The weakness and need, the dangers and difficulties, as well as the helps, of man are here remarkably set out.
“He that giveth answer before he heareth, it [is] folly and shame to him.
The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear (or, raise up)?
The heart of the intelligent getteth knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge.
A man's gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men.
He that pleadeth first in his own cause [seemeth] just; but his neighbor cometh and searcheth him.
The lot causeth contentions to cease, and parteth between the mighty.
A brother offended (or, injured) is [harder to be won] than a strong city; and contentions [are] as the bars of a castle.
A man's belly is satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; with the increase of his lips is he satisfied.
Death and life [are] in the power of the tongue; and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
[Whoso] findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favor from Jehovah.
The poor speaketh supplications, but the rich answereth roughly.
A man of friends cometh to ruin; but there is a lover sticking closer than a brother” (vers. 13-24).
Haste or vanity leads men to confide in themselves and to slight what others have to say. Thus it is that they get the discredit of folly and shame to their surprise and pain.
When one is enabled to bear up courageously in conscious integrity, it is all well; but when the spirit is broken, despair is apt to ensue, and all is over, while that lasts.
Everyone can see that those who lack intelligence ought to get knowledge, and that the unwise should seek it. But in truth the reverse is the fact as here. The intelligent have it at heart to get knowledge, as the wise do seek it. So the Lord assured when here: Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. Who seeks of God in vain for our real good?
But now we hear of the way of a man with men, and without God, as we heard in the chapter before. Gifts go far with most, and make way for the least honorable before great men, who are often, like those who court them, neither good nor wise. There are marked exceptions.
The next apothegm is a sort of converse to ver. 13. It is a man first in his own cause: what can be plainer than its justification? But his neighbor comes and searches him; and how does the matter look then?
There are cases however where both sides have so much to plead, that a fair decision is beyond men, who if stiff give themselves over to contention, as there are those outside the dispute whose sad interest it is to keep it up. The Israelite had the resource of the lot, no matter how mighty the contenders might be; for Jehovah did not fail to decide thereby. But the Christian is entitled to look to his Father in Christ's name, and never without an answer of grace if he wait on Him. How great the value of the written word and of free intercourse (ἔντευξις) with Him who is higher than the highest!
But there is as there ever was a great difficulty here; and it might seem strange, if we were not too familiar with the fact, that it is with a brother offended. How unapproachable and unreasonable! Yes, he is harder to win than a strong city; and such contentions are as the bars of a castle. What strength is needed to break through?
“The belly” has a bad name in both Old Testament and New; but not always, as John 7:3838He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (John 7:38) conclusively proves. And so it may be here, where it seems employed in its twofold application for the innermost affections good or evil. The mouth indicates the heart, as the Lord tells us both of the goad man and of the wicked. Out of its abundance the mouth speaks. Here it is the other side: a man's inwards satisfied with the fruit of his mouth, with the increase of his lips. How weighty then our every word if we bring in God! But if this satisfies man, the child of God can be satisfied with nothing less than God's word and grace. Hence too are death and life said to be in the power of the tongue, and so the issues in both good and evil. All scripture declares it; all experience confirms and illustrates it.
Does the finding of good in a wife, in one worthy of that name, join on to this? Certainly no one has such opportunity of intimate knowledge and of giving help. She can avail as none else; and if for God, what a treasure to her husband, who might resent fidelity in another! What a favor from Jehovah!
The poor naturally resort to supplication, the rich as naturally answer roughly. Grace exalts the one, and abases the other, to the happiness of faith, and to the Lord's pleasure Who sees and weighs all.
A man who depends on many friends pays for it to his own ruin; but One is become more than a friend, a lover beyond all others, that sticketh closer than a brother. Well we know Him; yet how little alas!