Proverbs 1-9. First Section. The Praise of Wisdom.
Pro 1:1. Title, either of the whole book, or of this particular collection.
The word for
proverb, mâ shâ l, has a wide significance
in Heb. (see BDB). Probably it originally expressed a comparison or allusion, drawn from history or nature, and employed to convey a taunt or satire, hence the rendering taunt-song. For different meanings
cf. Num 21:27;
Deu 28:37;
Job 13:12;
Isa 14:4;
Eze 12:23. Ezekiel's use should be specially noted.
Pro 1:2-6. Introduction specifying the purpose of the book. There need be no grammatical connexion between the title and the infinitives in
Pro 1:2-6.
Pro 1:3. Construction obscure. Possibly render the discipline that causes one to understand (what is) righteousness, judgment, and equity.
Pro 1:4. simple: from root meaning to be open, spacious. Those who are lacking in reticence and self-restraint.
subtilty: shrewdness, used of the serpent in
Gen 3:1.
Pro 1:5. sound counsels: lit. rope-pulling, hence direction, a nautical term, steersmanship (
cf. Pro 24:6;
Job 37:12).
Pro 1:6. figure: lit. satire (
cf. Hab 2:6 f.*), from root to scorn.
dark sayings: read riddles (
cf. Jdg 14:12;
1Ki 10:1;
Eze 17:2).
Pro 1:7-20. First Discourse warning the young man against the allurements of those who are in haste to get gain by oppression and spoliation. Apparently there was a persecuted party, the innocent and the perfect (
Pro 1:11 f.), and a party of godless oppressors who entice the young man by the promise of gain. It is less likely that the speakers were a band of highway robbers (
cf. Psa 10:8 f.,
Psa 11:2).
Pro 1:7. The introductory motto of the whole collection (
cf. Pro 9:10;
Job 28:28;
Psa 111:10, Sir_1:14).
foolish: the precise shades of meaning in the various synonyms for fool in Heb. are not easy to define (p. 344).
Pethî (
Pro 1:4 *) means open, simple, not necessarily with an evil significance;
-' evî l (
Pro 1:7) is one who is crass, stupid (lit. be fat, thick);
k- sil is the braggart fool (
Pro 1:22), (
cf. the mythological significance of Orion);
nâ bâ l, less frequent in Pr. (only
Pro 17:7-21;
Pro 30:22), the man lacking in moral sensibility (
cf. Psa 14:1;
1Sa 25:25);
sakal, not in Pr. (
cf. Ecc 2:19).
Pro 1:17. Obscure. May mean (
a) the net of the allurements of the wicked is spread in vain when the victim is forewarned, or (
b) the net of retribution is spread in vain in the sight of the wicked, they will not be warned.
spread: a forced rendering; Heb. means to winnow, scatter.
Pro 1:19. ways: read fate (LXX).
Pro 1:20-33. Second Discourse. Wisdom personified warns the simple of the law of retribution, that they cannot escape the consequences of their own actions. The future judgment has little place in the ordinary Hebrew conception of the Day of Yahweh. The tendency to personify the Divine attributes is a late development due to the increasing sense of God's transcendence.
Cf. the growth of the conception of Metatron, and the Memra (pp. 401, 746) of the Targums.