Proverbs 15:33

15:29. God sets himself at a distance from those who set him at defiance. 30. How delightful to the humbled soul to hear the good report of salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ! 31. Faithful, friendly reproofs help spiritual life, and lead to eternal life. 32. Sinners undervalue their own souls; therefore they prefer the body before the soul, and wrong the soul to please the body. 33. The fear of the Lord will dispose us to search the Scriptures with reverence; and it will cause us to follow the leadings of the Holy Spirit. While we humbly place all our dependence on the grace of God, we are exalted in the righteousness of Christ.

The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom,.... It is "the beginning of wisdom", Proverbs 9:10 ; it leads unto it, instructs a man in it; by means of it he attains to true spiritual and evangelical wisdom; it teaches him to abstain from sin, and to serve the Lord; and to seek the salvation of his soul in the way God has appointed, which is by his Son Jesus Christ, which to do is the highest wisdom; and before honour is humility; the fear of God and humility go together, where the one is the other is; and as the one is the way to wisdom, the other is the way to glory; Christ's humiliation was before his exaltation; men are first humbled and laid low in their own eyes, and then they are raised out of their low estate, and are set among princes; and shall inherit the throne of glory, being made kings and priests unto God; it is a frequent saying of Christ's, "he that humbleth himself shall be exalted", Luke 14:11; such an one is raised to a high estate of grace, and at last to eternal glory.

Is the instruction of wisdom; doth instruct men in or lead them to true wisdom; whence it is said to be the beginning of wisdom, Proverbs 1:7 9:10 . Before honour is humility, i. e. it is the ready way to honour, both from God and from men. Humility ; whereby men submit to God, and yield to men, which gains them love and respect; whereas pride procures them hatred and contempt from God and men.

Verse 33. - The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom; that which leads to and gives wisdom (see Proverbs 1:3, 7 , etc.; Proverbs 9:10). 'Pirke Aboth,' 3:26, "No wisdom, no fear of God; no fear of God, no wisdom. No knowledge, no discernment; no discernment, no knowledge." Before honour is humility ( Proverbs 18:12 ). A man who fears God must be humble, and as the fear of God leads to wisdom, it may be said that humility leads to the honour and glory of being wise and reckoned among the wise (ver. 31). A man with a lowly opinion of himself will hearken to the teaching of the wise, and scrupulously obey the Law of God, and will be blessed in his ways. For "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble" ( James 4:6 ; comp. Luke 1:52 ). The maxim in the second clause has a general application. "He that shall humble himself shall be exalted" ( Matthew 23:12 ; comp. Luke 14:11 ; James 4:6 ). It is sanctioned by the example of Christ himself, the Spirit itself testifying beforehand his sufferings that were to precede his glory ( 1 Peter 1:11 ; see also Philippians 2:5 , etc.).

Septuagint, "The fear of the Lord is discipline and wisdom, and the beginning of glory shall answer to it." Another reading adds, "Glory goeth before the humble," which is explained to mean that the humble set before their eyes the reward that awaits their humility, and patiently endure, like Christ, "who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God" ( Hebrews 12:2 ). Proverbs 15:33

33 The fear of Jahve is a discipline to wisdom, And before honour is humility. We may regard 'יראת ה (the fear of Jahve) also as pred. here. The fear of Jahve is an educational maxim, and the end of education of the Chokma; but the phrase may also be the subject, and by such a rendering Luther's parallelism lies nearer: "The fear of the Lord is discipline to wisdom;" the fear of God, viz., continually exercised and tried, is the right school of wisdom, and humility is the right way to honour. Similar is the connection מוּסר השׂכּל, discipline binds understanding to itself as its consequence, Proverbs 1:3. Line second repeats itself, Proverbs 18:12, "Pride comes before the fall." Luther's "And ere one comes to honour, he must previously suffer," renders עני rather than ענוה. But the Syr. reverses the idea: the honour of the humble goeth before him, as also one of the anonymous Greek versions: προπορεύεται δὲ ταπεινοῖς δόξα. But the δόξα comes, as the above proverb expresses it, afterwards. The way to the height lies through the depth, the depth of humility under the hand of God, and, as ענוה expresses, of self-humiliation.

1 Corinthians 15:33 . Μὴ πλανᾶσθε ) in the Middle voice.— φθείρουσιν ) they corrupt . Its conjugate corruption , is found at 1 Corinthians 15:42 . He uses the well-known sentence of Menander in a sublimer sense, and opposes it to the Epicurean creed, 1 Corinthians 15:32 ; presently after, at 1 Corinthians 15:34 , he was about to apply a more weighty stimulant. [ The multitude of wicked sayings and vicious proverbs in human life is indeed very great, by which a vast number repel things however sacred and salutary and endeavour to defend their own wantonness and hypocrisy. Scoffs of that kind were also common among the Israelites , Ezekiel 11:3 ; Ezekiel 11:15 ; Ezekiel 12:22 ; Ezekiel 18:2 .—V. g.]— ἤθη , manners ) Good manners [principles] are those, with which a man passes from things that are fading to things that are eternal.— χρηστὰ ) good or even easy, light [pliant dispositions]: see Scap. on this word, col. 1820. Comp. Romans 16:18 .— κακαὶ , evil ) opposed to faith, hope, love. On the other hand, good communication [conversations] as for instance concerning the resurrection, puts an end to gluttony and depravity of manners.