Verse 12. - To deliver thee from the way of the evil man. The first special advantage resulting from the protecting guardianship of discretion and understanding. From the way of the evil man; properly, from an evil way; Hebrew, מִדֶּרֶך רָע (midarek ra), not necessarily, though by implication, connected with man, as in the Authorized Version. רָע (ra), "evil," "wicked," in an ethical sense, is an adjective, as in Jeremiah 3:16 (לֵב רָע, lev ra), "an evil heart;" cf. the LXX., ἀπὸ ὁδοῦ κακῆς; the Vulgate, Targum, and Arabic, a vid mala, and the Syriac, a viis pravis. "Way," is here used in the sense of "conduct," and the evil way is a line of conduct or action which is essentially wicked or evil. The teacher has already Warned youth against the temptations and dangers of the way of evil men in Proverbs 1:10-15; he now shows that discretion, arising from wisdom being resident in the heart, will be a sufficient safeguard against its allurements. From the man that speaketh froward things. Perverse utterances are here brought in contradistinction to the evil way or froward conduct. Man (אִשׁish) is here used generically, as the representative of the whole class of base and wicked men, since all the following verbs are in the plural, Froward things. The word תַּהְפֻכוֹּת (tah'pucoth), here translated "froward things," is derived from the root צּצּצּ (haphak), "to turn," "to pervert," and should be translated "perverseness." Perverseness is the wilful misrepresentation of that which is good and true. The utterances are of a distorted and tortuous character. The word, only found in the plural, is abstract in form, and is of frequent, though not of exclusive, occurrence in the Proverbs. It is attributed to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 32:20. It is met with again in such expressions as "the mouth of perverseness," Authorized Version "froward mouth" (Proverbs 8:13); "the tongue of perverseness," "froward tongue," Authorized Version (Proverbs 10:31); "the man of perverseness," "froward man," Authorized Version (Proverbs 16:28). What is here said of wicked men is attributed to drunkards in Proverbs 23:33, "Thine heart shall utter perverse things." The expression finds its explanation in Proverbs 6:13, 14. The spirit which indulges in this perverseness is stubborn, scornful, self-willed, and rebellious, and it is from such a spirit that discretion is a preservative. In Job 5:13 it is said that "the counsel of the froward is carried headlong" (see also 2 Samuel 22:27; Psalm 18:26; Psalm 101:4). The LXX. rendering of this word is μηδὲν πιστόν, "nothing trustworthy," which is amplified in the Arabic, quod nullam in se continet veritatem, "that which contains in itself no truth."
2:10-22 If we are truly wise, we shall be careful to avoid all evil company and evil practices. When wisdom has dominion over us, then it not only fills the head, but enters into the heart, and will preserve, both against corruptions within and temptations without. The ways of sin are ways of darkness, uncomfortable and unsafe: what fools are those who leave the plain, pleasant, lightsome paths of uprightness, to walk in such ways! They take pleasure in sin; both in committing it, and in seeing others commit it. Every wise man will shun such company. True wisdom will also preserve from those who lead to fleshly lusts, which defile the body, that living temple, and war against the soul. These are evils which excite the sorrow of every serious mind, and cause every reflecting parent to look upon his children with anxiety, lest they should be entangled in such fatal snares. Let the sufferings of others be our warnings. Our Lord Jesus deters from sinful pleasures, by the everlasting torments which follow them. It is very rare that any who are caught in this snare of the devil, recover themselves; so much is the heart hardened, and the mind blinded, by the deceitfulness of this sin. Many think that this caution, besides the literal sense, is to be understood as a caution against idolatry, and subjecting the soul to the body, by seeking any forbidden object. The righteous must leave the earth as well as the wicked; but the earth is a very different thing to them. To the wicked it is all the heaven they ever shall have; to the righteous it is the place of preparation for heaven. And is it all one to us, whether we share with the wicked in the miseries of their latter end, or share those everlasting joys that shall crown believers?
To deliver thee from the way of the evil man,.... Who is so by nature and practice, who is hardened in sin and abandoned to it, whose course of life is evil, and who endeavours to draw others into the same evil practices; now the Gospel, and a spiritual knowledge of it, are a means of preserving men from following the examples of such persons, and from walking with them in the ways of sin: or from "the evil way" (t), from every evil way, from a vicious course of life; not from idolatry only, as some interpret it, though this may be included, and chiefly designed; but from all manner of sin, from everything that is contrary to the law of God and sound doctrine;
from the man that speaketh froward things; perverse things, things contrary to the light of nature, to divine revelation, to the word of God, both law and Gospel; if a single man is meant, he might be thought to be the man of sin, antichrist, who has a mouth speaking blasphemies against God, his name, his tabernacle, and them that dwell therein, Revelation 13:5; and the Gospel delivers men from following him, and falling in with his perverse doctrines and practices; but the word seems to be a collective one, and to be understood of all wicked men, to whom the description agrees, as it is explained in the following verses in the plural number; who out of their evil hearts, and the abundance of wickedness there, speak evil things, tending to debauch the minds and manners of others; to be delivered from whom is a singular mercy. Jarchi restrains this to heretics, and such as caused Israel to apostatize to idolatry, and turned the law into evil. The Gospel is undoubtedly a means of preserving from error and heresy.
(t) "a via mala", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Mercerus, Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis.
from the man that speaketh froward things; perverse things, things contrary to the light of nature, to divine revelation, to the word of God, both law and Gospel; if a single man is meant, he might be thought to be the man of sin, antichrist, who has a mouth speaking blasphemies against God, his name, his tabernacle, and them that dwell therein, Revelation 13:5; and the Gospel delivers men from following him, and falling in with his perverse doctrines and practices; but the word seems to be a collective one, and to be understood of all wicked men, to whom the description agrees, as it is explained in the following verses in the plural number; who out of their evil hearts, and the abundance of wickedness there, speak evil things, tending to debauch the minds and manners of others; to be delivered from whom is a singular mercy. Jarchi restrains this to heretics, and such as caused Israel to apostatize to idolatry, and turned the law into evil. The Gospel is undoubtedly a means of preserving from error and heresy.
(t) "a via mala", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Mercerus, Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis.