Attributed commentary excerpt
Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 8:17
A historical reference excerpt for this verse.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.
The discourse of Wisdom makes a fresh departure, as at Pro 8:13 : she tells how, to those who love her, she repays this love: 17 "I love them that love me, And they that seek me early find me. 18 Riches and honour are with me, Durable riches and righteousness. 19 Better is my fruit than pure and fine gold, And my revenue (better) than choice silver. 20 In the way of righteousness do I walk, In the midst of the paths of justice. 21 To give an inheritance to them that love me And I fill their treasuries." The Chethı̂b אהביה (ego hos qui eam amant redamo), Gesenius, Lehrgeb. 196, 5, regards as a possible synallage (eam = me), but one would rather think that it ought to be read (יהוה =) 'אהבי ה. The ancients all have the reading אהבי. אהב (= אאהב, with the change of the éě into ê, and the compression of the radical א; cf. אמר, תּבא, Pro 1:10) is the form of the fut. Kal, which is inflected תּאהבוּ, Pro 1:22. Regarding שׁחר (the Graec. Venet. well: οἱ ὀρθρίζοντές μοι), vid., Pro 1:28, where the same epenthet. fut. form is found. Pro 8:18 In this verse part of Pro 3:16 is repeated, after which אתּי is meant of possession (mecum and penes me). Regarding הון, vid., Pro 1:13; instead of the adjective יקר there, we have here עתק. The verb עתק brev signifies promoveri, to move forwards, whence are derived the meanings old (cf. aetas provecta, advanced age), venerable for age, and noble, free (cf. עתּיק, Isa 28:9, and Arab. 'atyḳ, manumissus), unbound, the bold. Used of clothing, עריק ( Isa 23:18) expresses the idea of venerable for age. עתק used of possessions and goods, like the Arab. 'âtak, denotes such goods as increase during long possession as an inheritance from father to son, and remain firm, and are not for the first time gained, but only need to be inherited, opes perennes et firmae (Schultens, Gesenius' Thesaur., Fleischer), although it may be also explained (which is, however, less probable with the form עתק) of the idea of the venerable from opes superbae (Jerome), splendid opulence. צדקה is here also a good which is distributed, but properly the distributing goodness itself, as the Arab. ṣadaḳat, influenced by the later use of the Hebrew צדקה (δικαιοσύνη = ἐλεημοσύνη), denotes all that which God of His goodness causes to flow to men, or which men bestow upon men (Fl.). Righteousness is partly a recompensative goodness, which rewards, according to the law of requital, like with like; partly communicative, which, according to the law of love without merit, and even in opposition to it, bestows all that is good, and above all, itself; but giving itself to man, it assimilates him to itself (vid., Psa 24:7), so that he becomes צדיק, and is regarded as such before God and men, Pro 8:19. The fruit and product of wisdom (the former a figure taken from the trees, Pro 3:18; the latter from the sowing of seed, Pro 3:9) is the gain and profit which it yields. With חרוּץ, Pro 8:10; Pro 3:14, פּז is here named as the place of fine gold, briefly for זהב מוּפז, solid gold, gold separated from the place of ore which contains it, or generally separated gold, from פּזז, violently to separate metals from base mixtures; Targ. דּהבא אובריזין, gold which has stood the fire-test, obrussa, of the crucible, Greek ὄβρυζον, Pers. ebrı̂z, Arab. ibrı̂z. In the last clause of this verse, as also in 10b, נבחר is to be interpreted as pred. to תבוּאתי, but the balance of the meaning demands as a side-piece to the מחרוץ ומפז (19a) something more than…
This public page shows a contextual excerpt from the locally available source text.
How to use this source
This excerpt is attributed to its named commentary. It is included as a historical study resource and should be evaluated in light of Scripture and other relevant evidence.
