Bridges on Proverbs 28:12
 
 
Charles Bridges on Proverbs 28:12
 
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12.  When righteous men do rejoice, there is great glory: but when the wicked rise, a man is hidden. {hidden: or, sought for}
 
“We are made” — said a righteous man — “as the filth of the earth, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.”† Yet these are the men, who “bear up the pillars of the state.”† When therefore they rejoice — when they are raised to honor, — there is great glory.† The whole kingdom feels more or less the influence of this national blessing. Godliness is countenanced. Men are protected in the free exercise of their religion. “When Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in the king's royal apparel, the city of Shushan rejoiced, and were glad. The Jews had light, and gladness, and joy, and honor; in every province a feast, and a good day.” (Esther 8:17.) The same result is seen in the experience of the Church. When “the Churches had rest” from the fiery trial, “they were edified and walked in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost.” (Acts 9:31.) And what glory so great, as the sunshine of the enjoyment of their God!
But when the wicked rise to honor, how is this glory eclipsed! The people of God are removed into corners, silenced, hidden. (Verse 28.) The light of upwards of an hundred prophets, and even Elijah himself, was hidden for awhile under the tyranny of Ahab.† And in every age the power of the wicked, especially under a despotic rule, hides much valuable influence. Yet it is hidden only to the eye of sense. For of those, who “wander about in sheep-skins and goat-skins, in deserts, and caves of the earth,” what greater glory could we give, than the divine inscription stamped upon them — “Of whom the world was not worthy”?†
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Footnote:
1 Corinthians 4:13.
 
 
1 Corinthians 4:13
13 Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.
 
 
Footnote:
Psalm 75:3.
 
 
Psalm 75:3
3 The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I bear up the pillars of it. Selah.
 
 
Footnote:
Chapter 11:10; 29:2.
 
 
Proverbs 11:10
10 ¶ When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth: and when the wicked perish, there is shouting.
 
Proverbs 29:2
2 ¶ When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn. {in...: or, increased}
 
 
Esther 8:17
17 And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many of the people of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them.
 
 
Acts 9:31
31 Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.
 
 
Proverbs 28:28
28 ¶ When the wicked rise, men hide themselves: but when they perish, the righteous increase.
 
 
Footnote:
1 Kings 17:2, 3; 18:4; 19:1-4.
 
 
1 Kings 17:2, 3
2 And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, 3 Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.
 
1 Kings 18:4
4 For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.) {Jezebel: Heb. Izebel}
 
1 Kings 19:1-4
1 ¶ And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time. 3 And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there. 4 But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers. {for himself: Heb. for his life}
 
 
Footnote:
Hebrews 11:37, 38. Revelation 12:6.
 
 
Hebrews 11:37, 38
37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; 38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
 
Revelation 12:6
6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.