Be not wise in thine own eyes; fear Jehovah, and depart from evil
The proverb has just told the reader to trust God and not to lean on his own understanding. Verse 7 turns the same lesson inward: stop admiring your own judgment, fear God, and leave evil behind.
Every person stands at a fork. One writer traces both roads back to Eve's choice.
Two paths are before man — to trust God, or to trust himself and his own wisdom for his happiness. This is just where Eve failed. She did not trust God and what He had said for her happiness. She leaned on her own understanding. She thought she could secure her happiness better by doing what seemed to be to her advantage. So it is with every sinner. He thinks he can secure his own happiness better by doing his own will than by listening to God… But self-confidence is ruin. "Be not wise in your own eyes." Men do not see far if they only see self, and self is always what is in our own eyes.
Being wise in your own eyes means taking advice from yourself. That advice has a long and unimpressive record — and a known source.
The great danger for all is to seek counsel from within, and thoughtful, experienced people face it most. Yet experience should have taught them a less flattering tale. All Scripture echoes this word, "Be not wise in your own eyes." The bait of Satan was to become so, and man has always coveted it. How blessed when we learn our folly and find a far better wisdom open to us!
Self-importance is not a private fault. It often grows out of weakness, and the damage spreads past the person.
Self-conceit is often the offspring of weakness and ignorance. The mind swells with an imagined superiority to those around us. We brush aside the opinions of the lowly, and self-confidence follows. Wherever this pride shows itself among Christians, it destroys the prosperity of the church and hinders the blessing of the individual. May the Lord give us the spirit of a little child — humble, teachable, dependent.
The verse speaks to the conscience as well as to the heart. The fear it calls for rests on forgiveness, not on dread.
But there is a word for conscience as well as heart… "Fear the LORD, and turn away from evil." Was there ever true fear of Him without pardon? Certainly Psalm 130:4 makes it clear that there is forgiveness with Him, that He may be feared. Without it, what can the fear be but slavish and tainted? This nerves the soul to turn away from evil. We hate it, because He hates it.
Another writer says what this fear is not, and what it brings.
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… Where we keep this, the presence of the Lord is a reality and joy.
The two halves of the command belong together. Obadiah served in the court of wicked King Ahab. One writer sees in him a man who had the first half without the second.
"Obadiah feared the LORD greatly." That might seem enough for a faithful walk, since "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom." But we are also told: "fear the LORD, and turn away from evil." And again: "The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil." A man may fear the Lord greatly and still dishonour Him by his link with the world that rejects Him.
Turning from evil goes further than never doing anything wrong. One writer marks the difference with Adam before the fall.
Departing from evil is something more than walking in His fear. There is a hatred of evil, partly for what it is, partly because it is against His will. I may walk in God's fear and do no evil myself, and still not be marked, I think, by departing from evil. Adam, innocent, would have walked uprightly and done nothing wrong. He would not have departed from evil; he had nothing to do with it. I do have something to do with it. So I depart from it, leave it, and break with it. This has to do with holiness.
- Self is short-sighted. Those who only see self do not see far. Self-confidence is ruin, and it repeats Eve's attempt to secure happiness her own way.
- Self-counsel is the bait. Being wise in your own eyes was Satan's first bait. The cure is to learn your folly and find a far better wisdom.
- Self-conceit spreads. Pride brushes aside the lowly and hinders blessing for the whole church. The cure is the spirit of a little child.
- Fear rests on pardon. God forgives so that He may be feared. Without pardon, fear is only slavish. With it, the soul hates what He hates.
- Fear breaks with evil. Doing no evil is not the same as departing from it. A man may fear God greatly and still dishonour Him by his link with a world that rejects Him.
it shall be health for thy navel, and moisture for thy bones.
Verse 8 gives the reason for the command just before it: turning from evil in the fear of the Lord brings healing, and that healing reaches the body. Is this a promise of physical health, or a picture of something deeper?
The words are a consequence, not a standalone blessing. One writer sets this verse beside the chapter's opening call to keep God's commandments. He reads both as one law of life:
Men's vices destroy their bodies, and rob human life of all that makes it worth the name. The law given here is a law of life: "My son, do not forget My law, but let your heart keep My commandments; they will add to you length of days, years of life, and peace. … Fear the Lord, and turn away from evil: it will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones" (Prov. 3:1-2, 7, 8). This must be so, if God is over all, and "the Lord's eyes are over the righteous."
If "it" means the fear of the Lord, then everything depends on what that fear is. One commentator ties this fear to pardon. Forgiveness changes the fear, and that fear gives the strength to turn from evil:
Was there ever true fear of Him without pardon? Certainly Psalm 130:4 makes clear that there is pardon with Him that He may be feared. Without pardon, what can the fear be but slavish and tainted? This nerves the soul to "depart from evil." We hate it, because He hates it… A son honours his father, a servant his master. His honour, His fear, are no longer light things to us. And the effect is wholesome and blessed. "It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones."
Another writer puts the same reverence in positive terms — trust, not dread:
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).
Why name the body at all? One writer takes the two images apart and finds a spiritual meaning in each:
If we give the Lord His place, then we recognize that evil can have no place. This response to the Lord will mean "healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones" (v. 8). Of course, this is not only literal. The bones are the framework of the body, so this implies spiritual health and strength. The body stands for daily activity, and the bones for the strength that carries the activity out.
The verse only makes sense against the choice set out just before it. Two roads are open, and one of them wrecks the traveller:
Two paths are before man — to trust God, or to trust himself and his own wisdom for his happiness. Trust in God is the first positive, active principle of life and wisdom. The next is owning Him in our ways, taking His will and His authority to shape them, not our own will and wisdom — and doing so openly (v. 6). He will surely direct our steps… But self-confidence is ruin. "Be not wise in your own eyes" (v. 7). They do not see far if they only see self, and that is what always is in our own eyes.
Commentators differ on whether a healthy body is still guaranteed. One holds that godliness affects the body in ordinary ways:
Godliness leads to health of mind and body. Timothy had a weak stomach and frequent illnesses. He was careful in his habits, almost to the point of legality. He was likely to live longer than a heavy drinker.
Another writer draws a line between Israel's promise and ours:
We must always take account of the government of God, and especially those whom He has blessed with the knowledge of redemption. If Israel had simply obeyed the Lord, He would have kept them from such physical diseases, for He is the Lord who heals. In our present time of grace, obedience is not promised to keep us free from physical disease. But obedience will surely keep us from spiritual disease, and give us spiritual health and strength.
- Cause. The healing of verse 8 is the fruit of verse 7. Fear God, turn from evil, and this follows. Trust your own eyes instead, and self-confidence ruins you.
- Gift. The fear that heals rests on pardon. Without pardon, fear is only slavish. With it, fear becomes a son's honour for his Father, and the nerve to hate what God hates.
- Reach. The promise touches the whole person — flesh for daily activity, bones for the strength that carries it.
- Limit. Commentators differ on the body. One sees godliness lengthening life. Another holds that under grace, obedience guards against spiritual disease, not physical.
- Result. God's government makes the outcome sure, for His eyes are over the righteous. Vice destroys the body; reverence makes life whole.