Proverbs 14:14

14 The backslider in heart will be filled with his own ways, But a good man will be satisfied from above.

Proverbs 14:14 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 14:14

The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways,
&c.] One that is a backslider at heart, whose heart departeth from the Lord; in whom there is an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; and indeed apostasy begins at the heart, and shows itself in the life and conversation: there may be a backsliding when the heart does not wickedly depart from God; but is through the infirmity of the flesh and the force of temptation; from which backslidings the Lord's people are recovered, and which are healed by his grace; but here such an one is meant who willingly and heartily backslides; and such shall have the reward of their hands and actions given them, or the full and due punishment of their sins; they shall have their bellyful of their own wicked ways and works, the just recompense of reward for them; and a good man [shall be satisfied] from himself;
shall eat the fruit of his own doings, shall be blessed in his deeds, and have peace and satisfaction therein; though not salvation by them, or for them: he shall be satisfied with the grace of God bestowed on him and wrought in him; and, from a feeling experience of the grace of God within him, shall be satisfied that he has in heaven a better and an enduring substance; or he shall be satisfied "from above himself" ^F13, from the grace that is in Christ, out of the fulness which is in him; and shall be filled with all the fulness of God he is capable of; and especially in the other world, when he shall awake in his likeness. The Targum is,

``a good man shall be satisfied with his fear;''

and so the Syriac version, with the fear of his soul; it may be rendered, as by the Vulgate Latin version, "a good man shall be above him" ^F14; that is, above the backslider; shall be better tilled, and be more happy than he.

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 (wylem) "de super eo", Montanus; "de super semet", Schultens.
F14 "Et super cum erit vir bonus", V. L. De Dieu.

Proverbs 14:14 In-Context

12 There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.

13 Even in laughter the heart may sorrow, And the end of mirth may be grief.

14 The backslider in heart will be filled with his own ways, But a good man will be satisfied from above.

15 The simple believes every word, But the prudent considers well his steps.

16 A wise man fears and departs from evil, But a fool rages and is self-confident.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally from above himself