Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 27:20
Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.
20. Hell and destruction ] See Pro 15:11, note.
full ] Rather, satisfied, the Heb. word being the same as at the end of the verse. Comp. Ecc 1:8; Ecc 4:8.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Hades, the world of the dead, and Destruction (Death, the destroying power, personified) have been at all times and in all countries thought of as all-devouring, insatiable (compare the marginal reference). Yet one thing is equally so, the lust of the eye, the restless craving which grows with what it feeds on Ecc 1:8.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 20. Hell and destruction are never full] How hideous must the soul of a covetous man be, when God compares it to hell and perdition!
The eyes of man are never satisfied.] As the grave can never be filled up with bodies, nor perdition with souls; so the restless desire, the lust of power, riches, and splendour, is never satisfied. Out of this ever unsatisfied desire spring all the changing fashions, the varied amusements, and the endless modes of getting money, prevalent in every age, and in every country.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Hell and destruction are never full; the grave devours all the bodies which are put into it, and is always ready to receive and devour more and more without end.
The eyes, i.e. the desires, which work and discover themselves by the eyes, 1Jo 2:16, and other senses; for otherwise the eyes in themselves are neither capable of satisfaction nor of dissatisfaction.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
20. Men’s cupidity is asinsatiable as the grave.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Hell and destruction are never full,…. The grave, as the word used often signifies; and which may be called “destruction”, because bodies laid in it are soon corrupted and destroyed; and though bodies are cast into it and devoured by it, it is ready for more; it is one of the four things which never have enough. The place where Gog is said to be buried is called Hamongog, the multitude of Gog, Eze 39:11; and by the Septuagint there Polyandrion, which is the name the Greeks give to a burying place, because many men are buried there; and with the Latins the dead are called Plures o, the many, or the more; and yet the grave is never satisfied with them, Pr 30:16. Or hell, the place of everlasting damnation and destruction, is meant, which has received multitudes of souls already, and where there is room for more, nor will it be full until the last day;
so the eyes of man are never satisfied; as not the eyes of his body with seeing corporeal objects, but still are desirous of seeing more, and indeed everything that is to be seen, and are never glutted, Ec 1:8; so neither the eyes of the carnal mind, or the lusts of it, which are insatiable things, let the objects of them be what they will; as in an ambitious man, a covetous person, or an unclean one.
o Plauti Trinum, Act. 2. Sc. 2. v. 14.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The following proverb has, in common with the preceding, the catchword , and the emphatic repetition of the same expression:
20 The under-world and hell are not satisfied,
And the eyes of man are not satisfied.
A Ker is here erroneously noted by Lwenstein, Stuart, and others. The Ker to is here , which secures the right utterance of the ending, and is altogether wanting
(Note: In Gesen. Lex. this stands to the present day under .)
in many MSS ( e.g., Cod. Jaman). The stripping off of the from the ending is common in the names of persons and places ( e.g., , lxx and ); we write at pleasure either ow or oh ( e.g., ), Olsh. 215g. ( ) of the nature of a proper name, is already found in its full form at Pro 15:11, along with ; the two synonyms are, as was there shown, not wholly alike in the idea they present, as the underworld and realm of death, but are related to each other almost the same as Hades and Gehenna; is what is called
(Note: Vid., Frankel, Zu dem Targum der Propheten (1872), p. 25.)
in the Jonathan-Targum , the place of destruction, i.e., of the second death ( ). The proverb places Hades and Hell on the one side, and the eyes of man on the other, on the same line in respect of their insatiableness. To this Fleischer adds the remark: cf. the Arab. al’ayn l’a taml’aha all’a altrab , nothing fills the eyes of man but at last the dust of the grave – a strikingly beautiful expression! If the dust of the grave fills the open eyes, then they are full – fearful irony! The eye is the instrument of seeing, and consequently in so far as it always looks out after and farther, it is the instrument and the representation of human covetousness. The eye is filled, is satisfied, is equivalent to: human covetousness is appeased. But first “the desire of the eye,” 1Jo 2:16, is meant in the proper sense. The eyes of men are not satisfied in looking and contemplating that which is attractive and new, and no command is more difficult to be fulfilled than that in Isa 33:15, “…that shutteth his eyes from seeing evil.” There is therefore no more inexhaustible means, impiae sepculationis , than the desire of the eyes.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
20 Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.
Two things are here said to be insatiable, and they are two things near of kin–death and sin. 1. Death is insatiable. The first death, the second death, both are so. The grave is not clogged with the multitude of dead bodies that are daily thrown into it, but is still an open sepulchre, and cries, Give, give. Hell also has enlarged itself, and still has room for the damned spirits that are committed to that prison. Tophet is deep and large, Isa. xxx. 33. 2. Sin is insatiable: The eyes of man are never satisfied, nor the appetites of the carnal mind towards profit or pleasure. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor is he the loves silver satisfied with silver. Men labour for that which surfeits, but satisfies not; nay, it is dissatisfying; but satisfies not; nay, it is dissatisfying; such a perpetual uneasiness have men justly been doomed to ever since our first parents were not satisfied with all the trees of Eden, but they must meddle with the forbidden tree. Those whose eyes are ever toward the Lord in him are satisfied, and shall for ever be so.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Man Is Never Satisfied
Verse 20 declares that as hades, the world of the dead, and death the destroying power are never full, continuing day after day to receive more; so the desires of man are insatiable, incapable of being satisfied, Pro 30:15-16; Hab 2:5; Ecc 1:8; Ecc 6:7; Isa 5:14.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Pro. 27:20. Hell and destruction, rather the world of the dead. Eyes. Some understand the reference to be to the insatiableness of human passion.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro. 27:20
INSATIABILITY
I. A destructive force always in operation. Ever since the earth closed over the first dead body, it has been constantly opening to receive those whom death has made ready for the grave, and to-day this terrible and remorseless destroyer is as busy in our midst as ever. And we know that it will be so to the end of time; while the present dispensation lasts, men will never be able to say that death has ceased to claim the mortal part of man, or that the last grave has been dug in the vast graveyard of the world. This is a most melancholy stand-point from which to view man and his destiny. If all the human race lived to a good old age, and went down to their last earthly resting-place like a shock of corn fully ripe, death would still be a dark and dreary thing, looked at by itself, but it becomes much more appalling when it strikes men and women in the prime of life, and carries them off, often without warning, from the place where they seemed so much needed, and to which they were bound by so many ties.
II. A faculty of man always at work. The eye of man is simply an organ by which knowledge is conveyed to his mind. And his appetite for fresh mental food is not lessened by that which he has received in the paston the contrary, it is quickened and whetted in proportion to the supply, for while an ignorant, man is often content in his ignorance, the man who has learned most is generally the most eager to learn more. And this passion in man for knowledge is not quenched by the certain consciousness he possesses that one day he must, that to-morrow he may, quit the scene of his investigations, and end his search after truth under his present conditions. Surely if men did not instinctively feel that this life is not the only one, their desire after constant intellectual growth would not be so ardent. If there was not that within them that told them that death would not end their opportunities of growing in knowledge, the contemplation of the shortness of life would paralyze the acquisitive faculty of men. But we take the strength and universality of this undying desire of man as an argument for his existence after death and the grave have taken possession of the material house in which he lived and laboured on the earth.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
The eye is the avenue of growth. That growth will be eternal. It will take in more and more and raise or sink us through eternal ages. The terms here used are used elsewhere for anything insatiate (chap. Pro. 30:16). Solomon describes a great psychological law, that the mind by its very nature sees, and by all its seeings will grow, either in one way or the other.Miller.
The eyes, by a very natural figure, are put for the desires. Upon that which is the object of our desire, we fix our eyes; and that with an intensity of settled eagerness proportioned to the degree of the desire (chap. Pro. 23:5). The meaning, then, is not merely that the sense of sight never has enough of its own peculiar enjoyments, but that the desire that is by the eye expressed is never satisfied by any amount of present gratification. The desires of men are insatiable. They set their hearts on some particular object, and long for its attainment. They fix in their mind some point of advancement in the acquisition of the world,some measure of wealth, or of power which they think, if once realised, would satisfy them to the full. They get what they want; but they still long as before. There is ever something unattained. Having gained the summit of one eminence, they see another above it; and as they mount, their views widen and their conceptions and wishes amplify, and still more is required to fill them.Wardlaw.
The meaning of the second clause as indicated by this parallel cannot be doubtful. It relates to the really demoniacal insatiableness of human passion, especially the lust of the eyes. (Comp. 1Jn. 2:16; Jas. 3:6; and in particular Pro. 30:16; Ecc. 1:8.)Zckler.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(20) Hell and destruction.See above on Pro. 15:11.
The eyes of man are never satisfied.Comp. Ecc. 1:8; Ecc. 4:8. God would thus teach us that in Himself only can man find complete satisfaction. (Comp. Psa. 36:8-9; 1Co. 2:9.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
20. Hell , ( sheol,) the under or unseen world the world of the dead, sometimes used of the place of unending punishment.
Never full Not satisfied nor satiated.
So the eyes of man “The lust of the eye” may be taken as the type of all desire. It is insatiable. Compare Ecc 1:8 ; 1Jn 2:16; Pro 5:5; Pro 7:27; Pro 9:18; Pro 15:11; Pro 23:14.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Pro 27:20 Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.
Ver. 20. Hell and destruction are never satisfied. ] Hell and the grave have their name in Hebrew from their unsatisfiableness, being always craving more, and that with assiduity and importunity. And this fitly follows upon the former verse, as Aben Ezra well observeth, that men may be frighted by the remembrance of hell’s wide mouth gaping for them, from following the bent of their sinful natures; and that those that here have never enough, shall once have fire enough in the bottom of hell.
So the eyes of men are never satisfied.
a and, of .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Hell = Sheol. App-35.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Pro 27:20
Pro 27:20
“Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied; And the eyes of man are never satisfied.”
“Sheol and Abaddon … etc.” (Pro 27:20). Harris rendered this, “Hell and destruction are insatiable. Sheol, however, is best understood as a name for “the realm of the dead.” It is the equivalent of “Hades.” Death itself is never satisfied. We encountered this same pair of names in Pro 15:11.
DeHoff applied the second line here to the lusts and appetites of the body. “Gambling is a growing vice. One drink of alcoholic beverage calls for another, and another, etc. Committing adultery, `just this one time’ never works out that way.
Pro 27:20. Sheol is the Hebrew word for the place of departed spirits (the same as Hades in Greek). Abaddon is the Hebrew word for destruction (the same as Apollyon in Greek;. Both forms of the latter are found in Rev 9:11. Sheol and Abaddon are used together also in Job 26:6 and Pro 15:11. Just as death is personified here as never satisfied but always wanting more souls, so mans eyes are never satisfied. The more he has and sees, the more he wants. This fact is also mentioned in Ecc 1:8. Heb 2:5 uses this same language in describing the greediness of the Chaldeans.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
grave
Also; Pro 30:16, Heb. “Sheol,” (See Scofield “Hab 2:5”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Hell: Pro 30:15, Pro 30:16, Hab 2:5
never: Heb. not
so: Pro 23:5, Ecc 1:8, Ecc 2:10, Ecc 2:11, Ecc 5:10, Ecc 5:11, Ecc 6:7, Jer 22:17, 1Jo 2:16
Reciprocal: Psa 16:10 – my Psa 55:23 – pit Pro 15:11 – Hell Ecc 4:8 – is his Isa 5:14 – hell
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 27:20. Hell and destruction are never full The grave devours all the bodies which are put into it, and is always ready to receive and devour more and more without end; so the eyes of man are never satisfied That is, his desires, which work and discover themselves by his eyes.