CRITICAL NOTES.—
Proverbs 15:25. Establish the border, or “Keep fixed the landmark.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Proverbs 15:25
DESTRUCTION AND ESTABLISHMENT
I. The character of those doomed to destruction. In looking at the trees of a vast forest, the eye of the beholder is drawn to some which, towering far above their fellows, form the most prominent features in the landscape. Yet these trees, although they look as if they would stand for ages, may be doomed to a much shorter standing than others which look more frail and are less attractive to the eye. The tree which is admired so much for its girth and breadth of foliage may contain within itself elements of destruction, and it may only need to be left to itself for a little while to come to the ground by its own weight. Every increase in its spreading foliage only renders its overthrow more certain, because the rottenness of the trunk is less able to bear the mass of branch and leaf. Or the woodman may not wait for the inevitable result—he may deem it necessary for the health of the surrounding trees that the axe should interpose and so prevent the fall. He may see that such a tree is absorbing nourishment to minister to its own decay, that trees around would utilise to sustain their healthy life. And so to prevent the soil from being impoverished by a mere cumberer of the ground, the sound of the axe and the crash of falling timber may resound through the forest. Such a tree is an emblem of the man described in our text. To him may be addressed the words spoken to the proud King of Babylon: “The tree that thou sawest, which grew and was strong, whose height reached unto the heaven, and the sight thereof to all the earth, whose leaves were fair and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all, under which the beasts of the field dwelt and the fowls of the heaven had their habitation: it is thou that art grown and become strong, for thy greatness is grown and become strong, and reacheth unto heaven,” etc. (Daniel 4:20-22). He has attained to a position of power and influence in the world, but, like Nebuchadnezzar, his greatness has only revealed a radical moral defect in his character. Like him he refuses to acknowledge that “the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men,” and that it is by His favour alone that he has attained to such a height of prosperity. He holds within him the elements of his own destruction, and time will bring about his fall without any special interposition of the Divine hand. Pride grows upon what it feeds, and such a man will presume more and more upon his fancied security, until he falls by the working out of the ordinary laws which govern the moral universe. But God does not always wait for this issue. To prevent his continuing to rob humanity of their rights, the Almighty Governor of men may anticipate the natural result by applying the axe of a special judgment, and a “watcher and a holy one” from heaven may be heard saying, “Hew the tree down and destroy it” (Daniel 4:23), “Cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground?” (Luke 13:7.) All despots and tyrants must sooner or later succumb to the operation of natural social law; those whom they have wronged, goaded to desperation by their injustice, will rise up against them and overturn them. The King of all the earth often takes the work into His own hands, as he did in the case of Nebuchadnezzar.
II. Those who are special objects of the Divine care. “He will establish the border (or landmark) of the widow.” The widow is a type of all the needy and the sorrowful of the human race. Deprived of her natural provider and protector, and her dearest earthly relative, she, more than any other, is at the mercy of the proud and selfish, and stands in need of a helper and consoler. God by the very goodness of His nature is drawn to take sides with such a one. He makes Himself known, again and again, as the judge of widows” (Psalms 68:5). The Bible contains many laws for their protection and reproaches against those who wrong them (Deuteronomy 24:17; Deuteronomy 24:19-21; Isaiah 1:23; Matthew 23:14). One of the main features of moral beauty in the Divine character is that He “delivereth the needy when he crieth,” the poor also, and him that hath no helper (Psalms 72:12), and the widow is here a type of all such. The sorrow of her who is “a widow indeed” is very deep and overwhelming, and sorrow takes away physical and mental strength. The strong and mighty God charges Himself with the care of all such spirits weakened by sorrow, and warns all the world who would take advantage of their weakness that in so doing they enter the lists against Him.
III. Because of such dealing God’s kingdom will increase and strengthen. The champions of the weak, and the opposers of the tyrants, always gain the most influence in the end. Love is the strongest influence in the world, and those who can gain men’s hearts are the real and mighty kings. While they live they wield a mighty power, and their influence is felt sometimes even more powerfully after they have left the world. Those who never saw them in the flesh, but who are enjoying the liberties which they gained for them, yield them a silent homage. And in the song which foretells the universal dominion of the All-Righteous King this is given as a reason why His kingdom shall grow and be established. “He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the rivers unto the ends of the earth. The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents; the kings of Seba and Sheba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before Him; all nations shall serve Him. FOR He shall deliver the needy when He crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper. He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their souls from deceit and violence, and precious shall their blood be in His sight” (Psalms 72:8-14).
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
From the style of the antithesis we are naturally led to conceive a special allusion to the haughty oppressor of the desolate and unprotected—to the overbearing worldling, who insolently abuses his power in lording it over his poor dependents.… We may well tremble to think of promoting our own advantage in any way, or in any degree, at the expense of the widow or the fatherless. Woe to the man who does so! God will see to it. What is so acquired cannot be enjoyed with either a quiet conscience or the smile of heaven. It is an accursed thing. It is the wedge of gold and the Babylonish garment, by which the blessing of righteousness and mercy is turned away.—Wardlaw.
“The house” i.e., every interest (chap. Proverbs 14:1). “Destroy,” or pull down; because even worldly men have noticed the precariousness of pride. “The widow:” even worldly eyes have noticed that these are wards of the Almighty. But Solomon adopts each proverb spiritually. “The proud” is the man too well satisfied in his own mind (chap. Proverbs 21:24) to utter the good word, and have joy (Proverbs 15:23); and the “widow” is the poor in heart, who is ready with the availing answer, “Lord, I believe.”—Miller.
God abhors pride even in them whom He dearly loves, and shows His resentment of it by humbling providences, that remove man from his purpose, and hide pride from man. David was proud of the vast numbers of his subjects, but God soon showed him that great hosts save not a king, and that three days may greatly lessen the numbers of a people. Hezekiah’s heart was lifted up, but he was soon obliged to humble himself, being assured that the treasures which he had so ostentatiously showed to the Babylonish ambassadors should be carried with his posterity to their own land.—Lawson.
Did He not provide for sorrowing Naomi a staff in her faithful daughter, and ultimately establish her borders in Israel? Did He not supply the pressing need of the minister’s widow (2 Kings 4:1-7), and take up the Shunamite’s oppression, and again establish her border? (2 Kings 8:1-6). And shall we forget how He teaches the returning penitent to plead the gracious manifestation, “In Thee the fatherless findest mercy?” (Psalms 14:2-3).—Bridges.
The Lord will destroy the house of the proud. He will surely unroost him, unnest him, yea, though he hath set his nest among the stars, as he did proud Lucifer, who “kept not his first estate but left his habitation” (Jude 1:6), which, indeed, he could hold no longer.… But He will establish the border of the widow. Not the rest of her goods only, but the very utmost border of her small possession. She hath commonly no great matters to be proud of, nor any patrons to stick to her. She hath her name in Hebrew of dumbness, because either she cannot speak for herself, or, if she do speak, her tale cannot be heard (Luke 18:4).—Trapp.
A young body is too often the house of the proud, where strength being the pillars of it, beauty the trimming, vanity the roof, fond conceit imagineth itself to be married to a long life, never minding the mud walls whereof it consisteth. But God, who was the builder of it, seeing so ill an inmate as pride received into it, pulleth down His own work to destroy the devil’s work, and cutting the thread of life dissolveth the marriage knot, when expectation thought it to be strongest tied. On the other hand, where affliction hath humbled the heart of the widow, and may seem to have brought her to the border of her days, then doth God establish length of days, lifting up the light of His countenance upon her when lowliness of spirit hath virtuously cast her down.—Jermin.