Bible Commentaries
Proverbs 14

Verse 1

CHAPTER XIV

Various moral sentiments. The antithesis between wisdom and

folly, and the different effects of each.

NOTES ON CHAP. XIV

Verse Proverbs 14:1. Every wise woman buildeth her house — By her prudent and industrious management she increases property in the family, furniture in the house, and food and raiment for her household. This is the true building of a house. The thriftless wife acts differently, and the opposite is the result. Household furniture, far from being increased, is dilapidated; and her household are ill-fed, ill-clothed, and worse educated.

Verse 3

Verse Proverbs 14:3. The mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride — The reproofs of such a person are ill-judged and ill-timed, and generally are conveyed in such language as renders them not only ineffectual, but displeasing, and even irritating.

Verse 4

Verse Proverbs 14:4. But much increase is by the strength of the ox. — The ox is the most profitable of all the beasts used in husbandry. Except merely for speed, he is almost in every respect superior to the horse.

1. He is longer lived.

2. Scarcely liable to any diseases.

3. He is steady, and always pulls fair in his gears.

4. He lives, fattens, and maintains his strength on what a horse will not eat, and therefore is supported on one third the cost.

5. His manure is more profitable. And,

6, When he is worn out in his labour his flesh is good for the nourishment of man, his horns of great utility, and his hide almost invaluable.

It might be added, he is little or no expense in shoeing, and his gears are much more simple, and much less expensive, than those of the horse. In all large farms oxen are greatly to be preferred to horses. Have but patience with this most patient animal, and you will soon find that there is much increase by the strength and labour of the ox.

Verse 6

Verse Proverbs 14:6. A scorner seeketh wisdom — I believe the scorner means, in this book, the man that despises the counsel of God; the infidel. Such may seek wisdom; but he never can find it, because he does not seek it where it is to be found; neither in the teaching of God's Spirit, nor in the revelation of his will.

Verse 7

Verse Proverbs 14:7. When thou perceivest not - the lips of knowledge. — Instead of דעת daath, knowledge, several MSS. have שקר sheker, a lie. How this reading came I cannot conjecture. The meaning of the adage is plain: Never associate with a vain, empty fellow, when thou perceivest he can neither convey nor receive instruction.

Verse 8

Verse Proverbs 14:8. Is to understand his way — Instead of הבין habin, to understand, הכין hachin, to DIRECT his way, is found in one MS. It makes a very good sense.

Verse 9

Verse Proverbs 14:9. Fools make a mock at sin — And only fools would do so. But he that makes a sport of sinning, will find it no sport to suffer the vengeance of an eternal fire. Some learned men by their criticisms have brought this verse into embarrassments, out of which they were not able to extricate it. I believe we shall not come much nearer the sense than our present version does.

Verse 10

Verse Proverbs 14:10. The heart knoweth his own bitterness — מרת נפשו morrath naphsho, "The bitterness of its soul." Under spiritual sorrow, the heart feels, the soul feels; all the animal nature feels and suffers. But when the peace of God is spoken to the troubled soul, the joy is indescribable; the whole man partakes of it. And a stranger to these religious feelings, to the travail of the soul, and to the witness of the Spirit, does not intermeddle with them; he does not understand them: indeed they may be even foolishness to him, because they are spiritually discerned.

Verse 12

Verse Proverbs 14:12. There is a way which seemeth right unto a man — This may be his easily besetting sin, the sin of his constitution, the sin of his trade. Or it may be his own false views of religion: he may have an imperfect repentance, a false faith, a very false creed; and he may persuade himself that he is in the direct way to heaven. Many of the papists, when they were burning the saints of God in the flames at Smithfield, thought they were doing God service! And in the late Irish massacre, the more of the Protestants they piked to death, shot, or burnt, the more they believed they deserved of God's favour and their Church's gratitude. But cruelty and murder are the short road, the near way, to eternal perdition.

Verse 13

Verse Proverbs 14:13. Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful — Many a time is a smile forced upon the face, when the heart is in deep distress. And it is a hard task to put on the face of mirth, when a man has a heavy heart.

Verse 14

Verse Proverbs 14:14. The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways —

1. Who is the backslider? סוג sug.

1) The man who once walked in the ways of religion, but has withdrawn from them.

2) The man who once fought manfully against the world, the devil, and the flesh; but has retreated from the battle, or joined the enemy.

3) The man who once belonged to the congregation of the saints, but is now removed from them, and is set down in the synagogue of Satan.

2. But who is the backslider in HEART?

1) Not he who was surprised and overcome by the power of temptation, and the weakness of his own heart.

2) But he who drinks down iniquity with greediness.

3) Who gives cheerful way to the bent of his own nature, and now delights in fulfilling the lusts of the flesh and of the mind.

4) Who loves sin as before he loved godliness.

3. What are his own ways? Folly, sin, disappointment, and death; with the apprehension of the wrath of God, and the sharp twingings of a guilty conscience.

4. What is implied in being filled with his own ways? Having his soul saturated with folly, sin, and disappointment. At last ending here below in death, and then commencing an eternal existence where the fire is not quenched, and under the influence of that worm that never dieth. Alas, alas! who may abide when God doeth this?

And a good man shall be satisfied from himself. —

1. Who is the good man? (איש טוב ish tob.)

1) The man whose heart is right with God, whose tongue corresponds to his heart, and whose actions correspond to both.

2) The man who is every thing that the sinner and backslider are not.

2. He shall be satisfied from himself - he shall have the testimony of his own conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, he has his conversation among men.

3. He shall have God's Spirit to testify with his spirit that he is a child of God. He hath the witness in himself that he is born from above. The Spirit of God in his conscience, and the testimony of God in his Bible, show him that he belongs to the heavenly family. It is not from creeds or confessions of faith that he derives his satisfaction: he gets it from heaven, and it is sealed upon his heart.

Verse 16

Verse Proverbs 14:16. A wise man feareth — He can never trust in himself, though he be satisfied from himself. He knows that his suffiency is of GOD; and he has that fear that causes him to depart from evil, which is a guardian to the love he feels. Love renders him cautious; the other makes him confident. His caution leads him from sin; his confidence leads him to God.

Verse 17

Verse Proverbs 14:17. He that is soon angry — קצר אפים ketsar appayim, "short of nostrils:" because, when a man is angry, his nose is contracted, and drawn up towards his eyes.

Dealeth foolishly — He has no time for reflection; he is hurried on by his passions, speaks like a fool, and acts like a madman.