Matthew Poole and continuators on Proverbs 27:21

21 As the fining-pot for silver , and the furnace for gold, so is a man to his praise .

Is appointed and used for the trial of Silver, and the detection and separation of the dross from it.

Or, according to his Praise. The sense is, so a man is known by his Praises, either 1. By the quality of those who praise and applaud him, and as they are good or bad, so is he thought to be. Or 2. By his carriage under praises, as he carries himself either humbly and modestly with thankfulness to God, and a due sense of his own infirmities, which is the case and temper of a good man; or ambitiously and vaingloriously taking to himself the honour which he should give to God, as ungodly men generally do in that case.

Marginal references: Ch. 17. 3.