The Sayings of the Wise - Part 29

The previous Saying warns the righteous not to throw their lot in with the wicked who levy injustice and crimes against the righteous.  This Saying warns the righteous not to gloat over the downfall of the wicked.^[1] Proverbs 24:17–18 (ESV) cautions the reader:

¹⁷ Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles, ¹⁸ lest the Lord see it and be displeased, and turn away his anger from him.

Notice the exhortation: “Do not rejoice” and [Do not] let your heart be glad. Ironically, the God who ordains the “fall” (implied in verse 16) is not pleased with those who might take delight in the consequence of the wicked. God Himself has “. . . no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?” (Ezekiel 33:11, ESV). “Yahweh would rather have us rejoice over rescues (cf. 24:11–12) and leave matters of judgment to him (see 24:19–20).^[2] The caution extends even to the heart. There should not be the slightest satisfaction in the demise of the wicked “seemingly from a more personal sense of self-righteous revenge.”^[3] The reasoning is stunning:

“lest the Lord see it and be displeased, and turn away his anger from him.” (Proverbs 24:18, ESV)

The NIV reads, “or the Lord will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from them.”  The NLT paraphrases the verse: “For the Lord will be displeased with you and will turn his anger away from them.” “The reason and also the purpose of the emphatic prohibition not to gloat is to avoid the necessary, negative consequence that if unheeded the wicked will get off the hook—at least temporally (see vv. 24:19–20) . . . The theological statement entails God’s moral sensibility against cruelty, coldness, smug arrogance, faithlessness and cynicism towards God’s image.”^[4] Dr. Waltke goes on to suggest that the Lord will not further pursue further ungodliness by pursing the very thing that is bringing it to pass. He demands justice, but His holiness demands that He not maintain a course that enables unrighteousness in His people.

We can legitimately hope that justice prevail (Romans 12:19) and even grant praise to God when justice does prevail.  But to harbor resentment and take great personal delight in the fall of the wicked is showing dishonor to God’s image bearers in this world. “It is the property of God to judge, and it is not to be taken lightly or personalized. God's judgment should strike a note of fear in the hearts of everyone (see Lev 19:17-18; Matt 5:44).”^[5]

I’ll give the final word to Matthew Henry: “There may be a holy joy in the destruction of God’s enemies, as it tends to the glory of God and the welfare of the church (Ps. 58:10); but in the ruin of our enemies, as such, we must by no means rejoice; on the contrary, we must weep even with them when they weep (as David, Ps. 35:13, 14), and that in sincerity, not so much as letting our hearts be secretly glad at their calamities.”^[6]

 

 

 

 

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^[1] Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 1177). Crossway Bibles.

^[2] Koptak, P. E. (2003). Proverbs (p. 563). Zondervan.

^[3] Nielson, K. (2020). Proverbs for You (C. Laferton, Ed.; p. 187). The Good Book Company.

^[4] Waltke, B. K. (2005). The Book of Proverbs, Chapters 15–31 (p. 284). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

[5] Expositor's Bible Commentary, The, Pradis CD-ROM:Proverbs/Exposition of Proverbs/IV. The Sayings of the Wise (22:17-24:34)/A. Thirty Precepts of the Sages (22:17-24:22), Book Version: 4.0.2

 ^[6] Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 1010). Hendrickson.