Attributed commentary excerpt
Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 18:9
A historical reference excerpt for this verse.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.
9 He also who showeth himself slothful in his business, Is a brother to him who proceedeth to destroy. The Hithpa. התרפּה signifies here, as at Pro 24:10, to show oneself slack, lazy, negligent. מלאכה is properly a commission for another, as a king has a messenger, ambassador, commissioner to execute it; here, any business, whether an undertaking in commission from another, or a matter one engages in for himself. He who shows himself slack therein, produces in his way, viz., by negligence, destruction, as truly as the בּעל משׁחית, who does it directly by his conduct. Thus one is named, who is called, or who has his own delight in it, to destroy or overthrow. Jerome, incorrectly limiting: sua opera dissipantis. Hitzig well compares Mat 12:30. In the variation, Pro 28:24, the destroyer is called אישׁ משׁחית, the connection of the words being adject.; on the contrary, the connection of בעל משׁחית is genit. (cf. Pro 22:24; Pro 23:2, etc.), for משׁחית as frequently means that which destroys = destruction. Von Hofmann (Schriftbew. ii. 2, 403) understands 'אישׁ מ of the street robber, 'בעל מ of the captain of robbers; but the designation for the latter must be 'שׂר מ, though at Kg1 11:24 he is called by the name שׂר גּדוּד. The form of the word in the proverb here is more original than at 38:24. There חבר \[companion\] is used, here אח \[brother\], a general Semitic name of him who, or of that which, is in any way related to another, cf. Job 30:29. Fleischer compares the Arab. proverb: âlshbht âkht alkhṭyât, scepticism is the sister of sin. Proverbs 18:10
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