Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJohn Trapp Complete Commentary - Proverbs 27:17 - 27:17
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Pro_27:17 Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.
Ver. 17. Iron sharpeneth iron.] One edge tool sharpeneth another; so doth the face of a man his friend. Ipse aspectus viri boni delectat, saith Seneca. Let us "whet one another to love and good works," saith Paul, {Heb_10:24} as boars whet their tusks, as mowers whet their scythes. Thus Paul was "pressed in spirit" by the coming of Timothy, {Act_18:5} and extimulates Timothy to "stir up ( áíáæùðõñåéí ) the gift of God that was in him." {2Ti_1:6} Thus Peter roused up ( äéåãåéñåéí ) those to whom he wrote, ex veterno torporis et teporis, out of their spiritual lethargy. {1Pe_1:13} And thus those good souls "spake often one to another," for mutual quickening in dull and dead times. {Mal_3:16-17} {See Trapp on "Mal_3:16"} {See Trapp on "Mal_3:17"} As amber grease is nothing so sweet in itself as when compounded with other things; so godly and learned men are gainers by communicating themselves to others. Conference hath incredible profit in all sciences. Castalio renders this text thus: Ut ferrum ferro, sic heroines alii aliis coniuguntur; As iron is to iron, so are men joined and soldered to one another, - viz., in a very straight bond of love and friendship.