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The Godly and the Wicked Receive Their Due

Proverbs 14:14 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
¹⁴The backslider in heart will have his fill of his own ways,
and a good man will be satisfied with his ways.

The backslider in heart will have his fill of his own ways: The Hebrew (סוּג sug) rendered a backslider is referring to a person who acts disloyally, one who has turned back from the right way in his heart and is not to be trusted, as he is faithless. The Hebrew verb (שָׂבַע saba or שָׂבֵעַ sabea) for will have his fill means “to be sated,” to be satisfied” because of overindulgence, having too much. The Hebrew (דֶּרֶךְ derek) that is rendered of his own ways is referring to the backslider’s bad behavior or evil ways, his debauched, perverted life. In other words, the wicked person will reap what he has sown.

and a good man will be satisfied with his ways: The good man will be satisfied, that is, be blessed, far more than the backslider from above will reap what he has sown.

The misery of sinners will come in an overabundance at the close of their lives as the realization settles in that they face eternal destruction when it could have been eternal life. The backslider in their heart has no fear of suffering throughout his life because it is not upon him. Hence, his focus is on his depraved lifestyle and profit for perverted pleasure, as he rejects God and his own responsibility, for which he will have his fill in the end. He refuses to let go of his cruel, sick, and twisted desires and passions, which will lead to the grand, terrifying moment when it is over. Backsliding starts in the heart. It does not arise all at one time. It is not an evil heart instantly. It is a slow process until unbelief calluses the heart, making it unfeeling (desensitizing it). Then, it departs from God. The happiness and joy of the good man will be his eternal satisfaction of having faithfully and loyally remained with God, and he will always know that God favors him.

CONTEXT

13–14. There is a return to the mention of heart and joy in verse 13, with the sobering observation that even when a person outwardly experiences laughter and joy, that is not the whole picture, nor will it continue for ever. Inside the heart may also exist a deep ache or grief, perhaps unknown to others in the light of verse 10, but which truly represents where that person is at. The second half of verse 13 uses the language of the end from verse 12, reminding us that grief can so commonly follow joy. The joy of loving others is followed by the grief of losing them; the delight in being reunited with family or friends leads to a greater sense of loss as you lose contact or proximity. Laughter and joy do not endure. This emphasis on what is going on inside a person (the heart) in verse 13 gives a subtle nuance to the reformulation of the idea of retribution in verse 14. The wicked is now described as the backslider in heart, one who used to be committed to doing good, but has now fallen away or ‘turned his heart back’ (backslider in heart, ESV, captures the sense better than ‘faithless’, NIV, or ‘perverse’, NRSV). This refers to what we are like on the inside, not simply how we act on the outside. The parallel term of the good person is impliedly also a description of someone’s internal attitude, and so retribution in both its negative and positive dimensions is based on a person’s core character and direction in life.^[1]

^[1] Lindsay Wilson, Proverbs: An Introduction and Commentary, ed. David G. Firth, vol. 17, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (London: Inter-Varsity Press, 2017), 177–178.