Proverbs 19:16
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He that keepeth the commandment keepeth his own soul; but he that despiseth his ways shall die.
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Do you care about yourself? There is a way to live that brings happiness and success, and there is a way to live that will kill you. The choice is yours. The results are God's. Do you love or despise God's ways for living? If you keep God's commandment, you keep yourself from pain and trouble. If you despise God's ways, you commit suicide.
What is the commandment to keep your soul? It is all God's commandments, no matter what part of life each may apply to (Ps 119:128). The singular noun is a collective noun for all God's commandments (6:20,23; 13:13). The singular can also be the fear of the Lord, which includes all other commandments (1:7; 19:23; Ps 111:10; 112:1; Ec 12:13).
The man who keeps God's commandments is doing something very good for his own soul. He is pursuing wisdom and all its benefits for his life (4:4-9). "The highway of the upright is to depart from evil: he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul" (16:17). "Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles" (21:23).
How does a man despise his ways? He rejects God's ways for the various aspects of his life. We interpret "his ways" as God's ways, because God is to be elliptically understood from the first clause, and because men do not truly despise their own ways. The man here believes he has better ideas on how to live, so he rejects the counsel of God for his life.
What are the consequences? When a man chooses his own way for a decision in life, rather than God's way, he chooses death. "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" (16:25). "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" (14:12).
God's infallible revelation, the Bible, teaches men how to be happy and successful. If they rebel against His wisdom, they bring on themselves dysfunction, pain, trouble, and eventually death. They die early by accidents, capital punishment, disease, revenge, or God's judgment. If a man truly cared for himself, he would keep God's commandments.
Here is how Moses taught this wisdom to Israel, "Ye shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess" (Deut 5:33).
Consider a simple example. Instead of honoring parents as God commanded, men allow disrespect, jokes, and rebellion, never seeing that such irreverent fools will eventually run into a human authority that will crush them, and they lose God's promised blessings for parental honor (Ex 20:12; Eph 6:2-3). It is lose-lose to reject this commandment of God.
Consider another example. Instead of being faithful to one spouse as God commanded, men promote casual sex and adultery, never seeing that such promiscuous fools will eventually end up diseased, divorced, lonely, scarred, unloved, or killed. They could have had the pleasure of a devoted spouse and a happy family, but they wanted it their way.
God will separate all men - those who did the will of their Father in heaven, and those who did things their way. Jesus warned, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, ... And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity" (Matt 7:21-23).
Do you want a rule for life? "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths" (3:5-6). Instead of despising his ways, humble yourself and have respect unto his ways. "I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways" (Ps 119:15).
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