Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Has there ever been a righteous person?Job 15:14, Isaiah 64:6, and Romans 3:10 deny anyone is righteous — all our righteousness is as filthy rags, there is none righteous, no, not one.
Daniel 6:23-24(v8)Then the king was exceedingly glad, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den,…
Proverbs 21:18(v8)The wicked is a ransom for the righteous, the treacherous for the upright.
Esther 7:9-10(v8)Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs who were with the king said, “Behold, the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman has made for Mordecai,…
Isaiah 43:3-4(v8)For I am Yahweh your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I have given Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place. Since…
Proverbs 10:28(v7)The prospect of the righteous is joy, but the hope of the wicked will perish.
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Job 8:13-14(v7)So are the paths of all who forget God. The hope of the godless man will perish, Whose confidence will break apart, Whose trust is a…
Ecclesiastes 10:8(v6)He who digs a pit may fall into it; and whoever breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake.
Proverbs 5:22(vv5–6)The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him. The cords of his sin hold him firmly.
1 Samuel 12:3-4(v6)Here I am. Witness against me before Yahweh, and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I…
1 Kings 2:44(v6)The king said moreover to Shimei, “You know in your heart all the wickedness that you did to David my father. Therefore Yahweh will return…
Psalms 7:15-16(v6)He has dug a hole, and has fallen into the pit which he made. The trouble he causes shall return to his own head. His violence shall come…
1 Kings 2:32-33(v6)Yahweh will return his blood on his own head, because he fell on two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword,…
Job 11:20(v7)But the eyes of the wicked will fail. They will have no way to flee. Their hope will be the giving up of the spirit.”
Psalms 9:15-16(v5)The nations have sunk down in the pit that they made. In the net which they hid, their own foot is taken. Yahweh has made himself known. He…
Genesis 30:33(v6)So my righteousness will answer for me hereafter, when you come concerning my hire that is before you. Every one that is not speckled and…
Exodus 15:9-10(v7)The enemy said, ‘I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the plunder. My desire will be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword. My…
Psalms 146:4(v7)His spirit departs, and he returns to the earth. In that very day, his thoughts perish.
Proverbs 14:32(v7)The wicked is brought down in his calamity, but in death, the righteous has a refuge.
Luke 12:19-20(v7)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,…
Genesis 31:37(v6)Now that you have felt around in all my stuff, what have you found of all your household stuff? Set it here before my relatives and your…
Esther 7:3-10(v5)Then Esther the queen answered, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me at my…
Proverbs 1:31-32(v5)Therefore they will eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own schemes. For the backsliding of the simple will kill…
Proverbs 3:6(v5)In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 11:3(v5)The integrity of the upright shall guide them, but the perverseness of the treacherous shall destroy them.
Ezekiel 28:9(v7)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.
Matthew 27:4-5(v5)saying, “I have sinned in that I betrayed innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? You see to it.” He threw down the pieces of…
26 distinct cross-references across this passage (27 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (22 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn v8That is, shall enter into trouble.
That is, shall enter into trouble.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv5–8Pro 11:5 The righteousness of the perfect shall direct…
Pro 11:5 The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way: but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.
Ver. 5. The righteousness of the perfect.] This is the same in effect with Pro 11:3. Nunquam satis dicitur, quod nunquam satis discitur. {a}
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But the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.] Or, In his own wickedness. He shall fall out of one wickedness unto another, while he "draws iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope." {Isa 5:18} Thus Babylon’s sins are said to "reach unto heaven"; {Rev 18:5} quasi concatenatus funis. Therefore "she is fallen, she is fallen," certo, brevi, penitus, nondum tamen. Flagitium et flagellum, ut acus et filum. Sin and punishment are inseparable companions.
{a} Seneca.
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 Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv5–8Shall direct his way; shall bring all his designs…
Shall direct his way; shall bring all his designs and endeavours to a happy issue, by comparing this clause with the next.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry1710 · Public DomainOn vv5, 7, 8These two verses are, in effect, the same, and…
These two verses are, in effect, the same, and both to the same purport with Pro 11:3. For the truths are here of such certainty and weight that they cannot be too often inculcated. Let us govern ourselves by these principles.
I. That the ways of religion are plain and safe, and in them we may enjoy a holy security. A living principle of honesty and grace will be, 1. Our best direction in the right way, in every doubtful case to say to us, This is the way, walk in it. He that acts without a guide looks right on and sees his way before him. 2. Our best deliverance from every false way: The righteousness of the upright shall be armour of proof to them, to deliver them from the allurements of the devil and the world, and from their menaces.
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The ways of wickedness are dangerous and destructive: The wicked shall fail into misery and ruin by their own wickedness, and be taken in their own naughtiness as in a snare. O Israel! thou hast destroyed thyself. Their sin will be their punishment; that very thing by which they contrived to shelter themselves will make against them.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv5–8The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way,....…
The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way,.... Or "make it plain" (f); that is, the righteousness of those who are perfect in Christ, complete in him, perfectly justified by his righteousness; that righteousness makes their way plain; it is the direct way, the highway, the pathway to eternal life and happiness; see Pro 12:28;
but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness; or, "in his wickedness" (g): in his own wicked way, which he has chosen and delights to walk in; he shall stumble therein, and fall into ruin and destruction, into hell and damnation: or by means or because of it he will fall; his wickedness will be the cause of his fall; as it will be the cause of the fall of Babylon, Rev 18:2.
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(f) "rectam facit", Cocceius; "complanat viam ejus", Schultens. (g) "in impietate sua", Tigurine version, Montanus, Baynus, Michaelis; "improbitate sua", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "in injustitia sua", Cocceius; "in improbitate sua turbulenta", Schultens.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn v8Cometh - Into trouble.
Cometh - Into trouble.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv7–8Verse 7. When a wicked man dieth] HOPE is…
Verse 7. When a wicked man dieth] HOPE is a great blessing to man in his present state of trial and suffering; because it leads him to expect a favourable termination of his ills. But hope was not made for the wicked; and yet they are the very persons that most abound in it! They hope to be saved, and get at last to the kingdom of God; though they have their face towards perdition, and refuse to turn. But their hope goes no farther than the grave. There the wicked man's expectation is cut off, and his hope perishes. But to the saint, the penitent, and the cross-bearers in general, what a treasure is hope! What a balm through life!
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn v7Pro 11:7-8. When a wicked man dieth, his expectation…
Pro 11:7-8. When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish — All his hope and felicity, which he placed wholly in earthly things, are lost and gone with him; and the hope of unjust men, &c. — This clause, according to this translation, is a mere repetition of the former: but the word אונים, here rendered unjust men, is generally translated strengths, or powers, as indeed it properly means. Divers, therefore, interpret the clause, The hope of their strengths, that is, which they place in their riches, children, friends, and other carnal props and defences, perisheth. So this is added by way of aggravation. The righteous are delivered out of trouble — When, perhaps, he hardly expected it, or even was ready to despair of it; and the wicked cometh in his stead — Is, by God’s providence, brought into the same miseries, which the wicked either designed against, or had formerly inflicted on the righteous, but which were now lately removed from them. Thus Mordecai was saved from the gallows, Daniel from the lions’ den, and Peter from the prison, and their persecutors came in their stead. Israel was delivered out of the Red sea, and the Egyptians drowned in it.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn v7Significant words, as showing the belief that when the…
Significant words, as showing the belief that when the righteous died, his “expectation” (i. e., his hope for the future) did not perish. The second clause is rendered by some, “the expectation that brings sorrow.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Charles Bridges1846 · Public DomainOn v8Thus do these two classes change places in the…
Thus do these two classes change places in the dispensations of God. The same providence often marks Divine faithfulness and retributive justice. The Israelites were delivered out of the trouble of the Red Sea; the Egyptians came in their stead. (Exo 14:21-28 .) Mordecai was delivered from the gallows; Haman was hanged upon it. (Est 5:14 ; Est 7:10 .) The noble confessors in Babylon were saved from the fire; their executioners were "slain" by it. (Dan 3:22-26 .) Daniel was preserved from the lions; his accusers were devoured by them. (Dan 6:22-24 .) Peter was snatched from death; his jailers and persecutors were condemned. (Act 12:6, Act 12:19, Act 12:23 .) Thus "precious in the sight of the LORD is" the life, no less than "the death, of his saints." (Psa 116:15 .) For the deliverance of one precious soul out of trouble he will bring a nation into distress. (1Sa 23:25-28 .) Yea — for the ransom of his own chosen people, he gave not only "Egypt" of old, but in later times "Ethiopia and Seba — men for them, and people for their life."†1 To what source but his own free and sovereign love can we trace this special estimation? "Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee." (Isa 43:4, ut supra.) We do not always mark the same outward manifestation. But the love is unchangeably the same. And how should it at once lay us in the dust, and build our confidence upon an unshaking foundation!
Footnotes:
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†1 Isa 43:3-4, with 2Ch 14:9-11 . 2Ki 19:9 . Compare Pro 21:18 . How different their estimation in the eyes of man, when an Eastern autocrat was willing to cut them off at a single blow as a worthless thing! Est 3:8-15 . Compare 1Co 4:13 .
Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs (1846) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv7–8Solicitous. Or ambitious. Hebrew, "the potent," or Septuagint, "the…
Solicitous. Or ambitious. Hebrew, "the potent," or Septuagint, "the impious."
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv5–8direct--or, "make plain"; wicked ways are not plain (Pro…
direct--or, "make plain"; wicked ways are not plain (Pro 13:17).
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. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv5–85. Righteousness of the perfect — This may be…
5. Righteousness of the perfect — This may be regarded as another form of the proverb in Pro_11:3.
Shall direct — Make straight, plain, even.
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 Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv5–75. direct] Or, make plain, or straight; so that…
5. direct] Or, make plain, or straight; so that it leads to a prosperous issue. See Pro_3:6, note.
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 Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv5, 6, 8(5) Shall direct his way.—Or, make smooth, as Pro_3:6.…
(5) Shall direct his way.—Or, make smooth, as Pro_3:6. The just man by his exact performance of all duty both towards God and man receives more and more light, and therefore continually sees more clearly how to avoid the difficulties that beset his path. The wicked darkens his conscience more and more by the commission of evil, till he stumbles as in the night (Joh_11:9), and at last falls, and rises not again.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv5–8The perfect; the upright and honest. Vulgate, "simple;" Septuagint,…
The perfect; the upright and honest. Vulgate, "simple;" Septuagint, "blameless." Shall direct make straight or smoothhis way. (Pro_3:6) The good man, not blinded by passion, follows a safe and direct path of life; but the wicked, led by his own evil pretensions, and losing the light of conscience, (Joh_11:10) stumbles and fails. Septuagint, "Righteousness cutteth straight (oryotomei ) blameless paths, but ungodliness walketh in iniquity." Oryotomew occurs in Pro_3:6, and nowhere else in the Septuagiut. St. Paul adopts the word in 2Ti_2:15.
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 Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn vv5, 7, 8The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way.
Pro_11:5
The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way.
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The Divine nature of righteousness
Not unreasonably this book of Proverbs charged with unspirituality. It is not a manual of devotion. It is not a setting forth of eternal principles of truth. It is a collection of homely aphorisms applicable to the practical life of man. But these proverbs rest upon spiritual principles, and they are saved from narrowness by the way in which they explain, amplify, and qualify each other. The great pervading principle of the book is righteousness, its Divine nature, and its blessed fruits.
I. The fundamental principle of this book, and of all moral teaching. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he reap. This by the world is--
1. Denied in practice.
2. Denied in theory. The theory is false that, live as you like, the result will be the same. It is contradicted by experience. It is inconsistent with the very being of a God.
II. Special statement of the principles.
1. The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way. Note the leading words. Perfect, not faultless, but upright. Not consciously or intentionally reserving anything from God. His righteousness. Not his own, but Gods; yet made his own by free adoption of his will. Its work. Not an arbitrary reward.
2. Wicked fall by his own wickedness. Generally speaking, failure is worked for, and comes as payment. Apply to
(1) Mans earthly life.
(2) To mans spiritual life. (W. R. Clarke, M.A.)
Goodness required by God
The main characteristic of all heathen religions is that their gods do not demand righteousness, but certain outward and formal observances. Sacrifices must be offered to them, their vindictive temper must be propitiated, their anger averted; if the dues of the gods are paid, the stipulated quantity of corn and wine and oil, the tithes, the first-fruits, the animals for the altar, the tribute for the temple, then the Worshipper, who has thus discharged his obligations, may feel himself free to follow out his own tastes and inclinations. In the Roman religion, for example, every dealing with the gods was a strictly legal contract; the Roman general agreed with Jupiter or with Mars that if the battle should be won a temple should be built. It was not necessary that the cause should be right, or that the general should be good; the sacrifice of the wicked, though offered with an evil intent, was as valid as the sacrifice of the good. In either case the same amount of marble and stone, of silver and gold, would come to the god. In the Eastern religions not only were goodness and righteousness dissociated from the idea of the gods, but evil of the grossest kinds was definitely associated with them. The Phoenician deities, like those of the Hindoos, were actually worshipped with rites of murder and lust. Every vice had its patron god or goddess, and it was forgotten by priest and people that goodness could be the way of pleasing God, or moral evil a cause of offence to Him. Even in Israel, where the teaching of revelation was current in the proverbs of the people, the practice generally followed the heathen conceptions. All the burning protests of the inspired prophets could not avail to convince the Israelite that what God required was not sacrifice and offering, but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with Him. Again and again we find that the high places were frequented, and the ritual supported by men who were sensual, unjust, and cruel. The Sabbath Day was kept, the feasts were duly observed, the priests were handsomely maintained, and there, it was supposed, the legitimate claims of Jehovah ceased. What more could He desire? This is surely the most impressive proof that the truth which is under consideration is far from being obvious. So far from treating the truth as a truism, our Lord in all His teaching laboured to bring it out in greater clearness, and to set it in the forefront of His message to men. He painted with exquisite simplicity and clearness the right life, the conduct which God requires of us, and then likened every one who practised this life to a man who builds his house on a rock, and every one who does not practise it to a man who builds his house on the sand. He declared, in the spirit of the Book of Proverbs, that teachers were to be judged by their fruits, and that God would estimate our lives not by what we professed to do, but by what we did; and He took up the very language of the book in declaring that every man should be judged according to his works. In every word He spoke He made it plain that goodness is what God loves, and that wickedness is what He judges and destroys. In the same way every one of the apostles insists on this truth with a new earnestness. St. John more especially reiterates it, in words which sound even more like a truism than the sayings of this book: He that doeth righteousness, is righteous even as He is righteous; and, If ye know that He is righteous, ye know that every one also that doeth righteousness is begotten of Him. (R. F. Herren, D.D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible1887 · Public DomainOn v6"The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them." Pro_11:6
CHAPTER 12
GOODNESS
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"The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them." Pro_11:6
"An unjust man is the abomination of the righteous, and he who goes right in his way is the abomination of the wicked."- Pro_29:27
THE book of Proverbs abounds with sayings which have the sound of truisms, sayings which repeat, with innumerable variations and shades of coloring, that wickedness is an evil, hateful to God and to men, and that righteousness is a blessing not only to the righteous themselves, but to all with whom they are connected. We are disposed to say, surely no reasonable person can question such an obvious truth; but on reflection we remember that the truth was not perceived by the great religions of antiquity, is not recognized now by the vast majority of the human race, and even where it is theoretically admitted without question is too frequently forgotten in the hurry and the pressure of practical life. There is good reason therefore why the truism, as we are inclined to call it, should be thrown into the form of maxims which will find a hold in the memory, and readily occur to the mind on occasions of trial And as we pass in review what Proverbial Religion has to say upon the subject, we shall perhaps be surprised to find how imperfectly we have apprehended the supreme importance of goodness, and how insidiously teachings, which were originally meant to enforce it, have usurped its place and treated it with contumely. It will begin to dawn upon us that the truth is a truism, not because it is carried out in practice, but only because no one has the hardihood to question it; and perhaps we shall receive some impulse towards transforming the conviction which we cannot dispute into a mode of conduct which we cannot decline.
To begin with, our book is most unflinching in its assertions that, notwithstanding all appearances to the contrary, wickedness is a mistake, a source of perpetual weakness and insecurity, always in the long run producing ruin and death; while righteousness is in itself a perpetual blessing, and is weighted with beautiful and unexpected fruits. The very reiteration becomes most impressive.
The hope of the righteous shall be gladness; but the expectation of the wicked shall perish. {Pro_10:28} The righteous shall never be removed, but the wicked shall not dwell in the land. {Pro_10:30} The house of the wicked shall be overthrown, but the tent of the upright shall flourish. The wicked earneth deceitful wages, but he that soweth righteousness hath a sure reward. {Pro_11:18} A man shall not be established by wickedness, while the root of the righteous shall never be moved. {Pro_13:3} The wicked really falls by his own wickedness, and is swept away by his own violence. {Pro_11:5; Pro_6:2, Pro_1:7} He sows iniquity and reaps calamity. {Pro_22:8} His crooked way, his malignant thoughts, the hatred against his neighbor, the guile in his heart, and the flood of evil things which comes out of his lips, have one issue-destruction. {Pro_21:7-8; Pro_21:10; Pro_21:15, Pro_26:24-26, Pro_15:28} When he comes to die, his expectation perishes, all the hope of iniquity ends in disappointment. {Pro_11:7} His lamp goes out not to be relit. {Pro_13:9, Pro_24:20} Meanwhile, the light of the righteous man rejoices, because he attains unto life as surely as the wicked works towards death. {Pro_11:19}
It is true that the appearance of things is different. Hand joins in hand to promote evil. {Pro_11:21} Men follow out what seems right in their own hearts, evil as they are. {Pro_14:12, Pro_16:5; Proverbs 25, Pro_21:2} Success seems to attend them, and one is tempted to envy the sinners, and to fret at their way. {Pro_23:17; Proverbs 18, Pro_24:1; Pro_24:19} But the envy is misplaced; the evil man does not go unpunished; the wicked are overthrown and are not. {Pro_12:7} The way which seemed right in a mans eyes proves to be the way of death. {Pro_14:12, Pro_16:25} A righteous man falleth seven times and riseth up again; but the wicked are overthrown by calamity, {Pro_24:15-16} and the righteous are obliged to look upon their fall. {Pro_29:16}
On the other hand, goodness is its own continual reward. While treacherous men are destroyed by their perverseness, the upright are guided by their own integrity. {Pro_11:3} While the sinner is overthrown by his wickedness, righteousness guardeth him that is upright in the way. If the righteous gets into trouble he is delivered, while the wicked falls into his place: there is a kind of substitution; a ransom is paid to enable the righteous to escape, and the ransom is the person of the wicked. {Pro_21:18} Not only does the righteous come out of trouble, {Pro_12:13} but, strictly speaking, no mischief really happens to him; it is only the wicked that is filled with evil. {Pro_12:21} The righteous eats to the satisfying of his own soul, but the belly of the wicked shall want. {Pro_13:25} The good man walks on a highway and so preserves his soul. {Pro_16:17, Pro_19:16} If Mercy and truth shine upon him because he devises good. {Pro_14:22} He only followed after righteousness and mercy, but he found life, righteousness, and honor. {Pro_21:21} His heart is flooded with joy, he actually sings as he journeys on. He seems like a tree in the green leaf, a tree of life, the fruits of which cannot fail to be attractive; so that he unconsciously wins favor. {Pro_11:27; Pro_11:30} The fruit does not fail, because the root is alive. {Pro_12:12} And if in actual life this blessedness of the good man does not appear, if by reason of the evil in the world the righteous seem to be punished, and the noble to be smitten, that only creates a conviction that the fruit will grow in another life; for when we have closely observed the inseparable connection between goodness and blessedness, we cannot avoid the conviction that "the righteous hath hope in his death." {Pro_14:32} Yes, practical goodness is the source of perpetual blessing, and it cannot be altogether hidden. Even a child maketh himself known by his doings, whether his work be pure and right. {Pro_20:11} To the good we must assign the supremacy; the evil must bow before them and wait at their gates. {Pro_14:19} And it is easy to understand why it appears so incongruous-so abnormal, like a troubled fountain and a corrupted spring, when the righteous give way to the wicked. {Pro_25:26}
Nor is the blessing of goodness at all limited to the good man himself. It falls on his children too. A just man that walketh in his integrity, blessed are his children after him. It reaches even to the third generation. A good man leaveth an inheritance to his childrens children. {Pro_13:22} The righteous is a guide to his neighbor also. {Pro_12:26} He is a joy to his sovereign; he that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend. His character and his well-being are a matter of public, even of national concern, for there is something winning in him; he acts as a saving influence upon those who are around him. {Pro_11:31} Therefore, when the righteous increase the people rejoice, {Pro_29:2} when they triumph there is great glory. {Pro_28:12} When it goeth well with the righteous the city rejoiceth, just as when the wicked perish there is shouting. By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted, just as it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked. {Pro_11:10-11} Yes, righteousness exalteth a nation, while sin is a reproach to the whole people. {Pro_14:34}
It is the grand public interest to see the wicked perish in order that the righteous may increase {Pro_28:28} for the way of the wicked causes other people to err. {Pro_12:26} His lips are like a scorching fire; {Pro_16:27} his presence brings a general atmosphere of contempt, ignominy, and shame. {Pro_18:3} When the wicked rise men hide themselves, {Pro_28:28} when they bear rule the people sigh. {Pro_29:2} Well may the national feeling be severe on all those who encourage the wicked in any way. He that saith unto the wicked, Thou art righteous, peoples shall curse him, nations shall abhor him; but to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them. {Pro_24:24-25} It is a sure sign that one is forsaking the law when one ceases to contend with the wicked and begins to praise them. {Pro_28:4}
Blessing to himself, blessing to his children, his neighbors, his country, is the beautiful reward of the good man; ruin to himself, a spreading contagion of evil to others, and general execration, is the lot of the wicked. Well may the former be bold as a lion, and well may the latter flee when no man pursues, for conscience makes cowards of us all. {Pro_28:1}
But at present we have not touched on the chief blessedness of the good, and the chief curse of the evil, on that which is really the spring and fountain-head of all. It is the great fact that God is with the righteous and against the wicked, that He judges men according to their integrity or perverseness, and accepts them or rejects them simply upon that principle. By looking at this lofty truth we get all our conceptions on the subject cleared. The perverse in heart are an abomination to the Lord; such as are perfect in their way are His delight. {Pro_11:20} A good man shall obtain favor of the Lord, but a man of wicked devices will he condemn. {Pro_12:2} Evil devices are an abomination to the Lord, {Pro_15:26} and so is the wicked, but He loveth the righteous. {Pro_15:9} To justify the wicked or to condemn the righteous is equally abominable to Him. {Pro_17:15; Proverbs 26, Pro_18:5} He considers the house of the wicked, how the wicked are overthrown to their ruin. He overthrows the words of the treacherous man, while His eyes preserve him that hath knowledge. {Pro_22:12} He weighs the heart and keeps the soul and renders to every man according to his work. {Pro_24:12} Thus his way is a stronghold to the upright, but a destruction to the workers of iniquity. {Pro_10:29} He does not regard prayer so much as righteousness; he that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination. {Pro_28:9}
Sacrifice goes for nothing in His sight if the life is not holy. To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. {Pro_21:3} The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination: how much more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind? {Pro_21:27} Yes, it is an abomination to the Lord, just as the prayer of the upright is His delight. The Lord is far from the wicked, but He heareth the prayer of the righteous. {Pro_15:8; Pro_15:29} When the foolish sinner offers a sin-offering instead of relinquishing his sin, the very offering mocks him, for it is only the righteous who find favor with the Lord.
It is this solemn truth, the truth of Gods own way of regarding goodness and wickedness, which makes earnestness on the subject essential. If goodness were only pleasing to man, if sin were only an offence against creatures like ourselves, ordinary prudence would require us to be good and to avoid evil, but higher sanction would be wanting. When, however, the matter is taken up into the Divine presence, and we begin to understand that the Supreme Ruler of all things loves righteousness and hates iniquity, visits the one with favor and the other with reprobation, quite a new sanction is introduced. The wicked man, who makes light of evil, to whom it is as a sport, appears to be nothing short of an absolute fool. {Pro_10:23} In Gods presence it is not difficult to perceive that goodness is wisdom, the only wisdom, the perfect wisdom.
But now it may occur to some of us that it is surely nothing very wonderful to lay this stress upon the close connection between goodness and God-pleasing. Is it not, we are inclined to say, the most obvious and unquestioned of facts that God requires goodness at our hands, and is angry with the wicked every day? It is not very wonderful to us, because Revelation has made it familiar, but none the less it is a truth of Revelation, and if we were to ask in what the Inspiration of this book consists, no simpler and truer answer could be given than that it teaches, as we have just seen, the alliance of God with righteousness and the abhorrence in which He holds wickedness.
Yes, a truism, but it was a discovery which the world was very slow to make, and it is still a principle on which the world is very unwilling to act.
The main characteristic of all heathen religions is that their gods do not demand righteousness, but certain outward and formal observances; sacrifices must be offered to them, their vindictive temper must be propitiated, their anger averted; if the dues of the gods are paid, the stipulated quantity of corn and wine and oil, the tithes, the firstfruits, the animals for the altar, the tribute for the temple, then the worshipper who has thus discharged his obligations may feel himself free to follow out his own tastes and inclinations. In the Roman religion, for example, every dealing with the gods was a strictly legal contract; the Roman general agreed with Jupiter or with Mars that if the battle should be won a temple should be built. It was not necessary that the cause should be right, or that the general should be good; the sacrifice of the wicked, though offered with an evil intent, was as valid as the sacrifice of the good. In either case the same amount of marble and stone, of silver and gold, would come to the god.
In the Eastern religions not only were goodness and righteousness dissociated from the idea of the gods, but evil of the grossest kinds was definitely associated with them. The Phoenician deities, like those of the Hindoos, were actually worshipped with rites of murder and lust. Every vice had its patron god or goddess, and it was forgotten by priest and people that goodness could be the way of pleasing God, or moral evil a cause of offense to Him.
Even in Israel, where the teaching of Revelation was current in the proverbs of the people, the practice generally followed the heathen conceptions. All the burning protests of the inspired prophets could not avail to convince the Israelite that what God required was not sacrifice and offering, but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with Him. Again and again we find that the high places were frequented and the ritual supported by men who were sensual, unjust, and cruel. The Sabbath Day was kept, the feasts were duly observed, the priests were handsomely maintained, and there, it was supposed, the legitimate claims of Jehovah ceased. What more could He desire?
This is surely the most impressive proof that the Truth which is under consideration is far from being obvious. Israel himself, the chosen channel for communicating this truth to the world, was so slow to understand and to grasp it, that his religious observances were constantly degenerating into lifeless ceremonies devoid of all moral significance, and his religious teachers were mainly occupied in denouncing his conduct as wholly inconsistent with the truth.
So far from treating the truth as a truism, our Lord in all His teaching labored to bring it out in greater clearness, and to set it in the forefront of His message to men. He made it the very keynote of the Gospel that not everyone who says, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of His Father in heaven. He painted with exquisite simplicity and clearness the right life, the conduct which God requires of us, and then likened everyone who practiced this life to a man who builds his house on a rock, and everyone who does not practice it to a man who builds his house on the sand. He declared, in the spirit of all that we have just read from the book of Proverbs, that teachers were to be judged by their fruits, and that God would estimate our lives not by what we professed to do, but by what we did; and He took up the very language of the book in declaring that every man should be judged according to his. {Mat_16:27} In every word He spoke He made it plain that goodness is what God loves, and that wickedness is what He judges and destroys. In the same way every one of the Apostles insists on this truth with a new earnestness. St. John more especially reiterates it, in words which sound even more like a truism than the sayings of this book: "He that doeth righteousness is righteous even as He is righteous"; and, "If ye know that He is righteous, ye know that everyone also that doeth righteousness is begotten of Him." {1Jn_3:7; 1Jn_2:29}
The Gospel itself is accompanied by a new and more earnest assertion of this cardinal truth, that God loves goodness, and that He judges men according to their works. And even now, after many centuries of Christian faith, and notwithstanding all the teachings of the Bible and the witness of the Spirit, it is very difficult for many of us to understand that religion is goodness, and religion without goodness is impiety of the worst kind. It is supposed by some, in face of all the accumulated truth and wisdom of the ages which have passed since this book was written, that Gods last and highest message is a dispensation from practical righteousness-that the Gospel of Grace means Gods willingness to accept men because they believe, apart from the actual goodness to which all faith is calculated to lead; as if the Gospel were an announcement that God had entirely changed His nature, and that all the best and noblest teachings of His Spirit in the past were set aside by His final revelation. Behind some figment or other, some perverted notion of imputed righteousness, men try to hide their guilty countenance, and to persuade themselves that now, in virtue of the Cross, they can see God without holiness, without purity of heart. Heaven has been treated as a place where men can enter who work abomination and make a lie; and in order to secure a full acceptance for our dogma we try to depreciate goodness as if it were a thing of little worth, and even come to look with some suspicion upon those who are only good-only moral, I think we call it-and do not hold our own views of speculative truth. Meanwhile religious teachers "tell the wicked they are righteous," and earn the curse of the nation, because they thereby enable men to be hard and cruel and unjust and selfish and proud and contemptuous, and yet to esteem themselves as justified by faith. Others "justify the wicked," accepting a verbal profession in place of a virtuous practice; and that, as we have seen, is abominable to the Lord.
Justification by faith loses all its meaning and all its value unless it is fully admitted that to be just is the great end and aim of religion. Salvation becomes a delusion unless it is perceived that it means righteousness. Heaven, and the saints everlasting rest, become worthless and misleading ideas unless we recognize that it is the abode of goodness, and that saints are not, as we sometimes seem to imply, bad people regarded as holy by a legal fiction, but people who are made good and are actually holy.
Strong as the language of our book is upon the subject, it is not possible to bring out in mere proverbial sayings the eternal necessity of this great truth. Goodness and blessedness are actually identical, the reverse and the obverse sides of the same coin. If a man is made good life is made blessed; but if he is made blessed to all appearance, and not good, the blessedness proves to be an illusion. It could not possibly avail to be justified by faith, unless we were made just by faith; a sore body is not healed by covering it up, a dead man is not quickened by a smiling mask. There have been many people who counted themselves the elect, and made no question that they were saved, though they remained all the time inwardly wicked; they were miserable, sour, discontented, censorious, a burden to themselves, an eyesore to others; they were persuaded that they would be happy in heaven, and they supposed that their constant wretchedness was due to their being pilgrims in a strange land: but the fact was they would be more wretched still in heaven, for nowhere is evil such a curse as in a place where good prevails; their misery arose from their own wicked hearts, and in the next world, their hearts still being wicked, their misery must continue and increase.
May God grant us a clear vision in this matter, that we may see the due relation of things! Goodness is the principal thing for by it faith itself and all religion exists. God is goodness-man is evil; what God means by saving us is to make us good like Himself. That we must be saved by faith means that we must be made good by faith, not that we must take faith in place of goodness. That righteousness is imputed to us by the goodness of God means that the goodness of Christ is reckoned as ours for the purpose of making us good, not in order to spare us the necessity of being good.
And in this way, and this only, we must estimate one another. What a man believes in his heart we can never fully know; but whether he is good or not is a matter plain as the day. It is easy to bandy words of reproach, to call men unbelievers, skeptics, atheists; but there is only one wise way of speaking and thinking. If we see goodness, let us thank God, for there, be sure, His Spirit is; if we see the lovely graces which shine in our Lord Jesus Christ gleaming, however fitfully, in our fellow-men, let us recognize Christ there. And where we see wickedness, let no consideration of outward Christian profession or orthodoxy of belief restrain us from fully recognizing that it is evil, or from courageously contending against it:
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary1892 · Public DomainOn vv5, 7, 8Pro_11:5. Direct, “make smooth or even.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE LATTER CLAUSES OF Pro_11:5-6
MADE OR MARRED BY DESIRES
The word translated “naughtiness” should be rendered “lust” or “desires.” (See Critical Notes).
I. Sin is compliance with desires that do not harmonise with moral righteousness. A traveller on a lonely and dangerous road may have two guides offered to him by the opposite promptings of his own mind. He may have a strong desire to explore a path which looks most pleasant and attractive but which he knows does not lead to his destination, and is beset with many perils although its aspect is inviting. On the other hand, his good sense tells him it is unwise to run the risk of injury by thus turning aside from the road that he knows leads to the goal which he desires to reach, although the path may be rough and toilsome. If he yields to his first desire and pursues the dangerous path until it is too late to retrace his steps, he may lose his life by a false step over a precipice and so be destroyed by his own desires. All men are under the dominion of desires, and if their desires after God and righteousness have the rule they will be guided by them into the ways of deliverance and safety, as we saw in considering Pro_11:3. But if they yield themselves up to the guidance of desires which run counter to the law of God and right, as they are made known both by conscience and revelation, they sink lower and lower in the scale of moral being and become slaves when they might have been free men. “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness” (Joh_8:34; Rom_6:16).
II. The sinner is the forger of his own fetters. If a man labours in his field, his garden, or his vineyard, in harmony with the known laws which God has ordained to be observed, he may reasonably expect a good crop—an abundant harvest. But if he sets at nought these laws—if he yields to desires of self-indulgence—or in any other way acts contrary to the conditions which are indispensable to success—he has no one to blame but himself if he finds himself a beggar when he might have had plenty. The law of God’s moral universe is written in revelation, upon conscience, in the history of men, that “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap,” that “The wages of sin is death” (Gal_6:7; Rom_6:23). If men are “taken,” are first enslaved by sin and then suffer the penalty of sinning, they have themselves digged the pit of their own destruction—have forged the chains by which they are bound.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_11:4. How badly led those are who are not righteous, appears in this: that while righteousness does everything for a man in journeying to his end, wealth does nothing for him. “Wealth,” which seems to be the great guide of the human family, not only cannot deliver, but cannot profit in the crisis of fate. While “righteousness,” all covered with stains, lets no day go to waste; lets no mile be utterly lost; lets no fear ever be realised; still grapples a man’s hand; and still guides a man’s tread, till he steps at last into the regions of safety.—Miller.
It were no bad comparison to liken mere rich men to camels and mules; for they often pursue their devious way, over hills and mountains, laden with India purple, with gems, aromas, and generous wines upon their backs, attended, too, by a long line of servants as a safeguard on their way. Soon, however, they come to their evening halting-place, and forthwith their precious burdens are taken from their backs; and they, now wearied, and stripped of their lading and their retinue of slaves, show nothing but livid marks of stripes. So, also, those who glitter in gold and purple raiment, when the evening of life comes rushing on them, have nought to show but marks and wounds of sin impressed upon them by the evil use of riches.—St. Augustine.
Riches will not even obtain “a drop of water to cool the tormented tongue” (Luk_16:19-24). In vain will “the rich men of the earth” seek a shelter from the wrath of the Lamb” (Rev_6:15-17).—Bridges.
While the words are true in their highest sense of the great dies irœ of the future, they speak, in the first instance, as do the like words in Zep_1:15-18, of any “day of the Lord,” any time of judgment, when men or nations receive the chastisement of their sins.—Plumptre.
“Wherefore should I die, being so rich?” said that wretched Cardinal, Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, in Henry VI.’s time. “Fie,” quoth he, “will not death be lured? Will money do nothing?”—Trapp.
If righteousness delivereth not from the day, yet it delivereth from the wrath of the day: if it deliver not from death, yet it delivereth from the death of the wicked.—Jermin.
Pro_11:5. “The righteousness of the man of integrity” is perfect only in heaven, and how it “directs” or “levels” his way appears best by the perfect facility of walking in that bright abode. It will be no trouble there to travel forward. While more work will be done in heaven than here, yet there it is done so easily that it is called a “Rest.” The paths of this world are not only difficult, but deadly. “The wicked” will not only struggle, but “fall” in them; and the roughnesses at which he stumbles are not ever in the paths themselves, but really his “own wickedness.”—Miller.
Greedy desire (see Critical Notes) will strongly tempt men to sin, and so they will be ensnared.—Stuart.
The first part of this text may be taken—I. As declaring a fact. A real Christian takes, for direction in his way, the rule of righteousness. The question that he continually puts to himself is—“What ought I to do?” This is the character of a believer in the abstract; and though none may lay claim to perfection, yet none can be justly called believers, unless their lives in the main answer to this description. II. As propounding a promise. It is nowhere promised that the righteous shall not come into trouble, but the strait road goes through them. The other statement of the text may also be regarded—I. As an assertion proved by experience. The drunkard ruins his health and shortens his life by excesses. The spendthrift brings himself to beggary. The contentious man brings himself to mischief. They often dig a pit for others and fall into it themselves. III. As a threat. It does not always happen that men are visited for their sins in this life. Still it may be said to every ungodly man, “Be sure your sin will find you out.”—B. W. Dibdin.
Pro_11:6. Godliness hath many troubles, and as many helps against trouble. As Moses’ hand, it turns the serpent into a rod; and as the tree that Moses cast into the waters of Marah, it sweeteneth the bitter waters of affliction. Well may it be called the divine nature, for as God doth bring light out of darkness, so doth grace.—Trapp.
There need no blocks to be laid in the way of the wicked, no enemies need to thrust him down, for his own wickedness being his way, by that he shall fall.… Wickedness is fastened, by the devil, like a cord about the wicked; by that he pulls them after him: by that he makes them fall, first into shame and misery here, and into hell when they are gone hence.—Jermin.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield1917 · Public DomainOn v5(See Scofield "1Ki 8:61").
perfect
(See Scofield "1Ki 8:61").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann1924 · Public DomainOn vv5–8v. 5. The righteousness of the perfect, of him…
v. 5. The righteousness of the perfect, of him whose conduct is beyond reproach, shall direct his way, make it plain and open, enabling him to walk in the security of a good conscience; but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness, their own lusts proving a snare to them.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv5, 7makes his way straight
makes his way straight
"has clear direction"
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the wicked ... the treacherous
These nominal adjectives can be stated as adjectives. AT: "those who are wicked ... those who are treacherous" (See: Nominal Adjectives)
the treacherous are trapped by their cravings
"those who do evil are captured by their passions"
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v8 That is, shall enter into trouble.
That is, shall enter into trouble.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv5–8 Pro 11:5 The righteousness of the perfect shall direct…
Pro 11:5 The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way: but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.
Ver. 5. The righteousness of the perfect.] This is the same in effect with Pro 11:3. Nunquam satis dicitur, quod nunquam satis discitur. {a}
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But the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.] Or, In his own wickedness. He shall fall out of one wickedness unto another, while he "draws iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope." {Isa 5:18} Thus Babylon’s sins are said to "reach unto heaven"; {Rev 18:5} quasi concatenatus funis. Therefore "she is fallen, she is fallen," certo, brevi, penitus, nondum tamen. Flagitium et flagellum, ut acus et filum. Sin and punishment are inseparable companions.
{a} Seneca.
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 On vv5–8 Shall direct his way; shall bring all his designs…
Shall direct his way; shall bring all his designs and endeavours to a happy issue, by comparing this clause with the next.
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 On vv5, 7, 8 These two verses are, in effect, the same, and…
These two verses are, in effect, the same, and both to the same purport with Pro 11:3. For the truths are here of such certainty and weight that they cannot be too often inculcated. Let us govern ourselves by these principles.
I. That the ways of religion are plain and safe, and in them we may enjoy a holy security. A living principle of honesty and grace will be, 1. Our best direction in the right way, in every doubtful case to say to us, This is the way, walk in it. He that acts without a guide looks right on and sees his way before him. 2. Our best deliverance from every false way: The righteousness of the upright shall be armour of proof to them, to deliver them from the allurements of the devil and the world, and from their menaces.
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The ways of wickedness are dangerous and destructive: The wicked shall fail into misery and ruin by their own wickedness, and be taken in their own naughtiness as in a snare. O Israel! thou hast destroyed thyself. Their sin will be their punishment; that very thing by which they contrived to shelter themselves will make against them.
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 On vv5–8 The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way,....…
The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way,.... Or "make it plain" (f); that is, the righteousness of those who are perfect in Christ, complete in him, perfectly justified by his righteousness; that righteousness makes their way plain; it is the direct way, the highway, the pathway to eternal life and happiness; see Pro 12:28;
but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness; or, "in his wickedness" (g): in his own wicked way, which he has chosen and delights to walk in; he shall stumble therein, and fall into ruin and destruction, into hell and damnation: or by means or because of it he will fall; his wickedness will be the cause of his fall; as it will be the cause of the fall of Babylon, Rev 18:2.
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(f) "rectam facit", Cocceius; "complanat viam ejus", Schultens. (g) "in impietate sua", Tigurine version, Montanus, Baynus, Michaelis; "improbitate sua", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "in injustitia sua", Cocceius; "in improbitate sua turbulenta", Schultens.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v8 Cometh - Into trouble.
Cometh - Into trouble.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv7–8 Verse 7. When a wicked man dieth] HOPE is…
Verse 7. When a wicked man dieth] HOPE is a great blessing to man in his present state of trial and suffering; because it leads him to expect a favourable termination of his ills. But hope was not made for the wicked; and yet they are the very persons that most abound in it! They hope to be saved, and get at last to the kingdom of God; though they have their face towards perdition, and refuse to turn. But their hope goes no farther than the grave. There the wicked man's expectation is cut off, and his hope perishes. But to the saint, the penitent, and the cross-bearers in general, what a treasure is hope! What a balm through life!
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v7 Pro 11:7-8. When a wicked man dieth, his expectation…
Pro 11:7-8. When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish — All his hope and felicity, which he placed wholly in earthly things, are lost and gone with him; and the hope of unjust men, &c. — This clause, according to this translation, is a mere repetition of the former: but the word אונים, here rendered unjust men, is generally translated strengths, or powers, as indeed it properly means. Divers, therefore, interpret the clause, The hope of their strengths, that is, which they place in their riches, children, friends, and other carnal props and defences, perisheth. So this is added by way of aggravation. The righteous are delivered out of trouble — When, perhaps, he hardly expected it, or even was ready to despair of it; and the wicked cometh in his stead — Is, by God’s providence, brought into the same miseries, which the wicked either designed against, or had formerly inflicted on the righteous, but which were now lately removed from them. Thus Mordecai was saved from the gallows, Daniel from the lions’ den, and Peter from the prison, and their persecutors came in their stead. Israel was delivered out of the Red sea, and the Egyptians drowned in it.
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 On v7 Significant words, as showing the belief that when the…
Significant words, as showing the belief that when the righteous died, his “expectation” (i. e., his hope for the future) did not perish. The second clause is rendered by some, “the expectation that brings sorrow.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Charles Bridges 1846 · Public Domain On v8 Thus do these two classes change places in the…
Thus do these two classes change places in the dispensations of God. The same providence often marks Divine faithfulness and retributive justice. The Israelites were delivered out of the trouble of the Red Sea; the Egyptians came in their stead. (Exo 14:21-28 .) Mordecai was delivered from the gallows; Haman was hanged upon it. (Est 5:14 ; Est 7:10 .) The noble confessors in Babylon were saved from the fire; their executioners were "slain" by it. (Dan 3:22-26 .) Daniel was preserved from the lions; his accusers were devoured by them. (Dan 6:22-24 .) Peter was snatched from death; his jailers and persecutors were condemned. (Act 12:6, Act 12:19, Act 12:23 .) Thus "precious in the sight of the LORD is" the life, no less than "the death, of his saints." (Psa 116:15 .) For the deliverance of one precious soul out of trouble he will bring a nation into distress. (1Sa 23:25-28 .) Yea — for the ransom of his own chosen people, he gave not only "Egypt" of old, but in later times "Ethiopia and Seba — men for them, and people for their life."†1 To what source but his own free and sovereign love can we trace this special estimation? "Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee." (Isa 43:4, ut supra.) We do not always mark the same outward manifestation. But the love is unchangeably the same. And how should it at once lay us in the dust, and build our confidence upon an unshaking foundation!
Footnotes:
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†1 Isa 43:3-4, with 2Ch 14:9-11 . 2Ki 19:9 . Compare Pro 21:18 . How different their estimation in the eyes of man, when an Eastern autocrat was willing to cut them off at a single blow as a worthless thing! Est 3:8-15 . Compare 1Co 4:13 .
Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs (1846) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv7–8 Solicitous. Or ambitious. Hebrew, "the potent," or Septuagint, "the…
Solicitous. Or ambitious. Hebrew, "the potent," or Septuagint, "the impious."
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv5–8 direct--or, "make plain"; wicked ways are not plain (Pro…
direct--or, "make plain"; wicked ways are not plain (Pro 13:17).
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 On vv5–8 5. Righteousness of the perfect — This may be…
5. Righteousness of the perfect — This may be regarded as another form of the proverb in Pro_11:3.
Shall direct — Make straight, plain, even.
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 On vv5–7 5. direct] Or, make plain, or straight; so that…
5. direct] Or, make plain, or straight; so that it leads to a prosperous issue. See Pro_3:6, note.
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 On vv5, 6, 8 (5) Shall direct his way.—Or, make smooth, as Pro_3:6.…
(5) Shall direct his way.—Or, make smooth, as Pro_3:6. The just man by his exact performance of all duty both towards God and man receives more and more light, and therefore continually sees more clearly how to avoid the difficulties that beset his path. The wicked darkens his conscience more and more by the commission of evil, till he stumbles as in the night (Joh_11:9), and at last falls, and rises not again.
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 On vv5–8 The perfect; the upright and honest. Vulgate, "simple;" Septuagint,…
The perfect; the upright and honest. Vulgate, "simple;" Septuagint, "blameless." Shall direct make straight or smoothhis way. (Pro_3:6) The good man, not blinded by passion, follows a safe and direct path of life; but the wicked, led by his own evil pretensions, and losing the light of conscience, (Joh_11:10) stumbles and fails. Septuagint, "Righteousness cutteth straight (oryotomei ) blameless paths, but ungodliness walketh in iniquity." Oryotomew occurs in Pro_3:6, and nowhere else in the Septuagiut. St. Paul adopts the word in 2Ti_2:15.
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 On vv5, 7, 8 The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way.
Pro_11:5
The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way.
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The Divine nature of righteousness
Not unreasonably this book of Proverbs charged with unspirituality. It is not a manual of devotion. It is not a setting forth of eternal principles of truth. It is a collection of homely aphorisms applicable to the practical life of man. But these proverbs rest upon spiritual principles, and they are saved from narrowness by the way in which they explain, amplify, and qualify each other. The great pervading principle of the book is righteousness, its Divine nature, and its blessed fruits.
I. The fundamental principle of this book, and of all moral teaching. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he reap. This by the world is--
1. Denied in practice.
2. Denied in theory. The theory is false that, live as you like, the result will be the same. It is contradicted by experience. It is inconsistent with the very being of a God.
II. Special statement of the principles.
1. The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way. Note the leading words. Perfect, not faultless, but upright. Not consciously or intentionally reserving anything from God. His righteousness. Not his own, but Gods; yet made his own by free adoption of his will. Its work. Not an arbitrary reward.
2. Wicked fall by his own wickedness. Generally speaking, failure is worked for, and comes as payment. Apply to
(1) Mans earthly life.
(2) To mans spiritual life. (W. R. Clarke, M.A.)
Goodness required by God
The main characteristic of all heathen religions is that their gods do not demand righteousness, but certain outward and formal observances. Sacrifices must be offered to them, their vindictive temper must be propitiated, their anger averted; if the dues of the gods are paid, the stipulated quantity of corn and wine and oil, the tithes, the first-fruits, the animals for the altar, the tribute for the temple, then the Worshipper, who has thus discharged his obligations, may feel himself free to follow out his own tastes and inclinations. In the Roman religion, for example, every dealing with the gods was a strictly legal contract; the Roman general agreed with Jupiter or with Mars that if the battle should be won a temple should be built. It was not necessary that the cause should be right, or that the general should be good; the sacrifice of the wicked, though offered with an evil intent, was as valid as the sacrifice of the good. In either case the same amount of marble and stone, of silver and gold, would come to the god. In the Eastern religions not only were goodness and righteousness dissociated from the idea of the gods, but evil of the grossest kinds was definitely associated with them. The Phoenician deities, like those of the Hindoos, were actually worshipped with rites of murder and lust. Every vice had its patron god or goddess, and it was forgotten by priest and people that goodness could be the way of pleasing God, or moral evil a cause of offence to Him. Even in Israel, where the teaching of revelation was current in the proverbs of the people, the practice generally followed the heathen conceptions. All the burning protests of the inspired prophets could not avail to convince the Israelite that what God required was not sacrifice and offering, but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with Him. Again and again we find that the high places were frequented, and the ritual supported by men who were sensual, unjust, and cruel. The Sabbath Day was kept, the feasts were duly observed, the priests were handsomely maintained, and there, it was supposed, the legitimate claims of Jehovah ceased. What more could He desire? This is surely the most impressive proof that the truth which is under consideration is far from being obvious. So far from treating the truth as a truism, our Lord in all His teaching laboured to bring it out in greater clearness, and to set it in the forefront of His message to men. He painted with exquisite simplicity and clearness the right life, the conduct which God requires of us, and then likened every one who practised this life to a man who builds his house on a rock, and every one who does not practise it to a man who builds his house on the sand. He declared, in the spirit of the Book of Proverbs, that teachers were to be judged by their fruits, and that God would estimate our lives not by what we professed to do, but by what we did; and He took up the very language of the book in declaring that every man should be judged according to his works. In every word He spoke He made it plain that goodness is what God loves, and that wickedness is what He judges and destroys. In the same way every one of the apostles insists on this truth with a new earnestness. St. John more especially reiterates it, in words which sound even more like a truism than the sayings of this book: He that doeth righteousness, is righteous even as He is righteous; and, If ye know that He is righteous, ye know that every one also that doeth righteousness is begotten of Him. (R. F. Herren, D.D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v6 "The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them." Pro_11:6
CHAPTER 12
GOODNESS
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"The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them." Pro_11:6
"An unjust man is the abomination of the righteous, and he who goes right in his way is the abomination of the wicked."- Pro_29:27
THE book of Proverbs abounds with sayings which have the sound of truisms, sayings which repeat, with innumerable variations and shades of coloring, that wickedness is an evil, hateful to God and to men, and that righteousness is a blessing not only to the righteous themselves, but to all with whom they are connected. We are disposed to say, surely no reasonable person can question such an obvious truth; but on reflection we remember that the truth was not perceived by the great religions of antiquity, is not recognized now by the vast majority of the human race, and even where it is theoretically admitted without question is too frequently forgotten in the hurry and the pressure of practical life. There is good reason therefore why the truism, as we are inclined to call it, should be thrown into the form of maxims which will find a hold in the memory, and readily occur to the mind on occasions of trial And as we pass in review what Proverbial Religion has to say upon the subject, we shall perhaps be surprised to find how imperfectly we have apprehended the supreme importance of goodness, and how insidiously teachings, which were originally meant to enforce it, have usurped its place and treated it with contumely. It will begin to dawn upon us that the truth is a truism, not because it is carried out in practice, but only because no one has the hardihood to question it; and perhaps we shall receive some impulse towards transforming the conviction which we cannot dispute into a mode of conduct which we cannot decline.
To begin with, our book is most unflinching in its assertions that, notwithstanding all appearances to the contrary, wickedness is a mistake, a source of perpetual weakness and insecurity, always in the long run producing ruin and death; while righteousness is in itself a perpetual blessing, and is weighted with beautiful and unexpected fruits. The very reiteration becomes most impressive.
The hope of the righteous shall be gladness; but the expectation of the wicked shall perish. {Pro_10:28} The righteous shall never be removed, but the wicked shall not dwell in the land. {Pro_10:30} The house of the wicked shall be overthrown, but the tent of the upright shall flourish. The wicked earneth deceitful wages, but he that soweth righteousness hath a sure reward. {Pro_11:18} A man shall not be established by wickedness, while the root of the righteous shall never be moved. {Pro_13:3} The wicked really falls by his own wickedness, and is swept away by his own violence. {Pro_11:5; Pro_6:2, Pro_1:7} He sows iniquity and reaps calamity. {Pro_22:8} His crooked way, his malignant thoughts, the hatred against his neighbor, the guile in his heart, and the flood of evil things which comes out of his lips, have one issue-destruction. {Pro_21:7-8; Pro_21:10; Pro_21:15, Pro_26:24-26, Pro_15:28} When he comes to die, his expectation perishes, all the hope of iniquity ends in disappointment. {Pro_11:7} His lamp goes out not to be relit. {Pro_13:9, Pro_24:20} Meanwhile, the light of the righteous man rejoices, because he attains unto life as surely as the wicked works towards death. {Pro_11:19}
It is true that the appearance of things is different. Hand joins in hand to promote evil. {Pro_11:21} Men follow out what seems right in their own hearts, evil as they are. {Pro_14:12, Pro_16:5; Proverbs 25, Pro_21:2} Success seems to attend them, and one is tempted to envy the sinners, and to fret at their way. {Pro_23:17; Proverbs 18, Pro_24:1; Pro_24:19} But the envy is misplaced; the evil man does not go unpunished; the wicked are overthrown and are not. {Pro_12:7} The way which seemed right in a mans eyes proves to be the way of death. {Pro_14:12, Pro_16:25} A righteous man falleth seven times and riseth up again; but the wicked are overthrown by calamity, {Pro_24:15-16} and the righteous are obliged to look upon their fall. {Pro_29:16}
On the other hand, goodness is its own continual reward. While treacherous men are destroyed by their perverseness, the upright are guided by their own integrity. {Pro_11:3} While the sinner is overthrown by his wickedness, righteousness guardeth him that is upright in the way. If the righteous gets into trouble he is delivered, while the wicked falls into his place: there is a kind of substitution; a ransom is paid to enable the righteous to escape, and the ransom is the person of the wicked. {Pro_21:18} Not only does the righteous come out of trouble, {Pro_12:13} but, strictly speaking, no mischief really happens to him; it is only the wicked that is filled with evil. {Pro_12:21} The righteous eats to the satisfying of his own soul, but the belly of the wicked shall want. {Pro_13:25} The good man walks on a highway and so preserves his soul. {Pro_16:17, Pro_19:16} If Mercy and truth shine upon him because he devises good. {Pro_14:22} He only followed after righteousness and mercy, but he found life, righteousness, and honor. {Pro_21:21} His heart is flooded with joy, he actually sings as he journeys on. He seems like a tree in the green leaf, a tree of life, the fruits of which cannot fail to be attractive; so that he unconsciously wins favor. {Pro_11:27; Pro_11:30} The fruit does not fail, because the root is alive. {Pro_12:12} And if in actual life this blessedness of the good man does not appear, if by reason of the evil in the world the righteous seem to be punished, and the noble to be smitten, that only creates a conviction that the fruit will grow in another life; for when we have closely observed the inseparable connection between goodness and blessedness, we cannot avoid the conviction that "the righteous hath hope in his death." {Pro_14:32} Yes, practical goodness is the source of perpetual blessing, and it cannot be altogether hidden. Even a child maketh himself known by his doings, whether his work be pure and right. {Pro_20:11} To the good we must assign the supremacy; the evil must bow before them and wait at their gates. {Pro_14:19} And it is easy to understand why it appears so incongruous-so abnormal, like a troubled fountain and a corrupted spring, when the righteous give way to the wicked. {Pro_25:26}
Nor is the blessing of goodness at all limited to the good man himself. It falls on his children too. A just man that walketh in his integrity, blessed are his children after him. It reaches even to the third generation. A good man leaveth an inheritance to his childrens children. {Pro_13:22} The righteous is a guide to his neighbor also. {Pro_12:26} He is a joy to his sovereign; he that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend. His character and his well-being are a matter of public, even of national concern, for there is something winning in him; he acts as a saving influence upon those who are around him. {Pro_11:31} Therefore, when the righteous increase the people rejoice, {Pro_29:2} when they triumph there is great glory. {Pro_28:12} When it goeth well with the righteous the city rejoiceth, just as when the wicked perish there is shouting. By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted, just as it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked. {Pro_11:10-11} Yes, righteousness exalteth a nation, while sin is a reproach to the whole people. {Pro_14:34}
It is the grand public interest to see the wicked perish in order that the righteous may increase {Pro_28:28} for the way of the wicked causes other people to err. {Pro_12:26} His lips are like a scorching fire; {Pro_16:27} his presence brings a general atmosphere of contempt, ignominy, and shame. {Pro_18:3} When the wicked rise men hide themselves, {Pro_28:28} when they bear rule the people sigh. {Pro_29:2} Well may the national feeling be severe on all those who encourage the wicked in any way. He that saith unto the wicked, Thou art righteous, peoples shall curse him, nations shall abhor him; but to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them. {Pro_24:24-25} It is a sure sign that one is forsaking the law when one ceases to contend with the wicked and begins to praise them. {Pro_28:4}
Blessing to himself, blessing to his children, his neighbors, his country, is the beautiful reward of the good man; ruin to himself, a spreading contagion of evil to others, and general execration, is the lot of the wicked. Well may the former be bold as a lion, and well may the latter flee when no man pursues, for conscience makes cowards of us all. {Pro_28:1}
But at present we have not touched on the chief blessedness of the good, and the chief curse of the evil, on that which is really the spring and fountain-head of all. It is the great fact that God is with the righteous and against the wicked, that He judges men according to their integrity or perverseness, and accepts them or rejects them simply upon that principle. By looking at this lofty truth we get all our conceptions on the subject cleared. The perverse in heart are an abomination to the Lord; such as are perfect in their way are His delight. {Pro_11:20} A good man shall obtain favor of the Lord, but a man of wicked devices will he condemn. {Pro_12:2} Evil devices are an abomination to the Lord, {Pro_15:26} and so is the wicked, but He loveth the righteous. {Pro_15:9} To justify the wicked or to condemn the righteous is equally abominable to Him. {Pro_17:15; Proverbs 26, Pro_18:5} He considers the house of the wicked, how the wicked are overthrown to their ruin. He overthrows the words of the treacherous man, while His eyes preserve him that hath knowledge. {Pro_22:12} He weighs the heart and keeps the soul and renders to every man according to his work. {Pro_24:12} Thus his way is a stronghold to the upright, but a destruction to the workers of iniquity. {Pro_10:29} He does not regard prayer so much as righteousness; he that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination. {Pro_28:9}
Sacrifice goes for nothing in His sight if the life is not holy. To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. {Pro_21:3} The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination: how much more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind? {Pro_21:27} Yes, it is an abomination to the Lord, just as the prayer of the upright is His delight. The Lord is far from the wicked, but He heareth the prayer of the righteous. {Pro_15:8; Pro_15:29} When the foolish sinner offers a sin-offering instead of relinquishing his sin, the very offering mocks him, for it is only the righteous who find favor with the Lord.
It is this solemn truth, the truth of Gods own way of regarding goodness and wickedness, which makes earnestness on the subject essential. If goodness were only pleasing to man, if sin were only an offence against creatures like ourselves, ordinary prudence would require us to be good and to avoid evil, but higher sanction would be wanting. When, however, the matter is taken up into the Divine presence, and we begin to understand that the Supreme Ruler of all things loves righteousness and hates iniquity, visits the one with favor and the other with reprobation, quite a new sanction is introduced. The wicked man, who makes light of evil, to whom it is as a sport, appears to be nothing short of an absolute fool. {Pro_10:23} In Gods presence it is not difficult to perceive that goodness is wisdom, the only wisdom, the perfect wisdom.
But now it may occur to some of us that it is surely nothing very wonderful to lay this stress upon the close connection between goodness and God-pleasing. Is it not, we are inclined to say, the most obvious and unquestioned of facts that God requires goodness at our hands, and is angry with the wicked every day? It is not very wonderful to us, because Revelation has made it familiar, but none the less it is a truth of Revelation, and if we were to ask in what the Inspiration of this book consists, no simpler and truer answer could be given than that it teaches, as we have just seen, the alliance of God with righteousness and the abhorrence in which He holds wickedness.
Yes, a truism, but it was a discovery which the world was very slow to make, and it is still a principle on which the world is very unwilling to act.
The main characteristic of all heathen religions is that their gods do not demand righteousness, but certain outward and formal observances; sacrifices must be offered to them, their vindictive temper must be propitiated, their anger averted; if the dues of the gods are paid, the stipulated quantity of corn and wine and oil, the tithes, the firstfruits, the animals for the altar, the tribute for the temple, then the worshipper who has thus discharged his obligations may feel himself free to follow out his own tastes and inclinations. In the Roman religion, for example, every dealing with the gods was a strictly legal contract; the Roman general agreed with Jupiter or with Mars that if the battle should be won a temple should be built. It was not necessary that the cause should be right, or that the general should be good; the sacrifice of the wicked, though offered with an evil intent, was as valid as the sacrifice of the good. In either case the same amount of marble and stone, of silver and gold, would come to the god.
In the Eastern religions not only were goodness and righteousness dissociated from the idea of the gods, but evil of the grossest kinds was definitely associated with them. The Phoenician deities, like those of the Hindoos, were actually worshipped with rites of murder and lust. Every vice had its patron god or goddess, and it was forgotten by priest and people that goodness could be the way of pleasing God, or moral evil a cause of offense to Him.
Even in Israel, where the teaching of Revelation was current in the proverbs of the people, the practice generally followed the heathen conceptions. All the burning protests of the inspired prophets could not avail to convince the Israelite that what God required was not sacrifice and offering, but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with Him. Again and again we find that the high places were frequented and the ritual supported by men who were sensual, unjust, and cruel. The Sabbath Day was kept, the feasts were duly observed, the priests were handsomely maintained, and there, it was supposed, the legitimate claims of Jehovah ceased. What more could He desire?
This is surely the most impressive proof that the Truth which is under consideration is far from being obvious. Israel himself, the chosen channel for communicating this truth to the world, was so slow to understand and to grasp it, that his religious observances were constantly degenerating into lifeless ceremonies devoid of all moral significance, and his religious teachers were mainly occupied in denouncing his conduct as wholly inconsistent with the truth.
So far from treating the truth as a truism, our Lord in all His teaching labored to bring it out in greater clearness, and to set it in the forefront of His message to men. He made it the very keynote of the Gospel that not everyone who says, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of His Father in heaven. He painted with exquisite simplicity and clearness the right life, the conduct which God requires of us, and then likened everyone who practiced this life to a man who builds his house on a rock, and everyone who does not practice it to a man who builds his house on the sand. He declared, in the spirit of all that we have just read from the book of Proverbs, that teachers were to be judged by their fruits, and that God would estimate our lives not by what we professed to do, but by what we did; and He took up the very language of the book in declaring that every man should be judged according to his. {Mat_16:27} In every word He spoke He made it plain that goodness is what God loves, and that wickedness is what He judges and destroys. In the same way every one of the Apostles insists on this truth with a new earnestness. St. John more especially reiterates it, in words which sound even more like a truism than the sayings of this book: "He that doeth righteousness is righteous even as He is righteous"; and, "If ye know that He is righteous, ye know that everyone also that doeth righteousness is begotten of Him." {1Jn_3:7; 1Jn_2:29}
The Gospel itself is accompanied by a new and more earnest assertion of this cardinal truth, that God loves goodness, and that He judges men according to their works. And even now, after many centuries of Christian faith, and notwithstanding all the teachings of the Bible and the witness of the Spirit, it is very difficult for many of us to understand that religion is goodness, and religion without goodness is impiety of the worst kind. It is supposed by some, in face of all the accumulated truth and wisdom of the ages which have passed since this book was written, that Gods last and highest message is a dispensation from practical righteousness-that the Gospel of Grace means Gods willingness to accept men because they believe, apart from the actual goodness to which all faith is calculated to lead; as if the Gospel were an announcement that God had entirely changed His nature, and that all the best and noblest teachings of His Spirit in the past were set aside by His final revelation. Behind some figment or other, some perverted notion of imputed righteousness, men try to hide their guilty countenance, and to persuade themselves that now, in virtue of the Cross, they can see God without holiness, without purity of heart. Heaven has been treated as a place where men can enter who work abomination and make a lie; and in order to secure a full acceptance for our dogma we try to depreciate goodness as if it were a thing of little worth, and even come to look with some suspicion upon those who are only good-only moral, I think we call it-and do not hold our own views of speculative truth. Meanwhile religious teachers "tell the wicked they are righteous," and earn the curse of the nation, because they thereby enable men to be hard and cruel and unjust and selfish and proud and contemptuous, and yet to esteem themselves as justified by faith. Others "justify the wicked," accepting a verbal profession in place of a virtuous practice; and that, as we have seen, is abominable to the Lord.
Justification by faith loses all its meaning and all its value unless it is fully admitted that to be just is the great end and aim of religion. Salvation becomes a delusion unless it is perceived that it means righteousness. Heaven, and the saints everlasting rest, become worthless and misleading ideas unless we recognize that it is the abode of goodness, and that saints are not, as we sometimes seem to imply, bad people regarded as holy by a legal fiction, but people who are made good and are actually holy.
Strong as the language of our book is upon the subject, it is not possible to bring out in mere proverbial sayings the eternal necessity of this great truth. Goodness and blessedness are actually identical, the reverse and the obverse sides of the same coin. If a man is made good life is made blessed; but if he is made blessed to all appearance, and not good, the blessedness proves to be an illusion. It could not possibly avail to be justified by faith, unless we were made just by faith; a sore body is not healed by covering it up, a dead man is not quickened by a smiling mask. There have been many people who counted themselves the elect, and made no question that they were saved, though they remained all the time inwardly wicked; they were miserable, sour, discontented, censorious, a burden to themselves, an eyesore to others; they were persuaded that they would be happy in heaven, and they supposed that their constant wretchedness was due to their being pilgrims in a strange land: but the fact was they would be more wretched still in heaven, for nowhere is evil such a curse as in a place where good prevails; their misery arose from their own wicked hearts, and in the next world, their hearts still being wicked, their misery must continue and increase.
May God grant us a clear vision in this matter, that we may see the due relation of things! Goodness is the principal thing for by it faith itself and all religion exists. God is goodness-man is evil; what God means by saving us is to make us good like Himself. That we must be saved by faith means that we must be made good by faith, not that we must take faith in place of goodness. That righteousness is imputed to us by the goodness of God means that the goodness of Christ is reckoned as ours for the purpose of making us good, not in order to spare us the necessity of being good.
And in this way, and this only, we must estimate one another. What a man believes in his heart we can never fully know; but whether he is good or not is a matter plain as the day. It is easy to bandy words of reproach, to call men unbelievers, skeptics, atheists; but there is only one wise way of speaking and thinking. If we see goodness, let us thank God, for there, be sure, His Spirit is; if we see the lovely graces which shine in our Lord Jesus Christ gleaming, however fitfully, in our fellow-men, let us recognize Christ there. And where we see wickedness, let no consideration of outward Christian profession or orthodoxy of belief restrain us from fully recognizing that it is evil, or from courageously contending against it:
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv5, 7, 8 Pro_11:5. Direct, “make smooth or even.”
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Pro_11:5. Direct, “make smooth or even.”
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Pro_11:6. Naughtiness, “cravings,” “desires,” “covetousness.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE LATTER CLAUSES OF Pro_11:5-6
MADE OR MARRED BY DESIRES
The word translated “naughtiness” should be rendered “lust” or “desires.” (See Critical Notes).
I. Sin is compliance with desires that do not harmonise with moral righteousness. A traveller on a lonely and dangerous road may have two guides offered to him by the opposite promptings of his own mind. He may have a strong desire to explore a path which looks most pleasant and attractive but which he knows does not lead to his destination, and is beset with many perils although its aspect is inviting. On the other hand, his good sense tells him it is unwise to run the risk of injury by thus turning aside from the road that he knows leads to the goal which he desires to reach, although the path may be rough and toilsome. If he yields to his first desire and pursues the dangerous path until it is too late to retrace his steps, he may lose his life by a false step over a precipice and so be destroyed by his own desires. All men are under the dominion of desires, and if their desires after God and righteousness have the rule they will be guided by them into the ways of deliverance and safety, as we saw in considering Pro_11:3. But if they yield themselves up to the guidance of desires which run counter to the law of God and right, as they are made known both by conscience and revelation, they sink lower and lower in the scale of moral being and become slaves when they might have been free men. “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness” (Joh_8:34; Rom_6:16).
II. The sinner is the forger of his own fetters. If a man labours in his field, his garden, or his vineyard, in harmony with the known laws which God has ordained to be observed, he may reasonably expect a good crop—an abundant harvest. But if he sets at nought these laws—if he yields to desires of self-indulgence—or in any other way acts contrary to the conditions which are indispensable to success—he has no one to blame but himself if he finds himself a beggar when he might have had plenty. The law of God’s moral universe is written in revelation, upon conscience, in the history of men, that “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap,” that “The wages of sin is death” (Gal_6:7; Rom_6:23). If men are “taken,” are first enslaved by sin and then suffer the penalty of sinning, they have themselves digged the pit of their own destruction—have forged the chains by which they are bound.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_11:4. How badly led those are who are not righteous, appears in this: that while righteousness does everything for a man in journeying to his end, wealth does nothing for him. “Wealth,” which seems to be the great guide of the human family, not only cannot deliver, but cannot profit in the crisis of fate. While “righteousness,” all covered with stains, lets no day go to waste; lets no mile be utterly lost; lets no fear ever be realised; still grapples a man’s hand; and still guides a man’s tread, till he steps at last into the regions of safety.—Miller.
It were no bad comparison to liken mere rich men to camels and mules; for they often pursue their devious way, over hills and mountains, laden with India purple, with gems, aromas, and generous wines upon their backs, attended, too, by a long line of servants as a safeguard on their way. Soon, however, they come to their evening halting-place, and forthwith their precious burdens are taken from their backs; and they, now wearied, and stripped of their lading and their retinue of slaves, show nothing but livid marks of stripes. So, also, those who glitter in gold and purple raiment, when the evening of life comes rushing on them, have nought to show but marks and wounds of sin impressed upon them by the evil use of riches.—St. Augustine.
Riches will not even obtain “a drop of water to cool the tormented tongue” (Luk_16:19-24). In vain will “the rich men of the earth” seek a shelter from the wrath of the Lamb” (Rev_6:15-17).—Bridges.
While the words are true in their highest sense of the great dies irœ of the future, they speak, in the first instance, as do the like words in Zep_1:15-18, of any “day of the Lord,” any time of judgment, when men or nations receive the chastisement of their sins.—Plumptre.
“Wherefore should I die, being so rich?” said that wretched Cardinal, Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, in Henry VI.’s time. “Fie,” quoth he, “will not death be lured? Will money do nothing?”—Trapp.
If righteousness delivereth not from the day, yet it delivereth from the wrath of the day: if it deliver not from death, yet it delivereth from the death of the wicked.—Jermin.
Pro_11:5. “The righteousness of the man of integrity” is perfect only in heaven, and how it “directs” or “levels” his way appears best by the perfect facility of walking in that bright abode. It will be no trouble there to travel forward. While more work will be done in heaven than here, yet there it is done so easily that it is called a “Rest.” The paths of this world are not only difficult, but deadly. “The wicked” will not only struggle, but “fall” in them; and the roughnesses at which he stumbles are not ever in the paths themselves, but really his “own wickedness.”—Miller.
Greedy desire (see Critical Notes) will strongly tempt men to sin, and so they will be ensnared.—Stuart.
The first part of this text may be taken—I. As declaring a fact. A real Christian takes, for direction in his way, the rule of righteousness. The question that he continually puts to himself is—“What ought I to do?” This is the character of a believer in the abstract; and though none may lay claim to perfection, yet none can be justly called believers, unless their lives in the main answer to this description. II. As propounding a promise. It is nowhere promised that the righteous shall not come into trouble, but the strait road goes through them. The other statement of the text may also be regarded—I. As an assertion proved by experience. The drunkard ruins his health and shortens his life by excesses. The spendthrift brings himself to beggary. The contentious man brings himself to mischief. They often dig a pit for others and fall into it themselves. III. As a threat. It does not always happen that men are visited for their sins in this life. Still it may be said to every ungodly man, “Be sure your sin will find you out.”—B. W. Dibdin.
Pro_11:6. Godliness hath many troubles, and as many helps against trouble. As Moses’ hand, it turns the serpent into a rod; and as the tree that Moses cast into the waters of Marah, it sweeteneth the bitter waters of affliction. Well may it be called the divine nature, for as God doth bring light out of darkness, so doth grace.—Trapp.
There need no blocks to be laid in the way of the wicked, no enemies need to thrust him down, for his own wickedness being his way, by that he shall fall.… Wickedness is fastened, by the devil, like a cord about the wicked; by that he pulls them after him: by that he makes them fall, first into shame and misery here, and into hell when they are gone hence.—Jermin.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v5 (See Scofield "1Ki 8:61").
perfect
(See Scofield "1Ki 8:61").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv5–8 v. 5. The righteousness of the perfect, of him…
v. 5. The righteousness of the perfect, of him whose conduct is beyond reproach, shall direct his way, make it plain and open, enabling him to walk in the security of a good conscience; but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness, their own lusts proving a snare to them.
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 On vv5, 7 makes his way straight
makes his way straight
"has clear direction"
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the wicked ... the treacherous
These nominal adjectives can be stated as adjectives. AT: "those who are wicked ... those who are treacherous" (See: Nominal Adjectives)
the treacherous are trapped by their cravings
"those who do evil are captured by their passions"
treacherous
ready to betray trust; traitorous; deceptive
translationWords
blameless
evil
God
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.