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The hay appeareth - Take care that this be timeously mown, carefully dried and safely ricked or housed. And when the tender grass and the proper herbs appear in the mountains in the spring, then send forth the lambs, the young of the flock, that they may get suitable pasturage, without too much impoverishing the home fields; for by the sale of the lambs and goats, the price of the field is paid - all the landlord's demands are discharged. Either a certain number of lambs, goats, and other cattle, was given to the landlord; or so much money as so many lambs, etc., were then worth.
The verses sing the praises of the earlier patriarchal life, with its flocks and herds, and tillage of the ground, as compared with the commerce of a later time, with money as its chief or only wealth.
Proverbs 27:23
The state - literally, face. The verse is an illustration of John 10:3, John 10:14.
Proverbs 27:24
Riches - The money which men may steal, or waste, is contrasted with the land of which the owner is not so easily deprived. Nor will the crown (both the “crown of pure gold” worn on the mitre of the high priest, Exodus 29:6; Exodus 39:30; and the kingly diadem, the symbol of power generally) be transmitted (as flocks and herds had been) “from one generation to another.”
Proverbs 27:25
Appeareth - Better, When the grass disappeareth, the “tender grass showeth itself.” Stress is laid on the regular succession of the products of the earth. The “grass” (“hay”) of the first clause is (compare Psalm 37:2; Psalm 90:5; Psalm 103:15; 2 Kings 19:26) the proverbial type of what is perishable and fleeting. The verse gives a picture of the pleasantness of the farmer‘s calling; compared with this what can wealth or rank offer? With this there mingles (compare Proverbs 27:23) the thought that each stage of that life in its season requires care and watchfulness.