Even in laughter the heart may be sorrowful, and mirth may end in heaviness.
Parallel Translations
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Even in laughter the heart may be sorrowful, and mirth may end in heaviness.
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Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness.
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Even in laughter the heart acheth; and the end of mirth is heaviness.
Cross-references (8)
Passages linked to Proverbs 14:13 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Ecclesiastes 2:2 I said of laughter, “It is foolishness;” and of mirth, “What does it accomplish?”
- James 4:9 Lament, mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to gloom.
- Proverbs 5:4 but in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two-edged sword.
- Ecclesiastes 2:10-11 Whatever my eyes desired, I didn’t keep from them. I didn’t withhold my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced because of all my labor, and this was my portion from all my labor. Then I looked at all the works that my hands had worked, and at the labor that I had labored to do; and behold, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.
- Ecclesiastes 7:5-6 It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools. For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This also is vanity.
- Ecclesiastes 11:9 Rejoice, young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes; but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.
- Luke 16:25 “But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you, in your lifetime, received your good things, and Lazarus, in the same way, bad things. But here he is now comforted, and you are in anguish.
- Revelation 18:7-8 However much she glorified herself, and grew wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning. For she says in her heart, ‘I sit a queen, and am no widow, and will in no way see mourning.’ Therefore in one day her plagues will come: death, mourning, and famine; and she will be utterly burned with fire; for the Lord God who has judged her is strong.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (22 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain He showeth the allurement unto sin, seemeth sweet, but…
He showeth the allurement unto sin, seemeth sweet, but the end thereof is destruction.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Pro 14:13 Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful;…
Pro 14:13 Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth [is] heaviness.
Ver. 13. Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful.] Nulla est sincera voluptas. Labor est etiam ipsa voluptas. Of carnal pleasures a man may break his neck before his fast. "All this avails me nothing," said Haman. Omnia fui, et nihil profuit, said that emperor. "Vanity of vanity, all is vanity," said Solomon; and not vanity only, but "vexation of spirit." Nothing in themselves, and yet full of power and activity to inflict vengeance and vexation upon the spirit of a man; so that even in laughter the heart is sorrowful. Some kind of frothy and flashy mirth wicked men may have; such as may wet the mouth, but not warm the heart; smooth the brow, but not fill the breast. It is but ‘a cold armful,’ {a} as Lycophron saith of an evil wife. As they repent in the face, {Mat 6:16} so they rejoice in the face, not in the heart. {2Co 5:12} Rident et ringuntur. They laugh and snare. There is a snare or a cord in the sin of the wicked - that is, to strangle their joy with; but the righteous sing and are merry; {Pro 29:6} others may revel, they only must rejoice. {Hos 9:1}
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And the end of that mirth is heaviness.] They dance to the timbrel and harp, but suddenly they turn into hell; {Job 21:12-13} and so their merry dance ends in a miserable downfall. "Woe be to you that laugh now." {Luk 6:25} Those merry Greeks, that are so afraid of sadness that they banish all seriousness, shall one day wring for it. Adonijah’s guests had soon enough of their good cheer and jollity; so had Belshazzar and his combibones optimi. Thou mad fool, what doest thou {Ecc 2:1-26} saith Solomon to the mirth monger, that holds it the only happiness to ‘laugh and be fat’; knowest thou not yet there will be bitterness in the end? Principium dulce est, sed finis amoris amarus. The candle of the wicked shall be put out in a vexing snuff. Their mirth - as comets - blazeth much, but ends in a pestilent vapour; as lightning, it soon vanisheth, leaveth a greater darkness behind it, and is attended with the renting and roaring thunder of God’s wrath.
{a} ψυχρον παραγκαλισμα. - Lyc.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The outward signs of joy are commonly mixed with…
The outward signs of joy are commonly mixed with or end in real and hearty sorrow. The design of the proverb is to declare the vanity of all worldly joys and comforts, and to teach men moderation in them, and to persuade us to seek for more solid and durable joys.
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 This shows the vanity of carnal mirth, and proves…
This shows the vanity of carnal mirth, and proves what Solomon said of laughter, that it is mad; for, 1. There is sadness under it. Sometimes when sinners are under convictions, or some great trouble, they dissemble their grief by a forced mirth, and put a good face on it, because they will not seem to yield: they cry not when he binds them. Nay, when men really are merry, yet at the same time there is some alloy or other to their mirth, something that casts a damp upon it, which all their gaiety cannot keep from their heart. Their consciences tell them they have no reason to be merry (Hos 9:1); they cannot but see the vanity of it. Spiritual joy is seated in the soul; the joy of the hypocrite is but from the teeth outward. See Joh 16:22; Co2 6:10. 2. There is worse after it: The end of that mirth is heaviness. It is soon over, like the crackling of thorns under a pot; and, if the conscience be awake, all sinful and profane mirth will be reflected upon with bitterness; if not, the heaviness will be so much the greater when for all these things God shall bring the sinner into judgment. The sorrows of the saints will end in everlasting joys (Psa 126:5), but the laughter of fools will end in endless weeping and wailing.
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 Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful,.... As Belshazzar's…
Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful,.... As Belshazzar's was in the midst of his feast and jollity, when he saw the writing on the wall; so sin may stare a man in the face, and guilt load his conscience and fill him with sorrow, amidst his merriment; a man may put on a merry countenance, and feign a laugh, when his heart is very sorrowful; and oftentimes this sorrow comes by sinful laughter, by mocking at sin and jesting at religion;
and the end of that mirth is heaviness: sometimes in this life a sinner mourns at last, and mourns for his wicked mirth, or that he has made himself so merry with religious persons and things, and oftentimes when it is too late; so the end of that mirth the fool in the Gospel promised himself was heaviness, when his soul was required of him; this was the case of the rich man who had his good things here, and his evil things hereafter.
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 In laughter - The outward signs of joy are…
In laughter - The outward signs of joy are often mixed with real sorrow.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 13. Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful]…
Verse 13. Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful] Many a time is a smile forced upon the face, when the heart is in deep distress. And it is a hard task to put on the face of mirth, when a man has a heavy heart.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Pro 14:13. Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful…
Pro 14:13. Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful — Do not think that every one that laughs is happy, or that profuse and immoderate joy is true pleasure, for the outward signs of it are often mixed with, or end in, real sadness: nay, such is the vanity of this present life, that there is no joy without a mixture of sorrow, which often immediately follows upon 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 Sorrow of some kind either mingles itself with outward…
Sorrow of some kind either mingles itself with outward joy, or follows hard upon it.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Charles Bridges 1846 · Public Domain Many a sigh is heaved amid the loud laughter…
Many a sigh is heaved amid the loud laughter of folly. (Est 5:9-13 .) As soon might true joy be found in hell, as in the carnal heart. As soon might we "gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles," as this "fruit of the Spirit" (Mat 7:16 .) from ’nature’s barren soil.’ As soon might the tempest-tossed ocean be at rest, as the sinner’s conscience. (Isa 57:20-21 .) He may feast in his prison, or dance in his chains. He may drink away his trouble. But it is a vain show of happiness. Ask him what is in his bosom. Is not his smile a counterfeit to hide a reality of woe? The voice of conscience and experience will make itself heard — "It is mad — what doeth it?" (Ecc 2:2 .) If he has found a diversion from present trouble, has he found a cover from everlasting misery? It is far easier to drown conviction, than to escape damnation. And to be merry for a day, and to be in torment for eternity — who would envy — who would not flee from — such a portion?
Nor do we speak only of the coarse mirth of the vulgar. Take the fullest cup of earth’s best joys. What is this to satisfy desire, to allay trouble, to meet eternity? Even the present end of this short-lived mirth is heaviness (Amo 6:3-7 ); sometimes so intolerable, that death is fled to, as the cure of the anguish; and to avoid the fear of hell, the wretched sinner leaps into it. (Mat 27:3-5 .) And at best eternity will change the face of this mirth, when that will remain, which would be the most desirable riddance — the sting of conscience, as enduring as the pleasures of sin were momentary. (Luk 6:24 ; Luk 16:21-24 . Rom 6:21 .)
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But the end of that mirth implies another mirth with a different end. Contrast the prodigal’s mirth in the far country, with his return to his father’s house, when "they began to be merry." (Luk 15:13-24 .) The fruit of carnal mirth ends in heaviness. Penitential sorrow begets a mirth, that ends in everlasting joy. (Psa 126:5-6 . Isa 35:10 .) Lord! choose mine inheritance for me among thy weeping people.
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 Laughter. Septuagint, "with his counsels," enjoying the content of…
Laughter. Septuagint, "with his counsels," enjoying the content of a good conscience, and a heavenly reward; while the wicked, with all his self-approbation, shall be punished.
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 The preceding sentiment illustrated by the disappointments of a…
The preceding sentiment illustrated by the disappointments of a wicked or untimely joy.
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 13. Sorrowful — That is, may be so.
13. Sorrowful — That is, may be so.
And the end of that mirth — The expression is the same as in the preceding verse, where it is rendered, the end thereof. There is in the original an artistic arrangement of the words difficult to imitate, but very expressive; like, and the end of that gladness, sadness. The idea appears to be, that they are so close together that it is difficult to mention them apart, or to separate in expression the antecedent and consequent, “so swift trod sorrow on the heels of joy.” — Pollok. Comp. Pro_14:10; Ecc_2:2; Ecc_7:6.
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 13. that mirth] Rather, mirth. The statement is general…
13. that mirth] Rather, mirth. The statement is general though not universal. “The bright talker, the merry jester, the singer of the gay song, goes home when the party separates, and on his threshold he meets the veiled sorrow of his life, and plunges into the chilly shadow in which his days are spent.” Horton.
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 (13) Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful.—By this…
(13) Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful.—By this God would teach us that nothing can satisfy the soul of man but Himself, and so would urge us to seek Him, who is the only true object of our desires. (Comp. Psa_36:8.)
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 Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful (comp. ver.…
Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful (comp. ver. 10). This recalls Lucretius"s lines (4:1129)"Medio de fonte leporum Surgit amari aliquid, quod in ipsis fioribus angat.
The text is scarcely to be taken as universally true, but either as specially applicable to those mentioned in the preceding verse, or as teaching that the outward mirth often cloaks hidden sorrow (comp. Virgil, "AEneid," 1:208, etc.). And the end of that joy is bitterness; it has in it no element of endurance, and when it is past, the real grief that it masked comes into prominence. In this mortal life also joy and sorrow are strangely intermingled; sorrow fellows closely on the steps of joy; as some one somewhere says, "The sweetest waters at length find their way to the sea, and are embittered there." Lesetre refers to Pascal, "Pensees," 2:1: "Tous se plaignent...de tout pays, de tout temps, de tous ages, et de toutes conditions. Une preuve si longue, si continuelle et si uniforme, devrait bien nous convaincre de l"impuissance ou nous sommes d"arriver au bien par nos efforts: mais l"exemple ne nous intruit point... Le present ne nous satisfaisant jamais, l"esperance nous pipe, et, de malheur en malheur, nous meue jusqu"a la mort, qui en est le comble eternel. C"est une chose etrange, qu"il n"y a rien dans la nature qui n"ait ete capable de tenir la place de la fin et du bonheur de l"homme .... L"homme etant dechu de son etat naturel, il n"y arien a quoi il n"ait ete capable de so porter. Depuis qu"il a perdu le vrai bien, tout egalement peut lui paraitre tel, jusqu"a ea destruction propre, toute contraire qu"elle est a la raison et a la nature tout ensemble." This illustrates also ver. 12. Proverbs like "There is no rose without a thorn" are common enough in all languages. The Latins said, "Ubi uber, ibi tuber;" and "Ubi mel, ibi fel.
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Greek experience produced the gnome Ar esti suggenev ti luph kai Biov . "sorrow and life are very near of kin.
Who Christian learns another lesson, "Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted". (Mat_5:4) The LXX has introduced a negative, which gives a sense exactly contrary to the Hebrew and to all the other versions: "In joys there is no admixture of sorrow, but the final joy cometh unto grief." The negative has doubtless crept inadvertently into the text; if it were genuine, the sentence might be explained of the sinner"s joy, which he finds for a time and exults in, but which does not last, and is felt to be a delusion as life closes.
The sadness that lies behind laughter.
This verse reads like one of the melancholy reflections of the pessimist preacher in Ecclesiastes. Yet there is a profound truth in it, as all thoughtful minds must recognize. Physically, intense laughter produces acute pangs. Laughter "holds his sides" with pain. Shelley sang truly"Our sincerest laughter With some pain is fraught.
A long laugh naturally fills the eyes with tears and dies away in a sigh of weariness. Further, a season of undue elation is usually followed by one of depression. The mind rebounds from glee to gloom by natural reaction. But there is a deeper experience than all this. Without taking a dark view of life, we must acknowledge the existence of a very common background of sorrow behind many of the sunniest scenes of life. We may trance the causes of this experience both to the facts and nature of sorrow, and to the quality and limitation of laughter.
I THE FACTS AND NATURE OF SORROW.
1. Sorrow is common. Man is born to trouble. There may not be a skeleton in the cupboard of every house, but there are few homes in which there is no chamber of sad memories. We mistake the common nature of mankind if we suppose that the merry soul has not its griefs. The roaring clown may be acting with a broken heart. Wit that spreads a ripple of laughter in all directions may even be inspired by a very bitterness of soul.
2. Sorrow is enduring. We cannot divide our lives mechanically into days of pain and days of pleasure. The great sorrow that once visits us never utterly forsakes us. It makes a home in the soul. It may be toned and softened by time, and driven from the front windows to dark back chambers. Still, there it lurks, and sometimes it makes its presence sorely felt even when we would fain forget it. The very contrast of present delight may rouse its restless pains. Even when it is not thought of it lingers as a sad undertone in our songs of gladness.
II THE QUALITY AND LIMITATIONS OF LAUGHTER.
1. Laughter is superficial. Even while it is rippling over the surface of life, grief may lie beneath in sullen darkness, unmoved by the feeble gaiety. This does not condemn laughter as an evil thing, for while "the laughter of fools" is contemptible, and that of scorners sinful, the mirth of the innocent is harmless and even healthful. Caesar rightly suspected the sour visage of Cinna. The monkish notion that Christ never laughed finds no countenance in the Bible. But while sinless laughter is good and wholesome, it is never able to reach the deepest troubles. Some foolish fears and fancies may best be laughed away, but not the great soul agonies.
2. Laughter is temporary. Inordinate laughter is not good; too much laughter is a sign of frivolity; and no man can laugh eternally. If a man drown care in laughter, this can be but for a season, and afterwards the dreary trouble will rise again in pitiless persistence.
The remedy for trouble must be found in the peace of God. When that is in the soul, a man is happier than if he were only hiding an unhealed sore behind the hollow mask of laughter. When Christ has cured the soul"s greatest trouble, there is a possibility of the laughter of a new joy, with no tears to follow.
See homily on Pro_16:25. C.
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 Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the…
Pro_14:13
Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness.
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On a life of dissipation and pleasure
We have much reason to beware lest a rash and unwary pursuit of pleasure defeat its end, lest the attempt to carry pleasure too far tend, in the issue, to sink us into misery. It would be unjust to infer, from the serious admonition of Scripture, that religion is an enemy to all mirth and gaiety. It circumscribes our enjoyment, indeed, within the bounds of temperance; but as far as the sacred limit permits, it gives free scope to the gratifications of life. It even heightens their relish to a virtuous man. The text is applicable only to that set of men to whom temperance is no restraint. A mediocrity of enjoyment only is allowed man for his portion on earth. Whatever a mans rank or station may be, there are certain duties required of him, there are serious cares which must employ his mind.
1. The obvious consequences of a life of pleasure and dissipation to health, fortune, and character. To each of these it is an enemy, precisely in the same degree to which it is carried. A temporary satisfaction is admitted. But no sensual pleasure, except what is regulated by temperance, can be lasting.
2. The ruin which a life of pleasure and dissipation brings upon the moral state and character of men, as well as on their external condition. As the love of pleasure gains ground, with what insidious steps does it advance towards the abolition of all virtuous principles! Without the assistance of reflection and of serious thought, virtue cannot long subsist in the human mind. But to reflection and serious thought the men of dissipation are strangers. Men become assimilated to the manners of their loose associates; and, without perceiving it themselves, their whole character by degrees is changed. From a character originally stamped only with giddiness and levity shoots forth a character compounded of dishonesty, injustice, oppression, and cruelty.
3. The disquieting sensations which are apt to intrude upon the men of pleasure, even in the midst of their enjoyments. Often a show of mirth is put on to cover some secret disquiet. At the bottom of the hearts of most men, even amidst an irregular life, there lies a secret feeling of propriety, a sense of right and wrong in conduct. Though conscience be not strong enough to guide, it still has strength to dart a sting. Can that be reckoned sincere joy which is liable to be interrupted and mingled with so many sensations of the most disagreeable nature?
4. How unsuitable a life of dissipation and pleasure is to the condition of man in this world, and how injurious to the interests of society. Amid the sorrows that surround us, and in view of the brevity of life, should we be pursuing giddy amusement and perpetual pleasure? Such persons scatter poison in society around them. They are corrupting the public manners by the life they live. They create discontent and indignation in the poorer classes of men, who see them indulging in wastefulness and thoughtless profusion, when they and their families are not able to earn their bread. To serve God, to attend to the serious cares of life, and to discharge faithfully the duties of our station, ought to be the first concern of every man who wishes to be wise and happy. Amusement and pleasure are the relaxation, not the business, of life. (Hugh Blair, D.D.)
Sorrow amid laughter
A description of Mr. Opie Read, the American humorist, reveals heart-sorrow where the reader has seen nothing but mirth. Sometimes, says the writer, his work is marked by the deepest pathos. He had lost two of his children, to whom he was devotedly attached, and these melancholy events made very marked impressions on the man and his work. When one of my babies died, said he, in talking of the matter to me, I was working for a magazine, and I was required to do just so much work every day. I was compelled to do it--it was my only means of support. During that awful time I would frequently rock the cradle of my dying babe for hours at the time. With one hand I rocked that cradle of death, and with the other I was writing stuff to make people laugh. I sobbed and wept, and watched that angel and wrote that stuff, and I felt every minute as if my heart would burst. And yet some people think this funny business is all sunshine. Sometimes even now I see articles floating around that I wrote while under the shadow of death, and occasionally some editor will preface these very things with some such remark as, The genial and sunny-souled Opie Read says so and so,--yes, about these same things that I penned when my babe was dying and my heart was bursting. (J. F. B. Tinling.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Pro_14:13. The heart is sorrowful, or “will be” (perchance).
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Pro_14:13. The heart is sorrowful, or “will be” (perchance).
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MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_14:13
TRUE AND FALSE MIRTH
This proverb, as it stands in our English version, cannot be taken as universally true. The first clause is rendered by some translators—“Even in laughter the heart may be sorrowful” (see Critical Notes), and experience and Bible teaching both necessitate our giving a limitation to the second clause also.
I. Whether mirth will end in heaviness depends upon its character—therefore upon the character of the man who is mirthful. There is an innocent and right mirth, there is an ill-timed, guilty mirth. The end of lawful mirth is not heaviness. It is good for the body. A physician is glad to see his patient mirthful. He knows that it will act most beneficially, and assist his recovery to health. A mirthful man will not suffer so much physical injury from the wear and tear of life as one who is always sombre and melancholy. Lawful mirth is good for the mind. It is the unbending of the bow which breaks if it is kept always at its extreme tension. A man who is naturally mirthful—who is ever disposed to see men and things in their brightest colours, must be a creature of hope, and hope has power to surround those who possess her with a paradise of their own creation, which is very independent of outward circumstances. Natural, wholesome mirth will make a man much stronger to do and to bear all the duties and trials of life. But natural, lawful mirth is only proper to godly men. Christians are the only people in the world who have reason to be glad. All those who are worthy of the name ought to be able, amidst all the saddening influences of life, to hold fast such a confidence in God as shall leave room for the play even of mirth. But the man who is in a state of alienation from God has no reason to be mirthful, his mirth must be either feigned or the result of a thoughtless disregard of his own relations to God and eternity. The “end” of such mirth must be “heaviness.”
II. Laughter is not always an index of feeling. There is doubtless much that passes for mirth among the ungodly that is merely a blind to conceal intentions or feelings deeply hidden in the soul. The seducer laughs at the fears and misgivings of his victim, but his laugh is not the laugh of the light-hearted, God-fearing man. Its very ring tells any unprejudiced hearer that there is a flaw somewhere, and it is only assumed to enable him to effect his purpose. In such laughter there may not be present actual sorrow, but there is an entire absence of gladness of heart. But laughter often veils the deepest and most heartfelt misery. The poor drunkard will laugh at the debauchery of the past night while he feels a bitter consciousness of his degradation. Many a man laughs with his gay companions, and all the while sees a dread future rising up before him which he trembles to meet. The character of him who laughs will afford the best clue by which to determine whether or not the laughter is the outcome of genuine mirth.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Already the wise king was beginning to experience what he more fully states in Ecc_2:2; Ecc_7:6. Men’s very pleasures turn into their opposites.—Fausset.
Not of its own nature, of course; for a proverb has already said that there is a “joy” which is not our foe. Not this is always the case; but there is such a case. Because the wicked get nothing really but their “ways” (Pro_14:14).—Miller.
The sun doth not ever shine: there is a time of setting. No day of jollity is without its evening of conclusion, if no cloud of disturbance prevent it with an overcasting. First God complains, men sing, dance, and are jovial and neglectful; at last man shall complain, and “God shall laugh at their calamity.” Why should God be conjured to receive that spirit dying which would not receive God’s Spirit living?—T. Adams.
As soon might true joy be found in hell as in the carnal heart. As soon might the tempest-tossed ocean be at rest as the sinner’s conscience (Isa_57:20-21). He may feast in his prison, or dance in his chains.… But if he has found a diversion from present trouble, has he found a cover from everlasting misery? It is far easier to drown conviction than to escape damnation.… But the end of that mirth implies another with a different end. Contrast the prodigal’s mirth in the far country with his return to his father’s house when “they began to be merry.”—Bridges.
Every human heart carries the feeling of disquiet and of separation from its true home, and of the nothingness, transitoriness of all that is earthly; and in addition to this, there is many a secret sorrow in everyone which grows out of his own corporeal and spiritual life, and from his relation to other men; and this sorrow, which from infancy onward is the lot of the human heart, and which more and more deepens and diversifies itself in the course of life, makes itself perceptible even in the midst of laughter, in spite of the mirth and merriment, without being able to be suppressed or expelled from the soul, returning always the more intensely, the more violently we may for a time have kept it under, and sunk it in unconsciousness. From the fact that sorrow is the fundamental condition of humanity, and forms the back-ground of laughter, it follows that it is not good for man to give himself up to joy, viz., sensual (worldly), for to it the issue is sorrow.—Delitzsch.
There are two sorts of joys—the joy natural and the joy spiritual; the joy of vanity and the joy of verity; a joy in the creature and a joy in the Creator; a joy in a mutable thing and a joy in a matter immutable. The spiritual joys are the joys of the palace. The natural joys are the joys of prisoners. These are to worldlings that are without God seeming joys, because they know no better. They cannot get Penelope, they will be suitors to her maidens.… The godly are like the ant, they are first weary, then merry; but the ungodly are like the grasshopper, first they sing and then they sorrow.—Bishop Abernethy, 1630.
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.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain Pro 14:13. - Joh 15:11.
Proverbs
HOLLOW LAUGHTER, SOLID JOY
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Pro 14:13. - Joh 15:11.
A poet, who used to be more fashionable than he is now, pronounces ‘happiness’ to be our being’s end and aim. That is not true, except under great limitations and with many explanations. It may be regarded as God’s end, but it is ruinous to make it man’s aim. It is by no means the highest conception of the Gospel to say that it makes men happy, however true it may be. The highest is that it makes them good. I put these two texts together, not only because they bring out the contrast between the laughter which is hollow and fleeting and the joy which is perfect and perpetual, but also because they suggest to us the difference in kind and object between earthly and heavenly joys; which difference underlies the other between the boisterous laughter in which is no mirth and no continuance and the joy which is deep and abiding.
In the comparison which I desire to make between these two texts we must begin with that which is deepest, and consider-
I. The respective objects of earthly and heavenly joy.
Our Lord’s wonderful words suggest that they who accept His sayings, that they who have His word abiding in them, have in a very deep sense His joy implanted in their hearts, to brighten and elevate their joys as the sunshine flashes into silver the ripples of the lake. What then were the sources of the calm joys of ‘the Man of Sorrows’? Surely His was the perfect instance of ‘rejoicing in the Lord always’-an unbroken communion with the Father. The consciousness that the divine pleasure ever rested on Him, and that all His thoughts, emotions, purposes, and acts were in perfect harmony with the perfect will of the perfect God, filled His humanity up to the very brim with gladness which the world could not take away, and which remains for us for ever as a type to which all our gladness must be conformed if it is to be worthy of Him and of us. As one of the Psalmists says, God is to be ‘the gladness of our joy.’ It is in Him, gazed upon by the faith and love of an obedient spirit, sought after by aspiration and possessed inwardly in peaceful communion, confirmed by union with Him in the acts of daily obedience, that the true joy of every human life is to be realised. They who have drunk of this deep fountain of gladness will not express their joy in boisterous laughter, which is the hollower the louder it is, and the less lasting the more noisy, but will manifest itself ‘in the depth and not the tumult of the soul.’
Nor must we forget that ‘My joy’ co-existed with a profound experience of sorrow to which no human sorrow was ever like. Let us not forget that, while His joy filled His soul to the brim, He was ‘acquainted with grief’; and let us not wonder if the strange surface contradiction is repeated in ourselves. It is more Christlike to have inexpressibly deep joy with surface sorrow, than to have a shallow laughter masking a hurtful sorrow.
We have to set the sources of earthly gladness side by side with those of Christ’s joy to be aware of a contrast. His sprang from within, the world’s is drawn from without. His came from union with the Father, the world’s largely depends on ignoring God. His needed no supplies from the gratifications ministered by sense, and so independent of the presence or absence of such; the world’s need the constant contributions of outward good, and when these are cut off they droop and die. He who depends on outward circumstances for his joy is the slave of externals and the sport of time and chance.
II. The Christian’s joy is full, the world’s partial.
All human joys touch but part of our nature, the divine fills and satisfies all. In the former there is always some portion of us unsatisfied, like the deep pits on the moon’s surface into which no light shines, and which show black on the silver face. No human joys wait to still conscience, which sits at the banquet like the skeleton that Egyptian feasters set at their tables. The old story told of a magician’s palace blazing with lighted windows, but there was always one dark;-what shrouded figure sat behind it? Is there not always a surly ‘elder brother’ who will not come in however the musicians may pipe and the servants dance? Appetite may be satisfied, but what of conscience, and reason, and the higher aspirations of the soul? The laughter that echoes through the soul is the hollower the louder it is, and reverberates most through empty spaces.
But when Christ’s joy remains in us our joy will be full. Its flowing tide will rush into and placidly occupy all the else oozy shallows of our hearts, even into the narrowest crannies its penetrating waters will pass, and everywhere will bring a flashing surface that will reflect in our hearts the calm blue above. We need nothing else if we have Christ and His joy within us. If we have everything else, we need His joy within us, else ours will never be full.
III. The heavenly joys are perpetual, the earthly joys transient.
Many of our earthly joys die in the very act of being enjoyed. Those which depend on the gratification of some appetite expire in fruition, and at each recurrence are less and less complete. The influence of habit works in two ways to rob all such joys of their power to minister to us-it increases the appetite and decreases the power of the object to satisfy. Some are followed by swift revulsion and remorse; all soon become stale; some are followed by quick remorse; some are necessarily left behind as we go on in life. To the old man the pleasures of youth are but like children’s toys long since outgrown and left behind. All are at the mercy of externals. Those which we have not left we have to leave. The saddest lives are those of pleasure-seekers, and the saddest deaths are those of the men who sought for joy where it was not to be found, and sought for their gratification in a world which leaves them, and which they have to leave.
There is a realm where abide ‘fullness of joy and pleasures for ever more.’ Surely they order their lives most wisely who look for their joys to nothing that earth holds, and have taken for their own the ancient vow: ‘Though the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vine. . .. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.’ If ‘My joy’ abides in us in its calm and changeless depth, our joy will be ‘full’ whatever our circumstances may be; and we shall hear at last the welcome: ‘Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain v. 13. Even In laughter the heart is sorrowful,…
v. 13. Even In laughter the heart is sorrowful, that is, a person may hide a deep sorrow under a superficial joyousness; and the end of that mirth is heaviness, for trouble will invariably cut short such outward manifestations of joy and bring sorrow in the end.
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 A heart can laugh
A heart can laugh
The word "heart" represents a person's feelings, attitudes and motivations. AT: "A person's feelings can show laughter" (See: Metaphor)
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be in pain
"experience pain" or "hurt"
The one who
"The person who"
what his ways deserve
The word "ways" represents a person's conduct of life. AT: "what he deserves, based on how he lived" (See: Metaphor)
what is his
"what belongs to him" or "what he has a right to"
translationWords
heart
joy
faithful
good
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 14:13 A person’s outward demeanor might not reflect what…
14:13 A person’s outward demeanor might not reflect what is in the heart.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.