Teks -- Proverbs 28:2 (NET)

28:2 When a country is rebellious it has many princes, but by someone who is discerning and knowledgeable order is maintained.

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

Wesley: Pro 28:2 - But

By a wise and good prince.

JFB: Pro 28:2

Anarchy producing contending rulers shortens the reign of each.

JFB: Pro 28:2 - but by a man . . . prolonged

Or, "by a man of understanding--that is, a good ruler--he who knows or regards the right, that is, a good citizen, shall prolong (his days)." Good rulers are a blessing to the people. Bad government as a punishment for evil is contrasted with good as blessing to the good.

Clarke: Pro 28:2 - Many are the princes

Many are the princes - Nations, as nations, cannot be judged in a future world; therefore, God judges them here. And where the people are very wicked, and the constitution very bad, the succession of princes is frequent - they are generally taken off by an untimely death. Where the people know that the constitution is in their favor, they seldom disturb the prince, as they consider him the guardian of their privileges

Clarke: Pro 28:2 - But by a man of understanding

But by a man of understanding - Whether he be a king, or the king’ s prime minister, the prosperity of the state is advanced by his counsels.

TSK: Pro 28:2 - the transgression // but // by a man

the transgression : 1Ki 15:25, 1Ki 15:28, 16:8-29; 2Kings 15:8-31; 2Ch 36:1-12; Isa 3:1-7; Hos 13:11

but : Gen 45:5-8; 2Ch 32:20-26; Job 22:28-30; Ecc 9:15; Isa 58:12; Dan 4:27

by a man : etc. by men of understanding and wisdom shall they likewise be prolonged

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: Pro 28:2 - Many are the princes thereof // By a man of understanding and knowledge // men of understanding // The state thereof shall be prolonged

Many are the princes thereof either,

1. Together, contending for supremacy. Or rather,

2. Successively, as appears from the following clause. Their princes are soon cut off, and other persons, and ofttimes persons of other families, come in their stead, which is justly threatened as a curse, because such frequent changes are seldom for the better, and commonly for the worse, and are frequently attended with blood and slaughter, with the change and subversion of laws, with heavy taxes and charges, with the ruin of many families, and with many other mischiefs.

By a man of understanding and knowledge by a wise and good man; which may be understood either,

1. Collectively, for

men of understanding & c., as it is rendered in the margin. i.e. when the men or people of a land are wise and good. Or rather,

2. Singularly; and that either,

1. Of a wise and righteous prince, who by the good government of himself, and his family, and kingdom, by punishing and preventing the transgressions of the people, turns away God’ s wrath, and saves himself and people. Or,

2. Of any other man of eminent wisdom or piety, who prevents this judgment, either by his good counsels given to the prince and people, and entertained by them, or by his intercession to God; for God hath sometimes spared a people for the sake of one man, as he did Zoar for Lot, Gen 19:20,21 . and the Israelites for Moses, Psa 106:23 .

The state thereof shall be prolonged the land shall enjoy its former state and tranquillity, and the life of their good prince shall be prolonged.

Haydock: Pro 28:2 - Princes

Princes. Who each contend for the sovereign power. (Calmet)

Gill: Pro 28:2 - For the transgression of a land many are the princes thereof // but by a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged

For the transgression of a land many are the princes thereof,.... Either together; that is, reigning princes, such as lay claim to the crown, and usurp it; otherwise it is a happiness to a nation to have many princes of the blood, to inherit in succession, to support the crown in their family, and defend a nation, and study the good of it; but it is a judgment to a nation when many rise up as competitors for rule, or do rule, as at Athens, where thirty tyrants sprung up at once; by which factions and parties are made, and which issue in oppression, rapine, and murder: or successively, very quickly, one after another, being dethroned the one by the other: or removed by death, as in the land of Israel, in the times of the judges, and of the kings of Israel and Judah, after the revolt of the ten tribes; which frequent changes produce different administrations, new laws, and fresh taxes, disagreeable to the people; and oftentimes children come to be their princes, which is always reckoned an infelicity to a nation; see Ecc 10:16; and all this is usually for some national sin or sins indulged to, which draw upon a people the divine resentment, and provoke God to suffer such changes among there;

but by a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged, either by a set of wise and understanding, good and virtuous men, who will oppose the growing vice and immoralities of a people, and form themselves into societies for the reformation of manners; the word "man" being taken collectively for a body of men: or by a wise and prudent minister or ministry, or a set of civil magistrates, who will show themselves to be terrors to evildoers, and a praise to them that do well: or by a wise and prudent prince, who seeks to establish his throne by judgment and mercy; who will take care that justice and judgment be executed in the land, and that vice and profaneness be discouraged; by means of such, the state of a kingdom, which seemed near to ruin, will be prolonged, and the happiness and prosperity of it secured and established; and God, in mercy to it, may long preserve the life of their king, will being a good one, a long reign is always a happiness to a nation. And to this sense is the Vulgate Latin version, "the life of the prince shall be longer"; and the Targum, which is,

"and the sons of men that understand knowledge shall endure;''

see Ecc 9:15.