CRITICAL NOTES.—
Proverbs 29:4. He that receiveth gifts. Zöckler translates this, “a man of taxes.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Proverbs 29:1
REPROOF AND DESTRUCTION
I. An act of benevolence which is often resented. When a child is reproved, and if need be chastised, for playing with the fire or neglecting its lessons, all reasonable people see that it is a kind act, and the child itself, when it has grown wiser, acknowledges that the reproof, even if it took the form of punishment, was an act of true benevolence, for it has saved him from bodily suffering or from intellectual loss. But it is probable that at the time the reproof was administered it was received with resentment, and the parent or friend who administered it was looked upon as an enemy. And it is so generally with men in relation to the reproofs of God, whether they come direct in the shape of providential chastisements or indirectly in the rebukes of His servants. God can have but one aim in reproving His creatures, and that is to save them from the pain which follows sin, and to increase their capabilities of happiness by bringing them under His Divine training. But this effort of God is often resisted, and man in the act of resistance is here and elsewhere likened to the ox which refuses to obey his master. He “hardens his neck” against the yoke of Divine reproof. Repentant Ephraim acknowledges that under Divine chastisement he was “as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke” (Jeremiah 31:18); he resisted the efforts of his God to bring him into subjection to His wise rule, and into harmony with His benevolent purposes concerning him. The ox who does nothing but browse is living the lowest form of life which a brute can live—he eats, and sleeps, and fattens for the knife. But if his master leads him from his pasture, and harnesses him to the plough, he thereby makes him a co-worker with himself; the beast now helps to raise the corn which not only feeds himself, but feeds men also, and thus, by coming under the yoke, he becomes a more useful and valuable creature. But as he is only a brute, he is not to be blamed if he prefers the lower life to the higher. As it is with the ox and his master, so it is with the sinner and God. The godless man is content to live upon a level with the lowest level of brute life—to satisfy his bodily appetites, to eat and drink, and die and leave undeveloped all his capacities for spiritual growth and blessedness. But God would make him a co-worker with Himself in lifting him to a higher level and in making him a more useful and blessed creature. But men often resist this benevolent intention, and resent this check upon their self-will.
II. The resistance to many acts of benevolence bringing one act of judgment. It must at last be decided whose will is to be the law of the universe—that of rebellious men or that of the Holy God; and though the Divine longsuffering is so exceedingly great, He must, in the interests of His creatures, assert His right to their obedience. This He did in the case of His chosen people—after centuries of resisted reproof sudden and irremediable destruction came upon the nation, and those who, like the Jews, will not come under the yoke of God, must sooner or later feel His rod. If they will not be His children they must be treated as rebellious subjects. On this subject see also on chap. Proverbs 6:15, page 82.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Such was the destruction of the old world, and of the cities of the plain, long hardened against the forbearance of God. Pharaoh grew more stubborn under the rod, and rushed madly upon his sudden ruin. Eli’s sons “hearkened not unto the voice of their father, and in one day died both of them.” Ahab, often reproved by the godly prophet, hardened his neck, and “the bow, drawn at a venture,” received its commission. How must Judas have steeled his heart against his Master’s reproof! Onward he rushed, “that he might go to his own place.”—Bridges.
Sins repeated and reiterated are much greater than sins once committed … As in numbers, one in the first place stands but for a single one, in the second place ten, in the third place for a hundred, so here, each repetition is a great aggravation. It is one thing to fall into the water, another thing to lie there; it is the latter that drowns men.—Swinnock.
On the subject of Proverbs 29:2, see on chap. Proverbs 11:10, page 206. On Proverbs 29:3, see on chap. Proverbs 10:1, page 137, and chap. Proverbs 5:1-20, page 68. The subject of Proverbs 29:4 has been treated on page 472, in the homiletics on chap. Proverbs 16:10-15, and that of Proverbs 29:5 in the homiletics on chap. Proverbs 26:23-28, page 721.