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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Proverbs 28:15 - 28:15
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This general ethical proverb is now followed by one concerning the king:
15 A roaring lion and a ravening bear
Is a foolish ruler over a poor people,
i.e., a people without riches and possessions, without lasting sources of help - a people brought low by the events of war and by calamities. To such a people a tyrant is a twofold terror, like a ravenous monster. The lxx translate מוֹשֵׁל רָשָׁע by ὃς τυραννεῖ πτωχὸς ὤν, as if רשׁ had been transferred to this place from Pro 28:3. But their translation of רשׁע, Pro 29:7, wavers between ἀσεβής and πτωχός, and of the bear they make a wolf זְאֵב, dialectical דֵּיב. שׁוֹקֵק designates a bear as lingering about, running hither and thither, impelled by extreme hunger (Venet. ἐπιοῦσα), from שָׁקַק = שׁוּק, to drive, which is said of nimble running, as well as of urging impulses (cf. under Gen 3:16), viz., hunger.