PROVERBS CHAPTER 20 WINE IS A MOCKER; wine immoderately drunk makes men mockers or scoffers at God and men. Compare HOSEA 7:5. STRONG DRINK IS RAGING; makes men full of rage and passion. IS NOT WISE; is a fool, or a madman, because he depriveth himself of the use of his reason.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FEAR OF A KING, passively taken, the terror which the wrath of a king causeth, by comparing this with PROVERBS 19:12. SINNETH AGAINST HIS OWN SOUL; exposeth himself to manifest danger of death.... [ Continue Reading ]
TO CEASE FROM STRIFE; either to prevent it, or, if it be begun, to put an end to it; which, although proud and profane persons esteem dishonourable to them, is indeed their glory, because it is an evidence of their great wisdom and power over their passions, and of their respect and obedience to the... [ Continue Reading ]
BY REASON OF THE COLD OF THE PLOUGHING SEASON, which is in autumn and towards winter. He hates and avoids all laborious and difficult work, although his own necessity and interest oblige him to it. AND HAVE NOTHING; and not obtain an alms; not in that time of plenty and bounty, because men's hearts... [ Continue Reading ]
COUNSEL; either, 1. Wisdom or ability to give good counsel; or, 2. Designs or purposes of doing something of moment; for this word is frequently used in both senses, but the last seems fittest here. IS LIKE DEEP WATER; either, 1. Is there in great abundance; or, 2. Is secret and hard to be disco... [ Continue Reading ]
Most men are forward to profess religion, and speak of their own good deeds; but a faithful man, one who is indeed what he seemeth and professeth himself to be, WHO CAN FIND? there are but few such to be found.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE JUST MAN WALKETH IN HIS INTEGRITY; he proveth himself to be so not only by his profession, of which he spoke in the former verse, but by his sincere and unblamable conversation. His children are blessed after him, by virtue of that covenant which God hath made with such men, which is not confine... [ Continue Reading ]
A KING THAT SITTETH IN THE THRONE OF JUDGMENT; that makes it his great care and business to execute judgment and justice among his people, especially if he do this in his own person, as was usual in ancient times, and sees things with his own eyes. As for the phrase, the sign or gesture is here put... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO CAN SAY? no man living upon earth can say this truly and sincerely. Compare 1 KINGS 8:46 JOB 14:4, JOB 15:14 ECCLESIASTES 7:20 1 JOHN 1:8. _I am pure from my sin_; I am perfectly free from all guilt and filth of sin in my heart and life.... [ Continue Reading ]
DIVERS WEIGHTS AND DIVERS MEASURES; one greater and true for public show, and one lesser and false for private use, when they had an opportunity of deceiving.... [ Continue Reading ]
EVEN A CHILD IS KNOWN BY HIS DOINGS; young children discover their inclinations or dispositions even by their childish speeches and carriages, as not having yet learnt the art of dissembling. WHETHER HIS WORK BE PURE; or rather, _will be pure_; for it is not expressed in the Hebrew, and therefore ma... [ Continue Reading ]
It is God alone who gives us our senses and natural faculties, and the use and exercise of them, and especially a power of employing them aright to see and observe the works of God, and to hear and receive his word and all wholesome instructions; whence he leaves it to us to gather, that God doth ex... [ Continue Reading ]
LOVE NOT SLEEP, i.e. immoderate sleep, or sloth, or idleness. Take sleep because necessity requires it, not from any love to it. OPEN THINE EYES; awake out of sleep, shake off sloth, and betake thyself to thy employment with diligence and rigour.... [ Continue Reading ]
IT IS NAUGHT; the commodity is but of little worth. Saith the buyer, to wit, to the seller; he discommends it, that he may bring down the price of it. GONE HIS WAY, with the commodity purchased. HE BOASTETH that by his wit he hath overreached the seller, and got a great advantage to himself. This he... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE IS GOLD, to wit, in the world, in divers men's hands, by whom it is highly prized. BUT THE LIPS OF KNOWLEDGE ARE A PRECIOUS JEWEL; but wise speeches proceeding from an understanding or honest heart are of far greater worth and use, both to him that uttereth them, and to those that receive and... [ Continue Reading ]
TAKE HIS GARMENT, to wit, as a pledge, without which he ought not to be trusted, because by this action he showeth himself to be a fool, and he taketh the ready way to beggary. OBJECT. This precept contradicts that law which forbade the taking of a garment for a pledge, EXODUS 22:26. ANSW. It doth n... [ Continue Reading ]
BREAD OF DECEIT; gain or pleasure procured by unrighteous courses. HIS MOUTH SHALL BE FILLED WITH GRAVEL; it shall be bitter and pernicious at last, like gritty bread, which offends the teeth and stomach. It will certainly bring upon him the horrors of a guilty conscience, and the wrath and judgment... [ Continue Reading ]
EVERY PURPOSE IS ESTABLISHED BY COUNSEL; the way to bring our purposes and desires to a good effect, is to manage them with serious consideration and good advice. _And_; or, _therefore_. This is necessary in every common undertaking, and much more in a thing of such high importance as war is.... [ Continue Reading ]
HE THAT GOETH ABOUT AS A TALE-BEARER REVEALETH SECRETS; he that delighteth in and accustometh himself to the practice of spreading tales or evil reports, will not forbear to publish the greatest secrets which are committed to his trust. Or, as others render it, and as the words lie in the Hebrew tex... [ Continue Reading ]
OR HIS MOTHER, Heb. _and his mother_; which is used for _or_, EXODUS 12:5 LEVITICUS 6:3, and elsewhere. HIS LAMP; his comfort and happiness, his name and memory, which are oft compared in Scripture to A LAMP OR LIGHT; SHALL BE PUT OUT IN OBSCURE DARKNESS; shall utterly perish; he shall die childless... [ Continue Reading ]
AN INHERITANCE MAY BE GOTTEN HASTILY AT THE BEGINNING; an estate sometimes is got suddenly, in the very beginning of a man's labours for it; in which case it may be presumed that some indirect and unrighteous courses were used for the getting of it, because riches are very seldom given by God, or go... [ Continue Reading ]
SAY NOT THOU IN THY HEART; give not way to any such evil thoughts or purposes. WAIT ON THE LORD, to whom it belongs to execute vengeance, and to deliver his people from all their enemies.... [ Continue Reading ]
DIVERS WEIGHTS ARE AN ABOMINATION UNTO THE LORD; of which SEE POOLE ON "PROVERBS 20:10". IS NOT GOOD; is very wicked and hateful to God and men.... [ Continue Reading ]
MAN'S GOINGS, all men's purposes and actions, ARE OF THE LORD; are ordered and overruled by God's wise and powerful providence to accomplish his own counsel and good pleasure, and not what men list or intend. HIS OWN WAY; either, 1. What course he ought to take; which he cannot know without God's d... [ Continue Reading ]
IT IS A SNARE; it brings guilt and God's curse and vengeance upon him. THAT WHICH IS HOLY, i.e. those meats or drinks which were devoted or consecrated to God; under which one kind he comprehends and forbids all alienation of sacred or dedicated things from God to a man's private use or benefit; of... [ Continue Reading ]
A WISE KING, who seriously minds his duty and his true interest, SCATTERETH THE WICKED; breaks their companies and confederacies, and forceth them to flee several ways for their own safety; driveth them from his presence, and from the society of honest men, as the chaff is by the husbandman separate... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SPIRIT, i.e. the reasonable soul. IS THE CANDLE; is a clear and glorious light set up in man for his information and direction. OF THE LORD; so called, partly because it comes from God in a more immediate and peculiar manner than the body doth, ECCLESIASTES 12:7; and partly because it is in God'... [ Continue Reading ]
MERCY; clemency to offenders, and bounty to worthy and to indigent persons; and truth; faithfulness in keeping his word and promises inviolably; preserve the king, because they engage God to guard him, and gain him the reverence and affections of his people, which is a king's greatest safety and hap... [ Continue Reading ]
THE GLORY OF YOUNG MEN; that wherein they glory as their privilege above old men. THE BEAUTY OF OLD MEN IS THE GREY HEAD, i.e. their old age, expressed by the outward sign of it, wherein they glory as their peculiar privilege, as a testimony of their piety and God's blessing, and as a token of their... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BLUENESS OF A WOUND, grievous wounds, which make men black and blue, or severe punishments, CLEANSETH AWAY EVIL; are the most effectual means to reclaim a wicked man, and to purge out his corruption. SO DO STRIPES, Heb. _and stripes_, which answer to the _wounds_ in the former clause, THE INWARD... [ Continue Reading ]