I. The tenderest admonitions and the most solemn warnings sometimes fail to influence for good. Sometimes the most loving parental care seems utterly wasted upon an ungrateful child, and the more constant and tender the words of admonition the farther does he depart from the way in which he ought to go. There is many a man so in love with sin that he may be said to “devour iniquity” (verse 28); and when this fatal appetite has taken possession of the soul all appeals to his better nature, and even to his own self-love, are vain.

II. When men are so hardened there is no depth of iniquity to which they may not sink. He who scoffs at all threats of retribution, both in this life and in that which is to come, has broken through all barriers of restraint, and will be capable of outraging all the tender ties of human relationship, even to the extent of bringing his parents to disgrace and shame. The most hardened sinners in the universe of God are not found in heathen lands, or among the ignorant at home, but they are those who, having heard instruction, have “erred from the words of knowledge.” Each day that they resist the good influence brought to bear upon them they increase their moral insensibility, and their final condemnation (verse 29). Hence the admonition of verse 27. (See [Critical Notes].)

outlines and suggestive comments.

Verse 26. This were an admirable text for young men entering upon life and still at the expense of their parents. It is a great enormity either to waste the property of their father while he is alive, or after they have succeeded to expel the widowed mother from the premises.—Chalmers.

Verse 27. It is so proper and natural for a son to hear instruction, that the hearing instruction maketh to be a son. . . . But if thou hear instruction, hear it not—not to be the better for it. Instruction speaketh to keep thee from erring: do not thou hear it to err: instruction putteth into thee the words of knowledge; do not thou put them out by erring from them, by not following them. . . . Cease thus to hear, but hear still. For by hearing at length thine error may be corrected; whereas, if thou hear not, thou dost not only err, but deprivest thyself of the means that reduce thee from erring.—Jermin.

CHAPTER XX.

Critical Notes.—1. Strong drink. The Hebrew word Shekhar includes every strong drink besides wine. Delitzsch translates it mead. 2. The fear of a king, i.e., the dread which he inspires. Sinneth against his soul, or “forfeits his life,” so Delitzsch and Miller. 3. To cease from strife. Rather, “to remain far from” it. 4. Delitzsch translates this verse, “At the beginning of the harvest the sluggard ploweth not, and so when he cometh to reaping time there is nothing.” 5. Counsel. Delitzsch translates this word “purpose,” and understands it to refer to a secret plan. 6. Miller reads the first clause of this verse, “Much of the mere man one calls his goodness,” i.e., “Much that is merely human.” He allows, however, that the usual rendering conveys a very striking meaning and agrees admirably with the second clause. The Hebrew word means literally abundance of men. Delitzsch translates, “Almost everyone meeteth a man who is gracious unto him; but a man who standeth the test, who findeth such a one?” 7. This verse should be, “He who in his innocence walks uprightly, blessed are his children,” etc. 8. Judgment. Rather justice. Scattereth or winnoweth. 10. Divers weights. Literally, “a stone and a stone, an ephah and an ephah.” 11. Touching the second clause of this verse, Miller says, “It is too terse for English, and we cannot translate it. Nor can we brook the English version. Doings are in the same category with work. How can one be the test of the other? The only room for a proposition is, obviously, for this: ‘A child is known by his doings; and the question, Is he pure? is but the question, Is his work right?’ ” 15. Here Miller reads, There is gold, etc., in the lips of knowledge. 16. A Strange woman. Rather, “a stranger.” 17. A man. The Hebrew word here uses is the one which denotes a superior man. 18. The first clause may be read, Establish thy purpose by counsel. 19. “Him that flattereth.” Rather, him that openeth wide his lips, i.e., the babbler. 24. Man. The first word, Geber, denoting a superior or mighty man: the second, Adam, man in general, or an ordinary man. 25. The first clause of this verse should be, “It is a snare to a man to cry out hastily ‘holy,’ i.e., to vow without thought and consideration.” 26. The wheel, i.e., the wheel of the threshing instrument which blows away the chaff. 30. The blueness of a wound. Cutting wounds (Delitzsch), Wounding stripes (Zöckler). Miller translates the “welts,” (i.e., the tumid and purple confines of a wound) cleanse as though an evil, “that is, although painful and deformed, they have a clear office, viz., to purge away the sore.” Wardlaw suggests that the word, being etymologically derived from a verb denoting to join together, may be translated compressions, and says, “The compressions of a wound are necessary for cleansing out of it the prurient and peccant humour, which would prevent its healing; they are, at the same time, in many cases exceedingly painful, and would only be endured or inflicted from necessity. And as they thus clean the wound and promote its healing, so in a moral sense does the severity of discipline affect with salutary and cleansing influence the condition of the inner man.”

main homiletics of verse 1.

Strong Drink.