Proverbs 5:18 - Exposition

Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth . The employment of the ordinary term "wife" in the second hemistich shows in what sense the figure which is used has to be understood. The terms "fountain" and "wife" denote the same person. The wife is here called "thy fountain" (Hebrew, m'kor'ka ) , just as she has been previously "thine own cistern" ( b'or ) and "thine own well" ( b'er ) in Proverbs 5:15 . The Hebrew makor, "fountain," is derived from the root kur, "to dig." The figure seems to determine that the blessing here spoken of consists in the with being a fruitful mother of children; and hence the phrase means, "Let thy with be blessed," i.e. rendered happy in being the mother of thy children. This is quite consistent with the Hebrew mode of thought. Every Israelitish wife regarded herself, and was regarded by ethers as "blessed," if she bore children, and unhappy if the reverse were the case. Blessed ; Hebrew, baruk (Vulgate, benedicta ) , is the kal participle passive of barak, "to bless." Instead of this, the LXX . reads ἴδια , "Let thy fountain be thine own"—a variation which in no sense conveys the meaning of the original. And rejoice with ; rather, rejoice in, the wife being regarded as the sphere within which the husband is to find his pleasure and joy. Umbreit explains, "Let thy wife be extolled." The same construction of the imperative s'makh, from samakh, " to be glad, or joyful," with min, occurs in 9:19 ; Zephaniah 3:14 , etc. The Authorized rendering is, however, favoured by the Vulgate, laetare cum, and the LXX ; συνευφραίνω μετὰ Compare the exhortation in Ecclesiastes 9:9 , "Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest." The wife of thy youth (Hebrew, ishshah n'ureyka ) may mean either