Incline thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thy heart unto my knowledge.
After a long run of short sayings, a teacher steps forward here and asks for full attention — the ear and the heart together. What are "the words of the wise," why must the heart join in, and what does a person gain by bending down to listen?
This verse opens a new collection, and its aim is not the same as the Psalms. It deals with the path we walk on earth.
The collection of "the words of the wise" which next claims our attention is as different in character from the book of Psalms as one can imagine... the Psalms mostly present to us Jehovah — God in His nature rather than in covenant. Through the Holy Spirit they express His people's feelings and His own in their changing experience, in hopes and fears, joy and distress. The Proverbs present His wisdom in view of the difficulties and trials, snares and joys, and all other circumstances in the earthly path.
The verse asks for two things, not one. Listening to people who know more than we do is itself an act of wisdom, and refusing to listen shows self-sufficiency.
To give heed to the words of the wise is itself a wise thing — to apply the heart as well as the ear to those who know better than ourselves. How sad the self-sufficiency that doubts it!
Why insist on the heart at all? Because information collected by the mind alone can do damage rather than good.
Again, if instruction can be had, it needs application, and the application of the heart, without which the head is of no use. When right affection guides and governs, the ears profit by the words of knowledge, instead of knowledge puffing up.
The command to hear means more than sitting quietly while words go past. In the Bible the word carries obedience inside it.
The word "hearing" in Scripture means the ear that hears and obeys. This is always so... an obedient ear is an ear that takes in the truth, that obeys and takes hold of the message of the Spirit. This is the kind of attitude that produces blessing and progress.
The next verse promises these words will be "ready on your lips" — an older translation says "fitted in thy lips." The order matters: keep them within first, and only then do they come out to help others.
The word must dwell in me before it can come out in teaching others... You see the words must be "kept within" first of all; only afterwards will they be "fitted in the lips." I must first make the word my own, so that it may come out from within. Then it flows out in teaching and correcting others.
Verses 19 to 21 state the goal of all this teaching. It is trust in God, and God has given us everything we need for it.
But there is a better effect still, "that your trust may be in Jehovah." That is why such words are made known — for who otherwise is equal to them? And what good do we have that we have not received?
That trust brings certainty, and certainty makes you ready when someone asks.
To know by this the certainty of the words of truth is a most wonderful benefit indeed (v. 21). Uncertainty and doubt are totally defeated by the pure truth of God. If we are equipped with this, we shall certainly be ready to answer any question others may ask. As 1 Peter 3:15 says: "always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect."
The teacher says he has written these things down. Spoken instruction is fragile in a way that a written page is not.
Let us not overlook the added value of "excellent things in counsels and knowledge" through their being "written" to us. However good oral instruction is, there is real danger the hearer will mistake it, and greater danger still that we let slip even what we understand. But we can read again and again what is written, and make it our own more fully. So we see the clear profit of Scripture as the permanent Word of God to our souls, as nothing else can be.
- Bend — listening to those who know better is itself the first act of wisdom. Self-sufficiency is what makes a person refuse.
- Hear — hearing in the Bible is not passive attendance. It is the ear that takes truth in, obeys it, and takes hold of it.
- Apply — engage the heart, not just the head. Knowledge held by the mind alone puffs up instead of profiting.
- Keep — store the words inside first. Only then do they fit your lips for teaching and helping others.
- Trust — the whole aim is confidence in the LORD. That certainty defeats doubt and makes us ready to answer anyone who asks.
For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee they shall be together fitted on thy lips.
This line belongs to the "words of the wise" that begin in verse 17. It gives a reason for listening, and raises a question: why does hearing alone change so little, and what has to happen between the ear and the mouth?
The call in verse 17 asks for more than attention. One commentator puts the demand on the heart as much as on the ear, and calls doubting it a sad self-sufficiency:
To give heed to the words of the wise is itself a wise thing — to apply the heart as well as the ear to those who know better than ourselves. How sad is the self-sufficiency that doubts it!
The verse puts the two halves in an order: kept within, then ready on the lips. Edward Dennett makes that order a rule. It applies to anyone who wants to help others with Scripture:
His word is to "dwell in you richly in all wisdom." The word must dwell in me before it can come out in teaching others… You see, the words must be "kept within" first of all. Only afterwards are they ready on the lips. I must first make the word my own, so that it comes out from within. Then it flows out in teaching and warning others.
Another writer notes that few take this up, and that hearing does not stay in the ear.
A few will respond to this, but many will not, no matter how pleasant the result of doing so may be (v. 18). When the ear hears (v. 17), the lips will soon be affected too.
"Pleasant" is the word the verse itself uses. Kelly weighs that pleasure against everything else a person might store up. And the gain does not stay private:
These words, if kept within, give satisfaction and pleasure. Everything else grows tiresome and distasteful, if not shameful. Nor is that all. They feed our own growth. They also help others, by the help they give and the confidence they inspire. So they become "together fitted to your lips."
(Kelly follows an older rendering here; the ESV reads, "if all of them are ready on your lips.")
If the words must be within before they are on the lips, the reverse carries a real danger. J. N. Darby warns about using Scripture that has never gone in:
There is nothing more dangerous than to use the word when it has not touched my conscience. If I go beyond what I have from God, I put myself into Satan's hands. That means going beyond what my soul actually holds, and then using it in ministry or in private… To talk with other believers about the things of God, beyond what I hold in communion with Him, is most harmful. I know of nothing that separates from God more than truth spoken out of communion with God; there is unusual danger in it.
The next verse states the goal, and Kelly refuses to let it be read as a general maxim. The words were made known so that confidence would rest somewhere, and the address is pointed:
But there is a better effect still, "that your trust may be in the LORD." That is why such words are made known. And who else could match them? And what good do we have that we did not receive? We do well to mark what each of us owes: "today, even to you."
The man who recorded these words is himself a case study. Arno Gaebelein sees this section as directed to Solomon personally, and traces how it ended:
Beginning with verse 18 we find another call to hear, and to apply the heart to His knowledge… This is the Lord's personal message to Solomon. He obeyed it for many years, and in the end disobeyed it.
- Hear inward. Apply the heart along with the ear. Doubting that we need those who know better is only self-sufficiency.
- Hide it. The order in the verse is fixed: kept within first, then ready on the lips. The word must live in you before it can come out in teaching anyone.
- Hold it. What you store inside gives lasting satisfaction, while everything else grows tiresome. It also feeds your own growth and the help you give others.
- Speak carefully. Using Scripture that has never touched your own conscience is dangerous. Truth spoken out of communion with God separates you from Him.
- Trust Him. God made these words known so that your trust would rest in Him. Solomon heeded that message for years, and then abandoned it.
That thy confidence may be in Jehovah, I have made [them] known to thee this day, even to thee.
Proverbs 22:19 gives the reason behind all the counsel around it: the instruction was not handed over to fill the mind but to settle the heart on the Lord. It also lands personally. The words carry a date ("today") and an address ("even to you"). Every reader then faces one question: what will you do with truth you now know?
Instruction can do a person good in many ways. This verse names the best of them.
But there is a better effect still: "that your trust may be in the LORD." This is why such words are made known. Who otherwise is equal to them? And what good do we have that we have not received? Surely we do well to note what each of us owes: "today, even to you."
The closing words narrow the address to one person. This was a message spoken to Solomon himself, and what he did with it is sobering.
Starting with verse 18 we find another call to hear, and to apply the heart to His knowledge... This is the personal message to Solomon from the Lord. Solomon listened to it for many years, and in the end disobeyed it.
A person can hold truth for years and still let it go.
One writer follows the line from instruction, to certainty, to the answer we can give when someone asks.
To encourage trust in the Lord, the writer gives good instruction (v. 19). Anyone with the least wisdom will see how excellent that instruction is in its wisdom and knowledge (v. 20). To know by this the certainty of the words of truth is a marvellous benefit indeed (v. 21). The pure truth of God defeats uncertainty and doubt. If we have this, we shall be ready to answer any question others may ask, as 1 Peter 3:15 shows: "always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect."
Trust needs a ground under it. That ground is God's word alone, never human authority.
True, only the gracious ministry of the Holy Spirit lets us grasp the word of God and hold it fast. But it is His word, and that word alone, that forms the ground of Christian certainty. That word is the true basis and authority for the Christian across the whole range of practical life and action. We cannot be too simple about this... It will not do to lean on human authority in any way. Thousands of God's people have tasted the bitterness of leaning on the commandments and doctrines of men. It is sure to end in disappointment and confusion, sooner or later.
The verse points trust away from the reader and toward the Lord. Turning the other way costs believers dearly.
Thousands of true believers live in uncertainty. They look at themselves instead of looking to Christ. They watch their feelings instead of listening to His word. The unhappy result is that they bear little testimony for Christ and do little service for Him... Oh, that we may always remember that all our blessing flows from the grace of God, and rests securely on His word! And that word can never be truer or plainer than it is now.
- Given — the words come to us because we have nothing in ourselves equal to them. Whatever good we have, we received.
- Personal — "today, even to you" puts a name and a date on the message; Solomon heard it, kept it for years, and then let it go.
- Certain — this instruction defeats doubt. It gives the certainty of the words of truth, not human opinion.
- Trusting — certainty is not the goal; it is the road. The aim of everything taught here is that your confidence should rest on the Lord.
- Useful — a settled heart can answer anyone who asks, with gentleness and respect. A heart watching itself stays uncertain.
Have not I written to thee excellent things, in counsels and knowledge,
This verse is God speaking about His own writing: He has put wisdom into permanent form, and He says why. Older translations read "excellent things in counsels and knowledge" where the ESV has "thirty sayings," and the next verse states the purpose — certainty about the words of truth.
Someone can teach you face to face. But this verse points to teaching that lasts:
Let us not miss the added value that "excellent things in counsels and knowledge" gain by being "written" to us. Spoken teaching may be very good. But the hearer can easily mistake it, and can even more easily lose hold of what he did understand. What is written we can read again and again, and make our own more fully. So Scripture is of outstanding profit to our souls as the permanent Word of God, as nothing else can be.
This claim is not a one-off. Across the Bible, God's servants know that He is putting His mind into writing:
The sweet psalmist of Israel said, "The Spirit of the LORD speaks by me; His word is on my tongue." (2 Sam. 23:2.) "My tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe." (Ps. 45:1.) The wise man also exclaimed, "Have I not written to you excellent things?" (Prov. 22:20.) The prophet Hosea said, "I have written for him the great things of my law" (8:12); and the LORD said to Habakkuk, "Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it." (Chap. 2:2.)
The stated aim of the writing is certainty. It is not the certainty that facts and figures give, but the certainty of knowing God Himself:
Scripture has a similar advantage, noted next here: "that I might make you know the certainty of the words of truth." Pure science has nothing moral in it. Still less has it any affection. Least of all does it make God known to the soul, and known in His true relationship to me. This is exactly what His Word does tell us, and tells with full certainty, for His Word is truth of that spiritual kind. Unbelief makes the truth of God the most uncertain of all things. It is like the pagan world with its many gods and many lords, while the one true and living God stays unknown.
God has written the excellent things. But human curiosity runs the other way — away from what God has revealed, and toward what He has not:
Man pries into most holy things with unholy hands, while he neglects the things he is encouraged to look into and study. God commands him, "Search the Scriptures"; but in this, sadly, he has no interest. God says to him, "Have I not written to you excellent things in counsels and knowledge, that I might make you know the certainty of the words of truth?" (Prov. 22:20). Yet man cares very little for this "certainty," while he shows a great appetite for the uncertainties of hidden knowledge and curious, profitless guesswork… There are "secret things" which belong to the LORD our God (Deut. 29:29), but there is much that He has revealed, and of this, sadly, we all know too little.
The written word does not stop with the reader. Verse 21 carries it outward, into the mouth of the one who has received it:
To encourage trust in the Lord, the writer gives good instruction (v. 19). Anyone with the least wisdom will see that such instruction is excellent in its wisdom and knowledge (v. 20). To know the certainty of the words of truth by this is a most marvellous benefit indeed (v. 21). The pure truth of God completely defeats uncertainty and doubt. If we are supplied with this, we will surely be ready to answer any question others may ask, as 1 Peter 3:15 shows: "always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect."
Kelly reads the closing line of verse 21 with a double sense — the one who has learned may be sent out, or sent to:
How good is the fruit this brings to others! "That you might report words of truth to those who send you" as a trusted messenger, or to those who "send to you" for advice when they are in difficulty.
- Written. People mishear speech and forget it. Writing we can read again and again, so Scripture is the permanent Word of God, profitable as nothing else is.
- Excellent. The wise man's "excellent things" stand with what David, Hosea and Habakkuk wrote: God puts His mind into writing so people can read it.
- Certain. The purpose is certainty — knowing God Himself, and my true relationship to Him. No amount of information can give that.
- Neglected. People chase what God has kept secret and ignore the much He has revealed. The certainty is offered, but few want it.
- Reported. What God makes certain in you is meant to leave you: a ready answer for whoever asks, given with gentleness and respect.
that I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth; that thou mightest carry back words of truth to them that send thee?
This verse gives the reason God put His counsel in writing: so the reader would know what is true and be sure of it. That certainty is then meant to travel — back to the people who sent him.
The previous verse speaks of counsel and knowledge that God wrote down for us. One writer stops at that word — written — and counts it a real gain.
Let us not overlook the added value of "excellent things in counsels and knowledge" by their being "written" to us. Spoken teaching may be very good. Even so, the hearer may well misunderstand it, and he is even more likely to lose hold of what he did understand. But we can read again and again what is written, and make it our own more fully. Here is the great profit of Scripture as the permanent Word of God to our souls, as nothing else can be.
The verse names the aim: to make you "know what is right and true." Older translations read "the certainty of the words of truth" — the wording these writers use. One writer sets that next to the knowledge the world prizes, and finds it silent where the soul most needs a voice.
Scripture has a similar advantage, noted next: "that I might make you know the certainty of the words of truth." Pure science has nothing moral in it, and no affection either. Least of all does it make God known to the soul, or known in His true relationship to me. This is just what His Word does communicate, in all certainty, for His Word is truth of that spiritual kind. Unbelief makes the truth of God the most uncertain thing of all. It is like the pagan world with its many gods and many lords, while the one true and living God stays unknown.
The certainty is on offer, but people do not always want it. One writer sets our appetite for hidden knowledge beside it, and notes which of the two we chase.
How like poor, foolish, meddling man! He pries into the most holy things with unholy hands. Meanwhile he neglects the things God invites him to study and ask about. "Search the Scriptures" is God's command to him, but in this, sadly, he has no interest. God says to him, "Have not I written to you excellent things in counsels and knowledge, that I might make you know the certainty of the words of truth?" (Prov. 22:20-21). Yet man cares little for this "certainty." For the uncertainties of hidden knowledge and useless speculation he shows great appetite.
The second half of the verse turns the gift outward. What settles you is what equips you.
The writer of Proverbs gives good instruction to encourage trust in the Lord (v. 19). Anyone with the least wisdom will see that such instruction is excellent in its wisdom and knowledge (v. 20). To know by this the certainty of the words of truth is a marvellous benefit indeed. The pure truth of God completely defeats uncertainty and doubt. Equipped with this, we shall certainly be ready to answer any question others may ask, as 1 Peter 3:15 shows: "Be ready to give a defence to anyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear."
So what backs such confidence? One writer points to the only witness that can settle it.
You cannot be too dogmatic if you have the truth. The grand point is whether we have the truth. And who is to bear witness to that? It must be God's record. Suppose it is not this Book in our hands, not the Scriptures, not the Word of God. You may then have the cleverest conclusions, the clearest arguments, the wisest thoughts imaginable. But without the Scriptures you have no certainty. If you have Scripture, you have certainty.
The closing phrase pictures a messenger carrying words back. One writer sees two settings for it: someone sent out as a representative, or someone others send to for advice.
How good, too, is the fruit that results to others! "That you might report words of truth to them that send you" — as a trustworthy representative, or as one to whom others "send for advice" in their difficulty. Does not God give songs in the night? He teaches us more than the beasts of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of heaven.
Another writer names who still receives it.
Divine certainty is still possible to the humble soul.
- Written — God wrote His counsel down. Speech slips away, but we can read writing again and again and make it our own.
- Certainty — science cannot make God known to the soul. His Word does, and in His true relationship to me.
- Neglected — man chases hidden speculation and steps over the very certainty God offers him.
- Furnished — settled truth defeats doubt. It also makes you ready to answer whoever asks, with meekness and fear.
- Sent back — the same words then travel outward through you to those who sent you, or who send to you for help.
Rob not the poor, because he is poor, neither oppress the afflicted in the gate;
This proverb speaks to anyone who holds the power in a dispute. It names the most cowardly motive for theft: taking from a man because he cannot fight back. It also points to what the wrongdoer forgot — who else is standing at that gate.
The words "because he is poor" give the reason for the crime. Poverty itself is what marks the man out as a target.
There are some who are despicable enough to rob the poor because they are poor (v. 22). They take advantage of the fact that the poor cannot put right any wrong. If you rob the rich, they are in a position to retaliate. But the Lord will plead the cause of the poor (v. 23). So their oppressors will find their evil coming back on their own heads. They aim to plunder others, and they will be plundered themselves.
A city gate was not just an entrance. People settled public business there, and a wronged man went there to have his case heard.
Gates protected a city, but "in the gate" was also the place where people settled many important matters. When Boaz wanted to settle the question about Ruth and the inheritance, he went up to the gate. There he debated the matter with a nearer relative, brought it to a close, and the elders witnessed it. To "sit in the gate" was a place of honour... It should have been the place of true judgement and justice, but was not always so.
That is what makes the second half of the verse so ugly. The crushing happens in the very place built to prevent it.
Flattery goes up to the rich. Cruelty goes down to the poor. Both come from the same self-interest. But the gate has a witness no one called.
It may seem strange to say, "Do not rob the poor," and in particular "because he is poor." But it is a warning we need, because human nature is now so base, selfish, and cruel. The rich might look like the more inviting prey for people without scruples. But they can take care of themselves in ways the poor would not or could not try. So bad men flatter the rich for gain, while they also rob or oppress those who ought to be objects of pity. But the LORD has His eye on such villainy, at the very gate from which justice should flow. He pleads the cause of the poor and the afflicted, and repays heavily those who plunder them.
The command rests on a fact about both men. The two in the dispute have less between them than the stronger one imagines.
In the essentials, how little the difference is! They come into the world alike, and they stand alike when the world passes away. "Rich and poor meet together; the LORD is the maker of them all." The poor man is entitled to remember this, and the rich man ought not to forget it. Job had it clearly before him: "If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant, when they brought a complaint against me, what then shall I do when God rises up? When He makes inquiry, what shall I answer Him? Did not He who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?"
The New Testament presses the same charge further. Being poor does not make a man worse, but being rich carries a danger of its own.
James addresses the rich. They have possessions in this world, and they do not consider the poor. Yet "Blessed is the one who considers the poor" (Psalm 41:1). He who despises the poor because of his poverty despises the Lord Himself. "As for me, I am poor and needy," says the Lord in the psalm before the one I have quoted (Psalm 40:17). The Lord had pronounced His blessing on the poor. They were the ones who heard the gospel, and that was a sign announcing the Messiah. We all know a poor man may be just as wicked as anyone else. But riches are a real danger to us. They feed pride, and they tend to make the heart keep its distance from the poor. And the Lord associated Himself with the poor in this world.
- Defenceless. The poor man is robbed for one reason: he cannot strike back. That is the whole shame of it.
- The gate. The wrong is done at the very place designed to stop it — the public court where the wronged were meant to be heard.
- Watched. The LORD's eye is on that gate. What no human judge saw, He sees.
- Represented. He does more than watch. He takes the poor man's side, pleads his cause, and repays the plunderer with plundering.
- Equal. Rich and poor enter and leave the world the same way, made by one Maker. To despise a man for his poverty is to despise the God who made him — and the Lord who called Himself poor and needy.
for Jehovah will plead their cause, and despoil the soul of those that despoil them.
The line before this one forbids robbing the poor and crushing the afflicted at the gate. This verse gives the reason: the poor have a defender, and He takes from the robber what the robber took.
The warning sounds strange at first. A poor man has little worth taking. One commentator explains why such a low crime happens at all.
It may seem odd to say, "Do not rob the poor," and especially "because he is poor." But we need the warning. Human nature as it is now can be so low, selfish, and cruel. A dishonest man might see the rich as the more tempting prey. But the rich can protect themselves in ways the poor would not or could not try. So bad men flatter the rich for gain, while they rob or oppress those who ought to be objects of pity. But the LORD has His eye on such villainy, at the very gate where justice should flow. He pleads the cause of the poor and the afflicted, and He repays heavily those who plunder them.
The second half of the verse names the sentence: the LORD robs the robber of life. The punishment takes the shape of the crime.
There are some who are despicable enough to rob the poor because they are poor — that is, taking advantage of their inability to get any wrong put right (v. 22). If you rob the rich, they are in a position to retaliate. But the LORD will plead the cause of the poor (v. 23). So their oppressors will find their own evil coming back on their heads. They aim to plunder others, and they end up plundered themselves.
"Plead their cause" is courtroom language. Kelly draws it out on a related proverb about the fatherless.
Heartless dishonesty toward anyone draws out a far graver warning, and most of all toward the fatherless. It makes no difference what form it takes. It may be the sly move of shifting an old boundary stone. It may be the open boldness of walking into the fields of the fatherless. If they have no father, they need no lawyer any more than they need to take the law into their own hands. Their Kinsman, their Redeemer, is strong; He will plead their cause against the wrongdoer, high or low.
But God often waits. Writing on a psalm, one commentator separates God's silence from God's approval.
God has long been a patient Observer (v. 14), but patience is not indifference, as the world will learn by terrible experience. God will repay in perfect righteousness. The helpless who have committed themselves to Him will find Him a real helper. He is a Helper of the fatherless — of those who have no one on earth to depend on.
The same wrong still happens. One writer applies the promise to a working man sent home unpaid.
Nothing can be more painful to a tender heart than the lack of kindly consideration for the poor that the rich so often show. They can sit down to their lavish meal, having just turned a poor hard-working man away from their door. He had come seeking the fair reward of his honest labour. They never think of the aching heart with which that man goes back to his family to tell them of the disappointment to himself and to them. Oh, it is terrible. It offends God deeply. It offends everyone who has tasted His grace in any measure. Do you want to know what God thinks of such behaviour? Then listen to these words of holy indignation: "Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts" (James 5:4). "The Lord of hosts" hears the cry of the wronged and disappointed labourer. God will not let hard-hearted people toss the claims of the poor aside — people so hardened by wealth that no appeal to tenderness can reach them. The poor are the special objects of God's care.
- The crime. Thieves pick the poor because the poor cannot hit back. The rich can defend themselves. That is what makes the theft so low.
- The court. The robbery happens at the gate, the very place justice should come from. God's eye is on that spot.
- The Advocate. Those with no father and no lawyer still have a defender. Their Kinsman-Redeemer is strong, and He takes the case Himself, against high and low alike.
- The delay. God's silence is patience, not indifference. He repays in perfect righteousness, and the helpless who commit themselves to Him find a real Helper.
- The verdict. The sentence fits the crime: the plunderer is plundered, and loses more than he took. The unpaid worker's cry still reaches the Lord of hosts today.