Proverbs 14:9

Fools make a mock at sin: but among the righteous there is favour. FOOLS MAKE A MOCK AT SIN - (; ; .) The Hebrew my be also translated, 'sin (i:e., when it brings its punishment) makes a mock at fools,' even as they mock at sin. BUT AMONG THE RIGHTEOUS THERE IS FAVOUR - the favour of God and of all good men, inasmuch as they do not, mock at sin, but speak what is conformable to the will of God. To complete the antithesis, the sense must be supplied, fools make a mock at sin (and so incur the wrath of God); but (the righteous regard sin as a serious offence, and one to he shunned; and therefore) among the righteous there is the favour of God....

Verse Proverbs 14:9. _FOOLS MAKE A MOCK AT SIN_] And only _fools_ would do so. But he that makes a _sport_ of _sinning_, will find it _no sport_ to suffer the vengeance of an eternal fire. Some learned men by their criticisms have brought this verse into embarrassments, out of which they were not able to extricate it. I believe we shall not come much nearer the sense than our present version does....

FOOLS MAKE A MOCK - The verb in the Heb. is singular, the noun plural. The King James Version assumes that the number is altered to individualize the application of the maxim. Others translate it: “Sin mocks the fools who are its victims,” i. e., disappoints and ruins them; or, “A sin-offering does but mock the worshippers when they are willfully wicked:” they expect to gain God’s favor, and do not gain it. So taken it becomes parallel to Proverbs 15:8; Proverbs 21:7....

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

FOOLS MAKE A MOCK AT SIN,.... At sinful actions, their own or others; they make light of them, a jest of them, call evil good, and good evil; take pleasure in doing them themselves, and in those that do them; yea, sport themselves with the mischief that arises from them unto others; they make a mock at reproofs for them, and scoff at those that instruct and rebuke them; and laugh at a future state, and an awful judgment they are warned of, and in a scoffing manner say, "where is the promise of his coming?" Some, as Aben Ezra observes, render it "a sin offering"; and interpret it of the sin offerings and sacrifices under the law, as derided by wicked men; but may be better applied to the sin offering or sacrifice of Christ, who made his soul an offering for sin, to make satisfaction and atonement for the sins of his people; this is mocked at by false teachers, who deny it; and is exposed...

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

MAKE. MOCK. The verb is singular, and probably the plural "fools" means "A great fool makes. mock", &c. SIN. guilt. The proper name for the trespass offering. Hebrew. _'asham_ (App-44.) Illustrations: the antediluvians (Luke 17:26; Luke 17:27; 1 Peter 3:20); Abner (2 Samuel 2:14); Haman (Esther 3:13. Est 29:2); the Jews (Isaiah 22:13). THE RIGHTEOUS. upright ones. FAVOUR. Those who offer the trespass offering, experience the Di

_sin_ Rather, GUILT, R.V. If this rendering be adopted, the Heb. construction (a sing. verb with a plur. noun, lit. fools, he maketh &c.) will serve to individualise (comp. Proverbs 3:18), and the contrast will be between the noisy assembly of fools, each one turning into jest and ridicule the guilt he has incurred, and the "favour" (or, _good will_, R.V.) of God and man that rests upon the righteous. We may, however, understand the word _guilt_to be the subject of the sentence, and then take it in either of two senses: (_a) guilt_makes a mock of fools, laughing to scorn their anguish and deprecation when it overtakes them (comp. Proverbs 1:26); or (_b) a guilt-offering_mocks the fool, who offers it with the vain idea that it will take the place of amendment of life, for only

DISCOURSE: 782 THE FOLLY OF MAKING A MOCK AT SIN Proverbs 14:9. _Fools make a mock at sin_. MAN in his first creation was formed after the Divine image; and there was not in his soul the least inclination to evil of any kind. But since his fall, he is become in love with sin: sin is the very element in which he lives: and so unconscious is he of its malignity, that he makes a mock at it. Doubtless all do not carry their impiety to the same extent. Some are openly profane, and given up to all manner of wickedness; not only not being ashamed of their ways, but actually “glorying in their shame.” We must not however restrict to persons of this description the declaration in our text. The evil that is there complained of is of far wider extent, it more or less attaches to every unconverted man. This will appear, whilst we open to you, I. The conduct here reprobated—