CHAPTER XIV _Various moral sentiments. The antithesis between wisdom and_ _folly, and the different effects of each._ NOTES ON CHAP. XIV Verse Proverbs 14:1. _EVERY WISE WOMAN BUILDETH HER HOUSE_] By her prudent and industrious management she _increases property_ in the family, _furniture_ in th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 14:3. _THE MOUTH OF THE FOOLISH_ IS _A ROD OF PRIDE_] The reproofs of such a person are _ill-judged_ and _ill-timed_, and generally are conveyed in _such language_ as renders them not only ineffectual, but displeasing, and even _irritating_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 14:4. _BUT MUCH INCREASE_ IS _BY THE STRENGTH OF THE OX._] The _ox_ is the most profitable of all the _beasts_ used in _husbandry_. Except merely for _speed_, he is almost in every respect superior to the horse. 1. He is _longer lived_. 2. Scarcely liable to any _diseases_. 3. He i... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 14:6. _A SCORNER SEEKETH WISDOM_] I believe the _scorner_ means, in this book, the man that _despises_ the _counsel of God_; the _infidel_. Such may _seek wisdom_; but he never can find it, because he does not seek it _where_ it is to be found; neither in the _teaching of God's Spirit... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 14:7. _WHEN THOU PERCEIVEST NOT - THE LIPS OF KNOWLEDGE._] Instead of דעת _daath, knowledge_, several MSS. have שקר _sheker,_ _a lie_. How this reading came I cannot conjecture. The meaning of the adage is plain: Never associate with a vain, empty fellow, when thou perceivest he can n... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 14:8. IS _TO UNDERSTAND HIS WAY_] Instead of הבין _habin_, to _understand_, הכין hachin, to DIRECT his way, is found in one MS. It makes a very good sense.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 14:9. _FOOLS MAKE A MOCK AT SIN_] And only _fools_ would do so. But he that makes a _sport_ of _sinning_, will find it _no sport_ to suffer the vengeance of an eternal fire. Some learned men by their criticisms have brought this verse into embarrassments, out of which they were not ab... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 14:10. _THE HEART KNOWETH HIS OWN BITTERNESS_] מרת נפשו _morrath_ _naphsho_, "The bitterness of its soul." Under spiritual sorrow, the _heart_ feels, the _soul_ feels; all the _animal_ nature feels and suffers. But when the peace of God is spoken to the troubled soul, the joy is indes... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 14:12. _THERE IS A WAY WHICH SEEMETH RIGHT UNTO A MAN_] This may be his _easily besetting sin_, the _sin of his constitution_, the _sin of his trade_. Or it may be _his own false views of religion_: he may have an _imperfect repentance_, a _false faith_, a _very false_ _creed_; and he... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 14:13. _EVEN IN LAUGHTER THE HEART IS SORROWFUL_] Many a time is a _smile_ forced upon the _face_, when the heart is in _deep_ _distress_. And it is a hard task to put on the _face of mirth_, when a man has a _heavy heart_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 14:14. _THE BACKSLIDER IN HEART SHALL BE FILLED WITH HIS OWN_ _WAYS_] 1. Who is the _backslider_? סוג sug. 1) The man who once walked in the ways of religion, but has _withdrawn_ from them. 2) The man who once _fought manfully_ against the world, the devil, and the flesh; but has _... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 14:16. _A WISE_ MAN _FEARETH_] He can never _trust in himself_, though he be _satisfied from himself_. He knows that _his suffiency_ is of GOD; and he has that _fear_ that causes him to _depart from_ _evil_, which is a guardian to the _love_ he feels. Love renders him cautious; the ot... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 14:17. _HE THAT IS SOON ANGRY_] קצר אפים _ketsar appayim_, "short of nostrils:" because, when a man is angry, his _nose is_ _contracted_, and drawn up towards his eyes. _DEALETH FOOLISHLY_] He has no time for reflection; _he_ is _hurried_ on by his passions, _speaks_ like a _fool_, a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 14:19. _THE EVIL BOW BEFORE THE GOOD_] They are almost _constrained_ to show them _respect_; and the _wicked_, who have wasted their substance with riotous living, _bow before the gates_ _of the righteous_-of benevolent men-begging a morsel of bread.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 14:20. _BUT THE RICH_ HATH _MANY FRIENDS._] Many who _speak_ to him the _language_ of _friendship_; but if they profess _friendship_ because he is _rich_, there is not _one real friend_ among them. There is a fine saying of Cicero on this subject: Ut hirundines festivo tempore praesto... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 14:21. _HE THAT DESPISETH HIS NEIGHBOR SINNETH_] To despise a man because he has some natural blemish is _unjust, cruel_, and _wicked_. He is not the _author_ of his _own imperfections_; they did not occur through his _fault_ or _folly_; and if he _could_, he _would_ _not retain them_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 14:23. _IN ALL LABOUR THERE IS PROFIT_] If a man work at his trade, he gains by it; if he cultivate the earth, it will yield an increase; and in _proportion_ as he _labours_, so will be his _profit_: but he who _talks_ much _labours_ little. And a man of _words_ is seldom a man of _de... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 14:24. BUT _THE FOOLISHNESS OF FOOLS_ IS _FOLLY._] The _Targum_ reads, _The honour of fools is folly_. The fool, from his foolishness, produces acts of folly. This appears to be the meaning.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 14:26. _IN THE FEAR OF THE LORD_ IS _STRONG CONFIDENCE_] From this, and from genuine Christian experience, we find that the _fear_ _of God_ is highly consistent with the _strongest confidence_ in his mercy and goodness.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 14:27. _THE FEAR OF THE LORD_ IS _A FOUNTAIN OF LIFE_] מקור חיים _mekor chaiyim_, the _vein of lives_. Another allusion to the great _aorta_ which carries the blood from the heart to all the extremities of the body. Of this phrase, and the _tree of lives_, Solomon is particularly fond... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 14:28. _IN THE MULTITUDE OF PEOPLE_] It is the interest of every state to promote _marriage_ by every means that is just and prudent; and to discourage, disgrace, and debase _celibacy_; to render _bachelors_ incapable, after a given age, of all public employments: and to banish _nunne... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 14:29. THAT IS _HASTY OF SPIRIT_] קצר רוח _ketsar ruach_, "the short of spirit;" one that is easily irritated; and, being in a passion, he is agitated so as to be literally _short of breath_. Here put in opposition to ארך אפים _erech appayim, long of_ _nostrils_; see on Proverbs 14:17... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 14:30. _A SOUND HEART_ IS _THE LIFE OF THE FLESH_] A healthy state of the _blood_, and a proper _circulation_ of that stream of life, is the grand cause, in the hand of God, of _health_ and _longevity_. If the heart be diseased, _life_ cannot be long continued.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 14:31. _HE THAT OPPRESSETH THE POOR REPROACHETH HIS MAKER_] Because the _poor_, or comparatively _poor_, are, in the order of God, _a part of the inhabitants of the earth_; and every man who loves God will _show mercy to the poor_, for with this God is peculiarly delighted. _The poor... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 14:32. _THE WICKED IS DRIVEN AWAY IN HIS WICKEDNESS_] He does not _leave life cheerfully_. Poor soul! Thou hast no _hope_ in the other world, and thou leavest the present with the utmost _regret_! Thou wilt not _go_ off; but God will _drive_ thee. _BUT THE RIGHTEOUS HATH HOPE IN HIS... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 14:34. _BUT SIN_ IS _A REPROACH TO ANY PEOPLE._] I am satisfied this is not the sense of the original, וחסד לאמים חטאת _vechesed_ _leummim chattath_; which would be better rendered, _And mercy is a_ _sin-offering for the people_. The _Vulgate_ has, _Miseros autem facit_ _populos pecc... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 14:35. _THE KING'S FAVOUR_ IS _TOWARD A WISE SERVANT_] The king should have an intelligent man for his _minister_; a man of deep sense, sound judgment, and of a _feeling, merciful disposition_. He who has not the _former_ will plunge the nation into _difficulties_; and he who has not... [ Continue Reading ]