Proverbs Chapter 20
Proverbs
Chapter 20
1. Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise. The history of the world from the days of Noah (Genesis 9:21) proves that the love of wine .. . and beer is a most insidious vice. The wretched victims are convinced too late that they have been mocked and led astray. Not only does it overcome them before they are aware, but it promises pleasures that it can never give. And yet so mighty is the spell that the overcome slave consents to be mocked again and again.
Its power turns humans into a level below the beasts as it turns each of its victims into a brawler. Reason surrenders to lust, appetite, or passion. Surely, then, whoever is led astray by them is not wise.
Human nature is humbled to see not only ignorant people but people with outstanding talents brutalized by this lust. Those who were once created in the image of God now sink into the dregs of shame. It is even more humbling to see God's own people wallowing in this mire. The examples of Noah and Lot are recorded, not as laughing-stocks to the ungodly, but as beacons to the saints. Anyone who thinks that he stands should take heed that he does not fall (1 Corinthians 10:12). The great apostle tells us not to be drunk on wine but to be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).
2. A king's wrath is like the roar of a lion; he who angers him forfeits his life. Once before a king's wrath was mentioned in this way (19:12). Here the result of his wrath is described. Such was the power of the king, unknown in our happy land, that he was the sole, the uncontrolled, arbiter of life and death.
What, then, must be the wrath of the great King! "Armies of terrors and doubts are nothing to a look of his angry countenance. 'O Lord,' says that holy man (considering the frailty of poor man, and the power of God) 'who knows the power of your anger? According to your fear, so is your wrath'" (Leighton). "Miserable sinner, deprecate his wrath. Seek a Mediator. Beware of continuing to sin" (Geier).
3. It is to a man's honor to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel. The contrast between this precept and the maxim of the world shows that it is from God. A world of sin will always be a world of strife, because it is ruled by the wisdom that does not come from above (James 3:14-16). And yet an evil world is a fine theater in which the grace of God is displayed in the fruits of the wisdom that is from above, such as meekness and gentleness. Previously we have been reminded that it is man's glory to overlook an offense (19:11); here it is a man's honor to avoid strife. Many people are prepared to overlook an injury just so they can have a quiet life. But if they were involved in strife, they would feel that their honor was at stake; so they would make sure they struck the last blow. It is much more difficult to collect the waters once they have been freed than to restrain them within their proper bounds. To drop the matter in a dispute (17:14) is an honorable act (16:32; Romans 12:21); it is a triumph over the flesh. For how often is strife fed by the folly of man's pride rather than extinguished by a peaceful and loving spirit. But to put on meekness and patience and to let God's peace rule in our hearts are the characteristics of God's elect as we follow the example of our divine Master (Colossians 3:12-15).
4. A sluggard does not plow in season; so at harvest time he looks but finds nothing. We are taught again (see 19:15, 24) by a vivid picture about a most pernicious vice. A sluggard always has his excuses ready, so he can escape any work that might exert him. He does not plow in season, although there is nothing to prevent him from doing so except that his heart is not in the work. And does not the most trifling difficulty hinder us when our hearts are not given over to God's service?
But a sluggard will reap the fruit of his sin. If he does not plow in season, he cannot reap at harvest time. At that happy season, the reward for the laborer's toil, he looks but finds nothing. "Men's hearts are justly hardened against that man who by his own sloth and sinfulness has brought himself to want [lack]" (Poole).
And what else can a spiritual sluggard look for? He stays away from the house of God. His soul, therefore, perishes for lack of nourishment. If we only had to wish for heaven, who would miss it? But heartless wishes without the crucifixion of the flesh will stop short of the promise. Millions have perished in serious religion from a lack of diligence and self-sacrificing devotion.
It is no time to stand idle when we stand at the door of eternity. We cannot be slack when so great a salvation is so near. "Blessed are those who have sown much for God in their lifetime. Oh, the glorious harvest that they will have! The very angels shall help them take in their harvest at the great day. And, oh, the joy there will be in that harvest! The angels will help sing the harvest song ... they will sing who have been sowers of righteousness!" (Burroughs).
5. The purposes of a man's heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out. We see that a man's heart is not easily fathomed. It is often full of subtle evil. And yet a man of understanding will often draw out the subtle purposes and set them in their true light. Paul drew out the secret counsel of selfishness in the schismatic preachers of the Gospel (Philippians 1:15-17).
But let us look on the bright side. Observe a man of God, who is taught by God. Natural intellectual wisdom is deepened and enlightened by spiritual light. His mind is enriched with the fruits of scriptural study and meditation. The man of understanding will discover and draw out valuable instruction.
But above all, familiarity with the deep waters of the counsel of God are to be prized. Do not say that you have nothing with which to draw water from the deep well. The habit of thinking in the exercise of prayer will enable you to draw water with joy from the wells of salvation. It will bring into your soul a well of water springing up to everlasting life (John 4:14).
6. Many a man claims to have unfailing love, but a faithful man who can find? The previous proverb showed the depth of the heart, and this proverb shows its deceitfulness and pride. Listen to a man's own estimate of himself, and we need no further proof of his lack of self-knowledge (16:2). Even the ungodly proclaim their own unfailing love. The Pharisee paraded his own goodness on the street corners. Such is the blindness of a self-deceiving heart. Lord, teach me to remember that what is highly valued by men is detested in your sight.
In contrast to this self-complacent goodness, Solomon, an accurate observer of human nature, exclaims almost in despondency, but a faithful man who can find? Who can find a guileless parent or adviser? Examine yourself closely. Look at yourself in the mirror of God's Word. Does your neighbor or your friend find that you are a faithful friend? Do you often speak what you know will be accepted rather than what is true? Never underrate the importance of moral integrity. Never does godliness shine more brightly than when we are faithful in all things (Titus 2:10).
7. The righteous man leads a blameless life; blessed are his children after him. The picture of the faithful man (verse 6) is enlarged on here. He is richly blessed by God. Take the account of the father of the faithful. Abraham was a righteous man; he was accepted by God, and he walked before God, leading a blameless life. The covenant God made with him extended to his children. In this way every child of Abraham can walk in integrity before the Lord. It is "not however for the merits of the parent that they deserve it: but such is the mercy of God to the root and the branches that, because the fathers are loved, their children also are embraced" (Muffet). "The branches fare better for the sap of grace in the root" (Swinnock). "When God says that he will be a God to the godly man and to his children, I believe he intended more in that promise for the comfort of godly parents than most of them think of (Acts 2:39; Genesis 17:7). The children of believers are heirs apparent to the covenant of grace in their parents' right" (Swinnock). But we must show our blameless life, as did our father Abraham, as we exercise our faith. We must not only take hold of the covenant on behalf of our children—we must bring them under the yoke of the covenant.
Christian parents, we must let blamelessness, as before God, be the general characteristic of our family religion. Do not live by the maxims of the world, and do not allow your children to walk in that way. Let us make God's Word, his whole Word, our universal rule. We must make his ways, no matter how much they may be despised, our daily guide. Let us seek first, for our children as well as for ourselves, God's kingdom and his righteousness. Then surely it will be true that your children will be blessed and their names found in the secret records of heaven, linked with the prayerful faith and love of their parents.
8. When a king sits on his throne to judge, he winnows out all evil with his eyes. This is the picture of a godly king, such as the wise man's father described and exemplified. He feared God as he ruled justly. In those days he sat on his throne to judge and made decisions as people were brought before him presenting their cases. Lapide mentions the custom of Louis of France, who sat twice a week on his throne to judge. His dying charge to his successor was not only to appoint the most upright judges but to oversee them as they carried out their work. Does not the Court of the Queen's Bench suppose the sovereign is sitting there as judgments are determined? The fairness of the king's judgment was so well-known that the wicked did not dare come into his presence. David, as a man of God and a ruler over his people, could not endure the wicked in his presence (Psalm 101:3-8).
So how can we stand before the great King who winnows out all evil with his eyes? May the High Priest always stand between the sinner and the holy God, so that we may walk reverently before the Lord.
9. Who can say, "I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin"? The great King sits on his throne to judge and challenges every child of Adam: "Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me" (Job 38:3). The question is confounding. The answer humbles us in the dust. Who can say, truly say, "I have kept my heart pure ..."? A sinner in his self-delusion may conceive himself to be a saint. But it is impossible for a saint ever to consider himself in this way. Who can say, ... "I am clean and without sin"? What? No vain thoughts, no sinful imagination dwelling within? No ignorance, no pride, no coldness, no worldliness, no unbelief indulged in? The more we search the heart, the more its impurity will confront us. Only vain people can boast that they have pure hearts. But the boast, far from showing their goodness, demonstrates their blindness. Man is so depraved that he cannot understand his own depravity. "Once I thought," said a holy man of God, "some humiliating expressions of the saints of God too low for me, proud, blind wretch as I was! Now I can say with Edwards, 'Infinite upon infinite only reaches to my sinfulness'" (Venn). There is not a conscious child of God who does not drink in this self-abased spirit. But for the clear manifestation of gospel grace, we would have good reason to tremble in case our sins should remain uncanceled. The pure heart, therefore, is not the heart without sin, but the heart cleansed and renewed by grace.
10. Differing weights and differing measures—the Lord detests them both. This probably refers to the iniquitous custom of having differing weights and differing measures for buying and selling. Such practices were common and brought down God's judgment on the people (Hosea 12:7; Amos 8:4-5; Micah 6:10-11). "A very grievous thing it is to think of the several kinds of frauds and deceits in which men have become experts, and shameless as well, that they think it does them credit and does not blemish their Christian characters" (Bishop Sanderson). But every man of moral integrity should scorn the flagrant breach of the golden rule. Let this, as every other temptation, be a matter of prayerful watchfulness. Do not be satisfied with merely abstaining from this dreadful vice. Blot out its darkness with the bright, steady shining light of love, self-forgetfulness, and active concern for your neighbor.
11. Even a child is known by his actions, by whether his conduct is pure and right. Parents should take note of their children's early habits. Generally the discerning eye will see something in the budding of the young tree that will indicate how the mature tree will grow. The child tells us what the man will be. No wise parent will pass over little faults, as if it is only a child doing childish things. If a child is deceitful, quarrelsome, obstinate, rebellious, and selfish, how can we but fear for his future as he grows up ?
But we must never forget that we serve the God of hope. So we do not despair of his grace. We do not doubt his faithfulness. We hold on in patient hope. Tears of despondency will be exchanged for tears of joy. Augustine's mother experienced a severe test of her faith. But her patient wrestling was amply rewarded. And ever since then the judgment of the godly archbishop ("It is impossible that the child of so many prayers could ever perish") has been treasured in the church as an axiom of accredited warrant and cheering support.
12. Ears that hear and eyes that see—the Lord has made them both. Sight and hearing are the two senses by which instruction is conveyed to the mind. They are component parts of that divine structure that God so wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14). The celebrated Galen is said to have been converted from atheism by an attentive observation of the perfect structure of the eye. The natural senses are gifts common to everyone. The spiritual senses are the special gifts of sovereign power and grace. It was left to man to make the ear that cannot hear and the eye that cannot see. He then took leave of his senses and worshiped the work of his own hands. But ears that hear and eyes that see—the Lord has made them both.
Man is deaf and blind to the things of God (Matthew 13:13-14). The voice of mercy is ignored. To his need and to his remedy he is alike insensible. His ear is open to sound advice, to moral teaching, to the dictates of external decency. But as for the Gospel, he is a mere statue, without life. All his senses are blinded, deadened, and chained (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). His moral disabilities can only be removed by that almighty power that on earth gave hearing to the deaf and sight to the blind. We can as soon create our natural self as recreate our spiritual self.
"The hearing ear, which Solomon refers to, is the ear that believes and obeys what it hears. The seeing eye is that which observes in such a way that it follows the good things in its sight" (Caryl). So we rejoice that the Lord has opened our ears so that we hear, and our eyes so that we see.
13. Do not love sleep or you will grow poor; stay awake and you will have food to spare. Use "sleep as tired nature's sweet restorer" (Young). Man requires it, and God graciously gives it. Without it man could not go to a day's work.
But do not love sleep for its own sake. "Let your sleep be necessary and as required for a healthy life, not to idle time away" (Bishop Taylor). If you do not take care, it will become a habit and rob you of your talent and make you poor. Man is full of contradictions. He wants to live a long life but is willing to shorten it by sleeping it away. Nothing is done for God, for the soul, for his fellow creatures, or for heaven. He is rightly thrown out as a wicked, slothful servant.
It is beyond question that the Christian degrades himself from his proper level by needless indulgence. He chooses to live life as a brute beast rather than to elevate himself and have fellowship with the angels. Those of us who have an inclination to being drowsy should especially heed this warning—do not love sleep.
14. "It's no good, it's no good!" says the buyer; then off he goes and boasts about his purchase. The Bible gives abundant proof that man has been the same in every generation since the Fall. Where is the market in which this example of fraud is not mirrored? Commerce, the Lord's providential dispensation to bind man to man, is marred by his depravity. The wise man had previously detected the iniquity of the seller (verse 10). Here he exposes the evil ways of the buyer. He even uses the language of the market: "It's no good, it's no good!" "The article is of an inferior quality. I can get it cheaper elsewhere. It is worth so much, but it is not worth that to me. I have no use for it. I cannot think how it could ever be helpful." By these crafty falsehoods, he strikes a shrewd bargain. Then he goes and boasts about his purchase. He laughs at the simplicity of the seller and is highly commended for being so clever.
We are all engaged in pecuniary transactions. With many it is the main business of life. Yet such are the temptations from our own interest and the selfishness of others and the general example of the world to deviate from a straight line that we should be most grateful for this probing analysis of deceit. The man of God knows that he must do everything to the glory of God.
15. Gold there is, and rubies in abundance, but lips that speak knowledge are a rare jewel. This is not the standard of the world. There gold ... and rubies are held in much higher esteem than lips that speak knowledge. Thus the young man made his choice and preferred his great possessions to following Christ. But when gold is our hope, it will also be our ruin. Gold . . . and rubies were plentiful in Solomon's day. Yet all these earthly treasures were as nothing in his eyes in comparison with heavenly teaching. Lips that speak knowledge are a rare jewel.
It is divine knowledge that is preeminent here. Human wisdom may captivate the imagination and furnish it with useful information. But the words for the most part die away on the ear. They do not feed the heart. They do not comfort the afflicted, bring hope to the despondent, or teach the ignorant. So while they may be pearls, they are not the pearl of great price, that rare jewel that dims the luster of earth's most splendid vanities (Matthew 13:45-46).
But lips that speak knowledge are a rare jewel. How precious is the sound of the messenger of the Gospel when he brings good tidings of great joy to a burdened conscience. Truly the sound of his coming is welcome on account of his message. Such was the delight of those who hung on the lips of the golden-mouthed Chrysostom that the common proverb was, "Rather let the sun not shine than Chrysostom not preach." So we are to spread this knowledge and so enrich our hearers.
16. Take the garment of one who puts up security for a stranger; hold it in pledge if he does it for a wayward woman. Again and again we are warned not to take a pledge for a stranger (see 11:15; 17:18). We should not do this for a stranger, no matter how enticing he may be, still less from a wayward woman (5:1-5), whose character has lost all credit. This is the sure road to ruin. If a person is so weak as to plunge into this folly, he is not fit to be trusted. Do not lend anything to him without good security. If necessary, take his garment as a pledge. The letter of the Mosaic law forbade this extremity (Exodus 22:26-27; Deuteronomy 24:12-13). But the spirit and intent of the law pointed to the protection of the poor and unfortunate, who were forced to borrow from necessity and therefore were to be treated compassionately. Here the command refers to the inconsiderate, who deserve to suffer for their folly as they deliberately plunge themselves into ruin. The love of our neighbor does not involve us in forgetting ourselves. The path of godly prudence is the safest for all parties. It can never be wise to help where such kindness will only bring ruin. To refuse may be to exercise self-denial. It is right that this should be so.
17. Food gained by fraud tastes sweet to a man, but he ends up with a mouth full of gravel. "Holiness is sweet in the way and in the end too. Wickedness is sometimes sweet in the way, but always bitter in the end" (Caryl). With fraud, as with every other sin, Satan always holds out bait. He always promises gain or pleasure as the wages of his service but always disappoints the victims of his delusion. "The bread that a man obtains by fraud seems sweet and pleasant at the first taste, but by the time it has been chewed it is plain that it is full of gravel and wounds the tongue and offends the palate" (Bishop Hall). "Everything obtained in a wrong way is implied here" (Bishop Patrick).
Not a single step can be taken on the road of godliness without the complete renunciation of every evil practice. Not even the smallest violation of the law is allowed. The smallest sin breaks down the fence. And once it is broken down, the impulse is beyond restraint. Universal uprightness is the mark of the true servant of God. Let the man who teaches Christian doctrine exhibit holiness in his own life. Never let our religion be one thing and our business another.
18. Make plans by seeking advice; if you wage war, obtain guidance. Here is true wisdom. To deliberate before we act by seeking advice is the path of wisdom. Even the wisest of men valued this (1 Kings 12:6). God has placed us in society, so that we are more or less dependent on each other. So while it is most important to have clear judgment oneself, we must guard against an obstinate and exclusive adherence to our own opinions.
This rule especially applies to matters that affect the whole nation, such as when to wage war. Wars for the purpose of ambition and aggrandizement can never be wisely made.
Now ponder Bishop Hall's description of spiritual war: "It admits of no intermission. It knows no night, no winter. It abides no peace, no truce. It calls us not into garrison, where we may have ease and rest, but into pitched fields continually. We see our enemies in the face always, and are always seen and assaulted; ever resisting, ever defending, receiving and returning blows. If either we are negligent or weary, we die. What other hope is there, while one fights, and the other stands still? We can never have safety and peace but in victory. Then must our resistance be courageous and constant, when yielding is death, and all treaties of peace mortal." Does not this war bring the greatest need for advice?
19. A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid a man who talks too much. Never let us forget that all our social life must be based on love. Any breach in this greatly displeases God. Think about the gossip. Unhappily, he has much time on his hands, which he uses in no helpful way. Hence he spends it on other people's business, ferreting out secrets or diving into family arrangements. All this is material for scandal. In his visits he talks about the business of the last family he saw. His present visit will give him material he can pass on to the next house he goes to.
This way of life is especially offensive to the God of truth. Even when a gossip has been told things in the strictest confidence, he tells everyone he meets about them. We must never think that this is a matter of little importance. We must never break any trust placed in us. We must resolutely determine to be faithful.
20. If a man curses his father or mother, his lamp will be snuffed out in pitch darkness. If darkness is the punishment, is it not also the cause of this atrocious sin? For surely even the light of nature must be extinguished if a child should curse those who under God have taught him to speak. Even a scowl, much more a word, breaks God's commandment. How great, then, is the guilt involved in a child cursing his parents! It is a visible sign of the last days (2 Timothy 3:2).
21. An inheritance quickly gained at the beginning will not be blessed at the end. The wise man obviously limits his observation to an inheritance quickly gained dishonestly. Joseph's advancement in Egypt happened quickly, in a moment, but it was under God's special providence. But the evil man, longing to be rich and great, may gain an inheritance but not be blessed by it (10:2-3). In our own history, Richard the Third ended his quickly gained crown in shame. Napoleon rose to prominence very quickly and, as it were, gained a magnificent inheritance. Yet he ended his days in disgraceful banishment. Less splendid possessions end in the same disappointment. Let the warnings to the rich in the Bible be heeded (1 Timothy 6:9-10). Place the cross and crown of Jesus in view. The world fades and selfishness dies at the sight of these. One object only, God's inheritance (Psalm 16:2, 5), attracts and satisfies. Here is blessing beyond our imagination, one that never ends.
22. Do not say, "I'll pay you back for this wrong!" Wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you. Vengeance belongs to God. Nobody else is fit to wield this. God is omniscient; our knowledge is at most partial. God's judgment is perfect, while we are blinded by our prejudices and evil desires. We so often long to take revenge on people. Even when we are restrained from doing this, we continue to burn with rage within ourselves. At best we are reluctantly obedient. We rarely display the victory demonstrated by godly people who overcome evil with good.
What is the remedy for this? In humility and faith we must lay this matter before the Lord. Put it in his hands. Wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you. Revenge rises in our hearts only because we have no faith. For if we believed that God would take up our cause, would we not leave everything in his hands? "Let it be sufficient for you that you possess your own soul patiently and know that all wrongs will be righted one day. God will set everything straight in the end, but that day has yet to come" (Bishop Sanderson).
23. The Lord detests differing weights, and dishonest scales do not please him. Here let us search God's mind. Three times he drives this point home (verses 10, 14, 23). Yet this is hardly vain repetition. There must be an important reason for this to be repeated. In the place of precept on precept and line upon line, he could have given an endless variety of instruction. For example, we are not amazed at the way the apostle Paul continually teaches about the justification of sinners before God in his letter to the Romans and in Galatians. From this repetition we understand how important this doctrine is.
The truth of this proverb should be especially taken note of in our evil commercial system. Differing weights are continually condemned as an abomination—yes, they are detested by God; yet how often are they ignored as if they were a necessity. But "the scant measure will fill up a full measure of guilt* and the light weights bring upon the soul a heavy weight of judgment" (Reynolds). Let the trader beware that his differing weights, and dishonest scales do not bear witness against him. We have great need to be watchful here. Man cannot even trust his fellowman. Oh, let me not forget that this deceit naturally grows in my heart. Only the cultivation of divine principles keeps down these poisonous weeds and nourishes in their place the fruits of righteousness. "The love of God constrains his servant. God is true to him; and he will not be false to others. God is merciful to him, and he will not be unjust to others" (Polhill). This is the practical effect of the Gospel.
24. A man's steps are directed by the Lord. How then can anyone understand his own way? Here are two basic principles: God's controllable power and sovereignty, and man's absolute dependence and helplessness. Here is no infringement of freedom on the one hand and no excuse for laziness on the other hand. Man often acts as if he is the master of his own situation, as if his steps are his own. Or else, having the warped idea of every event being predetermined, he sits still instead of working diligently, so the Lord's purposes may be fulfilled. But the humble Christian exercises his freedom in the spirit of dependence on God. His steps are directed by the Lord, who both inspires the effort and brings success.
We need to say to the Lord that we trust his wisdom, his goodness, and his faithful care. O Lord, lead me, uphold me, do not forsake me. Augustine mentions the weeping prayers of his godly mother when he traveled from Carthage to Italy. She was anxious that as he was no longer going to be under her influence, he would sink deeper into sin. But in the end this journey paved the way for his providential conversion. "In your deep and hidden counsel," Augustine wrote, "listening to the cardinal point of her desire, you did not grant what she then asked for, in order to accomplish in me what she always asked for."
25. It is a trap for a man to dedicate something rashly and only later to consider his vows. Along every path the great fowler has laid his traps. Perhaps, however, the most subtle are reserved for us when we are serving God.
In such a hollow, halfhearted profession, "a man vows in distress to give something to God: but having obtained his desires, he wants to be freed from this obligation" (Bishop Patrick). Often in a moment of excitement, perhaps in the glow of a religious meeting, something has been pledged to God. "He entangles his soul in the snares of death who uses in a profane way what has been consecrated to God. If, after he has made a vow to the Lord, he later argues within himself about how he can change that holy promise, he is robbing God of his due" (Bishop Hall). Beware of a religion of temporary excitement. No matter what it costs you, truly consecrate yourself as a living sacrifice to God (Romans 12:1).
26. A wise king winnows out the wicked; he drives the threshing wheel over them. Solomon, as a wise king, was constantly keeping an eye on his own responsibilities. His standard was not to commit wickedness himself, nor to allow it in his people. He winnowed out the wicked; he did not encourage them. As the farmer's threshing wheel was driven over the grain, the straw was cut off, and so the chaff was separated (Isaiah 28:28-29). This is an obvious allusion to the way the harvest was threshed in the East. One method was to use a wain, which had wheels with iron teeth like a saw. The axle was fitted with serrated wheels. It moved on three rollers that were also fitted with iron teeth, or wheels, to cut the straw.
God often sifts his church by trial to make her purer. Oh, my soul, how will you be found on that great day of judgment?
27. The lamp of the Lord searches the spirit of a man; it searches out his inmost being. We are placed under a solemn dispensation of divine government. Every soul should, in some sense, acknowledge the judgment of the great Sovereign. For this reason conscience has aptly been called "God in man." God brings the searching light of his lamp into the darkness. Man would be happy indeed if all his ungodliness was put out by this lamp. Whatever man's mindless pleasures may have been, the time will come when he must leave them and live without them. And then, as the question has been framed in an unanswerable way, "What is all that a man can enjoy in this way for a week, a month, a year, compared with what he feels for one hour, when his conscience will take him to one side and accuse him?" (South).
This lamp is beyond value, as it throws God's light on the narrow path, so that we "are not scrupulous in small matters and negligent in big matters; and so that we do not tithe mint and cummin but forget about justice" (Bishop Hall).
When God makes his lamp shine brightly, will I be able to bear it? Do I welcome the horrible discoveries it makes? Do I value its light as it opens up the secret fellowship between a sinner and a holy, jealous God? Oh, let my inmost being be exposed to the Lord's lamp, that all the things I secretly indulge in may be searched out and mortified.
28. Love and faithfulness keep a king safe; through love his throne is made secure. Punishment is indeed a necessary security against breaking the law (verse 26). Yet a wise king will follow the example of the great Sovereign and delight in love. And as long as faithfulness is his inviolable guiding principle, the abuse of love need hardly be feared. Love and faithfulness are "the best guard of his body, and supporters of his throne" (Trapp).
29. The glory of young men is their strength, gray hair the splendor of the old. Every stage of life has special honor and privilege. "Youth is the glory of nature, and the glory of young men is their strength. Old age is the majestic beauty of nature, and the gray hair is the majestic splendor that nature has given to old age" (Jermin). These pictures describe the use, not the abuse. It is youth usefully exercised, especially consecrated to God, and used for his glory. The silver crown brings honor, reverence, and authority only in the way of righteousness.
Yet gray hair[,] the splendor of the old is most likely to be found where the glory of young men has been dedicated to God. The young plant, stunted and deformed in its youth, will generally remain crooked as it grows. But who can calculate the extent of fruitfulness where our early strength has been given to the Lord? Let youth and old age both beware of defacing their glory. Each takes the precedence in some things and gives way in others. Let them not, therefore, envy or despise each other's prerogatives. The world, the state, and the church needs them both, the strength of youth for energy and the maturity of the old for wisdom.
30. Blows and wounds cleanse away evil, and beatings purge the inmost being. Punishment is the Lord's ordinance. The pain of the flesh subjugates the spirit. Sometimes the flesh has even to be destroyed, so that the spirit may be saved (1 Corinthians 5:5). This does not describe gentle strokes but the severity of parental discipline. The diseased body needs medicine no less than food. The diseased soul needs punishment no less than consolation.
Child of God, think of your Father's character. He knows how you were made, and he never willingly afflicts you (Psalm 103:14; Lamentations 3:33). You will not be punished more than is necessary. But truly blessed are the beatings that humble and break the proud will. The fruits of righteousness are rich indeed that come from the conflict and sufferings of the flesh.