Proverbs 20:30

Pro 20:30 The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil: so [do] stripes the inward parts of the belly.

Ver. 30. The blueness of the wound cleanseth.] Some must be beaten black and blue ere they will be better; neither is wit anything worth with them till they have paid well for it. - The Jews were ever best when in worst condition. The Athenians, Non nisi atrati, would never mend till they were in mourning. And,

“ Anglica gens est optima flens, et pessima ridens. ”

As a great statesman said of his nation, Physicians commonly cure a lethargy by a fever. Surgeons let their patients bleed sometimes, etiam ad deliquium animae. The scorpion heals his own wounds; and the viper being beaten and applied cures his own biting. Surely as the scourging of the garment with a stick beats out the moths and the dust, so do corrections corruptions from the heart; and as lancing lets out filth, so doth affliction sin.

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 20:30. The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil — Grievous wounds which make men black and blue, or severe punishments, are the means which are frequently most effectual to reclaim a wicked man, and to purge out his corruptions; so do stripes — Hebrew, ומכות, and stripes, which answer to wounds in the former clause; the inward parts of the belly — Hebrew, חדרי בשׂן, literally, the chambers of the belly, that is, the inward recesses of the mind. The sense of the whole is, Grievous wounds, or stripes, cleanse not only the outward man, by keeping it from evil actions, but even the inward man, by expelling or subduing vile affections; which is a great and blessed benefit of afflictions.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES.—

Pro_20:30. The blueness of a wound. Cutting wounds (Delitzsch), Wounding stripes (Zöckler). Miller translates the “welts” (i.e., the tumid and purple confines of a wound), cleanse as though an evil, “that is, although painful and deformed, they have a clear office, viz., to purge away the sore.” Wardlaw suggests that the word, being etymologically derived from a verb denoting to join together, may be translated compressions, and says, “The compressions of a wound are necessary for cleansing out of it the prurient and peccant humour, which would prevent its healing; they are, at the same time, in many cases exceedingly painful, and would only be endured or inflicted from necessity. And as they thus clean the wound and promote its healing, so in a moral sense does the severity of discipline affect with salutary and cleansing influence the condition of the inner man.”

MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_20:30

PAIN AS A PREVENTIVE OF PAIN

For the different renderings of this verse, see the Critical Notes. However we translate it the thoughts suggested are the same, viz:—

I. That pain in the present may prevent greater pain in the future. When the surgeon is called in to examine a wounded man, the examination of the wound may give him more pain than he would have suffered if he had been let alone; it may bring far more present suffering to extract the ball, or to insert the probe, than it would have done simply to bandage the wound. But the pain of to-day is to ensure days of healthful rest by and by; if the present suffering was not inflicted, months and years of pain in the future might be the result. The pain of mind or body inflicted upon a child of five or ten years old, is intended by its parent to prevent greater moral or physical pain when he is fifty or seventy. There is no human creature who can afford to do without the pruning-knife at some period of its life; and if the pruning is not administered, the penalty will be paid either in this world or the next. The wise and loving parent gives pain in youth to prevent pain to his child in manhood, and the All-wise and Loving Father, God, subjects His children to pain in the present life to prevent a deeper and more lasting pain in the life to come. He pricks the conscience by His word to bring men to repentance, and so to salvation from the “wrath to come,” and He sees even in His own children so much “evil” remaining that He is compelled to visit “their transgressions with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes” (Psa_89:32), in order to “cleanse” their characters.

II. Pain of body may be beneficial to the human spirit. This is a subject to which our attention has been before directed. See on chap. Pro_13:24, page 334, and on chap. Pro_17:10, page 510.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

20:30 Physical punishment cleanses away evil: See 13:24; 22:15; 23:13-14.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Sharp punishment that pierceth even the inward parts, is profitable for the wicked, to bring them to amendment.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Note, 1. Many need severe rebukes. Some children are so obstinate that their parents can do no good with them without sharp correction; some criminals must feel the rigour of the law and public justice; gentle methods will not work upon them; they must be beaten black and blue. And the wise God sees that his own children sometimes need very sharp afflictions. 2. Severe rebukes sometimes do a great deal of good, as corrosives contribute to the cure of a wound, eating out the proud flesh. The rod drives out even that foolishness which was bound up in the heart, and cleanses away the evil there. 3. Frequently those that most need severe rebukes can worse bear them. Such is the corruption of nature that men are as loth to be rebuked sharply for their sins as to be beaten till their bones ache. Correction is grievous to him that forsakes the way, and yet it is good for him, Heb 12:11.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

blueness--literally, "joining," the process of uniting the edges of a wound throws off purulent matter.

stripes . . . belly--So punishment provides healing of soul (Pro 18:8), by deterring from evil courses.

Next: Proverbs Chapter 21

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 30. The blueness of a wound] חברות chabburoth, from חבר chabar, to unite, to join together. Does it not refer to the cicatrice of a wound when, in its healing, the two lips are brought together? By this union the wound is healed; and by the previous discharge the lace-rated ends of fibres and blood-vessels are purged away. So stripes, though they hurt for the time, become the means of correcting and discharging the moral evil of the inmost soul, the vice of the heart, the easily-besetting sin.

In this chapter, verses fourteen to nineteen, inclusive, are wanting in the Septuagint and Arabic; and the tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth, come in after the twenty-second. It is difficult to account for these variations, unless they were occasioned by the change of leaves in MSS.

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

(30) The blueness of a wound.—Rather, the stripes of a wound, or wounds which cut into the flesh, cleanse away evil.

So do stripes the inward parts of the belly.—Better, and blows (which reach) the inward parts of the belly, i.e., which are felt in the inmost recesses of the heart (comp. Pro_20:27). Kindness is thrown away upon some people: they can only be touched by punishment.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

30. the blueness of a wound] Lit. stripes of (such as to cause) a wound. Render, with R.V.,

Stripes that wound cleanse away evil:

And strokes reach the innermost parts of the belly.

The expression, the blueness of a wound, is taken probably from the livor vulneris of the Vulgate, and indicates a blow so severe as to leave a blue, livid wound or weal behind it.

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.

The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil,.... Rubs it off and scours it away, as the word (m) signifies, or is a clearing and rubbing it off; some men must be beaten black and blue, or must have very sore correction, before they can be reclaimed and reformed from their evil ways; so some interpret it of the evil man (n): sanctified afflictions to God's people are the means of purging away their iniquities, their dross, and their sin; but there is nothing so effectually cleanses from sin as the blood of Jesus, or heals or cures of it as his blue wounds and stripes; see Isa 27:9;

so do stripes the inward part of the belly; or heart and conscience; by means of corrections and chastisement men are brought to an inward sense of sin; they are shown their transgressions wherein they have exceeded, and are commanded to return from iniquity, Job 36:9; they lament and mourn over sin, confess it and forsake it; and then may the inwards of the heart, the mind and conscience, defiled with them, be said to be cleansed from them; especially when led by these stripes and corrections to the stripes, wounds, and blood of Christ which, being applied, cleanse from all, sin inwardly and outwardly.

(m) "abstesio", Piscator, Mercerus, Cocceius; "detersio", Montanus, Michaelis; "effricatio", Schultens. (n) "in malo, sub, homine", Vatablus, Mercerus, Gejerus, Michaelis; "in malo (homine nequam)", Schultens, so Aben Ezra.

Next: Proverbs Chapter 21

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

Better, The blueness of a wound is a cleansing of evil, so are the stripes that go down to the inward parts of the belly.

The open sores of wounds left by the scourge, unclean and foul as they seem, are yet a cleansing, purifying process for evil; so also are the stripes that reach the inward parts of the belly, i. e., the sharp reproofs, the stings of conscience, which penetrate where no scourge can reach, into the inner life of man. Chastisement, whatever be its nature, must be real; the scourge must leave its mark, the reproof must go deep.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Evils. The wicked shall derive benefit from correction. --- Belly. They shall feel the remorse of conscience, as Chaldean seems to indicate. (Calmet) --- A serious illness often causes people to repent. (Menochius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The blueness of a wound, grievous wounds, which make men black and blue, or severe punishments,

cleanseth away evil; are the most effectual means to reclaim a wicked man, and to purge out his corruption.

So do stripes, Heb. and stripes, which answer to the wounds in the former clause,

the inward parts of the belly; either,

1. Which pierce even to the inward parts of the belly; and so we are to understand out of the former branch, cleanse away evil. Or,

2. They cleanse the inward parts of the belly, i.e. of the heart. So this is an addition to the former clause, and the sense of the whole is, Grievous wounds or stripes do cleanse not only the outward man, by keeping it from evil actions, but even the inward man, by expelling or subduing vile affections; which is mentioned as a great and blessed benefit of afflictions.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

30. The blueness of a wound — Meaning, that punishment or correction, even to such degree as to produce”blueness,” or marks, is likely to produce reformation. It is generally agreed that the first part of this verse refers to stripes caused by punishment. Some, as Stuart, interpret it of such strokes going down deep into the body. It is very evident that these old saints had no qualms of conscience about corporal punishment.

Stripes… inward parts — חדרי בשׂן, (hhadhre baten,) chambers of the body, is used in other places by metonymy for the “inner man,” the soul, the spirit, the mind. So, possibly, the term is used here; and if so, would imply that corporal punishment alone was not an effectual remedy, but inward smitings — those of the conscience and soul — penitence, heart-wounds, and aches, which, under the divine blessing and influence, would lead to a new and better life. For last clause, compare Pro_20:27. Miller insists on this rendering: “The welts of a wound cleanse, though as an evil; so do stripes the very chambers of the belly.” The welts — the tumid and purple confines of a wound — are an evil; that is, painful, etc.; but they purge away the sore: so stripes cleanse the inward parts, etc. The Septuagint reads this verse thus: “Bruises and contusions befall bad men; and plagues shall come into the inward parts of their belly.”

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

The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil. So the Vulgate, Livor vulneris absterget mala. Chaburoth means "stripes," and the proverb says that deep-cutting stripes are the only effectual cure of evil; i.e. severe punishment is the best healing process in cases of moral delinquency. (Pro_19:29) Painful remedies, incisions, cauteries, amputations, are often necessary in the successful treatment of bodily ailments; spiritual sickness needs sterner, more piercing, remedies. So do stripes the inward parts of the belly; or better, and strokes that reach, etc. The stings of conscience, warnings and reproofs which penetrate to the inmost recesses of the heart, chastisement which affects the whole spiritual being. these are needful to the correction and purification of inveterate evil. Aben Ezra connects this verse with the preceding thus: as strength gives a glory to young men, and hoar hairs adorn an old man, so wounds and bruises, so to speak, ornament the sinner, mark him out, and at the same time heal and amend him. It may also be connected with ver. 27. If a man will not use the lamp which God has given him for illumination and correction, he must expect severe chastisement and sternest discipline.

Septuagint, "Bruises (upwpia ) and contusions befall bad men, and plagues that reach to the chambers of the belly." St. Gregory, "Moral.," 23:40, "By the blueness of a wound he implies the discipline of blows on the body. But blows in the secret parts of the belly are the wounds of the mind within, which are inflicted by compunction. For as the belly is distended when filled with food, so is the mind puffed up when swollen with wicked thoughts. The blueness, then, of a wound, and blows in the secret parts of the belly, cleanse away evil, because both outward discipline does away with faults, and compunction pierces the distended mind with the punishment of penance. But they differ from each other in this respect, that the wounds of blows give us pain, the sorrows of compunction have good savour. The one afflict and torture, the others restore when they afflict us. Through the one there is sorrow in affliction, through the other there is joy in grief" (Oxford transl.).

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

The blueness - Grievous wounds, which make men black and blue; or severe punishments. Cleanseth - Are the means to reclaim a wicked man, and to purge out his corruption. The belly - Of the heart. Grievous wounds or stripes cleanse not only the outward man by keeping it from evil actions, but even the inward man, by expelling or subduing vile affections: which is a great and blessed benefit of afflictions.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

30 Cutting wounds cleanse away evil,

And reach the inner parts of the body.

The two words for wounds in line first stand in the st. constr.; חבּוּרה (from חבר, to be bound around with stripes, to be striped) is properly the streak, the stripe; but is here heightened by פּצע (from פּצע, to cleave, split, tear open), beyond the idea of the stripe-wound: tearing open the flesh, cuts tearing into the flesh. The pred. is after the Kerı̂ תּמרוּק; but this substantive, found in the Book of Esther, where it signifies the purification of the women for the harem (according to which, e.g., Ahron B. Joseph explains כמו תמרוק לנשׁים שׁהוא יפה להם), is syntactically hard, and scarcely original. For if we explain with Kimchi: wounds of deep incision find their cleansing (cure) by evil, i.e., by means which bring suffering (according to which, probably the Venet. μώλωπες τραύματος λάμψουσιν ἐν κακῷ), then תמרוקן, with the pronoun pointing back, one would have expected. But the interpretation of בּרע, of severe means of cure, is constrained; that which lies nearest, however, is to understand רע of evil. But if, with this understanding of the word, we translate: Vibices plagarum sunt lustratio quae adhibetur malo (Fleischer), one does not see why בּרע, and not rather gen. רע, is used. But if we read after the Chethı̂b תּמריק, then all is syntactically correct; for (1.) that the word ימריקוּ, or תּמרקנה, is not used, is in accordance with a well-known rule, Gesen. 146. 3; and (2.) that המריק is connected, not directly with an accus. obj., but with ב, has its analogy in התעה ב, Jer 42:2, השׁרישׁ בּ, Job 31:12, and the like, and besides has its special ground in the metaphorical character of the cleansing. Thus, e.g., one uses Syr. 't'aa' of external misleading; but with Syr. k of moral misleading (Ewald, 217, 2); and Arab. '_ of erecting a building; but with Arab. b of the intellectual erection of a memorial (monument). It is the so-called Bâ̇âlmojâz; vid., de Sacy's Chrest Arab. i. 397. The verb מרק means in Talm. also, "to take away" (a metaph. of abstergere; cf. Arab. marak, to wipe off)

(Note: Vid., Dozy's Lettre M. Fleischer (1871), p. 198.)

and that meaning is adopted, Schabbath 33a, for the interpretations of this proverb: stripes and wounds a preparedness for evil carries away, and sorrow in the innermost part of the body, which is explained by דרוקן (a disease appearing in diverse forms; cf. "Drachenschuss,"; as the name of an animal disease); but granting that the biblical מרק may bear this meaning, the ב remains unaccountable; for we say מרק עצמו לעברה, for to prepare oneself for a transgression (sin of excess), and not בעברה. We have thus to abide by the primary meaning, and to compare the proverb, Berachoth 5a: "afflictive providences wash away all the transgressions of a man." But the proverb before us means, first at least, not the wounds which God inflicts, but those which human educational energy inflicts: deep-cutting wounds, i.e., stern discipline, leads to the rubbing off of evil, i.e., rubs it, washes it, cleanses it away. It may now be possible that in 30b the subject idea is permutatively continued: et verbera penetralium corporis (thus the Venet.: πληγαὶ τῶν ταμιείων τοῦ γαρστρός), i.e., quorum vis ad intimos corporis et animi recessus penetrat (Fleischer). But that is encumbered, and חדרי־בטן (cf. Pro 20:27, Pro 18:8), as referring to the depths to which stern corporal discipline penetrates, has not its full force. וּמכּות is either a particip.: and that is touching (ferientes) the inner chambers of the body, or חדרי־בטן is with the ב, or immediately the second object of תמריק to be supplied: and strokes (rub off, cleanse, make pure) the innermost part. Jerome and the Targ. also supply ב, but erroneously, as designating place: in secretioribus ventris, relatively better the lxx and Syr.: εἰς ταμιεῖα κοιλίας. Luther hits the sense at least, for he translates:

One must restrain evil with severe punishment,

And with hard strokes which one feels.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

Chastisement is the LORD’s ordinance — the pain of the flesh for the subjugation of the spirit; sometimes even "the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." (1Co 5:5 .) It describes not the gentle stroke, but the severity of parental discipline; not in pleasure or caprice, much less in anger, but for profit. (Heb 12:10 .) The diseased body needs medicine no less than food, and indeed to give nourishment. The diseased soul needs chastening no less than consolation, and as the main preparation for consolation. But if the blueness of the wound — the mark of severe chastisement — cleanseth away evil, is it not the lesser evil, as the means of subduing the greater? Do not the Lord’s stripes cleanse the inward parts? Misery beyond measure miserable is the untamed stubbornness of self-will. A gentle stroke is first tried. When this remedy is ineffectual, the blueness of the wound is needful. Manasseh’s Babylonish chains doubtless prevented the "everlasting chains of darkness."†1 Similar discipline was effectual with the holy nation, the prodigal son,†2 and the incestuous Corinthian.†3 Multitudes have borne witness to the love, wisdom, and power of their Father’s discipline — "chastened of the Lord, that they might not be condemned with the world."†4 The evil was cleansed away; and those, who groaned under the stripes, to all eternity will tune their harps to the song — "I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me." (Psa 119:75 .)

Child of God! Think of your Father’s character. "He knoweth your frame. He doth not afflict willingly." (Pslam 103:14. Lam 3:33 .) Nothing will be given in weight or measure beyond the necessity of the case.†5 But truly blessed are the stripes, that humble and break the proud will.†6 Rich indeed are "fruits of righteousness" from the conflict and suffering of the flesh.†7

Footnotes:

†1 2Ch 33:12-13, with Jud 1:6 .

†2 Luk 15:16-20.

†3 2Co 2:6-8 .

†4 1Co 11:32 .

†5 Isa 27:8. Jer 10:24 .

†6 Jer 31:18-20.

†7 Job 34:31-32; Job 36:9-10 . Isa 27:9 . Heb 12:11 .

Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs (1846) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

v. 30. The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil, literally, "Wounding stripes purge away evil"; so do stripes the inward parts of the belly, for a proper measure of severe discipline penetrates to the depths of the heart and removes the desire for evil, all punishment, rightly administered, having this object.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Contusions and wounds come for outpouring in evil Our Sages expounded: Whoever “pours himself” out into sinful things, will ultimately come to wounds and contusions.

and plagues in the innermost parts This is dropsy.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.