MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Proverbs 2:21-22
THE CONTRAST IN THE END FROM THE CONTRAST IN THE WAY
If men walk in two directly opposite directions they cannot possibly arrive at the same goal.
I. The historic illustration of this truth. The first inhabitants of Canaan were allowed to dwell in the land until they defiled it to so great an extent by their sins that they were “rooted out,” to be replaced by the Hebrew people. These, in their turn, became “transgressors” of God’s law, and consequently forfeited their inheritance.
II. The reasonableness of this dealing. Uprightness leads to industry, and the land which is industriously cultivated fulfils the end for which God gave it to the children of men. Uprightness leads to the rightful dividing of the land or of its produce among all its inhabitants. It is God’s will that none of his creatures should suffer bodily want: if all men were truly upright and godly, the poor and needy, if they did not cease out of the land (Deuteronomy 15:2) would have a much larger share of its good things than they at present enjoy. The Hebrew civil and social laws show us what God’s intentions are in this matter. Therefore none ought to complain if they are deprived of a gift which they have mis-used.
III. The typical suggestion of the subject. Dwelling in the land of Canaan was typical of the eternal dwelling in the heavenly country. Some of the first inhabitants of that country have been “rooted out” because of sin (2 Peter 2:4), others have dwelt safely there for ages, because they are, literally, perfect. This is the destined home of all just men made perfect (Hebrews 12:23; Hebrews 11:13-16; Matthew 22:32).
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Proverbs 2:21. The Israelite was, beyond the power of natural feeling, which makes home dear to every one, more closely bound to his ancestral soil by the whole form of the theocracy: torn from it he was in the inmost roots of his life itself, strained and broken.—Elster.
As surely a righteous man hath this right unto temporal things which a wicked man hath not, that God doth account him to be worthy of them … Wherefore it is observed, that in Scripture, although the wicked are said to possess the things of the earth, they are never said to inherit them; but the godly are said to inherit the good things of the earth as receiving them from the love of their heavenly Father.—Jermin.
Proverbs 2:22. The very earth casts out the wicked.… The whole has a typical meaning. This earth, many conjecture, is to be restored as heaven. In that event, the old Canaan types will be very perfect.—Miller.
Must not the righteous leave the earth too? Yes; but the earth is a very different thing to the righteous and to the wicked. To the latter it is all the heaven they ever have; to the righteous it is a place of preparation for heaven.—Lawson.
The event seemeth to be contrary to the promise here made, for the earth commonly is possessed by those who take evil ways, whilst in the mean season the godly are tossed up and down with many afflictions. But we must consider for our comfort, that the wicked wrongfully and unlawfully, as usurpers, possess the earth and the goods of this world; and again, that by many troubles, and by death in the end, they are put out of possession at last. As for the godly, they, by right, inherit the earth, so that, as Abraham was the heir to the land of promise even when he had not a foot of ground therein, in like manner all the godly are heirs of this world, according to the saying of the apostle, That all things are theirs (1 Corinthians 3:22); howsoever often here they possess little or nothing. In right they are heirs, and in part possessors, looking for a new heaven and a new earth, wherein the just shall dwell (2 Peter 3:13).—Muffet.
Suddenly, when they have feathered their nests and set up their rest, the wicked may die sinning. The saints shall not die till the best time—not till the time when, if they were rightly informed, they would desire to die.—Trapp.