Proverbs 17

"\nA wise servant shall have rule over a son that causeth shame,.... That does wicked and shameful actions: that is slothful, and will not attend to instruction or business; that is prodigal, wasteful, and luxurious, and causes shame to his parents, who blush at his conduct. Now a servant that behaves well and wisely in a family is observed and respected by his master, and he puts his wicked and extravagant son under him, makes him a tutor to him, and sets him to watch over him, and obliges his son to obey his orders. Jarchi illustrates this in Nebuchadnezzar ruling over the children of Israel;\n\nand shall have part of the inheritance among the brethren; be appointed by his master's will to a share in his estate among his children, for his faithful service to him in life, and to encourage him to take care of his family, his children, and his affairs, after his death; or through gifts in his lifetime shall have what is equal to what his sons have; or growing rich shall purchase a part of theirs, as Gussetius {y}: or "shall part the inheritance among the brethren" {z}; being a wise man, his master shall leave him executor of his will, to divide his substance among his children, and see that everyone have their proper portion and equal share; but it rather is to be understood of his being a co-heir with them. So the Gentiles, through the will of the Lord, become fellow heirs of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ with the Jews, and share in the same inheritance with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their children; nay, when the children of the kingdom shall be shut out; see Eph 3:6. Jarchi gives an ancient exposition of it thus,\n\n"a proselyte of righteousness is better than a wicked native; and in time to come he shall divide the spoil and the inheritance in the midst of the children of Israel, at it is said in Eze 47:23;''\n\n{y} Ebr. Comment. p. 263. {z} \u05d9\u05d7\u05dc\u05e7 "dividet", Mercerus, Gejerus, Michaelis; so Syriac version and the Targum; "partitur", Junius Tremellius "partieur", Piscator.\n\n\n "

17:1 These words recommend family love and peace, as needful for the comfort of human life. 2. The wise servant is more deserving, and more likely to appear one of the family, than a profligate son. 3. God tries the heart by affliction. He thus has often shown the sin remaining in the heart of the believer.

CHAPTER 17Pr 17:1-28.1. sacrifices—or, "feasts" made with part of them (compare Pr 7:14; Le 2:3; 7:31).with—literally, "of."strife—its product, or attendant.

"\nThe fining pot [is] for silver, and the furnace for gold,.... Refiners of silver have their fining pots, in which they purify the silver from the dross; and goldsmiths have their crucibles to melt and purify their gold, by which assays of the worth and value of it may be made;\n\nbut the Lord trieth the hearts; there is no vessel, as Gersom observes, in which they can be put and tried by creatures; a man does not know, nor can he thoroughly search and try his own heart, and much less the hearts of others; God only knows and tries them, Jer 17:9; The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions, render it by way of similitude, "as the fining pot is for silver", c. as silver is refined in the pot, and gold in the furnace, so are the hearts of God's people, and their graces tried and purified by him in the furnace of affliction the variety of troubles they are exercised with are made useful for the purging away of the dross of sin and corruption, and for the brightening of their graces, 1Pe 1:7.\n\n\n "

"\nA wicked doer giveth heed to false lips,.... A man of an ill spirit, of a mischievous disposition, that delights in doing wickedness; he carefully attends to such as speak falsehood; he listens to lies and calumnies, loves to hear ill reports of persons, and takes pleasure in spreading them to the hurt of their characters; and men of bad hearts and lives give heed to seducing spirits, to false teachers, to inch as speak lies in hypocrisy, who sooth and harden them in their wickedness;\n\n[and] a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue: or, "to a tongue of destruction" {a}; a culumniating, backbiting tongue, which destroys the good name and reputation of men; and he that is given to lying is made up of lying, or is a lie itself, as the word signifies; who roves and makes a lie, as antichrist and his followers; such an one hearkens diligently to everything that may detract from the character of those especially he bears an ill will to: or it may be better rendered, "he that hearkens to a lie [gives heed] to a naughty tongue" {b}; for a lying tongue is a naughty one, evil in itself, pernicious in its effects and consequences.\n\n{a} \u05e2\u05dc \u05dc\u05e9\u05d5\u05df \u05d4\u05d5\u05ea "perniciosae linguae", Tigurine version; "linguae confractionum calamitatum, injuriarum", Vatablus; "ad linguam exiliorum", Michaelis. {b} So Michaelis.\n\n\n "

17:4. Flatterers, especially false teachers, are welcome to those that live in sin. 5. Those that laugh at poverty, treat God's providence and precepts with contempt. 6. It is an honour to children to have wise and godly parents continued to them, even after they are grown up and settled in the world. 7. A fool, in Solomon's Proverbs, signifies a wicked man, whom excellent speech does not become, because his conversation contradicts it.

"\nWhoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker,....