42 The Proverbs Of Solomon
; ; ; !
; !
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
If they say, " Come with us, and we will lie in wait for blood, will plot against the innocent without cause;
12 we will swallow them, like the pit, living, and the upright, like those that descend into the grave
13 we will find all precious treasure, will fill Qur houses with spoil 14 Thou shalt cast in thy lot among us one purse will we all have!"
15 My son! go not in the way with them, keep back thy foot from their path I 16 For their feet run to evil, and haste to shed blood ;
for in vain is the net spread before the eyes of all (kinds of) birds:
18 and these watch for their own blood, they lie in wait for their own lives.
19 Such are the paths of every one that grasps after unjust gain; from its own master it taketh the life.
Chap.
I. 20-33.
2. Warning delineation of the perverse and ruinous conduct of tlie fool, put into the mouth of wisdom (personified).
Wisdom crieth aloud in the streets, on the highways she maketh her voice heard:
in the places of greatest tumult she calleth, at the entrances to the gates of the city she giveth forth her words
22 " How long, ye simple, will ye love simplicity, and scorners delight in scorning, and fools hate knowledge 23 Turn ye at my reproof!
Behold I will pour out upon you my spirit, my words will I make known to you 24 Because I have called and ye refused,
I stretched out my hand, and no man regarded it, 25 and ye have rejected all my counsel, and to my reproof ye have not yielded
therefore will I also laugh at your calamity, will mock when your terror cometh 27 when like a storm your terror cometh, and your destruction sweepeth on like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
28 Then will they call upon me, and I not answer, they will seek me diligently and not find me.
29 Because they have hated sound wisdom and have not desired the fear of Jehovah,
30 have not yielded to my counsel and have despised all my reproof,
therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their way and be surfeited with their own counsels.
32 For the perverseness of the simple shall slay them, and the security of fools destroy them :
he, however, who hearkeneth to me shall dwell secure, and have rest without dread of evil !"
CHAP.
1-33.
GRAMMATICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 2. [We have iu vers. 2, 3, 4, 6 final clauses, introduced by S, and indicating the object with which these wise sayings are recorded.
That purpose is disciplinary, first with reference to "the youni? man," and then to him who is already "wise."
This discipline is contemplated not from the point of view of him who imparts, but that of those who receive it.
These considerations determine our choice of words in translating several of the terms employed.
Thus in ver. 2 we render flj^ll not "to know," as this suggests the finished result rather than the process, which is " to become acquiiinted with, to acquire ;" so Zuckler, zu erkennen
; De Wette, ktnnen zu Urnen ; Noves. '^*from luhick men may Uam;*' a little lees definitely, E.
V.. "to know;" incorrectly Holden, "respecting the kuowleilge."
" These wise sayings are to guide to and renult in knowledge; but the verbs, except in ver. !, represent not the teaching, imparting, communicating, but the discerning and seizing.
In respect to the two shades of meaning to be given to TD^O 8ee the exeg. notes.
T Oese.v. and Fuerst agree in the etymology (10*) ; Fderst, however, carries back the radical meaning one step farther; G.,
"to chastise, correct, instruct;" F., "to bind or restrain, chastise," etc.
It should, therefore, be borne in mind that more than the imparting of informatioa is intended by the word, it is discipline, sometimes merely intellectual but more frequently moral.—ny3 '^DK, lit., "words of discernment," "words of understanding " (so E, V., Notes, Muenschee) ; T • :
Stuart, " words of the intelligent;" 0e Wettb like ZiicKLER, *^ verstUndige Reden ;*' Van Ess and Aujou, with whom
UoLDEN seems to agree, "die Worte {Begdn} der Klugheit" " the words (rules) of prudence."—A.].
Ver. 3. [73t?n ID^O.—our author's conception (see exeg. notes) corresponds with that of Fuerst also, who makes the genitive not merely objective, as Db Wette, etc., seem to do (" discipline of understanding," "di> ZucM der Vemunff''), but makes it final, conleiuplating the end ; Foerst, " Z. ziir BesonrKnAetV." Zockler. "^i»Sic/(^Sfoiie Zucftf," discipline full of discernment, insight, understanding, i. e., in its results.
The rendering of most of our English expositors is ambiguous or suggests other ideas : E. V. and Muknschee, " imtrtcction of wisdom ;" Holden, " instruction in wisdom ;" Notes,
"the instruction of prudence-" Stuart, "of discreetness"—D'^IC'D* plural of that which is "ideally extended" and plea- . ^ .. surable; Bottcher, Ausf. Lehrb., g 699.—A.].
Ver. 5. [E. V., followed by Holdex and Muenscher, "a irise man will hear;"" Notes, "viay hear;" Stuart, more forcibly, "let the wise man listen," liktj our author, " es hiire" and Bottcher (^ 950. d., " Fu^ns debitum") "es soil horen."'
De Wette makes this a final clause, like those of the three preceding verses, "doss der Weise hiire ," but see exeg. notes.
^DVI is given by Bottcher (g 9t>4, i) as an illustration of the "consultive" use of the Jussive; Stuart makes it au ordinary Imperf., and renders " and he will add ;" but his explanations are not pertinent
; the 1 need not be " conversive," it is simply copulative, and HDV which he assumes as the normal Imperf., is already a Jussive.—A.]. np7, properly that which is "taken, received, transmitted" (comp. the verb np7» "to attain," above in ver. 3) is like the Aram. n73p (from 73p. to take), and like the Latin truditio [in its passive sense].
The parallel term ni73np (from 73n. to lead, according to the analogy of the Arabic, and cognate with 73n. cable, and 7211) steersman) is' by the LXX correctly rendered by jcu^epiTjffty.
Ver. 6. Luther's translation of the 1st clause, " that he may understand proverbs and their interpretation," cannot possibly be right; for nV/D. if it was designed to convey any other idea than one parallel to 71^0 could not on any T • :
T T principle dispense with the suffix of the 3d person (IH"). its, comp. Vulgate:
** animadvertat parabolamet interprelationem"
T [This is also the rendering of the E. V., which is followed by Holden. while Notes, Stuaet, Muenschee and Wordsworth, De Wette and Van Ess agree with the view taken by our author.—A.].
Ver. 7. D^/^IX. derived from j)^, crassus fuit ; to be gross or dull of understanding ; Gesen., however, derives it v:
~T from the radical idea " to be perverse, turned away," and Fueest " to be slack, weak, lax or lazy."
[Wordsworth adopts the latter explanation— A.].
Ver. 8. [The different renderings given to the verb of the 2d clause while agreeing in their substantial import, "forsake," "neglect." "reject," do not reproduce with equal clearness the radical idea, which is that of "spreading," then of *' scattering."—A J.
Ver. 10. KDHi scriptio defectiva^ for X3XP. as some 50 MSS. cited by Kennicott and De Rossi iu fact read, while some others prefer a difl"erent pointing K3n~^t^ [thou shalt not go], which is however an unwarranted emendation.
The T ~ LXX had the correct conception : y.T) ^ovKr)Sjj<i, and the Vulgate : ne acquiescas.—[Comp. Green's Heb. Gram., g 111, 2, b, and § 177, 3.
Bottcher discusses the form several times in different couueciions. ^ 325, d, and n.
2,—129, B, and 1164, 2, 6,—and after enumerating the six forms which the MSS. supply, {<13ri. N3n. H^Njl,
K3Xri. H^n. and N^in deT T V cides that the original form, whose obscurity suggested alt these modifications, was X^n^^Ni^.
Id significalion he classes it with the "dehortative" Ju^sives.—A.].
Ver. 11.
[E. v., Notes, WoRnswoRTn, Luther, \an Ess agree with one another in connecting the adverb with the verb, while De Wette, Holden, Stuart, Muenscher regard it as modifying the adjective, " him whose innocence is of no avail to protect him."—A.].
Ver. 12.
[E. V., Stuart and Muenscher, like our author connect Q'^n with the object of the main verb; Umbreit and HiTziG (see exeg. notes) are followed by De Wette, Holden, Notes in connecting it with the comparative clause.
''Til', for construction see e. g.. Green, gg 271, 2 and 254, 9, b.—A.].
Ver. 16.
[;if1'1\ masc. verb with feminine subject; Bott., § 936, II..
C. a; Green, §275, 1. c—A.].
T Ver. 20. The Wisdom who is here speaking is in this verse called mO^nT which is not a plural but"a new abstract ^ derivative from Hl^JH, formed with the ending HV (Ewald, § 165, ci a form which is also found e.g., in niOnri» P^.
T : T Ixxvlij. 15.
The name recnrs in the same form in ix. 1 ; xxiv, 7.
[Bottcher, however, regards this as an example of the pluralis extens.^ to denote emphatically
" true wisdom."
See § 679, d, 6S9, C, 6, 700, c and n. 4.
There is no difficulty in connecting a verb fem. sing, with a subject which although plural in form is singular in idea.—A.].—n^iH. crieth aloud, T T from ni, comp. Lam. ii. 19; 3d sing. fem. as also in viii. 3 (Ewald, 191, c).
[Comp. Green, g 97, 1, a, and Bott., g 929, d, who with his usual minuteness ende.avora to trace the development of this idiom.—A.].
Ver. 21.
ZijcKLER, an den Idrmvallattm Orten; Ds Wette, an der Ecke larmender Strassen; Fuebst, der bewegten Straiten i Holden, like the Eug. Ver., in the chief place of ciT^ourst.
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
Ver. 22. [For the vocalization of OHXil see GaiEN, Jg 60, 3, c, 111, 2, e.
Per the use of the perfect nOD Be« BoTT., ^ 94S, 2.
He illustrates by snch cla^ical perfects as iyvutKo., olSa. ti.itia.a, metnini, novi^ and renders this form bj conctipiuerivi.—A.].
Ver. 23. [n>*3X, an fn^tance of the intentional Imperf., iu what Bottchee calls its " voluntative" signification,
{ 965, 1.—A.].
Ver. 27. [niNty3, K'ri nXliyS, the former derived from ISC' or PlXi?, the latter from X1C?, of which verbs the T - ; — ; T : latter is obsolete except in derivatives, while the former occurs in one passage in Is. in the Niphal.
The signification eet'ms to be one, and tue forms variations growing out of the weakness of the 2d and 3d radicals.
Comp. lioTT., 3^ i74, a, and 811, 2.—A.].
Instead of the Infiu. X133, we have in the 2d member, since 3 is not repeated, the Imperf. HnX' (Ewald, 337, b)
[Stujkt, g 129, 3, n. 2].—A.
Ver. 28. [""^JXTp', 'Ji'^nii'^t ^JJXVD'.
These are among the few instances in which the full plural ending )^ iR foond before suffixes.
Geeen, \ 105, c, BHtt., J 1047,/.—A.).
Ver. 29. For the use of ""^ Dnj"^, " therelore because," compare Deut. xxxiv. 7, and also the equivalent combination
ItPK nnn in 2 Kings xxii. 7
; 2 Chron. xxi. 12. to thoughtfulness ("a discipline to Ihoughtfulness,"
Zuchtigung zur Besonneiiheit^^) ; by this rendering, however, the full meaning of the conception is not exhausted.—Righteousness, justice and integrity.
The Uirec Hebrew terms pli'.DiJtys and D'lE^'O are related to each
EXEGETICAL.
Vers. 1-6.
The superscription to the collection, which is quite long, as is common with the titles of Oriental books, is not designed to be a "table of contents"
(Umbreit), nor to give merely the aim of the book (so most commentators, especially Ewalu, Bertheau, Elster, etc.).
But beside the author of the book (ver.
1), it is intended to give first its design (vers.
2, 3), and then, in addition, its worth and use (vers. 4-C), and 80 to commend the work in advance as salutary and excellent (Starke, Delitzsch).
Accordingly it praises the book as a source of wholesome and instructive wisdom:
1) for the simple-minded and immature (ver.
4); 2) for those who are already wise and intelligent, but who are to gain still more insight and understanding from its maxims and enigmas (vers.
5, other as "righteousness, justice, and integrity, or uprightness" (GeTechligkeit, Recht und Geradheit).
The first of the three expressions describes what is fitting according to the will and ordinance of God the supreme Judge (comp. Deut. xxxiii. 19); the second, what is usage and custom among men
(Is. xlii.
; 1 Sam. xxvii. 11): the third, what is right and reasonable, and in accordance with a walking in the way of truth, and so denotes a straight-forward, honorable and upright demeanor.
Ver.
To impart to the simple prudence.—The telio infinitive (Oiw) is co-ordi6J.—Proverbs of Solomon, etc —In regard to nate with the two that precede in vers.
2 and 3, and has the same subject.
Therefore the same construction is to be employed here also ( to become acquainted with—to attain—-to impart); and we are not, by the introduction of a final clause, to make the contents of this 4th verse subordinate to the preceding, as the LXX do ((va Su K.
/. ), and likewise the Vulg.
(ut detur, the primary meaning of 7C?0, and in regard to the special signification which prevails here in the superscription, "Proverbs of Solomon"
(maxims, aphorisms, not proverbs [in the current and popular sense]), see IntroJ., ^11.
To become acquainted with wisdorn and knowledge.— In respect to Doan and its synonyms (n:"3 and jl^'l) consult again the Introd., etc.), and Luther (" that the simple may become shrewd, and young men reasonable and considerate ").
The "simple"
('Nfia), properly, the "open," those who are readily accessible to all external impressions, and therefore inexperienced and simple, vi/irioi, anaKoi (as the LXX appropriately render the word in this passage; coniji.
Rom. xvi. 18).
With respect to the relation of ^ 2, note 3.
"1010 properly " chastisement," signifies educati(in, mor.al training, good culture and habits, the practical side, as it were, of wisdom
(LXX:
TToiJeia ; Vulg.: disciplina).
In ver. 2 the expression stands as synonymous with " wisdom "
(HOan), as in iv. 13
; xxiii. 23, and frequently elsewhere ; in ver. 3, on the contrary, this idea to that of the "fool" h^y Vd3) com- ^ TT :
' pare what will be said below on i. 32. ami al'^.i Introd., J 3, note 2.—Prudence (HO'^i', de. iv.d from W^y) signifies properly nakedness, smoothit designates an element preparatory to true wisdom and insight,—one serving as their foundation, and a preliminary condition to them.
For the "discipline of understanding"
("IDW ness (comp. theadj. U\'^y ["subtle," E.V.], naked, l2)a7\, ver.
3) is not, as might be conceived, "discipline under which the understanding is placed," but "discipline, training to reason, to a reasonable, intelligent condition "
(as Hitzig rightly conceives it); compare the "discipline of wisdom " (n03n "\D10 ), xv. 33, and for " un- ^ T :
T - ' derstnnding"
(73K/n), insight, discernment, a i. e., slippery, crafty; used of the serpent. Gen. iii.
1); therefore metaphorically "the capacity for escaping from the wiles of others" (Umbeeit).
"the prudence which guards itself against injury"
(xxii.
Sam. xxiii.
22).—To the young man knowledge and discretion.-Discretion, thoughtfulness (HBtD, LXX, hn'ma), denotes here in connection with "knowledge" rational condition, see particularly xxi.
16.
(n,y'1) the characteristic of thoughtful, well conUmbubit and Ewaip regard '^SE'P as equivalent sidered action, resting upon a thorough know-
CHAP.
1-33.
ledge of tilings,—therefore, circumspection, cauJohn i. 16
; Rom. i. 17
; 2 Cor. iii. 18.
For the verbal explanation of "enigma" and "dark saytion.
Ver.
5. Not the simple and immature only, ing"
(nX'''7p and HTn) see Introd., J 11, note 2. but also the wise and mtelligent, are to derive Certain as it is that both expressions here are only designed to embody in a concrete form the idea of obscure discourse that requires interpretation
(the parallelism with "proverbs" and "words of wise men" udO and D'DOn ''131) T T T-:
•• :
• shows this beyond dispute), we h.ave no warrant for finding in this verse a special allusion to the obscure, enigmatical contents of chap, xxx., and so for insisting upon its very late origin, as Hitzio does (see in reply Ewald).
Nevertheless, it follows from the comprehensiveness of the plural expression " words of wise men" (comp. xxii. 17 and Eccles. ix.
17; xii.
11) that no one could have prefixed to his work an introduction like that before us, who was not conscious that he had collected with proverbs of Solomon many others that were not directly from him (comp. gl2 of the Introd.). instruction from Solomon's proverbs.
This idea is not, as might be supposed, thrust in the form of a parenthesis into the series of final clauses beginning ij-ith ver.
2, and reaching its conclusion in ver. 6, so that the verb (i??!?'.) is to be conceived of as rendering the clause conditional, and is to be translated " if he hears " (Umbreit.
Elster) ; it begins a new independent proposition, whose imperfect tenses are to be regarded as voluntative, and upon which the new infinitive clause with S in ver. 6 is dependent (Ewald, Beetheat, and commentators generally).—Let the wise man hearken and add tp his learning.—.\s to the expression "add to his learning" (npS t^pV) comp. is. 9; xvi. 12.
The peculiar term rendered "learning"
(see critical notes above) is a designation of knowledge, doc2.
Ver.
is not to be regarded as a part of the superscription, as Ewald, Bertheau, Elster, Keil, etc., treat it, but is the general proposition introducing the series of didactic discourses that follows :—-a motto, as it were, for the first or introductory main division of the book, as Umbreit happily expresses it; comp. Hitziq in he.
The proverb has also passed into the Arabic, and here also frequently stands at the commencement of collections of proverbs, whether because it is ascribed to Mohammed, as is sometimes done in such cases, or because it is cited as coming from Solomon.
Compare Von Diez. Denkicurdigkeiten trine, instructive teaching in general; comp. vers.
22 and 29.
The word rendered "control," or mastery, is an abstract derivative, strengthened by the ending HI (Ewald, Gmmm., ^
a., note 3), and expresses here in an appropriate and telling figure the idea of " skill and facility in the management of life."
Comp. xi. H ; xii. 5; .lob xxxvii.
12, etc.
Its relation to "learning"
(npS) is quite like that of "discipline" to "wisilom " in ver. 2
: it supplies the practical correlative to the other idea which is predominantly
II., 459;
Meidani, ed.
Freytag, III., 29, 610; Erpe.nius, Sent, qused. Arab., p.
4.5.
In the Old Testament [and Apocrypha], moreover, the same maxim occurs several times, especially in Prov. theoretical.
Ver.
To understand proverb and enigma, etc.— [" The climax of llie definition of wisdom"
Staxlet].
The infinitive (J'Om) ix. 10; Ecclesiast. i.
16, 25; Ps. cxi.
10.
From the passage last cited the LXX repeat in our verse the words appended to the first clause supplies the announcement of the end required by ver. 5: to this end is the wise man to gain in knowledge and self-command or self-disci- 'ApX^/ oofpia^ (po^o^ KVfHov, ci'veatr Jf ajnt?^ iraaiv pline, that he may understand the proverbs and profound sayings of the wise, )'.
<., may know how to deal appropriately with them.
It is not the mere understanding of thewisdom of proverbs by itself that is here indicated as the end of the wise man's "increase in knowledge and mas- 'inQ -rroiovciv avrrjv ["and a good understanding have all they that do it"].—Beginning.
(n'tJXI is here equivalent to Dinjl found in the parallel passage, ix. 10; it is therefore correctly rendered in Ecclesiast. and the LXX by apxv in the sense of "beginning"): compare chap. iv. tery," but practice and cxpertness in using this wisdom ; it is the callere senli'ntias aapien/um which imparts a competence to communicate further instruction to the youth who need disci7, " the beginning of wisdom ;" not, as the words themselves would allow, "that which is highest in wisdom,"
"the noblest or best wisdom."
[The latter is given as a marginal reading in the pline.
If the telle infinitive (]'3n*7) be taken in E. v., and is retained and defended by Holden
; soalso by Trapp and others.—A.].—Fools.—The word designates properly the hardened, the this frequent sense, for which may be compared among other passages Prov. viii. 9
; xvii. 10,24; Dan. i. 27, we do not need with Bertheao to give the expression a participial force (by virtue of the fact ibat he understands,—understanding proverbs, etc.),—nor to maintain with Hitzio and others that ver. G is not grammatically connected with ver.
.5, on the ground that it is not stupid,—those fools who know nothing of God (Jer iv 22), and therefore refuse and contemptuously repel His salutary discipline (comp. above, note to ver. 2).
Vers. 8-19.
These verses show in an example so shaped as to convey an earnest warning, how we are to guard ourselves against the conceival^ile that the "learning to understand the words of wise men " should be made an object of the endeavor of such as are wise already.
It is an intensified acquaintance with wisdom that is here called for, a knowledge in tlie sense of the passage, "to him that hath shall be given, and ke shall have abundance," Mitth. xiii. 12; comp. opposite of the fear of God, against depravity, which is, at the same time, the extremest folly.
They contain, therefore, a warning against turning aside to the way of vice, given as the first illuetration of the truth expressed in ver.
Vers.
8, 9 —My son.—The salutation of the
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
33.—The upright (D'D'On) is accusative, object teacher of wisdom, who is liere represented as "father" in order to illustrate to his pupil the of the verb (^^^3), and therefore stands evidently inner reality and nature of their mutual relation as synonymous with Q"'pJ (innocent, comp. Ps.
(comp. ICor. iv. 15; Philem. 10).
The "mother" who is mentioned in connection with this " father" is only a natural expansion of the idea of xix. 13) ; it is accordingly to be interpreted as referring to moral integrity or uprightness, and not of bodily soundness (as Ewald, Bertiieau, and others claim).—Those that descend into the grave (tn "^"1^')—"'*^ ^'"'^ '"'" ^^^ sepulthe figure, suggested by the law of poetic parallelism,—and not a designation of wisdom personified, who does not appear before ver.
20.
[WoEDSWORTH and many of the older English chre, i. e., the dead; comp. Ps. xxviii.
; Ixxxviii. expositors regard this as a specific address by Solomon to Rehoboam; this interpretation, how-
; cxliii.
Vers.
13, 14.
Reasons for the treacherous proposal of the murderers.—Thou Shalt cast in thy lot among us i.
«., thou shalt, as one having equal right with us, cast lots for the e?er, lacks the support of Oriental usage, and too much restricts the scope of the Book of Proverbs.
The large majority, however, of English and American commentators (e. g., Tr.\pp, Holden, Bridges, Wobusworth, Muenscheb) find here spoil, comp. Ps. xxii. 18; Nehem. x. 35.—Vers. 15 sq.
The warning, — given as an apodosis to the condition supposed in ver.
11.
As to the a more specific commendation of filial docility and obedience.
Stuart more nearly agrees witii our author in making the "father" and "mother" figurative rather than literal terms— .\.].
—La-w (minj, here doclriiia, Instructive prefigurative expressions in ver. 15, comp. Ps. i.
; Jer. xiv. 10:
Prov. iv. 26; for ver. Hi compare Is. lix.
7, and the passage suggested by it, Rom. iii.
15.
Without adequate grounds, Hitzig conjectures that ver.
is spurious, because, he cepts in general ; as in several other instances in our book it is used of the instruction given by says, it agrees almost literally with Isaiah (as cited), and, on the other hand, is wanting in the Cod. Vatic, of the LXX.
Literal quotations from earlier Biblical writers are in Isaiah above parents to their children, e. g., iii.
; iv. 2
; vii.
2; xxviii.
7, 9.—For they are a graceful croTW-n to thy head.— "Wreath of grace ' all others nothing uncommon ; and with quite as (tn n'l7) graceful crown, as in iv.
The comlittle reason will the omission of a verse from the greatly corrupted LXX text of our book furnish ground, without other evidence, for suspecting its genuineness (see Introd., ^ 18).—Ver. parison of the teachings of wisdom with pearls which one hangs as a necklace about the neck, a figure which is a great favorite every where in 17.
"The winged"
(properly "lords of the tlie East, recurs again in iii. 3; vi. 21
; Ecclesiast. vi. 30. wing;" 133
'S?!
8.S in Eccles. x. 20) is hardly Ver.
10.
Transition to an intelligible admoa figurative designation of those plotted against by the robbers, and threatened by treacherous schemes, so that the meaning would be "in vain do they lie in wait for their victims; these become aware of their danger, and so their prize escapes the assailants "
(so Douerlein, Ziegleb, Bertheau, Elster, etc.).
For 1) the causal nitory example ; hence the repetition of the familiar salutation "My son," which occurs once more in ver, 15, at the beginning of the apodosis.
Sinners (D'NQn).—Sinners by profession, habitual sinners, as in Ps. i.
; here those in particular whose business is murder (comp. Gen. iv.
7, 8), robbers who are murderers.—Ver.
11.
We will lie in wait for blood, etc.—The two conj. "for" ("3) authorizes us to look for a direct reason for the warning contained in ver. 15;
2) the allusion to the possible failure of the plans verbs (31X and JSi") both signify to lie in wait for, to lay snares artfully (as the huntsman for of the wicked men would not be a moral motive, the game, with noose and net).
The adverb (Din) but a mere prudential consideration, such as would harmonize very poorly with the general is probably more correctly construed with liie verb (lie in wait without cause, i.
«., without having any reason for revenge and enmity), than with the adjective,—although this latter combidrift of the passage before us ; and 3) the expression "before the eyes"
("J"^?) stands evidently in significant contrast with "in vain" nation is also grammatically admissible.
But with the conception "him that is innocent in (Dijn) ; it is designed to set the fact that the net is clearly in sight over against the fact that the birds nevertheless fly into it,—and so to exhibit vain," i. c, the man to whom his innocence shall be of no avail against us, the parallel passages their course as wholly irrational.—Therefore we should interpret with U.mbreit, Ewald, Hitzig,
(Ps. XXXV. 19; Ixix. 4; Lam. iii. 52) correspond less perfectly than with that to which we have given the preference ; comp. Hitzig in Inc.—Ver. etc.; like thoughtless birds that witli open eyes fly into the net, so sinners while plotting destruction
12.
Will swallow them, like the pit, living.—The "living" (D"n) can refer only to for others plunge themselves in ruin.
Only with this explanation, with which we may compare Job xviii.
8, will the import of ver.
18 agree: there "and these, these also"
(QHI) puts the the suffix pronoun (in DJJ73J).
The connection with "like the pit" (7lNi^3), to which Umbreit sinners in an emphatic way side by side (not in contrast) with the birds, and the suffixes desigand Hitzig give the preference, gives the peculiarly hard sense "as the pit (swallows) that which lives."
Comp rather Ps.
Iv. 15:
"they must go down living into the pit ;" and also Ps. nate the oicn blood, the oicn souls of the sinners.
Between the two verses there is therefore the relation of an imperfectly developed comparison suggested by the "also"
(1) as in xxv. 25; xxvii. cxxiv. 8; I'rov. xxx.
10, and the account of the destruction of Korah's company. Numb. xvi.
30,
CHAP.
1-33. the public preaching of wisdom.—Ver. 21.
In the places of greatest tumult she calletb,
; comp. Introd., § 14.
[The view of English expositors is divided, like that of the German scholars cited by our author.
Bishop Hall, Trapp, Henry and Noyes, e. g. agree with him etc.
"The tumultuous"
(ni'On), comp. Isaiah xxii. 2; 1 Kings i. 41, can signify here nothing but the public streets full of tumult, the thoroughin finding here a comparison, while D'Oyly and Mant, Holden, Bridges, Wordsworth, Stuart,
MuENSCHER
find a contrast.
The argument based on the particles '3 and
it must be adfares.
The "beginning"
(C'N'l) of these highways or thoroughfares is, as it were, their corner; the whole expression points to boisterous public places.
The LXX seem to have mitted has very little force ; for '3 (see Ewald, J 321, b.) may be used positively or negatively read jllOin " walls," since it translates k-rr' anpuv in intense asseveration, "yea. surely," or "nay; while 1, it is well known, has a very generous reixioiv [on high walls].
Before the second clause the same version has the addition " kni de variety of uses, among which is the antithetic, :ri'?.ai^ dii'aOTcJv 7rapedpEi-£t'^ [and at the gates of the mighty she sits], an expansion of the figure in which case it may be rendered " but" or " and yet" (Ewald, I 330, a.).—A.].—They lie in wait for their cwn lives.
The LXX, which in which there is no special pertinence.
In the city (TJl'3) is probably to be regarded as a at the end of this verse adds the peculiar but hardly genuine clause, i) 6k Ka-raffrpofp^ avdpuv closer limitation of "at the entrances of the gates "
(D'"li?iJ'
'nriiia), i. e., on the inner, the ,Tapav6fxuv KoKr/ [" and the destruction of transgressors is evil, or great") seems, instead of "they city side of the entrances at the gates: it is not then to be regarded as an antithesis, as Umbreit,
Bertheau, Hitzig, etc., claim, [nor is it to be detached and connected with the next clause, as Stuart claims].—Ver. 22.
HoMsr long, ye simple, will ye love simplicity ?
The discourse of Wisdom begins in the same way as Ps. iv. 2.
In regard to the distinction between " simple" ('!^2) lie in wait for their own lives" (Dnii:;i)j7 133X') to have read " they heap up evil" C'? ^1
?13S'); for it renders the second number by " drjoavpilovaiv kavToi^ nana "
(they treasure up evils for themselves).
Comp. Heidenheim in the article cited in the Introd., J 13, note 1.—Ver.
19.
Ketrospect and conclusion; comp. Job viii.
13; and " scorner" (]'/), comp. Introd. J 3, note 2 ; and xviii. 21.—Spoil (i'X3) gain unlawfully acquired, above, the remarks on ver. 4.—The perfect tense in the second clause (non), which standing beas in xxviii.
16.
The combination >'X3 ;t?i'3 is tween the imperfects of the 1st and 3d clauses is somewhat unusual, is to be conceived of as inchoative (like the verb " despise " ir3 in ver.
7), and therefore properly signifies "become fond found also in xv. 27.
The subject of the verb "takes" (np') isj'^3; "the life of its owner it, unjust gain, takes away."
Luther, following the LXX, Vulgate, and most of the ancient exof," and not "be fond of."
[See, however, the critical note on this verse].—Ver.
23. Turn ye at my reproof,— i. e.. from your evil .ind perverse \v,iy.
I will pour out upon you my positors, renders " that one (('. e., of the rapacious) takes life from another."
But the idea "ownership, owner" (Q'7>'3) has no reference spirit.
The spirit of wisdom is to flow forth to the relation between partners in violence and copiously, like a never-failing spring; comp. those like themselves, but to that existing between an object possessed and its possessor. xviii. 4; and with reference to the verb "pour out" (il'SH) which "unites in itself the figures 4.
Vers.
20-33.
After this warning against the desperate counsels of the wicked there follows in this second admonitory discourse a warning against the irrational and perverse conduct of abundant fullness and refreshing invigoration"
(U.MBREiT, Elster) comp. XV. 2; Ps.
Ixxviii. 2; cxix.
171.—Ver.
24, in connection with 2-5, is an antecedent clause introduced by " because " of fools.
In the former case it was contempt of thefe.arof God, in the latter it is contempt of wisdom against which the warning is directed.
Both passages, therefore, refer back distinctly (U"), to which vers.
26, 27 correspond as conclusion.
The perfects and imperfects with
consec. in the protasis describe a past only in relation to the motto that introduces them in ver.
The admonition against folly, Avhich is now to be conto the verbs of the apodosis, and may therefore well be rendered by the present, as Luther has done:
"Because 1 call and ye refuse," etc.
To stretch forth the hand, in order to beckon to sidered, is put appropriately into the mouth of wisdom personijied,— as is also, later in the book, the discourse on the nature and the origin one, is a sign of calling for attention,—as in of wisdom (chap. viii.
1 sq).—On the street and Isa. Ixv.
The verb in ver. 26, f. c. (i'^3) is in public places wisdom makes herself heard ; not in secret, for she need not be ashamed of her teaching, and because she is a true friend of the people seeking the welfare of all, and therefore follows the young and simple, the foolish and ungodly, everywhere where they resort; comp. doubtless not "undervalue, despise " as Hitzig explains, following the analogy of the Arabic), but "cast off, reject," as in iv.
15, (Umbkeit, Ewald, Elster and commentators generally; comp. Luther's " let go, /n/irfH lussen").
[As between the two the Englii^h Version is equivoChrist's command to His disciples, Matt. x. 27; Luke xiv. 21.
As in these passages of the New Testament, so in that before us, human teachers cal, " set at naught "].—Ver.
2ij. "Laugh " and "mock" (pnt? and J.^S) here as in Ps. ii. 4.— (the wise men, or the prophets, according to EcVer. 27 depicts the style and manner in which clesiast. xxiv.
33; Wisdom vii.
27) are to be regarded as the intermediate instrumentality in calamity comes upon fools, " and accumulates
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
expression to work upoQ the fancy" (IIitziq).
Instead of the K'thibh niSa'D according to the receive."* Susceptibility therefore both must manifest,—those who are beginners under the in. struction of wisdom, and those who are more advancecf; otherwise there is no progress for them.
K'ri we should read nSlU'S, and this should be T ; interpreted in the sense of "tempest" (comp.
It is indeed divine wisdom in regard to the acquisition of which these assertions are made
; and in the possession of this wisdom, and in the communication of it as a teacher, no man here belc* ever attains perfection, so as to need no further teaching.
It is precisely as it is within the department of the New Testament with the duty of faith, and of growth in believing knowledge, which duty in no stage of the Christian life in this world ever loses its validity and its binding power.
Comp. Luke xvii. 5; Eph. iv.
15, 16; Col. i. 11; ii. 19; 2 Thess. i. 3; 2 Pet. iii.
18. iii. 25; Zeph. i, 15).
Thus most commentators correctly judge, while lIiTZio defends for the expression the signification "cataract," which liowever is appropriate in none of the passages adduced, and also fails in Job xxx. 14
(comp.
Oelitzsch on this passage).— In regard to the alliteration nplXl mS distress and anguish,
It :
TT comp.
Isa. xxx. 0; Zeph. i. 15.—Ver. 28. They shall seek me diligently, int?. a denominative verb from TH^, " the morning dawn,"
2. The thoroughly religious character ol TVisdom as our book designs to inculcate it, appears not only in the jewel which sparkles foremost in its necklace of proverbs (ver. 7: "The fear of .Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom, etc."), but also in the fact that in the introductory admonisignifies to seek something while it is yet early, in the obscurit}' of the morning twilight, and so illustrates eager, diligent seeking.
[Of the recent commentators in English, Notes only retains aud emphasizes the rendering of the E.
V., '• ihey shall seek me early."
The rest do not iind the idea of lime in the verb, except by sugtion, in ver. 10, it is Sinners (so designated without preamble or qualification^, the D'XtSn (Lugestion.—A.].
Comp., with respect to the general idea of the verse, Prov. viii. 17; Hos. v.
15.
[Observe also the force of the transition from ihe 2d person of the preceding verse, to the 3d person in this and Ihe verses following.— .\.]. ther, "the base knaves," dichospn Biiben). whone seductive conduct is put in contrast with the normal deportment of the disciple of wisdom.
Observe further that in the very superscription, vers.
2 and 3, the ideas of discipline, righteousness, justice and uprightness are appended to that of wisdom as synonymous with it.
The wise man Ver. 29. The " because " ('3 nnn) is not dependent on ver.
28, but introduces the four-fold antecedent clause (vers.
29, 30), which ver. 31 follows as its conclusion.
With ver.
comp. is therefore eo ipso, also the just, the pious, the upright, the man who walks the way of truth.
Inasmuch, however, as the ideas of righteousness, Is. iii. 10; Ps. Ixxxviii. 3; cxxiii.
4, where the figure of satiety with a thing expresses likewise the idea of experiencing the evil consequences of justice and uprightness [p'^'iDB'l'O, D'1E''p), a mode of action. niyj,M,o, evil devices, as also here, as every where else ... the Old Testament, express the idea of correspondence with the revealed moral law, the law, the law of Moses, therefore the wise man is the man who acts and walks in accordance with law, the true observer of the law, who "walks in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless"
(Luke i.6; comp. Deut. v. 33; xi. 22; Ps cxix. I).
True wisdom, knowledge, and spiritual culture, are to be found within the sphere of Old Testament revelation only where the law of the Lord
Ps.
10.—-Vers.
32, 33. Confirmatory and concluding propositions, connejted by "lor"
('3).— HD^li'O,' turning away from wisdom and its salutary discipline, therefore resistance, rebelliousness.
Comp. .ler. viii. 5, Hos. xi. 5, where it signifies turning away or departure from God.
" Security" (HwEf) idle, easy rest, the carnal security of the obdurate; comp.
Jerem. xxii.
21.
A beautiful contrast to this false ease is presented in the true peace of the wise and devout, as ver. 33 describes it. is truly observed.
Mere morality in the sense of the modern humanitarian free-thinking and polite culture could not at all show itself there ; moral rectitude must also always be at the same time legal rectitude.
Nay it stands enacted also under the New Testament that " whosoever shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called the le.ast in the kingdom of heaven " (Matth. v. 19); that " the weigh-
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
As long ago as the time of Melanchthon it was recognized as a significant fact, that wisdom claims as her hearers and pupils not only the simple, the young and the untaught, but those also who are already advanced in the knowledge of truth, the wise and experienced.
He remarks on ver. 6: "To his proposition he adds an admonition what the hearer ought to be.
A wise hearer will profit, as saith the Lord : To him that hath shall be given.
And again. He shall give tbe Holy Spirit to those that seek, not to those tier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith," together with its less significant demands, must be fulfilled (Matth. xxiii. 23) ; that he only can be called a possessor of " the wisdom that is from above," and " a perfect man," who " offends not in word" (James iii.
2, 17).
The fear of the Lord, which according to ver. 7 is the beginning of wisdom, while again in ver. 29 it is lliat despise, not to those that oppose with barbarous and savage fierceness.
These despisers of (jod, the Epicureans aud the like, he here says do not profit, but others, in whom are the beginnings of the fear of God, and who seek to be * Propositioni addit adraonUinni'm, qtcatem oportcat audilty rfm essp.
Sapirrts auditor prqficief, sictit Duminus inqiiit:
Flabenii dabitur.
Item:
Dabit spiritum mvcium. pelentibus, nnn contemnentibus, nnn repuffwintibus Itarbarica et cyclopica ferocia.
Hos contemptores Dei, uf Epicurean et similes, ait hie non profir/re. sed atios, in qnib'/s aunt initia timoris Dki, et qui pHunt sff rcgi a Ds'i, sicul di'.-itur Petite et accipietis.
CDiii rolled by God, as it is said:
Ask and ye shall
CHAP.
1-33.
{U'esented as tlic syiionyme of the same idea (comp. ii. 5; ix.
10, etc.) consisis, once for all, ver. 20) of the fact that wisdom is exhibited as preaching upon the streets, i. e., in reference to her benevolent and philanthropic character, which impels her to follow sinners, and to make the great masses of the needy among the people the object of her instructive and converting activity, seems to us to correspond better with the spirit of the doctrine of wisdom in the Old Testament, than either that of Umbrf.it, according to which "it is only in busy life that the rich stream of experience springs forth, from which wisdom is drawn," or that of Ewald, which recognizes, in the free public appearance of wisdom an effective contrast to the light.shunning deeds, and the secret consultations of the sinners in a complete devotion to God. an unconditional subjection of one's own indivldualny to the beneficent will of God as revealed in the law (comp.
Deut. vi. 2, 13: x. 20: xiii. 4; Ps. cxix.
6-3, e^c. ).
How then can he be regarded as fearing God, wlio should keep only a part of the divine commands, or who should undertake to fulfil them only according to their moral principle, and did not seek also to make the embodying letter of their formal requirements the standard of his life—in the Old Testament with literal strictness, in the New
Testament in spirit and. in truth ?
From these observations it will appear what right Brcch has to maintain (in the work before who have just been described, (which explanation, besides, would apply only to this passage, and not to its parallels in viii.
2, 3, and ix.
3).
The tendency of the Old Testament Hhokmah was essentially popular, looking to the increased prosperity of the nation, to the promotion of philanthropic ends in the noblest sense of the word.
Love, (rue philanthropy is everywhere the keynote to its doctrines and admonitions.
"Forgiving, patient love (x.
12), love that does good even to enemies (xxv. 11 sq.), which does not rejoice over an enemy's calamity (xxiv. 17 sq.), which does not recompense like with like
(xxiv.
28 sq.), but commits all to God (xx. 22), love in cited, p.
128), that in the collection of the Proverbs of Solomon, and in general in the gnomic writers of Israel, the idea of wisdom is substituted for that of righteousness which is common in other parts of the Old Testament.
Righteousness and wisdom according to this view would be essentially exclusive the one of the other; since the former conception *' had usually attached itself to a ceremonial righteousness through works," and had appeared "to make too little reference to the theoretical conditions of all higher moral culture."
In the Introduction, (§ 15, note) we have .already commented on the one-sideduess and tlie niiscouoeption involved in this view, according to which the doctrine of wisdom (the Hhokraah-system) was Antinomian and rationalistic in the sense of the purely neggative Protestantism of modern times.
Furtlier arguments in its refutation we shall have occasion to adduce in the exposition of the several passages there cited (see particularly xiv.
It its manifold varieties, as conjugal love, parental love, the love of a friend, is here recommended with the clearness of the New Testament and the most expressive cordiality."
(Delitzscii, as above cited, p. 716).
Why then should not that yearning and saving love for sinners which ventures into the whirl and tumult of great crowds to bear testimony to divine truth, and to reclaim lost souls,—why should not this also constitute a chief characteristic in this spiritual state modelled so much like the standard of the New Testament?
It appears—in how many passages! as the type of, nay, as one with the spirit of Him who also " spake freely and openly before the world, in the synagogue and in the temple whither the Jews always resorted" (John xviii.
20); who, when He said something in secret to His disciples, did it only to the end that they should afterward " preach it upon the housetops "
(Matth. X. 27); who allowed himself to be taunted as "a man gluttonous, and a wine-bibxxyiii.
4 sq.
; xxix.
18, 24, etc.) See also the doctrinal observations on iii. 9.
That the reckless transgressor destroys himself by his ungodly course, that he runs with open eyes into the net of destruction spread out before him, and, as it were, lies in wait for his own life to strangle it,—this truth clearly presented in vers.
17, 18 is a ch.araetcristio and favorite tenet in the teaching of wisdom in the Old Testament.
Comp. particularly cbap. viii. 36, where wisdom exclaims " Whoso sinneth against me, wrongeth his own soul; all they that hate me love death."
So also xv. 32; xxvi.
27; Eccles. x. 8; Ps. vii. l.j; Ecclesiast. xxvii. 29 (the figure of (he pit which the wicked digs, to fall into it at last himself).
But in the Prophets also essentially tlie same thought recurs ; thus when Jehovah (in Ezek. xviii. 31; xxxiii. 11) exclaims " Why will ye die, ye of the house of Israel?"
Of passages from the New Testament we miy cite here Rom. ii. 5
; 1 Tim. ber, a friend of publicans and sinners,'' because He had come to seek and to save the lost (Matth. xi. 19; Luke xix.
10).
It is at least significant that the Lord, just in that passage in which he is treating of the publicity of His working, and of the impression which His condescending intercourse with publicans, sinners and the mass of the people had made upon the Jews, designates Himself distinctly (together with His herald and forerunner, John the Baptist) as the persona!
Wisdom; Matth. xi. 19; Luke vii.
3.j.
It is as though He had by this expression intended to vi. 9, 10; G.al. vi. 8; James v.
3-5, etc.
Both propositions are alike true, that true wisdom, being one with the fear of God and righteousness, is "a tree of life to all that Lay hold upon her " (Prov. iii. 18; xi. 30
; xv. 4; comp. iv. 13, 22; xix. 23, etc ).—and that on the other hand a walking in folly and in forgelfulness of God is a slow self-murder, a destruction of one's own life and happiness.
See the two concluding propositions of our chapter (vers. 32, 33) and the adcall up in fresh remembrance Solomon's representation of wisdom preaching in the streets, and to refer lo His own identity with the spirit of the Old Testament revelation that spoke through this wisdom (the " spirit of Christ, '
1 Pet. i. 11 ).
I'omp. M.\RT. Geier and Starke on this passage.
These authors appropriately remind us of ihc mir.'ihle poetic development of this contrast in the P.S. i.
The explanation given above (on universality of the New Teslamenls proclamalion
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
of salvation, and its call penetrating everywhere (Rom.
X. 18; Col. i.
6, 28); they are in error, however, in suspecting in the supposed plural niDJn (ver.
18) an intimation of the numberdation of all the culture of the children of God, as the experience of the truth that " to love Christ is better than all knowledge " is to constitute its capstone and completion.—Vers.
8, 9, in general a peculiarly appropriate text for a sermon on education.
Luther (a margin.al comment on ver. 7) :
" He who would truly leara must first be a man fearing God.
He, however, who despises God asks for no wisdom, suffers no chastisement nor discipline."
Melanchthon (on ver. 7) less ways in which wisdom is proclaimed in the world.
The true conception of this seeming plural may be found above in the Exegetical and Critical Notes on this passage.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
:—The fear of God, which is one with true reverence for God, includes :
1) right knowledge of God; 2) a genuine standing in fear before 'God; 3) faith, or the believing consecration to God, which distinguishes this fear from all servile dread, and fleeing from God
; 4) the worship of God which aids to a true reconciliation with Him, a well ordered and assured control of the whole life.
Therefore the fear of God is not merely beginning— it is quite the sum of all wisdom, the right manager of all our counsels in prosperity and .ad versify.
Melanchthon (again) on vers.
8, 9:—He only reveals genuine fear of God who hearkens to the divinely instituted ministry {minislerium docnidi) in the Church; and to this ministry parents also belong, so far forth as they are to "bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord," Eph. vi. 4.
"Forsake not the law of thy mother," i. c, hearken always to the word of God as it has been communicated to the Church, and through the Church to all the children of God in the writings of the Prophets and Apostles.
As a reward God here promises to those who practise this obedience to His word a wreath upon the head and a beautiful necklace about the neck.
The wreath betokens dominion, distinction, successful results in all that one undertakes for himself and others, so that he becomes an instrument of blessing and a vessel of mercy for the people of God, according to tiie type of the devout kings,
David, Jelioshaphat, Hezekiah, etc., and not a vesHomily upon the entire first chapter.
Solomon's discourse upon wisdom as the highest good.
1) Its design, for young and old, learned and unlearned (vers.
1-6).
2) Its substance: commendation of the fear of God as the beginning and essence of all wisdom (ver. 7).
3) Its aim: a) warning against betrayal into profligacy as being the opposite of the fear of God (vers. 8-10); b) warning against the foolish conduct of the world as being the opposite of wisdom (vers. 2033).—The wisdom of ihe Old Testament as a lype of true Christian feeling and action; a) with respect to God as the supreme author and chief end of all moral effort (vers. 1-9); b) with respect to the world, as the seducing power, that draws away from communion with God (vers.
10-19) ; C-) with respect to the way and manner in which Divine wisdom itself reveals itself as an earnest and yet loving preacher of righteousness (vers. 20-33).—Fear of God the one tiling that is needful in all conditions of life : a) in youth as well as in age (vers. 4 sq.) ; b) in circumstances of temptation (vers. 10 sq.); c) in tlie tumult and unrest of public life (vers. 20 sq. ); d) in prosperity and adversity (vers. 27 sq.).
Stockee:—Threefold attributes of the lover of wisdom:
1) in relation to God: the fear of God (1-7); 2) in relation to one's neighbors. and specifically, a) to one's parents; obedience (8, 9) ; b) to others: the avoidance of evil company (10-19); 3) in relation to one's self: diligent use of the opportunity to become acquainted with wisdom. sel of wrath after the likeness of a Saul, Absalom, etc.
The necklace signifies the gift of discourse, or of the command of wholesome docSeparate passages.—Vers.
1-6. See above. Doctrine, through the power of the word.
.St.vrke (on ver.
7) :—True wisdom is no such thing as trinal and Ethical principles.
Stabke:—The aim of the book, and that which should be learned from it, are pointed out tlie heatlien sages taught, built upon reason and the human powers, inflated, earthly, and useless with respect to salvation; but it is "the wisdom that is from above, which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy"
(James iii.
17).
The fear of God is, however, of two kinds, the servile and the childlike ; and only the latter is here meant, in these verses in various almost equivalent | words.
The aim is, however, substantially twofold:
1) that the evil in man be put away; 2) that good be learned and practised.
WohlFAKTH :— the necessity of the culture of our mind and heart.
Not the cultivated, but the undisciplined, oppose the law !
God "will have .all men come to the knowledge of the truth,"
1 Tim. ii.
4.— [Ver.
4. CARTwaioHT (quoted by Briiigks):
— "(_)ver the gates of Plato's school it w.as written— M/;(if(C dye(.>/ierpTjro{; etfjiru— Let no one who 1 .lohn iv. 18.—On Vers. 8, 9.
From the fear of God .as belonging to the first table of the law, Solomon passes on to the second table, and begins with obedience to parents
: in this connection however it is assumed that parents also fulfil their duty, with regard to the correct instruction of is not a geometrician enter.
But very different is the inscription over these doors of Solomon Let the ignorant, simple, foolish, young, enter!"] their children; Eph. vi.
Zeltnek:—Many simple ones, who, however, fear God from tha Vers. 7-9. The blessedness of the fear of God, and the unblessed condition of forgetfulncss of God,—illustrated in the relation 1) of children heart, have made such progress in the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, that they have outstripped many of the learned.
True wisdom is easy to be learned, if only there be true fear of God in the to tlieir parents; 2) of subjects to authorities; 8) of Christians to Christ, the Lord of the Church.
—The proposition "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" must constitute the founheart,
Ecclesiast. i.
sq.
Lance:—[Silom.
LichI und RechI).
The fear of God is a desira
CHAP.
1-33.
CI flowing from the knowledge of the essence of we hear them, alas! even to-day.
Truth has become .... the common property of all men : in thousands upon thousands of churches and schools, from the mouth of innumerable teachers, in millions of written ivorks, it speaks, instructs, warns, pleads, adjures, so that we with wider meaning than Solomon can say, it is preached in highways and byways.
If, on the one hand, we must greatly rejoice over this, how should we not in the same measure mourn that so many despise and scorn this call of wisdom
Is it not fearful to observe how parents innumerable keep their children from schools—how many despise the preaching of the gospel, etc.?
Let us therefore learn how slow man is to good, how inclined to evil, how careless he is just in connection with his richest privileges, etc.
Vers. 22 sq.
Starke:—Wisdom divides men here into three classes:
1) The simple or foolish:
2) mockers; 3) the abandoned.
Through her call, "Jurn you at ray reproof," etc.. she aims to transform these into prudent, thoughtful, devout men.
—No one can receive the Holy Spirit of Christ and be enlightened with Divine wisdom, and not turn to the sacrifice of Christ (.John xiv. 15 sq.—xvi.
7 sq. ), renounce evil, and begin a new life (Ps. xxxiv.
15).
Lange :—If man does not follow the counsel of eternal wisdom, but walks according to the impulse of his own will, be comes at last to the judgment of obduracy.—W. Stein (Fast day sermon on i.
23-3-3) :—How does eternal, heavenly wisdom aim to awaken us to penitence? all essences—of the will ami the gracious acts of God,—a sincere desire heartily to love Him as the highest good, in deepest humility to honor Him, in child-like confidence to hope the best from Him. and to serve Him with denial of self, willingly and steadfastly; and all this in conformity to His revealed will.
Comp. above, MeLA.NCHTHON, and .also S. Bohlius, Elhica Sacra •'To fear God is nothing but to follow God, or to imitate none but God."* [Ver.
7. Arnot:—"What God is inspires awe; what God has done for His people commands affection.
See here the centrifugal and centripetal forces of the moral world, holding the creature reverently distant from the Creator, yet compassing the cliild about with everlasting love, to keep him near a Father in heaven."
—-Ver. 8. "This verse of the Proverbs flows from the same well spring that had already given forth the fiftli commandment."] Vers. 10-19 Calwer Handbuch :
The first rule for youth, " Follow father and mother," is immediately followed by the second, " Follow not base fellows."
Starke:—As a good education of children lays the first foundation for their true well being, so temptation lays the first foundation for tlieir destruction.—The worM, in order the better to lead others astray, is wont to adorn its vices with the finest colors.
There he most of all on thy guard ; where the world is most friendly it is most dangerous.
It is a poisoned sweetmeat.—If thou art God's chilil, engrafted in Clirist the living vine by holy baptism, thou hast received from Him new powers to hate evil and conciuer all temptations.—On vers.
10-19:—The ungodly have in their wickedness
) Slie uncovers our sins ; 2) she proclaims heavy judgments ; 3) she offers us shelter and points out the way of eternal salvation.— [Ver.
23.
FtAVEL:—This great conjunction of the word and Spirit makes that blessed season of salvation the time of love and of life.— J. Howe:—When tlieir calamity also,—and must (by its law) prepare this for one another.
Luther (marginal comment on ver.
17) :
"This is a proverb, and means " It fares with them as is said, ' In vain it is said, "Turn," etc.. could any essay to turn be without some influence of the Spirit?
But that complied with tends to pouring forth a copious effusion not to be withstood.
.Ar.not:— The command is given not to make the promise unnecessary, but to send us to it for help.
The promise is given not to supersede the command, but to encourage us in the effort to obey.—When we turn at His reproof, He will pour out His Spirit; when He pours out His Spirit, we will turn at His reproof; blessed circle for saints to reason in.—Ver. 24-28.
Ar.n'ot :—When mercy was sovereign, mercy used judgment for carrying out mercy's ends; when mercy's reign is over and judgment's reign begins, then judgment will sovereignly take mercy past, and wield it to give weight to the vengeance stroke.—Ver.
32.
South:—Prosperity ever dangerous to virtue: is the net,' etc.; i. e., their undertaking will fail, they will themselves perish."
[Ver.
10.
Ah-N'ot :—This verse, in brief compass and transparent terms, reveals the foe and the fight.
With a kindness and wisdom altogether paternal, it warns the youth of the Danger that assails him, and suggests the method of Defpncc.~\ Ver. 20 sq.
Geier (on ver.
20, 21) :— "All this decl;ires the fervor and diligence of heavenly wisdom in alluring and drawing all to itself: just as a herald with full lungs and clear voice endeavors to summon all to him "
Lange :— Eternal wisdom sends forth a call of goodness and grace to the pious, and a call to holiness and righteousness addressed to the ungodly.
O that 1) because every foolish or vicious person is either ignorant or regardless of the proper ends and lules for which God designs the prosperity of those to whom He sends it; 2) because prosperity, as the n.ature of man now stands, has a peculiar force and fitness to abate men's virtues and heighten their corruptions ; 3) because it directly indisposes them to the proper means of amendment and recovery.
Ba.xter :—Because they are fools they turn God's mercies to their own destruction ; and because they prosper, they are confirmed in their folly.] all would read and use aright this record written out thus in capitals!
Caltver Handh.:—Wisdom's walk through the streets.
The Lord and His Spirit follows us every where with monition and reminder.
Here wisdom is portrayed especially as warning against the evil consequences of disobedience, and as pointing to the blessings of obedience.—WoHLFAiiTu: The words of grief over the unthankfulness and blindness of men which Solomon here puts into the mouth of wisdom,
* "7\'nier« Deum. nihil atiuU est quam sequi Deum give neminsm imitari prater I?eum."
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
8. Exhibition of (be blessed consequences of obedience and of striving after wisdom.
Chap.
II. 1-22.
My son, if thou reeeivest my words and keepest my commandments by thee,
so that thou inclinest thine ear to wisdom, and turnest thine heart to understanding;
3 yea, if thou callest after knowledge, to understanding liftest up thy voice
if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hidden treasure; 5 then shalt thou understand the fear of Jehovahj and find knowledge of God ;
for Jehovah giveth wisdom, from his mouth (cometh) knowledge and understanding:
7 and so he layeth up for the righteous sound wisdom, a shield (is he) for them that walk uprightly,
to protect the paths of justice, and guard the way of his saints ; 9 then shalt thou understand righteousness and justice and uprightness,—every good way.
If wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant to thy soul, 11 then will discretion watch over thee, understanding will keep thee,
to deliver thee from an evil way, from the man that uttereth frowardness, 13 (from those) who forsake straight paths, to walk in ways of darkness; 14 who rejoice to do evil, who delight in deceitful wickedness; 15 whose paths are crooked, and they froward in their ways;
to deliver thee from the strange woman, from the stranger who maketh her words smooth,
17 who hath forsaken the companion of her youth and forgotten the covenant of her God.
18 For her house sinketh down to death and to the dead (lead) her paths; 19 her visitors all return not again, and lay not hold upon paths of lifa 20 (This is) that thou mayest walk in a good way and keep the paths of the righteous!
21 For the upright shall inhabit the land, and the just shall remain in it:
22 but the wicked are cut off from the land, and the faithless are driven out of it.
GRAMMATICAL AND CRITICAL.
fVer. Isq. De Wette and Notes conceive of the first two verges as not conditional, but as containing the expTegflioo of a direct and indepepil'^nt wish : Oh that thonwiuUif-it ri'rfivi:,etc.
The LXX, Vtilg , LuTaBR.efc, make the first verBe conditional, Imt find the apodosig in ver. 2.
Muenscher finds in ver. 2 an independent condition, and nota mere sequence to the preceding; so IloLOBX, wirti ii slightly different combinjitiun of the [mrta of ver. 2:
If by inclining t/iin^. far .
(Ao« will incline thint heart, etc. M^ H., StCaut ami other* tinii the apoiiosis of the Mrios of conditional clauses in ver.
.5,
CHAP. a.
1-22.
Hsreeing in this with the E. V.
These diverae views do not essentially modify the general import of the poBsage Zucklee it will bo observed finds the apodosis in vers. 5 and 9, vers. 6-S being parenthetical.—A.].
Ver. 7. For the construction with the atat. constr. compare Isa. xxxiii. 15.
[Compare Qeeen, | g 254, 9, b and 274 2.1
Ver. 8. The infiniUve 13fjS is followed by the imperf.
IDK''' as above in ver. 2.
[For explanations of the nature and uae of this infinitive construction see Ewald, g 237, c.
The literal rendering would be "for the guarding, protection, keeping."
Whose keeping the piiths, etc.?
Holdkn understands it of the righteous: " who walk uprightly by keeping the paths, etc."
Most coniineiitators understand it ol Uod, who i^ "a shield lur tue protection, i.e., to prutect, efc."
Zockler in traualation conforms the following Kal pret. to this intin.. while most others reverse the process.
X.\ Ver. 10. [The "'3 with which the verse commences is differently understood, aa conditional or temporal, or as causal.
Thus E. v., N., M., "when wisdom, etc. ;"
S., K., Van Ess, "for wisdom, etc. ;" De W.. Z., " if wisdom, etc.''
Between the first and la^t there is no essential difference, and this view of the author is probably entitled to the preference.
A.l.
The feminine Jl^n, "knowledge" (which is used here, as in i. 7, as synonymous with n0.3n "wisdom") has connected with it the masculine verbal form
D^J'. because this expression "it is lovely" is treated as impersonal, or neuter, and nj!T is connected with it as an accusative of object [ace. synecd., " there is pleasure to thy soul in respect to knowledge"].
Comp. the similar connection of nj?"T with the masculine verbal form ^pj in chap. xiv. 6; also Gen. xlis. 15, 2 Sam. xi. 25.
Ver. 11. [For the verbal form 713^^^^. with J uuassimilated, "for the sake of emphasis or euphony," see ISoiT., ^ HOO, 3.—A.].
Ver. 12. y^ is a substantive subordinate to the stat. constr. ^^T as in viii. 13, or as in t?T ni33nn ^er1-t. i"
^•T^'t^JK, chap, xxviii. 5, etc.
Ver. 18. nn'*3~nnty. n'S which is everywhereelsemascuUneishereexceptionallytreatedas feminine; for riHE'
T "
T T T T is certainly to be regarded as 3d sing. fem. from n^lC. ii"d not with UMBttEiT and Elster as a 3d sing, masc, for only TI^K' and not nnt?
(to stoop, to bow) has the signification here required, viz., that of sinking (Lat. sidere).
The LXX read T T 7^r\^ from nnE'j *nd therefore translate : edero yap iropd tw Bavart^ rof qXkov avrifi [she set her house near to deathj in which construction however TWi^ sidere, is incurrectly taken as transitive.
[Both Bottchee and Fuerst recognize the possibility of deriving this form aa a 3d sing, fem., either from n^ti' or from nnC^ which have a similar intrans. nieauiug.
To HHC neither Rodiger (Gesen. Thes.) nor Robinson's Gesenius, nor Fuerst gives any other than a transi- - T live meaning.— A.].
Perhaps Bottcher (De Inferis, g§ 201, 292; Ntue Aehrenl., p. 1) has hit upon the true explanation, when he in like manner makes the wanton woman the subject, but treats nn'3
Qot aa object but as supplementary to T • the verb, and therefore translates '* for she sinks to death with her house, and to thedead with her paths.
[RiJD. (Thesaur. p. 1377, a) expresses his agreement with B., but states his view differently
'* de ipsa miiliere cogitavit scriptor initio iieviidichii prioris, turn vero in _fi}ie ad complcndani sententiam loco TtiiUietis subjectum. fecit nn^3."
Fueest also pronounces it unnecessary to think of any other subject than nn*3-—-^-J'
Compare however Hitzig^s comment on thL^ passage, who remarks in defence of the common reading that Jl^j) is here exceptionally treated as feminine, because not so much the house itself is intended as " the conduct and transactions in it " (comp. vii. 27
; Isa. v. 14).
Ver, 22. With ^H^p*. the expression which is employed also in Ps. xxxvii. 9, to convey the idea of destruction, there corresponds in the 2d clause ^nD'» which as derived from HDJ (Deut. xxviii 63; Ps. lii. 5; Prov. xv. 25) would require to be taken as Imperf. Kal and accordingly to be translated actively
" they drive them out," i. e., they are driven out (so e. g., Umbreit, Elster, and so essentially Bertheau also).
But inasmuch as the parallelism requires a passive verb as predicate for D^njl3 (t. e., the faithless, those who have proved recreant to the theocratic covenant with Jehovah, i-omp. xi. 3, 6; xiii.2; xxii. 12) which is employed unmistakably as synonymous with D^l^^l.—and inasmuch as no verb nnO exists as a basis for the assumed Niphal form
^nO'. we must probably read with Hitzig IPO'i *» ^^ Imperf. liophal from HDJ and compare np* as an Imperf. Hophal of T}p^ (used with the Pual o( the same verb). du meine Rede annehmen .
So lass dein Ohr u.
8. w."
The E. V. ends the proposition with ver.
as the apodosis.—A.].— If thou receivest my TvordsTo the idea of "receiving" that of
EXEGETICAL.
Vera.
1-9.
This first smaller division of the chapter forms a connected proposition, wiiose Iiypothetical protasis includes vers.
1-4, while withiu the double apodosis (vers. 5 and 9) the confirmatory parenthesis, vers. 6-8 is introduced.
The assertion of Ewalu and Berthe.\i; [with '* keeping '* stands related as the more emphatic, just as ** commandments "
(illiTD) is a stronger expression than ** words "
(D'^'^i^^)'
In the three following verses also we find this same inwhom IvAMPHAUSEN and Stuart agree] that the j creased emphasis or intensifying of the expresentire chap, torms only one grand proposition, i ^-^^^ j^ the second clause as compared with the rests on the false assumption that the "if"
"3 first,—especially in ver. 4, the substance of which in ver. 10 is to be regarded as a causal particle, and should be translated by "for,"—to which as a whole presents itself before us as a superlative, or final culmination of the gradation which idea the relation of ver. 10 both to ver. 9 and to , exists in the whole series of antecedent clauses, ver. 11 is opposed.
Comp. Umbreit and Hitzig i in so far as this verse sets forth the most diligent on this passage.
[On the other hand, the LXX, and intent seeking after wisdom.—Ver. 3. Yea, Vulg., LcTHER, etc. J complete the first proposi- > if thou callest after knoTwledge, ^. e., if thou | not only incliuest thine ear to her when she verses; the Vulgate e. g. renders "5^ AuacfpfW^ I calls thee, but also on thine own part callest tion, protasis and apodosis, within the first two - .
. inclina cor tuum^ etc.," and Luther " iviHst I after her, summonest her to teach thee, goest to
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
and safety.—And so he layeth up for the righteous sound wisdom.—So we must transmeet her with eager questioning.
This relation of climax to the preceding is indicated by late in accordance with the K'thibh ]3!fl which the DX '3, imo, yea, rather; comp. Hos. ix. 12;
Is. is confirmed by the LXX and Peach, as the oldxxviii. 28; Job xxxix. 14 [comp. Ewald, ^343, b].
The Targum translates the passage " If thou est reading.
The K'ri ISX', without the copucallest understanding thy mother," and must lative, would connect the proposition of ver. 7 with ver. 6 as essentially synonymous with it, therefore have read DS '3
But the Masoretic to which construction the meaning is however opposed.
[The majority of commentators prefer the K'ri, making this verse a continuation and not a consequence of the preceding.
KamphauSEN agrees with our author in what seems to us the more forcible construction, which has the advantage also of resting on the written text
; comp.
BoTTCHER,
^ 929, b.—A.].
J3V to protect, to pointing is to be preferred for lexical reasons (instead of DX, according to the analogy of Job xvi. 14 we should have expected "HX, "my mother"), and because of the parallelism between vers.
and 3.
Still "knowledge"
(HI'S), as well as " understanding," which is named as its counterpart in the parallel clause, appears evidently as personified.—Ver. 4. Ifthouseekest her, etc.—"The figure of diligent seeliing is taken from the tireless exertion employed in mining, which has before been described in the preserve, after the manner of a treasure or jewel, over which one watches that it may not be stolen; comp. above, ver 1, and also vii.
; x. 14.
—In regard to TT'tyn [rendered "sound wisdom" by the E V. here and in iii. 21
; viii. 14; B00I5 of Job, chap, xxviii., with most artistic vivacity in its widest extent.
The D'ODBO are xviii.
1] properly prosperity and wisdom united, see Introd., J 2, note 3.
The word is probably surely the treasures of metal concealed in thfe related to t?', and denotes first the essential or earth (comp. Jerem.xli. 8; Jos. vii. 21)," U.mbeeit.
[For illustrations of the peculiar significance of actual (so e. g.. Job v.
12), and then furthermore help, deliverance (Job vi. 13), or wisdom, reflecthis comparison to the mind of Orientals, see Thomson's Land and Book,
I., 197.— A.].
Ver.
5. Then -wilt thou understand the fear of Jehovah. — "Understand" is here equivalent to taking something to one's self as a tion, as the foundation of all safety ; so here and iii.
; viii.
; xviii.
; Job xi.
sq.; I.s. xxviii. 29.
Comp. Umereit and Hirzel on Job v.
12.
HiTziG (on iii. 21) derives the word from spiritual possession, like the "finding" in the second clause, or like iSt^eoiJai ["receiveth"] in the root ni!?, which he says is transposed into TV!i^ (? ?), and therefore defends as the primary
1 Cor. ii. 14.
The "fear of Jehovah" (comp. i. 7) is here clearly presented as the highest good and most valuable possession of man (comp. Is. xxxiii. signification of the expression " an even, smooth path," or subjectively " evenness," i. e., of thought, and so " considerateness ;" he compares with this llty'D which signifies "plain " as well 6), evidently because of its imperishable nature (Ps. xix.
9), and its power to deliver in trouble as "righteousness."
A shield for them that vralk blamelessly. — The substantive [JD (Prov. xiv. 2G; Ps. cxv. 11; Ecclesiist. i.
11 sq.; ii. 7 sq.) And find knowledge of God.— Knowledge of God is here put not merely as a (shield) is most correctly regarded as an appositive to the subject, "Jehovah:" for also in Pe. xxxiii. 20; Ixxxiv. 11; Ixxxix. 18, Jehovah is in like manner called a shield to His saints.
In opposition to the accusative interpretation of ]J0 [which is adopted by Stuart among others], parallel idea to the " fear of Jehovah "
(as in chap. ix. 10; Is. xi. 2), but it expresses a fruit and result of the fear of Jehovah, as the substance of the following causal proposition in vers. 6-8 indicates.
Comp. the dogmatical and ethical comments.
[Is the substitution of Eioldm for Jehovah (in clause 6) a mere rhetorical or as object of the verb [SX (he securelh, or enpoetical variation?
Wordsworth calls attention sureth) we adduce, on the one hand, the meaning of this verb, and on the other the fact that we should expect rather X'H ]JD (as an apposito the fact that this is one of five instances in the Book of Proverbs in which God is designated as JElohim, the appellation Jehovah occurring nearly ninety times.
The almost singular exception seems then to be intentional, and the meaning tive to iT'iJ'in).
The old translations, as the LXX and Vulgate, furthermore read the word as a participle (tJDD or [JO) ; they translate it by will be, the knowledge of "Elohim—as distinguished from the knowledge of man which is of a verb (LXX :
WepaaTiei ttjv nopeiav avrav).— little worth."
In explaining the all but univeron "371!, literally the "walkers of innocence," sal use of Jehovah .as the name of God in our book, while in Eccles. it never occurs, WoRUSWOBTH says, " when Solomon wrote the Book of Proverbs he %vas in a state of favor and grace with Jehovah, the Lord God of Israel ; he was obedient to the law of Jehovah; and the special design of the Book of Proverbs is to enforce obedience to that law," etc..
(see Introd. to Eccles., are the same as "those that walk uprightly,"
Prov. X. 9
(the Dn3 D"3^in) or Ps. Ixxxiv. 11
(the D"nn3 D"3'7in).—To protect the paths of justice, etc.—The 8th verse gives more specifically the way in which God manifests Himself to the pious as a shield, and the ensurer of their safety.
"Paths of justice" are here, by the substitution of the abstract for the concrete expression, paths of the just, and therefore essentially synonymous with the "way of the pious " p. 78)-A.].
, .
, Vers.
G-8.
The Divine origin of wisdom must make it the main object of human search and effort, and all the more since its possession enin the second clause.
Comp. chap, xvii 23.—Ver. sures to the pious at the same time protection
; ;
CHAP. U.
1-22.
Ver.
12. To deliver thee from an evil ^ay — properly "from the way of evil."
< From the man that uttereth perverse' ness.—n03nr) perverseness, a strong abstract form [found almost exclusively in Proverbs Fuerst] which expresses the exact opposite of D'Tt?"p ("uprightness," ch. i.
3; ii.
9),—it is 9 carries out the import of the parallel ver 5 as the particle IN repeated from the preceding •verse shows.—Every good path —This expression (31D"Sji'"D"^3) includes the three conceptions given above, justice, righteousness and integrity, and thus sums up the whole enumeration.
Therefore, it is attached without a copula therefore deceitfulness, subtlety, maliciousness.
Comp the expressions, "mouth of perverseness," chap. viii. 13; x. 32
; " tongue of perverseness," comp.
Ps. viii. ver. 9 b.
Vers. 10-19 form a period which in structure is quite like vers. 1-9; only that the hyX.
31; "man of perverseness," xvi.
28; also passages like vi. 14; xvi. 30, xxiii. 33.—Vers.
13-15 Closer description of the wayward or perversely speaking man, in which, because of the generic comprehensiveness of the conception pothetical protasis is here considerably shorter than in the preceding period, where the conditions of attaining wisdom are more fully given, and with an emphatic climax of the thought.
This is connected with the fact that in the former period the Divine origin of wisdom, E'"X, the plural takes the place of the singular.
Who forsake straight paths —The participle here, on the contrary, its practical utility for the moral life and conduct of man forms the D"3t>'n expresses, strictly interpreted, a preterchief object of delineation.
There wisdom is presented predominantly as the foundation and ite idea, 'those who have forsaken;" for according to ver. 15 the evil doers who are described are already to be found in crooked ways.
—In dark v^ays.—Comp. Rom. xiii. 12; Eph. v. condition of religious and moral rectitude in general,—here specially as a power for the consecration of feeling and conduct, or as a means of preservation against destructive lusts and pas-
; 1 Thess. v. 5; also .lob xxiv. 15; Is. xxix.
15.—Deceitful wickedness—literally "perverseness of evil" (comp. remarks on ver. 12) a, mode of combining two nouns which serves to strengthen the main idea.— VThose paths are crooked—literally, " who in respect to their sions.—If wisdom entereth into thine heart.—This •'coming into the heart" must be the beginning of all attaining to wisdom; then, however, she who has. as it were, been received as a guest into the heart must become really lovely and dear to the soul.
There is, therefore, a climax of the thought, as above in vers 1-4 The heart is here, as always, named as the centre and organic basis of the entire life of the soul, as the seal of desire, and the starting point for all personal self-determination.
The soul, on the contrary, appears as the aggregate and sum total ways are crooked ;" for the prefixed Dn'niT^N is to be construed as an accusative of relation belonging to the following D'typJ?
; comp. xix.
xxviii. fi.
In the second clause in the place of this adverbial accusative, there is substituted the more circumstantial but clearer construction with 3 "perverse in. their ways." of all the impulses and efforts of the inner man.
The former designates the living centre, the latter the totality of the personal life of man.
Comp.
Beck, Bibl.
Seelenlehre, p.
6-5 ; Delitzsch, Bibl.
Vers. 16-19. The representation passes into a warning against being betrayed by vile women, just as in v.
3; vi.
24; vii.
sq.—From the strange vroman, from the wanton woman.—As "strange woman Pxychol., pp. 248 sq.; VON Rudloff, Lehre vom Menschen, pp.
59 sq.
What the last mentioned author, pp. 64 sq , remarks in criticism upon Dklitzsch's too intellectual conception of the idea '
(nt?N ni!) or a "wanton woman"
(n-IDJ. properly of the heart as the •'birthplace of the thoughts,"
—that every where in the Scriptures it appears "unknown," and so equivalent to "strange or foreign woman") the betrayer into unehastity is here designated, so far forth as she is the wife to belong more to the life of desire and feeling, than to the intellectual activity of the soul,—this view finds foundation and support especially in the passage now before us, as well as in most of the passages which mention heart and soul together (e. ^., Prov. xxiv. 12; Ps. xiil. 2; Jerem. of another (comp. vi. 26), who, however, has forsaken her husband
(ver.
17), and therein has transgressed also God's commandment, has broken the covenant with her God (ver. 17,
1. c.) —The person in question is accordingly at all events conceived ot as an Israelitess; and this is opposed to the opinion of those who, under the iv. 19; Deut. vi.
5; Matth. xxii.
37; .\cts iv.
32).
Comp. also Hitzic on this pa.ssage.—And knowledge is pleasant to thy soul — [For a peculiarity of grammatical structure in the designation "the strange, or the foreign woman"
(especially in connection with the last expression which appears as the designation of the adulteroriginal, see critical notes.]—Ver.
11.
Then will reflection watch over thee.— I'i!
"'nt? ess in chap. v. 20; vi.
24; vii.
5; xxiii.
27), think first of those not belongingto the house of as in vi 22.
13i7 (construed, however, with a - T ^ mere accusative of the object) and 1S3 have alIsrael, because the public prostitutes in Israel were formerly, for the most part, of foreign birth
(so especially J. F. Frisch:
Commentaiio de niuready been found connected in ver. 8 above, and liere peregrina apud Ebrmos minus honesle habita, occur again in chap, iv 6. n3!0 here reflection, Leips., 1744, and among recent commentators, considerateness (LXX:
(iovT,}/ Kali]), properly " wisdom, so far forth as its direction is outward, and it presents itself in relation to the une. g., Umbreit).
This view is in conflict with the context of the passage before us quite as decidedly as is the idea of the LXX, which intercertain, testing it, and to danger, averting it" prets the foreign and wanton woman as the per- (HiTZIQ). sonification of temptation in contrast with wis-
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON,
tors all return not again,—because from Sheol there is no return to the land of the living; see Job vii.
9, 10,—and comp.
Prov. v.
5, 6.
Paths of life, as in Ps. xvi. 11
; Prov. v.
6. dom (i.
'20 sq ), but to carry out this view is obliged to introduce all manner of arbitrary relations,—p. g., referring that of the "companion of youth " in ver.
to the instruction in Divine truth [diSaaKa?.ia veon/rog), which was a guide in youth.
It is decisive against this allegorical conception of the strange woman, which has been a favorite with some Christian expositors also, such as Melanchthon, Joach. Laxge, Chk. B.
MiCHAELis, that the wicked and perverse men in vers. 12-15 cannot possibly be interpreted figuratively, but certainly only as individual concrete representatives of moral evil.
[This word 3. Vers. 20-22.
While the [^dS [in order that] is strictly dependent on ver.
11, and co-ordinat» with the 7 of the two final clauses in vers. 12 sq. and 16 sq., still we are to recognize in the announcement of a purpose which it introduces, a conclusion of the entire admonitory discourse which this chapter contains,—an epilogue, as it were ("all this I say to thee in order that," etc.), which again may be resolved into a positive and a negative proposition (vers. 20, 21 and ver. 22). n'"13J is " especially applied to those ' strange women' whom Solomon himself loved in his old age, and who turned away his heart from the Lord his God, and beguiled him to favor and encourage the worship of their false gods Umbreit's translation of [Jt'O? by " therefore " is ungraminatical, nor can it be justified by reference to passages like Ps, xxx. 12; li. 4; Hos.
(see
Kings xi. 1-8; comp. Neh. xiii. 26, 27).
Here is a solemn lesson.
Solomon warns his son against that very sin of wliicli he himself was afterwards guilty.
Thus by God's goodness Solomon's words in this Divinely inspired book were an antidote to the poison of his own vicious example " Wordsworth].—'Who maketh her words smooth -i. c , \vho knows how to speak flattering and templing words ; comp. vii. 21
; Ps. viii. 4.—The upright shall inhabit the land.
— In the description of the highest earthly prosperity as a "dwelling in the land"
[i.
«., in the native land, not upon the earth in general, which would give a meaning altogether vague and indefinite), we find expressed the love of an Israelite for his fatherland, in its peculiar strength and its sacred religious intensity.
"The IsraeV. 9; Rom. iii.
13. — V^er.
17. The companion of her youth.—The same expression occurs also in Jerem. iii.
; comp.
Ps.
Iv.
13, where lite was, beyond the power of natural feeling, which makes home dear toevery one, more closely bound to the ancestral soil by the whole form of the theocracy ; torn from it he was in the inmost roots of life itself strained and broken.
Especially from some Psalms belonging to the period of the exile this patriotic feeling is breathed out
']l'7X in like manner means companion, confidant.
The forsaking of this "companion of youth," i. e., the first lawful husband, is, at the same time, a "forgetting of the covenant of her God," i. p., a forgetting, a wilful disregard of that which she has solemnly vowed to God, Marriage appears here not merely as a covenant entered into in the presence of God, but in a certain sense one formed with God.
Quite similar in the fullest glow and intensity.
The same form of expression has also passed over into the New Testament, comp. Matth. v. 5, and also, with regard to the idea as a whole. Ps. xxxvii. 9, 11, 29; Prov,
X. 30"
(Elster).—But the wicked shall be rooted out from the land.—See critical notes above. is the representation in Mai ii.
14, where the adulterous Israelite is censured for the faithless
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
abandoniuent of his D'^llj-'J nEyS (wife of youth) because God was witness with her at the formation of the marriage covenant.
That the marriages of the Israelites " were not consummated without sacred rites connected with the public He only who seeks after wisdom, i. e., who turns his practical efforts wholly toward it, and walks in its ways, finds true wisdom.
For wisdom in the objective sense, is a gift of God, an religion, although the Pentateuch makes no mention of them," is accordingly a very natural assumption,—one which, e. g., Ewald, Bertueau, HiTzio, Reinke, v. Gkrlach, etc., have made on the ground of the two passages here uuder consideration, especi.ally the passage in Malaclii, Yet compare besides A KiJiii.ER on the latter passage \Nachail.
Vrnphh., IV.
sq,), who efl[iuence from Him, the only wise (Rom. xvi. 27 ).
It can therefore come into possession of Iiim alone who seeks appropriately to make his own the true subjective wisdom, which is aspiration after God and divine things; who in thought and experience seeks to enter into communion with God ; who devotes himself entirely to God, subjects himself fully to His discipline and guidfinds there a witness of Jehovah, not at the consummation, but at the violation of marriage — ance, in order that God in turn may be able to give Himself wholly to him, and to open to him the blessed fulness of His luxture,— This main thought of our chapter, which conies out with Vers. 18, I'.t. For her house sinks down to death, e/c—.\ reason for tlie strong expression in ver.
Itj, "to deliver thee from the strange woman."—And to the dead her paths.—The especial clearness in vers. 5, 6, is essentially only another side, and somewhat profounder concepD'e<i3'1
[i. e., properly the weak, languid, powertion, Of the motto which, in i.
7, is prefixed to less [Gesen., Thes. : guieli, silen/es,—FrERST,"the dark, the shadowy"]; comp. the f(r5(.t/a Knfiovruu of Homer, and the timbrie of Vibgii.) are the dwellers in the kingdom of the dead (comp, ix,; xxi. 16; Ps.
Ixxxviii. 10; Is. xiv. 9: xxvi. 14, 18, the entire collection, viz.. that the fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom,—or again, of the significant utterance in chap, xxviii.
"They that seek God understand all things."
Within the limits of the New Testament we may compare above all else, what the Lord, in John vii.
19), and stand here, like the Latin inferi, for the world of the dead, or Sheol itself.—Her visi17, presents as the condition of a full comprehen-
CHAP.
II.
1-22.
sion of Himself and of the divine truth revealed bines two causes: 1) God's aid; 2) our own zeal." in Him: "If any man will do His will he shall know whether this doctrine be of God;" likewise:
" Ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall tind," etc.
(Matt. vii.
7); and also:
'•Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light" (Eph.
(No. 2 ought here necessarily to have been put first — an improvement which was made by Stocker in his reproduction of this analysis of Melanchtuon).—Stocker:—The rounds upon which one must, with divine help, climb up to the attainment of wisdom are seven:
1) eager hearing; 2) firm retention ; 3) attentive meditation ; 4) unquestioned progress ; 5) due humiliation; 6) devoted invoking of God's help; 7) tireless self-examination.
[Chalmers (on vers.
1-9):—The righteousness of our conduct contributes to the enlightenment of o'.ir creed.
The wholesome reaction of the moral on the intellectual is clearly intimated here, inasmuch as it is to the righteous that God imparteth wisdom].
Starke (on vers.
1-4) ;—As the children of the world turn their eyes upon silver and treasures, run and race after them, make themselves much disquiet to attain them, though after all they are but shadows and vanity ; so ought the children of God to use much more diligence to attain heavenly wisdom, which endures forever, and makes the man who possesses it really prosperous.— [Vers.
1-6. Bridges:—Earthly wisdom is gained by study ; heavenly wisdom by prayer.
Study may form a Biblical scholar; prayer puts the heart under a heavenly pupilage, and therefore forms the wise and spiritual Christian.
But prayer must not stand in the stead of diligence.
Let it rather give life and energy to it.
Arnot (vers. 2):—The ear inclined to divine wisdom will draw the heart: the heart drawn will incline the ear.
Behold one of the circles in which God, for His own glory, makes His unnumbered worlds go round.—(Ver.
4).
Fervent prayer must be tested by persevering pains.
Trapp (ver. 2):
Surely as waters meet and rest in low vallej's, so do God's graces in lowly hearts.— (Ver. 3).
A dull suitor begs a denial].
Starke (On vers.
5-9) :—Righteousness of faith and righteousness of life are closely connected.
As soon as the T.
14).
Comp. further the passage from the Book of Wisdom (chap. vi.
12, 13), which MeLAXCHTHON, with perfect propriety, cites in this connection :
•' Wisdom is willingly found of them that seek her, yea, she cometh to meet and maketh herself known to those thai desire her ;" and also David's language :
" In thy light do we see light"
(Ps. xxxvi.
9), the well-known favorite motto of Augustine, which in like manner, as it was employed by the profound metaphysician
Malebr.\nche, ought to be used by all Christiau philosophers as their daily watchword and symbol.
In the second section of this admonition (vers.
10-19) this true wisdom, to be conferred by God, to be found only with God, is more completely exhibited, on the side of its salutary influence upon the moral life of humanity, especially as a preserver against sin and vice and their ruinous consequences.
After this in conclusion the epilogue (vers. 20-22) contrasts the blessed results of wise and righteous conduct and the punishment of ungodliness in strongly antithetic terms, which remind us of the close of the first Psalm and of the Sermon on the Mount (Malt, vii. 24-27 ; comp. Ps. i.
6).
Comp. the exegetical comments on these two sections.
HOMILETIC.
Homilji on the entire chapter: The main stages in the order of grace, contemplated from the point of view of the wisdom of the Old Testament:
1) The call (vers. 1-4); 2) Enlightenment (vers.
5, 6) ; 3) Conversion (vers. 7-10); 4) Preservation or sanctification (vers. 11-20);
6) Perfection (vers. 21, 22).
Starke:—The order of proceeding for the attainment of true wisdom and its appropriate use:
1) the order for the attainment of wisdom consists in this,—that we first exists (vers. 5-8) the other must also show itself in an earnest and pure walk before God and man, Luke i.
74, 75; Phil. i.
11.
Lange (on ver. tj) :—One may indeed by natural knowledge very readily learn that God is a very benevolent being; but how He becomes to a sinner the God of love, this can be learned only from the mouth of God in the Holy Scriptures.
[Trapp (ver. 9):—"Thoushalt understand righteousness," not as coffnoscitiva, standing in speculation, but as directtva vitse, a rule of life.] Vers.
10-22.— [Ver.
11.
Bridges:— Before wisdom was the object of our search.
Now, having found it, it is our pleasure.
Until it is so it can have no practical influence.
Arnot:— a) ask for it, (1-3), b) search for it with care and diligence (4).
2) The wisdom thus attained is the only true wisdom, as appears a) from its own characteristics (5), b) from the person of its giver (0), c) from the conduct of the men who possess it (7, 8).
3) This only true wisdom is protilable, a) for the attainment of I'ighteousness in faith and life (9-11, b) for deliverance from evil (12-19), c) for the steadfast maintenance of an upright life (20-22).— Simpler and better StoCKEr :
Studiosi sapientise 1) officium (1-8) ; 2) jirsemium (9-22).
[The student of wisdom 1) in his duty, 2) in his reward].
Calmer Handb.:
The way to wisdom consists 1) in listening to its call (1, 2) ; 2) in searching for it pr.ayerfuUy (3-6) ; 3) in deference to that portion of wisdom which one has already attained, by earnestness It is pleasure that can compete with pleasure; it is "joy and peace in believing" that can overcome the pleasure of sin.] Stocker (on vers.
10-12):—Wisdom helps such as love her in all good, and preserves them against all evil; she directs them to the good and turns them from the evil way.—(On vers.
12-19):—Wisdom delivers from the three snares of the devil, viz., in a holy walk (7-9); 4) in the experience of the power of wisdom, which lies in this, that it preserves from ways of evil, especially of impurity (10-22).
1) from a godless life; 2) from false doctrine; 3) from impurity and licentiousness.
Starke (on vers. 12 sq.):—Daily experience teaches us that we are by nature in a condition from which we need deliverance.
But how few ai-e there of Vers. 1-9. MELANCHTHON:-"He admonishes how we niay make progress (in wisdom): for he com-
; ; ; ;
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
vers. 21, 22):—People who mean rightly neither those who are willing to be delivered, Matt, xxiii. 37!—(On vers.
:i0-22):—Not merely some with God nor men are with their posterity rooted out of the world.
He who observes will even now see plain proofs of this, Ps.
Ixxiii. 19; xxxiv. lt>.
Von Geblacu (on ver.
21:)—The meaning of the promise, so common in the law, steps in tbe right way, but continuing to the end brings blessedness, Matt. xxiv.
13 [^Granted that for a time it goes ill with the godly in this world.
God's word must nevertheless be made good, if not here, surely in eternity, Ps. cxxvi. of '-the pious dwelling in the land " depends h.—[Bridges :—The spell of lust palsies the grasp especially on the fact that Canaan was type and pledge of the eternal inheritance of the saints in t>y which its victim might have taken hold of the vaths of life for hia deliverance.] Hasius (on light.
Continuation of the exhibition of tbe salutary results of a devout and pious life.
Chap.
III.
1-18.
My son, forget not my doctrine, and let thy heart keep ray commandments
for length of days and years of life and welfare will they bring to thee.
3 Let not love and truth forsake thee bind them about thy neck, write them upon the tablet of thy heart;
so wilt thou find favor and good reputation in the eyes of God and of men.
5 Trust iti Jehovah with all thy heart, and rely not on thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he will make smooth thy paths.
7 Be not wise in thine own eyes; fear Jehovah and depart from evil.
8 Healing will then come to thy body and refreshing to thy bones.
9 Honor Jehovah with thy wealth, and with the best of all thine income 10 so will thy barns be filled with plenty and with new wine will thy vats overflow.
Jehovah's correction, my son, despise not, neither loathe thou his chastening
for whom Jehovah loveth, him he chasteneth and holdeth him dear, as a father his son.
13 Blessed is the man that hath found wisdom, and he that attaineth understanding;
for better is its accumulation than the accumulation of silver, and her gain (is better) than the finest gold.
15 More precious is she than pearls, and all thy jewels do not equal her.
IG Long life is in her right hand, in her left hand riches and honor.
17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths (are paths) of peace.
18 A tree of life is she to those that lay hold upon her, and he who holdeth hsr fast is blessed.
CHAP.
III.
1-35.
5 Description of the powerful protection which God, the wise Creator of the world, ensures to the pious.
Chap.
III.
19-26.
Jehovah hath with wisdom founded the earth, the heavens (hath he) established by understanding;
20 by his knowledge were the floods divided, and the clouds dropped down dew.
21 My son, never suffer to depart from thine eyes, maintain (rather) thoughtfulness and circumspection;
so will they be life to thy soul and grace to thy neck.
23 Then wilt thou go thy way in safety and thy foot will not stumble.
24 When thou liest down thou wilt not be afraid, and when thou liest down thy sleep is sweet.
25 Thou needst not fear from sudden alarm, nor from the destruction of the wicked when it Cometh.
26 For Jehovah will be thy confidence and keep thy foot from the snare.
6. Admonition to benevolence and justice.
Chap.
III.
27-35.
Refiise not good to him to whom it is due, when thine hands have power to do it.
28 Say not to thy neighbor :
" Go and come again ;" or " to-morrow I will give it "—while yet thou hast it.
29 Devise not evil against thy neighbor while he dwelleth securely by thee.
30 Contend with no man without cause, when he did thee no evil.
Imitate not the man of violence and choose none of his ways.
32 For an abhorrence to Jehovah is the deceiver, but with the upright he maintaineth true friendship.
33 Jehovah's curse dwelleth in the house of the wicked but the home of the just he blesseth.
If he scorueth the scorners, to the lowly he giveth grace.
35 Honor shall the wise inherit, but shame sweepeth fools away.
GRAMMATICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 6.—[The idea of the verb '^K'" is not that of gnidaDce [E. V.: "shall direct thy paths"], bnt that of makiDf straight (Stuart), or. perhaps, better still, making smooth (Fuerst, De W., Kamph.).—A.]
Vers. 7, 8.—[^nn" 7K. the "dehortative " use of the Jussive, Bott., §964, 8; while in ver. 8 we have an example of the "desponsive" use it shall be.—n'')ty7.
For the doubling of the T by Dagesh see Bott., §392 c.
He explains it as "mimetic for greater vigor."
Some texts carry this even into the succeeding \
§ 885, A.
Fuerst (Lex., sitb verba) pronounces it unnecessary to change the vocalization as proposed by some commentators and preferred by ZiJCKlER, and agrees with Uhbreit in bis view ol the meaning.
A.] Ver. l'.i.—In the ordinary rendering, " even as a father Ihe son in whom he deiii:hteth," or "whom he holds dear"
[which is the rendering, e y., of the E. V., De Wette, Stuart, Noyes, Mde>8CB.], nVT' is construed as in a relative clause.
But then we should expect rather the perfect HX^ i and there should have been in the first clan e a comparative proposiT T tion of like construction with the one before us.
The L,\X, from which Htb. xii. 5 is ]i ersilly quoted [n rendering which HoLnEN adopts and defends], appears to 1 ave read ^X^' instead of ^KD^, for it translates
Ihe second clause by juotTTiyoi fie TTavra vibv Of napaBexfTOL [scourgeth every son whom he receiveth].
This old variation, however, nprears to owe its origin to the endeavor to securo a better paraUelism.
[Kamph. adepts a slightly different rendering, which makes the lat'
THE PEOVERBS OF SOLOMON
ter part of the clau>!e relative, bat makes the relfitive the subject and not the object of the verb, thus obviating the objection in regaid to tense
; atid (dealeth) as a father (who) wisheth well to his son.
Tbe Jl{< for J^X Jit the beginning of the Terse is explained by Butt., I 362, 3, &a the result of assimilation to the subsequent HK-—A.J
Ver, 18.—In the Hebrew "ItS^XD ri'DDHl the plural D'JD/l is employed distribntively, or, as it were, of undefined T '-.
T .- .
: individuals, for which reason its predicate stands in the singular; comp. Gen. xlvii. 3; Num. xxiv. 9; Gesen., Lehrgeb., p.
Tlo; EWALD, g30'J, a [BijTT., ^'02, 8J Ver. 2ti.—The 3 in 17DD3 is the so-called 3 essentiiBt which serves for the emphatic and strengthened introductioa of the predicate, as, e.g., in '^1^3, Ex. iviii. 4 (Gesen., Lehrgeb., 839, Ewald, Lehrb^ 217 f.).
Ver. 27.—"When thy hands have power to do it ;" literally * when thy hands are for God."
With this phrase compare T SxS iy% Gen. xxxi. 29, Micah ii. 1, or 1" SxS TX.
Deut. xxviii. 32; Neh. v. 5.
[The weight, both of lexicographiciil and esegetical authority, is, and, we think, plainly should be, against this view of the author.
See, eg.^ Gesex. and FtJERSx; 7X has assigned to it distinctly the^iguificatioti "strength,"' the abstract quality corresponding to the concrete. " the stroug." i.e., God.
It belongs to the power^it is in the power].
Inasmu''h as in these idioms the singular T always occurs, the K'ri reads in our passage also IT. and the LXX for tbe same reason bad translated rj \tip <rov f tho translation being a free one; Frankel, Vorstudien zur Septuaginta, p. 239].
Vet there is no grammatical reason whatever for the change.
Ver. 28.—[-TVI/, K'thibh, another distributive plural, where the K'ri has a singular; see Bott , g^ 702, d—886, c.
-A.] Ver. 30.
[Holden translates the last clause *'Burely he will return thee evil," because the ordinary rendering "gives to the word 70i the sense of doing or performing, which it seems never to bear, but always that of returning, requiting,
- T rfcompensing.^^ The primary import, however, seems to be to collect, to complete, which fact, together with the tense. Jus* tiller the almost entire unanimity which sustains the ordinary rendering.—A.] curs at much shorter intervals,—that between the " my son " in chap, ii 1 and the first in the third chapter there are no less than 22 verses, and that finally the paragraphs or " strophes "
EXEGETICAL.
1. The close connection between this group of admonitions and chap. ii. appears at once externally in the resuming of the address " My son " formed by the repetition of this address in the two following chapters (iv. 10 sq.; iv. 20 sq.; v.
(ii. 1), which recurs three times in chap iii , vers.
1 sq.) are by no means of equal length, and can be brought into uniformity only by critical violence (the rejection of chap. iv. 16, 17 and 27).
1, 11, 21,— without, however, for that reason, introducing in each instauceanew paragraph; for in ver. 11 at least the series of admonitions beginning in ver.
1 continues in its former tone with out interruption (comp. especially ver.
9),—and agnin the new commencement in ver. 21 does not equal in importance that in ver 19 sq., or that If we therefore cannot justify Hitzig's endeavor to produce by the exclusion of several verses asymmetrical external structure for our chapter,
( e., a division of it into three equal strophes, we are also obliged to differ with him when he conceives of the contents as mainly admonitory, in contrast with the more descriptive character of chap. ii.
For here as there we find admonitions, iu ver. 27 sq.
Hitzig maintains that vers. 22-26 are spurious, inasmuch as the promise of reward which it contains, after the earlier briefer suggestions of virtue's reward iu vers.
4, 6, 8, 10, direct or indirect, to the securing and retaining .-leems tedious and disturbing ; inasmuch as their of wisdom (vers.
1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 21, 27 sq.) alternating with delineations of the blessedness which becomes the portion of its possessors style of expression appears tame, prosaic, and even, in some degree, clumsy; inasmuch as there may be detected in them traces of a strange and (vers.
4, 6b, 8, 10,
sq.,
sq.), or with praises of wisdom itself (vers.
sq., 19 sq.).
Especially are the commencement and conclusion later idiom [e. g., the jni D'TI [life and grace] in ver. 22
; the T\Xt!
[destruction] in ver. 25
, of the chapter in close correspondence with those the 13^0 [from the snare] in ver.
26); and finally—the thing which appears in fact to have given the chief impulse to bis suspicion—inasmuch as from the omission of these five verses there would result another instance of the decimal grouping of verses before we come again to the address to the "children " of wisdom in chap, of chap, ii., and accordingly justify our conception of the general import of the proverbial discourses which it contains, as being a sort of continuation of the longer discourse which constitutes the preceding chapter.
Only in two points do we find essentially new material introduced into the representation, which is now mainly admonitory and again chieiiy descriptive, viz., in iv.
1, just as before the 'JS [my son] in vers. 11 and
was repeated in each case after ten vers. 19 sq., where the protecting and preserving power of wisdom is illustrated by a reference to God's creative wisdom as the original source and model of all human wisdom,—and in vers. 27 sq., where in the place of the previous admonitions verses.
But since no kind of external testimony Ciin be adduced in support of this assumption of an interpolation, while, on the other hand, a version as old as the LXX contains the verses entire, the suspicion appears to rest on grounds wholly subjective, and to be supported by reasonings tiiat are only specious.
This is espeof a more general nature there appears a special admonition to love of one's neighbor, as the sura and crown of all virtues.
Therefore (with De-
I.ITZSCH,
comp. above, Introd., J 15) at each of these points we begin a new section. cially true of the fact that there are in each instance ten verses between the first addresses, " my son,"—which loses all its significance when we observe that in chap. i. the same address re2.
Conlmucd represenlalion of the salutary consequences of a wise and devout life.
Vers. 1-18.
CHAP.
III.
1-35.
Vers. 1, 2.
Forget not my teaching.— The substance of this teaching (miH, as in i. 8), not perchance the "commandments" mentioned in ver.
1, of which C. B. Michaems and others here think without any good reason) ; comp. Jer. xxxi. 33
; 2 Cor. iii. 3 ["To bind God's law about the neck is not only to do it, but to rejoice in doing it; to put it on, and to exult in it as the fairest ornament." Wordsw.].—So Twilt thou find favor and good reputation— liier.nlly,
"and so find," etc.
(Ni'n?) ; the Imper. with i or the enumeration of the individual commands (mSD) of wliich it consists, begins with ver.
Iiength of days, properly "extension of days "
(D'n'
'^IX) as in Ps. xxi.
4), is a description of earthly prosperity as it is promised to wisdom for a reward.
Comp. Ex. xx. 12
; 1 Kings iii.
14.
For that this long life is a liappy one, a " living consec. stands for an Imperf. (Ewald, Lehrb., 235); for "by the command the certainty that obedience will follow is promoted," Hitzig.
Comp. iv.
4; XX.
13; Gen. xlii.
8; Isa. viii.
9; xlv.
22.
[BoTT. calls this the " desponsive " imperative; see ^ 957, 6—A.].— " Find favor or gr.ace in the promised land" (Deut. iv. 40; v. 30; vi.
2; xi. 9; xxii. 7; xxx. 16), an "abiding in the house of the Lord " and under His blessing (Ps.
XV. 1; xxiii. 6; xxvii.
3),—this is plainly assum- '" ed.
Comp. the parallel expression Dl/ty [peace] (in NYD) as in Jer. xxxi. 2
; 1 Sam. ii. 26
; Luke in the second member, which here, as below in ii. 52
; only thiit in these passages, instead of "in the eyes of God"
(i. e.. according to God's judgment, comp. Gen. x. 9
; 2 Chron. xxx. 22) the ver.
17, describes the safety which belongs only to the pious, the religious peace of mind of which the ungodly know nothing (Is. xlviii. 22; Ivii.
21).—Vers. 3, 4.
The first of the commandments announced in ver.
1, with the corresponding promise of reward.
Love and truth.—These ideas HDXl IDfl which are very often associated, ; simpler phrase " with God "
(DN. Trapa) is comi bined with the formula under discussion.
1 Good reputation.—Thus we translate, as I Hitzig does, the expression 310 /^D', which bein our Book, e. g., in xiv. xvi. 6
; XX.
28,. low in chap. xiii.
15, as in Ps. cxi.
10, conveys the idea of good understanding or sagacity [so the E. v.. Bertheac, Kamph. render it in this passage also] ; but here, as in
Chron. xxx. 20, denotes the judgment awarded to any one, the favorable view or opinion held concerning any one.
[Fcerst, Van Ess, etc., prefer this rendering, while Gesen., De W., Stuart, Noyes.
MuENSCHER
translate "good success."
A.~\.
With (his interpretation the "finding favor" are, when predicated of man, the designation of those attributes in which the normal perfection of his moral conduct towards his neighbor expresses itself.
TDTI, which, as a Divine attribute, is equivalent to mercy or grace, designates " the disposition of loving sympathy with others, which rests upon the feeling of brotherhood, the feeling that all men are of like nature, creatures of the same Gol."
This feeling, which is the prime factor in our moral life by wliich society will have reference more to God, the "finding good opinion or favorable judgment " predominantly to men.
[Kamth.. however, insists that the idea is indivisible—universal favor.] is constituted, has for its natural basis the destitution and defencelessness of isolated man; from which springs the deeper necessity not only to augment power by mutu.il outward help, but also by the interchange of thoughts and emotions to Vers, h, 6.
Trust in Jehovah with all thine heart, etc.
: the fundamental principle of all religion, consisting in an entire self-commitment to the grace and truth of God, with tlie abandonment of every attempt to attain blessedness by one's own strength or wisdom ; comj). effect a richer development of spiritual life, and to discern what in one's own feeling is purely individual, and what is common and eternal (Elster). npS then designates inward truthPs. xxxvii. 3 sq.
: cxviii. 8, 9 ; Jer. ix. 22.
Regard him.
''^J:".''>
strictly "lake notice of fulness, the pectus rectum, the very essence of a true man opposed to all hypocrisy and dissimuhim," t. e.. recognize Him as the unconditional controller over all thy willing and doing.
Comp. the opposite:
1 Sam. ii.
12, and in general for lation, the endeavor to mould every form into the closest possible correspondence with the nature of the thing, on which depends all the reliableness and security of life's relations" (Elstek, comp. Umbreit).
The proofs of a life regulated by "love" and "truth," and so of conduct toward one's neighbor, as loving as it is true, a genuine this pregnant use of the verb yy Ps. i.
xxxvii.
18; Am. iii.
2, etc.—Vers.
7,8. Fear Jehovah and depart from evil (comp. xiv.
16; xvi.
6; Job i.
; xxviii.
28); an absolute contrast to the first clause of the verse ; for he who fears God distrusts his own wisdom, when aX?!i}eveiv cv nyaTrri [truth in love, Eph. iv. 15] are suggested in the following admonitory discourse in vers. 27 sq.
Bind them about thy neck—not as talismans and amulets, as Umbreit suggests, but simply as costly ornaments, which one wears upon the neck (comp. i. 9; alsovii. 3); or again as treasures which one will secure against loss, and therefore (if valued like a signet ring, Gen. xxxviii. 18; Jer. xxii. 24) wears aitached to a chain about the neck.
The latter explanation, to which Hitzig gives the preference, seems to be favored especioUy by chap. vi. this perchance presents evil and wayward .action as something agreeable and desirable (Gen. iii.
5).
Healing will then be (come) to thy body.
Thus probably is the phrase 'Hn ri?N21 to be explained, with Bertheau and Hitzig,— for to express the idea "healing is this to thy body," (Umbreit, Ewald, Elstek, and most of the elder commentators) N'n n'.N3"; would rather have been required.—Instead of ''J'pti'/ ^^Y navel (which, according to Umbreit, here, un21, and also by the analogy of the parallel expression " write upon the tablet of the heart," t. e., thorougiily impress upon one's self and appropriate the virtues in question (love and truth— like Ezek. xvi. 4
; Song of Sol. vii.
3, is intended to be a designation of the whole body by a part of special physiological importance) it will pro-
; ; ; ;
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
while that of the latter is "loathe, abhor."
In the present instance the rendering might easily be taken as an anti-climax —A.].—And holds him dear as a father his son.
For the genebably be correct to read I'fp; as a contraction of TlNty'?, or ^7ty3^ as in chap. iv. 22.
For translations as early as the LXX and Peshito express simply the idea " to thy body," to which ral idea that God's corrections are essentially nothing but revelations of His educating love and fatherly faithfulness, comp. in the Old Testament especially Deut. viii. 5
; Ps. cxviii.
furthermore the parallel "to thy bones" corresponds better (comp xiv. 30; Micah iii. 2) than to the very far-fetched expression "to ihy navel."— Refreshing to thy bones, 'ipt:'
Lam. iii. 33 sq.
Vers. 13-18.
Enthusiastic praise of true wisdom, which is one with the fear of God.
Blessed is the man that hath found wis. dom.
The perfect KX3, who hath found, T T expresses the idea of permanent possession ; the parallel imperfect p'i)'
(from p1i3, procedere strictly irrigation, watering, then refreshing, invigoration ; here in contrast with the " languishing of the bones" (Ps. xxxii.
3, 4), i. e., their drying up under a fever heat or an inward anguish of soul, c. y., the pangs of a troubled conscience.
Comp. Job xxi.
'2i:
Is.
Iviii.
11.
Vers.
9, 10.
Honor Jehovah with thy therefore, to bring forth, to bring to view, to bring to pass, comp. viii.
3-5; xii.
2; xviii. 22) denotes a continually renewed and repeated attaining.
The tKjin'O.tiv ("bring forth") used of the scribe "instructed unto the kingdom of heaven,"
Matt. xiii.
.52, cannot be compared directly with our expression, since p"3ri clearly riches.
The [0 in 'IJinD and the following phrase -inSOri-Ss n'C/XlO is certainly not to be construed .is partitive, as though God was to be honored with a part only of one's wealth and of the first fruits of one's increase (so e. g., Bertheaxi), but the preposition [0 here excontains an iilea synonymous and not one contrasted with Ni'"3.—Better is her accumulapresses the idea of a coming forth out of someT T tion than the accumulation of silver. mnD does not, like the corresponding term '13 thing, as in Ps. xxviii. 7
Kings vi. 27.
In opposition to the comparative idea which Ew.vLO endeavors to bring out from the JO ("more than in the parallel passage, viii.
19, denote what wisJoia brings by way of gain, but the very act thy wealth") see Hitzig on this passage.
With regard to the idea itself compare passages like of gainiijg and acquiring (e/ijropsi'iaOai, LXX).
Ex. xxiii. 19:
Deut. xviii.
sq.
; xxviii.
sq.
So with nnxon, that which comes with and in T T : herself, the gain which exists in herself.
[The "merchandise" of the E.
V. is unfortunately obscure and misleading] — Than the finest gold, y^in signifies, according to most of the Mai. iii. 10-12.
That the offering in sacrifice the first fruits of the field and of the other revenues of one's possessions or labors was not only enjoined by their law upon the people of God under the Old Testament, but that it was old interpreters, the finest and purest gold (Vulg.
: auTum primum).
The etymology leads, also practiced by other ancient nations as a usage connected with religious worship, appears from passages in classical authors, e.
</-. Diou. in the unmistakable identity of the root ]"in with SicuL., 1..
14: Plvt. de hide, p.
377:
Pliny's that of the Greek. ;fpD'76c, at first only to the idea of clear or bright shining, gleaming or glittering
Hist. Nat., 18, 2.
Comp. in general Spe.nceb, Deleijibus Hebrxorum rilualihus, p. 713, sq.
(•de.
{curw^eiire).
Gold is therefore, on the ground of its brilliancy, named in the climax as a more precious possession than silver, to which in ver.
the "pearls" (instead of the K'thibh D"Ji3 we shall be constrained to give an unqualified primitiarum origine").
[Be not content with lipservice, but obey God's law by making the prescribed oblation and by bringing also free-will oflFerings to Him."
Wordsw.
Oar author's notes, in their distinct recognition of the first j:irefercnce to the K'ri D'J'Ji!, comp. viii.
; xx. fruits as required for and by Jehovah, are to be preferred to his version, which has the more ge15: xxxi.
10, etc.) supply the culmination in the series, and the generalizing term "all thy jewels" includes the three specified items with he given — -V.]—'With new wine will thy neral hut less Jewisli idea that "the best" should all similar articles of value.
Comp. viii.
vats overflo^v.
?i"^3', literally: they will exJob xxviii.
18, where our verse recurs almost tend themselves, separate, swell ap Comp. the literally.
In the latter passage (Job xxviii.
15-19) besides silver, gold and pearls, various other gems, c y., onyx, sapphire, coral, amber, topaz, etc., are mentioned as falling far below the value of wisdom.
In the LXX there appear both in ver. 15 and in 16 amplifying additions, use of the same verb \'')2 with reference to rapidly increasing flocks ; Gen. xxx.
20'; Job i.
10.—Similar strong metaphors for the description of a rich abundance and the blessing of the harvest may be found, e.g., Joel iv. 18: Amos in respect to which Hitzig. while not regarding as original the double clause interpolated in ver.
between* the two members: ovk avTirnacerat ix.
; Lev. xxvi.
.5.
Vers. 11,12 Jehovah's correction despise thou not.
To the " despising" (DS3 here as ai<TTi oi'fifv TztiVTjfjSv.
Er; vuorot; iariv Traatv Tuiq ()yi^nvmv avTiQ [no evil thing competes with her.
She is well known to all those tliat approach her], yet considers it as resting upon an interpolation that had already made its way into the Hebrnw text.
The supplement added to rer.
16: in the quite similar passage Job v.
[from which WoRUSw. thinks our passage to be derived]), the "loathing" or "abhorring"
(]Mp) is evidently the climax.
[In the E. V. generally this distinction between the two verbs is very fairly made; the prevailing rendering of the in Ttih G-Ouarni; tivTij^ hn-npehcTai ^tKatoui'VTi, vdaov i^i nal iXcoi' i-l yXCiaaii: ipopei [from her mouth former being "despise, disdain, reject, refuse,"
CHAP.
III.
1-35.
proceedeth righteousness, law and mercy doth she bear upon her tongue] Heidenheim regards as the gloss of an Alexandrian Jew, who designed with ir. to oppose certain Pharisaic interpretations
(?).— Long life is in het right hand, etc.
Wisdom here appears personified, endowed with a human body and members, and in ver.
IG at first in a general way, in ver.
17 so that she is represented as walking, in ver.
18 so that she appears standing like a tree, that dispenses shade and precious fruits, nj'0'3 and regard as less pertinent the other proposition of the same commentator, according to which the tree of life in our passage corresponds not only with the tree of the same name in Paradise, but at the same time also with the tree of knowledge
(Gen. iii.
3), and so exhibits the identity of the two trees of Paradise.
For as a thoroughly practical demeanor, consisting in the fear of God and obedience (see i.
7) the true wisdom of the Book of Proverbs unquestionably presents as complete a contrast to all assuming and "devilish" wisdom from beneath (James iii.
15) as the tree of life in Paradise to that of knowledge.
And he who holds her fast is blessed.
See critical notes.
See also below, notes on chap. xv. 22. n7lX0ty3 in ver. 16 are at any rate not to be T ; :
* translated " at her right hand," and •' nt her left hand "
(so Luther and many old interpreters, conforming toPs. xvi. 8; xlv. 9; ex.
5), but " m her right and left hand," in accordance with Ps. xvi. 11; Is. xliv.
20, where the preposition 3 expresses the same idea.— " Long life," liter3.
Description of the wisdom of God that created the worlds as the mightt/ protector of him that fears God: vers.
19-20.
Jehovah hath with wisdom founded the earth, etc.
A connection undoubtedly exists between this allusion to the divine archetype of all human wisdom and what has been before said, so far forth as the paradisiacal tree of life of primitive time seems to have called to the mind of the author the creation of the world, and therefore atforded him occasion for the brief delineation of the creative wisdom of God that lies before us, of which the passage, chap. sq., is only a fuller development (comp. also Job xxviii.
sq.
; Ecclesiast. xxiv. 2sq.).
Yet if the connection were really as close as it is commonly regarded (e. g., by Bertheau, who finds in vers.
19, 20 the conclusion of the series of thoughts beginning in ver. ally, "length of days," as above, in ver.
2, from which passage the LXX has here repeated aho the phrase -'Kai irr/ ^ufir."—Riches and honor, as in viii. 18; xxii.
"The blessings which wisdom offers are appropriately distributed between the hands, according to their essential ilifference.
The right hand is regarded as the nearer; and that one live is the foundation for his becoming rich and honored, as health is a condition preliminary to the enjoyment of prosperity.
Compare accordingly the arrangement in 1 Kings iii. 11-14" (HtTzio).
[.\n overf;inciful elaboration of the simple idea of ttie passage.— .\.].
All her paths are (paths of)
; by Elster, who discerns here " in a certain sense a metaphysical confirmation of the foregoing;" and in general also by Hitziq, etc.), the demonstrative conjunction "3
(for) would unpeace.
Dl^iy can be regarded as a genitive, in which case the construction is the same as in Ps. xlv. 6 (according to the interpretation which is probably correct), Ps. xxx. 7; Lev. vi.
3, etc.; conip. Gesenius, Gramm.
1 121, 6 ; Naec.elsb.^ch, questionably stand at the beginning of the 19th verse ; this, however, is wanting both in the original text and in the older versions, and was I U4, g.
;—or as a nominative, "her paths are peace," i. e., peaceable, peaceful, instead of strife and alarm offering pure peace and joy (so nearly all recent commentators, with the exception of U.MBREiT and Elster, who seem with good reason to prefer the former view). A tree of life wisdom is called in ver.
18, as in chap. xi. 30 the " fruit of the righteous" is described by (he same figurative expression, in xiii. 12 the fulfilment of an ardent desire, and finally, xv.
4, "teniperateness of the tongue."
The expression doubtless contains an allusion to the tree of life mentioned by Moses in Gen. ii. 9; iii. 22. although there the definite article stands before D"n, because it was intended to designate the particular tree bearing this name in Paradise.
The ^'Tin I'J^ of Genesis and the D"n ]•)? of Proverbs are therefore related to each other as the familiar o vide ~ov avdpurron of the Gospels to the I'/'of a\diii',i-itv without the article in John first introduced by Luther.
Therefore as the words stand, with an emphatic prefixing of the subject "Jehovah " (as at the commencement of many Psalms, e. g., Ps. xxvii.
; xcvii.; xcix., etc.). they are evidently designed not so much to serve as a continuation of representations already begun, as for the introduction of ideas essentially new,—and these new thoughts are the promises contained in vers. 21-26, of the divine protection and blessing, of which the wise man,
/. e., he who acts and walks in accordance with this divine wisdom, will infallibly have the full enjoyment.
Furthermore, comp., with reference to the idea of the conformity of the practical, ethical wisdom of man with the absolute creative wisdom of God, the " Doctrinal and Ethical ' notes. —With wisdom. nnon3, literally "through" wisdom, (. e., not merely with the manifestation of wisdom as an attribute of His.
V. 27.
Elsteu, without reason, attempts to deny altogether the reference to Gen. ii.
9, and to make the expression parallel with other figurative representations, like "fountain of life," rtr.
In his observation that the figure of the tree in this passage is based upon the previous personification of wisdom, and that Sol. Song, vii. 9 is therefore to be compared, Hitzig is certainly right (comp. also passages like Is. Ixi. 3
; Jer. xvii. 8; Ps. i. 3; xcii.
12).
We must, however, but by means of the personal, essential wisdom, as an independent, creative power indwelling in Him from eternity, comp. viii. 22 sq.
In tlie same hypostatic sense, therefore, are also the interchangeable ideas of "understanding" njUjI ver. 19
1. c, and "knowledge" n>n in ver. 20, to be understood.
[With this view of the author Bertheau agrees, so Trapp and some others of the old English expositors :
Scott, Holden
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
The simple n02 is used in the same way in suggest it as possible ; while Stuart, MdenSCHER and others, judging more correclly, we chap.
For ver. 23
1. c. compare Ps. xci.
12, for the whole verse Prov. iv.
12.—Ver. 24.
When thou liest down.
The imperf. iJCil thinlf, find here none of tliose personal attributes which are so conspicuous in chap. viii. and there so clearly shape the interpretation —A.].
On in the first member probably designs to express the idea of "laying one's self down to rest," ver. 19 comp. in addition ,Jer. x.
12, and on ver.
20, Gen. i. sq.; ii.
Did the seas divide.
The perf. yp3J, " they have divided," refers to while the following perf. T^'22U\ would designate the efiFect and consequence of this act, the reclining and sleeping.
Thus most interpreters have correctly judged.
Hitziq amends according to the primary creative act of the divi.=ion once for all of the masses of water above and beneath the firmament. Gen. i. 6 sq., while the imperf., the LXX :
32^ri DX, if thou sittest, which is '3J.'^\ relates to the constantly repeated and still continued emptying of the clouds in rain, as a consequence of that sundering of the waters which belongs to the history of creation.
[The plainly needlessly arbitrary.
For the thought comp. furthermore chap. vi.
22; Deut. xxviii.
66.— Ver.
2.5. Thou needest not fear from E. V. loses this distinction and refers both to the sudden alarm.
NTP^Sx literally fear thou present, " are"].
Vers. 21, 22. My son, never suffer to denot.
Since however the IX in ver. 23 still has T its effect, the expression is not to be taken merely as an admonition, but at the same time as a description of the future condition (Ewald, Lehrpart from thine eyes, etc.
^ij?' 7j; (for which, perhaps, in conformity with iv. 21 we ouglit to biic/i 310, a).
[BoTT.
^ 964, a, classes it with the "permissive negatives"].
Nor from the destruction of the 'wicked.
D'yiii"} TINB read '.IT) signifies literally, "there must not escape, slip aside" (from Tn) deflezit, a via dedinavit).
As subjects for the plural verb we usually find supplied from the preceding, esthe old commentators utianimously regard as active; the onset of (he wicked, the storm which they raise against the pious [procella quam impii pecially from ver.
sq., the idea "my doctrines, my commands,"
[as in the E. V. and the commentaries of Stu.\rt, Muenscher .and excitant, Chr. B. Miciiaelis).
So recently Hitzig, while nearly all other modern interpreters since Dodeklein prefer the passive conception; the storm or destruction that will sweep away the wicked.
A positive decision is probably not possible.
Yet the parallel in Ps. xxxv.
S, seems to favor the latter view [which is adopted also by Stuart and Muenscher].
With reference to the subject compare further, for claus-> others].
But this is plainly quite too far-fetched.
It is simpler, with Umbreit. Hitzig, etc., to conceive of the following hcmislioli, "thoughtfulness and circumspection," as at the same time subjects of the verb in Ihe first, and to explain their omis-ion in the former clause to which they should properly have been attached, on the ground of the peculiar vivacity of the a, Ps. xci. 5; Prov. i. 27
; xxiv.
22; and for '/.
Job V.
21.—Ver.
26. For Jehovah will be thy confidence : literally, will be in thy conrepresentation.
This liveliness of expression can in some measure be preserved in our version by a "ratlier" after tlje verb of the second clause.
Maintain thoughtfulness and oilcumspection.
The more uncommon iTi^ip fidence.
7D3 is here unquestionably trust, confidence, as in Job viii. 14; xxxi. 24; Ps. Ixxviii.
The signification "loins, side," which the Vulgate has given to the expression {^^Domimts (comp. above ii. 7) stands here instead of HDIin (wisdom) ver.
19, and also the less frequent n3tD instead of nj'^n which occurs there, in T- :
T : order to suggest the difference between the absorrit in latere tuo '") and, in imitation of this, e.g., ZiEGLER, Muentingue, ctc, agrcos indeed with passages like Job xv. 27; Lev. iii.
4, 10; xv.
4, lute wisdom and insight of God and the corresponding attributes of man.
The LXX instead of the present order appear to have found the etc., but not with the one before us.
And keep thy foot from the snare.
The substantive nSv, snare—for which more usually typIO or n3 —occurs only here, is not, however, for that, reason necessarily to be regarded, as Hitzig would have it, as a sign of a later phraseology. reverse, as they translate 3ovXi/v koI Hviuav.
Comp. Heidenheim (as above cited).
So v^ill they be life to thy soul, etc In reply to Hitzig's disparagement of the genuineness of vers. 1'l-2^, see remai'ks above, at tlie commencement of the exegesis.
With respect to the thought of ver. 22 f. c, comp. above vers.
2, 16,
; also iv. 22
; viii.
35, etc.
For last clause comp. i. 9
; iii.
4. Admonition to benevolence and justice :
Vers.
27-35.
A connection of tbis exborlation with some more specific point in tlic foregoing (with ver. 21 or ver. 20, e. g., as Hitzig suggests, assuming vers. 22-26 to be spurious) need not be attempted, since the whole of Ibis brief section Ver.
23.
Then wilt thou go thy vray definitely enough distinguishes itself from the longer series of proverbial discourses, as an independent and peculiar whole.
Refuse not good to him that deserves it : literally, " hold not good back from its master,"
.-. c, from him to whom it belongs ["either by Ihe law of equity or of charity," Trapp,—"whether upon in safety.
DDDT, in security, free from care, full of trust and good confidence, as below in ver.
29.
["Thou slialt ever go under a double guard, the ' peace of God' within thee (Phil, iv.
7) and the 'power of God ' without thee.
(1 Pet. i. 5)."
Trapp.—For illustrations drawn from travellers' experience near Jerusalem, Iheir deserving or upon their need," Bp.
Hai.i.], him who is at the same time deserving and n^edy see Thovson's Land and Book, I., 109.— .\ ].
CHAP.
III.
1-35.
Go (LXX : ev TToieli' ivSey).—Ver.
28. And yet thou hast it : literally, and it is yet with tbee on hand, there is yet a store [there is with Proverbs, he regarded idolatry as a thing impossible.
He therefore left out idolatry as the Greek Legislator omitted parricide from his code—.as a thing too monstrous to be contemplated.
And yet Solomon himself afterwards foil into idolatry," thee].
The LXX adds to this admonition lo ready giving and to quick relief (according to ^tc.—A.].
With the upright he maintains true friendship.—Literally, with the upright the principle: bis dat qui cilo dat, " lie gives twice who gives quickly"), the words appropriate in themselves, '^ ov }afj oldar ri Tt^erat i] kTrtnlaa'' is his secret compact"
(HID), his intimacy, his confidential intimacy.
Comp.
.Job xxix. 4; Ps.
XXV.
14.— Jehovah's curse dwells in the house of the wicked.—Comp. the nb.X, the cursing which, according to Zech. v. 4, will take possession of the house of the wicked, and destroy
(for thou knowest not what the morrow shall bring forth), which, however, occur in their , original place in chap, xxvii.
1.—Ver. 29. Devise not evil.
The verb E?'^n here as in vi.
— T 14, 18; xii. 20; xiv.
22, expresses the idea of cctitriving, and that as a development of the it (in accordance with Dent, xxviii. 17 sq.); and for the term mso, Mai. ii. 2
(and Kohler on both passages). idea of "forging" (Ez. xxi. 30) and not that of "ploughing" (as Ewald, following some older interpreters, maintains).—Ver.
30.
'Without cause, Heb.
Djn, LXX, /idrr/v, comp.
Supsdv Ver. 34.
If he scorneth the scorners.—To this hypothetical protasis the apodosis is not found in ver.
35, as Bebtheau [and Stuart] hold, but immediately after, in the second clause of ver.
34.
As in Job viii.
; Lam. iii. 32, there is an argumeritum a contrario.
Comp. our mode of conslructing propositions, with '-while on the one hand—so on the other."
For the sentiment of the 1st member, comp. Ps. xviii. 26; for that of the whole verse the passages in the N.
T. which cite freely from the LXX, 1 Pet. v.
; James iv.
C, and also above, i. 26 sq.—Ver. in .John xv. 25.
What is meant by this "contending without cause" is made more apparent in the 2d member.
In regard to the ethical signifioance of this precept comp.
"Doclrinal and Ethical " notes, No.
3.—Ver. 31. Emulate not the man of violence.
For this signification of Kilpn-^X, which is found as early as the Vulgate [ne stmuUris hominem injustum), the strongest support is the parallel thought in the 2d member ; while unquestionably in passages like Ps.
35. Shame s-weeps foois a-way.— [iSp D'lD xKxvii. 1; Ixxiii. 3; Prov. xxiv.
1, the expression 3 X3p denotes rather a "falling into a pasliterally " shame lifts up," i. c, in order to sweep away and destroy them : Comp. Ez. xxi. 31; Is. Ivii. sion" about some one, a "being envious."
Yet comp. Prov. xxiii.
17, where the meaning plainly resembles iliat before us.
[The difference among 14, and the corresponding use of Ntyj, tollere= auferre ; Is. xli. 16; Job xxvii. 21.
The expresthese expositors, we think, is more seeming than real.
Thus Stuart renders, "Be not envious toward," etc., and explains "do not anxiously covet sion p 'p, ignominia, properly levilas (lightness), at once reminds us directly of the familiar figure of chaff whirled away by the wind ( Ps. i. 4
; Is. the booty which men of violence acquire ;" MuenSCHEK renders, "Envy thou not the man," etc., and explains. "Do not be offended by the success and prosperity," etc., " so as to imitate," etc.— xvii. 3
; xxix.
5, etc.).
Therefore we need not take C'^O as the predicate of D'Vp3 (fools) and A.] And choose none of his \ways.
For in^n the LXX {/J>/6i ^rj/Micric) must have read innn, a reading which Hitziq is disposed to translate it by suscipiunl in the sense of " gather up,"
"carry away," as Hitziq does, following the LXX, Targ., Vatael., and Rosenmuellkk [so NoYES, Muenscher, Wobusw., while Dk Wette, Stuart, etc., agree with cur author—A.]; although the distributive use of the participle in the singular instead of the plural, would have a sufficient parallel in the passage already explained, chap. iii. 18 b. accept as the original.
But how easily could this change be introduced, following as a standard Ps. xxxvii.
1, or Prov. xxiv.
19, where no doubt innn stands as the only appropriate reading!
Vers. 32-35 supply a ground in the first instance for the counsels contained in vers. 27-31, but further in general for those of the %vhole chapter: thus ver. 35 in particular, by its contrasting the comprehensive terms "fool" and "wise," reveals a far reaching breadth and compass in its refer-
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
*^Wisdo7n is life and gives life.^'
This proposition, which finds its most pregnant utterance in ver. 18, and is formulated as a sort of Epitome of the whole chapter, is especially in ilie first admonitory discourse (vers.
1-18) expressed in manifold ways and exhibited in its bearing upon the most diverse relations, those of the present ence, like the similar expressions at the close of the 1st and 2d chapters.
An abhorrence to Jehovah is the deceiver.—IwJ, properly the " perverse," he who is deceitfully crooked and secret (comp. ii.
16), and so is in direct contrast life first.
Above all it is long life, to which walking in true wisdom aids (ver. iii. 16), and with the "upright" or straightforward.
[n3>Mj1, this for this reason,—because such a course is the indispensable condition of physical as well as which in the E.V. is always translated by "abomination," or some cognate term, is often used in other sacred books of idolatry.
In the twenty or more passages in the Book of Proverbs in which (he word is found it has this signification in no single instance.
"It would seem," says WonnswoETH, m loc, " as if, when Solomon wrote the spiritual health,—or because, as ver. 8 expresses it, ' the wise findeth health for his body and refreshing for his frame."
He who is truly wise aims infallibly at the needful temperance, and a prudent self-restraint in his physical and mental
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
regimen, and thereby promotes healtli. his inward and oulward well-being in the highest posof faith in the revelation of His grace.
Believing self-devotion to the salvation which God bestows, which in the Old Testament is still essentially placed in the future, but in Christ as the Mediator of the New Testament, has become real and present, is there as well as here the condition of the attainment of wisdom, of progressive growth and strength in its possession, and finally of the enjoyment of the blessed reward.
That our poet also walks in this path, that he is a representasible degi-ee.
He contributes by his obedient subjection to the Divine grace, to the emancipation of his noblest spiritual powers and capacities,—secures these as well as the functions of his bodily organization against morbid excitement or torpidity, and so develops generally his entire personal life, body, mind and spirit, to its normal harmony, and the most vigorous manifestation possible of its diverse and cardinal active of the "jides Veleris Testamenti," that he betivities.
He who lias in this way become inwardly free through the fear of God and real wisdom in life, attains necessarily also to the confirmation of this his godlike freedom and vital power in connection with the phenomena of the outward natural life, as surely as the laws of the economy of nature are the same as those of the i longs to that host of witnesses, exL-mplars of faith under the Old Testament, which is brought before us in Hebrews xi.; this is incontrovertibly established by the way in which he speaks of the conditions of attaining to the blessed reward of wisdom, or of the practical demeanor of the wise man in its details.
There we hear nothing of outward works of the law, of meritorious serethical sphere in the kingdom of God.
He who is inwardly free becomes also naturally free. To him wlio has attained true mastery over himself there is soon restored dominion over the outward vices, of the fulfilling of God's will with one's own strength or reason ; but "trust in the Lord with all thine heart " is enjoined in emphatic contrast with " leaning upon one's own prudence " (ver. 5) ; the being ' wise in one's own eyes " is put in significant contrast with the fear of God and the avoiding of all evil (ver. 7)
; yes, willing submission to God's salutary correction, humble and grateful subjection even to the strict disciplinary regulations which His fatherly love finds it good to employ : this constitutes the substance of the dispositions and modes of action which are here prescribed (vers.
11, 12; comp.
Heb. xii.
sq.).
With good reason did Me-
LANCHTHON
direct attention to the genuinely evangelical, and even profoundly Christian character of this admonition to the patient endurance of suflFerings as wholesome disciplinary ordinances of God.
He remarks on vers. 11, 12:
' Here the whole doctrine of the cross is to be brought into view, and the distinction considered between Philosophy and the Gospel.
Philosophy and human reason judge otherwise of the causes of death and of human calamities than does the voice of the Gospel Christian and philosophic patience must also be distinguished."
And further, on ver. 13 sq.:
"These praises of wisdom are rightly understood of revealed wisdom, i. e , of the word of God manifested in the Church, of the Decalogue and the Gospel.
Nor yet is it strange that antiquity applied these praises to the person who is the Son of God, who creation.—that heritage of the true children of God from Paradise,—at least in its essentials.
And so outwai'd prosperity ii added in his experience to inward peace ; God " smoo'.hs his paths"
(ver. 6); fills his garners and cellars with abundance (ver.
10), makes him great througli riches and honor (ver, 16), and guides him during this whole life in ways of delight, peace, and prosperi'y (ver. 17
; comp. vers. 2 and 18).
A thing, however, that rises far above all these external blessings, above gold, silver and all the treasures of the earth (see vers.
1-4 and 15), is the grace and favor which the wise man finds not only with men, but much more with God (ver. 4).
This favor of God and of men,— 2.
€., not of all indiscriminately, but first and pre-eminently of the wise and devout, such as agree with God's judgment, is evidently in the view of the poet the highest and most precious of the raultifiirm blessings of wisdom which he enumerates.
Wliat, however, is this "favor with God and men," the inseparable attendant and consequence of genuine wisdom (1 Sam. ii. 26; Luke ii. 52), what is this but the being a true child of God, the belonging to the fellowship of God and His people, the co-citizenship in the kingdom of truth and of blessedness '!—We stand here manifestly at the point at which the eudairaonism of the author, in itself comparatively external and inclining to tliat which is partial and sensuous, joins hands with the true doctrine of Christianity,—where, therefore, the Old Testament doctrine of retributions predominantly earthly begins to be transformed into tlie supersensual or spiritual realistic doctrine of the New
Testament (.Matth. v. 10-12; xix. 28-30).
For is the revealer of the word resounding in the Church, and is efficient by this word, and in it shows forth what God is, and what is His will."
How far, furthermore, the point of view of our teacher of wisdom is removed from all possible Antinomian disparagements of positive moral requirements, how clearly, on the other hand, the wisdom that he teaches appears to be regulated by both factors of Divine revelation, law and if to be a child of God and to stand in relations of grace appears as the chief value and most precious reward of wisdom, the goal of prosperity at which the lovers of this wisdom aim is far more a heavenly than an eartlily one; and fellowship with God, obedient, loving dependence on lli[ii, is then not merely the end, but at the same time the principle and motive for all tiie thought, effort and action of the wise.
As a way to the attainment of this end no other whatsoever can come uncler consideration but that opened and jioiuted out by God himself—that is, the way gospel, shows itself from the emphatic prominence given to "love and truth"
('lO**!. IpH ver. 3
; comp. the previous analysis of these two ideas on p. 61) as the chief manifestations of a spirit that fears God, and of a scrupulously dutiful course in intercourse with one's neighbor.
Love is, therefore, according to him, also, the fulfilling of the law (Rom. xiii. 10; Gal. v. 14). and indeed to such a degree that, according in his conception, the compliance with special pre-
CHAP.
III.
1-35.
Boriptions of the positive external ceremonial law, e. ^., the oi'diniuces whicli relate to the bringing of the otferiugs of first fruits {see above on ver.
9), must be to it an easy thing.
With the proposition of Bruch, that our author found himself in a sort of free-thinking opposition to the positive prescriptions of the Mosaic ceremonial law (comp. lutrod., J 15, note), this admonition to a conscientious devotion of the first fruits
Baptist gave to the multitude that followed him, if compared with that fulfilment of the law presented by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount as the standard for the conduct of the children of God under the New Testament (Matth. v. 20-48).
Let us observe also the fact, which is certainly not accidental, that all the moral precepts in our passage are given in the form of negative imperatives or warnings, while, e.g., in the Sermon on the Mount, in the concluding and admonitory chapters of Paul's Epistles, and in general in most of the counsels of the New Testament, the positively admonitory and preceptive tone has a decided preponderance over the prohibitory. to Jehovah, plainly cannot be reconciled.
.\s wisdom alone ensures true joy in life and abiding prosperity, it also shows itself man's most reliable protection (vers.
19-26), his defender and guardian in all the inward temptations as well as the outward dangers of this earthly life.
And this essentially for this reason, because it consists in ti-ustiug devotion to the eternal and absolute wisdom of God, which most richly and gloriously manifests its exhaustless power, and its compassionate love and faithfulness, as formerly in the creation of the world, now also in its preservation and government.
For he who loves wisdom is also loved by her ; and he who by walking in faith, love, and the fear of God, confesses himself here below a friend of the Divine word,—in his behalf does the eternal Word make confession above before the throne of the Heavenly Father.—For further remarks upon tlie relation to the Logos or the Son of God, of the Divine wisdom, which is here in vers. 19-20, for the first time, hypostatically presented in its quality as the power that created the world, see below on chap. viii. 22 sq. (Doctrinal and Ethical comments).
[As will be seen from the Exegetical notes on ver.
19, the best modern exegesis is not unanimous in applying this passage, like chap, viii., to the hypostatic wisdom.
Our author's remarks, therefore, however just in themselves, may be regarded as here out of place, so far forth as they involve the perBonality of wisdom— .\.]
HOMILETIC AND PRACTICAL.
Homily on the entire chapter, starting with the central thought in ver. 18: True wisdom as a tree of life,—.considered 1) in the precious fruits which it bestows upon us (1-18);—2) in the solid ground in which it is rooted (19-26); 3) in the cultivation which we must bestow upon it by a loving and faithful integrity (27-3.5).— Comp. M. Geiebs analysis of the chapter, which, treating the four introductory verses as an exordium for the whole, finds prescribed in it three main classes of duties:
1) to God (5-26) ;—2) lo our neighbor (27-30) ;—3) to ourselves (31-35).
So St.vrke :
Solomon's exhortation to the manifestation of that piety which flows from true wisdom, viz.:
1) of piety in itself (1-12);—2) of wisdom as its celestial source (13-26) :—3) of love to our neighbors as its chief earthly fruit and result (27-3.J).
Vers.
1-12.
Mel.\nchthon (on vers.
5-12, after treating the first four verses as an Introduction) : Three precepts of divine wisdom ; 1) Trust in God and fear of God (5-8);—2) the support of the ministry of the word by offerings and gifts (9, 10);— 3) patience under crosses and sufferings
(11, 12, comp. above, p.
65).
Geief.
(on 5-18):
Six cardinal duties to God:
1) confidence,—2) reverence,—3) humility,—4) honor, —5) patience,— 6) zeal for wisdom.
St.\rke:
An exhortation to true piety; and 1) a preliminary encouragement to attention (1-4) ;^2) the direct admonition to the manifestation of true 3. The conditions for the attainment of true wisdom and its blessing, wliich are again emphasized in the concluding verses
(27-36), are compreliended in the single requirement of love to one's neighbor as the fulfilling of the Divine law.
As special manifestations of this love of our neighbor, we have made prominent, charitableness and constant readiness to give (27, 23), sincerity and an unfeigned frankness of dispopiety, a) in confidence in God (5),—b) in a living knowledge of God (6),—c) in the fear of the Lord with a renouncing of one's own wisdom (7, 8). d) in the right payment of all gifts that are due sition (29), peaceableness and placability (30), gentleness and abstinence from all violence (31), straightforward, honorable ami upright deportment in one's general transactions (32, 33). humility and the avoidance of all arrogant, frivolous and scornful demeanor (34).—These admonitions do not rise to the full moral elevation of the New Testament's requisitions of love.
Thus there is noticeably wanting here the demand of love to enemies, although not in chap.
XXV. 21, and instead of this there is, it is true, no hatred of one's enemy recommended (as in the casuistic ethics of the later Pharisaic Judaism, according to Matth. v. 43), but yet a restriction of all dispute and controversy to one's relations with an actual ofi"ender ; see ver. 30.
The specification of duties to one's neighbor that (9, lU),—e) in the patient bearing of the cross (11, 12).- C«/»'.'r /yrt«rf6.
.- The multiform blessings of a multiform wisdom; vers.
1, 2: long life, prosperity and peace;— 3, 4; favor with God and men ;—5, 6 : a right guidance ;— 7, 8 : even physical well-being;—9, 10: full garners and presses;—11, 12: grace from God also in tri.als and sufferings.
On vers. 1-4. Board:
See to it that on the tablet of thine heart nothing be found but the word of God and Jesus Christ.
According to what is written on the tablet of thine heart, (2 Cor. iii. 3) will endless pain or eternal joy await thee, Matth, x.
32, 33.—On vers. 5-8.
Hasids:
It is a characteristic of true wisdom that one regards himself as simple; men who are wise in is here presented is therefore related to one truly Christian, very much as the moral precepts which, according to Luke iii. 10-14, John the their own eyes are far removed from true wisdom.
Zeltnee : Where true fear of God exists,
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
eternal life—let him hold fast upon heavenly wisdom— i. e., God's revealed word.
This is a tree of life to all those who in true faith lay hold upon it.
Berleb.
Bible :
Solomon here testithere is also true humility of soul, and renun- ] ciation of self Ecclesiast. i.
17, 18, e(c.—[Ver.
] 6. Tkapp: They trust not God at all that do it \ not alone.
Arnot:
Trust is natural to the creai tare, though trust in the Lord be against the grain to the guilty.
God complains as much of a divided allegiance as of none.
In cleaving to Christ the effort to reserve a little spoils all. The command to "trust '' is encouraging as well as reproving.
The genuine spirit of adoption may be best observed in little things.—R. M. M'Chetne:
Every enlightened believer trusts in a divine power enlightening the understanding ; he therefies that wisdom even in Paradise nourished and supported men, and that the same is for this reason also in the restoration (the restitution of all things by Christ, Acts iii. 21) ordained for their spiritual maintenance.
In this originates that most blessed condition of the new man, who gradually becomes again like and equal to the man of Paradise.
Wohlfarth : The tree of life of which we are to eat day by day is faith, love, hope Faith is its trunk, hope its flowers, love its fruit,
[Vers.
16, 17. Arnot:—If the law were according to a simple calculation in arithmetic, " tlie holiest liver, the longest liver," and conversely, "the more wicked the life the earlier its close;" if this, unmixed, unmodified, were the law, the moral government of God would bo greatly impeded, if not altogether subverted. He will have men to choose goodness for His sake and its own ; therefore a slight veil is cast over fore follows the dictates of the understanding more religiously than any other man.—Vers.
Abnot : He who makes holiness happy in heaven, makes holiness healthful on earth.]—On vers. 9,
10. Starke : We should above all things seek the kingdom of God, and share our means with those who labor in the word, and the extension of God's kingdom ; but not hold our goods for gain in order so to avoid God's service.
It is unbelief if one accounts that lost which he voits present profitableness.
South (ver.
17):
The excellency of the pleasure found in wisdom's ways appears 1) in that it is the pleasure of tho mind ;—2) that it never satiates nor wearies;—3) that it is in nobody's power, but only in his that has it] luntarily devotes to churches and schools, and to the maintenance of the ministry of the word.
Matth.
X. 42
Cor. is.
; Gal. vi.
6, etc.— Zeltner :
Th.ankfulness opens the fountain of the divine blessing, unthankfulness closes it.— Stocker :
Liberality toward the clerical oifice, considered 1) in and by itself,'—2) according to the manner of its exercise,—3) in its reward.
[W. Bates :
Charity is a productive grace, that enriches the giver more than the receiver.
The Lord signs Himself our debtor for what is laid Vers. 19-26. Stocker:—Inasmuch as wisdom is so grand a thing that all was made and is still preserved by it, we are thence to infer that we also can be by it preserved for blessedness.
We should hold dear the heavenly wisdom revealed to us in the word, and earnestly crave it, should learn to keep our eye upon God Himself, should entreat Him for all that we need, depend upon His omnipotence and faithful care, despond under no adversities, etc., etc.— [Bridges:
(Ver.
23) Habitual eyeing of the word keeps the feet in a slippery path], Starke :
He who orders out for Him, and He will pay it with interest], On vers. 11,12. Egaro:
God's strokes are belter than Satan's kiss and love ; God smites for life, Satan caresses for death.—J. Lange : The kingdom of God in this world is a kingdom of the cross; but all suffering tends evermore to the testing and confirmation of faith.
1 Pet. i. 6, 7.
— Berleb.
Bible :
God's chastenings and corrections are no signs of anger, but of love ; they are the pains which our healing and cure demand.
Those who lie under the cross are often more acceptable to God, than those who taste and experience His dainties.
He finds pleasure in our crosses and sufferings for this reason, because these are His remembrance and renewal of the sufferings of His Son.
His honor is also involved in such a perpetuation of the cross in His members (Eph. iii.
13; Col. i. 24, e<c. ) and it his ways to please the Lord, can in turn depend upon His gracious oversight and protection.— Our unrest and fear spring mainly from an evil conscience; divine wisdom however keeps the conscience from heavy sins, and stays the heart ou
God.
-Von Gerlach :
The wisdom which God imparts to the man who hearkens for His voice is no other than that by which He founded the earth; the holy order, which forms, keeps, supports, holds together, develops into life, advances all.
As now all that God has made is very good, each thing according to the law of the divine order that dwells in it, so in and for man all becomes good that conforms to this order.
Wohlfarth (ou ver. 21-26) : The holy rest of the piis this that causes Him this peculiar joy
[V^ers.
11, 12.
Arnot:
Let your heart flow down under trouble, for this is human ; let it rise up also to God, for this is divine.
Trapi"
He that escapes affliction may well suspect his adoption.
God's house of correction is His school of instruction.] ous.
Little as the heart's innocence, thisfairesi. fruit of wisdom, can preserve and wlioUy free us from the sufferings which God suspends over us for our refining, so surely however docs it turn away the worst and saddest consequences of sin, and ensures even amidst the storms of this life a Vers.
13-18. Egakd :
Silver, gold and pearls, serve and adorn the body only, wisdom, however, serves and adorns mainly the soul.
As much as the soul is nobler than the body, so mucii rest that nothing can disturb.—[Ver. 26. Arnot:
It is the peace of God in the heart that has power is wisdom also nobler than all treasures.
Beware lest thou with the children of this world look with delight upon the forbidden tree, and with them eat death from it.
Beware lest thou choose folly instead of wisdom!
Stockeu:
Whosoever desires to regain what our first parents squandered and lost by the fall, namely. to keep the feet out of evil in the path of life.] Ver. 27-35. Stocker: The virtues of beneficence and patience are here developed after the method of the second table of the ten commandments; it is therefore taught how the believing Christian is iu his relations to his neighbor to exercise
; ; ; ; :
; :
CHAP.
IV.
1-27.
himself in true charity, steadfast patience and forbearance.
Ouamer (in Stabke):
Wlien God richly bestows upon us spiritual treasures, ought According to true love earthly goods belong to '* their lord "
(ver. 27) i. c , to him wlio needs them.— [Ver. 27. Arnot: The poor have not a right which they can plead and enforce at a human tribunal.
The acknowledgment of such a right would tend to anarchy.
The poor are placed in the power of the rich, and the rich are under law to God.—Ver. 33. Arnot:
In addition to the weight of divine authority upon the conscience, all the force of nature's instincts is applied to drive it home.—Ver. 34. Trapp
: Humility is both a grace and a vessel to receive grace. ] it to be a great nialter, if we to honor Him give .ilmsfrom our temporal goods?— (On ver. 32 sq);
If an ungodly man rises in prosperity, look not upon his prosperity, but upon his end; that c;in easily deter you from imitating him.
WohlFARTH (on vers. 27, 28) :
Thankfulness toward God requires beneficence toward one's brethren.
—Von Gsrlach:
Divine wisdom teaches the true communism,—makes all things common.
Second Groap of Admonitory or Qnomic DiscourseB.
Chap. IV. 1—VII. 27.
Report of the teacher of wisdom concerning the good counsels in favor of piety, and the warmings against vice, which were given him in his youth by his father.
Chap. IV. 1-27.
Hearken, ye children, to a father's instruction, and attend to know understanding
for I give you good doctrine forsake not my law.
3 For I was also a son to my father a tender and only (son) for my mother 4 and he taught me and said to me " Let thine heart hold fast my words keep my commandments and thou shalt live
5 Get wisdom, get understanding; forget not, turn not from the words of my mouth
6 Forsake her not and she shall preserve thee love her and she shall keep thee.
7 The highest thing is wisdom ; get wisdom, and with all that thou hast gotten get understanding!
8 Esteem her and she will exalt thee, will bring thee honor if thou dost embrace her.
9 She will put upon thine head a graceful garland, a glorious crown will she bestow upon thee.
10 Hearken, my son, and receive my sayings; ami the years of thy life shall be many.
In the way of wisdom have I taught thee, I have guided thee in right paths.
12 When thou goest thy step shall not be straitened, and when thou runnest thou shalt not stumble.
13 Hold fast upon instruction ; let not go ; keep her, for she is thy life.
14 Into the path of the wicked enter thou not, and walk not in the way of the evil.
15 Avoid it, enter not upon it; turn from it, and pass away.
16 For they sleep not unless they sin ; their sleep is taken away unless they have caused (others) to fall
T T :
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
for they eat the bread of wickedness, and the wine of violence do they drink.
18 But the path of the just is like the light of dawn, that groweth in brightness till the perfect day.
19 The way of the wicked is as darkness, they know not at what they stumble.
20 My son, attend to my words, incline thine ear to my sayings.
21 Let them not depart from thine eyes keep them in the midst of thine heart.
22 For they are life to those who find them, and to their whole body health.
23 Above all that is to be guarded keep thy heart, for out of it flow the currents of life.
24 Put away from thee perverseness of mouth, and waywardness of lips put far from thee.
25 Thine eyes should look straight forward, and thine eyelids look straight before thee.
26 Make straight the path of thy foot and let all thy ways be established.
27 Turn not to the right or to the left, remove thy foot from evil !"
GRAMMATICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 2. [^nnj, an "affirmative" perfect (Bott. ^ 947,/.), anticipating a sure result, and so confirming confidence; not • — merely have I already (?iven, etc.; it will always be found true.
See like instances in ver. 11.—A.].
Ver. 10. [A masculine verb agreeing with a fem. subject, the nioi'e readily because the verb precedes.
The same thing recurs in ver. 25; in V. 2: vii.ll; x. 21,^2; .\v.7: xvi. 3; xviii. r>.— A.] Ver. 13. The fem. suffix in n~1^J refers strictly to HDJll [TOtO being masculine], which idea, on account of its TV;T :
T close relationship, could be easily substituted for *1D^0 'coiup. i. 3; xv. 33), and all the more readily because this idea was
T constantly before the poet's mind as the main subject of his dis'-ourse.
Like anomalies in the gender of sutfixes may ho found, .".
£/. ill I.ta. iii. 10, Judg. .xxi 21.
[To euipiia-^ize ilie injuncti.m the form ot the verb is '-.xp^inded from the simple ,T1^J by doubling the middle radical by Uagesh forte diriment, and by alt;iching the suffix in its fullest form.
See BiiTT.
J .Wi), 12; JJ 1042, b. 1043, 6.—A.].
Ver. 14. [FufiaST takes "lii^XH in its more common causative and therefore transitive sense, supplying as its object ^3 7 ; he reaches, however, the same result.
The third declarative use of the Piel we have not found given here by any modem commentator.—A ].
Ver. 16. [For the form given in the K'thibh iSlIJO", see Qree.v, J SS, BiJTP. ? 367, 3.—A.].
Ver. 20. [The paragogic Imperative usually and uaturally takes its place at the beginning of the clause ; riJ'E'pn here, and in ver. 1 follows its object as well as the vocative 'JS.
BoTT. g 960, c.—A.].
Ver. 21. ^Vl'' fnt. Uiphil from U'l with a doubling of the first radical, as in lj'7' from r^7.
[Verb IJ* treated like a verb J>^,—Oreex, § 160, 1 ; Bott., § 1147, B. 3.—A.].
Ver. 25. [Holden makes HDJ? an object and not an adverbial modifier—"behold that which is right."
This can hardly be reconciled with the strict meaning of TIDJ.
For the peculiar OiV", in which the first radical retains fully its consonant character, resisting quiescence, see Stdart, g 69, 2; Green, g 150, 1;
Butt., g 458, a, § 40S, 12.— A.] of positive appeals to strive after wisdom and the fe.ir of God.
A starting point lor these admonitory discourses is furnished by the communication made in the preceding chapter, concerning the good instructions which the author
EXEGETICAL.
1. The address to the sons, i.
«., the pupils or hearers of the teacher of wisdom, in the plural number, appearing for the first time in ver.
1, and then recurring twice afterward, in v. 7 and as a child had had urged upon his notice by his father.
The negative or admonitory import of vii. 24 (as well as in one later instance, in the tiiese teachings of the father is now more fully discourse of the personified Wisdom, chap. viii.
' developed in the discourses, some longer, some :{'2) annouuces the beginning of a new and larger
.shorter, of the next three chapters.
And among fleries of proverbial discourses.
Tiiis extends to these special prominence is given to sins against the end of chap, vii., and is characterized by a chastity, which had not, it is true, been expressly preponilerance of warning, and also by the clear
; named by the father, but still must now come and ininulc delineation of the by-paths of folly j under consideration as involving dangers espeand vice wliich are to be avoided, that now : cially seductive and ruinous for the son, as he lakes the place of th" tone, hitherto predominant,
1 grow up from boyhood to youth.
To these Ihe'e-
CHAP.
IV.
1-27.
The LXX here translate the word oulriglit by (!(j/30p(Vulg. donum).—Ver. 3. For I also was a son to my father, i. e., "1 also once stood in the relation to my (actual) father, iu which you stand to me. your paternal instructor,"
(IJerTHEAU).
[MiiE.NSCH.
Icss forcibly makes ''3 fore the poet reverts no less than three times ia the course of the admonidoiis which he attaches to his account of the precepts of his father as given in chap. iv.
(viz., v.
sq.
; vi.
sq.
; vii. 5 sq ).
And in each instance the transition is made in a peculiarly natural way, and with a tempor.al: lehen I was, f/c]—A tender and only (son) to my mother, strictly, before my motlier, in hor siglit ; comp.
Gen. xvii.
18.
Tlie mention of the mother is prob,ably occasioned here, as in i.
8, by the poetic parallelism; for in what follows it docs not occur again.
Tender, "^1, not equivalent, as sometimes, to "susceptible of impressions, tractable," as the LXX conceive in translating it by vwi/KooQ ; but the expression, in connection with TiT, "an only one" (oorap. Gen. xxii. 2), indicates that the child has been to his parents an object of tender care; comp. Gen. xxxiii. 13, where .Jacob speaks of the tenderness of his children.
Furthermore the LXX, doubtless in remembrance of the fact that Solomon, according to 1 Chron. iii.
5, was not the only sou of his mother, renders Tn' by far more complete delineation of the repulsive details than had been earlier given on a similar oocision (ch ip. iii. 16-19). Of the oldere-iipositors e.g., Egaru, J. Lange, 8tarke, and of the more recant Elster are in favor of extending the father's admonition from ver. 4 to the end of this chapter.
In favor of those limits may be adduced especially the fact that vers. 26, 27 form a peculiarly appropriate conclusion for the father's discourse,—far more so not only than Ter. 9 (with wliich Jerome, Bede, Lavater, the W'drteinberg Bible, and most commentators of modern times, e. g., Ewald, Bertueap, Hitzio, [iMuEsscuER, Kamph.] %vould closo the discourse) but also tliau ver. 20, (to which point e. g., UmBRsiT would extend it).
Against those who would regard chap. v. 1-6 as also belonging to tie father's address (Hansen, Delitzsch) we have the substance of these verses, which, at aya-uutvoi; (beloved).
That sever.al ancient manuscripts and versions have substituted for least from ver. 3 onward, seem no longer appropriate to an admonition addressed to a boy still
••tender" (see iv. 3); we have besides the still more weighty fact that chap. v. forms an indivi- ''TbV.
\iSi'}, '3X \}2\ the sons of my mother, doubtless rests upon the same consideration.
Tlie earlier exegesis in general thought far too definitely of Solomon as the only speaking subject in the whole collection of proverbs, and therefore imagined itself obliged in every allusion to a "father" or a "moiher" of the poet, to think specifically of David and Bathsheha.
This is also the explanation of the fact that the LXX in the verse following exchanged the singular, "he taught me and said," for a plural [at eAeynv Kal t(i/(5at7/cof //f), and accordingly represented all that follows as instruction proceeding from both parents. sible whole, from which the first sis verses can plainly not be separated, on account of the reference to them contained in ver.
It is furthermore by no means necessary that the address "ye sons"
(v. 7) should stand at the very commencement of the discourse where the poet resumes it.
In reply to Hitzig who, for the sake of restoring a symmetrical relation of numbers, in the present chapter once more pronounces certain verses spurious (vers.
16,
and 27), see the special remarks on these verses.
Ver.
1-3.
Hearken, ye children.
It seems quite certain that this address, occurring only here and in chap. v. 7 and chap. vii. 21, is occasioned by the fact, that the author designed
Vers.
4-9.
Let thine heart hold fast my words.
The father's instruction begins quite in the same style as all the other .adinunitions in this first main division of the Book of Proverbs.
At the end of ver. 4 the Syrian Version adds the words "and my law as the apple of thine eye." which U, however, plainly a supplementary gloss from chap. vii. 2, in which passage also the expression occurs, "keep my commandments and ihou shalt live."
Bektheau regards the addition as original here also, in order thus to do away with the peculiarity of three members in ver. 4 (which is surrounded by nothing but disticlis), and to make of the three clauses four.
But the triple e'ructure owes its origin simply to the fact that the first member, as an introductory formula for the following discourse, must necessarily be maile to stand outside the series of clauses which are otherwise always arranged iu pairs.—Ver 5. Get vyisdom, get understanding, literally, " A«y wisdom, bug understanding."
The doubling of the verb makes the demand more vehement ; as Umbreit explains it, an "imitation of the exclamation of a merchant who is oifering his wares."
Forget not, turn not from the words of my mouth.
The zeugma appears only in the translation, not in the original, since the verb to represent himself in and after ver. 4 as himself a sou and the object of his father's counsels and warnings.
The aim was to present the example of the one son plainly before the many sons ; for this is the relation in which the teacher of wisdom conceives of his hearers or readers.
For this reason again he does not say, "my sous," but "ye sons, ye children," here as well as in chap. v.
7.—To a father's correction, I. e., to the instruction of a man who is your spiritual father; not to the instruction of your several fathers.
For, just as in chap i.
8, the author does not intend in the first line to exhort to obedience to parents, but simply to obedience in general.
To learn understanding.
The nr3 nj^'17 here corresponds with rT3Dn njl?']7 in the superscription, chap. i.
2, and is therefore to be similarly understood.
HiTZio's idea " to linow with the understanding " is evidently needlessly artificial.—Ver.
2. For good doctrine, etc. np7, something received, handed over (see on i.
.5) ; the author here describes his doctrine in this way because he himself received the substance of it from his father.
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
introduced as an ornament, and not as a protecnjS> elsewhere, c. g., Ps. cii.
5, is found contion and defence. strued with ]0.
In the idea of forgetting there 4.
Vers. 10-19. The father instructs his sol concerning the way of wisdom (vers 11, 18) in which lie should walk, in contrast with the ruinous path of impiety (vers.
14, 19).—So shall the years of thy life be many.
Comp. chap, is naturally involved a turning aside or away from the object.— Ver.
7. The highest thing is -wisdom.
This is the interpretation to be here given, with Hitzig (following Merger, De DiEU and some older expositors), to the expressiou iii.
[VVoRuswoRTH says "This word D'"n nniJn ri'nxi. Itisusuallyrendered" The beginis plural in the original, as in iii.
2, as if Solomon would comprehend the future life with the present, and add Eternity to Time."
He forgets that the abstract idea of life is never expressed by the singular of this noun except as its stnt. ning of wisdom," [e.y.bytheLXX.Vulg., Luther] o.nd the following clauses, " get wisdom, etc." are taken as the designation of that in which the beginning of wisdom consists, viz., in the "resolution to get wisdom "
(Usibreit), or in the inconxtr.
'n is used in formulas of adjuration, e. stant observance of the admonition which reg.. Gen. xlv.
15, 16; 1 Sam. i. 26, etc.
See Lexicons generally, and BiixT.
| 697, 2, \ 689, B. a.
A.]— Ver. 11. In the way of wisdom, i. e., not "in the way to wisdom," but in the way in which Wisdom walks, here also again as it were lates to this (comp. Elster on this passage [and also K.\MPH.]).
But as the beginning of wisdom the fear of God is every where else designated (see Obs. on i.
7) ; and for the absolute use of personified,—a way which is lovely and peaceful
(according to iii. 17), a way with " right paths " n'ti'SI in the sense of prsestantissimum, aummum
(the highest, most excellent thing) we may compare on tlie one hand Job xxix. lio, and on the (lit., " paths of straightness," comp. ii.
9, 12) as other Gen. i.
1.—And with all that thou hast gotten get understanding.
The beauthe 2d member and the following verse describe it (comp.
Job xviii.
7).— [Ver.
12.
The pecutiful verbal coriespondeuce iuthe Hebrew phrase liar significance of such promises to an inhabitant of Palestine, see illustrated, e. g., in Hackis well indicated in the above rendering [in which the ambiguity of the E. V. is avoided; ett's Illustrations of Scripture, p. 20.— -\.].—Ver.
Vi.
Hold fast upon instruction; let not go; keep her; she is thy life, as the bestower of long life ; iii.
2, 16, 18; see below, u-ilh is not to be taken in the sense of in coiineclion with, but n-ilh the ezpenHiture of, or at the price of,—German um or fiir].
For the thought comp. iii.
14 sq.—Ver.
Esteem her.
The verb ver.
2.S.—Ver. 14. And walk not. etc. lE'X So'^D which occurs only here,—the Pilel of properly, to go straight on, here used of the bold, arrogant walk of the presumptuous; comp. is.
77D,—might possibly, as an intensive formed from this verb, which as is well known signifies "to heap up, to build a way by mounds and embankments," express the idea of enclosing with 6; xxiii. 19.
To translate 1CfNn-'7X by "do not pronounce happy" (comp. iii. 18) as the LXX, Vulg., aud Syr. propose, contradicts the parallelism with "enter not" in the first member.— a wall, of a firm surrounding and enclosure.
So the LXX understood it, translating by -eijixnjjaKuaov avri/f; so also theChald., Syr., Vulg., and Ver.
15. Avoid it.
On J?^3 to abhor, reject, comp. i. 25.—Turn from it and pass away. several modern interpreters, e. g., Berthe.vu,— i. e., even if thou hast entered upon it d'^j.^) all of whom find expressed in the word the idea of a loving clasp and embrace.
It is however probably simpK-r and more in accordance with still turn aside from it and choose another way, which carries thee by the ruinous end of that one.—Ver.
16, 17.
For they cannot sleep unless they sin, etc.
Hitzig thinks that in the sense of DOn in the parallel clause to take the word, as Abe.v Ezra, Luther, and most modern interpreters do, in the sense of " to exalt, esteem ;"
[So H., M., N., St. agreeing with the this reference to the energy of the wicked in sinning there can be found no appropriate ground for the warning in ver. 15
; he iherelbre declares E.
V.].
"With this conception also the second vers.
16, 17 a spurious interpolation, and at the same time inverts the order of tlie two following clause best agrees, for in this tliere is added to the exhortation to prize and honor wisdom, the otiier admonition to love her.—If thou dost embrace her.
Wisdom here appears personiverses, t. e., makes the 19th the 18th; he then connects the '3, "for," the only genuine fraglitjd as a loved one or wife, whom one lovingly draws lo him, ar.d embraces; comp. v. 'JO;
Eccl. ment remaining of ver.
16, immediately with Ihe D•j;•|y^ :]^T «/c., of ver. 18 (19j ; "For .... iii.
;',.— Ver.
She will put upon thy head a graceful wreath.
Comp. i.
9.—Will she bestow upon thee.
The rare verb JJO the wiiy of the wicked is as midnight, etc."
Since however no ancient M.8S. or translation exhibits anything that favors this emendation, and since wliich again in Hos. xi.
8 stands parallel with a certain irregular movement, an ah.indonment inj, according to this passage and Gen. xiv. 20 of that order of ideas which would seem simpler and more obvious, corresponds in g.neral with undoubtedly signifies to offer, to give, to present some one with somclhing (construed with the style of our author (comp. i.
10 sq.; iii. 3 sq.
; viii. 4 sq.), we may fairly disregard so viotwo accusatives).
The old translations took it gOHietimes in the sense of protecting (LXX: ixlent a treatment.
Besides, the substance of vers.
16, 17, so f.ir forth as they depict tiie way of the wicked as a restless, cruel aud abominable course tnan-i<7:i cou; Vulg.
; proteget le; so the Syriac), as though it were a denominative from J.JD. of procedure, is plainly quite pertinent as Ihe shield.
With this, however, the "glorious crown" does not correspond, which is evidently foundation of a warning against this way.
And
CHAP.
IV.
1-27. that subsequently the concluding description of destruction of the ungodly, i. 27 sq.
; also ii.
18, 22; iii. 35. this way as a way of darkness (ver. 19) is not intro<luced until after the contrasted representation of the way of tlie pious (ver.
18), is an arrangement favorable to the general rhetorical 5.
Ver. 20-27. The father's admonition closes with an urgent warning to the son against forgetting this counsel, with a special reference tii the ruinous consequences which such a forgetting will ensure.
Let them not depart from thine eyes.
The meaning is " depart, escape." just as in iii. 21.
Bertheau's interpretation is needlessly artificial,— " let them not withdraw them"
(3 Plur. without a definite subject), (. f., effect of the whole, like several which we have already found, especially in chap. iii.
'Si, 35, and also at the end of cliapters i. and ii.
Unless they have caused (others) to fall, i. c, unless they have betrayed into sin
; the object viz., others, in general—-does not need to be here distinctly expressed.
For the Hiphil let them not be withdrawn.—Ver. 22. For they are life to those virho find them : comp. iij.
O'K'T, which should be the reading here ac2, 16; iv.
13: and especially for the use of " find " in the sense of to attain or to be blessed with anything, see iii. 13; viii.
35.
And to their whole body health.
Comp. iii.
8, where rHK3") is found instead of the Ni313 cording to the K'ri, in the ethical sense of " causing to stumble " in the way of truth and uprightness, comp. especially Mai. ii.
H, where the " causing to fall" is brought into even closer connection than in our passajre with the idea of "turning from the way."
[The K'lhihh would require the translation " thoy liave stumbled," i. e.. (figuratively) sinned].
For they eat bread of wickedness, and 'Wine of violence do they drink.
Against the translation of Schultens, MuE.\TisGHi5, Umbreit, Elster, [Kamphausen]
" for wickedness do they eat as bread, and violence do they drink as wine" (comp. Job xv. 16; xxxiv.
7), may be .adduced the position of the words, which should rather stand somewhat in of our passage.—Ver.
23. Above all that is to be guarded keep thy heart "lODS-'^SO T ; T literally, " more than every object of watching." for this is beyond all question the sense of lOU'O, and not, as Aben Ezra and Jarchi take T :
It, "a thing against which one must guard," which would not correspond with the radical meaning of IDE'.
The heart as the chief object tills way—for they have eaten wickedness as bread for themselves—if designed to convey the meaning of a mere comparison.
The expressions "bread of wickedness, wine of violent deeds," plainly conveying a stronger meaning, remind us of the "bread of affliction," Dent. xvi. 3; of the " bread of sorrows," Psalm cxxvii.
2, and likeof moral watchfulness, is plainly nothing but the conscience, the pure moral consciousness of man, the aya^i) airpeidi/nic, 1 Tim. i. 5, 19; 1 Pet. iii.
16.
So HiTziG, with unquestionable correctness, referring to Ps.
Ii. 10; Job xxvii 6:
Sam. XXV. 31.
For out of it (flo^) currents of life.
Lit., " issues of life " (Bertiikau) l c, oflifeinthe physico-organic as well as in the ethical sense; of life so far forth as it manifests wise of the " wine of the condemned' (D"iV1JX ]")
Am. ii.
Ver.
18, 19. Like the light of dawn that groweth in brightness till the perfect day, itself in the normal course and movement of the functions of the bodily organism, just as also in the full development of the spiritual powers and their working upon external nature.
Comp. remarks on ii. 8 sq.
Hitzig also, who translates literally, "that grows and brightens (familiar Hebrew idiom, as in .Judges iv. 24; Esth. ix. 4; comp.
EwALD, ieArA. 280 6.) even to the establishing of D""n niSSlP not quite appropriately by "paths the day."
JIDJ (l•ons^ s/a^c of the part. Niphal of of life," admits the fact that the expression rests upon the recognition of the heart as the seat and fountain of the blood, and therefore also as the central home of the entire life of the phy- ]0) lit., the established, the (apparently) stationary position of the sun at noon (comp. the Greek
TO fjTa&epijv Trj(^ iieGijfi^pia^, which however the LXX do not here employ).
For Djj, used of the sical being (in accordance with Lev. xvii. 11; Dent. xii.
23; and in opposition to
BERTHEAr.
who denies this reference).
So also U.mbkeit. except that he, with a view somewhat partial and obscure, conceives of the heart as the "seat of the sensibilities," and the life that flows from it as the " general sensation of being."
["AH vital principles are lodged there, and only such as aro good and holy will give you pleasure.
The exercises of religion will be pleasant when they are natural, and flow easily out of their own founhrightness of the rising sun, comp. Isa. Ix. 3
; Ixii.
The comparison of the path, i. e., the moral course, of the just with the light of the rising sun, bright and ever brightening, is most appropriate.
If the whole pat his light, a bright, clear knowledge of salvation, illumination by the heavenly light of divine revelation (comp. vi. 23; xxviii. 5;
Isa. ii. 5, etc.) there can naturally be no idea of stumbling and falling suggested (comp. John xi. 9, 10)
; rather will he who walks in this wjiy attain more arid more to perfect clearness in the inward state oC his heart and conscience, and therewith also tain."
John Howe, Delighlinr/ in God.—A.].
Ver. 24. Put away from thee perverseness of mouth, e/c "Following the first clause of in increasing measure to outward prosperity.
The way of the w^icked is as darkness, ver. 23 the 24th and 25th verses warn against an arbitrary perverting of the moral judgment, into which evil passions so easily betray, and admonish not to give a misdirection to thought (the
the exact opposite to that of the righteous. pSilX | strictly " thick darkness," midnight gloom. The degree of this darkness and its evil consequences for liira who walks in it, the 2d clause clearly de- (7o>.5 animi) within the department of morality "
(H1TZI15).
Let thine eyes look straight forward, etc.
A prohibition not of an indolent " gazing about "
(Bebtheau), but of the false picts ; comp. John xi.
9, 10, and for the general subject, the previous delineation of the sudden
; ; :
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
aud evil look of the self-seeking, who doe3 not intend honoriible dealing with his neighbor, but seeks in all his course and dealing to outwit, to deceive and overpower him; conip. vi. 13; x.
; xvi. 30; Ecclesiasl. xxvii.
25; Matth. vi. scription of the book (i. 3
; comp. i. 7) was designated as ID'O or discipline.* To this chief end, the holding his son to discipline, to obedience, and the cherishing of his wholesome words and teachings, all the other prominent ideas which find expression in the father's discourse are made subservient; the exhibition of wisdom as the one costly jewel, whose acquisition is above every other, and if necessary, at the cost of all other possessions, to be sought and secured (vers.
5-9; comp.
Matth. xiii.
44-40); the emphatic admonition to be subject to "discipline," and not to let it go, even because it is the life of the true and obedient child of God (ver.
13); the clear delineation of the two paths; the way of darkness in which the ungodly walk, and the way of light in which the pious and wjse are found (vers. 14-19); the counsel to guard with all diligence not merely the word of truth received into the heart (vers. 20-22 ; comp. the l/iipvro( /oj'Of, Jas. i.
18), but also the heart itself, as the seat of the conscience, and the source of all life and prosperity (ver. 23); and finally the commendation of a life of honor and integrity, without turning to the right hand or to the left, as the salutary result of that inward disposition which 23.—Ver.
2G. Make straight the path of thy foot.
Plainly sometliing that is possible only in connection with eyes that look straight forward and correctly; lliis is therefore the necessary practical consequence of the course commended in the preceding verse.
He only who is from the heart honorable and upright is able also in the individual forms of his moral action to avoid every false step.— Let all thy \7ays be established.
133" does not mean "let them be sure"
(Berth.), but "let them be definite, fixed," which can be the case only with a course rightly regulated, straightforward, and sure comp. Ps. cxix. 133; Heb. xii.
13.
The latter passage plainly contains an allusion to our verse, the first member of which according to the LXX reads:
'O/Ji^af Tpoxiiit^ Tvoiet aoi^ Tioniv.—Ver.
'11.
Turn not to the right or to the left, keep thy foot far from evil.
This fuller explanation of that fixedness and certainty of the way which is demanded in ver. 26 completes the fais both pure and sure (vers. 24-27).
That a pure heart, i. e., one purified by the grace of God, and with this a firm heart, i. e., one firmly rooted in truth as its ground, is the source and common fountain for the successful development of all the main activities aud functions of human life, those belonging to the sphere of sense, as well as ther's admonition in a way altogether appropriate, and is therefore neither to be declared, with HiTziQ, a spurious addition, nor is it, in agreement with 15ERTHE.\n, to be deprived of its position and meaning as a concluding appeal, by receiving into the text as genuine the two verses which appear after it in the LXX (and Vulgate) to the psychical and spiritual realms, and that this must more and more manifest itself as such a centre of the personality, sending forth light and life:—this thought, expressed in ver. 23 in a way peculiarly vigorous and suggestive, unquestionably presents the most profound, comprehensive and controlling truth, that the father,
'O^ov^ yap Tag t'/c 6f^i(ov o16ev b -deot;, ^tearpafJUEvat dt' EtGiv ul ff apiaTcpijv.
AiVof ds op&at; Troa'/ffet rac Tpoxi-ag t^ov, rag d€ iropsiai^ gov ev Eipi/vrj Trpoa^et.
These two verses, whose substance appears to be a mere repetition from vers.
2f5, and 27, seem to owe their origin to the design to secure here again, as in the preceding section (vers. 10-19) ; in the course of his counsels aud warnings, gives a full decade of verses.
In opposition to this view, arbitrary and theoretical, that the structo his son, standing before the portal of the school of life, to be borne with him on his way (comp. the advice of Tobias to his son :
Tub. iv. ture of the paragraphs or strophes in the chap0).—Yet we must also mark as one of the most noteworthy of the fundamental ideas of this discourse, the designation, contained in ver.
7, of wisdom as the "chief thiug," which is to be sought above all things else, and to be prized above all possessions and treasures.
Yet this passage probably requires a dift'erent conception and application from that which is usually found,—so far forth as the thought which has already been expressed, e. g., above, in chap. ii. ters before us is uniformly equal, i. e., always consisting of ten verses—a view to which even Bertheau attaches much importance—see, above,, the Exeget. Notes on chap, 3, No.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
The counsel given by the pious and wise father to his son begins with the appeal to him to hold fast his words (ver. 4), and ends with an earnest warning against a course made insecure and dangerous by disregard of these words (vers.
3 sq., " that one must practise wisdom to become wise "
(comp.
Melanchthon on this passage Starke, and of recent writers, especially Elster), probably does not correspond with the true im20-27).
Obedience to the word of revealed Iriith as fnifhimitted within the covimunity of the children of God. and bequeathed, by parents to their sons,—this port of noon iTtl'N'^ ; the expression being dei^ the gener.al statement of the invpoi-t of tlie domanils of Iliis chapter as a whole, so far forth as signed rather to serve for the designation of wisdom as the highest end of all human counsel and it may be roduecfl to a single brief expression. action.
Il is essentially, as Mei,a.\othon says, " ailhorla tiones ad sludiitmoiiedienliie el ad diliyentiavi reyendi
I * In llus particular. KoiTLIus certiiidly took the correct disriplinam," that, are contained in this passage.
The whole is a chapter on the riykt (Christian) I view, that in his otherwise reiiuirlijible clHssitication of the contents of the firet nine clwpt.-ra acci'rding to the seven principifl gt/iices divinir dediictiva (Daath, liinah, Sediel, training of children, nn exhibition of the nature I Titsuliijah, Mus:ir, Msinonali, OrliDili), he assigns to the 4tti of that chief manifestation of the Hhokmah ctiiipter tlio .Musar (or the e.oliigaUt infnrmatm, as he o:;plaiud the tenn;.
See JiUiica Sacru, Uisp.
VI., p. bj sq.
[practical wisdom], which in the general super-
CHAP.
IV.
1-27.
7C pious can avoid the snares of destruction through the light of the Holy Spirit ; but the ungodly stumble in darkness and fall into the pits of death.
As one from darkness walks on in dark-
HOMILETIC AND PRACTICAL.
Homily on the entire chapter: The two paths in which youth can walk,—that of obeiUence and that of vice (or llie way of wisJom and that of ness, so from light into light (ver. 18; comp. Prov. xii.
28; Ps.
Ixxxiv. 7; Job v.
\2-\i).—Berleb.
Bible : The soul in its conversion to God must folly; the way of light and that of darkness; comp. the minute picture of the two ways in the Ep.
Barnabie, | 18-20).—Educational SermoD:
The fundamental principles of a truly Christian education of children, exhibited according to the standard of the counsels of a sage of the Old Testament to his son.
1st principle: True wisdom (which is equivalent to the fear of God) the highest end of all regulations adopted in the educational action of parents (vers.
4-9) ; 2d principle : As means to this end, an earnest in1) hear His word ; 2) receive the influence of this word, and by it be directed to the way of truth; 3) be guided by God in this way ; 4) under God's guidance and protection learn so to run in this way that it shall nowhere stumble nor fall.—[Ver.
19.
Emmons:
Sinners are in such darkness that they are insensible to the objects that are leading them to ruin : thus they stumble a) at the great deceiver ; b) at one another ; c) at Divine Providence ; d) at their common employments ; e) at the nature and tendency of their resisting both upon the reward of walking in the light, and upon the punishment for walking in darkness (vers. 10-19); .3d principle:
Results to be anticipated simply from this, that God's word be received and cherished in a susceptible and good heart (vers.
20-27). — Comp.
Stocker:
Warning against evil companionship: 1) the simple command that one must avoid evil company ligious performances; /) at the preaching they hear ; g) at the blindness of their own hearts.]
Vers. 20-27.
J. Lange :—The inner spiritual life begins with the heart.
As is the heart so are all its issues ; for " from the heart proceed evil thoughts," etc., Matth. xv.
19; xii.
3o.
Berleb.
Bible:
The heart must keep tlie doctrine, and the doctrine the heart.
Both are so intimately connected that neither can be without the (vers.
1-19) ; 2) the way in which tiiis can be done (vers. 20-27).
Starke : How David admonishes Solomon:
1) to the reception of wisdom (4-13); 2) to the avoidance of impiety (14-19); other.
Nature herself in the natural heart shows with what care we must keep the spiritual
(ethical) heart.
In this we can never be too 3) to the practice of piety (20-27).
Vers.
4-9. Stakke :—Should the case arise, that one must lose either true wisdom or all temporal good, forego rather the latter; for wisdom precise, too sharp, or too careful.
If we guard our house, much more must the heart be guarded; the watches must there be doubled, etc.—In this all the duties of a door-keeper comis better than gold (chap. xvi. 16; Matth. xix. bine, reminding us who goes in and out, what 29).
Honor, accomplishments, graces, esteem, each man desires for himself.
If thou wouldst attain this wish of thine, then seek wisdom ; she gloriously rewards her admirers.— [Ver.
Bridges:—This heart-keeping is the path of life.
GocLBURN:—Endeavor to make your heart a sort of thoughts enter into the heart, what sort of desires go out, etc.
Self-denial is the best means to such a keeping of the heart.
It must stand as porter before the heart's door; and the cross and the patience of Christ is tiie best door little sanctuary, in which you may continually realize the presence of God, and from which unhallowed thoughts and even vain thoughts must carefully be excluded.] — Berleb.
Bible:—The two conditions of the Christian life:
1) its commencement, the seeking and finding of wisdom of the heart, well preserved with bolts and bars against all intrusion or violence.
Saurin (sermon on ver. 26):—On the needful attention which each should give to his ways.
Calwer Ilandb.:— Threefold counsel in regard to the w.ay and means of continuing in the right path :
1) give good heed to thy heart ; 2) pui aw,ay a perverse mouth (ver. 24) ; 3) let thine eyes look straightforward (vers.
25-27).
Von Gerlach:—Tlie (ver. 7, according to the common interpretation); 2) its continuance, dependent upon preserving wisdom, and thereby being preserved, advanced, and brought to honor by it (vers. 8, 9).— [Ver. first and most immediate thing proceeding from the heart is words, then deeds.
Let the former be above all things truthful and sincere; tlie lat7. Trapp:
Make religion thy business: other things do by the by].—Vers.
10-19.
Hasius :
To set one's foot in the way of good is ofi limes not so difficult as to go vigorously forward in it.
The power of temptation is great; the tinder of vice is naturally in us ; even a little spark can kindle it.
Zeltner:
Impossible as it is that a stone fall into the water and remain dry, so impossible is it that a lover of evil company be not betrayed, Ecclesiast. xiii.
Cor. xv. 33.
[Ver.
18.
.\rnot: The sun is an emblem not of the justified, but of the justitler.
Christ alone is the source of light:
Christians are only its reter circumspect, well considered, and then executed with certainty and confidence (vers. 26.27).
Comp. Kom. xiv. 23; and Seneca's well known maxim:
Quod dubitas, ne fcceris.— [.Arnot: We cry to God in the words of David, Create in me a clean heart, and He answers back by the mouth of David's son. Keep thy heart.
Keep it with the keeping of heaven above, and of the earth beneath,— God's keeping bespoken in prayer, and man's keeping applied in watchful etfort.—Ver.
27. Tkapp:
Keep the king's highway: keep flectors.
The just are those whom the Sun of righteousness shines upon; when they come beneath His healing beams, their darkness flies away.
They who once were darkness are light now, but it is '-in the Lord."] Starke: The within God's precincts, and ye keep under His protection.
Bridges : Though to keep the heart be God's work, it is man's agency.
Our efforts are His instrumentality.]
; ;
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
8. Waiting against intercourse with wanton women, and against the ruinous consequences of licentiousness.
Chap. V.
1-23.
My son, give heed to my wisdom, to my prudence incline thine ear, 2 so that thou maintain discretion, and thy lips preserve knowledge.
3 For the lips of the strange woman distil honey, and smoother than oil is her mouth :
4 but at last she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death, her steps lay hold upon the lower world ; 6 the path of life she never treadeth, her steps stray, slie knoweth not whither.
7 And now, ye children, hearken to me, and depart not from the words of my mouth
8 Turn away thy path from her, and draw not near to the door of her house !
that thou mayest not give to others thine honor, and thy years to a cruel one 10 that strangers may not sate themselves with thy strength, and (the fruit of) thy labor (abide) in a stranger's house,
11 and thou must groan at last when thy body and thy flesh are consumed, 12 and say, " Why then did I hate correction and my heart des|)ised reproof?
13 and I did not hearken to the voice of my teachers, did not incline mine ear to those that instructed me?
14 Well nigh had I fallen into utter destruction in the midst of the assembly and the congregation I"
15 Drink waters from thine own cistern, and flowing streams from thine own well spring 1
16 Shall thy streams flow abroad as water brooks in the streets?
17 Let them be thine alone, and none belong to strangers with thee.
18 Let thy fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of thy youth,
the lovely hind, the graceful gazelle; let her bosom charm thee always in her love delight thyself evermore.
20 Why, my son, wouldst thou be fascinated with a stranger, and embrace the bosom of a wanton woman ?
21 For before the eyes of Jehovah are the ways of man, and all his paths He marketh out.
22 His own sins overtake him, the evil doer, and by the cords of his sin is he held fast.
23 He will die for lack of correction, and in the greatness of his folly will he perish.
CHAP.
1-23.
GRAMMATICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 1.—[The shortened Imperative is even more thaa the paragogic entitled to the first place in its clause; here Con follows its object, Bott., ^ 960, z. ex. (comp. critical note on iv. 20).— A.]
Ver. 2.—TDC' 7.
The construction in the Hebrew is the same as in chap. ii. 8
; the Infinitive with 7 is followed by the finite verb.
[^^XJ*, a masc. verbal form with a fern. 8ubject,^-comp. note on iv. 10.
For empliasis or euphony the assimilation of tlie J is sometimes dispensed with.
BiiTT ,§1100, 3.—A.] Ver. 14.—[^Tl^^n, a Perf. with the signification of a pluperf. subj .; a very little and I should lutve fallen.
Comp. BiiTT., 3947, d.— A.l Ver. 18 [Bott., ^964, 6, makes ^TIP ^o example of the desponsive use of the Jussive, and therefore makes it more than the e-\pre8sion of a wish (see Exeg. notes): it becomes an anticipation or promise.—A.J
Ver. 22.—[IJ^^?*, a unique example of the attachment of 1, a more common suffix of the Perf, to the lengthened form of the third plur.'masc. of the Imperf See Bott., gg 881, A,—1042, 5,—10i7, ex., correcting EwAU>, g 2o0 6, who makes the J epenthetic.
See also GbE£M, g 105, c.—A.] honey"
(033, comp. Ps. xix. II) because of the
EXEGETICAL.
sweetness not of her kisses but of her words.
Comp. the quite similar representation. Song Sol.
1. In oppositioa to the opinion of those who refer vers. 1-6 to the discourse of the father in ch. iv. 4sq., consult above, p. 71.
J. A. Benqel appears even to have regarded the entire fifth chapter as a continuation of that discourse, for he remarks on ver.
1, "Inasmuch as David's careful directions to Solomon bear upon unchastity, it seems likely that David and Bathsheba were concerned lest Solomon might also pursue a course like that in which the parents sinned together " (see Beilrdge zu J. A. Be.ngel's Schriftfirkldrung^ mitgetheilt von Dr. OsK. Waechteu, Leips., 18(3.5," p.
26).
But the son addressed in the preceding chapter was conceived of as a "tender child;" the one now addressed is a young man already married, see vers.
15-19.
For, as in the similar admonitions of the 6th and 7th chapters, it is not simple illicit intercourse, but such an intercourse within marriage relations, adulterous intercourse with lewd women, that constitutes the object of the admonitory representations of the teacher of wisdom.
Furthermore, as Bertheau rightly observes, the passage before us. in its substance and ils form, variously reminds us of chap, ii., especially in respect to its form, by its long propositions extended through several verses (3 sq , 8 sq., 15 sq.).
.\s the three main divisions of thediscourse are of not quite equal length, we may with HiTzio distinguish the introductory paragraph, vers.
1-6; the central and chief didactic section, vers.
7-20; which again falls into two divisions, vers.
7-14 and 15-20; and the epilogue, vers. 21-23. iv.
11, and as a sample of the wanton woman's words that are sweet as honey, Prov. vii. 14 sq.
—Smoother than oil is her mouth.—The palate (^n) as an instrument of discourse occurs also chap. viii. 7
; Job vi.
; xxxi.
30.
The "smoothness" of discouise as a symbol of the flattering and seductive, chap. ii. 16; vi. 24.
Ver.
4. But at last she is bitter—literally "her last is bitter"
(comp. xxiii. 32), ;'. e., that which finally reveals itself as her true nature, and as the ruinous consequence of intercourse with her.
As wormvrood (nji'7, for which the LXX inaccui'ately gives ;fo/'.;), gall), a well known emblem of bitterness, as in Deut. xxix.
18; Jer. ix.
15; Am. v.
7; vi.
12.
It is "a plant toward two feet high, belonging to the Genus Artemisia (Spec.
Artemisia absinthium), which produces a very firm stalk with many branches, grayish leaves, and small, almost round, pendent blossoms.
It has a biiter and saline taste, and seems to have been regarded in the East as also a poison, of which the frequent combination with 1?S1 gives an intimation" (Umbreit; comp. Celsius, Mierobot.
1. 481); Oken.
Naturgesch.
III.
sq.).
As a two-edged s^rord—literally as a sword of mouths, a sword with more than one mouth {riV2 3^n, comp. Ps. cxlix. 6
; Judg. iii.
16).
[The multiplicative plural is sometimes u.sed thus even of objects that occur in pairs; comp. Bott., § 702, 3—A.]
"The 2.
Vers.
1-6. My son. give heed to my wisdom, etc.—Quite similar are the demands which introduce the two subsequent warnings against unchastity.—Chap. vi. 20 and vii.
1.— So that thou maintaia discretion—literally fact that the surface of the sword is also smooth is in this antithesis to the second clause of ver.
3 properly disregarded," HiTZid.— Vers. 5 and 6 explain and contirm more fully the statement of ver.
4.^ Upon the loTwer world her steps lay hold— /. e., they hasten straight and surely reflection, niBtO, which elsewhere is usually employed in a bad sense, of base deceitful proposals, but here denotes the wise prndential consideration, the circumspect demeanor of the wise
; comp. the singular in ch.
And thy lips preserve knowledge.—The lips— not precisely the heart, chap iii. 1—are to preserve knowledge 30 far forth as it is of moment to retain literally the instructions of wisdom and often to repeat them.—Ver.
3. For the lips of the strange Woman distil honey^^The "stranger" is the liarlot, as in chap. iii.
16.
Her lips "drop to the kingdom of the dead, the place of those dying unblessed.
[The author cannot be understood as meaning that 7lNt|' is always and only the place of those dying unblessed.
The passage cited, chap. i.
12, is inconsistent with this,—so is the first passage in the 0. T. where the word occurs. Gen. xxxvii. 35,—so is the last passage, Hab. ii.
5,—so are many intervening passages, especially such as Ps. xvi. 10; Eccles. ix.
10.
If the word here has this intensive meaning, it must
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
to the injured husband, who will punish the paramour of his faithless wife with merciless seveappear from the connection.
See, therefore, D"n in ver. 6, which plainly has amoral import. Comp.
Fuekst's Handw.—A.] Comp. ii. 18
; vii. 27,— rity, perchance sell him as a slave, or even take his life.
[This explanation is grammatically better than that (of Holden, e. g.) which makes and OQ '7iNt?. Hades, the lower world, i.
12.
The path of life she never treadeth.—The the "cruel one" the adulteress, and more direct than that (of Stuart and others) which makes him the purchaser of the punished adulterer.
Terb dSs, here just as in iv. 26, means to measure A.].
Comp. vi. ?A. find below, ver. 14 —Ver. Id.
That strangers may not sate themselves off (not to "consider," as Berthf,.\u maintains), to travel over.
The particle JD, ne forte, stands
with thy strength.—nj might, strength, is here, as in Job xxxii.
13, "independent of any | preceding proposition, and in accordance with here undoubtelly equivalent to property, possesits etymology signifies substantially 'God forbid sions, as the parallel ^"^i^,, thy toils^ i. e., what that,' etc., or 'there is no danger that,'" elc, HiTziG ; it is therefore equivalent to "surely thou hast laboriously acquired, the fruit of thy not, nevermore."
Aben Ezra, Cocceius, C. B. bitter sweat (Vulg. laboris tut), plainly indicates.
The idea is here plainly this, that the foolish paramour will be plundered through the avaricious demands of the adulterous woman (comp. vi.
MicHAELis and others regard oHSiT as second pers. masc; "viam x-itic neforte expemlas, vagantur
26), and that thus his possessions will gradually orbitx ejus" ["lest perchance thou shouldst ponder the way of life, her paths wander ;" which is pass over into other hands (Ecclesiast. ix. 6).
A different explanation is given by Ewald, Bertheau, Elster (in general also by Umbreit); very nearly the language of the E. V.].
But the second clause shows that the wanton woman must that the proper penalty for adultery was accordbe the subject ot" the verb.
Bertheau's translaing to Lev. XX. 10; Dent. xxii. 22 sq.: John viii. tion is however also too hard and forced, according to which the first clause is dependent upon 5, stoning ; in case, however, the injured husband had been somewhat appeased, the death penalty was on the ground of a private agreement changed into that of a personal ownership, the the second, but it is to be regarded as a negative final clause prefixed ; " that she may not ponder (! the path of life, her paths have become devious," etc.
[This is the view adopted by Holden, Stuart, Wordsworth, and De Wette ; Kamph. entrance into the disgracefully humiliating condition of servitude, and that allusion is here made to this last contingency.
But while the has the same conception of the relation of the superficial meaning of vers. 9 and 10 could be clauses, but prefers the verb einschlagen, adopt or enter A.] The LXX, Vulg. and other ancient reconciled with this assumption, yet there is nothing whatsoever known of any such custom, of transmuting the death prescribed in the law for versions already contain the more correct interpretation, regarding |3 as here essentially equivathe adulterer by a compromise into his sale as a lent to N*7 ; only that the emphatic intensifying slave; and as the entire assumption is besides complicated with considerable subjective difficulof the negnlion should not be overlooked.
[Fcerst (Handw.) is also decidedly of this opities (see Hitzig on this passage), the above exnion
; he renders " dassja nicht "=so that by no planation is to be preferred as the simpler and luore obvious.—Ver.
11.
And thou must needs groan at last—literally "at thine end," means ; he explains the idiom as representing a necessary consequence as an object contemplated.
A]—Her steps stray, she knoweth not •whither.
V^i is here doubtless not intended as i. e., when thou hast done, when all is over with thee.
DHJ used of the loud groaning of the poor an inceptive ("they fall to staggering"), nor in and distressed also in Ez. xxiv. 23
; comp. Prov. general does it design to express a "staggering xix. 12; XX. 2; xxviii.
15, where the same word describes the roaring of the lion.
The LXX of the tracks or paths," a figure in itself inappropriate.
It probably signifies rather a roving, an uncertain departure from the way (vngigrcssus,
(koi fieTafie?.ri&//ay) appear to have read ^l^|^J] a gloss containing a true explanation, but needVulg.) ; and the j.nn lO which is connected lessly weakening the genuine sense of the word.
—When thy body and flesh are consumed. with it is not to be explained by "she marks it i. e., plainly thy whole body; the not, without her perceiving it, unawares" (as it 'jlKU'?
'l"''??, is usually taken, after the analogy of Job ix.
-5; two synonymes, the first of which describes the Ps. XXXV. 8) [so by Notes, Stl'art, Muenscu.; flesh with the frame, and the second the while the E. V. follows the old error of making flesh in the strictest sense, without the bones, are the verb a second person.— .\ ], but by "she knows not whither," as an accusative of direcdesigned to emphasize the idea of the body in its totality, and that with the intention of marking "the "utter destruction of the libertine"
(Umtion subordinated to the foregoing idea (Hitziq, De Wette). breit).—Ver.
12. Why did I then hate correction ?—Literally, How did I then hate cor2.
Vers.
7-14.
And noTW, ye children, hearken to me.—nr^i^l draws an mlereuce rection? i. e., in what an inexcusable way'.'
How could I then so hate correction?—Ver.
14.
A little more, ind I had fallen into utter destruction i. e., how narrowly did I escape from what precedes, and introduces the following admonition; comp vii.
24.
The "words of my mouth " are the specific words contained in ver.
8 sq —Ver.
9. That thou mayest not give thine ho^or to others— ;. e., as an adulterer, who is apprehended and exposed to public disgracc.--And thy years to a cruel one i. e.. a fall into the extremest ruin, literally, "into entireness of misery, into completeness of destruction!"
As the second clause shows, the allusion is to the danger of condemnation before
CHAP.
1-23. ings, i. e., of the prosperity and joy which the husband is to prepare for his wife, as an instrument in the favoring hand of God.
This, which the assembled congregation, and of execution by stoning ; see above on ver. 10.—Assembly and congregation—Hebrew 7np and mj;'—stand is Hitzig's view, the connection with the second clause recommends above that of Umbreit, which explains '^113 as here meaning " extolled," and in the relation of the convened council of the elders acting as judges (Deut. xxxiii. 4, 5), and the concourse of the people executing the condemnalso above that of Bertheau, which contem plates "children as the blessing of marriage."
And rejoice -with the w^ife of thy youth.
Couip. Deut. xxiv. 5; Eccles. ix. 9.
"Wife of thy youth," i. e., wife to whom thou hast given the ing sentence (Numb. xv. 35; comp. Ps. vii.
7).
For /Tip is in general always a convened assembly, convocaiio; mj,' on the contrary is a multitude of the people gathering without any special fair bloom of thy youth (Ujibkeit).
Compare the expression "companion of youth " in ii. 17.
In a needlessly artificial way Ewald and Bertheau have regarded the entire eighteenth verse as a final clause depending on the second member of ver. 17:
"that thy fountain mny be blessed, and thou mayest have joy," elc.
Hitzig rightly observes that to give this meaning we should have expected ^il"! instead of Tl], and likewise pnOU'l instead of nDtyi, and that in general ver. call, coefiis sive inuUtlitdo.
Vers. 15-20.
To the detailed warning set forth in vers. 8-14 there is now added a corresponding positive antithesis, a not less appropriate admonition to conjugal fidelity and purity.—
Drink -waters outof thine o^wn cistern, etc., i.
«., seek the satisfaction of love's desire simply and alone with thine own wife.
"The wife is appropriately compared with a fountain not merely inasmuch as offspring are born of her, but also since she satisfies the desire of the man.
In connection with this we must call to mind, in order to feel the full power of the figure, how in antiquity and especially in the East the posses18 does not clearly appear to be a final clause.
[Stuaet makes the second clause final, depending on the first, which is also unnecessarily involved.]
^Ver.
19. The lovely hind, the graceful gazelle.— Fitly chosen images to illustrate the sion of a spring was regarded a great and even sacred thing.
Thus the mother Sarah is compared to a well spring.
Is. li.
1, and Judah, the patriarch, is spoken of as 'waters,'
Is. xlviii. griiceful, lively, fascinating nature of a young wife; comp. the name "gazelle"
('3i", tuiii'Dd and its equivalent AopKac as a woman's proper name ; Acts ix. 36
; also Song Sol. ii. 9, 17 ; viii.
; as also Israel, Num. xxiv. 7
; Ps. Ixviii
(U-mbbeit).
Compare also Song Sol. iv. 12.— And flowing streams from thine OTwn -well spring —With T13, ;'. e., properly "cistern," an 14.
Umbreit refers to numerous parallels from Arabic and Persian poets, which show the popularity of this figure in Oriental literature.
[•• These pretty animals are amiable, affectionate and loving by universal testimony—and no sweeter comparison can be found."
Thomsoji, anificiiiUy prepared reservoir, there is associated in the second clause "^N3, fountain, t. e.,a natural 'J'he Land and the Book, I., 252 A.]—Let her bosom charm thee al^vays.—Instead of spring of water conducted to a particular fountain or well spring.
Only such a natural founlaiuhead (comp.
Gen. xxvi.
15-20) can pour forth H'TT, her breasts, the Versio Veneta reads T\"V\ T •:
\ , , T J V her love {al ravTTj^ ^c?.iai), which reading Hitzig prefers ("iA7-e Minne^*).
A needless O'^ilJ, i. e., purling waters, living, fresh, cool water for drinking (Song Sol. iv. 15; Jer. xviii.
14).—Vcr. lij.
Shall thy streams flowr abroad as iwater brooks in the streets? alteration and weakening of the meaning, in accordance wiih Song
Sol. i. 2; Prov. vii.
18, as rendered by (he LXX.
Comp. rather the remarks below on ver. 20.^In her love delight thyTo supply ]3 (Gese.\ics, Umbreit) or 7X (EwALD,
BEPTHE.^n,
Elster [Stuart], e(c.) is self evermore. njE' elsewhere used of the TT staggering gait of the intoxicated (chap. xx.
; Isa. xxviii.
7), hereby a bold trope used of the needless, if the verse be conceived of as interrogative, which, like Prov. vi. 30
; Ps. Ivi. 7 sq., is indicated as such only by the interrogative tone.
So with unquestionable correctness Ilnzio.
A purely affirmative conception of tbe sentence, according to which it is viewed as representing ecstatic joy of a lover.
That the same word is employed in the next verse for tlie description of the foolish delirium of the libertine hastening after the harlot, and again in ver. 23 of the exhausted prostration of the morally and physically ruined transgressor,—and is therefore used in eacb instance with a somewhat modified meanthe blessing of children born of this lawful conjugal love under the figure of .a stream overflowing and widely extending
(Scbultens, DoderLEiN, Von Hofmann, Schn/lbew., II., 2, 375 [HoLDEN, Notes, Mcenscuer, Wordsw.], elc.) would seriously break the connection with ver. ing, indicates plainly a definite purpose.
The threefold use of MJE' is intended to constitute T T a climax, to illustrate the sad consequences of 17.
As to the subject, i. e., the description of a wife who has proved false to her husband and runs after other men. comp. especially chap. vii. sins of unchastity.—Ver. 20. Emphatic sequel to the foregoing, concisely and vigorously summing up the admonitory and warning contents of vers.
12.—Ver.
18. Let thy fountain be blessed.
—'n'
"attaches itself formally to the jussive 8-19. And embrace the bosom of a v7anton
-woman.
This expression (pn p^nP) testiViT of the preceding verse"
(Hitzig), and so »dds to the wish that conjugal fidelity may prefies to the correctness of the reading
H'^'l in vail between the married pair, the further wish ver. 19. that prosperity and blessing may attend their 5. Vers. 21-23.
Epilogue for the monitory presentation of the truth that no one is in condition anion.
^^13 doubtless used of substantial bless-
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
As a homily, therefore, on the entire chapter to conceal his adultery, be it ever ao secretly practiced,— that on the contrary God sees this with every other transgression, and punishes it with the merited destruction of the sinner.
For before Jehovah's eyes are the Tways of man, and all his paths He marketh.—(D^3 On the right keeping of the 6th commandment, a) through the avoidance of all unchastity ; b) through the maintenance of a faithful (vers. 1520) and devout (vers.
21-23) demeanor in the sacred marriage relation.
Melascuthon; The sum of the matter is :
Love truly thine own wife, and be content with her alone, as this law of marriage was at once ordained in Paradise (Gen. ii.):
"they shall be one flesh," i. e., one male and one female united inseparably.
For then also, even if human nature had remained incorrupt, God would have wished men to comprehend purity, and to maintain the exercise of obedience by observing this order, ('iz.,by avoiding all wandering desires.
Comp. Augustine:
Marriage before the fall was ordained for duty, here also not to "ponder," but to " marli out," see note on ver. 6.) An important proof text not merely for God's omniscience, but also for His special providence and '^ concursus^^ [cooperation in human conduct]. Comp. Job xxxiv. 21; x.\iv.
•2-i; xxxi.
4, etc.—Ver. 22. His sins overtake him, the evil doer.
The double designation of the object, by the suffix in 1J1I3T and then by the expression *' the evil doer," added feu* emphasis, gives a peculiar force. Comp. xiv. 13; Ezek. xvi. after the fall for a remedy.
Vers.
1-4. Eoard:—A harlot is the devil's decoy, and becomes to many a tree of death i^nto death.
The fleshly and the spiritual harlot most
; Jer. ix.
25.
By the cords of his sin.
Comp. Isa. V. 18, and in general, for the sentiment of the whole verse, chap. i. 31, 32; xi. 5; xviii. 7; xxix. 6; Ps. vii. 15; xl. 12; John viii. 34; 2 Pet. ii.
19.—Ver.
23.
For lack of correction.
This is undoubtedly the explanation of ID'S I'N3, and not "without correction" (Umbeeit).
The 3 is not circumstantial, but causal (instrumental), fill hell (chap. vii.
27).
The devil comes first with sweetness and friendliness, to betray man, afterward however with bitterness, to destroy the soul.— [Ver.
Traf_'
: There is no sucii pleasure as to have overcome an offered pleasure ; neither is there any greater conquest than that that is gotten over a man's corrupas in the 2d member.—As to the meaning of njt? see above, remarks on ver. 19.
T T tions.] Staeke:
Beware of the spiritual antichristian harlot, who tempts the whole world to
DOCTRINAL, ETHICAL, AND HOMILETIC.
idolatry, and to forsaking the true God (1 John V. 21).—There are in general many allegorical interpretations in the old writers, in which the strange, lascivious woman is either partially or outright assumed (as, e. g., more recently in the That our chapter holds up in opposition to all unregulated gratification of the sexual impulses, the blessing of conjugal fidelity and chastity, requires no detailed proof.
It is a chapter on a pioits marriage relation, appropriBerlrb.
Bible) to be the designation of " the false church," of antichrist, of worldly wisdom, ately attached to the preceding, on the right training of children ; for pious and strict discietc.
[See also Wobdsw. in loc., and also on ver.
19, together with his citations from Bede, etc.
— A.].
For Evangelical preaching, naturally, only a treatment that is partially allegorical, can be regarded admissible, and in the end expedient ; such a treatment as consists in a generalization of the specific prohibition of unchastity pline of children is impossible, where the sacred bonds of marriage are disregarded, violated and trampled uuder foot.
In conformity with the thoroughly practical nature of the doctrine of wisdom (the Hhokmah), the author, as vers. 1520 show, completely overthrows all the demands and suggestions of a sensual desire that has broken over all the sacred bounds prescribed by God, and so, as it were, has become wild and ininto a warning against spiritual licentiousness or idolatry in general.
Ver. 15-23. Staeke : An admonition to hold to one's own wife only ; 1) the admonition (15sane, by exhibiting the satisfaction of the sexual impulse in marriage as justified and in conformity with Ibe divine rule.
An important hint for a practical estimate of the contents of this chapter, from which evidently there may be drawn not merely material and arguments for a thorough treatment of the Christian doctrine with respect
17); 2) the motives : a) the blessing on .such conjugal fidelity (18, 19) ; b) the dishonor (20, 21) and c) the ruinous result of conjugal unfaithfulness
(22, 23).—[Ver.
15. Arnot:
God condescends to bring His own institute forward in rivalry with the deceitful pleasures of sin.
All the accessories of the family are the Father's to the sixth commandment in general, but spegift, and He expects us to observe and value them.— H.
Smith (quoted by Bridges):
First choose thy love ; then love thy choice.] -Eoard :
A married life full of true love, joy and peace, is cially for the exhibition of the true evangelical idea of marriage, in contrast with the extravagant asceticism of Romish theology, and also of many sects both of ancient and modern times (Montanists* Eustalhians, Cathari, Gichtelites, a paradise on earth : on the other hand, a marriage full of hate, unfaithfulness and strife is a eir.).
In this connection 1 Cor. vii. must also, naturally, be brought into the account, especially
(he 5th verse of this chapter, which exhibits the fundamental idea of vers.
15-20 of our section, reduced to the briefest and most concise form that is possible ; with the addition of the needreal hell.
Von Gerlach :
The loveliness and enjoyment of a happy domestic relation as tlie earthly motive, the holy ordinance of matrimony watched over by God with omniscient slrictnes.", as the higher motive to chastity.— Calmer Ilandbuch : Be true to thine own wife
; therein is happiness!
Sin against her, and thou becomest through thine own fault wretched!— [Ver. 21.
Thapp: a man that is about any evil should ful corrective, and the explanation that is appropriate in connection with the " always" and " evermore " of ver.
19, which might possibly be misunderstood.
; ; !
; !
; !
CHAP.
VI.
1-35.
the instrument of punishing sinners—retribution Htand in awe of himself; how much more of (totll Arnot:
Secrecy is the study and hope in the system of nature, set in motion by the aol of sin].
111" the wicked.
A sinner's chief labor is to hide his sin ; and his labor is all lost.
Siu becomes 9. Warning against inconsiderate suretyship.
Chap. VI. 1-5.
My son, if thou hast become surety for thy neighbor, hast given thine hand to a stranger;
if thou art entangled through the words of thy mouth, art snared by the words of thy mouth .3 then do this, my son, and free thyself, since thou hast come into the hand of thy neighbor go, bestir thyself, and importune thy neighbor!
4 Give no sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine Hyelids;
free thyself, like a roe, from his hand, and like a bird from the hand of the fowler.
10. Rebuke of the sluggard.
Chap. VI. 6-11.
Go to the ant thou sluggard consider her ways and be wise 7 which hath no governor, director, or ruler
( yet) she prepareth in summer her food, she gathereth in harvest her store 9 How long wilt thou lie, O sluggard? when wilt thou rise from thy sleep?
10 "A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest ;"
then cometh thy poverty like a robber, and thy want as an armed man 11. Warning against deceit and Tiolent dealing.
Chap. VI. 12-19.
A worthless creature is the deceiver, he that walketh in perverseness of speech ; 13 he who winketh with his eye, who speaketh with his foot, who hinteth with his iinger.
14 Perverseness is in his heart, he deviseth evil at all times he stirreth up strifes.
15 Therefore suddenly shall his destruction come, in a moment shall he be destroyed, and there is no remedy.
16 These six things Jehovah hateth,, and seven are an abhorrence of his soul 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood ;
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
18 a heart that deviseth evil plots, feet that make haste to run to evil 19 one that uttereth lies as a false witness, and one that stirreth up strifes between brethren.
12. Admonition to chastity with a warning delineation of the fearful consequences of adultery.
Chap. VI. 20-555.
Keep, O my son, thy father's commandment, and reject not the law of thy mother:
21 bind them to thy heart evermore, fasten it about thy neck.
22 When thou walkest let it guide thee, when thou liest down let it guard thee, and at thy waking let it talk with thee.
23 For a lamp is the commandment, and the law a light, and the reproofs of corrections are a way of life;
to keep thee from the vile woman, from the flattering tongue of the strange woman.
25 Long not for her beauty in thy heart, and let her not catch thee with her eyelids!
26 For for the sake of a harlot one cometh to a loaf of bread, and a man's wife lieth in wait for the precious life.
27 May one take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?
28 Or may one walk upon coals, and his feet not be scorched ?
29 So he who goeth to his neighbor's wife; no one that toucheth her shall be unpunished.
30 Men do not overlook the thief, when he stealeth to satisfy his craving when he is hungry;
if he be found he must restore seven fold, the whole wealth of his house must he give.
32 He who committeth adultery is beside himself; he that destroyeth himself doeth such things.
33 Stripes and disgrace doth he find, and his reproach will not pass away.
34 For jealousy is man's fierce anger, and he spareth not in the day of vengeance.
35 He regardeth not any ransom, and is not willing if thou increase thy gift.
GRAMMATICAL AND CRITICAL.
Vers. 1, 3. The form TtT'l. which ih found io some texts, is not a plural, bat the '- " iodlcaies in panae the pronunciation with ~ as in Gen. xvi. 5; Ps. ix. 15," HiTZia.
Many MSS., moreover, exhibit here the regular form HV*) [BoTTCHEU, 2 888, n. 2, utterly rejects the possibility that TJ?T can be a singular form, and also that the plural form is admlssililc here.
Holden's renderin;; *'thy friends," ia incorrectly based upon the plural reading.—A.].
Ver. 8. [Note the appropriate thauge of teuse.
The future VDy\i " ^ens solitum^^ Bott.
^ SitS, 6, and the perf.
^^J5^, "Perfectvm, fjfftictivinn" §^ 94(), 4; 950, 4; the continually recurring "preparation," the ensured "gathering."—A.]
T :
T I Ver. 12.
^77! stands here with the simple accusative without 3» aa in Mic. li. 11; Is. xxxiii. 15; Ps. xv. 2.
Ver. 13.
[vSip used here alone with 5, usually with a direct object.
77^0 : the verb is in use only in Piel.
For the occurrence of participial forms In Piel thus resembling Kal, see Fuebst (sub. v. 77O), and BiiiT. g 994, 4.— A.].
- T Ver. 14. For the explanation ct tflo ii ri D''J''^D (instead of the K'thibh D'JID) see HlTZia on this pa«eage, who T :
T :
\a probably right in referring to G.-n. xxxvii. 36 aw the source and occasion of this substitution.
Ver. 16. [The fern. n^H used nf tliut which is distinctly neuter.
See BiiTT. g 862, 4.—A.].
Ver. 19. The n'S' can be regarded as a relative Imperf, with which the participle
1171^0 interchanges, or it may ke regarded as an irregular participial form, lengthened from nD^ I's. xxvii. 12, and formed like X'V'i 7"£3J, e^c.
CHAP.
VI.
1-35.
(So HlTzro explains the form) [Fozest regards it an Imperf,, but Bott., very decidedly as a Hiph. participal, here and in xii.
; xiv. 25; xix. 5, 9; Pa. xii. 6; xxvii. 12.
See ( 994, 9.— A.].
VflT. 21-1 [D*^i!'pt a masc. suffix referring to fern, nouns.
Bott. g 877, 3, declares it characteristic of " secular proB«, ; It popular poetry, and the majority of the later Hebrew writers thus to disregard exactness in the use of the suffix pronouns.
Chap. XX. 12 is the only similar example adduced from Proverbs.
Comp. Green, g 104, g.— A.J.
Ver. 32. riTlC^O a future participle.
The suffix in HiK'J^^ refers to the 2''3XJ which is readily supplied from the nE?X ^XJ of the first member.
[Interpretations divide as to tne subjecanil predicate clause of the sentence.
MuBNSCHEA,
NoYES, HoLDEN agree with the E. V. in making destructioa toe predicted fate of the adulterer; Stuart, Kauph., and Dfi W. agree with our author in making adultery the natural and certain course of the self-destroyer.—A.j.
Vera. i-5. Warning against suretyship.
My son, if thou hast become surety for tay neighbor.—The frequent warnings which our book contains against giving security for others (comp. in addition xi. 15; xvii. 18; xx. 16; xxii. 26), are to be explained doubtless by the severe treatment, which, in accordance with the old Hebrew jurisprudence, was awarded to sureties; for their goods might be distrained or they even sold as slaves, just as in the case of insolvent debtors (2 Kings iv.
; Matth. xviii. 25
; comp.
Ecclesiast. viii.
13; xxix.
18-25, and also the warning maxim of the Greek philosopher Thales;
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
1. The sixth chapter consists of four independent admonitory discourses of unequal length, of quite different contents, and a merely external and circumstantial connection (through points of contact, as between "sleep and slumber" in ver.
4 and the same expressions in ver.
through the triple warning against impoverishment: vers.
11, 15 and 20, etc.).
This is as apparent as is the fact that it is only in the last of these four sections that the subject of adultery, that was treated in the fifth chapter, is resumed.
"fyj-ia, ndpa 6'aTa"
[give surety, and ruin is near], and the modern popular proverb "Burden It is nevertheless arbitrary and lacks all clear proof, when Hitzio declares the three preceding sections to be the addition of an interpolator different from the author of chaps, i.-ix., who is supposed to have taken them from some old book of proverbs, and to have enlarged the third by adding vers. 16-19.
For, it is argued, this numerical group of proverbs, of eight members, clearly shows itself to be the personal production of the interpolator, who was led by the sixfold division of the categories in vers.
1*2-14 to the composition of this group of the six things that the Lord hates.
As though this parallel sixfold or rather sevenfold arrangement in vers. 12-19 could not be the work of the composer of tlie entire group of proverbial discourses that lies before us, just as in the series of similar numerical proverbs contained in chap. xxx.
(comp. Introd. soil man wiirgen"
[the alliteration cannot be translated ; an approach can be made to it in " worry a surety "].—In the passage before us the warning is not so much against suretyship in general, as merely against the imprudent assumption of such obligations, leaving out of account the moral unreliableness of the man involved; and the counsel is to the quickest possible release from every obligation of this kind that may liave been hastily assumed.—Hast given thine hand to a stranger.—The stranger (11) is not the creditor, but the debtor, who in the first clause had been designated as "neighbor."
For according to Job xvii. 3 the surety gave liis hand to the debtor as a sign that he became bound for him.
Therefore the translation of Ewald and Elster, "for a stranger," is unnecessary as it is incorrect.—Ver. 2. If thou art entangled through the words of thy mouth.— This second half of the protasis, which, according to Hebrew idiom, is still dependent on the "if" of ver.
1, refers to the involved and embarrassed condition of the surely some time after his inconsiderate giving of bonds.—Ver.
3. Then do this, my son, etc.—The apodosis, with its emphatic warning (which extends through ver.
5), ^ 14) !
And still further, as if there had not been already in what has gone before at least one isolated warning against unchastity and adultery, as a demonstration of the fact, that in thi& connection also the advisory and admonitory discourses that relate to this matter (cliap. v.
sq.; vi. 20 sq.; vii.
I sq.), must not necess.arily form a whole continuing without interruption, but might very naturally be interspersed with other shorter passages of differing contents, like those forming the first half of chap. vi.i^Apart from this, HiTzia is undoubtedly correct in judging, that attention should be called to the close connection of vers. 16-19 with vers. 12-15, and that the first mentioned group should be regarded as a mei-e continuation and fuller expfinsiou of the import of the last mentioned. A special argument for this is the literal repetition of the expression, is fitly introduced by the intensive particle N^3X, now, now therefore.
Comp. Job xvii. 15
; Gen. xxvii.
32; xliii.
11.—Since thou hast come into the hand of thy neighbor.
HiTziG, interpreting the ''3, as in ii. 10, as equivalent to DX, translates "if thou hast come," etc.
But the introduction of a reason is here more pertinent, since the case of an unfortunate issue "stir up strifes," from ver. 14 in ver.
19.
The Tiew recently prevalent (see e.
</., Umbrf.it, Bertheau, Elster on this passage), according to which vers. 16-19 form a separate group of verses as really independent as tlie rest
(1-5, 6to the suretyship had already been assumed in ver. 2.—Stamp with the foot.—This meaning of DSinn, which is attested also by Ps. Ixviii. 30, is urgently commended by the following, " importune thy neighbor"
('I'i'l ^i?"^)- [1" our ver11, etc.) is to be estimated by what has been already said.
The correct division has been before presented by Delitzsch (Herzoq's Real. Enci/cl.
XIV., 698), and also by Ewald (on this passage). sion of this phrase in its connection we have substituted Fcterst's interpretation which is also Holuen's.
The verb is found only here and in Ps.
Ixviii. 30.
Gesenids and many others, startI
A .
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
ing with the radical idea, " to trample," which when wilt thou, etc.
The ''00-1^ of the first they find in tyS"! and assume in 031, translate clause and ''TO of the second stand in the same order as in Nehem. ii. 6.
The meaning of the two parallel questions is substantially "Wilt thou continue lying forever ?—Wilt thou never rise ?" The double question is, as it were, a logical protasis to the apodosis which follows in ver. 11 after the interposing of the sluggard's answer (ver.lO): "then
Cometh (Heb.
N35j like a robber," etc.
Comp.
Bertheac on this passage.—A little sleep, etc.
—Ironical imitation of the language of the lazy man; literally repeated in chap. xxiv. 33.— the Hithp. in both passages, "suffer thyself to be trampled," i. e., "prostrate thyself."
[So the E. v., De W., M., N. and St.].
Hupfeld (see Comm. on Ps. Ixviii. 31) and others adopt the indirect reflexive as the true meaning,— "prostrate before thyself, i.e., subdue."
Fuekst, distinguishing the two verbs, interprets D3T as meaning, in accordance with many Arabic analogies, "to move, stir, hasten," and the Hithp. as meaning "s;'cA beeiUn, sich sputen,'^ i. e., in the Imperative, make haste, bestir thyself. Although little folding of the hands— i. e., a little folding of the arms, a well-known attitude of one who this rendering has not in its favor the weight of authorities, the internal evidence appears to us to be decidedly for it.—A.] The meaning is that one should in every way force the heedless debtor—for it is he, and not possibly the creditor, that is here again intended by the "neighbor " is settling himself down to sleep (comp. Eccl. iv.
5), and who in that act does just the opposite of that fur which the hands and arms are naturally designed, that is, for vigorous work.—Then to the fulfilment of his obligations, before it is too late, i.
«., before the matter comes to the distraint of goods or otlier ju'lici.-il processes on the part of the creditor.—Ver.
5. Free thyself as a roe from his hand, and like a bird, etc.— Cometh thy poverty like a robber.— ':i'7n'3 strictly grassator, a frequenter of the roads, a highwayman, a footpad (LXX:
Ka/cuf 6<5'jijro/30f ).
The parallel passage, xxiv. 34, has the Hithp.
G.izelle and bird—in the original a paronomasia: participle ^SnnD without 3, which gives the far weakersense : " thencomelh qniftly thy poverty."'
—As an armed man—lit., as one armed with '3S and 113X—are appropriate emblems of a captive seeking its freedom with anxious haste and exertion.
The way is already prepared for these figures by the expressions employed in ver.
Instead of, l^"^ "out of the hand," all the old a shield (jJO f'X) ; for even the assailing robber, since lie must necessarily be prepared for resistance, must carry with weapons of offence the means of defence. versions, except the Vulg. and Venel., had the reading n3D, " out of the snare."
But this is an 4.
Vers. 12-19. Against the deceitful and violent.—Concerning the relation of the two divisions of this group of verses, the first of which attempt at rhetorical improvement (perhaps according to the analogy of Ps. xci.
3), "in which (vers. 12-15) depicts the seven modes of deceitful action, while the second (vers.
16-19) expressly designates them a seven hated by God, repeating also their enumeration,—see above, ^ 1 of these exegetical comments.—A vrorthless man is the deceiver.—In support of this construction it was overlooked, that the hand was introduced the first as well as the second time with a reference to the giving of the hand on becoming security "
(ver.
1).
Comp. Umbreit and Hitzig on this passage.
Vers. 6-11. Go to the ant, tboa sluggard.—The :mt, ever working of its own impulse quietly and unweariedly. is proverbial as an emblem of industry, botii among Orientals and of ]1N D'X as the subject and of the prefixed 7i"73 DIN as the predicate [a construction prein the West; comp. MctD.wi's Arabic Proverbs, ferred also by Notes. Kamph. e/c. ] we have, be-
III., 468;
S.vADi's Persian fable of the ant and the nightingale ; Aristotle's Historia Anim., 9, 26:
Virgil's Geor^., I., 186 sq.; Hor.^ce, Serm., sides the arrangement, especially the substitution of 13 Dl!< for 13 ly'X, which was rather to have TT been expected according to the analogy of 2 Sam.
I., 1,33;
also the German word "Hmaig"
(Old High Germ, emazic), which is derived from xvi.
7, etc.
If the second expression were only "an intensive appositive to the first" (Bertheau;
^-Ameisc'^ (Weigand, dcii/sches Wurterb., I.. Sd). see also Luther [Wordsw., M., St., H., in agreement with the E. V.]
"a heedless man, a mischievous person"), then we should have looked SSee Thomson's Land and Book, I., 519, 520, for lustrations both of the diligence of the ant and the utter laziness of Oriental laborers, "which liave no governor, director, or ruler."— A.]—Ver. for fX in both instances.
With JIN 'i^'N, "man 7. 'Which hath no governor, director or I of deceit, of falsity, of inward untruth and vileruler.—The three expressions t'i'p ^OV and 7^0 ness," comp. furthermore flX "Hp, Job xxii.
15; and also, below, ver. 18—He that walketh in perverseness of speech.—Comp. iv. 24
; are relatively like the Arabic oflicial titles, xxviii. 18.—Ver 13. The three participles of this "Kadi," "Wall," and "Emir."
The "lOii* in particular is the manager, the overseer, who, e. g., in connection with puhlic works urges on to labor (Ex.
6, 14 sq.).— Furthermore, compare chap XXX. 27, where also the first clause of ver. 8 reverse are best understood, with Hitzig. as prefixed appositives to the subject contained in 13S3, ver.
14, which is indeed the same as that of the 12th verse.—'Who winketh -with his eyes.—Comp. x.
10; Ps. xxxv.
19.—"Who speaketh with his feet i. c gives signs in mysterious ways (LXX : ajiunivFi), now with one curs, in almost literal agreement with our passage.
Vers. 9-11 ad<l to the positive admonition to industry an emphatic warning against the evil consequences of its oppo.sile. — HoTW long wilt thou lie, O sluggard ?— Literally : till foot, then witlithe other.—Who hinteth with
CHAP.
VI.
1-35.
8fi his fingers.—n^lD Hiph. part, from m\ here erous dealing are enumerated in these verses, it does not perfectly correspond with the order observed in ver. 12-14.
There the series is mouth, eyes, feet, fingers, heart, devising evil counsels, stirring up strifes; here it is eyes, tongue, hands, heart, feet, speaking lies, instigating used in its most primitive me,aning.
The evil intent involved ia the three forms of the language of signs as here enumeiated is of course implied.
—Ver. 14. He deviseth evil at all times.
Comp. iii. 29.—He stlrreth up strife.—Litestrife.
With reference to the organs which are named as the instruments in the first five forms of treacherous wickedness, in the second enumeration an order is adopted involving a regurally "he lets loose contentions"
(Hitzig), or •'he throws out matters of dispute" (Behtheau); comp. ver.
and chap. xvi.
28.—Ver.
15.
Therefore suddenly shall his destruction come.—Comp. i.
17; iii.
2.5; xxiv.
22.
Quickly V7ill he be destroyed, p^c.^Comp. xxix 1; Is. i.
28; x.\x.
14; .ler. xix.
11.
Without remedy.—l^omp. iv. 22.
Vov. 10. These six things Jehovah hateth, and seven, etc.—Of the origin of this peculiar proverbialform, using symbolical numbers, a form lar descent (ver. lG-19, eyes, tongue, hands, etc.) ; the base disposition to stir up strife, or to let loose controversy (see rem. on ver.
14) in both cases ends the series.
Vers. 20-24.
Admonition to chastity, preparing the way for a subsequent warning Mgaiusl adultery.—Keep, O my son, thy father's commandment, etc This general introduction to the new warning against adultery corresponds with the similar preparatory admonitions for which Arabic and Persian gnomic literature supply numerous illustrations (comp. Umbreit on this passage), Elster probably gives the simplest and most correct explanation, deriving it "purely from the exigencies of parallelism."
" The form of parallelism could not, on account of harmony, be sacrificed in any verse.
But how should a parallel be found for a number ?
Since it was not any definite number that was the important thing, relief was found by taking one of the next adjacent numbers as the par.allel to that which was chiefly in mind."
In a similar way Hitzio on Amos i. 3 (where the numbers put into this relation are three and four); "To the number three the number four is appended to characterize the first as one optionally taken, to convey the idea that there are not understood to be preciseU/ three and no more, but possibly more.^''
At any rate, those expositors are in the wrong, who, as e. g., recently Bertheau and Vo.N Geiilacu, find the design of this mode of numeration in the fact that the last of the enumerated elements, the seventh vice therefore in the case before us, is in chap. v.
1, 2 and vii.
1-5, and serves, like these, to announce the great importance of the succeeding warnings.
With respect to ver. 20 in particular comp. i.
8.—Ver. 21. Bind them to thy heart evermote, etc.
So chap. iii. 3 and vii.
On account of the plural wliich occurs in the verse, with which the singular is interchanged in ver. 22, Hitzio conjectures the insertion of this verse by a late interpolator, and that in accordance with the standard furnished by chap. iii.
3, in which place the passage is held to be original.
This is arbitrary, for no single ancient manuscript or version confirms the suspicion.
Just as well might ver. 22 be declaimed interpolated, inasmuch as only in this is the singular form found, while immediately after, ia ver. 23, the double designation "commandment" and " doctrine" returns.—Ver. 22. When thou walkest let It guide thee.
The contrast between walking and sleeping or lying is like that in iii. 23, 24.—When thou wakest let to be brought out with especial emphasis.
[Stanlet (Hist. Jewish Church, II. p. 2-58), adduces this as a probable example of the "enigmas" or "riddles," which were one of the most characit talk vrith thee.
The accusative suffix in in'C'ri is here employed as in Ps. v. 4
; xlii. 4
; Zech. vii.
5, etc., for the designation of the person to whom the intercourse indicated in the teristic embodiments of the wisdom of the wise king.
.\rnot :
There is one par.allel well worthy of notice between the seven cursed things here, and the seven blessed things in the fifth chapter action of the verb relates.
With regard to n'E? to take, to converse, comp. also Ps. Ixix. 13
; with reference to the sentence as a whole comp.
Ps. cxxxix.
18.—Ver.
23.
For the reproofs of correction are a vyay of life, i. e., they leail of Matthevv.
The first and last of the seven are identical in the two lists.
"The Lord hates a proud look" is precisely equivalent to "blessed are the poor in spirit;" and "he that soweth discord among brethren" is the exact converse of the "peacemaker."—A.].—Ver.
17.
Haughty eyes: literally, high or lofty eyes; comp.
.\xx.
; Ps. xviii. 27
; cxxxi.
; Job xxi. 22
; xl.
; also the Latin expression grande supercdiuia.— Hands that shed innocent blood.
Comp. to life, comp. ii. 19; iii.
2, 16.
" Reproofs of discipline" (1D1D mnjin) corrective reproofs, reproofs whose aim is correction.—Ver.
24. From the vile vroman, strictly the woman of evil, of vileness. y^ (for which the LXX here read iJI) is therefore a substantive, as in the phrase "the way of evil" in chap. ii.
12.—From the flattering tongue of the strange woman ; literally, from the smoothness of the tongue of i.
sq., and Isa. lix.
7, witli wliich passage ver. 18 also corresponds in the form of expresBion, without for that reason being necessarily derived from it, as Hitzio holds.
For in case of such derivation the order of words ought to correspond more exactly with the alleged original, as in Rom. iii.
15-17.—Ver.
19. One that uttereth lies as a false vritness, literalthe strange woman.
For instead of [liy^, from which reading of the Masoretic text the meaning would result " from the smoothness of a strange tongue," we must doubtless point [Ity/ (construct ly, one that breathes lies.
The same characterization of the false witness is found also in chap, state), since the subject of remark here is the strange, wanton woman (just as in ii. 16; v. 20). while the thought of a foreign language [y^Mrjaii xiv.
6, 25; xix.
5, 9.
As respects the arraugement in which the seven manifestations of treach-
THE PROVEKBS OF SOLOMON.
aX?MTpia, LXX) is altogether remote from the context.
In opposition to the translation of EwALD, Bertheau aud Elstee, "from the Bmooth-tongued, the strange woman," comp. HiTzio on this passage. thief in a milder light, serves evidently to display the punishment that befalls the adulterei: with whom he is here compared, as one more richly deserved.
For the more presumptuous his crime, the less excused, or, as it were, demanded by his necessities, the more just is the punishment that comes upon him!
If HiTZia had taken due notice of this meaning of ver. 30, which is transparent enough, he would have seen ia advance how unnecessary aud excessively artificial is the attempt to explain the verse as interrogative.
[Kamph. adopts his view but does not strengthen it].— He must restore sevenfold.
According to the prescriptions of the law in Ex. xxi.
; xxii.
sq., it should strictly be only four ortivefold (comp. the publican Zaccheus, Luke xix.
8).
But in common Ufa these prescriptions were probably not ordinarily observed: the injured parly allowing his silence, his declining a judicial prosecution of the mat6.
Ver. 2o-a5.
Warning against adultery itself.
—With her eyelids, with which she throws amorous and captivating glances at her lover, comp. Ecclesiast. xxvi. 9.
The eyelids (or, more literally, eyelashes) are here compared with the cords of a net, as in Eccles. xii. 3, with the lattice of a window, or as in the erotic songs of the Arabs and Persians, with darts, with lances, daggers or swords.—Ver. 26. For, for the sake of a harlot one Cometh to a loaf of bread, i. e., to the last bit, the last morsel of bread, as a sign and emblem of utter poverty (thus Schulte.ss, C.
MicuAELis, Umbreit, Elster) ; or again, the meaning may be to the begging a loaf of bread, to beggary (thus Abe.n Ezra, Vatablus, RosenHUELLER, Elster, Hitzig).
In opposition to the translation defended by most of the ancient expositors, and recently by Ziegler, Ewald, Bertheau, etc., "For as the hire of a harlot one gives hardly a bit of bread," or as others prefer ter, to be purchased at a higher rate than was exactly allowed.
Furthermore, that " sevenfold" is here used loosely, only as a round number (comp. Gen. iv. 15), and is not designed, as might be tliought, to mark the highest conceivable ransom, appears from the 2d member, which suggests the probability of losing "the whole wealth of his house."—Ver.
stands in the same relation to the two preceding as ver. 29 to 27 and 28 ; it expresses the conclusion that is to be drawn from the meaning, which is clothed in the form of an analogy or parable, with reference to the well-deserved recompense of tho adulterer.
It is therefore hasty and arbitrary in HiTZiG to reject this as a spurious gloss, and to find in ver. 33 the direct continuation of tho thief's punishment, which has been depicted in ver. 31.
He that destroyeth himself doeth such things.
Literally, "whoso will destroy his life, he does it."—Ver. 33.
Stripes and disgrace.
The i^JJ, plaga, may here very well "merely a bit of breail," may be adduced 1) the context, see the 2d clause; 2) tlie lexical fact that 1)1 can neither mean "hardly" nor "merely;"
3) the fact, historical and archaeological, established by Gen. xxxviii.
17, etc., that the harlot's reward in ancient Palestine doubtless amounted to more than a mere loaf of bread, e. g. a kid, as in the case cited from Genesis, or a price considerably higher, as seems to follow from Prov. xxix.
; Ecclesiast. ix.
; Luke XV. 30.
Lieth in wait for the precious life.
Very appropriately has i^pj, "life," the predicate mp'
"costly" connected with it; for its value rises .above all mere property: comp. Ps. xlix.
—Ver. 27-29. The meaning is this: impossibleas it is that the clothing on one's breast, or that one s stand in its literal sense, and so designate the blows with which the adulterer detected in the act will be visited by the husband of the unfaithful wife, and will be driven from the house (Umbreit,
Hitzig).—Ver.
34.
For jealousy is man's feet should remain unharmed by scorching if fire be brought near them, so inconceivable is it that the adulterer should follow his unlawful intercourse without evil consequences and just retribution.
The two questions in vers. 27, 28 imply a strong negation, like the interrogative •lauses in Amos iii.
4-6.
Ver. 29 is connected with the two negative antecedent clauses as a correlative consequent, and is therefore introduced by ]3, so.— Vers. 30, 31. A new figure to fierce anger, i.
«., the jealousy (HX^p as in chap, xxvii. 4) of the injured husband is a fire blazing fiercely, burning and raging with all the miglit of a man ; comp. " the hurling of a man "
[or as others "a mighty prostration"] Is. xxii.
17.
The 2d half of the verse explains this somewhat brief expression, " man's wrath," which, moreover, appears to be chosen not without collateral reference to the more rsipidly evaporating wrath of women.—Ver.
3.5. He regardeth not any ransom, literally, "ho does not lift up the face ot any ransom," i. c, does uot receive it as adequate to allay his wrath—as one illustrate the punishment, surely impending and severe, which threatens the adulterer.
Men do not overlook the thief, etc.
; literally "they do not contemu it in the thief."
The imperf.
1IO' expresses the idea of custom, that which occurs in accordance with experience.
[Interpreters are divided between the two ideas of "scorn" and "disregard" as proper renderings of the verb.
Stuart, Mue.nsch., Words. adopt the former; men do not despise the thief, though he must be punished ; they do despise the adulterer.
Words, calls attention to a disposition in modern society to reverse this judgment.
Notes, Holden, like De W., Fuerst aud our author, adopt the other view.—A ].
To satisfy his craving nrhen he is hungry.
This circumstance, which exhibits the guilt of the lifts up the face of a suppliaut when his request is granted or favorably received.
And is not trilling, i. e., to forego his strict right of revenge.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The warning against improvident suret/'sbip in the unqualified form, and the urgent and almost passionate tone in which it is presented
; ;
CHAP.
VI.
1-35.
' pure longings, or unchaste desires and thoughts of in vers.
1-5, rests upon the consideration that I the heart.
Comp. the last commandment of the Decalogue (Kx. xx. 17), as well as Christ's intensifying and spiritualizing of the Mosaic prohibition of adultery
; Matth. v. 28.—The admonition also, which is prefixed as introductory, to keep continually before the eyes and in the heart the teachings of Divine wisdom (comp. Tob. iv.
6), serves as an emphatic utterance of this "Obsta prmcipiis !" or the exhibition of the necessity that the very first germs and roots of the sin of unchastity must be rooted out.
"all men are liars" (Ps. cxvi.
; Rom. iii.
4), that therefore no one can be trusted (corap. Jer. xvii. 5; "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man"), tliat every neighbor is at the same time in a certain sense a " stranger" to us (see above on ver.
1), in a word, that one must be prepared for manifestations of unfaithfulness, or unreliableness, on the part of any one whatever, though he stood ever so near us.
Hence the duty, for the sake of preserving one's own independence and sparing one's own strength for his personal work (bodily as well as mental), of extricating one's self at any cost and as speedily as possible from every relation of suretyship, from the continuance of which injurious consequences might
HOMILETIC AND PRACTICAL.
In the endeavor to comprehend in one homiletic whole the four main divisions of the chapresult to our own freedom and welfare.
With the admonitions of our Lord in the Sermon on ter, one would first of all need to have clearly in view the suggestions given in vers.
2, 11, 15 and 26 sq., with reference to the danger of sinking into poverty and destitution, and to employ these in fixing his central idea.
In some such way as this then : Even in the present life want and evil of every sort are wont to be the attendants a) of the lighter oS'ences 1) of inconsiderateness (vers.
1-5) and 2) of slothfulness (vers. 6-11): b) of the grosser transgressions and vices, such as result 1) from pride and malignity (vers. 12-19), and 2) from lust of the eyes and sensuality (vers.
20-^5).—Comp. SxiiCKER: Against unfaithfulness in life and conversation, as it displays itself 1) in suretyship ; 2) in fulfilling the duties of one's calling:
3) in daily converse with human society the Mount, to be ready at all times for the lending and giving away of one's property, even in oases where one cannot hope for the recovery of what has been given out (Luke vi. 30, 34, 8S comp.
1 Cor. vi. 7) this demand is not in conflict.
For Christ also plainly demands no such readiness to sufi"er loss on account of our neighbor, as would deprive us of personal liberty, and rob us of all means for further benetioence ; and yet this sort of evil result from suretyship is what the author of our passage has in his eye.
Also in the subsequent warning against stothfulness (vers.
6-11) the reference to the danger of impoverishment appears to be the luaiu motive, brought forward with especial emphasis.
This is above all things else the pre4) in married life.
Ver.
1-5. Starke:
A teacher of the divine word becomes in a certain sense a surety to God for the souls of his hearers (Ezek. iii. 18); therefore must he watch over them day and night, that none be lost through fault of his (Acts xx. 28).— cise thing to be learned from the example of the ant, that it is important to gather diligently "in summer," that one may not suffer in winter, that the "harvest time," when all is within reach in abundance, is the time for earnest and unceasing toils, that one may be able calmly to meet the later seasons of want which offer to the most willing and vigorous industry no opportuJ. Lange :
In Christ our friend we have a faithful surety who can and will free us from all our debt.—WoHLFABTB :
From credulity to put at risk one's property, to which one's children have the first claim, and which one should employ only for the general good, and thereby to give an impulse to the follies and sins of others, is quite as ruinous as it is morally blameworthy.
Ver. 6-11. Melancuthon :
Diligence is the virtue by which we are disposed steadfastly and firmly for God's sake, and the common welfare, nity for acquiring.
Comp. the example of Joseph in Egypt (Gen. xli. sq.), and apply all this to the spiritual department of labors in Christ's service, e. g., those of the pastor, the missionary, etc.
3. The six or seven vices, twice enumerated in different order and form of expression, against which the paragraph vers.
12-19 warns (comp. the exegetical notes on ver.
19), are at the same time all of them manifestations of hatred against one's neighbor, or sins against the second fable to perform the labors belonging to our calling, with the aid of God, who has promised aid to those that seek it.
The extremes of this virtue are indolence and abusy oiBciousness (TroAiin-paj/ioai)!'??).
The indolent omits too much ; the oiBcious, either from excess of ardor, undertakes many things of the Decalogue ; yet it is not so much a general unkindness as rather an unkindness consisting and displaying itself in falseness and malice that is emphasized as their common element.
.Vud only on account cf the peculiarly mischievous and ruinous character of just these sins of haired to one's neighbor, is he who is subject to them represented as an object of especially inth:tt are not necessary, or undertakes l)y-works
(-apFp^.a) and interferes with others' vocations," etc.—Egard; God will not support thee without work, but by work ; that is His holy ordinance (Gen. iii.
19).
Do thy part, and God will do His. ... To know how rightly to employ time and opportunity is great wisdom.
Gather in summer that thou raayest have in winter ; gather tense abhorrence on the part of a holy God, and as threatened with the strongest manifestations of His anger in pen-alties (vers.
15, 16).
As a fundamental proposition for the sucin youth that thou mayest have in old age
Bcrleb.
Bible :
Where the ways of Christianity are not directed in accordance with the perfect law of liberty (.Tames i. 25) and according to the impulse of the Spirit of God, but according to any human constitution, there men go more foolishly cessful avoidance of all converse with impure wantons, and of the dangers thence resulting, there is introduced in the 1st clause of ver. 2o a warning even against the very first beginnings uf all unlawful sexual intercourse, against ini-
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
to work than the ants in their labor.
[Trapp :
They are utterly out that think to have the pleathe sound parts, corrupts the actions of every virtue, and deprives them of their true grace and glory.—J. Edwaeds :
It is vain for any to pretend that they are humble, and as little children before God, when they are haughty, impudent, and assuming in their behavior amongst men.] sure of idleness, and the plenty of painfulneas].
Vers. 12-19. Egaed: A proud heart has never done anything specially for God's honor and a neighbor's good; through humble hearts God Vers. 2U-35. Stockee (on ver. 25) :
Solomon here warns chiefly against the things by which one may be enticed into adultery, namely 1) against evil desire and lust in the heart; 2) agaiust wanton, over-curious eyes.
Staeke (on does great things.
Staeke : The evil heart cannot long be hidden ; it soon shows itself in evil gestures, words and deeds.—(On ver. 18) :
The heart underlies the seven vices which are an abomination to God, and in the midst, because it ver. 25):
Since evil lusts spring up in the heart, Solomon would have us at the very beginning is the fountain from which evil flows in all directious
(Matth. xii. 34, 35; xv.
19).
The Lord slop up the fountains, i. e., suppress the very first therefore hates not only the actual outbreakings instigations of corrupt flesh and blood (James i. of sins, but also the devices of the ungodly with which they encompass diiy and night.—(On ver. lOsq.):
Eyes, hands, tongue, heart, feet, are in themselves good and well-pleasing to God; but when they turn from the path of virtue and in14, 15).
For it is always more difficult to extinguish sparks already existing than to guard against the heart's receiving any.
Von GebLACH (on vers. 34, 35) : The fearful rage of the jealous husband grows out of the deep feeling cline to vice, then they are evil and cannot please
God.
Wohlfauth:
Before the Lord proud eyes, that the wife is one with her husb.ind, a part of him, whose worth cannot be counterbalanced by any possession however great, outside of him.
Comp.
J. Lange :
Just as little as the adulterer taken in his adultery is left unpunished by the injured husband, so little, yea even less will the false tongues, guilty hands, elc, cannot stand.
His hand lays hold upon all such transgressors according to the holy law according to which every kind of evil finds its penalty.^[Ver.
16, 17.
W. Bates :
Pride is in the front of those sins which God hates, and are an abomination to Him.
Pride, like an infectious disease, taints spiritual adulterer remain unpunished of the Lord (1 Cor. iii. 17).
13. New admonition to chastity, with a reference to the warning example of a youth led astraj by a harlot.
Chap. VII. 1-27.
My son, keep my words, and treasure up my commandments with thee.
2 Keep my commandments and thou shalt live and my instruction as the apple of thine eye.
3 Bind them to thy fingers, write them on the tablet of thine heart.
4 Say to wisdom " Thou art my sister !" and call understanding " acquaintance,"
5 that they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger that flattereth with her words.
6 For through the window of my house, through ray lattice I looked out, 7 and I saw among the inexperienced ones, discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding.
8 He passed along the street near her corner, and sauntered along the way to her house,
in the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the midst of the night and darkness.
10 And lo, a woman cometh to meet him, in the attire of a harlot, and subtle in heart.
Boisterous was she, and ungovernable; her feet would not tarry in her house 12 now in the street, now in the market places, and at every corner did she watch.
; ; !
CHAP. Vn.
1-27.
.S9 13 And she laid hold upon him, and kissed him, put on a bold face and said to him, " Thankofferings were (binding) upon me, to-day have I redeemed my vows;
therefore came I out to meet thee,
to seek thy face, and I have found thee.
16 Tapestries have I spread upon my couch, variegated coverlets of Egyptian linen ;
1 have sprinkled my couch with myrrh, aloes aud cinnamon.
18 Come, let us sate ourselves with love till morning, and enjoy ourselves in love!
For the man is not at home, he has gone a long journey
the purse he has taken with him
not till the day of the full moon will he return."
21 She beguiled him with the multitude of her enticements, by the allurements of her lips she led him astray.
He followed her at once,
as an ox goeth to the slaughter, and as fetters (serve) for the correction of fools till an arrow pierceth his liver:
as a bird hasteneth to the snare, and knoweth not that his life is at stake.
24 And now, ye children, hearken to me, and observe the words of my mouth 25 Let not thine heart incline to her ways, and stray not into her paths.
26 For many slain hath she caused to fall and all her slain are many.
27 Ways of hell (is) her house going down to the chambers of death.
GRAMMATICAL AND CKITICAL.
Ver. 7. [ny^Xi tbe
consec. ocnitted, as is sometimes the case, the form resembling a simple iDtentional.
Gf> T T FEN. i€/ir<;«6. p. S74., BoTT. ^ ^ Qf^S. 6; 973, 5.
SruiRT (comm. in loc.) seems to be in error in regarding this a real voliintative, and reuderiug '" that I might see amung the simple, aud observe, etc."—A.].
Vers. 8. [For the form H^D instead of the full form HH^S (with the ordinary form of fern, nouns with suff.), Sfs T TT BiiTT. g 724, 6.
Comp. however Exegetical notes in regard to the proper reading.—A.].
Ver. 11.
[>.23'y^i usel of repeated recurrence in the past Fiens mvUiplex preeteriti according to the terminology of BoTT. §949,/.—A.] Ver. 13. In the verb n'^T!
(lit., she made hard, corroborairti) the doubling of the 2d radical is omitted, as in hShH,
T .^ ..
.Tud. XX, 40.
[Given by BoTT, g oOO.
.n, .as an example of the simplifying of that which is usually doubled, to express tiie idea of the permanent, gradual or gentle.
See also § 1123, 3.
Cump. (iREEN, ^141, 1 ; St(J\rt, ^ 66, 11.— A.J.
Ver. 15. [.Stuart's rendering of the last clause as final, " that I might find, eic," is unnecessary; it is rather a simple consecutive.—A.].
, Ver.
18.
[nDvJ?nj, the co/iortod'ue use of the Intentional.
Bott., § 965, 2.— A.]. therefore a didactic narrative, with a purpose of earnest warning, here presented as a conclusion
EXEGETICAL.
to the second larger group of admonitory discourses.
It is not possibly an allegory, for nothing whatsoever in the text points to such a conception of the adulteress, by virtue of wiiich she might be regarded as introduced as a personificalion of the abstract idea of folly (in contrast with that of wisdom personified).
Not till we come to chap. ix. 13 sq. do we tind such a presentation of folly under tlie image of a wanton, adulterous woman.—In contrast with the expositors of tlie ancient church, most of whom gave allegorical interpretations, the correct view is 1. From the preceding warnings against unchastity and adultery (chap. ii. 10-19; chap v.
; chap. vi. 20-3.5) the one now before us is distinguished by the fact, that the poel, after a preliminary general introduction (vyr^. 1—5; compchap. vi. 20-24), for the sake of delineating more clearly the repulsiveness and various consequences of intercourse with wanton women, depicts in narrative form the example of a single adultero'.is woman, wiio by her lascivious arts betrays a foolish youth into adultery.
This is
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
many recent expositors, e. g., Umbreit and Hitfound as early aa M. Geier, Vatablus, MerceRus, Egard, Hansen, Michaelis, Starke, and zig. translate and explain accordingly.
But inasmuch as according to ver. 12 (which Hitzio, without any reason, pronounces spurious), tho adulteress is accustomed to watch "at every corner," therefore at street corners in general, also in nearly all the moderns except Von Geri.ACH.
The view of several of those named, especially that of Starke, that the whole narration is to be regarded a true history, an actual expeit is not quite needful to refer the corner here mentioned to her dwelling.
All the ancient versions moreover have read only the simple HjIS (LXX : napa yuv'iav \ \\\\^.; juxta angulum^ etc).
—And sauntered along the way to her house.— Psychologically it is pertinent to depict the young man predisposed to sin as strolling before the house of the adulteress, and this as the beginning of his imprudence, so far forth as he thus plunges himself into temptation.
The verb l^X is fairly chosen, as it always expresses rience of the poet, lacks sufBcient support in the style and form of the delineation.
The history may just as well be imaginary as the contents of many narrations of Christ,—e. g., that of the good Samaritan, of the prodigal son, etc.
Vers. 1-5:
Introduction in a general form, in which ver.
1 reminds us of chap. i. 8
; ii.
vi. 20; so ver. 2 of iv. 4; ver. 3 of iii. 3
; vi.
; ver.
of ii.
16; vi.
24.—Ver.
2. And my teaching as the apple of thine eye, lit. " as the little man in thine eye."
The same figurative description is found in Arabic and Persian a certain care and intention in his going.
We say substantially " he measures his steps, he (see Umbreit on this passage).
Comp. also the Greek Kcip^, Kopdaiov (=]];?^-n| [the daughter pi.ces before her door" (Umbreit).—Ver.
9. In the twilight, in the evening of the day.— The accumulation of the expressions is explained by the fact that it was fitting to characterize the action and conduct of tiie young man as belonging to the works of darkness, the deeds of night.
Comp. Luke xxii. 53; Kom. xiii. 12; 1 Thess.v. 4-7, of the eye] Lam. ii. 18) and the Latin pupa,ptipiUa.
The apple of the eye is also in Deut. xxxii. 10; Ps. xvii. 8: Zech. ii.
12, the emblem of a precious possession guarded with peculiarly watchful care.—Ver.
Bind them to thy fingers, not precisely as an amulet, as Umbreit thinks, but as an ornament, a costly decoration, like a etc.
There is furthermore no contradiction between the notation of time in the first clause and ring; comp. Song Sol. viii.
G, and the observations on iii.
3.—Without adequate reason HiTZio that in the second ; for 'Ityj strictly signifies not regards the verse as spurious, on account of its the first evening twilight, but the later period of evening darkness, i'rom 9 o'clock to 12 (see Job partial correspondence with Deut. vi. 8; xi.
18.
As though the figures here employed, especially vii. 4; xxiv.
15), and so the time immediately bordering upon the true black night or midnight.
—In the blackness of night—literally, " in the pupil of the night," comp. xx. 20, K'ri.
The that in the first clause, did not occur very frequently within the sphere of the Old Testament, and that in every instance with a form somehow slightly modified!
Comp. e. g., Ex. xiii.
9, 16; tertiuin comparatio7iis is to be found, doubtless ia both, the blackness and the middle, and not in the first alone, as Umbreit holds.
Comp. besides the phrase "heart of the night" in the poetic language of the Persians (see Umbbeit on this passage).
Jer. xxii. 24; H.ag. ii. 23.—Ver. 4. "Thou art my sister!"
Comp. Job xvii. 14; xxx.
29; Wisd. viii.
The parallel "acquaintance" in the 2d clause corresponds with the Hebrew expression ^fllO, which denotes knowledge, acquaintance, and then (abstract for the concrete, 4.
Vers. 10-20.
The adulteress.—lnth.eatX.ixe of a harlot.—njil jTiy, dress of a harlot (comp. as occurs, e. g., also in the use of the French tonnaisance [.and the English " acquaintance "]) one well known, a friend, familiaris.
The same expression is found also in Ruth ii.
1 as the K'ri.
Comp. P. Cassei. on this passage, who however both for that passage and the one before us gives with respect to JT'E', dress, apparel, Ps. Ixxiii.
16), stands here with no connecting word in apposition to " woman ;" a woman a harlot's dress, as though the woman herself were nothing more than such a dress.
Thus, and with good reason, Bertheau explains [and Words.], while Hitzig the preference to the K'thibh i^l'O (comp. Ps.
Iv. 14
; Ixxxviii. 9) as the more primitive reading.
3. Vers. 6-9.
Tlie foolish young man.—Through my lattice I looked out.
Comp. the quite altogether artificially explains TVW by TIE' (from nit?) as equivalent to D-IOT, likeness, and accordT T
' similar representation in the song of Deborah, : ingly translates "with the outward appearance of a harlot;" in the same way also the LXX: cUoq .ludges V. 28. 3JtyX denotes as it does there a latixovaa
TropvtKdv.—Subtle in heart.
D^^VJ ticedaperture, an arrangement for the circulation of fresh air (Hitzig).—Ver.
7. And I saw among the inexperienced ; literally, among is strictly "one who is guarded in heart," i. e.j one whose lieart is guarded and inaccessithe vr/Kioic, the simple; comp. remarks on i.
4, where the same expression D'NDi) is used, .synonyble, who locks up her plans and counsels deep in her breast, comp.
Is. Ixv.
Thus Cur. B. MicuAELis (citing the French reteuu), Umbbeit, Bertheau, Elster, etc., and from earlier times mous with 1^'J, boy, as here with D'33.
It is not necessary, with Aiinoldi, Berthead and Hitzig, at least the Vers, Ve/ieta: vei/ivXay/iiv?/ rf/v Kap(Var.
[With these Wobdsw. is in substantial agreement; "her heart is like a walled fortress," e/c.].
The other ancient versions expressed the idea "one carrying away the heart of the young man," to explain the expression in exact accordance with the Arabic hy jiivenea [young men].—Ver.
H. Near a corner.—The Masorelic punctuation TM3 with mappik in the il (comp. mo. Job xi. 9) represents the corner as hers, i. e... the corner of the adulteress, the corner of her house,—and as though they had read n|^XJ (so also recently
CHAP.
VII.
1-27.
coach, etc.—Hitzio, who translates the verb by " I have perfumed," has in mind a mere perfuming of the bed or of its apparel by means of the swinging of a censer filled with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.
But while '^i does properly AaNOLDi).
EwALD explains "of hardened heart, bold and confident ;"
HiTZio, in accordance with the Arabic and comparing the saacia in Vikgil's .Eiieid. IV.
: "an arrow in her heart, wounded by love's dart," and therefore ardent ami wanton—both of these being plainly altogesignify to raise, to swing, yet the signification "sprinkle" is easily enough derived from this; and although the spices in question were not sprinkled precisely in the form of water holding them in solution, they still produced a satisfactory result if strewed upon the coverlets of the couch in little bits, fragments of the bark, fibres or scales.
In no other way than this is it to be supposed that the same fragrant materials (with ther artificial and adventurous.
[Fuerst, treating the adjective as fern, constr. from Ili'J, renders "watching (for hearts of young men").
Boisterous was she and ungovernable — With the first epithet (literally, shouting) comp. chap. ix. 13: with the second, Hos iv.
16, where the same word is used of a wild heifer that will not submit its neck to the yoke.—Ver. 12. Novr in the street, etc.—That we have only here a custom, a habit of the wanton woman described, while in the preceding verse we have delineated her condition in a single instance, is an entirely arbitrary assumption of Hitzig's, which is altogether opposed by the use of the Imperfect in cassia) were employed, according to Ps. xlv. 8, in perfuming the king's robes of state; comp. also Song Sol. iii. 6; iv.
14.—Ver.
18. Let us sate ourselves Twith love, etc.—Comp. v. 19, and also the phrase "tn npty, Song Sol. v. 1.— Enjoy ourselves in love.—Instead of the meaning "enjoy" or "delight one's self," well attested by Job xx. 18; xxxix. 13, the old interpreters give to the verb in this instance the stronger meaning "to embrace passionately, to cohabit" (LXX; eyKv^uG-^unev epurt; A(jutL.\ and Theodotion:
(7vu~ppi—XlKu^£v ; so also Hitzig:
"let us join in love's indulgence!").
But it is plainly unnecessary to substitute an obscene import, artificially and with a possible appeal to the Arabic, for the simpler meaning, which is abundantly attested by the usus Inquendi of the Old Testament.—Ver.
19. The man is not at home.—Let it be observed with how cold and strange a tone the faithless wife speaks of her husband.—He has gone a long journey. both oases (^iyjj], ver. 11, and a'isn, ver. 12).
Therefore the argument that the verse is spurious, resting as it does mainly oti this alleged difference in the substance and scope of the verse, is to be rejected (comp. above, remarks on ver. 8).—Ver. 13. Put on a bold face.—Comp. chap. xxi. 29; Eccles. viii.
1.—Ver. 11. ThankoSerings were binding upon me— that is, in consequence of a vow, as the second clause shows.
She has therefore on the day that is hardly gone ("to-day"—the day is here represented as continuing into the night) slain a victim in sacrifice that had been vowed to the Lord for some reason or other, and has prepared for a meal the flesh of this animal, which in accordance with the law. Lev. vii.
16, must be eaten on the second day, at the latest.
To this meal, which, Lit., "upon a journey from afar;" the idea " from afar " is loosely appended to that of "journey" in order to represent not so much the way itself as rather the person traversing it as far removed.—Ver.
20.
The purse he hath taken with him—and therefore proposes extensive transactions at a distance from home, and will continue journeying a considerable time.
On the day of the full moon he will return.
—In the Hebrew the XD3 (for which in Ps. Ixxxi. to judge from the description of the luxurious furnishing of the chamber, in vers. 10 sq., is no simple afi'air, she now invites the young man.
Ver. 16. Variegated coverlets of Egyptian linen.^nupn which the older translators nearly all interpret as "variegated coverlets," the larger number derive from the Arabic \^ ^ , 4 we have the form ^^^2) forms an alliteration with the 'IDS in the first member, which is probably not undesigned ; " the verse flows so smoothly along (comp. ii. 13) and one imagines that he hears the sweetly musical voice of the betrayer " (Hitzig).
Furthermore the "day of the to be many colored (therefore tapetes vrrsicolores 8. picti, as it is found as early as the Vulgate) ; Bertueau, on the contrary, derives from 30n=
3yn to cut, to make stripes or strips (therefore striped material) ; Hitzio finally derives from the full moon" is not a designation of the full mooa of the feast of tabernacles which was celebrated with peculiar festivities (Umbreit, Elster), but the expression plainly relates to the next succeeding full moon.
Since now, according to ver.
\^ ,. cotton, appealing to Puny, If.
Arab. iV, XIX., 1, 2, according to whom cotton fabrics in great quantity were manufactured from native material.
The first of these explanations, as the simplest and best attested, deserves the preference.—p!3S is equivalent to the ^Egypt.
Alhi9, the time to which the narrative relates must be about new moon, the cunning woman means to hint that her husband will not return for about a fortnight.
See Hitzio on this passage. ouniau, linen, and is found in Greek also in the form bA6v7i or biidviov.
[The rendering of the 5.
Vers. 21-23.
The result of her enticinfj arts.
Ver. 21. 'With the multitude of her enticeE. V.
" with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt" conforms too closely to the primary meaning of the verb 30n "to carve."
It cannot ments.—npy, learning (i. 5; ix. 9) is here ironically employed of the skilful and bewildering rhetoric which the adulteress has known how to employ.—With the expression "smoothness of lips" comp. "smoothness of tongue," chap. vi. refer to any carved frame work of the bed, but rather to the embroidered figures which resemble carving— .V.].—Ver. 17.
I have sprinkled my
THE PROVEKBS OF SOLOMON.
24.—Ver. 22. At once, Hebrew DNHS, implies stag, and connected it with ver.
23; so alea more recently Schellino and Rosenmuelleb, that he had at first hesitated, until this fear of e.g.; "and like a deer rushing into fetters."
HiTZiG finally treats the passage with the greatest violence, since he transfers ver.
23, third clause, to the place of the 2d clause in ver. 22; in this line, by altering DJ^f to D>'3 he changes the meaning to "for the fool is angry at correction;" he finally transposes the first and third clauses of ver. 23, so that the two verses have this general import: his to take the decisive step was overcome by evil appetite, and he now with passionate promptness formed the vile purpose and executed it at once, to cut off all further reflection.
Here is evidently a strolie in the picture of the prof'oundest psychological truth.—As an ox goeth to the slaughter.—Therefore following another, and with a brutish unconsciousness.
Comp. the corresponding figure, which, however, is used with a purpose of commendation, in Is. liii.
7. And as fetters (serve) for the correction of the Ver. 22.
" He followeth her at once, as an ox that goeth to the slaughter, and as a bird hasteneth to the snare. fool.—With the fetters (ODj! comp. Is. iii. 18) we have here compared, of course, the adulteress who suddenly and by a single efi'ort prevails upon the thoughtless youth.—and not, possibly, the young man himself (as U.MBREiT supposes, who finds the significance of the comparison in this, that the Ver. 23. For the fool is angry at correction, and seeth not that it is for his life, until an arrow pierceth his liver."
This might indeed have been originally the meaning of the passage ; but in.asmuch as neither manuscripts nor old versions give any evidence of any other arrangement as having ever existed, the whole emendation retains only the value of a bold hypothesis..—Ver. 23.
Till an arrcw pierceth his liver.—Since this clause plainly refers to the young man, and neither exclusively foolish and ensn.ared youth is represented first as a dumb beast, and then as a simply material physical thing, as a mere dead instrument.
As (he obstinate fool ( /').i<) who treads a forbidden path, is suddenly caught and held fast by the trap lying in ii, so h.is the deceitful power of the adulteress caught the foolish young man.
Thus, and with probable correctness, Elster, and long ago many of the older expositors, like Sol, to the ox nor the fool, the two examples of a self-destroying folly which in the second and third clauses of ver.
are compared with him, its position is parenthetical (Umbkeit, Elster, Bertheau, etc.); for in the following clause still another example is added to the two mentioned before,—that of the bird hastening to the snare.
The "liver" stands here as the representative of the vitals in general (comp. Lam.
Gl.^ss, I'hilol. Sacra, p. 738, and M. Geier on this passage (only that they unnecessarily explain by an hypaUage: "as fetters for the correction of afool," in other words, "as the fool (comes) to the correction of fetters").
Somewhat differently Bertheau, and before him Luther, Starke, li.
11) as in some instances the heart or again the reins (I's. xvi.
27:
Isxiii. 21; Prov. xxiii. etc. [and recently Stuart] ; " He comes as if to fetters, which are decreed for the correction of Iti, elc). According to Dklitzsch, Bibl Psychol., the fool ;" but to supply before DDJ?
'^X from the pp. 275 sq., the liver is here made prominent as the seat of sensual desire.
Since the ancient Greeks, Arabians and Persians in fact connected preceding has the order and parallelism against it.
[FuERST regards the noun as an instrumental accus., and translates "and as in fetters, i. e., slowly, the fool is led to correction,"—but regards the evidence as ,all indicating a defective this idea with the organ under consideration, and since modern Oriental nations also predicate of the liver what we say of the heart as the seat text.
Notes and Muenscher treat the noun as instrumental, but vary the construction of the other words:
" as one in fetters to the chastisement of the fool."
WoRDSw. suggests two or three renderings, of which that of Notes is one, but indicates no preference.
Zockler's rendering is brought, we think, with the least violence, of the feelings and sensibilities («. ff., the Malays in Java, see Ausland. 18G3, p. 278), this view may be received as probably correct.
By no means is the designation of the liver in the passage before us to be regarded as a purely arbitrary poetical license or as a mere accident.—And kncOTeth not that his life is at stake, literally, "that it is for his soul ;" the expression into correspondence with the other two comparisons, where the idea is plainly that of a certain
1U/2J3 signifies " at the price of his life," com)i. fate, notwithstanding unconsciousness of it.
So Numb. xvii.
3. fetters await the fool, though he may not be aware of it— .\.] Many older interpreters, either 0. Vers 24-27.
Concluding exhortation introduced by "and now." like the corresponding failing to understand the figure, or judging it inconsistent with the context, have sought relief in more violent ways.
The LXX, Peschilo and Tai'gums explain the D3i| or some word substifinal epilogue, chap. viii. 32; comp. also v.
Ver. 25. And stray not, J'^rl 7N, [a dehorlative] from n^Tl, to go roaming about, comp. HJi? tuted for this, as referring to a dog (LXX : chap.
V. 20.
Ver.
26. And all her slain are many. uaTTf/) Ki'tjv tKi Seajiioi-c), which is here made a parallel to the ox and then the bird in the following verse ; so also more recent commenD'OSJ?, meaning " strong" (Bertheau), is nevertheless on account of the parallelism with D"3^ tators, like MiCHAELis, Kohler, etc.
The Vulin the first member to be taken in the sense of gate probably read V23 instead of 02j}, since it
"numerous, many," comp.
Ps. ixxv.
18; Joel translates "as a wanton and stupid lamb."
Others, as of the older class the LXX, Peschito, i. 5, [Hold., Notes. Miiexsch., De W., K., agree with our author ; Stuart and Words., like the Targums, Arabic vers., elc. altered the 7']X to rX
E. v.. keep closer to the original idea of strong: li,
CHAP.
VII.
1-27.
• many strong men" have been her victims.
A.] Witli the expression in the first member comp. Judges is.
40.
Ver. 27.
TRTays of hell—her house.
"Her house" is the subject, having here a plural preLiAN, dejejuii. adv. Psychicos, c. 1: "Lust without gluttony would indeed be deemed a monstrosity, the two being so united and conjoined that, if they could by any means be parted, the sexual parts would first refuse to be attached to the belly.
Consider the body ; the region is one, and the order of the vices conforms to the arrangement of dicate connected with it, as chap. xvi.
"25; Jer. xxiv. 2.—Chambers of death. Comp.
'• depths the members ; first the belly, and all other sensualof death" or " oi ucll," clKip. is.
18: and with ity is built immediately upon gluttony; through indulgence in eating sensual desire ensues," elc.
In tbe horailetic treatment we are naturally not to dwell too long upon these details, lesf the reference to the general sentiment of the verse, chap. ii. 18
; v.
DOCTRINAL,
ETHICAL,
HOMILETIC
AND
PRACTICAL.
entire impression produced by the picture of the young man ensnared by the adulteress be unduly weakened.
An analysis of the chapter into several texts for sermons is inadmissible on account of the closely compacted unity of the action.
From the earlier and copious warnings against adultery the one now before lis is distinguished by the fact, that while chap. v. contrasted the blessing of conjugal fidelity and chaste marital love with unregulated sexual indulgence, and chap. vi. 20-35 particularly urged a contending against the inner roots and germs of the sin of unchastity,—our passage dwells with special fullness upon the temptations from without to the transgression of the sixtli commandment.
It also sets forth the folly and the ruinous consequences of yielding to such temptations, by presenting an instructive living ex- .•Vt tbe most, the five introductory verses may be separated as a special text (comp. Starke)
; yet even these would better be connected closely with the whole, and all the more since they conform very nearly in expression and contents to similar introductory paragraphs of a somewhat general nature, of which there have already been several
(see exeget. notes, No.
2).
The homily that should comprehend the entire chapter might therefore present some such theme as this: How the dtntf/n's frovi lemptntion to nn- .araple.
What elements in thisviviil moral picture stand forth as ethical and psychological truths chantily are to be eacappd.
Answer:
1) By avoiding idleness as the beginning of all vice (ver.
(>, to be taken especially to heart, has been already indicated by us in the detailed interpretation.
Abide from the fact that it is nocturnal rambling, that delivers the thoughtless, heedless and idling youth into the hands of temptation (ver.
'.)), and HHide from the otlier significant feature, that after a first brief and feeble opposition he throws himself suddenly and with the full energy of passion into his self-sought ruin (ver.
2'J ; comp, James i.
15), we have to notice here chiefly the important part played by the luxuriius and Havoi-y feast of the adulteress as a cooperating factor in the allurement of the self-indulgent youth (see ver. 14 sq. ).
It is surely not a feature purely incidental, wittiout deeper significance or design, that this meal is referred to as preceding the central and chief sin; for, that the tickling of the palate with stimulating meats and drinks prepares the way for lust and serves powerfully to excite sexual desire, is an old and universal observation, con»p. Ex. xxxii. 6
(1 Cor.
.x.
17).
"The people sat ilown to e.at and to drink, and sq.); 2) By shunning all works of darkness (ver. 9) ; 3) By subduing the sensual nature, and eradicating even the minor degrees of evil appetite (ver. 14 sq. ); 4) By the serious reflection, that yielding to the voice of temptation is the certain beginning of an utter fall from the grace of God, and of eternal ruin (vers.
21, 27).— Comp. Stakke:
Sin is like a highway robber, tlnit at first joins our company in an altogether friendly way, and seeks to mislead us from the right path, that it may afterwards slay us (Rom. vii. 11) —Im.aginary pleasure and freedom in the service of sin are like gilded chains with which Satan binds men.
Though the tempter is deeply guilty, he who suffers himself to be tempted is not for that reason excused.
Let every one therefore flee from sin as from a serpent (Ecclesiast. xxi.
2.1.—Comp. M. Geier: Be not moved by the flattering enticements of the harlot, the world, false teachers (that betray into spiritual adultery and abandonment of God), or of Satan himself.
Close thine ears against all this, /. e. refuse in genuine Christian simplicity and faithful love to the Lord to hearken to any solicitation to disobedience.
Follow not Eve's example, but Joro.se up to play:" as also similar passages from classical authors, »?.
^f.
Euripidks, Alceslis, 788; Plactus, Miles qlorinsus, HI., 1, 83; Abrian.
Anab. Alex., II., '), 4 ; and the well-known Roman proverb from Tekence (Eunuch., IV., .5. tj ; comp.
Appui.., Attium., If., 11), "Sine Cerere el Libera seph's.
Gen. xxxix.
8, etc.— [Trapp :
(ver.
0) Foolish men think to hide themselves from God by hiding God from themselves.— (Ver. 22).
Fair words make fools fain]. friijel Venus" [without Ceres (food) and Bacchus (wine) Venus (loye) is cold} ; and finally Tkbtul-
; !
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
Third Oronp of Admonitory or Proverbial Discoarse*.
Chap. VIII. 1—IX.
18.
14. A second public discourse of wisdom persoiufied.
Chap. VIII. 1-36. a) The richness of her gifts.
(Vers. 1-21.)
Doth not wisdom cry aloud, and understanding lift up her voice?
2 Upon the top of the high places, by the way, in the midst of the way she placeth herself.
3 By the side of the gates, at the exit from the city, at the entrance to its doors she calleth aloud
" To you, ye men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men 5 Learn wisdom, O ye simple ones, and ye fools, be of an understanding heart
6 Hear, for I speak plain things, and the utterances of my lips are right things
for my mouth meditateth truth, and wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
8 All the words of my mouth are right, there is nothing crooked or false in them
; 9 they are all right to the man of understanding, and plain to them that have attained knowledge.
10 Receive my instruction and not silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold I For wisdom is better than pearls, and no precious things equal her.
I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of sagacious counsels.
13 The fear of Jehovah is to hate evil,
pride, arrogance and an evil way, and a deceitful mouth do I hate.
14 Counsel is mine, and reflection ; I am understanding ; I have strength.
15 By me kings reign and rulers govern justly.
16 By me princes rule and nobles, all the judges of the earth.
I love them that love me, and they that seek me find me.
18 Riches and honour are with me, increasing riches and righteousness.
Better is my fruit than the purest, finest gold, and my revenue than choice silver.
In the way of righteousness do I walk, in the midst of the paths of justice,
to ensure abundance to those that love me, and to fill their treasuries.
; :
; ; :
CHAP.
VIII.
1-36. i»6 b) The origin of her nature in God.
(Vers. 22-31.) 22 Jehovah created me as beginning of his way, before his works of old.
23 From everlasting was I set up, from the beginning, before the foundation of the earth.
24 When there were as yet no floods was I brought forth, when there were no lountains abounding with water.
25 Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth ; 26 while as yet he had not made land and plains and the first clods of the earth.
27 When he prepared the heavens I was there, when he stretched out the firmament over the deep
28 when he established the clouds above, when the fountains of the deep raged loudly
29 when he set to the sea its bounds, that the waters should not pass its border; when he settled the foundation pillars of the earth
30 then was I at his side as director of the work, and was delighted day by day, rejoicing before him continually,
rejoicing in his earth, and my delight did I find in the sons of men. h c) The blessing that flows from the poBseBsion of her.
(Vers.
32-36.) 32 And now, ye children, hearken unto me Blessed are they that keep my ways!
33 Hear instruction, and be wise, and be not rebellious.
34 Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors 35 For whosoever findeth me findeth life and obtaineth favor from Jehovah ; 36 and whosoever sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul all they that hate me love death."
GRAMMATICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 2. ri^3=r3, in tht midst, is an Ar:imaic idiom, occurring also in Ezebiel xli. 9. —A.
Ver. 3. As to the form Hi'lp comp. i. 20.
[Bott. 929, 6.—A] Ver. 6. Instead of 31 ^y27\ [understand ye in heart, " be ye of an understanding heart," E. V.],we should probably read with the LXX [eVfleo-^e wapStai'J, Vul.c., Arnolpi and HiTZio 2
IJ'jn, direct your heart, i. €., exert your understanding, appUcaU animum.
Cump. |13J ^S, Ps. Ivii. 8
; and also 1 Sam. Tii. 3
; Job xi. 13
; and to illustrate the use of s'l in the sense of the understanding, the reason, comp. seyeral other passages in the Proverbs, especially xv. 32
; it»ii. Ifl: xix. 8.
Ver. 6. C'l'JJ.
[An illustration of the principle that "single adjectives describing what is pre-eminent or etrikini; appear in the more elevated style, raised aa it were to personality, and are therefore put in the masc, nlural :" see BiJTTCHER.
{707,2.-A.]
, Ter. 13.
HNJI^, [an infinitive of a verb N7 having the feminine termination of the verbs n? ; see BiJTT., J 10S3, 13.—A. J.
DnX [regularly 3n!<X.—after the rejection of one of the weak consonants, the vowel is "assimilated " fr-un the Initial vowel of the neighboring form "3nS; for examples of the normal modification, 3nS. with and without siiBlitcs, •ee Mai. i. 2; Hos. xi. 1
; xlv. 5:
Ps. cxix. 167.—BijtT., §425, A.—A.] 'JJKSp', [an example of the retention of the fuller form of the plural ending with weakened vowel and tonelesi «ufflx;'see PBtt., | 1047,/.— A.J
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
Ver. 24. H^J'VD.
"With this fem. plural form there occurs in an isolated instaDce, Pe. civ. 10 [together with four others of construct and suffix formd], the masculine D*y^*0 i for which reason the masc. of the adjective ^133J is the less striking (Bebtheau).
Ver. 26. [Perfect lense with D1t3 in the sense of a Pluperfect.
Bott., § 947, c— A.] Ver. 29. [.n3>" n'?!.
Imperfect with xSi '"^"S" °' *''''°P'^^'^- ^"''j-' "*""'**>" ^Bott., J 949, J 2.—A.]
Ver. 29. ip.in2 stands either for 'lpn3, or as Hlizio perhaps more correctly assumes for the Poal form 1ppin3.
[BiiTTCHER prefers the first of these explanations, citing this as an exam|)le of usage varying in certain words, and sug, gesting as a reason for the adoption of the fuller form in this case, correapoudeiico with iOW2 in the first clause.
See {J 766, 71, and 1147.—A.] This form of interrogation (with tOri) which
EXEGETICAL.
expects as its answer an assenting and emphatic "Yes, truly !" points to the fact clearly brought 1. Preliminary Remark.
From the preceding larger group of admonitory discourses (cliap. iv.to view in all that has preceded, that wisdom bears an unceasing witness in her own behalf in the life of men. vii.), that now before us, comprising only chap, viii. and ix., is distinguished chiefly by the fact Ver.
2. Upon the top of the high places by the v?ay, in order that those who pass along by the way may observe her.
In the midst of the iway.
This Aramaic idiom gives no occasion for pronouncing the passage spurious (contrary to the view of Hitzig, who furthermore takes exception to the allusion to " high places " that it returns to the representation, which has already been made in chapters i.-iii. of Wisdom as a person.
And this is so done that the two features of the representation which there appeared separately ; the exhibition -of Wisdom as a public preacher (i.
20-33), and as a divine agent In the creation of the world (iii. 19-26), in the 1st clause, and therefore summarily pronounces the entire 2d verse interpolated).
UmBREiT translates " at the house where roads are now combined in one whole.
Here Wisdom appearing as a preacher herself testifies to the aid which she rendered God at the creation
(viii.
22 sq.).
Besides tliis point of contact with the cross," and interprets, not indeed of an inn located at cross-roads (as Doderlein does), but first main group, we may also direct attention to still of a house situated at the junction of several the mention of the fear of God as a disposition in streets.
But these "ways" are roads, solitary the most intimate alliance, and even identical with wisdom (viii. 13) ; this also is common to paths, not streets in the city, and the delineation proceeds in such an order as to exhibit Wisdom the division before us and the first; for only in chapters i.-iii. (see i. 7; i. 29; ii. 5; iii. 7) was any express utterance given to this form of the Hhokmah doctrine.
The middle group (chap, first, in ver. 2, as a preacher in the open country, in grove and field, on mountains and plains, and then in ver. 3 to describe her public harangues in the cities, and in the tumult of the multitudes.
The condition therefore is unlike both to that presented in i. 20, 21, and to that in ix. 13, where iv.-vii.) nowhere contains the expression "the fear of Jehovah."
There are however continually coming to view many conned ions between in both cases the interior of a city alone furnishes the scene for Wisdom's activity as a preacher. the second and third groups ; especially the plural address "ye children," repeated in the discourse of the personal Wisdom (viii. 32) from Ver.
3. At the exit from the city, literally " towards the mouth of the city," i. e., standing chap. iv.
; v.
; vii.
(see above, p.
95).
Observe also the representation of Folly personiat the gate and facing the streetB which centre there.—At the entrance to its doors, (comp. fied, as a counterpart to Wisdom (chap. ix. ISi. 21), i. e., standing on the farther (outer) side IS), appearing as an adulteress of mien and bearing quite like the adulterous woman of chap, of tho gateway.
3. Vers.
-1-11.
This more general introduction vii. who is as it were exhibited here, " developed to Wisdom's discourse, with the addition of ver. into a more comprehensive character"
(comp.
HiTzio, p. 09). ^Furthermore this last section of 12, Hitzio declares spurious, partly on account of the alleged tautological nature of vers. 6-9, giving no genuine progress to the thought, the first main division of the Book of Proverbs consists of only two discourses of unequal length, chapters viii. and ix. each of which, however, in (urn includes several subdivisions clearly distinguishable,—chap, viii., comprising the three that have been given above, and chap. ix. the two papartly because ver. 10 is almost identical with viii.
19, and ver.
with iii.
15,—and lastly, partly because of the peculiar form D''ty''X in ver. 4, which is said to betray a later date.
Yet this very form is found also in Isa. liii. 3, and rallel delineations of the personal Wisdom (vers.
1-12) and Folly personified (vers. 13-18).—The unequal length of the two discourses HiTiir. seeks to a certain extent to remove by striking out from chap. viii. a large number of verses, Ps. cxli.
4, for both of which passages the later origin (in the exile, or even after the exile) is in like icanner yet to be established.
And as respecls the alleged tautologies and repetitions, similar ones occur throughout the entire Book sixteen, and from ch.ap. ix. a smaller number, of Proverbs (comp.
Inlrod.
| 12).
The codices and old versions, however, know nothing whatsix, as spurious additions by a later hand.
His grounds of distrust are, however, here again of a purely subjective kind, and do not present for a single one of the passages in question any reliable evidence of their spurious character, as we ever of the absence from tlie text of even a single one of these verses.
Ver. 5. Learn wisdom. O ye simple ones.
Comp. i. 4.—Ye fools, shovr understanding. shall hereafter have occasion to sliow in detail.
2. Vers. 1-3. Doth not wisdom cry aloud? sec ci'itical note, above.