Proverbs 18:12

Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility. BEFORE DESTRUCTION THE HEART OF MAN IS HAUGHTY ( ) AND BEFORE HONOUR IS HUMILITY (). Humility is the forerunner of honour. High climbers are apt to fall, and their fall is the heavier the higher they have climbed....

Verse Proverbs 18:12. _BEFORE DESTRUCTION_] See on Proverbs 11:2; Proverbs 16:18....

BEFORE - In the sense of priority of time....

EXPOSITION PROVERBS 18:1 This is a difficult verse, and has obtained various interpretations. The Authorized Version gives, THROUGH DESIRE A MAN, HAVING SEPARATED HIMSELF, SEEKETH AND INTERMEDDLETH WITH ALL WISDOM; _i.e. _a man who has an earnest desire for self-improvement will hold himself aloof from worldly entanglements, and, occupying himself wholly in this pursuit, will become conversant with all wisdom. This gives good sense, and offers a contrast to the fool in Proverbs 18:2, who "hath no delight in understanding." But the Hebrew does not rightly bear this interpretation. Its conciseness occasions ambiguity. Literally, _For his desire a man who separates himself seeks_;_ in _(or _against_) all wisdom he mingles

BEFORE DESTRUCTION THE HEART OF MAN IS HAUGHTY,.... Lifted up with his riches. Rich men are apt to be highminded, and therefore are to be charged and cautioned against it; they are apt to look above their poor neighbours, and with contempt upon them; and very often this haughtiness of theirs is a presage of their ruin and destruction: and those haughty airs are put on from the pride of their hearts, when a "breach" is near, as the word u signifies, or when they are ready to break; however, their haughty spirits are, sooner or later, humbled by one distressing providence or another; see Proverbs 16:18; AND BEFORE HONOUR [IS] HUMILITY; Proverbs 15:33. u לפני שבר "ante confractionem", Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Schultens....

CHAPTER 18 PROVERBS OF PERSONAL INSTRUCTION There is first a warning against separation produced by desire, that is for gratification and pleasure, and not for a righteous purpose. Such a one becomes an enemy of true wisdom and one who intermeddleth with all wisdom. This proverb finds a New Testament illustration in Alexander the coppersmith, as well as Hymenaeus and Philetus, and Diotrephes of whom John writes in his epistle. A fool foams out his own folly. This proverb in Proverbs 18:2 is illustrated by many of the critics of the Bible. They have no delight in true understanding but their own hearts are laid bare by their mad oppositions to God's Holy Word. The fool's mouth, his lips, the talebearer (whisperer), and the slothful are the themes of the proverbs in Proverbs 18:6. Then we read

PROVERBS 18:1. MT yields no satisfactory sense. The LXX reads The man who wishes to separate from his friends seeks pretexts, but is always liable to reproach. Frankenberg renders the alienated friend seeks an occasion (emending the word for - desire-'), seeks by all means to stir up strife. Proverbs 18:4. RV translates correctly, but the sense is strange. Read, perhaps, The words of the wise are deep waters, a flowing brook, a fountain of life, but this is conjecture rather than emendation. Proverbs 18:5. _cf._ Proverbs 17:26, which may have originally followed this verse....

IS HAUGHTY. Illustration: Jezebel (2 Kings 9:30). HUMILITY. Compare Proverbs 15:33. Illustration: contrast Goliath (1Sa 17:8-10, 1 Samuel 17:43; 1 Samuel 17:44) with 1 Samuel 17:45; 1 Samuel 17:47....

Comp. Proverbs 16:18; Proverbs 15:33....

BEFORE DESTRUCTION, &C.— _Before destruction a man is haughty, as before honour he is modest,_ or _humble._ Houbigant....