Proverbs 6:27

Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

6:20-35 The word of God has something to say to us upon all occasions. Let not faithful reproofs ever make us uneasy. When we consider how much this sin abounds, how heinous adultery is in its own nature, of what evil consequence it is, and how certainly it destroys the spiritual life in the soul, we shall not wonder that the cautions against it are so often repeated. Let us notice the subjects of this chapter. Let us remember Him who willingly became our Surety, when we were strangers and enemies. And shall Christians, who have such prospects, motives, and examples, be slothful and careless? Shall we neglect what is pleasing to God, and what he will graciously reward? May we closely watch every sense by which poison can enter our minds or affections.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The two forms of evil bring, each of them, their own penalty. By the one a man is brought to such poverty as to beg for "a piece of bread" (compare 1 Samuel 2:36): by the other and more deadly sin he incurs a peril which may affect his life. The second clause is very abrupt and emphatic in the original; "but as for a man's wife; she hunts for the precious life."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

27-29. The guilt and danger most obvious.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The question implies a denial; he cannot escape burning. No more can he who burns in lust avoid destruction.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Can a man take fire in his bosom,.... A whore is compared to fire, and is so called by the poets (o); and it is a saying of Pythagoras,

"it is a like thing to fall into fire and into a woman (p);''

the Hebrew words "esh", "fire", and "ishah", "a woman", have some affinity in sound; and the phrase of taking it "into the bosom" fitly expresses the impure embraces of a harlot;

and his clothes not be burned? he cannot, it is impossible; and equally vain is it to think that a man can commit whoredom and it not be known, or he not hurt by it in his name and substance, or in his body, soul, and life.

(o) Plauti Bacehides, Acts 4. Sc. 9. v. 15. "Accede ad ignem hunc", Terent. Eunuehus, Acts 1. Sc. 2. v. 5. (p) , apud Maximum, Eclog. c. 39.

Geneva Study Bible

{n} Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?

(n) Meaning, that she will never cease till she has brought you to begging, and then seek your destruction.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 27. - In this and the two following verses (28 and 29) the discourse proceeds from statement to illustration, and by examples of cause and effect the teacher shows "the moral necessity of the evil consequences of the sin of adultery" (Delitzsch). The meaning of the verses is plain enough, viz. that as it is in vain to suppose that a person's garment will not be burnt or his feet not be scorched if fire is brought near them, so it is equally inconceivable that a person indulging in adultery can escape its consequences or the retribution that follows. The two questions in vers. 27 and 28 imply a strong negative, and so prepare for the conclusion in ver. 30. Take fire. The Hebrew verb khathah signifies "to take burning or live coals from the hearth" (Placater); and hence is used here in a pregnant sense "to take from the hearth and place in" (cf. Proverbs 25:22, "For thou wilt take coals ['and heap them:' Hebrew, gekhalim khotheh] on his head"). The fuller expression is met with in Isaiah 30:14, "So that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth (lakh'toth esh miyyakud).'" The Vulgate renders by abscondere," to hide: Numquid potest homo absconders ignem; and the LXX. by ἀποδεῖν, equivalent to the Latin alligare "to tie or bind fast." Wordsworth explains "to take and heap up, as in a firepan or censer." In his bosom; Hebrew, b'kheyko; LXX., ἐν κόλπῳ; Vulgate, in sinu suo. The word kheyk is properly "an undulation" (Delitzsch). not the lap, but as in the Authorized Version here, "the bosom," and "the bosom of a garment" as in ch. 16:33; 17:23; 21:14. The answer to the question of this and the next verse is of course a decided negative, but we may note that the teacher compares adultery to a burning fire in its consequences. Proverbs 6:27

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The moral necessity of ruinous consequences which the sin of adultery draws after it, is illustrated by examples of natural cause and effect necessarily connected:

27 Can one take fire in his bosom

     And his clothes not be burned?

28 Or can any one walk over burning coals

     And his feet not be burned?

29 So he that goeth to his neighbour's wife,

     No one remains unpunished that toucheth her.

We would say: Can any one, without being, etc.; the former is the Semitic "extended (paratactic)

(Note: The παρατακτικὸς χρόνος denotes the imperfect tense, because it is still extended to the future.)

construction." The first אישׁ has the conjunctive Shalsheleth. חתה signifies to seize and draw forth a brand or coal with the fire-tongs or shovel (מחתּה, the instrument for this); cf. Arab. khât, according to Lane, "he seized or snatched away a thing;" the form יחתּה is Kal, as יחנה (vid., Khler, De Tetragammate, 1867, p. 10). חיק (properly indentation) is here not the lap, but, as Isaiah 40:11, the bosom.