17 A traveller to life `is' he who is keeping instruction, And whoso is forsaking rebuke is erring.
My son! my law forget not, And my commands let thy heart keep, For length of days and years, Life and peace they do add to thee.
And ye slight all my counsel, And my reproof ye have not desired. I also in your calamity do laugh, I deride when your fear cometh,
And this same also -- all diligence having brought in besides, superadd in your faith the worthiness, and in the worthiness the knowledge, and in the knowledge the temperance, and in the temperance the endurance, and in the endurance the piety, and in the piety the brotherly kindness, and in the brotherly kindness the love; for these things being to you and abounding, do make `you' neither inert nor unfruitful in regard to the acknowledging of our Lord Jesus Christ, for he with whom these things are not present is blind, dim-sighted, having become forgetful of the cleansing of his old sins; wherefore, the rather, brethren, be diligent to make stedfast your calling and choice, for these things doing, ye may never stumble, for so, richly shall be superadded to you the entrance into the age-during reign of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
`Therefore, every one who doth hear of me these words, and doth do them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house upon the rock; and the rain did descend, and the streams came, and the winds blew, and they beat on that house, and it fell not, for it had been founded on the rock. `And every one who is hearing of me these words, and is not doing them, shall be likened to a foolish man who built his house upon the sand; and the rain did descend, and the streams came, and the winds blew, and they beat on that house, and it fell, and its fall was great.'
Incline thine ear, and hear words of the wise, And thy heart set to my knowledge, For they are pleasant when thou dost keep them in thy heart, They are prepared together for thy lips. That thy trust may be in Jehovah, I caused thee to know to-day, even thou.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Proverbs 10
Commentary on Proverbs 10 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 10
Hitherto we have been in the porch or preface to the proverbs, here they begin. They are short but weighty sentences; most of them are distichs, two sentences in one verse, illustrating each other; but it is seldom that there is any coherence between the verses, much less any thread of discourse, and therefore in these chapters we need not attempt to reduce the contents to their proper heads, the several sentences will appear best in their own places. The scope of them all is to set before us good and evil, the blessing and the curse. Many of the proverbs in this chapter relate to the good government of the tongue, without which men's religion is vain.
Pro 10:1
Solomon, speaking to us as unto children, observes here how much the comfort of parents, natural, political, and ecclesiastical, depends upon the good behaviour of those under their charge, as a reason,
Pro 10:2-3
These two verses speak to the same purport, and the latter may be the reason of the former.
Pro 10:4
We are here told,
Pro 10:5
Here is,
Pro 10:6
Here is,
Pro 10:7
Both the just and the wicked, when their days are fulfilled, must die. Between their bodies in the grave thee is no visible difference; between the souls of the one and the other, in the world of spirits, thee is a vast difference, and so there is, or ought to be, between their memories, which survive them.
Pro 10:8
Here is,
Pro 10:9
We are here told, and we may depend upon it,
Pro 10:10
Mischief is here said to attend,
Pro 10:11
See here,
Pro 10:12
Here is,
Pro 10:13
Observe,
Pro 10:14
Observe,
Pro 10:15
This may be taken two ways:-
Pro 10:16
Solomon here confirms what his father had said (Ps. 37:16), A little that a righteous man has is better than the riches of many wicked.
Pro 10:17
See here,
Pro 10:18
Observe here, Malice is folly and wickedness.
Pro 10:19
We are here admonished concerning the government of the tongue, that necessary duty of a Christian.
Pro 10:20-21
We are here taught how to value men, not by their wealth and preferment in the world, but by their virtue.
Pro 10:22
Worldly wealth is that which most men have their hearts very much upon, but they generally mistake both in the nature of the thing they desire and in the way by which they hope to obtain it; we are therefore told here,
Pro 10:23
Here is,
Pro 10:24-25
It is here said, and said again, to the righteous, that it shall be well with them, and to the wicked, Woe to them; and these are set the one over against the other, for their mutual illustration.
Pro 10:26
Observe,
Pro 10:27-28
Observe,
Pro 10:29-30
These two verses are to the same purport with those next before, intimating the happiness of the godly and the misery of the wicked; it is necessary that this be inculcated upon us, so loth are we to believe and consider it.
Pro 10:31-32
Here, as before, men are judged of, and, accordingly, are justified or condemned, by their words, Mt. 12:37.