Proverbs 21:11

Pro 21:11 When the scorner is punished, the simple is made wise: and when the wise is instructed, he receiveth knowledge.

Ver. 11. When the scorner is punished, &c.] {See Trapp on "Pro 19:25"}

And when the wise is instructed.] Or, When he accurately considers the wise, and observes both their integrity and their prosperity, by God’s blessing thereupon (for the word imports both), he resolves to play the wise man.

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 21:11-12. When the scorner, &c. — Houbigant renders this verse, “When the scorner is punished, the humble is made more wise; and when the wise man prospers, the same person will acquire knowledge.” The sense evidently is, The simple learn wisdom both from the punishment of wicked men, and from the prosperity of good men. The righteous man wisely considereth, &c. — He looketh through the present power and glory of the house, or family, of the wicked, which dazzles the eye of others, unto that ruin to which it is hastening; but God, or rather: now, or that, God overthroweth, or will overthrow, the wicked for his wickedness — Namely, in due time, though for a season he bear with them.

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

CRITICAL NOTES.—

Pro_21:11. Instructed, Zöckler translates this “prospereth,” and understands the simple to be the subject of both clauses of the verse.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_21:11

INSTRUCTION FOR THOSE WHO NEED IT

I. An inevitable event in the history of the scorner. It is here taken for granted that he will be punished—that he who sets at nought the “counsel,” and will have none of the “reproof” of wisdom, will have his day of reckoning. The “day of his calamity” and “fear” will come (chap. Pro_1:27). Throughout this book, as throughout all the inspired writings, sin and punishment are linked as cause and effect. There is punishment in the constantly increasing dominion of evil in the soul, and there is punishment in the stings of conscience; but there is also punishment by the direct interposition of God, and it is to this that the proverb evidently points.

II. One of the fruits of wisdom. He who is wise will be instructed. Having used what he has, he will in accordance with the Divine law receive more. To “him that hath shall be given” (Mar_4:25). He who by a wise use of five talents has gained other five, shall have his store increased still more. This is likewise a foundation principle of this book, that the wise are those who are willing to be instructed, and that to those who desire instruction it will not be wanting. The special point of the verse is in the fact—

III. That the punishment of the evil man, and the soul-advancement of the good, have a work to do outside the men themselves. When the scorner receives punishment others receive instruction. This is one of its objects. A good ruler, as we have before seen (chap. Pro_20:26), is bound to distinguish between the righteous and the wicked for many reasons, and for this reason among others, that the punishment of one offender may prevent others from committing a like offence. Men often learn by example what they would not learn by precept—the inexperienced are often more deeply impressed by one instance of retributive justice than they would be by many admonitions in word. This is, as we know from God’s Word, one end of His visitations. “For this cause,” said God to Pharaoh, “have I raised thee up, for to show in thee My power, and that My name may be declared throughout all the earth” (Exo_9:16). There are vessels belonging to our navy which are past repair, and are therefore unfit for sea. Yet they are retained as light-ships along the coast, and are useful in preventing better ships from going to pieces on the rocks. Pharaoh had long scorned the commands and the judgments of Jehovah, and his own doom was fast hastening on. But he would still serve as a beacon-light to save others—by his punishment the simple would be made wise. But there is the other and brighter side of the picture. The inexperienced are allured to goodness by the advancement of the good, as well as deterred from evil by the downfall of the wicked. When the simple sees the wise man in the attitude of a learner—when he finds that the wiser he is the more he desires instruction; and when he marks the effect of his humility and earnestness in his growth in all that is calculated to win him respect and to afford him real satisfaction, he “receives knowledge” by “the instruction of the wise” as well as by the “punishment of the scorner.”

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS

A respectful sinner; how is he a scorner? The Holy Ghost plainly intends just the shock that such words occasion. If a man hears that he should repent, and knows the reasons, and among the reasons are facts like hell, and calls like Christ’s, and scenes like death, with all the realities of an eternal judgment, is there any spoken scorn that can be thought of as more scornful than the acted scorn of not repenting? “The simple becomes wise,” i.e., the subject or the witness of the punishment, just as it may happen … Punishment never wastes. The wicked may be thrust lower by his evil (chap. Pro_14:32), but some saint receives the lesson. This principle reaches through the system. The philosophy of hell is its good-doing through all the universe.—Miller.

It is a stroke easily taken which another feels, the receiver only fears, and it is a blow haply given which, striking one, reacheth two; the scorner to his reward, the simple to his amendment … Let it therefore be a sharp punishment which is inflicted; smite a scorner, for such it is that the scorner deserveth, and it will work upon the simple, though not by the touch of the punishment yet by the virtue of it. And when wisdom hath once subdued him by fear, then will it lead him on to hear the wise, and by attention to receive knowledge.—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.

21:11 The simpleminded learn by seeing a mocker punished (see 1:22; 19:25). The wise do not need the threat of punishment because they already desire wisdom.

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

Read Prov. 19:25.

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

This we had before (Pro 19:25), and it shows that there are two ways by which the simple may be made wise: - 1. By the punishments that are inflicted on those that are incorrigibly wicked. Let the law be executed upon a scorner, and even he that is simple will be awakened and alarmed by it, and will discern, more than he did, the evil of sin, and will take warning by it and take heed. 2. By the instructions that are given to those that are wise and willing to be taught: When the wise is instructed by the preaching of the word he (not only the wise himself, but the simple that stands by) receives knowledge. It is no injustice at all to take a good lesson to ourselves which was designed for another.

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

(Compare Pro 19:25). That which the simple learn by the terrors of punishment, the wise learn by teaching.

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 11. When the scorner is punished] When those who mock at religion, blaspheme against its Author, and endeavour to poison society, and disturb the peace of the community by their false doctrine, meet with that degree of punishment which their crimes, as far as they affect the public peace, deserve; then the simple, who were either led away, or in danger of being led away, by their pernicious doctrines, are made wise. And when those thus made wise are instructed in the important truths which have been decried by those unprincipled men, then they receive knowledge; and one such public example is made a blessing to thousands. But only blasphemy against God and the Bible should be thus punished. Private opinion the state should not meddle with.

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

(11) When the scorner is punished, the simple is made wise.—See above on Pro_19:25.

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

11. See Pro_19:25, note.

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.

When the scorner is punished,.... Either by the immediate hand of God, or by the civil magistrate; he who scoffs at Deity, blasphemes the most High, mocks at all religion, despises dominion, and speaks evil of dignities:

the simple is made wise; who is weak and foolish, easily persuaded and drawn into sin, yet not hardened in it, but open to reproof and conviction; he takes notice of the punishment of scorners, and takes warning from it, and behaves more wisely and cautiously for the future; see Pro 19:25;

and when the wise is instructed; by others, superior to him in wisdom; by the ministers of the Gospel, by reading and hearing the word of God, and the writings of good men; or by corrections and chastisements:

he receiveth knowledge; the wise man receives it, he attends to the instruction given him, and improves in knowledge: or rather the simple man gains knowledge by the instructions given to wise men; he learns by them, as well as by what he is taught himself. It is by some rendered, "when the wise prospers, he receiveth knowledge" (x) the simple man learns much both from the adversity and prosperity of others; and to this sense is the note of Gersom,

"when he sees how the ways of a wise man prosper, then he studies to get knowledge.''

(x) So Munster, and some in Mercer.

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

Knowledge. These are the effects of chastisements and good company.

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 simple; the honest or plain-hearted man, as Pro 19:25, where this whole verse for the substance of it is contained and explained.

Instructed; or, prospers, as this word is used, Pro 17:8, and elsewhere. So the sense of the verse is, The simple learn wisdom, both from the punishment of wicked men, and from the prosperity of good men.

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

11. Scorner… punished — A “scorner” — a hopeless offender — is to be punished, etc., solely for the benefit of others; a man of less guilt, and recoverable, in a milder way, as discipline for himself. Stuart says: “A simpleton needs the fear of punishment; the wise, only admonition.” Miller is pungent: “Punishment is never wasted. The wicked may be thrust lower by the evil, (Pro_14:32;) but some saint receives the lesson.”

Instructed — May be rendered prospered. Some, as Zockler, understand the teaching to be, that the “simple” — uninstructed ones — learn both from the punishment of the wicked and the prosperity of the wise.

Wise… receiveth knowledge — Comp, Pro_19:25. Some understand this statement of the simple, untutored one of the first clause; others, of the wise man of the latter clause. The Speaker’s Commentary renders the proverb as treating, like Pro_19:25, of the final causes of punishment.

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

When the scorner is punished, the simple is made wise. We had the same thought at Pro_19:25 (where see note). The simple (parvulus, Vulgate) profit by the punishment of the incorrigibly evil But the wise need not chastisement for their improvement. When the wise is instructed, (Psa_32:6) he (the wise) receiveth knowledge. The wise man uses every opportunity, takes advantage of every circumstance and event, to increase his knowledge and experience. The Vulgate carries on the subject, "And if he (the simple) follow the wise man, he shall attain knowledge." Septuagint, "When the intemperate man is punished, the simple is made cleverer; and a wise man understanding will receive knowledge." "For it often happens," says St. Gregory ("Moral.," 18:38). "that the mind of the weak is the more unsteadied from the hearing of the truth, as it sees the despisers of the truth flourishing; but when just vengeance takes away the unjust, it keeps others away from wickedness."

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

The wise - The simple learn wisdom, both from the punishment of wicked men, and from the prosperity of good men.

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

11 When the scorner is punished, the simple is made wise;

And when insight is imparted to a wise man, he receives knowledge.

The thought is the same as at Pro 19:25. The mocker at religion and virtue is incorrigible, punishment avails him nothing, but yet it is not lost; for as a warning example it teaches the simple, who might otherwise be easily drawn into the same frivolity. On the other hand, the wise man needs no punishment, but only strengthening and furtherance: if "instruction" is imparted to him, he embraces it, makes it his own דּעת; for, being accessible to better insight, he gains more and more knowledge. De Dieu, Bertheau, and Zckler make "the simple" the subject also in 11b: and if a wise man prospers, he (the simple) gains knowledge. But השׂכּיל ל, used thus impersonally, is unheard of; wherefore Hitzig erases the ל before חכם erofeb ל eh: if a wise man has prosperity. But השׂכיל does not properly mean to have prosperity, but only mediately: to act with insight, and on that account with success. The thought that the simple, on the one side, by the merited punishment of the mocker; on the other, by the intelligent prosperous conduct of the wise, comes to reflection, to reason, may indeed be entertained, but the traditional form of the proverb does not need any correction. השׂכּיל may be used not only transitively: to gain insight, Gen 3:6; Psa 2:10, and elsewhere, but also causatively: to make intelligent, with the accus. following, Pro 16:23; Psa 32:8, or: to offer, present insight, as here with the dat.-obj. following (cf. Pro 17:26). Instead of בּענשׁ־, the Kametz of which is false, Codd. and good Edd. have, rightly, בּענשׁ־. Hitzig, making "the wise" the subject to בהשׂכיל (and accordingly "the scorner" would be the subject in 11a), as a correct consequence reads בּענשׁ = בּהענשׁ. For us, with that first correction, this second one also fails. "Both infinitivi constr.," Fleischer remarks, "are to be taken passively; for the Semitic infin., even of transitive form, as it has no designation of gender, time, and person, is an indeterminate modus, even in regard to the generis verbi (Act. and Pass.)."

(Note: The Arab. National Grammarians, it is true, view the matter otherwise. When ḳatlu zydn, the putting to death of Zeid, is used in the sense of Zeid's becoming dead, according to their view the fâ'l (the gen. subjecti) is omitted; the full expression would be ḳatlu 'amrn zaydnâ. Since now 'amrn is omitted, zaydn has in the gen. form taken the place of the fâ'l, but this gen. is the representative of the acc. objecti. Without thus going round about, we say: it is the gen. objecti.)

To this proverb with u-behaskil there is connected the one that follows, beginning with maskil.

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.)

This Proverb in substance has been given before (Pro 19:25 ) as an instructive illustration of the LORD’s providential discipline. No stroke of his rod is without its effect. The blow that strikes one, reaches two — the scorner for punishment; the simple for improvement. The scorner describes a character far more common than is usually conceived. It includes much more than the gross outbreaking of the revolting heart. Under a more decent external garb, often do we see the utter want of that awful reverence for God, that humility of mind, that submission of our will, that prostration of desire, which is the glory and happiness of those above, who "cast their crowns before the throne." The very idea of the grace of God is an object of scorn and contempt. We wonder not therefore that the daring offender should be marked out for punishment. And yet, if (as is too frequently the case) the punishment be without fruit to the scorner (Isa 1:5 . Jer 5:3 ), it reads a lesson of wisdom to the simple, who had been, or were, in danger of being misled by his evil example. (Psa 64:7 .) Nay — even the man of God learns a lesson of love mingled with wholesome trembling, from this awful dispensation — "Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross; therefore I love thy testimonies. My flesh trembleth for fear of thee; and I am afraid of thy judgments."†1

The wise, though already taught of God, through his daily teaching thankfully receives increasing knowledge. (Pro 1:5 .) Among his most fruitful lessons are the instructions of the rod — instructions (mark the difference of the term) — not punishment. Often does the teaching rod seal the teaching law . And the well-disciplined child is ready with his acknowledgments — "Blessed is the man, whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law. I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel; my reigns also chasten me in the night season. It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes."†2

Footnotes:

†1 Psa 119:119-120. Compare Heb 10:26-31 .

†2 Psa 94:12; Psa 16:7 ; Psa 119:71 .

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

v. 11. When the scorner is punished, the simple is made wise, since he profits by the example of warning; and when the wise is instructed, he receiveth knowledge, no severe correction or punishment being necessary in his case, since he accepts teaching readily. cf Pro 19:25.

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

When the mocker is punished

This can be translated in active form. AT: "When someone punishes the mocker" (See: Active or Passive)

the naive

"those who have no experience" or "those who are not mature"

the mocker

"the person who mocks others"

when the wise person is instructed

This can be translated in active form. AT: "when someone instructs the wise person" (See: Active or Passive)

lays hold of knowledge

Here knowledge is spoken of as if it were an object that someone could grasp and keep for himself. (See: Metaphor)

The righteous

Possible meanings are 1) any righteous person or 2) "Yahweh the one who is righteous."

watches the house

"pays careful attention to the house" "looks to see what happens to the house"

he brings wicked people to disaster

Here disaster is spoken of as if it were a place that someone could be brought to. AT: "he destroys them" (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

mock

punish

wise

know

house

evil

ruin

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

When a scorner is punished, a fool gains wisdom Through the chastisements of scorners, fools gain wisdom and return [to God] in repentance.

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.