Proverbs 25:4

Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(4) And there shall come forth a vessel for the finer.—Or, So there results a vessel to the refiner, or silversmith. He is able to make one.

Benson Commentary

Proverbs 25:4-5. Take away the dross from the silver, &c. — When the dross is separated from the silver, and not before, it becomes so pliable, that the finer may cast or work it into what form he pleases; thus, take away the wicked from before the king — Remove from his court and counsels those who, by their wicked advices and practices, provoke God’s displeasure against him, blast his reputation, and alienate the hearts of his subjects from him, and his throne shall be established in righteousness — By such impartial execution of justice, his kingdom will be settled in peace, and his government become as durable as it will be beneficial.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

25:1-3 God needs not search into any thing; nothing can be hid from him. But it is the honour of rulers to search out matters, to bring to light hidden works of darkness. 4,5. For a prince to suppress vice, and reform his people, is the best way to support his government. 6,7. Religion teaches us humility and self-denial. He who has seen the glory of the Lord in Christ Jesus, will feel his own unworthiness. 8-10. To be hasty in beginning strife, will bring into difficulties. War must at length end, and might better be prevented. It is so in private quarrels; do all thou canst to settle the matter. 11,12. A word of counsel, or reproof, rightly spoken, is especially beautiful, as fine fruit becomes still more beautiful in silver baskets. 13. See what ought to be the aim of him that is trusted with any business; to be faithful. A faithful minister, Christ's messenger, should be thus acceptable to us. 14. He who pretends to have received or given that which he never had, is like the morning cloud, that disappoints those who look for rain. 15. Be patient to bear a present hurt. Be mild to speak without passion; for persuasive language is the most effectual to prevail over the hardened mind. 16. God has given us leave to use grateful things, but we are cautioned against excess.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The other side of the thought of Proverbs 25:2. What the mind of God is to the searchers after knowledge, that the heart of the true and wise king is to those who try to guess its counsels.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4, 5. As separating impurities from ore leaves pure silver, so taking from a king wicked counsellors leaves a wise and beneficent government.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Then, and not till then, it is fit for that use.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Take away the dross from the silver,.... By putting it into the furnace, and purging it from it:

and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer; not out of the furnace, a vessel formed and shaped, but pure silver shall come out of it for the refiner; of which a vessel may be made, very honourable, beautiful, and fit for use: the application of it is in Proverbs 25:5.

Geneva Study Bible

Take away the {f} dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the refiner.

(f) When vice is removed from a king, he is a meet vessel for the Lord's use.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

4. a vessel for the finer] Such pure metal as the refiner, who has with that very object taken away the dross, can make into a goodly vessel or vase. Egredietur vas purissimum, Vulg.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 4, 5. - A tetrastich in an emblematical form. Verse 4. - Take away the dross from the silver. Silver was most extensively used by the Hebrews (see 'Dictionary of the Bible,' sub voc.), whether obtained from native mines or imported from foreign countries, and the process of separating the ore from the extraneous matters mixed with it was well known (Psalm 12:6; Ezekiel 22:20, etc.; see on Proverbs 17:3). And there shall come forth a vessel for the finer (tsaraph); the goldsmith. The pure silver is ready for the artist s work, who from this material can make a beautiful vessel. Septuagint, "Beat untested silver, and all shall be made entirely pure," where the allusion is to the process of reducing minerals by lamination. Proverbs 25:4

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

There now follows an emblematic (vid., vol. i. p. 10) tetrastich:

4 Take away the dross from silver,

   So there is ready a vessel for the goldsmith;

5 Take away the wicked from the king,

   And his throne is established by righteousness.

The form הגו (cf. the inf. Poal הגו, Isaiah 59:13) is regarded by Schultens as showing a ground-form הגו; but there is also found e.g., עשׂו, whose ground-form is עשׂי; the verb הגה, R. הג (whence Arab. hajr, discedere), cf. יגה (whence הגה, semovit, 2 Samuel 20:13 equals Syr. âwagy, cf. Arab. âwjay, to withhold, to abstain from), signifies to separate, withdraw; here, of the separation of the סיגים, the refuse, i.e., the dross (vid., regarding the plena scriptio, Baer's krit. Ausg. des Jesaia, under Proverbs 1:22); the goldsmith is designated by the word צרף, from צרף morf, to turn, change, as he who changes the as yet drossy metal by means of smelting, or by purification in water, into that which is pure. In 5a הגה is, as at Isaiah 27:8, transferred to a process of moral purification; what kind of persons are to be removed from the neighbourhood of the king is shown by Isaiah 1:22-23. Here also (as at Isa. l.c.) the emblem or figure of Proverbs 25:4 is followed in Proverbs 25:5 by its moral antitype aimed at. The punctuation of both verses is wonderfully fine and excellent. In Proverbs 25:4, ויצא is not pointed ויצא, but as the consecutive modus ויּצא; this first part of the proverb refers to a well-known process of art: the dross is separated from the silver (inf. absol., as Proverbs 12:7; Proverbs 15:22), and so a vessel (utensil) proceeds from the goldsmith, for he manufactures pure silver; the ל is here similarly used as the designation of the subject in the passive, Proverbs 13:13; Proverbs 14:20. In Proverbs 25:5, on the contrary, ויּכּון (ויּכּן) is not the punctuation used, but the word is pointed indicatively ויכּון; this second part of the proverb expresses a moral demand (inf. absol. in the sense of the imperative, Gesen. 131, 4b like Proverbs 17:12, or an optative or concessive conjunction): let the godless be removed, לפני מלך, i.e., not from the neighbourhood of the king, for which the words are מלּפני מלך; also not those standing before the king, i.e., in his closest neighbourhood (Ewald, Bertheau); but since, in the absolute, הגה, not an act of another in the interest of the king, but of the king himself, is thought of: let the godless be removed from before the king, i.e., because he administers justice (Hitzig), or more generally: because after that Psalm (101), which is the "mirror of princes," he does not suffer him to come into his presence. Accordingly, the punctuation is בּצּדק, not בּצדק (Proverbs 16:12); because such righteousness is meant as separates the רשׁע from it and itself from him, as Isaiah 16:5 (vid., Hitzig), where the punctuation of בּחסד denotes that favour towards Moab seeking protection.