Proverbs 14:28

In the multitude of people is the king's honour: but in the want of people is the destruction of the prince. IN THE MULTITUDE OF PEOPLE (IS) THE KING'S HONOUR: BUT IN THE WANT OF PEOPLE (IS) THE DESTRUCTION, OF THE PRINCE - (.) "The king" who would have a 'numerous' and contented "people" as his "honour," must govern with equity and clemency, not with tyranny and cruelty. He must also fear the Lord, lest he bring down God's judgments on himself and his people. `Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulated and men decay.'...

Verse Proverbs 14:28. _IN THE MULTITUDE OF PEOPLE_] It is the interest of every state to promote _marriage_ by every means that is just and prudent; and to discourage, disgrace, and debase _celibacy_; to render _bachelors_ incapable, after a given age, of all public employments: and to banish _nunneries_ and _monasteries_ from all parts of their dominions;-they have ever, from their invention, contributed more to vice than virtue; and are positively point blank against the law of God....

A protest against the false ideal of national greatness to which Eastern kings, for the most part, have bowed down. Not conquest, or pomp, or gorgeous array, but a happy and numerous people form the true glory of a king. The word translated “prince” is of doubtful meaning; but the translation is supported by the Septuagint, Vulg, and most commentators....

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

IN THE MULTITUDE OF PEOPLE [IS] THE KING'S HONOUR,.... For it is a sign of a good and wise government, of clemency and righteousness being exercised, of liberty and property being enjoyed, of peace, plenty, and prosperity; which encourage subjects to serve their king cheerfully, and to continue under his reign and government peaceably; and which invites others from different parts to come and settle there also; by which the strength and glory of a king are much increased. This is true of the King of kings, of Jesus Christ, who is King of saints; his honour and glory, as Mediator, lies in a large number of voluntary subjects, made "willing" to serve him "in the day of [his] power" upon them, as numerous as the drops of the morning "dew", Psalms 110:3; such as he had in the first times of the Gospel, both among the Jews and among the Gentiles; and as he will have more especially 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

IN THE MULTITUDE, &C.— _The more subjects a prince hath, the more glorious he is;_ but so much the more so, as he loves with more tenderness, as he preserves with more care, and as he governs with more mildness, the people under him. The Scripture and the ancients give kings the name of shepherds, to put them in mind of the application they ought to give to the augmenting of their people, and of the compassionate kindness wherewith they ought to treat them. Calmet....

TEXT Proverbs 14:25-35 25. A true witness delivereth souls; But he that uttereth lies causeth deceit. 26. In the fear of Jehovah is strong confidence; And his children shall have a place of refuge. 27. The fear of Jehovah is a fountain of life, That one may depart from the snares of death. 28. In the multitude of people is the king's glory; But in the want of people is the destruction of the prince. 29. He that is slow to anger is of great understanding; But he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly. 30. A tranquil heart is the life of the flesh; But envy is the rottenness of the bones. 31. He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker; But he that hath mercy on the needy honoreth him. 32. The wicked is thrust down in his evil-doing;...

14:28 prince. (a-21) Or 'ruler,' as ch. 8.15....