Proverbs 29:18 Commentary and Bible Study

The comparison makes clear that the word vision is used in a broad sense. What contrasts with the outlook of someone who keeps the law, is a view of the world that sees it as without law, a free for all, a world in which every man is a law unto himself. There is no moral education in such a world; there are no universal moral standards to which men will have to give account. There is no vision taught to the people in the sense that there are no prophets sent to correct them or guide them, neither are they instructed out of the word of God. That vision would otherwise set before the people not only the objective standards of the law but an incentive to obey them.Where this does not happen, the people are unrestrained. The Hebrew word means to be loosed, or let loose. Sinful human nature without law, without a vision, is no longer held back or given any boundaries. It is obliged to set its own boundaries and therefore every man does what is right in his own eyes. It is a very dangerous situation. Fallen man needs to live under the law, and a major function of the law in a fallen world is to hold people back from doing what they wish to do. To give free exercise to fallen desires is bound to produce a disorderly society where the worst aspects of human behaviour will soon show themselves.