2 Petrus 2:22

22 Maar hun is overkomen, hetgeen met een waar spreekwoord gezegd wordt: De hond is wedergekeerd tot zijn eigen uitbraaksel; en de gewassen zeug tot de wenteling in het slijk.

2 Petrus 2:22 Meaning and Commentary

2 Peter 2:22

But it is happened unto them, according to the true proverb,
&c.] Which is true, both in fact and in the application of it, and which lies in the Scriptures of truth, at least the first part of it, ( Proverbs 26:11 ) .

The dog [is] turned to his own vomit again, and the sow that was
washed to her wallowing in the mire;
which expresses the filthy nature of sin, signified by vomit, mire, and dirt, than which nothing is more abominable and defiling; and also the just characters of these apostates, who are filly compared to dogs and swine and likewise their irreclaimable and irrecoverable state and condition, it being impossible they should be otherwise, unless their natures were changed and altered. In the Hebrew language, a "sow" is called (ryzx) , from the root (rzx) , which signifies to "return", because that creature, as soon as it is out of the mire and dirt, and is washed from its filthiness, naturally returns to it again: so such apostates return to what they were before, to their former principles and practices: in this manner the Jews explain the proverb,

``Tobiah returns to Tobiah, as it is said, ( Proverbs 26:11 ) ; as a dog returneth to his vomit ^F18.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 Vajikra Rabba, sect. 16. fol. 158. 4.

2 Petrus 2:22 In-Context

20 Want indien zij, nadat zij door de kennis van den Heere en Zaligmaker Jezus Christus, de besmettingen der wereld ontvloden zijn, en in dezelve wederom ingewikkeld zijnde, van dezelve overwonnen worden, zo is hun het laatste erger geworden dan het eerste.

21 Want het ware hun beter, dat zij den weg der gerechtigheid niet gekend hadden, dan dat zij, dien gekend hebbende, weder afkeren van het heilige gebod, dat hun overgegeven was.

22 Maar hun is overkomen, hetgeen met een waar spreekwoord gezegd wordt: De hond is wedergekeerd tot zijn eigen uitbraaksel; en de gewassen zeug tot de wenteling in het slijk.