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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Proverbs 2:3 - 2:3
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Instead of כִּי אִם there is an old אל תקרי
(Note: Regarding this formula, see Strack's Prolegomena, pp. 66-70.)
(read not so, but thus), כי אֵם (if thou callest understanding mother), which supposes the phrase כי אִם (lxx) as traditional. If אֵם were intended (according to which the Targ. in the Bibl. rabbinica, but not in Norzi's text, translates), then 3b would correspond; vid., Pro 7:4, cf. Job 17:14. Thus: Yea, if thou callest for understanding, i.e., callest her to thee (Pro 18:6), invitest her to thee (Pro 9:15). The ק of בִּקֵּשׁ is, with the exception of the imper. (e.g., בַּקְּשׁוּ), always without the Dagesh. Pro 2:4 belongs to the ideas in the Book of Job found in these introductory discourses, cf. Job 3:21, as at Pro 2:14, Job 3:22 (Ewald, Sprüche, p. 49). חָפַשׂ (חִפֵּשׂ), scrutari, proceeds, as חֲפַס shows, from the primary meaning of a ditch, and is thus in its root-idea related to חָפַר (to dig, search out). In the principal clause of Pro 2:5 the 'יִרְאַת ה, as Psa 19:10, is the fear of Jahve as it ought to be, thus the reverence which is due to Him, the worshipping of Him as revealed. 'ה and אֱלֹהִים are interchanged as קְדשִׁים and 'ה at Pro 9:10. דַּעַת is knowledge proceeding from practice and experience, and thus not merely cognition (Kenntnis), but knowledge (Erkenntnis). The thoughts revolve in a circle only apparently. He who strives after wisdom earnestly and really, reaches in this way fellowship with God; for just as He gives wisdom, it is nowhere else than with Him, and it never comes from any other source than from Him. It comes (Pro 2:6) מִפִּיו (lxx erroneously מִפָּנָיו ylsuoe), i.e., it is communicated through the medium of His word, Job 22:22, or also (for λὀγος and πνεῦμα lie here undistinguished from one another) it is His breath (Book of Wisdom 7:25: ἀτμὶς τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ δυνάμεως καὶ ἀπόῤῥοια τῆς τοῦ παντοκράτορος δόξης εἰλικρινής); the inspiration (נשׁמת) of the Almighty (according to Job 32:8) gives men understanding. In Pro 2:7, whether וְצָפַן (Chethı̂b) or יִצְפֹּן (Kerı̂) is read, the meaning is the same. The former is the expression of the completed fact, as ἡτοίμασεν, 1Co 2:9, and is rightly preferred by lxx and Syr., for one reluctantly misses the copula (since the thought is new in comparison with Pro 2:6). לַֽישׁרם should be written with the accent Dechî. The Chokma-word (besides in Proverbs and Job, found only in Mic 6:9 and Isa 28:29) תּוּשִׁיָּה is a Hiphil formation (with the passing over of ô into û, as in תּוּגָה) from הוֹשָׁה (whence the pr. names יוֹשָׁה and יוֹשַׁוְיָה) = (Arab.) wasy and âsy, to re-establish, to advance, Hiph. of יָשָׁה = וָשָׁה, to stand, and thus means furtherance, i.e., the power or the gift to further, and concretely that which furthers and profits, particularly true wisdom and true fortune.
(Note: I was formerly in error in regarding the word as a Hophal formation, and in assigning to it the primary signification of being in a state of realized existence, of reality, in contradistinction to appearance only. The objection of J. D. Michaelis, Supplem. p. 1167, Non placent in linguis ejusmodi etyma metaphysica, etc., does not apply here, since the word is a new one coined by the Chokma, but all the shades of meaning are naturally derived from the fundamental signification “furtherance” (cf. Seneca, Deus stator stabilitorque est). “תושׁיה, from Arab. âsy and wasy, to further by word and deed, to assist by counsel and act, to render help, whence the meanings auxilium, salus, and prudens consilium, sapientia, easily follow; cf. Ali's Arab. proverb, “He furthers thee, who does not trouble himself about thee.”)
The derivation from יֵשׁ (Pro 8:21) is to be rejected, because “the formation would be wholly without analogy, so much the more because the י of this word does not represent the place of the ו, as is seen from the Arab. l-ys and the Syr. lyt” (Fl.);
(Note: The Arab. ‛aysa (almost only in the negative la-ysa = לֹא יֵשׁ), of the same signification as יֵשׁ, with which the Aram. אִית (אִיתַי) is associated, presupposes an ‛âsa (= ‛âssa), to be founded, to found, and is rightly regarded by the Arabs as an old segolate noun in which the verbal force was comprehended.)
and the derivation of וָשָׁה = שָׁוָה, to be smooth (Hitzig), passes over without any difficulty into another system of roots.
(Note: The Arab. wsy and swy are confounded in common usage (Wetstein, Deutsch. Morgenl. Zeitschr. xxii. 19), but the roots וש and שו are different; וש and אש, on the contrary, are modifications of one root.)
In the passage under consideration (Pro 2:7), תּוּשִׁיָּה signifies advancement in the sense of true prosperity. The parallel passage 7a clothes itself in the form of an apposition: (He) a shield (מָגֵן, n. instr. of גָּנַן, to cover) for הֹלְכֵי תֹּם, pilgrims of innocence (Fl.), i.e., such as walk in the way (the object-accus., as Pro 6:12, for which in Pro 10:9 בְּ) of innocence. תֹּם is whole, full submission, moral faultlessness, which chooses God with the whole heart, seeks good without exception: a similar thought is found in Psa 84:12. לִנְצֹר, 8a, is such an inf. of consequence as לְהַקְשִׁיב (Pro 2:2), and here, as there, is continued in the finite. The “paths of justice” are understood with reference to those who enter them and keep in them; parallel, “the way of His saints” (חָסִיד, he who cherishes חֶסֶד, earnest inward love to God), for that is just אֹרַח־צְדָקָה (Pro 12:28): they are הלכי צְדָקוֹת (Isa 33:15). Instead of the Mugrash, the conjunctive Tarcha is to be given to וְדֶרֶךְ.