Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 1:19
So [are] the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; [which] taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
19. which taketh away ] Rather, It (greed of gain) taketh away the life of them that have it. It is the destruction of those who are possessed by it. The same Heb. phrase, owner or lord of, is rendered him that hath it, in Pro 16:22, Comp. Pro 22:24, an angry man, A.V.; him that is given to anger, R.V. lit. a lord, or owner, of anger, and Pro 23:2, a man given to appetite, lit. an owner of appetite.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Not robbery only, but all forms of covetousness are destructive of true life.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 19. Which taketh away the life] A covetous man is in effect, and in the sight of God, a murderer; he wishes to get all the gain that can accrue to any or all who are in the same business that he follows-no matter to him how many families starve in consequence. This is the very case with him who sets up shop after shop in different parts of the same town or neighbourhood, in which he carries on the same business, and endeavours to undersell others in the same trade, that he may get all into his own hand.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
So, as is expressed both in the foregoing and following words,
are the ways; the actions and courses, which are so in the tendency and event of them.
That is greedy of pain; that seeks gain by unrighteous and wicked practices. Which; either which greediness; or rather, which gain, by comparing the last words.
Taketh away the lives of the owners thereof; brings sudden and violent death upon those who had made themselves masters and possessors of such gain.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
So [are] the ways of everyone that is greedy of gain,…. That is set upon getting riches in an unlawful way, by robberies and murder; his ways will end in the loss of his own blood and life, and in the loss of his immortal soul; this will be what his wicked ways and course of life will bring him to, and what will his gain profit him then? it would be of no use and service to him could he have gained the whole world;
[which] taketh away the life of the owners thereof: or who, even every one of those that are greedy of gain, and will be rich at any rate; such stick not to take away the life of the proper owners of that gain, or money they are greedy of, in order to get it into their own possession; and such wicked practices cannot fail of meeting with a just recompence of reward: or “which” covetous gain, or gain gotten in such a wicked manner, will be the cause of the life of the injurious masters and wrong possessors of it being taken away from them, either by the hand of the civil magistrate, or by God himself. These sins of robbery and murder are particularly instanced in, not only because other sins lead unto them, as sabbath breaking, drunkenness, and lewdness, and issue in temporal and eternal ruin; but because they were very common among the Jews at the time that Wisdom, or Christ, was here on earth: to which time the whole passage refers, as appears from the following verses; and that those sins were frequent then is manifest both from Scripture; see Mt 27:38; and from the confessions of the Jews, who say z that forty years before the destruction of the temple the sanhedrim were obliged to remove from place to place, because that murderers increased, and they could not judge and condemn them, for fear of being murdered themselves; and it was because of this great increase they were obliged to stop the beheading of the red heifer a.
z T. Bab. Avodah Zarah, fol. 8. 2. a Misnah Sotah, c. 9. s. 9.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
An epiphonema:
Such is the lot of all who indulge in covetousness;
It takes away the life of its owner.
This language is formed after Job 8:13. Here, as there, in the word , the ideas of action and issue, manner of life and its result, are all combined. signifies properly that which is cut off, a piece, fragment broken off, then that which one breaks off and takes to himself – booty, gain, particularly unjust gain (Pro 28:16). is he who is greedy or covetous. The subject to is , covetousness, (see Isa 57:17). As Hoses, Job 4:11, says of three other things that they taken away , the understanding ( ), so here we are taught regarding unjust gain or covetousness, that it takes away , the life ( ) ( , to take away the life, 1Ki 19:10; Psa 31:14). denotes not the possessor of unjust gain, but as an inward conception, like , Pro 22:24, cf. Pro 23:2; Pro 24:8; Ecc 10:11, him of whom covetousness is the property. The sing. does not show that is thought of as sing.; cf. Pro 22:23, Ps. 34:23; but according to Pro 3:27; Pro 16:22; Ecc 8:8, this is nevertheless probable, although the usage without the suffix is always , and not (of plur. intens. ).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(19) So are the ways . . .The conclusion of the discourse. The same phrase occurs in Job. 8:13.
Which taketh away . . .That is, covetousness takes away the life of him who has this vice in his heart, who is, according to the Hebrew idiom, the owner of it. (Comp. similar expressions in Pro. 22:24; Pro. 23:2, where an angry man and a man given to appetite are literally an owner of anger and appetite.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
19. So are the ways Such is the natural course and end of every one that is greedy of gain Literally, a plunderer of plunder, (comp. Pro 15:29,) or rapacious plunderers of property, that do not hesitate to take the life of the owner of it. So the passage is commonly understood; but others, with some plausibility, render, It (that is, the unjust gain) takes away the life of its master or possessor. 1Ti 6:9-10.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Pro 1:19. The life of the owners thereof The Hebrew is not well translated here; bangal, which often occurs in this book, signifies not only being lord or owner of a thing, but also under the dominion of it; given or addicted to it. So chap. Pro 18:9. bangal lashon, signifies a talkative person; bangal nepesh, chap. Pro 23:2 one given to appetite; bangal ap, a hasty, or passionate man: chap. Pro 22:24. So also chap. Pro 17:8. A gift is as a precious stone in the hands beadlaiv, of the owners thereof; i.e. of those who love bribes. Grey. Schultens renders the clause, It taketh away the life of those that take it.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Pro 1:19 So [are] the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; [which] taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
Ver. 19. Which taketh away the life. ] The greater wealth, the greater spoil awaits a man: as a tree with thick and large boughs, every man desires to lop him. Trithemius writeth that the Templars, at the request of Philip, King of France, were put down and extinct, upon the pretext of heresy; but indeed, because they were rich, and Philip sore longed after their possessions. Cyprus for its great wealth became a spoil to the Roman’s auri sacra fames, &c. D . a Covetousness is daring and desperate: it rides without reins, as Balaam did after the wages of wickedness, “the mammon of iniquity.” Luk 16:9
a Sixtus Rufus, Virgil, Isidor.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
life = soul. Hebrew. nephesh. App-13.
owners. Hebrew. ba’al, as in Pro 1:17. The “owners” of a soul are like the “owners” of wings, and are caught in their own trap with their eyes open.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
every: Pro 15:27, Pro 23:3, Pro 23:4, 2Sa 18:11-13, 2Ki 5:20-27, Jer 22:17-19, Mic 2:1-3, Mic 3:10-12, Hab 2:9, Act 8:19, Act 8:20, 1Ti 3:3, 1Ti 6:9, 1Ti 6:10, Jam 5:1-4, 2Pe 2:3, 2Pe 2:14-16
taketh: Job 31:39, Ecc 5:13
Reciprocal: Num 35:20 – by laying 2Sa 16:3 – day Psa 10:5 – His Pro 1:13 – General Pro 21:7 – robbery Jer 17:11 – he that Eze 22:12 – greedily Jam 4:2 – lust
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1:19 So [are] the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; [which] taketh away {p} the life of the owners thereof.
(p) By which he concludes that the covetous man is a murderer.