Proverbs 3:35

The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools. THE WISE SHALL INHERIT (LITERALLY, SHALL POSSESS BY INHERITANCE, 1 PETER 1:3 ) GLORY: BUT SHAME SHALL BE THE PROMOTION OF FOOLS - literally, shame (is) exalting fools. When they seem to be exalted, it is only that they my be at last put to shame. All their good things will be reversed. When glory shall be the promotion and perculiar and permanent inheritance of the godly wise, shame shall be the only promotion that ungodly fools shall have....

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 3:35. _THE WISE_] The person who follows the dictates of wisdom, as mentioned above, _shall inherit glory_; because, being one of the _heavenly family_, a _child of God_, he has thereby heaven for his _inheritance; but fools_, such as those mentioned Proverbs 1:7 and Proverbs 2:12; Proverbs 2:22, shall have _ignominy_ for their exaltation. Many such fools as Solomon speaks of are exalted to the _gibbet_ and _gallows_. The way to prevent this and the like evils, is to attend to the voice of wisdom....

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 ...

THE WISE SHALL INHERIT GLORY,.... The wise are the same with the just and lowly before mentioned, to whom God gives grace, and to these he gives glory. The "wise" are such who are so, not in a natural, civil, or notional sense, or that are wise in the things of nature, in civil affairs and in speculative matters of religion; but in a spiritual sense, who are wise unto salvation; who know themselves, the sinfulness of their nature, their inability to do that which is good, and their want of righteousness to justify them before God; who are sensible of the sickness and diseases of their souls, their spiritual poverty, and their great folly and ignorance with respect to things of a spiritual nature; who know Christ, and him crucified, the way of peace, pardon, righteousness, and salvation by him; that know him, not only notionally, but so as to apply unto him, and rest on him for salvation;...

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

SHALL INHERIT, &C. Render: "the wise shall inherit glory, but. fool is piling up disgrace". Illustrations: Asaph (Psalms 73:24); Paul (2 Timothy 4:8); others (James 1:12.3 John 1:12; 3 John 1:12; 3 John 1:12 :26). SHAME, &C. Illustrations: Jeroboam (1 Kings 21:22. 2Ki 13:2, 2 Kings 13:11;...

_the promotion_ There is force and irony in this rendering, which is retained in R.V. text, whereas the alternative of R.V. margin, _fools carry away shame_, though it may be thought to preserve the parallelism better, is insipid. Their glory is even now (Philippians 3:19), and in the day when all things become real shall be seen to be, their shame....

DISCOURSE: 761 THE REWARDS OF WISDOM AND OF FOLLY Proverbs 3:35. _The wise shall inherit glory; but shame shall be the promotion of fools_. A DESIRE of distinction and a fear of shame are powerful incentives to the human mind, and produce, in every department of life, exertions far beyond those to which mere natural inclination would prompt us. The soldier on the field of battle finds those principles stronger than the fear of death: nor is the student insensible of their influence upon his mind: on the contrary, the nearer the time approaches for a judgment to be passed upon him, the greater are his anxieties respecting it [Note: Preached a little previous to the Degree time at Cambridge; a time of extreme anxiety to the young men preparing for the Examinations.]. Now, these feelings being founded in nature itself, God is pleased to call them into action in reference to