Bibelkommentare

XII.

(1) Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge.—Rather, he that loveth knowledge loveth discipline, i.e., to put himself in the place of a learner; while “he that hateth reproof,” who will not take advice, is “brutish,” “nourishing a blind life within the brain,” like the animals who are incapable of improvement.

(2) A good man.—The corresponding phrase, “a man of wicked devices,” i.e., who plots against his neighbour, fixes the sense of “good” as signifying “benevolent” (comp. Psalm 73:1); and for the sentiment, Luke 6:35.

(4) A virtuous woman.—Literally, of power, i.e., of ability and character, like the wife described in Proverbs 31, or the “able” men of Exodus 18:21.

(5) The thoughts of the righteous are right.—Or, justice. (Comp. Matthew 12:35.)

(6) The words of the wicked are to lie in wait for blood—i.e., are calculated for this end.

The mouth of the upright shall deliver them—i.e., those for whom the wicked lie in wait.

(7) The wicked are overthrown.—By the righteous judgments of God (Psalm 37:35-36), or by the storms of temptation and trouble, which, when they come, overwhelm the house built on the sand of earthly hopes, and not on the “Rock of ages.” (Isaiah 26:4; Matthew 7:24, sqq.)

(8) According to his wisdom—i.e., intelligent observance of the ends to be pursued in life, and the best means of attaining to them; in other words, finding out the will of God and how to fulfil it.

Shall be despised.—Comp. 1Samuel 2:30.

(9) He that is despised.—That is, lowly in his eyes and those of others, as David (1Samuel 18:23); if “he hath a servant,” that is, if he be in easy circumstances. It has been remarked that “the first necessity of an Oriental in only moderate circumstances is a slave.”

He that honoureth himself.—Boasts of his pedigree, it may be, and is all the while starving.