It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a contentious woman, and a house in common.
Solomon offers two places to live: a small corner out on the roof, or a large house full of quarrelling. Which one is the better home? The answer tells us what makes any house worth living in.
The picture makes sense once you know the houses. Flat roofs served as living space, and stairs led up to them.
Stairs in the corner of the courtyard lead to upper private rooms, and often there are stairs outside the house that lead to the roof... Some roofs were more solid, with a low wall around them for safety. On such roofs people went aside for private conversation and for prayer, 1 Samuel 9:25; Acts 10:9; and in the evening for coolness, 2 Samuel 11:2.
So the corner of the housetop is not a punishment. The spot is small and open to the weather, but it is quiet, and a man could be alone with God there.
The other option is a large house, which one writer calls "a house of society." Room and company do not help when the mood inside is bitter.
A quarrelsome woman is bound to be a trial to every member of the household, but most of all to her husband. The house may be roomy, but only friction follows her; and if visitors call, it only increases his pain. There is no better place for him than a corner on the roof. There he can find quiet, and, for godliness, access to the Highest.
The same verse is repeated later in the book, where the point is put in terms of noise:
The next verse expresses the misery of having to share a house with a quarrelsome woman, which made a corner of the housetop a welcome escape from such a racket.
The same test appears elsewhere in Proverbs, weighing a poor table against a rich one. The food is not what decides it:
The opening word shows the huge superiority of a peaceful household with poor food. It is better than a house where there is plenty, made bitter by contention — or, in the strong words used here, "full of the sacrifices of strife." Love and peace may be abundant through Christ where there is little else. Only unhappiness stays where He is unknown, even if wealth supplied everything.
One writer suspects Solomon had learned this the hard way:
It may be that Solomon learned the truth of verse 9 by experience, for he had too many wives, but we do not read of him living in the corner of a housetop! Of course, he was wealthy enough to give his wives their own houses, so that he might see them only when he pleased!
The verse names what ruins a home. Wisdom points to the opposite — a beauty in the home that no gift can match:
You have received many presents from people who wish you well, and they will beautify your home. Yet in time they will become ordinary and lose their shine... But you may have a beauty in your home that never fades. You may fill your home with a fragrance that will not pass away. You may adorn yourself with a garment that will never grow old... What is it? It is "a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious."
One writer answered a man who used this proverb to justify keeping away from all church fellowship. He first agreed with him:
As far as I understand your position, it is one of "holding yourself aloof"... No doubt a dry morsel with quiet is better than a house full of feasting with strife. In the same way, it is better to live in the corner of a housetop than with a quarrelsome woman in a house of society.
And then showed the limit of it:
Circumstances may here or there leave someone isolated. But isolation is neither the provision God has revealed nor a proper aim... The apostle tells his beloved child to flee youthful passions. Then he adds, "and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart" (2 Timothy 2:19-22). So one may and should look for companions and fellow witnesses called to the same faithfulness.
- Corner — People used flat roofs for coolness, private talk, and prayer. The cramped spot keeps what the crowded house has lost: quiet, and access to God.
- House — Size and comfort settle nothing. A roomy home spreads the friction wider, and visitors deepen the husband's pain instead of easing it.
- Crust — The same scale runs through Proverbs. Dry bread with quiet beats a full table with strife, because love and peace through Christ outweigh all that wealth supplies.
- Ornament — The cure is not a better house. It is a gentle and quiet spirit — a beauty that outlasts the wedding gifts and is precious in God's sight.
- Company — Escape from strife is not a call to live alone. Flee what corrupts, then pursue peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
The soul of the wicked desireth evil his neighbour findeth no favour in his eyes.
Proverbs 21:10 does not describe an occasional bad act; it looks inside a man and finds an appetite. The proverb traces cruelty back to its source: a soul set on evil. Then it shows the cost. The person nearest to him gets nothing from him.
The verse says it is the soul that wants evil. The centre of a person is his will. Where God has not touched that centre, the appetite for wrong runs two ways: his own wrongdoing, and other people's. Where the ESV reads "no mercy", older translations read "no favour" — the wording the commentators use.
The soul is the living man's centre; it is himself, the seat of his will. If grace has not renewed it, it lies under the enemy's rule. Then a man takes pleasure in evil. He does things worthy of death himself, and he also enjoys the evil of others. What room is there in such a heart for loving another, whatever his need or distress? There is no favour in his eyes, even for the nearest neighbour.
The wicked man still has some sense of what is right. It simply loses the fight.
"The soul of the wicked desires evil" (v. 10). His spirit would protest against this, but his lust overcomes his better judgment. Of course it would be sensible to show kindness, or favour, to his neighbour. But his good sense gives way to his bad temper.
If the will is the seat of the trouble, the cravings are only the symptom. One writer sets out the order. First the will breaks away from God. Then something must fill the emptiness that follows.
The root of all sin is not in the lusts that show it in such an ugly way. It is in having a will of our own. It is the will turning away from God, the will to be independent, free to do what we want — "who is Lord over us?" When we separate from God in this way, we must have something. We cannot be enough for ourselves. So we sink into lusts, lusts in which our will works.
The second half of the verse turns from the inside outward. How a man treats the person next to him is the part of his heart others can read.
When a man fails in his attitude to his neighbour, his heart is fully exposed. We cannot see whether there is love to God in another person's heart. We can see whether there is love towards the neighbour. So this failure shows how completely man breaks down under law.
The same test reaches past this one wicked man to the whole human race.
Scripture describes man as a naturally loveless creature. He may indeed have likeable qualities, but love is lacking. "Hateful and hating one another" is God's description of the human family in revolt (Titus 3:3). The whole law is summed up in the commands to love God with all the heart, and one's neighbour as oneself. But where is the natural man who does either? Christ is the true test of man's condition in this as in everything else. He was once here living among us as God manifested in flesh. Was He loved as such? Having become man He thereby became man's neighbour; was He loved in that character either? Both as God and man He was hated and rejected, even to death. What can be said for man in the face of such a terrible fact?
Kelly located the trouble in a soul grace has not renewed. The problem lies in what the soul wants. So the answer must be new desires, and a love the man could never produce himself.
Those who believe are "born of water and the Spirit". Scripture tells us the water is the Word, and the Holy Spirit makes it work in those who hear in faith. A new nature is the result. This new nature delights in what is of God, unlike the old nature, which finds pleasure in the lusts of the flesh. God pours His love into the heart too — the love He showed when Christ died for us.
- Will — The soul is the man himself, the seat of his will. The proverb puts the fault there, not in circumstances or bad luck.
- Desire — A will cut off from God cannot stay empty. It sinks into cravings, and those cravings beat down his better judgment.
- Reach — The appetite is not private. It stretches to enjoying the evil of others, and leaves no room in the heart for anyone's need or distress.
- Exposure — No one can see love to God in another person's heart. Everyone can see how a man treats his neighbour — and when Christ became man's neighbour, man rejected Him.
- Renewal — Only a new nature gives what he lacks. God pours His love into the heart, and favour towards a neighbour follows.
When the scorner is punished, the simple becometh wise; and when the wise is instructed, he receiveth knowledge.
This proverb puts two learners beside one man who learns nothing. One learns by watching a scoffer get what his mockery earned him. The other needs only a word of teaching.
The verse opens with a man whose problem is not ignorance but contempt. He turns down correction on purpose:
A scorner is a bolder sinner against God and his own soul. He does not love to be reproved; "to the wise he will not go." Self is his aim, and in practice his God. Folly is his life. So he refuses, with contempt, all wisdom from above.
So punishment reaches him where words no longer can.
The scorner may gain nothing from his own punishment, but somebody else does. His downfall works as a warning sign posted on the road others are walking:
The scorner has not only no respect for what is excellent, but pretends to despise it and actively hates it. When such a person meets a punishment that makes an example of him, it is a healthy lesson to the simple, who takes warning against that wicked way. But the wise, when he is instructed, receives positive knowledge for good.
The simple man has no settled judgment of his own. He takes in whatever he hears:
"The simple (that is, the simpleton) believes every word, but the prudent considers well his steps." If we are prudent, we cannot take everyone's word as true. We know there are many who twist the truth for their own advantage. Many people fall for such con artists, but a prudent person will not.
He believes what he hears. So when he watches the scoffer fall, he learns to think before he steps.
The second half of the verse gives a shorter path. The wise man learns without watching anyone fall. But some men refuse to learn either way:
"When a scoffer is punished, the simple becomes wise" (v. 11). Who would want to follow the scoffer's example after seeing him punished for his folly? At least the simple would not. But wicked men refuse correction, no matter how much others suffer for this evil. The wise, on the other hand, will not even need such measures to keep them safe. They will receive knowledge in being instructed. How much better to learn by hearing the Word of God than to need painful experience to learn by!
Both key words in the second half point away from head-knowledge. That is why the wise man's lesson sits beside the scoffer's punishment in one verse:
"Wisdom" here comes from a word meaning "practiced" or skilful. It is used very widely, from arts of many kinds to powers of mind and philosophy. It seems to be based on experience. … "Instruction," connected with "wisdom," is expressed by a word that also means discipline, correction, or warning. The moral aim stands out strongly, in contrast with mere exercise or display of intellect.
The blow lands on one man, but it teaches two others. The one who takes it gains nothing.
To strike a scorner may be, and will be, wasted on him; but the simple take notice, gain profit, and become sensible. The man of understanding takes the warning to heart, and grasps knowledge he did not have before. So both simple and wise are gainers.
- Scorner — He is not just a sinner. He is a refuser: self is his aim, and he will not go to the wise. Words no longer reach him.
- Punished — What he will not take as counsel, he takes as consequence. His punishment makes him a warning to everyone watching.
- Simple — He believes every word, so a public example is what saves him. He sees the scoffer's end, and learns to think before he steps.
- Instructed — The wise man learns earlier. A word carrying discipline and warning is enough for him. He never needs the scene acted out.
- Gainers — Two learn and one loses: the simple by watching, the wise by hearing, the scorner by neither. Far better to learn from the Word of God than from painful experience.
One that is righteous wisely considereth the house of the wicked he overthroweth the wicked to [their] ruin.
This proverb sets a watching eye against a doomed household, and everything turns on who is doing the watching. Commentators differ: some read the watcher as God Himself, others as the righteous man learning a lesson.
One reading takes the Righteous One to be God, who both watches and overthrows. Israel's history shows it happening (this wording follows an older translation):
"The righteous God wisely considers the house of the wicked, overthrowing the wicked for their wickedness" (v. 12). We see this in various wicked kings of Israel. God used some of them to overthrow others, and then someone else overthrew them in turn.
The other reading makes the watcher a godly person, as in translations that read "the righteous considers the house of the wicked". What he sees does more than sadden him:
The righteous man is not just saddened by the house of the wicked. He studies it, and gains serious profit from it. No wonder — for the wicked are overthrown to ruin, even in this world.
The collapse is not bad luck. Proverbs works on a settled principle that runs through the whole book:
Remember that the book of Proverbs deals with this world, and with God's government. Under that government a man reaps what he has sown. This stays true, whatever the sovereign grace that gives us things far above and beyond this world.
Height and deep foundations change nothing here. And the same government that pulls one house down shelters another:
The house may rise high on deep foundations. But the wicked live there, and there can be no security for them or their family under the moral government of God. It will be overthrown, though the fear of God would not hasten that moment. 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.
The wicked man's house seldom looks like it is falling. One psalm writer looked at evil from two places, and saw two different things:
The sanctuary speaks of the presence of God. Outside the sanctuary he looks at evil without God. Inside, he views everything, and everyone, with God. What a difference this makes! Outside, he saw everything in relation to time. Inside, he sees everything in relation to eternity. The wickedness of men, the goodness of God, the prosperity of sinners, the sorrows of God's people — he no longer sees them in connection with the passing moment. He sees them in relation to the great end to which all is moving.
Seen from that vantage point, the positions of the two men swap over:
It certainly looked as if the psalm writer was the one in the slippery places, for had his own steps not almost slipped? The wicked, on the other hand, seemed to stand firm on a rock... In fact the godly soul stood on the rock, though he was shaking; and the wicked stood in slippery places, though they were prospering.
Proverbs shows this kind of looking in action. A neglected field and vineyard teach anyone who pays attention:
The lazy man deserves pity as well as blame. He may be admirable in this way or that, but his field and his vineyard announce his fault, and warn of his ruin... Is it not a plain lesson to anyone who looks at it with even a little attention? It is no example to follow, but a serious warning. The outside shows what is inside.
There are two ways to learn the same lesson, and one of them hurts:
How much better to learn by hearing the Word of God than to need painful experience to teach us!
The reason the wicked man's household cannot hold is not merely that his choices are unwise. Something rests on the place itself:
How dreadful it is to learn that "The LORD's curse is on the house of the wicked." In complete contrast, "He blesses the dwelling of the righteous." Think of the terrible end of Haman and his household (Esther 7:9-10; 9:13-14). Haman, the oppressor, had planned to destroy Mordecai and all the Jews, but his evil came back on his own head.
- Look. The verse turns on an act of watching. Commentators differ over the watcher: God Himself, or the righteous person studying the wicked man's house.
- Look with God. From outside God's presence, the wicked man looks secure and the godly man looks like he is slipping. From inside, the positions reverse.
- Look and learn. Looking is meant to teach. A ruined field teaches the passer-by what he never had to suffer himself. Better to learn from the Word of God than from pain.
- Look at the foundation. A house may rise high on deep foundations. Under God's government the wicked have no security there, however long the fall takes.
- Look to the end. Proverbs deals with this world, where a man reaps what he sows. Haman's own plot came back on his head, and the wicked are overthrown to ruin even here.
Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also himself shall cry, and shall not be heard.
This proverb puts two cries side by side: the cry a person refuses to hear, and the cry that same person will one day make. It links them: how you treat need today shapes how God answers your need tomorrow.
Poverty is not rare. It is the ordinary condition of the world, and it puts every heart on trial. Shutting your ears to it is a choice, not an accident. One commentator names what God objects to:
The world is full of want, suffering, and misery. Is anyone inclined to stop his ears at the cry of the poor? God is not mocked, but resents hardness of heart; for he "will himself call out and not be answered."
Why should refusing to hear a cry cost a person his own hearing? Because a shut hand does something to the one who shuts it. One writer traces what happens inside a person who could help and refuses:
Deep down the heart protests against such pretence, and condemns the selfishness it has shown... Confidence in God's help in time of need weakens, and prayer suffers. How can you lift hands to God in prayer when they have been closed to a brother's needs?
The proverb promises a reversal but does not say when. One commentator points to the rich man and Lazarus, where the gap ran past death:
It may be a long time before that payback comes. Take Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19-31). Lazarus even wanted to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table, and he never got them. Then the rich man died and was in torment in hades. He cried out for Lazarus to dip his finger in water to cool his tongue, but this was denied him. Terrible retribution! But his whole life on earth had been nothing but self-seeking.
This verse belongs to a class of sayings about how God runs the present world. It is not a rule for earning eternal life. One writer draws the line:
The Book of Proverbs deals with the government of God here on earth. It works on this principle: "Whatever one sows, that will he also reap" (Gal. 6:7). This is true of saint or sinner. Grace saves the vilest, but the government of God is over all... The grace of God in salvation never sets aside these principles of how He deals with people. This wonderful grace does not change it either: every person reaps the fruit of his ways under God's government.
Another writer names a second principle of that government:
Another broad principle of His government appears in Psalm 18:25-26: "With the merciful you show yourself merciful..." And again, in Matthew 5:7: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy."
Most people do not close their ears out of cruelty. They close them because giving once backfired. One writer names that experience and warns where it leads:
It is so easy to lose heart in doing good. That poor soul you helped the other day later turned out to be a crook, not in need at all. So you swore that no one would take you in so easily again. No, no; let us not be discouraged. Let us not give in to evil. Next time you may turn away somebody who is really in need. And "whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered" (Prov. 21:13).
- Ears tested — The world is full of want. The cry of the poor is not a rare interruption; it is the standing test of the heart.
- Ears closed — God resents hardness of heart, and no one mocks Him and gets away with it.
- Hands closed — Hands shut against a brother in need are hard to lift in prayer. The conscience protests, and confidence before God weakens.
- Heaven closed — The account may settle late. The rich man refused crumbs, and later he begged for water in vain. This is God's government of the world, not a limit on His saving grace.
- Ears opened — One bad experience is the usual reason people stop giving. Keep giving anyway. The next person you turn away may be truly in need.
A gift in secret pacifieth anger; and a present in the bosom, vehement fury.
This proverb states a plain fact about human nature: something handed over quietly can cool an anger that arguments could not touch. But is such a gift wisdom or corruption? That depends on who gives, who receives, and who is watching.
Proverbs describes how God governs the world men live in day by day. It does not approve of everything it observes.
It is good to remember that the Book of Proverbs deals with this world, and with God's government, according to which a man reaps what he has sown. This is always true, whatever sovereign grace may give us beyond and infinitely above this world.
So the saying reports a fact. It does not grant permission:
Verse 14 is true of how people deal with one another. People often use bribes to secure someone's favour or silence. But this does not at all mean that God approves of such bribes. He does not.
The proverb does not say a gift calms anger — it says a gift in secret does. Made public, the same gift would fail.
On the other hand, even angry people are not unmoved by a gift given in secret. Others would resent it if they saw or knew, or if the giver were prominent, or talked about it. Gifts do not calm only the anger of bad men. See the effect on David when Abigail brought to his bosom a reward that stirred his conscience.
Abigail was the wife of Nabal, a man who had insulted David. She met David on the road with a present as he rode out to kill her household. So the same quiet gift can be a peacemaker's wisdom or a criminal's cover. The secrecy itself is the warning sign.
A gift given to twist the course of justice blinds the eyes. It marks out the one who takes it as a wicked man, no less than the one who gives it. To take it "out of the bosom" ought to be a signal of danger. No other human eye sees, but God, who hates the wrong, is not mocked.
The danger is not only to the crooked judge. A present works on the feelings, and warmed feelings make poor judges. King Jehoshaphat admired God as one who takes no bribes, and then took one himself:
His snare seems to have been Ahab's gift: "Ahab slaughtered sheep and oxen for him in abundance, and for the people who were with him, and persuaded him to go up with him to Ramoth-gilead." He let Ahab's gift warm his heart. So Ahab's arguments swayed him more easily. Peter did the same. He accepted the compliment of being let in to the high priest's fire, and, warmed by it, denied his Lord. We can never weigh the world's arguments and suggestions with a cool spirit while we breathe its air or accept its compliments.
Before asking whether you would ever offer a secret gift, ask what small kindness has already made you unable to say no.
What calms a man does not move God. No present reaches Him:
This great God of Israel shows no partiality and takes no bribe. Instead He gives justice to the fatherless and the widow, and shows love to strangers. How completely unlike this are most of the rulers of the world today! Law courts too often show a sad disregard for justice. The poor commonly suffer gross injustice. The wealthy use their money to twist court decisions in their own favour. Believers may well be deeply thankful for a God who is perfectly just and faithful.
Jacob tried this proverb's method on his brother Esau, whom he had cheated years before. He sent droves of animals ahead of him to soften the meeting. The gift proved beside the point:
See how useless Jacob's plans were to buy a pardon with a present! Jacob planned to appease Esau with a present. He said, "I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favour in your sight." But Esau had not even seen the servants, the flocks, the donkeys, or the oxen. He had already wept on his brother's neck. As for the droves, he did not know what they meant until Jacob told him. Then he took them not as the price of pardon, but as Jacob's blessing.
- Observation. The proverb records how anger behaves in a world where men reap what they sow. It is not God's approval of the practice.
- Secrecy. The gift works because it is hidden. Others would resent it if they saw — which is why the hiding should raise the alarm.
- Both parties. A present given to bend justice condemns the giver as much as the taker. No human eye sees it, and that changes nothing before God.
- Warmth. Jehoshaphat's snare was a feast, not a fee. Accept the world's compliments and you lose the cool head needed to weigh its arguments.
- Limit. God takes no bribe. Esau wept on Jacob's neck before he ever saw the droves. Real forgiveness is never bought with a present.
It is joy to a righteous [man] to do what is right; but it is ruin for the workers of iniquity.
One short line sorts the whole human race by a single test: how a person reacts when right is done. To one heart it is joy; to another, ruin — and commentators apply the verse both to daily life now and to the day when Christ reigns.
The verse sets two responses side by side. Older translations read it as joy for the righteous in doing what is right, and ruin for the workers of iniquity. That is the sense these writers follow. Kelly takes each half in turn, and ends with why the evildoer cannot escape.
To the righteous, it is their life and joy to do what is right, and it is a great sorrow when through any lack of care they fail. But nothing is more distasteful to those who do evil, always looking for gain through wrong. And destruction must be their portion. For no creature is hidden from God, but all things are naked and exposed to His eyes.
Doing right is not a duty the righteous force themselves to perform. It flows from what they are.
The doing is something habitual and characteristic. It is not that they do righteousness off and on, now and again; but that they practice it as the habit of their lives. They are far from being perfect in it — only One was that. Still, as born of God they necessarily have His nature. He is righteous: we know that right well. So those born of Him must be marked by righteousness: it could not be otherwise.
That is why justice is a joy and not a burden: it matches what they are.
The ruin in the second half is not random. It is the steady working of God's government: a man's own actions come back to meet him.
In a moment, as if with the rebound of their own arrow, they are struck by an unerring hand. And it is indeed, after all, the rebound of their own arrow. This is the righteous way of God's government, as the psalms have shown us. Their deeds, their words, come back upon them. "I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant" is true in many ways and spheres.
Commentators differ on the angle. Kelly reads the verse of daily practice now. L M Grant looks ahead to the day when Christ Himself rules and judges, and finds it proved true on the largest scale.
How fully true this will prove one day, when the Lord Jesus takes His place of reigning. It will be a joy to Him to deal justly with all mankind, and it will be a joy to them also. In contrast, the workers of iniquity will be brought down to destruction.
If justice done is a joy, does that mean the righteous enjoy watching people punished? One writer draws a careful line.
These give us the final cleansing of the kingdom, which removes "all causes of sin and all law-breakers" (Matthew 13:41). It comes after God has given full space for repentance. By then evil has shown itself to be incurable rebellion against God, the absolute barrier to all full blessing on the earth. So the righteous rejoice at the deliverance rather than at the judgment itself. Yet it will all be seen to fit the full character of God perfectly.
Judgment clears the ground so that blessing can stand.
- Nature — Those born of God share His righteous nature. Doing right becomes their habit, and the joy of the verse starts there.
- Delight — Doing right is the life and joy of the righteous. Failing through carelessness grieves them.
- Dread — The same justice is distasteful to those chasing gain through wrong. Their destruction is sure, for nothing about them escapes God's eyes.
- Rebound — Their ruin is their own arrow returning. God's government sends a man's deeds and words back on him.
- Day — When the Lord Jesus reigns, justice will be joy to Him and to His people. The workers of iniquity will be brought down. Even then, the righteous rejoice most in the deliverance judgment brings.