Bridges on Proverbs 16:5
 
 
Charles Bridges on Proverbs 16:5
 
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5.†  Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished. {unpunished: Heb. held innocent}
 
The hatefulness of a proud look has been mentioned. (Chapter 6:17.) But the Searcher of hearts marks pride in heart under a humble look. (Matthew 6:16.) Men see no abomination in this spirit. It brings no disgrace. Nay, it is often thought to be high-minded. But it keeps back the heart from God. It lifts up the heart against him. It contends for the supremacy with him. (Ezekiel 28:2.) When it thus strikes at God, what wonder that God strikes at it (1 Peter 5:5), as an abomination to him?
How unseemly moreover is this sin! A creature so utterly dependent, so fearfully guilty, yet proud in heart! A true child of a fallen parent, who, in dreaming to be as God, made himself like the devil. (Genesis 3:5.) Many are the forms of this hateful spirit. Some are proud of their beauty; some of their talents; some of their rank; some of their goodness — all forgetting, that they “have nothing which they have not received” (1 Corinthians 4:7); all unconscious, that they are an abomination to the LORD.
Perhaps, however, this declaration applies more distinctly to proud combinations against God — hand joining in hand.† What is all this force, but the worm “striving with his Maker”?† “Who is the LORD?” — was the boast of haughty Pharaoh. Let him and his people go to the Red Sea, and learn.† Hand joining in hand shall not be held innocent — shall not be unpunished. The Babel combination was blasted with confusion.† The “associations” against the holy child Jesus were “broken in pieces.”† The infidel conspiracies of Voltaire and his school have been overthrown. And thus in our own day, with all Social and Chartist banding together for wickedness, only manifest more gloriously — “There is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel against the LORD.” (Chapter 21:30.)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Proverbs 6:17
17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, {A proud...: Heb. Haughty eyes}
 
 
Matthew 6:16
16 ¶ Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
 
 
Ezekiel 28:2
2 Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God: {midst: Heb. heart}
 
 
1 Peter 5:5
5 ¶ Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
 
 
Genesis 3:5
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
 
 
1 Corinthians 4:7
7 ¶ For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it? {maketh...: Gr. distinguisheth thee}
 
 
Footnote:
Chapter 11:21. Psalm 59:3, 12, 13.
 
 
Proverbs 11:21
21 ¶ Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered.
 
Psalm 59:3, 12, 13
3 For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul: the mighty are gathered against me; not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O LORD. 12 For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips let them even be taken in their pride: and for cursing and lying which they speak. 13 Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be: and let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. Selah.
 
 
Footnote:
Isaiah 45:9.
 
 
Isaiah 45:9
9 Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?
 
 
Footnote:
Exodus 5:2; 14:26-30.
 
 
Exodus 5:2
2 And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.
 
Exodus 14:26-30
26 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. 27 And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. {overthrew: Heb. shook off} 28 And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them. 29 But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. 30 Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore.
 
 
Footnote:
Genesis 11:1-9.
 
 
Genesis 11:1-9
1 ¶ And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. {language: Heb. lip.} {speech: Heb. words} 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. {from...: or, eastward} 3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. {they said...: Heb. a man said to his neighbour} {burn...: Heb. burn them to a burning} 4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. 5 ¶ And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. {Babel: that is, Confusion}
 
 
Footnote:
Isaiah 8:9. Psalm 2:1-5.
 
 
Isaiah 8:9
9 ¶ Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. {people and: or, people, yet}
 
Psalm 2:1-5
1 ¶ Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? {rage: or, tumultuously assemble} {imagine: Heb. meditate} 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, 3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. 4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. 5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. {vex: or, trouble}
 
 
Proverbs 21:30
30 ¶ There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the LORD.