
Text -- Proverbs 30:28 (NET)




Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics



collapse allCommentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)
Wesley: Pro 30:28 - -- With her legs, which he calls hands, because they serve her for the same use, to do her work, to weave her web, and to catch gnats or flies.
With her legs, which he calls hands, because they serve her for the same use, to do her work, to weave her web, and to catch gnats or flies.

Is not only in poor cottages, but many times in palaces also.
JFB: Pro 30:24-31 - -- These verses provide two classes of apt illustrations of various aspects of the moral world, which the reader is left to apply. By the first (Pro 30:2...
These verses provide two classes of apt illustrations of various aspects of the moral world, which the reader is left to apply. By the first (Pro 30:25-28), diligence and providence are commended; the success of these insignificant animals being due to their instinctive sagacity and activity, rather than strength. The other class (Pro 30:30-31) provides similes for whatever is majestic or comely, uniting efficiency with gracefulness.

Tolerated, even in palaces, to destroy flies.

Or, uses with activity the limbs provided for taking prey.

collapse allCommentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)
Barnes -> Pro 30:28
Barnes: Pro 30:28 - -- Spider - Rather, the Gecko (or Stellio), a genus of the lizard tribe, many species of which haunt houses, make their way through crevices in th...
Spider - Rather, the Gecko (or Stellio), a genus of the lizard tribe, many species of which haunt houses, make their way through crevices in the walls, and with feet that secrete a venomous exudation catch the spiders or the flies they find there.
Poole -> Pro 30:28
Poole: Pro 30:28 - -- The spider taketh hold of the thread which she spins out of her own bowels with her hands; with her legs, which he calls hands, because they serve he...
The spider taketh hold of the thread which she spins out of her own bowels with her hands; with her legs, which he calls hands, because they serve her for the same purpose, to do her work, to weave her web, and to catch gnats or flies, &c.
Is in kings’ palaces is not only in poor cottages, but many times in palaces also, where she makes a shift to keep her abode, notwithstanding all the care and pains which is taken to sweep and cleanse it.
Haydock -> Pro 30:28
Haydock: Pro 30:28 - -- The stellio. A kind of house lizard, marked with spots like stars, from whence it has its name. (Challoner) ---
Hebrew semamith. (Haydock) ---
...
The stellio. A kind of house lizard, marked with spots like stars, from whence it has its name. (Challoner) ---
Hebrew semamith. (Haydock) ---
It probably provides food against the stormy season, like ants. (Bochart) (Calmet) ---
Others understand "the spider," (Kimchi) or "monkey." (Vatable, &c.)
Gill -> Pro 30:28
Gill: Pro 30:28 - -- The spider taketh hold with her hands,.... On the thread she spins, or on the flies and bees she catches in her web. This is a small creature, yet ver...
The spider taketh hold with her hands,.... On the thread she spins, or on the flies and bees she catches in her web. This is a small creature, yet very wise; what a curious thread does she spin! what a fine web does she weave! with what exactness and proportion is it framed! as if she understood the rules of mathematics and architecture;
and is in kings' palaces; as well as in the houses of poor people, and in temples also; we read y of one in the temple of Ceres, which drew its web over the face of the image: and though her webs are oftentimes destroyed, especially in kings' palaces; yet such is her constancy and assiduity, and her unwearied application to business, that, as fast as they are destroyed, she attempts to restore them. This creature is an emblem of diligence in things temporal and spiritual; which those that use in the former sense shall stand before kings, and not before mean men; and in the latter sense shall have the presence of the King of kings, and dwell in his palace here and hereafter: also of worldly minded men, who labour to be rich; spend their time, and take a great deal of pains for mere trifles; weave curious webs, and, after all, only catch flies; and those they cannot hold, uncertain riches, which make themselves wings and fly away. Likewise this creature may resemble hypocrites, whose hope and trust are as the spider's web, built upon their own righteousness, spun out of their own hearts; a fine, thin, slender thread, which cannot bear one stroke of the besom of divine justice; such as these are in the palaces of Christ the King, are in his churches, hypocrites in Zion; see Job 8:13. Aben Ezra interprets it of the ape: the same David de Pomis z observes, and Mr. Weemse a, who seems to incline to this sense; and this creature King Solomon, no doubt, had in his palace, since his navy brought many of these, every three years, from those parts to which it was sent, 1Ki 10:22; and to these hands more properly belong than to spiders, and are taken into king's palaces for their pleasure and diversion; but to these there is one objection, that this creature is not a little one. Others understand it of the "lizard", that sort which is called "stellio"; but it is a question whether this is to be found in king's palaces. Bellonius b makes mention of a kind of lizard, which creeps into walls and catches flies, and is called by the Greeks "samiamiton", a name very near the Hebrew word here used: and Pliny c speaks of the "stellio", or lizard, as being in doors, windows, and chambers; and as a very fraudulent and deceitful creature to men, none more so; and also as poisonous, as this creature in the text by its name seems to be: and Austin d makes mention of the lizard as a domestic animal; which catches flies as the spider, with whom he joins it. The Targum, Jarchi, and Gersom, take it to be the spider, as we do; which may be thought most likely, since the creature here meant seems to have its name from the Arabic word "sam", which signifies poison e; though it is affirmed f the spider is not poisonous; as is well known by persons who have frequently swallowed them, without any more harm than happens to hens, robin red breasts, and other birds, who make them their daily food; and so men have been bit by them, without any ill consequence: wherefore it is still thought by some that the lizard is more probably meant; since some sorts of them are poisonous g, though not all, for some are eatable; See Gill on Lev 11:30.

expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes: Pro 30:28 Although the Hebrew noun translated “king” is singular here, it is traditionally translated as plural: “kings’ palaces” ...
Geneva Bible -> Pro 30:28
Geneva Bible: Pro 30:28 The spider taketh hold ( o ) with her hands, and is in kings' palaces.
( o ) If man is not able to compass these common things by his wisdom, we cann...

expand allCommentary -- Verse Range Notes
TSK Synopsis -> Pro 30:1-33
TSK Synopsis: Pro 30:1-33 - --1 Agur's confession of his faith.7 The two points of his prayer.10 The meanest are not to be wronged.11 Four wicked generations.15 Four things insatia...
MHCC -> Pro 30:24-28
MHCC: Pro 30:24-28 - --Four things that are little, are yet to be admired. There are those who are poor in the world, and of small account, yet wise for their souls and anot...
Matthew Henry -> Pro 30:24-28
Matthew Henry: Pro 30:24-28 - -- I. Agur, having specified four things that seem great and yet are really contemptible, here specifies four things that are little and yet are very a...
Keil-Delitzsch -> Pro 30:24-28
Keil-Delitzsch: Pro 30:24-28 - --
Another proverb with the cipher 4, its first line terminating in ארץ :
24 Four are the little things of the earth,
And yet they are quick of w...
Constable: Pro 30:1--31:31 - --V. TWO DISCOURSES BY OTHER WISE MEN chs. 30--31
Chapters 30 and 31 form a distinct section in Proverbs because n...

Constable: Pro 30:1-33 - --A. The Wisdom of Agur ch. 30
The most distinctive features of Agur's proverbs are his numerical style of...

Constable: Pro 30:10-33 - --3. Wisdom about life 30:10-33
Though his view of and awareness of God are very much behind what Agur said in the rest of this chapter, his counsel dea...
