42 The Proverbs Of Solomon
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
Targ. on Ps. xii. 9 speaks of " an Aluka going about in a circle, and sucking from men their wives, likewise in an insatiable craving, in constant desire for sexual enjoyments.
On this second example of insatiableness the most weight seems to be laid by the author of the proverb (comp. chap, xxvii. 20).
He does not, however, externally distinguish it specially, and assigns it a prominent place in the series of his enumerations only by making it together with "hell" emphatically the daughter of the blood-sucker, while the " earth " as a third, and the " fire" as a fourth example he simply allows to follow in a subordinate place.
The whole sentence evidently lacks the symmetrical, simply and clearly organized structure, which distinguishes the analogous
Indian proverb above cited.
Yet in this fact that just that which is the main thought, or the truth in the moral world among men which is (o be illustrated by the associated similes from nature, the insatiableness of the craving of the barren woman, is pushed on to the second place, and so in a sense hidden (unlike the order in that Sanscrit proverb where the never satisfied "beauiiful-eyed" are emphatically placed at the end), there is with the greatest probability involved a fully conscious intention of the author of the proverb, who wished by this artifice to give to his ma.xim the heightened charm of ingenuity, and blood," and by this is undoubtedly meant a vampyre-like spirit, a ghostly monster of the nature of the ghouU of the Arabs and Persians, or the Indian dakini (which cougregate in graveyards, and live on the flesh and bones of the corpses).
An Indian origin of the conception described by "Aluka" is indicated also by the occurrence of a proverb closely related to our own, with reference to the insatiableness of four things, in the Hitopadfsa (ed.
L.\sskn, p.
66) :
" The fire is not sated with wood, nor the great sea with the streams ; nor the god of death with all the living, nor the beautiful-eyed with men."
The similarity of this Indian maxim to our passage is clearly much more significant, than that of the Arabic proverb in Meidani, IH. 64, where only
"death not to be satisfied with creatures, and fire not to be satisfied with wood" make up the objects compared.
The assumption of a derivation both of the name Aluka, and of the entire proverb in its essential substance from the old Indian literature need the less excite any wellfounded suspicion, since Agur's residence, Massa, doubtless lay quite near to the old highway of caravans leading from India and Persia to Petra and Teima, and on tliis Sabaean and other merchants will have brought, not only Indian artito form, instead of a mere numerical proverb, a sharp enigmatical proverb (a HTn, comp. Introd., cles of trrjffic, but Indian ideas and literary productions to the lands of South Western Asia (comp.
HiTziG, p. 313).
But the name Aluka and the proverb as a whole is conceived with substantial correctness by Doueelein and Zeigler, whom afterward Gesen., Umbueit, Hitzig, Beutueau,
Delitzsch, and in general most of the recent interpreters have followed.
[For illustration supplied by travellers in Palestine, see Thomson's Land and Book, I.
368, and Wood's Bible Ani- ^11, note 2).
Of these numerical proverbs which are at the same time enigmas, our chapter contains several besides, especially vers. 1S_20
; vers.
24-28 ; and vers. 29-31.
[As compared with the numerical proverbs that follow, the complexity and the more artificial character of the one before us at once arrests attention.
They all have this in common, that whatevermoral lesson they have to convey is less obvious, being hinted rather than stated, and in this view they may merit the name "enigmas."
In the one now under consideration insatiable desire and the importance of mals, p. 646.— .\.] We must reject as untenable both Jakchi's interpretation of "Aluka" by Sheol, hell (so rendered in alleged accordance with the Arabic), and Bocuaet's assertion, that the word signifies its regulation seem to be the remote object.
In the development, insteud of the " three things" and "four things" which repeatedly appear afterward, we have the "leech," its two daughters, the three and the four.
Some have regarded the two daughters as representing physical characfate, fiolpa, iusati.ibie destiny.
In this latter view there is only so much of truth, that " Aluka" does indeed appe.ir generalized to a conception of quite a compreiiensive sort, so iar forth, plainly, as "personified insatiableness, craving in its highest intensity " (Beetueai ) is denoted by it.
Therefore, it appears also as a female spirit, and has two daughters ascribed to it.
These two "daughters of the blood-sucker" are in the first instance designated by a double "give," in accordance with their character as craving, insatiable natures, and these are also expressly mentioned by name.
For it is plainly these that are meant by the first two of the four insatiable things, which are named in vs.
10 a as "Sheol" and the "barren womb."
Hell, or the kingdom of the dead, is also in Isaiah v.
14, as well as above in chap, xxvii. 20, personified as a spiritual power that with insatiable greediness gathers men to itself.
The "closing of the "womb"
(for 1Xi> comp.
Gen. xvi. 2; xx.
18), teristics of the blood-sucker,—others as expressing by an Orientalism a doubly intense craving.
Parallelism suggests making the first two of the four the two daughters apart from other considerations
; other allusions of the Scriptures to the greediness of the world of the dead, jusiify the fiist, while the second alone belongs to human nature.
We can see no other reason than this lor making the second the most emphatic of the fuur as Z. is disposed to do.—Only the most unnatui-;.l theory of inspiration can take exception to the suggestion of a possible Indian origin for the substance and the external form of this proverb, its place and form here being secured by an appropriate and adequate influence of the Holy Spirit.
The Book of Proverbs applies a very severe test to some theories of inspiration.—A.] 7.
Ver.
17. The punishment of him who sins against his parents;—an ethical maxim introduced
«., the unfruitful womb of woman, in connection with which there is no conception and bearing of children, gives indications of itself, according to what is said in Gen. xxx.
1 sq. of Jacob's witliout any close connection into the series of tbo "Middoth " in our section, as ver. 10 is above.
EwAi.ii would have the insatiableness of the birds I of prey, which are to execute the judgment on iliu
CHaP. XXX.
1-33.
wicked man, regarded as the main idea of the proverb, coaaemiug it with vers.
15, 16.
This element, however, is plainly too far in the bacliground, and the main thought is rather his deregard ver. 20 as a spurious addition by a later hand.
It is not even necessary (with Hitzig) la regard the verse as a later addition coming from Agur himself, which he " had not originally had in view." sert of curse and penalty who daringly tramples under foot the fifth commandment; and from this 9.
Vers. 21-23. Four intolerable things under which the earth trembles (not "the land," as LuTHEB, Umbreit, Bertheau, etc., render, weakening the sense).
With ver. 21 comp. Am. ii. 18; there is a sort of connection with vers.
11-14.
An eye .... the ravens of the valley (lit., brook) (comp.
1 Kings xvii.
4-(j) shall pluck it vii.
10 —Under a servant when he becometh ruler.—This is the first and most familiar example, by which the moral danger, and even the ruinous consequences of a sudden elevation of men from a depressed condition to an influential station and unwonted prosperity, are illustrated.—And a fool Twhen he is satisfied with bread.—The "becoming surfeited" isusu' ally attended by a becoming insolent (see ver. 9), especially in the case of a fool to whom not satiety but hunger is properly becoming (chap. xiii. 25; Job xxvii.
14).
Ver. 23. Under a hated woman when she is married.
By the " hated woman " is meant, not one who is "odious," "worthy of hate out, etc.
[The ^71^, the Arabic Wady, is sometimes the torrent, sometimes the valley through which it flows.
See full illustrations and citations in ST.iNLEY's Palestme, p. 490.—A.]—The "raven " and the "eagle"
[i. e., vulture) are named here as birds that feed upon carrion ; the " sons of the eagle,"
;. e., the young eagles, are named because it is especially upon sons, wayward sons, it is true, that the penalty is to be inflicted. The punishment itself, however, consists in strangling and leaving the bodies unburied, so that they become food for the fowls of heaven ; comp.
Sam. xvii.
44;
Kings xiv.
11; xvi.
4, etc.— [With reference to the raven consult Wood's "
Bil>le Animals, p.
4J.5
; and to the eagle or grifiin Tultnre, p. 34U.— .\.] (llosEN.M., [E. v., n.,N., S., M.,]), nor again a woman already married and only neglected and disparaged by her husband (Dathe, Umbreit,), but, as appears from the " when she is married, when she obtains a husband," one who has remained waiting, the maiden (old maid) who at B.
Vers.
18-2t). Four incomprehensible things.
—The V7ay of the eagle in the heavens, etc.— Besides the ease with which the eagle, a large and heavy bird, soars high above in the air (comp.
Job xxxix. 27), this circumstance is also surely an object of the poet's amazement, that it leaves behind no trace of its course ; for the same thing is also true of the progress of the smoothly gliding serpent over the slippery rock, and also of tliat of the ship that swiftly ploughs the waves of the first could obtain no husband, but afterward when she has been married triumphs insolently, and deals harshly and contemptuously with her sisters or companions who are single (comp. Gen. xxix. 31, 33; Deut. xxi. 15-17.) The same will be the conduct, according to clause A of a maid "when she becomes heir to her mistress," z". c, undoubtedly, when she supplants her mistress in the favor of her husband, and so becomes J>is allpowerful favorite. sea.
Of the fourth of the ways here compared, the "way of the man with the maid" (or "in the maid"), i. e., of the mysterious way in which the man in sexual intercourse has fruitful connection with the maid, this failure to leave any trace behind seems indeed to be less true.
And yet the author in this connection doubtless thinks not of pregnancy and the woman's child-bearing .is later results of sexu.il connection, but as ver. 20 shows, at first only of this, that the intercourse leaves behind it no traces immediately and directly apparent
; m.an and wife, adulterer and adulteress, can the night following the accomplishment of the mysterious process be convicted of it by no one; the act is as little to be detected in them both as eating in him who after table has wipeil his mouth (ver. 20, 6, c).
Moreover, the woman 10.
Vers. 24-28. The four things that are small and yet wise (with respect to D"03ni3, made wise or quick of wit, comp. Ps.
Iviii. 6; "ixiv. 7). Four species of small animals are thus described, which in spite of their comparatively diminutive size and strength of body, yet by virtue of their diligence
(ver. 25), shrewdness (ver.
2G), harmony (ver.
27), and flexibility (ver. 28) serve as instructive emblems for the domestic, social and political life of men.—With ver. 25 comp. vi.
78.—^Forthe "conies" (Z. "cliff-badgers") in ver 26, i. e., the hyrax Syriacus which live in com panics in Syria, Palestine and Arabia Petrae» (not the marmot, tlie nius sive dipu.^ Jaculus, comp Li.\N.EUs, or the rabbit, as Luther renders th« word, following the Chald. and the Rabbins), sen
Ps. civ.
18; Lev. xi. 5; Deut. xiv.
[See Thomson's Land and Book, I.
459, and also Woon's Bible Animals, pp. 312-18; and for his illustration of the n^iture and habits of the ant of Palestine, pp.
616-22; for the locusts see pp.
596-604; and for the gecko, a species of lizard which he understands to be referred to in ver.
28 instead of the " spider," see pp. 643, 534 sq.
A.].—For the "organized going forth" of the locusts, in ver. 27, comp. especially Joel ii. 2 sq., [and Thomson, Land and B'.ok. II. 109].
Finally the lizard in ver. 28 is as its name signifies the poisonous spotted lizard [sfel./io, Vulg ) in regard to which the thing here made prominent ii in ver. 19 is designated as iTD7J7, i.
«., as viryo pubescent, as a young woman capable of se.tu.al intercourse (comp.
Gen. xxiv.
43; Is. vii. 14; Song Sol. vi. 8), undoubtedly for this reason, that she is to be put in contrast with the adulterous woman in ver. 20; in other words, the sexual intercourse between man and woman is to be described first in its pure and normal type (the first love of the bridegroom and the bride, comp Gen. ii. 24
; Eph. v. 31, 32 ; John iii. 29), and only afterwards in its degenerate form as adultery.
Furthermore, the "Alma" of our passage has been in many ways interpreted also of the Virgin Mary, e.g., by Ambrose, Ltba, Cor.v. a Lapide, and Fr
Grisenius (in Loscher's •Uii^rh. Nachrichten."
Vol. 13, p. .503) [and also by Wordsw. in lncn'\.— Sathe has very unnecessarily been disposed to
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
its sly entering into the interior of houses, and even into the palaces of tlie great.
For this sest evil.
To these two hypothetical antecedent clauses, which do not present an antithesis (tlie foolisli and rational—as Hitzig explains), but two ditferent forms of human error: foolish self-exaltation and wicked plottino-, the sentence
"tlie hand on the mouth," forms the conclusion, interjectional and imperative (comp. Job xx. 5). characteristic of the animal Bochart brings furward various testimonies, Hieroz.,
1. iv. 7, p. 1090, Frankfort Ed.
[Gesesius, Fuekst, etc., favor this rendering, and Wood [ubi supra) describes and depicts the peculiar form of the.feet by which the lizard, the Gecko, "layeth hold " even upon Ver. 33 then justifies the warning by a significant intimation of three c.ise.< in which the foolish act of "pressing" (V'Oi brings forth undeflat surfaces like the walls of apartments.—A.]
11.
Ver. 29-31. The four creatures that have a stately movement; three animals, and the king sirable results,—strong cheese, flowing blood, sharp strife.—And pressing (forcing) wrath produceth strife.
The l:ist word supplies plainly the object of the whole discourse from ver. 32 onward.
The dual Q"3N stands doubtless in his all-ruling dignity and power.
The whole description re:illy turns upon the last.
Ver.
31.
The greyhound, slender in its loins.
This is the probable meaning of the difficult phrase D'jn"3 TPI (according to the Jewintentionally (comp. Dan. xi. 20) to indicate that ish interpreters, Ewald, Bertheau, [E. V., S., M.,] etc.).
For Till is plainly derived from the it is the wrath of two whose sharp pressing upon each other leads to the development of strife.
[Thomson, Land and Book. 1.393, describing the Oriental mode of churning by squeezing and wringing a leathern bag or bottle that contains the milk, makes more apparent and vivid the meaning of this comparison.
The dual D'3X root Ij "to compress," and therefore denotes a compact, slender animal; and the neighboring term seems to indicate the intention not to bring together exclusively ex:imple3 of animal majesty of the high rank of the lion, but to give to the enumeration as a whole in a certain sense a ludicrous variety and an air of wit.
The old versions (LXX, Vulg., Targ., etc..) suggest the cocA:; with this meaning of the main noun the modifying term, however, does not at all agree, even though one were disposed to transform it into a Hithp.
Part.
D'jnp.
Others, like Schultens, GeSEN.
(?), UMBBEir, ElSTER, HlTZlG [DeW.,K., MuFFET, N.] take the TPI in the sense of "that which is girded about the loins, or panoplied," and therefore the war-horse,—a meaning however which is not surely demonstrable.
[Starting with the same idea Wordsw. understands a " warrior," and Wood an "athlete."
Fuerst's rendering is "stag"].—And a king with whom no resistance (occurs).
In this way (with the Vulg., the Rabbins, Geier, Michaelis, Bertheau, Ewald, [K.,
E. V., H.,
S., M.], etc.), we is employed probably because nostrils usually exist in pairs, and the transition is easy from the physical organ, through the heavy breathing of passion, to the metaphorical sense "wrath."
Whether two or many are concerned in strife is not material.—A.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
As the confession of an Israelite, a believer in Jehovah in a strange land, one separated from his people of the ten tribes, who among Arabs and the sworn and mortal enemies of Israel, adheres iirmly to the faith of his nation, this discourse of Agur is one of great doctrinal importance, and of no slight interest to the history of redemption.
Its fundamental idea, which is put forward as a sort of programme, is contained in the six verses of the introduction, and comes out most clearly in ver. 5: Every word of God is pure; a shield is He to them that trust in Him. must interpret the words Vti)} D^D 7S, although the ni3"7N of chap. xii. 28 is a very doubtful It is the truth, purity and saving power of the word of God alone, in contrast with the nullity and inadequacy of all human wisdom (vers. 2-5), that forms the starting point in the instructive discourse of this poet of wisdom, and to which parallel for this way of regarding Q^P??* as a compound of 7S and D'p.
For the identification of this noun with ihe Arabic S^\ "thepeoall the manifold apothegms, numerical proverbs and enigmas which he combines in a varied series in vers.
7-33, sustain a closer or more remote relation. pie"
(Castellio, Pococke.
Umbreit, [De W., N.], etc.), an argument might seem to lie in Ihe While it appears at the first view that the flowers and fruits from the cornucopia of Agur's wisdom, original and in part so rarely fashioned, are he.aped up wholly without order, yet they all agree in this, that they depict the glory and allfact that the meaning so reached, "the king at the head of his people," agrees almost literally with the ii/i^Tiyopcjn Iv ItHvei of the LXX, and the similar version of the Syriac.
But to bring in an Arabic word, especially one compounded with the article al is here quite too unnatural.
HiTsufficiency of the word of God, dissuade from adding to it by any human supplements (see in iiij's emendation might better recommend itself, particular ver. 7), and most urgently commend the DTt7X instead of Dip/X, and all the more hefulfilling and following it by a pious life.
There cause it gives a very pertinent sense: "A king with whom God is." is hardly a single commandment of the Decalogue that is not directly or indirectly repeated and emphasized in these maxims.
Observe the relation 12.
Vers.
32, 33.
Warning against pride, haughtiness and love of strife, with an indicaof the prayer for the hallowing of God's name (vers.
7-9), to the first and third commandments; the reference contained in ver.
and again in ver. 17 to the fifth commandment; the tion of three forms of evil resulting from these vices.
If thou art foolish in exalting thy. elf (comp.
Kings i. 5) and if thou devi-
CHAP. XXX.
1-33.
25a To God's word and law man is to add nothing (vers. 1-6), but he is also to take nothing away, not even one of its least commandments (vers. 7-33).
Stocker :
All true wisdom comes from God alone warnings against the transgression of the sixth commandment in ver. 14 as well as in vers. 32,
; the reproving and warning aim of vers.
18-20, and 23, in tlieir bearing upon the seventh ; the allusion to the eighth in ver.
9, and to the ninth in ver.
10; and finally the reference, reminding us of the tenih, in vers.
15, IB, as bearing on the unsali.-ibleness of evil de- (1-7), not from human nature, which is rather j exceedingly corrupt (11-17), and whose understanding is greatly weakened (18-24).
Vers.
1-6. Melanchthon : Human wisdom is able to devise no means of preservation from the ignorance and spiritual weakness which naturally belong to us.
But the Church in its divine revelation possesses a light which not only reveals to it ihe causes of its spiritual destitution, but also points out the means for its elevation and healing.
Therefore this divinely revealed truth must be listened to by us, must be received in faith as well in its threatenings of punishment as in its consolatory contents, and be guarded from all corruption and perversion.
Luther (marginal comment on ver.2) :
Wise people know that their wisdom is nothing : fools know everything and cannot err.
Geieb (on vers.
2, 3) :
With the knowledge of himself and of the deep corruption that dwells in him tlie (Christian must make the beginning in the contemplation of divine things.
[.\rnot:
It isa precious practical rule to look toward heaven while we measure ourselves.
Trapp:
Godliness as it begins in right knowledge of ourselves, so it ends in a right knowledge of God.— Kow.\uns :
All true spiritual knowledge is of that nature that the more a person has of it the more is he sensible of his own ignorance].
Starke (on vers. 4-6):
Wlioever is engaged in the investigation and exposition of God's word, let him take his reason captive to the obedience of faith, and not curiously scrutinize, that he may make divine mysteries comprehensible.
Stockeb (on vers.
5, 6):
On the glory of the divine word, especially its clearness, uiility and perfectness.— BeHeburg Bible (on ver.
0) ; How many counterfeiters there are who from their poor copper make additions to the royal gold currency of God's word, and thereby debase it!
[Lawson:
Our trust must be in the name of the Lord, as it is represented to us in the word of God; the seed and the ground of our faith in Him.
Muffet:
It is treason to corrupt or falsify the prince's coin ; what high treason must it needs be then to counterfeit or corrupt the pure word of God!] sire (this "daughter of the blood-sucker" and sister of hell!).
No one of these proverbs is wholly without an ethical value, not even the two numerical proverbs, vers. 24-28 and 29-31, which at the first view stand apart as incidental reflections on merely natural truths, but in reality hide under their ingenious physical drapery decided moral aims.
For in vers.
24-28 four chief virtues of one's social and political avocation are specified through an allusion to a like number of examples from the animal world
(comp. exeg. notes, No.
10), and vers. 29-31 run into a delineation of the high dignity and glory of a king by the grace of God (in contrast with the insufferable tyranny of base upstarts, vers.
21-23).
It is true that the point of view taken in the author's doctrinal and ethical knowledge nowhere rises above the level of the pure religion of the law.
The law's doctrine of retribution he holds with inexorable strictness and severity, as is indicated particularly in the fearful threatening prediction in ver. 17 against children who are disobebedient to their parents [yoi'evaiv a-ei^£i(;, Rom. i. 30).
Against those who do not belong to the people of God of the Old Testament he appears to cherish prevailingly dispositions of hate and abliorrence, as the utterance in vers.
11-14, which is probably directed against such nonIsraelitish people, shows (see remarks above on this passage).
With respect to knowledge in the department of theology and Christology his point of view seems in no respect more elevated than that of the author of chaps, i.-ix.
; for in ver. 4 he confesses that he knows nothing of the name of the Son of God, and he nowhere makes reference to the existence and efficiency of the hypostatic wisdom of God, not even where this would have been natural enough (e. ff. in vers.
4-6).
He need not be charged in addition with the intermingling of impure and superstitious notions from polytheistic religions, for the AUika with its two daughters, in ver.
15, is evidently mentioned by him only with a symbolical design, as a personification of insatiableness (an evil lust that nothing can quell), and is by no means represented as an actually existing spectre, or demoniacal nature.* Vers. 7-17. Comp.
1'. Gerhard's poetical reproduction of vers. 7-9:
" Zwcierlei bill' ich von dir^" etc.
(^Ge.famm. geisiliclie Lieder^ No.
41).
[Trapp: God heaps mercies on His suppliants, and blames them for their modesty in asking.
Arnot :
Agnr's requests are specific and precise ; the temporal interests are absolutely subordinated to the spiritual prosperity of the suppliant ; and a watch is set against the danger to a soul which lies in extremes either of position or of character.— Bp. Hopkins :
There is a seeking
HOMILETIC AND PRACTICAL.
Homily on the entire chapter:—The all-sufScient power and the fullness of blessing in the divine word in contrast with the weakness of mere luiuian wisdom : a) in general (vers.
1-6) ; i) with special reference to the glory and indispensable necessity of the Decalogue (vers. 7-33); comp. Doctrinal and Ethical notes.—Or again: of worldly advantages which is not to be branded with the black mark of self-seeking; e. g. when we seek them with a due subordination to the higher and more noble ends of piety and holiness, such as that we may escape those temptations which possibly the want of them might expose us unto.
Flavel :
How much better were it for thee to endure the pains of hunger than those of a guilty conscience.
Bates; To * The Cftse ai^pear^ to be otherwise with tlie spertro of the night n''7''7 mentionetj in Isa. xxxiv. 14
: comp. Deutzsch on this passage.
; ; :
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
Vers.
18-31. Luther (marginal, on ver. 19):
Love (the mystery of love, Eph, v. 31, 32) is not to be thought out or expressed.—Geiek (on vers.
18-20) : As it is with adulterers so it is with flatterers ; they will never allow their vicious nature to be called by the right name.—(On vers.
21-23):
It always causes manifold disquiet and misfortune, when they rule over others whom it would better befit to be subject to others.—(On vers. 24-28) :
Despise not things that at the first glance appear small and contemptible.
Under a poor garment there is often a wise man hid ; Dan. i.
18-20.—(On vers.
29-31):
In matters belonging to one's ofiice and public calling it is important to be courageous and firm, especially in times of need.
It is not well then if one forsakes those over whom one is set ; Ecclesiast. receive no hurtful impressions by great changes of condition discovers a habit of excellent grace and virtue in the soul].
Geiek:
Although poverty and riches of themselves can neither make us blessed nor damn us, yet both are wont incidentally and through the fault of men not rarely to bring after them consequences injurious to our spiritual welfare.—(On ver. 10)
: Keep thy tongue bridled, especially when it is disposed to rage against the needy and helpless ; for though it is not right to curse thy neighbor, yet such curses when they have been uttered do not remain without effect, particularly if he who utters them is one who ha.s been unjustly oppressed.
Starke (on ver. 11-14) : The natural corruption of men is great; yet it is possible that they be purged from it by the blood of Jesus Christ;
Cor. vi.
11;
John i. 7—Uuthankfulness X. 31.
[Lawson (on ver. 20) : Do not imagine that the secrecy of sin is your security from punishment; it is the snare of your souls].
Vers. 32, 33. Luther (marginal, on ver. 32) (ver.
11), self-righteousness (ver.
1'2), pride (ver.
1.3), and unmercifulness (ver.
14) are usually associated as an unblessed quartette of sisters — WoHLFABTii (on vors.
!•>, 15): Many are the evil Be not ashamed if thou hast chanced to err, and do not defend it.
For to err is human, but spirits that go about among men to spread misto defend it is devilish.
Lange:
Strut not with fortune and ruin, the cruel spectre of avarice is one of the most formidable enemies of our race.
Like the vampyre which in the night attacks lust of the eyes, fleshly lust and insolence.
Thereby thou only provokest the wrath of God, that will come down too heavily for thee
; Ecclesleepers and sucks their blood, this demon rages in palaces and cottages, etc.—(On ver.
17):
What Agur here says by way of warning of siast.
V. 2 sq.
Berleburg JUble : He that would gladly shun strife must seek to avoid obstinacy and self-will.
How many useless disputes in matters of religion might not in this way be escaped!
[Edwards:
Silence attends humility.
—Muffet:
He which falleth through prid* should rise again to repentance]. ravens and vultures, etc., has already gone a thousandfold into literal fulfilment in a horrible way on children who are wayward and in consequence of their disobedience to parents sunk in the deepest spiritual need; who were either driven to self-murder, or died on the scaffold.
Second Supplement The words of Lemuel, together with the poem in praise of the matron.
Chap. XXXI. a) Lemuel's maxims of wisdom for kings.
Vers. 1-9.
Words of Lemuel the king of Massa with which his mother instructed him:
2 Oh, my aon! oh, thou son of my womb ! oh thou son of my vows!
3 Give not thy strength to women, nor thy ways to destroy kings.
4 Not for kings, oh Lemuel, not for kings (is it becoming) to drink wine nor for princes (wine) or strong drink
lest he drink and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of all the sons of want.
6 Give strong drink to him that is perishing, and wine to hira that is of a heavy heart.
7 Let him drink and forget his poverty, and let him remember his want no more I
CHAP. XXXI.
1-31.
8 Open thy mouth for the dumb, for the right of all orphan children.
9 Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and vindicate the poor and needy. b) Alphabetical song in praise of the virtuous, wise and industrioas woman.
Vers. 10-31.
10 A virtuous woman who can find ? and yet her price is far above pearls.
11 The heart of her husband doth trust in her, and he shall not fail of gain.
12 She doeth him good and not evil all the days of her life.
13 She careth for wool and linen, and worketh with diligent hands.
14 She is like the ships of the merchant, from afar doth she bring her food.
1-5 She riseth up while it is yet night, and giveth food to her house and a portion to her maidens.
16 She considereth a field and buyeth it, a vineyard with the fruit of her hands.
17 She girdeth her loins with strength, and maketh her arms strong.
18 She perceiveth that her gain is good, her light goeth not out by night 19 She putteth her hands to the distaff, and her fingers lay hold on the spindle.
20 She stretcheth forth her hand to the poor, and extendeth her arms to the needy.
21 She is not afraid of the snow for her household, for all her household is clothetl in crimson.
22 Coverlets doth she prepare for herself; fine linen and purple is her clothing.
23 Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth with the elders of the land.
24 She maketh fine linen and selleth it, and girdles doth she give to the merchant.
25 Strength and honor are her clothing she laugheth at the future.
26 She openeth her mouth with wisdom, and the law of kindness is on her tongue.
27 She looketh well to the ways of her household and the bread of idleness she will not eat.
28 Her sons rise up and praise her, her husband, he also boasteth of her :
29 Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou hast excelled them all 30 Grace is deceitful, beauty is vanity, a woman that feareth the Lord ; let her be praised 31 Give to her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.
GRAMMATICAL, AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 2.—[riDi where it occnrs the third time, is pointed m, as is not uncommon in repetitions, to aacnre Tarletj; tee BoTT., ^ 499, c. The consonant succeeding is the same in the three cases.—A.J
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
Ter. 3.—Hlrzio changes the ilin^ 7 (Inf. Hiph. from HnO) to tbe fem. part, of n"D7,
" to leer or ogle," IHnii i- *' and give Dot thy way to them (the seductive courtesans) who leer after kings"
(?).
[BoTT. prefers to make of it a Kai part. fem. plur. from nnO,and would point HinO^ and rtnder "the caressers of kings."'
This is certainly easier than the •ansative Infinitive with its abstractness.
See BiiTT., g 1089, 2.
TJ 73, an Aramaic form immediately followed in vtr. 4 bj the regular plural twice repeated.
Green, gl99. a :
ButT-. ?2T7, ?>.— A.] Ver. 4.—We remler IX "or" according: to the K'thibh, which ia recommended by like examples of a distributive location of this digiinctive particle (such as chap. xxx. 31 [where
BiiTT. would read IXJ^ rather than allow the irregularity i; Job xxii. 11).
We do not need therefore to substitute for it IX, " desire " (that is, " fv»rstrongdriuk,"OESE.v. anJotUen-), or to read with the K'ri *J<, "where?" ("where is strong drink for princes?" comp. Gen. iv. 9;.
[BoTT. regards it as a probable Simeonite s.vnonym for niXH, "desire," §4.36, 3; 453, g.
The two forms of the king's name, iN^oS and '^SW'?. a genitive in ver. 1 and a vocative in ver. 4, also deserve attention.
The changing person of the verbs is no uncommon phenomenon.
See Ew \ld. \ .309, (t.—A.J Vvr. 5.—ppnO, a Pual part, from ppn, signifies " that which is decided, the prescribed," and is therefore equivalent
«o pn, "law."
Ver. 6.—[:ijj"\ the pcrmisjire use of the Imper.; BoTT., g 959, 5.—A.] Ver. 12.—Soj is used with two accusatives aa in 1 Sara. xxiv. 18.
"Ver. 13.—[Tile fcin. noun nr'U'3 seems to be used of the raw material, ,^aa;, while this plural from rity3 is used of the product, the materials for clothing.—A.]
, Ver. 15.— n'')0 (cjmp. the \erb n'lDTl in xxx. 8) is a strong expression for DH?, ver. 14 (comp. above in ver. 11, S'jB'," spoil ").'
Ver. 16.—The K'thibh ^*I3J, sfa(. con^fr. from ^DJ, "planting,"
Is. v. 7, is undoubtedly to be preferred to the K'ri ni?DJ, notwithstanding all the old versions prefer the latter (see Bertheau and HlTZlG on the passage).
[BoTT. defends the Masoretic reading, and renders as a verb.] Ver. 21.—[The short form of the part. t;/37 seems to be explained and justified by the close connection of words and the sequence of ty.
BiJTT., §934, 6—A.] , , Ver. 27.—Instead ut tiie K'thibh ri07^n we must either with the K'ri read riO''7n, or regard the former as an Ara- '
. maic collateral form (H^Sri) for jlO^n.
Ver. 30.—HX*^' before XX^TV '3 here the itat, constr. not of the abstract substantive HX"^', but from the fem. part.
- :
T :
T :
• nXT*, " the woman who feareth." nation, a circumscribing of the name Solomon, and that accordingly by the " mother of Lemuel "
EXEGETICAL.
no other than Bathsheba is intended, this opinion 1. Ver. 1. The superscription to Lemuel" s discourse.
—'Words of Lemuel, king of Massa.—That of many old expositors (and recently of SchellINO,
ROSENMUELLER
[WoRDS.], CtC.) laCks all we must, in disreg;ii'd of tlie .Masoretic pointing, connect the "Massa" with the first clause, and further corroboration.
[The impossibility of regarding 'H/O without an article as an appositive regard it as a genitive governed by the '^/^, which of '7X''3'7, even though St^D be not a limiting gehas no article, was the right view taken as early nitive, but an appositive to '112"1, is not admitted as the Syriac version, when it interprets the by those who defend the prevailing interpretation
NOT '^70 by "king of utterance " {regis prophctx).
We ought, however, here, as in chap. xxx.
1, lo of ver.
The construction is admitted to be exceptional, but claimed to be possible (see, e.
;/., Gree.n, ^247, a).
HrrziG, JjERrni'iAF, Z. and regard XtSD rather as the name of a country, and others make this one chief reason for seeking a new rendering.
Another is the peculiar use of Lemuel, the king of the land, as perhaps a brotlier of Agur, and consider his mother as the same wise princess who was there designated as " ruler of Massa."
To her therefore belong proNtyD out of prophecy, and as an appositive to the sufficient and more appropriate '7.37Here as in perly and originally the counsels and instrucxxx.
1 K.iMPH. retains the ordinary meaning of tions for kings contained in vers. 1-9.
And yet, Ntyp, while S., here as there, follows Hixzio.—A.] since Lemuel first reduced them to writing, and 80 transmitted them to posterity, they may well be called also " words of Lemuel,"—a title which In regard to the peculiar linguistic character of the section vers. 1-0, which in m.vny points agrees wilh Agur's discourse [and in which Bottcher there is therefore no need of altering (wilh Hitzk;) lo "words to Lemuel.'' The name "Lemuel," acain recognizes a Simeonitish cast], see above, or, as it is written in ver. 4 by the punctuators, " Leraoel, p°24fi.
" appears furthermore to be quite as 2.
Vers. 2-0.
The rules of tri.idom from Lemuel's mother.—Oh my son ! Oh thou son of my womb!e(c.—The thrice repealed HO, usually properly a genuine Hebrew formation as '-Agur "
(see above, Exeg. notes on chap, xxx., No. 2).
It " what"—which Luther appropriately rendered is probably only a fuller form for that which octura in Numb. iii. 24 as an Israelitish masculine by "AchI" isplainly " an impassioned exclamation expressing the inward emotion of the mother s iiame, 1^^.
"to God, for God "
{Deo deditus). heart at the thought that the son might possibly That it is purely a symbolical appellative desig-
CHAP. XXXI.
1-31.
fall into an evil way "
(Elster) ; it is therefore j a judge and at the same time an advocnte (comp. eiibstantially " What, my son, wilt thou do ?" or ' Job xxix.
15.
Iti).
For the right of all orphan children.— " Sons of leaving, of abandonment or disadvantage" (not of " tlestruction," as Ew.vLD and lj[iiiTHE.\u would interpret here, with a reference to Ps. xc. 5; Is. ii.
Ifi). are clearly those left beliind as helpless orphans; the word therefore conveys a more specific idea than the '•sons of w.-mt" in ver.
** How, my son, wilt tliou suffer thyself to be betrayed?" etc.—With •' son of my vows " comp.
Sam. i. 11.
Ver.
3. Give not thy strength to women — ('. e., do not sacrifice it to them, do not give thy manly strength and vigor a prey to them.
It is naturally the Wiiys of licentiousness that are intended, which ruin physically and morally kings and princes who give themselves up to them.
See Critical notes.
The praise of the virtuous matron (vers. 10—31 is an alphabetic mor.al poem (like Ps. is., x., xxv., xxxiv., cxix.; Lara. i.—iv., etc.), "a golden A B C for women " according to DoDEKLti.N's pertinent designation, a highly poetic picture of the ideal of a Hebrew matron.
Not the alphabetic ;Struclure indeed, which it has in common with Vers. 4.
This warning against licentiousness is immediately followed by a dissuasion from drunkenness, which is naturally closely connected with the preceding —Also not for princes (is wine) or strong drink.—.'^ee Critical notes.
For ^Dt?, " me.ad, strong drink," comp. notes on xx.
; not a few Psalms of high antiquity, partly sucii as come from David (comp. Dhlitzscu, Psalms I.
(50; II.
187), but very probably some fracea that are contained in it of a later usus loqucndi, especially the more frequent scriptio plena, even apart from the distinctive accents (comp. HiTZiG,
].'_[Gesen., Rott., De
W., H., N.,
S., M., etc., would render by *' desire," if the K'thihh is followed, which they are disposed to do.
The K'ri, pointing IX, suggests either the interrogative *K, p. 334), and also in p;irlicular the position assigned it by the compiler, even after He/.ckiah's supplement and Agur's and Lemuel's discourse, mark the poem as a literary work produced quite
"where," or an abbreviated form of the negative ya.
FcERST renders IX as an interrogative here.
-A.] Ver.
5. Lest he drink and forget the law — I.
«., the king, who is here in question.
The construction ("drink and forget" in.stead of "drinking forget") is like that in chap. xxx.
—And pervert the judgment of all the sons of want— i. c. of all the poor and helplate after Solomon's time, and even as probably the latest constituent of the whole collection.
Although separated from Iho "words of Lemuel" by no superscription of its own, it shows itself to be the work of a different person from the wise prince of M.ossa. and that probably a later poet, by its not sharing the linguistic idioms of that less.
For the Piel T\jy.
^*in dctcrius viutarc, to T distort, wrest, destroy," comp. Job xiv. 20.
For the sentiment comp.
I'LtsY, Ilist. Nat., XXIll.
In provcrbiam ce.^sit sapientiani vino obumbrari. section, and by the whole of its characteristic bearing and structure.
Besides, in its contents and generid drift it docs not stand in any particu- [It has become proverbial that wisdom is clouded by wine.] larly close and nec^-ssary connection with iho maxims of wisiiom from the mother of Lemtiel.
And that it has by no means steadily from the beginning held its place immediately after these, appears willi great probability from the fact that the LXX attach it directly to xxix.
27, and give Vers. 6, 7. The enjoyment of wine and strong drink is seasonable in its cheering influence upon the sorrowful, whom it is desirable to cause to forget their sorrow; comp.
Ps. civ. 15; Matth. xxvii. 34 —Give strong drink to him who to the proverbs of Agur and Lemuel an earlier place (within the limits of tlie present 24lh chapis perishing—the m-.m who is on the point of perishing, who isju'^t expiring, as Job xxix. 13; xxxi. 19:
"the hei'.vy in heart" are afllicled, anxious ones, as in Job iii. 20; 1 Sam. xxii.
2, ter).
Comp. Introd., J 10, p. 30.
With the greatest ai-bitrariness.
Stiek {Politik der iri"/.?/;?!/, pp. 134 sq.) has felt constrained to interpret the matrou of this poem alttc.
[That even these be made to drink to unconsciousness is not the recommendation, but that in their extremity, physical or mental, wine be given to fulfil its office in imparting elasticity, and increasing power of endur.ance, and taking the crushing weight from calamities that might otherwise be overwhelming.
As there is a misuse pointed out before in drinking to the destruction of kingly competence and the thwarting of kingly duty, self-indulgence, sinful excitement and excess overmastering reason and conscience,—so it legorically, and to make the application to the Holy Spirit renewing men and educating them for the kingdom of God.
The whole attiiude of the section speaks against such an interpretation, most of all the praise bestowed in vers. 'J3 sq. upon the influence of the matron as advancing the standing of her husband in the political organization of the State, as well as what is said in ver.
30 of the fear of God as her most eminent virtue.
Comp.
Von Hofm.'VNN, Schriftliew., II., 2, 378.
[According to Wobdsw. we find here a prophetie representation of the Church of Christ, in her is a kingly grace to bear others' bui-dens by ministries of helpful kindness.
As on the one hand there is nothing here to preclude the pressing of other pleas for abstinence, so on the other there truth, purity and holiness, and as di.stinguished from all forms of error, corruption and defilement, which sully and mar the faith and worship which he has prescribed."— .\ ] 4.
Vers. 10-22.
The action and management is nothing to encourage the too early and willing resort to the plea of necessity, or to commend in any case drinking to utter oblivion.— .\.] of the virtuous woman vilhm h<r domestic sphere.
A virtuous woman, who can find?
The "virtuous woman." as in xii. 4; chap. xi.
16.
[The transition is easy, from physical strength Vers.
8, 9.
Continuation of the exhortation, commenced in ver.
5, to a righteous and merciful administration.
Open thy mouth for the dumb —That is. help such to their right as are not able to mainiain it for themselves ; be to them to moral strength ami probity.
The word " virI'
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
tuous " is therefore to be taken in this high pleasing nature of her gain, is shown in the 2d clause. sense.—A.].
The interrogative exclamation " who will find ? " express the iJea of a wish, as Ver.
19. She putteth her hands to the distaff.
This is the usual rendering.
But probably HlTZiGS rendering is more exact (following Vatabl., Mercekus, Gesen.,«((;. )
: "Her hands she throweth out with the whorl," for ijn' 'D does elsewhere; it is therefore equivalent to '' would til it every one might find so grn(;ions a treasure !"
And yet her price is far above learls.
The "and" at the beginning of this clause is either the exegetical, " that is, that is "lliy'S is not properly the " distaff," but the to say," as in xxv.
13, etc.
(thus HiTZiu), or, which seems to be more natural, the. adversative 'and yet, however"
(Ew.-vld, Elsteb).
For 'whorl, or wheel,' verticnlnm. "a ring or knob fastened upon the spindle below the middle, that it m.ay fall upon its base, and may revolve rightly."
[Kamph. rejects this explanation, and gives an extract of some length tiom a "Book of Inventions, Trades and Industries," to justify his own. which is the old view.
The word translated "fingers" is literally her "bent hands."— A.] the figure comp. iii.
10; viii.
11.
[Thosison, Land and Book, II.
.572 sq. illustrates the force and fitness of the successive points in this description in contrast with the ordinary ignorance, weakness and worlhlessness of the women of the East.—.4.] Ver.
11. And he shall not fail of gain.
Ver. 20. Her hand she stretcheth forth to the poor, lit., " lier hollow, or bent hand. ihvj. strictly "the spoil of war," is a strong ex- ' in which she holds her gift. pression to describe the rich profit to which the co-operation of the efficient wife helps her husband's activity in his occupation.
Acconling to Ver.
21. She is not afraid of the snow for her household, lit., -toareth not for her house from snow."
The snow stands here for "winter's cold," and for this reason,— Ih.it the sharpest possible contrast is intended with the clothes of "crimson wool," woolen stuffs of crimson color with which her household go clothed in winter.
The same alliterative antiIIiTziG, *' spoil, fortunate discovery," is to be taken here as in I's. cxix. 162
; Isa. ix.
2, figuratively, and to be interpreted of the joy which the wife prepares for her Iju^ihand {?).
Yer.
12. She doeth him good and not evil.
Comp.
1 Sain. xxiv.
12.
Ver.
Vi. She careth for Mirool and linen thesis of CiV and ii'd is found in Is. i.
18.
; lit., "she seeketh (busicth herself with) wool and - T UitiiUEiT, EwALi), Beetheau, S., e.tc , render linen," i. e., she provides these as materials for the products of her feminine skill. —And ^fforketh with diligent hands; lit., "and D'J^^' incorrectly by "purple garments" (see in objection to this Baehr's S7/7nbolik des Mosaisch.'n
CiUlus, I.
sq.), while the LXX, Luthek, l.iboreth wilh her hands' pleasure " (Umbp.eit, EW.1LD, Elster) [Dr. W,, K., E, V., N., S., M.], RoSENM., Vaihinger, H., etc., read D'JtS (vestior inasmuch as ]'3n might here signify "occumnnta dnplicia, "double clothing"), by which the strong contrast is sacrificed. pation"
(as in Is.
Iviii. 3; Eceles. iii.
17); "and laboreth in the business of her hands"
Ver.
22. Coverlets doth she prepare for herself.
For the " coverlets" comp. vii.
IH An article of clothing can be intended no more here than there.
In the cosily articles of .apparel which the woman wears, the contrasted (Hitzig).
Ver.
14. She is like the ships of the merchant, so far foiih as she selling her proilucts to loreigners (ver. 21), brings in gain from remote regions (comp.
A), and provides long in advance for all tlie necessities of her house. colors, white and purple, recur again.
The bf/ssim (Copt, schevsch) and the "purple"
(reddish purple in contrast with the (violet) " bluish Ver.
1-J. And distributeth food to her house.
The "portion" of the ne.xt cbiuse is not a possible synonym for the "food" of this, purple" nb^i^) are both foreign materials, the one an Egyptian, the other a Syro-phoenician production.—Comp.
Baehr, ubi supra; Winer so that it should denote the definite allowance of food, the ratioas of the maidens (LrTHER, Bkktheau [E. v., S., M.] etc.); what is dein his Realvjurterb.
Articles Baumwollc and scribeil by it is the definite penstim, what each maid has to spin of wool, flax, etc., and therePttrpur.
Vers. 23—31. The infinence of the matroi beyond the narrow sphere of the domestic life.
—Her husband is well known in the gates, because the excellence of his wife not only makes him rich but important and famous.
With this being "known in the gates," see also fore the day's work of the maidens (Ew.\ld, Umbreit, HiTZio [De W., K , H., N.] etc.).
Ver.
10.
She considereth a field and buyeth it, tliat is, for the money earned by her diligenl manual labor.—A vineyard (Z. "a vineyard-planting") with the fruit of her hands.
A "planting of a vineyard"
(gcnit. ver. 31 b (i.
«., well known in counsel), comp.
Homer's : kvapiOfiio^ kv'i ftnv'Atii , Iliad ii. 202.
Ver.
24.
She maketh fine linen, etc. apposil.) is however the same as a planting of rnD=(T/v(Jwx' (comp. LXX here and in Judg. xiv. vines.
See Critical Notes for another construc12) fine linen and shirts made of it (comp. Mark tion and rendering. xiv.
')1 ; Is. iii. 23, and Hitzig on this passage).
—And girdles doth she give to the merchant, lit. to "the Canaanite," the Phoenician merchant, who knows well how to prize her fine
Ver.
17.
Cotnp. ver.
2-5 a.
Ver.
18. She perceiveth that her gain is good.
For this verb DJ?t3 " to taste," i. e., to discern, to become aware, comp.
Ps. xxxiv. 9.
For the succeeding phrase, "excellent, charmproducts, and to dispose of them. ing is her gain," comp. iii.
14.
What she now docs in consequence of this perception of the Ver. 25. With a comp. ver. 17
; .lob xxiv. 14.
She laugheth at the future.
In reliance on
; ;
CHAP. XXXI.
1-31.
2S9 her ample 3tore3, and still more her inward
DOCTRINAL, ETHICAL, HOMILETIC AND
strength and skill, she laughs at the future as respects the evil that it may perchance bring.
PRACTICAL.
PE. V.
'* She shall rejoice in time to come ;"
H , M., W.
; while Db W., K., Bertheau, Muffet, N , S., etc., take our author's view.
This "laughing at the future" is of course not to be understood as expressive of a presumptuous The central idea to which we may trace back the two divisions of this concluding chapter, quite unequal, it is true, in their size, is this:
0/ a pious administration, as the king should maintain it in the State, a?id the woman in her family.
For the fear of God quite as really constitutea the foundation of (he vir(ues of chastity, sobriself-confidence, but only of a consciousness of having all appropriate and possible preparation and competence for (he future.—A.] ety, righteousness and compassion, to which Lemuel's mother counsels this son of her's (vers.
2—9), as it, according to ver. 30, forms the deepVer.
21).
Her mouth she openeth Twith wisdom.
HiTzio well says:
"The mouth, which in 2-5 a, is smiling, is here a speaker."
The "law of kindness" in b is not "amiable, est basis and the glorious crown of the excellences for which the virtuous matron is praised loving instruction, but that which is pleasing, gracious;" conip.
Is. xl. 6; and especially Luke (vers. 10 sq).
It has already been brought out prominently in the exegetical comments, that the delineation which is shaped in praise of the iv. 22
[?.6yiH rf/i; ^yo/jfroc).
Ver. 27. She looketh well to the ways of her household; lit.
"she who looketh," latter, in turn falls into two divisions (which are only relatively different),—the first of which treats of the efficiency of the virtuous woman within the circle of her domestic relations, the second of her activity as extending itself beyond etc.—for the panic. n'31X is probably (o be connected, as HiTZio takes it, as grammatically an appositive to the subject of the preceding verse, so that according to this view, it is now the object of her pleasing instruction that is given.
The "ways of the house" are naturally its organization and management, the course of the household economy (comp. Luther:
"How it goes in lier house"). this sphere into wider regions.
—Of the pious administration of the king in his State and the woman in her household ; what both should shun and what they should strive for, with an exhibiHomily on the chapter as a tvhole tion of the blessed reward that awaits both.
Or, more briefly :
.\ mirror for rulers and a mirror for matrons, with the fear of God as the centre and focus of both.
Stocker:
InstrucVers.
28, 29 describe the praise which the excellent housekeeper has bestowed upon her by her sons and her husband.
The words of the latter are expressly quoted, but they are probably not to be extended through the last three verses (as Umbbeit, Ewald, Elster, etc., would tion of Solomon the king by his mother, a) To be shunned: lust and drunkenness.
6) To be practised: justice.
II.
Praise of a virtuous woman.
1) Her duties or general virtues; 2) her ornaments or special virtues (ver. 25-27) do), but to be restricted to ver. 29
; for verse 30 immediately separates itself as a proposition .altogether general, by which the poet comes in with his confirmation of the husband's praise.
[So De W., BERTiiEAU, K., N..
S., M.].—Many daughters have done virtuously.
The husband says " daughters " and not " women,"' because as an elder he may put himself above his wife (comp. Heb. vii. 7).
With the phrase "have done virtuously, or show themselves virtuous,"
3) her reward (vers. 28-31).
Vers. 1-9.
Tiibingen Bible (on ver.
1): How good is the report when parents, especially mothers, teach their children good morals.
It is the greatest love that they can show them, but also their foremost duty !
Geier (on ver. 2):
If parents have dedicated their children from birth to the Lord, they must so much more carelit. " make, produce, manifest virtue," comp.
Num. xxiv.
!8; Ruth iv.
11. fully educate them from youth up, and so much more diligently pray for them.—(On ver.
3):
Let every husband be content with the wife conferred upon him by God, let him live with her chastely and discreetly, and serve God heartily Ver.
30. Grace is a deception, beauty a breath; both are no real abiding attributes of man, and are, therefore, not to be praised.
As an imperisliable and therefore really praiseworthy possession, there is contrasted with them in b tlie disposition to fear God.
Comp.
Is. xl.
6; Ps. ciii.
1-5—18; I Pet. i. 24, 25.
[Observe how our book just at its close dwells in a very different way, yet with a significant emphathat is a truly noble, kingly life.
Starke (on vers.
6, 7) :
.\ draught of wine which is bestowed on a suffering member of Christ's body on his sick or dying bed is better appropriated than whole casks that are misemployed for indulgence.
—V<iN Gerlach (on vers.
8, '.)) :
'i'he liighest duty of kings is to befriend the helpless.
Vers. 10 sq. LuTHER :
There is nothing dearer on earth than woman's love to him who can gain sis, upon that "fear of the Lord," which in i.
7 was pronounced "the beginning of wisdom."
Ver.
31.
Give her of the fruit of her hands, i. e , of the praise which she has deserved by the labor of her hands.
And let her vrork praise her in the gates [not with Z., "let it.
Comp. also P. Gerhard's poetical treatment of the passage, " Voller Wu7ider, roller Kunst, etc.
(Gcsamm. yeistl.
Lieder," Ho. 107). — MelanchTHON : As virtues of the true matron there are named, above all the fear of God as the sum of tlieiu praise her work in the gates," for the verb has its object in its suffix.—A.].
In the place where the population of the city gathers in largest numbers, in the assembly of the community at tlie gate (ver.
23), there must (he all duties to God ; then chastity, fidelity, love to her husband without any murmuring; diligence and energy in all domestic avocations; frugality, moderation and gentleness in the treatment of servants; care in the training of children, and prais:- of !ier excellent life and work resound.
•260
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
fear <God, trust and pray.
Cramer : The fear of God is the most beautiful of all ornaments of woman's person ; 1 Pet. iii. 4.
Zeltner : If thou hast outward beauty see to it that thy heart and beneficence to the poor.
Zeltner (on vers. 11 sq.): God gWes to pious married people their subsistence and their needed bit of bread, yea, He blesses them, yet not without prayer and work.— [Arnot:
Empty hours, empty hands, empty companions, empty words, empty hearts, draw in evil spirits, as a vacuum draws in air.
To be occupied with good is the best defence against the inroads of evil].
Geier (on ver. soul also be beautified before God in faith.
[Trapp ; The body of honor is virtue, the soul of it humility.
Arnot:
True devotion is chiefly in secret; but the bulk of a believer's life is laid out in common duties, and cannot be hid.
Lift up your heart to God and lay out your talents 23) : A pious virtuous wife is her husband's ornament and honor (1 Cor. xi.
7).
A vicious for the world ; lay out your talents for the world and lift up your heart to God].
Starke (on one, however, is a stain in every way (Ecclesiast.
XXV. 22 sq.).
[Arnot (on ver. 25) :
If honor be your clothing, the suit will last a lifetime ; but ver.
31):
Works of piety and love preserve among men a good remembrance, and are also rewarded by God of His grace in everlasting joy; Heb. vi. 10; Ps.
Ixi.
My God, let my works also graciously please Thee in Chrisl if clothing be your honor, it will soon be worn threadbare].
Vers. 30, 31. Luther (marginal, on ver.
30):
A woman can dwell with a man honorably and Jesus. piously and be mistress of his house with a good
AMSN. tonecience, but must to this end and with this