"If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked. The poor and the deceitful man meet together; the Lord lighteneth both their eyes. The king that faithfully judgeth the poor, his throne shall be established for ever. The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. When the wicked are multiplied, transgression increaseth: but the righteous shall see their fall. Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul. Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he."
It is natural, when we think of Solomon's own situation as king of Israel, to expect to find some of his maxims of proverbial wisdom bearing special reference to the character and conduct of men in power. And so it is. When, moreover, we think of the wisdom with which, at the outset of his reign, and at his own earnest request, he was divinely endowed, we as naturally anticipate a correspondence between the maxims and the character. Nor are we disappointed. The maxims are not those of the selfishness of power,-not those of arbitrary despotism or the sovereignty of royal will; nor are they those of an artful, intriguing, Machiavelian policy. They are sound and liberal, and based on the great principle of the public good being the end of all government,-the principle that kings reign, not for themselves, but for their people; while, in all their administration, they ought to be swayed and regulated by the laws of an authority higher than their own, by a regard to the will of God as their rule, and the glory of God, to which all else must ever be subordinate, as their supreme aim. But we must not forget, that the Book of Proverbs forms part of the canon of inspired Scripture; that it does not contain, therefore, the mere dictates of human wisdom, how extraordinary soever that wisdom was; that "a greater than Solomon is here."
Verse Pro_29:12. "If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked."-It becomes the interest of them all to lie and to deceive him; and the competition will then be, who can ply this wretched trade most artfully and most effectually. When it is perceived that truth is not welcome, and that a man gets nothing by straightforward honesty but a frown and dismissal,-"all will be wicked" for all will be liars. Flattery and slander become the staple of their communications to the ear of their master; the latter to serve the purposes of the former, and the former to make the latter go down,-the good that is artfully spoken of himself opening his ear to the more easy and credulous admission of the evil that is said of others. The upright being incapable of yielding to the general example, are made the victims of detraction and calumny, and are by this means either constrained to withdraw, or are put away from before the throne, and so leave it beset with wickedness,-the wickedness of flattery, falsehood, treachery, and malice. The jealousies of the monarch are awakened,-jealousies both personal and official, both as it respects himself and as it respects his government; and there comes to be brought into operation that most accursed of all systems-the system of espionage,-of spies and informers, plying all the arts of a despicable and villanous deceit,-fastening themselves on individuals, insinuating themselves into their confidence, tempting them to familiarity, and worming out their secrets; artfully intruding themselves into the social circle, in every class of society; "speaking lies in hypocrisy," so as to open hearts and elicit discoveries, and lead on the simple even to language stronger than they would ever think of using;-and all this for the purpose of pleasing and poisoning the royal ear, and ruining the objects of their mean and treacherous venality and villany. Such spies and informers have been justly designated "the pestilent vermin of a nation." The monarch that has recourse to them deserves not to reign. There is hardly a conceivable case in which the employment of such a system can be vindicated.
The principle of the verse is quite capable of application in other cases than that of the monarch. It is true of masters. If a master "hearken to lies,"-keeping an ear ever open to their admission,-"all his servants are wicked." They imbibe the spirit of falsehood, and study the vile arts of flattery and malice; thus the conscientiously and sternly upright are kept or driven from their domestic establishments. Let masters and mistresses guard against those servants who discover a disposition to ingratiate themselves into special favour by smooth words and "fair speeches;" by great assurances of their own fidelity, and sly insinuations against their fellow-servants. They are cheats.-Parents too may take a lesson. Let them beware of listening to the fawnings of artful childhood and youth; and above all of giving any encouragement to tale-bearing. This can seldom be practised without lying; and it is itself a wicked and dishonourable thing. That there may be cases in which it becomes the duty of one child to reveal the words and doings of another I am far from denying. But the spirit and manner which distinguish the child that discovers what conscience will not allow it to keep secret, for the sake of the brother or sister, as well as of father and mother, and that does so by constraint and of necessity, are widely different from those of the cunning, selfish tell-tale. Would you, parents, have your children simple-hearted, honourable, generous, and noble-minded?-frown from you every approach to the coaxing and insinuating malice of tale-bearing, and cherish amongst your children the mutual open confidence of affection and truth,-teaching all to be the guardians of each other's character and honour, to love one another, and to be eager to tell of each other the tale of good rather than of evil.
Verse Pro_29:13. "The poor and the deceitful man meet together; the Lord lighteneth both their eyes."-There is a sentiment in a former chapter* analogous to the one in this verse, but by no means the same:-"The rich and the poor meet together; the Lord is the maker of them all." The word in this verse translated "the deceitful man" is used nowhere else in Scripture. Some understand it of the creditor, and some of the usurer. The latter is probably near the truth:-the man who takes advantage of the necessities of the poor to exorcise extortion,-to exact from them,-to "grind their faces." The two "meet together,"-in the intercourse of life, and in the transactions of business:-the one in need, the other taking advantage of the need.
* See Pro_22:2.
The case was provided against by the Mosaic law;*1 and the conduct enjoined by that law is enforced by the consideration in the verse before us:-"The Lord lighteneth both their eyes." There are instances in which the enlightening of the eyes has reference to the mind-to the understanding-and is to be interpreted accordingly, as signifying the imparting of discernment-the giving of knowledge, or the capacity to receive it. But such does not seem to be the sense here. It appears to mean no more than that the Lord sustains the life of both, and at the same time is the giver of all that cheers it, according to a very common and natural sense of the word light.*2 In all our ordinary phraseology regarding life and death, there is frequent reference to the "eyes." The dimming and darkening of the eyes is one of the indications of life being on the wane, and a very remarkable feature in the dying scene. We speak of the shades of death coming over the eyes; of the fixing and glazing of the eyes, in that solemn hour; and of their being closed in death. The sentiment, then, I conceive, is-that "the poor and the usurer" have alike every moment's existence and every moment's enjoyment from God. "In Him," alike, they both "live and move and have their being."
*1 See Exo_22:25-26. rr
*2 Compare Psa_13:3; 1Sa_14:27.
The next question of course is-What is the lesson that is thus taught? The answer is-
1. There is a motive or inducement to the poor, to put their trust in Him who is "the God of their life and the length of their days." He has, in His providence, assigned them an humble lot. But they have their life from Him; and their times are in His hand. The life He has given He does not overlook. He marks and sustains it.
2. There is also a lesson to the usurious and unfeeling oppressor of the poor,-a motive to him to consider what he is doing. The poor whom he is thus using-so selfishly and so cruelly, is the creature of the same God with himself, and is sustained moment after moment by the same power and goodness. There is some thing very shocking in the thought of rendering that life miserable which the blessed God has given, and which He is every instant maintaining;-in the idea that the eyes which He is ever lightening, a fellow-creature should be dimming with the tears of bitterness. While God is giving to the poor "the light of life," it surely becomes us, instead of quenching that light and making that life wretched, to do what lies in our power to make the possession of it worth retaining,-to supply their need, and to comfort their hearts.
Verse fourteenth (Pro_29:14) was noticed with verse second (Pro_29:2).-And having formerly,* and more than once, touched on the subject of early education, and especially, as a part of it, necessary and salutary correction, explaining its principles, and giving directions for its practice, I do not now again enter into the subject, which is afresh brought before us in verses fifteenth (Pro_29:15) and seventeenth (Pro_29:17)-"The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul."
* See Pro_22:15; Pro_23:13-14.
Verse Pro_29:16. "When the wicked are multiplied, transgression increaseth: but the righteous shall see their fall."-The former part of this verse seems almost like a truism. The multiplication of the wicked, and the increase of transgression, are next to one and the same thing:-the former being the increase of the agents of evil, and the latter of the evil done. They are different; but they are inseparable; tho one necessarily includes the other. The meaning may be, that wicked men encourage and embolden one another in iniquity; and that, by this means, the corruption spreads. Or,-as in the second verse of the chapter, the same word here rendered "are multiplied" is translated "are in authority"-the reference is, in all probability, to the influence of wicked rulers in promoting the increase of wickedness in the community; which requires not either illustration or proof.-"But the righteous shall see their fall."*-Their fall, that is, from power and authority. It is not the final fall-the perdition of the wicked, that is intended. In that the righteous have no pleasure. Herein they resemble God;-are of one mind and heart with Him. He says, and confirms it by his oath-"As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked." In the execution of the sentence against them, God glorifies himself; and the righteous solemnly acquiesce,-acknowledging and celebrating the justice of the divine administration:-"Even so, Lord God, Almighty, for true and righteous are thy judgments!" But pleasure in-witnessing the execution of the sentence, we cannot, we must not, for a moment, imagine them to have.
* Comp. Psa_37:34-36; Psa_91:8.
In this spirit, then-the spirit of compassionate apprehension and fear, we would, with all earnestness, warn and entreat the ungodly. We would beseech "the wicked to forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and to turn unto the Lord who will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."
Verse Pro_29:18. "Where there is no vision the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he." By "vision" is to be understood divine communication. Such communications, indeed, were imparted in different ways-"at sundry times and in divers manners;" but it is clear that the word "vision" here is to be taken comprehensively of them all.*
* Comp. 1Sa_3:1. Things are estimated in value according to their rarity or scarceness; and the word precious in this passage is of similar import with scarce or rare.
In the absence of such communications, "the people perish." The word thus rendered-has been variously understood. By one eminent critic it is translated-"will apostatize." By others it is rendered "are made naked,"-in the sense in which, on the occasion of the golden calf, Aaron is said to have "made the people naked to their shame." By others still-"are dispersed"-as our Lord is said to have "had compassion on the multitude, because they were faint and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd." The spirit of the passage remains unaffected.
The words do not of course imply that wherever there is "vision,"-that wherever divine revelation is enjoyed,-it has its proper effect on those who enjoy it. Alas! no. We might refer for striking and melancholy evidence of the contrary to the state of the world in the time of Enoch before the flood, and of Noah immediately after it; to the character of the Jewish people under the judges and the prophets; to the character of the same infatuated people in the days of Christ and his apostles; to the hardened unbelief and wickedness of those cities that saw the Saviour's mighty works and repented not; and to the condition, in regard to religion and morals, of the great masses of the population in countries, such as our own, in which the clearest light of revelation shines, and has long shone.
But in one view all this is only confirmatory of the truth of the verse before us. It demonstrates and impresses the necessity of divine revelation; the need in which men universally stand of it; seeing even with it-even where it exerts all its restraining power,-men continue in their state of apostasy and rebellion.
Strictly speaking, the entire race should be regarded as in a state of apostasy,-apostasy from the revelation of God originally given to man in innocence; as the God of nature, and subsequently to his fall, as the God of salvation. The apostasy has continued with regard to the vast majority until the present day. There is "vision;" yet the people "perish." Jehovah sent his word to Israel. And what was the result? "What was the manifestation of the character of human nature thence produced? Did not they show, in the midst of "vision,"-when enjoying privileges and means of knowledge and goodness such as had been bestowed on no other people,-an incessant tendency to depart from God?-to leave their own Jehovah for "the gods of the heathen that were round about them?"-to prefer human folly to divine wisdom,-the darkness of error to the light of truth? Yes: and of this propensity the false prophets were ever availing themselves, while the true were ever lamenting over it, and expostulating with it. But bad as things were, amid "line upon line and precept upon precept," how much worse would they have been, had the people been left with "no vision!" The rise of distinguished prophets often wrought for the time a wonderful change. Thus in the days when Elijah appeared,-the state of religion was very low. Elijah himself thought he was left alone as a worshipper of Jehovah. And, although in this he was mistaken, what were even the seven thousand of Jehovah's reserve compared with the millions of Israel? Elijah was the instrument of giving an effectual check to prevailing ungodliness, and of "turning their hearts back again" from Baal to the Lord their God. And similar was the effect on other occasions. The "vision" threw a light on the deepening gloom-the prophet, with divine authority and evidence, imparting and impressing his messages from Jehovah.
The Bible, and faithful teachers of its divine discoveries, are one of God's greatest blessings to the world. It has not unfrequently happened, in regions where the gospel has for a time flourished, and wrought its pleasing wonders in "turning men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God," and in building up believers in their holy faith, and manifesting its salutary influence in the prevailing practice of what is "true honest, pure, lovely, and of good report,"-the rise and succession of a series of careless and unfaithful ministers, has completely altered the moral and spiritual aspect of the place; from life and vigour and fruitfulness, to deadness and desolation, to lukewarmness, declension, and apostasy. What a blessing to such a region, when, in the providence of the Church's exalted Head, there conies a change of the opposite kind; when active, faithful, affectionate, and prayerful teachers start up amid the waste, and pitying the miserable destitution of the inhabitants, "preach the word, and are instant in season and out of season!"-They effect a revival; and, instead of "the people perishing," souls are converted and saved; and "the desert rejoices and blossoms as the rose." The increase of "vision," and the circulation of divine instruction works a change on which the eye of every good man,-every child of God, rests with a grateful delight.
Forget not the second part of the verse:-"But he that keepeth the law, happy is he." The words imply our having the law. If you have the law, and do not keep it, you expose yourselves to a heavier sentence of condemnation, than if you had it not. It will be emphatically for the worse to you, and not for the better, if you are found possessors only and not improvers of privilege,-hearers of the word, and not doers.
