Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Proverbs 27:21

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Proverbs 27:21. As the fining pot for silver — As silver and gold are tried by the art of the refiner, so is a man's heart by the praise he receives. If he feel it not, he deserves it; if he be puffed up by it, he is worthless.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

The valuable things of life (27:1-27)

Over-confidence, self-praise, stupidity and jealousy must all be avoided (27:1-4). True friends will show the inner love they have for each other by being open and honest with each other. Over-pleasantness may be a sign of a deceitful heart (5-6). Those with many possessions do not find contentment; the poor are more than satisfied if they can get what the rich throw away (7). Among the most priceless of possessions are a happy home and faithful friends (8-10).
Common sense will save people a lot of trouble and bring happiness to their parents (11-12), but those who give rash guarantees must be prepared to suffer the consequences (13). A loudmouthed but insincere friend is a curse, and a nagging wife can make life miserable (14-16). Where there is true understanding, differences of personality and viewpoint are of benefit to all concerned. Faithfulness to one another brings its reward (17-18).
The mind of a person reflects the true self. Therefore, a person’s worth must be judged by reputation and character, not by possessions or wealth. Material things cannot fully satisfy (19-21). The character of the fool is easily judged, for no amount of corrective discipline will bring any lasting change (22). Instead of thinking only of building up wealth, a person should combine conscientiousness in daily work with trust in God’s provision (23-27).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"The refining-pot for silver, and the furnace for gold; And a man is tried by his praise."

This verse is very similar to Proverbs 17:3, with this difference: there Jehovah is the tester of men, and here it is the public, or the community. Toy rendered the passage, "The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, and a man is to be estimated according to his reputation."International Critical Commentary, op. cit., p. 491.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

So is ... - Better, So let a man be to his praise, let him purify it from all the alloy of flattery and baseness with which it is too probably mixed up.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 27

Boast not thyself of to-morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring foRuth ( Proverbs 27:1 ).

Very good. This is, of course, the idea is taken up in the New Testament book of James. He said, "Go to now, ye who say, 'Tomorrow we'll do this and that and the other.'" He said, "You should rather say, 'If the Lord wills, tomorrow we will do this, that and the other.' Because you really don't know what tomorrow's going to bring. It's all in God's hands. You don't even know if you're going to be here."

Jesus speaks about the man who said, "What am I going to do? I'm increased with goods. I have need of nothing and all. I know what I'll do. I'll tear down my barns and build bigger and so forth that I may hold all of my goods." And the Lord said unto him, "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required" ( Luke 12:20 ).

So don't boast of tomorrow what you're going to do. "Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for you don't know what the day is going to bring forth." Also Jesus tells us that we are not to worry about tomorrow, taking anxious thought for tomorrow. What I'm going to eat, what I'm going to drink, what I'm going to wear. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. So don't be all worried or concerned about tomorrow or don't boast about tomorrow what I'm going to be doing tomorrow. You don't know what God has in mind for you.

Next proverb is a very good one.

Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips ( Proverbs 27:2 ).

Don't go around praising yourself.

A stone is heavy, the sand weighty; but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both. Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy? ( Proverbs 27:3-4 )

Now wrath is cruel enough. Anger is outrageous. But man, someone who's envious, how, who can stand before him? How totally devastating envy can be.

Open rebuke is better than secret love ( Proverbs 27:5 ).

And this next one also. So powerful.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of the enemy are deceitful ( Proverbs 27:6 ).

"Faithful are the wounds of a friend."

The full soul loatheth a honeycomb ( Proverbs 27:7 );

You know, if you're full even something as sweet as honey just is... I'm so full I don't want anything.

but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet. As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place. Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: and so doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel ( Proverbs 27:7-9 ).

Oh, how great it is to have a friend who will come in and give you honest counsel. There are many people who ostensibly seek counseling. That is what they are ostensibly seeking. But in reality they are not seeking counsel. They say they are seeking counsel. They come and say, "Oh, I want to talk to a counselor." Under the guise of desiring to be counseled. But in reality, they don't want counsel.

Quite often I have people come to me, and they say, "Oh, I need to talk to you." And I try to explain to them that I have very little time that isn't taken up with something. You see, in the early church they had problems that rose as the church began to grow. Because the people were bringing their complaints to the apostles and they were saying, "Our widows who are following the Hellenistic culture are being discriminated against by the men who are distributing the church's welfare program." And the pressure was to get Peter and John and those guys to come and to stand there as the widows would come in and apportion them out so that the thing would be equal.

And so the elders said, "Hey, let's appoint men that are filled with the Holy Spirit, men of good report, men who are honest, to oversee this distribution of the church's welfare in order that we might give ourselves continually to the Word of God and to prayer." So they appointed godly men, Stephen, Philip and others, to oversee the distribution of the church's welfare program in order that they might be free to do the things that God had called them to do. That is, of waiting upon the Lord in prayer, in the study of the Word, that they might be able to instruct the whole body of Christ.

Now it is wonderful that here at Calvary Chapel we've been able to establish priorities. And in the establishing of the priorities, God really hasn't called me as a counselor. He hasn't gifted me as a counselor. I don't have the patience to be a counselor, nor do I have enough understanding. God has called me to minister the Word. It would be very easy, the pressure is on me to fill up my whole calendar from nine o'clock Monday morning till eight o'clock Friday night solid with counseling appointments one after another. There are that many people who call who need to talk to me. It's urgent. It's desperate. So that I would have absolutely no time for my family, no time for the Word of God, no time for prayer, no time for waiting upon the Lord, so that when I stood up in front of you, I'd have nothing to say.

So God has established the various priorities. And people sometimes they'll come to me, "Oh, I need to talk to you." Well, we have counselors here at the church. "Oh, well, I talked to them." Wait a minute. If you talked to them, then why do you want to talk to me? Probably because they didn't agree with what you wanted to hear, you know. They didn't say the things you want to hear. So you're hoping to find someone that's going to say the thing that you want to hear. Well, that isn't true counseling. And you're not really seeking counsel if you're only seeking confirmation for the dumb things you want to do. You're not really looking for counsel, you see.

And so many people who ostensibly are seeking counsel are only seeking confirmation in the actions that they have decided upon. They really don't want real counsel as such. Yet hearty counsel is a wonderful thing. It's like perfume.

Thine own friend [verse Proverbs 27:10 ], thy father's friend, forsake not; neither go to thy brother's house in the day of your calamity: for better is a neighbor that is near than a brother that is far off ( Proverbs 27:10 ).

Now this assumes, of course, that your brother is way down some place and better to just go to a neighbor or to a friend for help than go across to the country to your brother. Neighbor that is near is better than a brother that is far off.

My son, be wise, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him that reproaches me. A prudent man foresees the evil, and hides himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished ( Proverbs 27:11-12 ).

We had basically the same thing in the twenty-second. But you remember these are proverbs that were gathered together by Hezekiah's men, and in gathering them they did repeat some that were declared earlier.

Take his garment that is surety for a stranger, and take a pledge of him for a strange woman ( Proverbs 27:13 ).

That also was an earlier Proverbs 20:16 .

He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him ( Proverbs 27:14 ).

That is the guy that's still in the sack, man. I don't want any blessings at five in the morning, you know. "I just called you up to give you a blessing, brother." Well.

In Bible college we used to have a guy that roomed in the room next to mine. And he won some kind of contest in Los Angeles years ago, a singing contest, and won a scholarship to some voice school to train him for opera. And so he was always using his operatic voice. And he had some peculiar idiosyncrasies beside that. And we used to give him this proverb because he would wake up early and decide to storm heaven with his prayers and just so loud. He was so loud; you can't believe how loud. This guy did have a voice. I mean, he was loud. And used to always, "Well, bless the Lord." Just really put the whole thing into it. So. You do that early in the morning and it really doesn't come across as a blessing. It comes across as a curse.

A continual dropping in a rainy day is like a contentious woman ( Proverbs 27:15 ).

It could be irritating and annoying, I would imagine.

Whosoever hideth her hideth the wind ( Proverbs 27:16 ),

That would be the contentious woman.

and the ointment of his right hand, which bewrayeth itself. Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend ( Proverbs 27:16-17 ).

We sharpen each other.

Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof: so he that waiteth on his master shall be honored. As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man ( Proverbs 27:18-19 ).

Like looking into a clear pool of water and seeing your reflection.

Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied ( Proverbs 27:20 ).

Very important proverb. "Hell and destruction never full, the eyes of a man." If a man is bent towards chasing, bent towards running around, he'll never be satisfied. His eyes are never satisfied. Always looking for a new conquest. Never satisfied.

As the fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold; so is a man to his praise. And though thou shouldest pound a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him ( Proverbs 27:21-22 ).

Can't beat it out of him.

Now the next five are coupled together.

Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds: For riches are not for ever: and doth the crown endure to every generation? The hay appeareth, and the tender grass showeth itself, and herbs of the mountains are gathered. The lambs are for thy clothing, the goats are the price of the field. And thou shalt have goats' milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and for the maintenance of thy maidens ( Proverbs 27:23-27 ).

So the idea is diligence in looking over your own welfare, keeping your own flocks and herds. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

3. Virtues and vices 27:1-22

Many of the analogies in this pericope deal with virtues and vices that are characteristic of the wise and the foolish.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

[As] the fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold,.... For the trying, proving, and purifying these metals; see Proverbs 17:3;

so [is] a man to his praise; or "according to the mouth of his praise" p; if his own mouth praises him, as in Proverbs 27:2;, he is known to be what he is, a foolish and vainglorious person: or "so a man is proved by the mouth of him that praises him", as the Vulgate Latin version; or "of them that praise him", as the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions; and so the Targum: the meaning is, either a man is known by the persons that praise him, according to what their characters are; if he is praised by good and virtuous men, he may be thought to be so himself; and if by wicked men, he may be concluded to be so likewise; see Proverbs 28:4; or he is known by the effect that praise has upon him; if it swells him with pride, and makes him haughty, conceited, and overbearing, he will appear to be a weak and foolish man; but if he continues modest and humble, and studious and diligent to answer his character, thankful to God for what he has, and to whom he gives all the glory, he will approve himself a wise and good man.

p לפי מהללו "ad os laudis suae", Gejerus.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      21 As the fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold; so is a man to his praise.

      This gives us a touchstone by which we may try ourselves. Silver and gold are tried by putting them into the furnace and fining-pot; so is man tried by praising him. Let him be extolled and preferred, and then he will show himself what he is. 1. If a man be made, by the applause that is given him, proud, conceited, and scornful,--if he take the glory to himself which he should transmit to God, as Herod did,--if, the more he is praised, the more careless he is of what he says and does,--if he lie in bed till noon because his name is up, thereby it will appear that he is a vain foolish man, and a man who, though he be praised, has nothing in him truly praise-worthy. 2. If, on the contrary, a man is made by his praise more thankful to God, more respectful to his friends, more watchful against every thing that may blemish his reputation, more diligent to improve himself, and do good to others, that he may answer the expectations of his friends from him, by this it will appear that he is a wise and good man. He has a good temper of mind who knows how to pass by evil report and good report, and is still the same, 2 Corinthians 6:8.