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Proverbs 28
28 The wicked flee when no one pursues,
But the righteous are bold as a lion.
A guilty conscience makes a man jump at the slightest noise.
People with a clear conscience don’t have to drive with one eye on
the rearview mirror; the righteous are as bold as a lion.
2 Because of the transgression of a land, many are its princes;
But by a man of understanding and knowledge Right will be
prolonged.
When a land is guilty of widespread transgression, it suffers
frequent changes of government. When the ruler is a man of
integrity and understanding, the country enjoys a settled, stable
condition.
The Northern kingdom (Israel) had nineteen kings in the space of
about two hundred years, or an average of only ten years per
reign.
For a government or a society to endure, it needs wise, informed
leaders—and those are hard to find. Such is the case especially in a
nation weakened by moral decay. Each person’s selfishness
quickly affects others. A selfish employee who steals from their
company ruins its productivity. A selfish driver who drinks before
taking the wheel makes the highways unsafe. A selfish spouse who
has an adulterous affair often breaks up multiple families. When
enough people live for themselves with little concern for how their
actions affect others, the resulting moral rot contaminates the entire
nation. Are you part of the problem or the solution?
3 A poor man who oppresses the poor
Is like a driving rain which leaves no food.
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A poor man who rises to a position of wealth and power is often
more oppressive on the poor than people from a higher income
level would be. He is like a driving rain that levels fields of grain,
that destroys the crops instead of helping them to grow.
4 Those who forsake the law praise the wicked,
But such as keep the law contend with them.
People who throw off the restraint of God’s law and of civil law
often praise the wicked. This, of course, is an attempt to justify
themselves.
Those who keep the law oppose the transgressors and speak out
for the cause of righteousness.
5 Evil men do not understand justice,
But those who seek the Lord understand all.
Evil men do not understand justice; by refusing to practice it,
they lose the power to understand it.
Those who seek the Lord’s will are given proper powers of
discernment. There is a close link between morality and
understanding (see Ps. 119:100).
Because justice is part of God’s character, a person who follows
God treats others justly. Justice begins with concern about what is
happening to others. A Christian cannot be indifferent to human
suffering because God isn’t. And we certainly must not contribute
to human suffering through selfish business practices or unfair
government policies. Be sure you are more concerned about
justice than merely your own interests. You can’t claim to follow
God and ignore your neighbor.
6 Better is the poor who walks in his integrity
Than one perverse in his ways, though he be rich.
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A poor man who lives a clean, honest life is better than a rich man
who is perverse in his ways, who pretends to be living a good life
while all the time practicing deceit and treachery.
7 Whoever keeps the law is a discerning son,
But a companion of gluttons shames his father.
A law-abiding son is discerning. One who associates with
gluttons and drunkards brings disgrace on his father.
8 One who increases his possessions by usury and extortion
Gathers it for him who will pity the poor.
Under the law of Moses, a Hebrew was forbidden to charge usury
(interest) to another Hebrew. He could charge it to a Gentile but
not to a fellow-Jew (Deut. 23:19, 20). Today usury means exorbitant
rates of interest.
Those who enrich themselves by usury or other forms of illicit
revenue will lose their wealth; it will be taken from them and given
to someone who knows how to use it better and how to treat the
poor considerately.
9 One who turns away his ear from hearing the law,
Even his prayer is an abomination.
If one will not hear and obey God’s law, God will not hear his
prayer. Actually his prayer is hateful to God.
I may as well kneel down
And worship gods of stone
As offer to the Living God
A prayer of words alone.
-John Burton
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God does not regard our prayers if we intend to go back to our sin
as soon as we get off our knees. When we forsake our sin and
follow him, however, he willingly listens—no matter how bad our
sin has been. What closes his ears is not the depth of our sin but
our secret intention to do it again. God hears our intentions as
clearly as he hears our words.
10 Whoever causes the upright to go astray in an evil way,
He himself will fall into his own pit;
But the blameless will inherit good.
Whoever tempts the upright to fall into sin will fall into a pit of
punishment. Jesus warned, “Whoever causes one of these little
ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a
millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the
depth of the sea” (Matt. 18:6).
But the blameless will inherit good. Here the blameless may
mean those who lead others in paths of holiness rather than sin. Or
it may mean those who refuse to be victimized by solicitations to
sin.
11 The rich man is wise in his own eyes,
But the poor who has understanding searches him out.
A rich man who glories in his riches thinks he is very clever.
Priding himself on his rare financial acumen, he is wise in his own
conceit. He confuses riches and wisdom.
A poor person who has understanding can see through such
pretension.
There is a temptation for rich people to think they are unusually
smart and self-sufficient. If they aren’t careful, they can get to the
point where they depend on no one and take credit for all they do.
But that shows hollow self-esteem. Through dependence on God in
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their struggles, people who are poor may develop a richness of
spirit that no amount of wealth can provide. A rich person can lose
all his or her material wealth, but no one can take away a poor
person’s character.
The point of this proverb is that money has no relation to a person’s
character. Don’t be jealous about the money some people have;
money may be all they will ever have. Learn from those who are
poor, even as you help them.
12 When the righteous rejoice, there is great glory;
But when the wicked arise, men hide themselves.
When the righteous rise to power, there is great rejoicing. When
the wicked triumph, men hide themselves for fear.
13 He who covers his sins will not prosper,
But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.
There is no blessing for the person who covers his sins, that is,
who refuses to drag them out into the light and to confess them to
God and to anyone else who has been wronged. But anyone who
confesses and forsakes his sins has the assurance that God not
only forgives but forgets (Heb. 10:17).
It is human nature to hide our sins and overlook our mistakes. But it
is hard to learn from a mistake you don’t acknowledge making.
And what good is a mistake if it doesn’t teach you something? To
learn from an error you need to admit it, analyze it, and make
adjustments so that it doesn’t happen again. Everybody makes
mistakes, but only fools repeat them.
Something in each of us strongly resists admitting we are wrong.
That is why we admire people who openly and graciously admit
their mistakes and sins. These people have strong self-images.
They do not always have to be right to feel good about themselves.
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Be willing to reconsider—to admit you are wrong and to change
your plans when necessary. And remember, the first step toward
forgiveness is confession.
14 Happy is the man who is always reverent,
But he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity.
One element of true happiness is to have a tender heart before the
Lord. It is the one who becomes hard and unrepentant who falls
into trouble. God can resist the proud and brazen but He cannot
resist a broken and contrite heart.
This proverb warns against stubbornness. We become stubborn
when we rationalize the wrong that we do or cut ourselves off from
God’s Word, church, friends, and other Christians who might
challenge our ways. Over time we become insensitive to God’s
leading and lose the desire to change. Respecting and fearing God
means keeping an open mind and open heart toward him.
15 Like a roaring lion and a charging bear
Is a wicked ruler over poor people.
Beast-like and inhumane describes the tyrant who rides herd over
poor, weak, and defenseless people. He is like a roaring lion and
a charging bear.
16 A ruler who lacks understanding is a great oppressor,
But he who hates covetousness will prolong his days.
Apparently the prince described here is one who lacks
understanding in the sense that he seeks to enrich himself at all
costs. This man is also a great oppressor because he tramples on
others to get richer. The ruler who hates covetousness and lives
unselfishly for the good of his people will prolong his days.
17 A man burdened with bloodshed will flee into a pit;
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Let no one help him.
28:17 A man who is burdened with bloodshed will flee into a pit;
let no one help him. The willful murderer is a fugitive, racing
toward his doom. No one should seek to obstruct or interfere with
justice. God has said, “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his
blood shall be shed” (Gen. 9:6).
18 Whoever walks blamelessly will be saved,
But he who is perverse in his ways will suddenly fall.
28:18 The first line refers to salvation from damage in this life, not
from damnation in the next. Eternal salvation from the penalty of
sin is not obtained by walking uprightly but by faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. The upright walk is a fruit of that salvation, although
whoever walks blamelessly will be saved from many a snare in
this life.
The man who vacillates from one form of crookedness to another
will go down in one fell swoop.
28:17-18 Helping a murderer feel better is not an act of kindness.
The more guilt a murderer feels, the more likely that person is to
turn to God and repent. In the same way, if we console or comfort
someone in some other serious sin, we may make the way easy for
them to continue sinning. Guilt can lead to repentance.
19 He who tills his land will have plenty of bread,
But he who follows frivolity will have poverty enough!
28:19 The contrast here is between plenty of food and plenty of
poverty. The diligent farmer has the former. The one who engages
in empty, non-productive activities has the latter.
20 A faithful man will abound with blessings,
But he who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.
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28:20 A faithful man here is one who is honest and who does not
covet great wealth. He will be richly blessed. The man who seeks
to enrich himself quickly by unscrupulous means will be punished.
21 To show partiality is not good,
Because for a piece of bread a man will transgress.
28:21 It is rank injustice for a judge to show partiality, and yet a
man will often do this for a piece of bread, that is, for the most
trifling consideration.
22 A man with an evil eye hastens after riches,
And does not consider that poverty will come upon him.
28:22 A miserly, grudging, ungenerous man races after riches,
little realizing that poverty will soon overtake him.
23 He who rebukes a man will find more favor afterward
Than he who flatters with the tongue.
28:23 When a friend lovingly rebukes you, it is hard to take at the
time. It hurts your pride. But afterward you realize that this friend
must really have cared for you to point out your faults, and so you
are grateful to him.
Flattery may seem pleasant at the time, but eventually you realize
that it wasn’t true anyway, and that the person was simply trying to
gain your favor. He probably flatters everyone he meets.
24 Whoever robs his father or his mother,
And says, “It is no transgression,”
The same is companion to a destroyer.
28:24 A son who robs his parents might excuse it on the grounds
that it will be his eventually, or that he has dedicated it to the Lord
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in the meantime (Mark 7:11). But God is not deceived; He puts that
person in the same class as a robber or murderer.
25 He who is of a proud heart stirs up strife,
But he who trusts in the Lord will be prospered.
28:25 The proud, grasping person stirs up strife, perhaps by
pushing everyone else aside in a futile race for riches or power or
preeminence (see Jas. 4:1). It is the God-fearing man who
succeeds in finding peace and satisfaction.
26 He who trusts in his own heart is a fool,
But whoever walks wisely will be delivered.
28:26 He who trusts in his own wisdom to guide him through life
is a fool. He is casting his anchor inside the boat, and thus will drift
incessantly. The one who looks to the Lord for guidance acts
wisely (see Jer. 9:23, 24).
28:26 Many people treat rugged individualists as heroes. We
admire the bold, self-directed people who know what they want
and fight for it. They are self-reliant, neither giving nor asking for
advice. But what a contrast to God’s way! No one can know the
future or predict the consequences of his or her choices with
certainty. Therefore, the totally self-reliant person may be doomed
to fail, while the wise person who depends on God walks a safer
and surer path.
27 He who gives to the poor will not lack,
But he who hides his eyes will have many curses.
28:27 God will reward those who show mercy to the poor. The man
who turns away his eyes from genuine cases of need will have
many a sorrow.
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28:27 God wants us to identify with those who are in need, not
ignore them. The second part of this proverb could be restated
positively: “Those who open their eyes to poor people will be
blessed.” If we help others when they are in trouble, they will often
do whatever they can to return the favor (see 11:24-25). Plus, we
have the satisfaction of making a difference in another person’s
life. Paul promises that God will supply all our needs (Philippians
4:19); he usually does this through other people. What can you do
today to help God supply what someone needs?
28 When the wicked arise, men hide themselves;
But when they perish, the righteous increase.
The New King James Version. (1982). (Pr 28:1–28). Nashville:
Thomas Nelson.
28:28 When the wicked rise to power, the populace hides itself for
fear. But when wicked rulers are overthrown, the righteous
increase.