Proverbs 18:19

A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle. A BROTHER OFFENDED, [ nipshaa` (H6586 ) - OFFENDED BY THE DEFECTION OR TRANSGRESSION OF HIS BROTHER; OR ELSE, HAVING BEEN DESERTED BY HIS BROTHER] (IS HARDER TO BE WON THAN) A STRONG CITY. Maurer avoids the ellipsis by translating, 'A brother is more vehemently refractory (resists more violently) than a strong city.' But the niphal or passive conjugation more favours the English version. Tacitus, 'Hist.' 4: 15, 'The hatreds of those nearest of kin are generally the fiercest.' AND (THEIR) CONTENTIONS (ARE) LIKE THE BARS OF A CASTLE - harder to be broken than those of humble buildings. Brothers' quarrels preclude an avenue to reconciliation. The closer the tie, the greater the alienation whe...

Verse Proverbs 18:19. _A BROTHER OFFENDED_ IS HARDER TO BE WON _THAN A STRONG_ _CITY_] Almost all the _versions_ agree in the following reading: "A brother assisted by a brother, is like a fortified city; and their decisions are like the bars of a city." _Coverdale_ is both plain and terse: "The unitie of brethren is stronger then a castell, and they that holde together are like the barre of a palace." The fable of the dying father, his sons, and the bundle of faggots, illustrates this proverb. Unity among brethren makes them invincible; small things grow great by concord. If we take the words according to the _common version_, we see them express what, alas! we know to be too generally true: that when brothers fall out, it is with extreme difficulty that they can be reconciled. And fraternal enmities are generally strong and inv...

The meaning of the first clause is obtained in the King James Version by the insertion of the words in italics, and it seems on the whole to be the best. The Septuagint and Vulgate give an entirely different rendering, based, apparently, upon a different text....

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

A BROTHER OFFENDED [IS HARDER TO BE WON] THAN A STRONG CITY,.... A fortified city may sooner be taken by an enemy, than one brother offended can be reconciled to another; their resentments against each other are keener than against another person that has offended them; and their love being turned into hatred, it is more bitter; and it is more difficult to compose differences between brethren than between enemies; wherefore such should take care that they fall not out by the way: this is true of brethren in a natural sense; as the cases of Abel and Cain, Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his brethren, Amnon and Absalom, and others, show; and of brethren in a spiritual sense, as Paul and Barnabas, Luther and Calvin, and others; AND [THEIR] CONTENTIONS [ARE] LIKE THE BARS OF A CASTLE: which cannot be easily broken or cut asunder: so contentions, especially those among brethren, are with great di...

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....

OFFENDED. dealt falsely with....

_offended_ or _injured_, R.V. marg. _like the bars of a castle_ forming an impassable barrier to reconciliation....

A BROTHER OFFENDED— _As a fortified city is a brother assisted by a brother; and they who mutually love one another, are like the bars of a castle._ Houb. following the Vulgate. The author of the _Observations,_ remarking that these _bars_ were frequently of brass or iron, says, "According to this, there may be something more in the emphasis of the following passage than has been remarked. _Their contentions are like the bars of a castle;_ not merely hard to be removed, on account of their size, but on account of the materials of which they were made; as not being of wood, but of iron or brass." See 1 Kings 4:13.Isaiah 45:2....