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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Proverbs 3:5 - 3:5
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Were “kindness and truth” (Pro 3:3) understood only in relation to men, then the following admonition would not be interposed, since it proceeds from that going before, if there the quality of kindness and truth, not only towards man, but also towards God, is commended:
5 Trust in Jahve with thy whole heart,
And lean not on thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make plain thy paths.
7 Be not wise in thine own eyes;
Fear Jahve, and depart from evil.
8 Health will then come to thy navel,
And refreshing to thy bones.
From God alone comes true prosperity, true help. He knows the right way to the right ends. He knows what benefits us. He is able to free us from that which does us harm: therefore it is our duty and our safety to place our confidence wholly in Him, and to trust not to our own judgment. The verb בָּטַח, Arab. baṭḥ, has the root-meaning expandere, whence perhaps, by a more direct way than that noted under Psa 4:6, it acquires the meaning confidere, to lean with the whole body on something, in order to rest upon it, strengthened by עַל, if one lean wholly - Fr. se reposer sur quelqu'un; Ital. riposarsi sopra alcuno, - like הִשָּׁעֵן with אֶל, to lean on anything, so as to be supported by it; with עַל, to support oneself on anything (Fl.). דָעֵהוּ (the same in form as שָׂאֵהוּ, Num 11:12) is not fully represented by “acknowledge Him;” as in 1Ch 28:9 it is not a mere theoretic acknowledgment that is meant, but earnest penetrating cognizance, engaging the whole man. The practico-mystical דָעֵהוּ, in and of itself full of significance, according to O. and N.T. usage, is yet strengthened by toto corde. The heart is the central seat of all spiritual soul-strength; to love God with the whole heart is to concentrate the whole inner life on the active contemplation of God, and the ready observance of His will. God requites such as show regard to Him, by making plain their path before them, i.e., by leading them directly to the right end, removing all hindrances out of their way. אֹרְחֹתֶיךָ has Cholem in the first syllable (vid., Kimchi's Lex.).
(Note: In the st. constr. Pro 2:19, and with the grave suff. Pro 2:15, ǒ instead of ō is in order; but Ben-Asher's אָרְחֹתָי, Job 13:27, cf. Job 33:11, is an inconsistency.)
“Be not wise in thine own eyes” is equivalent to ne tibi sapiens videare; for, as J. H. Michaelis remarks, confidere Deo est sapere, sibi vero ac suae sapientiae, desipere. “Fear God and depart from evil” is the twofold representation of the εὐσέβεια, or practical piety, in the Chokma writings: Pro 16:6, the Mashal Psa 34:10, Psa 34:15, and Job 28:28 cf. Pro 1:2. For סָר מֵרַע, the post-biblical expression is יְרֵא חֵטְא.
Pro 3:8
The subject to תּהִי; (it shall be) is just this religious-moral conduct. The conjectural reading לִבְשָֽׂרְךָ (Clericus), לְשֵׁרְךָ = לִשְׁאֵרְךָ (Ewald, Hitzig), to thy flesh or body, is unnecessary; the lxx and Syr. so translating, generalize the expression, which is not according to their taste. שֹׁר, from שָׁרַר, Arab. sarr, to be fast, to bind fast, properly, the umbilical cord (which the Arabs call surr, whence the denom. sarra, to cut off the umbilical cord of the newborn); thus the navel, the origin of which coincides with the independent individual existence of the new-born, and is as the firm centre (cf. Arab. saryr, foundation, basis, Job, p. 487) of the existence of the body. The system of punctuation does not, as a rule, permit the doubling of ר, probably on account of the prevailing half guttural, i.e., the uvular utterance of this sound by the men of Tiberias.
(Note: See my work, Physiologie u. Musik in ihrer Bedeutung für Grammatik besonders die hebräische, pp. 11-13.)
לְשָׁרֶּךָ here, and שָׁרֵּךְ at Eze 16:4, belong to the exceptions; cf. the expanded duplication in שָׁרְרֵךְ, Son 7:3, to which a chief form שֹׁרֶר is as little to be assumed as is a הָרָר to הַרְרֵי. The ἅπ. γεγρ. רִפְאוּת, healing, has here, as מַרְפֵּא, Pro 4:22; Pro 16:24, and תְּרוּפָה, Eze 47:12, not the meaning of restoration from sickness, but the raising up of enfeebled strength, or the confirming of that which exists; the navel comes into view as the middle point of the vis vitalis. שִׁקּוּי is a Piel formation, corresponding to the abstract Kal formation רִפְאוּת; the Arab. saqâ, used transit. (to give to drink), also saqqâ (cf. Pu. Job 21:24) and asqâ, like the Hebr. הִשְׁקָה (Hiph. of שָׁקָה, to drink); the infin. (Arab.) saqy means, to the obliterating of the proper signification, distribution, benefaction, showing friendship, but in the passage before us is to be explained after Job 21:24 (the marrow of his bones is well watered; Arnheim - full of sap) and Pro 15:30. Bertheau and Hitzig erroneously regard Pro 3:8 as the conclusion to Pro 3:7, for they interpret רפאות as the subject; but had the poet wished to be so understood, he should have written וּתְהִי. Much rather the subject is devotion withdrawn from the evil one and turned to God, which externally proves itself by the dedication to Him of earthly possessions.