27 The fear of the Lord gives long life, but the years of the evil-doer will be cut short.
His branch is cut off before its time, and his leaf is no longer green. He is like a vine whose grapes do not come to full growth, or an olive-tree dropping its flowers.
For they will give you increase of days, years of life, and peace.
But you, O God, will send them down into the underworld; the cruel and the false will be cut off before half their days are ended; but I will have faith in you.
Will you keep the old way by which evil men went? Who were violently taken away before their time, who were overcome by the rush of waters:
Come, children, give attention to me; I will be your teacher in the fear of the Lord. What man has a love of life, and a desire that his days may be increased so that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from words of deceit.
With long life will he be rewarded; and I will let him see my salvation.
Be not evil overmuch, and be not foolish. Why come to your end before your time?
Like the partridge, getting eggs together but not producing young, is a man who gets wealth but not by right; before half his days are ended, it will go from him, and at his end he will be foolish.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Proverbs 10
Commentary on Proverbs 10 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 10
Hitherto we have been in the porch or preface to the proverbs, here they begin. They are short but weighty sentences; most of them are distichs, two sentences in one verse, illustrating each other; but it is seldom that there is any coherence between the verses, much less any thread of discourse, and therefore in these chapters we need not attempt to reduce the contents to their proper heads, the several sentences will appear best in their own places. The scope of them all is to set before us good and evil, the blessing and the curse. Many of the proverbs in this chapter relate to the good government of the tongue, without which men's religion is vain.
Pro 10:1
Solomon, speaking to us as unto children, observes here how much the comfort of parents, natural, political, and ecclesiastical, depends upon the good behaviour of those under their charge, as a reason,
Pro 10:2-3
These two verses speak to the same purport, and the latter may be the reason of the former.
Pro 10:4
We are here told,
Pro 10:5
Here is,
Pro 10:6
Here is,
Pro 10:7
Both the just and the wicked, when their days are fulfilled, must die. Between their bodies in the grave thee is no visible difference; between the souls of the one and the other, in the world of spirits, thee is a vast difference, and so there is, or ought to be, between their memories, which survive them.
Pro 10:8
Here is,
Pro 10:9
We are here told, and we may depend upon it,
Pro 10:10
Mischief is here said to attend,
Pro 10:11
See here,
Pro 10:12
Here is,
Pro 10:13
Observe,
Pro 10:14
Observe,
Pro 10:15
This may be taken two ways:-
Pro 10:16
Solomon here confirms what his father had said (Ps. 37:16), A little that a righteous man has is better than the riches of many wicked.
Pro 10:17
See here,
Pro 10:18
Observe here, Malice is folly and wickedness.
Pro 10:19
We are here admonished concerning the government of the tongue, that necessary duty of a Christian.
Pro 10:20-21
We are here taught how to value men, not by their wealth and preferment in the world, but by their virtue.
Pro 10:22
Worldly wealth is that which most men have their hearts very much upon, but they generally mistake both in the nature of the thing they desire and in the way by which they hope to obtain it; we are therefore told here,
Pro 10:23
Here is,
Pro 10:24-25
It is here said, and said again, to the righteous, that it shall be well with them, and to the wicked, Woe to them; and these are set the one over against the other, for their mutual illustration.
Pro 10:26
Observe,
Pro 10:27-28
Observe,
Pro 10:29-30
These two verses are to the same purport with those next before, intimating the happiness of the godly and the misery of the wicked; it is necessary that this be inculcated upon us, so loth are we to believe and consider it.
Pro 10:31-32
Here, as before, men are judged of, and, accordingly, are justified or condemned, by their words, Mt. 12:37.