Proverbs 14:17 Commentary and Bible Study

Not all of Solomon’s proverbs take the same form. Many contrast good and evil, but some present different aspects of evil alongside each other, and others compare different types of goodness. In this verse both halves of the proverb condemn a specific sin. The question is, what is the difference between them and how are they being contrasted with each other? Most agree that the contrast is between a sudden loss of self-control and a settled intent to do evil. The first man is overcome by a sudden outburst of destructive anger which, afterwards, even he may see as foolish, while the second is guilty of a deliberate and planned course of evil. The point of the proverb is that the latter is worse because, although he may succeed in hiding his evil schemes and disguising them with pleasantries, his heart is set on evil and he never takes his eye off his goal to do others harm. The first man lacks self-control, but he is not driven by malice; he might even set out at the start of the day with the intention of doing nobody any harm, but his weakness gets the better of him, and again and again he ends up doing the opposite of what he intended. But the second man is much better at hiding his true feelings and he does not give way to passion like the first. He is however far more dangerous because he deliberately plans to do harm. He plans to do evil: to slander, to hurt, to steal, but he is much more controlled about it than the other. He does not burst out in anger but coolly calculates what to do. He has not succeeded in hiding his wickedness altogether, but it is much harder to detect than the storms of the passionate man.Character assessment is not a discriminatory exercise, for though we must be careful not to be unfair in the predictions we make of others’ behaviour, it comes from the heart and the heart forms settled habits which are to a great extent predictable. The longer a person goes on in a particular form of behaviour the more that character is etched into his soul, whether he be good or evil, and particular forms of good or evil are characteristic of him or her.