Verse 5
The vile person shall no more be called liberal - The different epithets here employed require minute explanation.
The vile person - נבל nabal , the pampered, fattened, brainless fellow, who eats to live, and lives to eat; who will scarcely part with any thing, and that which he does give he gives with an evil eye and a grudging heart.
Liberal - נדיב nadib ; the generous, openhearted, princely man, who writes on all his possessions, For myself and mankind, and lives only to get and to do good.
The churl - כילי kilai , the avaricious man; he who starves himself amidst his plenty, and will not take the necessaries of life for fear of lessening his stock.
Thus he differs from נבל nabal , who feeds himself to the full, and regards no one else; like the rich man in the Gospel. The avaricious man is called כילי kilai , from כי ki , for, לי li , myself; or contracted from כל col , all, and לי li , to myself: all is mine; all I have is my own; and all I can get is for myself: and yet this man enjoys nothing; he withholds
From back and belly too their proper fare: -
O cursed lust of gold, when for thy sake
The wretch throws up his interest in both worlds,
First starved in this, then damned in that to come!
Bountiful - שוע shoa , he who is abundantly rich; who rejoices in his plenty, and deals out to the distressed with a liberal hand.
Be the first to react on this!
