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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Proverbs 25:4 - 25:4
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There now follows an emblematic (vid., vol. i. p. 10) tetrastich:
4 Take away the dross from silver,
So there is ready a vessel for the goldsmith;
5 Take away the wicked from the king,
And his throne is established by righteousness.
The form הָגוֹ (cf. the inf. Poal הֹגוֹ, Isa 59:13) is regarded by Schultens as showing a ground-form הָגַו; but there is also found e.g., עֲשׂוֹ, whose ground-form is עָשַׂי; the verb הָגָה, R. הג (whence Arab. hajr, discedere), cf. יָגָה (whence הֹגָה, semovit, 2Sa 20:13 = Syr. âwagy, cf. Arab. âwjay, to withhold, to abstain from), signifies to separate, withdraw; here, of the separation of the סִיגִים, the refuse, i.e., the dross (vid., regarding the plena scriptio, Baer's krit. Ausg. des Jesaia, under Pro 1:22); the goldsmith is designated by the word צֹרֵף, from צָרַף morf, to turn, change, as he who changes the as yet drossy metal by means of smelting, or by purification in water, into that which is pure. In 5a הגה is, as at Isa 27:8, transferred to a process of moral purification; what kind of persons are to be removed from the neighbourhood of the king is shown by Isa 1:22-23. Here also (as at Isa. l.c.) the emblem or figure of Pro 25:4 is followed in Pro 25:5 by its moral antitype aimed at. The punctuation of both verses is wonderfully fine and excellent. In Pro 25:4, ויצא is not pointed וְיֵצֵא, but as the consecutive modus וַיֵּצֵא; this first part of the proverb refers to a well-known process of art: the dross is separated from the silver (inf. absol., as Pro 12:7; Pro 15:22), and so a vessel (utensil) proceeds from the goldsmith, for he manufactures pure silver; the ל is here similarly used as the designation of the subject in the passive, Pro 13:13; Pro 14:20. In Pro 25:5, on the contrary, וַיִּכּוֹן (וַיִּכֹּן) is not the punctuation used, but the word is pointed indicatively וְיִכּוֹן; this second part of the proverb expresses a moral demand (inf. absol. in the sense of the imperative, Gesen. §131, 4b like Pro 17:12, or an optative or concessive conjunction): let the godless be removed, לִפְנֵי מֶלֶךְ, i.e., not from the neighbourhood of the king, for which the words are מִלִּפְנֵי מלך; also not those standing before the king, i.e., in his closest neighbourhood (Ewald, Bertheau); but since, in the absolute, הָגֹה, not an act of another in the interest of the king, but of the king himself, is thought of: let the godless be removed from before the king, i.e., because he administers justice (Hitzig), or more generally: because after that Psalm (101), which is the “mirror of princes,” he does not suffer him to come into his presence. Accordingly, the punctuation is בַּצֶּדֶק, not בְּצֶדֶק (Pro 16:12); because such righteousness is meant as separates the רָשָׁע from it and itself from him, as Isa 16:5 (vid., Hitzig), where the punctuation of בַּחֶסֶד denotes that favour towards Moab seeking protection.