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Selected Verse: Proverbs 23:22 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Pr 23:22 |
King James |
Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
Hearken--that is, obey (Pro 1:8; Eph 6:1).
despise . . . old--Adults revere the parents whom, as children, they once obeyed. |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
The parainesis begins anew, and the division is open to question. Pro 23:22-24 can of themselves be independent distichs; but this is not the case with Pro 23:25, which, in the resumption of the address and in expression, leans back on Pro 23:22. The author of this appendix may have met with Pro 23:23 and Pro 23:24 (although here also his style, as conformed to that of Pro 1:9, is noticeable, cf. 23b with Pro 1:2), but Pro 23:22 and Pro 23:25 are the form which he has given to them.
Thus Pro 23:22-25 are a whole: -
22 Hearken to thy father, to him who hath begotten thee,
And despise not thy mother when she has grown old.
23 Buy the truth, and sell it not,
Wisdom and discipline and understanding.
24 The father of a righteous man rejoiceth greatly;
(And) he that is the father of a wise man - he will rejoice.
25 Let thy father and thy mother be glad;
And her that bare thee exult.
The octastich begins with a call to childlike obedience, for שׁמע ל, to listen to any one, is equivalent to, to obey him, e.g., Psa 81:9, Psa 81:14 (cf. "hearken to his voice," Psa 95:7). זה ילדך is a relative clause (cf. Deu 32:18, without זה or אשׁר), according to which it is rightly accentuated (cf. on the contrary, Psa 78:54). 22b, strictly taken, is not to be translated neve contemne cum senuerit matrem tuam (Fleischer), but cum senuerit mater tua, for the logical object to אל־תּבוּז is attracted as subj. of זקנה (Hitzig). There now follows the exhortation comprehending all, and formed after Pro 4:7, to buy wisdom, i.e., to shun no expense, no effort, no privation, in order to attain to the possession of wisdom; and not to sell it, i.e., not to place it over against any earthly possession, worldly gain, sensual enjoyment; not to let it be taken away by any intimidation, argued away by false reasoning, or prevailed against by enticements into the way of vice, and not to become unfaithful to it by swimming with the great stream (Exo 23:2); for truth, אמת, is that which endures and proves itself in all spheres, the moral as well as the intellectual. In 23b, in like manner as Pro 1:3; Pro 22:4, a threefold object is given to קנה instead of אמת: there are three properties which are peculiar to truth, the three powers which handle it: חכמה is knowledge solid, pressing into the essence of things; מוּסר is moral culture; and בּינה the central faculty of proving and distinguishing (vid., Pro 1:3-5). Now Pro 23:24 says what consequences are for the parents when the son, according to the exhortation of Pro 23:23, makes truth his aim, to which all is subordinated. Because in אמת the ideas of practical and theoretical truth are inter-connected. צדּיק and חכם are also here parallel to one another. The Chethı̂b of 24a is גּול יגוּל, which Schultens finds tenable in view of (Arab.) jal, fut jajûlu (to turn round; Heb. to turn oneself for joy) but the Heb. usus loq. knows elsewhere only גּיל יגיל, as the Kerı̂ corrects. The lxx, misled by the Chethı̂b, translates καλῶς ἐκτρέφει (incorrect ἐκτρυφήσει), i.e., גּדּל יגדּל. In 24b, וישׂמח is of the nature of a pred. of the conclusion (cf. Gen 22:24; Psa 115:7), as if the sentence were: has one begotten a wise man, then (cf. Pro 17:21) he has joy of him; but the Kerı̂ effaces this Vav apodosis, and assigns it to יולד as Vav copul. - an unnecessary mingling of the syntactically possible, more emphatic expression. This proverbial whole now rounds itself off in Pro 23:25 by a reference to Pro 23:22 - the Optative here corresponding to the Impr. and Prohib. there: let thy father and thy mother rejoice (lxx εὐφρανέσθω), and let her that bare thee exult (here where it is possible the Optat. form ותגל). |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
| Despise not thy mother when she is old - A very necessary caution, as very old women are generally helpless, useless, and burdensome: yet these circumstances do not at all lessen the child's duty. And this duty is strengthened by the Divine command here given. |
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
8 My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
22 Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.
25 Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice.
21 He that begetteth a fool doeth it to his sorrow: and the father of a fool hath no joy.
7 They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat.
24 And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she bare also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.
23 Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
24 The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.
3 To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
4 To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
4 By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life.
3 To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
2 Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment:
7 Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.
54 And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased.
18 Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.
7 For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,
14 I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries.
9 There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god.
22 Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.
23 Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
24 The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.
25 Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice.
25 Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice.
22 Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.
2 To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
9 For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
24 The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.
23 Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
22 Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.
25 Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice.
22 Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.
23 Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
24 The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.