34 Blessed is the man who hears me, Watching daily at my gates, Waiting at the posts of my doors! 35 For whosoever findeth me has found life, And has obtained favour from Jahve; 36 And whosoever misseth me doeth wrong to himself; All they who hate me love death.”
The imper. וחכמוּ, 33a (et sapite), is to be judged after Pro 4:4, וחיה, cf. the Chethı̂b, Pro 13:20; one sees this from the words ואל־תּפרעוּ which follow, to which, after Pro 15:32, as at Pro 4:13, to אל־תּרף, מוּסר is to be placed as object: and throw not to the winds (ne missam faciatis; vid., regarding פרע at Pro 1:25), viz., instruction (disciplinam).
Verse 34
The אשׁרי here following שׁמעוּ is related to it as assigning a motive, like the ואשׁרי (Pro 8:32) following שׁמעו; according to the Masora, we have to write אשׁרי with Mercha, and on the first syllable Gaja (vid., Baer's Torath Emeth, pp. 26, 29; cf. under Psa 1:1). לשׁקד signifies to watch, not in the sense of ad vigilandum, but vigilando, as Isa 5:22; Isa 30:1; Ewald, §380d. In contradistinction to העיר and הקיץ, which denote watching as the consequence of wakefulness or an interruption of sleep, שׁקד signifies watching as a condition, and that as one which a person willingly maintains (Psychol. p. 275), the intentional watching (cf. Arab. shaḳidha, to fix penetrating eyes upon anything), with על of the place and object and aim (Jer 5:6; cf. העיר על, Job 8:6). The plurals דּלתות (fores, as חמות, Jer 1:18, maenia) and פתחים are amplifying plurs. of extension, suggesting the idea of a palace or temple; מזוּזת (postes portae, in quibus cardines ejus moventur, from זוּז, to move hither and thither) is intended to indicate that he to whom the discourse refers holds himself in closest nearness to the entrance, that he might not miss the moment when it is opened, or when she who dwells there presents herself to view. “The figure is derived from the service of a court: Wisdom is honoured by her disciples, as a queen or high patroness; cf. Samachschari's Golden Necklaces, Pr. 35: Blessed is the man who knocks only at God's door, and who departs not a nail's breadth from God's threshold” (Fl.).
Verse 35
This verse gives the reason for pronouncing those happy who honour Wisdom. The Chethı̂b is כי מצאי מצאי חיּים, but the passing over into the sing. 35b is harsh and objectionable; the Kerı̂ rightly regards the second מצאי as a mistaken repetition of the first, and substitutes כי מצאי מצא חיים, with which the וחטאי (Pro 8:36)
