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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Proverbs 17:26 - 17:26
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26 Also to inflict punishment on the righteous is not good;
This, that one overthrows the noble on account of his rectitude.
Does the גַּם [also] refer to a connection from which the proverb is separated? or is it tacitly supposed that there are many kinds of worthless men in the world, and that one from among them is brought forward? or is it meant, that to lay upon the righteous a pecuniary punishment is also not good? None of all these. The proverb must have a meaning complete in itself; and if pecuniary punishment and corporeal punishment were regarded as opposed to one another, 26b would then have begun with אַף כִּי (quanto magis percutere ingenuos). Here it is with גם as at Pro 20:11, and as with אַךְ at 11a, and רַק at Pro 13:10 : according to the sense, it belongs not to the word next following, but to לַצַּדִּיק; and עָנַשׁ (whence inf. עֲנוֹשׁ, as Pro 21:11, with the ǎ in ע, cf. also עֲבֹד, Pro 11:10, for אֱבֹד) means here not specially to inflict a pecuniary fine, but generally to punish, for, as in mulctare, the meaning is generalized, elsewhere with the accus., Deu 22:19, here to give to any one to undergo punishment. The ruler is the servant of God, who has to preserve rectitude, εἰς ὀργὴν τῷ τὸ κακὸν πράσσοντι (Rom 13:14). It is not good when he makes his power to punish to be felt by the innocent as well as by the guilty.
In 26b, instead of הַכּוֹת, the proverb is continued with לְהַכּוֹת; לֹא־טוֹב, which is to be supplied, takes the inf. alone when it precedes, and the inf. with לְ when it follows, Pro 18:5; Pro 28:21; Pro 21:9 (but cf. Pro 21:19). הַכּוֹת is the usual word for punishment by scourging, Deu 25:1-3, cf. 2Co 11:24, N.T. μαστιγοῦν, δίρειν, Rabb. מַכּוֹת, strokes, or מַלְקוּת from לָקָה, vapulare, to receive stripes. נְדִיבִים are here those noble in disposition. The idea of נדיב fluctuates between generosus in an outward and in a moral sense, wherefore עַל־ישֶׁר, or rather עֲלֵי־יֹשֶׁר, is added; for the old editions, correct MSS, and e.g., also Soncin. 1488, present עֲלֵי (vid., Norzi). Hitzig incorrectly explains this, “against what is due” (ישֶׁר, as Pro 11:24); also Psa 94:20, עֲלֵי־חֹק does not mean κατὰ προστάγματος (Symmachus), but ἐπὶ προστάγματι (lxx and Theod.), on the ground of right = praetextu juris (Vatabl.). Thus עלי־ישׁר means here neither against nor beyond what is due, but: on the ground of honourable conduct, making this (of course mistakenly) a lawful title to punishment; Aquila, ἐπὶ εὐθύτητι, cf. Mat 5:10, ἕνεκεν δικαιοσύνης. Besides, for על after הִכָּה, the causal signification lies nearest Num 22:32, cf. Isa 1:5 (על־מה, on account of anything). If the power of punishment is abused to the punishing of the righteous, yea, even to the corporeal chastisement of the noble, and their straight, i.e., conscientious, firm, open conduct, is made a crime against them, that is not good - it is perversion of the idea of justice, and an iniquity which challenges the penal rectitude of the Most High (Ecc 5:7 [8]).