Proverbs 12:3

12:1 Those who have grace, will delight in the instructions given them. Those that stifle their convictions, are like brutes. 2. The man who covers selfish and vicious designs under a profession of religion or friendship, will be condemned. 3. Though men may advance themselves by sinful arts, they cannot settle and secure themselves. But those who by faith are rooted in Christ, are firmly fixed. 4. A wife who is pious, prudent, and looks well to the ways of her household, who makes conscience of her duty, and can bear crosses; such a one is an honour and comfort to her husband. She that is the reverse of this, preys upon him, and consumes him. 5. Thoughts are not free; they are under the Divine knowledge, therefore under the Divine command. It is a man's shame to act with deceit, with trick and design. 6. Wicked people speak mischief to their neighbours. A man may sometimes do a good work with one good word. 7. God's blessing is often continued to the families of godly men, while the wicked are overthrown. 8. The apostles showed wisdom by glorying in shame for the name of Christ. 9. He that lives in a humble state, who has no one to wait upon him, but gets bread by his own labour, is happier than he that glories in high birth or gay attire, and wants necessaries.

A man shall not be established by wickedness,.... Not any man, though he may be established in his wickedness, so as not to be rooted out of it; yet he cannot be so established by it as not to be removed from a prosperous state and condition into an unhappy and distressed one; he may seem to be in a firm and settled state of prosperity, amidst all his wickedness; be like a green bay tree, spreading itself, and seemingly immovable, when on a sudden it is blown down and rooted up, and is no more: so Babylon will seem to be in a settled state of grandeur, ease, and rest, and say, "I sit a queen, and shall see no sorrow"; when in one day, and in one hour, her destruction shall come upon her, Revelation 18:7 ; but the root of the righteous shall not be moved; they are rooted and grounded in the love of God, which is immovable; they are rooted and built up in Christ, and so are as Mount Zion, which can never be removed; the root of the matter, or of grace, is in them, which can never be lost; while others wither away, because they have no root in them, these abide; and though they may be shaken with the persecutions of men, the temptations of Satan, the errors of the wicked, and their own corruptions, yet they afresh take root again downward, and bring forth fruit upward.

Proverbs 12:3 . A man shall not be established by wickedness — By any sinful course, however craftily devised, and apparently well calculated to answer that end. For the power and prosperity which are raised by sin are built on the sand. But the root of the righteous shall not be moved — Namely, out of its place. They shall stand fast and flourish like well-rooted trees.

Verse 3. - A man shall not be established by wickedness. Man is metaphorically compared to a tree, especially the olive. Wickedness gives him no firm hold for growth or life (comp. Proverbs 10:25 ). The root of the righteous shall not be moved. The righteous are planted in a good soil, are "rooted and grounded in love" ( Ephesians 3:17 ), and the root being thus well placed, the tree is safe, and brings forth much fruit (comp. ver. 12; Job 14:7-9 ). Vers. 4-12 contain proverbs concerning the management of a house and business. Proverbs 12:3

3 A man does not stand by wickedness, But the root of the righteous remains unmoved. In רשׁע there lies the idea of want of inward stay (vid., at Psalm 1:1); in a manner of thought and of conduct which has no stay in God and His law, there can be expected no external endurance, no solidity. The righteous, on the contrary, have their root in God; nothing can tear them from the ground in which they are rooted, they are as trees which no storm outroots. The very same thought is clothed in other words in Proverbs 10:25, and another statement regarding the root of the righteous is found at Proverbs 12:12.

So Aristotle says that frequently to submit to receive service from another, and to disparage whatever he himself has done well, are signs of littleness of soul (μικροψυχίας) and meanness (ταπεινότητος) In the Septuagint the words πένης poor, πραΰ́ς meek, πτωχός destitute, and ταπεινός lowly, are used interchangeably to translate the same Hebrew words; the reference ordinarily being to the oppressed, in contrast with their rich and powerful oppressors, or to the quiet, in contrast with lawless wrong-doers. Compare Deuteronomy 15:11; 2 Samuel 22:28; Psalm 18:Sept. 17) Psalm 18:27; Isaiah 26:6; Psalm 10:17 (Sept. 9:38); Proverbs 14:21; Proverbs 3:34; Numbers 12:3; Exodus 23:6, Exodus 23:11; Isaiah 32:7; Exodus 23:3; Ruth 3:10; Isaiah 11:4; 2 Samuel 12:1, 2 Samuel 12:3, 2 Samuel 12:4; Proverbs 13:8; 1 Samuel 18:23. The Septuagint usage therefore goes to show that these four words are all names for one class - the poor peasantry of an oppressed country, the victims of ill-treatment and plunder at the hands of tyrants and rich neighbors.

rse following upon it, for people or nations do neither observe nor hate every man who saith thus privately. ## Thou art righteous, that justify wicked men in their unrighteous courses. ## Nations shall abhor him, partly for the grossness and odiousness of the crime, and partly for the great and general mischief which such practices bring to civil societies. ## Proverbs 24:25 That rebuke him; that publicly and judicially rebuke and condemn the wicked. ## Delight; the peace of a good conscience, and the comfort of a good name. ## A good blessing; which the people shall wish, and by their prayers obtain, from God for them; which is fitly opposed to the people ‘ s curse in the last verse. ## Proverbs 24:26 Every man shall kiss his lips, shall highly respect and love him, of which kissing was a sign, ## that giveth a right answer; who being called to speak, either as a judge, or witness, or otherwise, in weighty matters, speaks pertinently, and plainly, and truly, to the conviction and satisfaction of the hearers. Proverbs 24:27 This is a domestical precept, requiring both industry and prudence in the management of a man’s concerns, that he take care in the first place to furnish himself with cattle and the fruits of the field, which are necessary for his subsistence, and after that he may procure such things as are for ornament and comfort, such as the building of a convenient house is. ## Proverbs 24:28 Be not a witness against thy ne

Proverbs 12:28 The practice of justice and godliness, though it expose a man to some dangers and inconveniences in the world, yet it will certainly lead him to life and happiness, whereas the end of all wicked courses is death and destruction. ## Proverbs 13:1 PROVERBS CHAPTER 13 ## Heareth; which word is understood out of the next clause, as is frequent in the Hebrew text. ## Instruction; or, rebuke or reproof. ## Heareth not rebuke; he hateth reproof, either from his father or from any other man. ## Proverbs 13:2 Shall eat good; shall receive much comfort, and credit, and benefit to himself. ## By the fruit of his mouth; by his wise and profitable discourses. ## The soul, i.e. the person, as the soul is oft used. ## The transgressors; who transgress with their lips, as this general phrase may be restrained from the former clause. ## Shall eat violence; shall have that violence and injury returned upon themselves, which they have offered to others in word or deed. ## Proverbs 13:3 He that keepeth his mouth, to wit, to the opening of it; who speaks sparingly, and with due care and caution; ## keepeth his life; prevents many sins and mischiefs which others run into. He that openeth wide his lips , that takes liberty to speak every thing which pleaseth him, or cometh into his mind, shall have destruction, from God or men. ## Proverbs 13:4 Hath nothing, because he contenteth himself with lazy desires without diligent endeavours.