Proverbs 27:12-18

PROVERBS 27:12

As we have seen repeatedly in our study of Proverbs, wisdom is a kind of foresight, an ability to foretell the future, an ability to see down the road. The prudent or “crafty” ( arum ) man can see the evil ahead and does what he needs to do to avoid it. The prudent man is “cautious” and wants to know where he’s stepping before he takes the next step. By contrast, the simpleton doesn’t have the guile or subtlety to see past his immediate horizon, and stumbles into destruction.

This much is obvious, but there are several interesting literary and theological dimensions to this. Literarily, the first phrase (“the prudent see evil”) is full of alliteration and word-play in the Hebrew. “Prudent” is ‘arum , “see” is ra’ah , and “evil” also is ra’ah , though there is one consonant different (“see” has an aleph, “evil” an ayin). That makes for a nice resonance at the beginning of the verse.

Theologically, the first part of the verse is packed full of allusions to Genesis 3. ‘Arum , a comparatively rare word (used only 11x in the Hebrew Bible), is the word used to describe the serpent in Genesis 3:1. (Otherwise, the word is used only in Job and Proverbs.) “See” is a very common verb, but it is used of human sight for the first time in Genesis 3:6, and eyes and seeing is of course important in the fall story. Eve sees the fruit and it entices her; after they eat from the tree, Adam and Eve have their eyes open to know their nakedness (nakedness, ‘eyrom , is a pun on ‘arum ). The tree, of course is a tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The verb “hide” here ( satar ) is not the same used in Genesis 3:8, but it is a synonym.

The proverb is founded in the terminology and scenario of Genesis 3, but ironically. The serpent is the crafty one of Genesis 3; Adam is not crafty, that is, he doesn’t see the evil ahead but instead is the simpleton plunging to his destruction. Adam does hide himself after he has sinned, but his hiding is not the pre-emptive prudent hiding envisioned by the proverb, but an a posteriori hiding that only compounds the sin. Adam is a simpleton, a child who has not yet learned craftiness or guile, a child who doesn’t see the consequences of his action.

In Proverbs, Solomon is telling us to imitate the serpent rather than Adam. Likewise, the greater Solomon exhorts us to be “wise as serpents,” though simultaneously “innocent as doves.”

PROVERBS 27:13

Proverbs has a good bit to say about becoming surety, that is, about taking responsibilities for the debts of others. Solomon advises his son to do all he can to get out of a surety to which he has committed himself (6:1-5), warns that whoever is surety for a stranger will suffer (14:10), and says that a man who becomes a surety lacks sense (17:18). It is imprudent to put yourself in the position of having to pay back another’s debt.

The scenario here is complicated. The one being exhorted is evidently not the one who is standing surety for a stranger. Solomon tells his son what to do when “he” becomes surety. So, the one being addressed is a step away from the “guarantor” relationship. There appears to be a double scenario in view: In the first line, the man has become surety to a stranger, an outsider; in the second line, the man is beholden to a “strange woman.” “Stranger” describes “laymen” who are unauthorized to approach the sanctuary, or resident aliens in the land. The point seems to be that a man who has agreed to take up the debts of a stranger is in an even more vulnerable position than one who has agreed to take the debts of a brother or someone nearer. It’s more risky. Reference to the “strange woman” takes us back to the early chapters of Proverbs, where the son is exhorted to avoid the strange seductive woman.

The image of a man giving pledge to the strange woman conjures up recollection of Judah, who gave a pledge to a woman he thought was a cult prostitute, who turned out to be his daughter-in-law Tamar (Genesis 38). After he had sex with her, Judah left his seal, staff, and cord with her as pledges until he could send payment. These objects later served to identify Judah as the father of Tamar’s twin boys. The story of Judah continues to be a story of surety, as he pledges to take Benjamin’s place when Jacob sends his sons to Egypt (Genesis 43:9; 44:32). His unrighteous pledge is overturned by a righteous pledge.

What does Solomon tell his son to do with the man who has is surety for the stranger or who has pledged to the strange woman? Waltke translates, “Take away his garment when one becomes surety for a stranger; and for a foreign woman impound it,” and says that the force of the proverb is to teach “the disciple to have nothing to do with these fools, neither the guarantor, nor the debtor, nor the creditor (the unchaste wife).”

That may be the best we can do with the verse, though it doesn’t seem to quite match what the proverb says. And the proverb stands in some tension with Exodus 22:25-27, which prohibits Israelites from taking a cloak as a pledge.

PROVERBS 27:14

Wisdom is about timing. Something good at the wrong time becomes bad. Blessing a friend, even blessing him with a loud voice, is a good thing. Like Yahweh during the creation week, the man in this proverb is pronouncing blessings in a great voice early in the morning. But for the friend who is being blessed, the timing is all wrong, and the blessing turns into its opposite. A word spoken in the right circumstances is like apples of gold in settings of silver; the very same word spoken in the wrong circumstances is like rotten fruit.

PROVERBS 27:15-16

Proverbs 27:15substantially repeats Proverbs 19:13, which also compares the contentious woman to a dripping of rain. The phrase “constant dripping” is used only in these two verses in the entire Old Testament, and the word used here for “steady rain” is a hapax. The verse also links up with Proverbs 21:9 and 21:19 , which use different imagery to describe the effect of a contentious woman on her husband.

The contentious woman is one who spreads strife. The word for “contentious” is used regularly in Proverbs to describe conflict ( 6:14 ; 15:18 ; 16:28 ; 17:14 ; 18:18 -19; 22:10 ; etc.). Strife is connected with anger, slander, grumbling, gossip. A contentious person is like fire (26:21), and a contentious woman is one who burns down her house.

Verse 16, though, adds a new dimension. In addition to describing the contention woman as a steady, annoying, maddening drip, Solomon describes the difficult of attempt to restrain her. The verb translated as “restrain” normally means “hide,” “store up” or even “treasure,” and the import seems to be that the man is attempting to keep his contentious wife’s contention out of the public eye. He will find this impossible. As Solomon says in Ecclesiastes, it is impossible to shepherd the wind ( ruach , also “spirit”), and the contentious woman is full of spirit.

The phrasing at the end of the proverb is odd. The verb translated as “grasp” ( qara’ ) is almost universally translated as “call” or “name.” It is the verb used for Yahweh’s naming of His creatures in Genesis 1, and Adam’s naming of the animals in Genesis 2. It is the verb used as the Hebrew title of Leviticus, “And He Called.” There are several oddities in the phrase: How is “calling oil” like hiding wind? How is “calling oil” like attempting to “hide” a contentious woman? And how does one “call” or “name” with the right hand?

In Proverbs 27:16, the point is apparently not that the woman is too mercurial for the man to grasp but that she is too changeable to give definition to. One conflict follows another, and it is impossible to address or name any single problem, because before a problem can be named another has arisen. When family situations degenerate, for instance, it becomes humanly impossible to untangle the mess; every attempt to pacify one battle becomes an occasion for another battle. Peace is a prerequisite for naming, for accurate speech, for things to be called what they are.

This proverb summarizes the story of Yahweh’s relationship with Israel after the exodus. Israel was brought into a marriage covenant with Yahweh at Sinai, but even before the marriage is concluded, Israel is grumbling about her Husband’s provisions (Exodus 17). Her grumblings and contentions continue throughout Numbers, and Yahweh threatens to move out of the house and live in the corner of a roof. Despite all Israel ’s contentions, Yahweh remains a faithful Husband to His contentious bride.

PROVERBS 27:17

This verse is a common one, but the normal rendering doesn’t capture what’s in the Hebrew. A more literal translation is, “Iron with iron gladdens, and a man gladdens the face of his friend.” The key difference between this translation and the typical ones is the verb, chadah , usually translated here as “sharpen.” (Translations differ partly because different verbs have been proposed as the root of the verb in this verse. There is a figure no matter how the verse is translated; either you have to explain how iron “gladdens” iron or you have to explain how one man “sharpens” another.)

How can iron be “gladdened”? Perhaps the idea is of radiance or polish. Just as joy brightens our eyes and faces, so iron can be used to brighten another piece of iron. The analogy is closer in Hebrew because the edge of a sword can be called its “face.” Solomon seems to refer to a weapon that becomes brighter as a result of contact with the sharpening iron.

Whether we translate the verb as “gladden” or “sharpen,” the accent of the verse is on the fact that like gladdens/sharpens like. One uses iron to brighten or sharpen iron, and it takes a friend to sharpen or brighten the face of a man. It is not good for man to be alone. So long as he is alone, he is dull in both senses of the word – not sharp, not shiny. But a friend brightens the eyes, gladdens the face, and makes his friend a glorious weapon.

PROVERBS 27:18

The parallels of this proverb are fairly clear. Tending is analogous to guarding ( shamar ); the fig tree is like the master ( adon ); eating the fruit is parallel to being honored ( kabad , the word for “glory”). The Proverb thus rests on the analogy of men and trees. A master is like a tree, but how? A husbandman protects his fig tree from insects and animals that might damage it; he digs and fertilizes to keep it growing; he does what he can to ensure that his fig tree is productive and fruitful. So a servant to his master does what he can to ensure the productivity, prosperity, and success of his master’s enterprises. Like a tree, too, the master feeds his servants; servants who promote the master’s business in highly productive ways eat more fully from the master’s fruit. The servant who makes five more talents with the five talents from the master is given even more to manage.

The analogy is more precise, of course, since the master is not only compared to a tree in general but to a fig tree. Figs were products of the land, and in some passages the flourishing fig tree is emblematic of the flourishing of Israel . During Solomon’s time, everyone sat under his own vine and fig tree; the fig tree provided shade. So, the picture in Proverbs 27:18 is not merely of a servant who takes care of his master, but of a faithful Israelite who ensures the prosperity of the “fig tree” of Israel by serving Master Yahweh.

The language is priestly, especially the language of “guarding” the fig tree. That puts us in mind of the incident where Jesus cursed a fig tree on his way to Jerusalem to condemn the temple and its priests. They have failed to guard the fig tree of the temple, and they will wither as a result.

The last parallel of the proverb is also important: Eating is linked with glorification. Glory is like food, food a kind of glory. A master who promotes a servant may literally give h
im more to “eat,” and he certainly gives him more to “consume.” We are honored servants when our Master invites us to His table to eat from Him, the tree of life.