Bible Commentaries

Mischievous Lips, Etc.

Proverbs 24:1-9

"Evil men" is a very emphatic and inclusive expression. Men may sometimes be said to be bad in parts, and yet to have excellent qualities; but in the case of this verse the men are evil through and through; the whole head and the whole heart, the entire inner nature, will, conscience, fancy, may be said to be steeped in iniquity, saturated with all the qualities that constitute the very devil himself. They may indeed be prosperous outwardly, and may attract great attention by their ostentatious living, and by their loud promises and vain speeches; but they are as insubstantial as the wind, as worthless as an empty cloud. Young souls may be tempted and fascinated by them, because there is so much glittering surface, and there is such an uproar of pretension; but experience will show that the whole castle is founded on the sand, and that everything that is good fights against it, and will certainly overthrow it Evil men never construct any building; their aim is destruction, their talk is of mischief; wherever they can tear down or despoil or blight, they find an appropriate sphere for the exercise of their mischievous talents. After spending an hour with a wicked Proverbs 24:3-6).

Here evil is contrasted with wisdom: evil throws down, wisdom builds up; evil brings darkness, wisdom brings light. Understanding is represented as a factor continually engaged in the establishment of goodness, establishing, that Proverbs 24:7-9).

Fix attention upon the distinction which is here made between wisdom and the devices of evil, between the fool and the wise Proverbs 24:10

The special object of all the training and discipline through which we pass in life is the increase of strength. There are some things which we do, not so much for their own sake as for the sake of their strengthening effect upon the body, mind, or the character. No man goes through gymnastic exercises, for example, merely for their own sake. I do not suppose that any man plays with the dumb-bells simply because he finds in such play amusement enough to satisfy his idea of pleasure. Why, then, does a man pass through gymnastic engagements and exercises? It is to harden himself, to train his body, his muscles, that he may become agile, active, capable of walking, running, enduring, as the case may be. The object is not in the thing itself; it lies beyond the exercises. He says, "For every spin I have at these things I feel more muscular, more active, and better able to endure the fatigues of the day." Proverbs 24:11-20

Thus a great fire is set to the excuses which men make in regard to their negligence of opportunity. We are not merely called upon to do the work that we see, we are also called upon to go out and see if there be not more work to be done. A man may enclose himself within walls of luxury and beauty, and declare that he sees no poverty, no weakness, no need of exertion on his own part; but he has put himself in a false relation to society, and that false relation will not save him from divine inquest and judgment. We do not destroy the poverty of the world by declining to look upon it. We are not released from moral obligation by moral indifference. Job says, "The cause which I knew not I searched out"; I made inquiry about it; I cross-examined men who could give information, and in conducting this course of inquest I was not gratifying curiosity, but creating a basis for beneficent action. Were we in proper mood of heart towards God and towards Proverbs 24:17-18).

What can be more intensely evangelical than this exhortation? Although it may appear to be but a moral maxim, yet in its outworking we shall require all the aid of God the Father, God the Proverbs 24:19-20).

Thus we come again and again upon the commonplaces of moral behaviour. Why this repetition? Is it because of intellectual inability? Is it indicative of a failure of moral imagination? Far deeper than this lies the reason of the reiteration of such exhortation and injunction. It is because we are so weak, it is because temptations are so numerous, it is because the enemy is so industrious, that we require to be guarded at every point and that we need to be exhorted constantly, lest our inspiration should fail and our impulses should cool and vanish. After every period of intellectual excitement there should come a period of moral instruction and comfort, lest the excitement should leave us in a state of weakness, and so should leave us a prey to the ever-watchful enemy. A wonderful piece of mosaic is this Biblical literature: here we have intellect, there we have imagination; here is reasoning, there is music; here is a statement of doctrine in the sublimest terms, and there is a persuasion to obedience in tenderest words; here is a battle illustrative of great principles, and there is a prayer expressive of conscious need: we must comprehend the Bible in its totality and in its unity; we must be Biblically learned even if we are textually ignorant,—that is to say, although we cannot quote separate and independent texts we should have within us the spirit of the Bible, the very genius of Proverbs 24:21-29

It has been suggested that we should read for "them that are given to change," "those who think differently." Here the caution is not directed against variety of intellectual method, but against variety of moral judgment. Thus we have been reading that there shall be no reward to the evil Proverbs 24:27).

Life should proceed upon method. For want of method how little progress is made by some people! By beginning at the wrong end, men's best devices and most arduous endeavours come to nothing. The words to be taken notice of are "prepare," and "make fit," and "afterwards." Here are three things to be done,—get ready, adapt one thing to another, so as to avoid all confusion, and when the material is brought together and part is adapted to part, then proceed vigorously to build. Here is a whole philosophy of life and progress. In early life education is preparation: after merely technical or scholastic education should come a kind of apprenticeship to practical service: men should not rush at their ultimate work in a desperate hurry, but should take time to test their qualifications, and to gather a little initial experience: but surely there comes a time when a man should say to himself, I must now arise and build, with a view to permanence. Many people waste all their time in fruitless industry. If they could be charged with indolence, a case might be got up against them on moral grounds; but they are very far from being indolent: if possible they are much too energetic and industrious, but, unfortunately for themselves and for others, they are energetic and industrious about the wrong things. Some men are qualified to deal with details, and are never so happy as when arranging minute points, and describing precise lines, and seeing that all manner of punctilious observances are realised; other men can only deal with great principles and with ultimate conceptions, being utterly regardless of details: if such men were to change places, see what confusion would occur. The man of detail may know nothing of principles, and the man who is devoted to the philosophy of principles may be incapable of dealing with detail. Sometimes our work has to be made ready for us by other people. It does not follow that life is incoherent or inconsistent because some part of it is done by one man and some part by another. There are instances in which the sculptor adds but the final strokes to the statue—by which it is made almost to breathe: he says that all the preliminary work can be done by the mechanic, and that it is his province alone to give the artistic and final touch. So with painting: the great artist may add but a few tints or lines or shadows at the last, but these comparatively small additions give the whole value to the picture; it does not therefore follow that the picture was not done by the artist who gave it whatever it possesses of artistic energy and significance. According to the modern distribution of functions and occupations, we shall soon come to the time when life will be the upbuilding of society rather than that of a mere individual. We have betaken ourselves to the study of specialism; no longer does one physician undertake the cure of the entire body; it would seem as if each part of the frame of man had a physician appropriated to itself. So with this work of preparation: one man writes the alphabet, another the primer, another the advanced book, and another the higher and the highest literature. But in reality the whole work is one. Who would think of commencing to write a book without a knowledge of the alphabet? Yet some men commence the building of a life without the knowledge of first principles, without the realisation of moral instincts and duties; hence confusion, hence industry worse than indolence, and hence results absolutely devoid of beauty and utility. Educate thyself, gather information, study the history of the world, watch the ways of other men, and do not begin to build until ample preparation has been made for the successful carrying out of the building project. On the other hand, do not spend all your time in preparation. There are men who are ever learning, never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. Others have been getting ready for the production of a great book all their lives, and yet the book will never be produced. We all probably have acquaintances who assure us that by-and-by they will be able to vindicate their methods by a realisation of labour which will astound the world; yet all this boasting or promising or vapouring comes to nothing. Be moderate in your preparation, if you would be successful in your building. Building is only to be learned by building. No man can ever learn to swim who simply stands on the shore and looks at the sea: no man can ever learn to build who simply frames fine theories of architecture, but never puts one stone upon another. Be not discouraged by early blunders, by introductory mistakes of any kind, but recognise them, confess them, and avoid their repetition. In all life-building the first thing to be assured of is the security and fitness of the foundation; then let every man take heed how he buildeth!

"Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause; and deceive not with thy lips. Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me: I will render to the man according to his work" ( Proverbs 24:28-29).

This does not refer only to witnessing in a court of law; it includes talking about a man behind his back, gossiping respecting his character and service, or making him the subject of casual criticism: hence the verse might read, Do not bring thy neighbour's faults under review simply for the sake of talking; do not turn him into a text for the purpose of giving information regarding his faults and blemishes: if thou hast anything to say against thy neighbour, name him plainly, speak to him personally, adduce evidence precisely and circumstantially, and thus proceed with solidity and solemnity. How wonderfully are evangelical principles anticipated in the29th verse, "Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me." That would be mere resentment, mere pettishness; there would be in it nothing of real judgment or equity. When a man takes the law into his own hands, he himself becomes the victim of the rash proceeding. The value of law is that it is not to be privately administered, but that it is to express itself in human life with all the dignity of an impersonal influence Wherever mere individuality expresses judgment and penalty there is a necessary limitation; the penalty may be regarded as expressive of resentful feeling: but where the law comes without immediate reference to personality, it comes without limitation, it seems to express, so far as can be done, the Eternal and the Infinite. In human nature there is of course a strong tendency to resent every injury. This tendency can only be overcome by the larger tendency created and inspired by the spirit of Jesus Christ. Here again the Lord of glory becomes the pattern of men: when he was reviled, he reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; he was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. That is the ideal relation we are to sustain to one another. We are not to be discouraged because we cannot attain to it at once. If our spirit is operating in the direction of its realisation, that should be accounted to us as a completed service. The heart may easily be discouraged by momentary outbreaks of the old nature: we may so to say detect ourselves in evil passion or purpose, or even in the plotting of some scheme that should bring retribution upon the head of the man who has offended us: let not the enemy turn such experience into an accusation against us of an overwhelming kind; true it is an accusation, but where sin abounds grace may much more abound; and the very fact that we had caught ourselves in the fault may lead us into deeper penitence, and enable us to offer more comprehensive and pathetic prayer.

Prayer

Almighty God, we cannot tell anything as it really Proverbs 24:30-32

By such allusions the Bible constantly shows us how much the generations of mankind resemble one another. In every age the sluggard and the fool have had a place, as well as the labourer and the wise man. In this respect the village has been as the great city, the great city as the greater kingdom, and the kingdom itself has been a world in miniature. Truly, then, we may go back to old scenes and read the unequal and troubled story of our own life. That which is now hath already been; and as for our originalities, the ancients knew them, and pronounced them stale. Any difference that may appear in the history of the world or in the development of human life is rather a difference of incident than of essence. Let us see if many modern experiences have not been anticipated by this dreary scene of the fool's field, as it was looked upon by the wisest man of his age.

The scene shows that if we will not have flowers and fruits, we shall certainly have thorns and nettles. Let us clearly understand that we are living under an economy which we cannot change, and to which we must submit with grace, or which in its turn will avenge itself upon our negligence and unfaithfulness. We cannot set aside the laws of nature. On they roll, grinding all things that come in their way, or making all things beautiful that were intended by the Creator to assume the image and aspect of loveliness. We can neglect the laws of nature, but we cannot set them aside and expect to realise the advantages of obedience. Man must give in, for law never will succumb. We cannot say to nature, "I am going to sleep, so you must stand still until I awake." There is a law of growth in the very ground: we may co-operate with it, and turn it to our advantage; we may, so to speak, throw the reins of our discipline upon it, and turn it to good uses; but, though we sit down and fold our hands slumbrously, that great law will go steadily on, and thorns and nettles will show how inexorably it proceeds. It is the same with the character of man. We cannot simply do nothing. Life has its laws. We may pay them no heed, but they will assert themselves notwithstanding, and show by painful proofs that neglect is crime. A man may resolve, for example, not to cultivate his mind. He says he will be a child of nature; he will leave himself to the development of external and internal forces, without any exercise of his own will; he will have no purpose about himself, but at the end will be precisely what nature chooses to make him. Is his mind then simply a blank? Impossible! The weeds of false notions, the thorns and nettles of prejudice, the undergrowths of superstition, will prove his intellectual indolence, and he who would not carry the generous bounty of harvest shall be weighted with noxious and worthless plants. Nature will do nothing for a man except with the man's own co-operation, and even that co-operation must be modified, cultivated, rearranged day by day, and only as the result of faithful devotion to the altar of wisdom will nature cause all her issues to result in strength and nobleness of manhood. A man may purposely neglect to cultivate his moral nature. He says he will leave all that to the forces that are above him and around him, and they can make of him just what they please. He despises religious service and exhortation; he holds in contempt all ideas of self-control; he derides the suggestion that he should consider the religious aspects of the uncertain future; he says in one decisive sentence that he has made up his mind to have nothing whatever to do with religion. What then? Can he keep himself in a strictly negative condition? Is it possible for an atheist to have no religion? Is he at the end of ten years the innocent lamb that he proposed to himself to become? Look at his false ideas, his superstition, his narrowness, his want of veneration, his superficial judgment, and see how far he has succeeded. We must understand that there will be growth even if we do not attend to cultivation. There is a great law of production evermore in operation. We can use it for our highest purposes, or we can neglect it, and it will avenge our neglect by weeds, thorns, thistles, and all manner of worthless growths. It is impossible to stand still. It is impossible to become merely nothing. There is no law of negation in God's well-ordered universe. If men would consider this they would be wise; failing to consider it, we can account for nearly all the folly in the world.

The scene clearly shows that the sluggard and the fool cannot hide the results of their neglect. Every man is a living witness to the life which he lives, how secretly soever he may conduct that life. In this case the results were observed and reported. We must see more or less of each other's work. We are in the same world—a small and crowded world it is, too—we belong to one another—we hold mutual rights of inquiry—in short, we cannot hide ourselves from our fellow-men. We cannot confine the results of a wasted life within our own bounds. The drunkard says he injures nobody but himself, than which there is no greater fallacy in all human misthinking. The man deludes himself with the notion that he only is suffering pain of body, wreck of mind, loss of understanding, and forfeiture of property: he little thinks that every child he has will suffer for the outrage of appetite of which he stands convicted. His children will be tainted in health, and will be clouded or dwarfed in mind, in consequence of their father's excesses. The spendthrift says he is only spending his own money; but in this sense of the term no man has any money of his own to spend. Every penny we hold we should hold in a spirit of trusteeship, and our object should be to discover how much good we may do with it; for it we waste it, not only is the money itself gone but our mental economy is injured, our moral integrity is impaired, our sense of honour has undergone modification or collapse. It is impossible to tell a lie without injuring other people. It is impossible to disobey the laws of cleanliness without affecting the health of society. In the deepest, largest, truest sense, no man liveth unto himself; every breath we draw would seem to affect the atmosphere in which we live. This being the case, we have not a right to do as we please with what we call our own. First of all, there is nothing which we can call our own. Life itself is not. Life is a precious trust. We have to account for life in some cases even to our fellow-men. In ordinary intercourse we see again and again proofs of the fact that society will not allow us to do what we please with our own. Surely a man may say that his own child is his, and his only; but such is not the fact; no man has a child which is exclusively his own; the child sustains not only family but social relations; if you were to attempt to lay violent hands upon your child's life society would arrest you and forbid you, and, if you persisted in your foul purpose, society would imprison you, or, if you succeeded in it, society would hang you. You cannot do what you like with your own life. If you were to attempt to take it, society would again arrest you and show you that your life is not your own. Let your garden become covered with weeds, let those weeds come to seed, and when the seed is blown into other people's gardens, see if they do not protest. Surely, a man may say, I have a right to neglect my garden if I please, and let it grow whatever may come by nature. But even your own neighbours would protest against this superficial and mischievous notion. The neighbours would say, If you have a right to injure your own garden, you have no right to injure ours, and no man can let weeds come to maturity in his garden without injuring the gardens of the whole neighbourhood. We are bound together by singular but vital ties, and we cannot touch one of the filaments by which society is connected without sending a thrill to the very centre of social existence. What is true of weeds growing in gardens is true of other nuisances. You may not even build a chimney that will throw its black smoke over your neighbours" property. Society claims a right of judgment. Public sentiment insists upon being respected. There is not only a written law of protection but an unwritten law of protection; and indeed written laws would have no force and effect but for the laws that are unwritten: it is the spiritual judgment, the moral sentiment, the indwelling and all-ruling conscience that settles and determines public law.

The scene shows how possible it is to be right in some particulars and to be grievously wrong in others. The legal right of the slothful man to the possession of the field might be undisputed. The vineyard might have fallen into the hands of the fool by strictly lawful descent. So far, so good. The case is on this side perfectly sound. Yet possession was not followed by cultivation, and possession without cultivation is of necessity diminution. It is not enough to possess; we must increase. We must make the world a thousand times larger than it is; not in mere miles, but in its power of production. The man who had one talent buried it, and although he restored it, yet was condemned as a negligent, unfaithful, and wicked servant. We do not, if we are wise, allow even a house to fall into decay. There is no right of abuse. Let this be clearly understood; it applies to the whole compass of life: there is no right of abuse in property, in social usage, in social confidence, in personal cultivation. Society holds us all as trustees and stewards, and demands an account of our procedure. Is that dog yours? Surely a man may call a dog his own. Nothing of the kind. Society will protest against its starvation or other cruel treatment. Only let society know that even a dog which you call your own is cruelly treated, and you will find that society will assert its rights and bring you to punishment. You have not a right to be unclean, to be ignorant, to be careless of life; on that line no rights have ever been established. We have only the right to hold property for the good of others, to hold it for cultivation, to hold it for multiplication, in order that social life may be benefited and strengthened by its appropriation. Coming to examine these things in a practical light, apart altogether from theories and exhortations, we see that we are living in an economy that is self-watchful, self-guarded, and self-avenging. It is a solemn and awful thing to live.

The scene shows that even the worst abuses may be turned to good account. "Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction." So even the fool may be accounted a teacher, through no will or purpose of his own. The good man is an eloquent example; the bad man is a loud warning. Keep your eyes open, and you will read moral lessons everywhere; watch the men who go regularly to business, who are faithful to their engagements, who are steadfast, sober-minded, zealous in all goodness, and you will see to what rich estate they will come,—not necessarily rich in mere money, but morally and spiritually rich, blessed above all things with a contented and thankful mind. You will see that the finest possessions may be wasted: property, talent, influence, opportunity, may all be thrown away. There is no wealth which may not be utterly exhausted. Beware! even mountains may be levelled—even rivers may be dried up. The fool thinks that there is no limit to his wealth, but his very thinking so brings it the more quickly to an end. We prosper in true wealth only by care as to details. A leak will ruin a reservoir. There are many men who pay much attention to what they consider the larger and more important affairs in life, but who allow little things to take their own course. In the result such men are proved to have acted a foolish part. If they had acted from the other point—that is to say, if they had been careful about little things—they would have found that the great things would have fallen into happy economical arrangement. In looking abroad upon society in all its action, you will see that wickedness always moves in the direction of destruction. It must do so. Remember the awful words, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die,"—not die in the sense of a mere threat, but die as a necessity—cannot help dying. Sin is the broad and open way to destruction. "He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." All indolence must go down—down in moral fibre, down in moral volume, down in moral dignity; all wickedness not only goes down, as if a step at a time, but rolls and plunges down with an infinite and irresistible velocity. All sin forces itself in the direction of perdition. In all this reasoning we are not relying upon our invention or imagination; we are simply writing sententiously the history of the whole world. The proofs which the Christian teacher has to adduce are not always to be found in books, are not always concealed in learned languages, but are often lying upon the wide page of daily life. No man well considers facts, realities, circumstances, within his own knowledge, who does not see that there is a great law in nature and in life, binding and ruling all things, and eventuating in solemn and impartial judgment. How did the wise man know that the man was void of understanding? What right had he to speak of another man as a fool? He spoke because he saw the state in which the vineyard was. We know a man by his surroundings; we know him by his habits; we know him by the very tone of his voice: there is character in everything. Society cannot help judging every one of its members. Does not this social judgment point to a higher arbitrament? Is there not an outline even in all natural economies of great spiritual realities and holy ministries? It is because wise men have diligently considered the bearing of these things that they have felt no difficulty in passing from what is called the material to what is denominated the spiritual. The road has been clear and open, and has invited the pilgrimage of reverent travellers. It is because we have seen sin that we hate it; it is because we have seen righteousness that we are prepared to affirm that all the worlds are related to one another, and that all laws originate in a sublime moral purpose, and that all life is ultimately to be brought not only to social but to divine and unalterable judgment. A man may so live as to be pronounced void of understanding; he may so act as to be pronounced a fool. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Prayer

Almighty God, who can answer thee when thou dost arise to shake terribly the earth? Then are we filled with fear, and cry unto thee for pity, for no answer is found in our mouths concerning thy righteousness and judgment. In such hours thou dost teach us how little and frail we are; and yet in our feebleness thou dost show us how great, we may become by living and moving and having our being in thee, drawing our strength from the fountain of all true power, and living evermore under the benediction of the all-ruling God. But these things are too high for us; we cannot attain unto them; they rise above us and defy our pursuit: what then hast thou done that we may know thee, and approach thee, and look upon thee with the eyes of love? Thou hast sent thy Son , Emmanuel—God with us. He took not upon him the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham; he is bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, and he condescends to speak our language as if it were his own, and to teach us through the words we know the best. He speaks to us of light and love and peace; of forgiveness, and release, and joy, and holiness: we understand thy Son ,—this Man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them, turning their common food into sacramental flesh, and their wine into a token of his blood. We love the Saviour; we wonder at the gracious words which proceed out of his mouth; we see him on the hill, and hear him teaching the disciples; we watch him in the house, and mark all his gentle ways; we see him surrounded by sinners, taking up little children and blessing them; going onward to the Cross, his soul exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. We know the power of his resurrection, having had fellowship with his sufferings; now we have peace with God, being justified by faith through our Lord Jesus Christ. Henceforth we would know no man but Jesus; we would crown him Lord of all; we would wait for his law, we would do his bidding, we would imitate his example, we would fill our memory with his words and enrich our hearts with his promises. This is our one desire, that we may be found not having on our own righteousness, but being clothed with the righteousness of Christ as a man might be clothed with a garment: then shall we be accepted in the Beloved, we shall know that all things are for Christ's sake,—yea, the very church, beautiful in virginity, beautiful with the comeliness of heaven. Enable us to do what appeals to us as thy law and bidding; may we be found constant in our faith, undivided in our consecration, simple in our motive, endeavouring to realise in all things the purpose and decree of heaven. We are of yesterday, what can we know? Tomorrow we shall be gone, what can we do? Help us by thy Spirit to see how every moment may be turned to account, how every breath may become sacred as a prayer, and how our whole life may be lifted up in practical and loving aspiration. Pity us in our sinfulness; wash us, O thou Christ of God, anointed from all eternity, in thine own blood: then shall we be without spot or wrinkle or any such thing,—the very miracle of thy grace. Holy Spirit, teach us; teach us all the innermost things of the sanctuary; lead us past the first gate, and the second gate, even unto the holy of holies, and having seen what is there, the very secret of God, the very mystery of eternity, we shall be solemn for ever, yet glad with ineffable joy. Come to us, thou Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and we shall have strength and rest and hope and joy; we shall have all things, and abound. We commend one another to thy care whilst we tarry at thine altar. Some are sad of heart; some are tired of labour that brings no profit; some are weary because the road is long and the burden is very heavy; others are distracted and disappointed and bewildered because whatever they do comes back upon them only in mockery: some are full of joy because they are the companions of prosperity and honour; when they go abroad success goes with them; when they return at eventide they have to pull down their barns and build greater, so plentiful is the harvest of the day. Look upon us whatever our state. May we not faint in the day of adversity, and thus show that our strength is small; may we not boast in the day of prosperity, and thus in our presumption lose our faith. May we feel that all things work together for good to those whose hearts are in the heart of God. Be with our sick, and heal them at least with hope which is better than health of body. Be with our loved ones who have gone abroad to find honest bread under other skies. Watch over them and bless them night and day. If they are in sore straits, do thou send an angel of deliverance. The Lord thus direct us, guide us, enrich us, sanctify us, wash us in the precious blood of his own dear Son, and make us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Lord, hear our cry, and thy hearing shall be as an answer of peace. Amen.