Wine is a mocker and beer is a brawler. Whoever is led astray by them is not wise.
Parallel Translations
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Wine is a mocker and beer is a brawler. Whoever is led astray by them is not wise.
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Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
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Wine is a mocker, strong drink is riotous; and whosoever reeleth thereby is not wise.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (17)
Passages linked to Proverbs 20:1 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Ephesians 5:18 Don’t be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,
- Hosea 4:11 Prostitution, wine, and new wine take away understanding.
- Isaiah 28:7 They also reel with wine, and stagger with strong drink. The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink. They are swallowed up by wine. They stagger with strong drink. They err in vision. They stumble in judgment.
- Proverbs 31:4 It is not for kings, Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes to say, ‘Where is strong drink?’
- 1 Corinthians 6:10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortionists, will inherit God’s Kingdom.
- Galatians 5:21 envy, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit God’s Kingdom.
- Habakkuk 2:15-16 “Woe to him who gives his neighbor drink, pouring your inflaming wine until they are drunk, so that you may gaze at their naked bodies! You are filled with shame, and not glory. You will also drink, and be exposed! The cup of Yahweh’s right hand will come around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory.
- 2 Samuel 11:13 When David had called him, he ate and drank before him; and he made him drunk. At evening, he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but didn’t go down to his house.
- Isaiah 5:22 Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine, and champions at mixing strong drink;
- Proverbs 23:29-35 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who stay long at the wine; those who go to seek out mixed wine. Don’t look at the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly. In the end, it bites like a snake, and poisons like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will imagine confusing things. Yes, you will be as he who lies down in the middle of the sea, or as he who lies on top of the rigging: “They hit me, and I was not hurt! They beat me, and I don’t feel it! When will I wake up? I can do it again. I can find another.”
- Genesis 19:31-36 The firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in to us in the way of all the earth. Come, let’s make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve our father’s family line.” They made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father. He didn’t know when she lay down, nor when she arose. It came to pass on the next day, that the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let’s make him drink wine again tonight. You go in, and lie with him, that we may preserve our father’s family line.” They made their father drink wine that night also. The younger went and lay with him. He didn’t know when she lay down, nor when she got up. Thus both of Lot’s daughters were with child by their father.
- Isaiah 56:12 “Come,” say they, “I will get wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow will be as today, great beyond measure.”
- Hosea 7:5 On the day of our king, the princes made themselves sick with the heat of wine. He joined his hand with mockers.
- 1 Samuel 25:36-38 Abigail came to Nabal; and behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. Therefore she told him nothing until the morning light. In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. About ten days later, Yahweh struck Nabal, so that he died.
- Genesis 9:21-23 He drank of the wine and got drunk. He was uncovered within his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it on both their shoulders, went in backwards, and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were backwards, and they didn’t see their father’s nakedness.
- 2 Samuel 13:28 Absalom commanded his servants, saying, “Mark now, when Amnon’s heart is merry with wine; and when I tell you, ‘Strike Amnon,’ then kill him. Don’t be afraid. Haven’t I commanded you? Be courageous, and be valiant!”
- 1 Kings 20:16-21 They went out at noon. But Ben Hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty-two kings who helped him. The young men of the princes of the provinces went out first; and Ben Hadad sent out, and they told him, saying, “Men are coming out from Samaria.” He said, “If they have come out for peace, take them alive; or if they have come out for war, take them alive.” So these went out of the city, the young men of the princes of the provinces, and the army which followed them. They each killed his man. The Syrians fled, and Israel pursued them. Ben Hadad the king of Syria escaped on a horse with horsemen. The king of Israel went out, and struck the horses and chariots, and killed the Syrians with a great slaughter.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain By wine here is meant him that is given…
By wine here is meant him that is given to wine, and so by strong drink.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Pro 20:1 Wine [is] a mocker, strong drink [is]…
Pro 20:1 Wine [is] a mocker, strong drink [is] raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
Ver. 1. Wine is a mocker, &c.] For, first, it mocks {a} the drunkard, and makes a fool of him, promising him pleasure, but paying him with the stinging of an adder, and biting of a cockatrice, Pro 23:32. {See Trapp on "Pro 23:32"} Wine is a comfortable creature, {Jdg 9:12} one of the chief lenitives {b} of human miseries, as Plato calls it; but "excess of wine" {1Pe 4:3} {c} is, as one well saith, Blandus daemon, dulce venenum, suave Teccatum; quam qui in se habet, se non habet; quam qui facit, non facit peccatum, sed totus est peccatum. That is, a fair spoken devil, a sweet poison, a sin which he that hath in him, hath not himself, and which he that runs into, runs not into a single sin, but is wholly turned into sin. Secondly, It renders a man a mocker, even one of those scorners, for whom judgments are prepared, as Solomon had said in the foregoing verse. See Hos 7:5 Isa 28:1 1Sa 25:36-38 Abigail would not tell Nabal of his danger till he had slept out his drunkenness, lest she should have met with a mock, if not with a knock.
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Strong drink is raging.] All kinds of drink that will alienate the understanding of a man and make him drunk, as ale, beer, cider, perry, metheglin, &c. Of this Pliny {d} cries out, Hei, mira vitiorum solertia inventum est quemadmodum aqua quoque inebriaret. Portentosum sane potionis genus! quasi non ad alium usum natura parens humane generi fruges dedisse videatur. So witty is wickedness grown now, that there is a way invented to make a man drunk with water; a monstrous kind of drink surely! as if dame Nature had bestowed grain upon us to such a base abuse. {See Trapp on "Pro 23:29"} St Paul very fitly yoketh together drunkards and railers. {1Co 6:9}
And whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.] For when the wine is in the wit is out. They have a practice of drinking the Outs, as they call it - all the wit out of the head, all the money out of the purse, &c. - and thereby affect the title of roaring boys, by a woeful prolepsis (doubtless), here for hereafter.
{a} Decepit ebrietas Lotum quem Sodoma non decepit.
{b} μαλακτικον.
{c} οινοφλυγιαι.
{d} Lib. xiv., cap. ult.
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 Wine is a mocker; wine immoderately drunk makes men…
Wine is a mocker; wine immoderately drunk makes men mockers or scoffers at God and men. Compare Hos 7:5.
Strong drink is raging; makes men full of rage and passion.
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Is not wise; is a fool, or a madman, because he depriveth himself of the use of his reason.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain A mocker - Wine immoderately drunk makes men mockers.…
A mocker - Wine immoderately drunk makes men mockers. Raging - Makes men full of rage.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Against wine and strong drink. We should avoid contentions.
CHAPTER XX
Against wine and strong drink. We should avoid contentions.
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The sluggard. The righteous man. Weights and measures.
Tale-bearers. The wicked son. The wise king. The glory of
young men. The beauty of old men. The benefit of correction.
NOTES ON CHAP. XX
Verse 1. Wine is a mocker] It deceives by its fragrance, intoxicates by its strength, and renders the intoxicated ridiculous.
Strong drink] שכר shechar, any strong fermented liquor, whether of the vine, date, or palm species.
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 20:1. Wine is a mocker — Wine immoderately…
Pro 20:1. Wine is a mocker — Wine immoderately drank makes men mockers or scoffers at God and men: see Hos 7:5. Or, is a mocker to the sinner himself, makes a mock of him, deprives him of his understanding, and causes him to speak and act like a fool, and thereby renders him ridiculous, and exposes him to shame, contempt, and insult. Strong drink is raging — Excites unruly passions in men’s minds, and makes them full of rage and fury. “When wine is in,” says one, “wit is out,” and then the man, according as his natural temper is, either mocks like a fool, or rages like a madman. The word המה, here rendered raging, says Bishop Patrick, signifies “that discomposed, unquiet, and restless state of mind which expresses itself in wild and tumultuous motions.” Whosoever is deceived thereby — Namely, by wine or strong drink; is not wise — Is a fool or a madman, because he deprives himself of the use of his reason. Thus, “the first precept in this chapter is against drunkenness, as an enemy to wisdom, even in common things; much more in those of everlasting consequence: for it commonly expels out of men’s minds all reverence, both to God and others, inclining them to take the license to say or do any thing without restraint or discretion.” Therefore, though it pretends to be a sociable thing, it renders men unfit for society, making them abusive with their tongues, and outrageous in their passions.
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 “Wine” and “strong drink” are personified as themselves doing…
“Wine” and “strong drink” are personified as themselves doing what they make men do. The latter (see Lev 10:9 note) is here, probably, the “palm-wine” of Syria.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Charles Bridges 1846 · Public Domain THE history of the world from the days of…
THE history of the world from the days of Noah (Gen 9:21 ) proves, that the love of wine and strong drink is a most insidious vice. The wretched victims are convinced too late, that they have been mocked and grievously deceived. Not only does it overcome them before they are aware, but it promises pleasures which it can never give. And yet so mighty is the spell, that the besotted slave consents to be mocked again and again, till "at last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder." (Pro 23:29-32 .)
Its raging power degrades below the level of the beasts. The government of reason is surrendered to lust, appetite, or passion.†1 Ahasuerus, with his merry heart, shewed himself most irrational.†2 The conqueror of the East murdered his friend. All is tumult and recklessness. The understanding is gradually impaired.†3 "The heart uttereth perverse things." (Pro 23:33 .) Other sins of the same black dye follow in its train,†4 often hurrying into the very jaws of destruction.†5 Surely then whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
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Humbling indeed is it to human nature, to see, not only the mass of the ignorant, but splendid talents, brutalized by this lust; that which was once "created in the image of God," now sunk into the dregs of shame! Yet more humbling is the sight even of God’s own people "wallowing in this mire." The examples of Noah and Lot are recorded (Gen 19:33 ), not as a laughing-stock to the ungodly, but as a beacon to the saints. "Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall." (1Co 10:12 .) Even an Apostle had practically learnt, that his security lay not in the innate strength of his principles, but in the unceasing exercise of Christian watchfulness. (1Co 9:27 .) "Take heed to yourselves" — is the needful warning of our Divine Master — "lest your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and so that day come upon you unawares. Be not drunk with wine" — said the great Apostle — "wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit." (Luk 21:34 . Eph 5:18 .)
Footnotes:
†1 1Sa 25:36 . Isa 56:12 . Hos 7:5 .
†2 Est 1:10-12.
†3 Isa 28:7. Hos 4:11 . Plato determines that not only old men, but drunkards, come to childhood. — De Legibus, I.
†4 Gen 19:33. Isa 5:11-12, Isa 5:22-23 . See the fine description, 1 Esdras 3:13-24.
†5 2Sa 13:28 . 1Ki 16:8-10 ; 1Ki 20:16 . Jer 51:39, Jer 51:57 . Dan 5:1-4 . Nah 1:10 .
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 A luxurious thing. Hebrew, "a scoffer." Chaldean, "renders one…
A luxurious thing. Hebrew, "a scoffer." Chaldean, "renders one a scoffer." --- Drunkenness. Hebrew ssocor, any strong drink, particularly palm-wine. Intemperance places the strongest obstacles in the way of wisdom. It causes a person to mock at all sacred things, and to be quarrelsome, chap. xxiii. 29., and Ephesians v. 18.
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).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain ε) Admonition to avoid drunkenness, sloth, a contentious spirit,…
ε) Admonition to avoid drunkenness, sloth, a contentious spirit, etc
Chap. 20
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1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink boisterous,
whosoever is led astray thereby is not wise.
2 As the roaring of a lion is the dread of the king;
he that provoketh him sinneth against his own soul.
3 It is an honor to a man to dwell far from strife,
but every fool breaketh forth.
4 The sluggard plougheth not because of the cold;
he seeketh in harvest and hath nothing.
5 Counsel in the heart of a man is as deep waters,
but a wise man draweth it out.
6 Many proclaim each his own grace;
but a faithful man who can find?
7 He who in his innocence walketh uprightly,
blessed are his children after him!
8 A king sitting on his throne,
searcheth out all evil with his eyes.
9 Who can say, I have made my heart clean,
I am pure from my sin?
10 Divers weights and divers measures,
an abomination to Jehovah are they both.
11 Even a child maketh himself known in his deeds,
whether his work be pure, and whether it be right.
12 The ear that heareth, and the eye that seeth—
Jehovah hath created them both.
13 Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty;
open thine eyes, and be satisfied with thy bread.
14 “It is bad, it is bad!” saith the buyer,
but when he is gone his way then he boasteth.
15 There is gold, and a multitude of pearls;
but a precious vase are lips of knowledge.
16 Take his garment that is surety for a stranger,
and for strangers make him a bondsman.
17 Bread of deceit is sweet to a man,
but afterward his mouth is filled with gravel.
18 Plans are established by counsel,
and with good advice make war.
19 He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth secrets;
with him that openeth wide his lips have nothing to do.
20 He that curseth father and mother,
his light goeth out in utter darkness.
21 An inheritance that is hastily gained in the beginning,
its end will not be blessed.
22 Say not: Let me avenge the evil!
wait on Jehovah; he will help thee.
23 An abomination to Jehovah are diverse weights,
and a deceitful balance is not good.
24 Man’s steps are of Jehovah;
man—how shall he understand his way?
25 It is a snare to a man that he hath vowed hastily,
and after vows to inquire.
26 A wise king sifteth the wicked,
and bringeth the (threshing) wheel over them.
27 The spirit of man is a candle of Jehovah,
searching all the chambers of the body.
28 Grace and truth preserve the king,
and he upholdeth his throne by mercy.
29 The glory of young men is their strength,
and the honor of old men is the grey head.
30 Wounding stripes are a correction of evil,
and strokes in the inner chambers of the body.
GRAMMATICAL AND CRITICAL
Pro_20:2. מתעברו is either to be pointed with Hitzig מְתַעְבְּרֹו (partic. with suffix from a denominative verb of Aramaic form תַּעְבֵּר “to throw into a passion, to excite wrath” [עֶבְרָה] or, which is probably simpler, with Ewald, Bertheau [Fuerst], etc., to conceive of it as a Hithp. participle, whose ordinary meaning, “to become excited against any one,” (comp. Pro_26:17) here passes over into the transitive idea, “to excite some one against one’s self, to call some one forth against one’s self.” Altogether too artificial, and in conflict with the old versions (LXX: ὁ παροξύνων αὐτόν; Vulg.: qui provocat eum) is Umbreit’s explanation: “he that arouseth himself (riseth up) against him [the king].” [E. V., H., B., M., etc., agree with our author; De W. and Noyes, with Umbreit].
Pro_20:3. שֶׁבֶת is according to the Masoretic punctuation the Infinitive of יָשַׁב [as in Isa_30:7] and not, as most of the recent interpreters [among them Umbreit, Ewald, Hitzig, [Fuerst, M., etc.]], regard it, a substantive from the root שָׁבַת, for which derivation certainly no other support could be adduced than Exo_21:19.
Pro_20:4. The K’ri וְשָׁאַל is doubtless preferable to the K’thibh יְשָׁאֵל (Psa_109:10), for “to beg in harvest” would give a meaning too intense. [Song of Solomon 2, S., etc.].—Hitzig changes מֵחֹרֶף into מַחְרֵף, which, according to Arabic analogies, should mean “a fruit basket;” he then reads יִשְׁאַל “he demands, desires,” and obtains the meaning:
“A pannier [?] the sluggard doth not provide [?],
“trieth to borrow [?] in harvest, and nothing cometh of it [?],”
Pro_20:9. [טָהַרְתִּי, cited by Bött. § 948, c, as one of the examples of the “stative” perfect, used to describe spiritual states. יאֹמַר, one of his examples of the “Fiens licitum” the Imperf. used to express what can be: “who can say;” § 950, β.—A.]
Pro_20:16. [לְקַח standing emphatically at the beginning of a verse, one of the few instances of the full Imperative form; Bött. § 1101, 2—A.].
Pro_20:18. Ewald proposes instead of עֲשֵׂה to read the Infin. עֲשׂה, as in Pro_21:3; but the Imperative seems more appropriate, and gives to the expression greater vivacity.
Pro_20:22. [וְי֣שַׁ֥ע לָֽךְ, one of the few examples of double accent, the penultimate accent marking the rhythm, that on the ultima sustaining its vowel; Bött. § 482, e.g.—The Jussive form with ו consec. is used to assert a sure result; Bött. “affirmativ consecutiv.”—A.]
Pro_20:25. יָלַע, essentially identical with לָעָה, signifies, according to the Arabic, “to speak inconsiderately, to promise thoughtlessly;” קֹדֶשׁ is here not a substantive, but an Infinitive continuing the finite verb. According to this simple explanation, which is lexically well justified, Ewald’s conception of ילע as a substantive, which should be pointed. יֶלַע, and translated, “hasty vow,” may be dismissed as superfluous; and also the derivation preferred by Jerome, Luther and others of the older expositors, from the root לוע “to swallow” [Vulgate: devorare sanctos; Luther: “das Heilips Histern”]. [Gesen and Fuerst are authorities for the view adopted by our author, while Bött., with great positiveness [§ 964, 5 and n. 7] pronounces the form a Jussive form with a “permissive” meaning, from לוע or לעע; “let him only, i.e. if he only hurry or hasten too much.”—A.]
Pro_20:29. [בַּֽחוּרִים, young men, juvenes, as distinguished from בְּחוּרִים, youth, juvenias; comp. Bött., § 408, β.—A.]
EXEGETICAL
1. Pro_20:1-5. Various precepts of prudence and integrity, (especially directed against drunkenness, a contentious spirit and indolence).—Wine is a mocker. The spirit of wine, and in like manner that of “mead” or “strong drink” (שֵׁכָר, σίκερα, Luk_1:15),1 a frequent accompaniment or substitute of wine (comp. Lev_10:9; Num_6:3; Jdg_13:4 sq.; Isa_5:11; Isa_28:7, etc.), appears here “personified, or represented as in a sense an evil demon, which excites to frivolous wantonness, to wild and boisterous action, and by the confusion of the senses into which it plunges man, robs him of all clear self-possession” (Elster).—Whosoever is led astray thereby is not wise. With this phrase “to stagger, or reel because of or under something” comp. Pro_5:19. For the general meaning, Isa_28:7.
Pro_20:2. With clause a compare Pro_19:12 (which is literally identical with the clause before us, except that this has אֵימָה, “dread” [terrible word, an utterance that spreads terror] instead of זַעַף).—He that provoketh him sinneth against his own soul. For the first phrase see Critical Notes.—“Sinneth against his own soul” (נַפְשׁוֹ, an accusative of respect); comp. kindred although not identical expressions in Pro_8:36; Pro_6:32.
Pro_20:3. It is an honor to a man to dwell far from strife. See Critical Notes. To “dwell far from strife” is an apt expression to describe the quiet, peaceable demeanor of the wise man, in contrast with the passionate activity of the contentious multitude. For the meaning and use of the verb of clause b, יִתְגַּלָּע, comp. Pro_17:14; Pro_18:1; with the meaning of the whole expression comp. Pro_19:11.
Pro_20:4. The sluggard plougheth not because of the cold, that is, because the season in which his field should be cared for is too disagreeably rough and cold for him. [For illustration see Thomson’s Land and Book, I., 207]. In consequence of this indolent procedure “he seeketh in harvest”—for fruits of his field—“and there is nothing.” See Critical Notes. [Rueetschi, ubi supra, p. 149, retaining the general meaning, objects that the term here used is not the one that of itself describes the cold and stormy harvest time; he therefore retains the temporal meaning of the preposition, and renders, “from the time of the (fruit) harvest onward,” etc., this being the proper time for the ploughing and sowing, a time which none can suffer to pass by.—A.]
Pro_20:5. Counsel in the heart of man is as deep waters, etc.; i.e. the purpose that one has formed may be difficult to fathom (see the same figure, Pro_18:4); a wise man nevertheless draws him out, elicits from him his secret, and brings it to light. דָּלָה means to “draw” water with a bucket (דְּלִי, Isa_40:15), to bring it up laboriously from a deep place (Exo_2:16; Exo_2:19)—a metaphor suggested by the figure in clause a, and evidently very expressive.
2. Pro_20:6-11. On the general sinfulness of men.—Many proclaim each his own grace (or love). The verb which is originally to “call” is here to “proclaim, to boast of,” prædicare. אִישׁ, “each individual” of the “many a man,” the mass or majority of men.—But a faithful man who can find? For the phrase “a man of fidelity,” comp. Pro_13:17; Pro_14:5; for the general meaning, Psa_116:11; Rom_3:4.
Pro_20:7. He who in his innocence walketh upright. Thus, taking צַדִּיק attributively, as an adjective subordinated to the participle, the LXX, Vulg., Syr., had already treated the construction, and later Ewald and Hitzig [and Kamph.]; while recent expositors generally render, “is a righteous man” [H. and N.], or in other instances treat the “righteous” as the subject (Umbreit, Elster, etc.), [S. and M., E. V., and De W.].—With this benediction upon the descendants of the righteous in clause b comp. Pro_14:26; with the אַחֲרָיו “after him,” i.e. after his death, Gen_24:67; Job_21:21.
Pro_20:8. A king … searcheth out all evil with his eyes. The natural reference is to the king as he corresponds with his ideal, that he be the representative on earth of God, the supreme Judge. Comp. Pro_16:10; also Isa_11:4, where similar attributes to these are ascribed to the Messiah, as the ideal typically perfect king. With this use of the verb “to sift or winnow,” to separate, comp. Pro_20:26.
Pro_20:9. Who can say: I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin? The question naturally conveys a decided negative by implication: “No one can say,” etc.; comp. Pro_20:6 b, and Pro_20:24 b. It is not a permanent purity, a “having kept one’s self pure” (from birth onward) that is the subject of the emphatic denial in this proverb (in opposition to Bertheau’s view), but a having attained to moral perfection, the having really conquered all the sin’s that were in existence before, that is denied. We should therefore bring into comparison not passages like Job_14:4; Job_15:14; Psa_51:5 (7), but such as 1Ki_8:46; Ecc_7:20; 1Jn_1:8; Jam_3:2, etc. With this expression, “I have made my heart clean,” comp. Psa_73:13.
Pro_20:10 draws attention to deception in business intercourse as a peculiar and prominent form of that universal sinfulness which has just been spoken of as having no exceptions. Comp. Pro_11:1, and Pro_20:23 below. With the language in clause b compare Pro_17:15 b.
Pro_20:11. Even a child maketh himself known in his deeds. With regard to the גַּם, “even,” which does not belong to the word next following, but to the נַעַר, “child” (as Geier, Umbreit, Elster, Hitzig rightly interpret), comp. remarks on Pro_19:2.—“His deeds” Ewald and Umbreit are inclined to render by “plays, sports,” in disregard of the uniform meaning of the word, and in opposition to the only correct construction of the “even.” מַעֲלָלִים is rather the works, the actions, the individual results of the child’s self-determination, from which it may even now be with confidence inferred of what sort “his work” is, i.e. the entire inner tendency of his life, his character (if one prefers the notion), the nature of his spirit (Hitzig).—That this thought also stands related to the fact of universal sinfulness needs no fuller demonstration. Comp. the familiar German proverb, “Was ein Dörnchen werden will spilzt sich bei Zeiten” [what means to become a thorn is early sharpening].
3. Pro_20:12-19. Admonitions to confidence in God, to industry, prudence and integrity.—The ear that heareth, and the eye that seeth—Jehovah hath created them both. An allusion, plainly, not to the adaptation, the divine purpose and direction in the functions of hearing and seeing (Hitzig), but to God’s omniscience as a powerful motive to the fear of God and confidence in Him; comp. Pro_15:3, and especially Psa_94:9.
Pro_20:13. With a compare Pro_6:9-10.—Open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread. The imperative clause, “be satisfied with bread,” has here the meaning of a consecutive clause, as in Pro_3:4, [This illustrates what Bött., § 957, 6, calls the “desponsive” use of the Imperative, conveying sure promises]. With this language compare Pro_12:11. To “open the eyes” is naturally the opposite of sleep and drowsiness, and therefore the description of wakeful, vigorous, active conduct.
Pro_20:14. “It is bad, it is bad!” saith the buyer, but when he is gone his way (וְאֹזֵל לִוֹ, for which we should perhaps with Hitzig read וְאָזַל לוֹ, corresponds with the German, “und trollt er sich” [when he takes himself off], when he has gone his way) then he boasteth, i.e. of the good bargain that he has made. The verse therefore censures the well-known craft, the deceitful misrepresentation, with which business men seek to buy their wares as cheap as possible, below their real value if they can. In opposition to the true meaning of קֹנֶה, as well as inconsistently with the idea of boasting in the second clause, Schultens and Elster (and Luther likewise) render: “It is bad, it is bad!” saith the owner (?) of his possession; but when it is gone(?) then he boasteth of it (?).”
Pro_20:15. There is indeed gold and a multitude of pearls, etc. As these precious things are compared in Pro_3:14-15; Pro_8:11, with intelligent, wise dispositions and discourse, so are they here compared with wise lips, that is, with the organ of wise discourse. In this connection we should doubtless notice the difference between “gold and pearls” as valuable native material, not yet wrought into articles of ornament, and on the other hand, the lips as an artistic “vase” or other “vessel” (that has come forth from the hand of the divine artificer, and is adorned and embellished by man’s wise use of it).
Pro_20:16. Comp. Pro_6:1-5; Pro_11:15; Pro_17:18. Instead of the warnings that are there found against foolish suretyship, we have here in a livelier style a demand to give over at once, without hesitation as bondsman any such inconsiderate surety.—And for strangers make him a surety. Instead of the K’ri “for a strange woman,” i. e., an adulteress, we should unquestionably retain here the K’thibh, “for strangers, unknown people;” while in the corresponding passage, Pro_27:13, נָכְרִיָה “the strange woman” is undoubtedly the correct reading.
Pro_20:17. Bread of deceit is sweet to a man, i.e., enjoyments and possessions secured by means of deceit; comp. Pro_23:3; Pro_9:17.—For this use of “sand, gravel,” (an appropriate emblem to describe a thing not to be enjoyed) comp. Lam_3:16.
Pro_20:18. Plans are established by counsel. עֵצָה here equivalent to סוֹד, counsel which one takes with another,—comp. Pro_15:22.—And with good advice make war. The “advice” or management (comp. Pro_1:5) is plainly contemplated as the result of the counsel that has been taken; comp. Pro_24:6.
Pro_20:19. With clause a compare Pro_11:13; with b, Pro_13:3.
4. Pro_20:20-23. Against hatred of parents, legacy-hunting, revenge, deceit.—He that curseth father and mother, and so in the boldest way transgresses the fifth commandment of the law, (Exo_20:12, comp. Exo_21:17; Lev_20:9).—His light goeth out in utter darkness. The same figure is used also in Pro_13:9, here as there serving to illustrate the hopeless destruction of life and prosperity.—In regard to אִישׁוֹן, the “pupil of the eye, blackness, midnight”—for which the K’ri unnecessarily demands the Aramaic אֱשׁוּן—comp. notes on Pro_7:9.
Pro_20:21. An inheritance that hath been hastily gained in the beginning. In favor of the K’ri מְבֹחֶלֶת, “hurried, hastened” (comp. Est_8:14, and also remarks above on Pro_13:11), we have the testimony of the ancient versions, the parallel in Pro_28:20; Pro_28:22, and besides the position of this verse after verse 20. For it is precisely the wayward son, who despises and curses his parents, that will be very readily disposed to seize upon his inheritance before the time against their will (comp. Luk_15:12), and possibly even to drive his parents violently out of their possession (comp. Pro_19:26). That no blessing can rest upon such possessions, that as they were unrighteously acquired at first so they must in the end be wasted and come to nought, is a truth which clause b in a simple way brings to view. The K’thibh מְבֹהֶלֶת would either signify “cursed,” in accordance with Zec_11:8 (so Elster, e.g., regards it), or in accordance with the Arabic, “acquired by avarice” (so Umbreit). [H., N., W., S., M., Bertheau, Kamph, etc., agree in supporting the exposition adopted by our author].
Pro_20:22. Say not: let me avenge the evil; i.e., do not desire to requite evil with evil, do not avenge thyself for offences that have been done thee; comp. Pro_24:29; Deu_32:35; Rom_12:17; 1Pe_3:9.—The second member of clause b is evidently a consecutive clause, as the Jussive frequently is after the Imperative; comp. Isa_8:10; 2Ki_5:10. The Vulgate correctly renders “el liberabit te,” while the LXX, Rosenmueller, Ewald, etc., treat the words as a final clause; “that he may keep thee.”
Pro_20:23. Comp. Pro_20:10. A deceitful balance is not good; (Z., “is shameful,” lit. is “not good, is no good,” as in Pro_17:26; Pro_18:5); a litotes, expressing the idea of that which is very base.
6. Pro_20:24-30. Miscellaneous admonitions to the fear of God and integrity.—From Jehovah are man’s steps; comp. Pro_16:9; Psa_37:23. The “steps” are naturally “not acts in their subjective ethical aspect, but these acts according to their result, their several issues in a parallel series of experiences,—and therefore those events depending on the action of man which make up its external counterpart” (Hitzig).—In regard to the emphatic negative import of the question in clause b, compare remarks on Pro_20:9.
Pro_20:25. Before the יָלַע קֹדֶשׁ [he hath vowed hastily] there should be supplied the conjunction אִם, “if;” therefore render literally “it is a snare to a man, vows he hastily,” i.e., if he in a hasty manner promises to devote a thing to God as sacred (as κορβᾶν, Mar_7:11). See Critical notes.—Furthermore hasty consecrations, and in like manner, according to clause b the hasty assumption of vows, are here called a “snare” (קֹדֶשׁ, comp. remarks on Pro_18:7), because he who makes the rash vow afterward easily repents of it, and falls under the temptation sinfully to break or to recall his vow (comp. Num_30:3; Ecc_5:3).
Pro_20:26. A wise king sifteth the wicked. To “sift” or “winnow” expresses here, just as it does in Pro_20:8, a discriminating separation of the chaff from the grain; comp. for this familiar and pertinent figure Psa_1:4; Isa_17:13; Amo_9:9.—And bringeth the wheel over them, i.e., the wheel of the threshing cart (Isa_28:27 sq.), which however is contemplated here not so much as an instrument of harvesting, as rather in the light of a means and emblem of the severe punishment of captive enemies (in accordance with 2Sa_12:31; 1Ch_20:3; Amo_1:3). There is therefore no offence to be taken in view of the fact that in the operation of threshing the crushing with the wheel preceded the winnowing or sifting, while here it is not mentioned until after it (in reply to Bertheau).
Pro_20:27. The spirit of man is a candle of Jehovah; lit., “man’s breath,” for this is the first meaning of the Hebrew term נְשָׁמָה (Gen_2:7); yet it is not the soul which pervades and animates all the members of the body (as Hiteig renders), according to the view of many of the elder expositors, as also Starke, Von Gerlach, etc., but the spirit, as the higher manifestation of soul-life, or if any one prefers, the reason, self-consciousness (Umbreit, Elster) that is intended by the expression. For all analogies are wanting, at least within the range of the Bible, for a comparison of the soul with a light (the Arabic maxim in Kazwini Cosmog. I. 355, in which the soul, Nephesch, is designated the light of the body, plainly has no bearing on our present object). On the contrary the inner light or eye, (τὸ φῶς τὸ ἐν σοὶ) of which the Lord speaks in Mat_6:22-23, is unquestionably an organ or factor of the higher spiritual soul, more precisely designated as the νοῦς or the reason. In support of the idea that נְשָׁמָה in the passage before us signifies essentially this and nothing else, there may be adduced the identity of נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים with רוּחַ חַיִּים as indicated by a comparison of Gen_6:17 with Gen_2:7. The expression “candle of Jehovah” moreover seems o point rather to the spirit as that factor in human personality which proceeds immediately from God, than to the soul which inheres in the physical life, and does not rise essentially above it.2—[Wordsw. and some other English expositors understand the allusion to be specifically to the conscience; the majority are content with the more comprehensive term spirit, including intellectual and moral factors.—A.].—Searching all the chambers of the body, i.e., looking through its whole interior,—which clearly suggests the ruling relation of this “searcher” to the body, the sphere of its activity, and so is very pertinent with respect to the spirit, but not to the soul. In regard to the “chambers of the body” comp. Proverbs 20:36 and Pro_18:8.
Pro_20:28. Grace and truth preserve the king. “Mercy and truth,” or “love and truth,” not quite in the sense of Pro_3:3; the attributes of a king are intended by the terms, which should rather be rendered “grace and truth.” With this idea of “preserving” comp. Psa_25:21; with that of “upholding” in clause b, Isa_9:6.
Pro_20:29. Comp. Pro_16:31; Pro_17:6.
Pro_20:30. Wounding stripes are a correction of evil and strokes (that reach) to the chambers of the body; i.e., stripes or blows that cause wounds, such as one administers to his son under severe discipline (comp. Pro_19:18), have this beneficial effect, that they intend a salutary infliction or correction “on the evil” in this son, as a scouring of the rust which has gathered on a metal cleanses and brightens the metal. And not merely does such an external chastening as this accomplish the sharp correction of the son: it penetrates deep into the inmost parts of the body (comp. remarks on Pro_20:27), i.e., to the innermost foundations of his personal life and consciousness, and so exerts a reforming influence on him. Thus Ewald and Elster correctly render, and substantially Umbreit also (comp. Luther’s version, which expresses the true meaning at least in general), while Bertheau regards תַּמְרוּק, “remedial application,” as the subject, and (after the analogy of Est_2:3; Est_2:9; Est_2:12) understands it to refer to “the application of ointments and perfumes for beautifying” (! ?); Hitzig, however, naturally emends again, and by changing תַּמְרוּק to תָּמֹר יֶקֶב obtains the meaning: “Wounding stripes drop (?) into the cup of the wicked (?) and strokes into the chambers of the body.”—[Our English version is defective from its obscurity: The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil. Recent expositors are clearer in their renderings, and differ but slightly in their choice of terms. Stuart; Wounding stripes (H.; the bruises of a wound) are the remedy for the base (H.; are a cleanser in a wicked man); N. and M.; The scars (stripes) of a wound are a cleansing from evil; Wordsw., paraphrasing somewhat more: The stripes of a wound are the (only) wiping away of (certain cases of) evil.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
It is evidently impossible to derive the many maxims of the chapter from a single primary and fundamental thought. The warning against drunkenness or the passion of the intemperate, which introduces the diversified series, has in the further progress of the discourse no successor whatsoever of similar form, and could be retained as the theme or the germinal thought for the whole only by the most artificial operations, such as Stöcker, e.g., and others of former times undertook (comp. the introductory paragraph to the Homiletic hints). Much more readily might a contentious and revengeful spirit be regarded as the chief object of the admonitory representations and suggestions of this section (see Pro_20:2-3; Pro_20:6; Pro_20:14; Pro_20:19; Pro_20:22). But a space at least equally large is given to the dissuasions from indolence and deceit (Pro_20:4; Pro_20:10; Pro_20:13-14; Pro_20:17; Pro_20:23), and again to the commendations, somewhat more general in their form, of wise and upright conduct (Pro_20:7; Pro_20:9; Pro_20:11; Pro_20:15; Pro_20:18; Pro_20:24-26; Pro_20:29). Only a single group of proverbs in this chap. stands out from the mass of diverse and isolated maxims and aphorisms, as contemplating one object with considerable compactness and unity of view. This is the division which relates to the general sinfulness of men (Pro_20:6-11). And this in fact presents also the richest and most important doctrinal material which the chapter anywhere contains. Starting with the fact, alas! too palpable, that really faithful men, i.e., men who are on all sides reliable, free from all falsehood and untruth, are to be found nowhere on the earth (Pro_20:6; chap. Joh_8:46, and the passages cited above in notes to Pro_20:6), the representation brings into the foreground the ideal of moral innocence, uprightness, and the practical prosperity which belongs to it, as this ought actually to be realized by humanity (Pro_20:7). It then at once suggests the crying contrast which exists between the real moral condition of humanity and the ethical aim of its perfect state, pointing to the manifold and numberless forms of evil in conflict with which, in judicial exposures and punishments of which, earthly kings even now are engaged (Pro_20:8). It next gives an outright expression to the universal need of purification and improvement (Pro_20:9), and then brings forward a special and conspicuous examample of the deceitful acts and endeavors of all men, so odious to God (Pro_20:10). It concludes at length with a hint of that corruption in the devices and impulses of the human heart which appears even in the earliest periods of youth (Pro_20:11; Gen_8:21). The most important of these utterances, which are perhaps intentionally arranged as they are with reference to the very line of thought that has been indicated, is at all events the testimony given in Pro_20:9 to the impossibility of ever attaining in this present human life to a complete moral purity and perfection. We have here a proverb which, in addition to the universality, guiltiness and penal desert, of the original corruption of human nature, attests very distinctly also its permanent character, i.e., its continued obstinate and ineradicable inherence in the soul and body of man, its “tenacitas, sive pertinax inhæsio,” by virtue of which a certain spark of evil (or tinder for evil), a concealed germ and root of sinful lust (fomes peccati s. concupiscentia) remains in all men, even the most sanctified and morally elevated, until their very death. This proverb is also especially noteworthy, because “in contrast with the style of conception which is elsewhere predominant in the proverbs, according to which the imperfection of all human piety is but slightly emphasized, and he who is relatively pious is allowed to pass as righteous, it gives expression to the unsatisfying nature of all moral endeavors, as never conducting to the full extirpation of the sense of guilt, and a perfect feeling of peace with God; it accordingly suggests the need of a higher revelation, in which the sense of guilt, and of an ever imperfect fulfilment of duty shall finally be wholly overcome” (Elster).
Memorable doctrinal and ethical truths are furthermore contained, particularly in ver.1, with its significant personification of the demon of mockery, and wild, boisterous recklessness, which as it were lurks concealed in wine and other intoxicating drinks;—in Pro_20:12; Pro_20:24, with their allusion to the mightily pervading influence of God, the Omniscient, overall the acts and fates of men;—in Pro_20:22, with its dissuasion from avenging one’s self, and the spirit of retaliation, so suggestive of the New Testament command of love to enemies;—in Pro_20:25, with its warning against the hasty assumption of religious vows;—in Pro_20:27, with its beautiful illustration of the all-embracing authority, and the moulding influence which man’s spirit, as his inward divine light, must exercise over his entire physical and spiritual life (and in the normal self-determination does actually exercise);—and finally, in Pro_20:28, with its admirable exaltation of the loving, faithful, upright disposition of kings as the firmest prop to their thrones. Compare above, the Exegetical explanations of all these passages.
[Lawson (on Pro_20:7): The integrity of the just man is not like the pretended integrity of the moralist, for it includes piety, justice, sobriety, and a conscientious regard to every precept of God, without excluding those that appear to vain men to be of small importance, or those that most directly oppose the prevailing disposition of the mind.—Chalmers (on Pro_20:27): In order to salvation, the Spirit must deal with the subjective mind, and illuminate the ruling faculty there, as well as set the objective word before us, which is of His own inspiration. A more vivid conscience will give us a livelier sense of God’s law; a more discerning consciousness, reaching to all the thoughts and tendencies of the inner man, will give us a more convincing view of our sad and manifold deficiencies from that law.]
HOMILETIC AND PRACTICAL
Homily on the chapter as a whole: The general sinfulness and need of salvation on the part of all men, demonstrated 1) from the magnitude and variety of the vices that prevail in humanity; 2) from the rareness of a sincere striving after virtue; 3) from the absolute impossibility of finding complete purity and holiness except in Christ.—Stöcker (less in harmony with the proper and chief contents of the chapter; comp. what has been said above): Of intemperance in drinking, and its evil consequences: 1) Delineation of the ἀσωτία vini; 2) Reference to the incommoda (the inconveniences), and 3) to the remedia ebrietatis (the remedies of drunkenness).—In like manner Wohlfarth, Calwer Handb., etc.; against the intemperance and the wildness of the scoffer.
Pro_20:1-5. Starke (on Pro_20:1): He who is inclined to physical drunkenness will not be vigorous spiritually; Eph_5:18 (comp. Von Gerlach: A wild, unconscious excitement is far from a holy wisdom).—Geier (on Pro_20:2): The wrath of an earthly king is intolerable; how much more the infinite eternal wrath of the King of all kings against persistent sinners at the judgment!—[Lawson (on Pro_20:3): A fool is so self-conceited that he can bear no contradiction; so impertinent that he will have a hand in every other man’s business; so proud that he cannot bear to be found in the wrong; and so stubborn that he will have the last word, although his lips should prove his destruction].—Zeltner (on Pro_20:4); On observing times (Rom_12:11;. Eph_5:18) everything depends in physical as well as spiritual things.—J. Lange (on Pro_20:5); For the testing, searching, and discriminating between spirits, there should be a man who is furnished with the spirit of Christ.
Pro_20:6-11. Zeltner (on Pro_20:6): It is far better to show one’s self in fact pious, benevolent, true and upright, than merely to be so regarded and proclaimed.—[Trapp (on Pro_20:7): Personal goodness is profitable to posterity; yet not of merit, but of free grace, and for the promise’ sake].—Starke (on Pro_20:8): When Christ, the Lord and King of the whole world, shall at length sit in judgment, then will all evil be driven away by His all holy eyes, brought to an end and punished.—(On verse 9): The justified have and keep sins within them even to their death; but they do not let these rule in them, Rom_6:11. He betrays his spiritual pride and his entanglement in gross error, who imagines, and, it may be, also maintains, that he has within himself no more sins, 1Jn_1:8-9.—(On Pro_20:11): He that has charge of the training of children, benefits not them only, but the whole of human society, when he incites flexible, well-disposed spirits to good, and seeks to draw away the vile from evil with care and strictness.
Pro_20:12-19. Melanchthon (on Pro_20:12): To the successful conduct of a state two things are always needful: 1) good counsels of the rulers, and 2) willing obedience of the subjects. Both Solomon declares to be gifts of God, when he describes Him as the Creator both of the hearing ear and of the seeing eye.—Geier (on Pro_20:12): It is God from whom we possess all good as well in temporal as in spiritual things (Jam_1:16): as He has given us eyes and ears, so will He also give us a new heart (Eze_11:19).—Zeltner (on Pro_20:14): Acknowledge with thanks God’s present bounties, as long as thou hast them, and employ them aright, that God may not suddenly take them from thee, and thou then for the first time become aware what thou hast lost.—Egard (on Pro_20:17): It is the way of sin and fleshly lust that it at first seems attractive to man, but afterward, when conscience wakes, causes great disquiet and anguish.—[Lord Bacon (on Pro_20:18): The greatest trust between man and man is the trust of giving counsel … Things will have their first or second agitation; if they be not tossed upon the waves of counsel, they will be tossed upon the waves of fortune, and be full of inconstancy, doing and undoing, like the reeling of a drunken man.]—Tübingen Bible (on Pro_20:18): To wage war is allowed, for there are righteous wars; but they must be conducted with reason and reflection (compare General York’s prayer and motto at the beginning of every battle: “The beginning, middle, end, O Lord, direct for the best!”).—J. Lange (on Pro_20:19): Rather hear him much who reveals to thee what harms thee, than him who flatters thee.—Von Gerlach (same verse): In all inconsiderate talking about others there is always some delight in evil or slander running along through it; just as also all tattling and idle gossip of this kind always has something exceedingly dangerous in it.
Pro_20:20-23. Melanchthon (on Pro_20:21): It is of moment always to wait for God’s ordinary call, to distinguish the necessary from the unnecessary, and to attempt nothing outside of our lawful calling.—Lange (same verse): That for which one strives with inconsiderate craving in unlawful ways turns not into blessing, but to a curse.—Zeltner (on Pro_20:22): To withstand passion, to wait in patience for the Lord’s help, and to plead for the welfare of the evil doer is the beat revenge on an enemy.—Berleburg Bible (same verse): Revenge always springs from pride; thou wouldst willingly be like God, and be thine own helper, avenger and judge; this pride then kindles thine anger within thee, so that thou for heat and violence canst not wait until God disposes of the matter for thee.—[Lawson: By indulging your revengeful spirit, you do yourself a greater hurt than your greatest enemy can do you, for you gratify his ill nature when you suffer it to make a deep impression on your spirit, without which it could do you little or no hurt; but by committing your cause to God, you turn his ill-will to your great advantages making it an occasion for the exercise of the noblest graces, which are attended with the sweetest fruits, and with the rich blessing of God.]
Pro_20:24-30. Geier (on Pro_20:24): No one can rightly begin and walk in the way to the kingdom of heaven, who would enter without Christ; Joh_14:6; Joh_15:5.—[Chalmers (on Pro_20:24): Man can no more comprehend the whole meaning of his own history, than he can comprehend the whole mind of that God who is the Sovereign Lord and Ordainer of all things.]—Berleburg Bible (on Pro_20:25): In vows it is important to reflect with the utmost circumspection, before one forms a definite purpose. But what one has once vowed, against it he should seek no pretext of any kind to annul it.—Starke (on Pro_20:25): The outward service of God without real devotion becomes a snare to many, by which they deceive their souls and plunge into ruin.—(On Pro_20:27): Know the nobility of the human soul, this candle of the Lord! Beware therefore of all conceit of wisdom and contempt of others about thee. Give rather to the illumination of Divine grace its influence on all the powers of thy soul, that when thine understanding is sufficiently enlightened thy will also may be reformed.—[Stoddard: The Spirit does not work by giving a testimony, but by assisting natural conscience to do its work. Natural conscience is the instrument in the hand of God to accuse, condemn, terrify, and to urge to duty.]—A. Schröder (on Pro_20:28—in the Sonntagsfeier, 1840): How the relation of the king to his people and of the people to their king can be a blessed one solely through the purity and sincerity of both).—Rust (same verse—same source, issue for 1834); Of the exalted blessing which a living Christianity ensures to all the relations of the State.—Lange (on Pro_20:29): Art thou still a youth in Christian relations; prove thy strength by conquest over thyself; art thou become grey and experienced in them, prove thy wisdom by love and a blameless life; 1Jn_2:13-14.—(On Pro_20:30): There is much evil about and within us from which we must be cleansed and purified; God uses to this end the inward and outward trials of this life.—Comp. Luther’s marginal comment on Pro_20:30 : “Mali non verbis sed verberibus emendantur; pain is as needful as eating and drinking.”
Footnotes:
[1]For a full and valuable discussion of the meaning of these and kindred terms, see an article by Dr. Laurie in the Bibliotheca Sacra, January, 1869.—A.
[2] Von Rudloff, Lehre vom Menschen, 2d Ed., p. 48, also takes a correct view of the passage.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 1. A mocker — לצ, (lets.) Of this word…
1. A mocker — לצ, (lets.) Of this word Gesenius says, that it means a frivolous and impudent person, who sets at naught and scoffs at the most sacred precepts and duties of religion, piety, and morals.
Strong drink — שׁכר, (shekhar,) Greek, sikera. Jerome says, that in Hebrew any inebriating liquor is called shekhar, whether made of grain, the juice of apples, honey, dates, or any other fruit. It is probably used here in a more generic sense than יין, (yayin,) wine: meaning any kind of intoxicating drink. Of “strong drink,” is predicated המה, (homeh,) turbulence: to be noisy, clamorous, boisterous; to be in a tumult or uproar. Taking the above together, they are highly descriptive of drunkenness.
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Stuart says, The common idea that “strong drink, in the Scriptures, means something stronger than wine, is destitute of any good foundation. None of the fruits yielded a juice so intoxicating as that of the grape. Wine was the strongest drink of the Hebrews, if the drinks that were drugged be excepted.” (See note on Pro_9:2.)
Inebriating liquors, whether wine or anything else, are “mockers,” deceivers. They deceive those who drink them, leading imperceptibly, in many cases, to habits of tippling and drunkenness, and make those who indulge in them setters at naught of all duties and obligations.
Whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise — Or, shall not become wise. “When wine is in, wit is out.” Strong drink is an enemy to wisdom even in common things; how much more in those of everlasting moment! It usually expels from the mind all reverence for God and respect for man, and causes men to throw off restraint and lose discretion.
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 1. a mocker] Rather a scorner, Pro_1:22, note.
1. a mocker] Rather a scorner, Pro_1:22, note.
raging] Rather, a brawler, R.V. In each case the thing is personified in its victim. The drunkard in his cups becomes impious towards God and quarrelsome towards his neighbour.
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is deceived] erreth, R.V., reeleth, R.V. marg.
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 (1) Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging—i.e.,…
XX.
(1) Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging—i.e., producing these effects in those who subject themselves to their power.
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 Wine is a mocker; or, scorner, the word (luts)…
Wine is a mocker; or, scorner, the word (luts) being taken up from the last chapter. The liquor is, as it were, personified, as doing what men do under its influence. Thus inebriated persons scoff at what is holy, reject reproof, ridicule all that is serious. Septuagint, Akolaston oinov , "Wine is an undisciplined thing;" Vulgate, Luxuriosa res, Vinum. strong drink is raging; a brawler, Revised Version. Shekar, sikera , (Luk_1:15) is most frequently employed of any intoxicating drink not made from grapes, e.g. palm wine, mead, etc. The inordinate use of this renders men noisy and boisterous, no longer masters of themselves or restrained by the laws of morality or decency. Septuagint, Ubistikoyh , "Drunkenness is insolent." Theognis has some sensible lines on this matter ("Parch.," 479) Ov d an uperballh posiov meti keinov Thv autou glwsshv kartero noou Muyeitai d apalamna ta nhfosi gignetai aiscra Aideitai d erdwn oudeh To prifrwn tote nhpiov. ~
Whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. No one who reels under the influence of, is overpowered by, wine is wise. (Isa_28:7) Septuagint, "Every fool is involved in such." Says a Latin adage "Ense cadunt multi, perimit sed crapula plures.
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"More are drowned in the wine cup than in the ocean," say the Germans. (comp. Pro_23:29, etc.; Eph_5:18)
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 Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and…
Pro_20:1
Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
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The evil effects of drunkenness
I. It deadens every moral sensibility. And what is the evidence of the drunkard himself? On his own declaration, are the principles of virtue as vigorous in his heart now as before? Is he as sensible of delight in contemplating the morally sublime, as much shocked with the morally deformed, as much grieved and disgusted with the depraved and licentious?
II. It impairs every intellectual faculty.
III. It accelerates death.
IV. It entails misery on families.
V. It terminates in everlasting destruction (1Co_6:10). (The Weekly Christian Teacher.)
Strong drink deceptive
The characteristic of strong drink is deceitfulness,
1. A great quantity of precious food is destroyed that strong drink may be extracted from the rubbish.
2. The curative and strengthening properties of our strong drinks, which are so much vaunted, are in reality next to nothing.
3. Strong drink deceives the nation by the vast amount of revenue that it pours into the public treasury.
4. In as far as human friendship is, in any case, dependent on artificial stimulant for the degree of its fervency, it is a worthless counterfeit.
5. Its chief deception lies in the silent, stealthy advances which it makes upon the unsuspecting taster, followed, when the secret approaches have been carried to a certain point, by the sure spring and deathly grip of the raging lion. (W. Arnot, D. D.)
Mischief and folly of drunkenness
I. The mischief. To the sinner himself. It mocks him, makes a fool of him, promises him that satisfaction which it can never give him. In reflection upon it: it rages in his conscience. It is raging in the body, putting the humours into a ferment. Pretending to be a sociable thing, it renders men unfit for society, for it makes them abusive with their tongues and outrageous in their passions.
II. The folly. He that is deceived thereby, that suffers himself to be drawn into this sin, when he is so plainly warned of the consequences of it, is not wise: he shows that he has no right sense or consideration of things; and not only so, but he renders himself incapable of getting wisdom; for it is a sin that infatuates and besets men and takes away their heart. (Matthew Henry.)
Total abstinence
The following story is told of General Harrison, one of the candidates for the Presidency of the United States, in connection with a public dinner given him on one occasion: At the close of the dinner one of the gentlemen drank his health. The General pledged his toast by drinking water. Another gentleman offered a toast, and said, General, will you not favour me by taking s glass of wine? The General, in a very gentlemanly way, begged to be excused. He was again urged to join in a glass of wine. This was too much. He rose from his seat and said in the most dignified manner: Gentlemen, I have twice refused to partake of the wine-cup. I hope that will be sufficient. Though you press the matter ever so much, not a drop shall pass my lips. I made a resolve when I started in life that I would avoid strong drink. That vow I have never broken. I am one of a class of seventeen young men who graduated together. The other sixteen members of my class now fill drunkards graves, and all from the pernicious habit of wine-drinking. I owe all my health, my happiness, and prosperity to that resolution. Would you urge me to break it now?
Better sink than drink
A clergyman complained to the late Sir Andrew Clark of feeling low and depressed, unable to face his work, and tempted to rely on stimulants. Sir Andrew saw that the position was a perilous one, and that it was a crisis in the mans life. He dealt with the case, and forbade resort to stimulants, when the patient declared that he would be unequal to his work, and ready to sink. Then, said Sir Andrew, sink like a man.
Abstinence favourable to health
The working mans capital is health, not wealth. It does not consist in landed property, but in sinew and muscle; and if he persist in the use of intoxicating liquors they will strike at the very root of his capital--a sound physical constitution. After this is lost he becomes unfit for the workshop, for no master will employ a man who wants capital. He has then to repair to the poorhouse or infirmary. (J. Hunter.)
Water the best drink
The best of all drinks for the athlete, says Dr. Richardson, is pure water. The athletic lower animals--the racehorse, the hound, the lion, the leopard--thrive well on water, because their bodies, like our own, are water engines, as steam engines are, and that, too, almost as simply and purely.
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_20:1. Strong drink. The Hebrew word Shekhar includes every…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Pro_20:1. Strong drink. The Hebrew word Shekhar includes every strong drink besides wine. Delitzsch translates it mead.
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Pro_20:2. The fear of a king, i.e., the dread which he inspires. Sinneth against his soul, or “forfeits his life,” so Delitzsch and Miller.
Pro_20:3. To cease from strife. Rather, “to remain far from” it.
Pro_20:4. Delitzsch translates this verse, “At the beginning of the harvest the sluggard ploweth not, and so when he cometh to reaping time there is nothing.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_20:1
STRONG DRINK
Taking the two words here used to stand for all intoxicating drinks, we remark—
I. That they are most deceptive in their operation. It is most certain that there is no person who is now an abject slave to strong drink, who would not once have indignantly repelled the insinuation that he or she would ever be a drunkard. It is taken probably for a long time without any evil effects being apparent, and the temporary stimulus is mistaken for a permanent increase of strength, until one day the unhappy victim finds himself a subject of the most tyrannical habit that enslaves fallen humanity. And strong drink may truly be said to be a “mocker,” when we see how men appear to struggle to escape from its deadly fascination, and how fruitless their efforts often are.
II. That they are powerful ministers to human passions. Wherever strong drink enters, every evil tendency is increased tenfold; the angry man becomes a monster of cruelty, and he who was before a comparatively harmless member of society, or even a useful one, becomes hurtful and dangerous. The restraints that are all powerful to govern a man when sober are all as utterly useless when he is under the power of strong drink, as silken cords would be to keep a wild beast within bounds.
III. It is utter folly to tamper with such a foe to human dignity and happiness. The deceptive influence of strong drink, and the miserable results of allowing it to gain the mastery over us, are all around men; none can now plead ignorance of its nature, or of its effects, for the world is full of homes ruined by it, and hearts which it has broken, and men whom it has changed into brutes. Experience sets her seal to Solomon’s declaration, and brands as without wisdom those who play with such a deadly and treacherous enemy.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Solomon seldom singles out a specific vice; and when he does, it is often exemplary, or to be understood of any. He does single out drunkenness, however. Strikingly enough the Apostle does so. (1Co_6:10).—Miller.
If the fruit of his own vine sometimes chastised the unwary Israelite with whips, the fiery product of our distilleries chastise the nation with scorpions. The little finger of strong drink in modern times is thicker than the loins of its father and representative in Solomon’s day. The deceits which our enemy practises are legion; and legion too are the unwary “who are deceived thereby.” I shall enumerate a few of its lying devices.
1. A great quantity of precious food is destroyed in this country that strong drink may be extracted from the rubbish.… On an average of ten years, the quantity of barley converted into malt in the United Kingdom has been nearly six millions of quarters annually. When you add to this the unmalted grain consumed in the distillation of spirits in Ireland, you have an aggregate sufficient to feed between four and five millions of people throughout the year.… What do we obtain in return? A large quantity of malt liquors and distilled spirits. And is the gain equivalent, or nearly equivalent to the loss?
2. The curative and strengthening properties of our strong drinks, which are so much vaunted, are in reality next to nothing. We speak of the ordinary use of these articles as beverages.… If they contribute at any time to the quantity of force exerted by man, it corresponds not to the corn that you give to your horse, but to the whipping. A master who has hired you only for a day, and desires to make the most of his bargain, may possibly find it his interest to bring more out of your bones and sinews, by such a stimulus, but you certainly have no interest in lashing an additional effort out of yourself to-day, and lying in lethargy to-morrow.… Liebig has a pleasant notion about balancing on the point of a pen-knife, like a pinch of snuff, all the nourishment that the most capacious German swallows with his beer in a day. And it is chemistry he is giving us, not poetry or wit.…
3. Strong drink deceives the nation, by the vast amount of revenue that it pours into the public treasury. It is a true and wise economy to tax the articles heavily for behoof of the community, so far and as long as they are sold and used; but it is a false and foolish economy to encourage the consumption of the article, for the sake of the revenue it produces. Drink generates pauperism, and pauperism is costly. Drink generates crime, and crime is costly.… There is a huge living creature with as many limbs as a Hindoo idol, and these limbs intertwined with each other in equally admirable confusion. The creature having life must be fed, and being large, must have a good deal of food for its sustenance. One day, having got rather short allowance, it was rolling its heavy head among its many limbs, and found something warm and fleshy. Being hungry, it made an incision with its teeth, laid its lips to the spot, and sucked. Warm blood came freely; the creature sucked its fill, and, gorged, lay down to sleep. Next day, it supplemented its short rations in the same way. Every day the creature drank from that opening, and as this rich draught made up about one third of its whole sustenance, the wonder grew, why it was becoming weaker under the process, day by day. Some one at last bethought him of turning over the animal’s intermingled limbs, and found that all this time it had been sucking its own blood! The discoverer proposed to bandage the spot, and not permit the continuance of the unnatural operation. The financiers cried out, “A third of the animal’s sustenance comes from that opening; if you stop it, he will die!” Behold the wise politicians who imagine that the body politic would die of inanition, if it were deprived of the revenue which it sucks from its own veins, in the shape of taxes on the consumption of intoxicating drinks!—Arnot.
The thoughts in Pro_20:2-3 are the same as that in chap. Pro_19:12, see page 571, and chaps. Pro_14:29 and Pro_16:32, pages 386 and 497. The thought in the fourth verse is identical with that in chap. Pro_10:4, although the similitude is different, see page 146.
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.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain This is a Gospel question before the time of…
Pro 20:9
This is a Gospel question before the time of the Gospel. All the great conditions of the human mind you find as distinctly in the Old Testament as in the New; all the questions that sharpen themselves into fierce agonies are in the nature of man, and part of his constitution. The inquiry comes to each of us; if any man can answer the question in the affirmative let him do so.
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I. The pure man ought to be lifted above fear; the clean soul ought to have a peculiar, a shadowless joy. Have you that gladness? Then why those nightmares of the soul, why those sudden fears, why those peculiar distresses, why those doubts and scepticisms and questionings, why a thousand indications of unrest and tumult? This ought to suggest that you have not completed the task which you suppose yourself to have accomplished in the heart.
II. There is a tremendous responsibility in returning an affirmative answer to the inquiry of the text. If a man were to say, "Yes, I have made my heart clean and am pure from my sin," he would (1) contradict the whole testimony of Scripture; (2) supersede the work of Christ; (3) withdraw himself from all the cleansing, purifying agencies which constitute the redeeming ministry of the universe. There is no heaven along the line of self-hope; there is no pardon in the direction of self-trust.
Parker, Fountain, August 1st, 1878.
References: Pro 20:9.—H. Hayman, Rugby Sermons, p. 50. Pro 20:10-14.—R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. ii., p. 338.
Pro 20:11
I. The actions of children become, in process of time, their own doings. Children move before they act, and they live as mere animals before they act spiritually and morally. But in process of time the child acts. All its movements become conduct, the result of a determination to behave itself in a particular way. This is what is meant by "his doings."
II. When the actions of children become their doings, the children are recognised as accountable. (1) God recognises the child as the author of its own actions; He sees the doings of the child spring from a motive and principle within. (2) The god of evil knows, by the doings of children, with whom and with what he has to do. (3) The angelic inhabitants of heaven recognise children in their ministrations. (4) Children are recognised as accountable by their fellow human beings.
III. From these facts we draw the following inferences:—(1) If a child be known by his doings, the evils of sin are not escaped by the childhood of the sinner. (2) If a child be known by his doings, he is, as a child, exerting influence for good or for evil. (3) If a child be known by his doings, all the differences of human character are not traceable to education. (4) If a child be known by his doings, the character of the future man is often indicated by the character of the present child. (5) If a child be known by his doings, God does not treat a generation of children en masse, but individually. (6) If a child be known by his doings, one test of character is universally applied by the Judge of all.
S. Martin, Rain Upon the Mown Grass, p. 460.
Reference: Pro 20:11.— New Manual of Sunday School Addresses, p. 115.
Pro 20:12
I. How the eye tells the brain of the picture which is drawn upon the back of the eye; how the brain calls up that picture when it likes—these are two mysteries beyond all man’s wisdom to explain. These are two proofs of the wisdom and the power of God which ought to sink deeper into our hearts than all signs and wonders; greater proofs of God’s power and wisdom than if yon fir-trees burst into flame of themselves, or yon ground opened and a fountain of water sprang out. The commonest things are as wonderful, more wonderful, than the uncommon; and yet people will hanker after the uncommon, as if they belonged to God more immediately than the commonest matters. That is not faith, to see God only in what is strange and rare; but this is faith, to see God in what is most common and simple; to know God’s greatness, not so much from disorder as from order; not so much from those strange sights in which God seems (but only seems) to break His laws, as from those common ones in which He fulfils His laws.
II. When a man sees that, there will arise within his soul a clear light, and an awful joy, and an abiding peace, and a sure hope, and a faith as of a little child. Then will that man crave no more for signs and wonders; but all his cry will be to the Lord of order, to make him orderly; to the Lord of law, to make him loyal; to the Lord in whom is nothing arbitrary, to take out of him all that is unreasonable and self-willed; and make him content, like his Master Christ before him, to do the will of his Father in heaven, who has sent him into this noble world.
C. Kingsley, Town and Country Sermons, p. 224.
References: Pro 20:12.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 2nd series, p. 175. Pro 20:14.—W. Baird, The Hallowing of our Common Life, p. 13; T. Binney, King’s Weighhouse Chapel Sermons, 1st series, p. 384; W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 2nd series, p. 187. Pro 20:15-21.—R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. ii., p. 350.
Pro 20:17
There are instances in which a very little practice in evil will make real wickedness seem to one harmless, to another necessary, to another almost satisfactory. This is what the wise prince meant by saying the bread of deceit was sweet. "Yes, it is," says Solomon—and afterwards? How may we be certain of the afterwards of deceit? How may we be certain that it will infinitely outweigh the present sweetness?
I. All things that are done by God’s creatures are subject to God’s judgment. If God approves of a thing, the things that follow from it are sure to be good and happy things. If He condemns it they are sure to be good in one sense, but they are absolutely sure to be destructive of that which is causing evil, and they would not be good unless they were so destructive and baneful and withering to what is evil.
II. The deceiver is especially a person who, by his own act and deed, resolutely and on purpose appeals from this life to the next. He says, "I will not be judged here. I will not now bear the consequences of what I have done." Who can aid him? How can his best lover and friend protect him? Is it wonderful that Solomon and St. John alike, in speaking of the deceiver, say that his time comes afterwards?
Archbishop Benson, Boy Life: Sundays in Wellington College, p. 132.
Reference: Pro 20:22-30.—R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. ii., p. 362.
Pro 20:27
God is the fire of this world, its vital principle, a warm pervading presence everywhere. Of this fire the spirit of man is the candle. What does that mean? If, because man is of a nature which corresponds to the nature of God, and just so far as man is obedient to God, the life of God which is spread throughout the universe gathers itself into utterance; and men, aye and all other beings, if such beings there are, capable of watching our humanity, see what God is in gazing at the man whom He has kindled—then, is not the figure plain? It is a wondrous thought, but it is clear enough. Here is the universe, full of the diffused fire of divinity. Men feel it in the air, as they feel an intense heat which has not broken into a blaze. Now in the midst of this solemn burdened world there stands up a man, pure, Godlike, and perfectly obedient to God. In an instant it is as if the heated room had found some sensitive inflammable point where it could kindle to a blaze. The fitfulness of the impression of divinity is steadied into permanence. The fire of the Lord has found the candle of the Lord, and burns clear and steady, guiding and cheering instead of bewildering and frightening us, just so soon as a man who is obedient to God has begun to catch and manifest His nature.
I. Man’s utterance of God is purely an utterance of quality. It can tell me nothing of the quantities which make up His perfect life. Whoever has in him the human quality, whoever really has the spirit of man, may be a candle of the Lord. A poor, meagre, starved, bruised life, if only it keeps the true human quality, and does not become inhuman; and if it is obedient to God in its blind, dull, half-conscious way; becomes a light. There is no life so meagre that the greatest and wisest of us can afford to despise it. We cannot know at all at what sudden moment it may flash forth with the life of God.
II. In this truth of ours we have certainly the key to another mystery which sometimes puzzles us. What shall we make of some man rich in attainments and in generous desires, well-educated, well-behaved, who has trained himself to be a light and help to other men, and who, now that his training is complete, stands in the midst of his fellow-men completely dark and helpless? Such men are unlighted candles; they are the spirit of man elaborated, cultivated, finished, to its very finest, but lacking the last touch of God.
III. There is a multitude of men whose lamps are certainly not dark, and yet who certainly are not the candles of the Lord. A nature richly furnished to the very brim, and yet profane, impure, worldly, and scattering scepticism of all good and truth about him wherever he may go. If it be possible for the human candle, instead of being lifted up to heaven and kindled at the pure being of Him who is eternally and absolutely good, to be plunged down into hell, and lighted at the yellow flames that burn out of the dreadful brimstone of the pit, then we can understand the sight of a man, who is rich in every brilliant human quality, cursing the world with the continual exhibition of the devilish instead of the godlike in his life.
IV. There is still another way in which the spirit of man may fail of its completest function as the candle of the Lord. The lamp may be lighted, and the fire at which it is lighted may be indeed the fire of God, and yet it may not be God alone who shines forth upon the world. Such men cannot get rid of themselves. They are mixed with the God they show. This is the secret of all pious bigotry, of all holy prejudice. It is the candle, putting its own colour into the flame which it has borrowed from the fire of God.
V. Jesus is the true spiritual man who is the candle of the Lord, the light that lighteth every man.
Phillips Brooks, The Candle of the Lord, p. 1.
Pro 20:29
I. The glory of young men is their physical strength. In the great battle against the kingdom of darkness we want, not only a consecrated soul, but a strong arm, stout lungs, and vigorous muscle.
II. The glory of young men is their intellectual strength. A man with any nobleness of character will take a legitimate pride in the possession of a sound reason, a calm judgment, a vigorous brain. The Gospel does not enslave the reason, it sets it free. God requires of you that you think for yourselves. "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."
III. The glory of young men is their moral strength. It is a grand thing for a man to have a delicate moral sensitiveness, and a strong moral determination. By the former he will scent vice afar off"; and by the latter he will keep out of the way of the tempter, and resist to the death when he is tempted. The very badge of true manliness is self-control.
IV. The glory of young men is their spiritual strength. I speak now of the strength of religious faith. Only a believer can say, with David, "He strengthened me with strength in my soul." Far, far below his true dignity must man remain, until he knows the God that made him.
J. Thain Davidson, Talks with Young Men, p. 3.
References: Pro 21:1-8.— R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. ii., p. 379. Pro 21:2.— Spurgeon, My Sermon Notes: Genesis to Proverbs, p. 178. Pro 21:9-13.— R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. ii., p. 390. Pro 21:10.— Expositor, 3rd series, vol. iv., p. 268. Pro 22:1.— W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 2nd series, p. 195. Pro 22:1-6. — R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. iii., p. 25.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain Pro 20:1 - Pro 20:7.
Proverbs
A STRING OF PEARLS
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Pro 20:1 - Pro 20:7.
The connection between the verses of this passage is only in their common purpose to set forth some details of a righteous life, and to brand the opposite vices. A slight affinity may be doubtfully traced in one or two adjacent proverbs, but that is all.
First comes temperance, enforced by the picture of a drunkard. Wine and strong drink are, as it were, personified, and their effects on men are painted as their own characters. And an ugly picture it is, which should hang in the gallery of every young man and woman. ‘Wine is a mocker.’ Intemperance delights in scoffing at all pure, lofty, sacred things. It is the ally of wild profanity, which sends up its tipsy and clumsy ridicule against Heaven itself. If a man wants to lose his sense of reverence, his susceptibility for what is noble, let him take to drink, and the thing is done. If he would fain keep these fresh and quick, let him eschew what is sure to deaden them. Of course there are other roads to the same end, but there is no other end to this road. Nobody ever knew a drunkard who did not scoff at things that should be reverenced, and that because he knew that he was acting in defiance of them.
‘A brawler,’ or, as Delitzsch renders it, ‘boisterous’-look into a liquor-store if you want to verify that, or listen to a drunken party coming back from an excursion and making night hideous with their bellowings, or go to any police court on a Monday morning. We in England are familiar with the combination on police charge-sheets, ‘drunk and disorderly.’ So does the old proverb-maker seem to have been. Drink takes off the brake, and every impulse has its own way, and makes as much noise as it can.
The word rendered in Authorised Version ‘is deceived,’ and in Revised Version ‘erreth,’ is literally ‘staggers’ or ‘reels,’ and it is more graphic to keep that meaning. There is a world of quiet irony in the unexpectedly gentle close of the sentence, ‘is not wise.’ How much stronger the assertion might have been! Look at the drunkard as he staggers along, scoffing at everything purer and higher than himself, and ready to fight with his own shadow, and incapable of self-control. He has made himself the ugly spectacle you see. Will anybody call him wise?
The next proverb applies directly to a state of things which most nations have outgrown. Kings who can give full scope to their anger, and who inspire mainly terror, are anomalies in civilised countries now. The proverb warns that it is no trifle to rouse the lion from his lair, and that when he begins to growl there is danger. The man who stirs him ‘forfeits his own life,’ or, at all events, imperils it.
The word rendered ‘sins’ has for its original meaning ‘misses,’ and seems to be so used here, as also in Pro 8:36. ‘Against’ is a supplement. The maxim inculcates the wisdom of avoiding conduct which might rouse an anger so sure to destroy its object. And that is a good maxim for ordinary times in all lands, monarchies or republics. For there is in constitutional kingdoms and in republics an uncrowned monarch, to the full as irresponsible, as easily provoked, and as relentless in hunting its opponents to destruction, as any old-world tyrant. Its name is Public Opinion. It is not well to provoke it. If a man does, let him well understand that he takes his life, or what is sometimes dearer than life, in his hand. Not only self-preservation, which the proverb and Scripture recognise as a legitimate motive, but higher considerations, dictate compliance with the ruling forces of our times, as far as may be. Conscience only has the right to limit this precept, and to say, ‘Let the brute roar, and never mind if you do forfeit your life. It is your duty to say “No,” though all the world should be saying “Yes.”‘
A slight thread of connection may be established between the second and third proverbs. The latter, like the former, commends peacefulness and condemns pugnacity. Men talk of ‘glory’ as the warrior’s meed, and the so-called Christian world has not got beyond the semi-barbarous stage which regards ‘honour’ as mainly secured by fighting. But this ancient proverb-maker had learned a better conception of what ‘honour’ or ‘glory’ was, and where it grew.
‘Peace hath her victories
No less renowned than war,’
said Milton. But our proverb goes farther than ‘no less,’ and gives greater glory to the man who never takes up arms, or who lays them down. The saying is true, not only about warfare, but in all regions of life. Fighting is generally wasted time. Controversialists of all sorts, porcupine-like people, who go through the world all sharp quills sticking out to pierce, are less to be admired than peace-loving souls. Any fool can ‘show his teeth,’ as the word for ‘quarrelling’ means. But it takes a wise man, and a man whose spirit has been made meek by dwelling near God in Christ, to withhold the angry word, the quick retort. It is generally best to let the glove flung down lie where it is. There are better things to do than to squabble.
Pro 20:4 is a parable as well as a proverb. If a man sits by the fireside because the north wind is blowing, when he ought to be out in the field holding the plough with frost-nipped fingers, he will beg {or, perhaps, seek for a crop} in harvest, and will find nothing, when others are rejoicing in the slow result of winter showers and of their toilsome hours. So, in all life, if the fitting moments for preparation are neglected, late repentance avails nothing. The student who dawdles when he should be working, will be sure to fail when the examination comes on. It is useless to begin ploughing when your neighbours are driving their reaping machines into the fields. ‘There is a time to sow, and a time to reap.’ The law is inexorable for this life, and not less certainly so for the life to come. The virgins who cried in vain, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ and were answered, ‘Too late, too late, ye cannot enter now!’ are sisters of the man who was hindered from ploughing because it was cold, and asked in vain for bread when harvest time had come. ‘To-day, if ye will to hear His voice, harden not your hearts.’
The next proverb is a piece of shrewd common sense. It sets before us two men, one reticent, and the other skilful in worming out designs which he wishes to penetrate. The former is like a deep draw-well; the latter is like a man who lets down a bucket into it, and winds it up full. ‘Still waters are deep.’ The faculty of reading men may be abused to bad ends, but is worth cultivating, and may be allied to high aims, and serve to help in accomplishing these. It may aid good men in detecting evil, in knowing how to present God’s truth to hearts that need it, in pouring comfort into closely shut spirits. Not only astute business men or politicians need it, but all who would help their fellows to love God and serve Him-preachers, teachers, and the like. And there would be more happy homes if parents and children tried to understand one another. We seldom dislike a man when we come to know him thoroughly. We cannot help him till we do.
The proverb in Pro 20:6 is susceptible of different renderings in the first clause. Delitzsch and others would translate, ‘Almost every man meets a man who is gracious to him.’ The contrast will then be between partial ‘grace’ or kindness, and thoroughgoing reliableness or trustworthiness. The rendering of the Authorised and Revised Versions, on the other hand, makes the contrast between talk and reality, professions of goodwill and acts which come up to these. In either case, the saying is the bitter fruit of experience. Even charity, which ‘believeth all things,’ cannot but admit that soft words are more abundant than deeds which verify them. It is no breach of the law of love to open one’s eyes to facts, and so to save oneself from taking paper money for gold, except at a heavy discount. Perhaps the reticence, noted in the previous proverb, led to the thought of a loose-tongued profession of kindliness as a contrast. Neither the one nor the other is admirable. The practical conclusion from the facts in this proverb is double-do not take much heed of men’s eulogiums on their own benevolence; do not trumpet your own praises. Caution and modesty are parts of Christian perfection.
The last saying points to the hereditary goodness which sometimes, for our comfort, we do see, as well as to the halo from a saintly parent which often surrounds his children. Note that there may be more than mere succession in time conveyed by the expression ‘after him.’ It may mean following in his footsteps. Such children are blessed, both in men’s benedictions and in their own peaceful hearts. Weighty responsibilities lie upon the children of parents who have transmitted to them a revered name. A Christian’s children are doubly bound to continue the parental tradition, and are doubly criminal if they depart from it. There is no sadder sight than that of a godly father wailing over an ungodly son, unless it be that of the ungodly son who makes him wail. Absalom hanging by his curls in the oak-tree, and David groaning, ‘My son, my son!’ touch all hearts. Alas that the tragedy should be so often repeated in our homes to-day!
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain 1. Raging] RV 'a brawler.' Is deceived] RM 'reeleth.'…
1. Raging] RV 'a brawler.' Is deceived] RM 'reeleth.' It makes a man sneer, quarrel and reel about.
2. Fear] the 'terror' which he causes. Soul] RV 'life.'
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4. Read, 'In the autumn.. therefore when he seeketh,' etc.: the first season begins about October, the second about April.
5. A clever cross-questioner elicits one's plans.
8. Scattereth away] RM 'winnoweth' (1Ki_3:28).
9. 'What mortal when he saw,
Life's voyage done, his heavenly Friend,
Could ever yet dare tell Him fearlessly:
“I have kept uninfring'd my nature's law;
The inly-written chart Thou gavest me,
To guide me, I have steer'd by to the end”?'
13. Open thine eyes] i.e. Wake up!
15. Read, 'There is gold and abundance of corals and precious vessels—wise lips are all these.'
16. 'Strangers,' not a strange woman. He does not deserve to escape the consequences of his folly.
19. A 'chatterbox,' not a 'flatterer,' is meant.
25. RV 'It is a snare to a man rashly to say, It is holy,' etc. Reflect before vowing (Sir_15:1.; Mat_15:8). There is a Greek story of one who found a gold mine, and thereupon vowed a gold ram to Juno: soon he substituted a silver one; then a small brass one; eventually she got nothing. 'The river past and God forgotten.'
26. The wheel of the threshing-cart, crushing in its weight (Amo_1:3).
27. Conscience is a searchlight, piercing the depths of the heart (1Co_2:11).
28. It is the king's goodness and reliableness that are meant.
30. The blueness, etc.] RV 'Stripes that wound cleanse,' etc. (Psa_119:67).
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain CHAPTER 20 Proverbs as to Personal Conduct
CHAPTER 20 Proverbs as to Personal Conduct
Proverbs of warning and instructions as to personal conduct are found mostly in this chapter; a number of them are of special interest if applied to Solomon. The first one is concerning wine and strong drink. As the use of wine among the people of Israel was legitimate the warning is against intemperance Deu 14:26). The Bible gives many illustrations of the truth of this proverb-warning. We may think of Noah, Lot, Nabal, Ben-hadad, Belshazzar and others.
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From all the good things we select the following. In Pro 20:3 is instruction which makes for peace. It is the fool who meddles and thus produces strife, but it is an honor for man to cease from strife. In Pro 20:13 we find a warning against self-indulgence. In Pro 20:19 the talebearer and flatterer is mentioned. The sin of flattery should be avoided by all the godly for it nourisheth pride and works nothing but evil.
Many great and noble men have been ruined by admiration and popularity, who might have thriven, growing greater and nobler, in the fiercest and most relentless criticism. Donatello, the great Florentine sculptor, went at one time of his life to Padua, where he was received with the utmost enthusiasm, and loaded with approbation and honors. But soon he declared his intention of returning to Florence, on the ground that the sharp assaults and the cutting criticisms which always assailed him in his native city were much more favorable to his art than the atmosphere of admiration and eulogy. In this way he thought that he would be stimulated to greater efforts, and ultimately attain to a surer reputation.
Pro 20:22 gives another beautiful instruction. “Say not, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and He shall save thee.” To put everything in the hands of the Lord, to trust Him and wait for His own time, that is true wisdom. But it is a lesson hard to learn. The twelfth chapter of Romans gives the same instruction. “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath; for it is written, vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” Also 1Th 5:15: “See that none render evil for evil;” and 1Pe 3:9; “Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing.” How blessed it is to wait on the Lord, to bide His own time, and in waiting to know that He does all things well. Thrice in this chapter the king is mentioned: in Pro 20:2, Pro 20:26 and Pro 20:28. These verses may be applied to Him, who is greater than Solomon, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. When He comes again He will deal with the lawless and with His enemies, but His throne is not only a judgment throne, but it is also upheld by mercy.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain v. 1. Wine is a mocker, excessive indulgence in…
v. 1. Wine is a mocker, excessive indulgence in it produces scorn and blasphemy in the drinker, strong drink is raging, it robs a man of clear thinking and proper self-possession; and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise, that is, if he is led astray thereby, so that he reels and staggers under its influence, he shows the lack of wisdom and will never attain to true wisdom.
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 Wine is a mocker and strong drink is a…
Wine is a mocker and strong drink is a brawler
These two phrases mean basically the same thing and are combined to emphasize the danger of too much alcohol. (See: Parallelism)
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Wine is a mocker
Here "wine" refers to the person who is drunk with wine. AT: "A person who is drunk with wine mocks" (See: Metonymy)
strong drink is a brawler
Here "strong drink" refers to a person who is drunk with strong drink. AT: "a person who is drunk with strong drink starts fights" (See: Metonymy)
a brawler
a person who fights noisily, usually in a public place
whoever is led astray by drink is not wise
This can be stated in active form. AT: "whoever drinks until they can no longer think clearly" (See: Active or Passive)
by drink
Here "drink" refers to alcoholic drinks
is not wise
This means the opposite of "wise" which is "foolish." AT: "is foolish" (See: Litotes)
The fear of a king is like the fear of a young lion that is roaring
This compares how people fear a king's wrath to how they fear a young roaring lion. AT: "The king's wrath makes people as afraid as if they were facing a young lion roaring at them" (See: Simile)
makes him angry
"makes the king angry"
forfeits his life
This refers to being killed. "Life" here refers to physical life. AT: "will die" (See: Euphemism)
translationWords
wine
mock
strong drink
astray
wise
fear
king
lions
anger
life
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 20:1 Too much alcohol clouds a person’s judgment. The…
20:1 Too much alcohol clouds a person’s judgment. The Old Testament is not against drinking wine in moderation (3:10; 9:5; Ps 104:14-15), but it adamantly opposes excessive drinking (Prov 21:17; 23:29-35; 31:4-5).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.