Proverbs 6:28 - Exposition

Can one go upon hot coals, etc.? The repeated question is introduced by gin, "if," here equivalent to the Latin an, used in double questions, as in Genesis 24:21 ; Exodus 17:7 ; 9:2 , etc. Go; i.e. walk upon hot coals (Hebrew, al-haggekalim ); literally, upon the hot coals. The Hebrew gakheleth is coals thoroughly ignited, as in Le 16:12 and Proverbs 25:22 ; different from pekham of Proverbs 26:21 , which is "a black coal," or, as Gesenius explains, charcoal unkindled. Be burned ; Hebrew, tikkaveynah ; i.e. be burned or scorched so as to leave a mark by burning, as in Isaiah 43:2 ; this being the force of the verb kavah . The flames of lust will certainly be visited with punishment, and with the stings of conscience. Job, speaking on this very subject, says a deviation from the paths of virtue "is a fire that consumeth to destruction." And to him who gives way to adultery it may be said, in the words of Horace, though with a different application from that in which they were used by that poet, "incedis per ignes suppositos cineri doloso." "You are walking over fire that lies hidden under deceitful ashes" (Gejerus).