Proverbs 22:28

Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(28) Remove not the ancient landmark.—The stones marking the boundaries of the fields: evidently a not uncommon crime, from the earnestness with which it is forbidden. (Comp. Proverbs 23:10; Deuteronomy 19:14; Deuteronomy 27:17.)

Benson Commentary

Proverbs 22:28. Remove not the ancient landmark — Whereby the lands of several possessors were distinguished and divided. Do not enrich thyself with the injury of other men: do not invade the rights of others.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

22:26,27. Every man ought to be just to himself, and his family; those are not so, who, by folly or other carelessness, waste what they have. 28. We are taught not to trespass on another man's right. And it is hard to find a truly industrious man. Such a man will rise. Seest thou a man diligent in the business of religion? He is likely to excel. Let us then be diligent in God's work.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A protest against the grasping covetousness Isaiah 5:8 which is regardless of the rights of the poor upon whose inheritance men encroach (compare the margin reference). The not uncommon reference of the words to the "landmarks" of thought or custom, however, natural and legitimate, is foreign to the mind of the writer.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

28. (Compare Pr 23:10). Do not entrench on others (De 19:14; 27:17).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Landmark, whereby the lands of several possessors were distinguished and divided. Do not enrich thyself with the injury of other men; do not invade the rights of others.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set. Or, "the ancient border" or "boundary" (n); by which lands, estates, and inheritances, were marked, bounded, and distinguished; set by ancestors in agreement with their neighbours; which to remove was contrary to a law, and a curse is denounced upon those that did it, Deuteronomy 19:14; and was always reckoned a very heinous crime in early times; See Gill on Job 24:2. This was so sacred a thing among the Romans, that they had a deity which presided over those bounds, and had its name from them. Some apply this, in a political sense, to laws of long standing, and customs of long prescription; and others interpret it, in a theological sense, of doctrines and practices settled by the fathers of the church; which, if understood of Christ and his apostles only, will be allowed; but if of the ancient fathers of the church that followed them, it should not be received; since they were but fallible men, and guilty of many errors and mistakes, both in doctrine and practice.

(n) "terminum antiquum", Pagninus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Michaelis, Schultens.

Geneva Study Bible

Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

28. Comp. Proverbs 23:10; Deuteronomy 19:14.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 28. - The first line is repeated at Proverbs 23:10. (On the sanctity of landmarks, see note on Proverbs 15:25.) Some of the stones, exhibiting a bilingual inscription, which marked the boundaries of the Levitical city of Gezer, were discovered by Gauneau in 1874 ('Quart. Statement Pal. Explor. Fund,' 1874). The Septuagint calls the landmarks ὅρια αἰώνια. Proverbs 22:28

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

A fourth proverb - a distich - beginning with the warning אל:

28 Remove not the perpetual landmark

     Which thy ancestors have set up.

28a equals Proverbs 23:10. Regarding the inviolability of boundaries established by the law, vid., at Proverbs 15:25. גּבוּל עולם denotes "the boundary mark set up from ancient times, the removal of which were a double transgression, because it is rendered sacred by its antiquity" (Orelli, p. 76). נסג equals סוּג signifies to remove back, Hiph. to shove back, to move away. אשׁר has the meaning of (ὅριον) ὅ, τι, quippe quod. Instead of עולם, the Mishna reads, Pea v. 6, עולים, which in the Jerusalem Gemara one Rabbi understands of those brought up out of Egypt, another of the poor; for "to rise" (in the world) is a euphemism (לשׁון כבוד) for "to come down" (be reduced in circumstances).

(Note: As an analogical example, סגּי נהור, seeing clearly equals blind.)