Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 11:26
He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: but blessing [shall be] upon the head of him that selleth [it].
26. withholdeth ] e.g. by keeping back his store in time of necessity to run up the price. See Amo 8:4-6, and comp. the legend of Bishop Hatto.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
In the early stages of commerce there seems no way of making money rapidly so sure as that of buying up grain in time of famine, waiting until the dearth presses heavily, and then selling at famine prices. Men hate this selfishness, and pour blessings upon him who sells at a moderate profit.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Pro 11:26
He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him.
Withholding corn
The text has to do with owners of corn and dealers in it. In Solomons day famines were frequent, and were serious because trade communications between different countries were so uncertain. Then persons would buy up all the corn they could, so as to unduly raise the market-price. In relation to this greed in trade, there is a wonderful reserve of Holy Scripture. Mr. Arnot says, In this brief maxim no arbitrary rule is laid down to the possessor of corn, that he must sell at a certain period and at a certain price: and yet the hungry are not left without a protecting law. The protection of the weak is entrusted not to small police regulations, but to great self-acting providential arrangements. The double fact is recorded in terms of peculiar distinctness, that he who in times of scarcity keeps up his corn in order to enrich himself is loathed by the people, and he who sells it freely is loved. This is all. There is no further legislation on the subject. Laws which interfere between buyer and seller, master and workman, are blunders and nuisances. The market goes best when it is left alone, and so in our text there is no law enacted and no penalty threatened, except that which the nature of things makes inevitable. A man may do as he pleases about selling or not, but he cannot escape from the curse of the people if he chooses to lock up his grain. But if it bring a curse upon a man to withhold the bread that perisheth, what a weight of curse will light upon the man who withholds the bread of eternal life.
I. How can this be done?
1. By locking up the Word of God in an unknown language, or by delivering and preaching it in such a style that the people shall not comprehend it. Illustrate by the practice of the Roman Church. But the terms of theology, the phrases of art, the definitions of philosophy, the jargon of science, are an unknown tongue to the young godly ploughmen, or praying shopkeepers. Simplicity is the authorised style of true gospel ministry.
2. By keeping back the most important and vital truths of revelation, and giving a prominence to other things, which are but secondary. Morality brings no food to hungry souls, although it is good enough in its place. Dissuasives from vice are not the bread of heaven, though well enough in their way. We need to have the great doctrines of grace brought forward, for the Word of God is the sword of the Spirit, and it is by preaching the truth as it is in Jesus that souls are won to Him.
3. By want of loving zeal in our labour. That which God blesses to the saving of sinners is truth attended by the earnestness of the speaker. Think of the preaching of Baxter. We are guilty of withholding corn unless we preach with a sympathising, loving, tender, affectionate, earnest, anxious soul.
4. By refusing to labour zealously for the spread of the kingdom of Christ and the conversion of sinners.
5. By refusing to help those who are working for Christ. I cannot understand how a man can love God when he only lives to heap up riches.
II. The blessedness which those possess who break the bread of life. To describe it is altogether beyond my power. You must know, and taste, and feel it. There are many blessednesses in doing good to others.
1. An easy conscience.
2. Comfort in doing something for Jesus.
3. Watching the first buddings of conviction in a young soul.
4. The joy of success.
5. The final and gracious reward.
III. Now I have to open the granary myself. Hungry sinners, wanting a Saviour, we cannot withhold the bread from you! We tell you the way of salvation.
1. It is a satisfying salvation.
2. It is an all-sufficient salvation.
3. It is a complete salvation.
4. It is a present salvation.
5. It is an available salvation. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The right to withhold
The text may be regarded as suggestive of a still higher thought than the one to which it is limited. If men have no right to withhold corn, what right can they have to withhold knowledge? If it is an evil thing to injure the body or expose it to danger, what is it to injure the soul or to expose it to the peril of eternal loss? If it is wrong to keep back bread from the body, what must it be to keep back bread from the soul? An important doctrine is involved in the whole text; there are some things which a man may possess, as it were, for himself, and enjoy without sharing his delight with others; a man may have many precious stones, and may conceal them, and permit no eye but his own to look upon them, or hand to touch them but his own: so be it; the pleasure is a narrow and selfish one, and no great social consequences attend its enjoyment. On the other hand, it would seem as if no man could have private property in corn or in bread, in the sense of saying to the people, I have it, but you shall not possess it; though you offer double its price I will not allow you to take it from me unless you multiply the price fivefold. A man may talk thus about diamonds and rubies, but he is not at liberty to talk thus about bread. A man may have great property in pictures, but it is questionable whether he should have any property in land in any sense that makes the people dependent upon his caprice as to whether it shall be cultivated and turned to the highest uses. It would seem as if light and air and land were universal possessions, and that all men were equally welcome to them. In the case of the land, it may be necessary that there should be temporary proprietorship, or some regulated relation to it so as to prevent robbery; but with such regulated relation proprietorship might well terminate. All this issue, however, can only be realised as the result of the largest spiritual education. It is difficult to persuade any great landed proprietor that he ought to surrender his rights for the good of the commonwealth. This can only come after years, it may be even centuries, of education of the most spiritual kind; or if it come earlier by statesmanship, it must also come justly, for even good rights may be created by faulty processes, and by mere lapse of time ownerships may be set up which have no original force. We shall never have a commonwealth founded upon righteousness and inspired by the spirit of patriotism until we are just to every interest which stands in the way of its realisation. (J. Parker, D.D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 26. He that withholdeth corn] Who refuses to sell because he hopes for a dearth, and then he can make his own price.
The people shall curse him] Yes, and God shall curse him also; and if he do not return and repent, he will get God’s curse, and the curse of the poor, which will be a canker in his money during time, and in his soul throughout eternity.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Withholdeth corn, in a time of scarcity, when others need and desire it.
Blessing; the blessing of God, which the people shall heartily beg for him.
That selleth it upon reasonable terms.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
26. Another example of the truthof Pr 11:23; the miser losesreputation, though he saves corn.
selleth itthat is, ata fair price.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him,…. That hoards it up for a better price, in hopes of a better market; and does not bring it out, and expose it to sale, when there is a scarcity of it; so the Targum adds, “in famine”; or, “in straits”, as the Syriac version; in a time of distress through, famine: this will bring the curse of the poor upon him, who will imprecate the most dreadful things on him and his family. Jarchi interprets it of the law, and of withholding the teaching of it; but it may be better applied to the Gospel, and the withholding the ministration of that, and so causing a famine, not of bread and of water, but of hearing the word of the Lord; which is done by the Papists, by prohibiting Gospel ministers preaching the word; forbidding the people to read it in their own language; locking it up from them in a language they understand not; and so starve the souls of men, which brings upon them a curse;
but blessing [shall be] upon the head of him that selleth [it]; at a moderate price, so that the poor may be able to come at it; such will have their blessing; they will wish all happiness to them and their families, here and hereafter. Or, “that breaks” d it; separates it from the heap, breaks and grinds it into flour, and then sells it: or imparts it freely; so the Septuagint version, “that communicates”: and the Arabic version, “that gives”; and may be fitly applied to a faithful minister of the Gospel, who breaks the bread of life, and freely and plentifully imparts it to the souls of men; and who has the hearty prayers and good wishes of the people to whom he ministers. The master of a family used to break the bread, as Christ often did.
d “frangentis”, Montanus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
26 Whoso withholdeth corn, him the people curse;
But blessing is on the head of him that selleth it.
This proverb is directed against the corn-usurer, whose covetousness and deceitful conduct is described in Amo 8:4-8. But whilst it is there said that they cannot wait till the burdensome interruption of their usurious conduct on account of the sacred days come to an end, the figure here is of a different aspect of their character: they hold back their stores of corn in the times of scarcity, for they speculate on receiving yet higher prices for it. (from , to purify, to be pure) is thrashed grain, cf. Arab. burr , wheat, and nakky of the cleaning of the grain by the separation from it of the tares, etc. (Fl.); the word has Kametz, according to the Masora, as always in pause and in the history of Joseph. has Munach on the syllable preceding the last, on which the tone is thrown back, and Metheg with the Tsere as the sign of a pause, as Pro 1:10 ( vid., p. 67). , qui annonam vendit , is denom. of , properly that which is crushed, therefore grain (Fl.). , which we would understand in the Proph. of nations, are here, as at Pro 24:24, the individuals of the people. The which falls on the head of the charitable is the thanks of his fellow-citizens, along with all good wishes.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
26 He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it.
See here, 1. What use we are to make of the gifts of God’s bounty; we must not hoard them up merely for our own advantage, that we may be enriched by them, but we must bring them forth for the benefit of others, that they may be supported and maintained by them. It is a sin, when corn is dear and scarce, to withhold it, in hopes that it will still grow dearer, so to keep up and advance the market, when it is already so high that the poor suffer by it; and at such a time it is the duty of those that have stocks of corn by them to consider the poor, and to be willing to sell at the market-price, to be content with moderate profit, and not aim to make a gain of God’s judgments. It is a noble and extensive piece of charity for those that have stores wherewithal to do it to help to keep the markets low when the price of our commodities grows excessive. 2. What regard we are to have to the voice of the people. We are not to think it an indifferent thing, and not worth heeding, whether we have the ill will and word, or the good will and word, of our neighbours, their prayers or their curses; for here we are taught to dread their curses, and forego our own profit rather than incur them; and to court their blessings, and be at some expense to purchase them. Sometimes, vox populi est vox Dei—the voice of the people is the voice of God.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
(26) He that withholdeth corn till it has reached an exorbitant price, the people shall curse him: but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it at a fair price. The truth of this is not affected by the fact that the dealers selfishness is in the long run beneficial to the community by limiting consumption in consequence of the rise in the price of corn.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
26. Withholdeth Selfishly garners it up when the grain is needed to prevent famine.
People shall curse him Shall utter sharp, piercing words concerning him. “He that hoardeth up corn in the time of scarcity, on purpose to raise the price, shall fall into the popular hatred, and be loaded with many a curse; but he who opens his granaries, and sells at a moderate rate, shall not only have the people’s goodwill, but the blessing of God.” Patrick. The first clause applies to all speculating monopolizers of the necessaries of life. Job 29:13; Amo 8:5.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
v. 26. He that withholdeth corn,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Pro 11:26. He that withholdeth corn The truth of this is experienced in all times of scarcity. They who have the hardness of heart to withhold their corn at such seasons, are accursed of God and men. The justice of God fails not to display itself upon those who are insensible to the miseries of the public, and who are not afraid to bring upon themselves the hatred and curses of the people. The Latins have a proverb parallel to this of Solomon. Qui flagellat annonam, Dardanarius. See Amo 8:5-7 and Calmet.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Pro 11:26 He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: but blessing [shall be] upon the head of him that selleth [it].
Ver. 26. The people shall curse him, ] i.e., Complain and cry out of him, as the people of Rome did of Pompey in another case. Nostra miseria tu es magnus. Our misery is you greatness. In another case, I say; for in this I must acquit him, remembering that speech of his, when, being by his office to bring in corn from a far country for the people’s necessity, and wished by his friends to stay for a better wind, he hoisted up sail, and said: Necesse est ut eam, non ut vivam – there is a necessity of my going, not so of my life; if I perish, I perish. Hence he was the people’s Corculum, or sweetheart, as it is said of Scipio Nasica.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
withholdeth. Different from hoarding it in store as in Egypt (Gen 41:34-36; Gen 41:53-57).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Pro 11:26
Pro 11:26
“He that withholdeth grain, the people shall curse him; But blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it.”
The background of this proverb appears to be a situation in which evil men monopolized the supply of grain, withholding it from the market to increase the price. Similar evil practices are mentioned in Amo 8:4-6.
Pro 11:26. Often the rich withhold selling grain during shortages to let the price go higher and higher. How the people will curse such a character! But how the same people would bless him for not waiting for higher prices but releasing to their need!
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
that withholdeth: Amo 8:4-6
blessing: Job 29:13
Reciprocal: Gen 47:23 – here is seed Gen 47:25 – Thou hast Pro 10:6 – Blessings Pro 24:24 – him shall Pro 28:27 – shall Pro 30:10 – lest 2Co 9:14 – by
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 11:26. He that withholdeth corn In a time of scarcity, when others need and desire it; the people shall curse him He shall fall into the popular hatred, and be loaded with many curses; but blessing Namely, the blessing of God, which the people shall earnestly ask for him; shall be upon the head of him that selleth it Upon reasonable terms. The truth of this, says Dr. Dodd, is experienced in all times of scarcity. They who have the hardness of heart to withhold their corn at such seasons are accursed of God and men. The justice of God fails not to display itself upon those who are insensible to the miseries of the public, and who are not afraid to bring upon themselves the hatred and curses of the people: see Amo 8:5-7, and Calmet.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
11:26 He that withholdeth grain, the people shall curse him: but blessing [shall be] upon the head of him that {p} selleth [it].
(p) That provides for the use of them who are in need.