Mishlei 16:18
משלי טז:יח) לִפְנֵי־שֶׁ֥בֶר גָּא֑וֹן וְלִפְנֵ֥י כִ֝שָּׁל֗וֹן גֹּ֣בַהּ רֽוּחַ׃
Mishlei 18:6) Before breaking is pride, and before stumbling is arrogance.
Questions:
Q1: What is breaking? What is pride?
Q2: What is the relationship between pride and breaking? Is the word “before” indicate a causal relationship?
Q3: What is stumbling and arrogance?
Q4: Are the two halves different ideas?
מצודת דוד – לפני שבר – טרם יבוא שבר על הרשע בא לו מתחלה גאון וממשל רב כי בזה יכפל הצער. גובה רוח – על רוב הטובה הבאה לו טרם הכשלון וכפל הדבר במ״ש.
Metzudot David - Commentary on Mishlei
Before breaking – Before breaking befalls the wicked, first comes pride and dominion, for through this the pain is doubled. Arrogance – on account of the abundance of good that comes to him before the stumbling, and the matter is doubled in what was said.
The Metzudot explain that sometimes those who are evil see success before failure. Indeed, their preliminary success makes the failure that much more difficult. This could perhaps be interpreted in terms of divine intervention. Or it could be interpreted as an important observation about the way the world works. Someone might build a business based on cheating or dishonesty. They may appear successful in their enterprise, and this temporary success can lead to arrogance. But a faulty foundation will eventually falter. The verse tells us to look over the long term and not misinterpret how the world operates based on short-term success.
Both the Metzudot and Radak look at the two halves of the verse as repeating the same theme. Indeed Rabbeinu Yonah and others view pride and arrogance as synonyms, and explain that the verse is conveying the consequences of character flaws. Pride and arrogance if left unchecked will cause breaking and stumbling. He interprets the word “before” as indicating a causal relationship, pride and arrogance is the reason behind the resulting breaking and weakening.
רס"ג – לפני, אחרית הגאון השבירה, ואחרית גבהות הרוח ההשפלה.
Saadai Gaon - Commentary on Mishlei
Before – the end of pride is breaking, and the end of arrogance is being humbled.
Saadia Gaon offers a subtly different approach. He also explains “before” as indicating a causal relationship. He also translates stumbling as being humbled. While the other commentaries look at pride and arrogance as synonyms, and state that the verse is merely repeating the same theme twice, Saadia provides an opening to differentiate the two halves of the verse.
When someone has an inaccurate picture of themselves, there are two potential consequences. Their interactions with reality will cause them to break or be humbled. If someone has a quantitative misperception, they will likely be humbled. If they believe their skills are beyond where they actually are, reality has a tendency to put them in their place. But if their whole picture is off, if their misperception is qualitative, then that image may come crashing down.
משלי טז:יח) לִפְנֵי־שֶׁ֥בֶר גָּא֑וֹן וְלִפְנֵ֥י כִ֝שָּׁל֗וֹן גֹּ֣בַהּ רֽוּחַ׃
Mishlei 18:6) Before breaking is pride, and before stumbling is arrogance.
For an interesting connection to last week’s Parsha, see Rabbi Schneeweiss' recent post:
When a person counts his silver and gold, or when a king counts his troops, it is quite likely that he will trust in his wealth or in the multitude of his soldiers, and he will become proud and say, “My force and the vigor of my hand have procured or will procure me prosperity” (cf. Deut. 8:17). But then it will usually happen that the wheel of fortune will turn upon him and an unexpected disaster will befall him (for this is indeed one of the laws of Providence, that “pride goeth before the fall,” and this has proven and continues to prove itself true in all generations with respect to individuals as well as nations and kings).
Share this post