Proverbs 1:24 - Exposition

Because I have called, and ye refused. A pause may be imagined, and seems to be implied, between this and the preceding verses (22 and 23), when the address passes into a new phase—from that of invitation and promise to that of judgment and stern denunciation ( Proverbs 1:24-27 ). In the subsection the antecedent clauses are Proverbs 1:24 , Proverbs 1:25 , introduced by the conjunction "because" ( יַעַן , yaan ; quia, Vulgate), which expresses the reason or cause for the conclusion in Proverbs 1:26 and Proverbs 1:27 , introduced by "I also," to which the "because" answers. A similar grammatical construction and judgment is to be found in Isaiah: "I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I Spake, they did not hear" ( Isaiah 66:4 ; see also Jeremiah 7:13 ). Refused ; i.e. refused to hearken, as signified in the LXX . ὑπακούσατε . I have stretched out my hand. A forensic gesture to arrest attention. The expression is equivalent to "I have spread out my hands" ( Isaiah 65:2 ); cf. "Then Paul stretched forth the hand ( ἐκτείνας τὴν χεῖρα )" ( Acts 26:1 ). Regarded ( מַקְשִׁיב , mak'shiv ) . The original idea of the verb קַשַׁב ( kashav ) , used here, is that of erecting or pricking up the ear, like the Latin arrigere, sc. aures, in Plaut; 'Rud.,' 5, 2, 6; and cf . " arrectisque auribus adstant " (Virgil, ' AE neid,' 1:153).