Proverbs 11

Notes

Ver. 1. All manner of injustice and fraud is extremely hateful and detestable to God, the governor of the world: but strict equity in the whole of our commerce one with another is highly pleasing to him. 2. Haughty conceit of ourselves, and insulting of others, draws along with it the utmost contempt and disgrace; both God and men take pleasure to mortify and expose the proud; but such as, having learned of Christ, live under a deep sense of their own weakness and unworthiness, find favour with men and acceptance with God. 3. When men sincerely practise what God has revealed to them, they may expect his Spirit to direct them in their duty and to their eternal felicity: but the obstinate adherence of sinners to their own lusts and imaginations, and their opposition to Christ and his laws, shall hurry them into certain and everlasting destruction. 4. Riches, heaped up by extortion or covetousness, are of no avail to deliver us from the wrath of God, or even the rage of men, when the time of punishment is come: but righteousness hath a promise of life annexed to it; it prevents those sins which would expose us to God's judgments or man's punishments; it secures against the sting of temporal, and prevents eternal death. 5, 6. Being made righteous in Christ, and sanctified by his grace, and studying a sincere and impartial observance of God's laws, are effectual means to secure direction in duty and deliverance from evil; but the wicked shall perish by those very impious and evil courses by which they hoped to secure or exalt themselves. 7. In death wicked men find all their projects and hopes utterly destroyed. Whatever they thought to accomplish by their riches, their power, or their friends, perishes together with them, while they themselves launch forth into eternal misery. 8. The righteous are frequently in an unexpected manner delivered from their perplexing troubles; and the wicked, who perhaps brought them into them, are plunged into those very miseries themselves. 9. By flatteries, false doctrines, and artful seductions, hypocrites draw their neighbours into sin, and thereby into ruin. But through knowledge of Christ and his Word shall the righteous be guarded against their wiles, and preserved from the destruction which they intended. 10. It is matter of general gladness when wise and godly men prosper and are advanced, because they use their power and wealth for the benefit of all around them; and great is the joy when wicked men, who, as plagues and curses where they dwell, corrupt their manners, and draw down the wrath of God upon them, are cut off. 11. By God's blessing upon the upright, and by their prayers, advices, and kindness, all around them are profited: but the wicked, by their blasphemies, errors, evil counsels, and maxims, corrupt men's manners, and ruin their welfare. 12. It is common for self-conceited fools to despise their neighbours, to reproach them as weak, or to render them ridiculous; but a prudent man, whatever he thinks, avoids speaking to the reproach of others; as, beside the wickedness of contemning others, none is so mean as to be insensible of it, or incapable of finding means of resentment. 13. They who make a trade of carrying tales from one to another, never stick at treacherously discovering the secrets which have been intrusted to them; but a faithful friend conceals, not only what has been intrusted to him, but everything else that could tend to his neighbour's prejudice. 14. Where prudent counsel is wanting, nations and private affairs go to wreck: but where many wise counsellors unite in their deliberations, every precaution will be taken, every danger prevented, and the most proper methods used to insure success. 15. He who stands bound for the debts of another man, especially one whose ability and honesty are unknown to him, is in great danger to be ruined in his estate: and the way to be secure in that point is to avoid and hate all such engagements. 16. Remarkable and increasing grace and virtue in a woman will engage affection and respect when all other accomplishments fade and decline; and strong men hold fast the wealth which they have acquired. 17. He who is kind and bountiful to others, secures to himself a gracious reward from God: but he who is covetous, hardhearted, and cruel, brings trouble on himself and his relations. 18. Whatever wicked men do to render themselves rich, easy, or honoured, will disappoint their expectation; but they who exercise themselves in true piety and virtue, shall infallibly obtain the blessed reward of their works in time and eternity. 19. As holiness and virtue promote true happiness here and hereafter, so the more eagerly a man pursues an evil course, the more is he bent upon his own destruction. 20. Hypocrites, who live in enmity and opposition to God and his law, while they pretend much piety, kindness, equity, and candour, are of all men the most odious to him: but they who, being renewed by his grace, walk before him in truth, equity, simplicity, and godly sincerity, are, and shall for ever be, the objects of his special favour and delight. 21. Though wicked men should do their utmost attempt to strengthen themselves by leagues and associates, they shall never be capable of protecting themselves from the just punishment of their sin: but the righteous, and often their children for their sakes, though deserted of all men, shall be delivered by God himself from everything ruinous. 22. As a golden jewel is very ill placed in the snout of a swine, which is still routing in mires and dunghills; so beauty is ill bestowed upon a woman who, void of good sense, modesty, and virtue, loves to employ herself in perpetual talkativeness, and wallow in filthy lusts and whorish pleasures. 23. The righteous habitually desire, and shall obtain, solid and substantial blessings to themselves and others; but wicked men wish for mischief on others, and hope to execute their wrath and malice upon them; which in the end will only bring more fearful and lasting ruin upon themselves. 24, 25. They who, from a right principle, are remarkably liberal to the poor and to pious institutions, shall find their stock proportionably increased for their real advantage; and while they refresh and support others with their bounty, God shall reward them with prosperity of soul, in grace or comfort, or even with the enjoyments of this present world: but the pinching hand of avarice prevents enjoyment, or brings down the curse of God upon our substance. 26. He who, in a time of scarcity, hoards up corn to raise the price, shall be hated and cursed by mankind: but good wishes and commendations from men, and blessings from God, shall attend him who then opens his granaries and sells it at a moderate price. 27. He who earnestly sets himself to contrive and do good to others, shall obtain favour with God and men: but he who makes mischief his business shall draw upon himself the evil which he designs against his neighbour. 28. He that anxiously grasps for, and trusts in, riches as his surest support and defence, shall find them a broken reed to pierce him through with many sorrows, and shall fall to decay as a withered leaf: but the righteous, who are united to Christ by faith, and walk in all holy and just conversation, shall receive, out of his fulness, abundant supplies of quickening and fructifying grace, and shall thrive and prosper in their concerns. 29. He who by his passion, prodigality, covetousness, and ambition troubles his family, may for a time make a great bustle and stir, but it will issue in disappointment, disgrace, and poverty; and the fool, who knows not how to manage, and who lives without thought, shall be reduced to want, and forced to serve, if not sell himself to, a wiser neighbour. 30. A good man's graces, prayers, instructions, and examples are a mean of quickening, comfort, and prosperity to others around: and he that by instruction, prayer, or the like, draws men from Satan to the knowledge, faith, and obedience of Christ, shows forth true and heavenly wisdom. 31. If God will not pass his own favourites without proper correction for their sins in this world, who can justly expect that the obstinate and contemptuous breakers of his law shall escape the just punishment of their many crimes?

Ver. 3. Integrity literally signifies entireness. The love of God, united with the love of our neighbour—and that measured by the love of self—constitutes this entireness, this completeness of principle, which guides the believer in every way, however dark, intricate, or dangerous; and never is acquired by man as a sinner, but by the revelation of the love of God in Christ, which constrains him first to love God, and then his neighbour as himself. C.

Ver. 9. This fact was awfully exemplified by the scribes and Pharisees, that 'generation of vipers, hypocrites,' by whom speedy and terrible vengeance was brought down upon the nation whom they deceived. C.

Ver. 10. In the multitude, &c. This is a proverb frequently perverted, as if it meant, that in the multitude of talkers and opinions there was safety—whereas counsellors, in the scriptural sense, are those who, being filled with the Spirit of God, which is a Spirit of counsel, Is. 11. 2, are 'wise to win souls,' and to lead men to Christ, the only refuge of sinners. C.

Ver. 21. This verse is generally interpreted of the confederacies of wicked men, ratified by hand joining in hand, as a manner of swearing. The interpretation of the judicious Brown Paterson, 'from hand to hand,' from one generation to another, seems greatly preferable, as in strict conformity with the following clause. C.

Ver. 22. Personal beauty is one of the gifts of God, and, like all his other gifts, may be employed for his glory and the good of the creature upon whom it is bestowed. But to this end it must be guided by discretion—a judgment formed in the light of divine truth on the origin and fading nature of the gift, and the accountability of the possessor for its use or abuse. Without this discretion, it is but like a costly ornament bestowed upon the swine, which degrades it by its unclean propensities—and 'returns, even from being washed, to its wallowing in the mire.' C.

Ver. 29. He that troubleth his own house, &c. This proverb is mainly directed to those who can govern their tongue and temper in public, but who lay aside this restraint, and forget 'the law of kindness' in their own houses. They shall inherit the wind—calms uncertain, and the storms destructive. C.