Comentários de Citação sobre Provérbios 15:17

Bahya writes. “Better a little with fear of the Lord than great wealth with confusion” [Proverbs, 15:15]. King Solomon teaches us that it is better to acquire little money with the fear of God. That is to say, honestly accumulated is much better than accumulating great wealth unjustly through theft or usury. King Solomon said near this how one should acquire the honest [kosher] penny. He said: “better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fatted ox where there is hate” [Proverbs, 15:17]. That is to say, the best honest penny is to be acquired where one can. Therefore, he says that it is better to eat vegetables without meat, if there is love in it. That is to say, no person hates him because he has not sworn falsely against any person, taken usury or stolen it. This much better than a person who eats fat ox meat and there is hatred with it. That is to say, he acquired much money and eats well and the people hate him because he had taken it from them or had sworn falsely or stolen it, since the worst sin is stealing. Our sages said that a full measure of sins is not so evil as stealing. The Holy One signs the decree against the people because of stealing. We find that the Holy One drowned the whole world with the Flood because of stealing. Though they engaged in illicit sexual relations and worshiped idols, yet the Holy One did not kill them except because of stealing. Bahya writes, “Better a little with fear of the Lord” [Proverbs, 15:15]. This means that the person should take an example from the fact that the person desires to eat vegetables without meat, if only there is love with it, with good friends or with a good wife who does not complain to her husband and there love for each other. Then the vegetables without meat are tastier than ox meat, and the enmity that goes with it.¹Bahya, Exodus, Pekudei, Introduction.

It is equally possible (our author speaking) to understand the word אותות as related to the word אות as in אות נפשו, “the desire of his soul,” or as like בכל אות נפשך, “in accordance with all you desire” (Deut. 12,20). This would reflect what we have learned in the Midrash that when the Israelites had observed that the angels who had descended on earth at the time G’d descended on Mount Sinai had all had flags with them and that the Israelites ever since had felt an urgent desire to have flags also (Compare Shir Hashirim Rabbah 2,13 on the words ודגלו אהבה). There are numerous other verses interpreted in similar fashion (compare Song of Songs 2,4; Tanchuma Bamidbar 14).

אבוס the crib. The place for the ass’s food. The form of the word is in the construct state the same as in the absolute. The participle passive Kal, 1) אבוסים Kings 5:3) and אבוס (Prov. 15:17), ‘fatted,’ is derived from this word ; it means literally, ‘placed at the crib.’