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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Proverbs 8:28 - 8:28
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In Pro 8:28, Pro 8:29, these two features of the figure of the creation of the world return (the beginning of the firmament, and the embankment of the under waters); hence we see that the discourse here makes a fresh start with a new theme:
28 “When He made firm the ether above,
When He restrained the fountains of the waters;
29 When He set to the sea its bounds,
That the waters should not pass their limits
When He settled the pillars of the earth;
30 Then was I with Him as director of the work,
And was delighted day by day,
Rejoicing always before Him,
31 Rejoicing in His earth,
And having my delight in the children of men.”
We have, with Symmachus, translated שְׁחָקִים (from שָׁחַק, Arab. shaḳ, to grind, to make thin) by αἰθέρα, for so the fine transparent strata of air above the hanging clouds are called - a poetic name of the firmament רָקִיעַ. The making firm עַמֵּץ is not to be understood locally, but internally of the spreading out of the firmament over the earth settled for continuance (an expression such as Psa 78:23). In 28b the Masora notices the plur. עִינוֹת instead of עֵינוֹת with לית as unicum (cf. Michlol 191a); the transition of the sound is as in גָּלִיתָ from galajta. The inf. עֲזוֹז appears on the first look to require a transitive signification, as the lxx and the Targ., the Graec. Venet. and Luther (da er festiget die Brünnen der tieffen = when He makes firm the fountains of the deep) have rendered it. Elster accordingly believes that this signification must be maintained, because בְּ here introduces creative activity, and in itself is probably the transitive use of עָזַז, as the Arab. 'azz shows: when He set His עֹז against the מַיִם עַזִּים (Isa 43:16). But the absence of the subject is in favour of the opinion that here, as everywhere else, it is intransitive; only we may not, with Hitzig, translate: when the fountains of the flood raged wildly; but, since 28b, if not a creative efficiency, must yet express a creative work, either as Ewald, with reference to מעוז, fortress: when they became firm, or better as Fleischer, with reference to מים עזים: when they broke forth with power, with strong fulness. Whether the suff. of חֻקּוֹ, 29a, refers back to the sea or to Jahve, is decided after the parallel פִּיו. If this word is equivalent to its coast (cf. Psa 104:9), then both suffixes refer to the sea; but the coast of the sea, or of a river, is called שָׂפָה, not פֶּה, which only means ostium (mouth), not ora. Also Isa 19:7 will require to be translated: by the mouth of the Nile, and that פי, Psa 133:2, may denote the under edge, arises from this, that a coat has a mouth above as well as below, i.e., is open. Thus both suff. are to be referred to God, and פיו d is to be determined after Job 23:12. The clause beginning with ומים corresponds in periodizing discourse to a clause with ut, Ewald, §338. בְּחוּקוֹ is the same form, only written plene, as Pro 8:27, בְּחֻקוֹ = בְּחֻקּוֹ = בְּחָקְקוֹ.
(Note: One might regard it as modified from בחקקו; but that שׁוּרָי, Psa 102:12, is modified from שֹֽׁרֲרָי, or הוֹרָי, Gen 49:26, from הַֽרֲרַי, is by no means certain.)
Pro 8:30
In this sentence, subordinating to itself these designations of time, the principal question is as to the meaning of אָמוֹן, Hofmann's interpretation (Schriftbew. i. 97) “continually” (inf. absol. in an adverbial sense) is a judicious idea, and אָמַן, to endure, remains indeed in אֱמֶת (stability); but in this sense, which נֶאֱמַן represents, it is not otherwise used. Also מְהֵימַנְתָּא (believing, trusting) of the Targ. (Graec. Venet. πίστις, as if the word used were אֵמוּן) is linguistically inadmissible; the Hebr. הֶאֱמִין corresponds to the Aram. haimēn. One of these two only is possible: אָמוֹן means either opifex or alumnus. The meaning alumnus (Aquila, τιθηνουμένη; Meîri and Malbim, אמון בחיק האל, ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ) would derive the word from אָמַן, to support, make firm, take care of; the form ought to have a passive sense (Symm. Theod. ἐστηριγμένη), as גָּדוֹל sa ,)חם, twined, pressed, strong, great, and be pointed נָקֹד (with a moveable ā, different from the form בָּגוֹד, חָמוֹץ, Isa 1:17); and אָמוֹן, in the meaning nursling, foster-child, favourite (Schultens, Euchel, Elster, and others, also Rashi and Kimchi, who all find in אמון the meaning of education, גידול), would place itself with אָמוּן, fostered, Lam 4:5, אֹמֵן, fosterer, אֹמֶנֶת ,reret, foster-mother. This is the meaning of the word according to the connection, for Wisdom appears further on as the child of God; as such she had her joy before Him; and particularly God's earth, where she rejoiced with the sons of men, was the scene of her mirth. But on this very account, because this is further said, we also lose nothing if אמון should be interpreted otherwise. And it is otherwise to be interpreted, for Wisdom is, in consequence of קנני (Pro 8:22), and חוללתי, which is twice used (Pro 8:24-25), God's own child; but the designation אמון would make Him to be the אֹמֵן of Wisdom; and the child which an אֹמֵן bears, Num 11:12, and fosters, Est 2:7, is not his own. Hence it follows that אִמוֹן in this signification would be an ἅπαξ λεγόμενον; on the other hand, it really occurs elsewhere, Jer 52:15 (vid., Hitzig l.c.), in the sense of opifex. This sense, which recommends itself to Ewald, Hitzig, Bertheau, and Zöckler, lies also at the foundation of the ἁρμόζουσα of the lxx, מתקנא of the Syr., the cuncta componens of Jerome, and the designation of Wisdom as ἡ τῶν πάντων τεχνῖτις of the Book of Wisdom 7:21. The workmaster is called אָמוֹן, for which, Son 7:2, אָמָן, or rather אָמָּן (ommân), Aram. and Mishn. אוּמָן; not, perhaps, as he whom one entrusts with something in whom one confides or may confide in a work (vid., Fleischer, loc), but from אָמַן, to be firm, as one who is strong in his art, as perhaps also the right hand, which has the name יָמִין as being the artifex among the members. The word occurs also as an adjective in the sense of “experienced, skilful,” and does not form a fem. according to the use of the word in this case before us, only because handicraft (אוּמָנוּת) belongs to men, and not to women; also in the Greek, δημιουργός, in the sense of τὰ δημόσια (εἰς τὸ δημόσιον) ἐργαζόμενος, has no fem.; and in Lat., artifex is used as a substantive (e.g., in Pliny: artifex omnium natura), like an adj. of double gender. It is thus altogether according to rule that we read אָמוֹן and not אָמוֹנָה (after the form בָּגוֹדָה); also we would make a mistake if we translated the word by the German “Werkmeisterin” work-mistress, directress (Hitzig), for it is intended to be said that she took up the place of a workmaster with Him, whereby chiefly the artistic performances of a חָרָשׁ artificer are thought of. This self-designation of Wisdom is here very suitable; for after she has said that she was brought forth by God before the world was, and that she was present when it was created, this אמון now answers the question as to what God had in view when He gave to Wisdom her separate existence, and in what capacity she assisted in the creation of the world: it was she who transferred the creative thoughts originally existing in the creative will of God, and set in motion by His creative order, from their ideal into their real effectiveness, and, as it were, artistically carried out the delineations of the several creatures; she was the mediating cause, the demiurgic power which the divine creative activity made use of, as is said, Pro 3:19, “Jahve has by Wisdom founded the earth,” and as the Jerusalem Targ. Gen 1:1, in connection with Pro 8:22, translates: בְחוּכְמָא בְרָא יְיָ יַת שְׁמַיָּא וְיַת אַרְעָא.
But - this is now the question - does the further unfolding of the thoughts here agree with this interpretation of אמון? That we may not misunderstand what follows, we must first of all represent to ourselves, that if אמון meant the foster-child, Wisdom could not yet, in what follows, be thought of as a little child (Num 11:12), for that would be an idea without any meaning; to rejoice [spielen = play] is certainly quite in accordance with youth, as 2Sa 2:14 shows (where שׂחק לפני is said of the sportive combat of youthful warriors before the captain), not exclusively little children. So, then, we must guard against interpreting שַׁעֲשׁוּעִים, with the lxx and Syr., in the sense of שַׁעֲשׁוּעָיו - an interpretation which the Targ., Jerome, the Graec. Venet., and Luther have happily avoided; for mention is not made here of what Wisdom is for Jahve, but of what she is in herself. The expression is to be judged after Psa 109:4 (cf. Gen 12:2), where Hitzig rightly translates, “I am wholly prayer;” but Böttcher, in a way characteristic of his mode of interpretation, prefers, “I am ointment” (vid., Neue Aehrenlese, No. 1222). The delight is meant which this mediating participation in God's creating work imparted to her - joy in the work in which she was engaged. The pluralet. שׁעשׁועים is to be understood here, not after Jer 13:20, but after Isa 11:8; Psa 119:70, where its root-word, the Pilpel שִׁעֲשַׁע (proceeding from the primary meaning of caressing, demulcere), signifies intransitively: to have his delight somewhere or in anything, to delight oneself - a synonym to the idea of play (cf. Aram. שְׁעָא, Ethpe. to play, Ethpa. to chatter); for play is in contrast to work, an occupation which has enjoyment in view. But the work, i.e., the occupation, which aims to do something useful, can also become a play if it costs no strenuous effort, or if the effort which it costs passes wholly into the background in presence of the pleasure which it yields. Thus Wisdom daily, i.e., during the whole course of creation, went forth in pure delight; and the activity with which she translated into fact the creative thoughts was a joyful noise in the sight of God, whose commands she obeyed with childlike devotion; cf. 2Sa 6:21, where David calls his dancing and leaping before the ark of the covenant a 'שַׂחֵק לִפְנֵי ה. But by preference, her delight was in the world, which is illustrated from the Persian Minokhired, which personifies Wisdom, and, among other things, says of her: “The creation of the earth, and its mingling with water, the springing up and the growth of the trees, all the different colours, the odour, the taste, and that which is pleasing in everything - all that is chiefly the endowment and the performance of Wisdom.”
(Note: Vid., Spiegel's Grammatik der pârsisprache, p. 162, cf. 182.)
She also there says that she was before all celestial and earthly beings, the first with Ormuzd, and that all that is celestial and earthly arose and also remains in existence by her. But the earth was the dearest object of her delight in the whole world; to help in establishing it (Pro 3:19) was her joyful occupation; to fashion it, and to provide it with the multiplicity of existences designed for it, was the most pleasant part of her creative activity. For the earth is the abode of man, and the heart-pleasure of Wisdom was with (אֶת־, prep.) the children of men; with them she found her high enjoyment, these were her peculiar and dearest sphere of activity.
Pro 8:31
Since the statements of Wisdom, as to her participation in the creation of the world, are at this point brought to a close, in this verse there is set forth the intimate relation into which she thus entered to the earth and to mankind, and which she has continued to sustain to the present day. She turned her love to the earth for the sake of man, and to man not merely as a corporeal, but especially as a spiritual being, to whom she can disclose her heart, and whom, if he receives her, she can bring back to God (Book of Wisdom 7:27). There are not here express references to Gen 1 or Gen 2. In יוֹם יוֹם (day for day, as Gen 39:10, cf. Est 2:4, יוֹם וָיוֹם) we have not to think of the six days of creation. But inasmuch as the whole description goes down to בְּנֶי אָדָם as its central-point, it denotes that creation came to its close and its goal in man. The connection of תֵּבֵל אֶרֶץ is as Job 37:12, where אַרְצָה for אֶרֶץ is wholly, as לַיְלָה, חַרְסָה, and the like, an original accusative.