Commentaries:
Adam Clarke
Whoso privily slandereth his neighbor - All flatterers and time-servers, and those who by insinuations and false accusations endeavor to supplant the upright, that they may obtain their offices for themselves or their dependants, will I consider as enemies to the state, I will abominate, and expel them from my court.
The Chaldee gives a remarkable meaning to the Hebrew, melasheni bassether reehu , which we translate, Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, and which it renders thus, demishtaey lishan telitai al chabreyah : "He who speaks with the triple tongue against his neighbor." That is, the tongue by which he slays three persons, viz.,
1.The man whom he slanders;
2.Him to whom he communicates the slander; and,
3.Himself, the slanderer.
Every slanderer has his triple tongue, and by every slander inflicts those three deadly wounds. Such a person deserves to be cut off. On this subject St. Jerome speaks nearly in the same way: Ille qui detrahit, et se, et illum qui audit, demergit ; "He who slanders ruins both himself and him who hears him;" he might have added, and him who is slandered, for this is often the case; the innocent are ruined by detraction.
A high look and a proud heart - One who is seeking preferment; who sticks at nothing to gain it; and one who behaves himself haughtily and insolently in his office.
Will not I suffer - lo uchal , I cannot away with. These persons especially will I drive from my presence, and from all state employments.
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