Proverbs 21:14

A gift in secret pacifieth anger: and a reward in the bosom strong wrath. A GIFT IN SECRET PACIFIETH ANGER. Strong as is the passion of anger, it will yield to the stronger passion, cupidity. The secrecy implies guilty presents (). Not honourable gifts, such as Jacob's to pacify Esau ()....

EXPOSITION PROVERBS 21:1 THE KING'S HEART IS IN THE HAND OF THE LORD, AS THE RIVERS OF WATER. We are to think of the little channels used for irrigation. As these are altogether under the gardener's control, so the heart of the king, who might seem to have no superior, is directed by God. HE TURNETH IT WHITHERSOEVER HE WILL. By hidden influences and providential arrangements God disposes the monarch to order his government so as to carry out his designs, to spread around joy and plenty. The system of irrigation signified in this passage is still to be seen in Eastern lands. "Flower beds and gardens of herbs are always made at a little lower level than the surrounding ground, and are divided into small squares, a slight edging of earth banking the whole round on each side. Water is then let in, and floods the entire sur

A GIFT IN SECRET PACIFIETH ANGER,.... Appeases an angry man; humbles and "brings [his anger] down" y, as Aben Ezra and Gersom observe the word signifies; which before rose very high, and showed itself in big words and disdainful looks, as proud wrath does; or extinguishes it, as the Targum and Vulgate Latin version render it, and very fitly. Anger is a fire in the breast; and a restraining or causing it to cease is properly expressed by an extinguishing of it: this a gift or present does, as it did in Esau from Jacob, in David from Abigail; but then it must be secretly given, otherwise it may more provoke; since it may show vanity in the giver, and covetousness in the receiver; and the former may have more honour than the latter. Some understand this of a gift for a bribe to a judge, to abate the severity of the sentence; and others of alms deeds to the poor, to pacify the anger of God z...

CHAPTER 21 PERSONAL INSTRUCTIONS AS TO LIFE AND CONDUCT In the proverbs of this chapter the Lord is mentioned five times. “The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: He turneth it whithersoever He will” Proverbs 21:1). The rivers of water are “water-courses,” the irrigation system known to the ancients, opening and shutting sluices directed the flow of the waters. Thus the Lord governs the king's heart as He directs the affairs of men. The Lord pondereth the hearts Proverbs 21:2). The same truth is stated in Proverbs 16:2; self-justification suits the natural man but the Lord testeth all hearts. How well it is to remember in all our conduct, that truth, so comforting to the believer, expr

PROVERBS 21:1. WATERCOURSES: not the natural brooks and wadys of Palestine, but the artificial irrigation canals of Egypt or Babylonia, which could be diverted in any direction at will. Proverbs 21:4. Apparently two unconnected lines belonging to different couplets. A connexion can be established only by forced exegesis. The Heb. is lit. lofty of look and arrogant of heart, the tillage of the wicked is sin. RV lamp for tillage depends on a different pointing, but does not improve the sense. Proverbs 21:6. Lit. The getting of treasures by a lying tongue (is) a driven breath, seekers of death. RV clearly inserts more than the text warrants to make sense of...

_pacifieth_ The Heb. word occurs only here, and scholars, both ancient and modern, are divided between _pacifieth_(A.V. and R.V. text), _turneth away_, or _bendeth_(ἀνατρέπει, LXX.; _frangit_, Syr.; _bendeth_, R.V. marg.), and _extinguisheth_(extinguit, Vulg.); the word in this last case being regarded as synonymous with the similar word rendered _quenched_(of God's anger), Jeremiah 7:20. Both renderings are admissible, but the former is to be preferred. _a reward_ Rather, A PRESENT, R.V., as the same Heb. word is rendered in Proverbs 6:35; Proverbs 17:8, A.V. _in the bosom_ brought in the folds of the garment from which it is drawn out stealthily and present

TEXT Proverbs 21:11-20 11. When the scoffer is punished, the simple is made wise; And when the wise is instructed, he receiveth knowledge. 12. The righteous man considereth the house of the wicked, How the wicked are overthrown to their ruin. 13. Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, He also shall cry, but shall not be heard. 14. A gift in secret pacifieth anger; And a present in the bosom, strong wrath. 15. It is joy to the righteous to do justice; But it is a destruction to the workers of iniquity. 16. The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding Shall rest in the assembly of the dead. 17. He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man: He that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich. 18. The wicked is a ransom for the righteo

1. The 'watercourses' (RV) are the artificial irrigation channels of Egypt and Babylon (Isaiah 58:11)....

LESSONS ABOUT WISDOM PROVERBS _KEITH SIMONS_ CHAPTER 21 V1 A king is like a canal that God controls. God leads the king in the way that God decides. V2 A man supposes that all his actions are right. But God knows the man’s secret thoughts. V3 Do the things that are right and fair! This matters more to God than any gift....

A GIFT IN SECRET. — Comp. Abigail and David (1 Samuel 25:18)....