Proverbs 12:2

A good man obtaineth favour of the LORD: but a man of wicked devices will he condemn.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(2) A good man.—The corresponding phrase, “a man of wicked devices,” i.e., who plots against his neighbour, fixes the sense of “good” as signifying “benevolent” (comp. Psalm 73:1); and for the sentiment, Luke 6:35.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

12:1 Those who have grace, will delight in the instructions given them. Those that stifle their convictions, are like brutes. 2. The man who covers selfish and vicious designs under a profession of religion or friendship, will be condemned. 3. Though men may advance themselves by sinful arts, they cannot settle and secure themselves. But those who by faith are rooted in Christ, are firmly fixed. 4. A wife who is pious, prudent, and looks well to the ways of her household, who makes conscience of her duty, and can bear crosses; such a one is an honour and comfort to her husband. She that is the reverse of this, preys upon him, and consumes him. 5. Thoughts are not free; they are under the Divine knowledge, therefore under the Divine command. It is a man's shame to act with deceit, with trick and design. 6. Wicked people speak mischief to their neighbours. A man may sometimes do a good work with one good word. 7. God's blessing is often continued to the families of godly men, while the wicked are overthrown. 8. The apostles showed wisdom by glorying in shame for the name of Christ. 9. He that lives in a humble state, who has no one to wait upon him, but gets bread by his own labour, is happier than he that glories in high birth or gay attire, and wants necessaries.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Brutish - Dumb as a brute beast. The difference between man and brute lies chiefly in the capacity of the former for progress and improvement, and that capacity depends upon his willingness to submit to discipline and education. Compare Psalm 49:12.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 12

Pr 12:1-28.

1. loveth knowledge—as the fruit of instruction or training (Pr 1:2).

hateth reproof—(Pr 10:17).

brutish—stupid, regardless of his own welfare (Ps 49:10; 73:22).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Obtaineth favour; whereby he is and shall be acquitted and justified.

A man of wicked devices, who designeth and industriously committeth wickedness, will he condemn, when he standeth in judgment, howsoever he may for the present justify himself, and deceive others into a good opinion of him.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

A good man obtaineth favour of the Lord,.... One that is made so by the grace of God, for no man is so naturally; there is none good, nor does good, no, not one, until some good thing is put into him, or the good work of grace is begun in him. And such a man obtains favour or good will from the Lord; that is, as Gersom explains it, what he himself wills, for the will of God is his will; or rather the good will of God, his grace, and layout; fresh manifestations and discoveries of which he obtains and enjoys, not by merit, through any goodness of his own, or by means of his obedience but he draws it out, as the word (l) signifies, as out of a fountain, by prayer and supplication, and by fresh repeated acts of faith upon it; which may be said to be ad and enjoyed, when it is remembered to him, he is encompassed with it, or it is shed abroad in his heart, or his heart is directed into it; and he also obtains and enjoys all the blessings, of grace here, and glory hereafter, as springing from it;

but a man of wicked devices will he condemn; whose thoughts, and the imaginations of his heart, are evil continually; who is always contriving mischief to others: such a man shall be so far from enjoying the favour of God, that he shall be pronounced guilty of death, and condemned to it; he shall be banished from the presence of the Lord, and be punished with everlasting destruction. As the man of sin is continually devising wicked things against God, against Christ, against his interest and people; he shall be condemned by the Lord, consumed with the breath of his mouth; go into perdition, and be cast into the lake burning with fire and brimstone: and this will be the portion of all his followers, that join with him in forming and executing his wicked devices.

(l) "educet", Pagninus, Montanus, "hauriet", V. L. "haurit", Mercerus, Gejerus.

Geneva Study Bible

A good man obtaineth favour of the LORD: but a man of wicked devices will he condemn.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. obtaineth] See Proverbs 3:13, note. Comp. Proverbs 8:35.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - A good man. The word is general, the particular virtue intended being often modified by the context. In view of the contrast in the second clause, it means here "pure," "straightforward." having a heart free from evil thoughts. As the psalm says, "Surely God is good to Israel, even to such as are pure in heart" (Psalm 73:1). Obtaineth favour of the Lord (Proverbs 8:35); Septuagint, "Better is he who findeth favour from the Lord." A man of wicked devices (Proverbs 14:17); one whose thoughts are perverse and artful. Will he - Jehovah - condemn; Vulgate, "He who trusts to his imaginations doeth wickedly;" Septuagint, "A man that is a sinner shall be passed over in silence (παρασιωπηθήσεται)." Proverbs 12:2

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

2 A good man obtaineth favour with Jahve,

   But the man of wicked devices He condemns.

He who is an אישׁ מזמּות (Proverbs 14:17, cf. Psalm 37:7) is defined in Proverbs 24:8 : he is a man of devices, namely, that are wicked, one who contrives evil against his neighbour. The meaning of the subject-conception טוב is defined according to this, although in itself also it is clear, for טוב, used of God (e.g., Psalm 73:1; Psalm 86:5) and of men (Proverbs 13:22; Proverbs 14:14), denotes the good (bonus) in the sense of the benevolent (benignus); the Scripture truths, that God is love, that love is the essence of goodness and is the fulfilling of the law, are so conformed to reason, that they stamp themselves as immediate component parts of the human consciousness. A טוב is thus a man who acts according to the ruling motive of self-sacrificing love; such an one obtains (vid., on יפיק, educit equals adipiscitur, at Proverbs 3:13) the favour of God, He is and shows Himself kind to him, while on the contrary He condemns the wicked intriguer. Hitzig translates: the former of intrigues is punishable (as the Syr.: is condemned; Targ.: his contrivance is shattered to pieces); but to become a רשׁע equals reus הרשׁיע does not denote, but either to practise רשׁע, Job 34:12, or to set forth as רשׁע equals to condemn, Isaiah 50:9. Taken in the former signification (Jerome, impie agit), a declaration is made which is not needed, since the moral badness already lies in the reference of the subject: thus ירשׁיע will be used also of Jahve. In proof that the poet did not need to say ואת־אישׁ, Zckler rightly points to Proverbs 10:6; Job 22:29.