Attributed commentary excerpt
Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 15:20
A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.
Commentary on the Old Testament
C. F. Keil & F. Delitzsch · 19th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.
This collection of Solomonic proverbs began, Pro 10:1, with a proverb having reference to the observance of the fourth commandment, (Note: The fifth commandment of the Westminster Shorter Catechism is named as the fourth in Luther's catechism.) and a second chief section, Pro 13:1, began in the same way. Here a proverb of the same kind designates the beginning of a third chief section. That the editor was aware of this is shown by the homogeneity of the proverbs, Pro 15:19; Pro 12:28, which form the conclusion of the first and second sections. We place together first in this new section, Pro 15:20-23, in which (with the exception of Pro 15:25) the ישׂמח \[maketh glad\] of the first ( Pro 10:1) is continued. Pro 15:20 20 A wise son maketh a glad father, And a fool of a man despiseth his mother. Line first = Pro 10:1. The gen. connection of כּסיל אדם (here and at Pro 21:20) is not superlative the most foolish of men, but like פּרא אדם, Gen 16:12; the latter: a man of the wild ass kind; the former: a man of the fool kind, who is the exemplar of such a sort among men. Piety acting in willing subordination is wisdom, and the contrary exceeding folly. Pro 15:21 21 Folly is joy to him that is devoid of understanding; But a man of understanding goeth straight forward. Regarding חסר־לב, vid., at Pro 6:32 (cf. libı̂b, which in the Samaritan means "dearly beloved," in Syr. "courageous," in Arab. and Aethiop. cordatus); אישׁ תּבוּנה, Pro 10:23, and ישּׁר, with the accus. of the way, here of the going, Pro 3:6 (but not Pro 11:5, where the going itself is not the subject). In consequence of the contrast, the meaning of 21a is different from that of Pro 10:23, according to which sin is to the fool as the sport of a child. Here אוּלת is folly and buffoonery, drawing aside in every kind of way from the direct path of that which is good, and especially from the path of one's duty. This gives joy to the fool; he is thereby drawn away from the earnest and faithful performance of the duties of his calling, and thus wastes time and strength; while, on the contrary, a man of understanding, who perceives and rejects the vanity and unworthiness of such trifling and such nonsense, keeps the straight direction of his going, i.e., without being drawn aside or kept back, goes straight forward, i.e., true to duty, prosecutes the end of his calling. לכת is accus., like Pro 30:29, Mic 6:8. Pro 15:22 22 A breaking of plans where no counsel is; But where many counsellors are they come to pass. On the other side it is also true according to the proverbs, "so viel Kpfe so viel Sinne" \[quot homines, tot sententiae\], and "viel Rath ist Unrath" \[ne quid nimis\], and the like. But it cannot become a rule of morals not to accept of counsel that we may not go astray; on the contrary, it is and remains a rule of morals: not stubbornly to follow one's own heart (head), and not obstinately to carry out one's own will, and not in the darkness of wisdom to regard one's own plans as unimproveable, and not needing to be examined; but to listen to the counsel of intelligent and honest friends, and, especially where weighty matters are in hand, not affecting one's own person, but the common good, not to listen merely to one counsellor, but to many. Not merely the organism of the modern state, but also of old the Mosaic arrangement of the Israelitish community, with its representative organization, its courts and councils, rested on the acknowledged justice and importance of the sa…
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