Proverbs 25:17

Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbour's house; lest he be weary of thee, and so hate thee.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Proverbs 25:17. Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbour’s house — Visit him not too frequently nor unseasonably: do not, upon every light occasion, interrupt his weightier affairs, nor intrude upon him, and take up his time uninvited and unexpected. Lest he be weary of thee — Lest, having too much of thy company, it grow not only troublesome, but loathsome to him, and his love turn into hatred of thee.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

25:17. We cannot be upon good terms with our neighbours, without discretion as well as sincerity. How much better a Friend is God than any other friend! The oftener we come to him, the more welcome. 18. A false testimony is dangerous in every thing.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Let thy foot be seldom in the house of thy friend, etc. Though thy visits were sweet as honey, he may soon learn to loathe them.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

16, 17. A comparison, as a surfeit of honey produces physical disgust, so your company, however agreeable in moderation, may, if excessive, lead your friend to hate you.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbour’s house, visit him not too frequently nor unseasonably, lest he be weary of thee, and so hate thee, as men are apt to loathe those meats of which they surfeit, as was now observed, Proverbs 25:16.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbour's house,.... Not but that it is commendable to be neighbourly and friendly, or for one neighbour to visit another; but then it should not be very frequent; a man should not be always or often at his neighbour's house. So the words may be rendered, "make thy foot precious" or "rare at thy neighbour's house" (m); be seldom there;

lest he be weary of thee, and so hate thee; or, "lest he be sated with thee" (n); filled with thy company to a loathing of it, as the stomach with eating too much honey, and so his friendship be turned into hatred.

(m) "rarum fac", Montanus, Vatablus, Gejerus, Michaelis, Cocceius; Heb. "praetiosum fac", Piscator. (n) "ne forte satictur tui", Schultens; so Montanus; "saturatus", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Geneva Study Bible

Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbour's house; lest he be weary of thee, and so hate thee.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

17. Withdraw thy foot] So Vulg., subtrahe pedem tuum. Lit. make rare thy foot. The R.V. adopts the marginal reading of A.V., Let thy foot be seldom in. σπάνιον εἴσαγε σὸν πόδα πρὸς σεαυτοῦ φίλον, LXX.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 17. - Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbour's house; literally, make thy foot precious, rare; Septuagint, "Bring thy foot sparingly (σπάνιον) into thy friend's house," The proverb seems to be loosely connected with the preceding, as urging moderation. Do not pay too frequent visits to your neighbors' house, or make yourself too much at home there. The Son of Sirach has an utterance on a somewhat similar subject, "Give place, thou stranger, to an honourable man; my brother cometh to be lodged, and I have need of mine house. Those things are grievous to a man of understanding; the upbraiding of house room, and reproaching of the lender" (Ecclus. 29:27, etc.). Lest he be weary of thee, and so hate thee. Such a result might easily arise from too constant intercourse. Cornelius a Lapide quotes from Seneca ('De Benefic,' 1:15), "Rarum esse oportet quod diu carum velis," "That should be rare which you would enduringly bear." And Martial's cynical advice -

"Nulli te facias nimis sodalem;
Gaudebis minus, et minus dolebis." The same poet ('Epigr.,' 4:29, 3) writes -

"Rara juvant; primis sic major gratia pomis,
Hibernae pretium sic meruere rosae." Proverbs 25:17

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

This proverb is of a kindred character to the foregoing. "If thy comrade eats honey," says an Arabic proverb quoted by Hitzig, "do not lick it all up." But the emblem of honey is not continued in this verse:

Make rare thy foot in thy neighbour's house,

Lest he be satiated with thee, and hate thee.

To make one's foot rare or dear from a neighbour's house is equivalent to: to enter it seldom, and not too frequently; הוקר includes in itself the idea of keeping at a distance (Targ. כּלה רגלך; Symmachus, ὑπόστειλον; and another: φίμωσον πόδα σου), and מן has the sense of the Arab. 'an, and is not the comparative, as at Isaiah 13:12 : regard thy visit dearer than the house of a neighbour (Heidenheim). The proverb also is significant as to the relation of friend to friend, whose reciprocal love may be turned into hatred by too much intercourse and too great fondness. But רעך is including a friend, any one with whom we stand in any kind of intercourse. "Let him who seeks to be of esteem," says a German proverb, "come seldom;" and that may be said with reference to him whom his heart draws to another, and also to him who would be of use to another by drawing him out of the false way and guiding on the right path - a showing of esteem, a confirming of love by visiting, should not degenerate into forwardness which appears as burdensome servility, as indiscreet self-enjoyment; nor into a restless impetuosity, which seeks at once to gain by force that which one should allow gradually to ripen.