Proverbs 6:23 Kommentar

In this chapter we have, I. A caution against rash suretiship (Pro 6:1-5). II. A rebuke to slothfulness (Pro 6:6-11). III. The character and fate of a malicious mischievous man (Pro 6:12-15). IV. An account of seven things which God hates (Pro 6:16-19). V. An exhortation to make the word of God familiar to us (Pro 6:20-23). VI. A repeated warning of the pernicious consequences of the sin of whoredom (Pro 6:24-35). We are here dissuaded from sin very much by arguments borrowed from our secular interests, for it is not only represented as damning in the other world, but as impoverishing in this.

INTRODUCTION TO PROVERBS 6 In this chapter the wise man dissuades from rash suretyship; exposes the sin of idleness; describes a wicked man; makes mention of seven things hateful to God; exhorts to attend to parental instructions and precepts, and cautions against adultery. Suretyship is described, Pro 6:1; and represented as a snare and a net, in which men are taken, Pro 6:2; and advice is given what to do in such a case, for safety in it, and deliverance from it, Pro 6:3; The sin of slothfulness is exposed, by observing the industry of the ant, Pro 6:6; by expostulating with the sluggard for his continuance in sloth, and by mimicking him, Pro 6:9; and by the poverty it brings upon him, Pro 6:11. Then a naughty wicked man is described, by his mouth, eyes, feet, fingers, and heart, whose ruin is sudden and inevitable, Pro 6:11. The seven things hateful to God are particularly named, Pro 6:16. And next the exhortation in some preceding chapters is reassumed, to attend to the instructions of parents; which will be found ornamental, pleasant, and useful, Pro 6:20. Especially to preserve from the lewd woman cautioned against, Pro 6:24; whose company is dissuaded from; on account of the extreme poverty and distress she brings persons to, and even danger of life, Pro 6:26; from the unavoidable ruin such come into, Pro 6:27; from the sin of uncleanness being greater than that of theft, Pro 6:30; from the folly the adulterer betrays; from the destruction of his soul, and the disgrace he brings on himself, Pro 6:32; and from the rage and irreconcilable offence of the husband of the adulteress, Pro 6:34.

To keep thee from the evil woman,.... This is one use of the profit arising from attending to the instructions of parents, and to the law of God, as taught by them; to preserve from fornication and adultery, one of its precepts expressly forbidding adultery and all corporeal uncleanness; and the whole of it directing to an observance of all duties respecting God and our neighbour, which requires diligence and industry, and prevents idleness, that inlet to all sin, and especially to uncleanness (k); from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman; the same with the evil woman, the lewd and adulterous one; see Pro 2:16. Jarchi interprets this of idolatry; the character well agrees with the idolatrous church of Rome, or antichrist, represented by a whore, Rev 17:1; as this woman is called "the woman of evil" (l), for so it may be rendered, one very evil, given up and abandoned to sin; so antichrist is called "the man of sin", Th2 2:3; and as this woman is said to have the "smoothness of a strange tongue" (m), as the words may be translated, and are by the Targum; so the religion of this false church is delivered in a strange language the people understand not, by which they are kept in ignorance and deception; now the word of God read and explained in the mother tongue, and especially the Gospel part of it, the doctrine of wisdom, is a means of preserving persons from the errors and heresies, superstition and idolatry, of the church of Rome, and from being carried away with their false glosses, and gaudy worship, and all its deceivable ways of unrighteousness. (k) "Otia si tollas periere cupidinis arcus", Ovid. de Remed. Amor. l. 1. v. 139. Quaeritur Aegistheus, "quare sit factus adulter?--in promptu causa est, desidiosus erat". Ibid. v. 161, 162. (l) "a muliere mali", Baynus, Mercerus, Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis. (m) "a lenitate linguae extraneae", Montanus; "a laevitate linguae peregrinae", Michaelis; "ex lubrica glabritie linguae peregrinae", Schultens.

Solomon also writes that “the commandment of the law is a lamp and a light.” This sensible light that is in the world, by falling on our bodily eyes, dispels the darkness. So also the law of God, when admitted into the mind and heart of people, illuminates it thoroughly and does not allow it to fall against the stumbling blocks of ignorance or be caught in the thickets of sin.

After admonitions against suretyship and sloth (compare Pro 6:6-8), the character and fate of the wicked generally are set forth, and the writer (Pro. 6:20-35) resumes the warnings against incontinence, pointing out its certain and terrible results. This train of thought seems to intimate the kindred of these vices. (Pro. 6:1-35) if--The condition extends through both verses. be surety--art pledged. stricken . . . hand--bargained (compare Job 17:3). with a stranger--that is, for a friend (compare Pro 11:15; Pro 17:18).

reproofs-- (Pro 1:23) the convictions of error produced by instruction.

Since in היא the idea of wisdom and of wholesome doctrine lie in one another, the author can proceed with proof: For a lamp is the commandment, and instruction a light (Jerome et lex lux); And a way of life, disciplinary reproofs. That תורה has here not the positive, specifically Israelitish sense, but the generalized sense of instruction in conformity with truth regarding the will of God and the duty of man, vid., p. 42. This instruction mediated by man, but of divine origin, is אור, light, which enlightens the man who submits to it; and the commandment, מצוה, which directs men in every case to do what is right, and forbids that which is wrong (including the prohibition Lev 4:2), is נר, a lamp which, kindled at that light, enlightens all the darkness of ignorance with reference to human conduct and its consequences. אור and נר are related to each other as general and particular, primary and derivative. Lwenstein accentuates incorrectly תּורהו אור instead of תּורהו אור (as the Cod. 1294 and the 3 Erfurt Codd.); vid., on the retrogression of the tone, not existing here, under Pro 3:15. The gen. מוּסר denotes the object or character of the admonition: not disciplinary in the external sense of the word, but rather moral, having in view discipline in the sense of education, i.e., moral edification and elevation. Such corrections are דּרך חיּים, the way to true life, direction how to obtain it.