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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Proverbs 7:1 - 7:1
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The introduction first counsels in general to a true appreciation of these well-considered life-rules of wisdom.
1 My son, keep my words,
And treasure up my commandments with thee.
2 Keep my commandments, and thou shalt live;
And my instruction as the apple of thine eye.
3 Wind them about thy fingers,
Write them on the tablet of thy heart.
The lxx has after Pro 7:1 another distich; but it here disturbs the connection. Regarding צָפַן, vid., at Pro 2:1; אִתָּךְ refers, as there, to the sphere of one's own character, and that subjectively. Regarding the imper. וֶֽחְיֶה, which must here be translated according to its sense as a conclusion, because it comes in between the objects governed by שְׁמֹר, vid., at Pro 4:4. There וֶחְיֵה is punctuated with Silluk; here, according to Kimchi (Michlol 125a), with Segol-Athnach, וֶֽחְיֶה, as in the Cod. Erfurt. 2 and 3, and in the editions of Athias and Clodius, so that the word belongs to the class פתחין באתנח (with short instead of long vowel by the pausal accent): no reason for this is to be perceived, especially as (Pro 4:4) the Tsere (ê from aj) which is characteristic of the imper. remains unchanged. Regarding אִישׁוֹן הָעַיִן, Arab. insân el-'ain, the little man of the eye, i.e., the apple of the eye, named from the miniature portrait of him who looks into it being reflected from it, vid., at Psa 17:8; the ending ôn is here diminutive, like Syr. achuno, little brother, beruno, little son, and the like. On Pro 7:3, vid., at Pro 6:21; Pro 3:3. The תפילין שׁל יד
(Note: תפילין, prayer-fillets, phylacteries.)
were wound seven times round the left arm and seven times round the middle finger. The writing on the table of the heart may be regarded as referring to Deu 6:9 (the Mezuzoth).
(Note: = the door-posts, afterwards used by the Jews to denote the passages of Scripture written on the door-posts.)