Proverbs 2:22

Pro 2:22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.

Ver. 22. But the wicked shall be cut off.] Certainly, suddenly, utterly, cum maxime velint vivere, when they have feathered their nests, and set up their rest, and reckon upon long life, as the fool in the Gospel: "God will shoot at them with an arrow suddenly," and fetch them off when they least look for it. The wicked may die sinning. The saints shall not die till the best time - not till that time when, if they were but rightly informed, they would even desire to die.

Shall be rooted out.] Heb., Plucked up, as degenerate plants. Exorientur, sed exurentur. "God shall likewise destroy thee for ever: he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwellingplace, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah." {Psa 52:5}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Pro_2:22

Transgressors shall be rooted out of it.

The present punishments of evil men

The metaphor rooted out is taken from a tree. If a wild tree and offensive grow in a garden, and the gardener cut off the top of it, if it send forth new sprouts, as bad as the former, he digs up the root itself. So doth God deal with wicked men. He takes them away, and if their posterity follow their courses, He proceeds to root out the whole name and family.

I. God will sometimes in this world put a difference between good men and bad. That men may see who God is, and learn what He is.

II. Wicked men are restless in evil. Because they have a body of sin in them, and abundance of opportunities around them; and are left by God to run on to perdition. So they are never weary of sinning.

III. Wicked mens lives are often cut short by their wicked courses. Drunkenness breeds dropsies; gluttony breeds fevers; wantonness breeds foul diseases. Trouble of conscience sometimes makes men end their days. Gods just judgments fall on them.

IV. Transgressors deal treacherously with God. Because they fail in the trust committed to them; act against their trust; betray Gods honour; and labour to undo Gods Church.

V. Sin roots out the posterity of wicked men. Because sin goes by propagation, and also by imitation.

VI. If men will not for their own sakes forsake sin, they should do it for their childrens sakes. Much evil may come on our posterity from our sins: as hereditary diseases, poverty, losses, crosses. (Francis Taylor.)

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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

22. But… the transgressors — בוגדים, (bogedhim,) those of concealed, illicit practices, such as above referred to, shall be swept off. The words land (Pro_2:21) and earth (Pro_2:22) are the same in the Hebrew. They mean the land of promise. The Israelites were bound by strong ties to their God-given inheritance: to dwell in the land was their highest desire and greatest blessing, (see Exo_20:12; Lev_25:18; Lev_26:5; 2Ki_4:13 :) to be torn from it was esteemed the greatest calamity. Their attachment to it may be learned from the psalms belonging to the times of the exile. The same idea has passed over to the New Testament.

Mat_5:5; compare Psa_39:9. For their patriotic feelings see Psalms 125, 126.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

transgressors--or impious rebels (compare Jer 9:2).

rooted out--utterly destroyed, as trees plucked up by the roots.

Next: Proverbs Chapter 3

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 22. Transgressors] בוגדים bogedim. The garment men, the hypocrites; those who act borrowed characters, who go under a cloak; dissemblers. All such shall be rooted out of the land; they shall not be blessed with posterity. In general it is so: and were it not so, one evil offspring succeeding another, adding their own to their predecessors' vices, the earth would become so exceedingly corrupt that a second flood, or a fire, would be necessary to purge it.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

22. transgressors] Rather, treacherous, or perfidious, with special reference perhaps to Pro_2:16-19.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth,.... Suddenly by death; or in a judicial way by the hand of the civil magistrate, before they have lived out half their days; and shall not enjoy the good things of the earth they have been seeking for, and laying up, and promising themselves a long and quiet possession of; but, on the contrary, like unfruitful trees, shall be cut down, and cast into the fire; and, however, shall not dwell in the second Adam's earth, in the new earth, but shall perish out of his land, Psa 10:16; see Psa 37:2;

and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it; such as have acted treacherously and perfidiously (c), and are opposed to upright men; as the wicked are to the righteous, pure, and spotless; these shall not only be cut off as trees to the stump, but be rooted up, and have neither root nor branch left them; they shall have no posterity to succeed them, and their memory shall utterly perish; see Mal 4:1; or "shall be scraped off", or "swept away" (d), as the dust and dross of the earth, and the offscouring of all things.

(c) "perfide agentis", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "perfidi", Cocceius, Michaelis, Schultens. (d) "eradentur", Montanus, Mercerus, Gejerus; "everrentur", Schultens.

Next: Proverbs Chapter 3

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth. The punishment of the wicked is contrasted with the blessings that are promised to the upright. Shall be cut off; Wtrepyi (yikkarethu), niph. future of trk ( karath), "to cut off, or destroy." LXX, olountai ; Vulgate, perdentur. The expression is used to convey the idea of extermination, as in Psa_37:9. (cf. Job_18:17 Psa_37:28 Psa_104:35) The verb is found also in Gen_17:14 Exo_12:15. The earth; properly, the land. The same word (xra, arets) is used as in ver. 21. The transgressors ( bog"dim); here employed synonymously with "the wicked" ( y"shaim), "the impious." The primary meaning of the verb from which it is derived (dgb, bagad) is "to cover," "to deal treacherously," and hence the word signifies those who act treacherously or perfidiously, the faithless. They are those who perfidiously depart from God, and break away from the covenant with Jehovah. LXX, paranomoi . (cf. Pro_11:3, 6 13:2, 25 22:12 Psa_25:3 Psa_59:5 Isa_33:1) Shall be rooted out (WjSy yiss"khu). This word is taken by Davidson as the future kal of hsn (nasah), "to pluck up," and hence is equivalent to "they shall pluck up," or, passively, "they stroll be plucked up." Delitzsch remarks that it is as at Pro_15:25 and Psa_52:7, active, "they shall pluck up," and this with the subject remaining indefinite is equivalent to the passive form, "they shall be plucked up." This indefinite "they" can be used of God, as also in Job_7:3 (Fleischer). The expression has been understood as referring to being driven into exile (Gesenius), and this view would be amply justified by the fate which overtook the apostate nation when both the kingdoms of Israel and Judah suffered this fate (cf. LXX exwyhsontai , "they shall be driven out"). It also derives colour from the language of the preceding verse, but the imagery appears to be derived from the cutting down and rooting up of trees. The destruction of the wicked and transgressors will be complete. They shall be exterminated (cf. Targum, eradicabuntur; Syriac evellentur; and Arabic, exterminabuntur).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.