Ralph Wardlaw Lectures on Proverbs - Proverbs 10:19 - 10:32

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Ralph Wardlaw Lectures on Proverbs - Proverbs 10:19 - 10:32


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:



LECTURE XXII.



Pro_10:19-32.



"In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise. The tongue of the just is as choice silver: the heart of the wicked is little worth. The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom. The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it. It is as sport to a fool to do mischief: but a man of understanding hath wisdom. The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him: but the desire of the righteous shall be granted. As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more: but the righteous is an everlasting foundation. As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him. The fear of the Lord prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened. The hope of the righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish. The way of the Lord is strength to the upright: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity. The righteous shall never be removed: but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth. The mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom: but the froward tongue shall be cut out. The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable: but the mouth of the wicked speaketh frowardness."



Three of these verses relate to the same subject. It is one which has come before us more than once already-the use of the tongue-its mischievous and its beneficial effects.



The maxim contained in the first is, like many similar ones, of a general character. It is no easy matter for a man to be a great talker, without saying both foolish things and faulty. The more especially, that men who are full of talk are in most cases (for there are exceptions) superficial men, without much solidity of judgment to direct and regulate their speech. Their extreme propensity to talk makes them forgetful of the common but just and needful maxim, "Think before you speak." They speak without thinking. To hear them, one would fancy they had some pleasant sensation in the very movements of the organs of utterance; or that they were using them for the sole purpose of giving them volubility by practice; or that the sound of their voices was peculiarly grateful to their own ear, or, in their vain fancy, to the ear of others. Talk they must. And what is nearest the surface comes forth, be it right or wrong.



"But he that refraineth his lips is wise." To "refrain the lips," is to be "sparing of words." He is truly wise who speaks with due consideration of when, where, and what.



There is one case in which "the multitude of words" is singularly inappropriate. I mean, in worship:-when a man pours out a volume of talk to God; as if this were what God desired and would be pleased with; as if the worshipper (if such he should be called) were vain of his fine and fluent speech, even before the throne of the Infinite Majesty, and imagined he should be "heard for his much speaking"-either for the quantity or the quality of his words! *1 How beautifully is the truth of this remark exemplified in the pattern of prayer given us by Jesus himself-the great, the Divine Teacher!*2



*1 See Ecc_5:1-3. rr

*2 Mat_6:9-13.



Verse 20. "The tongue of the just is as choice silver: the heart of the wicked is little worth."



The sentiment in the former clause is very similar to that in verses 11 and 13. The figure is different. The lessons of instruction, the counsels, consolations, directions, and reproofs "of the just" are precious as silver-as "choice silver,"-"silver tried in a furnace of earth purified seven times." They effect ends which silver, ever so refined, cannot attain.-The contrast, in the second clause, is striking:-" But the heart of the wicked is little worth." Why is the contrast not between the tongue of the wicked and the tongue of the just? Simply because the state of the heart gives its character to the tongue. If the one be "little worth," so will be the other. There is a beautiful correspondence between the language of our Lord and that of Solomon. Jesus speaks of the "good treasure" that is in the heart of the good man;* and Solomon speaks of his tongue being as "choice silver." What he utters, is just a part of the "good treasure" brought out from within for use.



*3 Luk_6:46.



Men admire talent, and are loath to think ill of him who possesses it, and to whom they feel themselves indebted, perhaps, for both pleasure and information. They weave the golden threads of genius into a vail, which they throw over the moral corruptions and defects of the heart and character. They allow talent to stand as a compensation for vice, and palliate irreligion for the sake of mental eminence. But it is to the heart that God especially, and in the first instance, looks. It is a heart renewed by grace; a heart in which the truth dwells by faith, and works with holy power; a heart under the dominant influence of heavenly wisdom;-it is such a heart that, in God's sight, renders the tongue "as choice silver." It is not the facts or demonstrations of science, nor the selectest beauties of elegant literature, that are here meant; but the lessons of divine truth. The most brilliant display of parts in conversation would not, in the Bible, receive the designation here used, were not the eloquence of the lips seasoned with the salt of genuine piety; and so calculated, not to minister amusement and intellectual gratification merely, but what the Bible calls "grace to the hearers." And when, in any case, the tendency is of an opposite nature,-were all the brilliancy of genius ever possessed by the human mind concentrated in the one individual speaker, and flowing with all captivating sweetness from his lips,-this would be no protection to him, from the severest reprehension, and the heaviest denunciation of Heaven. Nay, the reprehension would be all the severer, the denunciation all the heavier, in proportion to the amount of intellect thus unsanctified, and withheld from God,-unbaptized by the Spirit, unconsecrated to God's glory. Genius thus unhallowed, becomes only the more perilous, the more pernicious, the more guilty.



In the same strain it is added, verse Pro_10:21. "The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom."



This is the same sentiment, under still another, and a very natural figure. Instruction, counsel, and comfort are represented as the food and nourishment of the soul. The righteous man may be a poor man:-yet he possesses what may render him, on many occasions, far more valuable, because far more useful, than the possessor of the largest amount of "choice silver." The silver may provide "the meat that perisheth;" but the lips of the righteous furnish that which "endureth unto life eternal." The words of his mouth give life to the dead, and they strengthen the life of the spiritually living. He directs the perplexed by wholesome counsel, and he soothes the afflicted with seasonable and tender sympathy,-thus feeding and cherishing the drooping and fainting spirit. The righteous man, by the wisdom of his lips, "both saves himself and them that hear him." On the contrary, "Fools die for want of wisdom." That is, of the true wisdom-" the fear of God." In spite of all their acquisitions in science, and all their reputation and honour, applause and flattery, for their worldly sagacity, they "die." No power in the range of science or art can ward off either the first or the "second death"-no devices of the wiliest sagacity, can elude the detection, or perplex the councils, and nullify the judgment of the Omniscient and Almighty!



With the character of the righteous comes, in sufficiently natural connexion, "the blessing of the Lord:" for it is on them His blessing rests:-verse Pro_10:22. "The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it."



The expression-" the blessing of the Lord maketh rich," is evidently susceptible of two meanings;-either that God's blessing constitutes true riches; so that he who possesses it has in that blessing itself the best and most desirable wealth; or, that by the blessing of God riches are acquired. Men fancy that the requisites to such acquisition are in themselves. The Bible ever inculcates an opposite lesson-reminding them of their dependence, and of the necessity of the divine favour to success*



* Deu_8:14; Deu_8:17-18; 1Ch_29:12-16; Dan_5:22-23.



The meaning of the latter clause will, of course, be modified according as we affix the one or the other of these senses to the former. If the first be the true meaning, then the words, "He addeth no sorrow with it," must signify, that this blessing is in itself the source of the purest and richest joy. The child of God, indeed, feels, like others, the sorrows of life. His religion is not the parent of apathy, but rather of more acute and tender sensibility; but the blessing of his heavenly Father sweetens every bitter cup that is mingled for him; sustains him under the pressure of the heaviest calamity; nay, even converts the sorrows of life themselves into grounds of praise, by rendering them the means of spiritual benefit. The Lord "adds no sorrow." It gives no real cause for sorrow; inasmuch as, "all working together for good," all shall be joy in the end. And then the blessing shall be realized in its fulness-sorrow and sighing having for ever fled away.



If the second be the meaning, then this latter clause will signify, that the riches obtained by the good man, who nought them in dependence on the divine blessing, being acquired with a good conscience, and used to God's glory, are enjoyed by him without the agitations of perplexing anxiety and care, the secret gnawings of self-accusation and remorse, or the harassing distraction of spirit arising from the haunting apprehension of their loss. Both senses are good, and both equally true and natural.



Cultivate, brethren, a spirit of dependence, and a spirit of gratitude. Amid the bustle and excitement of worldly business, Christians themselves are in danger of forgetting their entire dependence; in danger of losing sight of God; of taking undue credit to their own sagacity in scheming and following out their schemes; of "offering sacrifice to their own net, and burning incense to their own drag;" but



"Fond mortals but themselves beguile,

When on themselves they rest;

Blind is their wisdom, weak their toil,

By thee, O Lord, unblest!"



And mark-no wealth can be comfortably enjoyed, that has not been acquired, in dependence on the divine blessing, by means which have the sanction of God's law; and that is not used in a manner and for ends in accordance with God's will.



We should reckon a man deranged in mind who should, in the way of pastime, break those laws ^of human society which are guarded by the sanction of death. Yet how much more are they chargeable with derangement, by whom the laws of God are violated with reckless mirth, although the sanction which guards them is one so incomparably more fearful! To do this in sport!-how inconceivably infatuated! Such folly, however, is to be found:-verse Pro_10:23. "It is as sport to a fool to do mischief: but a man of understanding hath wisdom."



The "mischief" here spoken of is not, I apprehend, to be understood, exclusively at least, of that in which the giddy, volatile, thoughtless minds of youth are prone to indulge; which, however annoying, ends in no very serious consequences to those who are the subjects of it. Even this youthful propensity, however, is one constantly in danger of running to an extreme, and requires to be curbed and restrained. If parents and guardians treat any of its mischievous tricks as mere sources of amusement, there is a temptation to set the wits to work to devise a still better one next time; so that what began in jest may come to end in something more serious; and the young may be tempted to adopt and act on the unprincipled and vexatious maxim-"No sport without mischief!" But "the fool," considered as the man who "has not the fear of God before his eyes," goes much further than this. He makes "sport" of injuring the character and reputation, the property and interest, the personal and domestic comfort and happiness, of others. And, in still more general terms, he commits sin with a sportive and inconsiderate lightness, and heedlessness of consequences. Such men injure and disquiet their neighbours. They tempt others to crime, and laugh at the success of their temptation-enjoying the sport so much the more if they see any thing like remorse in those whom they have seduced. They treat with merriment even acts of nefarious turpitude, if they can be perpetrated with present impunity.



They hear with derision the admonitions and expostulations of the godly-jeering at them as all cant and hypocrisy; and, to show their superiority to restraint, and their proud defiance of threatened danger, they will sometimes repeat the evil reproved in the very face of the reprover, and that too with aggravations; or commit some other act still worse, and delight in laughing at the gravity of countenance and the heaviness of heart with which their conduct is contemplated. Alas for human nature!-there is such folly. But on the contrary, "The man of understanding"-the man enlightened by the truth and Spirit of God, "hath wisdom;" wisdom which prevents his acting so infatuated and ruinous a part. He considers all that belongs to his neighbour as by the law of God-the law of love-rendered sacred; and "mischief" which he would not like as practised upon himself, he shrinks from practising upon others. All sin, too, he regards with any feeling but that of sportiveness-any eye but that of mirth and encouragement. He dreads it, as of all evils the worst; hateful to God; ensuring His displeasure and curse; polluting and ruining the soul.



Sport and happiness are not one. When there is laughter in the mouth, there may be no joy in the heart. There is such a thing as laughing away terror; hiding real alarm by assumed gaiety; concealing anguish of conscience by the mirth of social revelry. The reflection is suggested by next verse-"The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him: but the desire of the righteous shall be granted."



The wicked, then, has his fears-secret suppressed forebodings-the "fearful looking-for of judgment." "Even in his laughter, the heart is sad; and the end of that mirth is heaviness." Till he has arrived at that most appalling of all states-" having the conscience seared with a hot iron," he will have his misgivings, his disquieting apprehensions, scaring, like "a sudden phantom, his maddest mirth. And his fears are far from groundless:-they "shall come upon him." And not merely his fears in life; but the worst and most overwhelming of his fears-the fear that assails his spirit, when he comes to the verge of an eternal world, (the great testing-time of human principles, human joys, and human hopes,) all, and more than all, "shall come upon him." During his career of iniquity, he might affect to call such alarms, whether he saw them in others or at times felt them rising within himself, superstitious and womanish fears; but there is a reality in them. Conscience is in them; God is in them. They "shall come upon him."



"While the "God with whom we have to do" is true to his threatenings, he is no less true to his promises. The righteous are as sure of the fulfilment of their hopes, as the wicked are of the realization of their fears:-" But the desire of the righteous shall be granted." This might be taken comprehensively. "This is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him."* The good man's "desire," in regard to all spiritual supplies and blessings here, and for the enjoyment, not of temporal mercies merely but of God's love in them, "shall be granted," in answer to believing prayer. But the connexion leads us to consider the words as having special reference to the fulness of his desire, in the completion of all his hopes of future blessedness. And that blessedness shall be something far surpassing the thoughts of the most capacious mind, and the flights of the loftiest imagination.



* 1Jn_5:14-15.



And let me here apply a test of present character. The sources of the happiness of heaven will be the same things with those which are the desire of the righteous now. Is "the desire of their souls," for instance, to their Lord and to "the remembrance of him?" There the desire shall be satisfied:-they shall "see him as he is," and be " for ever with him."-Is their desire after communion with God 1 There, "He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them!"-Is their desire after freedom from sin, and perfection in holiness? There they shall be "like Him" who is "holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners."-Is their desire after the joy of pure and holy fellowship with the family of the redeemed? There, all shall be clothed with the white robe, not only of imputed righteousness but of personal sanctity-all pure, even as God is pure!-Is their desire after perfect and permanent deliverance from all the sorrows and sufferings of time? There, "they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes," Rev_7:16-17.



This last may be considered as the desire of nature: the others are the desires of grace. And what we earnestly wish all to bear in mind is-that unless these spiritual and heavenly desires are in the heart now, there can be no wellgrounded anticipation of the possession of the blessings hereafter.



Many and striking are the figures employed in Scripture, to impress on the mind the transient nature of the prosperity of sinners, as contrasted with the stability and security of God's people. Here is one:-verse Pro_10:25. "As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more: but the righteous is an everlasting foundation."



The whirlwind is rapid and impetuous, mighty and destructive, while it lasts. But it lasts not long: it "passes away." Such is the course of the wicked. Their triumphs, their boastings, their sportive mischiefs, are only as. the shortlived fury of the hurrying tempest.*



* Comp. Job_27:16-21; Psa_37:35-36; Psa_58:9.



In the latter clause-" But the righteous is an everlasting foundation," the verb is supplementary: "But the righteous-an everlasting foundation." Some supply has; making the words mean that he builds on a firm and permanent basis; he trusts in the "rock of ages"-in the "precious corner-stone, the sure foundation." But the antithesis in the verse leads us rather to the idea of his own stability and endurance, as represented in other passages;* and in verse 30th of this chapter, "The righteous shall never be removed." Perhaps there may be a reference to the violence of the wicked being directed against him, and his remaining, under the protection of the divine power, unmoved, unharmed. The whirlwind assails the mountain; sweeps and eddies along with impetuous and tearing fury; leaves here and there slight traces of its raging course:-but the mountain stands unshaken on its deep-laid and immoveable basis. Such shall be the amount of the wicked's power; such the harmlessness of its results, against those who are under the protection of Jehovah. It shall spend itself, and pass away; and the righteous shall not be moved. "If God be for him, who can be against him?"



* Psa_15:5; Psa_112:6-8; Mat_7:24-25.



And reversing the question-as with awful truth it may be reversed-in regard to the wicked themselves:-if God be against them, who can be for them? Could they succeed in rousing the universe to take their part, what would all its combined powers and resources avail against the Maker of the universe?-against Him who says, with divine majesty, of all the opposition that can be brought to bear against Him-" Who will set the briars and the thorns against me in the day of battle? I will go through them,-I will burn them up together!"



It is worthy of being noticed, how often the two ideas of wickedness and sloth present themselves together to the mind of Solomon; the one apparently suggesting the other. Having spoken of the wicked, he brings before us the sluggard-"As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him."



There is no difficulty as to the meaning of the comparisons here used. Vinegar, or the sour grape, sets the teeth most unpleasantly on edge;-smoke, and especially smoke from particular descriptions of fuel, smarts, pains, and injures the eyes. All have felt this: and all who have employed a sluggish messenger for the execution of their business, instantly feel the appropriateness of the comparisons. He is sent for something you long to have, and are in special haste to obtain. You wait, and wait; you look out, and look out again, and again; but he is never like to return. You get impatient, irritated, fretful, angry. He is commissioned on some business that requires despatch,-in which, indeed, expedition is every thing: he lingers and loiters, and saunters away his time in listless lounging or trilling, till the opportunity is lost, and we are mortified and harassed by disappointment. And apart from the consideration of actually evil effects, the very sight of the yawning, lazy loiterer, whether engaged on our own business or that of others, is teasing and provoking. One is ever disposed to push him out of the way. He is a perfect annoyance-"as vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes."



The sentiment in next verse-"The fear of the Lord prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened," has been already fully illustrated* We pass on.



* Comp. Pro_3:2; Pro_3:16; Pro_9:11.



Verse Pro_10:28. "The hope of the righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish."-" The hope of the righteous" is present "gladness." O what gladness! above all that earth can grant, and springing from a source with which earth cannot interfere! And it shall end in "gladness:" not in disappointment and shame, but in all the joy of a glorious fulfilment. What gladness has the "hope of the righteous" imparted to many a soul, in passing through the valley of the shadow of death; enabling the happy combatant with the king of terrors to sing in the very midst of his conflict, as in triumph over an already conquered and fallen enemy-" O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!" 1Co_15:55-57. And what a day of exulting gladness will that be, when, "the hope of the righteous" having been completed by the resurrection from the dead-the "multitude which no man can number shall stand before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palms in their hands; and cry with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb!" Rev_7:9-10. "But" on the contrary, and in contrast with the fulfilled anticipations and perfected joys of the righteous, "the expectation of the wicked shall perish." What a striking and affecting counterpart to the statement in verse 24th (Pro_10:24)-"The fear of the wicked shall come upon him!" He has his fears; they are realized:-he has his hopes; they are frustrated and lost. The fears are well-founded; the hopes delusive and vain. They are based and built on false and deceitful views of himself and of God. They have no foundation ill truth. They are like the house built on the sand, which may stand in the summer's sunshine and calm, but gives way, with tremendous and utter downfall, before the storm and the flood of winter. His "expectation shall perish." He flattered himself with its stability; but it was while it was untried:-in the end he is buried in its ruins. "His hope is as the giving up of the ghost." The vision that has deceived him,-the unreal phantom that has cheated his eyes and allured his wandering steps onward and onward to the gates of hell shall vanish then in "the blackness of darkness for ever!"-all his fears fulfilled; all his hopes for ever blasted!



The next verse may be taken in connexion with this, as assigning a sufficient cause for the "hope of the righteous," being "gladness" in their end-" The way of the Lord is strength to the upright: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity." The connexion may not very readily appear as the words stand in our translation. They may be rendered-" Strength to the upright, is the way of the Lord" "but destruction to the workers of iniquity." Either rendering holds out the communication of divine strength as the ground of the final perseverance of the righteous, and their happiness at last. It is the "way of the Lord"-his usual mode of dealing with his people, to give strength to them when they seek him, and thus "keep them through faith unto salvation." * And the other part of "the way of the Lord" is, "destruction to the workers of iniquity." "Evil shall not dwell with Him." As "the just God,"-"a God of truth and without iniquity," this must be his way. Under his holy and equitable administration, the righteous and the wicked can never possibly fare alike.



* Comp. Isa_40:28-31; Deu_33:25.



The sentiment is still similar in verse Pro_10:30-"The righteous shall never be removed: but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth."-The word "removed" might be interpreted of his confidence and security under the protection of Omnipotence. But the contrast, or antithesis in the verse leads to a somewhat different interpretation. "The earth" should be rendered "the land." The reference in the words appears to be to the promises made by Jehovah to his people, of continued and permanent possession, on condition of their continued obedience; and his threatenings against them on the ground of unbelief and rebellion. These promises were made to the righteous. Canaan was the land of promise. It was obtained by faith; and "by the obedience of faith" it continued to be held; and by unbelief and disobedience it was to be forfeited and lost.* Accordingly, the various removals of Israel were for their failure in faith and obedience,-for their unrighteousness and wickedness, as the indication of a heart departing from the Lord. The language, addressed to the people at large, always, of course, implies God's regard to the righteous considered individually, and the assurance of his blessing to them.



* Comp. Deu_9:4-6, with Deu_11:8-9; Deu_11:26-28, and Deu_29:24-28.



Even the present world the people of God enjoy better than the wicked; inasmuch as they enjoy it with his blessing and the assurance of his love, imparting to all its lawful possessions and enjoyments a zest and relish of which the men of the world, even "when their corn and their wine are increased," know nothing. And then, "the land" shall be inherited by them for ever-the "better country, even the heavenly"-the "inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away." And when they once set foot on the inheritance above; when they once settle there; thence they shall never be removed. They shall have it in everlasting possession, by the charter, sealed with blood, and sure as the word and oath of Him "with whom it is impossible to lie." And that land "the wicked shall not inhabit." No foot of the "uncircumcised and the unclean" shall ever tread its holy soil. There shall be a full and final separation of the vile from the precious. Into the "holy city,"-the "city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God," there "shall in nowise enter anything that defileth." All there shall be "holy and without blemish." That land shall never need to rest by the banishment of its inhabitants, that it may enjoy its Sabbaths, which had been desecrated by the ungodly and profane. Its one universal and perpetual Sabbath of holy rest shall never be disturbed; and it shall be enjoyed alike by all the blessed inhabitants,-being, in its character and in all its holy exercises, in full harmony with the pure and delighted feelings of every individual of the countless multitude of the redeemed.



We dwell not on the closing verses, as the sentiment they contain is very similar to what has been repeatedly before us. Let a single remark suffice.-While the tendency of all that "the righteous" utter, from the "good treasure of the heart," is to profit souls, and to "save them from death "-the tendency, on the contrary, of the "corrupt communication" that proceeds out of the mouth of the wicked,-of the words of the "froward tongue" and the "perverse lips,"-is to spread spiritual death;-every word bearing upon it a taint of evil that carries pestilential infection to the heart. O! that men would but consider, not only the direct sin committed against God by the utterance of evil, but the amount of moral mischief of which such utterance may prove the present and ultimate occasion! As by the slightest puncture, the virus of putrefaction may find its way into the entire animal frame, inflaming, swelling, fevering, mortifying, killing; so may the virus of moral contamination and corruption be conveyed to the soul by a single word, and effect its present disorder and its final destruction; while, from that infected soul the contagion may spread to the injury and ruin of thousands.