Why should we not rejoice when our enemy falls (Proverbs 24:17)?

How selfish and base to rejoice in the fall of an enemy! It may please the subtle enemy and the flesh too; but let not your heart be glad that he stumbles, else Jehovah will surely see and be displeased, and turn away His anger from him. And to whom? Let your conscience answer.

Yet the believer is told not to rejoice when his enemy falls, though this might relieve the believer of much harm (v. 17). Indeed, when anyone falls, we ought to be sorry for him, and pray that his fall might result in turning him to the Lord. But the Lord takes full account of our attitude (v. 18), and if out hearts are disposed to think or act selfishly, we can expect to suffer the consequences.

In the final instructions of this chapter we find first a description of the evil men. Their heart studieth destruction; their lips talk mischief. This theme is repeatedly referred to in this chapter. In verse 15 the evil man is addressed not to lay wait for the righteous and not to spoil his resting place. The Lord takes care of the righteous; he may be overcome by misfortunes seven times, yet will he rise again. Different it is with the wicked when he falls into mischief. Yet there must be no rejoicing over the fall of the enemy, nor gladness when he stumbled. This displeaseth the Lord. Still higher is the command of the New Testament, "Love your enemies; ... recompense no man evil for evil; ... overcome evil with good." There is to be no fretting because of evil men nor envy (verses 1 and 19). Why should the righteous be envious at the wicked in their prosperity? The Thirty-seventh Psalm enters more fully into this; but here the same answer is given in a terse way. The wicked have no reward; their candle will be put out. Their calamity riseth suddenly, and who knoweth the ruin of them both? which means that the Lord and the king, will deal with the wicked. Another proverb of this chapter we mention: "If thou faint in the day of adversity thy strength is small" (verse 10). The hour of trial is the hour which brings the test. When adversity brings despondency, and even worse, murmuring, it is an evidence that the heart does not fully trust the Lord.

Courage is tested in the day of trouble, which gives the occasion to show its worth. But it shines better in delivering those who are in it; and this with integrity before Him who sees, to whom each owes his preservation, and who takes account of man according to his work. He would have one to enjoy the good He gives, but consider wisdom and the issue. A wicked man is warned against lying in wait against the righteous man, who, if he fall, will surely rise, while his enemy stumbles into ruin. Nor does it become one to rejoice at the fall even of an adversary, lest Jehovah see it, and not for nothing.

"[If] thou losest courage in the day of trouble, thy strength [is] small. "Deliver those taken forth to death, and withdraw not from them that stagger to slaughter. "If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not, will not he that weighs the hearts consider it? "And he that preserves thy soul, he knows [it]; and he renders to man according to his work. "Eat honey, my son, for [it is] good; and a honeycomb [is] sweet to thy taste. "So consider wisdom for thy soul; if thou hast found [it], there shall be a result, and thine expectation shall not be cut off. "Lay not wait, wicked [man], against the dwelling of the righteous; lay not waste his resting place. "For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises up again; but the wicked stumble into disaster. "Rejoice not when thine enemy falls, and let not thy heart be glad when he stumbles; "Lest Jehovah see [it], and it be evil in his sight, and he turn away his anger from him." vv. 10-18.

The knowledge of God, as the avenger of His people's wrongs, is not intended to awaken in our hearts the smallest desire that the divine vengeance should overtake our enemies. This we must watch against as a secret desire for we are prone to count on the divine vengeance falling on those who have injured us; and such expectations are closely allied to the hope that it may come. This must be guarded against; it is natural to us, and bordering on the principles of the world. It is a most unhappy thing to be dwelling, either in our own minds, or in conversation with others, on the injuries — supposed or real — which we have received. How much happier to forget them, and commit ourselves and all our affairs into the hands of the Lord! To advance in arms against our enemies; to watch for their halting; to wait our opportunity to give out what we have been nursing within; to exaggerate their failures, that they may receive double for their sins; to rejoice inwardly when we think they have been repaid in their own coin, is to indulge a spirit entirely contrary to the mind of the Lord in the passage before us, and to the whole genius of Christianity. To the Lord alone rightfully belongs the prerogative of vindicating the innocent, and of punishing the guilty.

Such gloating over the defeat of enemies is disgusting. God will take this into serious account. If He allows the king of Israel to suffer a humiliating death because of his refusing God's word, He will not ignore the heartless wickedness of men who gloat over his death. (Proverbs 24:17-18). When we see judgment fall on anyone, our attitude should be that of sorrow for the person and of honest judgment of ourselves, remembering that only the grace of God preserves us from the judgment we deserve.

1891 371 The lamentation of David over Saul discovers a spirit the lack of which may well humble us. There is not a secret word in it suggestive of triumph over a fallen enemy, not an expression of selfish satisfaction at deliverance from his persecution. The cruelly unjust treatment which he had received at the hands of Saul for years, his many personal wrongs are all passed over. David remembers only the brilliant natural qualities which might have adorned a throne but were wholly powerless to shield him from the consequences of his headstrong will.

Joab hears of David's mourning for Absalom, and the people take this as an indication that perhaps it was wrong to win the battle. At least it subdued their pride of winning. We all need to take to heart the exhortation of Proverbs 24:7, "Do not rejoice when your enemy falls." While we may be rightly thankful that the Lord Jesus will subdue all His enemies, yet we ought to feel the sorrow of their having to be judged. In some measure this was no doubt good for the people, but David carried it too far.

Now he looks at another thing quite different — "If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness," i.e. in the way of any adoration; in bowing down to the sun or moon, which was the earliest form of idolatry. We do not hear of Baals or Ashtoreths or any of the disreputable vanities and wickedness of heathen objects of worship; but here was a work of God of the highest nature, but no leaning to it in any way — "and my heart has been secretly enticed, or my mouth has kissed my hand" — even the slightest form of acknowledging the creature! — "this also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above." There we have very sound doctrine. "If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him" — a very common snare for people. They have a little pleasure when their adversaries come to grief, or are troubled. "Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul. If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh, that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied. The stranger did not lodge in the street; but I opened my doors to the traveller. If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom: did I fear a great multitude" — you observe he was perfectly acquainted with the very interesting and profitable story of Adam's fall. There we have just what anyone now, looking back with the light of Christ even, sees. There was the great sin of Adam. Instead of humbling himself to God, and going to meet God to tell Him how he had disgraced himself, Adam hid himself away; and the clothing that he put upon him showed that he was no longer innocent.

Job speaks now of his attitude toward mankind generally. It was evidently a concern to him that he should not rejoice when trouble came to one who hated him, nor take advantage of such an occasion to profit by the misfortune of such a person (v.29). In fact, he had not even allowed his mouth to sin by asking for a curse on that person's soul (v.30). Actually, this is only normal for one who has faith in the Lord Jesus (Ro.12:20), so that it was no reason for Job to boast. Unbelievers of course acted contrary to this, but we can only expect this from those who do not know the Lord.