Yahweh says, “Don’t let the wise man glory in his wisdom. Don’t let the mighty man glory in his might. Don’t let the rich man glory in his riches.
Parallel Translations
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Yahweh says, “Don’t let the wise man glory in his wisdom. Don’t let the mighty man glory in his might. Don’t let the rich man glory in his riches.
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Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:
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(9-22) Thus saith the LORD: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches;
Cross-references (37)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 9:23 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Corinthians 1:27-29 but God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world that he might put to shame the things that are strong. God chose the lowly things of the world, and the things that are despised, and the things that don’t exist, that he might bring to nothing the things that exist, that no flesh should boast before God.
- Isaiah 5:21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
- Ecclesiastes 9:11 I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.
- Romans 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
- 1 Corinthians 3:18-20 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone thinks that he is wise among you in this world, let him become a fool, that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He has taken the wise in their craftiness.” And again, “The Lord knows the reasoning of the wise, that it is worthless.”
- Psalms 49:6-13 Those who trust in their wealth, and boast in the multitude of their riches— none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give God a ransom for him. For the redemption of their life is costly, no payment is ever enough, that he should live on forever, that he should not see corruption. For he sees that wise men die; likewise the fool and the senseless perish, and leave their wealth to others. Their inward thought is that their houses will endure forever, and their dwelling places to all generations. They name their lands after themselves. But man, despite his riches, doesn’t endure. He is like the animals that perish. This is the destiny of those who are foolish, and of those who approve their sayings.
- Ezekiel 7:19 They will cast their silver in the streets, and their gold will be as an unclean thing. Their silver and their gold won’t be able to deliver them in the day of Yahweh’s wrath. They won’t satisfy their souls or fill their bellies; because it has been the stumbling block of their iniquity.
- Job 31:24-25 “If I have made gold my hope, and have said to the fine gold, ‘You are my confidence;’ If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much;
- 1 Corinthians 1:19-21 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. I will bring the discernment of the discerning to nothing.” Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the lawyer of this world? Hasn’t God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For seeing that in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom didn’t know God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe.
- James 3:14-16 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t boast and don’t lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, sensual, and demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition are, there is confusion and every evil deed.
- Proverbs 11:4 Riches don’t profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.
- 1 Kings 20:10-11 Ben Hadad sent to him, and said, “The gods do so to me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria will be enough for handfuls for all the people who follow me.” The king of Israel answered, “Tell him, ‘Don’t let him who puts on his armor brag like he who takes it off.’ ”
- Daniel 4:37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven; for all his works are truth, and his ways justice; and those who walk in pride he is able to abase.
- Acts 12:22-23 The people shouted, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!” Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he didn’t give God the glory. Then he was eaten by worms and died.
- Psalms 62:10 Don’t trust in oppression. Don’t become vain in robbery. If riches increase, don’t set your heart on them.
- Deuteronomy 8:17 and lest you say in your heart, “My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth.”
- Psalms 52:6-7 The righteous also will see it, and fear, and laugh at him, saying, “Behold, this is the man who didn’t make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.”
- Amos 2:14-16 Flight will perish from the swift; and the strong won’t strengthen his force; neither shall the mighty deliver himself; neither shall he stand who handles the bow; and he who is swift of foot won’t escape; neither shall he who rides the horse deliver himself; and he who is courageous among the mighty will flee away naked on that day,” says Yahweh.
- Luke 12:19-20 I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” ’ “But God said to him, ‘You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared—whose will they be?’
- 1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some have been led astray from the faith in their greed, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
- Ezekiel 28:2-9 “Son of man, tell the prince of Tyre, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said, ‘I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the middle of the seas;’ yet you are man, and not God, though you set your heart as the heart of God— behold, you are wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that is hidden from you; by your wisdom and by your understanding you have gotten yourself riches, and have gotten gold and silver into your treasures; by your great wisdom and by your trading you have increased your riches, and your heart is lifted up because of your riches—” “ ‘therefore the Lord Yahweh says: “Because you have set your heart as the heart of God, therefore, behold, I will bring strangers on you, the terrible of the nations. They will draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom. They will defile your brightness. They will bring you down to the pit. You will die the death of those who are slain in the heart of the seas. Will you yet say before him who kills you, ‘I am God’? But you are man, and not God, in the hand of him who wounds you.
- Job 5:12-14 He frustrates the plans of the crafty, So that their hands can’t perform their enterprise. He takes the wise in their own craftiness; the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong. They meet with darkness in the day time, and grope at noonday as in the night.
- Psalms 33:16-17 There is no king saved by the multitude of an army. A mighty man is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a vain thing for safety, neither does he deliver any by his great power.
- Isaiah 10:12-13 Therefore it will happen that when the Lord has performed his whole work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the willful proud heart of the king of Assyria, and the insolence of his arrogant looks. For he has said, “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I have understanding. I have removed the boundaries of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures. Like a valiant man I have brought down their rulers.
- Zephaniah 1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of Yahweh’s wrath, but the whole land will be devoured by the fire of his jealousy; for he will make an end, yes, a terrible end, of all those who dwell in the land.
- Ecclesiastes 2:13-16 Then I saw that wisdom excels folly, as far as light excels darkness. The wise man’s eyes are in his head, and the fool walks in darkness—and yet I perceived that one event happens to them all. Then I said in my heart, “As it happens to the fool, so will it happen even to me; and why was I then more wise?” Then I said in my heart that this also is vanity. For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no memory forever, since in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. Indeed, the wise man must die just like the fool!
- Ecclesiastes 2:19 Who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have rule over all of my labor in which I have labored, and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.
- Daniel 5:18-23 “You, king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father the kingdom, and greatness, and glory, and majesty. Because of the greatness that he gave him, all the peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. He killed whom he wanted to, and he kept alive whom he wanted to. He raised up whom he wanted to, and he put down whom he wanted to. But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him. He was driven from the sons of men, and his heart was made like the animals’, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was fed with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of the sky; until he knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and that he sets up over it whomever he will. “You, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, but have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. You have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which don’t see, or hear, or know; and you have not glorified the God in whose hand your breath is, and whose are all your ways.
- Mark 10:24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus answered again, “Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter into God’s Kingdom!
- 1 Samuel 17:4-10 A champion out of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span went out. He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he wore a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. He had bronze shin armor on his legs, and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. The staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam; and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron. His shield bearer went before him. He stood and cried to the armies of Israel, and said to them, “Why have you come out to set your battle in array? Am I not a Philistine, and you servants to Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then will we be your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you will be our servants and serve us.” The Philistine said, “I defy the armies of Israel today! Give me a man, that we may fight together!”
- Psalms 49:16-18 Don’t be afraid when a man is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased; for when he dies he will carry nothing away. His glory won’t descend after him. Though while he lived he blessed his soul— and men praise you when you do well for yourself—
- Isaiah 10:8 For he says, “Aren’t all of my princes kings?
- Ezekiel 29:9 The land of Egypt will be a desolation and a waste. Then they will know that I am Yahweh. “ ‘ “Because he has said, ‘The river is mine, and I have made it;’
- Daniel 4:30-31 The king spoke and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for the royal dwelling place, by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?” While the word was in the king’s mouth, a voice came from the sky, saying, “O king Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: ‘The kingdom has departed from you.
- 1 Samuel 17:42 When the Philistine looked around, and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and had a good looking face.
- Isaiah 36:8-9 Now therefore, please make a pledge to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. How then can you turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put your trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
- Daniel 3:15 Now if you are ready whenever you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music to fall down and worship the image which I have made, good; but if you don’t worship, you shall be cast the same hour into the middle of a burning fiery furnace. Who is that god that will deliver you out of my hands?”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (18 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain This is a remarkable passage, and often found in…
This is a remarkable passage, and often found in the mouth of men, as other notable sentences, which are known as proverbial sayings: but yet few rightly consider how these words are connected with the previous context. Hence there are many who are satisfied with a simple explanation, as though it were a subject abruptly introduced, and as though the Prophet commenced something new; and they confine themselves to those words: and thus they misrepresent the meaning of the Prophet, or at least diminish much of the force of what is taught.
The Prophet no doubt has a regard to what has gone before. He saw, as I have often said, that he addressed the deaf; for the Jews were so swollen with false confidence, that the word of God was regarded worthless by them. As then some were proud for their riches, and others thought themselves more prudent than that they could by any means be taken, and others thought themselves so fortified by wealth and power, that they could easily resist any evil, — as then the minds of all were possessed with so much pride, the Prophet, in order to confirm what he had said, declares here that men foolishly gloried, while they set up their riches, or their strength, or their wisdom, in opposition to God; for all these things would vanish away like smoke.
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We now then perceive why the Prophet forbids here any to glory except in God alone, and how the passage ought not to be deemed as abrupt, but connected with what he said, when he denounced destruction on the Jews, which yet they dreaded not, because they were filled with this ungodly and foolish conceit, — that they had more than a sufficient protection in their own strength, or riches, or wisdom. The rest to-morrow.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Forasmuch as none can save himself by his own…
Forasmuch as none can save himself by his own labor, or any worldly means, he showeth that it is vain to put our trust therein, but that we trust in the Lord, and rejoice in him, who only can deliver us, 1 Cor. 1:31; 2 Cor. 10:17.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 9:23 Thus saith the LORD, Let not the…
Jer 9:23 Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise [man] glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty [man] glory in his might, let not the rich [man] glory in his riches:
Ver. 23. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,] q.d., You bear yourselves bold upon your wisdom, wealth, strength, and other such seeming supports and deceitful foundations, as if these could save you from the evils threatened. But all these will prove like a shadow that declineth - delightful, but deceitful; as will well appear at the hour of death. Charles V, whom, of all men, the world judged most happy, cursed his honours, a little before his death, his victories, trophies, and riches, saying, Abite hinc, abite longe; get you far enough, for any good ye can now do me. Abi, perdita bestia, quae me totum perdidisti; begone, thou wretched creature, that hast utterly undone me, said Cornelius Agrippa, the magician, to his familiar spirit, when he lay dying. So may many say of their worldly wisdom, wealth, &c.
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Let not the wise man glory.] Let not those of great parts be headstrong, or top heavy; let them not think to wind out by their wiles and shifts.
Let not the mighty man glory.] Fortitudo nostra est infirmitatis in veritate cognitio, et in humilitate confessio. {a}
Nor the rich man glory in his riches.] Since they avail not in the day of wrath. {Zep 1:18} {See Trapp on "Zep 1:18"}
{a} Augustine.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The Jews did glory in the counsel of their…
The Jews did glory in the counsel of their wise men, the strength of the soldiers, and the wealth of their cities; but here God takes them off from their vain confidences, that neither their counsels and policy, Ecc 9:11, nor their forces and arms, Psa 33:16,17, nor their wealth or riches, Pro 11:4; Eze 7:19, should be able to deliver them from being either destroyed or carried captive by the Chaldeans. In these, or some of these, men are apt to put their confidences, and neglect God their only succour in distress; and therefore he puts them upon that in the next verse.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain The prophet had been endeavouring to possess this people…
The prophet had been endeavouring to possess this people with a holy fear of God and his judgments, to convince them both of sin and wrath; but still they had recourse to some sorry subterfuge or other, under which to shelter themselves from the conviction and with which to excuse themselves in the obstinacy and carelessness. He therefore sets himself here to drive them from these refuges of lies and to show them the insufficiency of them.
I. When they were told how inevitable the judgment would be they pleaded the defence of their politics and powers, which, with the help of their wealth and treasure, they thought made their city impregnable. In answer to this he shows them the folly of trusting to and boasting of all these stays, while they have not a God in covenant to stay themselves upon, Jer 9:23, Jer 9:24. Here he shows, 1. What we may not depend upon in a day of distress: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, as if with the help of that he could outwit or countermine the enemy, or in the greatest extremity find out some evasion or other; for a man's wisdom may fail him when he needs it most, and he may fail him when he needs it most, and he may be taken in his own craftiness. Ahithophel was befooled, and counsellors are often led away spoiled. But, if a man's policies fail him, yet surely he may gain his point by might and dint of courage. No: Let not the strong man glory in his strength, for the battle is not always to the strong. David the stripling proves too hard for Goliath the giant. All human force is nothing without God, worse than nothing against him. But may not the rich man's wealth be his strong city? (money answers all things) No: Let not the rich man glory in his riches, for they may prove so far from sheltering him that they may expose him and make him the fairer mark. Let not the people boast of the wise men, and mighty men, and rich men that they have among them, as if they could make their part good against the Chaldeans because they have wise men to advise concerning the war, mighty men to fight their battles, and rich men to bear the charges of the war. Let not particular persons think to escape the common calamity by their wisdom, might, or money; for all these will prove but vain things for safety. 2. He shows what we may depend upon in a day of distress. (1.) Our only comfort in trouble will be that we have done our duty. Those that refused to know God (Jer 9:6) will boast in vain of their wisdom and wealth; but those that know God, intelligently, that understand aright that he is the Lord, that have not only right apprehensions concerning his nature, and attributes, and relations to man, but receive and retain the impressions of them, may glory in this it will be their rejoicing in the day of evil. (2.) Our only confidence in trouble will be that, having through grace in some measure done our duty, we shall find God a God all-sufficient to us. We may glory in this, that, wherever we are, we have an acquaintance with an interest in a God that exercises lovingkindness, and judgment, and righteousness in the earth, that is not only just to all his creatures and will do no wrong to any of them, but kind to all his children and will protect them and provide for them. For in these things I delight. God delights to show kindness and to execute judgment himself, and is pleased with those who herein are followers of him as dear children. Those that have such knowledge of the glory of God as to be changed into the same image, and to partake of his holiness, find it to be their perfection and glory; and the God they thus faithfully conform to they may cheerfully confide in, in their greatest straits. But the prophet intimates that the generality of this people took no care about this. Their wisdom, and might, and riches, were their joy and hope, which would end in grief and despair. But those few among them that had the knowledge of God might please themselves with it, and boast themselves of it; it would stand them in better stead than thousands of gold and silver.
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II. When they were told how provoking their sins were to God they vainly pleaded the covenant of their circumcision. They were undoubtedly the people of God; as they had the temple of the Lord in their city, so they had the mark of his children in their flesh. "It is true that Chaldean army has laid such and such nations waste, because they were uncircumcised, and therefore not under the protection of the divine providence, as we are." To this the prophet answers, That the days of visitation were now at hand, in which God would punish all wicked people, without making any distinction between the circumcised and uncircumcised, Jer 9:25, Jer 9:26. They had by sin profaned the crown of their peculiarity, and lived in common with the uncircumcised nations, and so had forfeited the benefit of that peculiarity and must expect to fare never the better for it. God will punish the circumcised with the uncircumcised. As the ignorance of the uncircumcised shall not excuse their wickedness, so neither shall the privileges of the circumcised excuse theirs, but they shall be punished together. Note, The Judge of all the earth is impartial, and none shall fare the better at his bar for any external advantages, but he will render to every man, circumcised or uncircumcised, according to his works. The condemnation of impenitent sinners that are baptized will be as sure as, nay, and more severe than, that of impenitent sinners that are unbaptized. It would affect one to find here Judah industriously put between Egypt and Edom, as standing upon a level with them and under the same doom, Jer 9:26. These nations were forbidden a share in the Jews' privileges (Deu 23:3); but the Jews are here told that they shall share in their punishments. Those in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness, are supposed to be the Kedarenes and those of the kingdoms of Hazor, as appears by comparing Jer 49:28-32. Some think they are so called because they dwelt as it were in a corner of the world, others because they had the hair of their head polled into corners. However that was, they were of those nations that were uncircumcised in flesh, and the Jews are ranked with them and are as near to ruin for their sins as they; for all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart: they have the sign, but not the thing signified, Jer 4:4. They are heathens in their hearts, strangers to God, and enemies in their minds by wicked works. Their hearts are disposed to idols, as the hearts of the uncircumcised Gentiles are. Note, The seals of the covenant, though they dignify us, and lay us under obligations, will not save us, unless the temper of our minds and the tenour of our lives agree with the covenant. That only is circumcision, and that baptism, which is of the heart, Rom 2:28, Rom 2:29.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Thus saith the Lord, let not the wise man…
Thus saith the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,.... Not in his natural wisdom, or knowledge of natural things: this is often but an appearance of wisdom, and is science falsely so called; and whatever is real of this kind is of God; and the best falls short of leading men to a true and saving knowledge of God; the foolishness of God is wiser than it; and it is made foolish, destroyed, and brought to nought by him: nor in evangelical wisdom and knowledge; not in that which is less common, or what fits men for public usefulness, as ministerial gifts; for such are received from above; are more for the use of others than a man's self; there is something better than these, which a man may not have, and yet have these, which is grace; those may fade, or be taken away; and a man have them, and be lost eternally: nor in that which is more general, speculative knowledge of Gospel truths; for if it is attended with conceit, it is little or nothing that a man knows; if he is proud of it, his knowledge is not sanctified; and it is no other than what the devils themselves have: nor in that which is more special; wisdom in the inward part, or a spiritual and saving knowledge of God in Christ; this a man has wholly of free grace, and should give the praise and glory of it to God, and not attribute it to himself:
neither let the mighty man glory in his might; not in his natural might or strength; this is of God, and is greater in some of the brutes than in men; and is what God can take away, and does often weaken it in the way by diseases, and at last destroys it by death; nor in moral strength, or in the power of free will; which is very weak and insufficient to do anything that is spiritually good: nor even in spiritual strength; this is from Christ; it is only through him strengthening his people that they do what they do; and all supplies and increase of it are from him; and therefore no room for glorying:
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let not the rich man glory in his riches; these come of the hand of God, and are what he can take away at pleasure; they are very uncertain and precarious things; there is a better and more enduring substance; these cannot profit in a day of wrath, nor deliver from death, corporeal, spiritual, or eternal. And the intention of the words here is to show, that neither the wise man with all his art and cunning, nor the mighty man by his strength, nor the rich man through his riches, could save themselves from the destruction before prophesied of. The Targum paraphrases them thus,
"thus saith the Lord, let not Solomon the son of David the wise man praise (or please himself) in his wisdom; nor let Samson the son of Manoah the mighty man please himself in his might; nor let Ahab the son of Omri the rich man please himself in his riches.''
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 23. Let not the wise man glory in…
Verse 23. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom] Because God is the Fountain of all good, neither wisdom, nor might, nor riches, nor prosperity can come but from or through him. Nothing can be more rational than that the Source of all our blessings should be acknowledged. Riches cannot deliver in the day of death; strength cannot avail against him; and as a shield against him, our wisdom is foolishness.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jer 9:23-24. Let not the wise man glory in…
Jer 9:23-24. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom — Let not men value themselves on account of their wisdom, strength, or riches, which are things in themselves of a very uncertain continuance, and such calamities are coming, (see Jer 9:25-26,) in which they will stand the owners of them in very little stead. The only true, valuable endowment is the knowledge of God, not as he is in himself, which is too high an attainment for poor mortals to pretend to, but with respect to his dealings with men; to have a serious sense of his mercies to the penitent, of his judgments to the obstinate, and of his truth and integrity, in making good his promises and threatenings to both. It is in the exercise of these attributes God chiefly delights; and it is by these he desires to make himself known to the world; and he that forms a just and lively apprehension of God, chiefly with regard to these his perfections, will always demean himself suitably toward him. Judgment and righteousness are often equivalent terms, but here the former seems to denote God’s severity against the wicked, and the latter his truth, justice, or holiness. See Lowth. Upon the whole, all other wisdom is vain and dangerous, except that which has God himself for its object, and teaches us to despise ourselves, to be humbled beneath his mighty hand, and to glory in him alone.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain To the end of Jer. 10 the prophet urges…
To the end of Jer. 10 the prophet urges upon the people the practical conclusion to be drawn from God’s righteous dealings with them. The three things on which men most pride themselves are shown in this verse to have proved vain.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain wisdom--political sagacity; as if it could rescue from the…
wisdom--political sagacity; as if it could rescue from the impending calamities.
might--military prowess.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain THE ONLY SAFETY, Jer_9:23 to Jer_26:23. In such a…
THE ONLY SAFETY, Jer_9:23 to Jer_26:23. In such a calamity, where is help and deliverance? Not in human wisdom, nor might, nor riches. Could these avail, this ruin had not come.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 23–26. See summary introducing the section. Piety alone is…
23–26. See summary introducing the section. Piety alone is the source of true glory. Circumcision, as the mere external mark of the covenant, of itself brings no man, Jew or otherwise, favour with God. 23, 24, and 25, 26 form two detached utterances, which have no relation to this context, and we cannot now say where they should be placed. The former is quite in agreement with other sayings of the prophet (Jer_8:9, Jer_17:5 f., Jer_22:13 ff.). It is accordingly retained as his by Gi. and Co., while Du. rejects it.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (23) Let not the wise man glory in his…
(23) Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom.—The long prophecy of judgment had reached its climax. Now there comes the conclusion of the whole matter—that the one way of salvation is to renounce all reliance on the wisdom, greatness, wealth of the world, and to glory only in knowing Jehovah. The “wise man” is, as before in Jer_8:9, and Jer_9:12, the scribe, or recognised teacher of the people
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 23, 24. These two verses were hardly composed…
Vers. 23, 24. These two verses were hardly composed for their present position, though a connection may, of course, be thought out for them. Perhaps a comparison of Hab_3:17, Hab_3:18, may help us. There the prophet looks forward to a complete desolation resulting from the Chaldean invasion, and yet declares that he can even exult in his God. So here. All subjects of boasting have been proved untrustworthy; but one remains not wisdom, not valor, not riches, but the knowledge of the revealed God.
Vers. 23, 24. False boasting and true confidence.
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I FALSE BOASTING.
1. We are inclined to overvalue our own possessions. The wise man thinks wisdom the one source of security, the strong man strength, the rich man riches. That bulks most largely which lies most near to us.
2. The very good that is in a thing may deceive us by tempting us to overvalue it. Wisdom, strength, and riches are all good in their way. Trust in them is very different from trust in fraud and violence. Not regarding them as enemies, we are in danger of confiding in them as saviors instead of simply employing them as servants.
3. The number of earthly resources leads us to assume that security must be found in some of them at least; for when one fails we can fall back on another. But if the best do not protect in the extremity of danger, will inferior aids suffice? Wisdom is greater than strength, and strength than riches. If wisdom fails, what can the rest do for us?
4. The variety of advantages contained in earthly resources deceives us as to their value. Wisdom promises to outwit the enemy or devise some means of evading ruin. Yet the wisdom of the wisest Jews was defeated by those who came from the land of "the wise;" and how can it avail against the supreme wisdom? Strength as physical prowess and national power may be imposing and yet not almighty. Samson was weak under a woman"s wiles. Goliath fell before the sling of the stripling David. Riches may buy much. They could not prevent the Chaldean invasion. They cannot buy off sickness, disappointment, death, the punishment of sin. Nebuchadnezzar found the possession of the world no security against the most humiliating affliction. (Dan_4:28-33) The rich fool was mocked by his own prudence. (Luk_12:16-21)
II TRUE CONFIDENCE.
1. This is to be sought in the knowledge of God. Wisdom, the best of earthly resources, is not sufficient for protection, but it is the type of a higher wisdom, wherein is the secret of safety. This is a wisdom which concerns itself, not with petty devices, subtle schemes, cunning, and cleverness, but with the highest knowledge, bearing fruit in "the fear of". (Psa_111:10) We must know God to trust him.
2. The knowledge of God will reveal to us the special grounds for confidence in him, viz.
(1) loving-kindness, disposing him to help the needy;
(2) justice, making it apparent that he will concern himself in human affairs as the King ruling all into order; and
(3) righteousness, showing that in the broadest way he will maintain the right. Hence it will be apparent that God can and will help us only in accordance with these principles of his character; and we must know them, not only to learn thereby to confide in him, but also to bring ourselves into that spirit which will justify us in expecting his mercy,.e. reconciliation to his love, submission to his government, and obedience to his righteous will.
Vers. 23-26. "Whereof to glory.
Introduction. Cannot understand these prophecies without a knowledge of the history of the times. This is true of all prophecies, and especially of these. Therefore we will glance at such history as we proceed. Note
I THE GLORYING THAT IS CONDEMNED.
1. That of the wise man in his wisdom. The statesmen of Jeremiah"s days had been thus glorying. They had prided themselves in their political sagacity. For many years they had formed alliances, now with one power and now with another. And they seemed to have managed well, for, for nearly a whole century, Judah had been, though so weak a power and so valuable a prize, left unattacked. Therefore no wonder that the wise men gloried in their wisdom. But now political trouble was beginning again. Egypt had become a great power, and was warring against Assyria. In this war the king Josiah sided with Assyria, and was slain in the battle of Megiddo. Thus they were without their king, and compelled to ally themselves with Egypt and to share in her fortunes, which to the eye of the prophet were the reverse of bright. Great troubles were drawing near, and it is in view of them that Jeremiah says, "Let not the wise man," etc.
2. The strong in their strength. The army of Judah was large, their fortress of Jerusalem was all but impregnable, but Jeremiah saw that all this would not avail. Their utter overthrow was fast hastening on. The great Babylonian power which had absorbed the Assyrian should accomplish this. Hence the word, "Let not the strong man," etc.
3. The rich in their riches. The long continuance of peace had enabled the nation to accumulate vast wealth. But this only made them yet more an object of desire to their approaching invaders. Their wealth was their wee.
4. The children of Abraham in the covenant, of which circumcision was the sign (Vers. 25, 26). From the time of Hezekiah"s reformation until the time when Jeremiah wrote, Judah and Jerusalem had professed the ancient faith. The temple service had gone on, the sacrifices offered, etc. There had been a short, sad interval during Manasseh"s reign. But so far as profession went they had been worshippers of God. And of late years Josiah"s reformation had led to still louder profession. And in this profession we know they trusted very implicitly (cf. Jeremiah 7). But it had not preserved them from the Divine displeasure in days gone by, nor in the present, nor would it in days to come. For beneath all this profession the moral and spiritual condition of the nation was most evil. Even in Hezekiah"s day Isaiah had told the people that, in spite of all their profession, "he whose head was rock," etc. (cf. Isaiah 1). And that this was so was shown by the readiness with which they followed Manasseh in his idolatries, and joined in the persecution of the faithful servants of God. And when Manasseh repented, and there was again an external profession, it was scarcely any better. But the monstrous conduct of Amon, who "sinned more and more," made the people desire the old ways. Hence, when Josiah came to the throne, they were prepared for his reforms. But again it was only a change of custom, not of character; outward, but not inward. Jeremiah sought to help forward a true reformation, for it was indeed needed (see his description of the moral condition of the people, Vers. 2-8 in this chapter). Hence it was that he told them their circumcision was no better than uncircumcision. Apply all this to our-solves:
(1) As a nation. We have all these several advantages above named: wise statesmen, great strength, vast wealth, universal religious profession; but all these, apart from moral and spiritual worth, will go for nothing. It is "righteousness," and that alone, that "exalteth a nation.
(2) As individuals. We are not to despise any of these things. They are God"s good gifts; but they will not save us. We may not glory in them as a sure safeguard.
II WHEREOF WE MAY AND SHOULD GLORY. (Cf. Ver. 24) This means that them should be:
1. Intellectual apprehension of the truth in regard to God. His character is shown:
(1) In his exercise of loving-kindness. It is well to be open-eyed to the many and varied proofs of this in creation, providence, redemption, grace. And it is well to be able to trace these proofs and to show that God is good.
(2) In his exercising judgment. He has given proofs of this also, and that is but a partial and therefore most misleading theology that shuts out of view the sterner aspects of the Divine Father. As in Christ we see most of all how God exercises loving-kindness, so too in him we may see the sure warnings of his judgment. If they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?" "If the righteous scarcely be saved, where," etc.?
(3) In his exercise of righteousness. How full the proofs of this also! How manifest in Christ, his teachings, life, death, his Spirit"s work now, etc.! Now, it is most desirable to understand all this, for the mind to grasp these sure truths. Too much of the religiousness of the day is weak, flaccid, unstable, because there is wanting knowledge and understanding in the truth. We are apt to be satisfied with an emotional religion, with the play of feeling and the outgoing of the affections. But for all this to be reliable we must understand as well as feel.
2. In that he "knoweth" as well as understandeth. This is more than to understand. For "to know" continually means, in Bible language, to approve, to be in sympathy with, to delight in, etc. (cf. I will not know a wicked person; The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous; This is life eternal, to know thee the only" etc.). And so here to know God is to have moral sympathy, personal experience, inward approval and delight in regard to God. He who thus understandeth and knoweth God hath "whereof to glory." The prophet desired that his people might have this glorying, for this would save them, whilst all the other things in which they gloried but left them to perish. Appeal to all who profess religion and who instruct others, Can you thus glory? Do you understand? Better still, Do you know God in his loving-kindness, judgment, righteousness? C.
HOMILIES BY J. WAITE Vers. 23, 24. The chief good.
The people had little reason to glory in their wisdom, or power, or wealth. These natural resources had utterly failed them as a safeguard against the avenger and destroyer. The prophet directs them to an infinitely surer ground of trust, a higher cause of rejoicing. These words are a striking appeal to faith, all the more remarkable because of the desperate circumstances of the time. In spite of all the desolation of the land, the wreck and ruin of all their pride as a nation, let them hold fast to their faith in the living God, and especially in those attributes of his being and principles of his government loving-kindness, judgment, righteousness which such circumstances tend to obscure and seem even to disprove. We fix our minds now simply on this thought the knowledge of God and personal fellowship with him are immeasurably more worth our seeking and rejoicing in than all those endowments which to the carnal eye are so full of charm. There is a natural tendency in men to rejoice unduly in the good that they derive by birth, or education, or the favor of providence, forgetting that the chief good is something of a different kind, something that must come to them in a different way. Nothing that tends to enrich and adorn and gladden our life in this world is to be despised; but if we measure things by a true standard, and esteem them according to their real and relative value, we shall place everything else that men call good or great beneath that which connects us directly with God and heaven and immortality. Note respecting this higher good
I IT IS MORE TRULY OUR OWN THAN ANYTHING ELSE CAN EVER BE. This is seen if we consider:
1. The way in which it becomes ours. The surface acquirements and adornments of life wealth, social position, favorable circumstances, etc., cannot be called "ours" in the sense in which that which is an inherent element of our individuality is ours. And even as regards personal qualities, there are important differences. Whatever natural gifts belong to us, our own will has had nothing to do with our possession of them. Their development may be dependent on it, but in their origin they are not so. Whereas the affections that connect us with God tell how the deepest depths of our being were stirred at their birth within us. Nothing so truly ours as that which has thus become ours.
2. The absolute satisfaction it brings. All the "springs of our being" are in God. He is the true Home and blissful Center of rest for every human spirit. "The good man is satisfied from himself", (Pro_14:14) not because of anything in the resources of his own finite being, but because he has learnt by the utter renunciation of all trust in these to find his true "self" in God.
3. Its perpetuity. We may soon be bereft of all other endowments; this we can never lose. There is no possession over which a man can rejoice in this world which is not precarious and uncertain. And though the sense of this need not check our free use and hearty enjoyment of it, it will always cast some slight shadow over the sunshine of our delight. But there is no shadow here, no sense of insecurity, no fear of disappointment. Have your soul in conscious fellowship with God, and you may rest in the thought that "nothing shall ever be able to separate you from his love". (Rom_8:38, Rom_8:39) "This is life eternal," etc. (Joh_17:3) "The water that I shall give him shall be in him," etc. (Joh_4:14)
II UNLIKE OTHER FORMS OF GOOD, IT IS INCAPABLE OF ABUSE. What natural gift is there that men may not turn, and have not actually turned, to some purpose contrary to that for which it was given? The false use grows, not so much out of any quality or tendency in the thing itself, as out of the innate perversity of our human nature. And there is nothing in the thing itself, or in the fact of our possessing it, that necessarily acts as a cure for that perversity. Intellectual capacity, genres, literary culture, rank, wealth, etc., how often have these been allied with moral corruption, and given their possessors the ability to inflict incalculable mischief on the human race? The graces of holy character which spring from fellowship with God cannot, in the nature of things, be thus abused. You cannot conceive of their being prostituted to evil ends. They bear within them the pledge of their Divine use and issue.
III IT ENABLES US, AS NOTHING ELSE CAN, TO APPRECIATE ALL THAT IS TRUE AND GOOD IN THIS PRESENT WORLD. You must know God before you can rightly understand and realize the highest profit of the world in which he has placed you. There are two popular errors in this direction one is the error of supposing that the apprehension of the truth of nature depends solely on mental capacity and scientific investigation. Does not the inability of some of the most illustrious thinkers of every age to find out the Divine in nature, rather show that it is more a question of spiritual sympathy than of intellectual power? The other error is that of supposing that the power to procure the good of this life is the same thing as the power to enjoy it. And yet how many pampered children of wealth and fashion are there who bear upon their faces the marks of weariness and discontent! Their souls are withered by excessive physical indulgence and artificial culture. They have lost the capacity of pure and simple enjoyment, and childlike wonder and delight are things to them unknown. Let your spirit be in fellowship with God, let your "heart be set to hallow all you find," and the deepest treasures of truth and the sweetest satisfactions of life are within your reach. God has made purity of heart the condition, not only of knowing himself, but of knowing the best of his gilts. It both creates and verifiesThe cheerful faith that all which we behold Is full of blessing. "Godliness with contentment is great gain". (1Ti_6:6) Blessed are the meek," etc. (Mat_5:5) "All things are yours," etc. (1Co_3:21-23)
IV IT GIVES US THE POWER TO CONFER HIGHEST BENEFIT ON OUR FELLOW-CREATURES. We are disposed sometimes to envy the talents, the range of influence, the means of usefulness, that others possess. It seems a grand thing to us to be in certain commanding positions, and have resources that may be used at pleasure for the working out of certain desired ends. Remember, however, that what can alone give worth to these things are precisely those personal, moral qualities that are within the reach of all. The influence of godly character is deeper, more radical, more productive of enduring fruits of blessedness than any other kind of influence. Who would not rejoice in the power to confer this highest good upon the world? W.
Vers. 23, 24. Exultation of heart and life according to the will of God.
I MAN IS SET BEFORE US HERE AS BEING IN A STATE OF VERY LIVELY EMOTION. He is spoken of as glorying; and the Hebrew word used is such as suggests the idea of a man, not only intensely pleased within his own breast, but whose pleasure, like heat bursting into flame, finds vent in words and songs of exultation. The glory and exultation felt by the mind within may appear in many ways in the face, in the gestures, in the speech; but the prophet indicates here the highest kind of expression, that of poetic and musical utterance. Genius comes in to render permanent certain experiences of exultation, the record of which would otherwise speedily pass away. There is thus set before us a certain state of mind and a certain expression of it. And be it observed that this state of mind is not condemned in itself; nay, it is rather invited and encouraged. It is only condemned when it is produced by a wrong consideration of the objects exciting it, and there is a plain direction how to produce it in the right way. Hence we see how God intends man to be raised into great activity of emotion. It is a wicked thing to repress and starve the feelings. Some there are who act as if the expression of emotion were a thing to be ashamed of; they seem to think they are doing a good work in trying to kill everything like living feeling within them. Now, it is perfectly certain that God would encourage everything which gives the emotions a large part to play in human life, and particularly the joyful emotions. Notice, for it is an interesting thing to notice, how it is Jeremiah, the weeping prophet as he is called, who here points out to his erring brethren the way to the best sort of exultation. The truth is that Jeremiah was a rejoicing believer as well as a weeping prophet. He wept over Jerusalem, as did the greater One who came long after; but it is plain that he must also have had deep joys in his own soul, even as Jesus had. God wishes us to cultivate the singing, exultant heart; for that we all may have, even when we lack the singing lip. We are to have much grief and pity, continual sorrow of heart, because of the world"s sins, but it argues a great lack and a great loss if we have not much joy because of God"s salvation. The exultation which comes from a selfish use of the world and a selfish success must be put away, but only that another and purer kind of exultation may take its place.
II THE WARNING LEST THIS EXULTATION, WITH THE CONSEQUENT EXPRESSION OF IT, SHOULD BE PRODUCED IN A WRONG WAY. Three classes are spoken of the wise, the strong, the rich. Wise and strong by natural endowments; rich by the acquirement of visible, tangible possessions. And wise, strong, and rich men may rejoice and boast and sing when, perhaps, their feelings should rather tend to the other extreme, of mourning and humiliation. A word on the warning to each of these classes.
1. The wise. The existence of the wise man is recognized. A wise man is not of necessity to be always contrasted with the foolish. He has a right to the name of wise if his practical faculties of mind rise above the common level. When such a one has shown himself foreseeing and cautious, patient to wait when action would be hurtful, yet prompt to decide when decision is necessary when, in short, he has obtained a general reputation for wisdom it is then only mock-modesty for him to pretend that his gifts are not beyond those of common men. Wisdom is the strength of the mind, and the man who has it cannot be unconscious of it, any more than the man strong in body can be unconscious of his strength. But this wisdom, while it is to be used, disciplined, made the most of, is not a thing to glory in. The more it is looked at, the more its limits will be seen. See how easily it can be misused. It was said of Burke that he gave up to party what was meant for mankind, although he would strenuously have maintained that, through party, he got his best means for serving mankind. But of many it is only too true that their great faculties of intellect, meant for the good of men and the glory of God, have been deliberately given up to that which hurts men. Wisdom, as wisdom, is not to be gloried in. It must be an instrument in a higher hand before it can work out such a result as will fill the contemplating mind with exultation and praise.
2. The strong. How much men admire strength strength of body, or strength to maintain and carry out some settled purpose! The young men who contended in the Grecian games gloried in their strength, and so did their kinsfolk and all the people who took pride in the land that produced such. And yet glorying of this sort would not bear reflection. Assuredly it could not endure in a renewed mind to think that the prize of victory had been gotten by the defeat and humiliation of a brother man. Glorying in strength means looking back on victories of brute violence, such victories as Goliath was wont to rejoice in. Glorying in strength means sitting down at the banquet with the bleed-stained conqueror, and singing of his achievements amid the flush and insolence of wine. And it means also the encouragement and the formation of similar hopes and purposes for the future. Such feelings of glorying in mere strength the beast of prey may have as he goes up and down in the forest, but they are not the feeling of a man considering the possible range of his thoughts and aspirations. A strong man must employ his strength usefully, recollecting that it was given so that, with a devout and obedient mind in a strong body, he might serve God in his day and generation.
3. The rich. Rich men glory in their wealth, and not without plausibility. They find that it stands excellently well in the place of wisdom and strength. They can buy the wisdom and the strength of others; and the more freely they expend, the more also, in certain ways, they obtain. He who professes to despise wealth never gets credit for sincerity; and yet it is perfectly certain that those who profess to glory in this same wealth are preparing for themselves, in one way or another, a terrible humiliation. Let them lose their wealth, and they will waken to the discovery that they have also lost their attractions. There is more to be said for glorying in one"s wisdom and strength than in one"s external possessions; for the wisdom and strength, whatever their shortcomings, are really a part of the man, while the external possessions are little better than an accident.
III MAN IS DIRECTED TO A CAUSE OF EXULTATION WHICH, WITH THE UTMOST CONFIDENCE, HE MAY ALLOW TO OPERATE FREELY ON HIS MIND. There is a song for man to sing worthy of his highest powers a song in which he may glory with respect to himself, because he has become somewhat of that which he ought to be. We are not allowed to sing exultingly and proudly of our own natural powers, even if they were the powers of a Plato, a Shakespeare, or a Newton; but there is a sure standing-place for us to exult lawfully in what we have become. The least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than the greatest horn of women. We may always magnify humanity when we see one of ourselves coming to a true knowledge of God. The peculiar possibility of glory to man is that he is able to know his Maker.
Understand and know. Surely these words mean a great deal; one can hardly put too much of meaning and encouragement into them. Through Isaiah, Jehovah said, "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master"s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider." And yet, if Israel will only consider and turn, it is capable of knowing God as no brute, however docile, attentive, and faithful it be, can ever come to know its master. The brute gives to its master a brute"s recognition; it does the utmost its faculties enable it to do; but in coming to man we come to one who can be so altered as to know God even as a child knows its father. The true glory of the worst of men is that he can be regenerated. The glory of the best of men is that has been regenerated. The great end to be aimed at is that every man should exult in his having been made a partaker of the Divine nature. The more he thinks of his Savior, the more he will glory in this that he, in spite of all his spiritual ignorance and blindness, has had in him a power to be so renewed and uplifted; that he has become one of the exceeding great multitude, who owe eternal blessedness to the work of Christ. To speak of the possibility of such glorying as comes from the knowledge of God was a great matter in relation to these children of Israel. They had fallen into the most appalling errors as to the character and disposition of deity. They had come to have gods many gods who were the patrons of cruelty, rapacity, tyranny, injustice, lust, and covetousness. They had to practice, as a matter of religion, things opposed to those very things in which Jehovah here represents himself as delighting. What was required from them, therefore, was to listen humbly and attentively to those prophetic expostulations which pointed towards light, truth, redemption, and a new song to be put in their mouths by Jehovah himself. And a similar way is to be ours if we would be sure of glorying in the Lord. The way of God in this matter is by the truth as it is in Jesus, and into that way God"s Spirit must lead us, and keep us in it even to the end, amid all the difficulties arising from the natural pride of human hearts. Y.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom.
Jer_9:23-24
Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom.
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Glorying
An idea in this text to which we assign special prominence is this--There is at least so much similarity between the nature of God and the nature of man, that both can take delight in the same thing. The spirit of the text is saying, Take delight in loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness, because I take delight in them; learn the Divinity of your origin, and the possible splendour of your destiny, from the fact that you have it in your power to join Me in loving mercy, righteousness, and judgment. God addresses three divisions of the human family--the wise, the powerful, the wealthy. And is there any other class which may not be placed in one of these categories? Each class is sitting at the feet of its chosen idol--science, arms, wealth; all clad in robes of royalty, if not of godhead. In the hand of each idol is the sceptre of a venerated mastery, and the temple of each shakes with the thunder of heathenish worship. Such is the picture. Now to these temples God comes, and, with the majesty of omnipotence, the authority of infinite wisdom, and the benignity of all-sustaining fatherhood, says, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches. Glory! That is a word which is pregnant with meaning; and it can be better explained by paraphrase than by etymology. Let not man glory in wisdom, might, and wealth, so as to be absorbed in their pursuit, so as to make a god of either of them, so as to regard them as the ultimate good, so as to commit to either his present happiness and endless destiny. Wisdom! That, too, is a word fraught with large significance. The wisdom referred to is not that which cometh from above--beautiful with celestial hues, and instinct with celestial life: it is a wisdom which is destitute of the moral element; the wisdom of an inquisitive, prying, restless intellect; that eyeless and nerveless wisdom by which the world knew not God, and which, when looked at from above, is foolishness; the wisdom which is all brain and no heart; the wisdom of knowledge, not of character; the wisdom which dazzles man, but which, when alone, is offensive to God. One substantial reason for not glorying in the kind of wisdom which we have attempted to depict, is the necessary littleness of mans vastest acquisitions. Science is a race after God; but can the Infinite ever be overtaken? Science, perhaps, never got so close to God as when she bound the capitals of the world together with bands of lightning, and flashed the wisdom and eloquence of parliaments from continent to continent. High day of triumph that; she was within hand reach of the veiled Potentate--one step more, and she would be face to face with the King--was it not so? What was there between science and God in that moment of sublimest victory? Nothing, nothing, but--Infinity! There is no searching of His understanding. Another point will show the folly of glorying in the kind of wisdom we have delineated, namely, the widest knowledge involves but partial rulership. You say you have found a law operating in the universe. Be it so: can you suspend or reverse the Divine appointment? Have you an arm like God? or can you thunder with a voice like Him? The argument is this,--however extensive may be our knowledge, knowledge can only help us to obey; it never can confer aught but the most limited rulership; and even that sovereignty is the dominion not of lord, but of servant, the rulership which is founded in humility and obedience--the rulership whose seat is beneath the shadow of the Great Throne. Is man, then, without an object in which to glory? It is as natural for man to glory as it is natural for him to breathe; and God, who so ordered his nature, has indicated the true theme of glorying: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me. Here let us rejoin the earnest student of science, supposing now that, in addition to his being ardently scientific, he is intelligently devout. He goes to work as before; the flame of his enthusiasm is not diminished by a single spark; his hammer and his telescope are still precious to him, but now, instead of being in pursuit of cold, abstract, inexorable laws, he is in search of the wise and mighty and benevolent Lawgiver; in legislation he finds a Legislator, and in the Legislator he finds a Father. What we want, then, is personal knowledge of a Person: we would know not only the works, but the Author, for they are mutually explanatory. Know the man if you would understand his actions; know God if you would comprehend nature, providence, or grace. The devout student says he finds Gods footprints everywhere; he says they are on the rocks, across the heavens, on the heaving wave, and on the flying wind; to him, therefore, keeping company with science is only another way of walking with God. The text, however, goes still farther; it relates not only to personality, but to character: the Deist pauses at the former, the Christian advances to the latter. Let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. The idea would admit of some such expression as this: Any knowledge of God, the Creator and Legislator of the physical creation, should be regarded as merely preparatory, or subordinate to an apprehension of God as the Moral Governor: that if you know God as Creator only, you can hardly be said to know Him at all; that if you tremble at His power without knowing His mercy, you are a pagan; if you seek to please Him as a God of intelligence, without recognising Him as a God of purity and justice and love, you are ignorant of Him, and your ignorance is crime. Let him that glorieth, even glorieth in God, glory in knowing God as a moral Being, as the righteous Judge, as the loving Father. There must not be adoration of mere power; we must not be satisfied with utterances of amazement at His majesty, wisdom, and dominion; we must go farther, get nearer, see deeper; we must know God morally, we must feel the pulsations of His heart--His heart!--that dread sanctuary of righteousness, that semi-eternal fount of love. The whole subject, then, may be comprehended in four points.
1. God brands all false glorying. Upon the head of wisdom, power, and wealth, He writes, Let no man glory in these. There is a wisdom which is folly; there is a power which is helplessness; there is a wealth which is poverty. God warns us of these things, so that if our boasted wisdom answer us not when we are on the Carmel of solemn encounter between light and darkness, we may not have God to blame.
2. God has revealed the proper ground of glorying. That ground is knowledge of God, not only as Creator and Monarch, but as Judge and Saviour and Father. Reason, groping her way through the thickening mysteries of creation, may exclaim, There is a God; but faith alone can see the Father smiling through the King. It will be in vain to say, Lord, Lord, if we cannot add, Saviour-Friend
3. God, having declared moral excellence to be the true object of glorying, has revealed how moral excellence may be attained. Is it objected that there is no mention of Jesus Christ in the text? We answer, that loving kindness, righteousness, and judgment are impossibilities apart from Christ; they are only so many names to us, until Jesus exemplifies them in His life, and makes them accessible to us by His death and resurrection. Do we require the sun to be labelled ere we confess that he shines in the heavens?
4. God has revealed the objects in which He glories Himself. For in these things I delight, saith the Lord. Let it be propounded as a problem, In what will the Supreme Mind most delight? and let it be supposed that an answer is possible, it might be concluded that the attainment of that answer would forever determine the aspirations, the resolutions, and the ambition of the world. We might consider that every other object would be infinitely beneath the pursuits, and infinitely unworthy of the affections of man. At all events, this must be true, that they who glory in the objects which delight Jehovah must be drinking at pure and perennial streams. (J. Parker, D. D.)
What do I glory in
What does a man glory in? At what point does his life leave the plane of indifference and rise into a boast? What is it that provides for him the river of his most exquisite delights? The answer to these questions is fruitfully significant. If we catch a man in his gloryings we take him at his height. Some mens gloryings are to be found on a purely carnal level; they are sought and proclaimed on the plane of the brute. Other mens gloryings are found in spiritual realities, among the things of the Eternal. Unworthy glorying is the minister of stagnancy, paralysis, and death. Worthy glorying is the minister of progress, liberty, and life. Let us look at the unworthy gloryings. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. That is a very surprising negative. I did not expect that wisdom would be banned from the circle of a legitimate boast. Is there not an apparent contradiction between the counsel of the prophet and other counsellors of the Old Testament Scriptures? Get wisdom. Fools despise wisdom. A wise son maketh a glad father. We know, too, how our poets have spoken of the beautiful thing called wisdom. Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers; blossom comes, but the fruitage lingers! The wisdom here admired is a ripe and matured product, the ultimate issue of a prolonged process. It is not in this sense that the prophet uses the word; he employs it with quite another content. It is the wisdom of the mere philosopher; the product of speculation and theory; a wisdom devoid of reverence, and detached from practical life. Life can be divided into watertight compartments, having no relationship one with the other. We can separate our opinions from our principles, our theories from our practice. Love of the fine arts can be divorced from the practice of a pure life. Our artistic wisdom can be imprisoned as it were in an iron-bound division, and separated from our moral activities. The musically wise can be the morally discordant. The possession of musical technique does not necessarily make an agreeable man. The wisdom of music can be divorced from the other parts of a mans life just as the music room in a hydropathic establishment is shut off from the kitchen. A man can be skilled in the decrees of counsel and in traditional lore, and yet he may be morally and spiritually corrupt. The wisdom of a theologian can be a wisdom without influence upon morals. A man may preach like a seraph and live like a brute. Let not the mighty man glory in his might. This is a reference to mere animal strength. It includes a bald athleticism in the individual, and a bald materialism in the State. But surely strength is good? Athletic strength and skill are very admirable. But here, again, the prophet is referring to strength which is devoid of reverence, and therefore strength which is detached from service. All right use of strength begins with a deep reverence for it. So it is also with the material might of the State. A sword may be good if it be reverently regarded. The sword of Gideon; that is always a curse! The sword of the Lord and Gideon; that is an instrument of benediction! Let not the rich man glory in his riches. Do not let us relegate this warning to a few millionaires. A man with a small income may regard his money as irreverently as the man with an overflowing abundance. The prophet refers to the spirit in which possessions are esteemed. He refers to riches held without reverence, and therefore not exercised in wise philanthropy. Possessions used irreverently are used blindly, and therefore without a true humanity. But how people do glory in bare and graceless wealth! It is a false confidence. But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord. How far are we away from the brutal, the material, and the merely opinionative! Here is glorying which centres itself in the unseen, and fixes itself upon the Lord. Understandeth. The relationship is reasonable and intelligent. God wants no blind discipleship. We are to be all alert in our fellowship with the Almighty. We are to worship Him with all our mind. In malice be ye children, but in understanding be men. Understandeth and knoweth Me. That is a profound term, suggestive of certainty and assurance. It has about it the flavour of the familiar friend. We are to intelligently use our minds to discover the thought and will of God, then we are to act upon the will, and in our obedience a deep communion will be established. This, then, is the line of individual progress. We begin in exploration; we use our understanding in discerning the mind of God. Then we pass to experiment, and we put to the proof the findings of the mind. From experiment we shall attain unto experience; our findings will be revealed as truth; our knowledge will mature unto wisdom. Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord. What does God want us to know about Him? That I am the Lord which exercise loving kindness. We sometimes say concerning a distinguished man whose presence we have met, I rather feared him, but his first words made me feel at home. And here is the first word of the Almighty, and the word is not law or statute, but loving kindness! Not only kindness, for kindness may be mechanical and devoid of feeling, but loving kindness! A dainty dish is served by affection. What else does He want me to be sure about? That I am the Lord that exercise loving kindness and judgment. Do not let us interpret judgment as doom. Judgment is vindication; it is suggestive of sure sequence. When I plant mignonette, and mignonette comes in its season, the sequence is indicative of judgment. Judgment is the opposite of caprice and chance. The Lord is a God of judgment, and all my sowings will be vindicated. All these deeper issues are in the hands of God. The Lord is a God of judgment, and of righteousness. This word is only confirmatory of the preceding word. Judgment is proceeding and the Vindicator is righteous. He cannot be bribed, He is not of uncertain temper. He changeth not. (J. H. Jowett, M. A.)
On the unreasonableness and folly of glorying in the possession of external privileges and advantages
I. The unreasonableness and folly both of individuals and of communities glorying in the possession of external privileges and advantages. In fact, there is no passion in our nature which so effectually defeats its own end, or so completely mars the accomplishment of its object, as that of pride. Wherever respect is impudently claimed, even where there is real merit at the bottom, it is always reluctantly conferred. Our pride and self-love in turn take the alarm, and are hurt by the boldness of the claim. Competitors and rivals, envious of the merit, feel a malignant pleasure in disappointing the expectations of such candidates for fame. And as most men have a tincture of envy in their composition, it commonly happens that very few regret the disappointment. To obtain real, and, in general, unenvied praise, merit, however transcendent, must not be glaringly displayed, but in some measure exhibited under a veil; at least, it must be so judiciously and delicately shaded, as to moderate its lustre.
II. The knowledge and practice of the duties of religion and virtue, while they are the only true foundation of self-esteem and real glory, are likewise, considered in a national view, the only just objects of public respect and confidence. Great intellectual endowments, and the performances to which they give birth, can only be regarded, when abstractly considered without respect to their application, as splendid monuments of human genius; when applied to bad purposes, they justly become the objects of our detestation; but the qualities of the heart, incorruptible integrity, for instance, disinterested benevolence, exalted generosity, and tender pity, irresistibly command the esteem, and conciliate the affection of all who have either seen or heard of such virtues being exemplified. (W. Duff, M. A.)
Aims of life
Men think too much of themselves on one account or another--either on account of some external condition, or on account of some internal traits and qualities. Now, it is not to be understood from this declaration of the prophet, that a man shall take no thought of, and have no pleasure in, external relations. There is pleasure to be derived from them but there are a thousand secondary things in this life which we are very glad to have, and which we are glad to be known to have, though we do not put our heart chiefly on them. It is a pleasant thing for an artist to have vigorous health; but that is not his power. It is a pleasant thing for a poet to be a musician; but that is not what he glories in. It is a pleasant thing to an orator that he is rich; but there is something that he glories in besides riches. Wealth alone affords a very small compensation of glory. Knowledge is often regarded as the chief and characteristic reason why a man should think much of himself; but here we are commanded not to glory in knowledge. There is great excellence in knowledge; but knowledge is relative. Mathematics will exist after we are dead and gone; but knowledge of spiritual elements, knowledge of the highest realm, knowledge of right and wrong, knowledge of character, knowledge of truth--these are all related to our present condition, and are so far affected by our limitations that the apostle explicitly declares that the time will come when the universe will be revealed to us, and when our notions in respect to it will have to be changed as much as the notions of a child have to be changed when he comes to manhood. Our wisdom in this world is so partial that we cannot afford to stand on that. And when you consider what have been regarded as the treasures of knowledge, the folly of it is still greater. Many a man might just as well have been a grammar or a lexicon, dry and dusty, as the man of knowledge that he is, so useless is he. And yet men are oftentimes proud that they know so many things, without any consideration of their use. Go out and see what men know who know something. Men that have useful knowledge, and the most of it, are the men that usually are the most humble, and are conscious of the mere segment of the vast circle of the knowledge of the universe that they possess. Knowledge is a good thing; but a man is a better thing. A man in his essential nature and destiny is larger than any special element or development in this life. Therefore, let not a man glory in his knowledge. Especially let him not glory in it in such a way as to separate himself from his fellows, and look down upon them. While it may be supposed that these views, derived from the face of Scripture, are applicable to our modern condition, it is very probable that the glorying spoken of by the prophet was that which constituted a peculiarity in the East. In Egypt, and afterwards in many Oriental kingdoms, knowledge was the prerogative of the priesthood. Those who had knowledge became a privileged class, and received honour and respect; and naturally they plumed themselves on it, as men plume themselves on titles today. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. In other words, let not a man because he belongs to the learned class have contempt for those who have not the privileges that he has. There are multitudes of men who have not very much to boast of in the way of kindness and humility and gentleness, but who are proud of their culture. Neither let the mighty man glory in his might. That is, let no man glory in the attributes of strength. In the time of the athlete; in the time of the warrior; in the time when men, being head and shoulders in their stature above all others, as Saul was, gloried in their stature; in the time when men boasted, as David did, of running through a troop, and leaping over a wall; in the time when expertness and skill were in the ascendant; in the time when men were trained to all forms of physical strength and prowess--in such a time men would naturally come to make their reputation stand on these things; and the tendency to do so has not perished yet. Men glory in the fact that they are tall and symmetrical. They glory in their personal beauty. They glory in their grace. They glory in their walking and their dancing. They glory in their riding. These things are not absolutely foolish, although the men who engage in them may be. It is not to be denied that they may be useful, and that they may reflect some credit upon those who practise them. But what if nothing else can be said of a man except that he rides well? The horse is better than he! Low down, indeed, is the man who pivots himself on these inferior and often contemptible qualities. Let not the rich man glory in his riches. We may as well shut up the Bible, then. That is too much! Yet a man has a right to glory in his riches, provided the way of his glorying is through his own integrity as well as skill. Such are the competitions of business, such are the difficulties of developing, amassing, maintaining and rightly using wealth, that a man who organises it organises a campaign, and is a general; and when a man of simplicity and honesty has come out from the haunts of poverty, and has, by his own indomitable purpose, and industry, and honourable dealing, and truthfulness, accumulated property, about no dollar of which you can say to him, You stole it; when a man by integrity has built up a fortune, it is a testimony better than any diploma. It tells what he has been. The true grounds of glorying are given in the next clause of the text: Let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me. The knowledge of God--a knowledge of those supreme qualities or attributes which belong to the higher nature, a knowledge of the great elements which constitute God--this may be gloried in; but men have gloried in their knowledge of gods that were contemptible. There was not a decent god in all antiquity, such that if a man were like it he could respect himself. The passions of men were the basis of their character. Therefore it is not enough that you glory in a god. Let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, saith the Lord. It is as if He had said, I am the Lord that exerciseth loving kindness without any regard to return, and without any limitation. I am continually developing, through the ages, the good and the bad, the just and the unjust. I am a God of lenity, of goodness, of kindness; but the kindness is not merely superficial--it is kindness springing out from the heart of God That is the glory of God: and who would not-be-known as glorying in it? Now, knowing this, being penetrated with a sense of having such a God, of living in communion with Him, of beholding Him by the inward sight--having this ideal of life constitutes a knowledge that exalts, strengthens, and purifies men. But take the qualities that make the true man, as set forth in Scripture--the man in Christ Jesus. How many men can glory in themselves because they have conformed their lives to these qualities? If a man, being a mineralogist, has a finer crystal than anybody else, he rather glories in it, and says, You ought to see mine. If a man is a gardener, and has finer roses than anybody else, he glories in them. He may go to his neighbours garden, and praise the flowers that he sees there; but he says, I should like to have you come over and see my roses; and he shows them with pride. Nobody shuts his own garden gate when he goes to see his neighbours garden. He carries his own with him. Men glory in such outward things; but how many glory in those diamonds, those sapphires, those precious stones which all the world recognise as the finest graces of the soul? How many men glory because they have the true, universal, Christian benevolence of love? Have you in yourself any ideal? Are you aiming for character, for condition, or for reputation--which is the poorest of them all? It is worth a mans while to be able to answer to himself the question, What am I living for? What is it that incites me? Is it vanity? Is it the animal instincts? Is it the external conditions of life? Or, is it the internal elements of manhood, that take hold upon God and heaven? (H. W. Beecher.)
On the insufficiency of human wisdom, power, and riches
I. The prohibitions contained in the text.
1. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. Men may be wise in their own conceit,--they may be wise and prudent in the opinion of others,--their measures and counsels may be, apparently, wisely devised; yet God can and frequently does frustrate their counsels, and turn the wisdom of man into foolishness.
2. Neither let the mighty man glory in his might. What is man, the strongest man, but dust, turned into dust, crushed by the mighty power of God, as a moth is crushed between the fingers? Just consider upon how little the life of the strongest man depends,--on so trifling a thing as the respiration of a little air; that being stopped, he dies. Nor is the combined power of the many, able to stand at all against the will and the power of God.
3. Let not the rich man glory in his riches. To hear men talk of their thousands, and to observe them pursuing wealth, one might suppose that riches bestowed every happiness and produced every safety. Yet ask the rich man if he is happy; and he will answer, if he honestly answer, No. Is he free from the fear of evil? can he bribe death and prolong his short life? can he redeem his soul from hell?
4. It is not only folly to glory in or boast of wisdom, strength, and riches; but it is also sinful; it is idolatry; it is setting aside the Lord God as our strength and our portion.
II. The command in the text. But let him that glorieth, glory in this, etc. That man alone is truly wise in whose heart the knowledge of the Lord is treasured up; and who reduces that knowledge to practice; and that man alone is truly blessed who so far understands and knows the Lord, as to put his trust at all times in the Lord God of Israel. This knowledge and understanding of the Lord God in all His adorable perfections, as revealed in His holy Word, and as He is reconciled in Christ Jesus, are of immensely greater value than all the wisdom, and all the power, and all the riches which this world can bestow.
1. The Lord exerciseth loving kindness in the earth. They who through faith in Christ have Jehovah for their Father,--their portion,--have all that can satisfy an immortal soul throughout eternity. Of His loving kindness they have experience; and their experience teaches them that Gods loving kindness is better than life, and therefore their lips praise Him.
2. The Lord also exerciseth judgment in the earth. While He delights in visiting the humble soul, and the penitent soul, and the believing soul, with tokens of His loving kindness, He also visits the impenitent, the unbelieving, the proud, with His sore judgments: and sometimes in this world He makes them lasting monuments of His awful justice.
3. The Lord also exerciseth righteousness in the earth. For the exercise of righteousness, the Lords omniscience, hatred of sin, love of holiness, power, and faithfulness, fully qualify Him.
Conclusion--
1. To those who trust and glory in human wisdom, strength, and riches. Know we not that the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God? and that power belongeth unto God?
2. To those who in some measure know the Lord and glory in Him. Your knowledge is still but small and imperfect: for, how little a portion is heard of Him! but the thunder of His power who can understand? Still, enough of Him and of His ways may be known here for every necessary purpose. Walk as children of light. Seek also an increase of light by studying the Word of God; by earnest and diligent prayer, that the Spirit of truth may open your mind to behold, to comprehend more and more, the truths which are revealed in that Word. (E. Edwards.)
On the grounds of pride
I. The various forms of pride.
1. High birth is one of those external circumstances which give rise to pride. Ever since civil society has existed, a certain respect for antiquity of descent has been maintained. But if we reflect on the origin of this deference we shall find that, so far from affording a foundation for pride, it suggests many reasons for its exclusion. Do you, proud man! look back with complacency on the illustrious merits of your ancestors? Show yourself worthy of them, by imitating their virtues, and disgrace not the name you bear by a conduct unbecoming a man. Nothing can be conceived more inconsistent than to exult in illustrious ancestry, and to do what must disgrace it; than to mention, with ostentation, the distinguished merits of progenitors, and to exhibit a melancholy contrast to them in character. After all, what is high birth? Does it bestow a nature different from that of the rest of mankind? Has not the man of ancient line human blood in his veins? Does he not experience hunger and thirst? Is he not subject to disease, to accidents, and to death; and must not his body moulder in the grave, as well as that of the beggar?
2. Perhaps the proud man is invested with a title. Remember, however, that this is an appellation of honour, and not of disgrace, and the greatest disgrace any person can incur, is the assumption of sentiments unworthy of human nature. Have you obtained your distinction by your own merit? Continue to deserve and adorn it by your exertions for the common welfare, and by a behaviour which indicates that you consider yourself as a member of society. Has your title been transmitted to you from your ancestors? I say to you, as I said to the man proud of his birth: beware lest their honours be tarnished by your contemptible enjoyment of them!
3. Some are proud of office. Were offices instituted for the general benefit, or for the private gratification of the individuals to whom they are severally assigned? This question the proud man himself will not venture to decide in favour of his own pretensions. With what appearance of justice, then, can the man, who is intrusted with the common interest, pretend to look, with a contemptuous eye, on any honest member of the community?
4. Riches, affording a more substantial and productive possession than either birth, titles, or public office, may seem to lay a better foundation for pride. The man who enjoys them is in some measure independent of others, and may command their services when he pleases. He may, therefore, have some ground for treating them with disdain. I must confess that persons who possess an opulent fortune, as well as those who are placed in the higher stations of society, have many opportunities of observing the servile obsequiousness of mankind, and may, therefore, be tempted to despise them. But this is not, in strict propriety of speech, that contempt of others which arises from external circumstances alone. It is a contempt of contemptible qualities. Are you, in reality, proud of your wealth? Show me what title that wealth gives you to deprive your fellow men of their just portion of respect!
5. Corporeal advantages constitute the subjects of that pride with which many are infected. They value themselves on their strength, or on their beauty. Let the strongest man consider that the horse or the ox is still his superior in point of corporeal vigour; that his individual power is of little avail against the united force of his fellow men, whom he affects to brave; and that a fever will make him weaker than the child in the nurses arms. When a man exults in the elegance of his person, although this folly be not uncommon, especially in youth, nothing can be conceived more ridiculous. But this source of pride is more frequent among the daughters of Eve, who seem sometimes to consider personal attractions as the chief distinction of character. Let her, whose pride centres in her beauty, consider what her figure will be in the grave!
6. Sensible of the utter insignificance of external advantages of any kind, as a ground of exultation, there are Who value themselves exclusively on their genius, their erudition, their wit, or even on their religion. Such persons are most ready to laugh at the fool who is proud of anything but mind. The prophet, however, was of opinion, that even wisdom itself is no subject of glory. By the term wisdom, in the text, he understands those mental qualities which attract the admiration of the world. By converting thy abilities into sources of vain-glory, thou displayest thy ignorance of their end, contractest their utility, by limiting them to thy own narrow sphere instead of diffusing their salutary influence through the wide circle of humanity, and subvertest thy own importance by relinquishing the honourable distinction of a necessary part of the great community of mankind. Dost thou boast of thy genius and thy knowledge, abstracted from mildness and benevolence? Reflect that the most miserable and odious being in the universe is also possessed of abilities infinitely superior to those of the most sagacious of the sons of men!
7. Religious pride is, if possible, still more odious and absurd than that just now mentioned. It is a combination of shocking inconsistencies. It unites confession of sin with self-righteousness, humility before God with insolence towards men, supplication for mercy with the assumption of merit, the prospect of heaven with the temper of hell.
II. The only solid foundation of self-esteem. He who understandeth God has his soul impressed with all that is grand and sublime, is capable of contemplating Deity, and beholds every terrestrial object sink in comparison. He that knoweth God is acquainted with infinite perfection, and has acquired the conception, though still obscure and faint, of unerring wisdom, of consummate rectitude, of inexhaustible beneficence, of irresistible power, of all that can exalt, astonish, and delight the soul These attributes, brought to his view by frequent adoration, he must admire, and love, and imitate. This is the true dignity of human nature, restored, by grace, to that state from which it had been degraded by sin, nay, raised to higher capacities and expectations than were granted to primitive innocence. The more we aspire after this excellence, the more ambitious of this exaltation we become, the more is our nature improved and our happiness increased and extended. This is the glory of a Christian, of an immortal soul, of an expectant of heaven, of a blessed spirit! (W. L. Brown, D. D.)
Of false glorying
Such is the weakness of our nature, that if Providence hath conferred upon us any remarkable quality, either of body or mind, we are apt to boast ourselves because of it. In our more serious moments we must condemn such vanity; but pride is so natural to man, that we find it difficult to subdue.
I. The natural or acquired endowments of the mind. A great genius, fine parts, and shining talents, are strong temptations to glorying. When a man is conscious that his understanding is more enlightened, his judgment sounder, his invention finer, his knowledge more extensive than that of the rest of mankind, he is in great danger of indulging a little vanity. Yet, still, there is no foundation for boasting. If those accomplishments are natural they are the gift of God, and call Him their Author. If they are acquired we owe them in a great measure to the attention and labour of others, who have contributed to improve them. What a poor figure would the greatest genius have made without books and a master! Like the diamond in the mine, it must have remained in its natural state, rough and unpolished. It is education and letters which enable men to make a figure in life. Besides, is it not Providence which places us in superior circumstances, and enables us to prosecute sciences and arts? After all, what is the so-much-boasted wisdom of the wise? Is it not at best, only a less degree of folly? How shallow is their understanding and how circumscribed their knowledge! Let me add, how liable is the greatest genius and the finest scholar to have his faculties deranged! A fall from a horse, a tile from a house, a fever in the brain, will impair the judgment and disturb the reason of the greatest philosopher.
II. The superior qualities of the body. A fine face and an elegant figure are engaging things, and mankind have held them in a certain degree of admiration. Hence the possessors of those properties have sometimes become proud and vain. But what is beauty? A piece of polished earth, a finer species of clay, regularly adjusted by the great Creator! Those upon whom He hath bestowed it had no hand in the workmanship, and contributed nothing to finish it. Instead of being puffed up more than others, they should be more humble, because they are greater debtors to Providence. How little reason such have to be vain, we have many striking examples; an inveterate jaundice, a malignant fever, a rapid consumption, will spoil the finest complexion and impair the stoutest constitution. It were well if the fairest of this worlds children would aspire after something more durable than looks and dress; even to have the image of God drawn upon the heart, and the life of Christ formed within them.
III. The more elevated circumstances of our lot. It is no doubt natural to prefer independence and ease, to straits and toil. Who does not wish to live in plenty, rather than in penury? Yet what is an immense quantity of gold and silver? It is no better than dust, a little more refined, upon which men have agreed to put a certain value. If it is hoarded up it is no better than stone or sand. If it is wasted and spent it is no longer ours, but the property of another; and how quickly riches change masters, we have every day striking examples. Riches are intrusted to men as stewards, and they are accountable for the use which they make of them. If they employ them for the honour of God and for the benefit of their fellow creatures, they are a valuable talent, and shall receive an ample recompense; but if they minister to pride and vanity, to profusion and luxury, to avarice and oppression, they are to be accounted a curse. Honours and titles are no better foundation for glory than opulence. If they have been transmitted by our ancestors, we have derived them from them; if they have been conferred, directly, by the king, we are indebted to him; and we are under greater obligations for such an act of favour. At best, what are they but an empty name? They may procure a person precedence, and a little more respect; but they can contribute nothing to his dignity of character. Again, the voice of fame is a bewitching thing, and numbers have been strangely captivated with it. Hence they have courted it with the greatest servility, and by the lowest means. There is nothing so humbling to which they have not submitted, to gain this empty sound. Have not some sacrificed the principles of honour, of conscience, of integrity, to obtain applause? And what is so precarious and uncertain as the breath of a multitude? It is fickle as the wind, and variable as the weather.
IV. The religious acquirements which we may have attained. It is the voice of reason, and the language of Scripture, that every good and perfect gift cometh down from above, from the Father of lights. In us dwelleth no good thing! On the contrary, we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. If then a good work has been begun in us, it hath been imparted to us by the Spirit of God, the fruit of which is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Are your understandings more enlightened, your wills more submissive, your affections more spiritual, your morals more pure, you owe it to a Divine influence. There cannot be a stronger evidence that we are entire strangers to grace, than that of thinking of ourselves above what we ought to think. The very nature of grace is to give all the glory to God. The more of it we receive, the more self-denied will we become. The obvious conclusion from this subject is, that pride was never made for man. It originated in hell, and is the offspring of guilt. Let us tear it from our bosoms as the most unwarrantable and unchristian disposition which we can possibly cherish. (David Johnston, D. D.)
Human glorying corrected
I. The things in which not to glory.
1. Those which to the natural man seem most desirable--wisdom, strength, riches.
2. Those in which these Jews inclined presumptuously to boast--external, carnal advantages.
II. Every man must have something in which to glory.
1. That which he esteems as his highest blessing and honour.
2. God sets before us the best objects of glorying.
(1) Me; both understood and known.
(2) The qualities in which God delights.
Mercy, or loving kindness, as opposed to their vaunted strength. Judgment, and righteousness, as opposed to their oppression of the weak and distressed. (J. P. Lange.)
A prohibited and a sanctioned glory
I. The glorying which is prohibited by God.
1. Glorying in wisdom is the glorification of self; therefore forbidden. The mind that knows and the subjects known are both from God.
2. Glorying in strength is forbidden as self-glorification. History shows Gods repudiation of this boast: in destruction of Sennacheribs army, decline and fall of empires founded on mere force, etc.
3. Glorying in wealth is forbidden as self-glorification. Sad to behold a spirit entombed in a mausoleum of gold and silver.
II. The glorying which is Divinely sanctioned. To glory is an instinct in man; is right, therefore, where the object is worthy of him. God here presents Himself. There is a gradation set before us:
1. Understanding God. Early education calls this into exercise; events of life afford it discipline; profound, spiritual verities may be by it examined.
2. Knowing God. This is more than understanding Him. Eternity will reveal new deeps of Gods eternal love and being.
3. In the understanding and knowledge of God, the spirit of man glories, and may glory forever. God glories in our glorying in Him. (W. R. Percival.)
False and true glory
I. What we are not to glory in.
1. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. Neither in the largeness and compass of his knowledge and understanding, nor in his skill and dexterity in the contrivance and conduct of human affairs.
(1) Because the highest pitch of human knowledge and wisdom is very imperfect.
(2) Because when knowledge and wisdom are with much difficulty in any competent measure attained, how easily are they lost.
2. Neither let the mighty man glory in his might.
(1) If we understand it of the natural strength of mens bodies, how little reason is there to glory in that, in which so many of the creatures below us do by so many degrees excel us!
(2) Or, if by might we understand military force and power, how little likewise is that to be gloried in, considering the uncertain events of war, and how very often and remarkably the providence of God doth interpose to cast the victory on the unlikely side!
3. Let not the rich man glory in his riches.
(1) Riches are things without us--the accidental ornaments of our fortune.
(2) At the best, they are uncertain.
(3) Many men have an evil eye upon a good estate; so that instead of being the means of our happiness, it may prove the occasion of our ruin.
II. What it is that is matter of true glory.
1. The wisest and surest reasonings in religion are grounded upon the unquestionable perfections of the Divine nature. Divine revelation itself does suppose these for its foundation, and can signify nothing to us unless these be first known and believed: for unless we be first firmly persuaded of the providence of God, and of His particular care of mankind, why should we suppose that He makes any revelation of His will to us? Unless it be first naturally known that God is a God of truth, what ground is there for the belief of His Word?
2. The nature of God is the true idea and pattern of perfection and happiness; and therefore nothing but our conformity to it can make us happy. He who is the Author and fountain of happiness cannot convey it to us by any other way than by planting in us such dispositions of mind as are in truth a kind of participation of the Divine nature; and by enduing us with such qualities as are the necessary materials of happiness: and a man may as soon be well without health as happy without goodness. (J. Tillotson, D. D.)
False and true grounds of glorying
I. False grounds of confidence.
1. The wisdom here meant is not heavenly, but earthly wisdom; that penetration and sagacity which many naturally possess, and some to a considerable degree; or that knowledge of various kinds about the things of this world, which they acquire by study and experience. Why should not the man who has wisdom, glory in it? Because all such glorying is vain; because he has at last no real foundation for glorying; because, after all, his wisdom cannot secure success, and may prove in the end, and if gloried in certainly will prove, to have been foolishness. It is the Lord who gives success, and whose counsel alone will stand.
2. By might we may understand either strength or power; strength of body, or the power of rank, station, or influence. There is no real ground for confidence in these things. As there is no king saved by the multitude of his host; so a mighty man is not delivered by much strength. The mightiest empires have been suddenly overthrown, and the most powerful monarchs destroyed in a moment.
3. How continually do we see people trusting in their wealth, and boasting themselves in the multitude of their riches! But how vain is such confidence! It is like leaning on a broken reed.
II. Thy true ground of glorying.
1. The knowledge of God, here meant, is a knowledge of Him in His true character and perfections. It is a knowledge of Him as being at once a merciful Father and a righteous Judge; a just God, and yet a Saviour; abounding in mercy, love, and truth; and at the same time hating iniquity, and who will by no means clear the guilty. The knowledge spoken of in the text is an inward, heartfelt, experimental knowledge of Him. It is such a belief of Him in our hearts, as leads us to fear and love Him, to rely on and confide in Him. It is a knowledge founded on trial and experience.
2. They who know the Lord, in the manner that has been described, have a sure ground of glorying. They glory in that which will never fail, deceive, or disappoint them. (E. Cooper, M. A.)
False and true glorying
I. There is a disposition in men to glory and self-confidence on account of the personal accomplishments which distinguish them in the eyes of their fellow creatures.
1. Bodily strength inspires the idea of great actions in its possessors, and frequently makes them arrogant and proud. It induces them to assume what does not belong to them, to violate the properties of life, and to carry about with them a spirit of defiance and insult in their intercourse with their fellow creatures.
2. Worldly wisdom inspires confidence more than that which is attached to the grosser qualities of the human frame; and no men are more in danger of being wise in their own eyes than those who possess this quality.
3. Nothing is so calculated to fill men with insufferable pride as the possession of extraordinary riches. It produces a semblance of homage or respect--it commands the services of mankind--it levies a contribution on all nature and society, and gives to those who possess it a sort of universal empire; and it is not at all to be wondered at that these minds are more tempted by pride and glory than those who seek to be distinguished by worldly wisdom.
II. The false and erroneous basis on which these sentiments of glory and self-confidence are founded.
1. Neither separately taken, nor in their combined form, will they ever teach their possessors their true use; but they frequently turn to hurt, not only to society at large, but to their own possessors.
2. These things are utterly incapable, either separately or combined, of supplying some of the most pressing wants, and avoiding some of the most obvious evils to which our nature is exposed.
3. They are of a very transient duration and possession.
III. There is an object which is of such a nature that it will justify the glory, the confidence, the self-satisfaction, which it is declared ought not for a moment to be connected with those which are before enumerated.
1. True religion will teach us the proper regulation and employment of all these endowments.
2. There is a perpetuity and pledge of future and eternal felicity in the religion of Jesus Christ; not only that which produces present tranquillity and peace, but that which furnishes the pledge of an enduring and eternal happiness. (R. Hall, M. A.)
The Gospel the only security for eminent and abiding national prosperity
The Jewish nation had come to rely on their wealth, power, and political wisdom.
I. The inefficacy of the common grounds of confidence.
1. Reason has been appealed to, but its impotence in the conflict with passion, ignorance, and irreligion is demonstrated on every page of history.
2. Education has been relied upon, but knowledge and virtue are not inseparable. Philosophy, culture, the arts, did not save Rome or Greece from ruin.
3. The efforts of philosophy to reform and elevate mankind have proved signal failures in the past.
4. National wealth is thought to be the perfection of prosperity. But in all ages and lands it has proved the most active and powerful cause of national corruption.
5. Nor is military genius and prowess any safer ground of confidence than wealth, as the history of nations illustrates with solemn and awful significance.
6. Political wisdom, statesmanship, the boast and confidence of nations, is inadequate to secure and perpetuate national prosperity.
7. Our boasted free institutions, bought and maintained at immense sacrifices, and the envy of the nations, are not a guarantee of the future.
II. There is efficacy in the Gospel of the grace of God, and nowhere else, to secure eminent and abiding national prosperity. It was devised and bestowed upon mankind for this purpose; and in its principles, provisions, institutions, and moral tendencies, it is eminently adapted to elevate, purify, and bless nations as well as individual man. The proofs of its power to do this are not wanting. See the effect of Christianity on the laws and institutions of the old Roman Empire--on the social and political life of Germany at the Reformation--on our own history and destiny as a nation by means of our Pilgrim Fathers--on the condition of the Sandwich Islands, and in South Africa among the Hottentots. Hence patriotism demands of the Christian Church today earnest prayer and the faithful application of the Gospel. (Homiletic monthly.)
False and true grounds of glorying
I. The reasons why the wise man should not glory in his wisdom, nor the mighty in his might, nor the rich man in his riches.
1. All these things are the gifts of God, and have neither power nor potency without Him.
2. They are all of uncertain continuance. As no man can call them into existence, so no man can command their stay.
3. It ought to moderate our tendency to glory in riches, to remember by what huckstering practices, by what base, material means they are usually got.
4. Further, wisdom, power, and riches are all things which we must leave at death, even if they do not before leave us.
II. In what we may safely glory.
1. The knowledge of God affords a just ground for glorying, first, because God Himself, the object of it, surpasses all created excellencies. He combines in Himself in a transcendent degree whatever is deep in wisdom, whatever is majestic in might, whatever is rich in goodness.
2. This knowledge of God as being actually all that to His believing people which they can need is worthy of being gloried in, as distinguished from human wisdom, might, or riches, because it places mans confidence on an unshaken basis; and because, moreover, it is a kind of knowledge which elevates while it humbles the mind, satisfies its desires while it invites the exercise of all its powers; fills it with pure, noble, enduring excellence, expires not, but only becomes perfected at death, and fits the soul for the permanent occupations and enjoyments of the eternal state. (Stephen Jenner, M. A.)
True and false complacencies
I. False sources of human complacency.
1. It is a false complacency when men prefer a lower to a higher species of good, when they prefer the material to the moral, the external to the internal possessions. If a man makes the culture of his soul the supreme concern of life, a due regard to riches will not injure him, because they become, in that case, a means to a worthy end. But if, ignoring his inward life, he fixes all his trust, and finds his treasure in something external, the passion for riches must lead in the end to the corruption of his character.
2. There is the preference of the physical or natural to the spiritual attributes of being. What is force without conscience? What is will without righteousness? What is might without mercy? It is like the blind fury of the earthquake, the hurricane, or the avalanche, inspiring terror, wonder, and pity, but no true joy to the rational part of the man.
3. There is the preference of the intellectual to the spiritual. While the pursuit of wisdom is of all the noblest to which we can devote ourselves, provided it be inspired by religion, it is, perhaps, of all the most disappointing if that inspiration be wanting. Of what profit this weariness of the flesh, this aching brow, these nightly vigils, this impaired health? How bitterly have such men, from Ecclesiastes downwards, turned in satire upon the wisdom they had spent a lifetime in acquiring. But it is not wisdom, it is the untrue spirit in which wisdom has been pursued, that deserves the satire. Had they from the first yielded up their souls to intercourse with the Father of Lights, had they cultivated wisdom as a gift and emanation from Himself, to be used in the service of His creatures, these disappointments might have been avoided.
II. What, then, is the true source of the souls complacency? It is to be found in the knowledge of the eternal God.
1. We believe in His just and merciful administration of the worlds affairs. He exercises loving kindness, justice, and right in the earth.
2. We believe in the essential goodness of God. In these things I delight, saith Jehovah. He governs the world in right and in love, because He is in Himself a righteous and a loving Being. Nowhere does the righteousness of God more impress the conscience, fill the soul with a deeper awe, than at the foot of that cross, where He was made sin for us Who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And nowhere do the beams of the eternal mercy break forth more brightly from the parting sky than above that cross. There the grace that pardons sin, that justifies the sinner, that plucks up the love of sin by the roots, that pours the balm of celestial hope and peace into our wounds, the grace that deeply humbles, yet nobly exalts us, is ever revealed. (E. Johnson, M. A.)
Duty of a prosperous nation
I. What it is for a prosperous nation to rejoice in themselves.
1. It is to rejoice in their own national prosperity because it is their own, and superior to that of other nations.
2. A people rejoice in themselves when they ascribe their national prosperity to their own self-sufficiency.
II. What it is for nation in prosperity to rejoice in God.
1. It is to understand and know that God is the Governor of the world.
2. For a nation in prosperity to rejoice in God implies rejoicing, not only that He governs the world, but that He displays His great and amiable perfections in governing it.
(1) There is reason to rejoice in the judgment or wisdom God displays in the government of the world.
(2) There is reason to rejoice in the moral rectitude and perfect righteousness which God displays in the government of the world.
(3) There is reason to rejoice in the perfect benevolence which God displays in the government of the world. He is continually doing as much good as His wisdom, His justice, His power, and His goodness enable Him to do.
III. This is the duty of all mankind, especially of every nation in the day of prosperity.
1. Because God has given them all their national prosperity.
2. Because He only, in His governing goodness, can promote and preserve their prosperity.
Application--
1. We have seen what it is for a people, in prosperity, to rejoice in themselves, and to rejoice in God, and that these two kinds of rejoicing are entirely opposite to each other. The one is right and the other is wrong; the one is pleasing and the other displeasing to God.
2. Have we not reason to fear that our national prosperity will be followed with national calamities and desolating judgments? (N. Emmons, D. D.)
Pride of worldly greatness
As that is a rebellious heart in which sin is allowed to reign, so that is not a very enlarged heart which the world can fill. Alas, what will it profit us to sail before the pleasing gales of prosperity, if we be afterwards overset by the gusts of vanity? Your bags of gold should be ballast in your vessel to keep her always steady, instead of being topsails to your masts to make your vessel giddy. Give me that distinguished person, who is rather pressed down under the weight of all his honours, than puffed up with the blast thereof. It has been observed by those who are experienced in the sport of angling, that the smallest fishes bite the fastest. Oh, how few great men do we find so much as nibbling at the Gospel hook! (T. Seeker.)
Baseless pride
Many a man is proud of his estate or business--of the economy, order, and exact adjustment of part to part, which mark its management, who ought, to be very much ashamed of the neglected state of his conscience and heart. Many a woman is proud of her diamonds, who cares little for the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit. It is his conscience and heart, not his estate or business, it is her spirit, not her diamonds, which he and she will carry into the eternal world with them; and if God will only induce them to cultivate spirit, and conscience, and heart, by taking their diamonds and possessions away from them, is it not most merciful of Him to take these away, and so quicken them unto life eternal?
The true ground of glorying
The passage assumes that it is right to glory, and the tendency of our nature is to glory in one thing or another. The heart of man cannot remain empty. If you dont fill it with one thing, it will fill itself with another. If you dont tell man of the true God to worship, he will worship a false one.
I. A solemn prohibition.
1. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom.
(1) Primarily, the reference is to the wisdom of statesmen, to political sagacity, and forethought. These are not to be gloried in, as the only way of escaping from political difficulties, or averting impending disaster and coming judgments. Political sagacity is not a thing always to be trusted. It does not always bring peace with honour. It may be another name for ambition--for the power of outwitting your neighbour, and, under some pretence or other, invading anothers country, and destroying his liberty. It may have its root near low cunning, cheating, and chicanery. Let us rest assured that in all schemes of political sagacity, whatever their seeming success for a while, unless they are founded on principles of justice and righteousness, disaster and ruin will ensue. For God--who ruleth all the worlds--will do right; and He has said that, while righteousness alone exalteth a nation, sin is the reproach of any people.
(2) The text refers, secondarily, to glorying in wisdom of all kinds--the wisdom of the student, the scholar, the philosopher. Men are more apt to be proud of mental gifts and intellectual acquirements than of any other thing. There is an innate splendour, an imperial dignity, about them which does not attach to such worldly possessions as riches, gold, silver, jewellery. The man of great wisdom and intellectual gifts may be inclined from his elevated place, from his eyrie heights, to look with pity, with contempt, on the traffickers in small things--the trader, the handler of tools--while he himself is occupied with thoughts big as the infinite, vast as immensity, and long as the ages. And yet his pride may be checked by the thought of his utter dependence for his thinking power on the Divine hand. No gift comes more directly from the hand of God than mental power. A little clot of blood will paralyse the active brain, and fling reason from its throne. Then, how small after all is the sum of his knowledge and his vaunted wisdom. How men now laugh at the astrology, the chemistry, and the physical theories of other days! And so, as truth is infinite and knowledge advancing, the thought that the time will come when our philosophies shall have passed, when succeeding generations will wonder that we ever believed them, when they shall look on our advances in knowledge and wisdom as the groping of children in the darkness, and estimate our present savants and scientific men as the merest sciolists and drivellers, this thought may well clothe us with humility. Besides, unaided human wisdom could not find out God. Men tried the problem long, but it became the darker and deeper. Didnt Paul find the ignorance of the most enlightened nation on earth registered in the public square when he said--Whom, therefore, you ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you?
2. Glorying in might is prohibited.
(1) Military prowess. Other nations might, if they pleased, glory in their vast armaments, but Israel was not allowed to do so. Her strength was in the Lord. Their armaments didnt preserve those nations. Assyria is overthrown, her glory is gone, and Egypt is this day in the hands of strangers. Have the nations of Europe nothing to learn here? Napoleon I, at the head of his legions, made the world stand in awe of him. He overthrew Austria at Austerlitz, and then sprang upon the Prussian army, and smashed its power at Jena. But he in turn is worsted at Waterloo, and we see him gnawing his heart on a rock at the equator. Napoleon III, little more than twenty years ago, considered himself the arbiter of the peace of Europe. He gloried in his might. In overweening pride he attacked Germany. She turned upon him in righteous indignation, pulled the imperial crown from his head, and sent him an exile to another land. Our military prowess and scientific frontiers, our naval strength and greatness, will do little for us, if Gods arm be lifted up in anger against us. Why, not long ago, the storm seized our guard ship Ajax, one of our most powerful ironclads, and made a play thing of her at the Mull of Cantyre; and more recently the Bay of Biscay grew angry with the Serpent warship, and flung her a shipwrecked thing on the Spanish shore.
(2) The prohibition refers also to the individual. How apt are we, in days of health and strength, when life is a joy, and the movement of our limbs a music, to put the day of sickness far from us, to fancy that the clear eye will never be dimmed, the strong arm never be palsied, and the heart, now so warm, will continue to beat and throb with unfailing vigour. We may see the sick, the frail, and the weak around, but we are inclined to look upon them as a class different from ourselves. Is there not a secret glorying in all this? How foolish is this! For who can do battle with the King of terrors?
3. Then you are not to glory in riches. Nothing is more contemptible than that a man should be proud simply because he happens to have a good account at his bankers, or a great deal of money in his purse. Why, any man, however worthless, who makes a happy hit may have that--a gambler on the Stock Exchange or a pawnbroker. How uncertain are riches as a possession! How many homes have we seen made desolate! How many households broken up and families scattered during recent years! I am not insisting on the uselessness of money. I am not inveighing against the possession of wealth. I am only cautioning you against making it the source of your happiness, or the ground of your glorying; for it cannot satisfy the deepest needs of the human heart. Didnt Queen Elizabeth, on her deathbed, say--I would give ten thousand pounds for an hour of life? Let not the rich man glory in his riches.
II. An exact direction. Let him that glorieth, etc. Here is the subject of glorying. Understanding God, and knowing Him practically, so as to love Him and walk in His ways. To understand Him is now possible, for He has made known His ways to men. His whole dealings with His people are a revelation of Himself. To know God is now possible; for He hath revealed Himself in the person of His own dear Son, who is the brightness of the Fathers glory, and the express image of His person. We may understand and know Him as thus revealed; and if we do, we may glory. If you rejoice in any other, after kindling a few sparks, you will lie down in sorrow; but if you glory in knowing God, that is a thing which, stretching into eternity, casts a shadow over the brightest sublunary splendours, and remains an everlasting possession. (J. Macgregor, M. A.)
He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord
There is a French proverb to the effect that to do sway with one thing you must put another in its place. Men must glory in one thing or other, and so it is not enough that we be told what not to glory in, but we must also be told what we are to glory in. We need a word, Thou shalt not; but to give that word force, and make it last, we need another word, Thou shalt do this.
I. The false glorying which we are warned against. Glorying here means far more than mere coarse, outward strut and brag. We are all ready enough to blame that, if not to laugh at it. There may be a far deeper, stronger pride, and glorying, which is quiet and calm and hidden. Indeed, if you think of it, the worst sort of pride is not what is shown by outward braveries. The man who parades his finery, and is so anxious to strike us with astonishment and awe, shows so much concern for our opinion, and is so set upon making an impression on us, that we cannot help feeling flattered: his huge effort to stand high in our eyes, and stir our astonishment, must be complimentary. And even when he walks with his chin in the air, or prances proudly past us, or looks down loftily from a great height, we must see in all that proof that he thinks a good deal about us, and is by no means indifferent to the impression he is making. Whereas, a really prouder man, haughtier and more scornful, might be far too careless of us, or our judgment, to take any trouble about us: might scorn to make us feel how high he was, and care nothing whether we appreciated his greatness or no: heeds us no more than he does the birds that fly over his head, or peer at him from the hedges, and would as soon think of showing off before them as of standing on his dignity before common folk like you and me.
1. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom.
(1) No doubt the chief thought in Jeremiahs mind is political wisdom, cunning devices of the statesman. At first sight it seems a cheap bargain to snatch the near profit and risk the anger of God. But in the end such wisdom turns to folly. Gods wisdom will last longest. The wisest thing in the end is always found to be the right, duty, obedience. And here is something which puts all men on a level; makes the simple equal to the genius. The differences between mere human smartness and sagacity only reach a very little way. It is so very little of the future that the best can foresee: and how precarious it all is! Whereas, righteousness and duty never change and never fail, and the wisdom of doing Gods will must show itself sooner or later.
(2) Pride of intellect. This is the most tempting of all kinds of pride, and the most stubborn. Often you could pay no greater compliment, and give no greater pleasure to a talented, clever, wise thinker, than to warn him against glorying too much in his intellectual superiority. There is no reaching these men. Raised aloft on a high pillar of self-sufficiency and self-satisfaction, happy and snug in the consciousness of their culture, cleverness, criticalness, they look down on all the world at their feet. In Gods sight what a farce this must be!
2. Might. Some trust in horses and some in chariots. The might of Israel was the presence and protection of God. What a shame for them to sink into dependence on arms and armies! Here, again, we must seek to apply the warning to our individual case. The apostle John speaks of the pride of life as one of the lusts of the world to be overcome. And, perhaps, there is nothing in which men more readily glory than in this hold of life. You may be too superstitious, actually, to boast about it, and may remember dimly the terrible suddenness of change, the chances of death, the risks of sickness, too much for you positively to glory aloud. But yet it is amazing how complacently, when we are in health and strength, we can look on the feeble and ailing, as if they belonged to a set apart from us; as if there was a class of people who were to be sickly and fragile whom we might pity, but to which we did not belong. This quiet, complacent self-satisfaction is really glorying in our strength. And the foolishness of this is seen herein, that there cannot in all the world be anything so certain to happen as the utter collapse of that glory in the case of every man and woman alive.
3. Riches. Money answereth all things, and is a very likely thing to glory in. It is the readiest power and easiest to enjoy, and therefore handiest for use. And though there is scarcely anything more senseless than purse pride, or haughtiness of heart on account of wealth, still nothing is more natural than trust in the power of the purse. Against this danger comes the prophets warning, calling us to remember how insecure is all wealth, and, therefore, all glory in wealth. How precarious our peace if wealth be its basis. Is not the history of our day full of desolate stories of swift and sudden disasters? But, besides, even though no such chance befall, how helpless riches are to heal the wounds and woes of life!
II. Right glorying. The cure of the false is by putting the true in its place. We have good news--a glory to tell of as blissful as the worlds fairy tale, and with this charm of charms, that it is all true, and sure, and everlasting,
1. Knoweth Me. How it leaps to the highest height at once! We have been too long lingering about the cisterns, the broken cisterns. And now, in a bound, we go to the wellspring of living waters, God Himself. There is no rest for you till you get there, till God is your portion. What a glad thing it is we can get that I that we all are offered it!
2. But observe what it is that is known about God particularly. The historical meaning, the thought in Jeremiahs mind, is this--that, instead of fretting, and fighting, and scheming, and sinning to hold their own among the rival nations, they should rather fall back on God the Ruler of all things, comfort themselves in calling on Him, glory in this that they know He is the Ruler among the nations, and will guide for good those who seek and serve Him. This is life eternal to know Thee. As a man seeking goodly pearls, sells all to get the one; as a man finding the treasure in the field, sells all else to get that field; so, having got this knowledge, the charm is gone from all else. The bare knowledge of the fact at once disenchants of all else. Think of a poor beggar begging alms, and, gathering them carefully in a wallet, keeping them safe, suddenly told of plenty and wealth come home I How the news, once known and believed, would make him fling away his wretched scraps, secure now of abundance of comforts.
3. Let him glory. It is not a mere saying, that it is a blessed thing should a man chance to do it, or be able to do it, but it is a counsel and command to do it. Do not keep propping up your peace with false trusts and props, but cast yourself on God. (R. Macellar.)
The pride of knowledge
Have you ever seen a boy blow up a bladder? It has not grown--it is puffed up! It has become big, but it is filled with wind, as a pin will demonstrate. Now, the apostle says, knowledge blows a man up, and makes him look big, so he seems to himself to be large. Love is the only thing that builds him up. The one swells him out, so that he appears greater than he really is. The other develops him by actual increase. The one bloats and the other builds him. The apostles declaration is, that the mere realm of ideas, the simple sphere of knowledge, tends to produce among men immense flabation, and a sense of importance, while love, the Spirit of Christ, is the thing which augments men, enlarges them, strengthens them, with foundations downward and a superstructure upward. (H. W. Beecher.)
Rich in grace rather than in goods
I have read of one who did not fear what he did, nor what he suffered, so that he might get riches; For, said he, men do not ask how good one is, or how gracious one is, but how rich one is. Oh, sirs, the day is coming, when God will ask how rich your souls are; not how rich you are in money, or in jewels, or in land, or in goods, but how rich you are in grace; which should provoke your souls to strive, in face of all discouragements, to be spiritually rich. (Thomas Brooks.)
Earthly riches unavailing
There are three things that earthly riches can never do; they can never satisfy Divine justice, they can never pacify Divine wrath, nor can they ever quiet a guilty conscience. And till these things are done man is undone. (Thomas Brooks.)
Knowing God-the greatest good
Twelve days before his death, little thinking it to be so near, Coleridge wrote to his godchild a remarkable letter, in which the following sentences occur--I declare unto you, with the experience that more than threescore years can give, that health is a great blessing, competence obtained by industry is a great blessing, and to have kind, faithful, loving friends and relatives is a great blessing; but that the greatest of all blessings, as it is the ennobling of all privileges, is to be indeed a Christian.
Let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me.
The knowledge of God
So much emphasis is laid upon knowledge by the writers of Scripture, from its earliest to its latest books, that we might almost say that knowledge is religion. Indeed, the Master Himself did say as much (Joh_17:3). Yet religious knowledge is not religion. That may be possessed by him who is ignorant of God, and lives without Him. Nevertheless, religious knowledge may be the foundation of religion--the material from which the Spirit draws the living fire of faith and love. A knowledge of the facts of the Gospel history is of infinite moment, because they so clearly, so impressively, so attractively show forth the hidden nature and unspeakable name of the Eternal. Their importance is evidenced by the fact that the whole of the epistles are devoted to an exposition of the purposes and meanings which are infolded in them. Yet we may master all these things intellectually, and not possess the knowledge of God--the knowledge to which the Scriptures attach such great importance, the knowledge which is eternal life. Clearly there is a knowledge within knowledge. So vitally necessary is the inner illumination, that one man may possess but little knowledge of the facts through which God has revealed Himself, and yet may know Him; and another may have an exhaustive knowledge of the facts, and not know Him at all. It is not religious knowledge that saves, but knowledge of God--knowledge of His mind, which is deeper than anything coming from His mind; knowledge of His heart, as heart only can know heart, by an instinct, a sympathy, an appreciation. Here we see the infinite worth of the life of Christ as manifesting God; because the Spirit that was in Him appeared in forms which we can best appreciate, and which are best adapted to impress our minds and hearts. We show ourselves to each other in a thousand ways, consciously and unconsciously, in the tone and manner in which we speak to a child, or give instructions to a servant, or address our equals; in the way in which we cherish or sacrifice our comforts; in the presence or absence of proofs of loving thoughtfulness. So read, the life of our blessed Lord and Master was continually giving some evidence of what God is, and was shedding light all along the pathway of men; into every dark valley and gloomy forest; upon every mystery and sorrow and care. We have the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But let us try and still further unfold the method by which men come to the knowledge of God. The beloved disciple says: The Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. Now, in what way is that understanding given? Partly by the historic Christ, partly by the Christ within. The one operation or manifestation of Christ must never exclude the other. To be with Christ is to acquire the power to know Him. To live in the Gospels is to understand Him who is their central figure, their Divine glory. Christ is the Light without; He also opens the eyes to see. He is the supreme revelation of God given for us to know; He also creates the spiritual understanding which apprehends the truth and glory and divinity of the revelation. Not by logic, then, do we attain to the knowledge of God, but by spiritual perception, by faith. And this knowledge of God is not a comprehension, but an apprehension, of Him, a seizing hold of Him by our spiritual sense, in response to the hold with which He has seized us. (J. P. Gledstone.)
How to learn about God
The knowledge of God is not a thing which can be fixed in the beginning, except in words; in its very nature, the knowledge of God among men must, to a large extent, be progressive; and it must follow the development of the race itself. There has been, and there is recognised in the Word of God from beginning to end, a steady progress in the disclosure of the Divine nature; and we see that in the thoughts respecting God among men there has been a gradual augmentation of the conception of the Divine character, arising from the process which I have already delineated. It is true that in the Bible there is much sublime portraiture representing the character of God; but, after all, no man knows God until he has personally found Him out in such a way as that he feels that God has touched him. No man can say, I know God as a living God. except so far as he has interpreted Him out of his own living consciousness. Now, suppose you say of God, He is just, true, righteous, pure, benevolent, lovely. Those qualities being enumerated, there will probably be a thousand different conceptions of the personality which they go to make up. What are the circumstances which will make this difference in your conceptions of the Divine nature? I will explain. Some there are who are far more sensible to physical qualities than others. The sublimity of power is to their thought one of the chief Divine attributes. God is omnipotent. That idea touches them. He is omniscient. Their eyes sparkle when they think of that. He is omnipresent. They have a sense of that. He is majestic. He has wondrous power. According to their conception He is God of all the earth. None can resist His might. That is your sense of God. If you only have such a God, you are satisfied. Another person wants a scientific God. He says, I perceive that there is a law of light, a law of heat, a law of electricity; I see that everything is fashioned by law; and my idea of God is that He must be supreme in science; that there are to be found in Him all those qualities which science is interpreting to me. His God will be just, generous, faithful; but He will be just, generous, faithful after the fashion of some Agassiz, or some Cuvier, or some Faraday. Another man conceives of God from the domestic side, It is the mother nature that he thinks of--the nature that is full of gentleness; full of kindness; full of sympathy; full of sweetness; full of elevated tastes and relishes; full of songs; full of all manner of joy-producing qualities. Another, who is an artist, will feel after the God of the rainbow--a God of beauty. So every person will be dependent upon the most sensitive parts of his own soul for his interpretation of God. What is it that makes one flower blue and another scarlet? No flower reflects all the light. If a flower is purple it absorbs a part and reflects the rest. If it is blue it absorbs some of the parts and reflects others. The same is true if it is red. And as it is with the colours of flowers, so it is with our conception of God. What you are susceptible of, and what you are sensitive to, in the Divine nature, largely determines what your conception of God is. Each individual puts emphasis on that part of the character of God which his own mind is best fitted to grasp. For instance, God is said to be a God of justice, of truth, and of benevolence. Now, which of those elements is first? Which governs the others? If God is first sternly just, and then suffers and is kind, that is one sort of God. If He is first loving, and then in the service of love is stern, and severe even, that is another kind of God. I hold that the emphasis which you put upon the Divine attributes determines the character of God in your mind; and when you say, I hold that God is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, just, good, true, faithful, benevolent, you have said what this man says, what that man says, and what I say. We are all agreed, then, are we? Oh, no! If I could take a Daguerrean picture of the conception which each one forms of God, it would be found that one puts more emphasis on justice than love, and that another puts more emphasis on love than on justice. It would be found that one emphasises one attribute, and another its opposite; and that the conception which each one forms of the Divine character depends upon the quality which he emphasises most. The next question which you would naturally propound to me is, Since these are the ways in which God is conceived of by men, how shall each fashion in himself the living God? I call the Bible a picture gallery. It is an historical record which is open to all; but it behoves us each to have some conception which we call our God, our Fathers God, the living God. I know of no other way than that which has been practised by the race from the beginning. I know of no other way than for you, in filling out the catalogue which the Word of God gives you of the elements of the Divine nature, to employ the actual perceptions and experiences of this life, in order to kindle before your mind those qualities which otherwise would be abstract to you. Suppose, then, that you have built up in your mind, by some such process as this, a personal God--a God of your own--who fills the heaven with the best things you can conceive of, to which you are perpetually adding from the stores of your daily experience? for it seems to me that God is a name which becomes more and more by reason of the things which you add to it. Every element, every combination of elements, every development which carries with it a sweeter inspiration than it has been your wont to experience, you put inside of that name and you call it God. You are forever gathering up the choicest and most beautiful phases of human life; and with these you build your God. And then you have a living God adapted to your consciousness and personality. Now, let me ask you--for I come back to my text, whether it is not a good text to stand on? Thus saith the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. Why, he is a savant! He is a philosopher! He is world-renowned. He is bathed in peoples observation. Does not a man rejoice in that? A great many do. Neither let the mighty man glory in his might. A great many men do rejoice in their might. Let not the rich man glory in his riches. If that were obeyed it would upset New York in twenty-four hours. Now and then we are brought to the edge of the great invisible realm, and then we are made to feel that we need something besides wisdom, something besides might, and something besides riches. When a man lies sick in his house, feeling that all the world is going away from him, what can riches do for him? It can be of but little service to him then. When a man is fifty years of age, and he has large estates, and a high reputation as a citizen, if he is going to leave the world, what can his wealth do for him? If he knows that he is going fast toward the great invisible sphere, does he not need something to hold him up when the visible shall have broken down in this life? The great emergencies of your life make it needful that you should have something stronger than wealth, wiser than philosophy, sweeter than human love, mightier than time and nature: you need God. For when flesh and heart fail, then He is the strength of our soul, and our salvation forever. (H. W. Beecher.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain The Way of Escape Rejected
The Way of Escape Rejected
v. 23. Thus saith the Lord, in once more picturing to the apostate Jews the one way of salvation, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, as though that were sufficient to bring him redemption, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, trusting in his strength and power to deliver him, let not the rich man glory in his riches, as though they could protect him from the threatening destruction,
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v. 24. but let him that glorieth glory in this, make this fact the one and only foundation of his boasting, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that he has learned to know the true God, the Triune God and the Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the one Messiah of the world, that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness, His grace and mercy occupying first place in His attitude over against us, judgment, and righteousness, in the expression of His holiness and faithfulness in His Word, whether in reward or in punishment, in the earth, in His entire relation toward mankind; for in these things I delight, saith the Lord, He Himself is active in exercising His bliss in them, and He is anxious to have His children and all men walk in them.
v. 25. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised, literally, "every circumcision in foreskin," that Isaiah He would visit in anger all men whose heart was not turned to Him in the true obedience of faith, whether they had submitted to the rite of circumcision or not:
v. 26. Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, the Jews with all the nations surrounding them, and all that are in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness, literally, "all having their hair," that is, their beard, "clipped at the corners," a custom in use among the heathen nations, but expressly forbidden to the Israelites, Lev 19:27; Lev 21:5; for all these nations are uncircumcised, they had not accepted the rite by which the Jews were distinguished as the chosen people of the Lord under the covenant made with the patriarchs, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart, that is, in their case the outward observance of the formerly significant rite had lost its meaning, since they had not turned to the Lord in true repentance. Without such change of heart the rite of acceptance into the outward membership in Israel was of no avail, just as the Sacrament of Baptism has no value in the case of those who do not believe. A mere outward observance of the customs of religion will not bring men to true fellowship with the Lord.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
These are the words of Yahweh.
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Do not let the wise man take pride in his wisdom
"A wise man should not be proud because he is wise"
or the warrior in his might
The understood verb may be supplied. AT: "or let the warrior take pride in his might" (See: Ellipsis)
Do not let the wealthy man take pride in his riches
"A rich man should not be proud because he is rich"
has insight and knows me
"understands who I am and knows me." Both of these phrases have similar meanings. They emphasize people knowing who Yahweh is and understanding who he is. (See: Parallelism)
For I am Yahweh
This refers to people knowing Yahweh and his ways. AT: "Because people should understand that I am Yahweh" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
For it is in these that I take pleasure
The word "these" refers to covenant loyalty, justice, and righteousness.
this is Yahweh's declaration
Yahweh speaks of himself by name to express the certainty of what he is declaring. See how you translated this in Jeremiah 1:8. AT: "this is what Yahweh has declared" or "this is what I, Yahweh, have declared" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
translationWords
wise
proud
soldier
might
know
covenant faithfulness
just
righteous
earth
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 9:23-24 This short poem discusses the nature of true…
9:23-24 This short poem discusses the nature of true wisdom.
9:23 Intellectuals might boast about the knowledge they have accumulated. The king and his royal court might flaunt their power with pomp and ceremony. Wealthy merchants might display their riches by wearing splendid clothes and constructing majestic buildings. All of these would be destroyed at the time of God’s judgment.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.