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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Proverbs 25:18 - 25:18
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This group of proverbs has the word רַע in each of them, connecting them together. The first of the group represents a false tongue:
Pro 25:18
18 A hammer, and a sword, and a sharp arrow -
A man that beareth false witness against his neighbour.
An emblematic, or, as we might also say, an iconological proverb; for 18a is a quodlibet of instruments of murder, and 18b is the subscription under it: that which these weapons of murder accomplish, is done to his neighbour by a man who bears false witness against him - he ruins his estate, takes away his honour, but yet more: he murders him, at one time more grossly, at another time with more refinement; at one time slowly, at another time more quickly. מֵפִיץ, from פּוּץ, is equivalent to מַפֵּץ, and מַפָּץ from נָפַץ; the Syr. and Targ. have instead פדועא (פדיעא) from פְּדַע = פָּצַע; the word פְּרִיעָא, on which Hitzig builds a conjecture, is an error of transcription (vid., Lagarde and Levy). The expression, 18b, is from the decalogue, Exo 20:16; Deu 5:17. It is for the most part translated the same here as there: he who speaks against his neighbour as a false witness. But rightly the lxx, Jerome, the Venet., and Luther: false testimony. As אֵל sA .y signifies both that which is mighty = power, and Him who is mighty = God, so עֵד signifies both him who bears testimony and the testimony that is borne, properly that which repeats itself and thereby strengthens itself; accordingly we say עָנָה עֵד, to give testimony in reply - viz. to the judge who asks - or generally to offer testimony (even unasked); as well as ענה לְעֵד, Deu 31:21, i.e., as evidence (Jerome, pro testimonio). The prep. ב with this ענה has always the meaning of contra, also at 1Sa 12:3; Gen 30:33 is, however, open to question.
Pro 25:19
19 A worthless tooth and an unsteady foot -
Trust in a faithless man in the day of need.
The form רֹעָה (with Mercha on the antepenult), Isa 29:19, takes the place of an inf. absol.; רֹעָה here (about the tone syllable of which Dechî does not decide, thus without doubt Milra) is certainly not a subst.: tooth of breaking (Gesen.); for how strange such a designation of a worthless tooth! שֵׁן is indeed mas. in 1Sa 14:5, but it can also be used as fem., as רֶגֶל, which is for the most part fem., also occurs as mas., Göttche. §650. Böttcher, in the new Aehrenlese, and in the Lehrbuch, takes רֹעָה as fem. of an adj. רֹעַ, after the form חֹל; but חֹל is not an adj., and does not form a fem., although it means not merely profanity, but that which is profane; this is true also of the Aram. חוּל; for חוּלְתּא, Est 2:9, Targ., is a female name mistaken by Buxtorf. Are we then to read רָעָה, with Hitzig, after the lxx? - an unimportant change. We interpret the traditional רֹעָה, with Fleischer, as derived from רֽוֹעֲעָה, from רוֹעֵעַ, breaking to pieces (crumbling), in an intransitive sense. The form מוּעַדֶת is also difficult. Böttcher regards it as also, e.g., Aben Ezra after the example of Gecatilia as part. Kal. = מוֹעֶדֶת, “only on account of the pausal tone and the combination of the two letters מע with û instead of ô.” But this vocal change, with its reasons, is merely imaginary. מוּעֶדֶת is the part. Pual, with the preformative מְ struck out, Ewald 169d. The objection that the part. Pual should be מְמֹעַד, after the form מְבֹעַר, does not prove anything to the contrary; for מוֹעֶדֶת cannot be the fem. so as not to coincide with the fem. of the part. Kal, cf. besides to the long û the form without the Dagesh יוּקָשִׁים, Ecc 9:12 = מְיֻקָּשִׁים (Arnheim, Gramm. p. 139). רֶגֶל מוּעֶדֶת is a leg that has become tottering, trembling. He who in a time of need makes a faithless man his ground of confidence, is like one who seeks to bite with a broken tooth, and which he finally crushes, and one who supports himself on a shaking leg, and thus stumbles and falls. The gen. connection מבטַח בוגד signifies either the ground of confidence consisting in a faithless man, or the confidence placed in one who is faithless. But, after the Masora, we are to read here, as at Psa 65:6, מבטָח, which Michlol 184a also confirms, and as it is also found in the Venice 1525, Basel 1619, and in Norzi. This מִבְטָה is constr. according to Kimchi, notwithstanding the Kametz; as also מִשְׁקָל, Ezr 8:30 (after Abulwalîd, Kimchi, and Norzi). In this passage before us, מבטָח בוגד may signify a deceitful ground of confidence (cf. Hab 2:5), but the two other passages present a genit. connection of the words. We must thus suppose that the ā of מבטָח and משׁקָל, in these three passages, is regarded as fixed, like the â of the form (Arab.) mif'âl.
Pro 25:20
The above proverb, which connects itself with Pro 25:18, not only by the sound רע, but also by שׁן, which is assonant with שׁנון, is followed by another with the catchword רע:
20 He that layeth aside his coat on a day of frost, vinegar on nitre,
And he who welcomes with songs a dejected heart.
Is not this intelligible, sensible, ingenious? All these three things are wrong. The first is as wrong as the second, and the third, which the proverb has in view, is morally wrong, for one ought to weep with those that weep, Rom 12:15; he, on the contrary, who laughs among those who weep, is, on the most favourable judgment, a fool. That which is wrong in 20a, according to Böttcher in the Aehrenlese, 1849, consists in this, that one in severe cold puts on a fine garment. As if there were not garments which are at the same time beautiful, and keep warm? In the new Aehrenlese he prefers the reading מְשַׁנֶּה: if one changes his coat. But that surely he might well enough do, if the one were warmer than the other! Is it then impossible that מַֽעֲדֶה, in the connection, means transire faciens = removens? The Kal עָדָה, tarnsiit, occurs at Job 28:8. So also, in the poetic style. הֶֽעֱדָה might be used in the sense of the Aram. אַעְדִּי. Rightly Aquila, Symmachus, περιαιρῶν; the Venet. better, ἀφαιρούμενος (Mid.). בֶּגֶד is an overcoat or mantle, so called from covering, as לְבוּשׁ (R. לב, to fasten, fix), the garment lying next the body, vid., at Psa 22:19. Thus, as it is foolish to lay off upper clothing on a frosty day, so it is foolish also to pour vinegar on nitre; carbonic acid nitre, whether it be mineral (which may be here thought of) or vegetable, is dissolved in water, and serves diverse purposes (vid., under Isa 1:25); but if one pours vinegar on it, it is destroyed. לֶב־רָע
(Note: The writing wavers between עַל לֶב־רָֽע (cf. עַל עַם־דָּֽל) and עַל־בֵל רָֽע dna )עַל עַ.)
is, at Pro 26:23 and elsewhere, a heart morally bad, here a heart badly disposed, one inclined to that which is evil; for שָׁר שִׁיר is the contrast of קוֹנֵן קִינָה, and always the consequence of a disposition joyfully excited; the inconsistency lies in this, that one thinks to cheer a sorrowful heart by merry singing, if the singing has an object, and is not much more the reckless expression of an animated pleasure in view of the sad condition of another. שִׁיר עַל .rehtona signifies, as at Job 33:27, to sing to any one, to address him in singing; cf. דִּבֶּר עַל, Jer 6:10, and particularly עַל־לֵב, Hos 2:16; Isa 40:2. The ב of בַּשִּׁרִים is neither the partitive, Pro 9:5, nor the transitive, Pro 20:30, but the instrumental; for, as e.g., at Exo 7:20, the obj. of the action is thought of as its means (Gesen. §138, Anm. 3*); one sings “with songs,” for definite songs underlie his singing. The lxx, which the Syr., Targ., and Jerome more or less follow, has formed from this proverb one quite different: “As vinegar is hurtful to a wound, so an injury to the body makes the heart sorrowful; as the moth in clothes, and the worm in wood, so the sorrow of a man injures his heart.” The wisdom of this pair of proverbs is not worth much, and after all inquiry little or nothing comes of it. The Targ. at least preserves the figure 20b: as he who pours vinegar (Syr. chalo) on nitre; the Peshito, however, and here and there also the Targum, has jathro (arrow-string) instead of methro (nitre). Hitzig adopts this, and changes the tristich into the distich:
He that meeteth archers with arrow on the string,
Is like him who singeth songs with a sad heart.
The Hebrew of this proverb of Hitzig's (מֹרִים קֹרֶה עַל־יֶתֶר) is unhebraic, the meaning dark as an oracle, and its moral contents nil.
Pro 25:21-22
21 If thine enemy hunger, feed him with bread;
And if he thirst, give him water to drink.
22 For thereby thou heapest burning coals on his head,
And Jahve will recompense it to thee.
The translation of this proverb by the lxx is without fault; Paul cites therefrom Rom 12:20. The participial construction of 22a, the lxx, rightly estimating it, thus renders: for, doing this, thou shalt heap coals on his head. The expression, “thou shalt heap” (σωρεύσεις), is also appropriate; for חָתָה certainly means first only to fetch or bring fire (vid., Pro 6:27); but here, by virtue of the constructio praegnans with על, to fetch, and hence to heap up - to pile upon. Burning pain, as commonly observed, is the figure of burning shame, on account of undeserved kindness shown by an enemy (Fleischer). But how burning coals heaped on the head can denote burning shame, is not to be perceived, for the latter is a burning on the cheeks; wherefore Hitzig and Rosenmüller explain: thou wilt thus bring on him the greatest pain, and appease thy vengeance, while at the same time Jahve will reward thy generosity. Now we say, indeed, that he who rewards evil with good takes the noblest revenge; but if this doing of good proceed from a revengeful aim, and is intended sensibly to humble an adversary, then it loses all its moral worth, and is changed into selfish, malicious wickedness. Must the proverb then be understood in this ignoble sense? The Scriptures elsewhere say that guilt and punishment are laid on the head of any one when he is made to experience and to bear them. Chrysostom and others therefore explain after Psa 140:10 and similar passages, but thereby the proverb is morally falsified, and Pro 25:22 accords with Pro 25:21, which counsels not to the avenging of oneself, but to the requital of evil with good. The burning of coals laid on the head must be a painful but wholesome consequence; it is a figure of self-accusing repentance (Augustine, Zöckler), for the producing of which the showing of good to an enemy is a noble motive. That God rewards such magnanimity may not be the special motive; but this view might contribute to it, for otherwise such promises of God as Isa 58:8-12 were without moral right. The proverb also requires one to show himself gentle and liberal toward a needy enemy, and present a twofold reason for this: first, that thereby his injustice is brought home to his conscience; and, secondly, that thus God is well-pleased in such practical love toward an enemy, and will reward it; - by such conduct, apart from the performance of a law grounded in our moral nature, one advances the happiness of his neighbour and his own.