Proverbs 25:8-10 Go not forth hastily to strive, lest you know not what to do in the end thereof, when your neighbor has put you to shame.… I. THE CONTENTIOUS PERSON. (Ver. 8.) He is irritable, easily takes offence, is readily provoked, barbs even the playful darts of jest with poison. When the consequences of this ill temper have broken out in full force, its mischief is seen and exposed too late. Beware, then, of "entrance to a quarrel." The contentious man may make real in the end the enmity of which he only dreams. II. MANFUL CONDUCT IN DISPUTES. (Ver. 9.) If an unavoidable dispute has begun, bear thyself in it with energy, but with honour. It is unmanly and base to employ against one's opponent the secrets that have been learned from him in some earlier confidential moment. Go first to your adversary, and seek a cordial explanation of the difference, and a lair and honourable settlement. And do not be tempted to mix up foreign matters with it. "Agree with thine adversary quickly." III. THE EVIL OF NOURISHING QUARRELS. (Ver. 10.) Lawsuits consume time, money, rest, and friends. Worst of all consequences, however, is that in the man's own mind. He lights a fire in his own bosom and keeps it ever supplied with the fuel of passion, and may turn his heart, and perhaps his home, into a hell. - J. Parallel Verses KJV: Go not forth hastily to strive, lest thou know not what to do in the end thereof, when thy neighbour hath put thee to shame. |
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