16<\/strong>. sluggard<\/em> ] The A.V. after rendering the Heb. word (which is the same in all four verses), slothful<\/em>, three times, here changes it to sluggard<\/em>. It is better to keep one word throughout.<\/p>\n render a reason<\/em> ] Or, answer discreetly<\/em>, R.V. marg.<\/p>\n Seven – <\/B>The definite number used for the indefinite (compare Pro 24:16<\/span>).<\/P> Reason – <\/B>Better, a right judgment.<\/P><\/p>\n Verse 16<\/span>. Than seven men that can render a reason.<\/B><\/I>] Seven<\/I> here only means perfection, abundance<\/I>, or multitude<\/I>. He is wiser in his own eyes than a multitude<\/I> of the wisest men. “Than seven men that sytt and teach.” – Coverdale<\/I>; i.e., than seven doctors<\/I> of the law<\/I>, or heads<\/I> of the schools of the prophets<\/I>, who always sat<\/I> while they taught<\/I>.<\/P> <\/p>\n Is wiser in his own conceit, <\/B>because by his idleness he avoids those troubles and dangers to which other men by their activity expose themselves, forgetting in the mean thee what reproach and loss, and how much greater mischiefs, both here and hereafter, are brought upon him by his slothfulness. <\/P> That can render a reason, <\/B>to wit, a satisfactory reason, of all their actions, i.e. who are truly wise men. <\/P> <\/p>\n 16.<\/B> The thoughtless beingignorant of their ignorance are conceited.<\/P><\/p>\n The sluggard [is] wiser in his own conceit<\/strong>,…. It is a sort of a solecism, a kind of a contradiction in terms for a sluggard to be wise, who is so slothful as to make no use of the means of getting wisdom and knowledge. And it must be a mere conceit in him that he is wise, and especially that he is wiser<\/p>\n than seven men that can render a reason<\/strong>; not alluding to the number of a king’s counsellors, who return him an answer to what he inquires of them, as Aben Ezra thinks; such as were the “seven” princes of the king of Persia, Es 1:14<\/span>. Since to have such an exact number might not obtain in Solomon’s time, either in Persia, or in his own court, or elsewhere: but it signifies a large number, many wise men, as Gersom observes, that render a reason to everyone that asks it of them; who, having been diligent and industrious, have got such a competency of knowledge, that they are able to give a proper reason of what they say, believe, or do: and such are they, who, by the blessing of grace in the use of means, are wise in a spiritual sense; know themselves, and Christ Jesus, and the way of salvation by him; have an understanding of the Scriptures, and of the doctrines of the Gospel; have their spiritual senses exercised, to discern between truth and error; are of established judgments, and capable of teaching others good judgment and knowledge; and of giving a reason of their faith, hope, and practice; see 1Pe 3:15<\/span>. Now such is the conceit of an ignorant sluggard, that he is wiser than ten thousand or ever so many of these; he thinks himself the wisest man, inasmuch as he enjoys ease and quiet in his stupid sottish way, while they are toiling and labouring, and taking a great deal of pains to get knowledge; and that he sleeps in a whole skin, and escapes the censure and reproaches of men, which they endure for being precise in religious duties, and constant in the performance of them; and fancies he can get to heaven in an easier way, without all this care and toil and trouble, only by saying, Lord, have mercy on me, at last.<\/p>\n 16 The sluggard is wise in his own eyes,<\/p>\n More than seven men who give an excellent answer.<\/p>\n Between slothfulness and conceit there exists no inward necessary mutual relation. The proverb means that the sluggard as such regards himself as wiser than seven, who all together answer well at any examination: much labour – he thinks with himself – only injures the health, blunts men for life and its joys, leads only to over-exertion; for the most prudent is, as a general rule, crack-brained. Bttcher’s “ maulfaule <\/em> ” [slow to speak] belongs to the German style of thinking; in Syr. is not he who is slow to speak, but he who has a faltering tongue.<\/p>\n (Note: The Aram. is the Hebr. , as = ; but in Arab. corresponds not to ‘atal , but to ‘azal .)<\/p>\n Seven is the number of manifoldness in completed unfolding (Pro 9:1<\/span>). Meri thinks, after Ezr 7:14<\/span>, on the council of seven of the Asiatic ruler. But seven is a round number of plurality, Pro 26:25<\/span>, Pro 24:16<\/span>; Pro 6:31<\/span>. Regarding , vid<\/em>., at Pro 11:22<\/span>.<\/p>\n 16 The sluggard is<\/I> wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason.<\/P> Observe, 1. The high opinion which the sluggard has of himself, notwithstanding the gross absurdity and folly of his slothfulness: He thinks himself wiser than seven men,<\/I> than seven wise men, for they are such as can render a reason.<\/I> It is the wisdom of a man to be able to render a reason,<\/I> of a good man to be able to give a reason of the hope that is in him,<\/I> 1 Pet. iii. 15<\/I><\/span>. What we do we should be able to render a reason<\/I> for, though perhaps we may not have wit enough to show the fallacy of every objection against it. He that takes pains in religion can render a good reason for it; he knows that he is working for a good Master and that his labour shall not be in vain.<\/I> But the sluggard<\/I> thinks himself wiser than seven<\/I> such; for let seven such persuade him to be diligent, with all the reasons they can render for it, it is to no purpose; his own determination, he thinks, answer enough to them and all their reasons. 2. The reference that this has to his slothfulness. It is the sluggard,<\/I> above all men, that is thus self-conceited; for, (1.) His good opinion of himself is the cause of his slothfulness; he will not take pains to get wisdom because he thinks he is wise enough already. A conceit of the sufficiency of our attainments is a great enemy to our improvement. (2.) His slothfulness is the cause of his good opinion of himself. If he would but take pains to examine himself, and compare himself with the laws of wisdom, he would have other thoughts of himself. Indulged slothfulness is at the bottom of prevailing self-conceitedness. Nay, (3.) So wretchedly besotted is he that he takes his slothfulness to be his wisdom; he thinks it is his wisdom to make much of himself, and take all the ease he can get, and do no more in religion than he needs must, to avoid suffering, to sit still and see what other people do, that he may have the pleasure of finding fault with them. Of such sluggards, who are proud of that which is their shame, their is little hope, v.<\/I><\/span> 12<\/span>.<\/P> Hatred and Strife.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/I><\/span><\/P> <\/TD> (16) Seven men.<\/strong>A round number. (Comp. Pro. 26:25<\/span>; Pro. 6:31<\/span>; Pro. 24:16<\/span>.)<\/p>\n That can render a reason<\/strong>i.e.<\/em>, give a sensible judgment on any matter submitted to them.<\/p>\n 16<\/strong>. <\/strong> Seven <\/strong> Many. This has nothing to do with “seven” as a sacred or perfect number. It is a definite number given for an indefinite. Compare Proverbs 5:25; also Pro 6:31<\/span>; Pro 24:6<\/span>. <\/p>\n Render a reason <\/strong> Can answer discreetly, give a right judgment.<\/p>\n Pro 26:16 The sluggard [is] wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason.<\/p>\n Ver. 16. Than seven men that can render a reason.<\/strong> ] Yea, though they were the seven wise men of Greece, they were all fools to him. The proud Pharisees rejected the counsel of God, and would not be baptized of John. Luk 7:30 Belly policy teaches the sluggard a great many excuses, which he thinks will go for wisdom, because by them he thinks to sleep in a whole skin.<\/p>\n men. No Hebrew for this word here. <\/p>\n Pro 26:12, Pro 12:15, 1Pe 3:15 <\/p>\n Reciprocal: 2Ki 5:20 – my master Pro 21:25 – General Pro 28:11 – his own conceit Isa 5:21 – wise Rom 11:25 – lest<\/p>\n The sluggard [is] wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason. 16. sluggard ] The A.V. after rendering the Heb. word (which is the same in all four verses), slothful, three times, here changes it to sluggard. It is better to keep one word throughout. render a reason ] Or, … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 26:16”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17168\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
<\/P> <\/TD> <\/TR> <\/TABLE> <\/p>\nFuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"