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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Proverbs 14:21 - 14:21
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21 Whoever despiseth his neighbour committeth sin;
But whoever hath compassion on the suffering - blessings on him!
One should regard every human being, especially such as God has placed near to him, as a being having the same origin, as created in the image of God, and of the same lofty destination, and should consider himself as under obligation to love him. He who despiseth his neighbour (write בָּז with Metheg, and vid., regarding the constr. with dat. object. Pro 6:30, cf. Pro 11:12; Pro 13:13) sins in this respect, that he raises himself proudly and unwarrantably above him; that the honour and love he shows to him he measures not by the rule of duty and of necessity, but according to that which is pleasing to himself; and in that he refuses to him that which according to the ordinance of God he owes him. In Pro 14:21 the Chethı̂b עֲנִיִּים and the Kerı̂ עֲנָוִים (vid., at Psa 9:13) interchange in an inexplicable way; עָנִי is the bowed down (cf. Arab. ma'nuww, particularly of the prisoner, from 'ana, fut. ya'nw, to bow, bend), עָנָו (Arab. 'anin, with the art. âl'niy, from the intrans. 'aniya, to be bowed down) the patient bearer who in the school of suffering has learned humility and meekness. One does not see why the Kerı̂ here exchanges that passive idea for this ethical one, especially since, in proving himself to be מְחוֹנֵן (compassionate) (for which elsewhere the part. Kal חוֹנֵן, Pro 14:31; Pro 19:17; Pro 28:8), one must be determined only by the needy condition of his neighbour, and not by his (the neighbour's) moral worthiness, the want of which ought to make him twofold more an object of our compassion. All the old translators, from the lxx to the Venet. and Luther, on this account adopt the Chethı̂b.