Surely this should humble us, that riches,—that should be our rises to raise us up to God, or glasses to see the love of God in—our corrupt nature useth them as clouds, as clogs, etc., yea, sets them up in God’s place, and saith to the fine gold, “Thou art my confidence” (Job xxxi. 24).The destruction of the poor is their poverty.They are devoured by the richer cannibals (Psa. xiv. 4), as the lesser fish are by the greater. Men go over the hedge where it is lowest. “Poor” and “afflicted” are joined together (Zeph. iii. 12). So are “to want” and “to be abased” (Phil. iv. 12).—Trapp.
Here he is describing what is, rather than prescribing what ought to be. The verse acknowledges and proclaims a prominent feature in the condition of the world. It is not a command from the law of God, but a fact from the history of men. In all ages and in all lands money has been a mighty power, and its relative importance increases with the advance of civilisation. Money is one of the principal instruments by which the affairs of the world are turned, and the man who holds that instrument in his grasp can make himself felt in his age and neighbourhood. It does not reach the Divinepurpose, but it controls human action. It is constrained to become God’s servant, but it makes itself the master of man.—Arnot.
The rich man often goes about his Sion, or rather his Jericho, and views the walls thereof; he marketh the bulwarks, and telleth the towers of it. He looks upon his wealth, he marks his bags, he tells his moneys, and therein is his confidence; thereby he thinketh to outstand any siege or assault, and, placing his security on it, dareth to oppose his strength to any right or reason; whereas God with a blast of ram’s horns is quickly able to throw down all his might and his greatness.—Jermin.
Verse 16. The labour of the righteous tendeth to life or “serves as life.” 1. Because it is a good thing in itself. 2. Because it procures good, each stroke earning its pay. 3. Because it increased, and that on for ever, making us holier and happier, and making other holier and happier through the endless ages. It “serves” pre-eminently “as life,” therefore, literally, “is for life.” But the fruit, or “gains of the wicked” (and we must not fail to note the crescendo in the second clause, “Thelabourof a righteous man”—”thegainsof a wicked man”; the righteous still toiling, the wicked having made his harvest,) serve to sin or “as a sin-offering.” That is, they are all demanded by justice, and are all consumed by the expiation of his sins. Pious acts are a life. Wicked gains go to swell what our great creditor seizes.—Miller.
Labour, not idleness, is the stamp of a servant of God; thus cheered by the glowing confidence, that it tendeth to life (John vi. 27). “Occupy till I come”—“Do all to the glory of God” (Luke xix. 13; 1 Cor. x. 31)—this is the standard. Thus the duties even of our daily calling tend to life. God works in us, by us, with us, through us. We workinandthroughHim. Ourlabour,therefore, is His work—wrought in dependence on Him; notforlife, buttolife (Rom. viii. 13; 1 Cor. xv. 10; Phil. ii. 12, 13).—Bridges.
The words are fitly chosen: “labour” in honest industry is the righteous man’s ordinary way of living. “Revenue” (fruit) not gained by honest labour is frequently the wicked man’s livelihood.—Fausset.
It is not directly said, as the previous clause might lead us to expect, that the “fruit” of the wicked tendeth to “death,” but to “sin.” This, by the wise man, is considered as the same thing. It “tendeth to sin,” and, consequently, todeath.Thus it is said, “When lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” (Jas. i. 15). Between the two there is an intimate and inseparable connection.—Wardlaw.
The righteous are laborious, as knowing that to be the end of their life. For themselves they labour, to lead their lives with comfort here, to get the life of glory hereafter. For others they labour, to supply the wants of their disconsolate life on earth, and to help them forward to the blessed life of heaven. Wherefore St. Bernard saith well, “When we read that Adam in the beginning was set in a place of pleasure to work in it, what man of sound understanding can think that his children should be set in a place of affliction for to play in it.”—Jermin.
main homiletics of verse17.
The Influence of Example.
We take here the rendering of all recent commentators as given in theCritical Notes, and understand the verse to set forth the truth that “no man liveth to himself.” His character is reproduced in others.
I. A good man is a way, because he is the means to an end.The way to thecity is the road by which we reach it. The life of a holy man is a way to spiritual and eternal life, because it is the means by which men come home to God. If there were no good men in the world, there would be no means by which sinners could be brought from death unto life. Christ is pre-eminently “the way,” because His life is the great means by which men learn to know and to return to God. “No man cometh unto the Father but by Me” (John xiv. 6). The longer a path is trodden the more distinctly it proclaims itself as a way. So a good man becomes a more evident way the longer he lives. A good life is so distinct in its teachings that both sage and savage are compelled to admit its influence, and the longer it exerts its power for good the more pronounced it becomes. The Son of God has for ages been the way to life, and the longer He continues to be so the more distinctly is He seen to be the means to this end.
II. The conditions to be fulfilled in order to become a way of life.1.The man must keep instruction.It is not enough toreceiveit. The Word of God must not only beheard,but must bekept.“If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them” (John xiii. 17). 2.He must submit to discipline even when it takes the form of reproof.This is implied in the last clause of the verse, “He that refuseth reproof causes to err.” The man who has attained a position in any profession, and has thereby become qualified to lead others, has done so because he has submitted to discipline even when it has been in the unpalatable form of reproof. Such a man can well exhort others to submit to that by which he has become fit to be their guide. Even the Son of God “learned obedienceby the things which He suffered” (Heb. v. 8).
III. An ungodly man injures others as well as himself.He not only wanders from the path himself, but he “causeth (others) to err.” We often hear it said of a godless man—of one “who refuseth reproof”—that “he is nobody’s enemy but his own.” This cannot be. It has been truly said that “nothing leaves us wholly as it found us. Every man we meet, every book we read, every picture or landscape we see, every word or tone we hear, mingles with our being and modifies it.” This being so, every man makes every man with whom he comes in contact better or worse, and as every good man draws others into the path of life, so every man who refuses to submit to Divine discipline drags others with him in the broad road that leads to destruction.
outlines and suggestive comments.
St. Basil, answering the question, “With what mind anyone ought to receive the instructions of reproof administered unto him,” giveth this answer, “With the same mind that befitteth him who, being sick of some disease and troubled for the preserving of life, receiveth a medicine, namely, with the greatest desire of recovering his health.” For there is a way of life though a man be notsickbutdeadunto sin. And the hand that putteth into this way is instruction, and that which must keep us in the way is the keeping of instruction: for he that refuseth reproof erreth, erreth in refusing, erreth more by refusing.—Jermin.
This is the idea of other verses (11–13): that a man going to heaven blazes a path for others. Heisa way. Others travel upon him in his prayers and in his example.—Miller.
main homiletics of verse18.
Three Degrees of Moral Foolishness.
I. A liar.1.A liar is a fool because he fights for a weak cause.When a case can only be made out by lying it is manifestly a bad one. A man who will strive to uphold such a cause reveals his folly. 2.Because he makes use of a weak weapon.Among tribes ignorant of the methods of civilized warfare we find weapons which are little better than slim rods, and, although their points are sharp and poisoned, yet they proclaim their weakness when they come into collision with an experienced swordsman. Lying is such a weapon, and its use reveals the utter folly of him who wields it. It can no more stand against truth than the wooden spear of a savage can turn aside the thrust of a Damascus blade. 3.Because by lying he degrades his moral character.The serpent lost his upright position by being linked with lying, instead of going erect, God passed upon him the sentence—“Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life” (Gen. iii. 14). The liar finds that this is his doom. He can no longer hold up his head like an honest man among his fellow-men, he must henceforth crawl and wind his way through the world, and eat the dust of ignominy and scorn. Men turn from a liar as they do from a serpent. It is assuredly the height of folly for a man thus to throw away that which alone makes him worthy to be called a man.
II. A liar who conceals hatred by lying.This man displays a higher degree of iniquity and folly. There are those who lie simply to serve their own purposes and have no dislike to the person whom they deceive. There is often much lying when there is no special malice. But when lying is used to conceal hatred—which is murder (1 John iii. 15)—there is a double folly because there is a double sin. The lying of the “father of lies” is simply a blind to conceal his intense hatred of the human race, and this makes him the greater sinner.
III. A liar who utters slander.When malice finds vent in lying slander we have an exhibition of greater iniquity and therefore of greater folly. It is bad to be a liar, it is worse to conceal hatred by lying, but it is worse to let the hatred of the heart break forth into false accusations of the innocent. The tree that is most richly laden with the ripest fruit is the one upon which the birds will congregate. We never find them passing by such booty to peck at green fruit. The pirates lay in wait for vessels with a rich cargo, empty vessels pass by unmolested and secure from attack. So it is always the best men who attract slanderers, men of little or no moral worth are not considered foemen worthy of their steel. God declared Job to be the best man in all the earth, “perfect and upright, one who feared Him, and eschewed evil” (Job i. 8). And it was because he stood thus pre-eminent that the tongue of the great slanderer was used against him; being from the beginning a liar and a murderer of character he gave one of the most complete exhibitions of his real nature when he pointed his lying hatred against the best man of his day. The Holy One of God did not escape the tongue of the slanderer. He was a “man gluttonous, and a wine-bibber” (Matt. xi. 19), “one that perverteth the people” (Luke xxiii. 14). When “He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows” He was esteemed “smitten of God and afflicted” (Isaiah liii. 4). All lying and malice, whether concealed or manifested, becomes the most palpable folly when looked at in the light of the “coming of the Lord, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of the hearts” (1 Cor. iv. 5).
outlines and suggestive comments.
If we desire the credit of wisdom let us use better means to obtain it than artificial disgracings of our brethren, for that cometh not from above; it is no gift of God; it is sensual, carnal, and devilish. Do not hearken to the reports of such wicked persons as seek to defame others and detract from their good name; they are but foolish and base pedlars that utter such infectious wares, and therefore they cannot be wise chapmen that traffic with them and receive them at their hands. Here is consolation for them that are molested and vexed unjustly for the Gospel’s sake by clamorous and false accusers; let them consider what account God maketh of their malicious adversaries; He calls them fools and derideth their practices, and, therefore, in the end it shall be seen that when they have spat all their venom they have but shot a fool’s bolt and procured shame and sorrow to themselves.—Dod.
The folly of slander.1.If this practice be proved extremely sinful it will thence be demonstrated no less foolish.And it is indeed plainly the blackest and most hellish sin that can be; that which giveth the grand fiend his name, and most expresseth his nature. He is theslanderer,Satan,ordragonspitting forth the venom of calumnious accusation, theaccuser of the brethren,the father of lies,the great defamer of God to man, of man to God, of one man to another. And highly wicked that practice must be whereby we grow namesakes to him. 2.The slanderer is plainly a fool because he makes wrong judgments and valuations of things,and accordingly driveth on silly bargains for himself, in result whereof he proveth a great loser. He means by his calumnious stories either to vent some passion boiling within him, or to compass some design which he affecteth, or to please some humour that he is possessed with; but is any of these things worth purchasing at so dear a rate? Can there be any valuable exchange for our honesty? Can anything in the world be so considerable that for its sake we should defile our souls? 3.Because he uses improper means and preposterous methods of effecting his purposes.As there is no design worth the carrying on by ways of falsehood and iniquity, so there is scarce any (no good and lawful one at least) which may not more surely, more safely, more cleverly be achieved by means of truth and justice. . . . He that is observed to practise falsehood will be declined by some, opposed by others, disliked by all. 4.The slanderer is a fool, as bringing many great inconveniences and troubles upon himself.(1.) By no means can a man inflame so fierce anger, impress so stiff hatred, raise so deadly enmity against himself, and consequently so endanger his safety, ease, and welfare as by this practice. Men will rather pardon a robber of their goods than of their good name. (2.) And he is not only odious to the person immediately concerned, but generally to all men who observe his practice; every man presently will be sensible how easily it may be his own case to be thus abused. (3.) He also derogateth wholly from his own credit, for he that dareth thus to injure his neighbour, who can trust him in anything that he speaks? (4.) This practice is perpetually haunted with most troublesome companions, inward regret, and self-condemnation. (5.) The consequence of this practice is commonly shameful disgrace, with an obligation to retract and to render satisfaction; for seldom doth calumny pass long without being detected and confuted. (6.) The slanderer doth banish himself from heaven and happiness. For, if none that “maketh a lie” (Rev. xxii. 15) shall enter the heavenly city, assuredly the capital liar, theslanderer,shall be far excluded from felicity. All these things being considered, we may, Ithink, reasonably conclude it most evidently true that “he who uttereth slander is a fool.”—Barrow.
Better.He who hideth hatred is of lying lips.The alternative is offered with a delicate touch of irony. He who cherishes hatred must choose between being a knave or a fool—a knave if he hides, a fool if he utters it.—Plumptre.
main homiletics of the paragraph.—Verses19–21.
Speech and Silence.
I. The wisdom of not always using the tongue when we might.“He that refraineth his lips is wise.” The reputation of a good man may be much injured by even speaking the truth at certain times and to certain persons. The silence of a man who can speak wisely and eloquently is a revelation of self-control, and often adds more to the dignity of his character than words can. The Son of God “opened not His mouth” before His false accusers, and thus revealed His power of self-control—His moral majesty. That He could be silent in such circumstances is a manifestation of the deep ocean of conscious innocence within Him, and is an unparalleled exposition of His own precept, “In patience possess ye your souls.” 1.Silence is wisdom when we feel that speech would be useless to convince.When we feel that a foregone conclusion has been arrived at which no argument or appeal could shake. This has been the case in the history of the confessors and martyrs of the Church in all ages, and was pre-eminently so when the Lord Jesus Christ stood to be tried before men who had determined to murder Him. 2.Silence is sometimes more convincing than speech.Men are often more impressed by acts than by words, by a spirit of forbearance than by a passionate vindication of our rights. 3.Silence does not necessarily imply acquiescence.The Eternal Himself is sometimes silent from displeasure. “These things hast thou done and I kept silence” (Psalm lv. 21).
II. The blessing of using the tongue when we ought.“The tongue of the just is as choice silver.” The lips of the righteous feed many because they supply a need. Man needs a medium by which to express the value of his labour or his merchandise, and silver supplies this want. And he likewise needs a medium by which to express his thoughts, and speech is this medium. But unless it is the speech of ajustman it will be a curse and not a blessing. It must conveygood thinkingif it is to be as choice silver to a needy man. The prisoner who stands at the bar charged with a crime of which he is innocent feels that the tongue of the man who pleads his cause is more precious to him than much silver. To the man who is seeking after God, the tongue of one who can tell him “words whereby he shall be saved” is as choice silver (Acts xi. 14). The words of Peter were so esteemed by Cornelius. The heart of the Ethiopian eunuch was more rejoiced by the preaching of Philip the Evangelist than it would have been by the possession of the treasure of his mistress (Acts viii. 26–39). The words of Him who was “the Just One” (Acts iii. 14) are and ever will be “a strength to the needy in his distress” (Isa. xxv. 4); more precious to those who are conscious of their soul-poverty “than thousands of gold and silver” (Psalm cxix. 72); and it is in proportion as men are like Him in character and disposition that their speech will bless the world.
III. The sin of using the tongue too much.The shell and the kernel of the fruit were intended by God to grow together; the latter cannot grow to perfection without the former, yet the shell only exists for the kernel. The soul and body are ordained to grow together; the body only exists for the soul, yet the soulcan only manifest itself through the medium of the body. But the body without the soul is worthless. Man’s thought and word were intended by God to act together; thoughts are useless without speech in which to clothe them; words without thoughts have no reason for existence, they are shells without kernels, bodies without souls, and their use is a sin against God’s ordained method. Where there is a “multitude of words” there is not much thought, and therefore there is sin.—1.Against a man’s self, because “every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment” (Matt. xii. 36). 2.Against society, because the man utters sounds which contain nothing to benefit. God has ordained thought to feed the soul as He has ordained bread to feed the body. Where there are words men have a right to expect thoughts upon which to feed, as they have a right to look for the kernel within the shell. When they get the first without the last they are robbed of what is their due.
IV. The origin of idle and worthless talking.“The heart of the wicked is little worth.” “Fools die for want of wisdom.” Where there is no moral wisdom there can be no real worth; no thoughts can be generated in the heart that is not under the influence of Divine teaching that will supply the needs of needy men. As is the fountain so must be the stream. “The tree is known by its fruit. O, generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Matt. xii. 33–34).
outlines and suggestive comments.
Verse 19. A man of inordinate talk runs inordinate risk. He must be a God that can talk all the time and never trespass. And, therefore, as blunders “come home to roost,” he is aprosperousman who reduces the volume of his speech.—Miller.
The fool talks for ever upon nothing, not because he is full, but because he is empty; not for instruction, but for the pure love of talking. . . . The sphere of social intercourse that stimulates the conversational powers at the same time teaches the wholesome discipline of the tongue—that beautiful accomplishment of silence which, however, alike with its opposite grace, derives its chief loveliness as the fruit of Christian humility and kindness. Thewisdomis especially valuable under provocation (1 Sam. x. 27; 2 Kings xviii. 36). And even in the unbending of innocent recreation the discipline of godly sobriety is of great moment. The sins of this “little member” are not trifles.—Bridges.
“Refraineth” as with a bridle, for we must by force bridle our tongue as an untameable member (Jas. iii. 2–8).Xenocrates,in “Valerius Maximus,” says, “I have been sometimes sorry that I spoke; I never have been sorry that I was silent.”—Fausset.
If thou be master-gunner spend not allThat thou canst speak at once, but husband it,And give men turns of speech; do not forestallBy lavishness thine one and others’ wit,As if thou mad’st thy will. A civil guestWill no more talk all than eat all the feast.—George Herbert.
I. The general vice here referred to is not evil speaking from malice, nor lying or bearing false witness from indirect selfish designs, but it is talkativeness:a disposition to be talking, abstracted from the consideration of what is to be said, with very little or no regard to, or thought of doing, either good or harm. . . . Those who are addicted to this folly cannot confine themselves to trifles and indifferent subjects: they cannot go on for ever talking of nothing, and, as common matters will not afford a sufficient fund for perpetual continued discourse, when subjects of this kind are exhausted, they will go on to scandal, divulging of secrets, or they will invent something to engage attention: not that they have any concern about being believed otherwise than a means of being heard. . . . The tongue used in such a licentious manneris like a sword in the hand of a madman: it is employed at random, it can scarce possibly do any good, and, for the most part, does a world of mischief.II. The due government of the tongue.The due and proper use of any natural faculty or power is to be judged of by the end and design for which it was given us. The chief purpose for which the faculty of speech was given to man is plainly that we might communicate our thoughts to each other in order to carry on the affairs of the world; for business, and for our improvement in knowledge and learning. But the good Author of our nature designed us not only necessaries, but likewise enjoyment and satisfaction. There are secondary uses of our faculties: they administer to delight as well as to necessity, and the secondary use of speech is to please and to be entertaining to each other in conversation. This is in every respect allowable and right: it unites men closer in alliance and friendship, and is in several respects serviceable to virtue. Such conversation, though it has noparticulargood tendency, yet it hath ageneralgood one; it is social and friendly, and tends to promote humanity, good nature, and civility. . . . The government of the tongue, considered as a subject of itself, relates chiefly to conversation, and the danger is, lest persons entertain themselves or others at the expense of their wisdom or their virtue. The cautions for avoiding these dangers fall under the following particulars: 1.Silence.The wise man observes that “there is a time to speak, and a time to keep silence.” One meets with people in the world who seem never to have made the last of these observations. But the occasions of silence are obvious, namely, when a man has nothing to say, or nothing but what is better unsaid: better either in regard to particular persons he is present with, or from its being an interruption to conversation itself, or to conversation of a more agreeable kind, or better, lastly, with regard to himself. 2.Talking upon indifferent subjects.Be sure that the subject isindifferent,that it be in no way offensive to virtue, religion, or good manners; that it be in no way vexatious to others, and that too much time be not spent in this way. 3.In discourse upon the affairs and characters of others.Consider, first, that though it is equally of bad consequences to society that men should have either good or ill characters which they do not deserve, yet when you say some good of a man which he does not deserve, there is no wrong done him in particular; whereas, when you say evil of a man which he does not deserve, here is a direct formal injury done to him. Secondly, a good man will, upon every occasion, and often without any, say all the good he can of everybody, but, so far as he is a good man, will never be disposed to speak evil of any, unless there be some other reason for it besides barely that it is the truth.—Bishop Butler.
Verse 20. If, as regards this world’s wealth, the Lord’s poor must say, “Silver and gold have I none,” at least they may scatterchoice silverwith a widely extended blessing. “As poor, yet making many rich” (Acts iii. 6; 2 Cor. vi. 10).—Bridges.
A wicked man hath his worst side inward.Though sinful persons make never so great a show on the outside, yet there is nothing within them worth anything. To that purpose tend the words of the Apostle collected out of the Psalms: “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise to be but vain.” If the point had stood upon man’s opinion there might easily have been an error in it; but he bringeth the testimony of God, upon sure and infallible knowledge, to confirm it. . . . Therefore, do not too much magnify and admire them, nor too far depend on them. For better things are not certainly to be expected from them than are in them.—Dod.
The antithesis runs through every word of both clauses. The tongue, the instrument of the mind, is contrasted with the mind itself; the justwith the wicked; the choice silver with the worthless “little.” In each case there is implied ana fortioriargument. If the tongue is precious, how much more the mind! If the heart is worthless, how much more the speech!—Plumptre.
As pure and choice silver giveth a clear and sweet sound, so the tongue of the wise soundeth sweetly and pleasantly in the ears of men. It is also as choice silver, because therewith he is ready to buy the hearts of men to virtue and goodness. But the heart of a fool being of little worth, hence it is that he buys it not. . . . Now if the tongue of the just be as choice silver, his heart must needs be of fine gold. And if the heart of the wicked be little worth, his tongue must needs be worth nothing at all. Well therefore it were, if that the wicked would get the just man’s tongue to be his heart; or else get the tongue of the just to infuse some of his metal into his heart; for that is able to put worth into it, and from thence to derive worth into his tongue also. The proverbial sense is, that the excellent words of wisdom work not upon a foolish heart, that having not worth to value the worth of it.—Jermin.
I. By a just man is meant—1.A renewed man,for naturally our lips are polluted. “I am a man of unclean lips,” etc. (Isa. vi. 5). Sin of the tongue is most frequent, and that not without difficulty avoided. The corruption of men by nature is described (Rom. iii. 13). This is man’s true character, as he is in his natural estate. The pure lip is the fruit of God’s converting grace (Zeph. iii. 9). 2.A man furnished with knowledge of the things which concern his duty;for every renewed man is an enlightened man (Prov. xv. 2). Unless a man understand his duty, how shall he speak of it? 3.The renewed man is a mortified man;for otherwise he will only stickle for opinions, and be one of the disputers of this world, but will not warm men’s hearts and excite them to practise. That must be first upon the heart which will afterwards be upon the tongue; and unless the heart be cleaned the tongue will not be cleansed. If the heart be upon the world, the tongue will be upon the world (1 John iv. 5). 4.This renewed man must be biassed with a love of God and Christ and heaven before he can edify others.To restrain the tongue from evil is not enough, we must do good. To heartwarming discourse, faith is necessary.II. His discourse is as choice silver.1.For purity.Choice silver is that which is refined from all dross, and there is much evil bewrayed by the tongue, such as lying, railing, ribaldry (Eph. iv. 29), cursing, idle discourse, etc. 2.For external profit.Money is very profitable for worldly uses, the discourse of a good man is very profitable to others.III. By a wicked man is meant one that is not regenerate or renewed by the Holy Spirit.They are of several sorts. 1.Some have great natural abilities,as Ahithophel (2 Samuel xvi. 23), yet his heart was nothing worth. 2.Some have plausible shows of piety,but that will not help the matter (Matt. xxiii. 27, 28). 3.Partial obedience availeth not(2 Chron. xxv. 2). Amaziah was right in the matter, and he did many things right, but his heart was nothing worth. 1.What is in the heart of such a man?See Gen. vi. 5. This is the mint that is always at work; sin worketh in the heart all day, and playeth in the fancy all night; there is no truce in this warfare. 2.What cometh out of such a heart?See Mark vii. 21, 22. 3.In what sense is it little worth?(1.) As to acceptation with God. (2.) As to the benefit and profiting of others. Observe—1.That the heart of the wicked is spoken of in the softest terms.Elsewhere it is said to be deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jer. xvii. 9). And this teaches us that it is not enough to do no harm by our speech, but it must benefit others. 2.Till we make conscience of our thoughts, we cannot well order our words.3.Familiar converse with those whose hearts are nothing worth, will tend to our hurt.4.Be sure that you getanother heart.For though it be not in our power to make ourselves a new heart, it is our duty to get it.—Manton.
Verse 21. A great housekeeper he is, hath his doors ever open, and, though himself be poor, yet he “maketh many rich” (2 Cor. iv. 10). He well knows that to this end God put “honey and milk under his tongue” (Cant. iv. 11), that he might look to this spiritual lip-feeding. To this end hath he communicated to him those “rivers of water” (John vii. 38) that they may flow from him to quench that world of wickedness, that, being set on fire of hell would set on fire the whole course of nature (Jas. iii. 6). They are “emptyvines that bear fruit to themselves” (Hosea x. 1).—Trapp.
This bread of life which the disciples distribute is not like common bread. The more you give of it to the needy, the more remains for your own use. It is the bread which Jesus blesses in the wilderness—the bread from heaven, which Jesus is; and when from His hand, and at His bidding, you have fed three thousand on five loaves, you will have more bread remaining in your baskets than the stock you begin with. . . . Fools, so far from being helpful to other, have nothing for themselves. They have taken no oil in their vessels, and the flames of their lamp dies out.—Arnot.
main homiletics of verse22.
The Source of True Riches.
This proverb cannot be understood to assert that a man needs nothing but God’s blessing to make him a wealthy man in the ordinary sense of the word, because we know that there are many cases in which men would never have been rich if they had not toiled hard to obtain riches. Industry has been joined to the blessing of the Lord, and so they have become rich. God’s favour does not generally make a man rich except he works; it is presumptuous sin to expect God to make us rich without honest toil. But the lesson to be learnt is evidently this—that diligence cannot command riches, that God must be taken into account in all our efforts to make money, that the “race is not”always“to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding” (Eccles. ix. 11), even when the runners and the warriors are men after God’s own heart. Placing the words beside our experience, we learn—
I. That when a good man gains riches through hard toil, it is by reason of the Divine blessing on his labour.There are among us many possessors of vast wealth who have risen early and sat up late, and eaten the bread of carefulness, but have acknowledged that, after all, it was the blessing of the Lord that had made them rich. They can point to others equally diligent, and, in some respects, superior to themselves, who have fallen in the race and have died comparatively poor. Such examples are admonitions not to trust to one’s own wisdom or effort to the exclusion of the will of God. Jacob worked hard for his riches for twenty years; “in the day the drought consumed him, and the frost by night—and the sleep departed from his eyes.” But he declares that his wealth was a gift from the God of his fathers—“I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth which thou hast showed unto thy servant, for with my staff I have passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands” (Gen. xxxi. 40; xxxii. 10). A good man cannot use unlawful means of getting rich, therefore he may enjoy the amount of success which follows his efforts as a token of Divine favour.
II. That when men inherit, or become possessed of wealth for which they have not laboured, it is by the blessing of the Lord.The riches of Solomon werebestowed upon him without so much as the expression of a desire on his part, and were a token of the Divine approval. “Because . . . thou hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment . . . I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches and honour” (1 Kings iii. 11–13). Looked upon as God’s gift, wealth will be rightly used, and will be the blessing that it was intended to be.
III. That there is a moral truth contained here which has nothing to do with material riches or poverty.Solomon has, over and over again, directed his hearers to riches which are far more precious than silver or gold (see chap.iii. 14–15;viii. 11–19; also Homiletics and Comments of those verses). The blessing of the Lord isitselfwealth. 1.Because it enriches us with Divine knowledge(1 Cor. i. 5). Solomon’s knowledge was a higher kind of wealth than all his gold and precious stones, how much more a knowledge of Him whom to know is “life eternal” (John xvii. 3). 2.Because by means of it men obtain a Divine character(2 Pet. i. 2–4). This wealth men can claim as theirs in other worlds beside the one upon which they now live; this is their perpetual untransferable property.
IV. That when sorrow comes to men who have been enriched by God, it springs from some other source than the riches.The text does not apply in any sense to ill-gotten gain; that is dealt with elsewhere (chap. i. 19; xv. 27). It refers only to that which a man may lawfully call his own. 1.But this may be the occasion of sorrow.Solomon’s great wealth was the occasion of sorrow, insomuch as he used it for sinful purposes, but this sorrow was added by himself and not by God. The misuse of riches, or of any other gift of God, will be followed by a penalty which will bring sorrow; but this is man’s work, and not God’s. 2.Or sorrow may spring from another, and an independent source.Sorrow in one form or another is the lot of fallen man. The incarnate Son of God was a “Man of sorrows.” God-given and sanctified sorrow is often a token of greater Divine favour than temporal prosperity (chap. iii. 12). But there is no necessary connection between wealth and sorrow.
outlines and suggestive comments.
Verse 22. The sluggard looks for prosperity without diligence; the practical atheist from diligence alone; the sound-hearted Christian from theblessing of Godin the exercise of diligence. This wise combination keeps him in an active habit; humble, and dependent upon God (John vi. 27). For, “except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it” (Psa. cxxvii. 1). . . . He addeth at least no sorrow but what turns to a blessing. Accumulation of riches may be the accumulation of sorrows. Lot’s covetous choice was fraught with bitterness. . . . Gehazi was laden with his bags, but the plague of leprosy was upon him.—Bridges.
There is no sorrow added to them which is not a blessing, and, being a blessing, it cannot well be said to be sorrow. Now thus the verse may be understood as well as temporal as of spiritual riches; for it is the blessing of God, with which sorrow cannot stand. . . . It is God’s blessing alone which, being true riches, doth truly make rich. Other things esteemed in the world may be added together in great heaps of plenty; but, having sorrow added with them, they cannot be that weal of man which truly makes wealth. It is the blessing of God which, taking away sorrow, giveth true riches unto man. And, therefore, when Job wisheth “that he were as in the months past”—the months of his plenty and prosperity—it is with this addition, “as in the days when God preserved me.” He desireth God’s blessing with the things of this world, or else he careth not for them. Forthat it is, as St. Gregory speaketh, which so bestoweth the help of earthly glory, as that thereby it exalteth much more in heavenly happiness.—Jermin.
Those three vultures shall be driven away that constantly feed on the wealthy worldling’s heart—care in getting, fear in keeping, grief in losing the things of this life. God giveth to His, wealth without woe, store without sore, gold without guilt, one little drop whereof troubleth the whole sea of outward comforts.—Trapp.
The truth here is twofold. The cord, as it lies, seems single, but when you begin to handle it, you find it divides easily into two. It means that God’s blessing gives material wealth, and also that they are rich who have that blessing, although they get nothing more. . . . It is a common practice to constitute firms for trade, and exhibit their titles to the public with a single name “and company.”. . . Reverently take the All-seeing into your commercial company and counsels. If you cast Him out, there is no saying, there is no imagining, whom you may take in. . . . One peculiar excellence of the riches made in a company from whom councils God is not excluded, is, that the wealth will not hurt its possessors, whether it abide with them or fly away. A human soul is so made that it cannot safely have riches next it. If they come into direct contact with it, they will clasp it too closely; if they remain, they wither the soul’s life away; if they are violently wrenched off, they tear the soul’s life asunder. Whether, therefore, you keep or lose them, if you clasp them to your soul with nothing spiritual between, they will become its destroyer.—Arnot.
main homiletics of verse23.
A Touchstone of Character.
The painter uses the dark background of his picture to set off the bright foreground. Sunlight never looks so beautiful as when shining upon a black thunder-cloud; it is the power of contrast. Solomon in his character-painting is constantly making use of this power. He is ever setting the dark and the light side by side—making the foolish or wicked man a dark background upon which to portray the moral features of the truly wise. The fool looks more foolish, and the good man more wise, by the contrast.
I. That which is an object of mirth is a touchstone of character.The fool makes sport out of mischief, out of that which does harm to his fellow-creatures, and consequently involves them in misery. If we saw a man making merriment over the burning of his neighbour’s house, we should conclude that he was either a maniac or utterly without a heart. A man who realised the meaning of such a calamity, and had any sympathy within him, could but be grieved at the sight. But men find occasions of mirth in matters that are far more serious moment. The wise man tells us in chap. xiv. 9, that “fools make a mock atsin”—that great “mischief of the universe.” The saint is made sad by that in which the sinner finds an occasion of mirth. “Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people” (Jer. ix. 1). “Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament; but the world shall rejoice” (John xvi. 20). But the fool not only makes sportatmischief, it is his sport todomischief; the one leads to the other. The fool who thinks sin is a laughing matter will not hesitate to commit sin himself, or to do his brother the irreparable mischief of leading him in the path of sin and death.
II. Men cease to make light of sin in proportion as they have “understanding.”The text implies that a man who has any right comprehension of the end oflife, the value of the soul, the reality of Divine and eternal things, will not,cannot,make a sport of mischief in any shape or degree, especially of the mischief of moral wrong. A baby might laugh at a blazing house, although its own mother might be enwrapped in the flames, but this would only be an evidence of his want of understanding. Nothing proclaims a man to be a fool so plainly as his mockery of sin. A man of wisdom has too just a sense of its terrible and ruinous consequence to feel anything but sad when he thinks of it. He knows what mischief it has worked, and is working in the universe, and his understanding of those things makes that which is the sport of the fool the subject of his most solemn thought.
outlines and suggestive comments.
The difference between the lost and the saved is, that to one it is but trifling to life; to the other it is the gravest “wisdom.”—Miller.
That man has arrived at an advanced stage of folly who takes as much pleasure in it as if it were an agreeable amusement. This, however, is to be expected in its natural course. Sinners at first feel much uneasiness from the operation of fear and shame, but they are hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, till at length they not only cast off all restraints, but become impudent in sin, and think it a manly action to cast away the cords of God, and to pour insult and abuse on their fellow-men. But it were safer far to sport with fire than with sin, which kindles a fire that will burn to the lowest hell. It may now be a sport to do mischief, but in the lake of fire and brimstone, it will be no sport to have done it.—Lawson.
When a man diveth under water he feeleth no weight of the water, though there be many tons of it over his head; whereas half a tubful of the same water, taken out of the river and set upon the same man’s head, would be very burdensome unto him, and make him soon grow weary of it. In like manner, so long as a man is over head and ears in sin, he is not sensible of the weight of sin: it is not troublesome unto him; but when he beginneth once to come out of that state of sin wherein he lay and lived before, then beginneth sin to hang heavy upon him, and he to feel the heavy weight of it. So, so long as sin is in the will, the proper seat of sin, a man feeleth no weight of it, but, like a fool, it is a sport and pastime unto him to do evil. And it is therefore a good sign that sin is removed out of his seat—out of his chair of state—when it becomes ponderous and burdensome to us, as the elements do when they are out of their natural place.—Spencer’s Things New and Old.
The fool is then merriest when he hath the devil for his playfellow. He danceth well in his bolts, and is passing well afraid for his woful bondage.—Trapp.
main homiletics of verse24.
The Inheritance of Fear and Desire.
These words treat of things desired and of things not desired coming to be possessed.
I. Ungodly men have fears concerning the future.These fears proceed from a consciousness of past sin and present guilt, and prove the existence within man of a moral standard of action. In the natural world, we know that certain effects invariably follow certain causes. Sunlight and genial rain produce fertility and beauty, the hurricane and the flood leave behind them desolation. There are certain particles whose action, if diffused abroad in the air, breed disease and death; there are others whose effects are most refreshing and healthful to the body frame. Coming into the region of human action andmoral responsibility, there are certain actions of men which clothe the spirit with gladness, making the soul as a field which the Lord God hath blest, and there are acts which leave behind them a sting which brings utter desolation. There are deeds done by moral agents which are followed by the disapprobation of conscience in proportion as conscience is educated by moral light, and there are those which are well-springs of joy in the human heart. It is to conscience that we must refer the fears of the wicked in relation to the future.
II. The certainty that the fears of the wicked will be realised.1.From the inequality of rewards and punishments in the present.There are men whose characters seem to be almost perfect who have not the reward at present which their integrity and uprightness deserve. There are many men who sit, as it were, like Lazarus, at a rich man’s gate in poverty, who are much better men than the rich man himself. The difference in the character of the man who passed the sentence of death upon Paul, and Paul himself calls for a more manifest impartiality on the part of the Divine Ruler in the eternity to come. We feel certain that elsewhere a just sentence has been passed upon Paul and Nero. The inequality in the present dealings of God with the righteous and the wicked demands that in the future the “fear of the wicked shall come upon him.” 2.From the admonition of conscience.Although the mariner’s compass is sometimes unsteady, its direction is always towards the north. And the human conscience, however it may occasionally waver, points to a future judgment. It is not anoccasionaloccurrence but souniversalas to be a prophecy of a fact. 3.From the necessity that God should fulfil His own appointment.Revelation declares that, “He hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained” (Acts xvii. 31). The Righteous Judge of all the earth must keep His own appointment, therefore every wicked man must have what he does not desire, viz., a fair and impartial trial.
III. Good men have had desires which have not been granted.The gratification of such desires would have been an injury to themselves and others. Moses desired to see God in the sense in which the Incarnate Son tells us He had seen Him. But if this desire had been granted Moses must have died, the Hebrew nation would have lost the only man who could lead them, and he would have missed the completion of the glory of his life (Exod. xxxiii. 20). Peter desired that His Master should not suffer at the hands of the chief priests and scribes (Matt. xvi. 21). But what a calamity this would have been for Peter himself and the human race.
IV. But that which a righteous man desires above all other things shall be granted.1.For himself in the present life, he desires a holy character.This he regards as the “one thing needful” above all other personal possessions. And God desires this for him, therefore this desire shall be granted on the fulfilment of the pre-ordained conditions (1 Thess. iv. 3). 2.For the world he desires that God’s kingdom may “come,” that right may in the end triumph over wrong.Now this desire also must be granted, because Christ has taught His disciples to pray for its accomplishment, and because He Himself at the right hand of God is “henceforth expecting, till His enemies be made His footstool” (Heb. x. 13). 3.He desires for himself in the future a complete redemption of both soul and body from the curse of sin(2 Cor. v. 1–4). But this desire is implanted within him by that God who can fulfil his desire, and who has already given an earnest of its fulfilment. This alone is a guarantee that it shall be granted. “Now He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit” (2 Cor. v. 5). He has also the direct promise of Him who is “the Resurrection and the Life,” the assurance of His inspired apostle that this desire of the righteous shall be granted (John v. 28–29; 1 Cor. xv. 49–54).
outlines and suggestive comments.
Butif our desires be granted,and even exceeded (Gen. xlviii. 2; 1 Kings iii. 13; Ephes. iii. 20), faith and patience will be tried in the verygrant.Growth in grace is given by deep and humbling views of our corruption. Longings for holiness are fulfilled by painful affliction; prayers are answered by crosses. Our Father’s dispensations are not what they seem to be, but what He is pleased to make them.—Bridges.
The best way to have our will satisfied is to be godly. For to such there is a promise made. Wherein yet these rules are to be observed:First,that our will be agreeable to God’s will, the desire must be holy, and seasoned with the Spirit; and not carnal and corrupted by the flesh.Secondly,that sometimes lawful desires are not performed in the same kind, but exchanged for better, and that which doth more good is bestowed instead of them. Moses desired to enter into the land of Canaan; he was denied that, but he entered sooner into the heavenly and blessed rest of everlasting life.Thirdly,that we tarry the Lord’s leisure, and depend on His hand, to minister, in fittest time, all those good things which our souls desire, and so we shall not fail to receive them when He seeth that they will be most expedient for us.—Dod.
main homiletics of verse25.
The Whirlwind and the Sure Foundation.
I. The resemblance of a wicked man to a whirlwind.1.They are both destructive forces.A whirlwind passes over a district and everything that resists its advance is either overthrown, broken, or made to bend to its fury. Every wicked man in his sphere is a destroyer of human happiness and of moral life, but the image is especially applicable to tyrants who have been destroyers of the lives of thousands of their fellow-creatures, and have ruined the happiness of thousands more in their unscrupulous onward march for the attainment of their own selfish ends. Isaiah describes such a one when he says, “Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; that made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof?” (chap. xiv. 16, 17). 2.They often burst forth with sudden fury, and seem beyond the control of ordinary laws and methods of operation.A whirlwind often descends upon a peaceful valley without any warning, and its fury is the more terrible by reason of its suddenness, and because of the impossibility of foretelling its course and where it will fall in its most destructive power. So a wicked man is a lawless man, he is not guided by principle but by passion and impulse, none of his fellow-creatures can foretell what will be his next act of violence, or who will be the next victims of his selfish ambition. It is this lawless, uncontrollable destructiveness which makes both the moral and the physical whirlwind the terror of the human race, and leads men instinctively to avoid them if possible. 3.The triumph of both is short.How soon nature rights herself after the passage of a whirlwind. She covers the broken rocks with verdure, the trees put forth branches clothed with fresh leaves, others grow up in the places of those which were uprooted, grass and corn spring again, and all looks lovely as before the visitation. The whirlwind “passeth,” and so does the wicked man. It is soon written of him that he is “no more,” and men who have trembled at his name take heart, and nations and peoples whom he seemed to have annihilated spring into existence again, and the world rights itself. How many such instances stand recorded in history from the days of Nebuchadnezzar to those of Napoleon. How many times has the experience of the Psalmist been repeated: “I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himselflike a green bay tree, yet he passed away, and lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found” (Psalm xxxvii. 35, 36). How often has the world had occasion to repeat the song, “How hath the oppressor ceased! . . . The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers. He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth. The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing. Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us” (Isa. xiv. 4–8).
II. In what respects a righteous man is “an everlasting foundation.”1.His character is something to build upon.Nothing can be built upon a whirlwind, but a substantial structure can be raised upon a good foundation. Men may build hope upon the word and character of a righteous man. A promise given by him is a solid ground of confidence upon which the heart of the brother-man may rest securely. Thus righteousness is a constructive force in the world—a foundation without which society cannot exist. Especially is this true of the ideal man, Christ Jesus. Because He is the Righteous One (Isa. xi. 4) His promises are as anchors of the soul to the children of men. In resting upon His word His disciples build upon a “sure foundation” (1 Cor. iii. 11). Upon His character rests all their hopes for their own blessedness in the future, and for the restoration of a fallen world. Every man is afoundationif “righteousness” is the chief element of his character. 2.Because for his sake the world stands.The owner of a house may let it stand if there is a good foundation of solid rock, although the superstructure may be comparatively worthless. Our Lord tells us concerning the tribulations which he foretold, that “except those days should be shortened, there would no flesh be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (Matt. xxiv. 22). This teaches us that the righteousness of the godly is the power which averts the destruction of the wicked, and keeps the world in existence. In this sense, therefore, the righteous are a foundation. 3.The righteous are an “everlasting” foundation, because righteousness is the basis of confidence in eternity as it is in time.The blessedness of the life to come is founded upon righteousness. The Kingdom of God in both worlds is “established in righteousness” (Isa. liv. 14). The immutable character of the heavenly world is founded upon the righteousness first of its righteous King, and then upon that of His righteous servants.
outlines and suggestive comments.
The righteous may be poor, and, in his sinful state, anything but a stately building to the Lord, but in his meanest infancy he is a “foundation.” Very little appears above the surface. But he is a basis of all that is to be built, and that basis is to be “eternal.”—Miller.
The proverb reminds us of the close of the Sermon on the Mount, and finds the final confirmation of its truth in this, that the death of the godless is a penal thrusting of them away, but the death of the righteous a lifting them up to their home. The righteous who often enough perish in times of war and of pestilence; but the proverb, as it is interpreted, verifies itself, even although not so as the poet, viewing it from his narrow Old Testament standpoint, understood it; for the righteous, let him die when and how he may, is preserved, while the godless perishes.—Delitzsch.
The continuance of the wicked is but while they dig the pit of their own destruction.—Jermin.
The Lord will lay “a more sure foundation,” and “he that believeth shall not make haste” (Isa. xxviii. 16). These two promises lie together in the Scripture. When your heart’s hope is fixed on that precious corner-stone, you need not be thrown into a flutter by the fiercest onset of the world and its god.—Arnot.
main homiletics of verse26.
The Vexatiousness of a Sluggish Servant.
I. He is as smoke to the eyes.Smoke in the eyes prevents the accomplishment of a man’s purposes, or at least it hinders and annoys him in their execution. The eye is the light of the body; if vision is in any way obstructed or impaired, delay and vexation must ensue. So the employer of a sluggish servant must be the victim of perplexity and annoyance. He sends him on an errand, or entrusts him with a work which is important should be done within a certain time. But he lingers over it until the time is long past, and perhaps an opportunity is lost which can never be recalled. Much often depends upon the performance of dutiesup to time.The want of punctuality sometimes is as disastrous as not doing the thing at all. How many plans have been frustrated, how many sufferings have in various ways been entailed upon men, by delay in the performance of duty. A master who has to depend upon a sluggard is like a man in the midst of the smoke of a burning house; he is uncertain as to his present whereabouts, and ignorant of what mishap may befal him next.
II. He is as vinegar to the teeth.He is most irritating to the temper. As vinegar sours everything with which it comes in contact, so a sluggard sours the temper of those with whom he has to do, and makes them sometimes not only irritable with him who is the offender, but with the innocent also.
outlines and suggestive comments.
Does, then, the sluggard disappoint and provoke his earthly master? See that we be not such sluggards to our Heavenly Master. Laodicean professors are especially hateful in his sight (Rev. iii. 16). The slothful minister carries in a tremendous account toHim that sent him. No more pitiable object is found that the man who has time to spare, who has no object of commanding interest, and is going on to the end as if he had spent his whole life in a children’s play, and had lived to no useful purpose. . . . Why “standeth he idle in the market-place?” It cannot be—“No man hath hired him.” His master’s call sounds in his ears—“Go ye into the vineyard.” And at his peril he disobeys it (Matt. xx. 7–30).—Bridges.
Sluggishness is a cutting, vexing thing. If we are Christ’s, we should crucify this self-pleasing affection of the flesh. . . . It is a sin to waste another man’s time, so much as to waste his property. “Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” No doubt it is the natural disposition of some people to be slovenly and unexact. But what is your religion worth if it does not correct such a propensity? . . . If any man be in Christ he is a new creature. If the new life is strong in the heart, it will send its warm pulses down to the extremest member. . . . He who is a Christian in little things is not a little Christian; he is the greatest Christian, and the most useful. The baptism of these little outlying things shows that he is full of grace, for these are grace’s overflowings; and they are ever the overflowings of the full well that refreshes the desert. The great centre must be fully occupied before the stream can reach that outer edge.—Arnot.
main homiletics of verse27.
Long Life.
This verse must be looked at—
I. Generally.The fear of the Lord prolongs life because, other things being equal, godliness tends to bodily health. A good man governs his life by somekind of law, his passions and inclinations do not play the lord over his conscience and will. This has a beneficial influence upon his bodily health. He has contentment with his present lot, trust in his God amid all the anxieties of life, and hope for the future. Such a state of mind tends to soundness of bodily health, whereas the manner of life of a godless man is opposed to health and consequently to long life. If a complicated machine is permitted to work with some of its parts improperly adjusted and fretting against each other at every turn of the wheel, the friction will soon wear away the parts, and ere long they will cease to act. A soul without godliness is a complicated mechanism which has never been rightly adjusted. There is no ruling principle, no guiding hand, one passion wars against another, the man bears the burden of life alone, he is at times a prey to the fears spoken of in verse 24, and the rule of all these devils in the soul has a tendency to wear out the body before its time. This is a truth universally admitted. But the words must also be regarded—
II. Relatively.That is, with a due regard to other circumstances. The length of a good man’s life does not always depend upon himself, but upon the age in which he lives—upon the people by whom he is surrounded. The godliness of Abel shortened his life very materially. If his works had not been righteous, his brother would not have murdered him. The first Christian martyr met with an early and a violent death because he was a “man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost” (Acts vi. 5); and the fear of the Lord has shortened the days of millions since then. The ranks of the “noble army of martyrs” have been filled up by volunteers of every age and many nations since Stephen fell asleep, testifying to the fact that, so far as life in this world is concerned, other things must be taken into consideration
outlines and suggestive comments.
There is no such wholesome air—there is no such kindly physic—there is no such sovereign cordial—as the fear of the Lord. That makes thedaysof the godly as long as theyearsof the wicked.—Jermin.
The righteous’ days aregreatandnoble,and the wicked’s days aremeanandsmall.And this is the meaning of the Proverb. “Made little,” literally, “shortened” (E.V.). We thought at first that this was decisive against our sense, and against our rendering of all the verses expounded in chap. iii. (verses 2–16). Our thought of this was increased by Job xvi. 1, and by all the expositions. But when we turned to Psalm cii. 23, our own sense was wonderfully confirmed. That verse reads, “He weakened my strength in the way; He shortened my days:” where “shortened” must have a sense coincident with continued living. And what that sense is, such passages as these: “Is my hand shortened?” (Isa. l. 2), “The soul of the people was (lit.)shortened,” “The days of his youth hast Thou shortened” (Num. xxi. 4; Psa. lxxxix. 45), and nearly all the other instances strikingly confirm. The meaning is, Wisdom makes our days grander and grander, and Impenitence makes them weaker, and always of less account.—Miller.
main homiletics of verse28.
Hopes Realised and Disappointed.
I. The righteous man’s present possession—“Hope.”We saw in treating verse 24 that the righteous man possesses God-begotten desires, and that he has good ground for believing that these desires will be granted, therefore heexpectstheir fulfilment, and desire and expectation constitute his hope. Hope is afortune in itself. It gives a present gladness, and therefore a present power. It is in itself a tower of strength. Nothing upholds us so surely in present difficulties as the hope of a brighter future. If in the hour of darkness a man can say to his soul, “Why art thou cast down, and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God” (Psalm xlii. 5), he holds in possession a sheet-anchor which will prevent him from making shipwreck upon the rocks of despair and infidelity. The hope of the righteous is a present salvation. “We are saved by hope” (Rom. viii. 24). It is “an anchor of the soul” (Heb. vi. 19).
II. The righteous man’s future inheritance—gladness.If the hope of an expected good gives gladness, how much more its realisation! A man is glad when the title deeds of an estate are handed over to him even if he cannot at once enter upon its possession, how much more glad is he when he enters into the full enjoyment of his inheritance. The righteous man’s hope is a more certain guarantee of his future inheritance of gladness than the most indisputable deed ever written upon parchment. It is as we saw before (see onverse 24) an earnest of its own fulfilment. The hope begotten in the heart of a child, by the inspiration of his father’s character and genius, that he may one day be like his parent, is a hope that the father himself will not disappoint. Love for his child and a regard for his own honour will impel him to do all that lies within his reach to satisfy the desire—to fulfil the expectation—of his child. If, in addition, he was able to promise the child that his hope should be realised, nothing could acquit him of his obligation to perform his promise except inability. The Eternal Father has by His Spirit and by His promise begotten such a hope with His children and “begotten them” unto the hope (1 Pet. i. 3). This is “the hope” of the righteous, and the character and the omnipotence of Him who gave it birth is a sure pledge that it shall be “gladness.” Closely connected with it are the hopes of the coming of God’s kingdom, and of the “adoption of the body” (Rom. viii. 23), noticed in considering “the desires of the righteous.”
III. The doom of the expectation of the ungodly man.If the wicked man has fears concerning the future (see onverse 24), he has also vague hopes concerning it, although his desires and expectations are chiefly in relation to the present world. As to his desires of a state of happiness after death, they are not strong enough to lead him to comply with the conditions of entering upon it. Any expectation of this nature can be based upon nothing outside himself, and it must therefore perish. His expectation of the results of his own earth-born and devilish schemes will also perish. He may apparently bring them to a successful issue, but the end will show that it is not so. If he succeeds in gaining wealth or power, he will not get what he expected out of them. Any expectation which he forms as to the overthrow of the good will meet with the same doom. Pharaoh expected to be able to retain the Hebrews in bondage, but his expectation was broken to shivers upon the shield of Eternal Omnipotence. The chief priests and scribes expected to stamp out the name and influence of the Nazarene by crucifying Him, but the result contradicted their expectations. In these instance may be seen a reflection of the doom of every expectation which is out of harmony with righteousness.
outlines and suggestive comments.
Christian! make sure the ground of your hope (2 Pet. i. 10). Then set out its gladness as becomes an heir of glory. Let not a drooping spirit tell the world the scantiness of your hope. But show that you can live upon its gladness until you enter into its perfect and everlasting fruition. Doubtfulness leaves believers and infidels nearly upon the same level.—Bridges.
The proverb means literally—“The hope of the righteous (itself) turns to joy.” Faith is the beginning of felicity. . . . The expectation or “assurance” of the impenitent man, even if he finds it well placed, “perishes” as of its very nature. “The world passes away and the desire thereof.” The lost may have had all he wished, but his very wishes perish at the last day (1 John ii. 17).—Miller.
All the hopes of the wicked shall not bring him to heaven; all the fears of the righteous shall not bring him to hell.—Bunyan.
It would be better for “hope” and “expectation” to change places. Even the expectant waiting of the righteous is joyful at the time, and ends in joy; the eager hope of the wicked comes to nought (comp. Job viii. 13).—Plumptre.
The wicked cannot choose but fear, and, therefore, Eliphaz says of a wicked man, the sound of fear is in his ears (Job xv. 21). And in Isaiah (xx. 17) they are compared to the troubled sea, which cannot rest. And because where fear is, it is some ease to think, if not to hope, that the evil feared may not fall upon them; this ease is taken away, for the fearshall come. Come it shall, as it were of itself without sending for, because it is most due unto them. An instance of this is given in those who lived at the time of building of the Tower of Babel, and who saying “Let us build it lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth,” it followeth soon after, “and the Lord scattered them upon the face of all the earth.” On the other side, the righteous having tasted of goodness cannot choose but desire it; and because where desire is, it is some trouble to think, if not to doubt, that the good desired may not be accomplished, this trouble is taken away, forHeshall give who can give whatsoever Himself will, whatsoever they can desire.—Jermin.
Attachment to futurity has a remarkable influence on the operation of the human mind. The present, whatever it be, seldom engages our attention so much as what is to come. The present is apt to be considered an evanescent scene, just about to pass away; and in the midst of wishes and desires, of hopes and fears, which all respect futurity, we may be said to dwell. As on these the life of man is so much suspended, it becomes a material part of wisdom and duty to attend to any regulations by which they may be properly conducted. The anticipations of therighteous,conducted by prudence, and regulated by piety, mislead him not from his duty, and afford him satisfaction in the end. While the expectation of thewicked,arising from fantastic imaginary prospects, delude him for a while and terminate in misery. Let us consider, what we may, and what we may not, reasonably expect from the world.I. We must not expect the uninterrupted continuance of any measure of health, prosperity, or comfort, which we now enjoy.II. We are not to expect, from our intercourse with others, all that satisfaction which we fondly wish.. . . Such is the power which the sophistry of self-love exercises over us, that almost everyone may be assured that he measures himself by a deceitful scale; that he places the point of his own merit at a higher degree than others will admit that it reaches. . . . Were expectations more moderate, they would be more favourably received. If you look for a friend in whose temper there is not to be found the least inequality, who upon no occasion is to be hurt or offended by any frailties you discover, whose feelings are to harmonise in every trifle with yours, whose countenance is always to reflect the image of your own, you look for a pleasing phantom, which is never, or at most, very rarely, to be found; and if disappointment sour your mind, you have your own folly to blame. You ought to have considered that you live in a region of human infirmity, where everyone has imperfections and failings.III. We are not to expect constant gratitude from those whom we have obliged andserved.I am far from saying that gratitude is a rare virtue, but our expectations of proper returns must be kept within moderate bounds. We must not imagine that gratitude is to produce unlimited compliance with every desire we indulge, or that those whom we have obliged will altogether desert their own interest for the sake of their benefactors. I shall next show what a good man may reasonably expect from human life. I.Whatever course the affairs of the world may take, he may justly hope to enjoy peace of mind.This to the sceptic and the profligate will be held as a very inconsiderable object of hope. But, assuredly, the peace of an approving conscience is one of the chief ingredients of human happiness; provided always that this self-approbation be tempered with due faith. II.He has ground to expect that any external condition into which he may pass shall, by means of virtue and wisdom, be rendered if not perfectly agreeable, yet tolerably easy to him.The inequality of real happiness is not to be measured by the inequality of outward estate. A wise and good man is never left without resources by which to make his state tolerable. Seldom or never do all good things forsake a man at once. What is very severe of any kind, seldom lasts long. Time and continuance reconcile us to many things that were at first insupportable. III.We have ground to expect that, if we persevere in studying to do our duty towards God and man, we shall meet with the esteem and love of those around us.The world, as I have before observed, is seldom disposed to give a favourable reception to claims based on superior talents and merits. But, with respect to moral qualifications, the world is more ready to do justice to character. Unaffected piety commands respect. Candour never fails to attract esteem and trust. Kindness conciliates love and creates warm friendships. I have considered only what the righteous man has to hope for in the ordinary course of the world. But—IV.He has before him a much higher object of hope, even the hope which is laid up for him in heaven; the assured expectation of a better life in a higher and better world.Put the case of a servant of God being overwhelmed with all the disappointments which the world can bring upon him, here is anexpectationwhich will always begladness.—Blair.