Proverbs 28:12

Pro 28:12 When righteous [men] do rejoice, [there is] great glory: but when the wicked rise, a man is hidden.

Ver. 12. When righteous men do rejoice, there is great glory.] That is, There is cause of common joy to all; for they have public spirits, and rectified judgments, neither can they be merry at heart when it goes ill with the Church. All comforts are but Ichabods to them, if the ark be taken; all places but Hadadrimmons, if the Church be in heaviness. Terentius, under Valens, the Arian emperor, asked nothing but that the Church might be freed from Arians, and when the emperor tore his petition, he said that he would never ask anything for himself if he might not prevail for the Church, for that his happiness was laid up in hers.

But when the wicked rise, a man is hidden.] That is, When tyrants are set up, "a man," that is, a good man - for God reckons of men by their righteousness {Jer 5:1} - "is hidden," lies close, and hath no heart to show himself, lest he should suffer either in his own person or in his possession. Thus the man Moses fled and hid himself from Pharaoh, David from Saul, Eliah from Ahab, Obadiah’s clients from Jezebel, Jeremiah from Jehoiakim, Joseph and the child Jesus from Herod; those worthies, of whom the world was not worthy, {Heb 11:38} from Antiochus, that little Antichrist, and other persecutors, and the Christian Church from the greater Antichrist, {Rev 12:1-17} so that she was not to be sought in tectis et exteriori pampa, sed potius in carceribus et speluncis, in palaces of worldly pomp, but in dens and dungeons, as Hilary hath it: "She fled into the wilderness, into her place, from the face of the serpent." {Rev 12:14}

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 28:12. When righteous men rejoice — Are encouraged and promoted to places of trust and power; there is great glory — In that commonwealth. The state of that kingdom is honourable, comfortable and safe, so that good men can show their faces with courage and confidence; but when the wicked rise — Are advanced to honour and authority; a man is hidden — The state of that nation is so shameful and dangerous, that wise and good men withdraw themselves into obscure places. Or, as יחפשׂ אדםis rendered by many, both ancient and later interpreters, a man is sought out, that is, sober and good men, who had retired into secret places, are searched for and brought forth as sheep to the slaughter, as being most suspected, hated, and feared by bloody tyrants.

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

We take Pro 28:12-20 together. A proverb regarding riches closes this group, as also the foregoing is closed, and its commencement is related in form and in its contents to Pro 28:2 :

12 When righteous men triumph, the glory is great;

And when the godless rise, the people are searched for.

The first line of this distich is parallel with Pro 29:2; cf. Pro 11:10, Pro 11:11 : when the righteous rejoice, viz., as conquerors (cf. e.g., Psa 60:8), who have the upper hand, then תּפארת, bright prosperity, is increased; or as Fleischer, by comparison of the Arab. yawm alazynt (day of ornament = festival day), explains: so is there much festival adornment, i.e., one puts on festival clothes, signum pro re signata: thus all appears festal and joyous, for prosperity and happiness then show themselves forth. רבּה is adj. and pred. of the substantival clause; Hitzig regards it as the attribute: "then is there great glory;" this supposition is possible (vid., Pro 7:26, and under Psa 89:51), but here it is purely arbitrary. 28a is parallel with 12b: "if the godless arise, attain to power and prominence, these men are spied out, i.e., as we say, after Zep 1:12, they are searched for as with lamps. יחפּשׂ אדם is to be understood after Obadiah, Oba 1:6, cf. Pro 2:4 : men are searched out, i.e., are plundered (in which sense Heidenheim regards חפשׂ as here a transposition from חשׂף), or, with reference to the secret police of despotism: they are subjected to espionage. But a better gloss is יסּתר אדם 28a: the people let themselves be sought for, they keep themselves concealed in the inside of their houses, they venture not out into the streets and public places (Fleischer), for mistrust and suspicion oppress them all; one regards his person and property nowhere safer than within the four walls of his house; the lively, noisy, variegated life which elsewhere rules without, is as if it were dead.

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.)

28:12 When the wicked take charge: See also 28:28.

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

He is known by his doings to be wicked.

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

Note, 1. The comfort of the people of God is the honour of the nation in which they live. There is a great glory dwelling in the land when the righteous do rejoice, when they have their liberty, the free exercise of their religion, and are not persecuted, when the government countenances them and speaks comfortably to them, when they prosper and grow rich, and, much more, when they are preferred and employed and have power put into their hands. 2. The advancement of the wicked is the eclipsing of the beauty of a nation: When the wicked rise and get head they make head against all that is sacred, and then a man is hidden, a good man is thrust into obscurity, is necessitated to abscond for his own safety; corruptions prevail so generally that, as in Elijah's time, there seem to be no good men left, the wicked walk so thickly on every side.

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

great glory--or, cause for it to a people, for the righteous rejoice in good, and righteousness exalts a nation (Pro 14:34).

a man . . . hidden--that is, the good retire, or all kinds try to escape a wicked rule.

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

Verse 12. When righteous men do rejoice] When true religion is no longer persecuted, and the word of God duly esteemed, there is great glory; for the word of the Lord has then free course, runs, and is glorified: but when the wicked rise-when they are elevated to places of trust, and put at the head of civil affairs, then the righteous man is obliged to hide himself; the word of the Lord becomes scarce, and there is no open vision. The first vas the case in this country, in the days of Edward VI.; the second in the days of his successor, MARY I. Popery, cruelty, and knavery, under her, nearly destroyed the Church and the State in these islands.

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

(12) When righteous men do rejoice—i.e., prosper, or triumph.

There is great glory.—Men rejoice, and array themselves in their gayest attire.

A man is hidden.—Literally, is sought for. They hide themselves for fear (comp. Pro_28:28), and must be sought for, in order to be found.

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

12. a man is hidden] Rather, men hide themselves, R.V. “Heb. must be searched for,” marg. Comp. Pro_28:28.

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

When righteous men do rejoice, there is great glory,.... When it is well with them; when they are in prosperous circumstances; when they are countenanced and encouraged by the government under which they are; when they have the free exercise of their religion; and especially when they are advanced to places of profit, honour, and trust, which must make them cheerful and joyful; it is a glory to a land, it adds greatly to the glory of it, and a fine prospect there is of the increase and continuance of it;

but when the wicked rise: to honour and dignity, and are set in high places, and are in great power and authority, which they exercise to the distress of the righteous and all good men:

a man is hidden: a good man; he hides himself, as in Pro 28:28; he withdraws himself from court, from city, from company, from commerce, and business, because of the tyranny and persecution of wicked men; and flees to distant places, and wanders in deserts and mountains, in caves and dens of the earth; as some saints, under the Old Testament, did, and as the Church, in Gospel times, fled from the tyranny of antichrist into the wilderness, to hide herself: or, "a man is" or "shall be sought for" (i), and searched out; as wicked persecutors are very diligent to search for and find out such persons that hide themselves, and fetch them out of their hiding places, and cruelly use them.

(i) "investigabitur", Pagninus, Montanus; "exploratur", Tigurine version; "explorabitur", Baynus; "pervestigatur", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Michaelis.

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

There is great glory - Men array themselves in festive apparel, and show their joy conspicuously.

A man is hidden - Better, men hide themselves, they shrink and cower for fear, and yet are hunted out.

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

When righteous men do rejoice, are encouraged and promoted to places of trust and power, there is great glory in that commonwealth. The state of that kingdom is honourable, and comfortable, and safe, so as good men can show their faces with courage and confidence.

When the wicked rise, are advanced to honour and authority,

a man is hidden; the state of that nation is so shameful and dangerous, that wise and good men, who only are worthy of the name of men, withdraw themselves, or run into corners and obscure places; partly out of grief and shame to behold the wickedness which is publicly and impudently committed; and partly to avoid the rage and injuries of wicked oppressors, and the judgments of God, which commonly follow such persons and their confederates in sin. Or, as others, both ancient and later interpreters, render it, a man is sought out. Sober and good men, who had retired themselves, are searched for, and brought forth like sheep to the slaughter, as being most suspected, and hated, and feared by bloody tyrants.

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

12. Great glory — תפארת, (tiphareth,) ornament, beauty. In the exulting of the righteous there is great beauty. The latter part of the proverb seems to imply that the rejoicing of the righteous is on account of the promotion of good men to places of trust and influence.

Wicked… hidden — When bad men rise to power the good, from disgust or for personal safety, often retire to obscurity. Compare Pro_28:28; Pro_11:10; Pro_29:2; Ecc_10:6.

When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway,

The post of honour is a private station. ADDISON’S Cato.

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

When righteous men do rejoice, there is great glory. (comp. Pro_29:2 Pro_11:10) "Rejoice," rather triumph, as conquerors, right prevailing and wickedness being overcome. Then there is great show of joy, and, as the expression implies, men put on their festal garments to do honorer to the occasion: See the description of Solomon"s time. (1Ki_4:20, 1Ki_4:25) If we take this verse in connection with ver. 2, we may see in it the triumph of order after a period of confusion and anarchy. Septuagint, "Through the help of righteous men great glory arises." But when the wicked rise, a man is hidden (comp. ver. 28, where, however, the verb is different). The Authorized Version m, one that when the wicked rise to power, people have to hide themselves in order to escape danger to life and property. The verb is more literally rendered, "are searched for," i.e. they have betaken themselves to hiding places, and have to be looked for; they fear oppression and injury, and venture no longer into the streets and open places. Vulgate,regnantibus impiis ruinae hominum, "When evil men are m power, there is general ruin;" Septuagint, "In the places of the ungodly men are caught." Other interpretations of the proverb have been suggested, though none is so satisfactory as that given above. Thus some take the searching out to mean testing, in the sense that evil times try men"s characters, and bring out their true nature. (1Co_11:19) Others explain that, under the reign of the impious, men do not come forward to take part in public affairs, but retire sullenly into private life.

Vers. 12, 28. Hidden manhood.

The two main truths here taught have been anticipated by a foregoing proverb, viz. the advantage to society of promoting the good; and the injury done by the advancement of the wicked. (see Pro_11:10)

But there is a truth suggested by the wise man"s language which does not elsewhere appear; he says that when the wicked rise "a man is hidden," that "men hide themselves." The fact here alluded to is clear enough; we have often read, or have frequently observed, that the best men retire to seclusion and inactivity when iniquity is on the throne, when unprincipled cleverness holds the reins; they will not serve under a sovereign whom they despise, or in circumstances which make office holding a disgrace, if not a danger. But beyond and beneath this fact the language is fitted to suggest to us that there is much of hidden manhood amongst us. We find it in

I PREMATURE RETIREMENT. Not only under the conditions stated in the text, when the withdrawal of honorable men is necessary to the upright and the high-minded, but also under very different conditions. When men are allured by a desire for quietude and ease, or when they are disheartened by disappointment, or are disgusted by the slowness of their ascent to place and power, or when they underestimate their capacity and their opportunity, and they therefore lay down the weapon and leave the field. This is a serious loss. Then "a man is hidden;" a man is burying the wisdom of maturity, the large result of manifold experience, the gathered fruit of many years. He is hiding in his own home the cultured capacity he should be expending on the city, on the country of his birth.

II UNDEVELOPED FACULTY. We do not know how often it happens that men are born with great capacities in their nature, and who live and die without manifesting them to the world. They fail to receive the education which would bring them forth, or they are confined within a range so narrow that they have no chance of showing what they could be and do. They "die with all their music in them;" they pass away, unknown, unproved, unfelt. That is expended upon unimportant trifles which might have directed the affairs of some great company, or guided the activities of some influential Church, or decided the course of some powerful nation. A "man is hidden," and a community is left unenriched.

III UNDISCIPLINED FORCE. When God gives to a human spirit a strong power of will, there is an imperative necessity that it should be wisely and rightly guided and controlled in youth. Faithfully disciplined, such a one becomes a most useful man, who will contribute largely to the advancement and happiness of the world. But if that discipline be withheld, and the clever, wilful boy be allowed to grow up into untrained and uncultured manhood, there will be a sad waste of power. He will be more likely than not to do harm rather than good to his generation; he may be a blight instead of a blessing. There is "a man hidden;" one who has it in him to be one of the highest and worthiest, but who, as it is, is lost or even worse than lost, to his contemporaries and his country.

IV UNRESCUED WRONG. Even when we see humanity at its very worst, in its very foulness and baseness, we do well to feel that beneath the humiliating and pitiful exterior is a hidden manhood. It is the noble work of Christian beneficence to get down to this, to lay its kind and holy hand upon it, to raise and to restore it, to bring it into the sunshine of truth and love, to make it visible and even beautiful in the sight of God and in the estimate of man. C.

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

Rejoice - Are promoted. Glory - In that common-wealth. Rise - Are advanced to authority. Hidden - Wise and good men, who only are worthy of the name of men, withdraw themselves into obscure places.

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

"We are made" — said a righteous man — "as the filth of the earth, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day."†1 Yet these are the men, who "bear up the pillars of the state."†2 When therefore they rejoice — when they are raised to honor, — there is great glory.†3 The whole kingdom feels more or less the influence of this national blessing. Godliness is countenanced. Men are protected in the free exercise of their religion. "When Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in the king’s royal apparel, the city of Shushan rejoiced, and were glad. The Jews had light, and gladness, and joy, and honor; in every province a feast, and a good day." (Est 8:17 .) The same result is seen in the experience of the Church. When "the Churches had rest" from the fiery trial, "they were edified and walked in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost." (Act 9:31 .) And what glory so great, as the sunshine of the enjoyment of their God!

But when the wicked rise to honor, how is this glory eclipsed! The people of God are removed into corners, silenced, hidden. (Pro 28:28 .) The light of upwards of an hundred prophets, and even Elijah himself, was hidden for awhile under the tyranny of Ahab.†4 And in every age the power of the wicked, especially under a despotic rule, hides much valuable influence. Yet it is hidden only to the eye of sense. For of those, who "wander about in sheep-skins and goat-skins, in deserts, and caves of the earth," what greater glory could we give, than the divine inscription stamped upon them — "Of whom the world was not worthy"?†5

Footnotes:

†1 1Co 4:13 .

†2 Psa 75:3.

†3 Pro 11:10; Pro 29:2 .

†4 1Ki 17:2-3 ; 1Ki 18:4 ; 1Ki 19:1-4 .

†5 Heb 11:37-38. Rev 12:6 .

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

person will be searched out He will be searched out with all kinds of false accusations.

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.