Text -- Proverbs 15:1-8 (NET)

15:1 A gentle response turns away anger, but a harsh word stirs up wrath. 15:2 The tongue of the wise treats knowledge correctly, but the mouth of the fool spouts out folly. 15:3 The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on those who are evil and those who are good. 15:4 Speech that heals is like a life-giving tree, but a perverse tongue breaks the spirit. 15:5 A fool rejects his father’s discipline, but whoever heeds reproof shows good sense. 15:6 In the house of the righteous is abundant wealth, but the income of the wicked brings trouble. 15:7 The lips of the wise spread knowledge, but not so the heart of fools. 15:8 The Lord abhors the sacrifices of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases him.

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Wesley: Pro 15:2

Expressing what he knows prudently and gracefully.

Wesley: Pro 15:2

Plentifully, continually, and vehemently, as a fountain does waters.

Wesley: Pro 15:4

Which utters sound and useful counsels.

Wesley: Pro 15:4

Is greatly useful to preserve the present life, and to promote the spiritual and eternal life, both of the speaker and hearers.

Wesley: Pro 15:4

False or corrupt speeches.

Wesley: Pro 15:4

Disturbs and wounds the spirits, both of the speaker and hearers.

Wesley: Pro 15:6

Though he may obtain great revenues, yet they are attended with much trouble.

Wesley: Pro 15:7

Freely communicate to others what they know.

Wesley: Pro 15:8

All the religious services, yea, the most costly; one kind being put for all the rest.

Wesley: Pro 15:8

The cheapest and meanest services.

JFB: Pro 15:1

(Pro. 15:1-33)

JFB: Pro 15:1

Tender or gentle.

JFB: Pro 15:1

From any one.

JFB: Pro 15:1

As a smouldering fire is excited.

JFB: Pro 15:2

Commends knowledge by its proper use.

JFB: Pro 15:2

Utters abundantly (Pro 12:23), and so disgusts others.

JFB: Pro 15:3

Watching (compare Pro 5:21; Psa 66:7).

JFB: Pro 15:4

(Compare Margin), pacifying and soothing language.

JFB: Pro 15:4

(Pro 3:18; Pro 11:30).

JFB: Pro 15:4

Cross, ill-natured language.

JFB: Pro 15:4

(compare Isa 65:14, Hebrew), grieves, instead of appeasing.

JFB: Pro 15:5

(Compare Pro 4:1; Pro 10:17; Pro. 13:1-18).

JFB: Pro 15:5

Acts discreetly.

JFB: Pro 15:6

Implying utility.

JFB: Pro 15:6

Vexation and affliction.

JFB: Pro 15:7

(Compare Pro 10:20-21).

JFB: Pro 15:7

Not right, or vain.

JFB: Pro 15:8-9

Are acts of worship.

JFB: Pro 15:8-9

Denote conduct. God's regard for the worship and deeds of the righteous and wicked respectively, so stated in Psa 50:17; Isa 1:11.

Clarke: Pro 15:1

A soft answer - Gentleness will often disarm the most furious, where positive derangement has not taken place; one angry word will always beget another, for the disposition of one spirit always begets its own likeness in another: thus kindness produces kindness, and rage produces rage. Universal experience confirms this proverb.

Clarke: Pro 15:2

Useth knowledge aright - This is very difficult to know: - when to speak, and when to be silent; what to speak, and what to leave unspoken; the manner that is best and most suitable to the occasion, the subject, the circumstances, and the persons. All these are difficulties, often even to the wisest men. Even wise counsel may be foolishly given.

Clarke: Pro 15:3

The eyes of the Lord are in every place - He not only sees all things, by his omnipresence, but his providence is everywhere. And if the consideration that his eye is in every place, have a tendency to appal those whose hearts are not right before him, and who seek for privacy, that they may commit iniquity; yet the other consideration, that his providence is everywhere, has a great tendency to encourage the upright, and all who may be in perilous or distressing circumstances.

Clarke: Pro 15:4

A wholesome tongue is a tree of life - Here again is an allusion to the paradisiacal tree, עץ חיים ets chaiyim , "the tree of lives."

Clarke: Pro 15:8

The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination - Even the most sedulous attendance on the ordinances of God, and pert ormance of the ceremonies of religion, is an abomination to the Lord, if the heart be not right with him, and the observance do not flow from a principle of pure devotion. No religious acts will do in place of holiness to the Lord

Clarke: Pro 15:8

The prayer of the upright is his delight - What a motive to be upright; and what a motive to the upright to pray! But who is the upright? The man who is weary of sin, and sincerely desires the salvation of God; as well as he who has already received a measure of that salvation. Hence it is said in the next verse, "He loveth him that followeth after righteousness."

Defender: Pro 15:4

This is the fourth metaphorical allusion to the "tree of life" (see note on Pro 3:18)."

TSK: Pro 15:1

soft : Pro 25:15; Jdg 8:1-3; 1Sa 25:21-33

grievous : Pro 15:18, Pro 10:12, Pro 28:25, Pro 29:22; Jdg 12:3-6; 1Sa 25:10, 1Sa 25:11, 1Sa 25:21, 1Sa 25:22; 2Sa 19:43; 1Ki 12:13-16

TSK: Pro 15:2

tongue : Pro 15:23, Pro 15:28, Pro 12:23, Pro 13:16, Pro 16:23, Pro 25:11, Pro 25:12; Psa 45:1; Ecc 10:12, Ecc 10:13; Isa 50:4

poureth : Heb. belcheth, or, bubbleth, Psa 59:7

TSK: Pro 15:3

Pro 5:21; 2Ch 16:9; Job 34:21, Job 34:22; Jer 16:17, Jer 23:24, Jer 32:19; Heb 4:13

TSK: Pro 15:4

A wholesome : Heb. The healing of the, Pro 12:18, Pro 16:24; Mal 4:2

a tree : Pro 3:18; Gen 3:22-24; 1Ti 6:3; Rev 2:7

a breach : Pro 18:8, Pro 18:14, Pro 26:22; Psa 52:2-4, Psa 109:22

TSK: Pro 15:5

fool : Pro 10:1, Pro 13:1, Pro 13:18; 1Sa 2:23-25; 2Sa 15:1-6; 1Ch 22:11-13, 1Ch 28:9, 1Ch 28:20

but : Pro 15:31, Pro 15:32, Pro 1:23, Pro 6:23, Pro 19:20, Pro 25:12; Psa 141:5; Tit 1:13, Tit 2:15

TSK: Pro 15:6

the house : Pro 15:16, Pro 8:21, Pro 13:22, Pro 21:20; Psa 112:3; Heb 11:26

in the revenues : Pro 10:22, Pro 16:8; Job 20:19-23; Psa 37:16; Ecc 4:6, Ecc 5:10-14; Jam 5:1-3

TSK: Pro 15:7

lips : Psa 37:30, Psa 45:2, Psa 51:13-15, Psa 71:15-18, Psa 78:2-6, Psa 119:13; Ecc 12:9, Ecc 12:10; Son 4:11; Mat 10:27, Mat 28:18-20; Mar 16:15; Act 18:9, Act 18:10; Rom 10:14-17; Rom 15:18-21; Eph 4:29; 2Ti 2:2

the heart : Pro 10:20, Pro 10:21; Mat 12:34; Jam 3:6

TSK: Pro 15:8

sacrifice : Pro 21:27, Pro 28:9; Isa 1:10-15, Isa 61:8, Isa 66:3; Jer 6:20, Jer 7:21-23; Amo 5:21, Amo 5:22; Joh 4:24

the prayer : Pro 15:29; 1Ch 29:17; Psa 17:1; Son 2:14

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: Pro 15:2

Useth knowledge aright - Rather, makes knowledge goodly. The power of well-considered speech to commend true wisdom, is contrasted with the pouring (literally as in the margin) forth of folly.

Barnes: Pro 15:3

The teaching which began with the fear of the Lord Pro 1:7 would not be complete without this assertion of His omni-present knowledge.

Barnes: Pro 15:4

A wholesome tongue - literally, as in the margin, the same word as "sound"in Pro 14:30 (see the note). A more literal rendering would be soundness of speech.

Tree of life - Compare Pro 3:18 note.

Breach in the spirit - With the sense of vexation (compare Isa 65:14).

Barnes: Pro 15:7

Not so - The word translated "so"is taken by some in its etymological force as "strong,""firm,"and the passage is rendered "the heart of the fool disperseth (supplied from the first clause) what is weak and unsteady,"i. e., "falsehood and unwisdom."The Septuagint takes it as an adjective, "the heart of the fool is unstedfast."The phrase as it stands in the King James Version is, however, of frequent occurrence Gen 48:18; Exo 10:11; Num 12:7.

Poole: Pro 15:1

A soft mild or gentle, answer, which may imply a foregoing charge or accusation, although the word is and may be rendered speech or discourse , turneth away wrath from the speaker.

Grievous words fierce and vexatious replies or speeches, stir up anger; kindle it, and cause it to flame forth.

Poole: Pro 15:2

Useth knowledge aright expressing what he knows prudently and gracefully; taking due care both what, and when, and to whom, and in what manner he speaks.

Poureth out plentifully, continually, promiscuously, and vehemently, as a fountain doth waters, as this word signifies.

Poole: Pro 15:3

The eyes of the Lord his knowledge and providence.

The evil who are first mentioned, because they either doubt of or deny God’ s providence.

Poole: Pro 15:4

A wholesome tongue which uttereth sound, and comfortable, and useful counsels, is a tree of life; is greatly useful to preserve the present life, and to promote the spiritual and eternal life, both of the speaker and hearers.

Perverseness therein all sorts of false or corrupt speeches,

is a breach in the spirit disturbs and wounds, and ofttimes corrupts and destroys, the spirits or souls, both of the speaker and hearers.

Poole: Pro 15:5

A fool despiseth doth not regard nor obey, which is an evidence of contempt,

his father’ s instruction who hath both love to him, and authority over him; which greatly aggravates his folly.

Reproof the reproof of any person whatsoever, and much more of a father.

Poole: Pro 15:6

House or family ; whereby he implies that it is not only enjoyed by him, but also left to his posterity.

In the revenues of the wicked is trouble: though he may obtain great revenues, yet they are attended with much trouble and vexation; either because they are strangely blasted and taken from them, or because they are imbittered to them by their own insatiable desires, or tormenting cares and fears, or the horrors of their guilty consciences, or by divers other ways.

Poole: Pro 15:7

Disperse knowledge freely communicate to others what they know, as they have opportunity.

Doeth not so either because he hath no knowledge to disperse, or because he hath not a heart to perform his duty, or to do good to others. Or, as others render it, and as the last Hebrew word is rendered, Gen 42:34 , and elsewhere, is not right ; or the place may be rendered, the heart of the foolish (understand out of the former clause, as is very usual, disperseth by his lips ) that which is not right; foolish and corrupt discourse, which is fitly opposed to knowledge.

Poole: Pro 15:8

The sacrifice all the religious services, yea, the best and most costly of them; one kind being put for all the rest.

The prayer the cheapest and meanest services.

PBC: Pro 15:3

Does it make any difference what kinds of lives we live? We can learn the answer by observing Abraham talking with the Lord over the destiny of Sodom. Abraham pled with God to not destroy the righteous with the wicked. God very graciously allowed Abraham to discourse with Him and agreed to not destroy the city if as few as ten righteous were found there. Sadly not even that small number of righteous individuals were found, and God utterly destroyed the place.

I am convinced that one of the reasons the Lord has not already totally destroyed our nation is because He knows there are some righteous people here. Ironically, the wicked continually harass the righteous, not knowing that the averting of terrible judgment is owing to their existence here. I encourage each of you who read this to renew your commitment to walking with God in obedience. The very best way to be a good citizen is to be an obedient Christian.

227

Haydock: Pro 15:1

Fury. This was seen in Nabal and Roboam, while Gideon and Abigail shewed the good effects of a mild answer, Judges viii. 1., and 1 Kings x. 25., and 3 Kings xii. 11.

Haydock: Pro 15:2

Knowledge. It requires to be proposed in a proper manner.

Haydock: Pro 15:4

Life. This comparison was become proverbial for something very excellent. Immoderate. Hebrew, "perverse." (Calmet) ---

Evil discourse kills the souls both of those who speak, and of those who pay attention to it. (Haydock)

Haydock: Pro 15:5

In abundant, &c. Is omitted in Hebrew, Chaldean, and many Greek and Latin copies. The same idea is expressed in the following verse.

Haydock: Pro 15:7

Unlike. The wise, or themselves. Hebrew and Septuagint, "inconstant."

Haydock: Pro 15:8

Wicked. Still unconverted, Ecclesiasticus xxxiv. 23. When they repent, and offer sacrifice with sincerity, they will obtain mercy. The Donatists abused this text, to prove that baptism conferred by wicked ministers was unavailing. But St. Augustine shewed them, that Christ was the principal agent, and conferred grace, even though the minister might draw down judgments on his own head. (Con. Parm. ii. 6.) ---

Even pagans confessed, that sacrifices, without virtue, could afford no benefit. "God was more pleased with the prayers of the Lacedemonians, than with all the sacrifices of the Greeks," say the idolatrous priests in Plato, Alcib. ii. (Seneca de Ben. i. 5.)

Gill: Pro 15:1

A soft answer turneth away wrath,.... Mild words, gentle expressions, delivered with kindness and tenderness, humility and submission; these will work upon a man's passions, weaken his resentments, and break and scatter the storm of wrath raised in his breast, just breaking forth in a very boisterous and blustering manner; so high winds are sometimes laid by soft showers. Thus the Ephraimites were pacified by Gideon's mild answer; and David by Abigail's very submissive and respectful address, Jdg 8:1;

but grievous words stir up anger; such as are rough and menacing, scornful and sneering, reproachful and reviling, proud, haughty, and overbearing; like those of Jephthah to the Ephraimites; and of the Ephraimites to the Gileadites; and of Nabal to David's servants, concerning him; and of Rehoboam, who answered the people roughly: in all which instances anger was stirred up, and either were or like to have been attended with bad consequences, Jdg 12:1. Or a "word" causing, or rather expressing, "grief" ^r; upbraiding others with being the cause of grief to them.

Gill: Pro 15:2

The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright,.... As the heart of a wise and good man is filled with useful knowledge, civil, moral, spiritual, and evangelical; so he takes care to communicate it, at proper times and seasons, in proper places, and to proper persons; adapting it to their case and circumstances, so as it may be for their comfort, edification, and instruction, and minister grace unto them; which is using knowledge "well", as the word ^s signifies: such an use of it recommends it, and makes it appear beautiful and lovely, decorates and adorns it. Thus every good man, out of the good treasure of knowledge in his heart, brings forth his good things seasonably, to the use of edifying; in like manner, ministers of the word, scribes well instructed in the things of God, bring forth both new and old, to the profit of those to whom they minister; so Christ, as man and Mediator, had the tongue of the learned, to speak a word in season to weary souls;

but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness; their knowledge, as they take it to be, but it is no other than folly; this they throw out in great plenty, in a hurry, without fear or wit; they "babble" it out, as the word ^t signifies, as water out of a fountain; their hearts are full of it, and their mouths proclaim it, Pro 12:23.

Gill: Pro 15:3

The eyes of the Lord are in every place,.... Which are expressive of his omniscience, of the full, clear, distinct, and perfect knowledge, which he has of all creatures and things; so that nothing is hid from him, but all open and manifest to him; as they are to Christ the essential Word, Heb 4:13; and also of the providence of God with respect to all persons in general, and to his own people in particular; and as he is infinite and immense, omnipresent and in all places of the world, so his omniscience and providence reach everywhere, to places most distant and secret, and to persons in them, who cannot be concealed from him, since he fills heaven and earth, Jer 23:23;

beholding the evil and the good; meaning not evil things and good things, though that is true; the one he beholds with dislike, the other with pleasure; but evil men and good men: he beholds them as from a watch tower, as the word ^u signifies, from above, from heaven, where he is; see Psa 33:13. By "evil" men may be meant both profane sinners and carnal professors; such as are more openly wicked, and declare their sin, as Sodom, or more secretly so; he sees into all the wickedness there is in their hearts, all their secret devices against his people; the works done by them in the dark, as well as their more open ones; and his eyes are upon all of them, to bring them into judgment at the last day: his eyes are particularly on the proud, to abase them; such as are under a disguise of religion, and have a form of godliness, he has his eyes upon; he sees through all their disguises; he knows on what foot they took up their profession; he discerns between that and true grace; he sees how they retain their lusts with their profession; observes the springs and progress of their apostasy; and will fix his eyes on the man without a righteousness, not having on the wedding garment, and order him into outer darkness. He also beholds "good" men; he sees all their bad things, their sins, and corrects them for them; their good things, their graces, and the exercise of them; their good works, the fruits of his own grace; their weaknesses, and supports and strengthens them; their wants, and supplies them; their persons, and never withdraws his eyes from them: these are on them continually, to protect and defend them; nor will he leave them till he has brought them safe to heaven; see 1Ch 16:9.

Gill: Pro 15:4

A wholesome tongue is a tree of life,.... A tongue that delivers out salutary instructions, wholesome advice and counsel; a "healing tongue" ^w, as it may be rendered, which pacifies contending parties, and heals the divisions between them; to have the benefit of such a man's company and conversation is like being in paradise. Such is the tongue of a Gospel minister, which delivers out the wholesome words of our Lord Jesus Christ; sound speech and doctrines, which cannot be condemned; healing truths to wounded consciences, such as peace, pardon, righteousness, and atonement by the blood of Christ. These are the means of quickening dead sinners, reviving and comforting distressed ones, and show the way of eternal life unto them;

but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit; impure, unchaste, unsavoury, and corrupt language, does mischief to the spirits of men; evil communications corrupt the heart and manners, defile the soul and the conversation; these and unsound doctrines eat as a canker; and as they make the heart of God's people sad, whom he would not have made sad; so they bring distress and despair into the spirits of others, and make sad wounds and breaches there, which are never healed, and that both in the spirits of speakers and hearers; for damnable heresies bring swift destruction on the propagators of them, and them that receive them.

Gill: Pro 15:5

A fool despiseth his father's instruction,.... They are fools that despise any instruction that is wise, good, and profitable; and especially a father's instruction, whose love, tender affection, and care, will not suffer him, knowingly, to give any but what is good and wholesome: wherefore to despise it is not only a contempt of his authority, but a slight of his love; which are both very aggravating, and sufficiently demonstrate his folly; and of which he may be himself convinced when it is too late, and say, "how have I hated instruction and despised reproof?" Pro 5:12. He is a fool that despises the instruction of anyone superior to him in years and experience; of ministers of the word; and especially of our Father which is in heaven, declared in the sacred Scriptures, which are written for instruction in righteousness;

but he that regardeth reproof is prudent; the reproof of a father, whose corrections are to be submitted to, and received with reverence; and especially of the Father of spirits, whose rebukes are in love, and for profit and advantage; yea, he is a wise man that regards the reproof of the word of God, and the ministers of it; and indeed of any Christian, whether his superior, equal, or inferior, as David did, Psa 141:5.

Gill: Pro 15:6

In the house of the righteous is much treasure,.... God sometimes blesses the righteous with great riches, as he did Abraham; or, however, if they have but little, it is better than the riches of many wicked; because they have what they have with a blessing, and they are content with it: and they have abundance of spiritual treasure; they have God for their portion; Christ, and all good things along with him; the rich graces of the Spirit; a rich experience of the grace of God; and all this is but a pledge and earnest of what they shall possess hereafter;

but in the revenues of the wicked is trouble; they have much trouble in getting their riches, by which they pierce themselves through with many sorrows; they have much trouble in keeping them; cannot rest nor sleep because of their abundance, lest it should be taken away from them; and they have much trouble in parting with them, when they are, by one providence or another, stripped of them; and, besides, they have them with a curse, and are ever attended with uneasiness, on one account or another.

Gill: Pro 15:7

The lips of the wise disperse knowledge,.... Scatter it about for the benefit of others; they are communicative and diffusive of it unto others, that fruit may abound to their account: so the first ministers of the Gospel diffused the savour of the knowledge of Christ and his Gospel in every place; their words went into all the earth, and their sound to the end of the world; and so every Gospel minister will speak according to the oracles of God, and according to the abilities and measure of the gift which he has received; and to the utmost of his power feeds souls with knowledge and understanding;

but the heart of the foolish doth not so; does not disperse knowledge, for he has no solid substantial knowledge in him: or, "the heart of the foolish is not right" ^x; it is full of folly and wickedness: or "the heart of the foolish does not disperse that which is right" ^y; true and right things, and the knowledge of them; but, on the contrary, as in Pro 15:2, "pours out foolishness".

Gill: Pro 15:8

The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord,.... Even those sacrifices which were of divine appointment under the former dispensation, when offered by wicked men, without faith in Christ, without any sense of sin, repentance for it, and reformation from it; when these were used as a cloak for sin, under which they sheltered and satisfied themselves, and went on in sin; when they brought them "with a wicked mind", as in Pro 21:27; when either what they brought were not according to the law, the lame and the blind; or were not their own, but robbery for burnt sacrifice; or supposing that these would atone for their sins of themselves; when either of these, or all this, was the case, it was an abomination to the Lord; see Isa 1:11. Wherefore much more must Pagan sacrifices be an abomination to him; which were not of his appointing, and were offered to devils, and not to him; and which were many of them very inhuman and shocking; as giving a man's firstborn for his transgression, and the fruit of his body for the sin of his soul: and so likewise Papal sacrifices, the sacrifice of the mass; the bloodless sacrifice, the offering up again of the body and blood of Christ, they pretend to; which, as it is wicked and blasphemous, is an abomination to the Lord, and perhaps is chiefly intended. Sacrifice may stand for every religious duty performed by a wicked man, being hypocritically done, and with no good view; and all their good works, which seem to be so; and are either not according to the word and will of God, being never commanded by him, of which sort are many among the Papists; or they are not done in faith, and so sin, and do not spring from love to God; but are done with a heart full of enmity to him, and are not directed to his glory: in short, whatever is done by them, let it have ever such an appearance of devotion and goodness; yet if it is placed in the room of Christ, and used to the setting aside of his righteousness, satisfaction, and sacrifice, it is an abomination to the Lord;

but the prayer of the upright is his delight: the prayer of such, whose hearts are right with God; who have right spirits renewed in them; are Israelites indeed; have the truth of grace and root of the matter in them; are honest, sincere, and upright in heart: the prayer of such, which is an inwrought one, wrought in his heart by the Spirit of God, and so comes from God, and is his own breathing in him, must be well pleasing to him; that which is fervent, earnest, and importunate, which cometh not out of feigned lips, but from the heart, and is put up with a true heart, in the sincerity of it; the prayer of faith, the cry of the humble; the prayer which is addressed to God as a Father, in the name of Christ the Mediator, which comes perfumed with the incense of his mediation, introduced with the celebration of the divine perfections, contains humble confessions of sin and unworthiness, ascribes all blessings to the grace of God, and expresses thankfulness for favours received, is very acceptable and delightful to God; though it is the prayer of a poor, mean, despicable creature in his own eyes, and in the eyes of others, Psa 102:17. This stands opposed to the pompous rites and ceremonies, the gaudy worship and costly sacrifices, of wicked men; such as used by the Papists.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Pro 15:1

¹ tn Heb “soft answer.” The adjective רַּךְ (rakh, “soft; tender; gentle”; BDB 940 s.v.) is more than a mild response; it is conciliatory, an answer that restores good temper and reasonableness (W. McKane, Proverbs [OTL], 477). Gideon illustrates this kind of answer (Judg 8:1-3) that brings peace.

² tn Heb “word of harshness”; KJV “grievous words.” The noun עֶצֶב (’etsev, “pain, hurt”) functions as an attributive genitive. The term עֶצֶב refers to something that causes pain (BDB 780 s.v. I עֶצֶב). For example, Jephthah’s harsh answer led to war (Judg 12:1-6).

³ tn Heb “raises anger.” A common response to painful words is to let one’s temper flare up.

NET Notes: Pro 15:2

¹ sn The contrast is between the “tongue of the wise” and the “mouth of the fool.” Both expressions are metonymies of cause; the subject matter is what they say. How wise people are can be determined from what they say.

² tn Or “makes knowledge acceptable” (so NASB). The verb תֵּיטִיב (tetiv, Hiphil imperfect of יָטַב [yatav, “to be good”]) can be translated “to make good” or “to treat in a good [or, excellent] way” (C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 303). M. Dahood, however, suggests emending the text to תֵּיטִיף (tetif) which is a cognate of נָטַף (nataf, “drip”), and translates “tongues of the sages drip with knowledge” (Proverbs and Northwest Semitic Philology, 32-33). But this change is gratuitous and unnecessary.

³ sn The Hiphil verb יַבִּיעַ (yabia’) means “to pour out; to emit; to cause to bubble; to belch forth.” The fool bursts out with reckless utterances (cf. TEV “spout nonsense”).

NET Notes: Pro 15:3

¹ sn The proverb uses anthropomorphic language to describe God’s exacting and evaluating knowledge of all people.

² tn The form צֹפוֹת (tsofot, “watching”) is a feminine plural participle agreeing with “eyes.” God’s watching eyes comfort good people but convict evil.

NET Notes: Pro 15:4

¹ tn Heb “a tongue.” The term “tongue” is a metonymy of cause for what is produced: speech.

² tn Heb “a tongue of healing.” A healing tongue refers to speech that is therapeutic or soothing. It is a source of vitality.

³ tn The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied for the sake of clarity.

⁴ tn Heb “tree of life.”

⁵ tn Heb “perversion in it.” The referent must be the tongue, so this has been supplied in the translation for clarity. A tongue that is twisted, perverse, or deceitful is a way of describing deceitful speech. Such words will crush the spirit (e.g., Isa 65:14).

NET Notes: Pro 15:5

¹ tn Heb “is prudent” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NCV, NLT “is wise.” Anyone who accepts correction or rebuke will become prudent in life.

NET Notes: Pro 15:6

¹ tn The term בֵּית (bet, “house”) functions as an adverbial accusative of location.

² sn The Hebrew noun חֹסֶן (khosen) means “wealth; treasure.” Prosperity is the reward for righteousness. This is true only in so far as a proverb can be carried in its application, allowing for exceptions. The Greek text for this verse has no reference for wealth, but talks about amassing righteousness.

³ tn Heb “will be troubled.” The function of the Niphal participle may be understood in two ways: (1) substantival use: abstract noun meaning “disturbance, calamity” (BDB 747 s.v. עָכַר) or passive noun meaning “thing troubled,” or (2) verbal use: “will be troubled” (HALOT 824 s.v. עכר nif).

NET Notes: Pro 15:7

¹ tc The verb of the first colon is difficult because it does not fit the second very well – a heart does not “scatter” or “spread” knowledge. On the basis of the LXX, C. H. Toy (Proverbs [ICC], 305) suggests a change to יִצְּרוּ (yitsÿru, “they preserve”). The Greek evidence, however, is not strong. For the second line the LXX has “hearts of fools are not safe,” apparently taking לֹא־כֵן (lo’-khen) as “unstable” instead of “not so.” So it seems futile to use the Greek version to modify the first colon to make a better parallel, when the Greek has such a different reading in the second colon anyway.

² sn The phrase “the heart of fools” emphasizes that fools do not comprehend knowledge. Cf. NCV “there is no knowledge in the thoughts of fools.”

NET Notes: Pro 15:8

¹ tn Heb “an abomination of the Lord.” The term יְהוָה (yÿhvah, “the Lord”) functions as a subjective genitive: “the Lord abhors.” Cf. NIV “the Lord detests”; NCV, NLT “the Lord hates”; CEV “the Lord is disgusted.”

² tn Heb “sacrifice” (so many English versions).

³ sn The sacrifices of the wicked are hated by the Lord because the worshipers are insincere and blasphemous (e.g., Prov 15:29; 21:3; 28:9; Ps 40:6-8; Isa 1:10-17). In other words, the spiritual condition of the worshiper determines whether or not the worship is acceptable to God.

⁴ sn J. H. Greenstone notes that if God will accept the prayers of the upright, he will accept their sacrifices; for sacrifice is an outer ritual and easily performed even by the wicked, but prayer is a private and inward act and not usually fabricated by unbelievers (Proverbs, 162).

⁵ tn Heb “[is] his pleasure.” The 3rd person masculine singular suffix functions as a subjective genitive: “he is pleased.” God is pleased with the prayers of the upright.

Geneva Bible: Pro 15:6

In the house of the righteous [is] much treasure: but in the revenues of the wicked is ^{( a )} trouble.

^{( a )} For though they have much yet it is full of trouble and care.

Geneva Bible: Pro 15:8

The ^{( b )} sacrifice of the wicked [is] an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright [is] his delight.

^{( b )} That thing is abominable before God, which the wicked think to be most excellent, and by which they think most to be accepted.

Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

MHCC: Pro 15:1

A right cause will be better pleaded with meekness than with passion. Nothing stirs up anger like grievous words.

MHCC: Pro 15:2

He that has knowledge, is to use it aright, for the good of others.

MHCC: Pro 15:3

Secret sins, services, and sorrows, are under God's eye. This speaks comfort to saints, and terror to sinners.

MHCC: Pro 15:4

A good tongue is healing to wounded consciences, by comforting them; to sin-sick souls, by convincing them; and it reconciles parties at variance.

MHCC: Pro 15:5

If instruction is despised, reprove men rather than suffer them to go on undisturbed in the way to ruin.

MHCC: Pro 15:6

The wealth of worldly men increases their fears and suspicions, adds strength to their passions, and renders the fear of death more distressing.

MHCC: Pro 15:7

We use knowledge aright when we disperse it; but the heart of the foolish has nothing to disperse that is good.

MHCC: Pro 15:8-9

The wicked put other things in the stead of Christ's atonement, or in the place of holy obedience. Praying graces are his gift, and the work of his Spirit, with which he is well pleased.

Matthew Henry: Pro 15:1

Solomon, as conservator of the public peace, here tells us, 1. How the peace may be kept, that we may know how in our places to keep it; it is by soft words. If wrath be risen like a threatening cloud, pregnant with storms and thunder, a soft answer will disperse it and turn it away. When men are provoked, speak gently to them, and give them good words, and they will be pacified, as the Ephraimites were by Gideon's mildness (Jdg 8:1-3); whereas, upon a like occasion, by Jephthah's roughness, they were exasperated, and the consequences were bad, Jdg 12:1-3. Reason will be better spoken, and a righteous cause better pleaded, with meekness then with passion; hard arguments do best with soft words. 2. How the peace will be broken, that we, for our parts, may do nothing towards the breaking of it. Nothing stirs up anger, and sows discord, like grievous words, calling foul names, as Raca, and Thou fool, upbraiding men with their infirmities and infelicities, their extraction or education, or any thing that lessens them and makes them mean; scornful spiteful reflections, by which men affect to show their wit and malice, stir up the anger of others, which does but increase and inflame their own anger. Rather than lose a jest some will lose a friend and make an enemy.

Matthew Henry: Pro 15:2

Note, 1. A good heart by the tongue becomes very useful. He that has knowledge is not only to enjoy it, for his own entertainment, but to use it, to use it aright, for the edification of others; and it is the tongue that must make use of it in pious profitable discourse, in giving suitable and seasonable instructions, counsels, and comforts, with all possible expressions of humility and love, and then knowledge is used aright; and to him that has, and thus uses what he has, more shall be given. 2. A wicked heart by the tongue becomes very hurtful; for the mouth of fools belches out foolishness, which is very offensive; and the corrupt communication which proceeds from an evil treasure within (the filthiness, and foolish talking, and jesting) corrupts the good manners of some and debauches them, and grieves the good hearts of others and disturbs them.

Matthew Henry: Pro 15:3

The great truths of divinity are of great use to enforce the precepts of morality, and none more than this - That the eye of God is always upon the children of men. 1. An eye to discern all, not only from which nothing can be concealed, but by which every thing is actually inspected, and nothing overlooked or looked slightly upon: The eyes of the Lord are in every place; for he not only sees all from on high (Psa 33:13), but he is every where present. Angels are full of eyes (Rev 4:8), but God is all eye. It denotes not only his omniscience, that he sees all, but his universal providence, that he upholds and governs all. Secret sins, services, and sorrows, are under his eye. 2. An eye to distinguish both persons and actions. He beholds the evil and the good, is displeased with the evil and approves of the good, and will judge men according to the sight of his eyes, Psa 1:6; Psa 11:4. The wicked shall not go unpunished, nor the righteous unrewarded, for God has his eye upon both and knows their true character; this speaks as much comfort to saints as terror to sinners.

Matthew Henry: Pro 15:4

Note, 1. A good tongue is healing, healing to wounded consciences by comforting them, to sin-sick souls by convincing them, to peace and love when it is broken by accommodating differences, compromising matters in variance, and reconciling parties at variance; this is the healing of the tongue, which is a tree of life, the leaves of which have a sanative virtue, Rev 22:2. He that knows how to discourse will make the place he lives in a paradise. 2. An evil tongue is wounding ( perverseness, passion, falsehood, and filthiness there, are a breach in the spirit ); it wounds the conscience of the evil speaker, and occasions either guilt or grief to the hearers, and both are to be reckoned breaches in the spirit. Hard words indeed break no bones, but many a heart has been broken by them.

Matthew Henry: Pro 15:5

Hence, 1. Let superiors be admonished to give instruction and reproof to those that are under their charge, as they will answer it in the day of account. They must not only instruct with the light of knowledge, but reprove with the heat of zeal; and both these must be done with the authority and affection of a father, and must be continued, though the desired effect be not immediately perceived. If the instruction be despised, give reproof, and rebuke sharply. It is indeed against the grain with good-humoured men to find fault, and make those about them uneasy; but better so than to suffer them to go on undisturbed in the way to ruin. 2. Let inferiors be admonished, not only to submit to instruction and reproof (even hardships must be submitted to), but to value them as favours and not despise them, to make use of them for their direction, and always to have a regard to them; this will be an evidence that they are wise and a means of making them so; whereas he that slights his good education is a fool and is likely to live and die one.

Matthew Henry: Pro 15:6

Note, 1. Where righteousness is riches are, and the comforts of them: In the house of the righteous is much treasure. Religion teaches men to be diligent, temperate, and just, and by these means, ordinarily, the estate is increased. But that is not all: God blesses the habitation of the just, and that blessing makes rich without trouble. Or, if there be not much of this world's goods, yet where there is grace there is true treasure; and those who have but little, if they have a heart to be therewith content, and to enjoy the comfort of that little, it is enough; it is all riches. The righteous perhaps are not themselves enriched, but there is treasure in their house, a blessing in store, which their children after them may reap the benefit of. A wicked worldly man is only for having his belly filled with those treasures, his own sensual appetite gratified (Psa 17:14); but a righteous man's first care is for his soul and then for his seed, to have treasure in his heart and then in his house, which his relations and those about him may have the benefit of. 2. Where wickedness is, though there may be riches, yet there is vexation of spirit with them: In the revenues of the wicked, the great incomes they have, there is trouble; for there is guilt and a curse; there is pride and passion, and envy and contention; and those are troublesome lusts, which rob them of the joy of their revenues and make them troublesome to their neighbours.

Matthew Henry: Pro 15:7

This is to the same purport with Pro 15:2, and shows what a blessing a wise man is and what a burden a fool is to those about him. Only here observe further, 1. That we then use knowledge aright when we disperse it, not confine it to a few of our intimates, and grudge it to others who would make as good use of it, but give a portion of this spiritual alms to seven and also to eight, not only be communicative, but diffusive, of this good, with humility and prudence. We must take pains to spread and propagate useful knowledge, must teach some that they may teach others, and so it is dispersed. 2. That it is not only a fault to pour out foolishness, but it is a shame not to disperse knowledge, at least not to drop some wise word or other: The heart of the foolish does not so; it has nothing to disperse that is good, or, if it had, has neither skill nor will to do good with it and therefore is little worth.

Matthew Henry: Pro 15:8

Note, 1. God so hates wicked people, whose hearts are malicious and their lives mischievous, that even their sacrifices are an abomination to him. God has sacrifices brought him even by wicked men, to stop the mouth of conscience and to keep up their reputation in the world, as malefactors come to a sanctuary, not because it is a holy place, but because it shelters them from justice; but their sacrifices, though ever so costly, are not accepted of God, because not offered in sincerity nor from a good principle; they dissemble with God, and in their conversations give the lie to their devotions, and for that reason they are an abomination to him, because they are made a cloak for sin, Pro 7:14. See Isa 1:11. 2. God has such a love for upright good people that, though they are not at the expense of a sacrifice (he himself has provided that), their prayer is a delight to him. Praying graces are his own gift, and the work of his own Spirit in them, with which he is well pleased. He not only answers their prayers, but delights in their addresses to him, and in doing them good.

Keil-Delitzsch: Pro 15:1-6

We take these verses together as forming a group which begins with a proverb regarding the good and evil which flows from the tongue, and closes with a proverb regarding the treasure in which blessing is found, and that in which no blessing is found.

Pro 15:1

1 A soft answer turneth away wrath,

And a bitter word stirreth up anger.

In the second line, the common word for anger ( אף , from the breathing with the nostrils, Pro 14:17) is purposely placed, but in the first, that which denotes anger in the highest degree ( חמה from יחם , cogn. חמם , Arab. hamiya , to glow, like שׁנה from ישׁן ): a mild, gentle word turns away the heat of anger ( excandescentiam ), puts it back, cf. Pro 25:15. The Dagesh in רּך follows the rule of the דחיק , i.e. , of the close connection of a word terminating with the accented eh, aah, ah with the following word ( Michlol 63b). The same is the meaning of the Latin proverb:

Frangitur ira gravis

Quando est responsio suavis .

The דבר־עצב produces the contrary effect. This expression does not mean an angry word (Ewald), for עצב is not to be compared with the Arab. ghaḍab , anger (Umbreit), but with Arab. 'aḍb , cutting, wounding, paining (Hitzig), so that דבר מעציב is meant in the sense of Psa 78:40 : a word which causes pain (lxx λυπηρός , Theod. πονικός ), not after the meaning, a word provoking to anger (Gesenius), but certainly after its effect, for a wounding word "makes anger arise."As one says of anger שׁב , "it turns itself"( e.g. , Isa 9:11), so, on the other hand, עלה , "it rises up,"Ecc 10:4. The lxx has a third line, ὀργὴ ἀπόλλυσι καὶ φρονίμους , which the Syr. forms into a distich by the repetition of Pro 14:32, the untenableness of which is at once seen.

Pro 15:2

The πραΰ́της σοφίας (Jam 3:13) commended in Pro 15:1 is here continued:

The tongue of the wise showeth great knowledge,

And the mouth of fools poureth forth folly.

As היטיב נגּן , Isa 23:16, means to strike the harp well, and היטיב לכת , Isa 30:29, to go along merrily, so היטיב דּעת , to know in a masterly manner, and here, where the subject is the tongue, which has only an instrumental reference to knowledge: to bring to light great knowledge (cf. 7a). In 2b the lxx translate στόμα δὲ ἀφρόνων ἀναγγέλλει κακά . From this Hitzig concludes that they read רעות as 28b, and prefers this phrase; but they also translated in Pro 13:16; Pro 14:28; Pro 26:11, אוּלת by κακίαν , for they interpreted the unintelligible word by combination with עולת , and in Pro 12:23 by ἀραῖς , for they thought they had before them אלות (from אלה ).

Pro 15:3

3 The eyes of Jahve are in every place,

Observing the evil and the good.

The connection of the dual עינים with the plur. of the adjective, which does not admit of a dual, is like Pro 6:17, cf. 18. But the first line is a sentence by itself, to which the second line gives a closer determination, as showing how the eyes of God are everywhere (cf. 2Ch 16:9, after Zec 4:10) abroad over the whole earth, viz., beholding with penetrating look the evil and the good ( צפה , to hold to, to observe, cf. ἐπιβλέποντες , Sir. 23:19), i.e. , examining men whether they are good or evil, and keeping them closely before His eyes, so that nothing escapes him. This universal inspection, this omniscience of God, has an alarming but also a comforting side. The proverb seeks first to warn, therefore it speaks first of the evil.

Pro 15:4

4 Gentleness of the tongue is a tree of life;

But falseness in it is a wounding to the spirit.

Regarding מרפּא , vid ., at Pro 12:18, and regarding סלף , at Pro 11:3; this latter word we derive with Fleischer from סלף , to subvert, overthrow, but not in the sense of "violence, asperitas , in as far as violent speech is like a stormy sea,"but of perversity, perversitas ( Venet . λοξότης ), as the contrast to truthfulness, rectitude, kindness. Gentleness characterizes the tongue when all that it says to a neighbour, whether it be instruction or correction, or warning or consolation, it says in a manner without rudeness, violence, or obtrusiveness, by which it finds the easiest and surest acceptance, because he feels the goodwill, the hearty sympathy, the humility of him who is conscious of his own imperfection. Such gentleness is a tree of life, whose fruits preserve life, heal the sick, and raise up the bowed down. Accordingly, שׁבר בּרוּח is to be understood of the effect which goes forth from perversity or falseness of the tongue upon others. Fleischer translates: asperitas autem in ea animum vulnerat , and remarks, " שׁבר ברוח , abstr. pro concreto . The verb שׁבר , and the n. verbale שׁבר derived from it, may, in order to render the meaning tropical, govern the prep. בּ , as the Arab. kaser baḳlby , he has broken my heart (opp. Arab. jabar baḳlaby ), cf. בּפניו , Pro 21:29, vid ., De Glossis Habichtianis , p. 18; yet it also occurs with the accus., Psa 69:21, and the corresponding gen. שׁבר רוּח , Isa 65:14."In any case, the breaking (deep wounding) is not meant in regard to his own spirit, but to that of the neighbour. Rightly Luther: but a lying (tongue) makes heart-sorrow (elsewhere, a false one troubles the cheerful); Euchel: a false tongue is soul-wounding; and the translation of the year 1844: falsehood is a breach into the heart. Only for curiosity's sake are two other interpretations of 4a and 4b mentioned: the means of safety to the tongue is the tree of life, i.e. , The Torâ ( Erachin 15b); and: perversity suffers destruction by a breath of wind, after the proverb, כל שׁישׁ בו גסות רוח רוח קימעא שׁוברתו , a breath of wind breaks a man who is puffed up

(Note: Vid ., Duke's Rabbinische Blumenlese , p. 176, where the rendering is somewhat different.)

(which Meîri presents for choice, vid ., also Rashi, who understands רוח of the storm of judgment). The lxx translates, in 4b, a different text: ὁ δὲ συντηρῶν αὐτὴν πλησθήσεται πνεύματος ; but the ישׂבּע רוּח here supposed cannot mean "to be full of spirit,"but rather "to eat full of wind."Otherwise the Syr. and Targ.: and he who eateth of his own fruit is satisfied (Heb. ואכל מפּריו ישׂבּע ) - an attempt to give to the phrase ישׂבע a thought correct in point of language, but one against which we do not give up the Masoretic text.

Pro 15:5

5 A fool despiseth his father's correction;

But he that regardeth reproof is prudent.

We may with equal correctness translate: he acts prudently (after 1Sa 23:22); and, he is prudent (after Pro 19:25). We prefer, with Jerome, Venet ., and Luther, the latter, against the lxx, Syr., and Targ., because, without a doubt, the יערם is so thought of at Pro 19:25 : the contrast is more favourable to the former. It is true that he who regardeth reproof is not only prudent, but also that he is prudent by means of observing it. With line first cf. Pro 1:7 and Pro 1:30, and with line second, Pro 12:1. Luther translates: the fool calumniates...; but of the meanings of abuse (properly pungere ) and scorn, the second is perhaps here to be preferred.

Pro 15:6

6 The house of the righteous is a great treasure-chamber;

But through the gain of the wicked comes trouble.

The contrast shows that חסן does not here mean force or might (lxx, Syr., Targ., Jerome, and Venet .), which generally this derivative of the verb חסן never means, but store, fulness of possession, prosperity (Luther: in the house of the righteous are goods enough), in this sense (cf. Pro 27:24) placing itself, not with the Arab. ḥasuna , to be firm, fastened (Aram. ḥsn , חסן ), but with Arab. khazan , to deposit, to lay up in granaries, whence our "steplang7 Magazin ." חסן may indeed, like חיל , have the meaning of riches, and חסן does actually mean, in the Jewish-Aram., to possess, and the Aphel אחסן , to take into possession ( κρατεῖν ); but the constant use of the noun חסן in the sense of store, with the kindred idea of laying up, e.g. , Jer 20:5, and of the Niph . נחסן , which means, Isa 23:18, with נאצר , "to be magazined,"gives countenance to the idea that חסן goes back to the primary conception, recondere , and is to be distinguished from חסון , חסין , and other derivatives after the fundamental conception. We may not interpret בּית , with Fleischer, Bertheau, and Zöckler, as accus.: in the house (cf. בּית , Pro 8:2), nor prepositionally as chez = steplang10 casa ; but: "the house of the righteous is a great store,"equivalent to, the place of such. On the contrary, destruction comes by the gain of the wicked. It is impossible that נעכּרת can have the house as the subject (Löwenstein), for בּית is everywhere mas. Therefore Abulwalîd, followed by Kimchi and the Venet. ( ὄλεθρος ), interprets נעכרת as subst., after the form of the Mishnic נברכת , a pool, cf. נחרצה , peremptorily decided, decreed; and if we do not extinguish the ב of וּבתבוּאת (the lxx according to the second translation of this doubly-translated distich, Syr., and Targ.), there remains then nothing further than to regard נעכרת either as subst. neut. overturned = overthrow (cf. such part. nouns as מוּסדה , מוּעקה , but particularly נסבּה , 2Ch 10:15), or as impers. neut. pass.: it is overthrown = there is an overthrow, like נשׂערה , Psa 50:3 : it is stormed = a storm rages. The gain of the wicked has overthrow as its consequence, for the greed of gain, which does not shrink from unrighteous, deceitful gain, destroys his house, עכר בּיתו , Pro 15:27 ( vid ., regarding עצר , Pro 11:29). Far from enriching the house, such gain is the cause of nothing but ruin. The lxx, in its first version of this distich, reads, in 6a, בּרבות צדק ( ἐν πλεοναζούσῃ δικαιοσύνῃ ), and in 6b, וּבתבוּאת רשׁע נעכּר (and together with the fruit the godless is rooted out, ὁλόῤῥιζοι ἐκ γῆς ἀπολοῦνται ); for, as Lagarde has observed, it confounds עכר with עקר (to root, privativ : to root up).

Keil-Delitzsch: Pro 15:7-17

A second series which begins with a proverb of the power of human speech, and closes with proverbs of the advantages and disadvantages of wealth.

Pro 15:7

7 The lips of the wise spread knowledge;

But the direction is wanting to the heart of fools.

It is impossible that לא־כן can be a second object. accus. dependent on יזרוּ ( dispergunt , not יצּרוּ , Pro 20:28; φυλάσσουσι , as Symmachus translates): but the heart of fools is unrighteous (error or falsehood) (Hitzig after Isa 16:6); for then why were the lips of the wise and the heart of the fools mentioned? לא־כן also does not mean οὐχ οὕτως (an old Greek anonymous translation, Jerome, Targ., Venet ., Luther): the heart of the fool is quite different from the heart of the wise man, which spreads abroad knowledge (Zöckler), for it is not heart and heart, but lip and heart, that are placed opposite to each other. Better the lxx οὐκ ἀσφαλεῖς , and yet better the Syr. lo kinı̂n (not right, sure). We have seen, at Pro 11:19, that כן as a participial adj. means standing = being, continuing, or also standing erect = right, i.e. , rightly directed, or having the right direction; כּן־צדקה means there conducting oneself rightly, and thus genuine rectitude. What, after 7a, is more appropriate than to say of the heart of the fool, that it wants the receptivity for knowledge which the lips of the wise scatter abroad? The heart of the fool is not right, it has not the right direction, is crooked and perverse, has no mind for wisdom; and that which proceeds from the wise, therefore, finds with him neither estimation nor acceptance.

Pro 15:8

8 The sacrifice of the godless is an abhorrence to Jahve;

But the prayer of the upright is His delight.

Although the same is true of the prayer of the godless that is here said of their sacrifice, and of the sacrifice of the righteous that is here said of their prayer ( vid ., Pro 28:9, and cf. Psa 4:6 with Psa 27:6), yet it is not by accident that here (line first = Pro 21:27) the sacrifice is ascribed to the godless and the prayer to the upright. The sacrifice, as a material and legally-required performance, is much more related to dead works than prayer freely completing itself in the word, the most direct expression of the personality, which, although not commanded by the law, because natural to men, as such is yet the soul of all sacrifices; and the Chokma , like the Psalms and Prophets, in view of the ceremonial service which had become formal and dead in the opus operatum , is to such a degree penetrated by the knowledge of the incongruity of the offering up of animals and of plants, with the object in view, that a proverb like "the sacrifice of the righteous is pleasing to God"never anywhere occurs; and if it did occur without being expressly and unavoidably referred to the legal sacrifice, it would have to be understood rather after Psa 51:18. than Ps. 51:20f., rather after 1Sa 15:22 than after Psa 66:13-15. זבח , which, when it is distinguished from עולה , means (cf. Pro 7:14) the sacrifice only in part coming to the altar, for the most part applied to a sacrificial feast, is here the common name for the bloody, and, per synecdochen , generally the legally-appointed sacrifice, consisting in external offering. The לרצין , Lev 1:3, used in the Tôra of sacrifices, is here, as at Ps. 19:15, transferred to prayer. The fundamental idea of the proverb is, that sacrifices well-pleasing to God, prayers acceptable to God (that are heard, Pro 15:29), depend on the relations in which the heart and life of the man stand to God.

Pro 15:9

Another proverb with the key-word תועבת

An abomination to Jahve is the way of the godless;

But He loveth him who searcheth after righteousness.

The manner and rule of life is called the way. מרדּף is the heightening of רדף , Pro 21:21, and can be used independently in bonam , as well as in malam partem (Pro 11:19, cf. Pro 13:21). Regarding the form יאהב , vid ., Fleischer in Deutsch. Morgenl. Zeitsch . xv. 382.

Pro 15:10

10 Sharp correction is for him who forsaketh the way;

Whoever hateth instruction shall die.

The way, thus absolute, is the God-pleasing right way (Pro 2:13), the forsaking of which is visited with the punishment of death, because it is that which leadeth unto life (Pro 10:17). And that which comes upon them who leave it is called מוּסר רע , castigatio dura , as much as to say that whoever does not welcome instruction, whoever rejects it, must at last receive it against his will in the form of peremptory punishment. The sharp correction (cf. Isa 28:28, Isa 28:19) is just the death under which he falls who accepts of no instruction (Pro 5:23), temporal death, but that as a token of wrath which it is not for the righteous (Pro 14:32).

Pro 15:11

11 The underworld [Sheol] and the abyss are before Jahve;

But how much more the hearts of the children of men!

A syllogism, a minori ad majus , with אף כּי (lxx τῶς οὐχὶ καὶ , Venet . μᾶλλον οὖν ), like 12:32.

(Note: In Rabbin. this concluding form is called קל וחמר (light and heavy over against one another), and דּין (judgment, viz., from premisses , thus conclusion), κατ ̓ ἐξ . Instead of the biblical אף כי , the latter form of the language has כּל־שׁכּן (all speaks for it that it is so), על־אחת כּמּה וכמּה (so much the more), אינו דּין , or also קל וחמר (as minori ad majus = quanto magis ); vid ., the Hebr. Römerbrief , p. 14.)

אבדּון has a meaning analogous to that of τάρταρος (cf. ταρταροῦν , 2Pe 2:4, to throw down into the τάρταρος ), which denotes the lowest region of Hades ( שׁאול תּחתּית or תּחתּיּה ' שׁ ), and also in general, Hades. If אבדון and מות are connected, Job 37:22, and if אבדון is the parallel word to קבר , Psa 88:12, or also to שׁאול , as in the passage similar to this proverb, Job 26:6 (cf. Job 38:17): "Sheôl is naked before Him, and Abaddon has no covering;"since אבדון is the general name of the underworld, including the grave, i.e. , the inner place of the earth which receives the body of the dead, as the kingdom of the dead, lying deeper, does the soul. But where, as here and at Pro 27:10, שׁאול and אבדון stand together, they are related to each other, as ᾅδης and ταρταρος or ἅβυσσος , Rev 9:11 : אבדון is the lowest hell, the place of deepest descent, of uttermost destruction. The conclusion which is drawn in the proverb proceeds from the supposition that in the region of creation there is nothing more separated, and by a wide distance, from God, than the depth, and especially the undermost depth, of the realm of the dead. If now God has this region in its whole compass wide open before Him, if it is visible and thoroughly cognisable by Him ( נגד , acc. adv.: in conspectu , from נגד , eminere, conspicuum esse ) - for He is also present in the underworld, Psa 139:8 - then much more will the hearts of the children of men be open, the inward thoughts of men living and acting on the earth being known already from their expressions. Man sees through man, and also himself, never perfectly; but the Lord can try the heart and prove the reins, Jer 17:10. What that means this proverb gives us to understand, for it places over against the hearts of men nothing less than the depths of the underworld in eternity.

Pro 15:12

12 The scorner liketh not that one reprove him,

To wise men he will not go.

The inf . absol ., abruptly denoting the action, may take the place of the object, as here (cf. Job 9:18; Isa 42:24), as well as of the subject (Pro 25:27, Job 6:25). Thus הוכיח is (Pro 9:7) construed with the dat. obj. Regarding the probable conclusion which presents itself from passages such as Pro 15:12 and Pro 13:20, as to the study of wisdom in Israel, vid ., p. 39. Instead of אל , we read, Pro 13:20 (cf. Pro 22:24), את־ ; for לכת את־ means to have intercourse with one, to go a journey with one (Mal 2:6, cf. Gen 5:24, but not 2Sa 15:22, where we are to translate with Keil), according to which the lxx has here μετὰ δὲ σοφῶν οὐχ ὁμιλήσει . The mocker of religion and of virtue shuns the circle of the wise, for he loves not to have his treatment of that which is holy reproved, nor to be convicted of his sin against truth; he prefers the society where his frivolity finds approbation and a response.

Pro 15:13

13 A joyful heart maketh the countenance cheerful;

But in sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.

The expression of the countenance, as well as the spiritual habitus of a man, is conditioned by the state of the heart. A joyful heart maketh the countenance טוב , which means friendly, but here happy-looking = cheerful (for טוב ro is the most general designation of that which makes an impression which is pleasant to the senses or to the mind); on the contrary, with sorrow of heart ( עצּבת , constr. of עצּבת , Pro 10:10, as חטאת = חטּאת , from חטּאה ) there is connected a stricken, broken, downcast heart; the spiritual functions of the man are paralyzed; self-confidence, without which energetic action is impossible, is shattered; he appears discouraged, whereby רוּח is thought of as the power of self-consciousness and of self-determination, but לב , as our "steplang7 Gemüt "[ animus ], as the oneness of thinking and willing, and thus as the seat of determination, which decides the intellectual-corporeal life-expression of the man, or without being able to be wholly restrained, communicates itself to them. The ב of וּבעצּבת is, as Pro 15:16., Pro 16:8; Pro 17:1, meant in the force of being together or along with, so that רוּח נכאה do not need to be taken separate from each other as subject and predicate: the sense of the noun-clause is in the ב , as e.g. , also Pro 7:23 (it is about his life, i.e. , it concerns his life). Elsewhere the crushed spirit, like the broken heart, is equivalent to the heart despairing in itself and prepared for grace. The heart with a more clouded mien may be well, for sorrow has in it a healing power (Ecc 7:3). But here the matter is the general psychological truth, that the corporeal and spiritual life of man has its regulator in the heart, and that the condition of the heart leaves its stamp on the appearance and on the activity of the man. The translation of the רוח נכאה by "oppressed breath"(Umbreit, Hitzig) is impossible; the breath cannot be spoken of as broken.

Pro 15:14

14 The heart of the understanding seeketh after knowledge,

And the mouth of fools practiseth folly.

Luther interprets רעה as metaphor. for to govern, but with such ethical conceptions it is metaphor. for to be urgently circumspect about anything ( vid ., Pro 13:20), like Arab. ra'y and r'âyt , intentional, careful, concern about anything. No right translation can be made of the Chethib פני , which Schultens, Hitzig, Ewald, and Zöckler prefer; the predicate can go before the פּני , after the Semitic rule in the fem. of the sing., 2Sa 10:9, cf. Job 16:16, Chethib , but cannot follow in the masc. of the sing.; besides, the operations of his look and aspect are ascribed to his face, but not spiritual functions as here, much more to the mouth, i.e. , to the spirit speaking through it. The heart is within a man, and the mouth without; and while the former gives and takes, the latter is always only giving out. In Pro 18:15, where a synonymous distich is formed from the antithetic distich, the ear, as hearing, is mentioned along with the heart as appropriating. נבון is not an adj., but is gen., like צדיק , 28a (opp. ופי ). חכם , Pro 16:23. The φιλοσοφία of the understanding is placed over against the μωρολογία of the fools. The lxx translates καρδία ὀρθὴ ζητεῖ αἲσθησιν (cf. Pro 14:10, καρδία ἀδρὸς αἰσθητική ); it uses this word after the Hellenistic usus loq . for דעת , of experimental knowledge.

Pro 15:15

15 All the days of the afflicted are evil;

But he who is of a joyful heart hath a perpetual feast.

Regarding עני (the afflicted), vid ., 21b. They are so called on whom a misfortune, or several of them, press externally or internally. If such an one is surrounded by ever so many blessings, yet is his life day by day a sad one, because with each new day the feeling of his woe which oppresses him renews itself; whoever, on the contrary, is of joyful heart (gen. connection as Pro 11:13; Pro 12:8), such an one (his life) is always a feast, a banquet (not משׁתּה , as it may be also pointed, but משׁתּה and תּמיד thus adv ., for it is never adj.; the post-bib. usage is תּמידין for עולות תּמיד ). Hitzig (and also Zöckler) renders 15b: And (the days) of one who is of a joyful heart are.... Others supply לו (cf. Pro 27:7), but our rendering does not need that. We have here again an example of that attribution (Arab. isnâd ) in which that which is attributed (musnad ) is a condition (hal ) of a logical subject (the musnad ilêhi ), and thus he who speaks has this, not in itself, but in the sense of the condition; the inwardly cheerful is feasts evermore, i.e. , the condition of such an one is like a continual festival. The true and real happiness of a man is thus defined, not by external things, but by the state of the heart, in which, in spite of the apparently prosperous condition, a secret sorrow may gnaw, and which, in spite of an externally sorrowful state, may be at peace, and be joyfully confident in God.

Pro 15:16

16 Better is little with the fear of Jahve,

Than great store and trouble therewith.

The ב in both cases the lxx rightly renders by μετά . How מהוּמה (elsewhere of wild, confused disorder, extreme discord) is meant of store and treasure, Psa 39:7 shows: it is restless, covetous care and trouble, as the contrast of the quietness and contentment proceeding from the fear of God, the noisy, wild, stormy running and hunting about of the slave of mammon. Theodotion translates the word here, as Aquila and Symmachus elsewhere, by words which correspond ( φαγέδαινα = φάγαινα or ἀχορτασία ) with the Syr. יענותא , greed or insatiability.

Pro 15:17

17 Better a dish of cabbage, and love with it,

Than a fatted ox together with hatred.

With בו is here interchanged שׁם , which, used both of things and of persons, means to be there along with something. Both have the Dag. forte conj ., cf. to the contrary, Deu 30:20; Mic 1:11; Deu 11:22; the punctuation varies, if the first of the two words is a n. actionis ending in ה . The dish (portion) is called ארחה , which the lxx and other Greek versions render by ξενισμός , entertainment, and thus understand it of that which is set before a guest, perhaps rightly so, for the Arab. ârrakh (to date, to determine), to which it is compared by Gesenius and Dietrich, is equivalent to warrh , a denom. of the name of the moon. Love and hatred are, according to circumstances, the disposition of the host, or of the participant, the spirit of the family:

Cum dat oluscula mensa minuscula pace quietâ ,

Ne pete grandia lautaque prandia lite repleta .

Constable: Pro 10:1--22:17

II. COUPLETS EXPRESSING WISDOM 10:1--22:16

Chapters 1-9, as we have seen, contain discourses that Solomon evidently wrote urging his sons to choose the way of wisdom for their lives.⁹² At 10:1 we begin the part of the book that sets forth what the wise way is in a variety of life situations.

"Until now the book of Proverbs has been identifying the truly wise man. Form this point on, it will describe how such a man should conduct his life from day to day. This logical topical order appears in many New Testament epistles, where the saved person is first identified, and then the daily life he should live is described [e.g., Rom. 1-5 and 6-8; Eph. 1-3 and 4-6]."⁹³

There are 184 maxims in chapters 10-15 and 191 in chapters 16-22 for a total of 375.⁹⁴ This represents only a few of the 3,000 proverbs Solomon wrote (1 Kings 4:32). Most of the proverbs in this section are one verse long and contain two lines each; they are couplets. The second line contrasts, compares, or completes the idea expressed in the first line. In chapters 10-15 most couplets contain antithetic parallelism. The key word is "but." In chapters 16-22 there are more synonymous parallelisms marked by the conjunction "and." There are also continuous sentences in which the second line continues the thought of the first line (e.g., 14:26). Some couplets contain comparisons in which the relative value of two things is set forth (e.g., 11:31). Some contain a statement in the first line followed by an explanation in the second line (e.g., 20:2).⁹⁵

Is there any logic to the arrangement of these seemingly unrelated proverbs? In some places there is a general association of ideas, and in some places there is a recurring key word (e.g., "king" in 16:12-15, and "Yahweh" in 16:1-7). However many of these couplets have no logical connection with what immediately precedes or follows in the context. This anthology style is typical of other ancient Near Eastern wisdom literature.

"The absence of a systematic arrangement is due to the traditional character of the contents. There is no need of a closely knit argument; striking images, incisive wording are all that is required to give a fresh appeal to the truth of familiar viewpoints."⁹⁶

"It is also surprising to find lofty precepts mixed with more trivial' apothegms. Of course, this is a misconception based on the modern-day viewpoint of life. From the sages' perspective each proverb is an expression of wisdom,' which is . . . the fixed order of reality. Viewed from this perspective no sentence is trivial . . ."⁹⁷

Why did the Holy Spirit not arrange these proverbs topically so we could study all of them that deal with one subject together? Probably He did so because the method He chose is "a course of education in the life of wisdom."⁹⁸

"As we read Proverbs chapter by chapter, the Spirit of God has the freedom to teach us about many subjects, and we never know from day to day which topic we'll need the most. Just as the Bible itself isn't arranged like a systematic theology, neither is Proverbs. What Solomon wrote is more like a kaleidoscope than a stained-glass window: We never know what the next pattern will be."⁹⁹

In the notes that follow (on 10:1-22:16) I have commented only on those proverbs that appear to me to need clarification in the NASB.

Constable: Pro 14:1--15:33

8. Further advice for wise living chs. 14-15

These proverbs are more difficult to group together under a general heading because there are fewer common ideas that tie them together.

14:1 This verse makes better sense if for "house" we read "household."

14:3 The antecedent of "them" (3b) is "the wise" (plural).

"Words come back to roost."¹²¹

"What people say has a great bearing on how they are received."¹²²

14:12 Without the additional light of divine revelation we might conclude that any number of courses of action will lead to good ends. Nevertheless God's Word helps us see the end of some of these paths so we can avoid them. Salvation by works is one example of this. As someone once told me, "I was climbing the ladder of success, but then I discovered that it was leaning against the wrong wall." This proverb warns that apparently good roads may prove fatal to the moral life (cf. 7:27; 16:25; Matt. 7:13-14) because their destination is wrong.

14:24 The ends of the wise and the foolish are in view.

"The wise are crowned, that is, blessed with wealth (cf. 3:16; 8:18, 21; 15:6; 22:4) because of their diligence (14:23), but foolish conduct results not in blessing but in more folly (cf. v. 18)."¹²³

14:28 It is a credit to a ruler when he rules over many people and they prosper and increase, but it is a discredit to him when his people decline in number and wealth. This is so because part of a governmental leader's responsibility is to generate prosperity.

14:33 A paraphrase of this verse could be, "A wise man does not parade his knowledge; a fool does."¹²⁴ Fools may have knowledge but not wisdom.

15:2 The contrast here is not between the quantity of words that the wise and the fool utter. It is the fact that the wise man considers what he says before he says it, but the fool does not. Consequently what the wise says is "acceptable" (lit. "good") and what the fool says is "folly" (unwise). This proverb deals with responsible speech.

"When you summarize what Proverbs teaches about human speech, you end up with four important propositions: (1) speech is an awesome gift from God; (2) speech can be used to do good; (3) speech can be used to do evil; and, (4) only God can help us use speech to do good."¹²⁵

15:20 The full thought behind this verse seems to be, "The wise son honors and gladdens his father, the foolish laughs at and saddens his mother."¹²⁶ It may imply that the fool is callous toward his mother.¹²⁷

15:22 A person who makes his or her plans without asking for advice or comments from other people shows that he or she is excessively self-confident. However someone who consults others and asks for their advice shows that he realizes he may be overlooking some factors and is not entirely self-confident.

15:24 Everyone goes to Sheol (the grave) eventually (except believers who experience translation at the Rapture and do not die). However the wise avoid Sheol as long as they can by being wise. Living wisely tends to prolong life.

"We may at least say that the language [of this proverb] anticipates what later Scripture will clearly teach about the ultimate destination of the way of life."¹²⁸

15:30 Happy people and good news both have a heartwarming effect. Good news has an uplifting effect. Healthy bones (lit. fat bones) pictured health and prosperity to the Jews (cf. 17:22; 25:25; Gen. 45:27-28; Isa. 52:7-8).

15:33 The fear of Yahweh is not just the foundation of a wise life (1:7; 9:10). It is also the whole path of wisdom. To fear the Lord amounts to being wise in one sense, though it is the foundation for wisdom in another (1:7).

Though 33b presents a universal truth, the humility in the context (33a) is the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the willingness to humble oneself before God and to let His Word guide us.

Commentary -- Other

Evidence: Pro 15:1

Speak softly . This verse needs to be written on the hearts of all who preach the gospel, whether they share their faith with sinners one-on-one or preach open-air. If sinners become angry when you witness to them, speak softly. If you think you are about to be hit, ask the person his name to help diffuse the situation. Don’t be afraid to gently change the subject, and don’t wait to be a martyr. Jesus said to flee from a city that persecutes you ( Mat 10:23 ). Paul left one city in a basket ( 2Co 11:33 ). For other verses on the spirit in which we should share our faith, see Pro 16:32 .

Evidence: Pro 15:7

God’s Law is what gives knowledge (see Rom 3:20-21 ). Those who are wise will tell sinners of its righteous requirements.

Evidence: Pro 15:8

When sinners think they are righteous because they give money, attend church, or live what they consider to be a virtuous life, it is an " abomination to the Lord." Even their thoughts are an abomination to Him ( Pro 15:26 ). This is because they stand guilty before Him. Their good works are provoked by a guilty conscience. Like a despicable criminal trying to pervert justice by offering the judge a bribe, they think their good deeds will outweigh their sins (see Heb 9:14 ).

" Good works, as they are called, in sinners are nothing but splendid sins." Augustine

Introduction / Outline

JFB: Proverbs (Book Introduction)

THE NATURE AND USE OF PROVERBS.--A proverb is a pithy sentence, concisely expressing some well-established truth susceptible of various illustrations and applications. The word is of Latin derivation, literally meaning for a word, speech, or discourse; that is, one expression for many. The Hebrew word for "proverb" (mashal) means a "comparison." Many suppose it was used, because the form or matter of the proverb, or both, involved the idea of comparison. Most of the proverbs are in couplets or triplets, or some modifications of them, the members of which correspond in structure and length, as if arranged to be compared one with another. They illustrate the varieties of parallelism, a distinguishing feature of Hebrew poetry. Compare Introduction to Poetical Books. Many also clearly involve the idea of comparison in the sentiments expressed (compare Pro 12:1-10; Pro 25:10-15; Pro 26:1-9). Sometimes, however, the designed omission of one member of the comparison, exercising the reader's sagacity or study for its supply, presents the proverb as a "riddle" or "dark saying" (compare Pro. 30:15-33; Pro 1:6; Psa 49:4). The sententious form of expression, which thus became a marked feature of the proverbial style, was also adopted for continuous discourse, even when not always preserving traces of comparison, either in form or matter (compare Pro. 1:1-9:18). In Eze 17:1; Eze 24:3, we find the same word properly translated "parable," to designate an illustrative discourse. Then the Greek translators have used a word, parabola ("parable"), which the gospel writers (except John) employ for our Lord's discourses of the same character, and which also seems to involve the idea of comparison, though that may not be its primary meaning. It might seem, therefore, that the proverbial and parabolic styles of writing were originally and essentially the same. The proverb is a "concentrated parable, and the parable an extension of the proverb by a full illustration." The proverb is thus the moral or theme of a parable, which sometimes precedes it, as in Mat 19:30 (compare Pro 20:1); or succeeds it, as in Mat. 22:1-16; Luk 15:1-10. The style being poetical, and adapted to the expression of a high order of poetical sentiment, such as prophecy, we find the same term used to designate such compositions (compare Num 23:7; Mic 2:4; Hab 2:6).

Though the Hebrews used the same term for proverb and parable, the Greek employs two, though the sacred writers have not always appeared to recognize a distinction. The term for proverb is, paroimia, which the Greek translators employ for the title of this book, evidently with special reference to the later definition of a proverb, as a trite, sententious form of speech, which appears to be the best meaning of the term. John uses the same term to designate our Saviour's instructions, in view of their characteristic obscurity (compare Pro 16:25-29, Greek), and even for his illustrative discourses (Pro 10:6), whose sense was not at once obvious to all his hearers. This form of instruction was well adapted to aid the learner. The parallel structure of sentences, the repetition, contrast, or comparison of thought, were all calculated to facilitate the efforts of memory; and precepts of practical wisdom which, extended into logical discourses, might have failed to make abiding impressions by reason of their length or complicated character, were thus compressed into pithy, and, for the most part, very plain statements. Such a mode of instruction has distinguished the written or traditional literature of all nations, and was, and still is, peculiarly current in the East.

In this book, however, we are supplied with a proverbial wisdom commended by the seal of divine inspiration. God has condescended to become our teacher on the practical affairs belonging to all the relations of life. He has adapted His instruction to the plain and unlettered, and presented, in this striking and impressive method, the great principles of duty to Him and to our fellow men. To the prime motive of all right conduct, the fear of God, are added all lawful and subordinate incentives, such as honor, interest, love, fear, and natural affection. Besides the terror excited by an apprehension of God's justly provoked judgments, we are warned against evil-doing by the exhibition of the inevitable temporal results of impiety, injustice, profligacy, idleness, laziness, indolence, drunkenness, and debauchery. To the rewards of true piety which follow in eternity, are promised the peace, security, love, and approbation of the good, and the comforts of a clear conscience, which render this life truly happy.

INSPIRATION AND AUTHORSHIP.--With no important exception, Jewish and Christian writers have received this book as the inspired production of Solomon. It is the first book of the Bible prefaced by the name of the author. The New Testament abounds with citations from the Proverbs. Its intrinsic excellence commends it to us as the production of a higher authority than the apocryphal writings, such as Wisdom or Ecclesiasticus. Solomon lived five hundred years before the "seven wise men" of Greece, and seven hundred before the age of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. It is thus very evident, whatever theory of his sources of knowledge be adopted, that he did not draw upon any heathen repositories with which we are acquainted. It is far more probable, that by the various migrations, captivities, and dispersions of the Jews, heathen philosophers drew from this inspired fountain many of those streams which continue to refresh mankind amid the otherwise barren and parched deserts of profane literature.

As, however, the Psalms are ascribed to David, because he was the leading author, so the ascription of this book to Solomon is entirely consistent with the titles of the thirtieth and thirty-first chapters, which assign those chapters to Agur and Lemuel respectively. Of these persons we know nothing. This is not the place for discussing the various speculations respecting them. By a slight change of reading some propose to translate Pro 30:1 : "The words of Agur, the son of her who was obeyed Massa," that is, "the queen of Massa"; and Pro 31:1 : "The words of Lemuel, king of Massa"; but to this the earliest versions are contradictory, and nothing other than the strongest exegetical necessity ought to be allowed to justify a departure from a well-established reading and version when nothing useful to our knowledge is gained. It is better to confess ignorance than indulge in useless conjectures.

It is probable that out of the "three thousand proverbs" (1Ki 4:32) which Solomon spoke, he selected and edited Pro. 1:1-24:34 during his life. Pro. 25:1-29:27 were also of his production, and copied out in the days of Hezekiah, by his "men," perhaps the prophets Isaiah, Hosea, and Micah. Such a work was evidently in the spirit of this pious monarch, who set his heart so fully on a reformation of God's worship. Learned men have endeavored to establish the theory that Solomon himself was only a collector; or that the other parts of the book, as these chapters, were also selections by later hands; but the reasons adduced to maintain these views have never appeared so satisfactory as to change the usual opinions on the subject, which have the sanction of the most ancient and reliable authorities.

DIVISIONS OF THE BOOK.--Such a work is, of course, not susceptible of any logical analysis. There are, however, some well-defined marks of division, so that very generally the book is divided into five or six parts.

1. The first contains nine chapters, in which are discussed and enforced by illustration, admonition, and encouragement the principles and blessings of wisdom, and the pernicious schemes and practices of sinful persons. These chapters are introductory. With few specimens of the proper proverb, they are distinguished by its conciseness and terseness. The sentences follow very strictly the form of parallelism, and generally of the synonymous species, only forty of the synthetic and four (Pro 3:32-35) of the antithetic appearing. The style is ornate, the figures bolder and fuller, and the illustrations more striking and extended.

2. The antithetic and synthetic parallelism to the exclusion of the synonymous distinguish Pro. 10:1-22:16, and the verses are entirely unconnected, each containing a complete sense in itself.

3. Pro. 22:16-24:34 present a series of admonitions as if addressed to a pupil, and generally each topic occupies two or more verses.

4. Pro. 25:1-29:27 are entitled to be regarded as a distinct portion, for the reason given above as to its origin. The style is very much mixed; of the peculiarities, compare parts two and three.

5. Pro. 30:1-33 is peculiar not only for its authorship, but as a specimen of the kind of proverb which has been described as "dark sayings" or "riddles."

6. To a few pregnant but concise admonitions, suitable for a king, is added a most inimitable portraiture of female character. In both parts five and six the distinctive peculiarity of the original proverbial style gives place to the modifications already mentioned as marking a later composition, though both retain the concise and nervous method of stating truth, equally valuable for its deep impression and permanent retention by the memory.

TSK: Proverbs (Book Introduction)

The wisdom of all ages, from the highest antiquity, has chosen to compress and communicate its lessons in short, compendious sentences, and in poetic language, which were readily conceived and easily retained, and circulated in society as useful principles, to be unfolded as occasion required. Indeed, such short maxims, comprehending much instruction in a few words, and carrying their own evidence with them, are admirably adapted to direct the conduct, without overburdening the memory, or perplexing the mind with abstract reasonings; and hence there are, in all countries and in all languages, old proverbs, or common sayings, which have great authority and influence on the opinions and actions of mankind. Such maxims, however, want their proper basis, the sanction of a Divine Original; and being generally the mere result of worldly prudence, are often calculated to impose on the judgment, and to mislead those who are directed by them. But the proverbs in this book not only are far more ancient than any others extant in the world, and infinitely surpass all the ethical sayings of the ancient sages; but have also received a Divine imprimatur, and are infallible rules to direct our conduct in every circumstance of human life. They are so justly founded on the principles of human nature, and so adapted to the permanent interests of man, that they agree with the manners of every age; and are adapted to every period, condition, or rank in life, however varied in its complexion or diversified by circumstance. Kings and subjects, rich and poor, wise and foolish, old and young, fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, sons and daughters, masters and servants, may here learn their respective duties, and read lessons of instruction for the regulation of their conduct in their various circumstances; while the most powerful motives, derived from honour, interest, love, fear, natural affection, and piety, are exhibited to inspire an ardent love of wisdom and virtue, and the greatest detestation of ignorance and vice. These maxims are laid down so clearly, copiously, impressively, and in such variety, that every man who wishes to be instructed may take what he chooses, and, among multitudes, those which he likes best. " He is wise," say St. Basil, " not only who hath arrived at a complete habit of wisdom, but who hath made some progress towards it; nay, who doth as yet but love it, or desire it, and listen to it. Such as these, by reading this book, shall be made wiser; for they shall be instructed in much divine, and in no less human learning....It bridles the injurious tongue, corrects the wanton eye, and ties the unjust hand in chains. It persecutes sloth, chastises all absurd desires, teaches prudence, raises man’s courage, and represents temperance and chastity after such a fashion that one cannot but have them in veneration."

TSK: Proverbs 15 (Chapter Introduction)

Overview

Poole: Proverbs 15 (Chapter Introduction)

CHAPTER 15

MHCC: Proverbs (Book Introduction)

The subject of this book may be thus stated by an enlargement on the opening verses. 1. The Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel. 2. Which treat of the knowledge of wisdom, of piety towards God, of instruction and moral discipline, of the understanding wise and prudent counsels. 3. Which treat of the attainment of instruction in wisdom, which wisdom is to be shown in the conduct of life, and consists in righteousness with regard to our fellow-creatures. 4. Which treat of the giving to the simple sagacity to discover what is right, by supplying them with just principles, and correct views of virtue and vice; and to the young man knowledge, so that he need not err through ignorance; and discretion, so that by pondering well these precepts, he may not err through obstinacy. Take the proverbs of other nations, and we shall find great numbers founded upon selfishness, cunning, pride, injustice, national contempt, and animosities. The principles of the Proverbs of Solomon are piety, charity, justice, benevolence, and true prudence. Their universal purity proves that they are the word of God.

Matthew Henry: Proverbs (Book Introduction)

An Exposition, With Practical Observations, of The Proverbs

We have now before us, I. A new author, or penman rather, or pen (if you will) made use of by the Holy Ghost for making known the mind of God to us, writing as moved by the finger of God (so the Spirit of God is called), and that is Solomon; through his hand came this book of Scripture and the two that follow it, Ecclesiastes and Canticles, a sermon and a song. Some think he wrote Canticles when he was very young, Proverbs in the midst of his days, and Ecclesiastes when he was old. In the title of his song he only writes himself Solomon, perhaps because he wrote it before his accession to the throne, being filled with the Holy Ghost when he was young. In the title of his Proverbs he writes himself the son of David, king of Israel, for then he ruled over all Israel. In the title of his Ecclesiastes he writes himself the son of David, king of Jerusalem, because then perhaps his influence had grown less upon the distant tribes, and he confined himself very much in Jerusalem. Concerning this author we may observe, 1. That he was a king, and a king's son. The penmen of scripture, hitherto, were most of them men of the first rank in the world, as Moses and Joshua, Samuel and David, and now Solomon; but, after him, the inspired writers were generally poor prophets, men of no figure in the world, because that dispensation was approaching in the which God would choose the weak and foolish things of the world to confound the wise and mighty and the poor should be employed to evangelize. Solomon was a very rich king, and his dominions were very large, a king of the first magnitude, and yet he addicted himself to the study of divine things, and was a prophet and a prophet's son. It is no disparagement to the greatest princes and potentates in the world to instruct those about them in religion and the laws of it. 2. That he was one whom God endued with extraordinary measures of wisdom and knowledge, in answer to his prayers at his accession to the throne. His prayer was exemplary: Give me a wise and an understanding heart; the answer to it was encouraging: he had what he desired and all other things were added to him. Now here we find what good use he made of the wisdom God gave him; he not only governed himself and his kingdom with it, but he gave rules of wisdom to others also, and transmitted them to posterity. Thus must we trade with the talents with which we are entrusted, according as they are. 3. That he was one who had his faults, and in his latter end turned aside from those good ways of God which in this book he had directed others in. We have the story of it 1 Kings 11, and a sad story it is, that the penman of such a book as this should apostatize as he did. Tell it not in Gath. But let those who are most eminently useful take warning by this not to be proud or secure; and let us all learn not to think the worse of good instructions though we have them from those who do not themselves altogether live up to them.

II. A new way of writing, in which divine wisdom is taught us by Proverbs, or short sentences, which contain their whole design within themselves and are not connected with one another. We have had divine laws, histories, and songs, and how divine proverbs; such various methods has Infinite Wisdom used for our instruction, that, no stone being left unturned to do us good, we may be inexcusable if we perish in our folly. Teaching by proverbs was, 1. An ancient way of teaching. It was the most ancient way among the Greeks; each of the seven wise men of Greece had some one saying that he valued himself upon, and that made him famous. These sentences were inscribed on pillars, and had in great veneration as that which was said to come down from heaven. A coelo descendit, Gnōthi seauton - Know thyself is a precept which came down from heaven. 2. It was a plain and easy way of teaching, which cost neither the teachers nor the learners much pains, nor put their understandings nor their memories to the stretch. Long periods, and arguments far-fetched, must be laboured both by him that frames them and by him that would understand them, while a proverb, which carries both its sense and its evidence in a little compass, is quickly apprehended and subscribed to, and is easily retained. Both David's devotions and Solomon's instructions are sententious, which may recommend that way of expression to those who minister about holy things, both in praying and preaching. 3. It was a very profitable way of teaching, and served admirably well to answer the end. The word Mashal, here used for a proverb, comes from a word that signifies to rule or have dominion, because of the commanding power and influence which wise and weighty sayings have upon the children of men; he that teaches by them dominatur in concionibus - rules his auditory. It is easy to observe how the world is governed by proverbs. As saith the proverb of the ancients (1Sa 24:13), or (as we commonly express it) As the old saying is, goes very far with most men in forming their notions and fixing their resolves. Much of the wisdom of the ancients has been handed down to posterity by proverbs; and some think we may judge of the temper and character of a nation by the complexion of its vulgar proverbs. Proverbs in conversation are like axious in philosophy, maxims in law, and postulata in the mathematics, which nobody disputes, but every one endeavours to expound so as to have them on his side. Yet there are many corrupt proverbs, which tend to debauch men's minds and harden them in sin. The devil has his proverbs, and the world and the flesh have their proverbs, which reflect reproach on God and religion (as Eze 12:22; Eze 18:2), to guard us against the corrupt influences of which God has his proverbs, which are all wise and good, and tend to make us so. These proverbs of Solomon were not merely a collection of the wise sayings that had been formerly delivered, as some have imagined, but were the dictates of the Spirit of God in Solomon. The very first of them (Pro 1:7) agrees with what God said to man in the beginning (Job 28:28, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom ); so that though Solomon was great, and his name may serve as much as any man's to recommend his writings, yet, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. It is God, by Solomon, that here speaks to us: I say, to us; for these proverbs were written for our learning, and, when Solomon speaks to his son, the exhortation is said to speak to us as unto children, Heb 12:5. And, as we have no book so useful to us in our devotions as David's psalms, so have we none so serviceable to us, for the right ordering of our conversations, as Solomon's proverbs, which as David says of the commandments, are exceedingly broad, containing, in a little compass, a complete body of divine ethics, politics, and economics, exposing every vice, recommending every virtue, and suggesting rules for the government of ourselves in every relation and condition, and every turn of the conversation. The learned bishop Hall has drawn up a system of moral philosophy out of Solomon's Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. The first nine chapters of this book are reckoned as a preface, by way of exhortation to the study and practice of wisdom's rules, and caution against those things that would hinder therein. We have then the first volume of Solomon's proverbs (ch. 10-24); after that a second volume (ch. 25-29); and then Agur's prophecy (ch. 30), and Lemuel's (ch. 31). The scope of all is one and the same, to direct us so to order our conversation aright as that in the end we may see the salvation of the Lord. The best comment on these rules is to be ruled by them.

Topical Index of Proverbs

Twenty chapters of the book of Proverbs (beginning with ch. 10 and ending with ch. 29), consisting mostly of entire sentences in each verse, could not well be reduced to proper heads, and the contents of them gathered; I have therefore here put the contents of all these chapters together, which perhaps may be of some use to those who desire to see at once all that is said of any one head in these chapters. Some of the verses, perhaps, I have not put under the same heads that another would have put them under, but the most of them fall (I hope) naturally enough to the places I have assigned them.

1. Of the comfort, or grief, parents have in their children, according as they are wise or foolish, godly or ungodly, Pro 10:1; Pro 15:20; Pro 17:21, Pro 17:25; Pro 19:13, Pro 19:26; Pro 23:15, Pro 23:16, Pro 23:24, Pro 23:25; Pro 27:11; Pro 29:3

2. Of the world's insufficiency, and religion's sufficiency, to make us happy (Pro 10:2, Pro 10:3; Pro 11:4) and the preference to be therefore given to the gains of virtue above those of this world, Pro 15:16, Pro 15:17; Pro 16:8, Pro 16:16; Pro 17:1; Pro 19:1; Pro 28:6, Pro 28:11

3. Of slothfulness and diligence, Pro 10:4, Pro 10:26; Pro 12:11, Pro 12:24, Pro 12:27; Pro 13:4, Pro 13:23; Pro 15:19; Pro 16:26; Pro 18:9; Pro 19:15, Pro 19:24; Pro 20:4, Pro 20:13; Pro 21:5, Pro 21:25, Pro 21:26; Pro 22:13, Pro 22:29; Pro 24:30-34; Pro 26:13-16; Pro 27:18, Pro 27:23, Pro 27:27; Pro 28:19. Particularly the improving or neglecting opportunities, Pro 6:6; Pro 10:5

4. The happiness of the righteous, and the misery of the wicked, Pro 10:6, Pro 10:9, Pro 10:16, Pro 10:24, Pro 10:25, Pro 10:27-30; Pro 11:3, Pro 11:5-8, Pro 11:18-21, Pro 11:31; Pro 12:2, Pro 12:3, Pro 12:7, Pro 12:13, Pro 12:14, Pro 12:21, Pro 12:26, Pro 12:28; Pro 13:6, Pro 13:9, Pro 13:14 15, 21, 22, 25; Pro 14:11, Pro 14:14, Pro 14:19, Pro 14:32; Pro 15:6, Pro 15:8, Pro 15:9, Pro 15:24, Pro 15:26, Pro 15:29; Pro 20:7; Pro 21:12, Pro 21:15, Pro 21:16, Pro 21:18, Pro 21:21; Pro 22:12; Pro 28:10, Pro 28:18; Pro 29:6

5. Of honour and dishonour, Pro 10:7; Pro 12:8, Pro 12:9; Pro 18:3; Pro 26:1; Pro 27:21. And of vain-glory, Pro 25:14, Pro 25:27; Pro 27:2

6. The wisdom of obedience, and folly of disobedience, Pro 10:8, Pro 10:17; Pro 12:1, Pro 12:15; Pro 13:1, Pro 13:13, Pro 13:18; Pro 15:5, Pro 15:10, Pro 15:12, Pro 15:31, Pro 15:32; Pro 19:16; Pro 28:4, Pro 28:7, Pro 28:9

7. Of mischievousness and usefulness, Pro 10:10, Pro 10:23; Pro 11:9-11, Pro 11:23, Pro 11:27; Pro 12:5, Pro 12:6, Pro 12:12, Pro 12:18, Pro 12:20; Pro 13:2; Pro 14:22; Pro 16:29, Pro 16:30; Pro 17:11; Pro 21:10; Pro 24:8; Pro 26:23, Pro 26:27

8. The praise of wise and good discourse, and the hurt and shame of an ungoverned tongue, Pro 10:11, Pro 10:13, Pro 10:14, Pro 10:20, Pro 10:21, Pro 10:31, Pro 10:32; Pro 11:30; Pro 14:3; Pro 15:2, Pro 15:4, Pro 15:7, Pro 15:23, Pro 15:28; Pro 16:20, Pro 16:23, Pro 16:24; Pro 17:7; Pro 18:4, Pro 18:7, Pro 18:20, Pro 18:21; Pro 20:15; Pro 21:23; Pro 23:9; Pro 24:26; Pro 25:11

9. Of love and hatred, peaceableness and contention, Pro 10:12; Pro 15:17; Pro 17:1, Pro 17:9, Pro 17:14, Pro 17:19; Pro 18:6, Pro 18:17-19; Pro 20:3; Pro 25:8; Pro 26:17, Pro 26:21; Pro 29:9

10. Of the rich and poor, Pro 10:5, Pro 10:22; Pro 11:28; Pro 13:7, Pro 13:8; Pro 14:20, Pro 14:24; Pro 18:11, Pro 18:23; Pro 19:1, Pro 19:4, Pro 19:7, Pro 19:22; Pro 22:2, Pro 22:7; Pro 28:6, Pro 28:11; Pro 29:13

11. Of lying, fraud, and dissimulation, and of truth and sincerity, Pro 10:18; Pro 12:17, Pro 12:19, Pro 12:22; Pro 13:5; Pro 17:4; Pro 20:14, Pro 20:17; Pro 26:18, Pro 26:19, Pro 26:24-26, Pro 26:28

12. Of slandering, Pro 10:18; Pro 16:27; Pro 25:23

13. Of talkativeness and silence, Pro 10:19; Pro 11:12; Pro 12:23; Pro 13:3; Pro 17:27, Pro 17:28; Pro 29:11, Pro 29:20

14. Of justice and injustice, Pro 11:1; Pro 13:16; Pro 16:8, Pro 16:11; Pro 17:15, Pro 17:26; Pro 18:5; Pro 20:10, Pro 20:23; Pro 22:28; Pro 23:10, Pro 23:11; Pro 29:24

15. Of pride and humility, Pro 11:2; Pro 13:10; Pro 15:25, Pro 15:33; Pro 16:5, Pro 16:18, Pro 16:19; Pro 18:12; Pro 21:4; Pro 25:6, Pro 25:7; Pro 28:25; Pro 29:23

16. Of despising and respecting others, Pro 11:12; Pro 14:21

17. Of tale-bearing, Pro 11:13; Pro 16:28; Pro 18:8; Pro 20:19; Pro 26:20, Pro 26:22

18. Of rashness and deliberation, Pro 11:14; Pro 15:22; Pro 18:13; Pro 19:2; Pro 20:5, Pro 20:18; Pro 21:29; Pro 22:3; Pro 25:8-10

19. Of suretiship, Pro 11:15; Pro 17:18; Pro 20:16; Pro 22:26, Pro 22:27; Pro 27:13

20. Of good and bad women, or wives, Pro 11:16, Pro 11:22; Pro 12:4; Pro 14:1; Pro 18:22; Pro 19:13, Pro 19:14; Pro 21:9, Pro 21:19; Pro 25:24; Pro 27:15, Pro 27:16

21. Of mercifulness and unmercifulness, Pro 11:17; Pro 12:10; Pro 14:21; Pro 19:17; Pro 21:13

22. Of charity to the poor, and uncharitableness, Pro 11:24-26; Pro 14:31; Pro 17:5; Pro 22:9, Pro 22:16, Pro 22:22, Pro 22:23; Pro 28:27; Pro 29:7

23. Of covetousness and contentment, Pro 11:29; Pro 15:16, Pro 15:17, Pro 15:27; Pro 23:4, Pro 23:5

24. Of anger and meekness, Pro 12:16; Pro 14:17, Pro 14:29; Pro 15:1, Pro 15:18; Pro 16:32; Pro 17:12, Pro 17:26; Pro 19:11, Pro 19:19; Pro 22:24, Pro 22:25; Pro 25:15, Pro 25:28; Pro 26:21; Pro 29:22

25. Of melancholy and cheerfulness, Pro 12:25; Pro 14:10, Pro 14:13; Pro 15:13, Pro 15:15; Pro 17:22; Pro 18:14; Pro 25:20, Pro 25:25

26. Of hope and expectation, Pro 13:12, Pro 13:19

27. Of prudence and foolishness, Pro 13:16; Pro 14:8, Pro 14:18, Pro 14:33; Pro 15:14, Pro 15:21; Pro 16:21, Pro 16:22; Pro 17:24; Pro 18:2, Pro 18:15; Pro 24:3-7; Pro 7:27; Pro 26:6-11; Pro 28:5

28. Of treachery and fidelity, Pro 13:17; Pro 25:13, Pro 25:19

29. Of good and bad company, Pro 13:20; Pro 14:7; Pro 28:7; Pro 29:3

30. Of the education of children, Pro 13:24; Pro 19:18; Pro 20:11; Pro 22:6, Pro 22:15; Pro 23:12; Pro 14:14; Pro 29:15, Pro 29:17

31. Of the fear of the Lord, Pro 14:2, Pro 14:26, Pro 14:27; Pro 15:16, Pro 15:33; Pro 16:6; Pro 19:23; Pro 22:4; Pro 23:17, Pro 23:18

32. Of true and false witness-bearing, Pro 14:5, Pro 14:25; Pro 19:5, Pro 19:9, Pro 19:28; Pro 21:28; Pro 24:28; Pro 25:18

33. Of scorners, Pro 14:6, Pro 14:9; Pro 21:24; Pro 22:10; Pro 24:9; Pro 29:9

34. Of credulity and caution, Pro 14:15, Pro 14:16; Pro 27:12

35. Of kings and their subjects, Pro 14:28, Pro 14:34, Pro 14:35; Pro 16:10, Pro 16:12-15; Pro 19:6, Pro 19:12; Pro 20:2, Pro 20:8, Pro 20:26, Pro 20:28; Pro 22:11; Pro 24:23-25; Pro 30:2-5; Pro 28:2, Pro 28:3, Pro 28:15, Pro 28:16; Pro 29:5, Pro 29:12, Pro 29:14, Pro 29:26

36. Of envy, especially envying sinners, Pro 14:30; Pro 23:17, Pro 23:18; Pro 24:1, Pro 24:2, Pro 24:19, Pro 24:20; Pro 27:4

37. Of God's omniscience, and his universal providence, Pro 15:3, Pro 15:11; Pro 16:1, Pro 16:4, Pro 16:9, Pro 16:33; Pro 17:3; Pro 19:21; Pro 20:12, Pro 20:24; Pro 21:1, Pro 21:30, Pro 21:31; Pro 29:26

38. Of a good and ill name, Pro 15:30; Pro 22:1

39. Of men's good opinion of themselves, Pro 14:12; Pro 16:2, Pro 16:25; Pro 20:6; Pro 21:2; Pro 26:12; Pro 28:26

40. Of devotion towards God, and dependence on him, Pro 16:3; Pro 18:10; Pro 23:26; Pro 27:1; Pro 28:25; Pro 29:25

41. Of the happiness of God's favour, Pro 16:7; Pro 29:26

42. Excitements to get wisdom, Pro 16:16; Pro 18:1; Pro 19:8, Pro 19:20; Pro 22:17-21; Pro 23:15, Pro 23:16, Pro 23:22-25; Pro 24:13, Pro 24:14; Pro 27:11

43. Cautions against temptations, Pro 16:17; Pro 29:27

44. Of old age and youth, Pro 16:31; Pro 17:6; Pro 20:29

45. Of servants, Pro 17:2; Pro 19:10; Pro 29:19, Pro 29:21

46. Of bribery, Pro 17:8, Pro 17:23; Pro 18:16; Pro 21:14; Pro 28:21

47. Of reproof and correction, Pro 17:10; Pro 19:25, Pro 19:29; Pro 20:30; Pro 21:11; Pro 25:12; Pro 26:3; Pro 27:5, Pro 27:6, Pro 27:22; Pro 28:23; Pro 29:1

48. Of ingratitude, Pro 17:13

49. Of friendship, Pro 17:17; Pro 18:24; Pro 27:9, Pro 27:10, Pro 27:14, Pro 27:17

50. Of sensual pleasures, Pro 21:17; Pro 23:1-3, Pro 23:6-8, Pro 23:19-21; Pro 27:7

51. Of drunkenness, Pro 20:1; Pro 23:23, Pro 23:29-35

52. Of the universal corruption of nature, Pro 20:9

53. Of flattery, Pro 20:19; Pro 26:28; Pro 28:23; Pro 29:5

54. Of undutiful children, Pro 20:20; Pro 28:24

55. Of the short continuance of what is ill-gotten, Pro 20:21; Pro 21:6, Pro 21:7; Pro 22:8; Pro 28:8

56. Of revenge, Pro 20:22; Pro 24:17, Pro 24:18, Pro 24:29

57. Of sacrilege, Pro 20:25

58. Of conscience, Pro 20:27; Pro 27:19

59. Of the preference of moral duties before ceremonial, Pro 15:8; Pro 21:3, Pro 21:27

60. Of prodigality and wastefulness, Pro 21:20

61. The triumphs of wisdom and godliness, Pro 21:22; Pro 24:15, Pro 24:16

62. Of frowardness and tractableness, Pro 22:5

63. Of uncleanness, Pro 22:14; Pro 23:27, Pro 23:28

64. Of fainting in affliction, Pro 24:10

65. Of helping the distressed, Pro 14:11, Pro 14:12

66. Of loyalty to the government, Pro 24:21, Pro 24:22

67. Of forgiving enemies, Pro 25:21, Pro 25:22

68. Of causeless curse, Pro 26:2

69. Of answering fools, Pro 26:4, Pro 26:5

70. Of unsettledness and unsatisfiedness, Pro 27:8, Pro 27:20

71. Of cowardliness and courage, Pro 28:1

72. The people's interest in the character of their rulers, Pro 28:12, Pro 28:28; Pro 29:2, Pro 29:16; Pro 11:10, Pro 11:11

73. The benefit of repentance and holy fear, Pro 28:13, Pro 28:14

74. The punishment of murder, Pro 28:17

75. Of hastening to be rich, Pro 28:20, Pro 28:22

76. The enmity of the wicked against the godly, Pro 29:10, Pro 29:27

77. The necessity of the means of grace, Pro 29:18

Constable: Proverbs (Book Introduction)

Introduction

Title

The title of this book in the Hebrew Bible is "The Proverbs of Solomon, the Son of David, King in Israel" (cf. 1:1). The Greek Septuagint called this book "Proverbs of Solomon." The Latin Vulgate named it "The Book of Proverbs."

There is some debate about whether 1:1 is the title of the whole book or just the title of the first section (chs. 1-9). The first view has in its favor the fact that the Hebrew Bible took the verse as the title of the book. According to this view the references to Solomon in 1:1 are an indication that he was the primary author of the proverbs in the book.¹

The second view is that 1:1 simply introduces the first major section of the book. The support for this view is that some succeeding sections begin with a similar caption (cf. 10:1; 24:23; 25:1; 30:1; 31:1).²

In either case the book got its title from the proverbs it contains. The whole book is a book of proverbs so the title is appropriate.

"To read straight through a few chapters of Proverbs is like trying to have a conversation with someone who always replies with a one-liner."³

Writer

Proverbs claims to be a compendium of the wise sayings of several different individuals.⁴ Solomon originated some of them (10:1-22:16 and chs. 25-29 definitely, and probably chs. 1-9 as well).⁵ Unnamed wise men (sages) wrote other parts (22:17-24:34 definitely, and possibly chs. 1-9). Hezekiah's men copied some of Solomon's proverbs and added them to this collection (chs. 25-29). Agur and King Lemuel produced chapters 30 and 31 respectively.

We do not know who the sages were who wrote 22:17-24:34 nor do we know the names of the men whom King Hezekiah instructed to compile some of Solomon's sayings. Agur and Lemuel are unknown to us also, though Lemuel seems to have been a non-Israelite monarch.⁶

Some of the proverbs appear to have been copied from, or at least influenced by, earlier Mesopotamian and Egyptian books of wisdom.⁷

". . . whatever the Spirit of God inspired the ancient writers to include became a part of the Word of the Lord. Such inclusions then took on a new and greater meaning when they formed part of Scripture; in a word, they became authoritative and binding, part of the communication of the divine will."⁸

Date

Solomon reigned from 971 to 931 B.C. and Hezekiah from 715 to 686 B.C.⁹ We do not know when the sages, Agur, or Lemuel lived.

The earliest the Book of Proverbs could have been in its final form was in Hezekiah's day, but it may have reached this stage later than that. We have no way to tell.

The contents of the book could have been in existence in Solomon's lifetime though not assembled into the collection we know as the Book of Proverbs.

Message¹⁰

The Book of Proverbs contains no history. It is purely didactic. It is a book of explicit instruction. Like the other Old Testament wisdom books, Job and Ecclesiastes, it does not contain references to Israel's laws, rituals, sacrifices, or ceremonies. It deals with philosophy primarily. A philosopher is by definition a lover of wisdom. Proverbs is a book that focuses primarily on wisdom, as do Job and Ecclesiastes. In this sense these books are philosophical.

There is a fundamental difference between the philosophy we find in these books and all other philosophy. Other philosophies begin with a question. Hebrew philosophy begins with an affirmation. Its basic affirmation is that God exists. Therefore we can know ultimate truth only by divine revelation.

To many people the Book of Proverbs seems to be a grab bag of wise sayings that lacks any system or order. Nevertheless in a sense this is the most carefully organized of all the books of the Old Testament.

The first verse is its title page. Verses 2-7 are its preface that contains an explanation of the purpose of the book, the method of the Author, and the fundamental affirmation of the book (in v. 7). Then follow three parts of the body of the book. First, there are discourses in defense and application of the fundamental affirmation (1:8--ch. 9). Then we have proverbs Solomon collected and arranged to provide wisdom (chs. 10-24). Next there are additional wise words from Solomon that other people collected after Solomon died (chs. 25-29). An appendix that contains specific words of wisdom by two other sages, Agur and Lemuel, concludes the book (chs. 30-31).

Proverbs is one of the most timeless Old Testament books. The reader needs very little knowledge of ancient Hebrew life and culture to understand and appreciate it. We can understand the contents fairly easily and can apply them directly to modern life.

Let's look first at the fundamental affirmation and then observe how the application of that declaration unfolds in the chapters that follow.

The fundamental affirmation is the deepest insight in Hebrew philosophy (1:7).

There is a presupposition in this statement. It is that God is all wise. We can only find wisdom in God ultimately. This presupposition underlies all of what we read in Job and Ecclesiastes as well as in Proverbs. Furthermore the Hebrews assumed that God expressed His wisdom in all His works and in all His ways. They believed that all natural phenomena revealed God's wisdom. Wherever they looked, they saw God: on land, at sea, in the earth, or in the sky. We can see that viewpoint clearly in Genesis 1:1 (cf. John 14:6).

This fundamental affirmation also contains an inevitable deduction: if wisdom is perfect in God, then wisdom in man consists in the fear of God. A person is wise to the extent that he or she apprehends and fears God. The "fear" of God does not mean a dread that results in hiding from God. It is rather an emotional recognition of God. It is not fear that He may hurt me but fear that I may hurt Him. That is the kind of fear that produces holy character and righteous conduct. Intellectual apprehension of God precedes this emotional recognition, and volitional submission to God's will follows it. When a person comes to this emotional recognition of God he or she comes to the condition for being wise, not that in so doing he or she becomes wise (1:7). We can begin to be wise only when we come into proper relation to God as ultimate Wisdom.

Beginning with 1:8 and continuing to the end of the book, what we have is the application of that affirmation to the various situations and circumstances of life.

I would like to consider what God revealed here in the three spheres of life dealt with in the book: the home, friendship, and the world. In the home, the child must learn wisdom. In friendship, the youth must apply wisdom. In the world, the adult must demonstrate wisdom.

The first sphere is that of the home (1:8-9). God did not teach the responsibility of the father and mother here but took for granted that they would instruct their children. The child needs to hear parental instruction to live in the fear of the Lord. Young children cannot grasp abstract concepts. For them God is incarnate in father and mother. Fathers and mothers reflect the image of God to their children. Both parents are necessary to reveal God to the child fully. Children see some of God's character in the mother's attitudes and actions (cf. Matt. 23:37). They see other aspects of God's character in the father. You do not have to try to teach your young child systematic theology. Just live in the fear of God yourself, and your child will learn what he or she needs to learn about God, for that stage in life, just by observing you. I do not mean to exclude verbal instruction. My point is that young children learn wisdom by observing their parents as well as by listening to them.

The second sphere of life is friendship (1:10-19). The day must come when the child, in the natural process of development, moves out into a wider circle of experience.

Personally I believe the Bible presents two duties that children have to their parents.

When the child's sphere of life is his home, he is to obey his parents. However, that duty does not continue forever. When he moves into the larger sphere of life outside the home, his duty is to honor his parents. This duty does continue forever.

When a child enters this second sphere of life, guided at first by parental council but then finally on its own, wisdom gives important instruction (1:10). He should avoid certain friendships. He should beware of people who seek to make friends with him because they have selfish interests and unscrupulous methods. We have many warnings in Proverbs against people who are not true friends. There is no more important stage in a young person's development than when he or she begins to choose companions. Then, and from then on, he or she must follow the wisdom that comes from the fear of the Lord. The youth must submit to the Lord's wisdom, having learned that in the sphere of the home, to succeed in the larger arenas of life. The choice of a mate is one of these companion decisions.

The third sphere of life is the world, symbolized in Proverbs by the street, the gates, and the city (1:20-33; cf. chs. 2-9).

The first word of warning to the youth who leaves home to enter the world on his own is this. Beware of the evil way of those who do not fear the Lord (1:20-32). There is also a gracious promise (1:33). Wisdom does not say withdraw from the world. Wisdom says remember the fate of those who forget God. Wisdom promises that those who live in the fear of the Lord will be quiet and safe even in the turmoil of the world. Do you see how important preparation for living in this sphere of life is? Children must learn to take God into account in the home, and then in their friendships, before they launch out into the world. This instruction is what really prepares them for life.

The series of discourses beginning, "My son," represents the voice of home sounding in the youth's ears who has left home and is living in the world (chs. 2-7). The father tells his son how his father instructed him in wisdom and how this enabled him to live successfully in the world. Then specific warnings follow concerning impurity, laziness, bad companions, and adultery. As the young man climbs toward a higher position in life, wisdom comes to him again with instruction concerning how he can avoid the pitfalls of that stage of his life (ch. 8). The discourses close with a contrast in which Solomon personified wisdom and folly as two women (ch. 9). One is a woman of virtue and beauty, and the other is a woman of vice and ugliness. Solomon contrasted the value and victory of wisdom with the disaster and defeat of folly. He contrasted the wisdom of fearing God with the folly of forgetting God.

I would summarize the message of Proverbs this way. The person who learns the fear of God (an emotional recognition of God) in every sphere of life will be successful, but those who forget God will fail. By an emotional recognition of God I mean taking God into account, being aware of His reality and presence, making decisions in view of His existence and revelation. This is what fearing God means.

The precepts urging a life of wisdom center on 3:1-10. This passage concentrates on that subject. Proverbs 3:5-6 is some of the best advice anyone ever gave.

The practice of wisdom centers on 8:32-36.

The power for living a life of wisdom centers on 1:8 (cf. James 1:5; 3:37; Col. 2:3).

Constable: Proverbs (Outline)

Outline

I. Discourses on wisdom chs. 1-9

A. Introduction to the book 1:1-7

1. The title of the book 1:1

2. The purpose of the book 1:2-6

3. The thesis of the book 1:7

B. Instruction for young people 1:8-7:27

1. Warning against consorting with sinners 1:8-19

2. Wisdom's appeal 1:20-33

3. Wisdom as a treasure chs. 2-3

4. Encouragements to obey these instructions ch. 4

5. Warnings against unfaithfulness in marriage ch. 5

6. Other dangerous temptations 6:1-19

7. Further warnings against adultery 6:20-7:27

C. The value of wisdom and wise conduct chs. 8-9

1. The function of wisdom ch. 8

2. Wisdom and folly contrasted ch. 9

II. Couplets expressing wisdom 10:1-22:16

A. The marks of wise living chs. 10-15

1. Things that produce profit 10:1-14

2. Things of true value 10:15-32

3. Wise living in various contexts 11:1-15

4. Wise investments 11:16-31

5. The value of righteousness 12:1-12

6. Avoiding trouble 12:13-28

7. Fruits of wise living ch. 13

8. Further advice for wise living chs. 14-15

B. How to please God 16:1-22:16

1. Trusting God ch. 16

2. Peacemakers and troublemakers ch. 17

3. Friendship and folly ch. 18

4. Further advice for pleasing God 19:1-22:16

III. Wise sayings 22:17-24:34

A. Thirty sayings of the wise 22:17-24:22

1. The first group 22:17-23:11

2. The second group 23:12-24:22

B. Six more sayings of the wise 24:23-34

IV. Maxims expressing wisdom chs. 25-29

A. Instructive analogies 25:1-27:22

1. Wise and foolish conduct ch. 25

2. Fools and folly ch. 26

3. Virtues and vices 27:1-22

B. A discourse on prudence 27:23-27

C. Instructive contrasts chs. 28-29

V. Two discourses by other wise men chs. 30-31

A. The wisdom of Agur ch. 30

1. The introduction of Agur 30:1

2. Wisdom about God 30:2-9

3. Wisdom about life 30:10-33

B. The wisdom of Lemuel ch. 31

1. The introduction of Lemuel 31:1

2. The wise king 31:2-9

3. The wise woman 31:10-31

Constable: Proverbs

Proverbs

Bibliography

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Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

Haydock: Proverbs (Book Introduction)

THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

INTRODUCTION.

This book is so called, because it consists of wise and weighty sentences, regulating the morals of men; and directing them to wisdom and virtue. And these sentences are also called Parables, because great truths are often couched in them under certain figures and similitudes. (Challoner) --- Wisdom is introduced speaking in the nine first chapters. Then to chap. xxv. more particular precepts are given. (Worthington) --- Ezechias caused to be collected (Haydock) what comes in the five next chapters, and in the two last. Some other, or rather Solomon himself, under (Worthington) different titles, gives us Agur's and his mother's instructions, and his own commendations of a valiant woman, (Haydock) which is prophetical of the Catholic Church. He also wrote the two next works, besides many other things, which have been lost. This is the first of those five, which are called "sapiential," giving instructions how to direct our lives, by the dictates of sound reason. (Worthington) --- It is the most important of Solomon's works, though collected by different authors. (Calmet) --- T. Paine treats Solomon as a witty jester. But his jests are of a very serious nature, and no one had before heard of his wit. (Watson)

Gill: Proverbs (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO PROVERBS

This book is called, in some printed Hebrew copies, "Sepher Mishle", the Book of Proverbs; the title of it in the Vulgate Latin version is,

"the Book of Proverbs, which the Hebrews call "Misle":''

in the Septuagint version it has the name of the writer, the Proverbs of Solomon; and so in the Syriac version, with the addition of his titles,

"the son of David, king of Israel.''

This and Ecclesiastes are both of them by the Jews ^a called Books of Wisdom: and it is common with the ancient Christian writers ^b to call the book of Proverbs by the names of "Wisdom" and "Panaretos"; names they give also to the apocryphal books of Ecclesiasticus and the Wisdom of Solomon; and therefore this is to be carefully distinguished from them. The author of this book was King Solomon, as the "first" verse, which contains the inscription of it, shows; for he was not a collector of these proverbs, as Grotius is of opinion, but the author of them, at least of the far greater part; and not only the author, but the writer of them: the Jews ^c say that Hezekiah and this men wrote them; it is true indeed the men of Hezekiah copied some, Pro 25:1; but even those were written by Solomon. R. Gedaliah ^d would have it that Isaiah the prophet wrote this book; but without any foundation. At what time it was written is not certain; the Jewish writers generally say ^e it was written by Solomon, as were the books of Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs, in his old age, when near the time of his death; though some think it was written before his fall: and it may be it was not written all at once, but at certain times, when these proverbs occurred unto him and were spoken by him, and as occasion served: however, it is not to he doubted but that they were written under the inspiration of God. The Jews once thought to have made this book of Proverbs an apocryphal one, because of some seeming contradictions in it; but finding that these were capable of a reconciliation, changed their minds, as became them ^f. Among Christians, Theodore of Mopsuest, in the sixth century, denied the divine authority of this book, and attributed it merely to human wisdom; which opinion of his was condemned in the second council at Constantinople: and in later times it has been treated with contempt by the Socinians, and particularly by Father Simon and Le Clerc; but the authority of it is confirmed by the writers of the New Testament, who have cited passages out of it; see Rom 12:20 from Pro 25:21. The book consists of "five" parts; "first", a preface or introduction, which takes up the first "nine" chapters; the "second", the proverbs of Solomon, put together by himself, beginning at the tenth chapter to the twenty-fifth; the "third", the proverbs of Solomon, copied by the men of Hezekiah, beginning at the twenty-fifth chapter to the thirtieth; the "fourth", the words of Agur, the thirtieth chapter, the "fifth", the instruction of Solomon's mother, Bathsheba, the thirty-first chapter.