12 When the righteous triumph, there is great glory; but when the wicked rise, men hide themselves.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
There is great glory - Men array themselves in festive apparel, and show their joy conspicuously.
A man is hidden - Better, men hide themselves, they shrink and cower for fear, and yet are hunted out.
When righteous men do rejoice - When true religion is no longer persecuted, and the word of God duly esteemed, there is great glory; for the word of the Lord has then free course, runs, and is glorified: but when the wicked rise - when they are elevated to places of trust, and put at the head of civil affairs, then the righteous man is obliged to hide himself; the word of the Lord becomes scarce, and there is no open vision. The first was the case in this country, in the days of Edward VI.; the second in the days of his successor, Mary I: Popery, cruelty, and knavery, under her, nearly destroyed the Church and the State in these islands.
When righteous [men] rejoice, [there is] great glory: but when the wicked rise, a man (f) is hidden.
(f) He is known by his doings to be wicked.
When righteous men do rejoice, there is great glory,.... When it is well with them; when they are in prosperous circumstances; when they are countenanced and encouraged by the government under which they are; when they have the free exercise of their religion; and especially when they are advanced to places of profit, honour, and trust, which must make them cheerful and joyful; it is a glory to a land, it adds greatly to the glory of it, and a fine prospect there is of the increase and continuance of it;
but when the wicked rise: to honour and dignity, and are set in high places, and are in great power and authority, which they exercise to the distress of the righteous and all good men:
a man is hidden: a good man; he hides himself, as in Proverbs 28:28; he withdraws himself from court, from city, from company, from commerce, and business, because of the tyranny and persecution of wicked men; and flees to distant places, and wanders in deserts and mountains, in caves and dens of the earth; as some saints, under the Old Testament, did, and as the Church, in Gospel times, fled from the tyranny of antichrist into the wilderness, to hide herself: or, "a man is" or "shall be sought for" (i), and searched out; as wicked persecutors are very diligent to search for and find out such persons that hide themselves, and fetch them out of their hiding places, and cruelly use them.
(i) "investigabitur", Pagninus, Montanus; "exploratur", Tigurine version; "explorabitur", Baynus; "pervestigatur", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Michaelis.
There is glory in the land when the righteous have liberty.
great glory--or, cause for it to a people, for the righteous rejoice in good, and righteousness exalts a nation (Proverbs 14:34).
a man . . . hidden--that is, the good retire, or all kinds try to escape a wicked rule.
We take Proverbs 28:12-20 together. A proverb regarding riches closes this group, as also the foregoing is closed, and its commencement is related in form and in its contents to Proverbs 28:2 :
12 When righteous men triumph, the glory is great;
And when the godless rise, the people are searched for.
The first line of this distich is parallel with Proverbs 29:2; cf. Proverbs 11:10, Proverbs 11:11 : when the righteous rejoice, viz., as conquerors (cf. e.g., Psalm 60:8), who have the upper hand, then תּפארת, bright prosperity, is increased; or as Fleischer, by comparison of the Arab. yawm alazynt (day of ornament = festival day), explains: so is there much festival adornment, i.e., one puts on festival clothes, signum pro re signata: thus all appears festal and joyous, for prosperity and happiness then show themselves forth. רבּה is adj. and pred. of the substantival clause; Hitzig regards it as the attribute: "then is there great glory;" this supposition is possible (vid., Proverbs 7:26, and under Psalm 89:51), but here it is purely arbitrary. 28a is parallel with 12b: "if the godless arise, attain to power and prominence, these men are spied out, i.e., as we say, after Zephaniah 1:12, they are searched for as with lamps. יחפּשׂ אדם is to be understood after Obadiah, Obadiah 1:6, cf. Proverbs 2:4 : men are searched out, i.e., are plundered (in which sense Heidenheim regards חפשׂ as here a transposition from חשׂף), or, with reference to the secret police of despotism: they are subjected to espionage. But a better gloss is יסּתר אדם 28a: the people let themselves be sought for, they keep themselves concealed in the inside of their houses, they venture not out into the streets and public places (Fleischer), for mistrust and suspicion oppress them all; one regards his person and property nowhere safer than within the four walls of his house; the lively, noisy, variegated life which elsewhere rules without, is as if it were dead.
Rejoice - Are promoted. Glory - In that common - wealth. Rise - Are advanced to authority. Hidden - Wise and good men, who only are worthy of the name of men, withdraw themselves into obscure places.
*More commentary available at chapter level.