Proverbs 23:9 Commentary and Bible Study

Inserted in this block of verses is a reminder of the hardness of the human heart and a warning that in spite of the great value of wisdom and wholesome correction many will despise it. There are those who, however good the counsel they receive and with whatever love and concern it is delivered, will remain fools. They see nothing else but an attack on their person and they will not think deeply about what is said to them. You came to them with compassion, wanting to help them avoid some pitfall, but they misinterpreted this help to be a word spoken out of jealousy or hatred or desire to deprive them of what they love best. They concluded that they were being attacked and the only response they could come up with was to hit back. This showed itself in a rejection of all that was said to them, however wise the counsel and however well-meaning the advice, so that they made out that they were being reproved without reason and refused to listen. Do not waste your words on them, says Solomon; they are not capable of profiting from wisdom. Wisdom is the only thing that could help them, but in their case it will have no effect.But aren’t all human beings fools in this sense and therefore resistant to the gospel? Should we give up so easily when we have the only cure to their sickness of sin? Certainly the gospel must be preached to all and all must be invited to come for salvation. These are the terms of the gospel that Christ commands us to preach. But those Solomon speaks of here have been invited more than once and have continued to resist, indeed that have hit back at the truth in some way. Therefore the Lord says, ‘And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city’ (Mark 6:11). God sets a limit on his mercy and his free offer of the gospel, least he should encourage men to despise it, and he would have us do the same. The gospel is to be respected and nothing does to encourage disrespect. Therefore although God send his glorious gospel of grace into the world and knows that it will be rejected by many, we must not to anything to increase that rejection and disrespect.This is similar to Christ’s words in the Sermon on the Mount, ‘Do not cast your pearls before swine.’ Do not demean the word of God by bringing it into a place where its glorious wisdom can be mocked. Good words should be reserved for those who will listen, and it is the greatest punishment of all for the wise to keep silent before the wicked. In doing so they deprive them of the one thing that will help them. The fact that that help is not recognised as help does not alter its essential nature. If God had kept silent when man fell into sin, then we would have been truly without hope. But in response to continuing hardening of the human heart, God does indeed remain silent to that individual.