Proverbs 19:27

Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(27) Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err . . .—Or the passage may mean, Cease to hear instruction if you are only going to err afterwards—Make up your mind what you are intending to do hereafter, and act now accordingly; better not know the truth than learn it only to desert it. (Comp. 2Peter 2:21.)

Benson Commentary

Proverbs 19:27. Cease, my son, to hear the instruction, &c. — If thou hast done it formerly, yet do not now, any longer, hearken to those false doctrines, or evil counsels, which tend to withdraw thee from the belief or practice of God’s holy word. Or, as Bishop Patrick interprets the verse, “My son, beware of their discourse, who, under the show of greater learning, seduce thee from the plain doctrines of virtue; or, if thou hast been unhappily engaged in such company, quit it presently, and stick to those that honestly instruct thee; for, remember this, to leave off hearing the instruction of good men, is the first step toward a departure from all religion.”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

19:27. It is the wisdom of young men to dread hearing such talk as puts loose and evil principles into the mind. 28. Those are the worst of sinners, who are glad of an opportunity to sin.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

literally, Cease, my son, to hear instruction, that thou mayest err from the words of knowledge; advice given ironically to do that to which his weakness leads him, with a clear knowledge of the evil to which he is drifting.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

27. Avoid whatever leads from truth.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

If thou hast formerly, yet do not now any longer hearken to those false doctrines or evil counsels which tend to withdraw thee from the belief or practice of God’s holy word.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Cease, my son, to hear the instruction,.... The counsel of bad men, or the doctrine of false teachers. The words are spoken either by Solomon to his son; or by Wisdom, that is, Christ, to everyone of his children, to beware of false prophets, and take heed what they hear; see Matthew 7:15; such as the doctrines of the church of Rome; concerning the Scriptures, forbidding the people to read them; setting unwritten traditions upon a level with them, and making the pope an infallible interpreter of them; concerning merit, works of supererogation, indulgences, pardons, penance, purgatory, &c. such as the instruction of the Arians, Sabellians, Socinians, Pelagians, and Arminians, concerning the Trinity, the deity of Christ, his satisfaction, imputed righteousness, the power and purity of human nature, and man's free will;

that causeth to err from the words of knowledge; the words of the living God, the Scriptures of truth; which communicate knowledge, and are profitable for instruction in righteousness; are the means of the true knowledge of God; that there is one, and that he is possessed of all perfections: particularly that he is gracious and merciful, and pardons all manner of sin; that he is in Christ, the God of all grace; that he is the God and Father of Christ, and the covenant God and Father of all his people in him; they give knowledge of his mind and will concerning the salvation of men, and of his ways and worship. The wholesome words of our Lord Jesus, the salutary doctrines of the Gospel, may be here meant; those words of grace, wisdom, and knowledge, which come from him, and give knowledge of his person, offices, relations, incarnation, and blessings of grace by him; from whence they are called the word of peace and reconciliation, the word of righteousness, the word of life, and the word of salvation. Now these are all words of knowledge; and are the means of a spiritual, experimental, and fiducial knowledge of Christ, which is preferable to all other knowledge, and even to everything in the world; and therefore care should be taken, and everything avoided that tends to cause to err from these words and doctrines, which convey, promote, and improve this knowledge. Jarchi and Aben Ezra transpose the words, thus;

"cease, my son, to err from the words of knowledge, to or that thou mayest hear instruction and the latter makes mention of such an interpretation, cease, my son, from the words of knowledge, if thou wouldest hear instruction, and after that err:''

that is, better never hear and know at all, than to turn from those doctrines and instructions; see 2 Peter 2:20.

Geneva Study Bible

Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

27. That causeth to err] The Heb. is simply, Cease to hear instruction to err. This may mean either, with A.V., Do not listen to instruction which if you follow it will lead you astray; or better, with R.V., Do not listen to (good) instruction, only to neglect it, and err in spite of it. Comp. James 1:22; Matthew 7:26-27.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 27. - Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge. This version fairly represents the terse original, if musar, "instruction," be taken in a bad sense, like the "profane and vain babblings and oppositions of the knowledge which is falsely so called," censured by St. Paul (1 Timothy 6:20). But as musar is used in a good sense throughout this book, it is better to regard the injunction as warning against listening to wise teaching with no intention of profiting by it: "Cease to hear instruction in order to err," etc.; i.e. if you are only going to continue your evil doings. You will only increase your guilt by knowing the way of righteousness perfectly, while you refuse to walk therein. The Vulgate inserts a negation, "Cease not to hear doctrine, and be not ignorant of the war, is of knowledge;" Septuagint, "A son who fails to keep the instruction of his father will meditate evil sayings." Solomon's son Rehoboam greatly needed the admonition contained in this verse. Proverbs 19:27

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

27 Cease, my son, to hear instruction,

     To depart from the words of knowledge.

Oetinger correctly: cease from hearing instruction if thou wilt make no other use of it than to depart, etc., i.e., cease to learn wisdom and afterwards to misuse it. The proverb is, as Ewald says, as "bloody irony;" but it is a dissuasive from hypocrisy, a warning against the self-deception of which James 1:22-24 speaks, against heightening one's own condemnation, which is the case of that servant who knows his lord's will and does it not, Luke 12:47. חדל, in the meaning to leave off doing something further, is more frequently construed with ל seq. infin. than with מן (cf. e.g., Genesis 11:8 with 1 Kings 15:21); but if we mean the omission of a thing which has not yet been begun, then the construction is with ל, Numbers 9:13, Instead of לשׁגּות, there might have been also used מלּשׁגּות (omit rather ... than...), and למען שׁגות would be more distinct; but as the proverb is expressed, לשׁגות is not to be mistaken as the subord. infin. of purpose. The lxx, Syr., Targ., and Jerome do violence to the proverb. Luther, after the example of older interpreters: instruction, that which leads away from prudent learning; but musar always means either discipline weaning from evil, or education leading to good.