Proverbs 6:27 - Exposition

In this and the two following verses (28 and 29) the discourse proceeds from statement to illustration, and by examples of cause and effect the teacher shows "the moral necessity of the evil consequences of the sin of adultery" (Delitzsch). The meaning of the verses is plain enough, viz. that as it is in vain to suppose that a person's garment will not be burnt or his feet not be scorched if fire is brought near them, so it is equally inconceivable that a person indulging in adultery can escape its consequences or the retribution that follows. The two questions in Proverbs 6:27 and Proverbs 6:28 imply a strong negative, and so prepare for the conclusion in Proverbs 6:30 . Take fire. The Hebrew verb khathah signifies " to take burning or live coals from the hearth " (Placater); and hence is used here in a pregnant sense "to take from the hearth and place in" (cf. Proverbs 25:22 , "For thou wilt take coals ['and heap them:' Hebrew, gekhalim khotheh ] on his head"). The fuller expression is met with in Isaiah 30:14 , "So that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth ( lakh)toth esh miyyakud ) . '" The Vulgate renders by abscondere, " to hide: Numquid potest homo absconders ignem ; and the LXX . by ἀποδεῖν , equivalent to the Latin alligare "to tie or bind fast." Wordsworth explains "to take and heap up, as in a firepan or censer." In his bosom; Hebrew, b'kheyko ; LXX ; ἐν κόλπῳ ; Vulgate, in sinu suo . The word kheyk is properly "an undulation" (Delitzsch). not the lap , but as in the Authorized Version here, "the bosom," and "the bosom of a garment" as in Isaiah 16:1-14 :33; 17:23; Isaiah 21:14 . The answer to the question of this and the next verse is of course a decided negative, but we may note that the teacher compares adultery to a burning fire in its consequences.