Proverbs 3:30

Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm. STRIVE NOT WITH A MAN WITHOUT CAUSE, IF HE HAVE DONE THEE NO HARM. Solomon forbids all avoidable strifes and disputes. Even if he have done thee harm, reprove him for his fault, but still love him (; ; )....

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 3:30. _STRIVE NOT WITH A MAN_] Do not be of a litigious, quarrelsome spirit. Be not under the influence of too nice a sense of honour. If thou must appeal to judicial authority to bring him that wrongs thee to reason, avoid all enmity, and do nothing in a spirit of revenge. But, if he _have done thee no harm_, why contend with him? May not others in the same way contend with and injure thee!...

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 ...

STRIVE NOT WITH A MAN WITHOUT CAUSE, Either by words, in a wrangling, quarrelsome, and contentious way, for mere trifles; when there is no foundation for it, no just reason given to form a complaint, or pick a quarrel upon; or by deeds, by lawsuits, when there is nothing to proceed upon; or it is so trifling, that it is not worth while to litigate it or contend about: such, who strive either way, are far from following the example of Wisdom or Christ, and from taking his advice, Matthew 12:19; IF HE HAVE DONE THEE NO HARM; no real hurt to thy person, nor injury to thy substance; if he has not abused nor defrauded thee, nor taken any thing from thee by force or fraud, nor withheld from thee what is thy right and due. But otherwise the laws of God and man ought to take place; right may be sought for, and justice should be done....

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

IF HE, &C. (Hebrew. _'im lo_. verily). Render: "he hath already done thee enough harm"....

IF HE HAVE DONE THEE NO HARM— "Contend not without reason; be not punctilious, litigious, quarrelsome;" we are not here forbidden to defend ourselves; but to be cautious, lest we offend against charity, justice, wisdom. Seneca says, "To contend with one's equal is uncertainty; with one's superior, madness; with one's inferior, meanness." Schultens observes, that two senses offer themselves to him upon this verse: the one, _Contend not with a man without reason; because he hath not cherished any evil against you: i.e_. because he is mild, placid, benign; and from the goodness of his disposition would not repel injury with injury: a grievous crime, yet how common! The other sense profits more closely upon retaliation, and a desire of revenge, thus: _Because he is weaker, and of less power than to have courage to cherish any hatred;_ or _to attempt any evil against thee:_ a detestable wicke...

TEXT Proverbs 3:27-35 27. Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, When it is in the power of thy hand to do it. 28. Say not unto thy neighbor, Go, and come again, And to-morrow I will give; When thou hast it by thee. 29. Devise not evil against thy neighbor, Seeing he dwelleth securely by thee. 30. Strive not with a man without cause, If he have done thee no harm. 31. Envy thou not the man of violence, And choose none of his ways. 32. For the perverse is an abomination to Jehovah; But his friendship is with the upright. 33. The curse of Jehovah is in the house of the wicked; But he blesseth the habitation of the righteous. 34. Surely he scoffeth at the scoffers; But he giveth grace unto the lowly. 35. The wise shall in