Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 31:27
She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.
27. looketh well to ] a happy rendering. Lit. keepeth watch upon, as in Pro 15:3. As Almighty God, from His lofty watch-tower in heaven, observes all the minutest details of the manifold work that is going on in the busy hive of earth, so does she from her exalted position in which He has placed her, as mistress of the family, and as responsible to Him, observe “the ways of her household.” Comp. “He that ruleth ( let him do it) with diligence,” Rom 12:8.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 27. She looketh well to the ways of her household]
18. She is a moral manager: she takes care that all shall behave themselves well; that none of them shall keep bad company or contract vicious habits. A religious industry, or an industrious religion, is the law of her house. She can instruct them in religion, as well as she can teach them in their labour. In her house, diligence in business, and fervency of spirit, serving the Lord, go hand in hand.
And eateth not the bread of idleness.]
19. She knows that idleness leads to vice; and therefore every one has his work, and every one has his proper food. That they may work well, they are fed well; and every one, at least, earns the bread that he eats – eateth not the bread of idleness.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
She looketh well to the ways of her household; she diligently observeth the management and progress of her domestic business, and the whole carriage and conversation of her children and servants; whereby also he intimates that she spends not her thee in gadding abroad to other houses, and idle discourses about the concerns of other persons, as the manner of many women is, but is wholly intent upon her own house and proper business.
Eateth not the bread of idleness; that which is got by idleness, or without labour.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
27. (Compare 1Ti 5:14;Tit 2:5). She adds to her examplea wise management of those under her control.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
She looketh well to the ways of her household,…. The business of her house, her domestic affairs; that her children and servants have convenient food, and in due season; that they have proper clothing, and keep their garments close about them, and unspotted; that everyone does the business of his calling, her several officers, and private members; that a good decorum is kept, that all things are done decently and in order; that the rules of her lord and husband are observed; that the conversations of all in her house are according to the word of God, and becoming their character: she takes care of the sick and weak, comforts the feeble minded, and supports the infirm; she cannot bear them that are evil, whether in principle or practice; that are immoral in their lives, or unsound in their faith; but admonishes them according to the nature of their offences, and casts out the obstinate or incorrigible. The words may be rendered, “she looks well to the ways of her house” d; that lead unto it, so Gersom; either her house below, the way or entrance into which is by faith in Christ, and a profession of it; and she takes care that none be admitted but such who have it: or the ways in it, the commands, ordinances, appointments, and constitutions of Christ, called the ways of Zion; and concerned she is that all in her family walk in them, and observe them: or her house above, which is eternal in the heavens; Christ’s Father’s house and, hers, in which are many mansions, and everlasting habitations; the way to this also is Christ, who is the true way to eternal life, the strait gate and narrow way that leads to it; without his imputed righteousness, and the regenerating grace of his Spirit, there is no entrance into it: besides this, there are lesser paths which agree and coincide; as the paths of faith, truth, and holiness, and the ways of Christ’s commandments, which issue in it, and which the church and her true members are careful to look unto and observe. The Arabic version renders it, “the paths of her house are strait”; with which compare Mt 7:13. Jarchi interprets these ways of the law, which teaches the good way, and to separate from transgression;
and eateth not the bread of idleness; of an idle woman, as Aben Ezra; or she being idle does not eat bread; she does not eat it without labour; it is “the bread of labour”, of many labours she eats, as in
Ps 127:2; she labours for the meat which endures to everlasting life, Joh 6:27; the Gospel, that bread which strengthens man’s heart, refreshes his spirit, is made of the finest of the wheat, contains the wholesome words of Christ, and by which men are nourished up unto everlasting life; and which particularly directs to Christ the true bread, the bread of life, of which if a man eat he shall never die, but live for ever; and on which true believers feed by faith; but though this is prepared for them, and is the gift of God to them, yet must be laboured for; it is not eaten without labour: believers read, hear, and pray, and diligently attend all ordinances for the sake of this food.
d “vias domus suae”, Paginius, Montanus, Mercerus, Gejerus, Michaelis; “ambulationes domus suae”, Cocceius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
27 She looketh well to the ways of her house,
And eateth not the bread of idleness.
Although there exists an inner relation between 27a and Pro 31:26, yet 27a is scarcely to be thought of (Hitzig) as appos. to the suffix in . Participles with or without determination occur in descriptions frequently as predicates of the subject standing in the discourse of the same force as abstr. present declarations, e.g., Isa 40:22., Psa 104:13. is connected with the accus. of the object of the intended warning, like Pro 15:3, and is compared according to the form with , Pro 7:11. signifies elsewhere things necessary for a journey, Job 6:19, and in the plur. magnificus it denotes show ( pompa ), Hab 3:6: but originally the walk, conduct, Nah 2:6; and here in the plur. walks = comings and goings, but not these separately, but in general, the modi procedendi (lxx ). The Chethb has , probably an error in writing, but possibly also the plur. of , thus found in the post-bibl. Heb. (after the form ), custom, viz., appointed traditional law, but also like the Aram. ( emph. ), usage, manner, common practice. Hitzig estimates this Chethb , understood Talmudically, as removing the section into a late period; but this Talmudical signification is not at all appropriate (Hitzig translates, with an incorrect rendering of , “for she sees after the ordering of the house”), and besides the Aram. , e.g., Targ. Pro 16:9, in the first line, signifies only the walk or the manner and way of going, and this gives with the Ker essentially the same signification. Luther well: Sie schawet wie es in jrem Hause zugeht [= she looks how it goes in her house]. Her eyes are turned everywhere; she is at one time here, at another there, to look after all with her own eyes; she does not suffer the day’s work, according to the instructions given, to be left undone, while she folds her own hands on her bosom; but she works, keeping an oversight on all sides, and does not eat the bread of idleness ( = , Pro 19:15), but bread well deserved, for , , 2Th 3:10.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
27. Looketh well to her household Watches over, controls, directs, cares for, all the affairs and persons of her family.
Eateth not the bread of idleness She is neither idle herself nor suffers any of her family children or servants to be idle, well knowing that idleness is the parent of vice. She assigns employment to each, and sees that each is diligent in it.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Pro 31:27 She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.
Ver. 27. She looketh well to the ways of her household. ] She hath an oar in every boat, an eye in every business; she spies and pries into her children’s and servants’ carriages, and exacts of them strict conversation and growth in godliness: she overlooks the whole family no otherwise than if she were in a watch tower; Speculatur itinera domus suae.
And eateth not the bread of idleness.
a Arist. Rhet., lib. i.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Pro 14:1, 1Th 4:11, 2Th 3:6, 1Ti 5:10, Tit 2:4
Reciprocal: Gen 24:15 – pitcher Rth 2:17 – she gleaned 1Sa 25:19 – But 2Th 3:8 – eat 1Ti 5:13 – to be 1Ti 5:14 – guide
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 31:27. She looketh well to her household She diligently observes the management of her domestic business, and the whole carriage of her children and servants. Whereby he also intimates, that she spends not her time in gadding abroad to other peoples houses, and in idle discourses about the concerns of other persons, as the manner of many women is, but is wholly intent upon her own house and proper business; and eateth not the bread of idleness That which is gotten by idleness, or without labour.