Proverbs 14:29 - Exposition

He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding. The Hebrew expression for what the Septuagint calls μακροθυμος , "long suffering," and the Vulgate, patiens, is "long in nostrils" ( Proverbs 15:18 ), as the contrary temper, which we had in Proverbs 14:17 , is "short in nostrils." That organ, into which was breathed the breath of life ( Genesis 2:7 ), is taken as the seat of the inward spirit, and as showing by exterior signs the dominant feeling. The original is very terse, "long in nostrils, great in understanding." A man's prudence and wisdom are displayed by his being slow to take offence and being patient under injury. He that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly; i.e. flaunts it in the eyes of all men, makes plain exposure of it. Septuagint, "He who is short in temper is a mighty fool." "Passion," says an old saw, "makes fools of the wise. and shows the folly of the foolish" (comp. Proverbs 12:23 ; Proverbs 13:16 ). The word rendered "exalteth," רףּ ( marim ) , occurs in Proverbs 3:35 , and is taken by Delitzsch and Nowack in the sense of "carries away" as the assured result. "By anger," says St. Gregory ('Moral.,' 5.78), "wisdom is parted with, so that we are left wholly in ignorance what to do, and in what order to do it …. Anger withdraws the light of understanding, while by agitating it troubles the mind."