Proverbs 18:14

The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear? THE SPIRIT OF A MAN WILL SUSTAIN HIS INFIRMITY (OF BODY): BUT A WOUNDED SPIRIT WHO CAN BEAR? It is the office of the spirit, or mind, to govern the body, but not that of the body to govern the mind: therefore, when the body is under "infirmary," "the spirit sustains it: but if the spirit be afflicted, there is nothing which can bear it up (). 'The spirit of a true MAN' (so the Hebrew, ish, means; a manly, spirit) stands in contrast to "a broken spirit." We ought not so to yield to calamity as to suffer the "spirit" to be "broken," but we ought to make "the name of the Lord" our "tower of strength" ()....

Verse Proverbs 18:14. _THE SPIRIT OF A MAN WILL SUSTAIN_] A man sustains the ills of his body, and the trials of life, by the strength and energy of his mind. But if the _mind_ be _wounded_, if this be _cast_ _down_, if slow-consuming care and grief have shot the dagger into the soul, what can then sustain the man? Nothing but the unseen God. Therefore, let the afflicted _pray_. A man's _own spirit_ has, in general, sufficient fortitude to bear up under the _unavoidable_ trials of life; but when the _conscience_ is wounded by sin, and the soul is dying by iniquity, _who can lift him up_? God alone; for salvation is of the Lord....

INFIRMITY - Bodily pain or trouble. “Spirit” in the Hebrew text is masculine in the first clause, feminine in the second, as though used in the latter as having lost its strength....

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

THE SPIRIT OF A MAN WILL SUSTAIN HIS INFIRMITY,.... The spirit of a mighty man, as Jarchi; a man of spirit, that has a spirit of fortitude, even of natural fortitude, and especially of Christian fortitude; that has a spirit of might upon him, of power, and sound mind; a man of a Christian spirit, that is renewed in the spirit of his mind; who is a spiritual man, and has the Spirit of God in him, as well as a rational soul, an immaterial, immortal, and never dying substance. Such a man will bear up under many trials and exercises of life; will support under bodily infirmities; will take patiently the loss Of friends and of substance; endure reproach, and the loss of a good name, credit, and reputation, cheerfully, for righteousness's sake; and suffer persecution for the sake of Christ, and his Gospel, with an undaunted and unbroken spirit: the peace of conscience he feels within; the pres...

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....

SPIRIT. Hebrew. _ruach._ App-9. SUSTAIN, &C. Illustrations: Job (Job 1:20; Job 1:21; Job 2:8; Job 2:9; Job 2:10); Paul (2 Corinthians 12:9; Acts 22:24.Romans 5:3; Romans 5:3); Paul and Silas ...

_a wounded spirit_ If the sustaining spirit be itself wounded or broken, the burden becomes intolerable. It is the pathetic thought of "the spirit which so long bore a man's infirmity, and then at last broke because it could bear no more, and became itself intolerable," Horton....

DISCOURSE: 797 A WOUNDED SPIRIT Proverbs 18:14. _The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity: but a wounded spirit who can bear?_ MAN being placed in a world where troubles of various kinds continually await him, he is endued with a firmness, of mind suited to the occasion, so that he is enabled to bear them with a considerable measure of composure and ease. Previously to the arrival of afflictions, they appear more formidable than they really are. We should suppose that poverty, and sickness, and pain, and losses of friends and relatives, would produce a permanent depressure of mind: but this is not found to be the case: time soon heals the wounds that are inflicted by them; and habit soon reconciles men to the burthens which they are called to sustain. Where piety is superadded to natural fortitude, and the grace of God is in full activity, a man can support any