Teks -- Proverbs 23:5 (NET)

23:5 When you gaze upon riches, they are gone, for they surely make wings for themselves, and fly off into the sky like an eagle!

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

Wesley: Pro 23:5 - Set thine eyes

Look upon it with earnestness and desire.

Wesley: Pro 23:5 - Is not

Which has no solid and settled being.

Wesley: Pro 23:5 - Eagle

Swiftly, strongly, and irrecoverably.

JFB: Pro 23:4-5

(Compare 1Ti 6:9-10).

JFB: Pro 23:4-5 - thine own wisdom

Which regards riches intrinsically as a blessing.

JFB: Pro 23:5 - Wilt . . . eyes

As the eyes fly after or seek riches, they are not, that is, either become transitory or unsatisfying; fully expressed by their flying away.

TSK: Pro 23:5 - thou // set thine eyes upon // that which // riches

thou : Psa 119:36, Psa 119:37; Jer 22:17; 1Jo 2:16

set thine eyes upon : Heb. cause thine eyes to fly upon, etc. ""He expresses it in such a way,""says Abp. Tillotson, ""as if a rich man sat brooding over an estate till it was fledged, and gotten itself wings to fly away."

that which : Gen 42:36; Ecc 1:2, Ecc 12:8; Isa 55:2; 1Co 7:29-31

riches : Pro 27:24; Job 1:14-17; Psa 39:6; Ecc 5:13, Ecc 5:14; Mat 6:19; 1Ti 6:17; Jam 5:1, Jam 5:2

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

Poole: Pro 23:5 - Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that // Which is not // They fly away as an eagle

Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that i.e. look upon it with earnestness and greedy desire, employing the eyes of thy mind and body about it.

Which is not which hath no solid and settled being; which is ours to have, but not to hold; which is always upon the wing, and ofttimes gone in the twinkling of an eye, so that the owner is frequently at a loss, and cannot tell whether he hath his estate, or whether he hath lost it.

They fly away as an eagle swiftly, strongly, and irrevocably. We quickly lose the sight and possession of them. Their flying away from us is elegantly opposed to our eyes being set, or, as it is in the Hebrew, flying upon them, in the beginning of the verse.

Haydock: Pro 23:5 - Riches // Like

Riches. Septuagint, "to him, the rich man, he no where appears. He has prepared," &c. (Haydock) ---

Like. Hebrew, "as the eagle, it will fly," &c. (Haydock) ---

We must therefore fix our hearts on more durable goods.

Gill: Pro 23:5 - Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not // for riches certainly make themselves wings // they fly away as an eagle towards heaven

Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?.... The Vulgate Latin version is,

"do not lift up thine eyes to riches which thou canst not have;''

riches no doubt are intended, and which may be said to be "not"; they are not the true riches, have only the shadow and appearance of riches; they are not lasting and durable; in a little time they will not be; they are perishing things, they have no substance or solidity in them; they are not satisfying; they do not make them happy; they are rather nonentities than realities; and therefore the eyes of the mind and the affections of the heart should not be set on them: it may be rendered, "wilt thou cause thine eyes to fly upon that which is not?" ^w denoting the intenseness of the mind, and the eagerness of the affections, and with what rapidity and force they move towards them. The Targum is,

"if thou fixest thine eyes on him, he shall not appear to thee;''

meaning the rich man: and so the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions. Ben Melech makes mention of other senses very different; according to R. Judah, the word signifies darkness, "wilt thou make thine eyes dark?" two according to others, signifies light, "wilt thou make thine eyes to shine?" and, according to Jarchi, "wilt thou double?", or shut thine eyes?

for riches certainly make themselves wings; or, "it in making makes itself wings" ^x; even that which is not, on which men cause their eyes to fly; no sooner are their eyes upon that, but that flies away from them like a bird with wings; see Hos 9:11. Either men are taken from that, or that from them, and sometimes very swiftly and suddenly;

they fly away as an eagle towards heaven; the eagle flies very swiftly, none more swiftly; it flies towards heaven, out of sight, and out of reach, and out of call; so riches flee away to God, the original giver of them, from whence they came, and who is the sole disposer of them; they own him as the proprietor and distributor of them; and they flee to heaven as it were for fresh orders where they should be, and into whose hands they should come next; they flee away, so as not to be seen any more, and be recovered by those who have formerly enjoyed them.