CRITICAL NOTES.—
Proverbs 15:33. Instruction of wisdom, rather a discipline of wisdom,” or “a training to wisdom.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Proverbs 15:31-33
HOW TO GIVE AND TAKE REPROOF
I. Reproof is good when it is given with a good intention and when it is given wisely. Those who undertake to handle the amputating knife should be men who are intent upon the healing of the patient, and must also know where to cut and how much to cut, otherwise the operation may tend to death rather than to life. The reprover, if he would administer a “reproof of life,” must be wise and kind. He must desire to do good to the man whom he reproves, he must know how to administer the reproof, and must leave off reproving as soon as the necessary wound has been inflicted; if he does not, he may injure the soul instead of destroying the sin.
II. He who takes such reproof displays the highest wisdom and the truest humility. We admire the fortitude of a man who will bear without a murmur a painful operation for the sake of the good that will come to him afterwards. We praise him for the pluck and courage which he shows in enduring bravely, that which we know gives him intense pain of body. And we ought to give as much praise to him who will submit to reproof in a spirit of humility, for there is nothing which is more unpalatable or painful to a man’s spirit. Nothing is a surer sign of true wisdom than such submission.
III. He who will not submit to such reproof can never attain to true honour. There can be no honour where there is ignorance, and there can be no knowledge where there is an unwillingness to receive reproof. The greatest kings and statesmen, who are now enthroned by the honour and submission of millions of their fellow-creatures, had once to submit to the instruction of their nurses and tutors. There is no honour in holding a high position unless he who holds it knows how to fill it worthily; and such knowledge can only be acquired by stooping not only to instruction but to reproof, which is always a necessary element of instruction. (For fuller treatment of the subject of these verses, see Homiletics on Chapter s Proverbs 3:11-12; Proverbs 12:1; Proverbs 13:18; Proverbs 15:10. Pages 247, 323, 410, etc.).
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Proverbs 15:31. There is a reproof not of life, but of death, when hatred seeketh disgrace or ruin by it, and when it is used, as St. Bernard speaketh, not to instruction in the spirit of meekness, but to destruction in the spirit of fury. When it is reproach, and not reproof, it amendeth not, but hardeneth the offender in his wickedness. But with the wise there is the reproof, not of death, but of life; that is, direction unto a virtuous life, and teaching true wisdom, which is the life of the soul. The words of the wise, saith the Preacher, are as nails fastened: for as nails are driven in, but it is not so much to make a hole as to fasten and strengthen; so the words of the wise in reproof do pierce, but it is not so much to wound, as to fasten their reproof, and to give strength unto it.—Jermin.
Oh, it is a blessed thing to have others tell us of our faults, and as it were to pull us out of the fire with violence, as Jude speaks; rather to pull us out with violence, with sharp rebukes, than we should perish in our sins. If a man be to weed his ground, he sees need of the benefit of others; if a man be to demolish his house, he will be thankful to others for their help; so he that is to pull down his corruption, that old house, he should be thankful to others that will tell him, “This is rotten, and this is to blame;” who, if he be not thankful for seasonable reproof, he knows not what self-judging means. If any man be so uncivil when a man shows him a spot on his garment to grow choleric, will we not judge him to be an unreasonable man? And so when a man shall be told, “This will hinder your comfort another day;” if men were not spiritually besotted, would they swell and be angry against such a man?—Sibbes.
Proverbs 15:32. Wilt thou destroy that for which Christ died? (1 Corinthians 8:11). What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? There is no great matter in the earth but man; nothing great in man but his soul, saith Faverinus. “Whose image and superscription is it” but God’s? “Give,” therefore, “to God the things that are God’s,” by delivering it up to discipline.… “Suffer,” saith the great apostle, “the word of exhortation;” suffer them in God’s name, sharp though they be, and set on with some more than ordinary earnestness. Better it is that the vine should bleed, than die. Certes, “When the Lord shall have done to you all the good that He hath spoken concerning you, and hath brought you to His kingdom, this shall be no grief unto you, nor offence of heart,” as He said in a like case (1 Samuel 25:30-31), that you have hearkened to instruction, and been bettered by reproof.—Trapp.
There are two things that cause men to rage against reproof.
1. Guilt of the sin objected. Guilt makes men angry when they are searched, and, like horses that are galled, to kick if they be but touched. The mildest waters are troublesome to sore eyes. There is scarce a more probable sign that the crime objected is true than wrath and bitterness against the person that charges, us with it.
2. Love to sin makes men impatient under reproof. When a person’s sin is to him as “the apple of his eye,” no wonder that he be offended at any that touch it.—Swinnock.
Proverbs 15:33. Abigail was not made David’s wife till she thought it honour enough to wash the feet of the meanest of David’s servants (1 Samuel 25:40). Moses must be forty years a stranger in Midian before he become king in Jeshurun.… Luther observed that ever, for most part, before God set him upon any special service for the good of the Church he had some sore fit of sickness. Surely as the lower the ebb the higher the tide; so the lower any descend in humiliation the higher they shall ascend in exaltation; the lower this foundation of humility is laid the higher shall the roof of honour be overlaid.—Trapp.
Not only doth humility go before honour in the course of things, but is also before honour in the dignity and excellency of it. So that when humility hath brought a man to honour even then his greatest honour is humility.—Jermin.
“Reproof,” which has been twice used, and “instruction,” or rather discipline, which is now made to balance it in these last important texts, have a respect of painfulness: and Solomon, in this verse, tempers that pain, by showing what discipline really is:—“The fear of Jehovah.” “Fear hath torment,” says the apostle John (1 John 4:18). That fear is not altogether the fear of our text, but is a part of it. I do not remember the fear of the Almighty as a title applied in heaven. “The fear of Jehovah” has some particle of painfulness; and that painfulness makes it of the nature of “discipline.” The best discipline of the saints is the abiding fear of the Almighty. The proverb seems to imply that it will not last always; that it is painful; and that we shall not continue pained; that it is necessary for us to be under just that gentle sort of discipline that fear can give while we are in this world. And that necessity he states, in that “before glory is affliction.” Not honour (as in the English version), so much as weight, or “glory.” Not humility, but primarily, toil; ergo, more generally, “affliction.” “We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).—Miller.
“I am not worthy,” is the voice of the saints. They know God, and God knows them. Moses was the meekest man upon earth, and therefore God is said to know him by name (Exodus 33:17). “I am less than the least of all thy mercies,” saith Jacob (Genesis 32:10). Lo, he was honoured to be father of the twelve tribes, and heir of the blessing. “Who am I, O Lord?” says David. He was advanced from that lowly conceit to be king of Israel. “I am not worthy to loose the latchet of Christ’s shoe,” saith John Baptist (Matthew 3:11). Lo, he was esteemed worthy to lay his hand on Christ’s head. “I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof,” says the centurion, therefore Christ commended him. “I have not found so great faith; no, not in Israel (Matthew 8:8). “I am the least of the apostles,” saith Paul; “not worthy to be called an apostle” (1 Corinthians 15:9). Therefore he is honoured with the title of the apostle. “Behold the handmaid of the Lord,” saith the holy virgin; therefore she was honoured to be the mother of the Lord, and to have all generations call her blessed. This non sum dignus, the humble annihilation of themselves, hath gotten them the honour of saints. In spiritual graces let us study to be great, and not to know it, as the fixed stars are everyone bigger than the earth, yet appear to us less than torches. Not to be high-minded in high deserts is the way to blessed preferment. Humility is not only a virtue itself, but a vessel to contain other virtues; like embers, which keep the fire alive that is hidden under it. It emptieth itself by a modest estimation of its own worth, that Christ may fill it. It wrestleth with God, like Jacob, and wins by yielding; the lower it stoops to the ground the more advantage it gets to obtain the blessing. All our pride, O Lord, is from the want of knowing Thee. The leper casts himself down, and Christ bids him arise. Humility is the gentleman-usher to glory. God that sends away the rich empty from His gates loves to “fill the hungry with good things” (Luke 1:53). The air passeth by the full vessel, and only filleth that is empty. This is the difference between the proud and beggars; both agree in not having, differ in craving. The proud are pauperes spiritus, the humble are pauperes spiritu. “Blessed are,” not the poor spirits, but “the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” (Matthew 5:3). Such as felt their wants sought and besought God for supply. “Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain be brought low” (Luke 3:5). The lowly mind shall be exalted, the high-towering ambitious shall be thrown down. How should God say to the merchant that glories in his wealth, to the usurer that admireth his moneys, to the gallant that wonders that his good clothes do not prefer him, “Arise!” Alas! they are up already; they were never down. A dwarf in a great throng, seeming low on his knees, was bidden by the prince to stand up; alas! he was before at his highest. God cannot be so mistaken as to encourage their standing up who never yet had the manners to cast themselves down. Says Augustine, “Descend, that ye may rise up to God; for you have fallen by rising up against God.” He that is a mountebank must level himself even with the ground; if humbleness hath once thrown him down and brought him to his knees, he shall hear the patron and pattern of humbleness comforting him with a surge—“Arise.…” The guest that sets himself down at the lower end of the table shall hear the feast-maker kindly remove him, “Friend, sit up higher” (Luke 14:10). If Esther fall at Ahasuerus’ feet, he will take her by the hand, and bid her arise. When Peter fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me; I am a sinful man, O, Lord” (Luke 5:8-10), he presently was raised up with, “Fear not, thou shalt catch men.”.… Who is heard to say with Paul, “I am the chief of sinners?” (1 Timothy 1:15) such a humble confession scarce heard of. But Christ had given him a surge on his former humbling: “Arise and bear My name before Gentiles and kings,” etc. Let us all thus cast ourselves down in humility, that the Lord may say to us in mercy, “Arise.”—Adams.
The more humble, the fitter to come to God, and He the more willing to come unto the soul and dwell in it. The highest heavens are the habitation of God s glory; and the humble heart hath the next honour, to be the habitation of His grace.—Leighton.
The truly humble spirit is, in society, to the proud and haughty, what the valley is to the mountain: if less observed, more sheltered and more blessed, valleys see the stars more brightly than the mountains that often veil their proud heads with clouds. The mountains filter the waters upon which the valleys live, and send down in soft music to their ears the stormy thunders that beat with violence on their lofty brow. The great sun stoops to the valleys and touches them with a warmth which it denies to the high hills; and kind nature, which leaves the towering heights amidst the cold desolations of death, endows the humble vales with richest life, and robes them in the enchanting costume of sweetest flowers.—Dr. David Thomas.
You must go to honour before humility. This is the law—the law of God. It cannot be changed. It has its analogies in the material creation. Every height has its corresponding depth. As far as the Andes pierce into the sky, so far do the valleys of the Pacific, at their base, go down into the heart of the earth. If the branches of a tree rise high in the air, its roots must penetrate to a corresponding depth in the ground; and the necessity is reciprocal. The higher the branches are, the deeper go the roots; and the deeper the roots are, the higher go the branches. This law pervades the moral administration as well as the higher works of God. The child Jesus is set for the fall and the rising again of many in Israel; but it is first the fall and then the rising; for “before honour is humility.” Fall they must at the feet of the Crucified before they can rise and reign as the children of the Great King.… There are two mountains in the land of Israel, equal in height, and standing near each other, with a deep, narrow valley between. At an interesting point in the people’s history, one of these mountains bore the curse, and the other received the blessing (Deuteronomy 11:26-29). If you had stood then on Ebal, where the curse was lying, you could not have escaped to Gerizim to enjoy the blessing without going down to the bottom of the intervening gorge. There was a way for the pilgrim from the curse to the blessing, if he were willing to pass through the valley of humiliation; but there was no flight through the air, so as to escape the going down. These things are an allegory. All men are at first in their own judgments on a lofty place, but the curse hangs over the mountains of their pride.… All the saved are also on a lofty height, but God dwells among them, and great is the peace of His children. All who have reached this mountain have been in the deep. They sowed in tears before they went forth rejoicing to bear home the sheaves.—Arnot.