A [good] name [is] rather to be chosen than great riches, [and] loving favour rather than silver and gold. Ver. 1. _A good name is rather to be chosen._] Heb., A name, as "a wife," for a good wife. Pro 18:22 Better no wife than an ill wife, so better no name than an ill name. This good name proceed... [ Continue Reading ]
The rich and poor meet together: the LORD [is] the maker of them all. Ver. 2. _The rich and the poor meet together._] They have mutual need one of another, and meet many times, as it were, in the midway, by an alteration of their condition. "They that were full were hired forth for bread, and the h... [ Continue Reading ]
A prudent [man] foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished. Ver. 3. _A prudent man foreseeth an evil, &c._] Prevision is the best means of prevention. "A wise man's eyes are in his head," Ecc 2:14 "his heart is also at his right hand." Ecc 10:2 The Chinese say... [ Continue Reading ]
By humility [and] the fear of the LORD [are] riches, and honour, and life. Ver. 4. _By humility and the fear of the Lord._] Heb., The heel of humility, &c. The humble heart that lies low, and "hearkens what God the Lord will say unto it," that follows him trembling, as the people followed Saul, 1Sa... [ Continue Reading ]
Thorns [and] snares [are] in the way of the froward: he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them. Ver. 5. _Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward._] In opposition to the reward of righteousness; Pro 22:4 which is to say, "The ungodly are not so." Or if they have riches, they prove th... [ Continue Reading ]
_Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it._ Ver. 6. _Train up a child in the way he should go._] Or, According to his measure and capacity, dropping good things by degrees into his narrow mouthed vessel, and whetting the same upon his memory by often... [ Continue Reading ]
The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower [is] servant to the lender. Ver. 7. _The rich ruleth over the poor._] And that with rigour, as Pharaoh did over Israel, as those imperious mammonists in St James's time that oppressed and subjugated their poorest brethren, trampling upon them with the... [ Continue Reading ]
He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity: and the rod of his anger shall fail. Ver. 8. _He that soweth iniquity, shall reap vanity._] The usurer and cruel creditor soweth his money, his mammon of iniquity (that ungain grain), upon his poor debtors; and whether it be a barren year or a fruitful, a... [ Continue Reading ]
He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor. Ver. 9. _He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed._] How Amalek, the licking people, as the name imports, I mean, the nation of usurers and proud lenders, shall speed, hath been spoken already. Now, on the o... [ Continue Reading ]
_Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease._ Ver. 10. _Cast out the scorner._] Or, The evil interpreter, that construes everything to the worst, and so sows dissension. This is an evil instrument, and must be cashiered good company; the place where such... [ Continue Reading ]
He that loveth pureness of heart, [for] the grace of his lips the king [shall be] his friend. Ver. 11. _He that loveth pureness of heart._] That is vexed at his inward pollutions, and affecteth (what he can never fully effect) to be pure as God is pure. 1Jn 3:3 He that hath gotten that pure lip, Ze... [ Continue Reading ]
The eyes of the LORD preserve knowledge, and he overthroweth the words of the transgressor. Ver. 12. _The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge._] That is, Knowing persons. Those in the former verse that love truth in the inward parts, and hold this a rule, Truth must be spoken, however it be taken;... [ Continue Reading ]
The slothful [man] saith, [There is] a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets. Ver. 13. _The slothful man saith, There is a lion, &c._] ‘The lion is not so fierce as is painted,' saith the Spanish proverb; much less this sluggard's lion, a mere fiction of his own brain to cover and colour ov... [ Continue Reading ]
The mouth of strange women [is] a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the LORD shall fall therein. Ver. 14. _The month of a strange woman._] _Diabolus capite blanditur, ventre oblectat, cauda ligat,_ saith Rupertus. These she sinners, as their gallants call them, are most dangerous. _See Trapp on "_ P... [ Continue Reading ]
Foolishness [is] bound in the heart of a child; [but] the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. Ver. 15. _Foolishness is bound in the heart, &c._] As a pack or fardle is bound to a horse's back. Error and folly be the knots of Satan, wherewith he ties children to the stake to be burnt in h... [ Continue Reading ]
He that oppresseth the poor to increase his [riches, and] he that giveth to the rich, [shall] surely [come] to want. Ver. 16. _He that oppresseth the poor, &c._] By fraud or force, or any indirect means. This man lays his foundation in firework, Job 20:26 he walks upon a mine of gunpowder; "brimsto... [ Continue Reading ]
Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge. Ver. 17. _Bow down thine ear and hear._] Here begins, say some interpreters, the third book of Solomon's Proverbs - as the second began at chapter ten. And indeed he here seems to assume a new kind of bespe... [ Continue Reading ]
For [it is] a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips. Ver. 18. _For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee._] Heb., In thy belly; that is, in thine inwards. Truth it is, that St John found the little book he ate - whether we understand it... [ Continue Reading ]
That thy trust may be in the LORD, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee. Ver. 19. _That thy trust may be in the Lord._] 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... [ Continue Reading ]
_Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge,_ Ver. 20. _Have not I written to thee excellent things?_] Heb., Princely things; principles for princes, rare and royal sentences. The word signifies, say some, the third man in the kingdom for authority and dignity. Others rea... [ Continue Reading ]
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? Ver. 21. _That I might make thee know the certainty._] And so find firm footing for thy faith. Luke 1:3 _; _ Luk 1:5 "These words of God are true," saith the an... [ Continue Reading ]
Rob not the poor, because he [is] poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate: Ver. 22. _Rob not the poor, &c._] Here some caviller will be apt to cry out, _Quid dignum tauto feret hic promissor hiatu?_ After so promising a preface, and such wooing of attention, we looked for some new matter, a... [ Continue Reading ]
For the LORD will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them. Ver. 23. _For the Lord will plead their cause._] Without fee, for those that come to him _forma pauperis,_ and without fear of their oppressors, against whom he will plead with pestilence and with blood, Eze 38:22 a... [ Continue Reading ]
Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: Ver. 24. _Make no friendship with an angry man._] 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; for his unruly passions cause the climate where... [ Continue Reading ]
Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul. Ver. 25. _Lest thou learn his ways._] As a man is an imitating creature, and easily conformed to the company he keepeth. Sin is also very spreading, and more infectious than the plague: this of rash anger especially, whereunto being naturally i... [ Continue Reading ]
Be not thou [one] of them that strike hands, [or] of them that are sureties for debts. Ver. 26. _Be not thou of them._] _See Trapp on "_ Pro 6:1 _"_ _See Trapp on "_ Pro 6:2 _"_ _See Trapp on "_ Pro 6:3 _"_... [ Continue Reading ]
If thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee? Ver. 27. _If thou hast nothing to pay._] And yet art gotten into the usurer's furnace, he will leave thee at last neither metal nor matter.... [ Continue Reading ]
Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set. Ver. 28. _Remove not the ancient landmark._] Unless ye covet a curse. Deu 27:17 Let levellers look to it, and know that property is God's ordinance; Act 5:4 Psa 17:14 that magistracy is the hedge of a nation; _a_ and that "he that breaks... [ Continue Reading ]
Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean [men]. Ver. 29. _Seest thou a man diligent._] God loves nimbleness; "what thou doest, do quickly," said Christ to Judas, though it were so ill a business that he was about. Princes love such, and... [ Continue Reading ]