Proverbschapter 20
30 verses · Solomon and others · 10th to 5th century BC · Wisdom and poetry
Do not say, “I will avenge this evil!” Wait on the LORD, and He will save you.
Introduction
Solomon and others, Wisdom and poetry, Proverbs Overview.
This chapter of Solomon's collection moves through the places where daily trade and daily habits were tested, the wine hall, the ploughed field and the market stall. It speaks to drinkers, farmers, buyers and sellers, and to the king who judged them all. The sayings are short and many of them are sharp. Listen for the repeated warnings about false weights and measures, and for the pictures of the king sifting out the wicked. The chapter keeps handing ordinary business back to the LORD, who searches the inner life of every person.
Context
- Who
- Drinkers, farmers, buyers and sellers, and the king who judges them all
- What
- Sayings from Solomon's collection on drink, laziness, honest trade, speech, vows and the king's justice.
- Where
- The farms and markets of Israel, and the court of the king in Jerusalem.
- When
- The reign of Solomon, about 970 to 931 BC; the book names him at Proverbs 10:1.
- Why
- To teach that the LORD sees every transaction and every motive, and that He detests dishonest weights.
Historical context
"Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging." Two different drinks are named. Wine was the ordinary table drink, watered down; "strong drink" translates a word for fermented brews made from barley or dates, sometimes sweetened, and drunk unmixed. Both were normal at feasts, and drunkenness was a recognised civic problem, not a rare vice.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
"The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest." Ploughing in Israel happens after the early rains soften the ground, in the cold wet months of late autumn. That is exactly when a man least wants to be out behind an ox in a wet field, and it is the only window there is. Skipping it means an empty spring.
"It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer: but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth" is haggling caught on the page. The buyer runs down the goods in front of the seller to move the price, then walks off and tells his friends what a bargain he got. Everyone in the market had done it or had it done to them.
"Divers weights, and divers measures, both of them are alike abomination to the LORD" returns to the two-weight fraud, and adds measures, the containers for grain and oil, which could be built shallow or deep in the same way.
Significance
"Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out" was a picture from a well shaft, the water is really down there, but you need a rope, a jar, and patience.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The chapter keeps handing daily transactions back to God: the weights in the bag, the lamp of the LORD searching the inward parts, the king scattering the wicked with his eye. For the first hearers, that meant business was never merely business.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
No public reading in the synagogue is drawn from this chapter. The site's own table in src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts was probed for this lane over Proverbs 16 to 31. It printed parashot total 0, haftarah uses total 0 and 0 chapters with a synagogue reading. It printed null for a festival reading of the book. The same probe printed 54 weekly portions and 6 festival readings in the table as a whole. The corpus ties no custom of the home or the synagogue to this chapter, so this part records the absence.
The chapter is met in the study of the Midrash and the Talmud instead. The corpus links it to twenty-two collections. The two it cites most often here are Aggadat Bereshit and Bamidbar Rabbah.
How it is read
Rashi is quoted here from The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, which Sefaria reports as CC-BY. Every quotation is held to fifty words or fewer because the translation is modern. Rashi reads the chapter's warfare and trade as the life of study and repentance. The counsel of the eighteenth verse becomes a plan against sin: "If you come to wage war against Satan, come with strategies of repentance, prayer and fasting" (Rashi on Proverbs 20:18:1). The buyer who says it is bad, and then boasts, is the student who acquired Torah in poverty and hunger and later boasts about the pain he suffered (Rashi on Proverbs 20:14:1). Deep water in the heart of the fifth verse is "A halachah in a wise man’s heart is sealed" (Rashi on Proverbs 20:5:1). The lazy man of the fourth verse is idle in the cold, and "neither does he engage in Torah" (Rashi on Proverbs 20:4:1).
The king on the throne of the eighth verse is read two ways. "This may be explained as referring to the Holy One, blessed be He, or it may be explained as referring to the true judges" (Rashi on Proverbs 20:8:1). The hearing ear and seeing eye are His handiwork, and He desires "an ear that hears reproof and an eye that sees what will develop" (Rashi on Proverbs 20:12:1).
The inheritance gained hastily of the twenty-first verse is given an example from Numbers 32:16, the sons of Gad and Reuben who asked for land beyond the Jordan. "They made the main thing of secondary import, for they placed their flocks before their children" (Rashi on Proverbs 20:21:1).
The corpus carries ten further notes on this chapter without an English text, each marked linked because Sefaria holds no English version of the ref. They are cited by ref alone: Ibn Ezra on Proverbs 20:1:1, 20:7:1, 20:9:1, 20:11:1, 20:16:1, 20:22:1 and 20:24:1 and Metzudat David on Proverbs 20:10:1, 20:15:1 and 20:23:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries forty rabbinic locators on this chapter, thirty-three filed as Midrash and seven as Talmud, and the text of none, so each is cited here by its ref and never quoted or paraphrased. At verse 1 it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 10:2 and Bamidbar Rabbah 11:1. At verse 2 it holds Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 13:18 and Midrash Mishlei 20:2. At verse 3 it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 18:23, with Eikhah Rabbah, Petichta 15. At verse 4 it holds Devarim Rabbah 8:6, with Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Ketubot 13:1. At verse 5 it holds Bereshit Rabbah 93:4, with Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Pesakhim 4:7. At verse 6 it holds Jerusalem Talmud Kiddushin 1:7:4 and Jerusalem Talmud Shabbat 1:2:5. At verse 7 it holds Aggadat Bereshit 10:2, with Midrash Aggadah, Leviticus 8:2:4. At verse 8 it holds Aggadat Bereshit 35:2, with Midrash Tanchuma, Kedoshim 1:1. At verse 9 it holds Midrash Mishlei 20:3 and Midrash Tehillim 119:25. At verse 10 it holds Pesikta Rabbati 13:1. At verse 11 it holds Bereshit Rabbah 1:11 and Bereshit Rabbah 2:1. At verse 12 it holds Aggadat Bereshit 70:1 and Aggadat Bereshit 70:2. At verse 13 it holds Midrash Sekhel Tov, Shemot 4:11:4, with Otzar Midrashim, Perek Shirah ('Chapter of Song') 1:54. At verse 14 it holds Bava Batra 84a:4. At verse 15 it holds Midrash Aggadah, Leviticus 1:2:1. At verse 16 it holds Bava Batra 173b:11. At verse 17 it holds Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayechi 27. At verse 18 it holds Introductions to Tanaitic Literature, Introductions to Tractates of the Mishnah, Rosh HaShanah 110. At verse 20 it holds Midrash Shmuel 7:1. At verse 21 it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 22:9. At verse 22 it holds Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 42:24:6. At verse 23 it holds Jerusalem Talmud Shabbat 2:6:12. At verse 24 it holds Chullin 7b:15. At verse 25 it holds Bereshit Rabbah 81:1. At verse 26 it holds Midrash Lekach Tov, Genesis 47:21:1. At verse 27 it holds Aggadat Bereshit 47:1. At verse 29 it holds Aggadat Bereshit 34:2. At verse 30 it holds Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Shabbat 2:23. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and it is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Proverbs 20:2:1 to 20:21:1, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Proverbs 20:1:1, 20:7:1, 20:9:1, 20:11:1, 20:16:1, 20:22:1 and 20:24:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on Proverbs 20:10:1, 20:15:1 and 20:23:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/proverbs/20.json, the 40 Talmud and Midrash locators of this chapter; The site's own files, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, printing no portion, no Haftarah and no festival reading for this book.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Wine Is a Mocker; the Sluggard Will Not Plow in Winter
Proverbs 20:1-2
Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler: r," the first of two things that can master a man's judgment, drink and royal anger. The one led astray by them "is not wise." Whoever provokes the king, whose terror is "like the roar of a lion," "forfeits his own life."
Proverbs 20:1
“Wine” and “strong drink” are personified as themselves doing what they make men do. The latter (see Lev 10:9 note) is here, probably, the “palm-wine” of Syria.
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Proverbs 20:1
“Such men are made by wine. strong drink--made by spicing wine (compare Isa 5:11, 22); and it may include wine. raging--or boisterous as a drunkard. deceived--literally, "erring," or reeling.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
The terror of a king: John Gill reads the terror as the wrath of a king, and notes that kings should be a terror to evil works, citing Romans 13:3. Origen of Alexandria reads the king openly as Christ. Whoever provokes him forfeits his own life.
Proverbs 20:2
“The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion,.... The wrath and displeasure of a king, which causes fear; see Pro 19:12; kings should be terrors to evil works and workers, though not to good ones, Rom 13:3. This is true of the King of kings, who one day will be terrible to the drunkards, the mockers, and murderers of his people, before spoken of; whoso provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul; he exposes his life to danger: the Targum supplies it as we do.”
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 20:2
“In this place it openly speaks of Christ as the king, for the one who irritates Christ with [his] sin, sins against his own soul.”
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Exposition on Proverbs, Fragment 20:2patristic
Proverbs 20:3-5
It is honorable for a man to resolve: e a dispute, but any fool will quarrel," the wise response to conflict set against the fool. The intentions of a man's heart are "deep waters," and only "a man of understanding draws them out" with quiet, unhurried wisdom.
Proverbs 20:3
“It is an honoer for a man - The same sentiment as Pro 19:11.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The slacker does not plow in season: Clarke notes that the season to plow in Palestine began in late September, and the slacker lets it pass on the excuse of cold weather. Gregory the Dialogist sees the same trick, a fear found to excuse idleness. At harvest time he looks, and nothing is there.
Proverbs 20:4
“The sluggard will not plough - For other parts of this character, see the preceding chapter, Proverbs 19 (note). It is seldom that there is a season of very cold weather in Palestine; very cold days sometimes occur, with wind, rain, and sleet. They begin their ploughing in the latter end of September, and sow their early wheat by the middle of October. And this is often the case in England itself. The meaning of the proverb is: the slothful man, under the pretense of unfavorable weather, neglects cultivating his land till the proper time is elapsed.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 20:4
For the most part the slothful, while he neglects to do things that are necessary, sets before him some that are difficult, but is inconsiderately afraid of others; and so, as though finding something that he may reasonably fear, he satisfies himself that he has good reason for remaining torpid. To him it is rightly said through Solomon, "The sluggard would not plough by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in summer, and it shall not be given unto him."
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · The Book of Pastoral Rule, Part 3, Chapter 15patristic
a man of understanding draws them out: The intentions of the heart lie deep, like water in a well. A man of understanding draws them out with quiet patience. The verse closes verses 3 to 5, each praising the man who waits and works over the fool and the slacker.
Proverbs 20:5
“Counsel in the heart of man - Men of the deepest and most comprehensive minds are rarely apt, unsolicited, to join in any discourse, in which they might appear even to the greatest advantage; but a man of understanding will elicit this, by questions framed for the purpose, and thus pump up the salubrious waters from the deep and capacious well. The metaphor is fine and expressive.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Proverbs 20:5
“Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water,.... Pure and undisturbed, but secret, hidden, and hard to be come at: such are the things of the spirit of a man, the thoughts of his mind, the devices of his heart; which, though easily known by the searcher of hearts, are not easily penetrated into by men; or it is not easily got out of them what is in them, especially in some men, who are very close and reserved.”
Proverbs 20:5
“The contest between reticence on the one side and pertinacity in search on the other is represented as by a parable. The well may be very deep (compare the marginal reference), but the man of understanding” has enough skill to draw up the water even to the last drop. Every question is, as it were, a turning of the windlass.”
Proverbs 20:6-9
Many a man proclaims his loving devotion: The righteous man and the king who "sifts out all evil with his eyes" describe a righteousness the next verse will let no one claim. Its question, who can say "I have kept my heart pure," stands beside 1 John 1:8, since no self-examination produces a clean heart before God.
Proverbs 20:6
All the righteous, our fathers, in all that they did were victorious through faith, as the blessed apostle also testifies about them all, "They prevailed by faith." Solomon also said, "Many men are called merciful, but who can find a faithful man?"
Aphrahat the Persian Sage · written before 345 · DEMONSTRATIONS 1:16patristic
blessed are his children after him: John Gill reads the blessing on the children as temporal first, and spiritual for those who walk with the same integrity. Bede warns that it cannot always stand by the letter. Samuel, a righteous man, left unlike sons, and wicked Ahaz left Hezekiah.
Proverbs 20:7
“The just man walketh in his integrity,.... This is the faithful and upright man, who is made righteous by the obedience of Christ; and walks by faith in him, and according to the truth of the Gospel; his children are blessed after him; with temporal blessings; and, walking in the same integrity as he does, they are blessed with spiritual blessings here, and eternal blessedness hereafter; see Psa 37:26. It is an observation of an Heathen poet (c), that good things befall the children of the godly, but not the children of the ungodly. (c) Theoerit. Idyll. 27. v. 32.”
sifts out all evil with his eyes: The king on his judgment seat sifts out evil with his eyes alone. His look is enough. The righteous man of verse 7 and this king both describe a righteousness that verse 9 will let no one claim for himself.
Proverbs 20:8
“A king that sitteth in the throne of judgment - Kings should see to the administration of the laws, as well as of the state transactions, of their kingdom. In the British constitution there is a court for the king, called the King’s Bench, where he should sit, and where he is always supposed to be sitting. The eyes - the presence, of the monarch in such a place, scatter evil - he sees into the case himself, and gives right judgment, for he can have no self-interest.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Adam Clarke answers the question plainly. No man can say his heart is pure, he writes, though thousands can testify that the blood of Jesus Christ has cleansed them. The man cleansed from his sin is the one justified freely.
Proverbs 20:9
“Who can say, I have made any heart clean - No man. But thousands can testify that the blood of Jesus Christ has cleansed them from all unrighteousness. And he is pure from his sin, who is justified freely through the redemption that is in Jesus.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Proverbs 20:10-12
Differing weights and unequal measures are named detestable to the LORD here and again at verse 23, framing the verses between under the same standard. The LORD made the ears that hear and the eyes that see, and the one who made them is not fooled by what they report.
Proverbs 20:10
“Every kind of unfair action is shameful. Even in common things, false weights and unjust measures are accursed. And if fraud in the market or in business is punished, can it seem free from reproach if found in the midst of the performance of the duties of virtue?”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · On the Duties of the Clergy 3.9.65patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 20:10
“Divers weights and divers measures - A peise and a peise; - Old MS. Bible: from the French pois, weight. Hebrew: “A stone and a stone; an ephah and an ephah.” One the standard, the other below it; one to buy with, the other to sell by.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Albert Barnes calls the faults and graces of children no trifles, for the earliest actions foretell the man. John Gill joins the verse to the test of a tree by its fruit in Matthew 7:16. His conduct shows whether he is pure.
Proverbs 20:11
“The graces or the faults of children are not trifles. “The child is father of the man;” and the earliest actions are prophecies of the future, whether it will be pure and right, or unclean and evil.”
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 20:11
“Even a child is known by his doings,.... As well as a man; "ye shall know them by their fruits", Mat 7:16; professors and profane.”
The LORD made both the ear that hears and the eye that sees. The verse closes verses 10 to 12 with the reason His standard over weights and conduct holds. The Maker of the eye sees all that it sees.
Proverbs 20:12
“The hearing ear and the seeing eye - Every good we possess comes from God; and we should neither use our eyes, nor our ears, nor any thing we possess, but in strict subserviency to his will.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 20:12
“Not only do we owe the gifts of sight and hearing to Yahweh, but He, being the giver, will also call us to account for them (compare Psa 94:9).”
Proverbs 20:13-15
Do not love sleep, or you: The chapter warns against wasted hours, "Do not love sleep, or you will grow poor," and answers open eyes with "plenty of food." Against gold and rubies the chapter sets lips of knowledge as "a rare treasure," valuing speech that instructs above wealth that only buys.
on the way out, he gloats: The buyer runs down the goods while he bargains, then boasts of his purchase once he is out of earshot. The scene is market theater. Verses 10 and 23 set the standard of the LORD over such trade.
Proverbs 20:14
“It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer - How apt are men to decry the goods they wish to purchase, in order that they may get them at a cheaper rate; and, when they have made their bargain and carried it off, boast to others at how much less than its value they have obtained it! Are such honest men? Is such knavery actionable? Can such be punished only in another world?”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
lips of knowledge are a rare treasure: Gold and rubies are plentiful beside lips of knowledge. Speech that instructs is valued above wealth that only buys. The verse follows the haggling buyer of verse 14, whose lips served only his bargain.
Proverbs 20:15
“There is gold - Gold is valuable, silver is valuable, and so are jewels; but the teachings of sound knowledge are more valuable than all.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 20:15
A precious jewel - literally, “A vessel of preciousness,” i. e., most precious of all are “the lips of knowledge.”
Say Not, I Will Recompense Evil: Wait for Jehovah
Proverbs 20:16-19
Take the garment of the one: Food gained by fraud is sweet at first, "but later his mouth is full of gravel," dishonest gain tasted at its true weight. Plans are set by consultation and war waged under sound guidance, and the one who reveals secrets is named "a constant gossip" to be avoided.
Proverbs 20:16
“Take his garment that is surety for a stranger - I suppose the meaning to be, If a stranger or unknown person become surety in a case, greater caution should be used, and such security taken from this stranger as would prevent him from running away from his engagements.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 20:16
“Take his garment--implies severe exaction, justified by the surety's rashness. a strange woman--by some readings "strangers," but the former here, and in Pr 27:13, is allowable, and strengthens the sense. The debauchee is less reliable than the merely careless.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Food gained by fraud is sweet: Albert Barnes notes that to eat gravel was a Hebrew phrase, as in Lamentations 3:16, for getting into trouble. Food gained by fraud tastes sweet at first with the pleasure of cleverness. Later his mouth is full of gravel.
Proverbs 20:17
“To eat gravel” was a Hebrew Lam 3:16, and is an Arabic, phrase for getting into trouble. So “bread,” got by deceit, tastes sweet at first, but ends by leaving the hunger of the soul unsatisfied. There is a pleasure in the sense of cleverness felt after a hard bargain or a successful fraud, which must be met by bidding men look on the after consequences.
wage war under sound guidance: Adam Clarke calls this the precept of the book least regarded, since most war is waged from ambition or caprice without sound guidance. What begins in caprice, he adds, must then be carried on by necessity. Set plans by consultation first.
Proverbs 20:18
“With good advice make war, - Perhaps there is not a precept in this whole book so little regarded as this. Most of the wars that are undertaken are wars of injustice, ambition, aggrandizement, and caprice, which can have had no previous good counsel. A minister, who is perhaps neither a good nor a great man, counsels his king to make war; the cabinet must be brought into it, and a sufficient number out of the states of the kingdom gained over to support it. By and by, what was begun through caprice must be maintained through necessity.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
avoid the one who babbles with his lips: Albert Barnes renders the babbler as the man who opens his lips, one with no reticence. Such a man does the work of a gossip whether he intends it or no. Avoid him.
Proverbs 20:19
“Flattereth - literally, “The man who opens his lips,” who has no reticence; such a man, with or without intending it, does the work of a talebearer.”
Proverbs 20:20-23
Whoever curses his father or mother: carries the weight of Exodus 21:17 into a proverb, his lamp put out "in deepest darkness." The reader who would avenge evil is told to "Wait on the LORD," trading private revenge for the LORD's own timing.
Proverbs 20:20
“Whoso curseth his father - Such persons were put to death under the law; see Exo 21:17; Lev 20:9, and here it is said, Their lamp shall be put out - they shall have no posterity; God shall cut them off both root and branch.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
An inheritance gained quickly: Albert Barnes reads the haste as greed seeking an inheritance by unjust means, and he notes another reading, an inheritance with a curse upon it. John Gill allows that some wealth gained quickly is lawful. The rest will not be blessed in the end.
Proverbs 20:21
“Or, An inheritance gotten hastily (greedily sought after by unjust means) at the beginning, the end thereof shall not be blessed. Another reading gives, “an inheritance loathed, (compare Zec 11:8), or with a curse upon it.” The King James Version agrees with the versions.”
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 20:21
“An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning,.... Of a man's setting out in the world in trade and business; and which sometimes is got lawfully, and this must be excepted from this proverb; but generally what is got hastily and in a short time is got unlawfully, and so does not prosper.”
Wait on the LORD: The Desert Fathers tell of a brother, hurt by another, who went to a hermit and said he would avenge the evil. The hermit begged him to leave vengeance in the hands of God. The LORD will save the one who waits.
Unequal weights are detestable to the LORD: The verse repeats verse 10 and closes the frame it opened. Bede reads the unequal weights inward, a man seeking pardon from the Lord while refusing to forgive another. Dishonest scales are no good.
Proverbs 20:24-27
A man’s steps are from the LORD: Since "A man’s steps are from the LORD," no one can understand his own way. Human planning is held inside a sovereignty it cannot fully read. "The spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD, searching out his inmost being."
Proverbs 20:24
“You maintain that "all are governed by their own free choice." What Christian can bear to hear this? For if not one, or a few or many but all of us are governed by our own free choice, what becomes of the help of God? And how do you explain the text, "A man's goings are ordered by the Lord"?”
Jerome · written before 420 · Against the Pelagians 1.27patristic
to dedicate something rashly: Albert Barnes reads the verse as a protest against rash vows, a man dedicating something first and asking afterward whether he can keep it. Bede recalls the forty men in Acts who bound themselves by a vow. It is a trap.
Proverbs 20:25
“Better, It is a snare to a man to utter a vow (of consecration) rashly, and after vows to inquire whether he can fulfill them. Both clauses are a protest against the besetting sin of rash and hasty vows. Compare the marginal reference.”
drives the threshing wheel over them: Grain in Palestine was threshed by oxen treading the sheaves or by a rough wheel drawn over them, Adam Clarke explains. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the figure as severity and compare verse 8, where a king sifts out evil with his eyes. The wise king separates out the wicked.
Proverbs 20:26
“Bringeth the wheel over them - He threshes them in his anger, as the wheel does the grain on the threshing-floor. Every one knows that grain was separated from its husks, in Palestine, by the feet of the oxen trampling among the sheaves, or bringing a rough-shod wheel over them. Asiatic kings often threshed their people, to bring out their property; but this is not what is intended here.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
the lamp of the LORD: Albert Barnes reads the spirit as the breath of Genesis 2:7, the higher life that comes to a man from God. It shines like a lamp the LORD has lit, searching the darkest parts of the heart. Barnes compares the Light of John 1.
Proverbs 20:27
“The spirit of man - The “breath” of Gen 2:7, the higher life, above that which he has in common with lower animals, coming to him direct from God. Such a life, with all its powers of insight, consciousness, reflection, is as a lamp which God has lighted, throwing its rays into the darkest recesses of the heart. A still higher truth is proclaimed in the Prologue of John’s Gospel. The candle, or lamp of Yahweh, derives its light from “the Light that lighteth every man,” even the Eternal Word.”
Proverbs 20:28-30
Loving devotion and faithfulness preserve: The strength of young men and the gray hair of the old are paired as two seasons of life, each with its own honor. The last word turns hard, for "Lashes and wounds scour evil," correction that hurts on the way to doing good.
Proverbs 20:28
“For the perfection of prelacy, two things are necessarily required, namely zeal for justice and the affection of mercy: for mercy and truth preserve the king. According to these two, the governance of prelacy in the Church militant ought to be ordered.”
Bonaventure · written before 1257 · Breviloquium, Part 5patristic
gray hair is the splendor of the old: Adam Clarke notes that young men delight to show their strength, while the old wish to be known for wisdom and experience. John Gill calls the gray head a sign of wisdom and prudence. Each age has its own glory.
Proverbs 20:29
“The glory of young men is their strength - Scarcely any young man affects to be wise, learned, etc.; but all delight to show their strength and to be reputed strong. Agility, one evidence of strength, their particularly affect; and hence their various trials of strength and fleetness in public exercises. And the beauty of old men is the gray head - They no longer affect strength and agility, but they affect wisdom, experience, prudent counsels, etc., and are fond of being reputed wise, and of having respect paid to their understanding and experience.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Lashes and wounds scour evil: Adam Clarke suggests the wounds are healing scars and the lashes a correction that drives out the evil of the heart. Gregory the Dialogist applies the verse to sickness, a pain that cleanses sins and restrains new ones. He reads the inmost parts as the mind.
Proverbs 20:30
“The sick are to be admonished to consider how great a boon is bodily affliction, which both washes away committed sins and restrains those which might have been committed, which inflicts on the troubled mind wounds of penitence derived from outward stripes. Whence it is written, "The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil, and stripes in the secret parts of the belly." For the blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil, because the pain of scourges cleanses iniquities, whether meditated or perpetrated. But by the appellation of belly the mind is wont to be understood.”
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · The Book of Pastoral Rule, Part 3patristic
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Proverbs 20:30
“The blueness of a wound - חברות chabburoth, from חבר chabar, to unite, to join together. Does it not refer to the cicatrice of a wound when, in its healing, the two lips are brought topether? By this union the wound is healed; and by the previous discharge the lace-rated ends of fibres and blood-vessels are purged away. So stripes, though they hurt for the time, become the means of correcting and discharging the moral evil of the inmost soul, the vice of the heart, the easily-besetting sin.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
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Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; Desert Fathers, The Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon; Gregory the Dialogist; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, EXPOSITION ON PROVERBS, FRAGMENT 20:2.