Proverbs 16:17

The highway of the upright is to depart from evil.

Departing from evil

In this text is--

I. The upright. Those who are bent on doing the will of God. Those who keep the commandments of their Maker. Those who endeavour, by God’s grace, so to live as to be justified, and pardoned and acquitted in the clay of judgment.

II. The highway, By this is meant the general course, the mode of living, the habitual practice, the constant endeavour, all the thoughts and words and actions of the man at all times. The way, the royal road, the highway of his life.

III. The term “depart.” It does not say, “The highway of the upright is not to do evil”--that is true; but it does not say so here. The text is “depart from evil,” go from it; give it his back; walk off and leave it behind; shun it as an adder; avoid it as a scorpion; flee from it as a serpent.

IV. Evil. Need not concern ourselves with the origin of evil. We have enough to do with the thing as it is. We find its presence everywhere. The two principles, good and evil, must live as long as the world lasts; and live constantly at variance, constantly fighting against one another, constantly overcoming one another. It is ours to avoid the one and cleave to the other--that is our wisest course; that is our plainest duty. All the actions of life must be either good or evil. There is, and there can be, no neutrality in them. The degree of goodness or badness may be great or small, but the one or the other they must be. We are speaking of moral evil. There is what is called natural evil, i.e., evil belonging to the material and physical world around us. But what is it that makes one thing or action good and another evil? Who is it that pronounces on the quality of actions? Where is the rule by which we are to determine what is right or wrong? It is the will of that Being who gives us the power by which all we do is done--that will makes things right or wrong. It is the manifestation of that will in the Bible; therefore the Bible contains the rule, the law, by which all our actions are to be judged and determined. It is there we must find what is right and what is wrong. We may divide evil into two branches--

1. Actions that are wrong in themselves.

2. Actions that are wrong only on account of their effects.

Thus far we have spoken of actions individually considered. But God has created other men and women beside ourselves, and placed them and us to dwell on the face of the earth together. They bear certain relations to us, and we to them. These relations give rise to certain common interests; and these interests, again, to certain laws and regulations by which they are sustained and guarded. These laws must be consulted in all public acts, and the breach of one of these laws on the part of a member of the community is an evil. These remarks apply to men as members of families and of communities, as citizens of towns and cities, as subjects of countries and kingdoms, as fellows of all men besides. A public act is an evil if it bring more evil than good to the community as a whole, and as a community, therefore, you ought to condemn and prevent an act which brings more evil than good into your midst. (Maxwell M. Ben Oliel.)