Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 27:22
Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, [yet] will not his foolishness depart from him.
22. wheat ] Rather, bruised corn. In the only other place in which it occurs (2Sa 17:19) the word is rendered ground corn, A.V., and bruised corn, R.V. See note there in this Series.
Pro 27:23-27 . The praises of agriculture, or of pastoral life.
It well repays the diligence bestowed upon it ( Pro 27:23), and is more reliable in its nature than other kinds of wealth, and even than a kingly crown ( Pro 27:24). No sooner is one crop carried than another begins to grow, and the harvest of the earth is sure ( Pro 27:25). The flocks, ever increasing, supply clothing, and equal in value the land which supports them ( Pro 27:26), while their produce will maintain in plenty their owner and his household ( Pro 27:27).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Bray – To pound wheat in a mortar with a pestle, in order to free the wheat from its husks and impurities, is to go through a far more elaborate process than threshing. But the folly of the fool is not thus to be got rid of. It sticks to him to the last; all discipline, teaching, experience seem to be wasted on him.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 22. Though thou shouldest bray a fool] Leaving all other conjectures, of which commentators are full, I would propose, that this is a metaphor taken from pounding metallic ores in very large mortars, such as are still common in the East, in order that, when subjected to the action of the fire, the metal may be the more easily separated from the ore. However you may try, by precept or example, or both, to instruct a stupid man, your labour is lost; his foolishness cannot be separated from him. You may purge metals of all their dross; but you cannot purge the fool of his folly.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Not a natural, but a moral and wilful fool, who by long continuance in sin is hardened and stupefied, and so incorrigible under all the means of amendment.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
22. The obstinate wickedness ofsuch is incurable by the heaviest inflictions.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle,…. As the manna was, Nu 11:8; and as wheat beat and bruised in a mortar, or ground in a mill, retains its own nature; so, let a wicked man be used ever so roughly or severely, by words, admonitions, reproofs, and counsels; or by deeds, by corrections and punishment, by hard words or blows, whether publicly or privately; in the midst of the congregation, as the Targum and Syriac version; or of the sanhedrim and council, as the Septuagint and Arabic versions;
[yet] will not his foolishness depart from him; his inbred depravity and natural malignity and folly will not remove, nor will he leave his course of sinning he has been accustomed to; he is stricken in vain, he will revolt more and more, Isa 1:5. Anaxarchus the philosopher was ordered by the tyrant Nicocreon to be pounded to death in a stone mortar with iron pestles q, and which he endured with great patience.
q Laert. in Vit. Anaxarch. l. 9. p. 668.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
22 Though thou bruise a fool in a mortar among grit with a pestle,
Yet would not his folly depart from him.
According to the best accredited accentuations, has Illuj. and has Pazer, not Rebia, which would separate more than the Dechi, and disturb the sequence of the thoughts. The first line is long; the chief disjunctive in the sphere of the Athnach is Dechi of ‘ , this disjoins more than the Pazer of ‘ , and this again more than the Legarmeh of . The of does not belong to the stem of the word (Hitzig), but is the article; (from , to shake, to break; according to Schultens, from , to crumble, to cut in pieces, after the form , which is improbable) are bruised grains of corn (peeled grain, grit), here they receive this name in the act of being bruised; rightly Aquila and Theodotion, (grains of corn in the act of being pounded or bruised), and the Venet. .
(Note: The lxx translates , and has thereby misled the Syr., and mediately the Targum.)
In (thus to be written after Michlol 43b, not , as Heidenheim writes it without any authority) also the article is contained. is the vessel, and the of is Beth instrumenti; (of lifting up for the purpose of bruising) is the club, pestle (Luther: stempffel = pounder); in the Mishna, Beza i. 5, this word denotes a pounder for the cutting out of flesh. The proverb interprets itself: folly has become to the fool as a second nature, and he is not to be delivered from it by the sternest discipline, the severest means that may be tried; it is not indeed his substance (Hitzig), but an inalienable accident of his substance.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
22 Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him.
Solomon had said (ch. xxii. 15), The foolishness which is bound in the heart of a child may be driven out by the rod of correction, for then the mind is to be moulded, the vicious habits not having taken root; but here he shows that, if it be not done then, it will be next to impossible to do it afterwards; if the disease be inveterate, there is a danger of its being incurable. Can the Ethiopian change his skin? Observe, 1. Some are so bad that rough and severe methods must be used with them, after gentle means have been tried in vain; they must be brayed in a mortar. God will take this way with them by his judgments; the magistrates must take this way with them by the rigour of the law. Force must be used with those that will not be ruled by reason, and love, and their own interest. 2. Some are so incorrigibly bad that even those rough and severe methods do not answer the end, their foolishness will not depart from them, so fully are their hearts set in them to do evil; they are often under the rod and yet not humbled, in the furnace and yet not refined, but, like Ahaz, trespass yet more (2 Chron. xxviii. 22); and what remains then but that they should be rejected as reprobate silver?
| The Reward of Prudence. | |
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
The Incorrigible Fool
Verse 22 emphasizes that though various forms of corrective discipline buffet the fool as wheat is pounded with a pestle to separate the husks and impurities; he does not depart from his foolishness, Pro 23:35; Isa 1:5; Jer 5:3.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(22) Though thou shouldest bray (i.e., pound) a fool (a self-willed, headstrong person) in a mortar among wheat with a pestle.This would separate completely the husks from the wheat; but obstinacy has become a part of such a mans nature, and cannot be got rid of even by such violent measures.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
22. Bray Pound, beat.
Wheat Any kind of grain, or anything pounded or bruised. “Barley, after being soaked in water, was [partially] dried in the sun, and then pounded in a mortar with a wooden pestle till the husk came off.” The sentiment of the proverb is: No punishment, however severe, can cure a fool of his folly. It might be thought improbable that any persons were ever punished by being pounded in a mortar: but sundry travellers, as Baron du Tott, Volney, and Knolles, testify that such a mode of punishment was in use among the Turks. Volney suggests that it came into vogue as a means of reaching those persons, the shedding of whose blood was not permitted by the letter of the law. “As for the guards of the towers,” says Knolles, “who had let Prince Koreskie (a prisoner) escape, some of them were impaled, and some were pounded or beaten to pieces in great mortars of iron, wherein they do usually pound their rice to reduce it to meal.” There are, however, no historic traces of this mode of punishment in Jewish history. The Septuagint knows nothing of “braying in a mortar;” but has instead, “Though thou scourge a fool, disgracing him in the midst of the council.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Pro 27:22 Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, [yet] will not his foolishness depart from him.
Ver. 22. Though thou shouldst bray a fool, &c. ] The cypress tree, the more it is watered the more it is withered. So it is with the wicked. Humbled they are, but not humble; low, but not lowly; “wearied” in sin, as Babylon was “in the greatness of her way,” Isa 47:13 but not weary of it. Of these Augustine, Perdidistis, saith he, utilitatem calamitatis, miserrimi factis estis, et pessimi permansistis, a ye have lost the fruit of your afflictions; ye have suffered much, and are never the better. “By this the iniquity of Jacob shall be purged, and this is all the fruit, the taking away of his sin.” Isa 27:9 And if this be not done, God will say, as once, “In thy filthiness is lewdness. Because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt have thy will, thou shalt not be purged”; but then I will have my will too, for “I will cause my fury to rest upon thee.” Eze 24:13 How likest thou that?
a De Civ. Dei, lib. i. cap. 33.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
bray = pound, pulverize.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Pro 27:22
Pro 27:22
“Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with bruised grain, Yet will not his foolishness depart from him.”
“This is a picturesque and forcible way of saying that a fool’s folly is his nature.
Pro 27:22. Bray…mortar…pestle-these are strange words to our modern way of living. Whenever you put something into a container and pound or mash it with something in your hand, you are braying it, what you are braying it with is the pestle, and the container is the mortar. When our mothers used to mash potatoes by hand, that was the same figure, only we didnt use those words to apply to the action and the various pieces. This verse shows that no matter how you might beat on a confirmed fool, you cannot get rid of his foolishness. Consider the drunkard in Pro 23:35 and Judah in Isa 1:5 and Jer 5:3.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Pro 23:35, Exo 12:30, Exo 14:5, Exo 15:9, 2Ch 28:22, 2Ch 28:23, Isa 1:5, Jer 5:3, Jer 44:15, Jer 44:16, Rev 16:10, Rev 16:11
Reciprocal: Jdg 16:4 – he loved 1Sa 19:21 – sent messengers 1Ki 22:18 – Did I not tell 2Ki 1:13 – he sent again 2Ch 24:14 – to offer withal Psa 14:1 – fool Psa 85:8 – folly Pro 10:13 – a rod Pro 14:24 – foolishness Pro 17:10 – General Pro 26:3 – General Jer 13:23 – Ethiopian Hos 7:10 – and they Mar 7:22 – foolishness
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 27:22. Though thou shouldest bray, &c. The folly and wickedness of some men are so incurable, that though unto reproofs, and chidings, and threatenings, you should add stripes and blows, they would not grow a whit the wiser or better for it. Not natural, but moral and wilful fools are here intended, who, by long continuance in sin, are hardened and stupified, and so are become incorrigible under all the means of amendment.