Here it is mainly a contrast between wisdom and folly in varied points of view, with no little instruction for such as fear the Lord and desire abiding fruit.
If man has his place in authority and external activity, not less real is that of the woman, and especially in the "home" of which she is the chief bond. Yet there is even there the need of a better foundation than man can lay, else it will surely fail, and it cannot be the house that the wisdom of woman builds. Keeping at home is good; working at home, as in the critical reading of Titus 2:55To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. (Titus 2:5), is still better. And how true that folly plucks down the house with her hands!
Though wisdom be not expressly named in verse 2, yet does it underlie all walking in uprightness. As the fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge, so he that walks in his uprightness, which is its fruit, does fear Him, out of whose mouth is knowledge and understanding, as He lays up sound wisdom for the upright. On the other hand, where there is perversity in ways, will be found despising of Him. To lean to our own intelligence is the very reverse of knowing Him in all our ways, who alone can and will make our paths plain.
Then we have to remember how large a part the mouth has in the display of folly as well as of wisdom. "In the fool's mouth is a rod of pride." Haughty as it may be in its self-indulgence, what retribution for the fool's back! The lips of the wise, as they help others, shall preserve themselves from strife, dangers, and difficulties.
No credit is due to the cleanness which attends idleness and shirking labor. "Where no oxen are the crib is clean"; but what of that? It is mercy, as well as a judgment, that a man is to eat bread in the sweat of his face. Not only is labor, but sorrow, and suffering, better than sin. Pride, fullness of bread, and careless ease lead to ruin and judgment; as industry, using means, such as the strength of the ox, brings in much increase; so God ordains for man that wisely hears and obeys.
Next, how often a person seeks to be thought wise by his independent spirit and detraction, which constantly expose himself to exaggeration and falsehood! It is folly and mischief all the while. Our own business is to do God's will; and "a faithful witness will not lie" to exalt self or to disparage others. But a false one breathes out lies—a remarkable and frequent phrase in Scripture. To breathe out lies is more effective and ensnaring than vehement denunciation, which would arrest attention and insure speedy refutation. But breathing them out spreads the malice effectively and widely too, through imposed-on confidants, while the maligned are kept ignorant of the mischief. It is a picture of utter corruption.
A scorner is more boldly evil and presumptuous; he "seeketh wisdom," but in his own way (which is as far as possible from the Lord); and hence, as is here said, there is none for him. "For Jehovah giveth wisdom" (chap. 2:6); and blessed is he that finds it (chap. 3:13). Even God Himself is no exception. "Jehovah by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding He established the heavens. By his knowledge the deeps were broken up, and the skies drop down the dew." He indeed scorns the scorners and gives grace to the lowly; the wise shall inherit glory; but shame shall be the promotion of fools. Had not Verulam this sounding to his heart, when he wrote, "He that comes to seek after knowledge, with a mind to scorn and censure, shall be sure to find matter enough for his humor, but none for his instruction." How true on the other hand, "that knowledge is easy to the intelligent"!
What is one to do when in presence of a foolish man "in whom thou perceivest not the lips of knowledge"? Get away. He can do you no good and may do you no little harm. He will receive no reproof, and you risk provocation and loss of temper.
"The wisdom of the prudent" is not in lofty claims or unproved theories, but "to discern his way"; the pretended wisdom but real "folly of fools is deceit." For as there is no power, it lies in ever changing devices and tricks to evade.
The end, if not beginning, of such a path is that "fools make a mock of trespass," the road to destruction; whereas "among the upright is favor." It is the upright only who have true pity as well as horror of transgression. Grace alone made them upright, after being far from God; and they turn to Him, not only for the favor they need and have found, but to seek it for others too insensible to judge themselves.
At verse 10 we begin with moral truth as to the heart, and thence come to manifested words and ways.
It is an evil age, the world far from God and knowing Him not; and man, its chief, chief in guilt and pride, yet liable to wrongs and vexations without end. How exposed then is the heart, whatever the position, to bitterness, unknown to others! So too it refuses a share in its joys to a stranger. Yet if grief before God isolates to God, "every family apart and the wives apart," joy overflows willingly to congenial souls, as the man and the woman in the parables of Luke 15 call friends and neighbors to rejoice on regaining what was lost.
In verse 11 it is not "the heart" but "the house" which may rise aloft from deep foundations. But the wicked dwell there, and no security can be for them or theirs in the moral government of God. It shall be overthrown, though the fear of God would not hasten the moment. On the other hand, how exposed to wind and rain is "the tent of the upright"! Yet the unseen hand protects, and it shall flourish.
Next we come to man's "ways," and the danger of trusting his own estimate of it. If it seems right to him, men say, Why blame him? He is sincere; and none is entitled to judge him wrong. Is there then no divine standard by which we may try our thoughts, no means of forming a sound and sure judgment? Why did God then reveal His Word, and early enough in an experimental shape? And why did His Son as man tabernacle long enough among men to reveal his nature and relationship in living perfection to such as have eyes to see and ears to hear? No; man is accountable for his thoughts and his feelings no less than his words and his ways; "and the end thereof is the ways of death." Man departed far from God and disliked Him, as Christ fully proved. Though He never was far from each one of us, God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, for which the world gave Christ the cross. Man is accountable, whatever he thinks.
It is truly a dreary world of grief, where man seeks pleasure and mirth in lieu of a happiness which cannot be where the conscience is not purged after a divine sort, and the heart has not Christ before it-God's object, as ours too.
"Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of mirth [is] sadness." So it is till man receives Christ. All otherwise is hollow, and the passing levity leaves its sting. "Rejoice, 0 young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou that for all these God will bring thee into judgment."
Still darker is "the backslider in heart." Terrible is the promise to him: he "shall be filled with his own ways"; and all the more terrible because he had outwardly known the lines in pleasant places, and the way of peace. On the other hand, "the good man" by grace shall have his boast in what belongs to himself alone, and not what belongs to another. He shall be filled from himself. God has freely given him all he values most, the unseen and eternal in the promised One.
In such a world as this, few greater follies can be than credulity. Believing God is the effectual safeguard. "The simple believeth every word; but the prudent heedeth his going." We are exhorted to "prove all things," but to hold fast the good (the comely).
Next, it is for us to use "fear and depart from evil," as a wise man does; to be "overbearing and confident" is arrant folly. "Honor all," says not the least of the apostles; as a greater still loved to style himself, and in truth was, "a 'bondman' of Jesus Christ."
And what folly to be soon angry? Even a wise man "deals foolishly" who is easily provoked; but "a man of mischievous devices" makes himself odious when found out as he is.
"The simple" again "inherit folly." This is what descends to man naturally. "The prudent" are lowly enough to receive and learn from the Highest; and theirs it is to be "crowned with knowledge." "He giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to those that know understanding."
Here we have not the simple or the foolish, but the evil and the wicked (v. 19); and their failure even before a King shall reign in righteousness, and princes rule in judgment. God is never without a testimony in the evil day, if it be only here and there, now and then. Yet things are as yet far from what they ought, and are, to be.
What men sow they reap, and soon sometimes. Nor are the evil without conscience, so that they bow to the good, as the wicked court the favor and the help of a righteous man.
Poverty is dreaded more than sin; and hence the poor is hated even by his own neighbor, while the rich man has many who make up to him. Such is the covetousness of the heart, and the hollowness of the world.
To despise one's neighbor, what a sin in His sight who despises not any? Let us lay to heart what Christ was to needy men, women, and children. What an example to us! Whoever showed such kindness to the afflicted? May we have the happiness found in grace like His!
Yet proud heartlessness may go to greater evil in despising evil, but not escape His eyes who sees cunning mischief and every secret of the heart. How profound and fatal the error! For judgment slumbers not, any more than His mercy and truth fail for those that devise good unobtrusively.
For man as he is, labor is as useful as idleness is worthless. Hence we are told here that in all labor is profit, while the talk of the lips tends to want.
The crown, not of the foolish, but of the wise, is their riches; for these turn their wealth to the account of unselfish goodness and the relief of human misery, and the furtherance of God's will and glory. They would be rich toward God. The folly of fools on the contrary is folly. God is in none of their thoughts, and all they express or do is folly all the more seen, if they have riches to attract a crowd of witnesses.
We pass through a world of evil and error. Hence the value of a true witness in delivering souls open otherwise to be mistaken and misrepresented by the false. But not many are willing to speak out at all cost. One there was who never failed, the Faithful and True Witness, and He the great Deliverer of souls. May we cleave to Him, and represent Him in this! But deceit, what can it utter but lies? It were sad to think that there could be no repentance for a deceiver; but it must be hard for a deceiver to gain credit for his self-judgment. Nevertheless, if real, God would not fail to vindicate what His grace effects.
So we read next, that in the fear of Jehovah is strong confidence. For this fear takes away all other fear, and becomes a tower of strength; and it avails for others who tremble at His word, especially His children. What place of refuge so sure and near?
But the fear of Jehovah is much more than a protection from enemies. It is a fountain of life-not a well that may fail when most needed, but a perennial spring of enjoyment to strengthen the heart, ever so timid and dejected without it, to turn away from the snares of death with which Satan overspreads the world, and which are dangerously nigh to every heart of man.
Next follow maxims, public and private, of great weight (vv. 28-35).
To have a numerous population is the king's glory; but David made it his pride, and persisted in a tainted public measure, notwithstanding the earnest protest of his chief servant, a mere worldling, to his own sin, shame, and chastening in the very point of his glorying. Yes, David who owed everything to God's favor, not to an arm of flesh! But a dwindling people prepares for a ruler's destruction.
Again, it is a sure sign of a great understanding morally to cultivate slowness of anger, though never to be angry before the Lord evinces total want of right feeling in the presence of evil. How slow was He Himself, yet could and did He kindle to God's glory. The hasty of spirit only exposes his own folly.
Then again, a sound or placid heart is a general healing power, just as envy rots even the bones—a corroding evil, without doubt.
And what is it to oppress the poor, but to reproach Him that made him and his lot? Whereas he honors the faithful Creator, that shows compassion to the needy.
It is his own evil that expels or thrusts down the wicked, while even in his death the righteous retains his confidence. Even if a feeble believer be before us, there is no moment in his life so happy as his departure to be with Christ. Gloom, on the other hand, is unbelief.
The intelligence here commended began with the fear of Jehovah, and grew by hearing and gaining wise counsels which fools despise. Wisdom accordingly rests not on the tongue merely, but in the heart which prizes it.
In the foolish, even when deeply wounded, is nothing to make known but lack of sense. Jehovah, God, is nowhere within such a spirit.
On the other hand, it is not only a man but a nation which righteousness exalts; and righteousness is a just sense of relationship to God and man, the very reverse of absorption in our own interest which ere long ruins those blindly devoted to it. Sin is a real reproach to peoples as well as to men.
It is also no small contribution to national well-being that the king should not forget, but heed and honor, a wise servant, no less than frown on him that causes shame.