Proverbs 21:19

It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

21:9. It is best to shun bitter contention by pouring out the heart before God. For by prudence and patience, with constant prayer, the cross may be removed. 10. The evil desires of a wicked man's heart, lead to baseness in his conduct. 11. The simple may be made wise by punishments on the wicked, and by instructions to those who are willing to be taught. 12. Good men envy not the prosperity of evil-doers; they see there is a curse on them. 13. Such as oppress the poor by beating down wages, such as will not relieve according to their ability those in distress, and those in authority who neglect to do justice, stop their ears at the cry of the poor. But doubtless care is to be used in the exercise of charity. 14. If money can conquer the fury of the passions, shall reason, the fear of God, and the command of Christ, be too weak to bridle them? 15. There is true pleasure only in the practice of religion. 16. Of all wanderers in the ways of sin, those are in the most dangerous condition who turn aside into the ways of darkness. Yet there is hope even for them in the all-sufficient Saviour; but let them flee to him without delay. 17. A life of worldly pleasure brings ruin on men. 18. The righteous is often delivered out of trouble, and the wicked comes in his stead, and so seems as a ransom for him. 19. Unbridled passions spoil the comfort of all relations. 20. The plenty obtained by prudence, industry, and frugality, is desirable. But the foolish misspend what they have upon their lusts. 21. True repentance and faith will lead him that relies on the mercy of God in Christ, to follow after righteousness and mercy in his own conduct. 22. Those that have wisdom, often do great things, even against those confident of their strength. 23. It is our great concern to keep our souls from being entangled and disquieted. 24. Pride and haughtiness make men passionate; such continually deal in wrath, as if it were their trade to be angry. 25,26. Here is the misery of the slothful; their hands refuse to labour in an honest calling, by which they might get an honest livelihood; yet their hearts cease not to covet riches, pleasures, and honours, which cannot be obtained without labour. But the righteous and industrious have their desires satisfied. 27. When holiness is pretended, but wickedness intended, that especially is an abomination. 28. The doom of a false witness is certain. 29. A wicked man bids defiance to the terrors of the law and the rebukes of Providence. But a good man asks, What does God require of me? 30,31. Means are to be used, but, after all, our safety and salvation are only of the Lord. In our spiritual warfare we must arm ourselves with the whole armour of God; but our strength must be in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Compare the marginal reference. Evil doers seem to draw down the wrath of God upon their heads, and so become, as it were, the scapegoats of the comparatively righteous.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

19. (Compare Pr 21:9).

wilderness—pasture, though uninhabitable ground (Ps 65:12).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Than, understand, in a wide house, as it is expressed above, Proverbs 21:9, and as the opposition here requires.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

It is better to dwell in the wilderness,.... Where persons live without shelter, and are not only exposed to storms and tempests, but to beasts of prey; where is want of the necessaries of life, and no society; where no "speech" is, as the word (e) for wilderness may signify; yet it is better to dwell in such a place, where no human voice is heard,

than with a contentious and an angry woman; that is always brawling and scolding, ever in a quarrelsome and angry disposition, and provoking to anger all about her; See Gill on Proverbs 21:9. In a mystical sense, it is better to be with the church in the wilderness, Revelation 12:14; than with the furious, bloodthirsty, and persecuting church of Rome, in all its worldly glory and splendour.

(e) "a" "loqui".

Geneva Study Bible

It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

19. wilderness] regarded, as the parallel requires, not as a barren, but as a solitary place.

angry] Or, fretful, R.V. text; or, a contentious woman and vexation, R.V. marg. The LXX. introduce a third characteristic, chattering, γλωσσώδης.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 19. - A variant of ver. 9. Here, instead of the "corner of the roof," we have a wilderness, a desert land, as the refuge to which the persecuted man must flee. Than with a contentious and an angry (fretful) woman. So the Vulgate. But it seems better, with many modern commentators, to take וָכָעַם, not as another epithet, but as equivalent to "and vexation," i.e. a quarrelsome wife, and the vexation that accompanies such an infliction. The LXX. adds a word to the text, as being at the root of the matter, "Than with a quarrelsome, talkative, and passionate woman." Proverbs 21:19

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

With this verse, a doublet to Proverbs 21:9 (Proverbs 25:24), the collector makes a new addition; in Proverbs 21:29 he reaches a proverb which resembles the closing proverb of the preceding group, in its placing in contrast the רשׁע and ישׁר; -

It is better to dwell in a waste land,

Than a contentious wife and vexation.

The corner of the roof, Hitzig remarks, has been made use of, and the author must look further out for a lonely seat. But this is as piquant as it is devoid of thought; for have both proverbs the same author, and if so, were they coined at the same time? Here also it is unnecessary to regard מאשׁת as an abbreviation for משּׁבת עם אשׁת. Hitzig supplies שׁכן, by which אשׁת, as the accus.-obj., is governed; but it is not to be supplied, for the proverb places as opposite to one another dwelling in a waste land (read שׁבת בּארץ־מדבּר, with Codd. and correct Ed.) and a contentious wife (Chethı̂b, מדונים, Kerı̂, מדינים) and vexation, and says the former is better than the latter. For וכעס [and vexation] is not, as translated by the ancients, and generally received, a second governed genitive to אשׁת, but dependent on מן, follows "contentious woman" (cf. 9b): better that than a quarrelsome wife, and at the same time vexation.