Proverbs 18:24

A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. A MAN (THAT HATH) FRIENDS (ASSOCIATES) MUST SHOW HIMSELF FRIENDLY (SOCIAL): AND THERE IS A FRIEND, (A LOVING FRIEND) (THAT) STICKETH CLOSER THAN A BROTHER. Friendships must be cherished by mutual conversation and kindnesses, without which their beginnings are soon dissolved. 'If you wish to be loved, love' (Seneca). He who is friendly will have friends. There is no feeling which more exacts reciprocity than love. The second clause enforces the first clause, that we ought to show ourselves friendly; for so we may secure "a friend (Hebrew, 'oheeb (H157), a lover) that sticketh closer than a brother" in our times of "adversity" (Proverbs 17:17.) "Friends," i...

Verse Proverbs 18:24. _A MAN_ THAT HATH _FRIENDS MUST SHOW HIMSELF FRIENDLY_] Love begets love; and love requires love as its recompense. If a man do not maintain a friendly carriage, he cannot expect to retain his friends. Friendship is a good plant; but it requires cultivation to make it grow. There is a kind of factitious friendship in the world, that, to show one's self _friendly_ in it, is very expensive, and in every way utterly unprofitable: it is maintained by expensive _parties,_ _feasts_, c., where the table groans with dainties, and where the _conversation_ is either _jejune_ and _insipid_, or _calumnious_ backbiting, talebearing, and scandal, being the general topics of the different squads in company. _THERE IS A FRIEND_ THAT sticketh closer than a brother.

Better, “A man of many companions is so to his own destruction, but there is a friend (the true, loving friend) etc.” It is not the multitude of so called friends that helps us. They may only embarrass and perplex. What we prize is the one whose love is stronger and purer even than all ties of kindred....

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

A MAN [THAT HATH] FRIENDS MUST SHOW HIMSELF FRIENDLY,.... Friendship ought to be mutual and reciprocal, as between David and Jonathan; a man that receives friendship ought to return it, or otherwise he is guilty of great ingratitude. This may be spiritually applied; a believer is "a man of friends" b, as it may be rendered; he has many friends: God is his friend, as appears by his early love to him, his choice of him, and provisions of grace for him; by sending his son to save him; by visiting him, not only in a way of providence, but of grace; by disclosing his secrets, showing his covenant to him, and by making him his heir, and a joint heir with Christ. Christ is his friend, as is evident from his visiting him at his incarnation; and in a spiritual way, by the communication of his secrets to him; by his hearty counsel and faithful reproofs; by his undertaking and doing for him what he...

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....

A MAN.. special various reading called _sevir_ reads _yesh,_ instead of _ish_, which means "there is", or "there are "instead of "a man". It occurs three times: here, 2 Samuel 14:19, and Micah 6:10. FRIENDS. Hebrew. _re'im =_ feeders, from _ra'ah_ to feed (Psalms 23:1, shepherd). MUST SHEW HIMSELF FRIENDLY. who break in pieces. Hebrew. _Hithipolel_ of _ra'a'_ (App-44.) THERE IS. Hebrew. _yesh,_ as in preceding line. A FRIEND. a lover (who loves "without cause"). Note the Figure of speech _Paronomasia_ (App-6) in these words, which may be thus represented in English: "There _are friends_ who _rend_ us, But there is. lov

_A man that hath friends_ Lit. A MAN OF FRIENDS, i.e. one who _makes many friends_, R.V.; makes them too easily and indiscriminately. _must shew himself friendly_ Rather, _doeth it_ TO HIS OWN DESTRUCTION, R.V. He will be ruined by extravagance and "evil communications." _and_ Rather, BUT, in contrast to the many lightly-made friends. _a friend_ Heb. A LOVER. It is a stronger word than that translated "friends" in the first clause of the verse; and is used of Abraham when he is called, "the friend of God" (2 Chronicles 20:7; Isaiah 41:8; comp. 1 Samuel 18:1; 2 Samuel

STUDY QUESTIONS OVER 18:13-24 1. How is it folly to him (Proverbs 18:13)? 2. How is it shame to him (Proverbs 18:13)? 3. What would a doctor get out of Proverbs 18:14? 4. Locate the parallels in Proverbs 18:15. 5. Cite Bible examples of such gifts (Proverbs 18:16). 6. What lesson should church leaders learn from the first statement (Proverbs 18:17)? 7. Why did the