Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 20:21
An inheritance [may be] gotten hastily at the beginning; but the end thereof shall not be blessed.
21. hastily ] Comp. Pro 28:20; Pro 28:22.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Or, An inheritance gotten hastily (greedily sought after by unjust means) at the beginning, the end thereof shall not be blessed. Another reading gives, an inheritance loathed, (compare Zec 11:8), or with a curse upon it. The King James Version agrees with the versions.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Pro 20:21
An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning; but the end thereof shall not be blessed.
Patience and permanence
Ours is an age of haste. Short cuts to learning, professional life without due preparation, fortunes before labour; all this foretells disaster and collapse. In behalf of an energy that is persistent, a labour that is patient, enterprises that count the cost I wish to speak. The truth of the text appears–
I. In the material world. Tremendous forces have operated through ages to bring the earth into its present condition. Geological, chemical, astronomical science tell of changes slow, silent, but persistent, and therefore permanent.
II. In the intellectual world. The human mind has a physical basis. As grew the material, so grows the mental world. A process here, a progress there. Ideas endure hardness in their battle for recognition. Doctrines are developed according to this law of progress. Scripture unfolds like herbage in the field. Intellectual power is secured by labour and persistent effort. Nature reveals her secrets, history discloses the past, revelation makes known her truth, only to the studious and devout.
III. In the spiritual world. Scripture has styled the Almighty the God of all patience. His works bear evidence of finish and completeness. Why does He deliberate, tarry, and hasten not? Let this God of patience interpret His own plans. With Him millenniums are as days. Sudden movements in grace, as in nature, are of the destructive kind. Gentle dews, not crashing storms, make good pasture. A lamb, not the lion, is final conqueror, and the servant who sows and waits, prays and persists, believes and does not make haste, squall have a sure reward. (Frank Rector, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 21. An inheritance – gotten hastily] Gotten by speculation; by lucky hits; not in the fair progressive way of traffic, in which money has its natural increase. All such inheritances are short-lived; God’s blessing is not in them, because they are not the produce of industry; and they lead to idleness, pride, fraud, and knavery. A speculation in trade is a public nuisance and curse. How many honest men have been ruined by such!
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning; an estate sometimes is got suddenly, in the very beginning of a mans labours for it; in which case it may be presumed that some indirect and unrighteous courses were used for the getting of it, because riches are very seldom given by God, or gotten by men, without mens diligence. But this, as well as many other proverbs, are to be understood of the common course, although it admit of some exceptions. For sometimes merchants or others get great estates speedily by one happy voyage, or by some other prosperous event. This translation follows the Hebrew marginal reading, but according to the textual reading it may be thus rendered and understood; An inheritance gotten in the beginning (to wit, of a mans endeavours) is abominable, to wit, unto God, being supposed to be unjustly gotten, as was now said.
The end thereof shall not be blessed; at last it shall be cursed and wither by Gods just judgment.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
21. gotten hastilycontrary toGod’s providence (Pr 28:20),implying its unjust or easy attainment; hence the man is punished, orspends freely what he got easily (compare Pr20:17).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
An inheritance [may be] gotten hastily at the beginning,…. Of a man’s setting out in the world in trade and business; and which sometimes is got lawfully, and this must be excepted from this proverb; but generally what is got hastily and in a short time is got unlawfully, and so does not prosper. Some Jewish interpreters, as Gersom, understand it of an inheritance which comes to persons from their friends, without any labour or industry of theirs; and which they are not careful to keep, but, as it lightly comes, it lightly goes: here is a various reading; our version follows the marginal reading, and which is followed by the Targum, Jarchi, and Gersom, and by the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate Latin versions; but the written text is, “an inheritance loathsome” or “abominable”; an ill gotten one, so the word is used in Zec 11:8. Schultens, from the use of the word in the Arabic language, which signifies to be covetous, renders it “covetously got” or “possessed” i; and so the Arabic version is, “an inheritance greedily desired”, obtained through covetousness and illicit practices; but in his late commentary on this book he renders the passage, by the help of Arabism, “an inheritance smitten with the curse of sordidness”, as being sordidly got and enjoyed;
but the end thereof shall not be blessed; it will not continue, it will be taken away from them, and put into some other hands. Jarchi illustrates it by the tribes of Gad and Reuben making haste to take their part on the other side Jordan before their brethren, and were the first that were carried captive.
i Animadv. ad V. T. p. 248.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
21 An inheritance which in the beginning is obtained in haste,
Its end will not be blessed.
The partic. may, after Zec 11:8, cf. Syr. bhlaa’ , nauseans , mean “detested,” but that affords here no sense; rather it might be interpreted after the Arab. bajila , to be avaricious, “gotten by avarice, niggardliness,” with which, however, neither , inheritance, nor, since avarice is a chronic disease, agrees. On the contrary, the Ker [hastened] perfectly agrees, both linguistically ( vid., Pro 28:22; cf. Pro 13:11) and actually; for, as Hitzig remarks, the words following Pro 20:20 fully harmonize with the idea of an inheritance, into the possession of which one is put before it is rightly due to him; for a son such as that, the parents may live too long, and so he violently deprives them of the possession (cf. Pro 19:26); but on such a possession there rests no blessing. Since the Piel may mean to hasten, Est 2:9, so may mean hastened = speedy, Est 8:14, as well as made in haste. All the old interpreters adopt the Ker ; the Aram. render it well by , from , overturned; and Luther, like Jerome, haereditas ad quam festinatur .
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
21 An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning; but the end thereof shall not be blessed.
Note, 1. It is possible that an estate may be suddenly raised. There are those that will be rich, by right or wrong, who make no conscience of what they say or do if they can but get money by it, who, when it is in their power, will cheat their own father, and who sordidly spare and hoard up what they get, grudging themselves and their families food convenient and thinking all lost but what they buy land with or put out to interest. By such ways as these a man may grow rich, may grow very rich, in a little time, at his first setting out. 2. An estate that is suddenly raised is often as suddenly ruined. It was raised hastily, but, not being raised honestly, it proves soon ripe and soon rotten: The end thereof shall not be blessed of God, and, if he do not bless it, it can neither be comfortable nor of any continuance; so that he who got it at the end will be a fool. He had better have taken time and built firmly.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Questionable Gain
Verse 21- See comment on Pro 13:11.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
TEXT Pro. 20:21-30
21.
An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning;
But the end thereof shall not be blessed.
22.
Say not thou, I will recompense evil:
Wait for Jehovah, and he will save thee.
23.
Diverse weights are an abomination to Jehovah;
And a false balance is not good.
24.
A mans goings are of Jehovah;
How then can man understand his way?
25.
It is a snare to a man rashly to say, It is holy,
And after vows to make inquiry.
26.
A wise king winnoweth the wicked,
And bringeth the threshingwheel over them.
27.
The spirit of man is the lamp of Jehovah,
Searching all his innermost parts.
28.
Kindness and truth preserve the king;
And his throne is upholden by kindness.
29.
The glory of young men is their strength;
And the beauty of old men is the hoary head.
30.
Stripes that wound cleanse away evil;
And strokes reach the innermost parts.
STUDY QUESTIONS OVER 20:21-30
1.
Give a Bible example of one who misspent his inheritance money (Pro. 20:21).
2.
Compare Pro. 20:22 with Abigails advice to David in 1Sa. 25:9-31.
3.
What previous verse in this chapter teaches the same as Pro. 20:23?
4.
What man in the last part of Genesis could look back and see the truth stated in Pro. 20:24?
5.
What does Ecc. 5:4-5 say about making vows Pro. 20:25)?
6.
What should be any rulers attitude and action toward wickedness (Pro. 20:26)?
7.
Is Pro. 20:27 referring to the conscience?
8.
Are kings usually thought of as kind (Pro. 20:28)?
9.
Illustrate the statement about young men in Pro. 20:29.
10.
Illustrate the statement about old men in Pro. 20:29.
11.
Is the statement in Pro. 20:30 still true?
PARAPHRASE OF 20:21-30
21.
A fortune can be made from cheating, but there is a curse that goes with it.
22.
Dont repay evil for evil. Wait for the Lord to handle the matter.
23.
The Lord loathes all cheating and dishonesty.
24.
Since the Lord is directing our steps, why try to understand everything that happens along the way?
25.
It is foolish and rash to make a promise to the Lord before counting the cost.
26.
A wise king stamps out crime by severe punishment.
27.
A mans conscience is the Lords searchlight exposing his hidden motives.
28.
If a king is kind, honest and fair, his kingdom stands secure.
29.
The glory of young men is their strength; of old men, their experience.
30.
Punishment that hurts chases evil from the heart.
COMMENTS ON 20:21-30
Pro. 20:21. Sometimes an inheritance immediately places into a persons hands more money than he has ever had in his possession at any one time. He didnt work for it; he didnt save it; but now all at once it is his. If the person is wise, it can be a great blessing as he thankfully receives it, as he carefully invests or uses it, and as he realizes the value of it. But come easy, go easy is so often the rule, and a short time of luxurious living (while it lasts; can make it a curse to him as he gets himself into a standard of living that he cannot maintain by his own earnings after the inheritance money is blown. A common laborer went through an inheritance of $200,000 in six months. He didnt want to go back to working, so he and a woman teamed up and kidnapped a rich mans son, killed him, and collected the ransom money. They were executed by the state of Missouri. Others, like the Prodigal Son, get involved in sinful, indulgent living that they had never known before.
Pro. 20:22. Pro. 24:29 also forbids one saying he will take vengeance. 1Th. 5:15 and 1Pe. 3:9 also forbid our vengeance-taking and teaches us to render good for their evil. Deu. 32:35-36 promises that God will take care of executing vengeance on the wrongdoer, saving us the trouble, keeping us from making some mistakes, and being sure the wrongdoer will get just what he should receive. Paul reminds us of this in Rom. 12:19-20, promising that by our doing good to them, some of them will be turned from enmity to friendship (Pro. 20:21). Abigail believed this and persuaded David (1Sa. 25:9-34), and thereafter David appeared to be completely convinced of the rightness of this procedure (1Sa. 26:7-10; 2Sa. 16:5-12).
Pro. 20:23. Similar to Pro. 20:10. Gods great displeasure with crooked dishonest dealings with ones fellowmen is again expressed.
Pro. 20:24. That Jehovah leads in our lives, see Pro. 16:9 and Psa. 37:23. Since we cannot successfully direct our own ways (Jer. 10:23), we should ask God to do it for us (Pro. 3:6; Psa. 37:4-5). At the time we may not see the hand of the Lord at work as we will see it later (consider Gen. 50:20). Paul and Silas must have had this faith, for in answering the Macedonian call of Act. 16:9, they were soon in jail in Macedonia, but we see no complaining in them but praying and singing praises to God (Act. 16:25), and great good came out of their actual imprisonment (Act. 16:26-34).
Pro. 20:25. We should always think before acting, and when vowing before God this verse shows that one should be sure he is going to carry through before promising. And so agrees Ecc. 5:4-5. We should work to get people to make sacred decisions, but we do not want to pressure them into saying something that they will not have the faith, reverence, and determination to carry out. Many a persuasive, out-going, personality-man has gotten people baptized who were not really ready on their own to live the Christ-directed life.
Pro. 20:26. Winnoweth and threshingwheel refer to their threshing the grain and by rough-handling their separating the grain from the rest. Whippings (punishments) have often been referred to by the word threshing. Solomon (and God who inspired his including this statement in the Proverbs) knew that the wicked should be dealt with as such, and so should every ruler of any level (parent, judge, school principal, church leader, etc.). Put ruler for king, and this statement makes sense in an extended way to every realm of leadership.
Pro. 20:27. 1Co. 2:11 speaks of this spirit of man: Who among men knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of the man, which is in him? That which man has from Jehovah that animals are not credited with having and that searches out ones innermost thoughts is the conscience. Man has this important facility within him because God wanted him to have it. When ones conscience operates, his thoughts either accuse or excuse him for his actions (Rom. 2:15), depending upon whether he has violated or carried out what he understands to be right. The conscience is a Siamese twin of ones intellect: whatever ones intellect tells him is right or wrong, his conscience accepts the same position and works accordingly (Act. 26:9-11; Act. 23:1).
Pro. 20:28. There have been many unkind kings; in fact, it has been common for man to abuse his place of power. Except for Davids unkindness to Uriah, he was a living model of a king who wanted to be kind and good to his subjects, to his men, and to his repentant enemies, and who sought to rule with the absolute truth in mind. Note the similar promise in Pro. 29:14. Such a king, though, is not looked upon as kind by those who do wrong (Pro. 20:26).
Pro. 20:29. It is natural for young men to glory in their strength. Their bodies are young, healthy, working, nimble, capable, etc., and because of this, competitive athletics are common for that age. They wrestle, lift weights, run, play football and other types of ball, etc. And because of this strength sometimes they forget that life can be taken from them without a warning, and sometimes they abuse their bodies to the undoing of their comfort in older years. But in time that strength will naturally be replaced with the gray and then the white hair of old age, which is said by this verse to be beautiful. It symbolizes length of days, rich experiences, knowledge and wisdom, and many years of usefulness, all of which add up to a respect that is normally forthcoming (Pro. 16:31).
Pro. 20:30. Stripes and strokes have to do with correcting and punishing those who have done evil. This verse presents the following parallels: stripes and strokes go together as do cleanse away evil and reach the innermost parts. When such are applied severely enough (wound), they do reach the seat of evil (The innermost parts). Words of instruction should always precede the wounds of discipline, but words are too weak to reach some people; the only language that some people can get anything out of at all is that of severe discipline. When a congregation no longer deals with the evil committed within it; when a home does not discipline its disobedient children; and when a government does not punish the wrongdoer, it is bad for everybody; the individual himself, the church, the home, and society.
TEST QUESTIONS OVER 20:21-30
1.
Tell how the truth of Pro. 20:21 was observed in a man in Missouri?
2.
From whom did David learn the truth contained in Pro. 20:22?
3.
How many times in this chapter has God dealt with crookedness in business (Pro. 20:23)?
4.
What wonderful assurance does Pro. 20:24 bring to us?
5.
The comments connected Pro. 20:25 with what teaching in Eccl.?
6.
According to Pro. 20:26 what does a wise king do about wickedness?
7.
What is conscience a Siamese twin to (Pro. 20:27)?
8.
King David seems to have been a very kind ruler except when (Pro. 20:28)?
9.
Give examples of young men glorying in their strength (Pro. 20:29)?
10.
How many times is punishing the wicked brought up in this chapter (Pro. 20:30)?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(21) The end thereof shall not be blessed.Comp. Pro. 28:20 : the evil means by which he acquired the possession will, at the last, be visited upon him. Thus Jacob was punished severely for the selfishness by which he gained the birthright, and for the fraud by which he obtained the blessing belonging to his brother.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
21. Inheritance gotten hastily It is implied that the hastily gotten wealth is gotten unfairly by some dishonest or dishonourable means in consequence of which God’s blessing does not accompany it, and that it will not be permanent. As a matter of observation, it is a generally received truth, “Quickly got, quickly gone.” Instead of quickly gotten, Gesenius suggests greedily gotten. Conant reads: “A heritage abhorred;” that is, one so obtained as to be abhorred. Comp. Zec 11:8. Zockler understands the proverb to be related to the one preceding, and to refer to wicked sons who despise and curse their parents, and possibly drive them off, being in haste to seize upon the inheritance. Compare Luk 15:12; Pro 19:26.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
v. 21. An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Pro 20:21 An inheritance [may be] gotten hastily at the beginning; but the end thereof shall not be blessed.
Ver. 21. An inheritance may be gotten hastily, &c. ] By wishing and working the death of parents, or by any other evil arts whatsoever. See an instance hereof in Achan, Ahab, Gehazi, Adonijah’s leaping into the throne without his father’s leave. Jehoahaz also, the younger son of Josiah, would needs be king after his father, putting by his eldest brother, Jehoiakim; but he was soon put down again, and put into bands by Pharaohnechoh. 2Ki 23:33-34 He portrayed the ambitionist to the life, that pictured him snatching at a crown, and falling, with this motto, Sic mea fata sequor. So I am followed by fate.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
blessed = happy. See note on Pro 3:13.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Pro 20:21
Pro 20:21
“An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning; But the end thereof shall not be blessed.”
As it stands, this is ambiguous. Toy understood it to say that, “The heir does not wait to receive his inheritance in the due course of nature, obtaining it prematurely by foul means; no blessing, the proverb declares will attend property so acquired. Deane applied it also to, “The prodigal in the parable who demanded and received his inheritance, squandered it in the far country and at last could hear the grunting of the swine in both ears!
Our personal view is that the proverb suggests the inability of the heirs of rich men to continue the successful operations of their father. Rehoboam is the classical illustration of this from the Bible. In Houston, Texas, the heir of the great merchant prince, Simon Sakowitz, soon lost his empire.
Pro 20:21. Sometimes an inheritance immediately places into a persons hands more money than he has ever had in his possession at any one time. He didnt work for it; he didnt save it; but now all at once it is his. If the person is wise, it can be a great blessing as he thankfully receives it, as he carefully invests or uses it, and as he realizes the value of it. But come easy, go easy is so often the rule, and a short time of luxurious living (while it lasts; can make it a curse to him as he gets himself into a standard of living that he cannot maintain by his own earnings after the inheritance money is blown. A common laborer went through an inheritance of $200,000 in six months. He didnt want to go back to working, so he and a woman teamed up and kidnapped a rich mans son, killed him, and collected the ransom money. They were executed by the state of Missouri. Others, like the Prodigal Son, get involved in sinful, indulgent living that they had never known before.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
gotten: Pro 23:4, Pro 28:20, Pro 28:22, 1Ti 6:9
but: Pro 13:22, Pro 28:8, Job 27:16, Job 27:17, Hab 2:6, Zec 5:4, Mal 2:2
Reciprocal: Num 32:19 – we will Pro 10:22 – he Pro 13:11 – Wealth Pro 15:27 – He that is Pro 21:5 – of every Pro 21:6 – getting
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 20:21. An inheritance may be gotten hastily An estate is sometimes soon gained, even in the very beginning of a mans labours for it: in which case, it may be presumed that some indirect and unrighteous means have been used for the getting of it, because riches are very seldom given by God, or gotten by men, without mens diligence. But this, as well as many other proverbs, are to be understood of the common course of things, which may admit of many exceptions. For sometimes merchants or others gain a large property speedily, suppose by a successful voyage, or by some other prosperous event. But the end thereof shall not be blessed Namely, the end of what was not righteously obtained: it was suddenly raised, and shall be as suddenly ruined: it shall wither by Gods just judgment, and come to nothing.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The inheritance in view evidently comes prematurely-by request or by dishonesty (cf. Pro 19:26; Luk 15:12). In either case, the consequence is often lack of divine blessing.
"Such wealth may be squandered and often squelches initiative and work." [Note: Buzzell, p. 949.]