Proverbes 22:13 Commentaire

Here are two things which are more valuable and which we should covet more than great riches: - 1. To be well spoken of: A name (that is, a good name, a name for good things with God and good people) is rather to be chosen than great riches; that is, we should be more careful to do that by which we may get and keep a good name than that by which we may raise and increase a great estate. Great riches bring great cares with them, expose men to danger, and add no real value to a man. A fool and a knave may have great riches, but a good name makes a man easy and safe, supposes a man wise and honest, redounds to the glory of God, and gives a man a greater opportunity of doing good. By great riches we may relieve the bodily wants of others, but by a good name we may recommend religion to them. 2. To be well beloved, to have an interest in the esteem and affections of all about us; this is better than silver and gold. Christ has neither silver nor gold, but he grew in favour with God and man, Luk 2:52. This should teach us to look with a holy contempt upon the wealth of this world, not to set our hearts upon that, but with all possible care to think of those things that are lovely and of good report, Phi 4:8.

Note, 1. Those that have no love for their business will never want excuses to shake it off. Multitudes are ruined, both for soul and body, by their slothfulness, and yet still they have something or other to say for themselves, so ingenious are men in putting a cheat upon their own souls. And who, I pray, will be the gainer at last, when the pretences will be all rejected as vain and frivolous? 2. Many frighten themselves from real duties by imaginary difficulties: The slothful man has work to do without in the fields, but he fancies there is a lion there; nay, he pretends he dares not go along the streets for fear somebody or other should meet him and kill him. He does not himself think so; he only says so to those that call him up. He talks of a lion without, but considers not his real danger from the devil, that roaring lion, which is in bed with him, and from his own slothfulness, which kills him.

A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches,.... The word "good" is not in the text, but is rightly supplied, as it is by the Targum, Septuagint, and Vulgate Latin versions; for it is not any name that is more eligible than riches; nor is it a need name among any sort of persons; for to have a good name with some turns to a man's reproach rather than to his credit; but a good name among good men, a name in the house of God, which is better than sons and daughters; a new name, the name of the children of God, which no man knoweth but he that receiveth it; this is to be preferred to a multitude of riches: it is not to be procured by them, and is where they are not, or are lost, but this continues; see Ecc 7:1; and loving favour rather them silver and gold; favour with God and man, especially with God, whose loving kindness is better than life, and all the enjoyments of it: or, as it may be rendered, "grace is better than silver and gold" (p); the grace of God through Christ, the grace of Christ, in whom all fulness of it dwells, the grace of the Spirit of Christ; faith is more precious than gold that perisheth; and if a man would give all the substance of his house for love it would be contemned; the Spirit and his grace are not to be purchased for money. (p) "gratia melior", Munster, Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius, Michaelis; so Schultens.

The slothful man saith, there is a lion without,.... Or, "in the street". This he says within himself; or to those who call out to him, and put him on doing the business of his proper calling, whether in the field or elsewhere, which, through his slothfulness, he has a disinclination to; and therefore frames excuses, and suggests this and that difficulty or danger in the way, expressed by a "lion without"; and which shows the folly and weakness of his excuses, since lions do not usually walk in cities, towns, and villages, and in the streets of them, but in woods and mountains; I shall be slain in the streets; by the lion there; or I shall never be able to get over the difficulties, and through the dangers, which attending to business will expose me to. Some apply this to the difficulties that slothful persons imagine in the learning of languages, arts, and sciences; as Jarchi applies it to the learning of the law.

"The sluggard says: There is a lion outside," etc. Often in his spirit, the one who is lazy in doing good works, timid in confessing the faith he holds in his heart, says: I dare not profess the faith I hold outside, lest the impious persecutor, hearing that I am faithful, should kill me. I fear to proceed in public to exercise acts of virtue, lest perhaps the adversity of the ancient enemy may tempt me more grievously; or also any perverse man with his crowd may mock me, confuse me with insults, afflict me with injuries; or consume me with tortures and death, as with many just ones, who disagree with his life. "There is a lion outside," he says, "I shall be killed in the midst of the streets." Which is to say openly. Both words and deeds of virtues, where they begin to be shown outside, are immediately accompanied by persecution either of men or of unclean spirits. And I am not able to resist the temptations, but in them, I am overcome in the undertakings of a good intention.

(Pro. 22:1-29) A good name-- (Job 30:8, Hebrew); "good" is supplied here from Ecc 7:1. loving favour--kind regard, that is, of the wise and good.

Frivolous excuses satisfy the indolent man's conscience.

13 The sluggard saith, "A lion is without, I shall be slain in the midst of the streets." Otherwise rendered, Pro 26:13. There, as here, the perf. אמר has the meaning of an abstract present, Gesen. 126. 3. The activity of the industrious has its nearest sphere at home; but here a work is supposed which requires him to go forth (Psa 104:3) into the field (Pro 24:27). Therefore חוּץ stands first, a word of wide signification, which here denotes the open country outside the city, where the sluggard fears to meet a lion, as in the streets, i.e., the rows of houses forming them, to meet a רצח (מרצּח), i.e., a murder from motives of robbery of revenge. This strong word, properly to destroy, crush, Arab. raḍkh, is intentionally chosen: there is designed to be set forth the ridiculous hyperbolical pretence which the sluggard seeks for his slothfulness (Fleischer). Luther right well: "I might be murdered on the streets." But there is intentionally the absence of אוּלי [perhaps] and of פּן [lest]. Meri here quotes a passage of the moralists: ממופתי העצל הנבואה (prophesying) belongs to the evidences of the sluggard; and Euchel, the proverb העצלים מתנבאים (the sluggard's prophecy), i.e., the sluggard acts like a prophet, that he may palliate his slothfulness.