Proverbs 14:10

The heart knoweth his own bitterness; and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy. THE HEART KNOWETH HIS OWN BITTERNESS (HEBREW, THE BITTERNESS OF HIS SOUL); AND A STRANGER DOTH NOT INTERMEDDLE WITH HIS JOY - (cf. ) None can enter so fully into our bitterness or our joy as ourselves (). Eli could not enter into the "bitterness of soul" of Hannah (; ; ): nor Gehazi into that of the Shunammite woman (). Michal, though the wife of David's bosom was "a stranger" to his "joy" when "he danced befo...

Verse Proverbs 14:10. _THE HEART KNOWETH HIS OWN BITTERNESS_] מרת נפשו _morrath_ _naphsho_, "The bitterness of its soul." Under spiritual sorrow, the _heart_ feels, the _soul_ feels; all the _animal_ nature feels and suffers. But when the peace of God is spoken to the troubled soul, the joy is indescribable; the _whole man_ partakes of it. And a stranger to these religious feelings, to the travail of the soul, and to the witness of the Spirit, does not _intermeddle_ with them; he does not understand them: indeed they may be even foolishness to him, because they are spiritually discerned....

A striking expression of the ultimate solitude of each man’s soul at all times, and not merely at the hour of death. Something there is in every sorrow, and in every joy, which no one else can share. Beyond that range it is well to remember that there is a Divine Sympathy, uniting perfect knowledge and perfect love....

EXPOSITION PROVERBS 14:1 EVERY WISE WOMAN BUILDETH HER HOUSE. Wise women order well their household matters and their families; they have an important influence, and exercise it beneficially. Γυναικὸς ἐσθλῆς ἐστὶ σώζειν οἰκίαν_._ "A good wife is the saving of a house." The versions render as above. A different pointing of the word translated "wise" (_chakhmoth_)_ _will give "wisdom" (_chokhmoth_)_, _which it seems best to read here, as the parallel to the abstract term "folly" in the second member. So we have, "Wisdom hath builded her house" (Proverbs 9:1; comp. Proverbs 1:20). Thus: "The wi

THE HEART KNOWETH HIS OWN BITTERNESS,.... Or "the bitterness of his soul" l, the distress of his conscience, the anguish of his mind; the heart of man only knows the whole of it; something of it may be known to others by his looks, his words, and gestures, but not all of it; see 1 Corinthians 2:10; bitterness of soul often arises from outward troubles, pains, and diseases of body, losses, crosses, and disappointments, 1 Samuel 1:10. Sometimes it is upon spiritual accounts; but this is not the case of every heart; men may be in the gall of bitterness, and have no bitterness of soul on account of it; the sensualist and voluptuous worldling feels nothing of it, nor the hardened and hardhearted sinner; only such who are awakened and convinced by the Spirit of God; to these, as sin is a bitter thing i

CHAPTER 14 THE WISE AND THE FOOLISH: THE RICH AND THE POOR The contrast now concerns the wise and the foolish, the rich and the poor. Let us see some of these contrasts. “In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride, but the lips of the wise shall preserve them” Proverbs 14:3. The foolish shoots forth his foolishness like a branch. Separation from the foolish man is commanded in the seventh verse. The wise cannot have fellowship with the foolish, as the believer is not to be yoked to the unbeliever. Fools make a mock at sin Proverbs 14:9). The word “sin” in the original means “trespass offering.” That is exactly what the foolish man does, including the religious fool; he denies both sin and the blessed provision God has made to deliver from the guilt and power of sin. But among the righteous, says

PROVERBS 14. In this, as in each of the preceding Chapter s in this section, aphorisms on the moral government of the world come first in number. There are rather more in this chapter of a political and social character, while a group that might be called psychological appears for the first time (_e.g._ Proverbs 14:10; Proverbs 14:13, and in part Proverbs 14:30). The contrast between wisdom and folly, simplicity and prudence, also yields a fairly numerous group. PROVERBS 14:1. MT cannot be translated. Proverbs 14:1 a is p

HIS OWN BITTERNESS. the bitterness of his soul (Hebrew. _nephesh._ App-13). Illustrations: Hannah (1 Samuel 1:8); Joab (2 Samuel 19:5); the Shunammite (2 Kings 4:27); Haman (Esther 5:13); Job (Job 3); Herod (Mark 6:16). A STRANGER. an apostate. Hebrew. _zur._ See note on Proverbs 2:16; Proverbs 5:3....

The poet of the _Christian Year_has caught something of the beauty and pathos of this proverb as he writes: "Each in his hidden sphere of joy or woe Our hermit spirits dwell and range apart." "Nor e'en the tenderest heart, and next our own, Knows half the reasons why we smile or sigh"; and Matthew Arnold (quoted by Horton): "Yes! in the sea of life enisled, With echoing straits between us thrown, Dotting the shoreless watery waste, We mortal millions live _alone_. The islands feel the enclasping flow, And then their endless bounds they know." It is worth quoting, if only as a foil to it, the prosaic apothegm, "None knows the weight of another's burden," Geo. Herbert, _Jac. Prud_....

DISCOURSE: 783 MAN’S EXPERIENCE KNOWN TO HIMSELF ALONE Proverbs 14:10. _The heart knoweth his own bitterness; and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy_. THE inward experience of men, any further than it is discovered by acts or other outward signs, must of necessity be known to themselves alone. St. Paul puts the question to us, “Who knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him [Note: 1 Corinthians 2:11.]?” Whether a man be filled with sorrow or joy, he alone can be sensible of the measure and extent of his own feelings. The assertions in my text will be found true, I. In reference to the concerns of this world— [Great are the troubles of many, as arising from their own unhappy tempers — — — from their connexions in life — —