main homiletics of the paragraph.—Verses 9–10.
Opposite Characters.
I. He who walketh uprightly. 1. Is a restorer of an ancient path. The way of uprightness is much older than the human race, and was originally the only way known in the universe to intelligent and moral creatures. Uprightness is as old as God. Crooked walking is of the creature and but of yesterday compared with uprightness. He who walks uprightly is a restorer of the breach made in heaven, and re-establishes the old paths (Jer. vi. 16) of righteousness upon earth. The way of uprightness was the way in which man walked in Eden. In Eden also man lost his way by entering the by-path of transgression and thus ceased to walk with God. He shall “be called a repairer of the breach, a restorer of paths to dwell in” (Isa. lviii. 12). A man who reopened up some ancient and important highway to a great city would be regarded by the citizens as a benefactor; how much more ought he to be held in esteem whose life reveals this ancient highway of holiness, who by his uprightness becomes himself a way to others. 2. He obeys an ancient command. “When Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me and be thou perfect”—upright (Gen. xvii. 1). Often the great want of a partially-civilised country is a straight and level road, by which commerce can easily find its way to the central city, and a royal edict is sometimes issued that such a road should be made. The great want of the world in the day when this command was given to Abram was an example of uprightness in human life. The need of the world in this direction is still great, and the ancient command given to the patriarch is still in force. 3. His walking is not limited to the present life. He walks in the same way after death as before it. “He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness” (Isa. lvii. 2). Heaven has no better way of walking than the way of uprightness, and death will not make any change in the moral characteristics of the godly man, except to intensify and strengthen them. The death of the seed-corn will not be the means of giving birth to a different kind of seed, but only of making an increase of the same kind. Death is needful, not to change one thing for another, but to make much out of little. Death will bring heaven to the godly and upright, but it can give nothing to an upright man better than his uprightness, but this it can do, it can render him more entirely and completely upright. Hence the path of the upright is a path which death cannot end—a path which, begun to be trodden in time, will be continued in throughout eternity. The happiness of the human creatures who make up a family, or a larger community, will depend very much upon the uprightness of each member. Heaven’s blessedness springs from the perfectly upright character of each citizen of that perfect city. 4. His upright walk is sure, or safe, because it is preservative of character. Uprightness is to character what salt is to food. He who walks uprightly can never become less godly and righteous, but must of necessity become more and more so; hence the Psalmist’s prayer, “Let integrity and uprightness preserve me” (Psalm xxv. 21).
II. The two phases of character are placed in contrast to that of the upright man. 1. That of the man whose evil nature does not lie entirely upon the surface. “He that perverteth his ways” and yet endeavours to cloak his perversion, to hide his wrong-doing. The “winking of the eye” mentioned in verse 10 indicates an effort after concealment. Those who “pervert” their ways pervert nature in order to attain their ends. The eye is intended by God to be a revelation of the soul, and where integrity and sincerity dwells, it is so. But he who walks crookedly or perversely makes an unnatural use of his eye, and by means of it endeavours to work ill to his neighbour. But all his efforts at concealment will at some time or other be ineffectual; the very means he uses to conceal his evil plans may be the means of awakening suspicion. And if he succeeds in blinding the eyes of his fellow men, “the Lord will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts” (1 Cor. iv. 5). The day of judgment will reveal the guilty secrets of many who have never yet—nor ever will be until that day—fully “known.” 2. That of him whose perversity is manifest to all. The “prating fool” cannot conceal what he is. Upon him and upon his destiny, see Homiletics and Suggestive Comments on [verse 8].
outlines and suggestive comments.
Verse 9. An upright walk is Christian, not sinless, perfection (Job i. 8); “walking before God,” not before men (Gen. xvii. 1). Impurity, indeed, defiles the holiest exercise. But if the will be rightly bent, the integrity will be maintained. “Show me an easier path,” is Nature’s cry. “Show me,” cries the child of God, “a sure path.”—Bridges.
To walk uprightly, or to walk in integrity, means to act according to one complete scheme: not as the fool does (verse 8), behaving one way and believing another. It means to aim for “something stable” (chap. ii. 7); and hence, of course, not to lay our plans so that we ourselves know they must ultimately fail. He walks surely or securely, i.e., must certainly succeed.—Miller.
The dissembler walks in crooked paths. Like Judas, who put on a cloak of charity to hide his covetousness (John xii. 6), he conceals the selfish principles which regulate his behaviour under the appearances of purity, prudence, and other good qualities. But he cannot hold the mantle so tight about him as to conceal from the wise observer his inward baseness. It will occasionally be shuffled aside, it will at length drop off, and he shall be known for what he is, abhorred by all men, and punished with other hypocrites.—Lawson.
TRANSCRBER'S NOTE: While Dr. Wardlaw may think Proverbs an exception, II Tim. iii. 16 tells us that “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”
Walking uprightly stands opposed to all duplicity, all tortuous policy, all the crooked arts of manœuvering, for the purpose of promoting reputation, interest, comfort, or any other end whatsoever. He who walketh thus, walketh surely. He walks with a comfortable feeling of security, a calm, unagitated serenity of mind. This springs from the confidence in that God whose will he makes his only rule. In the path of implicit obedience he feels that he can trust. And further, the way in which he walks is the surest for the attainment of his ends. Proverbs are generally founded in observation and experience, and express their ascertained results. Hence, even though not inspired, they have generally truth in them. It has become proverbial that “honesty is the best policy.” The meaning is, that acts of deceit very frequently frustrate the object of him by whom they are employed, and land him in evils greater than the one he meant, by the use of them, to shun.—Wardlaw.