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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Proverbs 15:20 - 15:20
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This collection of Solomonic proverbs began, Pro 10:1, with a proverb having reference to the observance of the fourth commandment,
(Note: The fifth commandment of the Westminster Shorter Catechism is named as the fourth in Luther's catechism.)
and a second chief section, Pro 13:1, began in the same way. Here a proverb of the same kind designates the beginning of a third chief section. That the editor was aware of this is shown by the homogeneity of the proverbs, Pro 15:19; Pro 12:28, which form the conclusion of the first and second sections. We place together first in this new section, Pro 15:20-23, in which (with the exception of Pro 15:25) the ישׂמח [maketh glad] of the first (Pro 10:1) is continued.
Pro 15:20
20 A wise son maketh a glad father,
And a fool of a man despiseth his mother.
Line first = Pro 10:1. The gen. connection of כְּסִיל אָדָם (here and at Pro 21:20) is not superlative the most foolish of men, but like פֶּרֶא אָדָם, Gen 16:12; the latter: a man of the wild ass kind; the former: a man of the fool kind, who is the exemplar of such a sort among men. Piety acting in willing subordination is wisdom, and the contrary exceeding folly.
Pro 15:21
21 Folly is joy to him that is devoid of understanding;
But a man of understanding goeth straight forward.
Regarding חֲסַר־לֵב, vid., at Pro 6:32 (cf. libı̂b, which in the Samaritan means “dearly beloved,” in Syr. “courageous,” in Arab. and Aethiop. cordatus); אִישׁ תְּבוּנָה, Pro 10:23, and יִשֵּׁר, with the accus. of the way, here of the going, Pro 3:6 (but not Pro 11:5, where the going itself is not the subject). In consequence of the contrast, the meaning of 21a is different from that of Pro 10:23, according to which sin is to the fool as the sport of a child. Here אִוֶּלֶת is folly and buffoonery, drawing aside in every kind of way from the direct path of that which is good, and especially from the path of one's duty. This gives joy to the fool; he is thereby drawn away from the earnest and faithful performance of the duties of his calling, and thus wastes time and strength; while, on the contrary, a man of understanding, who perceives and rejects the vanity and unworthiness of such trifling and such nonsense, keeps the straight direction of his going, i.e., without being drawn aside or kept back, goes straight forward, i.e., true to duty, prosecutes the end of his calling. לָֽכֶת is accus., like Pro 30:29, Mic 6:8.
Pro 15:22
22 A breaking of plans where no counsel is;
But where many counsellors are they come to pass.
On the other side it is also true according to the proverbs, “so viel Köpfe so viel Sinne” [quot homines, tot sententiae], and “viel Rath ist Unrath” [ne quid nimis], and the like. But it cannot become a rule of morals not to accept of counsel that we may not go astray; on the contrary, it is and remains a rule of morals: not stubbornly to follow one's own heart (head), and not obstinately to carry out one's own will, and not in the darkness of wisdom to regard one's own plans as unimproveable, and not needing to be examined; but to listen to the counsel of intelligent and honest friends, and, especially where weighty matters are in hand, not affecting one's own person, but the common good, not to listen merely to one counsellor, but to many. Not merely the organism of the modern state, but also of old the Mosaic arrangement of the Israelitish community, with its representative organization, its courts and councils, rested on the acknowledged justice and importance of the saying uttered in Pro 11:14, and here generalized. הָפֵר, infin. abs. Hiph. of פָּרַר, to break, with the accus. following, stands here, like הָפוֹךְ, Pro 12:7, instead of the finite: the thoughts come to a fracture (failure), irrita fiunt consilia. סוֹד (= יְסוֹד, cf. נוֹסַד Psa 2:2) means properly the being brought close together for the purpose of secret communication and counsel (cf. Arab. sâwada, to press close together = to walk with one privately). The lxx: their plans are unexecuted, οἱ μὴ τιμῶντες συνέδρια, literally Symmachus, διασκεδάζονται λογισμοὶ μὴ ὄντος συμβουλίου. תָּקוּם has, after Jer 4:14; Jer 51:29, מַֽחֲשָׁבוֹת as subject. The lxx (besides perverting ברב [by a multitude] into בלב ἐν καρδίαις]), the Syr. and Targ. introduce עֵצָה (Pro 19:21) as subject.
Pro 15:23
23 A man has joy by the right answer of his mouth;
And a word in its season, how fair is it!
If we translate מַֽעֲנֵה only by “answer,” then 23a sounds as a praise of self-complaisance; but it is used of true correspondence (Pro 29:19), of fit reply (Job 32:3, Job 32:5), of appropriate answer (cf. 28a, Pro 16:1). It has happened to one in his reply to hit the nail on its head, and he has joy from that (שִׂמְחָה בְ after שָׂמַח בְּ, e.g., Pro 23:24), and with right; for the reply does not always succeed. A reply like this, which, according to circumstances, stops the mouth or bringeth a kiss (Pro 24:26), is a fortunate throw, is a gift from above. The synonymous parallel line measures that which is appropriate, not to that which is to be answered, but from a general point of view as to its seasonableness; עֵת (= עֵדֶת from יָעַד) is here “the ethically right, becoming time, determined by the laws of wisdom (moral)” (vid., Orelli, Synonyma der Zeit u. Ewigkeit, p. 48), cf. עַל־אָפְנָיו (translated by Luther 'in its time”), Pro 25:11. With מַה־טּוֹב, cf. Pro 16:16; both ideas lie in it: that such a word is in itself well-conditioned and successful, and also that it is welcome, agreeable, and of beneficial influence.