PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Expositor's Bible: The Book of Proverbs
Horton, Robert F. (Robert Forman) · 128,563 words · 191 reading sections
_Wine._
Another evil effect is that the sense of truth entirely disappears. What a misleading maxim is that of the Romans, _In vino veritas!_ While it is a fact that the intoxicated man will blab many things which were best kept concealed, there is nothing which deteriorates truthfulness so rapidly as the use of alcohol. The d…
807 wordsSECTION 122_Wine._
But, after all, wisdom urges temperance in drinking only as a part of a much larger principle. If temperance in drinking stands alone and unconnected with this larger principle, it is a blessing of a very doubtful kind, so doubtful indeed that the pharisaism, the intolerance, the dogmatism, which are able to subsist wi…
369 wordsSECTION 123Footnotes:
[544] Prov. xxi. 17. [545] Prov. xxxi. 6, 7. [546] Prov. xxxi. 4, 5. [547] Prov. xx. 1. [548] The difficulty of the word הַכְלִלוּת, which means "dimming," is that in the only other place where it occurs (Gen. xlix. 12: "His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk") the redness is evidently regar…
313 wordsSECTION 124_The Treatment Of The Poor._
"The rich and the needy meet together; the Lord is the maker of them all."--PROV. xxii. 2. "He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed, for he giveth of his bread to the poor."--PROV. xxii. 9. "He that oppresseth the poor, it is for his increase; he that giveth to the rich, it is for want."--PROV. xxii. 16. "R…
919 wordsSECTION 125_The Treatment Of The Poor._
I. Now the first thing we have to observe is that _the poor_, in the sense we have tried to define, are a special concern to the Lord. "Rob not the poor," says the text, "because he is poor, neither oppress the humble in the gate, for the Lord will plead their cause, and despoil of life those that despoil them." "Remov…
680 wordsSECTION 126_The Treatment Of The Poor._
How the scales seem to fall away from one's eyes directly we are enabled to see men and things as God sees them! The sacred worth of humanity shines far brighter than any of its tinsel trappings. We learn to estimate ourselves aright, undisturbed and unabashed by the false estimates which are current in the world. Our …
707 wordsSECTION 127_The Treatment Of The Poor._
It is the strange paradox of all selfishness that the selfish man is really quite blind to his own true interests. He most conscientiously lives for himself, and seeks his own good, but the good he sought proves to be his evil, and of all his innumerable foes he finds at last that he himself is the worst. The selfish m…
818 wordsSECTION 128_The Treatment Of The Poor._
If we look at governments, the test is practically the same. "The king that faithfully judgeth the poor, his throne shall be established for ever."[573] And it is because the Messianic King, alone of all sovereigns and governments, rightly and fully understands and maintains the cause of the poor, that He alone of sove…
303 wordsSECTION 129Footnotes:
[552] Prov. x. 15. [553] Prov. xxiii. 10, 11. [554] Prov. xv. 25. [555] Prov. xiv. 31. [556] Prov. xvii. 5. [557] Prov. xix. 17. [558] Prov. xix. 13. [559] Prov. xxii. 2. [560] "What though on hamely fare we dine, Wear hoddin-grey, and a' that; Gie fools their silks and knaves their wine, A man's a man for …
713 wordsSECTION 130Footnotes:
[565] Prov. xi. 17. [566] Prov. xxviii. 27. [567] Prov. xi. 24. [568] Can the shareholders of the G. W. R., for instance, hold themselves free from responsibility in the case referred to in the following paragraph from the _Journal of the People's Palace_? "The _Saturday Review_, always trustworthy and read-worthy o…
441 wordsSECTION 131Xxiii.
_EDUCATION: THE PARENT'S THOUGHT OF THE CHILD._ "Train up a child according to his way, and even when he is old he will not depart from it."--PROV. xxii. 6. "Withhold not correction from the child; if thou beat him with the rod he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod and shalt deliver his soul from She…
778 wordsSECTION 132Xxiii.
It is a good illustration of the unrivalled power of the parents over a man's life. "The Lord hath given the father honour over the children, and hath confirmed the authority of the mother over the sons," says Ecclesiasticus.[578] It is a rare opportunity which is given to parents. No sphere of influence which they may…
771 wordsSECTION 133Xxiii.
But again, in proportion as parents are led by the Spirit, and make their sacred charge a matter of constant and beseeching prayer, they will in their own person and conduct represent God to the children, and so supplement all the possible defects of the express training and discipline. If the command "Be thou in the f…
713 wordsSECTION 134Xxiii.
But with this modification, and substituting "wise and merciful punishments" for "rod and stripes," these teachings remain of permanent validity. Our Heavenly Father chastens His children; by most gracious punishments He brings home to them the sense of sin, and leads them to repentance and amendment.[592] And earthly …
758 wordsSECTION 135Footnotes:
The failures are numerous, disastrous, heart-breaking, but they are unnecessary. Your children are holy; they belong to the Saviour in whom you yourselves believe. Grasp that truth; go to Him in sublime faith. "Lord, it is not with Thee to save a part, to choose this one and save that. Thou wilt glorify Thyself in ever…
294 wordsSECTION 136_Forgiving._
"Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause, and deceive not with thy lips. Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me; I will render to the man according to his work."--PROV. xxiv. 28, 29. "Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thy heart be glad when he is overthrown, lest the Lord s…
806 wordsSECTION 137_Forgiving._
It needs no proof that forgiveness is better than revenge. We all know that-- "Revenge, at first though sweet, Bitter ere long back on itself recoils."[599] We all know that the immediate effect of forgiving our enemy is a sweet flow of tenderness in the soul, which surpasses in delight all the imagined joys of vind…
806 wordsSECTION 138_Forgiving._
Here is certainly a motive of a very powerful kind. Which of us would dare to cherish the bitter thought, or proceed with our plan of vengeance, if we remembered and realized that our vindictiveness would make our own pardon at the hands of God impossible? Which of the countless deeds of retaliation that stain with blo…
716 wordsSECTION 139_Forgiving._
Yes, it is in the atmosphere of pity that personal resentment dies away, and it is only by the power of the Son of Man that the heart can be filled with a pity large enough to pardon all the sins of our kind. It is this thought--though without any definite statement of the means by which it is produced--that finds exp…
872 wordsSECTION 140_The King._
[596] Psalm cxl. 9, 10. [597] Jer. xviii. 23. [598] Prov. xvii. 5_b_. [599] _Paradise Lost_, ix., 171. [600] Burke said of Pitt after his fall, that the manner in which he made his own justification, without impeaching the conduct of his colleagues or taking any measure that might seem to arise from disgust or oppo…
732 wordsSECTION 141_The King._
First we will review what is said to the glory and honour of the king. He comes before us as the embodiment of righteousness.[604] "It is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness, for the throne is established by righteousness. Righteous lips are the delight of kings, and they love him that speaketh right."[605] "A…
749 wordsSECTION 142_The King._
There is but one way of explaining the language before us. _It points to Christ._ In Him alone is it or can it be realized. He is the only sovereign that has any union with God which is at all like identity. He is the only Ruler who blends with absolute infallibility severity and mercy. Of what other king could it be s…
902 wordsSECTION 143_The King._
Here is the complete and absolute corruption of the Divine royalty. The description holds true age after age; suggested by the decline of the monarchy in Israel, it applies accurately to the Imperial government at Rome, and it might have been written to describe the character and the government of the Stuarts in Englan…
771 wordsSECTION 144Footnotes:
But if the heart recognises and owns its lawful Sovereign; if, captivated by His indescribable beauty and bowed before His indisputable authority, it seeks only in profound obeisance and absolute surrender, to worship and adore and serve, how royal is His treatment, how unstinted are His largesses. "Come up hither," He…
540 wordsSECTION 145_The Fool._
"As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honour is not seemly for a fool.... A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the back of fools. Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit. He …
823 wordsSECTION 146_The Fool._
First of all we may notice how difficult it is to get rid of the folly of infatuation: "Though thou shouldest bray a person possessed of it in a mortar with a pestle among bruised corn, yet will it not depart from him."[647] "It is bound up in the heart of a child,"[648] and the whole object of education is to get it o…
1,012 wordsSECTION 147_The Fool._
We are in the main obliged to leave the insensate to God and their conscience, because it is well-nigh impossible for us to deal with them. They are intractable and even savage as wild animals. "Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his infatuation."[660] They are irritated with any suggesti…
820 wordsSECTION 148_The Fool._
The offence of the fool then cannot be condoned on the ground that he is only an enemy to himself. It is his master that he wrongs. As the proverb says, "A master produces all things, but a fool's wages and hirer too pass away."[668] The fool loses what he earns himself: that is true, but he undoes his employer also. O…
817 wordsSECTION 149Footnotes:
[638] Prov. x. 23. [639] Prov. x. 18. [640] Prov. xii. 23. [641] Prov. xiv. 33. [642] Prov. xiv. 7. [643] Prov. xvii. 16. [644] Prov. xxi. 20. [645] Prov. xvii. 21. [646] Prov. xxx. 22. [647] Prov. xxvii. 22. [648] Prov. xxii. 15. [649] Prov. xvi. 22. [650] Prov. xiv. 24. This seems simpler than supposing t…
365 wordsSECTION 150_Living Day By Day._
"Boast not thyself of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a day will bring forth."--PROV. xxvii. 1. "The grave and destruction are never satisfied; and the eyes of men are never satisfied;" and LXX. adds, "An abomination to the Lord is he who sets his eye, and undisciplined men uncontrolled in tongue."--PROV. xxv…
864 wordsSECTION 151_Living Day By Day._
Now the solution of this difficulty leads us to one of the profoundest of all spiritual truths. It is this: No life can be worth anything at all apart from the Eternal God, and faith in Him. Life cannot be really lived if it is merely "a measure of sliding sand" taken "from under the feet of the years." Our swift days …
804 wordsSECTION 152_Living Day By Day._
But, on the other hand, here is one who boasts himself in God. "Lord, it belongs not to my care," is the language of his spirit, "Whether I die or live; To love and serve Thee is my share, And that Thy grace must give." The first thing that strikes you in him in his perfect peace. His mind is stayed on God. The f…
842 wordsSECTION 153_Living Day By Day._
One of the noblest examples of this service to humanity is furnished in the life and the writings of St. Paul. His personal presence became the new creation of that ancient heathen civilisation, and countless individual souls were, through the inner life which he presented, brought to a complete change and made new cre…
762 wordsSECTION 154_An Aspect Of Atonement._
And thus those who make their boast in God, and do not boast of the morrow, find that the morrow itself becomes clear to them in the light of His countenance; they do in a sense know what it will bring forth: it will bring forth what they desire, for it will bring forth their Father's will; it will bring forth the vict…
741 wordsSECTION 155_An Aspect Of Atonement._
The covering of sin[686] which is spoken of in xvi. 6 is of a very different and of a quite particular kind. Combining this verse with the others at the head of the chapter, we may observe that every effectual "covering" of sin in God's sight involves three elements,--confession, forsaking, and a changed practice. _Fi…
718 wordsSECTION 156_An Aspect Of Atonement._
The glib language of confession has been and is a deadly snare to multitudes. How easy it is to say, or even to musically chant, "We have done that we ought not to have done; we have left undone that which we ought to have done." There is no pain in such a confession if we once distinctly admit that it is a normal and …
736 wordsSECTION 157_An Aspect Of Atonement._
Now when we have lived in sin, without mercy or without truth, or without both; when our life up to a certain point has been a flagrant selfishness of absolute indifference to our fellows, or a flagrant lie denying Him in whom we live and move and have our being; or when, as is so often the fact, the selfishness and th…
755 wordsSECTION 158_An Aspect Of Atonement._
But we hesitate to admit and rejoice in this grand truth because of an uneasy fear that it is ignoring what is called the Atonement of Christ. It is a very proper hesitation, so long as we settle it within ourselves that these sweet and beautiful utterances of the Old Testament cannot possibly be limited or reversed by…
735 wordsSECTION 159_The Need Of Revelation._
[685] Prov. xxviii. 17. [686] It may be necessary to point out to the reader that in approaching the subject of atonement from the standpoint of the book of Proverbs, and merely in the expository treatment of the passages before us, the so-called objective ground of atonement in the sacrifice of Christ does not come i…
924 wordsSECTION 160_The Need Of Revelation._
But leaving the wide field of comparative religions, do we not see an illustration of the truth of the text in the European countries which are more subject to our observation? In proportion as a people loses its faith in revelation it falls into decay. This was made manifest in the experience of the French Revolution.…
724 wordsSECTION 161_The Need Of Revelation._
"In like manner we can already, to a great extent, and probably in a short time shall be able to the fullest extent to trace the whole development of life from the lowest to the highest; from protoplasm, through monera, infusoria, mollusca, vertebrata, fish, reptile and mammal, up to man; and the individual man fro…
746 wordsSECTION 162_The Need Of Revelation._
We Christians believe that we have a revelation, and we find that it suffices. It gives us precisely those assurances about God and about the soul without which we falter, grow bewildered, and begin to despond. We have a vision and a law. Our Bible is the record of the ever-widening, ever-clearing vision of God. The po…
667 wordsSECTION 163_The Need Of Revelation._
"He that keepeth the law, happy is he." It is a mournful thing to be without a revelation, and to grope in darkness at midday; to hold one's mind in melancholy suspense, uncertain about God, about His will, about the life eternal. But it is better to have no revelation than to have it and disregard it. Honest doubt is …
306 wordsSECTION 164_The Words Of Agur._
[690] Isa. ii. 3. [691] "Modern Science and Modern Thought" (pp. 289, 290), by S. Laing. Chapman & Hall: 1890. [692] _Cf._ Prov. xxviii. 4, 9:-- "They that forsake the law praise the wicked: But such as keep the law contend with them. He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law Even his prayer is an abomina…
650 wordsSECTION 165_The Words Of Agur._
Now follow two of these singular quatrains. There are four kinds of men pointed out, and held up, not to our abhorrence, that is unnecessary, but simply to our observation: the unfilial, the self-righteous, the haughty, and the rapacious who devour the poor and the needy. It is not necessary to say anything about these…
655 wordsSECTION 166_The Words Of Agur._
Lastly, there are four things which impress one with their stateliness of motion; the lion, the creature that is girt in the loins, whether a war-horse or a greyhound, the he-goat, and--surely with a little touch of satire--the king when his army is with him. Then the collection of Agur's sayings ends with a wise and …
706 wordsSECTION 167_The Words Of Agur._
And the man, considering all things, questioning, seeking, exclaims, "I am weary and faint." The splendours of God haunt his imagination, the sanctities of God fill his conscience with awe, the thoughts of God lie as presuppositions behind all his thinking. But he has not understanding; baffled and foiled and helpless,…
895 wordsSECTION 168Footnotes:
Then there is a second condition desirable for the due appreciation of religious truth, a social and economical condition. Agur might have known our modern world with its terrible extremes of wealth and poverty. He perceived how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven; and, on the other hand, how probabl…
252 wordsSECTION 169_A Good Woman._
"O woman-hearts, that keep the days of old In living memory, can _you_ stand back When Christ calls? Shall the heavenly Master lack The serving love, which is your life's fine gold? "Do you forget the hand which placed the crown Of happy freedom on the woman's head, And took her from the dying and the dead, Lift…
675 wordsSECTION 170_A Good Woman._
But we must distinctly understand that these severe strictures on woman corrupted and woman imperfect are only so many witnesses to her value and importance. The place she fills in life is so supreme that if she fails in her duty human life as a whole is a failure. In her hands lie the issues of life for mankind. "The …
820 wordsSECTION 171_A Good Woman._
At any rate the virtuous woman of the Proverbs is a wife: and the first thing to observe is the part she plays in relation to her husband. She is his stay and confidence: "The heart of her husband trusteth in her." She is his natural confidante and counsellor; her advice is more valuable than that of much cleverer peop…
688 wordsSECTION 172_A Good Woman._
The next point in the virtuous woman to which our attention is drawn is her unflagging industry. Her husband "shall have no lack of gain."[711] In addition to all those treasures of mutual love and spiritual converse, all those invaluable services of counsel and guidance, of criticism and encouragement, she is a positi…
721 wordsSECTION 173_A Good Woman._
She can, however, very easily bear the contemptuous criticisms of others. The practical results of her life are sufficiently satisfying to make her a little independent. She has secured herself and her household against the contingencies which harass other housewives. The approach of winter has no alarms for her: all t…
771 wordsSECTION 174_A Good Woman._
And is not the beauty of woman--such beauty as we have been contemplating--the result of fearing the Lord? Is it possible, apart from a living faith in a living God, to maintain that lovely wifeliness, that self-sacrificing, diligent love, that overflow of pity to the poor and needy, which constitute grace and loveline…
469 wordsSECTION 175Footnotes:
[695] Prov. xxxi. 1-9. [696] Prov. xxxi. 10-31. [697] _E.g._, בַּר ver. 2 and מְלָכִין ver. 3: _cf._ the strange expressions כָּל־בְּנֵי־עֹנִי and חֲלוֹף כָּל־בְּנֵי in vv. 5, 8. [698] Prov. xxxi. 8, 9. [699] Prov. xxii. 14, xxiii. 27. [700] Prov. xix. 13, xxi. 9, xxv. 24, xxi. 19, xxvii. 15. [701] Prov. xxvii. 1…
260 wordsSECTION 176Chapter Xi.
i.-ix. 7 7 9, 15, etc. 11-14 26, 27 13 32 17 34 19 30, 33 24-31 35, 36 25 34 31 34, 37 32 25, 34 10 25 12 24 16 24 19 34 21 37 22 33, 37 1-10 37 6 46 8 39 12 50 13-15 48 16 50 18 49 27 43 28 43 29 41 31 50 33 41 35 51 1-7 52 8, 9 55 12 64 14 56 16, 17 26, 63 18 63 19 62 20-23 57 24 …
304 wordsSECTION 177Chapter Xv.
1 163, 181 2 155 4 4, 402 5 177, 198 6 163, 169, 176 7 150, 151 8 42 9 139 11 152, 267, 275 13 152, 163, 164 14 163 15 183, 256 16 163, 166 17 91, 163, 167 18 163, 164, 167, 172 19 89, 163, 168 21 152 22 163, 168 23 163, 339 24 272 25 163, 173 26 153, 154 27 265, 273 1 125, 179, 181 2 164 3 150…
270 wordsSECTION 178Chapter Xix.
1 178 1-7 4, 216 2 198 4 201 5 151, 187 6 226, 362 7 324 8 142 9 216 11 215 12 327 13 153, 327 14 328 15 328 16 142 17 152 18 180 19 180 20 4, 179, 183, 188, 216 21 175 22 340 23 175 24 173 25 151 26 265 27 154 28 169 29 27 30 85 32 209 33 4, 217 1 143 2 184 3 198 4 177 5 143, 291, 31…
253 wordsSECTION 179Chapter Xxiv.
1 279 2 329 3 205 4 262 5 256 7 153 8 327 9 198 10 215 11 153 12 197 13 204 14 86 15 142, 176 16 80 17 168 18 256, 332 19 169 21 145 22 210 23 215 24 198 26 327 27 198 28 328 30 310 1 4, 328 2 151, 198 3 156 4 188 5 272 6 141 7 150 8 151 9 398 10 151, 179 12 155 13 299 14 138 15 1…
272 wordsSECTION 180Chapter Xxx.
xxv.-xxix. 5 2 169 6, 7 5 8 208 9 208 11 174 12 164, 175 14 180 17 244 18 167 20 174 21, 22 6, 314 23 169 24 398 26 153 28 206 1 340 2 168 3-12 341-349 10 346 12 180 13 263 14 263 15 263 16 263 18 170 19 170 20 169 21 166, 204 22 169 23-28 168 24 151 26 151 1 350 2 180 3 341 4 356 5…
252 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.