Lay not wait, O wicked [man], against the dwelling of the righteous; lay not waste his resting-place.
This verse speaks to the wicked man himself and warns him off the home of a righteous neighbour. The reason comes in the next line: not that the house is well guarded, but that the man inside keeps getting up again.
The verse does not advise the righteous on home security. It confronts the person planning the raid, and it covers both the quiet plot and the open attack.
The next is a warning to a wicked man to beware of craft or violence against the house of the righteous. Does not Jehovah see?
Lying in wait takes patience. Why would a man spend that effort on a neighbour's house?
The wicked man is now warned how foolish it is to lie in wait against the dwelling of the righteous (v. 15), hoping to gain plunder from him. "For the righteous falls seven times and rises again" (v. 16). At first the wicked may think his evil plans have succeeded. But in the end he will find himself defeated, often by sudden disaster.
Another proverb sets the solid-looking house of the wicked against the frail tent of the upright. The outcome is the opposite of what appearances promise.
In verse 11 it is not "the heart" but "the house" which may rise aloft from deep foundations. But the wicked dwell there, and no security can be for them or theirs in the moral government of God. It shall be overthrown, though the fear of God would not hasten the moment. On the other hand, how exposed to wind and rain is "the tent of the upright"! Yet the unseen hand protects, and it shall flourish.
That is the logic of the warning. The attacker is not up against a household. He is up against the One who guards it.
The next verse gives the reason, and it is a surprising one. The righteous man is not the man who never falls. He is the man who falls and gets up again.
It is true that the righteous may fall again and again — "seven times" — yet he rises again. Look on the one hand at David; on the other at Shimei, Ahithophel, Absalom, and Joab.
Kelly puts one name on the side of the man who falls and rises. The other four stand for the fall that has no recovery.
Read in its setting, the verse belongs to a run of sayings about how the righteous man is to treat those who oppose him — and later Scripture raises the standard higher still.
The Lord takes care of the righteous. He may be overcome by misfortune seven times, yet he will rise again. It is different with the wicked when he falls into trouble. Even so, there must be no rejoicing over the fall of an enemy, and no gladness when he stumbles. This displeases the Lord. The command of the New Testament is higher still: "Love your enemies"; "Repay no one evil for evil"; "overcome evil with good."
Commentators also apply the promise of rising again to the believer's own falls, not only to attacks from outside. So where is the line between a stumble and a deliberate turning away?
It is not slipping, or being "caught in any transgression." It is not even what Peter did, when in an hour of self-confidence he gave way to pressure from outside and denied his Lord. As grievous and dreadful as that sin was, it was not deliberate. The will of the renewed man shrank in horror from such dishonour to his Lord. One look from the Lord Jesus brought that poor, self-confident man back to Him, brokenhearted. This is always what happens where divine life is in the soul. "The righteous falls seven times and rises again."
The picture behind that promise is a house built on rock.
A disciple who wants to be faithful to the Lord and obey His word — that is the wise man in the parable — can fail too. He will not be spared trials either. Some events will shake the life of even the strongest believer to its very foundation. But he knows that his house is built on solid rock and will not fall.
- Addressed. The verse speaks to the wrongdoer, not to the victim. It bans the secret plot and the open attack alike.
- Motive. The ambush aims at plunder. The plotter may think he has won, and then meet sudden disaster.
- Protected. The upright man's tent looks open to wind and rain, but an unseen hand guards it. The grand house of the wicked comes down.
- Resilient. The righteous man falls seven times and gets up again. That rising is the mark of divine life in the soul.
- Higher. The Lord takes care of the righteous, so there is no gladness at an enemy's fall. The New Testament goes further: love your enemies, and overcome evil with good.
For the righteous falleth seven times, and riseth up again; but the wicked stumble into disaster.
Proverbs 24:16 answers a man who is plotting against a righteous neighbour's home. It does not deny that good people go down; it draws the line between a fall you get up from and a collapse you don't.
The line is not a general saying dropped in at random. It gives the reason for the warning just before it. That warning tells an attacker to keep away from the righteous man's home.
The verse now warns the wicked man how foolish it is to lie in wait outside the home of the righteous (v. 15), hoping to rob him. "For the righteous falls seven times and rises again" (v. 16). At first the wicked may think his evil plans have worked. In the end he will find himself defeated, often by sudden disaster.
The contrast is not between one who falls and one who doesn't. Both go down. What separates them is whether they come back up. One writer names men from Israel's history on each side.
The righteous may fall again and again — "seven times" — yet he rises each time. The wicked stumble into disaster. Look on the one hand at David; at Shimei, Ahithophel, Absalom, and Joab on the other.
Some of the falling here is pressure from outside — suffering that strikes a person down. One writer treats that humbling as the very thing that lets a servant's light out.
In order for the light to shine more brightly, the vessel must be humbled... "struck down, but not destroyed." This was deep suffering to the flesh, but as Proverbs tells us, a righteous man may fall seven times, and rise up again (Prov. 24:16).
Another writer sets the same point beside the story of the house built on rock. Shaking will come; the foundation settles the outcome.
A disciple wanting to be faithful to the Lord and obey His word — that is the wise man in our parable — can fail too. Nor will he be spared trials. Events will come that shake even the strongest believer's life to its foundation. But he knows his house stands on solid rock and will not fall.
Other falls are real sin. One writer uses this proverb to mark off failure from deliberate, settled rebellion — and points to Peter, who denied his Lord and still came back.
Wilful sin is not slipping, or being caught in a fault. It is not even giving way to outside pressure in an hour of self-confidence, as Peter did when he denied his Lord. Grievous and dreadful as this sin was, it was not wilful... one look from the Lord Jesus brought the poor, self-confident one back to Him, brokenhearted. So it always is where divine life is in the soul. "The righteous falls seven times and rises again."
The rising is not the fallen man's own resilience. One writer traces it to grace, which works on a different principle from the consequences a man reaps.
Some would tell us that if a man falls, he can never recover his position; and no doubt, under government, we must reap as we sow. But grace is another thing altogether. Government drove Adam out of Eden and never put him back, but grace promised the woman's offspring who would win. Government kept Moses out of the promised land, but grace led him up the mountain to see it. Government sent a perpetual sword on David's house, but grace made the son of Bathsheba the wisest and wealthiest of Israel's kings.
Grace does not just return a person to where he stood before. Where the self-judgment is thorough, the man ends up somewhere he had never been.
He loves to bring the one who has failed, once restored, into a better condition than he had ever known before. Witness Simon Peter at the end of the Gospels and the beginning of the Acts... Where self-judgment is thorough, where a person sides with God against his own sin, it always brings him into a depth of God's grace he never had before — as deep as the repentance goes.
- Fall. The righteous go down — "seven times" — through both hardship and personal failure. A record of falls is not proof that someone is not righteous.
- Rise. Getting back up is the distinguishing mark. Where divine life is in the soul, a return follows the fall, as it did for Peter.
- Grace lifts. Consequences follow sin under God's government, but grace works on another principle — Adam, Moses and David all show it.
- Deeper after. Restoration is not a return to the old level; thorough self-judgment brings a person into a depth of grace he never had before.
- The other man. The wicked also falls, but into disaster with no recovery — which is why plotting against a righteous man's house is folly.