Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 8:24
When [there were] no depths, I was brought forth; when [there were] no fountains abounding with water.
Compare Gen. 1; Job 22; Job 26:1-14; 38: A world of waters, great deeps lying in darkness, this was the picture of the remotest time of which man could form any conception, and yet the co-existence of the uncreated Wisdom with the eternal Yahweh was before that.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 24. When there were no depths] tehomoth, before the original chaotic mass was formed. See Ge 1:2.
I was brought forth] cholalti, “I was produced as by labouring throes.” Mr. Parkhurst thinks that the heathen poets derived their idea of Minerva’s (wisdom’s) being born of Jupiter’s brain, from some such high poetic personification as that in the text.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
No depths; no abyss or deep waters, either mixed with the earth, as they were at first, or separated from it.
Brought forth; begotten of my Fathers essence.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
24. brought forth(Compare Ps90:2).
aboundingor, “ladenwith water.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
When [there were] no depths, I was brought forth,…. Not only in the decree of God, as the head of the elect; foreordained to be the Redeemer of them, and to be the propitiation for their sins; and appointed the Judge of the world, and heir of all things; but “was begotten”, as the Targum and Syriac version; the Septuagint is, “he begot me”; and so it is to be understood of the eternal generation and sonship of Christ; for the word is used of generation,
Job 15:7. Christ is the firstborn of every creature, begotten, born, and brought forth before any creature was in being; see Ps 2:7; before the depths of the great sea were formed, for they were made by him, Ps 95:1; when there were no depths, but the infinite being and perfections of God, and the thoughts and purposes of his heart, which are his deep things, Job 11:7;
when [there were] no fountains abounding with water; or “heavy”, or “honoured” k with it; when the fountains of the great deep were not; and when there were no other fountains which form rivers, and water the earth; when there were none but God the fountain of living waters; then was Christ as the only begotten son of God; and who was also set up as the fountain of all grace, life, and salvation for his people.
k “aggravati”, Pagninus; “praegravati”, Vatablus; “gravati”, Michaelis; “honorabiles”, Gejerus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
This her existence before the world began is now set forth in yet more explicit statements:
24 “When there were as yet no floods was I brought forth,
When as yet there were not fountains which abounded with water;
25 For before the mountains were settled,
Before the hills was I brought forth,
26 While as yet He had not made land and plains,
And the sum of the dust of the earth.”
The description is poetical, and affords some room for imagination. By are not intended the unrestrained primeval waters, but, as also Pro 3:20, the inner waters, treasures of the earth; and consequently by , not the fountains of the sea on this earth (Ewald, after Job 38:16), but he springs or places of springs (for is n. loci to , a well as an eye of the earth; vid., Gen 16:7), by means of which the internal waters of the earth communicate themselves to the earth above (cf. Gen 7:11 with Gen 49:25). (abounding with water) is a descriptive epitheton to , which, notwithstanding its fem. plur., is construed as masc. (cf. Pro 5:16). The Masora does not distinguish the thrice-occurring according to its form as written (Isa 23:8-9). The form (which, like , would demand Metheg) is to be rejected; it is everywhere to be written nettirw (Ewald, 214b) with Pathach, with Dagesh following; vid., Kimchi, Michlol 61b. Kimchi adds the gloss , which the Gr. Venet., in accordance with the meaning of elsewhere, renders by (as also Bttcher: the most honoured = the most lordly); but Meri, Immanuel, and others rightly judge that the adjective is here to be understood after Gen 13:2; Job 14:21 (but in this latter passage does not mean “to be numerous”): loaded = endowed in rich measure.
Pro 8:25 Instead of , in (yet) non-existence (24), we have here , a subst. which signifies cutting off from that which already exists ( vid., at Gen 2:5), and then as a particle nondum or antequam, with always antequam, and in Pro 8:26 , so long not yet (this also originally a substantive from , in the sense of progress). With (were settled) (as Job 38:6, from , to impress into or upon anything, imprimere, infigere ) the question is asked: wherein? Not indeed: in the depths of the earth, but as the Caraite Ahron b. Joseph answers, , in the bottom of the sea; for out of the waters they rise up, Psa 104:8 (cf. at Gen 1:9).
Pro 8:26 is either, connecting the whole with its part: terra cum campis , or gains by this connection the meaning of land covered with buildings, while the expanse of unoccupied land, or the free field outside the towns and villages (cf. , Arab. barrytt ) (Fl.), vid., Job 5:10; Job 18:17 (where we have translated “in the steppe far and wide”); and regarding the fundamental idea, vid., above at Pro 5:16. Synonymous with , as contrast to , is , which like (produce, wealth) comes from , and thus denotes the earth as fruit-bearing (as properly denotes the humus as the covering of earth). Accordingly, with Ewald, we may understand by , “the heaps of the many clods of the fertile arable land lying as if scattered on the plains.” Hitzig also translates: “the first clods of the earth.” We do not deny that may mean clods of earth, i.e., pieces of earth gathered together, as Job 28:6, , gold ore, i.e., pieces of earth or ore containing gold. But for clods of earth the Heb. language has the nouns and ; and if we read together , plur. of the collective (dust as a mass), which comes as from a n. unitatis , and , which, among its meanings in poetry as well as in prose, has also that of the sum, i.e., the chief amount or the total amount (cf. the Arab. ras almal , the capital, ), then the two words in their mutual relation yield the sense of the sum of the several parts of the dust, as of the atoms of dust (Cocceius; Schultens, summam pluverum orbis habitabilis ); and Fleischer rightly remarks that other interpretations, as ab initio pulveris orbis, praecipus quaeque orbis terrarum, caput orbis terrarum ( i.e., according to Rashi, the first man; according to Umbreit, man generally), leave the choice of the plur. unintelligible. Before these creatures originated, Wisdom was, as she herself says, and emphatically repeats, already born; is the passive of the Pilel , which means to whirl, to twist oneself, to bring forth with sorrow (Aquila, Theodotion, ; Graec. Venet. 24a, , 25b, ), then but poet. generally to beget, to bring forth (Pro 25:23; Pro 26:10).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(24) I was brought forth.i.e., born. The same word is used in Psa. 51:5 (7), and Job. 15:7.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
24. When no depths, I was brought forth Better, when no abysses, I was produced.
When no fountains abounding with water The precise idea of the last words is uncertain. The participle for “abounding,” , may mean glorious. Perhaps it may be equivalent to our expression, “fountains of sparkling water.” The sentiment of the whole verse then would be: I was produced before there were either oceans or flowing streams. Brought forth, Stuart renders, “was born.” Produced is preferable, as corresponding better with the original, , which, though sometimes used in the sense or was born, is not a specific term, like , ( yulladh,) but more general, like our words produced, originated, which may be applied to the beginning of any thing.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Pro 8:24 When [there were] no depths, I was brought forth; when [there were] no fountains abounding with water.
Ver. 24. When there were no depths. ] In mentioning God’s works of creation, some observe here, that wisdom proceeds from the lower elements to the superior and heavenly bodies: she begins with the earth, Pro 8:23 goes on here to the waters, and so to the air, called streets, rendered “fields,” Pro 8:26 that is, the vast element of the air; which compared with the far less elements of earth and water, must needs seem exceedingly large, spacious, and open, as streets, or fields. Lastly, by “the highest part of the dust of the world,” the Hebrew doctors understand the element of fire. Iudicium sit penes lectorem: let the reader judge.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
brought forth. Same root as Job 15:7; Job 39:1. Psa 29:9; Psa 51:5. Isa 45:10; Isa 51:2; Isa 66:8. Hebrew. hul. Not the same word as in Pro 8:30.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
I was: Psa 2:7, Joh 1:14, Joh 3:16, Joh 5:20, Heb 1:5, 1Jo 4:9
Reciprocal: Job 38:16 – the springs Heb 1:6 – And again