Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 30:17

The eye [that] mocketh at [his] father, and despiseth to obey [his] mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.

17. the valley ] Or, brook. It is implied that his corpse will lie unburied and exposed.

Maurer and others quote here, in illustration of the fact that birds of prey attack principally the eyes, Catullus 107, 3:

“Effossos oculos voret atro gutture corvus.”

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Verse 17. The eye that mocketh at his father] This seems to be spoken against those who curse their father, and do not bless their mother, Pr 30:11.

The ravens of the valley] Those which frequent the places where dead carcasses and offal are most likely to be found. The raven, the crow, the rook, the daw, the carrion crow, and the Cornish chough, appear to be all of the same genus. Some of them live on pulse and insects; others, the raven in particular, live on carrion.

The young eagles shall eat it.] The mother eagle shall scoop out such an eye, and carry it to the nest to feed her young. Many of the disobedient to parents have come to an untimely end, and, in the field of battle, where many a profligate has fallen, and upon gibbets, have actually become the prey of ravenous birds.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

The eye that mocketh at his father; he that scorneth or derideth his parents, though it be but with a look or gesture, and much more when he breaks out into opprobrious words and actions.

The ravens of the valley shall pick it out; he shall die an unnatural, and untimely, and ignominious death, and after death shall lie unburied, and so be exposed to the birds and beasts of prey, and, amongst others, to the crows or ravens, who use to feed upon dead carcasses, and particularly to pick out their eyes, as is noted by all sorts of writers; of which see my Latin Synopsis. He saith, the ravens oft he valley, either because they most delight in valleys, or with a particular respect unto that valley near Jerusalem, which was called the valley of dead bodies, Jer 31:40, from the carcasses cast out there, to which therefore the ravens resorted in great numbers, according to their manner or, as others render, the ravens of the brooks, because they are of a hot and dry temper, and therefore delight in places adjacent to the brooks of water.

The young eagle; which also preyeth upon dead carcasses and especially upon their eyes, as the ravens do, the reason being the same in both, whether it be the softness of that part which makes it more easy to them to take, or from the pleasant taste of it.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

17. The eyefor the person,with reference to the use of the organ to express mockery andcontempt, and also as that by which punishment is received.

the ravens . . . eagles . . .eateither as dying unnaturally, or being left unburied, orboth.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

The eye [that] mocketh at [his] father,…. At his advice, admonitions, and instructions; looks upon him with scorn and disdain, and treats him as a weak, silly, old man: here Agur returns to the first generation he had observed;

and despiseth to obey [his] mother; her orders and commands: or, “the obedience of his mother” s; her discipline and instruction, having no regard to it. The word is rendered “gathering” in Ge 49:10; and Jarchi interprets it of the gathering of wrinkles in her face: and so the Targum, Arabic, and Syriac versions render it, “the old age of his mother”; despising her as an old foolish woman; see Pr 23:22; , in the Ethiopic language, signifies to “grow old”, from whence the word here used, by a transposition of letters, may be derived; and Mr. Castell t observes, that the royal prophet, among others, seems to have taken this word from the queen of Sheba;

the ravens of the valley, shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it; it signifies, that such persons shall come to an untimely end, and an ignominious death; either be drowned in a river, when floating upon it, or cast upon the banks of it, the ravens that frequent such places, and are most cruel and voracious, should feed upon them: or they should be hanged on a tree, or be crucified u, where birds of prey would light upon them; and particularly pick out their eyes and eat them, as being softest and sweetest to them; therefore first aim at them, and of which birds, and especially ravens, are very fond w; and is a just retaliation for their scornful and disdainful looks at their parent. This may figuratively design the black devils of hell, the posse of them in the air, who are sometimes compared to the fowls thereof; to whom such unnatural and disobedient children shall become a prey; see Mt 13:4.

s “obediantiam matris”, Pagninus, Montanus, Mercerus, Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Michaelis “doctrinam”, Vatablus, Tigurine version; “disciplinam”, Castalio; “obsequium matris”, Schultens. t Lexic. col. 1960. u “Non pasces in cruce corvos”, Horat. Ep. 16. ad Quinctium, v. 48. w “Hic prior in cadaveribus oculum petit”, Isidor. Origin. l. 12. c. 7. “Effossos oculos vorat corvus”, Catullus ad Cominium, Ep. 105. v. 5.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The proverb of the Aluka is the first of the proverbs founded on the figure of an animal among the “words” of Agur. It is now followed by another of a similar character:

17 An eye that mocketh at his father,

And despiseth obedience to his mother:

The ravens of the brook shall pluck it out,

And the young eagles shall eat it.

If “an eye,” and not “eyes,” are spoken of here, this is accounted for by the consideration that the duality of the organ falls back against the unity of the mental activity and mental expression which it serves (cf. Psychol. p. 234). As haughtiness reveals itself (Pro 30:13) in the action of the eyes, so is the eye also the mirror of humble subordination, and also of malicious scorn which refuses reverence and subjection to father and mother. As in German the verbs [ verspotten, spotten, hhnen, hohnsprechen signifying to mock at or scorn may be used with the accus., genit., or dat., so also [to deride] and [to despise] may be connected at pleasure with either an accusative object or a dative object. Ben-Chajim, Athias, van der Hooght, and others write ; Jablonski, Michaelis, Lwenstein, , Mhlau, with Norzi, accurately, , with Munach, like , Psa 65:5; the writing of Ben-Asher

(Note: The Gaja has its reason in the Zinnor that follows, and the Munach in the syllable beginning with a moveable Sheva; with Scheva quiesc. must, according to rule, receive Mercha, vid., Thorath Emeth, p. 26.)

is , with Gaja, Chateph, and Munach. The punctuation of is more fluctuating. The word ( e.g., Cod. Jaman.) may remain out of view, for the Dag. dirimens in stands here as firmly as at Gen 49:10, cf. Psa 45:10. But it is a question whether one has to write with Yod quiesc. (regarding this form of writing, preferred by Ben-Naphtali, the Psalmen-Comm. under Psa 45:10, in both Edd.; Luzzatto’s Gramm. 193; Baer’s Genesis, p. 84, note 2; and Heidenheim’s Pentateuch, with the text-crit. Comm. of Jekuthil ha-Nakdans, under Gen 47:17; Gen 49:10), as it is found in Kimchi, Michlol 45a, and under , and as also Norzi requires, or (as e.g., Cod. Erfurt 1), which appears to be the form adopted by Ben-Asher, for it is attested

(Note: Kimchi is here no authority, for he contradicts himself regarding such word-forms. Thus, regarding , Jer 25:36, in Michlol 87b, and under . The form also wavers between and , Ecc 2:13. The Cod. Jaman. has here the Jod always quiesc.)

as such by Jekuthil under Gen 49:10, and also expressly as such by an old Masora-Cod. of the Erfurt Library. Lwenstein translates, “the weakness of the mother.” Thus after Rashi, who refers the word to , to draw together, and explains it, Gen 49:10, “collection;” but in the passage before us, understands it of the wrinkles on the countenance of the aged mother. Nachmani (Ramban) goes still further, giving to the word, at Gen 49:10, everywhere the meaning of weakness and frailty. Aben Ezra also, and Gersuni (Ralbag), do not go beyond the meaning of a drawing together; and the lxx, with the Aram., who all translate the word by senectus , have also in the sense of to become dull, infirm (certainly not the Aethiopic leh e ka , to become old, weak through old age). But Kimchi, whom the Venet. and Luther

(Note: Jerome translates, et qui despicit partum matris suae . To partus there separates itself to him here the signification expectatio , Gen 49:10, resting on a false combination with . To think of pareo, parui, paritum (Mhlau), was not yet granted to him.)

follow, is informed by Abulwald, skilled in the Arab., of a better: (or , cf. , Psa 141:3) is the Arab. wakhat , obedience ( vid., above under 1a). If now it is said of such a haughty, insolent eye, that the ravens of the brook (cf. 1Ki 17:4) will pluck it out, and the eat it, they, the eagle’s children, the unchildlike human eye: it is only the description of the fate that is before such an one, to die a violent death, and to become a prey to the fowls of heaven (cf. e.g., Jer 16:3., and Passow’s Lex. under ); and if this threatening is not always thus literally fulfilled, yet one has not on that account to render the future optatively, with Hitzig; this is a false conclusion, from a too literal interpretation, for the threatening is only to be understood after its spirit, viz., that a fearful and a dishonourable end will come to such an one. Instead of , as Mhlau reads from the Leipzig Cod., , with Mercha (Athias and Nissel have it with Tarcha), is to be read, for a word between Olewejored and Athnach must always contain a conjunctive accent ( Thorath Emeth, p. 51; Accentuationssystem, xviii. 9). is also irregular, and instead of it is to be written, for the reason given above under Pro 30:16 ( ).

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

Judgement Upon Children Who Despise Parents

Verse 17 emphasizes the retribution that will eventually come upon the young who despise their parents. The language is figurative, but it will come in the manner God deems best, Pro 20:20; Gen 9:22; Lev 20:9; Exo 21:17. (See also comment on Pro 30:11.)

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

(17) The ravens of the valley shall pick it outi.e., the rebellious son shall die of a grievous death (Jer. 16:4). The propensity of ravens to attack the eyes is well known.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

17. Eye that mocketh The expression is used to denote the “mocking” or cursing child; not merely the disobedient, but the rebellious one.

Despiseth to obey Spurns the control of. It is the same word, with the addition of a single letter marking the feminine gender, which is taken as a proper noun in the first verse and there read jakeh.

The ravens of the valley (or brook) shall pick it out We observe that in attacking a body or carcass, ravens strike first at the eye as a favourite part. Hence bodies of men or beasts left exposed where such fowls have access to them are found with their eyes picked out. The passage, therefore, may be equivalent to a declaration that such an unworthy, irreverent, and disobedient son, shall die a felon’s death, and become, as was often the case, a prey to ravens and eagles.

Young eagles Literally, sons of the eagle.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments