(32) His secret is with the righteous--i.e., He holds confidential intercourse with them. (Comp. Psalm 25:14, and the reward of love and obedience to Christ, that both Father and Son will "come" unto the believer, and "make their abode with him," through the indwelling Spirit, John 14:23.)

Verse 32. - This verse gives the reason for the previous warning. The oppressor is here included under the more general term, "the froward." The froward; naloz, hiph. participle from luz, "to bend aside," and hence a perverted or wicked man, one who turns aside from the way of uprightness, a transgressor of the Law (cf. LXX., παράνομος); and so the opposite of "the righteous," y'sharim, "the upright," those who pursue the path of justness, or the straightforward. Abomination (toevah); i.e. an abhorrence, something which, being impure and unclean (cf. LXX., ἀκάθαρτος), is especially abhorrent to Jehovah. In some passages it is connected with idolatry, as in 1 Kings 14:24 and 2 Kings 23:13, but is never used in this sense in the Proverbs, where it occurs about twenty times (see Proverbs 28:9; Proverbs 21:27; Proverbs 11:1, 20, etc.). The passage shows that prosperity and worldly success are not always a true measure of Divine favour. His secret (sodo); Vulgate, sermocinatio. Here sod probably means "familiar intercourse," as in Job 29:4 and Psalm 25:14; and hence the special favour with which Jehovah regards the upright, by revealing to them what he conceals item others, or his friendship (compare what our Lord says in John 15:14, 15). Dathe translates "probis vero est familiaris." Gesenius says sod properly means "a couch," or triclinium on which people recline; but Delitzsch derives it from the root sod, "to be firm," "compressed," and states that it therefore means properly "a being together, or sitting together." The LXX. eontinues the "froward man" (παράνομος) as the subject, and renders, "Every transgressor is impure before God, and does not sit together with (οὐ συνεδριάζει) the just."

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.For the froward is abomination to the Lord,.... The perverse man, that pleases not God, and is contrary to all men, as the Jews were; one froward in his words and actions: "who transgresses the law", as the Arabic version renders it; one that acts contrary to the nature, will, and word of God; and such an one is not only abominable in his sight, but an "abomination" itself; it is sin, which is that abominable thing that God hates, that makes him so: and the Targum is,

"for iniquity is abominable before the Lord;''

but his secret is with the righteous: not such who are outwardly so to others, or trust in themselves that they are righteous, or seek for righteousness by their own works; but such who are justified by the righteousness of Christ, which faith receives from him, and in consequence of which a man lives soberly and righteously: with these the "secret" of the Lord is; of his love, grace, and favour, which was from everlasting, and is manifested in regeneration; of his purposes of grace, with respect to election, redemption, calling, and adoption, which is made known in effectual calling; of his covenant, as that he is their covenant God, Christ is their covenant head and Mediator, and that they have an interest in all the grace, blessings, and promises of it; of the Gospel, and the several mysteries of it, which are so to carnal men; of his providences, what he is doing, or what he is about to do, and will do hereafter, Amos 3:7; and of communion and fellowship with him. The phrase denotes friendship and familiarity; God deals with the righteous as a man does with his intimate friend, converses freely with him, and discloses his secrets to him: and the word is rendered "confabulation" by the Targum, Syriac, and Vulgate Latin versions; see Job 29:4.