(35) Shame shall be the promotion 'of fools.--That is, dull, stupid people, who despise God's threatenings (Proverbs 1:32), are distinguished from others by what is a disgrace to them (Philippians 3:19), and so are noticeable only as examples to be shunned by others. (See Note on Proverbs 14:29.)

Verse 35. - The wise shall inherit glory. Proverbs 11:2 indicates that "the wise" here are to be identified with "the lowly" of the preceding verse. Inherit; succeed to it as a matter of course by hereditary right as sons. Heirship implies sonship. Glory (kavod); or, honour; not merely earthly distinction and splendour, the glory of man, but the "glory of God." But shame shall be the promotion of fools; or, as margin, shame exalteth the fools. The rendering of the original, vuk'silim merim kalon, depends upon the meaning to be given to merim, the hiph. participle of rum, hiph. "to lift up, exalt;" and whether the plural, k'silim, in a distributive sense, as in ver. 18, or kalon, is the subject. Various interpretations have been given of the passage.

(1) The Vulgate renders, stultorum exaltatio ignominia; i.e. as in the Authorized Version, "shame exalts fools." They "glory in their shame" (Philippians 2:19); or shame renders them conspicuous as warning examples (Ewald); or, as Dathe explains it, "Stulti infamia sunt famosi," "Fools become famous by infamy;" or as Rabbi Levi, "Shame exalts them as into the air, and makes them vanish away."

(2) The LXX. renders, Αἱ ἀσεβεῖς ὕψωσαν ἀτιμίαν, i.e. "Fools exalt shame, prize what others despise" (Plumptre).

(3) Umbreit, Bertheau, Zockler, render, "Shame sweeps fools away," i.e. lifts them up in order to sweep away and destroy them (cf. Isaiah 57:14).

(4) The true rendering seems to be given by Michaelis, "Fools carry away shame" as their portion. So the Targum, Delitzsch, Hitzig, Wordsworth. They look for "promotion." They attain such as it is, but the end of their attainments is "shame and everlasting contempt." As the wise inherit glory, so fools get as their portion shame and ignominy.

3:27-35 Our business is to observe the precepts of Christ, and to copy his example; to do justice, to love mercy, and to beware of covetousness; to be ready for every good work, avoiding needless strife, and bearing evils, if possible, rather than seeking redress by law. It will be found there is little got by striving. Let us not envy prosperous oppressors; far be it from the disciples of Christ to choose any of their ways. These truths may be despised by the covetous and luxurious, but everlasting contempt will be the portion of such scorners, while Divine favour is shown to the humble believer.The wise shall inherit glory,.... The wise are the same with the just and lowly before mentioned, to whom God gives grace, and to these he gives glory. The "wise" are such who are so, not in a natural, civil, or notional sense, or that are wise in the things of nature, in civil affairs and in speculative matters of religion; but in a spiritual sense, who are wise unto salvation; who know themselves, the sinfulness of their nature, their inability to do that which is good, and their want of righteousness to justify them before God; who are sensible of the sickness and diseases of their souls, their spiritual poverty, and their great folly and ignorance with respect to things of a spiritual nature; who know Christ, and him crucified, the way of peace, pardon, righteousness, and salvation by him; that know him, not only notionally, but so as to apply unto him, and rest on him for salvation; who build it on him the foundation, on him only, and give him all the glory of it; and who have also a competent knowledge of the Gospel, and a comfortable experience of the truths of it; and who take up a profession of religion upon such an experience, and hold it fast without depending on it, and have a conversation becoming it, walking circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. Now these shall "inherit glory"; not the glory of this world, or honour among men in it; but the glory of another, of which the glory of this world, and of, he most excellent things in it, is but a faint resemblance: it is unseen, inconceivable, and incomparable; it is an eternal glory which Christ is entered into, and the same the Father has given him; and will lie in the vision of God, and communion with him; in beholding the glory of Christ, and in having a glory put upon them both in soul and body: and this they shall enjoy as an inheritance; not by purchase or acquisition, but by free gift; as a bequest of their Father; which comes to them as children, through the death of Christ the testator, and will be possessed for ever, as inheritances run;

but shame shall be the promotion of fools; not fools in a natural, but in a religious sense; such who know not themselves, nor the way of salvation; who mock at sin, and scoff at religion: these and everyone of these "shall take" or "lift up shame" (m), as their part and portion, alluding to the heave offering under the law, in opposition to the glory the wise shall inherit and possess. Or, "shame shall lift up fools" (n); hold them forth, and make them manifest and conspicuous: all the promotion they shall be raised unto will be only shame and confusion, if not in this world, yet in that to come; for, when they shall rise from the dead, it will be "to shame and everlasting contempt", Daniel 12:2. The Targum is,

"fools shall receive tribulation;''

that shall be their inheritance in the other world.

(m) "unusquisque stultorum suscipit, vel sustinet, ignominiam", Vatablus. (n) "Stolidos vero tollit ignominia", Junius & Tremellius.