Proverbs 14:19

The evil bow before the good; and the wicked at the gates of the righteous.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(19) The evil bow before the good.—(Comp. 1Samuel 2:36.) That this final retribution is certain is implied by the tense employed, though it may be long delayed till the “awakening” (Psalm 73:20) of God and man to judgment. (Comp. Wisdom Of Solomon 5:1, sqq.)

Benson Commentary

Proverbs 14:19. The evil bow before the good — Giving honour to them, and supplicating their favour and help; and the wicked at the gates of the righteous — As clients and petitioners are wont to wait at the houses of the great and powerful, or beggars at the doors of such as they expect will relieve their wants. The sense is, good men will have the pre-eminence over the wicked often in this life, when God sees it expedient, but assuredly in the life to come.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

14:18. Sin is the shame of sinners; but wisdom is the honour of the wise. 19. Even bad men acknowledge the excellency of God's people. 20. Friendship in the world is governed by self-interest. It is good to have God our Friend; he will not desert us. 21. To despise a man for his employment or appearance is a sin. 22. How wisely those consult their own interest, who not only do good, but devise it! 23. Labour of the head, or of the hand, will turn to some good account. But if men's religion runs all out in talk and noise, they will come to nothing. 24. The riches of men of wisdom and piety enlarge their usefulness. 25. An upright man will venture the displeasure of the greatest, to bring truth to light. 26,27. Those who fear the Lord so as to obey and serve him, have a strong ground of confidence, and will be preserved. Let us seek to this Fountain of life, that we may escape the snares of death. 28. Let all that wish well to the kingdom of Christ, do what they can, that many may be added to his church. 29. A mild, patient man is one that learns of Christ, who is Wisdom itself. Unbridled passion is folly made known. 30. An upright, contented, and benevolent mind, tends to health. 31. To oppress the poor is to reproach our Creator. 32. The wicked man has his soul forced from him; he dies in his sins, under the guilt and power of them. But godly men, though they have pain and some dread of death, have the blessed hope, which God, who cannot lie, has given them. 33. Wisdom possesses the heart, and thus regulates the affections and tempers. 34. Piety and holiness always promote industry, sobriety, and honesty. 35. The great King who reigns over heaven and earth, will reward faithful servants who honour his gospel by the proper discharge of the duties of their stations: he despises not the services of the lowest.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Crowned - The teacher anticipates the truth, and the paradox, of the Stoic saying, "The wise is the only king."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

19. Describes the humbling of the wicked by the punishment their sins incur.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Bow before the good; giving honour to them, and supplicating their favour and help, either for supply of their wants, as being brought low for their sins, or for counsel or comfort, or for their prayers to God for them.

At the gates; as clients, and petitioners, and beggars use to wait at the doors and houses of great and potent men. The sense is, Good men shall have the pre-eminency over the wicked, ofttimes in this life, when God sees it expedient, but assuredly in the next life.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The evil bow before the good,.... Wicked men before good men. This, as Jarchi observes, respects future time; even the latter day glory, or the spiritual times of the Messiah, when the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the saints of the most High: for though there may have been some few instances of this kind, as Haman bowing before Mordecai, and the Heathen emperors before Constantine; and there may be some now, in some cases where obligation requires; yet this is far from being general, as it will be in the spiritual reign of Christ; when the sons of those that afflicted the church will come bending to her, and they that have despised her shall bow themselves down at the soles of her feet; and even great personages too shall bow down and lick the dust of her feet; the kings of the earth, who before have been in confederacy with antichrist, and have persecuted the saints, now shall hate the whore, and honour the true church of Christ: this will be in the Philadelphian state, which is the same with the spiritual reign of Christ; such who called themselves Jews, and are not, shall come and worship before the feet of the church, and own that she and her members are the favourites of heaven, Daniel 7:27, Isaiah 49:23;

and the wicked at the gates of the righteous; or, "come to the gates of the righteous", as the Syriac version supplies it; they come and knock there, stand and wait, or lay themselves down; become prostrate and humble supplicants for relief and protection, as beggars do. This may also respect their attendance at Wisdom's gates, at the gates of Zion, on public ordinances, for counsel and instruction, which before they despised, Proverbs 8:34. The Septuagint version is, "shall serve thy gates"; that is, at them; see Isaiah 60:11.

Geneva Study Bible

The evil bow before the good; and the wicked {k} at the gates of the righteous.

(k) If this come not daily to pass, we must consider that it is because of our sins, which hinder God's workings.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 19. - The evil bow before the good; and the wicked stand at the gates of the righteous (Proverbs 8:34). The final victory of good over evil is here set forth. However triumphant for a time and apparently prosperous the wicked may be, their success is not lasting; they shall in the end succumb to the righteous, even as the Canaanite kings crouched before Joshua's captains (Joshua 10:24), and, hurled from their high estate, they shall stand humbly at the good man's door, begging for bread to support their life (1 Samuel 2:36). The contrast here indicated is seen in our Lord's parable of Dives and Lazarus, when the beggar is comforted and the rich man is tormented, and when the latter urgently sues for the help of the once despised outcast to mitigate the agony which he is suffering (comp. Wisd. 5). Proverbs 14:19

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

19 The wicked must bow before the good,

     And the godless stand at the doors of the righteous.

The good, viz., that which is truly good, which has love as its principle, always at last holds the supremacy. The good men who manifest love to men which flows from love to God, come finally forward, so that the wicked, who for a long time played the part of lords, bow themselves willingly or unwillingly before them, and often enough it comes about that godless men fall down from their prosperity and their places of honour so low, that they post themselves at the entrance of the stately dwelling of the righteous (Proverbs 13:22), waiting for his going out and in, or seeking an occasion of presenting to him a supplication, or also as expecting gifts to be bestowed (Psalm 37:25). The poor man Lazarus πρὸς τὸν πυλῶνα of the rich man, Luke 16:20, shows, indeed, that this is not always the case on this side of the grave. שׁחוּ has, according to the Masora (cf. Kimchi's Wrterbuch under שׁחח), the ultima accented; the accentuation of the form סכּוּ wavers between the ult. and penult. Olsh. p. 482f., cf. Gesen. 68, Anm. 10. The substantival clause 19b is easily changed into a verbal clause: they come (Syr.), appear, stand (incorrectly the Targ.: they are judged in the gates of the righteous).