Proverbs 29:25

25 Fear of man bringeth a snare with it; But he that trusteth in Jahve is advanced. It sounds strange, Hitzig remarks, that here in the Book of an Oriental author one should be warned against the fear of man. It is enough, in reply to this, to point to Isa 51:12. One of the two translations in the lxx (cf. Jerome and Luther) has found this "strange" thought not so strange as not to render it, and that in the gnomic aorist: φοβηθέντες καὶ αἰσχυνθέντες ἀνθρώπους ὑπεσκελίσθησαν. And why should not חרדּת אדם be able to mean the fear of man (cowardice)? Perhaps not so that אדם is the gen. objecti, but so that חרדת אדם means to frighten men, as in Sa1 14:15. חרדת אלהים, a trembling of God; cf. Psa 64:2; פחד איב, the fear occasioned by the enemy, although this connection, after Deu 2:25, can also mean fear of the enemy (gen. objecti). To יתּן, occasioned = brings as a consequence with it, cf. Pro 10:10; Pro 13:15; the synallage generis is as at Pro 12:25 : it is at least strange with fem. infinit. and infinitival nouns, Pro 16:16; Pro 25:14; Psa 73:28; but חרדּה (trembling) is such a nom. actionis, Ewald, 238a. Regarding ישׂגּב (for which the lxx.1 σωθήσεται, and lxx2 εὐφρανθήσεται = ישׂמח), vid., at Pro 18:10. He who is put into a terror by a danger with which men threaten him, so as to do from the fear of man what is wrong, and to conceal the truth, falls thereby into a snare laid by himself - it does not help him that by this means he has delivered himself from the danger, for he brands himself as a coward, and sins against God, and falls into an agony of conscience (reproach and anguish of heart) which is yet worse to bear than the evil wherewith he was threatened. It is only confidence in God that truly saves. The fear of man plunges him into yet greater suffer…

Here, 1. We are cautioned not to dread the power of man, neither the power of a prince nor the power of the multitude; both are formidable enough, but the slavish fear of either brings a snare, that is, exposes men to many insults (some take a pride in terrifying the timorous), or rather exposes men to many temptations. Abraham, for fear of man, denied his wife, and Peter his Master, and many a one his God and religion. We must not shrink from duty, nor commit sin, to avoid the wrath of man, nor, though we see it coming upon us, be disquieted with fear, Dan 3:16; Psa 118:6. He must himself die (Isa 51:12) and can but kill our body, Luk 12:5. 2. We are encouraged to depend upon the power of God, which would keep us from all that fear of man which has either torment or temptation in it. Whoso puts his trust in the Lord, for protection and supply in the way of duty, shall be set on high, above the power of man and above the fear of that power. A holy confidence in God makes a man both great and easy, and enables him to look with a gracious contempt upon the most formidable designs of hell and earth against him. If God be my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid.

29:25 Fearing people is a dangerous trap: See 1:7; Luke 12:4-5.