Proverbs 27:10

Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not; neither go into thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity: for better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(10) Better is a neighbour that is near.—See above on Proverbs 17:17; Proverbs 18:24. “Near” and “far off”—i.e., in feeling.

Benson Commentary

Proverbs 27:10. Thine own friend, and thy father’s friend — Of whose friendship thou hast had long experience; forsake not — But betake thyself to him, when thou art in distress, rather than to thy natural brother or kinsman, if he be not also thy friend. For better is a neighbour — That is, a friend, such as is mentioned in the beginning of the verse, who hath showed himself to be a true and good neighbour; that is near — Namely, in affection; than a brother far off — Who is alienated in affection from thee.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

27:9,10. Depend not for relief upon a kinsman, merely for kindred's sake; apply to those who are at hand, and will help in need. But there is a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother, and let us place entire confidence in him. 11. An affectionate parent urges his son to prudent conduct that should gladden his heart. The good conduct of Christians is the best answer to all who find fault with the gospel. 12. Where there is temptation, if we thrust ourselves into it, there will be sin, and punishment will follow. 13. An honest man may be made a beggar, but he is not honest that makes himself one. 14. It is folly to be fond of being praised; it is a temptation to pride.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

"Better is a neighbor" who is really "near" in heart and spirit, than a brother who though closer by blood, is "far off" in feeling.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

10. Adhere to tried friends. The ties of blood may be less reliable than those of genuine friendship.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Thy father’s friend, of whose friendship thou hast had long experience.

Neither go into thy brother’s house, to wit, for comfort and relief, and so as to forsake or neglect thy friend for him.

Better is a neighbour; the friend mentioned in the beginning of the verse, who hath showed himself to be a true and a good neighbour.

That is near; either,

1. In place by cohabitation. Or rather,

2. In affection, in which respect God is oft said to be near to the righteous, and far from the wicked.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Thine own friend, and thy father's friend forsake not,.... Who have been long tried and proved, and found faithful; these should be kept to and valued, and not new ones sought; which to do is oftentimes of bad consequence. Solomon valued his father's friend Hiram, and kept up friendship with him; but Rehoboam his son forsook the counsel of the old men his father's friends and counsellors, and followed the young mien his new friends, and thereby lost ten tribes at once. Jarchi interprets this of God, the friend of Israel and of their fathers, who is not to be forsaken, and is a friend that loves at all times; and to forsake him is to forsake the fountain of living waters;

neither go into thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity; poverty and distress, to tell him thy case, expecting sympathy relief, and succour from him; but rather go to thy friend and father's friend, who sticks closer than a brother; see Proverbs 18:24;

for better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off: a neighbour that is a fast and faithful friend, and who is not only near as to place but as to affections is more serviceable and, useful to a man in time of distress than a brother though near in blood, yet as far off in place, so much more in affection, and from whom a man can promise nothing, and little is to be expected. The phrase in the preceding clause signifies a cloudy day, and such a day of distress through poverty is; in which sense it is used by Latin (e) writers, when a man is alone, and former friends care not to come nigh him.

(e) "Tempora si fuerunt nubila, solus eris", Ovid. Trist. 1. Eleg. 8.

Geneva Study Bible

Thy own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not; neither go into thy brother's {d} house in the day of thy calamity: for better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off.

(d) Do not trust any worldly help in the day of your trouble.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

10. The aim of this proverb is not of course to depreciate natural affection, but to warn against pressing unduly the claims of kinship and blood relationship, on which, with the sanction of the Law of Moses, such store was set in the East. Do not think it necessary, says the writer, to seek out in thy time of trouble a kinsman, who may be far from thee in place and sympathy, when thou hast one near at hand, who though he be no kinsman is the tried friend of thyself and of thy father before thee. See Proverbs 17:17, Proverbs 18:24, and notes.

“Compare the following passage from Hesiod, Works and Days. 27:341:

Τὸν δὲ μάλιστα καλεῖν, ὄς τις σέθεν ἐγγύθι ναἰει•

Εἰ γάρ τοι καὶ χρῆμʼ ἐγχώριον ἄλλο γένηται,

Γείτονες ἄζωστοι ἔκιον, ζώσαντο δὲ πηοί.

‘Chiefly bid to thy feast the friend that dwelleth hard by thee; For should there chance to come a matter that toucheth the village, Neighbours will come in haste, while kinsmen leisurely gird them.’ ”

Dean Plumptre in Speaker’s Comm.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 10. - Another proverb, a tristich, in praise of friendship. It seems to be a combination of two maxims. Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not. A father's friend is one who is connected with a family by hereditary and ancestral bonds; φίλον πατρῷον. Septuagint. Such a one is to be cherished and regarded with the utmost affection. Neither go into thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity. The tried friend is more likely to help and sympathize with you than even your own brother, for a friend is born for adversity, and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother (Proverbs 17:17; Proverbs 18:24, where see notes). The mere blood relationship, which is the result of circumstances over which one has had no control, is inferior to the affectionate connection which arises from moral considerations and is the effect of deliberate choice. We must remember, too, that the practice of polygamy, with the separate establishments of the various wives, greatly weakened the tie of brotherhood. There was little love between David's sons; and Jonathan was far dearer to David himself than any of his numerous brothers were. Better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off. "Near" and "far off" may be taken as referring to feeling or to local position. In the former case the maxim says that a neighbour who is really attached to one by the bonds of affection is better than the closest relation who has no love or sympathy. In the latter view, the proverb enunciates the truth that a friend on the spot in time of calamity is more useful than a brother living at a distance (μακρὰν οἰκῶν, Septuagint); one is sure of help at once from the former, while application to the latter must occasion delay, and may not be successful. Commentators quote Hesiod, Ἔργ. καὶ Ημ., 341 -

Τὸν δὲ μάλιστα καλεῖν ὅστις σέθεν ἐγγύθεναίει
Αἰ γάρ τοι καὶ χρῆμ ἐγκώμιον ἄλλο γένηται
Γείτονες ἄζωστοι ἔκιον ζώσαντο δὲ πηοί Proverbs 27:10

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Another proverb, consisting of three lines, in commendation of friendship:

Thine own friend and the friend of thy father forsake not,

And into thy brother's house go not in the day of thy misfortune -

Better is a near neighbour than a far-off brother.

In our editions רעך is incorrectly appointed with Pasek after it, so that the accent is Asla Legarmeh; the Pasek is, after the example of older editions, with Norzi, to be cancelled, so that only the conjunctive Asla remains; "thine own and the friend of thy father" denotes the family friend, like some family heirloom, descending from father to son. Such an old tried friend one must certainly not give up. The Kerı̂ changes the second ורעה into ורע, but ורעה (which, after the Masora in st. constr., retains its segol, Ewald, 211e) is also admissible, for a form of comparison (Hitzig) this רעה is not, but the fuller form of the abbreviated רע, from רעה, to take care of, to tend, to pasture - an infinitive formation ( equals רעי) like the Arab. cogn. râ'in a participial. Such a proved friend one ought certainly not to give up, and in the time of heavy trial (vid., regarding איד, Proverbs 1:26) one should go to him and not to a brother's house - it is by this supposed that, as Proverbs 18:24 says, there is a degree of friendship (cf. Proverbs 17:17) which in regard to attachment stands above that of mere fraternal relationship, and it is true; blood-relationship, viewed in itself, stands as a relationship of affection on natural grounds below friendship, which is a relationship of life on moral grounds. But does blood-relationship exclude friendship of soul? cannot my brother be at the same time my heart-friend? and is not friendship all the firmer when it has at the same time its roots in the spirit and in natural grounds? The poet seems to have said this, for in 10c, probably a popular saying (cf. "Besser Nachbar an der Wand als Bruder ber Land" [Better a neighbour by one's side than a brother abroad]), he gives to his advice a foundation, and at the same time a limitation which modifies its ruggedness. But Dchsel places (like Schultens) in קרוב and רחוק meanings which the words do not contain, for he interprets them of inward nearness and remoteness; and Zckler reads between the lines, for he remarks, a "near neighbour" is one who is near to the oppressed to counsel and help them, and a "distant brother" is one who with an unamiable disposition remains far from the oppressed. The state of the matter is simple. If one has a tried friend in neighbourly nearness, so in the time of distress, when he needs consolation and help, he must go to this friend, and not first to the house of a brother dwelling at a distance, for the former certainly does for us what the latter probably may and probably may not do for us.