Ver. 1. The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord.] Be kings never so absolute and unaccountable to any, yet are they ruled and overruled by him “that is higher than the highest,.” (Ecclesiastes 5:8) God’s heart is not in the king’s hand, as that foolish prince in Mexico pretends, when at his coronation he swears that it shall not rain unseasonably, neither shall there be famine or pestilence during his reign in his dominions; but “the king’s heart,” that is, his will, desires, devices, resolutions, are God’s to dispose of. He turneth them this way or that way with as much ease as the ploughman doth the water course with his paddle, or the gardener with his hand. Thus he turned the heart of Pharaoh to Joseph; of Saul to David; of Nebuchadnezzar to Jeremiah; of Darius to Daniel; of Cyrus, and afterwards of Alexander the Great, to the Jews; of some of the Roman persecutors to the primitive Christians; and of Charles V, who ruled over twenty-eight flourishing kingdoms, to the late reformers, Melanchthon, Pomeran, and other famous men of God, whom, when he had in his power, after he had conquered the Protestant princes, he not only determined not anything extremely against them, but also, entreating them gently, he sent them away, not so much as once forbidding them to publish openly the doctrine that they professed: albeit, all Christendom had not a more prudent prince than he was, saith Mr Foxe, nor the Church of Christ almost a a sorer enemy. Acts and Mon., fol. 1784.
Ver. 2. Every way of a man is right in his own eyes.] [See Trapp on “Pr 16:2”] Such is our sinful self-love, that, Suffenus-like, we easily admire that little nothing of any good that is in us; we so clasp and hug the barn of our own brain, with the ape, that we strangle it; we set up a counter for a thousand pounds, and boast of those graces whereunto we are perfect strangers. We turn the perspective telescope, and gladly see ourselves larger, others smaller than they are: we flatter our own souls as Micah did his. (Judges 17:13) Wherein it often happens as it did with the riflers of Semiramis’ tomb, who, where they expected to find the richest treasure, met with a deadly poison. Seem we never so just, because first in our own cause, God—as Solomon saith of a man’s neighhour—comes and searches us, and then things appear otherwise. (Luke 16:15)
Ver. 3. Is more acceptable to the Lord.] Qui non vult ex rapina holocaustum, as heathens could see and say by the light of nature. The Jews thought to expiate their miscarriages toward men, and to set off with God by their ceremonies and sacrifices. (Isaiah 1:11-15 Jeremiah 7:21-26 Micah 6:6-8) Some heathens also, as that Roman emperor, could say, Non sic deos coluimus ut ille nos vinceret, We have not been at so much charge with the gods that they should give us up into the enemy’s hands. But the Scripture gave the Jews to understand that “to obey was better than sacrifice,” that God “would have mercy and not sacrifice,” and that for a man to “love God above all, and his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burntofferings and sacrifices.” (Mark 12:33) The heathens also were told as much by their sages, as Plato in his book intituled περι προσευχης, where Socrates, reprehending the gilt horned bulls of the Greeks, and the sumptuous sacrifices of the Trojans at length infers— και γαρ αν δεινον εη, &c. It were a grievous thing if the gods should more respect men’s offerings and sacrifices than the holiness of their hearts, and the righteousness of their lives, &c. Aristotle in his Rhetorics, ‘ Ουκ εικος Θεον χαιρεινταις δαπαναις, &c., saith he. It is not likely that God takes pleasure in the costliness of sacrifices, but rather in the good conversation of the sacrificers.
Ver. 4. An high look and proud heart.] [See Trapp on “Pr 6:17”] And the ploughing of the wicked is sin.] As they plot and plough mischief—being the devil’s hinds and drudges—so all their actions, natural, moral, spiritual, are turned into sin; whether they plough, or play, or pray, or eat, or sleep, “to the impure and unbelieving, all things are impure.” (Titus 1:15) Their proud or big swollen heart is full of filthy corrupt matter, that oozeth out still and offendeth the eyes of God’s glory. Everything they do is as an evil vapour reeking from that loathsome dunghill, worse than those that came up from the five cities of the plain. Pride is like copperas, which will turn wine or milk into ink; -or leaven, which turns a very passover into pollution; -or as the sanies pus of a plague sore, which will render the richest robe infectious.
Ver. 5. The thoughts of the diligent tend only, &c.] The word rendered “diligent” signifies one that is sedulous and solicitous in his business; that weighs circumstances and waits opportunities; that “sits down first and counts his costs”; (Luke 14:28) that considers seriously, and then executes speedily. Such a one was Abraham’s servant, (Genesis 24:1-9) Joseph, Boaz, Daniel. And how should such a man choose but thrive? [See Trapp on “Pr 10:4”] A sufficiency he is sure of, though not of a superfluity. But of every one that is hasty.] And headlong; that, resolving to be rich, graspeth greedily all he can come at—accounting all good fish that comes to hand, and not sticking at any injustice or cruelty that may make for his advantage. The beggar will catch this man ere long; -the usurer will get him into his clutches, and leave him never a feather to fly with. There is a curse upon such precipitate practices, though men be never so industrious, as in Jeboiakim, (Jeremiah 22:24-30) and Saul. (1 Samuel 14:24-30) Those that, making more haste than good speed to be rich, reach at things too high for them—which David would not do (Psalms 131:1) -may be likened to the panther, which loves the dung of man so much, as if it be hanged a height from it, it will skip and leap up, and never leave till it have burst itself in pieces to get it. Qui res omnes suas ordine facit loco et tempore, &c. Cuius limitatae et velut iudicio decisae actiones omnes. -Mercer.