Proverbs 3:20

Pro 3:20 By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew.

Ver. 20. The depths are broken up,] viz., Those great channels and hollow places made in the earth, to hold the waters, {Gen 1:9} that they may not overflow the earth; and this the very philosophers are forced to confess to be a work of divine wisdom. Others by "depths" here understand fountains and floods breaking out, and as it were flowing from the nethermost parts of the earth, even as though the earth did cleave itself in sunder, to give them passage.

And the clouds drop down the dew.] Clouds, the bottles of rain and dew, are vessels as thin as the liquor that is contained in them; there they hang, move, though weighty with their burden. How they are upheld, and why they fall here and now, we know not, and wonder.

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_3:20

The clouds drop down the dew.

The sea night-mist of Palestine

There is a very remarkable and regular provision of Nature, peculiar to Bible lands, which may be observed in a first sight of Palestine on any night in the hot season when a west wind is blowing. I allude to the sea night-mist of the hot season. It explains in a very striking and hitherto unsuspected manner the numerous occurrences of the Hebrew word tal, uniformly rendered dew in the Authorised Version of the Bible. Some of these have presented hitherto unanswerable difficulties, such as the statement of the wise man that the clouds drop down the dew (Pro_3:20), which, if dew in the scientific sense of the word is understood, is just what they do not, no dew ever forming when clouds are about. Again, the words in Isaacs blessing, God give thee of the dew of heaven (Gen_27:28); those of Moses, summing up the precious things of heaven in the dew (Deu_33:13); the power of an absolute eastern king being likened to a dew upon the grass (chap. 19:12); and Israels future influence amongst the nations to a dew from Jehovah (Mic_5:7); such words as these, and those in many other passages, bespeak a peculiar excellence and value which dew does not possess even amongst us, and still less in Palestine, where it only occurs in the winter, the time of abundant heavy rains, which render it comparatively useless! It was my good fortune, as a result of my residence in Jerusalem, to discover the deeply interesting natural feature which is called in our version dew, and fully to realise in what its importance and excellence consists (Hos_14:5). From the end of April till about the end of October no drop of rain falls; while each day, for some ten or twelve hours, the sun shines with great strength, unveiled by a single cloud. This fierce wind is in May and October intensified by a burning wind, the sirocco, which gathers its withering, scorching power as it sweeps over the vast sands of the Arabian desert, and is the awful east wind of the Bible. During this period, but more especially at its close, in September and October, the west wind, which then prevails, comes up laden with moisture from the Mediterranean Sea, which is condensed in low-lying clouds of mist as soon as it reaches the land. These cloud-masses sweep along near the ground, leaving behind them an immense amount of what is misnamed in our version dew, but which is really a very fine, gentle rain in the form of a light Scotch mist. Its great excellence consists--

1. In its coming only in the hottest and driest season, when no other moisture can be had.

2. In its only coming during the night, when no man can work, and so interfering in no way with the business or pleasures of life.

3. In its coming in such rich abundance as far to exceed the moisture deposited by any formation of dew.

4. In its coming in such fine particles and moderate quantities as not even to hurt the gathered grain lying out on the open-air threshing-floors.

5. In its effects ceasing as soon as the sun is hot, and so leaving no miasmic or other injurious results behind, whence it is well called by Hosea, the night-mist which early goes away. This explanation exactly accounts for the clouds being said to drop it down, which is just what they do. Very beautiful are the silvery shining mist-clouds which may be seen as the day dawns being drawn up and dissolved into thin air, the fugitive clouds to which Hosea (6:4) compares Israels brief and transient seasons of goodness--Your goodness is like the morning cloud, and like the night-mist (tal) which early goes away. It also displays the naturalness of the great amount of tal, or night-mist, which fell miraculously on Gideons fleece (Jdg_6:38). It adds a new intensity to our Saviours pathetic appeal in Son_5:2, Open to Me . . . for My head is filled with the night-mist (tal), and My locks with the drops of the night. There is an icy chill often attending exposure to the night-mist which is not experienced on a dewy night, the latter being always fine. In a word, let night mist be written in each of the thirty-four places in our Bible where dew occurs, and it will be found to give a new meaning and a new beauty in every instance! What fresh point and power now clothe the gracious promise in Hos_14:5, I will be as the night-mist (tal) to Israel! and also that beautiful but difficult passage, Psa_110:3! (James Neil, M.A.)

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

Verse 20. By his knowledge the depths are broken up] He determined in his wisdom how to break up the fountains of the great deep, so as to bring a flood of waters upon the earth; and by his knowledge those fissures in the earth through which springs of water arise have been appointed and determined; and it is by his skill and influence that vapours are exhaled, suspended in the atmosphere, and afterwards precipitated on the earth in rain, dews, &c. Thus the wisest of men attributes those effects which we suppose to spring from natural causes to the Supreme Being himself.

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

(20) Are broken up.—Or, burst forth: the word used in Gen_7:11 of the breaking forth of the waters from the interior of the earth at the flood. (Comp. Job_38:8.)

Drop down the dew.—Of great importance in countries where for months together there is no rain

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

20. are] Rather, were broken up, R.V. The reference is to Gen_7:2, where the same Heb. word is used: “all the foundations of the great deep were broken up.”

The two clauses of the verse give two typical examples: alike, when the pent-up forces of nature burst forth occasionally in their resistless might, and when her gentler agencies exert continually their beneficent influence, the wisdom of God is working.

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.

By his knowledge the depths are broken up,.... From whence fountains and rivers flow, and whereby that great cavity was made which holds that large confluence of waters called the sea, Gen 1:9. Some refer this to the breaking up the fountains of the great deep at the flood, Gen 7:11; and others to the dividing of the waters of the Red sea when Israel came out of Egypt, Psa 78:13; all wonderful works of divine wisdom, and show the greatness of him, in whom are "hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge", Col 2:3, by whom they were done;

and the clouds drop down the dew; which makes the earth fruitful, and is put for all the blessings of nature, Gen 27:28; the drops of dew are begotten by the Lord, they have no other father but him; the vanities of the Gentiles cannot produce them; he who fills the clouds with them, from whence they descend, is no other than the mighty God; and such is Christ the Wisdom of God. Some understand this in a mystical sense of Gospel ministers, and of the dew of Gospel doctrine, dropped and distilled by them under the influence and direction of Christ; see Deu 32:2; but the literal sense is best.

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

Compare Gen 1:7; Gen 7:11; Job 38. Looking upon the face of Nature, men see two storehouses of the living water, without which it would be waste and barren. From the “depths” rush forth the surging waves, from the “clouds” falls the gentle rain or “dew;” but both alike are ordered by the Divine Wisdom.

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

Out. The higher and lower waters being divided, (Calmet) or the channels formed to receive the waters. (Piscator) --- It may also speak of the deluge. (Ven. Bede) --- With. Hebrew, "have distilled dew." This is so copious, as to resemble rain in Palestine, Judges vi. 37., and 2 Kings xvii. 12.

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 depths are broken up; that great abyss or depth of waters, which was mixed with and contained in the bowels of the earth, did break forth into fountains and rivers for the use of men and beasts; which is justly remembered here as an illustrious effect of God’s wisdom, by which the earth was made habitable, and the waters serviceable.

The dew; under which the rain is comprehended, as being of the same nature and use.

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

By his knowledge the depths are broken up. This is usually taken to refer to that primary act in creation, the separation of the waters from the earth, when "the waters were gathered together unto their own place," as recorded in Gen_1:9. So Munster, Zockler, Wardlaw. But it seems better to understand it (as Mercerus, Lapide, Delitzsch, and Authorized Version) of the fertilization of the earth by rivers, streams, etc., which burst forth from the interior of the earth. In this sense the correspondence is preserved with the second hemistich. where the atmospheric influence is referred to as conducing to the same end. The teacher passes from the creation to the wonderful means which Jehovah employs through Wisdom to sustain his work. The depths (t"homoth); Vulgate, abyssi; LXX, abussoi , are here "the internal water stores of the earth" (Delitzsch), and not the depths of the ocean, as in Pro_8:24, Pro_8:27, Pro_8:28, and in Gen_1:2. Are broken up (niv"kau); properly, were broken up, niph. perfect of baka,

(1) to cleave asunder,

(2) to break forth, as water, in Isa_35:6.

The perfect describes a past act, but one that is still continuing in effect. Cf. Vulgate eruperunt, "they burst forth;" LXX, erraghsan , aorist 2 passive of rhgnumi , "to burst forth," Targum, rupti sunt; and Syriac, ruptae sunt. The idea of division or separation is present, but it is not the predominant idea. There seems to be no allusion here either to the Deluge (Beds), nor to the cleaving of the waters of the Red Sea (Gejerus), though both of these historical events were undoubtedly well known to the teacher. And the clouds drop down the dew. The clouds (sh"khakim) are properly the ether, the higher and colder regions of the atmosphere, and then "the clouds," as in Psa_77:15, which are formed by the condensation of vapours drawn by solar influence from the surface of the earth seas, rivers, etc. The singular shakhak signifies "dust," and. secondly "a cloud," evidently from the minute particles of moisture of which a cloud is composed. Drop down (yir"aphu, kal future of raaph, used as a present or imperfect); LXX, erruhsan , "let flow." The clouds discharge their contents in showers, or distil at evening in refreshing dew. Modern science agrees with the meteorological fact here alluded to, of the reciprocal action of the heavens and the earth. The moisture drawn from the earth returns again "to water the earth, that it may bring forth and bud, to give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater". (Isa_55:10) Dew; tal, here used not only of dew, but of rain in gentle and fructifying showers. The Arabic word signifies "light rain;" LXX, drosouv , "dew." Moses, in describing the blessing of Israel, says, "His heavens shall drop down dew" in the same sense. (Deu_33:23; cf. Job_36:28) The fertilization of the earth is ordered by the Divine Wisdom.

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

The depths - That great abyss contained in the bowels of the earth, breaks forth into fountains and rivers.

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

drip Heb. ירעפו, like יטיפו. Now, since the entire world was created with them, therefore...

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.