CHAPTER XIX.
Critical Notes.—1. Delitzsch translates the last clause, “Than one with perverse lips, and so a fool.” 2. Sinneth, literally “goeth astray.” Delitzsch reads the last clause, “He who hasteneth with the legs after it goeth astray.” 3. Perverteth, rather “overtures,” “ruins.” 5. Speaketh lies, rather “whose breath is lies.” 6. The prince, rather “the noble or generous man.” It seems to refer to one of rank, who is also of a benevolent disposition. “Entreat the favour,” literally “stroke the face.” 7. He pursueth them, &c. This clause is variously rendered. Zöckler reads, “He seeketh words (of friendship), and there are none;” Delitzsch, “Seeking after words which are vain;” Miller, “As one snatching at words, they come to stand towards him;” Maurer and others, “He pursueth after (the fulfilment of the) words (of their past promises to him), and these (promises) are not (made good).” 8. Wisdom. Literally heart. 9. Speaketh lies, “whose breath is lies.” 10. Delight. Most commentators translate this word “luxury.” Miller, however, as will be seen from [his comment], retains the reading of the English version. 11. Discretion, or “intelligence.” 13. Calamity. The word so translated is in the plural form, so as to express the continuance of the trouble. 16. Miller reads the verse “He that guards the commandment guards himself; in scattering his ways he dies.” (See [his comment].) Hitzig’s rendering of the last clause agrees with Miller’s. 18. Let not thy soul spare for his crying. The translations of most expositors here differ widely from the Authorised Version. Gortius, Maurer, Delitzsch, Zöckler, etc., read, “Let not thy soul rise to kill him,” “Go not too far to kill him,” etc., all understanding the precept to be directed against excessive severity. Cartwright renders it “Let not thy soul spare him, to his destruction.” 20. Latter end, rather afterwards. 22. The desire of a man, &c. Rather “A man’s delight (or glory) is his beneficence,” or A man’s kindness is what makes him desirable or, is a desirable adornment. 24. In his bosom, rather, in the dish. This is of course a hyperbolic expression to set forth the inactivity of the slothful man. “Athenæus,” says Fausset, “describes (ch. xii. 27) the slothful man as waiting until the roasted and seasoned thrushes fly into his mouth begging to be devoured.” 27. Cease my son, &c. “That causeth” are not in the original and the instruction spoken of may therefore be evil or good. “Two conceptions are possible: 1. The instruction is that of wisdom itself, and therefore a good wholesome discipline that leads to life; then the words can be only ironical, presenting under the appearance of a discussion from discipline in wisdom a very urgent counsel to hear and receive it (so Ewald, Bertheau, Elster). 2. The instruction is evil and perverted, described in clause 2 as one that causes departure from the words of wisdom. Then the admonition is seriously intended” (Zöckler, in Lange’s Commentary). On Zöckler’s first interpretation Dr. Aiken remarks, “To call this ‘irony’ seems to us a misnomer. Cease to hear instruction only to despise it. What can be more direct or literally pertinent?” Delitzsch says, “The proverb is a dissuasive from hypocrisy, a warning against the self-deception of which Jas. i. 22–24 speaks, against heightening one’s own condemnation, which is the case of that servant who knows his lord’s will and does it not (Luke xii. 47).”
main homiletics of verse 1.
The Better Part.
I. A reference to an unexplained mystery of human life. It is here implied, though it is not directly expressed, that the fool who is perverse in his lips—who sets himself in speech and action against the moral law of the universe—is not so poor a man as he who walks in integrity. (We have before had this latter character before us. See Homiletics on chap. [xi. 3], page 196.) It seems as strange that power and influence should be so often given to those who know least how to put them to a good use, as it would be to see a parent put a knife into the hand of a child who is incapable of using it, yet it is a sight which meets us on every hand, and a mystery which has presented itself to the minds of thinking men in all ages. Solomon had met with such instances in his day—he had seen the godly and upright walking in the shade and treading the bye-paths of life, while the perverse and foolish man was basking in the sunlight of worldly prosperity in the highways of society.
II. An assertion, that, notwithstanding contrary appearances, the better portion is with the better man. It is not, after all, what a man’s portion is, but how he uses it, that makes his life a blessing or a curse. A man who walks in integrity makes the righteous law of his God the rule of his life, and this keeping of the Divine commandments brings with it a reward (Psa. xix. 11) of which the rebellious fool knows nothing. He knows how to use his more limited opportunities and influence to the best advantage—how to put out his small capital so as to obtain the best interest upon it—how to trade with his five talents so as to make them other five, and so he is daily laying up a treasure which is better than all the fame and wealth that belongs to this world, for it is the riches of a righteous character by which he is raised himself to a higher spiritual level, and by which he is able to make the world better than he found it.
outlines and suggestive comments.
Integrity is itself a life, and a whole enjoyment, and better, therefore, than worldly interests which are nothing of the kind. Walking is an eastern figure, and we have failed to substitute it by a western one. A way in the East means a man’s total course. Walking, therefore, means his total life or being. Better is a poor man, etc., refers, therefore, to a man not living in his money, nor indeed, in his horses or in his hounds, not living in his integrity, but walking in it, i.e., spending his whole time in it, staying in that way; of course, taking his pleasure in it (see [verse 22]). We have before seen that speech means whole conduct. The mouth, in those days, was the great implement of action. It is so still. The commonest labourer bargains out and orders out half his living by his mouth. “Perverse” or “crooked” in speech means speaking (i.e. acting) athwart of what we ourselves know in many particulars; first, athwart all moral truth; second, athwart deep personal conviction; third, athwart all personal interest (as our text implies). A Christian talks straight, because he speaks (acts) coincidentally with all of these. A sinner is crooked of lip, because he says what he does not think, and traverses for his lusts all the best principles of his moral nature.—Miller.
main homiletics of verses 2 and 3.