves the whole, truth; we “deceive our own selves.”
84. There is something of meanness or unmanliness about them; we “let ’I dare not’ wait upon ’I would.’” We allow a craven feeling of apprehension to enter in, to take possession, to prevail over our better self.
85. There is an element of disobedience and unfaithfulness. We shrink from doing the thing which is our duty to do; we relegate to the rear that which we should keep in the front; we prefer that which is agreeable to that which is obligatory; we obey the lower voice; we leave unfulfilled the will of God.
    III. THE FATE OF THOSE WHO INDULGE THEM.
86. To have a very pitiable retrospect; to have to look back, self-condemned, on work left undone, on a life not well lived.
87. To lose all that might have been gained by energy and decision, and which has been lost by sloth and weakness. And who shall say what this amounts to in the years of a long life?
88. To miss the “Well done” of the Master, if not, indeed, to receive his final and sorrowful condemnation.—C.
    Pro_22:15
    (See homily on Pro_13:24.)—C.
    Pro_22:16, Pro_22:22
    (See homily on Pro_22:28.)—C.
    Pro_22:24, Pro_22:25
    (See homily on Pro_16:32.)—C.
    Pro_22:26, Pro_22:27
    (See homily on Pro_6:1-5.)—C.
    Pro_22:28
    The ancient landmark
    The text clearly refers to the ancient division of property by which the land was carefully marked out, and each family had its own proper share. The man who removed these boundaries in his own material interest was simply appropriating what did not belong to him. Perhaps “the removal of the ancient landmark” became a proverbial phrase to signify any serious departure from rectitude. It will be worth while to consider—
    I. WHAT IS NOT FORBIDDEN IN’ THIS PRECEPT.
89. A change in social customs. It is found by experience that we are all the better for leaving certain usages behind us. We outgrow them, and they become hindrances rather than aids to us.
90. The remodelling of old institutions. The time comes when the old order changes, giving place to new, by common consent and to the general advantage. With new methods, new organizations, there may come new life and renewed power.
91. The change of religious vocabulary. There is nothing wrong in putting the old doctrine in new forms; indeed, it becomes more living and more telling when uttered in the language of the time. Ancient phraseology is to be respected, but it is not sacred; it may and must give place to new.
92. The modification of Christian doctrine; not, indeed, a change of “the faith once delivered to the saints”—a departure from “the truth as it is in Jesus,” but such a varying account and statement of it as comes with increased light from the study of nature or of man, and with further reverent research of the Word of God. But what is—
    II. THE WRONG WHICH IS HERE FORBIDDEN. It is all criminal selfishness, more especially such as that referred to—the appropriation of land by immoral means, or the securing of any kind of property by tampering with a deed or other document. It may include the act of obtaining any advantage in any direction whatever by means that are dishonourable and unworthy. In all such cases we need the ear to hear a Divine, “Thou shalt not.” To act thus is a sin and a mistake. It is:
93. To disobey the voice of the Lord, who emphatically denounces it. Especially does God rebuke and threaten the wronging of the poor and feeble because they are such; to do this is to add meanness and cowardice to selfishness and crime (see Pro_22:16, Pro_22:22).
94. To injure ourselves far more seriously and irremediably than we hurt our neighbour. It is to lose the favour of God, the approval of our own conscience, and the esteem of the fast.—C.
    Pro_22:29
    (See homily on Pro_6:6-11; Pro_27:23.)—C.

Proverbs 22:2
The text reminds us that all mankind are alike in their origin. Moreover, the souls of all alike are equally precious in His sight, who is no respecter of persons; so precious that for all alike He has shed His own blood; and all shall stand before Him at last as equal, to be judged alike. How is it, then, that He allows this strange disparity at present to divide them, placing, as it would seem, both the one class and the other in a situation of great temptation, from the very fact of the one’s want and the other’s superfluity? All that we can do is reverently to adore these traces of wisdom and goodness which God has allowed to be visible, and such traces are not wanting in this strange phenomenon of rich and poor.
I. The poverty of the poor is a blessing to themselves. (1) They are, by their very situation, under the especial care of the Good Shepherd. (2) Their poverty is a great assistance to them in keeping their hearts humble.
II. The poverty of the poor is a blessing to the rich. (1) They teach the rich sympathy. (2) They arc an outward visible sign; established on earth by God Himself to teach the rich the nothingness of all worldly goods.
III. If the poor are to fulfil for us either of these great purposes for which God has ordained that they shall always exist amongst us, we must diligently cherish towards them a kind and friendly spirit.
A. C. Tait, Lessons for School Life, p. 142.

I. “The Lord is the Maker of them all.” The God who creates light and darkness has created the happy and the wretched; there is no escape from this, if we believe in God at all. He cannot have created the human race and then have left it alone to rush into a social chaos and confusion of itself. There is not a smile on any face, but the light of God is reflected in it; there is not a sigh or a tear but is noted in His book. There is a great mystery in evil and suffering, but not, therefore, a great injustice. Signs enough break through the darkness that encompasses us to prove that God is full of love, and the more we live to Him shall we discern them. If the Divine providence looked only to the present life, then bodily want must be an absolute evil; but since there are two lives—since there is a short life and also an eternal; since there are two parts of human nature, the perishing body and the immortal soul—it is impossible for us to judge of the real character or temper of bodily suffering till we can know how it affects the higher part of us and our everlasting interests. Meantime, we believe that the hand of God is upon all them for good that seek Him; though He gives grief, yet will He have compassion, according to the multitude of His mercies.
II. Read by the light of the gospel, the text puts on another meaning. The rich and poor are brethren. The feelings and interests which they have in common are far more weighty than those outward circumstances that divide them. In the pages of the New Testament we read a recognition of the rights of the poor. Rich and poor are equal when they stand at the foot of the Redeemer’s Cross, craving pardon for their sins; seeking His righteousness to cover their uncleanness. They are equal when they come before God to worship. They are equal when both shall stand before the judgment-seat of the Lord, to give an account of all things done in the body.
Archbishop Thomson, Penny Pulpit, No. 3,253.
References: Pro_22:2.—C. Kingsley, All Saints’ Day and Other Sermons, p. 397; W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 2nd series, p. 200; R. Harvey, Christian World Pulpit, vol. i., p. 532.

Proverbs 22:3
One main element of safety is a just estimate of danger. He who foresees the evil hides himself until it pass; and he who so hides himself escapes the storm which lays lofty rashness low.
I. In the ordinary business of life there are evils which may be foreseen by the prudent, and places of shelter in which he may safely lie. A disciple who has his heart in heaven should beware of fretting because his hands are full all day long with earthly business. Labour, when the Lord appoints it for His people, is a strong wall built round them to keep dangerous enemies out.
II. Evils lie before us in the region of practical morality—evils for which the prudent keep a sharp look-out. A strong tower of defence, from which all the fiery darts of the wicked will harmlessly rebound, is that name of the Lord into which the righteous run. All the power of the world and its god can neither drive a refugee forth from that hiding-place, nor hurt him within it.
III. But the greatest evils lie in the world to come, and only the eye of faith can foresee them. To be caught by death unready and placed before the judgment-seat without a plea, and then cast out for ever, are evils so great that in their presence all others disappear like stars in the glare of day. But great though they are, the prudent may foresee, and the trustful prevent them. There is a refuge, but its gate opens into time. If the prudent do not enter now, the simple will knock in vain at the closed door when he has passed on into eternity without any part in Christ.
W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 2nd series, p. 205.
Reference: Pro_22:4.— J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 2nd series, p. 64.

Proverbs 22:6
It is well to remember the general truth that all life can be trained. Dead substances cannot be trained. The higher you rise in the scale of life the more wide is the scope and the possibility of training. (2) Children are not only capable of training, but they will be trained in spite of us. And if we do not take them in hand, and with a very definite end in view, which we pursue with inflexible purpose and unflagging constancy—an end not lower than heaven, not narrower than eternity, and not meaner than their salvation—another process will assuredly be going on which will ere long fill us with dismay. We must know that children are always at school, even when they seem to be away from it. What is meant by training up a child in the way he should go? It may be said to consist in four things—true teaching, discipline, example, and prayer.
I. True teaching, or, if you will, the teaching of the truth which concerns it, in its relations to God and man. Store children’s minds with truth. Let them know all that it is right to do, both with respect to God and man, that they be not destroyed for lack of knowledge.
II. Example. To tell a child what is to be done is a very valuable thing, but to show how it is done is far more valuable. The precept is then seen to be more than a merely cold and perhaps impracticable injunction. The power of one’s example is the power of character.
III. Prayer. You are not left to this work alone. There is none in which you may more certainly calculate on the help of God, if you seek it, than in the endeavour to guide your children in the way that leads to heaven. He Himself is concerned for the welfare of your children. They are His gifts to you, and are meant to be, not curses, but blessings. He may seem for a season to delay His answers, but even while He delays He may be, in fact, working out the very results you have so earnestly sought.
E. Mellor, The Hem of Christ’s Garment, p. 52.
References: Pro_22:6.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iv., p. 248; E. Blencowe, Plain Sermons to a Country Congregation, 2nd series, p. 268; W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 2nd series, p. 209; C. J. Vaughan, Memorials of Harrow Sundays, p. 210.

Proverbs 22:7
Consider the reasons of this alleged superiority, why it should be “more blessed to give than to receive,” why “the rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.”
I. The first reason is found in the resemblance which is thus acquired to our Redeemer and Creator. Might it not almost be said of the Creator that He gives everything and receives nothing; that He is always the lender and never the borrower? Or, again, if our thoughts be turned on the “one Mediator between God and man,” was not the whole of Christ’s vicarious obedience one continued course of giving rather than receiving? If it be the very summit of Christian perfection to be conformed to the image of the Redeemer, is there not more of this conformity in giving than receiving?
II. The giver or the lender has necessarily an advantage over the receiver or the borrower, and the having this advantage quite explains how the one is “servant to the other.”
III. We find another proof of this position in what we may call the reflex character of benevolence, which causes whatever is bestowed to return to us tenfold. If God hath determined, out of His infinite lovingkindness, that not even a cup of cold water given in the name of a disciple shall lose, though it could not claim, a reward, it must necessarily be more blessed to be the lender than the borrower, inasmuch as whatever is bestowed, whether it be time, or counsel, or wealth, or labour, or experience, shall come back to ourselves abundantly multiplied.
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 2,338.
References: Pro_22:7.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 2nd series, p. 225. Pro_22:7-16.—R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. iii., p. 40. Pro_22:11.—J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 1st series, p. 16. Pro_22:17-29.—R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. iii., p. 53. Pro_22:13.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxviii., No. 1670. Pro_22:22, Pro_22:23.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 2nd series, p. 244.

Proverbs 22:28
It cannot but be perplexing in the extreme, to devout and moderately thoughtful minds, to find how constantly we catch new theories of what we had once felt to be fixed and immutable truth. Men extinguish the fair lights which the Divine hand has kindled, and set up lurid flames and beacons of their own. But as surely as you follow the one, so surely shall you find yourself among the breakers,—the breakers of controversy, doubt, and haply of despair; while, following the other, the voyage shall be prosperous and serene, under the command of the great Pilot who “holds the winds in His fist, and the waters in the hollow of His hand.”
I. “Our fathers trusted in Thee and were helped.” Apostles, fathers, and old sires, who held fast the form of sound words, have set their sign upon the landmark which they believed to be of God. We are not going to lay down the rule that you and I are bound to believe everything that our fathers believed, or that a man’s creed and faith is to be hereditary, and handed down unchanged to his posterity. But, when we recollect the firmness with which the old men clung to the broad doctrines of the gospel, and the strength they gathered, and the rest and peace and joy of soul they drank from them as from a crystal spring, these memories ought to check that mania for fashionable doubting which is so rife amongst us now, and lead us to cherish with some reverence the intimations of the past.
II. We live in a novelty-loving age, and men make novelties in creeds, just as they would make new things in dress. But while, in one grand sense, it is true that when we pass beyond these lower scenes old things shall pass away, and all things shall become new, it is also true in another, and perhaps a subtler, sense, that new things shall pass away, and all things shall become old. The novelty of the regenerated life shall be evolved out of the antiquity of the old landmarks. “Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? “Forsake not your first love. Take the quiet place of the disciple at the feet of Him who is the Light of the world.
A. Mursell, Lights and Landmarks, p. 1.

Proverbs 22:29
(with Rom_12:8; 1Sa_2:30)
I. The Bible always recognises a basis of character which is found in the natural endowments of a man. The Bible does not glorify men because of beauty and strength, because of great mental parts, powers of reason or imagination; but it never hesitates to speak of these as parts of the perfectness of life, as conditions and qualities which by proper use and right direction may be turned to the good of men and the glory of God.
II. According to the teaching of the Bible, there must be the diligent use of these natural powers. Simply for man to possess certain capacities and faculties, physical and mental, is not sufficient. He has to discipline and practise, develop and perfect, them. The stigma of folly and the terror of ruin alike are declared against that man who is careless and uncertain, who heeds not the opportunities which are presented to him, and lets the precious moments of life fly by while his powers are undisciplined and his God is unserved.
III. The diligence of life must, according to the Scripture ideal, be accompanied by the virtues and purities of a moral self-restraint.
IV. The ideal man of the Scriptures is to be inspired by a sense of the Divine presence and power.
L. D. Bevan, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxiii., p. 168.
References: Pro_22:29,—Preacher’s Monthly,vol. ii., p. 468. Pro_23:1-3.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 2nd series, p. 237. Pro_23:1-11.—R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. iii., p. 70.

Proverbs 22:1
Good. Hebrew, “a name,” or reputation. (Haydock) — It is preferable to riches, but not to be compared with virtue, which is the only solid good; and even to be placed above riches, it must be well grounded. (Calmet) — Favour with all. (Haydock)

Proverbs 22:2
Another. They stand in need of one another. (St. Chrysostom, hom. xxxiv. in 1 Corinthians.) — They are equal in God’s sight, who only values real virtue. He disposes of riches, so that the poor may one day become rich. (Calmet)

Proverbs 22:4
Fruit. Literally, “the end of modesty, (Haydock) or moderation, which must accompany every virtue.

Proverbs 22:5
Perverse. They are always in danger and in trouble.

Proverbs 22:6
It is a proverb, is added by St. Jerome, to make the sentence more striking. — It. He is like a tender plant, (Calmet) or wax, or a new vessel.        Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem
        Testa diu. (Horace, ep. i. ad Lol.)
— “Shall wool regain its whiteness after it has been dyed purple?” (St. Jerome, ad Lætam.) — Hebrew, “initiate a young,” &c. Proportion your lessons to his capacity, and make him relish them.

Proverbs 22:7
Servant. He might be sold, &c., Exo_22:3, and Mat_18:25 (Gell. 20:1) Plato (Leg. viii.) would have nothing sold on credit. These laws appear to be severe; but they are founded on wisdom, as nothing impoverishes more than the facility of borrowing.

Proverbs 22:8
Consumed. Or beaten with the flail of God’s anger.

Proverbs 22:9
Is. Hebrew, “has a good eye,” in opposition to the evil, or malicious one, Mat_20:15 — He, &c., is not in Hebrew, or in the Latin edition of Comp. and St. Jerome.

Proverbs 22:11
He. Septuagint, “the Lord loveth pious hearts. All the irreproachable are acceptable to him. The king feeds with lips,” by his just ordinances. (Haydock) — Kings hate duplicity; but require that the truth should be disclosed to them in a suitable manner.

Proverbs 22:13
Streets. Vain excuses of sloth!

Proverbs 22:14
It. Debauchery resembles hell, chap. 23:23 (Calmet) — Facilis descensus Averni, &c. (Virgil, Æneid vi.)

Proverbs 22:15
Folly. Ignorance and innate corruption are corrected by a good education.

Proverbs 22:17
Incline. Thus Solomon concludes his discourse, (chap. 24:23) in the same manner as he began it, to chap. x. Some commence the third book of Proverbs in this place; others, chap. xxv. (Calmet)

Proverbs 22:18
Lips. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. (Haydock)

Proverbs 22:20
Ways. Repeatedly. (Bossuet; Tirinus) (2Co_12:8, and Amo_1:11) (Calmet) — Protestants, “have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge?” “Shalishim,” perfect, (Pagnin) or “three things,” (Montanus) means also (Haydock) such as might suit princes and great officers. (Calmet)

Proverbs 22:21
Sent. Septuagint, “are sent to thee.” Thou mayst become a teacher, (Haydock) or give satisfaction to thy parents, who have sent thee to my school. (Calmet)

Proverbs 22:22
Gate. Where judges passed sentence. (Menochius)

Proverbs 22:25
Soul. By imitating him, or by falling a victim to his rage.

Proverbs 22:26
Hands. Engaging to stand bond. (Haydock) (Chap. 6:1) — Such a one might be required to pay the debt, chap. 20:16

Proverbs 22:28
Set. The pagans made a god of Terminus, to prevent disputes. (Ovid, Fast. ii.) — If it be unlawful to disturb land-marks, how much more so is it to give way to novelty in religion? (Deu_19:14) (Calmet) — Solomon is addressing those who follow the true faith. Else the conduct of infidel ancestors should not deter any from embracing the truth. (Haydock)

Proverbs 22:29
Obscure. By industry he shall raise himself to notice. (Haydock) — Kings employ those who are most active. (Calmet)

Proverbs 22:1
Ecc_7:1

Proverbs 22:3
Pro_14:16; Pro_27:12

Proverbs 22:4
Pro_15:33, Pro_10:27

Proverbs 22:6
(1788) The point to this scripture is that if you train a child from “The opening of the way” or the very beginning of his life, when he is older he will never leave the truths that have been ingrained into him. (Deu_6:7, Pro_13:24; Pro_19:18; Pro_23:13; Pro_29:17)

Proverbs 22:9
Pro_19:17, 2Co_9:6

Proverbs 22:10
(1789) Being a true believer does not mean that you must keep negative, people with false accusing spirits around in the congregation. Pro_26:20

Proverbs 22:14
Pro_5:3

Proverbs 22:15
Pro_23:13

Proverbs 22:23
Psa_12:5

Proverbs 22:26
(1790) See note on Pro_6:3.

Proverbs 22:28
Pro_23:10

Proverbs 22:1

A Name and Favor Are Better Than Wealth

“A [good] name” or reputation is preferable to “great wealth”. The real value of a person is not in what he possesses, but in what he is. A person gains a good name through his pleasant dealings with others. This can only ultimately be worked by the Spirit of God. One who has a good name has received it because he seeks the other person’s welfare, pays true attention and shows respect and compassion. With a good name, wealth is dwarfed. Wealth dissipates; a good name remains.

To a good name is inextricably connected “favor”. He who has a good name is in favor with God and people. Because of his qualities and selfless actions, people think favorably of him. People value his company, not because of his possessions, but because of who he is. This is worth more than silver and gold. Any person with a healthy sensibility will recognize this.

A good name is not the same as being popular. A person is popular because he is liked by man without God. He may give a lot of money to ‘charities’, to which publicity is also given. Or he may be the comedian who makes others laugh and for a moment lets them forget the unpleasant feeling they have. Of such popularity the Lord Jesus says: “Woe to you when all men speak well of you” (Luk_6:26 ). These people are ultimately only concerned with their own honor and not the honor of God. He who is out to please people – himself or others – is not a slave of Christ (Gal_1:10 ).

In our Western, modern, pleasure-seeking culture, character and reputation have no meaning. Only what a person performs matters, not how a person lives. A person can live in the most heinous sins and still be praised as a hero and adored as an idol. True value, however, should not be seen in what one performs, but in what he or she really is. A good name is a treasure whose value is not affected by the delusion of the day or the statue of the material world before which materialistic man kneels.

The Lord Jesus when He was on earth did not have wealth, but He did have a good Name. “Your oils have a pleasing fragrance, Your name is [like] purified oil” (Son_1:3 ), that is, in all that He is and does, He spreads a beneficial fragrance (Act_10:38 ).

Proverbs 22:2

The LORD Is the Maker of All

The point is not that God made people rich or poor, but that He made both those who are rich and those who are poor (Job_31:13 Job_31:15 ). They come into the world the same way and that is naked; they leave the world the same way and that is without being able to take anything of their possessions with them (1Ti_6:7 ). In the life in between, rich and poor “have a common bond”, literally “meet together”, both in daily life and in the church, and always in God’s direct presence. In God’s presence there is no distinction. All are sinners and all can be saved.

We can deal well with all social differences only if we all remember that God made us. He makes no distinctions and does not favor some over others precisely because they are “all the work of His hands” (Job_34:19 ). He lets us be severely warned through the apostle James in His Word that in the church we are not to distinguish between the rich and the poor (Jas_2:1-9 ).

At the same time, the verse makes it clear that God also has everything to do with what we possess. Not only are we His making, but He also knows how we deal with our wealth or poverty and how we as rich and poor live and deal with each other.

Proverbs 22:3

To Escape From Evil or to Perish

“The prudent sees the evil” because he is informed by the Word of God and his fellowship with Him. The prudent is not a clairvoyant. He who has understanding of God’s Word sees in it the full extent of evil in the world. God’s people are also given instructions in it as to how to escape it (Isa_26:20-21 ).

Noah was warned of the flood and “in reverence he prepared an ark for the salvation of his household” (Heb_11:7 ). Because he had reverence for what God had made known to him, he built the ark as a hiding place against “the evil”, the judgment, of the flood. Thus he was spared from evil and did not perish.

“The naive” are blind to the evil about to come upon them, even though they are warned about it. The naive is an imprudent, a reckless person, one who refuses to see that the warning concerns a real danger. He continues his self-willed path without hiding. He is like someone who simply walks through a meadow during a thunderstorm, blind to the danger of being struck by lightning.

Evil can mean death, but also all kinds of disasters that can strike a person in his life. The prudent, through the teaching of wisdom, knows where the dangers and pitfalls are in his life and is therefore wary of them. He will notice impending evil in time and avoid or defuse it. He does this by hiding with God in time, by seeking refuge with Him.

We can think of an attractive proposal made to us, from which there is a great temptation to lead us astray. Then we must immediately take refuge with God, because only then can we say “no” to the temptation. The naive fall into it because they are inattentive, uncritical and gullible. They are not equipped to survive in this world to avoid blunders that get them into trouble.

We can also apply this verse to the gospel. The gospel provides the escape route to the hiding place against the wrath of God. The jailer saw the danger of judgment and saved his life by believing the gospel (Act_16:25-34 ).

Proverbs 22:4

The Reward of Humility

Where there is “the fear of the LORD”, there is “humility”. These two spiritual qualifications belong together; they cannot exist without each other. Reverence for the LORD will result in a humble mind toward Him and toward men. The spiritual strength for a humble attitude toward Him and men is found only in the reverent fellowship with Him. From the latter everything flows.

How special then is it that He rewards humility. This is how He is. The Lord Jesus is the personification of this verse. He said of Himself that He is “humble in heart” and that we can learn this from Him if we take His yoke upon us (Mat_11:29 ). If we are humble, it is only because we have learned that from Him. When God sees characteristics of His Son in His own, it rejoices His heart. He rewards that with “riches, honor and life”.

These three rewards are not to be understood so much in an earthly perspective, in money and prestige among men and long life, but must be viewed more in the spiritual sense. He who fears God in humility gains understanding of spiritual riches, he is honored by God and will enjoy true life for all eternity.

Proverbs 22:5

Thorns and Snares in the Way

The perverse finds himself on a way where there are “thorns [and] snares”. The thorns cause him to suffer injuries each time, and the snares cause him to get stuck each time. The injuries are spiritual in nature. He is shunned and despised by the people. The snares are also of a spiritual nature. His perverse way causes him problems in which he becomes more and more trapped, with no chance to free himself from them. Yet he does not realize that he is on the wrong way because he is perverse and does not want to bow down to God. As a result, he continues on this way that ends in death and the judgment of God.

Opposed to him who is perverse is “he who guards himself”. Such a person keeps far from the way of the perverse. As a result, he avoids the painful thorns and the suffocating snares. He wants to live his life in fellowship with God, because that is truly life. It does not mean that he cannot suffer spiritual injuries and have problems, but he knows Him Who cares for him and sustains him.

Proverbs 22:6

Advice For Training Up

This verse is one of the best known verses of this book. It is an encouragement to parents to give their child a proper upbringing or exercise or training. The word “train” has the idea of “consecrate”, like a house or temple are consecrated. The young man must be consecrated to God.

The training up must be in accordance with “the way he should go”, with his way that is, he must be brought up in accordance with his personal qualities and abilities. These must be shaped in such a way that he becomes useful to God. The wise parent will discern the natural abilities of the individual child and train him up in them. A child who has no aptitude for music at all should not be forced to learn to play a musical instrument. There must be an understanding of the individuality of the child to which the parents must adjust the upbringing. They should not demand impossible things, but always give him assignments appropriate to his gender, age, (mental) bearing and abilities.

As a matter of fact, it seems that it is primarily about the direction of the way the child should go rather than what he can and cannot do. It is about the way “he should go”, about his way of life and the purpose of his life. His life way is determined not so much by his aptitude and abilities, but by the choices he makes. Parents must teach him to make the right choices, choices that will bring and keep him on a path of dedication to God (cf. Gen_18:19 ). In the book of Proverbs, there are only two ways a child can go, which is either the way of the wise and the righteous, or the way of the fool and the wicked.

The child must be taught to dedicate his life to the Lord. If he has learned from his parents in his youth to make his choices accordingly, he will do the same when he grows old. We do say: learning young is done old. The choices made for the Lord in the young years have proven its blessing time and again. A person never wants to give that up when he has grown old. Incidentally, the fact that he has grown old is evidence of God’s blessing, for reaching an old age is one of the blessings associated with trust in God.

This verse is a general principle, not one that is always true in all cases. There are parents who have trained up their children in this way, yet one or some of their children have departed from the way of life to the glory of the Lord. This verse applies to children who have chosen the way of wisdom as a result of their upbringing. Unfortunately, there are also children who despite the training up by their parents still choose to go the way of the fool. For this they are fully responsible themselves. It will aggravate their punishment associated with going their own way. They have known better, but have deliberately turned away from the way of life.

Proverbs 22:7-9

To Borrow, to Sow Iniquity and to Be Generous

It is a common fact that “the rich rules over the poor” (Pro_22:7 ). A rich person has power through his money. Poor people depend on the goodness of a rich person. Ruling does not have to be ruling with harshness. It is about the fact that he who has money has power and he who does not have money is powerless. It is not a command for the rich to rule over the poor, but an observation. Poverty makes people dependent on others.

In practice, this is expressed when a poor person has to borrow money. By borrowing money from a rich person, “the lender”, he becomes his slave. The rich person now has actual power over the poor person, because the poor person owes him a debt and is obliged to pay it back. If he defaults, the lender can start using him as a slave in order to recover the lent money that way.

Pro_22:8 connects to Pro_22:7 . It may be that the rich person of Pro_22:7 is misusing the blessing God has given him in his wealth to make the poor dependent on him and subject to him. By behaving in this way, he “sows iniquity”. According to the law of reaping what you sow (Gal_6:7 ; cf. Job_4:8 ; Hos_10:13 ), he will “reap vanity”. Any abuse, whether of power, money or anything else God has given, will be punished by God.

God will cause “the rod of his fury” to perish, that is, he will destroy the power of the wrongdoers. The rod, the symbol of the oppressive method he used, will perish with him. This is an encouragement to the oppressed.

Pro_22:9 is the flip side of both the previous verses. There is a reward for “he who is generous”, that is he who is generous and gives to the poor. That reward involves being blessed by God. This is not about a rich person who gives of his wealth, but one who shares with others what he has. He does not lend, as the rich person does (Pro_22:7 ), but gives away of his own bread to the poor. He shares it with them without any demand for a return.

This is giving in imitation of God, Who also gave without any demand for a return, with His Son as the supreme Gift. One who gives in this way is therefore blessed by Him.

The expression “he who is generous” is literally “he who has a good (or “abundant” or “generous”) eye”. It indicates that a person sees need in others and unasked helps in that need by giving of his own property to the needy or distressed person. This person has a benevolent mind and a concern for the poor. He is a giver after the heart of God in whom He rejoices (cf. 2Co_9:7 ; Luk_14:12-14 ).

Proverbs 22:10

Drive Out the Scoffer

If “a scoffer” appears anywhere in a company, he causes contention. Disrupting order is in his blood; he is incapable of orderly thinking and thoughtful discussion. Contributing to the solution of a problem is completely beyond his will and ability. What he is only good at, and what he is intent on, is ridiculing everything and everyone, thus antagonizing others in any company. He creates an atmosphere of contention.

With a scoffer you should not argue. The only appropriate measure to silence him is to put him outside the door and deny him further access. Then he can no longer assert his evil influence, and weak members of God’s people are no longer in danger of his overthrowing their faith. Maintaining the scoffer in the company puts disgrace on the whole company. If he is sent away, both the dispute and the disgrace cease (cf. Tit_3:10 ; Gen_21:9-10 ; Gal_4:28-31 ).

Proverbs 22:11

Purity and Grace

“Purity of heart” and “graciousness of speech” belong together. A person has a pure heart only if he has been born again, if he has been converted to God. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Mat_5:8 ). He who loves purity of heart stands in connection with God through faith, by which the heart is cleansed (Act_15:9 ). He has fellowship with Him.

Where there is love for purity of heart, there is also love for kind, gracious words. The words a person uses and the way he says something indicate the state of his heart, what his heart is set on. Heart and words characterized by purity and graciousness find a warm welcome with a king. A good king appreciates this and will make grateful use of such a person in his reign. He will make him his confidant, his friend, with whom he can share governmental affairs.

The Lord Jesus is pre-eminently the King Who values purity of heart and gracious words. They are His characteristics. With those in whom He observes them, He has a special bond of confidentiality. To them He makes His thoughts known and thereby gives them the ability to make them known to His own.

Proverbs 22:12

The LORD Preserves and Overthrows

“The eyes of the LORD” indicate His omniscience, that He sees and sees through everything. He sees the enemy’s frantic efforts to banish the “knowledge” concerning Him from the world. However, He sees to it that the knowledge concerning Him is not lost, but He preserves that knowledge by always giving people who acknowledge Him. Despite all attempts over the centuries to eradicate the Bible and the believers, there has always been knowledge of God on earth through Bibles and people whom He has preserved and who have passed on the knowledge of Him.

“The treacherous man” acts and speaks against the knowledge of God. He ignores God and pretends that He does not exist. Or he claims to have the true knowledge of God and drags others into that path of apostasy. A treacherous man is someone who has heard of it but becomes apostate. All his affairs are brought to ruin by God, both his methods of treacherousness and himself and all who follow him. He himself is overthrown, thrown into destruction, while everything he tried to destroy triumphs and endures forever (Psa_119:152 ).

Proverbs 22:13

An Excuse of the Sluggard Not to Work

A sluggard comes up with the most absurd excuses for not working. He ‘sees’ danger outside, but does not see the deadly danger of his laziness. The sluggard is too lazy to use his hands, but his brain works hard and brings forth the most nonsensical thoughts. The sluggard has a strong working imagination. He envisions it: if he were to go across the street to work, it would be his death, because “there is a lion outside”. He is the only one who sees this lion, because all the other people are on their way to work.

That his excuse is nonsensical and laughable does not bother the sluggard. Any claim that there is no lion is firmly rejected by him. He has ‘seen’ the lion; therefore, you cannot get him to go out. A sluggard is a foolish prophet, he prophesies about a vision that only he himself has seen and in which he passionately believes.

Benaiah, one of David’s heroes, was of a different caliber. He went down in a pit to find a real lion, not to be killed, but to kill the lion and thereby eliminate a danger (2Sa_23:20 ).

Proverbs 22:14

The Mouth Is a Deep Pit

This is the first time that sexual sin is mentioned in this section of the book (Proverbs 10:1-22:16), whereas in the first section (Proverbs 1-9), it is mentioned frequently and emphatically. “An adulteress” is literally “strange woman” i.e. every woman outside one’s own wife. No one should allow in his heart thoughts of sexual intercourse with a strange woman (Mat_5:28 ). Here we are specifically talking about a woman who is out to entice someone into adultery.

It is striking that this sin always begins with the mouth, that is, with the seductive and enticing invitation to commit adultery (Pro_2:16 Pro_5:3 Pro_6:24 Pro_7:5 Pro_9:16-17 ). Her mouth, the words she speaks and the way she speaks to seduce someone is described as “a deep pit” (cf. Psa_5:9 ). Falling into a deep pit is reminiscent of a senseless animal falling into a deep pit dug to catch it. One who lets himself be caught by the words of an adulteress is like a senseless animal (cf. Pro_7:22 ).

Into this deep pit falls one “who is cursed of the LORD”. He who gives in to the temptation of a strange woman does so not because God has condemned him to do so, but because God’s anger is on him because of his sinful way. He has moved out of fellowship with God. He who lives in fellowship with God does not fall into that deep pit (cf. Ecc_7:26 ).

If someone falls into the deep pit of adultery, it is a result of living in sin. God’s anger does not bring him to a life in sin, but rests on him because of the life in sin. God gives such a person over to sin (Rom_1:24 ; Psa_81:11-12 ). No one is destined to fall into sin. We fall into the deep pit because we choose to go down a path that is full of deep potholes. The mouth of the strange woman is one of them.

She will not be able to draw those who stay away from her into the deep pit with her words. The pit is like the snare of a poacher – it is virtually impossible to free yourself from it once you are in it. Therefore, if someone succumbs to the seductive words of an adulterous woman, it is both a sin and his punishment.

Proverbs 22:15

The Rod Keeps Foolishness at a Distance

Children are naturally capable of foolish actions. Parents must be mindful that their children are capable of the craziest things and the worst sins. The foolishness does not come from outside, but from within and is ‘ingrained’. Every child is born in sin and it is in him (Psa_51:5 ). That sinful nature is imparted to him by his parents. Parents who do not consider their children capable of the worst follies are fools themselves.

The most loving care neither prevents this folly nor can correct it. A child can be so foolish that, for example, he does dangerous things, makes wrong purchases, chooses wrong friends, visits wrong places, steals and lies and cheats, reads bad literature, watches porn. He needs to be warned about all such follies. But mere talk will not get you there. Discipline is necessary to correct these natural, sinful tendencies and make him mature and wise.

A child does not fall directly into the hands of an adulteress. He must learn at an early age to clean his room when his parents tell him to. If he does not listen, he must feel. Then the rod should come out and he should get a few taps on his behind (and not be flogged in temper!). “The rod” is necessary to bring it out and use it when appropriate.

Eli spared his sons the rod of admonition, he did not even rebuke them, and they perished (1Sa_3:13 ). It is better to listen to God’s Word than to a government that goes against God’s Word by forbidding corporal punishment (Act_5:29 ). Just look at the development of youth raised without discipline.

Proverbs 22:16

To Make More and Come to Poverty

The first line of verse is not easy to understand for the meaning is that the poor makes more for himself because of the oppression. How can a poor person when he is oppressed and he is deprived of his possessions become richer? The most obvious explanation is that it is about spiritual wealth. Whoever oppresses a poor person wants to disadvantage him and make him unhappy. But if the poor puts his trust in God, the oppression works to make him experience closer fellowship with God, and that is true wealth.

The second line of verse states the opposite. He who gives to a rich person, for example, in order to gain his favor and get something done from him, “[will] only [come to] poverty”. Such a person makes himself a slave to people. He will also be severely disappointed in his expectations based on what he has given to the rich person. He has lost what he gave to the rich man and will not get what he expected. His spiritual poverty is great.

In both cases, these are actions that work the opposite of their meant purpose. The oppression a poor person undergoes makes him spiritually rich; it drives him out to God. Difficulties shape a character. Giving something to a rich person to get something done from him proves independence from God. Whoever does that ends up in poverty both spiritually and materially.

Proverbs 22:17-21

Words of Truth Are Excellent Things

In Pro_22:17 a new collection of proverbs begins, the fourth part of the book. From Proverbs 10:1 onward, Solomon passed on more general observations to his son and left their application to him. He has done so through verses of two lines with only in a few cases a clear interrelationship. Now he again proceeds to address and instruct his son directly, as he did in Proverbs 1-9. He again switches his style of address. We also see that, as in Proverbs 1-9, several verses belong together, rather than separate verses of two lines as in the previous section.

Pro_22:17-21 form an introduction. In them Solomon urges his son to devote himself to studying “the words of the wise”. Then his spiritual life will have a firm foundation. He will also be able to give wise counsel to those who seek advice from him. Knowledge is given to us to serve others with, that others may learn from what we have learned. In this way, we may serve our generation according to the will of God. We must remember that the knowledge we gain may be brilliant, but it is powerless knowledge if we do not first and foremost apply it in our own lives (cf. Ezr_7:10 ).

“Tend your ear” (Pro_22:17 ) goes beyond just listening or paying attention to. It has to do with bowing down in an attitude of humility. Willingness to learn is shown in the humble mind a person displays. Those who are humble can listen to the teaching that is in the words of wise men.

Young people often believe that they already know everything. He who knows that he needs education and is also willing to commit himself to it, acknowledges his lack of knowledge and the need that he needs others to teach him. He will turn his heart to the knowledge that the wisdom teacher has. He will absorb into his heart the knowledge that the latter imparts to him.

The word “for” with which Pro_22:18 begins indicates that now follows the motivation of the call of Pro_22:17 . “It will be pleasant” if the son keeps the words of wise men “within” him, that is, in his heart. It is about stockpiling knowledge in the innermost being. If it is there, that knowledge can also always be on the lips, words of knowledge can always be spoken. “For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart” (Mat_12:34 ).

In Pro_22:19 , the purpose of the call of Pro_22:17 is given. This is evident from the words “so that” with which the verse begins. That purpose is to trust in the LORD and not in one’s own understanding or abilities. That is a matter for “today”, for the present, and thus for every day, for every day is the present. It is also emphatically for the son personally – and for each person personally – for “I have taught you…, even you”.

What Solomon has told and written to his son, he unreservedly calls “excellent things” (Pro_22:20 ). Are we also so convinced of this? Whether the truths of God’s Word are “excellent things” for us as well is apparent from the time we spend reading and examining God’s Word. This also determines what we tell and write of it to our children. The counsel and knowledge we pass on will also become “excellent things” for them if they see in our lives that they are such things for us.

The father passes on to his son “words of truth” with the “certainty” of their “correctness” (Pro_22:21 ). This applies to the gospel and everything else that should give direction to our lives. The Word of God has come to us “with full conviction” (1Th_1:5 ) because they are words of truth. There is no doubt about their certainty.

The father does not relativize, contrary to what is often done with the Bible today. Statements of God can no longer be considered “correct” because for many it is nothing more than an opinion. You cannot say: ‘This is what Scripture says’, but you must say: I think or believe that Scripture says this or that. Simple, clear statements are presented as vague and difficult to explain. When God’s Word says that women should be silent in the church (1Co_14:34 ), contemporary interpreters argue that you shouldn’t read it that way.

The Word of God is the only reliable touchstone given to us. The form in which the words in God’s Word are given to us is also reliable. It is the model, the example, to which we must direct ourselves and arrange our life (Rom_6:14 ; 2Ti_1:13 ).

If we are convinced of the truthfulness of the words the wise man has made known to us, and those words are within us, we will speak correctly to those who have sent us somewhere for a particular task. We can be trusted. We are reliable in reporting and will not paint a more beautiful or worse picture than the reality is.

The Lord Jesus sent us into the world with a mission. We can carry out that mission well only if we are completely convinced of His Word and pass it on, either as gospel to unbelievers or as teaching in local churches. With the words we have spoken in His command, we can come back to Him and say that we have done what He has commanded us to do.

Proverbs 22:22-23

The LORD Will Punish Robbing and Crushing

After the impressive, introductory words of this new section in Proverbs, we might expect a series of new, unknown proverbs. This is not the case. They are often issues that have been addressed in other terms before, such as the inhumane practice of oppressing the poor and afflicted.

“The poor” is easy prey for predatory folks (Pro_22:22 ). The little that the poor has, he cannot protect. He is defenseless when violence is used against him. False charges can easily be brought against “the afflicted at the gate”. The gate is the place where justice is spoken (Rut_4:1-2 ; 2Sa_15:2 2Sa_19:8 ; Job_5:4 ; Amo_5:15 ). He has no one to stand up for him.

The warning of Pro_22:22 is justified in Pro_22:23 . He who robs the poor and crushes the afflicted in the gate will have to deal with the LORD. People may trample on the right of the afflicted because they cannot defend themselves, but let them count on One Who will plead their case, and that is the LORD (cf. Psa_72:4 ; Jer_50:34 ). And those who rob the poor precisely because he is poor will be judged by the LORD with the same judgment with which they judged. He will rob the robbers of their life.

Proverbs 22:24-25

Bad Company Corrupts Good Morals

The son is again warned about wrong company (Pro_1:10-19 ), this time about a man who is “[given] to anger” and is “hot-tempered” (Pro_22:24 ). The issue here is not a necessary association, but a friendly one. At work or at school, we do have to associate with such people. We cannot escape that form of association. But we can stay away from those hot-tempered people in our private life. “A man [given] to anger” is literally “a master of anger”. “A hot-tempered man” shows the same character.

Pro_22:25 gives the motivation for Pro_22:24 . The saying “bad company corrupts good morals” (1Co_15:33 ) applies here. Earlier, the father has talked about what dealing with different people does to his son (Pro_13:20 ). More than superficial intercourse with someone changes a person. If they are good persons, you change for the better. If they are bad persons, you change for the worse.

Hot-tempered people ignite in anger at the slightest thing. If they feel wronged by even the slightest thing, they loudly express their displeasure. You can adopt this hot-temperedness just like that. Through your dealings with hot-tempered people, you become accustomed to their hot-temperedness. You dull in your feelings of rejection of these bad traits and begin to accept and even understand them.

As a result, you draw a snare on yourself. That is, you unconsciously begin to behave the same way, quickly coming to words and/or actions that are sinful and deserve punishment.

Proverbs 22:26-27

Do Not Become a Guarantor for Debts

The warning about becoming guarantor for one’s debts and give pledges, or confirm it, as it literally says, with striking hand, has also been done before (Pro_22:26 ; Pro_6:1-5 Pro_11:15 Pro_17:18 Pro_20:16 ). That it is warned about repeatedly indicates that it is a great danger. It connects to the wrong friendships of the two previous verses. One who becomes guarantor grossly overestimates himself, for he does not know what the other intends, nor does he know whether he can fulfill his obligations as guarantor.

Here it seems to be about a situation where he becomes guarantor for a debt that he cannot meet if the other person defaults. We can possibly conclude this from Pro_22:27 , where the motivation is given for the warning of Pro_22:26 . If the one for whom he has become guarantor cannot pay his debt, he must pay that debt. But he cannot either. Then the creditor comes and takes away his last possession, his bed. Then he has nothing at all to rest on (cf. Exo_22:26 ). Spiritually applied, he will have no rest anymore.

Proverbs 22:28

Do Not Move the Ancient Boundaries

The boundary has also been mentioned before (Pro_15:25 ). Now something is said about it in connection with the division of land that has been established from ancient times. It is about “the ancient boundaries”. That refers to the boundaries originally boundaries marked by the “fathers”, thus marking the individual pieces of land assigned to each tribe in the land. Moses speaks of boundary marks even before the people are in the land. He says that when the people come into the land, they must not move their neighbor’s boundary mark (Deu_19:14 Deu_27:17 ; Isa_5:8 ; Hos_5:10 ).

This had to be said because someone, driven by covetousness, could have the audacity to move the boundary mark that marked the separation between his land and that of his neighbor. By placing this boundary mark a little further on his neighbor’s land, he appropriated a piece of land that belonged to his neighbor. His neighbor’s land became smaller and his own larger. This was land grabbing. Moreover, it was a disrespectful act toward one’s ancestors.

A clear example of land grabbing is what Ahab did with Naboth’s land that bordered his own (1Kg_21:1-2 ). Naboth would not sell it for any price, so much did he value his land as family property. He speaks to Ahab of “the inheritance of my fathers” (1Kg_21:3 ). However, to Ahab did not mean anything, and he robbed it from Naboth by having him, on the advice of his deeply depraved, wicked wife Jezebel, stoned to death.

Modern forms of boundary-moving are the equating of husband and wife, even though God clearly made them different and gave them a different position in life. Boundary-moving is also the equating of unmarried cohabitation with marriage, as well as the equating of marriage between two men or two women with marriage as God has instituted between one man and one woman.

Proverbs 22:29

He Who Is Skilled in His Work

Solomon asks his son if he does “see a man skilled in his work”. That seems to indicate that such people are sparse. You really have to search for them. It is someone who is active and diligent as well as skilled. He uses his time and talents optimally, with great commitment and also with wisdom. He will end up in the right environment, where his skill and expertise are valued, that is that “he will stand before kings”.

“He will not stand before obscure men.” The point is not about him feeling too good for those people, but those people maintain a depraved lifestyle. His skills would only strengthen them more in their depravity. He is a noble man with a noble profession and a noble mind, none of which is present in this company of low standing. Therefore, he does not belong there.

Kings gladly avail themselves of his services, for such people make an essential contribution to the glory and spread of their empire. Joseph and Daniel are examples of people who were skillful in their work and stood before kings at their service. It is to be wished that we as believers can also be used in this way by the Lord Jesus. Then, when we come to Him, He will say to us: “Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master” (Mat_25:21 Mat_25:23 ). Do we still see people who are skilled in the Lord’s work? Are we ourselves?

Proverbs 22:1
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_22:1. A good name. Literally “a name.” Loving favour, or “grace,” “goodwill.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_22:1
BETTER THAN GOLD
The second clause of the proverb explains the meaning of the name in the first clause—it is evidently a good reputation that is gained by uprightness and unselfiishness—that loving esteem of others which is the fruit of “looking not only upon our own things, but also upon the things of others” (Php_2:4). Such a name is better than wealth.
I. Because the one may come by inheritance, and the other must be the result of, personal character. The man who is born to wealth deserves no credit for being rich—he may be destitute of all personal excellence—he may, indeed, be a morally bad man, and may neither possess nor deserve the goodwill of his fellow creatures. But if a man does possess the confidence and love of others it is because there is that belonging to him that wins men to trust in him and to love him—if he has a “good name” and deserves it he is in some respects a good man.
II. Wealth is often a transitory possession, but “loving favour” often outlives the present life. Many mere temporal gifts belong more truly to a man than his riches—his good looks or his handsome figure may long outlive his wealth, for they are more truly his. The uncertainty of riches is the subject of many a proverb, and therefore any possession which is more certain to last is better than they. A “good name”—the well-deserved reputation which is the result of loving our neighbour as ourself—is quite independent of the changes and chances of mortal life—it goes with a man to his grave, and embalms his memory long after he has passed away.
III. A good name belongs to a higher region of life than wealth. Even when wealth has been honestly earned, and is the reward of moral excellence, and even if its possession could be assured to its owner, a good name is a more precious gift. Much skill and industry are required to build up a fortune, but skill and industry are not qualities of so high an order as those which are needed to acquire the loving favour of our fellow-creatures. He who possesses the latter must be a more excellent man than the merely honest and skilful seeker after riches, and the possession is itself of a far more precious nature. The gold and the silver are of the earth, earthy, but love and trustful confidence are good things which belong to the soul, and which are in consequence far more truly satisfying to man’s higher nature. When one man possesses both these good things he is able to compare their power to bless, and none who has experimental knowledge of the worth of both would sacrifice his good name to retain his riches. They may bring him much outward deference, but he knows full well that this would cease if he became a poor man—that there are many who love not the man but only his money. But if he is so blest as to have won men’s hearts he is fully assured that adversity will not deprive him of this good gift. To possess a “good name” is to be rich with the riches which constitute the most precious wealth of God. He is rich in material riches, for “all the beasts of the forest are his and the cattle upon a thousand hills,” yea, “the world and the fulness thereof” (Psa_50:10; Psa_50:12). But this wealth is inferior to the mental power which produced it. God is great in intellectual wealth. “With whom took He counsel, and who instructed Him and taught Him in the path of judgment, and taught Him knowledge, and showed to Him the way of understanding?” (Isa_40:14). But His real wealth is His name—that name which He proclaimed to Moses—“The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth” (Exo_34:5-6), which makes Him the object of the reverential love of all the good in the universe. And so is it with His creatures—in proportion as they have those spiritual characteristics which are possessed in perfection only by God Himself, their reputation for mercy, and goodness, and truth becomes their most precious and prized possession.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
We are not good judges of value in the public markets of life. We make grievous mistakes, both in choosing and refusing. We often throw away the pearl and carefully keep the shell. Besides the great disparity in value between the things of heaven and earth, some even of these earthly things are of greater worth than others. The valuables in both ends of the balance belong to time, and yet there is room for choice between them. There is the greater and the less where neither is the greatest. A trader at his counter has a certain set of weights which he uses everyday and all day, and for all sorts of commodities. Whatever may be in the one scale, the same invariable leaden weight is always in the other. This lump of metal is his standard, and all things are tried by it. Riches practically serve nearly the same purpose in the markets of human life.… This is a mistake. Many things are better than gold, and one of these is a good name. A good conscience indeed is better than both, and must be kept at all hazards; but in cases where matters from a higher region do not come into competition, reputation should rank higher than riches in the practical estimation of men.… The shadows are not the picture, but the picture is a naked ungainly thing without them. Thus the atmosphere of a good name imparts to real worth additional body and breadth. As a substitute for a good conscience a good name is a secret torment at the time, and in the end a cheat, but as a graceful outer garment with which a good conscience is clothed it should be highly valued and carefully preserved by the children of the kingdom.—Arnot.
One is more valuable than the other as a means of usefulness. Riches, in themselves, can only enable a man to promote the temporal comfort and wellbeing of those around him. But character gives him weight of influence in matters of higher moment,—in all descriptions of salutary advice and direction,—in kindly instruction and consolation,—in counsel for eternity. It not only fits its possessor for such employments, but it imparts energy and effect to whatever he says and does. His character carries a recommendation with it,—gives authority and force to every lesson and every admonition; and affords, by the confidence it inspires, many opportunities and means of doing good, which, without it, could not be enjoyed. Riches, again, bring with them many temptations to sinful and worldly indulgences, such as are injurious to the possessor himself and to his family—both temporally and spiritually. Character, on the contrary, acts as a salutary restraint,—keeping a man back from many improprieties and follies, and even outward sins, by which it would be impaired and forfeited. And this restraint is felt, and properly felt, not for his own sake merely, but for the sake of all those objects with which his name stands associated; and especially from a regard to usefulness in connection with the truth, and cause, and church of Christ.—Wardlaw.

Proverbs 22:2
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_22:2
LEVELLING DOWN AND LEVELLING UP
I. The rich and the poor have much in common. They have, in fact, everything in common which is independent of silver and gold. At first sight this seems to include almost everything worth having, and it does include the best and most lasting good, and often much beside. We rejoice in the thought that many a poor man has as large a share of God’s blessed air and sunshine as his richer neighbour—that his bodily frame is as healthful and his home as full of love. But, alas! we cannot forget that poverty in many cases shuts out men and women from the gladdening and healthful influences of pure air and sunlight, and consequently shuts them up to bodily disease, and tends to produce moral unhealthfulness. As civilisation advances, and countries become more populous, the gulf between poverty and wealth in this respect seems to widen, and when we consider how many advantages, not only material but intellectual and moral, the very moderately rich possess over the very poor, we do not find so much in common between them as appears upon a slight view of the case. It is indeed true that all the blessings of life that money cannot buy are as much within the reach of the poor as of the rich; but how many good things—not only for the body, but also for the mind and heart—are not to be gotten without gold and silver. There is, however, one platform upon which they all meet, even in this life—one levelling force which brings them into an absolute equality. In the plan of redemption through Jesus Christ, and in all the blessed effects which flow from it, the rich man has no advantage over the poor man—the brother of low degree is shut out from nothing that his rich brother enjoys. In this sense, as in many others, we may use the prophet’s words: “Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low” (Isa_40:4). It does this: 1. By declaring their common and universal sinfulness. Disease of body is a levelling power—fever makes no distinction between king and subject—between master and servant; while they are under its dominion the one has no immunity from the weakness and the pain of the other. So the Gospel plan declares concerning sin what experience testifies—that “there is no difference,” that “all have sinned” (Rom_5:12), and that its debasing and destroying power is alike in prince and peasant. 2. By offering the same conditions of redemption to all. A physician, when he visits his patients with the intention of doing his best to heal them, does not prescribe one kind of treatment to the rich and another to the poor. The conditions of recovery are not regulated by their rank, but by their disease. So with the Gospel remedy for the sickness of the soul. It is the same for every man. The strait road is not made wider for the man with money bags, the gate is opened as wide for the pauper as for the emperor. 3.
By providing the same inheritance for all who accept the conditions. Every man who accepts the way of salvation has an equal right to claim God as his Father—has an equal liberty of access to Him (Eph_3:12), at all times—is sealed with the same spirit of promise, and has the same hope of blessedness beyond the grave. To each and to all it is said, “All are yours, and ye are Christ’s (1Co_3:23).
II. To God must be referred the lot to which each man is born. He, as the Creator, calls each man into being, and determines the sphere in which he finds himself when he awakens to consciousness and to a sense of responsibility. Man, as a free agent, has much to do with determining his lot in life when he arrives at mature years, but the circumstances surrounding his birth and earlier years, and the mental gifts with which he is endowed, have much also to do with it, and these are determined for him by God. So that He is not only the Maker of the man’s personality, but largely also of his position in the world.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
In the distinction between the rich and the poor there is something not altogether pleasant to the human mind. We are apt to recoil from it. Without much thought, by the mere spontaneous promptings of our feelings, we are apt to have some dissatisfaction as we behold the advantages of riches so unequally distributed among men. And frequently the dissatisfaction increases, as we can discover no just rule of this distribution; and as we behold more and more of the contrasted advantages and disadvantages of this distinction between the rich and poor. Something like this was, in my opinion, the feeling of the writer of this text. He saw the distinction between rich and poor; he felt amazed; he had a disliking for it which set his mind at work. He thought the matter over patiently and religiously. And when he had done he gathers up the whole substance into this single aphorism and writes it down. That was his satisfaction. There he left the matter.… He had studied it as he studied botany: From the cedar-tree that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that springeth out of the wall. He had contemplated the loftiness of the rich and the lowliness of the poor, wherein they differed, and wherein they agreed, and especially who made them to differ.… His faith in God and constant recognition of Him would lead him to take along with him in all his contemplations the idea of the one Great Maker of all; and then, when he found things strange, dark, or revolting to him growing out of the distinctions between rich and poor, he leaves all that with God. But before he comes to this, and while he is engaged amid things which he can understand, he finds another side of the question which at first disquieted him.… Coming to examine the matter, he finds that distinction is not the real affair after all; that there are more agreements than distinctions—more resemblances than differences: the Maker of all has made the all more alike than unlike.… They meet together in their origin and their situation as they enter the world. They are equally dependent, helpless, miserable.… The two classes are very much alike in their amount of happiness.… The rich man is not necessarily happy nor the poor unhappy … The passions which make men miserable are exercised by both classes without any visible difference in their effects … There is a substantial agreement in all the organs of perception and enjoyment, and much of our felicity here depends upon the organic constitution that makes us men.… In intellectual faculties there is the same strong resemblance. The perception, memory, imagination, reason, which God has given, He has been pleased to give with an impartial hand … There is one common end to our humanity; … among dead men’s bones you can find nothing to minister to human vanity. The rich and poor meet together in the tomb and at the final bar of God.—Dr. Spencer.
They meet often; yea, often is the rich forced to send for the poor, needing as much the help of his labour as the other doth the help of his money. But this maketh them to meet nearer yet, by causing the same who was rich to become poor, and he that was poor to become rich.… And they meet everywhere—there is no place that hath not both of them, and as there are many of the one, so there are many of the other.—Jermin.
For Homiletics on Pro_22:3 see on chap. Pro_14:16, page 364; on Pro_22:4 see on chap. Pro_3:1-18, pages 29, 34, 39.

Proverbs 22:3-6
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_22:3. Are punished, rather “must suffer injury.”
Pro_22:4. By humility, rather “The end or reward of humility,” etc. Delitzsch reads “The reward of humility IS the fear of the Lord,” etc.
Pro_22:5. Shall be, etc., or Let him keep, etc.
Pro_22:6. Train up a child, etc. Miller reads “Hedge in a child upon the mouth of his way;” Delitzsch, “Give to a child instruction according to his way,” i.e., conformably to the nature of youth.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_22:3-4
A HEDGED-UP WAY
I. God will hedge in the way of the froward man. As we have seen in considering former proverbs, men in a fallen condition have a tendency to break loose from restraint—especially from Divine restraint—and to mark out a path for themselves of their own devising. (See on chap. Pro_21:8). Every human creature shows more or less wilfulness in regard to their relations to God and His law—choosing rather to fashion his life according to his own ideas than according to the Divine idea and desire concerning him. And this wilfulness, if unchecked, grows with a man’s growth and strengthens with his years, until his frowardness becomes the distinctive feature of his life. But he will not have it all his own way. He will not find the crooked path which he has chosen altogether pleasant and safe. Thorns will prick his feet and pitfalls will endanger his life. He will find himself confronted and fenced-in by laws of retribution which God has set about him to admonish him to forsake his rebellious way. For all the pain of body or mind which men suffer, and all the obstacles they meet with in the way of frowardness are intended to keep them from a deeper pain and a heavier punishment. A thorn-hedge is set by the side of the highway to admonish the traveller to keep the path, and so avoid, it may be, the precipice or the bog on the other side. If he attempts to climb the hedge he will be wounded, and if he is a wise man the thorn-pricks will lead him to abandon his intention, and so to escape more serious harm. If the hedge does this it fulfils the end for which it was planted. So with the pains and penalties with which God hedges in the present way of the wicked man—they are intended to lead him into a better and safer way.
II. It is a parent’s duty to hedge in the way of his child. The father stands in the place of God to his young children in this respect, for his discipline in their early years is the best possible preparation for the discipline of God later on in life. Indeed the wiser the training of the earthly father the less are his children likely to need the corrective discipline of their heavenly parent. The child that is accustomed to bend its will to the will of a good father will not find it so hard to yield obedience to the will of God as he who has had no such training. He will grow up in the practice of sinking his will in that of a wiser will, and it will not be irksome for him so to do. Having found his father’s yoke an easy one, and having in the path of filial obedience tasted pleasures unknown to the rebellious child, he will the more readily accept the yoke of God, and find in His service perfect freedom. But this blessed result will not be attained without much anxious and sometimes painful effort on the part of the parent. For the natural waywardness of man in general manifests itself in very early life. A child would like to be trained in the way it would go, rather than in the way that it should go. But this would in effect be no training at all. For the training of anything implies a crossing of the natural tendency—a repression in one direction, and an effort towards development in another. The training of the vine does not mean a letting it put forth its branches just where it wills or a twining of its tendrils around any object it chooses—it implies a free use of the pruning-knife and of the vine-dresser’s other implements and methods of restraint and guidance. Every child, like every unwise man, would like to set up its own hedge, and put up its own fences, and prescribe the limits and bounds of its own conduct. But as we have already seen, God lets no man do this beyond certain limits, for He Himself sets “thorns and snares in the way of the froward.” It is, therefore, cruel neglect in a parent to allow a child to do it, for thus the tendency to go in the wrong way is strengthened by indulgence, and every year the path of obedience to God becomes more difficult, and looks less inviting. If the parent does not set a hedge about his son’s path, he is only making it certain that he will encounter thorns and snares further on in life. As to the promise attached to the command in this proverb, it can hardly be said to be of universal application. Solomon himself seems to have been an exception to the rule. We have every reason to believe that his father, after his birth, would train his son most carefully and enforce his precepts by example. We must believe that David’s own bitter experience of the thorns and snares in the path of sin made him very anxious to preserve his son from wandering as he had done, and led him to train him most carefully. It is also said of the sons of a man whose life was outwardly stainless—of Samuel—that his sons “walked not in his ways” (1Sa_8:3). Yet we cannot suppose that Samuel, who had seen in Eli’s family the miserable fruits of non-restraint, had neglected to train his sons. Yet the exceptions are doubtless very few in number compared with the rule,—that a rightly-trained child does not depart from the right way in his riper years, though, in Bishop Hall’s words, “God will let us find that grace is by gift, not by inheritance.”
“Lord, with what care hast Thou begirt us round!
Parents first season us: then schoolmasters
Deliver us to laws; they send us bound
To rules of reason, holy messengers.
Pulpits and Sundays, sorrow dogging sin,
Afflictions sorted, anguish of all sizes,
Fine nets and stratagems to catch us in,
Bibles laid open, millions of surprises.
Blessings beforehand, ties of gratefulness,
The sound of glory ringing in our ears;
Without our shame, within our consciences,
Angels and grace, eternal hopes and fears.
Yet all these fences and their whole array,
One cunning bosom—sin blows quite away.”—Herbert.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_22:5. A forcible image to show that nothing stands so much in a man’s way as the indulgence of his own unbridled will. The man who is most perversely bent on his purposes is most likely to be thwarted in them.—Bridges.
The ungodly finds nothing in his path to hell but thorns and snares, and yet he presses on in it! A sign of the greatness and fearfulness of the ruin of man’s sin.—Lange.
Pro_22:6. Three different meanings have been found of the interpretation, “according to his way.” (See CRITICAL NOTES.) It may be—1. His way in the sense of his own natural characteristics of style and manner,—and then his training will have reference to that for which he is naturally fitted; or—2. The way of life which he is intended by parents or guardians to pursue; or, 3. The way in which he ought to go. The last is moral, and relates to the general Divine intention concerning man’s earthly course; the second is human and economical; the first is individual, and to some extent even physical. Yet although the third presents the highest standard and has been generally adopted, it has the least support from the Hebrew idiom, Tr. of Lange’s Commentary.
He learneth best any way that knoweth no other, and he best keepeth any way that groweth in it. Two children that are bred and grow up together, are settled in affection the one to the other. Now, it can be but a childish goodness that is in a child; but if the childhood of goodness shall be bred and grow up with the child-hood of man, it will settle the stronger union between them. Aristotle saith, it is a matter of chiefest moment for a man to be accustomed this way or that.—Jermin.

Proverbs 22:7
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_22:7
AN ANALOGY AFFIRMED AND A CONTRAST SUGGESTED
I. The contrast between the poor man and the borrower. The proverb at least suggests that the poor man and the borrower are not necessarily convertible terms—that a poor man may owe no man anything, and that a man may be in debt without being a poor man in the common acceptation of the word. 1. The poor man and the borrower may occupy different social relations; indeed, as a rule this is the case. The poor man may have been born to poverty, and consequently may be inured to its hardships, one of which is its subjection to the will of the rich. But the borrower may have been born to wealth, and himself accustomed to rule over the poor. The one may be so ignorant and degraded by reason of his poverty as scarcely to be conscious of the yoke he wears; whereas the servitude of the other will be galling in proportion as his education renders him sensitive to his position. 2. They may be unlike in the fact that the poor man may have had no choice but poverty—he may have been born in it, and may have had no opportunity of altering his condition; but the borrower may not have been absolutely obliged to borrow—he may have borrowed merely to speculate or to waste.
II. The point of resemblance between them. They are alike in being both dependent upon the same person—upon the rich man. This rich man may be unlike his poor brother in nothing save in his possession of gold; he may be as uneducated as he is, and, morally, far beneath him. He may be much less polished and refined than the man who borrows of him, but, whatever he is or is not does not alter the case, his money makes him the master—both the poor man and the debtor must submit to his dictation, must acknowledge their dependence on him. Both often have the painful consciousness that he holds in his hand all that makes their existence of any value to them—both often alike feel that he could at any time deprive them of their very bread.
III. The lesson of the proverb. The wise man, by thus showing how two men who are unlike in almost every other respect may be reduced to the same level in this, is probably reading a lesson against borrowing. The poor man’s subjection to the rich is a matter which it is not in his power to alter, but a man goes into debt generally of his own free will. He may often be very hardly pressed by necessity to do so, or as a matter of business it may be advisable, but the proverb at least suggests that the step should not be taken without well weighing the consequences. It is doubtless mainly directed against borrowing when a man has not resources to repay, and is not likely to have them.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS

1. The responsibility of the rich. How great the power of wealth. In this world it is a talent often more influential for good than intellect or genius.… 2. The temptation of the poor.… To become servile, cringing in spirit. Flunkeyism is the greatest curse of the people.… 3. The wisdom of the diligent. The industrious man is a wise man. Why? Because the more industrious he is, the more independent he becomes of wealthy men.—Dr. D. Thomas.
   Very important is it to maintain an independence of mind, quite distinct from pride, which elevates the mind far above doing or conniving at evil, for the sake of pleasing a patron. Many have been forced to great entanglement of conscience, perhaps to vote contrary to their conscience, rather than lose the great man’s smile. Often also the influence of capital is an iron rule of the rich over the poor. Many, who profess to resist conscientiously state-interference, have little regard for the consciences of their dependants. The monied master exercises a control over his workmen, which shews too plainly his purpose to make them the creatures of his own will. This gigantic tyranny should be denounced with the most solemn protest. The true Christian line is to shun that proud independence, which scorns the kindly offer of needful help; but at the same time to avoid all needless obligations. “Sell not your liberty to gratify your luxury.” If possible, “owe no man anything but love.” (Rom_13:8.) “Guard against that poverty, which is the result of carelessness or extravagance. Pray earnestly, labourdiligently. Should you come to poverty by the misfortune of the times, submit to your lot humbly; bear it patiently; cast yourself in child-like dependence upon your God.”—Bridges.

Proverbs 22:8
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_22:8. The rod of his anger, or, as Zöckler, the “staff of his haughtiness.”
Pro_22:16. Zöckler reads this verse “One oppresseth the poor only to make him rich,” i.e., “the oppression which one practises on a poor man rouses his moral energy, and thus, by means of his tireless industry and his productive labour in his vocation, he works himself out of needy circumstances into actual prosperity.”
Here begins the third main division of the book of Proverbs. (See Introduction.) Its contents are styled in Pro_22:17 “The words of wise men,” and they differ from the second division in consisting for the most part of much longer sentences, comprising, as a general rule, two verses, but sometimes many more. Zöckler remarks that “there is prevalent everywhere the minutely hortatory, or, in turn, admonitory style, rather than that which is descriptive and announces facts.” Delitzsch and other modern Bible students infer from Pro_22:17 that this portion of the book contains “no inconsiderable number of utterances of wise men of Solomon’s time.” (See Introduction to the Book of Proverbs, Lange’s Commentary.)
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_22:8
A WORTHLESS SEED AND A ROTTEN STAFF
I. The seed sown. It is iniquity. All kinds of deeds and every manner of dealing that are out of harmony with the principles of justice are acts of iniquity. The least deviation from the path of moral right is in its measure an iniquitous step. Sowing iniquity is an expression that covers very much ground, and includes many degrees of moral wrong, from the withholding of the smallest act of justice to the inflicting of the greatest act of injustice. Now, whenever a man deliberately and knowingly does either the one or the other he does it with a purpose. He has an end in view as much as the farmer has when he sows seed in the field. Men do not generally act unjustly and commit crime out of mere love of sin—they generally expect and desire to gain something by it that they think worth having. Solomon here declares that they will be disappointed. He has before dwelt upon the retribution that will follow sin, he is here speaking of its deceptive character. Men do not get from it what they expect—they are disappointed either of the harvest or in it. This has been the experience of all sowers of iniquity in the world since Eve cast in the first seed. In a certain sense she got what she was promised, but how different the crop from what she hoped for. She “reaped vanity.”
II. The staff depended upon. Haughtiness or pride. (See CRITICAL NOTES.) This pride of heart and haughtiness of demeanour is born of a man’s imagining that he has gained for himself a position and a name that will defy the changes and vicissitudes of life. This idea bears him up; he leans upon it, as men lean upon a rod or staff. The rich man often makes a staff of his riches, and uses it to “rule over the poor,” as in Pro_22:7. The man of talent sometimes makes his talent a staff, and walks among his intellectual inferiors with a proud and haughty step. The great conqueror says in his heart, “I will ascend unto heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God … I will be like the Most High” (Isa_14:13), and with the rod of his power he smites the nations and tramples upon the rights of his fellow-creatures. But all these rods of haughtiness shall be broken, and those who lean upon them shall find they have been trusting to a broken reed, and the objects of their oppression shall say unto them, “
Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us?”
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
The proverb takes two terms for iniquity, one meaning crookedness, the other meaning nothingness. It paints one as only breeding the other. It intends a positive law. Wheat breeds wheat. So iniquity breeds only worthlessness. A man may live a thousand years and yet the harvest will be unvarying. And then to meet the fact that the dominion that his ambition gives does make him ruler over the saints themselves, he employs a verb which expresses high action, but action that exhausts itself. Its literal sense is to consume. The idea is as of a fever which wears down the patient and itself together.… The impenitent seem to have the whole “rod” or sceptre, of our planet, the true solution is this, that the “rod” is just budding out its strength.—Miller.
Often may oppressors prosper for a time. God may use them as his chastening rod. But the seed-time of iniquity will end in the harvest of vanity; and when they have done their work, the rod of their anger shall fail. Such was Sennacherib in olden time, such was Napoleon in our own day. Never has the world seen so extensive a sower of iniquity, never a more abundant harvest of vanity. The rod of anger was he to the nations of the earth. But how utterly was the rod suffered to fail, when the purpose was accomplished! despoiled of empire, shorn of greatness—an exiled captive.—Bridges.

Proverbs 22:9
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_22:9
THE BOUNTIFUL EYE
I. The eye is an index of the soul. This is true, not only of the expression of the eye but of its direction. What is in the mind can often be read in the eye; both evil passions and divine affections reveal themselves through it, but sometimes both depend very much upon where the eye looks—upon the objects towards which its glance is directed. Perhaps the text refers both to the eye that softens at the sight of another’s woe, and to the eye which makes it its business to look around and search for objects which the hand can help. For if the expression of the eye reveals the character so does the direction which it habitually takes. There is many an eye that readily moistens with sympathy at the tale or the spectacle of sorrow which can hardly be called a “bountiful eye,” for it is only by accident that it ever encounters anything to call forth its sympathy. But the eye that is ever on the watch for opportunities of doing good, of feeding the hungry and raising the fallen, is a much surer index of a godlike disposition. For such an eye has something in common with the eye of Him who looked upon the bond slaves of Egypt and said, “I have seen the affliction of My people and am come down to deliver them,” and who, manifest in a human body, “was moved with compassion” at the sight of “people who were as sheep not having a shepherd” (Mar_6:34). He whose bountiful eye brings down a blessing upon him is not one who now and then meets a needy brother and relieves him; still less is he one whose sympathy is shown only by the look. His is evidently one whose glance of pity is followed by a deed of kindness and whose habit it is to look out for opportunities of succouring the needy.
II. The soul is blest by the ministry of the hand. He who gives of His bread to the needy will have the gratitude of the needy, and there is not a more exquisite joy perhaps on the earth. But the blessing of God will be his in an especial manner. Upon both kinds of blessing see Homiletics on chap. Pro_11:25, page 234, and on chap. Pro_19:17, page 576.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Perhaps the expression—“he giveth of his bread to the poor,” may mean, that he is ready even to share his own provision with them; not merely to give a small portion of his superfluities, but to stint himself for their supply. And this is the spirit of true charity.—Wardlaw.
Some that have a bountiful eye have no bread to give, but they will give what will turn to as good an account to the donor, and sometimes will be as pleasing to the receiver; tears and attention, and offices of tenderness and prayers to Him that is able to help.—Lawson.
This bountifulness is a privilege, which earth possesses above heaven. Many a rich blessing is sealed to it. “Beneficence is the most exquisite luxury; and the good man is the genuine epicure.” He “hath a continual feast,” because his objects are always before him.—Bridges.

Proverbs 22:10
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_22:10
A MAN WHO OUGHT TO DWELL ALONE
I. The scorner should be dismissed from social bodies for his own sake. It is better for the man himself that his power to do evil should be as limited as possible. If we could know beforehand that a man intends to commit a great crime, and so render himself liable to heavy punishment, and bring guilt upon his conscience, the kindest thing that we could do for him would be to deprive him of the power of doing as he intends. We should thereby save him from the misery of becoming a greater transgressor. If the other disciples of Our Lord could have foreseen what was passing in the mind of Judas, and could have prevented his becoming the betrayer of his Master, how great a blessing would they have conferred upon that unhappy man! Whatever might have been his other sins, he would have not been stung with that agony of remorse at having betrayed innocent blood. But many sins are of such a nature that it is impossible to hinder men from their committal—the steps which lead to them are hidden from those around, and no one suspects that the guilty one has any such intention. The scoffer, however, is not a sinner of this kind—his transgression is not a single act, but a habit of life; it is not a secret purpose hidden in his heart until the moment of its accomplishment, but is manifested in his words. Men can therefore, to some extent, hinder him from increasing his own guilt by depriving him of the opportunities of indulging in his sin—if they “cast him out”—if they shun his society, and dismiss him from their midst, he will have fewer opportunities and temptations to indulge in scoffing, and so will be kept from going to such great lengths in sinning. A man who loves to turn into ridicule all pure and holy things, uses to his own condemnation and degradation influences which were intended to bless and elevate him, and it is better for himself that they should be placed beyond his reach than that he should so abuse them and increase his own guilt.
II. He should be cast out for the sake of his fellow-creatures. There are certain diseases of the human body which are not only most dangerous for the patient himself, but expose to a like danger all who come in contact with him. The leper is not only a great sufferer himself, but he is a centre of a deadly disease which will spread itself to those with whom he dwells. It is therefore necessary to remove him from the society of other men—so long as he is a leper he must dwell alone, must be denied the privilege of citizenship and the joys of social life. So it ought to be with the scorner—the habit of scoffing is one which is very infectious—very easily communicated by one man to another; and seeing that it is so soul-destructive, those who indulge in it ought not to have the opportunity of communicating the moral pestilence. But there is another aspect of leprosy which renders it necessary to isolate as far as possible those who are suffering from it from the abodes of other men. Even if it were not so infectious, it is most loathsome; and this alone would render some separation necessary. Now, there are societies of men in which the words of the scoffer would be quite powerless to do harm—there are those whose love of that which is true and holy is strong enough to withstand all such evil influence. But to such men a scorner is a most repugnant character—they loathe his irreverent treatment of what is to them most sacred. It is not required that they expose themselves to the pain of his society—they are at liberty to cast him out of their midst.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
There is no cure but “casting out.” Such men are the Jonahs of churches, and of the coteries of social life. As long as they are there, there will be nothing but the bluster and commotion of the storm—“toiling in rowing,” incessant distress, vain exertion, and no progress. The sea cannot “cease from its raging,” till they are thrown overboard.—Wardlaw.
This thought occurs also in the Psalms. (Psa_68:6.) Only the rebellious, says the Psalmist, shall come to mischief. There are, it is true, great mountains of wickedness; but take away this one element of scorn—that is, make a man submissive and the causes of strife have flown. Christ manages afterwards. Take away the rebelliousness of the heart, and great monstrous sins will slowly be corrected and disappear.… Scorning is not itself the cause of the quarrel, and therefore ceasing to scorn does not remove it directly. Christ must remove the cause. Scorning expels Christ. Ceasing to scorn admits Christ. And, therefore, it is literally true—“Cast out the scorner (it may be thine own scornful heart), and the cause of quarrel passes away, and strife and shame cease.”—Miller.
It is always the disposition of the scorner, that wheresoever he is, he scorneth to stay, and it is always the best usage towards a scorner to cast him out, and not suffer him to stay. For whosoever keepeth him shall be sure to keep strife and contention with him, and where they are, reproach and shame are the attendants of them. If any good be done a scorner he disdains that it is so little; if any wrong be done him he complains that it is very great. If he be used in anything, he disdains to be a servant; if he is not used he complains that he is neglected. Still he is discontented, and still his discontent breeds quarrelling and debate. But cast out the firebrand and the fire goes out; cast out Jonah and the storm shall cease. Cast out the scorner from thy house, cast out scorning from thy heart, and then thou shalt be quiet. For whence are all suits of contention. Whence is all strife, but because the heart scorns to bear this, scorns to take that, scorns to let it go?—
Jermin.

Proverbs 22:11
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_22:11
A ROAD TO ROYAL FRIENDSHIP
I. The pure in heart deserve to be honoured with the friendship of the king. Where there is purity of heart, the springs of moral life are healthy—the whole man is an embodiment of truth and goodness. Such a man is worthy of the honour and confidence of those who stand in the highest positions, inasmuch as purity of heart belongs to the man himself, and is a possession that is counted precious by the best beings in the universe, whereas power and rank are often but accidents of birth, and in themselves alone are valueless in the sight of God, and in the eyes of the greatest and noblest of His creatures.
II. The king consults his own interest when he shows favour to such men. A man of pure heart is a great blessing to any community. His very life is in itself a light which scatters moral darkness—a well which makes a fertile spot wherever it springs forth. And it is in proportion to the number of such men in a kingdom that the realm enjoys peace and prosperity. If we could find any earthly commonwealth composed entirely of such citizens, we should find a place where the kingdom of God had “come”—a heaven upon earth. But where there is purity of heart there is grace of lips—there is active effort to spread truth and righteousness. The well does not confine itself to the spot where it first issues from the earth, but sends forth health-giving streams far and near. Seeing, then, that such men are the real pillars of a state, he only is a wise king who seeks them out and delights to do them honour.
III. Some kings have recognised their obligations and interest in this matter. Pharaoh discerned the purity of Joseph’s heart by the grace of his lips, and made him the second ruler in his kingdom, and Darius promoted Daniel to the highest office in his realm. David’s resolution was—“Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me.” (Psa_101:6.)
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pureness of heart describes not the natural, but the renewed man. It is no external varnish, no affectation of holiness; but sincerity, humility, shrinking from sin, conformity to the image of God. He who hath fully attained this pureness is before the throne of God. He who loveth it is the child of God on earth. His perfection is desire, constant progress, pressing towards the mark. (Philip. Pro_3:12-15).—Bridges.
What Solomon says is rather an encouragement to love and cultivate “pureness of heart,” than a motive to be directly regarded, and allowed to influence us to this duty. It is only one of those indirect results which may be enjoyed as a testimony of the higher approbation of God.… While we thank God for the favour He may give us in the sight of men,—we must see that we seek no friendships, whether among the greatest or the least, the highest or the lowest, by any other means whatever than the “pureness of heart,” and the consistency of life here recommended.—Wardlaw.
Grace in the lips is necessary to recommend pureness of heart. We ought always to speak the words of truth, but we ought to speak it in the most pleasing manner possible, that we may not render it unacceptable by our manner of representing it. Daniel showed his integrity and politeness at once, by the manner of his address to Nebuchadnezzar, when he was called to give him very disagreeable information.—Lawson.
He that hath pureness of heart cannot choose but love it, such is the exceeding beauty and amiableness of it; and he that loveth pureness of heart cannot choose but have it, for that it is which purifieth and cleanseth the heart. Many there be who love a cleanness, and neatness, and pureness of apparel; many there are who love a clearness and pureness of countenance and complexion. No washing or purifying is thought to be enough to make this appear, so that often the heart is defiled by it. And with such puritans the courts of princes are much attended, wooing with this bravery the favour of the court and prince. But it is to the pure in heart that God inclineth in favour the heart of the king. And because the heart is not discernible by the king, God therefore giveth grace unto the lips, in which the purity of the heart shining, tieth the heart of the king as a friend unto him.—Jermin.

Proverbs 22:12
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_22:12
THE PRESERVATION OF KNOWLEDGE
I. God preserves knowledge by preserving the man who possesses the knowledge. The preservation of the life of the man of science who has discovered some secret of nature is a preservation of the knowledge that he has gained. If the discovery has been made by him alone and he dies before he has revealed it, the knowledge is lost to the world. When a physician is acquainted with a special remedy or method of treatment for a certain disease which is known only to himself, the preservation of his life is the preservation of this special knowledge. If he leaves the world without imparting what he knows to another man, his secret dies with him—the abstract knowledge is not left behind when the man who possessed it is gone. All knowledge is preserved to us from age to age by its being communicated from one human being to another, as one generation succeeds the other, and the hand of God is to be recognised in its preservation. But this is especially true of the knowledge of God. In the days of old, God long preserved a knowledge of Himself in the world by preserving the life of Noah, of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob. They stood almost alone in the world in this respect, and were like lighthouses on a dark and stormy ocean, sheltering and preserving a moral light in the moral darkness. If the lighthouse is destroyed the light goes out; and if these men had died without transmitting to others the light which they possessed, the world would have been left in ignorance of God. As the ages have rolled on, there have been more of these spiritual lighthouses, and God has always preserved a sufficient number upon the earth to bear witness of Himself.
II. God has preserved knowledge by causing special care to be taken of His written Word. Holy men of old wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, and the record of the truths which were revealed to them is with us until this day. The knowledge of the way of salvation through Jesus Christ has thus been preserved for nearly nineteen centuries, and to-day we can become as familiar with the events of the Incarnation, and with the teachings of the Apostles, as if we had lived in the first century of the Christian era. Although many efforts have been made to destroy the Scriptures of truth, they are with us still, preserved by the providence of their Divine author, in order that men may not be without the means of becoming wise unto salvation through believing the truths which they contain. There have been dark days when the living guardians of Divine truth were hardly to be found; but if they had quite died out after the Bible was written we should still have had this source of spiritual knowledge with us, like a seed-corn, preserving within its husk the living germ, ready to burst forth and grow when it found a congenial soil. God, as the preserver of the knowledge of Himself, has made its safety doubly sure by not only committing it to the living man, but by causing it to be committed to the written page.
III. The preservation of knowledge by the Lord counteracts the evil and false words of wicked men. Acquaintance with truth concerning anything overthrows all false ideas and teachings concerning it. The coming of the morning light scatters all the darkness of night, and with it many false conceptions as to what is around a traveller on an unknown road. So a knowledge of Divine truth scatters error, and overthrows false conceptions concerning God and godliness, and convicts their enemies of falsehood, thus rendering them powerless to do harm. Our Lord, by His knowledge, thus overthrew the words of a great transgressor in His temptation in the wilderness, and it is by the spread of this knowledge of God which He has Himself preserved to us that the final overthrow of evil will be accomplished.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
There is still another sense of the words,—which they may bear; though by some, perhaps, it may be regarded as fanciful:—“The eyes of the Lord keep knowledge:”—they retain it. What He sees, be it but for a moment, does not, as with our vision, pass away. It remains. We see, and, having seen, what passes from the eye passes also from the memory. Not so is it with God’s vision. The sight of His eye is no uncertain or forgetful glance. It is unerring and permanent. All that His eyes have ever seen is known as perfectly now as when it passed before them,—as when it existed or happened!—And in the exercise of this permanent and perfect knowledge, “He overthroweth the words of the transgressors.” All their evil desert remains before Him. They can neither elude His knowledge, nor bribe His justice, nor resist His power. They shall all be made to learn by fearful experience, “whose words shall stand, His, or theirs!”—Wardlaw.
When knowledge seemed on the eve of perishing, a single copy of the Scriptures, found as it were accidentally, preserved it from utter extinction. (2Ch_34:14-18). For successive generations the Book was in the custody of faithful librarians, handed down in substantial integrity. (Rom_3:2) When the church herself was on the side of the Arian heresy, the same watchful eyes raised up a champion (Athanasius) to preserve the testimony. Often has the infidel transgressor laboured with all the might of man for its destruction. Often has Rome partially suppressed it, or committed it to the flames, or circulated perverted copies and false interpretations. Yet all these words and deeds of the transgressors have been overthrown.—Bridges.
The eyes of the Lord are His knowledge, and it is in Him, in His knowledge that knowledge is preserved. That is the bottomless treasure of it; from thence issue out all the veins of knowledge, wherewith the world is enriched. It is He that preserveth knowledge for the seekers of it, it is He that preserveth knowledge in the teachers of it.… His eyes shall watch over it, and though blindness put out the eyes of many, yet in Goshen it shall shine and bring comfort to His people.—
Jermin.

Proverbs 22:13
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_22:13
AN ACTIVE IMAGINATION
I. Inactivity of will may cause a too great activity of the imagination. Man is made for action, and if he refuses to employ his powers in doing some useful and real work, it is probable that he will put forth some morbid effort in another direction. If his limbs are not at work, his mind will probably be active, and if he does not occupy it with objects which are worthy, it will be filled with thoughts that are sinful, and imaginations that are false. It will be especially apt to invent excuses for sloth, by magnifying the difficulties which stand in the way of effort. Every obstacle will be magnified into an insurmountable hindrance, and little risks will be looked at through a medium which will make them look like dangers to be avoided at any sacrifice of duty. The wish is often father to the thought, and the slothful man welcomes and nurses the deception which is born of his own indolence. And the sluggard is an easy prey also to the suggestions of the tempter, who will not be slow to do what he can to inflame the imagination and distort the judgment.
II. The sluggard rightly apprehends danger, but mistakes the source whence it will come. There is a devouring enemy which will slay him if he do not take care, but it is not without him, but within him. He has a foe who endangers his life, but that foe is his own sloth; or, as we saw on chap. Pro_21:25, his own unsatisfied desire. While his eyes are turned on the highway, and he is seeking to avoid the lion which he fancies is there, he is nursing in his bosom the indolence which will be his ruin. He has more to fear from himself than from the most terrible manslayer that ever crossed the path of any human being. But it is with him as with slaves to other forms of sin—he is ready to lay the blame of his disobedience to God’s commands anywhere, rather than upon his own unwillingness to comply with them.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
“Saith,” really a preterite. These proverbs have usually the future. The future is a present continuing forward. Here we have a present tracing itself backward. The impenitent have always been saying the same thing. Age has not changed. Men have stuck to it for near a century.… “There is a lion” at the mercy-seat. So that the minister quits answering the sluggard’s cavils, and tells each man plainly—“These cries are symptomatic.” There is no lion in the case. And a heart that will shape these phantoms would shape others, if these were laid. The difficulty is sloth. In truth, there is a “lion,” but it is a bad heart, crouching against itself, and lurking to destroy the poor unwary sinner.—Miller.
This is a very odd excuse for his laziness. Lions are seldom found in the fields in the day time, and it is a very extraordinary thing if they be found in the streets. Does the sluggard himself believe there is any truth in it? If he does, why does he sleep in his house, since it is possible that it may be set on fire by some accident in the night? Why does he ever take a meal, for some have been choked by the bread which they put into their mouths? When we are employed in the duties of our calling, we need not vex ourselves with the apprehension of lions. “I will give mine angels charge over thee,” says God, “and they shall keep thee in all thy ways.” Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder, the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under thy feet. But let the sluggard remember that there is a lion in that bed where he dozes away his time, and in that chamber where he sits folding his arms together. The devil goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, and he rejoices greatly when he lights upon a sluggard, for he looks upon him to be a sure prey. We are safe from the lions in the way of duty, and never safe when we avoid it. Lions, when they met David feeding his sheep, were torn in pieces by him like kids. A lion unexpectedly came upon that young man of the sons of prophets, who declined his duty when he was commanded to smite his neighbour, and rent him in pieces.—Lawson.
Here is no talk of Satan, “that roaring lion” that lies couchant in the sluggard’s bed with him, and prompts him to these senseless excuses. Nor yet of the “Lion of the tribe of Judah,” who will one day send out summonses for sleepers, and tearing the very caul of their hearts asunder send them packing to their place in hell. But to hell never came any as yet that had not some pretence for their coming hither. The flesh never wants excuses, and needs not to be taught to tell her own tale. Sin and shifting came into the world together; and as there is no wool so coarse but will take some colour, so no sin so gross but admits of a defence. Sin and Satan are alike in this, they cannot abide to appear in their own likeness.—Trapp.
The tongue is seldom slothful, even in the slothful man himself. That will bestir itself to find excuses, and to plead pretences for the defence of sloth. That will be diligent to allege reasons that the sluggard may be negligent.… If the lion had been within, if the courage and nobleness of the lion had been in the sluggard’s heart, he would never have talked of a lion without. No, it was the cold snail that was within; and unless the slothful man’s house may be removed with him, he will not stir to go out of it. Thus he that feareth to be slain, without cause, delighteth to be slain by his own laziness.—Jermin.

Proverbs 22:14
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_22:14
A DEEP PIT
This verse treats of two classes of character, both of which have been depicted before. (See on chaps. Pro_2:16-19, page 24, Pro_6:24, page 89, Pro_6:6-27, page 15).
I. The tempter. The strange woman—the woman who has been so deaf to the voice of all that is womanly as no longer to be worthy of the name, who instead of being man’s helpmeet and endeavouring to win him to tread the path to heaven, is his curse and makes it her aim to drag him down to hell. Notice the main instrument of her destructive power—the mouth. It is by her words of flattery and deception and persuasion that she ensnares her victim and compasses his ruin. History and experience confirm Solomon’s words, for, although external beauty is often a powerful ingredient in the temptation, it is not always so, and counts for very little if it is unaccompanied by that fascination of manner and of speech which have been used by so many bad women with such fatal effect. If we look at the portraits of some of those women who have exerted so mighty a power for evil in the world, we can seldom see sufficient beauty to account for the spell which they seemed to cast around their victims, and we must conclude therefore that it was rather to he found where Solomon puts it,—who may be here speaking from bitter personal experience—viz., in the tongue. This proverb adds one more testimony to the many that have gone before of the immense power for evil or for good that is exerted by that “little member” of our bodily organism.
II. The tempted. He is here depicted as an unwary traveller along life’s highway easily deceived by the appearance of things, and, too careless or too unsuspecting to look beneath the surface, following the bent of his inclination and yielding to the voice of the charmer until he finds the ground giving way beneath his feet, and darkness and hopelessness all around him. Notice the fearful name here given to such an one—to one who is led away by such a tempter. He is abhorred of the Lord. Here is full evidence that God does not look upon human creatures with indifference as to their moral character—that merciful Father though He is, He does not extend to men that indiscriminating and therefore worthless tenderness which some would have us believe is His main attribute—that if men look upon sin as mere obedience to the dictates of nature, and therefore blameless, He does not so regard it. And if men will not attach any weight to the words of Scripture—not believing them to be infallible—they can read the same truth in their every-day experience. The terrible retribution which comes upon those who listen to the words of the “strange woman” is a sufficient testimony to the abhorrence in which the Creator of men holds the sin to which she allures the unwary and the licentious man.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
To what do the fearful words amount? To this: that in His righteous displeasure, there is not a heavier curse which an offended God can allow to fall upon the object of His wrath, than leaving him to be a prey to the seductive blandishments of an unprincipled woman:—that if God held any one in abhorrence, this would be the severest vengeance He could take on him.—Wardlaw.
The mouth of a strange woman is but the mouth of a far deeper pit, the pit of hell into which it openeth. The one is digged by the wickedness of men, the other by the justice of God.—Jermin.

Proverbs 22:15
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_22:15
A FACT STATED AND A DUTY INFERRED
I. Human nature in its most attractive form contains latent depravity. The flower of the thistle is beautiful to look upon, and its downy seed is an apparently harmless object, and one worthy of admiration, as it rears its head among the corn. But how much power of mischief is wrapped up in that ball of soft down, if it is allowed to scatter its seed unchecked. A young lion is as pretty and harmless a creature as a kitten, but what ferocious instincts lie dormant there. A child is the most attractive and innocent of human creatures. As we look upon its guileless face we can hardly connect the idea of sin with its nature, and hardly believe it possible that the most depraved man or woman in the world was once as pure and stainless. But the Book of God tells us that even that young soul is tainted with the disease that infects all our race, and what the Book says is confirmed by the experience of all who have had anything to do with training children. The foolishness of self-will very soon shows itself, and the little one early gives proof that he or she is a true child of Adam by rebelling against the restraints with which it is lovingly surrounded, and desiring at all risks to eat forbidden fruit. In the fairest child-form now living upon the globe there may be hidden seeds which, when fully developed, will fill the world with terror and misery.
II. That this depraved tendency is deeply rooted in the child’s nature. It is “bound” in it or “fettered” to it by a cable of many strands, or a chain of heavy links—it is not a slight preference for the wrong which can easily be overruled—not a garment put on which the wearer can easily be persuaded to put off again, but a part of the very nature—a bent of all the faculties of the soul.
III. The disease is one which will yield to proper treatment. We do not suppose that Solomon’s words teach that any corrective rod will be potent enough to drive out all tendency to go wrong, inasmuch as experience and observation contradict it, but the same experience and observation confirm the truth that wise correction in youth is mighty in its moral power, and may so bring the child round to the love of the true and the good, that its own efforts will second the efforts of the parent, and it will itself turn upon the enemies within, being fully convinced that the self-will that is bound up in its own heart is the greatest folly to which it is liable. There are many who, looking back upon the wise and loving chastisement of a tender parent, can bear testimony to the truth of this proverb. On this subject see also on chap. Pro_13:24, page 334.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
The rod of correction is proper to drive away no other foolishness than that which is of a moral nature. But how comes wickedness to be so firmly bound, and strongly fixed, in the hearts of children, if it be not there naturally.—Jonathan Edwards.
Bound, or fettered.… Firmly knit, closely settled; well tied in; that is, fixed in the childish spirit; this is the sense of nearly all the commentators. Of course, there are great difficulties at once. The fact theologically is just the opposite. “Folly” is not fixed in the childish heart; but stronger and stronger in periods afterwards. Why not, pro vero, “bound?” In much the majority of texts it means simply “tied down,” or “fettered.” “Folly is fettered in the heart of a child”; that is, tied down, and, in many ways, repressed. This is literally the case. It is weak, and hemmed in, and easier to grapple with and drag out of the soul in youth than at any other period.—Miller.
Observe—it is foolishness, not childishness. That might belong to an unfallen child. No moral guilt attaches to the recollection—“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child.” (1Co_13:11.) “A child is to be punished”—as Mr. Scott wisely observed—“not for being a a child, but for being a wicked child.” Comparative ignorance, the imperfect and gradual opening of the faculties, constitute the nature, not the sinfulness of the child. The holy “child increased in wisdom.” (Luk_2:52.) But foolishness is the mighty propensity to evil—imbibing wrong principles, forming bad habits, entering into an ungodly course. It means the very root and essence of sin in a fallen nature—the folly of being revolted from a God of love.—Bridges.

Proverbs 22:16
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_22:16
OPPRESSION AND SERVILITY
I. Opposite actions proceeding from the same motive. This proverb seems to be directed against a man whose mastering passion is the unworthy one of amassing material gain and ministering exclusively to his own enjoyment. This is the commonest source of oppression. “Covetousness,” says Dryden, “is itself so monstrous that nothing else is like it except it be death and the grave, the only things I know which are always carrying off the spoils of the world and never making restitution.” This is a true picture of the avaricious man who regards none of the needs and rights of his fellow-creatures, but only asks himself with regard to them how they can best be made to serve his interests. This leads him to grind down those who are poorer than himself, and use them as so many stepping-stones, by means of which he can mount higher in the social scale, forgetting that though their poverty makes them weaker than himself, they have a Friend who is far stronger than he is. But the same man who thus oppresses his needy brother will make it his business to propitiate the rich, and for the same end, viz., to advance his own interests. “Tyranny and flunkeyism,” says Dr. Thomas, in his comment on this verse, “generally go together. Both are the children of avarice. He that proudly domineers over the poor will servilely bow his knee to the rich.”
II. Opposite actions meeting with the same retribution. Although these actions are so different, they can both be traced to one fountain-head, and therefore one sentence is passed upon both. The man who lives for himself shall not get anything worth having; or if he do, things will be mixed with the cup of his prosperity, which will make it an unpalatable one after all. He may get wealth, and may come to want health; he may be rich and healthy, and yet suffer in his family relationships. He will certainly come to want peace of conscience, the goodwill of his fellows, and the favour of God, and no gain can balance such a loss.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Sin pays its servants very bad wages, for it gives them the very reverse of what it promised. Whilst the sin of oppression or injustice promises mountains of gold, it brings them poverty and ruin. “Shalt thou reign because thou closest thyself in cedar?” said the prophet to Jehoiakim. It could not be, for he used his neighbour’s service without wages, and gave him nought for his work.… We are not proprietors but stewards of the gifts of providence, and must distribute that which he has entrusted to our care according to his will. And it is his pleasure that we should make to ourselves friends by the mammon of unrighteousness, not of the rich but the poor.—Lawson.
The covetous wretch and the vain prodigal are of quite contrary dispositions, and take quite contrary courses, and yet they both meet at last, for both come to want.… He that being rich taketh a little from the poor (for how little must it needs be that is taken from them) shall surely find that he taketh a great deal from himself, even all that he hath. And he that giveth much to the rich (for it must be much, or else it is not regarded by them) will wish he had given it to the poor, when being made poor, he will give himself little thanks for it, and find as little help from them to whom he has given his riches.—Jermin.
A reference to the CRITICAL NOTES at the beginning of this chapter will show that we here enter on the third division of this book. One or two additional notes are subjoined.
Pro_22:17. Miller reads the second clause, “And thou shalt incline thine heart,” etc.
Pro_22:18. They shall withal be fitted in thy lips, rather “let them abide together upon thy lips.”
Pro_22:20. Excellent things. Some here render “thrice repeated things,” the French translation is “things relating to rulers or governors,” and Stuart reads “Have I not written to thee heretofore,” understanding Solomon to refer to the previous portions of the Book. Upon the first two Wardlaw remarks that they both contain the idea of superiority or excellence, for “why are things repeated but for their excellence? and princely or royal things”—which the French translation may yield when analysed—is but a figurative way of expressing transcendent superiority.

Proverbs 22:17-21
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_22:21. Them that send unto thee, rather “them that send thee.” “The senders here,” says Zöckler, “are naturally the parents, who have sent their son to the teacher of wisdom, that he may bring back thence to them real culture of spirit and heart.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH. Pro_22:17-21
TRUST FROM KNOWLEDGE, AND BLESSEDNESS FROM TRUST
I. Knowledge of God must go before faith in God. There must be a knowledge of the existence, character, and power of any person before there can be any trust in him. God is not so unreasonable as to expect men to put trust in Him unless they have some grounds for their trust. Hence the Bible especially aims to make men acquainted with the Being upon whom they are called to exercise faith, by declarations concerning His character, and by a history of His doings in the past, and reminders of what He is doing in the present. Sometimes God points to the visible creation as a source whence men may obtain knowledge concerning Him, and come to exercise trust in Him. This is the drift of the sublime passage in Isaiah 40, in which Jehovah seeks to bring Israel, by a consideration of His creative power and wisdom, to confide in His Almighty strength. (Pro_22:27-29.) Sometimes He appeals to His dealings in the past as a ground of faith in His character and purposes in the present. What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me? (Jer_2:5.) The Son of God appeals to His Father’s love as a basis of faith in Himself. (Joh_3:16.) Paul speaks of the way of salvation as a “knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2Co_4:6.), because without knowledge there can be no faith, and an enlightened knowledge will certainly lead to faith. The preacher here points to the necessity of gaining this true wisdom, the knowledge of Jehovah, as the means of begetting trust in Him.
II. Real blessedness will follow faith in God. A child can have no lasting and real joy in its life, unless it has faith in his father’s love and wisdom. He feels instinctively that he is dependent upon that father, that much of his future well-being depends upon what that father is and does, and if he cannot be sure that he has his real welfare at heart, it will throw a dark shadow over his young life, which will deepen as he becomes more and more capable of realising his position. It is a worm at the root of all our peace of mind to distrust where we must depend. All men must feel that they are dependent upon God, and yet most men live, and perhaps most die, without giving Him that trust which alone can give them peace, and which those who know Him testify that He fully deserves. The testimony of those who knew is “
Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.” (Jer_17:8.) And it is because of its trust-begetting character that Solomon here declares that true knowledge—knowledge concerning Jehovah—is “pleasant” to the soul.
III. Faith in the heart will manifest itself in the lip. A perfume may be hidden in the casket, but whenever the lid is lifted it will make its presence known. The tongue will speak sometimes of that which fills the heart, and when it does not do this in a direct manner there will be a tone in the conversation which will tell men what the soul prizes most. Knowledge in the heart will bring wise words to the lips—the love of truth will result in the answer of truth.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_22:17. This sounds like the opening of the earlier Proverbs, chap. Pro_5:1; Pro_8:1. The repetition is significant. The life of the soul is attention. If that be persevered in, all things follow. God only can give saving light. And yet by laws like the planetary system, He will give it on the bending of the ear. Alas for us! we will not even do this much without His influence. Nevertheless He urges the promise. (See Miller’s rendering in the additional notes at the beginning of this paragraph.) It is a law, though it be a law of grace. God has framed it. Hear outwardly, and thou shalt feel within. Such is our nature (chap. Pro_2:1-5), and it is shrewd to use it. The inclining is from Him; but the advice also is from Him! Shrink not from the advice because His strength is needed to make it His chosen instrument.—Miller.
We may mark that, whereas in the beginning of Proverbs the Wise Man had often called on his son to fasten attention on him, saying, “My son, my son;” now, after so much said, he supposeth that he needeth not to be called upon, and therefore speaketh unto him, without his usual compellation. And surely when much hath been said, to need still much calling on, sheweth much neglect of what hath been said, and much unworthiness to have been an hearer of it. And yet because in the best some rousing of attention is requisite, the Wise Man here lifteth up his voice, to cause a careful bowing down of the ear to his words. He would therefore have attention so to bow down the ear, as to make it as it were a bed, wherein the words of the wise might rest; because that is it which will bring true rest unto the heart.… But we may further note, that whereas he would have him to hear the words of the wise, it is to his knowledge that he would have him apply his heart. For we may hear the words of the wise men of this world, we may hear the words of human learning and understanding, and much good is to be gotten from them; but we must apply our hearts unto the knowledge of God’s word, and so far receive the other as they agree with that, or are not repugnant unto it. Or else hear the words of the wise, whosoever they be, if they be the words of wisdom which they deliver. But if their actions teach otherwise than their words do, apply not thine heart to follow their example. Let rather my knowledge instruct thee, that the heart may be as well applied to doing, as the ears to hearing.—Jermin.
Pro_22:18. It will last when we get it. This is the wonder to others. Here one has been trying to be a better man, and begins to be one from a sudden epoch. Others wrestle with their faults, and fall back into them again. Nothing can be more fitful than all moral reformations. But here, in spiritual life, a flash shoots up, and we never return to darkness. Why is this? Because it is pleasant, says the proverb. It becomes fixed because of its principle as of a second nature.… When we watch over right words, which (Orientaliter) stands for all right actions, God rewards us by making them “pleasant,” and so, even as in heaven itself, they become fixed as the very habit of our lips.—Miller.
Many there are whose lips do speak the words of wisdom, but they are not fitted upon their lips.… The reason whereof is, because the words of wisdom are not seated in the heart. For though the lips may give themselves motion and the head may furnish them with matter, it is the heart that fitteth the lips.—Jermin.
It will give thee most high satisfaction if thou dost so heartily entertain them, and thoroughly digest them, and faithfully preserve them in mind, that thou art able withal to produce any of them as there is occasion, and aptly communicate for other men’s instruction.—Bp. Patrick.
Pro_22:19.—1. The particularity of address—“to thee, even to thee.” In the days of prophetic inspiration, it was no unusual thing for the servants of God to receive express commissions to individuals, in which they alone were concerned. But the whole Book of God—the entire “word of His testimony”—should be considered by every one as addressed to him; as much so as if there were no other human being besides himself, and as if it had been “given by inspiration” to himself alone. There is no room for any saying, as Jehu did of old—“To which of all us?” The answer would, in every case, be—To each of you all—to thee—to thee—to thee. Not that there is no such thing as, “rightly dividing the Word of Truth;” not that there are no portions of it that have a special appropriateness of application to the characters and circumstances of individuals. Still, the great truths of the Word are alike to each and to all. And speedily a man may be placed in one or other of the peculiar situations to which the different portions of it are adapted! I know of nothing more important than for every individual to bring divine lessons home to himself. Too often, alas! we forget personal amidst general application of particular truths. We think of them as intended for men, and forget that they are designed for us. Would you then profit by what you hear?—keep in mind that what is addressed to all is addressed to each—“to thee, even to thee.”—2. Mark the emphasis on the time—“this day.” We set a mark, in our minds, on days that have been rendered memorable by events of special interest. Would Noah, think you, ever forget the day of the year on which he and his family entered the ark, and when “the Lord shut him in?” or the day on which he again stepped out of it upon the green earth, to be the second father of mankind? Would the shepherds ever forget on what night of the year the angelic messengers, amidst the light of the glory of the Lord, announced to them the Divine Saviour’s birth, and when “the multitude of the heavenly host,” bursting on their sight, “ascended jubilant,” saying “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men?” Or would Cornelius ever forget the day and the hour when the angelic visitant directed him to that instruction whereby he and all his house should be saved? You, it is true, have many times heard the words of truth. Let me, however, remind any of you who have thus often heard, and who still neglect them, of the importance to you of each day that you enjoy the privilege. Every time you thus hear them, your eternal all depends on the reception you give to the message of God. This day may be important indeed, for it may be the last on which Divine truth shall sound in your ears. O that it may be a day to be sacredly and joyfully remembered by every sinner now present, as the day on which he first felt its inestimable preciousness to his soul! If you thus bear, and thus improve the opportunity, the day will not be obliterated from your memory by the lapse of eternity. There is one thing of which with emphasis it may be said to each individual sinner, It is “to thee, even to thee:—I mean the message of the Gospel—the message of free mercy through the Divine Mediator. There is no exception; there is no difference. The law speaks to each, “to thee, even to thee”—its sentence of condemnation. The Gospel speaks to each—“to thee, even to thee”—its offer of free, full, immediate, irrevocable pardon on the ground of the universal atonement. To every fellow creature we can say—An adequate atonement has been made for all; therefore for thee—“for thee, even for thee;” and on the ground of that atonement does divine mercy come near to thee—“to thee, even to thee”—with the offer of forgiveness, acceptance, and life. “This day” is the message of life again “made known” unto thee, O sinner; and there is no obstacle to thine acceptance and enjoyment of it, but what is in thyself;—none in God; none in Christ; none in the atonement; none in the divine offer of its virtue to mankind. “To thee is the word of this salvation sent;” and “now is the accepted time, now the day of salvation.”—Wardlaw.
Only a divine word can beget a divine faith, and herein the Scripture excels all human writings, none of which can bring our hearts to the obedience of faith. “I can speak it by experience,” says Erasmus, “that there is little good to be got by the Scripture, if a man read it cursorily and carelessly; but if he exercise himself therein constantly and conscionably he shall feel such a force in it, as is not to be found in any other book whatsoever” “I know,” saith Peter Martyr, “that there are many who will never believe what we say of the power of God’s Word hidden in the heart; and not a few that will jeer us, and think we are mad for saying so. But oh that they would be pleased to make trial! Let it never go well with me—for I am bold to swear in so weighty a business—if they find not themselves strangely taken and transformed into the same image.” The Ephesians “trusted in God” so soon as they heard the word of truth. They “believed” and were “sealed.” (Eph_1:13.) And the Thessalonians’ faith was famous all the world over, when once the Gospel “came to them in power.” (1Th_1:5-8.)—Trapp.
Pro_22:20-21. How the preacher labours! Let us begin at his most expressive terminus. We are to be sent for! some certain day. “Those that send” is but the proverbial cast. “Him that sends” is the more perfect meaning. As sure as the stars we shall be
sent for one day; and one thing will be exacted from us, and one only in the creation, and that is light. The man without light perishes. Solomon says, his whole aim has been to press light on the sinner.… “Have I not done,” he says, “and that under Scriptural promises, the very best things to secure my object? And is not that object, now that I might make thee to know the verity of the words of truth!” This Hebrew is very peculiar. “Words of truth” are easily uttered. “Counsels and knowledge” of the deepest sort may be in the minds of infidels. We may teach a child the very intricacies of faith. But there is a “verity” at its deepest root that the natural man cannot perceive. (1Co_2:14.) To express this, Solomon uses a very infrequent word. It means (in radice) to weigh out so as to be exact. That I might make thee to know the exactness of words of truth. The meaning is that verity which is seen by a Christian eye.—Miller.
Surely if anything be worthy of sending for, worthy of going for, then are the words of knowledge and truth. If they may be had for going or sending, who should not go, who should not send, whither should we not go, whither should we not send? They are they which must bring us to heaven and to happiness. Or else to take the sense another way, and in a spiritual application of the words: Who are they that send unto us? What are the words of truth that we must answer unto them? They that send unto us are God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. God the Father sendeth His blessings, God the Son His merits, and God the Holy Ghost His graces. The words of truth that we must answer are the words of thankful obedience.—Jermin.
The certainty of the words of truth. The evidence of the divinity of the Bible, instead of ever being shaken by all the efforts of infidelity, has been augmenting from the beginning hitherto. Its external evidence has grown in the fulfilment of its predictions. Its internal evidence, though in one sense ever the same, has, in another, been increasing also; inasmuch as it has stood its ground amidst all the advances of human knowledge, and men have never been able to improve upon it or to get before it:—and it is the one only book of which this can be affirmed. And its experimental evidence,—the manifestation of its truth in its saving influence,—in its power to dislodge and change the evil passions and habits of the worst of men,—has multiplied by thousands and tens of thousands of dead and living witnesses. In our own days, we have but to point, not only to cases of revival in our own land, in which the gospel has proved itself “mighty through God” to the pulling down of the strongholds of worldliness and corruption, and turning hearts long alienated to God,—but to the lands of heathen idolatry and cruelty and vileness, wherever Gospel truth has found its way and has been embraced. There, in the marvellous changes that have been effected,—in the contrast between previous stupidity and pollution, and heartless and murderous ferocity, to intelligence, and purity and virtue, and peace, and harmony, and happiness, we have the triumphs of the Cross, and the manifestation of the “certainty”—the divine certainty—“of the words of truth.” They have thus shown themselves to be indeed “excellent things” by the excellence of their effects. We call upon all to examine for themselves. The Bible courts examination. It is the unwillingness and refusal to examine, that is most to be deplored. The genuineness of its writings, the authenticity of its histories, the reality of its recorded miracles, the fulfilment of its prophecies, the sublimity and consistent harmony of its doctrines, the purity of its precepts, the origin of its commemorative ordinances, and its tendency to personal and social virtue and happiness,—all court examination. The testimony of the celebrated Earl of Rochester, when converted from infidelity and profligacy to Christianity and virtue, will be found the truth. Laying his hand on the Bible, he would say—“This is true philosophy. This is the wisdom that speaks to the heart. A bad life is the only grand objection to this Book.”—Wardlaw.

Proverbs 22:22-23
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_22:22-23
GOD THE SPOILER OF THE SPOILER
I. Robbery is of three kinds. 1. There is the open and unlegalised thief. There are men who do not pretend to respect the rights of others and who openly live in violation of Divine and human laws. They differ somewhat in their methods and in the description of their plunder—some seeking to gain an entrance into the mansion and lay hands on the jewels of the wealthy, and others being content with what they can find in the cottage or on the wayside—but they are alike in pursuing their profession without any pretence that they fear God or regard men. But these are not the robbers against whom the sentence is passed which is contained in this proverb. 2. There is the legalised thief. There are governments under which iniquity is established by law—kingdoms in which wholesale robbery is carried on in the name of justice. There were many such in the days of Solomon and there is not a few in this nineteenth century. Perhaps, however, the Preacher was not referring so much to a government as a whole as to individuals who, sitting in the seats of justice, were regardless of the rights of those over whom their position gave them authority. The “oppressor in the gate” is probably a judge who disregards the rights of the poor man if he conceives it will further his own interest so to do, while he all the time pretends to be an administrator of justice and does all in the name of the law of the land. Under this class may be placed those who hold in trust property which has been given for the use of the poor and who disregard the claims of the really needy and so defeat the good intention of the donor. There is an immense amount of this misappropriation of money even in England, and although those who are guilty of it distribute their favours with a pretence of impartiality, and in the name of law, they are as truly robbers in the sight of God as the burglar or the pickpocket. 3. There is the negative robber. A man may be a thief without taking anything from his fellow-man or without holding any official position and abusing his power and privileges. If a man or woman who is brought in contact with others poorer than himself or herself withholds from these poorer brethren anything simply because they cannot retaliate or enforce their rights, such a man or woman is a robber of the poor. And this may and is often done unconsciously—a man who would be indignant at being branded as unjust withholds from those whom poverty has placed in his power rights which belong to every rank and station but which are not always looked upon as the equal heritage of the poor and the rich. For it is quite possible to rob the poor without taking or withholding money from them. Some, who would not do this, rob them of their rest and leisure and withhold from them consideration and sympathy.
II. Defenceless though the poor may seem, Almighty power is on their side. Although the robbery may be legalised on earth, it is contrary to the law of heaven, and although the judge who oppresses can be brought before no human tribunal, he will one day stand before the bar of God. The Judge of all the earth was Himself once a poor man, and can sympathise with the oppressed poor as well as avenge their wrongs. He will spoil the oppressor of his soul’s comfort, and cause him to faint, and be afflicted for want of spiritual sustenance. Many a poor man’s soul is made sad by legalised injustice, and Christ as man’s judge will bring legalised justice to bear upon him who offends in this matter. (Mat_25:41-46.) See also Homiletics on Pro_22:16, and on Chap. Pro_14:30, page 389.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
After so promising a preface, and such wooing of attention, we looked for some fresh matter, and that of best note, too. But, behold, here is nothing but what we had before. “It is truth,” saith the wise man, and yet I must tell you that “to write the same things to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.” (Php_3:1.)—Trapp.

Proverbs 22:24-25
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_22:24-25
AN INFECTIOUS AND DANGEROUS DISEASE
I. Friendship influences habit and thus moulds character. The reason given here for avoiding the companionship of an angry man is, “lest thou learn his ways.” This subject has been treated at length in chap. Pro_13:20, page 326. There is great need when pestilence is abroad to avoid needless contact with infected persons and things. In every man there is more or less liability to disease which sometimes only needs a slight exposure to unhealthy influences to develop into a fatal activity. We are always living and moving amidst unhealthy and infectious moral influences which are hurtful to us, because of the tendency there is within us to go wrong; and it is therefore the mark of a wise man to avoid as much as possible all intimate contact with those who are manifestly under the dominion of sin. This proverb does not of course forbid such intercourse as is sought for the purpose of benefiting the vicious man.
II. A man’s anger hurts himself more than those whom it leads him to injure. We should have expected that Solomon would advise us to avoid the angry man because of the injury he might do us when under the dominion of his passion, but instead of that he commands us to shun him because of the injury we shall do ourselves if we become like him. The wise man loses sight of the lesser danger in looking at the greater, and counts as nothing the harm an angry man can do to the body of a fellow-creature, in comparison with the grievous hurt he inflicts upon his own soul. And this is manifestly a correct view, whether we look at the present influence of passion or its remoter consequences. The man who receives an unmerited insult or injury may sustain no loss of dignity, nor suffer in any way in his spirit. But he who inflicts the injury becomes a meaner man in the very act, and creates a tempest of unrest within his own breast. And a blow which deals even death to an innocent man does not necessarily deprive him of any real good, but it creates a very hell of remorse for him whose anger prompted the deed. While Abel exchanged a blighted home here for an Eden in a brighter world, Cain wandered a fugitive and a vagabond upon the earth.
OUTLINES AND SUGGSTIVE COMMENTS
Lest thou be infected by his example, or provoked by his passion to return the like to him. Either (1) a mischief which is often the effect of unbridled rage, or (2) an occasion of sin, either by drawing thee to an imitation or requital of his rage, or by tempting thee to unfaithfulness in performing the great office of a friend—to wit, admonition or reproof, which, by reason of his furious temper, thou either canst not or wilt not do.—Matthew Poole.
It may seem strange that we should be supposed in danger of learning what we feel to be so very disagreeable. And yet we may. As already hinted, a passionate man may have interesting and attractive qualities otherwise. Now, in proportion as we either admire or love him for these, will be the hazard of our thinking the less evil of his one defect, and trying to palliate and to smile at it. And there is no little truth in the saying, that we either are like our friends and intimates, or will soon be. But more than this. The sudden and often unreasonable heats of the passionate man are ever apt to fret and irritate our spirits, and thus to form a habit of resemblance by the very reaction upon ourselves of his hot and hasty temper.—Wardlaw.

Proverbs 22:26-28
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_22:26-27
SURETYSHIP AND ITS DANGERS
I. A command to avoid a perilous habit. We cannot, in the light of the spirit of Bible teaching—especially that of the New Testament—regard this proverb as forbidding all suretyship. It cannot mean that one honest man when he has ample means at his command is never to become security for another man of honesty. We know that there are cases in which it is the greatest kindness that one friend can do another, and that it is often the means of giving a poor or unfortunate brother a fair start in life. We are commanded to “bear one another’s burdens” (Gal_6:2), and “to do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith” (Gal_6:10), and this is sometimes the most effectual way of carrying out these precepts. But Solomon here warns men against the unwisdom of choosing for companions those men whose habit it is lightly to become a surety for another—who lend their name and credit without considering the responsibility they undertake or asking themselves whether they are doing any real good to the person they oblige. Although it may be a man’s duty sometimes to become a surety for another it is perilous and wrong to make it a habit of life, and thereby encourage thriftlessness and perhaps dishonesty.
II. A warning as to the probable consequences of such a habit. Solomon regards it as certain that a man who habitually becomes a “surety for debt” will come to ruin. This is obvious if we reflect that for one honest man who asks such a favour there are twenty who have little or no moral sense in such a matter; that although a good and true man is often found in circumstances of such need, the great majority who are so found are rogues.
For an illustration and comments on this subject see on Chap. Pro_6:1, page 76, and page 216. Also Homiletics on Chap. Pro_20:16, page 589.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
We are commanded to “love our neighbour as ourselves;” but to do for him what might expose us to having our very bed sold from under us, is to love him better than ourselves, which is a step beyond the Divine injunction. Wardlaw.
Seeing by taking suretyship upon him, he put himself under the creditor, and made himself to be, as it were, the bed on which the trust of others did rest, and seeing by not paying he hath taken away the creditor from the bed of his rest, it is but like for like if the creditor take away his bed from under him. And yet the wise man asking the question seemeth to me to imply in some sort that he should not do it. For though the other doth justly deserve it, yet in so much need let mercy spare.—Jermin.
For Homiletics on Pro_22:28 see on chap. Pro_23:10, page 666.

Proverbs 22:29
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_22:29. Diligent, rather “expert,” apt.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_22:29
THE DESTINY OF THE DILIGENT
I. The diligent man meets with Divine approval. The repeated commendations of diligence and condemnations of slothfulness which we meet with in this book show the estimate which God sets upon rightly-directed industry. 1. The diligent man is in harmony with God. The Divine Father is ever working for the good of His creatures, and no being who ever trod this earth laboured so continuously and earnestly as the Divine Son. With Him during His public ministry the completion of one work was the beginning of another. He was ever about His Father’s business, diligently carrying on and seeking to finish the work which His Father had given Him to do. The man who is diligent in business is in this respect a follower of his Lord and Master. 2. He is in harmony with creatures both above Him and beneath Him. Angels are doing the will of their King with promptitude and despatch—Gabriel “flies swiftly (Dan_9:21) when sent on a message to the earth. Heaven is a world of activity, the cherubim around the throne “rest not day nor night” (Rev_4:8). Many of the creatures below man set him an example of industry. (See on chap. Pro_6:6-11, page 78.) Even inanimate nature seems to rebuke the idle man. (See a comment by Dr. Perry on page 425.) 3. He is in harmony with the needs of humanity. The world calls for diligent workers, and without them all civilisation would soon cease and men sink to the condition of the savage. We have around us many proofs of this. The home of the indolent husband or wife is destitute of all refining influences and is often a nursery of crime. The land where the people are thriftless is a land of degradation and poverty. We can well understand, therefore, that God’s approval rests upon those who make the best use of the time and opportunities which He gives them.
II. The diligent man will reap some reward for his diligence. It is not, of course, possible to take this proverb in an absolutely literal sense, because many diligent men never saw the face of a king. But without diligence it is hardly possible for any man to obtain any position of honour, or if he do he is not likely to retain it. But there is another sense in which diligence may bring a man before kings. Caxton was a diligent man, and by his diligence came literally to stand before the King of England. But he has, by his invention of the printing-press, stood before kings and princes from that hour to this, for they have all learned to honour his name, and to acknowledge their obligations to him. Every time a royal traveller takes his seat in a locomotive James Watt stands before him, for his ability to move with such ease and speed from place to place is the result of that man’s diligence, and his name is held in honour in consequence. And instances might be multiplied indefinitely, in which diligence has caused a man to stand before not only the kings of his own time, but of succeeding generations.
On this subject see also Homiletics on chap. Pro_12:24, page 285.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Of all the qualities which kings especially look to and require in the choice of their servants, that of despatch and energy in the transaction of business is the most acceptable.… There is no other virtue which does not present some shadow of offence to the minds of kings. Expedition in the execution of their commands is the only one which contains nothing that is not acceptable.—Bacon.
God loves nimbleness; “What thou doest, do quickly,” said Christ to Judas, though it were so ill a business that he were about.—Trapp.

Proverbs 22:1
A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches.
On good character, or general esteem of mankind
While our Maker has left us greatly in the dark about unimportant and disputable matters, He has given plain directions concerning the performance of our duty. There is nothing more closely connected with virtue and happiness than reputation. Throughout the Word of God we are excited by examples, as well as by precepts, to aim diligently at obtaining a good report.
I. The wrongness of having too little concern about our reputation. There are those who affect indifference to what a silly or malicious world may think or say of them. They say that avoiding censure is impossible. It is true that sometimes innocent and prudent persons may fall under very cruel imputations; but they rarely continue under them. Professing to despise the ill opinion of mankind creates a shrewd suspicion that we have deserved it. Innocent persons must distinguish themselves by a constant, though unaffected, attention to their reputation. A good name is what a bad person cannot secure. And therefore you who can should on no account fail of doing it. The judgment of others concerning us deserves respect. Preservation of mutual esteem makes persons amiable to each other. Persons who care not what they are thought are in a very likely way not to care what they do. Contempt of reputation is contrary to our worldly interests. An eminently fair character prepossesses everybody in favour of him who bears it, engages friendly treatment, begets trust and confidence, gives credit and weight. Such persons are always sought after and employed. The feeling of being esteemed is one of the joyfullest feelings in the heart of man. Another consideration is, that though offenders often return completely to their duty, it is but seldom and imperfectly that they ever regain their characters when once forfeited.
II. The wrongness of showing an over-regard to our reputation. Many think a fair appearance is all they want. Many think that if they are guilty of nothing which the world thinks enormous, they are quite as good as they need be. A worse case of immoderate regard to our reputation is when, to raise or preserve it, we transgress our duty. The esteem of the worthless is very ill-purchased at the price of becoming like them. The most fatal consequences daily proceed from persons being led by the folly of others rather than their own good sense and that of their discreeter and more experienced friends. Frequently prejudices of education, worldly interest, vehemence of temper, hurry men into wrong-doing. Often the sole inducement is, that if they should stop short their friends would look coldly upon them, and think meanly of them, and they cannot bear the reproach of not having been true to their side or party. In preferring the good opinion of others to their own conscience, persons who have been guilty of some folly or sin will be guilty of almost anything to cover it rather than expose themselves. Another bad way of aiming at reputation is, when we demolish that of others to raise our own, and build it on the ruins. They who are known to give such treatment generally meet, as they well deserve, with a double share of it. Candour towards all of whom we speak is the true art of obtaining it towards ourselves. Besides those who are led into any of these sins by an undue fondness for reputation, they also are blamable who allow it to give them too much uneasiness. A good name may be the subject of too much anxiety. Undue solicitude for fame is sure to bring us distress. It is injustice to demand of the world more regard than we have a right to. Persons who claim too much are frequently driven to unfair and even criminal methods of getting their claim allowed. There is not upon earth a more ensnaring temptation than that of too fond a self-complacency. (Abp. Secker.)

The elements of the great and good are not

1. Great wealth, nor—
2. Splendid genius, nor—
3. Self-advertisement.
   I. Modesty is an element.
   II. Tenacity of purpose.
   III. Mighty reserve power.
   IV. Morality and religion. (Homiletic Review.)

A good name should be guarded
Be wondrous wary of your first comportments; get a good name, and be very tender of it afterwards, for it is like the Venice-glass, quickly cracked, never to be mended, though patched it may be. To this purpose, take along with you this fable. It happened that Fire, Water, and Fame went to travel together; they consulted, that if they lost one another, how they might be retrieved, and meet again. Fire said, “Where you see smoke there you shall find me.” Water said, “Where you see marsh and moorish, low ground there you shall find me.” But Fame said, “Take heed how you lose me; for, if you do, you will run a great hazard never to meet me again: there’s no retrieving of me.” (Howell’s “Familiar Letters, 1634.”)

Proverbs 22:2
The rich and poor meet together: the Lord is the maker of them all.
The mixture of rich and poor
I. In all civil societies there are rich and there are poor people. This is the unavoidable consequence of the constitution of things. It will appear so if we examine whence ariseth wealth and whence poverty. Riches arise from three causes.

1. The virtues and abilities of men.
2. From the vices of men.
3. From chance or good-fortune; from events towards which the rich man himself contributes little or nothing.
   To the same three causes poverty may also be ascribed. Not only nations are necessarily divided into rich and poor, but there must be also a perpetual fluctuation of property, by which the rich becomes poor, and the poor become rich, so that neither state is of a fixed and permanent nature. The poor will always be far more numerous than the rich. Whilst there is human liberty, whilst there are virtues and vices, whilst there are vicissitudes of fortune and revolutions of affairs, there must be in all times and places a mixture of high and low, rich and poor. Providence permits it, and in some sense may be said to appoint it, since it results from the nature and constitution of this world.
   II. The moral reflection made by Solomon upon this inequality. The Lord is the maker of them all. They have one common parent. In that respect they are equal. If so, there should be no great difference as to real happiness between them. Is there much disparity in point of happiness between the great and the small, the master and the servant, the gentleman and the labourer, the rich and the poor? Superficial observers of human nature and human life will judge without hesitation that the rich have every advantage on their side. But to have honour and authority, unless it be honestly acquired and decently supported, is to be raised to splendid infamy. Power wantonly exercised is the undesirable opportunity of doing mischief. Wealth used for vile purposes, or for no good purposes, can be no real blessing to the master or the hoarder of it. Independency rightly understood is sometimes a blessing, but it is sometimes a calamity. The poor are, or may be, more free from uneasiness than the rich. They have fewer desires, fewer false and artificial wants, more moderate expectations, etc., and these sorts of cares and commotions are no small abatements of human happiness. The poor have usually better health. The extremes either of plenty or of indigence usually occasion various distempers, and shorten the thread of human life. They therefore who are in a middle state between wealth and want should be thankful for their lot, and instead of envying those who ere above them, should consider how many are placed below them. If the whole property and revenue of a country were equally divided amongst the inhabitants, they would be reduced to a state approaching very nearly to poverty. If all the inhabitants of a Christian nation were to live up exactly to the precepts of our Lord and the exhortation of His apostles, excessive wealth and extreme indigence would hardly be found among them. There are three precepts or laws of Christianity which tend directly to remove these extremes; and they are the law of charity, the law of industry, and the law of temperance. (J. Jortin, D.D.)

The ranks of rich and poor
The constitution of things being such that the labour of one man, or the labour of several, is sufficient to procure more necessaries than he or they stand in need of, this immediately gave room for riches to arise in the world, and for men’s acquiring them by honest means. Thus some would acquire greater plenty of necessaries than they had occasion for; and others, by contrary means, or by cross accidents, would be in want of them. A family with more than was wanted for necessaries would soon develop secondary wants, and inventions for the supply of them, the fruits of leisure and ease, came to employ much of men’s time and leisure. Hence a new species of riches came into the world. By and by the superfluities of life took in a vastly larger compass of things than the necessaries of it. Then luxury made its inroad, and all the numerous train of evils its attendants, of which poverty is far from being the worst. If riches had continued to consist only in things necessary or luxurious, this must have embarrassed trade and commerce, and kept riches in the hands of a few. It was agreed to substitute something more lasting and portable, Which should pass everywhere in commerce for real natural riches. Money was to answer for all things. The improvement of trade and commerce has, very happily, enlarged the middle rank of people, who are, in good measure, free from the vices of the highest and the lowest part of mankind. The ranks of rich and poor being thus formed, they meet together—they continue to make up one society. Their mutual want unites them inseparably, but they meet upon a footing of great inequality. The superiority on the one hand, and the independence on the other, are in no sort accidental, but arise necessarily from a settled providential dispensation of things for their common good. This implies duties to each other. The lower rank of mankind go on for the most part in some tract of living, into which they got by direction and example; and to this their understanding and discourse, as well as labour, are greatly confined. Then what influence and power their superiors must have over them! The rich have the power of doing a great deal of good, but this power is given them by way of trust, in order to their keeping down that vice and misery with which the lower people would otherwise be quite overrun. The rich are charged by natural providence, as much as by revealed appointment, with the care of the poor. This is not a burden, but a privilege attached to riches. Observations on public charities:

1. What we have to bestow in charity being a trust, we must satisfy ourselves that we bestow it upon proper objects of charity.
2. Public charities are examples of great influence.
3. All public charities should be regarded as open to counsels of improvement.
4. Our laws and whole constitution, civil and ecclesiastical, go more upon supposition of an equality amongst mankind than the constitution and laws of other countries.
5. Let our charity towards men be exalted into piety towards God, from the serious consideration that we are all His creatures. (Bp. Butler.)

The rich and poor meet together
In the distinction between the rich and the poor there is something not altogether pleasant to the human mind. We are apt to recoil from it. Frequently the dissatisfaction increases as we can discover no just rule for the unequal distribution of riches. The mind of the author of this proverb was led away from the distinctions between these two classes to notice agreements between these classes.

1. There is a substantial agreement between rich and poor in their origin and their situation as they enter the world. They are equally dependent, equally helpless, equally miserable.
2. In their training and preparation for after-life.
3. A value is set upon riches as a means of enjoyment or usefulness. With the rich and poor alike there is a desire for wealth which arises from the hope of making it useful to one’s own.
4. But for cherished erroneous notions, the rich and the poor would act together with more efficiency and more good-will. Public good would be more promoted.
5. Between rich and poor there is a substantial agreement in all the organs of perception and enjoyment. The poor man’s organisation throughout is as perfect as the rich man’s.
6. In the intellectual faculties there is a strong resemblance.
7. And in the original passions of men.
8. They are alike in their natural and equal dependence upon one another. Neither class can dispense with the other and stand independent and alone.
9. There is a nearly equal distribution of the disappointments, vexations, and distresses of life. 10. There is perfect equality among men in their capabilities for religion. (J. S. Spencer, D.D.)

The relative duties of the rich and poor
Nothing is made for itself, or made to terminate in its own being.
I. The foundation of the relative duties of the rich and poor.

1. They have one Creator, who is also the Father of all.
2. They are brought together into the same society or department of being. Society is a Divine constitution, and an important ingredient of happiness. In society mankind exists in different relations to each other. In respect to them the law of dependence, which pervades the whole universe, prevails.
   II. What are the relative and reciprocal duties of rich and poor?
3. One duty of the rich is benevolent bestowment; to supply the need of the poor, to aid them in their necessities.
4. Another duty is that of employment.
5. The enactment of just laws.
6. The practical recognition of the great fact of an universal religious equality. The poor owe—
   (1) Gratitude to their benefactors.
   (2) Contentment with reasonable wages.
   (3) Regard to the interests of their employers. (F. A. Cox, D.D., LL.D.)

Points of agreement in the state of the rich and the poor
I. In the participation of a common nature. Poor and rich have equally the power of ascertaining general principles; their moral sensibilities are the same; in devotion the two classes meet. They are alike in the primary passions of the human mind. The more we analyse actions, and trace them to their primary elements, the more we shall perceive the identity between the rich and the poor as to their intellectual, moral, accountable, and devotional capacities.
II. In the process of the same social economy.
III. In the house of God. In the presence of the great and good Being men should forget all their distinctions, and recollect their essential relation to Him who is equally the Father of all mankind.
V. In the circumstances of their entrance into this world, and in the circumstances of their exit out of it. Learn—

1. That those who are rich should recollect that they are rich for the purpose of benefiting their generation. Let such persons consider seriously whether they are living to themselves or to God.
2. Not to repine if we are poor and yet partakers of true piety springing from the faith of the gospel. (Robert Hall.)

The doctrine of human equality
There are great points of resemblance between all men sufficient to constitute a true equality.

1. All possess an intellectual and immortal nature. Mind is a common possession. The immortality of the soul stamps all men with equal honour.
2. The fact of a common possession among all classes of the social and domestic affections establishes the doctrine of human equality. The same heart of love towards friends and kindred beats in the breast of the highest and lowest.
3. The doctrine of human equality is established by the universal distribution of vice and virtue. Everywhere you will find sin. That is a common heritage. So with virtue. You will find grand specimens of piety and goodness in the dwellings of the rich, the middle class, and the poor.
4. The doctrine of human equality is established by our common inheritance of infirmities, suffering, bereavements, sorrow, and death. The same physical weakness enfeebles rich and poor. They are subject to the same diseases. They experience the same mental anguish. Learn—
   (1) To see the mischief—the sin—of those who endeavour to sever, ill thought and sympathy, man from man. What is specially needed now is sympathy between the various classes of society.
   (2) That this doctrine of human equality supplies a basis for the adaptation of the gospel to our needs. (W. Walters.)

Rich and poor

1. According to the very constitution of human nature, great social distinctions do and must exist. While we acquiesce in this fact as inevitable, it is important that we take a right view of it.
2. The rich and poor, with many outward differences, meet together in the possession of a common nature, which is greater than all the circumstances of life.
3. The rich and poor meet together in a large intermediate class. The blending of classes is not less remarkable than their separation.
4. The rich and poor meet together in the common enjoyment of all the greater blessings of life. The most valuable blessings of life are those which are scattered broadcast over the world, and which come to all alike, as does the bright shining of the sun.
5. The rich and poor meet together in all the more important and deeper experiences of life. The great events, which stir the deepest feelings of man’s heart—birth, marriage, death—occur in every household.
6. The rich and poor meet together in that they are all alike, and without exception, sinners, involved in one common ruin, exposed to one common doom. This is one of the most unpalatable truths of the Bible.
7. The rich and poor meet together in this—they have presented unto them a common salvation. There is only one gospel for rich and poor. Social and national distinctions find no place in the gospel of Christ. If men are to be saved at all they can only be saved in one way, by the exercise of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the one Saviour. (T. M. Morris.)

Rich and poor
I. Various ways in which rich and poor cannot avoid meeting together.

1. They belong to the same creation. They meet together, then, as brethren—“all one Man’s sons,” who will have His children live together in unity.
2. They are placed together by their common Maker in the same world, and in a state of necessary dependence on each other.
3. Although there is a wide separation between rich and poor in point of education, habits, and manners, yet these outward differences are as nothing in comparison with their common nature, to which they bear the same relation as the clothes to the body. View them in regard to their natural appetites, bodily and mental capacities, social and domestic affections; in all these things they meet together as equals, and we plainly see that one “Lord is the Maker of them all.”
4. If now, dismissing worldly considerations, we contemplate them as they must appear to their Maker, we shall see the distance between them absolutely vanish, and nothing to prevent their meeting together on a footing of perfect equality. All souls are alike, and religion addresses itself to all alike.
5. Rich and poor, thus meeting together in the enjoyment of the same Christian privileges, should also meet together in the exhibition of a renewed heart and a gracious character, the fruits of a common faith.
   II. Exhort both rich and poor to a voluntary meeting of each other; not only as being brought together by the appointment of Providence, but as seeking and making advances towards each other.
6. It is not enough that the rich should not oppress the poor; thanks to the equity of our laws, this is not to any serious extent in their power; nor that they should not despise the poor, which we hope is not in their inclination; but the rich must protect and assist and honour and sympathise with their poorer brethren.
7. But if it be the duty of the rich thus to meet the poor, it is no less incumbent on the poor to make advances towards the rich, and “meet them half-way.” (J. H. Burn, B.D.)

Social relations
Rich and poor meet together in their relation and dependence on each other, as members of society and common heirs of Christ’s salvation. They meet together in their duties. They meet together in their joint properties. They meet together in their dearest interests, both of this life and of that which is to come. The rich man may be reminded that the city cannot be inhabited without the artisans and smiths and labours. The poor man should be told that the capacity of his superiors is of another order from his own, and that the duty of different stations is different; each has his own opportunities, and his own responsibilities. Rich men are necessary to the well-being of the poor, and the poor are essential to the existence of wealth. The necessities of all ranks connect all. The wants of the rich convey comforts to the poor; the wants of the poor minister to the abundance of the rich. Such are the gracious dispensations of a kind Providence. Let us all be thankful for what we have, and not repine that we have no more. (
G. D. Hill, M.A.)

The poor and the rich
All through the Scriptures the point of view is God’s, not man’s. To understand any part of the Bible we must look at it from the Divine standpoint. This applies to the text. In that day the contrast between rich and poor was far greater than now. If man had spoken he would have said, “The rich and poor are divided; their interests are at war, and cannot be made to harmonise.” The rich have manifest advantages.

1. They have opportunities for improvement which the poor have not.
2. They have means of influence which the poor have not. In other respects observe the essential sameness of these two classes.
   (1) The faculties of the mind in both rich and poor are essentially the same.
   (2) The same moral natures are in both.
   (3) They are alike responsible.
   (4) In the eye of God they meet together in their destiny.
   (5) They meet together in their sinfulness.
   (6) They are the same in their relation to the plan of salvation.
   Both are one at the centre. God equalises. The differences are slight. The differences are reciprocal and transient, while the points of agreement are permanent. Those who set the one class against the other are moving backward toward the feudal ages, whether they know it or not—a time when the poor was servant to the rich. The glory of our age is that the differences between the classes are being obliterated. They are meeting together. Our souls are being lifted to a comprehension of this exalted ideal of the Scriptures. (R. S. Storrs, D.D.)

The equality of men
I. Clearly state the subject.
II. Show that it is the will of God that there should be distinctions of rich and poor in the world.

1. Evident from Scriptures.
2. It is not inconsistent with God’s justice, and is an argument for His wisdom.
   III. Applications.
3. The rich should always acknowlege God in all their enjoyments.
4. The poor should be contented.
5. Apart from riches and poverty, all men are equal—they have the same nature, the same care of Providence, the same Christian privileges, and the same judgment. (H. Grove.)

Ultimate Divine impartiality
The idea of ultimate impartiality is what is chiefly suggested by the latter part of this verse, “the Lord is the Maker of them all.” He is so by creation. They alike owe to Him their being, and owe to Him every moment the maintenance of that being—the rich man and the honourable, as well as the poorest and meanest on earth. Where is the monarch on the throne that, more than the lowest of his subjects, can draw a breath independently of God? He is so by providential allotment. The same Lord makes them what they are, and could at His pleasure reverse their conditions, making the rich the poor and the poor the rich. The Lord being the Maker of them all implies also the equal distance of them all, as alike His creatures, from their common Creator and Governor. The distance is the same. In both it is infinite. When God is the object of common comparison, the distance between the highest and the lowest of mankind measures not a hair’s breadth; it is annihilated. All the distinctions of which men make so much sink into nothing before His infinite majesty. (R. Wardlaw, D.D.)

The true corrective of social inequalities
The text does not mean that both rich and poor are mingled in society, that they oppose or encounter one another, but rather that they are alike, that with all their differences there is still something common to both. What is this common ground, the point of contact and agreement? Not an absolute identity or sameness of condition, but participation in a certain good common to both, and independent of external qualities. The true corrective of all social inequalities, so far as they are evil, must be furnished, not by human institutions and arrangements, but derived from a higher and independent source. Consider how and why the religion of the Bible is adapted to exert this influence. Men’s schemes for the practical solution of this great problem are three.

1. The idea of obliterating social inequalities by a coercive distribution of all property. This method is condemned by its violent injustice, by the meanness of its aims, by the hypocrisy of its professions.
2. The idea of securing an equality of civil rights in spite of personal and social disadvantages. As a positive means of correcting the effects of providential inequalities, this is as worthless as the other.
3. The idea of remedying the evil by means of intellectual increase and knowledge and refinement of taste. The objection to this remedy is that when applied alone its influence is not necessarily or wholly good.
   (1) Christianity distinctly recognises the existence and necessity of some providential inequalities in the external situation of mankind.
   (2) Its remedy is the direct mitigation of the evils of society by the change wrought in the tempers and affections of the parties. And true religion attaches to the various degrees of wealth, refinement, knowledge, influence, and leisure their corresponding measures of responsibility. It makes each party, to some extent, content with his actual condition, aware of its peculiar obligations, and spontaneously disposed to discharge them.
   (3) By a process of moral elevation men are first taught to surmount their disadvantages, and then by one of intellectual elevation the classes are brought nearer together. Impress the necessity for popular religious education, not only as the means of personal improvement and salvation, but also as the grand corrective and perhaps the sovereign cure of the disorders which now prey upon society, and “eat as doth a canker.” Religious education has a social and secular as well as an exclusively religious use. The true Secret of the “healing of the nations.” (J. A. Alexander, D.D.)

Relations of rich and poor
The man in want murmurs that God has given him so little; the man in affluence forgets that God has given him so much. A want of sympathy arises between the different classes; they meet in jealousy, not in love. Differences ought to be viewed, not as specially hurtful to any, but as generally good for all. One man is not nearer God or farther from God than another. God is not only the maker of all men as men, He is the maker of all as rich and poor. He fixes their civil conditions. The unequal state is the appointment of His providence. Men meet together by nature as equal; in the eye of the world as unequal; in both cases for good. None is in prosperity or adversity without affecting others. What, then, are the duties which each owes the other, and which both owe to God? (Canon Harvey, M.A.)

Seeing men as God sees them
How the scales seems to fall away from one’s eyes directly we are enabled to see things as God sees them! The sacred worth of humanity shines far brighter than any of its tinsel happiness. We learn to estimate ourselves aright, undisturbed, and unabashed by the false estimates which are current in the world. Our true distinction is that we are men, that we belong to a race which was made in the image of God, was dear to His heart, and is redeemed by His love. The equality we claim for men is not a levelling down—it is quite the reverse; it is raising them up to the higher level, which they have deserted and forgotten. It is giving men self-respect instead of self-esteem. (R. F. Horton, D.D.)

The common humanity
I. Rich and poor meet together in their ordinary allotments of life.
II. In the ordinary characteristics of their nature.

1. The body has the same number of bones and muscles, nerves and sinews, in any of which disease may fasten and pain may enter.
2. Nor is our exposure any the less in our minds.
3. Our sensibilities are the same.
   III. In their destinies in the common hereafter.
4. We all meet at the grave.
5. We all meet at the judgment.
6. We all meet in eternity.
   IV. In their rights under the gospel.
7. There is the same need in the fallen nature.
8. The same supply furnished in the inexhaustible mercy of a crucified Redeemer.
9. The same clear condition annexed to the call.
10. The same unalterable pledge annexed to the promise.
11. The same fulness of fruition held out in answer to every hope at the last.
    There is no property qualification whatsoever for citizenship in the kingdom of God. (Chas. S. Robinson, D.D.)

The ordination of wealth and poverty
God makes some rich that they may be charitable to the poor; and others poor that they may be serviceable to the rich; and they have need of one another. He makes some poor to exercise their patience, and contentment, and dependence on God; and others rich to exercise their thankfulness and benevolence. All stand upon the same level before God. (Matthew Henry.)

Diverse social conditions
No dispensation of Providence appears, at first sight, more advantageous to mankind than the diversity of conditions. The prince has need of his people, and the people have need of their prince; the politician has need of the soldiers, and the soldiers have need of the politician. This consciousness of the need which we have of our fellow-creatures is the strong tie which binds us to them. Yet, by the depravity of the human race, this useful order has been miserably abused. On one side the great have been dazzled by their own splendour, and hence have become haughty, disdainful, and oppressive. On the other, the low, forgetting the dignity which naturally cleaves to a reasonable soul, have become fawning and mean; have bowed down to imaginary divinities and crouched before phantoms of grandeur. Both parties have acquired their erroneous ideas from neglecting to consider themselves in a proper point of view. The nature of man consists of a spirit united to a body; and this description applies to the whole race. The soul of the poor man, as well as that of the rich, has the power of considering principles, of drawing consequences, of discerning truth from falsehood, of choosing good or evil, of seeking for the most glorious and useful attainments. His body, too, bears the same characters of skill and exquisite contrivance: it is harmonious in its parts, just in its motions, and proportioned in its powers. As their powers are the same, so too are their weaknesses. The soul of the rich, like that of the poor, is subject to the influence of the passions. Nor do their privileges differ more; for though a poor man cannot exercise the authority of the great, nor obtain the reputation of immortal heroes, yet he may aspire to honours infinitely greater. He has a right of raising himself to God by the ardour of his prayers; and he can assure himself, without danger or delusion, that the great God will regard and answer his prayers. Nothing shows so much the meanness of the great as the value which they set on exterior advantages, for thus they renounce their true and proper grandeur. The glory of man consists not in that he is rich, noble, a lord, or a king, but in that he is a man, a being formed after the image of God, and capable of the sublimest attainments. What are the views of God with regard to men? What end does He propose in placing us on this planet, thirty, forty, or fourscore years? He intends it as our time of trial. On this principle, what is the most glorious condition? It is not that which raiseth us in society; nor that which procures us the greatest honours and accommodations of life, for it is more glorious to be a good subject than a wicked king, to be a good disciple than a profligate teacher. There is no profession shameful if it is not vicious. There is, indeed, something more noble in the objects of some professions than of others. There is something much greater in the design of a magistrate making and executing laws for the good of mankind and in that of a mechanic practising the simplest arts. But God will not determine our everlasting state according to the design of our professions, but according to the execution; in that respect all professions are equal, and all men have the same destination. Mankind, then, are essentially equal in their nature, their privileges, and their destination. Above all this, equality is eminently conspicuous in their end. We may labour to acquire a portion of honest fame, to augment our fortune, to establish our reputation, and sweeten, as far as we can, the cares of life, for this the morality of the gospel does not condemn; but still we must carry this labour no farther than it deserves; it must not be our chief care. God has given to the great ones of the earth an exterior glory, transient and superficial; but to the humble and the patient He has given that glory which is real, solid, and permanent; and what is there difficult to a wise man in submitting to this order of Providence? It may, in some respects indeed, be mortifying to lurk in the lowest ranks of society when one feels sentiments of greatness and elevation in the soul. But those things will soon pass away; soon shall we enter on a world where those distinctions shall be abolished, and all that is great in the immortal mind shine forth in full splendour. (
A. Macdonald.)

The diversity of station and outward prosperity among mankind
I. The diversity of station, of power, of authority, of wealth, and the like is inherent in the nature of man. Men are diverse in their natural capacities, abilities, and inclinations. But this diversity rests not altogether on chance or on injustice of mankind, since it originates, if not in the very nature of the soul, yet surely in the constitution of the body which it inhabits, the external objects by which man is environed, the early education that he receives and the climate allotted him for his abode, and which cannot possibly be everywhere the same.
II. The proof, however, that the difference of station is necessarily inherent in our nature will not pacify the discontented man. He will probably complain of this necessity, that he is subjected to it against his will. But will he justly do so if we prove to him that God in this institution had the wisest and kindest designs in view, and that it is in reality calculated to procure to every one in particular and to all in general manifold and important benefits?

1. Certain it is that without the diversity of estates and conditions of life, we should be absolutely obliged to forego very many of the conveniences which we may enjoy. We should be more independent, but we should also have less support in weakness, less protection in dangers, less help in misery, less relief in distress. And how burdensome would life become if every one were obliged to provide himself necessaries alone, every one to procure and prepare for himself whatever he wanted for his maintenance, for his food and clothing, for his recreation and his amusement!
2. By this regulation established by the Deity mankind have the best opportunity for employing their several capacities, faculties, and endowments, and of carrying them to the highest degree of perfection which they can here attain. The difference of states and conditions of life introduces a great variety of projects and designs, of occupations, exertions, labours, and amusements.
3. By means of this Divine economy every species of satisfaction and pleasure is enjoyed whereof mankind are capable, and these satisfactions and pleasures, taken together, constitute unquestionably the greatest possible sum of happiness or of agreeable sensations that could have place in the present state of man. How few the species of pleasure to which mankind would be restricted if they were in all respects equal!
4. This diversity of station and outward prosperity are excellent means of exercising us in virtue, and so of rendering us capable of the perfection and happiness of another life.
   Conclusion:
5. Let every one of us be contented with his situation. Acquire the habit of viewing it on the most agreeable side—that God knows us far better than we know ourselves, and is uniformly consulting our welfare.
6. Let each of us only act up to his station with all possible fidelity in every particular.
7. Let us with extraordinary diligence strive after a superior station in a future world. (G. J. Zollikofer.)

The poor not to be despised
Leslie, the painter, tells us of his hearing the preference expressed by Rogers for seats in churches without pews opposed by a gentleman who preferred pews, and said, “If there were seats only, I might find myself sitting by my coachman.” Rogers replied, “And perhaps you may be glad to find yourself beside him in the next world.” (Francis Jacox.)

Proverbs 22:3
A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself.
Seen and unseen evils of life
The great mass of mankind live at hazard, so far as the final end of life is concerned. No certain destination is in their view, nor is their life guided by any central principle. There is a right object at which to aim, a high purpose that should be the centre of every human life, giving it unity and strength.
I. Consider the nature of providence in the conduct of life. Prudence and providence have a close kinship. The word providence expresses the special idea or particular act of providing, while prudence denotes the foresight which shows itself in habit, or the manner of providing.

1. Here is the lowest and basest kind of prudence that stands in opposition to a higher moral life. This is an evil prudence. Self is at the centre of it.
2. Then there is a prudence which might be called neutral, and which is not incompatible with spiritual growth.
3. There is a prudence that is subservient to the higher principle itself. True religion and genuine prudence are allied.
   II. Observe the value of prudence in the affairs of life. The prudent man can look behind and before, can estimate probabilities, can consider cause and effect. He decries the future, and is warned. He needs his prudence in the secular affairs of the world. The moral fibre of a man has much more to do with his material surroundings and well-being than many persons seem to think. The prudent man avoids temptations that may be too much for his moral strength.
   III. The doom of thoughtlessness. Recklessness brings on ruin. Punishment is not arbitrary, but necessary. (Daniel Jackson.)

Prudent and simple
I. The specification of the persons. Prudent and simple; that is, righteous and wicked. Godly men are in Scripture described as wise men, and wicked men are spoken of as fools. That godly men are truly wise appears in those qualities, and actions, and principles, and properties which belong to them.

1. A godly man hath the true principle of wisdom in him. Wisdom is not a fit but a habit, and implies a spring and principle for the nourishing of it. The right principle of wisdom is a gracious and savoury spirit, the work of regeneration, and the new creature in us.
2. What a man propounds to himself has its influence upon his wisdom. The godly man’s aims are heavenly and spiritual.
3. Wisdom is seen in regard to the rule whereby he is led. It is the part of a wise man to have good rules. The Christian’s rule is the Word of God.
4. In regard to the object whereabout he is conversant, which is the gospel, the doctrine of wisdom.
   II. The different account which is given to each.
5. The account of the prudent. He is discovered as to his spiritual judgment and apprehension, and spirit of discerning. “He foreseeth the evil.” This foresight he has by the dictates of the Word of God; by the concurrence of one thing with another; by the inward hints and suggestions of the Spirit of God. He is discovered in reference to activity and practice. “And hides himself.” This is done in the exercise of all such graces as are pertinent hereunto: such as meekness, humility, repentance, faith, charity. A godly man hides himself in the whole work of self-reformation and holiness of life.
6. The account of the foolish. Their carriage: “They pass on.” This is an expression of security, and of pertinancy or progress in sin. Sin blinds the judgment, carries away the heart, and fills men with vain hopes. The more deceitful and fraudulent sin is, the more watchful and vigilant should we be.
7. Their miscarriage, or ill-condition. They “are punished.” Sin and judgment are relatives, and infer one another. They “pass on, and are punished.” That is, they are punished because they pass on. Security is the great promoter of punishment, in the nature of things, and in the justice of God. (T. Horton, D.D.)

Hiding-places for the prudent
One main element of safety is a just apprehension of danger. There are encompassing dangers and safe hiding-places in the several regions of our secular business, our moral conduct, and our religious hopes.

1. In the ordinary business of life. For example, when speculation is rife.
2. In the region of practical morality. Frivolous and licentious companions, theatres, Sabbath amusements, and a multitude of cognate enticements.
3. The greatest evils lie in the world to come, and only the eye of faith can foresee them. (W. Arnot, D.D.)

Good and bad prudence
We are not called upon anywhere in the Bible to make little calculations, small and selfish arrangements, to build for ourselves little refuges that will hold nobody else: we are called to far-sightedness, a large conception of men and things and Divine purposes, and to such a calculation of the action of the forces of the universe as will save us from needless trouble and assure us of ultimate defence and protection. Foresight is everywhere taught in the Bible, but not a foresight that is of the nature of selfishness. (J. Parker, D.D.)

Contrast of prudence and folly
A celebrated commander had returned from a period of military service distinguished by the most important victories. After he had retired from a very gratifying reception at court, the sovereign was eloquent in his praise to the surrounding circle. “It must be confessed,” said one of the bystanders, “that he is a lucky general.” “He has been too long a lucky general, to be only a lucky general,” was the apt reply of the discriminating monarch. The same judgment is continually, though silently, made in the ordinary concerns of life. Do we see any one, possessed of the same external advantages and means of wealth with those around him, yet invariably involved in difficulty, poverty, and want? We usually consider him deficient in that prudent foresight which guards against loss, and in that steady industry which leads so commonly to success. The systematically unfortunate very commonly incur the blame of being systematically imprudent.
I. The character of a prudent man.

1. It is, then, one characteristic of the prudent man that he foreseeth the evil. The faculty of combining present situation with future prospect, and of weighing the good or evil of the one by its effect and bearing upon the other, is a gift by which man is broadly distinguished from the brute creation; and by which intellect and civilisation, among those of his own species, assert their superiority over the narrow views and unreflecting sensuality of savage life. The prudent man walks by faith, and not by sight. Eager to avoid the evil and choose the good; anticipating the punishment of obdurate sin or unreflecting indifference, he asks in the anxious solicitude of one who knows that life and death are on the issue, “What must I do to be saved?”
2. He foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself. The sense of danger leads him at once to the effectual remedy. Whither, then, does the wise man flee from impending danger? Even to the sure and certain hope of his Redeemer’s Cross.
   II. The simple pass on, and are punished. Is this, it may be asked, that godly simplicity and sincerity which our Lord; and His apostles, and every part of the instruction of the Word of life continually recommend? No: it is the simplicity of folly, of carelessness, of prejudice, of wilfulness, of the love of sin, of unbelief, of ignorance, of hardness of heart, and of contempt of the Word of God. Promises animate not his obedience. Threatenings arouse him not from his lethargy. Warnings awake him not from his security. Expostulation fails to enkindle his shame, or to give life to his gratitude. The simple “pass on.” They are carried down the stream of time, silently and surely, toward death and judgment. (R. P. Buddicom, M.A.)

Proverbs 22:4
By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour, and life.
Humility recommended
Every being pursues its own perfection, and would fain be satisfied in all the capacities it understands, and in all the importunate appetites it feels. God draws us insensibly to virtue and obedience, by annexing those good things which we all perceive, admire, and prosecute to the practice of those moral duties which are equally our happiness, but not so easily discerned. The text encourages humility, from the consideration of the great advantages we may reasonably expect from the practice of it, even all that is good and desirable in this present world—both riches, and honour, and life.
I. A duty recommended. Humility, with the fear of the Lord. The definition, nature, and principles of humility in general. Humility is a habit or temper of mind, proceeding from a principle of religion, which subdues all lofty, false opinions of one’s self, and disposes a man to cheerful acquiescence in all estates and conditions of life that God shall place him in. It is a habit of mind, a frame or temper of soul; for a virtue cannot be defined by single actions. It is such a habit of soul as must be framed and wrought by a principle of religion or the fear of God. Nothing can be a virtue in us that we have not chosen. Mere depression of mind is not humility. Christian humility consists in a modest, just opinion of ourselves, and a cheerful submission to the will of God.
II. The several parts and exercises of the duty so defined. The principal exercises of humility are—

1. In our desires and aims.
2. In our looks and gestures.
3. In our garb and habit. But principally—
4. In our conversation with our acquaintance, friends, and equals; with our superiors; with our inferiors.
   III. The rewards proposed to persuade and encourage the practice of it.
5. Riches, and honour, and life are real blessings, and the proper matter of reward.
6. Humility, with the fear of the Lord, will certainly procure them. They that seek God may expect to attain these rewards, by a natural power and efficacy in the virtue itself. By an efficacy moral, there is something in the practice of humility that disposes kindly to all those several ends. By an efficacy Divine and spiritual, the blessing of God will assist and forward the designs of the humble, and so dispose and order second causes that they shall live in plenty, peace, and honour, to a good old age. Set the example of our blessed Saviour before your eyes, who humbled Himself to death upon the Cross for us. (J. Lambe.)

Humility, with fear
These two are naturally associated. They are indeed inseparable. Lowliness of spirit is an indispensable characteristic of a religious life. It is in the valley of humiliation that the sinner first meets with God, and comes into a state of reconciliation with Him. The spirit of pride cannot dwell in the same heart with the fear of the Lord. (R. Wardlaw, D.D.)

Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
On the education of youth
A strict and virtuous education of youth is absolutely necessary to a man’s attainment of that inestimable blessing, that unspeakable felicity, of being serviceable to his God, easy to himself and useful to others in the whole course of his following life. To the proof of this, lay down six propositions.

1. That in the present state of nature there is in every man a certain propensity to vices, or a corrupt principle more or less disposing him to evil, which principle is sometimes called the flesh, sometimes concupiscence, sometimes sensuality, and makes one part of that which we call original sin.
2. That the forementioned propensity of the sensual part, or principle, to vice, being left to itself, will certainly proceed to work, and to exert itself in action; and if not hindered and counteracted will continue to do so, till practice passes into custom and habit, and so by use and frequency comes to acquire a domineering strength in a man’s conversation.
3. That all the disorders of the world, and the confusions that disturb persons, families, and whole societies or corporations, proceed from this natural propensity to vice in particular persons, which being thus heightened by habitual practice, runs forth into those several sorts of vice which corrupt and spoil the manners of men.
4. That when the corruption of man’s manners by the habitual improvements of this vicious principle comes from personal to be general and universal, so as to diffuse and spread itself over a whole community, it naturally and directly tends to the ruin and subversion of the government where it so prevails.
5. That this ill principle is to be altered and corrected only by discipline, and the infusion of such principles into the rational and spiritual part of man as may powerfully sway his will and affections, by convincing his understanding that the practice of virtue is preferable to that of vice; and that there is a real happiness and honesty in the one, and a real misery, as well as a turpitude, in the other; there being no mending or working upon the sensual part, but by well-principling the intellectual.
6. This discipline and infusion of good principles into the mind, which only can and must work this great happy change upon a man’s morals, by counter-working that other sensual and vicious principle, which would corrupt them, can never operate so kindly, so efficaciously, and by consequence, so successfully, as when applied to him in his minority, while his mind is ductile and tender, and so ready for any good impressions. For when he comes once to be in years, and his mind, having been prepossessed with ill-principles, and afterwards hardened with ill practices, grows callous, and scarce penetrable, his case will be then very different, and the success of such applications is very doubtful, if not desperate. It is necessary that the minds of youth should be formed and seasoned with a strict and virtuous and early and preventing education. On three sorts of persons this trust rests—
   (1) Parents.
   (2) Schoolmasters.
   (3) The clergy. (R. South.)

The education of children
The careful, prudent, and religious education of children hath for the most part a very good influence upon the whole course of their lives.
I. Wherein doth the good education of children consist?

1. In the tender and careful nursing of them.
2. In bringing them to be baptized.
3. In a due care to inform and instruct them in the whole compass of their duty to God and to their neighbour.
4. In a prudent and diligent care to form their lives and manners to religion and virtue.
5. In giving them good example.
6. In wise restraints from that which is evil, by seasonable reproof and correction.
7. In bringing them to be publicly catechised.
8. In bringing them to be confirmed.
   II. More particular directions for the management of this work. The young have to be trained in the exercise of the following graces and virtues: Obedience, modesty, diligence, sincerity, tenderness, pity, good government of their passions, and of their tongues, to speak truth and to hate lying; to piety and devotion towards God, sobriety and chastity with regard to themselves, and to justice and charity towards all men, Endeavour to discover the particular temper and disposition of children, that you may suit and apply yourself to it. Endeavour to plant those principles of religion and virtue which are most substantial and likely to have the best influence on the future government of their lives. Check and discourage in them the first beginnings of sin and vice: as soon as ever they appear pluck them up by the roots. Take great heed that the children be not habituated and accustomed to any evil course. Bring them, as soon as they are capable of it, to the public worship of God. Put them upon the exercise and practice of religion and virtue, in such instances as their understanding and age are capable of. Add constant and earnest prayer to God on behalf of your children.
   III. Some of the more common miscarriages in the performance of this duty. These may be found in relation to instruction, example, and reproof. There often is too great rigour and severity; at other times too great laxity. It is always mischievous to punish while under the influence of passion.
   IV. Show how good education comes to be of so great advantage. It gives religion and virtue the advantage of the first possession, and the further advantage of habit and custom.
   V. Stir up those whose duty this is to discharge it with great care and conscience. Good education is the very best inheritance you can leave your children. In this way you promote your own comfort and happiness. The surest foundation of the public welfare and happiness is laid in the good education of children. Consider the great evils consequent on the neglect of this duty. (T. Tillotson, D.D.)

Training up children to the primary virtues
Habits of virtue are of the same nature with dexterity in the mechanical or other arts. Would we acquire this dexterity, we must exercise ourselves early and constantly whether in the virtues or the arts. It is necessary for us to train up children to virtue with all possible care from their earliest infancy, and continually to exercise them in it, if we would have them truly virtuous persons. To do this we should find out their temperament, and conduct ourselves accordingly: we should habituate them to act from principle and design; we should teach them to be attentive to the consequences of their actions; we should strive to make their duty their pleasure. Further rules are—

1. Inure them from their earliest infancy to obedience and submission.
2. Inspire them with a predominant love for truth, for sincerity and frankness.
3. Train them to diligence, to method, and to industry in their affairs.
4. Be very careful to bring them up to humility and modesty.
5. Endeavour to inspire them with a sincere affection and hearty good-will towards all mankind, without distinction of rank, of religion, of country, or of outward fortune.
6. Neglect not to train them to compassion and benevolence.
7. Train them to patience in sufferings, to fortitude and courage in misfortune, to a steady and intrepid behaviour in all situations. These qualities and virtues are indispensably necessary to us in our present state. We must learn first to practise them in trivial matters if we would do so afterwards in riper years and more important emergencies. (G. J. Zollikofer.)

Child-training
Introduction:

1. Mobility needed in subject of training; therefore man is born “a child.” Yet be aware, flexibility passes, tendency to solidify soon creeps in.
2. Parents here granted right of loving dogmatism: “in the way they should go.”
   I. True training embraces care and system.
3. These should touch each part of child-nature: flesh and blood. Evolution of full manhood only reached thus. Bodies are fed and “trained.” Mystery is, the soul often neglected. No animal neglects its young as man does. “Every home should be its own Sabbath-school.”
4. Can’t train without a line to go on—a faith that can be taught—a system. Trained child not found where father’s mind is dark or chaotic. You like your child to choose its faith when it can think for itself? No child is mentally or spiritually free from bias. Child has all to learn. Has no standard of selection. First trainer has greatest power, whether good or evil. Mark this: if you don’t bias it for good a thousand tutors outside your home will bias it to its hurt.
   II. Train child to decide moral questions by principle, not by feeling.
5. A child is composed of appetites and moral sense. These all glow. But appetites get two or three years’ start of moral sense. You must be swift in training, or you won’t get moral sense to overtake appetite.
6. Every day of life offer times for moral decision. Think of George Eliot’s Arthur Donnithorne; sweet temper, weak moral sense, strong animal tastes; so a standing peril to himself and others.
7. The one grand deciding principle for all souls is: “What does Christ love, that is the thing to be done.” It is sure: it carries child to right issues. It is safe: it imperils nothing in its whole being. It is rapid: under it souls grow holy fast.
   III. Train child to judge Christianity by best results. Much of training given unwittingly. Soul-suction always going on in “a child.” Five senses are five avenues to soul. Crowds of motley ideas go up them—each idea a teacher. In your home they hear your views of men and actions. Beware! if you condemn Christianity, because of its sullied specimens, you harm the child. Put religion in its highest light. For its sake ask: “What are its finest results? “ Show them spiritual splendours. Show them John, Paul, Augustine, Luther, Newton, Hale, Wesley. Christian gallery not wanting in fine portraits. Show them Christ. Moral longing will awaken them; they will hunger and be filled (Mat_5:6). Conclusion:
8. All details come under these principles.
9. Thus you will train “a godly seed.” (British Weekly.)

On religious education
i. An exhortation to the discharge of an important duty. The wisdom and propriety of the exhortation are founded on certain qualities inherent in man.

1. Man is remarkably prone to imitation. In private families every action of the parent is imitated by the child. So it happens in the aggregate life of the nation. The cast of general manners depends upon the leaders of society.
2. Children in their infant years contend obstinately for the gratification of their own humour. The principle of self-will is not in cases to be reprehended. When it makes us resolute in spurning compliance with mean conditions, with base proposals, and wicked instigations, it is generous and manly, and should be cherished. But reasonable accommodation of our own inclinations and our own sentiments to the dispositions and opinions of others is absolutely necessary for the transacting of human concerns, and consequently for the existence of civil society. It should therefore be taught to children, because they are inexperienced; and enforced on young persons, because their passions are turbulent. The training of children in the way of subjection to discreet and moderate control is an act of judicious kindness in every parent.
3. When we are born we bring with us minds already furnished with methodical principles; but through the sole gift of God we are endowed with capacity either for the inventing or the learning of arts and sciences. The extent to which this capacity becomes advantageous depends in a great measure on the degree and manner of culture with which it is improved.
4. In the generality of men there is an active spirit which is impatient of rest, and which will find itself employment. Children therefore need training in the proper methods of spending energy in labour and in recreation.
5. There is in man a most unhappy tendency to do evil. Man finds it more easy to indulge his appetites than to raise his soul to higher objects. The best friend of the child is he who begins with the first dawn of understanding to impress on the mind of his child that there is a God everywhere present in power and knowledge, and another state of existence, where goodness shall terminate in happiness, but vice be productive of misery.
   II. The effect which will ensue from early care employed in education. The mental faculties most distinguishable in our first years are memory and imagination. If the proper effects of right instruction are not so visible as might be wished at every period of our age, let no one hastily conclude that therefore the elements of education are totally obliterated. Good principle may for some years lie dormant in the mind. Unless in cases of extreme depravity, the good principle, like the good seed, will at last find its way to shoot up, and give a tenfold measure of increase after its own kind. The training, then, of children in the way they should go is from the nature of man indispensably necessary. (G. J. Huntingford, D.D.)

Of the duty which parents owe to their children
I. The heinous nature and fatal consequences of the neglect of parental duty.

1. As it appears in the sight of God.
2. As it affects the children.
3. As it affects parents themselves.
   II. How parents should educate their children.
4. Train your children to revere you.
5. Train them to implicit submission to your authority. Insubordination in youth is the certain inlet to all that is disorderly in riper years.
6. In order to train your children to moderation in pleasure, lead them, as early as possible, to mark the imposture of passion, and guard them from all intimacy with the loose and the dissipated, and interdict them of all loose and licentious reading.
7. Train them to industry and frugality. Unremitting application and assiduity are the only means by which pre-eminence among men can be attained.
8. Train your children to virtue and candour, and justice and humanity.
9. Train your children to piety. True views of the benignity of the Ruler of nature will impress their susceptible breast, with the feelings of genuine piety, and lead them to love the Lord their God with all their heart and strength and mind. (W. Thorburn.)

The formation of the minds of children

1. Repress not their curiosity or their inquisitiveness. It is in itself no fault. It is rather a strong impulse and an excellent means to become intelligent and wise.
2. Accustom your children or your pupils to the use of their senses; teach them to apprehend justly.
3. Beware of giving them false or not sufficiently precise ideas of any matter, though of never so trifling import.
4. Set them to learn nothing which, either on account of their tender age or from the want of other kinds of knowledge necessary to that purpose, they cannot comprehend. Measure not their capacities by yours.
5. Endeavour not only to increase and extend their knowledge, but likewise to render it solid and sure. It is far better for them to know a few things thoroughly than to have only a superficial acquaintance with many.
6. Guard them from being hasty in forming conclusions, and avail yourself of all opportunities for leading them, by observations, to circumspection and precision in their inferences and judgments. (G. J. Zollikofer.)

The formation of the hearts of children
To form the hearts of children means to direct their appetites and affections to the worthiest objects, to inspire them with a predominant love for all that is true and right and proper, and thereby to render the performance of their duty easy and pleasant to them.

1. Study to find out their temperament, and conduct yourself according to it. The temperament is, as it were, the soil that is to be cultivated, and the diversity of this soil is not so great but it may soon be discovered. More or less vivacity and quickness of apprehension, more or less sensibility to good and evil, to pleasure and pain, more or less vehemence in the affections, more or less disposition to rest or to activity—in these consist the principal diversity in what may be called the temperament of children. All these various temperaments may equally lead either to the virtues or to the vices.
2. Accustom them to act from principle and design, and not by blind impulse or mere self-will.
3. But be not satisfied with teaching them to act from reason, as rational creatures; but teach them to act upon the noblest principles, and in pure and beneficent views. Beware of setting only their ambition in motion, and of inciting them to application and duty from no other motive than the idea of the judgment that others pass on them.
4. Teach them, further, to attend to the consequences of their actions or of their behaviour. Teach them duly to prize that inward peace, the satisfaction, the cheerfulness of mind, the health and strength of body, and the other advantages which they have derived from honest and proper conduct.
5. Strive to make their duty a pleasure to them.
6. For facilitating all this to them, for teaching them to act upon principle, to act from the best motives, and to be attentive to the consequences of their actions, you should accustom them betimes to self-examination, which is the most excellent means for constantly becoming more wise and virtuous.
7. Teach them, in like manner, to reap benefit from the conduct of other persons.
8. Finally, to this end call history likewise to your aid. (G. J. Zollikofer.)

Advantages of good training
They who are well educated generally behave well for the following reasons:

1. Early impressions are deep.
2. Habit is strong.
3. Early piety is acceptable to God. The first love of an innocent heart is sacrifice of a sweet savour. (S. Charters.)

Religious training
A child may be said to be taught when in words we clearly convey to his mind any truth or enjoin upon his conscience any precept. He is trained when we ourselves so pass before him, in practical illustration of the truth and precept, that he is drawn along after us in the same way. The principle applies peculiarly to moral and religious instruction. Suppose you wish to instruct a child in benevolence or charity. You tell him what it inclines one to do for the needy and suffering; you dilate upon the beautiful sentiments which the exercise of it incites in one’s own breast; you refer to distinguished examples of it that have blessed the world. All this is teaching. But now, again, you take your child by the hand, and lead him with you into some abode of poverty and want; you let him see with you the necessitous situation of the inmates of that cold and ill-provided dwelling; he marks the yearning of your heart towards them, and his heart swells in sympathy; the satisfaction that exhilarates your soul he shares as you freely give the needed aid; he witnesses the whole reciprocal action of a living bounty on your part and a returning gratitude on the spot. And this is training. One such scene will avail more than many lectures to make your child charitable. Or suppose, again, you would instruct your child in devotion, prayer to God. But to what purpose if the child is not moreover trained to pray?—to what purpose if the very house he lives in is a prayerless house? Would you instruct your child in that cardinal excellence of truth? You insist often, in words, on its importance. But, more than this, train it to do so. You rebuke deception. It is well. But practise not in any way what you rebuke. Would we instruct our children to be kind and gentle? How? by a command? Not so only, but more powerfully by the affectionate and pleasant bearing and tone of our own speech and person. Parents and friends often wonder that, after all the pains taken with children, the frequent counsels and admonitions, they should yet afterwards go astray. But was the child who has disappointed you trained as well as taught? Did you uniformly go before to beckon and lead him after in the way you first pointed out? But in the majority of cases the rule will hold good: your child will keep on as he has been trained. The soldier in his age might as soon forget the drill of his early discipline, or the sailor the first calculations by which, under the rolling planets, he made his way over the uncertain waves, as your child the practical guidance to which you have actually used him through a series of years. He will keep on, if you have been his leader and forerunner, when your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and will run the race after very much as you have run it before. The chief significance of the grave where you lie down will be to fix the direction in which you trained and the point at which you left your child. Your bark will disappear as it sails on over the misty horizon; but his bark shall hold the same course. Whither, whither shall it be? (C. A. Bartol.)

The education of the young
I. An interesting object. “A child.”

1. Its personal powers (Job_32:8), the faculties of the mind.
2. Its social importance.
3. Its possible elevation.
4. Its total depravity. Socrates confessed of himself that his natural inclinations were exceedingly bad, but by philosophy he overruled them.
5. Its immortal duration.
   II. An important duty. “Train up.”
6. Let him be taught useful learning.
7. Let him be instructed in religious knowledge.
8. Let him be impressed by a consistent example.
9. Let him be guided into proper habits.
10. Let him be sanctified by earnest prayer.
    III. An encouraging prospect.
11. From the Divine appointment (Deu_4:10; Deu_31:13; Eph_6:4).
12. From the Divine procedure. (Studies for the Pulpit.)

The religious instruction of the young

1. See to it that we present the Divine character in a manner calculated to encourage young hearts.
2. Distinguish between the way in which death affects the body and the way in which it affects the spirit.
3. Make it clear that the religion of Christ is in harmony with all innocent recreation and enjoyment.
4. Do all in our power to interest the young in the services of the sanctuary.
5. See that you offer to the young the truth which God has revealed to you, and of which you have felt the power.
6. Avoid all treatment of the young that is calculated to dispirit and discourage. Be careful not to exact too much from them.
7. Be varied in your teaching, and do not be depressed if the attainment of your object is delayed. (S. D. Hillman.)

The necessity of a wise and wholesome discipline

1. As soon as children are capable of reflection endeavour to make them acquainted with some of the leading truths of the gospel.
2. Explain the duties of practical religion as well as the articles of belief.
3. Be careful to set before your children an example worthy of imitation, for instructions and exhortations will be invalidated by inconsistency.
4. Discipline, reproof, and correction are necessary in the family as well as in the Church and State.
5. Let correction and reproof be accompanied with fervent and importunate prayer.
6. Keep a watchful eye over them to see what may be the fruit of your labour. To rightly perform parental duties we must begin betimes; secure the affection of the children; keep them out of the way of temptation; and instruct them with gentleness. (B. Beddome.)

Godly training
The various branches of godly training may be thus enumerated:

1. Instruction in right principles—the principles of God’s Word.
2. The inculcation of right practice—the practice of God’s will.
3. Salutary admonition and restraint, and correction.
4. The careful avoidance of exposure to evil company and evil example.
5. The exhibition before them of a good example in ourselves.
6. Constant, believing, and earnest prayer. (R. Wardlaw, D.D.)

Education
I. Whom should we educate? The material. “A child.” The world teems with analogies both real and obvious, whereby the moralist may enforce the duty of educating in the comparatively pliable period of youth.
II. The process of education. “Train up.” Note the distinction between teaching and training. There may be teaching without training. Moral training according to a Divine standard, with the view of moulding the human being while yet young and tender into right principles and habits of action, is the only education worthy of the name. The oldest training-school is the best—the school at home; sisters and brothers are the best class-fellows, and parents the best masters. But formidable obstacles, both intrinsic and extrinsic, prevent or impede parental training.
III. The aim and end of education. “In the way he should go.” Wisdom in choosing the proper time, and skill in adopting the best method, would be of no avail if false principles were thereby instilled into the mind and evil habits ingrafted on the life. If we do not train the children in truth and righteousness it would be better that we should not train them at all. (W. Arnot, D.D.)

The training of children
There are many qualifications necessary for carrying out this important duty.
I. Sanctified love. This is not mere instinctive fondness which is common to man and animals, but—

1. A perception of the true beauty of childhood.
2. A realisation of the purity of childhood.
3. A consciousness of the guileless simplicity of childhood.
   II. Felt responsibilty.
4. Children are not our own.
5. Children are the future inhabitants of the world. Hence the world will be, to a certain extent, what we make the children.
6. Children have immortal souls.
   III. Indirect influence. To obtain this we must—
7. Subdue our own passion. No passionate parent can possibly influence his child for good.
8. Set a godly example.
9. Cultivate confidence and win affection.
   IV. Patient waiting and earnest prayer. (Homilist.)

Childhood innocence a dream
Here is an assertion, but is not experience frequently at variance with it? The statement of the text is unqualified. Adherence to the right path is given as the invariable result of having been trained up in the right path. Can this be established by facts? With what restrictions are the words of the wise man to be understood? It is implied in the text that there is no tendency in a child to walk in the right way, and if we leave him to himself he will be sure to walk in the wrong. Almost from the moment of the child’s birth can be discovered in the infant the elements of the proud, revengeful, self-willed man. There is hereditary guilt where there cannot be absolute. The innocency of childhood is a dream and delusion. In dealing with children we have not to deal with unoccupied soil, but soil already impregnated with every seed of moral evil. In what manner may the precept of the text be best obeyed? The great secret of training lies in regarding the child as immortal. (
H. Melvill, B.D.)

Teach the youngest
Dr. Chalmers, in a letter to his sister, Mrs. Morton, says: “You cannot begin too early. God should be spoken of to the very youngest, and the name of Jesus Christ familiarised to them; and every association of reverence and love that the tone and style of the parents can attach to the business of religion should be established in them. Their consciences are wonderfully soon at work.”
Childhood injured
Childhood is like a mirror catching and reflecting images all around it. Remember that an impious thought uttered by a parent’s lip may operate upon a young heart like a careless spray of water thrown upon polished steel, staining it with rust which no after-scouring can efface.
Teaching and training
It is a very important thing to get hold of the distinction between teaching and training, or, as the margin reads it, catechising. Train up a child, not merely lead a child. There is a New Testament text which brings out the same thoughts where parents are taught to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Observe the distinction between nurture and admonition. Admonition means teaching, and nurture means training—two very remote things. Eli was a capital admonisher, but no trainer. Eli admonished his sons very often. If mere talking would have answered, he would have done well. He should have been like Abraham, who commanded his house after him. Do you think you could ever make good marksmen by giving lectures on the science of projectiles? Would that make men good shots? If you are to be good shots you must handle the rifle and actually shoot. (S. Coley.)

The training of a child
Human society is now hard enough, and needs more sympathy in it than one always sees; but what it would become if the hearts of men were not kept in some degree of softness and tenderness by the affections which are raised and developed by family life it is difficult fully to conceive. This text corrects the terrible and mischievous misconception that a child’s future is altogether a thing of chance. It can be controlled. All life can be trained. It can be made to take a course different from that which it otherwise would take. The training is within certain limits. Children will be trained in spite of us. How they are trained depends largely on us. We rely on this same principle of training in every other relation which the child sustains. The laws of religious life are not capricious and incalculable laws. Duty has to be learned like a business, or a science, or a profession. The training of a child consists in

1. Teaching.
2. Example.
3. Discipline.
4. Prayer.
   Show me a child well instructed in the truths of the gospel, living day by day in the presence of consistent and winning examples, and surrounded with prayers, and I do not say that such an one may not through a strange self-will break his way through all these blessed influences and become a wreck and a castaway, but it will be a wonder if he comes to such a melancholy end, and it is easier to believe that in such a case the training has been faulty than that there has been a failure in the Divine promise which connects the spring and the autumn. (Enoch Mellor, D.D.)

The training of children
The whole human family has descended from the loins of Adam, and is necessarily tainted with his impurity. “By one man’s disobedience many were made sinners.” We are all under the power of sin. This tendency to sin is often exhibited in the child long before the dawn of consciousness. It is constitutionally a sinner, and the uninterrupted development of its nature will necessarily be a growth in sin.
I. The text does not mean that this sinful nature is to be trained in the hope of producing blessed results, but something higher and better is to be supplied from without. Life and grace and power have been brought into the service of humanity in the person of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and are to be made over to us by the operation of the Holy Ghost. But this Divine life is here only in germ, and must be developed in the midst of certain conditions, and here is a duty that God requires at the hands of parents. “I know Abraham, that he will command his children and his household after him, and that they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which He had spoken of him.” Here it is expressly stated that Abraham was to do his part in order that the Lord might verify to him the blessings guaranteed in the covenant.
II. This training should begin at the very dawn of the child’s existence. When we are told to “train up a child in the way that he should go,” it is meant that we should do this; not let it first grow up in sin and then try to reclaim it afterward by extraordinary effort. To do that is to give the world, the flesh, and the devil all the advantage. The child will not grow up a Christian without the influence and teaching of the parent. The receptive faculties of the child must be trained and sustained, and then the Holy Ghost will sanctify the life and make it fruitful in holiness. During its earliest life the child absorbs impressions and is completely under parental influence and direction. Parents are also invested with authority over the child, and it will need discipline, but this must be exercised in love. For the lack of this spirit corrections administered are often of no avail Correction administered in a wrong spirit will do harm and not good. It must be evident, therefore, that properly to train our children we must not only teach them Christian doctrine, but we must live the life of a Christian.
III. If a child is thus nurtured and trained in the Divine life we need not suppose that a technical experience or sudden transition is necessary to constitute it a Christian. The neglect of parental training cannot be made up in any other way. There is no danger of claiming too much for our holy religion. The whole being of man is to be sanctified by it. The chief end of our existence is to glorify God. How often it is said of a man who dies owning no property that “he left nothing to his family”! But every child is an heir, and his inheritance is indefeasible. First of all are his memories of his parents and his home. The man who has no property to devise should not be unhappy. “I give and bequeath to my children a good name, a Christian example, and a faithful training.” Is not that a good start for a last will? These are legacies over which no heirs quarrel and that require no probate outside of the sanctuary of the heart. (E. R. Esohbech, D.D.)

Proverbs 22:7
The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.
The borrower servant to the lender
The mere circumstance of being rich gives one man superiority over another who is poor. He who is forced to borrow is placed on that very account in a sort of relative inferiority to him whose position enables him to lend. These words may be compared with those attributed to the Lord Jesus, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
I. The principle may be universally acknowledged and acted upon. Though a man may have received much—a vigorous intellect, a commanding judgment, a rich imagination—he will be miserable if he can give nothing. If a man were assured that he would never be permitted to tell what he had done or recite what he had seen, he loses at once the great impetus which urges him to do much or to see much. A man is not satisfied with being rich, he must be in circumstances to give; some one must be borrower, while he is a lender. It is the giving which makes the receiving of any worth. What is the reason of this alleged supremacy of giving over receiving?

1. The resemblance which is thus acquired to our Redeemer and Creator. If God be love, there is no presumption in supposing that without objects over which the love might expand the Almighty Himself would have remained unsatisfied. Lending, not borrowing, constitutes the happiness of God. And there is more like-mindedness to Christ in giving than in receiving.
2. The giver or the lender has necessarily an advantage over the receiver or the borrower, and this explains how the one is the servant of the other. In all cases the giving seems to imply a relative superiority and the receiving a relative inferiority.
3. Notice the reflex character of benevolence which causes that whatever is bestowed is restored to us tenfold.
   II. Objections urged against the statement of the text. In dividing society into the lenders and the borrowers you would exclude the vast majority of mankind from the possibility of being charitable. But being charitable is not limited to any class of society. The poor man may be a giver as well as the rich. God has not granted to the wealthy a monopoly of benevolence. (H. Melvill, B.D.)

A wholesome horror of debt
The venerable Peter Cooper of New York, whose philanthropic efforts for the elevation of the masses are well known throughout the United States, celebrated his ninety-first birthday. In conversation with a reporter who congratulated him, Mr. Cooper referred to some of the guiding principles to which he attributed his success in life. Among other weighty observations were the following remarks on the burden of debt which are worthy the attention of all, especially of young men. Mr. Cooper said: “When I was twenty-one years old my employer offered to build me a shop and set me up in business, but as I always had a horror of being burdened with debt, and having no capital of my own, I declined his kind offer. He himself became a bankrupt. I have made it a rule to pay for everything as I go. If, in the course of business, anything is due from me to any one and the money is not called for, I make it my duty on the last Saturday before Christmas to take it to his business place.”

Proverbs 22:8
He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity.
The husbandry and harvestof the wicked
I. What is it to sow iniquity? or, to “sow to the flesh”? To follow only such a kind of life as a man’s own carnal and corrupt humour leads unto. It is called “sowing” because—

1. Before sowing goes the dressing and manuring of the ground; and men make themselves ready beforehand to do evil.
2. Ploughing and sowing are accompanied with much industry. And great is the diligence of the ungodly in the furtherance of iniquity.
3. Sowing, though laborious, is full of contentment. And the ungodly find joy in doing naughtily.
4. In sowing there go many seeds together, one handful after another. In the lives of the wicked there are plenty of evils; they never go alone—one maketh way for another.
5. After sowing the ground is harrowed, and the seed covered. So when evil is entertained in the heart, what policy there is to secrete it.
   Sowing iniquity is discerned by these signs:
6. A cherishing and encouraging the heart to evil.
7. A taking pains to do naughtily.
8. A delighting in wickedness.
9. A heaping of one sin on the neck of another.
10. A plotting for the bringing of evil to perfection.
11. A withstanding of all means tending to recovery.
    II. What are the troubles which follow on this sowing of iniquity? The affliction here meant is either in this life or hereafter. That which is in this life is either outward or inward. Diseases, discredit, etc. A conscience full of inward vexation; and sometimes a reprobate mind. The term “reap” indicates the fulness and certainty of the affliction. Two points of doctrine taught—
12. The greatness of God’s patience.
13. The certainty of His justice. (S. Hieron.)

Wild oats
“He that soweth iniquity shall reap calamity” (R.V.). The fashion of never calling a spade a spade is known as “euphemism.” According to it death is paying the debt of nature, stealing is misappropriation, lying is prevarication. A trace of it is found in the expression, “sowing one’s wild oats.” The phrase is intended to comprehend pretty much all the vices of young manhood. We are all sowing something or other. Some sow the fine wheat of kindly lives and generous deeds. Others go heedlessly sowing the wind. It would be well, all around, if there were less of sentimentalism and more of sound common sense with respect to the follies of our fast young men. Never were two greater mistakes made than are embodied in these two excuses, “Boys will be boys,” and “He’ll live it down; I’m sure he’ll live it down.” Paul directs our attention to the two levels of life—the low level of the flesh; the higher level of the spirit, where are men who live not for themselves only, but for the good of others and the glory of God. For all who are building character and making their lives tell for truth and righteousness, there are three safeguards—conscience, the sense of honour, and faith. There is no hope that the vicious young man will live his evil down. Sin works a terrible damage. It rots one’s self-respect; it pollutes the memory. It indisposes the soul for better things. It enslaves in the fetters of habit. It ruins the body. It destroys the soul. But no matter what the mistakes of our past lives have been, if we repent the Lord is ready to forgive. (D. J. Burrell, D.D.)

Human life
I. The inevitable work of human life. What is the work? It is that of moral agriculture-sowing and reaping. Every man in every act of life is doing this. Every volition, whether it takes the form of a thought, a word, or a muscular act, is a seed. There is a germ of imperishable life in it. What seeds men sow every day. What bushels they deposit in the moral soil of their being. But they reap as well as sow every day. What was sown yesterday they reap to-day. “Men are living in the fruits of their doings.” The law of causation is inviolate and ever operative within them.
II. The retributive law of human life. What you sow you’ll reap.

1. What you sow in kind you reap. “He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity.” Job says, “They that plough iniquity and sow wickedness reap the same “ (Job_4:8). Paul (Gal_6:7-8). God will not reverse the law.
2. What you sow in measure you shall reap. Not a grain will be lost. Sometimes the seed which the husbandman commits to the soil rots. But not a grain in the harvest of life is lost. He will reap the richest harvest of blessedness who is most active in deeds of love and godliness. The words present—
   III. The terrible mistake of human life. What is the mistake? “Sowing iniquity.”
3. This is a general mistake.
4. This is a mistake which men are slow to learn.
5. This is a mistake whose ultimate consequences will be terrific.
   “And the rod of his anger shall fail”; or, as in the margin, “With the rod of his anger shall he be consumed.” Perhaps this expression refers to the tyrannic power exercised by wealthy men, as referred to in the preceding verse. Death shall wrest the rod from his hands. God shall break it to pieces; and his tyranny and iniquity shall leave him nothing but shame, remorse, and the fruits of Divine vengeance. (Homilist.)

Sowing wild oats
In all the wide range of accepted British maxims there is none, take it for all in all, more thoroughly abominable than that “a young man must sow his wild oats.” Look at it on what side you will, and you can make nothing but a devil’s maxim of it. What a man—be he young, old, or middle-aged—sows, that, and nothing else, shall he reap. The one only thing to do with wild oats is to put them carefully into the hottest part of the fire, and get them burnt to dust, every seed of them. If you sow them, no matter in what ground, up they will come, with long, tough roots like couch-grass, and luxuriant stalks and leaves, assure as there is a sun in heaven—a crop which it turns one’s heart cold to think of. The devil, too, whose special crop they are, will see that they thrive; and you, and nobody else, will have to reap them; and no common reaping will get them out of the soil, which must be dug down deep again and again. Well for you if, with all your care, you can make the ground sweet again by your dying day. “Boys will be boys” is not much better, but that has a true side to it; but this encouragement to the sowing of wild oats is simply devilish, for it means that a young man is to give way to the temptations and follow the lusts of his age. What are we to do with the wild oats of manhood and old age—with ambition, overreaching, the false weights, hardness, suspicion, avarice—if the wild oats of youth are to be sown, and not burnt? What possible difference can we draw between them? If we may sow the one, why not the other? (Tom Hughes.)

Proverbs 22:9
He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed.
The bountiful eye
The passage before us speaks of bounty in man, and blessedness from God. What is a bountiful eye, and what is the blessing belonging to him who possesses it? The eye is a wonderful part of the curiously wrought human frame. But the term is used in Scripture in a moral point of view, and describes a peculiar state of the mind. Thus we read of the blinded eye, the enlightened eye, the single eye, the evil eye, all of which refer to the state of the mind or heart; and so does the term “bountiful eye.” Mind, it is not said a bountiful tongue—“most men will proclaim every one his own goodness” (Pro_20:6); nor a bountiful hand, for man may give all his goods to feed the poor, and lack charity (1Co_13:3); nor a bountiful head, for an ingenious mind may devise schemes of liberality for others and not be truly generous himself; but “a bountiful eye”—one through which the soul looks in tender compassion—one that “considers the cause of the poor” (Psa_41:1)—one that compares and contrives—one that “affects the heart,” stirs it up to feel, and moves the hand to minister. Such an eye looks in the right place to find appropriate objects. It does not shun misery, “passing by” (like the priest and Levite) “on the other side.” It looks through the right medium, even the love and compassion of God, and says, “If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.” “What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward me?” It looks to the right end, even the glory of God and the good of man; and looks for a right reward—not the approbation of man, but to please God. A bountiful eye does not say, “How much can I give to save appearances, or pacify conscience”; but, “How much can I spare God and His cause?” A bountiful eye may be considered in contrast with the evil eye. “Eat not the bread of him that hath an evil eye” (Pro_23:6). Why not? Such an one maketh haste to be rich (Pro_28:22). He attempts to serve God and mammon (Mat_7:12). Thus his eye is evil, and his whole body is full of darkness. Have you a bountiful eye? Be careful of it. The eye of the body wants guarding; so does the eye of the soul. It sometimes grows dim. Covetousness steals silent marches even on liberal souls. Happy is he of whom it can be said spiritually, as of Moses literally, that his eye is not dim, nor his spiritual force abated. The way to strengthen the habit is to be frequent in the act. (Christian Treasury.)

Proverbs 22:10
Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease.
The scorner
The scorner is a character which Solomon has frequently called our attention to in preceding chapters. Few characters in society are more despicable in spirit or pernicious in influence.
I. As A social disturber. “Cast out the scorner, and contention shall cease.”

1. He is a disturber in the family.
2. He is a disturber in the Church.
3. He is a disturber in the nation.
   II. As a social outcast. “Cast out the scorner.” Excommunication is his righteous doom. If he has gained great influence as a politician, governments sometimes, instead of casting him out, take him into office, and bribe him by voting him a princely income. The duty, however, of society towards the scorner is to expel him. He should be treated as a social pest. (Homilist.)

Proverbs 22:11
He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend.
Purity
What is purity—this bright and blessed strength of human life? The foundation of all purity must rest upon the body. Without bodily purity no other form of purity is possible. On this must rise the structure of mental and spiritual purity. Our thoughts and words must be not less pure than our actions. Action is ripened thought, and thought is germinating action. “No man suddenly falls.” The thoughts have grown accustomed to dwell on impurity long before the deed of impurity is committed. In pureness of mind lies our best defence. And purity of mind is essential to clearness of spiritual vision and lofty exaltation of soul. The vision of the Invisible is impossible to the impure. And the beatific vision of God should be man’s noblest ambition. Practical suggestions:

1. Cleanliness is a strong defence of bodily purity, and with this must go good moral habits.
2. Wholesome environment and occupation are strong aids to purity. When the surroundings of life are not wholesome, it is a struggle to keep life pure.
3. Go not into the way of temptation, and avoid the companionship of the impure.
4. Reverence your body. Our bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost; let us not defile them with impurity. And whatever else you leave undone, yet believe in pure and sacred love. Love that is not pure is not love. The love of home is a splendid defence against impurity. (Canon Diggle.)

The grace of the lips
I. Pure-heartedness. The moral beauty, the moral affluence of it; what it is and what comes out of it; what is a purehearted man, and how does his pure-heartedness stand related to his life? The proverb speaks of love for pure-heartedness, a recognition of it, and a joy in it, as the greatest and best of possessions.
II. The outcome of pure-heartedness. A pure-hearted man will be pure in speech; his conversation will be seasoned with the salt of his pure feeling. Speech is the blossom of a man’s life, and is fair or foul, fragrant or offensive, according to the character of the tree.

1. Conversation is the grace of the lips. Not mere religious talk; not prudery—the over-conscientiousness that detects wrong where no wrong is. Over-sensitiveness is not delicacy.
2. Prayer is a grace of the lips that springs from pure-heartedness.
3. The preaching of a pure-hearted man is a grace of the lips. Because of this grace of the lips which springs from purity of heart, special favours shall be won. “The king shall be his friend.” Good men win social confidence wherever they are, and the favour of the King of kings. (Henry Allon.)

The good man
This passage leads us to consider the heart, the speech, the influence, and the blessedness of a good man.
I. The heart of the good man. “He loveth pureness of heart.” Not merely does he love the pure in language, in manners and habits, in outward deportment, but the pure in heart. Pureness of heart in man’s case implies—

1. A moral renewal.
2. An urgent necessity. Without pureness of heart there is no true knowledge of God, or fellowship with Him.
   II. The speech of the good man. “For the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend.” By “the grace of his lips” we are to understand something more than grammatic accuracy, or elegant diction—something more than logical correctness or strict veracity. It means speech that is morally pure—pure in sentiment, pure in aim. It is said of Christ that the people wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. The man of a pure heart will have lips of grace. “If the tree is made good, the fruit will be good.”
   III. The influence of the good man. “The king shall be his friend.” Solomon here speaks probably of his own determination. He meant to say that he would give his friendship to such men. “This,” says Mr. Bridges, “had been his father’s resolution” (Psa_51:6; Psa_119:63). This character smoothed the way to royal favour for Joseph (Gen_41:37-45), for Ezra (Ezr_7:21-25), and Daniel (Dan_6:1-3; Dan_6:28). Nay, we find godly Obadiah in the confidence of wicked Ahab (1Ki_18:3; 1Ki_18:12; 2Ki_13:14). So powerful is the voice of conscience, even when God and holiness are hated! Such alone the great King marks as His friends. Such He embraces with His fatherly love (Pro_15:9). Such He welcomes into His heavenly kingdom (Psa_15:1-2; Psa_24:3-4).
   IV. The blessedness of a good man “The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge.” Three different interpretations have been given to the expression.
3. That the Lord vigilantly watches over His truth in the world. This is a truth, although we are not disposed to accept it as an interpretation of the passage.
4. That what the eyes of the Lord see He remembers for ever. “The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge.” He retains His knowledge. We do not preserve our knowledge. We forget far more than we retain. But we are not disposed to accept this as the idea of the passage.
5. That the Lord exercises a protecting superintendence over those who possess His knowledge. That it means, in fact, the same as the expression elsewhere. “The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous.” This we accept as the true idea. Whilst the Lord keeps the good man, He overthroweth the words of the transgressor. (D. Thomas, D.D.)

Proverbs 22:13
The slothful man saith, There is a lion without.
One lion; two lions; no lion at all
This slothful man seems to cherish that one dread of his about the lions as if it were his favourite aversion and he felt it to be too much trouble to invent another excuse. Perhaps he hugs it to his soul all the more because it is home-born fear, conjured up by his own imagination. At any rate, it serves him as a passable excuse for laziness, and that is what he wants. When a man is slothful as a servant he is unjust to his employers; and when he is in business on his own account, idleness is usually a wrong to his wife and family. When a man is thoroughly eaten up with the dry-rot of laziness he generally finds some kind of excuse, though his crime is really inexcusable. We have many spiritual sluggards, and it is to them that I speak. They are not sceptics, or confirmed infidels, or opposers of the gospel: perhaps their sluggish nature saves them from anything like energetic opposition to goodness.

1. The sluggard’s tongue is not slothful. The man who is lazy all over is generally busy with his tongue. There are no people that have so much to say as those that have little to do.
2. His imagination also is not idle. There were no lions in the streets. Laziness is a great lion-maker. He who does little dreams much. His imagination could create a whole menagerie of wild beasts.
3. He takes great pains to escape from pains. This slothful man had to use his inventive ability to get himself excused from doing his duty. It is an old proverb that lazy people generally take the most trouble, and so they do and when men are unwilling to come to Christ, it is very wonderful what trouble they will take to keep away from Him.
   I. A lion. The man means that there is a great difficulty—a terrible difficulty, quite too much of a difficulty for him to overcome. He has not the strength to attack this dreadful enemy; the terrible difficulty which he foresees is more than he can face. The real lion after all is sluggishness itself, aversion to the things of God.
   II. Two lions. In the second text there are two lions instead of one (chap. 26:13). He has waited because of that one lion, and now he fancies that there are two. He has made a bad bargain of his delay. It was inconvenient then because there was a lion. Is it more convenient now? Procrastination never profits; difficulties are doubled, dangers thicken.
   III. No lion at all. If there be a man who would have Christ, there is no lion in the way to prevent his having Christ. “There are a thousand difficulties,” says one. If thou desirest Christ truly, there is no effectual difficulty that can really block thee from coming to Him. There are no lions except in your own imagination. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The characteristics of laziness
To Solomon laziness was one of the greatest evils in the character of man. How frequently does he depict it with graphic force! How often does he denounce it with firm energy! “Idleness,” says Colton, “is the grand pacific ocean of life, and in that stagnant abyss, the most salutary things produce no good, the most obnoxious no evil. Vice, indeed, abstractedly considered, may be, and often is, engendered in idleness; but the moment it becomes sufficiently vice, it must quit its cradle, and cease to be idle.” Two of the evils connected with indolence are suggested in the text.
I. It creates false excuses. “There is a lion without.” “The lion in the streets” is a fiction of his own lazy brain. The slothful man is ever acting thus—

1. In the secular sphere. Is he a farmer? He neglects the cultivation of his fields, because the weather is too cold or too hot, too cloudy, too dry or too wet. Is he a tradesman? He finds imaginary excuses in the condition of the market. Commodities are too high or too low. Is he an artizan? He finds difficulties in the place, the tools, or the materials. The industrious farmer finds no difficulties in the weather.
2. In the spiritual sphere. When the unregenerate man is urged to the renunciation of his own principles and habits, and the adoption of new spirit and methods, slothfulness urges him to make imaginary excuses. Sometimes he pleads the decrees of God, sometimes the greatness of his sins, sometimes the inconvenience of the season—too soon or too late.
   II. It creates unmanly excuses, The very excuse he pleads, though imaginary, if true would be a strong reason for immediate action. “A lion in the streets! “Why, if he had a spark of manhood in him, a bit of the stuff that makes heroes, he should rouse every power. There is no heroism in the heart of indolence. To true souls difficulties are a challenge, not a check to action. (D. Thomas, D.D.)

Proverbs 22:15
Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of cor-rection shall drive it far from him.
Foolishness and the remedy
I. The evil deplored.

1. Of what does this foolishness consist? Wrong wishes, purposes, thoughts, pride, sin, levity, etc.
2. Where does this foolishness lurk? In the heart. Deep in the nature, among the affections. Hidden, secret, for some time unknown. In the heart of a “child,” even of a little child.
3. How this foolishness is held in the heart—“bound.” Children often hold to their folly with great tenacity; bound with other things, and spoiling what is good, like the thorns that choked the good seed.
4. How this foolishness in the heart shows itself. In evil tempers, in vain murmurings, in ungodly deeds, in wilfulness and obstinacy, etc.
5. The consequences to which, if uncorrected, this foolishness will lead. The forming of a character that men will despise and God hate. The embittering of the present life and the ruin of the life to come.
   II. The remedy prescribed.
6. As a general rule correction is needed.
7. Literally, the rod required is often the “whip for the fool’s back.” It will often accomplish what words will not.
8. It may stand for wholesome discipline of many kinds. Learn—
   (1) Seek the removal of folly from the heart by thought and prayer.
   (2) In every correction, remember that it is for our good.
   (3) Consider that the father who uses the rod does not willingly afflict.
   (4) Better that folly be driven from us, than that we should be banished from heaven. (Handbook of S.S. Addresses.)

Proverbs 22:16
He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches . . . shall surely come to want.
Avarice
I. Oppression. “He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches “(R.V., “gain”). Everywhere do we see avarice working out its designs, and building up its fortunes by oppressing the poor. The poor have necessarily to cross the seas, to delve in mines, to toil in fields, to work in manufactories, to slave in shops and counting-houses. But avarice cares nothing for the health, the liberty, the pleasures, the intellectual and social advancement of the poor. Avarice fattens on the miseries of poverty. The interest of others is nothing to the avaricious man in comparison with his own. He would be ever receptive, never communicative.
II. Sycophancy. “He that giveth to the rich.” Avarice, whilst tyrannic to the poor, is servile to the rich. The wealth it gets it employs with a miserable, crawling baseness, to win the favour and command the smiles of the wealthy and the great. A fawning sycophancy will eat out the true manhood of the civilised world. Souls bow down before the glitter of wealth and the pageantry of power. (Homilist.)

Proverbs 22:17-21
Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise.
Spiritual verities
I. The experimental knowledge of them is a transcendent blessing. They are “excellent things” in themselves—things that reveal a spiritual universe, a glorious Redeemer, and an ever-blessed God. But the verses teach that a knowledge of them is a transcendent blessing. They teach—

1. That such a knowledge affords pleasure. It is a “pleasant thing.” What said Paul? “I count all things but loss for the excellency,” etc.
2. That such a knowledge enriches speech. “They shall withal be fitted in thy lips.”
3. That such a knowledge inspires trust in God. “That thy trust may be in the Lord.”
4. That such a knowledge establishes the faith of the soul. A man to whom these spiritual verities are an experience is not like a feather tossed by every wind of doctrine, but like a tree, so rooted and grounded in faith as to stand firm amidst the fiercest hurricanes that blow. Such a man’s faith stands not in the wisdom of man, but in the power of God.
5. That such a knowledge qualifies for usefulness. “That thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee.”
   II. The experimental knowledge of them is attainable. The method for attainment involves four things.
6. Communication. These spiritual verities come to the soul in the “words of the wise.” “Have not,” says the writer of these verses, “I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge?” Men do not reach this knowledge as they reach a knowledge of scientific truth—by their own researches and reasonings. It is brought to them in a communication—a communication from holy men who “spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”
7. Attention. “Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise.”
8. Application: “Apply thine heart unto my knowledge.”
9. Retention. “It is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee.” (D. Thomas, D.D.)

Proverbs 22:21
That I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth.
Certainties
This is an age of inquiry. The ideas of the ancient world are the ideas of the childhood of the race. The Bible is a human book, which we reverence and love as a sacred treasure on account of the Divine spirit which pervades it. Do not place the Bible on the altar of superstition and imagine it to be God. Seek God in it, but with this caution—that all of it is not the actual Word of God. Why should any man seek by unfair means to force another to think as he does? Does not Christ give us an example of mental freedom? He seeks the voluntary and unprejudiced consent of mind, heart, and will.
I. Know the certainty of the words of truth.

1. That God is the heavenly Father of mankind.
2. Our heavenly Father is just, merciful, and loving, and every man may have free access to the great parental heart.
3. Never attempt to escape from any penalty by doing wrong.
   II. Wherever there is a penitent soul there is also a kind and forgiving God. Penitence is not perfection.
   III. The transgressor must bear the penalty of his sin. It is a just and merciful law of God that the transgressor shall bear the penalty. The Lord Jesus will not save you from the physical penalty of your sin; but He will give you grace to bear the thorn which your own sin has thrust into your life. (William Birch.)

Proverbs 22:28
Remove not the ancient landmarks.
The old landmarks
The wisdom of the Mosaic code is nowhere more manifest than in its provisions touching the tenure of land. Every man in Israel was a landowner, and he must remain so. It was customary to mark the boundaries of estates by corner-stones. To remove these landmarks, if an envious neighbour were so disposed, was an easy matter. But it was prohibited under a severe penalty. We deal with the spiritual inheritance handed down by our fathers as a rich bequest of truth and virtue. An attempt to remove the landmarks of this inheritance is noted as one of the dangerous tendencies of modern thought.

1. One landmark is belief in the supernatural. The hand reached forth to remove this boundary is Agnosticism.
2. Another is Revelation. By which is meant the Holy Scriptures. The enemy of Scripture to-day is Rationalism. To the present controversy as to the trustworthiness of Scripture is due loss of reverence and loss of faith.
3. Another is belief in Christ. The enemies are the various forms of humanitarianism.
4. Another is tradition. There is danger in clamouring against a thing because it bears the seal of antiquity. Progress in theological circles has come to mean a reckless abandonment of everything that age has sanctified. Dogma is objected to because it has “been handed down.” In fact, a dogma is nothing more nor less than a formulated truth bearing the marks of age, and of long trial, and the warrant of venerable authority. (D. J. Burrell, D.D.)

Old landmarks
I. Some of the landmarks threatened.

1. Those of doctrine. The deity of Christ. Salvation by atonement. The necessity for regeneration.
2. Those of Christian life. Laxity in doctrine results in laxity of life.
   II. Reasons why these landmarks should be left. Loyalty to God as King forbids us from tampering with them, and affection to Him as a Father says, “Respect them.” They are the ramparts of the Church. They are the foundations of all true happiness, and the men who have most faithfully stood by them, and most humbly paid homage to them, have been the men who have been the glory of the Church. (Archibald G. Brown.)

Eastern land-divisions
Eastern fields were not divided by hedge, or wall, or ditch, so there was much danger of confusing the separate properties of individuals. In the East advantage was taken, wherever possible, of natural divisions, such as river-beds, tributary stream-lines, and edges of valleys. But in the open ground the separate properties were only marked by a deeper furrow, or large stones almost buried in the soil. The injunction not to remove a neighbour’s landmarks was, therefore, of the utmost importance, as stealthy encroachments might easily be made by shifting these stones. (Biblical Things not Generally Known.)

Proverbs 22:29
Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men..
The Bible ideal of man
The Bible is a history of human life and a picture of character extending through many ages, and embracing in its scope a vast variety of the family of man. There emerges from this story of life an ideal. There is a moral purpose in all the historical Scriptures.

1. The Bible always recognises a basis of character which is found in the natural endowments of a man.
2. According to the teaching of the Bible there must be a diligent use of these natural powers.
3. The diligence of life must be, according to the Scripture ideal, accompanied by the virtues and purities of a moral self-restraint
4. This ideal man of the Scripture is to be further inspired by a sense of the Divine presence and power. There is one remark necessary to complete the Bible idea of human life. There is a condition which the Scriptures give us as belonging to life, not necessary to perfection, but almost always present, and helpful to its development. The best of men are greatly crossed and exercised by the sorrows and oppositions which are incident to life. Trouble plays an important part as testing and strengthening and sweetening life. (L. D. Bevan, D.D.)

Diligence brings success in life
I believe success in life is within the reach of all who set before them an aim and an ambition that is not beyond the talents and ability which God has bestowed upon them. We should all begin life with a determination to do well whatever we take in hand, and if that determination be adhered to with the pluck for which Englishmen are renowned, success, according to the nature and quality of our brain power, is, I think, a certainty. Had I begun life as a tinker, my earnest endeavour would have been to have made better pots and pans than my neighbours; and I think I may venture to say without any vanity that, with God’s blessing, I should have been fairly successful. The first step on the ladder that leads to success is the firm determination to succeed; the next is the possession of that moral and physical courage which will enable one to mount up, rung after rung, until the top is reached. The best men make a false step now and then, and some even have very bad falls. The weak and puling cry over their misfortunes, and seek for the sympathy of others, and do nothing further after their first or second failure; but the plucky and the courageous pick themselves up without a groan over their broken bones or their first failures, and set to work to mount the ladder again, full of confidence in themselves, and with faith in the results that always attend upon cheerful perseverance. (
Lord Wolseley.).

Proverbs 22:1
A good name] Heb. a name, as in Ecc_7:1. Comp. Sir_41:12 :
“Have regard to thy name;
For it continueth with thee longer than a thousand great treasures of gold.”
loving favour rather than] Or, favour is better than, A.V. and R.V. marg.

Proverbs 22:2
Comp. Pro_29:13. The true remedy for social inequalities is not to abolish them, but to recognise Who it is that has appointed them, and the obligations of mutual consideration and respect which they involve.

Proverbs 22:3
foreseeth] Rather, seeth.
are punished] Rather, suffer for it., R.V. text. “Heb. are mulcted” R.V. marg.; ἐζημιώθησαν, LXX.; afflictus est damno, Vulg. The proverb occurs again Pro_27:12.

Proverbs 22:4
By humility &c.] Rather, The reward of humility and (or, even) of the fear of the Lord. The copula and is dispensed with in the Heb. because of the similarity, amounting almost to identity, of humility and the fear of Jehovah. Comp. Mat_5:3; Mat_5:5.

Proverbs 22:6
in the way he should go] Lit. according to his way. The injunction contemplates not only the broad principles of education, physical, intellectual, moral, spiritual, which are the same for all, but their adaptation to each particular case, in a careful study of individual character and capacity, and with a thoughtful regard to future course of life: “his way.”

Proverbs 22:7
servant] not necessarily by being sold to him as a slave (Lev_25:30. Comp. Jer_34:13; Jer_34:17); but more generally as being compelled to do his bidding.

Proverbs 22:8
vanity] Better, with R.V. text, calamity; κακὰ, LXX.; mala, Vulg.
the rod of his anger] i.e. his power to vent his wrath upon others. Comp. Isa_14:6.
The LXX. add to this verse ἄνδρα ἱλαρὸν καὶ δότην εὐλογεῖ ὁ Θεὸς, which is quoted by St Paul, 2Co_9:7.

Proverbs 22:9
bountiful] Lit. good, in contrast with an evil or grudging eye, Pro_23:6-7.

Proverbs 22:10
Cast out] The gloss of the LXX. illustrates the meaning of the proverb:
“Cast out of the assembly the scorner, and strife will go out with him,
For while he remains in the assembly he insults every one,”
and fills the assembly, we may add, with mutual abuse and recrimination.

Proverbs 22:11
for the grace of] If this rendering be retained, with both A.V. and R.V. text, it will mean that purity of heart, honest and good motives, will produce such winning speech as, by contrast with the empty and hollow flattery of the courtier, will conciliate the favour of the king. Comp. Pro_16:13, and Ecc_10:12 : “the words of the wise are gracious.”
We may render, however, with R.V. marg., “that hath grace in his lips,” and then the meaning will be that if he who has pure motives (loveth pureness of heart) has also a happy gift of expressing himself (grace in his lips), he will be sure to make the king his friend.

Proverbs 22:12
knowledge] R.V. rightly inserts him that hath, before knowledge.
transgressor] Rather, treacherous man, R.V.

Proverbs 22:13
slain] or, more in accordance with the usual meaning of the Heb. word, murdered, R.V. The sluggard then offers two absurd excuses for not going forth to his business. ‘Without,’ he says, beyond the city walls, in the open country, ‘there is a lion,’ ready to tear me in pieces (comp. Jer_5:6); even into ‘the streets’ I dare not venture, lest there some ruffian should ‘murder’ me.”
When, however, the proverb recurs (Pro_26:13), it is the lion that is the professed object of dread within the city:
The sluggard saith, There is a lion in the way,
A lion is in the streets.

Proverbs 22:14
a deep pit] such as is dug by a hunter for his prey. Comp. Pro_23:27.

Proverbs 22:15
bound] Better, bound up, R.V. Comp., for the force of the Heb. word, Gen_44:30.

Proverbs 22:16
shall surely come] Or, cometh only, R.V. Two opposite methods of self-aggrandisement, grinding the poor and currying favour with the rich, have a common end in penury.
Some, however, would render, He that oppresseth the poor (does it) to increase his (the poor man’s) gain, because he urges him to fresh and successful effort; He that giveth to the rich (does it) only to (the rich man’s) want, because he encourages him in the sloth and indulgence which bring him to poverty. But this is far-fetched, and the suggestion that by oppressing your neighbour you may after all prove to be his benefactor is out of harmony with the moral tone of this Book.

Proverbs 22:17
the words of the wise] Comp. Pro_1:6, Pro_24:23.

Proverbs 22:17-21
III. Second Collection of Proverbs
Chap. Pro_22:17 to Pro_24:22
A short Preface or Introduction, Pro_22:17-21.
The body of the Collection, Pro_22:22 to Pro_24:22.
17–21. This short paragraph is at once a conclusion and an introduction, a pause in the continuous teaching of the same Teacher, in which he sums up what had gone before, and opens the way for further instruction. In our present Hebrew text there is no break between the 16th and 17th verses of this chapter, but there is a slight break, to which however no special importance can be attached, between the 21st and 22nd verses. The R.V. is so printed as to indicate the commencement of a new section at Pro_22:17, and of a fresh paragraph at Pro_22:22.
On the characteristics of the Section see Introduction, pp. 36, 37.

Proverbs 22:18
they shall withal be fitted in] Rather, if they be established together upon, R.V.; i.e. if being kept securely in thy heart they dwell constantly on thy lips.

Proverbs 22:19
made known] The R.V. made them known, makes the sense a little clearer.

Proverbs 22:20
excellent things] The word has been thought to denote the chief of the three persons who formed the complement of an ancient war-chariot, and so to mean principal or excellent. In Pro_8:6 “excellent things” are literally princely things or words. The LXX. and Vulg., however, render the word literally, “thrice,” or “in threefold form,” τρισσῶς, tripliciter, possibly with the idea of reiteration to impress the lesson. Comp. Act_10:16.
Another reading is heretofore, or long ago. If this be adopted, the reference may be either to the earlier sections of this Book, or to the fact that what is now promulgated had been committed to writing long ago, and was therefore no hasty utterance.
This passage has borne a prominent part in the history of Biblical exegesis. By it, understood (with the LXX. and Vulg. quoted above) of “threefold” teaching, or teaching “in triple form,” Origen supported his doctrine of the threefold meaning of Holy Scripture. “By Solomon in the Proverbs,” he writes, “we find some such rule as this enjoined respecting the divine doctrines of Scripture: ‘And do thou portray them in a threefold manner, in counsel and knowledge, to answer words of truth to them who propose them to thee.’ ” And so, he adds, comparing the threefold sense of Scripture to the tripartite division of man into body, soul and spirit, the simple will be edified, “by the flesh,” or obvious sense of Scripture, and the more advanced by its “soul,” while the perfect (1Co_2:6-7) may attain to the spiritual law itself, De Princip. Bk. iv. ch. 1.

Proverbs 22:21
send unto thee] Rather, send thee, with A.V. marg. and R.V.
The verse is well rendered in the Rel. Tract. Society’s Annotated Bible:
“To teach thee truth, even words of faithfulness;
That thou mayest bring back faithful words to them that send thee”; i.e. to train thee in truthfulness, that thou mayest be faithful and trustworthy in whatever business thou art employed.

Proverbs 22:22
The body of the Collection
Chap. Pro_22:22 to Pro_24:22

22. because] Which may either mean, Do not let his poverty and consequent defencelessness be a temptation to thee to wrong him, or, Let it be a motive with thee to abstain through pity from doing so. The latter meaning is indicated in R.V. marg. by rendering for, instead of because. πτωχὸς γάρ ἐστι, LXX.
    the gate] The place of business (Gen_34:20), and of judgement, (Deu_21:19).

Proverbs 22:23
soul] Rather, life.
And despoil of life those that despoil them, R.V.

Proverbs 22:24
an angry man] Better, a man that is given to anger, R.V. Lit a lord of anger. ἀνδρὶ θυμώδει, LXX.; homini iracundo, Vulg.
furious] Rather, wrathful, R.V.

Proverbs 22:26
strike hands] i.e. as a surety. See Pro_6:1 note.

Proverbs 22:27
he] i.e. the creditor.

Proverbs 22:28
Comp. Pro_23:10; Deu_19:14.

Proverbs 22:29
stand before] Comp. 1Ki_10:8.
mean] “Heb. obscure” R.V. marg.

Proverbs 22:1-29
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 22:1-29
Proverbs 22 – Rich and Poor, Raising Children
Pro_22:1
A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,
Loving favor rather than silver and gold.
a. A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches: Wealth comes in many forms. The wealth of respect and recognized excellence in character – a good name – is valuable beyond great riches.
i. A good name: “This good name proceeding from a good conscience, this honour from virtue, [Isa_43:4] this perfume of faith and obedience, this splendour and sparkle of the ‘white stone,’ which only shines upon heavenly hearts – is far more desirable than great riches.” (Trapp)
ii. “While it is true that reputation and the affection of others are more desirable than great riches, we must not forget that they may be in themselves vanity and a snare…. The only honor that is safe is that which comes from God.” (Bridges)
b. Loving favor rather than silver and gold: The man or woman who appreciates the value of a good name, of favor with God and man, recognizes that it is worth more than silver and gold.
i. “Riches are enjoyed but till death at utmost; but a good name outlives the man, and is left behind him for a blessing.” (Trapp)
ii. Loving favor: “Our Lord carries this teaching a step further in Luk_10:20, to show that at a still higher level, not the power we wield, but the love in which we are held, is our proper joy.” (Kidner)
Pro_22:2
The rich and the poor have this in common,
The Lord is the maker of them all.
a. The rich and the poor have this in common: The differences between rich and poor appear to be large in the present world. Jesus’ story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luk_16:20-31) highlights these differences. Yet richandpoor do have some things in common.
b. The Lord is maker of them all: Those who are rich and those who are poor share the same Creator. Yahweh has made them all. Both rich and poor tend to see each other through stereotypes and should remember this towards each other.
i. “People often forget this and make value judgments; they would do well to treat all people with respect, for God can as easily reduce the rich as raise the poor.” (Ross)
ii. “All are born into the world. All come into the world naked, helpless, unconscious beings. All stand before God. All are dependent on God for their birth. All are subject to the same sorrows, illnesses, and temptations. At the gate of the invisible world the distinction of riches and poverty is dropped.” (Bridges)
Pro_22:3
A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself,
But the simple pass on and are punished.
a. A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself: Wisdom does not always engage in a fight; it knows there are times when the best response to evil is to hide and let the danger go past.
i. “Prevision is the best means of prevention.” (Trapp)
b. The simple pass on and are punished: The foolish and simple man doesn’t have the ability to perceive danger and respond correctly. They must endure more evil because of this, and it is something of a punishment.
Pro_22:4
By humility and the fear of the Lord
Are riches and honor and life.
a. By humility and fear of the Lord: These two qualities are connected. Humility is a proper view of self; fear of the Lord is a proper view of God. The person who has these two qualities is well on their way on the path the wisdom.
b. Are riches and honor and life: Blessing will come to the wise man or woman who has humility and the fear of the Lord. They can certainly expect spiritualriches and honor and life, and often those same things materially in this world.
i. “The most humble is the most triumphant Christian. He may be depressed, but he is highly exalted. He has the wealth of grace and of glory. Nobody can deprive him of these.” (Bridges)
Pro_22:5
Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse;
He who guards his soul will be far from them.
a. Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse: Pro_13:15 told us that the way of the unfaithful is hard. Thorns and snares symbolically describe the hard way of the perverse.
i. “The metaphor refers to temptations such as easy sex and easy money that tempt youth. The morally degenerate tread a dangerous road infested with them.” (Waltke) If you want fewer temptations, change the road you’re on.
ii. “This is due to the love of God, shown in the constitution of the world. It would have been malignity indeed to have placed us in the world without the warning signal of pain to show us where we are wrong, and to sting us when we go astray.” (Meyer)
b. He who guards his soul will be far from them: The wise man or woman, keeping watch over their life (guards his soul) will stay far from the way of the perverse and the thorns and snares associated with that way.
i. “Those who have the discipline of wisdom avoid life’s dangers.” (Ross)
Pro_22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it.
a. Train up a child in the way he should go: A child need training. The job of the parent is not to simply let him grow up in any particular way, but to train him, and that in the way he should go. The way he should go has at least two senses that complement each other.

• The sense of the Hebrew the way he should go speaks of the child’s individual way and inclination. It speaks of discerning a child’s strengths and weaknesses and parenting in a way that takes those into account.
• The Book of Proverbs often presents the concept of the way – being the path of wisdom and life in contrast to the way of folly and destruction (such as mentioned in Pro_22:5). Surely, this also is the way to train a child in.
  i. The way he should go: “Here it would mean dedicate the child according to the physical and mental abilities of the developing youth” (Waltke). “The training prescribed is literally ‘according to his (the child’s) way’, implying, it seems, respect for his individuality and vocation, though not for his selfwill” (Kidner).
  ii. “What is the way in which a child should go? A more literal rendering of the Hebrew at once answers this question. Such translation would be: ‘Train up a child according to his way.’In every child there are special and peculiar powers. The true business of training a child therefore, is that of discovering what those powers are, and developing them…. Herein is revealed the need for individual work. No two children are alike.” (Morgan)
  iii. Train up: “Chanac, which we translate train up or initiate, signifies also dedicate; and is often used for the consecrating any thing, house, or person, to the service of God. Dedicate, therefore, in the first instance, your child to God; and nurse, teach, and discipline him as God”s child, whom he has intrusted to your care.” (Clarke)
  b. When he is old he will not depart from it: This is a wonderful principle that the Holy Spirit may quicken to a promise for parents troubled over their adult children. When a child is trained in the proper way, though they may depart for a season (and a long season), in principle they will return and not depart from it.
  i. Solomon’s own life displayed that this is a principle and not an absolute promise. “Other proverbs recognize that the youth’s freedom to choose sin (cf. Eze_18:20) and apostatize by taking up with villains (Pro_2:11-15) and whores (Pro_5:11-14).” (Waltke)
  ii. “The book is addressed to youths, not parents. Were the parents ultimately responsible for his moral choice, there would be no point in addressing the book to youth (see Pro_1:4). Moreover, Solomon himself stopped listening to instruction and strayed from knowledge (Pro_19:27).” (Waltke)
  Pro_22:7
  The rich rules over the poor,
  And the borrower is servant to the lender.
  a. The rich rules over the poor: Pro_22:2 told us that there was one important respect in which rich and poor were the same; this proverb reminds us of a way they are very different. Rich people have more authority and voice in the community than the poor do.
  i. “The point…is that one must regard indebtedness only as a last resort (wary of those who offer to lend money) and endeavor to get out of debt as rapidly as possible. Debt is debilitating and demoralizing.” (Garrett)
  ii. “Too often the rich rule over the poor in a harsh way. Indeed, without submitting to God’s rule over us, we can hardly be trusted with power over our fellowmen.” (Bridges)
  b. And the borrower is servant to the lender: Those who borrow money are in a lower place than those who lend money. The obvious application of this proverb is that the wise man or woman will do all he or she can to walk in the path of godly prosperity; to be a lender and not a borrower.
  i. “The verse may be referring to the apparently common practice of Israelites selling themselves into slavery to pay off debts (see Exo_21:2-7). It is not appreciably different from the modern debtor who is working to pay off bills.” (Ross)
  Pro_22:8
  He who sows iniquity will reap sorrow,
  And the rod of his anger will fail.
  a. He who sows iniquity will reap sorrow: A person’s sins (iniquity) are like seeds that are sown. In time they will bring a harvest and the sinner will reap sorrow.
  i. “The crop must be according to the seed. If a man sow thistle seed, is it likely he shall reap wheat? If he sow to the flesh, shall he not of the flesh reap destruction?” (Clarke)
  b. The rod of his anger will fail: This mixing of metaphors (from the harvest to the shepherd’s rod) probably has the idea that in the season when the sinner reaps his harvest from the seeds of iniquity, he will have no defense against it.
  Pro_22:9
  He who has a generous eye will be blessed,
  For he gives of his bread to the poor.
  a. He who has a generous eye will be blessed: According to this principle God will bless the one who is generous to others. When people are generous to God and His work, God will not allow them to be more generous than He is.
  i. “Paradoxically the greedy loses his property and his power, and the liberal participates in a cycle of endless enrichment.” (Waltke)
  b. For he gives of his bread to the poor: One important way to express our generosity is to give to the poor and needy. His generosity is simply sharing, for he gives of his bread.
  i. Of his bread: “He spares it out of his own belly to give to the hungry, as some have here gathered from the words ‘his bread,’ that which was appointed for his own eating – he voluntarily fasteth from a meal now and then that he may bestow it upon the needy, and he shall not lose his reward.” (Trapp)
  ii. “This person has a benevolent disposition, keen social conscience, and concern for the poor. The irony is that because he is not the prisoner of his selfish desires, he achieves the highest degree of self-fulfillment.” (Ross)
  Pro_22:10
  Cast out the scoffer, and contention will leave;
  Yes, strife and reproach will cease.
  a. Cast out the scoffer, and contention will leave: The scoffer who spreads cynical discord causes contention. When that scoffer is cast out, then contention also leaves.
  b. Strife and reproach will cease: The atmosphere of strife and shameful insults (reproach) stops when the divisive scoffer is gone. This reminds us that an atmosphere of contention, strife, and reproach is caused by people.
  Pro_22:11
  He who loves purity of heart
  And has grace on his lips,
  The king will be his friend.
  a. He who loves purity of heart and has grace on his lips: Inner purity often shows itself through grace-filled words. These two are marks of godly, wise men and women.
  b. The king will be his friend: This true godliness and wisdom – both on the inside and in spoken words – will make friends in high places. It will certainly contribute to ongoing fellowship with God, for such a person walks in the light as God is in the light (1Jn_1:6-7).
  i. The king will be his friend: “The greatest men will, or should, desire and highly prize the acquaintance and advice of such persons, rather than of dissemblers and flatterers, wherewith they are most commonly pestered.” (Poole)
  Pro_22:12
  The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge,
  But He overthrows the words of the faithless.
  a. The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge: God sees, takes note of, and guards those with wisdom and knowledge. In this sense, it can be said that His eyes…preserve knowledge.
  b. He overthrows the words of the faithless: For the faithless fool, they can expect that God would turn over their words. He will not stand with or support their faithless words.
  i. “God causes their distortions of the truth to be shown for what they are.” (Garrett)
  Pro_22:13
  The lazy man says, “There is a lion outside!
  I shall be slain in the streets!”
  a. There is a lion outside: This is the cry of the lazy man. In his imagination, the outside world and the work required to function in it are so frightening that it is best avoided. His excuse is crazy and absurd, but such is the refuge of the lazy man.
  i. The lazy man says: Spurgeon spoke on Pro_22:13; Pro_26:13 : “In both texts the slothful man is represented as having something to say, and I think that there are no people that have so much to say as those that have little to do. Where nothing is done much is talked about.”
  ii. “The sluggard is represented as finding fantastic and preposterous excuses to demonstrate that no idea is too odd or fantastic to him to keep him off welfare. His life and the community is not in danger from his phantom lion in the streets but from his lazy life-style.” (Waltke)
  iii. “Laziness is a great lion-maker. He who does little dreams much. His imagination could create not only a lion but a whole menagerie of wild beasts; and if some mighty hunter could hunt down all the lions that his imagination has let loose, he would soon distribute herds more of the terrible animals, with wolves and bears and tigers to match.” (Spurgeon)
  iv. John Trapp pointed out that this imaginary lion is not Satan nor is it the Messiah, Jesus. “Here is no talk of Satan, ‘that roaring lion,’ that lies couchant in the sluggard’s bed with him, and prompts him to these senseless excuses. Nor yet of the ‘lion of the tribe of Judah,’ who will one day send out summons for sleepers, and tearing the very caul of their hearts in sunder, send them packing to their place in hell.”
  b. I shall be slain in the streets: The lazy man exaggerates the dangers and troubles outside his door, especially those connected with work.
  i. In the streets: “Which is added to show the ridiculousness of his excuse; for lions abide in the woods or fields, not in the streets of towns or cities.” (Poole)
  ii. “But why does he say so? Because he is a slothful man. Remove his slothfulness, and these imaginary difficulties and dangers will be no more.” (Clarke)
  iii. The lazy man or woman should look to the Lord for victory over their sin. “Your lion is in the way. Shout, then, for a friend to come and help you; and within call there stands One who is a wonderful lion-killer. There is the Son of David.” (Spurgeon)
  Pro_22:14
  The mouth of an immoral woman is a deep pit;
  He who is abhorred by the Lord will fall there.
  a. The mouth of an immoral woman is a deep pit: The immoral woman often sets her seductive trap by the words she speaks. Therefore, her mouth is a trap leading to death. Solomon knew something of this danger because he saw his father David fall into the deep pit of immorality.
  i. A deep pit: “Into which it is easy to fall, but hard, if not impossible, to get out of it. It is a rare thing for any person, once entered into the course of whoredom, sincerely to repent of it, and turn from it.” (Poole)
  ii. “Unlike the sluggard’s fantasy of a man-eating lion roaming the city streets, these harlots are very real deadly predators in the streets.” (Waltke)
  b. He who is abhorred by the Lord will fall there: God’s wise ones are discerning enough to stay clear of this deep pit. But the fool – he who is abhorred by the Lord – is likely to fall there.
  Pro_22:15
  Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child;
  The rod of correction will drive it far from him.
  a. Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child: Children are not born as morally neutral beings. There is a moral problem (described here as foolishness) that is bound up in the heart of a child, evidenced by the fact that our children will naturally sin without be taught how to do it. This is our nature inherited from our ancient ancestors, Adam and Eve.
  i. “The father must not underestimate the difficulty of his task, for he does battle with an innate recalcitrance and perversity. He must both tear down and build up; to eradicate and implant.” (Waltke)
  ii. “Note that what is being spoken about is foolishness, not childishness. ‘A child is to be punished,’ as Mr. Scott wisely observed, ‘not for being a child, but for being a wicked child.’” (Bridges)
  b. The rod of correction will drive it far from him: Physical discipline is one important way that a child can be morally trained. When wisely and properly applied, physical correction can help drive away a child’s inborn foolishness.
  i. Kidner titled Pro_22:15 as knocking the nonsense out.
  ii. “Discipline will remove a child’s bent to folly…. The child is morally immature; the training must suppress folly and develop potential.” (Ross)
  iii. The Bible gives some examples of men who did not follow the wisdom of this proverb. “Eli brought up his sons to bring down his house. David’s sons were undone by their father’s fondness. A fair hand, we say, makes a foul wound.” (Trapp)
  Pro_22:16
  He who oppresses the poor to increase his riches,
  And he who gives to the rich, will surely come to poverty.
  a. He who oppresses the poor to increase his riches: There are always those who prey upon their unfortunate fellow man and will oppress the poor to increase his riches.
  b. He who gives to the rich, will surely come to poverty: The one who gives to the rich is like the one who oppresses the poor – he has no compassion for those in need. To such, the principle applies: he will surely come to poverty. God’s blessing will not be on the life and wealth of such a man lacking in compassion.
  i. He who gives to the rich: “The juxtaposition of one who takes money from the poor, who needs it, with the one who gives to the rich, who does not need it, points up the folly. For example, ‘It happens when executives are paid exorbitant sums…and overwork their remaining employees.’” (Waltke)
  ii. “Perhaps the verse is simply observing that it is easy to oppress the poor for gain, but it is a waste of money to try to buy a patron.” (Ross)
  A. Words of the wise.
  Pro_22:17 begins a new section of the collection. We move from the long section (Pro_10:1 through 22:16) containing almost entirely two-phrase wisdom sayings with very little arrangement according to theme or context. Starting here, the structure of the wisdom sayings is often longer and they are more arranged according to some theme.
  Most commentators believe this section begins here at 22:17 and ends at 24:22. Pro_22:20 uses the phrase, “I have written to you thirty [excellent] things,” and it is likely that Solomon patterned this section after the Egyptian wisdom writing Amenemope, finding 30 wisdom sayings in the section. Waltke makes the point that Solomon used some of the structure of Amenemope to arrange this section, but not the content of the ancient Egyptian writing.

1. (17-21) The value of the words of the wise.
   Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise,
   And apply your heart to my knowledge;
   For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you;
   Let them all be fixed upon your lips,
   So that your trust may be in the Lord;
   I have instructed you today, even you.
   Have I not written to you excellent things
   Of counsels and knowledge,
   That I may make you know the certainty of the words of truth,
   That you may answer words of truth
   To those who send to you?
   a. Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise: Another invitation to receive words of wisdom. Unless one’s heart and mind are ready to receive wisdom, it does little good to present it. There should be a conscious readying of mind and heart to receive.
   i. “The ear is the exterior organ that receives the information and the heart is the interior organ that directs the whole body (Pro_4:20-27).” (Waltke)
   b. It is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you: The value of gaining and keeping wisdom is pleasant. Sometimes we feel the way of wisdom is a difficult path to walk, but it is much more pleasant than the way of the fool.
   i. Keep them within you: “Hebrew, in thy belly. i.e. in thine heart, which implies receiving them in love, and retaining them in mind and memory.” (Poole)
   ii. Excellent things: “The reference to ‘thirty’ [excellent] is significant, for Amenemope also had thirty sayings.” (Ross)
   c. So that your trust may be in the Lord: True wisdom makes us more dependent on God, not less. We grow in our trust in the Lord, realizing that the pursuit of wisdom begins and continues with a proper view of God.
   i. I have instructed you today: “Even the most brilliant, moral sayings are powerless without personal application. Today refers to each day of the son’s life, because he is to have all of them always ready on his tongue.” (Waltke)
   d. That I may make you know the certainty of the words of truth: The pursuit of wisdom makes us more confident in the truth, not less. Certainly, wisdom discovers that some things are more complicated and doubtful, but in general it sees God and His truth with more clarity and certainty.
2. (22-23) Treat the poor fairly
   Do not rob the poor because he is poor,
   Nor oppress the afflicted at the gate;
   For the Lord will plead their cause,
   And plunder the soul of those who plunder them.
   a. Do not rob the poor because he is poor: The poor among us deserve more protection and compassion. Even if one is poor because of their moral failings or foolish behavior, they still should not be taken advantage of and robbed.
   i. “If those that relieve not the poor shall be damned, surely they that rob them shall be double damned.” (Trapp)
   ii. At the gate: “Lacking financial resources to protect their legal rights they are a tempting target for the sharp practices and blatant injustices of their rich and powerful neighbors.” (Waltke)
   b. For the Lord will plead their cause: Even if the rich rob the poor, they still have a defender. God Himself will plead their cause and will plunder the soul of those who plunder the poor. Understanding God’s concern for and protection of the poor, wisdom leads us to treat them honorably.
   i. The poor can’t defend themselves with great resources and influence. The rich man’s treatment of the poor says a lot about the rich man’s character. It shows how he treats those whom culture and the community may say are “beneath” him. This reveals one’s heart in many ways.
   ii. “Concern for the poor is common in both biblical and pagan wisdom literature. The distinctive Israelite perspective, however, is that Yahweh is viewed as protector of the oppressed.” (Garrett)
   iii. “Woe therefore to them that oppress them, for they will have God, not the poor, to deal with.” (Clarke)
3. (24-25) Warning of the angry man.
   Make no friendship with an angry man,
   And with a furious man do not go,
   Lest you learn his ways
   And set a snare for your soul.
   a. Make no friendship with an angry man: A person who often can’t control their anger displays bad character and can be a dangerous companion. Wisdom chooses friends carefully and should make no friendship with an angry man.
   i. “Anger is a short madness; it is a leprosy breaking out of a burning, [Lev_13:25] and renders a man unfit for civil society.” (Trapp)
   b. Lest you learn his ways: This is one of the important reasons why it is foolish to make a friendship with an angry man. His habits will influence yours, and as you become more of an angry person you will set a snare for your soul. We are influenced by the habits of our friends, so choose friends carefully.
   i. “From those with whom we associate we acquire habits, and learn their ways, imbibe their spirit, show their tempers and walk in their steps. We cannot be too choice of our company, for we may soon learn ways that will be a snare to our soul.” (Clarke)
   ii. “Being friends of a hot-tempered man is like living in a house that is on fire. How quickly does a young person, living with a proud man, become like him and turn into an overbearing person.” (Bridges)
4. (26-27) Stay away from the debts of others.
   Do not be one of those who shakes hands in a pledge,
   One of those who is surety for debts;
   If you have nothing with which to pay,
   Why should he take away your bed from under you?
   a. Do not be one of those who shakes hands in a pledge: As mentioned in other proverbs, it is a dangerous thing to become responsible for the debts of other people. Personal debt is to be avoided (Pro_22:7), so how much more becoming surety for debts of another person.
   b. Why should he take away your bed from under you? Under the laws and customs regarding the failure to pay debts in the world of the Bible, property could be easily seized and even people made forced servants for the repayment of debts. Don’t take on the debts of other people.
   i. “The risk is that if someone lacks the means to pay, his creditors may take his bed, i.e., his last possession (cf. our expressions ‘the shirt off his back’ or ‘the kitchen sink’).” (Ross)
5. (28) Respect ancient ways and wisdom.
   Do not remove the ancient landmark
   Which your fathers have set.
   a. Do not remove the ancient landmark: From the days when Joshua divided the promised land for the people of Israel, there were landmarks showing the boundaries of property. It was a great crime and scandal to remove these landmarks.
   i. Landmark: “Private land boundaries were marked out by stone pillars or cairns erected between property to mark legal ownership.” (Waltke)
   ii. “Do not take the advantage, in ploughing or breaking up a field contiguous to that of thy neighbour, to set the dividing stones farther into his field that thou mayest enlarge thy own. Take not what is not thy own in any case. Let all ancient divisions, and the usages connected with them, be held sacred.” (Clarke)
   iii. “The boundaries were sacred because God owned the land and had given it to the fathers as their inheritance; to extend one’s land at another’s expense was a major violation of covenant and oath.” (Ross)
   iv. Do not remove: “Unless ye covet a curse [Deu_27:17]…. know that property is God’s ordinance; [Act_5:4 Psa_17:14].” (Trapp)
   b. Which your fathers have set: We also understand this proverb in a spiritual sense. A landmark – a custom, a tradition, or a value – should not be removed lightly. We should never assume that our fathers set such landmarks for no reason or bad reason. We should not defend tradition for the sake of tradition, but neither should we destroy tradition just for the sake of destroying it.
   i. “Unfortunately, the crime was easy to accomplish and difficult to prove. Probably the boundary stone was moved annually only about an inconspicuous half-inch, which in time could add up to a sizeable land grab.” (Waltke)
6. (29) The reward of excellent work.
   Do you see a man who excels in his work?
   He will stand before kings;
   He will not stand before unknown men.
   a. Do you see a man who excels in his work? Wisdom pushes us toward excellence. God has given every man and woman work to do, and they should do that work with excellence as unto God and not only to men (Col_3:23).
   i. A man who excels: “One who is improving his talents all the time and is making the most of his opportunities. He is like Henry Martyn, who was known in his college ‘as the man who had not lost an hour.’” (Bridges)
   ii. “Anyone who puts his workmanship before his prospects towers above the thrusters and climbers of the adjacent paragraphs.” (Kidner)
   b. He will stand before kings: The excellence of a man or woman’s work can give them great standing in the world. More importantly, it gives them standing before the King of Kings, who promises to reward the one who works diligently unto Him (Col_3:23-24).
   i. “How dear was Daniel to Darius, because, though sick, yet he despatched the king’s business! What favourites to our Henry VIII were Wolsey, Cromwell, Cranmer, for like reason! A diligent man shall not sit long in a low place.” (Trapp)
   ii. “Jesus taught that the one who is trustworthy in the small matters of this world will be entrusted with ten cities in his coming kingdom (Mat_25:14-30; Luk_19:11-27; cf. Joh_12:26).” (Waltke)

Proverbs 22:1-2
A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold. The rich and poor meet together: the LORD is the maker of them all.
There is a vast dissimilarity in those two verses, but both have great and important truths contained in them. What name so precious as Christ’s, and what riches like his. This name is like ointment poured forth for fragrancy. Son_1:3; Ecc_7:1. All the inequalities of life are of divine appointment. It is blessed when both characters find their equality in Jesus. The Lord is then both the Maker and the Redeemer of all.

Proverbs 22:3-9
A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished. By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life. Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward: he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them. Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender. He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity: and the rod of his anger shall fail. He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor.
To whom can this eye of bounty be applied in an equal degree, but to that of Jesus? He indeed is the heavenly Pelican that giveth of his body and blood to his young.

Proverbs 22:10-15
Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease. He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend. The eyes of the LORD preserve knowledge, and he overthroweth the words of the transgressor. The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets. The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the LORD shall fall therein. Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.
If there were no other passage in scripture in proof of original corruption than this last, this alone would confirm the doctrine. Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; it is inmate, born there, and inwrought in the very constitution. Psa_51:5.

Proverbs 22:16-29
He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want. Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge. For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips. That thy trust may be in the LORD, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee. Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge, That I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth; that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee? Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate: For the LORD will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them. Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul. Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts. If thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee? Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set. Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.
Whatever sameness may appear in these proverbs, there is a great variety; and the same truth is made to appear more striking, from being set and placed forward to view in different ways. Upon the whole the great object intended from them, is evidently with a view to endear Christ and the graces of his Holy Spirit, and to mark out the sad consequences of a contrary pursuit.

Proverbs 22:29
REFLECTIONS
READER! a name to live while virtually dead before God, is one of the most awful states into which our poor nature can possibly fall. But to be named with a good name in Christ which the mouth of the Lord shall name, is among the highest felicities our nature is capable of enjoying. Solomon seems to have had this in view while sending forth these proverbs. everything that can lead to this enjoyment in Jesus, ought to be our daily pursuit and desire. And what can tend to the attainment of it, but an interest in Christ Jesus? The grace of God which bringeth salvation is the only possible means of procuring it. And under the divine blessing this will ensure whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are pure, lovely, and of good report. Reader! let me hope that this grace hath appeared unto you: and then it will be found that all these divine principles will have their suited influence upon the heart. He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, it is the companion of fools that is destroyed.