Bible Commentaries

Better [is] a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices [with] strife.

Better is a dry morsel and quietness therewith. — Though there be not so much as a little vinegar to dip in. Proverbs 14:17 See Trapp on " Proverbs 14:17 " The Hebrew word properly signifies a morsel of bread, as Rabbi Elias tells us. So, then, better is a crust of coarse bread without any other dainties or dishes - never so little, with love and peace - than a houseful of sacrifices; that is, of good cheer, usual at offering up of sacrifices. Proverbs 7:14 And hereunto Saint James seems to allude in Proverbs 5:5 .

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wise servant shall have rule over a son that causeth shame, and shall have part of the inheritance among the brethren.

A wise servant shall have rule over a son, … — God hath a very gracious respect unto faithful servants, and hath promised them "the reward of inheritance," Colossians 3:24 which properly belongs to sons. This happens sometimes here, as to Joseph, Joshua, those subjects that married Solomon’s daughters; 1 Kings 4:10 ; 1 Kings 4:14 but infallibly hereafter, when "they shall come from east and west to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven," and to "enter into their Master’s joy," "but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out." Matthew 8:11-12

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The fining pot [is] for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.

The fining pot is for silver, … — God also hath his "fire in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem"; Isaiah 31:9 his conflatories and his crucibles wherein he will refine his, "as silver is refined, and try them as gold is tried." Zechariah 13:9 Not as if he knew them not, till he had tried them; for he made them, and therefore cannot but know them; as artificers know the several parts and properties of their works. Sed tentat ut sciat, id est, ut scire nos faciat, saith Augustine. He therefore tries us, that he may make us know what is in us, what dross, what pure metal; and that all may see that we are such as, for a need, can "glorify him in the very fires," Isaiah 24:15 "that the trial of our faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though tried in the fire, may be found to praise, and honour, and glory." 1 Peter 1:7

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wicked doer giveth heed to false lips; [and] a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue.

A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips. — It is an ill sign of a vicious nature to be apt to believe scandalous reports of godly men. If men loved not lies, they wonld not listen to them. Some are of the opinion that Solomon having said, "God trieth the hearts," doth in this and the two next following verses instance some particular sins so accounted by God, which yet pass among men for no sins, or peccadilloes at the utmost, seeing no man seems to receive wrong by them - such as these are, to listen to lying lips, to mock the poor, to rejoice at another man’s calamity, and the like. Lo, they that do thus, though to themselves and others they may seem to have done nothing amiss, yet God that tries the hearts will call them to account for these malicious miscarriages.

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Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker: [and] he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished.

He that mocketh the poor, … — See Trapp on " Proverbs 14:31 "

And he that is glad at calamities, shall not be unpunished. — He is sick with the devil’s disease, επιχαιρεκακια , which Job was not tainted with; Job 31:16-40 as the Edomites, Ammonites, Philistines, and other of Sion’s enemies Lamentations 1:21 were. How bitterly did the Jews insult our Saviour, when they had nailed him to the cross! And in like sort they served many of the martyrs, worrying them when they were down, as dogs do other creatures; and shooting sharp arrows at them when they had set them up for marks of their malice and mischief. Herein they deal equally barbarous manner with the saints, as the Turks did with one John de Chabes, a Frenchman, at the taking of Tripolis in Barbary. They cut off his hands and nose, and then, when they had put him quick into the ground to the waist, they, for their pleasure, shot at him with their arrows, and afterwards cut his throat. Turkish History, fol. 756. Mr John Denly, martyr, Acts and Mon., fol. 1530. being set in the fire with the burniug flame about him, sang a psalm; then cruel Doctor Story commanded one of the tormentors to hurl a faggot at him; whereupon, being hurt therewith upon the face, that he bled again, he left his singing, and clapped both his hands upon his face. ‘Truly,’ said Doctor Story to him that hurled the faggot, ‘thou hast marred a good old song.’ This Story being, after the coming in of Queen Elizabeth, questioned in parliament for many foul crimes, and particularly for persecuting and burning the martyrs, he denied not but that he was once at the burning of a herewig, for so he termed it, at Uxbridge, where he cast a faggot at his face as he was singing psalms, and set a wine bush of thorns under his feet a little to prick him, … Ibid., 1918. This wretch was afterwards hanged, drawn, and quartered, Anno. 1571. and so this proverb was fulfilled of him, "He that is glad at calamities, shall not be unpunished."

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Children’s children [are] the crown of old men; and the glory of children [are] their fathers.

Children’s children are the crown of old men. — That is, if they be not children those who "cause shame," as Proverbs 17:2 , and who disgrace their ancestors - stain their blood; if they obey their parents’ counsel and follow their good example; for otherwise they prove not crowns, but corrosives, to their aged sires, as did Esau, Absalom, Andronicus, and others.

And the glory of children are their parents. — If those children so well descended do not degenerate, as Jonathan the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh - or rather of Moses, as the Hebrews read it with a nun suspensum Judges 18:31 - and as Eli’s, Samuel’s, and some of David’s sons did. Heroum filii noxae. Manasseh had a good father, but he degenerated into his grandfather Ahaz, as if there had been no intervention of a Hezekiah. So we have seen the kernel of a well-fruited plant degenerate into that crab or willow that gave the original to his stock. But what an honour was it to Jacob that he could swear "by the fear of his father Isaac!" - to David, that he could, in a real and heavenly compliment, say to his Maker, "Truly, Lord, I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thy handmaid!" Psalms 116:16 - to Timothy, that the same faith that was in him had dwelt first "in his grandmother Lois, and his mother Eunice!" 2 Timothy 1:5 - to the children of the elect lady! … - to Mark, that he was Barnabas’s sister’s son! - to Alexander and Rufus, men mentioned only, Mark 15:21 , but famously known in the Church to be the sons of Simon of Cyrene! - to the sons of Constantine the Great, to come of such a father, whom they did wholly put on, saith Eusebius, ολον ενεδυσαντο το Kονσταντιν . - Euseb. and exactly resemble! - to be descended of those glorious martyrs and confessors that suffered here in Queen Mary’s days!

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Excellent speech becometh not a fool: much less do lying lips a prince.

Excellent speech becometh not a fool. — A Nabal, a sapless, worthless fellow, in whom all worth is withered and decayed, - qui nullas habet dicendi vires, as Cicero hath it, that can say no good except it be by rote, or at least by book, - what should he do discoursing of high points? God likes not fair words from a foul mouth. Christ silenced the devil when he confessed him to be the Son of the most high God. The leper’s lips should be covered, according to the law. The Lacedemonians, when a bad man had uttered a good speech in their council house, liking the speech but not the speaker, commanded one of better carriage to give the same counsel, and then they made use of it. Odi hominem; ignava opera, philosopha sententia. The people of Rome sware they would not believe Carbo though he sware. Liv.

Much less do lying lips a prince. — Or any ingenuous man, as some render it. A prince’s bare word should be better security than another man’s oath, said Alphonsns, King of Arragon. When Amurath, the great Turk, was exhorted by his cruel son, Mohammed, to break his faith with the inhabitants of Sfetigrade, in Epirus, he would not listen, saying, "That he which was desirous to be great among men, must either be indeed faithful of his word and promise, or at least seem to be so." Turkish History, fol. 321. - thereby to gain the minds of the people, who naturally abhor the government of a faithless and cruel prince. What a foul blur was that to Christian religion, that Ladislaus King of Hungary should, by the persuasion of the Pope’s envoy, break his oath given to this Amurath at the great battle of Varna, and thereby open the mouth of that dead dog to rail upon Jesus Christ! Turkish History, fol. 291. And how will the Papists ever be able to wipe off from their religion that stain that lies upon it ever since the Emperor Sigismund, by the consent and advice of the Council of Constance, brake his promise of safe conduct to John Huss and Jerome of Prague, and burnt them! But they have a rule to walk by now, Fides cum haereticis non est servanda: Promises made to heretics are not to be observed. And it is for merchants, say they, and not for princes, to stand to their oaths, any further than may stand with the public good. This divinity they may seem to have drawn out of Plato, who, in his third Dialogue of the Commonwealth, saith, That if it be lawful for any one to lie, it may be lawful doubtless for princes and governors, that aim therein at the public welfare. But God, by the mouth of his servant and secretary, Solomon, here assures us it is otherwise.

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gift [is as] a precious stone in the eyes of him that hath it: whithersoever it turneth, it prospereth.

A gift is as a precious stone, … — Heb., As a stone of grace. Like that precious stone tantarbe, spoken of in Philostratus, In Vita Apollon, lib. iii. cap. 14. that hath a marvellous conciliating property; or the wonderworking lodestone, that among other strange effects reckoned up by Marbodeus and Pictorius, doth possessores suos disertos et principibus gratos reddere, make those that have it well-spoken men, and well accepted by princes.

Whithersoever it turneth, it prospereth. — Most men are δωροφαγοι , and "love with shame, Give ye." Yet some Persian-like spirits there are - as hath been made good before by the examples of Luther, Galeabrius, and some others - that regard not silver; and as for gold, in such a way, they have no delight in it. Isaiah 13:17 But these are black swans indeed. The most sing, Quis nisi mentis inops oblatum respuat aurum? Who but a fool would refuse offered gold?

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