Proverbs 29:24 Kommentar

Here, 1. The obstinacy of many wicked people in a wicked way is to be greatly lamented. They are often reproved by parents and friends, by magistrates and ministers, by the providence of God and by their own consciences, have had their sins set in order before them and fair warning given them of the consequences of them, but all in vain; they harden their necks. Perhaps they fling away, and will not so much as give the reproof a patient hearing; or, if they do, yet they go on in the sins for which they are reproved; they will not bow their necks to the yoke, but are children of Belial; they refuse reproof (Pro 10:17), despise it (Pro 5:12), hate it, Pro 12:1. 2. The issue of this obstinacy is to be greatly dreaded: Those that go on in sin, in spite of admonition, shall be destroyed; those that will not be reformed must expect to be ruined; if the rods answer not the end, expect the axes. They shall be suddenly destroyed, in the midst of their security, and without remedy; they have sinned against the preventing remedy, and therefore let them not expect any recovering remedy. Hell is remediless destruction. They shall be destroyed, and no healing, so the word is. If God wounds, who can heal?

See here what sin and ruin those involve themselves in who are drawn away by the enticement of sinners. 1. They incur a great deal of guilt: He does so that goes partner with such as rob and defraud, and casts in his lot among them, Pro 1:11, etc. The receiver is as bad as the thief; and, being drawn in to join with him in the commission of the sin, he cannot escape joining with him in the concealment of it, though it be with the most horrid perjuries and execrations. They hear cursing when they are sworn to tell the whole truth, but they will not confess. 2. They hasten to utter ruin: They even hate their own souls, for they wilfully do that which will be the inevitable destruction of them. See the absurdities sinners are guilty of; they love death, than which nothing is more dreadful, and hate their own souls, than which nothing is more dear.

He that being often reported hardeneth his neck,.... Or "a man of reproofs" (d); either a man that takes upon him to be a censurer and reprover of others, and is often at that work, and yet does those things himself which he censures and reproves in others; and therefore must have an impudent face and a hard heart a seared conscience and a stiff neck; his neck must be an iron sinew and his brow brass: or rather a man that is often reproved by others by parents by ministers of the Gospel, by the Lord himself, by the admonitions of his word and Spirit and by the correcting dispensations of his providence; and yet despises and rejects all counsel and admonition, instruction and reproofs of every kind, and hardens himself against them and shows no manner of regard unto them. The metaphor is taken from oxen, which kick and toss about and will not suffer the yoke to be put upon their necks. Such an one shall suddenly be destroyed; or "broken" (e); as a potter's vessel is broken to pieces with an iron rod, and can never he put together again; so such persons shall be punished with everlasting destruction, which shall come upon them suddenly, when they are crying Peace to themselves notwithstanding the reproofs of God and men; and that without remedy; or, "and there is no healing" (f); no cure of their disease, which is obstinate; no pardon of their sins; no recovery of them out of their miserable and undone state and condition; they are irretrievably lost; there is no help for them, having despised advice and instruction; see Pro 5:12. (d) "vir increpationum", Vatablus, Montanus, Mercerus, Gejerus; "vir correptionum", Piscator, Michaelis; "vir redargutionum", Schultens. (e) "conteretur", Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, &c. "confringetur", Schultens; so Baynus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius. (f) "et non (erit) sanitas", Pagninus, Montanus, Baynus; "non sit curatio", Junius & Tremellius; "medicina", Piscator.

Whoso is partner with a thief,.... That robs and steals, and raises away another man's property; which to do is sinful and contrary to the law of God, and punishable by it; and so it is to join with him in the theft, or to devise, or consent unto it; or to receive the stolen goods, or to hide and conceal them; or to hide the thief, or the theft, and not declare them; see Psa 50:18. Such an one hateth his own soul; that is, he is not careful of it, he is not concerned for its welfare as he should be; for otherwise no man, properly speaking, hates his own flesh or body, and much less his soul; but he is negligent of the good of it, and, for the sake of the mammon of unrighteousness, runs the risk of the ruin of it; by which he shows that he loves the world more than his own soul; when the profit of the whole world is nothing to the soul of man, Mat 16:26; see Pro 8:36; he heareth cursing, and bewrayeth it not; or "does not declare it" (b); he heareth the cursing of those that have lost their goods, and yet he does not declare where they are, and who is the author of the theft, though he knows; or, being suspected of being concerned in it, or, at least, of knowing who did it, be is had before a civil magistrate, and an oath is given him, which he takes, and yet he conceals the matter: which is an aggravation of his sin, and brings ruin to his soul. So the Targum, "an oath is determined (or brought to him) and he confesseth not.'' Some understand this of a distinct evil, of hearing cursing and swearing, and taking the name of God in vain, and blasphemy against him; yet, through fear of incurring the displeasure of men, and being reckoned a busy body, or through indifference and want of zeal for the glory of God, do not discover it, or inform of it, to a proper person, for the punishment of such; see Lev 5:1; and render the words (c), as "he that is partner with a thief hateth his own soul; so he that heareth cursing, and betrayeth it not." (b) "et non indicat", Junius & Tremellius, Mercerus, Cocceius, Schultens, Michaelis. (c) So Gejerus.

He who associates with a thief hates his own soul, etc. Wisdom teaches its helper not only to abstain from sins but also to refrain from the company of sinners, lest he should deserve to hear from the strict judge, "If you saw a thief, you ran with him, and with adulterers, you placed your portion" (Psalm 50). For not only the thief himself but also he who is conscious of theft is liable, who, when the owner who lost the money seeks it, does not want to inform him, though he can. But lest anyone pleads fear of a more powerful person and claims he cannot separate from the company of thieves or reveal what he knows, it is openly added:

(Pro. 29:1-27) hardeneth . . . neck--obstinately refuses counsel (Kg2 17:14; Neh 9:16). destroyed--literally, "shivered" or "utterly broken to pieces." without remedy--literally, "without healing" or repairing.

hateth . . . soul--(Compare Pro 8:36). heareth cursing-- (Lev 5:1), risks the punishment, rather than reveal truth.

24 He that taketh part with a thief hateth himself; He heareth the oath and confesseth not. Hitzig renders the first member as the pred. of the second: "he who does not bring to light such sins as require an atonement (Lev 5:1.), but shares the secret of them with the sinner, is not better than one who is a partner with a thief, who hateth himself." The construction of the verse, he remarks, is not understood by any interpreter. It is not, however, so cross, - for, understood as Hitzig thinks it ought to be, the author should have expressed the subject by שׁמע אלה ולא יגיד, - but is simple as the order of the words and the verbal form require it. The oath is, after Lev 5:1, that of the judge who adjures the partner of the thief by God to tell the truth; but he conceals it, and burdens his soul with a crime worthy of death, for from a concealer he becomes in addition a perjured man.