Proverbs 17:3

The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts. THE FINING POT (IS) FOR SILVER, AND THE FURNACE FOR GOLD: BUT THE LORD TRIETH THE HEARTS. As men test and purify silver in the crucible and gold in the furnace, so the Lord trieth the hearts. Men can prove silver and gold, but not hearts; that is the work of the Lord alone....

Verse Proverbs 17:3. _THE FINING POT_ IS _FOR SILVER_] When _silver_ is _mixed_, or suspected to be mixed, with _base metal_, it must be subjected to such a test as the _cupel_ to purify it. And gold also must be purified by the action of the _fire_. So God tries hearts. He sends afflictions which penetrate the soul, and give a man to see his state, so that he may apply to the _spirit of judgment_ and _the_ _spirit of burning_, to destroy what cannot stand the fire, to separate and burn up all the dross....

Wonderful as is the separation of the pure metal from the dross with which it has mingled, there is something yet more wonderful in the divine discipline which purifies the good that lies hid, like a grain of gold, even in rough and common natures, and frees it from all admixture of evil. Compare Mal 3:2; 1 Peter 1:7....

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

THE FINING POT [IS] FOR SILVER, AND THE FURNACE FOR GOLD,.... Refiners of silver have their fining pots, in which they purify the silver from the dross; and goldsmiths have their crucibles to melt and purify their gold, by which assays of the worth and value of it may be made; BUT THE LORD TRIETH THE HEARTS; there is no vessel, as Gersom observes, in which they can be put and tried by creatures; a man does not know, nor can he thoroughly search and try his own heart, and much less the hearts of others; God only knows and tries them, Jeremiah 17:9; The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions, render it by way of similitude, "as the fining pot is for silver", c. as silver is refined in the pot, and gold in the furnace, so are the hearts of God's people, and their graces tried and purified by him in the furnace of affliction the variety of troubles they are exercised

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

THE LORD. Hebrew. _Jehovah._ App-4. TRIETH THE HEARTS. Illustrations: Abraham (Genesis 22:1); Israel (Deuteronomy 8:2); Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 32:31); Martha and Mary (John 11:5; John 11:6); young man (Matthew 19:16); woman (Matthew 15:23)....

_trieth the hearts_ q.d. man can try the precious metals, but only God the hearts (Jeremiah 17:9-10). The thought that He tries them to refine them, which is suggested here by the parallelism, is elsewhere expressed clearly. (Psalms 66:10-12; Malachi 3:3-4; 1 Peter 1:7. Comp. Sir 2:5.)...

CHAPTER 17 TEXT Proverbs 17:1-10 1. Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, Than a house full of feasting with strife. 2. A servant that dealeth wisely shall have rule over a son that causeth shame, And shall have part in the inheritance among the brethren. 3. The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold; But Jehovah trieth the hearts. 4. An evil-doer giveth heed to wicked lips; And a liar giveth ear to a mischievous tongue. 5. Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker; And he that is glad at calamity shall not be unpunished. 6. Children's children are the crown of old men; And the glory of children are their fathers. 7. Excellent speech becometh not a fool; Much less do lying lips a prince, 8. A bribe is as a precious