Bible Commentaries

Four proverbs of God, the disposer of all things:

1 Man's are the counsels of the heart;

But the answer of the tongue cometh from Jahve.

Gesen., Ewald, and Bertheau incorrectly understand 1b of hearing, i.e., of a favourable response to what the tongue wishes; 1a speaks not of wishes, and the gen. after מענה (answer) is, as at Proverbs 15:23; Micah 3:7, and also here, by virtue of the parallelism, the gen. subjecti Proverbs 15:23 leads to the right sense, according to which a good answer is joy to him to whom it refers: it does not always happen to one to find the fitting and effective expression for that which he has in his mind; it is, as this cog. proverb expresses it, a gift from above ( δοθήσεται , Matthew 10:19). But now, since מענה neither means answering, nor yet in general an expression (Euchel) or report (Löwenstein), and the meaning of the word at 4a is not here in question, one has to think of him whom the proverb has in view as one who has to give a reason, to give information, or generally - since ענה , like ἀμείβεσθαι , is not confined to the interchange of words - to solve a problem, and that such an one as requires reflection. The scheme (project, premeditation) which he in his heart contrives, is here described as מערכי־לב , from ערך , to arrange, to place together, metaphorically of the reflection, i.e., the consideration analyzing and putting a matter in order. These reflections, seeking at one time in one direction, and at another in another, the solution of the question, the unfolding of the problem, are the business of men; but the answer which finally the tongue gives, and which here, in conformity with the pregnant sense of מענה ( vid., at Proverbs 15:23, Proverbs 15:28), will be regarded as right, appropriate, effective, thus generally the satisfying reply to the demand placed before him, is from God. It is a matter of experience which the preacher, the public speaker, the author, and every man to whom his calling or circumstances present a weighty, difficult theme, can attest. As the thoughts pursue one another in the mind, attempts are made, and again abandoned; the state of the heart is somewhat like that of chaos before the creation. But when, finally, the right thought and the right utterance for it are found, that which is found appears to us, not as if self-discovered, but as a gift; we regard it with the feeling that a higher power has influenced our thoughts and imaginings; the confession by us, ἡ ἱκανότης ἡμῶν ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ (2 Corinthians 3:5), in so far as we believe in a living God, is inevitable.

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2 Every way of a man is pure in his own eyes;

But a weigher of the spirits is Jahve.

Variations of this verse are Proverbs 21:2, where ישׁר for זך (according to the root-meaning: pricking in the eyes, i.e., shining clear, then: without spot, pure, vid., Fleischer in Levy's Chald. Wörterbuch, i. 424), לבּות for רוּחות , and כּל־דּרך for כּל־דּרכי , whereupon here without synallage (for כל means the totality), the singular of the pred. follows, as Isaiah 64:10; Ezekiel 31:15. For the rest, cf. with 2a, Proverbs 14:12, where, instead of the subj. בּעיני , is used לפני , and with 2b, Proverbs 24:12, where God is described by תּכן לבּות . The verb תּכן is a secondary formation from כּוּן ( vid., Hupfeld on Psalms 5:7), like תּכן from Arab. tyaḳn (to be fast, sure), the former through the medium of the reflex. התכּונן , the latter of the reflex. Arab. âitḳn ; תּכן means to regulate (from regula , a rule), to measure off, to weigh, here not to bring into a condition right according to rule (Theodotion, ἑδράζων , stabiliens , Syr. Targ. מתקּן , Venet. καταρτίζει ; Luther, “but the Lord maketh the heart sure”), but to measure or weigh, and therefore to estimate rightly, to know accurately (Jerome, spiritum ponderator est Dominus ). The judgment of a man regarding the cause of life, which it is good for him to enter upon, lies exposed to great and subtle self-deception; but God has the measure and weight, i.e., the means of proving, so as to value the spirits according to their true moral worth; his investigation goes to the root (cf. κριτικός , Hebrews 4:12), his judgment rests on the knowledge of the true state of the matter, and excludes all deception, so that thus a man can escape the danger of delusion by no other means than by placing his way, i.e., his external and internal life, in the light of the word of God, and desiring for himself the all-penetrating test of the Searcher of hearts (Psalms 139:23.), and the self-knowledge corresponding to the result of this test.

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3 Roll on Jahve thy works,

So thy thoughts shall prosper.

The proverbs Proverbs 16:1-3 are wanting in the lxx; their absence is compensated for by three others, but only externally, not according to their worth. Instead of גּל , the Syr., Targ., and Jerome read גּל , revela , with which the על , Psalms 37:5, cf. Psalms 55:23, interchanging with אל (here and at Psalms 22:9), does not agree; rightly Theodotion, κύλισον ἐπὶ κύριον , and Luther, “commend to the Lord thy works.” The works are here, not those that are executed, Exodus 23:16, but those to be executed, as Psalms 90:17, where כּונן , here the active to ויכּונוּ , which at Proverbs 4:26 as jussive meant to be placed right, here with ו of the consequence in the apodosis imperativi: to be brought about, and to have continuance, or briefly: to stand (cf. Proverbs 12:3) as the contrast of disappointment or ruin. We should roll on God all matters which, as obligations, burden us, and on account of their weight and difficulty cause us great anxiety, for nothing is too heavy or too hard for Him who can overcome all difficulties and dissolve all perplexities; then will our thoughts, viz., those about the future of our duty and our life-course, be happy, nothing will remain entangled and be a failure, but will be accomplished, and the end and aim be realized.

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4 Jahve hath made everything for its contemplated end;

And also the wicked for the day of evil.

Everywhere else מענה means answer ( Venet. πρὸς ἀπόκρισιν αὐτοῦ ), which is not suitable here, especially with the absoluteness of the כּל ; the Syr. and Targ. translate, obedientibus ei , which the words do not warrant; but also propter semet ipsum (Jerome, Theodotion, Luther) give to 4b no right parallelism, and, besides, would demand למענו or למענהוּ . The punctuation למּענהוּ , which is an anomaly (cf. כּגּברתּהּ , Isaiah 24:2, and בּערינוּ , Ezra 10:14), shows (Ewald) that here we have, not the prepositional למען , but ל with the subst. מענה , which in derivation and meaning is one with the form מעז abbreviated from it (cf. מעל , מער ), similar in meaning to the Arab. ma'anyn , aim, intention, object, and end, and mind, from 'atay , to place opposite to oneself a matter, to make it the object of effort. Hitzig prefers למענה , but why not rather למענהוּ , for the proverb is not intended to express that all that God has made serve a purpose (by which one is reminded of the arguments for the existence of God from final causes, which are often prosecuted too far), but that all is made by God for its purpose, i.e., a purpose premeditated by Him, that the world of things and of events stands under the law of a plan, which has in God its ground and its end, and that also the wickedness of free agents is comprehended in this plan, and made subordinate to it. God has not indeed made the wicked as such, but He has made the being which is capable of wickedness, and which has decided for it, viz., in view of the “day of adversity” (Ecclesiastes 7:14), which God will cause to come upon him, thus making His holiness manifest in the merited punishment, and thus also making wickedness the means of manifesting His glory. It is the same thought which is expressed in Exodus 9:16 with reference to Pharaoh. A praedestinatio ad malum , and that in the supralapsarian sense, cannot be here taught, for this horrible dogma ( horribile quidem decretrum, fateor , says Calvin himself) makes God the author of evil, and a ruler according to His sovereign caprice, and thus destroys all pure conceptions of God. What Paul, Rom 9, with reference to Exodus 9:16, wishes to say is this, that it was not Pharaoh's conduct that determined the will of God, but that the will of God is always the antecedens : nothing happens to God through the obstinacy and rebellion of man which determines Him to an action not already embraced in the eternal plan, but also such an one must against his will be subservient to the display of God's glory. The apostle adds Romans 9:22, and shows that he recognised the factor of human self-determination, but also as one comprehended in God's plan. The free actions of men create no situation by which God would be surprised and compelled to something which was not originally intended by Himself. That is what the above proverb says: the wicked also has his place in God's order of the world. Whoever frustrates the designs of grace must serve God in this, ἐνδείζασθαι τὴν ὀργὴν καὶ γνωρίσαι τὸ δυνατὸν αὐτοῦ (Romans 9:22).

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Here follow three proverbs of divine punishment, expiatio [ Vershnung ] and reconciliatio [ Versצhnung ].

5 An abomination of Jahve is every one who is haughty;

The hand for it [assuredly] he remains not unpunished.

Proverbs thus commencing we already had at Proverbs 15:9, Proverbs 15:26. גּבהּ is a metaplastic connecting form of גּבהּ ; on the contrary, גּבהּ , 1 Samuel 16:7; Psalms 103:11, means being high, as גּבהּ , height; the form underlying גּבהּ is not גּבהּ (as Gesen. and Olshausen write it), but גּבהּ . In 5b, Proverbs 11:21 is repeated. The translators are perplexed in their rendering of יד ליד . Fleischer: ab aetate in aetatem non ( i.e., nullo unquam tempore futuro ) impunis erit .

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6 By love and truth is iniquity expiated,

And through the fear of Jahve one escapes from evil -

literally, there comes (as the effect of it) the escaping of evil ( סוּר , n. actionis, as Proverbs 13:19), or rather, since the evil here comes into view as to its consequences (Proverbs 14:27; Proverbs 15:24), this, that one escapes evil. By חסד ואמת are here meant, not the χάρις καὶ ἀλήθεια of God (Bertheau), but, like Proverbs 20:28, Isaiah 39:8, love and faithfulness in the relation of men to one another. The ב is both times that of the mediating cause. Or is it said neither by what means one may attain the expiation of his sins, nor how he may attain to the escaping from evil, but much rather wherein the true reverence for Jahve, and wherein the right expiation of sin, consist? Thus von Hofmann, Schriftbew. i. 595. But the ב of בחסד is not different from that of בּזאת , Isaiah 27:9. It is true that the article of justification is falsified if good works enter as causa meritoria into the act of justification, but we of the evangelical school teach that the fides quâ justificat is indeed inoperative, but not the fides quae justificat , and we cannot expect of the O.T. that it should everywhere distinguish with Pauline precision what even James will not or cannot distinguish. As the law of sacrifice designates the victim united with the blood in the most definite manner, but sometimes also the whole transaction in the offering of sacrifice even to the priestly feast as serving לכפּר , Leviticus 10:17, so it also happens in the general region of ethics: the objective ground of reconciliation is the decree of God, to which the blood in the typical offering points, and man is a partaker of this reconciliation, when he accepts, in penitence and in faith, the offered mercy of God; but this acceptance would be a self-deception, if it meant that the blotting out of the guilt of sin could be obtained in the way of imputation without the immediate following thereupon of a blotting of it out in the way of sanctification; and therefore the Scriptures also ascribe to good works a share in the expiation of sin in a wider sense - namely, as the proofs of thankful (Luke 7:47) and compassionate love ( vid., at Proverbs 10:2), as this proverb of love and truth, herein according with the words of the prophets, as Hosea 6:6; Micah 6:6-8. He who is conscious of this, that he is a sinner, deeply guilty before God, who cannot stand before Him if He did not deal with him in mercy instead of justice, according to the purpose of His grace, cannot trust to this mercy if he is not zealous, in his relations to his fellow-men, to practise love and truth; and in view of the fifth petition of the Lord's Prayer, and of the parable of the unmerciful steward rightly understood, it may be said that the love which covers the sins, Proverbs 10:12, of a neighbour, has, in regard to our own sins, a covering or atoning influence, of “blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” That “love and truth” are meant of virtues practised from religious motives, 6b shows; for, according to this line, by the fear of Jahve one escapes evil. The fear of Jahve is subjection to the God of revelation, and a falling in with the revealed plan of salvation.

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7 If Jahve has pleasure in the ways of a man,

He reconciles even his enemies to him -

properly (for השׁלים is here the causative of the transitive, Joshua 10:1): He brings it about that they conclude peace with him. If God has pleasure in the ways of a man, i.e., in the designs which he prosecutes, and in the means which he employs, he shows, by the great consequences which flow from his endeavours, that, even as his enemies also acknowledge, God is with him ( e.g., Genesis 26:27.), so that they, vanquished in heart ( e.g., 2 Samuel 19:9.), abandon their hostile position, and become his friends. For if it is manifest that God makes Himself known, bestowing blessings on a man, there lies in this a power of conviction which disarms his most bitter opponents, excepting only those who have in selfishness hardened themselves.

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Five proverbs of the king, together with three of righteousness in action and conduct:

8 Better is a little with righteousness,

Than rich revenues with unrighteousness.

The cogn. proverb Proverbs 15:16 commences similarly. Of רב תּבוּאות , multitude or greatness of income, vid., Proverbs 14:4: “unrighteous wealth profits not.” The possessor of it is not truly happy, for sin cleaves to it, which troubles the heart (conscience), and because the enjoyment which it affords is troubled by the curses of those who are injured, and by the sighs of the oppressed. Above all other gains rises ἡ εὐσέβεια μετ ̓ αὐταρκείας (1 Timothy 6:6).

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