Genesis 13:11). Proverbs 19. A bed of down cannot do much for a man whose body is racked with painit can do nothing for him whose soul is bowed down by sorrow, or smitten with a fear of death. A fool has no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself. II. Hence. The Vulgate, Septuagint, and Arabic, read as follows: "He who wishes to break with his friend, and seeks occasions or pretenses, shall at all times be worthy of blame.". Run therefore to God by praying, not fainting. (NEB) The spirit of a man will sustain his weakness; but a wounded spirit who can bear? A reference to the Critical Notes will show that the word translated wounds may be rendered dainties, and it is because evil reports of others are so keenly relished by an unsanctified soul that the words of a tale-bearer are able to inflict such suffering and work so much ill in the world. 4 The words of a man's mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring . Reynolds. No physical force can break down enmity of hearteven God cannot reconcile men unto Himself by His physical omnipotence, but wins them by love. The man who hid the Lords talent was visited with a stern sentence as a positive transgressor (Matthew 25:25). In the field of the world, the tares grow as well as the wheat (Matthew 13:26), and often they seem for a time to be more flourishing. For he who knows only his own side of the case is convicted of knowing little of that; his reasons may be good and no one may have been able to refute them, but if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, what rational ground has he for preferring either opinion?Jacox. And then, when we look around us into the infinitely extended field of the Revelation of God, what a world of heavenly wisdom is there to intermeddle with! He seeks according to his desire, and intermeddles with every business, pretends to pass a judgment upon every man's matter. The aims of a man left to himself is really a translation of but two words, meaning a separated one seeks. We shun it. II. This proverb is similar in context to Psalm 1:1-3: "Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. So the man whose words are listened to and waited for by other menwhether he be the skilful barrister, or the powerful statesman, or the preacher of the Gospel, has a satisfaction in being able so to put forth his conceptions as to give to his fellow-men new ideasto show them things in a light in which they might never have seen them but for this power which he possesses. 12/1/22: I just found out that most of the commentaries on the Bible Study Tools website are no longer free. i. The significance of the whole is that a man of wide acquaintance is apt to break. A man's gift maketh room for him and bringeth him before great men. Polygamy was the rock upon which Solomon shipwrecked his social happiness and much more (1 Kings 11:3), and he seems here and elsewhere to warn his descendants not to follow in his footsteps in this respect and conform to the custom of the heathen monarchs by whom they were surrounded. * a 2 Let someone else * praise you, and not your own mouth; Others, * and not your own lips. Proverbs 18:6. Another passage may serve to confirm this view. "He that separates himself follows after his own desire, but against all sound wisdom he shows his teeth."-. Proverbs 2:7), yielding the sense the lost man sits careless to what is stable. He does not regard it. That all sorrow of heart does not crush a man. Even Daniel, although a captive in Babylon, found that the God-given powers within him made room for him at a heathen court and brought him before more than one mighty monarch. And men are prone to go even beyond thisthe children of the same common Father often take delight in making their poor brethren feel their dependence on them, and instead of giving sympathy and help freely and after a brotherly fashion, they withhold the first entirely, and if they give the latter they do it coldly and even contemptuously. Proverbs 12:18; Proverbs 26:28). Many believers, it is to be feared, are spiritual spendthrifts. It must be remembered that deep waters are associated in the Old Testament with the thought of darkness and mystery (Proverbs 20:5; Psalms 69:2; Ecclesiastes 7:24), and we get a more profound thought if we see in the proverb a comparison between all teaching from without and that of the light within. We think it treats of. Saul made himself appear just in his own cause. Proverbs 18. If this word is taken in a good sense the fruit must be good; but it may be ironical, meaning false or malignant words will find ample retribution. We ought to be the more cautious in forming and pronouncing opinions, because we are so little disposed to admit conviction if we fall into mistakes, or to retract them upon conviction. Proverbs 18:14. Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with thee (Ezekiel 3:22). If the soul, therefore, would lie quiet, and yield to its own light, it would be joined by what is higher, and would contain, or control its own malady; God helping, as He would, would check, and get the better of it; but a spirit of upbraidingand by this is meant precisely the quarrel (chap. Verse 11. But, alas, disputes often lead to far more serious consequences, and that life of man, which is at the best so limited, has been made much shorter by the sword of his fellow-man. This is a beautiful fact. Tails, we won't. "[2] Another various reading is, "The alienated friend seeks an occasion of quarrel to stir up strife. Many a time too has this been exemplified.Wardlaw. The married who is truly Christian knows that, even though sometimes things are badly matched, still his marriage relation is well pleasing to God as His creation and ordinance, and what he therein does or endures, passes as done or suffered for God.Luther. The name of the Lord. God has revealed Himself to men by many names, each one of which is intended to set forth some attribute of His perfect nature. There is a sense in which we may understand the language, even taking the former clause of the twentieth verse literallyA mans belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth. You may smile and say, A man cannot live upon words! A fool has no delight in understanding: The wise man or woman has great satisfaction in knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. What the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by His name. He gave it to Christs humanity. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. Such a gift to a man is a gift for men. They become uneasy, fretted, and fidgetty; and are ever anxious to catch at any occasion for cutting the matter short and being done with it. Or if this is to be understood of a vain glorious person, the sense is, "he intermeddles" or "mingles himself with all business" h, as it may be rendered; he thrusts himself into affairs that do not concern him, and will pass his judgment on things he has nothing to do with; or he monopolizes all knowledge to himself, and will not allow any other to have any share with him. This strong refuge is not only safe, but set aloft, so the word signifies, out of the gunshot. 10 My son, if sinful men entice you, do not give in to them. his good name. Disease and death cannot be turned aside with moneya troubled soul cannot be comforted with gold. A poor man has not only a very small share of the material comforts of life, but even for these he is often compelled to sue as for a favour. One day they will find that pride leads to disaster. It is an outline which God has given to him to be filled up in a certain timespiritual and mental capacities and abilities are bestowed upon him which he is expected so to use as to form a godly noble character, and he cannot afford to waste any of the life given him for this purpose in contention with his brother man, thereby arousing the devil within himself and in him with whom he disputes. web jun 9 1984 paperback 20 55 18 used from 16 58 the gold medallion award winning . a. This is, I think, quite an important proverb, the next one. This was not an untruth, and appearances were certainly very much against her innocent victim, but if Joseph had been allowed to tell his story too, the truth might have come to light. A bad wife is no wife at all. The languages of several countries are not so different as of the poor and rich man in one and the same country, and a stranger of another land is not such a foreigner as in the same land a poor man standing at the door of the rich. That's an important proverb to me. In every cause, the first information, if it have dwelt for a little in the judges mind, takes deep root, and colours and takes possession of it, insomuch that it will hardly be washed out unless either some clear falsehood be detected or some deceit in the statement thereof.Bacon. Time, when gone, never returns. 2. Here again, as in Proverbs 18:4, the Hebrew word ish is used for man. How full is Church history of this deplorable evil!and how many infidels and scorners has Church history by this means produced. The spirit of the man is the man himself, his power to love, to hope, and to enjoy. What care, then, should we use to pluck from our hearts every root of bitterness, and to have them furnished with knowledge and prudence, that our discourse may be good, to the use of edifying!Lawson. But although they bade defiance to many an assault of men in battle-array, they have had to yield to a more subtle enemy. If a man, therefore, desires to avoid harm to body, mind, and soul, he must set himself to acquire knowledge both in relation to things material and spiritual. 1. Between (1) blaming and (2) commending the life of isolation, the decision must be that (1) is most in harmony with the temper of the Book of Proverbs; but it is not strange that Pharisaism, in its very name, separating and self-exalting, should have adopted (2). He who quarrels with our Surety snaps to the lock of a citadel; and then, alas, it shall be, just as the wild rush of embittered enemies should have roused him to enter in.Miller. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, I. Call upon the LORD in your troubles, and let Him rescue you ( Ps 18:1-6 ). This is a Sabbath altogether moral, never to be abrogated. When a wicked man enters upon the stage, that creature, the most degraded of the universe, and who has the least right to show any contempt, is the very person to be the most contemptuous; and the mortal who is himself most disgraced, shows the readiest mind to cry shame upon and to reproach and that even the Most High. Unless he does this, the opinion that he forms to-day will be altered to-morrow, and his mind will never be firmly made up on any subject. He does violence to his own understandingto those mental faculties which enable him to place things side by side and to compare them, and to sift and weigh evidence before he arrives at a conclusion. Proverbs 18:24. If they would but appear in their true character;would they but show their fangs, and make us feel them, we should be put upon our guard. Blessed Are the Unoffendable. Cains fratricide, Judass treachery, presumptious, aspiring, heaven-daring sins, find this final catastrophe, to despair of the mercy of God. As if the goodness of God, and the value of Christs ransom, were below his iniquity. To report dead links, typos, or html errors or suggestions about making these resources more useful use the convenient, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. 17, Proverbs 17:15 and Proverbs 17:26. And this is the meaning. Besides, the slower a person is to take offencethe longer he forbearsthe more he forgivesthe more difficult it is fairly to overcome the yearnings of affection, and break the bonds of brotherhoodthe more inveterate may the spirit of resentment be; the more sullen and distant the alienation, when it is actually produced.Wardlaw. Meditation on Proverbs 18:13. Life is a wide thing; and might, at least, be acted through, before in the darker points we insist upon a judgment Folly, and therefore, mischief; shame, and therefore, ill desert. The poor inconsiderate fools never think what they are about. That is, the fool's lips enters into contention, and by his mouth, the strokes is really, is blows. The author of this proverb was a polygamisthis great experience qualified him to give an opinion upon the subjectbut we do not here find him dwelling upon the satisfaction of the harem, but upon the blessedness of a wife. They suspend their plumb, not from the middle, but from one edge of the rule, and that the edge which lies next their own interests.Arnot. If we would get knowledge or grace, we must desire it, as that which we need and which will be of great advantage to us, 1 Corinthians 12:31. If a man has a very small inheritance he cannot afford to have one and another of his neighbours encroaching upon his land and taking a portion here and there, or others putting their hands into his pockets and helping themselves to what is only sufficient for his own needs. In that there can be no partiality, and though itself cannot judge of right, yet He that guides it is the most righteous Judge of the world. The favour of God is a fortune for a period which extends beyond that named in the marriage vow, it is a fortune which no creature can afford to despise, and a blessing which those who know Him prize before all things in earth or heaven. than to o divide the spoil with the proud. We could as rationally set out to find a sound that had expired in air, as to find a lost moment. And when we reflect what infinite results depend upon what a man does with his time, we can see the force of the proverb, because the slothful man is a waster of the most precious commodity in this world. Solomon delivers a warning against the vainglorious passion of aspiring to an universal acquaintance and an empty popularity, such as was courted by his brother Absalom, which will bring with it no support in adversity, but will ruin a man by pride and rashness and prodigal expenditure.Wordsworth. If a lot have erred, it is when mens understanding could have put things right, for God, having given power to men, He looks that men should use it. ESV There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. The rule was examined, and the discovery was made that the old man, with his defective eyesight, had drawn the cord through the wrong slit at the top of the instrument, and then from some cause which I cannot explain, using only one side of it, had never detected his mistake. It is on some such principle that people err in preparing a representation of their own case. It gives a place for you. There can be no doubt that each has its peculiar temptations (see chap. Read the direction to trust in itWho is there among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant: that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? Proverbs. II. He was David's rock, fortress, deliverer, God, strength, buckler, horn, and high tower ( Ps 18:2 ). i "Et in omne solidum dentes destringei", Schultens. One of the many evils of poverty. Proverbs 18 1 An unfriendly man pursues selfish ends; he defies all sound judgment. A thousand counterfeit coins, even if they pass as genuine for a time, are nothing worth in comparison with one real golden sovereign. A wood gathers wood, like all vegetable or vital growths. a. Stuart understands this in the sense of to deserve., Proverbs 18:8. For Homiletics on Proverbs 18:12, see on chap. If a tree is to become well-proportionedif it is to spread out its branches on every side so that its girth is to be proportioned to its height, it must have spacea degree of separation is indispensable to its perfect development. 10 The character of God is a tower of strength, for the lovers of God delight to run into his heart. And a man who has only heard a part of a matter is in no better position to judge in it, and commits as great a folly if he attempts to do so. At the mere dictate of desire is but one noun with a preceding particle, meaning after, or, according to The noun means a longing. And when it has unhappily succeeded in wounding us, we instantly have recourse to means for preventing the poison from getting into the mass of the blood, and pervading the system. We humans keep brainstorming options and plans, but God's purpose prevails. The tongue, according as it is used, deals forth life or death; for speech is the picture of the mind (comp. 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