Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 11:29
He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool [shall be] servant to the wise of heart.
29. troubleth ] by churlish and niggardly ways. Comp. the story of Nabal, 1 Samuel 25.
the wind ] Which shall drive away him and his possessions, Psa 1:4; or the wind may here be used to denote that which is unsubstantial and vanishes away. Comp. Isa 41:29.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He that troubleth … – The temper, nigardly and worrying, which leads a man to make those about him miserable, and proves but bad economy in the end.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Pro 11:29
He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind.
Family life
I. Peace should be the grand aim of all the members of the domestic circle. To trouble the house is an evil.
II. There Are some members who break the peace of their domestic circle. They are the ill-natured, impulsive, false, selfish.
III. Those who break the peace of their domestic circle are fools. Their folly is seen in this–
1. They get no good by it.
2. They get degradation by it. (D. Thomas, D.D.)
Troubling ones own house
There are many ways in which this may be done. A man may, by the violence and irritability, the peevishness, fretfulness, and selfishness of his temper; he may by his avarice on the one hand, or by his reckless prodigality on the other–involving his family in starvation and suffering by opposite means; he may by intemperance, with all its horrid attendants; he may by sloth, and idleness, and indisposition to work, trouble his own house. He shall inherit the wind. The expression is a very strong one. Could any words more impressively convey the idea of loss, disappointment, and ultimate destitution and beggary? The result the man deserves. A mans family is his first charge from heaven, and ought to be his chief and constant solicitude. The only evil to be lamented is that he brings the destitution upon them as well as himself. (R. Wardlaw.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 29. Shall inherit the wind] He who dissipates his property by riotous living, shall be as unsatisfied as he who attempts to feed upon air.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He that troubleth his own house; he who bringeth trouble and misery upon himself and children, either,
1. By carelessness, slothfulness, improvidence, prodigality, or any wickedness, whereby he consumeth his estate. So this troubling of his house may be opposed to a mans building of his house, Jer 29:28. Or,
2. By covetous desires and restless endeavours to heap up riches, whereby he greatly tires and troubles both himself and all his family with excessive cares and labours, which is called coveting an evil covetousness to his house, Hab 2:9.
Shall inherit the wind; shall be as unable to keep and enjoy what he gets as a man is to hold the wind in his fist, or to feed and satisfy himself with it; he shall be brought to poverty.
The fool shall be servant to the wise of heart; by which means such a troublesome fool shall through his extreme necessity be forced even to sell himself to such as are wiser.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
29. troublethas Pr15:27 explains, by greediness for gain (compare Pr11:17).
inherit . . . windEvensuccessful, his gains are of no real value. So the fool, thus acting,either comes to poverty, or heaps up for others.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
He that troubleth his own house,…. His family, his wife, and children, and servants; by being bitter to the one, and by provoking the others to wrath, and continually giving out menacing words to the rest; or through idleness, not providing for his family; or through an over worldly spirit, pushing on business, and hurrying it on beyond measure; or through a niggardly and avaricious temper, withholding meat and drink, and clothes convenient for them; see
Pr 15:27; or through profuseness and prodigality. Such an one
shall inherit the wind; nothing but vanity and emptiness; he shall come to nothing, and get nothing; and what he does, be shall not keep, and on which he cannot live;
and the fool [shall be] servant to the wise of heart; he who has both got and lost his substance in a foolish way shall be so reduced as to become a servant to him who has pursued wise measures, both in getting and keeping what he has; and to whom perhaps the fool formerly stood in the relation of a master. Such a change will be with respect to antichrist and the saints, Da 7:25.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
29 He that troubleth his own household shall inherit the wind,
And a fool becomes servant to the wise in heart.
Jerome well translates: qui conturbat domum suam , for closely corresponds to the Lat. turbare ; but with what reference is the troubling or disturbing here meant? The Syr. translates 29a doubly, and refers it once to deceit, and the second time to the contrary of avarice; the lxx, by , understands one who acts towards his own not unsociably, or without affability, and thus not tyrannically. But Pro 11:17, is he who does not grudge to his own body that which is necessary; is applied to Elijah, 1Ki 18:17, on account of whose prayer there was a want of rain; and at Pro 15:27 it is the covetous who is spoken of as . The proverb has, accordingly, in the man who “troubles his own house” (Luth.), a niggard and sordid person (Hitzig) in view, one who does not give to his own, particularly to his own servants, a sufficiency of food and of necessary recreation. Far from raising himself by his household arrangements, he shall only inherit wind ( , not as the Syr. translates, , in the general signification to inherit, to obtain, as Pro 3:35; Pro 28:10, etc.), i.e., he goes always farther and farther back (for he deprives his servants of all pleasure and love for their work in seeking the prosperity of his house), till in the end the reality of his possession dissolves into nothing. Such conduct is not only loveless, but also foolish; and a foolish person ( vid., regarding at Pro 1:7) has no influence as the master of a house, and generally is unable to maintain his independence: “and the servant is a fool to him who is wise of heart.” Thus the lxx (cf. also the lxx of Pro 10:5), Syr., Targ., Jerome, Graec. Venet., Luth. construe the sentence. The explanation, et servus stulti cordato (sc. addicitur ), i.e., even the domestics of the covetous fool are at last partakers in the wise beneficence (Fl.), places 29b in an unnecessary connection with 29a, omits the verb, which is here scarcely superfluous, and is not demanded by the accentuation (cf. e.g., Pro 19:22).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
29 He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.
Two extremes in the management of family-affairs are here condemned and the ill consequences of them foretold:– 1. Carefulness and carnal policy, on the one hand. There are those that by their extreme earnestness in pursuit of the world, their anxiety about their business and fretfulness about their losses, their strictness with their servants and their niggardliness towards their families, trouble their own houses and give continual vexation to all about them; while others think, by supporting factions and feuds in their families, which are really a trouble to their houses, to serve some turn for themselves, and either to get or to save by it. But they will both be disappointed; they will inherit the wind. All they will get by these arts will not only be empty and worthless as the wind, but noisy and troublesome, vanity and vexation. 2. Carelessness and want of common prudence, on the other. He that is a fool in his business, that either minds it not or goes awkwardly about it, that has no contrivance and consideration, no only loses his reputation and interest, but becomes a servant to the wise in heart. He is impoverished, and forced to work for his living; while those that manage wisely raise themselves, and come to have dominion over him, and others like him. It is rational, and very fit, that the fool should be servant to the wise in heart, and upon that account, among others, we are bound to submit our wills to the will of God, and to be subject to him, because we are fools and he is infinitely wise.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Reaping and Sowing
(Pro 11:29)
Verse 29 repeats the principle of reaping what one sows (see comment on verse 17). The fool in 29b is the same as the fool in 1:7b.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro. 11:29
FOOLISH HOME RULERS
There are many ways of troubling ones own house. Many sparks fly from one anvil, but one is sufficient to set a house on fire. Some home-destroyers emit many sparks, but one evil habit or temper is enough to consume all the peace of home-life. A man may trouble his house by
1. Selfishness. When a dry sponge is placed in a vessel of water, it will soak up every drop of water that it can hold, and very probably will leave the vessel empty. So the selfish head of a household will absorb all the comforts of the householdtake to himself all the luxuries and enjoyments which ought to be distributed among all its members.
2. Hasty temper. A human father and husband that will complain at every trifle and blaze into a passion when nothing has been done or said worthy of notice, will be a great troubler of his house. He will not be heeded when there is real occasion for his displeasure. The perpetual rattle of a daily siege so dulls the ear of the soldier that he does not notice the roar of the cannon on the day of special battle. So the members of a household who are always being subjected to the rattle of an ungovernable tongue make no account of reproof when there is really an occasion for it.
3. A perpetual assertion of authority. There can be no joyful obedience in a family where its head is always insisting upon the fact that he is their master. Such a constant proclamation of right to rule makes that a bondage which would otherwise be a glad service.
4. Prodigality or niggardliness. He who wastes that which belongs to his children is a robber, and so is he who from avaricious motives deprives them of those home comforts with which he is able to furnish them. These are but samples of the many ways in which a man may trouble his houseways which are not altogether unknown in some homes whose head is a professor of godliness. Such a man is a far-reaching curse. The members of such a home scatter themselves abroad in the world carrying with them none of the blessed influences that they ought to have received from their home-life, and are very likely in their turn to become the troublers of their houses. The gold receives its form and polish, its image and superscription at the mint. Home is the mint where the value of the character for its entire future is often impressed upon it. The child generally bears the image and superscription of his parent.
II. Such a troubler is a fool.
1. He can reap no possible advantage by it. To inherit the wind is to inherit cold cheer. A wintry wind is poor comfort for a man with little raiment on a cold night. Wind is an unsatisfying substitute for food to a hungry man. But a man in such a condition is an apt illustration of a man in the winter of life who has forfeited that love and honour which would have been the reward of a different course of conduct.
2. He shall go down in social position. The man who has ruled his household well must win the respect and confidence of those outside of it. It is an inevitable consequence that he will go up in the estimation of his associates while one of the opposite character will go down and so be servant to the wise of heart.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
He that troubles his own house in any form of impenitence; he that takes the trouble to live without the gospel; he that chases wealth when he admits that it will breed him vengeance; he that goes through the self-denials of the world to accumulate worldly benefits which he knows are mischiefs to his soul, is absolutely fool enough to be the servant in all these trials, and that through eternal ages, of wiser and better creatures.Miller.
He shall leave at last but the wind of his breath to deplore his folly and to beg help for his misery. St. Gregory taketh the latter part of the verse that a fool serveth the wise in heart even by ruling over him and oppressing him, for he advanceth him to a better state and condition of goodness.Jermin.
He that would not undo himself, let him not undo his family and domestic affairs. It nearly concerneth a householder to know that his house is laden with his whole estate, that his people sail together with him in the same vessel, for his use.Dod.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(29) He that troubleth his own house.Possibly by his niggardliness and avarice, as Pro. 15:27.
Shall inherit the wind.Will get nothing for his pains.
The fool (evl).The self-willed, who will listen to no advice, and so comes to ruin.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
29. He that troubleth his own house By mismanagement, bad temper, want of industry, extravagance, avarice, or any other means.
Shall inherit the wind Which was an emblem of emptiness or nothingness.
Shall be servant Patrick refers the first part to him who makes or cherishes dissensions and factions in his house. It may mean any unwise or bad conduct, as drunkenness, for instance, whereby a man troubles and impoverishes his family. Compare Pro 11:24; Ecc 5:16.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
v. 29. He that troubleth his own house,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Pro 11:29. He that troubleth his own house That is, either dissipates his substance by extravagance, or sows division and discord among his friends and relations. Lord Bacon takes this for a profitable admonition touching discords in families, and domestic breaches [but it may as well be applied to whole kingdoms, which are larger families]; which whosoever cherishes among his children, or servants, or people, as a means to have his affairs better administered when they have an evil eye upon and hate one another, commonly finds his hopes turn into wind. For those alterations and changes generally succeed ill, and those disturbers of their own families oftentimes meet with vexations and ingratitude from those very persons whom, passing by others, they adopt as the objects of their especial favour: nay, by this means they often draw upon themselves ill reports and doubtful rumours; for it is not ill observed by Cicero, that all reports, both good and bad fame, come from domestics; which two evils Solomon expresses by inheriting the wind: for the frustrating of expectations, and raising of rumours, are rightly compared to winds. See A Discourse of Learning, as above, and chap. Pro 15:7.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Pro 11:29 He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool [shall be] servant to the wise of heart.
Ver. 29. He that troubleth his own house. ] Either by prodigality, or excessive parsimony. Prodigi singulis auribus bina aut terna dependent patrimonia, saith Seneca. We have known great rents soon turned into great ruffs, and lands into laces. For parsimony and cruelty, See Trapp on “ Pro 15:27 “
Shall inherit the wind.
a Livius.
b Dio.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the wind. Hebrew. ruach. App-9.
fool. Hebrew. ‘evil. See note on Pro 1:7.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Pro 11:29
Pro 11:29
“He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind; And the foolish shall be servant to the wise of heart.”
“The man who brings trouble on his family will have nothing at the end. Foolish men shall always be servants to the wise. There is implied here the fact of a man’s primary obligation to be a blessing to his family.
Pro 11:29. God is displeased with one who makes trouble for his parents and brothers and sisters. He will inherit the wind (get nothing) rather than be included in the family inheritance. In life the foolish serve or work for the wise. The man wise enough to choose what he wants to succeed in and prepares himself for it gets much farther than the man who idly drifts from job to job and from day to day.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
that: Gen 34:30, Jos 7:24, Jos 7:25, 1Sa 25:3, 1Sa 25:17, 1Sa 25:38, Hab 2:9, Hab 2:10
inherit: Ecc 5:16, Hos 8:7
Reciprocal: Pro 14:18 – inherit Pro 15:27 – He that is Pro 17:2 – wise
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 11:29. He that troubleth his own house He who brings trouble upon himself and children; either, 1st, By carelessness, sloth, improvidence, prodigality, or any wickedness, whereby he consumes his estate: or, 2d, By covetous desires, and restless endeavours to heap up riches, whereby he greatly harasses and distresses both himself and his family with excessive cares and labours; shall inherit the wind Shall be as unable to keep and enjoy what he gets, as a man is to hold the wind in his fist, or to feed and satisfy himself with it: he shall be brought to poverty. And the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart A person so destitute of prudence or industry, shall, through his extreme necessity, be obliged to work hard for his living, and to become a servant to such as are more diligent in pursuing, and more discreet in managing their worldly affairs.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
11:29 He that troubleth his own {q} house shall inherit the wind: and the fool [shall be] {r} servant to the wise of heart.
(q) The covetous men who spare their riches to the hinderance of their families, will be deprived of it miserably.
(r) For though the wicked are rich, yet they are only slaves to the godly, who are the true possessors of the gifts of God.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
"Wind" here probably represents being left with nothing, something that cannot be grasped (Pro 27:16; Job 15:2; Ecc 1:14; Ecc 1:17; Isa 26:18; Jer 5:13; Mic 2:11). It may also imply something bad and destructive such as the dreaded Palestinian sirocco (cf. Pro 11:17; Jos 7:26). The foolish man who mismanages his accounts may also have to sell himself as a servant to the wise person who is a better manager. An example would be a person who gets too far in debt and has to sell all his possessions to pay off his creditors.