Proverbs 16:7

When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(7) When a man’s ways please the Lord . . .—Comp. Genesis 26:28; 2Chronicles 17:10-11.

Benson Commentary

Proverbs 16:7. When a man’s ways please the Lord — The best way to have our enemies reconciled unto us, is for us first to be reconciled unto God; for such is the love which the Lord hath to pious and virtuous persons, that when all their designs and actions are such as he approves, he often inclines even those that were their foes to become their friends, disposing their hearts to kindness toward them.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

16:4. God makes use of the wicked to execute righteous vengeance on each other; and he will be glorified by their destruction at last. 5. Though sinners strengthen themselves and one another, they shall not escape God's judgments. 6. By the mercy and truth of God in Christ Jesus, the sins of believers are taken away, and the power of sin is broken. 7. He that has all hearts in his hand, can make a man's enemies to be at peace with him. 8. A small estate, honestly come by, will turn to better account than a great estate ill-gotten. 9. If men make God's glory their end, and his will their rule, he will direct their steps by his Spirit and grace. 10. Let kings and judges of the earth be just, and rule in the fear of God. 11. To observe justice in dealings between man and man is God's appointment.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Goodness has power to charm and win even enemies to itself.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

7. Persecutions, of course, excepted.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

By disposing their hearts to kindness towards him.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

When a man's ways please the Lord,.... As they do when a man walks according to the rule of his word; when he walks as he has Christ for an example; when he walks after the Spirit, and not after the flesh; when he walks by faith, and does all he does in faith; without which it is impossible to please God, Hebrews 11:6; and when all his ways and actions are directed to the glory of God;

he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him; as Abimelech with Isaac, Esau with Jacob; and the enemies of the church and people of God with then, in the latter day, Revelation 3:9.

Geneva Study Bible

When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 7. - When a man's ways please the Lord, which they can do only when they are religious, just, and charitable. He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him; to submit themselves. Experience proves that nothing succeeds like success. Where a man is prosperous and things go well with him, even ill-wishers are content to east away or to dissemble their dislike, and to live at peace with him. Thus Abimelech King of Gerar fawned upon Isaac because he saw that the Lord was with him (Genesis 26:27, etc.). This is the worldly side of the maxim. It has a higher aspect, and intimates the far reaching influence of goodness - how it disarms opposition, arouses reverence and love, gives no occasion for disputes, and spreads around an atmosphere of peace. To the Jews the maxim was taught by external circumstances. While they were doing the will of the Lord, their land was to be preserved from hostile attack (Exodus 34:24; 2 Chronicles 17:10). And Christians learn that it is only when they obey and fear God that they can overcome the assaults of the enemies of their soul - the devil, the world, and the flesh Talmud, "He who is agreeable to God is equally agreeable to men." Proverbs 16:7

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

7 If Jahve has pleasure in the ways of a man,

   He reconciles even his enemies to him -

properly (for השׁלים is here the causative of the transitive, Joshua 10:1): He brings it about that they conclude peace with him. If God has pleasure in the ways of a man, i.e., in the designs which he prosecutes, and in the means which he employs, he shows, by the great consequences which flow from his endeavours, that, even as his enemies also acknowledge, God is with him (e.g., Genesis 26:27.), so that they, vanquished in heart (e.g., 2 Samuel 19:9.), abandon their hostile position, and become his friends. For if it is manifest that God makes Himself known, bestowing blessings on a man, there lies in this a power of conviction which disarms his most bitter opponents, excepting only those who have in selfishness hardened themselves.