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2 lines
1.7 KiB
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<p>This is spoken, not so much by way of counsel to wicked men (they will not receive instruction, <a class="bibleref" title="Prov.23.9" href="/passage/?search=Prov.23.9">Prov. 23:9</a>), but rather in defiance of them, for the encouragement of good people that are threatened by them. See here, 1. The designs of the wicked against the righteous, and the success they promise themselves in those designs. The plot is laid deeply: They <i>lay wait against the dwelling of the righteous</i>, thinking to charge some iniquity upon it, or compass dome design against it; they lie in wait at the door, to catch him when he stirs out, as David’s persecutors, <a class="bibleref" title="Ps.59.1" href="/passage/?search=Ps.59.1">Ps. 59:1</a> <i>title</i>. The hope is raised high; they doubt not but to <i>spoil his dwelling-place</i> because he is weak and cannot support it, because his condition is low and distressed, and he is almost down already. All this is a fruit of the old enmity in the seed of the serpent against the seed of the woman. <i>The blood-thirsty hate the upright</i>. 2. The folly and frustration of these designs (1.) The righteous man, whose ruin was expected, recovers himself. He <i>falls seven times</i> into trouble, but, by the blessing of God upon his wisdom and integrity, he <i>rises again</i>, sees through his troubles and sees better times after them. The <i>just man falls</i>, sometimes <i>falls seven times</i> perhaps, into sin, sins of infirmity, through the surprise of temptation; but he <i>rises again</i> by repentance, finds mercy with God, and regains his peace. (2.) <i>The wicked</i> man, who expected to see his ruin and to help it forward, is undone. He <i>falls into mischief</i>; his sins and his troubles are his utter destruction.</p>
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