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tProv 22:7 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 Pro 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." Proverbs 22:8 tProv 22:12 12 The eyes of Jahve preserve knowledge;
So he frustrateth the words of the false.
The phrase "to preserve knowledge" is found at Pro 5:2; there, in the sense of to keep, retain; here, of protecting, guarding; for it cannot possibly be said that the eyes of God keep themselves by the rule of knowledge, and thus preserve knowledge; this predicate is not in accord with the eyes, and is, as used of God, even inappropriate. On the other hand, after "to preserve," in the sense of watching, guarding a concrete object is to be expected, cf. Isa 26:3. We need not thus with Ewald supply יודע; the ancients are right that דעת, knowledge, stands metonymically for אישׁ (Meri), or אנשׁי (Aben Ezra), or יודעי דעת (Arama); Schultens rightly: Cognitio veritatis ac virtutis practica fertur ad homines eam colentes ac praestantes. Where knowledge of the true and the good exists, there does it stand under the protection of God. 12b shows how that is meant, for there the perf. is continued in the second consec. modus (fut. consec.): there is thus protection against the assaults of enemies who oppose the knowledge which they hate, and seek to triumph over it, and to suppress it by their crooked policy. But God stands on the side of knowledge and protects it, and consequently makes vain the words (the outspoken resolutions) of the deceitful. Regarding סלף (סלף), vid., Pro 11:3 and Pro 19:3. The meaning of סלּף דּברי is here essentially different from that in Exo 23:8; Deu 16:19 : he perverteth their words, for he giveth them a bearing that is false, i.e., not leading to the end. Hitzig reads רעות [wickedness] for דעת, which Zckler is inclined to favour: God keeps the evil which is done in His eyes, and hinders its success; but "to observe wickedness" is an ambiguous, untenable expression; the only passage that can be quoted in favour of this "to observe" is Job 7:20. The word דעת, handed down without variation, is much rather justified. Proverbs 22:13 tProv 22:17 Pro 22:17-21, forming the introduction to this appendix, are these Words of the Wise:
17 Incline thine ear and hear the words of the wise,
And direct thine heart to my knowledge!
18 For it is pleasant if thou keep them in thine heart;
Let them abide together on thy lips.
19 That thy trust may be placed in Jahve,
I have taught thee to-day, even thee!
20 Have not I written unto thee choice proverbs,
Containing counsels and knowledge,
21 To make thee to know the rule of the words of truth,
That thou mightest bring back words which are truth to them that send thee?
From Pro 10:1 to Pro 22:16 are the "Proverbs of Solomon," and not "The Words of the Wise;" thus the above παραίνεσις is not an epilogue, but a prologue to the following proverbs. The perfects הודעתּיך and כתבתּי refer, not to the Solomonic proverbial discourses, but to the appendix following them; the preface commends the worth and intention of this appendix, and uses perfects because it was written after the forming of the collection. The author of this preface (vid., pp. 23, 36, vol. i.) is no other than the author of chap. 1-9. The הט (with Mehuppach, after Thorath Emeth, p. 27) reminds us of Pro 4:20; Pro 5:1. The phrase שׁית לב, animum advertere, occurs again in the second appendix, Pro 24:32. נעים is repeated at Pro 23:8; Pro 24:4; but נעם with נעם is common in the preface, chap. 1-9. כּי־נעים contains, as at Psa 135:3; Psa 147:1, its subject in itself. כּי־תּשׁמרם is not this subject: this that thou preservest them, which would have required rather the infin. שׁמרם (Psa 133:1) or לשׁמרם; but it supposes the case in which appears that which is amiable and praiseworthy: if thou preservest them in thy heart, i.e., makest them thoughtfully become thy mental possession. The suffix ēm refers to the Words of the Wise, and mediately also to לדעתּי, for the author designates his practical wisdom דעתי, which is laid down in the following proverbs, which, although not composed by him, are yet penetrated by his subjectivity. Regarding בּטן, which, from meaning the inner parts of the body, is transferred to the inner parts of the mind, vid., under Pro 20:27. The clause 18b, if not dependent on כי, would begin with ויכּנוּ. The absence of the copula and the antecedence of the verb bring the optative rendering nearer. Different is the syntactical relation of Pro 5:2, where the infin. is continued in the fin. The fut. Niph. יכּנוּ, which, Pro 4:27, meant to be rightly placed, rightly directed, here means: to stand erect, to have continuance, stabilem esse. In Pro 22:19, the fact of instruction precedes the statement of its object, which is, that the disciple may place his confidence in Jahve, for he does that which is according to His will, and is subject to His rule. מבטחך, in Codd. and correct editions with Pathach (vid., Michlol 184b); the ח is as virtually doubled; vid., under Pro 21:22. In 19b the accentuation הודעתיך היום is contrary to the syntax; Codd. and old editions have rightly הודעתיך היום, for אף־אתּה is, after Gesen. 121. 3, an emphatic repetition of "thee;" אף, like גּם, Pro 23:15; Kg1 21:19. Hitzig knows of no contrast which justifies the emphasis. But the prominence thus effected is not always of the nature of contrast (cf. Zac 7:5, have ye truly fasted to me, i.e., to serve me thereby), here it is strong individualizing; the te etiam te is equivalent to, thee as others, and thee in particular. Also that, as Hitzig remarks, there does not appear any reason for the emphasizing of "to-day," is incorrect: היּום is of the same signification as at Psa 95:7; the reader of the following proverbs shall remember later, not merely in general, that he once on a time read them, but that he to-day, that he on this definite day, received the lessons of wisdom contained therein, and then, from that time forth, became responsible for his obedience or his disobedience.
In 20a the Chethı̂b שלשום denotes no definite date; besides, this word occurs only always along with תּמול (עתמול). Umbreit, Ewald, Bertheau, however, accept this "formerly (lately)," and suppose that the author here refers to a "Book for Youths," composed at an earlier period, without one seeing what this reference, which had a meaning only for his contemporaries, here denotes. The lxx reads כתבתּ, and finds in 20a, contrary to the syntax and the usus loq., the exhortation that he who is addressed ought to write these good doctrines thrice (τρισσῶς) on the tablet of his heart; the Syr. and Targ. suppose the author to say that he wrote them three times; Jerome, that he wrote them threefold - both without any visible meaning, since threefold cannot be equivalent to manchfeltiglich (Luther) [= several times, in various ways]. Also the Kerı̂ שׁלשׁים, which without doubt is the authentic word, is interpreted in many unacceptable ways; Rashi and Elia Wilna, following a Midrash explanation, think on the lessons of the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa; Arama, on those which are referable to three classes of youth; Malbim (as if here the author of the whole Book of Proverbs, from 1 to 31, spake), on the supposed three chief parts of the Mishle; Dchsel better, on chap. 1-9, as the product of the same author as this appendix. Schultens compares Ecc 4:12, and translates triplici filo nexa. Kimchi, Meri, and others, are right, who gloss שׁלישׁים by דברים נכבדים, and compare נגידים, Pro 8:6; accordingly the Veneta, with the happy quid pro quo, by τρισμέγιστα. The lxx translates the military שׁלישׁ by τριστάτης; but this Greek word is itself obscure, and is explained by Hesychius (as well as by Suidas, and in the Etymologicum) by Regii satellites qui ternas hastas manu tenebant, which is certainly false. Another Greek, whom Angellius quotes, says, under Exo 15:4, that τριστάτης was the name given to the warriors who fought from a chariot, every three of whom had one war-chariot among them; and this appears, according to Exo 14:7; Exo 15:4, to be really the primary meaning. In the period of David we meet with the word שׁלישׁים as the name of the heroes (the Gibbôrı̂m) who stood nearest the king. The shalish-men form the lite troops that stood highest in rank, at whose head stood two triads of heroes - Jashobeam at the head of the first trias, and thus of the shalish-men generally; Abishai at the head of the second trias, who held an honourable place among the shalish-men, but yet reached not to that first trias, Sa2 23:8. (= Ch1 11:11.). The name השּׁלישׁים (Apoc. Sa2 23:8, השּׁלשׁי, and Sa2 23:13, Ch1 27:6, incorrectly השּׁלשׁים) occurs here with reference to the threefold division of this principal host; and in regard to the use of the word in the time of Pharaoh, as well as in the time of the kings, it may be granted that shalish denotes the Three-man (triumvir), and then generally a high military officer; so that שׁלשׁים here has the same relation to נגידים, Pro 8:6, as ducalia to principalia. The name of the chief men (members of the chief troop) is transferred to the chief proverbs, as, Jam 2:8, that law which stands as a king at the head of all the others is called the "royal law;" or, as Plato names the chief powers of the soul, μέρη ἡγεμόνες. As in this Platonic word-form, so shalishim here, like negidim there, is understood neut. cf. under Pro 8:6, and ריקים, Pro 12:11; ישׁרים, Pro 16:13. The ב of בּמעצות (occurring at Pro 1:31 also) Fleischer rightly explains as the ב of uniting or accompanying: chief proverbs which contain good counsels and solid knowledge.
In the statement of the object in Pro 22:21, we interpret that which follows להודיעך not permutat.: ut te docerem recta, verba vera (Fleischer); but קשׁט (ground-form to קשׁט, Psa 60:6) is the bearer of the threefold idea: rectitudinem, or, better, regulam verborum veritatis. The (Arab.) verb ḳasiṭa means to be straight, stiff, inflexible (synon. צדק, to be hard, tight, proportionately direct); and the name ḳisṭ denotes not only the right conduct, the right measure (quantitas justa), but also the balance, and thus the rule or the norm. In 21b, אמרים אמת (as e.g., Zac 1:13; vid., Philippi, Status Constr. p. 86f.) is equivalent to אמרי אמת; the author has this second time intentionally chosen the appositional relation of connection: words which are truth; the idea of truth presents itself in this form of expression more prominently. Impossible, because contrary to the usus loq., is the translation: ut respondeas verba vera iis qui ad te mittunt (Schultens, Fleischer), because שׁלח, with the accus. following, never means "to send any one." Without doubt השׁיב and שׁלח stand in correlation to each other: he who lets himself be instructed must be supposed to be in circumstances to bring home, to those that sent him out to learn, doctrines which are truth, and thus to approve himself. The subject spoken of here is not a right answer or a true report brought back to one giving a commission; and it lies beyond the purpose and power of the following proverbs to afford a universal means whereby persons sent out are made skilful. The שׁלחים [senders] are here the parents or guardians who send him who is to be instructed to the school of the teacher of wisdom (Hitzig). Yet it appears strange that he who is the learner is just here not addressed as "my son," which would go to the support of the expression, "to send to school," which is elsewhere unused in Old Hebrew, and the שׁלחי of another are elsewhere called those who make him their mandatar, Pro 10:26; Pro 25:13; Sa2 24:13. The reference to the parents would also be excluded if, with Norzi and other editors, לשׁלחך were to be read instead of לשׁלחיך (the Venet. 1521, and most editions). Therefore the phrase לשׁעליך, which is preferred by Ewald, recommends itself, according to which the lxx translates, τοῖς προβαλλομένοις σοι, which the Syro-Hexap. renders
(Note: The Syr. n. fem. awchda (אוּחדא, Psa 49:5, Targ.) is equivalent to Heb. חידה, from (Syr.) achd, אחד = אחז, Neh 7:3, to shut up, properly, to lay hold on and retain; the Arab. akhdhat means magic, incantation; as seizing and making fast.)
by להנון דאחדין לך אוחדתא yb, i.e., to those who lay problems before thee (vid., Lagarde). The teacher of wisdom seeks to qualify him who reads the following proverbs, and permits himself to be influenced by them, to give the right answer to those who question him and go to him for counsel, and thus to become himself a teacher of wisdom. Proverbs 22:22 tProv 22:22 After these ten lines of preliminary exhortation, there now begins the collection of the "Words of the Wise" thus introduced. A tetrastich which, in its contents, connects itself with the last proverb of the Solomonic collection, Pro 22:16, forms the commencement of this collection:
22 Rob not the lowly because he is lowly;
And oppress not the humble in the gate.
23 For Jahve will conduct their cause,
And rob their spoilers of life.
Though it may bring gain, as said Pro 22:16, to oppress the דּל, the lowly or humble, yet at last the oppressor comes to ruin. The poet here warns against robbing the lowly because he is lowly, and thus without power of defence, and not to be feared; and against doing injustice to the עני, the bowed down, and therefore incapable of resisting in the gate, i.e., in the court of justice. These poor men have not indeed high human patrons, but One in heaven to undertake their cause: Jahve will conduct their cause (יריב ריבם, as at Pro 23:10), i.e., will undertake their vindication, and be their avenger. דּכּא (דּכּה), Aram. and Arab. daḳḳ (cf. דּקק, Arab. daḳḳ), signifies to crush anything so that it becomes broad and flat, figuratively to oppress, synon. עשׁק (Fleischer). The verb קבע has, in Chald. and Syr., the signification to stick, to fix (according to which Aquila here translates καθηλοῦν, to nail; Jerome, configere); and as root-word to קבּעת, the signification to be arched, like (Arab.) ḳab', to be humpbacked; both significations are here unsuitable. The connection here requires the meaning to rob; and for Mal 3:8 also, this same meaning is to be adopted, robbery and taking from one by force (Parchon, Kimchi), not: to deceive (Khler, Keil), although it might have the sense of robbing by withholding or refraining from doing that which is due, thus of a sacrilege committed by omission or deception. The Talm. does not know the verb קבע in this meaning; but it is variously found as a dialectic word for גזל.
(Note: Thus Rosch ha-schana 26b: Levi came once to N.N. There a man came to meet him, and cried out קבען פלניא. Levi knew not what he would say, and went into the Madrash-house to ask. One answered him: He is a robber (גזלן) said that one to thee; for it is said in the Scriptures (Mal 3:8), "Will a man rob God?" etc. (vid., Wissenschaft Kunst Judenthum, p. 243). In the Midrash, שׁוחר טוב, to Psa 57:1-11, R. Levi says that אתה קיבע לי is used in the sense of אתה גוזל לי. And in the Midrash Tanchuma, P. תרומה, R. Levi answers the question, "What is the meaning of קבע, Mal 3:8?" - It is an Arabic expression. An Arabian, when he wishes to say to another מה אתה גוזלני, says instead of it, מה אתה קובעני. Perhaps קבע is cogn. to קבץ; the R. קב coincides in several groups of languages (also the Turkish ḳb) with the Lat. capere.)
Schultens' etymological explanation, capitium injicere (after Arab. ḳab', to draw back and conceal the head), is not satisfactory. The construction, with the double accus., follows the analogy of הכּהוּ נפשׁ and the like, Gesen. 139. 2. Regarding the sing. נפשׁ, even where several are spoken of, vid., under Pro 1:19. Proverbs 22:24 tProv 22:24 Another tetrastich follows:
24 Have no intercourse with an angry man,
And with a furious man go thou not;
25 Lest thou adopt his ways,
And bring destruction upon thy soul.
The Piel רעה, Jdg 14:20, signifies to make or choose any one as a friend or companion (רעה, רע); the Hithpa. התרעה (cf. at Pro 18:24), to take to oneself (for oneself) any one as a friend, or to converse with one; אל־תּתרע sounds like אל־תּשׁתּע, Isa 41:10, with Pathach of the closed syllable from the apocope. The angry man is called בּעל אף, as the covetous man בּעל נפשׁ, Pro 23:2, and the mischievous man בּעל מזמּות, Pro 24:8; vid., regarding בּעל at Pro 1:19 and Pro 18:9. אישׁ חמות is related superlat. to אישׁ חמה, Pro 15:18 (cf. Pro 29:22), and signifies a hot-head of the highest degree. לא תבוא is meant as warning (cf. Pro 16:10). בּוא את, or בוא עם, Psa 26:4, to come along with one, is equivalent to go into fellowship or companionship with one, which is expressed by הלך את, Pro 13:20, as בוא ב means, Jos 23:7, Jos 23:12, to enter into communion with one, venire in consuetudinem. This בוא את is not a trace of a more recent period of the language. Also תּאלף, discas, cannot be an equivalent for it: Heb. poetry has at all times made use of Aramaisms as elegancies. אלף, Arab. אלף, ילף, Arab. âlifa, signifies to be entrusted with anything = to learn (Piel אלּף, to teach, Job 15:15, and in Elihu's speeches), or also to become confidential with one (whence אלּוּף, companion, confidant, Pro 2:17); this אלף is never a Heb. prose word; the bibl. אלּוּף is only used at a later period in the sense of teacher. ארחות .reh are the ways, the conduct (Pro 2:20, etc.), or manner of life (Pro 1:19) which any one enters upon and follows out, thus manners as well as lot, condition. In the phrase "to bring destruction," לקח is used as in our phrase Schaden nehmen [to suffer injury]; the ancient language also represented the forced entrance of one into a state as a being laid hold on, e.g., Job 18:20, cf. Isa 13:8; here מוקשׁ is not merely equivalent to danger (Ewald, falsely: that thou takest not danger for thy soul), but is equivalent to destruction, sin itself is a snare (Pro 29:6); to bring a snare for oneself is equivalent to suffer from being ensnared. Whosoever comes into a near relation with a passionate, furious, man, easily accommodates himself to his manners, and, hurried forward by him and like him to outbreaks of anger, which does that which is not right before God, falls into ruinous complications. Proverbs 22:26 tProv 22:29 After these four proverbs beginning with אל, a new series begins with the following tristich:
29 Seest thou a man who is expert in his calling -
Before kings may he stand;
Not stand before obscure men;
i.e., he can enter into the service of kings, and needs not to enter into the service of mean men = he is entitled to claim the highest official post. חזית, in Pro 26:12 = Pro 29:20, interchanging with ראית, is perf. hypotheticum (cf. Pro 24:10; Pro 25:16): si videris; the conclusion which might begin with דּע כּי expresses further what he who sees will have occasion to observe. Rightly Luther: Sihestu einen Man endelich (vid., at Pro 21:5) in seinem geschefft, u.s.w. = seest thou a man expert in his business, etc.. מהיר denotes in all the three chief dialects one who is skilful in a manner not merely by virtue of external artistic ability, but also by means of intellectual mastery of it. התיצּב לפני, to enter on the situation of a servant before any one; cf. Job 1:6; Job 2:1. עמד לפני, Sa1 16:21; Kg1 10:8. Along with the pausal form יתיצּב, there is also found in Codd. the form יתיצּב (the ground-form to יתיצּב, whence that pausal form is lengthened), which Ben-Bileam defends, for he reckons this word among "the pathachized pausal forms." חשׁכּים, in contrast to מלכים, are the obscuri = ignobiles. The Targ. translate the Heb. דּל and אביון by חשׁיך and חשׁוך. Kimchi compares Jer 39:10, where העם הדּלּים is translated by חשׁיכיּא (cf. Kg2 24:14; Kg2 25:12). חלכּה (חלכּה) is the old Heb. synonym in Ps 10. The poet seems here to transfer the Aram. usus loq. into the Heb. Next: Proverbs Chapter 23