Whoso loveth discipline loveth knowledge, but he that hateth reproof is brutish.
Proverbs 12 opens by sorting people into two groups, and the test is not how much you know but how you answer correction. The verse ties the love of knowledge to a willingness to hear you are wrong, and it has a blunt word for the one who refuses.
The rest of the chapter runs on contrasts, and this verse starts them.
Next comes the contrast, drawn sharply. On one side are those who are open to divine discipline. On the other are those who refuse it. We see the path, the character, and the end of each. We also see the one who gains the LORD's favour, and the malicious man as well, and the righteous man who stands unmoved by what sweeps the wicked away.
Being open to correction is not a small personality trait here. It is the first item in a chapter that goes on to show what sweeps the wicked away and leaves the righteous unmoved.
The verse joins two things people tend to separate: the desire to learn and the willingness to take correction. One commentator points to Timothy, a man Paul wrote to, as someone who held both together.
We can be sure that Timothy treasured Paul's words to him: "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness" (2 Tim. 3:16). Timothy was one who loved instruction (v. 1). But instruction may well include correction, and some people resent it. Scripture calls them stupid (v. 1).
You cannot take the teaching and refuse the reproof. They arrive in the same package.
Someone might argue that a person already changed by God has moved past the need for this. One commentator answers that directly.
The fall cost us our original uprightness. So the soul always needs discipline, even where there is a new nature by grace. And it is a blessing where there is genuine humility that values knowledge from above. Pride and vanity both look down on reproof, and so go from bad to worse. Some people will not admit their faults or submit to faithful dealing. They sink below humanity.
That last line explains the blunt word the verse uses. The person who refuses all correction has dropped below the level of a human being.
The verse states the two attitudes without tracing their outcome. Elsewhere in Proverbs the same commentator shows where refusal leads.
Then comes the practical test: "Keeping instruction is the path of life," just as surely as "he who forsakes reproof errs." To hear instruction is not enough; to keep it is of great value. But to dislike, and so abandon, the "reproof" of our many faults is the way to go astray — and no one knows how far.
Nobody chooses the full distance of the wandering. They only choose the first refusal.
Earlier in the book, in chapter 9, the same principle shows up in a relationship. It also sets a standard for the person giving the correction.
A scoffer hates the one who corrects him. A wise man is the opposite: he will accept reproof, and he will even love the one who gives it (v. 8). Of course, the reproof should come from genuine love, and a wise man will recognise it when it does. Teach a wise man, and he grows wiser still, because such teaching adds to his learning.
So the test cuts both ways. The one who corrects must act in love, and the wise hearer can tell when he does.
- Test. This verse sorts people by how they answer correction, not by how much they know. It opens a chapter of contrasts, where the righteous stand unmoved by what sweeps the wicked away.
- Package. Loving instruction and accepting reproof are one thing, not two. Scripture is profitable for teaching and for reproof, so you cannot keep one and refuse the other.
- Need. The fall cost us our original uprightness, so the soul always needs discipline — even where there is a new nature by grace. Humility values knowledge from above; pride and vanity look down on reproof and go from bad to worse.
- Descent. Refusing to admit your faults sinks a person below humanity, and that is why the verse speaks so bluntly. Abandoning the reproof of our many faults is the way to go astray — and no one knows how far.
- Love. The wise man does more than tolerate the one who corrects him; he loves him. Reproof should come from genuine love, and a wise hearer will know when it does.
A good [man] obtaineth favour of Jehovah; but a man of mischievous devices will he condemn.
This proverb sets two men side by side: one receives God's favour, the other receives His verdict against him. So what makes a man "good" in God's eyes? And why does scheming, however clever, end in God's condemnation?
These sayings follow people from their character to their end. One writer sums up the run this way:
Next comes a clear contrast between two courses, two characters, two ends: those who are open to God's discipline, and those who refuse it. We see the man who obtains the LORD's favour. We see the malicious man too. And we see the righteous man, unmoved by what sweeps away the wicked.
The same contrast is read as a simple pairing of outcomes:
A good man and a man of wicked intentions are put in contrast in verse 2, the first obtaining favour with the Lord, the second only earning God's condemnation.
The Bible never lets "good" stand for natural human quality. When a young man came to Jesus calling Him "Good Teacher," the answer cut the ground from under any such idea.
The Lord, taking up the whole meaning of his word, replies, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone." … But God alone is good. Man, if he is intelligent, will not make himself out to be good before God, nor dream of human goodness.
So the good man of the proverb is not a self-made man. His goodness has a source outside himself, and his favour keeps coming from the same place:
The man who is good in his measure has been formed that way by his faith in the LORD's loving-kindness, and he obtains fresh favour. But God condemns the man who yields to his evil nature and lives in spiteful schemes.
The verse ends with a verdict, not with a guess about the schemer's reputation. Only one Judge can pass that sentence.
It is God who has the sole right to condemn, and He will bring such a recompense on those who hate the righteous. So He defends those who trust Him, by the condemnation of the enemy.
A "man of evil devices" does not stumble into wrong. He plans it. And his plan is what ruins him.
It is not just useless; it is his own ruin. The ditch dug for another is the trap that catches the digger. So he harvests the fruit of his work in an unwelcome way, and the payback is perfect. For God is Master of all, and will be glorified in all.
Writers here draw a line between two things: God's settled grace toward His people, and His government of their daily lives. The favour in this proverb belongs to the person who walks with God.
We must keep this distinction between grace and government in mind. God's attitude of grace towards His people never changes, because what Christ is before Him settles it. That is a blessed truth. Yet He never fails to discipline those among His people whose walk and conduct bring dishonour on His name, and to mark them with His displeasure. So the condition for enjoying what He is in grace, and for the showing of His favour, is a walk in His presence. Take Enoch, for example, who walked with God and had the testimony that he pleased God.
Does this belong only to Israel long ago? God still governs the earth today.
Here we are on the ground of God's government of the earth. He carries that government on now, though not in the direct way He once did in Israel, a people of His own… And where God exercises His government in this world and for it, as wisdom's place, such a path leads to blessing and prosperity. Suffering in a hostile world may be more specifically our portion now, though from Abel onward it was there. Still there is such a government, and God has not let go of the reins.
- Source. No one is good except God alone. Faith in the LORD's loving-kindness forms the good man of this verse, not any quality of his own.
- Gift. His goodness came as favour, so more favour follows. He obtains fresh favour; he never earns it.
- Verdict. The other man is not just unpopular. God condemns him, and that right belongs to God alone.
- Recoil. The evil devices become the trap. The digger falls into his own ditch, and the sentence works itself out through his own scheme.
- Path. God still holds the reins of His government. The walk that pleases Him is still the walk where you enjoy His favour.
A man shall not be established by wickedness; but the root of the righteous shall not be moved.
A single line sets two ways of living side by side. One man props himself up by doing wrong. The other stands because of a root nobody can see. The proverb asks which of the two will still be standing when the weather turns.
Evil may lift a man high, but no one can build on it. One writer notes that the very thing that lifts a man makes his footing unsafe.
It is not in the nature of wickedness to establish a man. Wickedness makes the high place he may reach slippery. But the righteous have a root that will not be moved, no matter how it is attacked.
Notice the word "attacked." The proverb does not promise the righteous a quiet life. It promises that the assault will not succeed in uprooting them.
If wickedness cannot establish anyone, why do wicked people often look so settled? One writer answers that appearances belong to now. The verdict belongs to God.
They may appear to be established in the place of authority, sitting at their ease. Still, in the government of God they will be driven away like chaff before the wind. For now the wicked may prosper and the godly suffer, so God's government may appear to have failed. This shows an important principle. For the full display of God's holy government — whether in blessing the godly or dealing with the wicked — we must wait for God's intervention in judgment in the day to come.
So the proverb is not about next month. It is a statement about how things finally settle.
The stability described here is not automatic. One writer traces it back to a choice the man himself made.
Verse 2 contrasts a good man with a man of wicked intentions. The first gains favor with the Lord. The second earns only God's condemnation. So such a man cannot be established. He flounders in his folly. The righteous man, though, has allowed his roots to go deep, so that he cannot be moved (v. 3).
"Allowed his roots to go deep" is a striking phrase. Depth is something a person permits over time, not something produced in the hour of crisis.
A tree can spread wide at ground level and still have no grip below. One writer draws the lesson from what the eye cannot see.
The roots of the tree were widespread, but they had not struck deep into the soil. The visible growth and leaves were far greater than the secret, unseen growth. The tree did not have much depth of earth… Nothing can matter more to us than a secret history of the soul with God. It is in secret that our roots strike deep into the grace in which we are planted. There we learn that our security lies in Him and not in ourselves, and so we are kept safe when the test comes.
The danger he names is a life where the visible outgrows the hidden. Where that happens, the storm is not the problem; the shallowness is.
What a root draws on matters. Earlier in the same book, one writer weighs trust in riches against righteousness.
Confidence in riches is very unsafe, as we are next told. Riches are sure to make wings for themselves and fly away like an eagle toward heaven. No wonder the one who trusts in them will fall. Righteousness, on the other hand, lasts through whatever comes from outside… For the Christian, this comes through abiding in Christ.
The chapter returns to the same picture later. There the root does more than hold.
Verse 12 contrasts the desire of the wicked with the righteous. The wicked man longs after the net, or prey, of men still more wicked, for his own gain. But the righteous man has a root of stability which does not fail to produce good fruit in its season.
- Root, not height. Wickedness may lift a man, but it makes his high place slippery. The righteous have a root that holds under attack.
- Root grows down first. The righteous man "has allowed his roots to go deep" — depth grows over years, and no one summons it in a crisis.
- Root beats spread. When visible growth outruns hidden growth, the storm tears the tree up. Roots strike deep in secret, in a hidden history with God.
- Root needs soil. Riches grow wings and fly away. Righteousness lasts through whatever comes — for the Christian, through abiding in Christ.
- Root yields fruit. The end is not just survival. The root that holds firm also produces good fruit in its season. The wicked look settled now, but God's government drives them away like chaff.
A woman of worth is a crown to her husband; but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones.
Proverbs 12:4 sets two homes side by side: in one the wife is her husband's honour, in the other she is a decay he feels in his bones. So what makes a wife "excellent," and why does the proverb picture the opposite in such harsh terms?
The word translated "excellent" covers more than moral purity. One writer works from Proverbs 31:10, quoting an older translation that reads "a virtuous woman," and sets out its range.
"Who can find a virtuous woman?" or "worthy woman," or "woman of worth," as some would read it. The word virtuous here is elsewhere translated 'worthy' (see Ruth 4:11; 1 Kings 1:52). The dictionaries say it means able and brave. Perhaps it carries something of all three words — virtuous, brave, able. Who can find such a woman? "For her price is far above rubies" — the most precious gem known in ancient times. Getting such a treasure is beyond any price.
Ruth wears that title in Scripture, and it came from people who had watched her.
Her faith in the LORD showed clearly in her godly living and daily conduct. It showed so clearly that, as Boaz testified, the wise and upright men who sat in the gate of Bethlehem knew she was "a woman of worth" (v. 11). The ruling elders had already recognised her as one who excelled in the womanly qualities that gave worthiness or "virtue" to a housewife in Israel. This term is used elsewhere. Solomon calls such a woman "a crown to her husband" (Prov. 12:4).
A crown is not decoration. Scripture gives the word a settled meaning.
The common sign of royalty and of victory, 2 Chr. 23:11; it also stands for honour or reward, as in "An excellent wife is the crown of her husband." Prov. 12:4. Paul calls those he had led to Christ his 'joy and crown,' his 'crown of rejoicing.' Phil. 4:1; 1 Thess. 2:19.
The proverb says more than that such a wife is good for a man. One commentator shows what her crowning looks like at home — and what the opposite does.
If you want a full-length portrait of a woman of worth, the last chapter of this book gives it. Such a woman is not only a blessing but "a crown" to her husband. Even if she is naturally or spiritually beyond him, she will still hide herself behind him and give real help under him as her head. Her help brings good order among children and servants, and it works in the circle of their friends or foes too. On the other hand, what a curse is the wife who brings shame, however it comes about! It is an evil that always feels hopeless in itself. How true the description is — "rottenness in his bones"!
The proverb is abstract. The Bible puts a face to each half of it.
Proverbs 31 is a lovely commentary on verse 4: "An excellent wife is the crown of her husband." In the New Testament, Priscilla is a lovely example (Acts 18:26). Where public matters are in view, Apollos comes first. Everywhere else Priscilla comes first, plainly because she stood out spiritually. By contrast, a wife who causes shame "is like rottenness in his bones." This was sadly true of Jezebel, the wife of Ahab (1 Kings 21:25).
The crown shows outside the house. One writer saw this proverb proved in the home of Martin Luther.
They have given another proof that "a prudent wife is from the LORD" and that "an excellent wife is the crown of her husband." God's chief witness in those troubled times had a modest Christian home. The god of this world tried to gather all the clouds and winds at his disposal around that home, and he aimed his lightning and thunder at it. Yet a steady light shone out of it, scattering the darkness in the power of God's word and of His Spirit.
- Worth. The word behind "excellent" means able, brave, worthy. Her price is above rubies.
- Recognised. The elders at the gate gave Ruth that title after watching how she lived. A whole town can see this kind of worth.
- Crowned. A crown stands for royalty, honour and reward. Such a wife is not only a blessing to her husband; she gives him honour.
- Placed. A wife who is beyond her husband naturally or spiritually still hides behind him and helps under him as her head. Her help brings order to the home.
- Or rotted. The reverse is a curse that feels hopeless — rottenness in the bones. Jezebel shows how far a wife's shame reaches; Priscilla shows how far a wife's worth reaches.
The thoughts of the righteous are right; the counsels of the wicked are deceit.
Proverbs 12:5 draws the line between the righteous and the wicked inside the mind, where words and actions start. Why do thoughts decide what a person is? And why is one man's planning honest while another's is a lie?
The verse weighs thinking, not doing. One writer explains why, and what happens when the mind itself is corrupt.
"The thoughts of the righteous are right" (v. 5). The proverb mentions their thoughts here, because thoughts are the basis of all their actions. "But the counsels of the wicked are deceitful." They make their plans without stopping to think where those plans lead. Their minds are so corrupt that they cannot think straight. They would often rather tell a lie than tell the truth. It is as if their consciences had been seared with a hot iron.
Righteousness is about how we stand toward God and toward people. So where do right thoughts come from, and why can the wrong kind look respectable?
Righteousness means living in line with our relationships to God and man. So "the thoughts" are a main part of it. Self-righteousness is its opposite. Where it claims any ground at all, that ground is only outward observance. What value can these have, when the heart is far from Jehovah?… True righteousness cannot be separated from being born of God. So the thoughts are right. They are the inward effect of a new life, and that life comes from the One God sets before faith, on whom those thoughts rest. The counsels of the wicked, who do not know Him, are deceit, for they flow from an evil nature that pretends to be good.
The word "counsels" points to the planning a man does inside himself. He assumes it stays hidden.
Evil thoughts. These are the inward reasonings and debates of man's mind. Inside himself he weighs things up, he calculates, he plans his schemes of sinful indulgence or deliberate rebellion. "Thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil scheme" (Ezek. 38:10; Micah 2:1-2). When the apostle describes the terrible moral collapse of the human race, he traces it to this inward source: "although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened" (Rom. 1:21). Because his thoughts lie hidden in his heart, man is strangely deluded into thinking they are hidden from God, who knows everything. Yet it is written, "The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile" (1 Cor. 3:20).
The same writer puts it more sharply elsewhere. God judges the plan before the man ever acts on it.
Not only is the way of the wicked evil, but his thoughts are an abomination to the Lord. Such a man knows that people cannot read his mind, so he is sure the Lord cannot read it either! But before he carries his thoughts out, the Lord has judged them to be an abomination.
The righteous mind runs the other way. It invites God to look inside.
The renewed mind does not avoid the presence of God. It delights to keep God in its knowledge, and says, "Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!" (Ps. 139:23) It will only want to have such thoughts as it can share with God, and will find delight in God's thoughts. "How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!" (Ps. 139:17)
Thoughts shape the man, so they need guarding. We guard them by choosing what we let fill them.
What are the objects that engage us? The things that constantly come into our minds? Do we keep thinking about the old path we walked in before we believed the gospel? Do the interests of this world engage our thoughts, or do the interests of Christ engage them? These are questions we need to put to ourselves, for, as a man "thinks in his heart, so is he," Proverbs 23:7. If we keep thinking about these evil things, they will mark our ways. Good things will mark us too — right things that please God — if we set our minds on them.
(The ESV translates Proverbs 23:7 as "he is like one who is inwardly calculating." The writer quotes an older wording.)
- Root — Thoughts are the basis of all actions, so the proverb weighs a person at the level of the mind, not the deed.
- Source — Right thoughts are the inward effect of a new life from God. Outward religion cannot produce them.
- Counterfeit — The counsels of the wicked are deceit. They flow from an evil nature that pretends to be good.
- Exposure — A man thinks his private planning is hidden. God has already judged the scheme before he acts on it.
- Response — The renewed mind welcomes the search: "Search me, O God, and know my heart." It stays that way by choosing what fills it.
The words of the wicked are a lying-in-wait for blood; but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them.
This proverb sets two mouths side by side: one waits in ambush for a life, the other rescues. Speech is never neutral here. It either plots harm or pulls people out of it.
The first half of the verse does not describe a fight but a trap. One writer asks what such words really are, and whose prey the speaker has become:
And what are "the words" of the wicked, as this verse describes them, but an ambush for blood? If they do not have life in Christ, they are the constant prey of the one who has been a liar and a murderer from the beginning… His mouth was smooth as milk, but war was in his heart. His words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords.
Most people judge a life by what it does, not by what it says. One writer contrasts that habit with how the Lord weighed words:
In every age many people are ready to take account of nothing but deeds. Free speech seems a man's necessary right, and going too far with it seems the most excusable of faults. Our Lord's estimate of words was very different (Matthew 12): words express the feelings and bent of the inner man even more than deeds do.
The second half of the verse promises rescue, but it does not say the upright rescue by force. They speak — and someone else makes the speaking effective:
On the other hand the mouth of the upright speaks to the conscience and heart, and God knows how to give it effect so that it shall deliver them.
Words that deliver are not a technique. They come out of a nature God has given:
True righteousness cannot be separated from being born of God. The thoughts are right because they are the inward effect of a new life, and that life comes from the One God has set before faith. The counsels of the wicked, who do not know Him, are deceit, because they flow from an evil nature that pretends to be good.
One writer traces that thread through the whole chapter to its closing line:
The thoughts of the righteous are right (12:5), because his heart is right. His words bring deliverance (12:6), and his tongue is health (12:18)… It is all summed up in the statement that closes the chapter: "In the path of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death." Happy are we if we know this way, which is Christ Himself, and if we follow Him.
The proverb does not stop with words. The verse after it shows where each way of speaking ends:
Verse 6 contrasts words. Those of the wicked do not hesitate to plot bloodshed, but those of the upright favour deliverance from the snares of evil. Verse 7 shows the result: the wicked are overthrown, and the house of the righteous stands firm.
Proverbs elsewhere shows what healing speech does day by day:
Then kindness, or healing, of the tongue is a fruitful source in a world of death. It saves from so many pitfalls, and it smooths so many rough places. But crookedness in the tongue provokes griefs and wounds without end. How truly it is a breaking of the spirit!
- Source. Murderous speech is not just a bad habit. Those who speak it are the constant prey of the liar and murderer who has worked that way from the beginning.
- Disguise. The ambush sounds gentle. The speech is smooth as milk while war sits in the heart, and words softer than oil turn out to be drawn swords.
- Weight. Words are not the lightweight part of a life. They express the bent of the inner man even more than deeds do. That is why the Lord's estimate of words was so different.
- Rescue. The upright speak to the conscience and heart. God gives that speech its effect, so the rescue is His work through their mouth.
- Outcome. The words follow the heart, and the end follows the words. The wicked are overthrown. The house of the righteous stands, and the path of righteousness holds life with no death in it.
Overthrow the wicked, and they are no [more]; but the house of the righteous shall stand.
The proverb sets two houses side by side and follows each one to its end. It raises the question every honest reader asks: what makes a family or a name last, and why do ruthless people so often look safe?
Verse 7 does not stand alone. It gives the outcome of the words weighed in the verse just before it.
Verse 6 contrasts words. The words of the wicked do not hesitate to plot bloodshed, but the words of the upright work for deliverance from the traps of evil. Verse 7 shows the result: the wicked are overthrown, and the house of the righteous stands firm.
The house that stands belongs to "the righteous." That word is not about outward performance.
Righteousness means being consistent with our relationships to God and to people, so "the thoughts" are a main part of it. Self-righteousness is really its opposite. If it claims any ground at all, that ground is outward religious observance. What value can such observance have when the heart is far from Jehovah? Such a heart shows it by ignoring His Anointed, and by resting its hopes on its own ways, following the rules of men. True righteousness cannot be separated from being born of God. So the thoughts are right, because they are the inward effect of a new life. That life comes from God's object of faith, the One on whom those thoughts rest.
The difference between the two houses is not what you see above ground. It is what lies underneath, and the storm reveals it.
The wicked build on sand, so when the overthrow comes it is fatal. But the house of the righteous is built on the rock, and it will stand. Rain may fall, floods may come, and winds may blow, but they only prove that it is well founded and kept safe. So it is with the one who hears the Word and obeys it.
In that reading the storm does not threaten the righteous house. It proves it.
History shows the verse working out. One writer sums up Joram, the last king of Omri's line in Israel.
The royal line of Omri — the most powerful of the nine that ruled over Israel — ended with his life. His character was neither strong nor marked by anything special. He leaned toward the worship of Jehovah, but only as a supporter of it. His heart was never subject to Him as the one true God of heaven and earth.
The strongest royal line in Israel ended with that one king. Half-hearted respect for God did not hold his house up.
Many wicked houses are still standing today. That is where readers stumble. One writer describes God's dealings with people as a government, and it works on two timescales.
God's government first appeared in Eden. There man, innocent but responsible, disobeyed, and God drove him out of the garden and made him subject to death. From that moment on, God's government keeps working toward man. Man is responsible to live in this world in a way that fits the righteousness, holiness, and goodness of his Creator, who rewards the good and punishes the wicked. On the other hand, He does make His sun shine on the just and on the unjust. He is a God of goodness who does not want the death of the sinner, but leads him to repentance by His patience. Still, men's wicked actions bring their own consequences — usually here on earth, for themselves and often for their children... But if they are not judged on earth, God will speak the final word of judgment at the last judgment.
That patience is not indifference. It is God giving room for repentance before the overthrow.
A companion saying in chapter 14 sharpens the picture. There the wicked have the solid building and the upright have only a tent — and the outcome is still reversed.
The wicked live in that house, and there can be no security for them or their own under the moral government of God. It will be overthrown... On the other hand, how exposed to wind and rain is "the tent of the upright"! Yet the unseen hand protects it, and it will flourish.
- Thoughts first. The house that stands rests on a life that thinks right. Right thinking comes from being born of God, not from outward religious observance.
- Foundation next. One house rests on sand, the other on rock. Hearing and obeying God's Word puts a life on the rock.
- Storm proves it. Rain, flood and wind do not endanger the righteous house. They only prove it was well founded and is kept safe.
- History confirms it. Omri's line was the strongest in Israel. It ended with Joram, who supported God's worship but never submitted to Him.
- Time does not cancel it. God's government often repays wickedness in this life. Where it does not, God speaks the final word at the last judgment. The delay is patience, not escape.