For the turning away of the simple— The simple, the unfeeling: The men who have neglected my instructions, and who have been so void of reason as to deliver themselves up to the example and the advice of the wicked, shall be brought to death by their own folly: their prosperity, their happiness, their favour, shall be fatal to them; they shall perish by the very thing which they have sought for with so much earnestness. The Hebrew is משׁובת meshu-bath, the repose. "The peace or tranquillity of the simple, of those who have suffered themselves to be deluded by the subtle enchantments of the wicked, shall slay them; and the prosperity, the felicity, the abundance of the inconsiderate, shall destroy them." The LXX give a very different sense, They shall be slain, because they have unjustly oppressed the innocent; and the wicked shall perish by a rigorous examination. See Calmet. Dr. Grey says, that the prosperity of fools should rather be rendered the security of fools; their tranquillity in a vicious course, which will nevertheless end in their destruction.
REFLECTIONS.—As diligently as we are warned to fly the enticements of sinners, so earnestly are we admonished to attend the calls and warnings of God.
We have,
1. The voice of wisdom crying in the streets, in the places of greatest concourse, and in the gates, that all who will may hear the divine admonitions. This wisdom, or wisdoms in the original, may be interpreted of the divine revelation in general, or rather signifies Christ Jesus, who is the person here speaking in the words of his everlasting gospel; rebuking the wickedness of those to whom he preached, and foretelling their dreadful doom. And this voice is still heard in the public ministration of the word; and these warnings are to us still equally needful, and the danger of neglecting them equally fatal. Note; They that perish under a preached gospel, are left peculiarly without excuse.
2. The words which wisdom utters. [1.] He expostulates, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? indulge your vain notions, and sport in your own deceivings, in hopes of mercy, unsupported by God's word, and in ways of folly which must end in misery: and scorners delight in scorning; scoffing at serious godliness, and counting it high humour and wit to turn things sacred into ridicule; contemning religion as a mean, low thing, as the Scribes and Pharisees did the great Author of it: and fools hate knowledge; averse to hear the gospel-word, and choosing darkness rather than light. With such God bears long. He delighteth not indeed in the death of a sinner, and therefore, [2.] He exhorts them earnestly not to weary out his patience, or provoke his wrath. Turn ye at my reproof; attend to the calls of my word: and most encouraging is the invitation. Behold, sinner, and wonder, after all thy provocations, at the grace revealed in Jesus Christ who hath gifts even for the rebellious; Behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you, or upon you; upon some at least, if others continued impenitent, and would not hear. I will make known my words unto you; in general to all in the preaching of the gospel, so as to leave them inexcusable who reject it. [3.] He upbraids them with their impenitence, and hardness of heart: I have called, and ye refused; as the Jews rejected his word, and sinners continue to do; either by withdrawing from the place of hearing, or by their inattention there, or by their obstinacy notwithstanding every warning, persisting in their sins. I have stretched out my arm, and no man regarded; as Jesus did in the temple, and as his zealous ministers do in their importunate discourses, but to many with small effect; they continue a disobedient and gainsaying people. Ye have set at nought all my counsel; the gospel of their salvation, which the Jews despised, and which the self-righteous and the careless sinner still reject: and would none of my reproof; would neither hear nor obey it; nay, they hated knowledge, Proverbs 1:29 and did not choose the fear of the Lord, but rather preferred the perverse ways of their own hearts. [4.] He, therefore, denounces their doom, which had a present fulfilment in the destruction of the Jewish people; and will most eminently be accomplished in the day of the final perdition of ungodly men. I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh: come it will; pain and sickness will seize on their bodies, and terrors on their guilty souls. When your fear cometh as desolation, overwhelming as a flood; and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, sudden and irresistible; when distress and anguish cometh upon you, as was terribly felt in the siege of Jerusalem, and in the day of wrath will more fearfully overtake the impenitent sinner. Too late then it will be to cry for mercy, when the door is shut. Now prayer can avail, and God will hear the cries of the miserable; but then, says he, shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; deaf to their cries, though it were but for a drop of water to cool their flaming tongue. They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me; all their importunity is vain; the sentence is gone forth, the decree irrevocable, their damnation eternal: And this according to the strictest justice: they chose their own delusions, and were impenetrably hardened, Proverbs 1:29-30. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way. Sin and suffering are inseparable: they who choose the one, must expect the other; and be filled with their own devices, in the ruin they have courted. Thus the Jews, who crucified Christ, were themselves miserably crucified, till trees were wanting to hang them on. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them: they who depart from Christ must perish; and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them, their possessions enabling them to give a loose to the gratifications of their appetites, and begetting that fatal security which is the prelude to ruin. Let sinners read these awful lines, and tremble. Reader, whosoever thou art, may they never be fulfilled in thee! [5.] He declares the blessedness of those who hear and obey the reproofs of God's word. Whoso hearkeneth unto me, to Christ and his gospel, and yields up his heart to him, shall dwell safely: no enemy shall approach to hurt him, neither Satan, sin, nor death. Sprinkled with the blood of Christ, he shall enjoy constant peace on earth, and in heaven his abode shall be for ever: and shall be quiet from fear of evil; entered into that eternal rest, which nothing can disturb, and which remaineth sure to all the faithful people of God. Lord, may this be my lot and portion!