CHAPTER XX _Against wine and strong drink. We should avoid contentions._ _The sluggard. The righteous man. Weights and measures._ _Tale-bearers. The wicked son. The wise king. The glory of_ _young men. The beauty of old men. The benefit of correction._ NOTES ON CHAP. XX Verse Proverbs 20:1. _W... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 20:2. _THE FEAR OF A KING_] Almost the same with Proverbs 19:12, which see.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 20:3. IT IS _AN HONOUR FOR A MAN_] The same sentiment as Proverbs 19:11.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 20:4. _THE SLUGGARD WILL NOT PLOUGH_] For other parts of this character, see the preceding chapter. It is seldom that there is a _season_ of very cold weather in Palestine; very cold _days_ sometimes occur, with wind, rain, and sleet. They begin their ploughing in the latter end of _S... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 20:5. _COUNSEL IN THE HEART OF MAN_] Men of the deepest and most comprehensive minds are rarely apt, unsolicited, to join in any discourse, in which they might appear even to the greatest advantage; but a _man_ of _understanding_ will _elicit_ this, by questions framed for the purpose... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 20:6. _MOST MEN WILL PROCLAIM_] _Many men merciful ben clepid: a_ _feithful man forsoth, who schal finde? _- Old MS. Bible.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 20:8. _A KING THAT SITTETH IN THE THRONE OF JUDGMENT_] Kings should see to the administration of the _laws_, as well as of the _state transactions_, of their kingdom. In the British constitution there is a _court_ for the _king_, called the _King's_ _Bench_, where he _should_ sit, and... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 20:9. _WHO CAN SAY, I HAVE MADE MY HEART CLEAN_] No man. But thousands can testify that the blood of Jesus Christ has cleansed them from all unrighteousness. And he is _pure from his sin_, who is justified freely through the redemption that is in Jesus.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 20:10. _DIVERS WEIGHTS AND DIVERS MEASURES_] _A peise and a_ _peise; _- Old MS. Bible: from the French _pois_, weight. Hebrew: "A stone and a stone; an ephah and an ephah." One the _standard_, the other _below_ it; one to _buy_ with, the other to _sell_ by.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 20:11. _EVEN A CHILD IS KNOWN BY HIS DOINGS_] That is, in general terms, the _effect_ shows the nature of the cause. "A childe is known by his conversation," says _Coverdale_. A child is easily detected when he has done evil; he immediately begins to excuse and vindicate himself, and... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 20:12. _THE HEARING EAR AND THE SEEING EYE_] Every _good_ we possess comes from God; and we should neither use our _eyes_, nor our _ears_, nor _any thing_ we possess, but in strict subserviency to his will.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 20:13. _LOVE NOT SLEEP, LEST THOU COME TO POVERTY_] Sleep, indescribable in its nature, is an indescribable _blessing_; but how often is it turned into a _curse_! It is like _food_; a certain measure of it restores and invigorates exhausted nature; more than _that_ oppresses and destr... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 20:14. IT IS _NAUGHT_, IT IS _NAUGHT, SAITH THE BUYER_] How apt are men to decry the goods they wish to purchase, in order that they may get them at a _cheaper rate_; and, when they have made their bargain and carried it _off, boast_ to others at how much _less_ than its _value_ they... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 20:15. _THERE IS GOLD_] _Gold_ is valuable, _silver_ is valuable, and so are _jewels_; but the _teachings_ of _sound knowledge_ are more valuable than all.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 20:16. _TAKE HIS GARMENT THAT IS SURETY_ FOR _A STRANGER_] I suppose the meaning to be, If a stranger or unknown person become surety in a case, greater caution should be used, and such security taken from this _stranger_ as would prevent him from running away from his engagements.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 20:17. _BREAD OF DECEIT_ IS _SWEET_] Property acquired by _falsehood, speculation_, c., without labour, is pleasant to the unprincipled, slothful man but there is a _curse_ in it, and the issue will prove it.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 20:18. _WITH GOOD ADVICE MAKE WAR,_] Perhaps there is not a precept in this whole book so little regarded as this. Most of the _wars_ that are undertaken are wars of injustice, ambition, aggrandizement, and caprice, which can have had no previous _good_ _counsel_. A minister, who is... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 20:20. _WHOSO CURSETH HIS FATHER_] Such persons were put to death under the law; see Exodus 21:17; Leviticus 20:9, and here it is said, Their _lamp shall be put out_-they shall have no _posterity_; God shall cut them off both _root_ and _branch_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 20:21. _AN INHERITANCE - GOTTEN HASTILY_] Gotten by _speculation_; by _lucky hits_; not in the fair _progressive_ way of _traffic_, in which money has its _natural increase_. All such inheritances are short-lived; God's blessing is not in them, because they are not the produce of _ind... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 20:22. _I WILL RECOMPENSE EVIL_] Wait on the Lord; judgment is his, and his judgments are sure. In the mean time pray for the conversion of your enemy.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 20:24. _MAN'S GOINGS_ ARE _OF THE LORD_] He, by his providence, governs all the great concerns of the world. Man often traverses these operations; but he does it to his own damage. An old writer quaintly says: "They who will carve for themselves shall cut their fingers.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 20:25. WHO _DEVOURETH_ THAT WHICH IS _HOLY_] It is a sin to take that which belongs to _God_, his _worship_, or his _work_, and devote it to one's own use. _AND AFTER VOWS TO MAKE INQUIRY._] That is, if a man be _inwardly_ making a _rash vow_, the fitness or unfitness, the necessity... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 20:26. _BRINGETH THE WHEEL OVER THEM._] He threshes them in his anger, as the _wheel does the grain on the threshing-floor_. Every one knows that grain was separated from its husks, in Palestine, by the feet of the oxen trampling among the sheaves, or bringing a rough-shod wheel over... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 20:27. _THE SPIRIT OF MAN_ IS _THE CANDLE OF THE LORD_] God has given to every man a _mind_, which _he so enlightens by his own_ _Spirit_, that the man knows how to distinguish good from evil; and _conscience_, which springs from this, searches the inmost recesses of the soul.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 20:28. _MERCY AND TRUTH PRESERVE THE KING_] These are the brightest jewels in the royal crown; and those kings who are most governed by them have the stablest government.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 20:29. _THE GLORY OF YOUNG MEN_ IS _THEIR STRENGTH_] Scarcely any young man affects to be wise, learned, c. but all delight to _show their strength_ and to be _reputed strong_. _Agility_, one evidence of strength, their particularly _affect_; and hence their various trials of strength... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 20:30. _THE BLUENESS OF A WOUND_] חברות _chabburoth_, from חבר _chabar_, to _unite_, to _join together_. Does it not refer to the cicatrice of a wound when, in its healing, the two lips are brought _together_? By this union the wound is _healed_; and by the previous discharge the lace... [ Continue Reading ]