Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 17:21
He that begetteth a fool [doeth it] to his sorrow: and the father of a fool hath no joy.
21. a fool a fool ] The Heb. word so rendered is not the same in the two clauses of the verse. The first word in the first clause describes the fool as dull or senseless, or as some think obstinate. The second word points him out as shameless, like Nabal, whose name (the Heb. word here) was descriptive of his character (1Sa 25:25). There is a third Heb. word, used more commonly than either of these in this Book, which regards a fool as one who is perverse, or as some render, weak.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
A fool; not a natural, but a wilful fool, or a wicked son.
The father; and consequently the mother also.
Hath no joy, which parents usually have in the birth of a child, and especially of a son; but hath great cause of sorrow, the contrary being implied in this and such-like expressions, as in Scripture, as Pro 10:2, &c., so also in profane authors; whose words see in my Latin Synopsis.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
21. (Compare Pr23:24). Different words are rendered by “fool,” bothdenoting stupidity and impiety.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
He that begetteth a fool [doth it] to his sorrow,…. As it proves in the issue; though it was joy to him when a man child was born, and took delight in him while in infancy and childhood, and promised himself much happiness in him when at years of discretion; but, instead of that, he departs from his education principles, despises all parental counsels and advice, and goes into all the extravagance of sin and folly; which is an heartbreaking to his godly and religious parents; for this is to be understood; not of an idiot, but of a wicked son, taking bad courses;
and the father of a fool hath no joy; in his son, but sorrow, and has scarce any joy or pleasure in anything else in all his enjoyments; the trouble he is filled with on his account embitters all he has, that he can take no satisfaction, or have any comfort of life; the concern for his son is uppermost in his thoughts, and hinders him from taking that pleasure which otherwise he might enjoy.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
21 He that begetteth a fool doeth it to his sorrow: and the father of a fool hath no joy.
This expresses that very emphatically which many wise and good men feel very sensibly, what a grievous vexatious thing it is to have a foolish wicked child. See here, 1. How uncertain all our creature-comforts are, so that we are often not only disappointed in them, but that proves the greatest cross in which we promised ourselves most satisfaction. There was joy when a man-child was born into the world, and yet, if he prove vicious, his own father will wish he had never been born. The name of Absalom signifies his father’s peace, but he was his greatest trouble. It should moderate the desire of having children, and the delights of their parents in them, that they may prove a grief to them; yet it should silence the murmurings of the afflicted father in that case that if his son be a fool he is a fool of his own begetting, and therefore he must make the best of him, and take it up as his cross, the rather because Adam begets a son in his own likeness. 2. How unwise we are in suffering one affliction (and that of an untoward child as likely as any other) to drown the sense of a thousand mercies: The father of a fool lays that so much to heart that he has no joy of any thing else. For this he may thank himself; there are joys sufficient to counterbalance even that sorrow.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Disappointing Children
Verse 21, also 25, reveal that parents suffer disappointment and grief because of children who are fools. This chapter, as other Proverbs, describes the fool as an empty-headed big talker (Vs 7), who regards himself as always right (Vs 10), without need to be taught (vs 16), and more determined to pursue his folly than an enraged bear robbed of her cubs (Vs 12). See also Pro 1:7; Pro 10:23; Pro 14:7; Pro 15:20; Pro 18:6; Pro 19:13; Pro 29:11; Pro 1:29-32; Psa 14:1.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(21) He that begetteth a fool (khesl).See above, on Pro. 1:32.
The father of a fool (nbhl).See above, on Pro. 17:7.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
21. A fool A boor; a dolt. Two different words are rendered “fool” in the text. They are akin in sense, but there is a shade of difference between them. The first contains the idea of impiety joined with coarseness; the second, of impiety joined with dullness. Comp. Pro 10:1, and the converse, Pro 23:24; Pro 15:20.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
v. 21. He that begetteth a fool doeth it to his sorrow,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Pro 17:21 He that begetteth a fool [doeth it] to his sorrow: and the father of a fool hath no joy.
Ver. 21. He that begetteth a fool, doeth it to his sorrow. ] Solomon might speak this by experience, and wish, as Augustus did, utinam caelebs vixissem, aut orbus periissem. Oh that I had either lived a bachelor or died childless! To “bring forth children to the murderer,” Hos 9:13 children to the devil, that old manslayer; oh, what a grief is this to a pious parent! how much better were a “miscarrying womb, and dry breasts!” What heavy moan made David for his Absalom, dying in his sin! How doth many a miserable mother weep and warble out that mournful ditty of hers in Plutarch over her deceased children, Quo pueri estis profecti? Poor souls, what is become of you!
And the father of a fool hath no joy.
“Per coacervatos pereat domus impia luctus.”
No more than William the Conqueror had in his ungracious children, or Henry II, who, finding that his sons had conspired against him with the king of France, fell into a grievous passion, cursing both his sons, and the day wherein himself was born; and in that distemperature departed the world, which himself had so oft distempered. a
a Daniel, fol. 112.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
fool. Hebrew. nabal, as in Pro 17:1.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Pro 17:21
Pro 17:21
“He that begetteth a fool doeth it to his sorrow; And the father of a fool hath no joy.”
It should be continually borne in mind that the “fool” in Proverbs is generally a reference, not to the mentally retarded, but to the rascal, the sinner, the willfully wicked. “As in Psa 14:1, `fool’ in this passage does not mean mere stupidity. Psa 14:1 means that it is the rascal who has said in his heart, `There is no God.’
Pro 17:21. The behavior of ones children can greatly affect his own future happiness or sorrow (Pro 17:25; Pro 10:1; Pro 19:13). Think of the sorrow that Cain brought to Adam and Eve by killing Abel, that Absalom brought to his father David when he tried to steal his throne, and that Hophni and Phinehas brought to their priestly father Eli.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
that: Pro 17:25, Pro 10:1, Pro 15:20, Pro 19:13, Gen 26:34, 1Sa 2:32-35, 1Sa 8:3, 2Sa 18:33
hath: Pro 23:15, Pro 23:16, 2Co 2:3, Phm 1:19, Phm 1:20, 3Jo 1:4
Reciprocal: Pro 29:15 – a child Eze 18:14 – if he