Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 23:10
Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:
10. See Pro 22:28.
enter not into ] to do him wrong as the parallelism implies.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Pro 23:10-11
Their Redeemer is mighty.
Social injustice
I. Social injustice indicated. Remove not the old landmarks. What are the landmarks? The rights of man as man.
1. Every man has a right to personal freedom.
2. To the produce of his own labour.
3. To freedom in religion.
II. Social injustice perpetrated on the helpless. Enter not into the fields of the fatherless. Orphans have their rights. There are villains in society who perpetrate outrages on orphans.
1. This is cowardly.
2. This is cruel.
3. This is common.
III. Social injustice judicially regarded by God. Their Redeemer is mighty. Redeemer here means next of kin. The mighty God is the protector of the helpless. (D. Thomas, D.D.)
The fatherless
These are taken under Gods special protection; with Him they not only find mercy shown to them, but justice done for them. He is their Redeemer, their God, their near kinsman, that will take their part, and stand up for them with jealousy, as taking Himself affront in the injuries done to them. He is mighty–almighty; His omnipotence is engaged and employed for their protection, and their proudest and most powerful oppressors will not only find themselves an unequal match for this, but will find that it is at their peril to contend with it. Every man must be careful not to injure the fatherless in anything, or to invade their rights. Being fatherless, they have none to redress their wrongs, and, being in their childhood, they do not so much as apprehend the wrong that is done them. Sense of honour, and much more the fear of God, would restrain men from offering any injury to children, especially fatherless children. (Matthew Henry.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 10. Remove not the old landmark] See the preceding chapter, Pr 22:28.
Enter not into the fields of the fatherless] Take nothing that belongs to an orphan. The heaviest curse of God will fall upon them that do so.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Either to take away their goods; or rather, to possess their lands, as this phrase is used, 2Sa 5:6.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10, 11. (Compare Pro 22:22;Pro 22:23).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Remove not the old landmark,…. [See comments on Pr 22:28];
and enter not into the fields of the fatherless; to carry off the increase of them, to reap their wheat, or mow their grass, or turn in cattle to eat it; or to encroach upon them, take in any part of them, or join the whole to their own; for if there is a woe to them that lay field to field, much more to them that enter into and take the fields of the fatherless, and join them to their own, Isa 5:8.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The following proverb forms a new whole from component parts of Pro 22:28 and Pro 22:22.:
10 Remove not ancient landmarks;
And into the fields of orphans enter thou not.
11 For their Saviour is a mighty one;
He will conduct their cause against thee.
separates itself here to the meaning of injuste invadere et occupare ; French, empiter sur son voisin , advance not into the ground belonging to thy neighbour (Fleischer). If orphans have also no goel among their kindred (Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, ) to redeem by purchase (Lev 25:25) their inheritance that has passed over into the possession of another, they have another, and that a mighty Saviour, Redemptor, who will restore to them that which they have lost – viz. God (Jer 50:34) – who will adopt their cause against any one who has unjustly taken from them.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
10 Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless: 11 For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee.
Note, 1. The fatherless are taken under God’s special protection; with him they not only find mercy shown to them (Hos. xiv. 3) but justice done for them. He is their Redeemer, their Gol, their near kinsman, that will take their part and stand up for them with jealousy, as taking himself affronted in the injuries done to them. As their Redeemer he will plead their cause against those that do them any injury, and, one way or other, will not only defend their right, and recover it for them, but avenge the wrongs done to them. And he is mighty, almighty; his omnipotence is engaged and employed for their protection, and their proudest and most powerful oppressors will not only find themselves an unequal match for this, but will find that it is at their peril to contend with it. 2. Every man therefore must be careful not to injure them in any thing, or to invade their rights, either by a clandestine removal of the old land-marks or by a forcible entry into their fields. Being fatherless, they have none to redress their wrongs, and, being in their childhood, they do not so much as apprehend the wrong that is done them. Sense of honour, and much more the fear of God, would restrain men from offering injury to children, especially fatherless children.
| Parental Duties. | |
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Divine Defender of Fatherless and Widows
Verse 10 repeats the commandment of Pro 22:28, and adds in verse 11, the pledge of a Divine redeemer who will plead the cause of the fatherless and widows, see Pro 22:23; Pro 22:28 and references, also Pro 15:25 and Job 31:21-23.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Pro. 23:11. Their Redeemer. Their Goel, or Avenger. In the Hebrew law this word is applied to the nearest kinsman. (See Rth. 3:12.)
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro. 23:10-11
THE RIGHTS OF PRIVATE PROPERTY
I. In the community formed under Divine direction there was a possession of personal and private property. When the land of Canaan was first divided among the tribes, it is evident that each family had its respective allotment, the boundaries of which were clearly defined. (See Deu. 19:14, etc.) Each head of a family became, therefore, a possessor of property, to which no other person, not even the king in the days of the monarchy, had any right. (See 1Ki. 21:1-3.) This kingdom, therefore, formed under direct Divine supervision, was not governed on communistic principles; each man had his own inheritance, which became more or less valuable according to the industry and skill expended upon it. Social inequalities must have resulted from this arrangement, which were prevented from becoming too great by the arrangements connected with the year of jubilee, but which within certain limits were evidently not regarded by God as opposed to the welfare of His chosen people. We may infer, then, that the idea that it would be better for mankind if all things were possessed in commonif no man had anything which he could call his ownis not a Divine idea, and is a mistaken one.
II. Those who are too helpless to protect their own rights are especially under the protection of God. The depravity of human nature is seen in the almost universal tendency displayed by the strong to forget the claims of the weak; but when this tendency is carried to the length of wronging the widow and the fatherless, it seems as if a man had sunk to the lowest depths of moral degradation. Yet there were such specimens of fallen humanity in the commonwealth established and governed by God Himself, as there are in nominally Christian England. But, from the earliest days of Jewish history, God declared Himself to be the Guardian of the widow and the fatherless, and the field which was their inheritance might have been well called Gods Acre, from which all intruders were warned off by Divine command and threatening. This is a truth which it may be well for all those to lay to heart who hold property in trust for such dependent ones, or who have any other responsibility in relation to them. It is surely a comforting thought for the fatherless themselves that the place of the earthly parent is taken by One whose power as much exceeds all human power as His love goes beyond all human love.
ILLUSTRATION
The state of Palestine with regard to enclosures is very much the same now as it has always been. Though gardens and vineyards are surrounded by dry stone walls or hedges of prickly pear, the boundaries of arable fields are marked by nothing but a little trench, a small cairn, or a single erect stone placed at certain intervals. It is manifest that a dishonest person could easily fill the gutter with earth, or remove these stones a few feet without much risk of detection and thus enlarge his own field by a stealthy encroachment on his neighbours.Dr. Jamieson.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
The words in the first clause of the verse have been sometimes applied in a very different departmenteven to the danger and the criminality of intermeddling with old and long established articles of doctrine in religion, and principles and statutes of civil polity. It is clear, however, that there can be no period of prescription for truth,or rather for falsehood,no length of time, that is, by which error that has passed for truth can become anything else than error. No time can transmute wrong into right. Changes, no doubt, should be made with caution. The longer anything has been received as a truth, the improbability of its being found an error becomes ever the greater. But if any dogma in any human system of Christian doctrine is proved, from a full and careful investigation of the word of God, to have been set down and held as a truth by mistake,it would be a most strange and mischievous attachment to antiquity for its own sake, that would resist its being expunged and the truth discovered substituted in its room. Never must we forget, that the most ancient landmarks of truth and duty are those which have been fixed herein the Bibleby the hands of prophets, apostles, and evangelists, under the immediate direction of the Spirit of the Lord. There are none so old as these. From the Bible human standards have been formed. Their landmarks profess to be in agreement, in the bounding lines of truth and error marked out by them, with those which are set down there. But when, on a careful survey, any of them are found to have been misplaced, and to bring any part of the region of error within the boundary of the territory of truth,their removal becomes a duty of imperative obligation.Wardlaw.
The word for redeemer signifies the man who was next of kin, the kinsman on whom, by the law of Moses, it was incumbent as a matter of duty, and with whom too it was a matter of interest, to look after the concerns of his poor relations; with whom lay indeed the avenging of their blood, if in any case their life should, in cruel selfishness, be taken away. It was on the principle of that statute that Boaz called upon the next of kin to come forward and redeem the inheritance of Elimelech at the hand of Naomi, and that, upon his hearing the conditions and declining, he did it himself. Now he who happened to be the redeeming kinsman might himself be poor, and powerless, and without either means or influence. But they should not, on that account, be unprotected and unbefriended. Jehovah himself would take the place of their kinsmanwould plead their cause, would maintain their rights, would redress their wrongs, would bring His power to bear against their oppressors. He would fulfil for them the part of their near relation: and he is mighty. Hear his words:Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry; and my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless. (Exo. 22:22-24.) These, you may think, are Old Testament threatenings, belonging to a judicial law that has passed away; or, more properly, they belong to the special theocracy, being strictly no part of the judicial law, inasmuch as they do not prescribe any punishment to be inflicted by the hand of man, but announce what Jehovah himself would, by his own interposition, execute. Be it so. But think you that the character of God has changed? Such assurances and threatenings are not mere warnings of punishment; they are expressions of character.Wardlaw.
Adored be the unsearchable pity, grace, and condescension of Emmanuel! When He could not redeem as God, He became our kinsman, that He might be our Redeemer! (Heb. 2:14-16.)Bridges.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(10) Remove not the old landmark.See above, on Pro. 22:28.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
10, 11. Remove not landmark That which marked the border of the field. Encroach not upon the rights of others, especially of the orphan or other defenceless person. See Pro 22:28. For their redeemer , ( goal – am,) their kinsman, patron, defender, avenger, is strong, etc. Jehovah is expressed in the Septuagint.
He shall plead their cause with thee That is, against thee. Our Authorized Version does not give the full force of the original: He will defend their suit against thee; or, he himself will take their case. Deu 19:14; Deu 27:17; Pro 22:28; Job 31:21.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Tenth Saying (Tetrastitch) Pro 23:10-11 forms a single proverbial thought using four lines, which is called a tetrastitch. This proverb warns us not to mistreat the fatherless lest God take vengeance upon their oppressor.
Pro 23:10 Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:
Pro 23:10
Deu 19:14, “Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour’s landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land that the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it.”
Deu 27:17, “Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour’s landmark. And all the people shall say, Amen.”
Job 24:2, “Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.”
Scripture References – Note a similar proverb:
Pro 22:28, “Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.”
Note a similar verse:
Pro 22:22-23, “Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate: For the LORD will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.”
Pro 23:11 For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee.
Pro 23:11
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
v. 10. Remove not the old landmark,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Pro 23:10 Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:
Ver. 10. Remove not the ancient landmark. ] See Trapp on “ Pro 22:28 “
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
old landmark = ancient boundary. Compare Pro 22:28.
fields. Some codices, with Aramaean, Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, read “field” (singular)
fatherless. Put by Figure of speech Synecdoche (of Species), for all bereaved ones.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Pro 23:10-12
Pro 23:10-12
“Remove not the ancient landmark; And enter not into the fields of the fatherless: For their Redeemer is strong; He will plead their cause against thee. Apply thy heart unto instruction, And thine ears to the words of knowledge.”
The first line here is also found in Pro 22:28. See the comments there. The fatherless and widows were in the greatest danger of suffering damage by the fraudulent removal of a landmark; and the passage states that God, as their Champion, will defend them.
Pro 23:10. A landmark was usually a stone or a pillar of stones placed to mark out the boundary of ones land. This verse contains a prohibition against altering those. Deu 19:14; Deu 27:17; and Pro 22:28 contain similar prohibitions. By moving (or removing) the landmark one could be claiming and using land that rightfully belonged to ones neighbor. This verse contains a special warning if the land taken belonged to the fatherless.
Pro 23:11. God will look out for the right of the orphaned, and He will not be easy on one who has taken land away from such. Pro 22:23 says, Jehovah will plead their cause, And despoil of life those that despoil thee.
Pro 23:12. It is not merely hearing instruction but applying ones heart to what is being said that really adds learning and knowledge to one. The Bible does not favor a person going his way and finding out everything for himself; it emphasizes instruction and urges each one to learn all he can from the instruction of others.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Remove: Pro 22:28, Deu 19:14, Deu 27:17, Job 24:2
landmark: or, bound
fatherless: Job 6:27, Job 22:9, Job 24:3, Job 24:9, Job 31:21-23, Psa 94:6, Jer 7:5, Jer 22:3, Zec 7:10, Mal 3:5, Jam 1:27
Reciprocal: Exo 22:23 – I will surely Deu 24:15 – lest he Psa 103:6 – executeth Psa 136:24 – General Psa 140:12 – the Lord Psa 146:7 – executeth Pro 22:22 – Rob Isa 3:13 – standeth up Jer 49:11 – thy fatherless Lam 3:35 – turn Hos 14:3 – for Amo 4:1 – which oppress
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 23:10-11. Enter not into the fields of the fatherless Either to take away their goods, or rather, to possess their lands, as this phrase is used, 2Sa 5:6. For their Redeemer is mighty Hebrew, , their near kinsman, to whom it belongs to avenge their wrongs, and to recover and maintain their rights: see on Lev 25:25; Num 35:12; Job 19:25. God is pleased to call himself the kinsman of the fatherless, to show how much he concerns himself for the relief of oppressed and helpless persons.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Here the writer added a reason to the warning in the fourth saying (Pro 22:28). God is the rescuing avenger of the defenseless (in Gen 28:16; Exo 6:6; Job 19:25; and many times in Isaiah 41-63). Here it is evidently God who is in view, rather than a human kinsman-redeemer (Heb. goel, cf. Gen 48:16; Exo 6:6; Job 19:25; Isaiah 41-63). This is another warning against taking unfair advantage of a defenseless person.
We should probably take Pro 23:12 as an exhortation added to the tenth saying. Some scholars have viewed it as an introduction to the remaining 20 sayings in view of its similarity to Pro 22:17; Pro 23:15-16; Pro 23:19; Pro 23:26. [Note: Toy, pp. 432-33.] In either case, it is a general admonition to apply these wise declarations to life.