CRITICAL NOTES.—
Proverbs 10:3. The soul of the righteous, literally, “the spirit of the righteous.” But He casteth away, etc. Zöckler and Delitzsch here read, “but the craving of the wicked He disappointeth.” Miller thus translates the whole verse: “Jehovah will not starve the righteous appetite, but the craving of the wicked He will thrust away.”
Proverbs 10:4. Dealeth, rather, “worketh.
Proverbs 10:6. Zöckler and most commentators translate the second clause of this verse, “the mouth of the wicked hideth or covereth violence or iniquity.” Stuart reads, “the mouth of the wicked concealeth injury.” Miller adheres nearly to the authorised version, and understands it to mean that “wrong shuts up all chance of feast and comfort.” It will be observed, that this latter reading renders the clause antithetical to the former part of the verse, which is not the case with the other renderings.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH— Proverbs 10:3-4
DIVINE AND HUMAN PROVIDENCE
I. A general rule. God supplies all the needs of His children (Proverbs 10:3). We take the word soul here to mean what it often does in the Old Testament, viz., the bodily life, and, therefore, understand the promise to be similar to that in Psalms 33:19, etc. God’s special providential care is over the righteous. This we should have expected if this and like promises did not exist. The animal creation, as a rule, care and provide for their own offspring. There are men and women who have fallen so low as not to care for the well-being of those dependent on them, but wherever there is any virtue left in human beings it will certainly manifest itself in making some efforts to secure from want those who are nearly related to them and dependent upon them. God has laid it as a charge upon His creatures to care for the bodily wants of their children, and He has implanted within men and women an instinct which is generally strong enough to lead them to do it. It is an apostolic sentence—“If any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel” (1 Timothy 5:8). God has taught us that the righteous are bound to Him by a closer tie than we are bound to each other by flesh and blood relationships. “For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven,” said Christ, “the same is my brother, and sister, and mother” (Matthew 12:50). He was more nearly related to His disciples than to those of His brethren who did not believe on Him. They were Christ’s “own” (John 13:1) in a sense in which other men were not, and He provided for their necessities because they held this special relation to Him. God has a general care for all that He has made. He cares for the life of the tiniest wild flower, and feeds it with light and moisture according to its need. “He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry” (Psalms 147:9). He maketh His sun to shine and His rain to fall upon the fields of the unjust, and is kind to the unthankful and the evil (Luke 6:35). Then it follows from necessity that He, the Righteous Father, will not suffer the souls of the “righteous” to famish. When ordinary means will not meet their need, He will employ special means to do so. There are many instances upon record in the history of God’s Church in which, the supply not being obtainable within the ordinary working of His providence, He has gone into the region of the supernatural for sustenance for His children.
II. Special exceptions to this rule If we understand these words as referring to the bodily life, we must admit that there have been exceptions to it. Some of God’s children have suffered from want, some have starved to death in dungeons because they have been righteous. But these special exceptions have been for special ends. Solomon’s father, when he was hunted by Saul, was doubtless often in want of food, but this severe discipline fitted him for the position he was afterwards to occupy as the King of Israel. Paul tells us that he was often “in hunger and thirst, in fastings, in cold and nakedness” (2 Corinthians 11:27), but he likewise tells us that he “gloried in tribulation,” because it “worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope,” etc. (Romans 5:3-4). Whenever there are partial or entire exceptions to this rule, we may rest assured that those who are the subjects of the exceptions have their material loss more than made up to them.
III. Special relationship to God will not secure exemption from want unless the necessary conditions are fulfilled. “He,” whether saint or sinner, “becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand” (Proverbs 10:4). If a godly man is not diligent in business, he will come to want as certainly as an ungodly one. God’s children are not exempt from the working of the natural and providential laws of the world in which they live. If they transgress any physical law, they must pay the penalty. The disregard of any such law is a “tempting of the Lord their God” (Matthew 4:5-7). And what is true of physical laws is true of providential laws. If a husbandman is ever so prayerful and trustful, he will not have a crop in harvest unless he works hard in the days of ploughing and sowing. And the most spiritually-minded tradesman will not earn a living unless he gives due attention to his business. “God’s promises were never made to ferry our laziness” (Beecher). It is sheer presumption to expect God to give us our daily bread if we neglect to do all within our power to earn it. Even in Paradise nature would not yield her treasure without diligence on the part of man. Adam was to “till the ground,” to “dress and keep” the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:5-15). And this dependence of success upon diligence is—
1. Good for the man himself. He has bodily and mental powers which cannot be developed without constant exercise.
2. Good for others. A man who does not bring all his powers into play defrauds society of the benefit it might receive from his latent abilities.
IV. When the conditions of growing rich are fulfilled by unrighteous men, the wealth attained by diligence shall be taken away by justice. Riches and poverty are comparative terms; it is certainly not true that every diligent man makes a fortune; probably Solomon means no more than that diligence always brings some amount of reward. However that may be, we must put the declaration “The hand of the diligent maketh rich” side by side with that in the preceding verse, “He casteth away the substance of the wicked.” The professional thief exercises a diligence which is not surpassed by many honest men, if by any. He deals with no slack hand, and he generally succeeds in getting rich for a time. But if he is diligent, the detective officer is vigilant, and the substance he has gathered will one day be scattered by the hand of justice. And there are many unprofessional thieves in the world who gain their riches by means quite as unlawful as their professional brethren, although they sail under other colours. Substance thus obtained is as surely marked by God for scattering as that of the housebreaker or highwayman, although He sometimes delays long the apprehension of the culprit. Against all such the sentence has gone forth, “Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown; yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and He shall also blow upon them and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble” (Isaiah 40:24). There are three reasons why wealth, which has been gathered by unrighteous diligence, should be scattered.
1. Such unrighteous dealing is a sin against God. It is a defiance of the eighth and tenth commandments, for all men who get rich unlawfully must both covet and steal. When God’s “thou shalt not” is thus disregarded, we may be certain that He will vindicate His right to give laws to His creatures.
2. It is a sin against man. Such a man’s diligence must have caused much misery to many of his fellow-creatures. Men cannot satisfy lawless desires without bringing unhappiness on others.
3. Wealth unlawfully gained is sure to be made an instrument of oppression. Wealth always gives some amount of power, and he who has trampled on the rights of others to get riches will be sure to use them for their oppression when he has obtained them. Proverbs 10:4 may be applied spiritually. If material good cannot be obtained without diligence, most assuredly spiritual blessings cannot (2 Peter 1:5; 2 Peter 1:10, etc.). It is as necessary for the spiritual powers to be kept in constant exercise, if they are to be healthy and strong, as it is for the body or the mind. The needs of others as well as our own demand diligence in spiritual things. And whatever exceptions there may be in the rule in relation to material good, this higher wealth will always be in proportion to the diligent use of means.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Proverbs 10:3. Should the wicked be permitted to hold their substance all their days, Death, that terrible messenger, shall at last drag them from it; nor shall their glory descend after them to the grave, but that wickedness by which they acquired it shall lie down with them in the dust and torture their souls in hell.—Lawson.
The substance of the wicked is “of the earth, earthy.” It pertains not to the soul, and partakes not of its imperishable vitality. O the miserable but sadly common mistake of the rich man in the parable, when he addressed his soul in terms of congratulation, as if, in the abundance of worldly good, it had got what would give it real and permanent satisfaction (Luke 12:16-21). “Casting it away” is an act indicative of regarding it as worthless. The substance of this world is that on which the hearts of the sons of men are set. But “God will cast it away.” He will not only bereave them of it—and that, it may be, suddenly—but what is there in all this substance that can avail as purchase money for the soul and for heaven? Had a man “the world” to offer, God would “cast it away.” He would say, “Thy money perish with thee!” “Riches profit not in the day of wrath.” The famished soul must then die, and die for ever.—Wardlaw.
As the end of the former verse must chiefly be understood of spiritual death, because temporarily the righteous die as well as the wicked, so, with St. Jerome, I understand this of a spiritual famine. Now, as the course that is needful to preserve the body is so to nourish it that it may neither be glutted with fulness nor pined with emptiness, but in such sort to feed it that it may still have appetite for food, the same is the care which Almighty God taketh of the soul’s health; for He so feedeth the righteous that He will not suffer them to famish, and yet He doth not so fill them as that they do not hunger and thirst after righteousness. The time of fulness is heaven, where, as there will be no danger of sickness to the soul, so no lack of plenty.—Jermin.
It might be objected, If I strain not my conscience I may starve for it. Fear not that, saith the wise man. Faith fears not famine. Necessaries thou shalt be sure of (Psalms 37:25-26; Psalms 34:15); superfluities thou art not to stand upon (1 Timothy 6:8).—Trapp.
Proverbs 10:4. “The diligent” (Hebrew, charutzim, from charatz, to cut short, or settle); those who are decisive in all things, who economise their time and means—prompt in movement.—Fausset.
Riches were first bestowed upon the world as they are still continued in it, by the blessing of God upon the industry of men, in the use of their understanding and strength.—Bishop Butler.
The Lord’s visits of favour were never given to loiterers. Moses and the shepherds of Bethlehem were keeping their flocks (Exodus 3:1-2; Luke 2:8-9). Gideon was at the threshing-floor (Judges 6:11). “Our idle days,” as Bishop Hall observes, “are Satan’s busy days.” Active employment gives us a ready answer to his present temptation. “I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down” (Nehemiah 6:3).—Bridges.
Not only will God provide for the wise, but wisdom itself is a provision. “The hand of the diligent makes riches,” even if it earn little; the meaning being that active work is itself a treasure; or, passing into the realm of piety, which is the one intended, he is a poor man who is a sluggard in his soul’s work, and a rich man who is awake and active. Our treasure is within. “My meat is,” said our Great Exemplar, “to do the will of Him that sent me.” And on our dying bed our money will be of small account, but our work will be the splendid fortune that will follow the believer (Revelation 14:13).—Miller.
The advantages of virtuous industry.
1. The industrous man performs and accomplishes many things which are profitable to himself and others in numberless respects. Let his station be never so humble, yet that which he does in it has influence more or less upon all other stations. If he completely fulfil his duty, every other can more completely fulfil his. Let the faculties, the endowments of a man be never so confined, yet by continued uninterrupted application he can perform much, often far more than he who with eminent powers of intellect is slothful or indolent.
2. He executes them with far more ease and dexterity than if he were not industrious. He has no need of any long previous contest with himself, of long previous consideration how he shall begin the work, or whether he shall begin it at all. But he attacks the business with alacrity and spirit and pursues it with good-will.
3. He unfolds, exercises, perfects his mental powers. And this he does alike in every vocation; because it is not of so much consequence to what we apply our intellectual faculties, as how we employ them. Whether we apply them to the government of a nation or to the learning and exercise of some useful trade makes no material difference. But to learn to think methodically and justly, to act as rational beings, with consideration and fixed principles, to do what we have to do deliberately, carefully, punctiliously, conscientiously, that is the main concern. Virtuous diligence is a continual exercise of the understanding, of reason, of reflection, of self-command.
4. The industrious man lives in the entire true intimate consciousness of himself. He rejoices in his life, his faculties, his endowments, his time. He can give an account of the use and application of them and can therefore look back upon the past with satisfaction and into the future without disquietude.
5. He experiences neither languor nor irksomeness. He who really loves work can never be wanting in means and opportunities for it. To him every occupation is agreeable, even though it procure him no visible profit.
6. He alone knows the pleasures of rest for he alone really wants it, he alone has deserved it, he alone can enjoy it without reproach. 7. The industrious man alone fulfils the design for which he is placed on earth, and can boldly give an account to God, to his fellow-creatures, and to himself how he has spent his life.—Zollikofer.
This rule applies alike to the business of life and the concerns of the soul. Diligence is necessary to the laying-up of treasures, either within or beyond the reach of rust.… A world bringing forth fruit spontaneously might have suited a sinless race, but it would be unsuitable for mankind as they now are. If all men had plenty without labour, the world would not be fit for living in. In every country and under every kind of government, the unemployed are the most dangerous classes. Thus the necessity of labour has become a blessing to man.… It would be a libel upon the Divine economy to imagine that the tender plant of grace would thrive in a sluggard’s garden. The work is difficult. The times are bad. He who would gain in godliness must put his soul into the business. But he who puts his soul into the business will grow rich. Labour laid out here is not lost. Those who strive lawfully will win a kingdom. When all counts are closed, he who is rich in faith is the richest man.—Arnot.