Proverbs 28:21

To have respect of persons is not good: for for a piece of bread that man will transgress.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(21) For, for a piece of bread.—A thing proverbially of little value. (Comp. Ezekiel 13:19.)

That man will transgress.—So degrading is the habit of servility.

Benson Commentary

Proverbs 28:21. To have respect of persons is not good — It is a fundamental error in the administration of justice, and that which will lead men to many transgressions, to consider the quality of the parties concerned more than the merits of the cause; for a piece of bread that man will transgress — When a man hath once accustomed himself to take bribes, a very small advantage will make him sell justice, and his own soul into the bargain. The design of this proverb is to warn men to take heed of the beginnings of that sin, and consequently of all other sins.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

28:18. Uprightness will give men holy security in the worst times; but the false and dishonest are never safe. 19. Those who are diligent, take the way to live comfortably. 20. The true way to be happy, is to be holy and honest; not to raise an estate suddenly, without regard to right or wrong. 21. Judgment is perverted, when any thing but pure right is considered. 22. He that hastens to be rich, never seriously thinks how quickly God may take his wealth from him, and leave him in poverty. 23. Upon reflection, most will have a better opinion of a faithful reprover than of a soothing flatterer.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Dishonest partiality leads men who have enslaved themselves to it to transgress, even when the inducement is altogether disproportionate. A "piece of bread" was proverbial at all times as the most extreme point of poverty (compare the marginal reference).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

21. respect of persons—(Pr 24:23). Such are led to evil by the slightest motive.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

When a man hath once vitiated his conscience, and accustomed himself to take bribes, a very small advantage will make him sell justice, and his own soul into the bargain. The design of the proverb is to warn men to take heed of the beginnings of that sin, and consequently of other sins.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

To have respect of persons is not good, &c. In courts of judicature, to give a cause or pass sentence in favour of a person, because he is rich, or is a relation, a friend, an acquaintance, or has done a kindness; and against another, because of the reverse, Leviticus 19:15; nor in religious assemblies, making a difference between the rich and the poor, James 2:1; this is not good in itself, nor productive of good effects, and cannot be well pleasing to God, who himself is no respecter of persons;

for for a piece of bread that man will transgress; the laws of God and men; having used himself to such unrighteous methods of proceeding, he will do any base action for a small gain, he will stick at nothing, and do it for anything; as Cato used to say of M. Coelius the tribune,

"that he might be hired, for a morsel of bread, to speak or hold his peace;''

see Ezekiel 13:19.

Geneva Study Bible

To have respect of persons is not good: for for a piece of {k} bread that man will transgress.

(k) He will be abused for nothing.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

21. For … that man will transgress] Or, Neither that a man should transgress, R.V. The rendering of A.V., however, which is retained substantially in R.V. marg., has the support both of LXX. and Vulg.

a piece of bread] Dean Plumptre, in Speaker’s Comm., and others quote the words of Cato with reference to M. Cœlius, “frusto panis conduci potest, vel uti taceat, vel uti loquatur,” A. Gell., Noct. Att. i. 15.

transgress] i.e., as the former clause indicates, pervert justice by shewing partiality.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 21. - The first hemistich occurs a little fuller in Proverbs 24:23, referring there, as here, to the administration of justice. For for a piece of bread that man will transgress. Thus translated, this clause confirms the former, and says that a judge given to favouritism will swerve from right under the smallest temptation. But to bribe a judge with a morsel of bread seems an unlikely idea; and the gnome is of general application, "And for a morsel of bread a man [not 'that man'] will transgress." As some men in responsible positions are often swayed by low and unworthy considerations, so in social life a very insignificant cause is sufficient to warp the judgment of some persons, or draw them aside from the line of rectitude. (For "a piece of bread," as denoting abject poverty or a thing of no value, see on Proverbs 6:26) The commentators cite Aul. Gell., 'Noct. Att.,' 1:15, "Frusto panis conduci potest vel uti taceat vel uti loquatur." Septuagint, "He that regards not the persons of the just is not good; such a cue will sell a man for a morsel of bread." Proverbs 28:21

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

With a proverb, in the first half of which is repeated the beginning of the second appendix, Proverbs 24:23, a new group commences:

21 Respect of persons is not good;

     And for a morsel of bread a man may become a transgressor.

Line first refers to the administration of justice, and line second - the special generalized - to social life generally. The "morsel of bread," as example of a bribe by means of which the favour of the judge is purchased, is too low a conception. Hitzig well: "even a trifle, a morsel of bread (1 Samuel 2:36), may, as it awakens favour and dislike within us, thus in general call forth in the will an inclination tending to draw one aside from the line of strict rectitude." Geier compares A Gellius' Noct. Att. i. 15, where Cato says of the Tribune Coelius: Frusto panis conduci potest vel ut taceat vel ut loquatur.