Let's flip a coin. Proverbs Proverbs 1 The Beginning of Knowledge (Proverbs 9:1-12) 1These are the proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel, 2for gaining wisdom and discipline, for comprehending words of insight, 3and for receiving instruction in wise living and in righteousness, justice, and equity. The sentence means that when a man gets separated from his place in the universe he seeks, or has a pursuit, after his present bent or longing. New International Version. ESV. II. Jeroboamthe second; who died in the fifteenth year of Uzziah's forty-one years' reign.From his time forth all Israel's kings worshipped false gods: Zachariah (2 Kings 15:9), Menahem (2 Kings 15:18), Pekahiah (2 Kings 15:18- :), Pekah (2 Kings 15:28), Hoshea (2 Kings 17:2).As Israel was most flourishing externally under Jeroboam . And so the speech of a good man has nothing forced or artificial about it. In the two clauses of the verse, on the principle of parallelism, there appears to be an inversion of the same sentiment; for, properly speaking, the words uttered are not the deep waters, but the stream that issues from them; and, on the other hand, the wellspring of wisdom is not the flowing brook, but the deep and copious fountain or reservoir from which it issues. It is quite certain that, when Gods will is done on earth as it is in heaven, the miserable poverty which now surrounds us on every side will cease to exist. Beginning with the familiar intercourse of every-day life, how true it is that the utterance of kindly words of sympathy, and advice and warning, have a tendency to make sunshine in the heart of him who utters them, while censorious, hasty, harsh words embitter and darken the spirit of their author. Wounds. That great abilities are gifts from God. Proverbs 18:1. What the name of the Lord is to the righteous Proverbs 18:10, that wealth is to the rich. And surely, if thou be courageously patient, whatsoever thou mayest lose yet thou enjoyest that which thou hast; or, if thou hast nothing, yet thou shalt enjoy thyself, thou shalt enjoy the comfort of thy own spirit. Men who do not seek supernatural help sometimes do it. The uncertainty of riches has been a subject upon which the sages and moralists of all ages have dweltthe millionaire of to-day may be a beggar to-morrow, and he who was last year surrounded by this high wall, which shut in so much that was agreeable to his senses and shut ont so many discomforts from his temporal life, may be standing to-day a forlorn, unsheltered creature, with only the ruins of his once imposing fortress around him. I. Slothfulness and prodigality have the same origin. How true this is, men for the first time in a court can easily imagine. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. II. John MacArthur is the pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, as well as an author, conference speaker, president of The Master's University and Seminary, and featured teacher with the Grace to You media ministry. He was fully conscious of the fact that a real partner of his lifeone woman to be a help-meet for him according to the Divine intentionwould have added much more to his real welfare than the thousand counterfeits to whom it was an insult to God to give the name of wives. If we have to decide between the two interpretations, one blaming and the other commending the life of isolation, the answer must be that the former is more in harmony with the broad, genial temper of the Book of Proverbs.Plumptre. Time, says J. (1) that of those who think they are born for themselves, and that others ought to be ministers of their self-seeking desires; (2) that of those who intermeddle with what does not concern them. 18 Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment. (This is Millers rendering only.) The vast importance of our words may be learned from James 3; and our blessed Lord says expressly (Matthew 12:36, etc. Spiritual sickness varies (as some diseases do in the body according to the constitution of the sick) thereafter as the soul is that hath it, whether regenerate or reprobate. To commit sin is the killing of the soul; to refuse hope of mercy is to cast it down to hell. But Samuel searched him, and laid open his rebellion. And yet, if you have a strong spirit, how it can bear the infirmities, the weaknesses, the sicknesses. If there is water beneath the surface of the earth it must force its way and find an outlet; it needs no hand of man to come to its aid; it penetrates the soil and forms a fertilising stream in obedience to natural law. 3 Doing wrong leads to disgrace, and scandalous behavior brings contempt. But these human vipers infuse their poison in the language of kindness and love. But the way in which a man uses his lips and his tongue, as the organs of speech, may contribute not a little to his getting, or his failing to get, the meat that perisheth. I mean not that any of you should, in the slightest degree, try to work your way in life by words of flattery; but when a mans general conversation is such as to procure for him a character for discretion, courtesy, gratitude, straight forward integrity, and trustworthiness, this may surely contribute, eminently and directly, to the temporal sustenance and comfort of the man himself and his family: while an opposite style of intercourse may tend to penury and starvation. A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire: To cut one's self off from family, friends, and community is often to express a selfish desire. The righteous mans refuge, then, is a Living Personalitya Self-existent and Eternal King and Father, infinite in power, in wisdom, and in tenderness. A fool has no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself. What care, then, should we use to pluck from our hearts every root of bitterness, and to have them furnished with knowledge and prudence, that our discourse may be good, to the use of edifying!Lawson. We know the viper. Leviticus 19; Proverbs 29; Matthew 13:24-58. John Piper Oct 25, 2005. The one when he speaketh is not understood by the ear, the other when he speaketh is not understood by the heart: the words of the one are not apprehended, the wants of the other are not apprehended; the one is heard, but not conceived; the other is conceived, but not heard. Most of the commentaries however tend to be older (pre . But observe:. The original word here used is a brother revolting or departing by disloyalty; or else a brother offended by disloyal departing. And in the same spirit and by the same rule, otherwise applied, had Felix done well to defer hearing Pauls defence until Pauls accusers were present. Aristides, they tell us, would lend but one ear to anyone who accused an absent party, and used to hold his hand on the other, intimating that he reserved one ear for the absentee accused. Cicero, the greatest orator, save one, of antiquity, has left it on record, as we are pertinently reminded on the Essays on Liberty, that he always studied his adversaries case with as great intensity as his own, if not still greater. And this is the only power which can win a brother offended. If he has been in the wrong we must approach him with a free forgiveness, and if the wrong has been on our side we must approach with submission and acknowledgment of our fault. He trembles at the thought of eternal condemnation. The words bring out and contain the counsel.Wardlaw. Oh, how hard it is when your spirit has been wounded. He finds that he can make little progress in the investigation of Divine and natural things, if he have much to do with secular or trifling matters: he therefore separates himself as well from unprofitable pursuits as from frivolous company, and then enters into the spirit of his pursuit; is not satisfied with superficial observances, but examines the substance and essence, as far as possible, of those things which have been the objects of his desire. Those who are truly wise seek wisdom for its own sake. Such a state of things is often felt to be hard and is undoubtedly so, and unless a poor man is noble and self-respecting, it has a tendency to make him cringing and servileto dispose him to barter his conscience and his rights in order to satisfy his bodily needs. We must walk with God in secret, or the enemy will walk with us, and our souls will die. None can pull out of His hands. Wherefore St. Gregory saith, so must every preacher deal with his hearers as God dealeth with him; he must not preach to the simple as much as he knoweth because himself doth not know of heavenly mysteries as much as they are.Jermin. When God bestows upon one man capabilities and endowments far above the common order, He does not intend to bless that man alone by the gift, but he holds him responsible for the use of the power put into his handHe expects him so to employ his talents that his fellow-men also may be blessed by the gift. The man of business or science is filled with his great object; and through desire he separates himself from all lets and hindrances, that he may intermeddle with its whole range. II. At the same time the Word of God appears to be more fully recognised as the arbiter of the Divine will. Perhaps it is more easy to abide by the decision of the lot than of the Word. God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him Learn more about Desiring God Partner with StudyLight.org as God uses us to make a difference for those displaced by Russia's war on Ukraine. That to subdue such enmity requires more wisdom and skill than to take a city. But they who have already found it are so affected with the worth of it, so directed by the light of it, as that they still seek more, still get more.Jermin. 2 Fools care nothing for thoughtful discourse; all they do is run off at the mouth. On this subject see also Homiletics on chap. Blind passion is not to make the selection at random.Fausset. Jarchi interprets this clause thus, "among wise men his reproach shall be made manifest;''. Such a man seems to be pourtrayed in the second verse as the fool who hath no delight in understanding but that his heart may discover itself. (If he seeks knowledge at all, it is neither for its own sake nor for the purpose of fitting him for usefulness, but solely for the ends of self-displayWardlaw.) Proverbs 19:21, MSG. They bring contempt, not to themselves only, but to the places they fill, and the societies to which they become unitedto themselves, for the unworthy manner in which they fulfil the duties of the trust they have assumed, or have had committed to them; and to their places and societies, with which their names are associated. When God shall raise up our sins, like dust and smoke in the eyes of our souls when He either hides His countenance from us, or beholds us with an angry look; lo, then, if any sickness be like this sickness, any calamity like the fainting soul! He flees to it for refuge as to a strong city; but it is so only "in his own conceit" or imagination. 10 million Ukrainians without power because of Russia. Such a gift to a man is a gift for men. Sometimes family feuds have led men to resort to this terrible method of settling disputes, and men of the same parentage have fought till one shed the others blood. Verse 6. This word, falling from heaven on the busy life of man, is echoed back from every quarter in a universal acknowledgment of its justness. This scripture reveals a crook in the creature that God made upright. A little thought and observation will convince us that this is true. As expressing a need of human nature. Because his soul is in communication with an exhaustless source of spiritual life and wisdom. A moment once lost, is lost for ever. Salute thyself; see what thy soul doth wear; Dare to look in thy chest, for tis thine own. In other words, brothers are a shelter to brothers, and quarrels lock up that resort. Notice, that a brother is not only a commoner defence, but a citadel; and a bar to that keep shuts a man out of his best earthly dependence. But the grave, sooner or later, receives them both. 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