MAIN HOMILETICS OF Proverbs 12:21
ALL WORKING FOR THE GOOD OF THE RIGHTEOUS
The first clause cannot, of course, mean that nothing that appears evil—that no sorrow or loss happens to the just. Such an assertion would be contrary to other teachings of Scripture, as well as to experience and history. The righteousness of the first man who is called righteous (Luke 11:51) led to his murder. If Joseph had been a less virtuous man, the iron of imprisonment would not have entered into his soul (Psalms 105:18). If John the Baptist had been a timeserving godless man, he would not have had the bitter experience of the dungeon of Machaerus. To these men, and to all the noble army of martyrs, many of the things which happened were very evil in themselves. The Word of God likewise forewarns men that all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, that through much tribulation they must enter into the kingdom of God (2 Timothy 3:12; Acts 14:22). And every just man now living has had experience of evil befalling him in his health, his circumstances, or in some other form. But—
I. No evil shall really injure the godly man. It shall not hurt his better part, that which is the man himself—his spiritual nature, his moral character. The storms that cannot uproot a tree only make it take deeper root-hold, and so add to its strength. If it break some of the branches it makes it more fit to weather another tempest. So all the trials of the just man tend to strengthen his character by causing him to lay a firmer hold upon the things that are unseen and eternal.
“Affliction then is ours;
We are the trees whom shaking fastens more,
While blustering winds destroy the wanton bowers,
And ruffle all their curious knots and store.—Herbert.
The true interpretation of the text is found in the inspired declaration of Paul, “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). Many elements work together to produce a good harvest at the appointed time. Winter winds and snow, summer breezes, gentle rain and noontide heat, all have a part in the work. One of these agencies alone would not bring forth one golden ear, but the “working together” will cover the land with fields of grain ready for the sickle. Many and various materials and agencies must be brought together to build a seaworthy ship. Iron and wood, fire and water, men skilled in many different arts must work together to bring about the required result. And so with the just man. Manifold experiences, failure and success, joy and sorrow, make up his earthly life. Not sorrow alone, nor joy alone, would fit him for his eternal inheritance—would fit him to be presented “faultless before the presence” of his Lord (Jude 1:24). But it is the combination of both, the many things “working together,” that effect the desired good. And so no evil befals him, because all the evil shall work together with the good for his eternal well-being.
II.—The wicked man shall likewise attain to a completion of character. “The wicked shall be filled with mischief” teaches
(1) that wicked men are not so bad as they can be. Thorns and briars grow stronger year by year. Time is needed to transform the blade into the full ear. As the present season of probation is but the beginning of man’s life, we conclude that men can go on eternally progressing in the character which now belongs to them—that all their present habits of thought and feeling can become much stronger than they are at present. Therefore, a wicked man can grow worse than he is at present.
(2) That wicked men are not so bad as they shall be. If a stone is set in motion down a hill it will keep on its course unless it is arrested by some opposing force. So, unless a godless man yields to a Divine influence, and so is brought to repentance, he shall “wax worse and worse” (2 Timothy 4:13). No man can stand still in character; if he do not grow better, he must grow worse. And this “filling up” of the measure of wickedness is but the necessary reaction of his own actions. He is filled with his own mischief. As the just man’s present actions go to strengthen and develop his spiritual nature, and to complete and perfect his character in goodness, so every act of the godless man is one more link of the chain of evil habit which binds him daily more tightly, and sinks him every day a little lower in the moral universe of God.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
No “evil,” or calamity; literally nothing worthless or empty. The root means nothingness, entire vacuity. The expression, too, is peculiar. “There shall not happen to the righteous any nothingness at all.” But as several of the nouns that mean evil, through a deep philosophy, trace to the same kind of root, “calamity,” or actual evil, is the proper translated sense. No event that turns out an actual calamity can ever happen to the saint. And if anyone points to their tremendous agonies it is well enough to go back to the root, nothingness. Nothing worthless; that is, nothing that proves not so useful as to be better than present joy. Nothing not actually precious. In the whole course of their lives each is “filled” with “their own proper lot.” The wicked, if he have joys, will find them sorrows; and the righteous, if he have sorrows, will find them, not nothings, but for his eternal joy.—Miller.
The word signifies evil as ethical wickedness, and although it may be used of any misfortune in general, it denotes especially such sorrow as is the harvest and produce of sin (chap. Proverbs 22:8; Job 4:8; Isaiah 59:4), or such as brings after it punishment (Habakkuk 3:7; Jeremiah 4:15). That it is also here thus meant the contrast makes evident.—Delitzsch.
First, for evil of sin. God will not lead him into temptation; but will cut off occasions, remove stumbling-blocks out of his way; devoratory evils, as Tertullian calls them, he shall be sure not to fall into “That evil one shall not touch him (1 John 5:18) with a deadly touch; nibble he may at their heels, but cannot reach their heads, shake he may his chain at them, but shall not set his fangs in them, or so far thrust his sting into them as to infuse into them the venom of that sin unto death (1 John 5:17). Next, for evil of pain, though “many be the troubles of the righteous” (Psalms 34:19), and they “fall into manifold temptations” (James 1:2), they go not in step by step into these waters of Marah, but “fall into” them, being, as it were, precipitated, plunged over head and ears, yet are bidden to be exceeding glad, as a merchant is to see his ship come laden in. Their afflictions are not penal, but probational; not mortal, but medicinal. “By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged, and this is all the fruit, the taking away of his sin (Isaiah 27:9). Look how the scourging and beating of a garment with a stick drives out the moths and the dust; so doth affliction corruptions from the heart; and there is no hurt in that; no evil thereby happens to the just.… To treasure up sin is to treasure up wrath (Romans 2:5). “Every bottle shall be filled with wine (Jeremiah 13:12); the bottle of wickedness, when once filled with those bitter waters, will sink to the bottom; the ephah of wickedness, when top full shall be borne “into the land of Shinar, and set there upon her own base” (Hebrews 5:8; Hebrews 5:11). He that makes a match with mischief shall have his bellyfull of it (Hosea 4:17; Proverbs 14:14); he shall have an evil, “an evil, an only evil” (Ezekiel 7:5), that is, judgment without mercy, as St. James expounds it (chap. Proverbs 2:13). Non surgit hic afflictior, as the prophet Nahum hath it (chap. Proverbs 1:9); affliction shall not rise up the second time. God will have but one blow at him; he shall totally and finally be cut down at once. The righteous are smitten in the branches; but the wicked at the root (Isaiah 27:8); those he corrects with a rod; but these with a grounded staff (Isaiah 30:32); and yet the worst is behind too. For whatever a wicked man suffers in this world is but hell typical; it is but as the falling of leaves—the whole tree will one day fall on them. It is but as a drop of wrath forerunning the great storm; a crack forerunning the ruin of the whole building; it is but as paying the usemoney for the whole debt, that must be paid at last.—Trapp.
The great principle of self-preservation implanted in our nature which, puts us on our guard against the slightest inconvenience, and maketh us arm for the repelling of a single evil, fails to engage men in the pursuit of that which would powerfully protect us in the most difficult circumstances, and universally secure us against all manner of hazards. Piety alone is that armour of proof which renders those that wear it safe and invulnerable, and yet, as if the Christian were the only infidel, how few of us are so thoroughly convinced of this great truth as to pursue it with an eagerness proportionate to its value. The text assures us—That a religious life and conversation is the best security against all manner of evils. All evil to which we can be liable, may be reduced under three heads.
I. Such as are inflicted immediately by God. Here it is necessary to distinguish between such afflictions as He vouchsafeth in mercy and those with which He visiteth in judgment. The best of men are not exempted from the former, they are not always so intent upon their duty, but that they stand in need of a remembrancer, or it pleaseth God to afflict them for the trial of their faith, for the exercise of their patience, and to wean them from the world. But these are but like the more difficult talks of a discreet and loving tutor; which recommend the pupils to a higher applause and a more excellent advantage, and are, therefore, so far from doing them any harm that they ought to be looked upon as most valuable blessings. Those inflictions therefore of God, which may be justly entitled to the name of evils, are such only as He visiteth in judgment, and from such nothing can more effectually secure us than a godly life and conversation.
II. Such as are occasioned by ourselves. Many evils are the effect of sin and carelessness, and as it is the work and office of true piety to make us at the same time holy and considerate, it will evidently appear that none of these evils shall happen to the just.
III. Such as are brought upon us by the malice of men or devils. These are only tolerated by God’s connivance and permission. The devil, furious and malicious as he is, always drags his chain after him, by which he may be drawn back to his infernal dungeon, and therefore, unless He hath some such favourable ends, as I formerly instanced in His own inflictions, He will certainly keep His own out of their ravenous jaws. Shall we then neglect the only means by which we may be defended against such numerous calamities? To be just is no more than to follow after the thing that is good, and good is desirable in its own nature; we have such an inward tendency towards it that nothing which is ill can debauch our affections, but by taking upon itself the appearance of being good. If, then, a seeming good doth so allure us, how ought we to be enamoured of the real substances. Nicholas Brady.
The wicked are hurt, wounded, or grieved, by every occurrence, and nothing turns to their profit.—A. Clarke.