Proverbs 14:10

The heart knoweth his own bitterness,.... Or "the bitterness of his soul" (l), the distress of his conscience, the anguish of his mind; the heart of man only knows the whole of it; something of it

The heart knoweth his own bitterness; and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy. The heart knoweth his own bitterness (Hebrew, the bitterness of his soul); and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy - (cf.

The sense of the verse is this, The inward griefs and joys of men’ s hearts, though sometimes they may be guessed at by outward signs, yet are not certainly known to any but a man’ s self. Compare . The scope of the parable may be to keep men from murmuring under their own troubles, or envying other men’ s happiness. A stranger, any other person without or besides a man’ s self, doth not intermeddle with his joy; doth not partake of it, nor understand it.

Proverbs 14:10 The heart knoweth his own bitterness; and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy.Ver. 10. The heart knoweth his own bitterness] None can conceive the terrors and torments of a heart that lies under the sense of sin and fear of wrath. A little water in a leaden vessel is heavy. Some can bear in their grief better than others; but all that are under this affliction have their back burden. Job’ s "stroke was heavier than his groaning," and yet his complaint was bitter too. Some holy men, as Mr Leaver, have desired to see their sin in the most ugly colours, and God hath heard them. But yet his hand was so heavy upon them that they went always mourning to their graves, and thought it fitter to leave it to God’ s wisdom to mingle the portion of sorrow than to be their own choosers. And the stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy.] None but such as are of the "family of faith" can conceive the surpassing sweetness of spiritual joy. The cock on the dunghill knows not the worth of this jewel. It is joy "unspeakable"; such as none feel but those that stir up sighs "unutterable." It is joy "unspeakable, and full of glory," a hansel of heaven, a foretaste of eternal life. It is the peace that "passeth all understanding"; they that have it understand not the full of it, nor can relate the one-half of it. Paul said somewhat to the point, when he said, "I do over abound exceedingly with joy," but words are too weak to utter it. Father Latimer said somewhat, when he said it was the ‘ deserts of the feast of a good conscience.’ But sermo non valet exprimere, experimento opus est. It is a thing fitter to be believed, than possible to be discoursed. Tell a man never so long what a sweet thing honey is, he can never believe you so well as if he himself tastes it. Those that never yet "tasted how good the Lord is," are far from intermeddling with the just man’ s joy. ‘ The world wonders,’ saith Mr Philpot, martyr, ‘ how we can be so merry in such extreme misery; but our God is omnipotent, who turns misery into felicity. Believe me, there is no such joy in the world as the people of Christ have under the cross. I speak it by experience.’ Another holy martyr, Richard Collier, after his condemnation sang a psalm; wherefore the priests and the officers railed at him, saying, He was out of his wits. Dr Sibbes. υπερπερισσευομαι, 2 Corinthians 7:4. Chrysos. Acts and Mon., fol. 1668. Ibid., 1533.

(10) The heart knoweth his own bitterness . . .—None Can perfectly sympathise with the sorrows or joys of others, except the ideal Son of Man, who came to “bear our griefs and carry our sorrows” (comp. Hebrews 4:15), yet could join in the marriage feast at Cana.

Verse 10. The heart knoweth his own bitterness] מרת נפשו morrath naphsho, "The bitterness of its soul." Under spiritual sorrow, the heart feels, the soul feels; all the animal nature feels and suffers. But when the peace of God is spoken to the troubled soul, the joy is indescribable; the whole man partakes of it. And a stranger to these religious feelings, to the travail of the soul, and to the witness of the Spirit, does not intermeddle with them; he does not understand them: indeed they may be even foolishness to him, because they are spiritually discerned.

10. The poet of the Christian Year has caught something of the beauty and pathos of this proverb as he writes: “Each in his hidden sphere of joy or woe Our hermit spirits dwell and range apart.” “Nor e’en the tenderest heart, and next our own, Knows half the reasons why we smile or sigh”; and Matthew Arnold (quoted by Horton): “Yes! in the sea of life enisled, With echoing straits between us thrown, Dotting the shoreless watery waste, We mortal millions live alone. The islands feel the enclasping flow, And then their endless bounds they know.” It is worth quoting, if only as a foil to it, the prosaic apothegm, “None knows the weight of another’s burden,” Geo. Herbert, Jac. Prud.

A striking expression of the ultimate solitude of each man’s soul at all times, and not merely at the hour of death. Something there is in every sorrow, and in every joy, which no one else can share.

10. The heart knoweth his own bitterness — Hebrew, the heart knows the bitterness of his soul; that is, the bitterness of itself, or its own bitterness. Nephesh is often used in default of a reflexive pronoun. Comp.