Proverbs 29:10

Pro 29:10 The bloodthirsty hate the upright: but the just seek his soul.

Ver. 10. The bloodthirsty hate the upright.] As Cain did Abel for his goodness, {1Jn 3:12} and as many bloody villains still, who bear about, and, so far as they dare, make use of Cain’s club to knock on the head God’s righteous Abels. All hatred is bloody, but especially the habit of hatred. No sight pleased Hannibal better than a ditch running over with man’s blood. Nothing would satisfy Farnesius, the Pope’s champion, but to ride his horse up to the skirts in the blood of the Lutherans. Charles IX of France, author of the Parisian Massacre, looking upon the dead carcase of the admiral, that stank by being long kept unburied, uttered this most stinking speech: Quam suaviter olet cadaver inimiei! - How sweet is the smell of an enemy’s carcase! And the queen mother of Scotland, beholding the dead bodies of her Protestant subjects, whom she had slain in battle, said that she never saw a finer piece of tapestry in all her life.

But the just seek his soul.] In a good sense; {as Psa 142:4} seek the salvation of it - as Christ did of his deadliest enemies; as Paul did of his countrymen the Jews, of whom five times he received forty stripes save one; {2Co 11:24} as the disciples did of those spiteful Pharisees, that had causelessly accused them; {Mat 15:2; Mat 15:12} as that martyr Master Saunders did. ‘My lord,’ said he to Bishop Bonner, ‘you seek my blood, and you shall have it. I pray God you may be so baptized in it that you may hereafter loathe bloodsucking, and so become a better man.’ {a} And another time, when Steven Gardiner, being prettily nipped and touched by the same Saunders, said, ‘Carry away this frenzy fool to prison’; he answered, that ‘he did give God thanks, which had given him at the last a place of rest and quietness, where he might pray for the bishop’s conversion.’ ‘If ye will not hear me speak for myself,’ said another martyr, ‘then send me to my prison again among my toads and frogs, which will not interrupt me, while I pray to God for you.’ {b}

{a} Acts and Mon., fol. 1358.

{b} Ibid.

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 29:10. The blood-thirsty hate the upright — And consequently seek their ruin, as may be inferred from the following clause; but the just seek his soul — To preserve it. Schultens renders this verse, Bloody men hate the upright, and seek the life of the just.

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

CRITICAL NOTES.—

Pro_29:10. Delitzsch translates this verse:—“Men of blood hate the guiltless and the upright; they seek his soul.”

Pro_29:11. His mind. Rather his wrath. Keepeth it till afterward. Rather restraineth it, keeps it in the background.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_29:10

SOUL-SEEKERS AND SOUL-HATERS

I. A proof of the unnatural condition of the human family. When we look at a human body we see that every limb and organism belonging to it ministers to the well-being of the whole frame, and thus to the comfort of the living soul that inhabits it. This we recognise to be a natural and fitting state of things—just what we should have expected to find before experience. If in any human body we at any time see the hand inflicting injury upon the head, or any one member causing discomfort to another, we conclude, and with reason, that some disturbance of the natural condition has taken place—that there is physical disease in some bodily organism, or moral disease in the spirit that animates the body. So our human instincts and our reason force us to the conclusion that the natural relation of the members of the great body of humanity is one in which “each for all and all for each” should be the rule of action. That it is not so, can but strike all thinking men and women as a terrible incongruity. That most men not merely regard their human brethren with indifference, but that many actually hate and seek to injure their fellow-creatures is surely an evidence that some fatal moral distemper has laid hold of the race. And the evidence becomes stronger when we consider the truth of the first assertion in the proverb—that not only do bloodthirsty men seek to injure other men in general, but that the objects of their especial malignity are the upright—those who have given them no provocation, but whose desire and aim is to bless their human brothers and sisters.

II. An example in renewed men of what human brotherhood ought to be. Notwithstanding the great amount of self-seeking and enmity that is found in the world, there always has been found a small minority who have been seekers of the good of others, and in whom love to their human brethren has been the keynote of existence. And this love has been felt, and this seeking has been active, in behalf of those who hated them, and sought to do them ill. All such members of the human family are doing their part towards restoring men to the condition of peace and goodwill in which their Creator intended them to live, and help us to form some idea of what earth would have been if sin had never entered it. It is true they would then have had no opportunity of loving their enemies, and of doing good to those who hate them, but the love which “seeketh not her own” would have found free scope for her activities in going out towards those animated by the same spirit of love and would never have had to sorrow over efforts to seek and save that have been apparently fruitless. All just men who are seekers of the well-being of others, and especially those who seek the good of their enemies, are followers of that Just One who was hated by the bloodthirsty of His day, and who sought their souls while they sought His life. The history of the martyr Church in all ages has been the history of the “bloodthirsty hating the upright,” and of the just treading in the footsteps of their Divine Master, and “seeking the souls” of their persecutors.

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS

These words may mean—and probably do mean—that the upright, in opposition to the blood-thirsty by whom the just is hated, “seek his soul,”—that is, the soul or life of the object of the hatred—of the just or the upright. Of the Lord Himself it is said—“He loveth the righteous.” And in this all His people resemble Him. It is one of their characteristic distinctions. They pray for the upright, and endeavour, by all means in their power, to preserve them from the deadly machinations of their persecutors. The amount of love required of God’s people towards God’s people is that they be ready to “lay down their lives for the brethren.” And if “for the brethren”—how much more for THE JUST ONE. Wardlaw.

The just seek his soul. As Paul did of his countrymen the Jews, of whom five times he received forty stripes save one (2Co_11:24); as the disciples did of those spiteful Pharisees that had causelessly accused them (Mat_15:2-12); as that martyr Master Saunders did: “My lord,” said he to Bishop Bonner, “you seek my blood, and you shall have it. I pray God you may be so baptized in it as hereafter you may loathe blood-sucking, and so become a better man.”—Trapp.

On the subject of Pro_29:11 see on chap. Pro_10:19-21, page 168.

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.

We now group together Pro 29:10-14. Of these, Pro 29:10 and Pro 29:11 are alike in respect of the tense used; Pro 29:12-14 have in common the pronoun pointing back to the first member.

10 Men of blood hate the guiltless

And the upright; they attempt the life of such

The nearest lying translation of the second line would certainly be: the upright seek his soul (that of the guiltless). In accordance with the contrasted ישׂנאו, the Aram. understand the seeking of earnest benevolent seeking, but disregarding the נפשׁ in לנפשׁו;

(Note: The Targum translates תם, guiltlessness, and the Venet. (μισοῦσι) γνῶσιν, turning to Pro 1:22.)

Symmachus (ἐπιζητήσουσι), Jerome (quaerunt), and Luther thus also understand the sentence; and Rashi remarks that the phrase is here לשׁון חבּה, for he rests; but mistrusting himself, refers to Sa1 21:1-15 :23. Ahron b. Josef glosses: to enter into friendship with him. Thus, on account of the contrast, most moderns, interpreting the phrase sensu bono, also Fleischer: probi autem vitam ejus conservare student. The thought is, as Pro 12:6 shows, correct; but the usus loq. protests against this rendering, which can rest only on Psa 142:5, where, however, the poet does not say אין דּורשׁ נפשׁי, but, as here also the usus loq. requires, לנפשׁי. There are only three possible explanations which Aben Ezra enumerates: (1) they seek his, the bloody man's, soul, i.e., they attempt his life, to take vengeance against him, according to the meaning of the expressions as generally elsewhere, used, e.g., at Psa 63:10; (2) they revenge his, the guiltless man's, life (lxx ἐκζητήσουσιν), which has fallen a victim, after the meaning in which elsewhere only בּקּשׁ דּם and דּרשׁ נפשׁ, Gen 9:5, occur. This second meaning also is thus not in accordance with the usage of the words, and against both meanings it is to be said that it is not in the spirit of the Book of Proverbs to think of the ישׁרים [the upright, righteous] as executors of the sentences of the penal judicature. There thus remains

(Note: For εὐθεῖς δὲ συνάξουσιν (will bring away?) τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτῶν, understood after Jer 45:5, lies linguistically yet further off.)

the interpretation (3): the upright - they (the bloody men) seek the soul of such an one. The transition from the plur. to the sing. is individualizing, and thus the arrangement of the words is like Gen 47:21 : "And the people (as regards them), he removed them to the cities," Gesen. 145. 2. This last explanation recommends itself by the consideration that תם and ישׁרים are cognate as to the ideas they represents-let one call to mind the common expression תּם וישׁר [perfect and upright, e.g., Job 1:1; Job 2:3], - that the same persons are meant thereby, and it is rendered necessary by this, that the thought, "bloody men hate the guiltless," is incomplete; for the same thing may also be said of the godless in general. One expects to hear that just against the guiltless, i.e., men walking in their innocence, the bloody-mindedness of such men is specially directed, and 10b says the same thing; this second clause first brings the contrast to the point aimed at. Lutz is right in seeking to confute Hitzig, but he does so on striking grounds.

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.)

Note, 1. Bad men hate their best friends: The blood-thirsty, all the seed of the old serpent, who was a murderer from the beginning, all that inherit his enmity against the seed of the woman, hate the upright; they seek the ruin of good men because they condemn the wicked world and witness against it. Christ told his disciples that they should be hated of all men. Bloody men do especially hate upright magistrates, who would restrain and reform them, and put the laws in execution against them, and so really do them a kindness. 2. Good men love their worst enemies: The just, whom the bloody men hate, seek their soul, pray for their conversion, and would gladly do any thing for their salvation. This Christ taught us. Father, forgive them. The just seek his soul, that is, the soul of the upright, whom the bloody hate (so it is commonly understood), seek to protect it from violence, and save it from, or avenge it at, the hands of the blood-thirsty.

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

bloodthirsty--(Compare Margin), murderers (Psa 5:6; Psa 26:9).

hate, &c.-- (Pro 1:11; Gen 3:4).

seek . . . soul--that is, to preserve it.

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

(10) The bloodthirsty hate the upright.—Or, perfect man. “for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness” (2Co_6:14); the life of the perfect man is a continual reproach to them.

But the just (or upright) seek his soul—i.e. care for the life of the perfect; their uprightness shows itself in active help-giving.

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

10. seek] i.e. care for, as R.V. marg. Comp. Psa_142:4 [Hebrews 5], where however the Hebrew word, seek, is not the same as here. It is more in accordance with the use of the phrase to seek the life, to render, with R.V. text,

The bloodthirsty hate him that is perfect:

And as for the upright they seek his life.

The LXX. however has: οἱ δὲ εὐθεῖς εὐθεῖς ἐκζητήσουσι ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ; and the Vulg. justi autem quærunt animam ejus.

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 bloodthirsty hate the upright,.... Cain did Abel; and as the wicked world hate all good men, and persecute them, even unto death;

but the just must seek his soul; either the soul of the bloodthirsty, and that either the good of their souls; seek their spiritual welfare, and pray for it, even though they are so cruel and inhuman: or just magistrates will seek after such persons, to punish them for shedding the blood of the upright. Or else the meaning is, that just persons seek the soul of the upright, and make inquisition for the blood of such, to punish for it; which comes to the same sense, as Aben Ezra observes: or rather, such seek to defend and preserve the soul or life of upright men from those that hate and persecute them. Jarchi illustrates it by Sa1 22:23; the Targum is,

"men that shed blood hate integrity; but the upright seek it.''

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

Seek his soul - i. e., “Care for, watch over, his life” (compare Psa 142:4).

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

Soul. they wish to protect the upright, Psalm cxli. 5.

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).

Hate the upright, and consequently seek their ruin, as is implied from the following clause.

Seek his soul; either,

1. To require his soul or life at the hands of those who have taken it away. Or,

2. To preserve it from those who attempt to take it away, as this phrase is taken, Psa 142:4, though commonly it signify to seek to destroy it.

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

10. The bloodthirsty — Literally, men of blood.

Hate the upright — The perfect man, the man of integrity; or, they hate integrity itself.

Seek his soul — Or, his life. The phrase is ambiguous. To “seek life” is, ordinarily, to desire to destroy it. This, according to Gesenius, is the only place where the phrase is used in a good sense — to seek to preserve life. But some understand it, as seeking to avenge the life — requiring the life of the murderer, according to law.

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

The bloodthirsty hate the upright; him that is perfect, Revised Version; osion , Septuagint. His life is a tacit reproach to men of blood, robbers, murderers, and such like sinners, as is finely expressed in the Book of Wisdom RAPC Wis 2:12, etc. (comp. 2Co_6:14) But the just seek his soul. The explanation of this hemistich is doubtful. The following interpretations have been offered:

(1) The just seek the soul of the upright to deliver him from death temporal and spiritual. (comp. Pro_12:6 Psa_142:4)

(2) The just seek the murderer"s life, take vengeance on him. (comp. Psa_63:9, Psa_63:10)

(3) "As for the just, they (the murderers) attempt his life," where the change of subject, though by no means unparalleled, is awkward. (comp. Psa_37:14) The second explanation makes the righteous the executioners of vengeance on the delinquents, which does not seem to be the idea intended, and there is no confirmation of it in our book. The interpretation first given has against it the fact that the phrase, "to seek the soul," is used of attempts against the life, not of preserving it. But this is not fatal; and the above seems to be the most likely explanation offered, and gives a good antithesis. Men of blood hate a virtuous man, and try to destroy him; the righteous love him, and do their utmost to defend and keep him safe. If this interpretation is rejected, the third explanation is allowable, the casus pendens just, they seek his life may be compared with Gen_26:15 Deu_2:23. Septuagint, "But the upright will seek (ekzhthsousi ) his life."

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

Seek - To preserve it.

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

This bloody hatred is the fulfillment of the first prophecy from the mouth of God. (Gen 3:15 .) The first history of the fallen world puts the seal to the prophecy — "Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him." (Gen 4:5-8 .) Ever since has the same testimony been given.†1 "Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?" (was the indignant remonstrance of Stephen to his countrymen) until they "filled up the measure of their fathers," by being "the betrayers and murderers" of the Son of God.†2 The noble army of martyrs stand before us. Such intensity of malice in the contrivance of the variety of their torture! The bloodthirsty hate the upright. (Heb 11:36-37 .) Their innocency was the only ground of hatred; and, on the threatened apprehension of any outbreak of evil, the swelling cry of the bloodthirsty multitude was — ’The Christians to the lions!’ The next picture downward in the annals of the Church is not less illustrative — "I saw the woman" — awful sight! — "drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." (Rev 17:6 .) We cannot doubt but the fierce elements of the cruelty still lie in slumbering concealment. Nothing but the Gospel can kill the principle. Everything short of this only chains down the violence. In a softer mold it still retains all its substance and power, and waits only for the removal of present restraints to develop the same bloodthirsty hatred as ever.

Scripture explains this murderous vindictiveness. "Wherefore slew Cain his brother? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous." (1Jn 3:12-13 .) Darkness cannot endure the light.†3 The condemning light†4 of godliness excites the enmity of the ungodly. They cannot bear the picture. Thus the bloodthirsty Ahab hated his upright prophets,†5 and the Jews the holy Savior.†6 Conformity to him is the great offense still. ’Such precise fools, contrary to every one beside, "turning the world upside down" — how can they be endured?’ Their removal is a rejoicing riddance from the earth. (Rev 11:9-10.)

And yet their God is not unmindful of their threatening troubles. The bloodthirsty hate the upright: but the just seek his soul. Saul sought to murder David; Jonathan covered him.†7 Jezebel was thirsting to destroy the prophets of the LORD; Obadiah "hid them in a cave, and fed them with bread and water."†8 The enemies of Jeremiah plotted against him; Ebedmelech saved his life.†9 Herod was proceeding against Peter’s life; the Church shielded him with their prayers.†10 The bloodthirsty Jews bound themselves to murder Paul; "Pricilla and Aquila" were ready to "lay down their own necks for his life."†11

What a life of conflict is this world of sin! Need we be dissuaded from loving it? Need we not rather patience to endure it? But while we are in it, let us be found decidedly on the Lord’s side,†12 "partakers," if needs be, "of the afflictions of the gospel." (2Ti 1:8 .) Never let us stand aloof from our brethren’s cause. (2Ti 1:16, 17.) To help them, is to be fellow-workers with God himself. If union is so effective against the Church, surely its influence would not be of less moment on the Church’s side; "strengthening her stakes," establishing her foundations, and enlarging her usefulness.

Footnotes:

†1 Pro 29:27. Psa 37:12-14, Psa 37:32 . Gal 4:29 . 2Ti 3:12 .

†2 Act 7:52. Mat 5:12 ; Mat 23:32 .

†3 Joh 3:19-20.

†4 Heb 11:7.

†5 1Ki 21:20 ; 1Ki 22:8 .

†6 Joh 7:7.

†7 1Sa 18:11, 1Sa 18:25, with 1Ki 18:1-4 .

†8 1Ki 18:1-4 .

†9 Jer 38:1-13.

†10 Act 12:5.

†11 Act 23:12. Rom 16:4 .

†12 Mat 12:30.

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

seek his soul [This is] an expression of love, and it appears that it is so, as David said to Abiathar (I Sam. 22:23): “for he who seeks my soul seeks your soul.” He who will deal kindly with me will deal kindly with you. The exegetes, however, do not agree with me.

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.