Author: Denis Gibson

Paul testifies, We glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation works patience; and patience experience, and experience hope: and hope makes not ashamed: because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Rm. 5:3-5).

Both proverbs refer to before and after of certain acts. Before destruction (shattering) haughtiness may control, but after humility (affliction) may come honour (vs.12). In debate it is always wise to quietly listen before answering lest after a hasty answer comes shame (reproach). These bring us face to face with what we might call the old adversaries of even the redeemed (Lk. 14:11; 1 Pet. 5:5)!

It is sober truth that souls of men are in danger. The world religions, man’s conscience, God’s Word, all attest to this. What an awful illusion to think otherwise! Yet, sinners, left to their own devices, don’t know their peril. They cry in scorn, “Who says we are lost?” But “saints tears are better than sinner’s triumphs!”

Bad work is destroying work! Kidner quotes, “He who leaves a work undone is next of kin to him who destroys it.” The “slothful in his work” shows himself to be slack (Jos. 18:3) or faint (24:10). His hands are slack and hang down, not from physical exertion, but from sloth! His brother, is a great waster, literally, a lord or master of destruction. “The one gets nothing. The other spends what he gets” (Bridges). John Calvin, speaking of the failure of man, said, “The whole life of man until he is converted to Christ is a ruinous labyrinth of wanderings…. He who disregards his calling will never keep the straight path in the duties of life.”

Here are three proverbs with the theme: “The wrong use of the tongue.” Solomon’s fool (17:21) was not defective in mind but in morals. It was moral evil!

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.

Our desires often outrun our accomplishments. There are still many things unfinished, but is that always bad? “Desire is the chariot-wheel of the soul, the spring of energy and delight” (Bridges). This is another way of saying, “There is no kind of knowledge which, in the hands of the diligent and skillful, will not turn to account” (Bp. Horne). Yet it is good to know and grasp your opportunity.

Oh, what sins of the tongue most of us are guilty of! How difficult it is for sinful creatures to control that little member! Death and life are in the power of the tongue (Pr. 18:21). Thomas Carlyle called the message of this Proverb, “Silence, the great empire of silence, higher than the stars; deeper than the kingdom of death. Woe to us if we have nothing but what we can show or speak. Bees will not work except in darkness; thought will not work except in silence.”

In today’s verse and 18:5 we are given a striking illustration of the injustice of political or religious persecution. Injustice in the courts is denounced. To punish can mean “a fine or levy” (2 Kg. 23:33), while to strike probably involves the severer punishment of scourging. 17:26 is the first of four places where the words It is not good appear (18:5, 19:2, 25:27). The simple negative in Scripture is usually much stronger, and not so simple, than it might appear. The not good of these Proverbs should be understood as “absolutely bad, very evil” (17:15), morally, socially, politically, and spiritually! It also may mean “even” (28), even to punish (fine) an innocent person is bad. It may have its more obvious sense of “besides other things” it is bad to do this (19:2). Princes or noble ones are such because they are liberal, generous, in character. Thus it came to designate office or rank. In life princes have often been weak and ignoble. The princes here refer to God’s nobles.

When Wisdom enters the heart (2:10) it must rule there (14:33), for it is the Word of God. “The prudent man keeps the word of God constantly in view. But the foolish man cannot fix his thoughts, nor pursue any purpose with steadiness” (Henry). It also directs the faith and life of the wise by the principle of the Love of God. All this is before the eyes of the one who is here contrasted with the fool.