Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 31:18
She perceiveth that her merchandise [is] good: her candle goeth not out by night.
18. perceiveth ] Lit. tasteth, A.V. margin ( , LXX.; gustavit, Vulg.), finds by experience.
good ] i.e. profitable, R.V. Comp. “better than the merchandise of silver,” Pro 3:14.
her candle ] Rather, lamp. To be understood literally, see Pro 31:15, not figuratively as in Pro 13:9; Pro 20:20.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 18. She perceiveth that her merchandise is good]
8. She takes care to manufacture the best articles of the kind, and to lay on a reasonable price that she may secure a ready sale. Her goods are in high repute, and she knows she can sell as much as she can make. And she finds that while she pleases her customers, she increases her own profits.
9. She is watchful and careful. Her candle – her lamp, burns all night, which is of great advantage in case of sudden alarms; and in the times and places where there were so many banditti, this was a very necessary family regulation. Perhaps some works were carried on during the night, those employed sleeping in the daytime. Thus labour never stood still; whilst some slept, others worked. This was no unusual thing in ancient times; and it prevails now; but alas! little children are often thus employed to help to support their indigent parents, and to fill the coffers of their unfeeling taskmasters.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
She perceiveth that her merchandise is good; she finds great comfort and good success in her labours.
Her candle goeth not out by night; which is not to be taken strictly, but only signifies her unwearied care and industry, which is oft expressed by labouring day and night, or continually.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
She perceiveth that her merchandise [is] good,…. That it turns to good account; that her trading to heaven is of great advantage; that she grows rich hereby; that her merchandise with Wisdom, or Christ, is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereby than fine gold; and though her voyages are attended with trouble and danger, yet are profitable, and therefore she is not discouraged, but determined to pursue them; she is like the merchant man, seeking goodly pearls, who finds a pearl of great price, worth all his trouble; [See comments on Pr 31:14] and see Pr 3:14;
her candle goeth not out by night; or “lamp” s; her lamp of profession, which is always kept burning, Lu 12:35; or the glorious light of the Gospel, which always continues in the darkest times the church ever has been in; or her spiritual prosperity, which, though it may be damped, will never be extinct; when the candle of the wicked is often put out, Job 21:17; It may denote her diligence in working; who, as she rises early in the morning, Pr 31:15, so sits up late at night, and is never weary of well doing, night and day. Ambrose interprets it of the lamp of hope, which burns in the night, and by and for which men work, Ro 8:24.
s “lucerna ejus”, V. L. Tigurine version, Michaelis, Schultens.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
18 She perceiveth that her gain is good;
And her light goeth not out at night.
The perf. and fut. are related to each other as antecedent and consequent, so that 18a can also be rendered as an hypothetical antecedent. She comes to find (taste) how profitable her industry is by the experience resulting from the sale of its product: the corn, the grapes, and the wine are found to be good, and thus her gain (cf. Pro 3:14) is better, this opened new source of nourishment productive.
This spurs on her active industry to redoubled effort, and at times, when she is not fully occupied by the oversight of her fields and vineyard, she has another employment over which her light goes not out till far in the night. is, as at Lam 2:19, a needless Ker for the poetic (Isa 16:3). What other business it is to which she gives attention till in the night, is mentioned in the next verse.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
18. She perceiveth Literally, tastes, proves.
Her merchandise is good Valuable, profitable, and highly appreciated, and this makes her all the more industrious; so that sometimes, at least, she works at it all night in order to supply the great demand for her goods.
Her candle Lamp.
Goeth not out by night Some suppose that this may be intended to mark a wise precaution against robbers or banditti, which, from time immemorial, have infested those Eastern countries. It is more probable, however, that it is intended as another mark of her extraordinary energy in accomplishing some important contract or task in the given time. When necessary she drives her work by night as well as by day.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Pro 31:18. She perceiveth that her merchandise is good She perceiveth that her merchandize is advantageous. Houbigant. The LXX read, She finds that it is good to work. “Finding by sweet experience not only how wholesome labour is, but what profit her traffic yields, she doth not conclude her work with the day, but continues it as much in the night as can be spared from necessary sleep.” See the next verse. Very similar to this is what Penelope says to Ulysses:
Nec mihi quaerenti spatiosam fallere noctem, Lassaret viduas pendula tela manus.
Nor, seeking to deceive the tedious night, Would the worn distaff tire thy widow’d hands.
“See Ovid’s Epistle of Penelope to Ulysses, and Pope’s Odyss. book i. ver. 455.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Pro 31:18 She perceiveth that her merchandise [is] good: her candle goeth not out by night.
Ver. 18. She perceiveth that her merchandise is good. ] She feels the sweet of it, and is heartened to redouble her diligence, as a draught horse feeling his load coming, draws the harder. The good soul doth the same. For, having once tasted how sweet the Lord is, it can never have enough of him, but is carried after him with strength of desire, as the doves to their dove cotes, as the eagles to the carcases. Psa 84:1-3 No reason would satisfy Moses, but when God had done much for him he must still have more. Exo 33:12-19 ; Exo 34:9
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
candle = lamp.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
perceiveth: Heb. tasteth
her candle: Gen 31:40, Psa 127:2, Mat 25:3-10, 1Th 2:9, 2Th 3:7-9