Proverbs 3:27

Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. WITHHOLD NOT GOOD FROM THEM TO WHOM IT IS DUE, WHEN IT IS IN THE POWER OF THINE HAND TO DO IT. Here Solomon passes from general recommendations of wisdom to particular precepts of it. He reverts to instances of "mercy and truth," which he had recommended in . "From them to whom it is due" - literally, 'from the owners thereof' (cf. ). On "in the power of thine hand" cf. . He who is in need has a claim of ownership upon our property by the law of love, which is the law of God. The goods which we can and ought to bestow are not ours, but the property of the poor (cf....

27-35 Our business is to observe the precepts of Christ, and to copy his example; to do justice, to love mercy, and to beware of covetousness; to be ready for every good work, avoiding needless strife, and bearing evils, if possible, rather than seeking redress by law. It will be found there is little got by striving. Let us not envy prosperous oppressors; far be it from the disciples of Christ to choose any of their ways. These truths may be despised by the covetous and luxurious, but everlasting contempt will be the portion of such scorners, while Divine favour is shown to the humble believer....

Verse Proverbs 3:27. _WITHHOLD NOT GOOD FROM THEM TO WHOM IT IS DUE_] מבעליו _mibbealaiv, from the lords of it_. But who are they? The _poor_. _And what art thou, O rich man_? Why, thou art a _steward_, to whom God has given substance that thou mayest divide with the poor. They are the right owners of every farthing thou hast to spare from thy own support, and that of thy family; and God has given the surplus for their sakes. Dost thou, by hoarding up this treasure, deprive the _right owners_ of their property? If this were a _civil case_, the law would take thee by the throat, and lay thee up in prison; but it is a case in which GOD alone judges. And what will he do to thee? Hear! "He shall have judgment without mercy, who hath showed no mercy;" James 2:13. Read, feel, tr...

A marked change in style. The continuous exhortation is replaced by a series of maxims. FROM THEM TO WHOM IT IS DUE - literally, as in the margin. The precept expresses the great Scriptural thought that the so-called possession of wealth is but a stewardship; that the true owners of what we call our own are those to whom, with it, we may do good. Not to relieve them is a breach of trust. Proverbs 3:28 Procrastination is especially fatal to the giving impulse. The Septuagint adds the caution: “for thou knowest not what the morrow will bring forth.” Proverbs 3:29 SECURELY - i. e., “With full trust,” without care or suspicion. Compare...

EXPOSITION PROVERBS 3:1 4. _Fourth admonitory discourse. _The third chapter introduces us to a group of admonitions, and the first of these (Proverbs 3:1) forms the fourth admonitory discourse of the teacher. To all intents and purposes this is a continuation of the discourse in the preceding chapter, for inasmuch as that described the benefits, spiritual and moral, which follow from the pursuit of Wisdom, in promoting godliness and providing safety from evil companions, so this in like manner depicts the gain flowing from Wisdom, the happiness of the man who finds Wisdom, and the favour which he meets with both with God and man. The discourse embraces exhortations to obedience ...

WITHHOLD NOT GOOD FROM THEM TO WHOM IT IS DUE,.... Honour, reverence, and tribute, to civil magistrates, Romans 13:7; just payment of debts to creditors, and alms to the poor, which, by what follows, seems to be chiefly intended; and the Septuagint render it, "do not abstain to do well to the needy;'' and Aben Ezra interprets it of the poor; to them alms are due because of their wants, and by the appointment; of God; hence called "righteousness", in some copies of Matthew 6:1; so money kept from the poor "mammon of unrighteousness", Luke 16:9. They are, as the word in the Hebrew text signifies, "the owners thereof" h: rich men are not so much proprietors of good things as they are God's alms givers or stewards

FOURTH Discourse. The sage exhorts the young man to heed his oral instruction (_torah),_ and to trust in Yahweh, fear Him, and honour Him in the prescribed manner of firstfruits. It is interesting to find _torah_ used in its earlier prophetic sense of oral instruction, without reference to its later sense of the whole body of legislation represented by the Pentateuch. The torah of the wise man represents not his own individual authority, but the accumulated wisdom of experience. The torah of the prophet, although delivered in the name of Yahweh, represents ultimately the accumulated moral consciousness of the nation; while the torah of the priest in its later form at least represents the traditional and inherited ritual, the prescribed method of the cultus. Hence the primary idea of torah is the same in all three forms. (See pp. 121, 620, Deuteronomy 1:5 *, and for a fuller disc

WITHHOLD NOT. Illustrations: Ammonites, &c. (Deuteronomy 23:3; Deuteronomy 23:4); Nabal (1 Samuel 25:10; 1 Samuel 25:11. Compare Proverbs 3:15); Widow (1 Kings 17:12; 2 Kings 4:7); Parable (Luke 10:30); Corinthians ...

_them to whom it is due_ Lit. THE LORDS, OR OWNERS THEREOF, as A.V. marg. This may be either a precept of honesty, pay your just debts; or of benevolence, you are a steward and your wealth belongs not to you but to the poor and needy, for whose benefit you hold it. Comp. 1 Peter 4:10. So LXX. μὴ ἀπόσχῃ εὖ ποιεῖν ἐνδεῆ; and the Vulg. _benefacere_....

WITHHOLD NOT GOOD, &C.— The words may literally be rendered, _Withhold not good from the lords_ or _masters of it;_ which some refer to the restitution of goods gained unjustly: but the connection requires that we understand the poor; who, by an elegant figure, are called the lords and masters of those goods which are possessed by the rich, so far as a just portion is due to them. Schultens. Calmet observes, that whoever has the power to do good is under the strongest obligation to assist those who have need of his assistance. The necessity of the poor has a just claim upon the abundance of the rich....