II. The wife of Potiphar seemed just in her cause when she declared that Joseph left his garment in her hand and fled. web jun 9 1984 paperback 20 55 18 used from 16 58 the gold medallion award winning . If a man possesses an estate beneath whose surface he knows there lies buried much precious mineral treasure, he must bring much wisdom and skill into play before he has the treasure in his hand. Thus sense of danger, knowledge of the way, confidence in the strength of the towerall gives a spring of life and earnestness to run into it. Through desire (through self-willed and self-seeking desire of wisdom)wisdom, Heb. 1. Because his soul is in communication with an exhaustless source of spiritual life and wisdom. Through desire, etc. All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, But the LORD weighs the spirits. Men who do not seek supernatural help sometimes do it. A man's gift maketh room for him and bringeth him before great men. The heart is the core of any human being and is the true measure of who we are. We ought to submit to mystery in God, for the tide of His utterance is to flow on for ever.Miller. Understanding the gift here spoken of as a special mental endowment (see Hitzig), we remark. "Before destruction the heart of man is haughty.". But a wounded spirit crushes the entire man. 69.]. Dr. Constable's Expository Notes. Even if he is an honest and able man, he may be so dependent upon the caprices of the wealthy as to have to entreat their help and patronage before he can use his powers to his own advantage. If he would grow wise in the mysteries of the natural world he must oftentimes shut himself away from the haunts of men, and ponder the manifold phenomena which creation presents to him, and endeavour to unravel her secrets. St. Gregory saith by patience we possess our souls, because, while we learn to bear rule over ourselves, we begin to possess that which we are. 10 The character of God is a tower of strength, for the lovers of God delight to run into his heart. The spirit of a man will sustain his weakness; but a wounded spirit who can bear? Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with thee (Ezekiel 3:22). Such a gift to a man is a gift for men. 1. So many times we answer a person before we really understand completely what they're asking for. 4 The words of a man's mouth are deep waters, but the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook. a hammer, a variation of mall, from malleus The Hebrew and English alike occur in Proverbs 25:18 only. A man who is in the general sense of the term an ignorant manwho does not possess even the rudimentary knowledge of an ordinary schoolboyis liable to be imposed upon and deceived by those who know more. The languages of several countries are not so different as of the poor and rich man in one and the same country, and a stranger of another land is not such a foreigner as in the same land a poor man standing at the door of the rich. In the elect, this spiritual sickness is an afflicted conscience, when God will suffer us to take a deep sense of our sins, and bring us to the life of grace by the valley of death, as it were by hell gates unto heaven. ], ". and observes, that their Rabbins explain it of Lot separating from Abraham, following the desires of his heart: but R. Saadiah Gaon better interprets it of an apostate from religion; that objects to everything solid and substantial, in a wrangling and contentious manner; and "shows his teeth" i at it, as Schultens, from the use of the Arabic word, renders it. He is filled with the increase of his skilful hand. II. Those who despise others will themselves be disgraced (18:1-3). Desire is the chariot-wheel of the soul, the spring of energy and delight. That's where most of the quotes that appear on the "Verse of the Day" and "Previous Verses" pages of my website are taken from, so from now on, many of the "Source:" links that I provide on those pages will not contain the quoted text. II. Verse 1. 4 and 15); that against bold impiety, proud dispositions and hardness of heart against the poor (Proverbs 18:3; Proverbs 18:12; Proverbs 18:23); that against slothfulness in the duties of ones calling, foolish confidence in earthly riches, and want of true moral courage and confidence in God (Proverbs 18:9-11; comp. A wood gathers wood, like all vegetable or vital growths. Wherefore let reason and indifferency hear the differences that are between any, and if it can be done let them be reconciled. Rivers and wells that are fed from the mountain recesses which are filled with eternal snows never dry upthey are fed from a source that is never exhausted. He is impelled to the search simply by a desire which is born of his appreciation of its worthby a knowledge of its power to bless his life. We humans keep brainstorming options and plans, but God's purpose prevails. This is, I think, quite an important proverb, the next one. The hand can strike down the body of a single foe, or of two or three at once. Because that which flows from his lips is beneficial and refreshing to others. To this tower the wicked are sometimes driven in distress, then seeking help here, when it is nowhere else to be found. And the need can be supplied even in this selfish world. For surely they are the best seekers of knowledge, and are most earnest after it, who have already gotten it. The righteous is not a righteous man provero, but only righteous, he having the first chance to speak. 18. a maul] "i.e. There can be no doubt that each has its peculiar temptations (see chap. III. The most useful method would be to go to the section of Scripture that you are interested in, and selecting the button for a . He runs to it, as to a strong tower. FROM the value of friendship there is a natural and easy transition to the evil of isolation. One day they will find that pride leads to disaster. But it is pre-eminently the godly man who can sustain infirmity of body. A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire: To cut one's self off from family, friends, and community is often to express a selfish desire. A bad wife is no wife at all. "He that separates himself follows after his own desire, but against all sound wisdom he shows his teeth."-. That ignorance exposes men to danger. 18:30-32; 33:11; 1 Tim. Snow gathers snow as we roll it on the ground. He rages against all wise judgment. Article. Genesis 13:11). The poor man has to entreat; sort of beg. A. James, is the most precious thing in the world. It is a vapid distinction to say a good wife, and the Bible many a time hurries on without any such distinction (comp. 11 If they say, "Come along with us; let's lie in wait for innocent blood, let's ambush some harmless soul; It may seem a very insignificant deed to strike a flint and steel together so as to produce a single spark, but one spark may produce a terrible and destructive fire. None but a cruel man will be a tale-bearer. It is a universal tendency of fallen humanity to look exclusively on his own things and not on the things of others, and the wealth of the rich man enables him to indulge this tendency to its utmost. Proverbs 11:2 and Proverbs 16:18. Things don't always work out the way we want them to, and even if you're the most adaptable person in the world, life is going to throw you a few curveballs, and you're going to strike out once or twice. If it be not so, the fruit of a mans mouth will be like the roll given to the apocalyptic seer, in the mouth as sweet as honey, but afterwards bitter. (Revelation 10:10.) Proverbs 17. I. The rich man's wealth is his strong city, and as a high wall in his own conceit. If the kings and great men of the earth had resorted to this method of causing contentions to cease and parting between the mighty, how many homes and cities would have escaped overthrow, how many a fruitful and prosperous country would have been preserved from desolation, and how many a princely fortune would have remained in the hands of its rightful owners. Proverbs 18:16. I shall always endeavour to make choice of such a woman for my spouse who hath first made choice of Christ as a spouse for herself; that none may be made one flesh with me who is not made one spirit with Christ my Saviour. The power of words over those who hear them. I. No other member of the human body can lay claim to such wide-spread and regal authority. I. 3 When wickedness comes, contempt comes also, and with dishonor comes disgrace. He has before mentioned some of its advantages (see chap. Men can gain much, even of the highest wisdom, from intercourse with their fellow-men, but all human guides are fallible and all human teaching is imperfectthere must be seasons when a man separates himself from them all and stands face to face with the fountain of all truth, if he would intermeddle with pure wisdom. The righteous mans refuge, then, is a Living Personalitya Self-existent and Eternal King and Father, infinite in power, in wisdom, and in tenderness. Here are things, which even the angels desire to look into (1 Peter 1:12). Takeagainthe child of Godfeeble, distressed, assaulted. God exalts those who willingly take the lowest place (10-12).Strength of mind and spirit is more important in the battle of life than strength of body. (Romans 11:33). If a man desires to know the sweets of real friendship he must be prepared to be himself a real friend. Blind passion is not to make the selection at random.Fausset. It is no ordinary difference that makes a ground of quarrel between brothers; there are so many ties to be broken and so many motives of self-interest to bind them, that the enmity must be deep to separate them at first, and being deep and strong, it is not easily broken down. Take the sinner in his first awakening conviction. It must be plumb, rejoined the builder, somewhat piqued, for I have laid every stone by the plumb-line. Suiting the action to the word he grasped the rule, laid it along his work, and triumphantly pointed to the lead vibrating and settling down precisely on the cut that marks the middle. A sense of the favour of God and a peaceful conscience will prevent men from being overwhelmed by even very keen mental sorrow. 9 The one who is too lazy to look for work. If the wise man sometimes spares his words, it is not for want of matter, but for greater edification. They bring contempt, not to themselves only, but to the places they fill, and the societies to which they become unitedto themselves, for the unworthy manner in which they fulfil the duties of the trust they have assumed, or have had committed to them; and to their places and societies, with which their names are associated. The stronghold of the man who trusts in riches. If there is water beneath the surface of the earth it must force its way and find an outlet; it needs no hand of man to come to its aid; it penetrates the soil and forms a fertilising stream in obedience to natural law. 1. The matter of fact is here statedand there are natural enough reasons to account for it. It is quite certain that, when Gods will is done on earth as it is in heaven, the miserable poverty which now surrounds us on every side will cease to exist. And there is an aspect in which we may view the slothful man in which we not only note the close resemblance he bears to his prodigal brother, but in which he is transformed into a prodigal himself. 10 My son, if sinful men entice you, do not give in to them. deliver us from this barren talk of the lips (chap. But the true lover of wisdom is impelled to seek from the love of truthfrom the desire which possesses his soul to intermeddle with knowledge. When Sir Isaac Newton gave himself up to the pursuit of scientific truth, he separated himself simply from a desire to know, and without the remotest desire or expectation of his present world-wide fame. This strong refuge is not only safe, but set aloft, so the word signifies, out of the gunshot. As brothers are the children of a common parent, so sloth and waste have their root in the common sin of ungodliness; men are spendthrifts or they are lazy, because they have no right sense of their obligations to God and to manbecause they do not look upon their life as a stewardship for which they must give an account (Romans 14:12), but as a gift which they are at liberty to spend as they please. )how incorrectly is shown by the constant repetition of the verb derived from the same root in the . * a 2 Let someone else * praise you, and not your own mouth; Others, * and not your own lips. None but foolish men and children ever play with fire, and when they do it they generally suffer themselves first, but they are often not the only sufferers. Among all the gifts which an Almighty Father has given to His children, there is perhaps none, after his own gracious favour, which is so necessary to their welfare or is so productive of joy as this gift of friendship. One is the darkness of a pool, the other the breadth and gush of an overflowing water. The waters in a shallow and stagnant pond give little or no refreshment to the thirsty traveller; they may even be the means of imparting disease to those who drink of them, or who live near them. But there are moral fools who think it only an amusement to pick a quarrel, little heeding what the consequences of it may be, not caring if blows succeed to angry words, or perhaps even desiring that they should do so. The name of the Lord. God has revealed Himself to men by many names, each one of which is intended to set forth some attribute of His perfect nature. And sometimes it has been a nation that has contended with another, and then not one has fallen a victim, but hundreds on both sides. Very mighty are the influence of words for good or for ill. Our first parents lost Eden by listening to the words of the tempter, and the speech of the wicked always diffuses an unwholesome moral atmosphere around it, if it does not eject a deadly poison into the soul. But the grave, sooner or later, receives them both. tushigyah, lit. You if you're going to have friends, you've got to just be friendly. They use their privileges on no principle of economy. 21 The wise of heart is called discerning, and sweetness of speech r . As expressing a need of human nature. The tiller of the soil knows from experience that the useless weeds and noxious plants often seem to absorb all the nutriment from the earth, and so make it well-nigh impossible for the useful herb and sweet-scented flower to grow in the same field or garden. A fool has no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself. 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