Proverbs 14:32
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The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hope in his death.
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All men die. But the wicked die very differently than the righteous. The King of Terrors visits wicked men and tears them from their toys and false security and drives them out of life and away from God's presence like chaff or smoke before the wind. The righteous lie down in peace and confess that death is better than life for the hope laid up before them.
Dear reader, you will die soon enough. What have you done today to prepare for it? Solomon warned often about it (10:2; 11:4,19; 12:28; 13:14; 14:12; Ec 12:1-7). Jesus and Paul both taught the importance of making preparations (Luke 16:1-9; I Tim 6:17-19). The wicked die very differently than the righteous. Which are you? How will you die?
As in many of Solomon's proverbs, two parallel clauses are contrasted by the adversative "but." By comparing the two clauses, "driven away" is understood as death. A wicked man, though confident in his wickedness, will be rooted out of the earth by death. But the righteous dies comfortably and with hope, for death is the door to something better.
The wicked are confident in life. They presume they will live forever (Ps 49:6-13). The worst thought to them is death, and they do all they can to ignore it and defer it. But God said, "Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished" (11:21). There is no discharge in the war with death, and wickedness will not save a man from it (Ec 8:8).
A certain rich man mused about his great prosperity, but the Lord took his soul away that night (Luke 12:16-20). "His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street. He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world" (Job 18:7-8). It happens quickly, "Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath" (Ps 58:9).
"The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered: he openeth his eyes, and he is not. Terrors take hold on him as waters, a tempest stealeth him away in the night. The east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth: and as a storm hurleth him out of his place. For God shall cast upon him, and not spare: he would fain flee out of his hand. Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place" (Job 27:19-23).
But the righteous has hope in dying, for he has evidence of eternal life in his good works (Matt 25:31-40; II Pet 1:5-11; Rev 14:13). They know that death is only the temporary sleep of the body of those who shall live forever (Acts 7:60; 13:36). Their bodies simply wait in the grave for the great change of the resurrection (Job 19:25-27; Ps 49:15; 73:24).
Death is a mercy to the righteous, and they know it by faith (Is 57:1-2). They consider it far better to depart from this life and to be with Christ (Phil 1:23). They know their death is a blessed event and precious in the sight of the Lord (Ps 116:15; Rev 14:13). They can and do believe that the day of their death is better than the day of their birth (Ec 7:1). This is hope! Substantial hope! And it is the sole property of the righteous!
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