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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Proverbs 3:13 - 3:13
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Such submission to God, the All-wise, the All-directing, who loves us with fatherly affection, is wisdom, and such wisdom is above all treasures.
13 Blessed is the man who has found wisdom,
And the man who has gained understanding;
14 For better is her acquisition than the acquisition of silver,
And her gain than fine gold.
15 More precious is she than corals;
And all thy jewels do not equal her value.
The imperfect יָפִיק, which as the Hiph. of פּוּק, exire, has the general meaning educere, interchanges with the perfect מָצָא. This bringing forth is either a delivering up, i.e., giving out or presenting, Isa 58:10; Psa 140:9; Psa 144:13 (cf. נְפַק, Arab. nafaḳ, to give out, to pay out), or a fetching out, getting out, receiving, Pro 8:35; Pro 12:2; Pro 18:22. Thus 13a reminds one of the parable of the treasure in the field, and 13b of that of the goodly pearl for which the ἔμπορος who sought the pearl parted with all that he had. Here also is declared the promise of him who trades with a merchant for the possession of wisdom; for סַחְרָהּ and סְחַר (both, as Isa 23:3, Isa 23:18; Isa 45:15, from סַחַר, the latter after the forms זְרַע, נְטַע, without our needing to assume a second primary form, סָחָר) go back to the root-word סָחַר, to trade, go about as a trader, with the fundamental meaning ἐμπορεύεσθαι (lxx); and also the mention of the pearls is not wanting here, for at all events the meaning “pearls” has blended itself with פְּנִינִים, which is a favourite word in the Mashal poetry, though it be not the original meaning of the word. In 14b כֶּסֶף is surpassed by חָרוּץ (besides in the Proverbs, found only in this meaning in Psa 68:14), which properly means ore found in a mine, from חָרַץ, to cut in, to dig up, and hence the poetic name of gold, perhaps of gold dug out as distinguished from molten gold. Hitzig regards χρυσός as identical with it; but this word (Sanskr. without the ending hir, Zench. zar) is derived from ghar, to glitter (vid., Curtius). תְּבוּאָתָהּ we have translated “gain,” for it does not mean the profit which wisdom brings, the tribute which it yields, but the gain, the possession of wisdom herself.
Pro 3:15
As regards פְּנִינִים, for which the Kethîb has פְּנִיִּים, the following things are in favour of the fundamental meaning “corals,” viz.: (1.) The name itself, which corresponds with the Arab. fann; this word, proceeding from the root-idea of shooting forth, particularly after the manner of plants, means the branch and all that raises or multiplies itself branch-like or twig-like (Fleischer). (2.) The redness attributed to the פנינים, Lam 4:7, in contradistinction to the pure whiteness attributed to snow and milk (vid., at Job 28:18). The meaning of the word may, however, have become generalized in practice (lxx in loc. λίθων πολετελῶν, Graec. Venet. λιθιδίων); the meaning “pearls,” given to it in the Job-Targum by Rashi, and particularly by Bochart, lay so much the nearer as one may have wrought also corals and precious stones, such as the carbuncle, sardius, and sapphire, into the form of pearls. יְקָרָה, in consequence of the retrogression of the tone, has Munach on the penult., and that as an exception, as has been remarked by the Masora, since in substantives and proper names terminating in ָה the נסוג אחור, i.e., the receding of the tone, does not elsewhere appear, e.g., יָפָה הִיא, Gen 12:14, בָּרָה הִיא, Son 6:9, צָרָה הִיא, Jer 30:7. חֵפֶץ is first abstr., a being inclined to something, lust, will, pleasure in anything, then also concr., anything in which one has pleasure, what is beautiful, precious; cf. Arab. nfı̂s, _hyy, hence hjârt nfı̂st, precious stones” (Fleischer). שָׁוָה with בְ means to be an equivalent (purchase-price, exchange) for anything; the most natural construction in Arab. as well as in Hebr. is that with לְ, to be the equivalent of a thing (vid., at Job 33:27); the בְ is the Beth pretii, as if one said in Arab.: biabi anta thou art in the estimate of my father, I give it for thee. One distinctly perceives in Pro 3:14, Pro 3:15, the echo of Job 28. This tetrastich occurs again with a slight variation at Pro 8:10-11. The Talmud and the Midrash accent it so, that in the former the expression is וכל־חפצים, and in the latter וכל־חפציך, and they explain the latter of precious stones and pearls (אבנים טובות ומרגליות).