*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
The sense seems to require, "Whoso findeth a good wife," as in some Chaldee manuscripts; but the proverb writer may be looking at marriage in its ideal aspect, and sees in every such union the hands of God joining together man and woman for their mutual good. The Septuagint adds "He who casts out a good wife, casts away that which is good: but he that keepeth an adulteress is foolish and ungodly."
Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing - Marriage, with all its troubles and embarrassments, is a blessing from God; and there are few cases where a wife of any sort is not better than none, because celibacy is an evil; for God himself hath said, "It is not good for man to be alone." None of the versions, except the Chaldee, are pleased with the naked simplicity of the Hebrew text, hence they all add good: "He that findeth a Good wife findeth a good thing;" and most people, who have not deeply considered the subject, think the assertion, without this qualification, is absurd. Some copies of the Targum, and apparently one of Kennicott's MSS., have the addition טובה tobah, good; but this would be an authority too slender to justify changing the Hebrew text; yet Houbigant, Kennicott, and other able critics argue for it. The Septuagint is not satisfied without an addition: "But he who puts away a good wife, puts away a good thing: and he that retains an adulteress, is a fool and wicked." In this addition the Vulgate, Syriac, and Arabic, agree with the Septuagint. The Hebrew text as it stands, teaches a general doctrine by a simple but general proposition: "He that findeth a wife findeth a good thing." So St. Paul: "Marriage is honorable in all." Had the world been left, in this respect, to the unbridled propensities of man, in what a horrible state would society have been - if indeed society could have existed, or civilization have taken place - if marriage had not obtained among men! As to good wives and bad wives, they are relatively so, in general; and most of them that have been bad afterwards, have been good at first; and we well know the best things may deteriorate, and the world generally allows that where there are matrimonial contentions, there are faults on both sides.
[Whoever] findeth a (p) wife findeth a good [thing], and obtaineth favour from the LORD.
(p) He who is joined with a virtuous woman in marriage is blessed by the Lord, as in (Proverbs 19:14).
Whoso findeth a wife,.... A good one; so the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions, supply it; and so the Targum, though it leaves out the word good in the last clause; and no other can be meant, even a good natured one, wise, prudent, careful, and industrious; a proper helpmeet, a virtuous woman, as in Proverbs 31:10; whoso seeks after such an one, and finds one, especially one that has the grace of God, which he should seek after among his friends, and by their assistance, and by prayer to God:
findeth a good thing; that will be good for him, both upon a civil and spiritual account; the Septuagint version adds,
"he that casts out a good wife casts out good things, but he that retains a whore is foolish and ungodly;''
which is followed by the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions, but is not in the Hebrew text. Jarchi interprets it of the law in a mystic sense, but, according to the literal sense, of a good wife;
and obtaineth favour of the Lord; it is from the Lord, and under his direction and guidance in seeking, that he finds a good wife; and which he ought to esteem as a favour from the Lord, and as an evidence of his favour to him, and may encourage himself to hope for others of him (z) Hesiod says, a man cannot obtain anything better than a good wife.
(z) Opera & Dies, l. 2. v. 323.
A good wife is a great blessing to a man, and it is a token of Divine favour.
The old versions supply "good" before the "wife," as the last clause and Proverbs 19:14 imply (compare Proverbs 31:10).
22 Whatso hath found a wife hath found a good thing,
And hath obtained favour from Jahve.
As ואהביה, 21b, reminds us of Proverbs 8:17, so here not only 22b, but also 22a harmonizes with Proverbs 8:35 (cf. Proverbs 12:2). A wife is such as she ought to be, as Proverbs 18:14, אישׁ, a man is such as he ought to be; the lxx, Syr., Targ., and Vulgate supply bonam, but "gnomic brevity and force disdains such enervating adjectives, and cautious limitations of the idea" (Fl.). Besides, אשׁה טובה in old Hebr. would mean a well-favoured rather than a good-dispositioned wife, which later idea is otherwise expressed, Proverbs 19:14; Proverbs 31:10. The Venet. rightly has γυναῖκα, and Luther ein Ehefraw, for it is a married woman that is meant. The first מצא is perf. hypotheticum, Gesen. 126, Anm. 1. On the other hand, Ecclesiastes 7:26, "I found, מוצא אני, more bitter than death the woman," etc.; wherefore, when in Palestine one married a wife, the question was wont to be asked: או מוצא מצא, has he married happily (after מצא of the book of Proverbs) or unhappily (after מוצא of Ecclesiastes) (Jebamoth 63b)?
(Note: Cf. Gendlau's Sprichwrter u. Redensarten deutsch-jdischer Vorzeit (1860), p. 235.)
The lxx adds a distich to Proverbs 18:22, "He that putteth away a good wife putteth away happiness; and he that keepeth an adulteress, is foolish and ungodly." He who constructed this proverb [added by the lxx] has been guided by מצא to מוציא (Ezra 10:3); elsewhere ἐκβάλλειν (γυναῖκα), Galatians 4:30, Sir. 28:15, is the translation of גּרשׁ. The Syr. has adopted the half of that distich, and Jerome the whole of it. On the other hand, Proverbs 18:23, Proverbs 18:24, and Proverbs 19:1-2, are wanting in the lxx. The translation which is found in some Codd. is that of Theodotion (vid., Lagarde).
A wise - A good wife; one that deserves the name, and performs the duty of that relation. Favour - Obtains her not by his own diligence, but by God's good providence.
*More commentary available at chapter level.