Proverbs 21:1

21:1 The believer, perceiving that the Lord rules every heart as he sees fit, like the husbandman who turns the water through his grounds as he pleases, seeks to have his own heart, and the hearts of others, directed in his faith, fear, and love. 2. We are partial in judging ourselves and our actions. 3. Many deceive themselves with a conceit that outward devotions will excuse unrighteousness. 4. Sin is the pride, the ambition, the glory, the joy, and the business of wicked men. 5. The really diligent employ foresight as well as labour. 6. While men seek wealth by unlawful practices, they seek death. 7. Injustice will return upon the sinner, and will destroy him here and for ever. 8. The way of mankind by nature is froward and strange.

The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water,.... The heart of every king, and all that is in it, his thoughts, counsels, purposes, and designs; the hearts of bad kings, as Pharaoh, whom the Lord hardened and softened at pleasure; the antichristian kings, into whose hearts he put it to give their kingdoms to the beast, Revelation 17:17 ; the hearts of good kings, as David, Solomon, Cyrus, and others: and if the hearts of kings are in the hands of the Lord, which are full of things of the greatest importance with respect to the government of the world; and which are generally more untractable and unmanageable; and who are more resolute and positive, and will have their own wills and ways, especially arbitrary princes; then much more the hearts of other persons.

And which are as "rivers of water"; for so the words may be rendered, as rivers of water is "the heart of a king", which is "in the hand of the Lord"; unstable, fluid, and fluctuating; and yet the Lord can stay and settle, and fix them, and keep them steady and within bounds: or which, like a torrent of water, comes with force and impetus; and so the Septuagint render it, "the force of waters"; and bears all before it, as do the wills of despotic kings; and yet these the Lord can stop and bound, and rule and overrule: or like rivers of water, reviving and refreshing, so is the heart of a good king, full of wisdom and prudence, of integrity and faithfulness, of clemency and goodness; the streams of whose bounty and kindness flow among his subjects, to their great pleasure and profit; so Christ, the King of kings, is said to be as "rivers of water", Isaiah 32:2 . The allusion is to gardeners, that make channels for the water to run in, to water their gardens; or to husbandmen, that cut aqueducts from rivers, to water their fields; or to the turning of the course of rivers, as Euphrates was by Cyrus, when he took Babylon.

Proverbs 21:1 . The king’s heart — His very inward purposes and inclinations, which seem to be most in a man’s own power, and out of the reach of all other beings; and much more his tongue, and hand, and all his outward actions; are in the hand of the Lord — Subject to the influence, control, and government of the great Lord of all. As the rivers of water — Which husbandmen, or gardeners, can draw by little channels into the adjacent grounds, as they please. He names kings, not to exclude other men, but because they are more arbitrary and uncontrollable than others. He turneth it — Hebrew, ישׂנו , he inclineth, or bendeth it; whithersoever he will — So that they fulfil his counsels and designs, either of mercy, or of correction to themselves, or to their people. God does this partly by suggesting those considerations to their minds which have a commanding influence upon their wills and affections, and partly by a powerful, although insensible operation upon their minds and hearts.

XXI. (1) As the rivers of water.—Channels for irrigation (comp. Psalm 1:3). He turns the heart of the king, whose favour is as the latter rain (Proverbs 16:15) and dew (Proverbs 19:12), now towards one suppliant and now towards another, as He thinks fit, for “the hearts of kings are in His rule and governance.”

1 . rivers ] Lit. streams , or channels of water is the heart of a king in the hand of Jehovah . The comparison is drawn from artificial irrigation. The irrigator has complete control over the water supply. He cuts his channels and directs his streams whithersoever and in whatever measure he pleases. Comp. Psalm 1:3 .

CHAPTER 21 Pr 21:1-31. 1. rivers—irrigating channels (Ps 1:3), whose course was easily turned (compare De 11:10). God disposes even kings as He pleases (Pr 16:9; Ps 33:15). The king’s heart; his very inward purposes and inclinations, which seem to be most in a man’s own power, and out of the reach of all others, and much more his tongue and hand, and all his outward actions. He names kings not to exclude other men, but because they are more arbitrary and uncontrollable than other men. As the rivers of water; which husbandmen or gardeners can draw by little channels into the adjacent grounds as they please, and as their occasions require. He turneth it; directeth and boweth, partly by suggesting those things to their minds which have a commanding influence upon their wills; and partly by a direct and immediate motion of their wills and affections, which being God’s creatures must needs be as subject to his power and pleasure as either men’s minds or bodies are, and which he moves sweetly and suitably to their own nature, though strongly and effectually. Withersoever he will; so as they shall fulfil his counsels and designs, either of mercy or of correction to themselves, or to their people.

Verse 1. - The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water. We are to think of the little channels used for irrigation. As these are altogether under the gardener's control, so the heart of the king, who might seem to have no superior, is directed by God. He turneth it whithersoever he will. By hidden influences and providential arrangements God disposes the monarch to order his government so as to carry out his designs, to spread around joy and plenty. The system of irrigation signified in this passage is still to be seen in Eastern lands. "Flower beds and gardens of herbs are always made at a little lower level than the surrounding ground, and are divided into small squares, a slight edging of earth banking the whole round on each side. Water is then let in, and floods the entire surface till the soil is thoroughly saturated; after which the moisture is turned off to another bed, by simply closing the opening in the one under water, by a turn of the bare foot of the gardener, and making another in the same way with the foot, in the next bed, and thus the whole garden is in due course watered .... Only, in this case, the hand is supposed to make the gap in the clay bank of the streamlet, and divert the current" (Geikie, 'Holy Land and Bible,' 1:9). So in Virgil we find ('Ecl.,' 3:111) - "Claudite jam rivos, pueri; sat prata biberunt." "Now close the cuts; enough the meads have drunk." Proverbs 21:1