42 The Proverbs Of Solomon
a .
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
Vers. 1-11. Egard:—The Eternal Son of God gathers, plants, builds His Church by a voice, go so far as Owen and say, "A personal transaction before the creation of the world, between i. e., His word.
All true teachers of the word are crying voices through which Christ calls.— the Father and the Son, acting materially by their One Spirit, concerning the state and condiOut of Christ's school is no true wisdom ; they who deem themselves wise and shrewd are unfittion of mankind, with respect to Divine love and favor, is that which we inquire after, and which ted to learn of Him.—So long as Christ's wisdom is here fully expressed."
Wordsworth not agreeing with Ge-senius, etc., in regard to the primary meaning of the much debated HJp* is still speaking outside of thee it avails thee nothing; but when thou allowest it to dwell in thee it is thy light and thy life.—Thou shouldst have one heart and one mouth with Christ; if admitting that it originally signifies acquire, nevertheless agrees with Gesen., Hupfeld
(?), NoYES, Stu.\rt and others in here rendering false and perverse things are found in thy mouth thou art still far from Christ.—Silver and gold it "created," because he wants an "eternal generation " as the product of his exegesis,— is mere vanity and nothingness ; what can it help in the day of wrath and judgment?
Let God's word be thy highest and best treasure — product far enough from the thoughts of most of thos3 who agree with him in his rendering. We
Berleb. Bible: Wisdom (who speaks to us not only through the word %vritten and preached, but also inwardly, as God's voice in our hearts) is so can, to say the least, go no farther th;in our au- 'hor has done in discovering here the foresh.adowings of the doctrine of the Logos.
We are far from keeping silence, that although we stop our ears, we yet hear her correction within at the entrances and doors of the heart; and although we will not understand her, we must nevertheless feel her.
And this is a testimony how desirous God is of our blessedness. inclined to prefer the still more guarded statements, e. g.. of Dr. J. Pye Smith (Scripture Testimony to the ile.ssiah, I., 3-52), that this beautiful picture "cannot be satisfactorily proved to be a designed description of the Saviour's person ;" or that of Dr. John Harris (Sermon on Prov.
Vers. 12-21. Melanchthon (on vers. 14 sq.):
Those counsels are just which agree with tlie word of God ; and these counsels will at length have joyful issues, with the aid of the Son of God, who wills to aid those that continue in tlie word which He has given, and who call upon Him.—LuTUER (marginal comment on vers.
15, 16):
"Princes should act, speak, work, honorably and praiseworthily, that men may glory iu and follow their example ; and not as the tyrants, the foul, the Cyclops," etc.—Hasius : When true wisdom is taken into counsel in every thing. Dien viii. 30-36).
"At all events, while, on the one hand, none can demonstrate that Christ is here directly intended,—on the other, none ca.a. prove that He is not contemplated; and perhaps both will admit that under certain conditions language such as that in our text may be justifiably applied to Him.
One of these conditions is, that the language be not employed argumentatively , or in proof of any thing relating to Christ, but only for the purpose of illustration; and another is that when so employed, it be only adduced to illustrate such views of the Son of God as are already in all ranks that will occur which each one's purpose demands according to a perfect ideal.
Kings, princes, nobles, counsellors will act in conformity with the aim of their calling (2 Chron. xix.
6, 7).—Things would stand much established by such other parts of Scripture as are admitted by the parties addressed."—A.]
HOMILETIC AND PRACTICAL.
Homihj on the entire chapter.
See the translation above, andcomp. Stocker: The heavenly Wisdom which is the word of God is urgently commended better in the world if men exercised their spirit more after holiness, and strove with greater zeal for wisdom, Matth. vi.
33.
Berleburg Bible:
No one can rightfully take to himself the name to us:
1) by the good opportunity which we have to study it (vers. 1-5) ; 2) by the rich blessing of a Christian ruler, but he who subjects himself that it brings us (vers. 6-21) ; 3) by the eminence and majesty of the teacher who teaches it, and who is no other than Christ, the eternal Son of God (vers. 22-36).
St.^rke : The true Wisdom's in spirit and truth, in humble obedience to the control of the Almighty, lays himself at His feet and allows himself to be wholly ruled by Him.
Others exercise a rude, violent and tyrannical invitation of all men to the Kingdom of God
1) the invitation itself (vers, l-ld); 2) the inducements to give heed to it, namely: a) the inestimable value of wisdom (vers.
11, l2) ; b) the control, and an assumed authority over the person of men.
Von Gerlach: The wisdom who here announces herself is tlie very wisdom of God, and is therefore also, as all good can be from God alone, the soul of all good laws and ordinances (vers.
14-17), and must, as every blessings of those who accept her invitation to tlie Kingdom of God (vers.
13-36). — Calmer Uandbuch :
Wisdom commends herself:
1) in general (vers. 1-5) ; 2) by her truthfulness (vers. thing earthly is ruled, disposed and rightly distributed among men by God, necessarily reward
6-9); 3) by the prudence, understanding, honor and power that she imparts to her followers her disciples with welfare, honor and riches (vers.
18-21).
[Ver.
12. Charsock:
All arts among men are the rays of Divine wisdom shining upon tliem.
Whatsoever wisdom there is in the (vers. 10-21); 4) by her eternal existence, her participation in the creation, her delight in the sons of men (vers. 22-36).
Wohlfarth : Wisdom world, it is but a shadow of the wisdom of God. the truest and best friend of men, her doors Ver.
13. Arnot:
To fear retribution is not to (ver. 34) standing open day by day to every one hate sin ; iu most cases it is to love it with the that needs and desires her. wliole heart.
It is when sin is forgiven that a sinner can hate it.
Then he is on God's side.
Instead of hating God for his holiness, the forgiven man instinctively loathes the evil of his *rFor a very full and candid discussion of this with other related points, see an article by Prof. E. P. Barrows, BMioth.
Sacra, April, 1858 ; also, Libdon's Bamp. Lectures, pp. 00, 01.
-A.]
CHAP.
IX.
1-18.
J 05 own heart.—JoxA Euwarus:
" The affection of hatred as having sin for its object is spolcen of in Scripture as no inconsiderable part of true religion.
It is spoken of as that by which true religion may be known and distinguished."—Ver. wonder at it (comp. Eph. iii. 10.
"the manifold wisdom of God").
Von Gerlach : — That " play " of wisdom in which the Lord takes pleasure, and her joyousness on the earth, in which she finds her joy among men, points to the childlike gladness of the love that ruled in creation, and to the confidential relation into which the children of wisdom on earth (Matth.
1.5.
Bp. Sanderson : On the efficient cause and consequent obligation of human law.
Hooker; *' By makings reign," etc.
Not as if men did behold (hat book and accordingly frame their laws; but because it worketh in them, because it discovereth and (as it were) readeth itself to the world by them, when the laws which they malie are righteous.—-Ver.
18.
Arsot :
The riches which the King of saints imparts along with the patent of nobility to support its dignity withal, are linked to righteousness and last forever.
Handfuls are gotten on the ground, but a soulful xi. 19) enter, to her the very wisdom of God ; comp. Prov. x. 23.
In this passage there is a most clearly prophetic gleam of the light of the New Testament:
God's eternal wisdom comes forth from Him that He may delight Himself in her activity
; His own eternal nature the Father for his own blessedness contemplates in the Son.
And it is in a love most intimately blended with wisdom that the Father created the world, to His own blessedness and that of His creatures.
IS not to be had except in Christ.] Vers.
22-31.
Geier:—From this delineation there follows:
1) the personal difference of the Son from the Father; 2) the essential likeness of the Son to the Father, as parlaker of the Divine activity in creation; 3) the unutterable love of the Father to the Son (ver. 30?) ; 4) the deep and grateful love which we in turn owe to this Divinely loved director and mediator in creation and redemption.
Zeltner:
All the works of God's omnipotence and wisdom thou shouldst contemplate with holy joy and wonder, praise the Creator for them, and with them strengthen thyself in faith in His paternal providence.—As nn essential and indescribable fellowship exists between the Father and the Son, so does there exist between God and the believer a gracious spiritual union, on which the Christian must be most intent.
Starke : All things have had their beginning except the Son of God regarded in His Divine nature.
He is with the Father and the Holy Ghost true God from everl.a.sting to everlasting.
All that this Eternal Wisdom does in the kingdom of nature, as well as in that of grace, she does with gladness and delight: yea, there is in this work so lovely and wise an alternation and mauifolduess, that we must in reason
Vers. 32-36. Geier :
The true fruits of obedience should follow the hearing of the word.
To these belong:
1) walking the prescribed way; 2) willing reception of the Divine correction ; 3) the extirpation of all inner opposition ; 4) zealous and persistent seeking after salvation ; 6) thankful enjoyment of the true wisdom when found.
Von Geklach (on vers. 34 sq.): Wisdom here appears as a sovereign, separate and secluded in the style of Oriental monarchs. so that only those know any thing of her who diligently keep watch at her doors.
Wisdom, who is universal in her call and invitation (vers.
1-3), yet in the course of communication, in order to test the fidelity of her admirers, veils herself at times in a mysterious darkness, and reveals herself only lo those who never intermit their search (Matth. vii. 7) —[John Howe:
There ought to be an expectation raised in us that the vital savor diffused in and by the word may reach us; and many are ruined for not expecting it, not wailing at the posts of wisdom's door.
Trapp:
Hear, etc.
This way wisdom enters into the soul.
Hear, therefore, for else there is no hope ; he.ar, howsoever.
Flavel :
It is good to lie in the path of the Spirit.] 15.
Allegorical exhibition of the call of men to tbe possession and enjoyment of true wisdom, under the figure of an invitation to two banquets.
Chap. IX. 1-18. a) The banquet of wisdom:
Vers. 1-12.
Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars hath slaughtered her beasts, spiced her wine, hath also spread her table ; hath sent out her maidens ; she inviteth on the highest points (summits of the high places) of the city:
"Whosoever is simple, let him come hither!"— Whoso lacketh understanding, to him she saith
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
5 " Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed!
6 Forsake the simple, and live, and walk in the way of understanding.
7 He who correcteth a scorner draweth upon himself insult, and he who rebuketh the wicked, it is his dishonor.
8 Reprove not the scorner lest he hate thee ; admonish the wise and he will love thee.
9 Give to the wise and he becometh yet wiser, insitruct the upright and he learneth yet more.
10 The beginning of wisdom is the fear of Jehovah, and knowledge of the Holy (one) is understanding.
11 For by me will thy days become many, and the years of thy life will increase.
12 Art thou wise, thou art wise for thyself, and if thou scornest thou alone shalt bear it." b) The banquet of Folly :
Vers. 13-18.
A simple woman (and) clamorous, is Folly, and knoweth nothing whatsoever.
14 She sitteth at the door of her house enthroned in the high places of the city,
to invite the wayfarers who go straight on their ways
" Whosoever is simple let him come hither !" whoso lacketli understanding to him she saith
" Stolen waters are sweet, and bread taken in secret is pleasant,"
18 and he knoweth not that the dead are there, in the depths of hell (the lower world) her guests.
GRAMMATICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver.3. [BijTTCHER cites ^0*^D aa illustrating a peculiar Hebrew idiom by which the emphatic plural of generic deBignatione of perftona, places and things is used for the singular with an indefinite article, which the Hebrew lacked, and only in its later periods began to suppl»-ment by the numeral.
He would therefore translate "on one of the high places of tho city."
See AusfiilirL Lehrb., J 702, d.].
Vers. 4. [TD'i an e.-iample of the " consultive" use of the Jussive form (see B TT. § 964, 2), which under the influ- *._T eace of the succeeding word retains the u vowel (§ 956, g,—^ 1132, 3), the ordinary Jussive being lb"- mpX Perf. consec, employed, as it sometimes is in the lively discourse of oratory and poetry, without the connective
1, B. g 974].
Ver. 9. [D3iT1, ^lOVl, examples of Jussive with
consec, in the "conseca/ree-a^rroattije" sense, as giving an assured result.
BoTT. 3 9l>4. a.l.
....
.j ,« o/,n x •.
. i, /^ j Ver. 13. [no is regarded by BiiTTCHEE also as an indefinite, quidquid or quidquam, Q 899, e), as it is by Gesbhids and FtJERsT.
GESES^however finds a different "hade of meaning in the verb, and translates " and careth for nothing "].
Ver. 16. (miDNl. an example of the Perf. consec. in the sense of the " riens solitum, the " future with the idea of T : t: customary action.
B5tt. § 981, B. p.]. pillars suggests the splendor of the completed building.
The sevenfold number represents this
EXEGETICAL.
as a sacred work ; for seven stands here, as it so frequently does in the Old and New Testaments,
Vers.
1-3. 'Wisdom hath builded her bouse.
The figure of the building of a house which is readily suggested by the appellation " director of the work " in chap. viii. 30, approas a sacred number (comp. my article " Siebenzakl" in Heuzoq's Theol. Reat-Enq/d.. XIV. 353 sq.).
The house of the celestial Wisdom is by priately provides for a transition from the dethis peculiar and emblematic description represcription of the agency of eternal Wisdom in the sented, as it were, in advance, as a temple, and creation of tlie world, to thai here symbolized as an invitation to a banquet,—her activity among men, summoning and morally instructing them.
Comp. chap. xiv.
1.—The designation of Wisdom the banquet offered in it as a sacred sacrificial meal.
Special significance in the seven pillars, c.
J/., in connection with the seven attributes of the higher wisdom enumerated in James iii. 17; (nin:in) is the same as in i. 20.—Hath hewn or the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit referred to in Rev. i. 4, 12 sq.
; iii.
; iv. 5
; v.
6, etc. (Vlout her seven pillars.
'X^Xa hewing out of
CHAP.
IX.
1-18. m TRINGA,
C. B. MiCHAELIS,
J. LaNGE, VoN GeBLACH, etc.], or the seven principia deducliva EthiFor the verses following give this very counsel, not to keep company longer with the simple, with fools and scorners, because these are ces divinse (according to S. Bohlius, comp. remarks above, p. 74, note), or finally, the first seven chapters of the Book of Wisdom now bestill incorrigible.
The old versions and most modern commentators [as e, g., St., N., M ] regard the noun .as abstract (equivalent to the sing. fore us,— all this is indicated by nothing whatever in the context, and is therefore wholly ar- 'ri3 in i. 22, or the abstract derivative n?'"n3 in ver.
13), and therefore translate " Forsaka simplicity, let your simplicity go."
[As Tiiapp, bitrary.
The suffix in n'1^3^, since r\'2 is usually masc, seems to refer to Wisdom as the in his pithy way expresses it:
"No coming to this feast in the tattered rags of the old Adam: you must relinquish your former evil courses and companies"].
But such a signification of this plural is attested by no example whatsoever.
Just as unadvisable is it to construe the verb absosubject of the proposition, her, not its seven pillars.
Ver 2.
Hath slaughtered her beasts.
Notwithstanding the sacred character of the banquet, nn3i3 is still not to be necessarily translated " her victims," but signifies " that which is slaughtered," slain animals in general.
There lutely, by which HiTzioreaches the translation, "Cease, ye simple," etc.; for in Jer. xviii. 14, the verb is construed not absolutely, but rather with [!3
; and the connection with w(iat follows is probably no reference to vii.
14.—The "mixing of the wine " seems not to refer to a mere mixing of wine with water, but to the preparaat least decidedly favors our explanation, which tion of a strong spiced wine with myrrh, etc. ; comp.
Isa. V. 22; Prov. xxiii. 30, etc.
Ver. 3. She inviteth on the highest points of the city, ;. e., so that her servants must ascend the highest elevations of the city (not speis supported by Umbueit also among others of the later expositors.
Ver. 7. He who correcteth the scorner dratweth upon himself insult.
Usually the connection with ver. 4-6 is so conceived as if Wisdom were here (in ver. 7-10) explaining her conduct in inviting especially the simple
; she is supposed to turn to these alone, for the reason that if she wished to invite the scornful and wicked also she would only expose herself to incifically the roofs of palaces), from which their calls of invitation to the banquet are most widely heard.
Hitzig singularly translates " on the bare elevations of the city," because D"3J in Exod. xxi.
3, 4, and according to the Arabic, means naked, unclothed (?).—Furthermore the maidens sent forth, the servants of Wisdom, correspond to the servants by whom the Lord in the Gospel (Luke xiv. 10 sq.
; Matth. xxii.
1 sq.) has the guests invited to his banquet. dignities, and yet would effect nothing.
But against this view of the course of thought may be urged decidedly, the warning and admonitory tone of vers.
8, 9, and the didactic nature of ver.
10, which make it easy to find expressed in ver.
2. Vers.
4-12.
" ^A^hosoever is simple let him come hither!" etc.
On accnuut of tlie similarity of this verse to ver.
Iti, which contains the words of Folly's invitation, and on account 7 also the spirit of dissuasion, and so to regard vers. 7-10 as an argument in support of the demand embodied in the 1st clause of ver.
6, to avoid further intercourse with the simple, scornof the summons to eat breud (ver.
-5) which does not agree with the mention of the slain beasts in ers, villains, etc.
A comparison with i. 22 shows that under the "simple " may be included very readily mockers, the violent, etc., as belonging ver.
2, HiTZiQ pronounces vers. 4 and 6 spurious.
But it is very significant and pertinent that Wisdom's inviiatiou appears clothed in the same words as that of Folly (comp. the analogous verbal repetitions in Christ's parables and didactic narratives, e. g , Matth. xxv. 20, 22: Luke to the same category ; so does also the name "simplicity "
(nrriiJJ which is below, in ver.
13, directly given to the personification of Folly.
"Abandon intercourse with such persons" is therefore Wisdom's admonition, " for you gain from it nothing but insult, hate and contempt: forsake the camp of the simple (D'Xn3) and come over into that of the wise (D'ODll), whose watchword is the fear of God and knowledge of the Holy; so will you find abundance of happiness and blessing."
Hitzig, whose oonceptioir of the 1st clause of ver. makes the recognition ofthisasthe true connection of thought from the first impossible, summarily rejects ver. 7-10 as a later interpolation.
But if in fact the "if thou scornest " in the 2d clause of ver. 12 suggested this interpolation, the verses introduced would both in form and substance have been esV.
6, 9; xvi.
6, 7, etc.); and to "eat bread" stands here as in iv.
7, and indeed frequently (e g.. Gen. iii. 19; Lev. xxvi. 5; Deut. xxix.
(i; Judges xix. 5;
Sam. ii.
30, etc.), by synecdoche for " the partaking of food, the taking a meal " in general.
[The allegorical view of (his passage as held, e. g., by WoRnsw., and in his Commentary supported by ample use of the Church Fathers, may be illusi rated by the supposed reference of ver. 5 to " the Body of Christ, the Living Bread, and the mystery of His blood, bj' which we are refreshed at His Holy Table."
A.].
The destitute of understanding, to him she saith.
Before the 3 (.""lOn there is sentially different.
And in the form in which the passage has come down in the manuscripta HiTziGS hypothesis of an interpolation here again finds no kind of support.—And he 'who rebuketh a wicked man to him it is a shame.
The word
(his fault or shame) to be supplied from the 1st member the pronoun 'D, —literally, therefore " who is destitute of understanding, to him she saith."
The discourse accordingly here (and in the 2d member of ver. 15) falls back from the style of recital to that of description. cannot be dependent on the verb (np7) of the Ver.
Forsake the simple.
It will he first clause which is associated with
[he easiest to take this phrase in its literal sense.
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
rous, [violently excited] is Folly.
The abstract nrr\i3, simplicity, foolishness (see above remarks on ver. 7) is here plainly the subject, and designates the personified Folly, the exact opposite of Wisdom in ver.
With this subject taketh to himself his shame], but must be regarded as a predicnte:
"this is to him shame, such action is his disgrace."
Comp. Eccl. v. 16
; Ps. CSV.
Ver.
Give to the wise and he becometh 1)^1361.
Comp. chap. i.
5, which passage although expressing an idea lilfe that before is associated and prefixed as the main predicate, the appellation " woman of folly," i. e., simple woman ; the P'Oin " clamorous, boislerT ous" is in turn an attribute of this predicate, and describes the passionately excited, wanton desire of the foolish woman represented as an adulteress, just as in vii.
11, with which delineation that before us has a general and doubtus, must not for that reason be regarded as derived from this (in opposition to Hitzig).
[Lord Bacon (Ada. of Learnini/, Book II.) says, " Here is distinguished the wisdom brought into habit, and that which is but verbal and swimming only in conceit ; for the one upon the occasion presented is quickened and redoubled, the other is amazed andconfused "].
Withver. lOcomp. i. 7; less intentional correspondence.—And know, eth nothing \whatever.
In this way in accordance with Job xiii.
13, this phrase of the ii.
Corresponding with the "Knowledge of God " in the latter passage we have here "knowledge of the holy," i. e. not "knowledge Masoretio text (n3"n>''l''"731) must unquesof the holy"
[in plural] (LXX, Vulgate, and most Catholic expositors), but "of the Holy"
[in tionably be interpreted.
Utter ignorance (comp.
John xi. 40, "ye know nothing at all ") would accordingly be what is here asserted of Folly.
But perhaps Hitzig is right, according to the LXX {jj ovK E—iGTaTcu aloxwrji^ "who knowetb singular, "dcs jjeiliytn"''], i. e. of God.
Comp. further for this plur. majest. chap. xxx. 3 and Hos. xii.
[See still further examples of the use of participial plurals in the same way in Isa. not shame") in reading T\3~l3 instead of no (the disappearance of the two consonants liv. 5; Ps. cxxi.
6; Eccl. xii.
1, etc., Ewalk, Uhrb., I 178, h, BoTT., I 701, Green, I 202.— AVith regard to the interpretation compare Dr. might easily have been occasioned by the false J. Pte Smith (Script.
Test, to the Messiah, I., 311):
" According to the usual construction of Hebrew poetry, the plural epithet "the Holy" must be understood in apposition with Jehovah reading nO"'73), and therefore in translating "andknoweth no shame," which agrees admirably with the "boisterous " of the 1st clause.
Ver 14. She sitteth at the door of hei house, like harlots who watch for passers by; comp. Jer. iii. 2
; Gen. xxxviii.
14, and the conduct of the adulteress described in chap. vii. 10 in the former half of the distich."
So H., St.
M., and N.—A.] Vers.
11, 12 are not to be regarded as taking up the discourse after the alleged digression in sq.—Seated in the high places of the city.
The place thus described is not the same as that vers. 7-10, and attaching themselves to the words of invitation in vers. 4-6 to justify them (BeeTHEAn, Hitzig), but give the reason for the genein the 1st clause, but some other, farther removed from the door of the house.
The harlot ral affirmation in vor.
10, which had been added is therefore quite like the one in chap. vii. 10 sq., represented as running irregularly this way and that and often changing her place.
In this, however, the representation accords with that in as a peculiarly strong motive to the acceptance of Wisdom's invitation.
The address in the singular has therefore nothing remarkable in it; it simply follows vers.
8, 9.—By me vsrill thy days become many, etc.
Comp. similar promises of long life, chap. iii. 2
; iv.
10.
[For the ver. 3
; as Wisdom so also Folly sends forth lier call of invitation from elevated places of the city (comp. also chap. viii.
2).
A real throne as her seat, which she has erected under the open use of this 3d pers. plural ^3'pV see the gramair, and which, in contrast to the "bald, uncovered heights"
(?) mentioned in ver.
3, is supposed to be covered with tapestry (Hitzig), is mars generally, e.g.
Ges., J 134, 3; Green, ^ 243, 2, 4, but niore fully BiiTT., § 935, 6],—Art thou virise, thou art -wrise to thyself.
The certainly not intended; but the "throne" is here metaphorical; a "lofty throne of the city"
(U.mdueit) is a figurative and probably an ironiBiune thought is found somewhat more fully developed in Job xxii. 2, 3; xxxv. 6-9; comp.
.also Rom. xi. 3.5
; Rev. xxii. 11,1 2.—If thou scornest thou alone shalt bear it.
Comp. Numb. cal representation of a specially high place on which the wanton harlot has stationed herself, and therefore is as it were enthroned. ix. 13; Jer. vii. 19; Job xxxiv. 31, and also the Latin dictum of Petuonius, "5^6^ quisque pcccat.^'
The LXX offer in ver.
12, 1st clause, the fuller reading "thou shalt be wise for thyself and for thy neighbor" {nal tCi irh/aiov) which is surely the reVer.
1-5. Who go straight on their ways, and therefore qniei, unwary travellers who li.ke no thought of circuits or by-paths.
The expression is doubtless to be taken literally, and yet sult of interpolation, like the addition which they append to ver.
{to yap yvuvat vdfinv diavoiac not without a secondary moral significance.
Ver.
17.
Stolen waters are sweet, etc. ifjTiv (ij-niJ^f).
The longer additions .also of three verses each, which they with the Syriac and Arabic translators exhibit after ver. 12 and ver.
Plainly words of Folly, and not of the author (EwALD, Bertheau), Or even of one who has been ass.ailed and ensnared by Folly's allurements (Elstek) : for tlie suggestion of the at18, hardly rest upon a genuine original text thai was before them, altliough they may readily be rendered back into Hebrew (see HiTZio's attempts at this, pp. 86 and 88), and therefore very traction and charm of forbidden pleasures appears most appropriately in the mouth of the beguiler.
Comp.
Umbreit on this passage.
Instead of wine (ver. 5) water is here mentioned proljably date from pre-Alexandri.an times.
Vers.
13-18. A simple woman, clamo-
CHAP.
IX.
1-18.
ensnared by the contagion of her wanton lust as the ingredient of the feast, probably with reference to the waters mentioned in chap. v. 15.
—Bread of secrecy, ;. e. not simply bread In the former instance it is simple words of God that make up the inviting testimony, words that in part with a literal exactness agree with the gracious calls of mercy and love with which the Son of Man once called sinners to repentance (comp., for example, ver.
with John vi.
35, vers.
7, 8 with Matt. vii.
6; ver.
9 with Matt, secretly enjoyed, but also unjustly g;wned : an image of the forbidden enjoyment on which the ;ilulterer seizes (comp. chap. xxx. 20).
Ver.
18. And he knoweth not, i. e. the fij'olish victim who heeds her call and enters her ln)u3e(comp. viii. 22).
That the dead (shades) are there, ;'. e. children of death, who are surely moving on toward the horrors of the lower world, and therefore even now, while the body still lives, are tenants of the lower world xiii.
12; vers.
6, 11, 12 with Matt. xi.
28-30); in the latter it is a Satanic voice of temptation that is heard, setting forth with the boldest effrontery as a commendable principle to which we should conform our lives, the well-known " we ever strive for the forbidden, and desire the denied " [nitimur in veiitinn semper cupimusgue negata) ! comp. ver. 17 with Malt. iv. 3, 9; Eom.
1D'N3"1, comp. ii.
18), or " dead "
(thus quite correctly according to the sense, Luther [the Knglish version, etc.~\: comp.
Matt. viii.
22; Eph. ii.
1, etc.) —In the depths of hell her guests; literally, "in the depths (not as UmBREiT and Ew.\LD would read 'in the valleys') i. 32, etc.
In the homiletic treatment of the passage as a whole it will be appropriate to set in the clearest light this parallelism of the banquets that are compared, with their special resemblances and contrasts ; in some such way as this then : The friends of the kingdom of heaven and the friends of this world; or, The call of Christ to His Church, and the enticement of Satan to the service of sin ; or. The feast of death, etc.
Comp.
Stocker :
Christ's wisdom and humanity (t/JiAai'of Sheol her invited ones."
Therefore although in the house of Folly and to be found at her banquet those ensnared by her are in truth already in hell.
For that house as a throat of hell reaches down to it (comp. ii. 18; vii. 27), is as it were only a station on the way of these sinners, which leads surely and irresistibly down to hell.
Thus, and doubtless correctly, HiTzio, in opposidpuTzia) ; Antichrist's folly and desiructivcness.
Starke :— A lesson on the founding of the church of the Messiah, and the collection of its members:
1) The founding of the Church by the work of redemption (vers.
1, 2).
2) The invitation to the enjoyment of the blessings of Christ's salvation in the Church; and in particular: tion to others who make this language only anticipative.
As to the three verses which the LXX supply after ver. 18 see above on ver.
12.
DOCTRINAL AND
ETHICAL,
HOMILETIC
AND
PR.\CTIC.\L.
a) How Christ invites to the enjoyment of these blessings of His salvation (vers. 3 0); b) How this invitation is foolishly despised by many men, and the allurements of sin preferred to it.
—WoHLFAKTH
:—The cross-roads ; while wisdom The prototypical relation of the contents of this chapter to our Lord's parables founded on banquets (Mt. xxii. 1-14; Lu. xiv.
16-24) is evident, and therelore its special importance to the doctrine of the call to salvation.
What peculiarly characterizes the representation before us is, however, the twofold banquet to which invitation is given, and the correspondent resemblances and differences in the two feasts with their accompaniments.
In both instances, .^t Wisdom's feast as well as that of Folly, it is the " simple," i. e. the great mass of the unrenewed, the children of this world, those indeed needing but not yet partaking the divine salvation, to whom the call goes forth.
It also goes in both cases (Ver. 4 and 16) with the same words of invitation, and under quite similar conditions,—that is, in such a way that those to be invited are laid hold upon in the street, and at once taken into the house (comp. Matt. xxii. 9; Luke xiv. 21).
With these analogies which are found mainly at the beginning of the acts compared, how great are the diti'erences, how fearful the contr.asts!
In the former case it is a splendid palace with its columns, a holy temple of God, in which the feast occurs; in the latter a common house, a harlot's abode, built over an entr.ance to the abyss of hell!
In the lirst the entertainer, represented as the princely occupant of a palace, remains quietly at home, while her servants take charge of the invitations ; in the last the common woman goes out herself on the streets and high places of the city, that sitting in the attire of a harlot (comp. vii.
10), with the open heavens as a canopy above her, she may craftily .and shamelessly attract as many as may be affected and calls us to the w.ay of virtue and offers herself as our guide on it, at the same time the pleasure of this world calls and offers everything imaginable to draw to itself earth's pilgrims of all race^ ages and conditions.
Single, passages.
On vers.
1-6.
Stocker :
(Sermon on Christmas eve) ; Christ's friendliness and condescension, as it appears
) from the founding of His Church ana its maintenance by "seven pillars," i. e. by the apostles endowed with the manifold gifts of the Holy Ghost (ver.
1 ); 2) from His costly work of redemption in His own sacrificial death (ver. 2) ; bj' the institution of the means of grace in His Word and Sacrament (vers. 2-3) ; 4) from the gracious invitation to partake of .all this (vers. 4 sq.).
On vers. 7,8. Cramer:—In the office of the Christian ministry the function of discipline must .also be especially maintained.
It docs not, however, produce uniform fruits; some reform, some are and continue scorners.—[Ver.
Fh.\VEL:—What we fear might turn to our benefit.
The reproof given is duty discharged ; and the retort in return is a fresh call to repentance for sin past, and a caution against sin to come.—Vers.
7-9.
Arnot; — Reproof—how to give it and how to take it.
There should be jealousy for the Lord's honor, and compassion for men's souls like a well-spring ever in the heart; and then the outgoing effort should be with all the wisdom of the serpent and the harmlessnesa
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
be of God, and to beseech God that He will guide us in the right way.
Alas of the dove.
For rightly receiving reproof the rule is, be more concerned to get the benefit of the reproof than to wreak vengeance on the reprover.] .' to many men in consequence of their corrupted taste in spiritual things there is more relish in the bread of vice and in draughts from the impure sloughs of the world, than in what is off'ered to them on the table of Jesus' grace.
Berhhury Bible:—The more faithfully one serves the world, the more he allows himself to be led by corrupt reason and gives ear to the fascinating voice of temptaOn ver.
7-12.
Calwcr Handbuch ; Reflections on the reception which Wisdom's invitation finds among men ; mocliers answer it with derision wise, i. e. God-fearing men, and such as continue in sanctification grow not only in wisdom, but also in outward prosperity: the gain is in every case ours, as the loss is the scorner's.—On vers. 11, 12.
H.^sius :—Wisdom and virtue lose nothing by being reviled and defamed; he, however, inevition, the more enamored he is of tlie deceitful harlot, so much the deeper will he sink into the lowest depths of hell .... Who would prefer hell to heaven ! who would go after death that may attain life!— [Ver. 17. Trapp:—Many eat that on earth that they digest in hell.
Ar.not:
—When you have tasted and seen that the Lord is gracious, the foolish woman beckons you toward her stolen waters, and praises their sweets in vain : the new appetite drives out the old]. tably loses who makes sport of them.— [T. Adams:
—Wisdom is the mother of abstinence, and abstinence the nurse of health; whereas voluptuousness and intemperance
(as the French proverb hath it) dig their own grave with their teeth.] On vers.
13-18.
Stakke:—If the temptation of Satan and bis agents is so strong so much the more needful is it to try the spirits whether they
II. ORIGINAL NUCLEUS OF THE COLLECTION—GENUINE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
Ethical maxims, precepts and admonitions -with respect to the most diverse relations of human life.
(Proverbs mainly in the form of antithetic distichs.) Chap. X. 1—XXll.
16.
Exhibition of the difference between the pious and the ungodly, and their respective lots in life.
Chap. X-XV. b) Comparison between the pious and the ungodly with respect to their life and conduct in general.
Chap. X.
Proverbs of Solomon.
A wise son inaketh glad his father, but a foolish son is the grief of his mother.
2 Treasures of wickedness do not profit, but righteousness delivereth from death.
3 Jehovah will not suffer the righteous to famish [E. V.: the soul of the righteous], but the craving of the wicked He disappointeth.
4 He becometh poor that worketh with an idle hand, but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.
5 He that gathereth in summer is a wise son, but he that sleepeth in harvest is a bad son.
Blessings are upon the head of the just, but the mouth of the wicked hideth violence.
7 The memorjof the just is blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot.
8 Whoso is wise in heart will receive precepts, but he whn iof foolish lips shall fall.
9 He th.'it walketh uprightly walketh securely, but he that perverteth his way shall be made known.
CHAP. X.
1-32. lU 10 He that winketh with the eye causeth trouble, and he that is of foolish lips is overthrown.
A fountain of life is the mouth of the righteous, but the mouth of the wicked hideth violence.
12 Hate stirreth up strife, but love covereth all transgressions.
1.3 On the lips of the man of understanding wisdom is found, but a rod (is) for the back of the fool.
14 Wise men store up knowledge, but the mouth of the fool is a near (speedy) destruction.
15 The rich man's wealth is his strong city, the destruction of the poor is their poverty.
16 The labour of the righteous (tendeth) to life, the gain of the wicked to sin.
17 A way to life is he who heedeth correction, he who resisteth reproof leadeth astray.
18 He that hideth hatred (hath) lying lips, and he who spreadeth slander is a fool.
19 In much talking transgression is not wanting, but he that governeth his lips doeth wisely.
20 Choice silver is the tongue of the righteous, the heart of the wicked is of little worth.
21 The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for want of knowledge.
22 Jehovah's blessing,—it maketh rich, and labour addeth nothing thereto.
It is as sport to a fool to do mischief, but to the man of understanding wisdom.
24 What the wicked feareth cometh upon him, but the desire of the righteous is granted them.
25 When a storm sweepeth by the wicked is no more, but the righteous is an everlasting foundation.
26 As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him.
27 The fear of Jehovah muUiplieth days, but the years of the wicked are shortened.
28 The expectation of the righteous is gladness, but the hope of the wicked shall perish.
.lehovah's way is a bulwark to the righteous, but destruction to evil doers.
30 The righteous shall never be moved, but the wicked shall not abide in the land.
31 The mouth of the righteous bringeth forth wisdom, but the perverse tongue shall be rooted out.
32 The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked perverseness.
GRAMMATICAL AND CEITICAL.
Ver. 1.—[nSK^'; cited by BoTT (J§943, c, e;900f) as an illustration of the employment of the Imperf. to express what must be from the very nature of the case,— Fiais dthitum,—"must gladden.".—A.]
Ver
2.—[^7^^V
: as above, with the meanins " cannot profit:" gOfiO, c. p.—A.] Ver. 3.—[3*_J?T ; an example of the Fims solitttm. what is wont to be; g950, 6.]—The LXX, arbitrarily assimilatiu^ the language of the first and second clauses, read in the second D*J?t!^^ H^n, for they translate "the life of the on. godly,"
^wiji'
Bk acrc^uii/ avarpeij/et.
[n^H has been quite variously rendered.
The E. V. translates "substance," the objert of the desire of the wicked.
LtjTHEa. fnllowinp: the in':tdia.'; of the Vulg., renders by "Schind<'rei=,exaHwns or f>pprf:$f'on.
Hoi.DEN translates "iniquity."
.N.. St., and M. agree with our author in retaining the simple meaning -craving, ur
Ere(.'lv 'leRire."
So GtSEN., Fuer.st. etc.— A.] Ver 5.—[^'30 is taken by Gesen., Fuerst, Stdaet as intransitive, in the sense of "acting basely."
M., 11. agree
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
with the E. V. in deriving it from a different radical idea Id the verb, and making it a causative Ilipbil.
The difference in the final import is nut very great, yet tlie termer conception of the word appears to have the best warrant.—A.]
Ver. 8
[np't ^i^ris hcUuia, ''is diaposed to receive," etc.
BoTT, §9o0, c.
X.] Ver. 21.
"ion is here sUit. ccmstr. not of the adj. IDHi aa «• 0above in ver. 1.3, but of the no'in ^OH, ag the old translators correctly judged.
Bertheau is therefore wrong in rendering "through one void of underRtanding.' our author's view ; so BijTT. (^ 7y4), who would interpret ver. 10 iu the sauie way,
^* the bacli of fully."—A.] FuERST takes ceeds ; comp. i. 8.
As in that instance, and as in XV. 20; xvii. 25; xxiii. 24 there is found here an attempt, by means of an antithetic parallelism, at Metalepsia or the distribution of the propositions between father and mother in detail.
[Ingenious expositions of the diverse effects of different kinds of conduct upon the father and the mother, like tliat of Lord Bacon in the "Advancement of Learning
EXEGETICAL.
Oeneral prelimmary remark.
The main diTision of the collection of proverbs that begins with chap, x., by the scattered isolation and the mosaic-like grouping of its individual elements contrasts quite strongly with the longer and well compacted proverbial discourses of tlie first nine chapters.
And yet one would go too far in assuming an entirely planless and unregulated accumulation of the proverbs contained in chaps, ,'''' and more elaborately in the "Z>c Augmentis Scientinriim," overlook the nature of the Hebrew parallelism—A.] "Grief, anxiety," derived from HJ' i^moestus esse, dolere), LXX :
/liiTT^ ; comp. xiv. 13; xvii. 21
; Ps. cxix. x.-xsii., and failing to recognize at least an attempt of the collector to secure a ntethodical grouping of the rich store of maxims that he has
28.
Vers. 2-7. Six verses or three pairs of verses relating to the earthly lot of the just and the unto communicate.
HiTZio's assumption, it is true, seems altogether artiticial, and tenable only as the result of violent critical dealing, viz., that chaps, x.-xxi. may be resolved into four sections of equal length, of .about 90 verses each; 1) chaps, x.-xii.
(xiii.
1 making a commencement parallel to x.
1); chap, xiii.-xv. 32
(in which division xiii. 23 is to be stricken out to make 91 verses, as in the preceding section); chap. xv.
33-xix. 3 (where by omitting xvi. 25 and inserting two verses from the LXX after xvi. 17 the number of 89 verses must be reached that shall correspond with the section following) ; and chap. xix. 4-xxi.31.
Ho also assumes that within these four principal subdivisions groups of verses symmetrically constructed of six, seven and eight verses respectively, succeed one another.
But although such a construction according to definite relations of numbers is not demonstrable, or at least is demonstrable only in single instances (c y.
, chap. XV. 33—xvi.
1.5; see remarks on this passage), still the existence of larger or smaller groups of proverbs of similar import cannot be denied ; and many of these groups relating to one and the same subject are very probably attached one to another according to a definite plan or construction of ideas.
And yet these in most cases stand in a loose co-ordinajust, the diligent and the sluggish.—Treasures of wickedness profit not.—Because they cannot avert the sudden and unhappy death that awaits the wicked ; comp. vers. 25-27.
With the second clause compare chap. xi.
4-19.
Ver.
Jehovah will not suffer the righteous to famish.— Literally, " the spirit of the righteous;" for tliis is the sense which in agreement with most interpreters we must find here, and not " the desire, the craving of the righteous," as Elster thinks, appealing for confirmation to vi. 30; xxiii.
For this strong expression is inappropriate before we come to the aniithesis in the second member, and here the idea is plainly enough expressed by the word mri, "longing"
(comp.
HiN, Deut. xii.
15;
Sam. xxiii. 30).
Comp.are xi. G.
Ver.
4. He becometh poor thatTvorketh with an idle hand.—n'0"l-^3, not a "deceitful, crafty hand," but an "idle, sluggish hand," nanus remissa (Vulg.); comp. xii.
24, 27; xix.
; Jer. xlviii.
10.-1^X1, for which the LXX T and Vulg. must have read 12'NT the substantive (irfrm, egestas), is the third Sing. Perf. Kal [or the participle] with the scriptio plena (like DSp in Hos. X. 14), and with the signification "he is impoverished," inopsfit: comp. Ps. xxiiv. 10. With tion, and wilhal quite frequently appear accompanied or interspersed by single verses that are altogether isolated.
In the chapter before us groups of this sort, governed by a certain unity of idea, may be found in vers. 2-7, 8-10, 11-14, 15-21, 22-2.5, 27-30.
Vers.
1, 26, 31, 32 stand isolated.
Hitzig's attempt to construct from x. the phrase T HHy, to stir the hand, to work ^ T T with the hand, comp. Jer. xlviii.
10.
But the hand of the diligent—literally, " of the sharpened," comp. xii. 24.
Ver.
5. He that gathereth in summer is a wise man—lit., "is a son that doeth wisely," and so in the second member, "a son that doeth badly."
These same predicates stand contrasted 1—xi. 3 exactly five groups of seven proverbs each appears untenable after an unprejudiced examination of the real relations of the matter.
With reference to the contents of the six groups of verses, together witli the individual verses accompanying I hem, and also with respect to central thoughts that m.ay possibly be drawn from these elements, see the "Doctrinal and Ethical" notes. also in chap. xiv. 35, in that case to define more closely the term " servant," but here as attributes of the "son," which designation is chosen in this instance rather than "man," probably because "the heavy labors of the field which are here spoken of devolve especially upon the younger men, and also because idleness is particularly ruinous to youlh"
(Ei.sTrn).—For the general sentiment comp. also chap. vi.
8, 9.
Ver. 6. Benedictions (come) upon the head 2.
Vers.
1. A 't;7ise son maketh glad his father, dc.—This thought, wliich is quite gener.'il, is ]i!ainly designed (o serve as an introduction to the entire collection of proverbs that suc-
CHAP.
1-32.
of the just, but the mouth of the \vicked hideth violence.—-lu this strictly literal readering of tlie vers« there is no sharp antithesis beTo secure a stronger antithesis to the verb of the first clause Hitzig reads Ob/" or t03 J', " casta them away," i. e. the commandments.
But it is precisely the correspondence with the 2d clause of ver.
10, where Hitzig must admit the passive meaning of the verb, that makes it certain that this is here also the intended meaning ; for such verbal repetitions of whole or of half verses are among the fancies of the author of this division of our book ; see above, remarks on ver.
[The wise "speaks little, but hears much: receives commands: therefore it goes well with him"
(ver.
9, 1st clause ; chap. iii.
1 sq.) ; but he " who is of foolish lips," who by his words shows himself a fool, is ever talking and not receiving instruction, is ruined; literally, is overthrown. t ween the first and second clauses, for which reason many, following the LXX and Vulg., reverse the relation of subject and object in the second clause, and either translate with Dodeblein, Dathe, etc.,
" wickedness closeth the mouth of the vicious." or, inasmuch as the noun D3n cannot possibly T r _ _ he used in this sense of " wickedness, evil disposition," explain with Umbreit among others, "tlie mouth of the profligate crime covereth."
[E. v.:
"violence covereth the mouth of the wicked."] (This is substantially the explanation of HiTZiG also, except that he points T\D3' instead of nDD\ and takes the noun D3n coutrary to V- :'
T T *^ usage in the sense of " pain, ruin ;"
" tlie mouth of the wicked is covered with sorrow.") [Words. gives a doubtful support to this view.] But why in just this passage and the second hemistich of ver.
which corresponds literally with it, it should be particularly the mouth and not the/ace of the wicked that is named .is the object to be covered with crime, is not readily seen; and to read "face"
{'A?) iiistead of "mouth" ('3) in It is in general a peculiar charm of mauj' proverbs that the parallelism is not perfectly close, but it remains the function of the reader to seek out the intermediate thoughts, and to make tho deductions."
Rueetschi, as cited above].
Ver.
Is made manifest, lit., "is made known," i.e. as a sinner deserving punishment, an allusion to the judicial strictness of God, the All-seeing, [so Wobdsw.], (the verb, therefore, not used as in chap. xii. 16).
Hitzig strangely renders "made wiser," as though the Niphal weru here passive of the Iliphil.
[Rueetschi again (as cited above, p. 136) agrees with Zocklek, and thus develops the antithesis: "he adopts crooked ways in order, as he thinks, to be able to practice iniquity more secure aud unobserved; but he is ever known and exposed, he must himself always fear recognition, and this gives to his walk 'insecurity' "]. accordance with Ps. xliv. 16; Jer. li. 51, would evidently not auswev on account of the double occurrence of the expression.
Therefore, with 1>erthe.\u, Elster, etc.
[N., St., and M. in a qualified way], we should hold fast the above explanation as the simplest and most obvious, and accordingly reckon our verse among the exceptions, which, moreover, are not very rare, to that antithetic mode of constructing propositions which altogether predominates in the division of the book now before us.
[Rueetschi, in the Stud, und Krit., 1868, I., 13.5, not only agrees with our author in his construction of the verse, but endeavors more fully to justify the parallelism by the following explanation.
" While the righteous, who is himself for others a fountain of Ver.
10. He that -winketh -with the eye.
Comp. vi.
13, where as here the "winking with the eye" immediately follows the mention of crooked and perverse action.
Instead of the -i clause, which is identical with the 2d clause of ver.
8, and which here yields no antithetic'parallelisin to the 1st clause, Ke.nsicott, D.vtue, Berthe.vu, Elster prefer the very dilferent reading of the LXX:
6 6e k'/.eyx^^v fitra —afiprjoiai; e'ipTjvolife and blessing (ver.
11), nothing but love and fidelity, is himself also to expect blessing (ver. 7), the wicked has in himself only destruction; he hides it, covers it, it is true (comp. 7TD3, ver.
18), with his mouth, yet has it in him (Ps. v. 9) ; and this very fact, that he covers in himself Tuin for others, turns the blessing away from him."]
TToiel (but he that rebuketh boldly maketh peace).
This however appears rather to be an attempted emendation, the result of well-meaning reflection than the restoration of an original Hebrew text.
We must here again assume a momentary depar ture of the poet from his ordinary strictly antithetical construction of his sentences.
In connection with this, however, we are not to give to Ver. 7. The name of the Tvicked lottetb, strictly " will rot or moulder,"
;. e., the memory of the wicked not only disappears quickly and surely, but also so as to excite sensations of abhorrence and disgust in other men (like ill smelling mould). the verb D^v' conjecturally the meaning of "stumbling" or of "groping blindly" (Hitzig), but that which is found also in ver.
8, " having a fall,"
"self-destruction"
(Umbreit).
[Hcri again Rueetschj comes to the defence of the poet's antithesis, with the explanation " he that winketh, the false, causes sorrow, produces vexation to himself, and he who in his folly openly utters evil falls."
The results difl'er according to the nature of his wickedness; "vexation when he has done wrong secretly, overthrow, destruction, when he has done it openly " (as above cited, p. 13G)].
4. Vers. 8-10. Three proverbs bearing upon the contrast between wise men and fools.—He who is of foolish lips is overthrow^n.—With the wisely disposed (in the first clause) there is significantly contrasted the foolish speaker, the froward talker, and that, too, with the designation suggested by the organ of his foolish discourse, "the fool in lips."
The verb (03^'), for the most part misunderstood by the older translators, can express only the meaning of being brought to a downfall, being oveithrown, prsecipilari, and accordingly sets forth the consequence of that refusal to receive comm.andments which characterizes the fool in contrast with the wise man.
Vers.
11-14. Two pairs of sentences concerning the contrast between good and evil, wisdom and folly, associated by the mention which
Ill
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
Ver.
16. The labor of the righteous, his acquisitions, his earnings, comp.
2 John 8.
Tendeth to life, comp. xi. 19 and also xvi. 8.
The contrast to this, "tendeth to sin," includes the idea not fully expressed, " and accordingly to all misfortune and ruin as the result of sin."
HiTZiG, " to expiation," i. e. to making good the losses which his sins bring upon him as just penalties (with a reference to Zech. xiv. 19
; Jer. is common to the first and last proverb, of the mouth of those in whom the contrast appears (as the preceding group was characterized by the mention of the lips in vers.
8 and 10).—A fountain of life is the mouth of the righteous, on account of the hearty, edifying, lovmg character of its utterances.
For this ligure compare xiii.
14; xviii.
For the 2d clause see remarks above on ver.
(j.
Ver.
12. Hate stirreth up strife, lit., "disputes," "litigations:" comp. vi. 14.—All transgressions love covereth over, by ignoring them, by palliating words, by considerate and conciliatory demeanor; comp. xvii. 9; James v.
20;
Pet. iv. 8; 1 Cor. xiii. 4.—[Trapp: Love hath a large mantle]. xvii.
3); Schultens, Arnoldi.
Umbreit, etc., " to downfall, to misfortune."
Both expositions fail to conform to the usual signitication of JINtSn.
Ver.
17. Avyay to life is he v^ho heedeth correction.
"Away to life,"
(a well known expression like " a way, or path of life " in chap.
6, and therefore not to be changed by a Ver.
13. A rod for the fool's back, i. e. merited punishment overtakes him, the man void of understanding whose lips lack wisdom (comp. xxvi. 3; xix. 29).
The imperfect and suggestive form of the antithesis is like that in vers. B and 8. new punctuation into D-'Hy H^S, " a traveller to life," as Ziegler and Ewald propose) : so the wise obse»ver of good instruction is here named because he also guides others to life, in contrast with the n^'nOi 'i'™'<«^o misleads, the despiser Ver.
14. VTise men reserve knowledge, lit., "conceal knowledge,"
;. e. husband the knowledge and understanding which they possess for of wholesome discipline and correction, who not only fails of the right way himself, but shows himself an evil guide to others also (Matt. xv. tlie ri.zht time and place, do not squander it in unseasonable talk and babbling (comp. ver. 8).
[So W , N., St., and M.].
In the parallel passage 14).
[The rendering of the E. V., " ia in the way," although followed by H., N., M., W., is not full and exhaustive enough.
Such a man is not merely "in the way to life :" he is a guide, by a bolder figure he is a way to other men.— xiii. i'i the eyuouymous verb to "cover" (HulS) forrespoud.') with the one here used.
Comp. also Mai. ii. 7.—Is a near destruction, i. e. is ever inclined to break forth with its foolish suggesA.] The intransitive conception of this participle (LXX, Vulg., LtiTHER, and also Umbeeit.
Ewald, etc.), may if necessary be reached by modifying the punctuation n^iT?
(Hithp., HiTtions, and thereby to bring upon itself and upon others alarm and even destruction.
Comp. the sentiment of chap. xiii.
8, which although indeed somewhat differently constructed is still in general similar.
["Near" is an adjective, and the rendering should be more distinct than the ambiguous and misleading translation of the E. V.
The mouth of the wicked is not simply passively near to being destroyed; it is a quickly destroying agency.—-A.] ZIg); but the "going astray" even then does not correspond remarkably with the "way to life," so far as this expression is correctly understood.
[" This sentence is an example how sometimes that which is simplest and most obvious can be persistently missed: these words so simple and true have been refined upon because the real idea was not taken.
The meaning is simply 6.
Vers. 1.5-21.
Seven proverbs mostly relating to earthly good, its worth, and the means of its attainment,—connected with the two preceding groups (although only loosely and externally) by the "destruction" of ver.
15, and the allusion to the lips in vers. 18 and 19.
With the 1st clause ef ver. 15 comp. xviii.
; Ecclesiast. xl. 26: and Eccles. vii. 12.—The destruction of the poor is their poverty, ;. e., on account of their destitution lliere is every instant threatening them an utter destruction or the sundering of all their relations; they tlierefore come to nothing, they are continually exposed to the danger of a complete ruin in all their circumstances, while to the rich man his means secure a sure basis and a strong protection in all the vicissitudes of life.
Naturally the author is here thinking of wealth well earned by practical wisdom; and this is at the same lime a means in the further efforts of wisdom; and again, of a deserved poverty which while the consequence of foolish conduct, always causes one to sink deeper in folly and moral need.
Comp. the ver. following.
Uitzig here following Jer. xlviii. 39 lakes this destruction (nnnp) subjectively, as equivalent to "consterthis: example is efficacious ;" e(c.
Rdeetschi, as above, p. 137].
Ver.
18. He that hideth hatred (hath) lying lips, strictly, "is lips of falsehood," i. e. is a man of deceitful lips.
[Here again the E. V. sacrifices much of the original.
" Lying lips" is not here instrumental; it is the predicate.
So H., N.,
S., M., W.—A.]
Comp for this immediate personification of the sinning organ, chap. xii.
19, 22, where in the first instance the "lying tongue" and then the "lying lips" appear personified.
For the sentiment comp. xxvi.
24.
Peculiarly hard and arbitrary is Hitzigs exposition; that instead of Ip''/ (falsehood) we should read ItfP. (union), and that the expression thus resulting, " close, compressed lips"
(?) is to be taken as the description of the deceitfully and maliciously compressed mouth of the man who is full of hate !
Ewald is also arbitrary (although following the LXX) ; that instead of Ipt? we should read p^S (righteousness) ; "the lips of the righteous hide hatred," i. e. cover their enmity with love (?)—He ^ho spreadeth slander is a fool.
The meaning nation, terror," [Notes], which view, however, of tliis I'd clause does not stand in the relation is opposed by the use of the expression in the preceding verse and in ver. 29. of an antithesis to the preceding, but that of a
CHAP. X.
1-32.
of the proverb to make prominent the other side of the case, overlooked by restless toilers, what God does in the matter, so as to warn against the delusion that man can conquer by his toil alone," etc-l).
This view is correctly taken by Jarchi, Levi ben Gekson, Ewald, Hitzig, etc., while others (LXX, Vulg., Umbreit, Bertheau,
Elster, [the
E. V., H., N., St., M.])
translate "and addeth no sorrow thereto."
But then intlimax, adding a worse case to one not so bad.
If one conceals his hatred within himself he becomes a malignant flatterer; but if he gives expression to it in shmder, abuse and base detraction, then as a genuine fool he brings upon himself the greatest injury.
[RuEiiTSCUi objects to this, 1) that the analogy of xii.
19, 22 does not justify our taking the expression "lying lips" in the 1st clause as the predicate, and 2) that the emphatic pronoun " he "
(N'H) in the 2d clause is still less intelligible on this view of the structure of the verse ; he regards this rather stead of n3i' we should rather have had TT'IV T T V - (comp. Jer. xlv.
3).
Ver. 23. As sport to a fool is the practice of iniquity, literally, " like a laugh Is it to the fool to execute evil counsel."
This "like sport" as one of the instances, of no very rare occurrence, in wliich the two clauses make but one proposition, and renders, " whoso conceals hatred with lying lips and at the same time utters slander is then to be supplied also before the 2d member;
"but to the man of understanding wisdom is as an enjoyment."
[.M. agrees with our author whose view is both more forcible and more accordant with the Hebrew idiom than that expressed in the E. V. and retained by N. and S. he is a fool," aiding the explanation " one of the most odious of vices is where one conceals hatred under fine speech, and yet slanders behind the back; such a man is in sight of God and men despised and spurned "].
" a man of understanding has wisdom."
More than this is meant : wisdom is his delight.—A.] The verb to practice (nity;t?. ) is probably not to Ver.
19. Transgression is not v^anting.
In this way is the verb to be rendered, with UmBREiT, HiTziG and most others : and not with Uertiieau, transgression " does not vanish " (as though we had here something to do with a removal or obliteration of actual guilt)
; only with the former rendering does the antithesis in the 2d member correspond, where it is plain that taciturnity and discretion in speech are recommended ; oomp. xiii. 3
; xvii. 27, 28.
[Noyes's translation, "offence," has the fault, rare with him, of obscurity or ambiguity].
With the expression " to govern the lips" compare the Latin compescere linyuam and the parallels from Arabic and Persian poets which Umbreit adduces in illustration of our pass.age. be supplied here before "wisdom" (nojn) ; it is self-evident (in opposition to Hitzig's view) that wisdom is considered here as something practiced and not merely possessed.
With tlie phrase "man of understanding," the discerning man, comp. xi.
12.
Ver. 24. What the wicked feareth, lit., "the dread of the wicked," comp.
Isa.
Ixvi 4; Job iii. 25; Prov. xi.
27.—The desire of tlic righteous is granted them.—The verb ([P]; can be regarded either as impersonal [like the German '•esgibl," there is: comp. xiii. 10 and Job xxxvii.
10], or directly changed to the passive Ver. 20. Choice silver, as in chap. viii.
(comp.
10) is here used to indicate a very great value.—Is of no ^vorth. literally, "is as nothing, is as a trifle,"—a popular and proverbial circumlocution for the idea of utter nothingness or worlhlessness.—Ver.
21. Feed many, i. e. nourish and refresh many with the wholesome doctrines of godliness (comp. Eccles. xii. 11; Ezek. xxxiv. 2 sq ; Acts xx. 2»).—-But fools die for 'V7ant of kno^^ledge, i. e. persistent fools (tip") as the Vulg., the Targums, and among recent interpreters Ew.\ld and Hitzig, e. y., do.
To supply as the subject "Jehovah"
(ABr:N Ezra, U.mbreit, Elster, Stuart, etc.) has its parallels indeed in xiii. 21, 22, but is here less natural than there.
Ver.
2.5. When a storm s'weepeth by the wicked is no more.
Thus correctly Ewald, Bertheau, Hitzig, [Holue.s, Stuart, Muenscher].
Against the conception of the first phrase (^.i2^2) as a comparison, " ,as a -storm sweepelh by, so," etc. (Umbkeit, Elster, [E. V.,
Notes], etc.) we may urge the conjunction 1 before (D'TIX) .are not only incompetent to become to others teachers of truth and guides to life: they are in themselves children of death for their lack of understanding. px, as well as the idea of an " everlasting foun7.
Vers. 22-25.
Four proverbs relating to the conduct of the righteous and the ungodly and their respective lots.
The lot of the righteous, which consists in God's blessing which makes rich without any efl'ort, forms the starting point of the description in ver 22.—And labor addeth nothing beside it, i. e. as supplementary and exterior to it, that divine blessing which is dation " in the 2d member.
With the latter -expression comp. ver.
30, and also Ps. cxxv.
With the first clause comp. Job i. 19; Isa. xxviii.
18, 19:
Prov. i. 27.
Ver.
2li. An isolated proverb relating to the uselessness and repulsiveness of the sluggish.
Comp. xxii.
13, and also vi. 6 sq.
; xii. 27
: xix.
24.—As vinegar to the teeth.
So the majority correctly render, while the LXX, Pesch., .•Irab., all in all, which enriches the friends of God even in sleep (comp. Ps. cxxvii. 2
[and in connection with this Hupfeld's comments:
"NMtiirally this etc., falsely translate the noun (V3n, comp. Num. is not to be taken literally, as thougli perchance labor in itself were cast aside, and the Oriental indolence commended : nor again is the privilege given to the pious of being released from ordinary human toils, and of folding their liands in reliance on their powerful Friend; the aim is only, after the emphatic and one-sided manner vi. 3
; Ps. Ixix. 22) by "sour grapes"
(buipn^).— To them that send him.
Perhaps this phrase as referring to the idea which must be supplied, the authority, the master (D''^nX), comp. sxv.
13, might be transhited by "his sender, his employer."
Comp. Hitzig on this passage.
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
rooted out, destroyed.
Ver. 32 adds " The lips of the righteous know," etc.
" The righteous finds always, as if instinctively, what is acceptable 9.
Vers. 27-30. Four proverbs bearing upon the prosperity of the pious and the ruin of the ungodly.
With ver. 27 comp. iii.
1; ix.
; xiv.
27.—Ver.
28. The expectation of the righteous is gladness, i. e. as its object comes lutu possession of him who indulges it.
With the 2d clause comp. xi. 7; Job viii. 13; Ps. cxii.
10.
Ver. 29. Jehovah's way is a bulwark to the innocent.
The meaning doubtless is, Jehovah's way in the administration of the world. His providence, His righteous and gracious rule, proves itself to the pious a strong protection and defence (comp. the "strong city" of ver. 15. also is, as it were, inspired with it, so that his lips, as it were, naturally find it, while, on the other hand, the wicked knows and understands only what is distorted or perverse, and his mouth therefore speaks only this"
(as cited above, p. 138)].
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
The contrast between the righteous and the wicked, or between the wise and foolish, forms evidently the main theme of our chapter.
This contrast, after being suggested in a general and prefatory way in ver 1, is developed with spePs. xxxi. 21
; xxxvii. 39; xliii. 2, etc.) [Wordsw.
: wherever he goes he is in a casllel.
Only with this objective conception of "Jehovah's way" does the antithesis in the 2d clause agree (comp. vers. 14, 15), and not with the subjective, which makes it religion, a devout life.
Many, however, (Aenoldi, ZiEGLEB, Umbkeit, Elstek, [NuvesJ, cial reference, 1) to the attainment or non-attainment on both parts of earthly possessions, especially riches and a good name (vers. 2-7)
; 2) to their differing dispositions as expressed by mouth and lips, the organs of speech, with diverse influence on their prosperity in life (vers. 8-14); etc.) unite DH in one conception with ^'I'l and translate "A fortress is Jehovah to the innocent"
(upright in his way); comp.
Prov. xiii. 6; Job 3) to the effect, tending on the one side to blessing, on the other to destruction, which the labor of the two classes (whether with the hands or with the lips) has upon themselves and upon others (vers. 15-24 and ver. 26) ; 4) the different issues of the lives of both (vers.
2.5, 27-32).
With the individual groups of proverbs, as we had occasion to combine them above in the exegetical notes, these main divisions in the treatment of the subject correspond only in part
; for the formation of the groups was determined as we sasv in manifold ways, and by quite external circumstances and relations. iv.
One must make his choice between the two interpretations, as both are grammatically admissible and yield essenti.ally the same meaning.—Ver. 30. With the first clause comp. xii. 3: with the second, ii. 21
; Ps. xxxvii. 29.
10. Vers. 31, 32.
Two proverbs standing isolated, treating of the mouth of the righteous and that of the ungodly and their respective utterances or fruits.
The mouth of the righteous putteth forth w^isdom, as the sap of a fruitful tree develops boaiitiful flowers and fruits; comp. the "fruit of the lips,"
Isa. Ivii. 19 and the corresponding expression /capTof xe'^-f"" in Heb.
A peculiarly rich return, in an ethical view, is yielded by those maxims which refer to the earthly revenues and possessions of the pious and the foolish (2-7, 15, 16, 22, 27 sq.).
They xiii. lli —In the 2d clause this figure is abandoned, so far as respects the expression "the perverse tongue ;" but the "is destroyed " reminds distinctly enough of the hewing down and dying out of unfruitful trees; comp. Matth. iii.
. vii.
19.—Ver. 82. Knowr what is acceptable, >. e., are familiar with it, know how to all serve to illustrate the great truth, " On God's blessing every thing depends," while they no less interpret that other saying (2 Thess. iii. 10; comp. vers.
4, 5 of our chapter).
"If any man will not work, neither shall he eat."
Eminently important and comparatively original (;'. e., never before brought to an emphatic utterance) are say much of it.
The noun ]i!f1 is here objective in its meaning, used of that which produces delight (with God and men) the lovely, the charming (comp. Luke iv.
22).
Hitzig on account of the aiToa-d^ci of the LXX (they distil, also the proverbs relating to the worth of a circumspect reserve in speech (vers.
8, 10, 13, 14, 18, 19, comp. James iii. 3-12) ; those relating to the case with which the evil man brings forth his they send forth) reads ]'>'?! instead of |'i'7.'.' from which we do certainly gain a better parallelism of meaning with the 1st clause of the preceding verse.
And yet it seems at least suspicious to go so far in this endeavor to secure a parallelism in the contents of the two verses, as actually to transpose, as HiTZio does, the order of their second clauses, and so combine them in the following order:
31, 1st—32, 2d—32, Isl— evil and the good his good—plainly because an evil heart underlies the works of the one, a loving spirit the other's whole mode of action (ver. 23; comp. vers.
11, 12, 18, 20, and pussages of the New Testament like Matth xii. 33-35; 1 Johu iii. 7 sq.; v. 3) ; and lastly those relating to tlie spiritual blessings for others also that spring forth from the mouth of the pious as (he wholesome fruit of his wisdom (vers. 11, 21, 31
; comp.
Matth. vii. 16 sq.; John xv. 4 sq.; Gal. v. 22; 31, 2d.
[llUEETSCiii, in liis criticism upon this tampering with forms and arrangement, says :
" It is all needless—nay, it destroys a beautiful, Phil. i. 11; James iii. 18). life-like thought, and substitutes for it a dry commonplace."
Ver. 31 says: "The mouth of the righteous shooteth forth wisdom, but the perverse tongue is rooted out;" if the mouth of the righteous may be compared to a goud tree or
HOMILETIC AND PRACTICAL.
Homily on the entire chapter.
The pious and the ungodly compared in respect, 1) to their earthly good ; 2) to their worth in the eyes of men; 3) field, that must yield good fruit, tlie ilccuitful tongue is a bad tree, that can hear only rdtten to their outward demeanor in intercourse with others ; 4) to their disposition of heart as thij fruit, and for that very reason is cut down,
CHAP. X.
1-32.
Apostles, Prophets, Martyrs, etc.
The ofTensiveness of the ungodly, on the contrary, where even so much as the mention of their name is involved, appears in their mien, their words, their acts ; 5) to their diverse fruit, that which they produce in their moral influence on others; tj) to iheir is perpetu.al.—Funeral discourse on ver.
ZlEGLER (in ZtMMERMANfl's SmuUagsfcier, 1858, pp. 760 sq.): The memory of the just is blessed different fates, as awarded to ihera at last in the retribution of eternity.—Comp. Stocker:
True righteousness:
1) its basis (ver. 1) ; 2) ils maniI) because of his winning friendship; 2) because of his unfeigned piety; 3) because of his steadfast patience ; 4) because of his noble, publicspirited activity.— [Ver.
J. Foster: Thejust show in the most evident and pleasing manner the gracious connexion which God hasuonsiantly maintained with a sinful world ; they are verifying examples of the excellence of genuine religion ; they diminish to our view the repulsiveness and horror of death ; their memory is combined with the whole progress of the cause of God on earth,—.with its living agency through every stage.
Trapp :
Be good and do good, so shall thy name be heir to thy life.] festation and maintenance in life (vers. 2~o)
; o) its utility (vers. 6, 7) :
4) tlie manner of itb preservation and increase (ver. 8 sq.).* 3tarke :—The great difference between the pious and the ungodly:
1) in respect to temporal blessings (vers.
1-7) ; 2) in respect to conduct (vers. 8-2t)) ; 3) in respect to their prosperity and the issue of their deeds (vers.
27-32).— Calwer Handbuch :
Of righteousness through wisdom and of unrighteousness through folly and mockery.
1) Warning .against the vices which quench delight in rigliieousness (1-14); 2) admonition to the careful government of the tongue as tliat on which above all things else the life and the true fruits of righteousness depend (15-21);
Vers. 8-14. Geier (on ver. 8): Long as one lives he has to learn and to grow in knowledge, but above all also in Ihe an of governing the tongue.
A fool is in nothing sooner and better recognized than in his conversation — [Ver.
B.\RROW :
Upright simplicity is the deejv'st wisdom, and perverse cratt the merest shallowness; he who is most true and just to others is most faithful and friendly to himself, and whoever doth abuse his neighbor is his own greatest cheat and foe.
Bridges:
''Show me an easier path"
3) allusion to ric'.ies, long life, the joyful attainment of one's hopes, contidence in (iod, security, good counsel, eic.^ as impelling to righteousness, as well as to the opposite of all these as the evil result of sin (22-32).
Vers. 1-7 (Text adapted to a sermon on Education).
Egakd: Will thou have joy and not sorrow in thy children, then train them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Eph. vi. 4).
.Stocker: Are there to be people that walk justly, ;'. e., honorably and sincerely before God, then must they be trained to it from childhood.
Tiie education of cliildren is the foundation that must be laid fjr righteousness.— Ver. 3 sq. Starke:
Although all depends cliiefly on God's blessing, yet not for that reason is man discharged from labor.
Labor is the ordinance in which God will reveal His blessing (Ps. cxxvlii.
2).
Von Gerl.ich:
The Lord maketh rich, but by the industry which the righteous by His grace exercise. ^[Bp. Butler:
Riches were first bestowed upon ihe world as they are still continued in it, by the blessing of God upon the industry of men. in the use of (heir unilerstanding and strength.]—Vers. 0, 7. OshnDER (in Starke):
A good name among men is also I'easonably to be reckoneil among the excellent gifts of God, Ps. cxii. 6; Eccles vii.
Geier : To the righteous not only does God grant good in this life aad the future; all good men also wish them all good and intercede for ii day by day, witliout their knowing or suspecting it, Ihat it may descend on them from God.
Many righteous m3n unknown, or even hated during is nature's cry.
"Show me," cries the child of God, "a sure path."
Such is the upright walk, under the shield of the Lord's protection and providence ; under the shadow of His promises, in the assurance of His present favor, and in its peaceful end.]—J. Lange (on ver. 10):
In his very bearing and gestures the Christian must so carry himself that there can be read in them true love, due reverence and sincerity.—He who has too many compliments for every body is seldom sincere; trust not such a one, etc.— [Ver. 11.
Arxot: The Lord looks down and men look up expecting lo see .a fringe of living green around the lip of a Christian s life course.] Zeltner (on ver.
12): Love is the noblest spice in all things, the first fruit of faith, the most useful thing in all conditions, yea, a truly Divine virtue, for God Himself is love.—Take love out of the world, and thou wilt find nothing but contention.
Of the utility of true love one can never preach enough [T. Adams :
" Love covcrelh all sins," saith Solomon ; covers them partly from the eyes of God, in praying for the offenders ; partly from the eyes of the world in throwing a cloak over our brother's nakedness ; especially from its own eyes, by winking at manj' wrongs ofl'ered il.] Cramer (on vers.
13, 14) :
It is no shame to know nothing, but it is indeed to wish to know nothing Learn in thy youth, and thou h;isl bene- •,bcir life, are first truly known after their death and distinguished by honors of every kind, as the * Stocker brings the contents of chap^. x.—xxiv. in general under five titles, coirespoailinf: to the fi»e chief virtu, s;
.lustice. Modesty, WiaiK.m TeniperMni-e I'itlieiice To .lustictt he assijius ttie cunients ot cliapters x ami xi.; lo Moderation chnps. xii. and xiii.; to Wisdom cliaps. xiv —xvi,; tu 'feniperanee ch^ips. xvi.—xxiii.; to Patieme chtip. x.\iv. tie himself admits the arbitrariness of this division, and yet tliinliS there is no undue violence done thereby to the i-roveibs m (juestion; for there is "in these proverlts ot Suloliion (in cliaps. x.—xxiv.) in g-nera) a certain qualirysuch fit therefrom thy life long.
Hasius (on ver. 13) He who makes his tongue a rod to scourge others with, must often in turn give his back lo correction.
Von Gerlach :
The fool must like the beast be corrected with the stick, since he is capable of no rational teaching.
[Bradford: He lhat trembleth not in hearing shall be broken to pieces in feeling.] JIM we may have seen in a beautiful green meaduw, on which all manner uf beautiful, lovely, gl-nidus flowers of many sorts and colors are to be fallen in with or found, which stand wonilerliilly mixed and confused, and are only nfterwiir.is to be brought and placed in a ceit.On order by some iiiaideu who gatheis ihem lor a wreath."
{Sermons, etc., p.
Itiii.) Vers.
15-21).
Geier (on vera. 15, 16):
Riches are a means lhat may be employed for good, but I
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
as, alas, generally happens, may be misused in the service of vanity and evil.
Poverty is in itWith all the good cheer of sinners there is yet sometimes found in them a strange unrest.
Their own conscience chastises them and causes dismay.—(On ver. 26) ; Indolence is injurious to every one, whether in a spiritual or a secular calling.
Not by ease, but by diligence and fidelity does one honorably fulfil his office ; 1 Cor. self a sad thing (Prov. xxx.
8), and brings besides serious dangers to the soul ; for an humble heart, however, that, child-like, submits to God's correction and guidance, it may also become a security against many kinds of sins.— [Vers.
15, iv.
2.—[BuNYAN :
All the hopes of the wicked shall not bring him to heaven ; all the fears of the righteous shall not bring him to hell.
Arnot:—Fear and hope were common to the righteous and the wicked in time: at the border of eternity the one will be relieved from all his fear, the other will be deprived of all his hope.
—(On ver. 26) : The minor morals are not neglected in the Scriptures.
He who is a Christian in little things is not a little Christian.
He is the greatest Christian and the most useful.
The baptism of these little outlying things shows that he is full of grace, for these are grace's overflowings.]— Bcrleb.
Bible (on vers.
19-21):
As silence is in many ways needful, as Christ Himself hath taught us by His own example, so on the other hand we should offend God and rob Him of His honor if we would keep silence when He will have us speak.
The lips of the righteous often serve God as an instrument by which He speaketh and instructeth him that needeth.
16.
Tk.\pi'
Surely this should humble us, that riches—that should be our rises to raise us up to God, or glasses to see the love of God in—our corrupt nature uses them as clouds, as clogs, etc., yea, sets them up in God's place.—Lord B\coN
This is excellently expressed, that riches are as a stronghold in imagination, and not always in fact; for certainly great riches have sold more men than they have bought out.
Brii>ges; Our labor is God's work—wrought in dependence on Him—not for life, but to life.—Ver. 18. Barrow:
Since our faculty of speech %vas given us as in the first place to praise and glorify our Maker, 80 in the next to benefit and help our neighbor, it is an unnatural, perverting and irrational abuse thereof to employ it to the damage, disgrace, vexation or wrong in any kind of our brother.
Arnot:
Strangle the evil thoughts as they are coming to the birth, that the spirits which troubled you within may not go forth embodied to trouble also the world.—They who abide in Christ will experience a sweet necessity of doing good to men ; they who really try to do good to men will be compelled to abide in Christ.] Starke (on ver. 18). Open hatred and secret slander are both alike works of Satan against which a true Christian should be on his guard —
(On vers. 19-21) : The more one gives free course Vers. 27-32. Zeltxer: There is no grosser selfdeception than when one in persistent impenitence and impiety yet imagines that he is at last to live in heaven.
Geier ; If thy hope of eternal blessedness is not to fail thee, it must be based on the righteousness of Christ appropriated by faith, for this alone avails with God.—(On vers. 30):
Let us love and long for that which is really eternal and unchangeable; for only then can we say "I shall not be moved,"
Ps. x.
6; xxx.
Starke (on vers. 31, 32): When God's honor and the edification and improvement of one's neighbor to his tongue, the more does he defile his conscience, comes too near God and his neighbor.
But how usefully can a consecrated tongue be employed in the instruction, consolation and counsel of one's neighbor !
Therefore let the Holy Spirit of God rule thy heart and thy tongue, Eph. iii. 29.
(On ver. 2:^) :
It is devilish to sin and then boast of sin.
The wanton laughter of the wicked is followed at last, and often soon enough, by weeping and wailing, Luke vii. 25.—(On ver.
24) : is not the chief end of our speaking ; it is a sign that eternal wisdom has not yet wholly sanctified our hearts, comp. ver.
13, 14.
Wohlfarth (oa vers. 23-32) : The sinner's fear and the hope of the righteous (comp.
1 John iv. 18; iii. 3). h) Comparison between the good results of piety and the disadvantages and penalties of ungodliness.
Chaps. XI.—XV. a) With reference to just and unjust, benevolent and malevolent conduct towards one's neighbor.
Chap. XI.
A false balance is an abomination to Jehovah, but a true weight is his delight.
2 Pride cometh, then cometh shame, but with the humble i.s wi-^doin.
3 The integrity of the upright guideth them, but the perversenesa of the ungodly shall destroy them.
CHAP.
XI.
1-31.
^^1 4 Riches profit not in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivereth from death.
5 The righteousness of the upright maketh smooth his way, hut by his wickedness doth the wicked fall.
6 The integrity of the upright delivereth them, but by their transgressions shall the wicked be taken.
7 With the death of the wicked (his) hope cometh to nought, and the unjust expectation hath perished.
8 The righteous is delivered from trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead.
9 The hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbor, but by the knowledge of the righteous shall they (he) be delivered.
10 In the prosperity of the upright the city rejoiceth, but at the destruction of the wicked (there is) shouting.
11 By the blessing of the upright is the city exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is destroyed.
He that speaketh contemptuously of his neighbor lacketh wisdom, but a man of understanding is silent.
13 He who goeth about as a slanderer revealeth secrets, he who is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter.
14 Where there is no direction the people fall, but in a multitude of counsellors is safety.
1-5 He shall fare ill that is security for a stranger, but whoso hateth suretyship liveth in quiet.
16 A pleasing woman retaineth honor, and strong men retain riches.
17 A benevolent man doeth good to himself, and the cruel troubleth his own flesh.
18 The wicked gaineth a deceptive result, but he that soweth righteousness a sure reward.
19 He that holdeth &st integrity (cometh) to life, but he that pursueth evil to his death.
20 An abomination to Jehovah are the perverse in heart, but they that walk uprightly His delight.
Assuredly (hand to hand) the wicked goeth not unpunished, but the seed of the righteous is delivered.
22 A jewel of gold in a swine's snout, (and) a fair woman that hath lost discretion.
23 The desire of the righteous is good only, the expectation of the wicked is (God's) wrath.
24 There is that scattereth and it increaseth still, and (there is) that stinteth only to poverty
25 A liberal soul shall be well fed, and he that watereth others is also watered.
26 Whoso withholdeth corn the people curse him, but blessings ( come) upon the head of him that selleth it, 27 He that striveth after good seeketh favor, but he that searcheth for evil, it shall find him.
28 He that trusteth in his riches shall fall, but as a green leaf shall the righteous flourish.
29 He that troubleth his own house shall inherit wind, and the fool shall be servant to the wise in heart.
30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and the wise man winneth souls.
31 Lo, the righteous shall be recompensed on earth, much more the ungodly and the sinner.
lao
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
GRAMMATICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 2.—JC3 is given by BaTTCHEB, § 950, 1, as an example of tbe Per/ecUim relativum, the precise time being a matter of indifference.
The Iniperf. that follows is then a contingent tense describing a normal consequence, ^980 B.]
"Ver. 3.—DlC/l, to he read Dlt!'^ ^ith the K'ri.
[Bottcheb, in explaining forms like this, of which he adduces a (onBiderable number, ^ !*23, 0. refers to but rejects the old explanation which makes the 1 an older form of the 3d persoii.il prefix (from the prunuuii K.iH), and regards it as representing in the view of thy K'thibh the conjunction
1, an ei ror wliicli is here corrected in the K'ri.] Ver. 15.
V'y in _^*1"1*'
I'T is probably not Infin. abs. Kal. (which should be _i*n). but a substantive, here used adverbially and attached to the reflexive Future Niphal j;!"!" to strengthen the idea.
[Fuerst, while giving JJT as an intransitive Infin. abs.. also suggests that it may bp. a noun, giving it however the place and power of a masc. and not a neuter, and making it the subject, " df.T Schl&:thandeindi',"^ht^ that manages ill.]
Ver. 25.—X"ir is eithtr to be t.iken as the Iraperf. Hopha! of N"l''=n"l^, or by change of pointing to be read X'^V and this is then to be regarded as another form of 711"!" (Hitzig
; comp. Zieglee and Elsieb). the form may be participial from the verb ]'N with the signification "the troubled, the sorrowing," and BoTTCHER, I 811, 3, deriving it as a participial form from HJN, reaches the same
EXEGETICAL.
Vers. 1-11.
Eleven proverbs on the value of a just demeanor towards one's neighbor, and on the curse of unrighteousness.— With vers.
cump. XX. 10. 2.J, and also Meid.^ni's collection of Arabic proverbs.
III., 538. where the first member at least appears, and that too expressly as a proverb of Solomon. — A true 'weight, lit., "a full stone ;" comp. Deut. xxv. 13, ^^'here JIIX meaning; this is also Stuart's view, while Kajiph. agrees with our author— A.] The antithesis in idea between the first and second clauses which is lacking in this verse, the LXX attempts to supply by reading in the first clause
"when the righteous mitu dieth, hope doth nut perish "
[Te7.£VT//aavT0(; av6f>b^ dinaiov ovk b'/./.vrat in like manner signifies the weight of a balance. iX-if ) ; they thus put the hope of the righteous reaching beyond death in contrast with the hopeVer.
Pride cometh, then cometh Bhaiue;—lit., "there hath come pride, and tliere less end of the life of the ungodly.
This thought the original text certainly does not express; hut immortality and a future retribution are yet presumptively suggested in the passage, as Wt'NTINGHE, U.MBREIT, LuTZ (Bill. Jjogmatik, p.
100, will come sliame,"
;. e.. on the proud ; comp. xvi.
18: xviii.
12.—But with the humble is wisdom.—That wisdom, -naniely, winch confers honor (iii. l(i ; viii. 18).
' The humble," derived from HK, which in Chaldee sig.iities "to conetc.) and others have correctly assumed.
Comp. the "Doctrinal" notes. ceal," denote strictly those who hide tliemselves, or renounce self [raTrsivoi., raTrervnOpavec).—Yer.
Ver.
8. The righteous is delivered from trouble, elc.—This proposition presented so conclusively "cannot be the result of experimental observation, but only the fresh, vigorous expres3. The ^faithlessness of the fal.-e) perverseness of the ungodly destioyeth them.
" Destroyeth,"—from Die root 'Iii' whicii means " violently to fall upon and kill,"
;.ii.i not merely to sion of faith in God's justice, such as believes where it does not see "
(Elstlr).—-Ver.
9. The flatterer (hypocrite) with his mouth destroyeth his neighbor —For the verbal explanation of njn which, according to the old Rab- "desolate" (comp. Jer. v. 0).
^70 should in accordance with the Arabic be explained either by "falseness, perverseness "
(as ordinarily), or with HiTziG " trespass, transgression."—Ver. 4.
In the day of wrath, viz., the Divine wrath and binical tradition, and according to the Vulgate, denotes a hypocrite (Vulg., simulator), comp. Hitjudgment; comp. Zeph. i. 18; Ezek. vii. 19; Job zig on this passage.
He moreover needlessly nixxi.
'Mi.
With reference to the general thought comp. chap. x. 2.— Vers. 5 and G are ex.actly jiaters this first clause in harmony with the LXX (in the mouth of the hypocrite is a snare for liis neighbor), and gives to the second member also a rallel not only each to tiie olher, but al.so to ver.
3. Comp. also iii. fi ; x.
3.—And by their lusts are the wicked taken. — Literally, "and by the lusts ('cravings' as in x.
13) of the wicked (false) are they (the wicked) taken:" the construction is the same therefore as totally ditferent form ; "and in the misfortune of the righteous do they rejoice."—By the knov7ledge of the righteous are they delivered;
—they, i.e., his neighbors ; the sing, "his neighbor," which is altogether general, admits of being thus continued by a verb in the plural.
The meaning of the verse as a whole is " By the proin Gen. ix. U ; Ps. xxxii. 6
; comp. also ver. 3.
Ver.
7.— .\ further development of the idea in the second clause of x. 28.—The unjust expectation.— Lit., "the expectation pf depravitective power of that knowledge which serves righteousness, they are delivered who were enties, of wickedness " (D'JIX plur. of 1'!!^).
Most diiygered by the artifices of that shrewdness which is the ins rument of wickedness"
(Elinterpreters regard (he nnnn liere as tin abstract for ;i concrete ; " the expectation ot' theungodly, ster].
(he wicked"
[so De W., E.
V., il., N., M." W.].
Ver. 10. In the prosperity of the upright — 2'-02, an infinitive construction: literally, "when it goes well to the righteous," as in j'^\v.\LD interprets it in aceordaitce with i;ce. ix.
4 by " sorrows " (continuance of sorrow) ; others in accordance with Is. xl.
2(5, render it by "might."
In .support of our interpretation see the second clause nbx|, " in the perishing," when they perish.
Comp. xxix.
2.—HiTZia Uiizii; on this passage.
[FiiKus^r suggests that
CHAP. XI.
1-31.
righteousness and the deserved judgment of imstrikes out tliis verse mainly to secure again within vers. 4-11 a group of seven proverbs, as before in x. 29— x).
3, but without being able to piety.
A gracious 'woman retaineth honor and strong men retain riches.—So reads the Hebrew text, according to which there is a comparison made here; as mighty men (lit., "tyrants, terrible men," comp. fitanrai, Matth. allege any ground whatever of suspicion that is really valid.—Ver.
gives the reason why the population of a city rejoices at the prosperity of the righteous and exults at the downfall of the wicked.
By the blessing of the righteous is the city exalted,— ;'. p., by the benehceul and salutary words and acts (not by the benevolent wishes only) of the righteous (literally, "the xi. 12) retain their wealth and will not allow it to be torn from them, with the same energy and decision does a " gracious woman " (comp. v. 19) watch over her honor as an inalienable possession.
Comp. the similar sentiment, chap. xxix.
23 (where we have the same, "holdeth fast honor "); and as to the force of comparative sentences formed thus simply with the copulative conjunction 1, comp. xxv.
2.5
: xxvi. 9
; Job v. 7
; straight, true, straightforward") is the city raised to a flourishing condition and growth, exaltabitur cwitas (Vulg.).
Not so well Elster:
"is the city made secure''—as if the idea here related to the throwing up walls of defence. xii.
; xiv.
18, 19, e/c—The LXX, whom ZiEGLER, EwALD, HiTZiG foUow, read D'if'Tn 2.
Vers.
12-1.5.
Four proverbs against talkativeness, a slanderous disposition, foolish counsel and thoughtless suretyship.
He that speaketh contemptuously of his neighbor.— (i. e., diligent men, comp. x. 4), and besides insert two clauses between the first and second of this verse, so that the whole proverb has this expanded form :
"A gracious woman obtaineth honor; This is the rendering liere required to correspond with the antithesis in the second clause; comp. xiv. 21
; xiii.
13.
[The E. V. and Holden invert this relation of subject and predicate, while De W., K., N., S., and M. agree with our author but a throne of disgrace is she that hateth virtue.
The idle will be destitute of means, in following the order of the original—A.]—Ver.
13. He that goeth about as a slanderer betrayeth secrets.—With this expression, "to go but the diligent will obtain wealth."
For the authenticity of this fuller form may be urged especially the vigorous expression " throne of disgrace"
[9p6vo^ aTifuai), which is hardly the product of later invention, but rather agrees antithetically with the expression which is sevetattling, to go for slander," comp. Lev. xix. l(i; Jer. ix. 3.
With the expression TO HvJ. revelavit arcanum, "to reveal a secret." comp. xx. 19:
XXV. 9; Am. iii.
That not this "babbler of secrets" is subject of the clause (Hitzig), but "he that goeth slandering," the parallel second clause makes evident, where with the "slariderer " is contrasted the faithful and reliable, and with the babbler the man who "concealeth the matter, t. e., the secret committed to him."
Comp. Ecclesiasticus xxvii. 10. ral times found, "a seat or throne of honor"
(^'13:] ii02), 1 Sam. ii. 8
; Is. xxii. 23
; Jer. xvii.
12.
[While RcEETScni (as cited above, p. 138) seems to admit the antiquity of the form reproduced in the version of the LXX, he thus defends and amplifies the sense of the shorter form found in the Masoretic text, " A woman is powerful hiy her grace as the mighty are by their strength.
In grace there lies as great force as in the imposing nature of the mighty ; nay, the power of the strength of the latter gains only more property, while the woman gains honor and esteem, which are of more worth."] Ver.
14. Where there is no direction.
—For this term comp. i.
In the multitude of counsellors there is safety.— This tliought recurring again in xv.
2J ; xsiv.
6, is naturally founded on the ass.umption that the counsellors are good and intelligent persons, and by no me.'ins conflicts with the conditional truth of the modern proverb, "Too many cooks spoil the broth;" or this, "He who asks long errs long," etc.
Ver.
1-5. He shall fare ill that is surety for a stranger.— •• 111, ill dots it go with him, Ver.
17. The benevolent man doeth good to himself.— Lit., "the man of lore," who by the goodness wliicli he manifests towards others, benefits his own soul.
The second clause in its contrast with this: "And his own flesh doth the cruel trouble," does not aim to characterize any thing like the unnatural self-torture of gloomy ill, very ill will he fare,— ill at ease will he be," ascetics, but to express the simple Ihouglit that on account of the penalty with which God requites cruel and hard-hearted conduct, such conduct is properly a raging against one's self.
Thus the LXX had correctly expressed the ideii, and among modern Interpreters Hitzig, Elstek, etc Instead of "who is surety," etc., the original has literally "if one is surety," etc.—With the second clause comp. remarks above ou chap, vi.
1 sq.
Instead of D'i.'pljT (partic.) we ought probably to read here D'i'pn (subst.) (Hitzio), etc., while the great body (U.mbeeit, Ewald, Berthe.^u among them), comparing Ecclesiast. or to take the plural participle in the sense of the abstract "striking hands"
(instead of "those striking hands)."
Thus. c.
.17., U.mbreit.
Not so well the majority of commentators (Ew.\li>, Berthe.vu, Elstee, among others), who read xiv. 5, find the meaning of theverse to be directed against niggardliness, or ascetic self-torture:
He who deals harshly and unkindly with himself will treat others also no better."
Ver.
18. The •wicked gaineth delusive gains,— i. e. such as result in no good to himself, such as escape from under his hands.
Comp. x.
*' he that hateth sureties," i. e., who will not belong to their number, who avoids fellowship with such as lightly strike hands as sureties, who therefore does not follow their example.
2, and with reference to rivi'S, gain, acquisition, 3. Vers. lC)-2o. Eight proverbs of miscellaneous import, mostly treating of the blessing til at at lends
X. 16 — But he that soweth righteousness,
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
a sure reward.—The "sure reward" (nox 13t^. in a word, a chaste and pure heart,—an unchaste woman.
Only with this conception does the figure of the swine agree, and not with that given by Rosen-muellee, Beetheah, Ewalu, Elster, " without judgment," i. e. stupid, weak.
Compare furthermore the Arabic provero here cited by Hitzig (from Scheid's Selecta qusdam ex aenlentiis, etc., 47) : "Mulier sine verecundia est ut cibas sine sale, [a woman without modesty is like food without salt].
For the "gold ring"
(ring for the nose, DO, not circlet for the hair, Luther) comp. Gen. xxiv. 47
; Isa. iii.
21, and also in general what is cited by Umbreit, in connection with this passage, on the habits of the Eastern women in respect to this kind of ornament. perhaps ia ils sound in intentional accord with ^pty in the first member) is also governed by the verb "gaineth" or " worketh out" (nb^'j ; comp.
Jer. xvii.
11, etc.
For this figure of " sowing righteousness," i. e. the several right acts, which like a spiritual seed-corn are to yield as their harvest the rewards of God's grace, comp. James iii. 18; 1 Cor. ix.
; 2 Cor. ix. 6
; also Job iv.
8; Gal. vi. 8, etc.—Whoso holdeth fast integrity (cometh) to life.—[3 before nplX
(righteousness) if genuin?, (the LXX and Syriae versions read instead [3, "sou"), can be only an adjective or participle derived from the verb p3
• to be firm," having the meaning • firm" (comp.
Gen. xlii. 11, 19) ; it therefore denotes "the steadfast in righteousness," i. e. as the antitheiic phrase in the 2d member shows, "he who holds
Ver.
23. The desire of the righteous is good only, i. e. nothing but prosperity and blessing, because God rewards and prospers them in everything.
Comp. x. 28, and with the 2d clause where "wrath" denotes again God's wrath, comp. ver. 4 above. fiist to righteousness, who firmly abides in it."
Thus ZlEGLER, EWALD,
U.MBREIT,
Et.STER, etC.
Oiliers, like Cocceius, Schultens, Mich.\elis, UiioERLEiN, take the word as a substantive— 4.
Vers.
24-2G.
Three proverbs against avarice, hard-heartedness and usury.—Many a one scattereth and it increaseth still.—Coinp.
Steadfastness (?) ; still others regard it as a particle in the ordinary meaning "thus" (by which construction however the verse would lose its iuJependeut character, and become a mere appendage to the preceding proverb); and finally, Ps. cxii. 9 (2 Cor. ix. 9), where the same verb is used of the generous distribution of benefactions, of scattering (nKop-i^eiv) in the good sense (different from that of Luke XV. 13).
For it is to this only true form of prodigality, this " sowing of righteousness" that the expression applies, as the two following verses plainly show. —And many save only to poverty, literally, " and a withholder of wealth only to want;" (thus Bertheait correctly renders, following Schi'ltens, etc.).
With the participial clause (1C''0
^"il'ni) the afHiTZ[G conjeoturally substitutes 023 and translates "As a standard is righteousness to life."
Vers. 20, 21. Two new maxims concerning the contrasted lot of the righteous and the wicked, serving to confirm vers. 18 and 19.
With ver.
20 comp. ii. 21
; xvii. 20.—Assuredly, literally, "hand to hand," a formula of strong asseveration, derived from the custom of becoming surety by clasping hands (ver.
15), and therefore substantially equivalent to " I pledge it, I guarantee firmative of the preceding clause (t?', there is, there appears) still continues in force.
Hitzig's attempted emendation is needless, according to it."
Comp. the German formula which challenges to an honest self-scrutiny, " die Hand au/'s Ilerz.'' (the hand on the heart!); and for the sentiment of the 1st clause compare xvi.
[FtTERST and K. regard the formula as one of asseveration ; Gesen., De W. and Notes interpret, by the analogy of some similar expressions in cognate languages, as referring to time,
"through all generations;" H., M., S. and W. retain the rendering of the E. V., " though hand which we ought to read VT U'jbh] in correspondence with the language of the LXX, e'lal Si Kal
cwayavTei;.
Others, like Schelling, U.MBREiT, Ewald, Elster (comp. also Lother), translate " who withholdeth more than is right ;" but thus to give a comparative force to [D after "tlt^n has no sufficient grammatical support, and instead of 1ii''0 we should, according to xvii.
26, rather expect 1!?'
7J^ The signification join in hand."
The exceeding brevity of the Hebrew formula stimulates inquiry and conjecture without clearly establishing either interpretation.—A.]—But the seed of the righteous
"wealth," opulentia for 117' is abundantly confirmed by the corresponding Arabic word.
Ver.
25. A liberal soul is well fed, lit., "a soul of blessing is made fat," comp. xiii. 4; escapeth, literally, "delivers itself" (D'70J a Nixxviii. 25;
Ps. xxii. 29; Isa. x. 16; xvii. 4, etc.
—And he that \!vatereth others is likewise watered, lit., "he that sprinkleth others is also sprinkled"
(comp.
Vulgate, " inebriat .... inphal participle with reflexive meaning), that is, in the day of the divine wrath, comp. vers.
4, 23.
The " seed of the righteous " is not the posterity of the righteous (soboles justorum, Sch.iller, RosENMUELLER, Bertheau) but is equivalent to the multitude, the generation of the righteous.
Comp. Isa.
Ixv. 23, " the seed of the blessed of Jehovah." ebriabilur").
The meaning of the expression is unquestionably this, that God will recompense with a corresponding refreshing the man who refreshes and restores others.
Comp. Jer. xxxi.
Ver. 22. A gold ring in a swine's snout ; a fair v7oman that hath lost discretion.—This
14, and with reference to the general sentiment Eccles. xi.
Ecclesiast. xi.
11, etc.
Ver.
26. 'Whoso withholdeth corn, him the people curse.—The withholding of grain is a peculiarly injurious form of the "withholding last phrase (DJ,'I3 n'^D) literally denotes "one who has turned aside in respect to taste," i. e. one who lacks all moral sensibility, all higher appreciation of beauty and sense of propriety, of property" mentioned in ver. 24.
DIS7. people,
CHAP. XI.
1-31.
12& multitude, as in xxiv. 24.
With the 2d clause comp.
6. of clauses see Umbreit, Behthead and Hitziq on this passage.
Ver. ai. Behold the righteous shall be recompensed on earth.
That the "?hall be recompi-aseJ " denotes specifically requital bi) punishmcH.', and therefore the retribution of the sins of the righteous, cannot be positively maintained on account of the comprehensiveness of 5.
Vers. 27-31.
Five additional proverbs relating to the contrast between the righteous and the wicked and their several conditions.
Seeketh favor, that is, God'sfavor, gratiam Dei; comp. Ps.
12; Isa. xlix.
With the sentiment of ver. 27 compare in general x. 24; Am.
Ver"^28. He that trusteth in his riches "'^ '^^^ °^ recompense (dW), Yet a compa shall fall.—Comp. x. 2
; Ps. xlix. 6; Ecclesiast.
'• son with the 2d clause unquestionably makes this v. 8.
But as a green leaf shall the righteous specific meaning very natural; the whole then flourish.
Comp. Ps. xcii. 12; Isa. Ixvi. 14. "As ' appears as an aryumentatio a mujori ad minus, and a leaf,"
;'. e. like a fresh, green leaf on a tree, in ' LnxnER's rendering, " Thus the righteous must contrast with the withered, falling leaf, to which suffer on earth," substantially hits the true the fool should rather be compared who trusts in meaning.
On the other hand the Alexandrian his riches.
J.\eoer and Hitzig (following the version introduces a foreign idea when it renders.
"If the righteous be scarcely saved" (Ei o jue"
Srnmo^ fidhc auZ^Tat,—see also the New TestaLXX) read n7;''31"and he who raiseth up," that is, raiseth up the righteous man, proves himself their helper in time of need.
On account of the appropriate antithesis to the 1st clause this reading is perhaps preferable. ment's citation, 1 Pet. iv. 18); for the verb zhu never signifies "to be delivered."
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
Ver. 29. He that troubleth his own house, That it is chiefly that righteousness which is lo be manifested in intercourse with one's neighbor that is commended in the proverbs of our chapter, and against the opposite of which they all warn, needs no detailed proof For the first eleven verses relate solely to this antithesis, and in the second and larger section of the chapter also there are added to the proverbs which refer to the duties of justice for the most part only commendations of merciful, and censures of cruel, hard-hearted conduct (vers.
17, 18, 24-26, 29, 30).
Those proverbs which have reference to the lack of intelligent counsellors (14), to inconsiderate suretyship (15), and to feminine grace and purity (16, 22), take their place among the precepts which enjoin righteousness in the widest sense (in so far as wisdom in rulers is an absolutely indispens.ible condition of prosperity in civil, and a wise economy and womanly honor in domestic society).
The separation of these interspersed proverbs, it is true, renders it impossible to demonstrate within the section before us (vers.
12-31). any grouping as undertaken according to a definite principle of classification. lit., "saddeneth" (as in ver.
17), ;'. e. the avaricious man, who is striving after unjust gains, straitens his own household, deprives them of their merited earnings, oppresses and distresses them, etc.; comp. chap. xv. 27:
1 Kings xviii. 17
(where Elijah is described by .\hab as the man tint -'trjubleth"
Israel, ;. e. allows them to suifer, brings them into calamity).
Shall inherit wind, i. e. with all his avaricious, hardhearted acting and striving will still gain nothing.
Comp. Isa. xxvi. 18; Hos. viii. 7.
The fool becometh servant to the wise in heart, that is, this -same foolish niggard aud miser by his very course is so far reduced that he must as a slave serve some man of understanding (a master not avaricious but truly just and compassionate).
Comp. ver. 21.
Ver. 30. The fruit of the righteous, i. e. that which the righteous man says and does, the result of his moral integrity, and not in an altoj gether specific sense, his reward, as Hitzig maintains (in accordance with Jer. xxxii.
TJ).
—Is a tree of life (comp. note on iii.
18), a, growth from which there springs forth life for many, a fountain of blessing aud of life for many.
Umbreit, Elster and others unnecessarily repeat "fruit"
('">3) before the "tree of life" ("n ];;); "is a' fruit of the tree of life."—And the wise man winneth souls, by the irresistible power of his spirit he gains many souls for the service of God and for the cause of truth.
[The E. V. which has the support of H., S., and M., here again inverts the order of subject and predicate, conforming to the order of the original.
The parallelism seems to favor our author's rendering which is also that of De W. and N.
Both conceptions are full of meaning and practical value.—A.] Hitziq here again alters in accordance with the LXX, substituting DOT for D3T\: "but violence taketh To that which is comparatively new in the dogmatical or ethical line, as presented in our chapter, there belongs above all else the suggestion of a hope of immortality in ver.
With the death of the ungodly all is over for him ; from the future life he has nothing more to hope; hf has had his good here below in advance ; his reward has been paid him long beforehand
: there awaits him henceforth nothing more than a cheerless, hopeless condiliun of unending pain, " a fearful awaiting of judgment and fiery indignation that shall consume the rebellious" (Heb.
X. 27; comp. Luke xvi. 25
; Matt. vi. 2, 16; vii.
23; XV.
12, etc.).
This is the series of thoughts which is inevitably suggested by the proposition "with the death of the wicked hope perishes;" the bright reverse of this here quite as distinctly as in the similar representations of the Psalms, especially in the 49th Psalm, which is so preeminently important for the doctrine of the Old Testament concerning immortality and future *or arguments against this violent transposition life"
!).
ZlEGLER,
DODERLEIN,
D.\THE, EwALD transpose the clauses of vers. 29 and 30 into this order:
29, 1st; 30, Ist; 29, 2d; 30, 2rl- ; retribution, depicts the certainty that the right
a ;
THE PROVERBS OP SOLOMON.
eous will attain to an eternally blessed life,— life (vers. 10-15); 3) to domestic life (vers. 1C~ 31) ; it is therefore yu«(i7(a privala, publica, ceconomica.—Starke
:—The advantage which the pious have from their piety, and the injury which the wicked experience from their, wickedness:
1) from righteousness and unrighteousness in business iu general ; 2) from good and evil conduct with respect to the honorable fame of one's neighbor (vers.
12. 13); 3) from good and evil government (vers.
14, 15) ; 4) from seeking or sontemnlng true wisdom (vers. 16-23) ; 5) from beneficence or uncharltableness (vers, 24-ol). certainty whose foundation is in God (comp. Ps. xlix.
14, 15, and in connection with this HoFMANN, Schriftbew., II.
2, p. 467).
Elster denies that the sentiment of the verse points indirectly to a life after death, because "according to the doctrine of Proverbs the hope of the righteous is already fulfilled in the earthly life" (comp.
.ilso BRron, Weisheitshhre. etc., p.
117), But the doctrine of retribution set forth in our book is (see below, remarks on xiv. 32) as far from being an exclusively earthly one, limited to the present
Vers. 1-11. Melancuthon (on ver, 1); Weight and balance are judicial Institutions of the Lord, and every weight is His work.
But marriage compacts also, political confederacies, civil coa>paots, judgments, penalties, etc., are ordinances, of Divine wisdom and justice, and are effectively superintended by God.—-(on ver. 2) :
Usually In prosperity men become remiss both in the fear of God, and also in prayer.
If in this way God's fear is at length wholly stifled, men in their carnal security allow themselves all manner of encroachments on the rights of their neighbor.
Experience has, however, taught even the heathen that certain penalties do by Divine ordinance Inlife, as that of the Psalms or the Book of Job (comp. Delitzsch on .Job six. 2K sq.
; and also KiiNia, Die Unsterblichkcitslekre des Baches Iliob, 1 855).
And as respects our chapter in particular, the two-fold allusion to the divine wrath (vers.
4, 23), and the assurance which is expressed altogether without qualification, that "the wicked will not go unpunislied" (ver. 21; comp. noies above on this passage), point with sufficient clearness to this conclusion, that to the religious consciousness of the author of our Proverbs a retribution beyond the grave was an established fact.
The closing verse of the chapter, "Behold, the righteous is recompensed on earth fallibly overtake such pride and arrogance when these pass beyond the bounds of one's calling, and they have therefore designated this law of the Divine administration of tne world according how much more the ungodly and the sinner! " is by no means opposed to tliis view.
For the main stress here falls not upon the " on earth," but upon "the righteous" (comp. the exegetical explanation of the passage)
; and ii is not the certainty of a visitation of sin occurring within the to which pride is the sure precursor of a speedy fall by the expression adpaareia, "inevitability."
Comp.
Pet.
V. 5 sq.
[Arnot; God claims to be in merchandize, and to have His word circling through all its secret channels.
Bridges: Commerce is a providential appointment for our social Intercourse and mutual helpfulness.
It is grounded with men upon human faith, as with God upon Divine faith.
Jermtn: Such dperfect stone is a perfect jewel, and a precious stone in the sight of God.—Ver.
Trapp : The humble man, were It not that the fragrant smell of his many virtues betrays him to the world, would choose to live and die in his self-contentlug secrecy.]— .1.
Lange (on vers, 1-3):
Pride and malignity are, so to speak, the first nurses of inearthly life, but the certainty of such a visitation iu general upon the wrong committed on the earth (by the righteous as well as the wicked), that forms the proper substance and object of the expression.
Besides these, characteristic utterances of our chapter that are of special dogmatical and ethical signiticance are, the announcements concerning the blessing which goes forth from wise and upright citizens upon their fellow-citizens (vers.
10, 11, 14, comp. especially the exegetical comments on the last passage) ; concerning the serious injury which the h.-ird-iiearted and cruel does above all to himself, especially when lie leaves his own iiouse and his nearest connections justice In business, Ecclcsiast, x.
15, 16, [Ver.
6. Trapp:
Godliness hath many troubles. to suffer from his avarice (vers.
17, 29, comp.
;ind as many helps against trouble.—Ver.
Bridges :
The same providence often marks Divine faithfulness and retributive just Ice.] Geier (on vers. 7, 8) : The righteous man is in the end surely free from his cross :
If it does not come about as he wishes, then assuredly it does as is most useful for him ; if not before his temporal death then in and by means of this.—(On vers.
1 Tim.
V. 8); concerning the blessing of beneficence, and the injurious and perverse nature of avarice in general and of avaricious usury in particular (vers. 24-26) ; and finally concerning the life-giving and soul-refreshing power which the conduct of a just and truly wise man lias, like a magnet endowed with peculiar attractive power and working at a distance (^ver. 30, comp.
Matt. xii.
30, the "gathering with the Lord") 10, 11).
The growth and prosperity of a civil community is to be ascribed noi so much to Its political regulations as rather to the prayers of
HOMILETIC AND PRACTICAL.
Its pious citizens, who therefore deserve above others to be protected, honored and promoted.
Homily on the entire chapter.
Not justice only, which gives and leaves to every one his own, but love, which from spontaneous impulse resigns its own to others, and even for God's sake and in reliance on Him scatters it without concern, this is the conduct of the truly wise.
For "love worketh no ill to his neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law" (Rom. xiii. 10).—Comp.
Stocki'.k ; .Justice, as Solomon here commends it. relates Ij to private life (ver.s.
1-Hj ; 2) to civil J. Lange (on vers.
10, 11).
Pious and devout rulers of a city or a land are a great blessing, for which we should diligently pray, lest God should peradventure chastise us with t^'rannical, selfish, ungodly masters.
Vers. 12-15.
Geier (on vers.
12, 13):
Taciturnity Is never too highly praised, nor is it ever thoroughly acquired.
Disgraceful and injurious as loquacity is, equally admirable is trua
CHAP.
XI.
1-31.
12?) reserve in speech.—(On ver. 14) : The welfare of a land does indeed by all means depend on wise and faiihful counsellora ; yet to God, the supreme source of all prosperity, must the highest honor ever be rendered.
Rueuel (on ver.
14—in Rohr's Predigermagazm): Means by which we fortunes stands behind visible causes; Hebestows His blessing upon the insignificant and increases it. His curse upon the abundant, and it wastes away.
Thus every where it is the deeper causes that determine advance in wealth or impoverishment.
The blessing which we diifuse among others turns to our account; he who waters the dry land of others thereby brings advantage to his own.— [T. Ada.ms (on ver. 24): The communication of this riches doth not impoverish the proprietary.
The more he spends of his stock, the more be hatb.
But lie that will hoard the treasure of his charity shall grow poor, empty and bankrupt.
.\rnot (on ver.
25): To be a vessel conveying refreshment from the fountain-head of grace to a fainting soul in the wilderness is the surest way of keeping your own spirit fresh, and your experience ever new.
Tratp:
Bounty is the most compendious way to plenty, neither is getting but giving the best all may work beneficially from our domestic upon the public life (by the fidelity of our action, by purity of morals, love of peace, and a genuine religious sensibility).
Von Gerlach (on ver.
14):
In the affairs of a city, a state, a society, we should look far more after the spiritual than after the external means and appliances.
WouLF.iRTU (on vers. 9-15) : The blessing which the pious confers even here, and the curse that goes forth from tbe sinner.
Vers. 16-23. Zeltner (on ver. 16) : Zealous as tyrants are to acquire and keep their wealth, so diligent should the pious mau be in attaining and preserving his true honor, which is the fear of God and virtue.
[.Aknot (on ver. 17) :
In every thrift.
Chalmers: God in return not only enriches and ministers food to such as have willingly parted with Iheir carnal things, but increases the fruits of Iheir righteousness.] act that mercy prompts there are two parties, who obtain a benefit.
Both get good, but the giver gets the larger share.—J. Edwards (on Vers. 27-31. Starke (on ver. 27) : The opportunity to do good one should not let .slip from his hands. Gal. vi. 10.
If thou art always deferring from one time to another, it is easy that nothing should come of it —(On ver. 28) :
If thou wilt be and continue truly prosperous, then seek eagerly the rigliteousncss of Jesus Christ, and not the perisliable riches and pleasures of this world.
(On ver. 30) : To win gold and possessions is far from being so great wisdom as to win souls and deliver them from the way of destruction.
[Trapp (on ver. 28) :
Pilches were never true to any that trusted to them.—-Lord Bacon (on ver.
29) :
In domestical separations and breaches men do promise to themselves quieting of their mind and contentment; but still they are deceived of their expectation, and it turneth to wind.—.J.
Edwards (on ver.
31):
The persecutions of God's people, as they are from the disposing hand of God, are chastisements for sin.—Bp.
Jos. Hall (on ver. 31):
Behold even the most just and holy man upon earth shall be sure of his measure of affliction here in the world; bow much more shall the unconscionable and ungodly man be sure to smart for bis wickedness, either here or hereafter.] Melaxcktuon (on ver. 31):
If even the righteous in this life suffer correction and affliction, which nevertheless tend to improvement, how much more surely will they who defiantly and fiercely persist in their sinful course be punished, if not in this life, then in the life to come (Luke xxiii. 31
Pet. iv. 18).
Von Gerlach (on ver. 30) :
From the righteous there go forth life and blessing, as from a tree of life, wherefore he also gains ascendency over the souls of many, just as the tree of life was the oentre of Paradise, and from it went forth the prosperity of the whole. ver.
19): Solomon cannot mea.n. temporal iXetiXh, for he speaksof it as a punishment of the wicked, wherein the righteous shall certainly be distinguished from them.] Geier (on ver. 17):
The gifts wliich have been received from God one may enjoy with a good conscience, only it must be done with a thankful heart in the fear of God, and in connection with it tlie poor may not be forgotten.—(On ver 18) : The hope of the ungodly is deceptive.
For the object of their labor they do not attain, because death suddenly overtakes them
(Luke xii.
19).
Their accumulated wealth does not reach the heir of the third generation, they leave behind them an evil name, and the worm of conscience concinually preys upon them.—(On ver. 22) :
Extei'ntil physical beauty without inner beauty of soul is like a whitewashed sepulchre, that within is fuU of dead men's bones, Matih, xxiii.
27.
[Flavel (on ver.
20):
God takes great pleasure in uprightness, and will own and honor integrity amidst all the dangers which befall it.]—Vo.\ Gerlach (on ver. 22): Personal beauty is like the mere ornaments of an animal, attached <o it only externally, and often standing in sharp contrasi with itself; it is that within which makes the man a man.
Berleburg liihle (on ver. 23): The righteous desire nothing hut what is good, and are by God really made partakers of these things which they desire.
The ungodly, on the contrary, instead of what they hoped for, are made partakers of God's wrath.
V'ers.
21-20.
Cra.mer:
Almsgiving does not impoverish, as many men from lack of love suppose.
Hasius : Thougli God may not requite our beneficence in every instance by increasing the abundance of our possessions, yet He does in this that it contributes to our true welfare.
Von Gerlach : God as invisible regulator of human
; ; ; ; ; ; ; :
; :
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
P) With reference to domestic, civil and public avocations.
Chap. XII.
He that loveth correction loveth knowledge but whosoever hateth rebuke is brutish.
2 The good man obtaineth favor from Jehovah ; but the man of wicked devices doth he condemn.
3 A man shall not be established by wickedness ; but the root of the righteous shall not be moved.
4 A good wife is the crown of her husband, but one that causeth shame is as rottenness in his bones.
5 The thoughts of the righteous are justice; the counsels of the wicked are deceit.
6 The words of the wicked are a lying in wait for blood, but the mouth of the upright delivereth them.
7 The wicked are overturned and are no more but the house of the righteous shall stand.
8 According to his wisdom shall a man be praised but he that is of a perverse heart shall be despised.
Better is the lowly that serveth himself, than he that boasteth and lacketh bread.
10 The righteous careth for the life of his beast but the sympathy of the wicked is cruelty.
11 He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread but he that followeth after vanity is void of understanding.
12 The wicked desireth the spoil of evil doers, but the root of the righteous is made sure.
13 In the tra!isgression of the lips is a dangerous snare, but the righteous escapeth from trouble.
14 From the fruit of a man's mouth shall he be satisfied with good; and the work of one's hands shall return to him.
15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he that hearkeueth to counsel is wise.
IG The vexation of the fool is at once known but he that hideth offence is wise.
17 He that uttereth truth proclaimeth right, but the lying tongue deceit.
18 Tiexe is that talketh idly like the piercings of a sword: but toe tongue of the wise is health.
19 The lip of truth shall be established forever but the lyiug tongue only for a moment.
20 Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil, but to those who give wholesome counsel is joy.
21 There shall no evil befall the righteous but the wicked are full of calamity.
22 Lying lips are an abomination to Jehovah; but they that deal truly are his delight.
23 A prudent man hideth knowledge but the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness.
24 The hand of the diligent shall rule : but the slothful shall be obliged to serve.
If heaviness be in the heart of man it boweth it down a good word maketh it glad.
; :
CHAP.
XII.
1-28.
26 The righteous guideth his friend aright but the way of the wicked leadeth him astray.
27 The idle catcheth not his prey, but a precious treasure to a man is diligence.
28 In the path of righteousness is life but a devious way (leadeth) to death.
GRAMMATICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 11-—'DriT (This plural is cited by Bottcher, g 699, among the examples of that, ideally «itend«d and abitract, which vividly and agreeably impresses the spirit, and therefore is fitly represented by a plural
; comp. 'IjyX, etc.] Ver. 17.—nj^OX n'3^ (comp. D'3T3 n"3", chap. vi. 19) is to be regarded as a relative clause.
[BaTTCHEB. bow- .ver, regards n"3' here and in vi. 19; xiv.M, xix. i, 9; Ps. xii. 6; xxvii.l2,as a Hiphil parlicipleof peculiar form found only in a few mstauces in connection with roots containing a labial that would closely follow the n which is the ordinirv prefix of the Hiphil participle.
The omission of this O givei a form approaching the Kal.
BGtTceEB objects to Ew.,u,'s description of this as an intransitive Kal participle (J 1C9, a), that this verb is not intransitive, etc.
See J 994, 9 and Ver. 28._An additional objection to the ordinary interpretation (see exegetical notes below) is the absence of Mappin in the n of riJ ilj. which must nevertheless be regarded as a third pers. suffix referring to nplX, "the way of its path."
''^' which the wicked seek to direct others (DiSanri, comp. xi. 14), are in themselves deceitful and unreal, and therefore lead solely to evil.—Ver.
The words of the wicked are a lying in wait for blood, i. e., they mean malice, they are the expression of a bloodthirsty and murderous disposition; comp. i. 11 sq.; xi.9.—Altogether needlessly Hitzig alters the phrase m-3iX to ^1 ^.'???. "are a snare for them."—The mouth of the righteous, however, delivereth them,—that is, the righteous (comp. xi C), or it may be also the innocent who are threatened by the lying in wait of the wicked for blood fcomp. xi. 9).
[So WoRiisw. and Mi-enschkrJ.
Ver. 7.
The wicked are overturned and are no more.—The infin. abs.
']^3'n here stands emphatically for the finite verb, and furthermore, for this is certainly the simplest assumption, in an active or intransitive sense [comp. however in general on this idiom Bottchee, ^ 990, <;.
A.] ; "the wicked turn about, then are they no more "
[comp. the proverbial expression "in the turning of a hand "].
To regard it as a passive (Ew.\Li), Elsteb, Hitzig) [K., M., S.] is unnecessary; this gives a stronger meaning than the poet probably designed, i.e., "the wicked are overthrown " (or even "turned upside down,"
Hitzig).
The subsequent clause "and are no more " would not harmonize with so strong a meaning in the antecedent clause, especially if, as HiTzio supposes, the verb really designs to remind us of the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. xix. 21).
With the second clause comp. X. 25
; Matth. vii. 25.
EXEGETICAL.
Vers. 1-3.
Three proverbs on the contrast between good and evil in general.—'Whosoever hateth correction is brutish.—^i'S, brutus, Btupid as a beast ; a peculiarly strong expression.
Comp. chaps, xxx. 2
; Ps. xlix. 10
; Ixxiii.
22; xoii.
Hitziq prefers to read 'iff'S, which alteration, however, appears from the passages just cited to be unnecessary.— Ver.
The good man obtaineth favor from Jehovah.
For the use of this verb "obtain"
(lit. "to draw out") couip. iii.
13: viii. 35.—But the man of wicked devices doth he condemn, i. e., Jehovah.
Others regard the verb as intransitive, e.g., the Vulgate, '•impie agit," and now HiTZIO, who finds expressed here the idea of " incurring penalty."
But for this signification of this Hiphil there is wanting the necessary illustration and support; and as evidence that the VJ^1X\ ni3t0 may be regarded as an accusative without the sign flX comp., e. g., x. 11
; Ps.
Ivi. 8; Job xxii.
29, etc.—With ver. compare x.
25, and with the second clause in particular ver. 12 below.
Vers. 4-11.
Eight proverbs on the blessings and banes of domestic life, and on the cause of both.—Ver. 4. A good wife is her husband's cro^n.
Literally, a woman of power, i. e., of moral power and probity, such as manifests itself in her domestic activity
; comp. xxxi.
10; Ruth iii.
11.
The "crown" or the garland (H'lDi^) is here regarded evidently as an emblem of honor and renown, comp. the "crown cf rejoicing "
(orf^lnTOf rnvxi'/OFuc),
Thess. ii.
19: also Prov. xxxi. 23, i;8.—But like a rottenness in his bones is she that, causeth shame.— Literally a worm-eating, i e., a ruin inwardly undermining and slowly destroying; Eomp. xiv.
30:
Job iii.
16. — Ver.
The thoughts of the righteous are just; the counsels of the wicked are deceit. i.
«., the very thoughts of the pious, mueh more theii their words and deeds, aim at simple justice and righteousness ; the shrewd counsels, however, by Ver.
According to his wisdom.—"sS [literally "in the face or presence of "], "in proportion to," "according to the measure of," as in .ludges i. 8 and frequently elsewhere.—But he that is of a perverse " heart shall be despised,— lit., "the crooked in heart,"
;. e., the perverse man, wlio does not see things as they are, and therefore acts perversely and injudiciously (Hitz[g).
Ver.
Better is the lowly that serveth himself.—With this use of "lowly, insignitioant," comp.
Sam. xviii.
23.
The phrase
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
genitive being however possessive and not obiS 13^1 the Targum, Aben Ezra, Bertheau, Elsteb [De W., N., S.], regard as expressing jective, i. c, such prey as evil doers take]; Ewalu however and Hixzio regard the passage as altogether corrupt, on account of the widely divergent text of the ancient versions (LXX, Vulg., Syr.), and tlierefore propose emendations
(Ewald, "the desire of the wicked is an evil net;"
Hitzig, "the refuge of the wicked is crumbling cl.iy").
It is ctTtaiuly noteworthy tliis idea, "aud he has at the same time a servant."
But the parallelism demands the meaning early given in the LXX, Vulgate and Syr. versions [and now preferred by K., H., M., W.],
*^ minislrans sibi ipsi,^' serving himself, which is here evidently put in contrast with the foolish, impoverished pride of birth mentioned in the Bccoiid clause,—whether we retain the Masoretic reading, or, with Ziegler, Ewalu and Hitzig, that the LXX and Vulgate ofl'er a double rendering of the verse, first one that widely departs, and then one less seriously differing from the form of the Masoretic text.—With the second clause comp. ver. 3, second clause.
For the verb read '^ npi'l (participial). — And lacketh bread.—Com'p.
2 Sam. iii.
29.
With the general seniimenl compare the passage which undoubtedly grew out of this, Ecclesiast. x.
30.
]ri' it is probably not needful to supply as subject the word "Jehovah," which has been omitVer.
10. The righteous careth for the life of his beast,— ^. f., he knows how his beast ted (Umbreit, Bertheau, Elster [Wordsw. (?)], etc.) [nor with Luther, De W., E. V., N. and M. to supply an object,—giveth or yieldeth feels, he concerns himself, he cares for his domestic animals, does not allow them to hunger.
[Arxot: When the pulse of kindness beats strong (fruit)] ; but, as in the instance in x. 24, to change the punctuation to the passive jr*.", or in the heart, the warm stream goes sheer through the body of the human family, and retains force enough to expatiate among the living creatures iigain, to write \Ty (derived from 1^!^' , firmus 'fuit, iomp. the proper name ]n"X) w-ith the Targum, Reiske, Hitzig [Stcaut], etc.—Ver. 13. In the transgression of the lips is a dangerous snare; i. e., he who seeks to ruin others by evil speaking is himself overthrown in the same way.
Bertheau proposes to construe so as to give the meaning "is a snare of or for the wicked," which, however, is contrary to the analogy of Eccles. ix. that lie beyond].
Comp. Ex. xxiii.
9, "Ye know the heart of the stranger," from which parallel passage it appears that Ziegler, Elstee, et'-.-, are in the wrong in translating lysp here by " hunger."
For examples of this use of jhe verb i'l"
"to know," in the sense of "to concern 12.— After this verse also the LXX introduces a peculiar addition consistiug of two clauses, which, however, is probably nothing more than an old gloss on the following verse; comp. Hitzig on this passage. one's self, to care for something," comp. also xxvii. -3; Gen. xxxix. 6; Ps. i. 6, etc.—But the compassion of the wicked is cruelty,— lit., "is cruel."—With the whole proverb comp.
Ecclesiast. vii. 23.—Ver.
11. But he that follo'weth after vanity.—D"P'7. is probably not Ver. 14. From the fruit of a man's mouth is he satisfied vrith good.— Lit., "from the the designation of "vain persons," as in Judg. ix. fruit of the mouth of the man doth he satisfy him4; 2 Sam. vi. 20
; comp. 2 Kings iv. 3 (U.mukeit, Bekthead, etc.), but is to be regarded as neuter, self with good;"
!. c, it is the good fruit which one brings forth in wise, intelligent, benevolent discourse, that results in blessing to him.
Comp. i.
«., as an abstract, and therefore as meaning vain things, vanities, and, as the contrast witli xiii. 2; xviii. 20.
In the second clause to good words good works are added, and as "returning upon him" (comp. Ps. vii. IG) ; they are therefore represented as being in a sense the personified bearers of reward and blessing.
Compare the the first clause shows, specially " idleness, inaction, laziness."
Comp. the LXX, who have here rendered the expression by fiaraia, but in the passage almost literally identical, chap, xxviii.
19, by c,-[()A;/r ; in like manner SvMMAcnus similar thought, referring however to future ret- (airpayinv), Vulgate [otium), etc. ributions, and therefore somewhat differently 3.
Vers.
12-22.
Eleven additional proverbs with regard to virtues and faults in civil relaexpressed. Rev. xiv.
13, "their works do follow them."—Vers.
and Ifi belong together, as bulh refer to the fool and his opposite.
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,^ tions, e.-!pecially sins of the tongue and their opposites.
The Tvicked desireth the spoil of evil doers,— /. c, one wicked man seeks to deprive another of his gains, one of them is evermore seeking the injury and ruin of anoi. e., according to his own judgment (comp. iii.
7), which presents to him his own mode of action in a light favorable enough, although others may ever so often, and in a way ever so convincing, ther, 80 that no peace prevails among them (Is. xlviii. 22
: Ivii. 21) ; they are rather " by the conpoint out its perverseness.
The exact opposite flict of their selfish strivings ever consuming one another."
Thus, and doubtless correctly, Umbreit and Elster [to whose view K. gives a of this is found in the conduct of the wise man, the willing listener to wise counsels.
Comp. xiv.
12; xvi.
25; xxi. 2—The vexation of the fool is at once known,—lit., "is known qualitied assent], wliile Bertheau, following the Targum, translates 11X0 by "net," and to illuseven on the s.niie day," i. e.. at once, after a short time (Vulgate, statim).
In contrast with this trate the meaning thus obtained, compares chap, passionate breaking out of the offended fool, the viii. 35
[this is also the rendering of the E.
V., which is followed by W., M., H.; S. renders "desireth an evil net," i. e., destruction, being wise man exercises a prudent self-control in a seemly disregard of the insult put upon him, as Saul once did, 1 Sam. x. 27.—Ver.
17. He that uttereth truth proclaimeth right, (.
<•., always 80 intent upon his evil deeds as to disregard the consequences ; N. renders in seeming agreement with our author " the prey of evil doers," the gives utterance to that which is strictly just; so
CHAP. XII.
1-28.
Vers. 23-28.
Six proverbs which relate to the contrast between the wise and the foolish, the diligent and the slothful.—With reference to the especially in judicial examinations as witness.
This " truth " (nj?ON) is subjective truth, fidelity to one's own convictions (TriaTi^, LXX), the opfirst clause of ver. 23 compare x. 14, 17
; with the second clause, xiii.
16; xv.
2.— Ver.
24. The hand of the diligent will rule; but tha slothful will be obliged to serve.—With the first clause compare x. 4; with the second, xi.
2'J.—nTD"* "slothful," is doubtless an adiecposite to the lies which characterize the false witness; comp. xiv.
5, 1^5.
Ver.
18.
There is that talketh idly, as though it were thrusts of a sword, lit., "like ' or "like knife thrusts"
(HiTziG); i. e., he breaks out with speeches so inconsiderate and inappropriate, that the persons present feel themselves injured as if by sharp piercings of a sword. tive belonging to the noun T (hand), and not an abstract substantive "sloth," standing here for the concrete, 'the sluggard," as .1. D. Miciiaelis, UouERLEiN, Bertheau and Elster suggest.-'
Will be obliged to serve," literally, "will be for tribute, for service," i. e., will be forced to labor as one owing tribute.—Ver.
25.
If trouble be in the heart of man it bo'weth it down.—The sufBx attached to the verb seems like tliat connected with the parallel verb, which, moreover, rhymes with this, to refer to the noun
"heart," and this as a synonym with tbi)! thrusts.
This rude and inconsiderate babbling of the fool is here fitly described by the verb n02, which is equivalent to NI33, used in Lev. v.
T T T T
: Numb. xxx. 7
; Ps. cvi. 33 (of speaking hastily, rnshly, unadvisedly). — But the tongue of the wise is health. —Medicine, healing"
(coiup. iv. 22), forma here an exceedingly apjn'opriate antithesis to the inwardly wounding effect of the inconsiderate babbling mentioned before.
Vers. 10. But the lying tongue only for a moment.— Literally, till I wink again, till I complete a wink of the eye;" conip. Jer. xlix. 19 and 1. 44.
This is therefore a detailed poetical circmnlocution for the idea of a little while, an instant (Is. liv.
7): the verb here employed "soul." has here the force of a feminine.
[BoTTCHER,
g 877, e, cites this among the examples of the u^e of tlie fem. singular as a neuter with reference to objects named before but conceived of as neuter.
See also Green, | 197, b— A.] In this connection it is indeed remarkable that njXl (trouble), also contrary to its natural i>'"J"in) is a denominative derived from i'JT a wink.—Deceit is in the heart of those Twho devise evil. — Deceit, malignity"
(comp. gender, appears here construed as a masculine.
Mfiice tlie varying views of many recent expositors, <?. y, that of Umbreit and Elster; "if trouble be in a man's heart, let him repress it (the sorrow) ;" or that of HiTZio, who refers the suffixes of both these verbs to (he noun "hand" of the verse preceding, and accordingly renders
(at the same time in a peculiar way reproducing the rhyme) ver.
17, second clause) might here be made antithetic to "joy," because the necessary effect of deceit is sorrow and trouble.
Therefore this noun nolo is not to be transformed to ni"l3 .
T ; _ T :
I bitterness (Houbigant), nor to be interpreted by "self-deception," or by "joy in evil"
(Sc/iar/eiifreiiile) with Umbheit.—But to those who give wholesome counsel is joy. — The common rendering (as also that of U.mbreit, KlSTEU, c/c ), is "who counsel peace;" comp. the " Is sorrow in the man's heart, he bends it
(/. e., the hand, down).
But if gladness, he extends it." old reading of the LXX, ol fiovAoftevoi. elpijvijv^ and the (Iprfi'o-K-moi of Matth. v.
But UilU is here [tliTzir.'s rhyme is made with the verbs sen/cet and sckwenkef, which are rather violent equivalents to the Hebrew terms, but are perhaps fairly matched by bends and exicnds, or abases and to be taken in the general sense of " welfare, that which is salutary," as, for example, in Ps. xxxiv.
14; xxxvii.
37.
The special signification "peace" would not correspond with the evil" raises.—A.] In favor of the rendering which we prefer are the old versions, and among recent expositors
ROSENMUELLEK,
DaTHE,
DoDEBLEIN,
EwALD, Bertheau. of the first clause, which is nowhere equivaleiit to strife, division (not in Judges ix.
2o, as UmBr.EiT thinks).
The "joy" of the well-meaning counsellor is furthermore probably to be conceived of as one to be found in the heart, the inward cheerfulness and happy contentment of a good conscience (as HiTzio rightly maintains against BERTtiEAU and others).
Ver.
2ti.
The righteous guideth his friend aright.—Tue verli '^^}\ Hiphil of T^H (which is cquiv.alent to l-p), means " to set right, toguitleto the right way, odr/yeh'
;'^ ^10 is then equivalent to J^*^, friend, companion, as in Gen.
Ver. 21. No evil befalleth the righteous.
—-For this verb (Pual of njX) comp.
Ps. xxvi. 26; Judges xiv.
20; xv.
[So Gesen., Riiu., FiTKBST, EwALD, Bertueau, K., S., M. and W.]—Uthers, especially LtiTHER, M. Geier,
13.
(IN here signifies not xci.
10; Ex. xxi. lo. i "sin," but 'evil, misfortune, calamity," like the parallel term in the second clause, or the nyi in ^ T T the 91st Psalm cited above.—With respect to the sentiment, which naturally should be regarded as a relative truth, not as unconditionally illustrated in every experience, comp. chap. x. 3; xi.
: xii.
2, 3, etc.—With ver. 22 compare xi. 20. etc., following the Chaldee version, regard lil' as an adjective followed by the object of comparison
"better than his friend is (or fares) the righteous man."
[So the E. V., which is followed by Notes].
Others still, like Datue, J. D. MiCHAELis.ZiKGI.Enarid Hitzig (the latter changing the verb to ip^), read in^'^lO, ' his pasture," and so reach the meaning " the righteous looketh after his pasture," i. e., his path in life.
It seems, however, altogether needless to depart from thij above explanation, which is grammatically ad"
It is unnecessary to alter the plural 'Uy into the siugular ni?j> (with the LXX, many MSS., HiTxio, etc.).
THE PEOVERBS OF SOLOMON.
the predominating reference of the third main group (vers. 12-22) to sins of the tongue or lips, leads us to regard social or civil life as the special department here chiefly contemplated.
Still this classification is after all only a general one, and proverbs of a more general moral tendency and bearing, like those contained in the introductory group (vers. 1-3) are interspersed through each of the three large groups (e. g. in vers.
5, B, 12, 21, 2(j, 28); these therefore show the impossibility of carrying through a division of the contents of the chapter according to definite and clearly distinct categories. inissible, and jrives a meaning which agrees well with that of the second clause —But the wray of the wicked leadeth them astray; them, i. e., the wicked.
The construction is the same as in chap. xi. 0, and probably also xii.
(J.
Ver.
27. The slothful catcheth not his prey.
" The slolhtul," properly here again an adjective, "idle' hand, expresses the idea of I eloth, and then, as an abstract for the concrete, stands for "the sluggard, the slothful."
'il^n then, an diraf Afjo/ifi'oi' in the Old Testament, is explained by tbe Rabbins, following the Aramean
( Uan. iii. 27), by "to singe, to roast;" therefore Berthe.iu, e.g., still translates "the slothful Moral truths to which an emphatic prominence is given are found in the very first verse, on which ro.asteth not his prey," and then supplies the Umbreit pertinently remarks, "The thought seems. weak, and to a spirit practised in reflection hardly worth recording, yet on its truth rests the possibility of a spiritual progress in the human race, its development to a higher humanity ; one might even say, the very conditions of history lie in that proverb."
Again we .dea, "because he is too lazy to catch it."
[M.
:idopts this explanation, and S. doubtfully.] i)tliers, more simply, and in conformity with the old versions, render "the idle man catcheth not his game " [so K., H., and N.], for which signifioitlon of hunting, catching, seizing, HiTZio cites l>;xical analogies from the Arabic.
[Fueest, find them in ver.
10, a proverb which sets foith that tender care for animals as man's fellowcreatures, which impresses itself on so many other passages of the Old Testament, e.g. Ex.
XX.
11; xxii. 29, 30; Lev. xxii. 27; Deut. xsii.
6 sq.
; XXV. 4; Ps. xxxvi. 6; civ. 27: cxlv. 15 sq.; criticising this interpretation, and defending the other, urges 1) th.at not to catch game is no sure sign of laziness, and 2) "his prey" must be .already in hand— -\.]—But a precious treasure to a man is diligence.— To reach this meaning it is necessary either to take "Oil exceptionally cxlvii.
U; Job xxxviii.
sq.
; xxxix.
sq.
; Jonah iv. 11, etc.* in the abstract sense of diligence, or with C. B.
MicH.\ELis and Hitzig to read as an infinitive Vnn, " to bestir one's self, to show one's self We find like important truths in ver.
13, ns also in general in all the proverbs that relate to the right use of the lips and tongue (compare besides vers.
14, 10-19,22, 25); so also in the commendation of a willingness to receive good counsel, ver.
15, with which we may appropriately compare Theoonis, Gnom.,
V., 221-225
diligent." — Others, like Kohleb, U.mbiieit, Slstek, etc., resort to a partial transposition of the words, yielding the meaning "but precious treasure belongeth to the diligent man "—an alteration which is favored in advance by the Sy- (see the passage in Umbreit, p.
158) ;—and again in the admonition to a wise self-command and presence of mind under experience of injury, riac version, and to some extent also by the LXX.
Vcr.
But a devious way (leadeth) to death.—This is doubt less the interpretation to be ver.
Hi, with which should be compared admonitions of the New Testament against persistent anger and heat of passion, such as Rom. xii. 19;
Eph. iv.
2(5,
; James i.
19, 20, etc.—li has already been made evident that the concluding verse of the chapter (ver. 28, 2d clause) unlike chapter xi.
7, probably contains no hint of a hope of immortality. given with HiTZiii to this clause; for in Judges v. li; Is.
Iviii. 12, n^'flJ in fact signifies (in contrast with mS) a crooked winding by-path, and the modification of "TS to '^X seems the more justifiable in proportion as the combination on which the ordinary rendering rests is otherwise unknown (niO-bx as equivalent to niD-X7)
; " and
HOMILETIC AND PRACTICAL.
the way of its path is not-death"
(which is to Homily on the entire chapter.
On the true wisdom of the children of God, as it ought to appear 1) in the home, under the forms of good be understood as "immortality," Ewalu, UmUREiT, Elsteb [K., E. v., N., S., M.], elc). furthermore, the form of expression (\y^ before discipline, diligence and contentment; 2) in the ni'ilJ) indicates plainly that to the second of state or in the intercourse of citizens, under the forms of truthfulness, justice, and unfeigned benevolence (ver. 12-22) ; 3) in the Church or in Ih'e terms employed not its ordinary sense, but a ouite peculiar signification, a quasi adjective import is to be given.
[Hodgson and Holden express a decided preference for this view].—With the religious life, as a progressive knowledge of God, a diligent devotion to prayer and striving after eternal life (vers. 23-28).—Comp. Stocker:
—On true discipline; 1) its general utility (vers. the general sentiment of the verse compare x. 2
; xi.
19.
1-8); 2) the blessing on those who receive dis-
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
cipline, and the curse on those who bate and despise it (vers. 9-10); 3) comprehensive repetiThe contrasts between diligence and indolence, tion of wliat has been taught concerning the wisdom and folly, which present themselves as saluiariness of discipline (vers. 17-28).
Starke:
—On the injurious nature of ungodliness and the strongest characteristics of the second and fourth of the groups of verses found in (his tiiapter, lead us to refer the proverbs of these * Cunip. ZdCKLKR, Ttifnlogia NaturaH^; Entwur/ eintr «y» tematuc/ien ^'uturphilosopftie, etc., I , pp. 5;iJ sq. groups mainly lo private or domcslic lifc.-while
; :
CHAP. XII.
1-28.
look into a wicked heart, they stay not there, as those that like not their lodging.—(On ver. 7):
There is a council in heaven will dash the mould of all contrary counsels upon earth.
(On ver. 11): Sin brought in sweat (Gen. iii. 19), and now not to sweat increaseth sin.
Lord Bacon (on ver. 10) :—The tender mercies of the wicked are when base and guilty men are spared that should be stricken with the sword of justice.
Pity of this sort is more cruel than cruelty the utility of piety; 1) in general (vers.
1-3); 2) in particular, a) in the marriage relation (ver. 4) ; b) in comnioii life (vers. o-iS) : c) in the care of cattle and in agriculture (0-11); d) in the use of the tongue (12 23 ; e) in attention to one's calling (24-28).— Calwer Haiulbuch:—The heart, the action and the speech of the fool and the wise man.—or, of the life that is to be found in the way of righteousness, and the ruin that is to be found in tiie way of ungodliness.
Vers.
1-3. Geier:—No one is so perfect that he might not sometimes fail, and consequently need a chastisement not only on the part of God, but also on the part of men.— (On ver. 3) : He who by faith and love is rooted in God (Eph. iii. itself.
For cruelty is exercised upon individuals, but this pity, by granting impunity, arras j and sends forth against iunocent men the whole army of evil-doers.
Chalmers (on ver.
10) :
The lesson is not the circulation of benevolence within the limits of one species.
It is the transmission of it from one species to another.
The • 17) will not possibly ever be rooted up by anything; Ps. Ixxiii. 2-5; Jobnx. 28.
St.^rke :— It first is but the charily of a world.
The second is better to be with true sympathy ch-istised by a just man, than to be deceitfully praised.
Berleburg Bible:— He who sutfers himself to be guided comes constantly nearer to wisdom, i. e. is the charity of a universe].
Vers.
12-22.
Melanchthon:—In everything are we exhorted to good, and to striving after truth, in the knowledge of God, in science and to Christ, and for such a one His fellowship with all its blessedness stands open —VoN Geblacu (on ver.
1);—All that raises man above the brute arts, in all honorable occupations and compacts and because truthfulness belongs to the most glorious and eminent virtues, therefore the vice opposed to it is condemned in strong language, and pronounced (ver. 22) an offence and abomination in the sight of God.
Osiander:—AVe use the gift of speech rightly when we employ is secured to him by training, by the wholesome discipline of his parents and teachers.—(On ver. 3) : The ungodly has no ground in which he is rooted, no stability in assaults from without, while the righteous man is rooted in the eternal nature of the Creator Himself.
Hence the righteous man is a tree by a river's side, a house on a rock,— the ungodly, however, is a it to God's glor}' and to our neighbor's benefit.
Zeltner:—As one has here used his tongue, whether for good or evil, he will hereafter be recompensed.
Truth is a daughter of rigliteousness ; apply thyself diligently to this, and thou hast the true witness in thyself that thou art of the truth and a child of God (1 John iii.
18, 19).
Fidelity and veracity have indeed in the world, whose watchword is only hatred, a poor reward; but so much the more precious are they in the sight of God (Ps. XV.
1, 2).
[.-Vrnot (on ver. 13) fleeting storm-cloud, a tree in a dry laud, a house built on the sand, and even chaft' that the wind driveth away, Ps. i. 3 sq.; Isa. xliv.
4, etc.
— [Arnot (on ver. 1):—The fool casts aw.ay the precious because it is unpalatable, and the wise man accepts the unpalatable because it is precious.
Nature hates reproof; let grace take the bitter potion and thrust it down nature's throat, for the sake of its healing power.— .\. Fuller (on ver. 1):—He, and he only, that loves the means loves the end.
The means of knowledge are "instruction When a man is not true, the great labor of his life must be to make himself appear true; but if a man be true, he need not concern himself about appearances.
Trapp (on ver. 20):—Such counsellors shall have peace for peace: peace of conscience for peace of country].—On ver. 20, Tischer (in Zimmerman's " Sotmtagsfeier," 1835,
No. 41 ) :—Every one can become acquainted with himself from his social intercourse.— [SotTTH (on ver. 22):— A lie is a thing absolutely and intrinsically evil
: it is an act of injustice, .and a violation of our neighbor's right.
The vileness of " in what is right, and "reproof" for what is wrong.
He who is an enemy to either of these means is an enemy to the end.
—Bridges (on ver. 3):—Firm and unshaken is the condition of the righteous.
Their leaves may wither in the blast.
Their branches may tremble in the fury of the tempe.st.
But their root—the true principle of life shall not be moi'ed~\.
Vers.
4-11. Geier (on ver.
4):—By vicious conduct a woman destroys her husband as it were with subtle poison, but even then harms herself the most.
Zeltneb (on ver.
4):—He who will enter into the marriage relation should begin with God, with hearty prayer, sound reits nature is equalled by the malignity of its effects; it first brought sin into the world, and is since the cause of all those miseries and calamities that disturb it; it tends utterly to dissolve and overthrow society, which is the greatest temporal blessing and support of mankind ; it tlection, and devout purposes, lest he be compelled afterward bitterly to bewail his folly, Tob. viii. 4 sq.— (On ver. 9) : An honorable life lias a str:inge and peculiar efficacy, above all other sins, to indispose the heart to religion.
It in narrow circumstances is much better and more peaceful, and besides not subject to so many temptations, as when one lives in ever so high a position in the view of the world.
To make a great figure and to aim at being great is the ruin of many a man, Tob. iv. 14
; Ecclesiast. is as dreadful in its punishments as it has been pernicious in its effects].
Vers.
23-28.
Hasius :—The ordinary modes of acquisition are always the safest and best.
Him who loves crooked ways and devices we never find prospering; but those who walk in ways of innocence and justice, cannot become unsuccessful.
Osiander: — iii. 19, ZO.~Wiirtemberg Bible (on ver. 10) :—The brute has no one that can do him good but man
; tlierefore treat it kindly, with reason and moderation —[Trapp (oq ver. 5):^If good thoughts ^ Follow thy calling in the fear of God and with diligence, and thy possessions will be with God's blessing richly
THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.
multiplied.
Starke :—He who squanders time, shuns toil and burfes his pound in a napkin, is unworthy to dwell on earth (Luke xix. 20, 24).
WoHLFARTH
(oH ver.
25);— The friendly word.
Where we can help by actual deeds, such real help is by all means better than mere consolation in words.
If however the means for such aid are wanting to us, if the evil is of such a sort that no human help whatever is possible, then it Is a double duty to cheer the depressed I with friendly words; yes, consolation is then often in itself help because it leads to God, the true helper in all need!
[Trapp (on ver. 27) :
Jabal and Jubal, diligence and complacence, good husbandry and well contenting sufficiency, dwell usually together.
Chal.mers (on ver. 28):
—The deeds of the hand have a reflex influence on the state of the heart.
There is life in spiritual-mindedness; and it serves to aliment this life to walk in the way of obedience]. y) With reference to the use of temporal good, and of the word of God as the highest good.
Ch.^p. XIII.
A wise son hearkeneth to his father's correction, but a scoruer to no rebuke.
2 By the fruit of one's mouth doth he enjoy good, but the delight of the ungodly is violence,
3 He that guardeth his mouth keepeth his life, he that openeth wide his lips shall be destroyed.
4 The sluggard desireth, but without the satisfying of his desire, but the desire of the diligent is abundantly satisfied.
5 Deceit the righteous hateth, but the ungodly acteth basely and shamefully.
6 Righteousness protecteth an upright walk, but wickedness plungeth into sin.
7 One maketh himself rich and hath nothing, another professeth to be poor yet hath great riches.
8 A ransom for a man's life are his riches, but the poor heedeth no threatening.
9 The light of the righteous rejoiceth, but the lamp of the wicked goeth out.
10 By pride cometh only contention, but wisdom is with those who receive counsel.
11 Gain through fraud vanisheth away, but he that gathereth by labor increaseth it (his gain).
12 Hope deferred maketh the heart sick, but desire accomplished is a tree of life.
13 Whosoever despiseth the word is bound to it, he that feareth the commandment is rewarded.
14 The instruction of the wise man is a fountain of life to escape the snares of death.
15 Kindly wisdom ensureth favor, the way of the ungodly is desolate.
16 The prudent man doeth all things with understanding, but a fool spreadeth abroad folly.
17 A bad messenger falleth into trouble, but a faithful mes.senger is health.
18 Poverty and shame (to him) that refuseth correction | he that regardeth reproof is honored.
19 Quickened desire is sweet to the soul, and it is abomination to fools to depart from evil.
20 Walk with wise men and become wise! i)Ut whoso delighteth in fools becometh base.