Line first is a variation of Pro 19:6, cf. 1Ki 10:24. It lies near to interpret אישׁ as gen. obj.: the judgment regarding any one, i.e., the estimating of the man, the decision regarding him; and it is also possible, for משׁפּטי, Psa 17:2, may be understood of the judgment which I have, as well as of the judgment pronounced regarding me (cf. Lam 3:59). But the usage appears to think of the genit. after משׁפט always as subjective, e.g., Pro 16:33, of the decision which the lot brings, Job 36:6, the right to which the poor have a claim; so that thus in the passage before us משׁפט־אשׁ means the right of a man, as that which is proper or fitting to him, the judgment of a man, as that to which as appropriate he has a claim (lxx τὸ δίκαιον ἀνδρί). Whether the genit. be rendered in the one way or the other, the meaning remains the same: it is not the ruler who finally decides the fate and determines the worth of a man, as they appear to think who with eye-service court his favour and fawn upon him.
Verse 27
Pro 29:27 27 An abomination to a righteous man is a villanous man; And an abomination to the godless is he who walketh uprightly.
In all the other proverbs which begin with תועבת, e.g., Pro 11:20, יהוה follows as genit., here צדּיקים, whose judgment is like that of God. אישׁ עול is an abhorrence to them, not as a man, but just as of such a character; עול is the direct contrast to ישׁר. The righteous sees in the villanous man, who boldly does that which is opposed to morality and to honour, an adversary of his God; on the other hand, the godless sees in the man that walketh uprightly (ישׁר־דּרך, as at Psa 37:14) his adversary, and the condemnation of himself.
With this doubled ת the Book of Proverbs, prepared by the men of Hezekiah, comes to an end. It closes, in accordance with its intention announced at the beginning, with a proverb concerning the king, and a proverb of the great moral contrasts which are found in all circles of society up to the very throne itself.
