Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 20:20
Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness.
20. obscure darkness ] Better, the blackest darkness, R.V. Lit. the pupil (of the eye) of darkness (comp. “in the pupil of night,” Pro 7:9, and note): i.e. in the darkest part, as the pupil is of the eye, of darkness. There is a trace of this in the version here of the LXX., . In our present Hebrew Bibles, however, the word is corrected in the text to be read into a word which is not found elsewhere, and the meaning of which is uncertain. Vulg. in mediis tenebris.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
A connecting link between Lev 20:9 and Mat 15:4. The words, his lamp shall be put out, describe the failure of outward happiness.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 20. Whoso curseth his father] Such persons were put to death under the law; see Ex 21:17; Le 20:9, and here it is said, Their lamp shall be put out-they shall have no posterity; God shall cut them off both root and branch.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Or his mother, Heb. and his mother; which is used for or, Exo 12:5; Lev 6:3, and elsewhere.
His lamp; his comfort and happiness, his name and memory, which are oft compared in Scripture to
a lamp or light; shall be put out in obscure darkness; shall utterly perish; he shall die childless, and with ignominy.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
20. his lamp(Compare Pro 13:9;Pro 24:20).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Whoso curseth his father or his mother,…. This is dreadful indeed! a person must be got to a great pitch of wickedness to do this; to curse his parents, one or other of them, that have been the instruments of his being, and by whom he has been brought up and put out into the world; to slight them, despise them, and mock at them, is highly base and criminal, but to curse them is shocking! what can such expect but the curse of God upon them?
his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness; he shall be deprived of his natural sight; see Pr 30:17; or the very light of nature shall be extinct in him; and indeed such an one acts as if not guided by it, nor under its influence; or whatsoever favour from the Lord he has enjoyed, it shall be taken from him; his lamp or candle of outward felicity shall be quenched, and burn no longer; see Job 18:5; or his soul, the candle of the Lord, in him, Pr 20:27; shall be removed; or he “shall die”, not only a corporeal but an eternal death; see
Ex 21:17; “blackness of darkness” h as the words may be rendered, are reserved for him in the world to come, and which will be his portion, Jude 1:13.
h “in obscuritate tenebrarum”, Pagninus, Mercerus; “in nigredine tenebrarum”, Michaelis.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The following group begins, for once more the aim of this older Book of Proverbs becomes prominent, with an inculcation of the fourth
(Note: i.e., The fifth according to the arrangement of the Westminster Confession.)
commandment.
20 He that curseth his father and his mother,
His light is extinguished in midnight darkness.
The divine law, Exo 21:17; Lev 20:9, condemns such an one to death. But the proverb does not mean this sentence against the criminal, which may only seldom be carried into execution, but the fearful end which, because of the righteousness of God ruling in history, terminates the life of such an unnatural son (Pro 30:17). Of the godless, it has already been said that their light is extinguished, Pro 13:9, there is suddenly an end to all that brightened, i.e., made happy and embellished their life; but he who acts wickedly ( , R. , levem esse , synon. , Deu 27:16), even to the cursing of his father and mother, will see himself surrounded by midnight darkness (Symmachus, , moonless night), not: he will see himself in the greatest need, forsaken by divine protection (Fleischer), for Jansen rightly: Lux et lucerna in scripturis et vitae claritatem et posteritatem et prosperitatem significat . The apple of the eye, , of darkness ( vid., Pro 7:9), is that which forms the centre of centralization of darkness. The Syr. renders it correctly by bobtho , pupil of the eye, but the Targ. retains the of the Ker , and renders it in Aram. by , which Rashi regards as an infin., Parchon as a particip. after the form ; but it may be also an infin. substantive after the form , and is certainly nothing else than the abbreviated and vocally obscured . For the Talm. , to be hard, furnishes no suitable idea; and the same holds true of , times, Lev 15:25 of the Jerusalem Targ.; while the same abbreviation and the same passing over of o into u represents this as the inflected (= ). There is also no evidence for a verb , to be black, dark; the author of Aruch interprets , Bereschith Rabba, c. 33, with reference to the passage before us, of a dark bathing apartment, but only tentatively, and is there quoted as the Targ. of , Gen 19:8, which the text lying before us does not ratify. Ishon means the little man (in the eye), and neither the blackness (Buxtorf and others) nor the point of strength, the central point (Levy) of the eye.
(Note: Vid., Fleischer in Levy’s Chald. Wrterbuch, i. 419.)
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
20 Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness.
Here is, 1. An undutiful child become very wicked by degrees. He began with despising his father and mother, slighting their instructions, disobeying their commands, and raging at their rebukes, but at length he arrives at such a pitch of impudence and impiety as to curse them, to give them scurrilous and opprobrious language, and to wish mischief to those that were instruments of his being and have taken so much care and pains about him, and this in defiance of God and his law, which had made this a capital crime (Exo 21:17; Mat 15:4), and in violation of all the bonds of duty, natural affection, and gratitude. 2. An undutiful child become very miserable at last: His lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness; all his honour shall be laid in the dust, and he shall for ever lose his reputation. Let him never expect any peace or comfort in his own mind, no, nor to prosper in this world. His days shall be shortened, and the lamp of his life extinguished, according to the reverse of the promise of the fifth commandment. His family shall be cut off and his posterity be a curse to him. And it will be his eternal ruin; the lamp of his happiness shall be put out in the blackness of darkness (so the word is), even that which is for ever,Jud 1:13; Mat 22:13.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Rebellious Children
Verse 20 warns of punishment by death for whoso curseth his father or mother. This offense, however expressed, involved rebellion against God’s plan for the family which placed children in subjection to parents and commanded that father and mother be honored (Exo 20:12). Rebellion against parents was therefore serious rebellion against God Himself, and punishable as a capital offense, Pro 10:1; Pro 13:1; Pro 15:20; Pro 30:11-13; Pro 30:17; Job 18:5-6; Exo 21:17; Lev 20:9; Deu 21:18-21; Deu 27:16. There is no procedure in the New Testament for effecting the death penalty for this offense. However, Jesus mentioned it (Mat 15:3-6; Mar 7:9-13) and Eph 6:1-3 implies that the life of offenders will be shortened.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro. 20:20
AN UNNATURAL CHILD AND A NATURAL LAW
I. An unnatural child. The ungrateful son or daughter of good parents is an unnatural being. If experience did not contradict, we should say that even fallen human creatures must return love for love, and could not help feeling gratitude to those who have denied themselves for their good. And as there is no love so strong and so unselfish as that which a parent feels toward a child, it does seem almost impossible that any child can be unresponsive to it. But if to remain untouched by it is unnatural, how much more so is it to attain to the height of wickedness upon which the text passes judgment. We must suppose that the proverb refers to fathers and mothers who are, to some extent, what they ought to bewho do in some measure reflect upon their offspring the tenderness of the Great and Divine Fatherand then we can conceive of no more unnatural being than he who curseth his father or his mother. Every natural instinct tends in the opposite direction.
II. A natural law. It does not need any special Divine interposition to blight and ruin such a man. The most powerful and blessed human influences are those which flow from the home-life, and from the emotions which ought to be kindled by the relationship of a child to its parent. But if these holiest influences are resisted and these emotions are stifled, moral darkness must overshadow the life, and it will continue to deepen while the hardness of heart continues. It is well known that even the remembrance of parental love after long years of insensibility to it is often the first step back into the light of righteousness and hope, and that many who have sunk very low in crime could trace their present condition to the unnatural sin of hardening their hearts against parental love.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
This cursing, according to our Lords standard, includes setting light by father or mother; wilful disobediencea fearful, palpable mark of the last days. How God regards it, let his own curse on Mount Ebal (Deu. 27:16), and his judgment of temporal death, testify. The present degradation of Africa is a witness, on the confirming page of history, of the frown upon an undutiful son (Gen. 9:22-25)his lamp put out in darkness.Bridges.
It must needs be an obscure darkness that is fallen upon that soul, in whom the light of nature is so far extinguished as that he curseth them from whom he had the blessing of being. It must needs be a smoky breath that shall reproach him who was the breath of his nostrils. And what can he expect but that his lamp shall be put out in darkness.Jermin.
For Homiletics of Pro. 20:21, see on chap. Pro. 13:11, page 306; also on chap. Pro. 21:5-7, page 596.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(20) His lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness.See above, on Pro. 13:9.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
20. Whose curseth his father or his mother The word may mean, either by speaking of them lightly or contemptuously, or especially uttering against them imprecations, and thus in the boldest manner transgressing the fifth commandment.
His lamp Denoting life, happiness, descendants.
Shall be put out Extinguished. This is a threatening of heavy calamity. Some understand it to import an extinction of posterity. His lamp shall be quenched, his family shall become extinct. Under the law, those who ill treated their parents were put to death. Lev 20:9; Exo 20:12; Exo 21:17; Mat 15:4; Mar 7:10.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
v. 20. Whoso curseth his father or his mother,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Pro 20:20 Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness.
Ver. 20. Whoso curseth his father, &c. ] See Trapp on “ Exo 21:17 “ See Trapp on “ Mat 15:4 “ Parents usually give their children sweet and savoury counsel; but they, for want of grace, listen rather to flatterers and whisperers, vilipending their parents’ advice, and vilifying them for the same, as Eli’s sons did.
His lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness. curseth = revileth.
lamp shall be put out. A Figure of speech Hypocatastasis (App-6), denoting that he shall die childless.
Pro 20:20
Pro 20:20
“Whoso curseth his father or his mother, His lamp shall be put out in blackness of darkness.”
Cursing father or mother was a capital offense under the law of Moses (Exo 21:17; Lev 20:9; Mat 15:4); and there is an obvious reference to that in this proverb. In America today, a teen-ager may murder his parents, claim child-abuse as an excuse, and get off with ten years probation and a year of psychiatric counseling at the state’s expense. When will we ever learn?
Pro 20:20. Other Scriptures about cursing and belittling ones parents: Exo 21:17; Lev 20:9; Mat 15:4. Other passages on ones lamp being put out: Pro 24:20; Job 18:5-6. They always kept a small light burning in their houses at night, for utter darkness was one of the things they feared the most. The lamp of ones life, ones household, ones future lineage, would be cut off if he cursed his parents.
curseth: Pro 30:11, Pro 30:17, Exo 20:12, Exo 21:17, Lev 20:9, Deu 27:16, Mat 15:4, Mar 7:10-13
his: Pro 13:9, Pro 24:20, Job 18:5, Job 18:6, Job 18:18, Mat 22:13, Mat 25:8, Jud 1:13
lamp: or, candle, Pro 20:27
Reciprocal: Deu 21:18 – obey the voice 2Sa 18:9 – taken up Job 11:20 – their hope Job 12:5 – a lamp Job 21:17 – oft Job 29:3 – candle Eze 22:7 – set Eze 32:8 – dark Eph 6:2 – General Col 3:20 – obey 1Ti 1:9 – murderers
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge