Proverbs 30:22
in Proverbs 30a servant who becomes king, a fool who is filled with food,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For a servant when he is king; And a fool when he is filled with food;
KJV
For a servant when he reigneth; and a fool when he is filled with meat;
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This verse in Proverbs 30
Commentary
5 notes on this verseA commentator
Hippolytus of RomeFragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripture · Written before 235.
"When a servant reigneth: "Israel was a slave in Egypt, and in the land of promise became a ruler. "And a fool when he is filled with meat: "i.e., getting the land in possession readily, and eating its fruit, and being filled, it (the people) kicked.
This site's exposition
Under three things the earth trembles
on Proverbs 30:21-23
The third numerical saying names disturbances of the social order: "a servant who becomes king," and "a maidservant who supplants her mistress." Each is a reversal of the place a person is fitted for, prosperity or power arriving without the character to carry it.
This site's exposition
a servant who becomes king
Gill says a servant who becomes king was never trained to rule, treats others as he was treated, and grows proud. Hippolytus reads the servant as Israel, a slave in Egypt who became a ruler. Filled with the land's fruit, Israel kicked.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
A commentator
Hippolytus of RomeFragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripture · Written before 235.
proposed
The shaking (of the earth) signifies the change of things upon earth.-Sin, then, which in its own nature is a slave, has reigned in the mortal body of men: once, indeed, at the time of the flood; and again in the time of the Sodomites, who, not satisfied with what the land yielded, offered violence to strangers; and a third time in the case of hateful Egypt, which, though it obtained in Joseph a man who distributed food to all, that they might not perish of famine, yet did not take well with his prosperity, but persecuted the children of Israel. "The handmaid casting out her mistress: "i.e., the Church of the Gentiles, which, though itself a slave and a stranger to the promises, cast out the free-born and lordly synagogue, and became the wife and bride of Christ. By Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the whole earth is moved. The "fourth it cannot bear: "for He came first by lawgivers, and secondly by prophets, and thirdly by the Gospel, manifesting Himself openly; and in the fourth instance He shall come as the Judge of the living and the dead, whose glory the whole creation will not be able to endure.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
For a servant, when he reigneth,.... Being unfit for it through his education, not having been trained up in and learned the arts of government and maxims of it; and through the disposition of his mind, which is mean, abject, and servile; and as he has been used himself when a servant, so he will use others (c) and through his circumstances, being poor, he will take oppressive methods to become rich; and being raised from a low estate, he is the more imperious, proud, and haughty (d); all which and more make his reign intolerable; see Pro 19:
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| תַּֽחַת־ | tachat- | under | H8478 → | 505 times |
| עֶ֭בֶד | ʾeved | a slave | H5650 → | 799 times |
| כִּ֣י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| יִמְל֑וֹךְ | yimlokh | he will become king | H4427 → | |
| וְ֝נָבָ֗ל | venaval | and a fool | H5036 → | 18 times |
| כִּ֣י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| יִֽשְׂבַּֽע־ | yisba'- | he will be satisfied | H7646 → | 97 times |
| לָֽחֶם׃ | lachem | food | H3899 → | 298 times |
תַּֽחַת־under
tachat-H8478 →505 times
עֶ֭בֶדa slave
ʾevedH5650 →799 times
כִּ֣יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
יִמְל֑וֹךְhe will become king
yimlokhH4427 →
וְ֝נָבָ֗לand a fool
venavalH5036 →18 times
כִּ֣יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
יִֽשְׂבַּֽע־he will be satisfied
yisba'-H7646 →97 times
לָֽחֶם׃food
lachemH3899 →298 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Ecclesiastes 10:7I have seen slaves on horseback, while princes go on foot like slaves.
it leads to
- Proverbs 19:10
Luxury is unseemly for a fool—how much worse for a slave to rule over princes!
- Esther 6:8
have them bring a royal robe that the king himself has worn and a horse on which the king himself has ridden—one with a royal crest placed on its head.
- Proverbs 19:10
Through
Proverbs 19:10Luxury is unseemly for a fool—how much worse for a slave to rule over princes!
it leads to
- Proverbs 30:21–22
Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear up:
- Proverbs 26:1
Like snow in summer and rain at harvest, honor does not befit a fool.
- Proverbs 30:21–22
Through
1 Samuel 30:16So he led David down, and there were the Amalekites spread out over all the land, eating, drinking, and celebrating the great amount of plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines…
it leads to
- Revelation 11:10–13
And those who dwell on the earth will gloat over them, and will celebrate and send one another gifts, because these two prophets had tormented them.
- Luke 17:27–29
People were eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
- Job 20:5
the triumph of the wicked has been brief and the joy of the godless momentary?
- 1 Thessalonians 5:3
While people are saying, “Peace and security,” destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
- Revelation 11:10–13
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
On this verse
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About Proverbs
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; Hippolytus of Rome, Fragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripture and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).