PROVERBS CHAPTER 18.
V. 1. Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom, rather, “After his own desire seeketh the odd person, against all sound counsel he setteth himself,” that is, he who goes his own way out of selfish opposition to everything that is established among men seeks only his own selfish interest in life.
V. 2. A fool hath no delight in understanding, his pleasure not being set that way, but that his heart may discover itself, display the wisdom which he imagines to be there, for he believes it to be his duty to let the world know his greatness in this respect.
V. 3. When the wicked cometh, then cometh also contempt, for such a person considers himself above submission to others and therefore is lacking in both reverence and forbearance, and with ignominy reproach, for the wicked must display his assumed superiority by treating all those not in his favor with studied contempt.
V. 4. The words of a man’s mouth are as deep waters, hard to fathom and exhaust, if he really has something to say, and the well-spring of wisdom as a flowing brook, literally, “a bubbling brook,” a fountain of wisdom, rich in content and life-giving in quality.