Proverbs 20:21

An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning; but the end thereof shall not be blessed. AN INHERITANCE (MAY BE) GOTTEN HASTILY, [SO THE QERI' READS, mªbohelet (H926 ); CF. PROVERBS 28:20 ] AT THE BEGINNING; BUT THE END THEREOF SHALL NOT BE BLESSED. The Kethibh reads, 'An inheritance, abominated (namely, by the Lord) at the beginning' (Hebrew, meboCHeleth. This is favoured by the antithetical contrast to "blessed," in the parallel clause. An inheritance, however goodly it looks, if it be cursed in its beginning, as being amassed by foul means, "shall not be blessed" in its "end" (Proverbs 13:11). Bad gains are tant...

Verse Proverbs 20:21. _AN INHERITANCE - GOTTEN HASTILY_] Gotten by _speculation_; by _lucky hits_; not in the fair _progressive_ way of _traffic_, in which money has its _natural increase_. All such inheritances are short-lived; God's blessing is not in them, because they are not the produce of _industry_; and they lead to _idleness, pride, fraud_, and _knavery_. A speculation in trade is a public nuisance and curse. How many honest men have been ruined by such!...

Or, An inheritance gotten hastily (greedily sought after by unjust means) at the beginning, the end thereof shall not be blessed. Another reading gives, “an inheritance loathed, (compare Zechariah 11:8), or with a curse upon it.” The King James Version agrees with the versions....

EXPOSITION PROVERBS 20:1 WINE IS A MOCKER; or, scorner, the word (_luts_) being taken up from the last chapter. The liquor is, as it were, personified, as doing what men do under its influence. Thus inebriated persons scoff at what is holy, reject reproof, ridicule all that is serious. Septuagint, Ἀκόλαστον οἶνος, "Wine is an undisciplined thing;" Vulgate, _Luxuriosa res, vinum. _STRONG DRINK IS RAGING; a brawler, Revised Version. _Shekar, _σίκερα (Luke 1:15), is most frequently employed of any intoxicating drink not made from grapes, _e.g. _palm wine, mead, etc. The inordinate use of this renders men noisy and boisterous, no longer masters of themselves or restrained by the laws of morality or decency. Septu

AN INHERITANCE [MAY BE] GOTTEN HASTILY AT THE BEGINNING,.... Of a man's setting out in the world in trade and business; and which sometimes is got lawfully, and this must be excepted from this proverb; but generally what is got hastily and in a short time is got unlawfully, and so does not prosper. Some Jewish interpreters, as Gersom, understand it of an inheritance which comes to persons from their friends, without any labour or industry of theirs; and which they are not careful to keep, but, as it lightly comes, it lightly goes: here is a various reading; our version follows the marginal reading, and which is followed by the Targum, Jarchi, and Gersom, and by the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate Latin versions; but the written text is, "an inheritance loathsome" or "abominable"; an ill gotten one, so the word is used in Zechariah 11:8. Schultens, from the use of the word in the Arabic l...

CHAPTER 20 PROVERBS AS TO PERSONAL CONDUCT Proverbs of warning and instructions as to personal conduct are found mostly in this chapter; a number of them are of special interest if applied to Solomon. The first one is concerning wine and strong drink. As the use of wine among the people of Israel was legitimate the warning is against intemperance Deuteronomy 14:26). The Bible gives many illustrations of the truth of this proverb-warning. We may think of Noah, Lot, Nabal, Ben-hadad, Belshazzar and others. From all the good things we select the following. In Proverbs 20:3 is instruction which makes for peace. It is the fool who meddles and thus produces strife, but it is an honor for man to cease from strife. In...

PROVERBS 20. We have still further traces in Proverbs 20:9; Proverbs 20:24 of the sceptical spirit and the obstinate questionings of self characteristic of the later Greek period of Jewish thought. PROVERBS 20:6 A. RV is strained and the Heb. is difficult. Read (_cf._ Syr. and Lat.) Many a man is called kind. Proverbs 20:8. winnoweth (_mg._) is more literal than RV, and conveys better the idea of personal scrutiny (_cf._ the ideal king in Psalms 72 and Isaiah 11). Proverbs 20:9. For the growi

BLESSED. happy. See note on Proverbs 3:13....

_hastily_ Comp. Proverbs 28:20; Proverbs 28:22....

TEXT Proverbs 20:21-30 21. An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning; But the end thereof shall not be blessed. 22. Say not thou, I will recompense evil: Wait for Jehovah, and he will save thee. 23. Diverse weights are an abomination to Jehovah; And a false balance is not good. 24. A man's goings are of Jehovah; How then can man understand his way? 25. It is a snare to a man rashly to say, It is holy, And after vows to make inquiry. 26. A wise king winnoweth the wicked, And bringeth the threshingwheel over them. 27. The spirit of man is the lamp of Jehovah, Searching all his innermost parts. 28. Kindness and truth preserve the king; And his throne is upholden by kindness. 29. The glory of young men is their streng