ix. 11), even when the runners and the warriors are men after God's
own heart. Placing the words beside our experience, we learn--
+I. That when a good man gains riches through hard toil, it is by reason of the Divine blessing on his labour.+ There are among us many possessors of vast wealth who have risen early and sat up late, and eaten the bread of carefulness, but have acknowledged that, after all, it was the blessing of the Lord that had made them rich. They can point to others equally diligent, and, in some respects, superior to themselves, who have fallen in the race and have died comparatively poor. Such examples are admonitions not to trust to one's own wisdom or effort to the exclusion of the will of God. Jacob worked hard for his riches for twenty years; "in the day the drought consumed him, and the frost by night--and the sleep departed from his eyes." But he declares that his wealth was a gift from the God of his fathers--"I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth which thou hast showed unto thy servant, for with my staff I have passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands" (Gen. xxxi. 40; xxxii. 10). A good man cannot use unlawful means of getting rich, therefore he may enjoy the amount of success which follows his efforts as a token of Divine favour.
+II. That when men inherit, or become possessed of wealth for which they have not laboured, it is by the blessing of the Lord.+ The riches of Solomon were bestowed upon him without so much as the expression of a desire on his part, and were a token of the Divine approval. "Because . . . thou hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment . . . I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches and honour" (1 Kings iii. 11-13). Looked upon as God's gift, wealth will be rightly used, and will be the blessing that it was intended to be.
+III. That there is a moral truth contained here which has nothing to do with material riches or poverty.+ Solomon has, over and over again, directed his hearers to riches which are far more precious than silver or gold (see chap. iii. 14-15; viii. 11-19; also Homiletics and Comments of those verses). The blessing of the Lord is _itself_ wealth. 1. _Because it enriches us with Divine knowledge_ (1 Cor. i. 5). Solomon's knowledge was a higher kind of wealth than all his gold and precious stones, how much more a knowledge of Him whom to know is "life eternal" (John xvii. 3). 2. _Because by means of it men obtain a Divine character_ (2 Pet. i. 2-4). This wealth men can claim as theirs in other worlds beside the one upon which they now live; this is their perpetual untransferable property.
+IV. That when sorrow comes to men who have been enriched by God, it springs from some other source than the riches.+ The text does not apply in any sense to ill-gotten gain; that is dealt with elsewhere (chap. i. 19; xv. 27). It refers only to that which a man may lawfully call his own. 1. _But this may be the occasion of sorrow._ Solomon's great wealth was the occasion of sorrow, insomuch as he used it for sinful purposes, but this sorrow was added by himself and not by God. The misuse of riches, or of any other gift of God, will be followed by a penalty which will bring sorrow; but this is man's work, and not God's. 2. _Or sorrow may spring from another, and an independent source._ Sorrow in one form or another is the lot of fallen man. The incarnate Son of God was a "Man of sorrows." God-given and sanctified sorrow is often a token of greater Divine favour than temporal prosperity (chap. iii. 12). But there is no necessary connection between wealth and sorrow.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verse 22. The sluggard looks for prosperity without diligence; the practical atheist from diligence alone; the sound-hearted Christian from the _blessing of God_ in the exercise of diligence. This wise combination keeps him in an active habit; humble, and dependent upon God (John vi. 27). For, "except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it" (Psa. cxxvii. 1). . . . He addeth at least no sorrow but what turns to a blessing. Accumulation of riches may be the accumulation of sorrows. Lot's covetous choice was fraught with bitterness. . . . Gehazi was laden with his bags, but the plague of leprosy was upon him.--_Bridges._
There is no sorrow added to them which is not a blessing, and, being a blessing, it cannot well be said to be sorrow. Now thus the verse may be understood as well as temporal as of spiritual riches; for it is the blessing of God, with which sorrow cannot stand. . . . It is God's blessing alone which, being true riches, doth truly make rich. Other things esteemed in the world may be added together in great heaps of plenty; but, having sorrow added with them, they cannot be that weal of man which truly makes wealth. It is the blessing of God which, taking away sorrow, giveth true riches unto man. And, therefore, when Job wisheth "that he were as in the months past"--the months of his plenty and prosperity--it is with this addition, "as in the days when God preserved me." He desireth God's blessing with the things of this world, or else he careth not for them. For that it is, as St. Gregory speaketh, which so bestoweth the help of earthly glory, as that thereby it exalteth much more in heavenly happiness.--_Jermin._
Those three vultures shall be driven away that constantly feed on the wealthy worldling's heart--care in getting, fear in keeping, grief in losing the things of this life. God giveth to His, wealth without woe, store without sore, gold without guilt, one little drop whereof troubleth the whole sea of outward comforts.--_Trapp._
The truth here is twofold. The cord, as it lies, seems single, but when you begin to handle it, you find it divides easily into two. It means that God's blessing gives material wealth, and also that they are rich who have that blessing, although they get nothing more. . . . It is a common practice to constitute firms for trade, and exhibit their titles to the public with a single name "and company.". . . Reverently take the All-seeing into your commercial company and counsels. If you cast Him out, there is no saying, there is no imagining, whom you may take in. . . . One peculiar excellence of the riches made in a company from whom councils God is not excluded, is, that the wealth will not hurt its possessors, whether it abide with them or fly away. A human soul is so made that it cannot safely have riches next it. If they come into direct contact with it, they will clasp it too closely; if they remain, they wither the soul's life away; if they are violently wrenched off, they tear the soul's life asunder. Whether, therefore, you keep or lose them, if you clasp them to your soul with nothing spiritual between, they will become its destroyer.--_Arnot._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 23.
A TOUCHSTONE OF CHARACTER.
The painter uses the dark background of his picture to set off the bright foreground. Sunlight never looks so beautiful as when shining upon a black thunder-cloud; it is the power of contrast. Solomon in his character-painting is constantly making use of this power. He is ever setting the dark and the light side by side--making the foolish or wicked man a dark background upon which to portray the moral features of the truly wise. The fool looks more foolish, and the good man more wise, by the contrast.
+I. That which is an object of mirth is a touchstone of character.+ The fool makes sport out of mischief, out of that which does harm to his fellow-creatures, and consequently involves them in misery. If we saw a man making merriment over the burning of his neighbour's house, we should conclude that he was either a maniac or utterly without a heart. A man who realised the meaning of such a calamity, and had any sympathy within him, could but be grieved at the sight. But men find occasions of mirth in matters that are far more serious moment. The wise man tells us in chap. xiv. 9, that "fools make a mock at _sin_"--that great "mischief of the universe." The saint is made sad by that in which the sinner finds an occasion of mirth. "Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people" (Jer. ix. 1). "Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament; but the world shall rejoice" (John xvi. 20). But the fool not only makes sport _at_ mischief, it is his sport to _do_ mischief; the one leads to the other. The fool who thinks sin is a laughing matter will not hesitate to commit sin himself, or to do his brother the irreparable mischief of leading him in the path of sin and death.
+II. Men cease to make light of sin in proportion as they have "understanding."+ The text implies that a man who has any right comprehension of the end of life, the value of the soul, the reality of Divine and eternal things, will not, _cannot,_ make a sport of mischief in any shape or degree, especially of the mischief of moral wrong. A baby might laugh at a blazing house, although its own mother might be enwrapped in the flames, but this would only be an evidence of his want of understanding. Nothing proclaims a man to be a fool so plainly as his mockery of sin. A man of wisdom has too just a sense of its terrible and ruinous consequence to feel anything but sad when he thinks of it. He knows what mischief it has worked, and is working in the universe, and his understanding of those things makes that which is the sport of the fool the subject of his most solemn thought.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
The difference between the lost and the saved is, that to one it is but trifling to life; to the other it is the gravest "_wisdom._"--_Miller._
That man has arrived at an advanced stage of folly who takes as much pleasure in it as if it were an agreeable amusement. This, however, is to be expected in its natural course. Sinners at first feel much uneasiness from the operation of fear and shame, but they are hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, till at length they not only cast off all restraints, but become impudent in sin, and think it a manly action to cast away the cords of God, and to pour insult and abuse on their fellow-men. But it were safer far to sport with fire than with sin, which kindles a fire that will burn to the lowest hell. It may now be a sport to do mischief, but in the lake of fire and brimstone, it will be no sport to have done it.--_Lawson._
When a man diveth under water he feeleth no weight of the water, though there be many tons of it over his head; whereas half a tubful of the same water, taken out of the river and set upon the same man's head, would be very burdensome unto him, and make him soon grow weary of it. In like manner, so long as a man is over head and ears in sin, he is not sensible of the weight of sin: it is not troublesome unto him; but when he beginneth once to come out of that state of sin wherein he lay and lived before, then beginneth sin to hang heavy upon him, and he to feel the heavy weight of it. So, so long as sin is in the will, the proper seat of sin, a man feeleth no weight of it, but, like a fool, it is a sport and pastime unto him to do evil. And it is therefore a good sign that sin is removed out of his seat--out of his chair of state--when it becomes ponderous and burdensome to us, as the elements do when they are out of their natural place.--_Spencer's Things New and Old._
The fool is then merriest when he hath the devil for his playfellow. He danceth well in his bolts, and is passing well afraid for his woful bondage.--_Trapp._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 24.
THE INHERITANCE OF FEAR AND DESIRE.
These words treat of things desired and of things not desired coming to be possessed.
+I. Ungodly men have fears concerning the future.+ These fears proceed from a consciousness of past sin and present guilt, and prove the existence within man of a moral standard of action. In the natural world, we know that certain effects invariably follow certain causes. Sunlight and genial rain produce fertility and beauty, the hurricane and the flood leave behind them desolation. There are certain particles whose action, if diffused abroad in the air, breed disease and death; there are others whose effects are most refreshing and healthful to the body frame. Coming into the region of human action and moral responsibility, there are certain actions of men which clothe the spirit with gladness, making the soul as a field which the Lord God hath blest, and there are acts which leave behind them a sting which brings utter desolation. There are deeds done by moral agents which are followed by the disapprobation of conscience in proportion as conscience is educated by moral light, and there are those which are well-springs of joy in the human heart. It is to conscience that we must refer the fears of the wicked in relation to the future.
+II. The certainty that the fears of the wicked will be realised.+ 1. _From the inequality of rewards and punishments in the present._ There are men whose characters seem to be almost perfect who have not the reward at present which their integrity and uprightness deserve. There are many men who sit, as it were, like Lazarus, at a rich man's gate in poverty, who are much better men than the rich man himself. The difference in the character of the man who passed the sentence of death upon Paul, and Paul himself calls for a more manifest impartiality on the part of the Divine Ruler in the eternity to come. We feel certain that elsewhere a just sentence has been passed upon Paul and Nero. The inequality in the present dealings of God with the righteous and the wicked demands that in the future the "fear of the wicked shall come upon him." 2. _From the admonition of conscience._ Although the mariner's compass is sometimes unsteady, its direction is always towards the north. And the human conscience, however it may occasionally waver, points to a future judgment. It is not an _occasional_ occurrence but so _universal_ as to be a prophecy of a fact. 3. _From the necessity that God should fulfil His own appointment._ Revelation declares that, "He hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained" (Acts xvii. 31). The Righteous Judge of all the earth must keep His own appointment, therefore every wicked man must have what he does not desire, viz., a fair and impartial trial.
+III. Good men have had desires which have not been granted.+ The gratification of such desires would have been an injury to themselves and others. Moses desired to see God in the sense in which the Incarnate Son tells us He had seen Him. But if this desire had been granted Moses must have died, the Hebrew nation would have lost the only man who could lead them, and he would have missed the completion of the glory of his life (Exod. xxxiii. 20). Peter desired that His Master should not suffer at the hands of the chief priests and scribes (Matt. xvi. 21). But what a calamity this would have been for Peter himself and the human race.
+IV. But that which a righteous man desires above all other things shall be granted.+ 1. _For himself in the present life, he desires a holy character._ This he regards as the "one thing needful" above all other personal possessions. And God desires this for him, therefore this desire shall be granted on the fulfilment of the pre-ordained conditions (1 Thess. iv. 3). 2. _For the world he desires that God's kingdom may "come," that right may in the end triumph over wrong._ Now this desire also must be granted, because Christ has taught His disciples to pray for its accomplishment, and because He Himself at the right hand of God is "henceforth expecting, till His enemies be made His footstool" (Heb. x. 13). 3. _He desires for himself in the future a complete redemption of both soul and body from the curse of sin_ (2 Cor. v. 1-4). But this desire is implanted within him by that God who can fulfil his desire, and who has already given an earnest of its fulfilment. This alone is a guarantee that it shall be granted. "Now He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit" (2 Cor. v. 5). He has also the direct promise of Him who is "the Resurrection and the Life," the assurance of His inspired apostle that this desire of the righteous shall be granted (John v. 28-29; 1 Cor. xv. 49-54).
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
But _if our desires be granted,_ and even exceeded (Gen. xlviii. 2; 1 Kings iii. 13; Ephes. iii. 20), faith and patience will be tried in the very _grant._ Growth in grace is given by deep and humbling views of our corruption. Longings for holiness are fulfilled by painful affliction; prayers are answered by crosses. Our Father's dispensations are not what they seem to be, but what He is pleased to make them.--_Bridges._
The best way to have our will satisfied is to be godly. For to such there is a promise made. Wherein yet these rules are to be observed: _First,_ that our will be agreeable to God's will, the desire must be holy, and seasoned with the Spirit; and not carnal and corrupted by the flesh. _Secondly,_ that sometimes lawful desires are not performed in the same kind, but exchanged for better, and that which doth more good is bestowed instead of them. Moses desired to enter into the land of Canaan; he was denied that, but he entered sooner into the heavenly and blessed rest of everlasting life. _Thirdly,_ that we tarry the Lord's leisure, and depend on His hand, to minister, in fittest time, all those good things which our souls desire, and so we shall not fail to receive them when He seeth that they will be most expedient for us.--_Dod._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 25.
THE WHIRLWIND AND THE SURE FOUNDATION.
+I. The resemblance of a wicked man to a whirlwind.+ 1. _They are both destructive forces._ A whirlwind passes over a district and everything that resists its advance is either overthrown, broken, or made to bend to its fury. Every wicked man in his sphere is a destroyer of human happiness and of moral life, but the image is especially applicable to tyrants who have been destroyers of the lives of thousands of their fellow-creatures, and have ruined the happiness of thousands more in their unscrupulous onward march for the attainment of their own selfish ends. Isaiah describes such a one when he says, "Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; that made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof?" (chap. xiv. 16, 17). 2. _They often burst forth with sudden fury, and seem beyond the control of ordinary laws and methods of operation._ A whirlwind often descends upon a peaceful valley without any warning, and its fury is the more terrible by reason of its suddenness, and because of the impossibility of foretelling its course and where it will fall in its most destructive power. So a wicked man is a lawless man, he is not guided by principle but by passion and impulse, none of his fellow-creatures can foretell what will be his next act of violence, or who will be the next victims of his selfish ambition. It is this lawless, uncontrollable destructiveness which makes both the moral and the physical whirlwind the terror of the human race, and leads men instinctively to avoid them if possible. 3. _The triumph of both is short._ How soon nature rights herself after the passage of a whirlwind. She covers the broken rocks with verdure, the trees put forth branches clothed with fresh leaves, others grow up in the places of those which were uprooted, grass and corn spring again, and all looks lovely as before the visitation. The whirlwind "passeth," and so does the wicked man. It is soon written of him that he is "no more," and men who have trembled at his name take heart, and nations and peoples whom he seemed to have annihilated spring into existence again, and the world rights itself. How many such instances stand recorded in history from the days of Nebuchadnezzar to those of Napoleon. How many times has the experience of the Psalmist been repeated: "I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree, yet he passed away, and lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found" (Psalm xxxvii. 35, 36). How often has the world had occasion to repeat the song, "How hath the oppressor ceased! . . . The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers. He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth. The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing. Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us" (Isa. xiv. 4-8).
+II. In what respects a righteous man is "an everlasting foundation."+ 1. _His character is something to build upon._ Nothing can be built upon a whirlwind, but a substantial structure can be raised upon a good foundation. Men may build hope upon the word and character of a righteous man. A promise given by him is a solid ground of confidence upon which the heart of the brother-man may rest securely. Thus righteousness is a constructive force in the world--a foundation without which society cannot exist. Especially is this true of the ideal man, Christ Jesus. Because He is the Righteous One (Isa. xi. 4) His promises are as anchors of the soul to the children of men. In resting upon His word His disciples build upon a "sure foundation" (1 Cor. iii. 11). Upon His character rests all their hopes for their own blessedness in the future, and for the restoration of a fallen world. Every man is a _foundation_ if "righteousness" is the chief element of his character. 2. _Because for his sake the world stands._ The owner of a house may let it stand if there is a good foundation of solid rock, although the superstructure may be comparatively worthless. Our Lord tells us concerning the tribulations which he foretold, that "except those days should be shortened, there would no flesh be saved; but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened" (Matt. xxiv. 22). This teaches us that the righteousness of the godly is the power which averts the destruction of the wicked, and keeps the world in existence. In this sense, therefore, the righteous are a foundation. 3. _The righteous are an "everlasting" foundation, because righteousness is the basis of confidence in eternity as it is in time._ The blessedness of the life to come is founded upon righteousness. The Kingdom of God in both worlds is "established in righteousness" (Isa. liv. 14). The immutable character of the heavenly world is founded upon the righteousness first of its righteous King, and then upon that of His righteous servants.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
The righteous may be poor, and, in his sinful state, anything but a stately building to the Lord, but in his meanest infancy he is a "_foundation._" Very little appears above the surface. But he is a basis of all that is to be built, and that basis is to be "_eternal._"--_Miller._
The proverb reminds us of the close of the Sermon on the Mount, and finds the final confirmation of its truth in this, that the death of the godless is a penal thrusting of them away, but the death of the righteous a lifting them up to their home. The righteous who often enough perish in times of war and of pestilence; but the proverb, as it is interpreted, verifies itself, even although not so as the poet, viewing it from his narrow Old Testament standpoint, understood it; for the righteous, let him die when and how he may, is preserved, while the godless perishes.--_Delitzsch._
The continuance of the wicked is but while they dig the pit of their own destruction.--_Jermin._
The Lord will lay "a more sure foundation," and "he that believeth shall not make haste" (Isa. xxviii.16). These two promises lie together in the Scripture. When your heart's hope is fixed on that precious corner-stone, you need not be thrown into a flutter by the fiercest onset of the world and its god.--_Arnot._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 26.
THE VEXATIOUSNESS OF A SLUGGISH SERVANT.
+I. He is as smoke to the eyes.+ Smoke in the eyes prevents the accomplishment of a man's purposes, or at least it hinders and annoys him in their execution. The eye is the light of the body; if vision is in any way obstructed or impaired, delay and vexation must ensue. So the employer of a sluggish servant must be the victim of perplexity and annoyance. He sends him on an errand, or entrusts him with a work which is important should be done within a certain time. But he lingers over it until the time is long past, and perhaps an opportunity is lost which can never be recalled. Much often depends upon the performance of duties _up to time._ The want of punctuality sometimes is as disastrous as not doing the thing at all. How many plans have been frustrated, how many sufferings have in various ways been entailed upon men, by delay in the performance of duty. A master who has to depend upon a sluggard is like a man in the midst of the smoke of a burning house; he is uncertain as to his present whereabouts, and ignorant of what mishap may befal him next.
+II. He is as vinegar to the teeth.+ He is most irritating to the temper. As vinegar sours everything with which it comes in contact, so a sluggard sours the temper of those with whom he has to do, and makes them sometimes not only irritable with him who is the offender, but with the innocent also.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Does, then, the sluggard disappoint and provoke his earthly master? See that we be not such sluggards to our Heavenly Master. Laodicean professors are especially hateful in his sight (Rev. iii. 16). The slothful minister carries in a tremendous account to _Him that sent him_. No more pitiable object is found that the man who has time to spare, who has no object of commanding interest, and is going on to the end as if he had spent his whole life in a children's play, and had lived to no useful purpose. . . . Why "standeth he idle in the market-place?" It cannot be--"No man hath hired him." His master's call sounds in his ears--"Go ye into the vineyard." And at his peril he disobeys it (Matt. xx. 7-30).--_Bridges._
Sluggishness is a cutting, vexing thing. If we are Christ's, we should crucify this self-pleasing affection of the flesh. . . . It is a sin to waste another man's time, so much as to waste his property. "Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." No doubt it is the natural disposition of some people to be slovenly and unexact. But what is your religion worth if it does not correct such a propensity? . . . If any man be in Christ he is a new creature. If the new life is strong in the heart, it will send its warm pulses down to the extremest member. . . . He who is a Christian in little things is not a little Christian; he is the greatest Christian, and the most useful. The baptism of these little outlying things shows that he is full of grace, for these are grace's overflowings; and they are ever the overflowings of the full well that refreshes the desert. The great centre must be fully occupied before the stream can reach that outer edge.--_Arnot._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 27.
LONG LIFE.
This verse must be looked at--
+I. Generally.+ The fear of the Lord prolongs life because, other things being equal, godliness tends to bodily health. A good man governs his life by some kind of law, his passions and inclinations do not play the lord over his conscience and will. This has a beneficial influence upon his bodily health. He has contentment with his present lot, trust in his God amid all the anxieties of life, and hope for the future. Such a state of mind tends to soundness of bodily health, whereas the manner of life of a godless man is opposed to health and consequently to long life. If a complicated machine is permitted to work with some of its parts improperly adjusted and fretting against each other at every turn of the wheel, the friction will soon wear away the parts, and ere long they will cease to act. A soul without godliness is a complicated mechanism which has never been rightly adjusted. There is no ruling principle, no guiding hand, one passion wars against another, the man bears the burden of life alone, he is at times a prey to the fears spoken of in verse 24, and the rule of all these devils in the soul has a tendency to wear out the body before its time. This is a truth universally admitted. But the words must also be regarded--
+II. Relatively.+ That is, with a due regard to other circumstances. The length of a good man's life does not always depend upon himself, but upon the age in which he lives--upon the people by whom he is surrounded. The godliness of Abel shortened his life very materially. If his works had not been righteous, his brother would not have murdered him. The first Christian martyr met with an early and a violent death because he was a "man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost" (Acts vi. 5); and the fear of the Lord has shortened the days of millions since then. The ranks of the "noble army of martyrs" have been filled up by volunteers of every age and many nations since Stephen fell asleep, testifying to the fact that, so far as life in this world is concerned, other things must be taken into consideration
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
There is no such wholesome air--there is no such kindly physic--there is no such sovereign cordial--as the fear of the Lord. That makes the _days_ of the godly as long as the _years_ of the wicked.--_Jermin._
The righteous' days are _great_ and _noble,_ and the wicked's days are _mean_ and _small._ And this is the meaning of the Proverb. "Made little," literally, "shortened" (E.V.). We thought at first that this was decisive against our sense, and against our rendering of all the verses expounded in chap. iii. (verses 2-16). Our thought of this was increased by Job xvi. 1, and by all the expositions. But when we turned to Psalm cii. 23, our own sense was wonderfully confirmed. That verse reads, "He weakened my strength in the way; He shortened my days:" where "_shortened_" must have a sense coincident with continued living. And what that sense is, such passages as these: "Is my hand shortened?" (Isa. l. 2), "The soul of the people was (lit.) _shortened,_" "The days of his youth hast Thou shortened" (Num. xxi. 4; Psa. lxxxix. 45), and nearly all the other instances strikingly confirm. The meaning is, Wisdom makes our days grander and grander, and Impenitence makes them weaker, and always of less account.--_Miller._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 28.
HOPES REALISED AND DISAPPOINTED.
+I. The righteous man's present possession--"Hope."+ We saw in treating verse 24 that the righteous man possesses God-begotten desires, and that he has good ground for believing that these desires will be granted, therefore he _expects_ their fulfilment, and desire and expectation constitute his hope. Hope is a fortune in itself. It gives a present gladness, and therefore a present power. It is in itself a tower of strength. Nothing upholds us so surely in present difficulties as the hope of a brighter future. If in the hour of darkness a man can say to his soul, "Why art thou cast down, and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God" (Psalm xlii. 5), he holds in possession a sheet-anchor which will prevent him from making shipwreck upon the rocks of despair and infidelity. The hope of the righteous is a present salvation. "We are saved by hope" (Rom. viii. 24). It is "an anchor of the soul" (Heb. vi. 19).
+II. The righteous man's future inheritance--gladness.+ If the hope of an expected good gives gladness, how much more its realisation! A man is glad when the title deeds of an estate are handed over to him even if he cannot at once enter upon its possession, how much more glad is he when he enters into the full enjoyment of his inheritance. The righteous man's hope is a more certain guarantee of his future inheritance of gladness than the most indisputable deed ever written upon parchment. It is as we saw before (see on verse 24) an earnest of its own fulfilment. The hope begotten in the heart of a child, by the inspiration of his father's character and genius, that he may one day be like his parent, is a hope that the father himself will not disappoint. Love for his child and a regard for his own honour will impel him to do all that lies within his reach to satisfy the desire--to fulfil the expectation--of his child. If, in addition, he was able to promise the child that his hope should be realised, nothing could acquit him of his obligation to perform his promise except inability. The Eternal Father has by His Spirit and by His promise begotten such a hope with His children and "begotten them" unto the hope (1 Pet. i. 3). This is "the hope" of the righteous, and the character and the omnipotence of Him who gave it birth is a sure pledge that it shall be "gladness." Closely connected with it are the hopes of the coming of God's kingdom, and of the "adoption of the body" (Rom. viii. 23), noticed in considering "the desires of the righteous."
+III. The doom of the expectation of the ungodly man.+ If the wicked man has fears concerning the future (see on verse 24), he has also vague hopes concerning it, although his desires and expectations are chiefly in relation to the present world. As to his desires of a state of happiness after death, they are not strong enough to lead him to comply with the conditions of entering upon it. Any expectation of this nature can be based upon nothing outside himself, and it must therefore perish. His expectation of the results of his own earth-born and devilish schemes will also perish. He may apparently bring them to a successful issue, but the end will show that it is not so. If he succeeds in gaining wealth or power, he will not get what he expected out of them. Any expectation which he forms as to the overthrow of the good will meet with the same doom. Pharaoh expected to be able to retain the Hebrews in bondage, but his expectation was broken to shivers upon the shield of Eternal Omnipotence. The chief priests and scribes expected to stamp out the name and influence of the Nazarene by crucifying Him, but the result contradicted their expectations. In these instance may be seen a reflection of the doom of every expectation which is out of harmony with righteousness.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Christian! make sure the ground of your hope (2 Pet. i. 10). Then set out its gladness as becomes an heir of glory. Let not a drooping spirit tell the world the scantiness of your hope. But show that you can live upon its gladness until you enter into its perfect and everlasting fruition. Doubtfulness leaves believers and infidels nearly upon the same level.--_Bridges._
The proverb means literally--"The hope of the righteous (itself) turns to joy." Faith is the beginning of felicity. . . . The expectation or "_assurance_" of the impenitent man, even if he finds it well placed, "_perishes_" as of its very nature. "The world passes away and the desire thereof." The lost may have had all he wished, but his very wishes perish at the last day (1 John ii. 17).--_Miller._
All the hopes of the wicked shall not bring him to heaven; all the fears of the righteous shall not bring him to hell.--_Bunyan._
It would be better for "hope" and "expectation" to change places. Even the expectant waiting of the righteous is joyful at the time, and ends in joy; the eager hope of the wicked comes to nought (comp. Job viii. 13).--_Plumptre._
The wicked cannot choose but fear, and, therefore, Eliphaz says of a wicked man, the sound of fear is in his ears (Job xv. 21). And in Isaiah (xx. 17) they are compared to the troubled sea, which cannot rest. And because where fear is, it is some ease to think, if not to hope, that the evil feared may not fall upon them; this ease is taken away, for the fear _shall come_. Come it shall, as it were of itself without sending for, because it is most due unto them. An instance of this is given in those who lived at the time of building of the Tower of Babel, and who saying "Let us build it lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth," it followeth soon after, "and the Lord scattered them upon the face of all the earth." On the other side, the righteous having tasted of goodness cannot choose but desire it; and because where desire is, it is some trouble to think, if not to doubt, that the good desired may not be accomplished, this trouble is taken away, for _He_ shall give who can give whatsoever Himself will, whatsoever they can desire.--_Jermin._
Attachment to futurity has a remarkable influence on the operation of the human mind. The present, whatever it be, seldom engages our attention so much as what is to come. The present is apt to be considered an evanescent scene, just about to pass away; and in the midst of wishes and desires, of hopes and fears, which all respect futurity, we may be said to dwell. As on these the life of man is so much suspended, it becomes a material part of wisdom and duty to attend to any regulations by which they may be properly conducted. The anticipations of the _righteous,_ conducted by prudence, and regulated by piety, mislead him not from his duty, and afford him satisfaction in the end. While the expectation of the _wicked,_ arising from fantastic imaginary prospects, delude him for a while and terminate in misery. Let us consider, what we may, and what we may not, reasonably expect from the world. +I. We must not expect the uninterrupted continuance of any measure of health, prosperity, or comfort, which we now enjoy.+ +II. We are not to expect, from our intercourse with others, all that satisfaction which we fondly wish.+ . . . Such is the power which the sophistry of self-love exercises over us, that almost everyone may be assured that he measures himself by a deceitful scale; that he places the point of his own merit at a higher degree than others will admit that it reaches. . . . Were expectations more moderate, they would be more favourably received. If you look for a friend in whose temper there is not to be found the least inequality, who upon no occasion is to be hurt or offended by any frailties you discover, whose feelings are to harmonise in every trifle with yours, whose countenance is always to reflect the image of your own, you look for a pleasing phantom, which is never, or at most, very rarely, to be found; and if disappointment sour your mind, you have your own folly to blame. You ought to have considered that you live in a region of human infirmity, where everyone has imperfections and failings. +III. We are not to expect constant gratitude from those whom we have obliged and served.+ I am far from saying that gratitude is a rare virtue, but our expectations of proper returns must be kept within moderate bounds. We must not imagine that gratitude is to produce unlimited compliance with every desire we indulge, or that those whom we have obliged will altogether desert their own interest for the sake of their benefactors. I shall next show what a good man may reasonably expect from human life. I. _Whatever course the affairs of the world may take, he may justly hope to enjoy peace of mind._ This to the sceptic and the profligate will be held as a very inconsiderable object of hope. But, assuredly, the peace of an approving conscience is one of the chief ingredients of human happiness; provided always that this self-approbation be tempered with due faith. II. _He has ground to expect that any external condition into which he may pass shall, by means of virtue and wisdom, be rendered if not perfectly agreeable, yet tolerably easy to him._ The inequality of real happiness is not to be measured by the inequality of outward estate. A wise and good man is never left without resources by which to make his state tolerable. Seldom or never do all good things forsake a man at once. What is very severe of any kind, seldom lasts long. Time and continuance reconcile us to many things that were at first insupportable. III. _We have ground to expect that, if we persevere in studying to do our duty towards God and man, we shall meet with the esteem and love of those around us._ The world, as I have before observed, is seldom disposed to give a favourable reception to claims based on superior talents and merits. But, with respect to moral qualifications, the world is more ready to do justice to character. Unaffected piety commands respect. Candour never fails to attract esteem and trust. Kindness conciliates love and creates warm friendships. I have considered only what the righteous man has to hope for in the ordinary course of the world. But--IV. _He has before him a much higher object of hope, even the hope which is laid up for him in heaven; the assured expectation of a better life in a higher and better world._ Put the case of a servant of God being overwhelmed with all the disappointments which the world can bring upon him, here is an _expectation_ which will always be _gladness._--_Blair._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 29.
GOD'S WAY DESTRUCTION AND SALVATION.
+I. In common with all His intellectual and moral creatures, God has a way, or plan of action.+ A skilful artificer has a _way_ by which he brings forth a certain result in a work of skill. His way is the out-come of his previous thought and purpose; he does not go about his work in uncertainty as to what he is going to do, or how he is going to do it. The architect proceeds to erect his building in accordance with a certain plan, in a certain _way_ before determined on. The public instructor has _ways_ of teaching which are the out-come of previous thought; he would otherwise work at random. Those who are leaders of others must think and teach within the limits of certain rules, in pursuance of some definite end, otherwise there could be no result from their teaching. God, the skilful Artificer and wise Architect of the material universe, the Great Instructor of men, is no exception to this rule. 1. He works in _nature_ according to a definite and pre-ordained rule or law. All that we see around us reveals Divine forethought and intention, proclaims that the Creator works for a definite end, that He walks in a pre-arranged way. He has a way, or method, of producing day and night, summer and winter, of developing the seed-corn into the full ear, of watering the earth by clouds, and so fitting it for the habitation of men. 2. He has a way in _Providence,_ and though here it is far more difficult than even in nature to trace His working or unravel His purposes, we know that He works in accordance with a definite plan for the accomplishment of a certain purpose, and that there is nothing of chance in the mysteries of life. A child may look on while his father is putting together the works of a watch, he cannot judge of the adaptation of certain processes and actions, but he knows that his father has made many watches before, and he judges from what _has been,_ of what _is,_ and what _shall be._ And so with God's way of providence, we cannot trace the way of His operation, we cannot see the issue of His actions while He is at work. The workings are too complicated for us to trace the adaptation of the means to the end. But from past results we conclude what will be the issue of His present dealings, from what _has been_ we know what _shall be,_ viz., that all will be seen to be part of a great plan or way of action, and that the verdict of the universe at last will be, "just and true are Thy ways, Thou king of saints" (Rev. xv. 3). Clouds and darkness have been around God's working in the past, but righteousness and justice have come out of the darkness, and so we know it ever shall be. 3. God has a _way_ of grace. Here His way is a way of forgiveness through a Divine Atoner, and of sanctification through a Divine Spirit, meeting human need if that human need is felt and confessed. The need of a man who has broken God's law must be felt and acknowledged before the way of forgiveness and restoration is brought into operation. This is the law by which men are loosed from the bonds of sin, "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them" (2 Cor. v. 19). This is Jehovah's "way of salvation."
+II. The opposite effects of the Divine way upon opposite characters.+ "The way of the Lord is _strength_ to the upright, but _destruction_ to the workers of iniquity" (see Critical Notes). All men who are not numbered with the "upright," whose moral nature has not been lifted up by contact with the Divine, are "workers of iniquity." Dr. David Thomas says of iniquity, "The word is negative--the want of equity. Men will be damned not merely for doing wrong, but for not doing the right" (see "The Practical Philosopher," p. 132). We take the words therefore to signify the two great classes into which Christ divides the world, "He that believeth and he that believeth not" (John iii. 18), and consider the different effect upon these two opposite characters of--1. _Jehovah's way of nature._ To the upright there comes strength from the contemplation of God as revealed in His material works. He feels that God is a necessity to account for what he sees around him. All created things speak to him of the wisdom, the power, and the goodness of their Maker and Upholder, and his faith is strengthened by this manifestation of "the way of the Lord." He obeys the injunction of the prophet, "_Lift up your eyes on high and behold, who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number; He callest them all by names, by the greatness of His might, for He is strong in power, not one faileth._" And thence he draws the prophet's argument, "_That the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary,_" that "_He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength,_" and in thus "_waiting upon the Lord_" he "_renews his strength,_" he "_runs and is not weary, he walks and does not faint_" (Isa. xl. 26-31). But how different is the effect of the works of nature, when the God of nature is not acknowledged. They harden men in materialism, God's own laws are used to bow Him out of His own universe, and their working becomes so many forces of destruction because they drive men further from their only hope and help. As Paul tells us, such men "_hold_ (back) _the truth in_ (or, by) _unrighteousness, because that which may be known of God is manifest in_ (or, to) _them; for God hath showed it to them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His Eternal Power and Godhead._" But, "_professing themselves wise, they became fools, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator_" (see Rom. i. 18-32). This is destruction to any man. 2. _Of Jehovah's way of providence._ Faith in a personal God, in a Divine Saviour, makes this "way" also "strength to the upright." If a seaman has faith in his captain, this gives him strength for his duty even in the roughest weather. He feels that he is not altogether left to the mercy of the blind elements, but that there is a strong and wise will guiding the ship. So confidence in an All-wise Father, in a King who "can do no wrong," is the stronghold of the upright amidst all the apparent contradictions and mysteries of life. He knows who is at the wheel of all human affairs, that
"When He folds the cloud about Him, Firm within it stands His throne;"
and the knowledge that "God is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all," makes what would otherwise overwhelm him in Doubt, and consequently in weakness, a source of strength, a power of life. But where God is not known, this confidence is absent, and nothing but chance, or an arbitrary Judge, sits upon the throne of the Universe. The terrible perplexities of life are like the rings of the wheels in Ezekiel's vision, "so high that they are dreadful," and, as such a man does not discern above them the "man upon the throne" (Ezek.