The way of the godless leads them into error; the course of life to which they have given themselves up has such a power over them that they cannot set themselves free from it, and it leads the enslaved into destruction. The righteous, on the contrary, is free with respect to the way which he takes, and the place where he stays. His view (regard) is directed to his true advancement, and he looks after his pasture (see [Critical Notes]), i.e., examines and discovers where, for him, right pastures, i.e., the advancement of his outer and inner life, is to be found.—Delitzsch.
Let him dwell by whomsoever, he is ever a better man than his neighbours; he is “a prince of God” among them, as Abraham was amongst the Hittites. Said Agesilaus, when he heard the King of Persia style himself the Great King—“I acknowledge none more excellent than myself, unless more righteous; none greater, unless better.” “Upon all the glory shall be a defence” (Isa. iv. 5)—that is, upon all the righteous, those only glorious, those “excellent of the earth” (Psa. xvi. 2), that are ”sealed to the day of redemption” (Ephes. iv. 30). Now, whatsoever is sealed with a seal, that is excellent in its own kind, as Isa. xxviii. 25. The poorest village is an ivory palace, saith Luther, if it have in it but a minister and a few good people. But the wicked will not be persuaded of the good man’s excellency, he cannot discern, nor will not be drawn to believe that there is any such gain in godliness, any such difference between the righteous and the wicked. He, therefore, goes another way to work.—Trapp.
I. In regard to their condition in this present life. They have all prerogatives and preferments. By parentage every one of them is God’s child. By dignity they are all kings. By inheritance they have title to heaven and earth; their food is heavenly manna, their clothing is Christ’s righteousness, their attendants are the holy angels.—II. In respect of their state that shall be in the life to come. They shall have perfect happiness, and be made like unto Jesus Christ, more excellent and puissant than the most glorious angels.—Dod.
The “wicked” man not only does not “guide” his neighbour, but does not guide himself, actually “leads” himself “astray.” Here is the same climax we have so often noticed (chap. xi. 14).—Miller.
main homiletics of verse 27.
The Loss of the Slothful, and the Gain of the Diligent.
I. Even the slothful man may be sometimes roused to activity. He is here represented as having made an effort, he has “taken spoil in hunting.” There are probably few men who are not sometimes roused to exertion, who do not every now and then make a start towards an industrious life, but they lack perseverance, they do not let one act of industry follow upon another so as to form industrious habits. Therefore—
II. The slothful man loses by negligence what he has gained. “He roasteth not that which he took in hunting.” He is too lazy to finish his work. He naturalises the one action by neglecting to perform the other. The food that he has taken is wasted because he is too lazy to roast it, and therefore he might as well have remained idle altogether.
III. He may thus rob an industrious man. The game which he has taken and wasted might have fallen into better hands. Another man might have taken it and put it to good use. A man has no right thus to deprive another of what he is too lazy to put to a good use himself.
IV. A diligent habit of life is a fortune in itself. 1. It is a possession of which a man cannot be robbed by any of the mischances of life. A habit is a second nature, and if a man has once acquired the habit of a diligent improvement of his time and opportunities, he can no more lose it than he can his identity. It can be touched by no rise or fall of the market, nor affected by any commercial panic. If he is rich, he will be diligent, and if he becomes poor he will make the most of what still remains to him. 2. It is a source of continual satisfaction. God has made men for work, and a rightly constituted mind is never so happy as when all its powers are actively employed. It is a great source of consolation in times of sorrow to have acquired industrious, active habits, for they often help a man to forget, or to rise above his trials. 3. It makes a man, in one respect, an imitator of God. The Eternal Ruler of the universe is ever active; diligence is one of His attributes. It is the boast of the Hebrew prophet, concerning the everlasting God, that “He fainteth not, neither is weary” (Isaiah xl. 28). Christ declares that He and His Father are unceasing in their activities: “My father worketh hitherto, and I work” (John v. 17).