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The group of proverbs beginning here terminates at Proverbs 22:7, where, like the preceding, it closes with a proverb of the rich and the poor.

3 The prudent seeth the evil, and hideth himself;

But the simple go forward, and suffer injury.

This proverb repeats itself with insignificant variations, Proverbs 27:12. The Kerı̂ ונסתּר makes it more conformable to the words there used. The Chethı̂b is not to be read ויסתּר , for this Kal is inusit., but ויסּתר , or much rather ויּסּתר , since it is intended to be said what immediate consequence on the part of a prudent man arises from his perceiving an evil standing before him; he sees, e.g., the approaching overthrow of a decaying house, or in a sudden storm the fearful flood, and betimes betakes himself to a place of safety; the simple, on the contrary, go blindly forward into the threatening danger, and must bear the punishment of their carelessness. The fut. consec. 3a denotes the hiding of oneself as that which immediately follows from the being observant; the two perf. 3b, on the other hand, with or without ו , denote the going forward and meeting with punishment as occurring contemporaneously (cf. Psalms 48:6, and regarding these diverse forms of construction, at Habakkuk 3:10). “The interchange of the sing. and plur. gives us to understand that several or many simple ones are found for one prudent man” (Hitzig). The Niph. of ענשׁ signifies properly to be punished by pecuniary fine (Exodus 21:22) (cf. the post-bibl. קנס , קנס , to threaten punishment, which appears to have arisen from censere, to estimate, to lay on taxes); here it has the general meaning of being punished, viz., of the self-punishment of want of foresight.

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4 The reward of humility is the fear of Jahve,

Is riches, and honour, and life.

As ענוה־צדק , Psalms 45:5, is understood of the two virtues, meekness and righteousness, so here the three Göttingen divines (Ewald, Bertheau, and Elster), as also Dunasch, see in ' ענוה יראת ה an asyndeton; the poet would then have omitted vav, because instead of the copulative connection he preferred the appositional (Schultens: praemium mansuetudinis quae est reverentia Jehovae ) or the permutative (the reward of humility; more accurately expressed: the fear of God). It is in favour of this interpretation that the verse following (Proverbs 22:5) also shows an asyndeton. Luther otherwise: where one abides in the fear of the Lord; and Oetinger: the reward of humility, endurance, calmness in the fear of the Lord, is...; Fleischer also interprets ' יראת ה as Proverbs 21:4, חטאת ( lucerna impiroum vitiosa ), as the accus. of the nearer definition. But then is the nearest-lying construction: the reward of humility is the fear of God, as all old interpreters understand 4a ( e.g., Symmachus, ὕστερον πραΰ́τητος φόβος κυρίου ), a thought so incomprehensible, that one must adopt one or other of these expedients? On the one side, we may indeed say that the fear of God brings humility with it; but, on the other hand, it is just as conformable to experience that the fear of God is a consequence of humility; for actually to subordinate oneself to God, and to give honour to Him alone, one must have broken his self-will, and come to the knowledge of himself in his dependence, nothingness, and sin; and one consequence by which humility is rewarded, may be called the fear of God, because it is the root of all wisdom, or as is here said (cf. Proverbs 3:16; Proverbs 8:18), because riches, and honour, and life are in its train. Thus 4a is a concluded sentence, which in 4b is so continued, that from 4a the predicate is to be continued: the reward of humility is the fear of God; it is at the same time riches... Hitzig conjectures ' ראוּת ה , the beholding Jahve; but the visio Dei ( beatifica ) is not a dogmatic idea thus expressed in the O.T. עקב denotes what follows a thing, from עקב , to tread on the heels (Fleischer); for עקב (Arab. 'aḳib ) is the heels, as the incurvation of the foot; and עקב , the consequence (cf. Arab. 'aḳb , 'ukb , posteritas ), is mediated through the v. denom. עקב , to tread on the heels, to follow on the heels (cf. denominatives, such as Arab. batn , zahr , 'ân , עין , to strike the body, the back, the eye).

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5 Thorns, snares, are on the way of the crooked;

He that guardeth his soul, let him keep far from them.

Rightly the Venet. ἄκανθαι παγίδες ἐν ὁδῷ στρεβλοῦ . The meaning of צנּים (plur. of צן , or צנּה , the same as צנינים ) and פּחים (from פּח , Arab. faḥ ), stands fast, though it be not etymologically verified; the placing together of these two words (the lxx obliterating the asyndeton: τρίβολος καὶ παγίδες ) follows the scheme שׁמשׁ ירח , Habakkuk 3:11. The עקּשׁ־לב (perverse of heart, crooked, Proverbs 17:20; Proverbs 11:20) drives his crooked winding way, corresponding to his habit of mind, which is the contrast and the perversion of that which is just, a way in which there are thorns which entangle and wound those who enter thereon, snares which unexpectedly bring them down and hold them fast as prisoners; the hedge of thorns, Proverbs 15:19, was a figure of the hindrances in the way of the wicked themselves. The thorn and snares here are a figure of the hindrances and dangers which go forth from the deceitful and the false in the way of others, of those who keep their souls, i.e., who outwardly and morally take heed to their life (Proverbs 16:17; Proverbs 13:3, pred. here subj.), who will keep, or are disposed to keep, themselves from these thorns, these snares into which the deceitful and perverse-hearted seek to entice them.

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6 Give to the child instruction conformably to His way;

So he will not, when he becomes old, depart from it.

The first instruction is meant which, communicated to the child, should be על־פּי , after the measure (Genesis 43:7 = post-bibl. לפי and כּפי ) of his way, i.e., not: of his calling, which he must by and by enter upon (Bertheau, Zöckler), which דּרכּו of itself cannot mean; also not: of the way which he must keep in during life ( Kidduschin 30a); nor: of his individual nature (Elster); but: of the nature of the child as such, for דּרך נער is the child's way, as e.g., derek col - haarets , Genesis 19:31, the general custom of the land; derek Mitsrâyim , Isaiah 10:24, the way (the manner of acting) of the Egyptians. The instruction of youth, the education of youth, ought to be conformed to the nature of youth; the matter of instruction, the manner of instruction, ought to regulate itself according to the stage of life, and its peculiarities; the method ought to be arranged according to the degree of development which the mental and bodily life of the youth has arrived at. The verb חנך is a denominative like עקב , Proverbs 22:4; it signifies to affect the taste, חך (= חנך ), in the Arab. to put date syrup into the mouth of the suckling; so that we may compare with it the saying of Horace, Ep. i. 2, 69: Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem Testa diu . In the post-bibl. Heb. חנּוּך denotes that which in the language of the Church is called catechizatio ; חנוך ( לנער ) ספר is the usual title of the catechisms. It is the fundamental and first requisite of all educational instruction which the proverb formulates, a suitable motto for the lesson-books of pedagogues and catechists. ממּנּה [from it] refers to that training of youth, in conformity with his nature, which becomes a second nature, that which is imprinted, inbred, becomes accustomed. Proverbs 22:6 is wanting in the lxx; where it exists in MSS of the lxx, it is supplied from Theodotion; the Complut. translates independently from the Heb. text.

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7 A rich man will rule over the poor,

And the borrower is subject to the man who lends.

“This is the course of the world. As regards the sing. and plur. in 7a, there are many poor for one rich; and in the Orient the rule is generally in the hands of one” (Hitzig). The fut. denotes how it will and must happen, and the substantival clause 7b, which as such is an expression of continuance (Arab. thabât , i.e., of the remaining and continuing), denotes that contracting of debt brings naturally with it a slavish relation of dependence. לוה , properly he who binds himself to one se ei obligat , and מלוה , as Proverbs 19:17 ( vid., l.c.), qui alterum ( mutui datione ) obligat , from לוה , Arab. lwy , to wind, turn, twist round (cog. root laff ), whence with Fleischer is also to be derived the Aram. לות , “into connection;” so אל , properly “pushing against,” refers to the radically related אלה (= ולה ), contiguum esse . אישׁ מלוה is one who puts himself in the way of lending, although not directly in a professional manner. The pred. precedes its subject according to rule. Luther rightly translates: and he who borrows is the lender's servant, whence the pun on the proper names: “Borghart [= the borrower] is Lehnhart's [= lender's] servant.”

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The group now following extends to the end of this first collection of Solomon's proverbs; it closes also with a proverb of the poor and the rich.

8 He that soweth iniquity shall reap calamity;

And the rod of his fury shall vanish away.

“Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7); he that soweth good reapeth good, Proverbs 11:18; he that soweth evil reapeth evil, Job 4:8; cf. Hosea 10:12. עולה is the direct contrast of צדקה or ישׁר ( e.g., Psalms 125:3; Psalms 107:42), proceeding from the idea that the good is right, i.e., straight, rectum ; the evil, that which departs from the straight line, and is crooked. Regarding און , which means both perversity of mind and conduct, as well as destiny, calamity, vid., Proverbs 12:21. That which the poet particularly means by עולה is shown in 8b, viz., unsympathizing tyranny, cruel misconduct toward a neighbour. שׁבט עברתו is the rod which he who soweth iniquity makes another to feel in his anger. The saying, that an end will be to this rod of his fury, agrees with that which is said of the despot's sceptre, Isaiah 14:5.; Psalms 125:3. Rightly Fleischer: baculus insolentiae ejus consumetur h. e. facultas qua pollet alios insolenter tractandi evanescet . Hitzig's objection, that a rod does not vanish away, but is broken, is answered by this, that the rod is thought of as brandished; besides, one uses כּלה of anything which has an end, e.g., Isaiah 16:4. Other interpreters understand “the rod of his fury” of the rod of God's anger, which will strike the עוּל and יכלה , as at Ezekiel 5:13; Daniel 12:7: “and the rod of His punishment will surely come” (Ewald, and similarly Schultens, Euchel, Umbreit). This though also hovers before the lxx: πληγὴν δὲ ἔργων αὐτοῦ ( עבדתו ) συντελέσει ( יכלּה ). But if the rod of punishment which is appointed for the unrighteous be meant, then we would have expected כּלהו . Taken in the future, the כּלות of the שׁבט is not its confectio in the sense of completion, but its termination or annihilation; and besides, it lies nearer after 8a to take the suffix of עברתו subjectively (Isaiah 14:6; Isaiah 16:6) than objectively. The lxx has, after Proverbs 22:8, a distich: -

ἄνδρα ἱλαρὸν καὶ δότην εὐλογεῖ ὁ θεὸς

ματαιότητα δὲ ἔργων αὐτοῦ συντελέσει .

The first line (2 Corinthians 9:7) is a variant translation of 9a (cf. Proverbs 21:17), the second ( ושׁוא עבדתו ) is a similar rendering of 8b.

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9 He who is friendly is blessed;

Because he giveth of his bread to the poor.

The thought is the same as at Proverbs 11:25. טוב עין (thus to be written without Makkeph, with Munach of the first word, with correct Codd., also 1294 and Jaman), the contrast of רע עין , Proverbs 23:6; Proverbs 22:22, i.e., the envious, evil-eyed, ungracious (post-bibl. also צר עין ), is one who looks kindly, is good-hearted, and as ἱλαρὸς δότης , shows himself benevolent. Such gentleness and kindness is called in the Mishna עין טובה ( Aboth ii. 13), or עין יפה . Such a friend is blessed, for he has also himself scattered blessings (cf. גּם־הוּא , Proverbs 11:25; Proverbs 21:13); he has, as is said, looking back from the blessing that has happened to him, given of his bread (Luther, as the lxx, with partitive genitive: seines brots = of his bread) to the poor; cf. the unfolding of this blessing of self-denying love, Isa 8. The lxx has also here another distich:

Νίκην καὶ τιμὴν περιποιεῖται ὁ δῶρα δοὺς ,

Τὴν μέντοι ψυχὴν ἀφαιρεῖται τῶν κεκτημένων .

The first line appears a variant translation of Proverbs 19:6, and the second of Proverbs 1:19, according to which selfishness, in contrast to liberality, is the subject to be thought of. Ewald translates the second line: And he (who distributes gifts) conquers the soul of the recipients. But κεκτημένος = בּעל ( בּעלים ) signifies the possessor, not the recipient of anything as a gift, who cannot also be here meant because of the μέντοι .

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10 Chase away the scorner, and contention goeth out,

And strife and reproach rest.

If in a company, a circle of friends, a society (lxx ἔκβαλε ἐκ συνεδρίου ), a wicked man is found who ( vid., the definition of לץ , Proverbs 21:24) treats religious questions without respect, moral questions in a frivolous way, serious things jestingly, and in his scornful spirit, his passion for witticism, his love of anecdote, places himself above the duty of showing reverence, veneration, and respect, there will arise ceaseless contentions and conflicts. Such a man one ought to chase away; then there will immediately go forth along with him dispeace ( מדון ), there will then be rest from strife and disgrace, viz., of the strife which such a one draws forth, and the disgrace which it brings on the society, and continually prepares for it. קלון is commonly understood of the injury, abuse, which others have to suffer from the scoffer, or also (thus Fleischer, Hitzig) of the opprobria of the contentious against one another. But קלון is not so used; it means always disgrace, as something that happens, an experience, vid., at Proverbs 18:3. The praise of one who is the direct contrast of a לץ is celebrated in the next verse.

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