Proverbs 27:1

Pro 27:1 Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.

Ver. 1. Boast not thyself of tomorrow.] That is, Of what thou wilt do hereafter, {Exo 13:14, marg.} in quovis tempore postero. See 1Sa 28:19 Jas 4:14. He {a} was a wise man, that being invited to a feast on the next morrow, answered, Ex multis annis crastinum non habui, For these many years I have not had a morrow day to promise for any business. But what luxurious fools were those Sybarites, that intending a feast, did use to invite their guests a whole year before! {b}

For thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.] {c} A great bellied day. While a woman is yet with child, none can tell what kind of birth it will be. {Luk 21:23} Time travaileth with God’s decrees, and in their season brings them forth; but little doth any man know what is in the womb of tomorrow, till God hath signified his will by the event. David in his prosperity said, that he should "never be moved"; but he soon after found a sore alteration: God confuted his confidence. {Psa 30:6-7} So the evil which men intend against us may prove abortive, either die in the womb, or else they may travail with mischief, and bring forth a lie - that is, somewhat contrary to what they intended; but fata viam invenient - stat sua cuique dies. {Jdg 5:28-30 1Ki 20:10} Accidit in puncto quod non speratur in anno.

{a} Petrarch, lib. iii. Memorab. ad finem.

{b} Aelian.

{c} Nescis quid serus vesper vehat. Hinc Hebraei eventa appellant "filios temporis."

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_27:1

Boast not thyself of to-morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.

On the conduct to be held with regard to future events

It is needless to prove the change and mutability of our present state, or the fact that the changes cannot be foreseen by us. Obvious as they are, it would be well if the thoughts of men dwelt on them more. But by a strange and prevailing deception, almost every one thinks his own case an exception from the general law; and that he may build plans with as much confidence on his present situation as if some assurance were given him that it were never to change. It has been so contrived by Providence that there should be no permanent stability to mans condition on earth. The seeds of alteration are everywhere sown. And think on what small and inconsiderable causes changes depend. In the midst of all these contingencies plans and designs for the future are every day formed. And this is fit and proper. Rules and precautions may be indicated.

I. Boast not thyself of to-morrow, Never presume arrogantly on futurity. Beware of pride and vanity. In the day of prosperity rejoice with trembling.

II. Despair not of to-morrow. Adverse situations fill many with fears and alarms of what is to come. The day may bring forth some unforeseen relief, and therefore we should hope under distress. The doctrine which the changes of the world perpetually inculcate is that no state of external things should appear so important, or should so affect and agitate our spirits, as to deprive us of a calm, an equal, and a steady mind. Anxiety, when it seizes the heart, is a dangerous disease, productive both of much sin and much misery.

III. Delay not till to-morrow what is proper to be done to-day. Thou art not the lord of to-morrow. Procrastination has, throughout every age, been the ruin of mankind. Many of the misfortunes which befall men in their worldly concerns are a consequence of delay. To-morrow, being loaded with the concerns of to-day, in addition to its own, is clogged and embarrassed. Evils of the same kind, arising from the same cause, overtake men in their moral and spiritual interests.

IV. Be every day prepared for what to-morrow may bring forth. The best preparation for all the uncertainties of futurity consists in a well-ordered mind, a good conscience, and a cheerful submission to the will of heaven. If to-morrow bring you any unexpected good, prepare to receive it with gratitude, temperance, and modesty. If it shall bring forth evil, prepare to receive it with manly fortitude.

V. Build your hopes of happiness on somewhat more solid and lasting than what either to-day or to-morrow are likely to produce. He who rests wholly upon this world builds his house upon the sand. We are begotten again unto a lively hope. Here is the object to which a wise man will bend his chief attention, that, having acted his part on earth with fidelity and honour, he may be enabled, through the merits of his Saviour, to look for a place in the mansions of eternal and untroubled peace. This prospect is the great corrective of the present vanity of human life. (Hugh Blair, D.D.)

Boasting

Mans nature inclines to boasting, to glorifying in something, and this ariseth from some apprehended excellency or advantage, and so is originated in the understanding power of man. There is a glorying and boasting which is good, especially a boasting in God. It is the apprehended personal interest in a thing which makes it become a subject of boasting. Nothing is truly the souls own but that which survives all changes, and is inseparable from it. There may be a lawful glorying in the works of God. Oftentimes men are found glorying in that which is their shame. The object of degenerate and vicious boasting is presented in this text. Boast not thyself, or of thyself. Self is the centre of mans affections and motions. This is the great Diana that the heart worships. Mens affections part themselves into three great heads of created things.

1. The goods or perfections of the mind.

2. The goods or advantages of the body.

3. The things that are without us, bona fortunae, riches and honour.

There is also a strong inclination in man towards the time to come; he has an immortal appetite. If the soul of man were in the primitive integrity, this providence of the soul would reach to eternity, which is the only just measure of the endurance of any immortal spirit. But since mans understanding is darkened, he can see nothing further than to-morrow. But confidence in to-morrow is folly, because of the instability of all outward things, and because of our ignorance of future events. Of all boastings the most irrational and groundless is that which arises from presumption of future things, which are so uncertain both in themselves and to us. Self is the great and ultimate object of mans glorying. No mans present possession satisfies him, without the addition of hope and expectation for the future. Our present revenue will not content the heart. Therefore the soul, as it were, anticipates and forestalls the morrow. But consider--

1. How independent all things are of us and of our choice.

2. The inconstancy of all material things. There is nothing certain but that all things are uncertain.

3. Our ignorance concerning coming changes. All things proclaim the folly and madness of that which the heart of man is set upon. The counsel of the Lord, that alone shall stand. (H. Binning.)

The necessity of a present repentance

It is not the doctrine of repentance men scruple to acknowledge, but the time for doing it. They say, To-morrow will be time enough. And they say this, again and again, through all the stages of life. Press on attention the absolute necessity of our present performance of this great work of repentance.

I. Show this by the dangerous uncertainties which all delaying men have to depend upon. There is no such thing hinted at in Scripture as future repentance. There is no ground for hoping that a late repentance will avail men who knowingly and wilfully defer that repentance which is the duty of the present.

1. What certainty can there be in that which depends upon so uncertain a foundation as the life of man? Who can ensure a hereafter to repent in?

2. As life is uncertain, so is the continuance of Gods grace uncertain also.

II. How improper the times resolved on by such men to repent in will be for the work of their repentance. Such as the time of sickness, or of old age, or of death.

III. Every excuse which men may make in favour of their delays must, if seriously considered, oblige them to hasten their repentance.

1. Excuse--their sins are so small; they can be easily cast off at pleasure.

2. Sins are so great; it is too difficult to repent.

3. Life is just now too full of other things. Consider that every moment consumes somewhat of the thread of life; and that of all business and employments none can possibly be more requisite than our making our peace with God. (William Bramston.)

To-morrow

Some are hindered by doubts, or blinded by definite unbelief; others are repelled from the gospel by prejudices of early education; others by worldly influences, others by the love of sin; and some by a coward fear of the possible consequences of decision. The chief hindrance, however, is the habit of procrastination. The fault is a common one even in worldly matters. There are things that must be done at once, and things which may be left. These latter have a very good chance of never being done at all. There are few who have not a lurking intention of thinking about religious matters sooner or later. Many are indisposed to prompt action, because they fear religion may interfere with their manner of life, their commercial prosperity, and their social enjoyments. By and by, when other matters are not so urgent, they may find a convenient season. This habit of procrastination grows upon us until it becomes a sort of second nature, and at last, even should we wish to act promptly, we seem almost to have lost the power. For one who doubts the Bible, there are a hundred who simply put off for the present. The Holy Ghost says, To-day; they still say, To-morrow. How can we best counteract this disposition towards procrastination? The nominally Christian world is pervaded by the radically false notion that religion has mainly to do with the future rather than with the present. This notion is encouraged by the use of the word salvation. Men do not see that they need to be saved now. True religion is a matter of present urgency. Religion is the one secret of true enjoyment in life. Another cause of procrastination is a false idea of the relative importance of things temporal and things spiritual. Religion is regarded as distinct from the practical purposes of life. This is an inverted estimate of the relative importance of things. Why should we say to-day rather than to-morrow? Because, of all our life, only to-day is really ours. Tomorrow belongs to God. Every to-morrow that God allots you, when it gets to you is a to-day. The to-morrow that we think will do so much for us never comes. To-day may ensure our best interests; to-morrow they may have passed from us, and be forfeited for ever. Moreover, we have a great work to do, and only a limited time to do it in. And we are living in a perishing world, and men and women are dying unprepared every day that passes. By religious decision, how much happiness we may confer upon others by our personal example and influence. In this world of changes and uncertainties, no man can be sure that he will have any to-morrow. Think, too, how you are treating your Lord when, from day to day, you still continue to say, To-morrow. To-day again He proffers the unspeakable gift. His time is now. Another to-morrow, and He may be constrained reluctantly to depart, wearied out at last by your heartless indifference. Oh, take shame to yourself that, hitherto, He has had nothing from you but to-morrow. (W. H. Hay Aitken, M.A.)

The folly and danger of boasting of the morrow

No truth is more obvious than that of the instability of human life, and the uncertainty of all earthly things; and yet there is none which produces a less abiding impression on the mind, or a less practical effect on the conduct. It seems to be a truth so trite as to be beneath our notice. All our courses of action, all our habits of thought, imply that we have a longer continuance, and a firmer interest, in the things around us, than a full conviction of their vanity and their uncertainty appear to warrant. We are willing to allow, as a general rule, that all below is fleeting and uncertain, but in our own case we are anxious to find a fortunate exception. This, at least, lies in the bottom of our hearts, springing up indistinctly in our thoughts, and whispering peace and safety, where neither of them are discoverable by the eye of reason. A knowledge of the fate of others can never entirely remove this error, because it is deeply seated in the heart. By boasting of to-morrow is meant a confident expectation of its arrival, and an undoubting calculation of the enjoyments which it may be expected to bring along with it; such a fancied assurance of possessing it, as may lead us to defer what ought now to be done till that imaginary period. The greatest evil to which this leads is the postponement of a religious life to some future period of our existence, it is too common for man to look upon religion as something totally incompatible with the pursuits and enjoyments of the present world. He therefore relies upon the possibility that the morrow may be extended to him, and to that uncertain period he commits the serious task of shaking off the evil habits which he has contracted, and curbing the corrupt passions which he has hitherto indulged, and of cultivating the Christian graces. Too often in the short and anxious hour of our closing existence all the more serious work of life has to be done. Let it be our aim, then, to look upon religion, not as a task which we are commanded to perform, but as a privilege which we are invited to share. For most of the ills of life religion is an effectual remedy, and in all it is a cheering alleviation.

1. There are many miseries which the morrow is continually bringing forth, that are the direct consequence of our own imprudent conduct or our own vicious habits. They spring from a want of religion; and the possession of it would of course relieve them.

2. Suffering also belongs to us as the sons of mortality; such as pain, sickness, infirmity, age. Religion cannot altogether remove such woes, but it can very materially mitigate and relieve them. And, at least, it enables us to look rightly upon them.

3. There is a class of disappointments to which irreligious men are subject, but from which the true Christian is altogether free. The worldly man is entirely immersed in the things of this life, its pleasures and its cares. When the changeful morrow comes, and these are swept away, he is ruined. The happiness of the religious man is not dependent on such accidents as these. (R. Parkinson, B.D.)

To-morrow

I. The abuse of to-morrow. Boast not--

1. Because it is extremely foolish to boast at all, Boasting never makes a man any the greater in the esteem of others, nor does it improve the real estate either of his body or his soul. Morrows come from God; thou hast no right to glory in them.

2. Because to-morrow is one of the frailest things in creation, and therefore the least to be boasted of. Boast not of to-morrow--thou hast it not. Boast not of to-morrow--thou mayest never have it. Boast not of to-morrow--if thou hadst it, it would deceive thee. Boast not of to-morrow, for to-morrow thou mayest be where morrows will be dreadful things, to tremble at.

3. Because it is exceedingly hurtful to boast. It is hurtful now. Some men are led into extraordinary extravagance from their hopes of the future. It is hurtful to-morrow also. Because you will be disappointed with to-morrow if you boast about it before it comes. The over-confident not only entail great sorrow upon themselves but upon others also.

II. The abuse of the spiritual to-morrow. Never boast of to-morrow with regard to your souls salvation. Those do who think it will be easier for them to repent to-morrow than it is to-day. Those do who suppose they shall have plenty of time to repent and return to God. Those do who boast in a way of resolves to do better.

III. If to-morrows are not to be boasted of, are they good for nothing? Nay; we may look forward to them with confidence and joy, and we may seek in wise ways to provide for to-morrow. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The folly and danger of delays in religion

I. Men are naturally inclined to boast of something.

II. Men are apt to delay religion as long as they can. They boast of to-morrow.

III. It is base and sinful to put off the concerns of religion till to-morrow.

IV. God alone knows what is to come. The Jews of Christs time were dreaming of future prosperity, but He foresaw their ruin and destruction as at hand. We, like them, lay plans for futurity, and invade the province of the Most High. We perhaps anticipate wealth, honour.

V. Great changes happen in a short time. For thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. Since the introduction of sin, the creature at its best estate is altogether vanity. (Christian Recorder.)

The danger of trusting to the future

I. In this passage it is very plainly insinuated that we are too apt to boast of to-morrow. The young hope to live to old age; the middle-aged, having passed the most critical stages of infancy and childhood, reckon, with too much security, on grey hairs; while the old look around them for examples, a few of which they can glean of extreme age, and hope they themselves shall add to the number of extraordinary cases of longevity. Boasting of to-morrow likewise appears in framing worldly schemes of future ease and aggrandisement. He who proposes it as his object to make up a sum at all hazards, that he may, by a certain time, execute a plan of a great mansion, suited to the fortune, and then to enjoy himself. See where the evil lies; not in thinking of to-morrow, in the way of making wise and prudent preparation, always taking along with us, If the Lord will; but the evil is that boasting of to-morrow which involves in sinful, at any rate in worldly and presumptuous plans, in reference to some future period, or that kind of reference to to-morrow which is a substitute for attention, immediate and serious, to our most important, even our eternal interests.

II. That it is foolish to boast of to-morrow, We are young. Granted; but the young droop oftentimes. The green leaf often is seen falling, nipped by frost, or shaken by the wind. The young and strong have been called hence by disease or accident, the majority were young. But we have stood already many trials of our constitution, and many attacks, and are yet vigorous. The last, however, will come, and the very next may be fatal. But we are a long-lived race. Father and mother, yea grandfather, and many relatives, lived to a great age. You forget the exceptions. But we have somehow this persuasion, that we shall live long, and at any rate we will not indulge in gloomy presage of an early tomb. This is very delusive--it is foolish--you can give no reason for it--you may soon find you were deceiving yourselves.

III. That there is much danger in indulging this disposition.

1. It fosters irreligion and atheism. Leaving out of calculation your own weak and dependent state, the uncertainty of time, and your ignorance of futurity, you form your plans without any reference to the Divine Disposer. You erect many high towering schemes, which savour at once of impiety and folly.

2. It is found to foster some of the worst passions of the human heart. The ambitious reason thus: A few steps more, and I shall rise to the very top of my profession, or of my rank in society, and that in the regular course of events, which supposes the removal of others by the stroke of mortality, as the means of elevation. The covetous man adds heap to heap, with desires more and more insatiable, forgetful of his latter end, and of that country to which he goes, where his wealth will be of no benefit. A due consideration of this might, by the Divine blessing, cut up by the roots this grovelling and idolatrous propensity, and give the soul a heavenward direction. A day may bring forth many most unexpected events, casting a dark cloud over the most flattering prospects. This present day improved may be the happy means of arresting the evil which the presumption of to-morrow tends so much to foster.

3. The boast of to-morrow is most prejudicial to spiritual and eternal concerns. It is the most successful of all Satans devices, and the easiest mode of compassing his designs. (W. Burns.)

Ignorance of the future

I. To what the words of the text will apply. On some things we can calculate with a degree of certainty. Apply text--

1. With regard to ourselves. And it will apply to both good and evil. The text seems to have in view evil.

2. To the dispensations of Providence.

3. This uncertainty regards our lives. Some are cut off in the midst of sin. Some in the midst of religious declensions.

II. What reasons can be given for this ignorance of futurity. It never was designed that man should know the future. Even the angels in heaven have not this knowledge. Would such knowledge add to our happiness? or improve our religious character? This arrangement keeps us fully dependent on God. By this means He keeps the world in awe.

III. Apply the fact to some useful purposes.

1. It should check vain curiosity.

2. It teaches us to hope for the best.

3. It is good to be prepared for the worst.

4. Learn the importance of real religion. (Charles Hyatt.)

Mans ignorance of futurity

I. The sentiment contained in the text. No man will attempt to controvert the assertion it makes.

1. We are ignorant of the future as to our circumstances.

2. We cannot tell what a day may bring forth as to the state of our bodies and our minds.

3. We are ignorant of the future as to our families and connections.

4. We are totally ignorant of futurity, as to the continuance of our lives.

II. Some lessons of practical instruction.

1. Learn the importance of a life of faith and dependence on God. Man was never designed to be independent.

2. Learn to cultivate a spirit of holy resignation to the Divine will.

3. Learn to cultivate a spirit of cautious moderation as to the things of this present life.

4. Learn to cultivate a spirit of humility. (R. Cameron.)

Ignorance of the future

Mr. D. L. Moody says: To recall the following act I would give my right hand. On the night when the Court House bell of Chicago was sounding an alarm of fire, my sermon was upon What shall I do with Jesus? And I said to the audience, I want you to decide this question by next Sunday. What a mistake! That night I saw the glare of flames, and knew that Chicago was doomed. I never saw that audience again.

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

Pro 27:1. Boast not thyself of to-morrow — Of any good thing which thou purposest to do, or hopest to receive to-morrow or hereafter; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth — What may happen in the space of one day to hinder thy designs or expectations. The day is said to bring forth what God, by his almighty power and providence, either causes or suffers to be brought forth or done in it. “The wise man,” says Melancthon, “here teaches us modesty; and prohibits those two great vices, confidence in ourselves, or any thing we have; and rashly undertaking unnecessary things, out of a foolish hope they will succeed according to our desires. Wise and good men will only meddle within the bounds of their calling; and will also depend on God for his blessing; but they will not attempt things without just cause, presuming they can carry them as they please.”

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

MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_27:1

DIVINE PROPERTY

I. A possession exclusively Divine. Both the distant and the immediate future belong to God alone; not only does He possess the exclusive control of what shall be in a hundred years to come, but to-morrow, and even the next hour and minute, are exclusively His. There is, doubtless, an existence beyond time where God’s creatures can look forward to the future with more certainty than can man in his present condition, but it does not belong to even the highest archangel to say what shall be in the far-off or even the near time to come. This is the prerogative of Him alone with whom all is one eternal present.

II. A possession to which men often lay claim. If we were to hear a man making definite plans as to how he would spend a fortune which it was only probable he would possess, we should wonder at his tone of certainty, and perhaps attribute it to weakness or presumption. But we all dispose of our days, and sometimes of our months and years, long before they are ours, and while our own past experience and that of others around us admonish us of the great uncertainties that surround our future, we are prone to lay our plans as if to-morrow and many years to come were ours. It is doubtless necessary and right to forecast to a certain extent—we must look forward to what will probably or may be on the morrow, or be guilty of another form of presumption. But we are not forbidden by the wise man to do this—all that the proverb warns us against is that boastful certainty in relation to the future which so ill becomes creatures so limited in their knowledge and so straitened in their resources—that definite laying of our plans which leaves God entirely outside of them, and that confident disposal of ourselves which forgets to say, “If the Lord will we shall live, and do this, or that” (Jas_4:15). It would be foolish for a raw recruit to pretend to map out the plan of his general’s campaign, or for an unlettered peasant to prophecy what line of policy would be adopted by the prime minister of the land; but he who boasts himself of to-morrow is more foolish, and is also wicked.

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS

The day is said to bring forth because time travaileth with the Lord’s decrees, and in their season bringeth them forth, even as a woman with child doth her little babes. Indeed, time properly worketh not, but, because God’s works are done in time, it is said to do those things which are done therein.—Muffett.

I. This ignorance of the morrow is necessary to the prosecution of our duties on earth. Could we draw aside the veil of the future and look at the things which are coming to us, our energies would be so paralysed as to incapacitate us for the ordinary avocations of life; mercy has woven the web of concealment. II. This ignorance of to-morrow is our incentive to the preparation for the future. Christ used this argument: “Be ye, therefore, ready, for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh.”—Dr. David Thomas.

The same reason that should check our boasting of to-morrow may preserve us from desponding fears. It may be stormy weather to-day; but storms do not last all the year. We are filled and tormented with fears of some impending evil, but we often give ourselves real pain by the prospect of calamities that never were appointed to us by the providence of God.—Lawson.

How awfully has this boasting been put to shame! In the days of Noah “they married wives, and were given in marriage, until the very day when the flood came and destroyed them all.” Abner promised a kingdom, but could not ensure his life for an hour. Haman plumed himself upon the prospect of the queen’s banquet, but was hanged like a dog before night. The fool’s soul was required of him “on the very night” of his worldly projects “for many years” to come. “Serious affairs to-morrow,” was the laughing reply of Archias, warned of a conspiracy which hurried him into eternity the next hour. The infidel Gibbon calculated upon fifteen years of life, and died within a few months, at a day’s warning.—Bridges.

To count on to-morrow so as to neglect the duty of to-day is in many respects the greatest practical error among men. None have a wider range, and none are charged with more dreadful consequences. Whether the work in hand pertain to small matters or great—to the sowing of a field or the redemption of a soul—for every one who resolves deliberately not to do it, a hundred tread the same path, and suffer the same loss at last, who only postpone the work of to-day with the intention of performing it tomorrow. The proverb contains only the negative side of the precept, but it is made hollow for the very purpose of holding the positive promise in its bosom. The Old Testament sweeps away the wide-spread indurated error; the New Testament then deposits its saving truth upon the spot.… Solomon warns us to distrust the future, and Paul persuades us to accept the present hour. “Behold now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation.” “To-morrow,” is the devil’s great ally, the very Goliath in whom he trusts for victory. “Now,” is the stripling whom God sends forth against him. A great significance lies in that little word. It marks the points on which life’s battle turns. That spot is the Hougomont of Waterloo. There the victory is lost or won.… An artist solicited permission to paint a portrait of the Queen. The favour was granted—and the favour was great, for probably it would make the fortune of the man. A place was fixed, and a time. At the fixed place and time the Queen appeared; but the artist was not there—he was not ready yet. When he did arrive, a message was communicated to him that her Majesty had departed, and would not return. Such is the tale. We have no means of verifying its history, but its moral is not dependent on its truth. If it is not a history, let it serve as a parable. Translate it from the temporal into the eternal. Employ the earthly type to print a heavenly lesson.—Arnot.

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.

In the group Pro 27:1-6 of this chapter every two proverbs form a pair. The first pair is directed against unseemly boasting:

1 Boast not thyself of to-morrow,

For thou knowest not what a day bringeth forth.

The ב of בּיום is like, e.g., that in Pro 25:14, the ב of the ground of boasting. One boasts of to-morrow when he boasts of that which he will then do and experience. This boasting is foolish and presumptuous (Luk 12:20), for the future is God's; not a moment of the future is in our own power, we know not what a day, this present day or to-morrow (Jam 4:13), will bring forth, i.e., (cf. Zep 2:2) will disclose, and cannot therefore order anything beforehand regarding it. Instead of לא־תדע (with Kametz and Mugrash), אל־תדע (thus e.g., the Cod. Jaman) is to be written; the Masora knows nothing of that pausal form. And instead of מה־יּלד יום, we write מה יּלד יום with Zinnorith. יּלד before יום has the tone thrown back on the penult., and consequently a shortened ult.; the Masora reckons this word among the twenty-five words with only one Tsere.

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.)

b) Against vain self-praise and presumption

Chap. 27

(With an admonition to prudence and frugality in agriculture: Pro_27:23-27)

1          Boast not thyself of to-morrow,

for thou knowest not what a day will bring forth.

2     Let another praise thee and not thine own mouth,

a stranger and hot thine own lips.

3     Stone is heavy and sand weighty;

the fool’s wrath is heavier than them both.

4     Anger is cruel and wrath is outrageous;

but who can stand before jealousy ?

5     Better is open rebuke

than secret love.

6     Faithful are the wounds of a friend,

but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

7     The satisfied soul loatheth a honeycomb;

to a hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.

8     As a bird that wandereth from her nest

so is a man that wandereth from his home.

9     Oil and perfume rejoice the heart,

but the sweetness of a friend is better than one’s own counsel.

10     Thine own friend and thy father’s friend forsake not;

and into thy brother’s house enter not in the day of thy calamity;

better is a neighbor that is near than a brother far off.

11     Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad,

that I may know how to give an answer to him that reproacheth me.

12     The prudent man seeth the evil (and) hideth himself;

the simple pass on and are punished.

13     Take his garment, for he hath become surety for a stranger,

and on account of a strange woman put him under bonds!

14     He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice early in the morning,

let it be reckoned a curse to him!

15     A continual dropping in a very rainy day

and a contentious woman are alike.

16     He that will restrain her restraineth the wind,

and his right hand graspeth after oil.

17     Iron sharpeneth iron;

so doth a man sharpen the face of his friend.

18     Whosoever watcheth the fig-tree eateth its fruit,

and he that hath regard to his master is honored.

19     As in water face (answereth) to face

so the heart of man to man.

20     Hell and destruction are never full,

and the eyes of man are not satisfied.

21     The fining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold,

but man according to his glorying.

22     Though thou bruise a fool in a mortar

among grain with a pestle,

his folly will not depart from him.

23     Thou shalt know well the face of thy sheep;

direct thy mind to thine herds;

24     for riches are not forever,

and doth the crown endure forevermore?

25     The grass disappeareth, and the tender grass is seen,

and the herbs of the mountains are gathered.

26     Lambs (are) for thy clothing

and the price of thy field (is) goats;

27     and abundance of goat’s milk for thy food, for the food of thine house,

and subsistence for thy maidens.

GRAMMATICAL AND CRITICAL

Pro_27:4. אַכְזְרִיּוּת is used here only in the Old Testament.

Pro_27:5. [טֹובָה is regarded by Bött. (§ 1133, 1 and n 3) as the 3d sing. fem. of the verb and not as the fem. of the adj.: the chief evidence being found in the participles following, which, according to Hebrew usage, more naturally follow a unite verb.—A.]

Pro_27:9. [רֵעֵהוּ we have one of the examples found in Hebrew in connection with words in wide and frequent me, in which the suffix loses all distinct and specific application; comp. in modern languages Monsicur, Madonna, Mynherr; etc.; therefore one’s friend, a friend, and not his friend. Bött., § 876, c. עֲצַת is regarded by Gesen., Fuerst, Döderlein, Dathe, etc., as a fem. of עֵץ used collectively; the meaning in connection with נֶפֶשׁ is then, “more than fragrant wood Bött. (§ 643, δ) pronounces all the examples cited in the lexicons for this use of the noun” more than doubtful; and, as the exegetical notes show, nearly all commentators give to עֵצָה its ordinary meaning.—A.]

Pro_27:10. [רֵעֶה is one of three nouns whose full and original form appears only in the stat. constr.; the K’ri therefore points as though the absol. were used רֵעַ, while the K’thibh exhibits the form רֵעֵה. See Green, § 215, 1, e; Bött. §§ 721, 8; 794, Decl. 4.—A.]

Pro_27:11. [וְאָשִיבָה an Intentional, or paragogic Imperf., connected to Imperatives by וְ used as a final conjunction, “ in order that;” Bött., § 965, B, c. And let me=that I may.—A.]

Pro_27:14.הַשְכֵּים, an Infin. abs. used adverbially, as in Jer_25:4; here on account of the pause written with ־ֵי instead of simple ־ֵ.

Pro_27:15. On the question whether נִשְׁתָּוָה is to be accented and explained as a 3d pers. Nithpael, or whether, with Kimchi, Norzi, and the most recent editors and expositors, we should point the form as Milel [with penultimate accent], and accordingly regard it as perhaps a voluntative Hithpael, with the ־ָה of motion (therefore “let us compare”,), con-suit Bertheau, Stier and Hitzig on the passage. [Gesen., Röd. (Gesen. Thes., p. 1376, add. p. 114), Fuerst, etc. make the form a Nithpael; Bött. (§§ 474, 4, a and 1072, θ) agrees with Hitzig in making it a simple Niphal with a different transposition of consonants, and argues at length for this view. Fuerst pronounces the form participial, in opposition to nearly all lexicographers and commentators who make it 2d sing. fem. Gessn. and some others, following Chaldee analogies, rendered, “are to be feared”. RöDIGER (ubi supra) and most others render, “are esteemed alike,” or “ are alike.” Comp. also Ewald, Lehrb. § 182, d; Green, § 83, c (2).—.A.]

Pro_27:16. יִקְרֶה = יִקְרָא, according to an interchange which is common of א with ה. [In clause a we have a singular verb following a plural participle taken distributively as in Pro_22:21; Pro_25:13, etc.—A.]

Pro_27:17. יַחַד is best regarded, as Geier, Bertheau and Stier take it, as an Imperf. apoc. Hiphil from חדד = חדה “ to sharpen.” Ewald, Elster, etc., needlessly take the first יחד in clause a as a Hophal: יֻחַד (comp. the Vulg. exacuitur) and would have only the second recognized as a Voluntative Hiphil (to be pointed יַחַד or יַחֵד. [Bött]. §1124, b insists that the Masoretic forms can be regarded as nothing but the ordinary adverb “ together,” and that the pointing must be changed to יֻחַד ,יֻחָד, or יֵחַד ,יֵחָד. Green, § 140, 1, makes it a simple Kal Imperf. Fuerst regards it as a Niphhal Imperf., no change of vocalization being required, although the more common form would be יֵהַד. Röd. (Thes. Gesen., Ind. pp. 6, 88) regards the form as an apoc. Hiphil. for the more common יַחֵד, used impersonally, “one sharpens, men sharpen.”—A.]

Pro_27:20. The parallel passage Pro_15:11 (see notes on this passage) shows that instead of אֲבַדֹּה (or again instead of אֲבֵדָה) we should read with the K’ri אֲבַדּוֹן, or that we should a least assume a transition of this latter form into the former) in the way of lexical decay (as in מְגִדּוֹ for מְגִדּוֹן). [Bött. (§§ 262, a; 233) notes this as a tendency in proper nouns, aided perhaps in the case before us by the following liquid.—A.]

Pro_27:22. [בַּעֱלִי instead of the more regular בָּעֱלִי, mimetically sharpened in its vocalization at the end of its clause. See Bött., §§ 394, b; 493, 6.—A.]

Pro_27:25. [עִשְּׁבוֹת with Daghesh dirimens or separative, indicating the vocal nature of the Sheva. See, e.g. Green §24, b; 21G, 2, a.—A.]

EXEGETICAL

1. Pro_27:1-6. Three pairs of proverbs, directed against self-praise, jealousy and flattery.

Pro_27:1-2. Boast not thyself of tomorrow, i.e., “do not throw out with proud assurance high-soaring schemes for the future” (Elster); do not boast of future undertakings as if they had already succeeded and were assured.—For thou knowest not -what a day -will bring forth; i.e., what a day, whether it be today or to-morrow, will bring in new occurrences, is absolutely unknown to thee. Comp. Jam_4:13-15; also Horace, Od., iv. 7, Proverbs 17 : Quis scit an adjiciant hodiernze crastina summæ Tempora Di superi?—

[“Who knows if they who all our fates control

Will add a morrow to thy brief to-day?”

Theo. Martin’s Translation.]

and Seneca, Thyest. V. Pro 619: Nemo tarn divos habuit faoentes Crastinum ut possit polliceri[No one has had the gods so favorable that he can promise himself a morrow].—With Pro_27:2 comp. the German Eigenlob stinkt, and Arabic proverbs like “Not as mother says, but as the neighbors say” (Fuerst, Perlenschnare, ii. 8), or “Lot thy praise come from thy friend’s and kinsman’s mouth, not from thine own” (Meidani, p. 467.)

Pro_27:3-4.—Stone is heavy and sand ¦weighty, lit., “ weight of stone and heaviness of the sand.” Hitzig fitly remarks with respect to the genitive combinations of this as well as the succeeding verse (“ Cruelty of anger, etc.”) “ The genitive relation holding a figure before our eye instead of developing it in a proposition, possesses nevertheless the value of a combination of predicate and subject.” [So K., W., etc., while S. and others make the relation directly that of subject and predicate].—The fool’s wrath, i.e., probably not: the vexation and anger occasioned in others by the fool (Cocceius, Schultens, Bertheau, [S.], etc.], but the annoyance and ill-humor experienced by himself, whether it may have originated in envy, or in a chafing against some correction that he has received, etc. Such ill-temper in the fool is a burden, heavier than stone and sand, and that too a burden for himself, but beyond this also for those who must besides suffer under it, whom he makes to feel in common and innocently his ill-will and temper.—Anger is cruel arid wrath is outrageous, lit., “cruelty of anger and inundation of wrath.” With regard to the genitives, compare remarks above on vs. 3, a. For the expression “overflowing of wrath ” or “ excess, outrageousness of wrath,” comp. Isa_30:28; Isa_30:30; Dan_9:27; Dan_11:22.—קִנְאָה in clause b. often “envy,” is plainly “jealousy,” as in Pro_6:34-35, which passage is here to be compared in general.

Pro_27:5-6. Better is open rebuke (open, undisguised censure, honorably expressing its meaning) than secret love, i.e., than love which from false consideration dissembles, and does not name to one’s neighbor his faults even where it should do so. Compare the ἀληθεύειν ἐν ἀγάπῃ, Eph_4:15, as well as the numerous parallels in classic authors (Plautus, Trinummus, I. 2, 57; Cicero, Læl. 25; Seneca, Epist. 25); and Meidani, 2:64: “Love lasts long as the censure lasts,” etc.—Faithful (lit. true, coming from a true disposition) are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy. נַעְתָּרוֹת, from the root עָתַר, is if this be identical with עשׁר, largus fuit, as is generally assumed, equivalent to “plentiful” (comp. עָשִׁיר), in which case we must think of kisses “liberally bestowed but faithless,” or it may be kisses “to be lightly esteemed” (so Gesen., Umbreit, Bertheau, Stier [Fuerst, S., W.]) And yet it corresponds better with the parallelism, as well as with the exegetical tradition (Vulg., fraudulenta), to derive from an Arabic root ֻׁ, to stumble (σφάλλειν, fallere, therefore falsus, false—30 Ewald, Elster, etc.), or it may be from לב ׁ = עדר in the sense of “ to miss”—thus Hitzig,—both of which modes of explanation give the idea ”deceptive, crafty, treacherous.” With regard to the meaning compare, therefore, Pro_26:23.

2. Pro_27:7-14. Eight proverbs in praise of contentment, of friendship, prudence, etc.

Pro_27:7. A satisfied soul loatheth honeycomb. The verb literally means “ tramples, treads under feet,” comp. Dan_7:19 : Jdg_5:21.—With clause b compare the German proverb “Hunger is the best cook;” and also Sir_4:2.

Pro_27:8. So is a man that roameth far from his dwelling-place. As the preceding proverb is directed against a want of contentment in the department of food and drink, so is this against weariness of one’s own home, against adventurous wandering impulses, and a restless roving without quiet domestic tastes. Comp. Ecclesiast. 29:28, 29; 36:28.

Pro_27:9. With clause a compare Psa_104:15; Psa_133:2 —But the sweetness of a friend is better than one’s own counsel. The “sweetness” of the friend is according to Pro_16:21 doubtless sweetness of the lips, the pleasing, agreeable discourse of the friend (lit. “of his friend;” the suffix stands indefinitely, with reference i.e., to every friend that a man really has; here with especial reference to the possessor of the נֶפֶשׁ). See also the critical notes. The מֵעֲצַת is best taken in the sense of comparison (with Jarchi, Levi, Cocceius, Umbreit, Stier): “better than counsel of the soul,” i.e., better than one’s own counsel, better than that prudence which will help itself and relies purely on its own resources (comp. Pro_28:26). Ewald, Elster (in like manner also Luther, Geier, De Wette [K., N.], etc.,) render: “The sweetness of the friend springeth from (faithful) counsel of soul,” which is understood as describing the genuineness and the hearty honesty of the friend’s disposition. Bertheau gives a similar idea, except that he supplies in b from a the predicate with its object: “The sweetness of a friend from sincere counsel maketh glad the heart” (?); [this is very nearly the conception of the E. V., H., S., M.]. Hitzig following the καταῤῥήγνυται δὲ ὑπό συμπωμάτων ἡ ψυχή of the ‎LXX, amends so as to read: “but the soul is rent with cares.” [See critical notes for still other expositions of the phrase.]

Pro_27:10. Thine own friend and thy father’s friend forsake not. Whether one read with the K’ri וְרֵעַ or with the K’thibh the stat. constr. of the emphatic form [or according to others the primitive form—see critical notes], in any even; together with the friend of the person addressed “his father’s friend ” is also named, but as an identical person with the former, who, for that reason, has a value proportionally greater, and may so much the less be neglected, because he is as it were an heirloom of the family of long tried fidelity and goodness.—And into thy brother’s house enter not in the day of thy calamity. Hitzig, who explains the three clauses of this verse as originally separate propositions, only “afterward forced together,” fails to see a logical connection as well between a and b as between b and c. This is in fact in the highest degree arbitrary, for the common aim of the three members: to emphasize the great value of true friendship and its pre-eminence in comparison with a merely external relationship of blood, comes out to view as clearly as possible. The “near” neighbor is he who keeps himself near as one dispensing counsel and help to the distressed, just as the “far off” brother is he who, on account of his unloving disposition, keeps at a distance from the same. [Our commentators have in general agreed substantially with this conception of the scope of the verse.—A.].

Pro_27:11. Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad, etc. Evidently an admonition of a fatherly teacher of wisdom addressed to his pupil (comp. Pro_1:8 sq.; Pro_22:21; Pro_23:15),—perhaps of the same one to whom the wise counsel of the preceding verse in regard to conduct toward friends likewise belonged.—That I may know how to give an answer to him that reproacheth me (literally, “and so will I then return a word to my reviler ”), i.e., in order that I, pointing to thy wise and exemplary conduct, nay be able to stop the mouth of him who reviles me, the responsible teacher. Comp. Psa_119:42; also Pro 127:5; Sir_30:2 sq.

Pro_27:12. In almost literal accordance with Pro_22:3.

Pro_27:13. Almost exactly like Pro_20:16 (comp. notes on this passage.)

Pro_27:14. He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice early in the morning. These words are directed against a friend who is flattering and profuse in compliment, but inwardly insincere; who, by his congratulations, hasty, and offered with boisterous ostentation, brings, instead of a real blessing to his friend, only a curse upon his house, at least in the general judgment of the people. For of them we must think, in clause b as those who are to “reckon.” For this last verb and its construction, “ reckoning something to some one,” comp. Gen_15:6. [This insincere and untimely praise may be accredited to its giver as no better than a curse in his intention, or more positively it may be regarded as veiling an evil intent, and so threatening an actual curse to him who is its object.—A.]

3. Pro_27:15-16. Two maxims concerning a contentious woman.—A continual dropping in a very rainy day (according to the Arabic סַגְרִיר denotes “a rain poured as if out of buckets,” and so “a pouring rain;” moreover the word occurs only here), and a contentious woman are alike. Like this, only more concise, is Pro_19:13, b. [The peculiar force of this comparison to one who has been in the rainy season under the flat earthy roofs of Oriental houses, is commented on and illustrated, e.g., in Hackett’s Scripture Illustrations, p. 85, and Thomson’s Land and Book, I. 453. A.]—He that will restrain her restraineth the wind (צַָן literally “to shut out, dam up, confine”), and his right hand graspeth after oil, i.e., it grasps after something, encounters an object, seeks to retain something that is necessarily continually eluding it. [The idea of hiding her disagreeable and vexatious disposition from the view of others, which is expressed by the E. V., H., W.,. in both clauses, and by N. and M. in the, second, is less appropriate and forcible than that given in the version of our author, K., S., etc.—A.]

4. Pro_27:17-22. Six proverbs against haughtiness, selfishness, a greedy eye, self-praise and folly.—Iron sharpeneth iron, lit. iron to iron maketh sharp, or according to others, “iron is made sharp by iron,”—see critical notes]. So doth a man sharpen the face of his friend. Whether we render פָּנִים by “face, look,” or (as Hitzig maintains) by “edge, acies ingenii, the men tal keenness,” in-either case the meaning is not: “One enrages, provokes the other” (Stier and in like manner Bertheau), but: One stimulates the other, polishes himself by mutual spiritual contact and friction with his fellow, contributes by such an interchange of one’s own peculiarities with those of his fellow to the spiritual development of both (compare especially Elster and Hitzig on the passage). [“Conference hath incredible profit in all sciences,” observes Trapp. “A man by himself,” says Muffet, “is no man, he is dull, he is very blunt; but if his fellow come and quicken him by his presence, speech, and example, he is so whetted on by this means that he is much more comfortable, skilful, and better than he was when he was alone. “So most of our commentators, while Stuart, and Noyes with a qualification, would find the idea of provocation, not as though anger were even indirectly commended, but “if men must enter into contest, let the antagonists be worthy of the strife” (S.); an exposition far weaker as well as more unnatural than the ordinary one.—A.].

Pro_27:18. With the general proposition in a comp. Pro_12:11; Pro_28:19.—And he that hath regard to his master is honored. The honor which the master (i.e., any master whatever, and not God especially, the master of all, as Stier holds) confers upon his faithful servant resembles the fruit which the fig tree yields to the proprietor or tenant who carefully cultivates it. “To regard one,” colere aliquem, as in Psa_31:7; Hos_4:10.

Pro_27:19. As (in) water face (answereth) to face, so the heart of man to man. כַּמַּיִם, an accusative of place: “as in water,” Ewald, § 221. The meaning will be like that of Pro_27:17, somewhat such as this: “As the mirror of the water reflects the likeness of one’s own face, so one’s heart is mirrored in that of his fellow, if one only has courage and penetration enough to look deeply into this ” (Ewald; comp. Stier and Bertheau). There is contained in this at the same time an admonition to the wise testing and examination both of one’s own heart and that of our fellow-men; or, the recommendation of a comprehensive knowledge of men, to be gained by thorough knowledge of one’s self. The Vulgate already gives essentially the right idea: “Quomodo in aquis resplendent vullus respicientium, sic corda hominum manifesta sunt prudentibus;” while several other ancient expositors, whom Elster to some extent follows, find expressed in the passage a relation too exclusively ethical, viz., that of arousing by love a reciprocal love, or that of the practical maxim, “Si vis amari, ama” [“Love if you would be loved”].—Hitzig thinks that clause a כְּמוּם must be the reading instead of כַּמַּיִם: “What a mole on the face is to the face, that is man’s heart to man,” viz., his disfiguring mole, his dark spot, his partie honteuse in the sense of Gen_8:21 (?). [Among our English expositors the mirror and the mirrored object have been somewhat variously understood; some retain while others dismiss the specific idea of reflection that is suggested by clause a. Muffet and Holden, e.g., make a man’s own heart the mirror in which he may truly know himself; Wordsw. makes the mirror the hearts of others on whom we act; while the great majority make the reflected object the oneness, especially the moral oneness of human nature, as discoverable from any heart into which we may look (so e.g., Bp. Hall, Trapp, Lawson, Bridges, S. and M.)—A.].

Pro_27:20. Hell and destruction are never full [i.e., not the world of the lost, but the world of the dead]. The meaning of clause b as indicated by this parallel in a cannot be doubtful. It relates to the really demoniacal insatiableness of human passion, especially the “lust of the eyes;” comp. 1Jn_2:16; Jam_3:6; and in particular Pro_30:16; Ecc_1:8.

Pro_27:21. With a compare the literally identical language in Pro_17:3 a.—But man according to his glorying, i.e., one is judged according to the standard of that of which he makes his boast (the noun to be taken not in a subjective, but in an objective sense, of the object of one’s glorying). If his boast is of praiseworthy things, then he is recognized as a strong, true man, etc.; if he glories in trivial or even of evil things, he is abhorred; comp. above Pro_27:2. Thus Ewald, Bertheau, Hitzig, [K.], while the majority (the LXX, Vulg., Luther, etc., also Umbreit, Stier, Elster, etc.), translate the second clause: “so is man for the mouth of his praise,” i.e., for the mouth of the one that praises him [testing the nature and worth of the praise that is bestowed]—to which the figure in clause a can be made to correspond only by a considerably forced interpretation. [Here again among the English expositors who adopt this general idea, making the praise objective, there is diversity in carrying out the details. Is man the crucible or is he the object tested? N. and W. take the former view, according to which man tests or should test with careful discrimination the praise bestowed upon him; H., S. and M. take the other view, by which the praise is represented as testing him and disclosing his real character in the effects which it produces upon him.—A.].

Pro_27:22. Though thou bruise a fool in a mortar among grain (“grains of wheat;” the word is used only here and in 2Sa_17:19), with a pestle, etc. The meaning of this proverb, which has at least its humorous side, is plain; lack of reason is to such a degree the very substance of the fool, is so intertwined in his inward and outward nature, that one might divide him into atoms without eradicating thereby this fundamental character of his. This idea is not so clearly connected with the preceding verse by its substance as by the similarity of the figures employed in the two (the crucible and the mortar); comp. Hitzig on the passage.

5. Pro_27:23-27. Admonition to a prudent and frugal economy in connection with agricultural possessions.—Thou shalt know well (Z. “make thyself well acquainted with”) the face of thy sheep. “The look of the sheep” (comp. Gen_30:40), i.e., its condition and thrift.

Pro_27:24. For riches are not forever—viz., the supply of subsistence, on the abundant presence of which the good appearance of the flock depends above all things else.—And doth the crown endure forevermore? The question introduced by this interrogative (וְאִם) expresses the idea of a very strong negation, standing as a climax to “the preceding: and even the crown, the royal diadem, has no perpetual existence. The נֵצֶר seems not to designate the metal of itself that composes the king’s crown, but the kingly dignity and authority represented by it; the expression “from generation to generation” plainly indicates this. Hitzig’s rendering is as trivial as it is contrary to the usus loquendi: that נֵצֶר means “grass, fodder” (because it sometimes signifies the hair of the head, and may therefore designate the herbage as a hairlike ornament to the earth!).

Pro_27:25. The grass disappeareth, etc.; a reason for the admonition contained in the preceding verse, that one should be intent upon laying up ample supplies of nourishment for the flocks. The discourse passes over in Pro_27:25-27 to a richly diversified description of the beauty and abundance of rural nature, reminding us of Psa_65:10-13, but in its present connection having this aim,—to show how God’s creation liberally rewards the labor bestowed upon it by the active and industrious landlord. Neither this concluding picture, nor the entire passage from Pro_27:23 onward can be interpreted in some allegorical way (with various ancient expositors, Schultens and Stier), and be applied to the conduct of the spiritual, pastoral office of the teacher of wisdom. As the utmost that is admissible this conception may have a place under certain conditions in the practical and homiletic treatment of the passage. [Wordsw. characteristically makes much of the secondary import of these verses.—A.].

Pro_27:26. And goats (as) price for the field; i.e., goats of such value that for each one a piece of arable land might be exchanged.

Pro_27:27. Abundance also of goat’s milk … for subsistence for thy maidens. וְחַיִּים (with which we must repeat לְ from the preceding) “and life” is here equivalent to “substance, nourishment.“ Female servants, maidens, waiting women, were wanting in no large household among the Hebrews, not even in the royal palace and the temple; comp. 2Sa_4:6; 1Sa_2:22 sq. Here we must naturally think first of shepherdesses, milkmaids, etc.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL, HOMILETIC AND PRACTICAL

Modesty, contentment and prudence are the central ideas about which we may group the practical instructions of the section just expounded, if not in all their items at least in large measure. Especially may we throw under these categories what is said of the necessity of avoiding all vain self-praise, and of boasting in an inconsiderate extravagant way neither of our own prosperity nor of our neighbor’s (Pro_27:1-2; Pro_27:14; Pro_27:21); in like manner that which relates to the duty of moderation in ill temper and jealousy, in sensual enjoyments, in love of restless wandering and of sight-seeing (Pro_27:3-4; Pro_27:7-8; Pro_27:20); and not less, finally, the admonition which recurs in manifold transformations to a general prudence in life, as it should be exhibited in social and business intercourse with others, and in the diligent discharge of the domestic duties of one’s calling (Pro_27:11; Pro_27:13; Pro_27:17-19; Pro_27:23-27). If so inclined we might reckon among those commendations of an all-embracing practical wisdom even the warning against the contentiousness of a bad woman (Pro_27:15-16), as well as the encomiums upon a genuine, unfeigned friendship, in Pro_27:5-6; Pro_27:9-10; and in these especially, and above all in the command (Pro_27:10): to regard the love of a true friend more highly than the bonds of relationship of blood,—an injunction which reminds us of expressions in the New Testament, such as Mat_10:37; Mat_12:48-50, we might see the very climax, and the main theme of the discourse of wisdom which constitutes this chapter. Over against this counsel, to give to the love of a true friend the preference above all vain passions and selfish interests, we have presented in a significant way the evidence which establishes the sad truth, that the fool is not disposed at any price to let go his selfish, vain, arrogant nature (Pro_27:22), in connection with which fact allusion is made to the natural corruption of human hearts in general and to the necessity for their being given up to the delivering and renewing influences of divine grace (comp. Pro_27:11).

Homily on the chapter as a whole: “Godliness with contentment is great gain” (1Ti_6:6).—Or, boast neither of thy prosperity, nor of thy deeds, nor of any earthly and human advantages whatsoever, but only of the Lord (1Co_1:31).—Stöcker: Of conceit and vain presumption as a first and main hinderance to the progress of true wisdom (comp. besides comments on chapters 28 and 29).—Calwer Handbuch: Of the means of attaining true honor.

Pro_27:1-6. Melanchthon (on verse 1): That which is necessary and first demanded by our duty we must do before all else, conscientiously, and with appeals for divine help, lest in reliance upon our own strength or on foolish hopes we undertake needless and futile things.—Starke: He walks the more cautiously who always considers that to-day may be the day of his death (Jam_4:13 sq.; Ecclesiast. 7:40).—Comp. the New Year’s Sermon by Röhr (Sonntagsfeier, 1844, No. 15): “The high and weighty import that each year of life has for us.”—[J. Edwards: Not depending on another day, is a different thing from concluding that we shall not live another day. We ought not to behave ourselves in any respect as though we depended on another day.—Arnot: This proverb contains only the negative side of the precept; but it is made hollow for the very purpose of holding the positive promise in its bosom. The Old Testament sweeps away the wide-spread indurated error; the New Testament then deposits its saving truth upon the spot.—A. Fuller (on verse 2): A vain man speaks well of himself; and Paul speaks well of himself. The motive in the one case is desire of applause; in the other justice to an injured character, and to the Gospel which suffered in his reproaches.—Bp. Hopkins: The tongue is of itself very apt to be lavish when it hath so sweet and pleasing a theme as a man’s own praise].—Tübingen Bible: Self-praise is a sign of great pride, and must be in the highest degree offensive to the wise man when he has to hear it.—Geier. (on verses 3, 4): If even the pious man may easily transgress in his anger, how much more easily the ungodly!—Lange (on Pro_27:5-6): He who truly loves his neighbor is bound, when the occasion presents itself, to persuade, admonish and warn him; Psa_141:5; Gal_6:1.—Wohlfarth (on Pro_27:5-6; Pro_27:9-10): Moral perfection the highest aim and blessing of true friendship.—Von Gerlach: A rebuke before the whole world is better than a love that proves itself by nothing, that only flatters in connection with a neighbor’s faults.—[Lord Bacon: This proverb rebukes the mistaken kindness of friends who do not use the privilege of friendship freely and boldly to admonish their friends as well of their errors as their dangers.]

Pro_27:8 sq. Melancthon (on Pro_27:8): Solomon here warns against our forsaking our lawful calling from weariness; Eph_4:1; 1Co_7:20.—Luther (marginal comment on Pro_27:8): Let no assault drive thee from thy calling; hold fast, and God will make thee prosper.—Lange: By discontent with one’s position and calling one only doubles his need, and sins grossly against God’s holy providence.—[Muffet: The wandering person is hated and despised by all; none honoreth his kindred, none regardeth his beauty, none careth for him, and none feareth to hurt him.—John Howe (on Pro_27:10): If it be an indecency, and uncomeliness, and a very unfit thing, that is, contrary to the precept of studying whatsoever is lovely, and thinking of those things, to forsake my friend and my father’s friend, how much more horrid must it be to forsake my God and my father’s God!]—Starke (on Pro_27:9-10): God is the best of all friends; strive with great care, that thou mayest obtain God’s favor and friendship, and thou mayest never lose them.—Von Gerlach: Union of spirit with an old family friend from the father down is to be much preferred to mere relationship of blood.—[T. Adams (on Pro_27:12): The fool goes, he runs, he flies; as if God that rides upon the wings of the wind should not overtake him, Haste might be good if the way were good, and good speed added to it, but this is the shortest way out of the way. He need not run fast: the fool may come soon enough to that place from whence he must never return].

Pro_27:14. sq. Luther (marginal comment or Pro_27:14): He who reproves much praises, and he who praises much censures; for they are not believed because they go too far.—Tübingen Bible: Too much praised is half censured. Trust not the flatterer who praises thee to excess.—[Bp. Hopkins: Let all thy reproofs be given as secretly and privately as throu canst; otherwise thou wilt seem not so much to aim a thy brother’s reformation, as at his shame and confusion.—Lord Bacon: Moderate praise used with opportunity, and not vulgar, is that which doeth the good.—Arnot (on Pro_27:17): One half of the human faculties are framed for maintaining intercourse with men, and one half of the divine law is occupied with rules for regulating it].—Melancthon: Let us recognize our weakness, and see that the individual man is ignorant of much, errs and stumbles, and. … that God has furnished us men with the power of speech chiefly for this, that one may befriend another with counsel and instruction.—Zeltner: The pious should arouse one another, and stimulate to all good works (Heb_10:24), and that too in all circumstances.—Geier (on Pro_27:18): Faithful labor and diligence find at length their rich reward—if not from men, at least from God; Heb_6:10.

Pro_27:19 sq. Luther (marginal comment on Pro_27:19): As the outline in water trembles and is uncertain, so also are hearts. The lesson is: Trust not!—[Bp. Hopkins: In the world we see our own hearts unbowelled; and there we can learn what ourselves are at the cost of other men’s sins].—Luther (on Pro_27:21): He who loves to hear himself praised is easily deceived: for he proves thereby that he is a reckless man who values his honor above all right.—Starke (on Pro_27:21): If thou art praised, let it serve thee as a test, a humiliation, and a profit.—Lange (on Pro_27:22): The urging and chastisement of the law makes no one pious, and does not change the heart. The power of the Gospel must change and renew the hard heart.—Von Gerlach: No outward cure helps at all where the inward part is obstinately corrupt.

Pro_27:23-27. Starke: Let every one labor diligently in his calling, let him indeed bring everything to counsel, and be thoroughly systematic in his actions.—Geier: If it be important carefully to guard and to cherish silly sheep, oh, how much more Christ’s sheep, the souls which He has redeemed with His precious blood! Act_20:28.—Wohlfarth: The husbandman’s prosperity (a sermon for a harvest thanksgiving).—Von Gerlach: To persevere is as needful as to acquire in every kind of possession.—[Lawson: God’s bounty is a great encouragement to our industry].

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(Pro 27:1 quoted in the NT: Jas 4:13-14 )

LET the Apostle expound the wise man — "Go to now, ye that say — To-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain." Both apply the same rebuke to the boast; Thou knowest not what a day may bring forth — Whereas "ye know not what shall be on the morrow." (Jas 4:13-14 .) To provide for the morrow is a scriptural duty.†1 The husbandman, when he has reaped his harvest, sows his seed for the next. The Christian in his calling, reposing on God’s Providence, walks with God. But to boast of to-morrow — "all such rejoicing is evil." (Jas 4:16 .) Indeed it is absurd to boast of what is not our own. To-morrow is finely described as an unknown birth. It may be in eternity. And yet the sensualist and the worldling†2 boast, as if it was their own; and thus virtually put God out of his own world. The ungodly reckon upon being religious to-morrow, and therefore put off repentance, forsaking the world, and living for eternity, to some infinitely future day. (Act 24:25 .) Would they do this, if they did not reckon upon to-morrow being given to them? Nay, do we not all naturally cherish this looking forward, which the great enemy works up into practical forgetfulness of God? Yet we must not live, as if to-morrow would not come. Else would the world be in a state of stagnation. The present duties of the day would be absorbed in the instant preparation for the coming eternity. But we start from death, when he enters our houses, as if we did not expect him. How little do we die daily! (1Co 15:31 .) We can even coolly calculate upon the death of others, for our own benefit. Our intense anxiety about earthly, and apathy about heavenly, things, speak but too plainly. The young look to the middle age; the more advanced to the last stage of life. All, in contradiction to their avowed profession, boast themselves of to-morrow.

How awfully has this boasting been put to shame! In the days of Noah, "they married wives, and were given in marriage, until the very day when the flood came, and destroyed them all."†3 Abner promised a kingdom, but could not ensure his life for an hour.†4 Haman plumed himself upon the prospect of the queen’s banquet, but was hanged like a dog before night.†5 The fool’s soul was required of him "on the very night" of his worldly projects "for many years" to come.†6 ’Serious affairs to-morrow’ — was the laughing reply of Archias, warned of a conspiracy, which hurried him into eternity the next hour.†7 The infidel Gibbon calculated upon fifteen years of life, and died within a few months, at a day’s warning. We know not what a day may bring forth.

How natural is it for the young to be looking for to-morrow’s prospect! But have you never seen the lovely flower cropped, or faded in the blossom? Is not the robust, as well as the feeble, frame cut down in the prime? (Job 21:23 .) Have you a lease of your life? If there be a promise of forgiveness to the repenting, where is the promise of to-morrow for repentance? Will consideration naturally come with years? Or will not rather long-protracted habits of ungodliness harden into a second nature? What if in the midst of thy boasting, flattering thyself that thou shouldst see another and another day — thou shouldst be surprised, unprepared, and be left to lament for ever thy presumption in the lake of everlasting fire!†8 Stop — consider — weep — pray — believe — now — while conscience speaks; while thou art halting between God and the world, between conviction and inclination. Now in this "accepted time" devote thyself to God. Enthrone the Savior in thine heart.

The universe does not present a more affecting sight than an aged sinner, with one foot in the grave, losing all in the world, infinitely more in eternity. A moment, and he is gone. Heaven and hell are no trifles. To-morrow presumed upon, to-day neglected, ruins all. Standing on the brink of the precipice — how precious the moment for prayer — ere the door of mercy is closed for ever!

Has the child of God reason to boast of to-morrow? What a change may it make in your worldly circumstances (Job 1:21 ), or Christian experience? (Psa 30:7 .) Never will you feel more secure, than in the consciousness that you have no security for a single hour. Divide your cares with God. Rest all in his bosom. (Psa 37:4 .) Let disappointment prepare you for your heavenly rest, and bound all your wishes and pleasures by his gracious will. (Jas 4:15 .) But have you no need of warning? How speaks the too full current of affections towards earthly enjoyment? Did you practically believe that "the time is short, and the fashion of this world passeth away," would you not "rejoice, as though you rejoiced not"? (1Co 7:29-32 .) Would pleasures of earth be so highly prized, if there was no secret dependence on to-morrow? Surely this thought may more than sustain in the loss of them — The shadow only is gone — the body of my happiness remains immovable. To see things temporal, as if we "looked not at them," is the life of spiritual religion. (2Co 4:18 .) To remember ’this world as the grand laboratory for perfecting of souls for the next’†9 to have "our loins girt about" for our Lord’s coming; to live, as not to be surprised by the call, and in readiness to "open to him immediately" — this is our secret and our happiness. "Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching." (Luk 12:37 .)

Footnotes:

†1 Pro 6:6-8; Pro 10:5 ; Pro 24:27 . Compare Gen 41:35 . Act 11:28-29 .

†2 Isa 56:12. Luk 12:16-19 .

†3 Luk 17:26-29.

†4 2Sa 3:9-10, 2Sa 3:27 .

†5 Est 5:12; Est 7:1-10 .

†6 Luk 12:19-20.

†7 Rollin’s Ancient History. Book 12.

†8 Mat 24:48-51; Mat 25:10-12 . Luk 13:25 . Compare Sir 5:7 .

†9 Sir M. Hale.

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

CHAPTER 28

LIVING DAY BY DAY

"Boast not thyself of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a day will bring forth."- Pro_27:1

"The grave and destruction are never satisfied; and the eyes of men are never satisfied"; and LXX adds, "An abomination to the Lord is he who sets his eye, and undisciplined men uncontrolled in tongue."- Pro_27:20

"Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof, so he that waits on his Lord eats of the honor."- Pro_27:18

HERE is a wholesome lesson for us. We are to trust no future, however pleasant; we are to dwell in no past, however honorable. Life consists of a present, given to us day by day; this is our whole wealth; squandered, it cannot be recovered; neglected, it withers as a leaf. Titus, the Roman Emperor, would say in the evening, when he had omitted his duties or failed in his purposes, Perdidi diem, "I have lost a day";-yes, that lost day is lost forever; other days may come, but not that one; the duties of that day may be performed afterwards or by other hands, but still the day is lost, because it passed away empty. The thief which cheats us of our days, and beggars us of our wealth, is the specious thought that tomorrow belongs to us. The illusion is as old as the world, but is today as fresh and powerful as ever. We have to shake ourselves free of a spell, and awake out of a dream, to see that when tomorrow comes it is already today.

We only begin to live in any true and satisfactory sense when we have learnt to take each day by itself, and to use it as if it were our last, and indeed as if it were our all; dismissing the thought of tomorrow as a mere phantom which forever evades our grasp. Life is a mosaic, a large work shaping on the wall or in the dome of some vast cathedral which eye hath not yet seen; and it can only be effectually wrought if, with minute and concentrated care, the little piece of colored glass which we call Today is duly fixed into its bedding and fitted exactly to its immediate neighbors. "Why do you work with such intensity?" the great artist was once asked; "Because I work for eternity," was the answer. And that is why each day is of such importance: that is why each day demands all our thought and care: eternity is made up of days, and the present day is all of eternity that we can ever possess.

It is well for us then each morning to take the day fresh from Gods hands, and at once to throw our whole soul into it, and to live it with a pure intensity, a sense of solemn and joyful responsibility.

"Oh, Day, if I squander a wavelet of thee,

A mite of my twelve-hours treasure,

The least of thy gazes or glances

(Be they grants thou art bound to or gifts above measure),

One of thy choices or one of thy chances

(Be they tasks God imposed thee or freaks of thy pleasure), -

My Day, if I squander such labor or leisure,

Then shame fall on Asolo, mischief on me."

But it may be said, Is not this the life of a mere butterfly? Is it not the mark of a prudent man to work with his eye on the future, -"Prepare thy work without, and make it ready for thee in the field, and afterwards build thine house". {Pro_24:27} Is it not just what we have to complain of in the foolish man that he ignores tomorrow, -"A prudent man seethe the evil and hideth himself, but the simple pass on and suffer for it?" {Pro_22:3, Pro_27:12}

Here is an apparent contradiction which requires reflection. And the difficulty increases when we remember that most worthy works are the labor of years: an architect lays his plans for a great building which he can hardly hope to see finished in his own lifetime; an author spends days and months and years in the preparation of materials, and must depend on the uncertain future for a time to shape them into a book: a statesman, in proportion as he is wise, avoids what is called a hand-to-mouth policy, and lays his plans with his eye on distant possibilities, well knowing that his immediate actions are liable to misunderstanding, and may prove to be a complete failure unless the opportunity is accorded him of realizing his far-reaching schemes. And, in the same way, youth is spent in education which derives all its value from the expected years of manhood, and all the days of a good life are necessarily a preparation for that which is to come after: we must study in order that we may teach; we must train ourselves for duties which will come upon us, as we may reasonably suppose, in some distant future. Yet our tomorrow is unknown; we are not to boast ourselves of it; we cannot tell what a day may bring forth, and must therefore live only to bring forth, and must therefore live only in today.

Now the solution of this difficulty leads us to one of the profoundest of all spiritual truths. It is this: No life can be worth anything at all apart from the Eternal God, and faith in Him. Life cannot be really lived if it is merely "a measure of sliding sand" taken "from under the feet of the years." Our swift days cannot be effectually and wisely used unless we are linked with Him who embraces in Himself the past, the present, and the future. Our work, whatever it may be, cannot be rightly done unless we are, and know ourselves to be, in the great Taskmasters sight. The proper use of each day can only be made if we are confident that our times are in His hands; only in this quiet assurance can we have composure and detachment of spirit enough to give our whole strength to the duty in hand. We must be sure that the Master Artist knows the whole mosaic, and is ordering all the parts, before we can surrender ourselves to the task of putting todays piece into its place; we must have complete faith in the Architect who is designing the whole structure, before we can have our mind at leisure from itself to chip our block of stone or to carve our tiny gargoyle. We can only live in the present, making the most of that which is really ours, on condition that we have God as our Future, relieving us of all anxious care, and assuring to us just strength for today.

Thus our text has an implied contrast, which we may draw out in this way: "Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth"; but boast thyself in God all the day long, {Psa_44:8} for thou knowest that He will bring forth righteousness, wisdom, and love continually.

Now let us follow out some of the consequences of this spiritual attitude. Examine the condition of these restless human hearts all around us without God. They are all toiling for tomorrow. Here is one making money, as it is called; he is looking forward to laying aside so many thousands this year; in a few more years he hopes to realize a round sum which will relieve him from the necessity of toil and of further money-making. His eye is set upon that goal. At last he reaches it. Now his desire should be satisfied, but no, "Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and the eyes of man are never satisfied." {Pro_27:20} He does not stay a night at the desired goal; he is off before sunset.; all the strain and the fret must be faced over again. Or look at the boundless ambition which possesses godless men; honors achieved only whet their appetite for more. We need not assume that the ambition is unworthy; all we have to notice is its insatiability; in politics, in literature, in art, in social distinction, it is like Sheol and Abaddon, -a maw that ever opens; a gulf that can swallow anything and everything, yet never be filled. The LXX addition seems to regard this uncontrolled desire as the mark of deficient culture; and, spiritually speaking, no doubt it is. Men without God are always uncultured; they have not found the center of their being, they have not procured the keystone to their accumulated knowledge, and it is, in consequence, not an arch through which they can travel to any goal, but a confused pile which blocks the way. These desperate strivings and loud-tongued, undisciplined desires are an abomination to the Lord, because they mar His mighty plan and introduce disorder where He intended order, discord where He intended harmony, deformity where He intended beauty. They are the work of egoism instead of theism.

It is needless to dwell upon the heart-sores and the disappointments which fall to the lot of the people whom we are thinking of. What ghastly mockery the morrows on which they counted prove to be! In some lonely and rocky island, girdled by the moaning of the dreary seas, and cut off from all the interests which gave to life its excitement, egotism ends its days. Or it is on some restless couch, surrounded by all the outward trappings of wealth and power, that the dying spirit cries, "My kingdom for an inch of time!" The man who by his brilliant genius has drawn all his generation after him passes, bearing "through Europe the pageant of his bleeding heart," to a hopeless grave. The woman who has achieved the end of her ambition, ruling the courts of fashion, the acknowledged queen of salons, ends her days with a sense of frustration, cynical in her contempt for the world which was foolish enough to follow and admire her.

But, on the other hand, here is one who boasts himself in God.

"Lord, it belongs not to my care,"

is the language of his spirit,

"Whether I die or live;

To love and serve Thee is my share,

And that Thy grace must give."

The first thing that strikes you in him is his perfect peace. His mind is stayed on God. The future has no terrors for him, nor has it any joys. God is all in all to him, and God is his now. His treasure is in possession, and moth and rust do not corrupt it, nor can thieves break through or steal. To say that he is contented seems too mild a term for so positive and joyous a calm. But in contrast with the discontent which prevails everywhere outside of God, it is worthwhile to dilate on this passive virtue of contentment. That endless worry about little things has ceased; he is not annoyed because someone fails to recognize him; he is not affected by the malicious or scandalous things which are said about him; he is not anxious for human recognition, and is therefore never distressed because others are more courted than he is: he knows nothing of that malignant passion of jealousy which is worse than the cruelty of wrath arm the flooding of anger; {Pro_27:4} he does not want wealth and he does not dread poverty. He says:-

"Some have too much, yet still do crave; I little have, and seek no more:

They are but poor though much they have, And I am rich with little store:

They poor, I rich; they beg, I give;

They lack, I leave; they pine, I live."

When we have entered into this Divine content and are made by our absolute trust in God free from care for the future, it is wonderful how quick we become to see good in apparent evils. To the world this is so incredible that it suspects insincerity, but there is nothing more sincere and more real. A poor child who was blind found the greatest blessing in the affliction, saying, "You see, I can give more to the Missionary Society than the other children, because I can knit in the dark, and have not to spend money on candles." You go to one of Gods children expecting to find him broken down and rebellious under some great and undeserved calamity, but you find that he has discovered a blessing in the loss before you get there, and is actually rejoicing, or at any rate he is replying to all provocations, "The Lord gave and the Lord took away: blessed be the name of the Lord." He is afflicted, but you cannot think of him as afflicted, for "all the days of the afflicted are evil, but he that is of a cheerful spirit hath a continual feast." {Pro_15:15}

Yes, it is that illusive and imaginary morrow that robs us of our peace; it is the misgiving, the anxious care, the dark foreboding. But when we put God our Father in place of the morrow, and know that He comprehends and sees all that we have need of, the peace which passes all understanding settles down upon our spirit, and steals into our eyes, and breathes on our lips, and men perceive even in us why our Father is called "the God of Peace."

The second thing which strikes us in those who have learnt to make their boast in God rather than in the morrow is the service which they render to their fellows. This is not only because they are able to turn their undivided attention to the duty which lies nearest, and to do with all their heart what their hand finds to do, but the very spirit of serenity in which they live is a constant help and blessing to all who, are around them. It may have been given to, you to come into contact with such a soul; in his presence your restlessness dies away, it seems as if your burning brow had been touched with a soothing hand; perhaps "with half-open eyes you were treading the borderland dim twixt vice and virtue," and that quiet spirit seemed like a clear shaft of the dawn revealing where you trod; perhaps you were heartbroken with a great sorrow, and the restfulness and confidence of that strong soul gave you an indefinable consolation, hope broke into your heart, and even joy. In receiving that help from what the man was rather than from what he gave, you became aware that this was the highest service that any human being can render to another. It is a great thing to succor the physical and material sufferings of men; it is a greater to bring them clear truths and to give them some stimulus and guidance in the intellectual life; but it is greatest of all to communicate spiritual sustenance and power, for that means to bring souls into actual and conscious contact with God.

One of the noblest examples of this service to humanity is furnished in the life and the writings of St. Paul. His personal presence became the new creation of that ancient heathen civilization, and countless individual souls were, through the inner life which he presented, brought to a complete change and made new creatures in Christ. His writings have been, ever since he died, a constant source of life and strength to many generations of men. He has been misunderstood, "the ignorant and unstedfast have wrested" what he wrote, but none the less he has been to the Church a perpetual regenerator, and, as a great writer of our own day has declared, "The doctrine of Paul will arise out of the tomb where for centuries it has lain covered; it will edify the Church of the future; it will have the consent of happier generations, the applause of less superstitious ages." Now what is the secret of this power? It is given in his own words, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." {Php_1:21} He was able to fling himself with that passionate temerity into the present duty, he was able to preach the word with that victorious vigor in season and out of season, just because the whole burden of the unknown future was rolled away from him, and he, more than any man that ever lived, understood what it is to live just for today.

Every Christian may possess the same secret; it is the open secret of the Sermon on the Mount; as our gracious Lord told us, we may be as the lilies of the field and as the birds of the air, without anxiety or misgiving, knowing that our Heavenly Father cares for us. It is not given to us all to be great philanthropists, great reformers, great preachers, but it is put within the reach of all to render to others the sweet service of abiding always in trustful and loving submission to Gods will, and of shedding upon all the light of our peace.

And this leads us to notice one last feature of this true spiritual life. It has an honor of its own, though it is not an earthly honor; it has a, reward, though it is not a material reward, "Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof, and he that waiteth on his master eats of the honor." {Pro_27:18} That is a saying which can only apply in a very modified degree to earthly service and human masters. How many loyal servants of kings have been deserted by their lords at the critical moment, and left to eat the fruit of disgrace and ignominy! But the saying applies in its fullness to our Master Christ and His service. Think of the Christian life under this simple figure: it is like the careful cultivation of the fruit tree. He is the Vine. Our sole concern is to keep in touch with Him, to sit at His feet, to watch for His fruit, to see that no other concern disturbs the quiet relation of perfect loyalty and devotion to Him. Our aim is not to do our own business or seek our own ends, but to be sure that we are always awake to His purposes and obedient to the demands which He makes upon us. It is not ours to reason why, but it is ours to do at all costs whatsoever He bids us do today. We have nothing to do with tomorrow; we have no responsibility for the fruit, for no fruit-bearing power lies in us. All we have to do is to keep the fig tree. Now when we abide in this concentrated and whole-hearted devotion to our Master, -when for us to live is Christ, -then honor comes to us unsought, but not unwelcome. The fruit of service is to the taste of the true servant the highest honor that he can imagine. We need no apocalyptic vision to assure us. His word is enough, confirmed as it is by a constant and growing experience. The servants of our Lord already stand before Him, holding in their hands the talents which they have gained for Him; already they hear His gracious "Well done," and the sound of it is more musical in their ears than all the acclamations of their fellow-creatures. This is their honor; what could they have more? They are counted one with Christ; they shared His travail, and now they share His satisfaction and his joy.

And thus those who make their boast in God, and do not boast of the morrow, find that the morrow itself becomes clear to them in the light of His countenance; they do in a sense know what it will bring forth: it will bring forth what they desire, for it will bring forth their Fathers will; it will bring forth the victory and the glory of Christ. "Henceforth ye shall see Him coming in the clouds of heaven." Is not that enough? When our hearts have learnt to hanker only after Gods will, to desire only Christs victory, they may boast themselves even of tomorrow; for tomorrow holds in its bosom an assurance of blessing and joy.

William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.

27:1 We should plan (24:27), but our plans succeed only when God so wills (16:1, 3, 33; Jas 4:13-16). Only fools think that they control the future.

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

Delay not the time, but take occasion when it is offered.

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

CHAPTER XXVII

To-morrow is uncertain. Self-praise forbidden. Anger and envy.

Reproof from a friend. Want makes us feel the value of a

supply. A good neighbour. Beware of suretyship. Suspicious

praise. The quarrelsome woman. One friend helps another. Man

insatiable. The incorrigible fool. Domestic cares. The profit

of flocks for food and raiment.

NOTES ON CHAP. XXVII

Verse 1. Boast not thyself of to-morrow] See Clarke on Jas 4:13, c. Do not depend on any future moment for spiritual good which at present thou needest, and God is willing to give, and without which, should death surprise thee, thou must be eternally lost such as repentance, faith in Christ, the pardon of sin, the witness of the Holy Spirit, and complete renovation of soul. Be incessant in thy application to God for these blessings.

My old MS. Bible translates thus: Ne glorie thou into the morewenning. Here we see the derivation of our word morning; morewenning, from more, and wen or won, to dwell, i.e., a continuance of time to live or dwell in your present habitation. Every man wishes to live longer, and therefore wishes for to-morrow; and when to-morrow comes, then to-morrow, and so on.

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

XXVII.

(1) Boast not thyself of to-morrow.—This is forbidden also in Jas_4:13, sqq.; but there on the higher ground that it argues a want of submission to the will of Almighty God. This temper of mind, as well as the opposite one of too great anxiety for the morrow (Mat_6:34), proceed from the same cause, too much dependence upon self, and are only to be met by learning to realise the love of God for His children (ibid., 26, 30, 33), and looking up to Him daily for protection, guidance, and support.

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

1. a day] This is taken to mean the (coming) day, the morrow, both by LXX. (ἡ ἐπιοῦσα), and Vulg. (superventura dies), as well as by some modern commentators (comp. St Jas_4:13-14); but the absence of the article shews that the rendering of A.V., which is followed by R.V., is right.

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.

Of tomorrow; of any good thing which thou purposest to do or hopest to receive to-morrow, or hereafter; the thee being here put metonymically for things done or had in the thee, as Deu 4:32; Ecc 2:23. The same caution is given Jam 4:13, &c.

What a day may bring forth; what may happen in the space of one day, which may hinder thy designs or expectations. The day is said to bring forth what God by his almighty power and providence doth either cause or suffer to be brought forth or done in it.

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

Sundry Observations. Agriculture

4. Envy] a husband's jealousy is meant (Son_8:6).

5, 6. Men 'hide' (RV) love when they refrain from telling a friend his faults. An enemy will be 'profuse' (RV) in deceitful kisses: Judas kissed Jesus much (Mat_26:49; RM).

7. The Spartan king told the tyrant Dionysius that the broth was nothing without the seasoning of fatigue and hunger.

8. 'East, West, hame's best.'

9. Sweetness of disposition is desirable when it arises, not from mere emotion, but from a settled purpose of the soul.

14. Early and loud demonstrativeness is not stable. 'Evening words are not like to morning.'

16. The RV makes this difficult v. mean that he is attempting the impossible.

17. The solitary grows dull. 'The best mirror is an old friend.' The Greek proverb is, 'One man, no man.'

19. Judge another by yourself.

21. Estimate him by the reputation he wins. The Russian proverb is, 'A man's reception is according to his coat; his dismissal according to his sense.'

22. 'Heaven and earth fight in vain against a dunce.' 'Fools grow without watering.'

23-27. A homily in praise of careful attention to the flocks and herds. The writer is not disposed to depreciate agriculture, as some of the later Jewish proverb-makers were. One of these says, 'Lay out your money in trade, and you will have flesh and wine daily; lay it out in land, and you. will have but a bare subsistence.'

24. Riches and honour (the crown) are fleeting: attention to field and flock are profitable.

26. Sell your stock, and with the proceeds buy clothing and land.

J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1. Boast not thyself — Do not exult too confidently in anticipation of the future. Count not too surely on life and prosperity, but redeem the time, because the days are evil. Eph_5:16; Col_4:5. We cannot know the future, and all attempts curiously to pry into it are foolish and unprofitable, and, in some cases, sinful. Such are resorts to fortune tellers, necromancers, spirit mediums, and the various other modes of discovering what is yet concealed in the womb of time. This does not preclude the forming of a judgment of what will probably occur in the natural course of things, whether by the known laws of physics, of the mind, of society, or of Providence. Compare Jas_4:13-14; Luk_12:20.

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

Vers. 1-6. These verses are grouped in pairs, each two being connected in subject.

Boast not thyself of tomorrow. He boasts himself (Pro_25:14) of tomorrow who counts upon it presumptuously, settles that he will do this or that, as if his life was in his own power, and he could make sure of time. This is blindness and arrogance. For thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. Our Lord gave a lesson on this matter in the parable of the rich fool; (Lu 12) and an analogous warning, based on our verse, is given by St. James. (Jam_4:13, etc.) On this topic moralists and poets are always dilating. Very familiar are the words of Horace ("Carm.," 4:7, 17)"Quis scit, an adjiciant hodiernae crastina summae Tempora di superi?

Euripides, "Alc.," 783 Ouk esti ynhtwn ostiv exepistatai Thllousan ei biwsetai To thv tuchv gasetai Kast ou didakton oud alisketai tecnh. ~

"Every day in thy life," says the Arab, "is a leaf in thy history." Seneca wrote ("Thyest.," 621)"Nemo tam divos habuit faventes Crastinum ut possit sibi pelliceri, Res deus nostras celeri citatas Turbine versat.

There is the adage, "Nescis quid serus vesper vehat." The LXX has, as at Pro_3:28, "Thou knowest not what the next day (h epiousa ) shall bring forth." (For the expression, h epiousa , comp. Act_7:26 Act_16:11)

Boasting of the morrow.

I ITS FOLLY. No man is a prophet. At the best we can but calculate probabilities. The man who has never had a day"s illness may be suddenly laid low, struck down with paralysis, arrested by unsuspected heart disease, blood poisoned by a whiff of bad air from a drain, at death"s door from pneumonia caught in an unheeded draught. The business which looks fair and prosperous may suddenly collapse. The trusted bank may break. Our life is dependent upon so many unseen sources, and is affected by so many complicated circumstances, that no man can unravel the tendencies or predict the results. Astronomy is a simple science compared with sociology. The movements of the solar system are altogether more intelligible than those of the homeliest soul. We cannot predict our own conduct, Moreover, there are other minds to be considered. Above all, there is the inscrutable providence of God.

II ITS DANGER. "Boasting of the morrow" leads to carelessness. The man who is confident without warrant is likely to be off his guard. Believing that all is safe, he does not fortify himself against a possible surprise of mischief. He is just in the condition most favourable for attack. The wily tempter is aware of this. Therefore the danger is all the greater because it is ignored. Thus Peter, weakened through over confidence, fell into sin, even though he had been warned against it.

III ITS SIN. This is not merely a question of prudence and personal welfare. It touches our relations with God. He who boasts himself of the morrow acts either atheistically, denying the Divine control of life, or presumptuously, assuming without reason that God will aid his plans. Such conduct reveals a guilty pride. It is opposed to the humility of one who would bow low before the inscrutable providence of the Almighty.

IV ITS PUNISHMENT. Such boasting is certain to be punished by failure. It would not be well to let it proceed to success, for such a result would only confirm and aggravate the evil habit. Partial and temporary victory may be attained, but ultimate triumph cannot be won in this way. God casts down and humbles the boaster, and in his shame he has an opportunity of learning wisdom.

V ITS ANTIDOTE. This is not to be found in a cowardly shrinking from the future, nor is it to be had in a habit of despair, ever painting the days to come in the blackest hues, with the melancholy motto, "Blessed is he that expecteth little; for he shall not be disappointed." The true antidote is to be discovered in a spirit of trust. God has indeed hung an impenetrable curtain between our vision and the land of the future. Even the very morrow dwells as yet in a land of darkness, and we vainly try to discern its features. But it is perfectly familiar to God, before whom all eternity is as a clear picture ever present. And God, who knows the future, controls it. Therefore we are safe when we trust; and, eschewing boastfulness, we can learn not to be anxious about the morrow, because we can trust our Father who holds the secrets of all the morrows in his hand.

HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON Vers. 1-6. Beastliness, jealousy, and hypocrisy.

I OVER CONFIDENCE REBUKED. (Ver. 1)

1. On the ground of our limited knowledge. The homely proverb says, "Do not count your chickens before they are hatched." The future exists for us only in imagination. "Who knows," asks Horace, "whether the gods above will add tomorrow"s time to the sum of today?" ("Od.," 4:7. 17); and Seneca, "None hath gods so favourable as that he may promise himself tomorrow"s good.

2. On the ground of the Divine reserve of the secrets of destiny. To boast is to lift ourselves in effect out of that finite sphere of thought and feeling in which we have been placed by the Divine ordination. So says Horace again (and a distinctly Christian turn may be given to his exhortation), "Shun to inquire into the future and the morrow; and whatever day fortune shall afford thee, count it as gain" ("Od.," 1:9, 13). Common sense and religious humility unite to teach us to "live for the day.

II SELF-PRAISE CENSURED. (Ver. 2) "Let another praise thee, and not thine own mouth." "Self-praise stinks," and "Not as thy mother says, but as the neighbours say," are Arabic proverbs. Every individual has a certain value; the sense of this is the foundation of all self-respect and virtue. But to show an over-consciousness of this worth by self-praise is a social offence, because it is an exaction of that which ought to be a free tribute, and betrays a desire of self-exaltation above others not easily forgiven.

III THE PASSION OF THE FOOL INTOLERABLE. (Ver. 3) Whether it be envy, furious resentment of rebuke, or jealousy, it is a burden intolerable to the person himself and to those with whom he has to do. The pious may readily sin in their anger, how much more the ungodly! "Ira furor brevis est; animum rege; qui, nisi paret, Imperat; hunc froenis, hunc tu compesce catena. (Horace, "Ep.," 1:2, 62). It is like a weight of stone or sand, being without cause, measure, or end (Poole).

IV THE TERRIBLE FORCE OF JEALOUSY AND ENVY. (Ver. 4) It exceeds all ordinary outbursts of wrath in violence and destructiveness. Envy is the daughter of pride, the author of revenge and murder, the beginner of sedition, and the perpetual tormentor of nature (Socrates). It never loves to honour another but when it may be an honour to itself. "From envy... good Lord, deliver us!

V FALSE LOVE AND FAITHFUL FRIENDSHIP CONTRASTED. (Vers. 5, 6) False love refuses to tell a friend of his faults, from some egotistic and unworthy motive. "If you know that I have done anything foolishly or wickedly, and do not blame me for it, you yourself ought to be reproved" (Plaut.,"Trinum.," 1:2, 57). "It is no good office," says Jeremy Taylor, "to make my friend more vicious or more a fool; I will restrain his folly, but not nurse it." "I think that man is my friend through whose advice I am enabled to wipe off the blemishes of my soul before the appearance of the awful Judge" (Gregory I). Christians should "speak the truth in love". (comp. Eph_4:15) If the erring one does not learn it from the lips of love, he will have to learn it from a harsher source and in ruder tones. (Job_5:17, 18 Psa_141:5 Rev_3:19 Pro_28:23) There cannot be a more worthy improvement of friendship than in a fervent opposition to the sins of those we love (Bishop Hall). J.

HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON Ver. 1. Man in presence of the future: our greatness and our littleness.

It is well to glance at

I OUR GREATNESS IN REGARD TO THE FUTURE.

1. There need be no bound at all to our hope and aspiration in respect of the future. We are warranted in looking forward to an endless life beyond, to an actual and absolute eternity of blessedness and glory. Whosoever believeth in Jesus Christ has everlasting life.

2. We can and we should prepare for a very long time to come. The legislator should devise his measures, the religious leader or organizer should lay his plans, the architect should make his designs, and the builder provide his materials with a view to the next century as well as to the next decade.

3. We should have regard to the coming years as well as to the passing days; teaching our pupils so that they will not only pass the approaching examination, but be ready for the battle of life; offering and enforcing truths and principles which will not only tide men over tomorrow, but carry them victoriously through all the vicissitudes of their course, and solace and strengthen them in their declining days. But the lesson of the text is

II OUR LITTLENESS IN REGARD TO THE FUTURE. We do not know what a day may bring forth.

1. How our purposes may be deranged, and all that we are proposing to do may have to be abandoned in favour of some more imperative duty. (see Jam_4:13-15)

2. How our prospects may be affected; we may possibly rise from indigence to affluence, but we are much more likely to be suddenly and seriously reduced. Financial calamities are many, but "windfalls" are few.

3. How our circle of friendship may be narrowed, or how soon we may be called on to leave home and kindred.

4. How our hope of health or life may be extinguished. "Between the morning and the evening" (see Job_4:19-21, Revised Version) we may discover that we are afflicted with a disease which will complete its work in a few months at most, or we may be stricken down with a blow which will bring us face to face with death and eternity. With this uncertainty there are three lessons we should learn.

(1) All unqualified and unreserved declarations are unbecoming. If there be no verbal qualification, there should be a mental reservation, a feeling below the surface that all our plans and movements are subject to the will of God.

(2) We should do today"s work before its hours are over. Since we may not be able to do a stroke tomorrow, let us see that every day"s work is well and thoroughly done. We are not responsible for the future, but we are for the present. And not only is it of no use for us to be anxious to do much in the coming years, but it is foolish and unfaithful of us to be concerned about it. Our Master sets us our work, and he gives us our time. All that we should be solicitous about is the diligent and devoted discharge of our duty in his appointed time and way. If he takes the weapon out of our hand here, it will be because he has a better one to give us in a brighter and broader sphere.

(3) We ought to be prepared for any and every event. We should have within us principles that will sustain or preserve us in any trouble or in any elevation that may be awaiting us. We should have our house in such order that, if death should come suddenly to our door, those whom we leave behind us will suffer the least possible affliction, and we ourselves shall Bass to the great inheritance beyond. C.

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

Boast not - Of any good thing which thou purposeth to do, or hopest to receive tomorrow, or hereafter. Knowest not - What may happen in the space of one day. The day is said to bring forth, what God by his almighty power either causes or suffers to be brought forth or done in it.

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

V. INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN TO SOLOMON

In the three chapters which follow 27-29 we find the change we have noticed before. These proverbs are addressed to a person and the phrases “My son” and the personal address, “thou,” “thy” and “thyself,” are again used in these chapters. Like the previous sections, so here we find instructions which were given to Solomon.

CHAPTER 27 Instructions and Warnings

The opening proverb warns against procrastination. No one can be sure of what the next day may bring forth.True wisdom is not to trust the future day, for it may never come, nor are we to dwell in the past. While it is today we must live and act and leave nothing undone which can be done today. How true this is of salvation which is offered for today--now is the day of salvation. How many have been lost forever by procrastination, by thinking a more convenient time would come. Well has one said, “The thief which cheats us of our days and beggars us of our wealth is the specious thought that tomorrow belongs to us.” The illusion is as old as the world, but is today as fresh and powerful as ever. Jas 4:13-17 gives the same lesson. In the second verse we find a warning as to self-praise. Self-praise is one of the worst forms of pride, that pride which another proverb states Pro 16:18-33 “goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

“Open rebuke is better than secret love” and “faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful” Pro 27:5-27. A wise man welcomes open criticism and rebuke, though such rebuke may wound, yet being given by the faithfulness of a friend, it is far better than the deceitful kisses of a flattering enemy. The 14th (Pro 27:14) verse may be linked with these statements. “He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse unto him.” Insincerity lurks behind such loud, pharisaical protestations of friendship.

A great truth is given in Pro 27:19: “As in water face answereth face, so the heart of man to man.” The still pool of water was man’s first mirror. Gazing in it the face is reflected. As truly as the face seen in the pool is like the face which the water reflects, so truly does one man’s heart reflect the other’s. Though there may be culture, education and a certain refinement, underneath each human being there is the same corrupt, fallen human nature.

Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Exaltation of Self Leads to Folly

v. 1. Boast not thyself of tomorrow, by proudly setting forth the assured success of one’s schemes in the future; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth, the future with both its successes and failures being entirely in the hands of God.

v. 2. Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips; for a person’s praise of his own virtues and good deeds has no value and is, in addition, repulsive to others.

v. 3. A stone is heavy and the sand weighty, literally, "weight of stone and heaviness of sand"; but a fool’s wrath is heavier than them both, both unreasonable and excessive, a burden to himself and others.

v. 4. Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous, literally, "Raving is anger and wrath is overflowing," like a flood which carries everything before it; but who is able to stand before envy? jealousy being worse to contend with than outright anger with open warfare.

v. 5. Open rebuke is better than secret love, that is, censure applied openly and honorably is much to be preferred to such a pretense of love as dissembles and refuses to rebuke a neighbor’s fault where principles of true love would require it.

v. 6. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, that is, he, in the earnest concern for his neighbor’s true welfare, may sometimes give a sharp reproof; but the kisses of an enemy, when he feigns friendship, are deceitful, full of treachery and craft.

v. 7. The full soul, one already satisfied with food, with no appetite remaining, loatheth an honeycomb, inviting and appetizing as it otherwise may be; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet, for "hunger is the best cook. "

v. 8. As the bird that wandereth from her nest, deserting her home in a spirit of restlessness, so is a man that wandereth from his place, roaming about in a spirit of adventure instead of cultivating proper domestic tastes.

v. 9. Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart, both of them being used by the Oriental host in honoring his guests; so doth the sweetness of a man’s friend by hearty counsel, if the counsel really proceeds from a sincere heart, it is pleasant beyond all outward indications of affection.

v. 10. Thine own friend and thy father’s friend forsake not, for they are reliable, having been found tried and true; neither go into thy brother’s house in the day of thy calamity, since a relationship by blood is not so close and intimate, in many cases, as one founded upon true friendship; for better is a neighbor that is near, with whom one is connected by the bonds of friendship, than a brother far off, with whom one may no longer have many things in common. The ties of blood may be less reliable than those of genuine friendship.

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

Pro 27:17

I. The character of true friendship. It should be simple, manly, unreserved, not weak, or fond, or extravagant, nor yet exacting more than human nature can fairly give. It should be easy, too, and cheerful, careful of little things, having also a sort of dignity which is based on mutual respect. Perhaps the greatest element of friendship is faithfulness.

II. Like the other goods of life, friendship is commonly mixed and imperfect, and liable to be interrupted by changing circumstances or the tempers of men. The memory of a friendship is, like the memory of the dead, not lightly to be spoken of or aspersed.

III. Christian friendship is another aspect of the ideal, though in some respects different. For the spirit of a man’s life may be more or less consciously Christian. That which others regard as the service of man he may recognise to be the service of God; that which others do out of compassion for their fellow-creatures he may also do from the love of Christ. And so of friendship: that also may be more immediately based on religious motives, and may flow out of a religious principle. "They walked together in the house of God;" that is, if I may venture a paraphrase of the words, they served God together in doing good to His creatures. Human friendships constantly require to be purified and raised from earth to heaven.

IV. Some among us have known what it is to lose a friend. Death is a gracious teacher. The thought of a departed friend or child, instead of sinking us in sorrow, may be a guiding light to us, like the thought of Christ to His disciples, bringing many things to our remembrance of which we were ignorant; and if we have hope in God for ourselves, we have hope also for them. We believe that they rest in Him, and that no evil shall touch them.

B. Jowett, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxi., p. 218.

The particulars in which this similitude lies seem to be the following: (1) sameness of nature, iron with iron; (2) mutual action by the friction of the one piece of iron on the other piece of iron; (3) the result of this application of the two similar substances one to the other—the imparting of a finer polish and a sharper edge. To this is compared the effect of friendly social intercourse: "So a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend." Iron with iron; man with man. Iron with iron; man—in the intercourse, the exchange, and in the mutual friction and operation of mind upon mind—with man: and the result the improvement of both.

I. God made man a social being. This social principle is one of the great gifts of God, for which we ought to be deeply thankful, and which we ought to improve for the great and benevolent ends for which God imparted it. We are designed to live not as so many separate, isolated individuals, but as those who, bound together by the God who made us by the ties of a common nature, a common human intelligence, a common relation to the common Father of all; are to be interested in, and helpful to, one another in the service of God, and in promoting the well-being of one another, of society, and of the human race.

II. Scripture points out besides this common principle which should unite the human race one particular and individual friendship. The benevolence which is due to all may take, and must take, and so should take, in many cases, a particular direction, not lessening our benevolence by the confinement of it, but by giving it a more particular direction, affording opportunity for its being more fully exercised than it can be in the wider sphere.

III. The social, indeed, has its dangers; and these are carefully to be guarded against. Therefore let me add one word: the truly Christian social. God appointed the social for the purpose here stated: for sharpening, not for blunting and dissipating; for the improvement, not for the deterioration, of the mind; for edification, not for destruction.

IV. Let us see from this the importance of well-formed friendship. He whom we admit into our friendship we admit into the formation of our character.

J. Duncan, The Pulpit and Communion Table, p. 211.

These words express what one friend should be to another: a whetstone to give keenness to the edge of his energy. And this use of friendship, valuable under all circumstances and in all undertakings that belong to earth, does not lose its value in the service of Christ. In that service, more than in any other, the conviction of a true heart and thorough sympathy close at hand is the greatest help that any man can have. But it is undeniable that friendship is too often made the stepping-stone to the worst falls.

I. God has mercifully hedged round most sins with many barriers. (1) There is, first, the barrier which while it lasts is so very powerful, and when it has once been broken down can never be set up again: the barrier of ignorance. A friend teaching his friend the way to sin is the most shocking use of friendship that can be imagined; and yet it is not uncommon, not uncommon from mere thoughtlessness—the thoughtlessness of the soul that, having plunged into evil, thinks little of seeing another plunge after him. (2) The second barrier in the way to evil is shame. And if a friend takes away the first, how still more often does he help to take away the second. (3) A third barrier is the affection that we feel for parents, for home, for those natural friends whom God’s providence has given us. And this, too, a friend is better able than any one else to break through. A friend can supply us with another affection near at hand to take the place of that distant affection on which we are turning our backs.

II. It is sometimes, but not often, the duty of a true friend openly to find fault with his friend. And when that duty comes, a servant of Christ must not be so cowardly as to flinch from it. But the occasion is very rare. In most cases all that is wanted is to hold to the right, and you will do more towards holding your friend to the right than by all manner of exhortations. Friendship, and sympathy, and cheerful example might help us more than any teaching in the world to grow up soldiers and servants of Christ, and to fight His battle when we were grown up.

Bishop Temple, Rugby Sermons, 1st series, p. 139.

References: Pro 27:17.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 2nd series, p. 342. Pro 27:18.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xix., No. 1118, and My Sermon Notes: Genesis to Proverbs, p. 195. Pro 27:21-27.—R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. iii., p. 244. Pro 27:23.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. i., p. 242; Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 355. Pro 27:24.—New Manual of Sunday-school Addresses, p. 230. Pro 28:1.—Parker, Pulpit Notes, p. 285; W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 2nd series, p. 348. Pro 28:1-13.—R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. iii., p. 255. Pro 28:13.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 2nd series, p. 353; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iv., p. 85; R. D. B. Rawnsley, Sermons in Country Churches, 3rd series, p. 270; New Manual of Sunday-school Addresses, p. 38.

The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Do not boast about tomorrow

This is a warning not to brag about what you expect to happen tomorrow. This can be stated clearly. AT: "Do not speak proudly about your plans for tomorrow" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

what a day may bring

Something happening on a certain day is spoken of as if the day were to bring that event. AT: "what will happen on a day" or "what will happen tomorrow" (See: Metaphor)

and not your own mouth ... and not your own lips

The words "let praise you" are understood from the first phrase. They can be repeated. Here a person is represented by his "mouth" and "lips" because those are the parts of the body used to speak. AT: "and do not let your own mouth praise you ... and do not let your own lips praise you" or "and do not praise yourself ... and do not praise yourself" (See: Ellipsis and Synecdoche)

a stranger

The words "let praise you" are understood from the first phrase. The words can be repeated here. AT: "let a stranger praise you" (See: Ellipsis)

translationWords

boast

praise

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

Do not boast Do not boast now concerning a thing that is destined to be tomorrow.

for you do not know what the day will bear Perhaps the day will bear some evil that will nullify it.

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.