Proverbs 23:10

Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(10) Remove not the old landmark.—See above, on Proverbs 22:28.

Benson Commentary

Proverbs 23:10-11. Enter not into the fields of the fatherless — Either to take away their goods, or rather, to possess their lands, as this phrase is used, 2 Samuel 5:6. For their Redeemer is mighty — Hebrew, גאלם, their near kinsman, to whom it belongs to avenge their wrongs, and to recover and maintain their rights: see on Leviticus 25:25; Numbers 35:12; Job 19:25. God is pleased to call himself the kinsman of the fatherless, to show how much he concerns himself for the relief of oppressed and helpless persons.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

23:1-3 God's restraints of the appetite only say, Do thyself no harm. 4,5. Be not of those that will be rich. The things of this world are not happiness and a portion for a soul; those that hold them ever so fast, cannot hold them always, cannot hold them long. 6-8. Do not make thyself burdensome to any, especially those not sincere. When we are called by God to his feast, and to let our souls delight themselves, Isa 25:6; 55:2, we may safely partake of the Bread of life. 9. It is our duty to take all fit occasions to speak of Divine things; but if what a wise man says will not be heard, let him hold his peace. 10,11. The fatherless are taken under God's special protection. He is their Redeemer, who will take their part; and he is mighty, almighty.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The "fool" here is one willfully and persistently deaf to it, almost identical with the scorner.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

10, 11. (Compare Pr 22:22, 23).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Either to take away their goods; or rather, to possess their lands, as this phrase is used, 2 Samuel 5:6.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Remove not the old landmark,.... See Gill on Proverbs 22:28;

and enter not into the fields of the fatherless; to carry off the increase of them, to reap their wheat, or mow their grass, or turn in cattle to eat it; or to encroach upon them, take in any part of them, or join the whole to their own; for if there is a woe to them that lay field to field, much more to them that enter into and take the fields of the fatherless, and join them to their own, Isaiah 5:8.

Geneva Study Bible

Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

10. See Proverbs 22:28.

enter not into] to do him wrong as the parallelism implies.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 10, 11. - An enlargement of Proverbs 22:28 combined with Proverbs 22:22, 28. Verse 10. - Enter not into the fields of the fatherless. Do not think to appropriate the fields of orphans, as if there were no our to defend their rights (comp. Proverbs 15:25). Proverbs 23:10

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The following proverb forms a new whole from component parts of Proverbs 22:28 and Proverbs 22:22.:

10 Remove not ancient landmarks;

     And into the fields of orphans enter thou not.

11 For their Saviour is a mighty one;

     He will conduct their cause against thee.

בּוא ב separates itself here to the meaning of injuste invadere et occupare; French, empiter sur son voisin, advance not into the ground belonging to thy neighbour (Fleischer). If orphans have also no goel among their kindred (Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, ἀγχιστεύς) to redeem by purchase (Leviticus 25:25) their inheritance that has passed over into the possession of another, they have another, and that a mighty Saviour, Redemptor, who will restore to them that which they have lost - viz. God (Jeremiah 50:34) - who will adopt their cause against any one who has unjustly taken from them.