"Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him. The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets. As the door turneth upon his hinges; so doth the slothful upon his bed. The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom; it grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth. The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason. He that passeth by, and meddleth with strife belonging not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears. As a mad man who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death, so is the man that deceiveth his neighbour, and saith. Am not I in sport? Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out; so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth. As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle strife. The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a potsherd covered with silver dross. He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him: when he speaketh fair, believe him not; for there are seven abominations in his heart. Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be shewed before the whole congregation. Whoso diggeth a pit shall fail therein; and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him. A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it; and a flattering mouth worketh ruin."
How strong the expression in the first of these verses of the utter hopelessness of the self-conceited man! From what Solomon had just said of the fool,-and especially of his attachment to his folly and his proneness to return to it, we can hardly imagine a stronger:-"there is more hope of a fool"-yes, of a fool,-even of the man who returns to his folly like the dog to his vomit-"than of him." The man who is thoroughly possessed with a high notion of his own superiority in wisdom and excellence,-will listen to nothing.
He is so encased in his self-sufficiency and self-esteem, that no advice, no reproof, no counsel, can reach him. He follows his own way, with a headstrong impetuosity, and a sovereign contempt of all who would presume to offer him any direction. All the wisdom of the wise goes past him, like the idle wind.
The simile in the fourteenth verse may mean, either that in the very way in which the sluggard turns himself there is indolence,-that he does even that lazily-in the way that requires least exertion:-or, that by his indolence everything like progress is precluded. In every employment, if employment he can be said to have, his indolence makes him stationary. The only motion he is able to bear, is the motion from one side to another upon his bed. And as even that cannot be made without some effort, he indulges in it as seldom as possible; and when on one side he has become uneasy, lies long thinking of turning, before he can bring himself to make the movement!
Even the exertion of eating is too much for him* (Pro_26:15). Having brought his hand from his mouth to the dish, he "hides" it there,-there lets it lie;-though hungry, and fond enough of his meat, "it grieveth him"-it is irksome, it is a weariness to him, to raise it again to his mouth! Thus the sluggard is lazy on his bed, lazy at his meat, and lazy at his work,-if he can ever be said to work. And yet-"The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason." Ease is his chief good. There is nothing he can imagine better, than just to be let alone, and allowed to do nothing! He has his theory on the subject; and he holds it of all theories the best,-by far the most rational. The only exercise of his mental faculties with which he can be troubled is in behalf of the repose of his bodily powers;-to vindicate the propriety of ease and comfort-that is, according to his vocabulary, of idleness. Arguing implies perhaps rather more effort than he can be supposed to muster. Solomon does not say of him that he will be at the pains to argue. A man may tenaciously hold his point, and hug himself in the full conviction of what his sweet experience-the experience of the delights of lassitude and quiescence,-tells him is right, without being at the pains to reason, or to attempt for a moment to answer the reasons of others. The sluggard sees men bestirring and troubling and fatiguing and vexing themselves,-and he hears them "rendering reasons" why they should be thus busy; reasons, to show the advantages of industry to the individual, to the domestic circle, and to society. The sluggard blesses himself; thinks his own way better; and with inward self-gratulation, turns him on his bed, and lies still. He is ingenious in finding reasons for his not doing what others bring reasons to show him he ought to do: and his own reasons are always the strongest. "Seven men"-that is, any number of the soundest thinkers and the wisest and ablest reasoners will argue in vain. He only thus exemplifies what discovers itself in multitudes of other cases, the extra weight that is given to arguments by their being on the side of inclination.
* Comp. Pro_19:24.
Verse Pro_26:17. "He that passeth by, and meddleth with strife belonging not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears." The man who ventures to "take a dog by the ears," will, in proportion to the fierceness of the animal's temper, be in danger. When ho has once seized him, his difficulty will be to get quit of him in safety. If he keeps his hold, he increases the dog's fury, and the consequent risk of letting him go: so that he is at a loss what to do; and it is still the longer the worse. Thus the man who, hastily and intemperately, interferes in a quarrel, gets into a hazardous dilemma. He immediately discovers that it is something in which he had no business to intermeddle; he repents his rashness;-but once in, it is not so easy getting out again. Twenty to one if both parties do not turn upon him,-suspending for the moment their combat with one another, to assail the unbidden and unwelcome intruder as the object of their common resentment; as in the case of two quarrelling dogs and the man who injudiciously and in ignorance of the animals, attempts their separation. If the intermeddler takes the side of one of the parties he may provoke both; the one against whom he sets himself for a reason too obvious to need mentioning,-and the one in whose favour he intrudes, from the feeling of pride; because by such help thus impertinently given, he is robbed of the honour of the victory, or even of the credit of having at least enough of pluck in him to stand it out to the last. These are feelings of human nature; and may be alike experienced, whether the "strife" be one of blows or one of words-one of body or of mind-a fight or a controversy. Few men like either opposition or aid in such cases: and a man of spirit would rather have the former than the latter.
Are we never then to meddle?-Are we, in all cases, just to let strife go on?-to let the combatants fight it out, come what will? Assuredly not. There is no proverbial saying that has not exceptions. We must take the general lesson without pushing it to extremes. That lesson is sufficiently plain-that we should beware of taking part in quarrels with which we have nothing to do,-of thrusting ourselves in between angry disputants; of officiously and zealously interfering between those who have expressed no wish for an umpire in their strifes,-for advice or mediation. And it does not seem to be so much the case of the person who interferes for the purpose of separating the combatants that Solomon here means, as the person who, from his love to strife, is not satisfied with any quarrels he may chance to have, or choose to pick, of his own, but who cannot pass by a fray between others without having a hand in it.*
* See Pro_18:6-7; Pro_20:3.
Verses Pro_26:18-19. "As a mad man, who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death, so is the man that deceiveth his neighbour, and saith, Am not I in sport?" We take the character first; then the simile. It is the character of the man who imposes upon his neighbour by false or distorted representations,-leads him, by this means, into practical mistakes,-involving him in contentions, embarrassments, awkward scrapes, or even trouble and loss:-and then excuses himself by saying it was all in diversion,-he meant no harm-only a joke. This includes all that among ourselves passes under the cant term-hoaxing. The evil may of course vary in degree, according to the trivial or the momentous character of the deception. In some cases the aim and the result may be merely laughable; at other times they may be of a nature to render the agent culpable in the extreme,-being no joke to the sufferer, whatever they may be to him.
It is to the latter of these two cases that Solomon here refers. The comparison shows this by the "mad man who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death," much harm may be done,-harm to property, to health to comfort, to life: and all is sport to the poor maniac. But in his case we have our apology ready. He knows no better. His disordered mind frees him from accountableness. We do not-we cannot blame him. But he who "deceiveth his neighbour, and saith, I am in sport," does the maniac's mischief without the maniac's apology:-he acts like a man devoid of reason, but without the excuse of having lost it.
1. The moral evil of such conduct must be in proportion to the degree in which truth is violated, and in which a malicious spirit is indulged:-in proportion not merely to the mischief actually done, but to the mischief intended, and the amount of deception and falsehood practised to effect it.-2. Even in diversion truth should be held sacred. In no case should it be sported with. It is a serious mistake for people to imagine that they do no harm when they indulge in this kind of truthless jesting, either to amuse others or make them stare.-3. The sport is always hazardous; inasmuch as no man can ever have a previous certainty as to the precise length to which the results of this and the other of his practical jokes may go.-4. The evil and guilt are not a little aggravated when the deception is practised, and the mischievous tricks are played off upon the weak and the simple; when advantage is taken of their imbecility to turn the laugh against them, and to join in the laugh at their expense; and still more when they are exposed not to laughter only, but to serious inconvenience and privation. There is meanness in this; and there is wickedness. It ought to be reprobated by every rightly-thinking mind and every rightly-feeling heart, with indignant severity. We pity and confine the maniac. We should scorn, condemn, and punish the unprincipled deceiver.
Verses Pro_26:20-21. "Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out; so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth. As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle strife." In these verses we have two characters of frequent occurrence-the "talebearer" and the "contentious man." The two are often united; talebearing being just one of the ways of indulging and gratifying the love of contention.* Observe-1. They "kindle the fires of strife." The effect of a tale of malice-of an insinuation of slander,-of even a single whisper of evil, is at times as amazing as it is annoying and injurious. When the little sting of some insignificant insect, of which the point is so small as to require a microscope to see it, has fairly pierced the skin, and lodged its virus in a puncture that is hardly discernible,-we marvel at the suddenness and extent of the effect produced, the inflammation and swelling that ensue in the surrounding parts, and the feverishness that is infused into the whole mass of circulating blood. Such is the effect of the secretly lodged venom of the talebearer's whisper!-Or, to keep by the figure before us:-it is like the striking of a single spark into the materials laid for kindling the largest fire.
2. They maintain the fires of strife. They kindle where there is no fire; they supply fuel where there is. They heap it on. They do their best to keep up the fire. And O! what delight it gives them if they succeed! Does the fire get low? Do the flame and the heat of mutual passion abate? They are alarmed:-it will never do to let the fire go out altogether. So they are at their post. Down they stoop, and quietly apply their breath. They blow, at first very softly, the glowing embers, and carefully lay on fuel,-little at a time, lest they should frustrate their purpose, and smother instead of inflaming; and when there is a fresh out-burst they inwardly exult, "walking in the light of their fire and of the sparks which they have kindled."-There were some of God's ministers of old, whose duty it was to keep the sacred fire always burning upon His altar:-these are ministers of Satan; and their unenviable office is, to keep up the accursed fire on the devil's altar.
It is added of the same characters (Pro_26:22.) "The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly." The word in this verse rendered wounds is by not a few critics and translators understood as signifying what is soft, gentle, sweet, and is interpreted of the insinuating and flattering character of the talebearer's words,-which, like dainties, there is a readiness to swallow.* But they do their work-"they go down into the innermost parts of the belly." Soft as they are,-sweet and gentle and the very opposite of injurious as they seem, they are pernicious. Like many poisons, they are tempting to the taste; but they are deadly. They destroy the mental peace and enjoyment of him to whom they are uttered: they destroy the reputation and the interest of him of whom they are uttered; and they destroy the friendship and the social happiness of both.
* The Septuagint, Vulgate, and some other versions, agree in this rendering of the word.
Verses Pro_26:23-26. "Burning lips, and a wicked heart, are like a potsherd covered with silver dross. He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him: When he speaketh fair, believe him not; for there are seven abominations in his heart. Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be showed before the whole congregation." These verses all relate to one subject.-"Burning lips"-that is, lips burning with affection and officious warmth of zeal for your service, concealing malicious and wicked intentions:-such lips are as "a potsherd covered with silver dross." A potsherd thus lacquered over is in reality as worthless as ever; although for the purpose of imposition, it is made to wear a deceitful exterior:-it is silver to the eye; but it is earthenware of the coarsest kind after all. So the heart of such a man is worthless, while his "lips burn." The exterior and the interior do not correspond. And such men are only, on this account, the more dangerous. When a man honestly utters his mind, we know him, and are on our guard. But in the other case, we fancy we have got a friend when we have taken a serpent into our bosom,-when we have got only a worthless deceiver; a silver vessel in appearance, but a potsherd in reality;-lips of honey, but a heart of gall; or rather lips glowing with love, and a heart burning with enmity.
In the latter verse it is either assumed that we have some previous ground to suspect the man's sincerity; or it signifies that in his very manner-in his very style of "fair speaking" there is something which should make us suspicious and jealous of him,-his parasitical fawning and flattering being overdone and out of nature:-though it is not always so,-there being some dissemblers who have studied nature to the very life. At all events, in proportion as he becomes increasingly fulsome, let our suspicions correspondingly rise:-"There are seven abominations in his heart." This may be understood, either as a very strong expression of the detestable odiousness of the character; (and in truth there is no character more deserving of entire abhorrence;)-the number seven being often used, both as to evil and good, with the sense of fulness, completeness, perfection; or, as every one of the deceitful and wicked devices of which his heart is the secret manufactory and storehouse, is an abomination-hateful to God, as opposed to the whole spirit of His law and character, and hateful in the eyes of all holy beings in creation,-the expression may mean that his heart is full of such unprincipled devices-plans and purposes of evil, concealed under the guise of friendship and love!
When, then, we have such cause for suspicion and jealousy, what is duty? Evidently, not to commit oneself to him,-to keep on the reserve-to say little-to have patience-to wait and watch. For (Pro_26:26) "Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be showed before the whole congregation."-His falsehood and hypocrisy will come to light. His sin will find him out. He will by and by betray himself. Circumstances will occur to detect and expose him, and render him the object of public and merited infamy. The very circumstance of his finding you incredulous and distant, and not immediately yielding to him, may, through the very power of chagrin and irritation, provoke the disclosure of what has been within. And when this disclosure comes, with what shame is the deceiver covered! Not Christian morality, merely, but even the conventional virtue of the world, agree to banish such a man from society with indignant reprobation, whether his devices have succeeded or failed.
And more than shame will be his portion:-Verse Pro_26:27. "Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein; and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him."-"Digging a pit" for another is planning schemes of evil against him. The providence of God not seldom makes these schemes ultimately productive of mischief to the schemer. The figure in the verse evidently means that as there is a constant tendency in the stone that is rolled up to return and come down upon him that rolls it-so is there a tendency in the devices of deceit-in the secret plans of mischief-to bring evil in the end to the wicked author of them. In both cases, there is constant effort and constant risk. The framer of evil must keep his hand vigilantly and unremittingly to it; else in some unguarded moment it will come back with disgrace and ruin upon himself.*
* Psa_7:14-16; Psa_9:15; Psa_57:6; Ecc_10:8.
In the next verse we have still the same subject. The "lying tongue" corresponds with "the flattering mouth," for hypocrisy, slander, and flattery are very common associates.* The falsehood and calumny are produced by hatred, and are the manifestations and expressions of it:-but there is in them, at the same time, a tendency to increase and confirm it:-"The lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it."
* See Pro_20:19.
1. There is the inward self-reproach, arising from the workings of conscience, from which arises a secret irritability and fretfulness and unhappiness:-and this produces dislike of the innocent occasion of it; instead of terminating (as it always ought to do) on self. This of course is only more injustice. True; but it is in human nature to hate with a bitter hatred the object of our own crime; as if it were a fault in that object to exist, and so to be the object on which our sin terminates.
2. The evil passions, like the good, are strengthened and increased by their exercise. If the utterance of the feelings of love serves further to inflame love,-the utterance, in like manner, of the feelings of hatred tend to inflame hatred. The passion gives birth to the word and the action; and, reciprocally, the word and the action strengthen the passion.
3. The fretful uneasiness produced by the unceasing apprehension of detection and exposure, already alluded to, and of the weight of his vengeance who is the object of the lying tongue's assaults, gives rise also to the same feeling of rankling dislike to him who is the source of it. Thus the slanderer, instead of feeling pity for the man whom his slander wounds, hates him still the more. This appears to have had a very striking exemplification in the case of our blessed Lord and his Jewish unbelieving adversaries. They "hated him without a cause." They uttered their spiteful reproaches; and the very utterance of them irritated and confirmed their malignity. They were angry that they could not find a cause to justify their hatred. The more they reproached and maligned him, the more were their reproaches belied by the unimpeachable purity of his whole conduct. And they hated him with the keener dislike, that they could not tempt him to give them the slightest ground for their reproaches. Their "lying tongue" thus "hated him that was afflicted by it." For he was afflicted by it. This was part of his sufferings. In prophecy be is represented as saying-"Reproach hath broken my heart." He "endured the contradiction of sinners against himself." And the greater portion of venom they discharged upon him, there was the more abundant secretion of it within.
As to the "flatterer"-he is the most dangerous of characters. He attacks at points where men are naturally most successfully assailable; where they are most in danger of being thrown off their guard and giving him admission. And when by his flatteries he has thus got the mastery, then follows the execution of the end for which they were employed-"working ruin." The expression is strong; but not stronger than experience fully justifies. It often works ruin to the most interesting characters-characters admired and worthy of the admiration,-by infusing a principle that spoils the whole-the principle of vanity and self-conceit. They thus lose their loveliest and most engaging attraction. And whatever be the selfish object of the flatterer, his selfishness obtains its gratification by the ruin of him whom his flatteries have deceived.
