Proverbs 21:9 - Exposition

It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop. One is to think of the flat roof of an Eastern house, which was used as an apartment for many purposes: e,g . for sleeping and conference ( 1 Samuel 9:25 , 1 Samuel 9:26 ), for exercise ( 2 Samuel 11:2 ), for domestic matters ( Joshua 2:6 ), for retirement and prayer ( Psalms 102:7 ; Acts 10:9 ). This, though exposed to the inclemency of the weather, would be not an uncomfortable situation during a great part of the year. But the proverb implies a position abnormally inconvenient as an alternative preferable to a residence inside. Hence, perhaps, it is advisable to render, with Delitzsch, "Better to sit on the pinhole of a house roof." Septuagint, "It is better to dwell in a corner of a place open to the sky ( ὑπαίθρου )." Than with a brawling ( contentious ) woman in a wide house; literally, a house of society ; i.e. a house in common (comp. Proverbs 21:19 and Proverbs 25:24 ). A solitary corner, replete with inconveniences, is to be preferred to house shared with woman, wife or other female relation, of a quarrelsome and vexatious temper. The LXX . puts the matter forcibly, "than in cieled rooms with unrighteousness and in a common house." So the Latin proverb, "Non quam late, sed quam laete habites, refert." The Scotch have a proverb to the same effect: "A house wi' a reek and a wife wi' a reerd (scold) will sune mak' a man run to the door." "I had rather dwell," says the Son of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus 25:16), "with a lion and a dragon, than to keep house with a wicked woman."