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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Proverbs 29:11 - 29:11
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11 All his wrath the fool poureth out;
But the wise man husheth it up in the background.
That רוּחוֹ is not meant here of his spirit (Luther) in the sense of quaecunque in mente habet (thus e.g., Fleischer) the contrast shows, for יְשַׁבְּחֶנָּה does not signify cohibet, for which יַחְשְׁכֶנָּה (lxx ταμιεύεται) would be the proper word: רוּחַ thus is not here used of passionate emotion, such as at Pro 16:31; Isa 25:4; Isa 33:11. שִׁבֵּחַ is not here equivalent to Arab. sabbah, αἰνεῖν (Imman., Venet., and Heidenheim), which does not supply an admissible sense, but is equivalent to Arab. sabbakh, to quiet (Ahron b. Josef: קטפיאון = καταπαύειν), the former going back to the root-idea of extending (amplificare), the latter to that of going to a distance, putting away: sabbakh, procul recessit, distitit, hence שִׁבֵּחַ, Psa 89:10, and here properly to drive off into the background, synon. הֵשִׁיב (Fleischer). But בְּאָחוֹר (only here with ב) is ambiguous. One might with Rashi explain: but the wise man finally, or afterwards (Symmachus, ἐπ ̓ ἐσχάτων; Venet. κατόπιν = κατόπισθε), appeaseth the anger which the fool lets loose; i.e., if the latter gives vent to his anger, the former appeases, subdues, mitigates it (cf. בָּאַֽחֲרֹנָה, לְאחור, Isa 42:23). But it lies still nearer to refer the antithesis to the anger of the wise man himself; he does not give to it unbridled course, but husheth it in the background, viz., in his heart. Thus Syr. and Targ. reading בְּרַעְיָנָא, the former, besides יְחַשְּׁבֶנָּה (reputat eam), so also Aben Ezra: in the heart as the background of the organ of speech. Others explain: in the background, afterward, retrorsum, e.g., Nolde, but to which compescit would be more appropriate than sedat. Hitzig's objection, that in other cases the expression would be בְּקִרְבּוֹ, is answered by this, that with באחור the idea of pressing back (of אִחוּר) is connected. The order of the words also is in favour of the meaning in recessu (cordis). Irae dilatio mentis pacatio (according to an old proverb).