Chapter 20:
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Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Psalms Ecclesiastes
Proverbs 20
Complete Concise
Verse 1
Here is, 1. The mischief of drunkenness:
Wine is a mocker;
strong drink is raging. It is so to the sinner himself; it mocks him, makes
a fool of him, promises him that satisfaction which it can never give him. It
smiles upon him at first, but
at the last it bites. In reflection upon
it, it rages in his conscience. It is raging in the body, puts the humours into
a ferment.
When the wine is in the wit is out, and then the man,
according as his natural temper is, either mocks like a fool or rages like a
madman. Drunkenness, which pretends to be a sociable thing, renders men unfit
for society, for it makes them abusive with their tongues and outrageous in
their passions, ch. 23:29. 2. The folly of drunkards is easily inferred thence.
He that
is deceived thereby, that suffers himself to be drawn into this
sin when he is so plainly warned of the consequences of it,
is not wise;
he shows that he has no right sense or consideration of things; and not only so,
but he renders himself incapable of getting wisdom; for it is a sin that
infatuates and besots men, and takes away their heart. A drunkard is a fool, and
a fool he is likely to be.
Verse 2
See here, 1. How formidable kings are, and what a terror they
strike upon those they are angry with. Their
fear, with which (especially
when they are absolute and their will is a law) they keep their subjects in awe,
is as the roaring of a lion, which is very dreadful to the creatures he
preys upon, and makes them tremble so that they cannot escape from him. Those
princes that rule by wisdom and love rule like God himself, and bear his image;
but those that rule merely by terror, and with a high hand, do but rule like a
lion in the forest, with a brutal power.
Oderint, dum metuant
Let
them hate, provided they fear. 2. How unwise therefore those are that
quarrel with them, that are angry at them, and so
provoke them to anger.
They
sin against their own lives. Much more do those do so that provoke
the King of kings to anger.
Nemo me impune lacesset
No one shall
provoke me with impunity.
Verse 3
This is designed to rectify men's mistakes concerning strife.
1. Men think it is their wisdom to engage in quarrels; whereas it is the
greatest folly that can be. He thinks himself a wise man that is quick in
resenting affronts, that stands upon every nicety of honour and right, and will
not abate an ace of either, that prescribes, and imposes, and gives law, to
every body; but he that thus meddles is a fool, and creates a great deal of
needless vexation to himself. 2. Men think, when they are engaged in quarrels,
that it would be a shame to them to go back and let fall the weapon; whereas
really
it is an honour for a man to cease from strife, an honour to
withdraw an action, to drop a controversy, to forgive an injury, and to be
friends with those that we have fallen out with. It is the honour of a man, a
wise man, a man of spirit, to show the command he has of himself by
ceasing
from strife, yielding, and stooping, and receding from his just demands, for
peace-sake, as Abraham, the better man, Gen. 13:8.
Verse 4
See here the evil of slothfulness and the love of ease. 1. It
keeps men from the most necessary business, from ploughing and sowing when the
season is:
The sluggard has ground to occupy, and has ability for it; he
can plough, but he
will not; some excuse or other he has to shift it off,
but the true reason is that it is
cold weather. Though ploughing time is
not in the depth of winter, it is in the borders of winter, when he thinks it
too cold for him to be abroad. Those are scandalously sluggish who, in the way
of their business, cannot find in their hearts to undergo so little toil as that
of ploughing and so little hardship as that of a cold blast. Thus careless are
many in the affairs of their souls; a trifling difficulty will frighten them
from the most important duty; but good soldiers must endure hardness. 2. Thereby
it deprives them of the most necessary supports: Those that
will not plough
in seed-time cannot expect to reap in harvest; and therefore they must beg their
bread with astonishment when the diligent are bringing home their sheaves with
joy. He that will not submit to the labour of ploughing must submit to the shame
of begging. They
shall beg in harvest, and yet
have nothing; no,
not then when there is great plenty. Though it may be charity to relieve
sluggards, yet a man may, in justice, not relieve them; they deserve to be left
to starve. Those that would not provide oil in their vessels begged when the
bridegroom came, and were denied.
Verse 5
A man's wisdom is here said to be of use to him for the
pumping of other people, and diving into them, 1. To get the knowledge of them.
Though men's counsels and designs are ever so carefully concealed by them, so
that they are as
deep water which one cannot fathom, yet there are those
who by sly insinuations, and questions that seem foreign, will get out of them
both what they have done and what they intend to do. Those therefore who would
keep counsel must not only put on resolution, but stand upon their guard. 2. To
get knowledge by them. Some are very able and fit to give counsel, having an
excellent faculty of cleaving a hair, hitting the joint of a difficulty, and
advising pertinently, but they are modest, and reserved, and not communicative;
they have a great deal in them, but it is loth to come out. In such a case
a
man of understanding will draw it out, as wine out of a vessel. We lose the
benefit we might have by the conversation of wise men for want of the art of
being inquisitive.
Verse 6
Note, 1. It is easy to find those that will pretend to be kind
and liberal. Many a man will call himself a man of mercy, will boast what good
he has done and what good he designs to do, or, at least, what an affection he
has to well-doing. Most men will talk a great deal of their charity, generosity,
hospitality, and piety, will sound a trumpet to themselves, as the Pharisees,
and what little goodness they have will proclaim it and make a mighty matter of
it. 2. But it is hard to find those that really are kind and liberal, that have
done and will do more than either they speak of or care to hear spoken of, that
will be true friends in a strait; such a one as one may trust to is like a black
swan.
Verse 7
It is here observed to the honour of a good man, 1. That he does
well for himself. He has a certain rule, which with an even steady hand he
governs himself by: He
walks in his integrity; he keeps good conscience,
and he has the comfort of it, for
it is his rejoicing. He is not liable
to those uneasinesses, either in contriving what he shall do or reflecting on
what he has done, which those are liable to that walk in deceit. 2. That he does
well for his family:
His children are blessed after him, and fare the
better for his sake. God has mercy in store for the seed of the faithful.
Verse 8
Here is, 1. The character of a good governor: He is
a king
that deserves to be called so who
sits in the throne, not as a throne of
honour, to take his ease, and take state upon him, and oblige men to keep their
distance, but as a
throne of judgment, that he may do justice, give
redress to the injured and punish the injurious, who makes his business his
delight and loves no pleasure comparably to it, who does not devolve the whole
care and trouble upon others, but takes cognizance of affairs himself and sees
with his own eyes as much as may be, 1 Ki. 10:9. 2. The happy effect of a good
government. The presence of the prince goes far towards the putting of
wickedness out of countenance; if he inspect his affairs himself, those that are
employed under him will be kept in awe and restrained from doing wrong. If great
men be good men, and will use their power as they may and ought, what good may
they do and what evil may they prevent!
Verse 9
This question is not only a challenge to any man in the world to
prove himself sinless, whatever he pretends, but a lamentation of the corruption
of mankind, even that which remains in the best. Alas!
Who can say,
"I am sinless?" Observe, 1. Who the persons are that are excluded from
these pretensionsall, one as well as another. Here, in this imperfect state,
no person whatsoever can pretend to be without sin. Adam could say so in
innocency, and saints can say so in heaven, but none in this life. Those that
think themselves as good as they should be cannot, nay, and those that are
really good will not, dare not, say this. 2. What the pretension is that is
excluded. We cannot say, We
have made our hearts clean. Though we can
say, through grace, "We are cleaner than we have been," yet we cannot
say, "We are clean and pure from all remainders of sin." Or, though we
are clean from the gross acts of sin, yet we cannot say, "Our hearts are
clean." Or, though we are washed and cleansed, yet we cannot say, "We
ourselves made our own hearts clean;" it was the work of the Spirit. Or,
though we are pure from the sins of many others, yet we cannot say, "We are
pure from our sin, the sin that easily besets us, the
body of death
which Paul complained of," Rom. 7:24.
Verse 10
See here, 1. The various arts of deceiving that men have, all
which evils the
love of money is the root of. In paying and receiving
money, which was then commonly done by the scale, they had
divers weights,
an under-weight for what they paid and an over-weight for what they received; in
delivering out and taking in goods they had
divers measures, a scanty
measure to sell by and a large measure to buy by. This was done wrong with plot
and contrivance, and under colour of doing right. Under these is included all
manner of fraud and deceit in commerce and trade. 2. The displeasure of God
against them. Whether they be about the money or the goods, in the buyer or in
the seller, they are all
alike an abomination to the Lord. He will not
prosper the trade that is thus driven, nor bless what is thus got. He hates
those that thus break the common faith by which justice is maintained, and will
be
the avenger of all such.
Verse 11
The tree is known by its fruits, a man
by his doings,
even a young tree by its first fruits,
a child by his childish things,
whether
his work be clean only, appearing good (the word is used ch. 16:2), or
whether
it be right, that is, really good. This intimates, 1. That children will
discover themselves. One may soon see what their temper is, and which way their
inclination leads them, according as their constitution is. Children have not
learned the art of dissembling and concealing their bent as grown people have.
2. That parents should observe their children, that they may discover their
disposition and genius, and both manage and dispose of them accordingly, drive
the nail that will go and draw out that which goes amiss.
Wisdom is
herein
profitable to direct.
Verse 12
Note, 1. God is the God of nature, and all the powers and
faculties of nature are derived from him and depend upon him, and therefore are
to be employed for him. It was he that
formed the eye and
planted the
ear (Ps. 94:9), and the structure of both is admirable; and it is he that
preserves to us the use of both; to his providence we owe it that our eyes are
seeing
eyes and our ears
hearing ears. Hearing and seeing are the learning
senses, and must particularly own God's goodness in them. 2. God is the God of
grace. It is he that gives the ear that hears God's voice, they eye that sees
his beauty, for it is he that opens the understanding.
Verse 13
Note, 1. Those that indulge themselves in their ease may expect
to want necessaries, which should have been gotten by honest labour.
"Therefore, though thou must sleep (nature requires it), yet
love not
sleep, as those do that hate business. Love not sleep for its own sake, but
only as it fits for further work. Love not much sleep, but rather grudge the
time that is spent in it, and wish thou couldst live without it, that thou
mightest always be employed in some good exercise." We must allow it to our
bodies as men allow it to their servants, because they cannot help it and
otherwise they shall have no good of them. Those that love sleep are likely to
come
to poverty, not only because they lose the time they spend in excess of
sleep, but because they contract a listless careless disposition, and are still
half asleep, never well awake. 2. Those that stir up themselves to their
business may expect to have conveniences:
"Open thy eyes, awake and
shake off sleep, see how far in the day it is, how thy work wants thee, and how
busy others are about thee! And, when thou art awake, look up, look to thy
advantages, and do not let slip thy opportunities; apply thy mind closely to thy
business and be in care about it. It is the easy condition of a great advantage:
Open thy eyes and thou shalt be satisfied with bread; if thou dost not
grow rich, yet though shalt have enough, and that is as good as a feast."
Verse 14
See here 1. What arts men use to get a good bargain and to buy
cheap. They not only cheapen carelessly, as if they had no need, no mind for the
commodity, when perhaps they cannot go without it (there may be prudence in
that), but they vilify and run down that which yet they know to be of value;
they cry,
"It is naught, it is naught; it has this and the other
fault, or perhaps may have; it is not good of the sort; and it is too dear; we
can have better and cheaper elsewhere, or have bought better and cheaper."
This is the common way of dealing; and after all, it may be, they know the
contrary of what they affirm; but the buyer, who may think he has no other way
of being even with the seller, does as extravagantly commend his goods and
justify the price he sets on them, and so there is a fault on both sides;
whereas the bargain would be made every jot as well if both buyer and seller
would be modest and speak as they think. 2. What pride and pleasure men take in
a good bargain when they have got it, though therein they contradict themselves,
and own they dissembled when they were driving the bargain. When the buyer has
beaten down the seller, who was content to lower his price rather than lose a
customer (as many poor tradesmen are forced to dosmall profit is better than
none), then he goes his way, and boasts what excellent goods he has got at his
own price, and takes it as an affront and a reflection upon his judgment if any
body disparages his bargain. Perhaps he knew the worth of the good better than
the seller himself did and knows how to get a great deal by them. See how apt
men are to be pleased with their gettings and proud of their tricks; whereas a
fraud and a lie are what a man ought to be ashamed of, though he have gained
ever so much by them.
Verse 15
The
lips of knowledge (a good understanding to guide the
lips and a good elocution to diffuse the knowledge) are to be preferred far
before gold, and pearl, and rubies; for, 1. They are more rare in themselves,
more scarce and hard to be got.
There is gold in many a man's pocket
that has no grace in his heart. In Solomon's time there was plenty of gold (1
Ki. 10:21) and
abundance of rubies; every body wore them; they were to be
bought in every town. But wisdom is a rare thing, a precious jewel; few have it
so as to do good with it, nor is it to be purchased of the merchants. 2. They
are more enriching to us and more adorning. They make us rich towards God, rich
in good works, 1 Tim. 2:9, 10. Most people are fond of gold, and a ruby or two
will not serve, they must have a multitude of them, a cabinet of jewels; but he
that has the lips of knowledge despises these, because he knows and possesses
better things.
Verse 16
Two sorts of persons are here spoken of that are ruining their
own estates, and will be beggars shortly, and therefore are not to be trusted
with any good security:-1. Those that will be bound for any body that will ask
them, that entangle themselves in rash suretiship to oblige their idle
companions; they will break at last, nay, they cannot hold out long; these waste
by wholesale. 2. Those that are in league with abandoned women, that treat them,
and court them, and keep company with them. They will be beggars in a little
time; never give them credit without good pledge. Strange women have strange
ways of impoverishing men to enrich themselves.
Verse 17
Note, 1. Sin may possibly be pleasant in the commission:
Bread
of deceit, wealth gotten by fraud, by lying and oppression, may be
sweet
to a man, and the more sweet for its being ill-gotten, such pleasure does
the carnal mind take in the success of its wicked projects. All the pleasures
and profits of sin are
bread of deceit. They are stolen, for they are
forbidden fruit; and they will deceive men, for they are not what they promise.
For a time, however, they are
rolled under the tongue as a sweet morsel,
and the sinner blesses himself in them. But, 2. It will be bitter in reflection.
Afterwards the sinner's
mouth shall be filled with gravel. When his
conscience is awakened, when he sees himself cheated, and becomes apprehensive
of the wrath of God against him for his sin, how painful and uneasy then is the
thought of it! The pleasures of sin are but for a season, and are succeeded with
sorrow. Some nations have punished malefactors by mingling gravel with their
bread.
Verse 18
Note, 1. It is good in every thing to act with deliberation, and
to consult with ourselves at least, and, in matters of moment, with our friends,
too, before we determine, but especially to ask counsel of God, and beg
direction from him, and observe the guidance of this eye. This is the way to
have both our minds and our purposes established, and to succeed well in our
affairs; whereas what is done hastily and with precipitation is repented of at
leisure. Take time, and you will have done the sooner.
Deliberandum est diu,
quod statuendum est semel
A final decision should be preceded by mature
deliberation. 2. It is especially our wisdom to be cautious in making war.
Consider, and take advice, whether the war should be begun or no, whether it be
just, whether it be prudent, whether we be a match for the enemy, and able to
carry it on when it is too late to retreat (Lu. 14:31); and, when it is begun,
consider how and by what arts it may be prosecuted, for management is as
necessary as courage. Going to law is a kind of going to war, and therefore must
be done with good advice, Prov. 25:8. The rule among the Romans was
nec sequi
bellum, nec fugere
neither to urge war nor yet to shun it.
Verse 19
Two sorts of people are dangerous to be conversed with:-1.
Tale-bearers, though they are commonly flatterers, and by fair speeches
insinuate themselves into men's acquaintance. Those are unprincipled people
that go about carrying stories, that make mischief among neighbours and
relations, that sow in the minds of people jealousies of their governors, of
their ministers, and of one another, that reveal secrets which they are
entrusted with or which by unfair means they come to the knowledge of, under
pretence of guessing at men's thoughts and intentions, tell that of them which
is really false. "Be not familiar with such; do not give them the hearing
when they tell their tales and reveal secrets, for you may be sure that they
will betray your secrets too and tell tales of you." 2. Flatterers, for
they are commonly tale-bearers. If a man fawn upon you, compliment and commend
you, suspect him to have some design upon you, and stand upon your guard; he
would pick that out of you which will serve him to make a story of to somebody
else to your prejudice; therefore
meddle not with him that flatters with his
lips. Those too dearly love, and too dearly buy, their own praise, that will
put confidence in a man and trust him with a secret or business because he
flatters them.
Verse 20
Here is, 1. An undutiful child become very wicked by degrees. He
began with despising his father and mother, slighting their instructions,
disobeying their commands, and raging at their rebukes, but at length he arrives
at such a pitch of impudence and impiety as to curse them, to give them
scurrilous and opprobrious language, and to wish mischief to those that were
instruments of his being and have taken so much care and pains about him, and
this in defiance of God and his law, which had made this a capital crime (Ex.
21:17, Mt. 15:4), and in violation of all the bonds of duty, natural affection,
and gratitude. 2. An undutiful child become very miserable at last:
His lamp
shall be put out in obscure darkness; all his honour shall be laid in the
dust, and he shall for ever lose his reputation. Let him never expect any peace
or comfort in his own mind, no, nor to prosper in this world. His days shall be
shortened, and the lamp of his life extinguished, according to the reverse of
the promise of the fifth commandment. His family shall be cut off and his
posterity be a curse to him. And it will be his eternal ruin; the lamp of his
happiness shall be
put out in the blackness of darkness (so the word is),
even that which is
for ever, Jude 13, Mt. 22:13.
Verse 21
Note, 1. It is possible that an estate may be suddenly raised.
There are those that will be rich, by right or wrong, who make no conscience of
what they say or do if they can but get money by it, who, when it is in their
power, will cheat their own father, and who sordidly spare and hoard up what
they get, grudging themselves and their families food convenient and thinking
all lost but what they buy land with or put out to interest. By such ways as
these a man may grow rich, may grow very rich, in a little time, at his first
setting out. 2. An estate that is suddenly raised is often as suddenly ruined.
It was raised hastily, but, not being raised honestly, it proves
soon ripe
and soon rotten: The end thereof shall not be blessed of God, and, if he do
not bless it, it can neither be comfortable nor of any continuance; so that he
who got it at the end will be a fool. He had better have taken time and built
firmly.
Verse 22
Those that live in this world must expect to have injuries done
them, affronts given them, and trouble wrongfully created them, for we dwell
among briers. Now here we are told what to do when we have wrong done us. 1. We
must not avenge ourselves, no, nor so much as think of revenge, or design it:
"Say
not thou, no, not in thy heart,
I will recompense evil for evil. Do
not please thyself with the thought that some time or other thou shalt have an
opportunity of being quits with him. Do not wish revenge, or hope for it, much
less resolve upon it, no, not when the injury is fresh and the resentment of it
most deep. Never say that thou wilt do a think which thou canst not in faith
pray to God to assist thee in, and
that thou canst not do in mediating
revenge." 2. We must refer ourselves to God, and leave it to him to plead
our cause, to maintain our right, and reckon with those that do us wrong in such
a way and manner as he thinks fit and in his own due time:
"Wait on the
Lord, and attend his pleasure, acquiesce in his will, and he does not say
that he will punish him that has injured thee (instead of desiring that thou
must forgive him and pray for him), but
he will save thee, and that is
enough. He will protect thee, so that thy passing by one injury shall not (as is
commonly feared) expose thee to another; nay, he will recompense good to thee,
to balance thy trouble and encourage thy patience," as David hoped, when
Shimei cursed him, 2 Sa. 16:12.
Verse 23
This is to the same purport with what was said v. 20. 1. It is
here repeated, because it is a sin that God doubly hates (as lying, which is of
the same nature with this sin, is mentioned twice among the seven things that
God hates, ch. 6:17, 19), and because it was probably a sin very much practised
at that time in Israel, and therefore made light of as if there were no harm in
it, under pretence that, being commonly used, there was no trading without it.
2. It is here added,
A false balance is not good, to intimate that it is
not only abominable to God, but unprofitable to the sinner himself; there is
really no good to be got by it, no, not a good bargain, for a bargain made by
fraud will prove a losing bargain in the end.
Verse 24
We are here taught that in all our affairs, 1. We have a
necessary and constant dependence upon God. All our natural actions depend upon
his providence, all our spiritual actions upon his grace. The best man is no
better than God makes him; and every creature is that to us which it is the will
of God that it should be. Our enterprises succeed, not as we desire and design,
but as God directs and disposes. The goings even of a strong man (so the word
signifies)
are of the Lord, for his strength is weakness without God, nor
is the battle always to the strong. 2. We have no foresight of future events,
and therefore know not how to forecast for them:
How can a man understand his
own way? How can he tell what will befal him, since God's counsels
concerning him are secret, and therefore how can he of himself contrive what to
do without divine direction? We so little understand our own way that we know
not what is good for ourselves, and therefore we must make a virtue of
necessity, and commit our way unto the Lord, in whose hand it is, follow the
guidance and submit to the disposal of Providence.
Verse 25
Two things, by which God is greatly affronted, men are here said
to be ensnared by, and entangled not only in guilt, but in trouble and ruin at
length:-1. Sacrilege, men's alienating holy things and converting them to
their own use, which is here called
devouring them. What is devoted in
any way to the service and honour of God, for the support of religion and divine
worship or the relief of the poor, ought to be conscientiously preserved to the
purposes designed; and those that directly or indirectly embezzle it, or defeat
the purpose for which it was given, will have a great deal to answer for.
Will
a man rob God in tithes and offerings? Mal. 3:8. Those that hurry over
religious offices (their praying and preaching) and huddle them up in haste, as
being impatient to get done, may be said to
devour that which is holy. 2.
Covenant-breaking.
It is a snare to a man, after he has made
vows
to God, to
enquire how he may evade them or get dispensed with, and to
contrive excuses for the violating of them. If the matter of them was doubtful,
and the expressions were ambiguous, that was his fault; he should have made them
with more caution and consideration, for it will involve his conscience (if it
be tender) in great perplexities, if he be to enquire concerning them afterwards
(Eccl. 5:6); for, when we have opened our mouth to the Lord, it is too late to
think of going back, Acts 5:4.
Verse 26
See here, 1. What is the business of magistrates. They are to be
a terror to evil-doers. They must
scatter the wicked, who are linked in
confederacies to assist and embolden one another in doing mischief; and there is
no doing this but by
bringing the wheel over them, that is, putting the
laws in execution against them, crushing their power and quashing their
projects. Severity must sometimes be used to rid the country of those that are
openly vicious and mischievous, debauched and debauching. 2. What is the
qualification of magistrates, which is necessary in order to do this. They have
need to be both pious and prudent, for it is the wise king, who is both
religious and discreet, that is likely to effect the suppression of vice and
reformation of manners.
Verse 27
We have here the dignity of the soul, the great soul of man,
that light which lighteth every man. 1. It is a divine light; it is the
candle
of the Lord, a candle of his lighting, for it is
the inspiration of the
Almighty that
gives us understanding. He
forms the spirit of man
within him. It is after the image of God that man is created in knowledge.
Conscience, that noble faculty, is God's deputy in the soul; it is a candle
not only lighted by him, but lighted for him. The Father of spirits is therefore
called the
Father of lights. 2. It is a discovering light. By the help of
reason we come to know men, to judge of their characters, and dive into their
designs; by the help of conscience we come to know ourselves. The spirit of a
man has a self-consciousness (1 Co. 2:11); it searches into the dispositions and
affections of the soul, praises what is good, condemns what is otherwise, and
judges of the thoughts and intents of the heart. This is the office, this the
power, of conscience, which we are therefore concerned to get rightly informed
and to keep void of offence.
Verse 28
Here we have, 1. The virtues of a good king. Those are
mercy
and truth, especially mercy, for that is mentioned twice here. He must be
strictly faithful to his word, must be sincere, and abhor all dissimulation,
must religiously discharge all the trusts reposed in him, must support and
countenance truth. He must likewise rule with clemency, and by all acts of
compassion gain the affections of his people.
Mercy and truth are the
glories of God's throne, and kings are called
gods. 2. The advantages
he gains thereby. These virtues will preserve his person and support his
government, will make him easy and safe, beloved by his own people and feared by
his enemies, if it be possible that he should have any.
Verse 29
This shows that both young and old have their advantages, and
therefore must each of them be, according to their capacities, serviceable to
the public, and neither of them despise nor envy the other. 1. Let not old
people despise the young, for they are strong and fit for action, able to go
through business and break through difficulties, which the aged and weak cannot
grapple with. The
glory of young men is their strength, provided they use
it well (in the service of God and their country, not of their lusts), and that
they be not proud of it nor trust to it. 2. Let not young people despise the
old, for they are grave, and fit for counsel, and, though they have not the
strength that young men have, yet they have more wisdom and experience.
Juniores
ad labores, seniores ad honores
Labour is for the young, honour for the
aged. God has put honour upon the old man; for his
gray head is his
beauty. See Dan. 7:9.
Verse 30
Note, 1. Many need severe rebukes. Some children are so
obstinate that their parents can do no good with them without sharp correction;
some criminals must feel the rigour of the law and public justice; gentle
methods will not work upon them; they must be beaten black and blue. And the
wise God sees that his own children sometimes need very sharp afflictions. 2.
Severe rebukes sometimes do a great deal of good, as corrosives contribute to
the cure of a wound, eating out the proud flesh. The rod drives out even that
foolishness which was bound up in the heart, and cleanses away the evil there.
3. Frequently those that most need severe rebukes can worse bear them. Such is
the corruption of nature that men are as loth to be rebuked sharply for their
sins as to be beaten till their bones ache.
Correction is grievous to him
that forsakes the way, and yet it is good for him, Heb. 12:11.
Chapter 20:
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
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