Ver. 1. A false balance is abomination.] [See Trapp on “Le 19:36”] [See Trapp on “De 25:15”] This kind of fraud falls heaviest upon the poor, (Amos 8:5) who are fain to fetch in everything by the penny. Hither may be referred corruptions in courts, and partialities in church businesses. See that tremendous “charge” to do nothing by partiality, or by tilting the balance. (1 Timothy 5:21) Those that have the “balances of deceit in their hand” (Hosea 12:7) are called Canaanites, so the Hebrew hath it—that is, mere natural men, (Ezekiel 16:3) that have no goodness in them, no, not common honesty; they do not as they would be: done by, which very heathens condemned.
Ver. 2. When pride cometh.] Where pride is in the saddle, shame is on the crupper, tanquam Nemesis a tergo. He is a “proud fool,” saith our English proverb. Proud persons, while they leave their standing and would rise above the top of their places, fail of their footing, and fall to the bottom. But with the lowly is wisdom.] Which maketh the face to shine. Pride proceeds from folly, and procures contempt. But “God gives grace to the humble”; (James 4:6) that is, as some sense it, good repute and report among men. Who am I? saith Moses; and yet who fitter than he to go to Pharaoh? He refused to be Pharaoh’s daughter’s son; he was afterwards called to be Pharaoh’s god. (Exodus 7:1) Aben Ezra observes, that the word here rendered “lowly,” signifies “bashful,” “shame faced,” Qui prae verecundia sese abdunt, that thrust not themselves into observation. The hmnble man, were it not that the fragrant smell of his many virtues betrays him to the world, would choose to live and die in his self-contenting secrecy. Hence humility is by Bernard compared to the violet, which grows low to the ground, and hangs the head downward, and, besides, hides itself with its own leaves.
Ver. 3. The integrity of the upright shall guide them.] An elegant allusion in the original. Their uprightness shall lead them whither they would, and secure them from danger. They “fulfil the royal law,” (James 2:8) keep the king’s highway, and so are kept safe; while those that go out of God’s precincts are out of his protection. But the perverseness of transgressors.] Of prevaricators, that run upon rough precipices. These are by the prophet Amos likened to horses running upon a rock, where first they break their hoofs, and then their necks. (Amos 6:12)
Ver. 4. Riches profit not in the day of wrath.] Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath. (Zephaniah 1:18 Isaiah 13:7) Yea, they carried away the richer Jews, when the poorer sort were left to till the land. (2 Kings 24:14) The great Caliph of Babylon, whom all the Mohammedan princes honoured above all others, as the true successor of Mohammed, and the grand oracle of their law, being taken together with his city by the great Cham of Tartary, was by him set in the midst of his infinite treasure, and willed to feed thereon, and make no spare; in which order, the covetous wretch, being kept for certain days, miserably died for hunger, in the midst of those things, whereof he thought he should never have enough. Wherefore should I die, being so rich? said that wretched Cardinal Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, in Henry VI’s time. Fie, quoth he, will not death be hired? will money do nothing? His riches could not reprieve him. But righteousness delivereth from death.] [See Trapp on “Pr 10:2”] Turk. Hist., fol. 113. Acts and Mon., fol. 925.
Ver. 5. The righteousness of the perfect.] This is the same in effect with Proverbs 11:3. Nunquam satis dicitur, quod nunquam satis discitur. But the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.] Or, In his own wickedness. He shall fall out of one wickedness unto another, while he “draws iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope.” (Isaiah 5:18) Thus Babylon’s sins are said to “reach unto heaven”; (Revelation 18:5) quasi concatenatus funis. Therefore “she is fallen, she is fallen,” certo, brevi, penitus, nondum tamen. Flagitium et flagellum, ut acus et filum. Sin and punishment are inseparable companions. Seneca.
Ver. 6. The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them.] As Noah’s integrity prevailed for his safety. Many are the troubles of the righteous, but out of them all they are sure to be delivered. No country hath more venomous creatures than Egypt—none more antidotes. So godliness hath many troubles, and as many helps against trouble. As Moses’ hand, it turns a serpent into a rod; and as the tree that Moses cast into the waters of Marsh, it sweeteneth the bitter waters of affliction. Well may it be called the divine nature, for as God brings light out of darkness, &c., so doth grace. But transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness.] Taken by their own consciences (those bloodhounds), and by the just judgments of God, which they shall never be able to avoid or abide, though now they carry themselves as if they were out of the reach of his rod, or had gotten a protection.