Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 7:26

For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong [men] have been slain by her.

26. many strong ] This is the rendering of a single Heb. word, which may mean mighty, as it usually does, or (comp. the use of the verb in Psa 40:5; Psa 40:12 [Hebrews 6, 13 ]) many. Lit. mighty ones, or numerous ones, are all her slain, i.e. the whole number of those slain by her amount to a mighty host, as it is happily rendered in R.V. The thought is not so much of the individual strength of her victims as of their great number, as the parallelism indicates: , “numberless are they whom she has slain,” LXX.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

The house of the harlot is now likened to a field of battle strewn with the corpses of the many slain.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 26. For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her.] That is, such like women have been the ruin of many. chalalim, which we render wounded, also signifies soldiers or men of war; and atsumim, which we render strong men, may be translated heroes. Many of those who have distinguished themselves in the field and in the cabinet have been overcome and destroyed by their mistresses. History is full of such examples.

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

Strong men; men that excel others, either,

1. In bodily strength, upon which they presume, which yet is wasted, and by degrees ruined, by these courses. Or,

2. In wisdom, and fortitude, and resolution; whereby he implies how much more necessary it is for a weak and foolish young man to use all possible care and diligence to avoid this mischief.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

26, 27. Even the mightiest failto resist her deathly allurements.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

For she hath cast down many wounded,…. Wounded in their name, character, and reputation; in their bodies by diseases; and in their souls by guilt, shame, and horror, through a compliance with her sinful lusts: these she “cast down” from the honours they were possessed of, from the health they enjoyed, and from the peace and tranquillity of mind they formerly felt within them. And not a single person, as the young man instanced in, or a few only, but “many”; great multitudes, hundreds and thousands, and those not weak, and foolish, and inconstant, as he might be thought to be; but such as were “great” m and mighty, as the word also signifies; men of great riches, and wisdom, and courage; as soldiers n, mighty men of war, such as wound and kill others; which seems the true sense of the word here used: and therefore none ought to trust in themselves, nor trust themselves in her company, nor in the least decline to her ways; and especially such as are weak and unskilful, and ignorant of her devices, as the “children” here addressed;

yea, many strong [men] have been slain by her; men famous for martial exploits, as Samson and others, have been overcome by her: some of great fortitude of mind have not been able to withstand her, she has prevailed over them; and others of robust constitutions have been weakened by diseases, contracted through incontinency with her; and some have suffered death by her means, either from her husband, or her gallants, or the civil magistrate: and of these there have been “innumerable” instances; so the word o for “strong men” sometimes signifies; and so it is here rendered in the Septuagint and Arabic versions, “and innumerable are they whom she has slain”. All the world have wondered after the whore of Rome; kings of the earth and mighty men have committed fornication with her; high and low, rich and poor, have been ruined by her; thousands have gone to hell by her means; and some of the sycophants of Rome have even said, that if the pope of Rome should send thousands to hell, of which they seem themselves to be conscious, no one should say to him, What dost thou?

m “multos magnosque”, Gejerus. n See Dr. Kennicott’s Dissert. 1. p. 110. o , Sept. so Arab. “numerosi”, Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Amama, Cocceius, Michaelis, Schultens so Bootius, Animadv. l. 4. c. 11. s. 2.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The admonition, having its motive in that which goes before, is now founded on the emphatic finale:

26 For many are the slain whom she hath caused to fall,

And many are her slain.

27 A multiplicity of ways to help is her house,

Going down to the chambers of death.

The translation “for many slain has she laid low” (Syr., Targ., Jerome, Luther) is also syntactically possible; for can be placed before its substantive after the manner of the demonstratives and numerals ( e.g., Neh 9:28, cf. , Son 4:9), and the accentuation which requires two servants (the usual two Munachs) to the Athnach appears indeed thus to construe it. It is otherwise if here meant magni (thus e.g., Ralbag, and recently Bertheau), and not multi; but and stand elsewhere in connection with each other in the signification many and numerous, Psa 35:18; Joe 2:2; Mic 4:3. “Her slain” are those slain by her; the part. pass. is connected with the genitive of the actor, e.g., Pro 9:18; cf. (Arab.) katyl almhabbt , of one whom love kills (Fl.). With Pro 7:27 cf. Pro 2:18; Pro 9:18. In 27a, is not equivalent to after Pro 8:2, also not elliptical and equivalent to ; the former is unnecessary, the latter is in no case established by Psa 45:7; Ezr 10:13, nor by Deu 8:15; 2Ki 23:17 (see, on the other hand, Philippi’s Status Constructus, pp. 87-93). Rightly Hitzig has: her house forms a multiplicity of ways to hell, in so far as adultery leads by a diversity of ways to hell. Similarly the subject and the predicate vary in number, Pro 16:25; Psa 110:3; Job 26:13; Dan 9:23, and frequently. If one is once in her house, he may go in this or in that way, but surely his path is to destruction: it consists of many steps to hell, such as lead down ( , fem. Isa 37:34, masc. Isa 30:21) to the extreme depths of death (cf. Job 9:9, “chambers of the south” = its remotest regions veiling themselves in the invisible); for (Arab. khiddr ) is the part of the tent or the house removed farthest back, and the most private (Fl.). These , cf. , Pro 9:18, approach to the conception of , which is afterwards distinguished from .

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

26. For she That is, such women. She is taken representatively. The sentiment is: Innumerable mighty men, or mighty hosts, have thus been brought to ruin. If the strong are slain, how can you escape, if enticed into the snare? Miller, “For mighty men, when polluted, she has hurled down,” etc. “The most valiant heroes, the most puissant soldiers, that never yielded, but stood undaunted against all other assaults, have generally been vanquished, and frequently destroyed, by the allurements of women.” Hammond. The fall of Hannibal’s army in Italy is an example in point. Compare Num 22:5, etc.; Pro 25:1, etc.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Pro 7:26. For she hath cast down The LXX read, She hath cast dawn many whom she hath wounded; and they whom she hath slain are innumerable. There are those who read, She hath caused many soldiers to fall, and a great many brave, or strong men have been slain by her. The verse may be paraphrased thus: “The most valiant heroes, the most puissant soldiers, who have stood undaunted against all other assaults, have generally been vanquished and frequently destroyed by the allurements of women.” See Kennicott’s Dissert. vol. 2: Calmet observes, that Solomon had no need to go further than his own family for unhappy examples of the ill effects of lust. He was, indeed, himself afterwards a sad proof of what he here says. How many lions has the weakness of woman tamed, making a prey of the great ones of the earth! See 2 Samuel 11; 2 Samuel 12.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Pro 7:26 For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong [men] have been slain by her.

Ver. 26. For she hath cast down many. ] That have let in death at those windows of wickedness, those loop holes of lust; that have died of the wound in the eye. Aliorum perditio tua sit cautio – Seest thou another man shipwrecked, look well to thy tacklings.

Yea, many strong men have been slain by her. ] The valour of man hath oft been slaved by the wiles of a woman. Witness many of your greatest martialists, who conquered countries, and were vanquished of vices, being captivarum suarum captivi. The Persian kings commanded the whole world, and were commanded by their concubines. So was Alexander, Samson, Hercules, whom some make to be the same as Samson.

“ Lenam non potuit, potuit superare leaenam:

Quem fera non potuit vincere, vicit hera. ”

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