CRITICAL NOTES.—
Proverbs 27:21. A man to his praise. Delitzsch understands the meaning to be that a man is valued according to the measure of public opinion. Ewald, Hitzig, and others, coincide with Zöckler’s rendering, “A man according to his glorying,” i.e., “One is judged according to the standard of that which he makes his boast.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Proverbs 27:21
A CRUCIBLE FOR CHARACTER
Although the second interpretation of this proverb given in the Critical Notes is very generally adopted, it will very well bear the other construction given below, which is indeed adopted by many expositors.
I. Praise received is a test of character. Many moralists think that it is more difficult to pass uninjured through “good report” than through “evil report.” Dr. Payson reckons “well meant but injudicious commendations” a source of temptation to him, and we do certainly often meet men possessing many good qualities whom popularity seems to have injured. But all men who have any striking intellectual gifts or moral excellencies will be subject to this refiner’s fire, and if they pass through it uninjured they will prove that they are made of very pure metal. As we remarked on page 725, merit will win praise, and therefore every deserving man will be more or less subject to this test, and his conduct and bearing under it will reveal the real character of his motives and the strength of his principles. In proportion as his actions have been disinterested and his aims pure and unselfish, in the same proportion will he be able to bear praise. If he is a truly humble man—if he has a right sense of his dependence on God and a consciousness of his own shortcomings—the praise of his fellow-creatures will only make him strive to be more deserving of it; but if there is any alloy of baser metal mixed with the gold and silver of his character, such an ordeal will be very likely to reveal it.
II. Praise given is a test of character. That upon which a man bestows praise reveals the standard by which he rules his life. Men praise that which they value, and there cannot therefore be a better revelation of their moral condition. A man who praises the action of another, irrespective of its moral character, shows that he attaches little value to goodness, while he who praises a bad action proclaims himself a lover of sin. On the other hand, commendation bestowed upon good deeds and godly men at least indicates a preference for what is good, which one may hope will be manifested not only in word but also in deed.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
1. It may express what every man, with reference to the praise bestowed upon him, ought to do:—that is, he ought to do with it what the “fining-pot” does to the “silver,” and the “furnace to the gold.” He should try it well. There is a deal of dross frequently in it; and men are apt to be fonder of the dross, in some of its appearances, than of the sterling metal. The process of refining should in this case be very cautiously pursued: just as a chemist, if anxious for the correct result of an experiment with the crucible, will be the more careful in making it, in proportion as he is conscious of any leaning towards a particular theory,—lest this should bias his mind and put him off his guard.
2. “A man is to his praise what the fining pot is to silver, aud the furnace is to gold,” because a man’s conduct actually does put to the test the commendation bestowed upon him. That conduct is like “the fining-pot” and “the furnace” to it, in regard to the estimate formed of it by others. His behaviour detects whether it be or be not just and merited. Commendation naturally excites notice. All eyes are on the man who elicits applause, to ascertain if the applause be well-founded. In this way the commendation is put to the test; and the man himself is the tester;—proving or disproving the justice of the character given him.—Wardlaw.
As praise is due to worth, so it is the tryer and refiner of worth. For as silver is melted in the fining pot, and gold in the furnace; so is the heart of man even melted with joy in the furnace of praise. And as those metals which have least solidity are soonest melted, so where there is least of the solidity of worth, there the heart is soonest melted with praise. And as in the furnace the light matter is blown away into smoke and vapour; so by praise a light heart is quickly blown up, and vainly transported and carried away with it. But as the silver and the gold are made the finer and the purer by the furnace, so true worth is ennobled and made the richer by just praise ascribed to it. For he that hath worth in him, the more he is praised the more will he endeavour to deserve it, and by praise seeing what is dross in himself, will by his care purge it out, and cast it away.—Jermin.
The thought in Proverbs 27:22 is but a repetition of a thought which has often occurred before, as for instance in chaps. Proverbs 17:10 and Proverbs 19:29. See pages 509 and 510, also page 581.