Proverbs 18:3-4, Wicked Ways and Wise Words

November 26, Proverbs 18:3-4

1 Kings 10:1-3; Col. 3:16; 4:5 “Walk in wisdom to them that are without.”

Wicked Ways and Wise Words

In today’s Proverbs the wicked and wise are contrasted. Wickedness is the dominant character of one, while a wellspring of wisdom and life marks the other.

1. Sin’s Slippery Slope: When the wicked comes, then comes also contempt, and with ignominy reproach (v.3). Three words used here give a triple emphasis to the “consequences of sin,” illustrating how one effect leads to another. Sin brings contempt, shame, leads to ignominy, stigma, and then inevitably to reproach, scandal. “When the wicked cometh, all these evils come with him” (Perowne). Shame was the first of sin’s evil fruits (Gen. 3:7). Wherever sin goes, there all other evils go too (2 Sam. 13:15; Ps. 123:3-4). Sin is not only “contemptible in itself, but also in its influence on others.” “Wickedness is both a contemptible and a contemptuous thing” (Thomas). It brings only ignominy and reproach to its victims. Beware of this slippery slope of the wicked (1 Pet. 4:4-5). Then when lust hath conceived, it brings forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death (Jas.1:15). Life and death, however, do not mean existence and non-existence! Morally and spiritually, they are opposite states of existence. Oh! what a thought, to be dead in sin while alive in body. Yet this is the lot of the wicked (Eph. 2:1-5)! Its final fruit is Judgment (Dan. 12:2), but for God’s “amazing grace” (Rom. 6:23).

2. Faith’s Fruitful Fount: The words of a man’s mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook (v.4). Some regard this verse as antithetic, contrasting man’s thoughts as a deep well, full of guile and deceit, while Wisdom is a spring of life, honest and revealing truth. Modern versions seem to prefer this view by changing and to but. The KJV and many commentators treat it as synonymous parallelism, and this is best. The wellspring of wisdom is parallel to the deep waters. The man referred to is full of useful things, and is always able to contribute profitably on many matters. He is not “a deep well of deceit and guile,” nor is his mouth fed from a man-made or broken cistern whose waters are stagnant and bitter. No! His deep waters are drawn from that Fountain of Living Waters that never runs dry (Jer. 2:13; Jn. 4:14; 7:38-39). His words flow like a spring brook, clear, clean, cleansing. Like a brook that waters the land around it, this man refreshes those with whom he converses. His words are “full, flowing and fertilising” (Thomas). The best illustration of this is our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. How appropriate this application is to Him. We find it in the word deep which means unfathomable! Sir, said the woman, give me this water!

I tried the broken cisterns, Lord, but, ah, the waters failed.
Even as I stooped to drink they fled, and mocked me as I wailed.
Now, none but Christ can satisfy.

Thought: The Inspired Word of God is the only exhaustless well of truth.

Prayer: Dear Lord, help me to drink deeply from the Well that never runs dry.