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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 3:20

Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 3:20

By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew.

20. are ] Rather, were broken up, R.V. The reference is to Gen 7:2, where the same Heb. word is used: “all the foundations of the great deep were broken up.”

The two clauses of the verse give two typical examples: alike, when the pent-up forces of nature burst forth occasionally in their resistless might, and when her gentler agencies exert continually their beneficent influence, the wisdom of God is working.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Compare Gen 1:7; Gen 7:11; Job 38. Looking upon the face of Nature, men see two storehouses of the living water, without which it would be waste and barren. From the depths rush forth the surging waves, from the clouds falls the gentle rain or dew; but both alike are ordered by the Divine Wisdom.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Pro 3:20

The clouds drop down the dew.

The sea night-mist of Palestine

There is a very remarkable and regular provision of Nature, peculiar to Bible lands, which may be observed in a first sight of Palestine on any night in the hot season when a west wind is blowing. I allude to the sea night-mist of the hot season. It explains in a very striking and hitherto unsuspected manner the numerous occurrences of the Hebrew word tal, uniformly rendered dew in the Authorised Version of the Bible. Some of these have presented hitherto unanswerable difficulties, such as the statement of the wise man that the clouds drop down the dew (Pro 3:20), which, if dew in the scientific sense of the word is understood, is just what they do not, no dew ever forming when clouds are about. Again, the words in Isaacs blessing, God give thee of the dew of heaven (Gen 27:28); those of Moses, summing up the precious things of heaven in the dew (Deu 33:13); the power of an absolute eastern king being likened to a dew upon the grass (chap. 19:12); and Israels future influence amongst the nations to a dew from Jehovah (Mic 5:7); such words as these, and those in many other passages, bespeak a peculiar excellence and value which dew does not possess even amongst us, and still less in Palestine, where it only occurs in the winter, the time of abundant heavy rains, which render it comparatively useless! It was my good fortune, as a result of my residence in Jerusalem, to discover the deeply interesting natural feature which is called in our version dew, and fully to realise in what its importance and excellence consists (Hos 14:5). From the end of April till about the end of October no drop of rain falls; while each day, for some ten or twelve hours, the sun shines with great strength, unveiled by a single cloud. This fierce wind is in May and October intensified by a burning wind, the sirocco, which gathers its withering, scorching power as it sweeps over the vast sands of the Arabian desert, and is the awful east wind of the Bible. During this period, but more especially at its close, in September and October, the west wind, which then prevails, comes up laden with moisture from the Mediterranean Sea, which is condensed in low-lying clouds of mist as soon as it reaches the land. These cloud-masses sweep along near the ground, leaving behind them an immense amount of what is misnamed in our version dew, but which is really a very fine, gentle rain in the form of a light Scotch mist. Its great excellence consists–

1. In its coming only in the hottest and driest season, when no other moisture can be had.

2. In its only coming during the night, when no man can work, and so interfering in no way with the business or pleasures of life.

3. In its coming in such rich abundance as far to exceed the moisture deposited by any formation of dew.

4. In its coming in such fine particles and moderate quantities as not even to hurt the gathered grain lying out on the open-air threshing-floors.

5. In its effects ceasing as soon as the sun is hot, and so leaving no miasmic or other injurious results behind, whence it is well called by Hosea, the night-mist which early goes away. This explanation exactly accounts for the clouds being said to drop it down, which is just what they do. Very beautiful are the silvery shining mist-clouds which may be seen as the day dawns being drawn up and dissolved into thin air, the fugitive clouds to which Hosea (6:4) compares Israels brief and transient seasons of goodness–Your goodness is like the morning cloud, and like the night-mist (tal) which early goes away. It also displays the naturalness of the great amount of tal, or night-mist, which fell miraculously on Gideons fleece (Jdg 6:38). It adds a new intensity to our Saviours pathetic appeal in Son 5:2, Open to Me . . . for My head is filled with the night-mist (tal), and My locks with the drops of the night. There is an icy chill often attending exposure to the night-mist which is not experienced on a dewy night, the latter being always fine. In a word, let night mist be written in each of the thirty-four places in our Bible where dew occurs, and it will be found to give a new meaning and a new beauty in every instance! What fresh point and power now clothe the gracious promise in Hos 14:5, I will be as the night-mist (tal) to Israel! and also that beautiful but difficult passage, Psa 110:3! (James Neil, M.A.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 20. By his knowledge the depths are broken up] He determined in his wisdom how to break up the fountains of the great deep, so as to bring a flood of waters upon the earth; and by his knowledge those fissures in the earth through which springs of water arise have been appointed and determined; and it is by his skill and influence that vapours are exhaled, suspended in the atmosphere, and afterwards precipitated on the earth in rain, dews, &c. Thus the wisest of men attributes those effects which we suppose to spring from natural causes to the Supreme Being himself.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

The depths are broken up; that great abyss or depth of waters, which was mixed with and contained in the bowels of the earth, did break forth into fountains and rivers for the use of men and beasts; which is justly remembered here as an illustrious effect of Gods wisdom, by which the earth was made habitable, and the waters serviceable.

The dew; under which the rain is comprehended, as being of the same nature and use.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

By his knowledge the depths are broken up,…. From whence fountains and rivers flow, and whereby that great cavity was made which holds that large confluence of waters called the sea, Ge 1:9. Some refer this to the breaking up the fountains of the great deep at the flood, Ge 7:11; and others to the dividing of the waters of the Red sea when Israel came out of Egypt, Ps 78:13; all wonderful works of divine wisdom, and show the greatness of him, in whom are “hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge”, Col 2:3, by whom they were done;

and the clouds drop down the dew; which makes the earth fruitful, and is put for all the blessings of nature, Ge 27:28; the drops of dew are begotten by the Lord, they have no other father but him; the vanities of the Gentiles cannot produce them; he who fills the clouds with them, from whence they descend, is no other than the mighty God; and such is Christ the Wisdom of God. Some understand this in a mystical sense of Gospel ministers, and of the dew of Gospel doctrine, dropped and distilled by them under the influence and direction of Christ; see

De 32:2; but the literal sense is best.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(20) Are broken up.Or, burst forth: the word used in Gen. 7:11 of the breaking forth of the waters from the interior of the earth at the flood. (Comp. Job. 38:8.)

Drop down the dew.Of great importance in countries where for months together there is no rain

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

Pro 3:20 By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew.

Ver. 20. The depths are broken up, ] viz., Those great channels and hollow places made in the earth, to hold the waters, Gen 1:9 that they may not overflow the earth; and this the very philosophers are forced to confess to be a work of divine wisdom. Others by “depths” here understand fountains and floods breaking out, and as it were flowing from the nethermost parts of the earth, even as though the earth did cleave itself in sunder, to give them passage.

And the clouds drop down the dew. ] Clouds, the bottles of rain and dew, are vessels as thin as the liquor that is contained in them; there they hang, move, though weighty with their burden. How they are upheld, and why they fall here and now, we know not, and wonder.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

clouds, &c. = skies.

dew = night mist. See note on Psa 133:3. “Dew” falls only when there are no clouds.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

the depths: Gen 1:9, Gen 7:11, Job 38:8-11, Psa 104:8, Psa 104:9

the clouds: Gen 27:28, Gen 27:37-39, Deu 33:28, Job 36:27, Job 36:28, Job 38:26-28, Psa 65:9-12, Jer 14:22, Joe 2:23

Reciprocal: Deu 33:13 – the dew Job 37:16 – perfect Job 38:28 – dew Psa 104:24 – in wisdom Psa 136:5 – General

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge