Chapter Twenty

1–5. Exhortations to prudence, temperance, honesty, diligence, and avoiding opposite vices. 6–11. On universal human sinfulness and constant inclination to fall. 12–19. Exhortation to rely on God, diligence, and modesty. 20–23. Against disrespect to parents, theft, vengefulness, and deception. 24–30. Various exhortations to fear of God and honesty.

Proverbs 20:1. Wine is an arrogant boaster, and strong drink is riotous; and everyone who is led astray by them is not wise. Proverbs 20:2. The wrath of a king is like the roar of a lion: whoever provokes him sins against his own life. Proverbs 20:3. It is an honor for a person to stay out of strife, but every fool bursts into quarreling. Proverbs 20:4. The lazy person does not plow in season; he looks for a harvest and it is not there. Proverbs 20:5. The purposes in a person’s heart are deep waters, but a wise person will draw them out. Warning against excessive use of wine is met more than once in the Wise One’s words (see Prov 23:29 ff.); as in other places in Holy Scripture (Isa 28:7; Eph 5:18), here also drunkenness is regarded as an irresistible obstacle to clarity of spirit and consciousness—as an evil that deprives spiritual life of its normal course, in particular—of spiritual wisdom and moral perfection. V. 2 see Prov 19:12: in all these and some other places in the book of Proverbs, the king appears as an ideal force, a moral standard of true lawfulness. Then opposite qualities to true wisdom are indicated: quarrelsomeness (v. 3) and laziness (v. 4), and then a positive property of wisdom is stated—penetration, the ability to see into the hearts of people, despite the mysterious nature of the realm of inner human life (v. 5, see Prov 18:4).

Proverbs 20:6. Many will proclaim their own loyalty, but who finds a trustworthy person? Proverbs 20:7. The righteous walk in their integrity; blessed are their children after them. Proverbs 20:8. A king sitting on his throne of judgment sifts out all evil with his eyes. Proverbs 20:9. Who can say, “I have made my heart clean; I am pure from my sin”? Proverbs 20:10. Differing weights and differing measures—both of them are an abomination to the Lord. Proverbs 20:11. A child is known by his deeds, whether his conduct will be pure and right. Pharisaic self-exaltation of a person through deeds of mercy and virtues is condemned (v. 6, see Matt 6:2; Luke 18:8): true worth of a person is known only after his death, chiefly in his children (v. 7, see Sir 11:28); an impartial, unbiased and authoritative judgment of a person is also pronounced by the king (v. 3, see Prov 16:10; 1 Sam 3:27). V. 9, expressing the main thought of the section (vv. 6–11), expresses the position on the universal sinfulness of mankind, which (position) belongs to the most frequently proclaimed teachings of faith in the Old Testament (cf. Gen 6:5; 1 Sam 8:46; Job 14:4; Ps 50:7; Eccl 7:20; Sir 7:5 and others). V. 10—a particular and everyday example of sinfulness—dishonesty in commerce (see below, v. 23; Prov 11:1). V. 11 develops the thought of v. 9.

Proverbs 20:12. The hearing ear and the seeing eye—the Lord has made both of them. Proverbs 20:13. Do not love sleep, or you will become poor; keep your eyes open and you will have plenty of food. Proverbs 20:14. “Bad, bad,” says the buyer, but when he goes away, he boasts. Proverbs 20:15. There is gold and an abundance of jewels, but lips of knowledge are a precious treasure. Proverbs 20:16. Take the coat of one who has pledged security for a stranger; and hold it as a pledge for foreigners. Proverbs 20:17. Food gained by fraud is sweet to a person, but afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel. Proverbs 20:18. Preparations are established by counsel, and by strategy wage war. Proverbs 20:19. Whoever walks around as a gossip reveals secrets; and whoever opens his mouth wide cannot be trusted. Indication of God’s all-knowledge (v. 12) is given as an incentive to fear God and trust in God (see Prov 15:5; Ps 93:9). Among a series of practically useful maxims (vv. 13–14, 17) stands out the praise of wise words (v. 15), reminiscent of the praise of wisdom in general (Prov 3:14-15). Instructions against acting as a guarantor (v. 16) repeat what was said by the Wise One earlier (Prov 6:1-6); the same must be said of the prohibition of slander and gossip (v. 19 see Prov 11:13).

Proverbs 20:20. Whoever curses his father or his mother, his lamp will be put out in deep darkness. Proverbs 20:21. An inheritance claimed hastily at the beginning will not be blessed in the end. Proverbs 20:22. Do not say, “I will repay evil”; wait for the Lord, and He will help you. Proverbs 20:23. Differing weights are an abomination to the Lord, and false scales are not good. The prohibition of cursing father and mother, which is heavily punished by law (Exod 20:12; Lev 20:9), is here (v. 20) accompanied by a figurative representation (cf. Prov 13:9) of early death for the disrespectful to parents. In connection with disrespect to parents, wastefulness and dissipation by an unworthy heir regarding parental inheritance is also condemned (v. 21, see Prov 19:26). Anger at various villains, teaches the Wise One, should not serve as a basis for revenge (v. 22), since vengeance belongs to God (Prov 24:29 see Deut 32:35). V. 23 repeats the thought of v. 10.

Proverbs 20:24. From the Lord come a person’s steps; and how can a person understand his own way? Proverbs 20:25. It is a snare for a person to say rashly, “It is holy,” and only afterward to reflect on his vows. Proverbs 20:26. A wise king winnows out the wicked and drives the wheel over them. Proverbs 20:27. The lamp of the Lord is the human spirit, searching all the innermost depths of the heart. Proverbs 20:28. Mercy and truth protect the king, and by mercy he sustains his throne. Proverbs 20:29. The glory of young men is their strength, and the splendor of old men is their gray hair. Proverbs 20:30. The blows and wounds of a beating purge away evil, and strikes to the innermost parts of the belly. The thought that a person’s path is governed by God (v. 24, see Prov 16:9; Ps 36:23) stands in connection with the Old Testament and ancient Jewish conviction that God punishes the evildoer and rewards the pious; however, biblical and later Jews by no means inferred from this that a person is not responsible for his actions, good and bad. On the contrary, a person always answers and must answer for his deeds; hence—disapproval of hasty, unconsidered vows (v. 25). V. 26 see v. 7 and 28. V. 27 see Job 32:8. The meaning of v. 29 is that each age has its own advantages, and therefore no age deserves contempt. V. 30 speaks of the inwardly transforming influence of stern pedagogy on a pupil needing physical correction.