Proverbs 22:24 commentary; don't keep company with angry people

24 ¶ Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: 25 Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.


More good advice for young people. Don’t make friends with hot tempered, passionate people who are always out of control. They’re poison and hanging out with them is bound to corrupt you and drag you into the problems they always create for themselves.

Proverbs 15:18 A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.

Christians are given the following admonition about not letting your anger continue to burn inside you.

Ephesians 4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:

We are often known by the company we keep. Be careful who you spend time with as a friend.

In these verses we have angry and furious, two adjectives, linked as being synonymous in this context by their placement in the sentence. Notice the separation between “angry man” and “and with a furious man” with a semi-colon so the part of the sentence after the semi-colon is a further thought. These two thoughts are conditioned with a clause following a colon so the last part of that verse explains the why of the command in the first two parts. Take note of this because while its simple to understand here it will require thought in other places making verses mean something different literally than what the meaning many preachers give.

Later on, in Proverbs we’ll have a further thought on this angry, furious man.

Proverbs 29:22 An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression.

Then, in Daniel, the two are linked with a violent act;

Daniel 2:12 For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.

The angry and furious man abounds in transgression, for he is violent. God does not think much of violent men.

Psalm 11:5 The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.

Anger, furiousness, and wrath which is abiding anger, are linked to violence and sin. Only God’s anger and wrath are just and without error as He knows the entirety of every situation and His wrath is justifiably reserved for human beings that reject the free gift of salvation. If you are naturally prone to a hot temper, to strike quickly, to boil in rage, to hit first and ask questions later you have a sin issue that must be dealt with. Come on, you know who you are. If you know someone like this the Proverb warns you that being their friend will corrupt you.