FOOTNOTES:[1]Cf.xxv. 24 (xxi. 9), xxvi. 22 (xviii. 8), xxvii. 12 (xxii. 3), xxvii. 13 (xx. 16), xxvi. 13 (xxii. 13), xxvi. 15 (xix. 24), xxviii. 6 (xix. 1), xxviii. 19 (xii. 11), xxix. 13 (xxii. 2); to which add xxvii. 15 (xix. 13), xxvii. 21 (xvii. 3), xxix. 22 (xv. 18).[2]Eccl. vii. 24.[3]Wisdom viii. 1.[4]Eccl. vii. 25.[5]1 Kings iv. 33.[6]In this passage Wisdom is represented saying—"I from the mouth of the Highest came forth, and as vapour I veiled the earth;I in the heights pitched my tent, my throne in a pillar of cloud;I alone circled the ring of heaven, and walked in the depths of abysses;In the waves of the sea, and in all the earth, and in every people and race I obtained a possession;With all these I sought a rest (saying), In whose inheritance shall I settle?Then came to me the command of the Creator of all; my Creator pitched my tent; and He said,In Jacob pitch thy tent, in Israel find thine inheritance.Before the world was, in the beginning He created me, and while the world lasts I shall not fail:In the holy tent before Him I offered service, and thus in Sion I was planted;In the beloved city He likewise made me rest, and in Israel is my power;And I took root in a people that is glorified, in a portion of the Lord His inheritance."—Eccles.xxiv. 3.[7]Prov. xiv. 27.[8]It may be well to remind the reader who is too familiar with the name "the Lord" to consider its significance; that "the Lord" is the English translation of that peculiar name, Jahveh, by which God revealed Himself to Moses, and the term Jahveh seems to convey one of two ideas, existence or the cause of existence, according to the vowel-pointing of the consonants יהוה.[9]Eccles. i. 6, 8.[10]Prov. ii. 10.[11]Prov. i. 32.[12]We may remind ourselves that, according to the most probable conjecture, this introduction to Solomon's Proverbs (chaps, i.-ix.) dates from the reign of Josiah (640-609b.c.).[13]Isa. i. 15.[14]Isa. lix. 7.[15]Micah iii. 10.[16]Jer. ii. 34.[17]Jer. xxii. 17.[18]Prov. i. 14. Compare the proverb, xvi. 29, "A man of violence enticeth his neighbour, and leadeth him in a way that is not good."[19]Prov. ix. 13-18.[20]Prov. v. 12-14.[21]Prov. vi. 32 and v. 22.[22]Prov. i. 19.[23]A dog-chain sold in London at one shilling and threepence was found to have cost, for materials twopence, for labour three-farthings. (Evidence before Lord Dunraven's Commission on the Sweating System).[24]See Prov. i. 13.[25]Prov. ii. 22.[26]Prov. i. 19.[27]Prov. ii. 19.[28]Prov. i. 17.[29]Prov. i. 25.[30]Prov. i. 31, 32.[31]Prov. i. 24-31.[32]Prov. ii. 21, 22.[33]Prov. i. 31-33.[34]Prov. ix. 12, 18.[35]Cf.xxviii. 26, "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered."[36]Prov. iii. 1-10.[37]Luke xviii. 29, 30.[38]The Hebrew word שִׁקּוּי in iii. 8bis the same as that which is translated "my drink" in Hosea ii. 6. The LXX. render it "marrow," but it means the moisture which in a natural and healthy state keeps the bones supple, as opposed to the dryness which is produced by senility or disease.[39]Si ton Dieu veut ta mort, c'est déjà trop vécu.[40]Prov. iii. 29.[41]Prov. iii. 33.[42]Cf.xii. 8, "A man shall be commended according to his wisdom: but he that is of a perverse heart, shall be despised."[43]Prov. iii. 27, 28.[44]Prov. iii. 6.[45]Matt. vi. 22.[46]Prov. iii. 13-15.[47]Prov. iii. 18.[48]Prov. iii. 16.[49]Prov. iii. 8.[50]Prov. iii. 31.[51]Prov. iii. 12.[52]Prov. iii. 35.[53]This subject, which occupies so large a part of the book, is further treated in Lect. XXIII.[54]It is noteworthy that the LXX. in ver. 2 seek to maintain the Solomonic authorship by deliberately altering the words.[55]Cf.the beautiful family picture of the linked and mutually blessed generations in the proverb, "Children's children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers" (xvii. 6).[56]Prov. iv. 8, 9.[57]Prov. iv. 14.[58]Prov. iv. 20-23.[59]Matt. xv. 19.[60]Paradise Lost, iv. 20, etc., and 75.Cf.also ix. 120:—"And the more I seePleasures about me, so much more I feelTorment within me, as from hateful siegeOf contraries. All good to me becomesBane, and in heaven much worse would be my state."[61]Prov. iv. 24.[62]Prov. iv. 25-27.[63]Prov. iv. 27.[64]Cf.xvii. 24, "Wisdom is before the face of him that hath understanding; but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth."[65]Eccles. ix. 7.[66]Prov. iv. 26.[67]Prov. v. 21.[68]Prov. iv. 19.[69]Prov. iv. 16, 17.[70]Prov. iv. 18, margin.[71]Prov. iv. 12.[72]Prov. xiv. 12.[73]Prov. v. 8.[74]The Laureate has touched with stern satire on this debased modern Realism:—"Author, atheist, essayist, novelist, realist, rhymester, play your part,Paint the mortal shame of Nature with the living hues of Art.Rip your brothers' vices open, strip your own foul passions bare,Down with Reticence, down with Reverence—forward—naked—let them stare!Feed the budding rose of boyhood with the drainage of your sewer,Send the drain into the fountain lest the stream should issue pure.Set the maiden fancies wallowing in the troughs of Zolaism,Forward, forward,—aye and backward, downward too into the abysm!"—The new Locksley Hall.[75]Prov. ix. 17.[76]Prov. vi. 25.[77]Prov. vii. 16, 17.[78]Prov. v. 15-19.[79]Paradise Lost.[80]Prov. vi. 27, 28.[81]Prov. v. 9.[82]Prov. vi. 33.[83]Prov. vi. 34, 35.[84]Prov. v. 10.[85]Prov. vi. 26.[86]Prov. v. 11.[87]Prov. v. 12-14.[88]Prov. v. 21.[89]It is, if we may say so, a maxim of modern science that "A sin without punishment is as impossible, as complete a contradiction in terms, as a cause without an effect" (W. R. Gregg).[90]Prov. v. 23.[91]King Lear.[92]Mark iii. 26.[93]Prov. vi. 26.[94]Prov. xxiii. 29, 32.[95]See Prov. xvii. 18, xx. 16, repeated in xxvii. 13, and especially xi. 15.[96]Prov. xxii. 26, 27.[97]Eccles. xxix. 14, 16, 17, 18, 19.[98]Prov. xxiv. 30-34; see for a fuller treatment of the subject LectureXX.[99]Prov. xxx. 25-27.[100]It is the word used in Exod. v. 6 of those who directed the tasks of the Israelites in Egypt.[101]Prov. vi. 6-8.[102]Prov. vi. 12-15.[103]Cf.the proverb xvi. 30—"He that shutteth his eyes, it is to devise froward things: he that compresseth his lips bringeth evil to pass."[104]Cf.Prov. xx. 14: "It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer: but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth."[105]It is probably assumed that warnings and corrections have been given him in vain—cf.Prov. xxix. 1: "He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be broken, and that without remedy."[106]Prov. vi. 16-19.[107]Prov. xxx. 13. See LectureXIII. for the teaching of the Proverbs on Pride.[108]Prov. xii. 19.[109]See Prov. xii. 17; xiv. 5, 25; xix. 5, 9. A crime, it may be remembered, which would be much more common and much more fatal in a primitive state of society, where on the one hand legal procedure was less cautious and less searching, and on the other hand the inward sanctions of truth which Christianity has brought home to the modern conscience were but feebly perceived.[110]Prov. vii. 6.[111]Prov. vii. 4.[112]Prov. vii. 9.[113]Prov. vii. 8. The term צָעַד describes a special kind of motion,e.g., the slow pacing of the oxen that bare the ark (2 Sam. vi. 15), or the imagined efforts of idols to move (Jer. x. 5); it is therefore unfortunate to render it by the generic word "go." The affected dignity and sauntering insouciance of a dandy are immediately suggested by it, and the shade of meaning is fairly well preserved in the English "saunter."[114]This is the meaning of the word translated 'clamorous.'[115]So says the Greek version of ver. 10: ἣ ποιεῖ νέων ἐξίπτασθαι καρδίας.[116]See Lev. vii. 16.[117]Prov. viii. 1-6.[118]Prov. viii. 7-9.[119]Prov. viii. 20.[120]Prov. viii. 8, 9.[121]Prov. viii. 18.[122]Prov. viii. 10-16.[123]Prov. viii. 17.[124]Prov. viii. 22. There is unfortunately an ambiguity in the word קָנָה. It may mean either "to possess" or "to create."Cf.Gen. xiv. 19, 22, where it is impossible to decide between "Possessor of the earth" and "Maker of the earth." That the word might be rendered "got" in this passage is evident from iv. 7, where it is employed; on the other hand, the LXX. renders ἔκτισε, and the author of Ecclesiasticus evidently took it in this sense;cf.i. 4, "Wisdom hath been created before all things, and the understanding of prudence from everlasting." In Gen. iv. it is rendered "gotten," but it is quite possible that the joyful mother called her son קַיִן with the feeling that she had created him with the help of the Lord.[125]Prov. viii. 26.[126]Milton,Paradise Lost, vii. 225.[127]Prov. viii. 29. It is hardly necessary to point out that the language betrays a complete ignorance of those facts with which astronomy and geology have made us familiar. The author puts into the lips of Wisdom the scientific conceptions of his own time, when the earth was regarded as a flat surface, covered by a solid circular vault, in which the sun, and moon, and stars were fixed. The "circle upon the flood" is probably the apparent circle which is suggested to the observer by the horizon. No one had as yet dreamed that the mountains were thrown up by, not settled in, the surface of the earth, nor was it dreamed that the bounds of the sea are far from being settled, but subject to gradual variations, and even to cataclysmal changes. It may be observed, however, that the voyage of theChallengerseems to have established beyond question that the great outlines of land and ocean have remained approximately the same from the beginning. Ocean islands are of volcanic origin or the work of the coral-insect; but the great continents and all contained within the fringe of a thousand-fathom depth from their shores have remained practically unaltered despite the numerous partial upheavals or submergences.A passage so full of spiritual and moral significance, and yet so entirely untouched by what are to us the elementary conclusions of science, should furnish a valuable criterion in estimating what we are to understand by the Inspiration of such a book as this.[128]Cf.x. 23.[130]Wisdom vii. 25-29. The book of Wisdom, a work of the second centuryb.c., at one time had a place in the canon, and owes its exclusion, in all probability, to the fact that it was written in Greek; as there was no Hebrew original, it was evident that Solomon was not the author. But the use which the Epistle to the Hebrews makes of the passage quoted in the text may suggest how very unnecessary the exclusion from the canon was.[131]Luke vii. 35; Matt. xi. 19.[132]John viii. 58.[133]John i. 3, 18.[134]Cf.for this contrast between the two xxiii. 26-28, where Wisdom speaks, and expressly warns against her rival.[135]The arrangement of the house is that of an open courtyard, surrounded with apartments, the general roof supported on the pillars thus.Provill[136]Prov. vii. 14.[137]Prov. ix. 5.[138]Matt. xxii. 1,et seq.[139]Prov. ix. 6.[140]Prov. ix. 7.[141]Prov. xxiii. 9.[142]Prov. xiii. 1.[143]Prov. xiv. 6.[144]Prov. xv. 12.[145]Prov. xix. 25.[146]Prov. xxiv. 9.[147]Prov. xxii. 10.[148]Matt. vii. 6.[149]Prov. ix. 9.Cf.xviii. 15, "The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge; and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge."[150]Prov. ix. 10.[151]Matt. xii. 43.[152]See John viii. 1et seq.[153]Milton,Paradise Lost, xi. 650 etc.[154]The fuller teaching of the book on the subject of Woman will be found in Lect. XXXI.[155]Prov. x. 15; xviii. 11.[156]Prov. xiii. 8.[157]Prov. xviii. 16.[158]Prov. xix. 6; xiv. 20.[159]Prov. xxi. 14.[160]Prov. xvii. 8. More literally: "A precious stone is the gift in the eyes of him who gets possession of it, whithersoever he turneth he deals wisely." That is to say, the man who receives the gift, whether a judge or a witness or an opponent, is as it were retained for the giver, and induced to use his best faculties in behalf of his retainer.[161]Prov. xix. 4: "Wealth addeth many friends, but the poor—his companion separates from him."[162]Prov. xxii. 17.[163]Prov. xviii. 23.[164]Prov. xiv. 20; xix. 4.[165]Prov. xix. 7. The sense of the Authorised Version is here retained, but it will be seen in LectureXII. that there is good reason for treating the third clause of the verse as a mutilated fragment of another proverb: see p.166.[166]Prov. xxii. 7.[167]Prov. xii. 9. This reading is obtained by following the LXX., whose translation ὁ δουλεύων ἐαυτῷ shows that they pointed וְעֹבֵד לוֹ.Cf.Eccles. x. 27: "Better is he that laboureth and aboundeth in all things than he that boasteth himself and lacketh bread."[168]Prov. x. 4.[169]Prov. xiii. 18.[170]Prov. xxii. 4.[171]Prov. xxi. 20.[172]Prov. xxiii. 21.[173]Prov. xxvii. 23-27.[174]Prov. xi. 28.[175]Prov. xxiii. 5 (marg.).[176]Cf.the Turkish proverb: "Of riches lawfully gained the devil takes half, of riches unlawfully gained he takes the whole and the owner too."[177]Prov. xv. 6,cf.xiv. 24, "A crown of the wise is their riches, but the folly of fools, (though they be rich, remains nothing but) folly."[178]Prov. xiii. 11.[179]Prov. xxi. 6. It is evident from their translation ἐπὶ παγίδας θανάτου that the LXX. read מוֹקְשֵׁי־מָוֶת as in Psalm xviii. 6, and this gives a very graphic and striking sense, while the received text of the Hebrew, מְבַקְשֵׁי־מָוֶת, is hardly intelligible.[180]Prov. xxii. 16.[181]Prov. xiii. 22; xxviii. 8.[182]Prov. xi. 4.[183]Prov. x. 22.[184]Prov. xv. 6.[185]Prov. xvi. 8.[186]Prov. xix. 1. The parallelism in this verse is not so complete as in xxviii. 6. The Peshitto reads, "than he who is perverse in his lips and is rich," but it is better to retain the text and understand: There is a poor man walking in his integrity, and everyone thinks that he is to be commiserated; but he is much better off than the fool with perverse lips, though no one thinks of commiserating this last.[187]Prov. xvi. 16.[188]Prov. xx. 15.[189]Prov. xv. 16, 17.[190]Prov. xvii. 1.[191]Prov. xxii. 1. This proverb is inscribed in the cupola which lights the Manchester Exchange. It is a good skylight, but apparently too high up for the busy merchants on the floor of the Exchange to see without more effort than is to be expected of them.[192]Prov. xxii. 2.[193]Prov. xiv. 31; xvii. 5.[194]Prov. xxviii. 11. Cf. an interesting addition to xvii. 6 in the LXX.— τοῦ πιστοῦ ὅλος ὁ κόσμος τῶν χρημάτων τοῦ δὲ ἀπίστου οὐδὲ ὀβολός. The faithful man owns the whole world of possessions, the unfaithful owns not a farthing.[195]It is said of Agassiz that he excused himself from engaging in a profitable lecturing tour on the ground that he had not time to make money.[196]Cf.the saying of Sirach: "Winnow not with every wind and go not into every way, for so doth the sinner that hath a double tongue." (Eccles. v. 9).[197]Prov. xv. 27.[198]Prov. xx. 21.[199]Prov. xxviii. 20.[200]Prov. xxviii. 22.[201]Prov. xxiii. 4.[202]Prov. xxi. 26.[203]Prov. xi. 24, 25.[204]Prov. xxviii. 27.[205]Prov. xix. 17.[206]Prov. xxii. 9.[207]Prov. xxx. 8, 9.[208]Prov. x. 28.[209]Prov. x. 30.[210]Prov. xiv. 11. Cf. Prov. xii. 7: "Overthrow the wicked; and they are not (i.e., there is no rising again for them), but the house of the righteous shall stand."[211]Prov. xi. 18.[212]Prov. xiii. 3.[213]Prov. xi. 5, 6; xxi. 7.[214]Prov. xxii. 8.[215]Prov. xxi. 7, 8, 10, 15; xxvi. 24, 26; xv. 28.[216]Prov. xi. 7.[217]Prov. xiii. 9; xxiv. 20.[218]Prov. xi. 19.[219]Prov. xi. 21.[220]Prov. xiv. 12; xvi. 5, 25; xxi. 2.[221]Prov. xxiii. 17, 18; xxiv. 1, 19.[222]Prov. xii. 7.[223]Prov. xiv. 12; xvi. 25.[224]Prov. xxiv. 15, 16.[225]Prov. xxix. 16.[226]Prov. xi. 3.[227]Prov. xiii. 6. Cf. Prov. xiv. 14: "The backslider in heart shall be sated from his own ways, and the good man from himself." Though probably we ought to read, with Nowack, מִמְּעֲלָלָיו, which would give a completer parallelism: "The backslider shall be sated from his own ways, and the good man from his own doings."[228]Prov. xi. 8. Cf. Prov. xxviii. 18.[229]Prov. xxi. 18.[230]Prov. xii. 13.[231]Prov. xii. 21.[232]Prov. xiii. 25.[233]Prov. xvi. 17; xix. 16.[234]Prov. xiv. 22.[235]Prov. xxi. 21.[236]Prov. xxi. 15; xxix. 6. Unless, with Delitzsch, we are to read בְּפֶשַׂע for בְּפֶשַׁע, and יָרוּצ for יָרוּן, which would give: "In the steps of a bad man lie snares, but the righteous runs and rejoices."[237]Prov. xi. 27, 30.[238]Prov. xii. 12.[239]Prov. xvii. 26: "To punish the righteous is not good, nor to smite the noble for their uprightness."[240]Prov. xiv. 32.[241]Prov. xx. 11.[242]Prov. xiv. 19.[243]Prov. xxv. 26.[244]Prov. xiv. 26: "In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge." So Prov. xx. 7: "A just man that walketh in his integrity: blessed are his children after him."[245]Prov. xiii. 22.[246]Prov. xii. 26.[247]Prov. xxii. 11. Cf. Prov. xvi. 13.[248]Prov. xi. 31.[249]Prov. xxix. 2.[250]Prov. xxviii. 12.[251]Prov. xi. 10, 11.[252]Prov. xiv. 34.[253]Prov. xxviii. 28.[254]Prov. xii. 26.[255]Prov. xvi. 27.[256]Prov. xviii. 3.[257]Prov. xxviii. 28.[258]Prov. xxix. 2.[259]Prov. xxiv. 24, 25.[260]Prov. xxviii. 4.[261]Prov. xxviii. 1.[262]Prov. xi. 20.[263]Prov. xii. 2.[264]Prov. xv. 26.[265]Prov. xv. 9.[266]Prov. xvii. 15, 26; xviii. 5.[267]Prov. xxi. 12, where "one that is righteous" seems to mean God Himself; see the margin of R.V.[268]Prov. xxii. 12.[269]Prov. xxiv. 12.[270]Prov. x. 29.[271]Prov. xxviii. 9.[272]Prov. xxi. 3.[273]Prov. xxi. 27.[274]Prov. xv. 8, 29.[275]Prov. xiv. 9. This seems to be the meaning of this difficult verse, which should be translated: The sin-offering mocks fools, but among the righteous is favour.[276]Prov. x. 23.[277]Matt. xvi. 27.[278]1 John iii. 7, 10; ii. 29.[279]"If ye know that He is righteous," says St. John, "ye know that every one also that doeth righteousness is begotten of Him." (1 John ii. 29).[280]Prov. xxv. 15.[281]Prov. xiii. 2.[282]Prov. xviii. 20.[283]Prov. xviii. 21.[284]Prov. x. 14.[285]Prov. xii. 18.
[1]Cf.xxv. 24 (xxi. 9), xxvi. 22 (xviii. 8), xxvii. 12 (xxii. 3), xxvii. 13 (xx. 16), xxvi. 13 (xxii. 13), xxvi. 15 (xix. 24), xxviii. 6 (xix. 1), xxviii. 19 (xii. 11), xxix. 13 (xxii. 2); to which add xxvii. 15 (xix. 13), xxvii. 21 (xvii. 3), xxix. 22 (xv. 18).
[2]Eccl. vii. 24.
[3]Wisdom viii. 1.
[4]Eccl. vii. 25.
[5]1 Kings iv. 33.
[6]In this passage Wisdom is represented saying—
"I from the mouth of the Highest came forth, and as vapour I veiled the earth;I in the heights pitched my tent, my throne in a pillar of cloud;I alone circled the ring of heaven, and walked in the depths of abysses;In the waves of the sea, and in all the earth, and in every people and race I obtained a possession;With all these I sought a rest (saying), In whose inheritance shall I settle?Then came to me the command of the Creator of all; my Creator pitched my tent; and He said,In Jacob pitch thy tent, in Israel find thine inheritance.Before the world was, in the beginning He created me, and while the world lasts I shall not fail:In the holy tent before Him I offered service, and thus in Sion I was planted;In the beloved city He likewise made me rest, and in Israel is my power;And I took root in a people that is glorified, in a portion of the Lord His inheritance."—Eccles.xxiv. 3.
[7]Prov. xiv. 27.
[8]It may be well to remind the reader who is too familiar with the name "the Lord" to consider its significance; that "the Lord" is the English translation of that peculiar name, Jahveh, by which God revealed Himself to Moses, and the term Jahveh seems to convey one of two ideas, existence or the cause of existence, according to the vowel-pointing of the consonants יהוה.
[9]Eccles. i. 6, 8.
[10]Prov. ii. 10.
[11]Prov. i. 32.
[12]We may remind ourselves that, according to the most probable conjecture, this introduction to Solomon's Proverbs (chaps, i.-ix.) dates from the reign of Josiah (640-609b.c.).
[13]Isa. i. 15.
[14]Isa. lix. 7.
[15]Micah iii. 10.
[16]Jer. ii. 34.
[17]Jer. xxii. 17.
[18]Prov. i. 14. Compare the proverb, xvi. 29, "A man of violence enticeth his neighbour, and leadeth him in a way that is not good."
[19]Prov. ix. 13-18.
[20]Prov. v. 12-14.
[21]Prov. vi. 32 and v. 22.
[22]Prov. i. 19.
[23]A dog-chain sold in London at one shilling and threepence was found to have cost, for materials twopence, for labour three-farthings. (Evidence before Lord Dunraven's Commission on the Sweating System).
[24]See Prov. i. 13.
[25]Prov. ii. 22.
[26]Prov. i. 19.
[27]Prov. ii. 19.
[28]Prov. i. 17.
[29]Prov. i. 25.
[30]Prov. i. 31, 32.
[31]Prov. i. 24-31.
[32]Prov. ii. 21, 22.
[33]Prov. i. 31-33.
[34]Prov. ix. 12, 18.
[35]Cf.xxviii. 26, "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered."
[36]Prov. iii. 1-10.
[37]Luke xviii. 29, 30.
[38]The Hebrew word שִׁקּוּי in iii. 8bis the same as that which is translated "my drink" in Hosea ii. 6. The LXX. render it "marrow," but it means the moisture which in a natural and healthy state keeps the bones supple, as opposed to the dryness which is produced by senility or disease.
[39]Si ton Dieu veut ta mort, c'est déjà trop vécu.
[40]Prov. iii. 29.
[41]Prov. iii. 33.
[42]Cf.xii. 8, "A man shall be commended according to his wisdom: but he that is of a perverse heart, shall be despised."
[43]Prov. iii. 27, 28.
[44]Prov. iii. 6.
[45]Matt. vi. 22.
[46]Prov. iii. 13-15.
[47]Prov. iii. 18.
[48]Prov. iii. 16.
[49]Prov. iii. 8.
[50]Prov. iii. 31.
[51]Prov. iii. 12.
[52]Prov. iii. 35.
[53]This subject, which occupies so large a part of the book, is further treated in Lect. XXIII.
[54]It is noteworthy that the LXX. in ver. 2 seek to maintain the Solomonic authorship by deliberately altering the words.
[55]Cf.the beautiful family picture of the linked and mutually blessed generations in the proverb, "Children's children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers" (xvii. 6).
[56]Prov. iv. 8, 9.
[57]Prov. iv. 14.
[58]Prov. iv. 20-23.
[59]Matt. xv. 19.
[60]Paradise Lost, iv. 20, etc., and 75.Cf.also ix. 120:—
"And the more I seePleasures about me, so much more I feelTorment within me, as from hateful siegeOf contraries. All good to me becomesBane, and in heaven much worse would be my state."
"And the more I seePleasures about me, so much more I feelTorment within me, as from hateful siegeOf contraries. All good to me becomesBane, and in heaven much worse would be my state."
[61]Prov. iv. 24.
[62]Prov. iv. 25-27.
[63]Prov. iv. 27.
[64]Cf.xvii. 24, "Wisdom is before the face of him that hath understanding; but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth."
[65]Eccles. ix. 7.
[66]Prov. iv. 26.
[67]Prov. v. 21.
[68]Prov. iv. 19.
[69]Prov. iv. 16, 17.
[70]Prov. iv. 18, margin.
[71]Prov. iv. 12.
[72]Prov. xiv. 12.
[73]Prov. v. 8.
[74]The Laureate has touched with stern satire on this debased modern Realism:—
"Author, atheist, essayist, novelist, realist, rhymester, play your part,Paint the mortal shame of Nature with the living hues of Art.Rip your brothers' vices open, strip your own foul passions bare,Down with Reticence, down with Reverence—forward—naked—let them stare!Feed the budding rose of boyhood with the drainage of your sewer,Send the drain into the fountain lest the stream should issue pure.Set the maiden fancies wallowing in the troughs of Zolaism,Forward, forward,—aye and backward, downward too into the abysm!"—The new Locksley Hall.
"Author, atheist, essayist, novelist, realist, rhymester, play your part,Paint the mortal shame of Nature with the living hues of Art.Rip your brothers' vices open, strip your own foul passions bare,Down with Reticence, down with Reverence—forward—naked—let them stare!Feed the budding rose of boyhood with the drainage of your sewer,Send the drain into the fountain lest the stream should issue pure.Set the maiden fancies wallowing in the troughs of Zolaism,Forward, forward,—aye and backward, downward too into the abysm!"—The new Locksley Hall.
[75]Prov. ix. 17.
[76]Prov. vi. 25.
[77]Prov. vii. 16, 17.
[78]Prov. v. 15-19.
[79]Paradise Lost.
[80]Prov. vi. 27, 28.
[81]Prov. v. 9.
[82]Prov. vi. 33.
[83]Prov. vi. 34, 35.
[84]Prov. v. 10.
[85]Prov. vi. 26.
[86]Prov. v. 11.
[87]Prov. v. 12-14.
[88]Prov. v. 21.
[89]It is, if we may say so, a maxim of modern science that "A sin without punishment is as impossible, as complete a contradiction in terms, as a cause without an effect" (W. R. Gregg).
[90]Prov. v. 23.
[91]King Lear.
[92]Mark iii. 26.
[93]Prov. vi. 26.
[94]Prov. xxiii. 29, 32.
[95]See Prov. xvii. 18, xx. 16, repeated in xxvii. 13, and especially xi. 15.
[96]Prov. xxii. 26, 27.
[97]Eccles. xxix. 14, 16, 17, 18, 19.
[98]Prov. xxiv. 30-34; see for a fuller treatment of the subject LectureXX.
[99]Prov. xxx. 25-27.
[100]It is the word used in Exod. v. 6 of those who directed the tasks of the Israelites in Egypt.
[101]Prov. vi. 6-8.
[102]Prov. vi. 12-15.
[103]Cf.the proverb xvi. 30—"He that shutteth his eyes, it is to devise froward things: he that compresseth his lips bringeth evil to pass."
[104]Cf.Prov. xx. 14: "It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer: but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth."
[105]It is probably assumed that warnings and corrections have been given him in vain—cf.Prov. xxix. 1: "He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be broken, and that without remedy."
[106]Prov. vi. 16-19.
[107]Prov. xxx. 13. See LectureXIII. for the teaching of the Proverbs on Pride.
[108]Prov. xii. 19.
[109]See Prov. xii. 17; xiv. 5, 25; xix. 5, 9. A crime, it may be remembered, which would be much more common and much more fatal in a primitive state of society, where on the one hand legal procedure was less cautious and less searching, and on the other hand the inward sanctions of truth which Christianity has brought home to the modern conscience were but feebly perceived.
[110]Prov. vii. 6.
[111]Prov. vii. 4.
[112]Prov. vii. 9.
[113]Prov. vii. 8. The term צָעַד describes a special kind of motion,e.g., the slow pacing of the oxen that bare the ark (2 Sam. vi. 15), or the imagined efforts of idols to move (Jer. x. 5); it is therefore unfortunate to render it by the generic word "go." The affected dignity and sauntering insouciance of a dandy are immediately suggested by it, and the shade of meaning is fairly well preserved in the English "saunter."
[114]This is the meaning of the word translated 'clamorous.'
[115]So says the Greek version of ver. 10: ἣ ποιεῖ νέων ἐξίπτασθαι καρδίας.
[116]See Lev. vii. 16.
[117]Prov. viii. 1-6.
[118]Prov. viii. 7-9.
[119]Prov. viii. 20.
[120]Prov. viii. 8, 9.
[121]Prov. viii. 18.
[122]Prov. viii. 10-16.
[123]Prov. viii. 17.
[124]Prov. viii. 22. There is unfortunately an ambiguity in the word קָנָה. It may mean either "to possess" or "to create."Cf.Gen. xiv. 19, 22, where it is impossible to decide between "Possessor of the earth" and "Maker of the earth." That the word might be rendered "got" in this passage is evident from iv. 7, where it is employed; on the other hand, the LXX. renders ἔκτισε, and the author of Ecclesiasticus evidently took it in this sense;cf.i. 4, "Wisdom hath been created before all things, and the understanding of prudence from everlasting." In Gen. iv. it is rendered "gotten," but it is quite possible that the joyful mother called her son קַיִן with the feeling that she had created him with the help of the Lord.
[125]Prov. viii. 26.
[126]Milton,Paradise Lost, vii. 225.
[127]Prov. viii. 29. It is hardly necessary to point out that the language betrays a complete ignorance of those facts with which astronomy and geology have made us familiar. The author puts into the lips of Wisdom the scientific conceptions of his own time, when the earth was regarded as a flat surface, covered by a solid circular vault, in which the sun, and moon, and stars were fixed. The "circle upon the flood" is probably the apparent circle which is suggested to the observer by the horizon. No one had as yet dreamed that the mountains were thrown up by, not settled in, the surface of the earth, nor was it dreamed that the bounds of the sea are far from being settled, but subject to gradual variations, and even to cataclysmal changes. It may be observed, however, that the voyage of theChallengerseems to have established beyond question that the great outlines of land and ocean have remained approximately the same from the beginning. Ocean islands are of volcanic origin or the work of the coral-insect; but the great continents and all contained within the fringe of a thousand-fathom depth from their shores have remained practically unaltered despite the numerous partial upheavals or submergences.
A passage so full of spiritual and moral significance, and yet so entirely untouched by what are to us the elementary conclusions of science, should furnish a valuable criterion in estimating what we are to understand by the Inspiration of such a book as this.
[128]Cf.x. 23.
[130]Wisdom vii. 25-29. The book of Wisdom, a work of the second centuryb.c., at one time had a place in the canon, and owes its exclusion, in all probability, to the fact that it was written in Greek; as there was no Hebrew original, it was evident that Solomon was not the author. But the use which the Epistle to the Hebrews makes of the passage quoted in the text may suggest how very unnecessary the exclusion from the canon was.
[131]Luke vii. 35; Matt. xi. 19.
[132]John viii. 58.
[133]John i. 3, 18.
[134]Cf.for this contrast between the two xxiii. 26-28, where Wisdom speaks, and expressly warns against her rival.
[135]The arrangement of the house is that of an open courtyard, surrounded with apartments, the general roof supported on the pillars thus.
Provill
[136]Prov. vii. 14.
[137]Prov. ix. 5.
[138]Matt. xxii. 1,et seq.
[139]Prov. ix. 6.
[140]Prov. ix. 7.
[141]Prov. xxiii. 9.
[142]Prov. xiii. 1.
[143]Prov. xiv. 6.
[144]Prov. xv. 12.
[145]Prov. xix. 25.
[146]Prov. xxiv. 9.
[147]Prov. xxii. 10.
[148]Matt. vii. 6.
[149]Prov. ix. 9.Cf.xviii. 15, "The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge; and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge."
[150]Prov. ix. 10.
[151]Matt. xii. 43.
[152]See John viii. 1et seq.
[153]Milton,Paradise Lost, xi. 650 etc.
[154]The fuller teaching of the book on the subject of Woman will be found in Lect. XXXI.
[155]Prov. x. 15; xviii. 11.
[156]Prov. xiii. 8.
[157]Prov. xviii. 16.
[158]Prov. xix. 6; xiv. 20.
[159]Prov. xxi. 14.
[160]Prov. xvii. 8. More literally: "A precious stone is the gift in the eyes of him who gets possession of it, whithersoever he turneth he deals wisely." That is to say, the man who receives the gift, whether a judge or a witness or an opponent, is as it were retained for the giver, and induced to use his best faculties in behalf of his retainer.
[161]Prov. xix. 4: "Wealth addeth many friends, but the poor—his companion separates from him."
[162]Prov. xxii. 17.
[163]Prov. xviii. 23.
[164]Prov. xiv. 20; xix. 4.
[165]Prov. xix. 7. The sense of the Authorised Version is here retained, but it will be seen in LectureXII. that there is good reason for treating the third clause of the verse as a mutilated fragment of another proverb: see p.166.
[166]Prov. xxii. 7.
[167]Prov. xii. 9. This reading is obtained by following the LXX., whose translation ὁ δουλεύων ἐαυτῷ shows that they pointed וְעֹבֵד לוֹ.Cf.Eccles. x. 27: "Better is he that laboureth and aboundeth in all things than he that boasteth himself and lacketh bread."
[168]Prov. x. 4.
[169]Prov. xiii. 18.
[170]Prov. xxii. 4.
[171]Prov. xxi. 20.
[172]Prov. xxiii. 21.
[173]Prov. xxvii. 23-27.
[174]Prov. xi. 28.
[175]Prov. xxiii. 5 (marg.).
[176]Cf.the Turkish proverb: "Of riches lawfully gained the devil takes half, of riches unlawfully gained he takes the whole and the owner too."
[177]Prov. xv. 6,cf.xiv. 24, "A crown of the wise is their riches, but the folly of fools, (though they be rich, remains nothing but) folly."
[178]Prov. xiii. 11.
[179]Prov. xxi. 6. It is evident from their translation ἐπὶ παγίδας θανάτου that the LXX. read מוֹקְשֵׁי־מָוֶת as in Psalm xviii. 6, and this gives a very graphic and striking sense, while the received text of the Hebrew, מְבַקְשֵׁי־מָוֶת, is hardly intelligible.
[180]Prov. xxii. 16.
[181]Prov. xiii. 22; xxviii. 8.
[182]Prov. xi. 4.
[183]Prov. x. 22.
[184]Prov. xv. 6.
[185]Prov. xvi. 8.
[186]Prov. xix. 1. The parallelism in this verse is not so complete as in xxviii. 6. The Peshitto reads, "than he who is perverse in his lips and is rich," but it is better to retain the text and understand: There is a poor man walking in his integrity, and everyone thinks that he is to be commiserated; but he is much better off than the fool with perverse lips, though no one thinks of commiserating this last.
[187]Prov. xvi. 16.
[188]Prov. xx. 15.
[189]Prov. xv. 16, 17.
[190]Prov. xvii. 1.
[191]Prov. xxii. 1. This proverb is inscribed in the cupola which lights the Manchester Exchange. It is a good skylight, but apparently too high up for the busy merchants on the floor of the Exchange to see without more effort than is to be expected of them.
[192]Prov. xxii. 2.
[193]Prov. xiv. 31; xvii. 5.
[194]Prov. xxviii. 11. Cf. an interesting addition to xvii. 6 in the LXX.— τοῦ πιστοῦ ὅλος ὁ κόσμος τῶν χρημάτων τοῦ δὲ ἀπίστου οὐδὲ ὀβολός. The faithful man owns the whole world of possessions, the unfaithful owns not a farthing.
[195]It is said of Agassiz that he excused himself from engaging in a profitable lecturing tour on the ground that he had not time to make money.
[196]Cf.the saying of Sirach: "Winnow not with every wind and go not into every way, for so doth the sinner that hath a double tongue." (Eccles. v. 9).
[197]Prov. xv. 27.
[198]Prov. xx. 21.
[199]Prov. xxviii. 20.
[200]Prov. xxviii. 22.
[201]Prov. xxiii. 4.
[202]Prov. xxi. 26.
[203]Prov. xi. 24, 25.
[204]Prov. xxviii. 27.
[205]Prov. xix. 17.
[206]Prov. xxii. 9.
[207]Prov. xxx. 8, 9.
[208]Prov. x. 28.
[209]Prov. x. 30.
[210]Prov. xiv. 11. Cf. Prov. xii. 7: "Overthrow the wicked; and they are not (i.e., there is no rising again for them), but the house of the righteous shall stand."
[211]Prov. xi. 18.
[212]Prov. xiii. 3.
[213]Prov. xi. 5, 6; xxi. 7.
[214]Prov. xxii. 8.
[215]Prov. xxi. 7, 8, 10, 15; xxvi. 24, 26; xv. 28.
[216]Prov. xi. 7.
[217]Prov. xiii. 9; xxiv. 20.
[218]Prov. xi. 19.
[219]Prov. xi. 21.
[220]Prov. xiv. 12; xvi. 5, 25; xxi. 2.
[221]Prov. xxiii. 17, 18; xxiv. 1, 19.
[222]Prov. xii. 7.
[223]Prov. xiv. 12; xvi. 25.
[224]Prov. xxiv. 15, 16.
[225]Prov. xxix. 16.
[226]Prov. xi. 3.
[227]Prov. xiii. 6. Cf. Prov. xiv. 14: "The backslider in heart shall be sated from his own ways, and the good man from himself." Though probably we ought to read, with Nowack, מִמְּעֲלָלָיו, which would give a completer parallelism: "The backslider shall be sated from his own ways, and the good man from his own doings."
[228]Prov. xi. 8. Cf. Prov. xxviii. 18.
[229]Prov. xxi. 18.
[230]Prov. xii. 13.
[231]Prov. xii. 21.
[232]Prov. xiii. 25.
[233]Prov. xvi. 17; xix. 16.
[234]Prov. xiv. 22.
[235]Prov. xxi. 21.
[236]Prov. xxi. 15; xxix. 6. Unless, with Delitzsch, we are to read בְּפֶשַׂע for בְּפֶשַׁע, and יָרוּצ for יָרוּן, which would give: "In the steps of a bad man lie snares, but the righteous runs and rejoices."
[237]Prov. xi. 27, 30.
[238]Prov. xii. 12.
[239]Prov. xvii. 26: "To punish the righteous is not good, nor to smite the noble for their uprightness."
[240]Prov. xiv. 32.
[241]Prov. xx. 11.
[242]Prov. xiv. 19.
[243]Prov. xxv. 26.
[244]Prov. xiv. 26: "In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge." So Prov. xx. 7: "A just man that walketh in his integrity: blessed are his children after him."
[245]Prov. xiii. 22.
[246]Prov. xii. 26.
[247]Prov. xxii. 11. Cf. Prov. xvi. 13.
[248]Prov. xi. 31.
[249]Prov. xxix. 2.
[250]Prov. xxviii. 12.
[251]Prov. xi. 10, 11.
[252]Prov. xiv. 34.
[253]Prov. xxviii. 28.
[254]Prov. xii. 26.
[255]Prov. xvi. 27.
[256]Prov. xviii. 3.
[257]Prov. xxviii. 28.
[258]Prov. xxix. 2.
[259]Prov. xxiv. 24, 25.
[260]Prov. xxviii. 4.
[261]Prov. xxviii. 1.
[262]Prov. xi. 20.
[263]Prov. xii. 2.
[264]Prov. xv. 26.
[265]Prov. xv. 9.
[266]Prov. xvii. 15, 26; xviii. 5.
[267]Prov. xxi. 12, where "one that is righteous" seems to mean God Himself; see the margin of R.V.
[268]Prov. xxii. 12.
[269]Prov. xxiv. 12.
[270]Prov. x. 29.
[271]Prov. xxviii. 9.
[272]Prov. xxi. 3.
[273]Prov. xxi. 27.
[274]Prov. xv. 8, 29.
[275]Prov. xiv. 9. This seems to be the meaning of this difficult verse, which should be translated: The sin-offering mocks fools, but among the righteous is favour.
[276]Prov. x. 23.
[277]Matt. xvi. 27.
[278]1 John iii. 7, 10; ii. 29.
[279]"If ye know that He is righteous," says St. John, "ye know that every one also that doeth righteousness is begotten of Him." (1 John ii. 29).
[280]Prov. xxv. 15.
[281]Prov. xiii. 2.
[282]Prov. xviii. 20.
[283]Prov. xviii. 21.
[284]Prov. x. 14.
[285]Prov. xii. 18.