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Fundamentals of Information Systems, 8th
Edition
Ethical & Societal Issues
You Want to Put That Where?
Discussion Questions
1. A geographic information system could help to find the best location for a wind farm.
Note that the wind farm may not be:
▪ On bumpy, uneven terrain
▪ Placed near large animal populations
2. Student responses will vary. The community that will be affected should be able to
participate in defining the primary constraints.
Critical Thinking Questions
1. No. A satisficing model is one that finds a good—but not necessarily the best—
solution to a problem. On the other hand, an optimization model finds the best
solution, the one that will best help the organization meet its goals. Optimization
models use problem constraints.
2. A geographic information system can help city departments analyze the physical
infrastructure of the city to determine the best location for public and private
facilities.
Information Systems @ Work
Flaws in Group Support Systems
1. After the disaster, the president ordered a commission to investigate the incident and
to determine what went wrong. The commission was able to review the recordings
between the Thiokol and NASA teams to help with the investigation process.
2. Student responses will vary. Tracking individual contributions can be used to rank
performance.
Solutions – Chapter 6

Edition
1. Student responses will vary. Thiokol and NASA managers appear to have trusted the
system more than the engineers, who did not have enough data to determine whether
the O-rings could seal properly at lower temperatures.
2. Student responses will vary.
Review Questions
1. Decision making is a component of problem solving. In addition to the intelligence,
design, and choice steps of decision making, problem solving also includes
implementation and monitoring.
2. A satisficing model is one that finds a good—but not necessarily the best—solution to
a problem. Satisficing is used when modeling the problem properly to get an optimal
decision would be too difficult, complex, or costly. Satisficing normally does not look
at all possible solutions but only at those likely to give good results.
An optimization model finds the best solution, the one that will best help the
organization meet its goals. Optimization models use problem constraints. A limit on
the number of available work hours in a manufacturing facility is an example of a
problem constraint.
3. A well-known model developed by Herbert Simon divides the decision-making phase
of the problem-solving process into three stages: intelligence, design, and choice. The
first stage in the problem-solving process is the intelligence stage. During this stage,
you identify and define potential problems or opportunities. You also investigate
resource and environmental constraints.
In the design stage, you develop alternative solutions to the problem and evaluate
their feasibility. The last stage of the decision-making phase, the choice stage,
requires selecting a course of action.
4. Structured decisions are ones where the variables that comprise the decision are
known and can be measured quantitatively. Unstructured decisions are ones where the
variables that affect the decision cannot be measured quantitatively.
Examples include:
Operational Control Management Control Strategic Control
Structured Accounts receivable
Order entry
Inventory control
Budget analysis
Short-term forecasting
Tanker fleet mix
Warehouse and
factory location

Edition
Unstructured Critical path scheduling Sales and production Research and
development
planning
5. Heuristics, also known as “rules of thumb,” are commonly accepted guidelines or
procedures that experience has shown usually leads to a good solution. These rule-of-
thumb strategies shorten decision-making time and enable people to function without
constantly deliberating over what course of action to take. An example of a heuristic
that an organization might use to manage its assets is “Don’t allow total accounts
payable to exceed cash on hand by more than 50 percent.”
6. The output of most MISs is a collection of reports that are distributed to managers.
These include:
▪ Scheduled reports: These are produced periodically, such as daily, weekly, or
monthly.
▪ Demand reports: These are developed to provide certain information upon
request.
▪ Exception reports: These are reports automatically produced when a situation is
unusual or requires management action.
▪ Drill-down reports: These provide increasingly detailed data about a situation.
7. A profit center is an independent business unit that is treated as a distinct entity
enabling its revenues and expenses to be determined and its profitability to be
measured. A revenue center is an organizational unit that gains revenue from the sale
of products or services. Cost centers, which are divisions within a company that do
not directly generate revenue.
8. Social networking Internet sites, such as Facebook, can be used to support group
decision making. Many organizations have developed their own social networking
sites to help their employees collaborate on important projects. With Ning, for
example, companies and individuals can create their own social networking sites.
9. A marketing MIS is a system that uses data gathered from both internal and external
sources to provide reporting and aid decision making in all areas of marketing. The
primary activities include market research, product design, pricing, media selection,
advertising, selling, and channel distribution.
10. A human resource MIS (HRMIS) is concerned with activities related to previous,
current, and potential employees of the organization. Some of the activities performed
by this important MIS include workforce analysis and planning, hiring, training, job
and task assignment, and many other personnel-related issues.
11. A geographic information system (GIS) is a computer system capable of assembling,
storing, manipulating, and displaying geographically referenced information; that is,
data identified according to its location.

Edition
The Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) Maps is a geospatial
application that provides data and maps to help grantees understand how to target aid
based on where needs are greatest. For example, grantees can now see concentrated
poverty on the map.
12. Using GPS and location analysis from cell phone towers, advertisers will be able to
promote products and services in stores and shops that are close to people with cell
phones. In other words, you could receive ads on your cell phone for a burger
restaurant as you walk or drive close to it. Other marketing research companies are
performing marketing research on customer engagement and attentiveness in
responding to ads. If successful, this marketing research might result in advertisers
charging more for higher levels of customer engagement and attentiveness instead of
charging for the number of viewers of a particular advertisement.
13. Software tools used in group support systems include IBM’s Lotus Notes, Collabnet,
OpenMind, and TeamWare.
14. The components of a decision support system include the following:
Component Definition
Model base Software that coordinates the use of models in a DSS
Database Storage of data and information used by a DSS
External database
access
Interface to external data sources
Access to Internet,
networks, and other
computers
Interface to external computing resources
Dialogue manager An interface allowing decision makers to easily access and
manipulate the DSS using familiar terminology
15. A group support system, or GSS, has an objective of supporting the decision-making
process in a group or collaborative setting. A GSS is different from a DSS in several
ways. Among these are: 1) a group orientation (DSS only focuses on a single decision
maker) 2) the ability to manage multiple lines of reasoning and organize responses
and 3) its communication facilities, which offer users anonymity and the ability to be
geographically dispersed.
16. A GSS can support different decision-making approaches, including the Delphi
approach, a structured, interactive, iterative decision-making method that relies on
input from a panel of experts. Its purpose is to solicit responses from a panel of
experts regarding a particular problem or situation and hopefully converge on a
“correct” answer.

Edition
In another approach, called brainstorming, members offer ideas “off the top of their
heads,” fostering creativity and free thinking. The group consensus approach is a
group decision-making process that seeks the consent of the participants. Giving
consent does not mean that the solution being considered is a participant’s first
choice. Group members can vote their consent to a proposal because they choose to
work with the group to accomplish some result, rather than insist on their personal
preference.
The nominal group technique (NGT) is a structured method for group brainstorming
that encourages contributions from everyone. It has several advantages over simple
brainstorming. It avoids the domination of discussion by a single person and gets all
participants involved in making suggestions.
Multivoting is any one of a number of voting processes used to reduce the number of
options to be considered. For example, following the first four steps of a nominal
group technique session, the group may have identified 14 options for consideration.
17. A decision room is a room that supports decision making, includes decision makers in
the same building, and combines face-to-face verbal interaction with technology to
make the meeting more effective and efficient. It is ideal for situations in which
decision makers are located in the same building or geographic area, and the decision
makers are occasional users of the GSS approach.
1. Students should describe how they used the decision-making and problem-solving
steps discussed in this chapter to solve a recent problem.
3. Some of the activities performed by human resource MIS include workforce analysis
and planning, hiring, training, job and task assignment, and many other personnel-
related issues. Note that human resource subsystems and outputs range from the
determination of human resource needs and hiring through retirement and
outplacement. Most medium and large organizations have computer systems to assist
with human resource planning, hiring, training and skills inventorying, and wage and
salary administration.
4. Auditing involves analyzing the financial condition of an organization and
determining whether financial statements and reports produced by the financial MIS
are accurate. Because financial statements, such as income statements and balance
sheets are used by so many people and organizations (investors, bankers, insurance
companies, federal and state government agencies, competitors, and customers),
sound auditing procedures are important. Auditing can reveal potential fraud, such as
credit card fraud. It can also reveal false or misleading information.

Edition
5. Marketing MISs are critical to the sales and success of the retail and car
manufacturing industries.
6. Students should pick a company, research its human resource management
information system, and then describe how its system works and any improvements
that could be made.
7. The DSS approach has resulted in better decision making for all levels of individual
users. However, some DSS approaches and techniques are not suitable for a group
decision-making environment. A group decision support system (GSS) consists of
most of the elements in a DSS, plus software to provide effective support in group
decision-making settings. Group decision support systems are used in business
organizations, nonprofits, government units, and the military. They are also used
between companies when the firms are involved in the same supply chain.
8. Many organizations contain a tangled web of complex rules, procedures, and
decisions. DSSs are used to bring more structure to these problems in order to aid the
decision-making process.
A management information system (MIS) is an integrated collection of people,
procedures, databases, and devices that provides managers and decision makers with
information to help achieve organizational goals. MISs can often give companies and
other organizations a competitive advantage by providing the right information to the
right people in the right format and at the right time.
Transaction processing systems or enterprise systems capture transactions entered by
workers in all functional areas of the business. These systems then create the
associated general ledger records to track the financial impact of the transaction.
A decision support system (DSS) is an organized collection of people, procedures,
software, databases, and devices used to help make decisions that solve problems.
The focus of a DSS is on decision-making effectiveness when faced with unstructured
or semistructured business problems.
9. When conducting this discussion, remind students that a group decision support
system provides features, in addition to those offered by a DSS, specifically designed
to support group interaction. In a group environment, decision making becomes more
complex. Each member brings a variety of experiences, opinions, and education to
the session. As a result, what seems intuitive to one person may be ludicrous to
another. The variety of opinions and backgrounds help make the GDSS a powerful
tool. Synergy can result from group interaction.
Challenges for the information system involved with group decision making include
finding ways to extract information from members (facilitate information exchange)
and finding ways to manage and organize this information to ensure it can be fully
utilized.

Edition
Advantages of making group decisions include more input, a wider variety of
experiences to draw from, and group synergy. Disadvantages include negative group
behaviors, failure to accept accountability, information overload, groupthink, and
difficulties in reaching a conclusion.
10. The new GSS needs to include the following features:
• Decision-making support
• Anonymous input
• Reduction of negative group behavior
• Parallel communication
• Automated record keeping
Problem-Solving Exercises
1. Students should use the Internet to identify two GSS software solutions that can be
used to facilitate group decision making.
2. Students should use the data in Table 6.5 to prepare a set of bar charts that show the
data for this year compared with data from last year.
3. As the head buyer for a major supermarket chain, students should develop a simple
spreadsheet DSS program that can be used to estimate the change in profits from
adding or deleting items from inventory.
Team Activities
1. Students use the Internet to identify three GSS software solutions that can be used to
facilitate group decision making.
2. Students should make a group decision to identify ways to improve their grade in this
course.
3. Students should work in teams to design a human resource MIS for a medium-sized
retail store.
Web Exercises
1. Students should use the Internet to find an example of an external audit that
uncovered serious problems at an organization.
2. Students should use the Internet to explore applications for smartphones and tablet
computers that can be used in decision making.

Edition
3. Students should search the Internet using Yahoo!, Google, or another search engine to
find software packages that offer optimization features, and then write a report
describing one or two of the optimization software packages.
Career Exercises
1. Students should give list three types of reports that could help them make better
decisions on the job.
2. Students should describe the features of a decision support system that they would
want.
Case Studies
Case One: DSS Dashboards Spur Business Growth at Irish Life
1. A lot of the tools available were only IT tools and only IT people could use
them. Irish Life needed software that its business managers could use in their
decision making without having to become technical specialists.
2. Student response will vary. Note that it is essential that users of a DSS be
properly trained in how to interact with the system to obtain information.
1. Workforce data is one example of the type of information that Life needs to analyze.
2. Customers can speak with better informed financial experts or they can go online and
access their own pension information and estimate what financial resources they will
have in the future depending on their own pension choices.
Case Two: Mando: Streaming Inventory Management for Growth
1. Student responses will vary. Factors to be considered:
▪ What are the basic requirements for the ERP system?
▪ Is there a qualified programmer on staff?
▪ How much time would it take to program the reports?
▪ Cost

Edition
2. The transition from mechanical to electronic controls involves more than just
replacing one part with a slightly different one. In making these inventory decisions,
reports must be used along with sales forecasts and careful analysis to ensure that the
right amounts of the right items are on hand.
1. Daily reports include scheduled reports and key indicator reports. Monthly reports
include scheduled reports and drill-down reports.
2. Student responses will vary. If part numbers were not standardized across the
factories, inventory tracking would be difficult and prone to errors.
Questions for Web Case
Altitude Online: Information and Decision Support System Considerations
1. MISs are at the heart of its financial management, providing profit and loss reports
and multiple views of transaction information over time to assist with auditing and
financial planning. Managers and decision makers are provided with daily key
indicator reports, as well as monthly and quarterly reports that compare current
profits and earnings to those from previous years. Altitude Online uses MISs in its
human resources department to manage employee records, insurance and benefits
packages, salaries, and vacation time.
2. MISs and decision support systems (DSSs) also play an important role in Altitude
Online’s product line. Altitude Online provides its clients with software tools that
analyze traffic on their Web sites, providing useful information such as what pages
capture the interest of visitors and which visitors are likely to make purchases.
1. Altitude Online is integrating its MISs into the new Enterprise Resource Planning
(ERP) system. Doing so allows Altitude Online to merge the MISs scattered across its
locations and divisions into one cohesive system. After unifying these systems, the
company’s top executives will be able to capture snapshots of the state of the
enterprise at any given time.

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It is better to be the beast of a righteous man than the son of a wicked
man; nay, it is better to be the beast of a righteous man than to be a
wicked man. For the righteous will do right unto his beast; the merciful
man hath sense of mercy wheresoever is sense of misery, and while in
mercy he regardeth the life of the beast that is beneath him, he is made
like unto God, who is so far above him. But the wicked man’s tender
mercies are “mercies of the cruel,” or else his tender mercies are cruel,
hurting as much as severe cruelty; and therefore many times a wicked
father’s fond affection is the utter undoing of a petted child, and
sparing pity, where evil should be chastised, is the breeding nurse of
mischief which cannot be helped. The fond mercies whereby the
wicked favoureth himself in sloth and idleness, whereby he pleaseth
himself with pleasures and delights, whereby he pampereth himself
with delicate and luscious meats, whereby he restraineth not his lusts
and desires—what are they but cruelties whereby he tormenteth his
body with sickness and quickly killeth it, and whereby he wilfully
destroyeth his soul.—Jermin.
The worldly care of a high prosperous man may seem very tender to
those dependent on him and towards others; but the very tenderness
of an impenitent example is the higher snare, the tender mercies of the
wicked are cruel. . . . Religion has no austerities that make a true saint
careless of the life or feelings even of his beast. On the contrary, it
breeds the most pervading tenderness; whereas the wise worldling,
however careful of his home and tender towards all who have any claim
upon his care, yet in admitting that there is a hell, and neglecting all
prayer for his household, and all example, except one that braves the
worst, breeds children simply to destroy them.—Miller.
The tender mercies of the wicked are when base and guilty men are
spared that should be smitten with the sword of justice. Pity of this
sort is more cruel than cruelty itself. For cruelty is exercised upon
individuals, but the pity, by granting impunity, arms and sends forth
against innocent men the whole army of evil doers.—Lord Bacon.
We have been used to hear much of the benevolence of infidels and the
philanthropy of deists. It is all a pretence. Self is the idol and self-

indulgence the object, in the accomplishment of which they are little
scrupulous about the means. Where self is the idol, the heart is cruel.
While they talk of universal charity, they regard not the cruelty of
robbing thousands of the consolations of religion. . . . While they
speak of harmless gaiety and pleasure they would treacherously
corrupt piety and pollute unsuspecting innocence.—Holden.
The word “regard” is of twofold application, and may either apply to
the moral or the intellectual part of our nature. In the one it is the
regard of attention; in the other it is the regard of sympathy or
kindness. But we do not marvel at the term having been applied to two
different things, for they are most intimately associated. They act and
re-act upon each other. If the heart be very alive to any particular set of
emotions the mind will be alert in singling out the peculiar objects
which excite them; so, on the other hand, that the emotions be
specifically felt the objects must be specifically noticed. . . . So much is
this the case that Nature seems to have limited and circumscribed our
power of noticing just for the purpose of shielding us from too
incessant a sympathy. . . . If man, for instance, looked upon Nature
with a microscopic eye his sensibilities would be exposed to the torture
of a perpetual offence from all possible quarters of contemplation, or, if
through habit these sensibilities were blunted, what would become of
character in the extinction of delicacy of feeling? . . . There is,
furthermore, a physical inertness of our reflective faculties, an opiate
infused, as it were, into the recesses of our mental economy, by which
objects, when out of sight, are out of mind, and it is to some such
provision, we think that much of the heart’s purity, as well as its
tenderness, is owing; and it is well that the thoughts of the spirit
should be kept, though even by the weight of its own lethargy, from too
busy a converse with objects which are alike offensive and hazardous to
both. . . . But there is a still more wondrous limitation than this. . . .
The sufferings of the lower animals may be in sight, and yet out of
mind. This is strikingly exemplified in the sports of the field, in the
midst of whose varied and animating bustle that cruelty, which is all
along present to the senses, may not, for one moment, be present to
the thoughts. . . . It touches not the sensibilities of the heart, but just

because it is never present to the notice of the mind. The followers of
this occupation are reckless of pain, but this is not rejoicing in pain.
Theirs is not the delight of savage, but the apathy of unreflecting
creatures. . . . We are inclined to carry this principle must further. We
are not sure if, within the whole compass of humanity, fallen as it is,
there be such a thing as delight in suffering for its own sake. But,
without hazarding a controversy on this, we hold it enough for every
practical object that much, and perhaps the whole of the world’s
cruelty, arises not from the enjoyment that is felt in consequence of
others’ pain, but from the enjoyment that is felt in spite of it. . . . But a
charge of the foulest delinquency may be made up altogether of wants
or of negatives; and just as the human face, by the mere want of some
of its features, although there should not be any inversion of them,
might be an object of utter loathsomeness to beholders, so the human
character, by the mere absence of certain habits or sensibilities which
belong ordinarily and constitutionally to our species, may be an object
of utter abomination in society. The want of natural affection forms
one article of the Apostle’s indictment against our world; and certain it
is enough for the designation of a monster. The mere want of religion is
enough to make a man an outcast from his God. Even to the most
barbarous of our kind you apply, not the term of anti-humanity, but of
inhumanity—not the term of anti-sensibility; and you hold it enough
for the purpose of branding him for general execration that you
convicted him of complete and total insensibility. . . . We count it a
deep atrocity that, unlike to the righteous man of our text, he simply
does not regard the life of a beast. . . . The true principle of his
condemnation is that he ought to have regarded. . . . Our text rests the
whole cause of the inferior animals on one moral element, which is in
respect of principle, and on one practical method, which is, in respect
of efficacy, unquestionable: “A righteous man regardeth the life of his
beast.” Let a man be but righteous in the general and obvious sense of
the word, and let the regard of his attention be but directed to the case
of the inferior animals, and then the regard of his sympathy will be
awakened to the full extent at which it is either duteous or
desirable. . . . The lesson is not the circulation of benevolence within
the limits of one species. It is the transmission of it from one species to

another. The first is but the charity of a world; the second is the charity
of a universe. Had there been no such charity, no descending current
of love and liberality from species to species, what would have become
of ourselves? Whence have we learned this attitude of lofty unconcern
about the creatures who are beneath us? Not from those ministering
spirits who wait upon the heirs of salvation. . . . Not from that mighty
and mysterious visitant who unrobed Him of all His glories, and bowed
down His head unto the sacrifice, and still, from the seat of His now
exalted mediatorship, pours forth His intercessions and His calls in
behalf of the race He died for. Finally, not from the eternal Father of all,
in the pavilion of whose residence there is the golden treasury of all
those bounties and beatitudes that roll over the face of nature, and
from the footstool of whose empyreal throne there reaches a golden
chain of providence to the very humblest of His family.—Chalmers.
He prayeth best who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God that loveth us,
He made and loveth all.—Coleridge.
main homiletics of verse 11.
Satisfaction from Tillage.
I. Satisfaction as the result of tillage depends—1. Upon the
performance of a Divine promise. It is long ago since God gave Noah the
promise that “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and
cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not
cease” (Gen. ix. 22), and it has been so invariably fulfilled that men
have come to forget upon whom they are depending—in whom they
are exercising faith—when they plough the ground and sow the seed.
God’s regularity in His performance has bred in men a contempt for
the promise and the promise maker. Men speak of the laws of nature
and ignore the fact that it is by the Word of the Lord that the “rain
cometh down and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither,

but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may
give seed to the sower and bread to the eater” (Isa. lv. 10). But so it is.
The promise is the power that set the laws in motion at first and that
have kept them in motion ever since. There can be no tillage without
dependence upon God either acknowledged or unacknowledged. The
promise is an absolute one, and implies power in God to fulfil it to the
end of time. It can never fail unless God’s power fail, or unless He break
His Word; these are blessed impossibilities with Him. Therefore, so far
as God is concerned the shall of the text is absolute. But it depends
likewise—2. Upon man’s fulfilment of their duties. First, it is not all
tillage that will satisfy a man with bread, the tillage must be
painstaking and intelligent. The promise of God does not set aside the
necessity for the man to be very laborious and to study carefully the
nature and needs of the soil which he tills. Agriculture is a science
which must be acquired—a man must learn how to till the ground.
God claims to be man’s instructor in this matter (Isa. xxviii. 26). Then,
again, it must be his land that he tills, not land taken by fraud or
violence from another. Neither if a man tills the land of another as his
servant is he always paid sufficient wages to be satisfied with bread. But
this is the greed of man interfering with God’s ordination.
II. The promise suggests symbolic teaching. We may look at it in
relation to the human spirit. As land must be ploughed and sown with
painstaking intelligence if a man is to have the satisfaction of reaping a
harvest, so the human soul must be the object of spiritual tillage if it is
ever to yield any satisfaction to God or man. There is very much to be
got out of the land, but no man can obtain the full blessing unless he
cultivate it. So it is with the man himself. A human soul left to lie
barren can never become as a “field which the Lord hath blessed.” 1. It
must be prepared to receive the words of God. The “fallow ground”
must be broken up, lest the sowing be “among thorns” (Jer. iv. 3), or the
seed fall where it can find no entrance (Hosea x. 12; Matt. xiii. 4).
2. Good seed must be sown. The word of God (Mark iv. 14), that
“incorruptible seed” by which men are “born again” (1 Pet. i. 23). 3. And
the spiritual sower must be persevering and prayerful. It is true of
natural tillage that “He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he

that regardeth the clouds shall not reap” (Eccles. xi. 4); it is equally so
of soul-husbandry. The world, the flesh, and the devil will be always
putting difficulties in the way of a man’s caring for his “own soul.” But
these obstacles must be surmounted, and if the seed is watered by
prayer God will assuredly send down the rain of the Holy Ghost. 4. And
in spiritual tillage there is also a certainty of satisfaction. This also
depends upon not one Divine promise but upon many—upon the
revelation of God as a whole. (Upon the opposite character—him “that
followeth vain persons,” or vanity, instead of tilling his land or his
spiritual nature—see Homiletics on chapters vi. 11 and x. 5, pages 79
and 147.)
outlines and suggestive comments.
We might have expected that the antithesis of the second clause would
have ended with “shall lack bread,” but the real contrast goes deeper.
Idleness leads to a worse evil than that of hunger.—Plumptre.
Vain persons or “empty people”—most signally the impenitent—for
they are empty of all good. “That follows after empty people” is a fine
characteristic of the impenitent man’s decline. Following others is the
commonest influence to destroy the soul.—Miller.
Special honour is given to the work of tilling the land. God assigned it
to Adam in Paradise. It is the employment of his eldest son. In ancient
times it was the business or relaxation of kings. A blessing is ensured to
diligence, sometimes abundant, always such as we should be satisfied
with.—Bridges.
Of all the arts of civilised man agriculture is transcendently the most
essential and valuable. Other arts may contribute to the comfort, the
convenience, and the embellishment of life, but the cultivation of the
soil stands in immediate connection with our very existence. The life
itself, to whose comfort, convenience, and embellishment other arts
contribute, is by this sustained, so that others without it can avail
nothing.—Wardlaw.

The only two universal monarchs practised husbandry. . . . Some
people think that they cannot have enough unless they have more than
the necessaries and decent comforts of life: but we are here instructed
that bread should satisfy our desires. Having food and raiment, let us
be therewith content. There are few that want these, and yet few are
content. . . . To be satisfied with bread is a happy temper of mind, and
is commonly the portion of the man of industry, which not only
procures bread, but gives it a relish unknown to men that are above
labour.—Lawson.
Sin brought in sweat (Gen. iii. 19), and now not to sweat increaseth
sin. . . . “But he that followeth vain persons,” etc. it is hard to be a good
fellow and a good husband too.—Trapp.
Here is encouragement to those who travail in husbandry. They are of
as good note with God for their service, if they be faithful, as others
whose trades are more gainful, and better esteemed among men. The
merchants, and goldsmiths, and others of such places, are not so often
mentioned in Scripture as they be, nor animated with so many
consolations as they are. The grand promises for blessing on their
labour are made to them in special, and the rest must deduct their
comforts from thence by proportion.—Dod.
In a moral point of view the life of the agriculturist is the most pure
and holy of any class of men; pure, because it is the most healthful,
and holy, because it brings the Deity perpetually before his view, giving
him thereby the most exalted notions of supreme power, and the most
fascinating and endearing view of moral benignity.—Sir B. Maltravers.
Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates and men decay;
Princes and lords may flourish, or may fade;
A breath can make them, as a breath has made:
But a bold peasantry, their country’s pride,
When once destroyed, can never be supplied.—
Goldsmith.

main homiletics of the paragraph.—Verses 12–14.
The Desire of Wicked Men and the Fruit of Righteousness.
I. Concerning wicked men we have—1. A blessed instance of their
inability to do all they desire. Verse 12 speaks of their “desiring the net
of evil men”—of their reaching out after larger opportunities of
ensnaring their fellow-creatures than they have at their command at
present. The desires and abilities of good men are not always equally
balanced. They have more desire to be good and to do good than they
have ability to be or to do. The first teachers of Christianity desired a
“net” that should enclose all to whom they preached the gospel, and
this has been the desire of godly men ever since. They desire a “net” in
which to catch their fellow-creatures for their good, but their ability
always comes short of their desires. This is a saddening truth, but there
is no denying the fact. But “the net of evil men” desired by the wicked
is one in which to entrap men to their hurt. In this case it is a matter of
rejoicing that their desires and their ability are not balanced. If
ungodly men had their desires fulfilled they would soon transform the
world into a mirror in which they would see them reflected in every
human creature. We ought ever to give thanks to God that wicked men
lack power to do all they desire to do to good men, and that they
cannot even go to the length of their aspirations even with other
ungodly men. They hate each other often with deep hatred, and human
and Divine law alone prevents the world from being turned into a hell
by the fulfilment of their desires against each other. There are
outstanding debts always waiting to be settled whenever a net can be
found large enough to entrap the victim, but God’s providence is a
larger net, and so arranges the events of human life that wicked men
are often prevented from committing greater crimes then they do
against each other. 2. Retribution falling upon them. A net is laid, and
prey is ensnared, but it is he who desired to entrap his brother who “is
snared by the transgression of his own lips” (ver. 13). It is as certain as
that water will find its level that men who lay traps for others will be
entrapped themselves (see chap. xi. 8). And this will come about not by

another man’s laying a net for them but by their own plans being
turned against them. Thus Haman made a snare for his own feet by the
“transgression of his own lips” when he sought to persuade Ahasuerus
that “it was not for his profit to suffer the Jews” (Esther iii. 8). He
thought this net would enclose Mordecai, but it enwrapped himself in
its meshes. So when Daniel’s enemies laid their plans against him.
Many a time has a godly man had occasion to sing David’s song, “The
heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made; in the net which they
hid is their own foot taken” (Psa. ix. 15). It is a law of God’s government.
“He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity” (Rev. xiii. 10). This
is the “recompense which shall be rendered unto” the man who lays
plans to injure others (ver. 14).
II. Concerning righteous men we have—1. A godly character
springing from a root of piety. The principal thing to be aimed at in
building a house is to get a good foundation; if the foundation be
insecure, the house will be worthless. That which makes a healthy
fruit-bearing tree is a healthy, strong root; however fair the branches
may at present look, they will soon betray any disease at the seat of its
life. The root of a man’s character is his desire; if the desire is righteous,
he is a righteous—though not a perfect—man. As the wicked man was
made by his evil desire, so the good man is made by his desires after
that which is true and benevolent. 2. That which is yielded by such a
root. (1) Deliverance. He is delivered from the net laid for him by the
evil counsels of the wicked. His character is often the means of
bringing him into trouble, but the same character is a guarantee that
he shall come out of it. The time of trouble is by permission or by
appointment of God, and it is only for a limited time. Job and Joseph
were both brought into trouble because their characters awakened the
envy—the one of angelic, the other of human sinners; but their
histories are left on record to show to all just men, who find themselves
in similar circumstances from the same cause, what the “end of the
Lord” is, and will be to them (Jas. v. 11). There must come a final and
blessed deliverance from all trouble for those who yield the fruit of a
holy life from the root of a holy character (Rev. xxi. 4). (2) Satisfaction
(verse 14). One of the fruits of a righteous man will be his holy and wise

speech—speech which blesses men in opposition to that
“transgression of the lips” which is meant to injure them (verse 13).
From this “fruit of the mouth” he shall be “satisfied with good”—he will
have the reward of knowing that his words bless others, and this will be
to him a source of satisfaction. Or his wise speech may be the means of
bringing him material good and temporal honour.
Verse 12. Man is always restless to press onwards to something not yet
enjoyed. The wicked emulate each other in wickedness, and if they see
evil men more successful than themselves, desire their net (Psa. x. 8–
10; Jer. v. 26–28).—Bridges.
The words are somewhat obscure, both in the original and in the
translation. The meaning, however, seems as follows: The “net of evil
men,” as in chap. i. 17, is that in which they are taken—the judgment of
God in which they are ensnared. This they run into with such a blind
infatuation that it seems as if they were in love with their own
destruction. The marginal “fortress” (a meaning given to the feminine
form in Isa. xxix. 7; Ezek. xix. 9) gives the thought that the wicked seek
the protection of others like themselves, but seek in vain the “root of
the just” (i.e., that in them which is fixed and stable), alone yields that
protection. The latter rendering is, on the whole, preferable.—
Plumptre.
Some render the latter clause, He (i.e., the Lord) will give a root of the
righteous; that is, will enable them to stand firm.—Wordsworth.
The impenitent does not prefer to work the soil of his soul, as in the
last verse, but is in hopes to gain by something easier; he likes to seize
as in the chase, or as robbers do. He likes to seize without having
produced or earned. But the righteous not only goes through solid
processes of piety, but (another intensive clause, chap. xi. 14) earns for
others, as well as for himself. While impenitence would take heaven as

in a net, religion works for it, and, in so doing, “gives” or “yields.”—
Miller.
The word “net” may be understood of any means by which the wealth
and honours of the world may be acquired. Thus it is used in
Habakkuk i. 13–17. The net described here is that of the oppressor, who
regards his fellow-men as of any value only as he can render them
conducive to his own benefit and aggrandisement, and who uses them
accordingly, and when his oppressive powers prove successful vaunts
himself in the power and the skill by which the means has been
secured. There seems to be a special reference, in the verse before us, to
illegitimate or fraudulent means. When “the wicked” see the devices of
“evil men” succeed, they desire to try the same arts. . . . If, in any case,
conscience should remonstrate and restrain, and will not allow them to
go quite so far, that yet envy, and regret their restraints. They still desire
the net, even when they can’t bring themselves to use it. They wish
they could get over their scruples, and, in this state of mind, the
probability is that by and by they will. The “root of the righteous”
might be understood as meaning the fixed, settled, stable principle of
the righteous, and the sentiment may be, and it is an important one,
that, acting on rooted principle, the righteous may and will ultimately
prosper. I incline, however, to think that “the net” signifies the varied
artifice, cunning, and fraud employed to gain riches quickly, the root of
the righteous may rather represent the source of his revenue or income;
and, in opposition to the art of making rich quickly, to excite the
surprise and the envy of others, a steady, firmly-established, regularly;
and prudently and justly-conducted business, bringing in its profits
fairly and moderately, as a tree, deeply-rooted in the soil, draws thence
its natural nourishment, and, “receiving blessing from God,” brings
forth its fruit in due season. The two views are closely, if not
inseparably, connected.—Wardlaw.
The wicked seek their good from without; the righteous have it within,
their own root, deep and firmly sunk, supplying it.—Fausset.
He so furiously pursueth his lusts, as if he desired destruction; as if he
would outdare God Himself; as if the guerdon of his gracelessness

would not come time enough, but he must needs run to meet it. Thus
thrasonical Lamech (Gen. iv. 23) thinks to have the odds of God
seventy to seven. Thus the princes of the Philistines, whilst plagued,
came up to Mizpeh against Israel, as it were, to fetch their bane (1 Sam.
vii.).—Trapp.
Verse 13. The words saphah (lip) and lashon (tongue) occur, the first in
verses 13, 19, 22, the second in verses 18, 19 in the chapter. The former
occurs about forty-five times in this book; and the words connected
with them, such as strife, wrath, slander, scorn, and their contraries,
love, peace, truth, etc., are very frequent, showing the importance to be
attached to the right government of the tongue.—Wordsworth.
Matters are so arranged, in the constitution of the world, that the
straight course of truth is safe and easy; the crooked path of falsehood
difficult and tormenting. Here is perennial evidence that the God of
providence is wise and true. By making lies a share to catch liars in, the
Author of being proclaims, even in the voices of nature, that He
“requireth truth in the inward parts.” “The just shall come out of
trouble;” that is the word; it is not said he shall never fall into it. The
inventory which Jesus gives of what His disciples shall have “now in
this time,” although it contains many things that nature loves, closes
with the article “persecutions” (Mark x. 30). . . . Those who wave their
palms of victory and sing their jubilant hymns of praise, were all in the
horrible pit once.—Arnot.
All human conduct is represented by the lips (verse 6 and chap. xiv. 3).
The tongue is a foremost business agent. The impenitent, though he
may stand out very clear, and see no tokens of a net, yet, as his life is
false his not seeing the snare shows only how the more insidiously he
may be entangled in. While the righteous, though he may be born to
the snare; originally contemned; and though he may be caught in the
toils of great worldly evil, yea, of sin itself; yet out of the very jaw of the
trap where he may have foolishly entered, he will in the end by helped
to get out.—Miller.

They (the just) suffer sometimes for their bold and free invectives
against the evils of the times, but they shall surely be delivered. . . .
John Baptist, indeed, was, without any law, right, and reason, beheaded
in prison as though God had known nothing at all of him, said George
Marsh, the martyr. And the same may be said of sundry other
witnesses to the truth, but then by death they entered into life
eternal. . . . Besides that heaven upon earth they had during their
troubles. . . . The best comforts are usually reserved for the worst times.
—Trapp.
Verse 14. Albeit the opening of the mouth is a small matter; yet, when
it is done in wisdom, it shall be recompensed by the Lord with great
blessing. For such as use their tongues to God’s glory, and the
edification of their brethren, instructing them and exhorting them
from day to day, shall be loved by God and man, and taste many good
things. Now, as good words, so good works shall be rewarded. For the
recompense of a man’s hands shall reward him; not only shall the
wicked be plagued for their evil doing, but the godly shall be blessed
for their well-doing.—Muffet.
This is the whole question of capital and labour put in a nutshell. All is
not to be claimed by the hands, for there is the mouth that directs and
orders. As much is not to be claimed by the hands, for the Bible is a
good, truthful book, and it claims for the mind more than for the
muscle. (See this distinction in Eccles. x. 10.) “A man of the better sort,”
with his education, and expensive capital, earns more, according to the
inspired Solomon, than the “labouring man.” What he demands of the
Christian gentleman is, that he shall make an estimate of all this, and,
while he keeps himself “the earnings of the mouth,” he render carefully
to the labourer the wages of his hands. We have no authority for this
interpretation. We present it as unquestionably just. The translation it
would be hard to give literally. But the words are about thus: “From the
fruit of the mouth of a man of the better class, a good man will be
satisfied; and the wage (lit. the work) of the hands of a common man he
will render to him.” This fair, calculating spirit, in all questions between
man and man, not tending to communism on the one hand and not

yielding to tyranny on the other, is the true spirit of the inspired
Gospel.—Miller.
There are “empty vines that bear fruit unto themselves” (Hosea x. 1).
And as empty casks sound loudest, and base metal rings shrillest, so
many empty tattlers are full of discourse. Much fruit will redound by
holy speeches to ourselves—much to others. Paul showeth that the
very report of his bonds did a great deal of good in Cæsar’s house (Phil.
i. 14). . . . One seasonable truth, falling upon a prepared heart, hath oft
a strong and sweet influence. Sometimes, also, although we know that
which we ask of others as well as they do, yet good speeches will draw
us to know it better by giving occasion to speak more of it, wherewith
the Spirit works most effectually, and imprints it deeper, so that it shall
be a more rooted knowledge than before.—Trapp.
main homiletics of verses 15 and 16.
Two Examples of Foolishness and Wisdom.
I. The man who guides his life by his own self-conceit—rejecting
the advice of others. No finite creature possesses sufficient wisdom
within himself to direct his path through life. The largest and deepest
rivers are dependent upon small streams to sustain their volume of
water, and each little stream again must be fed from a source outside
itself, and the springs which feed the streams have their origin in the
ocean’s fulness. So the very greatest minds are in some things
dependent upon minds which in many things are their inferior, and it
is a mark of wisdom to acknowledge this, and to be willing to take
advice of anyone who is able to give it upon matters in which they are
better informed. Thus men are led to exercise a mutual dependence on
each other, and all to depend upon Him whose wisdom is the parent of
all finite counsel that is of any value. (1) A man who will not
acknowledge and act upon this principle is a fool, because he
practically shuts his eyes to a self-evident fact, and denies that he is a
member of a race, the members of which are evidently intended to

supply each other’s lack in such a manner as to form a mutually
dependent body. It is in human society as it is in the individual human
body—“the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor
again the head to the feet, I have no need of you” (1 Cor. xii. 21), or if
they do say so they only proclaim their great want of wisdom. (2) He is
a fool because he declines to profit by the experience of men in the
past. To recur to the simile of the human body, it is intended to live
upon material outside itself, and a man is counted insane who refused
to take food. So we are intended to profit by the experience of men who
have lived before us, and it is quite as foolish to set it aside as useless to
us as it is to refuse to eat in order to live. It is indeed like expecting to
keep in health and strength by consuming one’s own flesh. No man
does actually and in all cases refuse to profit by the wisdom and
experience of others, but he is foolish in proportion as he does so.
(3) He is a fool because he is so declared by the highest authority. God
by His offers of guidance, by the very existence of the Bible, declares
that men need counsel. (See upon this subject Homiletics on chap.
iii. 7, 8, page 34.) The human soul is like a blind Samson, because of
the blinding nature of sin relative and sin personal, and all its
endeavours to find a right way without harkening to Divine counsel
only result in stumbles and wounds, and finally, if persisted in, in
moral ruin. All a man’s endeavours only increase his misery, until he
take the counsel offered him by God. He is like a shipwrecked mariner
suffering from raging thirst having drunk of the briny water, every
draught only increases the disease, and nothing can save him but
drinking of pure water. (4) This man is his own destroyer. It is bad to be
ruined by the temptations of others, but there is this advantage, we can
fall back upon the excuse of our first parents: “The woman gave me of
the tree and I did eat,” or “the serpent beguiled me” (Gen. iii. 12, 13).
But when a man’s rejection of counsel ruins him, he finds himself in a
“blind alley,” from which there is not even the outlet of an excuse.
II. The passionate man. This is often the companion of self-conceit
and is indeed a proof of it. If a man is unable to hold a restive horse
well in hand, it proves that he has not taken lessons in horsemanship.
If a man cannot steer a vessel in ordinary circumstances without

running her upon the rocks, it shows that he has not learned the art of
navigation. A man who cannot keep his anger from over-mastering him
—who cannot keep a firm hold of the rudder of his own spirit—
proclaims that he has not subjected himself to moral discipline, that
he has disdained to learn the art of moral rulership. Such a man is a
fool, because a man in passion is always despised by others, he often
utters words which he would afterwards give much to recall, and
generally ends by losing his own self-respect.
III. In contrast to this character stands the man who is in all
respects the opposite—him whose character is sketched in the first
clause of these verses, who “loveth instruction” (ver. 1) who
acknowledges that “he is a stranger in the earth and needs Divine
guidance” (Psa. cxix. 19), that “the way of man is not himself; it is not
in man that walketh to direct his step” (Jer. x. 23.—See homiletics on
chap. x. 8, page 151). Such a man is willing to listen to the advice of any
who are capable of giving it, and his prudence in this matter is
generally accompanied by an ability to “cover shame”—to take a
reproof or an insult in silence. He has learned to take George Herbert’s
advice—
“Command thyself in chief. He life’s war knows
Whom all his passions follow as he goes.”
Verse 15. All through our lost nature the truth of this proverb is visible.
A man may be on the road to hell, but think that he is fair for heaven. A
man may build by rapine, but think that he is the pink of fair dealing.
A man is not a judge about himself. A Christian, therefore, will feel
this, and while the impenitent is hard as to his own right, the Christian
will be humble, and will be glad, in reasonable ways, to leave his duties
to be advised upon by others.—Miller.
We have one great “Counsellor” Messiah, who is made unto us
“wisdom” (Isa. ix. 6; 1 Cor. i. 30). Let us “hearken unto” Him (chap.

i. 33).—Fausset.
And such a fool is every natural man (Job xi. 12); wise enough, haply in
his generation—so is the fox too—wise with such wisdom as, like the
ostrich’s wings, makes him outrun others upon earth, but helps him
never a whit towards heaven.—Trapp.
The worse any man is, or doth, the less he seeth his evil. They that
commit the most sins have hope that they stand guilty of fewest; they
that fall into greatest transgressions, imagine that their faults be the
smallest; they that sink into the deepest dangers do dream of greatest
safety; they that have longest continued in rebellion against God, of all
others, for the most part are slowest to repentance. . . . St. Paul
testifieth that when he was in the worst case, he knew nothing but that
he had been in the best.—Dod.
Every man’s way is, and must be, in some degree, acceptable to himself,
otherwise he would never have chosen it. But, nevertheless, whoever is
wise, will be apt to suspect and be diffident of himself. Let men’s
abilities be ever so great, and their knowledge ever so extensive, still
they ought not, and without great danger and inconvenience cannot,
trust wholly and entirely to themselves. For those abilities and that
knowledge easily may be, and often are, rendered useless by the
prejudices and prepossessions of men’s own minds. Nothing is more
common than for men’s appetites and affections to bribe their
judgments, and seduce them into erroneous ways of thinking and
acting. They are often entangled and set fast, not through the want of
light and knowledge, not through any defect of their heads, but
through the deceitfulness of their hearts. In many cases where they
could easily direct other men, they suffer themselves to be misled, and
are driven into the snare by the strength of inclination, or by the force
of habit. . . . This acquired darkness, this voluntary incapacity, as well
as the wont of counsel thereby occasioned, nowhere appears more
frequently, or more remarkably, than in the transaction of our spiritual
concerns, and what relates to the discharge of our duty. “The way of
Man,” says our royal author, “is right in his own eyes,” though the end
“thereof be the ways of death.” When we have wandered out of the

road, and almost lost ourselves in bye-paths, we can make ourselves
believe that we have continued all the while in the highway to truth
and happiness. . . . But, however lightly we may esteem the helps and
directions of men, shall we not attend to the counsels of Our Heavenly
Father, and the admonitions of the Most High? Can we have more
regard to what is “right in our own eyes” than to what is right in His?—
Balguy.
Verse 16. “Covereth,” with the mantle of patience and charity, instead of
exasperating himself, and losing self-control by dwelling on the
indignity of the word or deed, and the worthlessness of the injurer. He
does not publish the act to the discredit of the other, but consults for
the reputation of the other, lest he should add sin to the injury
suffered.—Fausset.
Truly is wrath called shame. For is it not a shame that unruly passions
should, as it were, trample reason under foot, disfigure even the
countenance, and subjugate the whole man to a temporary madness?
(Dan. iii. 19.)—Bridges.
A fool hath no power over his passions. Like tow, he is soon kindled;
like a pot, he soon boils; and like a candle whose tallow is mixed with
brine, as soon as lighted he spits up and down the room. “A fool
uttereth all his mind” (chap. xxix. 11). The Septuagint renders it “all his
anger.” For, as the Hebrews well note in a proverb they have, “A man’s
mind is soonest known in his purse, in his drink, and in his anger.” But
“A wise man covereth shame” by concealing his wrath, or rather by
suppressing it when it would break forth to his disgrace, or the just
grief of another. This was Saul’s wisdom (1 Sam. x. 27); and Jonathan’s
(1 Sam. xx. 34); and Ahasuerus’s, when, in a rage against Haman, he
walked into the garden. The philosopher wished Augustine, when
angry, to say over the Greek alphabet.—Trapp.
The meaning of the Holy Ghost is not here to condemn all kinds of
anger, for it is one of the powers of the soul which God created as an
ornament in men, and godly anger is a part of God’s image in him, and

a grace commended in Moses, Elijah, etc., and our Saviour Himself,
and he that is always altogether destitute of this doth provoke God to
be angry with him, for want of zeal and hatred of sin; but it is a
passionate anger that is here reproved, which is not a power of the soul,
but an impotency. He that conceiveth the other is an agent, and doth a
service to God; but he that is moved with this is a patient, and sin hath
in that case prevailed against him.—Dod.
main homiletics of the paragraph.—Verses 17 to 19, and verse 22.
Wounding and Healing.
I. The mischief that may be done by a lying tongue. 1. In a legal
matter. It is the duty of a witness to testify exactly what he knows, and
no more nor less. If a man speaks deceitfully he may bring much
misery upon the innocent, whom his straightforward testimony would
have acquitted. And he may do this by withholding truth as well as by
uttering direct falsehood. The first is “showing forth deceit” as well as
the last. 2. In common conversation. The word “speaketh,” in verse 18, is
“babbleth,” and seems to point to those who are great talkers, and who
are not careful what they say. (See Homiletics on chap. x. 19–21, page
168.) In both these cases words may inflict a more deadly wound than a
sword. If spoken to a man they may break his heart, if spoken of him
they may kill his reputation, which no sword of steel can touch, and
which to the best men is more precious than bodily life. A lying or even
a babbling tongue can pierce a much more vital organisation than flesh
and blood—it can enter the human spirit, and hurt it in its most
sensitive part; or by slander it can destroy all the joy of a man’s earthly
life. And as a sword can in a moment sever the spirit and the body of a
man, and work such ruin and misery as can never be done away with,
so a lying tongue may by one word, or one conversation, do mischief
that can never be undone. The sword of steel can divide human friends
locally; but it cannot sever their love; it tends rather to increase and
brighten the flame; but a word of slander may do all this, and estrange
those who were bound in the tenderest ties, until the God of Truth

shall bring the truth to light. Though the lying tongue is comparatively
“but for a moment,” yet in a moment it can deal a thrust that will last as
long as life. It can open a wound whence will flow out all the joy of life,
as the heart’s blood flows from a mortally wounded man.
II. Its judgment and its destiny. It is an abomination in the sight of a
God of Truth, and, therefore, its life is comparatively short—it is “but
for a moment” compared with the eternal duration of truth. A lying
man or devil is the very antipodes of the Divine character. All truthful
men instinctively shrink from a liar as the sensitive plant withdraws
from the human touch. How much more must he be held in
abhorrence by Him who is a “God of Truth, and without iniquity”
(Deut. xxxii. 4). Christ characterises lying as the cardinal sin of the
greatest sinner in the universe (John viii. 44). It was his lying tongue
that “brought death into the world, and all our woe,” and so spoiled the
Paradise which God had prepared for man. How then can lying be any
other than an abomination to Him? But, because it is so, its doom is
fixed. It is destined to destruction by the victory of truth, as the night is
destroyed by the overcoming light of day. (On this subject see also
Homiletics on chap. x. 18, page 166.)
III. The blessed results of a truthful and wisely-governed tongue.
1. it will “show forth righteousness.” A man who speaks the truth shows
forth righteousness in two ways—(1) in his own character. He reveals
himself to be a righteous man. He gives a living example of uprightness
and integrity. (2) He helps on righteousness in the world. By being a
faithful witness he furthers the ends of justice and righteousness—he
helps on the just administration of the law. 2. It will heal wounds
inflicted by the untruthful tongue. In nature we have a two-fold
exhibition of power. The hurricane comes and breaks the branches of
the tree, and strips off its leaves; but a more beneficent power clothes it
again with beauty. So the tongue of a fool strips a man of what made
life beautiful to him—takes away his good name, or breaks bonds of
close friendship—but wise and kind words have a healing power in
them—they help to cheer the wounded spirit, and enable the bowed
head to lift itself again. Such a tongue of healing had the Divine Son of

God, who came “to heal the broken in heart” (Isa. lxi. 1), and to restore
the friendship between God and man, which was first broken by the
slandering tongue of the devil—that great slanderer of God to man,
and of man to God (Gen. iii. 5; Job i. 10). To Him the “Lord God gave the
tongue of the learned, that He might know how to speak a word in
season to him that was weary” (Isa. l. 4). The tongue of all true servants
of God is an instrument of healing, for they are enabled to tell to their
fellow-men “words whereby they may be saved” (Acts iv. 12).
IV. God’s estimation of it and its destiny. It is “God’s delight,” verse
22. Whatever gives delight to a noble and benevolent man must be a
blessing to humanity, and everything will delight him that tends to
minister blessing to the world. This is pre-eminently true of the good
God. Truth is the great need of the race—truth in word and deed and
thought. To this end Christ came into the world “to bear witness of the
truth” (John xviii. 37), because that alone is the cure for the world’s
woes. Then every man who is true must bless humanity and
consequently delight God. A good father rejoices to see his own
excellencies of character appear in his son, and the Father of the good
likewise delights to see His children copy Him in “dealing truly.” (See
also on chap. xi. 1, page 190.) And because it is God’s delight it will last
for ever. Truth of any kind will be established in the course of time. If a
man proclaim a scientific truth, however much he may be laughed at
and disbelieved at first, his “lip,” or his words, will be established in the
end. In the words of Galileo, when he uttered the truth, that the earth
moved round the sun, have long since been “established.” Time only is
needed for any truth to take root-hold—it can never be overturned,
whether it be physical or moral truth. Many truths which were scoffed
at by most men, when they were first promulgated, are now regarded
as truisms by almost everybody. And the lips that uttered them are now
established and held in honour. Such men, for instance, as Cromwell
and Milton, when they declared that the right of private judgment in
religious matters, the freedom of the press, etc., were the right of every
man, are now established in the estimation of this nation, and the
truths which they uttered are regarded by all Englishmen as undoubted
facts. “This,” says F. W. Robertson, “is man’s relation to the truth. He is

but a learner—a devout recipient of a revelation—here to listen with
open ear devoutly for that which he shall hear; to gaze and watch for
that which he shall see. Man can do no more. He cannot create truth;
he can only bear witness to it; he can only listen and report that which
is in the universe. If he does not repeat and witness to that, he speaks
of his own, and forthwith ceases to be true. . . . Veracity is another
thing. Veracity is the correspondence between a proposition and man’s
belief. Truth is the correspondence of the proposition with fact.” It is to
such witness-bearers—especially to those who witness concerning
moral truth—that the promise of the text applies.
Verse 17. He who is brought to a spiritual discernment of the “truth”
“breathes” it like his breath, instinctively and unconsciously. (See
Critical Notes.) And he who does this not simply “covers shame” (verse
16), but causes others to, for he advertises righteousness—i.e.,
publishes it. This, therefore, is the meaning of the sentence: “He that
breathes forth truth publishes righteousness”—i.e., saving
righteousness: and does it like uttering forth his breath. While the
“deceived” (false) witness; literally, the witness of falsehood; a phrase
which is ambiguous, because it might mean a witness to falsehood (see
chap. vi. 9)—the “deceived witness”—i.e., the man who sees or
witnesses falsehood instead of truth, “publishes (understood)
delusion”—i.e., is a constant fountain of deceit to other men. This sense
of the witness of falsehood is necessary to many proverbs (chap. xiv. 5),
and saves a number from tautological or truistic interpretations.—
Miller.
There is more here than lies upon the surface. It might seem enough
for a faithful witness to speak truth. But no—he must show forth
righteousness; what is just, as well as what is true. The best intentioned
purpose must not lead us to conceal what is necessary to bring the
cause to a righteous issue.—Bridges.

The words read at first almost like a truism; but the thought which lies
below the surface is that of the inseparable union between truth and
justice. The end does not justify the means, and only he who breathes
and utters truth makes the righteous cause clear.—Plumptre.
He that speaketh, ordinarily, in his common speech, that which is true,
will show righteousness—that is, will carry himself justly, and further
righteousness with his testimony, when he shall be publicly called
thereunto. There must be a training of the tongue to make it fit for
equity and justice, as of the hands, and other parts of the body, to
make them skilful in handling a weapon and bearing of arms. . . . No
man is competent for any work that is public unless his former upright
and honest conversation commend him unto it. The rule which our
Saviour gives in another case will hold as firmly in this. “He that is
faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much” (Luke xvi. 10).
For, first, the mouth of the man is the mouth of the man’s treasure.
That which he speaketh he best loveth. That which is most in the lips
hath greatest place in the heart. If, therefore, the truth be dear unto
him, he will certainly show it forth when he shall stand forth before
God and His substitute for that purpose, and so do a good service of
love and piety; but if he have any fellowship with falsehood he will now
take part with it, being void of the fear of God, and afraid to displease
man. Secondly, no man exerciseth the truth at any time conscionably,
but by the spirit of truth, and that directing men’s hearts at other
times, in matters of less weight, will not fail them at their greatest
need, when they are to perform a duty of so great importance; and so,
on the other hand, Satan hath the disposing of their tongues that give
themselves to lying. He is their father, he teachest them their trade,
and tasketh them in their work, and they be wholly at his
commandment, and who doubteth but he will command them to be
on his side, and to take against the truth, so far as a knowledge of the
truth shall make against his practices.—Dod.
Verse 18. Wit, when not chastened and controlled by an amiable
disposition, often wounds deeply. Jibes, jests, irony, raillery, and
sarcasm, fly about. No matter what the wounds, or where they be

inflicted, if the wit be but shown. A happy hit, a clever, biting repartee,
will not be suppressed for the sake of feelings, or even the character of
a neighbour, or, as it may happen, a friend. The man of wit must have
his joke, cost what it may. The point may be piercing in the extreme;
but if it glitters it is enough; to the heart it will go.—Wardlaw.
Abimelech and his fellow priests were killed with the tongue, as with a
rapier; so was Naboth and his sons; so was our Saviour Christ Himself.
An honest mind is ever more afflicted with words than blows. You shall
find some, saith Erasmus, that if they be threatened with death can
despise it; but to be belied they cannot brook, nor from revenge
contain themselves. How was David enraged by Nabal’s railings! Moses,
by the people’s murmurings! Jeremiah by the derisions of the rude
rabble! (chap. xx. 7, 8.)—Trapp.
Among all the complaints which the godly, and God’s own Spirit make
against the wicked in the Scriptures, they seldom complain of anything
more than of their virulent and pestiferous mouths (Psa. lv. 21, lii. 2;
Prov. xxv. 18; Rom. iii. 13). First, they cause swords to be drawn, and
blood to be shed, and men to be slain, and much mischief to be
wrought. Secondly, The sword, or any other weapon, can only hurt
them that are present, and in places near to it; but the stroke of the
tongue will light most dangerously upon them that are absent; no place
or distance can help against it, and one man may do mischief to a great
multitude.—Dod.
Verse 19. Liars need to have good memories. A lying tongue soon
betrays itself. “No lie reaches old age,” says Sophocles.—Fausset.
The verse has been differently rendered. “The tongue of truth is ever
steady: but the tongue of falsehood is so but for a moment” (Hodgson).
There is unvarying consistency in the one case; for truth is always in
harmony with itself; while there is shifting evasion, vacillation,
contradiction, in the other.—Wardlaw.
Who will gainsay the martyr’s testimony—“Be of good comfort, Master
Ridley, play the man! We shall this day light such a candle in England

as I trust shall never be put out.”—Bridges.
The Christian shall utter for ever just the things that he utters on earth.
—Miller.
Verse 22. Not merely they that speak truly, but they that deal truly.
Deeds of true dealing must confirm words of fair speaking.—Fausset.
A lie is a thing absolutely and intrinsically evil; it is an act of injustice
and a violation of our neighbour’s rights. The vileness of its nature is
equalled by the malignity of its effects; it first brought sin into the
world, and is since the cause of all those miseries and calamities that
disturb it; it tends utterly to overthrow and dissolve society, which is
the greatest temporal blessing and support of mankind; it has a strange
and peculiar efficacy above all other sins to indispose the heart to
religion. It is as dreadful in its punishments as it has been pernicious in
its effects.—South.
Honesty is just truth in conduct; and truth is honesty in words.—
Wardlaw.
Such as speak the truth in uprightness will not vary in their talk, but
tell the same tale again, and be like to themselves in that which they
shall say; whereas liars be in and out, affirming and denying, and
speaking contradictions in the same manner. Only true men are
constant in their words. First, their matter will help their memory, for
that which is truth once will be truth ever. Secondly, the same Spirit
that worketh a love and conscience of the truth, whereby men are
made to be true, doth never cease to be the same, therefore, as it
seasoneth the heart and guideth it at the first, so it will establish it, and
direct the lips to the end. For sincerity and uprightness is of all things
most durable, and least subject to alteration or change. And that St.
Paul assigneth for a cause of his invariable constancy, that he minded
not those things that he did mind according to the flesh, whereby there
should be with him, yea, yea, and nay, nay (2 Cor. i. 17).—Dod.

Truth is always consistent with itself, and needs nothing to help it out;
it is always near at hand, and sits upon our lips, and is ready to drop out
before we are aware; whereas a lie is troublesome, and sets a man’s
invention upon the rack, and one trick needs a good many more to
make it good. It is like building upon a false foundation, which
constantly needs props to shore it up, and proves at last more
chargeable than to have raised a substantial building at first upon a
true and solid foundation.—Tillotson.
Dare to be true, nothing can need a lie:
A fault which needs it most grows two thereby.—
Herbert.
God “desireth truth in the inward parts” (Psa. li. 6), and all His are
“children that will not lie” (Isa. lxiii. 8); they will rather die than lie. As
they “love in the truth” (2 John 1) so they “speak the truth in love”
(Ephes. iv. 15), and are therefore dear to the Father in truth and love
(2 John 3), especially since they “do truth” as well as speak it (1 John
i. 6), and do not more desire to be truly good than they hate to seem to
be so only.—Trapp.
God doth never hate anything that is not hateful, and that most needs
be odious which He abhorreth, and especially when it is abomination.
Ye may know by their companions among whom they are marshalled
what account He maketh of them (see Rev. xxi. 8). . . . That truth which
is acceptable to God consisteth both in speaking and doing. 1. His
Spirit doth make every man that hath attained to the one to be able to
do the other. That which St. John setteth down in a more general
manner doth strongly confirm this particular point. “If any man sin not
in word, he is a perfect man, and able to bridle all the body.” His
meaning is that some be absolute without sin in word, and perfect,
without infirmity in goodness; but that many be gracious without
sinfulness, though they have their slips in speeches; and sincere,
without wickedness, though they have their frailties in behaviour.
2. Both are infallible and essential fruits of regeneration, and the
Apostle doth thereby persuade us thereby to declare ourselves to be of
the number of the saints, and faithful, saying, “Cast off lying, and let

him that stole steal no more” (Ephes. iv. 24, 28). 3. Both are required of
them that would know and manifest themselves to be natural
members of the Church in this world, and inheritors of salvation in the
life to come. (See. Psa. xv. 1, 2.)—Dod.
Joy from Peace.
I. There must be counsel if there is to be peace. There can be no
peace either in a soul, a family, or a nation, where there is no counsel
given and taken. There must be some centre of authority and rule
whence counsel issues, if there is to be any order, and where there is no
order there can be no peace. The peace of the text must be peace based
upon righteousness, indeed all that bears the name that is not built
upon this foundation, is false and transitory. It is like that house built
upon the sand, which, when the winds come, is swept away, although it
may look like a solid structure on a summer day. It is “the work of
righteousness,” that “shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness,
quietness and assurance for ever.” “The mountains shall bring peace . . .
by righteousness” (Psalm lxxii. 3; Isa. xxxii. 17).
II. Where there is true peace by righteousness there will be joy.
Joy is the overflow of peace. Peace is like a river flowing tranquilly
between its banks, and joy is like the same river when there is such a
volume of water that it overflows the banks. When there is “an
abundance of peace” in a soul, or a family, or a nation, it must overflow
into joy—it must take a more active form. (The subject of the first
clause of this verse has been treated before. See on verse 3.)
That deceit is in the heart of him who deviseth evil appears to be a
platitude, for the devising is directed against a neighbour. But, in the
first place, it says that the evil which a man hatches against another

always issues in a fraudulent malicious deception of the same; and,
secondly, it says, when taken into connection with the second clause,
that with the deception he always at the same time prepares for him
sorrow. The contrast denotes not those who give counsel to contending
parties to conclude peace, but such as devise peace—viz., in reference
to the neighbour, for the word means not merely to impart counsel,
but also mentally to devise, to resolve upon, to decree. Hitzig and
Zöckler give to peace the general idea of welfare, and interpret joy as
the inner joy of a good conscience. But as the deception in the first
clause is not self-deception, but the deception of another, so the joy is
not that which men procure for others. Thoughts of peace for one’s
neighbour are always of procuring joy for him, as thoughts of evil are
thoughts of deceit; and thus of procuring sorrow for him.—Delitzsch.
Evil counsel most hurteth those that give it. By deceit is here meant a
deceitful reward; or an issue of a matter deceiving a man’s expectation
—Muffet.
They shall have peace for peace; peace of conscience for peace of
country; pax pectoris for pax temporis. They shall be called and
counted the children of peace; yea, the children of God.—Trapp.
First, no man can soundly seek to reconcile man to God, or one man to
another, or give direction for his neighbour’s welfare, unless he himself
be reconciled to God, and peaceable towards men, and have Christian
love in his heart, and these graces are never separated from holy
comfort and gladness. For the same sap that sendeth forth the one,
doth in the like manner also yield the other, as the apostle testifieth
(Gal. v. 22; Rom. xiv. 17). Secondly, if their counsel be embraced and
followed, the good effect thereof, with God’s blessing, besides thanks
and kindness which the parties holpen by their counsel, will yield to
them; as David to Abigail, and Naaman to Elisha, etc. Thirdly, though
their advice be rejected, yet, as Isaiah saith, their reward is with the
Lord, and they shall be glorious in His eyes (Isa. xlix. 4, 5).—Dod.
Deceit is in the heart (or cometh back to the heart) of them that
imagine evil (or practise mischief). I. The persons are described.

They are evil-doers, but not every evil-doer, but the practiser, the
trader, the artificer in evil, one wholly bent upon sin, not every bungler
or beginner, but an expert workman, that can despatch more business
of sin in one day than some other in a month or a year. Nor is every evil
here aimed at, but evil against others—mischief. Many evil men are
only greatest enemies to themselves, intent to serve and satisfy their
own lusts; but these with whom we have now to do, always have evil in
their hearts or hands, in their consultations and executions, whereby to
hurt others. Again, this man in our text is subtle in evil; as he is a
cunning workman and active in high designs of evil, so he carrieth his
business as subtilely, for which the whole work carries in the original
the name of deceit, pretending all fair weather, as still water is deepest
and most dangerous, or like a waterman that looks one way and rows
another. II. The condition of these persons. Their deceit returns to
them that first hatched it; that is, brings unavoidable mischief on
themselves. 1. There is no small unquietness in the heart, while it is
plotting evil. 2. Whomsoever they deceive, they cannot deceive God,
Who will make them deceivers of themselves (See Job v. 12, 13).
3. Whereas sin is a sure paymaster, and the wages death, the sin of
these men must needs slay them and play the part both of an officer to
apprehend them, of a gaoler to hold them, and of an executioner to
bring them to shameful death.—Thos. Taylor, 1650.
All Working for the Good of the Righteous.
The first clause cannot, of course, mean that nothing that appears evil
—that no sorrow or loss happens to the just. Such an assertion would
be contrary to other teachings of Scripture, as well as to experience and
history. The righteousness of the first man who is called righteous
(Luke xi. 51) led to his murder. If Joseph had been a less virtuous man,
the iron of imprisonment would not have entered into his soul (Psa.
cv. 18). If John the Baptist had been a time-serving godless man, he
would not have had the bitter experience of the dungeon of

Machaerus. To these men, and to all the noble army of martyrs, many
of the things which happened were very evil in themselves. The Word
of God likewise forewarns men that all who will live godly in Christ
Jesus shall suffer persecution, that through much tribulation they must
enter into the kingdom of God (2 Tim. iii. 12; Acts xiv. 22). And every
just man now living has had experience of evil befalling him in his
health, his circumstances, or in some other form. But—
I. No evil shall really injure the godly man. It shall not hurt his
better part, that which is the man himself—his spiritual nature, his
moral character. The storms that cannot uproot a tree only make it take
deeper root-hold, and so add to its strength. If it break some of the
branches it makes it more fit to weather another tempest. So all the
trials of the just man tend to strengthen his character by causing him
to lay a firmer hold upon the things that are unseen and eternal.
“Affliction then is ours;
We are the trees whom shaking fastens more,
While blustering winds destroy the wanton bowers,
And ruffle all their curious knots and store.”—Herbert.
The true interpretation of the text is found in the inspired declaration
of Paul, “We know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom.
viii. 28). Many elements work together to produce a good harvest at the
appointed time. Winter winds and snow, summer breezes, gentle rain
and noontide heat, all have a part in the work. One of these agencies
alone would not bring forth one golden ear, but the “working together”
will cover the land with fields of grain ready for the sickle. Many and
various materials and agencies must be brought together to build a
seaworthy ship. Iron and wood, fire and water, men skilled in many
different arts must work together to bring about the required result.
And so with the just man. Manifold experiences, failure and success,
joy and sorrow, make up his earthly life. Not sorrow alone, nor joy
alone, would fit him for his eternal inheritance—would fit him to be
presented “faultless before the presence” of his Lord (Jude 24). But it is
the combination of both, that many things “working together,” that

effect the desired good. And so no evil befals him, because all the evil
shall work together with the good for his eternal well-being.
II. The wicked man shall likewise attain to a completion of
character. “The wicked shall be filled with mischief” teaches (1) that
wicked men are not so bad as they can be. Thorns and briars grow
stronger year by year. Time is needed to transform the blade into the
full ear. As the present season of probation is but the beginning of
man’s life, we conclude that men can go on eternally progressing in the
character which now belongs to them—that all their present habits of
thought and feeling can become must stronger than they are at
present. Therefore, a wicked man can grow worse than he is at present.
(2) That wicked men are not as bad as they shall be. If a stone is set in
motion down a hill it will keep on its course unless it is arrested by
some opposing force. So, unless a godless man yields to a Divine
influence, and so is brought to repentance, he shall “wax worse and
worse” (2 Tim. iii. 13). No man can stand still in character; if he do not
grow better, he must grow worse. And this “filling up” of the measure
of wickedness is but the necessary reaction of his own actions. He is
filled with his own mischief. And the just man’s present actions go to
strengthen and develop his spiritual nature, and to complete and
perfect his character in goodness, so every act of the godless man is one
more link of the chain of evil habit which binds him daily more tightly,
and sinks him every day a little lower in the moral universe of God.
No “evil,” or calamity; literally nothing worthless or empty. The root
means nothingness, entire vacuity. The expression, too, is peculiar.
“There shall not happen to the righteous any nothingness at all.” But as
several of the nouns that mean evil, through a deep philosophy, trace
to the same kind of root, “calamity,” or actual evil, is the proper
translated sense. No event that turns out an actual calamity can ever
happen to the saint. And if anyone points to their tremendous agonies
it is well enough to go back to the root, nothingness. Nothing

worthless; that is, nothing that proves not so useful as to be better than
present joy. Nothing not actually precious. In the whole course of their
lives each is “filled” with “their own proper lot.” The wicked, if he have
joys, will find them sorrows; and the righteous, if he have sorrows, will
find them, not nothings, but for his eternal joy.—Miller.
The word signifies evil as ethical wickedness, and although it may be
used of any misfortune in general, it denotes especially such sorrow as
the harvest and produce of sin (chap. xxii. 8; Job. iv. 8; Isa. lix. 4), or
such as brings after it punishment (Hab. iii. 7; Jer. iv. 15). That it is also
here thus meant the contrast makes evident.—Delitzsch.
First, for evil of sin. God will not lead him into temptation; but will cut
off occasions, remove stumbling-blocks out of his way; devoratory
evils, as Tertullian calls them, he shall be sure not to fall into “That evil
one shall not touch him” (1 John v. 18) with a deadly touch; nibble he
may at their heels, he cannot reach their heads, shake he may his chain
at them, but shall not set his fangs in them, or so far thrust his sting
into them as to infuse into them the venom of that sin unto death
(1 John v. 17). Next, for evil of pain, though “many be the troubles of the
righteous” (Ps. xxxiv. 19), and they “fall into manifold temptations”
(Jas. i. 2), they go not in step by step into these waters of Marah, but
“fall into” them, being, as it were, precipitated, plunged over head and
ears, yet are bidden to be exceeding glad, as a merchant is to see his
ship come laden in. Their afflictions are not penal, but probational; not
mortal, but medicinal. “By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged,
and this is all the fruit, the taking away of his sin” (Isa. xxvii. 9). Look
how the scourging and beating of a garment with a stick drives out the
moths and the dust; so doth affliction corruptions from the heart; and
there is no hurt in that; no evil thereby happens to the just. . . . To
treasure up sin is to treasure up wrath (Rom ii. 5). “Every bottle shall be
filled with wine” (Jer. xiii. 12); the bottle of wickedness, when once
filled with those bitter waters, will sink to the bottom; the ephah of
wickedness, when top full shall be borne “into the land of Shinar, and
set there upon her own base” (Zech. v. 8, 11). He that makes a match
with mischief shall have his bellyfull of it (Hosea iv. 17; Prov. xiv. 14); he

shall have an evil, “an evil, an only evil” (Ezek. vii. 5), that is, judgment
without mercy, as St. James expounds it (chap. ii. 13). Non surgit hic
afficitior, as the prophet Nahum hath it (chap. i. 9); affliction shall not
rise up the second time. God will have but one blow at him; he shall
totally and finally be cut down at once. The righteous are smitten in the
branches; but the wicked at the root (Isa. xxvii. 8); those he corrects
with a rod; but these with a grounded staff (Isa. xxx. 32); and yet the
worst is behind too. For whatever a wicked man suffers in this world is
but hell typical; it is but as the falling of leaves—the whole tree will
one day fall on them. It is but as a drop of wrath forerunning the great
storm; a crack forerunning the ruin of the whole building; it is but as
paying the use-money for the whole debt, that must be paid at last.—
Trapp.
The great principle of self-preservation implanted in our nature which
puts us on our guard against the slightest inconvenience, and maketh
us arm for the repelling of a single evil, fails to engage men in the
pursuit of that which would powerfully protect us in the most difficult
circumstances, and universally secure us against all manner of hazards.
Piety alone is that armour of proof which renders those that wear it
safe and invulnerable, and yet, as if the Christian were the only infidel,
how few of us are so thoroughly convinced of this great truth as to
pursue it with an eagerness proportionate to its value. The text assures
us—That a religious life and conversation is the best security against all
manner of evils. All evil to which we can be liable, may be reduced
under three heads. I. Such as are inflicted immediately by God.
Here it is necessary to distinguish between such afflictions as He
vouchsafeth in mercy and those with which He visiteth in judgment.
The best of men are not exempted from the former, they are not always
so intent upon their duty, but that they stand in need of a
remembrancer, or it pleaseth God to afflict them for the trial of their
faith, for the exercise of their patience, and to wean them from the
world. But these are but like the more difficult talks of a discreet and
loving tutor; which recommend the pupils to a higher applause and a
more excellent advantage, and are, therefore, so far from doing them
any harm that they ought to be looked upon as most valuable

blessings. Those inflictions therefore of God, which may be justly
entitled to the name of evils, are such only as He visiteth in judgment,
and from such nothing can more effectually secure us than a godly life
and conversation. II. Such as are occasioned by ourselves. Many
evils are the effect of sin and carelessness, and as it is the work and
office of true piety to make us at the same time holy and considerate, it
will evidently appear that none of these evils shall happen to the just.
III. Such as are brought upon us by the malice of men or devils.
These are only tolerated by God’s connivance and permission. The
devil, furious and malicious as he is, always drags his chain after him,
by which he may be drawn back to his infernal dungeon, and therefore,
unless He hath some such favourable ends, as I formerly instanced in
His own inflictions, He will certainly keep His own out of their
ravenous jaws. Shall we then neglect the only means by which we may
be defended against such numerous calamities? To be just is no more
than to follow after the thing that is good, and good is desirable in its
own nature; we have such an inward tendency towards it that nothing
which is ill can debauch our affections, but by taking upon itself the
appearance of being good. If, then, a seeming good doth so allure us,
how ought we to be enamoured of the real substances.—Nicholas
Brady.
The wicked are hurt, wounded, or grieved, by every occurrence, and
nothing turns to their profit.—A. Clarke.
The Concealment of Knowledge and the Proclamation of Foolishness.
I. The concealment of knowledge is always a mark of self-control.
It proves that a man has himself “well in hand.” He is like a skilful
workman whose tools are all arranged in order, so that he can select or
reject them according to his need, or the need of others. Or he
resembles a skilful rider who is thoroughly master of his steed, and can
either arrest his course or urge him to put forth all his speed at any

moment. If a man does not possess this power over himself he can
never be a king among men, and even the possession of knowledge will
not prove very serviceable either to himself or others. All the treasures
of his mind ought to be under the lock and key of his will, and his will
under that of his conscience, for,
II. Under some circumstances the concealment of knowledge is a
mark of prudence. 1. It is so when to proclaim it would feed personal
vanity. To reveal our knowledge from no other motive than to let others
know that we know is to sin against ourselves by ministering to our
pride. In such a case to conceal our knowledge is a means of grace to a
man’s own soul, and will carry with it the approbation of conscience.
2. It is also prudent to conceal knowledge when we know that it would
not benefit others. It is not always seasonable to reveal even the most
precious knowledge that we possess. Men are sometimes manifestly
unprepared for its reception—unable to appreciate it. God concealed
the gospel of salvation from the men of the early ages of the world
because the “fulness of time” (Gal. iv. 4) had not come, by which we
understand that the world then was not in a condition to profit by a
revelation of it. Our Lord charged His disciples not to disclose what
they had witnessed on the mount of transfiguration until “the Son of
Man should be risen again from the dead” (Matt. xvii. 9). He exhorts
them also not to “cast pearls before swine” (Matt. vii. 6). Hence we
learn that concealment of knowledge is sometimes to be preferred to a
revelation of it, and that a due regard must be had to the mental and
moral condition of those to whom we would impart it. The revelation
of scientific truth would only bewilder people of little education and
small capacity, and the revelation of even moral truth would
sometimes increase men’s guilt. It would only lead them to blaspheme
the God of Truth and scoff at His messengers, and thus harden them
instead of enlightening them. And even when this is not the case men
cannot always receive all kinds of moral truth. A parent conceals from
his son when he is a boy the knowledge of things which he will reveal
to him when he is a man. A wise teacher does not at once disclose to
his pupil all that he desires him to learn. Both bring prudence into
exercise, and give “line upon line, here a little and there a little” (Isa.

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