Proverbs 20:18

Every purpose is established by counsel: and with good advice make war. AND WITH GOOD ADVICE MAKE WAR - for victory is more often obtained by skill than by strength. First sit down and count the cost, and prepare your plans (Luke 14:31). The Lord alone can 'establish purposes' ()....

Verse Proverbs 20:18. _WITH GOOD ADVICE MAKE WAR,_] Perhaps there is not a precept in this whole book so little regarded as this. Most of the _wars_ that are undertaken are wars of injustice, ambition, aggrandizement, and caprice, which can have had no previous _good_ _counsel_. A minister, who is perhaps neither a _good_ nor a _great_ man, counsels his king to make war; the _cabinet_ must be brought into it, and a _sufficient number_ out of the states of the kingdom gained over to support it. By and by, what was begun through _caprice_ must be maintained through _necessity_. Places must be created, and offices must be filled with needy dependents, whose interest it may be to _protract the war_, till they get enough to pay their debts, and secure independence for life. And for these most important ends the blood of the country is sp...

EXPOSITION PROVERBS 20:1 WINE IS A MOCKER; or, scorner, the word (_luts_) being taken up from the last chapter. The liquor is, as it were, personified, as doing what men do under its influence. Thus inebriated persons scoff at what is holy, reject reproof, ridicule all that is serious. Septuagint, Ἀκόλαστον οἶνος, "Wine is an undisciplined thing;" Vulgate, _Luxuriosa res, vinum. _STRONG DRINK IS RAGING; a brawler, Revised Version. _Shekar, _σίκερα (Luke 1:15), is most frequently employed of any intoxicating drink not made from grapes, _e.g. _palm wine, mead, etc. The inordinate use of this renders men noisy and boisterous, no longer masters of themselves or restrained by the laws of morality or decency. Septu

[EVERY] PURPOSE IS ESTABLISHED BY COUNSEL,.... Or "the thought" f of a man, everyone of them, what he has thought to do, formed a scheme of in his mind, and resolved upon, by taking advice of his friends, and especially by asking counsel of God, who gives, wisdom liberally, and upbraids not; he is confirmed in his good designs; and he cheerfully pursues them, and they are ordered and directed to the glory of God, his own good and the good of others; for this can only be understood of wise and good thoughts and purposes; AND WITH GOOD ADVICE MAKE WAR; this should not be entered upon rashly, without first considering whether there is a just and lawful cause of it; and without consulting the necessary charge and expense of it; whether there is a sufficiency of men and money to carry it on; and what may probably be the issue of it. It is right in a king to advise with his privy council, or...

CHAPTER 20 PROVERBS AS TO PERSONAL CONDUCT Proverbs of warning and instructions as to personal conduct are found mostly in this chapter; a number of them are of special interest if applied to Solomon. The first one is concerning wine and strong drink. As the use of wine among the people of Israel was legitimate the warning is against intemperance Deuteronomy 14:26). The Bible gives many illustrations of the truth of this proverb-warning. We may think of Noah, Lot, Nabal, Ben-hadad, Belshazzar and others. From all the good things we select the following. In Proverbs 20:3 is instruction which makes for peace. It is the fool who meddles and thus produces strife, but it is an honor for man to cease from strife. In...

PROVERBS 20. We have still further traces in Proverbs 20:9; Proverbs 20:24 of the sceptical spirit and the obstinate questionings of self characteristic of the later Greek period of Jewish thought. PROVERBS 20:6 A. RV is strained and the Heb. is difficult. Read (_cf._ Syr. and Lat.) Many a man is called kind. Proverbs 20:8. winnoweth (_mg._) is more literal than RV, and conveys better the idea of personal scrutiny (_cf._ the ideal king in Psalms 72 and Isaiah 11). Proverbs 20:9. For the growi

_with good advice_ or, _by wise guidance_, R.V., _make war_. Comp. Luke 14:31-32....

TEXT Proverbs 20:11-20 11. Even a child maketh himself known by his doings, Whether his work be pure, and whether it be right. 12. The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, Jehovah hath made even both of them. 13. Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; Open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread. 14. It is bad, it is bad, saith the buyer; But when he is gone his way, then he boasteth. 15. There is gold, and abundance of rubies; But the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel. 16. Take his garment that is surety for a stranger; And hold him in pledge that is surety for foreigners. 17. Bread of falsehood is sweet to a man; But afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel. 18. Every purpose is established by counsel; And by wi

1. RAGING] RV 'a brawler.' IS deceived] RM 'reeleth.' It makes a man sneer, quarrel and reel about....

LESSONS ABOUT WISDOM PROVERBS _KEITH SIMONS_ CHAPTER 20 V1 Wine is like a man who insults you. Beer is like a man who shouts at you. If wine and beer tempt you, then you are not wise. V2 An angry king is like a roaring lion. If you make the king angry, then you will die. V3 If a man avoids arguments, then he deserves honour. A