CRITICAL NOTES.—
Proverbs 16:20. Delitzsch and Zöckler translate the first clause “He that giveth heed to the Word findeth good.” Stuart and others, “He that is prudent respecting any matter.” Miller says, “Literally, wise about a word.”
Proverbs 16:21. Sweetness, or “grace,” Learning, or “instruction”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Proverbs 16:20-21
THE FRUITS OF TRUST IN THE LORD
I. There can be no real blessedness in life unless there is trust in the Lord. Men are so constituted that, if they are to have soul-rest, they must confide in the power and wisdom and love of a Being who is stronger and wiser and better than they are. Let a man be ever so great intellectually or morally, there will be times in his life when he will feel the absolute need he has of the guidance of One who is far wiser than he is, of the help of One who far exceeds him in ability and in goodness. If he has not such a helper and guide to whom he can turn, he will be a stranger to that calmness of soul which alone makes a man truly blessed.
1. A trust of this kind must rest upon a knowledge of the Divine character. If a man is following a guide in some difficult and dangerous path, it is necessary to his peace of mind that he should know enough about his guide to be assured that he will lead him aright. If he does not know enough about him to know this, he may be haunted by underlying doubts and fears which will banish all comfort from his mind. When a ship’s crew have so little knowledge of their captain’s character and ability as to be uncertain whether he is able or whether he intends to bring the ship safely to her destined port, they will be possessed by a spirit of uneasiness. But if they know that all his powers will be directed to that end, and that his ability is equal to the task, they will sail through the deep in comparative rest and peace. So no human soul can possess a confidence in God which will keep it calm and restful amid the waves of life’s sea, unless he has made himself acquainted with the character of God—unless he knows so much about Him as to feel assured that His ways and works are perfectly wise and good.
2. God has given men means of acquiring this knowledge. He has no motive for holding back from His creatures a knowledge of what He is and what His purposes are concerning them. Those who endeavour to conceal what they are and what their intentions are in relation to their fellow-men, do so from a consciousness that if they revealed them they would not be trusted. But God has no such motive for concealing His character and intentions, and He has therefore revealed to men what He is and what He desires to do for them as fully as they are able to receive it, and with clearness and certainty enough to be the basis of an unwavering trust. This is indeed the end of all revelation of Himself—to lead men to “know the only true God and Jesus Christ” (John 17:2), so that they may have faith in both the Divine Father and the Divine Son,—that a trust may be begotten of the knowledge that will make them truly blessed.
II. An intelligent trust in the Lord is true wisdom. Wisdom has been often defined as the application of knowledge to practice, and a man whose knowledge of God has begotten within him a trust in the Lord, is the only man who is capable of “handling wisely” either matters connected with his own life or with the lives of others. When Adam lost his trust in God he gave evidence of his folly—when his confidence in the Divine character became unsettled, he lost his ability to do the best with his own existence as a whole, or with any particular matter connected with it. It is a mark of the truest wisdom to handle all matters whether they are more immediately connected with our spiritual or material welfare, in a spirit of trust in the perfect wisdom and love of God, and it is a mark of the highest folly to endeavour to do it without dependence upon Him. He who, in all his ways, rests upon a Divine guide, is the only man who deserves the name of a “prudent” man (Proverbs 16:21). If a child comes into possession of vast estates—of large revenues—he is quite unable by reason of his undeveloped capacities and of his limited experience to use what he possesses to the best advantage. Unless his inheritance is to suffer from misuse, there must be the help of a higher intelligence and a more extended experience than he possesses: and many men possess a great inheritance of intellectual endowments, or of wealth and position, but because they fail to apply to the Highest Wisdom for help to use it rightly, they are neither blessed themselves in the possession, nor do they bless others by the possession.
III. Such a wise and prudent man finds good and does good.
1. He will get good to himself. He will get a godly character, for trust in the Lord is not only the foundation of all true soul-rest, but of godliness of heart and life. “He shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit” (Jeremiah 17:8). Here the prophet teaches that he who possesses within him a constant well of spiritual happiness from confidence in God will manifest it in godly deeds, and thus will become the possessor of the greatest good in God’s universe—a holy character.
2. He will do good to others by his wise and holy conversation. “The sweetness of the lips increaseth learning,” and the speech of a man who trusts in the Lord will be of so attractive and winning a nature as to lead others to know God and to trust in Him.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Proverbs 16:20. Combined view of the two chief requisites to a really devout life;
(1) Obedience to the Word of God.
(2) Inspiring confidence in God.—Lange’s Commentary.
In doubtful cases to hold fast to God’s word, and believingly hope in His help, ensures always a good issue.—Geier.
Wise about a word. (See Critical Notes.) By usage, “wise about a thing,” hence “shrewd, though it be but in one transaction.” How often in London might mansions be pointed out of men opulent at a stroke! Such a stroke is faith! See the same marvel in chap. Proverbs 18:21. What a wonder is it that a man can win palaces of light by “one act” of casting himself upon the sacrifice. “Act,” literally, word. But men acted so by the word in that country, that it grew to mean affair. (Genesis 20:8.) The very name of Christ (John 1:1) seems to be coloured by this Eastern usage. “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made” (Psalms 33:6). “Blessed in every sense whatever. What other “affair” ever produced as much as the affair of faith? (Mark 9:23).—Miller.
The obvious sense is that thorough understanding of business and prudent management of it tend to insure a prosperous issue, And if the business is another’s, the intelligent, cautious, successful conducting of it, will procure benefit by the favour it conciliates, and the character it establishes. One business well conducted brings a man another. This is the way to get forward in the world. And in proportion as the entrusted transaction is difficult and delicate, will the “handling of it wisely” prove advantageous. Still there is no amount of human understanding and discretion that can render success in any transaction certain. The result rests with God. Hence a very natural connection of the latter clause of the verse with the former. Here is the true secret of happiness—the union in all things of prudence and diligence, with trust in God. Trust must be associated with effort.… Let it be further observed that “handling a matter wisely” does not mean handling it cunningly with artifice and what the apostle calls “fleshly wisdom”—the policy of this world; but with a wisdom and prudence in harmony with the most rigid and straightforward integrity. Double dealing may be misnamed wisdom, the arts of a tortuous cunning may be dignified with the designation of prudence; but when such wisdom, such prudence has been employed, even the greatest amount of success can impart little that deserves the name of happiness. And no man who is using the arts of a crooked policy can exercise trust in God. The two things are incompatible. Who can unite obedience and confidence? How could David trust in God for the success of his plan against Uriah the Hittite? There was art in it, but there was not wisdom.—Wardlaw.
This is in all cases true wisdom—to make man the excitement to diligence, God the object of trust.… “I have had many things,” said Luther, “in my hands, and have lost them all. But whatever I have been able to trust in God’s I still possess.” … “I will therefore,” says Bishop Hall, “trust Him on His bare word, with hope, beside hope, above hope, against hope, for small matters of this life. For how shall I hope to trust Him in impossibilities if I may not in likelihoods. This simple habit of faith enables us fearlessly to look an extremity in the face. Thus holding on, it is His honour to put his own seal to His word. (Psalms 2:12; Jeremiah 17:7-8).—Bridges.
Many meddle with more matters than they do well quit themselves of; and many a time a good matter is made ill by the ill handling of it. And he that handleth a matter wisely shall find good, although the matter be ill; and well doth he acquit himself, although the matter may not succeed well.… To put our trust in God, and not to use a wise care, is to deceive ourselves; to use a wise care, and not to trust in God, is to dishonour God.—Jermin.
Proverbs 16:21. Piety is sure to be discovered; but many a pious man has less influence for want of courtesy. The suaviter may be really stronger than the fortiter. The last word is literally a taking, from the verb to take. This noun is often learning. A taking may very legitimately be “a lesson.” The idea is, that sweet lips increase the taking, i.e., make more wisdom to be taken by the men around. The duty, therefore, is evolved, of being kind in speech that our good may not be evil spoken of (Romans 14:16).—Miller.
If the “wise in heart” be understood of the truly, spiritually, divinely wise, then the phrase “shall be called prudent” must be interpreted, according to a common Hebrew idiom, as meaning “is prudent”—deserves to be so called. The sentiment will thus be the oft-repeated one, that true religion is the only genuine prudence. And is it not so? we ask anew. Take as a standard the ordinary maxims of prudence among men. Is it the part of prudence to be considerate? to look forward? to anticipate, as far as possible, the contingencies of the future? to provide against evil? to make sure of lasting good? Then is true religion the very perfection of prudence.—Wardlaw.
That our wisdom may be useful, we should endeavour to produce it to advantage by a graceful and engaging manner of expression. It is not uncommon with bad men to set off their corrupt sentiments by dressing them in all the beauties of language, and by this means multitudes are seduced into error and folly. Is not wisdom far better entitled to this recommendation than folly?—Lawson.
There is no sweetness that entereth into the lips to be compared to the sweetness that cometh from the lips. The fig-tree must leave her sweetness, and all the trees of delight their pleasantness, when the fruit of the lips is mentioned among them. And most fitly is eloquence styled the sweetness of the lips. How daintily doth it sweeten all matters of knowledge! What a delicate relish doth it give unto them! With what pleasure doth it make them to slip into the ears of men! How doth it mollify the hardness and sharpness of reproof! How doth it qualify the bitterness of sorrows! How doth it warm the dull coldness of apprehension and attention! And therefore, though wisdom in the heart is of the chiefest worth, yet eloquence of the lips is an addition to it. St. Augustine, speaking of himself, saith, that when he heard St. Ambrose preaching, “I stood by as one careless of the matter he spake, and a contemner of it, and I was delighted with the sweetness of his words; but together with the words which I respected, the matter came into my heart which I neglected, and while I opened my heart to receive how eloquently he spake, it entered also into my heart how truly he spake.”—Jermin.