Proverbs 3:13 - Exposition

Happy is the man ( ash'rey adam ); literally, blessings of the man. The plural of "excellence" used here, as in Job 5:17 , to raise the sense. The man who has found Wisdom is supremely blessed. Beds connects this blessedness immediately with God's chastisements in the preceding verse. So Delitzsch. That findeth ( matsa ); properly, hath found. "The perfect expresses permanent possession, just as the imperfect, yaphik, denotes a continually renewed and repeated attaining" (Zockler). The Vulgate also uses the perfect, invenit, "hath found;" LXX ; ὃς εὖρε , "who found"—the aorist. The man that getteth understanding ( adam yaphik t'vunah ); literally, the man that draweth out understanding, as in the margin. Yaphik is the hiph. future or imperfect of puk, the primary meaning of which is educere, "to draw out," "to bring forth." This verb is used in two widely different senses. In the first place, it is equivalent to "bring forth" or "draw out" in the sense of imparting, as in Isaiah 58:10 , "If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry," i.e. impart benefits to them; and Psalms 145:13 , "That our garners may be full, affording all manner of store," i.e. yielding, giving out, presenting for our benefit. Its second sense is that of attaining, drawing out from another for one's own use. In this sense it occurs in Proverbs 8:35 ; Proverbs 12:2 ; Proverbs 18:22 , where it is rendered "obtain." The latter sense is the one that suits the present passage, and best agrees with the corresponding matsa. The man is blessed who draws forth, i.e. obtains, understanding from God for himself. The Vulgate renders, qui affluit prudentia, "who overflows with understanding," or, has understanding in abundance; LXX ; ὃς εἷδε , equivalent to "who saw."