Proverbs 14:25

MAIN HOMILETICS OF Proverbs 14:25

DELIVERANCE BY TRUTH

I. What is implied in a witness bearer. A witness is supposed to give light. Those who have to decide upon a matter seek for the evidence of those who are personally acquainted with the facts. They are expected to testify as to what they have seen and heard, and by thus throwing light upon the subject to further the cause of truth and justice. A witness can only give light by speaking the truth. The words of a truth-teller are like rays of sunlight falling upon an object that was before indistinct, they make plain things which without their aid would be incomprehensible. On the other hand the testimony of a lying witness surrounds everything about which he bears witness with a mist and a darkness, and so foils the efforts of those who are desiring to get a right view of the subject.

II. Life and death are often in the power of those who bear witness. The evidence of a truthful man delivers from death—or from worse than death—those who are innocent, whereas a false witness may deliver them up to punishment. The one is like the lighthouse which enables the sailor to bring his vessel safely into port, the other is like the false light of the wrecker, by means of which the ship is dashed to pieces on the rocks. The first witness for God in Eden who did not belong to the heavenly family was a “false witness who spoke lies.” He testified to Eve that God was a hard master, that He had imposed upon her restrictions from a selfish motive, that the punishment which had been threatened would not follow disobedience to the Divine commands. Since this first false witness led our first parents on to death, many a human witness has, in like manner, given to the world false views of the Divine Father which have ended in like results. Both Satan and his servants murder character by bearing false witness. The Incarnate Son of God was pre-eminently “The True Witness (Isaiah 55:4; Revelation 1:5). He came to deliver men by bearing witness of the true character of God from His own personal knowledge (John 17:25). “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that 1 should bear witness unto the truth” “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 18:37; John 8:32). “The truth which Christ taught was chiefly on these three points—God, man, immortality.… He exhibited God as love, and so the fearful bondage of the mind to the necessity of fate was broken.… He taught the truth about the human soul, that it is not in its right place, that it never is in its right place in the dark prison-house of sin, but that its home is freedom, and the breath of God’s life.… He taught truth concerning immortality, that this life is not all; that it is only a miserable state of human infancy.”—(Robertson.) By such testimony this “true witness delivered souls”—“proclaimed liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound” (Isaiah 61:1). On this subject see also on chap. Proverbs 12:17, pages 274–276.

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS

We noticed that what crowned the wise was “truth” or “knowledge” (Proverbs 14:18). Truth to become knowledge must get into the heart. To do so it must be “witnessed.” We noticed under the second verse that a man staggered, that is, he did not walk in levelness, because he did not see clearly. But, per contra, if a man sees clearly he walks in level ways; and then, according to our present proverb, he “saves” unconsciously the souls of others. This is most clear when the view is negative. Let there be no witnesses of truth, and where are the saved? No sinners are rescued in a dead nation. Every Christian is a centre of light. The Church is but a body of Christians. Where there is no Church, where are the penitents? The truth intended to be conveyed is, that he who sees the truth spreads it. While he who sees only “lies,” which is an exact portrait of the unredeemed, serves in spite of himself as a delusion to his friends, and deceives them into unbelief just in proportion to his influence upon them. Woe be to the wife or child where the husband is a “deceived witness” (Proverbs 14:5). “Witness”—not in this case one who bears witness, but one who witnesses, in the sense of seeing.—Miller.

While true testimony may condemn, false testimony may acquit; while the former may destroy life, the latter may save it. It is probable, therefore, that the intended antithesis relates not so much to the actual fact of truth saving and falsehood condemning, as to the dispositions and intentions of the faithful witness on the one hand and the lying witness on the other. The faithful witness delights in giving testimony that may save life, that will be salutary and beneficial to his fellow-creatures. The lying witness will, in general, be found actuated by a malevolent and wicked purpose; having pleasure in giving testimony that will go to condemn the object of his malice. The sentiment will thus be—that truth is most generally found in union with kindness of heart, and falsehood with malevolence. And this is natural; the former being both good, the latter being both evil, falsehood being naturally more akin to malice, and truth to love. Wardlaw.

Here again there is something like tautology in the second clause. We expect “destroyeth life” as the antithesis to “delivereth souls.” But in this case also there is an emphasis in the seeming absence of it. “A deceitful witness speaketh lies.” What worse could be said of him? All destruction is implied in falsehood.—Plumptre.

It is the honour of God to be a deliverer of souls, and that is the honour of a true witness. He delivers his own soul and another’s: his own from the wrath of God, another’s from the injustice of men: his own from wickedness, another’s from injury. The deceitful man speaketh not one lie, but many. The lie of perjury to God, the lie of injustice to the judge, the lie of falsehood to the master. Not one but many lies, because one lie usually bringeth many others with it.—Jermin.

The special work for which Christians are left in the world is to be witnesses (Acts 1:8) … Christ does not send his angels to proclaim His word or to wield His power.… The evidence by which the spirit will convert the world is His truth, uttered from the word, and echoed, still and small, from the meek and quiet life-course of converted men … Two qualifications are required in a witness, truth and love (Ephesians 4:15): these are needed, but these will do … A witness, in contested cases, after giving evidence in chief, is subjected to cross-examination. A Christian’s profession is, and is understood to be, his direct and positive testimony that he is bought with a price, and that he is bound to serve the Lord who bought him: but as soon as this testimony is emitted, the examination begins. If he be not a true witness, he will stumble there. Either or both of two persons, with very different views, may subject a witness to cross-examination—the judge or the adversary. It is chiefly done by the adversary, and in his interests. The Supreme himself puts professing disciples to the test before the court of the world; but when He so tries His children, the truth comes forth purer and brighter by the trial. He who goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, tempts to destroy. He puts the witness to the question in order to break him down.… We speak of the evidences of religion, but, after all, Christians are the best evidences of Christianity … Let no man who bears Christ’s name lay the unction to his soul, that if he does no good he does no evil. One of the heaviest complaints made in the prophets against Jerusalem for her backsliding, is that she was a “comfort” to Samaria and Sodom (Ezekiel 16:54); that those who had the name and place of God’s people, so lived as to make the wicked feel at ease … If Christians live as like the world as they can, the world will think itself safe in its sin; and those who should have been the deliverers, will become the destroyers of their neighbours.—Arnot.