Verse 10. At first sight the motive may be regarded as a selfish one. But second thoughts give another view. _It is a trial of faith._ And it is a trial than which few are found more difficult. It is hard to persuade a man that giving away will make him rich. We look with new confidence to bank interest, or the still better interest of a vested loan, than to a return of profit from what is wholly given away.--_Wardlaw._ Men take care how to use their money to the best advantage by sea, by buying land or cattle, or by usury, an easy trade; thy best trade will be to maintain God's worship.--_Jermin._ The consecration of substance, as the seed-corn for the harvest, is as strange to the world as would be the casting of the seed in the earth to an untutored savage. Yet is the result secure in both cases: only with the difference, the temper of the earthly sower has no influence on the harvest; whereas the fruitfulness of the spiritual harvest mainly depends on the principles of the work. Most important is that we _honour the Lord_--not ourselves.--_Bridges._ Verse 11. Two things are forbidden here. 1. Do not make light of (despise) the Lord's chastening, as if thou couldst easily cast it off--in insensibility to it, not recognising the Lord's hand in it, and not humbling thyself under it. 2. Do not, on the contrary through pusillanimity, be weary, and impatient, and despondent under the burden.--_Cartwright._ Not to feel thy evils would be inhuman; not to bear them, unmanly.--_Seneca_ Fainting and wearying may take place in two ways. The heart may be overwhelmed by sudden trials, giving an effect so stunning and overpowering that the spirit sinks into a temporary stupefaction, and, as the Apostle has it, "we faint." Or it may become wearied out and exhausted by the long continuance of the same trial, or by a rapid succession of different strokes of the rod.--_Wardlaw._ Having stated the blessings of wisdom, it is logical to consider the apparent exceptions.--_Miller._ For if God did despise thee, He would not chasten thee, if He was weary of thee, He would not correct thee.--_Jermin._ Some think it a goodly thing to bear out a cross by head and shoulders, and wear it out as they may, never improving it. As a man that, coming out of a shower of rain, dries again, and all is as before.--_Trapp._ Prosperity and adversity, in their wise mixture and proportion, for our present condition. Each is equally fruitful and honouring the Lord; in prosperity, by a wise consecration of our substance; in adversity, by a humble and cheerful submission. . . . It is correction, this is for your humbling; it is only correction, this is your consolation. It is the declared test of our legitimacy (Heb. xii. 7, 8). His discipline is that of the family, not of the school, much less of the prison.--_Bridges._