Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of mirth is sadness.
This saying looks past the face to the heart, and warns that the two do not always agree. It raises a hard question. If the loudest laughter can hide an aching heart, where is a joy that will not end in grief?
The proverb knows what no watching person could know: what goes on inside someone while he laughs. One writer takes that as a sign of who is speaking here:
Here is another deep saying. It shows that Another stands behind this wisdom spoken by the wise king. He knows everything going on in human life and in the heart. "Even in laughter the heart may ache, and the end of joy may be grief." How often the sorrowful and the downcast cover it all with forced laughter. No one suspects that underneath the laughter there is a heavy heart.
Appearances mislead twice over — in the path that looks right, and in the face that looks happy:
People are usually clever at coming up with a way that seems right to them (v. 12), not realizing that the end of such a way is death, for it lacks simple faith in the living God. Verse 13 shows that laughter is not always a sign of happiness. People can laugh even when they are torn with sorrow. The result of such laughter is then bound to be grief. We can never trust appearances.
The gap between the face and the heart is often deliberate. One writer explains what the world's laughter is for:
The heart will feel the love of God in the middle of the world's misery; it will rejoice in eternal salvation, and in His goodness which has obtained it... But this will not be the foolish joy of the world. That joy seeks to hide its emptiness, and with laughter to stifle the sense of its misery. When a person is alone, emptiness and often pain make themselves felt. In the company of others they are forgotten in laughter. Men do not like to burden others; they must make them believe they are happy. The world cannot be real with itself; yet sorrow and affliction are only too real. The Lord could weep but not laugh.
The second half of the verse moves from the moment to the outcome. One writer points to what that joy rests on — and where it is heading:
"Even in laughter the heart may ache, and the end of joy may be grief." So it is until a person receives Christ. Everything else is hollow, and the passing lightness leaves its sting. "Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment."
The same writer names what real happiness needs:
It is a dreary world of grief. Man seeks pleasure and mirth instead of happiness. But happiness cannot exist where the conscience is not cleansed in a divine way, and where the heart does not have Christ before it — God's object, and ours too.
The verse exposes hidden pain. One writer turns from that hidden sorrow to what God does about it:
Turning to the word of God, we discover for our comfort that God is not indifferent to these broken hearts. The Psalmist tells us that God "heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." He adds at once, "He determines the number of the stars; He gives to all of them their names. Great is our Lord" (Ps. 147:2-5). The stars are too many for us to count. The sorrow of a broken heart is too deep for us to measure. But God can count the stars in heaven and heal the broken hearts on earth.
The Lord gives a different kind of joy. It is not tied to circumstances:
The joy the Lord speaks of is not only a joy that remains. He can also tell His disciples that it will be "in you." Because it is in us, it is not like the joy of this world, which depends on outward circumstances. The Psalmist could say, "You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound" (Ps. 4:7). Earthly joys depend on outward prosperity; the gladness of the Lord is in the heart. In His outward circumstances the Lord was an outcast and lonely Man — the Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. In His path of perfect obedience to the Father's will, He lived in the constant sense of the Father's love. In that love He found the constant spring of all His joy.
- Hidden — Only God could say what this proverb says. A heart can ache while the face laughs, and no one suspects.
- Hollow — That laughter is often a cover. It tries to drown out emptiness instead of overflowing with gladness.
- Heavy — What is hollow cannot hold. The lightness passes and leaves its sting, and God will bring it all into judgment.
- Healed — God is not indifferent to the hearts breaking behind the laughter. He counts the stars and binds up wounds.
- Held — The Lord puts His joy inside a person, not on circumstances — so it does not end in grief.
The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways, and the good man from what is in himself.
Proverbs 14:14 sets two men side by side, and each is filled from his own way. The key phrase is "in heart." The turning it names may never show on the outside — so how can a person be full and still starving?
The word behind "backslider" means to go back. A Bible dictionary reads the verse as a change of path:
"to go back": "the backslider in heart will be filled with his own ways," instead of God's ways.
The verse does not say the backslider in conduct:
Nothing satisfies the heart of Jesus except having you and me near Him. And nothing satisfies our hearts except being near Him. For "the backslider in heart will be filled with his own ways." It does not say the backslider on the outside. It says the backslider in heart.
The church at Ephesus shows how this works. Its record was excellent, yet Christ still had something against it:
Everyone knew their eager work, their firmness in rejecting false teachers, and their endurance for Christ's sake. Still, He who reads the heart had something against them: they had left their first love (see Rev. 2:2-4). On the outside they were everything you could wish for. But their love for Christ no longer burned as brightly as at first... they were backsliders in heart.
The same thing happens in ordinary church life:
They may never miss a meeting. They may be correct and upright in their ways. They may keep up perfect outward behaviour. Yet all the while they may show very little heart for Christ, or for His interests. Of such the Scripture says, "They shall be filled with their own ways," not the ways of Christ, or what pleases Him. We might call such people lean-souled Christians — like people long ago, about whom it is written: "He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul."
Being filled sounds like a blessing until you see what fills the cup. Full is not the same as satisfied:
A man may hunger after the world and not be filled; the world is fading, not filling. A man may be filled and not satisfied. A sinner may take his fill of sin, but it is far from satisfaction... but the one who hungers after righteousness will be filled and satisfied. "My people shall be satisfied with My goodness" (Jer. 31:14).
The slide starts in private, where no one else can see:
It has been remarked that "backsliding begins at the closet door," which is quite true. It is up to each one of us, therefore, to watch the beginning of things. No matter how advanced we may seem, or how much truth we know, we cannot hold it in divine power unless we seek to be alone with God in private.
Commentators differ on whether this man is a believer. One takes the phrase as the mark of a heart never truly changed:
A true believer may backslide in his actions to some extent, but he is not a backslider in heart. The backslider in heart proves he is not a believer at all. He may have professed to believe in the Lord Jesus, but his heart has not been truly reached... A believer may backslide in his ways in some measure, but God will bring him back and restore his soul.
Others speak straight to the backslider, and point to how God treats him:
God give us each to heed His word, and note how tender are His ways, particularly with backsliders. Friend, if you are one, be as hard on yourself as you like. But remember: God's heart is full of the tenderest love towards you. He only seeks to bring you back to Himself.
The second half turns the picture over. The good man is also filled from what is in him — and what is in him was given to him:
The promise to him is terrible: he "will be filled with his own ways." It is all the more terrible because he had once known the pleasant places and the way of peace on the outside. On the other hand, "the good man" by grace will boast in what belongs to himself alone, and not in what belongs to another. He will be filled from himself. God has freely given him all he values most: the unseen and eternal in the promised One.
- Heart first. The verse names the backslider in heart. The turning happens inside, long before anyone sees it.
- Heart hidden. Ephesus kept the work, the teaching and the endurance, yet had left its first love. A clean record proves nothing about love.
- Heart starved. He gets a full cup of his own ways instead of God's — filled, yet never satisfied. The good man is filled instead from what God has given him.
- Heart drifting. The slide starts at the closet door, where time alone with God gets dropped.
- Heart restored. Commentators differ on whether this man is a believer at all. They agree on how God treats a backslider: tenderly, and set on bringing him home.
The simple believeth every word; but the prudent [man] heedeth his going.
The verse sets two people side by side: one believes whatever he is told, the other watches where his own feet are taking him. In a world full of voices, how do you stay open to truth without becoming an easy target?
The word does not mean stupid. It points to a person with nothing settled inside.
The simple are the many weak ones. They have no moral discernment and no aim, so they lie open to evil on every side and at every turn. This easy indifference makes them a prey.
One writer brings the proverb into today's world of advertising and sales pitches.
"The simple (that is, the simpleton) believes every word, but the prudent considers well his steps" (v. 15). If we are prudent, we cannot take everyone's word as true. We know that many people twist the truth for their own gain. Do we accept the word of all those who advertise with tempting arguments? Many are deceived by such con artists, but a prudent person will not be swayed by these methods.
Believing everything and believing God are opposites, not neighbours. One writer marks the difference, then pictures it as floating or sinking.
That is the difference between faith and credulity. Faith rests on the strongest evidence the universe offers: the word of God. Overwhelming testimony, built up piece by piece, shows that it is His word. Credulity refuses that evidence, yet swallows any absurd claim that comes with something you can touch. Faith floats, resting only on the waters of life; credulity grasps at a straw, and sinks.
The cure for gullibility is not suspicion of everything. It is trusting God, and then testing every other claim.
In a world like this, few follies can be greater than credulity. Believing God is the effective safeguard. We are urged to test everything, but to hold fast what is good.
In the ancient Greek version of the Old Testament, the word for repentance appears in this verse. One writer explains what that word means.
Repentance means literally an after-thought, or a changed thought. It is a judgment the mind forms on reflection, after it has already had an earlier one. … And in another place it says, "The simple believes every word, but the prudent uses (μετάνοιαν) reflection, afterthought."
Careful people still get caught another way. The danger is not an obvious fraud. It is a trusted teacher.
But we can lift a teacher into a false position. Then we accept what he says because he says it, without testing it by the Word. So we are in danger of being led into distortions of the truth, and of losing the truth we once professed to hold.
The second half of the verse turns the reader's eye on himself. One writer applies it to Peter, and to the night in Gethsemane — the garden where Jesus asked His disciples to stay awake and pray.
If the apostle had been a prudent man, and had been looking carefully to where he was going (Prov. 14:15), he would have watched and prayed in Gethsemane, and stayed away from the place of temptation among the enemies of Christ. But there Peter's feet were almost gone; his steps had nearly slipped (Ps. 73:2). Mercifully, the Lord held him up, and made him safe (Ps. 119:117). He brought him up out of the horrible pit, and established his steps.
- Simple — not unintelligent, but without discernment or aim. That emptiness leaves a person open on every side, and easy prey.
- Swallows — the simple takes every claim as true, which is why people who twist the truth for gain find him first.
- Sinks — credulity grabs at any straw and goes under; faith rests on the word of God and floats.
- Second thought — the mark of the prudent man is reflection, an afterthought. He tests a claim by Scripture instead of trusting the person who made it.
- Steps — the proverb ends with watching yourself, not others. Had Peter watched his own steps, he would have kept away from the place of temptation.
A wise [man] feareth and departeth from evil; but the foolish is overbearing and confident.
The proverb sets two men side by side: one backs away from evil, the other charges ahead sure of himself. The surprise is which one ends up safe — the fearful man, not the fearless one.
The verse above calls the wise man cautious. Older translations say he fears, and the writers quoted here use that word. This fear is not nervousness.
Dread has left the believing soul, but reverence remains. It deepens as God and His Word become more fully known... Along with this grows an inward horror of sin in every form. With it grows an earnest desire to stay completely separate from sin. "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil" (Prov. 8:13). He who wallows in sin, whatever his religious profession, has never known our God.
Far from making a man timid, this fear makes him brave:
This fear is not cowardice. It does not lower the mind but lifts it, because it drowns all lower fears. It produces true courage to face every danger for a good conscience and for obeying God. "The righteous is bold as a lion" (Prov. 28:1); he dares do anything but offend God, and to dare do that is the greatest folly and baseness and weakness in the world. All the generous resolutions and patient sufferings of the saints and martyrs of God have sprung from this fear. They dared not sin against Him. So they dared to face prison, poverty, torture, and death for Him.
The wise man does not wait for evil to reach him. He moves before it arrives, and he moves out of range.
When evil threatens, a wise man will fear and depart from the very realm of the temptation (v. 16). The believer finds safety this way. The fool is self-confident, and even rages in a way that proves him a fool.
It means keeping away from the situations that stir sin up:
If you would not be overcome by temptation, flee the occasions of sin. Occasions of sin have great force to awaken lust within. He who would keep himself free from infection will not come near an infected house... Do not come near the borders of temptation. Many pray, "Lead us not into temptation," and yet run themselves into temptation.
The second half of the verse is not describing a criminal but a man sure of himself. Commentators treat that self-assurance itself as the folly.
Next, it is for us to fear and depart from evil, as a wise man does; to be overbearing and confident is complete folly.
Where does such confidence come from? From a refusal to believe a bad report about oneself. Peter is the example given — a devoted man who would not accept the Lord's warning.
This unreadiness to accept an unpalatable truth about oneself is no new feature in man... A similar disposition can be seen in the devoted Simon Peter. He was eager, brave, and passionate in his respect and devotion to his Master. So he would not admit for a moment that the Lord's words about him were true: "This very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times." He did not know the weakness inside him, and burst out, "Even if I must die with You, I will not deny You." The sad sequel proved how true the Lord's words were. How much better if the self-confident man had heeded the gracious warning.
The confident man cannot see himself. His own eyes are his only measure.
For man with a fallen nature and in a fallen world to trust in himself is to play the fool. God is not in any of his thoughts. He is sure he needs no advice; he is right in his own eyes... There is nothing a man dislikes more than thinking badly of himself, unless it is believing good of God. Truly the way of a fool is right in his own eyes. He that is wise distrusts himself and listens to counsel.
The same chapter shows where the wise man's fear leads. He too ends up confident, but his confidence rests in the fear of the Lord.
So we read next, that in the fear of Jehovah is strong confidence. This fear takes away all other fear and becomes a tower of strength. And it is of help to others who tremble at His word, above all His children. What place of refuge could be so sure and so near?
- Fear — the wise man's fear is reverence and a horror of sin, not cowardice. It drowns every lower fear and makes men bold enough to suffer rather than offend God.
- Departs — he acts on that fear early. He keeps clear of temptation and will not go near its borders.
- Rages — the fool's opposite move is self-assurance; he is sure he needs no advice, because he is right in his own eyes.
- Warned — Peter shows the pattern. He was devoted, but he would not accept an unwelcome truth about himself, and he fell just as the Lord said.
- Refuge — the man who feared ends up with the confidence the fool only imagined. The fear of the Lord is itself a tower of strength and a sure place of refuge.
He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly, and a man of mischievous devices is hated.
Proverbs 14:17 sets a man who explodes beside a man who plots, and it treats both as failures of wisdom. One writer takes the two clauses together and notes that a hot temper is not proof of ignorance — it can overtake even a person who knows better.
And what folly it is to be soon angry! Even a wise man "deals foolishly" who is easily provoked; but "a man of mischievous devices" makes himself hated when he is found out for what he is.
What does a sudden flare do to a man? Elsewhere in Proverbs, one writer traces it — and puts the prudent man beside him.
The vexation of the fool breaks out in immediate and uncontrollable anger. He forgets God, himself, and everybody else. On the other hand, the prudent man covers shame instead of exposing it. He feels the insult, instead of despising his brother and hardening his own heart in worldly pride. But his quiet spirit adds no fuel to the flame. It may even help the offender to judge his own unbridled behaviour.
The anger passes quickly. What it does can last for years.
In a moment the tongue can do mischief that years cannot repair. In an unguarded moment the tongue can speak words we would give the world to take back.
So one writer gives plain advice: take the anger to God, and keep your lips closed until the words cool.
Learn, I beg you, to choke your wrath. Weep over your folly and sin in the presence of God. Be determined in your efforts to control the workings of your passions within. Firmly refuse to open your lips to speak your words while they are red hot. Let them cool, so that you do not, like Moses, speak rashly with your lips (Ps. 106:33).
The verse's other half moves from heat to planning. Older translations call this man one of "mischievous devices." He is the more dangerous of the two.
But there is a man we should fear and avoid even more than the senseless one — the man who plans evil deeds. So he earns the reputation of a master of intrigues. These men truly do harm.
Who does the hating? One writer points to ordinary people.
Being quick-tempered, he shows that he is a fool by acting foolishly. His wicked intentions, however, will only bring on him the hatred of people generally (v. 17).
The exact phrase "soon angry" appears again in the New Testament as a test for those who lead. One writer explains why a short fuse undercuts a man's authority even when he is right.
Again, he must be "not soon angry," that is, not hot-tempered. Hardly anything weakens authority more than a tendency to explosions of anger. Angry heat tends to rob a rebuke of its weight, however just that rebuke may be. Calmness gives weight and force to a needed rebuke.
Commentators are careful here: the proverb condemns speed, not the emotion itself. There is a place for anger, and there is a time limit on it.
There is of course a right occasion for wrath. So the Lord looked round about on those who misused the sabbath to oppose God's grace in an evil world. But we are urged to be slow to wrath, and to let it soon be over. "Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil" (Eph. 4:26-27).
Why watch the temper and the tongue at all? They report on something deeper.
If all good comes from the Father, by His own will and through His own Word, then our wisdom is to be learners. We keep our ears open, our tongues restrained, and our tempers in control. For the tongue and the temper are a revealing index to the state of a soul.
- Speed. The proverb faults how fast anger arrives, not that it exists. A quick temper makes even a wise man act foolishly.
- Blindness. The angry man forgets God, himself, and everyone else. A quiet spirit adds no fuel to the flame.
- Damage. What a moment of heat does, years may not repair. So let the words cool before the lips open.
- Cunning. The second half swaps heat for planning. Once people find the schemer out, they hate him.
- Index. Temper and tongue read one gauge: the state of the soul. And calmness, not heat, gives a rebuke its weight.
The simple inherit folly; but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.
An inheritance is something you receive without earning it, and this proverb hands one to each kind of person: folly to the simple, knowledge to the prudent. One writer takes the word "inherit" seriously — folly is what comes down to a person by nature, while knowledge is what comes down from God to those willing to be taught.
"The simple" again "inherit folly." This is what descends to man naturally. "The prudent" are lowly enough to receive and learn from the Highest. They are the ones who are "crowned with knowledge." "He gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those who know understanding."
No one plans to inherit folly. It arrives anyway, because of the attitude behind it.
"The simple (again in the sense of being simpletons) inherit folly" (v. 18). They may not expect such an inheritance, but it will come anyway. Their attitude is that of a person who is not sensible. It is the opposite of the attitude of the prudent, who "are crowned with knowledge."
The word does not mean innocent or uneducated. It describes a person who prefers not knowing, and who treats scorn as an argument.
So Proverbs 1:22 asks, "How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?" This simplicity means ignorance. Sadly, the ungodly prefer it to the wisdom of true faith in the Lord Jesus. They think they can dismiss the truth by scorning it, as though their foolish words carried authority. Because they hate knowledge, they delight in scorning.
Where God has spoken, not knowing is a choice, not a misfortune.
"The simple" here are those who do not know, because they are ignorant. Punishment is the result of this ignorance. For it is our fault if we neglect the Word of God, which would enlighten us. Ignorance is no excuse when God has given us His Word, and we have ignored it. Have we no heart to listen when our God and Father speaks? If so, we can only expect to reap the results of not listening.
Prudence here is not cleverness or grand theory. It shows up in something small and daily — watching where your own feet go.
"The wisdom of the prudent" is not in lofty claims or unproved theories, but "to discern his way." What fools pretend is wisdom is really folly, and that folly is deceiving. It has no power, so it consists of ever-changing devices and evasive tricks.
Three verses earlier, the same two people appear in how each handles what he is told.
"The simple (that is, the simpleton) believes every word, but the prudent considers well his steps" (v. 15). If we are prudent, we cannot take everyone's word as true. We know that many people twist the truth for their own advantage. Do we accept the word of all those who advertise with enticing arguments? Such con artists deceive many, but a prudent person is not swayed by these methods.
Nobody crowns himself. Six verses later, the same chapter calls the wise man's riches his crown.
"The crown of the wise is their riches" (v. 24). Such riches are not necessarily material, and if spiritual, how much more valuable! — a crown that God places on their head.
So why does God give wisdom to those who are already wise? The answer lies in what a man does with a gift that did not come from God.
It is true, as we read here, that He gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those who know understanding. Until the Spirit of God plants divine wisdom in the soul, a man would use any gift entrusted to him as a decoration for himself, and not for the glory of the Divine Giver. "To him that has shall be given." But what he has, he has by the grace of God.
Proverbs uses the same two words later, about danger and shelter.
The wise man has said: "The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it" (Prov. 22:3). Men are living in danger at this very hour. The day of judgement is hurrying on. The "prudent" in God's sight are those who have fled to Christ for refuge. Sadly, the "simple" — however wise in their own eyes — are those who slight Him and His great salvation.
- Inherited. Folly comes to a person naturally. Nobody works for it and nobody expects it, but it arrives.
- Chosen. The simple are not just uninformed. They love being simple and scorn knowledge. Where God has given His Word, ignorance is no excuse.
- Lowly. Prudence begins in being lowly enough to learn from the Highest. It shows itself in discerning your way and weighing your steps, instead of believing every word.
- Crowned. Knowledge is a crown God places on the head. Without wisdom planted by His Spirit, every gift becomes self-decoration instead of glory to the Giver.
- Sheltered. Both inheritances end somewhere. The simple walk on and suffer for it. The prudent see the danger and hide, fleeing to Christ for refuge.
The evil bow before the good, and the wicked at the gates of the righteous [man].
Proverbs 14:19 pictures a reversal: the people who now trample on the good will one day bow at their gates. The saying raises two questions — where does this bowing happen, and when.
The second half of the verse names a place. In Israel, the town gate carried real weight.
Gates protected a city, but "in the gate" was also the place where people settled many important matters. Boaz wanted the question about Ruth and the inheritance settled, so he went up to the gate. There he debated the matter with a nearer relative, closed it, and had the elders witness it. To "sit in the gate" was a place of honour: "those who sit in the gate speak against me." The gate should have been the place of true judgement and justice. It was not always so. At times it was also the king's chief place for hearing cases, and so the gate became a symbol of power.
So the wicked do not just bow anywhere. They bow at the seat of power — and it belongs to the righteous.
Some of this happens in ordinary life already. Wrongdoers still have a conscience, and they know whose help is worth having.
What men sow they reap, and sometimes soon. The evil are not without conscience, so they bow to the good, just as the wicked seek the favour and the help of a righteous man.
Notice who is in view here. Earlier verses in the chapter speak of the simple and the foolish. This one names the evil and the wicked. Their failure starts before the promised King takes His throne.
Here we have not the simple or the foolish, but the evil and the wicked (v. 19). They fail even before a King reigns in righteousness and princes rule with justice. God is never without a testimony in the evil day, if it be only here and there, now and then. Yet things are still far from what they ought to be, and one day will be.
The reason the present looks so unlike the proverb is that God's open rule over the world is still ahead.
What a vivid and undeniably true picture of mankind as they are! Evil abounds and flourishes till the Lord comes. Yet God's moral government just as surely secures good for those who fear before Him, and retribution for those who do not. Even if they live long, their life is only a shadow. Righteous people may get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked what the righteous deserve; still, God is not mocked and man is not overlooked. But it is not yet the day when righteous power permits no evil and good openly triumphs. That day is kept for the kingdom, and the kingdom waits for Christ to appear in glory, with those who suffered with Him glorified then as well.
For now the opposite often happens. The good are the ones humiliated, and the proverb reads like a promise that has not arrived.
It may take time for this to be fulfilled. Those who are evil take every advantage over the good, to humiliate them if they can. But the end result will be that "the evil bow down before the good, the wicked at the gates of the righteous." How terribly humiliating that end will be for those who are determined to oppress the righteous!
Christ makes the same promise to His own witnesses. He will bring their opponents to bow at their feet.
But the Lord will compel the recognition of His own testimony and witnesses. We do not say when, where, or how; but as surely as He lives the Lord will vindicate the truth He has given for His name. But remember: the favour and the power vanish when the witnesses lose sight of Christ and preach themselves. May we have grace to lose ourselves truly in Him! "Behold, I will cause them to come and do homage before your feet, and to know that I loved you."
The bowing teaches those who bow one more thing. The righteous were not only right; Christ loved them.
- The bow. Wrongdoers will stoop to the good. It is the outcome God's moral government secures, even if it takes time.
- The gate. Bowing "at the gates" puts them at the seat of judgement and honour. That is where a town settled its business before witnesses.
- The bow begun. Conscience already makes evil men seek the favour and help of a righteous man. What people sow they reap, sometimes soon.
- The bow delayed. Evil flourishes till the Lord comes. The day when righteous power allows no evil is kept for the kingdom.
- The bow completed. Christ pledges to make opponents do homage at the feet of His despised witnesses — and to know that He loved them.
He that is poor is hated even of his own neighbour; but the rich hath many friends.
The proverb reports what people do: a man's bank balance decides how many friends he keeps. That raises a harder question — if this is how the world sorts people, how does God sort them?
The verse is not advice. It holds a mirror up to society, and the mirror shows greed dressed as friendship.
People dread poverty more than sin. So even a man's own neighbour hates him when he is poor, while many try to win the rich man's favour. Such is the covetousness of the heart, and the hollowness of the world.
Note what people fear here. Not wrongdoing — poverty. Where the ESV says the poor man is "disliked," these writers read the word as "hated." A man can sin and keep his friends; he cannot be poor and keep them.
The question worth asking is why. The answer exposes what people want from a friend.
Verse 20 is a sad commentary on the proud, selfish attitude of people generally! Why do people hate a poor man? Because they cannot expect to gain anything from him. Meanwhile, many are glad to be friendly with the rich — and the reason is obvious! There may be various reasons for despising a neighbor, but none of them are valid.
The "many friends" of the rich are not friends at all. They are people expecting a return.
Alone, the verse sounds like cynicism. Set beside verse 31 of the same chapter, it turns into a call to live the other way.
Of the poor and the rich we read that people hate the poor man, while the rich man has many friends (14:20). "Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him" (14:31). To deal kindly with the poor and the lowly is God-like. The righteous will show his righteousness in a practical way by considering the poor.
The poor man's Maker takes the treatment personally. That is why kindness to the poor is not just good manners. It is likeness to God.
One writer traces the line further. Contempt for a poor neighbour does not stop with the neighbour.
He who despises the poor because of his poverty despises the Lord Himself. "As for me," says the Lord in Psalm 40, "I am poor and needy," Psalm 40:17. The Lord had pronounced His blessing upon the poor; to such the gospel was preached; it was a sign announcing the Messiah. We all know that a poor man may be just as wicked as anyone else. But riches are a real danger for us. They feed pride, and they tend to make the heart keep its distance from the poor — and the Lord joined Himself to the poor in this world. "Though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich."
Christ did not stay outside poverty; He entered it. God's choice has run in the same direction, and judging people by wealth shows only how shallow our sight is.
God's choice had in the main fallen on the poor... These chosen poor ones — true Christians — were rich in faith and heirs of the coming kingdom. People fawned over the proud blasphemers and persecutors because they were rich, and poured contempt on the followers of Christ because they were poor. That only proved the blindness and folly of those who acted that way. They looked at both rich and poor with the world's shallow eyes, not with the searching eye of faith.
Take the money away, and see what is left of the friendship.
Even the closest family ties break down before the needy one. Still less are friends faithful to the man who sinks into poverty... The old friends disappear, and everything fails. The prodigal son found the world to be just like this. When his spending left him nothing more to spend, no one gave him anything. God is the gracious giver, and the only One who is changeless and effective, when every resource is gone.
- Diagnosis. The verse reports; it does not approve. People dread poverty more than sin, and that fear turns neighbours cold.
- Motive. People avoid the poor because there is nothing to gain from them. The rich man's crowd is self-interest wearing the face of friendship.
- Insult. Contempt for a poor man lands on the God who made him — and on the Christ who became poor Himself. Kindness to the poor honours his Maker.
- Reversal. God chose the poor, rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom. Judging people by wealth only proves we see with the world's eyes, not with faith's.
- Refuge. Money-made friends vanish when the money does. God alone gives, and He never changes when every other resource is gone.
He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth; but he that is gracious to the afflicted, happy is he.
Proverbs works by contrast. This line sets two attitudes to the same person side by side: contempt, which it calls sin, and mercy, which it calls blessed — older translations read "happy is he." One question runs underneath: what does our treatment of the poor say about the God who made them?
The verse's two halves look at the same person: the neighbour we look down on is often the poor one. One writer names why that happens, then denies it any excuse:
Why do people hate a poor man? Because they cannot expect to gain anything from him. Meanwhile, many are glad to be friendly with the rich, for obvious reasons! There may be various reasons for one's despising his neighbour, but none of them are valid. God made his neighbour, and if we despise him, we despise the work of God, and of course this is sin. But one who has mercy on the poor is truly happy in doing so.
The proverb does not say contempt is unkind or unwise. It calls it sin. The measure is God's own character, and He never looks down on anyone:
To despise one's neighbour — what a sin in the sight of Him who despises no one! Let us take to heart what Christ was to needy men, women, and children. What an example to us! Who ever showed such kindness to the afflicted? May we have the happiness found in grace like His!
This verse is not a one-off. The same concern runs across the whole Bible:
All through the Word of God, the poor are to be remembered in kindness. God gives some most blessed promises to those who obey these gracious words. See Proverbs 14:21; 19:17; 22:9; 28:8, 27; Psalm 41:1. Oppression of the poor is a sin which God specially marks. See Isaiah 3:14, 15; 10:2; Ezekiel 18:11-13; Amos 2:6; 4:1; 5:11; James 2:6. When the Lord comes He will remember the poor and deliver them.
One of those references, Proverbs 19:17, says what the giver gains:
Man was to represent God, who loves a cheerful giver in a wilderness world. Here God encourages a man to pity those who have nothing. God is pleased to count it this way: "Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, and He will repay him for his deed." What security can match this? Think too of the honour of being a creditor to Him!
Solomon's line does not stay in Proverbs. Jesus later takes it up, and adds something Solomon did not:
Solomon had already written in his proverbs: "Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner, but blessed is he who is generous to the poor" (Proverbs 14:21). In His fifth beatitude the Lord uses similar words, but He adds a promise: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy."
The promise is not only about the future. Mercy pays something back while it still costs:
They will find, not that there is no difficulty and trial, but that although they will know the cost of it, they will also know its sweetness. They will taste afresh what the mercy of God is toward their own souls, as they show mercy to others.
The manner of giving matters as much as the gift. Even real help can bruise the person who receives it:
We are not only to show mercy. We are to show it with such a cheerful spirit that we make it clear: if it is a comfort to them, it is a pleasure to us. The value of any service of love given to those in sorrow depends mainly on the spirit behind it. We should take care to spare the feelings of the poor in our acts of kindness.
- Contempt is sin. Looking down on a neighbour is not just bad manners. It is an offence against God, who made that person.
- Mercy is God-like. The standard is not our comfort but His character. He despises no one, and Christ showed unmatched kindness to the afflicted.
- Mercy is marked. God attaches promises to kindness toward the poor, and He marks their oppression. He keeps both accounts.
- Mercy is secured. God counts a gift to the poor as a loan to Himself, and He repays. No security is better.
- Mercy returns as happiness. The proverb states it. Jesus adds a promise. The merciful taste God's mercy for themselves as they show it to others.
Do they not err that devise evil? but loving-kindness and truth are for those that devise good.
Two ways of planning stand side by side in this verse. The first is not called wicked but wrong-headed — a mistake, a wandering off the road. The second meets steadfast love and faithfulness. Older translations call those two things "mercy and truth," and the writers quoted below use that wording.
The first half is not asking whether evil planners will one day go wrong. One writer reads it as a condition already in progress, and one that never holds still.
Those who devise evil have already gone astray. This sickness will grow worse with time, because evil does not stand still. In lovely contrast, those who devise good are the favoured owners of mercy and truth.
Planning happens inside a person long before it touches a neighbour. Commenting on a similar proverb, one writer traces the plan back to its source and names who is deceived most.
Deceit is the essence of falsehood, and here we read that it sits in the heart of those who devise evil. So deceit is as close a relative of malice as it is of untruth. How awful that the heart, which should be the spring of affection, gives itself up to devising evil! Deceit deceives others, but it deceives that heart even more. "But those who plan peace have joy."
A plan can stay hidden from everyone it targets. One writer points to the eyes that nothing escapes — and to what those eyes also see.
Yet proud heartlessness may go on to greater evil while despising evil, and still not escape the eyes of Him who sees cunning mischief and every secret of the heart. How deep and deadly the error! Judgment does not sleep, and His mercy and truth do not fail those who quietly devise good.
Two figures from Israel's past show both halves at once. Reading a parallel proverb, the same writer names Haman, the enemy of the Jews, and Mordecai, who found favour.
The man who is earnest, who rises early to seek good, is seeking favour, and as a rule he does not fail to get it. How pleasing this is in the eyes of Him who alone is completely and truly good! But under God's government, what else can we expect than that mischief will fall on the man who works hard at devising it? Haman, the enemy of the Jews while they served a foreign empire, is a solemn and sudden witness of this — and Mordecai is just as clear a witness of favour.
So what are mercy and truth? One writer ties them to what came through Jesus Christ, and to a command about where to keep them.
We know that "grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." In the same way, the Israelite was urged to hold a confident trust in mercy, or loving-kindness, and truth. "Let them not forsake you," is the word. He had every right to believe them and count on them, always and for ever. "Bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart." What ornament can compare with them?
The two pictures in that command — the neck and the heart — each guard against something. Another writer names both.
Mercy and truth (Proverbs 3:3) are especially important in our relationships with others. Bound "about your neck," they will keep us from being "stiff-necked," or set on our own opinions. Written on the tablet of our heart, they will keep us from hard-heartedness.
It would be easy to assume the first half of the verse describes only other people. One writer refuses that comfort and names the moment when the temptation bites.
It may seem unnecessary to tell a believer not to devise evil against his neighbour (Proverbs 3:29). But a believer who is not walking in obedience to God's Word may be guilty of planning ways to harm his neighbour, especially if that neighbour has harmed him. Doing good to our neighbour promotes peaceful relationships.
- Plan — Every scheme starts in the heart, which should be a spring of affection instead.
- Stray — Planning evil is not a step towards going wrong. It is already going wrong, and it gets worse, because evil never stands still.
- Seen — God sees cunning mischief and every secret of the heart. Judgment does not sleep, and He does not miss quiet goodness either.
- Met — Those who devise good are the favoured owners of mercy and truth — the grace and truth that came through Jesus Christ. Wear them like a necklace; write them on your heart.
- Practice — Kept close, mercy and truth cure a stiff neck and a hard heart. The test is the neighbour who has harmed you.
In all labour there is profit; but the talk of the lips [tendeth] only to want.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
The crown of the wise is their riches; the folly of the foolish is folly.
Two people can hold the same wealth. In one hand it becomes a crown; in the other it only puts the owner's folly on display. The proverb turns on what a person is, not on what a person has.
Money is not a crown by itself. One writer ties the honour to what the wise do with what they own.
The crown belongs not to the foolish but to the wise, and it is their riches. The wise turn their wealth to unselfish goodness, to the relief of human misery, and to advancing God's will and glory. They would be rich toward God.
Readers with empty pockets are not shut out of this verse. The riches of the wise can be of another kind, and the crown comes from God.
"The crown of the wise is their wealth" (v. 24). Such wealth is not necessarily material, and if it is spiritual, how much more valuable! It is a crown that God places on their head.
The crown comes at a price the world would call loss. The same writer spells out that cost, and he removes the excuse of a small income.
You cannot have riches before God without what short-sighted people call making yourself poor. It means using what we have, not for ourselves, but for others. Only these are rich toward God, whether their means are great or small. If their means are small, they are still large enough to let them think of others in love, and to provide for needs greater than their own. If their means are great, their responsibility is so much the greater. In every case the gathering up is not for self, but for the service of grace, and this can only happen by bringing God into the matter.
Was wealth ever the proof of God's favour? One writer answers that, and sets the two kinds of riches side by side.
Sometimes in Old Testament days riches were the evidence of God's blessing, as in the case of Job, but it was not always so. Righteous men might have little of this world's goods, and wicked men might have riches (Ps. 37:16). Whether in Old Testament times or now, Wisdom's word to men is "Riches and honor are with me, enduring wealth and righteousness" (Prov. 8:18). Only the riches that come from God are spiritual and lasting. Material riches can easily fly away, and if they are not taken from us in life, death takes us from them. How blessed it is for us if we secure the divine riches that endure.
The second half of the verse only lands once we know who the fool is. One writer gathers the cases where God Himself uses the word.
It is well that we understand who it is whom God calls a fool. Psalm 14:1 tells us, "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'" Also, one who questions the truth of resurrection is called a fool (1 Cor. 15:35-36). More than this, God called the rich man a fool who piled up so much wealth that he thought he could live in luxury for many years (Luke 12:16-21). In each case, the one who leaves God out of his life deserves that unsavory title, "fool."
One writer sums up the second line as a closed circle: folly stays folly. Wealth does not break it. It only widens the audience.
The folly of fools, on the other hand, is folly. God is in none of their thoughts. Everything they say or do is folly, and it is seen all the more if they have riches to draw a crowd of witnesses.
Another writer explains why this condition is so stubborn, and why it comes last in a list of evils.
Foolishness seems to be that gross form of stupidity which shuts God out of the running of a life... Foolishness is placed last in the list, one writer says, because it makes all the others incurable.
- Crown. Riches are an honour only on a wise head. What makes them a crown is that the wise spend them on unselfish goodness, on relieving human misery, and on God's will and glory.
- Crowned by God. These riches need not be material. Spiritual riches are worth far more, and God Himself places that crown on the head.
- Cost. No one is rich toward God without what short-sighted people call making yourself poor. Small means are still large enough to think of others. Great means only enlarge the responsibility.
- Duration. Material riches fly away. If they are not taken from us in life, death takes us from them. Only the riches that come from God last.
- Circle. A fool leaves God out of his life, so his folly stays folly. Shutting God out makes every other evil incurable. Money only gathers a crowd to watch it.
A true witness delivereth souls; but deceit uttereth lies.
Truth is not neutral here. Because falsehood is already at work in the world, honest testimony has rescue value — and it costs something to give.
We pass through a world of evil and error. So we see the value of a true witness in delivering souls who would otherwise be mistaken and misrepresented by the false. But not many are willing to speak out at all cost. There was One who never failed, the Faithful and True Witness, and He was the great Deliverer of souls. May we hold fast to Him, and represent Him in this! But deceit — what can it utter but lies?
"A true witness delivers souls" (v. 25). This is certainly important in the plain witness for Christ and the gospel of His grace, which every believer may bear to a perishing world. There are far too many who lead souls into bondage and unbelief. They may pretend to be Christians, but are false witnesses.
A witness is not an inventor. What makes his word able to deliver is that the deliverance happened to him first — which is why he can go looking for others in the same need.
The same writer adds that a messenger is not free to soften the message to please his hearers.
The preacher is a messenger sent out with a report, not to seek popularity with those he is sent to, but to be faithful to the One who sends him.
The word is simpler than it sounds, and heavier than it sounds. One writer traces it to its end point in the life of Christ, and to the English word that came out of the Greek.
To witness truly means to rightly represent what is true. This our Lord Jesus Christ did, though it cost Him His life. Others followed in their measure, and the Greek word for witness (μαρτυς) passed into English as martyr.
Kelly, quoted above, notes how hard the deceiver's road back becomes — his own repentance struggles to be believed, "nevertheless, if real, God would not fail to vindicate what His grace effects." Others weigh the act itself more severely, since testimony is given in God's presence as well as man's.
- Setting.
- Cost.
- Source.
- Reach.
- Result.
In the fear of Jehovah is strong confidence, and his children shall have a place of refuge.
This verse makes a surprising claim: what steadies a person is fear. So what sort of fear makes a person bold, and how does one person's fear of God shelter his children?
One fear here drives out all the others, and its benefit does not stop with the person who has it:
So we read next that in the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence. For this fear takes away all other fear, and becomes a tower of strength; and it helps others who tremble at His word, especially His children. Where is there a refuge so sure and so near?
Commentators define this fear first by what it is not. It is not the anxious, superstitious sort:
This fear of the Lord is not the slavish dread that marks the superstitious. No. It is a reverent trustfulness accompanied by hatred of evil. "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil" (Proverbs 8:13). "The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever." Where this is maintained the presence of the Lord is a reality and joy.
Another writer frames it as a matter of authority — one that is never harsh:
This fear is not slavish but reverential. It gives the Lord His rightful place in authority over us. His authority is always kind and gracious. So the one who has this godly fear stays fully content, and evil does not break into his path.
The confidence promised is not natural nerve. It comes from trusting God and His word — and Scripture sets its opposite, fear, beside unbelief:
The trust and boldness that faith in God and His word gives. "In the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence"; "the Lord will be your confidence." Proverbs 3:26; Proverbs 14:26. "We are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our 'assurance' firm to the end." Hebrews 3:14. In contrast to this the 'fearful' are classed with the 'unbelieving.' Revelation 21:8.
The word "strong" points forward in time. The confidence outlasts every test, and the danger the children are sheltered from is often unseen:
But "in the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence." That confidence will survive every test of time and end in eternal blessing! "His children will have a refuge" — refuge from all the subtle attacks of the enemy and from every evil influence.
Parents who fear God can stop being afraid for their children. One writer urges them to walk the path of duty and leave each day's need with God:
But let no dear Christian parent who reads these lines be discouraged or fainthearted. There is no reason at all for this. On the contrary, there is every reason for the most joyful confidence in God. "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runs into it, and is safe." Let us walk the path of duty with a firm step. Then we can count on our ever faithful and gracious God with unwavering confidence, for the need of each day as it comes.
Trust is thin on the ground in most places. One writer's remedy is for those who fear the Lord to meet and talk about God Himself:
Lack of confidence and distrust may be all around us. Emptiness and death may mark religion as people profess it. But let those who fear the Lord get together and talk much about His name, about what He is... The fear of the Lord is not only the beginning of wisdom; it "is wisdom" (Job 28:28). And "in the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence" (Proverbs 14:26). How good and wholesome then is the word of Proverbs 23:17, "Be in the fear of the Lord all the day long."
- The cause. This fear is not dread. It is reverent trust that hates evil and gives God His rightful place — and His authority is always kind.
- The gift. That fear removes every other fear and becomes a tower of strength. The confidence it gives is the boldness that comes from trusting God and His word.
- The strength. The confidence is strong. It survives every test of time and ends in eternal blessing, not just relief for today.
- The reach. The shelter reaches past the one who fears God to his children. It guards them from the enemy's subtle attacks and every evil influence.
- The practice. Keep it up daily: "be in the fear of the Lord all the day long." Walk the path of duty with a firm step, and count on God for each day's need.
The fear of Jehovah is a fountain of life, to turn away from the snares of death.
The proverb follows the promise of strong confidence and a refuge for God's children. It answers the next question: what does that fear do for a person? It names two things at once — an inner supply that keeps flowing, and an escape route out of traps set to kill.
The word "fear" can mislead here. One writer begins with what it is not:
This fear of the Lord is not the slavish dread that marks the superstitious. No. It is a reverent trustfulness accompanied by hatred of evil. "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil" (Prov. 8:13). "The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever." Where this is kept up, the presence of the Lord is a reality and a joy.
Another puts the same thing in family terms, drawing on how Proverbs keeps appealing to the heart:
What is the fear of the Lord? Not the fear of a guilty conscience that fears the policeman or the magistrate or the judge, but the fear of a son who is afraid to displease his father. It is the fear of a child, born of love. All through Proverbs Solomon insists on affection, love. "My son, give me your heart." "Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life."
One commentator weighs the fountain against two lesser things — protection from enemies, and a well that can run dry:
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 an unfailing spring of enjoyment. It strengthens the heart, which is always timid and downcast without it, so that the heart turns away from the snares of death. Satan has spread those snares over the world, and they lie dangerously near to every heart.
Another commentator marks what this verse adds to refuge:
But there is more here than refuge from adversity. "The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life" (v. 27). It is a fountain that keeps flowing and gives "living water." It refreshes and comforts every believer, because it brings the water of life, eternal life. This is the positive blessing given to every child of God. It turns him fully away from the negative snares of death.
The second half of the verse assumes real danger. A study of the word "snare" shows why the traps work:
Snares must be hidden to work. It is useless to set a net where a bird can see it; in the same way the hook in fishing is always concealed. The baits Satan uses are things men like. They may not always be moral evils in themselves — riches, honour, and the like — but they may end in the loss of the soul. So the Christian, taught by God and led by the Holy Spirit, will not be ignorant of Satan's schemes, and will not fall by them.
Proverbs states seven times what the fear of the Lord is. One writer walks the list and reaches this verse:
"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge." The fear of the Lord is the first step to knowledge and progress. Next we get, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight." There is a great difference between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge may puff me up, but wisdom will never puff me up. Knowledge is grasping the truth; wisdom is the ability to use the truth. Next we read, "The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death." A sure way of escaping Satan's snares is of priceless value.
The same writer says all seven sayings can be seen in one man: the dying thief on the cross beside Jesus. Here is the last of the seven:
"The fear of the LORD leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm" (Prov. 19:23). The thief entered fully into that, as he passed that day into Paradise. I tell you, it would be well for you to get into the company of that thief who had the fear of the Lord.
- Reverence, not dread. The fear here is reverent trust joined with hatred of evil. It is the fear of a son who dreads displeasing his father, not the fear of a guilty conscience before a judge.
- A fountain, not a well. A well can run dry when you need it most. This is an unfailing spring, and it strengthens a heart that would otherwise be timid and downcast.
- Flowing, not just sheltering. The fear of the Lord gives more than refuge. It gives "living water" — a positive blessing that flows out to every child of God.
- Hidden bait. A trap only works when you cannot see it. The bait is often not evil in itself — riches, honour — yet it can end in the loss of the soul.
- Escape is the proof. The fountain shows itself in what a person turns away from. The dying thief on the cross illustrates all seven of Proverbs' sayings about the fear of the Lord.