Proverbs 21:12

Pro 21:12 The righteous [man] wisely considereth the house of the wicked: [but God] overthroweth the wicked for [their] wickedness.

Ver. 12. The righteous man wisely considereth, &c.] He foreseeth its fearful fall, and is not offended at their present prosperity; for God, he knows, will shortly overturn it. This consideration cures him of the fret, as it did David {Psa 37:1-2} It doth also instruct him in many points of heavenly wisdom, as it did the Church. {Isa 26:11 1Co 10:11} The destruction of others should be an instruction to us, that we may wash our feet in the blood of the wicked. {Psa 52:6}

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.

CRITICAL NOTES.—

Pro_21:12. The words man and God are both supplied by the translators. The verse should be “The righteous considereth the house of the wicked (and) overthroweth, etc. Some understand it, therefore, to mean “The righteous man gives instruction to the house of the wicked to turn them away from evil.” But Stuart remarks that the verb of the second clause is a very strong word, to precipitate, to cast down headlong, and refers the righteous (one) of the first clause to God. This is Zöckler’s rendering also.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_21:12

GOD’S SURVEILLANCE OF THE WICKED

We follow here the rendering now generally given of this verse. (See Critical Notes.)

I. We have a reference to a mystery in the government of God. It is mysterious that the wicked are permitted to live at large—to pursue their plans and carry on their iniquitous work. Under human governors, men who break the laws of the State and endanger life and property are not allowed to have liberty. If they are permitted to live, they live under restraint—their activities are confined within narrow limits, and so their power to do mischief is taken from them. The prisons scattered throughout our land declare that our rulers only permit those who break our laws to have a very narrow sphere of action; they live where all their freedom is taken from them, and where their rule of life is not their own will but that of others. But God allows those who break His laws a larger amount of freedom—He permits them to mingle freely with righteous men, and to exercise their influence upon the world, and to carry out designs which are often in defiance of His commands. This has often perplexed the good in the world, and they have again and again asked the question, “Wherefore do the wicked live—become old; yea, are mighty in power?” (Job_21:7.)

II. The wicked living thus at large have God for a sentinel. There are many men living at large who are known to be dangerous characters—who, although they do not come within the reach of the law, are known to cherish feelings and intentions which are antagonistic to it. Such people need a more vigilant supervision than those in the prison cells, just because their freedom is greater. An ordinary man can watch a criminal who is secure in a prison, but much greater watchfulness and skill is needed to supervise the actions of one at liberty. Every house of the wicked contains a lawbreaker at liberty, and often one house contains many such who have a large amount of freedom in the execution of their wicked designs. God is the only Being capable of being the sentinel over such a house. They need one who knows the heart as only God knows it—one who sees all their plans before they become actions. They need a sleepless sentinel—one who can be awake at all hours, and so can never be taken by surprise. And this they have in God. None enters or departs from the house of the wicked, and no plot is concocted within it that is not marked by this everwakeful sentinel. The wicked have what it is indispensable they should have—an omniscient and omnipresent eye ever upon them.

III. After the watch has been kept for a given time, the house is marked for falling. We know why God gives such men freedom, for He has told us. It is that they shall have opportunities of repentance—that they “shall turn from their way and live” (Eze_33:11). He spares the house of the godless, for the same reason that the vine-dresser desired that the fruitless fig-tree should be spared (Luk_13:6-9). He gives men time to bring forth fruits of holiness, to their own profit and to His glory. So He considered the house of the sinners, before the flood. His “longsuffering waited while the ark was a preparing” (1Pe_3:20) for some tokens of a change of disposition towards Himself, and consequently towards His laws. But none came, and so the day came when the flood came, and swept away both the houses and their inhabitants. So He considered the house of the Jewish nation, after the death of Christ. In the days of John the Baptist, the “axe was laid unto the root of the tree” (Mat_3:10), but the hand was not lifted to strike, until the rejection of the Messiah, and of the ministry of His apostles, had proved that there was no hope of a moral change. The wicked shall be overthrown, but God considereth their house long before He gives the final blow.

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS

(It will be seen that these read the verse as in our version.)

The punishment of the wicked reads a lesson not only of love and trembling, but of wise consideration. Yet many are the perplexing mysteries of Providence. The righteous man does not always see with his right eyes. The prosperity of the wicked staggers his faith, excites his envy, and induces hard thoughts of God. (Psa_73:2-14.) But when he looks with the eye of faith, he sees far beyond the dazzling glory of the present moment. He wisely considereth their house; not its external splendour and appurtenances, but how it will end. He justifies God, and puts himself to shame, (Ib. Pro_21:16-22.) “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Gen_18:25.) Here we rest, until He shall “arise, and plead His own cause,” and “with the breath of His mouth, and the brightness of His coming, destroy” the very existence of evil. Meanwhile, where the superficial eye sees nothing but confusion, let the righteous man wisely consider lessons of deep and practical profit. The shortness of the prosperity, and the certainty of the overthrow, of the wicked; the assurance of a day of recompense; the contrast of the substance of the godly for time and for eternity—these are the apprehensions of faith. Do they not marvellously set out the perfections of God, and call to each of His children—“My son, give glory to God?”—Bridges.

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.

21:12 The Righteous One: God sees what the wicked do in the privacy of their homes and will punish them for their sins. Alternatively, the Righteous One might refer to the insight of any righteous individual.

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

Though the godly admonish them both by words and example of life, yet the wicked will not amend, till God destroy them.

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

1. As we read this verse, it shows why good men, when they come to understand things aright, will not envy the prosperity of evil-doers. When they see the house of the wicked, how full it is perhaps of all the good things of this life, they are tempted to envy; but when they wisely consider it, when they look upon it with an eye of faith, when they see God overthrowing the wicked for their wickedness, that there is a curse upon their habitation which will certainly be the ruin of it ere long, they see more reason to despise them, or pity them, than to fear or envy them. 2. Some give another sense of it: The righteous man (the judge or magistrate, that is entrusted with the execution of justice, and the preservation of public peace) examines the house of the wicked, searches it for arms or for stolen goods, makes a diligent enquiry concerning his family and the characters of those about him, that he may by his power overthrow the wicked for their wickedness and prevent their doing any further mischief, that he may fire the nests where the birds of prey are harboured or the unclean birds.

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

(Compare Psa 37:35-38; Psa 73:17, Psa 73:20).

house--family or interests.

overthroweth--either supply "God" (compare Pro 10:24), or the word is used impersonally.

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 12. The righteous man wisely considereth] This verse is understood as implying the pious concern of a righteous man, for a wicked family, whom he endeavours by his instructions to bring into the way of knowledge and peace.

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

(12) The righteous man wisely considereth the house of the wicked.—Rather, A Righteous one (God) marks the house of the wicked and overthroweth the wicked for (their) destruction. He watches the evil to see whether they will repent (Luk_13:8), and if they will not, at last overthrows them when their iniquity has become full (Gen_15:16).

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

12. God overthroweth] The difficulty of this proverb lies in the elliptical character of the second clause, which leaves a subject of necessity to be supplied. The A.V. makes man the subject of the first clause, and God of the second. But it is better to render, either with R.V. text:

The righteous man considereth the house of the wicked;

How the wicked are overthrown to their ruin;

or with Ewald and others, and R.V. marg., taking the Righteous One in the first clause to be God (Job_34:17), and retaining the same subject throughout.

One that is righteous considereth the house of the wicked;

He overthroweth the wicked to their ruin.

Both LXX. and Vulg., though differing from one another and from our present Heb. text, make “the righteous” the subject of both clauses.

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 righteous man wisely considereth the house of the wicked,.... Not so much the stately palace he lives in, and the furniture of it, as the glory, splendour, riches, and largeness of his family; the flourishing condition he and they are in: he considers how they came into it, the short continuance of it, and what the end will be, which in a short time wilt be ruin and destruction; and therefore be does not envy their present happiness, or fret at it. Gersom renders it,

"the righteous maketh the house of the wicked to prosper;''

as Joseph did Potiphar's, and Jacob Laban's; or rather the Lord made them to prosper for their sakes. Jarchi interprets the righteous of God himself; who gives his heart, or has it in his heart to cut off the house of the wicked, as follows;

but God overthroweth the wicked for their wickedness; or removes them into evil, as the Targum; into the evil of punishment, for the evil of sin. Aben Ezra supplies the word "God", as we do; and understands it of God's destroying wicked men for their sins, though they have flourished for a while in this world: but some interpret it of the righteous man, even of a righteous magistrate, who is prudent and diligent in his office; who looks into the houses of wicked men, and inquires who they are that are in them, and how they live; and what they have in their houses, whether stolen goods, the properties of others; or arms, either for treasonable practices or for robberies; and takes them and punishes them according to the laws of God and men.

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

Or, The Righteous One (Yahweh) regardeth well the house of the wicked, and maketh the wicked fall into mischief.

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

Evil. He tries every expedient to save him. --- That. Septuagint, "he despises." Symmachus, "throws down."

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).

Wisely considereth the house of the wicked; he looketh through its present power and glory (which dazzleth the eyes of others) unto that ruin to which it is designed. But, or now, or that, this being the thing which he wisely considereth,

God overthroweth, or will overthrow in his due time, though for a season he bear with them.

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

12. The righteous — Either the “righteous” man, as our version, or the “righteous” God, as others interpret the passage. There is nothing in the original to determine the reading. “The Just One.” — Conant. Patrick understands it of magistrates. There is a general consent of the critics on the sense thus: “The Righteous One considers the house of the wicked.” The Judge of all the earth is not unmindful of the evil doers.

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

The righteous man wisely considereth the house of the wicked: but God overthroweth the wicked for their wickedness. The Authorized Version introduces the words "but God" in order to eke out the sense desired; the Revised Version, for the same reason, has, "how the wicked are overthrown;" and both versions signify that the good man contemplates the fortunes and seeming prosperity of the wicked, and, looking to the end of these men, sees how hollow is their success and what a fatal issue awaits them. The Vulgate refers the passage to the zeal of the righteous for the salvation of sinners a thought quite foreign to the present subject thus: Excogitat justus de domo impii, ut detrahat impios a malo, "The righteous man reflects concerning the house of the wicked how he may deliver them from evil. " The Hebrew is literally, A righteous one looketh on the house of the wicked: he precipitates the wicked to destruction. There is no change of subject in the two clauses, and "a righteous One" (tsaddik) is God, put indeterminately to excite the greater awe. (comp. Job_34:17) The Lord keeps the sinners under his eye, that he may punish them at the fit moment. (comp. Pro_22:12Jo Pro_12:19) The notion of God"s moral government of the universe prevails most strongly in every pronouncement of the writer. The LXX interprets "the house" as heart and conscience, and renders, "A righteous man understands the hearts of the godless, and despises the impious in their wickednesses;" he sees through their outward felicity, knows well its unreality, and despises them for the low aims and pursuits which satisfy them.

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

Considereth - He looks through its present glory to that ruin for which it is designed.

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

12 A righteous One marketh the house of the godless;

He hurleth the godless to destruction.

If we understand by the word צדּיק a righteous man, then 12a would introduce the warning which he gives, and the unexpressed subject of 12b must be God (Umbreit). But after such an introitus, יהוה ought not to be wanting. If in 12a "the righteous man" is the subject, then it presents itself as such also for the second parallel part. But the thought that the righteous, when he takes notice of the house of the godless, shows attention which of itself hurls the godless into destruction (Lwenstein), would require the sing. רשׁע in the conclusion; also, instead of מסלּף the fut. יסלּף would have been found; and besides, the judicial סלּף (vid., regarding this word at Pro 11:3; Pro 19:3) would not be a suitable word for this confirmation in evil. Thus by צדיק the proverb means God, and מסלף has, as at Pro 22:12, Job 12:19, this word as its subject. "A righteous One" refers to the All-righteous, who is called, Job 34:17, "the All-just One," and by Rashi, under the passage before us, צדּיקו שׁל־עולם. Only do not translate with Bertheau and Zckler: the Righteous One (All-righteous), for (1) this would require הצּדּיק, and (2) הצדיק is never by itself used as an attributive designation of God. Rightly, Fleischer and Ewald: a Righteous One, viz., God. It is the indetermination which seeks to present the idea of the great and dreadful: a Righteous One, and such a Righteous One!

(Note: The Arabs call this indetermination âlnkrt lalt'ẓym wallthwyl. Vid., under Psa 2:12.)

השׂכיל with על, Pro 16:20, or אל, Psa 41:2; Neh 8:13, here with ל, signifies to give attention to anything, to look attentively on it. The two participles stand in the same line: animum advertit ... evertit. Hitzig changes לבּית רשׁע into לבּיתו, and makes רשׁע the subject of 12b; but the proverb as it lies before us is far more intelligible.

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.)

The punishment of the wicked reads a lesson not only of love and trembling, but of wise consideration. Yet many are the perplexing mysteries of Providence. The righteous man does not always see with his right eyes. The prosperity of the wicked staggers his faith, excites his envy, and induces hard thoughts of God. (Psa 73:2-14 .) But when he looks with the eye of faith, he sees far beyond the dazzling glory of the present moment. He wisely considereth their house; not its external splendor and appurtenances, but how it will end. He justifies God, and puts himself to shame. (Psa 73:16-22 .) "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Gen 18:25 .) Here we rest, until he shall "arise and plead his own cause," and "with the breath of his mouth, and the brightness of his coming, destroy"†1 the very existence of evil. Meanwhile, where the superficial eye sees nothing but confusion, let the righteous man wisely consider lessons of deep and practical profit. The shortness of the prosperity,†2 and the certainty of the overthrow, of the wicked;†3 the assurance of a day of recompense;†4 the contrast of the substance of the godly for time and for eternity†5 — these are the apprehensions of faith. Do they not marvelously set out the perfections of God, and call to each of his children — "My son, give glory to God"?

Footnotes:

†1 Psa 74:22; Psa 82:8 . 2Th 2:8 .

†2 Job 20:4-5. Psa 37:35-36 .

†3 Pro 12:7; Pro 13:3-6 ; Pro 15:25 . 2Pe 2:4-9 .

†4 Job 21:28-30. Psa 58:10-11 .

†5 Job 22:15-20. Psa 73:23-26 .

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

v. 12. The righteous man wisely considereth the house of the wicked, the reference evidently being to God, who marks the house of the ungodly, noting every sign of wickedness, every deed of violence; but God overthroweth the wicked for their wickedness, He plunges them into misfortune and destruction.

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

The Righteous One considers The Righteous One of the world sets His heart to destroy the house of the wicked, e.g. the remembrance of Amalek.

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.