Proverbs 20:6

Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find? MOST MEN WILL PROCLAIM EVERY ONE HIS OWN GOODNESS - his own beneficence to others, as the Pharisee did MOST MEN WILL PROCLAIM EVERY ONE HIS OWN GOODNESS - his own beneficence to others, as the Pharisee did (). BUT A FAITHFUL MAN WHO CAN FIND? - a man who in very deed performs the beneficence which he professes. Few, in acts of so-called charity, do them from sincere love to God and to their neighbour, without reference to their own gain or honour,...

Verse Proverbs 20:6. _MOST MEN WILL PROCLAIM_] _Many men merciful ben clepid: a_ _feithful man forsoth, who schal finde? _- Old MS. Bible....

GOODNESS - With the special sense of bounty, beneficence. Contrast promise and performance. People boast of their liberality, yet we look in vain for the fulfillment of actual obligations....

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

MOST MEN WILL PROCLAIM EVERYONE HIS OWN GOODNESS,.... As the Pharisee did, in Luke 18:11; and as the Pharisees in common did; who did all their works to be seen of men, and made clean the outside of the cup and platter; and were very careful to appear outwardly righteous to men, Matthew 23:5. And indeed this is the general cast of men; everyone is proclaiming his goodness to others, and would be thought to be good men; and cannot be easy with doing a good action, unless it is known, and particularly acts of beneficence and alms deeds; and are like the Pharisees, who, on such occasions, sounded a trumpet before them, Matthew 6:2. And the word may be rendered, "his mercy" b, or his kindness to the poor: the Targum renders it,...

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

MEN. Hebrew. _'adam._ App-14. EVERY ONE. Hebrew. _'Ish 'ish._ App-14. HIS OWN GOODNESS. Illustrations: Absalom (2 Samuel 15:4); Jehu (2 Kings 10:16; 2 Kings 10:31); Scribes, &c. (Matthew 6:2; Matthew 23:5); the rich young man (Matthew 19:20; Matthew 19:22)....

_goodness_ i.e. BOUNTY, A.V. marg., or KINDNESS, R.V. Fair promises are common, but faithful performance of them is rare. Comp. 2Co 8:11; 2 Corinthians 9:4. The first clause of the verse is otherwise rendered: _Many a man will meet one that is kind to him_, R.V. marg., but, as the next clause adds, seldom one that he can trust....

DISCOURSE: 801 TRUE PIETY IS RARE Proverbs 20:6. _Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness; but a faithful man who can find?_ IF we were to apply to every individual of mankind for his own character, and to form our estimate of the world from the aggregate report, we should soon find, that self-knowledge is a rare attainment, and that men are but partial judges in their own cause. Hence it is, that the more intercourse we have with the world, the more we learn to distrust the professions of men, and to suspend our judgment of them, till we have more substantial ground whereon to form it. Some indeed, from seeing unsuspecting youth so often become a prey to designing men, and frankness and candour so often fall a sacrifice to deceit and treachery, have been led almost to expel charity from their hearts, and practically to reverse its most established laws. Charit