“Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man’s friend by hearty counsel. Thine own friend, and thy father’s friend, forsake not; neither go into thy brother’s house in the day of thy calamity: for better is a neighbor that is near than a brother far off.”—Proverbs 27:9, 10 (18:24; 19:7).
Interpretation.—Two proverbs concerning friendship. In the first is set forth the advantage of having a bosom friend. In the season of anxiety and depression his “hearty counsel” will rejoice the heart, even as aromas, both dry and liquid, have an exhilarating influence upon the senses. In the second, the old, tried, family friend, is commended as one to be cherished and advised with. Too much reliance should not be placed upon brotherly affection, for brothers by time and circumstances are often widely separated, and their attachment is at best usually based on natural grounds alone. Whereas friendship is a matter of choice, on moral grounds. A friend, therefore, who is also a “neighbor” as to disposition if not locality, is better than “a brother” who is “far off,” whether separated by space or spirit.
Illustrations.—How was not Moses refreshed by Jethro’s “counsel” relieving him of a heavy and needless burden! What must have been the rejoicing of heart of those two bosom friends “in the wood,” whose “counsel of the soul” “strengthened each other’s hand in God” (1 Sam. 18:1–3; 23:16)! Solomon did wisely in cultivating friendly relations with Hiram, his father’s friend. Through neglect of the family counsellors, his son lost the greater part of his kingdom. St. Andrew was a good brother to St. Peter, but St. John drew still closer to him as a friend.
Application.—True friendship is one of the sweetest and most cheering ingredients of life. But to have friends a man must show himself friendly. Faithfulness alone would crush, but sweetness and tenderness combined with good counsel alleviate and heal the wound. I shall do well to secure betimes friends upon whom I may fall back when the world, and even a brother, looks coldly upon me. It is wise, too, to have a friend in a neighbor, ready at hand for a time of sudden need. And wise to keep up a family friendship, one tried and proved by those who have gone before me and handed down as an heirloom. Both filial duty and personal interest demand this at my hands. Brothers may be very affectionate, and in some cases their love is of surpassing value. But it must not be too much counted upon, and “there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.”
Above all, let me choose the God of my father for my God!
Pearson, C. R. (1881). Counsels of the Wise King; or, Proverbs of Solomon Applied to Daily Life (Vol. 2, p. 132). W. Skeffington & Son. (Public Domain)
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