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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Proverbs 25:15 - 25:15
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Three proverbs follow, which have this in common, that they exhort to moderation:
15 By forbearance is a judge won over,
And a gentle tongue breaketh the bone.
קָצִין (vid., Pro 6:7) does not denote any kind of distinguished person, but a judge or a person occupying a high official position. And פִּתָּה does not here mean, to talk over or delude; but, like Jer 20:7, to persuade, to win over, to make favourable to one; for אֹרֶךְ אַפַּיִם (vid., Pro 14:29) is dispassionate calmness, not breaking out into wrath, which finally makes it manifest that he who has become the object of accusation, suspicion, or of disgrace, is one who nevertheless has right on his side; for indecent, boisterous passion injures even a just cause; while, on the contrary, a quiet, composed, thoughtful behaviour, which is not embarrassed by injustice, either experienced or threatened, in the end secures a decision in our favour. “Patience overcomes” is an old saying. The soft, gentle tongue (cf. רַךְ, Pro 15:1) is the opposite of a passionate, sharp, coarse one, which only the more increases the resistance which it seeks to overcome. “Patience,” says a German proverb, “breaks iron;” another says, “Patience is stronger than a diamond.” So here: a gentle tongue breaketh the bone (גֶּרֶם = עֶצֶם, as at Pro 17:22), it softens and breaks to pieces that which is hardest. Sudden anger makes the evil still worse; long-suffering, on the contrary, operates convincingly; cutting, immoderate language, embitters and drives away; gentle words, on the contrary, persuade, if not immediately, yet by this, that they remain as it were unchangeable.