Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 14:18

The simple inherit folly: but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

Crowned – The teacher anticipates the truth, and the paradox, of the Stoic saying, The wise is the only king.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Inherit folly; they possess it as their inheritance or portion, holding it fast, improving it, delighting and glorying in it. In like manner David took Gods

testimonies for his heritage, Psa 119:111, where the word is the same; withal he may imply that folly is natural and hereditary to them.

Are crowned with knowledge; they place their honour and happiness in a sound, and practical, and saving knowledge of God, and of their own duty, and therefore earnestly pursue after it, and heartily embrace it.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

18. inheritas a portion(compare Pr 3:35).

are crownedliterally,”are surrounded with it,” abound in it.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

The simple inherit folly,…. It is natural and hereditary to them, they are born like wild asses colts; the foolish sayings and proverbs, customs and practices, of their ancestors, though they have been demonstrated to be mere folly, yet these, their posterity, approve them; they love, like, and retain them as their patrimony, Job 11:12. Such are the foolish traditions, customs, principles, and doctrines, of the church of Rome, handed down from father to son; and because Popery is the religion they have been bred and brought up in, though so foolish and absurd, they will not relinquish it;

but the prudent are crowned with knowledge; natural, civil, and spiritual, especially the latter; evangelical knowledge, the knowledge of Christ, and of God in Christ, and of Gospel truths; they are honoured with an acquaintance with them; and they esteem the knowledge of these above all things else, and reckon all things else but loss and dung in comparison of them; they are as a crown unto them, and the knowledge of them is the way to the crown of life; yea, is itself life eternal, Php 3:8. Or, they “crown themselves with knowledge” p; they labour after it, pursue it with eagerness, follow on to know the Lord, and attain to a large share of it; surround, encompass, and lay hold upon it, and gird themselves about with this girdle of truth. Or, “they crown knowledge” q; do honour to that, by putting it in practice; by adding to it temperance, and every virtue, and by bringing others to it; and are an ornament to it in their lives and conversation; they adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour.

p “imponent coronam sibi scientiam”, Montanus; “coronant se scientia”, Piscator, so Ben Melech. q “Coronabunt scientiam”, Baynus; “ornant scientiam”, Drusius.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

18 The simple have obtained folly as an inheritance;

But the prudent put on knowledge as a crown.

As a parallel word to , (after the Masora defective), also in the sense of Arab. akthar , multiplicare, abundare (from Arab. kathura , to be much, perhaps

(Note: According to rule the Hebr. becomes in Arab. t , as in Aram. ; but kthar might be from ktar , an old verb rarely found, which derivata with the idea of encircling (wall) and of rounding (bunch) point to.)

properly comprehensive, encompassing), would be appropriate, but it is a word properly Arabic. On the other hand, inappropriate is the meaning of the Heb.-Aram. , to wait (properly waiting to surround, to go round any one, cf. manere aliquem or aliquod ), according to which Aquila, , and Jerome, expectabunt . Also , to encompass in the sense of to embrace (lxx ), does not suffice, since in the relation to one expects an idea surpassing this. Certainly there is a heightening of the idea in this, that the Hiph. in contradistinction to would denote an object of desire spontaneously sought for. But far stronger and more pointed is the heightening of the idea when we take as the denom. of (Gr. , , Babyl. , cudur , cf. , a rounding, sphaera ). Thus Theodotion, . The Venet. better actively, (after Kimchi: ), the Targ., Jerome, Luther (but not the Syr., which translates by “to inherit,” but by , which the lxx has for ). The bibl. language has also (Ps. 142:8) in the denom. signification of to place a crown, and that on oneself; the non-bibl. has (like the bibl. ) in the sense of distributor of crowns,

(Note: Vid., Wissenschaft, Kunst, Judenthum (1838), p. 240.)

and is fond of the metaphor , crown of knowledge. With those not self-dependent ( vid., regarding the plur. form of , p. 56), who are swayed by the first influence, the issue is, without their willing it, that they become habitual fools: folly is their possession, i.e., their property. The prudent, on the contrary, as Pro 14:15 designates them, have thoughtfully to ponder their step to gain knowledge as a crown (cf. , to gain riches, , 11b, to gain flowers, Gesen. 53, 2). Knowledge is to them not merely an inheritance, but a possession won, and as such remains with them a high and as it were a kingly ornament.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

      18 The simple inherit folly: but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

      Note, 1. Sin is the shame of sinners: The simple, who love simplicity, get nothing by it; they inherit folly. They have it by inheritance, so some. This corruption of nature is derived from our first parents, and all the calamities that attend it we have by kind; it was the inheritance they transmitted to their degenerate race, an hereditary disease. They are as fond of it as a man of his inheritance, hold it as fast, and are as loth to part with it. What they value themselves upon is really foolish; and what will be the issue of their simplicity but folly? They will for ever rue their own foolish choice. 2. Wisdom is the honour of the wise: The prudent crown themselves with knowledge, they look upon it as their brightest ornament, and there is nothing they are so ambitious of; they bind it to their heads as a crown, which they will by no means part with; they press towards the top and perfection of knowledge, which will crown their beginnings and progress. They shall have the praise of it; wise heads shall be respected as if they were crowned heads. They crown knowledge (so some read it); they are a credit to their profession. Wisdom is not only justified, but glorified, of all her children.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

Life’s Accumulations

Verse 18 sums up the accumulations of life in a word. The Simple having yielded to the way of folly instead of heeding the oft repeated calls of Wisdom comes to the end with nothing but folly and its grievous consequences, Pro 1:30-32; Pro 14:24. In contrast are the wise who have laid up a crown of knowledge, understanding and wisdom, Pro 4:5-7; Pro 14:24; 1Co 9:25-27; 2Ti 4:5.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

(18) The simple inherit folly.As weeds spring up in unoccupied soil, so simple (Pro. 1:22) persons, whose minds are unoccupied with good, often become self-willed; while the knowledge which the prudent gain by looking well to their steps (Pro. 14:15) adorns them as a crown.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

18. Inherit Not specifically; rather, acquire, get, gain. Folly is their acquisition.

Are crowned with knowledge Acquire a crown of knowledge; knowledge attained is their glory, ornament, and power. “They embrace knowledge.” Zockler. “Crown themselves.” Furst. Stuart says: “Gather wisdom around them; make a crown of knowledge.”

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

v. 18. The simple inherit folly, that is the portion of those who will not learn wisdom, who will not be guided by the experiences of others; but the prudent are crowned with knowledge, they embrace, they accumulate, knowledge as a precious possession.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Pro 14:18 The simple inherit folly: but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

Ver. 18. The simple inherit folly. ] Acceperunt per successionem seu haereditario iure, so one renders it; they are as wise as their forefathers, and they are resolved to be no wiser. Me ex ea opinione quam a maioribus accepi de cultu deorum, nullius unquam movebit oratio, said Cicero; I will never forsake that way of divine service that I have received from my forefathers, for any man’s pleasure, or by any man’s persuasion. The monarch of Morocco told the English ambassador for King John that he had recently read St Paul’s epistles, which he liked so well, that were he now to choose his religion he would, before any other, embrace Christianity. But everyone ought, saith he, to die in the religion received from his ancestors, and the leaving of the faith wherein he was born was the only thing that he disliked in that apostle. a

But the prudent are crowned with knowledge. ] They know that dies diem docet: and therefore are not so wedded to their old principles, superstitions, and fopperies, but that they can, as right reason requires, relinquish and abjure them, glorifying the word, Act 13:48 and “receiving the truth in love,” 2Th 2:10 whereby it soon comes to pass, that they get “good repute and report of all men, as Demetrius had, yea, and of the truth itself,” 3Jn 1:12 which is the crown of all commendation, Haud velim Erasmi gloria aut nomine vehi, saith Luther: I care not to be praised as Erasmus is, &c.

a Heyl. Geog.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)