_rivers_ Lit. STREAMS, or CHANNELS OF WATER _is_ THE HEART OF A KING IN THE HAND OF JEHOVAH. The comparison is drawn from artificial irrigation. The irrigator has complete control over the water supply. He cuts his channels and directs his streams whithersoever and in whatever measure he pleases. Co... [ Continue Reading ]
Repeated almost exactly from Proverbs 16:2.... [ Continue Reading ]
Comp. 1 Samuel 15:22; Hosea 6:6; Micah 6:6-8.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the plowing_ This, which is an admissible rendering, is virtually retained (_the tillage_) in R.V. marg. The haughty bearing, the proud look, the prosperous labours of the wicked are alike condemned as "sin." But it is better to render LAMP, instead of _plowing_or _tillage, even_ THE LAMP OF THE WI... [ Continue Reading ]
_but of every one_ i.e. but _the thoughts_(supplied from the first clause) of every one. It is more literal, however, and at the same time avoids attributing "thoughts" to him whose fault is want of thought, to render with R.V. BUT EVERY ONE THAT IS HASTY _hasteth_ ONLY TO WANT.... [ Continue Reading ]
_a vanity_&c. Lit. A VAPOUR DISPERSED; SEEKERS OF DEATH. Thus in the abrupt, sententious style of the wisdom of the East the end is described both of the treasures so sought, and of those who so seek them. "A vapour dispersed," unsubstantial and vanishing away are the treasures gotten by a lying ton... [ Continue Reading ]
_robbery_ Rather, VIOLENCE. _destroy them_ Rather, SWEEP THEM UP, or CATCH THEM, as fishes, for example, in a net. Comp. Habakkuk 1:15, where the same Heb. word is used.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The way of man_is _froward and strange_ Rather, VERY CROOKED IS THE WAY OF A MAN LADEN WITH GUILT; as was the way of David when he was laden with the guilt of adultery, 2 Samuel 11. The annals of crime in every land and age illustrate the proverb.... [ Continue Reading ]
_in a corner of the housetop_ The LXX. render ἐπὶ γωνίας ὑπαίθρου, with no better hiding-place from the storms of heaven than the narrow corner in which the parapet walls of the flat roof meet (Deuteronomy 22:8). _a wide house_ Lit. A HOUSE OF SOCIETY. This may mean, _a house shared in common with... [ Continue Reading ]
See Proverbs 19:25, note.... [ Continue Reading ]
God _overthroweth_ The difficulty of this proverb lies in the elliptical character of the second clause, which leaves a subject of necessity to be supplied. The A.V. makes man the subject of the first clause, and God of the second. But it is better to render, either with R.V. text: THE RIGHTEOUS M... [ Continue Reading ]
_pacifieth_ The Heb. word occurs only here, and scholars, both ancient and modern, are divided between _pacifieth_(A.V. and R.V. text), _turneth away_, or _bendeth_(ἀνατρέπει, LXX.; _frangit_, Syr.; _bendeth_, R.V. marg.), and _extinguisheth_(extinguit, Vulg.); the word in this last case being regar... [ Continue Reading ]
_destruction_shall be] There is no necessity for inserting the words _shall be_. The subject may be continued from the preceding clause BUT IT (sc. to do judgement) IS A DESTRUCTION TO (in the estimation of) THE WORKERS OF INIQUITY. It is the ruin, they think, of all their prospects. Comp. Proverbs... [ Continue Reading ]
_remain_ Rather, REST; find his resting-place, the end of his wanderings, among the dead (Heb. Rephaim. See Proverbs 9:18 note). ἐν συναγωγῇ γιγάντων ἀναπαύσεται, LXX.... [ Continue Reading ]
_wine and oil_ "The costly adjuncts of a princely banquet. Among these the oil, or precious unguent, was always most conspicuous (Psalms 23:5; Psalms 45:7, and especially Wis 2:7). And when we consider its price, the 300 _denarii_of John 12:5, the 300 days" wages of a field labourer, (Matthew 20:2),... [ Continue Reading ]
_a ransom_ Comp. "I have given Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee … I will give men for thee and peoples for thy life," Isaiah 43:3-4. Egypt was, so to speak, the price paid for the deliverance of Israel (Exodus 10:7; Exodus 12:29; Exodus 14:30). The second member of the verse is bett... [ Continue Reading ]
_wilderness_ regarded, as the parallel requires, not as a _barren_, but as a _solitary_place. _angry_ Or, FRETFUL, R.V. text; or, _a contentious woman and vexation_, R.V. marg. The LXX. introduce a third characteristic, _chattering_, γλωσσώδης.... [ Continue Reading ]
_spendeth_ Lit. SWALLOWETH, R.V. So LXX. καταπίονται; but Vulg. _dissipabit_.... [ Continue Reading ]
_righteousness_ The proverb asserts the general law of God's moral government, that they who seek good things shall find more than they sought for (1 Kings 3:11; Matthew 6:33); the pursuit of "righteousness and mercy" will end in the acquisition of "life, righteousness and honour." But the proverb s... [ Continue Reading ]
While asserting the superiority of skill to force in actual warfare (comp. Joshua 8:3-29; Ecclesiastes 9:13-15), the proverb admits of higher applications. Comp. 2 Corinthians 10:4, where as Dean Plumptre (_Speaker's Comm_.) suggests, πρὸς καθαίρεσιν ὀχυρωμάτων, may be a reminiscence of the LXX. ren... [ Continue Reading ]
_Proud_and _haughty scorner_ Rather with R.V., A PROUD AND HAUGHTY MAN, SCORNER IS HIS NAME; i.e. the name which aptly describes his character. θρασὺς καὶ αὐθάδης καὶ ἀλαζὼν λοιμὸς καλεῖται, LXX. _who dealeth_&c. Rather, HE WORKETH IN THE ARROGANCE OF PRIDE, R.V. The Heb. word here rendered _arr... [ Continue Reading ]
_the desire of the slothful killeth him_ This may mean either (_a_) his desire for slothful inaction brings him to want and starvation, because through its indulgence (as the 2nd clause of the verse explains) his hands refuse to do the work by which maintenance is to be obtained; or (_b_) his desire... [ Continue Reading ]
_He coveteth_ We may thus with A.V., Vulg., and others supply the subject of this clause from the preceding verse, or introduce a new subject, suggested perhaps by the preceding proverb and by contrast with the succeeding clause of this verse (ἀσεβὴς, LXX.), and so make the verse a complete proverb:... [ Continue Reading ]
_with a wicked mind_ In any case _the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination_, even when he brings it in a mere formal spirit, because of the moral character of the offerer (Proverbs 15:8; Isaiah 1:13-15). But _when he bringeth it with a wicked mind_, or intent, to purchase immunity by it from th... [ Continue Reading ]
_that heareth_ Either (1) who listens to the voice of duty and of conscience (ἀνὴρ ὑπήκοος, LXX.; vir obediens, Vulg.); or (2) who simply states in evidence what he has heard, "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth" (qui non nisi quæ ipse audivit testatur Maurer). Comp. ὃ ἑωράκαμεν κ... [ Continue Reading ]
_directeth_ Or, _ordereth_, R.V. _corrigit_, Vulg. There is another reading, noticed in the marg. both of A.V. and R.V., _considereth_; συνίει, LXX.... [ Continue Reading ]
Even more forcible is the Hebrew: THERE IS NO WISDOM AND THERE IS NO UNDERSTANDING AND THERE IS NO COUNSEL AGAINST JEHOVAH.... [ Continue Reading ]
_safety_ Rather, VICTORY (A.V. marg. R.V. text), or _deliverance_(R.V. marg.). "Two companion proverbs (Proverbs 21:30). Nothing avails against, nothing without, God." (_Speaker's Comm_.)... [ Continue Reading ]