Proverbs 18:14

Pro 18:14 The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?

Ver. 14. The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity.] Some sorry shift a man may make to bustle with, and to rub through other ailments and aggrievances, disasters or diseases, sores or sicknesses of the body - as the word here properly importeth. Let a man be sound within, and, upon good terms, at peace with his own conscience, and he will bravely bear unspeakable pressures. {2Co 1:9; 2Co 1:12} Paul was merry under his load, because his heart was cheery in the Lord; as an old beaten porter to the cross, maluit tolerare quam deplorare, his "stroke was heavier than his groaning," as Job. {Job 23:2} Alexander Aphrodiseus {a} gives a reason why porters under their burdens go singing; because the mind, being delighted with the sweetness of the music, the body feels the weight so much the less. Their shoulders, while sound, will bear great luggage; but let a bone be broken, or but the skin rubbed up and raw, the lightest load will be grievous. A little water in a leaden vessel is heavy; so is a little trouble in an evil conscience.

But a wounded spirit who can bear?] q.d., It is a burden importable, able to quail the courage, and crush the shoulders of the hugest Hercules, of the mightiest man upon earth; who can bear it? The body cannot; much less a diseased body. And if the soul be at unrest, the body cannot but co-suffer. Hence Job preferred, and Judas chose strangling before it. Bilney and Bainham, after they had abjured, felt such a hell in their consciences, till they had openly professed their sorrow for that sin, as they would not feel again for all the world’s good. {b} Daniel chose rather to be cast into the den of lions, than to carry about a lion in his bosom, an enraged conscience. The primitive Christians cried likewise, Ad Leones potius quam ad Lenones adiaciamur. To the lions is more preferable than let us be thrown near the lions. What a terror to himself was our Richard III, after the cruel murder of his two innocent nephews; and Charles IX of France, after that bloody massacre? He could never endure to be awakened in the night without music, or some like diversion. But, alas! if the soul itself be out of tune, these outward things do no more good than a fair shoe to a gouty foot, or a silken stocking to a broken leg.

{a} Problem i. Numb. 78.

{b} Act. and Mon., fol. 938.

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_18:14

The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?

Sustaining our infirmities

The sufferings of this life are not disproportioned to our strength to bear them. And the only evils that are intolerable and insupportable, are wholly owing to ourselves.

I. What is meant by sustaining infirmities? Infirmities here, being opposed to a wounded spirit, must signify only external sufferings, whatever is grievous by afflicting, excepting the disorders and troubles of our own minds. By sustaining infirmities is not meant that we must not feel them. It is to feel but not sink under the weight of them: as that man sustains his burden who can go upright, and not stagger, or at least not fall, though he feels the weight of it on his shoulders.

II. By what means can the spirit of a man sustain his infirmities?

1. By natural courage and strength of mind. There is an inbred greatness in human nature which does not care to confess its own weakness; an untaught courage which supports the rude and illiterate part of mankind, even without reason and discourse.

2. By the power of reason, which adds to our natural courage, and gives us a more confirmed sense of decency and honour. The mere power of natural reason and moral arguments cannot support us under all events; but reason is the strength of the mind, and it is the mind which must bear up under external sufferings. Nature furnishes us with a great many arguments to bear sufferings easily, without fainting.

3. By the arguments which religion furnishes us with. Refer to two: That whatever we suffer is not the effect of a blind chance or fatal necessity, but is ordered by a wise and good Providence. That if we bear our present sufferings with patience and submission to the will of God, and make a wise use of them to our improvement in grace and virtue, our very sufferings shall be greatly rewarded in the next world. If God sees pain and sickness, poverty and disgrace, necessary to cure or restrain our vicious and distempered passions, or to improve and exercise our graces, have we any reason to complain that God takes such severe measures to save our souls? This may be very grievous and afflicting at present, but then we have the hopes of immortal life to support us.

III. What is meant by a wounded spirit? This is a metaphorical expression, and signifies a spirit which suffers pain and trouble. A wound in the body is a division of one part from another, which is always painful; and though a spirit cannot be thus divided, yet because a wound causes pain, a spirit which is disordered and suffers pain is said to be wounded. Some mens spirits are wounded with the disorders and violence of their own passions. They love, or hope, or fear, or desire, or grieve immoderately; and all passions are very painful when they are in excess. Other mens spirits are wounded with a sense of guilt. Their own consciences reproach and shame them.

IV. How unsupportable a wounded spirit is! Anger, when it grows immoderate, worries the mind. An immoderate love of riches or honours or pleasures causes us infinite trouble, torments with an impatient thirst. All this is nothing to the agonies of a guilty mind. And moreover, a wounded spirit has no refuge or retreat, has nothing left to support itself with. The spirit of a man can bear his infirmities, but when the spirit itself is wounded, there is nothing to support that. This wounds our courage, our reason, makes all external comforts tasteless, and deprives us of all the comforts of religion. A wounded spirit cannot find any support from the considerations of religion unless it find its cure there. Useful thoughts:

1. This is a great vindication of the providence of God with respect to those evils and calamities that are in the world. God inflicts nothing on us but what the spirit of a man can sustain, but our greatest sufferings are owing to ourselves, and no more chargeable on the providence of God than our sins are.

2. This greatly recommends the Divine wisdom in that provision God has made for our support under sufferings.

3. It is better to suffer than to sin, even with respect to our present case, because sufferings may be borne by an innocent and virtuous mind.

4. The government of our own passions contributes more to our happiness than any external enjoyments. What a wrong course do the generality of mankind take to make themselves happy! They seek for happiness without, when the foundation of happiness must be laid within, in the temper and disposition of our minds. An easy, quiet mind will weather all the storms of fortune. But how calm and serene soever the heavens be, there is no peace to the wicked, who have nothing but noise and tumult and confusion within. (W. Sherlock, D. D.)

The burden of a wounded heart

This text presents a comparison between the grief that afflicts the outward man and that which preys upon the inward. What is meant in the text by spirit? In the soul of man is an upper and lower part; not, indeed, in respect of its substance, for that is indivisible, but in respect of its faculties. There is a higher and more noble portion of the soul, purely intellectual; and in operation, as well as in substance, perfectly spiritual, and this is expressed in the text by the term spirit. What is the import of the soul being wounded? This signifies nothing else but its being deeply and intimately possessed with a lively sense of Gods wrath for sin. The sense of the text lies full and clear in this one proposition, viz., that the trouble and anguish of a soul labouring under a sense of Gods displeasure for sin is inexpressibly greater than any other grief or trouble whatsoever.

I. What kind of persons are the proper subjects of this trouble? Both the righteous and the wicked; but with a very different issue in one and in the other.

II. Wherein does the strange, excessive, and sometimes supernatural greatness of it appear? We may gather this--

1. From the behaviour of our Saviour Himself in this condition.

2. From the most raised and passionate expressions that have been uttered from time to time, by persons eminent in the ways of God, while they were labouring under it.

3. From the uninterrupted, incessant continuance of it.

4. From the violent and more than ordinary manifestation of itself in outward signs and effects.

5. From those horrid effects it has had upon persons not upheld under it by Divine grace. Both history and experience testify what tragical ends men deserted by God, under the troubles of a wounded spirit, have been brought into.

III. By what ways and means this trouble is brought into the soul.

1. By reflections upon the Divine justice, as provoked.

2. By fearful apprehensions of the Divine mercy, as abused.

3. By Gods withdrawing His presence and the sense of His love.

4. These wounding perplexities are brought upon the soul by Gods giving commission to the tempter more than usually to trouble and disquiet it.

IV. What is Gods end and design in casting men into such a perplexed condition? God brings anguish upon the spirit of the pious and sincere for a twofold end.

1. To embitter sin to them.

2. To endear and enhance the value of returning mercy.

V. Draw some useful inferences from the whole.

1. Let no man presume to pronounce anything scoffingly of the present or severely of the final estate of such as he finds exercised with the distracting troubles of a wounded spirit.

2. Let no secure sinner applaud or soothe up himself in the presumed safety of his spiritual estate because he finds so much trouble or anguish upon his spirit for sin.

3. Let no person exclude himself from the number of such as are truly sincere and regenerate, only because he never yet felt any of these amazing pangs of conscience for sin. (R. South.)

On the wounds of the heart

There are two classes of good and evil belonging to man--those which respect his corporeal and those which respect his spiritual state. But it is not easy to convince men that the soul hath interests of its own, quite distinct from those of the body, and is liable to diseases and wounds as real as any which the body suffers, and often much more grievous. The natural vigour and courage of a mans mind may enable him to surmount the ordinary distresses of life; but if, within him, the disease rankles in mind and heart, to what quarter can he look for relief? The spirit or soul of man is wounded chiefly by three causes--by folly, by passion, by guilt.

I. By folly. That is, by vain, light, and improper pursuits; by a conduct which, though it should not be immediately criminal, yet is unsuitable to ones age, character, or condition in the world. Good sense is no less requisite in our religious and moral behaviour than it is in our worldly affairs. In this age of dissipation and luxury, how many avenues are open that lead to the Temple of Folly. If something happens to awaken persons of this description from their dreams of vanity, what mortifying and disquieting views of themselves will arise! Conscience now begins to exert its authority, and lift its scourge.

II. By passion. If by folly the spirit is wounded, it is exposed by passion to wounds still more severe. Passions are those strong emotions of the mind which impel it to desire, and to act, with vehemence. When directed towards proper objects, and kept within just bounds, they possess a useful place in our frame; but they always require the government and restraint of reason. When a mans passions have been so far indulged, and left to run to excess, a dangerous blow has been given to the heart. The balance of the soul is lost. The case becomes infinitely worse if the passion which has seized a man be of the vicious and malignant kind. Over his dark and scowling mind gloomy ideas continually brood. The wounds given to the heart by ill-governed passions are of an opprobrious nature, and must be stifled in secret.

III. By guilt. If beyond being misled by folly or overcome by passion a man be conscious of having committed deeds of injustice or cruelty, deep and lasting is the sting which is sent into the heart. The voice of nature, of conscience, and of God will make itself heard within him. He will become despicable in his own sight. Remorse will prey the deeper on the bad mans heart, if it should happen that there was a period in his life when he was a different man. Then let us learn--

1. To give the most serious and vigilant attention to the government of our hearts.

2. To join prayer to Almighty God, in addition to our own endeavours of guarding and governing our spirits.

3. That the great God hath already begun to punish bad men for their sins and vices. You see His hand in all that they are made to suffer by the wounded spirit. He has not delayed all retribution to another world. Let us hold fast by this truth, that every mans real happiness or misery is made by the appointment of the Creator, to depend more on Himself, and on the proper government of his mind and heart, than upon any external thing. (Hugh Blair, D. D.)

The misery, causes, and remedies of a dejected mind

Render the passage thus: The spirit of a man (of a brave man) will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded (dejected) spirit, who shall raise it up? A caution is intimated against yielding too far to any misfortunes or troubles; against letting our spirits sink or our courage fail us in our day of calamity. A vigorous mind, a manly spirit, will support us under bodily infirmities within, or cross accidents without. The subject here is a troubled and dejected mind.

I. The misery of it. Not a wounded conscience only, but generally a mind wounded by grief and troubles. All manner of trouble and misery, as felt by the patient, is resolvable into pain of body or pain of mind; into some uneasy sensations, which we commonly call anguish. What an advantage, in all kinds of uneasinesses, to have a mind well fortified and steeled against them. Strength of mind and fortitude are of admirable use to repel uneasiness and pain, and to prevent its making any deep and durable impressions. The spirit of a man, while firm and erect, becomes a kind of armour of proof against either inward pains or untoward disasters. When the spirit sinks, every calamity puts on the blacker face, and every pain and uneasiness stings to the quick, and is much increased with galling reflections The mind is haunted with dark images. The man sits down and indulges his sorrow, hugs his grief, abandons himself to impatience, bitter wailing, and despair, refusing to be comforted.

II. The causes which lead to this melancholy extremity. The occasional and immediate causes of this malady are either from without or from within. The outward calamities of life are many and various. A second cause is the sense of some grievous sin lying hard upon the conscience. The greatest calamity that can be is an ill-spent life. There is such a thing as religious melancholy--bodily indisposition, which is frequently the sole cause of a broken, dejected mind.

III. Prescribe some proper remedies or preservatives. Natural courage, inborn strength of mind, is one of the best preservatives. Rule

1. Trust in God and live a life conformable to the doctrine of Christ.

2. Sit as loose as possible to the world; weave and disentangle the affections from temporal things. If we can be content with a moderate share of temporal prosperity, we shall be the less concerned at disappointments, and of consequence the better prepared to meet afflictions and to bear up under them. Other inferior rules are, agreeable company; good books; employment in an honest calling; innocent diversions, and the like. Rely rather upon faith, a good life, and a good conscience consequent thereon; together with fixed and constant meditations upon the joys of a life to come. If ye do these things ye can never fail. (D. Waterland, D. D.)

A wounded spirit

I. What is meant by a wounded spirit? A guilty and self-condemning conscience arising both from a sense of sin and of the danger which a man by sinning has brought himself into.

II. Why is a wounded spirit so grievous and unsupportable?

1. It imports a sense of sin in offending against the light and conviction of our own minds.

2. In offending against the majesty of a gracious and good God.

3. A sense of danger in provoking the justice of an angry and avenging God. The spirits of men are often wounded, and their thoughts afflicted, at a sense of the present shame and sufferings which their evil courses bring upon them. The following are crimes which, in their own nature are attended with uneasy and stinging reflections:

(1) Public offences against government and the common interests and good of society.

(2) When the wrong-doer is under any obligations of love, fidelity, or obedience to those whom he injures.

III. Though the condition of such a person is so deplorable, it is not hopeless or desperate. By the grace of God means are left for his recovery. That faith which, according to the terms of the gospel, justifies a sinner, and is reckoned unto him for righteousness, imports a firm belief that Jesus was the Messiah, the Saviour of the world, and that His sufferings and death upon the Cross were a true and proper expiatory sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. Let us apply the benefits of that general expiation Christ made for the sins of mankind to our particular persons. (R. Fiddes, D. D.)

Sustaining infirmity

I. A sound spirit is what will relieve under outward infirmities and troubles.

1. When may the spirit of a man be said to be sound? When it is renewed and sanctified by the Spirit of God. A holy soul is a healthful one. There is a natural soundness or stoutness of spirit which is not easily discouraged or broken by external trouble or pain. There is a moral soundness of spirit when enlightened conscience hath nothing gross to upbraid a man withal. A sound spirit is one pardoned through the blood of Jesus, and through Him restored to the favour of God. It is in some measure comforted with a sense of Gods love, and its own safety for eternity.

2. Show that every man has his infirmities. Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. Through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom. The term infirmity denotes what afflictions are, both in their nature and tendency, viz., weakening things. And man has no ability to prevent their coming, nor to free himself from them when they come.

3. How far will a sound spirit sustain under these? The man does not hereby become insensible. But a sound spirit will be a praying one; it will not let go its hope in God of a blessed issue, either in this world or a better; it will keep something of cheerfulness. This sound spirit is not alone; it has the Spirit of God with it. And this Spirit proves a comforter and helper, by leading the afflicted Christian into an aquaintance with what is written in the Word, and what has been wrought within himself.

II. A wounded spirit is itself a burden, under which there is no standing without relief given from heaven.

1. The spirit or soul in man may be wounded. There is such a thing as a grieved soul as well as a pained body. There is a bitterness peculiar to the heart which can only be understood by God and itself. A wounded spirit is one filled with anguish from a sense of sin.

2. When, and in whom, may the spirit be wounded. Either before conversion or after. The soul of the sinner is wounded that Christ may be rendered precious and amiable to it, and bring it to close with Him upon His own terms; that it might be filled with a greater hatred of sin; that, when it is healed, it may be the more enlarged in thankfulness towards its gracious God. The distress of a wounded spirit will for ever be an argument of love to God and Christ, and it will put others upon considering what they are liable to suffer on account of sin in this world, besides the death which is the wages of it in another. The spirit is wounded in such as God is about to recover to Himself, to make and keep them humble all their days. By the distress that goes before recovering grace God will encourage His peoples trust in Him in after-trials. What compassion is due to such as know by experience the insupportable burden of a wounded spirit! (D. Wilcox.)

A wounded spirit

Writing of General Grants last days, General Badeau says: The physicians constantly declared that although the cancer was making irresistible advance, it was not the cancer that produced the exhaustion and nervousness which, unless arrested, would bring about death very soon. It was only too plain that the mental, moral disease was killing Grant--it was the blow which had struck him to the dust, and humiliated him before the world, from which he could not recover. He who was thought so stolid, so strong, so undemonstrative, was dying for a sentiment--because of the injury to his fame, the aspersions on his honour. (J. F. B. Tinling.)

The torture of a wounded conscience

As long as Adam maintained a conscience pure towards God, he was happy; but having once taken the forbidden fruit, he tarried a while there, but took no contentment therein; the sun did shine as bright, the rivers ran as clear as ever they did, birds sang as sweetly, beasts played as pleasantly, flowers smelt as fragrant, herbs grew as fresh, fruits flourished as fair; no punctilio of pleasure was either altered or abated; the objects were the same, but Adams eyes were otherwise. Such is the torture of a wounded conscience, that it is able to unparadise paradise, and the burthen thereof so insupportable, that it is able to quell the courage and crush the shoulders of the hugest Hercules, of the mightiest man upon the face of the earth: who can bear it? (J. Spencer.)

Grievances of the spirit

These are of all others most heavy and grievous to be borne; these make sore the shoulders which should sustain the other infirmities. If the spirit be wounded by the disturbance of the reason, dejection under the trouble, whatever it is, and despair of relief; if the spirit be wounded by the amazing apprehensions of Gods wrath for sin, and the fearful expectations of judgment and fiery indignation, who can bear this? Wounded spirits cannot help themselves, nor do others know how to help them. It is therefore wisdom to keep conscience void of offence. (Matthew Henry.)

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

Pro 18:14. The spirit of a man — That is, his soul, namely, not wounded, as appears by the opposite branch of the verse, and which is vigorous and cheerful, supported by a sense of God’s love, the consciousness of its own integrity, and of its present peace with him, and by a bright prospect of future happiness; will sustain his infirmity — Will easily support him under any bodily or outward troubles, as God’s people have often found by experience; but a wounded spirit — Depressed and dejected with a sense of its own guilt, depravity, and misery; who can bear? — It is most grievous and intolerable, if divine support and comfort be withheld.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES.—

Pro_18:14. Infirmity, i.e., sickness, disease of body. As in similar verses, Miller translates “a wounded spirit:” a spirit of upbraiaing. Here again, as in Pro_18:4, the Hebrew word ish is used for man.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_18:14

SICKNESS OF BODY AND WOUNDS OF SOUL

I. A man can rise above pain of body. Men who do not seek supernatural help sometimes do it. They are endowed with a natural courage which makes them scorn to be overcome by physical pain, or they are naturally very hopeful, and are enabled in some measure to look beyond the present suffering to a time of relief in the future. Or intense excitement of the mind renders them for a time at least oblivious of bodily sensations. How many illustrations of this last case we have in men who have been desperately wounded in battle, and yet have been so intensely absorbed in the terrible contest that they have seemed scarcely aware of it, and have kept their position until their strength has utterly failed. But it is pre-eminently the godly man who can “sustain” infirmity of body. It is a fact of history that godly men and women have been even joyful in spirit when suffering great bodily pain. Instances are common in which those who have been in agony of body from some terrible disease have been full of comfort in their spirits, and have borne witness that they were conscious of a sustaining power outside themselves—of supernatural help from above which enabled them to “glory in tribulation.” But this ability of human creatures to rise above bodily suffering has been most remarkably exemplified in those who have suffered because they were the servants of God—who have been witnesses for the truth of the gospel of Christ. Even women have borne the most severe bodily sufferings not only with fortitude but with exultation—lifted above their bodily pain by a vivid realisation of unseen and spiritual realities and an intense consciousness of the favour of God.

II. But a wounded spirit crushes the entire man. The spirit of the man is the man himself, his power to love, to hope, and to enjoy. When these have lost their energy, there is nothing to lift him up, and existence becomes an intolerable burden. The spirit can sustain the body under its trials, but sensual gratifications and physical comforts can do nothing towards alleviating spiritual distress. But observe:—

1. That all sorrow of heart does not crush a man. Sanctified sorrow, although it wounds the spirit, yet it only wounds it to raise it to a higher level—to make it capable of a more refined enjoyment. Bereavement, the faithlessness of friends, disappointed hopes, often deeply wound the spirit, yet men bear these wounds and often are made better and stronger by them. A sense of the favour of God and a peaceful conscience will prevent men from being overwhelmed by even very keen mental sorrow.

2. An unbearable wound of spirit can be the portion of those only who have no sense of the favour of God. So long as a man has this no pain of body or sorrow of soul can cast him down entirely, but without it he has little power to bear manfully the burdens of life, and a sense of the absence of it would be enough to crush him utterly although he had no other burdens to bear.

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS

Spiritual sickness varies (as some diseases do in the body according to the constitution of the sick) thereafter as the soul is that hath it, whether regenerate or reprobate. The malignancy is great in both, but with far less danger in the former.

1. In the elect, this spiritual sickness is an afflicted conscience, when God will suffer us to take a deep sense of our sins, and bring us to the life of grace by the valley of death, as it were by hell gates unto heaven. There is no anguish to that of the conscience: “A wounded spirit who can bear? They that have been valiant in bearing wrongs, in forbearing delights, have yet had womanish and coward spirits in sustaining the terrors of a tumultuous conscience. If our strength were as an army, and our lands not limited save with east and west, if our meat were manna, and our garments as the ephod of Aaron; yet the afflicted conscience would refuse to be cheered with all these comforts. When God shall raise up our sins, like dust and smoke in the eyes of our souls … when He either hides His countenance from us, or beholds us with an angry look; lo, then, if any sickness be like this sickness, any calamity like the fainting soul! Many offences touch the body which extend not to the soul; but if the soul be grieved, the sympathising flesh suffers deeply with it. The blood is dried up, the marrow wasted, the flesh pined, as if the powers and pores of the body opened themselves like so many windows to discover the passions of the distressed prisoner within. It was not the sense of outward sufferings (for mere men have borne the agonies of death undaunted) but the wrestling of God’s wrath with His spirit, that drew from Christ that complaint, able to make heaven and earth stand aghast: “My soul is heavy unto death” (Mat_26:38).… Neither is this sickness of conscience properly good in itself, nor any grace of God, but used by God as an instrument of good to His, as when by the spirit of bondage He brings us to adoption. So the needle that draws the thread through the cloth is some means to join it together.…

2. Spiritual sickness for sin befalling a reprobate soul, is final and total desperation. This is that fearful consequent which treads upon the heels of presumption. Cain’s fratricide, Judas’s treachery, presumptious, aspiring, heaven-daring sins, find this final catastrophe, to despair of the mercy of God.… As if the goodness of God, and the value of Christ’s ransom, were below his iniquity. As if the pardon of his sins would empty God’s storehouse of compassion, and leave His stock of mercy poor.… This is that sin which not only offers injury and indignity to the Lord of heaven and earth, but even breaks that league of kindness which we owe to our own flesh. To commit sin is the killing of the soul; to refuse hope of mercy is to cast it down to hell. Therefore St. Jerome affirms that Judas sinned more in despairing of his Master’s pardon than in betraying Him; since nothing can be more derogatory to the goodness of God, which He hath granted by promise and oath—two immutable witnesses—to penitent sinners than to credit the father of lies before Him.—T. Adams.

“The spirit of a man may control his sickness, but a spirit of upbraiding, who can carry that?” To give all up, and simply lie back and murmur, is bad even for worldly disorders; but Solomon derives out of it a much more profound spiritual sense. The “spirit of a man,” at least among those to whom Solomon wrote, had truth enough to save him if he would only listen. Control. The original is contain, as wine in a bottle, sickness—literally what is physical; but in this same book employed for the spiritual malady. If the soul, therefore, would lie quiet, and yield to its own light, it would be joined by what is higher, and would contain, or control its own malady; God helping, as He would, would check, and get the better of it; but “a spirit of upbraiding”—and by this is meant precisely the quarrel (chap. Pro_17:19) with God which has been so long discussed—is what ruins all. It is upon them that are contentious, and will not obey the truth, (Rom_2:8)—that truth being in all of them through “the invisible things” which are seen “by the things that are made” (Rom_1:20)—that the apostle denounces “tribulation and wrath, indignation and anguish.” Not that men can save themselves, but that they would save themselves under God’s influences if they did not contend with Him; that it is “rebellion” that turns the scale (Psa_68:6); that there is light enough in every man to draw him to saving light if he would only follow it; and that on this very account it is the great sorrow of the sinner that he has this “spirit of upbraiding,” which, in the spiritual world, no moral malady “can carry.”—Miller.

St. Gregory saith by patience we possess our souls, because, while we learn to bear rule over ourselves, we begin to possess that which we are. And surely, if thou be courageously patient, whatsoever thou mayest lose yet thou enjoyest that which thou hast; or, if thou hast nothing, yet thou shalt enjoy thyself, thou shalt enjoy the comfort of thy own spirit. Whereas impatiency for anything that is lost taketh away the comfort of all that remaineth, yea, the comfort of thine own self.—Jermin.

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.

18:14 A spiritual or emotional problem (a crushed spirit) can be more trying than a physical one (sick body).

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

The mind can well bear the infirmity of the body, but when the spirit is wounded, it is a thing most hard to sustain.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Note, 1. Outward grievances are tolerable as long as the mind enjoys itself and is at ease. Many infirmities, many calamities, we are liable to in this world, in body, name, and estate, which a man may bear, and bear up under, if he have but good conduct and courage, and be able to act with reason and resolution, especially if he have a good conscience, and the testimony of that be for him; and, if the spirit of a man will sustain the infirmity, much more will the spirit of a Christian, or rather the Spirit of God witnessing and working with our spirits in a day of trouble. 2. The grievances of the spirit are of all others most heavy, and hardly to be borne; these make sore the shoulders which should sustain the other infirmities. If the spirit be wounded by the disturbance of the reason, dejection under the trouble, whatever it is, and despair of relief, if the spirit be wounded by the amazing apprehensions of God's wrath for sin, and the fearful expectations of judgment and fiery indignation, who can bear this? Wounded spirits cannot help themselves, nor do others know how to help them. It is therefore wisdom to keep conscience void of offence.

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

infirmity--bodily sickness, or outward evil. The spirit, which sustains, being wounded, no support is left, except, as implied, in God.

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 14. The spirit of a man will sustain] A man sustains the ills of his body, and the trials of life, by the strength and energy of his mind. But if the mind be wounded, if this be cast down, if slow-consuming care and grief have shot the dagger into the soul, what can then sustain the man? Nothing but the unseen God. Therefore, let the afflicted pray. A man's own spirit has, in general, sufficient fortitude to bear up under the unavoidable trials of life; but when the conscience is wounded by sin, and the soul is dying by iniquity, who can lift him up? God alone; for salvation is of the Lord.

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

(14) The spirit of a man.—That is, one properly so called, who draws his strength from God, will “sustain his infirmity,” help him to bear up against trouble; “but a wounded spirit” (not one crushed with the sense of sin, for that God will lift up, Isa_66:2; Psa_51:17), which retires into itself and nurses its griefs, “who can bear” the wear of it?

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

14. a wounded spirit] If the sustaining spirit be itself wounded or broken, the burden becomes intolerable. It is the pathetic thought of “the spirit which so long bore a man’s infirmity, and then at last broke because it could bear no more, and became itself intolerable,” Horton.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity,.... The spirit of a mighty man, as Jarchi; a man of spirit, that has a spirit of fortitude, even of natural fortitude, and especially of Christian fortitude; that has a spirit of might upon him, of power, and sound mind; a man of a Christian spirit, that is renewed in the spirit of his mind; who is a spiritual man, and has the Spirit of God in him, as well as a rational soul, an immaterial, immortal, and never dying substance. Such a man will bear up under many trials and exercises of life; will support under bodily infirmities; will take patiently the loss Of friends and of substance; endure reproach, and the loss of a good name, credit, and reputation, cheerfully, for righteousness's sake; and suffer persecution for the sake of Christ, and his Gospel, with an undaunted and unbroken spirit: the peace of conscience he feels within; the presence of God with him; the love of God shed abroad in his heart; seeing all his afflictions flowing from love, and working for his good; and having in view the glories of another world; he bears up under and goes through all afflictions with ease and pleasure; his conscience is clear, his heart is whole, his mind is easy; his wounds being healed, his sins pardoned, and his soul saved in Chris;

but a wounded spirit who can bear? or a "smitten" (w) one, smitten by the Lord; by the word of the Lord, which he uses as a hammer to break rocky hearts in pieces; by the law of God, which produces wrath, and a looking for of fiery indignation; by the Spirit of God, awakening the conscience, and convicting it of sin, righteousness, and judgment; which smitings are very grievous, though they tend to bring to repentance; are in order to healing, and are in love. Or, "a broken spirit" (x), as in Pro 17:22; broken with a sense of sin, and with an excess of sorrow for it; when a man becomes lifeless and hopeless, has no hope of life and salvation, and is in the utmost confusion; all his measures and purposes are broken, as well as his heart; he knows not what to do, nor what way to take; he is disconsolate, and refuses to be comforted; and which for the present is intolerable: though the Lord has a regard to such, is nigh unto them; has sent his son to bind up their broken hearts; yea, has himself been broken for them; and happy it is for them that they fall on him and are broken, and not he on them. Or, "a wounded spirit"; with a view of sin, as committed against the omniscient and omnipotent Being, a pure and holy God; a righteous one, whose nature is infinite; and so sin committed against him requires an infinite satisfaction, which a creature cannot give; and a God also, who is the author of their beings, and the Father of their mercies; all which makes sin against him the more cutting and wounding: likewise they are wounded with a view of the evil nature of sin, and the aggravated circumstances that attend it; and with the terrors of the law, that are set in array against them. And such a spirit "who can bear?" not without the sight of a wounded Saviour; or without a view of atonement by his sacrifice; or without the discoveries and applications of pardoning grace; or without a sense of peace and reconciliation made by the blood of Christ; or without some hope of salvation by him; and unless the good Samaritan pours in oil and wine into the wounds, and binds them up.

(w) "percussum", Pagninus, Baynus, Mercerus, Gejerus; "perculsum", Vatablus, Cocceius. (x) "Contritum", Montanus, Gejerus, Michaelis; "fractum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

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

Infirmity - Bodily pain or trouble. “Spirit” in the Hebrew text is masculine in the first clause, feminine in the second, as though used in the latter as having lost its strength.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Infirmity of the flesh, Matthew xxvi. 41. --- That is. Theodotion, "is wounded, who shall support?"

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).

The spirit, i.e. the soul, to wit, which is unwounded, as appears by the opposite branch of the verse; which is vigorous and cheerful, supported by the sense of God’s love, and the conscience of its own integrity, and the prospect of its present peace and future happiness.

Will sustain his infirmity; will easily support him under any bodily or outward troubles, as God’s people have oft found by experience.

Wounded; dejected with the sense of its own guilt and misery.

Who can bear? it is most grievous and intolerable without Divine assistance.

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

14. Sustain his infirmity — Literally, sustains his disease.

A wounded spirit — Or, smitten or broken spirit, “spirit of upbraiding.” — Miller.

Who can bear — That is, no one can. A manly spirit may bear up courageously under severe bodily sickness and pain; but if the mind itself is smitten and discouraged, the body sinks under the weight. It may refer to an upbraiding conscience; who can stand that? The Septuagint has this singular version: “A wise servant calms a man’s anger; but a faint-hearted man who can endure?”

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

The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity. That high property or faculty of man called "spirit" enables the body to bear up against trouble and sickness. (comp. Pro_17:22) The influence of the mind over the body, in a general sense, is here expressed. But taking "spirit" in the highest sense, in the trichotomy of human nature, we see an intimation that the grace of God, the supernatural infusion of his presence, is that which strengthens the man and makes him able to endure with patience. But a wounded (broken) spirit who can bear? The body can, as it were, fall back upon the support of the spirit, when it is distressed and weakened; but when the spirit itself is broken, grieved, wearied, debilitated, it has no resource, no higher faculty to which it can appeal, and it must succumb beneath the pressure. Here is a lesson, too, concerning the treatment of others. We should be more careful not to wound a brother"s spirit than we are to refrain from doing a bodily injury; the latter may be healed by medical applications; the former is more severe in its effects, and is often irremediable. In the first clause, jWr "spirit," is masculine, in the second it is feminine, intimating by the change of gender that in the former case it is a manly property, virile moral quality, in the latter it has become weakened and depressed through affliction. Septuagint, "A prudent servant soothes a man"s wrath; but a man of faint heart (oligoqucon ) who will endure?" The LXX take "spirit" in the sense of anger, and "infirmity" as standing for a servant, though whore they find "prudent" is difficult to say. Vulgate, Spiritum vero ad irascendum facilem, quis poterit sustinere? The Latin interpreter takes one form of weakness of spirit, viz. irascibility, as his interpretation of hakn, "wounded." St. Gregory ("Moral.," 5:78) has yet another version, "Who can dwell with a man whose spirit is ready to wrath?" adding, "For he that does not regulate his feelings by the reason that is proper to man, must needs live alone like a beast.

Strong in spirit.

This thought is near akin to that of Pro_17:22, where the medicinal properties of a merry heart are commended. But there is some difference between the two. Both ascribe vital energy to the inner life, and commend such a cultivation of it as shall conquer weakness and suffering; but the verse now before us treats of vigour of spirit, while the earlier passage commends cheerfulness.

I A MAN"S TRUE STRENGTH RESIDES IN HIS INNER LIFE. Samson was a weak man, although he had bodily strength, because he had not strength within. St. Paul was regarded as contemptible in bodily appearance, (2Co_10:10) yet he was a hero of fiery energy and rock-like steadfastness. He could say, "When I am weak, then am I strong". (2Co_12:10) The true self is within. All real weakness or power, failure or success, must ultimately spring from this true self. Therefore the first question is as to the condition of the inner life. Those people who live only in the outer experiences do not yet know the deeper meaning of life. We have all to learn how to cultivate the powers of the spirit.

II STRENGTH IN THE INNER LIFE CAN SUPPORT EXTERNAL INFIRMITY.

1. Weakness of body. No doubt the normal condition of health would be one of mens sana in corpore sano. But when that is not attained, mental health will do much to counteract the evil effects of bodily disease. The mind has so great power over the body that some forms of functional disease are actually cured through mental influences, as in what is called "faith healing." The will to live is a great help to recovery from an illness. A crushed and broken spirit too often brings the body into a condition which is the despair of the physician. Higher considerations tell in the same direction, and spiritual health though, perhaps, not what is meant in our text will sustain, under disease, if it will not lead to bodily cure.

2. Temporal trouble. Misfortune can be borne by a brave, strong spirit; while a crushed, feeble spirit succumbs under it.

3. Spiritual infirmity. It is difficult to resist the frailty of our own souls. But when we cultivate our better selves we are best able to overcome infirmities of temper, selfishness, etc.

III STRENGTH OF SPIRIT IS A DIVINE GRACE.

1. A gift of God. He can make the weak strong. "He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might he increaseth strength". (Isa_40:29)

2. An acquisition of faith. "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength". (Isa_40:31) It is possible for the weak to become strong, because all can "wait upon the Lord." No grace is more needed, and a grace proves itself to be more fruitful.

The wounded spirit.

How much is a man better than a sheep? By the whole range of his spiritual nature. The joys and sorrows of a man are those of his spirit; yet no inconsiderable proportion of his experiences come to him through the flesh. The text tells us

I THAT THE CONQUERING SPIRIT WITHIN US TRIUMPHS OVER THE BODILY INFIRMITY. There have been times when, and people by whom, the very worst bodily afflictions have been borne with lofty indifference or with still loftier and nobler resignation. Such was the Roman whose right hand was consumed in the fire without a groan; such were the Christian martyrs; such have been and such are they who are condemned to long years of privation or of suffering, and who wear the face of a holy contentment, of even a beautiful cheerfulness of spirit. Beneath the infirmity of the flesh is the sustaining spirit: but what of the wounded spirit itself?

II THAT IT IS THE WOUNDED SPIRIT FOR WHICH HELP IS NEEDED. There are many ways in which our spirit may be wounded.

1. There is the merciful wound from the hand of God. For God does wound; he wounds in part in order that, he may heal altogether; for the moment, that he may make whole forever. The weapon (or one weapon) with which he smites the soul is the human conscience. We have all felt the smart from its righteous blow. We have before us the alternative of either blunting the edge of the instrument or learning the lesson and turning away from the sin. To do the former is to take the path which leads to wrong and ruin; to do the latter is to walk in the way of life.

2. The faithful wound from the hand of man. There are circumstances under which, and there are relations in which, we are simply bound to wound one another"s spirit. As Christ wounded the spirit of Peter with a reproachful glance; (Luk_22:61, Luk_22:62) as Paul wounded the Corinthian Christians; (2Co_2:1-10) so will the faithful minister of Christ, the conscientious parent or teacher, the true and loyal friend, now administer rebuke, offer remonstrance, address an appeal which will fill the heart with compunction and regret.

3. The cruel wound from the hand of man. This includes

(1) the wound of neglect, often a very deep and sore wound is this, coming from the hand that should sustain and heal;

(2) of hastiness and rashness;

(3) of malice.

1. Spare to wound anothers spirit. It is worse to hurt the feelings than to filch the purse; to cause a bad heartache than any suffering of the nerve. "The spirit of a man can sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?

2. When your heart is wounded repair to the One who can heal it. There is only One who can "heal the broken heart, and bind up its wounds. C.

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

Sustain - Will easily support him under any outward troubles. Wounded - Dejected with the sense of its own guilt and misery.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Man is born in a world of trouble, with considerable power of endurance. Natural courage and vivacity of spirits will bear us up even under the pressure of ponderous evils, poverty, pain, sickness, want. Instances of heathen fortitude abound in the records of history.†1 Christian principle strengthens the natural strength. David, in the most fearful extremity, "encouraged himself in the LORD his God." (1Sa 30:6 .) Job could bless God under accumulated external trials. (Job 1:21 .) The Apostle "took pleasure in infirmities." (2Co 12:10 .) The martyrs "were more than conquerors" under the most cruel tortures. (Rom 8:37 .) Outward troubles are tolerable, yea — more than tolerable, if there be peace within. The spirit of a man may sustain his infirmity. But if the spirit be wounded — if the prop itself be broken — all sinks. ’If the strength that is in me be weakness, how great is that weakness.’†2 The wound of the spirit is so much the more piercing, as the spirit itself is more vital than the body. The grief gains the victory, and becomes intolerable.

The most powerful minds are easily vulnerable. Even our great Newton, ’endowed with an intellectual strength, which had unbarred the strongholds of the universe,’ and distinguished also by ’unbroken equanimity,’ in middle life was a prey to mental dejections, that, as he informs us, shook his ’former consistency.’†3 Boyle describes his wounded spirit, as so overpowering for many months, that, ’although his looks did little betray his thoughts, nothing but the forbiddenness of self-dispatch hindered his committing it.’†4 So long as the evil is without us, it is tolerable. Natural courage can bear up. But a wounded spirit who can bear?

In the spiritual system — the pressure is yet more sinking. When he who made the spirit wounds, or permits Satan to wound, we might challenge the whole creation — Who can bear it? The suffering of the soul is the soul of suffering. Spiritual wounds, like the balm that heals them, can never be known, till they are felt. It is sometimes, as if the arrows of the Almighty were dipped in the lake of fire, and shot flaming into the very midst of the soul, more sensitive than the apple of the eye. (Job 6:4 .) The best joys of earth can never soothe the envenomed sting. Mirth is madness and vexation. (Ecc 2:2 .)

There is a hell for the wicked on this side eternity. Man becomes a burden to himself. Cain’s "punishment was greater than he could bear." (Gen 4:13 .) Saul was given up to the blackness of despair (1Sa 28:15 .) Zimri in rebellious madness threw himself into the flames. (1Ki 16:18 .) Pashur was made a terror to himself. (Jer 20:4 .) Ahithophel and Judas "chose strangling rather than life." (2Sa 17:23 . Mat 27:5 .) Thus are the torments of eternity antedated. One hell is kindled within, before entering into the other. Such is the foretaste of hell — only a few drops of wrath — for a few moments. What will be the reality — the substance — for eternity!

Observe the poignancy of the wounded spirit in the children of God. Job, delivered "for a small moment" into the enemy’s power, "cursed the day of his birth." (Job 3:1 .) David "roared for the disquietness of his heart." "The arrows of the Almighty stuck in him, and his hand pressed him sore." (Psa 38:1-8 .) The martyrs†5 in a moment of temporary apostasy, could not endure the anguish of the wounded spirit and chose the flames as the less bitter alternative. Such is the sharpness of the Lord’s sword, and the weight of his hand, that every stroke is deadly. Conscience is the seat of guilt, and its vivid power turns, — so to speak — "the sun into darkness, and the moon into blood" (Joe 2:31 ) — the precious promises of free forgiveness into arguments of hopeless despondency. Many a penitent is thus held back awhile from the full apprehension of Divine acceptance, and from the settled enjoyment of the peace of the gospel. And but for the gracious restraint of the Lord’s power and love, hardened despair would be the successful "advantage of Satan’s devices." (2Co 2:11 .)

But let us gaze at the meek and glorious sufferer in Gethsemane. Look at the wounded spirit there — the fainting humanity of the Son of God — "his strong crying and tears," his prostrating sorrow, his "exceeding great and bitter cry," under the darkness of desertion. (Mat 26:38 .) Human nature, even when exalted to a personal union with the divine, is human nature still; forced to confess its native weakness in the conflict with Almighty wrath. If all the support of the indwelling Godhead was demanded for this passion of unknown weight and infinite intensity; with trembling astonishment we cry — A wounded spirit who can bear? Irresistible is the inference — "If they do these things in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry?" (Luk 23:31 .) The flame, that could but scorch the one, must consume the other to the uttermost.

Yet is not this wounded spirit the Christian’s first seal of mercy; the preparation for all future and eternal mercy? (Act 2:37 .) Bitter indeed is the anguish, when the mass of sin is raised from the grave of oblivion, and "set in order before our eyes." (Psa 50:21 .) But is not this the sight, that makes Jesus and his free salvation inexpressibly precious? (Act 16:29-33 .) And does not this spirit place us within the sphere of his healing commission? (Isa 61:1-2 .) We ask now — not, who can bear, but who can heal? Well did Luther say (and there is no better judge on such matters), ’It is as easy to make a world, as to ease a troubled conscience.’ Both are creation-work, requiring the Almightiness of God. (Gen 1:1 . Isa 57:19 .) To him that "wounded must we return for healing." (Hos 6:1 .) His remedy is the sight of himself wounded for us. (Isa 53:5 .) And that sight — so healing — so reviving — how does it quicken the soul to a cordial and animated faith, issuing in the song of everlasting praise!†6

Footnotes:

†1 See Virgil’s fine picture of Æneas. — Æn. i. 208, 209.

†2 Bishop Sanderson’s Sermon on Heb 12:3 . Compare Pro 15:13 ; Pro 17:22 .

†3 Sir D. Brewster’s Life, pp. 224, 232-235.

†4 Jones’s Christian Biography — Article, Boyle.

†5 Bainham — Bilney — Crammer. See Foxe’s Records.

†6 In these days of deteriorated Church doctrine, when other remedies than that of the gospel are applied to the wounded spirit, it is worth putting upon record the mode of healing in the British Church, so far back as the time of the Conquest, which, it will be seen, was not the baptism of tears, auricular confession, penance, or man’s working, but the simple view of the great sacrifice, as the one object of faith. In the form of a prayer for the Visitation of the Sick in the time of Anselm (Abp. of Canterbury, A.D. 1080), — the priest asked the sick person, ’Dost thou believe to come to glory, not by thine own merits, but by the virtue and merit of the passion of the Lord Jesus Christ? Dost thou believe that our Lord Jesus Christ did die for our salvation, and that none can be saved by his own merits, or by any other means than by the merits of his passion?’ On the sick person answering — ’All this I believe’ — the priest is directed to give him the following instruction and comfort, as a true physician of souls — ’Give thou therefore’ — saith he to the sick — as long as thy soul remaineth in this place, thy whole confidence in his death only. Have confidence in no other thing. Commit thyself wholly to this death, with this alone comfort thyself. If he say — ’Thou deservest hell’ — say — ’I put the death of our Lord Jesus Christ between thee and my sins.’ If he say to thee — ’Thou hast deserved damnation’ — say — ’Lord, I set the death of our Lord Jesus Christ between thee and my bad merits; and I offer his merits instead of my merits.’ If he say — he is angry with thee, say — ’Lord, I interpose the death of our Lord Jesus Christ between me and thine anger.’ — This is indeed the sovereign specific for a case aggravated by the application of any other remedy of man’s devising.

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

v. 14. The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity, a strong and courageous mind supporting him in bodily sickness or weakness; but a wounded spirit, one bowed and broken by adversity, who can bear? It is a more difficult matter to bear up under the infirmities of the soul, the griefs, sorrows, troubles, and tribulations which affect the inner life than to overcome the effects of bodily weakness.

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

A man’s spirit The spirit of a גבר, who is a mighty man, does not take worry to heart, but accepts with joy and love whatever befalls him.

will sustain his illness He does not lose his strength.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.