Bible Dictionary
INTERMEDDLE
To intermeddle is to share in or take interest in another person’s experience. Proverbs teaches that each heart knows its own bitterness and joy in a way no stranger can fully share.
Definition
To intermeddle is to mix oneself with, share in, or take interest in another person’s experience. It does not necessarily mean offensive interference; it may mean entering into another’s sorrow or joy.
Biblical Usage
Proverbs 14:10 teaches that the heart knows its own bitterness and that a stranger does not intermeddle with its joy. The expression describes the ultimate solitude of each person’s inner experience. In Proverbs 18:1, the King James phrase “intermeddleth with” is revised to “rageth against.”
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>in-ter-med'-'-l (`arabh, "to mix up (self) with something," "mingle in," "share," "take interest in"): The word occurs only once (Pr 14:10) in a passage descriptive of "the ultimate solitude of each man's soul at all times." "The heart knoweth its own bitterness."</p><p>"Nor even the tenderest heart, and next our own, Knows half the reasons why we smile and sigh."</p><p>(Compare 1Ki 8:38.) Something there is in every sorrow which no one else can share. "And a stranger doth not intermeddle with its joy," not necessarily in an interfering or any offensive way, but simply does not share or take any interest in the other's joy.</p><p>For "intermeddleth with" (Pr 18:1 the King James Version), the Revised Version (British and American) gives "rageth against" (margin "quarrelleth with").</p><p>M. O. Evans</p>