Proverbs 18:1

Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom. THROUGH DESIRE (THROUGH SELF-WILLED AND SELF-SEEKING DESIRE OF WISDOM) A MAN, HAVING SEPARATED HIMSELF (FROM OTHER MEN), SEEKETH (AND) INTERMEDDLETH WITH ALL WISDOM - Hebrew, tuwshiyaah (H8454): literally, all that is solid and stable: subsistence, essence, existence. The Pharisees were such; from the Hebrew, paarash (H6567), 'to separate.' They trusted in themselves, and in their own wisdom, despising others (Luke 18:9; Luke 16:15; Jude 1:19). All heresy...

CHAPTER XVIII _The man who separates himself and seeks wisdom. The fool and_ _the wicked man. Deep wisdom. Contention of fools. The_ _talebearer and the slothful. The name of the Lord. Pride and_ _presumption because of riches. Hastiness of spirit. The wounded_ _spirit. The influence of gifts. The lot. The offended brother._ _The influence of the tongue. A wife a good from God. The true_ _friend._ NOTES ON CHAP. XVIII Verse Proverbs 18:1. _THROUGH DESIRE A MAN, HAVING SEPARATED HIMSELF_] The original is diffi

The text and the marginal readings indicate the two chief constructions of this somewhat difficult verse. Other renderings are (1) He who separateth himself from others seeks his own desire, and rushes forward against all wise counsel: a warning against self-will and the self-assertion which exults in differing from the received customs and opinions of mankind. (2) he who separates himself (from the foolish, unlearned multitude) seeks his own desire (that which is worthy to be desired), and mingleth himself with all wisdom. So the Jewish commentators generally. Between (1) blaming and (2) commending the life of isolation, the decision must be that (1) is most in harmony with the temper of the Book of Proverbs; but it is not strange that Pharisaism, in its very name, separating and self-exalting, should have adopted (2)....

EXPOSITION PROVERBS 18:1 This is a difficult verse, and has obtained various interpretations. The Authorized Version gives, THROUGH DESIRE A MAN, HAVING SEPARATED HIMSELF, SEEKETH AND INTERMEDDLETH WITH ALL WISDOM; _i.e. _a man who has an earnest desire for self-improvement will hold himself aloof from worldly entanglements, and, occupying himself wholly in this pursuit, will become conversant with all wisdom. This gives good sense, and offers a contrast to the fool in Proverbs 18:2, who "hath no delight in understanding." But the Hebrew does not rightly bear this interpretation. Its conciseness occasions ambiguity. Literally, _For his desire a man who separates himself seeks_;_ in _(or _against_) all wisdom he mingles

THROUGH DESIRE A MAN HAVING SEPARATED HIMSELF, SEEKETH,.... Or, "a separated man seeketh desire" g; his own desire, will, and pleasure. This is either to be understood in a good sense, of one that has a real and hearty desire after sound wisdom and knowledge, and seeks in the use of all proper means to attain it; and in order to which he separates himself from the world and the business of it, and retires to his study, and gives up himself to reading, meditation, and prayer; or goes abroad in search of it, as Aben Ezra: or of a vain man that affects singularity; and who, through a desire of gratifying that lust, separates himself, not only from God, as Jarchi interprets it, pursuing his evil imagination and the lust of his heart; and from his friends, as the Septuagint and Arabic versions; but from all men, like the Jews, who "please not God, and are contrary to all men"; so such a man s...

CHAPTER 18 PROVERBS OF PERSONAL INSTRUCTION There is first a warning against separation produced by desire, that is for gratification and pleasure, and not for a righteous purpose. Such a one becomes an enemy of true wisdom and one who intermeddleth with all wisdom. This proverb finds a New Testament illustration in Alexander the coppersmith, as well as Hymenaeus and Philetus, and Diotrephes of whom John writes in his epistle. A fool foams out his own folly. This proverb in Proverbs 18:2 is illustrated by many of the critics of the Bible. They have no delight in true understanding but their own hearts are laid bare by their mad oppositions to God's Holy Word. The fool's mouth, his lips, the talebearer (whisperer), and the slothful are the themes of the proverbs in Proverbs 18:6. Then we read

PROVERBS 18:1. MT yields no satisfactory sense. The LXX reads The man who wishes to separate from his friends seeks pretexts, but is always liable to reproach. Frankenberg renders the alienated friend seeks an occasion (emending the word for - desire-'), seeks by all means to stir up strife. Proverbs 18:4. RV translates correctly, but the sense is strange. Read, perhaps, The words of the wise are deep waters, a flowing brook, a fountain of life, but this is conjecture rather than emendation. Proverbs 18:5. _cf._ Proverbs 17:26, which may have originally followed this verse....

THROUGH DESIRE, &C.. Seeking his own pleasure, the recluse (or separatist) breaketh forth (or quarreleth) with everything that is stable. INTERMEDDLETH. breaketh forth. Hebrew. _gala'._ See note on "meddle", Proverbs 17:14. ALL WISDOM. everything that is stable. See note on Proverbs 2:7....

_Through desire_ According to the rendering of A.V. this would mean: A man who is possessed by an intense desire of wisdom separates himself from all other avocations and pursuits and from the society of his fellow men, isolates himself, as we say, that he may "intermeddle with" it, give himself wholly to (but see Proverbs 17:14 note) the pursuit of it. We must, however, render with R.V.: HE THAT SEPARATETH HIMSELF SEEKETH _his own_ DESIRE: HE RAGETH AGAINST (or, QUARRELLETH WITH, marg.) ALL SOUND WISDOM. The proverb then is a condemnation of the selfish isolation of the self-seeker or the misanthrope. Mr Horton, who has an interesting chapter on this verse, writes: "Shakespeare might have had this proverb before him in that grim delineation of Richard the Third, who boasts that he has neither pity, love, nor fear. He was, he

THROUGH DESIRE, &C.— The opinions of commentators on these two verses are much divided. Houbigant renders them as follows: _He who prepares dissention seizes all occasions: he leaves nothing untried:_ Proverbs 18:2. _A fool loveth not to be ruled by counsel, but to be carried on rashly and turbulently._ Another reads, _A hair-brained man followeth fancy, and intermeddleth in every thing:_ Proverbs 18:2. _A fool hath no delight in understanding, but in rovings,_ or _ramblings of his heart._ If we understand the text in a bad sense, it may be paraphrased thus: "An inconstant man desires many things, and seeks satisfaction; but whatsoever he seeks he never meets with; but is defeated and disappointed in all his designs:...