Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 7:23
Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it [is] for his life.
23. dart ] Rather, arrow, R.V.; sagitta, Vulg. The LXX. have .
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The first clause does not connect itself very clearly with the foregoing, and is probably affected by the corrupt text which makes it perplexing.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Pro 7:23
Till a dart strike through his liver.
The gospel of health
Solomon had noticed, either in vivisection or in post-mortem, what awful attacks sin and dissipation make upon the liver, until the fiat of Almighty God bids the soul and body separate. A javelin of retribution, not glancing off or making a slight wound, but piercing it from side to side till a dart strike through his liver. Galen and Hippocrates ascribe to the liver the most of the worlds moral depression, and the word melancholy means black bile. Let Christian people avoid the mistake that they are all wrong with God because they suffer from depression of spirits. Oftentimes the trouble is wholly due to physical conditions. The difference in physical conditions makes things look so differently. Another practical use of this subject is for the young. The theory is abroad that they must first sow their wild oats and then Michigan wheat. Let me break the delusion. Wild oats are generally sown in the liver, and they can never be pulled up. In after-life, after years of dissipation, you may have your heart changed, but religion does not change the liver. God forgives, but outraged physical law never. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
His liver, i.e. his vital parts, whereof the liver is one. Till his life be lost, as it is explained in the next clause.
Knoweth not; which may be referred either to a foolish and inconsiderate young man; or to the silly bird to which he is compared, which comes to the same thing.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
23. TillHe is now caught (Pr6:26).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Till a dart strike through his liver,…. The fountain of blood, and so of life; which, being pierced through and poured out, is certain death, La 2:11; the meaning is, till he is slain either by the hand of God, or by the civil magistrate, or by the jealous husband; and be thrust through by him, as Zimri and Cozbi were by Phinehas. The “liver” may be particularly mentioned, not only for the reason before given, but because it is the seat of lust l; so he is stricken in the part where his lust begins, where he has been smitten by Cupid’s darts: or this dart through the liver may denote some disease, infecting the blood through sinful lust. The Targum is,
“as an hart into whose liver an arrow flies;”
or is wounded by an arrow in the liver, as the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions: and so the meaning is, that this young man went as swiftly after the harlot as a hart does when it is wounded;
as a bird hasteth to the snare; it has its eye upon the bait, and flies swiftly to that, insensible of the snare that is laid for it;
and knoweth not that it [is] for his life; the bird knows not that the snare is set for its life, as Jarchi; or the fool knows not that it is for his soul; that it shall die, which hates correction, as Aben Ezra. The man that goes after the harlot knows not, or does not consider, that it is to the destruction of his precious and immortal soul; so the Targum,
“he knows not that it tends to the death of his soul;”
and to the same sense the Syriac and Arabic versions; the second death, which adulterers and idolaters shall have their part in, Re 21:8. The souls of men, and the ruin of them, are what the whore of Rome deals in, Re 18:13; she goes into perdition, into the bottomless pit, herself, and carries all her worshippers with her, Re 17:8.
l “Spleu ridere facit, cogit amare jecur”, Ovid. “Si torrere jecur quaeris idoneum”, Horat. Carmin. l. 4. Ode 1. v. 12. “Cum tibi flagrans amor et libido saeviet circa jecur ulcerosum”. lbid l. 1. Ode 25. v. 13, 15.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(23) Till a dart strike through his liver.These words must be taken in a parenthesis.
That it is for his life.i.e., at the cost of it, when his flesh and body are consumed, and remorse has seized upon him (Pro. 5:11).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Pro 7:23 Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it [is] for his life.
Ver. 23. Till a dart strike through his liver, ] i.e, Filthy lust, that fiery dart of the devil, pointed and poisoned (as the Scythian darts are said to be) with the gall of asps and vipers. Philosophers a place lust in the liver. Mathematicians subject the liver to Venus; the poets b complain of cupid’s wounding them in that part.
“ Cor sapit, et pulmo loquitur, fel commovit iras:
Splen ridere facit, cogit amare iecor.”
Or, as some sense it, Till the adulterer be, by the whore’s husband or friends, or by the hand of justice, deprived of life; perhaps in the very act, as Zimri and Cozbi were by Phinehas in the very flagrancy of their lust.
a
b Horat., Ode v. lib. iv., and Ode xxv. lib. v. Ovid. Trist.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
life = soul. Hebrew. nephesh. App-13.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
a dart: Num 25:8, Num 25:9
as a bird: Pro 1:17, Ecc 9:12
knoweth: Pro 9:18
Reciprocal: Exo 13:9 – a sign Est 5:12 – to morrow Job 20:24 – strike him Psa 91:3 – snare Pro 5:4 – her Pro 5:11 – thou Pro 6:32 – destroyeth Pro 11:19 – he Pro 13:20 – but Pro 22:3 – the simple Pro 26:18 – arrows Isa 55:2 – Hearken