Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 21:18
The wicked [shall be] a ransom for the righteous, and the transgressor for the upright.
18. a ransom ] Comp. “I have given Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee I will give men for thee and peoples for thy life,” Isa 43:3-4. Egypt was, so to speak, the price paid for the deliverance of Israel (Exo 10:7; Exo 12:29; Exo 14:30).
The second member of the verse is better rendered, with R.V.,
And the treacherous cometh in the stead of the upright. Comp. Pro 11:8.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Compare the marginal reference. Evil doers seem to draw down the wrath of God upon their heads, and so become, as it were, the scapegoats of the comparatively righteous.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 18. The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous] God often in his judgments cuts off the wicked, in order to prevent them from destroying the righteous. And in general, we find that the wicked fall into the traps and pits they have digged for the righteous.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The wicked shall be brought into those troubles which were either threatened by God or designed by wicked men against the righteous, and by that means, as by a ransom, the righteous shall be delivered. Thus Achan was a ransom for Israel, Jos 7:26, and Haman for Mordecai.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
18. (Compare Pr11:8). By suffering what they had devised for the righteous, orbrought on them, the wicked became their ransom, in the usual senseof substitutes (compare Jos 7:26;Est 7:9).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The wicked [shall be] a ransom for the righteous,…. Not to make satisfaction for them, as Christ is a ransom for his people; but as a ransom is in the room of another, so the wicked cometh in the stead of the righteous, and into the trouble he is delivered from; as Haman for Mordecai, which instance Jarchi mentions; see Pr 11:8; or when a body of people are threatened with divine vengeance; and this falls upon the wicked, whose sins caused it, and the righteous are delivered from it; as in the case of Achan, and the seven sons of Saul, Jos 7:26. And sometimes God turns the wrath of the princes of the earth from his own people, and causes it to fall upon the wicked, and so they are a ransom for them; as Sennacherib intended the destruction of the Jews, but was called off in providence to fall upon the Egyptians, Ethiopians, and Sabeans, and therefore they are said to be a ransom for them; see Isa 43:3; and sometimes wicked men are the means of a ransom or deliverance of the righteous, as Cyrus was of the Jews: and it may be considered, as the word used signifies a “cover” d, whether it will not bear this sense, that the wicked are a cover for the righteous, and oftentimes protect and defend them; so the earth helped the woman, Re 12:16;
and the transgressor for the upright; which are but different characters of the same persons, bad and good men; and the sense is the same as before.
d .
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
18 The godless becometh a ransom for the righteous;
And the faithless cometh into the place of the upright.
The thought is the same as at Pro 11:8. An example of this is, that the same world-commotion which brought the nations round Babylon for its destruction, put an end to Israel’s exile: Cyrus, the instrument in God’s hands for inflicting punishment on many heathen nations, was Israel’s liberator, Isa 43:3. Another example is in the exchange of places by Haman and Mordecai, to which Rashi refers. is equivalent to , ransom; but it properly signifies price of atonement, and generally, means of reconciliation, which covers or atones for the guilt of any one; the poll-tax and “oblations” also, Exo 30:15., Num 31:50, are placed under this point of view, as blotting out guilt: if the righteousness of God obtains satisfaction, it makes its demand against the godless, and lets the righteous go free; or, as the substantival clause 18b expresses, the faithless steps into the place of the upright, for the wrath passes by the latter and falls upon the former. Regarding , vid., Pro 2:22. Thus, in contrast to the , he is designated, who keeps faith neither with God nor man, and with evil intention enters on deceitful ways – the faithless, the malicious, the assassin.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
18 The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous, and the transgressor for the upright.
This intimates, 1. What should be done by the justice of men: The wicked, that are the troublers of a land, ought to be punished, for the preventing and turning away of those national judgments which otherwise will be inflicted and in which even the righteous are many times involved. Thus when Achan was stoned he was a ransom for the camp of righteous Israel; and the seven sons of Saul, when they were hanged, were a ransom for the kingdom of righteous David. 2. What is often done by the providence of God: The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked comes in his stead, and so seems as if he were a ransom for him, ch. xi. 8. God will rather leave many wicked people to be cut off than abandon his own people. I will give men for thee,Isa 43:3; Isa 43:4.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
The Wicked As a Ransom
Verse 18 declares that the wicked are a ransom for the righteous in the sense that punishment is visited upon the wicked in order to deliver the righteous from undeserved punishment, Pro 28:10. Thus was Israel delivered as the Egyptians drowned in the Red Sea, Exo 14:26-30. In like manner Mordecai was delivered from the gallows and. Haman hanged, Ezr 7:10.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro. 21:18
THE RANSOM OF THE RIGHTEOUS
This verse must be understood to express the same truth as that in Isa. 43:3, in which Jehovah, speaking to the Hebrew people, says, I gave Egypt for thy ransomEthiopia and Seba for thee, referring doubtless to the deliverance by the overthrow of the Egyptians and other nations. Here the Divine interposition is not on behalf of an elect nation, but on behalf of a special character; not for the deliverance of Israel according to the flesh, but of the true Israelitethe righteous and upright man wherever he is found, for in every nation he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness is accepted with Him (Act. 10:35).
I. When the wicked man stands in the way of the true advancement of the good he shall be removed out of the way. It is a law of the universe, and the end to which all Gods government tends, that goodness shall finally have the ascendancy over evilthat right shall triumph over wrong. Now, although we speak of goodness and of evil in the abstract, they have no abstract existence; they can only exist in connection with free personalities; with beings who have the choice of their actions. Hence, if evil is to be put down, it must be put down in the person of evil men or devils, and if good is to rule it must rule in the person of the good. Therefore, when the transgressor in any way opposes the real and true advancement of the righteous man he opposes the advance of righteousness, and he must be sacrificed. This is not always apparent to human eyes; things often seem to tend in quite the contrary direction; but this is because we do not know what is really most conducive to the coming of the kingdom of righteousness, nor how the overthrow of evil can be best accomplished.
II. Every man must either be ransomed from sin or become a ransom for righteousness. The righteous and the upright on the earth have only become so by submission to the righteous will of Godby taking His yoke and choosing His service. This has delivered them from the power of evilthis has redeemed them from the slavery of sin. It was quite open to Pharaoh to fall in with Gods will concerning Israelto obey the demand which was made upon him. It was only after repeated refusal that he and his were made a ransom for Gods people. It is in every case where Gods will is made known, and it is only when men persist in transgression that they are made a ransom for the upright. But there is no neutral ground. Every man who is not upright is a transgressor, and as such will be subject to this law.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
In the time of some strange visitation for sin, the notorious offender, who is guilty of heinous crimes, by his suffering and death shall free the innocent person from the stroke of Gods vengeance, who should not be spared, but plagued, if the evildoer were winked at. Moreover, some one that hath, by breaking the Lords covenant or precept, caused trouble to fall both on himself and many others, who in like manner have not sinned as he hath done, shall, suffering alone for the sin which he hath committed, deliver by his misery the rest that are in the same adversity, but not for the same cause. The executing of Sauls sons (2 Samuel 21.), the storming of Achan (Jos. 7:20), and casting of Jonah into the sea (Jon. 1:12), may more plainly declare and more fully prove the truth of this matter. It may be here objected, if the Lord punish the righteous for the wicked mans offence, how is he then righteous? To answer hereunto brieflyFirst, though the Lord afflict the innocent with the sinners oftentimes, yet He doth not correct them for the faults of transgressors, but for their own faults, there being none so just but that he sinneth sometimes. Secondly, when the just, having authority to punish sin, wink at the known offences of the ungodly, by letting them go scot-free, they make their transgressions their own, so that in such cases no marvel if the Lord scourge the just with the unjust; for even the just do in such cases appertain to the family of the unjust.Muffet.
It is the hatred of the wicked against the righteous that bringeth them into captivity, but it is the favour of God towards them that He maketh those who have made them captives to be themselves the redemption of them. Or else, if the condition of this world by Gods permission and providence hath cast the righteous into thraldom, it is the sport of the wicked to insult over them; but it is the compassion of God towards them that He maketh those who make sport at them to be themselves the sacrifice of their deliverance. And, seeing misery, being mans master, requireth the right of command over him, according as many are the general calamities of mankind, God maketh the wicked to serve it, and the transgressor to pay bondage unto it instead of the righteous.Jermin.
The subjects of Pro. 21:19-20 have been already treated in this chapter. See on Pro. 21:5-7, and on Pro. 21:9.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(18) The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous.The righteous is delivered out of trouble (Pro. 11:8; comp. Isa. 57:1), and the wicked cometh in his stead to receive upon his own head Gods descending punishment. So it was with Mordecai and Haman.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
18. A ransom A propitiation, lustration, an atonement; that is, figuratively. The wicked bring on themselves the evil they intended for the righteous. Thus their destruction may be considered a ransom for the righteous: it saves them from the intended doom.
Transgressor The treacherous. Haman’s case is an illustration of the proverb. See Est 7:10, etc.; Pro 11:8.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
v. 18. The wicked shall be a ransom
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Pro 21:18 The wicked [shall be] a ransom for the righteous, and the transgressor for the upright.
Ver. 18. The wicked shall be a ransom. ] Heb., Copher, a cover, or an expiation; as Achan was for Israel, and as those condemned persons among the heathens, that in time of pestilence or contagious infection were offered up by way of public expiation, with these words, ; Be thou a reconciliation for us. a To this custom St Paul seems to allude. 1Co 4:13 Thus, when Saul’s sons were hanged, God’s wrath was appeased; 2Sa 21:1-9 and when guilty Jonah was cast into the sea, all was calm. Thus God gave Egypt for Israel’s ransom; yea, Sheba and Ethiopia. Isa 43:3 And although he may seem sometimes to “sell his people for nought, and not to increase his wealth by their price,” Psa 44:12 yet when it comes to a critical point, “I will give men for thee, and people for thy price.” Isa 43:4 See Trapp on “ Pro 11:8 “
a Budaeus.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the righteous = a righteous one.
transgressor = traitor.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Pro 21:18
Pro 21:18
“The wicked is a ransom for the righteous; And the treacherous cometh instead of the upright.”
This is not clear; but the teaching seems to be that in the providence of God his punishments of mankind fall rather upon the wicked than upon the righteous. Delitzsch cited Haman’s execution rather than that of Mordecai as an example of this; and Deane pointed out that what happened in Egypt illustrates the second line. “The destroying angel spared the houses of the Israelites and executed the firstborn of the Egyptians. The Spanish Version reads: “El hombre falso y malvado Sufrira en lugar Del justo y honrado. (“The false and evil man will suffer in the place of the just and the honorable”)
Pro 21:18. Ransom in the first clause and in the stead of in the second show that something happens to the wicked that might have happened to the righteous or that results in a better state for the righteous. Clarke: God often in his judgments cuts off the wicked in order to prevent them from destroying the righteous. And in general we find that the wicked fall into the traps and pits they have digged for the righteous. Pro 11:8 says, The righteous is delivered out of trouble; And the wicked cometh in his stead. As wicked Babylon fell, Gods people were blessed with liberation. By punishing the scorner, others are spared from falling into the same sin and suffering the same fate (Pro 21:11-12).
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
wicked: Pro 11:8, Isa 43:3, Isa 43:4, Isa 53:4, Isa 53:5, Isa 55:8, Isa 55:9, 1Pe 3:18
Reciprocal: Isa 51:23 – I will Dan 3:22 – slew
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 21:18. The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous The wicked shall be brought into those troubles which were designed by wicked men against the righteous, and by that means, as by a ransom, the righteous shall be delivered; thus Haman was a ransom for Mordecai.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
21:18 The {h} wicked [shall be] a ransom for the righteous, and the transgressor for the upright.
(h) God will cause that to fall on their own heads, which they intended against the just by delivering the just, and putting the wicked in their places.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
A ransom is a payment given to free a person from some penalty he has incurred, similar to posting bail to get out of jail. In this case, it appears that God punishes the wicked, and in doing so He sets the righteous free. Such would be the case if the wicked were oppressing the righteous (cf. Pro 11:8). God delivers the righteous by punishing the wicked who oppress them.