My son, if your heart is wise, then my heart will be glad, even mine.
Yes, my heart will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.
Don’t let your heart envy sinners, but rather fear Yahweh all day long.
Indeed surely there is a future hope, and your hope will not be cut off.
Listen, my son, and be wise, and keep your heart on the right path!
Don’t be among ones drinking too much wine, or those who gorge themselves on meat:
for the drunkard and the glutton shall become poor; and drowsiness clothes them in rags.
Listen to your father who gave you life, and don’t despise your mother when she is old.
Buy the truth, and don’t sell it. Get wisdom, discipline, and understanding.
The father of the righteous has great joy. Whoever fathers a wise child delights in him.
Let your father and your mother be glad! Let her who bore you rejoice!
My son, give me your heart; and let your eyes keep in my ways.
For a prostitute is a deep pit; and a wayward wife is a narrow well.
Yes, she lies in wait like a robber, and increases the unfaithful among men.
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.”
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv18, 19, 20, 23, 26, 28, 30, 33, 34, 35 The prosperity of the wicked shall not continue.
The prosperity of the wicked shall not continue.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 Pro 23:15 My son, if thine heart be wise,…
Pro 23:15 My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.
Ver. 15. My son, if thine heart be wise.] Si vexatio det intellectum, if either by instruction or correction I may make thee wise or well spoken, Bonum virum, dicendi peritum - as Quintilian’s orator - totus laetitia dissiliam, I shall be a joyful man indeed. St John had no greater joy than to hear that his children walked in the truth. {3Jn 1:4} And St Paul could never be thankful enough for such a mercy. {1Th 3:9}
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Even mine.] Or, Even as I - viz., was a comfort to my parents.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 In the good success of my counsels, and in…
In the good success of my counsels, and in thy piety and happiness, which is as truly desirable and pleasant to me as my own.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv17, 19, 29 Here is, 1. A necessary caution against entertaining any…
Here is, 1. A necessary caution against entertaining any favourable thoughts of prospering profaneness: "Let not thy heart envy sinners; do not grudge them either the liberty they take to sin or the success they are to be pitied rather than envied. Their prosperity is their portion (Psa 73:3), nay, it is their poison," Pro 1:32. We must not harbour in our hearts any secret discontent at the providence of God, though it seem to smile upon them, nor wish ourselves in their condition. "Let not thy heart imitate sinners" (so some read it); do not as they do; walk not in the way with them; use not the methods they take to enrich themselves, though they thrive by them. 2. An excellent direction to maintain high thoughts of God in our minds at all times: Be thou in the fear of the Lord every day and all the day long. We must be in the fear of the Lord as in our employment, exercising ourselves in holy adorings of God, in subjection to his precepts, submission to his providences, and a constant care to please him; we must be in it as in our element, taking a pleasure in contemplating God's glory and complying with his will. We must be devoted to his fear (Psa 119:38); and governed by it as our commanding principle in all we say and do. All the days of our life we must constantly keep up an awe of God upon our spirits, must pay a deference to his authority, and have a dread of his wrath. We must be always so in his fear as never to be out of it. 3. A good reason for both of these (Pro 23:18): Surely there is an end, an end and expectation, as Jer 29:11. There will be an end of the prosperity of the wicked, therefore do not envy them (Psa 73:17); there will be an end of thy afflictions, therefore be not weary of them, an end of thy services, thy work and warfare will be accomplished, perfect love will shortly cast out fear, and thy expectation of the reward not only will be not cut off, or disappointed, but it will be infinitely outdone. The consideration of the end will help to reconcile us to all the difficulties and discouragements of the way.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv15–35 My son, if thine heart be wise,.... To that…
My son, if thine heart be wise,.... To that which is good; so as from it to understand in a spiritual and experimental manner things divine and heavenly; he may be said to have a wise heart who knows in some measure what his heart is, the wickedness, the original depravity and corruption, of it; the plague of his own heart; the weakness and inability of it to do that which is good; the insufficiency of his own righteousness to justify him before God; the poverty of his spirit, and the folly of his mind: and who also is wise unto salvation; that knows the way of peace, pardon, righteousness, and salvation by Christ; and who applies to him for the same; builds on him, the foundation; prizes and values him; rejoices in him, and gives him the glory of his salvation; receives his doctrines, and obeys his commands; takes up and makes a profession of him on right principles, and walks wisely, becoming his character and profession;
my heart shall rejoice, even mine; it shall certainly and greatly rejoice; these words are spoken either by Solomon, who had a wise heart himself, and that either to his son, for whom he desired the same, nothing being more rejoicing to pious parents than to see their children becomes wise, especially in spiritual things; or else to those that attended on him for instruction, who was a preacher in Jerusalem; and what is the joy and crown of rejoicing of ministers but their converts, and to see them walking in the truth? Th1 2:19, Jo3 1:4; or these words are spoken by Wisdom, that is, by Christ, to his children; who rejoices when he has found them, or when they are converted, and become wise in a spiritual sense, and walk worthy, whereby Wisdom is justified of her children, Luk 15:5; yea, there is joy in heaven, joy among the angels there, and even in the father of Christ, and of his people, Luk 15:7.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv16, 18, 19, 23, 26, 30, 31, 34, 35 My reins - I shall rejoice with all my…
My reins - I shall rejoice with all my soul.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv18, 20, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 33, 34, 35 Verse 18. Surely there is an end] יש אחרית…
Verse 18. Surely there is an end] יש אחרית yesh acharith, there is another life; "and thy expectation" of the enjoyment of a blessed immortality "shall not be cut off." The Old MS. Bible reads thus: For thou schalt hav hop in the last: and thin abiiding schal not ben taken awei. "For the ende is not yet come; and thy pacient abydinge shal not be in vayne." - COVERDALE.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv17, 19, 22, 26, 27, 29, 31, 33, 35 Pro 23:17-18. Let not thy heart envy sinners —…
Pro 23:17-18. Let not thy heart envy sinners — Let not the consideration of their present impunity and prosperity excite thee either to envy them, or to approve and imitate their evil courses; but be thou in the fear of the Lord — Reverence the presence of the Divine Majesty, and dread his power and justice, and those judgments which he hath prepared for sinners, and thou wilt see no cause to envy, but rather to pity them; all the day long — Not only when thou art in trouble, but in all times and conditions. For surely there is an end — An expected and happy end for such as fear God; or, a reward, as the word אחרית, here used, is rendered, Pro 24:20. And thine expectation shall not be cut off — Thou shalt certainly enjoy that good which thou expectest, as the wicked shall lose that happiness which they enjoy.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v15 Another continuous exhortation rather than a collection of maxims.
Another continuous exhortation rather than a collection of maxims.
Pro 23:16
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The teacher rejoices when the disciple’s heart Pro 23:15 receives wisdom, and yet more when his lips can utter it.
Reins - See Job 19:27 note.
Pro 23:17
Envy sinners - Compare in Psa 37:1; Psa 73:3; the feeling which looks half-longingly at the prosperity of evil doers. Some connect the verb “envy” with the second clause, “envy not sinners, but envy, emulate, the fear of the Lord.”
Pro 23:18
Or, For if there is an end (hereafter), thine expectations shall not be cut off. There is an implied confidence in immortality.
Pro 23:20
Riotous eaters of flesh - The word is the same as “glutton” in Pro 23:21 and Deu 21:20.
Pro 23:21
The three forms of evil that destroy reputation and tempt to waste are brought together.
Drowsiness - Specially the drunken sleep, heavy and confused.
Pro 23:26
Observe - Another reading gives, “let thine eyes delight in my ways.”
Pro 23:28
As for a prey - Better as in the margin.
The transgressors - Better, the treacherous,” those that attack men treacherously.
Pro 23:29
Woe ... sorrow - The words in the original are interjections, probably expressing distress. The sharp touch of the satirist reproduces the actual inarticulate utterances of drunkenness.
Pro 23:30
Mixed wine - Wine flavored with aromatic spices, that increase its stimulating properties Isa 5:22. There is a touch of sarcasm in “go to seek.” The word, elsewhere used of diligent search after knowledge Pro 25:2; Job 11:7; Psa 139:1, is used here of the investigations of connoisseurs in wine meeting to test its qualities.
Pro 23:31
His color - literally, “its eye,” the clear brightness, or the beaded bubbles on which the wine drinker looks with complacency.
It moveth itself aright - The Hebrew word describes the pellucid stream flowing pleasantly from the wineskin or jug into the goblet or the throat (compare Son 7:9), rather than a sparkling wine.
Pro 23:32
Adder - Said to be the Cerastes, or horned snake.
Pro 23:34
The passage is interesting, as showing the increased familiarity of Israelites with the experiences of sea life (compare Psa 104:25-26; Psa 107:23-30).
In the midst of the sea - i. e., When the ship is in the trough of the sea and the man is on the deck. The second clause varies the form of danger, the man is in the “cradle” at the top of the mast, and sleeps there, regardless of the danger.
Pro 23:35
The picture ends with the words of the drunkard on waking from his sleep. Unconscious of the excesses of the night, his first thought is to return to his old habit.
When shall I awake ... - Better, when I shall awake I will seek it yet again.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Charles Bridges 1846 · Public Domain On vv15, 17, 19, 22, 23, 26, 29 The wise man now turns from parents, and addresses…
The wise man now turns from parents, and addresses himself most tenderly to children (Pro 1:8, Pro 1:10, Pro 1:15, &c.), perhaps to his own child. What Christian parent but responds? Could we be happy to see our child honored in the world, admired, talented, prosperous, without godliness? If thine heart be wise — this is the spring of parental joy — my heart shall rejoice, even mine. His health, his comfort, his welfare, is inexpressibly dear to us. But while we watch over the casket, it is the jewel that we mainly value. The love of our child’s soul is the life and soul of parental love.†1 None but a parent knows the heart of a parent. None but a Christian parent knows the yearning anxiety, the many tears, prayers, and "travailing in birth again" for the soul of a beloved child; or the fervor of joy and praise, when the first budding of heavenly wisdom bursts to view.†2 The sight brings joy into the innermost depths of the bosom.†3 Parents, who sympathize not with these sensations, and with whom Solomon’s language is unfelt and uninteresting, realize neither their responsibilities nor their privileges.
Greatly is the parent’s joy heightened to hear his son’s lips speaking right things; to see him, in a day of apostasy and unstable profession, openly standing forth on the Lord’s side; "asking for the old paths of rest," now that "the highways are" too often "unoccupied, and the travelers walking through bye-ways."†4
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But surely this child, now the father’s joy, is one, from whom correction has not been withheld. The "foolishness bound in his heart has thus been driven from him;"†5 and its place graciously supplied by a wise heart — a witness to the subsequent rule and promise — "Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest." (Pro 29:17 .)
And are not ministers also partakers of this parental joy? "Paul the aged" was filled with prayerful delight in his "beloved son in the faith."†6 The thriving churches were "his glory and joy."†7 Another Apostle "had no greater joy, than to hear that his children walked in truth."†8 And may we not rise higher, and adore the manifestation of this joy in heaven†9 — yea, in the bosom of God himself over the return of his corrected child to a wise heart — "This my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost and is found"? (Luk 15:13-24 .)
Footnotes:
†1 See Solomon’s own education, Pro 4:3-4 .
†2 Pro 23:24-25; Pro 10:1 ; Pro 15:20 ; Pro 29:3 . ’Lord, let thy blessing so accompany my endeavor’ (were the pleadings of a godly parent) ’that all my sons may be Benaiahs (the LORD’s building); and then they will be all Abners (their Father’s light); and that all my daughters may be Bethiahs (the LORD’s daughters); and then they will be all Abigails (their Father’s joy).’ - Swinnock’s Christian Man’s Calling, ii. 29, 30.
†3 The reins, as deeply seated in the body, are a frequent scriptural illustration of the inner thoughts and affections. Psa 16:7 ; Psa 26:2 . Jer 12:2 . Lam 3:13 .
†4 Jdg 5:6. Jer 6:16 .
†5 Pro 22:15; Pro 29:15 .
†6 2Ti 1:2-5 .
†7 1Th 2:19-20 ; 1Th 3:8-9.
†8 2Jn 1:4 . 3Jn 1:4 .
†9 Luk 15:7, Luk 15:10 .
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 On vv16, 18, 20, 21, 23, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 Reins. Inmost affections.
Reins. Inmost affections.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 35 The pleasure afforded the teacher by the pupil's progress…
The pleasure afforded the teacher by the pupil's progress is a motive to diligence.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 30, 31, 32, 33, 35 15, 16. Heart and reins are used interchangeably. Cp.…
15, 16. Heart and reins are used interchangeably. Cp. Psa_16:7; Psa_17:3.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv17, 18, 20, 21, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35 17. Let not thine heart envy] Comp. Psa_37:1.
17. Let not thine heart envy] Comp. Psa_37:1.
be thou] Or, let it (thy heart) be. Some scholars repeat envy from the former clause: but let it envy with a nobler emulation (the Heb. word is frequently used in a good sense) the fear of the Lord.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv16, 18, 19, 21, 23, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35 (16) My reins shall rejoice.—These being represented in Hebrew…
(16) My reins shall rejoice.—These being represented in Hebrew poetry as the seat of the deepest affections, answering to “heart” in Pro_23:15. (Comp. Psa_7:9; Jer_12:2; Rev_2:23.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv15–35 The moralist now addresses the disciple, and so to…
The moralist now addresses the disciple, and so to the end of the chapter. If thine heart be wise; become wise by profiting by discipline, and having its natural folly (Pro_22:15) eradicated. My heart shall rejoice, even mine. The pronoun is repeated for the sake of emphasis, (as in Pro_22:19) the speaker thus declaring his supreme interest in the moral progress of his pupil.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv15, 17, 18, 19, 23, 25, 26, 29, 35 My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart…
Pro_23:15
My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.
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The happy parent
I. The attainment required. A pious youth is said to be wise in heart.
1. To show us that religion is wisdom.
2. That this wisdom is not notional, but consists principally in dispositions and actions. Religion has to do with the heart; and a knowledge that does not reach the heart, and govern the heart, is nothing.
II. The consequence anticipated. Pious children afford their parents pleasure on three principles.
1. A principle of benevolence.
2. Of piety. God is particularly pleased and glorified by the sacrifices of early religion.
3. Of self-interest. Distinguish between self-interest and selfishness. The piety of children affords parents evidence of the answer of their prayers and the success of their endeavours, and so delights them. It becomes a means of their usefulness. By such children parents hope to serve their generation. It ensures to parents a proper return of duty. And it will free them from a thousand bitter anxieties, such as are caused by childrens removal from home; taking any important step in life; or being bereaved of their dearest relations.
Conclusion:
1. Address those who, instead of a joy to their parents, are only a grief.
2. Address parents. Have you conscientiously discharged your duty towards your children? If you have, and nevertheless find your house not so with God as you desire, yield not to despair. Never cease to pray and to admonish. Some shower of rain may cause the seed, which has long been buried under the dryness of the soil, to strike root and spring up. (W. Jay.)
Religion, true wisdom
I. Why religion may be described as true wisdom.
1. As it involves the possession and right application of knowledge.
2. As it gives the first attention to the most momentous concerns.
3. As it adopts the most likely means for securing these great ends.
4. As it secures the greatest amount of good both for the present and the future.
II. The importance of this to young people.
1. Because of their necessary inexperience.
2. Because of the countless perils which surround them.
3. Because the future circumstances of life depend much upon the course adopted in youth.
III. The certain means of its atttainment.
1. There must be a deep conviction of its need and value.
2. There must be the hearty and simple application of faith, for its realisation.
3. Let this resolution, and application of devout earnestness and faith, be adopted now.
In conclusion, present the subject to your serious attention--
(1) By the evils of neglecting religion; and--
(2) The moral loveliness and excellency connected with devout and serious piety. (J. Burns, D.D.)
Parental wishes
Persons may form a judgment of their own dispositions from their wishes about their children. Worldly men make it their great work to provide those things for their children which they account their own best things. Saints desire above all things that the hearts of their children may be richly furnished with wisdom, and that their lips may speak right things; for the heart is the throne of Wisdom, and by the lips she discovers her possession of that throne. (George Lawson, D.D.)
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 On v29 Pro_23:30. Mixed wine—i.e., wine mixed with strong spices.
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Pro_23:30. Mixed wine—i.e., wine mixed with strong spices.
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Pro_23:31. When it giveth his colour, etc., literally, “When it showeth its eye.” This may refer to its brightness, or to the head, or pearl of the wine. “When it moveth itself,” etc., rather “when it glideth down with ease.”
Pro_23:33. Strange women, rather “strange things.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Pro_23:29-35
THE DRUNKARD’S PICTURE
I. The drunkard is an entire inversion of man as God intended him to be. God made man’s mind to rule his body, but the drunkard’s bodily appetites rule his mind. God gave man an intellect to guide his actions; He intended the various limbs of his body to be the servants of his will, and to obey the dictates of his reason. But the drunkard not only gives up all his spiritual and intellectual power to his body, but all his other bodily powers to the rule of one sense—that of his palate. Men who are not awake to their spiritual and mental needs might be expected to have as much regard for their animal wants, and to be as careful to avoid bodily suffering as the brute creation. But it is not so with the drunkard—although nights and days of privation and suffering are often the fruits of an hour’s drinking, he voluntarily undergoes the former in order to enjoy the latter. Not only is conscience and reason and heart sacrificed to his mouth, but every other bodily sense is made to serve the one sense and every other part of the body to suffer, that one part may be gratified if but for a moment.
II. He is an entire inversion of what we might expect even a fallen man to be. Looking at man as he is when he lives for this world only, he is generally alive to his own immediate temporal interests and careful to avoid in the future what has brought him suffering in the past. But it is not so with the slave to drink. If only wife and children had to lead lives of misery and his own life was a constant round of even animal enjoyment, the drunkard’s career would not be such an unaccountable infatuation. Human selfishness would be sufficient to account for it. But who suffers like the drunkard himself? The wise man enumerates some of his miseries—woe, grief, contentions and wounds without cause, the stings of remorse, the disordered brain, and entire loss of consciousness and of power to defend one’s own life and property—this is the drunkard’s heritage. And in the intervals between his madness he knows it and drinks to the dregs the bitter cup of bodily and mental misery that must always follow the immoderate use of the wine cup. And yet his language is “I will seek it yet again.” The child that has been burnt dreads the fire, but the poor drunkard scarred from head to foot with the marks of the flames, seems with all his other losses to have lost also the natural instinct of self-preservation and the power of learning anything from the great teacher—experience.
III. A consideration of the strength and nature of the drunkard’s chain should lead all to shun that which enslaved him. When we consider what havoc intoxicating drink has wrought, it is marvellous that men do not turn from it with loathing; that they are not afraid to play with so deadly, and yet so treacherous an enemy to mankind. When the sailor knows that there is a treacherous whirlpool in the ocean, which has engulfed a thousand noble vessels, he is careful to give it a wide berth, to keep far beyond the outermost ring of the current. But the habit of men in general seems to be to try how near they can come to this moral and social gulf of death, without being drawn beneath the waters. The experiment is fraught with deadly peril, and is often a fatal one. Solomon’s advice is to ensure safety, by not even “looking upon the wine when it is red.”
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
There is mention made of a monk at Prague, who having heard at shrift the confessions of many drunkards, wondered at it, and for experiment would try his brain with this sin, and accordingly stole himself drunk. Now, after the vexation of three sick days, to all that confessed that sin he enjoined no other penance than this: “Go and be drunk again.” Surely his meaning was like that of Seneca, that drunkenness was a torment and affliction to itself.—Spencer.
Drunkenness is a special water at the devil’s banquet. This sin is a horrible self-theft … Thieves cannot steal lands, unless they be Westminster Hall thieves, crafty contenders that eat out a true title with a false evidence; but the drunkard robs himself of his lands. Now he dissolves an acre, and then an acre, into the pot, till he hath ground all his ground at the malt quern, and run all his patrimony through his throat. Thus he makes himself the living tomb of his forefathers—of his posterity. He needs not trouble his sick mind with a will, or distrust the fidelity of executors.—T. Adams.
Pro_23:29. The best that can come of drunkenness is repentance—that fairest daughter of so foul a mother—and that is not without its woe, and alas! its sorrow and redness of eyes with weeping for sin.—Trapp.
Pro_23:31. He that would avoid the commission of sin must avoid the occasion of sin. If we would not fall down the hill we must beware of coming near the brow of it. Keep thee far from an evil matter. When the wine laughs in thy face then shut thine eyes lest it steal into thine heart. A guest may easily be kept out of the house at first, but if once entertained it is hard to turn him out of doors. When the governor of a fort once comes to parley with the enemy that besiegeth him there is great fear that the place will be surrendered.—Swinnock.
Pro_23:33. One remarkable peculiarity of this chapter is the junction and alternation of these two kindred sins. There they stand, like two plants of death, each growing on its own independent root, and nourished by the same soil, but cleaving close to each other by congeniality of nature, and twisted round each other for mutual support.… The alliance, so generally formed and so firmly maintained between drunkenness and licentiousness, is a master-stroke of Satan’s policy. It is when men have looked upon the deceitful cup, and received into their blood the poison of its sting, that their eyes behold “strange women;” and when they have fallen into that “narrow pit,” they run back to hide their shame, at least from themselves, in the maddening draught.—Arnot.
Pro_23:34. The passage is interesting, as showing what Psa_104:25-26; Psa_107:23-30, also show, the increased familiarity of the Israelites with a sea life.—Plumptre.
It is very foul weather in which a drunkard saileth. For as St. Ambrose speaketh, the multitude of lusts in him do raise a great tempest, which toss his mind to and fro, sailing as it were in the narrow sea of his body, so that he cannot be pilot to itself.… But that which maketh the drunkard’s case worst of all is this: it is a shipwreck of the body only which in a tempest is feared, but he maketh shipwreck of his soul if repentance be not a plank of safety to him.—Jermin.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv15, 17, 19, 29 Pro 23:15 - Pro 23:23.
Proverbs
A CONDENSED GUIDE FOR LIFE
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Pro 23:15 - Pro 23:23.
The precepts of this passage may be said to sum up the teaching of the whole Book of Proverbs. The essentials of moral character are substantially the same in all ages, and these ancient advices fit very close to the young lives of this generation. The gospel has, no doubt, raised the standard of morals, and, in many respects, altered the conception and perspective of virtues; but its great distinction lies, not so much in the novelty of its commandments as in the new motives and powers to obey them. Reverence for parents and teachers, the habitual ‘fear of the Lord,’ temperance, eager efforts to win and retain ‘the truth,’ have always been recognised as duties; but there is a long weary distance between recognition and practice, and he who draws inspiration from Jesus Christ will have strength to traverse it, and to do and be what he knows that he should.
The passage may be broken up into four parts, which, taken together, are a young life’s directory of conduct which is certain to lead to peace.
I. There is, first, an appeal to filial affection, and an unveiling of paternal sympathy {Pro 23:15 - Pro 23:16}. The paternal tone characteristic of the Book of Proverbs is most probably regarded as that of a teacher addressing his disciples as his children. But the glimpse of the teacher’s heart here given may well apply to parents too, and ought to be true of all who can influence other and especially young hearts. Little power attends advices which are not sweetened by manifest love. Many a son has been kept back from evil by thinking, ‘What would my mother say?’ and many a sound admonition has been nothing but sound, because the tone of it betrayed that the giver did not much care whether it was taken or not.
A true teacher must have his heart engaged in his lessons, and must impress his scholars with the conviction that their failure drives a knife into it, and their acceptance of them brings him purest joy. On the other hand, the disciple, and still more the child, must have a singularly cold nature who does not respond to loving solicitude and does not care whether he wounds or gladdens the heart which pours out its love and solicitude over him. May we not see shining through this loving appeal a truth in reference to the heart of the great Father and Teacher, who, in the depths of His divine blessedness, has no greater joy than that His children should walk in the truth? God’s heart is glad when man’s is wise.
Note, also, the wide general expression for goodness-a wise heart, lips speaking right things. The former is source, the latter stream. Only a pure fountain will send forth sweet waters. ‘If thy heart become wise’ is the more correct rendering, implying that there is no inborn wisdom, but that it must be made ours by effort. We are foolish; we become wise.
What the writer means by wisdom he will tell us presently. Here he lets us see that it is a good to be attained by appropriate means. It is the foundation of ‘right’ speech. Nothing is more remarkable than the solemn importance which Scripture attaches to words, even more, we might almost say than to deeds, therein reversing the usual estimate of their relative value. Putting aside the cases of insincerity, falsehood, and the like, a man’s speech is a truer transcript of himself than his deeds, because less hindered and limited by externals. The most precious wine drips from the grapes by their own weight in the vat, without a turn of the screw. ‘By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.’ ‘God’s great gift of speech abused’ is one of the commonest, least considered, and most deadly sins.
II. We have next the one broad precept with its sure reward, which underlies all goodness {Pro 23:17 - Pro 23:18}. The supplement ‘be thou,’ in the second clause of Pro 23:17, obscures the close connection of clauses. It is better to regard the verb of the first clause as continued in the second. Thus the one precept is set forth negatively and positively: ‘Strive not after [that is, seek not to imitate or be associated with] sinners, but after the fear of the Lord.’ The heart so striving becomes wise. So, then, wisdom is not the result of cultivating the intellect, but of educating the desires and aspirations. It is moral and religious, rather than simply intellectual. The magnificent personification of Wisdom at the beginning of the book influences the subsequent parts, and the key to understanding that great conception is, ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom.’ The Greek goddess of Wisdom, noble as she is, is of the earth earthy when contrasted with that sovereign figure. Pallas Athene, with her clear eyes and shining armour, is poor beside the Wisdom of the Book of Proverbs, who dwelt with God ‘or ever the earth was,’ and comes to men with loving voice and hands laden with the gifts of ‘durable riches and righteousness.’
He is the wise man who fears God with the fear which has no torment and is compact of love and reverence. He is on the way to become wise whose seeking heart turns away from evil and evil men, and feels after God, as the vine tendrils after a stay, or as the sunflower turns to the light. For such wholehearted desire after the one supreme good there must be resolute averting of desire from ‘sinners.’ In this world full of evil there will be no vigorous longing for good and God, unless there be determined abstention from the opposite. We have but a limited quantity of energy, and if it is frittered away on multifarious creatures, none will be left to consecrate to God. There are lakes which discharge their waters at both ends, sending one stream east to the Atlantic and one west to the Pacific; but the heart cannot direct its issues of life in that fashion. They must be banked up if they are to run deep and strong. ‘All the current of my being’ must ‘set to thee’ if my tiny trickle is to reach the great ocean, to be lost in which is blessedness.
And such energy of desire and direction is not to be occasional, but ‘all the day long.’ It is possible to make life an unbroken seeking after and communion with God, even while plunged in common tasks and small cares. It is possible to approximate indefinitely to that ideal of continually ‘dwelling in the house of the Lord’; and without some such approximation there will be little realising of the Lord, sought by fits and starts, and then forgotten in the hurry of business or pleasure. A photographic plate exposed for hours will receive the picture of far-off stars which would never show on one exposed for a few minutes.
The writer is sure that such desires will be satisfied, and in Pro 23:18 says so. The ‘reward’ {Rev. Ver.} of which he is sure is the outcome of the life of such seekers after God. It does not necessarily refer to the future after death, though that may be included in it. But what is meant is that no seeking after the fear of the Lord shall be in vain. There is a tacit emphasis on ‘thy,’ contrasting the sure fulfilment of hopes set on God with the as sure ‘cutting of’ of those mistakenly fixed upon creatures and vanities. Psa 37:38, has the same word here rendered ‘reward’ and declares that ‘the future [or reward] of the wicked shall be cut off.’ The great fulfilment of this assurance is reserved for the life beyond; but even here among all disappointments and hopes of which fulfilment is so often disappointment also, it remains true that the one striving which cannot be fruitless is striving for more of God, and the one hope which is sure to be realised, and is better when realised than expected, is the hope set on Him. Surely, then, the certainty that if we delight ourselves in God He will give us the desires of our hearts, is a good argument, and should be with us an operative motive for directing desire and effort away from earth and towards Him.
III. Special precepts as to the control of the animal nature follow in Pro 23:19 - Pro 23:21. First, note that general one of Pro 23:19, ‘Guide thine heart in the way.’ In most general terms, the necessity of self-government is laid down. There is a ‘way’ in which we should be content to travel. It is a definite path, and feet have to be kept from straying aside to wide wastes on either hand. Limitation, the firm suppression of appetites, the coercing of these if they seek to draw aside, are implied in the very conception of ‘the way.’ And a man must take the upper hand of himself, and, after all other guidance, must be his own guide; for God guides us by enabling us to guide ourselves.
Temperance in the wider sense of the word is prominent among the virtues flowing from fear of the Lord, and is the most elementary instance of ‘guiding the heart.’ Other forms of self-restraint in regard to animal appetites are spoken of in the context, but here the two of drunkenness and gluttony are bracketed together. They are similarly coupled in Deu 21:20, in the formula of accusation which parents are to bring against a degenerate son. Allusion to that passage is probable here, especially as the other crime mentioned in it-namely, refusal to ‘hear’ parental reproof-is warned against in Pro 23:22. The picture, then, here is that of a prodigal son, and we have echoes of it in the great parable which paints first riotous living, and then poverty and misery.
Drunkenness had obviously not reached the dimensions of a national curse in the date when this lesson was written. We should not put over-eating side by side with it. But its ruinous consequences were plain then, and the bitter experience of England and America repeats on a larger scale the old lesson that the most productive source of poverty, wretchedness, rags, and vice, is drink. Judges and social reformers of all sorts concur in that now, though it has taken fifty years to hammer it into the public conscience. Perhaps in another fifty or so society may have succeeded in drawing the not very obscure inference that total abstinence and prohibition are wise. At any rate, they who seek after the fear of the Lord should draw it, and act on it.
IV. The last part is in Pro 23:22 - Pro 23:23. The appeal to filial duty cannot here refer to disciple and teacher, but to child and parents. It does not stand as an isolated precept, but as underscoring the important one which follows. But a word must be spared for it. The habits of ancient days gave a place to the father and mother which modern family life woefully lacks, and suffers in many ways for want of. Many a parent in these days of slack control and precocious independence might say, ‘If I be a father, where is mine honour?’ There was perhaps not enough of confidence between parent and child in former days, and authority on the one hand and submission on the other too much took the place of love; but nowadays the danger is all the other way-and it is a very real danger.
But the main point here is the earnest exhortation of Pro 23:23, which, like that to the fear of the Lord, sums up all duty in one. The ‘truth’ is, like ‘wisdom,’ moral and religious, and not merely intellectual. ‘Wisdom’ is subjective, the quality or characteristic of the devout soul; ‘truth’ is objective, and may also be defined as the declared will of God. The possession of truth is wisdom. ‘The entrance of Thy words giveth light.’ It makes wise the simple. There is, then, such a thing as ‘the truth’ accessible to us. We can know it, and are not to be for ever groping amid more or less likely guesses, but may rest in the certitude that we have hold of foundation facts. For us, the truth is incarnate in Jesus, as He has solemnly asserted. That truth we shall, if we are wise, ‘buy,’ by shunning no effort, sacrifice, or trouble needed to secure it.
In the lower meanings of the word, our passage should fire us all, and especially the young, to strain every muscle of the soul in order to make truth for the intellect our own. The exhortation is needed in this day of adoration of money and material good. Nobler and wiser far the young man who lays himself out to know than he who is engrossed with the hungry desire to have! But in the highest region of truth, the buying is ‘without money and without price,’ and all that we can give in exchange is ourselves. We buy the truth when we know that we cannot earn it, and forsaking self-trust and self-pleasing, consent to receive it as a free gift. ‘Sell it not,’-let no material good or advantage, no ease, slothfulness, or worldly success, tempt you to cast it away; for its ‘fruit is better than gold,’ and its ‘revenue than choice silver.’ We shall make a bad bargain if we sell it for anything beneath the stars; for ‘wisdom is better than rubies,’ and he has been cheated in the transaction who has given up ‘the truth’ and got instead ‘the whole world.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v17 (See Scofield "Psa 19:9").
fear
(See Scofield "Psa 19:9").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv15–35 v. 15. My son, if thine heart be wise,…
v. 15. My son, if thine heart be wise, as the result of wholesome teaching here offered, my heart shall rejoice, even mine, for such is the effect of successful teaching upon the instructor.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv15, 17, 19, 22, 24, 26, 29, 31, 34 General Information:
General Information:
These verses continue the "thirty sayings" (Proverbs 22:20).
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when your lips speak
"Your lips" means the whole person. AT: "when you speak" (See: Synecdoche)
translationWords
son
heart
wise
joy
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 On vv15, 17, 19, 22, 26, 29 23:15-16 Saying 13: A wise parent will rejoice in…
23:15-16 Saying 13: A wise parent will rejoice in a wise child (see 10:1).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.