Proverbs 29:5

“A man that flattereth his neighbour, etc.] That speaks smooth things to him gives him flattering titles, speaks fair to his face, highly commends him on one account or another: spreadeth a net for his feet; has an idle design upon him, and therefore should be guarded against; his view is to draw him into a snare and make a prey of him; he attacks him on his weak side, and hopes to make some advantage of it to himself; wherefore flatterers should be avoided as pernicious persons; or he spreads a net for his own feet, and is taken in the snare which he had laid for his neighbour; or falls into the pit he dug for him, as Gersom observes; (see <19E005>Psalm 140:5 <280501>Hosea 5:1).”

“(Compare Pro 26:28). spreadeth . . . feet--By misleading him as to his real character, the flatterer brings him to evil, prepared by himself or others.”

“29:5 Flattery is usually a trap to taking advantage of someone (7:21-22; 26:23).”

“that: Pro 7:5, Pro 7:21, Pro 20:19, Pro 26:24, Pro 26:25, Pro 26:28; Sa2 14:17-24; Job 17:5; Psa 5:9, Psa 12:2; Th1 2:5 spreadeth: Pro 1:17; Lam 1:13; Hos 5:1; Luk 20:20, Luk 20:21; Rom 16:18 Proverbs 29:6”

“5 A man who flattereth his neighbour Spreadeth a net for his steps. Fleischer, as Bertheau: vir qui alterum blanditiis circumvenit; but in the על there does not lie in itself a hostile tendency, an intention to do injury; it interchanges with אל, Psa 36:3, and what is expressed in line second happens also, without any intention on the part of the flatterer: the web of the flatterer before the eyes of a neighbour becomes, if he is caught thereby, a net for him in which he is entangled to his own destruction (Hitzig). החליק signifies also, without any external object, Pro 28:23; Pro 2:16, as internally transitive: to utter that which is smooth, i.e., flattering. פּעמיו is, as Psa 57:7 = רגליו,…”