It is better to dwell in a waste land, Than a contentious wife and vexation. The corner of the roof, Hitzig remarks, has been made use of, and the author must look further out for a lonely seat. But this is as piquant as it is devoid of thought; for have both proverbs the same author, and if so, were they coined at the same time? Here also it is unnecessary to regard NWN as an abbreviation for Nn’ Dy naw, Hitzig supplies j2%, by which ΠΣ, as the accus.-obj., is governed; but it is not to be supplied, for the proverb places as opposite to one another dwelling in a waste land (read 1279-/9Na nav, with Codd. and correct Ed.) and a contentious wife (Chethib, D202; Keri, D0) and vexation, and says the former is better than the latter. For DYy3) [and vexation] is not, as translated by the ancients, and generally received, a second governed genitive to nvx, but dependent on 10, follows “ contentious woman” (cf. 95): better that than a quarrelsome wife, and at the same time vexation. Ver. 20 Precious treasure and oil are in the dwelling of the wise; And a fool of a man squanders it.
The wise spares, the fool squanders; and if the latter enters on the inheritance which the former with trouble and care collected, it is soon devoured. The combination j2¥ 712M) sis [desirable treasure and oil] has something inconcinnate, wherefore the accentuation places 7¥iX by itself by Mehuppach Legarmeh; but it is not to be translated “a treasure of that which is precious, and oil,” since it is punctuated 7¥i8, and not 9¥i8; and besides, in that case O"'9N would have been used instead of 1272. ‘Thus by 71x om), a desirable and splendid capital in gold and things of value (Isa. xxiii. 18; Ps. xix. 11); and by jw, mentioned by way of example, stores in kitchen and cellar are to be thought of, which serve him who lives luxuriously, and afford noble hospitality,—a fool of a man (D138 Dd, as at xv. 20), who finds this, devours it, ὁ.6. quickly goes through it, makes, in short, a tabula rasa of itt ek: yo, Isa. xxviii. 4, with »53, 2 Sam. xx. 26, and Prov. xix. 28. The suffix δὲ ayo refers back to “yi as the main idea, or distributively also both to the treasure and the oil. The LXX. (θησαυρὸς ἐπιθυμητὸς) ἀναπαύσεται ἐπὶ στόματος σοφοῦ, t.e. DIN ΠΕΣ 13, according to which Hitzig corrects; but the fool, he who swallows down “the precious ἡ treasure with a wise mouth,” isa being we can scarcely conceive of. His taste is not at all bad; why then a fool? Is it perhaps because he takes more in than he can at one time digest? The reading of the L_X-X. is corrected by 208. Ver. 21 He that followeth after righteousness and kindness Will obtain life, righteousness, and honour.
How we are to render 70M) APTS is seen from the connection of xxi. ὃ and Hos. vi. 7: tsedakah is conduct proceeding from the principle of self-denying compassionate love, which is the essence of the law, Mic. vi. 8; and héséd is conduct proceeding from sympathy, which, placing itself in the room of another, perceives what will benefit him, and sets about doing it (cf. e:g. Job vi. 14: to him who is inwardly melted [disheartened ] bn is due from his neighbour). The reward which one who strives thus to act obtains, is designated 215 by 0% and 29. Honour and life stand together,: xxi. 4, when wy precedes, and here ΠΙΡῚΝ stands between, which, vili. 18, Ps. xxiv. 5, is thought of as that which is distil as a gift of eaiien: Isa. xiv: 8, which has glory in its train, Isa. lviii. 8; as Paul also says, “" Whom He justified, them He also glorified.” The LXX. has omitted tsedakah, because it can easily appear as erroneously repeated from 21a. But in reality there are three good things which are promised to those who are zealous in the works of love: a prosperous life, enduring righteousness, true honour. Life as it proceeds from God, the Living One, righteousness as it avails the righteous and those doing righteously before God, honour or glory (Ps. xxix. 3) as it is given (Ps. Ixxxiv. 12) by the God of glory. Cf. with npty on, x. 2, and with ΠΡῚΝ, especially Jas. 11, 18, κατακαυχᾶται ἔλεος κρίσεως.
Ver. 22 A wise man scaleth a city of the mighty; And casteth down the fortress in which they trusted.
Eccles. ix. 14 f. is a side-piece to this, according to which a single wise man, although poor, may become the deliverer of a city besieged by a great army, and destitute of the means of defence. ney, seg. acc., means to climb up, Joel ii, 7; here, of the scaling of a fortified town, viz. its fortress. ty is that which makes it 1) YY, Isa. xxvi. 1: its armour of protection, which is designated by the genit. mnbad, as the object and ground of their confidence. The vocalization THI, for mibtachcha (cf. Jer. xviii. 13 with Job xviii. 14), follows the rule Gesen. ὃ 27, because of its mappik, Michlol 306; vid. regarding the various grounds of these forme raphate pro mappicatis, Bottcher, ὃ 418. If a city is defended by ever so many valiant men, the wise man knows the point where it may be overcome, and knows how to organize the assault so as to destroy the proud fortress. With 714, he brings to ruin, cf. AAT IY, Deut. xx. 20. Ver. 23 He that guardeth his mouth and his tongue, Keepeth his soul from troubles. ΧΙ]. 3 resembles this. He guardeth his mouth who does not speak when he does better to be silent; and he guardeth his tongue who says no more than is right and fitting. The troubles comprehend both external and internal evils, hurtful incidents and (wa3) 225 ny, Ps. xxv. 17, xxxi. 8, 1.6. distress of conscience, self-accusation, sorrow on account of the irreparable evil which one occasions. Ver. 24 A proud and arrogant man is called mocker (free-spirit); One who acteth in superfluity of haughtiness.
We haye thus translated (vol. i. p. 39): the proverb defines almost in a formal way an idea current from the time of Solomon: γῇ (properly, the distorter, vid. i. 7) is an old word; but as with us in the west since the last century, the names of /reethinkers and esprits forts. (cf. Isa. xlvi. 12) have become current for such as subject the faith of the Church to destructive criticism, so then they were called Ὁ, who mockingly, as men of full age, set themselves above revealed religion and prophecy (Isa. xxviii. 9); and the above proverb gives the meaning of this name, for it describes in his moral character such a man. Thus we call one tt, haughty, and 1° I, ze. destroying himself, and thus thoughtlessly haughty, who fit? Naya acts in superfluity or arrogance (vid. at xi. 23) of haughtiness; for not only does he inwardly raise himself above all that is worthy of recognition as true, of faith as certain, of respect as holy; but acting as well as judging frivolously, he shows reverence for nothing, scornfully passing sentence against everything. Abulwalid (vid. Gesen. Thes.) takes 17‘ in the sense of obstinate; for he compares the Arab. jahr (jahar), which is equivalent tolijéj, constancy, stubbornness. But in the Targ. and Talm. (vid. at Hab. ii. 5, Levy’s Chald. Worterb. under 1%) 17° in all its offshoots and derivations has the sense of pride; we have then rather to compare the Arab. istaihara, to be insane (= dhahb ’aklh, mens ejus alienata est), perhaps also to hajjir, mutahawwir, being overthrown, preceps, so that 1m’ denotes one who by his ὑπερφρονεῖν is carried beyond all σωφρονεῖν (vid. Rom. xii. 3), one who is altogether mad from pride. The Syr. madocho (Targ. 81), by which 17 (Targ. 1") is rendered here and at Hab. ii. 5, is its synonym; this word also combines in itself the ideas foolhardy, and of one acting in a presumptuous, mad way; in a word, of one who is arrogant. Schultens is in the right way; but when he translates by tumidus mole cava ruens, he puts, as it is his custom to do, too much into the word; tumidus, puffed up, presents an idea which, etymologically at least, does not lie init. The Venet.: ἀκρατὴς θρασὺς βωμολόχος τοὔνομά ot, which may be translated: an untractable reckless person we call a fool [homo ineptus], is not bad. Ver. 25 The desire of the slothful killeth him; For his hands refuse to be active.
The desire of the °XY, Hitzig remarks, goes out first after meat and drink; and when it takes this direction, as hunger, it kills him indeed. But in this case it is not the desire that kills him, but the impossibility of satisfying it. The meaning is simply: the inordinate desire after rest and pleasure kills the slothful; for this always seeking only enjoyment and idleness brings him at last to ruin. A means here, as in Kibroth ha-tava, Num. xi. 34, inordinate longing after enjoyments. The proverb is connected by almost all interpreters (also Ewald,
Bertheau, Hitzig, Elster, Zéckler) as a tetrastich with ver. 25: he (the slothful) always eagerly desires, but the righteous giveth and spareth not. But (1) although ΡΟΣ, since it designates one who is faithful to duty, might be used particularly of the industrious (cf. xv. 19), yet would there be wanting in 26a δ δ), xiii. 4, cf. xx. 4, necessary for the formation of the contrast; (2) this older Book of Proverbs consists of pure distichs; the only tristich, xix. 7, appears as the consequence of a mutilation from the LX X. Thus the pretended tetrastich before us is only apparently such. Ver. 26 One always desireth eagerly; But the righteous giveth and holdeth not back. Otherwise Fleischer: per totum diem avet avidus, i.e. avarus; but that in 78D 738N5 the verb is connected with its inner obj. is manifest from Num. xi. 4; it is the mode of expression which is called in the Greek syntax schema etymologicum, and which is also possible without an adj. joined to the obj., as in the ὕβριν θ᾽ ὑβρίζεις (Eurip. Here. fur. 706), the Arab. mardhu miryatn: he had a strife with him. Euchel impossibly: necessities will continually be appeased, which would have required NNN or ΠΝ, The explanation also cannot be: each day presents its special demand, for ὈΠῸΣ does not mean each day, but the whole day, i.e. continually. Thus we render mMxnn with the most general subject (in which case the national grammarians supply M87): continually one longs longing, 1.6. there are demands, solicitations, wishes, importunate petitions; but still the righteous is not embarrassed in his generosity, he gives as unceasingly (cf. Isa. xiv. 6, lviii. 1) as one asks, Thus the pref. is explained, which is related hypothetically to the fut. following: though one, etc. Ver. 27 The sacrifice of the godless is an abomination; How much more if it is brought for evil!
Line first=xv. 8a. Regarding the syllogistic 3 48, vid. xii. 31, xv. 11; regarding 7%, crime, particularly the sin of lewdness (from DMI, to press together, to collect the thoughts upon something, to contrive, cf. raffinement de la volupté), at x. 23. m2 is too vaguely rendered in the LXX. by παρονόμως, falsely by Jerome, ex scelere (cf. ἐξ ἀδίκου, Sir. xxxi. 18, with Mal. i. 13). The 3 is not meant, as at Ezek. xxii. 11, of the way and manner; for that the condition of life of the yw is not a pure one, is not to be supposed. It is as Hitzig, rightly, that of price: for a transgression, 1.6. to atone for it; one is hereby reminded, that he who had intercourse with a betrothed bondmaid had to present an ascham [trespass-offering], Lev. xix. 20-22. But frequently enough would it oceur that rich sensualists brought trespass-offerings, and other offerings, in order thereby to recompense for their transgressions, and to purchase for themselves the connivance of God for their dissolute life. Such offerings of the godless, the proverb means, are to God a twofold and a threefold abomination; for in this case not only does the godless fail in respect of repentance and a desire after salvation, which are the conditions of all sacrifices acceptable to God, but he makes God directly a minister of sin. Ver. 28 A false witness shall perish; But he who heareth shall always speak truth.
The LXX. translate 28) by ἀνὴρ δὲ φυλασσόμενος λαλήσει. Cappellus supposes that they read ἽΝ for ny2°, which, however, cannot mean “taking care.” MHitzig further imagines now for yow, and brings out the meaning: “the man that rejoiceth to deliver shall speak.” But where in all the world does ἽΝ) mean “to deliver”? It means, “to guard, preserve;” and to reach the meaning of “to deliver,” a clause must be added with jf, as "2. When one who speaks lies (8313 1), and a man who hears (YD YX, plene, and with the orthophonic Dagesh), are contrasted, the former is one who fancifully or malevolently falsifies the fact, and the latter is one who before he speaks hears in order that he may say nothing that he has not surely heard. As vow a. 1 Kings iii. 9, means an obedient heart, so here Yoivy YS means a man who attentively hears, carefully proves. Such an one will speak ἌΡΑ ze. not: according to the truth, and not: for victory (Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, εἰς vixos), i.e. so that accomplishes it (Oetinger); for the Heb. M¥3 has neither that Arab. nor this Aram. signification; but, with the transference of the root meaning of radiating or streaming over, to time, continuous existence (vid. Orelli, Synonyma der Zeit und Ewigkeit, pp. 95-97), thus: he will speak for continuance, z.e. either: without ever requiring to be silent, or, which we prefer: so that what he says stands; on the contrary, he who testifies mere fictions, i.e. avers that they are truth, is destroyed (28a=xix. 90, cf. 5): he himself comes to nothing, since his testimonies are referred to their groundlessness and falsity;. for Ὁ δ). Ὁ δὲ πρῶ, the lie has no feet on which it cam stand, it comes to nothing sooner or later. Ver. 29. Another proverb with vs:— A godless man showeth boldness in his mien; But one that is upright—he proveth his way.
The Chethid has 3); but that the upright directeth, dirigit, his way, 1.6. gives to it the right direction (cf. 2 Chron. xxvii. 6), is not a good contrast to the boldness of the godless; the Ker%, ᾿Ξ 30, deserves the preference. Aquila, Symmachus, the Syr., Targ., and Venet. adhere to the Chethib, which would be suitable if it could be translated, with Jerome, by corrigit; Luther also reads the verb with 3, but as if it were 3) (whoever is pious, his way will stand)—only the LXX. render the Keri (cvvet); as for the rest, the ancients waver between the Chethib ᾿Ξ and the Keri i371: the former refers to manner of life in general; the latter (as at 111. 31 and elsewhere) to the conduct in separate cases; thus the one is just as appropriate as the other. In the circumstantial designation WS yer (cf. xi. 7) we have the stamp of the cistinction of different classes of men peculiar to the Book of Proverbs. i (to make firm, defiant) had, vii. 13, Ὁ2)5 as accus.; the 3 here is not that used in metaphoristic expressions instead of the accus. obj., which we have spoken of at xv. 4, xx. 30, but that of the means; for the face is thought of, not as the object of the action, but, after Gesen. ὃ 138.1, as the means of its accomplishment: the godless makes (shows) firmness, 7.e. defiance, accessibility to no admonition, with his countenance; but the upright considers, i.e. proves (xiv. 8), his way. }2 (20) means a perceiving of the object in its specific peculiarity, an understanding of its constituent parts and essential marks; it denotes knowing an event analytically, as Dyn, as well as synthetically (cf. Arab. shakl), and is thus used as the expression of a perception, which apprehends the object not merely immediately, but closely examines into its circumstances.
If we further seek for the boundaries, the proverbs regarding the rich and the poor, xxii. 2, 7, 16, present themselves as such, and this the more surely as xxii. 16 is without contradiction the terminus. Thus we take first together xxi. 30- χΧΧΙ 2.
Ver. 80 No wisdom and no understanding, And no counsel is there against Jahve. The expression might also be 7 359; but the predominating sense there is no wisdom which, compared with His, can be regarded as such (cf. 1 Cor. iii. 19), none which can boast itself against Him, or can at all avail against Him (3395, as Dan. x. 12; Neh. iii. 37); whence it follows (as Job xxviii. 28) that the wisdom of man consists in the fear of God the Alone-wise, or, which is the same thing, the All-wise. Immanuel interprets 30 of theology, 72:29 of worldly science, 7¥¥ of politics; but Mo3n is used of the knowledge of truth, 1.6. of that which truly is and continues; ΠΟΣῚ of criticism, and ΠΝ of system and method; vid. at i. 2, viii. 14, from which latter passage the LXX. has substituted here m2) instead of mnan. Instead of 'n 15 it translates πρὸς τὸν ἀσεβῆ, 1.6. for that which is 'n 739 against Jahve. Ver. 31 The horse is harnessed for the day of battle; But with Jahve is the victory, i.e. it remains with Him to give the victory or not, for the horse is a vain means of victory, Isa. xxxiii. 17; the battle is the Lord’s, 1 Sam. xvii. 47, z.e. it depends on Him how the battle shall issue; and king and people who have taken up arms in defence of their rights have thus to trust nothing in the multitude of their war-horses (3D, horses, including their riders), and generally in their preparations for the battle, but in the Lord (cf. Ps. xx. 8, and, on the contrary, Isa. xxxi. 1). The LXX. translates Nw by ἡ βοήθεια, as if the Arab. name of victory, nasr, proceeding from this fundamental meaning, stood in the text; mwn (from yw, Arab. ws’, to be wide, to have free space for motion) signifies properly prosperity, as the contrast of distress, oppression, slavery, and victory (cf. eg. Ps. cxliv. 10, and myww*, 1 Sam. xiv. 45). The post-bibl. Heb. uses ny2
(jin¥2) for victory; but the O. T. Heb. has no word more fully covering this idea than myywin (ny). Chap. xxii. 1 A good name has the preference above great riches; For more than silver and gold is grace. The proverb is constructed chiastically; the commencing word ἽΠ2) (cf. xxi. 3), and the concluding word 2, are the parallel predicates; rightly, none of the old translators have been misled to take together 31D 3M, after the analogy of 3) 55, iii. 14, xiii. 15. OY also does not need 21) for nearer determination; the more modern idiom uses 21) nv,” the more ancient uses nv alone (e.g. Eccles. vii. 1), in the sense of ὄνομα καλόν (thus here LXX.); for being well known (renowned) is equivalent to a name, and the contrary to being nameless (Job xxx. 8); to make oneself a name, is equivalent to build a monument in honour of oneself; possibly the derivation of the word from maw, to be high, prominent, known, may have contributed to this meaning of the word sensu eximio, for nw has the same root word as 0%. Luther translates nv by Das Geriicht [rumour, fame], in the same pregnant sense; even to the present day, renom, renommee, riputazione, and the like, are thus used. The parallel jf signifies grace and favour (being beloved); grace, which brings favour (xi. 16); and favour, which is the consequence of a graceful appearance, courtesy, and demeanour (e.g. Esth. ii. 15). Ver. 2 The rich and the poor meet together; The creator of them all is Jahve.
From this, that God made them all, i.e. rich and poor in the totality of their individuals, it follows that the meeting together is His will and His ordinance; they shall in life push one against another, and for what other purpose than that this relation-
1 In the old High German, the word for war is urlag (urlac), fate, because the issue is the divine determination, and nét (as in ‘‘ der Nibelunge Not”), as binding, confining, restraint; this né¢t is the correlate to ΠΡ, victory: nondp corresponds most to the French guerre, which is not of Romanic, but of German origin: the Werre, i.e. the Gewirre [complication, confusion], for On>) signifies to press against one another, to be engaged in close conflict; cf. the Homeric κλόνος of the turmoil of battle.
2 ¢.9. Aboth iv. 17: there are three crowns: the crown of the ‘Tora, the crown of the priesthood, and the crown of royalty; but 21) DW ὙΠ), the crown of a good name, excels them all.
ship of mutual intercourse should be a school of virtue: the poor shall not envy the rich (iii. 31), and the rich shall not despise the poor, who has the same God and Father as himself (xiv. 31, xvii. 5; Job xxxi. 15); they shall remain conscious of this, that the intermingling of the diversities of station is for this end, that the lowly should serve the exalted, and the exalted should serve the lowly. xxix. 13 is a variation; there also for both, but particularly for the rich, lies in the proverb a solemn warning.
The group of proverbs beginning here terminates at ver. 7,. where, like the preceding, it closes with a proverb of the rich and the poor.
Ver. 3 The prudent seeth the evil, and hideth himself; But the simple go forward, and suffer injury.
This proverb repeats itself with insignificant variations, xxvii. 12. The Keri 1703) makes it more conformable to the words there used. The Chethib is not to be read "FD, for this Kal is inusit., but IND", or much rather 15%, since it is intended to be said he immediate consequence on the part of a prudent man arises from his perceiving an evil standing before him; he sees, e.g. the approaching overthrow of a decaying house, or in a sudden storm the fearful flood, and betimes betakes himself to a place of safety; the simple, on the contrary, go blindly forward into the threatening danger, and must bear the punishment of their carelessness. The fut. consec. 8a denotes the hiding of oneself as that which immediately follows from the being observant; the two perf. 3d, on the other hand, with or without 1, denote the going forward and meeting with punishment as occurring contemporaneously (cf. Ps. xlviii. 6, and regarding these diverse forms of construction, at Hab. iii. 10). ‘“‘ The interchange of the sing. and plur. gives us to understand that several or many simple ones are found for one prudent an” (Hitzig). The MNiph. of ΕΝ signifies properly to be punished by pecuniary fine (Ex. xxi. 22) (cf. the post-bibl. D2?, DP, to threaten punishment, which appears to have arisen from censere, to estimate, to lay on taxes); here it has the general meaning of being punished, viz. of the self-punishment of want of foresight.
Ver. 4 The reward of humility is the fear of Jahve, Is riches, and honour, and life.
As PIs"my, Ps. xlv. 5, is understood of the two virtues, meekness and righteousness, so here the three Géttingen divines (Ewald, Bertheau, and Elster), as also Dunasch, see in'T NN Ay an asyndeton; the poet would then have omitted vav, because instead of the copulative connection he preferred the appositional (Schultens: premium mansuetudinis que est reverentia Jehove) or the permutative (the reward of humility; more accurately expressed: the fear of God). It is in favour of this interpretation that the verse following (ver. 5) also shows an asyndeton. Luther otherwise: where one abides in the fear of the Lord; and Oetinger: the reward of humility, endurance, calmness in the fear of the Lord, is...; Fleischer also interprets ‘a ΓΝ as xxi. 4, nxon (lucerna impiorum vitiosa), as the accus. of the nearer definition. But then is the nearest-lying construction: the reward of humility is the fear of God, as all old interpreters understand 4a (e.g. Symmachus, ὕστερον πραὕτητος φόβος κυρίου), a thought so incomprehensible, that one must adopt one or other of these expedients? On the one side, we may indeed say that the fear of God brings humility with it; but, on the other hand, it is just as comformable to experience that the fear of God is a consequence of humility; for actually to subordinate oneself to God, and to give honour to Him alone, one must have broken his self-will, and come to the knowledge of himself in his dependence, nothingness, and sin; and one consequence by which humility is rewarded, may be called the fear of God, because it is the root of all wisdom, or as is here said (cf. iii. 16, viii. 18), because riches, and honour, and life are in its train. Thus 4a is a concluded sentence, which in 4b is so continued, that from 4a the predicate is to be continued: the reward of humility is the fear of God; it is at the sametime riches... Hitzig conjectures Π Ms, the beholding Jahve; but the visio Det (beatifica) is not a dogmatic idea thus expressed in the O. T.?¥ denotes what follows a thing, from apy, to tread on the heels (Fleischer); for 3p¥ (Arab. ‘akib) is the heels, as the incurvation of the foot; and 320}, the consequence (cf. Arab. ’akb, ’ukb, posteritas), is mediated through the v. denom. 3p¥, to tread on the heels, to follow on the heels (cf.
denominatives, such as Arab. batn, zahr, ’dn, {¥, to strike the body, the back, the eye). Ver. 5 Thorns, snares, are on the way of the crooked; He that guardeth his soul, let him keep far from them. Rightly the Venet. ἄκανθαι παγίδες ἐν ὁδῷ στρεβλοῦ. The meaning of O3¥ (ρίαν. of {¥, or 723, the same as 2) }) and ons (from m8, Arab. fah), stands ee though it be not etymologically ences the placing dagetlien of these two words (the LXX. obliterating the asyndeton: τρίβολος καὶ παγίδες) follows the scheme nv wow, Hab. ii. 11. The nbs Way (perverse of. heart, crooked, xvii. 20, xi. 20) drives his crooked winding way, eorresponding to his habit of mind, which is the contrast and the perversion of that which is just, a way in which there are thorns which entangle and wound those who enter thereon, snares which unexpectedly bring them down and hold them fast as prisoners; the hedge of thorns, xv. 19, was a figure of the hindrances in the way of the wicked themselves. The thorn and snares here are a figure of the hindrances and dangers which go forth from the deceitful and the false in the way of others, of those who keep their souls, ζ.6. who outwardly and morally take heed to their life (xvi. 17, xiii. 3, pred. here subj.), who will keep, or are disposed to keep, themselves from these thorns, these snares into which the deceitful and perverse-hearted seek to entice them. Ver. 6 Give to the child instruction conformably to His way; So he will not, when he becomes old, depart from it.
The first instruction is meant which, communicated to the child, should be ΒΡ, after the measure (Gen. xlili. 7=postbibl. pb and *53) of ys way,.6. not: of his calling, which he must by and by enter upon (Bertheau, Zickler), which i379 of itself cannot mean; also not: of the way which he must keep in during life (Kidibsioahein 30a); nor: of his individual nature (Elster); but: of the nature of the child as such, for 774 "Y2 is the child’s way, as e.g. derek col-haarets, Gen. xix. 31, the general custom of the land; derek Mitsrdyim, Isa. x. 24, the way (the manner of acting) of the Egyptians. The instruction of youth, the education of youth, ought to be conformed to the nature of youth; the matter of instruction, the manner of instruction, ought to regulate itself according to the stage of life, and its peculiarities; the method ought to be arranged according to the degree of development which the mental and bodily life of the youth has arrived at. The verb 727 is a denominative like 3?Y, ver. 4; it signifies to affect the taste, Π (= 327), in the Arab. to put date syrup into the mouth of the suckling; so that we may compare with it the saying of Horace, [Ep. 1. 2, 69]: Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem Testa diu. In the post-bibl. Heb. 3339 denotes that which in the language of the Church is called catechizatio; (ry25) ΒΟ Jn is the usual title of the catechisms. It is the fundamental and first requisite of all educational instruction which the proverb formulates, a suitable motto for the lesson-books of pedagogues and catechists. 73! [from it] refers to that training of youth, in conformity with his nature, which becomes a second nature, that which is imprinted, inbred, becomes accustomed. Ver. 6 is wanting in the LX X.; where it exists in Mss. of the LX X., it is supplied from Theodotion; the Complut. translates independently from the Heb. text.
Ver. 7 A rich man will rule over the poor, And the borrower is subject to the man who lends.
“ς This is the course of the world. As regards the sing. and plur. in 7a, there are many poor for one rich; and in the Orient the rule is generally in the hands of one” (Hitzig). The fut. denotes how it will and must happen, and the substantival clause 70, which as such is an expression of continuance (Arab. thabdt, t.e. of the remaining and continuing), denotes that contracting of debt brings naturally with it a slavish relation of dependence. mvp, properly he who binds himself to one se δὲ obligat, and mon, as xix. 17 (vid. l.c.), qui alterum (mutut datione) obligat, from me, Arab. lwy, to wind, turn, twist round (cog. root laf’), whence with Fleischer is also to be derived the Aram. m?, “into connection;” so?X, properly “ pushing against,” refers to the radically related NoX (=n), contiguum esse. mn WN is one who puts himself in the way of lending, although not directly in a professional manner. The pred. precedes its subject according to rule. Luther rightly translates: and he who borrows is the lender’s servant, whence the pun on the proper names: “ Borghart [=the borrower] is Lehnhart’s [= lender’s] servant,”
The group now following extends to the end of this first collection of Solomon’s proverbs; it closes also with a proverb of the poor and the rich.
Ver. 8 He that soweth iniquity shall reap calamity; And the rod of his fury shall vanish away. ( Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Gal. vi. 7); he that soweth good reapeth good, xi. 18; he that soweth evil reapeth evil, Job iv. 8; cf. Hos. x. 12 f. now is the direct contrast of ΠΡῚΝ or W (e.g. Ps. exxv. 3, cvii. 42), proceeding from the idea that the good is right, 1.6. straight, rectum; the - evil, that which departs from the straight line, and is crooked. Regarding ἡ δ, which means both perversity of mind and conduct, as well as destiny, calamity, vd. xii. 21. That which the poet particularly means by new is shown in 88, viz. unsympathizing tyranny, cruel misconduct toward a neighbour. ΠΣ} Ὁ, is the rod which he who soweth iniquity makes another to feel in his anger. The saying, that an end will be to this rod of his fury, agrees with that which is said of the despot’s sceptre, Isa. xiv. 5f.; Ps. cxxv. 3. Rightly Fleischer: baculus insolentie ejus consumetur h. 6. facultas qua pollet alios insolenter tractandi evanescet. Hitzig’s objection, that a rod does not vanish away, but is broken, is answered by this, that the rod is thought of as brandished; besides, one uses 122 of anything which has an end, e.g. Isa. xvi. 4. Other interpreters understand “ the rod of his fury” of the rod of God’s anger, which will strike the Ὁ: and mes’, as at Ezek. v.13; Dan. xii. 7: “and the rod of His punishment will surely come” (Ewald, and similarly Schultens, Euchel, Umbreit). This thought also hovers before the LX X.: πληγὴν δὲ ἔργων αὐτοῦ (NIIP) συντελέσει (55). But if the rod of punishment which is appointed for the unrighteous be meant, then we would have expected nD). Taken in the future, the nira of the Ὁ: ν᾽ is not its confectio in the sense of completion, but its termination or annihilation; and besides, it lies nearer after 8a to take the suffix of 1may subjectively (Isa. xiv. 6, xvi. 6) than objectively. The LXX. has, after ver. 8, a distich:— ἄνδρα ἱλαρὸν καὶ δότην εὐλογεῖ ὁ θεὸς, ματαιότητα δὲ ἔργων αὐτοῦ συντελέσει.
The first line (2 Cor. ix. 7) is a variant translation of 9a (cf. xxi. 17), the second (1n73y NW) Is a similar rendering of 8D.
Ver. 9 He who is friendly is blessed; Because he giveth of his bread to the poor.
The first line appears a variant translation of xix. 60, and the second of i. 190, according to which selfishness, in contrast to liberality, is the subject to be thought of. Ewald translates the second line:
Ver. 10 Chase away the scorner, and contention goeth out, And strife and reproach rest.
If in a company, a circle of friends, a society (LX X. ἔκβαλε ἐκ συνεδρίου), a wicked man is found who (vid. the definition of γ᾽, xxl. 24) treats religious questions without respect, moral questions in a frivolous way, serious things jestingly, and in his scornful spirit, his passion for witticism, his love of anecdote, places himself above the duty of showing reverence, veneration, and respect, there will arise ceaseless contentions and conflicts. Such a man one ought to chase away; then there will immediately go forth along with him dispeace (1712), there wil! then be rest from strife and disgrace, viz. of the strife which such a one draws forth, and the disgrace which it brings on the society, and continually prepares for it. p>p is commonly understood of the injury, abuse, which others have to suffer from the scoffer, or also (thus Fleischer, Hitzig) of the opprobria of the contentious against one another. But nbp is not so used; it means always disgrace, as something that happens, an experience, vid. at xvill. ὃ. The praise of one who is the direct contrast of a y> is celebrated in the next verse. Ver. 11 He that loveth heart-purity, Whose is grace of lips, the king is his friend. Thus with Hitzig, it is to be translated not: he who loveth with a pure heart,—we may interpret 25-1 syntactically in the sense of puritate cordis or purus corde (Ralbag, Ewald, after xx. 7), for that which follows 24s and is its supplement has to stand where possible as the accus. of the object; thus not: gut amat puritatem cordis, gratiosa erunt labia ejus (de Dieu, Geier, Schultens, C. B. Michaelis, Fleischer), for between heart-purity and graciousness of speech there exists a moral relation, but yet no necessary connection of sequence; also not: he who loves purity of heart, and grace on his lips (Aben Ezra, Schelling, Bertheau), for “to love the grace of one’s own lips” is an awkward expression, which sounds more like reprehensible self-complacency than a praiseworthy endeavour after gracious speech. Excellently Luther: ‘* He who has a true heart and amiable speech, The king is his friend.”
Pamala is not adjectival, but substantival; “170 is thus not the constr. of the mas. ὙΠ, as Job xvii. 10, but of the segolate 100, or (since the ground-form of 723, 1 Sam. xvi. 7, may be M33 as well as 733) of the neut. "iD, like WIP, Ps. xlvi. 5, Ixv. 5: that which is pure, the being pure = purity (Schultens). nev jn (gracefulness of his lips) is the second subject with the force of a relative clause, although not exactly thus thought of, but: one loving heart-purity, gracefulness on his lips—the king is his friend. Ewald otherwise: “he will be the king’s friend,” after the scheme xiii. 4; but here unnecessarily refined. A counsellor and associate who is governed by a pure intention, and connects therewith a gentle and amiable manner of speech and conversation, attaches the king to himself; the king is the Nyy (02), the friend of such an one, and he also is “the friend of the king,” 1 Kings iv. 5. It is a Solomonie proverb, the same in idea as xvi. 13. The LXX., Syr., and Targ. introduce after 398 the name of God; but 116 does not syntactically admit of this addition. But it is worth while to take notice of an interpretation which is proposed by Jewish interpreters: the friend of such an one is a king, ¢.e. he can royally rejoice in him and boast of him. The thought is beautiful; but, as the comparison of other proverbs speaking of the king shows, is not intended. Ver. 12 The eyes of Jahve preserve knowledge; So He frustrateth the words of the false.
The phrase “to preserve knowledge ” is found at v. 2; there, in the sense of to keep, retain; here, of protecting, guarding; for it cannot possibly be said that the eyes of God keep themselves by the rule of knowledge, and thus preserve knowledge; this predicate is not in accord with the eyes, and is, as used of God, even inappropriate. On the other hand, after “to preserve,” in the sense of watching, guarding a concrete object is to be expected, cf, Isa. xxvi. 3. We need not thus with Ewald supply yi; the ancients are right that NY, knowledge, stands metonymically for ws (Meiri), or ‘vox (Aben Ezra), or nyt ‘yr (Arama); Schultens rightly: Cognitio veritatis ac virtutis practica fertur ad homines eam colentes ac prestantes. Where knowledge of the true and the good exists, there does it stand under the protection of God. 125 shows how that is meant, for there the perf. is continued in the second consec. modus ( fut. consec.): there is thus protection against the assaults of enemies who oppose the knowledge which they hate, and seek to triumph over it, and to suppress it by their crooked policy. But God stands on the side of knowledge and protects it, and consequently makes vain the words (the outspoken resolutions) of the deceitful. Regarding Fed (Fed), vid. xi. ὃ and xix. 3. The meaning of 34 nbd is here essentially different from that in Ex. xxiii. 8, Deut. xvi. 19: he perverteth their words, for he giveth them a bearing that is false, 1.6. not leading tothe end. Hitzig reads nin [wickedness] for nyt, which Zéckler is inclined to favour: God keeps the evil which is done in His eyes, and hinders its success; but ‘to observe wickedness” is an ambiguous, untenable expression; the only passage that can be quoted in favour of this * to observe” is Job vii. 20. The word ΠΡ, handed down without variation, is much rather justified.
Ver. 15 The sluggard saith, ‘‘ A lion is without, I shall be slain in the midst of the streets.”
Otherwise rendered, xxvi.13. There, as here, the perf. 128 has the meaning of an abstract present, Gesen. ὃ 126. 3. The activity of the industrious has its nearest sphere at home; but here a work is supposed which requires him to go forth (Ps, civ. 3) into the field (Prov. xxiv. 27). Therefore yin stands. first, a word of wide signification, which here denotes the open country outside the city, where the sluggard fears to meet a lion, as in the streets, z.e. the rows of houses forming them, to meet a ΠῚ (M379), 1.6. a murder from motives of robbery or revenge. This strong word, properly to destroy, crush, Arab. radkh, is intentionally chosen: there is designed to be set forth the ridiculous hyperbolical pretence which the sluggard seeks for his slothfulness (Fleischer). Luther right well: “I might be murdered on the streets.” But there is intentionally the absence of ‘2:8 [perhaps] and of 1B [lest]. Meiri here quotes a passage of the moralists: man Syyn ‘nan (prophesying) belongs to the evidences of the sluggard; and Euchel, the proverb ox2ny odyyn (the sluggard’s prophecy), i.e. the sluggard acts like a prophet, that he may palliate his slothfulness.
Ver. 14 A deep pit is the mouth of a strange woman; He that is cursed of God falleth therein.
The first line appears in a different form as a synonymous distich, xxiii. 27. The LXX. translate στόμα παρανόμου without certainly indicating which word they here read, whether 37 (iv. 14), or yw (xxix. 12), or nbo (iii. 82). xxiii. 27 is adduced in support of Nin? (vid. 11. 16); ΠΣ (harlots) are meant, and it is not necessary thus to read with Ewald. The mouth of this strange woman or depraved Israelitess is a deep ditch
(ΠΡῸΣ AMY, otherwise ΠΡΌΣ, as xxiii. 27a, where also occurs npyy 1), namely, a snare-pit into which he is enticed by her wanton words; the man who stands in fellowship with God is armed against this syren voice; but the ‘7 Dt, z.e. he who is an object of the divine DY (Venet. κεχολωμένος τῷ ὀντωτῇ), indignation, punishing evil with evil, falls into the pit, yielding to the seduction and the ruin. Schultens explains ‘n pir by, 8 in quem despumat indignabundus; but the meaning despumat is not substantiated; oyr, cf. Arab. zaghm, is probably a word which by its sound denoted anger as a hollow roaring, and like pealing thunder. The LXX. has, after ver. 14, three tedious moralizing lines. Ver. 15 Folly is bound to the heart of a child; The rod of correction driveth it forth. Folly, i.e. pleasure in stupid tricks, silly sport, and foolish behaviour, is the portion of children as such; their heart is as yet childish, and folly is bound up in it. Education first driveth forth this childish, foolish nature (for, as Menander Says: Ὃ μὴ δαρεὶς ἄνθρωπος οὐ παιδεύεται), and it effects this when it is unindulgently severe: the ἼΘ᾽ baw (vid. xxiii. 13) removeth nea from the heart, for it imparts intelligence and makes wise (xxix.15). The LXX. is right in rendering 16a: ἄνοια ἐξῆπται (from ἐξάπτειν) καρδίας νέου; but the Syr. has “here mangled the LXX., and in haste has read ἀνοίᾳ ἐξίπταται: folly makes the understanding of the child fly away” (Lagarde). Ver. 16 Whosoever oppresseth the lowly, it is gain to him; Whosoever giveth to the rich, it is only loss. It is before all clear that ΠΙΞἽΠΡ and 7iDND, as at xxi. 5, ἽΓ and “yon, are contrasted words, and form the conclusions to the participles used, with the force of hypothetical antecedents. Jerome recognises this: gui calumniatur pauperem, ut augeat divitias suas, dabit ipse ditiori et egebit. So Rashi, who by ‘wy thinks on heathen potentates. Proportionally better Euchel, referring PYY and 103, not to one person, but to two classes of men: he who oppresses the poor to enrich himself, and is liberal toward the rich, falls under want. The antithetic distich thus becomes an integral one,—the antithesis manifestly intended is not brought out. This may be said also against Bertheau, who too ingeniously explains: He who oppresses the poor to enrich himself gives to a rich man, i.e. to himself, the enriched, only to want, 1.6. only to lose again that which he gained unrighteously. Ralbag is on the right track, for he suggests the explanation: he who oppresses the poor, does it to his gain, for he thereby impels him to a more energetic exercise of his strength; he who gives to the rich man does it to his own loss, because the rich man does not thank him for it, and still continues to look down on him. But if one refers {? to the poor, then it lies nearer to interpret sion ἼΝ of the rich: he who gives presents to the rich only thereby promotes his sleepy indolence, and so much the more robs him of activity (Elster); for that which one gives to him is only swallowed up in the whirlpool of his extravagance (Zéckler). Thus Hitzig also explains, who remarks, under 17a: “ Oppression produces reaction, awakens energy, and thus God on the whole overrules events” (Ex. i. 12). Similarly also Ewald, who thinks on a mercenary, unrighteous rich man: God finally lifts up the oppressed poor man; the rich man always becoming richer, on the contrary, is “ punished for all his wickedness only more and more.” But with all these explanations there is too much read between the lines. Since wonn> ἽΝ (xi. 24, xxi. 5) refers back to the subject: himself to mere loss, so also will it be here; and the LX X., Symmachus, Jerome (cf. also the Syr. auget malum suum) are right when they also refer δ, not to the poor man, but to the oppressor of the poor. We explain: he who extorts from the poor enriches himself thereby; but he who gives to the rich has nothing, and less than nothing, thereby—he robs himself, has no thanks, only brings himself by many gifts lower and lower down. In the first case at least, 17a, the result corresponds to the intention; but in this latter case, 174, one gains only bitter disappointment.
The last group of distiches, beginning with x. 1, closed at xxil. 16 with a proverb of the poor and the rich, as that before the last, vid. at xxii. 7. In xxii. 17 ff., the law of the distich form is interrupted, and the tone of the introductory Mashals is again perceptible. Here begins an appendix to the older Book of Proverbs, introduced by these Mashals. Vid. regarding the style and proverbial form of this introduction, at pages 4 and 16 of vol. i.
xxl. 17-21, forming the introduction to this appendix, are these Words of the Wise:
18 For it is pleasant if thou keep them in thine heart Ἢ Let them abide together on thy lips.
19 That thy trust may be placed in Jahve, I have taught thee to-day, even thee!
20 Have not I written unto thee choice proverbs, Containing counsels and knowledge,
21 To make thee to know the rule of the words of truth, That thou mightest bring back words which are truth to them
From x. 1 to xxii. 16 are the “Proverbs of Solomon,” and not “The Words of the Wise;” thus the above παραίνεσις is not an epilogue, but a prologue to the following proverbs. The perfects ὉΠ} Π and ‘M3N3 refer, not to the Solomonic proverbial discourses, but to the appendix following them; the preface commends the worth and intention of this appendix, and uses perfects because it was written after the forming of the collection. The author of this preface (vid. pp. 23, 36, vol. i.) is no other than the author of i.-ix. The bn (with Mehuppach, after Thorath Emeth, p. 27) reminds us of iv. 20, ν. 1. The phrase ab ny, animum advertere, occurs again in the second appendix, xxiv. 82, ὮΝ} is repeated at xxiii. 8, xxiv. 4; but DY with ὯΝ) is common in the preface, i.-ix. O'Y2"'2 contains, as at Ps. cxxxv. 3, exlvii. 1, its subject in itself, D72vN-'2 is not this subject: this that thou preservest them, which would have required rather the infin. D0DY (Ps. cxxxiii. 1) or D7Dv/; but it supposes the case in which appears that which is amiable and praiseworthy: if thou preservest them in thy heart, 1.6. makest them thoughtfully become thy mental possession. The suffix D— refers to the Words of the Wise, and mediately also to my, for the author designates his practical wisdom snys, which is laid down in the following proverbs, which, although not composed by him, are yet penetrated by his subjectivity. Regarding 103, which, from meaning the inner parts of the body, is transferred to the inner parts of the mind, vid. under xx. 27. The clause 18, if not dependent on ‘3, would begin with 5". The absence of the copula and the antecedence of the verb bring the optative rendering nearer. Different is the syntactical relation of v. 2, where the infin. is continued in the fin. The fut. Niph. 23°, which, iv. 27, meant to be rightly placed, rightly directed, here means: to stand erect, to have continuance, stabilem esse. In ver. 19, the fact of instruction precedes the statement of its object, which is, that the disciple may place his confidence in Jahve, for he does that which is according to His will, and is subject to His rule. 9030, in Codd. and correct editions with Pathach (vid. Michlol 1840); the n is as virtually doubled; eid. under xxi. 22, In 190 the accentuation Ov THYNA is contrary to the syntax; Codd. and old editions have rightly OV Poy, for HALAS is, after Gesen. § 121. 3, an emphatic repetition of the “ thee;” 48, like 03, xxiii. 15; 1 Kings xxi. 19. Hitzig knows of no contrast which justifies the emphasis. But the prominence thus effected is not always of the nature of contrast (cf. Zech. vii. 5, have ye truly fasted to me, 1.6, to serve me thereby), here it is strong individualizing; the te etiam te is equivalent to, thee as others, and thee in particular. Also that, as Hitzig remarks, there does not appear any reason for the emphasizing of “ to-day,” is incorrect: Di°7 is of the same signification as at Ps. xcv. 7; the reader of the following proverbs shall remember later, not merely in general, that he once on a time read them, but that he to-day, that he on this definite day, received the lessons of wisdom contained therein, and then, from that time forth, became responsible for his obedience or his disobedience.
In 20a the Chethib nwSw denotes no definite date; besides, this word occurs only always along with rion (rons). Umbreit, Ewald, Bertheau, however, accept this “ formerly (lately),” and suppose that the author here refers to a “ Book for Youths,” composed at an earlier period, without one seeing what this reference, which had a meaning only for his contemporaries, here denotes. The LXX. reads 33, and finds in 20a, contrary to the syntax and the wsus log., the exhortation that he who is addressed ought to write these good doctrines thrice (τρισσῶς) on the tablet of his heart; the Syr. and Targ. suppose the author to say that he wrote them three times; Jerome, that he wrote them threefold—both without any visible meaning, since threefold cannot be equivalent to manchfeltiglich (Luther) [= several: times, in various ways]. Also the Kert Dw, which without doubt is the authentic word, is interpreted in many unacceptable ways; Rashi and Elia Wilna, following a Midrash explanation, think on the lessons of the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa; Arama, on those which are referable to three classes of youth; Malbim (as if here the author of the whole Book of Proverbs, from i. to xxxi., spake), on the supposed three chief parts of the Mishle; Dichsel better, on i.-ix., as the product of the same author as this appendix. Schultens compares Eccles. iv. 12, and translates triplici filo newxa. Kimchi, Meiri, and others, are right, who gloss Ὁ by D937 o7233, and compare O°"), vill. 6; accordingly the Veneta, with the happy guid pro quo, by τρισμέγιστα. The LXX. translates the military wiry by tpiorarns; but this Greek word is itself obscure, and is explained by Hesychius (as well as by Suidas, and in the Ltymologicum) by Regit satellites qui ternas hastas manu tenebant, which is certainly false. Another Greek, whom Angellius quotes, says, under Ex. xv. 4, that τριστάτης was the name given to the warriors who fought from a chariot, every three of whom had one war-chariot among them; and this appears, according to Ex. xiv. 7, xv. 4, to be really the primary meaning. In the period of David we meet with the word o'v*>vi as the name of the heroes (the Gibbdrim) who stood nearest the king. The shalish-men form the élite troops that stood highest in rank, at whose head stood two triads of heroes, —Jashobeam at the head of the first trias, and thus of the shalish-men generally; Abishai at the head of the second trias, who held an honourable place among the shalish-men, but yet reached not to that first trias, 2 Sam. xxiii. 8 ff. (=1 Chron. xi. 11ff.). The name dv? (Apoc. 2 Sam. xxiii. 8, WUT, and ver. 13, 1 Chron. xxvii. 6, incorrectly pyiovin) occurs here with reference to the threefold division of this principal host; and in regard to the use of the word in the time of Pharaoh, as well as in the time of the kings, it may be granted that shalish denoted the Three-man (triumvir), and then generally a high military officer; so that pelo here has the same relation to p32, vill. 6, as ducalia to principalia. The name of the chief men (members of the chief troop) is transferred to the chief proverbs, as, Jas. ii. 8, that law which stands as a king at the head of all the others is called the “ royal law;” or, as Plato names the chief powers of the soul, μέρη ἡγεμόνες. As in this Platonic word-form, so shalishim here, like negidim there, is understood neut., cf. under viii. 6, and O°)", xii. 11; OW, xvi. 13. The 23 of nixyoa (occurring at i. 31 also) Fleischer rightly explains as the 3 of uniting or accompanying: chief proverbs which contain good counsels and solid knowledge.
In the statement of the object in ver. 21, we interpret that which follows qwrine not permutat.: ut te docerem recta, verba vera (Fleischer); but 0¥P (ground-form to DvP, Ps. lx. 6) is the bearer of the threefold idea: rectitudinem, or, better, regulam verborum veritatis. The (Arab.) verb kasita means to be straight, stiff, inflexible (synon. pty, to be hard, tight, proportionately direct); and the name kist denotes not only the right conduct, the right measure (quantitas justa), but also the balance, and thus the rule or the norm. In 210, NOX ODN (as e.g. Zech. i. 13; vid. Philippi, Status Constr. p. 86 f.) is equivalent to ‘7128 nox; the author has this second time intentionally chosen the appositional relation of connection: words which are truth; the idea of truth presents itself in this form of expression more prominently. Impossible, because contrary to the usus log., is the translation: ut respondeas verba vera wis qui ad te mittunt (Schultens, Fleischer), because nov’, with the accus. following, never means “to send any one.” Without doubt 2wn and nbv stand in correlation to each other: he who lets himself be instructed must be supposed to be in circumstances to bring home, to those that sent him out to learn, doctrines which are trath, and thus to approve himself. The subject spoken of here is not a right answer or a true report brought back to one giving a commission; and it lies beyond the purpose and power of the following proverbs to afford a universal means whereby persons sent out are made skilful. The piney [senders] are here the parents or guardians who send him who is to be instructed to the school of the teacher of wisdom (Hitzig). Yet it appears strange that he who is the learner is just here not addressed as “my son,” which would go to the support of the expression, “to send to school,” which is elsewhere unused in Old Hebrew, and the now of another are elsewhere called those who make him their mandatar, x. 26, xxv. 13; 2 Sam. xxiv. 13. The reference to the parents would also be excluded if, with Norzi and other editors, 1n?¥ were to be read instead of ΠΡ» (the Venet. 1521, and most editions). Therefore the phrase Por, which is preferred by Ewald, recommends itself, according to which the LXX. translates, τοῖς προβαλλομένοις σοι, which the Syro-Hexap. renders’ by xnamw 7) pnx7 pnd, ἐ.6. to those who lay problems before thee (vid. Lagarde). The teacher of wisdom seeks to qualify him who reads the following proverbs, and permits himself to be influenced by them, to give the right answer to those who question him and go to him for counsel, and thus to become himself a teacher of wisdom.
After these ten lines of preliminary exhortation, there now begins the collection of the “ Words of the Wise” thus introduced. A tetrastich which, in its contents, connects itself with the last proverb of the Solomonic collection, xxii. 16, forms the commencement of this collection:
Ver. 22 Rob not the lowly because he is lowly; And oppress not the humble in the gate. 23 For Jahve will conduct their cause, And rob their spoilers of life.
Though it may bring gain, as said xxii. 16a, to oppress the “1, the lowly or humble, yet at last the oppressor comes to ruin, The poet here warns against robbing the lowly because he as seizing and making fast.
is lowly, and thus without power of defence, and not to be feared; and against doing injustice to the ‘3¥, the bowed down, and therefore incapable of resisting in the gate, z.¢. in the court of justice. These poor men have not indeed high human patrons, but One in heaven to undertake their cause: Jahve will conduct their cause (02°) 2, as at xxiii. 10), ie. will undertake their vindication, and be their avenger. 37 (37), Aram. and Arab. dakk (cf. P21, (Arab.) dakk), signifies to crush anything so that it becomes broad and flat, figuratively to oppress, synon. PYY (Fleischer). The verb yap has, in Chald. | and Syr., the signification to stick, to fix (according to which Aquila here translates καθηλοῦν, to nail; Jerome, conjigere); and as root-word to Ny2?, the signification to be arched, like (Arab.) kab’, to be humpbacked; both significations are here unsuitable. ‘The connection here requires the meaning to rob; and for Mal. iii. 8 also, this same meaning is to be adopted, robbery and taking from one by force (Parchon, Kimchi), not: to deceive (Kohler, Keil), although it might have the sense of robbing by withholding or refraining from doing that which is due, thus of a sacrilege committed by omission or deception. The Talm. does not know the verb yap in this meaning; but it is variously found as a dialectic word for 513.1 Schultens’ etymological explanation, capitium injicere (after (Arab.) kab’, to draw back and conceal the head), is not satisfactory. The construction, with the double accus., follows the analogy of 3727 wb) and the like, Gesen. ὃ 139. 2. Regarding the sing. wa, even where several are spoken of, vid. under i. 19. Another tetrastich follows:
1 Thus Rosch ha-schana 26b: LevicameoncetoN.N. There a man came to mect him, and cried out x55 yap. Levi knew not what he would say, and went into the Madrash-house to ask. One answered him: He is a robber (bra) said that one to thee; for it is said in the Scriptures (Mal. iii. 8), ** Will a man rob God?” etc. (vid. Wissenschaft Kunst Judenthum, p. 243). In the Midrash, 31) “my, to Ps. lvii., R. Levi says that yap ANS ὃ is used in the sense of vy Sy mms. And in the Midrash Tanchuma, P. monn, R. Levi answers the question, “ What is the meaning of yp, Mal. iii. 8?”—It is an Arabic expression. An Arabian, when he wishes to say to another *951)) NNN ND, says instead of it, symp NNN mp. Perhaps yap is cogn. to pap; the R. 3p coincides in several groups of languages (also the Turkish kb) with the Lat. capere.
Ver. 24 Have no intercourse with an angry man, And with a furious man go thou not; 25 Lest thou adopt his ways, And bring destruction upon thy soul.
The Piel MY), Judg. xiv. 20, signifies to make or choose any one as a friend or companion (AY, ¥2); the Hithpa. myINT (cf. at xvili. 24), to take to oneself (for oneself) any one as a friend, or to converse with one; YANN sounds like νη τοις, Isa; xli. 10, with Pathach of the closed syllable from the apocope. The angry man is called 58 >y3, as the covetous man vin OVD, xxiii. 2, and the mischievous man Niet) 3, xxiv. 8; vid. regarding ΟΞ at i. 19 and xviii. 9. nion YN is related superlat. to UN non, xv. 18 (cf. xxix. 22), and signifies a hot-head of the highest degree. i320 ND is meant as warning (cf. xvi. 100). MN Ni3, or OY N23, Ps. xxvi. 4, to come along with one, is equivalent to go into fellowship or companionship with one, which is expressed by M8 τη, ΧΙ], 20, as 2 8)3 means, Josh. xxiii. 7, 12, to enter into communion with one, venire in consuetudinem. This MX 82 is not a trace of a more recent period of the language. Also FON, discas, cannot be an equivalent for it: Heb. poetry has at all times made use of Aramaisms as elegancies. pox, Aram. BO, AD, Arab. dlifa, signifies to be entrusted with anything = to learn (Piel DY, to teach, Job xv. 15, and in Elihu’s speeches), or also to become confidential with one (whence MX, companion, confidant, ii. 17); this APN is never a Heb. prose word; the bibl. 5)>8 is only used at a later period in the sense of teacher. MiMN are the ways, the conduct (ii. 20, etc.), or manner of life (i. 19) which any one enters upon and follows out, thus manners as well as lot, condition. In the phrase “to bring destruction,” np? is used as in our phrase Schaden nehmen [to suffer injury]; the ancient language also represented the forced entrance of one into a state as a being laid hold on, e.g. Job xviii. 20, cf. Isa. xiii. 8; here wpyo is not merely equivalent to danger (Ewald, falsely: that thou takest not danger for thy soul), but is equivalent to destruction, sin itself is a snare (xxix. 6); to bring a snare for oneself is equivalent to suffer from being ensnared. Whosoever comes into a near relation with a passionate, furious man, easily accommodates himself to his manners, and, hurried forward by him and like him to outbreaks of anger, which does that which is not right before God, falls into ruinous complications.
Ver. 26 Be not among those who strike hands, Among those who become surety for loans. 27 If thou hast nothing to pay, Why shall he take away thy bed from under thee ὃ
To strike hands is equivalent to, to be responsible to any one for another, to stake one’s goods and honour for him, vi. 1, xi. 15, xvii. 18,—in a word, Ay, seg. acc., to pledge oneself for him (Gen. xliii. 9), or for the loan received by him, ΠΝ, Deut. xxiv. 10 (from 185, with 2, of the person and accus. of the thing: to lend something to one on interest). The proverb warns against being one of such sureties (write DY with Cod. 1294, and old impressions such as the Venice, 1521), against acting as they do; for why wouldest thou come to this, that when thou canst not pay (22%, to render a full equivalent reckoning, and, generally, to pay, vi. 31),' he (the creditor) take away thy bed from under thee?—for, as xx. 16 says, thus improvident suretyships are wont to be punished. A fourth proverb—a distich—beginning with the warning Os: Ver. 28 Remove not the perpetual landmark Which thy ancestors have set up.
28a=xxiii. 10a. Regarding the inviolability of boundaries established by the law, vid. at xv. 25. ΡΝ 2:23 denotes “ the boundary mark set up from ancient times, the removal of which were a double transgression, because it is rendered sacred by its antiquity” (Orelli, p. 76). 29) ΞΞ 3 signifies to remove back, Hiph. to shove back, to move away. WS has the meaning of (ὅριον) 8, τι, quippe quod. Instead of poy, the Mishna reads, Pea v. 6, oy, which in the Jerusalem Gemara one Rabbi understands of those brought up out of Egypt, another of the
After these four proverbs beginning with 5x, a new series begins with the following tristich:
Ver. 29 Seest thou a man who is expert in his calling— Before kings may he stand; Not stand before obscure men;
i.¢., he can enter into the service of kings, and needs not to enter into the service of mean men = he is entitled to claim the highest official post. ON, in xxvi. 12 = xxix. 20, interchanging with MS), is perf. hypotheticum (cf. xxiv. 10, xxv. 16): si videris; the conclusion which might begin with 3 39 expresses further what he who sees will have occasion to observe. Rightly Luther: Sthestu einen Man endelich (vid. at xxi. 5) in seinem geschefft, u.s.w. [ =seest thou a man expert in his business, etc.]. ὙΠῸ denotes in all the three chief dialects one who is skilful in a matter not merely by virtue of external artistic ability, but also by means of intellectual mastery of it. 3B? as'nil, to enter on the situation of a servant before any one; cf. Job i. 6, ii. 1. ‘38? TOY, 1 Sam. xvi. 21, 1 Kings x. 8. Along with the pausal form 23°M, there is also found in Codd. the form 33. (the ground-form to 33'n', whence that pausal form is lengthened), which Ben-Bileam defends, for he reckons this word among “the pathachized pausal forms.” Ὁ 3. Π, in contrast to padD, are the obscuri =ignobiles. The Targ. translate the Heb. 51 and fi'28 by wn and yivn. Kimchi compares Jer. xxxix. 10, where D'777 OY is translated by svn (cf. 2 Kings xxiv. 14, xxv. 12). m30m (ΠΞ0Π) is the old Heb. synonym in Ps. x. The poet seems here to transfer the Aram. usus log. into the Heb.
Ver. 29, which speaks of a high position near the king, is appropriately followed by a hexastich referring to the slipperiness of the smooth ground of the king’s court.
xxiii. 1 When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, Consider well whom thou hast before thee. 2 And put thy knife to thy throat If thou art a man of good appetite.
The $ of Dind> is that of end: ad cibum capiendum, thus as one invited by him to his table; in prose the expression would be pn? PON?; DN, to eat, is poet., iv. 17, ix. 5. The fut. pan clothes the aide in the form of a wish or counsel; the infin. intens. '2 makes it urgent: consider well him whom ‘thon hast before thee, viz. that he is not thine equal, but one higher, who can destroy thee as well as be useful to thee. With now” the jussive construction begun by }3n is continued. Zockler and Dichsel, after Ewald and Hitzig, translate incorrectly: thou puttest..., the perf. consec. after an imperf., or, which is the same Hane a fut. meant optatively (e.g. Lev. xix. 18 with wb, and also ver. 34 without x) continues the exhortation; to be thus understood, the author ought to have used the expression alley poy and as pov now, Rightly Luther: “and put a knife to thy throat,” but continuing: “wilt thou preserve thy life,” herein caught in the same mistake of the idea with Jerome, the Syr., and Targ., to which wp) here separates itself. [2¥ (Ξ9) (Arab. with the assimilated a sikkin, plur sekékin, whence sekakini, cutler) designates a knife (Rt. JY 7D, to stick, vid. at Isa. ix. 10). 359, from γῆ, to devour, is the throat; the word in Aram. una: only the cheek, while Lagarde dole to interpret aya infinitively in the sense of (Arab.) bwlw’ak, if thou longest for sense wla); but that would make 20 a tautology. The verb yr (cf. Arab. Val’, to pant for) shows for the substantive the same primary meaning as glutus from glutire, which was then transferred from the inner organ of swallowing (Kimchi, nan m2, Parchon: bt, wsophagus) to the external. “ Puta knife to thy throat, is a proverbial expression, like our: the knife stands at his etinoads the poet means to say: restrain thy too eager desire by means of the strongest threatening of danger—threaten as it were death to it” (Fleischer). In 53 bya, wb) means, as at xiii. 2, desire, and that desire of eating, as at vi. 30. Rightly Rashi: if thou art greedy with hunger, if thou art a glutton; cf. Sir. xxxiv. (xxxi.) 12, “If thou sittest at a great table, then open not widely thy throat (φάρυγγα), and say not: There is certainly much on it!” The knife thus denotes the restraining and moderating of too good an appetite.
131a) and ‘8nN; the latter is found in Cod. 1294, the Erfurt 2 and 3, the Cod. Jaman., and thus it is also to be written at ver. 6 and xxiv.1; 18M", 1 Chron. xi. 17 and Ps. xlv. 12, Codd. and older Edd. (e.g. Complut. 1517, Ven. 1515, 1521) write with Pathach. ΤΑΝ, from OY, signifies savoury dishes, dainties, like (Arab.) dhwakt, from dhdk (to taste, to relish); ef. sapores, from sapere, in the proverb: the tit-bits of the king burn the-lips (vid. Fleischer, Al’s Hundred Proverbs, etc., pp. 71, 104). With 8 begins, as at iil. 29, a conditioning clause: since it is, indeed, the bread of deceit (the connection like Ὁ 3) 3 ἼΨ, xxi. 28), food which, as it were, deceives him who eats it, i.e. appears to secure for him the lasting favour of princes, and often enough herein deceives him; cf. the proverb by Burckhardt and Meidani: whoever eats of the sultan’s soup burns his lips, even though it may be after a length of time (Fleischer). One must come near to a king, says Calovius, hitting the meaning of the proverb, as to a fire: not too near, lest he be burned; nor too remote, so that he may be warmed therewith.
All the forms of proverbs run through these appended proverbs. There now follows a pentastich:
Ver. 4 Do not trouble thyself to become rich; Cease from such thine own wisdom. 5 Wilt thou let thine eyes fly after it, and it is gone? For it maketh itself, assuredly it maketh itself wings, Like an eagle which fleeth toward the heavens.
The middle state, according to xxx. 8, is the best: he who troubleth himself (cf. xxviii. 20, hasteth) to become rich, placeth before himself a false, deceitful aim. 3» is essentially one with (Arab.) waji’a, to experience sorrow, dolere, and then signifies, like πονεῖν and κάμνειν, to become or to be wearied, to weary or trouble oneself, to toil and moil (Fleischer). The 72°3 (cf. iil, 5) is just wisdom, prudence directed towards becoming rich; for striving of itself alone does not accomplish it, unless wisdom is connected with it, which is not very particular in finding out means in their moral relations; but is so much the more crafty, and, as we say, speculative. Rightly Aquila, the Vened., Jerome, and Luther: take not pains to become rich. On.the contrary, the LXX. reads ὝΠΟ yon x, stretch not thyself (if thou art poor) after a rich man; and the Syr. and Targ. wiyn? YIN Pk, draw not near to the rich man; but, apart from the uncertainty of the expression and the construction in both cases, poetry, and proverbial poetry too, does not prefer the article; it never uses it without emphasis, especially as here must be the case with it not elided. These translators thought that “)) 13, ver. 5, presupposed a subject expressed in ver. 4; but the subject is not TWN, but the WY [riches] contained in ὙΠΟ, The self-intelligible ἐξ [in “it maketh wings,” etc.] is that about which trouble has been taken, about which there has been speculation. That isa deceitful possession; for what has been gained by many years. of labour and search, often passes away suddenly, is lost in a moment. To let the eyes fly after anything, is equivalent to, to direct a (flying) look toward it: wilt thou let thine eyes rove toward the same, and it is gone? 1.6.7 wilt thou expose thyself to the fate of seeing that which was gained with trouble and craft torn suddenly away from thee? Otherwise Luther, after Jerome: Let not thine eyes fly after that which thou canst not have; but apart from the circumstance that 32'S) 12 cannot possibly be understood in the sense of ad opes quas non potes habere (that would have required 13. W832), in this sense after the analogy of (>) 5x wip) x2, the end aimed at would have been denoted by > and not by 13. Better Immanuel, after Rashi: if thou doublest, 1.6. shuttest (by means of the two eyelids) thine eyes upon it, it is gone, i.e. has vanished during the night; but my, duplicare, is Aram. and not Heb. Rather the explanation is with Chajiig, after Isa. viii. 22f.: if thou veilest (darkenest) thine eyes, 1.6. yieldest thyself over to carelessness; but the noun MSY5Y shows that *y, spoken of the eyes, is intended to signify to fly (to rove, flutter). Hitzig too artificially (altering the expression to en?): if thou faintest, art weary with the eyes toward him (the rich patron), he is gone,—which cannot be adopted, because the form of a question does not accord with it. Nor would it accord if 122) were thought of as a conclusion: “ dost thou let thy look fly toward it? Itis gone;” for what can this question imply? The} of 128) shows that this word is a component part of the question; it is a question lla nakar, i.e. in rejection of the subject of the question: wilt thou cast thy look upon it, and it is gone? 1.6.) wilt thou experience instant loss of that which is gained by labour and acquired by artifice? On 13, cf. Job vii. 8. “Ὁ TY, “thou directest thine eyes to me: Iam no more.” We had in xii. 19 another mode of designating [viz. till I wink again] an instant. The Chethib "ὯΝ 43YNT is syntactically correct (cf. xv. 22, xx. 30), and might remain. The Keri is mostly falsely accentuated ΗΠ, doubly incorrectly; for (1) the tone never retreats from a shut syllable terminating in ἢ, eg. pan, Isa. xl. 20; 373, 1 Chron. i. 4; P38, Job xxiii. 8; and (2) there is, moreover, wanting here any legitimate occasion for the retrogression of the tone; thus much rather the form yan (with Mehuppach of the last, and Zinnorith of the preceding open syllable) is to be adopted, as it is given by Opitz, Jablonsky, Michaelis, and Reineccius.
The subject of δύ is, as of 5a, riches. That riches take wings and flee away, is a more natural expression than that the rich patron flees away,—a quaint figure, appropriate however at Nah. ili. 16, where the multitude of craftsmen flee out of Nineveh like a swarm of locusts. ny has frequently the sense of acquirere, Gen. xii. 5, with 1, sibi acquirere, 1 Sam. xv. 1; 1 Kingsi. 15; Hitzig compares Silius [tal. xvi. 351: sed tum sibi fecerat alas. The inf. intensivus strengthens the assertion: it will certainly thus happen.
In ὅσ all unnecessary discussion regarding the Chethib 9p is to be avoided, for this Chethib does not exist; the Masora here knows only of a simple Chethib and Keri, viz. 5) (read #3), not of a double one (1), and the word is not among those which have in the middle a ", which is to be read like}. The manuscripts (e.g. also the Bragadin. 1615) have jv}, and the Keri *3y"; it is one of the ten words registered in the Masora, at the beginning of which a ° is to be read instead of the written }. Most of the ancients translate with the amalgamation of the Kert and the Chethib: and he (the rich man, or better: the riches) flees heavenwards (Syr., Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, Jerome, and Luther). After the Keri the Venet. renders: ὡς ἀετὸς πτήσεται τοῖς οὐρανοῖς (viz. ὁ πλοῦτος). Rightly the Targ.: like an eagle which flies to heaven (according to which also it is accentuated), only it is not to be translated “am Himmel” [to heaven], but “ gen Himmel” [towards
There now follows a proverb with unequally measured lines, perhaps a heptastich:
Ver. 6 Eat not the bread of the jealous, And let not thyself lust after his dainties; 7 For as one who calculates with himself, so is he: εἰ δῦ and drink,” saith he to thee; But his heart is not with thee. 8 Thy morsel which thou hast enjoyed wilt thou cast up, And hast lost thy pleasant words.
As ἢ") AID, xxii. 9, benignus oculo, denotes the pleasantness and joy of social friendship; so here (cf. Deut. xv. 9; Matt. xv. 15) PY Μὴ, malignus oculo, the envy and selfishness of egoism seeking to have and retain all for itself. The LXX. ἀνδρὶ βασκάνῳ, for the look of the evil eye, 3m PY, NWA NITY (cattivo occhio), refers to enchantment; cf. βασκαίνειν, fascinare, to bewitch, to enchant, in modern Greek, to envy, Arab. ’an, to eye, as it were, whence ma‘jiin, main, hit by the piercing look of the envious eye, invidie, as Apuleius says, letali plaga percussus (Fleischer). Regarding 180N with Pathach, vid. the parallel line 3a. 7a is difficult. The LXX. and Syr. read WY [hair]. The Targ. renders 827 8Y7A, and thus reads Ἵν [fool], and thus brings together the soul of the envious person and a high portal, which promises much, but conceals only deception behind (Ralbag). Joseph ha-Nakdan reads* ἽΝ Φ with sin; and Rashi, retaining the schin, compares the “ sour figs,” Jer. xxix. 17.
1 Tn an appendix to Ochla We-Ochla, in the University Library at Halle, he reads iy, but with x55 [doubtful] added.
According to this, Luther translates: like a ghost (a monster of lovelessness) is he inwardly; for, as it appears in Ἵν, the goatlike spectre ὙΦ hovered before him. Schultens better, because more in conformity with the text: quemadmodum suam ipsius animam abhorret (i.e. as he does nothing to the benefit of his own appetite) sic ale (erga alios multo magis). The thought is appropriate, but forced. Hitzig for once here follows Ewald; he does not, however, translate: “like as if his soul were divided, so is it;” but: “as one who is divided in his soul, so is he;” but the verb 12, to divide, is inferred from WY, gate= division, and is as foreign to the extra-bibl. usus log. as it is to the bibl. The verb Ἵν signifies to weigh or consider, to value, toestimate. These meanings Hitzig unites together: in similitudinem arioli et conjectoris cestimat quod ignorat, perhaps meaning thereby that he conjecturally supposes that as it is with him, so it is with others: he dissembles, and thinks that others dissemble also. Thus also Jansen explains. The thought is far-fetched, and does not cover itself by the text. The translation of the Venet. also: ws yap ἐμέτρησεν ἐν ψυχῇ οἱ οὕτως ἐστίν (perhaps: he measures to others as penuriously as to himself), does not elucidate the text, but obscures it. Most moderns (Bertheau, Zockler, Dichsel, etc.): ashe reckons in his soul, so is he (not as he seeks to appear for a moment before thee). Thus also Fleischer: quemadmodum reputat apud sé, ita est (sc. non ut loguitur), with the remark that YY (whence "YW, measure, market value, Arab. sr), to measure, to tax so as to determine the price, to reckon; and then like awn, in general, to think, and thus also Metri with the neut. rendering of tta est. But why this circumlocution in the expression? The poet ought in that case just to have written 127 125 ND 5 Nin j2 WNW, for he is not as he speaks with his mouth. If one read YY (Symmachus, εἰκάζων), then we have the thought adapted to the portrait that is drawn; for like one calculating by himself, so is he, 1.6. he is like one who estimates with himself the value of an object; for which we use the ex pression: he reckons the value of every piece in thy mouth. However, with this understanding the punctuation also of pv as finite may be retained and explained after Isa. xxvi. 18: for as if he reckoned in his soul, so is he; but in this the perf. is inappropriate; by the particip. one reaches the same end! by a smoother way. ‘True, he says to thee: eat and drink (Song v. 1b), he invites thee with courtly words; but his heart is not with thee (93, like xxiv. 23): he only puts on the appearance of joy if thou partakest abundantly, but there lurks behind the mask of liberal hospitality the grudging niggardly calculator, who poisons thy every bite, every draught, by his calculating, grudging look. Such a feast cannot possibly do good to the guest: thy meal (NB, from NB; cf. κλᾶν τὸν ἄρτον, Aram. ΝΠ ὈἽΒ, to divide and distribute bread, whence 5278, to receive | aliment, is derived) which thou hast eaten thou wilt spue out, 1.6. wilt vomit from disgust that thou hast eaten such food, so that that which has been partaken of does thee no good. AB is also derived from M5;? has he deceived thee (with his courtly words), but with this R228, which, as the Makkeph rightly denotes, stands in an attributive relation to ἽΠ5, does not agree. MaNpN is Hiph. of Nip, as transitive: to make vomiting; in Arab. the fut. Kal of ka terminates in 7. The fair words which the guest, as the perf. consec. expresses, has lavished, are the words of praise and thanks in which he recognises the liberality of the host appearing so hospitable. Regarding the penult. accenting of the perf. consec. by Mugrasch, as xxx. 9, vid. under Ps. xxvii. 1. Pinsker (Babyl.-Hebr. Punktationssystem, p. 134) conjectures that the line 8d originally formed the concluding line of the following proverb. But at the time of the LXX. (which erroneously expresses NN) it certainly stood as in our text. Ver. 9. Another case in which good words are lost:
Speak not to the ears of a fool, For he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
1 We may write Nin «3: the Mehuppach (Jethib) sign of the Olewejored standing between the two words represents also the place of the Makkeph; vid. Thorath Emeth, p. 20.
2 Immanuel makes so much of having recognised the verb in this 775 (and has he persuaded thee), that in the concluding part of his Divan (entitled Machberoth Immanuel), which is an imitation of Dante’s Divina Commedia, he praises himself on this account in the paradise of King Solomon, who is enraptured by this explanation, and swears that he never meant that word otherwise.
To speak in the ears of any one, does not mean to whisper to him, but so to speak that it is distinctly perceived. DS, as we have now often explained, is the intellectually heavy and dull, like pinguis and tardus; Arab. balyd, clumsy, intellectually immoveable (cf. b/d, the place where one places himself firmly down, which one makes his point of gravity). The heart of such an one is covered over (Ps. cxix. 70), as with grease, against all impressions of better knowledge; he has for the knowledge which the words spoken design to impart to him, no susceptibility, no mind, but only contempt. The construction? ma has been frequently met with from vi. 30.
The following proverb forms a new whole from component parts of xxii. 28 and xxii. 22 f.:
Ver. 10 Remove not ancient landmarks; And into the fields of orphans enter thou not. 11 For their Saviour is a mighty one; He will conduct their cause against thee.
2 813 separates itself here to the meaning of injuste invadere et occupare; French, empiéter sur son voisin, advance not into the ground belonging to thy neighbour (Fleischer). If orphans have also no goel among their kindred (Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, ἀγχιστεύς) to redeem by purchase (Lev. xxv. 25) their inheritance that has passed over into the possession of another, they have another, and that a mighty Saviour, Redemptor, who will restore to them that which they have lost,— viz. God (Jer. 1. 34),—who will adopt their cause against any one who has unjustly taken from them.
The following proverb warrants us to pause here, for it opens up, as a compendious echo of xxii. 17-21, a new series of proverbs of wisdom:
Ver. 12 Apply thine heart to instruction, And thine ear to the utterances of knowledge.
We may, according as we accent in 70%9? the divine origin or the human medium, translate, offer discipline (Schultens), or adhibe ad disciplinam cor tuum (Fleischer). This general admonition is directed to old and young, to those who are to be educated as well as to those who are educated. First to the educator:
Ver. 138 Withhold not correction from the child; For thou will beat him with the rod, and he will not die. 14 Thou beatest him with the rod, And with it deliverest his soul from hell.
The exhortation, 13a, presupposes that education by word and deed is a duty devolving on the father and the teacher with regard to the child. In 130, "3 is in any case the relative conjunction. The conclusion does not mean: so will he not fall under death (destruction), as Luther also would have it, after Deut. xix. 21, for this thought certainly follows ver. 14; nor after xix. 18: so may the stroke not be one whereof he dies, for then the author ought to have written SSRN; but: he will not die of it, 1.6. only strike if he has deserved it, thou needest not fear; the bitter medicine will be beneficial to him, not deadly. The 78 standing before the double clause, ver. 14, means that he who administers corporal chastisement to thie child, saves him spiritually; for Siw does not refer to death in general, but to death falling upon a man before his time, and in his sins, vid. xv. 24, cf. viii. 26.
The following proverb passes from the educator to the pupil:
Ver. 15 My son, if thine heart becometh wise, My heart also in return will rejoice; 16 And my reins will exult If thy lips speak right things.
Wisdom is inborn in no one. A true Arab. proverb says, “ The wise knows how the fool feels, for he himself was also once a fool;”* and folly is bound up in the heart of a child, according to xxil. 15, which must be driven out by severe discipline. 15, as many others, cf. xxii. 195, shows that these ‘ words of the wise” are penetrated by the subjectivity of an author; the author means: if thy heart becomes wise, so will mine in return, i.e. corresponding to it (cf. D3, Gen. xx. 6), rejoice. The thought of the heart in ver. 15 repeats itself in ver. 16, with reference to the utterance of the mouth. Regarding Ov»,
1The second part of the saying is, ‘‘ But a fool knows not how a wise man feels, for he has never been a wise man.” I heard this many years ago, from the mouth of the American missionary Schaufler, in Constantinople.
vid. i. 5. Regarding the “reins,” n'23 (perhaps from 193, to languish, Job xix. 21), with which the tender and inmost affections are connected, vid. Psychologie, p. 268 f. The poet now shows how one attains unto wisdom—the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God: Ver. 17 Let not thine heart strive after sinners, But after the fear of Jahve all the day. 18 Truly there is a future, And thy hope shall not come to naught. The LXX., Jerome, the Venet., and Luther, and the Arab. interpreters, render 175 as an independent clause: ‘but be daily in the fear of the Lord.” That is not a substantival clause (cf. xxii. 7), nor can it be an interjectional clause, but it may be an elliptical clause (Fleischer: from the prohibitive xopn-5x is to be taken for the second parallel member the v. subst. lying at the foundation of all nese bait why had ὧν author omitted a in the fear of God. Thus nN73, like DNION3, is dependent on NOPAWOR; and Jerome, who ἘΞ ΜΕᾺ Non emuletur cor tuum peccatores, sed in timore Domini esto tota die, ought to have continued: sed timorem Domini tota die; for, as one may say in Latin: ewmulari virtutes, as well as @mulart aliquem, so also in Heb. 3 83P, of the envying of those persons whose fortune excites to dissatisfaction, because one has not the same, and might yet have it, iii. 51, xxiv. 1, 19, as well as of emulation for a thing in which one might not stand behind others: envy not sinners, envy much rather the fear of God, ie. let thyself be moved with eager desire after it when its appearance is presented to thee. There is no QO. T. parallel for this, but the Syr. tan and the Greek ξηλοτυποῦν are used in this double sense. Thus Hitzig rightly, and, among the moderns, Malbim; with Aben Ezra, it is necessary to take N87 for MND vANI, this proverb itself declares the fear of God to be of all things the most worthy of being coveted.
In ver. 18, Umbreit, Elster, Ziéckler, and others interpret the 3 as assigning a reason, and the O8 as conditioning: for when the end (the hour of the righteous judgment) has come; Bertheau better, because more suitable to the δ᾽ and the NNN: when an end (an end adjusting the contradictions of the present time) comes, as no doubt it will come, then thy hope will not be destroyed; but, on the other hand, the succession of words in the conclusion (vid. at iii. 34) opposes this; also one does not see why the author does not say directly nouns wr 15, but expresses himself thus conditionally.’ If ox is meant hypothetically, then, with the LXX. ἐὰν yap τηρήσῃς αὐτὰ ἔσταί σοι ἔκγονα, we should supply after it 737 Wn, that had fallen out. Ewald’s: much rather there is yet a future (Dachsel: much rather be happy there is...), is also impossible; for the preceding clause is positive, not negative. The particles D8 3, connected thus, mean: for if (e.g. Lam. iii. 32); or also relatively: that if (e.g. Jer. xxvi. 15). After a negative clause they have the meaning of “ unless,” which is acquired by means of an ellipsis; e.g. Isa. lv. 10, it turns not back thither, unless it has watered the earth (it returns back not before then, not unless this is done). This “unless” is, however, used like the Lat. nist, also without the conditioning clause following, e.g. Gen. xxviii. 17, hie locus non est nisi domus Det. And hence the expression bs 5, after the negation going before, acquires the meaning of “but,” eg. 17d: let not thy heart be covetous after sinners, for thou canst always be zealous for the fear of God, ae. much rather for this, but for this. This pleonasm of ON sometimes occurs where °3 is not used confirmatively, but affirmatively: the “ certainly if” forms the transition, eg. 1 Kings xx. 6 (vid. Keil’s Comm. l.c.), whose “if” is not seldom omitted, so that Cx 5. has only the meaning cf an affirmative “ certainly,” not “truly no,” which it may also have, 1 Sam. xxv. 34, but “truly yes.” Thus oN “2 is used Judg. xv. 7; 2 Sam. xv. 21 (where ON is omitted by the 671); 2 Kings v. 20; Jer. li. 14; and thus it is also meant here, 18a, notwithstanding that Ἐξ 5, in its more usual significaticn, “ besides only, but, nisi,’ precedes, as at 1 Sam. xxi. 6, ef. 5. The objection by Hitzig, that with this explanation: “ certainly there is a future,” vers. 18 and 17 are at variance, falls to the ground, if one reflects on the Heb. idiom, in which the affirmative signification of "5 is interpene- trated by the confirmative. NNN used thus pregnantly, as here (xxiv. 14), is the glorious final issue; the word in itself designates the end into which human life issues (cf. Ps. xxxvii. 37 f.); here, the end crowning the preceding course. Jeremiah (xxix. 11) in this sense connects mpm) nins [end and expectation]. And what is here denied of the pn, the hope (not as certain Jewish interpreters dream, the thread of life) of him who zealously strives after the fear of God, is affirmed, at Ps. xxxvil. 38, of the godless: the latter have no continuance, but the former have such as is the fulfilling of his hope.
Among the virtues which flow from the fear of God, temperance is made prominent, and the warning against excess is introduced by the general exhortation to wisdom:
Ver. 19 Hear thou, my son, and become wise, And direct thy heart straight forward on the way. 20 And be not among wine-drinkers, And among those who devour flesh; 21 For the drunkard and glutton become poor,
And sleepiness clotheth in rags. The TAS, connected with Yow, imports that the speaker has to do with the hearer altogether by himself, and that the latter may make an exception to the many who do not hear (cf. Job xxxili. 33; Jer. ii. 31). Regarding Wx, to make to go straight out, vid. at iv. 14; the Kal, ix. 6, and also the Piel, iv. 14, mean to go straight on, and, generally, to go. ‘The way merely, is the one that is right in contrast to the many byways. Fleischer: “the way sensu eximio, as the Oriental mystics called the way to perfection merely (Arab.) dlatryk; and him who walked therein, d/sdlak, the walker or wanderer.”* 2 IAM, as at xxii. 26, the “ Words of the Wise,” are to be compared in point of style. The degenerate and perverse son is more clearly described, Deut. xxi. 20, as 81D) Obi, These two characteristics the poet distributes between 20a and 200. 82D means to drink (whence 83D, drink = wine, Isa. i. 22) wine or other intoxicating drinks; Arab. sabd, vinum potandi causa emere. To the 1 here added, 3 in the parallel member corresponds, which
1 Rashi reads 425 3772 (walk), in the way of thy heart (which has become wise), and so Heidenheim found it in an old Ms.; but 7772 is equivalent to 713° 73; ix. 6, consequently is not the fleshly body of the gluttons themselves, but the prepared flesh which they consume at their luxurious banquets. The LXX. incorrectly as to the word, but not contrary to the sense, “ be no wine-bibber, and stretch not thyself after picknicks (συμβολαῖς), and buying in of flesh (κρεῶν τε ayopacpois),” whereby br is translated in the sense of the Aram. 31 (Lagarde). Oot denotes, intransitively, to be little valued (whence Obit, opp. 1, Jer. xv. 19), transitively to value little, and as such to squander, to lavish prodigally; thus: quz
Gesenius, Fleischer, Umbreit, and Ewald: qui prodigi sunt carnis sue, who destroy their own body; but the parallelism shows that flesh is meant wherewith they feed themselves, not their own flesh (129 7W2, like ing-MN, Ps. lviii. 5), which, i.e. its health, they squander. Sot also, in phrase used in Deut. xxi. 20 (cf. with Hitzig the formula φάγος καὶ οἰνοπότης, Matt. ΧΙ. 19), denotes not the dissolute person, as the sensualist, πορνο- κόπος (LUXX.), but the συμβολοκόπος (Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion), κρεωβόρος (Venet.), 122 ot (Onkelos), 1.6. flesheater, ravenous person, glutton, in which sense it is rendered here, by the Syr. and Targ., by IDS (DDN), 1.6. ἄσωτος. Regarding the metaplastic fut. Niph. WY (LXX. TTWYEVTEL), vid. at xx. 18, cf. xi, 25. 700 (after the form of nvaa, m7, mu) is drowsiness, lethargy, long sleeping, which necessarily follows a life of riot and revelry. Such ἃ slothful person comes to a bit of bread (xxi. 17); and the disinclination and unfitness for work, resulting from night revelry, brings it about that at last he must clothe himself in miserable rags. The rags are called 2p and ῥάκος, from the rending (tearing), Arab. ruk’at, from the patching, mendmg. Lagarde, more at large, treats of this word here used for rags.
The parainesis begins anew, and the division is open to question. Vers. 22-24 can of themselves be independent distichs; but this is not the case with ver. 25, which, in the resumption of the address and in expression, leans back on ver. 22. The author of this appendix may have met with vers. 23 and 24 (although here also his style, as conformed to that of 1. 9, is noticeable, cf. 280 with i. 2), but vers. 22 and 25 are the form which he has given to them.
Thus 22-25 are a whole:— Ver. 22 Hearken to thy father, to him who hath begotten thee, And despise not thy mother when she has grown old. 23 Buy the truth, and sell it not, Wisdom and discipline and understanding. 24 The father of a righteous man rejoiceth greatly; (And) he that is the father of a wise man—he will rejoice. 25 Let thy father and thy mother be glad; And her that bare thee exult. The ostastich begins with a call to childlike obedience, for? yow, to listen to any one, is equivalent to, to obey him, e.g. Ps, Ixxxi, 9, 14 (cf. “ hearken to his voice,” Ps. xcv. 7). 77?) ΠῚ is a relative clause (cf. Deut. xxxii. 18, without ΠῚ or Wx), according to which it is rightly accentuated (cf. on the contrary, Ps. Ixxviii. 54). 22, strictly taken, is not to be translated neve contemne cum senuertt matrem tuam (Fleischer), but cum senuertt mater tua, for the logical object to nOnWPN is attracted as subj. of ΠῚ (Hitzig). There now follows the exhortation comprehending all, and formed after iv. 7, to buy wisdom, i.e. to shun no expense, no effort, no privation, in order to attain to the possession of wisdom; and not to sell it, c.e. not to place it over against any earthly possession, worldly gain, sensual enjoyment; not to let it be taken away by any intimidation, argued away by false reasoning, or prevailed against by enticements into the way of vice, and not to become unfaithful to it by swimming with the great stream (Ex. xxii. 2); for truth, moral as well as the intellectual. In 230, in like manner as i. 3, xxil. 4, a threefold object is given to ΠῚ} instead of nox: there are three properties which are peculiar to truth, the three powers which handle it: 722 is knowledge solid, pressing into the essence of things; 7512 is moral culture; and ΓΞ the central faculty of proving and distinguishing (vid. i. 3-5). Now ver. 24 says what consequences are for the parents when the son, according to the exhortation of 23, makes truth his aim, to which all is subordinated. Because in nox the ideas of practical and theoretical truth are inter-connected. PY and 02M are also here parallel to one another. The Chethib of 24a is 2 213, which Schultens finds tenable in view of (Arab.) jal, fut. jajiilu (to turn round; Heb. to turn oneself for joy)
but the Heb. usus log. knows elsewhere only Ὧν D3, as the Keri corrects. The LXX., misled by the Chethib, translates καλῶς ἐκτρέφει (incorrect ἐκτρυφήσει), 1.6. 51) °73, In 248, nov) is of the nature of a pred. of the conclusion (cf. Gen. xxii. 24; Ps. cxv. 7), as if the sentence were: has one begotten a wise man, then (cf. xvii. 21) he has joy of him; but the Keri effaces this Vav apodosis, and assigns it to 129 as Vav copul.—an unnecessary mingling of the syntactically possible, more emphatic expression. This proverbial whole now rounds itself off in ver. 25 by a reference to ver. 22,—the Optative here corresponding to the Impr. and Prohib. there: let thy father and thy mother rejoice (LX X. εὐφρανέσθω), and let her that bare thee exult (here where it is possible the Optat. form 23m), Vers. 26-28. This hexastich warns against unchastity. What, in i-ix., extended discourses and representations exhibited to the youth is here repeated in miniature pictures. It is the teacher of wisdom, but by him Wisdom herself, who speaks: Ver. 26 Give me, my son, thine heart; And let thine eyes delight in my ways. 27 For the harlot is a deep ditch, And the strange woman a narrow pit. 28 Yea, she lieth in wait like a robber,
And multiplieth the faithless among men We have retained Luther’s beautiful rendering of ver. 26,) in which this proverb, as a warning word of heavenly wisdom and of divine love, has become dear to us. It follows, as Symmachus and the Venet., the Chethib ΠΥ (for 1S, like Ex. ii. 16; Job v. 12), the stylistic appropriateness of which proceeds from xvi. 7, as on the other hand the Ker? ΠΝ (cf. 1 Sam. xiv. 27) is supported by xxii. 12, cf. v. 2. But the correction is unnecessary, and the Chethib sounds more affectionate, hence it is with right defended by Hitzig. The ways of wisdom are ways of correction, and particularly of chastity, thus placed over against “the ways of the harlot,” vii. 24 ff. Accordingly the exhortation, ver. 26, verifies itself; warning, by ver. 27, cf. xxii. 14, where ΠΡῸΣ was written, here as at Job xii. 22, with the long vowel POY (ΠΡ). M¥ IS interchanges
1The right punctuation of 26a is 335 277, as it is found in the editions: Ven. 1615; Basel 1619; and in those of Norzi and Michaelis.
with ΠΡῚΝ AMY, and means, not the fountain of sorrow (Léwenstein), but the narrow pit. N82 is fem. gen., xxvi. 21f., and ἼΣ means narrow, like étroit (old French, estreit), from str tebe: The figure has, after xxii. 14, the madrid of the harlot in view. Whoever is enticed by her syren voice falls into a deep ditch, into a pit with a narrow mouth, into which one can more easily enter than escape from. Ver. 28 says that it is the artifice of the harlot which draws a man into such depth of wickedness and guilt. With 48, which, as at Judg. v. 29, belongs not to S71 but to the whole sentence, the picture of terror is completed. The verb ‘09 (whence Arab. hata/, death, natural death) means to snatch away. If we take ἼΠΠ as abstr.: a snatching away, then it would here stand elliptically for ἢΠΠ (55) UN, which in itself is improbable (vid. vii. 22, D2Y) and also unnecessary, since, as 2, TY, 720, etc. swan such abstracta can pass immediately into concreta, so that ἢΠΠ thus means the person who snatches away, 1.6. the street robber, latro (cf. NN, (Arab.) khataf, Ps. x. 9, rightly explained by Kimchi as cogn.). In 280, 1DiN cannot mean abripit (as LXX., Theodotion, and Jerome suppose), for which the word 75DA (ADNN) would have been used.’ But this verbal idea does not harmonize with the connection; DIN means, as always, addit (auget), and that here in the sense of mulliplicat. The same thing may be said of ΝΣ as is said (xi. 15) of D'ypin. Hitzig’s objection, “Din, to multiply, with the accusative of the person, is not at all used,” is set aside by xix. 4. But we may translate: the faithless, or: the breach of faith she increases. Yet it always remains a question whether D782 is dependent on O03, as Eccles. viii. 9, cf. 2 Sam. xxiii. 3. on the verb of ruling (Hitzig), or whether, as frequently ΝΞ, e.g. Ps. Ixxviil. 60, it means inter homines (thus most interpreters). Uncleanness leads to faithlessness of manifold kinds: it makes not only the husband unfaithful to his wife, but also the son to his parents, the scholar to his teacher and pastor, the servant (cf. the case of Potiphar’s wife) to his master. The adulteress, inasmuch as she entices now one and now another into her net, increases the
1 The Targ. translates 28) (here free from the influence of the Peshito) in the Syro-Palestinian idiom by "ay NIN TRY; i.e. she seizes thoughtless sons.
number of those who are faithless towards men. But are they not, above all, faithless towards God? We are of opinion that not o'772, but ΘΠ, has its complement in DIN3, and needs it: the adulteress increases the faithless among men, she makes faithlessness of manifold kinds common in human society. According to this, also, it is accentuated; on2) is placed as object by Mugrasch, and ὉἼΝ is connected by Mercha with ΘΠ.
Vers. 29-35. The author passes from the sin of uncleanness to that of drunkenness; they are nearly related, for drunkenness ~ excites fleshly lust; and to wallow with delight in the mire of sensuality, a man, created in the image of God, must first brutalize himself by intoxication. The AZashal in the number of its lines passes beyond the limits of the distich, and becomes a Mashal ode.
Ver. 29 Whose is woe? Whose is grief? Whose are contentions, whose trouble, whose wounds without cause? Whose is dimness of eyes? 90 Theirs, who sit late at the wine, Who turn in to taste mixed wine. 31 Look not on the wine as it sparkleth red, As it showeth its gleam in the cup, Glideth down with ease. 82 The end of it is that it biteth like a serpent, And stingeth like a basilisk. 99. Thine eyes shall see strange things, And thine heart shall speak perverse things; 34 And thou art as one lying in the heart of the sea, And as one lying on the tcp of a mast. 35 ““ They have scourged me—it pained me nod; They have beaten me—I perceived it not. When shall I have wakened frcmn ae? Thus on I go, I return to it again.” The repeated ‘2?! asks who then has to experience all that; the answer follows in ver. 30. With ‘in, the NAN occurring only here accords; it is not a pibitantive from aX (w hence 28) after the form of FAY, in the sense of egestas; but, like the former [i], an interjection of sorrow (Venet. ie al, tive φεῦ). BRS: BND (Chethib O32), vid. at vi. 14.