CRITICAL NOTES.—
Proverbs 28:5. Judgment, or, “what is right” (Delitzsch).
Proverbs 28:6. Perverse, etc., literally, “he who is crooked in two ways.” Delitzsch translates, “a double-going deceiver.”
Proverbs 28:8. Usury and unjust gain. Literally, “Interest and usury.” “These are so distinguished according to Leviticus 25:36, that the former denotes the annual revenue of a sum of money loaned out, the latter an exaction in other things, especially in natural product” (Zöckler).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Proverbs 28:4-5
LAWKEEPERS AND LAWBREAKERS
I. A quick understanding in Divine things springs only from sympathy with Divine precepts. Spiritual truth can only be apprehended by a soul in love with what is good and true. A mere intellectual assent to certain moral propositions will not bring men to a real and intimate acquaintance with Divine realities, for the revelation of God is not a mathematical problem which appeals only to the intellect, but a message to the consciences and affections of men. “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him.” (Psalms 25:14.) There must be spiritual sympathy before there can be spiritual perception, for sin puts out the eyes of the soul, and renders a man incapable of apprehending spiritual realities, as physical blindness makes him unable of seeing material objects. Hence our Lord made willingness to do His will the one essential condition to knowledge concerning His teaching. (John 7:17.)
II. Those who love and obey the Divine precepts contend with the wicked by their obedience. Love to God and obedience to Him are inseparable. The one is the necessary outcome of the other, so that the “seekers after God” described in Proverbs 28:5, and the “keepers of the law” mentioned in Proverbs 28:4, are the same persons. The lives of such people are a more powerful reproof to the godless and wicked than any words which they can utter. The feathers of the arrow have their place and value in helping the arrow to find its destination, but it is the steel point that penetrates the breast. So words of admonition fitly spoken have their worth, and are of some weight in contending with the wicked, but a constant life of obedience to God is more convincing and penetrating. So that every true servant of God is fighting against the servants of sin by simply seeking to bring his life into conformity with His Master’s will.
III. All neglect of God’s law is a commendation of sin. There are many men who would be ashamed openly to praise a wicked action who yet by their disregard of the Divine requirements encourage open transgressors. For there is no middle way here. Every man is on one side or the other, and all who are not contending with the wicked by obedience are countenancing their evil courses by their own forsaking of the law of God.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Proverbs 28:4. “Forsaking;” simply evading or avoiding it, no matter on what pretence. Solomon strikes for the result. He scoffs at all apology. Do you, or do you not, obey direction? If you do not, the fact that you do not is all that is needed to mislead the looker-on, for, seizing upon that most villainous of all things, praising the wicked—a thing that scarce ruffians do, a thing that obscene seducers scarcely venture—he says, All disobedience does it … But the lonely widow, going quietly to heaven, who has asked carefully the road, and has moved on as she was directed, the text suddenly arms with a sword and spear! She is a warrior! In her quiet walk she is smiting down the rivals of her King. And Solomon literally means it. The most effective army of the saints is the quiet group that dream of nothing but obedience.—Miller.
Proverbs 28:5. The natural man perceiveth not the things that belong to God, but the spiritual man discerneth all things. Albeit there is some light in the wicked man which is sufficient to make him inexcusable, yet he is always so blinded by natural ignorance and malice that both Christ and the Law to him is a mystery. Hence it cometh to pass that he neither fully seeth what is to be believed nor yet what is to be done, either generally in all sorts of actions, or particularly in the course of his calling or office.—Muffett.
Origen saith, “Of them who do not see, some are blind, and do not see because of their blindness; others are in darkness, and therefore do not see; but others do not see because they shut their eyes.” And this it is which many times makes the evil man not understand judgment—he will not do judgment, and therefore will not understand it. But true also it is that wickedness is a great blinding of the understanding. For it turns away the eyes from the Son of Righteousness, and casteth also a black shadow before it … But what do they not understand, that understand Him that understandeth all things? In all things that are required of them, they understand what is to be done by them; in all things that are taught them, they understand the truth of them.… They understand the judgment that shall be upon the wicked; they understand the reward that shall be to themselves; they understand in all things to do judgment to others; they are general scholars in their duties both to God and man.—Jermin.
He who makes wickedness his element, falls into the confusion of the moral conception; but he whose end is the one living God gains from that, in every situation of life, even amid the greatest difficulties, the sense of what is morally right. Similarly the apostle John (1 John 2:20): “Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things;” i.e., ye need to seek that knowledge which ye require, and which ye long after not without yourselves, but in the new Divine foundation of your personal life; from thence all that ye need for the growth of your spiritual life, and for the turning away from you of hostile influences, will come into your consciences.—Delitzsch.
For Homiletics on Proverbs 28:6, see on chap. Proverbs 19:1, page 561; on Proverbs 28:7, chap. Proverbs 10:1, page 137; on Proverbs 28:8, see the last remarks on chap. Proverbs 13:22, page. 332. On the subject of Proverbs 28:9, see on chap. Proverbs 15:8-9, pages 407 and 408, and on Proverbs 28:10, see on chap. Proverbs 26:27, page 722, etc.