Proverbs 11:29 Commentary and Bible Study

Of the many environments in which God has placed us the first and the most revealing is our own family. A man’s greatest responsibility is to his family and it is often his greatest sphere of influence. The family sees him most accurately for what he is; if he keeps up a pretence to those outside the family, he is rarely able to keep it up within the family. For this reason Paul makes this a true test of a man and urges that a candidate for the eldership must be ‘one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)’ (1 Timothy 3:4-5). The bad behaviour of one who is in authority in the home can ruin the atmosphere for the entire family. In the name of religion some have been nothing but tyrants in their own homes. Justifying all their irritability, arbitrary requirements, and bad temper, they impose a rule on the rest of the family which is intolerable. They never learn that religion must be voluntary, and that it is God’s will not their own that counts. They have not learnt that there must be a freedom given even to their own household. But they also forget that the family which they abuse is the source of much happiness or sorrow to themselves. By churlish behaviour, the family may tear itself apart. Children growing up without affection may buckle for a time, but eventually they will break out and curse the unreasonable authority that held them down so long. How much happiness a foolish man misses out on through the disharmony of his household! But what he does in the home is preparation for greater areas of influence in the kingdom of God. The unwise ruler of the household will discover that providence reverses the natural order and makes the foolish ruler to be subservient to the wise servant as God’s justice operates to bring matters to their rightful and eternal state.