Command the Raven

Proverbs 17:5 [show/hide]ERROR: You have exceeded your quota of 5000 requests per day. Please contact the developer of this application if you have questions. (If you're the developer and have questions about this error message, please contact Crossway.)

5 Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker: and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished.

See here, 1. What a great sin those are guilty of who trample upon the poor, who ridicule their wants and the meanness of their appearance, upbraid them with their poverty, and take advantage from their weakness to be abusive and injurious to them. They reproach their Maker, put a great contempt and affront upon him, who allotted the poor to the condition they are in, owns them, and takes care of them, and can, when he pleases, reduce us to that condition. Let those that thus reproach their Maker know that they shall be called to an account for it, Matt. 25:40, 41 [show/hide]ERROR: You have exceeded your quota of 5000 requests per day. Please contact the developer of this application if you have questions. (If you're the developer and have questions about this error message, please contact Crossway.)
; Prov. 14:31 [show/hide]ERROR: You have exceeded your quota of 5000 requests per day. Please contact the developer of this application if you have questions. (If you're the developer and have questions about this error message, please contact Crossway.)
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2. What great danger those are in of falling into trouble themselves who are pleased to see and hear of the troubles of others: He that is glad at calamities, that he may be built up upon the ruins of others, and regales himself with the judgments of God when they are abroad, let him know that he shall not go unpunished; the cup shall be put into his hand, Ezek. 25:6, 7.
- Matthew Henry Commentary

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6 Children’s children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers.

They are so, that is, they should be so, and, if they conduct themselves worthily, they are so.

1. It is an honour to parents when they are old to leave children, and children’s children, growing up, that tread in the steps of their virtues, and are likely to maintain and advance the reputation of their families. It is an honour to a man to live so long as to see his children’s children (Ps. 128:6 [show/hide]ERROR: You have exceeded your quota of 5000 requests per day. Please contact the developer of this application if you have questions. (If you're the developer and have questions about this error message, please contact Crossway.)
; Gen. l. 23), to see his house built up in them, and to see them likely to serve their generation according to the will of God. This crowns and completes their comfort in this world.

2. It is an honour to children to have wise and godly parents, and to have them continued to them even after they have themselves grown up and settled in the world. Those are unnatural children who reckon their aged parents a burden to them, and think they live too long; whereas, if the children be wise and good, it is as much their honour as can be that thereby they are comforts to their parents in the unpleasant days of their old age.
- Matthew Henry Commentary

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7 Excellent speech becometh not a fool: much less do lying lips a prince.

Two things are here represented as very absurd:

1. That men of no repute should be dictators. What can be more unbecoming than for fools, who are known to have little sense and discretion, to pretend to that which is above them and which they were never cut out for? A fool, in Solomon’s proverbs, signifies a wicked man, whom excellent speech does not become, because his conversation gives the lie to his excellent speech. What have those to do to declare God’s statutes who hate instruction? Ps. l. 16. Christ would not suffer the unclean spirits to say that they knew him to be the Son of God. See Acts 16:17, 18 [show/hide]ERROR: You have exceeded your quota of 5000 requests per day. Please contact the developer of this application if you have questions. (If you're the developer and have questions about this error message, please contact Crossway.)
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2. That men of great repute should be deceivers. If it is unbecoming a despicable man to presume to speak as a philosopher or politician, and nobody heeds him, being prejudiced against his character, much more unbecoming is it for a prince, for a man of honour, to take advantage from his character and the confidence that is put in him to lie, and dissemble, and make no conscience of breaking his word. Lying ill becomes any man, but worst a prince, so corrupt is the modern policy, which insinuates that princes ought not to make themselves slaves to their words further than is for their interest, and Qui nescit dissimulare nescit regnare–He who knows not how to dissemble knows not how to reign.
- Matthew Henry Commentary

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9 He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.

Note, 1. The way to preserve peace among relations and neighbours is to make the best of every thing, not to tell others what has been said or done against them when it is not at all necessary to their safety, nor to take notice of what has been said or done against them when it is not at all necessary to their safety, nor to take notice of what has been said or done against ourselves, but to excuse both, and put the best construction upon them. “It was an oversight; therefore overlook it. It was done through forgetfulness; therefore forget it. It perhaps made nothing of you; do you make nothing of it.”

2. The ripping up of faults is the ripping out of love, and nothing tends more to the separating of friends, and setting them at variance, than the repeating of matters that have been in variance; for they commonly lose nothing in the repetition, but the things themselves are aggravated and the passions about them revived and exasperated. The best method of peace is by an amnesty or act of oblivion.
- Matthew Henry Commentary

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10 A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool.

Note, 1. A word is enough to the wise. A gentle reproof will enter not only into the head, but into the heart of a wise man, so as to have a strong influence upon him; for, if but a hint be given to conscience, let it alone to carry it on and prosecute it.

2. Stripes are not enough for a fool, to make him sensible of his errors, that he may repent of them, and be more cautious for the future. He that is sottish and wilful is very rarely benefited by severity. David is softened with, Thou art the man; but Pharaoh remains hard under all the plagues of Egypt.
- Matthew Henry Commentary

~~~WHEN the noise and turmoil of the day are over ~ it is sweet to commune with God: the cool and calm of eventide agree most delightfully with prayer and praise. The hours of the declining sun are so many quiet alleys in the garden of time wherein man may find his Maker waiting to commune with him, even as of old the Lord God walked with Adam in Paradise in the cool of the day. It is meet that we should set apart a peaceful season ere the day has quite departed, a season of thanksgiving for grace abounding, of repentance for follies multiplied, of self-examination for evils insinuating.

To leap from day to day like a mad hunter scouring the fields, is an omen of being delivered over to destruction; but the solemn pause, the deliberate consideration - these are means of grace and ensigns of an indwelling life. The tide of ocean stays a while at ebb before it resolves to flood again; the moon some times lingers at the full; there are distinct hedges in nature set between the acres of time - even the strike of the bell is a little mound of warning: men should not remove landmarks, but beat the bounds frequently and keep up with due interval and solemnity the remembrance of the passing away of days, and months, and years: each evening it were well to traverse the boundaries of the day, and take note of all it has ‘brought and all it has seen.

The drops of the night come from the same fount as the dew of the morning: he who met Abraham at break of day communed with Isaac in the field at eventide. He who opens the doors of the day with the hand of mercy draws around His people the curtains of the night, and by His shining presence makes the outgoings of the morning and of the evening to rejoice.

A promise at dawn, and a sure word at sunset, crown the brow of day with light, and sandal its feet with love. To breakfast with Jesus and to sup with him also, is to enjoy the days of heaven upon the earth. It is dangerous to fall asleep till the head is leaned on Jesus’ bosom. When divine love puts its finger on the weary eyelids, it is brave sleeping; but that the Lord’s beloved may have such sleep given to him, it is needful that he should make a near approach to the throne, and unburden his soul before the great Preserver of men.

To enter into the blaze of Jehovah’s presence by the way of the atoning blood is the sure method to refine ourselves of earthly dross, and to renew the soul after exhausting service. The reading of the word, and prayer, are as gates of carbuncle to admit us into the presence chamber of The August Majesty, and he is most blessed who most frequently swings those gates upon their sapphire hinges. When the stars are revealed, and all the hosts of heaven walk in golden glory, then surely is the time when the solemn temple is lit up, and the worshipper is bidden to enter.

If one hour can be endowed with a sacredness above its fellows, it must be the hour when the Lord looseth the bands of Orion, and leadeth forth Arcturus and his sons : then voices from worlds afar call us to contemplation and adoration, and the stillness of the lower work prepares an oratory for the devout soul. He surely never prays at all who does not end the day as all men wish to end their lives - in prayer.

In many households the gathering of the family for evening prayer is more easy than the morning opportunity, and in all the tents of our Israel the evening sacrifice should he •solemnly remembered. Ere we cower down beneath the wings of the Eternal, let us entreat Him to deliver us from the terror by night, and give us safe dwelling in His secret place. It is blessed work to set the night warders in their posts by supplication, and then commit ourselves without fear to the embraces of divine love.

Having had the seal of our Master’s blessing set upon our former volume, entitled “Morning by Morning,” we have felt encouraged to give our best attention to the present series of brief meditations, and we send them forth with importunate prayer for a blessing to rest upon every reader. Already more than twenty thousand readers are among our morning fellow-worshippers. 0h that all may receive grace from the Lord by means of the portion read; and when a similar number shall be gathered to read the evening selection, may the Father’s smile be their benison.
We have striven to keep out of the common track, and hence we have used unusual texts, and have brought forward neglected subjects. The vice of many religious works is their dullness – from this we have striven to be free: our friends must judge how far successfully. Out of our own experience we have drawn much of our matter, and we have always felt assured that a truth which has been sanctified to our own good will not be without an unction for others. If we may lead one heart upward which otherwise had drooped, or sow in a single mind a holy purpose which else had never been conceived, we shall be grateful. The Lord send us such results in thousands of instances, and His shall be all the praise. The longer we live, the more deeply are we conscious that the Holy Spirit alone can make truth profitable to the heart; and therefore in earnest prayer we commit this volume and is companion to His care. – C.H. Spurgeon: Foreword from Evening By Evening.

Proverbs 17:12 [show/hide]ERROR: You have exceeded your quota of 5000 requests per day. Please contact the developer of this application if you have questions. (If you're the developer and have questions about this error message, please contact Crossway.)

12 Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly.

Note, 1. A passionate man is a brutish man. However at other times he may have some wisdom, take him in his passion ungoverned, and he is a fool in his folly; those are fools in whose bosom anger rests and in whose countenance anger rages. He has put off man, and is become like a bear, a raging bear, a bear robbed of her whelps; he is as fond of the gratifications of his lusts and passions as a bear of her whelps (which, though ugly, are her own), as eager in the pursuit of them as she is in quest of her whelps when they are missing, and as full of indignation if crossed in the pursuit.

2. He is a dangerous man, falls foul of every one that stands in his way, though innocent, though his friend, as a bear robbed of her whelps sets upon the first man she meets as the robber. Ira furor brevis est–Anger is temporary madness. One may more easily stop, escape, or guard against an enraged bear, than an outrageous angry man. Let us therefore watch over our own passions (lest they get head and do mischief) and so consult our own honour; and let us avoid the company of furious men, and get out of their way when they are in their fury, and so consult our own safety. Currenti cede furori–Give place unto wrath.
-Matthew Henry Commentary

Proverbs 17:13 [show/hide]ERROR: You have exceeded your quota of 5000 requests per day. Please contact the developer of this application if you have questions. (If you're the developer and have questions about this error message, please contact Crossway.)

13 Whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.

A malicious mischievous man is here represented,

1. As ungrateful to his friends. He oftentimes is so absurd and insensible of kindnesses done him that he renders evil for good. David met with those that were his adversaries for his love, Ps. 109:4 [show/hide]ERROR: You have exceeded your quota of 5000 requests per day. Please contact the developer of this application if you have questions. (If you're the developer and have questions about this error message, please contact Crossway.)
. To render evil for evil is brutish, but to render evil for good is devilish. He is an ill-natured man who, because he is resolved not to return a kindness, will revenge it.

2. As therein unkind to his family, for he entails a curse upon it. This is a crime so heinous that it shall be punished, not only in his person, but in his posterity, for whom he thus treasures up wrath. The sword shall not depart from David’s house because he rewarded Uriah with evil for his good services. The Jews stoned Christ for his good works; therefore is his blood upon them and upon their children.
- Matthew Henry Commentary

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14 The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water: therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with.

Here is, 1. The danger that there is in the beginning of strife. One hot word, one peevish reflection, one angry demand, one spiteful contradiction, begets another, and that a third, and so on, till it proves like the cutting of a dam; when the water has got a little passage it does itself widen the breach, bears down all before it, and there is then no stopping it, no reducing it.

2. A good caution inferred thence, to take heed of the first spark of contention and to put it out as soon as ever it appears. Dread the breaking of the ice, for, if once broken, it will break further; therefore leave it off, not only when you see the worst of it, for then it may be too late, but when you see the first of it. Obsta principiis–Resist its earliest display. Leave it off even before it be meddled with; leave it off, if it were possible, before you begin.
- Matthew Henry Commentary

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15 He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD.

This shows what an offence it is to God,

1. When those that are entrusted with the administration of public justice, judges, juries, witnesses, prosecutors, counsel, do either acquit the guilty or condemn those that are not guilty, or in the least contribute to either; this defeats the end of government, which is to protect the good and punish the bad, Rom. 13:3, 4 [show/hide]ERROR: You have exceeded your quota of 5000 requests per day. Please contact the developer of this application if you have questions. (If you're the developer and have questions about this error message, please contact Crossway.)
. It is equally provoking to God to justify the wicked, though it be in pity and in favorem vitæ–to safe life, as to condemn the just.

2. When any private persons plead for sin and sinners, palliate and excuse wickedness, or argue against virtue and piety, and so pervert the right ways of the Lord and confound the eternal distinctions between good and evil.
- Matthew Henry Commentary