Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Mga Kawikaan 20:1

It is a known and clear matter etc. This "tremoring" we know at what he is pointing. We interpret this word-Shogeh-as refering to either of two subjects: singing, as "Shiggaion" of David (Ps. 7.1), and the other, because of its love you will "err" in the subjects, that is you will pay no attention to it. ^*Maimonides knew his Hebrew. See Ez. 45.20; and Prov. 20. 1. G.

And they regard not the work of the Lord. Many explain, They regard, etc., because he who is given to drunkenness does not regard the ways of the Lord; comp. Whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise (Prov. 20:1); but my opinion is, that by the work of the Lord those punishments are to be understood which the Lord was bringing over Israel, when the ten tribes went into exile.

ותלד..אבי ישב אהל ומקנה. The word אבי, is the same as “the first of,” The meaning of יושב אהל ומקנה is that he dwelled in a tent to supervise what was happening to his herds and to tend them. Apparently, the need for a tent, i.e. temporary shelter, was due to his leading his herds to pastures far away from his home. People prior to him were content to graze their flocks within walking distance of their homes. The letter ו at the beginning of the word ומקנה is to save having to write the word רועה. We find similar constructions in Proverbs 20,1 לץ היין, where it refers to someone drinking wine, the author saving himself the word שותה by writing the letter ה in front of the word יין. It is also possible that the meaning of the letter ו in front of the word מקנה means “with.” A similar construction occurs in Exodus 1,5 in the line ויוסף היה במצרים, where it means that when one combines Joseph (and his family) who were already in Egypt with the number of Israelites descending to Egypt now the total comes to 70.

He makes nations great and destroys them Heb. משׂגיא. Some say, as He did to the Egyptians when they overtook Israel before Baal-zephon (Exod. 14:9). They erred and said, “You should know that He agreed with us, to drown them in the sea as we decreed, ‘Every son that is born you shall cast into the river’ (ibid. 1:22), and [they also said] that their deity Baal-zephon is mighty, seeing that no acts of judgment were performed upon it, as [they were upon) all the [other] gods of Egypt, and the Omnipresent caused them to be misled in order to drown them. But this explanation is not the main one, for were it so, it should have been dotted on the right, מַשְׁגִיא like שׁוגֶה, the misled. This is the main explanation: It means making great, an expression of שׂגיא כֹח, having great strength. He makes the nations great and causes them to prosper, and their heart becomes haughty with their prosperity, so that [the fact] that they prosper is their destruction.