ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף משלי 3:4

4) The humility we speak about should be of a positive nature; it should not consist of a person looking upon himself in a derogatory fashion. Maimonides explains this in chapter five of his treatise Hilchot Deyot. [I have not found it there but I have found something similar in chapter 6. Ed.] He writes as follows: "Another aspect of true humility is not to fail to admonish people whom one observes committing sins on the basis of one's thinking to oneself: 'who am I to admonish others who are of greater stature than I?' One has to carry out the commandment of calling people to order. This is what Moses had in mind when he said בערבה, an allusion to admonishing people based on our ערבות, mutual responsibility of one Jew for the other.

Another illuminating Midrash (Tanchuma Pekudey 3) focuses on the difference between the word ראה, “see” (sing.) in our verse and the word ראו, “see” (pl.) in 35:30. According to that Midrash the former word was addressed to the celestial beings whereas the latter word was addressed to the creatures on earth. The fact that we make such distinctions we know already from Proverbs 3,4: -ומצא חן ושכל טוב בעיני אלו-הים ואדם, “and you will find favor in high esteem in the sight of G’d and man.”

The one who made the appropriation did not enter the chamber wearing either a bordered cloak or shoes or sandals or tefillin or an amulet, lest if he became poor people might say that he became poor because of a sin committed in the chamber, or if he became rich people might say that he became rich from the appropriation in the chamber. For it is one’s duty to seem be free of blame before others as before God, as it is said: “And you shall be guiltless before the Lord and before Israel” (Numbers 32:22), and it says: “And you will find favor and good understanding in the eyes of God and man” (Proverbs 3:4). The person who went in to count the coins and make the appropriation could not wear any piece of clothing that would cause others to suspect that he might have stolen something. This could only lead to bad results if he grew poor they would suspect him of being punished for having stolen the shekels, if he grew rich they would suspect of being rich because of the stolen money. The mishnah finishes with an important moral note. A person must carefully guard his public reputation, even if in his heart he knows that he is not sinning and even if he knows that in God’s all-seeing eyes he is not sinning. This is especially true of a person with a position of public responsibility. It is not enough to just be honest, one must also give the outward appearance of honesty as well. I believe that this is an important life’s lesson. A person’s reputation of honesty is important both for the moral character of that person himself and for the proper functioning of society.