﻿ Proverbs 17:21 Commentaries: He who sires a fool does so to his sorrow, And the father of a fool has no joy.
Proverbs 17:21
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(21) He that begetteth a fool (khesîl).—See above, on Proverbs 1:32.

The father of a fool (nābhāl).—See above, on Proverbs 17:7.


The father; and consequently the mother also.

Hath no joy, which parents usually have in the birth of a child, and especially of a son; but hath great cause of sorrow, the contrary being implied in this and such-like expressions, as in Scripture, as Proverbs 10:2, &c., so also in profane authors; whose words see in my Latin Synopsis. He that begetteth a fool doth it to his sorrow,.... As it proves in the issue; though it was joy to him when a man child was born, and took delight in him while in infancy and childhood, and promised himself much happiness in him when at years of discretion; but, instead of that, he departs from his education principles, despises all parental counsels and advice, and goes into all the extravagance of sin and folly; which is an heartbreaking to his godly and religious parents; for this is to be understood; not of an idiot, but of a wicked son, taking bad courses;


21. a fool … a fool] The Heb. word so rendered is not the same in the two clauses of the verse. The first word in the first clause describes the fool as dull or senseless, or as some think obstinate. The second word points him out as shameless, like Nabal, whose name (the Heb. word here) was descriptive of his character (1 Samuel 25:25). There is a third Heb. word, used more commonly than either of these in this Book, which regards a fool as one who is perverse, or as some render, weak.Verse 21. - He that begetteth a fool doeth it to his sorrow (comp. ver. 25). The words for "fool" in the two clauses are different. Here it is kesil, which implies bold, self-confident folly, the worst form of the vies; in the second hemistich it is nabal, which rather denotes dulness and stupidity, a want of mental power. A conceited, offensive fool causes infinite trouble to his father, both from his need of constant correction, and the watchfulness required to repair the consequences of his foolish actions. There is also the grief at seeing instruction and warning thrown away on a worthless object. Septuagint, "The heart of a fool is a pain to him who possesseth it." The father of a fool hath no joy. The contrast in the case of a good son is seen in Proverbs 15:20 and Proverbs 23:24. The LXX. adds a clause from Proverbs 10:1, with the view of improving the parallelism, "But a prudent son rejoiceth his mother." 15 He that acquitteth the guilty and condemneth the righteous -

     An abomination to Jahve are they both.

The proverb is against the partisan judge who is open to bribery, like Proverbs 24:24, cf. Isaiah 5:23, where, with reference to such, the announcement of punishment is emphatically made. רשׁע and צדּיק, in a forensic sense, are equivalent to sons (reus) and insons. גּם (cf. the Arab. jmy'na, altogether, but particularly the Pers. ham and the Turkish dkhy standing wholly thus in the numeral) is here, as at Genesis 27:45, equivalent to יחדּיו, Jeremiah 46:12 (in its unions equals united). Whoever pronounces sentence of justification on the guilty, appears as if he must be judged more mildly than he who condemns the guiltless, but both the one and the other alike are an abhorrence to God.

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