Don’t be wise in your own eyes. Fear Yahweh, and depart from evil.
Parallel Translations
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Don’t be wise in your own eyes. Fear Yahweh, and depart from evil.
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Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
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Be not wise in thine own eyes; fear the LORD, and depart from evil;
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Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to Proverbs 3:7 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Job 28:28 To man he said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. To depart from evil is understanding.’ ”
- Romans 12:16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Don’t set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Don’t be wise in your own conceits.
- Proverbs 26:12 Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.
- Proverbs 16:6 By mercy and truth iniquity is atoned for. By the fear of Yahweh men depart from evil.
- Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God, and turned away from evil.
- Psalms 34:11-14 Come, you children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of Yahweh. Who is someone who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking lies. Depart from evil, and do good. Seek peace, and pursue it.
- Ecclesiastes 12:13 This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.
- Isaiah 5:21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
- Proverbs 14:27 The fear of Yahweh is a fountain of life, turning people from the snares of death.
- Romans 11:25 For I don’t desire you to be ignorant, brothers, of this mystery, so that you won’t be wise in your own conceits, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in,
- Nehemiah 5:15 But the former governors who were before me were supported by the people, and took bread and wine from them, plus forty shekels of silver; yes, even their servants ruled over the people; but I didn’t do so, because of the fear of God.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Pro 3:7 Be not wise in thine own eyes:…
Pro 3:7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
Ver. 7. Be not wise in thine own eyes.] Bis desipit qui sibi sapit. He is two fools that is wise in his own eyes. This δοκησισοφια mars all. Socrates’s Hoc scio quod nihil scio, got him the name of the wisest among men. Consilii satis in me mihi {a} is the proud man’s posy. "He that would be wise, must be a fool, that he may be wise." {1Co 3:18} Intus existens prohibet alienum. A conceit of wisdom bars out wisdom.
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Fear the Lord.] This makes a modest opinion of a man’s self. Joseph, a man famous for the fear of God, when Pharaoh expected from him an interpretation of his dream, as having heard much of his skill, "It is not in me," said he; "God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace." {Gen 41:16} Lo he extenuates his own gifts, and ascribes all to God. Wherefore suddenly after, as Joseph had said to Pharaoh, "Without me shall God make answer to Pharaoh," so Pharaoh is heard say to Joseph, "Without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt." {Gen 41:44} So that here was exemplified that holy proverb, "By humility and the fear of the Lord, are riches, and honour, and life." {Pro 22:4} The original runs thus, By humility the fear of the Lord are riches, &c. There is no and in the Hebrew. Humility and the fear of the Lord are so near akin (this being the mother of that), as if the one were predicated of the other, as if they were one and the same grace.
And depart from evil.] Another effect of this "clean" fear of God, as David calleth it. {Psa 19:9} Cave, spectat Cato, was a watchword among the Romans. A reverend and religious man had these words following written before him in his study, Noli peccare: Nam Deus videt, Angeli astant, Diabolus accusabit, Conscientia testabitur, Infernus cruciabit. Take heed of sin, for God seeth thee, angels stand by thee, the devil will accuse thee, thy conscience will testify against thee, and hell will torture thee. But besides all this, "there is mercy with God that he may be feared"; {Psa 130:4} and "the children of Israel shall fear the Lord and his goodness." {Hos 3:5}
{a} Arachne apud Ovid. Metamor, lib. vi.
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 Be not wise in thine own eyes; be not…
Be not wise in thine own eyes; be not puffed up with vain conceit of thine own wisdom, as if that were sufficient for the conduct of all thine affairs without direction or assistance from God, or without the advice of others.
Fear the Lord: this he adds, because the reverence and dread of the Divine Majesty will make a man, when he compareth himself with God, little and vile in his own eyes. Reverence God’s wisdom, and thou wilt despise thine 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 We have here before us three exhortations, each of…
We have here before us three exhortations, each of them enforced with a good reason: -
I. We must live in a humble and dutiful subjection to God and his government (Pro 3:7): "Fear the Lord, as your sovereign Lord and Master; be ruled in every thing by your religion and subject to the divine will." This must be, 1. A humble subjection: Be not wise in thy own eyes. Note, There is not a greater enemy to the power of religion, and the fear of God in the heart, than conceitedness of our own wisdom. Those that have an opinion of their own sufficiency think it below them, and a disparagement to them, to take their measures from, much more to hamper themselves with, religion's rules. 2. A dutiful subjection: Fear the Lord, and depart from evil; take heed of doing any thing to offend him and to forfeit his care. To fear the Lord, so as to depart from evil, is true wisdom and understanding (Job 28:28); those that have it are truly wise, but self-denyingly so, and not wise in their own eyes. For our encouragement thus to live in the fear of God it is here promised (Pro 3:8) that it shall be as serviceable even to the outward man as our necessary food. It will be nourishing: It shall be health to thy navel. It will be strengthening: It shall be marrow to thy bones. The prudence, temperance, and sobriety, the calmness and composure of mind, and the good government of the appetites and passions, which religion teaches, tend very much not only to the health of the soul, but to a good habit of body, which is very desirable, and without which our other enjoyments in this world are insipid. Envy is the rottenness of the bones; the sorrow of the world dries them; but hope and joy in God are marrow to them.
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II. We must make a good use of our estates, and that is the way to increase them, Pro 3:9, Pro 3:10. Here is,
1. A precept which makes it our duty to serve God with our estates: Honour the Lord with thy substance. It is the end of our creation and redemption to honour God, to be to him for a name and a praise; we are no other way capable of serving him than in his honour. His honour we must show forth and the honour we have for him. We must honour him, not only with our bodies and spirits which are his, but with our estates too, for they also are his: we and all our appurtenances must be devoted to his glory. Worldly wealth is but poor substance, yet, such as it is, we must honour God with it, and then, if ever, it becomes substantial. We must honour God, (1.) With our increase. Where riches increase we are tempted to honour ourselves (Deu 8:17) and to set our hearts upon the world (Psa 62:10); but the more God gives us the more we should study to honour him. It is meant of the increase of the earth, for we live upon annual products, to keep us in constant dependence on God. (2.) With all our increase. As God has prospered us in every thing, we must honour him. Our law will allow a prescription for a modus decimandi - a mode of tithing, but none de non decimando - for exemption from paying tithes. (3.) With the first-fruits of all, as Abel, Gen 4:4. This was the law (Exo 23:19), and the prophets, Mal 3:10. God, who is the first and best, must have the first and best of every thing; his right is prior to all other, and therefore he must be served first. Note, It is our duty to make our worldly estates serviceable to our religion, to use them and the interest we have by them for the promoting of religion, to do good to the poor with what we have and abound in all works of piety and charity, devising liberal things.
2. A promise, which makes it our interest to serve God with our estates. It is the way to make a little much, and much more; it is the surest and safest method of thriving: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty. He does not say thy bags, but thy barns, not thy wardrobe replenished, but thy presses: "God shall bless thee with an increase of that which is for use, not for show or ornament - for spending and laying out, not for hoarding and laying up." Those that do good with what they have shall have more to do more good with. Note, If we make our worldly estates serviceable to our religion we shall find our religion very serviceable to the prosperity of our worldly affairs. Godliness has the promise of the life that now is and most of the comfort of it. We mistake if we think that giving will undo us and make us poor. No, giving for God's honour will make us rich, Hag 2:19. What we gave we have.
III. We must conduct ourselves aright under our afflictions, Pro 3:11, Pro 3:12. This the apostle quotes (Heb 12:5), and calls it an exhortation which speaks unto us as unto children, with the authority and affection of a father. We are here in a world of troubles. Now observe,
1. What must be our care when we are in affliction. We must neither despise it nor be weary of it. His exhortation, before, was to those that are rich and in prosperity, here to those that are poor and in adversity. (1.) We must not despise an affliction, be it ever so light and short, as if it were not worth taking notice of, or as if it were not sent on an errand and therefore required no answer. We must not be stocks, and stones, and stoics, under our afflictions, insensible of them, hardening ourselves under them, and concluding we can easily get through them without God. (2.) We must not be weary of an affliction, be it ever so heavy and long, not faint under it, so the apostle renders it, not be dispirited, dispossessed of our own souls, or driven to despair, or to use any indirect means for our relief and the redress of our grievances. We must not think that the affliction either presses harder or continues longer than is meet, not conclude that deliverance will never come because it does not come so soon as we expect it.
2. What will be our comfort when we are in affliction. (1.) That it is a divine correction; it is the chastening of the Lord, which, as it is a reason why we should submit to it (for it is folly to contend with a God of incontestable sovereignty and irresistible power), so it is a reason why we should be satisfied in it; for we may be sure that a God of unspotted purity does us no wrong and that a God of infinite goodness means us no hurt. It is from God, and therefore must not be despised; for a slight put upon the messenger is an affront to him that sends him. It is from God, and therefore we must not be weary of it, for he knows our frame, both what we need and what we can bear. (2.) That it is a fatherly correction; it comes not from his vindictive justice as a Judge, but his wise affection as a Father. The father corrects the son whom he loves, nay, and because he loves him and desires he may be wise and good. He delights in that in his son which is amiable and agreeable, and therefore corrects him for the prevention and cure of that which would be a deformity to him, and an alloy to his delight in him. Thus God hath said, As many as I love I rebuke and chasten, Rev 3:19. This is a great comfort to God's children, under their afflictions, [1.] That they not only consist with, but flow from, covenant-love. [2.] That they are so far from doing them any real hurt that, by the grace of God working with them, they do a great deal of good, and are happy means of their satisfaction.
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 Be not wise in thine own eyes,.... So as…
Be not wise in thine own eyes,.... So as to act independently of God; not to trust in him, nor acknowledge him, nor seek to him for help and direction; nor ask nor take the advice of others; but, being conceited and self-sufficient, lean to thine own understanding, as being wise enough to conduct all affairs in life by thy own discretion; and in matters of religion wiser than thy teachers, and even than the Scriptures, being wise above that which is written; pleasing thyself with thine own wisdom, as exceeding others; glorying in it as thine own acquisition, and not ascribing it to God, so far as it any ways deserves the name of wisdom; though for the most part that which men glory in, and are conceited of, is not wisdom, but folly; and at least it is their folly to boast of it and be elated with it; see Isa 5:21, Rom 12:16;
fear the Lord; which is true wisdom; and, where this is not, there is none, let men be ever so conceited; and where this is there is humility; these two go together, and make a man wise, rich, and honourable, Pro 22:4. The fear of the Lord is opposed to pride, high-mindedness, and vain conceit, Rom 11:20; this includes reverence of God, faith in him, dependence on him, acknowledgment of him, seeking to him for direction, and carefulness not to offend him;
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and depart from evil; from the evil of self-confidence and self-conceit, and from all other evil; the fear of God influences men to avoid sin, and abstain from all appearance of it; by means and through the exercise of it men forsake it, and keep at a distance from it, Pro 16:6. Nehemiah could not do as others did, because of the fear of the Lord; and Job was a man that feared God, and therefore he avoided that which was evil, Neh 5:15.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Pro 3:7-8. Be not wise in thine own eyes…
Pro 3:7-8. Be not wise in thine own eyes — Be not puffed up with a vain conceit of thine own wisdom, as if that were sufficient for the conduct of all thine affairs, without direction and assistance from God, or without the advice of others. Fear the Lord, &c. — This he adds, because reverence for, and a dread of, the Divine Majesty, will make a man, when he compares himself with God, little and vile in his own eyes. Reverence God’s wisdom, and despise thine own. It shall be health to thy navel — To thy body, which is signified by one important part of it; and marrow to thy bones — Which is the nourishment and strength of the bones, and a great preserver and prolonger of life, as the decay of it is a chief cause of the weakness, dryness, and decay of the body. The sense of the verse is, This fear of God, or true religion, is not only necessary to the salvation of the soul, but is also calculated to promote the health of the body. For, as it prevents those diseases which are often occasioned by sinful lusts and passion, so it teaches that prudence, temperance, and sobriety, that calmness and composure of mind, that good government of the appetites and passions, which must, in the nature of things, tend to produce a good habit of body; and at the same time it gives us an interest in God’s promises, and places us under the care of his special providence.
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 The great hindrance to all true wisdom is the…
The great hindrance to all true wisdom is the thought that we have already attained it.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Charles Bridges 1846 · Public Domain (Pro 3:7 quoted in the NT: Rom 12:16)
(Pro 3:7 quoted in the NT: Rom 12:16)
This warning against self-confidence is closely connected with the preceding verse. The wise in his own eyes is he, that leans to his own understanding.†1 Such wisdom is folly and self-delusion.†2 Put it away, and let it be thy wisdom to fear the LORD, and depart from evil. How striking is this connexion between the fear of God and the fear of sin. (Pro 14:27 ; Pro 16:6. Gen 39:9-10 . Neh 5:15 . Job 28:28 .) Where God is honoured, sin is hated, loathed, and resisted. (Rom 7:18-24 .) It lives indeed; but it is condemned to die. (Ibid. Rom 6:6 .) It cleaves to the child of God. But his heart departs from it. Often is it the cause of the sickness of the body:†3 always of the soul. (Hos 7:9 .) The departure from it in the exercise of self-denial and godly discipline, is health to the body. (Verses 1, 2.) The soul, drooping under the baneful influence of spiritual disease, revives in fruitfulness. (Hos 14:5-7 .) The man that feareth the LORD, under "the healing beams of the Sun of Righteousness, goeth forth" (Mal 4:2 ), as from his sick chamber, full of life and Christian energy. "The joy of the LORD is his strength." (Neh 8:10 .)
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Footnotes
†1 Pro 3:5. Compare Pro 23:4 . Rom 12:3-16 . See the mind of God expressed in that solemn woe. (Isa 5:21 .)
†2 Even a heathen could remark — ’I suppose that many might have attained to wisdom, had they not thought they had already attained it.’ Seneca, de Ira,, Lib. iii. c. 36. Compare 1Co 8:2 ; Gal 6:3 . ’Our knowledge should hold the light before us, and help us for the better discovery of our ignorance, and so dispose us to humility, not pride.’ — Bp. Sanderson’s Sermon on Rom 14:3 .
†3 In sensual indulgence — Pro 5:8-11 . Intemperance — Pro 23:29-30 . As a judicial infliction — Psa 32:3-4 ; Psa 38:1-8 . 1Co 11:30 .
Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs (1846) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain (Compare Pro 27:2; Rom 12:16).
(Compare Pro 27:2; Rom 12:16).
fear . . . evil--reverentially regarding His law.
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 7. This is in substance a repetition of the…
7. This is in substance a repetition of the fifth verse, with members transposed, thus giving the sentiment emphasis. Compare Rom_12:16, last clause.
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 7. The first clause of this verse in the…
7. The first clause of this verse in the rendering of the LXX., φρόνιμος παρὰ σεαυτῷ, is quoted by St Paul, Rom_12:16.
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 (7) Fear the Lord, and depart from evil.—The same…
(7) Fear the Lord, and depart from evil.—The same result is reached by Job also (Pro_28:28) in his inquiry after wisdom.
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 Be not wise in thine own eyes. This admonition…
Be not wise in thine own eyes. This admonition carries on the thought from the preceding verses (5, 6), approaching it from a different direction. It is a protest against self-sufficiency, self-conceit, and self-reliance. It says, in effect, "Trust in the Lord, do not trust in yourself." Wisdom, as Michaelis remarks, is to trust in God; to trust in yourself and in your own wisdom is unwisdom. God denounces this spirit: "Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!", (Isa_5:21) because such a spirit leads to the prohibited self-dependence, and is inconsistent with "the tear of the Lord." The precept of the text is reiterated by St. Paul, especially in Rom_12:16, "Be not wise in your own conceits". (cf. 1Co_8:8 Gal_6:3) It commends humility. The diligent search for Wisdom is commanded. The great hindrance to all true wisdom is the thought that we have already attained it (Plumptre). In thine own eyes; i.e. in thine own estimation; arbitrio tuo (Trem. et Jun.). Fear the Lord, and depart from evil. The connection of this with the first part of the verse becomes clear upon reflection. "The fear of the Lord" is true wisdom. (Job_28:28 Pro_1:7) Fear the Lord, therefore, because it is the best corrective of one"s own wisdom, which engenders arrogance, pride, presumption of mind, which, moreover, is deceptive and apt to lead to sin. The fear of the Lord has this other advantage that it leads to the departure from evil (Pro_16:6) It is the mark of the wise man that he fears the Lord, and departs from evil. (Pro_14:16) These precepts form the two elements of practical piety (Delitzsch), an eminent example of which as Job. (Job_1:1)
Vers. 7 (second part), 8. A three-linked chain. We have
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I PIETY. "Fear the Lord." It is the faculty which distinguishes the meanest man from the noblest brute, which raises our race immeasurably above the next below it. Man can fear God. He can
(1) recognize his Maker;
(2) bow down in lowly but manly reverence before God;
(3) render to him the gratitude of a heart mindful of his many mercies;
(4) subject his will to the will Divine;
(5) order his life according to the written Word.
II MORALITY. "Depart from evil." The outcome of piety is morality.
1. The morality which rests not on the basis of piety (the fear of the Lord)is on an insecure foundation. Change of circumstance, of friends, of fashions, may blow it down.
2. The morality which depends on the "thou shalt" and "thou shalt not" of the Supreme is safe against all the winds that blow. For the dark hour of powerful temptation there is no such barrier against sin and ruin as the conviction, "How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" For the bright hour of obligation there is no such animating incitement as "that Christ may be magnified in me." The third link in this heaven-forged chain is
III HEALTH. "It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones." Sickness of body may be the portion of the best of men or women. Some are born to suffer until they die and pass to the blessed country where the inhabitant will never say, "I am sick." But the constant tendency of piety and its invariable accompaniment morality is to give
(1) health and strength of bodily frame; the pure blood, the clear eye, the strong muscle, the steady nerve, the "green old age." It regularly gives
(2) an active mind; and it necessarily imparts
(3) a soul that is "in health". (3Jn_1:2) The man who fears God and departs from evil is the man who is fitted and is likely to have the largest show of vigorous, robust, healthy life in all its forms. G.
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 Be not wise in thine own eyes.
Pro_3:7
Be not wise in thine own eyes.
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Self-conceit
(see Isa_5:21):--
I. It involves self-ignorance. No one who knows himself could be conceited. Let the wisest man think of two things--
1. His knowledge in comparison with what is to be known.
2. His knowledge in comparison with what he ought to have known.
II. It obstructs mental improvement. This is clear from two things--
1. That mental improvement requires an earnest seeking for knowledge.
2. Earnest seeking for knowledge requires a deep sense of the necessity of knowledge. A self-conceited man feels no such necessity; he thinks he knows everything.
II. It destroys social influence. A self-conceited man disgusts rather than pleases, repels rather than draws. He is despised rather than respected. Intelligence, generosity, truthfulness, humility, these are the elements of social power. (D. Thomas, D.D.)
The folly and danger of self-conceit
I. What are the usual signs, in young people, of their setting too high a value upon their own understanding?
1. In a general inattention to the means of instruction and improvement.
2. A spirit of contradiction strongly marks this failing. It is a strong symptom of self-conceit when young people are hasty in their judgments, and confident in their own opinions.
3. When, even in matters of importance, they are above asking or taking advice of others.
4. By rashly condemning the opinions and maxims which have received the stamp of time and experience. Youth should guard against the fascinations of novelty.
5. The worst sign is neglecting to ask counsel of God (Jam_1:5).
II. Whence is it that young people are peculiarly exposed to this evil?
1. They commonly know but little of themselves.
2. They can have but little acquaintance with the world.
3. They are much exposed to the imprudent and sinful flattery of others.
III. Some considerations to put youth seriously upon their guard against being wise in their own eyes.
1. Consider what little foundation there is for this vain conceit.
2. Nothing obstructs progress in true wisdom more effectually than the opinion that you are wise already.
3. If you are wise in your own eyes, you will not be so in the sight of God and man.
4. Nothing more surely betrays young people into certain ruin. Guard, then, against self-conceit. Watch and pray constantly against the spirit that works in character and life such fatal mischief. (John Humphrys, LL.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 Pro_3:8. Navel, “body” or “muscles.” Marrow, literally “refreshing,” “moistening,”…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Pro_3:8. Navel, “body” or “muscles.” Marrow, literally “refreshing,” “moistening,” in contrast to the condition described in Psa_32:3-4.
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Pro_3:11. Despite not, or “loathe not,” “shrink not.” The word, according to Miller, means “to melt.” Chastening, “discipline,” “correction.”
Pro_3:12. The latter clause of this verse should be read, “and holds him dear, or does him a favour, as a father does his son.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Pro_3:7-12
THE WAY (1) TO HEALTH, (2) TO WEALTH, (3) TO ENDURANCE
Three exhortations are here given, to each of which is attached a promise or reason to induce the young man to obey.
I. An exhortation to humility. (Pro_3:7-8.) Its peculiar appropriateness and importance will be seen if we consider—
1. The person to whom the exhortation is addressed. “My son” (Pro_3:1). Lack of experience has a great tendency to breed self-conceit. As a rule, those who have lived the longest and have most acquaintance with men and things are the least disposed to be “wise in their own eyes.” Ignorance is the mother of self-conceit. These words are addressed to a young man, because his youth would render him very liable to this fault.
2. That self-conceit does not end with oneself but is dangerous to others. The man who insists upon the correctness of his knowledge of a dangerous way, and will not listen to the experience of those who are better acquainted with it, is sure to find some who believe in him and follow his guidance. Thus he may not only lose his own life, but be the murderer of others.
3. It shuts a man up to his ignorance. The only way to become wise is to feel we are ignorant. As a lunatic must be shut up with others in a like condition while his madness is upon him, so a self-conceited man must be imprisoned with the fools of the universe while he remains in that condition.
4. The Divine woes which are levelled against such an one. All the woes pronounced by our Lord against the Scribes and Pharisees were against sins born of this sin. The charge against them was that they were wise in their own eyes. “For judgment am I come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him said, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth” (Joh_9:41). “Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight” (Isa_5:21).
II. The remedy against self-conceit. “Fear the Lord,” etc. When those who are wise in their own eyes begin to reverence those who are much wiser than they are, they will begin to depart from this evil which is the root of many evils. Esteem for those who deserve esteem will lessen their esteem for themselves. A knowledge of the character and wisdom of God will produce reverence. When a man renders to God the reverence which is due unto Him, and which is born of a right appreciation of what God is, the scales of self-conceit will fall from his own eyes. As the sun melts the hoar-frost from the windows and leaves a clear medium for the rays of the sun to enter the chamber, so the contact of God with the human soul will melt away the self-esteem which shut Him out. How entrenched was Saul of Tarsus in his own opinions before he met the Lord on the road to Damascus. How high an estimate he had of himself, but how great was the change which acquaintance with Christ wrought. When Job got an insight into God’s greatness, he said, “I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job_42:6). Self-conceit cannot live where there are right views of God.
III. The promise here given to those who walk reverently before God. Certain it is that such a mode of life leads to bodily health. Those who walk in the fear of the Lord live lives of purity, of temperance, of freedom from the consuming passions and corroding cares of the ungodly. Other things being equal, or anything like equal, godliness has the promise of the life that now is in this respect as in others. But if we understand the words in this narrow sense only, they seem to express only a small part, and the inferior part, of the blessing that comes to a man from the “fear of the Lord.” The bones here, as in Psa_32:3; Psa_35:10, are put for the whole man. And as the Psalmist, in the first-mentioned psalm, expresses his sad condition of soul as well as body when he says, “My moisture is turned to the drought of summer,” so the “marrow,” or “moisture,” of the bones here expresses a vigour of the entire man. Sin breaks the bones of a man’s spirit; the consciousness of the Divine favour which will flow from a reverential walk with God makes them “to rejoice” (Psa_51:8).
Pro_3:9-10 contain—
I. An exhortation to a right use of temporal riches.
1. Those who honour God with their gifts honour Him who has first honoured them with their stewardship. The man who is entrusted with the property of others has an honour put upon him by the trust. Potiphar put a great honour upon Joseph when he committed all that he had into his hand, and Joseph felt that it was so. This of itself should be a motive to a strict integrity and to devotion to the interests of One who has thus honoured us with confidence. All temporal, material blessings are given to men as stewards of God’s property (Luk_16:1-12), and in this light they ought to regard themselves.
2. If men honour God with their substance, they turn what would otherwise be a snare into a blessing. The tendency of wealth is doubtless to make men God-forgetting, self-confident, selfish (Mar_10:23; Luk_12:16; Jas_5:1). But those who use it for the advancement of God’s kingdom—for the alleviation of human suffering—make a friend of this “mammon of unrighteousness” (Luk_16:9).
3. God cannot be honoured with our substance unless we first give ourselves to Him. The great desire of a true father in relation to his children is to secure their love. Having that, everything else that is theirs will be his. Without that, no offering, no service, can be acceptable. God must have the man before He will accept his wealth.
II. The promise annexed to this exhortation. This cannot be the motive, but it is the consequence. Any man who gave his wealth because he believed it was a good investment in this sense, would not be honouring God with it. We must give, as we are commanded to lend, hoping for nothing again (Luk_6:35). And, although the material rewards which are appended to a certain line of conduct under the old dispensation do not invariably follow it in the new and more spiritual one, there is probably no Old Testament promise of earthly reward which is, and ever has been, fulfilled with so few exceptions.
Pro_3:11-12.
I. An exhortation to patient endurance of affliction.
1. From the constitution of our nature we can but dislike or loathe (despise, see “Critical Notes”) affliction itself. There has never been one of human kind who has welcomed affliction for its own sake; nay, more, there has never been one who has not shrunk from it, considered by itself. No man can do other than grieve for the death of his friend when he considers his own loss merely. No child of God can love pain or loss. The man who is under the knife of the surgeon must groan in the unnatural condition in which he is placed. Even Christ Himself, though He delighted to do the will of His Father (Psa_40:8), shrank from the bitter cup of suffering. If, then, pain—probably mental pain—was felt to be bitter by the Sinless Man, how much more will a sinful man find it hard to bear.
2. The pain itself is that which renders us unable to see the connection between it and the benefit it is to work out. While a man is suffering pain of body or mind, his feelings, more or less, overpower his reason. Although we know that it is to work good in the future, we fail often to realise the fact—feeling holds us down to the present.
II. Four considerations to help us in times of affliction.
1. Its individuality. “My son, despise not thou,” which implies that God chastises men as individuals—that he distinguishes between them. There may be many sons and daughters in a human home; no two are exactly alike, therefore a wise discrimination must be exercised with regard to the chastisement or the discipline administered. So God discerns the needs of His children. No son or daughter need think that another cross would suit them better; they may be assured that the one they bear is the one that has been especially prepared for them, and is therefore peculiarly adapted for them.
2. Its end. It is educational. It is correction, not destruction. Even if it is rebuke, or punishment for a particular sin, it is designed to eradicate that sin, and thus add to the character; and we are assured, on the highest authority, that tribulation worketh patience, experience, and hope—all of which graces go to form a higher type of man (Rom_5:2-3).
3. Its signification. It means son-ship, adoption. It means that God has taken us in hand; that He is Himself presiding over our education; that He loves us and desires our spiritual growth.
4. Its Author. “The Lord.” We accept that from one whom we know, which we would not from a stranger. If we can be sure that a man’s motives are pure, we judge of his conduct accordingly. The consideration that affliction comes from the “righteous Father,” the King who cannot wrong any of His subjects, ought to help us to take the rebuke with meekness,—to bear the pain, although we cannot now see the profit.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_3:7. This warning against self-confidence is closely connected with the preceding verse. The wise in his own eyes is he that leans to his own understanding. How striking is this connection between the fear of the Lord and the fear of sin (ch. Pro_14:27; Pro_16:6; Gen_39:9-10; Neh_5:15).—Bridges.
Get all the wisdom thou canst. That is the very burden of these Proverbs. But as thou gettest it if thou seemest wise, be sure that thou art weighed down with folly. Gabriel, who has never sinned, is foolish because he knows not the end from the beginning, and we are foolish from a further cause, that our wisdom has remains with it that are corrupt.—Miller.
The greatest hindrance to all true wisdom is the thought that we have already attained it.—Plumptre.
Fear God, and fear evil; fear God to go to Him, fear evil to depart from it. The wings of fear to carry thee to God are love and care, the wings of fear to carry thee from evil are shame and sorrow.—Jermin.
Pro_3:8. The constant, steadfast, self-diffident operation of the religious principle is beneficial alike to body and soul. It preserves the mind in tranquillity and peace (Isa_26:3), and this is in a high degree conducive to the health and vigour of the bodily frame.—Wardlaw.
Two sadnesses flow from not fearing Jehovah—worn muscles and dried bones (see “Critical Notes”). The two are perfectly distinct. One means “aching labour,” the other, “horrible despondency.” The fear of God delivers from both.—Miller.
All God’s laws come from one source and conspire for one end. They favour righteousness and frown on sin. The law set in nature runs parallel as far as it goes to the law written in the word. Vice saps the health both of body and mind.—Arnot.
Pro_3:9. Works of piety and charity are evidently included.—Wardlaw.
Who art thou, that thou shouldest be able to honour Him, who is Himself of infinite honour? Who would not in this respect employ his substance in God’s fear, seeing thereby thou dost honour Him, whom to serve is a high honour to the highest angels.—Jermin.
To devote a portion of our substance directly to the worship of God, and the good of men, is a duty plainly enjoined in the Scriptures. It is not a thing that a man may do, or may not do, as he pleases. There is this difference, however, between it and the common relative duties of life. For the neglect of it no infliction comes from a human hand. God will not have the dregs that are squeezed out by pressure poured into His treasury. He loveth a cheerful giver. He can work without our wealth, but He does not work without our willing service.—Arnot.
Pro_3:10. At first sight the motive may be regarded as a selfish one. But second thoughts give another view. It is a trial of faith. And it is a trial than which few are found more difficult. It is hard to persuade a man that giving away will make him rich. We look with more confidence to bank interest, or the still better interest of a vested loan, than to a return of profit from what is wholly given away.—Wardlaw.
Men take care how to use their money to the best advantage by sea, by buying land or cattle, or by usury, an easy trade; thy best trade will be to maintain God’s worship.—Jermin.
This consecration of substance, as the seed-corn for the harvest, is as strange to the world as would be the casting of the seed in the earth to an untutored savage. Yet is the result secure in both cases: only with the difference, the temper of the earthly sower has no influence on the harvest; whereas the fruitfulness of the spiritual harvest mainly depends on the principles of the work. Most important is it that we honour the Lord—not ourselves.—Bridges.
Pro_3:11. Two things are forbidden here.
1. Do not make light of (despise) the Lord’s chastening, as if thou couldst easily cast it off—in insensibility to it, not recognising the Lord’s hand in it, and not humbling thyself under it.
2. Do not, on the contrary, through pusillanimity, be weary, and impatient, and despondent under the burden.—Cartwright.
Not to feel thy evils would be inhuman; not to bear them, unmanly.—Seneca.
Fainting and wearying may take place in two ways. The heart may be overwhelmed by sudden trials, giving an effect so stunning and overpowering that the spirit sinks into a temporary stupefaction, and, as the Apostle has it, “we faint.” Or it may become wearied out and exhausted by the long continuance of the same trial, or by a rapid succession of different strokes of the rod.—Wardlaw.
Having stated the blessings of wisdom, it is logical to consider the apparent exceptions.—Miller.
For if God did despise thee, He would not chasten thee, if He was weary of thee, He would not correct thee.—Jermin.
Some think it a goodly thing to bear out a cross by head and shoulders, and wear it out as they may, never improving it. As a man that, coming out of a shower of rain, dries again, and all is as before.—Trapp.
Prosperity and adversity, in their wise mixture and proportion, form our present condition. Each is equally fruitful in honouring the Lord; in prosperity, by a wise consecration of our substance; in adversity, by a humble and cheerful submission.… It is correction, this is for your humbling; it is only correction, this is your consolation. It is the declared test of our legitimacy (Heb_12:7-8). His discipline is that of the family, not of the school, much less of the prison.—Bridges.
Solomon here anticipates a covert objection, if all the favour in the sight of God and man, and the health which have been attributed to the fearers of the Lord (Pro_3:1-10) really be theirs, how is it that we see them so often sorely afflicted? The reason is, the Lord sends these afflictions, not for evil, but for good to His people.—Fausset.
Consider the afflictions we meet with in the character which the text assigns to them, viz., as corrections. What reasons have we for viewing them in this light?
1. They are of God, and God takes no pleasure in the misery of His creatures. By some other demonstrations than the dark demonstrations of sorrow, we know the benevolence of God; and as afflictions are from Him, we have reason to deem them a part of the discipline of His love.
2. The rule or order of human afflictions indicates their corrective intent. All do not come under this principle, but many do. It is manifest that many miseries of life are the results of sin, and if we could see further, it is extremely probable that we should attribute many human miseries to human sin which we now attribute to the naked sovereignty of God.
3. There is every reason to believe that a state of innocence would have kept the world from all suffering. Evils that extend so far, or are of such a nature that our reformation could not shun them, are instructive monitions that sin strikes deep, and requires for its cure the hand that rules the world.
4. Our afflictions have many alleviations. If they were intended as mere punishments they would have been made more destructive.—Dr. Spencer.
The first distinct utterance of a truth which has been so full of comfort to many thousands, the summing up of all controversies, like those of Job’s friends (Job_5:17) or our Lord’s disciples (Joh_9:2) as to the mystery of suffering. It was the lesson which the book of Job had proclaimed as the issue of so many perplexities. Here it enters into the education of every Jewish child taught to acknowledge a Father in heaven chastening him even as he had been chastened by an earthly father. The Apostle writing to the Hebrews can find no stronger comfort.—Plumptre.
Especially the well-beloved Son, who (Pro_3:12) was made “perfect through sufferings.”—Wordsworth.
God’s strokes are better than Satan’s kiss and love; God smites for life, Satan caresses for death.—Egard.
The kingdom of God in this world is a kingdom of the cross; but all suffering tends evermore to the testing and confirmation of faith (1Pe_1:6-7).—Lange.
God’s chastenings and corrections are no signs of anger, but of love; they are the pains which our healing and cure demand. Those who lie under the cross are often more acceptable to God than those who taste and experience His dainties. He finds pleasure in our crosses and sufferings for this reason, because these are His remembrance and renewal of the sufferings of His Son. His honour is also involved in such a perpetuation of the cross in His members (Eph_3:13; Col_1:24, etc.), and it is this that causes Him this peculiar joy.—Berleburg Bible.
God loveth not thy correction, but thee He loveth.—Jermin.
He that escapes affliction may well suspect his adoption.—Trapp.
The same stroke may fall on two men, and be in the one case judgment, in the other love. “In vain have I smitten your children, they received no correction (Jer_2:30). All were “smitten,” but they only obtained paternal correction who, in the spirit of adoption, “received” it as such. You may prune branches lying withered on the ground, and also branches living in the vine. In the two cases, the operation and the instrument are precisely alike; but the operation on this branch has no result, and the operation on that branch produces fruitfulness, because of a difference in the place and condition of the branches operated upon.—Arnot.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain Also; Pro 2:5 (See Scofield "Psa 19:9")
fear
Also; Pro 2:5 (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.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Do not be wise in your own eyes
Do not be wise in your own eyes
The writer speaks of a person's opinion as if that person were seeing something with his eyes. AT: "Do not be wise in your own opinion" (See: Metaphor)
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turn away from evil
The writer speaks of not committing evil actions as if it were turning away from evil. AT: "do not commit evil" (See: Metaphor)
It will be healing to your flesh
The word "it" refers to the instructions that the writer gives in the previous verse. The full meaning of this can be made clear. The word "flesh" represents the whole body. AT: "If you do this, it will be healing for your body" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information and Metonymy)
translationWords
wise
fear
Yahweh
turn
evil
flesh
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.