| Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible In the house of the righteous is much treasure,.... God sometimes blesses the righteous with great riches, as he did Abraham; or, however, if they have but little, it is better than the riches of many wicked; because they have what they have with a blessing, and they are content with it: and they have abundance of spiritual treasure; they have God for their portion; Christ, and all good things along with him; the rich graces of the Spirit; a rich experience of the grace of God; and all this is but a pledge and earnest of what they shall possess hereafter; but in the revenues of the wicked is trouble; they have much trouble in getting their riches, by which they pierce themselves through with many sorrows; they have much trouble in keeping them; cannot rest nor sleep because of their abundance, lest it should be taken away from them; and they have much trouble in parting with them, when they are, by one providence or another, stripped of them; and, besides, they have them with a curse, and are ever attended with uneasiness, on one account or another.
Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament6 The house of the righteous is a great treasure-chamber; But through the gain of the wicked comes trouble. The contrast shows that חסן does not here mean force or might (lxx, Syr., Targ., Jerome, and Venet.), which generally this derivative of the verb חסן never means, but store, fulness of possession, prosperity (Luther: in the house of the righteous are goods enough), in this sense (cf. Proverbs 27:24) placing itself, not with the Arab. ḥasuna, to be firm, fastened (Aram. ḥsn, חסן), but with Arab. khazan, to deposit, to lay up in granaries, whence our "Magazin." חסן may indeed, like חיל, have the meaning of riches, and חסן does actually mean, in the Jewish-Aram., to possess, and the Aphel אחסן, to take into possession (κρατεῖν); but the constant use of the noun חסן in the sense of store, with the kindred idea of laying up, e.g., Jeremiah 20:5, and of the Niph. נחסן, which means, Isaiah 23:18, with נאצר, "to be magazined," gives countenance to the idea that חסן goes back to the primary conception, recondere, and is to be distinguished from חסון, חסין, and other derivatives after the fundamental conception. We may not interpret בּית, with Fleischer, Bertheau, and Zckler, as accus.: in the house (cf. בּית, Proverbs 8:2), nor prepositionally as chez equals casa; but: "the house of the righteous is a great store," equivalent to, the place of such. On the contrary, destruction comes by the gain of the wicked. It is impossible that נעכּרת can have the house as the subject (Lwenstein), for בּית is everywhere mas. Therefore Abulwald, followed by Kimchi and the Venet. (ὄλεθρος), interprets נעכרת as subst., after the form of the Mishnic נברכת, a pool, cf. נחרצה, peremptorily decided, decreed; and if we do not extinguish the ב of וּבתבוּאת (the lxx according to the second translation of this doubly-translated distich, Syr., and Targ.), there remains then nothing further than to regard נעכרת either as subst. neut. overturned equals overthrow (cf. such part. nouns as מוּסדה, מוּעקה, but particularly נסבּה, 2 Chronicles 10:15), or as impers. neut. pass.: it is overthrown equals there is an overthrow, like נשׂערה, Psalm 50:3 : it is stormed equals a storm rages. The gain of the wicked has overthrow as its consequence, for the greed of gain, which does not shrink from unrighteous, deceitful gain, destroys his house, עכר בּיתו, Proverbs 15:27 (vid., regarding עצר, Proverbs 11:29). Far from enriching the house, such gain is the cause of nothing but ruin. The lxx, in its first version of this distich, reads, in 6a, בּרבות צדק (ἐν πλεοναζούσῃ δικαιοσύνῃ), and in 6b, וּבתבוּאת רשׁע נעכּר (and together with the fruit the godless is rooted out, ὁλόῤῥιζοι ἐκ γῆς ἀπολοῦνται); for, as Lagarde has observed, it confounds עכר with עקר (to root, privativ: to root up).
Geneva Study BibleIn the house of the righteous is much treasure: but in the revenues of the wicked is {a} trouble. (a) For though they have much yet it is full of trouble and care.
Wesley's Notes 15:6 Revenues - Though he may obtain great revenues, yet they are attended with much trouble.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary6. treasure-implying utility. trouble-vexation and affliction.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary15:3. Secret sins, services, and sorrows, are under God's eye. This speaks comfort to saints, and terror to sinners. 4. A good tongue is healing to wounded consciences, by comforting them; to sin-sick souls, by convincing them; and it reconciles parties at variance. 5. If instruction is despised, reprove men rather than suffer them to go on undisturbed in the way to ruin. 6. The wealth of worldly men increases their fears and suspicions, adds strength to their passions, and renders the fear of death more distressing. 7. We use knowledge aright when we disperse it; but the heart of the foolish has nothing to disperse that is good. 8,9. The wicked put other things in the stead of Christ's atonement, or in the place of holy obedience. Praying graces are his gift, and the work of his Spirit, with which he is well pleased. 10. He that hates reproof shall perish in his sins, since he would not be parted from them.
Matthew Henry's Whole Bible CommentaryVerse 6 Note, 1. Where righteousness is riches are, and the comforts of them: In the house of the righteous is much treasure. Religion teaches men to be diligent, temperate, and just, and by these means, ordinarily, the estate is increased. But that is not all: God blesses the habitation of the just, and that blessing makes rich without trouble. Or, if there be not much of this world's goods, yet where there is grace there is true treasure; and those who have but little, if they have a heart to be therewith content, and to enjoy the comfort of that little, it is enough; it is all riches. The righteous perhaps are not themselves enriched, but there is treasure in their house, a blessing in store, which their children after them may reap the benefit of. A wicked worldly man is only for having his belly filled with those treasures, his own sensual appetite gratified (Ps. 17:14); but a righteous man's first care is for his soul and then for his seed, to have treasure in his heart and then in his house, which his relations and those about him may have the benefit of. 2. Where wickedness is, though there may be riches, yet there is vexation of spirit with them: In the revenues of the wicked, the great incomes they have, there is trouble; for there is guilt and a curse; there is pride and passion, and envy and contention; and those are troublesome lusts, which rob them of the joy of their revenues and make them troublesome to their neighbours. |
