Proverbs 17 Bible study: A friend loves at all times

The chapter opens with one of the book's "Better" sayings: "Better is a dry morsel with quietness, than a house full of feasting with strife" (17:1). Here is what almost everyone misses: in Hebrew feasting is zevach, which Brown-Driver-Briggs gives as "sacrifice", a "general name for all sacrifices eaten at feasts" (tap feasting). Everywhere else Proverbs has the word, the WEB gives it as sacrifice or Sacrifices, as in "The sacrifice made by the wicked is an abomination to the LORD" (Proverbs 15:8). So in Hebrew the house of 17:1 is full of sacrifices, and the saying counts a dry morsel with quietness as better, when strife comes with the plenty. The notes on Proverbs 15 set it beside "Better is a dinner of herbs, where love is, than a fattened calf with hatred" (Proverbs 15:17). Strife comes back in the chapter, and the WEB's one English word hides three Hebrew ones. Strife in 17:1 is riv. In "The beginning of strife is like breaching a dam, therefore stop contention before quarreling breaks out" (17:14), strife is madon, and riv, 17:1's word, comes in the second half. And in "He who loves disobedience loves strife" (17:19), strife is a third word, matsah.

Proverbs 17:26→leads toMatthew 5:10

"Also to punish the righteous is not good, nor to flog officials for their integrity" (Proverbs 17:26). On the mountain, teaching his disciples (Matthew 5:1-2), Jesus said, "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven" (Matthew 5:10). Jesus doesn't cite Proverbs, so setting the two together is a reading. It rests on a shared subject, not only on the word righteous: people made to suffer because they do right. Proverbs 17:26 gives that reason itself, "for their integrity", and says the punishing "is not good". Jesus speaks of those who suffer it, and calls them blessed. Neither verse names who does it, and neither names anyone who suffers it. One reading hears Jesus speaking of the wrong Proverbs 17:26 names, from the side of those who bear it. Another hears Matthew 5:10 as one of the blessings Jesus spoke about the Kingdom of Heaven, to his disciples, with no look back to a saying about punishing the righteous and officials.

רֵעַreasay RE-a

Brown-Driver-Briggs: "friend, companion, fellow". Strong's: "an associate (more or less close)". "A friend loves at all times; and a brother is born for adversity" (17:17). The very next verse has it again, and the WEB gives it as neighbor: "A man void of understanding strikes hands, and becomes collateral in the presence of his neighbor" (17:18). It is the word of "you shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18). Proverbs has it 33 times in Hebrew.