Proverbs 17:5

Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker: and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(5) Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker.—See above on Proverbs 14:31.

He that is glad at calamities.—Of enemies. (Comp. Proverbs 24:18; Job 31:29.)

Benson Commentary

Proverbs 17:5. Whoso mocketh the poor — See on Proverbs 14:31; and he that is glad at calamities — At the miseries of other men; shall not be unpunished — The cup shall be put into his hands, Ezekiel 25:6-7.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

17:4. Flatterers, especially false teachers, are welcome to those that live in sin. 5. Those that laugh at poverty, treat God's providence and precepts with contempt. 6. It is an honour to children to have wise and godly parents continued to them, even after they are grown up and settled in the world. 7. A fool, in Solomon's Proverbs, signifies a wicked man, whom excellent speech does not become, because his conversation contradicts it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He that is glad at calamities - A temper common at all times as the most hateful form of evil; the Greek ἐπιχαιρεκακία epichairekakia. The sins spoken of in both clauses occur also in Job's vindication of his integrity Proverbs 31:13, Proverbs 31:29.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

5. (Compare Pr 14:31).

glad at calamities—rejoicing in others' evil. Such are rightly punished by God, who knows their hearts.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Mocketh the poor; derideth or reproacheth him with or for his poverty.

His Maker; God, who by his providence made him poor. See the same assertion Proverbs 14:31.

At calamities; at the miseries of other men.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker,.... He that mocks the poor for his poverty, Upbraids him with his mean appearance, scoffs at the clothes he wears or food he eats, such an one reproaches his Creator; or, as the Targum,

"provokes his Creator to anger;''

him who is his own Creator as well as the poor man's; him who made the poor man, both as a man and as a poor man; and who could have made him rich if he would, as well as the man that mocks at him; whose riches are not of himself, but of God; and who can take them away, and give them to the poor man if he pleases; and therefore rich men should be careful how they mock the poor; for, as Gersom observes, he that derides a work derides the workman;

and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished; or "at calamity" (c); at the calamity of another, as the Vulgate Latin; and so Gersom; for no man rejoices at his own calamity; at the calamity of the poor, as Aben Ezra; or of his neighbour or companion, as the Targum; or at the calamity of any of his fellow creatures, as the Edomites rejoiced at the calamity of the Jews, but were in their turn destroyed; and as the Jews rejoiced when the Christians were persecuted by Nero, and at length were destroyed themselves by the Romans; and as the Papists will rejoice when the witnesses are slain, and quickly after seven thousand men of name will be slain of them, and the rest frightened, Revelation 11:10.

(c) "ad calamitatem", Schultens; "ob calamitatem", Cocceius; "calamitate", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Geneva Study Bible

Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker: and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

5. his Maker] Comp. Proverbs 14:31.

glad at calamities] “It belonged to the Greek mind in its fertility of combination, to express it (the temper here spoken of) by the single word ἐπιχαιρεκακία (Arist. Eth. Nicom. ii. 6), well rendered by the German ‘schadenfreude’.” Dean Plumptre, Speaker’s Comm.

The connecting link of thought between the two clauses of the verse is that poverty and calamity proceed alike from God, so that to mock at the one, or be glad at the other, is to reproach Him and to incur His displeasure.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 5. - Whoso mocketh the poor (see Proverbs 14:31, which is nearly identical). He that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished (Proverbs 11:21; Proverbs 24:17, 18). The particular calamity primarily intended seems to be that which reduces a person to poverty. Delight in others' misfortunes, even those of enemies, is a most detestable form of selfishness and malice. Job, testifying to his own integrity, was thankful to think that he was free from this vice (Job 31:29). The Greeks had a name for it, and called it ἐπιχαιρεκακία, which is used by Aristotle ('Eth. Nic.,' 2:6. 18). The pious author looks for retributive punishment on such spitefulness. The LXX. tries to improve the contrast by resorting a gloss, "He who rejoices at one who perishes shall not go unpunished; but he who hath compassion shall obtain mercy," which is remarkably like Christ's sentence, "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy." Proverbs 17:5

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

5 He that mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker;

   He that rejoiceth over calamity remains not unpunished.

Line first is a variation of Proverbs 14:31. God is, according to Proverbs 22:2, the creator of the poor as well as of the rich. The poor, as a man, and as poor, is the work of God, the creator and governor of all things; thus, he who mocketh the poor, mocketh Him who called him into existence, and appointed him his lowly place. But in general, compassion and pity, and not joy (שׂמח ל, commonly with ל, of the person, e.g., Obad. Oba 1:12, the usual formula for ἐπιχαιρεκακία), is appropriate in the presence of misfortune (איד, from אוּד, to be heavily burdened), for such joy, even if he on whom the misfortune fell were our enemy, is a peccatum mortale, Job 31:29. There is indeed a hallowed joy at the actual revelation in history of the divine righteousness; but this would not be a hallowed joy if it were not united with deep sorrow over those who, accessible to no warning, have despised grace, and, by adding sin to sin, have provoked God's anger.