Proverbs 1:29 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

For that they hated knowledge Hated the light of divine truth, because it discovered to them the evil of their ways, John 3:20; or, hated the practical knowledge of God, and of their duty to him, and did not choose That is, heartily approve of and love, the fear of the Lord But chose to walk in the way of their own heart, and in the sight of their own eyes. They would none of my counsel Refused to be guided by my counsels and precepts. Therefore shall they eat, &c. Their wages shall be according to their work, and they shall reap as they sowed, Galatians 6:7-8. They shall receive punishment answerable to their sins; and be filled with their own devices Shall be surfeited, as Dr. Waterland renders the word, with the fruits and effects of their wicked devices. The sin, which was sweet in their mouths, shall be bitterness in their bellies, and that destruction which they plotted against others shall fall upon themselves. For the turning away From God, and his counsels and ways; (opposed to hearkening unto God, Proverbs 1:33;) of the simple Of the weak and foolish, who are easily deceived and persuaded, shall slay them The evil example of such shall mislead them, and prove their ruin. But the Hebrew משׁובת פתים, rather means, the quiet, repose, or ease, (as it is rendered in the margin,) that is, the apparent happiness of the simple; of the men who have neglected my instruction, and have been so void of reason as to deliver themselves up to follow the example and advice of the wicked; shall slay them Shall be fatal to them; a sense which accords with, and is further explained by, the next clause. And the prosperity of fools shall destroy them It shall be the occasion of their ruin, by making them presumptuous and secure, worldly and proud, and forgetful of God and of their own eternal happiness, whereby they will provoke God's wrath, and bring upon themselves swift and certain destruction. Thus he answers the common objection against the fear of God, taken from the present impunity and prosperity of ungodly men.