Proverbs 20:8 - Exposition

A royal and right noble maxim. A king that sitteth in the throne of judgment scattereth away all evil with his eyes. The king, sitting on the tribunal and executing his judiciary office, sees through all devices and pretences which cloak evil, and scatters them to the winds, as the chaff flies before the winnowing fan. Nothing unrighteous can abide in his presence (comp. Proverbs 20:26 ; Proverbs 16:10 , etc.). See here an adumbration of the characteristic of the Messiah, the great King whose "eyes behold, whose eyelids try, the children of men" ( Psalms 11:4 ): who is "of purer eyes than to behold evil" ( Habakkuk 1:13 ); who "with righteousness shall judge the poor and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips shall slay the wicked" ( Isaiah 11:4 ; comp. Matthew 3:12 ). Septuagint, "When the righteous king shall sit upon his throne, nothing that is evil shall offer itself before his eyes."