Proverbs Chapter 21
Proverbs
Chapter 21
1. The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases. Most people who reflect about life acknowledge that God is behind everything. In inert matter he acts by physical force; in wild animals, by instinct and appetite; in intelligent beings, by motives suited to their faculties; in his redeemed people, by the influence of grace. This proverb reminds us of one aspect of his providential care. The general truth, previously stated, that man is entirely dependent on God is illustrated by the king's heart, which is under God's sway.
A watercourse is an apt emblem of this agency. It starts as a single spring that is hardly able to turn a hand-mill to grind a day's corn. But as it is swollen by the confluence of other small and great streams, it is able to turn hundreds of mills and provide food for thousands of people. So the thoughts of the king's heart are at first a single idea for the good of his subjects. This then grows until it is fulfilled. For, after all, the great Sovereign directs the most despotic rule—all political projects—to his own ends, in the same way that a watercourse runs through its channel. The allusion is evidently to channels that were made to distribute water and so irrigate gardens or fields. The watercourse flows naturally in the direction of the channel. God directs the king's heart as his responsible agent, without interfering with the moral freedom of his will.
The history of our blessed, though now maligned, Reformation shows the same sovereign control of the royal heart. Henry VIII was used as an instrument, and his godly son as a willing agent, in furthering this great work. To recall this encourages us to refer all troubles in the life of the church to her great Head and to rejoice that in the place of kings, the King of king reigns.
2. All a man's ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart. May I be grateful for the repetition (16:2) of this weighty proverb. It is most valuable, as it probes my heart and tests my spirituality.
The heart is so deceitful that it deceives not only others, but, even when Satan does not, itself. Every intelligent Christian bears witness to this self-deception. How differently do we judge the same action that we do when seen in the lives of other people. We often plead that there were extenuating circumstances for us to behave in a certain way, and so we justify ourselves, though we condemn this same action in other people. So we should always pray that God will search us, know us, test us, and reveal us to ourselves (Psalm 139:23). Nobody else in the world makes as many mistakes as we do ourselves. But to be approved of by God is no ordinary mercy!
3. To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. Did Solomon mean to undervalue sacrifice? Nobody ever valued it more highly than he did (see 1 Kings 3:4; 8:64). Sacrifice was appointed as a type of the great sacrifice for sin (Hebrews 10:11-12). But it was never intended to take the place of the universal moral obedience that God's law had from the beginning required. Yet how quickly man misunderstood the intention of the ordinance. How easily he substituted the offerings of bulls and goats for the self-denying service of the heart. The people of Israel abounded in the observance of their outward ceremonials while indulging in the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah.
No sacrifice can replace the love of God. We must ask ourselves if we are only worshiping superficially. Do you hear the voice calling you away from the dead form of religion to seek the living power of godliness? Cain brought a sacrifice, but not his heart. Remember that those externals stand in the place of a consecrated heart and are the delusion of the great deceiver. Let your heart be with God.
4. Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, are sin! We cannot mistake God's mind that is so clearly declared here. Yet this sin assumes so many different forms that until God's Spirit reveals a man to himself, he does not think it applies to him. Indeed, he manages to be proud of his pride!
But such a man has not only haughty eyes and a proud heart, but even his natural actions are affected. The lamp of the wicked is full of sin! But how can an ordinary thing be sinful? The motive determines the action. The most natural actions are inculcated for Christian ends. They, therefore, become moral actions, good or bad according to their own motives. If you do not have a godly purpose in your actions, you sin. "Holy intention is to the actions of a man that which the soul is to the body, or form to its matter, or the root to the tree, or the sun to the world, or the spring to the river, or the base to the pillar. Without these, the body is a dead trunk, the matter is sluggish, the tree is a block, the world is darkness, the river is quickly dry, the pillar rushes into flatness and ruin, and the action is sinful or unprofitable and vain" (Bishop Taylor).
A person's idleness is sin in the face of a direct command (2 Thessalonians 3:10). His industry is the sin of ungodliness if he refuses God any room in his world. The substance of his work is good, but the corrupt principle defiles his best actions. If the spring is bitter, how can the waters be pure? Sin defiles every motive in the Christian's heart. But here it is the substance of sin. In one case it is the inability to keep walking along the path; in the other it is walking along a crooked path. With the wicked, "his eating as well as his gluttony; his drinking as well as his drunkenness; his business deals as well as his covetousness and his inordinate love of the world are all set down and reckoned by God as sins, and such sins as he must reckon for with God" (Hopkins). Fearful indeed is his condition. Would that he could see it! Whether he prays or neglects to pray, it is an abomination. He cannot but sin, and yet he is fully accountable for his sin. Should he not carry out his duties? "The impotency of man must not prejudice God's authority, nor diminish his duty" (Reynolds). What then should he do? Let him learn how vital it is for him to be born again. Let the wicked person seek the great Physician, whose word is sovereign healing (Matthew 8:3), and whose divine blood cleanses from every disease (1 John 1:7). Once the man's nature is cleansed, his deeds will be clean.
5. The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty. In Proverbs the diligent are usually contrasted with the slothful (10:4; 12:24, 27; 13:4); but here they are contrasted with the hasty person. The plans of each bear fruit. One leads to profit; the other leads to poverty. The patient, plodding, industrious man perseveres in spite of all difficulties. He is content to acquire wealth slowly. He never relaxes or gives way to discouragement. This diligence is profitable when it is blessed by God. "You may as well expect," says an old writer, "riches to rain down from heaven in silver showers as to provide for your family without industry in your calling" (Swinnock).
Those in haste may also be diligent to a certain extent. But as laziness is defective, so haste is undisciplined impulse. Actions are engaged in without thought. Hence our English philosopher wisely counsels us "not to measure dispatch by the times of sitting, but by the advancement of the business." A wise man, when observing people making a rushed conclusion to a job, said, "Stay a little, that we may make it complete quicker. To choose time is to save time, and unthinking action is just beating the air" (Lord Bacon).
The evil of haste under a worldly impulse is truly fearful. It often drives a person into doing rash projects. We are to run the race in front of us, not with haste or speed, but with patience (Hebrews 12:1). Haste is delusion and ends in disappointment. What is as important as cultivating a deep work of grace, which pervades the whole person and abounds with fruit to God's glory?
6-7. A fortune made by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a deadly snare. The violence of the wicked will drag them away, for they refuse to do what is right. Here is a graphic picture of the hasty spirit showing how its own crooked ways lead to poverty. A treasure made by a lying tongue becomes a snare. Unrighteous gain is a bad bargain, for God's wrath mixes gall and bitterness with the wages of iniquity. Judas was eager to rid himself of his ill-gotten treasure, as it became an intolerable curse. But he was unable to run away from his conscience, which tortured him.
The ungodly seem to seek death as their reward. They seem to be in love with the way of eternal death. Meanwhile, their own sin is the seed of destruction.
8. The way of the guilty is devious, but the conduct of the innocent is upright. Observe the striking contrast between man as he is by nature and man as he is by grace. Who will say that man is now as he first came from his Maker's hand? He has turned away from God and follows his own will.
But once reborn by the grace of God, he carries out God's will. He now lives for God. He longs for heaven. Oh, my God, show me myself, insofar as I can bear the sight, that I may he kept humble and always close to my Savior, always applying his precious blood, always covering myself in his pure and perfect work of righteousness.
9. Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife. "It cannot be but a miserable thing to behold that yet they are of necessity compelled to live together, which yet cannot be in quiet together" (Homily on Matrimony). But many bring this bitter trouble on themselves. They never seek God's help in their momentous choice. The wife is not asked for from the Lord, and so does not come from him, and so does not bring any of his favors with her. Illicit pleasure, avarice, or waywardness brings a calamity that no external advantages such as riches or rank can for a moment make up for.
The only safe way to enter this "honorable estate" is when both commit themselves to God. "Bestow me as you will, and on whom you will" (Chrysostom). The only way to be happy is when mutual love is grounded reverentially on God's ordinances. Each partner of the marriage should remember that passion is nothing, but patience is everything. The husband in his claim for submission will remember that he has found not a servant, but a wife. The wife will not forget "the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight" (1 Peter 3:4).
10. The wicked man craves evil; his neighbor gets no mercy from him. Here is a graphic picture of Satan himself! He not only does evil— he craves evil. Here we see that evil is natural to the wicked, for it is in their nature. They long to indulge their appetite, as this is their main delight.
His neighbor gets no mercy from him. His love does not extend beyond his own door. He takes no notice of anyone who stands in the way of his own selfish interests. Friend and brother have to give way to his selfish gratification.
Such is sin in its dreadful character and baneful fruits. But look at the man of God, with his heart enlarged and softened with the influence of the Gospel. Oh, for more of this gracious spirit in the church of God!
11. When a mocker is punished, the simple gain wisdom; when a wise man is instructed, he gets knowledge. The essence of this proverb has been given before (19:25) as an instructive illustration of the Lord's providential discipline. No stroke of his rod is without its effect. The same blow has two different results. The mocker is punished by it, but the wise man is instructed by it. To a mocker, the very idea of the grace of God is an object of scorn and contempt. So we are not surprised that the daring offender is marked out for punishment.
The wise man, though already taught by God, through his daily teaching gratefully receives increasing knowledge. Among his most fruitful lessons are the instructions of the rod. They are instructions, not punishment.
12. The Righteous One takes note of the house of the wicked and brings the wicked to ruin. The workings of providence are often puzzling. The prosperity of the wicked is an affront to faith and brings about harsh thoughts about God (Psalm 73:2-14). But when the man who trusts in the Lord looks with the eye of faith, he sees far beyond the dazzling glory of the present moment. When you take note of the house of the wicked, you will not just observe its splendor but will reflect on how it will end. Its prosperity will be short-lived, and its destruction is certain. All this is understood by faith.
13. If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered. If there were no poor people, much of the Word of God, which applies to their comfort and which teaches us about our obligations, would have been written in vain. The obligation implies not only a helping hand, but a feeling heart. Howard's rule, so nobly expounded by his own self-denying devotedness, is a fine comment on this example: "that our superfluities give way to other men's convenience; that our conveniences give way to other men's necessities; and that even our necessities give way to other men's extremities."
The deaf ear implies cruelty and insensibility and turning away from real and known distress. Count it a privilege, no less than an obligation, to minister to the poor. Think of it as a way of conforming to our divine Master's spirit and work (Matthew 14:14-21). Covetousness and sensuality harden the heart. And when the heart is hard, the ear is deaf.
14. A gift given in secret soothes anger, and a bribe concealed in the cloak pacifies great wrath. Here a gift given in secret implies a perversion. Both parties are involved in the guilt. The giver acts as the tempter. The receiver happily breaks God's law (Exodus 23:8). The passions of men are easily charmed. A greedy man is not angry when he is pacified with gifts, especially when they are given in secret, for they will tell no tales. Thus wounded pride is overcome by another ruling passion—avarice! How we need to keep a careful watch over our own hearts so that we keep walking closely with God.
15. When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers. It is not just that justice is done, but it brings joy when it is done. Everything that the righteous man does centers in this. He has as much delight in justice as the wicked does in evil. But this joy is only for the righteous. For the person who only professes to believe in God finds that he offers God the service of a slave. He only knows God as a Master, and he thinks of him as a slave-master. He has never known him as a Father and therefore has never served him as a child. But when a Christian truly serves God, holiness is identified with happiness as naturally as heat accompanies fire and beams of light shine from the sun. This is how it was with our Lord, who delighted to do God's will. Oh, that we as God's servants might have the same spirit that our Lord had!
16. A man who strays from the path of understanding comes to rest in the company of the dead. This seems to describe the fearful and irretrievable ruin of apostates. God opens the path of understanding. So anyone who strays from this path implies that he once traveled along it. He was at least instructed about and professed to walk on this road. The end of deliberate wandering away from God is eternal death.
This state of death is often linked with the external observance of religion. The real reason for the death is that in the full blaze of religious knowledge, a living faith is absent. So there is no reality in prayer, and therefore there is no genuine desire to persevere with God. With all his light, knowledge, and privileges, this man still strays from the path of understanding.
Indeed, straying is the character of man's fallen nature. Beware of the first wandering step, whether in doctrine or in behavior. You may end up in a state of apostasy, like Bunyan's blind wanderers who left the straight path and were found among the tombs, in the company of the dead. Remember that to be found in such company reveals your character and your state. Will not everyone who deliberately turns away from opportunities to attain wisdom be found to have died in their sins eternally?
17. He who loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and oil will never be rich. Does this mean that we should have no pleasures? This would indeed stop people from believing in God. For pleasure is the characteristic of the ways of God (3:17). Should we not rejoice in our earthly comforts? God has provided us with everything for our enjoyment (1 Timothy 6:17). Yet, strange as it may seem, the way to enjoy pleasure is not to love it or to pursue it as if it is our goal in life. The person who gives his whole heart and all of his time to pleasure is on the road to becoming poor. As Rutherford observed, "Certainly the more a man drinks of the world, the more it intoxicates him." Our spiritual character is our glory. Personal holiness is indispensable to spiritual enjoyments. So always bear in mind how empty the pleasures of this world are.
18. The wicked become a ransom for the righteous, and the unfaithful for the upright. The ransom spoken about here is equivalent to a substitute (Psalm 49:7-8). Sometimes, for good reasons, God involves the righteous in the same judgment as the wicked. Sometimes the punishment of the wicked is the ordained way of averting calamity from a righteous nation (Joshua 7:24-26). Also often, in the Lord's retributive justice, the wicked are given over to the trouble they had planned for the righteous (compare 11:8). Sometimes God makes the enemies of the church fight among themselves as if they were a defeated nation. However poor the prospects of the church, we have no grounds to be faint and give up. So though the night may be dark, remember that the day is coming that will shine full of God's glory.
19. Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and ill-tem-pered wife. Here is another (see verse 9), and perhaps even a stronger picture of the misery of domestic dissension! Let us remember that a choice made on the basis of beauty or intellect, with no reference to godliness, gives no promise of divine blessing or of individual happiness.
The matrimonial thorn in the flesh may be a necessary chastening that prevents us from being confident in ourselves (2 Corinthians 12:7). It is also an opportunity to exercise Christian grace. Hooker's meek endurance of the constant dripping (19:13) must have been seen by George Cranmer and others as a striking lesson on the influence of practical religion. Buxtorf quoted a Jewish saying: "How will a man prove his spirit? By enduring a bad wife." When Socrates was asked why he endured his wife, he replied, "By this means I have a schoolmaster at home, and an example how I should behave myself abroad. For I shall be the more quiet with others, being thus daily exercised and taught in the forbearing of her."
"The family," as Mr. Cecil rightly observes, "is sometimes a fierce fire. It is capable of becoming the most trying thing in the world to us." Yet much prayer and forbearance are required to avoid being upset by every trifle. This will keep us from being irritated needlessly. We must also bear in mind that we have divine support for all our heavy crosses. We also look forward with intense longing for the home of everlasting peace.
Here is a very serious question: Is it right to divorce or conveniently separate rather than endure and honor the cross? The supposition that it is better to live in a desert implies a worse alternative to living with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife. The latter was Job's lot, for he never divorced his wife. He lived with her even when she advised him to curse God (Job 2:9). "The devil," as M. Henry observed, "spared his wife to him, not only to be his tempter, but his tormentor." Enduring his matrimonial cross was part of the patience for which he was commended.
Our Lord restored the ordinance of marriage to its rightful place. He taught that there was only one ground for divorce and so excluded all other grounds (Matthew 5:32; 19:1-9). According to this rule an unfaithful wife can be put away because of sin, but a quarrelsome and ill-tem-pered wife should be endured as a cross.
20. In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has. The love of earthly treasure is the way to poverty (21:17). Yet we may thankfully enjoy it as the fruit of the Lord's blessing (10:22), for prudence is not worldliness. Further, indifference to impending trial is not faith but foolish simplicity (22:3).
Even the cottage of the godly poor often contains stores of choice food and oil, as they are the reward of Christian diligence. Yet poor indeed is the palace where the Bible with its stores of unsearchable riches is not the grand treasure and where the oil of gladness is not one's greatest comfort. Wherever this treasure is prized above everything else, we will find the house of the wise, whether it belongs to a prince or to a pauper. As Cecil, Queen Elizabeth's Secretary, said, on leaving Bernard Gilpin's house, "There dwells as much happiness as can be known on earth." We will never find such joy in the home of a foolish man.
21. He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor. Holiness must be our way of life every day, as well as our religious duty. We are to pursue righteousness, not as a daily chore, but as a delight. It should flow from a heart filled with fearless love. "The will is in love with those charms that draw us to God. And as no man will complain that his temples are restrained and his head is a prisoner when it is encircled with a crown, so when the Son of God has made us free and has only subjected us to the service and dominion of the Spirit, we are as free as princes within the circle of their diadem. Our chains are bracelets, and the law is the law of freedom, and God's service is perfect freedom. So the better subjects we are, the more we reign as kings. The further we run, the easier the burden becomes. Christ's yoke is like feathers to a bird. They are not weights but the means for flight, and without them the body falls" (Bishop Taylor). We are to pursue this righteousness as our goal.
22. A wise man attacks the city of the mighty and pulls down the stronghold in which they trust. The art of war shows that wisdom is superior to strength (24:5-6). Prudent tactics, or the wise use of courage, triumphs over mere personal prowess. Joshua's strategy in taking Ai is an example of military wisdom (Joshua 8:3-22). Solomon seems to have known about a wise man who on his own delivered a city from the power of a mighty king.
So spiritual wisdom, a direct gift from God, overcomes formidable difficulties. Let us be like soldiers who are strong in the Lord and put on all of God's armor (Ephesians 6:10). The victory is assured. The stronghold will be pulled down.
23. He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity. How frequently does the wise man remind us of the responsibility connected with the use of this little member (10:14; 12:13; 13:3; 14:3; 17:20; 18:6-7,21). Yet as a test of the soundness or otherwise of our belief in God, we cannot have such exhortation in front of us too often (James 1:26). The soundness of the regenerate heart is nowhere more clearly seen than in its words. Conversely, the corruption of the heart may be the main source of evil; but its evil is dreadfully increased by the work of the lips. The tongue is the unbridled horse that brings his rider into jeopardy. If we open our mouth in a rash way and the tongue is allowed to speak as it wills, our neighbor will be harmed, and God will be dishonored.
How are we to avoid this? Walk closely with God. Cherish the tender spirit of his constraining obligations. Keep the tongue for his service. Ask for his grace at once, so you can both restrain it and use it.
24. The proud and arrogant man—"Mocker" is his name; he behaves with overweening pride. This is a vivid picture of Pharaoh, who in a proud and arrogant way asked who the Lord was that he should obey him (Exodus 5:2).
But this dreadful abomination may also be indulged in by God's own children. But God will not wink at their sin or spare his rod. The glory of their name will be darkened. They will see God's frown. Although Asa's heart was given over to God for most of his life, yet because of his sin, his sun went down in a cloud (1 Kings 15:14; 2 Chronicles 16:10-13). "For our God is a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:29).
25-26. The sluggard's craving will be the death of him, because his hands refuse to work. All day long he craves for more, but the righteous give without sparing. We have often had the shame and wretchedness of the sluggard portrayed. Here is the final stroke. His craving will be the death of him. Where there is no effort, there will be no fruit. "What he longs for, he does not set his hand to gain. But he prefers to sit still and starve" (Bishop Hall). He lives by his wishes and not by working. "How can an object that stands at a fixed distance from its desire be procured by idle affections? Those affections must have life in them. Dead desires are deadly desires" (Dr. Reynold). Beware then of the sluggard's cry. His craving, instead of giving life, brings death in its wake. We must make use of all the means of grace. Sir Thomas More prayed the following excellent prayer: "Lord, make me to bestow pains in getting those things, for the obtaining of which I am used to pray to thee."
In order to continually serve the Lord, we must exercise faith. This is the spiritual power that God gave us to start with, and we must continue with it. Even if you are discouraged, or even if you become slothful, set your mind to praying that God will renew his strength in you. There is no time when the Lord will not give this to you. Consciously devote yourself to him. Make every necessary sacrifice. Seize every opportunity you have. For while the sluggard craves for himself, the righteous lives for God's church. He gives without sparing. He will be a blessing on the earth (Isaiah 19:24).
The following exhortations are well worth pondering. "Our heart is naturally distant from God. One single step will not bring us close to God. A few minutes of cold prayer are not enough to support our souls. Let us beware of laziness. We lose many hours and days on our road to heaven. These days soon become years, and we will be too late in the end for the marriage supper. We willingly exert ourselves to climb a mountain for the sake of the view at the top or for the pure air. Let us then use all our strength to climb the mountain of Zion, where we will breathe a truly vivifying atmosphere, and from whose heights we will behold the true Eden, the valley of peace, through which flow living waters, and where the tree of life flourishes. May the Lord bestow on us all the necessary will and energy!" (Felix Neff).
27. The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable—how much more so when brought with evil intent! This repeats a previous proverb (15:8) in an even more emphatic way. At no time, under no circumstances, can the sacrifice of the wicked be acceptable in God's sight. All the true requisites of holy worship are lacking. There is no heart. The worship is, therefore, only formality and hypocrisy (Matthew 15:7-9). There is no way of entering into God's presence. Therefore, all that kind of worship is full of self-righteousness.
How much more so when brought with evil intent! This makes the sin twice as bad. The mind that is dominated by the power of sin is like a pestilence that infests everything within its influence. And yet it sometimes appears that the sacrifice of the wicked is accepted. But the Lord sees into the center of men's hearts and never fails to punish them according to their motives.
28. A false witness will perish, and whoever listens to him will be destroyed forever. This is like rejoicing in iniquity rather than rejoicing in truth. Such a false witness will definitely be punished by God. And even "by man he will be confounded and silenced. No one in the future will take notice of or receive his testimony" (Poole).
29. A wicked man puts up a bold front, but an upright man gives thought to his ways. Here a bold front, which has no shame and does not blush in the presence of sin, is a dreadful manifestation of a hardened heart. Cain stood boldly in God's presence while his hands dripped with his brother's blood. The traitor had the effrontery to kiss the sacred cheeks of our Lord. What a bold front these evil men had! Their faces were implacably set to do evil. Truly "we have no stay and command of ourselves. So masterful are our wills and we are so headstrong that if God left us in our unruly nature, we would soon ruin ourselves" (Bishop Sanderson).
It is an encouragement to consider, in contrast to this, the tender spirit of the child of God. It is rest, indeed, to put ourselves in the Lord's hands, as we are fearful to take any step by ourselves. Godly simplicity greatly clears the eye of the soul. Where the heart is set on the duty, there is seldom any big difficulty in discovering the path. Here is the contrast: A wicked man puts up a bold front against God's ordinances, but an upright man is guided by them. Childlike confidence brings sunshine and acceptance, a brighter and more glorious privilege than the scepter of the universe.
30-31. There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord. The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord. The history of the church proves the truth of these proverbs. "The decrees and counsels of God are firm and adamant; immovable, notwithstanding all human machinations. They can no more be resisted than the path of the sun" (Lavater). Wisdom and insight and man's best plan, when they are against the Lord, come to nothing. "They all signify nothing, if they oppose the counsels and decrees of heaven" (Bishop Patrick).
The horse may legitimately be used as a means of defense. But never let our confidence be in the material of warfare. Use the means, but do not idolize them. Those who put their trust in them will fall. Those who remember that their safety is in the Lord will stand upright. When it comes to spiritual warfare, it is even more important to exercise active faith and dependence on God. Salvation comes from the Lord. It is free, complete, and triumphant, an everlasting victory over all the powers of hell.