There now follows an emblematic (vid., vol. i. p. 10) tetrastich:

4 Take away the dross from silver,

   So there is ready a vessel for the goldsmith;

5 Take away the wicked from the king,

   And his throne is established by righteousness.

The form הגו (cf. the inf. Poal הגו, Isaiah 59:13) is regarded by Schultens as showing a ground-form הגו; but there is also found e.g., עשׂו, whose ground-form is עשׂי; the verb הגה, R. הג (whence Arab. hajr, discedere), cf. יגה (whence הגה, semovit, 2 Samuel 20:13 equals Syr. âwagy, cf. Arab. âwjay, to withhold, to abstain from), signifies to separate, withdraw; here, of the separation of the סיגים, the refuse, i.e., the dross (vid., regarding the plena scriptio, Baer's krit. Ausg. des Jesaia, under Proverbs 1:22); the goldsmith is designated by the word צרף, from צרף morf, to turn, change, as he who changes the as yet drossy metal by means of smelting, or by purification in water, into that which is pure. In 5a הגה is, as at Isaiah 27:8, transferred to a process of moral purification; what kind of persons are to be removed from the neighbourhood of the king is shown by Isaiah 1:22-23. Here also (as at Isa. l.c.) the emblem or figure of Proverbs 25:4 is followed in Proverbs 25:5 by its moral antitype aimed at. The punctuation of both verses is wonderfully fine and excellent. In Proverbs 25:4, ויצא is not pointed ויצא, but as the consecutive modus ויּצא; this first part of the proverb refers to a well-known process of art: the dross is separated from the silver (inf. absol., as Proverbs 12:7; Proverbs 15:22), and so a vessel (utensil) proceeds from the goldsmith, for he manufactures pure silver; the ל is here similarly used as the designation of the subject in the passive, Proverbs 13:13; Proverbs 14:20. In Proverbs 25:5, on the contrary, ויּכּון (ויּכּן) is not the punctuation used, but the word is pointed indicatively ויכּון; this second part of the proverb expresses a moral demand (inf. absol. in the sense of the imperative, Gesen. 131, 4b like Proverbs 17:12, or an optative or concessive conjunction): let the godless be removed, לפני מלך, i.e., not from the neighbourhood of the king, for which the words are מלּפני מלך; also not those standing before the king, i.e., in his closest neighbourhood (Ewald, Bertheau); but since, in the absolute, הגה, not an act of another in the interest of the king, but of the king himself, is thought of: let the godless be removed from before the king, i.e., because he administers justice (Hitzig), or more generally: because after that Psalm (101), which is the "mirror of princes," he does not suffer him to come into his presence. Accordingly, the punctuation is בּצּדק, not בּצדק (Proverbs 16:12); because such righteousness is meant as separates the רשׁע from it and itself from him, as Isaiah 16:5 (vid., Hitzig), where the punctuation of בּחסד denotes that favour towards Moab seeking protection.

Proverbs 25:11 Parallel Commentaries

word

Proverbs 15:23 A man has joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!

Proverbs 24:26 Every man shall kiss his lips that gives a right answer.

Ecclesiastes 12:10 The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth.

Isaiah 50:4 The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary...

fitly spoken or 'is like golden apples of silver or a word spoken with propriety, opportunely and suitably to the occasion, is as much in its place and as conspicuously beautiful as the golden fruit which appears through the apertures of an exquisitely wrought silver basket.