28 In the multitude of people is the king's glory, but in the lack of people is the destruction of the prince.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
A protest against the false ideal of national greatness to which Eastern kings, for the most part, have bowed down. Not conquest, or pomp, or gorgeous array, but a happy and numerous people form the true glory of a king. The word translated "prince" is of doubtful meaning; but the translation is supported by the Septuagint, Vulg, and most commentators.
In the multitude of people - It is the interest of every state to promote marriage by every means that is just and prudent; and to discourage, disgrace, and debase celibacy; to render bachelors incapable, after a given age, of all public employments: and to banish nunneries and monasteries from all parts of their dominions; - they have ever, from their invention, contributed more to vice than virtue; and are positively point blank against the law of God.
In the multitude of (l) people [is] the king's honour: but in the lack of people [is] the destruction of the prince.
(l) That is, the strength of a king stands in many people.
In the multitude of people is the king's honour,.... For it is a sign of a good and wise government, of clemency and righteousness being exercised, of liberty and property being enjoyed, of peace, plenty, and prosperity; which encourage subjects to serve their king cheerfully, and to continue under his reign and government peaceably; and which invites others from different parts to come and settle there also; by which the strength and glory of a king are much increased. This is true of the King of kings, of Jesus Christ, who is King of saints; his honour and glory, as Mediator, lies in a large number of voluntary subjects, made "willing" to serve him "in the day of his power" upon them, as numerous as the drops of the morning "dew", Psalm 110:3; such as he had in the first times of the Gospel, both among the Jews and among the Gentiles; and as he will have more especially in the latter day, when those prophecies shall be fulfilled in Isaiah 60:4; and so this is interpreted of the King Messiah, in an ancient writing (b) of the Jews;
but in the want of people is the destruction of the prince; or, "the consternation" (c) of him; if his people are destroyed in wars his ambition or cruelty has led him to; or they are driven out from his kingdom by persecution or oppression; hence follows a decay of trade, and consequently of riches; lack of cultivation of land, and so want of provision: in course of time there is such a decrease, that, as there are but few to carry on trade and till the land, so to fight for their prince, and defend his country; wherefore, when attacked by a foreign power, he is thrown into the utmost consternation, and is brought to destruction. This will be the case of the prince of darkness, the man of sin, antichrist; who, though however populous he may be, or has been, ruling over tongues, people, and nations, yet before long he will be deserted by them; one nation after another will fall off from him; they and their kings will hate him, make him bare and desolate, and burn him with fire, Revelation 17:15. Some render it, "the consternation of leanness" (d); such consternation as causes leanness in a king.
(b) Zohar in Exod. fol. 67. 3, 4. (c) "formidat princeps", Tigurine version; "consternatio", Cocceius, Michaelis, Schultens. (d) "Consternatio macici", Gussetius, p. 785. "consternatio tabifica", Schultens; "contritio maciei", Gejerus; "terror tenuitatis", Mercerus, Gersom.
Let all that wish well to the kingdom of Christ, do what they can, that many may be added to his church.
The teaching of a true political economy.
28 In the multitude of the people lies the king's honour;
And when the population diminishes, it is the downfall of his glory.
The honour or the ornament (vid., regarding הדר, tumere, ampliari, the root-word of הדר and הדרה at Isaiah 63:1) of a king consists in this, that he rules over a great people, and that they increase and prosper; on the other hand, it is the ruin of princely greatness when the people decline in number and in wealth. Regarding מחתּה, vid., at Proverbs 10:14. בּאפס signifies prepositionally "without" (properly, by non-existence), e.g., Proverbs 26:20, or adverbially "groundless" (properly, for nothing), Isaiah 52:4; here it is to be understood after its contrast בּרב־: in the non-existence, but which is here equivalent to in the ruin (cf. אפס, the form of which in conjunction is אפס, Genesis 47:15), lies the misfortune, decay, ruin of the princedom. The lxx ἐν δὲ ἐκλείψει λαοῦ συντριβὴ δυνάστου. Certainly רזון (from רזן, Arab. razuna, to be powerful) is to be interpreted personally, whether it be after the form בּגוד with a fixed, or after the form יקושׁ with a changeable Kametz; but it may also be an abstract like שׁלום (= Arab. selâm), and this we prefer, because in the personal signification רזן, Proverbs 8:15; Proverbs 31:4, is used. We have not here to think of רזון (from רזה), consumption (the Venet. against Kimchi, πενίας); the choice of the word also is not determined by an intended amphibology (Hitzig), for this would be meaningless.
*More commentary available at chapter level.