Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 27:12
A prudent [man] foreseeth the evil, [and] hideth himself; [but] the simple pass on, [and] are punished.
12. See Pro 22:3 and notes.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Compare the marginal reference.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Pro 27:12
A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished.
Eyes and no eyes
The distinction is not between goodness and wickedness, but between strength and weakness, wisdom and folly. The seeing and the acting man victoriously compels circumstances to further his own ends. The blind and the drifting man is conquered by the force of circumstances, and suffers penalty and loss. The proverb is applicable to every sphere of human life and effort, and becomes more and more rigidly and absolutely true the higher we ascend. In the lower spheres of action there may appear evils which the most prudent man cannot avoid; and the simple may sometimes escape disaster by a fortunate combination of circumstances. But these are exceptions. When we ascend to the sphere of moral and spiritual efforts, even the exceptions vanish, and the principle becomes absolute.
1. Mans life and destiny are determined, not by an inexorable and eternal fate, but by his free manhood. Circumstances are the material out of which he has to weave the garment of his life, and it depends upon himself whether it shall be a garment for honour or dishonour.
2. The radical distinction between men lies in the possession of true vision. The true man sees the realities of things, gazes into the truer and eternal. The unspiritual man sees only the show and appearance of things. This true vision, being an essential characteristic of the spiritual man, is more than intellectual apprehension. It is a perception in which the whole being is exercised.
3. True vision determines true action. There is a sense in which a man may see, and yet follow his evil passions rather than his nobler knowledge. But in such cases there is something perilously defective in the vision. It has lacked depth and splendour, and divineness.
4. Vision and action determine destiny. Drifting is fatal; to pass on in the unresisted current of circumstances is to suffer. For lack of the true vision that creates true action empires have perished, and individuals are subject to the same law. Spiritual blindness is death. (John Thomas, M.A.)
The foresight of prudence
A good husband will repair his house while the weather is fair, not put it off till winter; a careful pilot will take advantage of wind and tide, and so put out to sea, not stay till a storm arise. The traveller will take his time in his journey, and mind his pace when the night comes on, lest darkness overtake him; the smith will strike while the iron is hot, lest it grow cool, and so he lose his labour; so we ought to make every day the day of our repentance; to make use of the present time, that when we come to die we may have nothing to do but to die, for there will be a time when there will be no place for repentance, when time will be no more; when the door will be shut, when there will be no entrance at all. (J. Spencer.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 12. A prudent man foreseeth the evil] The very same as Pr 22:3.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This was delivered Pro 22:3, and is here repeated to enforce the foregoing exhortation, by representing the great advantage of wisdom.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12, 13. (Compare Pro 20:16;Pro 22:3).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
A prudent [man] foreseeth the evil,….
[See comments on Pr 22:3]; or “seeth the evil” f; the evil of sin, as it is contrary to the nature, will, and law and abominable in his sight; and not only the evil of gross actions of sin, but of indwelling lust; and such an one, who is wise to that which is good, sees the sad work sin has made in the world, and in himself; how it has defaced the image of God in man, stripped him of his righteousness, and defiled all the powers and faculties of his soul; upon which sight of it he is filled with shame, reflects upon himself for his past conduct, loathes sin, and himself for it, repents of it, confesses and forsakes it: he likewise sees the evil of punishment for sin, the just demerit of it, the curse of the law, the wrath of God, the second and eternal death, a separation from God, a sense and feeling of divine vengeance, anguish, and distress intolerable, and that for ever;
[and] hideth himself; not in secret places, that he may not be seen by the Lord; nor in his own works of righteousness, to secure him from the wrath of God: nor is it to he understood of his hiding himself from sinners and their company, and so escaping the pollutions of the world; but of his betaking himself to Christ, who is the city of refuge, the stronghold, the rock, in the clefts of which the people of God hide themselves; even in his wounds, or in him as a suffering crucified Saviour, and who is the hiding place from the wind, and covert from the storm of divine wrath; such are redemption by him, his sacrifice and satisfaction, his blood and righteousness, and intercession; see
Isa 32:2; also
[See comments on Pr 22:3];
[but] the simple pass on, [and] are punished; such who are thoughtless and foolish, have no sight nor sense of sin and danger, go on in their sinful course of life without any care or concern, without any fear or dread, till their feet stumble on the dark mountains of eternity; and they fall into the bottomless pit of perdition, from whence there is no recovery.
f “videns”, V. L. Tigurine version, Piscator; “vidit”, Pagninus, Montanus; “videt”, Mercerus, Cocceius, Gejerus, Schultens.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
appears to lean on .
The prudent man seeth the misfortune, hideth himself;
The simple pass on, suffer injury.
= Pro 22:3, where for , for , and for ; the three asyndeta make the proverb clumsy, as if it counted out its seven words separately to the hearer. Ewald, 349a, calls it a “ Steinschrift ” an inscription on a stone. The perfects united in pairs with, and yet more without, Vav, express the coincidence
(Note: The second Munach is at Pro 22:3, as well as here, according to the rule Pro 18:4 of the Accentuationssystem, the transformation of the Dechi, and preserves its value of interpunction; the Legarmeh of is, however, a disjunctive of less force than Dechi, so that thus the sequence of the accents denotes that is a clause related to as a hypothetical antecedent: if the prudent sees the calamity, then he hides himself from it. This syntactic relation is tenable at Pro 22:3, but not here at Pro 27:12. Here, at least, would be better with Rebia, to which the following Dechi would subordinate itself. The prudent seeth the evil, concealeth himself; or also, prudent is he who sees the evil, hides himself. For of two disjunctives before Athnach, the first, according as it is greater or less than the second, retains either Legarmeh ( e.g., Psa 1:5; Psa 86:12; Psa 88:14; Psa 109:14) or Rebia (Pro 12:2, Psa 25:2; Psa 69:9; Psa 146:5).)
as to time.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
12 A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished.
This we had before, ch. xxii. 3. Note, 1. Evil may be foreseen. Where there is temptation, it is easy to foresee that if we thrust ourselves into it there will be sin, and as easy to foresee that if we venture upon the evil of sin there will follow the evil of punishment; and, commonly, God warns before he wounds, having set watchmen over us, Jer. vi. 17. 2. It will be well or ill with us according as we do or do not improve the foresight we have of evil before us: The prudent man, foreseeing the evil, forecasts accordingly, and hides himself, but the simple is either so dull that he does not foresee it or so wilful and slothful that he will take no care to avoid it, and so he passes on securely and is punished. We do well for ourselves when we provide for hereafter.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
The Wise and the Foolish
(Verse 12- See comment on Pro 22:3 and Pro 14:15-16.)
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(12) A prudent man foreseeth the evil.See above on Pro. 22:3.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
12. Substantially the same as Pro 22:3. There is some difference in the form of the words, but none in the sense.
Prudent Shrewd.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Pro 27:12 A prudent [man] foreseeth the evil, [and] hideth himself; [but] the simple pass on, [and] are punished.
Ver. 12. A prudent man foreseeth the evil. ] See Trapp on “ Pro 22:3 “
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
are punished = pay the penalty.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Pro 27:12-13
Pro 27:12-13
“A prudent man seeth evil and hideth himself; But the simple pass on and suffer for it. Take his garment that is surety for a stranger; And hold him in pledge that is surety for a foreign woman.”
Pro 27:12 is the equivalent of Pro 22:3, and Pro 27:13 is the same as Pro 20:16. See comments there.
Pro 27:12. This saying is also given in Pro 22:3, A prudent man is a man who has his eyes open and sees (in this verse he foresees the evil coming), and he acts in wisdom (he hides himself from the evil rather than walking right into it). But the simple man doesnt see the evil, doesnt pay any attention to it, and he suffers for it. Picture evil as a trap that is set; there is as much difference between men who can and cannot be caught in the trap of evil as there is between animals. Mink, foxes and a few other animals are difficult to get into a trap-it can be sometimes done by shrewd and careful means. But no ingenuity is required for getting a possum or a skunk into a trap-just put the trap in the mouth of his den and he will step on it as thoughtlessly as he would on a stick. The truth of this verse is seen in people in regard to their physical, moral, spiritual and financial life.
Pro 27:13. This verse is very similar to Pro 20:16. If one has become surety for a stranger or for a foreign woman, the creditor should and will hold his garment in pledge just as he would the strangers or the foreign womans. Exo 22:26 shows that they took ones garment as security when loaning money.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Pro 18:10, Pro 22:3, Exo 9:20, Exo 9:21, Psa 57:1-3, Isa 26:20, Isa 26:21, Mat 3:7, Heb 6:18, Heb 11:7, 2Pe 3:7, 2Pe 3:10-14
Reciprocal: Gen 41:34 – and take Deu 19:5 – he shall flee 2Sa 17:22 – and they passed 2Ki 6:10 – sent to the place Pro 7:7 – the simple Pro 14:15 – simple Act 27:11 – believed
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 27:12-13. Of the former of these verses, see on Pro 22:3, and of the latter, on Pro 20:16.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
27:12 {e} A prudent [man] foreseeth the evil, [and] hideth himself; [but] the simple pass on, [and] are punished.
(e) Read Geneva “Pro 22:3”