Bridges on Proverbs 20:26
 
 
Charles Bridges on Proverbs 20:26
 
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26.  A wise king scattereth the wicked, and bringeth the wheel over them.
 
Solomon, as a wise king, was constantly eyeing his own responsibilities. His standard was not to commit wickedness himself, nor to allow it in his people; to scatter, not to encourage, the wicked. As the husbandman's wheel, brought over the grain, cut the straw, and separated the chaff; his sifting administration of justice brought the wheel of vengeance on the wicked, and scattered them as worthless chaff (Psalm 1:4), or crushed them in ruin. (1 Kings 2:25-46.) In the same spirit did his father David destroy them, when they boldly claimed his countenance. Godly Asa removed wickedness from the high place nearest his own throne and heart. Amaziah justly punished it with death. Nehemiah — that true reformer — rebuked it even in the family of the high-priest. Our own Alfred appeared to maintain this standard as a witness for God in an age of darkness. But it is the King of kings alone, that can make this separation complete. Often does he sift his church by trial, for her greater purity and complete preservation. (Amos 9:9.) But what will it be, when he shall come “with his fan in his hand, and shall throughly purge his floor!” (Matthew 3:12.) What a scattering of chaff will there be! Not an atom will go into the garner. Not a grain of wheat will be cast away. Oh my soul! what wilt thou be found at this great sifting day! “Who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth?” (Malachi 3:2.)
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Footnote:
Verse 8. Chapter 16:12. Compare the contrast 1 Kings 14:16.
 

 
Proverbs 20:8
8 ¶ A king that sitteth in the throne of judgment scattereth away all evil with his eyes.
 
Proverbs 16:12
12 ¶ It is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness: for the throne is established by righteousness.
 
Compare the contrast
1 Kings 14:16
16 And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin.
 
 
Footnote:
Isaiah 28:28, 29. This is an obvious allusion to the way of threshing in the East. One mode was by a wain, which had wheels with iron teeth like a saw. The axle was armed with serrated wheels throughout. It moved upon three rollers armed with iron teeth, or wheels, to cut the straw. — See Bishop Lowth’s note on Isaiah 28:27. Compare Amos 1:3.
 

 
Isaiah 28:28, 29
28 Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen. 29 This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.
 
Isaiah 28:27
27 For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.
 
Compare
Amos 1:3
3 ¶ Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron: {and...: or, yea, for four} {turn...: or, convert it, or, let it be quiet}
 
 
Psalm 1:4
4 ¶ The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
 
 
1 Kings 2:25-46
25 And king Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell upon him that he died. 26 ¶ And unto Abiathar the priest said the king, Get thee to Anathoth, unto thine own fields; for thou art worthy of death: but I will not at this time put thee to death, because thou barest the ark of the Lord GOD before David my father, and because thou hast been afflicted in all wherein my father was afflicted. {worthy...: Heb. a man of death} 27 So Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest unto the LORD; that he might fulfil the word of the LORD, which he spake concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh. 28 Then tidings came to Joab: for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he turned not after Absalom. And Joab fled unto the tabernacle of the LORD, and caught hold on the horns of the altar. 29 And it was told king Solomon that Joab was fled unto the tabernacle of the LORD; and, behold, he is by the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, Go, fall upon him. 30 And Benaiah came to the tabernacle of the LORD, and said unto him, Thus saith the king, Come forth. And he said, Nay; but I will die here. And Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me. 31 And the king said unto him, Do as he hath said, and fall upon him, and bury him; that thou mayest take away the innocent blood, which Joab shed, from me, and from the house of my father. 32 And the LORD shall return his blood upon his own head, who fell upon two men more righteous and better than he, and slew them with the sword, my father David not knowing thereof, to wit, Abner the son of Ner, captain of the host of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the host of Judah. 33 Their blood shall therefore return upon the head of Joab, and upon the head of his seed for ever: but upon David, and upon his seed, and upon his house, and upon his throne, shall there be peace for ever from the LORD. 34 So Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up, and fell upon him, and slew him: and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness. 35 ¶ And the king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his room over the host: and Zadok the priest did the king put in the room of Abiathar. 36 And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said unto him, Build thee an house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and go not forth thence any whither. 37 For it shall be, that on the day thou goest out, and passest over the brook Kidron, thou shalt know for certain that thou shalt surely die: thy blood shall be upon thine own head. 38 And Shimei said unto the king, The saying is good: as my lord the king hath said, so will thy servant do. And Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days. 39 And it came to pass at the end of three years, that two of the servants of Shimei ran away unto Achish son of Maachah king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, Behold, thy servants be in Gath. 40 And Shimei arose, and saddled his ass, and went to Gath to Achish to seek his servants: and Shimei went, and brought his servants from Gath. 41 And it was told Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and was come again. 42 And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said unto him, Did I not make thee to swear by the LORD, and protested unto thee, saying, Know for a certain, on the day thou goest out, and walkest abroad any whither, that thou shalt surely die? and thou saidst unto me, The word that I have heard is good. 43 Why then hast thou not kept the oath of the LORD, and the commandment that I have charged thee with? 44 The king said moreover to Shimei, Thou knowest all the wickedness which thine heart is privy to, that thou didst to David my father: therefore the LORD shall return thy wickedness upon thine own head; 45 And king Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the LORD for ever. 46 So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; which went out, and fell upon him, that he died. And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Footnote:
2 Samuel 1:2, 16; 4:5, 12. Compare Psalm 101:7, 8.
 

 
2 Samuel 1:2, 16
2 It came even to pass on the third day, that, behold, a man came out of the camp from Saul with his clothes rent, and earth upon his head: and so it was, when he came to David, that he fell to the earth, and did obeisance. 16 And David said unto him, Thy blood be upon thy head; for thy mouth hath testified against thee, saying, I have slain the LORD'S anointed.
 
2 Samuel 4:5, 12
5 And the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, went, and came about the heat of the day to the house of Ishbosheth, who lay on a bed at noon. 12 And David commanded his young men, and they slew them, and cut off their hands and their feet, and hanged them up over the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ishbosheth, and buried it in the sepulchre of Abner in Hebron.
 
Compare
Psalm 101:7, 8
7 He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight. {shall not tarry: Heb. shall not be established} 8 I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the LORD.
 
 
Footnote:
2 Chronicles 15:16.
 

 
2 Chronicles 15:16.
16 And also concerning Maachah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove: and Asa cut down her idol, and stamped it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron. {mother: that is, grandmother} {idol: Heb. horror}
 
 
Footnote:
Ib. 24:25; 25:3, 4.
 

 
2 Chronicles 24:25
25 And when they were departed from him, (for they left him in great diseases,) his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died: and they buried him in the city of David, but they buried him not in the sepulchres of the kings.
 
Compare
2 Chronicles 25:3, 4
3 Now it came to pass, when the kingdom was established to him, that he slew his servants that had killed the king his father.
 
 
Footnote:
Nehemiah 13:28, 29.
 

 
Nehemiah 13:28, 29
28 And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son in law to Sanballat the Horonite: therefore I chased him from me. 29 Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood, and of the Levites.
 
 
Amos 9:9
9 For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. {sift: Heb. cause to move} {grain: Heb. stone}
 
 
Matthew 3:12
12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
 
 
Malachi 3:2
2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: