Commentary - Proverbs 16:20

Bird's-eye view

Proverbs 16:20 presents us with a classic Hebrew parallelism, where two lines say something similar in different ways to drive home a single, potent truth. The verse neatly divides the godly life into two corresponding activities: paying attention to God's revelation and resting in God's character. The first part deals with our intellect and our will, the conscious decision to handle the Word of God with care and skill. The second part deals with our heart and our affections, the settled confidence in the God who gave the Word. The result of the first action is that we "find good," which is to say, we prosper and discover the way things truly are. The result of the second is that we are "blessed," a state of deep, settled happiness and divine favor that is unshaken by circumstance. This is not a formula for manipulating God but a description of reality. The man who aligns himself with God's revealed wisdom and trusts in God's sovereign goodness is the man who is living in harmony with the grain of the universe. He is like a man rowing with the current, not against it.

This proverb is a compact summary of the life of faith. It is both active and passive. We are to actively handle, consider, and apply the Word. This is not a mystical waiting game; it requires diligence, study, and thought. At the same time, the foundation for all this activity is a passive reliance, a complete trust in Yahweh. We don't trust in our skillful handling of the Word; we handle the Word skillfully because we trust the one who spoke it. The two work together. Diligent study of Scripture without a heart of trust becomes dry scholasticism or proud legalism. Trust without a commitment to handle the Word wisely becomes sentimental subjectivism. The wise man, the blessed man, does both.

Outline

Context In Proverbs

This verse sits within a chapter that repeatedly contrasts the plans of man with the sovereignty of God. The chapter opens with "The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from Yahweh" (Prov 16:1) and continues with themes like "Commit your works to Yahweh, and your thoughts will be established" (Prov 16:3) and "A man's heart plans his way, but Yahweh directs his steps" (Prov 16:9). Verse 20 fits perfectly into this stream of thought. How does a man navigate a world where his own plans are insufficient and God's sovereignty is absolute? The answer is given here: by submitting his intellect to God's Word and his whole being to God's person. It is the practical answer to the theological reality that permeates the entire chapter. It follows verses about the king's justice and precedes verses about the power of wise speech, grounding all successful human endeavor, whether royal or common, in a right relationship with God and His Word.

Key Issues

Wisdom's Two Feet

The Christian life is often described as a walk. And to walk, you need two feet that work together. This proverb gives us the two feet of biblical wisdom: careful attention to the Word and confident trust in the Lord. You cannot walk with just one. If you try to walk only on the foot of "considering the word," you become a Pharisee. You have all the data, all the rules, all the theological distinctions, but your knowledge is brittle, cold, and ultimately self-righteous. You trust in your own ability to handle the text. On the other hand, if you try to walk only on the foot of "trusting in Yahweh" without careful attention to what He has actually said, you become a sentimentalist, a pietist driven by feelings, impressions, and vague spiritual notions. Your trust has no anchor; it is a boat tossed about by every wave of emotion or circumstance.

The blessed man plants both feet firmly. His trust in God drives him to the Word, because he wants to know more about the one in whom he trusts. And his study of the Word deepens his trust, because in the Scriptures he sees the character and faithfulness of God displayed again and again. The intellectual and the relational are not at odds; they are partners in the dance of discipleship. This proverb calls us to be thoughtful believers and trusting theologians.

Verse by Verse Commentary

20a He who considers the word will find good...

The first clause deals with our active responsibility. The Hebrew for "considers" (sakal) has a range of meaning that includes being prudent, giving attention to, and acting with insight. This is not a passive glance at the text. This is a man who handles the Word with skill and intelligence. He is a good exegete. He knows that context is king. He doesn't rip verses out of their setting to use as ammunition in a theological squabble or as a fortune cookie promise for his day. He wrestles with the text. He studies it, meditates on it, and seeks to understand what God meant by what He said. This is the hard work of discipleship. And the result of this work is that he will "find good." This doesn't just mean he will find nice things. It means he will discover what is substantial, valuable, and beneficial. He will find the path of life, the way things actually work in God's world. By paying attention to the manufacturer's instructions, he finds that the machine works as it was designed to work. He prospers in the truest sense of the word.

20b And how blessed is he who trusts in Yahweh.

The second clause shifts from our activity to our attitude, from our mind to our heart. The one who "trusts in Yahweh" is the one who has thrown his whole weight upon God. Trust (batach) is not mere intellectual assent. It is a confident reliance, a leaning on God with the full assurance that He is who He says He is and will do what He has promised to do. This is the relational foundation upon which the intellectual work of considering the Word is built. Notice the object of the trust: not a vague deity, but Yahweh, the covenant-keeping God of Israel, the God who has revealed Himself in history and who has bound Himself to His people with promises. The result of this trust is blessedness. The Hebrew word here is esher, which speaks of a state of genuine happiness, well-being, and divine favor. This is the happiness of the man in Psalm 1, whose delight is in the law of Yahweh. It is a deep contentment that is not contingent on circumstances, because it is rooted in the unchanging character of God. It is a state of being, not just a fleeting feeling.

Application

This proverb is a direct challenge to two kinds of laziness that plague the modern church. First is intellectual laziness. We want the Christian life to be easy, to require nothing more than a few minutes of quiet time and a sermon on Sunday. We don't want to do the hard work of "considering the word." We treat the Bible like a book of magic spells instead of the rich, complex, and profound revelation of God that it is. This verse calls us to be students, to be diligent workmen who are not ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Tim 2:15). If we neglect this, we will not "find good." We will find ourselves tossed about by every wind of doctrine and cultural fad.

Second, this proverb challenges our spiritual laziness, which is a failure to trust. We are tempted to trust in our 401k, our political party, our own cleverness, or our religious performance. We say we trust God, but our anxiety and our frantic attempts to control everything tell a different story. True trust is a radical act of surrender. It is to rest in the finished work of Christ and the sovereign goodness of the Father. It is to believe that He is God and we are not. When we do this, we find we are "blessed." The world chases happiness down a thousand dead-end alleys, but the Christian finds it by standing still and trusting in Yahweh. Therefore, let us be men and women who put both feet down. Let us open our Bibles with rigorous minds and bow our knees with trusting hearts. For in this twofold path, we find both the good we seek and the blessedness for which we were made.