Page:04.BCOT.KD.PoeticalBooks.vol.4.Writings.djvu/1997

 Rightly Fleischer: repente totus concidet.

Verse 19
Pro 28:19 19 He who cultivateth his land is satisfied with bread,     And he that graspeth after vanities is satisfied with poverty. A variation of Pro 12:11. The pred. here corresponds to its contrast. On רישׁ (here and at Pro 31:7), instead of the more frequent ראשׁ, cf. Pro 10:4.

Verse 20
To this proverb of the cultivation of the land as the sure source of support, the next following stands related, its contents being cognate: 20 A strong, upright man is enriched with blessings;     But he that hastens to become rich remains not unpunished. אישׁ אמוּנים, Pro 20:6, as well as אמוּנות 'א, denotes a man bonae fidei; but the former expression refers the description to a constancy and certainty in the relations of favour and of friendship, here to rectitude or integrity in walk and conduct; the plur. refers to the all-sidedness and the ceaselessness of the activity. בּרכות is related, as at Pro 10:6 : the idea comprehends blessings on the side of God and of man, thus benedictio rei and benedictio voti. On the contrary, he who, without being careful as to the means, is in haste to become rich, remains not only unblessed, but also is not guiltless, and thus not without punishment; also this לא ינּקה (e.g., Pro 6:29), frequently met in the Mishle, is, like ברכות, the union of two ideas, for generally the bibl. mode of conception and language comprehends in one, sin, guilt, and punishment.

Verse 21
With a proverb, in the first half of which is repeated the beginning of the second appendix, Pro 24:23, a new group commences: 21 Respect of persons is not good;     And for a morsel of bread a man may become a transgressor. Line first refers to the administration of justice, and line second - the special generalized - to social life generally. The “morsel of bread,” as example of a bribe by means of which the favour of the judge is purchased, is too low a conception. Hitzig well: “even a trifle, a morsel of bread (1Sa 2:36), may, as it awakens favour and dislike within us, thus in general call forth in the will an inclination tending to draw one aside from the line of strict rectitude.” Geier compares A Gellius' ''Noct. Att''.