Teks -- Proverbs 3:27 (NET)

Wisdom Demonstrated in Relationships with People

3:27 Do not withhold good from those who need it, when you have the ability to help.

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

Wesley: Pro 3:27 - With

hold not - Do not deny it, but readily and chearfuly impart it.

Wesley: Pro 3:27 - Good

Any thing which is good, either counsel, comfort, reproof, or the good things of the present life.

Wesley: Pro 3:27 - Due

That is, to all men, by that great and sovereign law of love.

JFB: Pro 3:27-28

Promptly fulfil all obligations both of justice and charity (compare Jam 2:15-16).

Clarke: Pro 3:27 - Withhold not good from them to whom it is due

Withhold not good from them to whom it is due - מבעליו mibbealaiv , from the lords of it. But who are they? The poor. And what art thou, O rich man? Why, thou art a steward, to whom God has given substance that thou mayest divide with the poor. They are the right owners of every farthing thou hast to spare from thy own support, and that of thy family; and God has given the surplus for their sakes. Dost thou, by hoarding up this treasure, deprive the right owners of their property? If this were a civil case, the law would take thee by the throat, and lay thee up in prison; but it is a case in which God alone judges. And what will he do to thee? Hear! "He shall have judgment without mercy, who hath showed no mercy;"Jam 2:13. Read, feel, tremble, and act justly.

TSK: Pro 3:27 - Withhold // them to whom it is due // in the

Withhold : Rom 13:7; Gal 6:10; Tit 2:14; Jam 2:15, Jam 2:16, Jam 5:4

them to whom it is due : Heb. the owners thereof

in the : Gen 31:29; Mic 2:1

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

Poole: Pro 3:27 - Withhold not good // From them to whom it is due // To do it

Withhold not good do not deny it, but readily and cheerfully impart it, which is implied in the contrary, as above, Pro 3:11 , and oft in this book, as we shall see. Good ; any thing which is good; either spiritually, as counsel, comfort, reproof, &c.; or civilly, the good things of the present life, as good is taken, Psa 4:6 , called this world’ s good , 1Jo 3:17 .

From them to whom it is due Heb. from the lords or owners of it ; from those who have any kind of right to it; either,

1. By the law of justice and equity, prescribed both by the natural and written laws of God, and by the civil laws of men. So this place commands the payment of just debts, and the restitution of things either found or committed to our trust, or taken from others by fraud or violence. Or,

2. (which seems to be chiefly intended by comparing this with the next verse, though the former is not to be excluded,) By that great and sovereign law of love or charity, which God hath written in the hearts of men by nature, and frequently and severely enjoined in his word, whereby every man is obliged according to his ability and opportunity, to pity and relieve such as are in real want or misery; who in that case are here called the owners of our goods, not in respect of men, as if men in want might seize upon the riches of others, but in respect of God, who is the sovereign Lord and only true Proprietary of all men’ s estates, who giveth them when and to whom he pleaseth, and who doth not give away his right, nor make men absolute lords of them to dispose them as they will, but only allows them the use and comfort of them upon such conditions, and with such reservations and rent charges, as I may call them, as he hath appointed, whereof this is one, that men should readily and freely communicate them to other men who need and require their help. And such actions, though they be acts of charity and bounty to men, yet, as to God, they are acts of righteousness, as they are called, Pro 11:18 2Co 9:9 , and in many other places.

To do it either,

1. To withhold it. Or,

2. To do good. And this clause may be added, either,

1. As a limitation, to intimate that God expects from men according to what they have, and not according to what they have not, as is said, 2Co 8:12 . Or,

2. As an argument to persuade them to partake the present season to perform this duty, when they are capable of so doing, because by the changes of this world, and the course of Divine providence, they may be disenabled from the performance of this great and necessary duty, and then they will be without excuse.

Haydock: Pro 3:27 - Able

Able. Protestants, "withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it." Relieve the distressed. (Haydock) ---

They have a title to that wealth, since those who possess it are bound to relieve the indigent. (Calmet) ---

Septuagint, "refrain not from doing good," &c. (Haydock)

Gill: Pro 3:27 - Withhold not good from them to whom it is due // when it is in the power of thine hand to do it

Withhold not good from them to whom it is due,.... Honour, reverence, and tribute, to civil magistrates, Rom 13:7; just payment of debts to creditors, and alms to the poor, which, by what follows, seems to be chiefly intended; and the Septuagint render it,

"do not abstain to do well to the needy;''

and Aben Ezra interprets it of the poor; to them alms are due because of their wants, and by the appointment; of God; hence called "righteousness", in some copies of Mat 6:1; so money kept from the poor "mammon of unrighteousness", Luk 16:9. They are, as the word in the Hebrew text signifies, "the owners thereof" ^h: rich men are not so much proprietors of good things as they are God's alms givers or stewards to distribute to the poor; and, as often as men have opportunity, they should do good in this way to all, especially to the household of faith, Gal 6:10; this will hold true, as of temporal good things, so of spiritual; as good advice, exhortation, and doctrine. The Vulgate Latin version is, "do not forbid him to do well that can"; which sense is favoured by Jarchi: and as we should not abstain from doing good ourselves, so neither should we forbid, hinder, or discourage others; but the former sense is best;

when it is in the power of thine hand to do it; not to hinder others, as Jarchi, but to do good; when a man has a sufficiency in his hands to do good with; has not only enough for himself and his family, but something to spare; when he has both opportunity and ability; and when he can do it at once and without delay, as follows.