Proverbs 16:18

Pro 16:18 Pride [goeth] before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

Ver. 18. Pride goeth before destruction.] A bulging wall is near a downfall. Swelling is a dangerous symptom in the body; so is pride in the soul. Sequitur superbos ultor a tergo Deus. {a} Surely, as the swelling of the spleen is dangerous for health, and of the sails for the overbearing of a little vessel, so is the swelling of the heart by pride. Instances hereof we have in history not a few. Pharaoh, Adonibezek, Agag, Haman, Herod, &c. Xerxes, having covered the seas with his ships, and with two millions of men, and passed over into Greece, was afterwards, by a just hand of God upon him for his prodigious pride, forced to flee back in a poor fisher’s boat, which, being overburdened, had sunk all, if the Persians, by the casting away of themselves, had not saved the life of their king. {b} It was a great foretoken of Darius’s ruin, when in his proud embassy to Alexander he called himself the king of kings and cousin of the gods; but for Alexander he called him his servant. {c} The same senators that accompanied proud Sejanus to the senate conducted him the same day to prison; they which sacrificed unto him as to their god, which erst kneeled down to adore him, scoffed at him, seeing him dragged from the temple to the jail - from supreme honour to extreme ignominy. {d} Sigismund, the young King of Hungary, beholding the greatness of his army, in his great jollity, hearing of the coming of the Turks, proudly said, What need we fear the Turk, who need not at all to fear the falling of the heavens; which, if they should fall, yet were we able, with our spears and halberts, to hold them up from falling upon us? He afterwards shortly received a notable overthrow, lost most of his men, and was himself glad to get over Danube in a little boat to save his life. {e} What should I speak of Bajazet, the terror of the world, and, as he thought, superior to fortune, yet in an instant, with his state, in one battle, overthrown into the bottom of misery and despair, and that in the midst of his greatest strength? {f}

{a} Seneca.

{b} Herod.

{c} Quintus Curtius.

{d} Dio. in Tiberio.

{e} Turkish History, fol. 208.

{f} Ibid., 287.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Pro_16:18

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

Shame and contempt the end of pride

I. Show what pride and haughtiness mean. Pride is thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. It is corruption of self-love, it is self-flattery. A man thinks too highly of himself when he thinks that anything he has is his own; or when he conceives himself to have what he really has not; or when he challenges more respect than is due to him on the score of what he has. Pride is not peculiar to persons of any one rank.

II. Illustrate the truth of this observation from Scripture and reason. Pride will generally have a fall.

1. Argue from the reason of the thing itself, and its natural tendency. Some kinds of pride are very expensive. Pride is very contentious, and makes a man enemies. Pride makes men over-confident in their own efficiency. Vanity runs men into error and mistakes.

2. Argue that God has particularly declared His detestation of pride, and His resolution to punish it. The whole tenor of Scripture intimates how exceeding hateful pride is to Almighty God. The reasons for it are obvious. Pride is improper and unbecoming our condition and circumstances. It is an inlet to all vices. Reflections:

(1) Here is a proper consideration for dissuading men from pride, or curing them of it.

(2) Commend the humility which is spoken so highly of in Scripture. (D. Waterland, D.D.)

The vice of pride

This vice is animadverted on with peculiar severity in this Book of Proverbs. For this two reasons may be assigned.

I. The extensiveness of the sin. Pride is a corruption that seems almost originally ingrafted in our nature; it exerts itself in our first years, and, without continual endeavours to suppress it, influences our last. Other vices tyrannise over particular ages, and triumph in particular countries; but pride is the native of every country, infects every climate, and corrupts every nation. It mingles with all our other vices, and without the most constant and anxious care will mingle also with our virtues.

II. The circumstances of the preacher. Pride was probably a crime to which Solomon himself was most violently tempted. He was placed in every circumstance that could expose him to it. He had the pride of royalty, prosperity, knowledge, and wealth to suppress.

1. Consider the nature of pride, with its attendants and consequences. It is an immoderate degree of self-esteem, or an over-value set by a man upon himself. It is founded originally on an intellectual falsehood. In real life pride is always attended with kindred passions, and produces effects equally injurious to others and destructive to itself. He that over-values himself will under-value others, and he that under-values others will oppress them. Pride has been able to harden the heart against compassion, and stop the ears against the cry of misery. He that sets too high a value upon his own merits will, of course, think them ill rewarded with his present condition. To pride must be attributed most of the fraud, injustice, violence, and extortion, by which wealth is frequently acquired. Another concomitant of pride is envy, or the desire of debasing others. Another is an insatiable desire of propagating in others the favourable opinion he entertains of himself. No proud man is satisfied with being simply his own admirer.

2. The usual motives to pride. We grow proud by comparing ourselves with others weaker than ourselves. Another common motive to pride is knowledge. Another, a consciousness of virtue. Spiritual pride is generally accompanied with great uncharitableness and severe censures of others, and may obstruct the great duty of repentance. It may be well to conclude with the amiableness and excellence of humility. With the lowly there is wisdom. (S. Johnson, LL.D.)

Knowledge nourishes humility

We may arm ourselves against the haughty spirit which Solomon speaks of as precursor of a fall. There is a tendency in knowledge to the producing of humility, so that the more a man knows, the more likely is he to think little of himself. The arrogant and conceited person is ordinarily the superficial and ignorant. The man of real powers and great acquirements is usually a simple and unaffected man. He who knows most is most conscious of how little he knows. There is no truer definition of human knowledge than that it is the knowledge of human ignorance. Oh singular constitution of pride, that its very existence should be our proof of its absurdity! Try the affirmation that knowledge produces humility, in relation to our state by nature, and to our state by grace. Pride proves deficiency of knowledge in both these respects. As to mans natural condition, how can anybody be proud who knows that condition? There is no such contrast as that which may be drawn between man a fallen creature, and man a redeemed creature. But this does not puff the redeemed man up with pride, seeing redemption is not his work, but emanates from free-grace. Therefore, study ye yourselves; pray God for the aid of His Spirit to discover you to yourselves. Then you may grow up into the stature of the perfect man. (H. Melvill, B.D.)

Pride and humility

I. Pride as the precursor of ruin. Pride and haughtiness are equivalents. What is here predicted of pride--

1. Agrees with its nature. It is according to the instinct of pride to put its subject in an unnatural, and, therefore, in an unsafe position. The proud mans foot is on quicksand, not on rock.

2. Agrees with its history. Destruction always has followed in its march.

II. Humility is the pledge of good. What are all the spoils of earths haughty conquerors to be compared with the blessedness of a genuinely humble soul? Humility, says Sir Benjamin Brodie, leads to the highest distinction, because it leads to self-improvement. Study to know your own character; endeavour to learn, and to supply your own deficiencies; never assume to yourselves qualities which you do not possess. (Homilist.)

The dangers of pride

I. What is it we are to beware of? Pride and a haughty spirit.

1. Lofty thoughts of ourselves.2. Disdain of others.

3. Boastful talk.

4. Rash and vain actions.

II. The evils of pride.

1. It separates us from God (Psa_138:6; verse 5).

2. Makes men hate us.

3. Brings us to ruin.

Examples and illustrations: Pharaoh, Goliath, Absalom, Sennacherib, Belshazzar, Haman, Lucifer, the Pharisees, Herod, Wolsey (I and the king), Napoleon Bonaparte, Boulanger. (R. Brewin.)

The downfall of pride

A kite having risen to a very great height, moved in the air as stately as a prince, and looked down with much contempt on all below. What a superior being I am now! said the kite; who has ever ascended so high as I have? What a poor grovelling set of beings are all those beneath me! I despise them. And then he shook his head in derision, and then he wagged his tail; and again he steered along with so much state as if the air were all his own, and as if everything must make way before him; when suddenly the string broke, and down fell the kite with greater haste than he ascended, and was greatly hurt in the fall. Pride often meets with downfall. (W. Cobbin.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES.—

Pro_16:18. “The Hebrews observe that this verse stands exactly in the centre of the whole book” (Fausset).

Pro_16:19. Lowly, or the “afflicted”

MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_16:18-19

THE END OF PRIDE

I. Pride has a present place and power in the world. All human history bears witness to the existence of pride in the human heart, and to the mighty influence it has always exerted upon the destinies of men. And it is in the full exercise of its power to-day; in various forms, and under various modifications, it still holds its place in the nation, in the social circle, and in the individual heart. Would that we could speak of it as an existence of the past, and had only to mourn over the mischief that it has wrought in bygone ages. But we cannot speak of it as a mighty tyrant who once held sway over men to their destruction, but whose dominion has long ceased to exist. To-day, as in the days of old, we must use the present tense and say, “Pride goeth.” Pride is not like some monster who lived in pre-historic times, of whose life and deeds we know nothing but what we can infer from the skeleton dug up by the geologist, and which we now gaze upon as a curiosity, but which is a thing only, and not a living power in the world. Pride is living and active. Like the mighty being to whom it owes its origin, it is ever “going to and fro in the world, and walking up and down in it.” Without doubt, while it rules some men, it only exists under protest in others, but the most godly man upon earth is not altogether free from its blighting influence. It lived in ages past in the souls of prophets and apostles, and to-day it has a place and power in the Church, as well as in the world.

II. Pride is always a forerunner of evil to its possessor. Wherever and whenever found, the mischief that it brings in its train is always proportionate to the rule which it has been allowed to exercise. It is like the officer who comes to the condemned criminal to announce the hour of execution—after him comes destruction; or like the advanced guard of a destroying army, the pledge and promise of the ruin that is on its way. Where pride enters there destruction of some kind—humiliation and sorrow in some form or other—is sure to follow sooner or later. Pride was the forerunner of the deepest humiliation—of the most entire destruction—of Belshazzar when he drank wine out of the vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple at Jerusalem (Daniel 5), and a “haughty spirit” was the forerunner of a terrible fall to Peter when it led him to utter the boast “Though all shall be offended, yet will not I” (Mar_14:29). It therefore follows—

III. That fellowship with poverty and humility is better than fellowship with wealth and pride.

1. When a man is in the society of the proud he is in danger of becoming proud himself. We are all moulded unconsciously by those by whom we are surrounded; our own moral health depends very much upon the moral atmosphere we breathe, and therefore fellowship with the proud is injurious to a man’s spiritual well-being. But fellowship with those who are “poor in spirit” (Mat_5:3) may make us like-minded. Intercourse with the lowly in heart is likely to have a blessed influence upon our own hearts, and to help us also not to estimate ourselves too highly. This holds good whether the proud man be rich or poor, and whether the lowly man be high or low in station, for pride and wealth have no necessary connection with each other any more than poverty and humility have. But when pride and riches are found united in one person, fellowship with them is more to be avoided, inasmuch as we may not only be influenced to become as proud as they are, but may be tempted to over-value their external possessions, and, perhaps, to envy the possessor. But in the society of the poor we are free from both dangers, and intercourse with those who are poor in this world’s goods as well as poor in spirit, will be a good lesson in the science of true happiness.

2. But such fellowship is not only better for a man’s spirit, it may also be better for his material warfare. Seeing that every proud man must experience the destruction of that upon which his pride has fed, and that every haughty spirit will have a fall, association with such may involve a participation in their misfortune. To divide spoil with the proud may make us partakers of the penalty which follows the proud. (See also on chap. Pro_11:2).

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS

Pro_16:18. Shame and contempt the end of pride.

1. By natural tendency.

2. Because of God’s detestation and resolution to punish it.—Waterland.

The danger of pride is plain from every history of the great transactions that have come to pass in heaven and earth. The prophets describe the destructive consequences of this sin with all the strength of their Divine eloquence, and all the sublimity of the prophetic style (Isaiah 14; Eze_29:21). The history of the evangelists shows us what amazing humiliation was necessary to expiate the guilt contracted by the pride of man. And the tendency of the preaching and writings of the apostles was to cast down every high imagination of men, that no flesh might glory but in the Lord (1Co_1:29). Might not this loathsome disease become a cure for itself? Can anything afford us greater cause of humiliation, than to find ourselves guilty of a sin so exceedingly unreasonable and presumptuous as pride? Shall a worm swell itself into an equality with the huge leviathan? What is man that he should be great in his own eyes? or, what is the son of man, that he should magnify himself as if he were some being greater than an angel? Was the Son of God humbled for us that we might not perish for ever, and shall pride be suffered to reign in our souls?—Lawson.

Before, in the presence of, in a confronting local sense. “Before ruin is pride;” that is, when its terrror-fit as come, “pride” is to appear as the wretched cause of it.—Miller.

“God resisteth the proud;” and good reason, for the proud resisteth God. Other sins divert a man from God, only pride brings him against God, and brings God against him. There is nothing in this world worth our pride, but that moss will grow to a stone.—T. Adams.

The haughty spirit carries the head high. The man looks upward, instead of to his steps. What wonder, therefore, if, not seeing what is before him, he falls? He loves to climb. The enemy is always at hand to assist him (Mat_4:5-6); and the greater the height, the more dreadful the fall.—Bridges.

It is the nature of pride that it seeketh to go before, and to take place, and so God hath placed it. He hath appointed it to go before, but it is before destruction, and before a fall. It is the quality of a haughty spirit to love to be waited on, and God hath appointed attendants for it, but they are the attendants of ruin and confusion. No doubt as the pride of a haughty spirit disdaineth them that follow him, so it disdaineth to hear of either falling or destruction, notwithstanding they shall pursue and overtake him also. He that sees pride go before may quickly tell what will follow after: he that heareth the major proposition of an angry spirit may easily infer the conclusion of a certain destruction. Indeed it is but one falling that goeth before another; and, as St. Augustine speaketh, the falling which is within, and whereby the heart falleth from Him than whom there is nothing higher, this hidden falling, whilst it is not thought to be a falling, goeth before the outward and manifest falling of destruction.—Jermin.

Pro_16:19. It is a pleasant thing to be enriched with other men’s goods; it is a gainful thing to have part of the prey; it is a glorious thing to divide the spoil. But what are all outward possessions to the inward virtues of the mind? What will goods ill-gotten profit the possessors thereof? Finally, what is the end of a proud person but to have a fall? Surely it is better to be injured than to do injury; it is better to be patient than to be insolent; it is better with the afflicted people of God to be bruised in heart and low of port than to enjoy the pleasures or treasures of sin or of this world for a season.—Muffet.

Such an one is happier in having the favour of God and man, immunity from perils, and tranquillity of conscience. Whereas the proud, who seek their own aggrandisement by oppressing their fellow-men, lose the favour of these as well as of God, are in danger of destruction at any moment, and have a guilty conscience whenever they dare to reflect.—Fausset.

Although pride were not followed by destruction, and humility were attended with the most afflicting circumstances, yet humility is to be infinitely preferred to pride. The word here rendered humble might, by an inconsiderable variation, be rendered afflicted. Humility and affliction are often in Scripture expressed by the same word, and described as parts of the same character. Low and afflicted circumstances are often useful, by promoting humiliation of spirit. The reverse sometimes takes place, but it is an evidence of a very intractable spirit if we cry not when God bindeth us, and continue unhumbled under humbling providences. The cottager that has his little Babylon of straw is less excusable than the mighty Nebuchadnezzar walking in his pride through the splendid chambers of his stupendous palace.—Lawson.

There are main gates to the city of peace; there is a little postern besides, that is, humility: for of all vices, pride is a stranger to peace. The proud man is too guilty to come in by innocence, too surly to come in by patience; he hath no mind to come in by benefaction, and he scorns to come in by satisfaction. All these portcullises be shut against him; there is no way left but the postern for him; he must stoop or never be admitted to peace. Heaven is a high city, yet hath but a low gate … Men may behold glory in humility, they shall never find peace in ambition. The safest way to keep fire is to rake it up in embers; the best means to preserve peace is in humbleness. The tall cedars feel the fury of tempests which blow over the humble shrubs in the low valleys.—T. Adams.

Better is it to be conquered by God than to be conqueror of the whole world. For if God conquer thee, the devil is conquered by thee; if pride be driven from thee, meekness is triumphant in thee, and where thou art so spoiled thou hast gotten the spoil of thy spiritual enemies, the love of God, the comfort of His spirit, the expectation of glory which they hadst gotten from thee, and which the earth cannot value, much less be an equal value unto them. But then thou must be not only of a humble look, or of a humble speech, but of a humble spirit.—Jermin.

I. The one is rich in his soul by the endowments and force of the spirit, and the other hath a beggarly mind and impotent heart. II. The one is acceptable to God and amiable to good men, whereas the Lord doth abhor the other, and good men shun his society. III. The one is rising and growing to a better state, and the other is coming down and falling into misery.—Dod.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

16:18 The pride of those who resist God and stubbornly rely on their own strength (16:5) is self-destructive and foolish because, apart from God’s help, no one has the resources required for life.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Note, 1. Pride will have a fall. Those that are of a haughty spirit, that think of themselves above what is meet, and look with contempt upon others, that with their pride affront God and disquiet others, will be brought down, either by repentance or by ruin. It is the honour of God to humble the proud, Job 40:11, Job 40:12. It is the act of justice that those who have lifted up themselves should be laid low. Pharaoh, Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, were instances of this. Men cannot punish pride, but either admire it or fear it, and therefore God will take the punishing of it into his own hands. Let him alone to deal with proud men. 2. Proud men are frequently most proud, and insolent, and haughty, just before their destruction, so that it is a certain presage that they are upon the brink of it. When proud men set God's judgments at defiance, and think themselves at the greatest distance from them, it is a sign that they are at the door; witness the case of Benhadad and Herod. While the word was in the king's mouth, Dan 4:31. Therefore let us not fear the pride of others, but greatly fear pride in ourselves.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(Compare Pro 15:33). Haughtiness and pride imply self-confidence which produces carelessness, and hence

a fall--literally, "sliding."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 18. Pride goeth before destruction] Here pride is personified: it walks along, and has destruction in its train.

And a haughty spirit before a fall.] Another personification. A haughty spirit marches on, and ruin comes after.

In this verse we find the following Masoretic note in most Hebrew Bibles. חצי הספר chatsi hassepher: "the middle of the book." This verse is the middle verse; and the first clause makes the middle of the words of the book of Proverbs.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(18) Pride goeth before destruction.—In contrast to the blessing promised to humility in Pro_15:33.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Pride goeth before destruction,.... As it did in the angels that sinned, who, through pride, fell into condemnation, not being able to bear the thought that the human nature, in the person of the Son of God, should be advanced above theirs; and as it did in our first parents, who, not content with their present state and circumstances, and ambitious of being as gods, knowing good and evil, ruined themselves and all their posterity; and as it has done in many of their sons, as in Haman, Nebuchadnezzar, and others;

and a haughty spirit before a fall; or, "a high spirit", or "height of spirit" (i); a man that carries his head high; looks upwards, and not to his goings, sees not at what he may stumble, and so falls: moreover, the bigger a person or thing is, the greater is the fall; and very often when a man has got to the height of his riches and honour, and is swelling with pride and vanity on account of it, he is on the precipice of ruin, and his fall is immediate; which was the case of Nebuchadnezzar, who while he was expressing himself in the haughtiness of his spirit, being in the height of his glory, his kingdom departed from him, Dan 4:30; and this will be the case of the man of sin, or antichrist, Rev 18:7.

(i) "elitio spiritus", Pagninus, Montanus, Mercerus, Gejerus, Michaelis; "altitudo spiritus", Piscator; "celstudo aniimi", Cocceius; "altifrons elatio spiritus", Schultens.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Fall. Our first parents had given way to pride, before they sinned publicly. (St. Augustine, City of God xiv. 13.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Pride goeth before destruction; it is commonly a forerunner and cause of men’s ruin, because it highly provokes both God and men.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

18. Pride… destruction — Better, Before breaking up, splendour! and before ruin, loftiness of spirit! The splendour, of course, is of the kind that may be called vain show, loftiness of spirit, ambition to shine in the higher circles of society. How forcible the proverb! How true to observation! It is particularly commended to business men. Compare Pro_11:2; Pro_15:25; Pro_15:33; Pro_18:12. [N.B. — The Masorites note this as the middle verse of the book.] 19. Humble spirit, etc. — Rather, humility of mind with the lowly, than dividing of the spoil with the lofty. גאים, (geim,) literally, high ones; metaphorically, the proud, haughty. It seems to imply here those who are elated with victory.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Pride goeth before destruction. A maxim continually enforced. (see Pro_11:2 Pro_17:19 Pro_18:12) Here is the contrast to the blessing on humility promised. (Pro_15:33) A haughty spirit a lifting up of spirit goeth before a fall. (comp. Dan_4:29, etc) Thus, according to Herodotus (7:10), Artabanus warned the arrogant Xerxes, "Seest thou how God strikes with the thunder animals which overtop others, and suffers them not to vaunt themselves, but the small irritate him not? And seest thou how he hurls his bolts always against the mightiest buildings and the loftiest trees? For God is wont to cut short whatever is too highly exalted" (comp. Horace, "Carm.," 2:10.9, etc.). Says the Latin adage, "Qui petit alta nimis, retro lapsus ponitur imis." Caesar, "Bell. Gall.," 1:14, "Consuesse Deos immortales, quo gravius homines ex commutatione rerum doleant, quos pro sceiere eorum ulcisci velint, his secundiores interdum re, et diuturuiorem impunitatem concedere." The Chinese say, "Who flies not high falls not low;" and, "A great tree attracts the wind." The Basque proverb remarks, "Pride sought flight in heaven, fell to hell." And an Eastern one, "What is extended will tear; what is long will break" (Lane).

Vers. 18, 19. Pride (Pro_11:2 Pro_18:12) and humility.

Great insistance is laid in Scripture on the evil of pride and the value of humility. The subject has a large place in those "thoughts of God," which are communicated to us in his Word.

I THE EVIL OF PRIDE.

1. It is based on falsity. For what has the richest or the strongest or the cleverest man, what has the most beautiful or the most honoured woman, that he or she has not received? (1Co_4:7) Ultimately, we owe everything to our Creator and Divine Benefactor; and the thought that our distinction is due to ourselves is an essentially false thought. Hence:

2. It is irreverent and ungrateful; for it is constantly forgetful of the heavenly source of all our blessings.

3. It is ugly and offensive in the sight of man. That self-respect which makes a man superior to all meanness and all unworthiness of himself is honourable and excellent in our eyes; but pride, which is an overweening estimate of our own importance or virtue, is wholly unbeautiful; it marks a man"s character as a scar marks his countenance; it makes the subject of it a man whom we look upon with aversion rather than delight our soul finds no pleasure in regarding him. It is positively offensive to our spirit.

4. It is repeatedly and severely condemned by God as a serious sin. (Pro_8:13 Psa_12:3 Psa_31:23 Psa_101:5 Psa_138:6 Isa_2:12 Mar_7:22 1Ti_3:6 2Ti_3:2 Jam_4:6, etc.)

5. It is spiritually perilous in a very high degree. No truth is more constantly illustrated than that of the text, "Pride goeth before destruction," etc. Pride begets a false confidence; this begets unwariness, and leads into the place of danger; and then comes the fall. Sometimes it is in health; at other times, in business; or it may be in office and in power; or, alas! it may be in morals and in piety. There is no field of human thought and action in which pride is not a most dangerous guide. It leads up to and (only too often) over the precipice.

II THE EXCELLENCE OF HUMILITY. "Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly," etc. And it is better because, while pride is open to all these condemnations (as above), humility is to be commended and to be desired for the opposite virtues.

1. It is founded on a true view of our own hearts. The lowlier the view we take of ourselves, the truer the estimate we form. There is a lowliness of word and demeanour that is feigned and that is false. A man may be "proud of his humility," and may declaim his own sins with a haughty heart. But real humility is based on a thorough knowledge of our own nature, of its weakness and its openness to evil; on a full acquaintance with our own character, with its imperfection and liability to fail us in the trying hour.

2. It is admirable in itself. We do not, indeed, admire servility; we detest it heartily. But we do admire genuine humility. It is a very valuable adornment of a Christian character; it graces an upright life with a beauty no other quality can supply. There is no one whom it does not become, whom it does not make much more attractive than he (or she) would otherwise be.

3. It is the very gateway into the kingdom of God. It is the humble heart, conscious of error and of sin, that seeks the Teacher and the Saviour. It is the guide which conducts our spirit straight to the feet and to the cross of our Redeemer.

4. It is an attribute of Christian character which commends us to the love and to the favour of our Lord.

5. It is the only ground on which we are safe. Pride is a slippery place, where we are sure to slip and fall; humility is the ground where devotion, finds its home, which a reverent trustfulness frequents, where God is ready with the shield of his guardianship, from which temptation shrinks away, where human souls live in peace and purity and attain to their maturity in Jesus Christ their Lord. C.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18 Pride goeth before destruction,

And haughtiness cometh before a fall.

The contrast is לפני כבוד ענוה, Pro 15:33, according to which the "haughtiness comes before a fall" in Pro 18:22 is expanded into the antithetic distich. שׁבר means the fracture of the limbs, destruction of the person. A Latin proverb says, "Magna cadunt, inflata crepant, tumefacta premuntur."

(Note: An expression of similar meaning is אחרי דרגא תביר = after Darga (to rise up) comes tebı̂r (breaking = destruction); cf. Zunz, in Geiger's Zeitschrift, vi. 315ff.)

Here being dashed in pieces and overthrown correspond. שׁבר means neither bursting (Hitzig) nor shipwreck (Ewald). כשּׁלון (like בּטּחון, זכּרון, etc.), from כּשׁל or נכשׁל, to totter, and hence, as a consequence, to come to ruin, is a ἅπαχ λεγ. This proverb, which stands in the very centre of the Book of Proverbs, is followed by another in praise of humility.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

What more vivid exposition of these Proverbs is needed, than our own ruined condition? Our father’s pride, desiring to "be as God," hurried his whole race to destruction. ’O Adam’ — was the exclamation of a man of God, ’what hast thou done!’†1 ’I think,’ — said another holy man — ’so far as any man is proud, he is kin to the devil, and a stranger to God and to himself.’†2 The most awful strength of Divine eloquence seems to be concentrated to delineate the character and ruin of pride.†3 Example abounds throughout the Scripture;†4 each sounding this solemn admonition — "Be not high-minded, but fear."†5 Fearful indeed is our danger, if the caution be not welcomed; if the need for it be not deeply felt!

The haughty spirit†6 carries the head high. The man looks upward, instead of to his steps. What wonder therefore, if, not seeing what is before him, he falls? He loves to climb. The enemy is always at hand to assist him (Mat 4:5-6 ); and the greater the height, the more dreadful the fall. There is often something in the fall, that marks the Lord’s special judgment. God smites the object, of which the man is proud. David gloried in the number of his people, and the Lord diminished them by pestilence. Hezekiah boasted of his treasure, and the Lord marked it to be taken away. At the moment that Nebuchadnezzar was proud of his Babel, he was banished from the enjoyment of it. "The vain daughters of Zion," priding themselves on their ornaments, were covered with disgrace. (Isa 3:24 .) Yet after all, the state of heart that prepares man for the fall, is the worst part of his condition. For what is our pride is our danger, ’Why’ — a wise man asks — ’is earth and ashes proud? Pride was not made for man.’

But have we been preserved from open disgrace? Examine secret faults. Trace them to their source — a subtle confidence in gifts, attainments, and privileges. And then praise thy God for his painful discipline — the preserving mercy from ruinous self-exaltation. Truly the way down to the valley of Humiliation is deep and rugged. Humility, therefore, is the grand preserving grace. The contrite publican was safe, when the boasting Pharisee was confounded. (Luk 18:14 .) Better then — more happy, more honorable, more acceptable to God and man — is a humble spirit, companying with the lowly, than the spoil of the haughty conqueror, ministering only to his destruction. (Jas 1:9 .) Better is an humble spirit, than a high condition; to have our temper brought down, than our outward condition raised. But who believes this? Most men strive to rise; few desire to lie low! May thy example — blessed Savior — keep me low! ’When Majesty’ — said pious Bernard — ’humbled himself, shall the worm swell with pride?’

Footnotes:

†1 Adam’s Private Thoughts.

†2 Baxter’s Narrative.

†3 Isa 14:4-19. Ezekiel 28. 29. Job 40:11-12 .

†4 Pharaoh, Exo 9:16-17 ; Amaziah, 2Ch 25:15-20 ; Haman, Est 5:11 ; Est 7:10 ; Pharaoh, Eze 29:3-5 . Nebuchadnezzar, Dan 4:29-33 ; Herod, Act 12:21-23 ; In the Church, David, 2Sa 24:1 ; Uziah, 2Ch 26:4-16 ; Hezekiah, 2Ch 32:25; Isa 39:1-8 ; Peter, Mat 26:33, Mat 26:69-74 .

†5 Rom 11:20. Compare 1Co 10:12 ; 1Ti 3:6 .

†6 Altifrons elatio spiritus — Schultens.

Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs (1846) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

v. 18. Pride goeth before destruction, for self-exaltation blinds a person against dangers and against the growing resentment of other people and thus hastens his fall, and an haughty spirit before a fall, the herald of the proud person’s overthrow.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.