CRITICAL NOTES.—
Proverbs 27:20. Hell and destruction, rather “the world of the dead.” Eyes. Some understand the reference to be to the insatiableness of human passion.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Proverbs 27:20
INSATIABILITY
I. A destructive force always in operation. Ever since the earth closed over the first dead body, it has been constantly opening to receive those whom death has made ready for the grave, and to-day this terrible and remorseless destroyer is as busy in our midst as ever. And we know that it will be so to the end of time; while the present dispensation lasts, men will never be able to say that death has ceased to claim the mortal part of man, or that the last grave has been dug in the vast graveyard of the world. This is a most melancholy stand-point from which to view man and his destiny. If all the human race lived to a good old age, and went down to their last earthly resting-place like a shock of corn fully ripe, death would still be a dark and dreary thing, looked at by itself, but it becomes much more appalling when it strikes men and women in the prime of life, and carries them off, often without warning, from the place where they seemed so much needed, and to which they were bound by so many ties.
II. A faculty of man always at work. The eye of man is simply an organ by which knowledge is conveyed to his mind. And his appetite for fresh mental food is not lessened by that which he has received in the past—on the contrary, it is quickened and whetted in proportion to the supply, for while an ignorant, man is often content in his ignorance, the man who has learned most is generally the most eager to learn more. And this passion in man for knowledge is not quenched by the certain consciousness he possesses that one day he must, that to-morrow he may, quit the scene of his investigations, and end his search after truth under his present conditions. Surely if men did not instinctively feel that this life is not the only one, their desire after constant intellectual growth would not be so ardent. If there was not that within them that told them that death would not end their opportunities of growing in knowledge, the contemplation of the shortness of life would paralyze the acquisitive faculty of men. But we take the strength and universality of this undying desire of man as an argument for his existence after death and the grave have taken possession of the material house in which he lived and laboured on the earth.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
The eye is the avenue of growth. That growth will be eternal.… It will take in more and more and raise or sink us through eternal ages.… The terms here used are used elsewhere for anything insatiate (chap. Proverbs 30:16). Solomon describes a great psychological law, that the mind by its very nature sees, and by all its seeings will grow, either in one way or the other.—Miller.
The eyes, by a very natural figure, are put for the desires. Upon that which is the object of our desire, we fix our eyes; and that with an intensity of settled eagerness proportioned to the degree of the desire (chap. Proverbs 23:5). The meaning, then, is not merely that the sense of sight never has enough of its own peculiar enjoyments, but that the desire that is by the eye expressed is never satisfied by any amount of present gratification. The desires of men are insatiable. They set their hearts on some particular object, and long for its attainment. They fix in their mind some point of advancement in the acquisition of the world,—some measure of wealth, or of power which they think, if once realised, would satisfy them to the full. They get what they want; but they still long as before. There is ever something unattained. Having gained the summit of one eminence, they see another above it; and as they mount, their views widen and their conceptions and wishes amplify, and still more is required to fill them.—Wardlaw.
The meaning of the second clause as indicated by this parallel cannot be doubtful. It relates to the really demoniacal insatiableness of human passion, especially “the lust of the eyes.” (Comp. 1 John 2:16; James 3:6; and in particular Proverbs 30:16; Ecclesiastes 1:8.)—Zöckler.