Proverbs 21:16 - Exposition

The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding . (For הַשְׂכֵּל , "understanding," see note on Proverbs 1:3 .) He who forsakes the way of wisdom, the path of virtue, the religious life, and thus becomes in proverbial language "a fool," he shall remain ( rest, dwell ) in the congregation of the dead ; in coetu gigantum commorabitur. "The dead" is, in the Hebrew, rephaim, for which see note on Proverbs 2:18 . The denunciation means primarily that the sinner shall soon be with the shades of the dead, shall meet with a speedy death. Wordsworth considers that the writer is saying in bitter irony that the evil man shall rest as a guest at a banquet, shall lie down and be regaled, but it will be in the company of the dead. The contrast seems to lie between the wandering and the rest, and this rest is regarded as penal; so that one must needs see here an intimation of retribution after death; and setup, Proverbs 24:14 , Proverbs 24:20 . The Fathers regarded the Rephaim, "the giants," as the descendants of the rebel angels, in accordance with their interpretation of Genesis 6:1-4 . Thus St. Gregory writes ('Moral.' 17:30), quoting our passage, "For whosoever forsakes the way of righteousness, to whose number does he join himself, saving to the number of the proud spirits?"