Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

24:23-25 Partiality in judging is not good. Courts must render honest verdicts, convicting the guilty and acquitting the innocent. People may be prejudiced for or against a person because he or she is rich and famous or of a certain race, but partiality of any kind is to be rejected.

24:26 The Hebrew phrase translated kisses the lips is found only here in the OT. It is either an act of homage (e.g., those who have not kissed Baal, 1 Kings 19:18) or an act of affection (e.g., Esau kissed Jacob upon their meeting, Gen. 33:4). Either sense fits the verse well in that an honest answer treats the other person involved with both respect and affection (note the appeals to honest speech in the surrounding text, Prov. 24:23-25, 28-29). (The sexually oriented kiss, though known in Israel--cf. Prov. 7:13; Song 8:1--is not relevant here.)

24:27 Proverbs encourages sensible preparation before building a house, so that one may attend well to the life lived in it.

24:28-29 Commitment to giving an honest answer (v. 26) includes refraining from paying back a neighbor, through false testimony or deception, for past acts of injustice (cf. Lev. 19:15-18; Matt. 5:43-48).

24:30-34 These verses illustrate how proverbs are supposed to function: upon walking by a field and vineyard that has fallen into ruin through laziness (vv. 30-31), the observer takes it to heart and rightly recognizes (v. 32) that the wise instruction he has heard about the sluggard applies to the situation at hand (vv. 33-34 are identical to 6:10-11). Both the observer and the reader are encouraged to believe that sustained and steadfast labor is a part of the path of wisdom.