CRITICAL NOTES.—
Proverbs 24:27. House. This word may mean here as it does in Exodus 1:21, Ruth 4:11, 2 Samuel 7:27 etc., the family—the household interests.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Proverbs 24:27
PLAN AND PATIENCE
I. Here is a lesson in working with method. In all undertakings it is necessary to consider what is the most important and indispensable element of success, and to make sure of that first. In the building of a house in the literal sense, the first thing to be done is to have a well-considered plan, and to gather and prepare suitable and sufficient materials. If, when the building is half finished, it is found that some great difficulty has been overlooked, or that the materials and the means to procure them are inadequate, failure and disgrace are the result, and all the time and money hitherto spent upon the work is thrown away. So in any other undertaking. If a man desires a certain position in life for which special qualifications are needed, he must first endeavour to know exactly what the requirements are, and then make sure that he is able to fulfil them. If he makes a start without well considering these things he may waste much precious time and energy, and ruin his prospects for life. The same principle may be applied to any philanthropic enterprise. These often fail, because they are entered upon without any just conception of the difficulties to be encountered, or of the resources which will be required to carry them on to a successful issue.
II. A lesson in working with patience. The proverb seems to warn men not to be in too great a hurry to realise the fulfilment of their desires; not to be impatient to reap the harvest before the crop has had time to ripen. Men are sometimes so eager to obtain a certain good which to them appears desirable that they make a desperate and reckless attempt to gain it by some other road than that of patient perseverance. A man makes up his mind that he must live in a certain style, and keep up a certain appearance before the world, and he sets out to build a stately mansion without waiting until he has acquired the means whereby he can do it honestly. Men often desire to be at the beginning of their career where they can only be after days and years of toil, and if they act under the inspiration of this spirit of impatience they often most effectually shut themselves out entirely from the realisation of their desires.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
This wisdom the very little bees do practise and show us, who first get honey and bring it into their hives, and afterwards make their seats and honeycombs. Against this rule here set down divers sorts of people offend, yea, all that take a preposterous course, whether in the matters of this life, or in those things that are spiritual. Some enter into the state of marriage before either they have wit, or have provided and gotten by their labour sufficient food or wealth to maintain them. Others lay out much on banquets, buildings, pastimes, or apparel, before they have a good stock or large comings in. Others meddle with hard points of controversy before they have learned the plain principles of religion. Others first and especially seek after the goods of this world, and, in the second place, at their leisure, and very slowly, they follow after the kingdom of God.—Muffet.
Possibly a spiritual meaning here, as elsewhere, lies beneath the prudential maxim. The “field” may be the man’s outer common work, the “house” the dwelling-place of his higher life. He must do the former faithfully in order to attain the latter.—Plumptre.