He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot.
The verse belongs to the invitations and counsels of Christ in the character of Wisdom, giving practical rules of life for everyday duties to family, neighbor, friend, and God, setting forth modesty, chastity, temperance, forbearance, gentleness, industry and other virtues, rewarding piety and punishing evil, and testing whether the reader has in life the beginning of wisdom. It holds deep philosophy that must be read slowly and thought over. Praise and flattery are sweet to the human heart but reproof is unwelcome, and submission to correction is necessary as one of the most prominent lessons of Proverbs.
Reproof is given to open the eyes so that moral blindness can be seen and healed, and the response to reproof proves the condition of the heart. Reproving or rebuking a scorner and wicked man who rejects correction returns shame, a blot, hatred, and harm upon the one who reproves. For that reason a scorner and wicked man in that spirit are not to be reproved directly, and God's blessings and precious truth should not be offered heedlessly to those who have no desire to receive them, but they must be approached in another way.
A wise and just man humbly receives reproof and instruction, loves the reprover, and grows wiser and increases in learning. If anything within rises up against reproof instead of humbly receiving it, that resistance itself is sure evidence that reproof is needed and that the need is hidden only by moral blindness. The verse gives warning instruction against condemned sins that ought to take hold upon the hearts of both men and women, though it is not well suited to be read in a mixed assembly of men and women.
Being laughed at and ridiculed for doing honest work and for speaking against wrongdoing should not make a person ashamed or deter him, but he should persist in doing what is right, since the scorner's joke may eventually turn around.
The verse belongs to the invitations and counsels of Christ in the character of Wisdom, giving practical rules of life for everyday duties to family, neighbor, friend, and God, setting forth modesty, chastity, temperance, forbearance, gentleness, industry and other virtues, rewarding piety and punishing evil, and testing whether the reader has in life the beginning of wisdom. It holds deep philosophy that must be read slowly and thought over. Praise and flattery are sweet to the human heart but reproof is unwelcome, and submission to correction is necessary as one of the most prominent lessons of Proverbs.
Reproof is given to open the eyes so that moral blindness can be seen and healed, and the response to reproof proves the condition of the heart. Reproving or rebuking a scorner and wicked man who rejects correction returns shame, a blot, hatred, and harm upon the one who reproves. For that reason a scorner and wicked man in that spirit are not to be reproved directly, and God's blessings and precious truth should not be offered heedlessly to those who have no desire to receive them, but they must be approached in another way.
A wise and just man humbly receives reproof and instruction, loves the reprover, and grows wiser and increases in learning. If anything within rises up against reproof instead of humbly receiving it, that resistance itself is sure evidence that reproof is needed and that the need is hidden only by moral blindness. The verse gives warning instruction against condemned sins that ought to take hold upon the hearts of both men and women, though it is not well suited to be read in a mixed assembly of men and women.
Being laughed at and ridiculed for doing honest work and for speaking against wrongdoing should not make a person ashamed or deter him, but he should persist in doing what is right, since the scorner's joke may eventually turn around.