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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Proverbs 12:28 - 12:28
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28 In the path of righteousness is life,
And the way of its path is immortality.
All the old versions to the Venet. give אֶל־ instead of אַל־, and are therefore under the necessity of extracting from וְדֶּרֶךְ נְתִיבָה a meaning corresponding to this, εἰς θάνατον, in which they are followed by Hitzig: “a devious way leadeth to death.” But נָתִיב (נְתִיבָה) signifies step, and generally way and street (vid., at Pro 1:15), not “devious way,” which is expressed, Jdg 5:6, by ארחות עקלקלות. And that אַל is anywhere punctuated thus in the sense of אֶל is previously improbable, because the Babylonian system of punctuation distinguishes the negative אל with a short Pathach, and the prepositional אל (Arab. ilâ) with a short Chirek, from each other (vid., Pinsker, Einl. p. xxii.f.); the punctuation 2Sa 18:16; Jer 51:3, gives no support to the opinion that here אַל is vocalized thus in the sense of אֶל, and it is not to be thus corrected. Nothing is more natural than that the Chokma in its constant contrast between life and death makes a beginning of expressing the idea of the ἀθανασία, which Aquila erroneously read from the אל־מות, Ps. 48:15. It has been objected that for the formation of such negative substantives and noun-adjectives לא (e.g., לֹא־אֵל, לֹא־עָם) and not אַל is used; but that אל also may be in close connection with a noun, 2Sa 1:13 shows. There אַל־טַל is equivalent to אל יְהִי טל, according to which it may also be explained in the passage before us, with Luther and all the older interpreters, who accepted אל in its negative signification: and on (the בְּ governing) the way ... is no death. The negative אל frequently stands as an intensifying of the objective לא; but why should the Chokma, which has already shown itself bold in the coining of new words, not apply itself to the formation of the idea of immortality?: the idol name אֱלִיל is the result of a much greater linguistic boldness. It is certain that אַל is here not equivalent to אֶל; the Masora is therefore right in affirming that נְתִיבָה is written with He raphatum pro mappicato (vid., Kimchi, Michlol 31a, and in the Lex.), cf. 1Sa 20:20, vid., Böttcher, §418. Thus: the way of their step is immortality, or much rather, since דֶּרֶךְ is not a fixed idea, but also denotes the going to a distance (i.e., the journey), the behaviour, the proceeding, the walk, etc.: the walking (the stepping over and passing through) of their way is immortality. Rich in synonyms of the way, the Hebrew style delights in connecting them with picturesque expressions; but דֶּרֶךְ always means the way in general, which divides into ארחות or נתיבות (Job 6:18; Jer 18:5), and consists of such (Isa 3:16). The distich is synonymous: on the path of righteousness (accentuate בארח צדקה) is life meeting him who walks in it, and giving itself to him as a possession, and the walking in its path is immortality (cf. Pro 3:17; Pro 10:28); so that to go in it and to be immortal, i.e., to be delivered from death, to be exalted above it, is one and the same thing. If we compare with this, 1Sa 14:32, it is obvious that the Chokma begins (vid., Psychol. p. 410) to break through the limits of this present life, and to announce a life beyond the reach of death.