Proverbs 29:19-23

CRITICAL NOTES.—

Proverbs 29:19. Doth not answer. Rather “there is not an answer,” that is in action, by obedience. Delitzsch translates “does not conform thereto”

Proverbs 29:21. A son, etc. There are many different translations of this verse, but the general verdict of scholars seems to favour the English rendering. Luther translates the verse, “If a servant is tenderly treated from youth up, he will accordingly become a squire”

MAIN HOMILETICS OF Proverbs 29:19; Proverbs 29:21

MASTERS AND SERVANTS

I. Human servants generally need correction. The relation of master and servant is generally, though not always, founded upon some superiority on the one side and inferiority on the other. Where there is any right adjustment of social relations, those who serve are those who lack knowledge of some kind which those who rule are able to impart, and hence arises the necessity of correction on the part of the master and of submission on that of the servant. It is undeniable that there are many inversions of this ideal moral order, but the proverb can only refer to what ought to be, and what often, though not always, is the case.

II. The means of correction ought to be moral means. A servant is a moral and intelligent agent, and not a machine or a brute, and he can and ought to appreciate appeals to his reason and conscience. A wise and humane rider will use his voice to his steed in preference to the whip or the spur, and generally finds it effectual. And words of reproof and encouragement are probably the only successful means of dealing with human nature in this relationship. If these fail, no others will avail, and all benefit from the connection will cease.

III. Therefore human masters need much wisdom. If they are over-indulgent the servant may take undue advantage and claim privileges to which he has no right (Proverbs 29:21). In the present constitution of things in this world, and probably throughout the universe, there are inequalities of position and rank which no wise man can ignore, and it is kind and wise to those beneath us to maintain these differences and distinctions. But to maintain them without haughtiness, and with that consideration and sympathy which ought to mark all our intercourse with our fellow-creatures, needs much wisdom on the part of superiors. Dr. David Thomas suggests another, and perhaps a pleasanter application of this proverb. “There is another side,” he says, “to the kindness of a master towards is servant, that is, the making of the servant feel towards him all the sympathy and interest of a son.… He who can make his servant feel towards him as a loving, faithful, and dutiful child, will reap the greatest comfort and advantage from his service.” But this happy result can only be brought about where the master is truly wise as well as kind.

For Homiletics on Proverbs 29:20; Proverbs 29:22, see on chap. Proverbs 14:17; Proverbs 14:29, pages 363 and 386. On Proverbs 29:23, see on chap. Proverbs 11:2, page 192, and Proverbs 16:18, page 482.