Proverbs 28:1

The boldness of the righteous is the confidence of faith, the inner strength of a person who knows he walks in God’s favour and leans on the LORD’s power. It lets him stand against injustice, speak the truth and face trouble steadily, because his strength is the Lord’s. The apostles showed it when, after they had prayed, the place was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness (Acts 4:31). The same confidence brings believers to God himself: “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). Since it rests on God, this boldness lives alongside humility before him.

He is the leader whose discernment and moral insight keep a land steady, so that its “state ... shall be prolonged”. The word for understanding, bîyn, means to understand or discern, and knowledge, yâdaʻ, is knowing that comes by experience and relationship, here a familiarity with God’s ways and the practical wisdom to apply them. The Hebrew uses the singular, ʼâdâm, a man. Wisdom literature often lets one person stand for a type, so the verse can mean a single gifted ruler or any government, of one person or a council, that has these qualities. Joseph in Egypt and Daniel in Babylon were men whose wisdom blessed the nations they served. David’s last words describe the same ideal, a ruler who rules justly in the fear of God (2 Samuel 23:3).

Verse 12 closes the passage on the same public stage as verse 2: “When righteous men do rejoice, there is great glory: but when the wicked rise, a man is hidden.” The righteous here are tsaddîyq, the same word as in verse 1. When they prosper and celebrate, the whole community shares in “great glory”, tiphʼârâh, a word for beauty, glory and ornament, the state of being worthy of honour. It describes a well-ordered people whose public life is open and secure, where justice prevails and good deeds are honoured. In Israel that public life gathered at the city gates, where legal and commercial business was done. Proverbs says elsewhere that the people rejoice when the righteous rule (Proverbs 29:2) and that the city rejoices when it goes well with the righteous (Proverbs 11:10).

When the wicked “rise” (qûwm), taking power or prominence, people withdraw. The verb for hidden, châphas, has the root sense of seeking, and in this form it means to be searched for, as a man is sought out when he hides. “A man” stands for anyone at all, which shows how far the fear reaches. Under tyranny and corruption, truth and open dissent become dangerous, and ordinary people stay out of sight to protect themselves. The verse ties a people’s freedom to the character of those over it. It sets before us the justice, mercy and humility the LORD requires (Micah 6:8) and the calling of his people to shine as the light of the world (Matthew 5:14).

Because he strips those under him bare, as a torrent strips a field: “A poor man that oppresseth the poor is like a sweeping rain which leaveth no food.” The word for man here is geber, which properly means a valiant man and generally means simply a person. The verb ʻâshaq means to oppress, defraud, extort or wrong. This is someone who has known hardship himself, perhaps with some small advantage, a little authority or a hold over someone, and he uses it on people who are as poor as he is, or poorer. It might be a tenant farmer cheating a fellow tenant, a small trader cheating a poorer customer, or a man once enslaved who exploits another. The English repeats “poor” so that the reader feels the shock of it.

The picture comes from farm life, where everything depended on rain. The verb çâchaph means to scrape off or sweep away, and a sweeping rain is the cloudburst that washes away soil, seed and standing crops and ruins any hope of the next harvest. Rain that ought to feed the land destroys it, and the oppressor who ought to understand his neighbour’s plight does the same to him. The proverb puts it as strongly as it can to show how complete the ruin is.

Within Israel’s covenant this was especially shocking. The law of Moses was full of care for the poor, the widow, the orphan and the stranger (Deuteronomy 15:7–11), and it rooted that care in Israel’s own memory of oppression in Egypt (Exodus 22:21–27). The prophets pronounced woe on those who oppress the poor (Amos 5:11–12, Micah 2:1–2, Isaiah 10:1–2), and wisdom calls for speaking up for the defenceless (Proverbs 31:8–9). The ruin in this verse matches the ruin Proverbs promises to the simple who turn from wisdom (Proverbs 1:32).

Because God weighs a person’s walk, and integrity outweighs riches. The proverb is one of the “better” sayings, and ṭôwb, the ordinary word for good, here means better or more excellent. The poor man, rûwsh, is the needy one, and he “walketh” (hâlak) in his uprightness, tôm, a word for completeness, integrity and blamelessness, the soundness of a life that is whole and consistent. Walking is Scripture’s picture for a whole course of life. Against him stands the man who is “perverse in his ways”. The word ʻiqqêsh means distorted or crooked, and his ways, derek, are his course of life and his manner of acting. He is rich, ʻâshîyr, and even great wealth leaves him the lesser man.

In Israel, as everywhere, wealth was often taken as a sign of God’s blessing and poverty as a sign of his displeasure. Proverbs keeps unsettling that easy reckoning by tying God’s blessing to righteousness and obedience. A good name is to be chosen above great riches (Proverbs 22:1), a little with righteousness is better than great revenues gained unjustly (Proverbs 16:8), and riches fail in the day of wrath (Proverbs 11:4). God looks on the heart while people look on the outward appearance (1 Samuel 16:7), and the blessed man of the first psalm is known by his delight in the LORD’s law (Psalm 1:1–3).

Proverbs condemns crooked ways and the pride that riches can feed, and it ranks character above money. Scripture honours wealthy men who were righteous, such as Abraham and Job, and what matters is the person who holds the riches, how he gained them and how he uses them. Poverty brings temptations of its own (Proverbs 30:8–9), and Paul tells the rich to be generous and rich in good works (1 Timothy 6:17–19). So verse 6 sets a poor man of integrity above a rich man who lacks it, and it puts wealth and poverty alike below righteousness and godliness. Verse 11 has the same answer, since its target is the conceit that riches can feed.

God sees that it ends up with someone who is kind to the poor: “He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor.” Usury, neshek, is interest on a debt, from a verb meaning to bite, a fitting picture of what interest did to a poor borrower. Unjust gain, tarbîyth, is increase, a percentage or bonus added on top of the principal. The law of Moses forbade an Israelite to charge interest to a fellow Israelite, especially a poor one, though interest could be charged to a foreigner (Exodus 22:25, Leviticus 25:36–37, Deuteronomy 23:19–20). The rule protected the needy from endless debt, kept a brother’s misfortune from becoming someone else’s profit, and reflected God’s own compassion.

The man in this verse grows his “substance” by these means and gathers it carefully for himself, yet he is gathering for someone else. The one who will “pity the poor” shows chânan, a verb meaning to bend or stoop in kindness, to show favour and grace. So the wealth squeezed out of the poor passes in the end to someone who uses it for them, and the means of their oppression becomes the means of their relief. Job speaks of the wicked man’s heaped-up wealth going to the righteous (Job 27:16–17), and Proverbs says that the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the just (Proverbs 13:22) and that treasures of wickedness are worthless (Proverbs 10:2). The happy counterpart is this: “He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD” (Proverbs 19:17).

The law’s prohibition protected the poor brother within the covenant community, and this proverb’s target is the man who grows rich on other people’s need. Interest in modern lending is generally treated as a fair return for the use of money, and the proverb speaks to the spirit behind usury, which lives on in predatory lending, fraud, unfair wages, price gouging and every way of taking advantage of the poor. It calls for honest gain and just dealing, the justice Amos wants to see run down like waters (Amos 5:24).

He looks past the riches to the man himself: “The rich man is wise in his own conceit; but the poor that hath understanding searcheth him out.” Wise, châkâm, means intelligent or skilful, and “in his own conceit” is literally “in his own eyes”, from ʻayin, the word for eye. The rich man judges himself wise, and his only witness is himself. Success has persuaded him that his opinions must be sound, and his wealth shields him from correction. Proverbs warns against being wise in one’s own eyes (Proverbs 3:7) and against trusting in riches (Proverbs 11:28), and it says that pride goes before destruction (Proverbs 16:18) while humility comes before honour (Proverbs 18:12).

The poor man here is dal, poor, weak, thin or low, a word that properly means dangling. He has understanding, a word related to bîyn, the discernment that grasps how things really are. With it he “searcheth him out”. The verb châqar means to search, examine carefully, explore or find out, and he sees through the rich man’s show of wisdom to his real character. The proverb sets understanding above status, as Proverbs does when it calls wisdom better than gold (Proverbs 16:16) and calls us to seek understanding (Proverbs 2:3–6). God has chosen the poor of this world (James 2:5), and he chose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise (1 Corinthians 1:27–29).

A person who abandons God’s standard loses the measure by which good and evil are judged. To forsake, ʻâzab, is to loosen, let go or relinquish, and here it means a deliberate letting go of God’s instruction. The verb for praise, hâlal, means to shine, to make a show, to boast or to celebrate, and here it is active approval of the wicked, râshâʻ, the same word as in verse 1. That praise can be open applause, excuses made for evil, or a silence that lets injustice pass as normal. It is the reversal Isaiah condemns in those who call evil good and good evil (Isaiah 5:20).

Those who keep the law, shâmar, to guard, protect, attend to and observe it, “contend with them”. The verb gârâh means to grate or to anger and, figuratively, to contend, meddle, stir up or strive. Keeping the law makes a person an active opponent of wickedness. This contending is carried on by speaking the truth in love, seeking justice, exposing corruption, living righteously as a witness, praying, and letting our light shine before others (Matthew 5:16). The blessed man of the first psalm delights in the law and keeps away from the counsel of the ungodly (Psalm 1:1–3). Paul says to abhor what is evil and hold fast to what is good (Romans 12:9), and to “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness” (Ephesians 5:8–11).

Those who seek the LORD: “Evil men understand not judgment: but they that seek the LORD understand all things.” Evil men are raʻ ʼĕnôwsh, men of evil. The word for judgment, mishpâṭ, covers a verdict or sentence, justice in its widest sense, law, rights and the proper order of things. To understand it is to grasp God’s standard for conduct and the just consequences of actions. The verb is bîyn, the same word behind “understanding” in verse 2. Evil men lack this discernment because sin and self-interest cloud their minds, and their blindness is moral and willing as well as intellectual. Jesus says that those who do evil hate the light and stay away from it, lest their deeds be exposed (John 3:19–20). Paul describes darkened hearts and minds among people who knew God and refused to honour him (Romans 1:21–22), an understanding darkened by alienation from God (Ephesians 4:18), and he says that the things of God’s Spirit are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14).

To seek, bâqash, is to search out, seek or require, especially in worship and prayer, and so to strive after. Here the object is Yᵉhôvâh, the LORD, God’s covenant name. Seeking him means earnestly pursuing his presence, his will and his wisdom through prayer, worship and his word. Isaiah calls us to seek the LORD while he may be found (Isaiah 55:6), and a psalm calls us to seek the LORD and his strength (Psalm 105:4). This is the fear of the LORD that Proverbs calls the beginning of knowledge (Proverbs 1:7). Through God’s precepts the psalmist gets understanding (Psalm 119:104), and Jesus promises that anyone who wills to do God’s will shall know whether his teaching is from God (John 7:17).

People ask whether “understand all things” promises knowledge of everything. It promises understanding of all that matters for living before God: his character and will, moral order and justice, the results of our choices and the purpose of life. The words are a strong way of saying how broad and deep this understanding is, an understanding that lets the seeker see the world as God sees it.

Keeping the law: “Whoso keepeth the law is a wise son: but he that is a companion of riotous men shameth his father.” The verb is nâtsar, to guard, protect, maintain or obey, as a watchman guards a city. Verse 4 also says “keep the law” in English, with shâmar, a different verb. Wisdom here is practical obedience. A son who guards the instruction of God and of his parents shows sound judgment, and his life does credit to his upbringing. Proverbs opens on this note (Proverbs 1:7), and a whole chapter is given to a father’s call to heed his teaching (Proverbs 4). Israel’s parents were told to teach God’s commandments diligently to their children (Deuteronomy 6:6–7), and Psalm 119 is given over to the worth of God’s word (Psalm 119).

The other son is a “companion”, a word that pictures one who tends a flock with another, someone close at hand. His companions are “riotous men”. The verb zâlal means to shake or quake and, figuratively, to be morally loose, worthless or prodigal. These are people who waste what they have, given to gluttony, drunkenness and a general lack of self-control. A son who keeps such company takes on their ways and “shameth his father”. The verb kâlam means to be ashamed or disgraced, and in this form to put to shame or humiliate. In Israel the family, the father’s house, was the foundation of society, so a son’s conduct was a public credit or disgrace to the whole household. Proverbs speaks of the grief a foolish son brings his father (Proverbs 17:21) and the shame of a son who wrongs his parents (Proverbs 19:26). The companions we choose shape us. Whoever walks with the wise grows wise, and a companion of fools comes to harm (Proverbs 13:20), and Paul warns that bad company corrupts good character (1 Corinthians 15:33).

He wants God to hear him while he refuses to hear God: “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.” To turn away, çûwr, is to turn off, decline, depart or withdraw. The ear stands for a person’s whole attention and will, so this is a chosen refusal to listen and obey. Hearing in Scripture is attentive listening that leads to obedience. The law, tôwrâh, is God’s precept and statute, above all the Ten Commandments and the books of Moses (Deuteronomy 5), the foundation of Israel’s life with the LORD.

The word abomination, tôwʻêbah, means something utterly wrong and detestable, and it is also used of an idol. Prayer is the privilege of those who belong to God and a means of communion with him, and that is what makes the verse so stark: an act of worship becomes detestable to him when it comes from a heart set against his commands. The prophets said the same of worship cut off from obedience and justice. Through Isaiah the LORD said that he would hide his eyes from such people’s prayers (Isaiah 1:11–17), and Scripture says that to obey is better than sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22). “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” (Psalm 66:18), and John’s Gospel records that God hears the one who worships him and does his will (John 9:31).

God hears the cry of the repentant sinner and the brokenhearted (Psalm 34:17–18), and he wants all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). Verse 9 speaks of the person who deliberately and persistently turns his ear from God’s law, a heart hardened against his truth that still tries to approach him in prayer. Someone who struggles with sin while truly seeking God, or who is ignorant of God’s ways yet open to the truth, stands in a different place, and Jesus calls all who labour and are heavy laden to come to him (Matthew 11:28). What God rejects is prayer from someone who means to go on despising what God says.