Proverbs 17:19

He loveth transgression that loveth strife: and he that exalteth his gate seeketh destruction. HE LOVETH TRANSGRESSION THAT LOVETH STRIFE - because strife both is itself a transgression, and is the source of many transgressions. (AND) HE THAT EXALTETH HIS GATE (I:E., HIS HOUSE: NOT AS IS QUOTED FOR THE DOOR, OF THE MOUTH) SEEKETH DESTRUCTION. To 'love strife' is the mark of one who 'exalts' himself (). Such a one 'loving transgression' is virtually 'seeking destruction,' for destruction is the issue of transgression. Where two angrily contend, both are in fault. Imprecations, rash appeals to God, superciliousness, abuse, and implacable spite, are generally engendered, as the strife proceeds, whichever may have been in the right at first....

Verse Proverbs 17:19. _HE THAT EXALTETH HIS GATE_] In different parts of Palestine they are obliged to have the doors of their courts and houses _very low_, not more than _three_ feet high, to prevent the Arabs, who scarcely ever leave the backs of their horses, from _riding into the courts and houses_, and spoiling their goods. He, then, who, through pride and ostentation, made a _high gate_, exposed himself to _destruction_; and is said here to _seek it_, because he must know that this would be a necessary consequence of _exalting his gate_. But although the above is a fact, yet possibly _gate_ is here taken for the _mouth_; and the _exalting of the gate_ may mean proud boasting and arrogant speaking, such as has a tendency to kindle and maintain strife. And this interpretation seems to agree better with the scope of the context t...

HE THAT EXALTETH HIS GATE - i. e., Builds a stately house, indulges in arrogant ostentation....

EXPOSITION PROVERBS 17:1 (Comp, Proverbs 15:16, Proverbs 15:17; Proverbs 16:8.) BETTER (sweeter) IS A DRY MORSEL, AND QUIETNESS THEREWITH. Dry bread was soaked in wine or water before it was eaten. Thus Boaz bid Ruth "dip her morsel in the vinegar" (Ruth 2:14); thus Jesus gave the sop to Judas when he had dipped it (John 13:26). The Septuagint is pleonastic, "Better is a morsel with joy in peace." Ab

HE LOVETH TRANSGRESSION THAT LOVETH STRIFE,.... For strife is transgression, when it flows from a malignant spirit, is with bad views, about things to no profit, and for contention's sake; otherwise to contend earnestly for the truth; to strive together for the faith of the Gospel, for matters of moment and importance, and not mere words; to strive lawfully in a cause that is just, and for truth and justice, is commendable and praiseworthy; [AND] HE THAT EXALTETH HIS GATE SEEKETH DESTRUCTION; that opens the door of his lips, and speaks proudly, as Jarchi and Aben Ezra interpret it; who compare it with Micah 7:5; who set their mouths against heaven, and God in it; and whose tongue walks through the earth, and spares none there, Psalms 73:8; as antichrist, who opens his mouth in blasphemy against God

CHAPTER 17 DIVERSE PROVERBS Of the twenty-eight proverbs found in this chapter we point out but a few. “The fining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold; but the LORD trieth the hearts” (Proverbs 17:3). Man may try silver and gold, but God only the hearts. And He tries the hearts by the refining process, trials and afflictions, the process which rests in His own hands. (See Psalms 66:10; Malachi 3:3; 1 Peter 1:7 .) “He that covereth a transgression seeketh love, but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends” (Proverbs 17:9). To

PROVERBS 17. Fresh points are the rise of the able and clever slave to a place in the family (Proverbs 17:2), the practice of bribes (Proverbs 17:8; Proverbs 17:23), the value of adversity as a test of friendship (Proverbs 17:17): also the subject of suretyship, dealt with in Proverbs 6:1, is resumed (Proverbs 17:18). PROVERBS 17:1. For the connexion betwee

HE THAT EXALTETH HIS GATE, &C.: i.e.. rich man, who thus proclaimed his wealth (Eastern doors being generally low-pitched and uninviting), COURTED DESTRUCTION. This explains 2 Kings 25:9, where "every great man's house he (Nebuchadnezzar) burnt with fire"....

_exalteth_ Or, RAISETH HIGH, R.V. Comp. Proverbs 16:18. See for illustrations of such "raising high the gate" and of the "destruction" that follows it, Jeremiah 22:13-19, and the case of Haman in the Book of Esther. The relation of _pride_to _strife_(Proverbs 13:10) supplies a connecting link between the two clauses of this verse....

HE THAT EXALTETH HIS GATE— Among other violences of the Arabs, that of riding into the houses of those whom they mean to harass, is not one of the least observable; the rather, as it seems to be referred to in the Scriptures. To prevent this insult, and the mischief which these Arabs might do them, Thevenot tells us, that the door of the house in which the French merchants lived at Rama was not three feet high; and that all the doors of that town are equally low, to hinder the Arabs from entering their houses on horseback; and he afterwards speaks of a large door going into the church at Bethlehem, which has been walled up, and only a _wicket_ left in it three feet high, and two wide, to hinder the Arabs from entering the church with their horses. Other authors have made the like observation. Now may not the present passage refer to this, _He that exalteth his gate seeketh destruction,_...