Proverbs 13:8

The ransom of a man's life are his riches: but the poor heareth not rebuke. THE RANSOM OF A MAN'S LIFE (ARE) HIS RICHES: BUT THE POOR HEARETH NOT REBUKE. If the rich man's life is in danger, he can often redeem himself by his riches (; ); but the poor do not ever 'hear' threats - i.e., the poor are not exposed to threats or envy affecting the safety of their life. On such "rebuke" cf. . The rich deliver themselves from danger: the poor are free from it. If riches have their advantage, so has poverty its advantages. Juvenal says, (Cantabit vacuus coram latrone viator), 'The traveler who has nothing to lose can sing in the highwayman's face.' The godly poor, above all, shall 'hear no rebuke' in the great day...

Verse Proverbs 13:8. _THE RANSOM OF A MAN'S LIFE_] Those who have riches have often much trouble with them; as they had much trouble to _get_ them, so they have much trouble to _keep_ them. In despotic countries, a rich man is often accused of some capital crime, and to save his life, though he may be quite innocent, is obliged to give up his riches; but the _poor_, in such countries, are put to no trouble....

On the one side is the seeming advantage of wealth. The rich man who gets out of many troubles often escapes from a just retribution by his money. But then the poor man in his turn is free from the risk of the threats and litigation that beset the rich. He “hears no rebuke” (the words are not used as in Proverbs 13:1) just as the dead “hear not the voice of the oppressor” Job 3:18 or the abuse of the envious....

EXPOSITION VERSE 13:1-15:19 Second section in this collection. PROVERBS 13:1 A WISE SON HEARETH HIS FATHER'S INSTRUCTION. The Authorized Version introduces the verb from the second member. The Hebrew is elliptical, "A wise son, his father's discipline," _i.e._ is the object or the result of his father's education; he owes his wisdom to it. Septuagint, "A clever (πανοῦργος) son is obedient to his father." BUT A SCORNER (Proverbs 1:22) HEARETH NOT REBUKE; one who mocks at goodness and despises filial piety will not listen to reproof. Septuagint, "A disobedient son is in destruction." Compare the case of Eli's sons, and their fate ...

THE RANSOM OF A MAN'S LIFE [ARE] HIS RICHES,.... As Benhadad's were to him, when he was in the hands of the king of Israel, 1 Kings 20:34; and as the treasures the ten men had in the field were to them, for the sake of which Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, slew them not, Jeremiah 41:8. This is the advantage of riches when a man is taken captive in war, or by pirates, or is in the hands of thieves and robbers, he can redeem himself by his money; or when his life is in danger by diseases, he can procure healing medicines; or by famine, he can get food to preserve it, when a poor man cannot: but this is not to be done always, and is only to be understood of a temporal life; for, as to the spiritual and eternal redemption of the soul of man, that requires a greater ransom price than such corrupti

CHAPTER 13 THE CONTRAST: ADVANTAGE AND DISADVANTAGE The contrast in Proverbs concerning the righteous and the wicked is continued in this chapter, showing mostly the advantage of the righteous, illustrating a statement found in the prophet Isaiah: “Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings” Isaiah 3:10). Then the contrast: “Woe unto the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him” Proverbs 13:11). The righteous eats good by the fruit of his mouth; the transgressor receives violence. There is fatness for the soul of the diligent and nothing for the soul of the sluggard. Righteousness keepeth; wickedness overthrows. While the light of the righteous rejoiceth, the lamp of the wicked shall be put out. These a

PROVERBS 13. This chapter has little that is fresh and no new groups of proverbs. We have a well-known reference to the weariness of waiting for a hope that comes not (Proverbs 13:12 and Proverbs 13:19 a). There is a new proverb relating to the faithfulness of messengers, perhaps with reference to diplomatic missions. PROVERBS 13:5. IS LOATHSOME: render behaves vilely. Proverbs 13:7. Both AV and RV obscure the point of the aphorism, which contrasts two equally obnoxious social shams. Translate, There are poor people who pretend to be rich, and there are rich people who feign they are poor....

RANSOM. covering. Hebrew. _kopher._ THE POOR, &C.: i.e. poor [becometh he that] heeded not rebuke....

_heareth_ i.e. _heedeth_. Comp. Proverbs 13:1. _rebuke_ Rather THREATENING; ἀπειλήν, LXX. If wealth has its advantage in enabling its possessor to purchase deliverance from danger and death (as, for example, by paying a ransom to robbers, or a fine or bribe in a court of justice), so has poverty in conferring immunity from the perils by which the rich are threatened: cantabit vacuus coram latrone viator....

THE RANSOM OF A MAN'S LIFE ARE HIS RICHES— Houbigant renders this, _A man hath in his riches whence he may redeem himself; but the poor man findeth no redemption._ Bishop Patrick paraphrases the passage thus: "Rich men are not always so happy as they are imagined, for their wealth sometimes only serves to make them accused of high crimes, and then to bring them off for a large sum of money, which they pay to save their lives: but nobody is apt to find fault with the poor, or to bring any charge against them." We may read the latter clause, _The poor heareth no disturbance._...