Matthew Henry on Proverbs 15:21
Note, 1. It is the character of a wicked man that he takes pleasure in sin; he has an appetite to the bait, and swallows it greedily, and has no dread of the hook, nor feels from it when he has swallowed it: Folly is joy to him; the folly of others is so, and his own much more. He sins, not only without regret, but with delight, not only repents not of it, but makes his boast of it. This is a certain sign of one that is graceless. 2. It is the character of a wise and good man that he makes conscience of his duty. A fool lives at large, walks at all adventures, by no rule, acts with no sincerity or steadiness; but a man of understanding, the eyes of whose understanding are enlightened by the…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 15:21
walketh uprightly--and so finds his joy (Pro 3:6; Pro 10:23).
John Gill on Proverbs 15:21
Folly is joy to him that is destitute of wisdom,.... Or "that wants a heart" (q), a wise and understanding one; by "folly" is meant sin, for all sin is folly; and that is very pleasing and joyous to a wicked he chooses it and delights in it; instead of being ashamed of it, and sorry for it, he glories in it, and makes his boast of it; and not only takes pleasure in committing it himself, but also in those that do it; see Proverbs 10:23;
but a man of understanding walketh uprightly; he who has his understanding enlightened by the Spirit of God; who has an understanding given him by the Son of God; who has a spiritual and experimental understanding of the Gospel, and the truths of it: he walk…
Read the whole note in the consoleKeil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 15:20-23
This collection of Solomonic proverbs began, Pro 10:1, with a proverb having reference to the observance of the fourth commandment,
(Note: The fifth commandment of the Westminster Shorter Catechism is named as the fourth in Luther's catechism.)
and a second chief section, Pro 13:1, began in the same way. Here a proverb of the same kind designates the beginning of a third chief section. That the editor was aware of this is shown by the homogeneity of the proverbs, Pro 15:19; Pro 12:28, which form the conclusion of the first and second sections. We place together first in this new section, Pro 15:20-23, in which (with the exception of Pro 15:25) the ישׂמח [maketh glad] of the first (Pro 10:1)…
