Proverbs 17:3

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.

The 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; but 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, Jeremiah 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, 1 Peter 1:7.

(3) The fining pot is for silver.— See above on Proverbs 2:4 . The Lord trieth the hearts.—By allowing sorrows and temptations to assail them, in order that they may come out of the trial as pure gold (Revelation 3:18; 1Peter 1:7; 1Corinthians 3:13; Malachi 3:3), purged of earthly infirmities.

3 . trieth the hearts ] q.d. man can try the precious metals, but only God the hearts ( Jeremiah 17:9-10 ). The thought that He tries them to refine them, which is suggested here by the parallelism, is elsewhere expressed clearly. ( Psalm 66:10-12 ; Malachi 3:3-4 ; 1 Peter 1:7 . Comp. Sir 2:5 .)

Wonderful as is the separation of the pure metal from the dross with which it has mingled, there is something yet more wonderful in the divine discipline which purifies the good that lies hid, like a grain of gold, even in rough and common natures, and frees it from all admixture of evil. Compare Malachi 3:2 ; 1 Peter 1:7 .

Verse 3. - The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold. The word matsreph , "fining pot," occurs also in Proverbs 27:21 . It is not certain what is meant by it. There is no evidence that the Israelites were acquainted with the use of acids in the manipulation of impure or mixed metals; otherwise the "pot" and the "furnace" would represent the two usual modes of reduction; but it is most probable that both allude to the same method of smelting the ore in crucibles, for the purpose of separating the pure metal from the dross. That silver and gold were plentiful in Solomon's time is abundantly evident; indeed, the amount of the precious metals collected by David and his son is almost incredible (see 1 Chronicles 22:14 ; 1 Chronicles 29:2 , etc., from which and similar passages it is inferred that the sums enumerated equalled more than nine hundred millions of pounds sterling). But the Lord trieth the hearts ( Proverbs 15:11 ; Proverbs 24:12 ). That which fire does for the metals, the Lord does for men's hearts; he purifies them from dross, brings forth the good that is in them, purged from earthly infirmities. God's process is the application of sorrow, sickness, temptation, that, duly meeting these, the soul may emerge from the trial as pure gold, fit for the Master's use (comp. Jeremiah 12:3 ; Malachi 3:2 ; 1 Peter 1:7 ; Revelation 3:18 ). Proverbs 17:3

3 The fining-pot for silver, and the furnace for gold; And a trier of hearts is Jahve. An emblematical proverb, which means that Jahve is for the heart what the smelting-pot (from צרף, to change, particularly to melt, to refine) is for silver, and what the smelting furnace (כוּר, from כּוּר, R. כר, to round, Exodus 22:20) is for gold, that Jahve is for the heart, viz., a trier (בחן, to grind, to try by grinding, here as at Psalm 7:10) of their nature and their contents, for which, of the proof of metals, is elsewhere (Proverbs 16:2; Proverbs 21:2; Proverbs 24:12) used the word (cf. בּחון, the essay-master, Jeremiah 6:7) תּכן, weigher, or דּורשׁ, searcher (1 Chronicles 28:9). Wherever the subject spoken of is God, the searcher of hearts, the plur. לבּות, once לבבות ecno ,, is used; the form לבבים occurs only in the status conjunctus with the suffix. In Proverbs 27:21 there follow the two figures, with which there is formed a priamel, as at Proverbs 26:3, another tertium comparationis.

The lot should never be resorted to in indifferent matters; they should be those of the greatest importance, in which it appears impossible for human prudence or foresight to determine. In such cases the lot is an appeal to God, and he disposes of it according to his goodness, mercy, and truth. The result, therefore, cannot be fortuitous. [ Proverbs 17 ] PROVERBS 17: 1 Better is a dry morsel with quietness, than a house full of feasting with strife. Contentment. The wise servant. The Lord tries the heart. Children a crown to their parents. We should hide our neighbour's faults. The poor should not be despised. Litigations and quarrels to be avoided. Wealth is useless to a fool. The good friend. A fool may pass for a wise man when he holds his peace. Verse 1 Better is a dry morsel - Peace and contentment, and especially domestic peace, are beyond all other blessings. A house full of sacrifices - A Hindoo priest, who officiates at a festival, sometimes receives so many offeringss that his house is filled with them, so that many of them are damaged before they can be used - Ward. PROVERBS 17: 2 A servant who deals wisely will rule over a son who causes shame, and shall have a part in the inheritance among the brothers. PROVERBS 17: 3 The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, but the LORD tests the hearts.

3. The word ‫יפול‬ yippol, from ‫נפל‬ naphal, to fall, is never applied to sin. 4. When set in opposition to the words riseth up, it merely applies to affliction or calamity. See Micah 7:8; Amos 8:4; Jeremiah 25:27; and Psalms 34:19, Psalms 34:20. "The righteous falls into trouble." See above. Mr. Holden has a very judicious note on this passage: "Injure not a righteous man; for, though he frequently falls into distress, yet, by the superintending care of Providence, 'he riseth up again,' is delivered from his distress, while the wicked are overwhelmed with their misfortunes. That this is the meaning is plain from the preceding and following verses: yet some expound it by the just man often relapsing into sin, and recovering from it; nay, it has even been adduced to prove the doctrine of the final perseverance of the elect. But ‫נפל‬ is never used for falling into sin, but into distress and affliction - as Proverbs 11:5, Proverbs 11:14; Proverbs 13:17; Proverbs 17:20; Proverbs 26:27; Proverbs 28:10, Proverbs 28:14, Proverbs 28:18." PROVERBS 24: 18 lest the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him. 1. He was ‫איש‬ ‫עצל‬ ish atsel, the loitering, sluggish, slothful man. 2. He was ‫אדם‬ ‫חסר‬ ‫לב‬ adam chasar leb, a man that wanted heart; destitute of courage, alacrity, and decision of mind. II. His circumstances. This man had, 1. ‫שדה‬ sadeh, a sowed field, arable ground. This was the character of his estate. It was meadow and corn land. 2. He had ‫כרם‬ kerem, a vineyard, what we would call perhaps garden and orchard, where he might employ his skill to great advantage in raising various kinds of fruits and culinary herbs for the support of his family. III. The state of this heritage: 1. "It was grown over with thorns." It had been long neglected, so that even brambles were permitted to grow in the fields: 2. "Nettles had covered the face thereof." It was not weeded, and all kinds of rubbish had been suffered to multiply: 3. "The stone wall was broken down." This belonged to the vineyard: it was neither pruned nor digged; and the fence, for want of timely repairs, had all fallen into ruins, Proverbs 24:31. IV. The effect all this had on the attentive observer.