Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament · Proverbs Kabanata 9

These words naturally follow:

10 “The beginning of wisdom is the fear of Jahve,

And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

This is the highest principle of the Chokma, which stands (Proverbs 1:7) as a motto at the beginning of the Book of Proverbs. The lxx translate ראשׁית there (Proverbs 1:7), and תּחלּת here, by ἀρχή . Gusset distinguishes the two synonyms as pars optima and primus actus ; but the former denotes the fear of God as that which stands in the uppermost place, to which all that Wisdom accomplishes subordinates itself; the latter as that which begins wisdom, that which it proposes to itself in its course. With יהוה is interchanged, Proverbs 2:5, אלהים , as here קדושׁים , as the internally multiplicative plur. (Dietrich, Abhandlungen, pp. 12, 45), as Proverbs 30:3, Joshua 24:9; Hosea 12:1, of God, the “Holy, holy, holy” (Isaiah 6:3), i.e., Him who is absolutely Holy. Michaelis inaccurately, following the ancients, who understood not this non-numerical plur.: cognitio quae sanctos facit et sanctis propria est . The דּעת , parallel with יראת , is meant of lively practical operative knowledge, which subordinates itself to this All-holy God as the normative but unapproachable pattern.

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The singular reason for this proverb of Wisdom is now given:

“For by me will thy days become many,

And the years of thy life will be increased.”

Incorrectly Hitzig: “and years of life will increase to thee;” הוסיף is always and everywhere ( e.g., also Job 38:11) transitive. In the similar passage, Proverbs 3:2, יוסיפו had as its subject the doctrine of Wisdom; here חכמה and בינה it is not practicable to interpret as subj., since 11a Wisdom is the subject discoursing - the expression follows the scheme, dicunt eos = dicuntur , as e.g., Job 7:3; Gesen. §137 - a concealing of the operative cause, which lies near, where, as Proverbs 2:22, the discourse is of severe judgment, thus: they (viz., the heavenly Powers) will grant to thee years of life ( חיּים in a pregnant sense, as Proverbs 3:2) in rich measure, so that constantly one span comes after another. But in what connection of consequence does this stand with the contents of the proverb, Proverbs 9:10? The ancients say that the clause with כי refers back to Proverbs 9:5. The Proverbs 9:7-10 (according also to Fl.) are, as it were, parenthetic. Hitzig rejects these verses as an interpolation, but the connection of Proverbs 9:11 with 5f. retains also something that is unsuitable: “steps forward on the way of knowledge, for by me shall thy days become many;” and if, as Hitzig supposes, Proverbs 9:12 is undoubtedly genuine, whose connection with Proverbs 9:11 is in no way obvious, then also will the difficulty of the connection of Proverbs 9:7-10 with the preceding and the succeeding be no decisive mark of the want of genuineness of this course of thought. We have seen how the progress of Proverbs 9:6 to 7 is mediated: the invitation of Wisdom goes forth to the receptive, with the exclusion of the irrecoverable. And Proverbs 9:11 is related to Proverbs 9:10, as the proof of the cause from the effect. It is the fear of God with which Wisdom begins, the knowledge of God in which above all it consists, for by it is fulfilled the promise of life which is given to the fear of God, Proverbs 10:27; Proverbs 14:27; Proverbs 19:23, cf. Deuteronomy 4:40, and to humility, which is bound up with it. Proverbs 10:17.

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This wisdom, resting on the fear of God, is itself a blessing to the wise:

“If thou art wise, thou art wise for thyself;

And if thou mockest, thou alone shalt bear it.”

The lxx, with the Syr., mangle the thought of 12a, for they translate: if thou art wise for thyself, so also thou wilt be wise for thy neighbour. The dat. commodi לך means that it is for the personal advantage of the wise to be wise. The contrast expressed by Job 22:2.: not profitable to God, but to thyself (Hitzig), is scarcely intended, although, so far as the accentuation is antithetic, it is the nearest. The perf. ולצתּ is the hypothetical; Gesen. §126, 1. To bear anything, viz., anything sinful ( חטא or עון ), is equivalent to, to atone for it, Job 34:2, cf. Numbers 9:13; Ezekiel 23:35. Also 12b is a contrast scarcely aimed at. Wisdom is its own profit to man; libertinism is its own disgrace. Man decides, whenever he prefers to be wise, or to be a mocker of religion and of virtue, regarding his own weal and woe. With this nota bene the discourse of Wisdom closes.

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