Proverbs 22
Value of Reputation and Character 1–16
Introduction to the Words of the Wise 17–21
Specific Instructions on Justice and Relationships 22–29
Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain
Study Notes for Proverbs 22
Verse 1
A good name — Shem, a name, stands here for a man’s standing, and ‘loving favour’ is chen, the grace of ‘Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD’ (Gen 6:8). Both are put above what money buys: ‘A good name is better than precious ointment’ (Eccl 7:1). ‘Rather to be chosen’ is bachar, to pick out.
Verse 2
The rich and poor meet together — Pagash, to meet, is the verb of ‘The poor and the deceitful man meet together: the LORD lighteneth both their eyes’ (Prov 29:13). ‘Maker’ is oseh, the word of Prov 14:31, where oppressing the poor ‘reproacheth his Maker’.
Verse 4
By humility and the fear of the LORD — ‘By’ is eqeb, a heel, so what follows as a consequence, the word of ‘in keeping of them there is great reward’ (Ps 19:11). ‘Humility’ (anavah) is the word of ‘before honour is humility’ (Prov 15:33). Wisdom’s hands hold the same gifts: ‘Length of days… and in her left hand riches and honour’ (Prov 3:16).
Verse 6
Train up a child — Chanak, to dedicate or begin the use of, occurs only here and of dedicating a house (Deut 20:5) and the LORD’s house (1 Kgs 8:63; 2 Chr 7:5). ‘In the way he should go’ is literally ‘according to his way’. Deut 6:7 commands teaching ‘diligently unto thy children’, and Paul ‘the nurture and admonition of the Lord’ (Eph 6:4).
Verse 7
the borrower is servant to the lender — ‘Borrower’ and ‘lender’ both come from lavah, to join, the verb of ‘lendeth unto the LORD’ (19:17). The debtor’s household could be taken: ‘the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen’ (2 Kgs 4:1). Israel’s blessing was the opposite: ‘thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow’ (Deut 28:12).
Verse 8
soweth iniquity shall reap vanity — Evel, perversity, is sown and aven, nothingness, reaped, as in ‘they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same’ (Job 4:8). Paul gives it as a law: ‘whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap’ (Gal 6:7). The ‘rod of his anger’ fails as ‘The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked’ (Isa 14:5).
Verse 10
Cast out the scorner — Garash, to drive out, is the verb of ‘Cast out this bondwoman and her son’ (Gen 21:10), which Paul quotes in Gal 4:30. With the scorner (luts) gone, ‘contention’, ‘strife and reproach’ go as well; ‘shall cease’ is shabat, to desist.
Verse 13
There is a lion without — The slothful man’s excuse is a lion ‘without’, outside in the open street. Prov 26:13 gives it again: ‘There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets.’ Prov 15:19 names what the excuse amounts to: ‘The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns: but the way of the righteous is made plain.’
Verse 14
a deep pit — Shuchah is a pit, the ‘deep ditch’ of Prov 23:27, where the strange woman is ‘a narrow pit’. Her mouth is the lure: ‘her mouth is smoother than oil’ (Prov 5:3). ‘Abhorred of the LORD’ is zaam, to be indignant, as in ‘God is angry with the wicked every day’ (Ps 7:11).
Verse 16
shall surely come to want — Machsor, want, is the word in ‘He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack’ (Prov 28:27) and in ‘every one that is hasty only to want’ (Prov 21:5). The one who oppresses the poor (ashaq) to enlarge his riches, and the one who gives to the rich, both end in the want the poor man suffers.
Verse 17
Bow down thine ear — These ‘words of the wise’ address the reader directly, with ‘thee’ here and ‘My son’ in 23:15. Natah, to stretch out, is the verb of ‘incline thine ear unto my sayings’ (Prov 4:20). To ‘apply’ the heart is shith, to set it, on ‘my knowledge’ (daath).
Verse 19
That thy trust may be in the LORD — ‘Trust’ is mibtach, the word of ‘strong confidence’ in the fear of the LORD (Prov 14:26) and of ‘whose hope the LORD is’ (Jer 17:7). The purpose of the teaching is stated before the teaching begins: ‘I have made known to thee this day, even to thee.’
Verse 20
excellent things — Shalish is elsewhere rendered ‘captains’ (Ex 15:4) and ‘lord’ (2 Kgs 7:2); the KJV takes it here as ‘excellent things’. They are written ‘in counsels and knowledge’: moetsah is a plan or counsel, and daath, knowledge, is the word of ‘my knowledge’ in v.17.
Verse 21
the certainty of the words of truth — Qoshet, certainty, is found only here and in Ps 60:4, ‘displayed because of the truth’. Luke states the same aim for his Gospel, ‘That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed’ (Luke 1:4), and Peter asks for the second half: ‘be ready always to give an answer’ (1 Pet 3:15).
Verse 22
Rob not the poor — Gazal, to tear off, is the verb of those who ‘pluck off their skin from off them’ (Mic 3:2). The ‘gate’ is where cases were heard: ‘they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right’ (Amos 5:12). The law says the same: ‘Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause’ (Ex 23:6).
Verse 23
will plead their cause — ‘Plead’ and ‘cause’ share one root, riv: the LORD takes up their suit himself, as in ‘their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee’ (Prov 23:11). ‘Spoil’ and ‘spoiled’ are both qaba, to rob, the verb of ‘Will a man rob God?’ (Mal 3:8). The penalty matches the offence: soul for goods.
Verse 25
learn his ways — The ‘his’ is the angry man of v.24, with whom he is told to ‘make no friendship’. Alaph is to learn, and in its causative form to teach. The ‘snare’ (moqesh) is a noose. ‘Evil communications corrupt good manners’ (1 Cor 15:33); ‘a companion of fools shall be destroyed’ (Prov 13:20).
Verse 26
strike hands — Taqa kaph is to clap the palm, the gesture that sealed a pledge: ‘A man void of understanding striketh hands, and becometh surety in the presence of his friend’ (Prov 17:18). ‘Surety’ is arab, to give security. ‘He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it’ (Prov 11:15), and v.27 names the cost: ‘thy bed from under thee’.
Verse 28
ancient landmark — Gevul is a boundary, and ‘ancient’ is olam, of long standing. The law put a curse on moving it: ‘Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour’s landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance’ (Deut 19:14); ‘Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour’s landmark’ (Deut 27:17). Prov 23:10 adds ‘the fields of the fatherless’.
Verse 29
diligent in his business — Mahir is quick, skilful: Ezra is ‘a ready scribe in the law of Moses’ (Ezra 7:6), and the psalmist’s tongue is ‘the pen of a ready writer’ (Ps 45:1). ‘Business’ is melachah, work. Such a man ‘shall stand before kings’ (yatsab, to take his place), not before ‘mean men’ (chashok, dark, obscure).