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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Proverbs 16:2 - 16:2
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2 Every way of a man is pure in his own eyes;
But a weigher of the spirits is Jahve.
Variations of this verse are Pro 21:2, where יָשָׁר for זַךְ (according to the root-meaning: pricking in the eyes, i.e., shining clear, then: without spot, pure, vid., Fleischer in Levy's Chald. Wörterbuch, i. 424), לִבּוֹת for רוּחוֹת, and כָּל־דֶּרֶךְ for כָּל־דַּרְכֵי, whereupon here without synallage (for כל means the totality), the singular of the pred. follows, as Isa 64:10; Eze 31:15. For the rest, cf. with 2a, Pro 14:12, where, instead of the subj. בְּעֵינֵי, is used לִפְנֵי, and with 2b, Pro 24:12, where God is described by תֹּכֵן לִבּוֹת. The verb תָּכַן is a secondary formation from כּוּן (vid., Hupfeld on Psa 5:7), like תָּכַן from Arab. tyaḳn (to be fast, sure), the former through the medium of the reflex. הִתְכּוֹנֵן, the latter of the reflex. Arab. âitḳn; תָּכַן means to regulate (from regula, a rule), to measure off, to weigh, here not to bring into a condition right according to rule (Theodotion, ἑδράζων, stabiliens, Syr. Targ. מְתַקֵּן, Venet. καταρτίζει; Luther, “but the Lord maketh the heart sure”), but to measure or weigh, and therefore to estimate rightly, to know accurately (Jerome, spiritum ponderator est Dominus). The judgment of a man regarding the cause of life, which it is good for him to enter upon, lies exposed to great and subtle self-deception; but God has the measure and weight, i.e., the means of proving, so as to value the spirits according to their true moral worth; his investigation goes to the root (cf. κριτικός, Heb 4:12), his judgment rests on the knowledge of the true state of the matter, and excludes all deception, so that thus a man can escape the danger of delusion by no other means than by placing his way, i.e., his external and internal life, in the light of the word of God, and desiring for himself the all-penetrating test of the Searcher of hearts (Psa 139:23.), and the self-knowledge corresponding to the result of this test.