Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - Proverbs 12:27 - 12:27

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Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - Proverbs 12:27 - 12:27


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27 The slothful pursues not his prey;

But a precious possession of a man is diligence.

The lxx, Syr., Targ., and Jerome render יַֽחֲרֹךְ in the sense of obtaining or catching, but the verbal stem חרך nowhere has this meaning. When Fleischer remarks, חָרַךְ, ἅπ. λεγ., probably like לָכַד, properly to entangle in a noose, a net, he supports his opinion by reference to חֲרַכִּים, which signifies lattice-windows, properly, woven or knitted like a net. But חֶרֶךְ, whence this חרכים, appears to be equivalent to the Arab. kharḳ, fissura, so that the plur. gives the idea of a manifoldly divided (lattice-like, trellis-formed) window. The Jewish lexicographers (Menahem, Abulwalîd, Parchon, also Juda b. Koreish) all aim at that which is in accord with the meaning of the Aram. חֲרַךְ, to singe, to roast (= Arab. ḥark): the slothful roasteth not his prey, whether (as Fürst presents it) because he is too lazy to hunt for it (Berth.), or because when he has it he prepares it not for enjoyment (Ewald). But to roast is צלה, not דרך, which is used only of singeing, e.g., the hair, and roasting, e.g., ears of corn, but not of the roasting of flesh, for which reason Joseph Kimchi (vid., Kimchi's Lex.) understands צידו of wild fowls, and יחרך of the singeing of the tips of the wings, so that they cannot fly away, according to which the Venet. translates οὐ μενεῖ ... ἡ θήρα αὐτοῦ. Thus the Arab. must often help to a right interpretation of the ἅπ. λεγ.. Schultens is right: Verbum ḥarak, חרך, apud Arabes est movere, ciere, excitare, κινεῖν generatim, et speciatim excitare praedam e cubili, κινεῖν τήν θήραν. The Lat. agitare, used of the frightening up and driving forth of wild beasts, corresponds with the idea here, as e.g., used by Ovid, Metam. x. 538, of Diana:

Aut pronos lepores aue celsum in cornua cervum

Aut agitat damas.

Thus יחרך together with צידו gains the meaning of hunting, and generally of catching the prey. רְמִיָּה is here incarnate slothfulness, and thus without ellipse equivalent to אישׁ רמיה. That in the contrasted clause חרוץ does not mean ἀποτόμως, decreed (Löwenstein), nor gold (Targ., Jerome, Venet.), nor that which is excellent (Syr.), is manifest from this contrast as well as from Pro 10:4; Pro 12:24. The clause has from its sequence of words something striking about it. The lxx placed the words in a difference order: κτῆμα δὲ τίμιον ἀνὴρ καθαρὸς (חלוץ in the sense of Arab. khâlaṣ). But besides this transposition, two others have been tried: הון אדם חרוץ יקר, the possession of an industrious man is precious, and הון יקר אדם חרוץ, a precious possession is that (supply הון) of an industrious man. But the traditional arrangement of the words gives a better meaning than these modifications. It is not, however, to be explained, with Ewald and Bertheau: a precious treasure of a man is one who is industrious, for why should the industrious man be thought of as a worker for another and not for himself? Another explanation advanced by Kimchi: a valuable possession to men is industry, has the twofold advantage that it is according to the existing sequence of the words, and presents a more intelligible thought. But can חָרוּץ have the meaning of חֲרִיצוּת (the being industrious)? Hitzig reads חֲרוֹץ, to make haste (to be industrious). This is unnecessary, for we have here a case similar to Pro 10:17, where שְׁמֹר for שׁוֹמֵר is to be expected: a precious possession of a man is it that, or when, he is industrious, חָרוּץ briefly for הֱיוֹתוֹ חָרוּץ rof yl. The accentuation fluctuates between והון־אדם יקר (so e.g., Cod. 1294), according to which the Targum translates, and והון־אדם יקר, which, according to our explanation, is to be preferred.