Proverbs 3:32

For the froward is abomination to the LORD: but his secret is with the righteous. FOR THE FROWARD IS ABOMINATION TO THE LORD: BUT HIS SECRET IS WITH THE RIGHTEOUS - Hebrew, the upright (note, Psalms 25:14). His familiar intimacy (Hebrew, cowd (H5475)) is the privilege of the righteous. They have the favour of their King (Job 29:4; John 7:17; John 15:15; Genesis 18:17; Amos 3:7...

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 3:32. _BUT HIS SECRET_] סודו _sodo, his secret assembly_; godly people meet there, and God dwells there....

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 ...

FOR THE FROWARD [IS] ABOMINATION TO THE LORD,.... The perverse man, that pleases not God, and is contrary to all men, as the Jews were; one froward in his words and actions: "who transgresses the law", as the Arabic version renders it; one that acts contrary to the nature, will, and word of God; and such an one is not only abominable in his sight, but an "abomination" itself; it is sin, which is that abominable thing that God hates, that makes him so: and the Targum is, "for iniquity is abominable before the Lord;'' BUT HIS SECRET [IS] WITH THE RIGHTEOUS: not such who are outwardly so to others, or trust in themselves that they are righteous, or seek for righteousness by their own works; but such who are justified by the righteousness of Christ, which faith receives from him, and in consequence of which a man lives soberly and righteously: with these the "secret" of the Lord is; of his...

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

FROWARD. those who turn aside. The same word as in Proverbs 2:15. not as elsewhere in Proverbs. ABOMINATION TO THE LORD. Note all the things thus declared: Proverbs 3:32 (Proverbs 11:20); Proverbs 6:16; Proverbs 8:7; Proverbs 11:1; Proverbs 12:22; Proverbs 15:8 ...

_his secret_ i.e., as R.V. margin explains, _his counsel_(Genesis 18:17), or _his friendship_(Exodus 33:11). Comp. Psalms 25:14 (and note there in this Series); John 15:15....

FOR THE FROWARD IS ABOMINATION— "He that perversely departs from all the rules of truth and justice is above all expression abominable to the Lord, even in his highest prosperity: but the Lord is a friend to men of sincere integrity; who know the _secret_ of his providence in raising those wicked oppressors so high, that they may have the more dreadful fall....