Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Mga Kawikaan 30:8

In this verse Solomon taught us both ethics and manners. On the one hand, a person should endeavor to acquire friends and strive to socialize with them. On occasion he should take his leave before he becomes a burden or intrusion to his friends. It appears that both here as well as elsewhere Solomon counsels us to exercise one’s discretion, to walk the middle path between seclusion and imposing one’s presence on one’s friends all the time.
When friends and companions meet at a central location such meetings are apt to increase mutual friendship and comradeship. This is why Solomon writes in Proverbs 18,24: ”a man who has friends must himself be friendly, some friends cling to one another more than a brother.” Basically, what Solomon is saying is that if someone has the attribute of winning friends, this is proof that he is of a friendly disposition himself. The meaning of the word להתרועע in that verse is “to be praiseworthy.” The word is connected to בצלצלי תרועה, (Psalms 150,5) “cymbals” being two matching instruments. It is presumed that if one is seen to have friends, other people will search out the company of such a person. He is likely to possess two positive virtues: 1) humility, (seeing that people to not flock to keep company with the haughty, the arrogant but they flee the company of such people). 2) He is not shy of contact with other people. When one possesses these two positive attributes one is saved from two major problems which are usually associated with both poverty and material wealth. The poor usually speak in a beseeching manner, whereas the rich usually respond in a harsh manner (Proverbs 18,23). A poor person has reason to be afraid of society, of people; he does not like to have to flatter people because he needs to rely on their goodwill. The damage which results from being materially wealthy is that one tends to brag about one’s wealth. When Solomon wrote the verse we just quoted he actually downgraded both the possession of too much wealth and the lack of sufficient economic means. Both are not character-building but tend to be character-destructive. This is not the only time Solomon has voiced such ideas. We find a similar verse in Proverbs 30,8: “give me neither poverty nor riches, feed me with bread allotted to me.” He explains the reason for his request saying: “lest I become so sated that I renounce You and say: ‘who is the Lord?’ then I would become impoverished and steal and profane the name of the Lord.” We find similar sentiments expressed by a famous scholar who said: “excess of material wealth is just as damaging to a person as excess blood.” The meaning of the earlier verse is that the poor man is in the habit of speaking beseechingly as he is in fear of people, lacking self-confidence; the rich man, however, will become pro- gressively more arrogant as his “so called” friends by appearing to agree with him, flattering him, reinforce his own self-esteem. This is why Solomon added immediately: (Proverbs 18,24) “a man who has friends must be friendly;” he is saved from both dangers. 1) The fact that he has friends means he has no need to be afraid of people and does not have to speak beseechingly; 2) the fact that he is of a friendly disposition saves him from becoming arrogant.

AND HE FED THEE WITH MANNA, WHICH THOU KNOWEST NOT, NEITHER DID THY FATHERS KNOW. The purport thereof is that you did not know about the manna that you could live by it for many years, nor did such a tradition reach you from your fathers. Or he [Moses] may be saying that He has done with you this great kindness which your holy fathers [i.e., the patriarchs] did not obtain, for, although they walked after Him wherever He commanded them, as is stated, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house,⁶¹Genesis 12:1. yet their eminence did not suffice that He should support them with the corn of heaven⁶²Psalms 78:24. as He did for you. And so the Rabbis have said in the Midrash Bamidbar Sinai Rabbah:⁶³Bamidbar Rabbah 1:2. “Because of the merit of Moses you ate the manna that your holy fathers did not see, as it is said, neither did thy fathers know.” And he explained that He did this in order to inform them that it is He Who preserves man with whatever He decrees, and if so observe His commandments, and live.⁶⁴Proverbs 4:4.
It is possible to explain that the expressions And He afflicted thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna refer to different subjects. He is stating that He afflicted you when you travelled in the wilderness for forty years, similar to the verse, He afflicted my strength in the way,⁶⁵Psalms 102:24. [meaning that travel drains the strength]. And He suffered thee to hunger, at the beginning [of the journey in the wilderness] as the people said, to kill this whole assembly with hunger,⁶⁶Exodus 16:3. and afterwards He fed you with the manna to make you aware that by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Eternal doth man live.⁶⁷Verse 3 before us. So also, Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not,⁶⁸Further, Verse 16. telling them of the miracle that was done to them. And the expression that He might afflict thee [further in Verse 16] reverts to that which he said [in the preceding Verse 15], Who led thee through the great and dreadful wilderness, wherein were serpents, fiery serpents, and scorpions, and draught etc.⁶⁹Ibid., Verse 15. In other words, since according to Ramban’s interpretation before us, the expression that He might afflict thee refers not to the manna but to the journey through the wilderness, then we must also say that the expression that He might afflict thee in Verse 16 following the subject of the manna is to be interpreted as reverting to the beginning of Verse 15, where the subject of the wilderness is mentioned. But that which He said in the section of the manna, that I may, try them, whether they will walk in My law or not⁷⁰Exodus 16:4. means that I will provide them their needs and fulfill their request and [then] see if they will hearken to Me when goods increase.⁷¹Ecclesiastes 5:10. It is the evil of riches which leads to temptation (Proverbs 30:8). This is in consonance with the plain meaning of Scripture, but the first interpretation is true and correct.

his end will be to implement it in wealth: As he will become wealthy. And in addition, he will also have broad hours to be occupied with Torah [study] and to implement the commandments, since his income will be great. And he will not require the toil of his hands, but rather he will eat and study 'in joy and with a good heart.' As through wisdom, he will have all the good. [It is] as we found with King Shlomo, peace be upon him, who asked for wisdom and did not ask for silver and gold, as it is stated (Proverbs 30:8), "Keep lies and false words far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, [but] provide me with my daily bread." There is a parable [relevant to this] about a king that said to his servant, "Ask [for] what I should give you." [The servant] said, "If I ask for silver and gold, he will give [it] to me; for properties and lands, he will give [it] to me. I will ask for the king's daughter for my wife, and everything [else] will be included." So did Shlomo, peace be upon him, say, "I will ask for wisdom and everything [else] is included, 'For to be in the shelter of wisdom is to be in the shelter of money'" (Ecclesiastes 7:12).

more than my daily bread I kept the words of His mouth More than my daily food I was eager to keep the words of His mouth. [The expression חקי] is like (Prov. 30:8), “my daily bread (לחם חקי),” my food.