Proverbs 29:27

Pro 29:27 An unjust man [is] an abomination to the just: and [he that is] upright in the way [is] abomination to the wicked.

Ver. 27. An unjust man is an abomination to the just.] Who yet hates, non virum sed vitium, not the person of a wicked man, but his sin - as the physician hates the disease, but loves the patient, and strives to recover him - he abhors that which is evil, perfectly hates it, {Psa 139:22} hates it as hell so the Greek word {a} signifies; {Rom 12:9} hates it in his dearest friends, as Asa did in his mother Maachah; hates it most of all in himself, as having the divine nature transfused into him, whereby he resembles God, and that life of God, whereunto sin, he knows, is a destructive poison, a sickness unto death. {1Jn 5:16} Hence his implacable and no less impartial hatred of all as well as any sin, for all hatred is προς τα γενη, as Aristotle {b} hath it, to the whole kind. It was said of Antony that he hated a tyrant, not tyranny; it cannot be said of a saint he hates sinners, not sin, but the contrary.

And he that is upright in the way, is abomination to the wicked.] So there is no love lost between them. The devil hath set his limbs in all wicked people; they are a serpentine seed, a viperous brood, and the old enmity continues. {Gen 3:15} {See Trapp on "Gen 3:15"} Antipathies there are in nature, as between the elephant and boar, the lion and cock, the horse and the stone called taraxippe, &c. But this is nothing to that between the godly and the wicked; and why? but because the one’s works are good, and the other’s evil; and because the just man condemns the unjust by his contrary courses; yea, he frightens his heart, and terrifies him with his presence and company.

{a} αποστυγουντες.

{b} Arist. Rhetor.

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.

This expresses not only the innate contrariety that there is between virtue and vice, as between light and darkness, fire and water, but the old enmity that has always been between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, Gen 3:15. 1. All that are sanctified have a rooted antipathy to wickedness and wicked people. They have a good will to the souls of all (God has, and would have none perish); but they hate the ways and practices of those that are impious towards God and injurious towards men; they cannot hear of them nor speak of them without a holy indignation; they loathe the society of the ungodly and unjust, and dread the thought of giving them any countenance, but do all they can to bring the wickedness of the wicked to an end. Thus an unjust man makes himself odious to the just, and it is one part of his present shame and punishment that good men cannot endure him. 2. All that are unsanctified have a like rooted antipathy to godliness and godly people: He that is upright in the way, that makes conscience of what he says and does, is an abomination to the wicked, whose wickedness is restrained perhaps and suppressed, or, at least, shamed and condemned, by the uprightness of the upright. Thus Cain did, who was of his father the devil. And this is not only the wickedness of the wicked, that they hate those whom God loves, but their misery too, that they hate those whom them shall shortly see in everlasting bliss and honour, and who shall have dominion over them in the morning, Psa 49:14.

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

(Compare Pro 3:32). On last clause, compare Pro 29:16; Psa 37:12.

Next: Proverbs Chapter 30

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 27. And he that is upright in the way] "But as for those that be in the right waye, the wicked hate them."-COVERDALE.

To this verse the VULGATE adds the following: Verbum custodiens filius extra perditionem erit; "The son that keeps the word shall not fall into perdition." This is not in all copies of the Vulgate: but it was in that from which my old MS. Bible was made, where it is thus translated: The sone keping the worde schal ben out of perdicyon. I believe verbum here is intended for the Divine word; the revelation from God.

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

27. the just] Rather, the righteous, R.V.

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.

An unjust man is an abomination to the just,.... Not his person, but his actions, his unrighteous actions, his ungodly life and conversation; which a man, holy, just, and good, loathes and abhors, and cannot forbear expressing his abhorrence of; and therefore shuns his company, and will have no fellowship with him. And, on the other hand,

he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked; that man that is upright in heart and life, that walks according to the rule of the divine word, in the path of holiness, in the way of truth and righteousness, he is abhorred by a wicked man; he cannot have any pleasure in his company; he is under some awe and restraint which is disagreeable to him; and he cannot bear the reproofs he gives him; besides, if he is silent, his whole life and conversation carries in it a tacit reproof, conviction, and condemnation of him. There always has been a mutual enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, Gen 3:15.

Next: Proverbs Chapter 30

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

The words point out not only the antagonism between the doers of good and evil, but the instinctive antipathy which the one feels toward the other.

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

Is an abomination to the just, because such men, as such, are hated by God, and haters of and enemies unto God and all goodness, and public plagues to the church and state in which they live; and therefore he who loves these must needs hate them, as true friends hate those who are enemies to their friends.

Is abomination to the wicked; of which See Poole "Pro 29:10".

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

27. Unjust… just — There is a perfect antipathy between virtue and vice. Comp. Psalm 39:14.

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

An unjust man is an abomination to the just. This great moral contrast, marked and universal, is a fitting close of the book. The word "abomination" (toebah) occurs more than twenty times in the Proverbs; it is appropriate here because the good man looks upon the sinner as the enemy of God, as the psalmist says, "Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them thine enemies". (Psa_139:21, etc.) He that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked; because he is a standing reproach to him, and by every tone and look and action seems to express his condemnation. (see on Pro_21:15, and the Septuagint Version there; and comp. 1Ki_21:20 Isa_53:3 Mat_8:34 Joh_15:19) Septuagint, "A direct way is an abomination to the lawless." The Vulgate ends the chapter with a paragraph which is found in some manuscripts of the Septuagint after Pro_24:22 (where see note), Verbum custodiens filius extra perditionem erit.

How to hate the wicked.

There is a hatred we have to endure, and there is also a hatred which we have to cherish. The question of any difficulty is What is the feeling we should cultivate in our hearts towards the guilty? We may glance at

I THE HATRED OF US BY THE WICKED. "He that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked.

1. This is a well-verified fact, attested by Scripture, by history, by observation, probably by experience.

2. Its explanation is at hand.

(1) Wicked men are utterly out of sympathy with the righteous. Their tastes, inclinations, habits, are all at variance with those of the good and pure.

(2) The upright are obliged to condemn them, either in private or in public.

(3) The life of the one is a standing reflection upon the conduct of the other.

3. There is one right way to meet it; viz.

(1) to endure it as Jesus Christ endured it, (Heb_12:3 1Pe_2:23) and as seeing the invisible but present and approving Lord; (Heb_11:27)

(2) to make an honest effort to remove it by winning those who indulge it. But the more difficult question is how we are to bear ourselves toward those whose conduct we reprobate, whose character we detest, whose persons we are not willing to admit into our homes. How shall we order

II OUR HATRED OF THE WICKED? That there is a very strong feeling against the wrong doer in the minds of the holy is obvious enough. It is a fact that "an unjust man is an abomination to the just." "Do not I hate them that hate thee?... I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies," said David. (Psa_139:21, Psa_139:22) Jesus Christ "looked round about on them with anger". (Mar_3:5) God is "angry with the wicked every day". (Psa_7:11) He "hateth all the workers of iniquity". (Psa_5:5) Our feeling, therefore, is the reflection of that which is in the heart of the Holy One himself. Of what elements should it be composed?

1. One element that should be absent. There should be no trace of personal ill will, of a desire for the suffering of the man himself; for the soul of the sinful we should wish well, and we fall into a mistake, if not into a sin, when we allow ourselves to find a pleasure in witnessing or in dwelling upon the humiliation or the sorrow of the wicked. We ought only to wish for that as a means of their purification and recovery.

2. The elements that should be present.

(1) Pure resentment, such as God feels, such as our Lord felt when he lived amongst us, (see Mt 23) a feeling of strong reprobation, which we are obliged to direct against them as the doers of unrighteousness.

(2) Faithful but measured condemnation. There is, in this view, a time to speak as well as a time to keep silence; and both publicly and privately it behoves us to blame the blameworthy, cud even to denounce the shamefully unjust or cruel. But here we are bound to take care that we are well acquainted with the matter on which we speak, and that our judgment is an impartial one.

(3) Fearless and unflinching opposition. We must actively and steadfastly oppose ourselves to the iniquitous, and do our best to bring their purposes to the ground.

(4) Sincere and practical compassion. With all this that is adverse, we may and should conjoin such pity as our Divine Saviour has felt for ourselves, and such honest and earnest endeavour to win them to the truth and to the practice of righteousness as he put forth when he came to redeem us from sin and to raise us to the likeness and restore us to the kingdom of God. C.

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

27 An abomination to a righteous man is a villanous man;

And an abomination to the godless is he who walketh uprightly.

In all the other proverbs which begin with תועבת, e.g., Pro 11:20, יהוה follows as genit., here צדּיקים, whose judgment is like that of God. אישׁ עול is an abhorrence to them, not as a man, but just as of such a character; עול is the direct contrast to ישׁר. The righteous sees in the villanous man, who boldly does that which is opposed to morality and to honour, an adversary of his God; on the other hand, the godless sees in the man that walketh uprightly (ישׁר־דּרך, as at Psa 37:14) his adversary, and the condemnation of himself.

With this doubled ת the Book of Proverbs, prepared by the men of Hezekiah, comes to an end. It closes, in accordance with its intention announced at the beginning, with a proverb concerning the king, and a proverb of the great moral contrasts which are found in all circles of society up to the very throne itself.

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.)

Here is the oldest, the most rooted, the most universal quarrel in the world. It was the first-fruit of the fall. (Gen 3:15 .) It has continued ever since, and will last to the end of the world. It is always kept up at the highest point. Each party is an abomination to the other. It is not only, that they are as contrary in character, as light is to darkness; but there is a mutual antipathy, that can never be softened down.

Let us look at each of the parties in this open opposition to each other. An unjust man is an abomination to the just. Is it then his sin to be at such contraries with his fellow-sinner? No rather — it is the very holiness of his character and profession. If he have any apprehensions of the holiness of God: if through grace he is delivered from the love and dominion of sin, is not the sight of sin hateful to him? And while he abhors it most of all in himself, yet does not the watching of the evil in his own heart deepen his abhorrence and detestation of it in those around him? He would not spare it in those most dear to him. He appeals to his God in the burst of holy indignation. "Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with a perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies."†1

Looking at the other party — the wicked hold the upright in equal abomination. (Pro 29:10 .) "The carnal mind is enmity against God," and cannot therefore bear his image in his children. (Rom 8:7 .)†2 Gladly would the wicked, were not their enmity restrained, "root them out of the face of the earth;" as they never rested, till they had nailed the Son of God to the tree. Here however is the main difference. The enmity of the just is against the sins, not the persons, of the wicked . How do they with all this principle love their souls, and pray for them! (Rom 9:1 ; Rom 10:1 .) How gladly would they win them to Christ and salvation! The enmity of the wicked is against the persons — the ways of the upright — all that belongs to them. ’This is that strong poison in the serpent’s seed,’†3 the murderous spirit of their father the devil!

The soul is wearied with the unceasing struggles with the enemies of truth. How can one forbear the wish for the "wings of a dove to fly away, and be at rest!" (Psa 55:6 .) And how could we hold on the contest, but for the blessed hope — Oh Lord! hasten it in thy time — when the woman’s conquering "seed shall bruise the Serpent’s Head," and the head of all†4 his seed, finally and for ever; and he shall reign King and Savior over his redeemed people.

Footnotes:

†1 Psa 139:21-22. Compare Pro 28:4 .

†2 Joh 15:17-19. 1Jn 3:12-13 .

†3 Leighton on 1Pe 3:14 .

†4 Psa 45:3-4. Rev 19:11-16 .

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

detestable

a person who should be hated. See how you translated this in Proverbs 3:32.

translationWords

just

abomination

evil

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

whose way is straight A man who is straight in his ways.

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.