Proverbs 24 - Introduction
_A.M. 3004. B.C. 1000._... [ Continue Reading ]
_A.M. 3004. B.C. 1000._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Be not thou envious_, &c. The proneness of good men, especially while they are weak, and only in the beginnings of their course of piety and virtue, to be dejected at the prosperity of the ungodly, and so to be tempted to imitate them, is the reason that the admonition which we here meet with is so... [ Continue Reading ]
_Through wisdom is a house built_ There is no need that thou shouldst raise thyself and family by ruining others, as the manner of wicked men is; for thou mayest more easily and effectually do it by wisdom and the fear of God. _And by knowledge_ Which, in the phraseology of the Scriptures, includes... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wisdom is too high for a fool_ For a wicked man, whose sins enfeeble his mind, and make it incapable of wisdom. Or, he judges it too difficult for him to understand: he despairs of attaining it, because he will not put away his sins, and be at the trouble of using the means necessary in order to th... [ Continue Reading ]
_He that deviseth, &c., shall be called mischievous_ Hebrew, בעל מזמות, _a master of crafts or mischiefs._ Though he cover his wicked devices with fair pretences, and wishes to be better esteemed, he shall be branded with that infamy which is due to him. _The thought of foolishness is sin_ The very... [ Continue Reading ]
_If thou faint in the day of adversity_ If thou art impatient and unable to bear sufferings; if thy resolution flag, and thou give way to despondency or dejection of mind; _thy strength is small_ Hebrew, _is narrow_, it lies in a little compass; it is strait, as thy condition is; for there is an ele... [ Continue Reading ]
_If thou forbear to deliver_ When it is in thy power to do it lawfully; _them that are drawn unto death_ Namely, unjustly, or by the violence of lawless men; _and those that are ready to be slain_ That are in present danger of death or destruction. He enforces, in these verses, the necessity of givi... [ Continue Reading ]
_My son, eat thou honey_ This is not a command, but a concession, and is here expressed only to illustrate the following verse. Do not slight, much less nauseate, such precepts as these; but, as honey is most acceptable to thy palate, especially that pure part of it which drops of itself immediately... [ Continue Reading ]
_Lay not wait, &c., against the dwelling of the righteous_ Against his person, or family, or possessions. Do him no injury, either by subtle and secret devices, or, as it follows, by manifest violence. _For a just man falleth_ Into calamities, of which he evidently speaks both in the foregoing verse... [ Continue Reading ]
_Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth_ Namely, into mischief or trouble, as in the former verse; please not thyself in his destruction. This plainly shows that the love of our enemies is a precept of the Old Testament, as well as of the New: see Exodus 23:4. _Lest the Lord see it_, &c. “For though n... [ Continue Reading ]
_Fret not thyself because of evil men_ For their present impunity, or good success. _For there shall be no reward to the evil man_ All his hopes and happiness shall quickly and eternally perish, and he shall have no share in those solid felicities, and blessed recompenses of another life, which thou... [ Continue Reading ]
_My son, fear thou the Lord and the king_ Honour and obey both God and the king, and all in authority. He properly puts God before the king, because God is to be served in the first place, and our obedience is to be paid to kings only in subordination to God, and not in those things which are contra... [ Continue Reading ]
_These things also_, &c. These words seem to be a new title to the proverbs which follow to the end of the chapter, and Calmet, Grotius, Grey, and some others, are of opinion the meaning is, that these proverbs were selected from the books of the wise men who lived after Solomon, to the time of Heze... [ Continue Reading ]
_Prepare thy work without_ Use both industry and prudence in the management of thy concerns, and do every thing in the proper order. First, mind those things which are most necessary, cultivating the ground, and furnishing thyself with cattle, and the fruits of the field, which are needful for thy s... [ Continue Reading ]
_Be not witness against thy neighbour_ Either in judgment or in private conversation; _without cause_ Rashly or falsely, without just and sufficient cause; _and deceive not with thy lips_ Neither thy neighbour, nor the judge, nor any other hearers, with false information. Or, this clause forbids fla... [ Continue Reading ]
_I went by the field of the slothful_ For the counsel intended to be conveyed by this paragraph, see note on Proverbs 6:6. _I looked upon it and received instruction_ I learned wisdom by his folly, and by his gross idleness was provoked to greater care and diligence.... [ Continue Reading ]