Bible Commentaries

Proverbs 12:4. A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband, as illustrated at large in chap. 31.

Proverbs 12:9. He that is despised, and hath a servant. There are various comments here. He that is despised, as a plebeian, and hath a servant; others say, and hath many servants, is better than the baron lost in poverty and debts. In the east, the rank of a man is known, not so much by the splendour of his carriage, as by the number of footmen which attend him. Absalom had fifty men to run before him. Mieux vaux l’ homme qui ne fait point cas de soi, combien qu’ il ait des serviteurs. Better is the man who boasts not how many servants he has. Melior est pauper, et sufficiens sibi; quam gloriosus, et indigens pane. Vulgate. Better is the poor man, who can provide for himself, than the proud man who wanteth bread.

Proverbs 12:10. A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast. Grace brings his soul into union with God, and into a resemblance of him in his imitable perfections; and as the beneficent Creator seeks to make all his creatures happy, so the good man will not over labour his beast, nor suffer it to languish for want of food. Nor can any man abuse his beast without sinning against humanity, and against God.

Proverbs 12:12. The wicked desireth the net of evil men. The allusion is to the art of spreading the net in hunting for game. The good man has no need of the arts by which they acquire wealth; his own vineyard, or other means, will yield him a sufficiency of fruit.

Proverbs 12:16. A fool’s wrath is presently known. It is a great weakness to be under the power of passion, though there are times and seasons when it is proper to show resentment against folly and sin. The judgment should hold passion with a firm rein, should prudently cover the risings of undue resentment, and restrain unwarrantable expressions.

Proverbs 12:26. The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour. Grace ennobles his soul, elevates his views, and expands his affections. His whole life is a continued exercise of faith and piety, his afflictions are supported with patience, and divine love is the spring of all his benevolence. Or if we follow those who read, The righteous is more abundant than his neighbour; it is a grand truth that the Lord blesses the endeavours of a good man, while the way of the wicked, in wasting their substance, causes them to err, or wander in vagrancy to seek their bread.

Proverbs 12:27. The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting. A severe satire on indolence. The law of meats, clean and unclean, was some restriction on the pleasures of the chase. ציד tzaid refers both to hunting and fowling, as in Genesis 10:9; Genesis 25:27; and to the birds and beasts taken in the chase. Genesis 25:28; Genesis 27:3.