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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Proverbs 12:2 - 12:2
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2 A good man obtaineth favour with Jahve,
But the man of wicked devices He condemns.
He who is an אִישׁ מְזִמּוֹת (Pro 14:17, cf. Psa 37:7) is defined in Pro 24:8 : he is a man of devices, namely, that are wicked, one who contrives evil against his neighbour. The meaning of the subject-conception טוֹב is defined according to this, although in itself also it is clear, for טוב, used of God (e.g., Psa 73:1; Psa 86:5) and of men (Pro 13:22; Pro 14:14), denotes the good (bonus) in the sense of the benevolent (benignus); the Scripture truths, that God is love, that love is the essence of goodness and is the fulfilling of the law, are so conformed to reason, that they stamp themselves as immediate component parts of the human consciousness. A טוב is thus a man who acts according to the ruling motive of self-sacrificing love; such an one obtains (vid., on יָפִיק, educit = adipiscitur, at Pro 3:13) the favour of God, He is and shows Himself kind to him, while on the contrary He condemns the wicked intriguer. Hitzig translates: the former of intrigues is punishable (as the Syr.: is condemned; Targ.: his contrivance is shattered to pieces); but to become a רָשָׁע = reus הִרְשִׁיעַ does not denote, but either to practise רֶשַׁע, Job 34:12, or to set forth as רָשָׁע = to condemn, Isa 50:9. Taken in the former signification (Jerome, impie agit), a declaration is made which is not needed, since the moral badness already lies in the reference of the subject: thus ירשׁיע will be used also of Jahve. In proof that the poet did not need to say וְאֶת־אישׁ, Zöckler rightly points to Pro 10:6; Job 22:29.