To accept the person, &c.— This phrase has principally, if not always, a judicial meaning. See Leviticus 19:15.Deuteronomy 1:17; Deuteronomy 16:19. The propriety of the expression will appear, when we find that it is applied to such qualifications as have no relation to the cause; namely, riches, friendship, or family connections. These are visible like the face of one man to another: but the merits of the cause are not apparent till investigated. See Grotius, and Foster's Sermons, vol. 3: p. 12.
Related Commentaries of Proverbs 18:5
Proverbs 18:5
5 It is not good to accept the person of the wicked, to overthrow the righteous in judgment.