Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 31:8

Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction.

8. for the dumb ] for all who cannot plead their own cause.

such as are appointed to destruction ] Lit. the sons of passing away. We may understand this either of those who are in danger of ruin by being condemned to loss of life or goods; or of those who are left desolate (R.V. text), and have no one to plead their cause. Comp. “the fatherless children and widows, and all that are desolate and oppressed.”

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

In contrast with the two besetting sins of Eastern monarchs stands their one great duty, to give help to those who had no other helper.

Such as are appointed to destruction – literally, children of bereavement, with the sense, either, as in the text, of those destined to be bereaved of life or goods, or of bereaved or fatherless children.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Pro 31:8

Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction.

The sin of cruelty to the brute creation

There is no necessary reference in this verse to the inferior animals. We use it merely for our accommodation. That there is such cruelty requires neither proof nor argument. What persuasions should urge to guard against this cruelty in every form?

1. The affecting consideration that the lower animals have not the power of expressing and complaining of their wrongs.

2. Their subserviency to the comfort and happiness of man.

3. They are the objects of Gods peculiar and providential care.

4. Cruelty to animals is utterly inconsistent with the spirit and law of Christianity. (David Runciman, M.A.)

Jobs example

Job was an excellent pattern to all princes. He was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame, and a father to the poor, and no doubt he was a mouth also to the dumb. Such a prince the mother of Lemuel wishes her son to be. She exhorts him to do justice and judgment to all his people, but to regard with peculiar tenderness those unfortunate men that were in danger of losing their estates and lives by reason of accusations brought against them. If they were unable, through ignorance, or awkwardness, or fear, to plead their own cause, she would have him to be their advocate, and to plead everything that truth and equity would allow on their behalf. But charity to the poor, and clemency to the accused, must not interfere with the due administration of justice. It is the business of princes, in the administration of justice, to see that the poor do not suffer. (George Lawson, D.D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 8. Open thy mouth for the dumb] For such accused persons as have no counsellors, and cannot plead for themselves.

Are appointed to destruction.] beney chaloph, variously translated, children of passage – indigent travellers; children of desolation – those who have no possessions, or orphans. I believe it either signifies those who are strangers, and are travelling from place to place, or those who are ready to perish in consequence of want or oppression.

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

Open thy mouth, speak freely and impartially, as becomes a king and judge to do, for the dumb; for such as cannot speak in their own cause, either through ignorance and infirmity, or because of the dread of their more potent adversaries, or of the majesty of the king sitting in judgment.

Such as are appointed to destruction; who without such succour from the judge are like to be utterly ruined, whom therefore both justice and charity oblige thee to preserve.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

8, 9. Open . . . causePleadfor those who cannot plead for themselves, as the orphan, stranger,c. (compare Psa 72:12 Isa 1:17).

appointed to destructionwhoare otherwise ruined by their oppressors (compare Pro 29:14;Pro 29:16).

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

Open thy mouth for the dumb,…. Not who are naturally so, but who cannot speak in their own behalf, either through want of elocution, or knowledge of the laws; or who are bashful, timorous, and fearful, being overawed by the majesty of a court of judicature, or by their prosecutors; or who, as they have not a tongue, so not a purse, to speak for them, the fatherless and the widow; which latter has her name, in the Hebrew language, from dumbness. Here Lemuel’s mother advises him to open his mouth freely, readily, boldly, and intrepidly, and plead for such persons. Even

in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction; whose destruction is resolved on by their accusers and prosecutors; and who are in danger of it, being charged with capital crimes; unless some persons of wisdom, power, and authority, interpose on their behalf. It may be rendered, “in the cause of all the children of change”, or “passing away” s; the children of the world, which passeth away with all things in it, as Kimchi; or orphans, whose help passeth away, as Jarchi; or rather strangers, as others, who pass from place to place and whose state and condition is liable to many changes who may be ignorant of the laws of the country where they are, and may stand in need of persons to plead for them.

s “filiormn transitus”, Montanus, Gejerus, Michaelis; “transeuntis, sub. seculi”, Vatablus, so Ben Melech; “filiorum mutationis loci”, Piscator; “filii mutationis, h. e. hujus mundi”, Baynus.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

8 Open thy mouth for the dumb,

For the right of all the children of leaving;

9 Open thy mouth, judge righteously,

And do right to the poor and needy.

He is called dumb who suffers the infirmity of dumbness, as and , Job 29:15, is he who suffers the infirmity of blindness or lameness, not here figuratively; at the same time, he who, on account of his youth, or on account of his ignorance, or from fear, cannot speak before the tribunal for himself (Fleischer). With the dat. commodi (lxx after Lagarde, ; Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, ; the Venet. after Gebhardt, ) , of the object aimed at, interchanges, as e.g., 1Ki 19:3; 2Ki 7:7, , for the preservation of their life, or for the sake of their life, for it is seldom that it introduces the object so purely as here. And that an infin. such as should stand as a subst. occurs proportionally seldomer in Heb. (Isa 4:4; Psa 22:7; cf. with of the artic., Num 4:12; Psa 66:9) than it does in Arab. in the same way as , 5b, belongs to the Arab. complexion of this proverb, but without its being necessary to refer to the Arab. in order to fix the meaning of these two words. Hitzig explains after khalf , to come after, which further means “to have the disadvantage,” in which Zckler follows him; but this verb in Arab. does not mean ( ), we must explain “sons of him that remains behind,” i.e., such as come not forward, but remain behind ( ‘an ) others. Mhlau goes further, and explains, with Schultens and Vaihinger: those destitute of defence, after (Arab.) khalafahu he is ranked next to him, and has become his representative – a use of the word foreign to the Heb. Still less is the rendering of Gesenius justified, “children of inheritance” = children left behind, after khallafa , to leave behind; and Luther, “for the cause of all who are left behind,” by the phrase (Arab.) khallfany’an ‘awnih , he has placed me behind his help, denied it to me, for the Kal of the verb cannot mean to abandon, to leave. And that means the opposers of the truth, or of the poor, or the litigious person, the quarrelsome, is perfectly inadmissible, since the Kal cannot be equivalent to (Arab.) khilaf , the inf. of the 3rd conj., and besides, the gen. after always denotes those in whose favour, not those against whom it is passed; the latter is also valid against Ralbag’s “sons of change,” i.e., who say things different from what they think; and Ahron b. Josef’s “sons of changing,” viz., the truth into lies. We must abide by the meaning of the Heb. , “to follow after, to change places, pass away.” Accordingly, Fleischer understands by , the going away, the dying, viz., of parents, and translates: eorum qui parentibus orbati sunt . In another way Rashi reaches the same sense: orphans deprived of their helper. But the connection requires that we make those who are intended themselves the subject of . Rightly Ewald, Bertheau, Kamphausen, compare Isa 2:18 (and Psa 90:5., this with questionable right), and understand by the sons of disappearance those whose inherited lot, whose proper fate, is to disappear, to die, to perish (Symmachus: ; Jerome: omnium filiorum qui pertranseunt ). It is not men in general as children of frailty that are meant (Kimchi, Meri, Immanuel, Euchel, and others), after which the Venet. ( i.e., those who must exchange this life for another), but such as are on the brink of the abyss. in is not equivalent to , but is the accus. of the object, as at Zec 8:16, decide justice, i.e., so that justice is the result of thy judicial act; cf. Knobel on Deu 1:16. is imper., do right to the miserable and the poor; cf. Psa 54:3 with Jer 22:16; Jer 5:28. That is a king of a right sort, who directs his high function as a judge, so as to be an advocate [ procurator ] for the helpless of his people.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

Justice for the Poor and Needy

Verses 8-9 urge the king to personally intervene to insure fair and just treatment of the poor and needy who often had no one to plead their cause, Pro 24:11; Lev 19:15; Job 29:12; Job 29:15-16; Deu 1:16; Isa 1:17; Jer 2:15-16.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

(8) Open thy mouth for the dumb.Who cannot from timidity or ignorance plead his own cause, and who would therefore be crushed by his antagonist.

Such as are appointed to destruction.Certain to perish if left unaided. Comp. Jobs account of his exertions for victims of high-handed oppression, an ever recurring evil under weak despotic governments (Job. 29:12, sqq.).

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

8. For the dumb Not merely those deprived of speech, but also those who are unable from any cause to plead their own cause; defend the defenceless.

Such as are appointed to destruction Sons of those passed away; that is, for every orphan. Be the patron of all the bereaved and helpless. “Favour the cause or right of all orphan children.” Zockler and Conant.

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