The godly avoid evil and do good—not merely from habit, education, the hope of reward, or the fear of punishment, but from hatred of evil and love of goodness.—Cartwright.
The affection of hatred as having sin for its object is spoken of in Scripture as no inconsiderable part of true religion. It is spoken of as that by which true religion may be known and distinguished.—Jon. Edwards.
Wisdom having shown where she dwelleth, she showeth likewise where she dwelleth not. . . . He that saith, “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil,” is Himself the Lord that hateth evil. And, doubtless, every one should hate that which He hateth, whom all must love. Now, in an evil way, there be some ringleaders, and such are “pride, arrogancy, and the froward mouth,” for these draw many other after them. . . . And as for the Eternal Wisdom, how much He hateth them, His little regard of Himself showeth plainly and fully. For it was His hatred of Satan’s pride, reigning in wickedness, as well as His love to man captivated by it, that made Him to become man; yea, a worm, and no man, and by His humility to destroy pride, which He so greatly hated.—Jermin.
It is not only Divine holiness, observe, that “hates evil,” it is Divine wisdom. This conveys to us the important lesson that the will of God, along with his abhorrence of all that is opposed it, is founded in the best of reasons. All that is evil is contrary to His own necessary perfection, and, consequently, to “the eternal fitness of things.”—Wardlaw.
As it is impossible to hate evil without loving good; and as hatred to evil will lead a man to abandon the evil way, and love to goodness will lead him to do what is right in the sight of God, under the influence of that Spirit which has given the hatred to evil, and the love to goodness; this implies the sum and substance of true religion, which is here termed the fear of the Lord.—Adam Clarke.
God’s people partake of the Divine nature, and so have God-like sympathies and antipathies (Rev. ii. 6). They not only leave sin, but loathe it, and are at deadly feud with it. They purge themselves—by this clean fear of God (Psa. xix. 7)—from all pollutions, not of flesh only, worldly lusts, and gross evils, but of spirit also, that lie more up in the heart of the country, as pride, arrogancy, etc.—Trapp.
main homiletics of the paragraph.—Verses 14–16.
The Source of True Power.
I. Moral wisdom is the strength of kings. “I have strength; by me kings rule.” There is a kind of strength in all wisdom. The serpent’s strength is in his subtlety. The strength of the kingdom of darkness consists in a kind of wisdom of which our Lord speaks, when He says, “The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light” (Luke xvi. 8). Many kingdoms have been founded and governed upon the basis of merely human sagacity. But in all such government there are elements of weakness. The foundation of all lasting, true government is to be found only in moral wisdom, in other words, in holiness. That king or ruler will in the long-run have the firmest hold upon his subjects who is himself ruled by Divine wisdom. His strength will be found in the fact, that he rules himself before he attempts to rule others. His personal character will be his chief strength. Christ Himself is strong to rule, because He is pre-eminently the “Holy One.”
II. Without moral wisdom there can be no righteous government. “By me princes decree justice.” A man’s laws will be the outcome of his character. He will not make righteous laws unless he has himself submitted to moral rule. We are assured that all God’s decrees in relation to all His creatures are righteous, because we know Him to be altogether righteous. He was been declared by Him who knows Him best to be the “righteous Father” (John xvii. 25), therefore we know that only righteous laws can be decreed by Him. And it is only in proportion as rulers are influenced by Him, and partake of His character, that they rule in righteousness.